HT: Chris Marsden

I think Me, Myself & I am is a great gift to give on a few different occasions. You could fill it out as a gift for you to give your children and grandchildren as legacy and reminder of what God has done in your family. You can give it to your teenager when they graduate high school, with so many students walking away from their faith during college is this a great reminder for them and they have to work through God’s past working in their life. You could give it out as a gift from the church to new Christ-followers to journal their new journey.

I really liked this idea for a different kind of journal; it’s not your normal blank page journal where you have to figure out what to write about, it’s gender neutral, and a guy is going to feel weird about filling out. It covers a lot ground so you won’t get bored or bogged down going through it and you can work on for a while put it down and pick it up a couple months later and work on it like you never put it down. It has so many positive differences from your normal journal that will benefit you so much and be a great reminder of all of God’s work in your life.

Here is some of the questions you will find throughout the book:
Questions range from spiritually intriguing— You overhear God talking about you. What do hear him saying?

to just plain fun— If your life before you became a Christian were a movie, its title would be: Animal House As Good as It Gets The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly It’s a Wonderful Life

You can buy it online:
www.Amazon.com
www.ChristianBook.com
www.FamilyChristian.com

Where was this book when I was younger? I mean come on this book would have been so helpful as a 15, 16, 17 year old guy. As I read the For Young Men Only and looked back on my years of chasing girls and remembering situations when I could have used information like: be myself, actually listen and hear, stand up for her, have a sense of humor, be thoughtful, be self-confident, and fun and adventurous. I have to admit I was not quite the ladies man, which is probably a good thing, and God blessed that as I married way above myself.

I was really impressed with the writers ability to use the data collected through a national survey, focus group and frequent trips to the mall to talk with more teenage girls and then communicate it in a way that a high school guy is going to want to read and will understand. Their use of real quotes from real girls, stories that they were told while talking with said teenage girls and real life experiences make this book very easy to relate to and pull practical advise that you can use tomorrow on the girl you’ve always wanted to talk to but never had the courage to do it.

I can see lots of ways to use this (and the For Young Girls Only) book in the youth ministry setting. From teaching series material, separate sex large group talks, 3 to 4 member small groups, one-on-one mentoring, and having a few of each book on hand to pass out to those struggling with these issues.

Overall I think this is one of the best books I read for guys with tons of great practical advice and stories to learn from. I highly recommend For Young Men Only to youth workers as a great quality tool we are always on the look out for.

You can read more about the book and the research at www.foryoungmenonly.com and buy it at these fine online retailers.

Amazon.com
ChristianBook.com
FamilyChristian.com

I love how they start out the article. ““It must be understood that there are no nominal, halfhearted, lukewarm Christians in Russia or China.” -Richard Wurmbrand, in Tortured For Christ (1967). As true today as it was in 1967.

Pastor Samuel Lamb, one of the great men of China’s underground house church movement, often says, “Persecution good for church.” He knows this from firsthand experience. During more than twenty years in Communist Chinese prisons, his church grew exponentially.

Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, founder of The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), saw the same thing in Communist Romania. He once wrote, “I have found truly jubilant Christians only in the Bible, in the Underground Church and in prison.”

For Christians in the Western world, this concept is a foreign one. How can persecution be good for the church? How can Christ’s followers in restricted nations be truly jubilant in the face of terrible suffering? Wouldn’t prosperity, large new gospel palaces and overflowing congregations be a greater sign of God’s blessing and lead to more and happier, healthier Christians? The reality is that the church in restricted nations and hostile areas is indeed growing faster—much faster—than churches in the West.

God is using persecution—as he always has—to build and purify his church. He is using it to call more people into sacrificial service to the kingdom. He is using it to spread his love and reach new people with the gospel message of salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

Persecution has purified God’s servants in restricted nations. But how do they prepare and persevere? In my travels for VOM, I have met with and interviewed many believers who have endured in spite of persecution. I have seen the smiles of pure, holy joy on their faces, even as they recount incredible pain and suffering. Here are five qualities I’ve seen that enable believers to flourish.

1. A focus on eternity. Persecuted believers choose not to focus on present circumstances or surroundings. Because they don’t, they are able to worship from a jail cell or witness to a policeman beating them with rods. They focus on the promise that they will spend eternity in the presence of God. This allows them to smile from a prison yard and to feel blessed as they are persecuted. They know that in eternity their rewards will be great. They have seen the truth that Jesus promised–that his followers would face persecution (John 15:20). Now they eagerly await the fulfillment of his promises and the hope of eternity with him (Revelation 22:12).

