dale-and-angela-vick

In it……Not of it!

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:22:34 +0100

We are in the world, but not of it. (Jesus said: “they are not of the world even as I am not of the world. John 17:16)
The world is not the source of our lives. It (the world) is at enmity with God. It did not, nor does it hear Him, and it will not hear those who belong to God. John 1:1-12
We are looking for those who have ears to hear…………not us, but the voice of God.
(“He that hath ears, Let him hear.” Matthew 13:9) (Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10:17)
The offer has been made: (For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.” Romans 10:13) Acceptance of the offer is required in order to experience the fulfillment of salvation.
In order to accept the offer, you have to hear it.
If I were going to redeem dogs, it would necessitate that I go to the dog population as a dog in order to be understood and received by dogs. If cows, then as a cow, etc.
God came to redeem mankind as a man, to represent God to men, on man’s behalf in order to save men.
“In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” John 1:4
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” II Corinthians 5:21
He became who we were (sin) in order for us to become who He is. (Sons of God) “For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26)
As the Father sent the Lord Jesus into the world to represent Him, so has the Lord Jesus sent us into the world to represent Him. (Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” II Corinthians 5:20
Speak to someone today about Jesus. You never know who might be listening!

Look and Live

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:03:59 +0100

God took Israel into the wilderness to teach them He was sufficient and to deliver them from the false things they were trusting in.
The serpents bit them and God made them look at the source of their trouble in order to be healed.
John 3:14 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
The source of mans problem is sin. God has provided our cure. Look to Jesus and live.
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” II Corinthians 5:21
II Timothy 2:25,26 “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

Everything is Spiritual

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:00:09 +0100

How can you be a Christian and not improve as a human being?
Let me ask the question another way; How can a person be a Christian and not improve in all areas of life?
If you are a Christian, you are going to improve in your relationships!
If you are a Christian, you are going to improve in the quality of your life.
You can’t be a Christian and remain the same if given the time to grow in the Lord!
If you have been a Christian any length of time, the difference will be evident, especially to you.
Things different aren’t the same.
If you have believed on Jesus Christ, you will be different. The old person is passing away and the new person is coming into being.
Change is inevitable for a Christian!
In II Corinthians 5:17we read; “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
What and where do I need change?
The scripture says, “ of His kingdom there is no end.” As a Christian I should be and will be growing into the likeness of Jesus Christ. As a Christian, the Lord is continually taking ground in me. Thank God, it is more of Him and less of me.
If God increases in your life, you will increase as a person. Again, the scripture says that, “Face answereth to face.” I will mirror the one I am looking at. I become and am becoming a reflection of the one I am focused on. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Col. 1:27
If you are not growing, you are not eating the right thing!
Feed on the Word of God. It is the engrafted Word that is able to save your soul. Feed on it and you cannot help but grow.
God Bless you, pilgrim, in your journey.

Your Mind is your Garden

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:14:44 +0100

Be careful of the seeds you sow in your mind because they will grow into whatever they are. And when those thoughts are fully grown, they will be different, larger and stronger than you suppose.
The end result of the full grown plant is much different than the small seed originally sown.
Consider the Lord’s illustration of the mustard seed. It is the smallest of all seeds and yet when it is grown, it is a tree big enough for the fowls of the air to rest in.
The greatest designs of man began with a simple thought that took root and grew into tangible reality. Consider your surroundings today. There was a time that they were in someone’s mind as a thought that took root and grew and have impacted countless numbers of people including you. The house you live in, the car you drive, clothes you wear, etc. Everything you see, feel, touch started with a thought and that invisible idea found its way into your life today.
Your thoughts will govern the course of your life and will inevitably impact others.
“Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.” Proverbs 19:27

Bi-Vocational Ministry

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:31:16 +0100

What is meant by the term, bi-vocational ministry?
Bi-vocational (ministers with another job)
Paul the Apostle was a man totally committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the spread of the good news to his generation.
He not only preached the good news but worked as a tent maker to help support himself when it was necessary.
In the book of Acts 18:3, we read, “And because he (Paul) was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.”
The reality for every believer in Jesus Christ is that we all are bi-vocational. Our purpose in life is to be a living witness to the saving grace of Jesus Christ no matter where we are.
Work is not an end in itself. Work is simply the vehicle God has provided for the continued supply of support as we live out the life of Christ.
Every Christian is a full time bi-vocational witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Your job is part of your mission field. Sow the seed. A crop will come in!
“And ye shall be witnesses unto me” Acts 1:8

You are the Mikveh of God

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:27:52 +0100

Mikvah is a Hebrew word used to describe a ritual immersion in Judaism. Not just immersion of any type of water, but immersion in a certain way and in a certain type of water.
The word literally means, “a collection”, generally, a collection of water.
The water must come from a flowing river, stream or spring. It cannot be standing or stagnant. The term for this type of water is “living water”.
The Lord Jesus used this very phrase in John 7:37-39
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”
You and I as believers on the Lord Jesus Christ are in reality artesian wells, springs of living water, and full of the Holy Spirit being poured out in our generation. We too say; if any man thirst let him come to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. He can be found in the well of our lives as we live out His life in a dry and thirsty land.
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Romans 10:13

