Worship

Dec 242011
 
Jesus Christ is Born

The Birth of Jesus
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Luke 2: 1-20 (NIV)

 
Passion-Of-The-Christ-Movie-Poster

By Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

9:44 PM EDT, April 30, 2011

Actor Jim Caviezel, his voice sometimes cracking with emotion, spoke of being “rejected in my own industry,” the   problems of his friend Mel Gibson and his son’s cancer in an appearance Saturday night at First Baptist Church of Orlando.

The star of “The Passion of the Christ,” whom First Baptist pastor David Uth described as “more passionate about God” than anyone he’s ever met, was in town to give witness to his faith, to urge others to share it and to sell a new all-star audio production of the Bible that he has produced.

During a 20-minute talk, Caviezel spoke of the troubles that have dogged Gibson, his “Passion” director, who has been labeled an anti-Semite in addition to being caught on tape ranting and cursing out the mother of his youngest child.

“Mel Gibson, he’s a horrible sinner, isn’t he?” Caviezel, 42, said. “Mel Gibson doesn’t need your judgment, he needs your prayers.”

The actor recalled Gibson’s offering him the role of Jesus in the film, then calling him back to beg him not to take it:

“He said, ‘You’ll never work in this town again.’ I told him, ‘We all have to embrace our crosses.’ ”

But the actor noted that Gibson wasn’t far off the mark when he spoke of the damage playing Jesus could do to his career.

“Jesus is as controversial now as he has ever been,” Caviezel said. “Not much has changed in 2,000 years.”

Caviezel said he doesn’t worry about the career price he paid with that film — a global box-office smash that led to fewer, not more, film offers for him. “The awards, the hall of fame” that actors get into here on Earth, he said, don’t matter to him. His reward, he said, will come in heaven.

“We have to give up our names, our reputations, our lives to speak the truth,” Caviezel said.

A native of Washington state and a lifelong Roman Catholic, Caviezel has never shied from films with religious subtexts, sometimes controversial ones, from “The Passion of the Christ” (2004) and “The Stoning of Soraya M.” (2008) to “I Am David” (2003) and “Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius” (2004).

Caviezel has said his faith is his guide, both personally and professionally. He speaks of being “called” to the acting profession and says it was no coincidence that “in my 33rd year, I was called to play Jesus.” He even joked about his initials — J.C. — with Gibson at the time of his casting, which “freaked him out a little.”

Caviezel and his wife have adopted “special-needs” children from China, and one has cancer.

“Maybe God, through my son’s death, is going to teach me something.”

Caviezel will speak at the 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. services Sunday at First Baptist, 3000 S. John Young Parkway.

rmoore@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5369

Copyright © 2011, Orlando Sentinel

Dec 202010
 
Jesus Christ is Born

If it had happened today, how would social media, the web and mobile have told the story of the Nativity?
“Times change. The miracle remains the same.”

One man commented – “Pity the shepherds couldn’t get Wi-fi in that field though – I would have liked to see their tweets and story as well! :o

MERRY CHRISTMAS! ~ ~ ENJOY! ~ ~

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And God created the heavens

As a Christian, I have seen many charlatans, including having gone once to a Benny Hinn event where, sitting in the stands, I watched as they manipulated the seating to make it appear to cameras that the arena was full, and people pushed and shoved each other to be the first down the stars to the floor, where they could get in line to be touched by Benny - if Benny’s guards, who were stopping and questioning each potential sick-person-in-need-of-healing, allowed you to.  The air was thick with the power of a spirit in action; only I don’t think it was the Holy one…

And yes, I have stood at the prayer altar and felt a pastor try to push me, with two fingers on my chest, back into the arms of someone standing behind me. I stood straight, and kept praying to Jesus that what ever His will was, that I would do. But I wasn’t going to lay down for any man. The pastor seemed to get frustrated with me, and moved on.

However, there was once, at an average chapel service at a small church one evening, where services were sincere and open hearted, but somewhat uneventful, and where the sermon hadn’t even begun yet, that something happened.

It was still in the middle of worship, and a guitarist had stopped playing. After a few moments, it became obvious that he was sobbing. And then…a few in the congregation began to cry.  I don’t know what happened, but within a matter of minutes, several people were sobbing in the congregation…and from there,  some began kneeling in their tears, praying and sobbing….and others went to the side of a crying person, hugging or putting an arm around a shoulder, and began praying for them and with them…and then… I saw someone laying on the floor, and another person, and another, and by this time, almost everyone was praying for someone or crying.  I looked across the heads of praying, crying people, and saw a friend across the room; we caught each other’s eyes. We were the only two left standing.

My friend and I smiled at each other across the room, then turned, went to someone nearby crying, and knelt down and prayed.

