Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Takin' It to the Streets

Joe Colaizzi has written 2 small books on his life and work with rescue missions.

This is not your normal organizational leader. He worked without pay, traveled without money and lived homeless in the service to Christ. Now he is the leader of the Kansas City Rescue Mission. He has lived in faith and trust that Jesus actually means what he says.

There is a spirit of peace at this mission. That is not to say they don't have problems to deal with. They are in business to deal with problems. But as I volunteer there, I sense that God's spirit is there.

Here is the Youtube intro to the mission.

The book Takin' It to the Streets and Takin' It to the Streets Again is an enjoyable read you won't want to stop reading.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

The Tree Makes the Waters Sweet

Ex 15:25 "Then he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them.

I see the tree as a type of the cross of Christ.

The cross is the thing we are to take up daily. It is the dying to ourself and living for the purposes of Jesus.

We are to rejoice always. So the sorrow of taking up the cross is unacceptable. We are to do all things with joy. Joy is the foundation of our actions. Isa 55:12, James 1:2-4, Heb 12:2

If we are trying to do something that we don't have joy for we are getting ahead of the game. For it says in Phil. 4:6,7 that in all things that we are concerned about we are to pray. If we are still concerned we are to continue praying.

This is where a lot of people give up on Christianity. They say it is unreasonable to pray until peace comes. One has to take care of their family and work etc.

But to watch TV and ignore God and continue to worry about problems? What's is going on here? We need to go to God when we have an opportunity to to present our problems to Him.

I would say if we do not pray we don't believe in Jesus. Why do I say that? Jesus has promised to answer our prayers that we ask in His name. So to not take advantage of this benefit is crazy.

Let me put it this way. If God offered to pay us $500 an hour to pray, would we pray? I would suggest that almost all of us would pray an hour and some would pray 2 hours a day. What is more important to us? Is money more important to us then God? Our actions speak louder than our words.

The cross is to be taken up daily.
Luke 9:23 "And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.""

Following Jesus
Deny yourself
Take up your cross

To follow Jesus is to be a disciple of Jesus. It is to abide with Him. It is to make Jesus our Lord and King. It is to fear Him.

To deny ourselves we live for Jesus and not ourself.

Don't think of missing out on fun. Think of missing out on what God has for you.