1.I serve a risen Saviour
He's in the world today.
I know that He is living,
Whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy;
I hear His voice of cheer;
And just the time I need Him He's always near.
Chorus:
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart.
2.In all the world around me
I see His loving care,
And though my heart grows weary,
I never will despair;
I know that He is leading,
Through all the stormy blast;
The day of His appearing
Will come at last.
Chorus:
3.Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian,
Lift up your voice and sing
Eternal hallelujahs
To Jesus Christ the King!
The Hope of all who seek Him,
The Help of all who find,
None other is so loving, So good and kind.
Chorus:
He lives....He lives
Christ Jesus lives today...
He walks with me and talks with me... along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives salvation to impart.....
you ask me how I know He lives? He lives....within my heart!
Bless you.....
Yaddy
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Effective Communication.....
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (NLT)
Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ.
20 When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law.
Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law.
21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ.
But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.
22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.
23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.
Here we have one of the great evangelism passages from the bible.
The Apostle Paul is sharing with us how he works to see people saved.
From an evangelism point of view we can take great comfort from the second part of verse 22, in particular the word “some”.
We think to be successful in our evangelism efforts, we must see everyone we share the gospel with.... saved.
This is not the case and Paul knew this.
Not everyone will say yes...... it will be “some”.
Our responsibility is not "their response"; it is that we share the gospel.
But I believe that there is another principle that we can learn from this passage of scripture, and that is a principle surrounding effective communication.
So many things fall down.... fail.... or don’t fully succeed, due to a lack of, or poor ineffective communication.
When God wanted to stop the building of a tower which became known as the tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-8) He affected their ability to communicate.
As soon as they were unable to communicate with each other their building came to a halt.
Whether you are building a business, a church, a team, a marriage or sharing the gospel.... the success of that endeavour will be closely tied to your ability to communicate effectively and clearly.
We need to understand that communication is not the answer, effective communication is.
For example, we have a number of nationalities represented in our church some for whom English is their second language.
If I speak English and one of these people speaks their language, which isn’t English, we are both communicating, but it is not effective. When people read the above text, they sometimes misread it..... that Paul was compromising to get people saved....
but this was not the case.
He states “But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ”.
Paul was actually working on effective communication.
Effective communication is not just speaking or even speaking a lot, it is the ability to firstly understand another person’s point of view.....
so that you can then communicate the best way forward.
This is what Paul was doing. He came alongside a person, so he could see what they saw. In doing so he gained understanding into what they saw, which in turn meant he could effectively communicate the truth of the gospel.
He didn’t change or even stray from his message, he just delivered it in such a way that it would be most effective.
What can we learn from this? Effectively communication begins not with speaking but with understanding.
Once you understand what your audience sees...... your communication strategy can be built from there.
It may take a little longer to get to the point where you share your message, but it will give your message greater opportunity for success.
Understand more and communicate effectively.
Scott,.... Elevate Church, www.elevatechurch.com.au
Bless you and thank you Scott...
Yaddy
Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ.
20 When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law.
Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law.
21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ.
But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.
22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.
23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.
Here we have one of the great evangelism passages from the bible.
The Apostle Paul is sharing with us how he works to see people saved.
From an evangelism point of view we can take great comfort from the second part of verse 22, in particular the word “some”.
We think to be successful in our evangelism efforts, we must see everyone we share the gospel with.... saved.
This is not the case and Paul knew this.
Not everyone will say yes...... it will be “some”.
Our responsibility is not "their response"; it is that we share the gospel.
But I believe that there is another principle that we can learn from this passage of scripture, and that is a principle surrounding effective communication.
So many things fall down.... fail.... or don’t fully succeed, due to a lack of, or poor ineffective communication.
When God wanted to stop the building of a tower which became known as the tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-8) He affected their ability to communicate.
As soon as they were unable to communicate with each other their building came to a halt.
Whether you are building a business, a church, a team, a marriage or sharing the gospel.... the success of that endeavour will be closely tied to your ability to communicate effectively and clearly.
We need to understand that communication is not the answer, effective communication is.
For example, we have a number of nationalities represented in our church some for whom English is their second language.
If I speak English and one of these people speaks their language, which isn’t English, we are both communicating, but it is not effective. When people read the above text, they sometimes misread it..... that Paul was compromising to get people saved....
but this was not the case.
He states “But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ”.
Paul was actually working on effective communication.
Effective communication is not just speaking or even speaking a lot, it is the ability to firstly understand another person’s point of view.....
so that you can then communicate the best way forward.
