One Life

One Life Can Make a Difference

I hope you find this 8:48 video uplifting....one life, sold out for Jesus CAN make a difference.

Ken

"ROGER....WILCO"

You may already know this history, but I God has shown me how my prayer life can be changed by it's application.

During the war in the Pacific with the Japanese in World War II (WWII) …many of the Japanese had been educated in American and could speak fluent English. The Japanese used this knowledge and ability to create chaos for our forces early in the fighting. They would intercept American forces radio transmissions and give false orders to send American artillery and planes to attack American soldiers....creating sabotage with the radio.

Our American soldiers, sailors and airmen soon discovered the Japanese, couldn’t pronounce fluently words with R’s very well….so to combat their sabotage, in radio transmissions “ROGER” became “I Understood your transmission”….and was required during the transmission. If you didn't say "ROGER", it was assumed your were the enemy.

Another form of radio transmission was used. The word “WILCO” is short for “I WILL COMPLY". So you can easily say "ROGER...WILCO"....it means "I understood what you said and I will carry it out or comply with your request."
Answering with the word "OVER" means "I AM FINISHED TALKING, NOW YOU CAN SPEAK."
Answering with with the word "OUT" means the transmission - "COMMUNICATION TERMINATED"...in short, "I am finished talking to you."

Our Heavenly Father sends us transmissions - messages all the time during our prayer, bible study, lessons and sermons. He reminds us His Word and His plan to reach out to dying world. He reminds us of His love and care. He asks us to serve Him and grow His Kingdom. He reminds me of the duty of Godly Dad and husband and how I will be held accountable for those tasks.

I am afraid I understand what He is asking me to do for Him, but perhaps I answer "ROGER...OUT". "I hear you and understand what you want, but my will is too strong and I have grown tired of the conversation."

There is only way I should ever answer the LORD of the universe, creator of Heaven and Earth when He speaks....

"Father, ROGER...WILCO".
....I understand and will comply with your will....Here I am, your servant, mold and make me useful for your kingdom.

"Roger,Over and Out."

Ken

Make a Smilebox greeting

Clergy Appreciation Lunch

(click on the photo to enlarge) On Tuesday October 7th, our class served, exercising hospitality by provided lunch for the entire church staff - just over 40 were present (others were on missions trips, etc.)
We have been thanked multiple times and had so many staff members express how much encouragement they received from the lunch. Everything went smoothly and our children especially enjoyed serving in this way.

Special thanks to Alan and Kris Savell, Sonya Douglas and Amber Putman for making the special effort to help Paige serve.

Thank you for making this a class effort and being flexible with the short notice....Paige and Ken

Demonstrate Love...Pray for your wife.

“Whatever you don’t pray about in your life you leave up to chance. And that’s not good enough when it comes to your marriage”

Stormie Omartian (from The Power of a Praying Husband)

Do you want to demonstrate your love and commitment to your wife/husband?

Love is primarily a VERB –(action).

Jesus said “Greater love hath no man than this…that he lay down his life for his friends”

Yes it takes time and discipline to pray…but your wife/husband is a gift from heaven and worth so much more than your simple sacrifice of time to pray.

Sacrificially love your wife… Pray for her each morning. Demonstrate your love and bring her before Jesus.

Sacrificially love your husband…Pray for him each morning. Demonstrate your love and bring him before Jesus.

James 5:16 “…the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”

Prayer is a great mystery...Of course God already knows what we need and knows how to give good gifts to us without us even asking. The fact still remains that we are commanded to pray and ask God for all we need each day. Not "suggested" or "petitioned as a swell idea" to pray, but I remind you...we are commanded to pray.

All of heaven is mobilized by our earnest prayers. God's holy angels are sent into action by our pleads. The scriptures assures us our prayers are like a "sweet aroma" wafting up before God's throne. God has proved over and over He is faithful to answer our prayers. The more I am serious with prayer I have found is more about changing and molding me into Christ image, than influencing Heaven to act. I am convinced God is up to the challenge...pray for your wife/husband for 40 mornings in a row and see how He will act mightily in your marriage. Ken

Example prayer for your wife/husband……

Father, bless _________ , give her/him Your grace, joy and peace today.

