When I began I didn’t understand the extent I would have to go. I knew I wanted to serve God. God began to train me in ways I should go. He never forced me to accept any task, other than being a Christian. God always would place the decision before me and ask. As He began to train me, I would see what was required of me to complete the task. What I didn’t know was that I had the power from the beginning. I has enough power to do anything God wanted me to. The only thing I didn’t have was discipline. The discipline came with the training and putting into practice God’s principles. The more I did the better I became. It was exciting to see God in action. When I placed myself into the situation, God began to work on my behalf. But I always had to place myself into the situation. God doesn’t gave His power freely to anyone. To use the sword of the Spirit takes practice. Ask any soldier, it is the training that kicks in, in the middle of battle. You have to know and execute training to be successful in battle. Sometimes it takes years of practice to get it right. Roman soldiers were trained for 5 years before they ever entered battle. The Roman soldiers could defend 6 feet of earth unto the death. This is one reason the Roman army was unstoppable. It doesn’t take 5 years of training to fight a battle in the kingdom of God. From the beginning, we wage war. The battles aren’t so big, but praying a headache away is a major victory. So we study to show ourselves approved of God. With each victory, our confidence in God and ourselves grows. So begin the battle and pray until the victory comes. And you will never be the same again. Good Hunting.

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There are many reasons why the cross is offensive. It is the symbol of death. The Romans used the cross very effectively. Anyone who fought against Rome was put to death on the cross. When the Romans captured Spartacus and all the slaves, they crucified all of them. They lined the Appian Way from Rome to the sea with crosses. In Jerusalem, the Romans used a certain hill to crucify people. It was called Golgotha, the place of the skull. In the Jewish writings, it was a curse to hang on a tree or to be crucified on a tree. This is why Jesus hung on the cross. He took the curse for us. So we would be free to come to God. I am going to tell you something I am ashamed of. I stood before that cross and yelled crucify him. I didn’t want to suffer the pain of dying. I would let someone else suffer the death I deserved. What I didn’t know was that Jesus paid the price to redeem me. As ugly and rotten as I was, He did this for me because He loved me. No greater love has anyone than he would lay down his life for another. I scream hatred at Jesus as He loved me. The cross is so powerful that no one can discredit it. No one can take away from it. Jesus not only did this for me, but for all of mankind, past, present or future. When I read about the crucifixion it still bothers me. It has never lost its power. Have you looked at the cross lately? Everyone knows what the cross looks like because everyone has been at that cross screaming crucify him.

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I worked for a Christian radio station several years ago. On the station we had different kinds of preacher on the air. They were from different denominations. They would preach in the morning. Then in the afternoon we would play Christian music. There was one preacher we put on Saturday morning because he annoyed everyone. Even though he was annoying we knew that he was important in God’s economy to air on the station. One Saturday morning I was working and I get a phone call. This brother was angry because of what this preacher had said on the air. I began to talk this fellow down from being angry. I asked him who was angry. Then I asked him if he knew what Jesus said about anger. He said he did know. Then I asked him if he was right to be angry. He said no it wasn’t right. I could hear the anger dissipating. As he came to his senses. He knew that Jesus didn’t want us anger at any brother for any reason. Then I began to explain why God had this man preaching on the radio. I told him this man wasn’t a popular preacher for a reason. The brother was an exhorter. He would preach until a person would erupt and begin to see what was inside of themselves. The job of exhorter was needful in the kingdom of God. They would show you what is in your heart. Once you saw what was there, then God could begin to heal you. God always deals with us a little at a time. It is never all at once because the pain would be too great. The man came to an understanding why this preacher was so annoying and we prayed for him together. Does God need to send an annoying person for you to come to the understanding that you are a sinner and separated from God?

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How many people have waged a battle against whatever? Everyone has waged a degree of war against an enemy. I ran track in high school. I had to run for endurance. I practiced daily until one day I ran the hundred yard dash in 10 seconds. I also was in the choir. We practiced every day to train my voice. There were many battles that I fought. When it came time for to serve in the military, it was no stretch of the imagination. I had been fighting battles all my life. But now the battles were serious because I was putting my life on the line. I have fought many enemies but my driving force was always to win. Until I came to God the battles were minor. As I learned of God, I became aware of how serious His battles are. They were always for someone life. I can’t tell you that I have won every battle. But I have won the majority. The cost is too high to do otherwise. It has taking a toll on me. I won’t tell you differently. I have trained as a soldier and have offensive weapons. These weapons are mighty and very powerful. I have prayed for hurricanes that were headed to my home on the Gulf Coast. They ended up in the deserts of Texas. I have prayed for electrical storms that never hit anything. But the biggest battle was against death itself. The battle lasted for 7 hours and the man lived. But the goal was always winning the battle. It took time and effort to get me to that place. I has been worth the effort to see God’s will come to pass. Anyone who is willing to put time and effort into developing their effectiveness in the plan of God should do so. I don’t know how long this world will last. But at the rate it is going, it is no hold barred.

