Starting a bible study

Some friends/family, my wife, and I are starting a bible study. We are staring on the 31st of March and will begin with the Gospel of John. We will study John over about 6 weeks. Our preliminary schedule is as follows:

1:1-18 Week 1 meet on 3/31/06
1:19-4:3 Week 2 meet on 4/7/06
4:4-8:59 Week 3 meet on 4/14/06
9:1-12:50 Week 4 meet on 4/21/06
13:1-16:33 Week 5 meet on 4/28/06
17:1-21:25 Week 6 meet on 5/5/06

I am very excited for this study. I invite anyone reading this to follow along and I will try take good notes and post our discussion here. Also any schedule changes we have I will post here too.

Lord, please give us eyes to see and ears to here the truth in Your word as we start this study. Let Your Holy Spirit be present and fill our hearts and minds. Father, let this fellowship bring honor and glory to your holy name. I pray this in the Holy and Glorious name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

If you have never accepted Christ

Do you have a personal relationship with Christ? If you don't would you like to start one? If you would then here is a short prayer you can say to start you on your journey.


Lord Jesus, I admit I am a sinner. I need forgiveness. I am sorry for my sins and I don't want to sin against You anymore. I believe You are the Son of God and You died on the cross for MY sins. I also believe that you rose from the dead so that I, too, may have victory over the grave. Please forgive me now Lord and cleanse me. Come into my heart and give me a new life. Thank You, Jesus, for shedding your blood for me and for hearing and answering my prayer. Amen


Now it doesn't stop there. Tell someone about it! Get baptized to show your commitment to Christ. Get into a church that makes you feel welcome and start reading the bible.

For more information please visit:
http://www.ilovejesus.com/misc/accept.html

Thank you

Lord, thank You for this day it is truly glorious. I thank You for my wife, my family, my friends, and most of all I thank You for Your grace and for sending Your only Son to die for us. We would be truly lost without that.
In Jesus' holy name amen.

Healing broken ties

Wow today has been quite a day. God has led me to reach out to two people to heal relationships with them. It has been quite incredible. Before today I had been feeling that I really need to talk to them but I had no idea what to write (I emailed them). Well today I felt very convicted to do it so I just opened up the email and let it flow. I wrote what I was feeling, that I wanted to make amends for past issues and put the past behind us. I have already heard from one of them and we will soon be on the road to renewing our friendship.

Collossians 3:12-14 says this:

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

and Mark 12:28-31 says:

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."


The common theme here is love. Always remember that we are told above all else to love. Love each other as Christ loved the world and love the Lord with all your being. We are only here for a short time and we should not let our pride and petty human differences come between us.

Is there anyone in your life that you feel that you need to forgive (or needs to forgive you) or that you just need to reconnect to? If there is I urge you to pick up the phone or write them an email and tell that person that you miss them and want to mend the broken ties.

God bless

A family in need

The following is a post from a message board that I frequent:


http://www.weneedyounow.com/

This couple is a friend of a friend of mine. They live in England. Su was diagnosed with cancer in February 2006. She has cancer of her colon and her liver is about 90% cancerous tumors. Doctors are giving her less than a year to live.

The only chance she has is a new drug that is still in testing called Avastin and works by enhancing standard chemotherapy. Avastin works by sticking to the cancer cells and attracting the medication used in chemo to them, thereby making the bog-standard chemo treatment more efficient. It is also an anti-body and once it is 'stuck' to the cancer cells, the body will try to reject them. The treatment has a dual effect. However, as it is a very new drug, it is not yet available on the NHS as it has not yet been trialled and approved for use, but is available privately. Unfortunately this treatment costs £40,000.

Dave is a teacher and Su is a teaching assistant. They also have 3 kids. They do not make much money and they have a huge mortgage for their small house. Their only hope for Su to at least live longer is Avastin. They have raised £10,000 so far.

Here is a quote from the website that Dave wrote:
If anything I have written has touched you in any way, if you have any empathy for our situation, if you have any feeling for us in your heart, I beg you to help us. I am not asking for huge sums of money, whatever you feel you can spare: £1, £5, £10, anything - it all adds up.

Su and I have worked all our adult lives, we have paid our taxes, our national health, we have direct debits for several charities - we are givers NOT takers. We have always strived to help others in our professions; before becoming a teaching assistant, Su worked for a long time in a care home for the mentally ill and worked voluntarily at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton. But for the first time in our lives, we find ourselves in a situation where we are begging.

Su stands very little chance of surviving if she receives standard chemotherapy - her cancer is too advanced to be affected.

Her only hope of survival is Avastin.

Su is my partner, my world, the person I worship more than any other, my closest friend and, above all, the best thing that has ever happened to me. Before this terrible situation began, we had planned to get married this year and wanted to slowly grow old together. I have never ever begged for help from anyone before but I will not rest until I have done all that I can do to save my precious baby. I would be nothing without her.

Su is a mum to Joshua and Bethany. The children adore her with all their heart. If she does not get the treatment she needs, they will be see their mother die and face their teenage years without her support and endless love.

This has been the hardest thing I have ever written.


So if you have an extra $5 or more, please help these folks out. If you can't spare the money, then pray for them or spread the word. Anything you can do will help.



If you are reading this now and can help this family with the money please do so if God is compelling you to. If you are unable to help this family with money then please pray for them.


Lord, please comfort this family in their time of need. Please help them to raise the money needed forexperimentalental drugs. You are our healer Lord but if it is in Your will to call Su home then let her passing be in peace and bring comfort to her family as they grieve. I pray this in the holy name of Jesus Christ. Amen

Pride

God has been revealing some things to me about about myself lately. One of these things is pride. I really never have considered my self what one would call a "proud man" but I was wrong. Lately my pride has been getting in the way of our (my wife and I) financial stability. We are in bad shape. I have been too proud to ask for the help we really need. My mistake here was relying on me to solve this problem and not relying on God. So it came to a head Monday night. I just broke down and cried. I haven't cried like that in some time and during this all I could do is cry out to the Lord to take this burden from me and admit to Him and myself that I could not do this on my own.

An amazing thing happened. I started to feel comforted. It was wonderful. I began to feel and know we were going to be provided for.

You see God is our provider. I have always known that intellectually but until recently I didn't fully understand it. It is a wonderful thing I tell you to feel the presence of God. Do I have our financial issue all figured out yet? No. But God has given me a path to start down to take care of this.

What in your life do you hold on to and try to handle all by yourself? I hope that you will talk to the Lord and give whatever it is that is holding you down to him.

God bless

I have made a decision

I have decided to attend the apologetics seminar in June. I have really been feeling God move me in this direction. More details to come on this as the date gets closer.

God Bless