Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Success

Success as a person involves living in uninterrupted fellowship with God and showing genuine love to others as I grow in faith and in conformity to God’s Character. 

 A Mature Person: Maintaining a Walk with God: Mature people delight in God and seek out His wisdom. They study God’s Word and obey it. Their lives are surrendered to God, and they endeavor to maintain the disciplines of memorization and meditation on Scripture, moral purity, freedom from anger, a clear conscience with God and man, and submission to God-given authorities.

Success as a provider involves combining skills and vision to meet the needs of those whom God has called me to serve.  

A skilled Provider: Demonstrating wisdom in financial matters. Skilled providers are diligent in their work and make wise financial decisions. They display the qualities of initiative and creativity in their efforts, and they apply money-saving techniques, establish purchasing disciplines, and avoid debt. They have not only learned to be good stewards, but they are also generous givers who share their resources with those who are in need.

Success as a parent involves training those whom God entrust to my care.

Wise Parents direct their children to seek for God, to know Him, and to walk in obedience to His ways. By example, they lead them to live with the priorities of cultivating a relationship with God, maintaining family harmony, and advancing God’s kingdom. They invest in their children’s lives through praise and help each child discover God’s purpose for his or her life.

Success as a partner involves showing love in all circumstances and meeting the needs of the one whom God has knit me together as one.

A Loving Marriage Partner: Experiencing a Fulfilling Marriage. Successful marriage partners learn contentment before marriage and are committed to a covenant marriage. They are sensitive to the needs of their spouse and work as a team with their spouse. They apply the skills of good communication to preserve oneness in their marriage and to keep their relationships strong and free from bitterness.

Success as a proclaimer involves communicating biblical truth to fulfill the Great Commission.

An Effective Proclaimer of Truth: Developing a Powerful Life Message. Effective proclaimers of God’s truth communicate in truth and love. They share the message of salvation through Christ with others, understand the power of prayer, and live according to the Word of God. They are sensitive to the needs of others and alert to when it is timely and appropriate to speak about sensitive issues. They not only seek to make disciples for Christ, but they also help others become disciple-makers themselves.

 

Monday, February 8, 2016

The Need for a Holy Life- (Re-Post)

A Passage from the book- Holiness - By J. C. Ryle
Over the years, the subject of personal godliness has fallen sadly into the background. The Christian standard of living has become painfully low. The importance of “adorning the doctrine of God our Lord and Savior” (Tit 2:10), and making it lovely and beautiful by our daily habits and tempers, has been far too much overlooked. Worldly people complain with reason that so called “religious” or “Christians” are not as amiable and unselfish and good-natured as non-believers.
Sound doctrine is useless if it is not accompanied by holy living. It is worse than useless: it does harm. It is despised and seen by the world, as an unreal and hollow thing, and brings religion into contempt.
It is my impression that we need a revival about scriptural holiness.

Our godless society! (Re-Post)

(Theodore Cuyler, "Wayside Springs from the Fountain of Life" 1883)

"Do not be conformed to the world." Romans 12:2

The sin of modern civilization has been well described as "making more of status than it does of character." But the very essence of Bible religion, is to make character everything--and conduct the test and evidence of character.
Our godless society needs a strict, pure, honest, self-denying, godly-minded church! Conformity to the world--will never convert the world! We are not to accommodate Christianity to the thought and fashion of the times--but to keep it stoutly and steadily up to its original standards. We must stand fast, not only to the faith once delivered to the saints, but to the practices which are enjoined in God's Word.

Social life, with increase of wealth, has a trend towards demoralization. Luxury weakens morality. Popular amusements become sensualized and offer their temptations to the church. "Do not be conformed to the world" applies to the theater, the ball-room, the wine-cup, and to everything that would turn God's earth into a "Vanity Fair." Conformity to the world amounts, in the end, to more than the corruption of Christ's church. It puts out the light which Christ has kindled; it destroys the very leaven which He has prepared to purify and sweeten and save a "world lying in wickedness."