Wild-Fire #2
Hello, how is everyone doing today? I’m doing really well, but school starts tomorrow and I’m busy with that. God has still been dealing with me on the question of who He is, and that is what I plan to talk about again today. I find that many Christians question God, and I know at times that I question God about certain things. To question God is simply human nature, but I want to talk to you all about a new type of questioning. How about we stop questioning God and start questioning what people have lead us to believe about God. A few months ago I decided that I was going to follow God the way He wanted me to and that I was going to find Him for myself. God is always the same God, but in some ways He is ever changing—if that makes any sense. I don’t believe that God wants all of us to follow Him exactly the same way. I’m not saying that there are a different set of rules for me than there is for you, but God will deal with me in a different way than He will deal with you. I have been in Church my whole life and I have heard thousands of messages and they never changed my life. However, when I started looking for God on my own I found Him, and I found out that He is so much more than I have ever heard in Church. The Bible has hundreds and hundreds of stories, not just the ones we hear in Sunday School. I am challenging each and everyone of you today to get your Bible and seek God for yourself. God has been dealing with me about something lately and what I have found out may shock some of you. You know how the book of Leviticus sets the laws for different things? Well chapter 16 talks about The Day of Atonement where each year the priest would go into the Holy Place and make sacrifice for the sins of the people. All my life I had heard that the priest would wear this fabulous outfit with bells at the bottom so they could hear if he was still alive, and they would tie a rope around his ankle so they could pulled him out if he died while in the presence of God. Well come to find out, he did not wear those things. The stuff about the rope is no where in the Bible at all, and the bells were on another robe he wore. In Leviticus chapter 16 all God says the priest is to wear is holy linen, which is just a pure white coat and pants and girdle and a pure white turban. There is nothing else he could wear into the Holy Place. So all I am saying, is find out the truth for yourself, don’t rely on other people to show you the truth. Thank you for coming today, and I hope you come again. Jordan
Wild-Fire #3
Hello Hello…… We I am back again to try and share what God has placed on my heart for today. I had planned to talk about prayer, but I believe that I will talk about something a little more odd today. A few minutes after I left campus this morning, God started dealing with me about Christians being selfish. It was not your normal ideas on selfishness, but us being selfish about people we love dying. Now let me make two things clear: first off, I am talking about Christians who die, and secondly, I do believe we should all morn the dead. Now let me explain what I mean. If someone who you love dies what do you do? Well most people will scream, cry, hide themselves, or ever go insane. But my question is: why do they do this? Do they want that Christian who is now in Heaven to leave paradise and come back to Earth? I don’t think so. When someone’s husband dies they wife now has to deal with life alone and bills and child care and all kinds of new things. Yes she missed her husband, but does she really wish he was alive again. Again, I don’t think so. I think she is worried about what her life is going to become now that he is gone. I think we are sad when a fellow believe dies because we in some way are worried about ourselves, and our futures. Now I know most of you think I’m crazy right about now, but I hope you are understanding my point. We should morn the dead and we should cry and we should miss them, BUT we should also thank God that their torment is finally over! Doesn’t the Bible say that “if you live in Christ to die is gain”? In other words, if you are a Christian to die is a good thing! That may seem crazy, but try to understand it. You know, I get sick on this earth, and I feel pain on this earth and sorrow and hurt and many many other things that bring me down. One day God is going to say that I have been through enough, and He is going to take me back into His arms where I belong. When you die you actually get to go HOME! Sure it hurts, but if you try to understand what is really happening in the supernatural, then maybe losing someone will not hurt so much. My Grandmother fought cancer for a long time, and my Mother prayed for God to heal her everyday. However, one day God showed my mother that it was just time for my grandmother to go home, and after that my mother was ok with letting her go. She had suffered so much with cancer that God wanted her to be free and to dance in his presence and never have to worry about illness again. So if you do lose someone, please pray and ask God to help you understand that their life is not over. Because in reality their life has just begun. I don’t know why God put this on my heart, but He knows and I pray that it has helped someone today. In closing, remember to challenge what you now think is reality and try to see things in the supernatural. Thanks for reading, Jordan.
