Soon =)

DJ Meg is signing off :)

Help for Fractured Fathers

CURRENT RADIO SERIES High Definition Living   CURRENT TV SERIES All In: The Family   “And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!’” —2 Samuel 18:33 David was described in the Bible as a man after God’s own heart.  He was a success in many ways. From being a rural shepherd to being a champion and then a king. All of us love to think about his great triumphs and his great victories. David was also a man who failed greatly. Though he succeeded in many areas I think we would have to admit that David was a colossal failure as a father. Tragically this story is being repeated again and again today. I know many fractured fathers who are failing in the most important assignment in life and that is being a dad to their children. Men who are successful in their careers, men who are prestigious in their communities and leaders in their churches, and yet failures at home. May I remind all of us who are Dads that our greatest responsibility is not at the office? Our greatest responsibility is in our home. To know our children, to love our children, to serve our children, and to lead our children and our families.  Your assignment is to lead your children to Christ, to teach them of the faith. Teaching your child is your responsibility. Take that responsibility seriously to present God to your children.   YOU CAN GROW IN YOUR FAITH, AND YOU CAN GROW IN YOUR COMMITMENT AS A PARENT. The Path to Power Monday, April 29, 2019 by Dr. Paul Chappell “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” Philippians 3:9–11 Paul met Jesus when he was on the way to Damascus to persecute Christians there. Paul was fully aware that Jesus had been crucified, and that day he became fully aware that Jesus was alive again. Paul never lost sight of the truth of the resurrection. He recognized what having the power over death meant—that there was literally nothing that could stand against it. Paul devoted his life to telling others about the risen Lord, working in the power of the resurrection. But in writing to the church at Philippi, the place where he had been beaten and cast into prison before the earthquake loosed his chains, Paul described the path to that power. And it is not an easy road. We cannot know resurrection power without first knowing the pain of suffering and death to self. Lester Roloff said, “Nobody ever got resurrected who wasn’t dead first.” The reason many Christians do not have God’s power is that they are not willing to do what it takes to get it. The power of God has not changed or lessened with the passage of years. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11). The question is not whether there is power available to meet our needs, but whether we are willing to lay aside whatever is necessary to have it. Today's Growth Principle:  God’s resurrection power is available to every Christian who is willing to pay the price.

Quote of the day

Great Resistance to the World

Sunday, April 28, 2019

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”

John 15:18–20

In December of 2018 a pastor in China, Wang Yi, was arrested by the government as part of their crackdown on the spread of Christianity in the Communist country. He was charged with “inciting subversion of state power” which carries a sentence of up to fifteen years in jail. Having learned that he was likely to be arrested, Wang Yi took the time to write a powerful letter to the members of his church.

“This does not mean that my personal and church disobedience is a political act in any sense of activism or civil disobedience. Because I have no intention of changing any of China’s systems and laws. As a pastor, the only thing I care about is the disobedience of faith, the shock of sinful humanity, and the testimony of the cross of Christ. As a pastor, my disobedience is part of the Gospel mission. The great mission of Christ requires our great resistance to the world. The purpose of resisting is not to change the world, but to witness another world.”

At a time when some Christians in America are trying to become more and more like the world, there are Christians in other countries who are willing to go to jail rather than conform. The witness of Christ living in us should be so precious that we will never give it up.

Today's Growth Principle: 

God does not call us to be accepted by the world, but to stand out from it as His children.

Quote of the day

The Shame of the Cross

Saturday, April 27, 2019

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”

Hebrews 12:2–3

During World War II, the ten Boom family in Holland sheltered more than 800 Jews in their home before they were betrayed to the Gestapo. Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie were sent to the dreaded Ravensbruck concentration camp. More than 130,000 women were sent there during the war, and more than 90,000 of them died there. In her book The Hiding Place Corrie wrote about the horror of being forced to stand naked before the guards for what they called a medical examination each week.

