I was reading tonight on a Jewish website that I frequently visit and thought you all might want to read this as well.
Former terrorist tells 'Post': Counterbalance the brainwashing tactics that are used by teaching love.
When we were in Minneapolis and we became friends with some people from the northern Africa, and they really changed my minds about the Muslim people. I used to think that most Muslims were full of hate and rage, and there was no way to control "them". Like they were a plague or something. The more that I got to know them, and the love they had in there hearts for "God" or "Allah" it became clear to me that they don't want to commit radical acts, it is just false teaching. We see some of this in our own modern day societies in our religious circles. As I sit here I can think of more than one abortion clinic bombing, or gay rites bashing. When we stoop to the level of violence and hate, we as Christians are no better than anyone else. We have the truth and we need to share it. I loved how this article put this, "You have to teach love. You have to counterbalance the brainwashing tactics that are used." I was compelled to write this on the blog tonight because this is the first time that I have ever seen anyone write about loving those that are against us as a form of combating it. Here is the link.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1228728114280&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
If this link doesnt work, just cut and paste it into your web browser.
Thank you and have a blessed night. Ross
Monday, December 08, 2008
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Esta tiempo es un tiempo muy bueno en nuestras vivas, y para el Reino del Dios.
(This time is a very good time in our lives, and for the Kingdom of God.)
I know that I have to keep up on my blogs, but to be honest this is not easy. I keep falling behind, and then when I seem to find time, something always comes up. I cant hardly remember the last time that I sat down to blog, and I have so many stories that I don't know where to start. I will just fill you all in a little bit of over history from the past few weeks.
I want to fist start out by saying "Thank you Jesus, we have water again..........................kinda" We have been without water now for about 2 or 3 weeks. Well, that is not entirely true, we have had water on and off for about the last two weeks. It was 10 days with no water all, then the last week or so it has been on and off. One hour on here and half an hour there, or maybe 15 minutes, or whatever it feels like. As soon as everyone in the building flushed there toilets, we are about done. It was all good though. God is faithful and it was a miracle that we had water at all. Of all the neighbors around us, we were the only building getting a little bit here and there. God is so awesome!! Talking about the neighbors we have to tell you about our friends.
When we first moved into Mexico City we had several people that did not like us. The first reason was that we were Christians and the second was that we were Americans. We tried and tried to make friends with them. It has taken along time to get into the these families, but I have a story of something that happened a couple nights ago. We were sitting at home getting the kids ready for bed and getting ready to call it day for us as well. Soon there was a knock at our door, it was our neighbors (across the hall), and they told me somebody was downstairs waiting for me in front of our building. So I went down there and found a neighbor from across the street waiting for me. This is one of the guys that we have been talking to since we first got here. He told me to come to his house. I was kinda apprehensive at first but then I realized that this is what I am here for. When I got there his wife and kids had supper waiting for us. He told me that he had remembered me talking one day about our favorite food here in Mexico. His wife and kids had prepared us a homemade traditional Mexican supper. Mandy and I spent the night eating and eating until we were stuffed!! He told me that we were so different from all the other people in the church because we would stop and ask him about his family, his kids, and ask him how he is really doing. He said that we would stop and take the time to care for him, and because of that he was welcoming us into the community. Another neighbor told us that in 18 years this family has never given anything away to anyone. We were blessed to have that warm welcome by him. He is not a Christian and makes it very clear to everyone what he believes. We were told by the church, in the beginning, to just be careful because of the clash of religions here in Mexico. Now the very people that we were told to be careful of, are the ones that have accepted us into there homes. It is so wonderful to see the hand of God working in the lives of those that He has chosen to place in our path. I feel humbles that He is using us to touch the lives of the people that are geographically close to the church that have rejected "Christianity". I have decided that they have not rejected Christianity at all, they have just rejected the lifestyle of a "Christian in the the church, but a sinner outside the church". They all want to know the true savior they are just looking at the actions of the people that call themselves Christians and are rejecting that lifestyle. This is a HUGE open door for us because we are saying the same thing. These friends are listening, and this also keeps us accountable.
I also wanted to talk a little bit about the missions trip that I just got back from and the next one that I am planning now. We went to a place called Tlapachaloya, in the mountains of Mexico. While we were there, we did a church support mission. We went to basically the end of the road to offer support to a struggling church. While we were there we did a training program for the leaders of the children's ministry (all 3 of them) and we put on a children's activity time concurrent to the adult training time. We had stations with dancing, music, arts, games, crafts, teachings, and etc. We got the whole community involved in what the church is. We also had a doctor and a dentist with us. They worked tirelessly for 3 days helping as many people at they could while they were there. There is no doctors, no hospitals, no medicine, no police, no nothing that we consider "necessity". It did however, much to my shock and horror, have Coca Cola, and Pepsi. This was a church started by a Christian missionary from the U.S. about 20 years ago and now I have the privaledge to carry on that torch a little further. The Americans are now gone, but the church still remains. It is a testament to the importance of the American people and the opportunity we have in our country to send missionaries in the middle of nowhere with the ability to help. With our technology and money in our system we are able to bless others with that and see many people enter heaven because of it. I am humbled and blessed to be a part of it.
Anyhow, we went there, and we are now planning another trip back up there. This trip however will be a bit different. We are going into that village and meeting up with the pastor. I connected well with the Dentist and he asked me if I would go with them on trips in the future. We are going under the leadership and guidance of CNM (Christ for the Nations, Mexico). We are going back to the village and putting all our stuff on pack mules, and horses. Then we are going to walk into the jungle from this village. There are mountainous tribal people that have no connection to the outside world. It is hard to think that there are people like that living so close to us, but in the jungles of Mexico they are definitely there. There is a group of 3 ladies that has been coming out of one of these villages looking for help (food and when we were there medical). They found that church was open and willing to help them, and they have accepted Christ because of it. Because we have helped them, told us that they would come out of the jungle and get us, and take us in with them. We are prayerfully considering this, and planning on going in, around the middle of Feb. Please keep us in your prayers as we work towards making this happen. We want to do medical and dental work first and foremost because most of these people have never even seen a doctor before. If this goes well and we get this accomplished we are going to go back in a few months after. Our goal is to first help with food and medical, and second reach them with the gospel. Lots of these people don't speak Spanish, but we are blessed that the doctor speaks the native tongue. God is SO AWESOME how he is connecting all our paths and making Himself famous in the world that we live in. They told me that they need someone who knows about mechanical, and electrical on there team because this is a huge problem they have with all there equipment. Keep in mind all the doctoring and dentistry equipment needs to fit on the back of a mule, but it isn't there first time doing this. They just got back from Morocco Africa doing this so it isn't completely uncommon. I will tell you more as the time draws closer.
I wanted also real quickly to tell you about the food and ministry program that we went on in the north part of the city. We were blessed to take around 30 pre-teen, and teenagers on a day of social help. We went into a part of the city that is much less fortunate than we are. I was surprised at how different parts of the city are so much different. When we were about 20 minutes away from the place that we were going (driving time) my eyes started watering, my neck started getting itchy, and I started feeling bad. This was because of the amount of pollution there. It is bad here, but it was horrible there. We blew our noses for 2 days after that and had black stuff in our Kleenex's. It was amazing! We once again did a children's ministry running stations for the kids to go through. Before that however we did a time of praise of worship to get things started right. Then after the time with the kids we went back inside and did a drama. While we were outside with the kids, the pastor of the church gave a message to the parents. We then did a drama about how it isn't important if you live on the street, or what you have, but what is in your heart is the most important thing. This was a reality for the people that we were working with. Then we fed everyone, nobody was left out. The food was not exactly what Mandy and I thought was good or actually even edible, but the people there, and our friends Loved it!! ((For all our friends from Mexico reading this, I am sorry, but in my culture, this is just wrong))They said that it was great. It was a traditional meal of spicy salsa covering soggy pig skin cut into strips. (People here love it, it just is hard for me to understand some things.) That wasn't what was important however. After they got done eating we took bags of food that we had prepared before hand, working at AINDAC. We had a bag of cereal, a kilo of beans, a kilo of sugar, powered milk, some crackers, some soup, and some candies in every bag. We then handed them out to the people as they left. This included the people that worked in the church because a lot of them were just as destitute as the people coming for the help. What a blessing that was to do. I was brought to tears as I watched the smile on the faces of the people that were going to be eating a hot meal that night. It is quite possible that except for the meal at the church this may have been the only hot meal that they have had in a long time. I have pictures of my kids drinking coffee. That is because all the kids there drink coffee. It is cheap, and warm. They have no milk, and the water needs to be boiled to kill some of the disease in it, so they just make coffee. I was amazed at all the 3, 4, and year olds drinking coffee running allover. My kids thought it was great!! This is a hard thing to grasp for us because we came from an area of such wealth and blessing. I have more photos of that on our flicker if you want to see them as well.
People often ask me what the hardest thing about living here is, and I am beginning to think that the answer to that is the injustice in this world. When we as humans begin treating people like dogs in the streets, or garbage that needs to be taken out. That is the hardest thing. I have many, many other stories about that as well, for instance my wife picking the local drunk up out of the road and cleaning the puke off his face, and giving him bread and coffee because, "He is a person before he is anything else". This has made even me stop and think, what is the hardest thing in this type of life that I live? I think it is that. Because of us living in the biggest city in the world we see the biggest crimes against humanity here, and that is the hardest thing. The thing that drives me the maddest is when it is seen in the homes of the "Christians". We are supposed to know better. I never dreamed, when I said that I would take this job, about the amount of ministering I would do in Christian homes. I should have known, but my eyes are being opened to reality the longer that I do this job.
Thank you all for the love and support that you are showing our family here. I can assure you that your prayers and sacrifices are being felt in the south of Mexico City. This is not because of how cool we are, or any amount of anything like that. It is simply because living in the center of God will in the most rewarding, most fulfilling, and the most powerful place to be. When we learn to submit to God wholeheartedly he will begin using us for the furthering of His Kingdom way beyond anything that we could hope or imagine. As the passage in the Bible says, can a pot look at its maker and say that it doesn't know what is best for it? This is the same in our lives. We cannot look at our maker and say anything about our lives except for I am Sorry, because when we pull away from Him we will always fail. But when we walk in his path, and let Him lead the way we can become a very powerful tool to reach many for His Kingdom.
I want to finish tonight repeating the words of My Lord and My Savior, "My King I worship you, not for me, but because you are worthy and you paid a price for me which is far over and above anything that I will ever have do. I dont want my will, but your will to be done, right here in this life at this point in time, just like it is being done in heaven at this time. If you choose to give to give me food and life for another day, it is yours, and if you choose to take this food, or this life from me, it is yours to take. But please forgive me from all the stupid things that I have done and all the times that I have turned my back on you and hurt you. As you forgive me, I also forgive those that done anything painful, hurtful, and evil against me. Please help me keep my eyes, my hands, my mouth, and especially my mind clean before you and free from evil. Keep me pure and search my heart O God, and know that every breath I take has your name written on it." Amen
Luke 11:2-4
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Lucas 11:2-4
Cuando oréis, decid: "Padre nuestro que estás en los cielos, santificado sea tu nombre. Venga tu Reino. Hágase tu voluntad, como en el cielo,así también en la tierra. El pan nuestro de cada día, dánoslo hoy. Perdónanos nuestros pecados,porque también nosotros perdonamosa todos los que nos deben. Y no nos metas en tentación, mas líbranos del mal".
I know that I have to keep up on my blogs, but to be honest this is not easy. I keep falling behind, and then when I seem to find time, something always comes up. I cant hardly remember the last time that I sat down to blog, and I have so many stories that I don't know where to start. I will just fill you all in a little bit of over history from the past few weeks.
I want to fist start out by saying "Thank you Jesus, we have water again..........................kinda" We have been without water now for about 2 or 3 weeks. Well, that is not entirely true, we have had water on and off for about the last two weeks. It was 10 days with no water all, then the last week or so it has been on and off. One hour on here and half an hour there, or maybe 15 minutes, or whatever it feels like. As soon as everyone in the building flushed there toilets, we are about done. It was all good though. God is faithful and it was a miracle that we had water at all. Of all the neighbors around us, we were the only building getting a little bit here and there. God is so awesome!! Talking about the neighbors we have to tell you about our friends.
When we first moved into Mexico City we had several people that did not like us. The first reason was that we were Christians and the second was that we were Americans. We tried and tried to make friends with them. It has taken along time to get into the these families, but I have a story of something that happened a couple nights ago. We were sitting at home getting the kids ready for bed and getting ready to call it day for us as well. Soon there was a knock at our door, it was our neighbors (across the hall), and they told me somebody was downstairs waiting for me in front of our building. So I went down there and found a neighbor from across the street waiting for me. This is one of the guys that we have been talking to since we first got here. He told me to come to his house. I was kinda apprehensive at first but then I realized that this is what I am here for. When I got there his wife and kids had supper waiting for us. He told me that he had remembered me talking one day about our favorite food here in Mexico. His wife and kids had prepared us a homemade traditional Mexican supper. Mandy and I spent the night eating and eating until we were stuffed!! He told me that we were so different from all the other people in the church because we would stop and ask him about his family, his kids, and ask him how he is really doing. He said that we would stop and take the time to care for him, and because of that he was welcoming us into the community. Another neighbor told us that in 18 years this family has never given anything away to anyone. We were blessed to have that warm welcome by him. He is not a Christian and makes it very clear to everyone what he believes. We were told by the church, in the beginning, to just be careful because of the clash of religions here in Mexico. Now the very people that we were told to be careful of, are the ones that have accepted us into there homes. It is so wonderful to see the hand of God working in the lives of those that He has chosen to place in our path. I feel humbles that He is using us to touch the lives of the people that are geographically close to the church that have rejected "Christianity". I have decided that they have not rejected Christianity at all, they have just rejected the lifestyle of a "Christian in the the church, but a sinner outside the church". They all want to know the true savior they are just looking at the actions of the people that call themselves Christians and are rejecting that lifestyle. This is a HUGE open door for us because we are saying the same thing. These friends are listening, and this also keeps us accountable.
I also wanted to talk a little bit about the missions trip that I just got back from and the next one that I am planning now. We went to a place called Tlapachaloya, in the mountains of Mexico. While we were there, we did a church support mission. We went to basically the end of the road to offer support to a struggling church. While we were there we did a training program for the leaders of the children's ministry (all 3 of them) and we put on a children's activity time concurrent to the adult training time. We had stations with dancing, music, arts, games, crafts, teachings, and etc. We got the whole community involved in what the church is. We also had a doctor and a dentist with us. They worked tirelessly for 3 days helping as many people at they could while they were there. There is no doctors, no hospitals, no medicine, no police, no nothing that we consider "necessity". It did however, much to my shock and horror, have Coca Cola, and Pepsi. This was a church started by a Christian missionary from the U.S. about 20 years ago and now I have the privaledge to carry on that torch a little further. The Americans are now gone, but the church still remains. It is a testament to the importance of the American people and the opportunity we have in our country to send missionaries in the middle of nowhere with the ability to help. With our technology and money in our system we are able to bless others with that and see many people enter heaven because of it. I am humbled and blessed to be a part of it.
