Not your average rapper. “I do it for the kids and the streets dig that.” Oceanside, San Diego rapper Mikel Anthony releases his first single “Bobby Brown” produced by Dj Rek off of his album in process “Sleeping Giant.” The concept behind the single is to do you, don’t focus on what everyone else is doing. As an individual you have the right and creative freedom to follow your dreams and priorities. Download the single and turn up to it. “I be on my bobby.”
Read about Cain’s experience with depression in Genesis 4
& know this;
For God’s [holy] wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness repress and hinder the truth and make it inoperative. For that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God [Himself] has shown it to them. For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification], Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves]. And by them the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God were exchanged for and represented by images, resembling mortal man and birds and beasts and reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their [own] hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin], Because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever! Amen (so be it). For this reason God gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections and degrading passions. For their women exchanged their natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one, And the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze (burning out, consumed) with lust for one another–men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray, which was [their] fitting retribution. And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome, Until they were filled (permeated and saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, iniquity, grasping and covetous greed, and malice. [They were] full of envy and jealousy, murder, strife, deceit and treachery, ill will and cruel ways. [They were] secret backbiters and gossipers, Slanderers, hateful to and hating God, full of insolence, arrogance, [and] boasting; inventors of new forms of evil, disobedient and undutiful to parents. [They were] without understanding, conscienceless and faithless, heartless and loveless [and] merciless. Though they are fully aware of God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them themselves but approve and applaud others who practice them. (Romans 1:18-32 AMP)
Jesus was asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” He responded by describing what God had in mind for marriage in the first place:
Marriage is for procreation. Jesus said, “He who created man, created man as male and female.” God said to Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply.”
Marriage is also for companionship. After God created Adam, He said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” So He created Eve, the perfect companion.
Marriage is also for sexual pleasure. As the story continues, Jesus quotes God’s Words on the first marriage: “and he shall cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.” Sex is not just for procreation. It’s God’s gift to a husband and wife, to enjoy in the context of marriage to the fullest.
Procreation, companionship, sexual pleasure–reminders from Jesus about why God had the idea of marriage.
Now the Lord God said, It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper meet (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him. (Genesis 2:18 AMP)
Your sibling did something horribly bad! They cheated on a test, no. They shaved the cat, no. They took dad’s new car for a joy ride, yeah that might work.
Not only did your sibling take the car out, but they damaged a good portion of the driver’s side. Dad is going to be extremely upset.
Your sibling thinks it was fun, funny, & that its no big deal because Dad will just get it fixed. At least that’s how you see it. You just know your sibling will take no responsibility when it comes to the consequence.
You know that you’ve gotten in trouble a lot with day. He helped you learn your lesson & be remorseful of your mistakes. But your sibling doesn’t seem that remorseful.
Ironically, you recall when you did the same thing. You took Dad’s car & got into an accident.
What do you do?
A) Do you pretend that nothing ever happened?
Dad won’t notice, or if he does you’re not responsible so you don’t need to say anything or do anything about it.
B) Do you help your sibling escape the blame & consequence by creating a believable story?
Lie to Dad. Tell him it wasn’t your siblings fault. Tell him someone must have stole it.
C) Do you speak up to Dad & tell him the whole truth about what happened?
Your sibling might despise you, but they might just need to learn a lesson or morality & values. Wouldn’t you want to be disciplined now before you veer too far off the path? Why not do your sibling the same favor.
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In conclusion:
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
There’s a good possibility that the most influential spiritual leader in America today is Oprah Winfrey. Her spirituality is an eclectic smorgasbord of religious and spiritual ideas. She’s overwhelmingly for universalism. Universalism believes that everyone gets to God their own way–no one religion has exclusive rights on Heaven. It’s the dominant theological idea inside and outside the American church. And Oprah is its most winsome, popular proponent.
It makes me wonder how she would react if Jesus Christ was her featured guest. How would she respond to His outrageous claim, “I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”?
Would she say, “Jesus, there are lots of ways to Heaven.”
Or would she say, “Oh, my goodness, forgive me. I’ve been leading millions down the wrong path.”
It would be an interesting interview–for Jesus’ way to Heaven and Oprah’s way are exact opposites. Who do you think is right?
I’ll go with Jesus.
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
An understandable argument for same-sex marriage is that the high rate of divorce has done more to harm the family than same-sex marriage ever would. It’s a very legitimate point that exposes obvious hypocrisy in the church today.
Jesus was once asked, “Is it ever lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” Jesus answered the question about divorce by talking about marriage, saying, “He who created them from the beginning made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh…what therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
In short, God’s intention for marriage is “only between a man and a woman for life.” This speaks to the need for repentance in the church when it comes to marriage commitment. Jesus upheld God’s original plan for marriage, and so should we.
So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:6 ESV)
Are you excited about God? Do you talk about the amazing things He has done in your life in the morning, over dinner, and when your kids go to bed? That’s the attitude the early believers had, and it was the impetus for spreading the Word in the earliest days.
