Search For Jesus

Most people avoid changes in their routine or lifestyle. Change is typically only embraced only after a major event or crisis. In other words, change only comes when it has to, when the norm becomes unbearable.

The same goes with becoming a Christian. Most people will not just become a Christian out of the blue. It takes a major revelation to occur. Something must happen that opens ones eyes to God’s nature, or something must happen that lets one know that they are living life on the wrong path and there must be a change to live a life that is more pleasing to God.

No matter what the reason is that is bringing you to the Lord, please come to the table with an open mind and open heart and welcome God’s love into your life.

To become a Christian, there are six steps that can be taken to be saved. It is arguable that there are more steps and that this is over simplifying things, but these steps get down to the nitty gritty of the situation.

1, Acknowledge or admit that you need a Savior.
2, Accept Christ’s work on the cross as being worthy of being your Savior.
3, Repent the sins that you’ve committed and reject the sin in your life.
4, Pray to God. This is simply talking to God or calling upon Him. A conversation.
5, Share your Good News with others.
6, Acknowledge or admit that you need a savior

Once you accept Jesus Christ as your savior, your life will forever be changed. You will realize that there is more to life than material things and pleasures of the flesh. We are here as part of God’s plan. Each of us has a role to play in God’s kingdom. It is also important that you bring others to the Lord. You can do this directly by talking about God with others, or as passively as simply wearing Christian T-Shirts. What is important is that you share God’s love with others.

Most people agree that we are going through some of the most difficult times our nation has faced in decades. Through these rough times we are faced with many different issues that arise. In most cases, one event or reality affects another. We are forced to make decisions and do the best with what we have been given.

The current economic situation provides a good opportunity for Pasadena Churches, religious organizations, private institutions, or faith based organizations. Because most of these groups are often times in a struggle with financial resources, these times provide great opportunity for them to establish better placement and network with local businesses.

After driving down Colorado Blvd, which is one of the main streets in Pasadena California, I began noticing all the vacant store fronts that had been abandoned. Over the past weeks I’ve noticed more and more of these empty buildings. The reality is that many businesses are having a difficult time making ends meet in today’s market. It can be a struggle just to keep the doors open.

Our religious organization decided to act upon this. We had been meeting in the backyard of someone’s house. Because we only gather once a week, we decided to make the move to a better location near Colorado Blvd. We went from business to business, trying to find an owner that would partner with us and allow us to rent out the space on the weekend.

As it turns out, we found someone that was delighted to have us rent their space on the weekend. In fact, her business had been down and our group wanted to meet at a time when her business was closed. We are both helping out each other and working together for the better of each group.

Commercial Real Estate
The idea of partnering is one option. But an even better option exists if the non profit has enough money to support it. It is a long term idea and it can be considered more of an investment. Since the supply of lease availability is high and the demand is low, religious organizations or non profits can get into long term leases at a highly discounted rate. It is often times in the best interest of the owner to get them leased out even if the price is lower than it was a year ago. It is a great time for Pasadena Churches to look for Pasadena Real Estate.

TO RULE THE UNIVERSE - PEACE IS THE FORCE

QUOTE: Hatred never ceases by Hatred but by Love is Healed. This is the Ancient and Eternal law. Dhammapada

In the begining the God and godess held an election who would be best suited to rule the Universe.

The first Candidate was Agnidevaputra, the God of Fire. “I am the strongest”, he said, so I shall rule.

Witness my power. Then, a he begin to chant in a loud voice, ahuge fire rose up from the centre of the Universe and began to burn everywhere.

The other Gods and Godess trembled with fear and they all raised their hands to elect Agnidevaputra except Valahakedeputra the God of Water.

Valahakedeputra said, “I can control fire”. And immediately, he created a huge deluge to extinguish the fire.

As the water rose higher and higher, all the other God and Godess raised their hands to vote for him except Saradadevi. the Godess of Art and Wisdom.

Saradadevi said, fire and water can frighten and kill people but I give birth to beauty. When I begin to dance you will relax and completely forget Fire and Water.

Saradadevi then dance and sing and all the God and Godess became entranced. Instead of drinking water through their mouth,they begin pouring wine into their ears, eyes and nose.

Awed by Saradadevi power the God and Godess raised their hansd to vote except Gandharva, the God of Celestial Music.

Gandharva said “Woman can overcome Man, but Man can also overcome Woman”. Then he begin to play his Heavenly guitar and sing, all the God and Godess swooned as the music flowed through the hall.

