The greatest among you shall be your S E R V A N T.

This is the way the verse should be read, I have often read it with the Greatest part in bold and the servant part in the background.

"Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also. And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers." Luke 11:45-46

Just as it was 2000 years ago, it is today. Lawyers, Lawmakers and Supreme Court Justice's make laws that are burdensome to the masses, but often they are exempt from them. I would not want to be the Supreme Court Justices on Judgment day and try to explain why they sided with the Child Molesters in California, Sodomites in Texas and the Abortion Docters in Floridia.

Our founding Fathers were servant leaders. This is what is refreshing about George W. Bush, he is a servant leader. Bill Clinton claimed to be a servant, but his actions indicated he loved the position more than the people of America.

March, 23, 1775
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace [Jer. 6:14]. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle [Matt. 20:6]? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! Patrick Henry

It is interesting to note that the founders of the United States of America freely used scripture in their normal conversations. It was a part of their lives and it is the foundation on which this country was built.

"You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments: rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the universe." John Adams


"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time." Thomas Jefferson

"As the Englishman Edward the Longshanks was oppressing Scotland in 1290 AD, the Great Hammer of the English, William Wallace stood up and yelled "Pro Liebertate"- "For Freedom"

Pray for freedom to worship in Iran and the rest of the Islamic Countries. May they take courage from former Freedom lovers who overcame all odds. Read about the Student Protests in Iran here.


Christian Resources for Iranian/Persian/Farsi Speaking People

I have been reading Rick Warrens, "The Purpose Driven Life". I highly recommend this book. Great Quote from Rick in the third chapter.

" From the Bible we can surmise that God will ask us two crucial questions:

First, “What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ?” God won’t ask about your religious background or doctrinal views. The only thing that will matter is, did you accept what Jesus did for you and did you learn to love and trust him? Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Second , “What did you do with what I gave you?” What did you do with your life---all the gifts, talents, opportunities, energy, relationships, and resources God gave you? Did you spned them on yourself, or did you use them for the purposes God made you for?”

If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, you are referred to as a Saint in the New Testament. Paul often addressed his letter to the church’s like this: To all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, etc. This is very important to recognize that the Holy Spirit working through Paul signified that when God looks upon us He see’s a saint. Not a sinful man or women, but a saint who is in Christ Jesus. We are the saints who are in the earth.

Now think about this. Heaven has streets made of gold, gates made of emeralds and pearls, the Seraphim and Cherubim declaring He is Holy. It is perfection. Think how beautiful this sinful earth is with it’s waterfalls, mountains, redwood forests and Canyons. Think about how much more beautiful heaven is. God has much to delight in His heaven, but look at where all His delight is.

Psalm 16:3 As for the Saints who are in the earth, They are the majestic ones in who is all my delight.

En Gedi Waterfall

" I urge, then, first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. I Timothy 2:1 & 2

Romans 11: 25-26 25. For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits, that a hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; 26. and so all Israel shall be saved: even as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

Mt. Zion with Snow

Pray for the Leaders of Israel and the leaders of your country,

Israeli Government Leaders

1. Aiel Sharon – Prime Minister (Likud)
2. Ehud Olmert – Commerce and Industry, acting PM (Likud)
3. Shaul Mofaz – Defense (Likud)
4. Silvan Shalom – Foreign Affairs (Likud)
5. Benjamin Netanyahu – Finance (Likud)
6. Limor Livnat – Education, Culture, Sports (Likud)
7. Tzachy Hanegbi – Internal Security & Police (Likud)
8. Yosef (Tomy) Lapid – Justice (Shinui)
9. Efi Eitam – Housing and Construction(National Religious Party)
10.Avigdor Liberman – Transport (National Union)
11.Tzipi Livni – Immigration absorption (Likud)
12.Avraham Poraz – Interior and Communications (Shinui)
13.Danny Naveh – Health (Likud)
14.Yosef Paritzki – National Infrastructures (Shinui)
15.Zevulun Orlev – Welfare Services (NRP)
16.Israel Katz – Agriculture (Likud)
17.Benny Alon – Tourism (NU)
18.Yehudit Naot – Environment (Shinui)
19.Modi Zandberg – Science (Shinui)
20.Nathan Sharanski – Minister without portfolio (Likud)
21.Meir Sheetrit – Minister without portfolio (Likud)
22.Uzi Landau – Minister without portfolio (Likud)

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: Matthew 7:7

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Pray BIG !!!!! We serve an awesome God, one who is able to do more than we could ever think or imagine. Ask God to use you in a great way to further His will on Earth as it is in Heaven.

