Mike Quarles just published an expanded edition of his booklet on Kindle. It’s titled The Key to the Victorious Christian Life: A Grace Oriented Introduction.

“The Director of Grace Walk Recovery, calls attention to the pervasive need for Christians to live an overcoming, abundant life. In this concise biblical summary, he explains how to experience the victory, peace, freedom and joy God has provided for believers in Christ.”

This week the Kindle edition is on sale for 99 cents. It’s a great opportunity to “gift it” to others (if you know their email address).

From Lifetime Guarantee Ministries:

Jesus said,”Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Yet, most Christians are worn out from all work they do. Does the life God wants for us consist of doing more, more, more? Are we experiencing “God’s Rest”? This audio series is a fascinating study from the book of Joshua comparing the crossing of the Jordan River to the believer’s crossing over into the Spirit-empowered life, that has has a lot to do with rest. This is a teaching series by Bill, Anabel and Preston Gillham.

Click here for the free audio MP 3 download!

Lifetime Guarantee is making available as a free download in April– an audio series by Dr. Bill and Anabel Gillham (on staff with GFI in the 1970’s). Rising Above Your Circumstances. “Trials and tribulations are unavoidable in life. You can expect them! So, how do you view your circumstances? Are you reacting or rising above them? Are they the last straw, or will you allow God to use them as His finishing touch in your life? Download here.”

Our associates at Lifetime Guarantee Ministries are making this MP 3 audio seminar available for free download in March. “Explore the Scriptures and find out who you really are. What you uncover is that you are a new creation in Christ. Then learn how to live like the new person you have already become in Him! The Bible teaches that you are a Holy and righteous saint of God who longs to serve and please Him. Knowing the fullness of the Good News and your identity in Christ are the first vital steps toward bringing your behavior in-line with who you are.” by Dr. Bill and Anabel Gillham. Download here: http://lifetimeministries.myshopify.com/pages/free-mp3-download

By Pastor Jesse Andrus

It’s taken me a while to learn to rest in the Lord, but I think I’m there. Don’t get me wrong. I work hard. In fact, I work ten hours a day filling vending machines. Plus I have a window-washing business. But the congregation I pastor, the Christian Praise Church in southeast Washington, D.C., is the work that allows me to rest on a bed of spiritual faith. The Holy Ghost allows me to rest. Faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ allows me to rest.

I first got an inkling of this when I was working as a custodian in a maximum-security correction facility. My job was to clean up the mess hall. I was wiping windowsills when I came across a little card that quoted Matthew 11:28 saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

That was the drawing verse, the verse that made me stop and rethink my life. It was the verse that got me thinking a different way. I always thought I needed to exert myself beyond myself to achieve. I had to strive harder, work longer hours, and get better results than anyone else. Funny, but even after that verse led me deeper into the Word, even after I answered God’s call to magnify His name, I still hadn’t absorbed the lesson. In the beginning, I preached with a heavy hand. I was adamant. I was unyielding.

Because I’m animated by nature, I banged home my points through insistence rather than understanding. As the pressures of pasturing got to me, I focused on force rather than compassion. My yoke wasn’t easy and my burden wasn’t light. Well, when the membership started dwindling and few elders voiced concern, I had to look at myself. Was I condemning rather than loving? Was I coming on too strong? Was I expressing the Word of God through the Holy Spirit or my own ego?

We love to worship Jesus because Jesus is about change. He changes us. I prayed for that change, and glory to God that change came about. The change came out of the Lord’s divinity and my humanity. I had to admit I was messing up. I had to be honest about my life. I had to expose my frailty. It was either that or become defensive and even more arrogant. But building myself up would mean tearing God down. I needed to do the opposite: I needed to build up God. I needed to get up and let Him work on me. I needed to change.

In part, change came by enrolling in a beautiful study at Grace Ministries in Manassas, VA. This formal course in grace gave me the insight to see that the contrast is between force and yielding. Force is law. Force is effort. Force is striving. But grace is yielding. Grace is allowing. Grace is embracing the gift of a love that comes free with faith. We don’t earn it. We don’t achieve it. We simply and gratefully receive it. And once we receive it, love is in action.

The activation of love is linked to resting in the Lord. He’s already done it. We just have to live it. The more we depend on Him, the less we worry about the world. The world will do whatever it does. I can’t change the world. I can’t even change anyone’s heart. Only God can. I see stress as something we impose upon ourselves; stress is when we let the world get to us. But if we let Him, if we trust Him, if we believe His Word, God relieves that stress.

The change is that I no longer worry. With all my responsibilities as a family man, a church man, and a working man, I’ve learned to stay out of the results because the results belong to God. I don’t get anxiety attacks. I don’t wake up in a panic. I sleep like a baby. I rest knowing that I’m a vessel for His use. My hands are His hands. My eyes are His eyes. He is in me. His work is my work. And His yoke is easy, His burden is light.

http://www.undergrace.org/#!march-2016/xhso2

Grace Ministries Manassas VA

The Priority of My Life and Ministry

By Gordon E. Johnson

I have been asked by my students, Why do you always end your letters and devotionals with the phrase: “Yours in the Message of the Cross”? The question is most valid. Allow me to give you the background to this, my priority of life and ministry.