2. A passion for soul-winning. As with Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, believers in restricted nations are willing to become all things to all men in order that they may win as many as possible to Christ. Their passion for soul-winning is producing an incredible harvest, as thousands are coming to Christ in hostile nations every day. Earlier this year I met a man in Bangladesh named Hasim. He had been a Christian only six months, and he didn’t even know how to read. Yet already he’d led more than thirty Muslims to Christ. He had also been beaten for his Christian witness. The persecution didn’t slow him down; it deepened his desire to share the gospel with those who haven’t yet heard.

3. A God-centered (not self-centered) spirit. John Piper wrote an essay in World magazine in which he stated that many American believers have lost their enjoyment of God. “In place of this (enjoyment of God), we have turned the love of God into a divine endorsement of our delight in being made much of,” he wrote. His essay points out that Western believers often get far more blessing out of what they get from God than what service they can do for him. Underground church believers don’t have this luxury. They are not “made much of,” in the worldly sense. In fact, they are beaten down at every turn. But they have a different focus–God. Rather than material blessings, their joy comes from knowing him and doing his work (Matthew 6:33).

4. Dedication to God’s word. Bibles in restricted nations often have more value than gold to believers. I have seen Christians in restricted nations smile and laugh like children at Christmas when they open a suitcase of smuggled-in Bibles and other Christian literature. Many feel blessed to have just one page of God’s word. They memorize their page, then trade with another believer and memorize that page as well. They know that if they go to prison, the only Bible they will have is the one hidden in their hearts (Psalm 119:11). Therefore, they make it their goal to memorize as much of Scripture as possible.

5. Readiness to serve. Chinese believers know that the Public Security Bureau could come at any time. Believers in Indonesia know that their pastor could be killed. If the pastor is unable to minister in a given gathering, someone else stands up with a message, Scripture or word from the Lord. Believers in house churches seem to have left behind the “here we are; entertain us” attitude prevalent in many Western churches today. Instead, they have grasped Isaiah’s words of dedication, “Here am I; send me” (Isaiah 6:8).

A careful reading of the scriptures reveals that if we passionately follow Christ, we should not be surprised by suffering. Paul wrote to Timothy that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ will endure persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12).

Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4, “Dear friends, when (not if, but when) the fiery ordeal arises among you to test you, don’t be surprised by it, as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah rejoice, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of his glory.”

The message is clear: persecution is a not an abnormal part of the Christian walk. Whether we endure direct persecution or not, may we dedicate our lives to growing the qualities in our churches that are so evident among Christians in restricted nations. These qualities will indeed help us to serve our king of kings more passionately and effectively.

I wish these biblical truths were held by American Christians. Persecution is so foreign to us here in America we could never fathom not having religious freedom to worship and talk about God when we feel like it, let alone how good it would be for the cause of Christ. Can you imagine what your city, neighborhood, or community would be like if we lived these 5 principles out right we live?

Here are my questions to you. How can we spur on Christians around us and those we minister to to live these principles out without persecution? Have you ever a persecution event in your ministry? Have you ever taught about the persecution our brothers and sister in Christ face in countries like China, India, North Korea, Myanmar?

Here are some links to get more information.
Voice of the Martyrs
Christian Persecution Info
Persectuion.org
Wikipedia- Christian Persecution

What have you been doing lately? Your life could use improving greatly. I just wanted to know what’s going on, but everything that goes is going wrong. What have you been doing lately? Your life could use improving greatly. I just wanted to know what’s going on, but everything that goes is going wrong. When I saw Justin he said he was just in visiting on spring break. I said “What a surprise. You’re one of those guys I haven’t seen since 1998.” We talked for a while, and I tried to smile as he told me about his college life. He parties Fridays through Thursdays (but not for birthdays). He’s acquired a taste for Miller Lite. Pardon me while I throw up. I guess some people never grow up. What happened to the salvation you claimed? It breaks my heart to see how much you’ve changed. It breaks my heart to see how much you’ve changed. Adn then there’s Vanessa. Her life got so messed up. She just can’t get along. Her emotions they can’t cope, ’cause she’s lost all hope. She can’t see right from wrong. Rationality left her (or shrunk with her sweater). She’s a fanatic. She’s over the edge. She needs Lemon Pledge to clear those cobwebs from her attic.

I’m all for clean, positive music (Phil 4:8) but we’ve got to stop cramming Christian radio down the throats of anybody as cart blanch good for the soul and biblically accurate. Join me in this mini-crusade to liberate Christians from the grasp of Christian music without analytical thinking!

What about you. What’s your favorite worst song for Christians to listen to? Am I off base? Join the conversation.

(HT to Chris at serialyouthpastor.com

7For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8But God found fault with the people and said: “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. 10This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Do you agree or disagree? If so, how does this play a role in your current ministry? How could it play a role in your ministry?

Have you done any fundraisers for any type relief organizations in your ministries? How could you use a program like Schools for Schools in your ministry?