PROVOCATION

Catalyst vs. Inert Substance

Which are you? Our pastor spoke on being a thermometer or thermostat Christian and the importance of being a thermostat individual, who through the power of Jesus Christ is an instrument of change. Do not be just a thermometer indicating the status quo.

It is not my intent to distract from the utmost importance of this truth that our pastor preached, however I wish to extrapolate to our daily life in this world of chaos, turmoil and turbulent times.

Be strong, stand and fight for what you know to be right. Do not accept comments, rhetoric, and media miss-information at face value. Question everything, research the myriad of sources available to obtain the facts then make an informed decision. Do not allow a pretty or well-known spokesperson sway you without research. The letter (D, I, R) identifier you choose to place before or after your name is not important. Truth is the critical ingredient in each decision making process.

The slightest effort of research will prove to you beyond any doubt that the government-controlled media is lying to “We the People”. I could provide a myriad of examples, however I choose to allow you to do your own research and make informed decisions. I understand I am taking a severe risk that the low information voter, will turn off the television reality show, or dancing with the stars and exert enough effort to find the truth about any given subject. My hope is that each you intelligent enough to do the research and willing to put forth the effort will convince at least one of your relatives, friends, or associates to do the same.

Remember those who elected our present government leaders had to ignore persistent facts of blatant disregard for human rights, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness prevalent in those elected officials.

Shallow Victory
Morris Clopton

Do not be elated with the shallow hollow recent supposed victory in the senate over Senator Feinstein’s bill. The insidious devious government is pelting your mind with hot topics to blind you about the more serious problems facing our country. We are floundering in debt, rotting in righteous indignation about who is dancing or who received the last rose while “America burns”. The present government regime attacks the rights of “we the people” almost daily.

Regards guns, the price of ammo and reloading supplies has increased 48 to 70% in the last few days depending on what you purchase. It is not about guns it is about controlling our life.

Be informed about policies, procedures and laws affecting every aspect of your life. More government is not the solution it is the problem

The recent release of illegal criminal immigrants from prison because of a supposed lack of funds caused by sequestration, which has not taken place, is preposterous. This despicable act by the president of the United States demonstrates complete lack of moral integrity, unswerving belief in the ignorance of the American populous to accept blatant untruths, an arrogance unprecedented by any previous holder of this office.

You as an elected representative or senator are complacent in the propagation of untruths when you do not use every tool at your disposal to spread the truth of what is occurring. “We the People” elected you in the hope you would pursue truth, sustain conservative ideas, and adhere to the constitution of the United States not waver in the face of adversity.
Where are you newscast, emails, letters informing your constituents of the truth? That this sequestration is a farce, which may well affect federal bureaucracy, but will not affect first responders in each state, nor local support of schools in each state. Every liberal media outlet as well as every democrat in government is vilifying the fact that this x amount of billions of dollars is in fact an effective rate of 1 and ½ cents of every federal dollar. Please do what we elected you to do, serve the people of this great Republic and not your own pride and personal wealth.

Challenging the prevalent ignorance in D.C.!
By Morris Clopton, February 15, 2013

Ignorance is personified from President Barack Hussein Obama down through every level of politics. President Obama has not spoken the truth in his political career. He is determined to destroy the Republic of the United States with his policies. President Obama never takes responsibility for anything his policies cause. He spends his efforts campaigning against destruction, chaos, economic failure that his polices caused. It is always someone else’s fault.

Al Sharpton is a babbling idiot who is even unable to quote the pledge to the flag of the United States correctly. I am unable to recall a time when he has spoken something worthwhile and uplifting rather than be a rebel rouser in the black populous.