This is what Paul was doing. He came alongside a person, so he could see what they saw. In doing so he gained understanding into what they saw, which in turn meant he could effectively communicate the truth of the gospel.
He didn’t change or even stray from his message, he just delivered it in such a way that it would be most effective.
What can we learn from this? Effectively communication begins not with speaking but with understanding.
Once you understand what your audience sees...... your communication strategy can be built from there.
It may take a little longer to get to the point where you share your message, but it will give your message greater opportunity for success.
Understand more and communicate effectively.
Scott,.... Elevate Church, www.elevatechurch.com.au
Bless you and thank you Scott...
Yaddy
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Do we all have problems?
We had a church camp this last weekend.....it went well.
It was only a couple of hours drive from here, but the thought that we were "away" sure did wonders.
Which brings me to another thought.....because we were "not at home" there was a totally different feeling and also a totally different outlook on life, even if only for the weekend.
Things left behind for the weekend, were not thought about......they were still there, but.....you know what I mean?
So....why is it that we feel we "need to get away from it all for a while?"
We don't really escape the unpleasantness! Could it be that "people" want to escape for a while, because they do not know God?
Some years ago, I heard some one say..."Come to Jesus and all your problems will be over..."
Could that be why people feel they want to escape? Because when I heard the above....I winced.....and when I left that meeting I thought to myself..."Is that what we are showing to people? A picture of salvation that promises us that "never again" will we struggle with problems?
If the above is the truth, then I am missing out, because I am struggling a lot with problems...even by going away for a weekend, the problems will still be there, when we arrive home again. The young person mentioned above might have been very sincere in what he said, but he was very sincerely wrong! Problems will always be with us, but above all we must never forget....butso too will God!
Blessings......
Yaddy
Thursday, October 4, 2012
You may have noticed.....
This tree grows out the back and we grew it from a seed.....it's beautiful!
typical bowl of fruit which my mum had and the fruit is artificial, hers was too, just a reminder of my child hood.Blessings...
Yaddy
Monday, August 27, 2012
How did I get here?
How Did I Get Here
1
Proverbs 4:26 (NIV) Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm
Punctuation plays a big part in how we read and in how we express ourselves.
"How did I get here" ..... can be seen two ways;
how did I get here?... often asked with disappointment or....
how did I get here! ..... often said with excitement.
Either way, whether said in disappointment or in excitement, the said person has little to no idea how they found themselves where they are.
There is a big difference between being where you are.....,
and being where you want to be.
Time is so short and I don’t have the time to spend (and I am sure that you don’t either) aimlessly moving through life arriving at uncertain destinations whether pleasantly surprised or not.
I am of the belief that life is far more predictable then we give it credit for. Just as geographical principles work to take us from one known destination to another there are principles that you can use to move you through life with confidence to predictable outcomes.
Our verse from Proverbs tells me two things.
Firstly, where it says “make level paths for your feet” this tells me that I have a choice, that I get to make the paths that I walk on.
And secondly, where it says “and take only ways that are firm” this tells me that there are not only firm, stable and established paths but also loose, unstable and unestablished paths.
Pathways are no respecter of man. Let me give you an example, if I choose not to exercise, consume large amounts of junk food and soft drinks, I choose for myself a pathway.
The pathway that I have chosen over time will bring me to a destination called overweight and unfit. Regardless of my race, creed, colour, sex, education, IQ, net worth, goals, political view etc this pathway leads to one destination.
And if you were to do the same as me you too would end up at the same destination. I could have the best intentions in the world of wanting to be fit and healthy but my pathway determines my destination...... Direction will override intention every time.
"How did I get here?".... is actually a question that you have the answer to. You don’t have to ask others, you don’t have to ask God.
You are the only person that can actually answer that question with any level of accuracy.
You just need to be honest with yourself.
We are where we are in life because over time we have placed one foot in front of the other and moved in a direction currently journeying towards or having arrived at a destination.
Proverbs 27:12 says “a prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks; a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered”. Prudent is interchangeable with wise. So a wise person sees what’s coming and makes choices accordingly.
Being wise and actually putting serious thought into where we are going is important. If we know where we currently are we can choose the pathway to where we want to be and mark out the some of the pitfalls and obstacles that we can see along the way.
The direction that you are currently travelling, relationally, financially, spiritually, professionally....
and the list goes on and on...... will determine where you end up in each of these respective areas.
If you want a better marriage choose a firm, stable and established pathway that directs you toward that destination.
