Beautiful Creation

The Creation: The Earth is a Witness from The Adventist Church (Official) on Vimeo.

Giving

Stop and Hear the Music

Will one of the nation's greatest violinists be noticed in a D.C. Metro stop during rush hour? Joshua Bell experimented for Gene Weingarten's story in The Washington Post: http://wpo.st/-vP(Video by John W. Poole)

E.M. Bounds on Prayer

I was blessed by the middle two paragraphs.

Devotion Thought - Really Hit Home

This really hit home right now for me so I am enthusiastically sending it to those close to me cause I share what's good. Happy Sabbath! 

Love, -Branden

Heart Renewal

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Eph. 4: 23, 24.

Christ was a faithful reprover.... To all things untrue and base His very presence was a rebuke. In the light of His purity, men saw themselves unclean, their life's aims mean and false. Yet He drew them. He who had created man, understood the value of humanity....

In every human being He discerned infinite possibilities. He saw men as they might be, transfigured by His grace-- in "the beauty of the Lord our God" (Ps. 90: 17).

All defects of character originate in the heart. Pride, vanity, evil temper, and covetousness proceed from the carnal heart unrenewed by the grace of Christ.

It is by the renewing of the heart that the grace of God works to transform the life. No mere external change is sufficient to bring us into harmony with God. There are many who try to reform by correcting this bad habit or that bad habit and they hope in this way to become Christians, but they are beginning in the wrong place. Our first work is with the heart....

The Scriptures are the great agency in this transformation of character. Christ prayed, "Sanctify them through thy truth: Thy Word is truth" (John 17: 17). If studied and obeyed, the Word of God works in the heart, subduing every unholy attribute. The Holy Spirit comes to convict of sin, and the faith that springs up in the heart works by love to Christ, conforming us, body, soul, and spirit, to His will....

Let us not spare ourselves, but carry forward in earnest the work of reform that must be done in our lives. Let us crucify self. Unholy habits will clamor for the mastery, but in the name and through the power of Jesus we may conquer. To him who daily seeks to keep his heart with all diligence, the promise is given, "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8: 38, 39).

From God's Amazing Grace - Page 222

sent from my good friend Branden...

Parents and Youth Ministry by Pastor Justin Yang

When parents go back to church for their kids (for christian morals & values) this is what happens:

1. They want solid programs, activities, events and a youth professional who will keep their children spiritually entertained.

2. So they hire a youth pastor who can keep their kids in church through fun, culture-friendly, and christian-lite events. (Trips, pizza parties, game nights, amusement parks, bowling, etc)

3. The pressure is on the youth pastor to be ‘not boring’ so they respond to young people’s most carnal appetites to slip in a 5 minute bible study.

4. If somehow one youth makes the radical decision to follow Christ and be a missionary in Afghanistan the parents get angry at the youth pastor for ‘crossing the line’.

5. For the parents did not want their children to be a christian that followed Christ but wanted them to be nice moral and nominal christians that were easy to manage & went to church like they did.

6. The youth that were raised like this usually leave church when they graduate & return to church when they have kids only to begin the cycle again.

______

When youth realize that youth ministry is about alleviating the fears of their parents rather than about Jesus … 2 things happen.

1.  If youth ministry gettings uninteresting (aka provide few social gatherings and opportunities) they eventually leave.

2.  But if the ministry provides with fun outings, entertainment, and opportunities to socialize - the youth is happy to play along and ease the fears of their parents and the congregation.

They assent to being paraded in front of congregations and be photographed for the church newsletter to confirm & show to the leadership that their church isn’t dying and their financial sacrifice is ‘bearing fruit.  

As long as there are trip to Disney World, church socials and the annual summer mission trips - they’re happy to pretend and play along.  

But don’t expect them to stick around after high school - or when the program budget dries up.  That’s when they get on with life.

http://justinyang.tumblr.com/post/52247865000/parents-and-youth-ministry

Involves Character Building

Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. 1 Peter 2: 9.
Obedience to the laws of God develops in man a beautiful character that is in harmony with all that is pure and holy and undefiled. In the life of such a man the message of the gospel of Christ is made clear. Accepting the mercy of Christ and His healing from the power of sin, he is brought into right relation with God. His life, cleansed from vanity and selfishness, is filled with the love of God. His daily obedience to the law of God obtains for him a character that assures him eternal life in the kingdom of God.
But Christ has given us no assurance that to attain perfection of character is an easy matter. A noble, all- round character is not inherited. It does not come to us by accident. A noble character is earned by individual effort through the merits and grace of Christ. God gives the talents, the powers of the mind; we form the character. It is formed by hard, stern battles with self. Conflict after conflict must be waged against hereditary tendencies. We shall have to criticize ourselves closely, and allow not one unfavorable trait to remain uncorrected.
The truth is no truth to the one who does not reveal, by his elevated spiritual character, a power beyond that which the world can give, and influence corresponding in its sacred, peculiar character to the truth itself. He who is sanctified by the truth will exert a saving, vital influence upon all with whom he comes in contact. This is Bible religion.
We need constantly a fresh revelation of Christ, a daily experience that harmonizes with His teachings. High and holy attainments are within our reach. Continual progress in knowledge and virtue is God's purpose for us. His law is the echo of His own voice, giving to all the invitation, "Come up higher. Be holy, holier still." Every day we may advance in perfection of Christian character.

