The Secret that Religion Doesn't Tell You

Your spiritual growth reveals the secret that religion rarely talks about. “You are an eternal being.” Most spirituality information leads you to this conclusion because your spiritual quest is concerned with the interconnectedness of all things and religion is more concerned with its own particular dogma.

This is as it should be. This is just a natural consequence revealing itself. This is “what is so.” No need to get alarmed or panicked (unless you choose to). This is just the natural order of things asserting itself. It is nature at work. We, as human beings, have created everything that has ever happened to this paradise of a planet that we inherited by virtue of our choice to reside here. We created the pollution, the depletion of the ozone layer, the wars, the killing of millions of people, the god of money, the weapons of mass destruction, the extinction of thousands of animal and plant species and religions that teach us that we are all separate.

Now don't go feeling guilty or bad about this. This is neither right nor wrong. It is only “what is so.” Just like looking at a newborn baby is neither right nor wrong, it is only “what is so.”

This is “what is so” in the present moment of now and the present moment of now is the only thing that really exists in this physical universe.

The past is the past. The future is yet to be. We are wholly defined by the present moment of now. Say Amen.

Once again, our observations tell us that we seem to be at a crossroads in this never-ending process we call Life. We are coming to the end of one cycle in order to begin another cycle. All aspects of life in the physical universe run in cycles. Some might say they run in circles; never-ending eternal circles, or cycles, of life.

It has been well documented by our scientists that in seven years every cell of your body has been completely renewed. So, theoretically, we have a body that is never more than seven years old. This observation alone tells us that our bodies, just like every other aspect of life, run on cycles. If this is so, and it is, then we should actually never put a limit on our body's span of existence because life moves in cycles, not years, and you cannot limit a cycle.

Cycles have no real beginnings and they never have an ending. They are in the eternal process of fulfilling themselves, and at the same time they are in the eternal process of renewing themselves within the instrument through which it expresses. Your life does not end at seven nor does it ever end. Life is eternal. Life is a process. Life is a never-ending cycle that continually renews itself.

Here's the really good news. There is not a thing in existence that does not have life. There is nothing that is completely inert. Everything you can think of, from the rocks in your garden to the rocks in the garden on a planet twenty thousand light years away from us, has life.

That is why it is nice to step back and view life from a larger perspective every now and then. Like the old saying tells us, “you can't see the forest through the trees.” When you are focusing most of your attention on your own life and become immersed in the dramas and experiences that are important to you, you shrink your world of existence down to a small, narrow perspective. You limit yourself as to what you see and how you see it.

When you keep your attention focused on the minute details of your dramas, you allow yourself to live within this belief that you are separate from all people and things in this universe. As you separate yourself from everything that exists, in your mind, you are separating yourself from life.

All life exists everywhere, all the time. It's all cycling in a never-ending process of renewal. That is the true nature of how things work. If you know that, that is, if you have a true knowing of this through your experience, then you would never again think of yourself as separate because “a knowing eliminates doubt.”

Most people living on this planet today do not have this knowing. That is why most people live their lives through what they believe. Believing something to be true and knowing something to be true are two entirely different levels of awareness. That is why we are here on this planet called earth in this physical universe. Our purpose here is to experience life in all of its different perspectives in order for God to know, through our experiences, all that she knows of as concepts.

Go out and create the experience of understanding your true, authentic self. This knowing about your true self will serve you well in every decision you make in your life.

About The Author

Richard Blackstone is an award winning author and international speaker on Love, Oneness & Creation. Journey into discovery of Self by reading this FREE report; "The 3 Simple Immutable Laws of the Universe" at: http://www.NutsandBoltsSpirituality.com

How Your Church Can Take On The Porn Epidemic

In How Many Porn Addicts are in Your Church?, we looked at the pressing need to confront the porn epidemic in the church. In this article, we go on the offensive. Our enemy has carpet-bombed us with lust, and we’ve allowed them to take a lot of our territory. They’re holding thousands of broken men, women, children, marriages and families hostage in slavery to sexual sin, and these prisoners of war are waiting to be rescued.

