SET APART CHRISTIANS

4 AM, I hung up my phone after a very long conversation with an old friend. A lot of things were discussed; mainly it was a lot of catching up but truth be told, they were not pleasant to the ear.   It was overwhelming to hear that a few of our friends are not in such a good path. “He told his girlfriend to have an  ABORTION , yet now they aren’t together anymore.” “Finally he has the will to enroll in a college again. Can you believe it? We are graduating soon and he’s just getting started. He's such a  FAILURE .”    Those sentences were just some of the updates I had about our mutual friends. It was that shocking. Looking back, realizing that we came from the  SAME BACKGROUND , the same education and the same lifestyle. Looking now, we are so  APART  by distance and  CONDITIONS . I kept on questioning myself,  HOW did it all happen this way? “ He didn’t get the chance.” “She doesn’t have great parents like yours.” ...

Acts 16:22-26 22  The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.   23  After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer  was commanded to guard them carefully.   24  When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25  About midnight  Paul and Silas  were praying and singing hymns  to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.   26  Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.  At once all the prison doors flew open,  and everyone’s chains came loose. Paul & Silas were taking the gospel to Europe. As they advance, the devil was ready to attack. The collision with the devil is inevitable in our life. If you don’t collide against the devil, you might be heading in the same direction ...

How often do we miss out because we aren’t receptive enough? As rare as the usage of the word ‘receptive’ might be, the attitude of receptivity might not be practiced as much in this modern day society. Since there is nothing new under the sun, we live in a world where it is very hard to be surprised. Week in and week out we pace ourselves into our church building with knowing what’s gonna happen every single week. 3 or 4 songs. 3 minutes announcement & offering Church News 30 minutes of sermon Altar Call Closing prayer and song Since we know so much about what’s going to happen, sometimes we pass on every week without being receptive enough to give full attention to what God is trying to tell us through the service. Attention  -> Retention  -> Intention  -> Invention That is the power of receptivity. Without the attitude of receptivity, you lose attention to the messages (verbal or non-verbal) ...

God designs Christianity to be impossible without Jesus. This is why our relationship with Jesus should only remind us that we can’t change on our own. Progress is only visible by the help of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. John 14:23-27 Jesus replied,  “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.  My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to advocate us and to help us be better day by day. This is why we need to live a spirit led life. There is a purpose to our growth. The purpose is to be a blessing to others. Once we get a hold of this purpose, our locations won’t matter. You could be washing dishes for a living, but you could be blessings to your colleagues because you know that your purpose is greater than your positions. Acts 16:6-10 6  Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia  and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in ...