Lord, help me to always remember ____________ is precious gift from You…help me to never take her/him for granted or take our marriage lightly. Our marriage has a kingdom purpose in You.

Father You placed ____________and me together and You alone have ordained our marriage….make us one in You…keep us in unity.

Anoint______________ today with Your power, grace and Holy Spirit. Help her/him to seek time with You, Father, today in prayer and in Your Holy word.

Grant ______________ the ability to hear Your Holy Spirit’s still small voice so clearly today and guide her/him in every decision she/he makes for our family/children and her/his job.

Fill her/him the confidence to serve and lead our children and the patience to love them as You do.

Quiet her/his mind today and keep negative thoughts and lies of the accuser away.

Help __________ remember he/she is Your child in whom you delight.

Help _________to see a glimpse of how she/he is so positively impacting our children and leading them to know you more. Grant ___________special mommy/daddy feedback from our children.

Lord send Your angels to surround, protecting __________ and our children…. keeping all evil from her/him and from between us.

FIREPROOF movie night - Saturday Oct 4

http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/

Gary and Sonya Douglas - EVA - new baby website

YOU MUST CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE....Warning...it is addicting to watch the Douglas journey in CHINA....


http://www.douglashome.net/wordpress/



Gary, Sonya, Jared(10), Caleb(9) and now adding Eva(8 mos)!!!!



Please - Pray for them each day for God's provision.

Ken

2008 Family Fiesta

****click on photo to VIEW in LARGER FORMAT.

Solomon's Colonnade or Portico

This isn't the real place, but it is an ancient colonnade.

Imagine Jesus teaching here...when it talks about him teaching in the temple...this is most likely the setting.

Imagine what it sounded like...how His voice echoed and carried in this magnificent setting.

In ACTS, the apostles continued on in the tradition Jesus had set forth...they gathered and taught in Solomon's Colonnade or Portico

OUTLINE for ACTS study

STUDY OF ACTS

Aug 10 Introduction - the coming of The Holy Spirit 1:1-2:47
Aug 17 The Mission in Jerusalem 3:1-6:7
Aug 24 Stephen, Philip, and Saul 6:8-9:31
Aug 31 The Gospel Spreads in Syria-Palestine 9:32-12:24
Sep 7 The First “Missionary Journey” and the Jerusalem Council 12:25-16:5
Sep 14 The Second and Third “Missionary Journeys” 16:6-19:41
Sep 21 To Jerusalem and Then Rome 20:12-8:31

Inductive Study of ACTS

We began a 7 week study of Acts this Sunday. Acts is fast moving account of the first 30 years of the early church. Once you gain insight into Acts, the entire New Testament will be much more clear.

Why an Inductive Bible Study?
A Chinese proverb says "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime."
My wish for you is for you to learn how to "fish" - how to study God's word in your own quiet time. In this way the Holy Spirit will be your teacher - He is a perfect teacher and I know you will grow in Christ.

As a testimony -
I grew up trying to be a "daily bible reader" out of sense of Southern Baptist Duty...not love for God's word, but because you could raise your hand in Sunday School if you were a daily bible reader. Just before I dozed off to sleep I would flip open the bible and try to read something to say I had at least read the bible that day. I would read the bible ONLY if i was involved a formal book study...but it still was "How much do I HAVE to read to get through this?" I thought people who liked to read the bible also liked to read fine print on contracts and the phone book for fun. (maybe you have been there or you are there today...there is much better way to live in Christ.)

Really not until 10 years ago did I learn how to study the bible. It was over a period of time, but God began to call me to read his word. I was not satisfied with my walk with Christ and knew that God's word had to be part of becoming His disciple. I asked God in very simple prayers to understand the bible before I began to read each time. God answered those prayers and I received the Holy Spirit's guidance in understanding God's word. I didn't know it at the time, but John 16:8 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth..." - it clearly says one of the main purposes of the Holy Spirit is to help us to understand the bible. My walk with Christ began to grow and I gained a sincere desire to learn more and a love for God's amazing bible.

You can't learn all the Bible in a single day...Pray asking for God's help and take small steps - His word will be come Fresh and Alive and Active. With God's help, the words will begin to almost leap off the page. By God's grace, you will become one of those "Jesus Freaks" who say..."I was reading this scripture the other day and WOW...God just showed me this!"