Jesse Jackson brings to memory the old adage “the more you stir feces the more it stinks” Jackson is adapt at stirring political feces among the black populous every time he opens his mouth.
WASHINGTON (BHN) – In a stunning revelation, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (RTRD-TX) took the House floor to announce she had recently been freed from slavery (!)
“I stand here as a freed slave because this Congress came together,” said an emotional Jackson Lee as a collective gasp rose from the gallery.
Apparently, Jackson Lee, well known for her lack of even rudimentary intelligence, took literally a comment made on this site last year referring to her as a “slave to stupidity.” Over the next several months, many of her colleagues, including fellow Democrats, had her do their laundry, shopping, and in some cases, even house cleaning.
Lee stated today that she is freed from slavery, which begs the questions, who owned her, how much did they get for her when they sold her or freed her? She does not show her age of one hundred plus since Lincoln freed the slaves.
Charles Schumer is continual with his incorrect statements concerning gun control.
Unless the President personally intervenes here, it looks like terrorists are going to have an even easier time avoiding detection by law enforcement. The President has a choice: He can give the NRA a Christmas present and make it easier for an Al-Qaeda operative to avoid the police, get a gun and shoot up a mall. Alternatively, he can do the right thing, keep the Brady Bill intact and keep the public safe. Either we can wait for a terror attack to happen or we can act now to close these kinds of loopholes. Washington has now been warned time and time again about ways terrorists can exploit our loopholes to get guns. By ignoring these warnings, the President and his allies in Congress are putting the country at risk. “
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” To let the assault weapons ban expire just as we are realizing its benefits would be a major setback in the success we have had in reducing crime over the last decade. The fact of the matter is that there is no legitimate use for these weapons. That was as true in 1994 as it is today. The bottom line is that the assault weapons ban is working and we are safer because of it. “

Senator Feinstein refuses to accept the truth when it presented and demonstrates absolute ignorance of gun safety by keeping her bugger-picking finger on the trigger of the gun she mistakenly describes as an assault rifle.

Nancy Pelosi makes false statements about government spending not being the problem. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is speaking out against a cut in congressional pay because she says it will undermine the dignity of their positions. “I think we should respect the work we do,” Pelosi said. “I think it’s necessary for us to have the dignity of the job that we have rewarded.” (“Dignity” is apparently a synonym for “fat paycheck.”) Pelosi, whose husband, Paul, is a legit real-estate mogul, was quick to add that slicing her own paycheck would not “mean as much” as those senators who struggle to make ends meet on $174,000 per year. “We are obviously contemplating a sequester,” Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer (D) said. “Obviously we are going to take a cut, like everybody else.”

Harry Reid prevented a budget from being presented in the last four years. Reid is completely loyal to the mistruths the president presents on a daily basis. Harry Reid has lied now about cutting $2.6 trillion from the budget. It is shocking that our Republicans colleagues would leave our nation without a secretary of defense with all the things going on and when we’re in a war,” Reid said after Senate Republicans voted against confirming former Republican Chuck Hagel as the new head of the Pentagon. Not true Leon Panetta will remain as secretary of defense until someone is appointed and approved.

The low information multitude led by the political hierarchy in D.C. and media mouthpieces demonstrate supreme ignorance by glorifying Christopher Dorner a self-proclaimed murder of innocent people. This personification of Dorner as a mistreated officer of the law, by those above him justifying his horrific acts of murder just because he is black is unbelievable. The poor mouthing of people of color is laughable because no matter the action, incident, etc. it is always mistreatment of the poor people of color. This is a sad commentary on the intelligence of this so-called concerned group of individuals.

The vilifying of Justice Clarence Thomas a man of impeachable integrity, honesty, and character because he makes his decisions based on interruption of the law and not color or race is obnoxious. Yet blacks assign him names like “Uncle Tom” and whitey.
“Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot.”
“I don’t believe in quotas. America was founded on a philosophy of individual rights, not group rights.”
“The myths that are created about the South, about the way we grew up, about black people, are wrong.”
“Government cannot make us equal; it can only recognize, respect, and protect us as equal before the law.”
“I thought of what Daddy had said when I asked him why he’d never gone on public assistance. “Because they take away your manhood,” he said.”
“The state can’t undo the harm that was done, but I feel very strongly that if there is any role for the state, it is to protect us from others.”
“(Daddy) warned us that if we died, he’d take our bodies to school for three days to make sure we weren’t faking, and we figured he meant it.”
“As much as it stung to be told that I’d done well in the seminary despite my race, it was far worse to feel that I was now at Yale because of it.”

Thomas Sowell comments. “The poverty rate among black married couples has been in single digits ever since 1994. You would never learn that from most of the media. Similarly you look at those blacks that have gone on to college or finished college, the incarceration rate is some tiny fraction of what it is among those blacks who have dropped out of high school. So it’s not being black; it’s a way of life. Unfortunately, the way of life is being celebrated not only in rap music, but among the intelligentsia, is a way of life that leads to a lot of very big problems for most people.”
“No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems — of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind.”

