The Living Saviour - Elim Bible Chaple

Easter 2012

Walking with Each Other - by Rick Warren

The Bible often compares life to a walk, because life is a journey; we’re not sitting still. Throughout the New Testament, we are told to walk in wisdom, love, light, and obedience. We’re told to walk as Jesus walked. We’re also told to walk alongside other people. Here are three reasons to walk with other people:

• It’s safer. Have you ever walked alone at night through a dark alley or down a lonely country road? It’s a little scary. But if you have another person with you, you immediately feel safer.

• It’s supportive. Life is not a fifty-yard dash; it’s a marathon. Walking with other people gives you the energy to keep on going until the end.

• It’s smarter. You learn more by walking with others than by walking alone. If you’re walking alone in the wrong direction, you may never realize it. But if you have a friend alongside you, one of you is likely to recognize you’ve veered off the path and need to find the right direction.

We also learn some important lessons when we walk alongside other people. We learn how to get along with others, how to cooperate.
We also learn how to love. Genesis 2:18 tells us, “It is not good for the man to be alone”(NIV). God hates loneliness, and community is God’s answer to loneliness. When we walk alongside other people, we find a community where we learn how to love.
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Walking alongside other people also teaches us hospitality. 1 Peter 4:9 says, “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling”(NIV). What’s your grumble? What’s your excuse for not opening your home to friends?
Maybe you’ve said, “My home is dirty!”
Well, clean it up!
Or perhaps your excuse is: “My home isn’t big enough.”
Can you put three people in it? Jesus says, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20 NIV).

Everybody has a longing for belonging because God made us for relationships. When we walk alongside other Christians in community, we find that longing satisfied.

Relay for Life ~ Forest

Relay for Life ~ Forest from AnneMarie Kierstead on Vimeo.

Experiencing Life Together

We experience authenticity in genuine fellowship.  Fellowship is not superficial, surface-level interaction.  It's genuine, sometimes gut-level sharing.  It happens when people honestly share themselves--their thoughts, felling, doubts, fears, strengths, and weaknesses.  Of course, this is quite a risk, requiring both courage and humility.  It means facing our fear of exposure, rejection, and being hurt again.  Why would anyone take such a risk?  Because it is the only way to grow spiritually.

We experience mutuality and sympathy in genuine fellowship.  Mutuality is the art of giving and receiving.  It's depending on each other.  Mutuality is the heart of fellowship: building reciprocal relationships, sharing responsibilities, and helping each other.  Sympathy is understanding and affirming someone's feelings.  It meets two fundamental human needs: the need to be understood and the need to have your feelings validated.  Sympathy says, "I know what you're going through and what you feel is neither strange nor crazy."  Sympathy is entering in and sharing the pain.
The Purpose-Driven Life - Day 18


Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

Healing Heart and Mind

Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, P. 55


Since it is true that God comes to me through people, I can see that by keeping people at a distance I also keep God at a distance.  God is nearer to me than I think and I can experience Him by loving people and allowing people to love me.  But I can neither love nor be loved if I allow my secrets to get in the way.

It's the side of myself that I refuse to look at that rules me.  I must be willing to look at the dark side in order to heal my mind and heart because that is the road to freedom.  I must walk into darkness to find the light and walk into fear to find peace.

By revealing my secrets - and thereby ridding myself of guilt - I can actually change my thinking: by altering my thinking, I can change myself.  My thoughts create my future.  What I will be tomorrow is determined by what I think today.
Daily Reflections May 1 

What Matters Most

The best expression of love is time.  Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it.  You can make more money but you can't make more time.  When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you'll never get back.  Your time is your life.  That's why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.  Whenever you give your time you're making a sacrifice, and sacrifice is the essence of love.

The entire law is summed up in a single command:
"Love your neighbour as yourself." 

Self-Examination ~ Daily Reflections April 20

.....we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.  ~Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 86 ~

When said sincerely, this prayer teaches me to be truly unselfish and humble, for even in doing good deeds I often used to seek approval and glory for myself.  By examining my motives in all that I do, I can be of service to God and others, helping them do what they want to do.  When I put God in charge of my thinking, much needless worry is eliminated and I believe He guides me throughout the day.  When I eliminate thoughts of self-pity, dishonesty and self-centeredness as soon as they enter my mind, I find peace with God, my neighbor and myself.

"I am a miracle"

The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves. 
Alcoholics anonymous, p. 25


This truly is a fact in my life today, and a real miracle. I always believed in God, but could never put that belief meaningfully into my life.  Today, because of Alcoholics Anonymous, I now trust and rely on God, as I understand Him: I am sober today because of that!  Learning to rust and rely on God was something I could never have done alone.  I now believe in miracles because I am one! 

