To be filled with the Spirit is to be controlled by the Spirit. The Christian leader’s mind, emotions, will, and physical strength all become available for the Spirit to guide and use. Under the Spirit’s control, natural gifts of leadership are lifted to their highest power, Through the work of the now ungrieved and unhindered Spirit, all the fruits of the Spirit start to grow in the leader’s life. His witness is more winsome, service more steady, and testimony more powerful. All real Christian service is but the expression of Spirit power through believers yielded to Him (John 7:37–39).

Sermon Outline

PEOPLE WE MEET ON JOURNET PT 2

Patience meets its most difficult test in personal relationships. Paul lost his patience dealing with John Mark. Hudson Taylor once confessed: “My greatest temptation is to lose my temper over the slackness and inefficiency so disappointing in those on whom I depend. It is no use to lose my temper—only kindness. But oh, it is such a trial.” Many leaders can identify with Taylor’s struggle. But in the face of doubting Thomas, the unstable Peter, and traitorous Judas, how marvelous was the patience of our Lord! A leader shows patience by not running too far ahead of his followers and thus discouraging them. While keeping ahead, he stays near enough for them to keep him in sight and hear his call forward. He is not so strong that he cannot show strengthening sympathy for the weakness of his fellow travelers. “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak,”Paul wrote in Romans 15:1.

#snow #snowno

It is almost unbelievable that it is snowing again. Hopefully, prayerfully, please God let it be so -ly this is the last storm of the winter season. Here is my attempt to stay positive with some Scriptural thoughts about snow.

• Snow can remind me that the power of God is beyond my comprehension

Job 37:5-6 – God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend. For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.

• Snow can remind me that the forgiveness of God can cleanse the worst of my sin stained heart and life

Isaiah 1:18 – “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Psalm 51:6-7 – Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

• Snow can remind me that God’s Word, His promises, commands, exhortations, warnings and encouragements are sent to us for a reason and they will accomplish their purpose.

Isaiah 55:10–11 – “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

• Snow can remind me of the purity of God, and of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ

Daniel 7:9 – “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.

Revelation 1:13–15 – And in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

• Snow can remind me of the utter helpless of myself and the rest of mankind

Job 38:22–23 – “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?”

Blessings

Dave Watson

The last three days we have looked at the first five reasons to oppose the assisted suicide/death with dignity bill making its way the New Yor5k State Legislature. For those arguments see https://nycshepherd.com/2015/03/04/part-3-seven-major-reasons-all-new-yorkers-including-state-senator-diane-savino-should-lobby-against-the-assisted-suicidedeath-with-dignity-bill/

Today we look at the final two reasons :

• The bill misunderstands dying with dignity

Dying with dignity doesn’t means dying without pain and suffering. Sadly, pain and suffering are a part of the human condition. I had the sacred privilege of being in attendance as individuals leave this life for the next. They all experienced some level of physical pain and even more emotional pain because of who they were leaving behind.  Gratefully, we live in a world where much of the pain associated with physical death can be lessened through pain medicine. There is very little that can be done about the emotional pain. But dying with dignity is not the absence of pain. Death with dignity is the presence of acceptance of a Will greater than my own and then making the most of every moment one has with friends and family. Death with dignity means I walk out of this life recognizing that it is not me who calls the shots but Someone else.  Death with dignity means I let God make the call as to when I leave this earth. Death with dignity means I understand that there is a process that I must go through that has a greater purpose than I can understand and I will let it play out. We often complain of physicians playing God. The fact is this bill promotes both the physician who holds the pen for the script and the patient who has the bill in hand to gods. It promotes a pseudo sense of control over one’s own destiny. Let’s not perpetrate this illusion by a bad legislative act.

•   This bill misunderstands the source of human dignity.

Why does any person deserve dignity? Why do we value someone so much that we desire they be treated with dignity even in death? Their value doesn’t come from their place on the food chain. This is not a position the human species evolved to. Our sense of dignity for each other is from our Judean/Christian roots.  Our dignity or value comes from the belief that we are created in the womb in the image of God. This Judean/Christian foundation spills over to our Declaration of Independence which states “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Our Founding Fathers knew that our dignity, my dignity, your dignity comes from God. God manufactured me. God alone has the right to choose my expiration date. I die with dignity when I accept that. When I see myself not as a sovereign but as someone who lives under the rule of Another I can be one who experiences value and dignity in life and in death.  The source of our value, the Almighty, the Creator, is completely ignored in this bill. This bill however can’t be ignored. It must be defeated.

https://m.soundcloud.com/kmcradio/20150304-pastor-dave-watson-of-calvary-chapel-in-staten-island-on-benjamin-netanyahus-speech

Please join me today at 3pm on 570 AM The Mission or on iheart radio app or at http://www.wmca.com. We will be discussing all things Israel with Dr. Mitch Glaser of Chosen People Ministries and taking your phone calls. Today’s question: Does the Bible require that the New Testament followers of Jesus Christ support the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. Is Israel still the apple of God’s eye.
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Discipline Without this essential quality, all other gifts remain as dwarfs: they cannot grow. So discipline appears first on our list. Before we can conquer the world, we must first conquer the self. A leader is a person who has learned to obey a discipline imposed from without, and has then taken on a more rigorous discipline from within. Those who rebel against authority and scorn self-discipline—who shirk the rigors and turn from the sacrifices—do not qualify to lead. Many who drop out of ministry are sufficiently gifted, but have large areas of life floating free from the Holy Spirit’s control. Lazy and disorganized people never rise to true leadership.

49“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” 54He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’And so it happens. 55And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’and it happens. 56You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? 57“And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 59I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”