Herman Cain comments. Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks. If you don’t have a job and you are not rich, blame yourself! I am an American. Black. Conservative. I don’t use African-American, because I’m American, I’m black and I’m conservative. I don’t like people trying to label me. African- American is socially acceptable for some people, but I am not some people.

Liberals are apoplectic over remarks by Dr. Ben Carson at the National Prayer Breakfast. Carson, a prominent pediatric surgeon from Johns Hopkins University, dared to weigh in on healthcare—something he knows something about. In the liberal mind, Carson committed a grave transgression; he disagreed with President Obama on healthcare at a faith venue, and in Obama’s presence.
In discussing Carson’s moral effrontery, Candy Crowley, host of CNN’s “State of the Union,” asked panelists if they were offended by Carson’s comments. “He [Carson] was talking about the idea of, you know, weaving the Bible into some objections he appears to have with the president’s approach,” said Crowley. Count Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky among the offended. She told Crowley: “I think it’s … not really an appropriate place to make this kind of political speech and to invoke God as his [Carson’s] support for that kind of point of view.”
In truth, what the likes of Crowley and Schakowsky object to is the mere fact that Carson publicly disagreed with Obama on healthcare, especially in the context of faith. For liberal Democrats, conservative Republicans should never use their faith to disagree; only liberal Democrats enjoy such freedoms. I could give a thousand examples illustrating the point; I’ve written entire books doing so. For now, however, here are some particularly salient examples involving Obama, liberals, and healthcare reform:
From the first year of Obama’s presidency, the religious left (Obama included) incessantly claimed God’s support for their vision of healthcare reform.

Columbia University professor and HuffPost Live host Marc Lamont Hill on Wednesday attempted to explain why some people consider alleged cop killer Christopher Dorner a “super hero.” He said watching Dorner’s rampage, after he was “wronged” by the system, was “kind of exciting” and like watching “Django Unchained in real life.”

Bill O’Reilly’s response. “You give credibility to a killer, a guy who is obviously not thinking clearly,” O’Reilly added. “He killed four human beings, innocent human beings. You don’t give any credibility to him. Anything he says, and everything he says is suspect because of what he did.”
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) on Thursday explained something rather extraordinary: The U.S. doesn’t have a spending problem, it has a “misallocation of wealth” problem. “First of all, I want to disagree with those who say we have a spending problem. Everyone keeps saying we have a spending problem,” he said during a discussion on the Budget Control Act of 2011 (which includes the across-the-board spending cuts known as “sequestration”).
“And when they talk about that, it’s like there’s an assumption that somehow we as a nation are broke,” he added. Emphasis added “and the truth hurts”!
Dr. Suzanna Hupp former Texas State Representative comments. “Honestly, I don’t view myself as a victim of gun violence,” she said simply. “I view myself as a victim of a maniac who happened to use a gun as a tool, and I view myself as a victim of the legislators at the time who left me defenseless.”
She re-told the gripping story with new details, before explaining one of the reasons why help was so slow in coming: “The police officers, several of them, were patients of mine. Several days later, they filled in the gaps. They said they were actually one building away at a conference, and in an odd twist of gun control fate, the hotel where they were having their conference, the manager there didn’t want them to be wearing their guns and potentially offending any of her clients or customers…So precious minutes were lost as they retrieved their guns from their locked cars.
Four California high school students claimed they were suspended for wearing patriotic bandanas and chanting “USA! USA!” during a school basketball game.It happened last week at a game between rivals Camarillo High School and Rio Mesa High School in Ventura County, the Ventura County Star reported. The Rio Mesa students said a Camarillo associate principal warned spectators in the stands not to curse or make racial comments, then saw their bandanas and told them to either remove them or leave.
“Stronger than what, Venezuela?” Beck remarked. “We are not stronger. We are not strong. We have had four straight annual deficits of over $1 trillion, a ballooning national debt that’s over now 100 percent of our annual output.” Beck also called Obama out for trying to pass off massive government spending “investments” while arguing that not one of his new programs “should increase the deficit by a single dime.” “He wants to sound responsible, but he also wants to spend like a Marxist at a Mao sale,” Beck quipped. Obama also proclaimed he was not calling for “bigger government” but rather “smarter government” in his State of the Union speech. Beck took exception with the term.
“Maybe the progressives have redefined the word ‘smart’,” Beck said. “What is smarter about taxing and spending more? What is smarter about adding tens of billions to our trillion-dollar deficit? What is smarter about asking Americans to fork over even more of their money? What is smarter about heaping even more burdens on America’s struggling businesses?” “You cannot spend your way to prosperity, just like you cannot fornicate your way to virginity,” he added. “It doesn’t work that way.” Washington continues to kick the can down the road to the next guy, but the problem is, Beck explained, we’re running out of road.
Noted investor, free market advocate, and author Jim Rogers during an interview with Glenn Beck on Wednesday said that Tuesday’s State of the Union address makes you wonder whether President Barack Obama is “delusional” or just a good liar. Our “debt is physically impossible to pay off,” Rogers said after Beck asked whether the country has passed the point of no return. “We are the largest debtor nation in the history of the world.” “If everybody paid 100 percent of their earnings as taxes, we still couldn’t pay it off,” he added. The famed investor then turned his attention to the president’s statement last night that our economy is getting stronger. “Mr. Obama said last night that everything is great,” Rogers said, much to Beck’s amusement. He added: “He said that everything is great and that the middle class is on the way back and everything is fine now.” “I mean, the man is delusional. I was really afraid when I saw that,” he continued on a more serious note. “It’s delusional. It was frightening.” “I don’t know if he believed it or if he was just lying,” Rogers added.
Communicate with your representative and senators let them know your thoughts and how you want them to vote.

