I AM ALIVE.......

Sorry for the long silence.  Still trying to decide if this is beneficial to anyone, or if it is simply my left hand letting my right hand know what I am doing for the Lord. (Self-Affirming - Not good :)  Anytime you want to share, discuss, encourage please do via email to caleb@schafer-illustration.com or respond on the blog to encourage me and I will try to do the same.  We're in this battle together.  The race of the Christian is to be run arm in arm with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Pray for my gift of evangelism that I would let GOD use it to its potential.  I've been failing miserably lately and I pray for God's forgiveness and strength.  Not to earn his approval, but because he is worthy to be served.  He has already imparted the gift of Grace to me through his son....now I serve him out of gratitude and because He has shown me that He is WORTHY.

I'm currently reading a little booklet called, "Since Nobody is Perfect, How Good is Good Enough?" by Andy Stanley.  

It's a Wake Up Call for our motivation for doing "good works."  First the word says, "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."  The purpose for our "working for the Lord" is to be a light in this world so that they then Glorify God the Father.  We aren't earning a place in Heaven.  Yes, we may be earning a "reward" but we aren't in or out based on our working here on earth.  Here's why I know this.....

HOW GOOD WOULD YOU HAVE TO BE THEN TO GET TO HEAVEN?

Go ahead, and give it a whirl.  Here's the problem....I can't pay God back for the damage I've caused. I have done wicked and deserve el Aborrecimiento de Dios - The WRATH of God.  I can't escape that sentence, no matter how much good I do to try to make it up to Him.  Andy writes about getting his first "nice" car and his 3 year old had scratched some of her newly learned alphabet into his shiny hood.  How was he to deal with this problem.  "There was no point in telling her that now I was going to have to take the car to the shop, rent a car, and pay for the rental as well as the repairs.  She had no context for understanding any of that. It would have been equally absurd to demand that Allie [daughter] pay for the damage. Fair, maybe, but unrealistic. What does two or three hundred dollars mean to a three-year-old? The numbers wouldn't even register.  And where would she get that kind of money?  So what do you do in that kind of situation?  I did he only thing I could do for someone I loved as much as I love her.  I knelt down and said, "Allie, please don't do that anymore."  She said, "Yes, sir, Daddy."  Then she hugged me and went back inside.  I continued to love her as much as ever, and I paid for the damage she caused.  I wasn't concerned about fairness.  It wasn't appropriate to figure out what was fair.  What was appropriate was grace and mercy."  

God didn't choose fair.  He chose GRACE and Mercy. Not grace that helps you overcome temptation, but the undeserved Grace, the Gift of His Son taking your place, bearing the Wrath of God on the cross.  If we for a moment think that somehow by doing good and trying not to sin, that we are going to buy back our right standing before God, we're lost. We love him because he first loved us. In Romans 4, we read, "Now to him that works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt." - Do you think God somehow owes you something, now or when you die?  Or do you owe him EVERYTHING, because you acted in defiance to the TRUTH?  Christ's sacrifice is the only payment that satisfies God's Wrath....not your attempts at holiness.  Work good works to bring Glory to God, not to secure a place in Heaven. Our life's working shows whether or not we repent from sin and are grateful for the Gift, in effect, whether we have received it and let it grow in the "good soil" of our souls.

This is an awesome synopsis on the Gospel as it should be shared...

I want to apologize for not posting for a while.  No good excuse.  I will say that my witnessing has been virtually non-existent...again without excuse.  This is hopefully encouragement that it is not any easier for me to share my faith than it is for you.  Lately God has been strengthening me through a DVD Lecture series called The Truth Project.  We have been going through it with our life group and what a blessing it has been to me.  To know that what you are sharing is the Truth, and what non-believers buy into is a Lie, makes it so much more important to share the Gospel.  Jesus said his purpose in coming to the earth was this..."To testify to The Truth." What we believe in is a God.  He said, "He is The Way, The Truth, The Life, and no man comes to the Father but through him."  That means that a good Buddhist, or a good Muslim is not going to know the Father.  And remember, God is preparing a place for us eternally, but Eternal Life is this, "...that they may know thee the only True God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."  Eternal Life is intimate knowledge of our Creator God.  That's what this world lacks because, Paul says, they have, "exchanged the Truth of God for a Lie..."

Pray for me.  Encourage me.  I want to do the same for you.  Church on Sunday is not the end-all be-all of our Christian walk.   

"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:"

Find your gifts, Use them, and Encourage other believers to use theirs as well.  You are not padding me up if you encourage me to Witness.  You are following a scriptural directive.  Please comment.  Ask questions, or just talk spiritual things...it helps me. 

Know Ye The Son...

For church today we had a minister from Altadena, CA and he commented on this hymn we sang, "Know ye the Son"

He shared how in his own life it is sometimes difficult to really Know the Son and he challenged us that when, perhaps, the money is getting tight and we get an unexpected bill in the mail, or even in times of wealth, or perhaps in times of sickness, or the loss of a child or parent, do we then KNOW THE SON?

If we begin to really Know the Son more intimately, we will have a hard time not sharing that developing relationship with people who desperately need to know the Son.   

Now What???

Mr. President Barak Hussein Obama......Now What?

I guess I'll still have the opportunity to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a very lost country.  Perhaps without a President who we feel is looking out for our Christian benefit, we'll put our full trust in the Author and Finisher of our faith.  I'll still have the opportunity to try and help people see the Truth in the Bible and the gift of Salvation that God offers us through the sacrifice of His Son.  I'll still wake up every morning thanking God for the breath He gives me and seek to honor Him each day.  I'll still walk tall as a child of God, humble in His Grace and Strength.  I'll still give him all the Glory and Honor.  

Remember.........HE IS STILL ON THE THRONE!!!

Evidently He needs Mr. Obama for his work.  What's great, is Mr. Obama hasn't any power except it be given him by God himself.

It does deeply sadden me to see a man like this get voted into the highest office in the world by a majority of our own countrymen.  This is the worst part of it all.  Our Founders would be sick to their stomach right about now.

Now, more than ever, we need Laborers in the fields working for our Father!!!   Get over your fears and start sharing the Gospel with the dying souls around you!

This is the God we serve!!!

When we get a little scared or intimidated to talk to a human, remember who our MASTER is.  

HE's pretty big and pretty powerful, HE has all the answers, all the power, all the resources, all the promises, all the judgments, vengence is HIS says the LORD, the earth is his footstool, HE breathes stars, HE speaks light into being, HE sets the borders of the sea, HE is called HOLY! HOLY! HOLY!, if we didn't praise HIM the rocks would cry out, HE gave us life, HE DIED FOR OUR SIN, HE is preparing an eternal home for HIS children who repent and trust HIM alone........

What was our excuse again for not sharing this GOD with people who don't know him?

I apologize for slacking in posting the past weeks.  No good excuse.  

I appreciate everyone who comments.  It really encourages me to be more diligent in my preparation and witnessing.  The more people that comment, the more I know read my blog, and hopefully are encouraged by it, the more accountability I have with men.  

Bible before (or with) breakfast is my aim.  Ray Comfort has literally read his Bible, without fail, every day for the past 20+ years!  What a testimony.  There really is no excuse.  I also heard a brother say, "If I fail to read the Bible in the morning, I'm too ashamed to at the end of the day."  I find this to be pretty true.  

GALATIANS 1:6-12

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned?  Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.  I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ."

"The time that I have left is all I have of worth." 

Go Share Your Faith While You Still Have Time!