First of all, it is a biblical term in itself: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (I Cor. 1:18 NKJV). A little later Paul says: “But we preach, (announce) Christ crucified, to the Jews, a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (vv.22,23). Later he adds: “for I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). This is how Paul would deal with the open carnality of those in Corinth.

Continue reading five more facets of the priority of the Cross of Christ.
Professor Johnson taught at Rio Grande Bible Institute in Edinburg, Texas

Dynamic Churches International has rolled out a new edition of their web site. It features plenty of strategic, field-tested, free resources.  There are three ways for disciplers to use these materials: good, better & best.

Good: Use the distinctive one-to-one Bible studies to multiply disciples (2 Tim. 2:2).

Better: Use the one-to-one discipleship lessons in the context of a reproducing “Life Group”. See the Explosive Growth Overview.

Best: Leverage the value of one-to-one and cell group ministry by implementing a full “Spontaneous Discipleship” approach. See a blog post about it.

Do you prefer an online recorded demonstration? Check out the audio room under the “Training”menu. DynamicChurhes.org

Thank you, DCI!

From WordSearch:

Lift your study of God’s Word to a new level with this free download of the HCSB Study Bible for your PC or Mac. It contains over 15,000 study notes to help you better understand every Bible passage. Plus you’ll find 290 word studies, 59 colorful Bible maps and much more. You’ll also receive a free digital copy of the Illustrated Life of Jesus, a powerful narrative paired with beautiful photography showing significant artifacts and places Jesus lived and taught.

Just click the “Add to Cart” button, follow the prompts, and you’ll be using your new WORDsearch HCSB Study Bible and Illustrated Life of Jesus within minutes. You will need to create an account to checkout, but you will not be charged. You can add additional Bibles, books and study tools any time you like from this website. Many books are free.

You can also access your books from your mobile device with our free apps for Apple iOS and Android. https://www.wordsearchbible.com/youversion2?g=9097

October is designated Pastor’s Appreciation Month, so are offering a special:  From Pastors to Pastors:  Testimonies of Revitalized Ministries, edited by Dr. Charles R. Solomon.  For the month of October, we are discounting the book to $9.95, shipping included.  You can order it by calling the office toll free at 1-888-66GRACE or by our website:  www.GraceFellowshipInternational.com

This would be an ideal opportunity to encourage your pastor.  By request, the book could be autographed and personalized by Dr. Solomon; simply give us your pastor’s name and address and we will gladly send him the book on your behalf.

by Stacy Long

American Family Association

October, 2015 (reposted)

A pastor is the most noticed person in a congregation, but likely the most lonely. A pastor’s struggles may not be known unless he suffers an obvious moral or spiritual failure. Then, all too often, the bad fruit will be addressed while the root is ignored. The secret cancer that surfaces in burnout or depression, marriage problems, or grievous sin is small but deadly. In a conversation with AFA Journal, three pastors, each in ministry to other pastors, concurred on one point: Pastors are often far too alone – in relationships, in accountability, and in spiritual battles.

Cues for a cure
Michael Lewis, director of pastoral care at the North American Mission Board, noted that relational alienation is typically first apparent in a pastor’s marriage. But before problems arise there or in relation to the church body, the dearth starts with the minister’s personal walk with God.

“Pastors strive to fulfill the Great Commission, but sometimes neglect the Great Commandment, and that begins with love for the Lord,” Lewis said.

He described a scheme of five concentric circles for a minister’s relationships. The starting point is loving the Lord, followed by loving the spouse, children, church, and community, in that order.

When pastors experience relational disconnect, they tend to exert more effort into outward relationships where deficits and results are most tangible. Particularly, this is true of the two outermost circles of serving the church and witnessing to the community, leading to prioritizing ministry above the wife and family while the pastor is left feeling overworked and spiritually exhausted.

“If we miss the inner circle of loving the Lord, the outer circles are not effective,” Lewis concluded.

Another relational connection crucial for a minister is one of accountability before peers. John Neihof, president of Wesley Biblical Seminary (wbs.edu) in Jackson, Mississippi, explained to AFAJ the vital need for a pastor to have accountability, whether before a superior in the denominational hierarchy, with another member of the church staff, or in discipleship from an external source.

“A minister desperately needs someone who asks hard questions,” Neihof said. “Questions about thought life and entertainment and lust, the whole range of common temptations for every human. Leaders have to be intentional about building this structure, inviting somebody into their lives to ask the hard questions.”

Transparency is not easy for a minister, especially before those he leads. Yet, without someone who can be safely trusted, a pastor is left alone to face the pressures of ministry, personal conflicts, and temptations of society.

Read the rest of this article at http://www.afajournal.org/