Our enemy is skilled at psychological warfare, and he uses our silence, apathy and fear as a weapon against us. If we want to win this war, we have to boldly assault his front positions with truth and decimate his ranks with the power of God. We’ll clear a path of grace so our battered P.O.W.s can make it home without fear of attack; once they’re safe our Lord can heal their wounds with the balm of His love.

To reach the sexually broken in our churches, we need to provide clear answers in a Sunday morning service. You can offer a men’s retreat or seminar on the topic, but if you don’t go for it in front of the congregation many who desperately need to hear your message of hope will miss out. Those who struggle with porn or sex addiction are trapped in shame and isolation, so the idea of going to a “let’s deal with porn” men’s retreat will be too intimidating for many. We have to reach them where they are, which means your best shot is at church on Sunday morning.

Earlier this year, Christianity Today asked 680 pastors and 1,972 laypersons if they thought the topic of sex should be discussed more from the pulpit: 44 percent of churchgoers said they wanted to hear more scriptural teaching from their pastors on sexual issues, while only 22 percent of pastors agreed. Our culture is a sex saturated sewer, and your people are hungry for the secrets of living a pure life.

Before addressing sexual sin with your congregation, you and your staff should spend a few weeks praying for them. This is an epic battle and you’re stepping up to the front lines; our enemy isn’t going down without a fight. They’ll infiltrate your ranks with thoughts of doubt, fear and confusion… “You can’t talk about sex; it’ll offend and embarrass them. What if they leave the church? Maybe we should soften the message a little... or put it off until we feel led.” They’ll try to cause stress in marriages and families to keep them from coming, and they’ll attack your P.O.W.s with shame and fear: “You don’t need help, you can handle this… besides, what would others think if they really knew what you’ve been doing?” Be sure to pound the enemy with prayer artillery before making the assault into his territory.

Those who suffer with sexual sin carry a heavy burden of shame, and some have been wounded when they shared their struggles with the wrong person. Your purpose is to draw them out of isolation so they can get help and find freedom from sin. A red hot, scolding sermon on hell and damnation will drive them deeper into hiding, which is the opposite of what you want. Boldly speak all of the truth in love. Our approach with the sexually broken should be like Jesus’ when He restored Peter (who would have been greatly ashamed) after he’d failed miserably by denying Jesus three times.

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Galations 6:1

The following is a suggested outline for your message of hope. Sexual sin isn’t an appropriate subject for young children, so you may consider making an announcement 1-2 weeks prior that the topic is PG-13, and parents should have their little ones in Sunday school that day.

First, set the standard.

In a 2003 Barna survey, 28% of Christians said looking at pictures with nudity or sexually explicit behavior was morally acceptable. God’s standard, found in Matthew 5:28, is that lust in the heart is the same as committing adultery. The married man who uses porn is sinning against God – and is unfaithful to his wife. Christians aren’t immune from our culture’s “if it feels good do it” mentality, and those who’ve allowed this lie to influence their thinking need to hear God’s truth.

Show how destructive sexual sin is

“Just porn” takes out marriages and families; the tragedy is that most guys don’t realize it until it’s too late. At a 2003 meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, two thirds of the 350 divorce lawyers who attended said internet porn contributed to more than half of the divorce cases they handled. The aftershocks from porn addiction in a marriage are little different from the fallout from the physical act of adultery; there are many stories in Scripture that show the devastating consequences of sexual sin (such as Samson and David’s).

Let them know they’re not alone.

Because porn or sex addiction is so rarely discussed in the church, most guys mistakenly assume that “I’m the only one with a lust problem.” This lie keeps many trapped in shame, because if “I’m the only one” then I dare not tell someone for fear of being branded with a scarlet P. Exposing the statistics that 50 percent of Christian men have an issue with porn will show them they’re not “the only one,” and encourage them to reach out for help. One powerful way to do this is for one man to share his struggle with lust with the congregation; when one person steps forward and confesses his weakness it gives others the courage to do the same.