Anyhow, we went there, and we are now planning another trip back up there. This trip however will be a bit different. We are going into that village and meeting up with the pastor. I connected well with the Dentist and he asked me if I would go with them on trips in the future. We are going under the leadership and guidance of CNM (Christ for the Nations, Mexico). We are going back to the village and putting all our stuff on pack mules, and horses. Then we are going to walk into the jungle from this village. There are mountainous tribal people that have no connection to the outside world. It is hard to think that there are people like that living so close to us, but in the jungles of Mexico they are definitely there. There is a group of 3 ladies that has been coming out of one of these villages looking for help (food and when we were there medical). They found that church was open and willing to help them, and they have accepted Christ because of it. Because we have helped them, told us that they would come out of the jungle and get us, and take us in with them. We are prayerfully considering this, and planning on going in, around the middle of Feb. Please keep us in your prayers as we work towards making this happen. We want to do medical and dental work first and foremost because most of these people have never even seen a doctor before. If this goes well and we get this accomplished we are going to go back in a few months after. Our goal is to first help with food and medical, and second reach them with the gospel. Lots of these people don't speak Spanish, but we are blessed that the doctor speaks the native tongue. God is SO AWESOME how he is connecting all our paths and making Himself famous in the world that we live in. They told me that they need someone who knows about mechanical, and electrical on there team because this is a huge problem they have with all there equipment. Keep in mind all the doctoring and dentistry equipment needs to fit on the back of a mule, but it isn't there first time doing this. They just got back from Morocco Africa doing this so it isn't completely uncommon. I will tell you more as the time draws closer.
I wanted also real quickly to tell you about the food and ministry program that we went on in the north part of the city. We were blessed to take around 30 pre-teen, and teenagers on a day of social help. We went into a part of the city that is much less fortunate than we are. I was surprised at how different parts of the city are so much different. When we were about 20 minutes away from the place that we were going (driving time) my eyes started watering, my neck started getting itchy, and I started feeling bad. This was because of the amount of pollution there. It is bad here, but it was horrible there. We blew our noses for 2 days after that and had black stuff in our Kleenex's. It was amazing! We once again did a children's ministry running stations for the kids to go through. Before that however we did a time of praise of worship to get things started right. Then after the time with the kids we went back inside and did a drama. While we were outside with the kids, the pastor of the church gave a message to the parents. We then did a drama about how it isn't important if you live on the street, or what you have, but what is in your heart is the most important thing. This was a reality for the people that we were working with. Then we fed everyone, nobody was left out. The food was not exactly what Mandy and I thought was good or actually even edible, but the people there, and our friends Loved it!! ((For all our friends from Mexico reading this, I am sorry, but in my culture, this is just wrong))They said that it was great. It was a traditional meal of spicy salsa covering soggy pig skin cut into strips. (People here love it, it just is hard for me to understand some things.) That wasn't what was important however. After they got done eating we took bags of food that we had prepared before hand, working at AINDAC. We had a bag of cereal, a kilo of beans, a kilo of sugar, powered milk, some crackers, some soup, and some candies in every bag. We then handed them out to the people as they left. This included the people that worked in the church because a lot of them were just as destitute as the people coming for the help. What a blessing that was to do. I was brought to tears as I watched the smile on the faces of the people that were going to be eating a hot meal that night. It is quite possible that except for the meal at the church this may have been the only hot meal that they have had in a long time. I have pictures of my kids drinking coffee. That is because all the kids there drink coffee. It is cheap, and warm. They have no milk, and the water needs to be boiled to kill some of the disease in it, so they just make coffee. I was amazed at all the 3, 4, and year olds drinking coffee running allover. My kids thought it was great!! This is a hard thing to grasp for us because we came from an area of such wealth and blessing. I have more photos of that on our flicker if you want to see them as well.
People often ask me what the hardest thing about living here is, and I am beginning to think that the answer to that is the injustice in this world. When we as humans begin treating people like dogs in the streets, or garbage that needs to be taken out. That is the hardest thing. I have many, many other stories about that as well, for instance my wife picking the local drunk up out of the road and cleaning the puke off his face, and giving him bread and coffee because, "He is a person before he is anything else". This has made even me stop and think, what is the hardest thing in this type of life that I live? I think it is that. Because of us living in the biggest city in the world we see the biggest crimes against humanity here, and that is the hardest thing. The thing that drives me the maddest is when it is seen in the homes of the "Christians". We are supposed to know better. I never dreamed, when I said that I would take this job, about the amount of ministering I would do in Christian homes. I should have known, but my eyes are being opened to reality the longer that I do this job.
Thank you all for the love and support that you are showing our family here. I can assure you that your prayers and sacrifices are being felt in the south of Mexico City. This is not because of how cool we are, or any amount of anything like that. It is simply because living in the center of God will in the most rewarding, most fulfilling, and the most powerful place to be. When we learn to submit to God wholeheartedly he will begin using us for the furthering of His Kingdom way beyond anything that we could hope or imagine. As the passage in the Bible says, can a pot look at its maker and say that it doesn't know what is best for it? This is the same in our lives. We cannot look at our maker and say anything about our lives except for I am Sorry, because when we pull away from Him we will always fail. But when we walk in his path, and let Him lead the way we can become a very powerful tool to reach many for His Kingdom.
I want to finish tonight repeating the words of My Lord and My Savior, "My King I worship you, not for me, but because you are worthy and you paid a price for me which is far over and above anything that I will ever have do. I dont want my will, but your will to be done, right here in this life at this point in time, just like it is being done in heaven at this time. If you choose to give to give me food and life for another day, it is yours, and if you choose to take this food, or this life from me, it is yours to take. But please forgive me from all the stupid things that I have done and all the times that I have turned my back on you and hurt you. As you forgive me, I also forgive those that done anything painful, hurtful, and evil against me. Please help me keep my eyes, my hands, my mouth, and especially my mind clean before you and free from evil. Keep me pure and search my heart O God, and know that every breath I take has your name written on it." Amen
Luke 11:2-4
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Lucas 11:2-4
Cuando oréis, decid: "Padre nuestro que estás en los cielos, santificado sea tu nombre. Venga tu Reino. Hágase tu voluntad, como en el cielo,así también en la tierra. El pan nuestro de cada día, dánoslo hoy. Perdónanos nuestros pecados,porque también nosotros perdonamosa todos los que nos deben. Y no nos metas en tentación, mas líbranos del mal".
A little catch up.
Hello have not talked in a while. Our lives have been very busy lately. I (amanda) am sick again. I think it is God way of telling us to slow down sometimes. Besides the stomach flu or food poisoning I am very blessed tobe ab;e to preach tomorrow for two services. Within the two services we will be able to talk to about 70 teenagers. God is so good. Last Sunday while we were praying in the Tripolantes group we work with, God revialed a sermon for me to preach on. Just thought that I could share it with you guys. I need to go now to get some more rest.
Blessings in His Name, Amanda
What is a Christian?
What does the world see a chrisian as?
How do we need to change? And Why?
By the help of who?
I honestly am amazed when I see someone comitt to Jesus whole heartedly. Why because of how a majority of the christians in the world present themselves. We are far from the body of believers that Jesus tells us to be like in the Bible. Now before anyone gets all upset about this comment please think of the question I asked you guys a couple weeks ago. I asked for you to look around for one week and see how many christians lived a life of love to the people around them. How many did you see? It is time for the true christians to stand out from the church crowd and start to live the life that Jesus has comanded us to live. If you did look and see people living a life of love “praise God”. But that number I can guarentee was less than one percent of the believes in Amistad alone. How is that suppose to look to people when the 99% of the church lives like the unchurched. The world has a reason not to want to become a chrisitan if they look at the so called chrisitans actions. But they don't have a excuse when they watch the life of a true born again beliver whose whole life has been transformed by the love of Christ. Why because then they would see the LOVE OF THE FATHER. This was Gods plan. He knew that the majoity would fail Him. That is why He talked about the road being narrow and that few would pass through it. Also He spoke of the great falling away in the end times. It is not because He didn't know that there would be a false religion that had nothing to do with Him. He knew it very will. It is because He knew that their would be that 1% that would truly live the life of Love. Just like He showed us when He was on this earth, and is still doing to this day.
To answer my first question “What is a Chrisitan” I want to open up in prayer first. Lets ask Jesus to reveil in our spirits the places that we are all failing in as a body of believers.
The requierment of a christian is this;
Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and Mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Then love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets are in these two commandments. Mathew 22:37
I understand that you need to believe that Jesus died on the cross for you and that He raised from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God the father. That He will come to judge the living and the dead, but after that? What are the requirements? Mathew 22:37 is the requirment. LOVE
Look at our generations. What do you see? I see a bunch of people that have been rejected from someone and they are searching for love in any place that they can find it. People see movie stars and want to be like them because they are famous, many people love them and they are never alone. How many people in this room feel the need to be loved? Raise your hands. Everyone of you feels the need to be loved because God put that in your heart. He put it there so that HE could fill you up with His love. Know can you see why God gave us the command to Love. Now if all the people who claim to be Christians did this then we would not have the reputaion that we do.
Now to answer the second question “What does the world view a Chrisitan as”
Well I was very sad to read that the four most common things were Hypocritical, Angery, Judgemental and anti-gay. Everyone of these words goes against the number one commandment the Jesus gave to us. LOVE I understand that we are suppose to confront sin but I also know we are to do it in LOVE. Chrisitans are really good at pointing a finger at someone but they forget the whole love thing when they do it. Yes we are against gay relationships but we are not against the person. Yes we are against abortion but we are not against the person. Jesus has the same kind of love for these people as He does for us, but He also has the same Hate for the sins that they do, just like He does for our sins.
Now I have another homework assignment for you this week. Instead of looking for Chrisitans who showed love for others. I want you to look in the mirror and look at yourself. See if you are the 1% christian or if you are the 99% chrisitan.
Now to answer the third question “How do we need to change and Why” This answer is simple to say but one of the most difficult to do. LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. I know that you guys all love Jesus or you wouldn't be here today. But my questions for all of us is “ARE WE LOVING JESUS THE WAY HE ASKED US TO LOVE HIM” and “ARE WE SERVING HIM THE WAY HE WANTED US TO SERVE HIM”? Why because we don't want any more people to go to hell then is need. God gave all of us a great task to help accomplish. Go out and preach the gospel to the whole world. That don't mean you have to go across the ocean but the person you withness to might need to.
Ok so how do we do this. First we need to clean house. Now by that I mean we need to know how to except love before we can give it wholeheartedly. Ask the Holy Spirit to take out all the walls that don't allow us to truly feel Gods love for us. Because we need His love to penatrate others hearts. On our own we are unable do help lead a person to Christ but with His love and His Spirit guiding us we could help change the path to hell for a person and help lead them down the road to Heaven . Like one of my friends told me “Let's make Jesus famous” Lets get rid of the religious spirit that has tried to push Jesus to the side. Lets give the world the answer that they have been asking for! Lets give the love of Jesus. Instead of us asking “Will the true Jesus please stand up”! Let's say “will the true Christian please stand out”. Let's now end in pray. I will like if my husband lead this prayer.
Blessings in His Name, Amanda
What is a Christian?
What does the world see a chrisian as?
How do we need to change? And Why?
By the help of who?
I honestly am amazed when I see someone comitt to Jesus whole heartedly. Why because of how a majority of the christians in the world present themselves. We are far from the body of believers that Jesus tells us to be like in the Bible. Now before anyone gets all upset about this comment please think of the question I asked you guys a couple weeks ago. I asked for you to look around for one week and see how many christians lived a life of love to the people around them. How many did you see? It is time for the true christians to stand out from the church crowd and start to live the life that Jesus has comanded us to live. If you did look and see people living a life of love “praise God”. But that number I can guarentee was less than one percent of the believes in Amistad alone. How is that suppose to look to people when the 99% of the church lives like the unchurched. The world has a reason not to want to become a chrisitan if they look at the so called chrisitans actions. But they don't have a excuse when they watch the life of a true born again beliver whose whole life has been transformed by the love of Christ. Why because then they would see the LOVE OF THE FATHER. This was Gods plan. He knew that the majoity would fail Him. That is why He talked about the road being narrow and that few would pass through it. Also He spoke of the great falling away in the end times. It is not because He didn't know that there would be a false religion that had nothing to do with Him. He knew it very will. It is because He knew that their would be that 1% that would truly live the life of Love. Just like He showed us when He was on this earth, and is still doing to this day.
To answer my first question “What is a Chrisitan” I want to open up in prayer first. Lets ask Jesus to reveil in our spirits the places that we are all failing in as a body of believers.
The requierment of a christian is this;
Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and Mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Then love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets are in these two commandments. Mathew 22:37
I understand that you need to believe that Jesus died on the cross for you and that He raised from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God the father. That He will come to judge the living and the dead, but after that? What are the requirements? Mathew 22:37 is the requirment. LOVE
Look at our generations. What do you see? I see a bunch of people that have been rejected from someone and they are searching for love in any place that they can find it. People see movie stars and want to be like them because they are famous, many people love them and they are never alone. How many people in this room feel the need to be loved? Raise your hands. Everyone of you feels the need to be loved because God put that in your heart. He put it there so that HE could fill you up with His love. Know can you see why God gave us the command to Love. Now if all the people who claim to be Christians did this then we would not have the reputaion that we do.
Now to answer the second question “What does the world view a Chrisitan as”
Well I was very sad to read that the four most common things were Hypocritical, Angery, Judgemental and anti-gay. Everyone of these words goes against the number one commandment the Jesus gave to us. LOVE I understand that we are suppose to confront sin but I also know we are to do it in LOVE. Chrisitans are really good at pointing a finger at someone but they forget the whole love thing when they do it. Yes we are against gay relationships but we are not against the person. Yes we are against abortion but we are not against the person. Jesus has the same kind of love for these people as He does for us, but He also has the same Hate for the sins that they do, just like He does for our sins.
Now I have another homework assignment for you this week. Instead of looking for Chrisitans who showed love for others. I want you to look in the mirror and look at yourself. See if you are the 1% christian or if you are the 99% chrisitan.
Now to answer the third question “How do we need to change and Why” This answer is simple to say but one of the most difficult to do. LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. I know that you guys all love Jesus or you wouldn't be here today. But my questions for all of us is “ARE WE LOVING JESUS THE WAY HE ASKED US TO LOVE HIM” and “ARE WE SERVING HIM THE WAY HE WANTED US TO SERVE HIM”? Why because we don't want any more people to go to hell then is need. God gave all of us a great task to help accomplish. Go out and preach the gospel to the whole world. That don't mean you have to go across the ocean but the person you withness to might need to.
Ok so how do we do this. First we need to clean house. Now by that I mean we need to know how to except love before we can give it wholeheartedly. Ask the Holy Spirit to take out all the walls that don't allow us to truly feel Gods love for us. Because we need His love to penatrate others hearts. On our own we are unable do help lead a person to Christ but with His love and His Spirit guiding us we could help change the path to hell for a person and help lead them down the road to Heaven . Like one of my friends told me “Let's make Jesus famous” Lets get rid of the religious spirit that has tried to push Jesus to the side. Lets give the world the answer that they have been asking for! Lets give the love of Jesus. Instead of us asking “Will the true Jesus please stand up”! Let's say “will the true Christian please stand out”. Let's now end in pray. I will like if my husband lead this prayer.
Friday, November 21, 2008
A blessing from the people we are here to love:)
Here is a song that one of our friends in Acapulco sent us. See said that whenever she hears this song she thinks of our lives. Thanks you Jesus for the encouragement that you send us throught the people you have placed so dearly to our hearts. Many blessing to all of you back home and we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving:) Truley give thanks for all that God has given you. Many Blessings, Amanda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m36OWibR6nk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m36OWibR6nk
Monday, November 10, 2008
time to think
As I sat here tonight thinking about life and what we are experiencing here in Mexico I am beginning to see a face of God emerge that is totally different than anything that I have ever seen, thought, focused my attention on, or even dreamed about. I was always raised to see the importance of the things around me, and to make sure and provide for my family, and do all that I can do to make sure that they have enough. Then I was confronted with something totally out of this world. God began by showing us the things that are truely important; family, friends, accountability, and most of all Him. This is nothing new to me, or really any of us. Then I was confronted with the idea of having to do without. This idea I have been thinking about recently and pondering while we have been living here. What would happen if the financial markets fell out, what would happen if our country imploded, what would become of Mexico, and what would become of us living here. There is so much to do, so many to disciple, so many to help! This is what was so different for me to sit and ponder. I was not worrying, just talking to God about it as I contemplated what we would do, how we would live and etc. This quickly became the main topic of my prayers. I wanted God to show me what He though about this, then graciously gave me my answer, by the people around me, what living without is like. We have to admit that while mandy and I live in what is considered a third world country, we still have the availability to the USA if need be, and living in Mexico City we still have a WalMart, and Sears. This is no shocking revelation, or new news, but then God let me spend some time with people that literally have nothing. Let me tell you a little about this.
