I was talking with a friend today about what it means to give it all for the Lord.  We’ve been reading books like “Crazy Love” and “Radical” and have been challenged by what we read.  Or maybe we are just feeling guilty.  Whatever it is, we like to think we are good Christian guys and we want to follow the Lord with all our hearts.  But how on earth can we really “deny ourselves, pick up our crosses daily, and follow” Jesus?

"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" Mark 1:15

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him. MT 4:23-25 (NIV)

Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.  Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." MT 11:4-6

 

So what do you think? Did Jesus make His point? 

The latest we have heard is that the volcanic ash that had been raining on Guayaquil has stopped. Thank you for praying for the city and for the health of our team there. 

 We got word that volcanic ash has been raining down on Guayaquil, Ecuador.  The Tungurahua volcano erupted again, and although it is over 100 miles away it blanketed the city with ash, causing most business and activities to stop for the day.

	Tungurahua Volcano erupting in Summer, 2007.

Our team there has asked us to pray that the ash will stop falling and that everything will get back to normal.  Let's pray for them and especially for the people near the volcano that they would be protected.  

Yesterday afternoon I preached at Rey de Reyes Church in Apopka. Check out this video of their young girls worshipping the Lord:

The Lord woke me up last night with 3 things rattling in my brain:

 1. “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul is pressing on, in a definite direction, striving and reaching and pressing on to get the prize of the upward call. What is this “prize of the upward call”? Whatever this prize is, it had Paul’s full and complete attention. See Phil.3:12-14.

2. “Was it merely for human reasons I fought wild beasts in Ephesus?” Paul wrote this, referring to his rock-solid commitment to press on with his life even when things were hard. Paul knew that one day he was going to have to stand before Christ and measure up to His standard. He wasn’t going 1 minute before he was ready if he had anything to say about it! Paul knew that he was going to have to give account for what he did and he knew he wasn’t ready yet. See 1 Cor.15:32 ff.

3. And then, a popular song:

 The Motions by Matthew West 

Click here to hear the whole song and see the lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHhWGtR9E3c

To me these Scriptures and this contemporary song take us all in the same direction. Jesus is calling each of us to win the prize - the prize of an upward-looking call in Him. We can’t let anything short-circuit this passionate pursuit – not even wild beasts! Let’s join the chorus of the song, declaring that we don’t want to go even one more day without Jesus’ all-consuming passion inside of us, so that we can fulfill the work that God has called us to do!

We are planning to send a team to Ecuador in April.  The doors are wide open and we really want to go and be a blessing and encouragement to the churches there.  Ray Watson has agreed to lead the team but .... we have a problem.  We don't have anybody to travel with him.

We don't like sending people by themselves and it is generally our policy to have at least 2 people go together.  So Ray isn't going if we can't find the right person to go with him.

We're obviously going to be selective.  But we believe the Lord has just the right person.  Please pray with us that the Lord raises up someone quickly to join Ray.

Good news! We are proud to announce the launching of our new and improved website. Now we can share with you even better about the AWESOME things God has done in our travels, that we have both seen and  heard.

We understand that not everyone gets to see some of the things we have seen. It's time for that to be over.  With all the bad news in the world, like earthquakes and blizzards, falling house prices and expensive health care, we want to be your good - news website.  You sick?  Read a testimony of how God healed someone.  You depressed? Watch a video of how God put a gleam in someone's eyes after hearing of the hope we have in Jesus.

Good news! It's all about good news. It's really as simple as this: if God will fix the hopeless situation of someone in South America, then maybe God will fix the hopeless situation of one of my loved ones. Or me. If that's not good news, I don't know what is!

So be encouraged.  Put our site on your favorites.  Subscribe to our RSS feeds, become a fan of our Facebook page, and be the first to hear of these incredible things as they happen.

Be blessed, and dare to believe the good news of Jesus. 

"The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him." Ezra 7:6

Ezra was a man who enjoyed the favor of God. With that favor he helped restore the true worship of the God of Israel in the land of promise. Ezra had God's favor. Do we have God's favor?

The Scriptures says that believers in Christ have His favor. The blood of Jesus has purchased for us all the grace and favor we would ever need.

Let's look at Gal.1:3 - "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."  Paul opened his letters usually with a greeting like this. But this raises an interesting question.  If "grace and peace" were 'automatic' for Christians then why did Paul open his letters with this kind of greeting?

Think on your life.  There have been times of incredible favor and blessing and peace.  And then there have been those other times.

I had lunch with a friend at a restaurant yesterday. As we were leaving I saw a glass enclosed display which contained all kinds of scrumptious pies, cakes and other sweet desserts. Having both a sweet tooth and a weight problem, the battle was on! I could almost hear the lemon meringue pie calling my name. Somehow by the grace of God I kept walking and did not yield.

I commented to my friend as we both successfully escaped another close encounter with temptation that, "Seems like each day we have to say ‘no' so much more than we get to say ‘yes'." I then reflected on how much strength saying ‘No' requires. It's a truth, isn't it, that our faithfulness to say ‘No' is a reflection of our character?

"Seems like each day we have to say ‘no' so much more than we get to say ‘yes'."