After opening the door, point the way out:

1. Isolation is death

All who struggle with sex or porn addiction are isolated, and few have friends who they can be vulnerable with. James 5:16 says “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one other so you may be healed,” and in Proverbs 28:13 we read “he who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.” When we keep our sins a secret they have more power over us; exposing our struggles to others dissolves the shame (Psalms 32:1-5) and breaks the stronghold of lust in the heart. And, when others pray for us in our specific area of weakness as is mentioned in the second half of James 5:16, the Holy Spirit touches our heart where we need it with His power and grace.

2. The stumbling blocks of lust must be annilhated.

In Matthew 5:29, right after He set the standard for sexual purity in verse 28, Jesus drew a black and white picture of the no compromise approach we’re to take in the war against lust: "If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” In practical terms, this means the man who stumbles with internet porn installs blocking software, gives his wife the passwords to the computer, or shuts off all internet access to their home. If cable TV is a problem, he has the service turned off. If he can’t stop watching porn movies in hotel rooms, he must leave the TV off, doesn’t travel alone, or finds a new job. Wife getting in lingerie magazines like Victoria’s Secret? He asks her to cancel the subscription. Our enemy thrives on compromise and weakness, so the only way to win is to take the offensive and kill it.

3. Point them to the One they’ve been looking for.

Sex addiction is the search for God’s love and acceptance in lust. Help them see they’re after a “lovingkindness that’s better than life” (Psalms 63:3), which is found only from the Living God of blazing grace. “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God.” Psalms 42:1

4. Teach them about grace.

I’ve never met a man or woman who struggled with porn or sex addiction who had accepted God’s grace in their heart. Most are programmed by parents, peers and circumstances that love is performance based, conditional, or impossible to obtain. This makes their hardest struggle not in being accountable, or cutting off the stumbling blocks of lust, but accepting God’s grace. Teach them to live in grace, as Jesus told us in John 15:9:

"Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”

5. Give them a safe place to go

Once you’ve shown them the way out, give your people a safe place where they can be vulnerable and find encouragement by starting a Strength in Numbers group in your church. Strength in Numbers is a Christ and grace centered support group for those who struggle with sex and porn addiction that is based on James 5:16. For more information on how to set up a Strength in Numbers group go to www.blazinggrace.org.

A Strength in Numbers group is a ministry to your city, not just the men in your church. I get requests for a group all the time from persons all over the U.S., and most of the time I don’t have a place to send them to. I’d love to be able to refer the sexually broken to your church. My prayer is that we’ll see many of these lighthouses of grace spring up in churches all over our land.

About The Author

Mike Genung struggled with sex addiction for 20 years before God set Him free in 1999. He is the director of www.blazinggrace.org, a ministry to the sexually broken and their spouses, and the author of The Road to Grace; Finding True Freedom from the Bondage of Sexual Addiction (available at http://www.roadtograce.com). Blazing Grace also helps churches minister to the sexually broken by providing resources and helping them set up Strength in Numbers groups.

8 Steps to Effective Christian Leadership

As a Christian leader, you are held to high moral, ethical, and social standards. As a leader, you are held to high standards, but as a Christian leader, that bar is raised even higher. Why? Because both the Christian and non-Christian social environment has tended to expect that Christians measure up to their self-proclaimed moral and ethical standards, as they rightly should. What can you do to be sure you ‘stand up to the test’ in the area of Christian leadership?

1) Probably the most important thing you can do as a Christian leader is to clean up your act---if there is anything in your life, moral or ethical, which would not stand up to scrutiny if the entire world found out---you must eliminate it immediately. Do not give anyone an occasion to think that you are a hypocrite.

2) Be sure that every decision you make is honest and ethical. You cannot effectively lead, as a Christian or not, when your decisions and actions are not above-board, fair, and honest.

3) As a Christian leader, commit to telling the truth no matter what. As a Christian leader, when you lie or tell half-truths, people tend to feel that your entire faith is a sham. In fact, if you are habitually lying and telling half-truths, your faith may indeed be a sham.

4) Learn everything you can about the tasks at hand, even if it means working in the trenches for awhile. No one likes to be led by someone who has never done what they are doing. This doesn’t mean you have to become an expert, just participate in the menial work long enough to understand the frustrating aspects of the work. Another benefit to this is, when you have actually done the work, you can more effectively brainstorm solutions to challenges when they arise.