From God's Amazing Grace - Page 144

http://www.whiteestate.org/devotional/ag/05_17.asp

God's Promise

From Elder Sam Lee

When Jesus 'spoke' to the crowd...

On Saturday evening, our church folks and I had the opportunity to go to Chris Tomlin's concert at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine. As you can see in the picture there were lots of people out there we had a great time. (I have mixed reactions and impressions about that concert that night but I won't be talking about it here.)

Later I had found out there were about 14,000 people that came to the concert that evening. The amphitheater had been packed. The front part of the theater was rows of seats but as you go higher to the back of the theater it was just grass for the audience to sit. As we were sitting on the grass in the back part of the theater, suddenly the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 came into my mind.

This story is found in all four gospels and in Luke 9 it tells that Jesus was speaking to the people about the Kingdom of Heaven. Can you imagine Jesus 'speaking' to all the crowd that had come that night? The Gospels write that the counted people were 5,000 males, and the women and children didn't go into count. It means that on that day when Jesus 'talked,' the estimate of the whole crowd would have been no less than the number of people we had at Chris Tomlin's concert. And Jesus 'spoke' to them with His own voice. No microphones, no speakers, just His own clear and beautiful voice. I am just amazed at how He was able to speak to all those crowd like that...

Oh how I envy those people who were out there to hear Jesus speak. If we were hearing songs about Jesus the other night, these people were listening to Jesus Himself! It was that very voice that created the world in six days, the voice that raised Lazarus back to life from death, and that very voice that will say to me "Come!" when He comes again for the second time!

3 Lies Porn Tells You

Below is a link to the article and I believe it will be helpful to some of you:

3 lies porn tells you

The Grasshopper and the Ants

All summer long a merry grasshopper spent his days making music. When he saw the ants marching past him in a line, carrying seeds and grain to store in their hill, he laughed at their toil. "How foolish, to work so hard in the hot sun!" the grasshopper cried. "Summer's the time to play and sing. There's time enough to worry about winter when the first snow falls."

But when the days grew short and the first snow fell, the grasshopper could find nothing to eat. Shivering in the cold, he came to ask the ants for help. "Please, can't you spare me a seed or a leaf?" he begged. "I'm too hungry even to sing!"

The ants shrugged in disdain. "We worked hard for our food and we have none to spare," they said. "All summer long you made nothing but music. Now all winter long you can dance!"

Don't put off for tomorrow what you should do today.

Jerry Pinkey, Aesop's Fables, Seastarbooks, 2000

Karl Barth on the Sabbath

"the reason why He [God] refrains from further activity on the seventh day is that He has found the object of His love and has no further need for any further works."

Laura Story - Blessings

Luke 6:26 (Message)

"There's trouble ahead if you live for the approval of others...Your task is to be true, not popular” 

-Tweeted by Rick Warren

The Great Porn Experiment: Gary Wilson at TEDxGlasgow

For those that are struggling, this is a very helpful and informative video~ take time to watch :)

Staying Power in Pastoral Ministry by D. Nelson

Dwight Nelson - Staying Power in Pastoral Ministry 2-19-13 from NAD Adventist on Vimeo.

Beyonce, The Super Bowl, Sasha & Satan

Interesting...

The Adventists

From the award-winning producer Martin Doblmeier

To This Day Project - Shane Koyczan

Couple days ago at church Mike (who is a teacher) told me that bullying at school is the biggest problem they are facing. Even more than drugs or sex, bullying is a major problem that needs to be solved.

Bullying needs to stop. All have the right to be treated with love.

Isaiah 26:3-4

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Trust ye in the LORD forever for in the LORD JEHOVA is everlasting

Psalm 26

A Prayer for Divine Scrutiny and Redemption

A Psalm of David

Vindicate me, O LORD,

For I have walked in my integrity.

I have also trusted in the LORD;

I shall not slip.

Examine me, O LORD, and prove me;

Try my mind and my heart.

For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,

And I have walked in Your truth.

I have not sat with idolatrous mortals,

Nor will I go in with hypocrites.

I have hated the assembly of evildoers,

And will not sit with the wicked.

I will wash my hands in innocence;

So I will go about Your altar, O LORD,

That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving.

And tell of Your wondrous works.

LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house,

And the place where Your glory dwells.

Do not gather my soul with sinners,

Nor my life with bloodthirsty men,

In whose hands is a sinister scheme,

And whose right hand is full of bribes.

But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;

Redeem me and be merciful to me.

My foot stands in an even place;

In the congregations I will bless the LORD.

Top 10 reasons our kids leave church

Below is a link to a blog that one of my church members sent me and I thought the topic was interesting.

Click here: Top 10 reasons our kids leave church

From my prayer buddy Mike Cho~

Gospel Workers, p. 383

“Some ministers make the mistake of supposing that success depends on drawing a large congregation by outward display, and then delivering the message of truth in a theatrical style. But this is using common fire instead of the sacred fire of God’s kindling. The Lord is not glorified by this manner of working. Not by startling notices and expensive display is His work to be carried to completion, but by following Christlike methods. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” [Zechariah 4:6.] It is the naked truth which, like a sharp, two-edged sword, cuts both ways, arousing to spiritual life those who are dead in trespasses and sins. Men will recognize the gospel when it is brought to them in a way that is in harmony with God’s purposes.”