" Matthew 28:19 & 20
19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."


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If the original disciples had not obeyed this verse you would not be a Christian today. If you do not obey this verse, who will end up with a Christless eternity. Please pray that all Christians would catch the vision laid out in the above verse and obey it. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ states the following:

How You Can Help Fulfill the Great Commission
A Global Strategy

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2. What is the Great Commission?
The Great Commission is our Lord's command take the gospel to every person throughout the world and to make disciples in all nations. It involves building and multiplying disciples in all nations so that they can, in turn, saturate their nations with the Good News and train other disciples to do the same generation after generation through the process of spiritual multiplication.

Christ did not commission us to Christianize all nations; He called us to disciple and evangelize them. Our responsibility is to preach and teach Christ's dynamic gospel; it is the Holy Spirit's responsibility to make our witness effective. With the responsibility, however, Christ also gave us everything necessary for success.

Go read the whole thing at “How You Can Help Fulfill the Great Commission”

"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life. John 5:39 & 40

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This verse hit me a like a ton of bricks today. Many thoughts came to my mind about how sometimes I am not much different than the Pharisees searching the scriptures, trying to live Holy but being a sinful mess because I have not sought Jesus Christ. I need to be more like Mary and sit at His feet and listen and worship Him rather than like Martha busy with so many good things, but not the necessary thing. (Luke 10:38-42). Please understand me; I am saying we need to read the Word everyday; however we need to seek the One it is all about. We also need to pursue Holiness, just through the One that can make us Holy, not by our own methods.

Heads up to those using blogger, sometimes after you post and publish your blog it will disappear if you change a setting on the same day. If you then add it back in about 2 days you will end up with 2 exact same blogs. Weird. I had to delete the second one, which was here.

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" 4. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,. I Corinthians 13:4

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In this famous passage of I Corinthians 13(the one often read at weddings) the first mention of what Love is, makes the point that it suffers long. Some translations start by saying Love is Patient, Love is Kind, the actual literal Greek translation is Love suffers long. Does suffering bring us closer to God? Why is it that the most loving Christians I have known were also ones that had suffered much in this life. Could they actually have gotten closer to God’s divine nature through their own suffering? Were they able to relate more to His suffering that He experienced and still experiences because of ours and mankind’s sins? Sometimes I find myself wondering why He has put up with my sins and mankinds history of wickedness. He then reminds me that He loves me and He is willing to suffer long, until we come to Him with a repentant heart filled with true Love that can only come from God.

" As for me(John), I baptize you with water for repentance, but He(Jesus) who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. -Matthew 3:11


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The Holy Spirit is of vital importance to our spiritual well being. It is something that Christ gives us after we put our faith in Him(Ephesians 1:13). In our flesh we can grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) or we can be filled with Him like the Apostle Paul(Acts 13:9). Jesus said how much more would the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask(Luke 11:13). When the Holy Spirit came upon the early church they became bold witnesses of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (see Acts 1:8 and Acts 4:31)

The early church was full of the Holy Spirit, and it was evident by their zeal to share the gospel and they shared it with power. When there is a lack of witnessing with power, could we say that we have probably grieved the Holy Spirit? A.W. Tozer put it this way: "If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference." ?

"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

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Michael Reitz has a great article in Relevant Magazine titled "Is the Church Doing Anything Right". Here is a sample.