5) Lead by example. Do you expect your employees or secretaries to arrive on time for work, and dressed well? Then you must do the same. Sometimes it is so easy to think that you have earned the right to come in whenever you feel like it, or to return from lunch whenever you wish. Sure, you may have earned the right, but you gain far more by setting the example for performance. Do you expect others to work overtime when a project is behind projections? Then you must be willing to do the same.

6) Although you may feel you have earned the right to delegate away all the work, continue to be involved in productive tasks. By doing some of the work, not only do you gain the respect of your employees, but also you keep in touch with the flow of things. As a leader, it is easy to become disengaged from the actual productive segment of your business, and resultantly make decisions that look good on paper and sound good around the boardroom table, but are actually worthless when the rubber hits the road.

7) Constantly reevaluate your own performance. Often, you may spend so much time correcting the actions of others and solving crises you didn’t create, that you develop a sense that others aren’t as capable as you. Consequently, you may not recognize when you are falling into bad habits that also need to be corrected. Be the first to recognize and correct your own short-fallings.

8) Avoid pride. Once in a position of leadership, especially if you are good at what you do, it is easy to begin to feel that you are invincible. Once that occurs, you become vulnerable to pride, and may make decisions you would frown on if your subordinates made the same decisions. Maintain full responsibility for your actions, and keep them above-board at all times.

Bonus Step:

9) Learn to manage your time. When you are in a position of leadership and find yourself delegating away most of the time-consuming tasks, it is easy to lose control of your time. Again, when your employees see you wasting your time, they will tend to do the same.

About The Author

Written by: Sean Mize, Christian entrepreneur and Christian time management author.
http://www.christiansuccessnetwork.com

Are Your Prayers Missing These 4 Steps That Always Get Them Answered With Yes?

Do you blame God for not answering your prayers even though you're the one who's not following the rules, then you get mad and end up going on a sinning spree and missing out on even more blessings?

Or.

Do you wait for the last minute to ask for His help and only because nothing else worked when things seem hopeless and you're even more worried, then try to use Him like a genie who needs to grant you three wishes?

If you said yes to any of the questions above then listen to this.

The first step to answered prayer is a very important prequel to praying by the rules.

And while you don't have to actually do this while praying your prayer life will remain ineffective if you don't do it at all.

Step #1 Meditate Your Worries Away

Think about it this way.

God is the ultimate problem solver.

And He already set up a solution to every problem you could possibly have and it's in your Bible, therefore if you find it and meditate on it you'll be preparing yourself for answered prayer.

For instance if everybody at your job is worried about getting laid off and they're all in panic mode throwing each other under the bus you don't have to worry because you're not participating.

And the reason you're not participating is because you've been meditating on psalms 91:7 "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee".

Now let's say one of you're worried co-workers tries to throw you under the bus, you don't care, why, because you've also been meditating on Isaiah 54:17 "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn".

Therefore, when you've meditated to the point where you've replaced worry or anger with the good news in your Bible then you'll be ready to get on your knees and pray to God with confidence, and by the rules without cheating.

And this way you'll be calling Him out on His word and seeing if He's a liar instead of waiting for bad stuff to happen then begging for help, then disbelieving when it doesn't just disappear like it never happened.

Step #2 Confess Your New Found Beliefs

This is probably the most important step there is when it comes to answered prayer.

And I say that because this is how you know whether you believe His word or not.

Because whatever you believe in your heart is what will eventually come out of your mouth.

Mt 12:34 "..for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

But who or whatever you listen to is what will determine what you will believe.

Like a two-way street.

But you're more likely to believe what you say than what anyone else says.

Mt 12:37 "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."

This is what it means.

Let's say one of your worried co-workers, you know one of the ones who's always worried about getting laid off and throwing each other under the bus asks for your opinion after a nervous rant about how you're all going to get fired soon.

If you say something that agrees with what they said then guess what.

You got the worry bug too.

And you might just attract the thing that you're worried about and get yourself laid off next.

What you should say instead is this "but it shall not come near me!" and leave it at that, unless they want to know why.

This way later on that night or in the mourning when you're praying there will be no contradiction or mistake about what you believe.