We were able to go help out a place that has people that literally have nothing. Kids coming up without shoes, with old clothes, but with big smiles on there faces. They have nothing earthly that we as productive citazens of society strive after, but they have Jesus. I was astounded at the idea of this, so I began asking questions. What I found out was that these kids do not actually live in the cities. They are native kids from mountain villages where they live like they have for hundreds or maybe thousands of years. I began asking them how things were going in the little villages where they lived and they began telling me stories that are incredable. I later began asking the adults in charge about the stories that they told me, and here is what the adults told me. Jesus is alive and real. He hasn't forgot about the people that the rest of the world has forgotten about. Jesus has been showing himself to the people in the rural villages, and they are getting saved, day after day, more and more people turning from there demon worship after a divine visitation from God. Jesus has been meeting kids in there bedrooms, in dreams, sometime actually there standing in front of them, while they are out in the woods, Jesus is coming and meeting them. Or sometime He calls them to a place where He is there waiting for them. One kids felt inside of him that Jesus was there and was running all over looking for Him. He ran all over the village looking for Jesus, because he just knew that Jesus was there. Finally he found Him, or Jesus ound him. Jesus has been telling them about how they are worshipping false Gods and they need to turn and leave that behind and follow Him. These are real occurences, and they are truning to the christians looking for discipleship and training because they are so hungry to know about this guy that they visited with. No just a single case, but many cases. The people that we were helping are now, are going there, to these villages (2 hours driving one way) to share about Jesus with them. One day in a little vilage they decided to hold a meeting to tell just kids about the love of Jesus, and they had over 400 people show up. You need to understand that most of the villages up there are little, and 400 people showed up!!! I was talking to a couple of kids 8 years old, and 10 years old and they kept wanting to talk about the bible so I asked them what they already knew so we could skip that part. They told me about the two parts of the Bible, the new and old testament. Then they told me how many books the bible has, and what they all were called. Then they went on to tell me in what language they were originally written in, and who wrote them, and they they started telling me, from memory, different verses of the Bible!!! Here is what I found most amazing of all, they didnt help each other, they had it memorized, both of them!!! These kids 8 years old, and 10 years old knew more about the Bible than me and most Bible teachers that I know. I asked myself how is this possible????? And I was shown the answer a little later in the night. Later that evening I was talking to a man that has dedicated his life to doing what we are now involved in, and he told me that he makes it a priority to spend atleat 3 days a week teaching these kids the Bible. They are so hungry to hear about Jesus they are taking parts of the Bible and memorizing it. They know that that face of Jesus is found on the pages of this incredable book, and that through Him and His Holy word they will find life, and life more abundantly.
As I have been praying about my life and how I can make the most impact what I am still alivem and what is truely important, God has been revealing that it is not about what we have and dont have that makes us who we are, it is Him who gives us our identity. Then finally, when I think that He felt I was ready, He showed me how much of an absolutely impossible task it is to actually think that I can provide anything for my family. According to the words of God, "My words will not return to me void, I make things happen that I want to happen, and I make them do things that I want to do". This I memorized years ago but the significance of it hit me like a Japanese gong. If God wants to give me a cattle on a thousand hills, and a house worth 10 million dollars, then He is going to do it, and there is NOTHING that WE can do for it, or against it. The same is true for the opposite, if God wants to withhold the things in life that make us "blessed" as we call it, He will do just that. We absolutely cannot sway the desires of God one little bit. What God wants, He gets, and that is that! These kids have shown me what a true blessing life is. When they dont have boots, or even shoes, to cover there feet in the winter snow, they are smiling. When they are wearing a t-shirt and it is only 20 deg. outside, they are still smiling. And when we pulled up in a vehicle full of cloths, and shoes, and other things, there was no pushing, pulling, fighting, crying, or anything, they just respectfully accepted what we gave, thanked us and then thanked God.
As I stood there in a dirty field, with sweat dripping off my foreheard, listening to the sound of worship music playing in the background in the church, watching my kids playing soccer in an open field with all the local kids, and watching the joy on the faces of the moms and dads, uncles, and brothers, daughters, and counsins. Listening to sounds of laughter and people swapping cloths for a size a little closer to something that they might wear, I thanked God for the amazing amount of Joy, Love, Peace, Goodness, Giving, and Life that He pours out on the people that He loves.
There is a song here that we sing in spanish that says, "Thank you, thank you for everything, for your love, for your salvation, and for the cross" These are the words that are now resounding through my body as I walk the streets of this city, and as I put my hands to the work that we are doing here. I have a new, revived energy to get the most out of every day, and every minute of every day to make sure that Jesus is made famous throughout my little part of the word that He has given me. No compramise, No change, No backing down.
We were able to go help out a place that has people that literally have nothing. Kids coming up without shoes, with old clothes, but with big smiles on there faces. They have nothing earthly that we as productive citazens of society strive after, but they have Jesus. I was astounded at the idea of this, so I began asking questions. What I found out was that these kids do not actually live in the cities. They are native kids from mountain villages where they live like they have for hundreds or maybe thousands of years. I began asking them how things were going in the little villages where they lived and they began telling me stories that are incredable. I later began asking the adults in charge about the stories that they told me, and here is what the adults told me. Jesus is alive and real. He hasn't forgot about the people that the rest of the world has forgotten about. Jesus has been showing himself to the people in the rural villages, and they are getting saved, day after day, more and more people turning from there demon worship after a divine visitation from God. Jesus has been meeting kids in there bedrooms, in dreams, sometime actually there standing in front of them, while they are out in the woods, Jesus is coming and meeting them. Or sometime He calls them to a place where He is there waiting for them. One kids felt inside of him that Jesus was there and was running all over looking for Him. He ran all over the village looking for Jesus, because he just knew that Jesus was there. Finally he found Him, or Jesus ound him. Jesus has been telling them about how they are worshipping false Gods and they need to turn and leave that behind and follow Him. These are real occurences, and they are truning to the christians looking for discipleship and training because they are so hungry to know about this guy that they visited with. No just a single case, but many cases. The people that we were helping are now, are going there, to these villages (2 hours driving one way) to share about Jesus with them. One day in a little vilage they decided to hold a meeting to tell just kids about the love of Jesus, and they had over 400 people show up. You need to understand that most of the villages up there are little, and 400 people showed up!!! I was talking to a couple of kids 8 years old, and 10 years old and they kept wanting to talk about the bible so I asked them what they already knew so we could skip that part. They told me about the two parts of the Bible, the new and old testament. Then they told me how many books the bible has, and what they all were called. Then they went on to tell me in what language they were originally written in, and who wrote them, and they they started telling me, from memory, different verses of the Bible!!! Here is what I found most amazing of all, they didnt help each other, they had it memorized, both of them!!! These kids 8 years old, and 10 years old knew more about the Bible than me and most Bible teachers that I know. I asked myself how is this possible????? And I was shown the answer a little later in the night. Later that evening I was talking to a man that has dedicated his life to doing what we are now involved in, and he told me that he makes it a priority to spend atleat 3 days a week teaching these kids the Bible. They are so hungry to hear about Jesus they are taking parts of the Bible and memorizing it. They know that that face of Jesus is found on the pages of this incredable book, and that through Him and His Holy word they will find life, and life more abundantly.
As I have been praying about my life and how I can make the most impact what I am still alivem and what is truely important, God has been revealing that it is not about what we have and dont have that makes us who we are, it is Him who gives us our identity. Then finally, when I think that He felt I was ready, He showed me how much of an absolutely impossible task it is to actually think that I can provide anything for my family. According to the words of God, "My words will not return to me void, I make things happen that I want to happen, and I make them do things that I want to do". This I memorized years ago but the significance of it hit me like a Japanese gong. If God wants to give me a cattle on a thousand hills, and a house worth 10 million dollars, then He is going to do it, and there is NOTHING that WE can do for it, or against it. The same is true for the opposite, if God wants to withhold the things in life that make us "blessed" as we call it, He will do just that. We absolutely cannot sway the desires of God one little bit. What God wants, He gets, and that is that! These kids have shown me what a true blessing life is. When they dont have boots, or even shoes, to cover there feet in the winter snow, they are smiling. When they are wearing a t-shirt and it is only 20 deg. outside, they are still smiling. And when we pulled up in a vehicle full of cloths, and shoes, and other things, there was no pushing, pulling, fighting, crying, or anything, they just respectfully accepted what we gave, thanked us and then thanked God.
As I stood there in a dirty field, with sweat dripping off my foreheard, listening to the sound of worship music playing in the background in the church, watching my kids playing soccer in an open field with all the local kids, and watching the joy on the faces of the moms and dads, uncles, and brothers, daughters, and counsins. Listening to sounds of laughter and people swapping cloths for a size a little closer to something that they might wear, I thanked God for the amazing amount of Joy, Love, Peace, Goodness, Giving, and Life that He pours out on the people that He loves.
There is a song here that we sing in spanish that says, "Thank you, thank you for everything, for your love, for your salvation, and for the cross" These are the words that are now resounding through my body as I walk the streets of this city, and as I put my hands to the work that we are doing here. I have a new, revived energy to get the most out of every day, and every minute of every day to make sure that Jesus is made famous throughout my little part of the word that He has given me. No compramise, No change, No backing down.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
A little catch up.
We have not wrote in a little while. We have been very busy at our home lately. Last weekend we had twenty teenagers spend the night with us on Oct. 31. We celebrated a night of life instead of a night of death. On Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2 Mexico celebrated it most famous holiday. It is called el dia de muertos (the day of the dead). We had a great time with this awesome group of teens. Needless to say we were very tired the next day but we were blessed right after the teens left to be able to go and hand out clothes to a shelter that our ministry helps with. This was a awesome experience for us and our daughters. God did many great things there and He was glorified. We have many pictures on our flicker account if you would like to see how our last weekend went.
Now for this weekend we were able to go to another town and hand out clothes, food, and help with another ministry our ministry provides supplies for. This has been our favorite place we have worked in. We are so blessed to have the boss that we have. Him and his wife have really taken us under there wings and blessed us with their family. This is also a great time for us and our spanish because none of them know english. Makes for some really memorable times. Then after being in the viliage for the day on Saturday we went to one of our friends birthday party. This woman is such a awesome person to us and we truly love that the Lord has blessed with her. She is searching for God in a way that I wish many people would. He is always faithful to the people who love Him.
We are very tired after our busy weekend. We were able to rest after our work with the teenagers this morning and after church. We are very thankful for these times of rest as a family. Our daughters always make us laugh and smile on these days of blessings. Please be in prayer for us for this very busy week we are coming upon. We have to have all our donations bagged and ready for our annual social help day coming up next Monday. There are around two thousand bags we need to prepare. Also Ross will be leaving for a missions trip on Friday through Sunday with the teenagers to a little village. We will write later to inform you with more information on these ministrys. Many blessings to you all and thanks again for your continued support of our ministry the Lord has placed us in. Amanda
Now for this weekend we were able to go to another town and hand out clothes, food, and help with another ministry our ministry provides supplies for. This has been our favorite place we have worked in. We are so blessed to have the boss that we have. Him and his wife have really taken us under there wings and blessed us with their family. This is also a great time for us and our spanish because none of them know english. Makes for some really memorable times. Then after being in the viliage for the day on Saturday we went to one of our friends birthday party. This woman is such a awesome person to us and we truly love that the Lord has blessed with her. She is searching for God in a way that I wish many people would. He is always faithful to the people who love Him.
We are very tired after our busy weekend. We were able to rest after our work with the teenagers this morning and after church. We are very thankful for these times of rest as a family. Our daughters always make us laugh and smile on these days of blessings. Please be in prayer for us for this very busy week we are coming upon. We have to have all our donations bagged and ready for our annual social help day coming up next Monday. There are around two thousand bags we need to prepare. Also Ross will be leaving for a missions trip on Friday through Sunday with the teenagers to a little village. We will write later to inform you with more information on these ministrys. Many blessings to you all and thanks again for your continued support of our ministry the Lord has placed us in. Amanda
Monday, November 03, 2008
The last of the questions from the teen in Acapulco
Here ya go. Hope they are informative for you. If you would like to comment on any of them please send a reply back to us. We would love to hear your input alsoo. This is the way we learn from each other. Iron sharpens iron. Later Amanda
Where do animal go when they die? Do they have spirits?
Animals simply die when they die. God made them a part of creation. Animals do have souls. We know this because they can think, feel, simulate love but they cannot truly love like humans can. They do not have spirits. You need to understand that God made man in His image. Not animals, trees and nature. This is all part of creation. This is a big difference. In the end all of creation will be made perfect and whole just like it was in the Garden of Eden. This is why we are alowed to eat animals and it is not wrong. Animal do not understand the concept of death. Please know that this does not allow us to be cruel to animal though. God says to take care of them and tend to them. When someone kills an animal for any reasons other than to eat them, we need to look at that person and see why they choose to do the things that they are to that animals. If people are hurting animal just to hurt them they are probably dealing with other issues in there heart.
How can I know when God is talking to me?
One way is by knowing the scriptures. God will never go against His word. If you are told to do something that the Bible says is wrong, it is not the Holy Spirit talking to you. You have to first start to trust in God in the small things. Some people would call Gods voice your conscience, but we as Christians know it is Gods voice. It is most likely not going to be a voice that booms down from Heaven. It can happen like this, but more than likely not. It is that voice that is inside of you that helps you make your everyday decisions. You can go against this voice and that is usually when you choose to sin and do something wrong that you feel is wrong. That is why when you choose to sin and you feel like you did something wrong or you feel bad about the choice you made. Gods choice will always lead you to peace in the end. God is not fear or chaos. He is a God of order and peace.
Are all the mental disease in the world spiritual problems?
No this is a good lie for Satan to get you scarred that there is a demon under every rock and around every corner. This way you will become fearful and for you to not understand the true power we have in God over demons. Yes obviously some of the mental diseases are caused by demons. It says it in the Bible, but why would God have given humans the knowledge to make medicines for these conditions. Some are simple chemical conditions in the brain. This is because the fall of man. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden sickness and pain came upon mankind. The choice was made by man not God. He intended to live in perfect harmony with mankind but we chose to disobey His commands. So with telling you this you also need to know that God can choose to heal these conditions. He has the power to do that. Have faith and talk to your Heavenly Father. He will talk back to you. Please also know this about depression our choices can be the cause of this disease. If we continually choose to sin against God and do the things He tells us not to do, depression can eventually come from this. Not because God is striking down punishment on you, but because He tells us not do these things because He knows what they lead to. Example: if you are having sex before marriage then your heart can be broken from that person. You gave a piece of yourself to that person. If you continue to keep giving pieces to people you are going to eventually have a broken heart. He tells us not to do this because He cares and doesn't want us to be hurt.
Can we be discriminated by the way we dress in church? Can we be seen as a bad infulence by the way we dress?
