It’s Time”

by: Bro. Michael Bishop Jr.

Key Verses: 2 Chronicles 7:12-18

In the time of heartache, uncertain times, and as the world seem that what can’t happen dose happen, we wonder what to do, what’s next? Many people today look to people like Dr. Phil, or Larry King and many others to find out what is next. Most of the time the Lord Jesus Christ is NOT is not the first source of help but the last source of hope in a world that is looking for some [hope].

2 Chronicles 7:12-18

It is time to Humble Ourselves.

Holman Dictionary: Free from ignorance and pride. Encarta ® World English Dictionary : 1. modest and unassuming in attitude and behavior 2. feeling or showing respect and deference toward other people.

Our pride and ignorance get in the way of our worship. (1st church of the friezador)

To be humble is to be set apart from everyone else and truly be broken for the Lord. Being humble requires us to be obeying to God.

It is Time to Pray: According to the Sprit of God.

As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray. Martin Luther (1483–1546)

Prayer has everything to do with molding the soul into the image of God, and has everything to do with enhancing and enlarging the measure of Divine grace. -form the Necessity of Prayer by Edward M. Bounds. 1st edition. Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright 1997, Parsons Technology, Inc.

Too many of our prayer life are just too simple, just plan suck and all about us.

According to the NIV Study Bible/Concordance is a conversation with God. The Encarta World English Dictionary states that prayer is a spoken or unspoken address to God. It may express praise, thanksgiving, confession, or a request for something such as help or somebody's well-being. If prayer is a conversation with God, why do we do we do most of the talking? The Bible says to be slow to speak and quick to hear. Many of our prayers goes like this:

“Hey Lord” or “Dear Lord Baby Jesus”, tell Him how much He screw up your life, tell him what you want to do or need to do, curse Him than turn around in your deepest trail and call out to Him for help us. 90% of us do that.

It is best to read the weather forecasts before we pray for rain. -Mark Twain (1835–1910)

Matthew 6:5-13

Matthew 7:7-8

It is Time to SEEK the Face of God.

Matthew 6:33

Craig Bloomberg, a professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, states:

“Seeking first the righteous of God implies obedience to all of Jesus commands…” “… ‘Will be given’ dose not specify when God will provide … Without a doubt, most individuals Budgets need drastic realignment in turns of what Christians spend on themselves vs. what they spend on others.”

It is time to Turn away from our Evil ways.

Psalm 139:23-24 ( HCSB ) 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. 24 See if there is any offensive ways in me; lead me in the everlasting way.

A TWELVE POINT CURE FOR COMPLAINING: How to not let circumstances and attitudes rob you of your joy, contentment, and hope by

by Bill Izard

• Complaining is unbecoming of the true Christian and yet we are proficient at it. The cure is found in these verses. In Christ we are never hopeless or forsaken. Every trial has meaning. Meditate on this cure in order to change both your language and your heart.

1. GOD COMMANDS ME NEVER TO COMPLAIN. (Philippians 2:14)

2. GOD COMMANDS ME TO GIVE THANKS IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

3. GOD COMMANDS ME TO REJOICE ALWAYS, AND ESPECIALLY IN TIMES OF TRIAL. Rejoice in the Lord always.(Phil. 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16; James 1:2)

4. I ALWAYS DESERVE MUCH WORSE THAN WHAT I AM SUFFERING NOW¾IN FACT, I DESERVE HELL. (Lamentations 3:39, Luke 13:2-3.)

5. IN LIGHT OF THE ETERNAL HAPPINESS AND GLORY THAT I WILL EXPERIENCE IN HEAVEN, THIS PRESENT TRIAL IS EXTREMELY BRIEF AND INSIGNIFICANT, EVEN IF IT WERE TO LAST A LIFETIME. (Rom. 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:19)

6. MY SUFFERING IS FAR LESS THAN THAT WHICH CHRIST SUFFERED, AND HE DID NOT COMPLAIN. (1 Peter 2:23)

7. TO COMPLAIN IS TO SAY GOD IS NOT JUST. (Genesis 18:25)

8. FAITH AND PRAYER EXCLUDE COMPLAINING. (Psalm 34)

9. THIS DIFFICULTY IS BEING USED BY GOD FOR MY GOOD AND IT IS FOOLISH FOR ME TO COMPLAIN AGAINST IT. (Romans 8:28)

10. THOSE MORE FAITHFUL THAN I HAVE SUFFERED FAR WORSE THAN I, AND DID SO WITHOUT COMPLAINT. (Hebrews 11:35-39)

11. COMPLAINING DENIES THAT GOD'S GRACE IS ENTIRELY SUFFICIENT. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

12. THE GREATEST SUFFERING, THE WORST TRIAL OR DIFFICULTY, CAN NEVER ROB ME OF THAT WHICH IS OF GREATEST VALUE TO ME AND MY GREATEST JOY, NAMELY THE LOVE OF CHRIST. (Romans 8:35-39)

30 Sins of the Tongue

by: Richard Baxter

• Blasphemy.

• Teaching false doctrine.

• False application of true doctrine.