When serving God, listen to your heart

Wednesday December 30 2009 Posted by Rick Warren A man's heart reflects the man. Proverbs 27:19 (NIV) The Bible uses the term "heart" to describe the bundle of desires, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams, and affections that you have. Your heart represents the source of all your motivations -- what you love to do and what you care about most. Even today, we still use the word in this way when we say, "I love you with all my heart." The Bible says what is in your heart is what you really are, not what others think you are, or what circumstances force you to be (Proverbs 27:19). Your heart is the real you. It determines why you say the things you do, why you feel the way you do, and why you act the way you do. Physically, each of us has a unique heartbeat. Just as we each have unique thumbprints, eye prints, and voiceprints, our hearts beat in slightly different patterns. It's amazing that out of all the billions of people who've ever lived, no one has ever had a heartbeat exactly like yours. In the same way, God has given each of us a unique emotional "heartbeat" that races when we think about the subjects, activities, or circumstances that interest us. We instinctively care about some things and not about others. These are clues to where you should be serving. Another word for heart is passion. There are certain subjects that you feel deeply passionate about and others that you couldn't care less about. Some experiences turn you on and capture your attention, while others turn you off or bore you to tears. These reveal the nature of your heart; listen for inner promptings that can point to the ministry God intends for you to have. When you were growing up you may have discovered that you were intensely interested in some subjects that no one else in your family cared about. Where did those interests come from? They came from God! God had a purpose in giving you these inborn interests. Your emotional heartbeat is a key to understanding your shape for service. Don't ignore your interests; consider how they might be used for God's glory. There is a reason that you love to do these things. Listen for inner promptings that can point to the ministry God intends for you to have.

Daily Resolutions

The idea of "twenty-four-hour living"  applies primarily to the emotional life of the individual.  Emotionally speaking, we must not live in yesterday, nor in tomorrow. 
As Bill sees it, p. 284


A new Year: 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes -- a time to consider directions, goals, and actions.  I must make some plans to live a normal life, but also I must live emotionally within a twenty-four-hour frame, for if I do, I don't have to make New Year's resolutions! I can make every day a New Year's day!  I can decide, "Today I will do this.... Today I will do that."  Each day I can measure my life by trying to do a little better, by deciding to follow God's will and by making an effort to put the principles of our A.A. program into action. 

The Four Laws of God's Blessing - by Rick Warren

November 09, 2009 The Four Laws of God’s Blessing by Rick Warren "I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you . . . and you will be a blessing to others" (Genesis 12:2 NLT).

The Bible teaches that we should use our blessings to bless others: Our blessings should flow to others The Bible teaches us that we are blessed not just so that we can feel good, not just so we can be happy and comfortable, but so that we will bless others. God told Abraham, "I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others" (Genesis 12:2 NLT). This is the first law of blessing: it must flow outwardly. When we bless others, God takes care of our needs God promises that if we will concentrate on blessing others, he'll take care of our needs. There's almost nothing that God won't do for the person who really wants to help other people. In fact, God guarantees this blessing. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth . . . no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life" (Luke 18:29-30 NIV). When you care about helping other people, God assumes responsibility for your problems. And that's a real blessing, for he's much better at handling your difficulties than you are. Our blessings to others will come back on us The more you bless other people . . . the more you help others, the more God blesses your life. Luke tells us, "Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back--given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity" (Luke 6:38 MSG). You cannot out give God. The more you try to bless other people in the world around you, the more God says, "I'm going to pour blessings out on you. We'll play a little game here. Let's see who will win. Let's see who can give the most. The more you bless others the more I'm going to bless you in return." The more we're blessed by God the more He expects us to help others. Jesus said it this way: "Much is required from the person to whom much is given; much more is required from the person to whom much more is given" (Luke 12:48 TEV). Would you agree that based on the blessings of your life you probably have a greater responsibility than other people in the world? If you live in the United States, I'm sure you’d agree, because it's obvious we've been given freedom that many people don't have. We've been given opportunities that many people don't have. We've been given material and physical and spiritual abundance that a lot of people around the world simply do not have. Think this through with me. If I've been blessed more than the rest of the world then it would stand to reason that God would want me to care about the rest of the world. Does that make sense?

Christ Church welcomes Michelle

Beautiful day, beautiful people, beautiful music.

Great food and drink. 

Thanks be to God.

(video 7:30 minutes)