Ok yes and yes are your answers. I wish that the people in the church would confront people more often about this issue. Have you looked at the church women lately? You never know the difference from the Christians and the non-Christians anymore. If a woman has her goods hanging out, how are men around her suppose to be able to worship with a clear mind? We are suppose to be set apart from the world not the same as them. You may also be coming at this from a different perspective so I am going to also write about the other angle. There is also a difference in generations we have to look at. The older generations might not like the way you dress because they think you look sloppy. This is where the generations need to realize they are different and not everything is going to look the same. The older generations need to learn they are not in the 50s anymore and the younger generations need to learn how to respect the older generations. The new look now is all black and skulls and crossbones. This is one I would have to take the older generations side on. If you look dark they are probably going to think you are living that way. I love to where dark clothes but if you like that style you need to show them with your life that you don't believe in darkness, not just with your words. If you are living the true life of a Christian then they problably won't question you on this. But if you are living a luke warm christian life then they have reason to question. This all comes down to the way you live your life and the Christian testimony you show to people. This is why a relationship is important not a religion. If people your age would realize this, then your generation would be the one to help change the world of religion. You decide!!!!! OK with the skulls in this generation I do believe you need to skip this style. If you are a child of the light then you will not want to be associated with death. This can from a generations that is hurting and that death is try to destroy. Don't buy into this style. This is not the way of God. It is another spirit that you are suppost to be fighting against, and not by sporting its style. Think about it!
Why do many people laugh at the sins of other people?
Because they are ignorant and are not acting like a real Christian. People who are not christians love sin and they love to watch others fail. This is a good way for you to look at a person and see if they are truly a Christian or if they are just talking the talk. You need to be able to confront this person in love. If you don't pray first about confronting this person you will not have the Holy Spirit guiding your words. Read Matthew 18:15-17.The church has become a den of hypocrites, because they are not running the church how God tells us to. We shouldn't be supprised that the world doesn't want to hear what we have to tell them. True Christians need to step up to the plate and start living the life of Christ. I am so tired of luke warm christians it make me sick. This is why Jesus says if you are luke warm He is going to vomite them out of His mouth. Make sure you don't fit into this category! Your future depends on it!
Why do people with high positions in the church laugh at others when they are the ones who helped make them sin?
This also goes along with the last answer. Our churches need to go back to what the Bible has to say about its leaders and deacons. The church is not a place for a popularity contest. It is suppose to be the House of God. We are to follow His way on how to chose the leadership of our churches. This is found in 1 Timonthy 3:1-16.
How do I stand up in a difficult moment?
By testing your faith in everyday choices. This goes back again to what we drilled inside of you guys over the youth conference. It is not a religion it is a relationship. If you are only wanting a piece of Jesus during church, church events and to please your parents. You will never be able to stand strongh during times of troubles. Jesus is picking our His followers now during this time in history. Find out who this Jesus really is to you, and how He fits into your life. Be in prayer and thanksgiving during the easy times. So that you will stand strongh during the difficult times.
Is it true that God don't forget all the sin that we do just so we can remember how He saved us?
No this is not true. In the bible God tells us in Psalm 103:12 “ As far as the east is from the west, that's how far He has removed our transgressions(sins) from us”. He also give a lot more verses that say this. Now this doesn't mean that you will not have to deal with the consequences of your actions. This means that He will not remember them on the day of Judgement. Even if you were a chrisitan your whole life and have always been a good person. You still have to give Him thanks and remember what He did for you. You are a human and because of the sin of mankind you were born into sin. You didn't need to do something really bad for you to have to remember to give thanks to God. Giving thanks is an act of worship which we are to do nonstop. The only sin that will not be forgiven is to blasphemy the Holy Spirit. I am sure that you have not done this one. One thing I do want to say is Jesus died for all of mankinds sins so we wouldn't have to. He didn't die in vain. Remember He died for you. Keep this in mind. It will help you to remember to give Him Glory.
How will I know if I am a good servant of God?
If you are living like Jesus did in the Bible! Have you ever wondered why we call Jesus Lord? This is a very powerful word. A Lord is someone over us. Someone we will serve, obey, give honor, and do whatever is told of us to do. Think of the knights who served a king. They were loyal, trustworthy, honest and would died to defend the king and his kingdom. Do you live this way for God? This is what HE asks of us as His servants. Here are a couple verses that talks about a servant in the Bible. 1 Timothy 4:6-10 and Luke 19:17. Here is a poem that I hold very close to my heart. This is why I live the life that I do so that one day I might hear this from my King.
Welcome home my child, My son your work on earth has been well done. You have been a witness to many while on this earth. And you've shared the story of My miracle birth. You never hid the fact that you loved Me. You shared My Word no matter what the need might be. You spoke of me often to family and friends, and you showed how faith can streghten and often mends. You did your best to always give the glory to me; And, for this you will live eternally. And now the time has come for you to rest; I'm taking you home as my special guest. Welcome home My child, My son – your work on earth has been well done.
I was very hypocritical with so many people and I feel terrible. How do I make this right?
Well first of you have to be humble. Which it sounds like you are already trying to do. Admit that you were wrong and vow not to do it again. This is a question that I wish more people would ask more often. If people are not willing to hear you, then that is not your problem. It will become your problem again if you don't keep your word. Remember your word is your life. You are not to vow to anything because nothing is really truly yours to vow against. It all belongs to God. When you speak let it be like you are talking to God. This will help you be accountable to others. Remember that you are held accountable to God and not man. If they will not hear you will at least know your are right with the person that really matters. If they do hear you, then you need to forgive them completely and then forgive yourself.
I just wanted to thank you guys for such a awesome 8 days. You are all great young adults. We hope to get to spend sometime with you again soon. If you have any other questions please feel free to write us or call us anytime day or night. Blessing in His Name. Amanda Johnston
Where do animal go when they die? Do they have spirits?
Animals simply die when they die. God made them a part of creation. Animals do have souls. We know this because they can think, feel, simulate love but they cannot truly love like humans can. They do not have spirits. You need to understand that God made man in His image. Not animals, trees and nature. This is all part of creation. This is a big difference. In the end all of creation will be made perfect and whole just like it was in the Garden of Eden. This is why we are alowed to eat animals and it is not wrong. Animal do not understand the concept of death. Please know that this does not allow us to be cruel to animal though. God says to take care of them and tend to them. When someone kills an animal for any reasons other than to eat them, we need to look at that person and see why they choose to do the things that they are to that animals. If people are hurting animal just to hurt them they are probably dealing with other issues in there heart.
How can I know when God is talking to me?
One way is by knowing the scriptures. God will never go against His word. If you are told to do something that the Bible says is wrong, it is not the Holy Spirit talking to you. You have to first start to trust in God in the small things. Some people would call Gods voice your conscience, but we as Christians know it is Gods voice. It is most likely not going to be a voice that booms down from Heaven. It can happen like this, but more than likely not. It is that voice that is inside of you that helps you make your everyday decisions. You can go against this voice and that is usually when you choose to sin and do something wrong that you feel is wrong. That is why when you choose to sin and you feel like you did something wrong or you feel bad about the choice you made. Gods choice will always lead you to peace in the end. God is not fear or chaos. He is a God of order and peace.
Are all the mental disease in the world spiritual problems?
No this is a good lie for Satan to get you scarred that there is a demon under every rock and around every corner. This way you will become fearful and for you to not understand the true power we have in God over demons. Yes obviously some of the mental diseases are caused by demons. It says it in the Bible, but why would God have given humans the knowledge to make medicines for these conditions. Some are simple chemical conditions in the brain. This is because the fall of man. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden sickness and pain came upon mankind. The choice was made by man not God. He intended to live in perfect harmony with mankind but we chose to disobey His commands. So with telling you this you also need to know that God can choose to heal these conditions. He has the power to do that. Have faith and talk to your Heavenly Father. He will talk back to you. Please also know this about depression our choices can be the cause of this disease. If we continually choose to sin against God and do the things He tells us not to do, depression can eventually come from this. Not because God is striking down punishment on you, but because He tells us not do these things because He knows what they lead to. Example: if you are having sex before marriage then your heart can be broken from that person. You gave a piece of yourself to that person. If you continue to keep giving pieces to people you are going to eventually have a broken heart. He tells us not to do this because He cares and doesn't want us to be hurt.
Can we be discriminated by the way we dress in church? Can we be seen as a bad infulence by the way we dress?
Ok yes and yes are your answers. I wish that the people in the church would confront people more often about this issue. Have you looked at the church women lately? You never know the difference from the Christians and the non-Christians anymore. If a woman has her goods hanging out, how are men around her suppose to be able to worship with a clear mind? We are suppose to be set apart from the world not the same as them. You may also be coming at this from a different perspective so I am going to also write about the other angle. There is also a difference in generations we have to look at. The older generations might not like the way you dress because they think you look sloppy. This is where the generations need to realize they are different and not everything is going to look the same. The older generations need to learn they are not in the 50s anymore and the younger generations need to learn how to respect the older generations. The new look now is all black and skulls and crossbones. This is one I would have to take the older generations side on. If you look dark they are probably going to think you are living that way. I love to where dark clothes but if you like that style you need to show them with your life that you don't believe in darkness, not just with your words. If you are living the true life of a Christian then they problably won't question you on this. But if you are living a luke warm christian life then they have reason to question. This all comes down to the way you live your life and the Christian testimony you show to people. This is why a relationship is important not a religion. If people your age would realize this, then your generation would be the one to help change the world of religion. You decide!!!!! OK with the skulls in this generation I do believe you need to skip this style. If you are a child of the light then you will not want to be associated with death. This can from a generations that is hurting and that death is try to destroy. Don't buy into this style. This is not the way of God. It is another spirit that you are suppost to be fighting against, and not by sporting its style. Think about it!
Why do many people laugh at the sins of other people?
Because they are ignorant and are not acting like a real Christian. People who are not christians love sin and they love to watch others fail. This is a good way for you to look at a person and see if they are truly a Christian or if they are just talking the talk. You need to be able to confront this person in love. If you don't pray first about confronting this person you will not have the Holy Spirit guiding your words. Read Matthew 18:15-17.The church has become a den of hypocrites, because they are not running the church how God tells us to. We shouldn't be supprised that the world doesn't want to hear what we have to tell them. True Christians need to step up to the plate and start living the life of Christ. I am so tired of luke warm christians it make me sick. This is why Jesus says if you are luke warm He is going to vomite them out of His mouth. Make sure you don't fit into this category! Your future depends on it!
Why do people with high positions in the church laugh at others when they are the ones who helped make them sin?
This also goes along with the last answer. Our churches need to go back to what the Bible has to say about its leaders and deacons. The church is not a place for a popularity contest. It is suppose to be the House of God. We are to follow His way on how to chose the leadership of our churches. This is found in 1 Timonthy 3:1-16.
How do I stand up in a difficult moment?
By testing your faith in everyday choices. This goes back again to what we drilled inside of you guys over the youth conference. It is not a religion it is a relationship. If you are only wanting a piece of Jesus during church, church events and to please your parents. You will never be able to stand strongh during times of troubles. Jesus is picking our His followers now during this time in history. Find out who this Jesus really is to you, and how He fits into your life. Be in prayer and thanksgiving during the easy times. So that you will stand strongh during the difficult times.
Is it true that God don't forget all the sin that we do just so we can remember how He saved us?
No this is not true. In the bible God tells us in Psalm 103:12 “ As far as the east is from the west, that's how far He has removed our transgressions(sins) from us”. He also give a lot more verses that say this. Now this doesn't mean that you will not have to deal with the consequences of your actions. This means that He will not remember them on the day of Judgement. Even if you were a chrisitan your whole life and have always been a good person. You still have to give Him thanks and remember what He did for you. You are a human and because of the sin of mankind you were born into sin. You didn't need to do something really bad for you to have to remember to give thanks to God. Giving thanks is an act of worship which we are to do nonstop. The only sin that will not be forgiven is to blasphemy the Holy Spirit. I am sure that you have not done this one. One thing I do want to say is Jesus died for all of mankinds sins so we wouldn't have to. He didn't die in vain. Remember He died for you. Keep this in mind. It will help you to remember to give Him Glory.
How will I know if I am a good servant of God?
If you are living like Jesus did in the Bible! Have you ever wondered why we call Jesus Lord? This is a very powerful word. A Lord is someone over us. Someone we will serve, obey, give honor, and do whatever is told of us to do. Think of the knights who served a king. They were loyal, trustworthy, honest and would died to defend the king and his kingdom. Do you live this way for God? This is what HE asks of us as His servants. Here are a couple verses that talks about a servant in the Bible. 1 Timothy 4:6-10 and Luke 19:17. Here is a poem that I hold very close to my heart. This is why I live the life that I do so that one day I might hear this from my King.
Welcome home my child, My son your work on earth has been well done. You have been a witness to many while on this earth. And you've shared the story of My miracle birth. You never hid the fact that you loved Me. You shared My Word no matter what the need might be. You spoke of me often to family and friends, and you showed how faith can streghten and often mends. You did your best to always give the glory to me; And, for this you will live eternally. And now the time has come for you to rest; I'm taking you home as my special guest. Welcome home My child, My son – your work on earth has been well done.
I was very hypocritical with so many people and I feel terrible. How do I make this right?
Well first of you have to be humble. Which it sounds like you are already trying to do. Admit that you were wrong and vow not to do it again. This is a question that I wish more people would ask more often. If people are not willing to hear you, then that is not your problem. It will become your problem again if you don't keep your word. Remember your word is your life. You are not to vow to anything because nothing is really truly yours to vow against. It all belongs to God. When you speak let it be like you are talking to God. This will help you be accountable to others. Remember that you are held accountable to God and not man. If they will not hear you will at least know your are right with the person that really matters. If they do hear you, then you need to forgive them completely and then forgive yourself.
I just wanted to thank you guys for such a awesome 8 days. You are all great young adults. We hope to get to spend sometime with you again soon. If you have any other questions please feel free to write us or call us anytime day or night. Blessing in His Name. Amanda Johnston
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Using circumstances around us to learn about God
I really want to blog this time about what God has been teaching me lately. He has been teaching me about using the circumstances aroud us to propel us forward in our relationship with Him. The question that I have been asking is what does it take to live a life of excellence and not settling for a life of mediocrity. The first thing that I seen is that we need to be willing to have a change of heart before God will do anything with our lives. One thing that I am learning is that God is a gentlemen. In this day in age that we live in, commonly called the age of grace, God will not force himself on anyone. I have been asking somethings about our lives and why they are there. The answers that I have been getting are not what I was expecting. Instead of an easy answer, like I was expecting, God began showing me some negative things and how to turn them around for the positive. This is a concept that is not new, and I guess you could say that I am a slow learner. They are similar to ancient martial arts concepts. Using the force of your enemy against them. These things teach patience and perseverence, which is the only thing that will carry us through in these trying time that we live. I know that there are alot of people out there that are very worried about the financial market and what is going on with the politics in our country. These things I also spend a lot of time thinking about as well, but God has been showing me that it is not up to me to worry about it. Showing me that His will is being done in the world no matter what. Then I was given somethings that we might be able to use in our daily live. It is not much more than a paridime view. For example, we can us a time of trial, also as a time to learn perseverance.Also problems create perseverance, and in a time of what we feel as if we are defeated to learn about how to handle victories. We need to check our intentions and then we will learn consistancy, and also a time of cronic testing to learn to live in a state of constant fighting. This will produce a life of excellence and not a life of mediocracy. This is all fine and good and then I realized that in order to achieve that place, we need to go through those times of testing first. This is best seen in the world around us at the wellness centers. What does it take to make muscle??? This is the same with "spiritual muscle". I am learning to be quiet and still before God, and wait on Him for whatever comes my way.