But check this out.

Does your prayers sound similar to this example?

"God please help me I need one thousand dollars by next Friday or I'm going to lose my apartment and be homeless, please make a way for me to get this money so I won't get kicked out" with tears running down your eyes.

If so, you may be emotional and serious, but you're still not praying by the rules.

So, after you've found at least one verse to meditate on.

Let's see, you could use Philippians 4:19 "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Then you simply return it back to Him by confessing it in prayer like this.

"God the Bible says that you supply all my needs, according to your riches in glory threw Jesus Christ my lord and saviour therefore I know that my rent is paid and on time because I believe your word"

Notice I said "is paid" instead of "will be paid" because this is important.

That's enough to get the job done but I like to get outrageous.

I would also add.

"the Bible says "your mercy endureth forever" so I know even though I messed up you still help me.

"The Bible says that you will never leave me or forsake me" so I know you are with me on this"

The Bible says "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want" so I know you take care of all my needs"

And I could go on and on.

Because God already did everything that He's going to do but it's up to you to receive it.

Step #3 Praise Him For What He Already Did

Since you already established the facts that God supplies all your needs, His mercy never runs out, He won't leave you and turn His back on you, and He will give you everything you want, that's plenty of reasons to be happy and praise Him.

By this time you should be excited and maybe even shedding a few tears because you realize how much God really does love you.

This also demonstrates gratitude and shows that you trust Him and are not worried about your problems.

Which upsets Him because He is way higher than your little bitty problems.

We don't call Him the most high God for nothing.

Step #4 Ask For What You Want

Now you're ready to ask God for what you want and if you followed the first three steps correctly He has to do it for you.

Because you put together a open and shut case against the prosecution and you got a jury full of angels on your side and the most high Judge who is more than honorable and has to follow His own rules and keep His own word in which you sent back to Him respectfully with confidence and gratitude.

About The Author

David Hopkins is a Christian article writer for The Daily Word Of God Group.

http://www.dailywordofgodgroup.com

His articles will help you remember to glorify God in everything that you do so you won't miss out on any of His wonderful blessings. If you enjoyed reading this Answered Prayer article then you will also enjoy reading this Righteous Man article.

Adultery and the Christian

As a Christian, we know and understand the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and even though our sins are forgiven when we believe in Him, we are still commanded to turn from sin. Throughout the Bible, there are many verses that point out these sins the Christian is to avoid and it is important to understand what God considers a sin. As I read through these sins, many are mentioned multiple times and in various places in the Bible. Sins of a sexual nature seem to appear more often in the Bible and my personal belief is because they are the most prevalent in society and the hardest to avoid.

It is easy for the Christian to criticize or judge those that exhibit the most blatant of sexual sins, but there are sexual sins that have become so common that we tend to disregard them as normal. Adultery or a person having an affair is one of those sins. Obviously we know that if you are married, it is wrong to have an affair outside of your marriage, but we have become so complacent when we see it. How often do you see someone on TV or in a movie that falls in love with another person other than his or her spouse? How often do you see someone in your church that divorces because his or her marriage is no longer exciting? Then my favorite excuse is when someone says my spouse no longer fulfills my needs and looks for love and excitement in another person. Sure, there are real reasons for couples to divorce and separate, but the lack of sexual excitement is not one of them.

It is easy to remember when we first became involved with an individual how exciting it was getting to know that person. The chemistry of a first date and the sparks that flew with the first kiss were all very exciting. However, if the relationship progresses and even into marriage, that initial excitement changes. It may very well become better; full of deeper emotions than the initial excitement, but it is not automatic. All relationships will go through various stages and it is unrealistic to think the excitement of those first few dates can be sustained. However, in each stage of a relationship there are aspects to be enjoyed but only if there is a commitment to the other. Without getting too deep, the last and final stage of a relationship, after the kids have started their own lives, is the most fulfilling time of any relationship. We all can smile when we see a couple that enjoys playing with the grandkids, traveling and spending their golden years together. This time did not just happen, they were committed to each other and I believe it is God’s gift to them for a committed life together.