List of executive actions Obama plans to take as part of anti-gun violence plan
Published January 16, 2013
FoxNews.com
The following is a list, provided by the White House, of executive actions President Obama plans to take to address gun violence.
1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11. Nominate an ATF director.
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.
15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.
16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/16/list-executive-actions-obama-plans-to-take-as-part-anti-gun-violence-plan/#ixzz2ICOBWNGC

The Source of America’s problems.

By Morris Clopton

 

The low information voter is the source of America’s social, financial, health and any other problem you may think of.  The low information voter defined as one unable to understand and process facts when received. Exemplified by a severe case of cognitive dissonance similar to a smoker knowing that smoking will kill them but continues to smoke. The low information voter subsist on government entitlements, exists in generational welfare families and in most cases never does enough on their own to find the facts about the government they have elected. When presented with facts about the government they elected they ignore the facts.  The most worrisome thing facing them is determining what government entitlements they can acquire and which candidate will give them the freest things.

 

When challenged with determining the relativity of a particular bill or act of the government to America’s success the low information voter is at a loss to see beyond his or her own wants and desires.

 

Wealthy Americans earn about 50 percent of all income but pay nearly 70 percent of the federal tax burden, according to the latest analysis Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office — though the agency said the very richest have seen their share of taxes fall the last few years.  The inability of the low information voter to understand that the wealthiest 1% pay 70% of the taxes already.   Leads to wealth envy, class warfare propagated by Obama. Further inability of the low information voter is exemplified because they are unable to understand that it is the wealthy individuals, and corporations that provide the jobs for everyone to work at and earn a wage.  That success comes at the expense of time, effort and determination escapes the intelligence of the low information voter.  If our government would repeal about 95% of all the stupid laws it passed to hinder businesses our economy would grow exponentially. The Fair Tax would solve our present economic woes.

 

Remember it is not the government with all its entitlements that enable you to exist without working or any other effort on your part.  The hard working, intelligent, determined individual, company owner, or corporation the government is robbing to support your lazy existence.

 

 

 

The government Slaves

By Morris Clopton

Ironic that the government slaves of today, whine, wring their hands, cry tyranny against the horrible treatment of blacks by forefathers of this great Republic, yet they fall at the  feet of a government as it enslaves them.

Most blacks today are unaware or refuse to admit that slavery existed in the Arab world, including Africa for centuries before any black was sold by Arabs into the New World, (America).