“One of these mornings while we were waiting, shivering in the corridor, yet another page in the Bible leapt into life for me. He hung naked on the cross. The paintings, the carved crucifixes showed at least a scrap of cloth. But this, I suddenly knew, was the respect and reverence of the artist. But oh—at the time itself…—there had been no reverence. No more than I saw in the faces around us now.”

As she thought on this, Corrie then said to her sister in front of her, “Betsie, they took His clothes too.” She continued, “Ahead of me I heard a little gasp. ‘Oh, Corrie. And I never thanked Him.’” 

The love of Jesus is so great that He was willing to endure the most shameful treatment that men could devise. He had already laid aside His glory to come to be our Saviour, and on the cross He laid aside His dignity in a glorious sacrifice for our salvation. There was no price Jesus was not willing to pay for us and we must never forget it.

Today's Growth Principle: 

When was the last time you stopped to thank God for the cost He paid for your salvation?

An Unbreakable Bond

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“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” —Genesis 1:1 Mankind… Are we the product of natural selection, the survival of the fittest? Or are we the handy work of a personal God who created us individually? The question is:  Is man made in God’s image or is God made in man’s imagination? Did God make man or did man make God? Of course, there are all kinds of explanations for the origin and the destiny of the species. In 1859 Darwin wrote his famous book entitled The Origin of the Species.  In this book he proposed to tell us from whence we came. Now more and more scientist are beginning to believe that the earth as we know it today came very suddenly. We believe in a supernatural creation by God. The God who is almighty! The God who is all-powerful! What I believe to be the truth of this text is that God actually literally created this world.   You are not here by accident today. This isn’t by chance. I don’t believe that anything has ever happened by chance, but by the governing, guiding hand of God. That includes you reading this message to respond to the light and the love and the life of Jesus Christ, who loved you, who died on the cross, who rose again so that you might know Him.    GOD CREATED YOU TO KNOW HIM. HE SET ETERNITY IN YOUR HEART.  HE MADE YOU TO LIVE FOREVER. An Unbreakable Bond Friday, April 26, 2019 by Dr. Paul Chappell “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37–39 During World War II while working with a team of scientists to develop new materials for gun sights, Harry Coover, Jr. discovered a substance they named cyanoacrylate. It was unsuitable for their purpose so it was set aside. But a few years later when Coover was working for Eastman Kodak, he came up with a use for cyanoacrylate in a product that almost all of us have used. In 1958, the company began selling an adhesive called Eastman 910, the first commercially available version of what we today commonly call super glue. It stuck to almost any surface, and created a bond that was almost impossible to break. God’s love for us is an even more powerful adhesive. There is nothing in Heaven or on Earth that can dissolve the bond of that love. The devil comes and tells us that God cannot or will not love us because of what we have done or failed to do. This is a lie. God’s love for us is not dependent on us, but is an unchanging part of His nature. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Most of us have been disappointed or let down by people we trusted and counted on. Most of us have had people turn against us for one reason or another. God never fails. His love for us is eternal and unchanging—a bond that cannot be broken. We can rely on it because love is who God is. Today's Growth Principle:  You can count on God’s unfailing love no matter who or what tries to take it away.

Quote of the day =)

“Two lives that have been destined to meet each other. One life is as high as the sky. The other life is as strong as the mountain.“

-Lullaby

The greatest hope you can have

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“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” --Revelation 21:4 Many years ago, a man was sentenced to death, but obtained a reprieve from the king by assuring him he would teach his majesty’s horse to fly within one year. The only condition was if he didn’t succeed, he would be put to death at the end of the year. So as he was sitting with some other prisoners one day, one of them asked him, “How are you so sure you can teach his horse to fly?” He replied, “I’m not. But within a year, the king may die, I may die, or the horse may die. And who knows? Maybe the horse will learn to fly!” The Christian is the ultimate optimist. Whatever may be going on in your life, if you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, you have a hope! Hope is to the Christian what oxygen is to the body. You can live without health. You can even live without happiness. But you cannot live without hope. The Word of God calls our hope a blessed hope. It’s a hope that brings constant joy to the believer. It is a very definite and specific hope that Christ is going to one day wipe every tear from our eyes when He comes back. So as you live your life, remember that you can always look toward a better day when Christ will return. He is your greatest hope!   CHRIST’S RETURN IS THE GREATEST HOPE YOU CAN HAVE. SO LIVE YOUR LIFE EACH DAY IN EVERY SITUATION WITH FULL CONFIDENCE IN HIS COMING!

