Challenge for All Men - Perry Noble

Perry Noble, pastor of NewSpring Church in South Carolina, recently blogged about a sermon from a series of his entitled "All In". Here is an excerpt from that blog:

#3 – If we are walking with God we will constantly be shaped and transformed more and more into the image of Jesus.  Some of the things we shared on Sunday about this…

Single men…Jesus had a job!  He was a carpenter until the age of 30 and then did ministry!  He was not a boy who shaved…He was a man (please see I Corinthians 13:11!)  He didn’t live in Mary’s basement, watch youtube clips with his buddies until 2am, sleep until lunch, go get a cheeseburger from a drive thru, come home and play games and then get on Facebook around 5:00 or so to see which woman He wanted to use and manipulate that evening!

Single guys…Jesus treated women with respect & admiration…He never sought to use them or manipulate them in any way.

(BTW…I wrote an article last week entitled, “EIGHT WRONG REASONS FOR DATING A GIRL” that was written to challenge guys, you can check it out here if you think it may help!)
Married guys…Jesus had a job but He was not a work-a-holic!

Dads…Jesus had time for children (see Matthew 19:13-14) – we MUST have time for ours!         (I wrote more about that here in a post about dating my daughter)

Too many dads today want to give their kids PRESENTS…when they really want our PRESENCE!

Married guys…Jesus hasn’t walked away from His bride (the church), we should NEVER walk away from ours!

Men…Jesus was generous, we should be as well.  People who get closer to Jesus get more generous–period!

#4 – Men, if the Lord convicted and corrected you on Sunday (as He did me) then rejoice in that and move on!  None of us have ever out-sinned the grace of God!  He can STILL USE YOU!  Adam screwed up and He still used him!  In fact, every Bible hero we have (other than Jesus) was a complete screw up and God worked in and through them anyway!  If you are still breathing then it is NOT TO LATE to make right what has been wrong for so long!

To see Perry's blog in its entirety, click here.

Resources for Women

God is good! Read the letter below from Michaell Hancock, Executive Director for Resources for Women, the Pregnancy Care Center that Tomoka Christian supports.

Dear Pastor Joe and Tomoka Christian Church,

The number one reason women give for having an abortion is that they feel like having a baby will interfere with school, work, or other responsibilities.

That was the case with Mandi (not her real name), an eighteen-year-old student who recently came in for a pregnancy test. The test was positive. Mandi explained to our Advocate that she felt like abortion was the best thing because she wanted to finish college and start a career. The Advocate listened to her concerns and, with care and kindness, educated her about abortion and encouraged her to take a deeper look at her options. During that conversation, Mandi was surprised to learn that her baby already had a heartbeat.

Because of their time together, Mandi chose life for her baby!

She returned the next day, remarking, "I don't know what I was thinking." Today she is excited about having her baby, whose heartbeat she has seen on our ultrasound.

Thanking you for supporting us. What we do matters!

Totally Trusting Him,

Michaell Hancock

7 Ways to Destroy Your Marriage

Perry Noble recently posted "7 Ways to Destroy Your Marriage" on his blog. Check it out:

#1 – Refuse To Communicate

Talk about the person and not to them because doing so will be awkward…this will assure destruction!  And, the silent treatment is really an amazing weapon when it comes to refusing to communicate, don’t worry about the fact that five year olds do it…just own it!

#2 – Refuse To Listen

Interrupting my spouse during conflict to immediately correct them and then trying my best to make a stronger point always helps tear a relationship to pieces!

For the remaining 5 destructive marriage acts click here.

Why I Love Our Student Ministry

• Bill and Johnell Collins have led our middle school and high school ministry to new levels of spiritual ministry.
  
• On average, 375 teens are involved weekly.
  
• Our teens lead worship through prayer, drama, preaching, vocals, and instruments.
  
• Our teens serve at nursing homes, home makeovers, city missions, a bicycle ministry which restored and gave away 500+ bikes last year, run their own radio ministry (every Saturday at 8:30 p.m. on WAPN 91.5 FM.), and also serve on mission teams around the globe.
  
• New teens are readily welcomed into the group by the existing students.
  
• 54 teens have been baptized into salvation since January 2011!