• Deriding of serious godliness.

• Forbidding Christian ministers to preach the Gospel.

• Profane swearing

• Perjury.

• Lying.

• Hypocritical representation of self.

• Proud boasting.

• Unseasonable speaking of common things when holy things should be preferred.

• Tempting others to sin.

• Idle talk and a multitude of useless words.

• Handling the word of God in a carnal, playful manner: and not with a style that is grave and serious, agreeable to the weight and majesty of the truth.

• Imprudent, rash and slovenly handling of holy things.

• Reviling and dishonoring of superiors.

• Imperious contempt of inferiors.

• Foolish talk and jesting.

• Filthy speaking.

• Cursing of others.

• Slandering.

• Backbiting.

• Speaking evil of another.

• Stirring up discord.

• Cheating others by defrauding neighbors in bargaining for their own gain.

• Falsely accusing the innocent.

• Passing an unrighteous sentence.

• Flattering and deluding men about the state of their souls.

• Jeering, mocking,deriding or scorning others.

• Idolatry or false worship.

The Muslim Brotherhood: The real cost of freedom and democracy in the Middle East.

Over the past months the stories of freedom and nations over nations has become apparent in the Middle East. One of the uprising governments that promise freedom for people in the region is The Muslim Brotherhood. (MB) Listed is information on the Muslim Brotherhood and what they believe.

1. Creed: Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Quran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying is the way of Allah is our highest hope.

2. Highly Terrorist Group

3. 1991 document Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goals of the Group: MB mission in America is “a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within, sabotaging its miserable houses with their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is mad victorious over all other religions”

4. 5 Phrases of the World Underground Movement plan (taking of the world by MB):

• Phrase 1: Discreet and secret establishment of leadership.

• Phrase 2 : Gradual appearance on the public scene and exercising and utilizing various public activities.

• Phrase 3 : Escalation phase using mass media.

• Phrase 4 : Open public confrontation with the Government using political pressure.

• Phrase 5 : Seizing power to establish their Islamic Nation.

Sadly, the Muslim Brotherhood is already pass Phrase 3. Even in churches in the Bible Bleat are allowing the Christians and Muslims to worship in the same church (different times, of course) are coming together. The MB is after to make everyone a Muslim and to follow their law.

The Authorship of the Pentateuch

Notes taken from Dr. Ron Meeks Old Testament I class.

1. The various views of authorship

• One author alone-The Traditional View: Hebrew, Samaritan, and early Christian tradition all regard Moses as the author or compiler of the Pentateuch. The one-author view acknowledges that Moses wrote the entire Pentateuch, apart from the account of his own death in Deut. 34.

• Documentary Hypothesis of Source Theory: A theory developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that divided the material in the Pentateuch into four major blocks and sought to relate these to one another and to the course of Israelite History. The theory assumes that Moses did not composed the Pentateuch but that it was the product of various periods in Israelite history. This theory is built upon the 5 pillars of documentary analysis.

1. Use of different names (of God)

2. differences in language and style

3. contradictions and divergences among various texts

4. duplication and repetition of material

5. The evidence of literary seams suggesting the combination of various sources. (Gentz, The Dictionary of Bible and Religion, 276-277)

• One author with later editors: This view acknowledges Moses as (1) the compiler of existing written sources into what is now know as Genesis and (2) the author of the bulk of the other four books of the Pentateuch. This approach is a viable conservative to the multiple authorship theories characteristic of most modern critical scholarship without rejecting the divine inspiration of the Old Testament.

• Oral Tradition, Multiple authors, and later editors: This hypothesis assumes that the oral transmission of Israelite historical foundations and folklore was foundational to the composition form. These small literary units were then collected and finally compiled into the five books of the Pentateuch.

1. Arguments for Mosaic Authorship

• Claims from within the Pentateuch (Ex. 17:14, 24:4, 34:27, Num. 33:1-2, Deut. 31:24)

• Claims from other O.T. Books (Josh. 1:7, Judges 3:4, 2 Chronicles 25:4, Ezra 6:18, Mal. 4:4)

• Claims from Jesus and the New Testament Writers (Matt. 8:4, Mark 7:10, 10:5, Luke 20:37, John 5:45-47, 7:19)

• Internal Evidences consistent with Mosaic Authorship

1. Eyewitness details appear in the account of the Exodus which suggest and actual participant in the events, but which would be altogether beyond the ken of an author who lived centuries after the event.

2. The author of Genesis and Exodus shows a thorough acquaintance with Egypt.

3. The author of the Torah shows a consistently foreign or extra-Palestinian viewpoint so far as Canaan is concerned.

4. The atmosphere of the Exodus through Numbers is unmistakably that of the desert, not of an agricultural people settled in their ancestral possessions of a thousand years.

5. There is a most remarkable unity of arrangement which underlies the entire Pentateuch and links it together into a progressive hole.

• The Qualifications of Moses

1. He had the education and background for authorship.

2. He would have personal knowledge of the climate, agricultural, and geography of Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula such the author of the Pentateuch patently displays.