This all happened in a matter of minutes, but the prayer went on like that for almost two hours. The Sermon didn’t even take place. The pastor was sitting down on the steps of the altar, crying and praying too. Something like this had never happened before, and I have never experienced anything like it since.

I do believe it is the first and only time I have truly witnessed slaying in the Spirit.

No, it wasn’t mass hysteria. I knew all these people. Some of them didn’t even like each other. And although we went on to have many “good” worship services together, this event has not been repeated – because it wasn’t a cooked up show and no one would want to try to cook up a mimic.  It was too beautiful in it’s simple spontaneity to mess with.  Why would one want to ruin the memory of a night like that by trying to force it to happen again.

But I pray the Lord WILL allow me to experience an event like that again – and again and again – because the feeling of being present during an honest move of the Spirit is too tremendous to describe. I want more of that.

 
Christmas scene

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From God Tube – http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=DWDWKGNX


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Jul 012010
 
Roland J. Morris, Sr.

Roland John Morris, Sr.  July 1, 1945 – June 9, 2004   

Roland Morris, Sr., 58, ascended to heaven on Wednesday, June 9th after a four year fight with cancer. Roland, a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, was born July 1, 1945, in Cass Lake, MN. Ojibwe was his first language, and he grew up fishing, hunting, and gathering wild rice with family and friends. He also played intramural basketball, worked hard in the woods, spent time in a foster home and various jails, drank, smoked, and played guitar with friends at various bars.

Roland went to college in Kansas and was a draftsman for a short time before becoming an upholsterer. While he struggled with many difficulties in his early years, he was a perfectionist with upholstery and throughout his life performed his craft well.

After a life changing spiritual experience with Jesus in 1988, Roland moved his second family to Ronan, Montana to be near his cousin and Christian evangelist, Frank (Scotty) Butterfly. There, in 1992, Roland and his wife, Elizabeth, created Montana’s first patient transportation service, Mission Valley Medicab. They also helped instigate the Montana Passenger Carriers Association and the charitable organization, Valley Missions, Inc., all without tribal assistance.

Roland taught his children about wild ricing, hunting, fishing, and a little of the Ojibwe language. But the biggest, strongest desire of his heart was that his children, grandchildren, and entire extended family come to the saving knowledge and acceptance of Jesus Christ. Having watched many friends and relatives die physically, spiritually, and emotionally from alcoholism, violence, and suicide, Roland could no longer stand aside and do nothing. He was concerned for the children and felt distress at the attitudes of many adults within his community. He wanted the self-destruction to stop.

Roland’s relationship with Jesus coupled with his conviction that much of the reservation system was harmful led him to some amazing life experiences. Actively opposing much of federal Indian policy, Roland served as President of the Western Montana organization All Citizens Equal, was a board member and Vice-Chairman of the national organization; Citizens Equal Rights Alliance, was the Secretary of Citizens Equal Rights Foundation.

He also ran as a Republican candidate for the Montana House of Representatives in the 1996 and testified before the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in April,1998, the Minnesota Attorney General in 2000, and numerous Mont. State committees. With his family, he also had a private meeting with a member of the President’s Domestic Policy Council May, 2002 in Washington DC.

As time progressed, Roland became more convinced of the importance of Jesus in his life. So in 2000 he attended a year of training at the Living Faith Bible College, Canada. Over the last three years, he and/or his family went on mission trips in Canada and Mexico. During a 2003 trip to a children’s home in Juarez, Mexico, he fixed most of their dining hall chairs, taught 6 boys how to upholster, donated materials, and preached a Sunday street service.

Through the years, he has appeared in numerous newspaper articles across the country. The last article he appeared in was on Friday, May 14th, in the Washington Times. Reporter Jennifer Lehner wrote, “the ICWA [Indian Child Welfare Act] protects the interests of others over [Mr. Morris'] grandchildren,” and “Mr. Morris said that once children are relocated to the reservations, they are subject to the corrupt law of the tribal government. Instead of preserving culture, he said, the tribal leadership uses the ICWA to acquire funds provided through the legislation.” Ms. Lehner quoted Mr. Morris as saying that the law is “supposed to help children, but instead it helps tribal governments.”

Finally, in February, 2004, he and his wife founded the Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare. The purpose of this was to encourage preaching, teaching and fostering of the growth of the Christian Faith in all places, encourage accountability of governments to families with Indian heritage, and educate the public about Indian rights, laws, and issues.

Roland praised God to the very end. When his final struggle began, several of his friends and family were praying with him. When those present sang old-time hymns, he raised his hand in the air for as long as he could. When “I Surrender” was sung, he sang the echo. While Pastor Kingery sat next to Roland, holding his hand, Roland looked him straight in the eyes and pointed his other hand up to heaven. When he passed on to greater life, his good friend Marvin Bauer was softly playing Gospel songs for him on his accordion.

