He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
Matthew 22:37-40 (HCSB)

In this statement by our Lord Jesus lies the one and only answer to our world's problems. It must start within the heart and conduct of His people.

Grey Hair

Here are 2 verses today that I am holding up in faith.  The world offers many and varied idols for which we are supposed to place our confidence.  Yahweh will have none of it.  Only in Yahweh do we find strength and true security ... only in Yahweh.


Isaiah 46:3-4
"Listen to Me, house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been sustained from the womb,
carried along since birth.
I will be the same until your old age,
and I will bear you up when you turn gray.
I have made you, and I will carry you;
I will bear and save you." (HCSB)

Oh Father!, Thank You for Your unfailing love and mercy!  Thank You for Your personal attention and care.  Help us to not wait until all else fails before we look to You.  For Your Name's sake I plead.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Eternally True

 






Only in one place can we find that which is eternally true ... and that place is in the Word of God.  Opinions of man will come and go ... but what Yahweh has spoken will more than stand the test of time ... and eternity.

Psalm 119:160 (HCSB)
"The entirety of Your word is truth,
and all Your righteous judgments endure forever."

xtnyoda, shalomed

Truth

 

"You are my shelter and my shield;
I put my hope in Your word."
Psalm 119:114 (HCSB)


The question is often posited, where does one find ... truth.

Only that which stands the test of time and eternity is truth.  And, that is to be only found in God's Word.

xtnyoda, shalomed

What say you?

    This is the one question that has eternal significance. 

“'But what about you?' he asked. 'Who do you say I am?' Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.'” (Matthew 16:15-16)

What say you?

xtnyoda, shalomed

for someone

Someone asked yesterday about favorite memories of father's. My first thought was that for some, their favorite memory of their father was remembering the day that he left for the last time. For them Father's Day can be pretty conflicted. If you are one, I would like to share this verse from Psalm 27:10,
"Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord cares for me." (HCSB)

Dear Father, for those that have been abandoned and abused by their fathers ... manifest Your presence and healing in their hearts and souls.  Take up their lives with Your tender care and grace.  Nurture them with Your love and delight Yourself in them.  This I ask for Your Name's sake.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

National Day of Prayer

This for the National Day of Prayer.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it isn't Washington that is going to fix this nation.

2 Chronicles 7:14-15, "My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. 15 My eyes will now be open and My ears attentive to prayer from this place." (HCSB)

Judgment begins at the House of God.

1 Peter 4:16-18, "16 But if anyone suffers as a “Christian,” he should not be ashamed but should glorify God in having that name. 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin with God’s household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?
18 And if a righteous person is saved with difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"

We Christians need to spend more time on our faces in repentance than in pointing fingers at the lost and unredeemed.

xtnyoda, shalomed

  It is all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking that our faith journey is a spiritual journey.  If we neglect the very real needs of those least able to care for themselves then we are but clanging cymbals and blaring gongs.  The following is picked up by the Apostle James in chapter 1 about caring for those least able to care for themselves.
 
 “Wash yourselves. Cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil. Learn to do what is good. Seek justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow’s cause.” Isaiah 1:16-17 HCSB

This past week I have started the next step in my journey of understanding the ways of God as He would have us strive to setting the captives free in our world.  There are battles ahead to set people free.  Yahweh, direct us, for Your glory and for the honor of Your name.

God, have mercy.

xtnyoda, shalomed.

Soldier suicide

Suicide now outnumbers combat deaths 

WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – American soldier suicides continue to outnumber combat-related deaths in 2012, and the trajectory for soldier suicides continues to get worse.
Statistics released by the Department of the Army show that through November potentially 303 active-duty, Reserve and National Guard soldiers committed suicide. As of Dec. 7, Stars and Stripes reports that 212 soldiers have died in combat-related deaths in Afghanistan.
The Army set a grim new record of 177 potential active-duty cases with 2012 coming to a close on Tuesday – 64 of these cases remain under investigation, 113 have been confirmed......
....... 
 Follow the link for the whole story.
If you know a veteran, stay close to them.  Listen to them.  Love them.  

Ask questions, and listen.

xtnyoda, shalomed 

The Word continues

A wonderful Christmas present for the people of Jamaica ... the Word of God in their own language!  This is exactly why Jesus came to earth as the Living WORD of God.  To speak to us in a language that we could understand.

Kingston, Jamaica (AP) — When English teacher Faith Linton first proposed translating the Bible into Jamaica's patois tongue in the late 1950s, most people who heard the idea shook their heads.

Some on the deeply Christian island believed it was sacrilegious. Others opposed it because the unique mixture of English and West African languages was widely disdained by the elites as a coarse linguistic stepchild to English, which is the only official language in this former British colony.

"There was shock at the mere suggestion," said Linton, now 81, a longtime board member of the Bible Society of the West Indies. "People were deeply ashamed of their mother tongue. It was always associated with illiteracy and social deprivation."

Decades later, Linton's vision is becoming a reality: After years of meticulous translation from the original Greek, the Bible Society is releasing in Jamaica print and audio CD versions of the first patois translation of the New Testament, or "Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment....

 .....

Follow the link for the whole article.  Praise Yahweh!

xtnyoda, shalomed 

What of the night?

  Someone has asked, Preacher, what of the night?!  Have you anxiety over the events of our day?

I've been telling our fellowship that, "It is not 1954, and it will never be 1954 again."

So many of us want to live and act like things are as they were, and they are not, and never will be.

God is bringing to a rapid end the days of "convenient Christianity." And frankly, I am thankful that He is. The Spirit is setting about removing the dead branches, separating the wheat from the tares, and they are being cast into the fire.

The Church is being purified of the wood, hay, and stubble. The pure bride of Christ is about to be revealed. Exciting days! Hallelujah! 

xtnyoda, shalomed