As if in a stupor, they all raised their hands, except Santidevaputra, the God of Peace, Mindfulness and clear Comprehension.

Santidavaputra said, “I am the God of Peace. I always practice mindfulness and clear comprehension. Whether all vote for me or no, I rule Myself.

To rule the Universe, you must first rule Yourself. To rule Yourself, you must be able to rule your own mind.

To rule your mind, you must practice mindfulness and clear comprehension. Immediately all the God and Godess recognised Santidevaputra’s strength and elected him unanimously. They understand and realised that Peace is the strongest force of the world.

Be mindfulness to live happily and peacefully.

Jon Straumfjord wrote

Not only is faith a characteristic of God Himself, it is also a characteristic of Jesus Christ, which He demonstrated when He lived as a man. First of all, it was a supreme act of faith on Jesus’ part simply to live as a man. Jesus, as God, had lived forever, and, along with the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Seven Spirits of God, had always been a part of God. In becoming a man, Jesus willfully chose to live as a man, without any of the benefits of the power of God. In fact, if Jesus had at any time decided to use his Godly abilities and powers, He would no longer be able to represent mankind and become the propitiation for our sins. The entire plan of salvation would become null and void.

Consider the temptation of Christ:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:1-4, NKJV)

Satan was not a fool, the whole point of the first temptation was to encourage Jesus to act as God. If Jesus had chosen to act as God and turned the stones to bread, which as God was certainly His right, He would no longer be living as a man and would no longer be qualified to become the sacrifice for mankind. Now admittedly He could have acted as a man and commanded the stones to become bread by the power of the Holy Spirit, but then He would be submitting both Himself and the Holy Spirit to the will of Satan rather than to the will of the Father. It must be understood that Jesus never acted as God when He came to live as a man. All the power and authority that He exercised as a man, He obtained and wielded through the Holy Spirit, even as we have available to us today.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, NKJV)

“Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. (John 5:19-21, NKJV)

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:12-14, NKJV)

Notice that Jesus said that we would not only do the very same things that He did when He lived as a man, but we would do even greater things. This can only be true if Jesus lived His life completely as a man. If at any time He had ever succumbed to the temptation to exert His own power and authority, we would never be able to do the things Jesus did since they would only be available to God Himself.

Praise the Lord, Jesus completely laid aside His deity, not only for the sake of our salvation, but also for the sake of our empowerment as His representatives on earth. Let us strive to apprehend the power Jesus has made available to us!

Jim Straumfjord

I just deleted Jesus! Well maybe not Jesus Himself but rather another dreadful and manipulative e-mail that warned, “Send this to five (or ten or fifteen) people within five minutes of reading it or Jesus will deny you, too.”

Does your In Box get cluttered with these things? “Show Jesus you are not ashamed to tell everyone how you feel.” Sappy stories we have all read fifty times, dull recitations of Christian statistics, or imagined ‘laws’ against Believers being drafted by Congress. All dressed up in righteousness and laden with guilt. Those messages are not helpful. Jesus isn’t waiting to see how we’re going to respond. There is no real test involved and we need to tell the people who send those things out to just stop it. Such messages are not about religion but rather about being religious. Jesus expressed His feelings about that when He squashed the Sadducees and Pharisees in the temples. I think Jesus is really waiting to see if we will listen to Him rather than Forward Him. How can we serve Him if we are sitting in our warm and comfy offices reading those e-mails and dutifully sending them off to another fifteen people? I think He would prefer we hit the highways and byways to see what people need. Ever been in a grocery store where a mother had to select items to put back because she didn’t have quite enough money for everything? I think the Lord would be more impressed if we gave her the extra money than if we rushed back home to send her an e-mail about His love and compassion.

What if you hit the delete button on that message and went to a nursing home and visited five or six elderly people who are staring vacantly at Judge Judy or Montel Williams because no one bothers to sit down and ask them what they are thinking. How tragic it must be to have opinions and solutions running around in your head but just because you have grown old and feeble, no one thinks you have a brain. What if you dared to erase that drivel and instead went down to the local Salvation Army office and helped serve lunch to cold and hungry street people? I suppose the list of things you could do to serve the Lord is endless. Hospital visits. Baby sitting so tired young parents can have an evening out. Taking an elderly neighbor to a movie. I refuse to believe my Lord will be impressed if I stay home and forward that message to everyone in my address book, making them feel guilty for deleting it.

As Christians, let’s make a pact. We will delete Jesus from our In Box and go out into the world and do the things He asked us to do. Remember, He gave us a Great Commission, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19.

Harry