How do I begin?
First if you don't have a quiet time...Begin a quiet time today...God will honor your efforts.
Second - If you have a quiet time - Begin with PRAYER FIRST...then read smaller passages of the Bible, but study deeper.... ask questions.
For example:
What is the “big idea” of the passage?
Who is writing or speaking and to whom?
Click the link for a download of a PDF guide to the Inductive Bible Study Method.
Some people will ask every question and be very formal...while some will use 4-5 main questions to look at the text. Both are fine. The main point of the inductive method to bible study is to first seek God in prayer, read a small passage and allow the Holy Spirit to teach you God's word.

One word of caution - an attempt to find "hidden things" not present in the scripture is sometimes a fault of students using this bible study method. God's word is powerful as it is written ...just ask the questions and see what is written in God's word.

Also to add further depth to your study.... invest a few minutes to read the Book introduction and try studying the maps for the highlights will add a whole new element to bible study.

Call or email me if you have a question during the week.. I want to help you and see you grow in Christ.

In Him,

Ken

Gossip Free...It's the way to be.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/423908.aspx

Follow the link to hear about a small church that started a challenge...a 8 day break from gossiping.

From speaking gossip or perhaps more difficult...to keep from listening to gossip from others.

I am blogging about it, because I believe in the south, we too often turn a blind eye to the SIN of gossip. I confess I have had a "wink at sin" attitude with gossip.

Sadly, the sin of Gossip has become as normal as talking about the weather in our communities.

How many times have you said in your head or even out loud, just before you sinned with gossip:
"I really shouldn't say this....but..." and go ahead with your gossip?

First, Gossip destroys-kills the person who sins by gossiping, we can't be in proper fellowship with God with Gossip in our lives.
Next the victim is harmed by our sin,
Finally, the church or organization, the group becomes damaged and without harmony.

The THINK - test...measuring device for our conversations.

True Helpful Inspiring Necessary Kind

Is it TRUE?

Is it HELPFUL?

Is it INSPIRING?

Is it NECESSARY?

Is it KIND?

If it doesn't pass the THINK test...DON'T say it.

I have a feeling I won't be speaking as much...but that is OK...I need to THINK more about my words.

Wow I know that is tough to think about every word we say, but that is what we are called to do as followers of Christ. We cannot live the lives Christ has called us to without taking care of the "sins which so easily entangle us."

There are many scriptures we could look at but two come to mind...
First- what we should focus our live upon,think and talk about found in Philippians 4.
Second Romans 1, where Paul descibes how the un-Godly act....gossip is right in the middle of the list of sins.

Philippians 4: 8 (NASB) Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Romans 1:28-31 (NASB) And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice;
they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

God bless you,
Ken

August 9 -MEXICAN FAMILY FIESTA

BACK TO SCHOOL -
MEXICAN FAMILY FIESTA, Pool party and all around extravaganza.....
(Maybe it's a bit too long of a title?)

Bring the whole family for an evening of fun and fellowship.

Dress in your FIESTA and tropical wear (There are only so many places you can wear that LOUD tropical shirt hanging in the closet.)


When - August 9th fellowship and swimming beginning at 4pm and beginning to eat at 5:04-ish...and continuing to eat and visit....and eat.....and visit and eat.

We will provide the Fajitas (steak and chicken)....
bring Mexican dishes to accompany a Mexican -Tropical Fiesta.

Also, we wanted to have homemade Icecream....3-4 people to make icecream would be great.

Be thinking of your Mexican equivalent name or your fantasy Mexican Nick Name....

Where- Jerry and Tina Simmerly's home in LashBrooke - Louisville
We will have a map in class... about 12-15 minutes from the church.
in short
From Alcoa Hwy or Pellissippi get onto Topside road going toward Louisville RD. Turn Right onto W.Old Topside Rd. Turn Right onto Louisville Boat Dock Rd. Turn Right onto Rankin Ferry loop Rd. Turn Right into LashBrooke then right, left, left...I can't remember the road names in LasheBrooke.

Invite and encourage everyone you see who has visited the class or would possible like to visit our class...it is a fantastic time to invite someone to come join us. Once people MAKE A CONNECTION at an event like this...it is much easier to come to a Bible Fellowship class at 9:30 on Sunday morning.

Ken