The Arab slave trade lasted more than a millennium.^[17][18] Slaves in the Arab World came from many different regions, including Sub-Saharan Africa (mainly Zanj), the Caucasus (mainly Circassians),^[19] Central Asia (mainly Tartars), and Central and Eastern Europe (mainly Saqaliba).^[20]

The medieval scholar and traveler Ibn Battuta states several times that he was given or purchased slaves.^[21] The Arab slave trade is thought to have originated with trans-Saharan slavery.^[22][23] Arab, Indian, Somali and Asian traders were involved in the capture and transport of slaves northward across the Sahara desert and the Indian Ocean region into Arabia and the Middle East, Persia, Somalia Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.^[24][25] The slave trade from East Africa to Arabia was dominated by Arab and Somali traders in the coastal cities of Zanzibar, Dar Es Salaam and Mombasa.^[25][26] Tens of thousands of black Zanj slaves were imported to lower Iraq, where they may have, according to Richard Hellie, constituted at least a half of the total population there in the 9th and 10th centuries. At the same time, many tens of thousands of slaves in the region were also imported from Central Asia and the Caucasus.^[27]

Newly Arrived at the harem (Giulio Rosati)

Male slaves were employed as servants, soldiers, or laborers, while female slaves were traded to Middle Eastern countries and kingdoms by Arab, Indian, Somali or Asian traders, some as domestic servants and others in harems.^[28][29][30] Some historians estimate that between 11 and 17 million slaves crossed the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Sahara Desert from 650 to 1900 AD.^[31][32] The Moors, starting in the 8th century, raided coastal areas around the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean, and became known as the Barbary pirates. It is estimated that they captured 1.25 million slaves from Western Europe and North America between the 16th and 19th centuries.^[33][34]

^{Those enslaved by the government are so uninformed that they do not equate control of their lives through welfare checks, food
stamps,  extended workmen’s compensation as slavery.   By definition not having control of your life, what you can afford to eat, controlling how much get for doing nothing, what medical care afforded you, what type of car you can drive, what type of light bulb you may use, how much debt your descendants will owe is slavery by the government.}

This is the choice the uninformed made this Election Day with their gullible vote for the existing dictatorial government.

 

 

 

George W. Bush portrayed Iran, Iraq and North Korea during the State of the Union as “The Axis of Evil.”  The Axis of Evil was used to pinpoint these common enemies of the United States and ally the country in support of the war on terror.

President Obama’s axis of evil is Barack Hussein Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid and they are supporting the destruction of our great Republic.

“We the People” must rise up, be recognized for standing for right, personal liberties and freedoms granted by the U.S. Constitution.

First  President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he
was a foreigner.

First  President to have a social security number from a state he has never
lived in.

First  President to preside over a cut to the credit-rating of the United
States

First  President to violate the War Powers Act. .
First  President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing
oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico .

First  President to require all Americans to purchase a product from a third
party.

First  President to spend a trillion dollars on ‘shovel-ready’ jobs when
there was no such thing as ‘shovel-ready’ jobs.

First  President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of
companies  to his union supporters.

First  President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act through
executive fiat.

First  President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the
deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S. , including those with
criminal convictions.

First  President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of his
political appointees.

First  President to tell a CEO of a major corporation (Chrysler) to resign.

First  President to terminate America ‘s ability to put a man in  space.

First  President to cancel the National Day of Prayer and to say that
America  is no longer a Christian nation.

First  President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being  present.

First  President to arbitrarily declare an existing law unconstitutional and
refuse to enforce it.

First  President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly spoke-out
on the reasons for their rate increases.

First  President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state it is
allowed to locate a factory.

First  President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath to
protect (AZ, WI, OH, IN).

First  President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had been properly
issued years ago.

First  President to actively try to bankrupt an American industry  (coal).

First  President to fire an inspector general of Ameri-Corps for catching
one  of his friends in a corruption case.

First  President to appoint 45 czars to replace elected officials in his
office.

First  President to surround himself with radical left wing  anarchists.

First  President to golf 73 separate times in his first two and a half years
in office, 102 to date.

First  President to hide his medical, educational and travel  records.

First  President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing NOTHING to earn  it.

First  President to go on multiple global “apology tours” and concurrent  ”
insult our friends” tours.

First  President to go on 17 lavish vacations, including date nights and
Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends paid for by the
taxpayer.