3. He would have the incentive as the founder of the nation.

4. He had the time to compose the documents.

Is your home a Gospel Center Home? Painful Parenting Questions to ask.

by Rick Thomas

• How dose the Gospel affect you?

• Are your children seeing and experiencing your humility because of the Gospel?

• Are your children becoming more aware of the amazing truth of the Gospel?

• Ask your children how they see you. Do they see you more as a critical person or a grateful person?

• Do you live as though you deserve better?

• Do you live your life as though your worst problem in life has been resolve and the rest of your life is a gift.

• Are you more tempted to force your child to be kind?

• Ask your spouse or a close friend how they have observed you with your children, especially in the area of kindness.

• Do your children instinctively serve others?

• Without thinking, do they instantly respond with a servant's heart?

• Do your children willingly and with joy give up their rights and opportunities in order to bless and serve others?

• Do your children seek to make others great while also rejoicing when good things come to others?

• Are you modeling these things before your children? Do they see these characteristics in you?

• How often do you confess your sins to your children and ask for their forgiveness?

• Do your children readily and humbly confess their sins and seek forgiveness from those they have offended?

• Is your home characterized as a confessing and repenting home?

Multiple “Choice” Questions

 Mike Adams

• Morally speaking, is having an abortion really just like picking a scab?

• If abortion is not murder because the fetus is not a person than why make it “safe, legal, and rare”?

• Do you have a similar desire to make scab-picking safe, legal, and rare”?

• If a woman were raped and got pregnant, which one would you kill a) the baby, b) the rapist, or c) both?

• Are you comfortable with the fave that “a” is the only answer you may choose according to (the present interpretation of) the Constitution?

• Abortion advocated frequently focus on the size of the fetus. Why is that relevant?

• Do tall people have more rights than short people?

• Do men have superior rights relative to women given that men are, on average, larger that women?

• Is fetal lack of self-awareness a justification for abortion?

• Is murder permissible when the victim is sleeping unaware of the surrounding environment?

• Dose the high infant mortality rate in Third World nations justify infanticide in Third World nations?

• Does the spontaneous termination of life by nature justify the intentional termination of life by man?

• Are humans beings inherently more valuable than other animals such as dogs?

• Should a woman abort a baby because it may be expensive and time consuming to raise a child adulthood?

• What give human beings more value that dogs?

• Should a woman be able to kill a puppy because it may be expensive an time consuming to feed and care for a dog?

• Is it morally permissible for a woman to have an abortion if she has pets? In other words, is it wrong to decline care for her baby while providing care for animals?

• Does secular humanism assume that humans are inherently different from other life form? If not, why is it called humanism?

• Should religious leaders interject their religiously-based opposition to the death penalty in debates over public policy?

• Should religious leaders interject their religiously-based opposition to abortion in debates over public policy? If you answered “no” to this question and“yes” to the previous question please explain your inconsistency

• Dose the “right to choose” comes from man or God?

• If man grants rights can he also take them away?

• It have been said (by three Supreme Court Justices) that “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” Dose that mean a woman can define a baby's rights out of existence because a woman is more powerful than a baby?

• Or dose that mean a man, can define a woman's rights out of existence because, in a patriarchal society, a man is more powerful than a woman?

25 Questions to ask before Wasting Another Sunday Morning

• What is man's biggest problem?

• What must a man must do to inherit eternal life?

• How do you deliver the salvation message?

• How hard is it to become a Christian?

• How often do you talk about sin, righteousness and judgment?

• How seeker sensitive is your church?

• Do you dump down your sermons?

• What is your mixture of topical vs. expository preaching?

• Do your sermons emphasize theology or are the relevant?

• Describe your youth programs?

• Describe your evangelism programs.

• What church growth model do you follow?

• How much do you give to missions and the hungry?

• Do you believe the Bible contains no errors or contradictions?

• Do you believe in a literal 6 day creation?

• Do you believe in a literal hell and eternal punishment?

• Please define repentance.

• When you distribute the Lord's Supper, do you emphasize the need to examine yourself?

• Can a person who is living in persistent lifestyle of sin inherit eternal life?

• Do your church exercise church discipline?

• Do Sunday school teachers, nursery, and youth volunteers fill out an application to answer questions about their core beliefs, or are all volunteers accepted?

• What are the essentials of the faith?

• Do you have a cross in your sanctuary?

• How often do you preach the Gospel?

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/Bromichaelb

The Most Superficial and Me-Centered Church Evaluation Questions Ever!

• When I enter do I hear laughter?
  

• Are people greeting me as a job or joy?

• Does the place look like they were expecting me?

• Are people buzzing as they greet each other?

• Is there spirited music playing as people gather?

• Dose the music move me?

• Do the people on stage look real and engaged?

• Are the announcements short, strategic and to the point?

• Is there a printed outline with scripture already printed on it?

• Does the pastor smile?

• Does the message title promise a relevant topic I am interested in?

• Does the pastor speak with humility and authority?

• Do I feel the presence of God?

• Are people listening and engaged?

• Is the service no more than 71 minutes?

• Does it (time) pass by fast?

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