Thanksgiving

"Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross"

Extreme Faith in a Time of Extreme Persecution:
Last night I was reading through my The Voice of the Martyrs magazine. This issue was all about the ministers of the gospel in Vietnam. It was entitled "Pastors on the Run". If you don't read Voice of the Martyrs trust me it's worth picking up. So, this article was all about the different people who are sharing the gospel message with the Vietnamese people even though the police continue to arrest them, fine them, and beat them. One article that really caught my eye was about a minister and his wife who were conducting a church service in a ladies home when the police came in arrest them and continued to beat them. At one point the article mentioned that they beat the ministers wife so bad that she was unconscious for quite a while.
Then this morning I get to the office and read Ester chapter 3 and was reminded of how Modecai stood up to Haman and would not bow down to him. Haman goes out and get's the king to issue a decree that Haman and his mob would go out and kill all the Jewish people and take their land. In the face of what Mordecai knew could happen for not obeying one of the kings top officials he remained faithful to his God and refused to bow down to Haman.
Maybe this is the Old Testament picture of what we see happening in so many different countries where people are not free to worship and to hear the gospel message. As I looked through picture after picture of different people being beaten and arrested in Vietnam I couldn't help but wonder and pray that God would give me that much faith. Maybe today you and I need to take a hard look at our faith and who we are and ask ourselves if we are willing to be faithful unto death so we might receive the crown of life?

As I finish I thought of this old hymn and I know we don't use hymnals that much if any anymore but I believe that there are some very powerful hymns with great meaning as well as some of the praise choruses that we sing today.

"Stand up, stand up for Jesus, The strife will not be long; This day the noise of battle, The next, the victor's song: To Him that overcometh, A crown of life shall be: He with the King of glory shall reign eternally."

Where Your Money is ther your heart will be also.

Let me first say that I am no expert on money, as you will see very shortly. Money is a very tricky thing, it seems as if the more money that you have the more money that you want. I really don't understand this concept which is maybe why I can never save any money. As a leader in the Church I don't look at this as a good trait to have, Lord knows if I could figure out how to get my finances on track I believe that my life would be a lot less stressful.
Why is it that we feel that we must get up in the morning and put on expensive clothing, to walk out of our huge homes, to get in our fancy car, to drive to Starbucks and pay five dollars for a ten-cent cup of coffee, to work at who knows what job, to get back into our fancy car and stop by Starbucks to have something to drink on the way home, to come home and relax in front of our 52" flat screen LCD TV, which is hooked up to the cable with every channel imaginable, and even if we missed something during the day we could probably find it on our DVR. If that was not enough entertainment then we could listen to our XM radio, or play Xbox Live because we all know that we can't have a home that does not have high speed internet access. Oh, did I mention that if one person in the family is doing this in the living room that I'm sure everyone else could probably just go to another room in the house and do those same things if not more.
Please do not take this the wrong way, most of what was mentioned above is from my very own home. The point is this, that with all that we have sometimes we feel as if we are poorest people on the planet because we don't have some of the same things that other people have. At no point did God say that the things listed above were necessary for life. I read the first two chapters of Esther this morning and couldn't help but to see how the Queen at first had it all they had this huge celebration going on and people were eating and drinking and have a great time. But if you will remember it wasn't but a couple of days from which the queen was gone and Esther was in enjoying that lifestyle. I've seen this exact same thing happen in my life over and over again. Just when I believe that I have arrived and have everything that I could ask for or imagine it gets taken away because God is keeping my humble, and due to poor choices I have made in the past. This also goes the other way thankfully, that when I believe that I can't make another payment or pay for anything else, God provides just what I need and often times a little extra.
My advice for today keep your head up and keep working hard, because who knows you may just be sitting and eating with the KING tomorrow.