Chosen Youth for Christ Ministries

05/02/2015

This year I resolve to….

And so begins the annual ritual of new year resolutions. It’s a time honored tradition of making promises to ourselves to exercise more, eat less, reduce our debt, heal a broken relationship or otherwise achieve any number of other worthwhile goals. There is just something about the first day of a new year that gives us the confidence to “start again”…or, better put, to embrace a “new beginning”

But here’s the thing. You can have a new beginning with God at any point in your life…including right now. You don’t need to wait until the beginning of the year. You see, the Bible tells us that God is faithful to give us fresh mercy each and every day. Whatever is in your past can and will be blotted out in the eyes of God.

“I–yes, I alone–will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.” (Isaiah 43:25 NLT)

God’s offer of a new beginning is not a “once a year” offer but one that is available to you 365 days a year, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. And with that new beginning comes a peace that the Bible tells us transcends all understanding:

“Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.” (Philippians 4:7)

Tonight, make the one resolution that can change your life in ways you never could have imagined. Resolve to accept God’s offer of a new beginning with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Have a safe and happy new year from your friend Herbert.



Let’s Talk Abo

05/02/2015

Friendship is a powerful force. It has the ability to bind people together for a lifetime, which can be either good or bad. A friendship that is based on two people who are mutually surrendered to God through their faith in Jesus Christ is more valuable than all of the world’s riches. However, friendships that consistently interferes with our relationship with God is a form of spiritual idolatry.

The Bible recognizes this reality and warns us to choose our friends carefully so we can protect ourselves from friendships that will lead us astray. Ungodly friends will pressure us to please someone or something at the expense of pleasing God. In addition, they will not respect our spiritual convictions. A “friend” who pushes us to redefine our Spirit-led convictions is not a friend at all and will not respect nor likely understand the work that God is doing in us. Moreover, ungodly friends never advance our learning about or understanding of God. They only stunt spiritual development.

Godly friends are just the opposite. They join us in our common goal to please and obey God through words and actions, have a healthy respect for the convictions we have purposed in our hearts, and encourage us draw closer to God’s heart by growing stronger in Him.

We need to heed the warning of Scripture by taking an inventory of our friendships. Our associations will impact our affections, and if we are around people who don’t seek the Lord first, then we probably won’t either. These friendships will be another diversion…another idol…that keeps us from seeking Jesus as we should.

In contrast, it’s a wonderful thing to have friendships in this world that encourage and enable us to live for the world to come! Two are better than one…For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 NKJV)

How many godly friendships do you have in your life? What are some changes that you need to make regarding those you call friends?

05/02/2015

“So I tell you to stop worrying about what you will eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes?” (Mat 6:25 GW)

The same God who commands us not to murder, lie, and steal also orders us, with equal force and authority, not to worry.

This is a tough one for us because these other sins are external acts while worry is an internal emotion. Worry comes so naturally to us that we often don’t even realize that we’re doing it. The weight of worry can crush us, and, if we hope to avoid this, we must make it a habit of doing two things.

First of all, we must focus on the faithfulness of God. Worry is attached to a fearful uncertainty of the future, and, when we worry, we’re actually calling God’s future faithfulness into question. Yet, if anything can be established from Scripture, it’s that God is always faithful to His people. In fact, the Bible declares that it is impossible for Him to be unfaithful (2 Timothy 2:13).

When do we ever see Jesus worried or questioning the faithfulness of the Father? When has God ever given us a reason to have the slightest doubt in His faithfulness? C. H. Mackintosh once observed, “Ten thousand mercies are so quickly forgotten in the face of a single difficulty.”

God s faithfulness in our past warrants our present trust in Him for our future.

And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed. (Joshua 23:14 NKJV)

The second thing we need to do is focus on the needs of others. It’s amazing how quickly we forget about our own worries when we turn our attention to other people. By being others-centered, we turn from being self-centered, which is the catalyst for worry. God’s provision for what we worry about is often found as we help others. Don t forget that the disciples were each left with a basketful of bread after they had served the multitudes (John 6:13).

05/02/2015

Pride cannot be trusted because it downplays our own weakness and then belittles God’s greatness. The Lord knows how to cleanse us of this emotion. David’s sin with Bathsheba was more than just physical; it was also emotional because he had allowed his pride to tell him that he was above the laws that he enforced over his kingdom. God broke David of that pride, but it only came at the painful and precious price of his son’s life (2 Samuel 12:14).

Samson also knew the price of pride. It wasn’t until the Lord had allowed the Philistines to blind and humiliate him that he was convinced that he was absolutely nothing apart from God (Judges 16:28).

Saul of Tarsus had credentials that would have made any Jew proud (Philippians 3:5). The Lord blinded him on the road to Damascus in order to make him dependent upon others and show him the futility of his pride.

God will do whatever it takes to break us of our pride, and, as Nebuchadnezzar said, “He is able to put down.” But we shouldn’t lose heart over this because the Bible tells us that the Lord is also able to do something else to us:

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25 NKJV)

The One who is able to break us of pride is the same One who is able to save us from the pride that plagues our hearts. Don’t be too proud to call out to the Lord for help with this. It is better to break before the mercy seat of God than to be broken by Him.

How do the examples of David, Samson, and Saul compare with your own life? How can you build on these examples?

02/02/2015

So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep. . . . Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. (1 Samuel 30:3–6 NKJV)

Have you ever experienced the feeling of loneliness that occurs when everybody turns on you? That’s exactly how David felt at this pivotal point in his life. The group of faithful men that had chosen to follow David just had their homes destroyed, their wives taken captive, and their children kidnapped under his leadership. They began to turn on their leader and openly planned how they would kill him. David suddenly found himself all alone in the midst of an angry mob. How did he overcome such an incredible feeling of loneliness? The next phrase gives us the answer.

But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. (1 Samuel 30:6 NKJV)

David did something that we all need to do when we’re feeling lonely: He strengthened himself in the LORD his God. Notice what David didn’t do. He didn’t strengthen himself in his church or his pastor or even in his accountability group. It says that he went straight to the heart of the Lord, his God.

Many of us struggle with loneliness because we settle for substitutes, instead of going to the Lord Himself. As long as we settle for these substitutions, we won’t find fulfillment for our loneliness. One of the descriptions of Jesus is that he fills all in all (Ephesians 1:23 NKJV), and only He can truly fill an empty and lonely heart. When we’re feeling lonely, we shouldn’t settle for anything less than the Lord’s personal presence. As we go to Him, He will be faithful to fill our hearts with His love, joy, and peace, and we can be sure that He will never leave us feeling lonely.

02/02/2015

Impatience is defined by Webster as “an eager desire for relief or change.” It is a powerful emotion that we shouldn’t trust because it will lead us into making some terrible decisions.

Just ask Esau. He had just come back from a long day of hunting. He was famished and couldn’t help but notice that his brother Jacob was cooking up a delicious pot of stew. Esau just couldn’t wait to fix something for himself. Consequently, his impatience for a quick meal to satisfy his flesh led him to exchange it for his blessing as the firstborn son. In the heat of the moment and under the influence of impatience, Esau made a terrible decision (Genesis 25:29–34).

02/02/2015

Philippians 3:7-9
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

07/11/2014

1 peter 5:7

07/11/2014

God will always be in charge of my life

31/10/2014

Our father God loves us endlessly

Don’t downplay or discount the importance of individual instruction. Let your life lessons live on in the lives of others....

11/10/2014

"Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul." - Democritus quotes from BrainyQuote.com

11/10/2014

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant." - Robert Louis Stevenson quotes from BrainyQuote.com