I Am Not A Robot – A Wife Needs Adequate Rest

Guest post Thursday!!! This article is brought to you by Sarah Casterline. Sharing her testimony of getting married young, she also explains about the revelation she had of not being designed like a robot. God designed us to need adequate rest to function properly, a reminder we all need at times! Let Sarah know if her article impacted you, especially if you have experienced what she has! Enjoy!

We were married on June 5, 2010, right before we both turned 20 years old.In the fall of 2010, I began my junior year and my husband began the second semester of his junior year (he was ahead of me at first). Thankfully, I have been able to keep my full-time job while taking online courses. My husband, however, can only work a part-time job because science classes and the labs that are required with them cannot be taken online. On top of this, we have also been the associate youth pastors and the worship pastors at our church.

FUN THINGS TO DO DURING BORING SERMONS

~ Pass a note to the organist asking whether he/she plays requests.

~ See if a yawn really is contagious.

~ Slap your neighbor. See if they turn the other cheek. If not, raise your hand and tell the preacher.

~ Devise ways of climbing into the balcony without using the stairs.

~ Listen for your preacher to use a word beginning with 'A' then 'B and so on through the alphabet.

A Spiritual Health Check Up - Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose!

“The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.” Matthew 6:22

Friday Night Lights was a movie turned into a TV series based on life and football in Odessa, Texas. The fictional Dillon Panthers were all the rage in Dillon, Texas. The football team’s motto was a good one and repeated often by Coach Taylor and the team: “Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can’t lose!”

I think one of the reasons that I like that motto so much is because it goes right along with what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light”(Matthew 6:22). You can’t lose when your eyes are clearly on the Lord and your heart is fully in love with Him.

CLEAR EYES AND FULL HEARTS = A HEALTHY CHURCH
 
One of the many jobs a pastor has under God is to lead the church to a place of health. It starts with the pastor being healthy - spiritually, emotionally, mentally, relationally (especially in their own marriage and family), and physically. It is impossible to lead people to a place where you yourself are not. It is incumbent on the pastor to do all he can to stay healthy so that he can lead the people to be healthy and stay healthy.

LIVE EACH DAY AS YOUR LAST

[God] comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:4

On that fateful Sunday morning in January 1996, Joy Dimerin’s beloved fiancé, Severino Bagtasos, was killed when a lone gunman stormed into the church that he pastored and shot him twice. Severino was killed on the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, in the predominantly Muslim town of Alat on Jolo Island, in southern Philippines. He had a zeal in reaching Muslims for Christ. Joy and Severino were supposed to get married in May 1997.

“By the grace of God, I am doing well and still enjoying the ministry,” testifies Joy. She admits that feelings of loneliness and emptiness were the most difficult things she faced after her beloved Severino died. “I was afraid that I wouldn’t find a godly man like him again,” confides Joy. “I learned to see God’s purpose in my life,” Joy added. “I learned to accept whatever circumstances come my way and look at them as God’s instruments in molding me and in making me a better person. Through [Severino’s] life I learned commitment to the ministry and to prayer. Through his death, I learned to always be prepared to face the Author and Finisher of my faith. Through this tragedy, I learned to live each day as though it were my last.”

Joel Osteen's Night of Hope Draws Tens of Thousands in Ohio

By Anugrah Kumar , Christian Post Contributor

July 15, 2012

More than 14,000 people heard pastor and preacher Joel Osteen's inspiration-filled message at the Quicken Loans Arena facilities in downtown Cleveland, Ohio – the venue for the "Night of Hope" event.

Osteen, the pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas – the largest in America – told the crowd in this Ohio city on Friday night that each day comes as a gift from God, who should be thanked for what's right in their lives.

"God has you on this planet for good reasons, and not just to occupy space," Cleveland.com quoted the 49-year-old pastor as saying. "Somebody is in need of your talents, your skills, your gifts. Stop criticizing yourself, because when you do that, you criticize God's creation."

Is it Wrong to Question Your Senior Pastor?

by Mark Altrogge


The pulpit does not make pastors infallible.

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:10-11)

Why were the Bereans more noble than those in Thessalonica? Two reasons: 1) They received the Word with all eagerness. 2) They went back home and examined the Scriptures to see if what Paul and Silas preached lined up with the Word of God.

