TRUE LIFE

It's not about us, It's all about God, Who chose
to die To set us free. It's all about the Cross, It's
not about us, Or what we can or cannot do for
God. It's not about us, It's all about grace, That
rescued us From every sin. It is all about Jesus,
It's not about us, Or how we prove Our love to
Him. It's not about us, It's all about Christ,
Who conquered death So we can truly live!
_____________________________

Are You Fresh for Everything?

Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God' —John 3:3

Sometimes we are fresh and eager to attend a prayer meeting, but do
we feel that same freshness for such mundane tasks as polishing shoes?

Being born again by the Spirit is an unmistakable work of God, as
mysterious as the wind, and as surprising as God Himself. We don't
know where it begins— it is hidden away in the depths of our soul.
Being born again from above is an enduring, perpetual, and eternal
beginning. It provides a freshness all the time in thinking, talking,
and living— a continual surprise of the life of God. Staleness is an
indication that something in our lives is out of step with God. We
say to ourselves, "I have to do this thing or it will never get done."

That is the first sign of staleness. Do we feel fresh this very moment
or are we stale, frantically searching our minds for something to do?
Freshness is not the result of obedience; it comes from the Holy Spirit.

Obedience keeps us "in the light as He is in the light . . ." (1 John 1:7).

Jealously guard your relationship with God. Jesus prayed "that they
may be one just as We are one"-with nothing in between (John 17:22).
Keep your whole life continually open to Jesus Christ. Don't pretend
to be open with Him. Are you drawing your life from any source other
than God Himself? If you are depending on something else as your
source of freshness and strength, you will not realize
when His power is gone.

Being born of the Spirit means much more than we usually think. It
gives us new vision and keeps us absolutely fresh for everything
through the never-ending supply of the life of God.

--

http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php


Verse of the day:

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against
the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the
full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to
stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

Ephesians 6:12-13 NIV Listen to this chapter
Audio is taken from Listener's Audio Bible

Look Up Word or Passage

SING ALONG

If John 3:16 isn't the refrain of the Christian life I
don't know what is; it definitelykeeps coming back
to our attention as we journey towards Heaven and
endeavor to invite others to follow Our Savior and
Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. Also included are a
few of my favorite stops on the Web. Jeff

This is a song so please sing along!
__

"God loves the world so much He gave us His one
and only Son, so that all who believe in Him would
not perish but have eternal life." see John 3:16

"IN HIM"

Where will you go
When you get old?
What do you think
Will save you from sin?

Where will you turn?
When will you learn?
You won't escape sin,
Unless you're found in Him.

Refrain:
Come to the Cross of Calvary,
Find your place at His feet,
Let the blood from His wounds,
Wash over you,
Then stand up and be new again!

What will you do,
When its your turn to die?
Whether you're young or you're old,
Now is your time to make up your mind;
Believe God knows what is right for your soul.

Where will you go
When you get tired and old?
Why do you think
You'll be UP in Heaven with Him,
If you refuse now to do what you're told?

Back to refrain:

JEFF POLLOCK
JANUARY 2009
__

"I am the way. I am the truth and the life.
The only way to the Father is through me.
see John 14:6

Eyes on the Father by Max Lucado When the restaurant waiter brings you a cold hamburger and a hot soda, you want to know who is in charge. When a young fellow wants to impress his girlfriend, he takes her down to the convenience store where he works and boasts, "Every night from five to ten o'clock, I'm in charge." We know what it means to be in charge of a restaurant or a store, but to be in charge of the universe? This is the claim of Jesus. There are many examples of Jesus' authority, but I'll just mention one of my favorites. Jesus and the disciples are in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee. A storm arises suddenly, and what was placid becomes violent—monstrous waves rise out of the sea and slap the boat. Mark describes it clearly: "A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped" (Mark 4:37 NIV). It's very important that you get an accurate picture, so I'm going to ask you to imagine yourself in the boat. It's a sturdy vessel but no match for these ten-foot waves. It plunges nose first into the wall of water. The force of the waves dangerously tips the boat until the bow seems to be pointing straight at the sky, and just when you fear flipping over backward, the vessel pitches forward into the valley of another wave. A dozen sets of hands join yours in clutching the mast. All your shipmates have wet heads and wide eyes. You tune your ear for a calming voice, but all you hear are screams and prayers. All of a sudden it hits you—someone is missing. Where is Jesus? He's not at the mast. He's not grabbing the edge. Where is he? Then you hear something—a noise … a displaced sound … as if someone is snoring. You turn and look, and there curled in the stern of the boat is Jesus, sleeping! You don't know whether to be amazed or angry, so you're both. How can he sleep at a time like this? Or as the disciples asked, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" (Mark 4:38 NIV). The very storm that made the disciples panic made him drowsy. What put fear in their eyes put him to sleep. The boat was a tomb to the followers and a cradle to Christ. How could he sleep through the storm? Simple—he was in charge of it. He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" (Mark 4:39–40 NIV) Incredible…Is it any wonder the disciples were willing to die for Jesus? Never had they seen such power; never had they seen such glory. It was like, well, like the whole universe was his kingdom. It's only right that they declare his authority. It's only right that we do the same. And when we do, we state without question: The ruler of the universe rules our hearts. From For These Tough Times: Reaching Toward Heaven for Hope and Healing © (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006) Max Lucado