If you want to get out of debt choose a firm, stable and established pathway that directs you toward that destination. Direction will always, every single time override intention. Get on the right path.
Scott.
Thank you Scott....
Bless you.... Yaddy
Punctuation plays a big part in how we read and in how we express ourselves.
"How did I get here" ..... can be seen two ways;
how did I get here?... often asked with disappointment or....
how did I get here! ..... often said with excitement.
Either way, whether said in disappointment or in excitement, the said person has little to no idea how they found themselves where they are.
There is a big difference between being where you are.....,
and being where you want to be.
Time is so short and I don’t have the time to spend (and I am sure that you don’t either) aimlessly moving through life arriving at uncertain destinations whether pleasantly surprised or not.
I am of the belief that life is far more predictable then we give it credit for. Just as geographical principles work to take us from one known destination to another there are principles that you can use to move you through life with confidence to predictable outcomes.
Our verse from Proverbs tells me two things.
Firstly, where it says “make level paths for your feet” this tells me that I have a choice, that I get to make the paths that I walk on.
And secondly, where it says “and take only ways that are firm” this tells me that there are not only firm, stable and established paths but also loose, unstable and unestablished paths.
Pathways are no respecter of man. Let me give you an example, if I choose not to exercise, consume large amounts of junk food and soft drinks, I choose for myself a pathway.
The pathway that I have chosen over time will bring me to a destination called overweight and unfit. Regardless of my race, creed, colour, sex, education, IQ, net worth, goals, political view etc this pathway leads to one destination.
And if you were to do the same as me you too would end up at the same destination. I could have the best intentions in the world of wanting to be fit and healthy but my pathway determines my destination...... Direction will override intention every time.
"How did I get here?".... is actually a question that you have the answer to. You don’t have to ask others, you don’t have to ask God.
You are the only person that can actually answer that question with any level of accuracy.
You just need to be honest with yourself.
We are where we are in life because over time we have placed one foot in front of the other and moved in a direction currently journeying towards or having arrived at a destination.
Proverbs 27:12 says “a prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks; a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered”. Prudent is interchangeable with wise. So a wise person sees what’s coming and makes choices accordingly.
Being wise and actually putting serious thought into where we are going is important. If we know where we currently are we can choose the pathway to where we want to be and mark out the some of the pitfalls and obstacles that we can see along the way.
The direction that you are currently travelling, relationally, financially, spiritually, professionally....
and the list goes on and on...... will determine where you end up in each of these respective areas.
If you want a better marriage choose a firm, stable and established pathway that directs you toward that destination.
If you want to get out of debt choose a firm, stable and established pathway that directs you toward that destination. Direction will always, every single time override intention. Get on the right path.
Scott.
Thank you Scott....
Bless you.... Yaddy
Monday, August 13, 2012
The freedom to accept and believe!
You know, there are people who are bound up.
You may ask...."What do I mean?"
Well, I lot of people have told me that they think and believe that I use my faith as a crutch...
I might add that I am not ashamed to admit that I do just that!
But some people are afraid to surrender themselves to Jesus.
I don't really know..........
"what" it is they think they have to do, but they will try all kinds of "other" religions, just
as long as it is not Christianity.
And they truly believe that all these other religions are there for them to try and get salvation
for their soul!
You can even read 2 or more chapters from the Bible each and every day....
you can go to every meeting that you think you should.......
give as much as you think you should......but.......
that still will not give you peace of mind....nor will it bring you the salvation you so yearn for.
I have seen that some people in India will do penance....like crawl so many steps....or....
tie a log to their back......or....
I am sure you get the picture.....
but none of it works......
You see if it did....it would mean Jesus died in vain.....as you did it all yourself.
A friend felt this way, so much so, that in desperation one night, he was ready to take his own life....
But.....just then,,,,he had a very strong thought, that came to him and persuaded him to.....
" JUST ACCEPT WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE FOR ME ON THE CROSS"
It was as if a light had gone up....and a weight had lifted from his shoulders....
He had surrendered!...... He was set free!
In his surrendering he received his freedom!
Bless you....
Yaddy
You may ask...."What do I mean?"
Well, I lot of people have told me that they think and believe that I use my faith as a crutch...
I might add that I am not ashamed to admit that I do just that!
But some people are afraid to surrender themselves to Jesus.
I don't really know..........
"what" it is they think they have to do, but they will try all kinds of "other" religions, just
as long as it is not Christianity.
And they truly believe that all these other religions are there for them to try and get salvation
for their soul!