I need to go now and get to bed and rest. I am so tired after the last few days of hosting parties, and a missions trip and other things. We have posted some new photos on our flickr account so you can see some of what we have been doing lately. Thank you for all of your support and for prayer. We have had some attacks lately from the enamy because he is scared. This means that we are making ground and pushing the kingdom forawd. We do need prayer for continued protection and provion while we push back the darkness and reveal the light.
I need to go now and get to bed and rest. I am so tired after the last few days of hosting parties, and a missions trip and other things. We have posted some new photos on our flickr account so you can see some of what we have been doing lately. Thank you for all of your support and for prayer. We have had some attacks lately from the enamy because he is scared. This means that we are making ground and pushing the kingdom forawd. We do need prayer for continued protection and provion while we push back the darkness and reveal the light.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Very fast update
Hello again, I am sorry that it has been a few days since we have had time to sit down and do this. We are very busy with all that is going on here. We are planning times for people to come over and hang out this weekend, also teaching english, hosting a bible study, and also working with AINDOC. We are very busy right now planning a day of social help in the community. Aindoc is heading a day of social help on the 17th of November and we need gifts for around 1000 people, and food and bathroom supplies and many other things. Anyhow we are planning on about 25 youth this weekfor for a sleepover during the night of the 31st and 1st. Please keep us in your prayers as we are planning on doing this. Today we had 18 other youth over for a day of American Food Cooking class headed up by Amanda. It was fun and I think that most of them enjoyed the mashed potatoes, with meatballs and gravy. It was hard to think about what food we could serve that is authentic American. Well, we will have more time to sit down and tell you about the weekend and what is happening there early next week.
I need to keep this short because I am very tired and need to get to bed. I took another missionary about 1 hour from here this morning at 5:30am so I am starting to feel it. Last night we only got about 4 1/2 or 5 hours of sleep because we had Bible study last night as well.
I wanted to let you know that we have a new video online at our youtube account that was made by Amistad Christian, and Colegio Patria Juarez (the girls school) and it has the students from the school in it so we wanted to share it with you. It made us cry and we were so blessed to be able to get a copy of it. God is really blessing our family by allowing us the opertunity to live and work for Him in this wonderful country. Thank you all for your prayers and we will blog again soon. God Bless You All!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is the video
or follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/heartformissions
I need to keep this short because I am very tired and need to get to bed. I took another missionary about 1 hour from here this morning at 5:30am so I am starting to feel it. Last night we only got about 4 1/2 or 5 hours of sleep because we had Bible study last night as well.
I wanted to let you know that we have a new video online at our youtube account that was made by Amistad Christian, and Colegio Patria Juarez (the girls school) and it has the students from the school in it so we wanted to share it with you. It made us cry and we were so blessed to be able to get a copy of it. God is really blessing our family by allowing us the opertunity to live and work for Him in this wonderful country. Thank you all for your prayers and we will blog again soon. God Bless You All!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is the video
or follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/heartformissions
Monday, October 13, 2008
Catch the Fire.
Hello, I am sorry that it has been awhile since I have had time to write. Thank you Jesus that my beautiful wife is here for me, keeping up on all this. We have been so busy with the donations at AINDOC, and now for the last week, this week, and next week I am teaching english in the school system here (PLEASE PRAY FOR ME!!!!!!!) J/K. It actually has been very great. We were talking about rock stars the other day and there assignment was to write down what rock stars do, as rock stars! This was interresting, but thankfully I had did my homework and was able to show the negative side of being a star. I told them about the drugs, and the influence of the occult, the disease's and other things. This was an AWESOME opportunity to show the life of Christ and what he wants for us. I told them that many of the rules that are put in place by Jehova are not for Him, but for us!! To save us from the pain!! There eyes were glued and I had 18, 12 and 13 year old students not saying a word!! God is so good. There are many more things to add, but that is not what I wanted to write about tonight. I wanted to say thank you to Jesus for providing us that opportunity to be here doing this work. The other day I got a message from a girl that is becoming more of apart of our family everyday. We just love her so much and are so excited to see how God is moving in the hearts of the people here. I received permission from her to post this so you all can see how people are crying out for God. This is not the first time that we have heard something like this, this is just the first time that I have received permission to share it with the world, and all of you. (I deleted anything that might give away who she is, for her privacy.) Here is what it said,
This is why our family is here. The other day I was walking around the house complaining about something and then I realised the blessing that God has given us. I was brought to tears this weekend when we were with some friends and I realized again the life that God is blessing us with. We are able to take that blessing and like the Bible says, it is a cup overflowing. We cannot help but share the love of Jesus with those around us. It is truly like a fire that once it is lit, anything that comes in contact with it will also burn. Sure I am human and make stupid human mistakes, but God is SOOOOOOOO much bigger than that!! If he can use a donkey, he can use little old me. The other day I was working on a project and I started laughing because I was just like a little school girl who is going out with a boy. I realised that I had spent the last couple hours not saying a word to anyone, but just letting my mind wander into the presence of Jesus and allowing His love to wrap around me. While I was working on that project, I was just trying to imagine what it will be like when we stand before Him. When we are able, when ever we want, to worship Him live and in person. What He must look like, and what kind of person He is, what kind of love he must have for us, and what His plans for our life are. He has planted this love in my heart is at the core of who I am. Even though the love is in my head, it is not centered there, and while the love is in my heart, that is not the core of it either. This love is something that is in center of who I am, set deep inside, and unable to be removed by anything. It is so powerful that is changes the physical person on the outside. He has sparked this love, and as the Bible calls it, it is the "love of the bridegroom". The wedding feast is not far off, and we that are alive in Christ will be caught up in the air to meet Him. I don't know if this generation will see the end or not. One thing is for sure, one day our world (personally)will come to an end, and then it will be our turn to stand before Him and present ourselves to the Father. I look forward to the day when I can present my body as the living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him, trying my best to live in peace with all man. Thank you Jesus for this life, and this wonderful opportunity to serve you. The people of Mexico are also catching this vision and the more that we share your message, the more that it effecting those around us. We have found out that this is the hour for Christians to stop taking the back seat. The other day one of my friends said it best, he said, "I am beginning to think that, instead of taking the hits of satan, we start hitting him, and if there was ever a time to take up our cross to follow Jesus...... this is the time." This is the time, and this is the truth.
Hey!!! How are you guys doing?? I have been very blessed through “*******************” Mexico City I learned a lot! And I think it’s time to start putting in practice what I know…. God spoke about making Jesus famous!!! To ask Jesus in our daily prayers to use our lives to make Him famous, whatever way He wants, but we need to be utile for His renown!! You know what??? Recently I have been feeling a huge worrying about my country!!! Because of *************, I am getting really involved with México, I’ve got to read the newspaper, go deep in some crimes, investigate murderers, etc!! It’s being very difficult knowing all stuff, sadly, real. There’s a big need to change and to fight for Mexico!!! You guys have been a great model for me… watching that you have done lots more things for a Country that’s not even yours … you have left your family!! Well we all know how difficult this has been for you… then why I’m I just standing and watching and clapping you??? I should feel ashamed! I call myself a Mexican!! Ok I’m so proud… and then??? What’s next?? This can’t continue the ways it goes…. I’ve got to change first if I want people to change.. I believe there is still hope for Mexico!!! Something new is growing in my heart!! I want to go share the gospel to jails! I know sounds crazy but I also know Jesus is the only solution. It’s not increase punishments, it’s not put criminals into death,. Jesus is the only way to stop such evilness!! I don’t know what but I need to do something!! Jesus is coming soon and there’s no time to waste…. Let’s make Jesus famous!!! Now, I want you guys to continue helping me, I need discipleship, I would like that u share your knowledge with me!! For I know being willing is important but not enough. I need to be prepared! It’s sounds difficult ha?! But I know God will make his part… mean while here I am to do mine!!! Thanks for reading… Love you!!!
This is why our family is here. The other day I was walking around the house complaining about something and then I realised the blessing that God has given us. I was brought to tears this weekend when we were with some friends and I realized again the life that God is blessing us with. We are able to take that blessing and like the Bible says, it is a cup overflowing. We cannot help but share the love of Jesus with those around us. It is truly like a fire that once it is lit, anything that comes in contact with it will also burn. Sure I am human and make stupid human mistakes, but God is SOOOOOOOO much bigger than that!! If he can use a donkey, he can use little old me. The other day I was working on a project and I started laughing because I was just like a little school girl who is going out with a boy. I realised that I had spent the last couple hours not saying a word to anyone, but just letting my mind wander into the presence of Jesus and allowing His love to wrap around me. While I was working on that project, I was just trying to imagine what it will be like when we stand before Him. When we are able, when ever we want, to worship Him live and in person. What He must look like, and what kind of person He is, what kind of love he must have for us, and what His plans for our life are. He has planted this love in my heart is at the core of who I am. Even though the love is in my head, it is not centered there, and while the love is in my heart, that is not the core of it either. This love is something that is in center of who I am, set deep inside, and unable to be removed by anything. It is so powerful that is changes the physical person on the outside. He has sparked this love, and as the Bible calls it, it is the "love of the bridegroom". The wedding feast is not far off, and we that are alive in Christ will be caught up in the air to meet Him. I don't know if this generation will see the end or not. One thing is for sure, one day our world (personally)will come to an end, and then it will be our turn to stand before Him and present ourselves to the Father. I look forward to the day when I can present my body as the living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him, trying my best to live in peace with all man. Thank you Jesus for this life, and this wonderful opportunity to serve you. The people of Mexico are also catching this vision and the more that we share your message, the more that it effecting those around us. We have found out that this is the hour for Christians to stop taking the back seat. The other day one of my friends said it best, he said, "I am beginning to think that, instead of taking the hits of satan, we start hitting him, and if there was ever a time to take up our cross to follow Jesus...... this is the time." This is the time, and this is the truth.
I have to quite now, because I could go on for hours. Thank you all for your love and support, and don't forget to keep your eyes on the King. Ross
Thursday, October 09, 2008
More questions from the teens in Acapulco
Questions from the teens in Acapulco
How do I get rid of a trama that happened in my life?
Prayer and fasting!!! This is the only way that it can leave. When we try to do it on our own satan comes and hits us to the ground with more force. This is one of satans was of getting someone to turn away from God and look to the world for answers. You need to be able to talk to a pastor or someone that is in love with the Lord. This person needs to be able to pray with you and help stick with you throught the healing process. The most important thing is to learn how to hand it over to Jesus. He is there waiting for your help and your commitment to Him. We were never ment to carry a heavy burden like that ourselves.
How do you find the Holy Spirit as a Christian if you are using drugs?
Well let me think about this?????? You don't. The Holy Spirit is there waiting for you but He will not give you His helping power if you are a so called Christian who is living the lukewarm Christian life. He will help you to stop using drugs if you are truly willing to stop. He will not judge us if we are not perfect but He will also not shame Jesus by giving you the power if you are not going to profess the life of a true follower of Christ. You need to look and see if Jesus is your number one priority. Drugs don't have to be your God. Because if they are you can't serve two Gods. God is a jealouse He wants all of you not some of you that is attached to a idol. Please pray about the God you really want to serve. Is it just the God who wants to have fun and party. Maybe throw around some drugs. You need to get your priorities straight if this is your God. Help us Chrisitans out who are trying to make a difference in this world for Jesus. Stop shaming Gods name if you are not going to live like a true Chrisitan. We have enough transformers out there already. I will pray that you will change from your transformer gear and put on the true armor of God.
How do I talk to someone that don't believe in God and love?
Here is how pray and live the life of a true Christian. If you have never seen this true form of Chrisitanity before then I know a great book that will give you a lot of awesome examples. The name of the book is “THE BIBLE”. The thing that so many people forget to do is pray. They us the word so loosely, like, “I will pray for you even if they have never prayed a day in their life”. We Christians forget how much power is actually in prayer. It is our one on on connection with God Most High. The only way a person is going to know what love is, is if he has felt it. If that person has been hurt all his life, then we as humans have a tendency to go with the thing that is most common to us. To show someone love you actually need to “Show them love” Pray for that person, it will opens doors for the Holy Spirit and you to be able to talk to them about who the true Savior of our life is.
How do I make the sin of jealousy and envy leave?
Well are there any other sins that surround it? Like are you having sex before marriage with that person? This is one of the greatest ways for satan to come in to your life. If you are doing this then this is one of the things that you need to stop first. If you have not did this then the way to stop is by prayer and to just try to not do it any more. Have you ever heard that a habit is hard to break? Well this is very true. I heard it takes two or three weeks to break a habit if you really keep up with it. The thing is that jealousy usually wraps itself around something.You need to really consider prayer and fasting to get ride of it for good. The Holy Spirit is there to help you if you are willing.
I am afraid to stay in a postion but I am also afraid to fight. How will I leave and fight fear?
Ok the first thing I need to ask you is are you being abused in any way? If so you need to leave NOW. If it is your boyfriend or girlfriend you need to leave and get help now. A abuser will always be abuser. It is important to tell someone about it. I don't know if you have heard of all the stories of people who don't speak up when someone is abusive to them. Most of the time the stories are told by loved ones after because that person was killed by their abuser. Don't let this be you. Get the help you need. Talk to a responsible adult in the church or someone that you trust. The biggest thing is to talk!!! If it is not a boyfriend or girlfriend that is hurting you. If it is one of your family members then you need to leave from the place that it is happening and get help. Go to someone again that you trust and have them help get you out of the place it is happening in. The way that a abuser keeps control over the person that they are abusing is by telling them to be quite. You have to break the power that that person has over you!! TALK!!!This is why the church body is there. We are brothers and sisters, we are called to help each other when we are in need. If it is someone that is in the church you need to talk to someone that will listen to you. This person cannot go without punishment!!! If this person is doing it to you then I can guaranty that you are not there first. You will also not be their last. Please talk!! If you need to talk to someone my email is rossandmandy@yahoo.com or our cell number in Mexico is . Know that God says that “perfect love cast out all fear”. Fear does not come from God it is from satan himself. Pray for the strenght that you will need to over come the problem you are facing.
How can it be possible that I continue to fall into depression?
My question is “have you ever really overcome it'? This is a spirit that attaches to you and will not let you go till you go crazy or take your own life. This one take prayer and fasting to get ride of. Here is the scripture that I gave you guys during the retreat incase you forgot it
Psalms 116. The way to get ride of fasting is by giving thanks to God for all you have. Even if it is only the breath that you have and the life that is granted to you everyday. You need to tell that spirit to leave and tell it to never come back again. You have to be very serious about this because if you are not ready to get ride of the depression yet it will come back seven times worse than before. Jesus has one the power over this fight for you already. You just have to realize that the power is through Him. You have to stop listening to music that make you sad, you need to stop doing things that make you hurt and unhappy. If you are a cutter or are into self mutilization then you need to stop that also. These will only allow the spirit to stay with you. Speak words of life and not words of dead over yourself and over everyone else. I have a question for you? Are you truly living a life of a real Chrisitan? Not just the pecentage that is just a Chrisitan to get a free ride to heaven. The fruits of the spirit are: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness and self control. These are all the promises plus many more that are given to Gods people. Take hold of them and don't let go. They are ment for you.
How is it possible to change my way of thinking if I don't want to follow God?
Well I can tell you that you are right. It is going to have to be you to change your way of thinking. Because no one else can do it for you. I have a question; are your parents chrisitan? Are you only doing the whole religion thing because of them? If so you will never be able to change. The change has to be completely heart filled. You can just be a good person and walk around and know that you are pleaseing yourself but I am not going to be shy with you then. You cannot enter the kingdom of heaven without a true relationship with Jesus and all the promises that I have spoken in the above questions will not apply to you. These promises are ment for sons and daughters of the Most High God. God is a gentlemen if you don't want Him as part of your live then He won't be, but you can't blame Him when things go wrong in your life. He allows us to make up our own minds, as hard as that may be for Him. Please know that people should not condem you for making up your own mind but that has to go the same for you. Your thoughts towards chrisians cannot be hatefilled either. Please talk to Jesus give Him on last chance before you walk away from Him! He will listen!!