· Jealousy · Cheering Others On · Choosing · All in the Family · The Danger of Comparisons - Previous Messages - · Stronger in the Broken Places View the sermon Jesus: Bigger Than Your Box

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"Devotions From The Studio" To: jeffreyevelyn@yahoo.com January 2009 :: Show 355 True and False Humility The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, so a person is tested by being praised. PROVERBS 27:21 NRSV That was a good concert," someone will say to me. "Oh no," I moan, "I sang flat, my guitar was out of tune…." What passes for my humility is in fact only a disguised form of pride, a ploy to hear more compliments. At these moments I have forgotten who I am, and I look to strangers to tell me. I have lost sight of the truth of what Jesus has done in and for me. This is a perilous place to be, a dangerous trap. Genuine, biblical humility is nothing more or less than knowing the truth of who we are in Christ. Only relationship with him can give us the genuine article. APPLY: Pay special attention to how you respond to compliments. Do you display false humility (pride in disguise) or genuine humility (security in your identity in Christ)? Joy in the Journey: Through the Year (2007) - Devotional As you move through the one-year devotional book, you'll find yourself experiencing a kind of creative renaissance as God's artistry inspires you to a more vivid faith. Click here to order! Available Now - Click To Order! Taken from Joy in the Journey Through the Year by Michael Card. ©2007 by Michael Card. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426. ivpress.com Listen to this program If this message was forwarded to you, you may subscribe here. If you would like to send this newsletter to a friend, click here. January 19, 2009 Looking Back: Clearing Away the Trash We Regret Joel 1:2–20; 2:12–27 For many of us, looking in the rearview mirror at our past brings unpleasant memories to mind of broken promises, tangled emotions, and guilt. We've all said and done things we regret. Today Chuck Swindoll shares a timely message for those wanting to start the new year with a clean slate where relationships are concerned. January 20, 2009 Looking Back: Clearing Away the Trash We Regret—continued Joel 1:2–20; 2:12–27 It's not easy to put the past behind us, especially when we've made some wrong choices that keep coming back to haunt us. Today Chuck Swindoll offers practical advice for clearing out the rotten fruit in the garbage dump of our past that's hindering our effectiveness for Christ today. Now is the time to empty the trash! January 21, 2009 Looking Back: Clearing Away the Trash We Regret—continued Joel 1:2–20; 2:12–27 It's hard to move forward when guilt weighs us down, and it may even be impossible. Today Chuck Swindoll provides practical tools for putting the painful experiences of the past behind us. If we accept some divine discipline from the book of Joel, we can see what had once been destroyed restored to us again. January 22, 2009 Looking Back: Finding Healing through Forgiveness Matthew 5:23–24; 18:21–35 It's seldom easy to admit you're wrong. But when you've inflicted pain on a loved one, taking steps toward reconciliation is the only way to find healing. Today Chuck Swindoll shares a timeless message on forgiveness. Forgiveness is a required course in the curriculum of the Christian life—and the exams are tough! January 23, 2009 Looking Back: Finding Healing through Forgiveness—continued Matthew 5:23–24; 18:21–35 We all know what it feels like to be wronged—to be hurt by a friend's ill-timed comments or a loved one's actions. Today Chuck Swindoll shares a powerful message about cultivating a healing spirit of forgiveness. If you've been struggling to forgive someone who's hurt you, please don't miss today's message! Listen Now

THIS FREEDOM

Galatians 5:1
"It was for freedom that Christ set us free;
therefore keep standing firm and do not
be subject again to a yoke of slavery."

