Youth Desire Wealth

     About 80 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds in this country see getting rich as a top life goal, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll. Other researchers say materialism is an obsession that cuts across socioeconomic lines for American youth, according to Christian Post.

TV Violence Report

A new report by the Parents Television Council says that prime-time violence portrayed during the 2005-2006 season on the six major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN and the WB) increased 75 percent when compared to the previous six years. “This new study shows that violence on television is alarmingly more frequent and more disturbing than anything we’ve seen before,” said PTC’s Tim Winter. “Children and families who watched prime-time network television last season were treated to a frightening amount and degree of violence. Not only was there more onscreen violence than ever before, but the discussions of violent crimes were more explicit and the violence depicted was far more graphic.”

Remember…

1. God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.

2. Dear God, I have a problem, it’s Me.

3. Growing old is inevitable .. growing UP is optional.

4. There is no key to happiness. The door is always open.

5. Silence is often misinterpreted but never misquoted.

6. Do the math…count your blessings.

7. Faith is the ability to not panic.

8. Laugh every day, it’s like inner jogging.

9. If you worry, you didn’t pray . If you pray, don’t worry.

10. As a child of God, prayer is kind of like calling home everyday.

11. Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape.

12. The most important things in your house are the people.

13. When we get tangled up in our problems, be still. God wants us to be still so He can untangle the knot.

14. A grudge is a heavy thing to carry.

15. He who dies with the most toys is still dead.

Prescribed by the Great Physician

The next time you feel like GOD can’t use you, just remember…

Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer..AND
Lazarus was dead! !

Nonviolent Direct Action

In a February 1957 article in Christian Century, King summarized the basis of nonviolent direct action in the struggle for civil rights:

1) This is not a method for cowards; it does resist. The nonviolent resister is just as strongly opposed to the evil against which he protests as is the person who uses violence. His method is passive or nonaggressive in the sense that he is not physically aggressive toward his opponent. But his mind and emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade the opponent that he is mistaken. This method is passive physically but strongly active spiritually; it is nonaggressive physically but dynamically aggressive spiritually.

2) Nonviolent resistance does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. The nonviolent resister must often express his protest through noncooperation or boycotts, but he realizes that noncooperation and boycotts are not ends themselves; they are merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent. The end is redemption and reconciliation. The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness.

3) This method is that the attack is directed against forces of evil rather than against persons who are caught in those forces. It is evil we are seeking to defeat, not the persons victimized by evil. Those of us who struggle against racial injustice must come to see that the basic tension is not between races. As I like to say to the people in Montgomery, Alabama: “The tension in this city is not between white people and Negro people. The tension is at bottom between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. And if there is a victory it will be a victory not merely for 50,000 Negroes, but a victory for justice and the forces of light. We are out to defeat injustice and not white persons who may happen to be unjust.”

4) Nonviolent resistance avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. In struggling for human dignity the oppressed people of the world must not allow themselves to become bitter or indulge in hate campaigns. To retaliate with hate and bitterness would do nothing but intensify the hate in the world. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can be done only by projecting the ethics of love to the center of our lives.

Prophetic Voice

We thank God for the life, legacy, and leadership of The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. God unleashed this prophetic voice on America in a time of great division, hatred, racism, and poverty. A voice crying in the wilderness that cried loud and spared not. A voice that spoke the truth in love, a voice not willing to compromise, and a voice that spoke to the heart of a nation causing walls to fall, crocked places to be straightened, and demonic strongholds to be shattered.

Where is the prophetic voice for today?

Think About It

Watch your Thoughts, they become words.

Watch your words, they become actions

Watch your actions, they become habits.

Watch your Habits, they become character.

Watch your Character, for it becomes your Destiny

1st Fruits Fast of Faith

“Seeking the Savior: New Beginnings”

January 1, 2007 through January 21, 2007

Faith, Family, Finance, Future

Seeking a Greater Faith Walk with God

Deeper Commitment to the Ministry

Develop a Family Vision

Strengthening Your Family Relationships

Establishing Family Devotions Time

Getting Your Financial House in Order

Seeking to Live a Debt-Free Life

Where Does God Want You to Serve Him?

What Needs to be Changed in Your Life?

Guidelines:

- No Meats or Sweets (liquid or solid)

- Drink Water and Natural Juices Only

- Turn Off the TV at Night and Study the Word

Happy New Year?

Four Questions for the New Year (Dr Jim Seymour)

1. What do you want?  (Vision)

2. How badly do you want it?  (Passion)

3. What are you willing to do to get it?  (Sacrifice)

4. What will you do with it once it’s yours?(Responsibility) 

The way you answer these questions will determine whether or not you have Happy New Year.