Receive the Man of God

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me." (John 13:20)

I can't tell you how many born-again, Holy Ghost-filled Christians pick their pastor apart on Saturday night and then expect him to pray the prayer of faith for them Sunday morning! They'll constantly make critical comments about the evangelists and preachers that God has sent to minister to them and then wonder why the rain of the Spirit has all but dried up in their churches.

Most of those folks would never dream of criticizing the ministry of Jesus. Yet, according to the Word of God, that's precisely what they're doing. You see, Jesus said, "He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me."

I know ministers fail sometimes. I know they make mistakes. Jesus knew they would too. But, even so, He said, "If you receive them, you receive Me."

Black Christians in an 'Adulterous' Relationship With Obama, Says Evangelical Pastor

By Paul Stanley , Christian Post Reporter

An influential African-American evangelical pastor says that many black Christians are in an "adulterous" relationship with President Obama over the issue of same-sex marriage and that if the issue is not addressed soon, it will negatively impact the president's desire for a second term in November.

(Photo: The Christian Post/ Stephanie Samuel)

Bishop Harry Jackson Jr. and other community group leaders gathered in WAshington, D.C. Wednesdrday to announce the launch of the grassroots group, E Plubribus Unum. The group plans to rally minorities around conservative ideas during the 2012 election season.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr., who is the senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Baltimore, Md., and one of the nation's most outspoken black pastors, maintains that Obama has drawn a hard line on major theological issues such as same-sex marriage and expects black Christians to compromise their beliefs.

Obama calls pastors to explain gay marriage support; black churches ‘conflicted' by president's decision

By Dylan Stableford | ABC OTUS News

After making his historic remarks on same-sex unions last week, President Barack Obama led a conference call with black church pastors to explain his support for gay marriage, the New York Times reports. The call, which was held with "eight or so African-American ministers," occurred about two hours after the president's interview with ABC's Robin Roberts.

Obama explained to them that he struggled with the decision, pastors on the call told the paper, but several voiced their disapproval.

"They were wrestling with their ability to get over his theological position," the Rev. Delman Coates, a Maryland pastor who was on the call, told the Times.

The conference call was part of a quiet effort by the president to control potential political damage caused by his support of same-sex marriage.

According to the Times, Obama phoned "at least one [the Rev. Joel C. Hunter] of the five spiritual leaders he calls regularly for religious guidance, and his aides contacted other religious figures who have been supportive in the past."

You Make Me Laugh : Pastor Jim's Bungee Jump

Pastor Jim was called to pastor a large Southern Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas. He had been pastoring a middle sized church in Minnesota and arrived on a Monday in San Antonio. He was greeted warmly and moved into the parsonage and his first official meeting was on Tuesday evening with his deacons. "Brothers, I am interested in getting to know you and request your help in doing this by meeting here at the church Saturday morning at 8:00. While in Minnesota, I learned to enjoy bungee jumping and I felt it would be nice to fellowship down at that high bridge over the Medina River. I will make a jump and show you how it's done and perhaps you may like to try it also." Saturday morning the deacons were all at the church and got into the church van and headed to the Medina River. Once they arrived, the group went to the bridge and observed a Mexican American family having a reunion below. At that Pastor Jim said, "I don't think it will be a real problem, I know the stretch on the cord and I will tie it off so we won't disturb that family." Pastor Jim tied off the cord, put on his harness and climbed to the top of the hand rail, and with that he jumped. As he got close to the bottom a huge cloud of dust arose with a bunch of gleeful laughter and shouts. Suddenly he arose and yelled, "HELP!!" The deacons reached out for him but missed. Again Pastor Jim went down and again a huge cloud of dust, laughter, and screams arose. As Pastor Jim came back up, all eight deacons reached out and grabbed him. When he stood once again firmly on the bridge he asked, "Guys, what is a Pinata"?

*Thanks to Pastor Tim for this joke!* cybersalt.org/cleanlaugh http://www.crosswalkmail.com/ViewMessage.do?a=view&m=ehshqppbp&r=vryhvfhhjyhm&s=cphjdqtljhjtmlngrzkvktqmprrmhctkddn