Adultery interferes with this natural development of a relationship. It is the lack of a commitment by one of the partners, looking for excitement in another person rather than creating it with their partner. Marriage is the union of one man and one woman, created by God and through this union you have the ability to create life itself. God wants the best for us and it is through this natural union and commitment we find God’s blessings. Adultery is a sin, the Bible tells us so and not only are we warned to avoid it but we must be careful not to condone it within the people around us. We must not judge a person, but adultery cannot become accepted practice of the Christian.

• About Steve Childers

Steve Childers is the author of Catholic or Protestant: What our Churches Should Be Teaching. Visit www.CatholicOrProtestant.com to learn more about the book and to register for FREE articles sent weekly. This book is also the perfect guide for your Bible study topics as you discover the full truth of God’s Word.

Grace To Be Ourselves

Brett Favre, quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, announced his retirement this week. At a news conference yesterday his simple explanation for the move was that he was tired. At thirty-eight and possessing graying hair, Favre and his family have been through multiple tragedies and upheavals in the last few years, but he kept on playing, even the day after his father died.

Having given more to the game than most and played the game with more joy than anyone, Favre had a right to his reasons and wanted his loyal fans to hear those reasons from him, not filtered through the media, which has been known to have quite vivid imaginations regarding the facts at times. Favre was emotional during the hour broadcast from Lambeau Field, home of the Packers and all they have accomplished. It seemed he embodied every uphill battle and triumph the team had delivered to the people of Wisconsin during his sixteen seasons.

What was quite wonderful, and rather poignant, was that of all the records that Favre holds - most yards passing, most starts, most passes completed among them - he claimed none solely for himself. He believes everything he did was a team effort and the whole team deserved credit for what are labeled publicly as his achievements. And what matters most to him is that he is leaving at the top of his game by his own standards, not anyone else's.

That said, Brett Favre is the first to tell you his is not perfect. His battles with prescription drug dependency and alcohol abuse are well-known and almost cost him his marriage and family.

But between the public hero and the private man who struggled to work through his issues to reemerge in wholeness and health lies grace. In this respect Brett Favre, Jesus and the rest of us have grace in common.

Grace is one of those words that gets tossed around like a Frisbee at a church social, so for the record, my dictionary and I are defining grace as, " unmerited favor or generous courtesy granted." Take your pick. Either way, grace is something we cherish when we are the recipients and something we have a lot to learn about offering up more often. So I think it is important to take the time to say that we may not be as familiar with how grace functions as we may pride ourselves.

With that settled, please know that I am not calling Brett Favre a messiah in any way, shape or form, nor do I believe he had a messiah complex. I don't think Jesus did either. Jesus lived His life with humility, kindness, faith and a complete boldness that was unheard of in His time and unmatched in our own. His public ministry, marked by frequent run-ins with religious authorities and filled with conflict, also contained instances of insightful teaching, miraculous healings and speaking events that drew crowds simply by word of mouth. The level of warmth and acceptance He felt for the marginalized people of His culture - women, children, tax collectors, prostitutes - drew controversy, but didn't distract Him from His work and did little to damage His image with the general population. People loved Him for who He was and what He brought to their lives: hope.

Meanwhile, scripture tells us that Jesus did struggle with this work He was called to do, and even more so, the brutal end he foresaw for His own life. Frustration with the disciples is evident. They can't be blamed for not quite getting the full depth of Jesus' thoughts and ideas. We have barely scratched the surface of that ourselves and we possess two thousand years of hindsight. I am fairly sure Jesus didn't blame them either. Having grown up in the Temple, Jesus also never left his faith behind to pursue or create a new religion. He understood, better than most, the power religious institutions can have over people. So even in his verbal scuffles with Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees He knew they were trying to preserve a history and a people which had known more slavery than freedom, while He was pointing the way to a newly-defined freedom in God's love. Crowds followed Him day and night, hardly giving Him any opportunity for sleep, let alone personal reflection and prayer, but for these and the many people who were never able to grasp what Jesus was offering them, Jesus only had mercy and compassion.