Kids are attracted to great stories, and they want to be a part of something dynamic that stirs their blood. We do our kids a big favor when we make being a follower of Jesus something that is exciting and rewarding, rather than a tedious effort to follow a bunch of rules. Recognize God’s movement in your life and tell your kids about it. Make Christianity exhilarating.
When the God of heaven and earth touches your life, it is exciting! Share those stories with your kids.
We cannot keep quiet about what we have seen and heard.
Our response to painful situations in life demonstrates the level of trust we have in God. This is true in our lives and the lives of our kids. God has told us many times that He allows trials to perfect us and make us more like His Son. Trials are not to be dodged or avoided as much as they are to be endured for the sake of the lesson.
Asking God the right question in the middle of a trial is an expression of your trust in Him. The question should not be, “How am I going to get out of this?”, but rather, “What am I going to get out of this?” By changing “how” to “what”, you illustrate your dependence on Him to teach you and your willingness to learn.
Teach your kids to substitute an attitude of “what can I learn?” for “how can I escape?” when they face trials.
We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. They are the ones God has chosen for his purpose.
In times of struggle, we often seek a counselor — a trusted friend or a confidant to talk with about our troubles or from whom we seek guidance and direction. The disciples saw Jesus as their counselor, and were worried when He said He was leaving them. It was then that Jesus promised the ultimate Counselor — the Holy Spirit.
Like the disciples, we are given a Counselor to teach and remind us what Jesus taught (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit is available 24/7 and is absolutely free because Jesus paid His “fee”. He gives us the ability to understand our issues from Christ’s perspective and He exposes the false promises of the world. He offers us “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:10-16).
Do you take advantage of the best counselor in heaven or earth? He is available to you when you trust Christ for your salvation.
But I tell you I am going to do what is best for you. This is why I am going away. The Holy Spirit cannot come to help you until I leave. But after I am gone, I will send the Spirit to you.
The Spirit will come and show the people of this world the truth about sin and God’s justice and the judgment.
Traffic, gas prices, long lines, screaming children, demanding bosses. Each day offers lots of opportunities to gripe, complain and argue. Do you take the bait?
Most times we respond to these situations poorly and without thinking, but consider the fact that these can be opportunities to demonstrate our trust in a powerful, loving God. When we approach trials from God’s eternal perspective, they can become opportunities to show our kids that satisfaction and peace are not based on the world’s response to us, but rather our response to the world. Show them you are willing to accept inconveniences without complaining or arguing and make the best of each day regardless. This attitude is a “light” to your children.
Let’s stop complaining and arguing, and show our children we trust in God’s plan.
Do everything without grumbling or arguing. Then you will be the pure and innocent children of God. You live among people who are crooked and evil, but you must not do anything they can say is wrong. Try to shine as lights among the people of this world.
This passage referred to the responsibility of leaders to study and rely upon the law of God as they governed. It kept them humble, centered on God, and guided their decisions so they would not stray from His path. Of course, this wasn’t easy and the Israelite leaders failed many times. When they strayed, God faithfully delivered consequences for their failures.
God’s advice for leaders hasn’t changed! As the leader of your family, recognize your need to learn from God’s Word. When we sacrifice personal study and meditation, we tend to lose our godly focus quickly, both for ourselves and for our family as well. Are consequences far behind?
Part of being a good leader is turning to your Leader for guidance every day.
Each day the king must read and obey these laws, so that he will learn to worship the Lord with fear and trembling and not think that he’s better than everyone else.
If the king completely obeys the Lord’s commands, he and his descendants will rule Israel for many years.
The Greek word for workmanship is poiema, from which we get our word “poem”. It is used also in Romans 1:20 where Paul explains that God’s eternal power and divine nature can be seen in nature, His poiema. Paul tells us that all of creation contains works of incredible art created by God to demonstrate and reflect His glory, and that our kids are part of the art show!
If God was willing to put that kind of love and care into creating our children and preparing a path for them to follow “for good works”, doesn’t it make sense that we should work to find God’s path for our kids and surrender any path we may have dreamed up without Him?
God is the great artist and He is preparing a work far greater than any of us can see. It involves all of us. And we can participate by finding the role he created for each of us in His great design. Let’s resolve to stop trying to make our own primitive finger painting, and join the rest of God’s creation in His work.
Let’s surrender our independent plans and assume our role in the greatest work of art ever created!
God planned for us to do good things and to live as he has always wanted us to live. This is why he sent Christ to make us what we are.
Do you ever get caught up in gawking at the “lifestyles of the rich and famous”? The media offers us a front row seat to the excesses of the super rich. Their houses, cars, clothes, and hobbies are all paraded before us as examples of “success”. Hasn’t it always been true that “men praise you when you prosper”?
In light of the world’s preoccupation with achieving “the good life”, isn’t it ironic that anything with a price, no matter how extravagant or expensive, will have zero eternal value? Help your kids fight materialism by focusing on eternal significance. The most effective way to communicate this message is not with your words, but with your example. Take a moment and ask God to reveal any blind spots you might have in this area. Commit to making one change, no matter how small, that more effectively demonstrates what you truly value.
Teach your children not to confuse price with value.