Jesus “did not stake the “success” of the Church on programs, attendance, good preaching, warm fuzzies or even the ability to adapt with the shifting culture. The evidence that the Church was accomplishing her purpose was a completely different concept: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”
“Check out the full article here”

Come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. - Isaiah 55:1 - 3

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God’s offer of the Word of Life, cost Him everything(death on a cross)however He gives it freely and it is everlasting. Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13&14

" 11 "Who else among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is glorious in holiness like you – so awesome in splendor, performing such wonders? 12 You raised up your hand, and the earth swallowed our enemies. 13 "With unfailing love you will lead this people whom you have ransomed. You will guide them in your strength to the place where your holiness dwells. Exodus 15:11-13
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If we are a Christian, God will one day take us home to be with Him, “where Holiness Dwells”. I have been very encouraged by my brothers and sisters who are living in physical poverty, but who have much spiritual wealth. There is sometimes a lack of hunger in America for spiritual things. In other countries such as Mexico, India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, there is a growing spiritual hunger among the Christians. Please Pray for them to keep their first love and let them be an encouragement to those of us who have taken the cross for granted.

" 19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:19& 207KJ
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We have the means to evangelize our country; but they are slumbering
in the pews of our churches." --John R. W. Stott”

“What if reaching the world were completely up to you. How would you do it? Does the above verse still apply to Christians. I think it does. What do you think?

" But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherimi, and burn their graven images with fire. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples of the earth. Deuteronomy 7:5-6
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This verse applies to the nation of Israel; however if you read all of Deuteronomy 7, it could have applications for America and all those countries and peoples who wish to rid themselves of terrorists. Read the verses and let me know what you think. Also check out the Interesting articles at “ The New Christendom”

“Culturally understood, an antithesis is the watershed that divides two exact opposites. The issue of conflict is not particular, but universal - the two sides of an antithesis oppose each other at every point. You could use the military image of a never-ending front line. There is an eternal war raging between the adversaries, one which is total and unconditional. There is no quarter for the vanquished. Battle imagery, in fact, is crucial to any worldview, for it is in this metaphor that we find our antithesis - the very foundation of our world and life-view. Unless we adopt this metaphor of a true holy war into our worldview, any lasting victory will never be attained. We bring the message of peace; however, the Promised Land can only be entered after the spiritual Canaanites have been driven out.

" 1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another--to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.“ Romans 7:1-4 NKJ
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The more I read of Watchman Nee the more I become convinced that he walked as close to the Lord as anyone since the Apostle Paul or John.

Watchman Nee stated the following in the “Normal Christian Life”

“Notice first that in the picture in Romans 7:1-4 by which Paul illustrates our deliverance from the Law there is only one woman, while there are two husbands. The woman is in a very difficult position, for she can only be wife of one of the two, and unfortunately she is married to the less desirable one. Let us make no mistake, the man to whom she is married is a good man; but the trouble lies here, that the husband and wife are totally unsuited to one another. He is a most particular man, accurate to a degree; she on the other hand is decidedly easy-going. With him all is definite and precise; with her all is vague and haphazard. He wants everything just so, while she accepts things as they come. How could there be happiness in such a home?

And then that husband is so exacting! He is always making demands on his wife. And yet one cannot find fault with him, for as a husband he has a right to expect something of her; and besides, all his demands are perfectly legitimate. There is nothing wrong with the man and nothing wrong with his demands; the trouble is that he has the wrong kind of wife to carry them out. The two cannot get on at all; theirs are utterly incompatible natures. Thus the poor woman is in great distress. She is fully aware that she often makes mistakes, but living with such a husband it seems as though everything she says and does is wrong! What hope is there for her? If only she were married to that other Man all would be well. He is no less exacting than her husband, but He also helps much. She would fain marry Him, but her husband is still alive. What can she do? She is "bound by law to the husband" and unless he dies she cannot legitimately marry that other Man.

This picture is not drawn by me but by the apostle Paul. The first husband is the Law; the second husband is Christ; and you are the woman. The Law requires much, but offers no help in the carrying out of its requirements. The Lord Jesus requires just as much, yea more (Matt. 5:21-48) but what He requires from us He Himself carries out in us. The Law makes demands and leaves us helpless to fulfill them; Christ makes demands, but He Himself fulfills in us the very demands He makes. Little wonder that the woman desires to be freed from the first husband that she may marry that other Man! But her only hope of release is through the death of her first husband, and he holds on to life most tenaciously. Indeed there is not the least prospect of his passing away. "Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished (Matt. 5:18).”