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Life is precious, whether it is new or old. The people of the United States celebrated their Independence Day. For 400 years people have been coming to this country. They have come because they were looking for freedom. They came because of an opportunity to live their lives the way they wanted to. The freedom of speech, to be able to speak the truth. The freedom of worship, to honor God in their own way. The freedom from want, to be able to provide for your family. The freedom from fear, to be able to live their lives free from oppression. My family came to this country in the early 1600’s and settled in Boston, Mass. Each generation defended the rights of freedom against all enemies. Many lost their lives defending this country. Abraham Lincoln said it more eloquently than I could ever. In the Gettysburg Address,  he said, “that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

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All my life I have tried to tell the truth. I learned young that being caught in a lie was sometimes worse than telling the truth. When a person is born they instinctively know how to lie, cheat and steal. Every baby has done this. And no one can say otherwise. A child will cry to get what he wants or take toys from other children. This behavior can be corrected in a child’s life. The bible says that the rod of discipline will drive foolishness from the heart of a child. Man is born corrupt. God doesn’t attribute sin to a child until he reaches the age of reason. The age of reason is about 12 or 13 years old. That was the age when I started talking to my sons and not spanking them. Why is a child like that? What is the reason? When a person is born, they are born into sin and corruption. It is because of the sin of Adam and Eve. God makes a way for us to be redeemed. We are redeemed out of the sinful nature and into God’s family. Did you know that God considered lying as wrong as murder? You see the devil is the father of all lies. When you lie you serve the devil. Since I came to God, I have been very careful about talking. I have sometimes not talked to people just because I am judicious about my words. When I first got married, my wife would have to pull the words out of me. It is not that I don’t talk. It is that I speak carefully. I don’t ramble on about the color of my shoes. That is how my saying came about. The whole saying is say what you mean and mean what you say. Then no one will misunderstand you.

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I love to watch the sky and look at cloud formations. Sometimes I am not so careful because I look at clouds when I am driving. This morning the sky was fill with red clouds. They were in a most unusual pattern. I should have stopped and took a picture but I didn’t. Did you know that the sky is a witness to God’s love? So are the forests filled with beautiful trees and rivers that run into the sea? The birds in the air and the animals that roam the earth all testify of God and His love for us. There are so many people trying to explain the earth and all the things in it. And it is sad that most of them don’t believe that God is. I have never been able to grow a tree because I said so. I can’t change the color of my hair on command. I can’t grow taller by saying it. But God set in motion all these things for me. The sun rises and set on time because of God. God made the earth and all the creatures for our pleasure. And all these things do one thing loud and clear, they testify of God, Himself. It has always amazed me how people try so hard to prove that there is no God. And after God made the earth, He made man and place him in the midst of it. God gave man dominion of all the earth. Of course, man has tried to destroy it as fast as he could. That is why I look at the sky and the clouds. I want to see God in His creation. Every so often I see God in man. When I do it brings tears to my eyes. This is how man was always supposed to be. God has always want His beauty to shine in man. It can happen, I know I have seen it. All it takes is a willing heart. God has always been right there next to you. All you have to do is ask.

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Many people talk about exercising their right to freedom. But they hardly ever talk about their responsibilities to those very freedoms. You see freedom isn’t free. We as a people have responsibilities with every freedom we enjoy. Our right to freedom of speech doesn’t include the right to destroy anyone. Because then we take away their right to freedom. Our right to freedom of assembly, doesn’t include the right to force anyone away or out of their lawful assembly. Other freedoms are of religion, the right to bear arms, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, double jeopardy, to a speedy trial, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, not to be a slave, right to citizenship and the right to vote. With these freedoms come the responsibility to be lawful under the law, civic duties, to serve in the military and to right to vote on the laws of the land. We are a people of laws and freedoms. This is why people all over the world want to come and live in this country. It hasn’t changed in over 500 years. And the opportunity to immigrate is regulated by the people of this country. But other people’s opportunity to immigrate doesn’t override our rights and freedoms. We celebrate our freedoms and the choices we made to get there. We also honor the men and women who gave their lives to preserve our freedoms. It is right and just that we as a people remember our rights and responsibilities for our freedom on this day of independence. It is what our founding fathers wanted. For those people who God has set free, we are free in thought, word and deed.

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My father served in WWII. He served in all theaters of the war. He first fought in Alaska. Then he transfer to the Signal Corps and they shipped to England. He went to Africa with the 3^rd Army. After Africa he went back to England. There he was involved with D-Day. My father land on Omaha beach on D-Day +1. He served again in the 3^rd Army until Germany surrendered. I have a picture of him with Uncle Neal, a medical doctor also army captain, at Berchtesgaden. When I was old enough to ask dad about WWII, he never wanted to say anything. My brother and I served during the Vietnam war. That’s when I found out why dad never wanted to talk about his service to our country. Dad died 32 years ago. But there are still men and women alive who served in WWII. Service to our country is honorable. And we should be thankful for the people who did just that. We enjoy a lot of freedoms that we wouldn’t have if they wouldn’t have. It is just a shame that the only time that people come together is in time our world crisis. Billions of dollars were spent to save our world, maybe we need to do this for our own betterment.

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When Jesus was born, there was in the night sky a star. It wasn’t a star particularly. It was an alignment of planets. Scientists today have studied the alignment and have said it was the moon, Saturn and Jupiter. The scientists of Jesus’ time also studied the alignment and determined that there was something great about to happen. The three men or kings from the east where Parthians or Persians. They had studied the night sky for years. It was their scientific study. They knew that the star was aligning over Israel. It took them months to reach Jerusalem at the right time. How they knew that a king was being born no one knows. When they reached Jerusalem, they went to see King Herod. He knew nothing about the star or the new king. They asked the religious scholars to read from the ancient text, the bible, to tell them where to go. Herod pretended to be interested to find out where this new king was. He intended to kill this person. Herod instructed the three kings to tell him where the new king was when they found him. The three kings knew that Herod was lying. They went to Bethlehem and found Jesus and His parents. They gave Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. The English translation of the Hebrew text called the three kings, wise men. They were intellectuals of the day. But what they found was more precious than gold. God warned them not to go back to Herod. They took another way home. When Herod found out, he was enraged. He sent an army to Bethlehem. He had all the children up to 2 years old killed. Joseph warned by God, took his family and went to Egypt until Herod died.  Thank God, He intervenes in the affairs of man.

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