"Dealing With Critics" - #373

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Hello!

I pray that you had a great weekend.

A friend of mine has written a short article on Christianity in Brazil.  We have added it to JCSM's International Christians web page.  If you'd like to see what Christianity is like in other countries, please visit http://jcsm.org/InternationalChristians.htm.

Please welcome our newest OCCM member.  Grace Prophetic Ministries (http://gracepropheticministries.com) has joined the Online Christ-Centered Ministries (http://occm.org) and we are happy to have them aboard.  Plus, they have a great discussion board, so if you are into posting messages in forums, you should visit http://tribulationforces.com.

This week, we are going to take Jordan to Disneyland for her first time.  Please pray that everything goes well.  She will be two years old in a couple of weeks, so we think she is ready.  You can see some pictures and videos of her at http://jordanfaith.com.

Please pray for my guitar students.  I'm blessed to have several guys and girls who want to learn to glorify God with the guitars.  Let's pray that they continue to grow and enjoy their music lessons.  This week, I'm starting lessons with two new students.  Plus, I'd be happy to get a couple more students, so let's pray that God brings me more.

I pray that God blesses you and lifts you up.  Many of us think we are on God's permanent mailing list of blessings, but He tells us that we "have not because we ask not."  If you need God's blessings or healing hand, don't forget to ask Him!

Lately, I've been listening to The Kry and Phil Wickham.  If you aren't familiar with these bands, you should be!  Phil wrote a great worship song called, "Jesus, Your Love Has No Bounds."  I just learned it on the guitar and I'll be teaching it to my students this week.  See their web sites and music at http://thekry.com and http://philwickham.com.

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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

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

"Dealing With Critics"

Luke 6:27, 28  "But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you."

Proverb 15:1  "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."

Matthew 5:5  "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

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."

Insight: Are you having trouble with your critics?  The scriptures above will give you some simple guidelines to follow.  When God gives you a vision for your life and your ministry, don't worry about the critics.  You only need to be concerned with the way God sees you.

Prayer: "Dear Lord, please bless us.  Give us strength to deal with our critics appropriately.  Thank you for giving us clear guidelines and commands in your Word.  Help us to obey You.  Help us to stay on track despite what our critics might say.  Bless those that are borderline and are really considering what the critics say as they contemplate rejecting You.  We love You, Lord and we need You.  Give us more faith in You and more love for You and others.  Give us more godliness, yes more of You.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

America's Foundation

A Moment of Introspection

The disease of "me" destroys the potential of "us."

List five of your critics.  These give people could be people that hate you.  Pray for them.  Ask God to bless them with righteousness.  Pray and ask God how you could be a blessing in their lives.

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

bawtakh (Hebrew, see Proverb 3:5) - to trust, be confident or sure, be bold, hope

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims:

Genesis 14:12, 14, 16 - Is Lot Abram's nephew as it says in verse 12 or brother as in verse 14 and 16.

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

Lot is Abram's nephew.  This much is very clear in Genesis 14:12 and even in Genesis 11:27.  Apply the "law of first mention," here.  Simply because Lot's relational title was abbreviated in Genesis 14:14 and 16, it does not change or confuse their relationship.  This same rhetorical device would be used if you called your "brother-in-law" your "brother."  Technically, you aren't correct, but figuratively, you're getting your point across; especially after it has been made explicitly known that this person is your brother-in-law, or in this case Abram's nephew.

(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.)

God will confirm His dream for you in the hearts of your critics.

The Lord will confirm His plan for your life.

God will give your critics incentive to support the dream.

The Lord has given us great incentive to trust Him.

God will welcome your critics into the dream with blessings.

The Lord blesses us with gifts upon our salvation.

God will use your dream to utilize your critic's abilities and gifts.

The Lord provides opportunities for your gifts to be used.

Everyone has critics.

Critics claim to know the intentions of your heart.

Critics claim to know what you can and cannot do.

God's dream for you is to bless those that you don't even know, yet.

Some people look at the bad things in the past and let them ruin their future.

The negative usually isn't as bad as you think.

You can "what if" yourself into depression or into joy.

There will always be both positive and negative things in life.

Our sinful nature is worse than we realize.

If we knew and understood the depths of our sinful nature, we would be depressed.

Be willing for God to change the hearts of your opponents.

Through you, God is going to give others a chance to change their lives.

Stop wasting your life by doing things in the natural realm that contradict God's spiritual plans for you.

Live your life for the Lord and see what God does.

These quotes came from God, me, and Miles McPhearson.

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!

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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.

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