"Find Your Ministry Vision!" - #362

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Hello!

If you want to be encouraged, then keep reading!  I pray you had a great week.

Would you like to help us with something?  JCSM needs a digital camera, a laptop, and a desktop computer (Pentium 3 or above).  If you have any of these items and would like to donate them, please contact us.  All donations are tax deductible.  If you'd like to give a donation, so we can get these much-needed items, please contact us as well.  Thanks for your prayerful consideration.

JCSM has launched another ministry that we hope will reach millions of people.  Our sermon article database has over 2,000 sermons from awesome preachers like C.H. Spurgen (over 250 sermons from him!), A.W. Tozer, Billy Graham, John Bunyan, and many others.  Come and see and be blessed!  Link: http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/articles/.

My formal debate regarding objective morality is going very well.  We are nearing the end and you can follow along here: http://iidebate3.jcsm.org.  My opponent has already been warned and edited several times for abusive language!  Let's pray the truth of God sinks into his heart and the hearts of the others that read the debate.

On Sunday, I heard Dr. Jerry Falwell speak at Shadow Mountain Community Church.  He gave a great sermon!  Please read the wise quotes below if you wish to learn what I learned from him.

Lately, I've been using an awesome program called Flash Renamer.  It can change the names of thousands of files at once!  Rename filters include set casing, Mp3 renaming, find/replace, set attributes, add & crop strings, sequential numbering, and an advanced format function.  For more information, screenshots, and a free trial download, please visit http://www.rlvision.com/flashren/about.asp.

Do you have long hair?  Are you getting tired of it, but don't know where to get it cut or what to do with it?  Locks of Love will cut your hair for free and donate it to a child with no hair.  There are lots of hair cut stores across the country that will help.  Visit http://www.locksoflove.org for details!

We are considering doing a monthly webcast from JCSM.  Would this interest you?  If so, how would you like to watch it?  There are a variety of free software programs (like Yahoo) that could help us do a live webcast.  Please contact us with your feedback.

I pray that you are blessed as you turn to God.  Listen to His Spirit and follow His lead.  He will direct your paths.

Would you like a daily dose of godly wisdom?  Click http://jcsm.org/Wisdom.htm for JCSM's Quote of the Day!

Do you need a free email account?  JCSM offers free and inexpensive accounts through our BelieveandRepent.com domain name.  We give more space than Yahoo and Hotmail, plus you can use our service and evangelize without saying a word!  See http://believeandrepent.com for details.

This is your ministry, so please feel free to link to JCSM and forward these devotions to your friends and family.  On JCSM, there are over 70,000 web pages of pictures, forums, midis, Bible lessons, humor, proverbial stories, links, devotions, poetry, prayer journals, and much more!

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Visit the JCSM Study Center!  We have over 1GB of resources like English and foreign Bibles, thousands of sermons, maps, ancient literature, commentaries, Greek and Hebrew dictionaries, and concordances and much more!  Plus, it's all free.  Link: http://study.jcsm.org.

Welcome to the new readers of this message!  Here is your Devotion, A Moment of Introspection, JCSM's Challenge, the Word of the Week, a faith-builder from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained," and the Quotes of the Week.  Have a fantastic week and God bless you!

Love in Christ,

Jason Gastrich

Contact Us: http://jcsm.org/contact.htm

JCSM's Weekly Devotions (click here to listen!)

"Find Your Ministry Vision!"

Proverb 29:18  "Where there is no vision (prophetic vision or revelation) the people perish, but happy is he who keeps the law."

Proverb 3:5, 6  "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

Matthew 6:33  "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

1 Peter 4:2  ". . . live for . . . the will of God."

Insight: Many people are mildly passionate about their job.  However, most people don't have a solid vision for their life and their ministry that they know is God's will.  Ask around and you'll see.  Do you have a vision?  Seek God and develop a vision for your life and ministry, so you can maximize your potential and use all of your resources for God's glory.  Without a vision, the people perish.

