A mighty warrior - JA

Enjoyed preaching this am from the life of David - How to be a mighty warrior for God.
- His Anointing
- His Availability
- His Attitude
- His Adoration
- His Accomplishment
- IT WAS AND IS A FIGHT WORTH FIGHTING



Rev JA

The Twelve

Twelve Men
 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. ¹³ And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; ¹⁴ Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, ¹⁵ Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphæus, and Simon called Zelotes, ¹⁶ and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. Luke 6

My mid-week bible study class is teaching about the Twelve Disciples / 12 Apostles. And a couple of things / ideas came to my heart and mind that I would like to share with you.


First the disciples were "leaners".  Common men from the country, mostly fishermen and other trades, many unlearned.  These man were disciples, learners, men willing to learn, faithful to their job, very hard workers, available for service to Jesus and teachable. I believe there were many. For example, the twelve, the seventy and the 500, all disciples, all leaners and followers of Jesus.


SO I suggest here, there was many disciples and only twelve Apostles, chosen, as they were picked off a shelf, gladly, a chosen vessel for a special use.


The disciples went through a learning period.  There were many disciples and many learning experiences. Then Jesus fondly chose twelve. The inner three and their brothers and friend, Peter, James, John , Andrew and Philip, then Matthew and Thomas. So the inner three, then the twelve and then the seventy. Also the 500 seen after his resurrection.


Then, the Apostles, meaning "one sent with a message". The Twelve were chosen. Allow me to show you the Vine's Dictionary meaning of  "chose"


"to pick out, select," means, in the Middle Voice, "to choose for oneself," not necessarily implying the rejection of what is not chosen, but "choosing" with the subsidiary ideas of kindness or favor or love,


What a great description of how Jesus chose them, the Twelve !! (and yet one was a traitor, Judas)


The Apostles helped win the known world of that day. Matthew, John and Peter wrote books of the bible. All were great missionaries around the world. 


They all heard and believed in Jesus, The Messiah !!


Dear friend, you too may become a disciple, a learner of Jesus, and each of you can be an apostle, one sent with a special message. First you must be saved, born again. For whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be saved, for with the heart man believes and with my confession is made unto the LORD for salvation.


May God Bless you,
RevDan

Eternal life - DB

And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. 1John 2:25.

The Word of God promises that whosoever believes in Christ shall have eternal life. This is the life He wants you to have.

Life that can be lost tomorrow or next week or next year is not eternal. In Christ, we receive everlasting life that cannot be lost or taken from us. Thanks be to God for His gift of eternal life!

Rev. DB

The Peanut Butter story

Hello, will copy and paste,

The Peanut Butter Story:

During a season of my life when I was a single mother and struggling financially, one of my daughters came and asked what might seem like a simple request.

She said, "It's been a while since we've had any peanut butter. Could we get some?"

I told her I'd see what I could do about that and she went off to bed.

Well, I remember laying on the couch and crying like a baby because I knew there was no money to buy peanut butter with. I had a good old fashioned pity party. I cried out to God and told Him how unfair it was that my children had to do with out such a simple request over circumstances that were not their fault. I told Him I felt ashamed to question Him and complain when we certainly had not gone hungry.
Many friends and church family had been faithful to help us. God had shown His faithfulness time and time again. I told Him it surely would be nice to be able to go to the store and get not only our needs, but also a few "wants", like peanut butter! I cried myself to sleep feeling like a failure as a mother. (The peanut butter was just the straw that pushed me over the edge of much financial stress)

The next morning I got up to go run the Meals on Wheels route that I worked that summer. I took one of the girls with me every day so I would have some special time with the daughter who went for that day. The same one went with me that day who had asked about the peanut butter.

We got to one of the houses and the sweet little lady who lived there asked if I could wait a minute after we had given her the meal. She went into her house and came back with a can in her hands. She then preceded to say...

"I went yesterday to get my commodities and they had this can of peanut butter in my box. Well, I don't buy peanut butter because it gives me "the gas". I love it but it sure doesn't love me! Well, I kept thinking about this can of peanut butter in my cabinet last night and I got up and ate a spoon full. Let me tell you - that spoon full of peanut butter kept me up all night! When I got up this morning, I thought, I've got to get that stuff out of my house! Then I thought about you and your little girls coming by here every day. I don't want to offend you by offering you an opened can with a spoon mark in it, but I figured kids all love peanut butter. Would you mind having this can of peanut butter?"

I'm sure she wondered why I was crying before she could even finish her question! Absolutely, we would love to have such a precious gift! In that moment it was more valuable than a can full of gold!

Sure, a can of gold would have bought a house full of groceries, but not the lesson my children and I learned that day and that we have never forgotten. God does hear our prayers, He hears our heart cries. He hears a little girl say "can we get some peanut butter" when there's no money to buy it. That little lady could have given us a loaf of bread or a bag of potatoes. But it would not have been the miracle that God wanted us to have. It would have been appreciated but not something that I would remember so vividly 20 years later.

My God is an awesome God and He cares about me personally. He cares about you too. Bring your needs and your concerns to Him. He will show you how big, and loving, and able He is. I've just always felt bad that the poor little lady had "the gas" all night to get our miracle to us! 

Found copied and pasted