First  President to have 22 personal servants (taxpayer funded) for his
wife.

First  President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000 a year at
taxpayer expense.

First  President to repeat the Holy Quaran & tell us the early morning call
of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful sound  on earth.

First  President to tell the military men and women that they should pay for
their own private insurance because they “volunteered to go to war and knew
the consequences”.

Then  he was the First President to tell the members of the military that
THEY were UNPATRIOTIC for balking at the last  suggestion.

First  President to side with a foreign nation over one of the American 50
states ( Mexico vs Arizona ).
How  is this hope and change working out for you?

THERE’S  AN ELECTION COMING UP.

I  HOPE YOU REMEMBER THIS LIST WHEN YOU VOTE!

 

Christ Has Appeared

 

In Acts 26:12-18, we read of Saul – who we now know as the Apostle Paul – and his first encounter with Christ. In quite a miraculous way, Christ appeared to Saul, and He changed Saul’s life!

Just as Christ appeared to Saul, He wants to appear to you, and change YOUR life!

The text outlines for us three things that Christ did for Saul, and he will do them for you, too. Join us each Sunday morning in October as we discover how Christ’s appearance will change YOU!

Christ Has Appeared…

• To Appoint You! – October 7
• To Rescue You! – October 14
• To Send You! – October 21

You Can’t Leave Home Without Him

 

A famous consumer credit company’s advertising campaign, beginning in 1975, used the tagline, “Don’t Leave Home Without Them” for 25 years – referring to the company’s traveler’s checks. When the credit card replaced traveler’s checks, the phrase was changed slightly to say, “Don’t Leave Home Without It” – referring to the plastic credit card that replaced checks for travelers.

You might leave home today without a credit card in your pocket, but there is one thing you can never leave home without: the presence of God. The psalmist David wrote an entire psalm about the fact that God was always with Him. He said, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7) And the prophet Jonah discovered he couldn’t escape God even when he tried.

If you can’t escape God’s presence, that means you can’t escape God’s love either – because God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). Some people think their sins or failings have put them far away from the reach of God and His love, but that is never true. God and His love are always with you.

God is no further from you on your worst day than He is on your best day. Just open your heart to receive Him and His love.

Opposing God’s Leadership

 

by Os Hillman

“The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them” – Numbers 12:9

Beware of trying to depose a leader that God has raised in your midst. Leaders are placed by God in business, government, churches – almost every place where leaders are required. When God places a person in position of authority, it is a grievous sin to go against that leadership. God Himself opposes those who come against His leadership.

God’s leaders are not perfect. They make mistakes. That is why following a leader can require a faith that goes beyond faith in the leader. Our faith lies in the God who elevated the leader to his or her position.

Miriam and Aaron, the older brother and sister of Moses, had a family dispute about Moses’ wife, who was an Ethiopian and Cushite. She most likely was a black woman. We do not know the nature of the dispute, but it was a typical family conflict.

However, the family conflict began to impact God’s agenda for a nation. They were now meddling in God’s business. And He did not like that in the least. God literally brought Aaron and Miriam into the switching house. He judged both Miriam and Aaron for their rebellion against His ordained leader. “Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (Numbers 12:8).

Miriam was stricken with leprosy and had it not been for Moses’ appeal on her behalf, she would have been cast out for good. God gave her a second chance but it required being cast away from the camp for seven days. Miriam and Aaron repented for their rebellion.

If you struggle with a leader that God has over you, pray for that leader. If God wants to remove that leader, He can do it. Think twice about conspiring to remove a leader whom God has not chosen to remove yet.

A Wall of Protection

 

When God praised Job for his integrity, Satan replied, “You have always put a wall of protection around him… take away everything he has, and he will surely curse You.” (Job 1:20) So, God gave Satan permission to test Job, but He placed limits on how far he could go (Job 2:6).

There are times “…When the enemy comes in like a flood…” (Isaiah 59:19) to attack your mind, your marriage, your ministry, and anything that’s born of God in your life. When that happens, Isaiah says, “…The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard [shield] against him.” (Isaiah 59:19)

When you feel you’re at breaking point and can’t handle one more thing, the Holy Spirit lifts up the wall of the blood of Jesus and tells Satan, “This far and no further!” Paul says, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9) There’s a wall of protection around you!