A Promise of Security

Thursday, April 25, 2019

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.”

Genesis 28:13–15

Jacob’s life had been turned completely upside down. He was literally running for his life, because he had deceived his father into giving him the blessing that his brother Esau expected to receive. His problems were the result of his own actions, yet in mercy God reached out to give Jacob a promise of security and hope for the future. No matter where Jacob went, God would be with him and protect him until he returned to the land promised to his grandfather Abraham.

Someone defined insecurity as: “Showing up for your first day of work and finding your name written on your door in chalk—and a wet sponge hanging next to it.” We live in a world where things change rapidly and new threats and dangers appear with frequency. Our peace does not come from the fact that nothing will ever go wrong, but from the certain promise of God to guide and guard us. “For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death” (Psalm 48:14). The same God who saved us will carry us safely all the way into His eternal presence.

Today's Growth Principle: 

In an uncertain and changing world, we have an eternal unchanging God to keep us secure.

Quote of the day =)

ser

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And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. --1 Peter 5:10 Are you struggling today? God never tells us that we won’t experience grief or sorrow in this life.  There will be tears.  And, to be honest, sometimes life will just suck the air right out of you. But we must remember that trials do have a purpose.  Trials can fortify us.  They can prove us, test us, and prepare us. As today’s verse says, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” The fact is, if you’re a Christian, you’re in a spiritual battle.  Which means you have a very real enemy.  And trials prepare you for this battle and make you stronger.  In fact, you may be going through a spiritual boot camp of sorts today, which is preparing you for the battle ahead! Think about it this way.  When gold is made, all the impurities must be removed.  The same process of refining takes place in our lives before genuine gold can come forth. Whatever you may be facing today, keep in mind that God is forming your character, bringing out the gold in you.  Everything has a reason.  You may not see it… you may not understand it… but God is​ ​working in your life. Remember that no matter what you may be going through, you can build your life on the certainty and confident expectation that God is in the midst of it.  Rejoice because He is working in your life and your future!   THINK ABOUT SOME OF THE TRIALS IN YOUR PAST.  WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THEM?  HOW DID THEY PREPARE YOU FOR WHAT WAS AHEAD? The Worthy Walk Wednesday, April 24, 2019 by Dr. Paul Chappell “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;” Colossians 1:9–11 The idea that people are basically good and will usually do the right thing once they know what is right is quite widespread in our day. It’s easy to understand why people want to think that, because it is flattering to us to think of ourselves that way. But the Bible paints a different picture of the state of the lost. “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:12). Despite the teaching of Scripture that we receive a new nature upon salvation, some people seem to want to stay as close to the old nature as they can rather than walking daily as a new creation of God. Because He is holy, He requires holy living from us. And because of His power we are no longer in bondage to sin, without the ability to do what is right. Charles Spurgeon said, “The liberty of the man of the world is liberty to commit evil without restraint; the liberty of a child of God is to walk in holiness without hindrance.” We do not work to earn our salvation or merit with God. But we are His children, and He has the right to demand that we live up to the new name He has given us. There is freedom in Christ, but it is freedom from sin, not freedom to sin. Today's Growth Principle:  We have the privilege and responsibility to walk in a manner worthy of being a child of God.