If I don't love myself is it possible to love God and others around me?
My first answer is no. Because you will always find a fault in someone or a reason to let your love leave that person if you don't understand true forgivness also. Forgivness comes with the true love of God. Remember my tatoo that I had on my wrist? It said “LOVE Mathew 22:37”
This verse says Love the Lord with all your heart,with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandent. The second is like this Love your neighbor as yourself.. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. If you can't love yourself how can you complete this or any of the commandments? The reason I can talk to you about this is because I was also never able to love myself. Because of this I would never except my husbands love for me. I could never take compliments, but the worst of all I always thought that God was disgusted with me for my past sins. I knew it in my mind that He loved me but I never really knew it in my heart. I went through a time of prayer and fasting which I thought was for someone else at the time but God took me to a level like I had never been with Him before. I was praying and fasting for myself but I didn't know I was doing it for me. God knew I wouldn't have did it for myself but I would do it for another person. During this time I was completely over come by the Love of God. I cannot explain it to you because there are really no words on this earth to let you know the love and joy and peace that I felt at that time. I have seen the world through a whole knew set of eyes now. I am able to love people that I don't know. I am able to sacrifice the wants that I have to be able to help someone else out now. I am going to end in a dream that God gave me. I want you learn the lesson I had to learn before I was able to truly love myself. I am going to shorten it and only give you the highlights. I was in my old home walking hand in hand with my mother-in-law. I walked into a room and a demon left my body. I walked back out to my mother-in-law and told her that I was different. She told me to go back into the room and look in the mirror. When I went back and looked in the mirror I seen a Wal-Mart smilie face on it. After this time I was able to move things with my mined. After I did it a couple of times God stopped me and told me that I had pride in my life. I didn't understand at first because I am not a prideful person, but God spoke to me later and told me the pride was not in myself but the I hated I had in myself was telling God that HE didn't make something perfect. I was telling God that He was a liar and that is where my pride came from. The verse I now have memorised is Psalm 139:14 “Because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” I pray that you can see this also in your life. Because the same goes for you.
How do I get rid of a trama that happened in my life?
Prayer and fasting!!! This is the only way that it can leave. When we try to do it on our own satan comes and hits us to the ground with more force. This is one of satans was of getting someone to turn away from God and look to the world for answers. You need to be able to talk to a pastor or someone that is in love with the Lord. This person needs to be able to pray with you and help stick with you throught the healing process. The most important thing is to learn how to hand it over to Jesus. He is there waiting for your help and your commitment to Him. We were never ment to carry a heavy burden like that ourselves.
How do you find the Holy Spirit as a Christian if you are using drugs?
Well let me think about this?????? You don't. The Holy Spirit is there waiting for you but He will not give you His helping power if you are a so called Christian who is living the lukewarm Christian life. He will help you to stop using drugs if you are truly willing to stop. He will not judge us if we are not perfect but He will also not shame Jesus by giving you the power if you are not going to profess the life of a true follower of Christ. You need to look and see if Jesus is your number one priority. Drugs don't have to be your God. Because if they are you can't serve two Gods. God is a jealouse He wants all of you not some of you that is attached to a idol. Please pray about the God you really want to serve. Is it just the God who wants to have fun and party. Maybe throw around some drugs. You need to get your priorities straight if this is your God. Help us Chrisitans out who are trying to make a difference in this world for Jesus. Stop shaming Gods name if you are not going to live like a true Chrisitan. We have enough transformers out there already. I will pray that you will change from your transformer gear and put on the true armor of God.
How do I talk to someone that don't believe in God and love?
Here is how pray and live the life of a true Christian. If you have never seen this true form of Chrisitanity before then I know a great book that will give you a lot of awesome examples. The name of the book is “THE BIBLE”. The thing that so many people forget to do is pray. They us the word so loosely, like, “I will pray for you even if they have never prayed a day in their life”. We Christians forget how much power is actually in prayer. It is our one on on connection with God Most High. The only way a person is going to know what love is, is if he has felt it. If that person has been hurt all his life, then we as humans have a tendency to go with the thing that is most common to us. To show someone love you actually need to “Show them love” Pray for that person, it will opens doors for the Holy Spirit and you to be able to talk to them about who the true Savior of our life is.
How do I make the sin of jealousy and envy leave?
Well are there any other sins that surround it? Like are you having sex before marriage with that person? This is one of the greatest ways for satan to come in to your life. If you are doing this then this is one of the things that you need to stop first. If you have not did this then the way to stop is by prayer and to just try to not do it any more. Have you ever heard that a habit is hard to break? Well this is very true. I heard it takes two or three weeks to break a habit if you really keep up with it. The thing is that jealousy usually wraps itself around something.You need to really consider prayer and fasting to get ride of it for good. The Holy Spirit is there to help you if you are willing.
I am afraid to stay in a postion but I am also afraid to fight. How will I leave and fight fear?
Ok the first thing I need to ask you is are you being abused in any way? If so you need to leave NOW. If it is your boyfriend or girlfriend you need to leave and get help now. A abuser will always be abuser. It is important to tell someone about it. I don't know if you have heard of all the stories of people who don't speak up when someone is abusive to them. Most of the time the stories are told by loved ones after because that person was killed by their abuser. Don't let this be you. Get the help you need. Talk to a responsible adult in the church or someone that you trust. The biggest thing is to talk!!! If it is not a boyfriend or girlfriend that is hurting you. If it is one of your family members then you need to leave from the place that it is happening and get help. Go to someone again that you trust and have them help get you out of the place it is happening in. The way that a abuser keeps control over the person that they are abusing is by telling them to be quite. You have to break the power that that person has over you!! TALK!!!This is why the church body is there. We are brothers and sisters, we are called to help each other when we are in need. If it is someone that is in the church you need to talk to someone that will listen to you. This person cannot go without punishment!!! If this person is doing it to you then I can guaranty that you are not there first. You will also not be their last. Please talk!! If you need to talk to someone my email is rossandmandy@yahoo.com or our cell number in Mexico is . Know that God says that “perfect love cast out all fear”. Fear does not come from God it is from satan himself. Pray for the strenght that you will need to over come the problem you are facing.
How can it be possible that I continue to fall into depression?
My question is “have you ever really overcome it'? This is a spirit that attaches to you and will not let you go till you go crazy or take your own life. This one take prayer and fasting to get ride of. Here is the scripture that I gave you guys during the retreat incase you forgot it
Psalms 116. The way to get ride of fasting is by giving thanks to God for all you have. Even if it is only the breath that you have and the life that is granted to you everyday. You need to tell that spirit to leave and tell it to never come back again. You have to be very serious about this because if you are not ready to get ride of the depression yet it will come back seven times worse than before. Jesus has one the power over this fight for you already. You just have to realize that the power is through Him. You have to stop listening to music that make you sad, you need to stop doing things that make you hurt and unhappy. If you are a cutter or are into self mutilization then you need to stop that also. These will only allow the spirit to stay with you. Speak words of life and not words of dead over yourself and over everyone else. I have a question for you? Are you truly living a life of a real Chrisitan? Not just the pecentage that is just a Chrisitan to get a free ride to heaven. The fruits of the spirit are: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness and self control. These are all the promises plus many more that are given to Gods people. Take hold of them and don't let go. They are ment for you.
How is it possible to change my way of thinking if I don't want to follow God?
Well I can tell you that you are right. It is going to have to be you to change your way of thinking. Because no one else can do it for you. I have a question; are your parents chrisitan? Are you only doing the whole religion thing because of them? If so you will never be able to change. The change has to be completely heart filled. You can just be a good person and walk around and know that you are pleaseing yourself but I am not going to be shy with you then. You cannot enter the kingdom of heaven without a true relationship with Jesus and all the promises that I have spoken in the above questions will not apply to you. These promises are ment for sons and daughters of the Most High God. God is a gentlemen if you don't want Him as part of your live then He won't be, but you can't blame Him when things go wrong in your life. He allows us to make up our own minds, as hard as that may be for Him. Please know that people should not condem you for making up your own mind but that has to go the same for you. Your thoughts towards chrisians cannot be hatefilled either. Please talk to Jesus give Him on last chance before you walk away from Him! He will listen!!
If I don't love myself is it possible to love God and others around me?
My first answer is no. Because you will always find a fault in someone or a reason to let your love leave that person if you don't understand true forgivness also. Forgivness comes with the true love of God. Remember my tatoo that I had on my wrist? It said “LOVE Mathew 22:37”
This verse says Love the Lord with all your heart,with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandent. The second is like this Love your neighbor as yourself.. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. If you can't love yourself how can you complete this or any of the commandments? The reason I can talk to you about this is because I was also never able to love myself. Because of this I would never except my husbands love for me. I could never take compliments, but the worst of all I always thought that God was disgusted with me for my past sins. I knew it in my mind that He loved me but I never really knew it in my heart. I went through a time of prayer and fasting which I thought was for someone else at the time but God took me to a level like I had never been with Him before. I was praying and fasting for myself but I didn't know I was doing it for me. God knew I wouldn't have did it for myself but I would do it for another person. During this time I was completely over come by the Love of God. I cannot explain it to you because there are really no words on this earth to let you know the love and joy and peace that I felt at that time. I have seen the world through a whole knew set of eyes now. I am able to love people that I don't know. I am able to sacrifice the wants that I have to be able to help someone else out now. I am going to end in a dream that God gave me. I want you learn the lesson I had to learn before I was able to truly love myself. I am going to shorten it and only give you the highlights. I was in my old home walking hand in hand with my mother-in-law. I walked into a room and a demon left my body. I walked back out to my mother-in-law and told her that I was different. She told me to go back into the room and look in the mirror. When I went back and looked in the mirror I seen a Wal-Mart smilie face on it. After this time I was able to move things with my mined. After I did it a couple of times God stopped me and told me that I had pride in my life. I didn't understand at first because I am not a prideful person, but God spoke to me later and told me the pride was not in myself but the I hated I had in myself was telling God that HE didn't make something perfect. I was telling God that He was a liar and that is where my pride came from. The verse I now have memorised is Psalm 139:14 “Because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” I pray that you can see this also in your life. Because the same goes for you.
Just a catch up
Just to catch you up with last week and this weekend. We have all been sick in our home. The pollution has been really bad and the mix of the cold weather has not helped in us getting better. We are now on the mend. Just in time because we are going to have a very busy weekend ahead for us. Tonight after work we are going to help the teenagers and start to plan our missions trip that is going to be coming up first week of september. Friday through Sunday we have a little boy staying with us will his mom go to a work seminar. Along with that we are also helping on friday and saturday with the church for the annual church conference. This is a huge event in the church. Sunday we are going across town to a fiesta with a family. On top of all this and our regular work schedule Ross is also teaching at the school for three weeks. We aer vfery excited about this. So please be in prayer for us as he is working with teenagers between 12-15 years old. Thankfully we are able to have our daughters with us. They are such a huge help and they have such big hearts to help people. Our neighbors are in need of serious prayer right now. She is 6 1/2 monhts pregnant and she started to have contractions. She has a very serious infection and her and baby are at risk. Please be in prayer for them. She is suppose to be on bed rest and we all know how hard that is for a young mother of two. The kids will also be with us for the next to days when they get out of school. I am going to be answering more questions the teens in acapulco asked sometime next week. Keep posted. They are very good questions worth reading. Many blessing to all. amanda
Thursday, October 02, 2008
For our loved ones
In my quite time today I felt so strongly to pray for you guys. I want to let you know that we have not forgotten any of you guys. We didn't leave you for no reason at all. We didn't leave you to go and love others. We didn't just leave you for an adventure. We did it because it was what our family was created to do. It is the thing that gives us unbelievable peace in our hearts. As much as you guys don't understand. We are truly doing, what we are doing, for all of you. We pray that our lives will be a light for you in this dark world. It is so hard to be away from you guys. To just being able to go give you guys huges for no reason. We miss going to your games and supporting you in all that you guys do, but like I said before we are not doing it in vain. I know God sees all these things that are so hard for us and He will honor them. Maybe not here on this earth but in Heaven. Know that we are supporting you guys here. We keep up with what you are doing and we will always be intune with your lives. Please don't be upset with us for taking your little girls away from you. Know that they are our shinning lights and that we are taking care of them. Please know that they will NEVER be put on the sidelines while we do our work. They are our number one, and our gifts from heaven. We made this video for you guys hoping that our life song will sing to you guys. We love you all very much! Blessings Amanda
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Questions from teens in Acapulco and our answers to them
Here are some questions that were asked by the youth that we took on a weekend retreat in Acapulco. There are some really good questions that we thought you might like to read. Hope they might even answer some of your own questions. Later Amanda
Answers To Your Questions
How do I know I forgave someone that hurt me?
The first way of being able to tell if you forgave someone is if you don't get angry when you see or think of that person. The best way to forgive someone is to pray for them. This helps cleanse you of resentment and bitterness. Remember everyone has sinned and is in need of forgiveness. The bible tells us if we don't forgive then we are not going to be forgiven either(Mark 11:25-26). This is hard because a lot of us have had scrap dished out to us in our lives and we don't feel that we need to forgive, but God says that, vengeance is mine, (Romans 12-19). So to answer your question, if you can pray for that person and not get anger in your heart and be able to pray for blessings for that person then that should do it.
Why do adults judges us instead of help us?
I want to be the first person to tell all of you guys sorry for this one. I know that adults don't understand a lot of your issues that you guys go through. This is not biblical and at anytime we should be able to talk to our elders, but because this don't always happen we need to learn how to rely on the Holy Spirit more. This is also one of those things that you as teens need to start to realize that you are lacking in. If you are all having a hard time with this then you need to start to stand with each other. You need to understand that you are going to be the ones that reach your generation. Why because you understand the problems each other is going through. Also you need to learn patience with your elders. Our generations don't do this any more. It is biblical that we have respect for our elders. Learn to ask your questions when you are not so angry or upset. Control your temper and remember just because they don't always understand you does not mean that they don't love you. They just want whats best for you. It is hard as a parent to let your child grow up. We do understand this because we are parents ourselves. Your parents are also learning how to be parents just like you guys are learning on how to be adults. Just want to let you know though that you always have us to talk. We are good listeners a lot of times. We may not always have the answers for you but we will try the best we can. We are always here for you guys.
How can I be passionate about Jesus without religion and customs?
This is such a great question. The answer is by having a real relationship with Him. If you just want to do the church thing on Sundays or when your parents tell you to you will NEVER have this happen. What do you want from a friend? Do you want someone you can talk to about anything and everything? Someone that will listen to you without judging you? Someone to show you love? Someone that understands you, this is possible if you want it. Jesus will do all these things for you, but to have a good friend that means you have to BE A GOOD FRIEND. If you want to be passionate about Jesus then you need to show Him passion also. I read a great book one time that talked about out heart and how it is Jesus' home. If we put crap into it we will receive crap in return. SPEND TIME WITH HIM, TALK TO HIM, WORSHIP HIM IN EVERYTHING THAT YOU DO. You don't have to be a cheesy Christian to do this, you just need to pray, read and spend time with HIM not only the church. The church is great for learning and fellowship but it will never be the thing that will get you close and personal with God.
How can I be happy when horrible things have happened to me?