You can even read 2 or more chapters from the Bible each and every day....
you can go to every meeting that you think you should.......
give as much as you think you should......but.......
that still will not give you peace of mind....nor will it bring you the salvation you so yearn for.
I have seen that some people in India will do penance....like crawl so many steps....or....
tie a log to their back......or....
I am sure you get the picture.....
but none of it works......
You see if it did....it would mean Jesus died in vain.....as you did it all yourself.
A friend felt this way, so much so, that in desperation one night, he was ready to take his own life....
But.....just then,,,,he had a very strong thought, that came to him and persuaded him to.....
" JUST ACCEPT WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE FOR ME ON THE CROSS"
It was as if a light had gone up....and a weight had lifted from his shoulders....
He had surrendered!...... He was set free!
In his surrendering he received his freedom!
Bless you....
Yaddy
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The Honest Apostles
(Just thought I'd let you all know that I have had my broken arm operated on....I have had a pin put in and it is still very painfull. I have been assured that the pain will eventually go away, I pray that it does, yet in all this I thank God the Father that He was with me through all this as on my own I would not have managed to cope with it all!)
THE HONEST APOSTLES
In 2 Corinthians 4 v 2 we read, "We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty....
not walking in craftiness.... not handling the Word of God deceitfully......
but by manifestation of the truth.....commending ourselves to every man's conscience
in the sight of God....."
One of the most useless and foolish arguments of unbelievers is to accuse the New testament
writers of trying to foist off tales of a "super natural Christ" on to gullible people. I mean....really!
And the scriptures written by these men contain strong condemnation of all dishonesty and deceit...
so it would be impossible that they, all at the same time, unbeknowns to each other, would do such a thing, such a big conspiracy!
Paul's claim in the above text would be the worst kind of hypocracy....if this was the case......
And the Apostle Peter said..."Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocracies, and envies, and evil speaking.......as new born babes, desiring the sincere milk of the word..." 1 Peter v 1-2.
And John warned...."All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone....Rev21 v 8...
But......the clincher was that they were all prepared to suffer and suffer horribly, for their honesty and sincerety.
Paul said...."Even unto this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked, and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place.....and we labour with our own hands (meaning no one supported them).....being reviled.....we bless.....
being persecuted....we suffer it.....
being defamed.......we entreat....
we are made as the filth of the world....and are the offscouring of all things unto this day....." yet....
1 Cor 4 v 11-13
All the Apostles and writers of the New Testament (Except John, but he also suffered severe persecution throughout his long life) eventually died as martyrs for their faith.....and it is incredible to think that they would have suffered all that.......for what??
A message they knew to be lie???
I don't think so!
We can have complete confidence that the New Testament records are honest reports of sincere and Godly men.... Thank you Henry Morris Ph.D
Bless you,
Yaddy
THE HONEST APOSTLES
In 2 Corinthians 4 v 2 we read, "We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty....
not walking in craftiness.... not handling the Word of God deceitfully......
but by manifestation of the truth.....commending ourselves to every man's conscience
in the sight of God....."
One of the most useless and foolish arguments of unbelievers is to accuse the New testament
writers of trying to foist off tales of a "super natural Christ" on to gullible people. I mean....really!
And the scriptures written by these men contain strong condemnation of all dishonesty and deceit...
so it would be impossible that they, all at the same time, unbeknowns to each other, would do such a thing, such a big conspiracy!
Paul's claim in the above text would be the worst kind of hypocracy....if this was the case......
And the Apostle Peter said..."Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocracies, and envies, and evil speaking.......as new born babes, desiring the sincere milk of the word..." 1 Peter v 1-2.
And John warned...."All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone....Rev21 v 8...
But......the clincher was that they were all prepared to suffer and suffer horribly, for their honesty and sincerety.
Paul said...."Even unto this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked, and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place.....and we labour with our own hands (meaning no one supported them).....being reviled.....we bless.....
being persecuted....we suffer it.....
being defamed.......we entreat....
we are made as the filth of the world....and are the offscouring of all things unto this day....." yet....
1 Cor 4 v 11-13
All the Apostles and writers of the New Testament (Except John, but he also suffered severe persecution throughout his long life) eventually died as martyrs for their faith.....and it is incredible to think that they would have suffered all that.......for what??
A message they knew to be lie???
I don't think so!
We can have complete confidence that the New Testament records are honest reports of sincere and Godly men.... Thank you Henry Morris Ph.D
Bless you,
Yaddy
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