And yet, in all that he thought, said and did, He didn't take credit for His knowledge, insight, teaching or preaching abilities, but always pointed back to God as His Sources of being. It may have been easier to smile and say, "Thank you," but He didn't. We remember Him today as One with authority, but also great humility. We remember Him as a man of grace, a man who gave unmerited favor and generous courtesy to those least deserving and those most in need of its transformative power.

And so, we are back to Brett Favre, expressing humility in the face of great opportunity to take all the credit, smile and say, "Thank you." Instead he chose the grace of shared experience, shared victory and shared credit with the people who helped him make it all possible. He chose grace, giving favor to those who had not asked him for it. He offered generous courtesy when no one would have faulted him for doing otherwise. He chose grace.

We too have the opportunity to express humility in the face of opportunities to take all the credit, smile and say, "Thank you." But instead, we can choose to extend grace to others at times when unmerited, unearned favor or generous courtesy may take some effort on our part. The effort is worth it, particularly when we may be blessed with grace we have not merited or earned, or have generous courtesy extended at a time when someone else makes the effort for us.

About The Author

The Rev. Cory L. Kemp, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay with a double major in Communication and the Arts and Social Change and Development and a minor in Women's Studies, was ordained into the ministry of the Moravian Church in North America after completing her Master of Divinity degree studies through Moravian Theological Seminary. Over twenty-five years of experience in individual and community ministries gives Rev. Kemp an informed perception about faith, its implications and struggles in everyday life. Rev. Kemp focuses her work on helping people understand their faith and how faith can become transformational in their lives. Bring authentic, meaningful faith into your daily life by visiting http://www.creatingwomenministries.com.

Role of Our Church

If you take the time, I believe you could find a church that will teach what ever you want to hear. In fact, they will take scripture right out of the Bible and rationalize any point of view a person could come up with. For example, recently I heard a person trying to sell his book about becoming rich through Biblical principles. He quoted a scripture about how the Christian will have an abundant life, which may be true, but it may not necessarily be in materialistic terms. God may very well bless you financially as He did many in Biblical times, but there is not a financial formula in the Bible to becoming rich. In 2Timothy 4:3 Paul talks about how people will gather around them teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. That was true then and is true now.

The second book of Timothy was St Paul’s last letter he wrote before being executed. It was to Timothy and others, passing the torch of leadership of the early church. I would encourage you to read this short letter because it is a summary of how we should live and what we should expect of our church leaders. Paul was in and out of prison and knew he did not have much time left on this earth, which gives even greater weight to his words in this letter. He did not have any other motive in this writing other than to give last minute instructions to those who would carry on his work and promote God’s plan. This is the most intimate and moving of all Paul’s letters, because it was his last.

Paul starts the letter with tenderness and love for Timothy, but reminds him of the qualities and sacrifices needed to spread God’s message. He tells him to remember the gifts God has given him to teach with boldness, staying disciplined and to be ready to endure hardships for the sake of Christ. He then warns Timothy to be ready to reject errors in doctrine, holding fast to the truth in the Bible. Paul warns him of the opposition that he would face in the last days from self-centered people, who would use the church for their own gain, teaching false doctrine. If you look at the churches today, you will see exactly what Paul was referring to. I have no idea if we are in the last days, but what Paul describes sounds so much like what is happening today.

Chapters two and three not only tell the Christian how to act, but also warns about what kind of people will be around us. In verses 3:2-5 it talks about in the last days there will be people who are “lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, lovers of pleasure, etc. However, what Paul warns us of in verse 5 are people who will take on the form of Godliness, but will deny His power. What this is telling me is that people will be going to church and acting holy, but living according to the rules of society and not the commandments of the Lord. This is why it is so important we understand what the Bible calls a sin and the way God is calling us to live, because we can not always assume our church leaders are going to be spelling it out for us. We must take responsibility for our own actions by the choices we make and then hold our church leaders responsible for teaching the full truth as outlined in the Holy Word of God, the Bible.

Steve Childers is the author of Catholic or Protestant: What our Churches Should Be Teaching. Visit www.CatholicOrProtestant.com to learn more about the book and to register for FREE articles sent weekly. This book is also the perfect guide for your Bible study topics as you discover the full truth of God’s Word.