FREEDOM

This freedom
This sweet freedom
Fully conscious of the pain
Fully aware of the rusty cage

This freedom
This holy freedom
Seperated from the world's rest
Fully attached to life's very Best

This freedom
This perfect freedom
Fully emptied at the Savior's Cross
Fully active searching to find the lost

This freedom
This finished freedom
Fully armored for the fight
Fully alive standing in the Light

J E POLLOCK
Jan. 12, 2009

WORK OF ART

"What he's been creating, since the first beat of your heart, is a living, breathing, priceless work of art." __________________________________________________ WORK OF ART These words, This empty dialogue, What good does it really do? These rhymes, These clever poems, How does it prove my love for You? The songs I sing, The worship I bring, Do they really ever move Your Heart? This sinner's life, These empty hands, Is all I have for You to shape art. JEFFREYEPOLLOCK "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:16-18 __________________________________________________ "What he's been creating since the first beat of your heart, is a living, breathing, priceless work of art." -- Stephen Curtis Chapman ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RECONCILIATION For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 Sin is a fundamental relationship; it is not wrong doing, it is wrong being, deliberate and emphatic independence of God. The Christian religion bases every thing on the positive, radical nature of sin. Other religions deal with sins; the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ faced in men was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the Gospel that the message of the Gospel has lost its sting and its blasting power. The revelation of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took upon Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took upon Himself the heredity of sin which no man can touch. God made His own Son to be sin that He might make the sinner a saint. All through the Bible it is revealed that Our Lord bore the sin of the world by identification, not by sympathy. He deliberately took upon His own shoulders, and bore in His own Person, the whole massed sin of the human race - "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin," and by so doing He put the whole human race on the basis of Redemption. Jesus Christ rehabilitated the human race; He put it back to where God designed it to be, and anyone can enter into union with God on the ground of what Our Lord has done on the Cross. A man cannot redeem himself; Redemption is God's "bit," it is absolutely finished and complete; its reference to individual men is a question of their individual action. A distinction must always be made between the revelation of Redemption and the conscious experience of salvation in a man's life. MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST - by Oswald Chambers =========================================== http://www.heartlight.org/devotionals/my_utmost ======================================================================

Day by Day - Jan. 12, 2009

January 12, 2009
FOUR ANTILEGALISTIC STRATEGIES by Charles R. Swindoll

Galatians 5:1 NLT

Grace killers cannot be mildly ignored or kindly tolerated. You can no more allow legalism to continue than you could permit a rattlesnake to slip into your house and hide. Before long, somebody is going to get hurt. So then, since liberty is worth fighting for, how do we do it? Where can our personal grace awakening begin? I can think of four strong strategies:
Keep standing firm in your freedom. I'm reminded of what Paul wrote in Galatians 5:1: "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." Stand your ground. Ask the Lord to give you courage.
Stop seeking the favor of everyone. This may be a stubborn habit to break, but it is really worth all the effort you can muster. If you're in a group where you feel you are being coerced to do certain things that are against your conscience or you're being pressured to stop doing things that you see no problem with, get out of the group! You're unwise to stay in situations where your conscience tells you it is not right. That is nothing more than serving men, not God. I don't care how spiritual sounding it may be. Stop seeking the favor of everybody.
Start refusing to submit to bondage. Call it what it is: slavery. It's trying to be "spiritual" by performance. Think of how delightful it would be to get rid of all the anxiety that comes with the bondage to which you have submitted yourself; think how clean you could feel by being real again, or perhaps real for the first time in your adult life.
Continue being straightforward about the truth. That means live honestly. If you don't agree, say so kindly but firmly. If you are the only one, be true to yourself and stand alone. When you blow it, say, "I blew it." If you don't know, admit the truth. It's okay not to know. And the next time your kids spot hypocrisy, even though you may feel embarrassed, agree with them, "You know what, kids? You're right. I was a first-class hypocrite. What you saw and pointed out is exactly right." Tell them that. It may sound embarrassing to you now, but they will admire and respect your admission. And they won't grow up damaged. Best of all, they will learn to model the same kind of vulnerability and honesty, even if you are in vocational Christian work . . . especially if you're in vocational Christian work. Nobody expects perfection, but they do and they should expect honesty.
We need affirmation and encouragement to be all we're meant to be, and because so many are rather delicate within, they need those who are strong to assist them in their fight for liberty. And so, if for no other reason, liberty is worth fighting for so others can breathe freely.
If fighting for liberty sounds too aggressive to you, perhaps too selfish, then think of it as fighting so others can be set free---so others can be awakened to the joys and privileges of personal freedom. Those who do that on real battlefields are called patriots or heroes. With all my heart, I believe those who square off against legalism should be considered the same.

Reprinted by permission. Day by Day, Charles Swindoll, July 2005, Thomas Nelson, inc., Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved. Purchase "Day by Day" here.

FAITH

FAITH

For All I Try Here,
Any lasting change
Is caused by God,
To perpetuate His
Holiness and Glory.

-- Jeff Pollock

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Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want.
Faith is the belief that God will do what is right.

-- Max Lucado

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