Jesus lives in Scripture

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And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. -- Luke 24:27 Remarkable things begin to happen when you and I encounter the resurrected Jesus. It’s true! Just look at what happened when those two discouraged disciples met Jesus while they were walking to Emmaus. Now, at first, these two men didn’t recognize the resurrected Christ. They were telling this “stranger” about the recent events regarding Jesus’ death. And of course, no one knew more about these circumstances than Jesus, himself, but he listened patiently. And then Jesus began to remind them of the Scriptures that revealed the purpose of his coming. One verse at a time, he walked them through the word. And as these broken-hearted men listened, they began to realize something magnificent was happening. Their hearts were on fire, their joy returned as this “stranger” unfolded God’s purposes before them. Don’t you wish you could walk with Jesus this way… to hear him reveal the heart of God and his divine purposes? Well, you can! Open the Scripture and begin to read. Jesus is the Word! That’s what the apostle John said in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God​ and the Word was God….” Read the Word and you will meet the living Christ! And he will ignite your passion and rekindle your hope.   READ THE WORD AND YOU WILL MEET THE LIVING CHRIST FACE TO FACE! Letting Go of Sin Tuesday, April 23, 2019 by Dr. Paul Chappell “Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return? Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.” Jeremiah 8:4–6 I read a funny story about an antique dealer who was shopping in a hardware store. He noticed the owner’s cat eating out of a bowl, and recognized the bowl as a very valuable antique worth thousands of dollars. Wanting to get a bargain without mentioning the value of the bowl, he told the owner, “I’d like to buy your cat. I’ll give you $20 for him.” The owner refused to sell until the antique dealer raised the price to $100, which he accepted. The dealer then casually asked, “I assume I’ll get the bowl to go with the cat?” The owner replied, “No. That’s my lucky bowl. I’ve sold thirty-four cats with it this week!” The Israelites in the time of Jeremiah were idolatrous, having turned their backs on God. This led to many other evils and sins—and the people were just fine with that. They had seared consciences, and when they were confronted by prophets they just held on to their sins more tightly than ever. Though sin always exacts a deadly price, there is usually a period of temporary and fleeting enjoyment. And if our hearts are hardened to the things of God, we cling to our deceit, our pride, our dishonesty, and our desires. Moses made the right decision because he recognized what really mattered: “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season” (Hebrews 11:25). Today's Growth Principle:  Our sinful nature tempts us to cling to our sins, but God gives us the power to overcome them.

Quote of the day

Making your life journey count

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That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem… -- Luke 24:13 We’ve all heard it said that life is a journey. And it’s true. But sometimes life’s challenges can cause you to lose hope and even to despair. In the book of Luke, you and I meet two men whose life challenges had caused them to lose hope. These men were Christ followers, but when Jesus died on the cross, they were stunned. And as they walked to Emmaus, their conversation revealed the depth of their pain and disillusion. You see, their experience did not match their expectation. Their journey with Jesus had come to a sudden end. They expected more from Jesus… and hoped for something more from God. But something extraordinary happened to those two men on that journey. A man began to walk with them!  And as they listened to what he said and watched what he did, they soon realized who that man was… Jesus was alive and their hope was restored! Now, I want to ask you an important question. How is your life journey going? Is it going well? Or maybe you’ve had a rough start filled with crushing disappointments. Well, through God’s grace and the power of Jesus’ resurrection, this Easter season, you can have a new beginning! Your Savior is alive! Let him walk with you and he will make your life an incredible journey, one that will count for eternity!   YOUR SAVIOR IS ALIVE! Putting Feet to Your Prayers Monday, April 22, 2019 by Dr. Paul Chappell “And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.” 2 Kings 4:8–10 There is an old story about a pastor at a small country church in England who along with several of his children came down with the mumps. At church on Sunday they announced a prayer meeting would be held outside the pastor’s house. At the appointed time, several members gathered around the parsonage, and were getting ready to pray when a teenage boy drove up with a loaded wagon. He started unloading food—potatoes, bacon, flour and other staples. One man asked, “What are you doing?” The boy replied, “Pa said I should bring our prayers.” There are times when the only possible solution is a direct miracle from God. But there are other times when there are things we could do to help with the problem. In those situations, we need to “bring our prayers” in a practical way. Moses experienced this when he met God at the burning bush. He was delighted to hear that God was going to deliver the Israelites. But he had a different reaction when God said, “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10). Moses wanted God to deliver, but he was reluctant to play his part. Today's Growth Principle:  When you pray for others, be willing to be part of God’s solution to their problem.