Wild-Fire #4
This world is full of Christians who avoid the call to missions, I've heard every excuse in the book from "I'm working too much for that"to "I just don't feel God is calling me to missions; why should there be a special "calling" for you when you have already been commanded by God in the Bible "To be witnesses unto me........unto the uttermost part of the Earth."-Acts 1:8. And in Mark 16:15 Jesus says to "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation."Maybe if people actually read their Bible they would understand that 95% of our "calling" in life is laid out for us in God's Word, and the rest is given to us by specific inspiration by the Holy Spirit, but how can Christian's know what He is saying unless they are still and listen to that "still, small voice"? And that means spending time in PRAYER! Keith Green, a great Christian artist who died in a plane crash, did a study on this topic and was startled by these results: There are over 2,700,000,000 people who have never heard the Gospel at all, and there are only 5,000-7,000 missionaries worldwide. In case you are trying to figure out the difference........that means there is only ONE missionary for every 450,000 people! There are over 16,000 different and distinct cultures and people groups, even whole countries where there isn't one single church in existence. There are 7,010 distinct living languages, and 5,199 of them still have no Bible or Scripture translation! Do these statistics move or startle you? It does to me. Here we are living in our comfort zone with a church on every street corner.........churches divided because of the color of the carpet! It's so convenient to live in our "righteousness" here in the US..............and we look the other way at the opportunity to spread the kingdom of God. We should be ashamed. Worldwide there are only 85,000 workers on the mission field-working mainly among people who have heard the gospel before. Should someone hear the gospel hundreds of times while there are people in the world who have never heard it once!? If you have 20 kids would you feed 2 of them 9 meals and then let the other 18 try to get the other two meals? Only 9% of the world's population speaks English and 94% of all ordained ministers are ministering to that 9%! And 96% of all Christian finances are spent in the United States; only 4% of funds for ministry are spent on missionary efforts to the other 94% of the world's population. Something is definitely wrong here. It's just like Jesus said "The Harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few". Are you going to take up your cross and answer the call to mission??? Because I have one more statistic for you...............Do you know who has the most time on their hands and are not bound by the most barriers?..................TEENAGERS. So..........what are you going to do about it?
-Steven Wickers (With many excerpts from Keith Green)
Wild-Fire #5
Well how is everyone doing this morning? I’m doing great because we don’t have school today! I’ve got a bunch of ideas running in my head right now about what to say today, but I think I know where God is going with this. If you want to read the passage that my thoughts will be coming from today, its John 15:18-27. That section of scripture starts with “If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you.” So, have any of you ever felt hated by the world? I know I have! When someone becomes a Christian, a change takes place in their life and everyone around you will notice that change. The problem is that 90% of nonchristians will reject what God has done for you. You will find some people are really nice and they will accept you for whatever you are, but you will also find people who will just hate you because you live for God. If you say you are a Christian and you say that no one has ever persecuted over your faith, than I would have to question the way you live. Every person I have ever met that lived a Christian life at work, school, and anywhere else has in some way been persecuted for their faith. I know that when I got saved my senior year of high school I lost about 8 or 9 friends my first day I was saved. Why? Because my life changed. I wasn’t just a church kid anymore, I was a real Christian with a Bible and a message and they hated that. I was also made fun ever since I was a child because I went to the church with the “crazy people.” When I was younger I didn’t want anyone to know where I went to church because I was ashamed. However, now that I have felt God for myself, I want everyone I know to hear what God has done for me. That message has cost me many things in this world, but you don’t need friends that who can’t accept you for who you are. Just pray extra hard for the people who would make fun of you or do anything against you because of your faith. They really need to help because God is going to judge them one day and we don’t want them the have to face Him like that, so pray everyday for their salvation. Moreover, when people are standing against you, know that the “Comforter” Jesus spoke of has already come and He can find you in that lonely place. In closing, Matthew 7:13,14 talks about the roads that lead to eternity, and 13 says that the road that leads to destruction is wide and many people will find it. And 14 says that the way that leads to life (Jesus) has a straight gate and it is very narrow, and few people will find it. So you must understand that many people are walking the way to hell and few are walking to Heaven, so you may be alone at times and you maybe persecute, but know that God is always there for you. Thank you for coming, and God bless. Jordan
Site Links