Prayer: "Dear Lord, bless us and give us vision for ministry.  Help us to use our talents and gifts to bless others and glorify You.  Forgive us for squandering what You have given us.  Forgive us for using our talents to bless worldly endeavors.  Thank you for your grace and mercy.  There is no other God like You.  Reveal your personal will to us.  Show us what we should do.  Show me how I can reach more people on JCSM and what the next loaf of fresh bread will be.  We love You, Lord.  You alone are worthy of all our praise.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

America's Foundation

William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), who was known as the "Father of American Poets," became popular for his poetry, which included such titles as: Thanatopsis, To a Waterfowl, The Death of the Flowers and To the Fringed Gentian.  He was the editor-in-chief of the New York Evening Post for fifty years.  William Cullen Bryant wrote:

"The sacredness of the Bible awes me, and I approach it with the same sort of reverential feeling that an ancient Hebrew might be supposed to feel who was about to touch the ark of God with unhallowed hands."  - Park Goodwin, Life of William Cullen Bryant.  Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, Oregon: American Heritage Ministries, 1987), p. 57.

"The very men who, in the pride of their investigations into the secrets of the internal world, turn a look of scorn upon the Christian system of belief, are not aware how much of the peace and order of society, how much the happiness of households and the purest of those who are the dearest to them, are owing to the influence of that religion extending beyond their sphere....

"In my view, the life, the teachings, the labors, and the sufferings of the blessed Jesus, there can be no admiration too profound, no love of which the human heart is capable too warm, no gratitude too earnest and deep of which He is justly the object."  - John Bigelow, Life of William Cullen Bryant, p. 275.  Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, Oregon: American Heritage Ministries, 1987), p. 57-58.

A Moment of Introspection

Every believer needs to be obsessed with a vision from God for their life and ministry.  Do you have a vision for your life and ministry?  Are you making good use of the tools, talents, and resources that God gave you?

What do you hope to accomplish with your life?  No, this isn't a rhetorical question.  What would you like to accomplish before you die?

Type or write what you want to accomplish.  Refer to it and pray about it.  Do your best to accomplish your goal and if you accomplish it right away, then consider making a new one!

God bless you as you meet this week's challenge!

khaw-zone (See Proverb 29:18 - Hebrew): vision, revelation, prophetic vision, sight, oracle, dream

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims:

Genesis 10:5, 20, 31 - These verses show that, contrary to 11:1, many languages existed before construction began on the tower of Babel.

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained" responds:

The word in these verses is "tongue."  They were divided by many ways and one way was according to their "tongues."  This Hebrew word for "tongues" has a variety of meanings.  In this context, it likely refers to dialect.  For example, the English spoken on the West Coast is somewhat different than the English spoken in the South.  If you've visited these areas and spoken to people in them, you will understand what I'm saying.

Since Adam and Eve were the first people on the Earth and obviously spoke the same language, how or why would these other people invent totally different languages?

(This explanation came from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained", by Jason Gastrich.  This book is on CD and explains over 3,000 difficulties regarding the entire Bible at http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.org.  There is also a 300 question workbook that accompanies the CD-ROM.)

If one thing is missing from evangelicalism, it's dreamers.

Don't stop dreaming.

Every believer needs to be obsessed with a vision from God for their life and ministry.

Among church attendees of all churches combined, 68% of them vote Republican and 32% of them vote Democrat.

Are you the kind of Christian that would charge Hell with a bucket of water?

Too many people are afraid to offend people by affirming the scriptures to sinners.

When a Democrat candidate is a pro-life, then I'll consider voting for him.

I wouldn't vote for my mother if she was pro-choice.

Our God is big enough to finance any vision He gives us.

What is your BHAG (big, hair, audacious goal)?

Your priorities determine whether you prosper or fail.

Vision is a bridge from the past to the future.

Vision is the eye of faith, to see the invisible and have the decisiveness to make it visible.

Vision is the power that causes people to make sacrifices to become all they can be for God.

Vision is a clear mental image of a preferable future imparted by God.

Vision is adopting an action plan that will enable you to move forward in your Christian life and ministry.

