I Am Somebody!

Sunday I preached a lesson on the topic of "I am Somebody" taken from an idea from a powem written by William H. Borders. The following is the poem and I hope you enjoy it.

I am Somebody!
I am Somebody!
I may be poor,
But I am Somebody.
I may be young,
But I am Somebody.
I may be on welfare,
But I am Somebody.
I may be small,
But I am Somebody.
I may have made mistakes,
But I am Somebody.
My clothes are different,
My face is different,
My hair is different,
But I am Somebody.
I am black,
Brown, or white.
I speak a different language
But I must be respected,
Protected,
Never rejected.
I am God’s child!

God bless you all. I'll see you later.

New Beginnings! I am so thankful to be able to begin preaching again after a short 18 month Sabatical. God has so richly blessed me. Thankful is not an applicable word for the way that I feel toward our Father. I am so deeply endebted to Him.

"Where do we go from here? Which is the way that's clear?" Those words are to a song that has been running through my mind over the last few days. I know that the song is talking about a girl, but it really speaks to me when I stop and think about my life right now. The future is so bright that even shades for my eyes can't dim the brightness of God working in what I am doing here.

Where do we go from here? To the future. Toward heaven.

Which is the way that's clear? God's way. The only way!

Where are we headed? Home!

God bless us all.

I'll see you later.

Britt

What If?

What if? Now that is a question that is not asked often enough in my opinion. We walk through life many times wondering "What if?" and seldom consider what the answer might be. The lack of that consideration in many of the questions that follow may cost us in the long run of life. Think about what the differences would be in your life or the lives of those you interact with on a daily basis would be, if?

• What if you were never born?
• What if you had or had not furthered your education?
• What if television had never been invented?
• What if no one had cell phones?
• What if the internet was never invented?
• What if your friends were not your friends?

What about the spiritual world? What are the what ifs there? Can you answer these in your life as you are living it right now? How would your spritual life and influence be affected?

• What if you didn't have a church family?
• What if you were the only Christiain in your town?
• What if the Islamic extremist took over the United States?
• What if I were put in the position to have to denounce my God or die?
• What if my life choices were displayed on a movie screen for all to see?
• What if all the opportunities you missed out on being a Christian example to your friends was played on the local radio station?
• What if Jesus came back right now, do you know without a doubt you would go home to be with Him in heaven?

What if you were not ready? What would you do?

I'll see you later.

Will We Survive the Persecution?

Can we as Christians be ready to stand together if our world begins to really persecute us? The church will be persecuted by those who are taking over the world. You can count on them being focused on trying to rid this wold of people who believe the Bible like we do.

Suffering for the cause of Christ is not new nor will it ever completely be taken out of the world. We are told that we will suffer because of our Christianity. The problem is I am not looking forward to this for my children and their children. Persecution is not easy. But, with God we can grow into being ready for what ever Satan sends our way.

It is Satan at work. We must realize this. Our own government is apologizing for our beliefs and what we have stood for through our 234 years of existence. That is Satan working. God sets up and takes out governments and it will be His will and it will be Him allowing us to suffer through persecution.

If I live in America, I am American. If I live in England I am a British citizen. If I live in Brazil, I am Brazilian. If I life in Russia, I am Russian. You get my point.

But, I can be a Christian anywhere. The suffering can come to any Christian anywhere. It is here. We are in it. We have been lulled to sleep in thinking that Christianity will be accepted throughout the world. Times are changing. We will suffer for our beliefs. We will be persecuted for our beliefs.

Are you ready. I hope my children are able to teach their children to remain faithful to our God and Father. Heaven will be worth it. I hope you will all be there. Those who withstand the persecution will be. May God bless us as Christians.

I'll see you later.

Change

Well, somebody changed my Facebook page. I hate it. They moved everything, changed everything, and I am having to take precious minutes away from things I need to do so I can get used to communication with my friends again in a different format. I really dislike changing things up.

However, I have caught myself wanting to change up the way somethings are done and expect others to fall in line and like it because I like it.

Do we really give a lot of thought to those types of things? Changing your mind about things you don't like might not be difficult. The difficulty is changing things that others like and expect them to act the opposite of how you would act if someone changed the things you are comfortable with.

Change for the sake of change is always wrong in the spiritual realm. I hope we realize we are a family and need to respect the feelings of everyone. Let us be careful in changing things without giving a lot of thought to the ramifications and without thought as to who it is that will have to live with the changes we decide are for our best interests.

"Have you seen the face of Christ on your brother? Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord." Is he your Lord?

I'll see you later.

Britt

I know we need to help the needy, but what just happened concerns me. A man walked into the church building and wanted us to provide him a place to stay the night. Apparently we have helped him in the past, so he returned to see if we would again.

I would love nothing more than to help people. I know that is what Jesus wants us to do. But, this time I just couldn't and feel right about it. In fact, I made him leave the building and sent him on his way.

I feel bad about what happened, but it makes me angry at our world. I wish Jesus would hurry back to take us all home, then things like this wouldn't be on my heart so hard. See, I know I too have faults, just like anyone else. I want forgiveness for me and for everyone. But this time I just couldn't see myself allowing the church family here to help this man out with a room at the hotel down the street.

He had been communing with spirits that were not quite religious. He had been drinking and reeked of alcohol. Besides being dirty and smelling really bad, I could smell his breath and the alcohol on it form five feet away. When I told him I couldn't help him, he didn't argue. I asked him to leave and move on.

My prayer is that I always do what is right. I know that I don't myself, but I am trying. I can't help those who have no desire to help themselves or those who try and take advantage of others.

I have no idea what the man's story was, I just know that I gave him opportunity to ask for spiritual help, but that was not what he did. I am sorry for him, but like any other addict, he must come to the realization that he needs real help, not a band-aide fix for the night.

I pray for that man and know that he is someone's child. He is God's child, but he needs to find it inside of himself to seek out the right kind of help for his needs. I hope and pray that he does before it is too late.

Thank you Father for allowing me to find you and I pray that the man will search you out and take advantage of the opportunity to find his way home to you. Thank you Jesus for what you have done in my life and the lives of so many. Lead this man to find truth in your name.

I'll see you later.

Been Around a While

I have been around a while now. I am to the age of where I thought wisdom was held by others before me. But, as I look at my life now, I wonder how wise I really am.

I still make stupid mistakes (sorry for the word but used honestly) and I don't see myself as a wise person. All those whom I wanted to be like at 50 are now either in their 80's, 90's or have left this world through death. It is difficult to have those you admire lose their ability to mentor as they once did.

Then I stopped and realized something very important. I can't look back and wish, I must look forward and lead. I must be the one who becomes what I should be and not what someone else was. I followed the examples and wanted so much to be like them, but I am me. I have to be the best me I can be in spite of my mistakes and spiritual breakdowns. In other words, I have to be the best I can be, and do it now.

I'll see you later.