Bible References:   Ezra 1:2-4; 7-11; Isaiah Isaiah 44:28 The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus.   The heart of kings is in the hand of the Lord. We need to look for the Lord to lead us; lead in the Church and the world. Cyrus was a king God used to help restore Israel back to the land. God wants us to be part of witnessing the morality of God to the world.   Jesus came so God could deal with our sins; let God deal with your sins and we are to get on with what God wants us to do. Cyrus made a proclamation that the gentiles were to assist Israel through gifts to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, and he proclaimed the greatness of God. Today, the story is God rebuilding the temple - you, me, Christian people God wants us to look to God to find the way.   God’s offering us freedom; we have a walk with Jesus Christ.   It starts when we accept Him.   Be a world-changer – those who went from Babylon to Jerusalem.   Put yourself into God’s hands, not sitting in our sin.   T

Philippians Chapter 1:1-2 16-18 One day, on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl ran into us. She was a psychic and, with her fortunetelling, made a lot of money for the people who owned her. She started following Paul around, calling everyone’s attention to us by yelling out, “These men are working for the Most High God. They’re laying out the road of salvation for you!” She did this for a number of days until Paul, finally fed up with her, turned and commanded the spirit that possessed her, “Out! In the name of Jesus Christ, get out of her!” And it was gone, just like that. 19-22 When her owners saw that their lucrative little business was suddenly bankrupt, they went after Paul and Silas, roughed them up and dragged them into the market square. Then the police arrested them and pulled them into a court with the accusation, “These men are disturbing the peace—dangerous Jewish agitators subverting our Roman law and order.” By this time the crowd had turned into a restl

Bible Reference:  2 Timothy 4:7-8; Acts 20:24 We must first recognize and understand that God has given us a ministry  - reconciliation. If you want to do something with your life - meet God, your Father in heaven. We are not volunteers,  we are conscripts.   Volunteers choose.  Our enemy works 24/7.  We are conscripts in the army of God.   We are called to stand firm.  Paul did.  He went with and without.   He was flogged,  shipwrecked,  stoned.  He said he was blessed.   It's not all about getting 'blessed' with stuff. Jesus was so 'blessed ' he was crucified...for us. To finish the course we need to feed upon and claim the whole gospel of God.   Paul didn't shirk anything that was hard.  Recognize the battlefield. 2 Timothy 4:7-8 What is the sense of fighting the good fight for nothing?  We're there to win the crown of righteousness. Ephesians 6:11-18 Our fight is not against circumstances.  It's against the spiritual realm.  The biggest probl

Bible Reference:  Acts 20:34-38; Ezekiel 33:1-9; Ezekiel 3: 17-21 Each and everyone has a ministry - reconciliation. Every person with potential.   The potential to know Jesus Christ.   While we were sinners,  Christ died for us.  Once we are saved, God calls us to serve.  Sometimes we look at people and think how can they come to know Jesus?  But someone may have thought that about me. We are conscripts in God's army.  We don't have the choice to say the food isn't good or we don't like what we've been asked to do.  We are called to obey and serve. We are to hear God's Word and then we are to speak out His Word.  If we don't warn those who don't know Christ,  they will die in sin.  To finish the course,  Paul said he had to testify to the truth of the Gospel.   We are not all missionaries,  we are not all 'Paul's ', but we are to testify to the truth.  If we don't tell our nation about Jesus, they will wander , lost. I

Bible References:  Psalm 63:1; Psalm 42:1-2; John chapter 4; Jeremiah14:1-3; 1 Samuel 23 and 24 Water.  An essential part of life.  For people, for animals and for plants.  Water is even essential for fish and marine life. Water is often spoken about in the Bible.  Sometimes water is referred to as life giving, refreshing.  Sometimes it’s referred to as being in cisterns.  What is a cistern?  It’s a  storage facility to hold water.  Places that have cisterns hold the water for the dry times, or times of siege. Cisterns are not life giving.  They often hold stale, still, stagnant water. “…In the Middle East, water is scarce and precious, and very much needed for survival. Only a few months of the year does rain fall in Israel, and the rest of the time the ancient peoples survived on stagnant water that was stored in cisterns in the ground. When rain does fall after many months of clear blue skies, it seems to be a miraculous gift from God. The difference with or without rain in I

What do you believe?   What do you value? Recap:   Unity, liberty and charity (love) are important as we establish the essentials of what we believe. Unity – as a body of believers in Christ Jesus – Ephesians 4:4-6 tells us, “There is one body [of believers] and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when called [to salvation]— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all who is [sovereign] over all and [working] through all and [living] in all.” (AMP) Liberty -   Romans 14:1,12, 22 says “…As for the [a]one whose faith is weak, accept him [into your fellowship], but not for [the purpose of] quarreling over his opinions.” (v12) “…So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God…” (v22) “…The faith which you have [that gives you freedom of choice], have as your own conviction before God [just keep it between yourself and God, seeking His will]. Happy is he who has no reason to condemn himself for what he approves.” Charity (love) 1

There is no way we can know everything about God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit. But in the essentials, we believe and value, they are paramount to our life as a Christian.   Everyday of our life is a journey where we choose to deepen our relationship with the Lord, or choose to draw ourselves away from Him.   If we want to know God, then we need to spend time with Him. Genesis 1:1-2 tells us, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” God is the Creator and ruler of the universe.   He holds everything together.   When we say that God is the Creator, we mean that He is truly creative, in a category all by Himself, because He started with nothing.   Colossians 1:16 says …For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things ha