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From: Jacqueline
SOUISA
Choose Friends Wisely "I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate (closely and habitually) with unchaste (impure) people." (1 Corinthians 5:9, Amp) ________________________________________ The company you keep has such an influence on your spiritual life. Fellowshiping with godly people will help speed you on to victory, while fellowshiping with those who are ungodly will drag you down to defeat. That's why the Bible has some things to say about your friends. That's why it tells you to separate yourself from the world. Because evil companions will corrupt you. Now, I'm not talking about ministry. Jesus Himself ministered to sinners. You have to mix with them to preach to them and pray for them. What I'm talking about here are the people you choose for friends. If you want to walk in the things of the Lord, don't choose friends who walk in the things of the devil, people who talk and act ungodly, who don't give God any place in their lives. They'll pull you down. As you rub shoulders with them, you'll expose yourself to temptation. You'll get so familiar with sin it will start to appear less repulsive to you. Sooner or later, you'll fall into it. So choose your friends wisely. Fellowship with those who call on the Name of the Lord out of a pure heart (2 Tim. 2:22). Expose yourself to their love and peace. Let their faith rub off on you! ________________________________________ Scripture Study: 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Locked Bag 2600, Mansfield DC QLD 4122, Australia ===========================================
From: ruth herlin
Short interview with Rick
Warren
This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, "Purpose Driven Life" author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California. These are new 'insights' that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and his having "wealth" from the book sales. In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out,life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go in to another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? ...Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings. Happy moments, PRAISE GOD. Difficult moments, SEEK GOD. Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD. Painful moments, TRUST GOD. Every moment, THANK GOD. God loves you! =============================================
From: deesiey
INSPIRATIONAL E-MAIL WHY GO TO CHURCH? A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all." This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time, my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this. "They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. "Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" --Author Unknown -- deesiey http://sampiran.blogspot.com/ http://fedu.blogspot.com/ -- You say : I can't figure things out" God says : I will direct your steps (Proverbs 3:5 - 6) You say : I'm afraid" God says : "I have not given you a spirit of fear (II Timothy 1:7) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Mailing List Jesus-Net Ministry Indonesia - JNM - Daftar : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Keluar : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Posting: jesus-net@yahoogroups.com If you have any comment or suggestion about this mailing list, to : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bagi Saudara yang berdomisili di Amerika, saudara dapat bergabung dengan mailing list Keluarga Kristen USA (KK-USA) dengan mengirimkan email kosong ke [EMAIL PROTECTED] dan ikuti instruksi yang ada. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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