There’s also a time for your deliverance. “…In the time of My favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” (2 Corinthians 6:2) God will step in and intervene. The Psalmist said, “…When my heart is faint; Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.” (Psalm 61:2)

When your resources are depleted and you think you’re going under for the last time, God has provided a refuge that’s higher than your circumstances, a place where you’re under divine protection and the enemy has no jurisdiction. All you have to do is lift your eyes and heart toward Heaven.

Where Attitude Meets Opportunity

 

When threatened by the Assyrian army, Israel’s king turned to the prophet Elisha for help. Elisha told him to take some arrows and keep striking them on the ground. But the king did it only three times and stopped. (2 Kings 13:18) So Elisha was angry with him and said, “…You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.” (2 Kings 13:19)

This is a story of partial victory, of what might have been if the king had put more into it. You see, it’s not just the opportunity – it’s often the attitude that meets the opportunity that determines the outcome. God will give you chances to win, but it’s your commitment that determines the size of your victory.

Paul writes, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.” (Ephesians 6:7) The clock meant nothing to Paul because he was on a mission. “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may …complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me…” (Acts 20:24) People of impact live with that mindset.

So here’s the question: “Is your heart in what you’re doing? Are you giving it your all?” When Paul Hogan, who portrayed the movie character Crocodile Dundee, was asked how he became successful, he answered, “The secret of my success is that I bit off more than I could chew, and chewed as fast as I could.” Vision doesn’t come cheap or easy. The bigger your vision, the bigger the price tag. The secret to fulfilling your vision is to just keep chewing!

The Rolls Royce

 

The great British automaker Rolls Royce takes great pride in the reliability of their handcrafted automobiles. An obviously wealthy owner of a Rolls took it to Europe on an extended trip. While traveling in France the car had some mechanical problem. He called the Rolls Royce factory and asked that they send out a mechanic immediately to fix the problem.

The company responded in royal fashion. They put a mechanic on a private jet with all of the necessary tools and flew him over to France to make the repairs. The owner was so wealthy that he wasn’t at all concerned about the cost, and he would not spare any expense to assure that his beloved Rolls Royce was properly repaired.

However, after several months he realized he had not received a bill for the repair. He directed his secretary to contact the Rolls Royce factory to inquire about the charges. He received a prompt reply from the Rolls Royce company. With typical British aplomb, it said simply, “We have no recollection or record of any Rolls Royce having ever had a breakdown or being in need of repair anywhere in France.”

When we repent and ask God to fix things that have resulted from sin in our lives, like Rolls Royce, he fixes it and doesn’t have any recollection of the problem, and he NEVER sends a bill.

“For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” – Jeremiah 31:34

The Last Impression

 

Now, I realize that sometimes my sermons may be a bit lengthy. However, none of the following things are true at WFA!

Here are the “Top Ten Signs You Are In For A Long Sermon”!

10. There’s a case of bottled water beside the pulpit in a cooler.

9. The pews have camper hookups.

8. You overhear the pastor telling the sound man to have a few (dozen!) extra tapes on hand to record today’s sermon.

7. The preacher has brought a snack to the pulpit.

6. The preacher breaks for an intermission.

5. The bulletins have pizza delivery menus.

4. When the preacher asks the deacon to bring in his notes, he rolls in a filing cabinet.

3. The choir loft is furnished with La-Z-Boys.

2. Instead of taking off his watch and laying it on the pulpit, the preacher turns up a four-foot hour-glass.

And The Number One Sign You Are In For A Long Sermon

1. The minister says, “You’ll be out in time to watch the super bowl” but it’s only September!

Looking forward to sharing God’s Word with you this Sunday at WFA. And, you won’t need to bring a snack! Why not invite a friend and their family to join you in worship this week? They will be blessed, and you will be too!

Yours for HIM
Pastor Tim Satryan
Senior Pastor
WILMINGTON first assembly of God

• Christ Has Appeared
• You Can’t Leave Home Without Him
• Opposing God’s Leadership
• A Wall of Protection
• Where Attitude Meets Opportunity
• The Rolls Royce
• The Last Impression

o    Volume 12.40

o    Friday, October 5, 2012

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