Joseph Generation Army

I know a lot has been said about new year's resolution and how most of us have failed to keep a lot of resolutions we have made.  Regardless,  new year is a good excuse to do some soul searching.  It is my hope that this song will help you do that.....

On the day of Christmas Eve in 1914 during the first world war in Belgium, German troops started decorating their side for Christmas.  They placed candles on trees and kept singing Silent Night. The British troops on the other side joined the singing.  Soon they started shouting Christmas greetings to one another and arranged to meet for exchange of small gifts.

The whole universe came into being just because God said so. 

points to keep in mind when doing relationships....

The one and only reason for abstinence is OBEDIENCE to the word of God as we all agree that the Bible is against sex before marriage.  These are just some of the benefits of abstinence. Here they are....

 The Bible gives us the reason why we love.  It says "We love because he first loved us."  1 John 4:19.  That is why we love.

This verse is often interpreted as the reason why we love God is because he first loved us.  But, is that the correct interpretation?  Read it carefully and you will notice that it says "we love" but stops short of saying whom we love.....  

If you just hear His words and don't practice them, the Bible calls you foolish.....

Chapter 3 of 1st Samuel begins by saying In those days the word of the LORD was rare 1 Sam. 3:1. God stopped speaking, or did He? It could also be that He was speaking but nobody was paying attention.....

Peter elaborates on the new person you and I are as one who has been called from darkness into his wonderful light.  He describes us as:

Make no mistake.  The bible does not forbid anything.  It just tells you what is good or bad for you.  “Everything is permissible—but not everything is beneficial” 1 Cor. 10:23.   Never ask: Is this allowed?  Everything is allowed.  The question should be:  What good is this for me?  

When it is about tomorrow there are two types of people.  On one hand there are people who are scared of tomorrow and constantly worry about it.  On the other extreme there are people like Paul who scare tomorrow,  who stretch ahead to catch it and subdue it.

Which one are you?....

The Jews really needed to see some fancy miracle in order to believe in God: probably healing, prophecy etc...more like a lot of people today.  The Greeks needed to be impressed by some smart orator/motivational speaker.  Both are good but those should never be the point of any sermon.  The point of all sermons should be Christ crucified.  Period.....

Ecclesiastes chapter 3 is such a simple and yet profoundly true-to-life chapter that it has made its way outside the church deep in to the secular world.  Countless songs, sermons,  speeches etc...have been based on this chapter.  In simple, clear and yet profound terms it lays out the contrast the human life is filled with. It says there is time to be born and time to die, time to plant and time to uproot,  time to mourn and time to dance,  time for peace and time time for war....

Someone said Jesus has to either be the true Son of God that He claimed He is  or a psychotic who has no idea what he is talking about.   Even though we know the He is the former,  that conclusion kind of makes sense from a non-believer perspective......

There is an amharic saying that goes something like...yetim fCHiw DuQetun amCHiw...loosely translated as grind it wherever as long as you bring the flour.  It is a figurative saying to mean no matter how you do it,  where you do it,  what means you use etc...as long as you produce results that is what matters....

 "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  Matt 28:18-20

I would like to bring your attention to the part where He said I am with you (the highlighted part) and say a few things about that....

My two year old talks really well for his age but of course makes a lot of cute mistakes when he talks.  The other day he said to me "what did you ate?".  That is not too bad for a two year old so I didn't bother correcting him.....

If you expect your life to be sunny all the time just because you are a Christian,  that is some serious misunderstanding of what being a Christian is all about.  Sooner or later it is going to snow if it is not already snowing in your life.  What you do with the snow is what makes the difference.....

  "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

This is what Jesus said in Matthew 11.  I have highlighted the word "burden" that Jesus used in this verse twice.  That begs the question why we have to give up one burden just to pick up another.  Part of the answer is found in the verse itself.  He said his burden is light.  Burden and light,  except in this verse, are two words you don't often find in the same sentence.....

I know this sounds stupid but I sometimes write an e-mail to God.  I literally send an e-mail to LordGodAlmighty@yahoo.ca.....

 The words wisdom and knowledge are a lot of times used as if they are interchangeable. Are they?  Probably not.  The study of biblical wisdom reveals a lot of differences between knowledge and wisdom.  One of them is practice.  knowledge becomes wisdom only when you practice it.  So,  if you want to know whether you have wisdom in certain things or not,  don't check your knowledge,  or your head.

Have you ever been told that as a Christian you are a faith person but others such as those who believe in science are not faith people.  That is baloney.  Everybody lives by faith.  The only difference is in who or what your faith is in.....

Some of us are caught up in what we like to call vision and always think about tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow and fail to see what the Lord is doing today.  Some of us are dwelling in the past, just like Israel in this verse, and fail to see what is happening right before our eyes.....

When faced with problems, people react in one of two ways: There are those who are interested in finding out who is to blame. The other ones are the ones who don’t mind going the extra mile to solve the problem. They are focused on the solution and not the problem. That is what Nehemiah and his people did. They didn’t mind the inconvenience of working with one hand.

I don't know about you but the bible is the only place I have ever seen the words everlasting and love in the same phrase....

A while back I was typing on MS Word and part of what I typed was a verse from 1 John Chapter 1 that says “God is Love”.  At the end I had to run my document through a spelling and grammar check.  The computer stopped me where it says “God is love”.   It didn’t like it.  Instead, it suggested “God is loving”.

"Buy the truth and do not sell it"  Pr 23:23

The devil, however, will always be prowling around giving you hefty offers to sell the truth.  But "don't sell the truth" pr 23:23..... because...... "wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her." Pr 8:11......

Attorneys have this right called privileged communication that no body else has.  Everybody else has a responsibility to testify in court if summoned but lawyers have a legal right to hold back the truth when representing a client.  This privilege is given to lawyers so that criminals can be honest with their lawyers without any fear of judgment.....

The laws of God are like the seat belt law.  They are meant to save you and I from disaster.  God values our life.  He gave us life and a Bible to live it by much like an auto manufacturer would give you a car and a users’ manual. 

I have never come across a material estimating the number of books produced in the history of mankind.  In all of history how many books do you think people have written?  May be billions?  Trillions?  I don’t know.  But, we know some things about these books.....

Knowledge without God,  knowledge without Christ..Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge... Col 2:3....knowledge without eternal perspective is no knowledge.  It leads nowhere. 

 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge" Prov 1:7........

I find what Paul said about role modeling very interesting.  He said,  "imitate me."  But he didn’t stop there.  He added,  "as I imitate Christ."  In other words,  let's all try to imitate Christ.......

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."  Psalm 91:1

Here we have one of the most popular Bible verses promising rest in the Lord.  Let us take three words out of this verse and have a closer look.  The three words are dwell,  shelter,  and shadow.....

When you are genuinely sorry about what you have done, it shows and God loves it. Genuine “sorry” is the ticket to heaven. I don’t know how you plan to get to heaven but that is how I got there....

You may be a teacher, a preacher or a pastor or you may just be a member at your local church.  Whichever you are,  it is the Holy Spirit and only the Holy Spirit that helps you either teach or learn.  Without the Holy Spirit there is no teacher.  Neither is there a student....

Earthly wisdom is about mental knowledge and heavenly wisdom is about character.  Earthly wisodm is about how much you know but heavenly wisdom is about how you live your life.....