Vision is the inward life that allows you to boldly communicate what the future will be like to your peers.

Vision is the God-given energy which will allow you to become a risk taker.

Vision is no good unless it drives you to become a risk taker.

If businesses were run like most churches, they would go out of business.

These quotes came from God, me, and Dr. Jerry Falwell.

Do you need more quotes?  We have thousands in our archives!  They are located here: http://quotes.jcsm.org.

These quotes can be used for sanctification and fun.  Most of them are directly based on scripture and scriptural principles.  Some of the quotes are humorous or rhetorical, others are written from sermons and Bible studies, and some are lyrics from songs.  If you’d like me to go into more detail on any of them, please email me.

Like most verses in the Bible, they can be debated.  To use what I’ve written in the most beneficial way, try and trace them back to the scriptures and apply the true principles to your life in a meaningful way!  Please don’t sell my quotes or publish them for profit.  If English is not your first language, you may not understand some of the quotes.  I'm sorry, but some of them are English metaphors and deal with multiple word meanings.  God bless you all!

Please make a commitment to pray for this ministry.  As every believer is tempted and tried, this ministry faces trials also.  God has blessed me, JCSM and the people who have been reached!  Unfortunately, the enemy knows this and spiritual warfare is the result.  Please at least pray that the devotions continue to be written religiously, the web pages stay on the www and the readers are blessed, sanctified and protected from evil.  Thank you very much in advance!

Do you want to help people receive the good news?  We’re reaching new people every day with God’s awesome Word!  If God has blessed you and you wish to send a love offering to JCSM, please send your gift to the address below.

You can join our vision and help this ministry!  Your donations will keep these ministries running and further our visions for evangelism.  We host tens of thousands of web pages to lead people to the Lord.  Frequently, we make new ones and they are used to bring more and more people into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ.

Would you like to support God’s work on the web?  If this ministry has touched you in a special way, please pray and consider sending a gift to JCSM.  You can join us in our vision to reach people on the web with the good news!  Either email me for more information or simply go here: http://vision.jcsm.org.

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization.  If you wish to send support, please make checks payable to Jesus Christ Saves Ministries.  If you are sending support or simply want to contact us through the regular mail, here is our mailing address:

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

3219 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. #212

San Diego, CA 92117

Along with getting support, we also give support!  JCSM regularly gives to churches, Christian ministries, and needy people.  Another function of this ministry is to do counseling.  We are always answering questions about life, the Lord and everything in between.  Lastly, we do a lot of research on religious topics on the internet and library.  You will definitely see the results of our hard work and your loving support, in the web pages, and in the weekly devotions!

For more about me and my service history, go to http://jcsm.org/misc/JasonGastrich.htm.

If you have never repented from your sins and believed, trusted, and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please email me!  I would love to share the gospel with you.  The Bible is very straightforward when it speaks about Heaven, Hell and eternal life.  If there is any doubt that you are going to Heaven when you die, please let me know today!  If you’d like to discover the biblical doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ, please go here: Audio Gospel Message - http://www.jcsm.org/godsplan/TheGospel.mp3. or the Textual Gospel Message - http://gospel.jcsm.org.

Fishes and Loaves (FALO) is a great, missions organization.  They have helped many people embark on missions trips to the uttermost parts of the world.  If you are interested in missions, please visit http://www.gofalo.net.

Do you need to find a solid, Christian church?  I've attended numerous, Calvary Chapel churches and I've been very blessed by their Bible-based sermons, inspiring worship, and kind members.  If you don't have a home church, if you're traveling, or if you need to find a new church, I recommend visiting the following site and locating a Calvary Chapel near you: http://www.calvarychapel.org.

OCCM (Online Christ-Centered Ministries) has certified JCSM as a ministry that preaches the true, biblical gospel of Jesus Christ.  OCCM is a professional membership association for Christian ministries and people that reside on and off the internet.  Are you OCCM certified?  For more information, go here: http://www.occm.org.

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Jesus loves you!

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."