Roland is survived by his wife, nine children, twelve grandchildren and a great grandson. Also important to his heart was his “special” son, Jesus Garcia, in Juarez, Mexico. Surviving brothers include Harry Morris and Steven Jones; and sisters include Clara Smith, Bernice Hurd, Sharon Goose, and Christine Jones, as well as numerous nephews and nieces and his great cousin, Scotty Butterfly.

Roland was preceded in death by his parents, Jacob and Susan Jones; siblings Thomas and Wallace Morris, Robert, Martin, Caroline, Frances, Barbara and Alvina Jones, Loretta Smith, and grandson Brandon Kier.

Roland’s loving friend, Jim Ball, crafted a beautiful casket for him as a gift. Funeral services were at the CMA Church in Ronan, MT, on Sunday, June 13, 2004 and the CMA Church in Cass Lake, MN, Tuesday, June 15. Internment was at Prince of Peace Cemetery. He is strongly remembered for his strength, character, and love for the Lord Jesus.

Roland, our husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, cousin, and friend; We Love you and Miss you so very much. You are with God now.

Gi gi wah ba min me na wah

Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare
Independent Indian Press
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.Oh man, did this man make me cry. Praise God – Praise Jesus. This is Truth, This is Good, This is God.  Lord, in the Name of Jesus, Please Bless this man – this veteran – and his entire family.

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Ken Blackwell

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No one could have said this Better. Includes awesome history tidbits. 
- Article in full….

World Magazine - Ken Blackwell, April 30, 2010  

Virginia’s Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell is catching flak from the ACLU because it does not like the fact that he has lifted the ban on police chaplains praying in Jesus’ name. Virginia’s former Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine had issued the ruling in 2008, and the ACLU gang charges that McDonnell is giving in to conservatives and Christians in revoking the Jesus ban.

Well, maybe another former Virginia governor influenced McDonnell—Thomas Jefferson. The author of Virginia’s famed Statute for Religious Freedom, Jefferson never tried to suppress Virginians’ or Americans’ free exercise of religion. In fact, as president in 1802, Jefferson invited Elder John Leland to preach a sermon in the U.S. House of Representatives. Leland, a Baptist lay preacher, surely mentioned Jesus. In that assembly sat Secretary of State James Madison, Jefferson’s close friend and collaborator and the author of the First Amendment. I suspect Jefferson and Madison knew more about the Constitution than the ACLU does.

Of course, the ACLU thinks child pornography is constitutionally protected. We’d rather see children constitutionally protected—from people like the ACLU.

The ACLU is in reality an “Anti-Christian Litigation Unit.” Its Virginia leader, Kent Willis, said the governor’s job is to protect “religious freedom for all.” Indeed, it is. But to deny Christians the right to pray in the name of Jesus is to disfavor them over others. No one says that a Jewish chaplain cannot mention the Torah. Muslim chaplains certainly cite the Koran.

Christians believe that Jesus is the Word made Flesh. To deny them the right to mention His name uniquely disfavors Christians. That invidious discrimination is what McDonnell rightly revoked.

McDonnell’s lifting of the ban on Jesus comes at the same time that the U.S. Supreme Court refused to go along with atheizers who wanted to tear down the cross in the Mojave Desert, which was erected to memorialize World War I soldiers.

U.S. soldiers who fought in World War II are remembered at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. That beautiful memorial park was seen on television worldwide when Presidents Reagan, Clinton, and Obama went there to observe various D-Day anniversaries. What strikes the visitor to this cemetery is the acres and acres of quiet, dignified white crosses. Every few yards you see a white Star of David as well. No one protested. No one complained. Americans felt humbled and honored to have such a moving tribute to the young men who gave up their lives so that we might live in freedom.

The American Cemetery is, after all, U.S. sovereign territory. It was deeded to our country in perpetuity by a grateful French people. President Reagan often said the only territory the United States gained from World War II was the verdant acres in which we buried our dead.

McDonnell’s bold actions follow in the footsteps of another great Virginian—George Washington. As president, Washington told the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, R.I.:

“[H]appily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that those who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. . . . May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

Where did President Washington get that wonderful phrase—”the stock of Abraham”—and that beautiful sentiment about the vine and fig tree? They come from the Bible, of course, the same Bible the ACLU regularly attacks whenever it is publicly quoted.

The ACLU’s attacks on Christianity would bulldoze all those Normandy crosses, all those Stars of David. Too often this radical outfit—whose court costs for their anti-Christian intifada are often reimbursed by the federal government—relies on intimidation and bluster to get its way. That’s why we should applaud Gov. Bob McDonnell for defending Virginia values, for upholding the religious and civil rights of all, and especially for standing up to these courtroom bullies.

http://online.worldmag.com/2010/04/30/yes-virginia-there-is-a-jesus/
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