Because this is one of the fruits of the spirit that God talks about. I always tell my daughter that if she can try to see the positive things out of life then she will be a happier person. I am not saying to just forget about all the horrible things that happened but you need to first start off with the process of forgiveness. Because if you don't do this then you will always be hurt and unhappy. It is amazing how the cloud of depression will lift if you are willing to forgive. Everyday you need to wake up and say it is going to be a great day and thank God for all the things that you do have. I am not talking about only material things either. I am talking about the health that you have, the breath that you breath, the freedom that you have. These are the things to be thankful for. If you can be thankful for the little things God will trust you with you bigger things. Keep your head up high. I know that our world is a unfair place but know that we have a King that see all our pains and sorrows. He will someday soon take all the pain that is in that world. Till then keep searching for His face and accept the healing power that can come through knowing Him as you Redeemer.
Is religion contagious?
HAHA this is a question I have asked myself at times. Yes I believe it can be, not like a sickness but by a religions spirit. I am going to give the same answer I gave for one of the last questions. If you are only in the church to do the whole church thing than yes you will get infected by this. IT IS A RELATIONSHIP THAT IS WHAT IS IMPORTANT NOT A RELIGION. Be sure that you are not one of those people because you will be one of the worst witnesses for Jesus if your are religious. Do you know the reason more people are not coming to Christ. It is because Christians are not doing our job. If we would get the whole relationship thing down and actually care and love people, then we could be a better example. If your are going to talk the talk of a Christan you better do the walk also. Don't be a transformer and change when you leave the church doors. Because us Christians that are living the life Jesus asked us too don't need any more work to load us down. If you want to change this then you need to look in the mirror and first look at yourself to see if you are the religious hypocrite that you are asking about.
Why did God say he would never kill man again with a flood? Why did the tsunami happen then? Because there is sin in the world and people don't want to admit it. God said he would never destroy the whole world again with a flood but HE never said that storms wouldn't come. This country was also a closed country to the Gospel of the Lord. They didn't even want God's name to be spoken there. If you ask God to leave, He won't leave but He will allow Satan to do what He wants. He gives us the freedom of choice. Remember after this storm happened, this was the first time in years that any body in that country was able to hear about the love of Jesus. Many peoples lives were forever change. Some for the good and some for the bad. The Christians that went to help showed the light of God. People were hungry to hear about the saving grace that so many of us in free countries take for granted. We need to realize though that this life on earth is not what is the most important. We need to remember that there is a eternity and if we are not willing to except God's love now then we will not be able to accept it when our life on this earth is finished. God is love, He does all things for the good of us even if we can't see it in the mist of the storms of life that we go through.
When I receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and I do something that is wrong, can I loose the gift of the spirit forever?
The answer is no, unless you have blasphemed the Holy Spirit. I first want to ask you if you know you truly were baptized in the spirit. Because if you just were water baptized and can't speak in tongues or if you just don't feel close to God then these are two totally different things. If you were filled with the spirit you would know without a shadow of a doubt that you received it. The thing to think about is if you feel like you are not close to Jesus or are not hearing from Him, then maybe you should look at yourself and see if you have any sin that is blocking that passage way. The Holy Spirit is always there with you and is always willing to speak to you. If you asked for it to enter your life then it is there even if you have made a mistake, but you may have other sins that are speaking louder than the Holy Spirits voice. Be sure to pray to God and ask Him what it might be that is in the way of you hearing from Him. Because He never leaves unless we ask Him to, but remember this is not just with the words that we speak but also with our actions. If we are constantly in sexual sin are we going to be hearing correctly or if you have not forgiven someone then this also can be a action that is pushing the spirit away. Remember though that if you pray to Jesus HE will always answer you. Even if it seems a little quieter than the everyday voices that are around us.
How can I understand my family?
Wow, I don't know if I can answer this one. The only thing that I can say is that people that are in a family are usually very similar to each other in one way or another. First look at yourself and see if you have some of the same flaws that they have and then first work on them in your life. Then you maybe able to understand them more. Remember Mathew 7:5 says that, you need to first remove the plank (piece of wood) from your own eye before you can see clearly enough to pick out the plank in your brothers eye.
How can I know what is correct in my life?
You need to pray and ask God this one. No one on this earth can give you the answer for this except the Holy Spirit.
Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find: knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened (Mathew 7:7-8).
Answers To Your Questions
How do I know I forgave someone that hurt me?
The first way of being able to tell if you forgave someone is if you don't get angry when you see or think of that person. The best way to forgive someone is to pray for them. This helps cleanse you of resentment and bitterness. Remember everyone has sinned and is in need of forgiveness. The bible tells us if we don't forgive then we are not going to be forgiven either(Mark 11:25-26). This is hard because a lot of us have had scrap dished out to us in our lives and we don't feel that we need to forgive, but God says that, vengeance is mine, (Romans 12-19). So to answer your question, if you can pray for that person and not get anger in your heart and be able to pray for blessings for that person then that should do it.
Why do adults judges us instead of help us?
I want to be the first person to tell all of you guys sorry for this one. I know that adults don't understand a lot of your issues that you guys go through. This is not biblical and at anytime we should be able to talk to our elders, but because this don't always happen we need to learn how to rely on the Holy Spirit more. This is also one of those things that you as teens need to start to realize that you are lacking in. If you are all having a hard time with this then you need to start to stand with each other. You need to understand that you are going to be the ones that reach your generation. Why because you understand the problems each other is going through. Also you need to learn patience with your elders. Our generations don't do this any more. It is biblical that we have respect for our elders. Learn to ask your questions when you are not so angry or upset. Control your temper and remember just because they don't always understand you does not mean that they don't love you. They just want whats best for you. It is hard as a parent to let your child grow up. We do understand this because we are parents ourselves. Your parents are also learning how to be parents just like you guys are learning on how to be adults. Just want to let you know though that you always have us to talk. We are good listeners a lot of times. We may not always have the answers for you but we will try the best we can. We are always here for you guys.
How can I be passionate about Jesus without religion and customs?
This is such a great question. The answer is by having a real relationship with Him. If you just want to do the church thing on Sundays or when your parents tell you to you will NEVER have this happen. What do you want from a friend? Do you want someone you can talk to about anything and everything? Someone that will listen to you without judging you? Someone to show you love? Someone that understands you, this is possible if you want it. Jesus will do all these things for you, but to have a good friend that means you have to BE A GOOD FRIEND. If you want to be passionate about Jesus then you need to show Him passion also. I read a great book one time that talked about out heart and how it is Jesus' home. If we put crap into it we will receive crap in return. SPEND TIME WITH HIM, TALK TO HIM, WORSHIP HIM IN EVERYTHING THAT YOU DO. You don't have to be a cheesy Christian to do this, you just need to pray, read and spend time with HIM not only the church. The church is great for learning and fellowship but it will never be the thing that will get you close and personal with God.
How can I be happy when horrible things have happened to me?
Because this is one of the fruits of the spirit that God talks about. I always tell my daughter that if she can try to see the positive things out of life then she will be a happier person. I am not saying to just forget about all the horrible things that happened but you need to first start off with the process of forgiveness. Because if you don't do this then you will always be hurt and unhappy. It is amazing how the cloud of depression will lift if you are willing to forgive. Everyday you need to wake up and say it is going to be a great day and thank God for all the things that you do have. I am not talking about only material things either. I am talking about the health that you have, the breath that you breath, the freedom that you have. These are the things to be thankful for. If you can be thankful for the little things God will trust you with you bigger things. Keep your head up high. I know that our world is a unfair place but know that we have a King that see all our pains and sorrows. He will someday soon take all the pain that is in that world. Till then keep searching for His face and accept the healing power that can come through knowing Him as you Redeemer.
Is religion contagious?
HAHA this is a question I have asked myself at times. Yes I believe it can be, not like a sickness but by a religions spirit. I am going to give the same answer I gave for one of the last questions. If you are only in the church to do the whole church thing than yes you will get infected by this. IT IS A RELATIONSHIP THAT IS WHAT IS IMPORTANT NOT A RELIGION. Be sure that you are not one of those people because you will be one of the worst witnesses for Jesus if your are religious. Do you know the reason more people are not coming to Christ. It is because Christians are not doing our job. If we would get the whole relationship thing down and actually care and love people, then we could be a better example. If your are going to talk the talk of a Christan you better do the walk also. Don't be a transformer and change when you leave the church doors. Because us Christians that are living the life Jesus asked us too don't need any more work to load us down. If you want to change this then you need to look in the mirror and first look at yourself to see if you are the religious hypocrite that you are asking about.
Why did God say he would never kill man again with a flood? Why did the tsunami happen then? Because there is sin in the world and people don't want to admit it. God said he would never destroy the whole world again with a flood but HE never said that storms wouldn't come. This country was also a closed country to the Gospel of the Lord. They didn't even want God's name to be spoken there. If you ask God to leave, He won't leave but He will allow Satan to do what He wants. He gives us the freedom of choice. Remember after this storm happened, this was the first time in years that any body in that country was able to hear about the love of Jesus. Many peoples lives were forever change. Some for the good and some for the bad. The Christians that went to help showed the light of God. People were hungry to hear about the saving grace that so many of us in free countries take for granted. We need to realize though that this life on earth is not what is the most important. We need to remember that there is a eternity and if we are not willing to except God's love now then we will not be able to accept it when our life on this earth is finished. God is love, He does all things for the good of us even if we can't see it in the mist of the storms of life that we go through.
When I receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and I do something that is wrong, can I loose the gift of the spirit forever?
The answer is no, unless you have blasphemed the Holy Spirit. I first want to ask you if you know you truly were baptized in the spirit. Because if you just were water baptized and can't speak in tongues or if you just don't feel close to God then these are two totally different things. If you were filled with the spirit you would know without a shadow of a doubt that you received it. The thing to think about is if you feel like you are not close to Jesus or are not hearing from Him, then maybe you should look at yourself and see if you have any sin that is blocking that passage way. The Holy Spirit is always there with you and is always willing to speak to you. If you asked for it to enter your life then it is there even if you have made a mistake, but you may have other sins that are speaking louder than the Holy Spirits voice. Be sure to pray to God and ask Him what it might be that is in the way of you hearing from Him. Because He never leaves unless we ask Him to, but remember this is not just with the words that we speak but also with our actions. If we are constantly in sexual sin are we going to be hearing correctly or if you have not forgiven someone then this also can be a action that is pushing the spirit away. Remember though that if you pray to Jesus HE will always answer you. Even if it seems a little quieter than the everyday voices that are around us.
How can I understand my family?
Wow, I don't know if I can answer this one. The only thing that I can say is that people that are in a family are usually very similar to each other in one way or another. First look at yourself and see if you have some of the same flaws that they have and then first work on them in your life. Then you maybe able to understand them more. Remember Mathew 7:5 says that, you need to first remove the plank (piece of wood) from your own eye before you can see clearly enough to pick out the plank in your brothers eye.
How can I know what is correct in my life?
You need to pray and ask God this one. No one on this earth can give you the answer for this except the Holy Spirit.
Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find: knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened (Mathew 7:7-8).
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Our time with our family.
The last couple weeks we have had a lot of fun but have not had much time to update what has been going on. My mom (Ross) and Mandy's mom came down from the states and spent some time with us. We were able to take a little time off and do some fun things, but we also were able to use there willing hands to help us out. All in all, we had tons of fun over the last couple weeks. We will be updating our pictures tonight so that you all can see where we went and what we did. We were able to go to Acapulco for a three day vacation and stay in an apartment that was for rent. We spend some time on the beach hanging out and we able to reconnect with some of the teens we ministered with last month. We were also able to see a little bit of Mexico City together. In the mist of this we were able to put our moms to work. As many of you know Sept. 15th is Mexico's independance and it is a long weekend of partying and celebrating. Our church put on a BBQ for 3 or 4 thousand people. Mandy, Linda, Polly, and I were able to spend two day cooking and preparing food. Also we did a lot of setting up tables and chairs, moving cases of pop, husking corn, and other things in preperation. It was a blessing to be able to offer our hands as a blessing for the church in that way. The main person of AINDOC was the also the leader of the people for the BBQ, so we were automatically selected as help for the event. We took some good pictures, and if you go to our flickr account you will be able to see them.
Since that time we have some new things on our plate now for us to do here. Ross has signed up for the missions school and are now attending class. We are still working full time for AINDOC, attending spanish class's, ministering almost full time with people hungry to hear about God, starting an indepth Bible study, working with the youth, working with the young adults and trying to balance our family time in the middle of it.
Please keep us in your prayers as we approach the church this week about expanding the ministry of AINDOC which will require more space and more work. It is not that we are trying to go looking for more things to do, but God is opening doors for us to help more people. We see that the more people we help the more that Jesus name is shown as a God of love and peace, and in return more people cry out to God. This is very exciting to us, and it is the reason that we are alive. I have a little story to tell you that I had a lady tell me. She was living in Mexico City and just going about life as normal. One day she ran into someone that was willing to share about the love of Jesus to her. She had never heard about this before. She was very curious and began asking more questions. The person opened up there heart to her and told her more. After a few meetings she finally accepted Christ as her savior. She then went home and told her husband that she was now a Christian. Her husbands responce was not what I expected. She told me that when she told her husband she was now a Christian, he said to her, "What is a Christian?". I was startled! Think about this, living in Mexico City for somewhere around 50 years and her husband didn't even know what a Christian was. This was not a long time ago either, it was just a couple years ago. This showed me how much work we really have to do here. Constanly we are seeing the importance of AINDOC because we are reaching people like that through this ministry. That is the reason that we are asking for more space and the ability to reach more people.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. Talk again soon. Ross, Mandy, and family.
Since that time we have some new things on our plate now for us to do here. Ross has signed up for the missions school and are now attending class. We are still working full time for AINDOC, attending spanish class's, ministering almost full time with people hungry to hear about God, starting an indepth Bible study, working with the youth, working with the young adults and trying to balance our family time in the middle of it.
Please keep us in your prayers as we approach the church this week about expanding the ministry of AINDOC which will require more space and more work. It is not that we are trying to go looking for more things to do, but God is opening doors for us to help more people. We see that the more people we help the more that Jesus name is shown as a God of love and peace, and in return more people cry out to God. This is very exciting to us, and it is the reason that we are alive. I have a little story to tell you that I had a lady tell me. She was living in Mexico City and just going about life as normal. One day she ran into someone that was willing to share about the love of Jesus to her. She had never heard about this before. She was very curious and began asking more questions. The person opened up there heart to her and told her more. After a few meetings she finally accepted Christ as her savior. She then went home and told her husband that she was now a Christian. Her husbands responce was not what I expected. She told me that when she told her husband she was now a Christian, he said to her, "What is a Christian?". I was startled! Think about this, living in Mexico City for somewhere around 50 years and her husband didn't even know what a Christian was. This was not a long time ago either, it was just a couple years ago. This showed me how much work we really have to do here. Constanly we are seeing the importance of AINDOC because we are reaching people like that through this ministry. That is the reason that we are asking for more space and the ability to reach more people.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. Talk again soon. Ross, Mandy, and family.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Just a quick note for tonight.
Hey, we were just going to drop a line tonight to let you know a little bit that is on our hearts. We were working today with the organization called AINDOC and just enjoying our time moving box's up 3 flights of stairs. We received donations for elderly people to help ease the pains of normal life that we in the United States don't even think of.
