Others

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to in the interest of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”-Philippians 2:1-5

These verses were shown to me by Jordan Sasser this past Sunday. When I first read them I thought to myself: I have heard these verse so many times and I know to think of other before I think about myself. But when I really started to look at the words and what the verses is demanding us to do I found myself thinking about the recently sins that I have committed relating to this verse. These verses really challenged me to hold other people in higher standing then myself. I always think about myself and how something will benefit me before I think about others. I need to quit thinking about myself because I am not that great. I need to think about others and their needs before I even start to think about myself and what I want. People need help and if everybody was like me then the world would probably be a worse place. I have challenged myself to think about others instead of myself.

Bible Facts

· It is the best-selling book in the history of the world.

· It contains God's wonderful plan for your life

· It is alive. It is sharper than any two-edged sword.

· It is the Bread of Life. It is Living Water.

· It is milk for spiritual infants and meat for men.

· It is the Light of God in a dark world. It is the Star of Hope.

· It is the Sword of the Spirit (the armor of God’s only offensive weapon)

· It is the standard for our conduct. It is the will of God.

· It divides truth from error and the saved from the lost.

· Every demon in hell trembles when you quote it.

· It is the Compass for our Soul and the Road Map for our life.

· Its message is stronger than drugs, disease, sickness, poverty, greed, lust, and anything else someone faces.

· The KJV Bible has 66 books, 1189 chapters, 31,101 verses, 783,137 words, and 3,566,480 letters.

· Old Testament = 39 books = 929 chapters = 54 hours of listening on Audio

· New Testament = 27 books = 260 chapters = 18 hours of listening on Audio

· The middle verse of the Bible is Psalms 118:8, "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man".

· The Bible can be read in 72 hours by reading along with Audio. This is only 12 minutes every day for 1 year.

· God wrote the Bible through at least 44 different people (most of who never met), without a single contradiction.

· It is the infallible and totally inspired Word of God, the complete revelation of God’s will, and absolute authority.

· It is the ONLY book in history to tell the past, present and future without ever being proved wrong on a single issue.

· Many great people have set out to prove it wrong, only to get converted to its excellent teachings.

· The Bible is the only book whose author is present whenever and wherever it is read.

He is jealous for me..

The song “How He Loves” by the David Crowder Band has become very popular. It is played on the radio, sung in church and it is on my I-tunes. I have become very familiar with this song since I heard it this summer. The more I hear it, the more I think about the word and what they mean to me. I encourage you to read the words of this song slowly and really take in and think about what they mean to you:

He is jealous for me,

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

When all of a sudden,

I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,

And I realise just how beautiful You are,

And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,

Oh how He loves us,

How He loves us all

He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,

If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.

So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,

I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,

When I think about, the way…

He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

Summer Project

I caught myself asking before a boarded my plane this summer “what exactly am I doing in Santa Cruz.” I soon figured out that we were in California to do the work of God. We stayed at the Peter Pan Motel. It was perfect location for the summer. Even though it wasn’t a five star resort we were able to transform it into a coffee house, movie theatre, and dance floor. We had many themed parties to get the community involved with us. At these parties we were able to share with them about how to know God personally and about how God had transformed our lives. We also were able to share with our coworkers. Most of the students on project worked on Santa Cruz’s world famous Boardwalk. While working we were able to build friendship and get different views about religion and God. Since coming back to North Carolina I am still in contact with some of my coworkers that I built friendships with and was able to share with them what God had done in my life. Also coworkers were able to come to the many dinners we had at the Peter Pan. We had a project cook that prepared our meals. Meals were a chance for our coworkers to have a free meal and also be shown the gospel through our actions and words. When we had a day off of work, we were able to get out of Santa Cruz and experience California. I was able to see the sites in San Francisco, drive the 17 Mile Drive, go to the Monterey aquarium, and eat at In and Out Burger.

Summer Project ROCKED my world. It was the best thing I could have done this summer. I have grown spiritually and experienced things that I couldn’t have imaged. I now know that my new identity is in Christ. It has nothing to do with the things that I have done in the past, God sees us as a new creation. I also appreciate and realize how much God loves us. His love goes beyond anything that we have ever experienced before on this earth. My relationship with God would not be the same if I had not gone on summer project.

This summer I have made lifelong friends. I have seen lives change. I have had the time of my life. I would have wasted away in North Carolina but instead I did God’s work in California this summer.

Reaching People

“good missions is reaching people not only here but overseas as well”

When we hear the word missions, we often just think about overseas ministry and local ministry barely cross our mind. We are called to spread the Gospel both here in our own community and also in other countries. In normally forget about sharing the gospel in my everyday life. I just think about the stuff that I need to do instead of the stuff that I should be doing. I should be outreaching to everyone I meet not only with words but also with actions; showing them a glimpse God’s incredible love for them. Don’t get me wrong overseas missions are very important to me and I am excited to get the opportunity to participate in them but right now, I am living in Wilmington: this is my mission field. I am surrounded by unsaved people every day. God desires that they come to know Him and it is our duty as Christians to share with other people what God has done in our life and He can do in their lives. Nothing should make us happier than when we have a new brother or sister in Christ.

I challenge you to share with the people you see daily. They may or may not know Christ. Find out what they believe….