It’s Time To Go! Netherlands Update 3-23-16

My sister is a missionary to The Netherlands. The church she serves in has seen over thirty new converts in three months. The field is ripe and white unto harvest.

Brenda is currently home raising her funds as our fellowship requires every four years. She is almost at goal. Here is the update

9 People at $50/month…Sending Team Members Needed….
MARCH to the FUNDING FINNISH LINE CAMPAIGN!
Join my the team get me back to the Netherlands By the end of March!
$430/a month! OHH SO CLOSE! CLICK THE LINK!!!!
To make a monthly pledge: http://www.tinyurl.com/brendalillie

If the Lord is telling you to be one or even two of the final nine, click the link above and answer the call!

If the Lord is calling you to be a half of one of the final line click the link above and answer the call!

If the Lord is telling you to give a one time gift… you know what to do!

Color Your World: Radical Red

As the afternoon creeps up on us I am posting about the color RADICAL RED.

I am posting this one ahead of time as I have a funeral to sing later this morning and will be away from phone and computer for probably quite a while.

I am glad for the color red. It reminds me of the blood of Christ which our congregant, David, rested his hope of eternity on. That blood has never lost its power. This is a fitting week to celebrate the power of the blood and the hope we have in Christ. Our hope never becomes more poignant than in the face of death.

 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”[f]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man,so shall we[g] bear the image of the heavenly man.

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”[h]

55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”[i]

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:35-56

Now that is the power of the blood of Christ. Here is the power of RADICAL RED

This is definitely radical for a photography post, but then I guess this is why they call me a Christian artist. Check out other radical links by clicking the underlined words above.

 

Let Your No Be Known

There have been many leadership lessons I have had to learn over the years. I don’t think I am what you call a natural leader. I guess I had to come to that admission over time but there it is… the confession. I have had to learn to be a leader.

When I first started taking leadership classes it seemed like everything in the class was an indictment against my personality: If you want to lead you have to vision;If you want to lead you have to schedule; If you want to lead you have to be intentional; If you want to lead you have to embrace healthy conflict; If you want to lead you have to actually deal with people and the biggest one of all…If you want to lead you need to say “no” more than you say “yes”.

Saying “no” has been one of the hardest lessons for me. I have had to learn it by increments over time.

 

When I first began learning the lesson I couldn’t say “no” to anyone. It just felt mean. People would show up at my door and ask me for a favor and I felt like I had to do whatever they asked because that was what Jesus would do (that’s a lie we Christians tell ourselves by the way).

I remember one time a lady from the church showed up unannounced at my home and told me I had to set the clock in her car because she didn’t know how to do it herself. Apparently, in her world, pastors setting clocks fell under the line in the job description which read “and other duties as needed.”

The first level of learning to say “no” was learning to say “no” to the things I had no business doing, like setting the clocks in someone’s car or going out to rake the woods around the church because the woods around the church should be neat (a real suggestion in case you are wondering). Believe it or not this took practice and I actually felt bad about saying “no” to begin with.

But saying “no” to whackadoo suggestions was not the  end-game, by a long shot. It was the first lap, not the finish line. I have learned that the enemy of the best is not the bad. The enemy of the best is the good. It is not enough to say “no” to bad suggestions. In order to say “yes” to the best in life I am learning I have to say “no” to a lot of good things, a lot of worthwhile things, a lot things I am even talented for and enjoy.

Reaching God’s best for me is not attaining a life full of things I enjoy. Reaching my best means completing the tasks God has for me, period. Now, while I believe ultimately that will bring me great joy and will involve me using my talents to their fullest potential, God’s plan is not about my joy or my talents. It’s all about Him and His kingdom.

I am finding that there are a lot of worthwhile things, fun things, enjoyable things in the Kingdom that just aren’t my job. I could do them. I would do them. I would even enjoy them…and other people would like it if I did them. But those good, enjoyable, worthwhile things do not match the vision God has given me for my life. They match somebody’s vision but not mine.

What that means is that if I do them not only am I getting distracted from God’s plan for me but I am stealing someone else’s God-vision.

It’s hard. It even makes me a little sad to start saying “no” to some of the things I am currently doing, but it is necessary for my sake, for other people’s sake and for the Kingdom’s sake.

let me ask you have you made your no known?

The Next Netherlands Update

My sister, Brenda is almost there folks. As soon as she is done raising her funds she can get back to the mission field and resume working with her church which is winning souls left and right!

Brenda is a drama missionary working with a team of nationals just outside of Amsterdam to spread the  Good News throughout The Netherlands

 

NEW SENDING TEAM MEMBERS NEEDED!
MARCH to the FUNDING FINNISH LINE CAMPAIGN!
Join my the team get me back to the Netherlands By the end of March!
$430/a month! OHH SO CLOSE! CLICK THE LINK!!!!
To make a monthly pledge: http://www.tinyurl.com/brendalillie

 

If you would like to make a pledge of any size just click the underlined link above.

C’cada Weekly Update 3-21-16

Here is Ken’s most recent devotion from our C.cada website. Thank you Yogi Berra!

In a Perfect World, It Wouldn’t Be

In a perfect world, it wouldn't be.

The Road Through Romans: Mercy

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As we have walked our way verse by verse through the Book of Romans, we have come to verse 20 of chapter 1. We have hovered over this verse for some time now as we learn about the invisible qualities of God. We are using A.W. Tozer’s material from  The Attributes of God to work from.

If you have missed any of these discussions you can find them on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.

Let’s move on to our discussion of the quality of mercy.

 

Mercy is the quality we depend on to even be able to stand before all the other qualities of God. Except for His mercy we cannot partake of anything else in His divine nature. Let me ask you, where in the creation do you see the quality of mercy being displayed?