While we understand the importance of the work that we are doing we are not always the one's that get to see the fruit of what we are doing. Especially now, we are working so much behind the scenes that we do not get to get out and see the people that God has given us the love for. At times it is difficult, and other times it is extremely rewarding. Today was one of the days that started out difficult, but as the day went on God graciously showed us how important this time here is. As were were moving the box's we walked into an area that we now work in. When we entered the building we noticed that there were 4 people standing in a circle, in a corner, praying together. At first we didnt think anything about this, because it is fairly common. Then we noticed that we didn't recognise all the people. While we were just there moving things around, cleaning, and packing, we were able to find out what the people came there for. It was a couple that was needing help buying school suplies for their children. THis is something that we understand. Jesus literly handed the money over to us this year also for our daughters school supplies. It was so great to see God working and showing His love to others. There was something going on and AINDOC was able to help. To be real with you if you can't buy school supplies for your kids here then they don't go to school. You have to find some kind of organization that can help you. What a awesome way to be able to show people God's love:) I am not going to go into detail, because it doesn't matter, however, we were able to see the fruit of our labor being used by those that needed it the most. God did not have to show this to us, but in His grace and love, He showed us that He is still in charge, and that He has our lives in the palm of His hands. This was a wonderful time. After work, we went home and had supper together. After supper I was asked to come back to the warehouse to help a guy pickup some donations. I figured that it would just be a quick time of throwing some stuff into a vehicle and away we go. Well, we did just that. However, after I got done working with the man I was asking questions about his ministry. He told me that they help Natives that come out of the mountains and have basically nothing. They help them by feeding them, teaching them spanish (they only have there native tongue), getting them in the school systems and etc. Right now our organization supplies enough supplies for them to take care of 100 families, and in the other home roughly 800 children. This was so amazing to me, and he also gave me a couple pictures that he had in his vehicle. I just put them on our flickr account so that you all can see just a very, little glimpse of what the utilities that we are providing are going for. We were invited to come up there some weekend and help out. We are excited to take the oppertunity in the future, however, right now we have far too many commitments in Mexico City. I love how God gave us 2 things, in one day, just to confirmed again why we are here. I also meet with our attorney and they said that our paperwork should be back, hopefully, by the end of next week and we will be official Mexican immigrants in this country. Thank you JESUS!!!! Please keep us in your prayers as we continue on in thisnventure that God has placed on us. We love you all and thanks again for all the prayers and support, we can feel it daily.
PS. If you know anyone that is bored, unemployed, or just wants to get out a little bit and see another area of the world, we have a place here!! There are 46million people living in Mexico City, and is less than 2% Christian. We need people to just come and show what a Christians life is really suppose to look like. In many cases people are not taught what a Christian life is that are told to just change and not do bad anymore. We are being bombarded by questions by many, many people both Christians, and non-Christians alike. We are working hand in hand with 22 ministries strategically placed throughout this city, and they all need help as well. Please be in prayer about coming to Mexico City to spend a week, a month, or a couple years helping. Thank you all and God bless.
While we understand the importance of the work that we are doing we are not always the one's that get to see the fruit of what we are doing. Especially now, we are working so much behind the scenes that we do not get to get out and see the people that God has given us the love for. At times it is difficult, and other times it is extremely rewarding. Today was one of the days that started out difficult, but as the day went on God graciously showed us how important this time here is. As were were moving the box's we walked into an area that we now work in. When we entered the building we noticed that there were 4 people standing in a circle, in a corner, praying together. At first we didnt think anything about this, because it is fairly common. Then we noticed that we didn't recognise all the people. While we were just there moving things around, cleaning, and packing, we were able to find out what the people came there for. It was a couple that was needing help buying school suplies for their children. THis is something that we understand. Jesus literly handed the money over to us this year also for our daughters school supplies. It was so great to see God working and showing His love to others. There was something going on and AINDOC was able to help. To be real with you if you can't buy school supplies for your kids here then they don't go to school. You have to find some kind of organization that can help you. What a awesome way to be able to show people God's love:) I am not going to go into detail, because it doesn't matter, however, we were able to see the fruit of our labor being used by those that needed it the most. God did not have to show this to us, but in His grace and love, He showed us that He is still in charge, and that He has our lives in the palm of His hands. This was a wonderful time. After work, we went home and had supper together. After supper I was asked to come back to the warehouse to help a guy pickup some donations. I figured that it would just be a quick time of throwing some stuff into a vehicle and away we go. Well, we did just that. However, after I got done working with the man I was asking questions about his ministry. He told me that they help Natives that come out of the mountains and have basically nothing. They help them by feeding them, teaching them spanish (they only have there native tongue), getting them in the school systems and etc. Right now our organization supplies enough supplies for them to take care of 100 families, and in the other home roughly 800 children. This was so amazing to me, and he also gave me a couple pictures that he had in his vehicle. I just put them on our flickr account so that you all can see just a very, little glimpse of what the utilities that we are providing are going for. We were invited to come up there some weekend and help out. We are excited to take the oppertunity in the future, however, right now we have far too many commitments in Mexico City. I love how God gave us 2 things, in one day, just to confirmed again why we are here. I also meet with our attorney and they said that our paperwork should be back, hopefully, by the end of next week and we will be official Mexican immigrants in this country. Thank you JESUS!!!! Please keep us in your prayers as we continue on in thisnventure that God has placed on us. We love you all and thanks again for all the prayers and support, we can feel it daily.
PS. If you know anyone that is bored, unemployed, or just wants to get out a little bit and see another area of the world, we have a place here!! There are 46million people living in Mexico City, and is less than 2% Christian. We need people to just come and show what a Christians life is really suppose to look like. In many cases people are not taught what a Christian life is that are told to just change and not do bad anymore. We are being bombarded by questions by many, many people both Christians, and non-Christians alike. We are working hand in hand with 22 ministries strategically placed throughout this city, and they all need help as well. Please be in prayer about coming to Mexico City to spend a week, a month, or a couple years helping. Thank you all and God bless.
Friday, August 29, 2008
A little late blogging
I am sorry that we have not been able to write this week. As some of you may have heard Mandy and I are transitioning into a new area of work. This job is not something completely new to us, but for our time in Mexico it is totally different. We decided that it was time to change our "hours of operation" a little bit while we are here. After praying about our life here and knowing that God is continuing to give us a stronger desire to see the fruit of a life skills center, we decided that we are going to act on that calling. We started going around the church and asking about ministries that needed help. We finally were able to make contact with a guy that runs a ministry called AINDOC (pronounced: I-in-dock). This is a ministry that we had been trying to get ahold of for some time. We had a meeting with the leader and told him all about us and what we are here in the city for, and how God has really been paving the way for us, and opening up some really big doors for our family. We then told him about the vision that God gave Mandy and I about a life skills center, way back before our time in Canada. He then took us for a walk, and showed us something that we could hardly believe. They have a 3 story builing that we have been given one and a half floors of, plus another building similar in size to a barn. He told us that he had been praying that morning for help because he could no longer do what needed to be done all by himself. We accepted this new position and now I want to elaberate on what that is.
Mandy and I have been put into a position where we are going to help the poorest people of Mexico City, through a variety of missions. Currently AINDOC has 22 ministries that are spread throughout all of the Mexico city. These ministeries range from house's for children of prostitutes, to elderly that are homeless, to Native shelters, and even a place that Illegal Immigrants are held until deportation, plus many more. There are now people that are running these programs from there specific locations, but the main problem is getting the supplies they need over to them. To remember we are not in the United States where help from the government is available. All these programs are run totally independant from the government. One of the great things is that there are many companies that are willing to donate supplies, food, clothing, and etc. However, there has been a huge problem of sorting, packaging, and distributing these goods to the specific areas around town. This is where Mandy and I come in. We are now in charge of taking all the received goods from many distributers, and cleaning it, packaging it, sorting it, and then making sure that it needs to get where it needs to get. For example, this week we just received a huge shipment of toys for the street kids for Christmas. We will beging packaging "Christmas packages" in about one month for children that have never had gifts before. We also have a food bank, that is the same, only that is alot busier because of the food that needs to be given out before it gets bad. Alot of what we get is for Native Ministry. It is given for the Indiginous people, and it is destributed to that specific area. Keep in mind this is all private and no government hands in the work. Right now we have huge piles of school supplies that are for kids going back to school, it now late because there was no way of getting them over to the ministries that needed them. There are box's sitting in a corner because there was nobody working in distrobution, and nobody knew they were there. Walmart donated a huge amount of items for the students returning to school but nobody knew they were there and the items just were piling up. This is the problem that we are going after. Another awesome aspect of this ministry is that we are virtually not limited in what we can say, how we can say it, and why we can say it. This gives us the freedom to share the love of Christ with the people and not have to fear an agency disciplining us for it. Right now however, we are just trying to make a little organization of the box's and box's of stuff that we have. After some time we are desiring to get out on the street and actually begin handing out what we are packing with the local ministries that are currently there now. This allow us to show the people the love of Christ that He showed us, which is the most important thing that we can do here. Our girls are helping us a little bit after school as well, and it is great to see them putting stuffed animals in little bags, and having them tell us about the kids they think are going to be receiving them. They have such giving hearts that now when we walk around town they have mommy carry little toys in her purse too give to the street kids when they see them, or change they have received for doing things for people they carry to give to the older homeless people that are on the street. We are so blessed in every aspect of our lives here in Mexico City. Our budget is short, we budgeted too low for the schooling of our girls, but we know that God is in control and as long as we are truthful, honest, loving, and folling Him before anything else we have nothing to worry about. Please keep us in your prayers as we move deeper and deeper into the new ministry that we are busy in, and the direction that God is taking us. Also just incase you all are wondering we have not left the youth that are working with. We are still teaching there as well, and are spending alot of time counseling young Christians in the truth of the scriptures and not the hearcy of the many false religions that surround us daily (trust me there are plenty). Thank you very much, and God Bless you. I also want to say, after seeing all these donations from American companies, God Bless America.
Mandy and I have been put into a position where we are going to help the poorest people of Mexico City, through a variety of missions. Currently AINDOC has 22 ministries that are spread throughout all of the Mexico city. These ministeries range from house's for children of prostitutes, to elderly that are homeless, to Native shelters, and even a place that Illegal Immigrants are held until deportation, plus many more. There are now people that are running these programs from there specific locations, but the main problem is getting the supplies they need over to them. To remember we are not in the United States where help from the government is available. All these programs are run totally independant from the government. One of the great things is that there are many companies that are willing to donate supplies, food, clothing, and etc. However, there has been a huge problem of sorting, packaging, and distributing these goods to the specific areas around town. This is where Mandy and I come in. We are now in charge of taking all the received goods from many distributers, and cleaning it, packaging it, sorting it, and then making sure that it needs to get where it needs to get. For example, this week we just received a huge shipment of toys for the street kids for Christmas. We will beging packaging "Christmas packages" in about one month for children that have never had gifts before. We also have a food bank, that is the same, only that is alot busier because of the food that needs to be given out before it gets bad. Alot of what we get is for Native Ministry. It is given for the Indiginous people, and it is destributed to that specific area. Keep in mind this is all private and no government hands in the work. Right now we have huge piles of school supplies that are for kids going back to school, it now late because there was no way of getting them over to the ministries that needed them. There are box's sitting in a corner because there was nobody working in distrobution, and nobody knew they were there. Walmart donated a huge amount of items for the students returning to school but nobody knew they were there and the items just were piling up. This is the problem that we are going after. Another awesome aspect of this ministry is that we are virtually not limited in what we can say, how we can say it, and why we can say it. This gives us the freedom to share the love of Christ with the people and not have to fear an agency disciplining us for it. Right now however, we are just trying to make a little organization of the box's and box's of stuff that we have. After some time we are desiring to get out on the street and actually begin handing out what we are packing with the local ministries that are currently there now. This allow us to show the people the love of Christ that He showed us, which is the most important thing that we can do here. Our girls are helping us a little bit after school as well, and it is great to see them putting stuffed animals in little bags, and having them tell us about the kids they think are going to be receiving them. They have such giving hearts that now when we walk around town they have mommy carry little toys in her purse too give to the street kids when they see them, or change they have received for doing things for people they carry to give to the older homeless people that are on the street. We are so blessed in every aspect of our lives here in Mexico City. Our budget is short, we budgeted too low for the schooling of our girls, but we know that God is in control and as long as we are truthful, honest, loving, and folling Him before anything else we have nothing to worry about. Please keep us in your prayers as we move deeper and deeper into the new ministry that we are busy in, and the direction that God is taking us. Also just incase you all are wondering we have not left the youth that are working with. We are still teaching there as well, and are spending alot of time counseling young Christians in the truth of the scriptures and not the hearcy of the many false religions that surround us daily (trust me there are plenty). Thank you very much, and God Bless you. I also want to say, after seeing all these donations from American companies, God Bless America.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Back to School
Well, we are back now from our month of traveling and working all over Mexico. We were blessed to see many youth step out of the crowd willing to lay it all down to serve our King and Master Jesus Christ. We are now getting more and more involved in the youth ministry here. We are finding that many, many youth and/or young people are willing to step up to take on the call of Christianity but they do not want the religion. This has been wonderful to see because we are showing them what it takes to live a Christian life according to the Bible, and how they cannot do it alone. They are willing to sacrifice whatever God wants from them to be a kings and queens with Him when it is all over. We are in the discipleship of the young people which is something that is really different from what he have done before, but we are really seeing God's hand moving in our family's life and the lives of people around us. Working in a country that is overboard in religion is very different but it is great to see how the word of God is more powerful that ever. Jesus is breaking through the walls of religion and showing that His love for people is more now than ever. We have started working on a class for the people that are really interrested in seeking the face of God and we have more people than we can handle, that are interrested. It is amazing to see the favor that God has given us here, with the people around this community. Sometimes I sit back and say that what we are doing looks impossable in comparison to the size of this city we are working in. Then I have someone talk to us about something that is horrably wrong in their lives, and after spending some time with them and seeing them change through the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives I thank God that this is where He has placed us. Some days are very difficult, and some days are great but all in all it is really teaching us dependance on God. I wished that I could tell all the stories that we see, but we cant (because of the lack of time, and my poor fingers on this computer). I would love to tell you about Sunday right now. We were asked to teach 2 groups of young people during a couple of the services. We prayed about what to teach on and God gave us Hebrew 12:14. We taught on, "live in peace with all people and without holyness no person will see the face of God". In the end we had about 15 kids that we prayed for that stepped forward willing to change there lives and give up there sin to live in holyness. They are the ones that are ready to see the face of God. We have a HUGE burden on our lives to share the message of what it will be like when we stand before our savior and judge. We do not want to here, "Saved, but life wasted" but we will dedicate our lives to hear, "Well done good and faithful servent". This is the heart of our message and the youth are willing to hear it. I think that they can hear the Holy Spirit more clearly becuase their minds are not clouded by the worries of life, bills, payments, necesary provisions, kids, etc. The things that we as adults and parents have to deal with the youth dont understand, yet. I think that because of that, if we can get them hooked now on the reality of Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the truth of the Bible, they will change the world.
Please keep us in your prayers as we push forward on some other plans that we are working on right now. We want to provide a place for the kids that are desiring to learn about God to come to us. Right now we are only teaching where we are invited because we have no place for them to come to us. This is the story of our lives and we need your prayers for the next step. We thought that we were going to be teaching this year as well, but we just found that it will not be happening. God closed the doors for us in that direction, but the same day we had another offer to begin working with the youth in a different aspect. This is a scary new thing, and it is not a ministry that exist, but God is awesome that way, and we will keep you all posted as things happen. Luv ya all, and talk later Ross J.
Please keep us in your prayers as we push forward on some other plans that we are working on right now. We want to provide a place for the kids that are desiring to learn about God to come to us. Right now we are only teaching where we are invited because we have no place for them to come to us. This is the story of our lives and we need your prayers for the next step. We thought that we were going to be teaching this year as well, but we just found that it will not be happening. God closed the doors for us in that direction, but the same day we had another offer to begin working with the youth in a different aspect. This is a scary new thing, and it is not a ministry that exist, but God is awesome that way, and we will keep you all posted as things happen. Luv ya all, and talk later Ross J.
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