The Prime meridian of life is to be un-natural

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:36:50 +0100

We live in the Spirit, the supernatural! God manifests in our daily walk as we live out life in the natural world.
“Christ in you, the hope of glory:” Colossians 1:27
There is no difference between the sacred and the secular. Everything is spiritual! It is our understanding of the events of life that is the key issue of life.
If you see the effect of something as having no source, the cause will remain a mystery. It is only when you come to perceive that even in your mistakes, the hand of God is at work.
Life is not fragmented, but whole. It has a beginning and an end and it is with this understanding that God’s word makes sense.
He is at work in your life even if you don’t or can’t perceive it. For example, in Paul’s letter to the church at Rome he stated,
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
His purpose is to see you grow up into Christ and become a mature human being in every area of life with a purposeful impact on your environment.
How can a person be a Christian and not improve as a human being in every area of life?
Who you have been born again to be will war with who you were until Christ reigns supreme.
You can’t say you love God and beat your wife! It is incongruent. They don’t go together. You can’t say you love the Lord and live life in total opposition to Him.
If you are a Christian, you are going to be improving in your relationships with others and well as your relationship with God. The quality of your life will improve as you grow in Christ.
In Christ, growth and improvement are inseparable!
You can’t be a Christian and remain the same as you were before you believed on the Lord. Legitimate believers are in the process of growing into Christ likeness.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” II Corinthians 5:17
If God increases in your life, you will increase as a human being!

The Lord is responsible for you being here...

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:38:11 +0100

and you are responsible to him while you are here.
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and he delighteth in his way.” Psalms 37:23
How many times have you said as a child or have you heard as a parent, “I didn’t ask to be born.”
That is a true statement.
None of us asked to be born, but we were. We were born and because we were born, we are responsible. We have responsibilities to others and to the One who ordained that we were born. Every parent recognizes or should recognize the demands made on the parent by the child are because the child is looking for direction. What are my boundaries? How far can I go? They are on an endless course of exploration in touching, tasting, feeling and asking about everything. Every day is a new day filled with things they know nothing about.
There should always be positive reinforcement directed toward the child and one another. All of the promises of God directed toward His children are positive.
“For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” II Corinthians 1:2
Our Creator ordained that you should be here! You are important to Him. He made only one of you and while you may be similar to others, you are uniquely different. Only you get to fill up the space you are in.
It is Gods desire to know you personally and to interact with you in daily experience.
“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works: and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance (fetus) was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest part of the earth. (The womb) Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuances (nine month gestation period) were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:14-16
“And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
II Corinthians 6:16
We are His children and He has oversight of our lives. As His children we are to trust Him and live out our lives in cooperation with Him.
As His child, everyday should be a day of exploration and growth as we seek the boundaries of an ever increasing relationship with our Father. Depend on Him today!
He is responsible for us being here and we are responsible to Him while we are here.

Faith and Believing

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:54:25 +0100

Faith is a noun…………………… Believe is a verb.

Believe is an act of your will. Having acted, you arrive at faith. Truth is something you “do”, not just give mental assent to.
“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” I John 1:6

To believe the Word of God is to act on the Word of God.
“And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."
II Cor. 10:6

Respond with the Word instead of Sense Knowledge. (How you feel, your experience, etc.)
Unbelief is to remain unmoved by the Truth.
If you do not act on the Word you know, you will fall into error by default.
Another reason for unbelief is a lack of knowledge. I don’t know…therefore I can’t act. I don’t understand…I am afraid to act. I would act if I knew how.
The cure for this is knowledge of the Word and obedience to it!

Don’t try to believe……..ACT!

The Gift

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:18:43 +0100

To reject a gift offered is to reject the one offering the gift.

Many people unwittingly hurt those they love by turning up their nose at a gift given in love because it was not what was expected. When a gift is offered, consider the value of the giver and then you will know the value of the gift.

God gave the Lord Jesus and He was not what the leadership of Israel expected, so they rejected Him, and in so doing, they rejected God.
The Lord Jesus said to the disciples, “if they receive you, they receive me and if they receive me, they receive the one who sent me,” i.e.: God.
God gave Jesus!

We are to accept the gift and by accepting the gift we are accepting the person of the giver; God, Himself.
We also have been asked to give…..our bodies.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:1, 2

We are to be thankful for the gift and to acknowledge our gratitude with the thanksgiving of our lips.

“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifices of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” Hebrews 13:15, 16

If you are thankful, say so! The act of gratitude is the consummation of the act of receiving.