"A Pastor With Guts"

Thought you might enjoy this interesting prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It seems Prayer still upsets some people. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek your direction and Guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those Who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we Have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it the Lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it Welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it Choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it Justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our Children and called it Building self esteem..

We have abused power and called it Politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it Ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it Freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it Enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Amen!


The response was immediate. A number of Legislators walked out during the prayer in Protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls Responding negatively. The church is now receiving International requests for copies of this prayer From India , Africa and Korea .

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on His radio program, 'The Rest of the Story,'and Received a larger response to this program than any Other he has ever aired.

With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep Over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called 'one nation Under God.'

PASS THIS ON!!

(find out who the law makers was vote them out if you can!)

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/wright.asp

ALTAR CALL!!

this was pointed out Friday night, and brought me back to my youth ("back in my day ..." sort thing) and there is a young man who is always the FIRST to hit the altar. I am happy to see this, my youth group use to do this when i was about 16-18years of age, then some fell away from the awesome wonderfulness of God (why? i cant figure that out). i have some quotes in front of my bible and one of them is:

The Future of the Church is @ the altar

i truly believe that, our youth (and my gen - i'm still young!) need to know that the altar isn't just for sin or the sinner BUT for the saints (actually mostly for the saints). A thought came to me some time back and that was in the old testament (I'm sure this is right) if you wanted to be forgiven of a specific type of sin you had to lead your lamb, chicken or etc through town and EVERY one else knew the law and so when you trek through town heading for the temple they seen it. Today's time we think that if you go to the altar is for trouble or for seeking forgiveness - my friend its most certainly not. That place is the place of dedication and sacrifice - not just for the repenting of sin. healing, infilling of the holy ghost, dedication and renewals to God have happened there.

if you want to be in the future of the church you certainly can NOT do it with out an altar in your life - daily!

johnny James in-site:
two things to get through anything
1. prayer
2. preaching.

When we get comfortable we turn from something God holds dearly unto something such as puke or bile being spewed out of his mouth. God has NO respect for those riding the fence - living for God one day and the world the next. you can not serve two Gods and its either Jesus or World. Choose you this day whom you may serve.

Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

(read the entire chapter, its quite good)

??IS HE YOUR FRIEND, OR A FRIEND OF A FRIEND??

better watch yourself!

what do you enjoy of - me going off on rants (kinda like preaching from the keyboard) or a detailed studied out message (goes into detail w/ alot of scripture)??

Watch your thoughts; they become words
Watch your words; they become actions
Watch your actions; they become habits
Watch your habits; they become character
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny

-Frank Outlaw

The Ant & The Contact Lens

Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she was scared to death, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took a hold on the rope, and started up the face of that rock.

Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda's eye and knocked out her contact lens. Well, here she is on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn't there. Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to make it up the face of the cliff. She looked out across the range after range of mountains, thinking of that Bible verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." She thought, Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."

Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom. At the bottom there was a new part of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it?

An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it.

Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

I think it would probably do some of us good to occasionally say, "God, I don't know why You want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if You want me to carry it, I will."

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

(Phil 4:13)

Elisabeth Elliot published The story above in her 1995 book, "Keep A Quiet Heart" (Servant Publications, Ann Arbor Michigan). She says the story is a first-person account given to her from Brenda Foltz of Princeton, Minnesota.

http://www.liferiver.org/Stories/antlens.htm