• Nearly 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 12 are classified with substance abuse or dependence.
• Over 18 million adults suffer from alcohol use disorders.
• Alcohol and drug abuse costs the American economy an estimated $366 billion per year in lost productivity, health care expenditures and crime.
• Of the 22.2 million Americans who needed treatment for illicit drugs or alcohol, only 3.9 million received it.
• Among those who felt they needed treatment but did not receive it, 44% attributed it to cost or insurance barriers.
• 95 percent of all adults dependent on or abusing alcohol started drinking before age 21.
• If you are not addicted by the age of 25, it is less likely that you will become addicted to alcohol or illicit drugs.
• More than half of all adults have a family history of alcoholism or problem drinking.
• One-fourth of all persons admitted to general hospitals are admitted for problems related to alcohol.
• More than 100,000 deaths in the United States each year are attributable to excessive alcohol consumption.

In July of 1995 God gave us a vision of the end time harvest. It came in 3 stages, they intertwined and overlapped.

The first stage was the return of the prodigals, those that had once known God and had walked away. We will see many of those come in the next period. But probably the biggest example of this is what happened in 1995 with an outpouring that became known as the Toronto Blessing. It was all about the Fathers Love for His children and was predominately an outpouring on Christians. This was to last 3-5 years.

Then a pause in the vision as this generation was trained and raised up. A new group of people came through. Then there was a pause in moment but an over lapping in preparation once again this lasted for about 3-5 years.

Then I saw the last phase and it was a wave of people getting saved, being trained and heading out into the world and the mission field… it was a move without end.

People getting save, being released and flooding the earth. This move was to last for many years – I think for at least a generation. This move will spread God’s name over the whole earth….. it will make God famous.
I am not saying that this is the last generation, the generation to usher in the return of Christ, but I do know that everything has a beginning. Everything must start.

So we stand quite possibility on the edge of destiny, with our toes in an end time move of God.

What will this move look like? I don’t know exactly, but here are some thoughts…..
1. It will be a revival of old fashion doctrine.

Not old fashion religion, but doctrine…healing, deliverance, miracles. Not flaky but real.

2. Personal Godliness and consecration.

Out of this move will arise a generation who will see themselves as called. They will set themselves apart, not from anything, but set themselves apart FOR God.

• Strength beyond human attributes.
• Strength beyond emotions and cozy circumstances.
• Strength of purpose and dedication of mind and disciple of soul.

3. It will be a revival that touches our homes and impacts our communities.

A revival of love…for each other, our children, our parents, our spouses.

The Word and worship will be given pre-eminence in the home. Fathers taking responsibility for discipleship.

• Social reform.
• Christians in influential places.
• Christian organization and people having influential voices.
• It will be a move of signs and wonders – the evidences that support the claims of Christ and the statement of Christians.

4. What this move of God won’t be.

A breeze.
Obtained without price.
Obtained with out faith.
Maintain without perseverance and tenacity.

Phillip Brooks (1835 - 1893)
Do not pray for easy lives, pray to be stronger men.
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your tasks.
Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
What does not kill me makes me stronger.

Phillip Brooks (1835 - 1893)
Do not pray for easy lives, pray to be stronger men.
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your tasks.
Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
What does not kill me makes me stronger.

“For my strength is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God’s work well and triumphantly, is a sense of our own weakness. When God’s warrior marches forth to battle, strong in his own might, when he boasts, “I know that I shall conquer, my own right arm and my conquering sword shall get unto me the victory,” defeat is not far distant.

God will not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength. He who reckoneth on victory thus has reckoned wrongly, for “it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” They who go forth to fight, boasting of their prowess, shall return with their gay banners trailed in the dust, and their armour stained with disgrace.

Those who serve God must serve Him in His own way, and in His strength, or He will never accept their service. That which man doth, unaided by divine strength, God can never own. The mere fruits of the earth He casteth away; He will only reap that corn, the seed of which was sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of divine love.

God will empty out all that thou hast before He will put His own into thee; He will first clean out thy granaries before He will fill them with the finest of the wheat. The river of God is full of water; but not one drop of it flows from earthly springs. God will have no strength used in His battles but the strength which He Himself imparts.

Are you mourning over your own weakness? Take courage, for there must be a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give thee victory. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your lifting up.

“When I am weak then am I strong, Grace is my shield and Christ my song.”

Over time, I have come to believe that the quality of a holiday is not dependent upon ones location, but on ones reading matter.

A good book transports you, entertains you, relaxes you, stimulates you, and revives you, regardless of where you are sitting and what others are doing.

Well I don’t know him, but I hear he is a great guy.

With all the years we spent working for Brian Houston at Hillsong Church in Australia, I must say Brain was one of the most down to earth men I ever met, worked with, shared a meal with, or traveled with. If you think of the influence and position he had in our nation and around the world, he was still so approachable and personable.

I hear it is the same for Joel - he is a nice guy. But I have people at church ask me all the time about his books, sermons etc.
So, here is a thought for you who get a little concerned - I don’t know if you can call what he preaches ‘balanced’ theologically or sound doctrine.

I agree it is positive. I think you can get something out of it. But then people say they get something out of Oprah and Tony Robbins and neither of them are Chrsitians.

So, maybe for those who find his statements like, “I’m very careful about saying who would and wouldn’t go to heaven. I don’t know…” a little hard to handle from the guy who’s marketing department is calling him America’s Pastor, here is an idea for you.

Read Joel for a pep talk or a motivational lift, but please don’t confuse it for the full council of God or even sound theology, it is simply not the the sort of stuff you can base your faith on.

Here are the notes from tonight’s communion message:

—-

(I Corinthians 11:23- 26).

“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes”

The Last Supper – or Holy Communion was instituted at the time of the celebration of Passover.

When Jesus celebrated the supper with his disciples and Paul wrote about it later, he used the Greek word anamnesis.
We translate it ‘remember’, but, it means something far richer than what we usually mean by remember.

Passover was a meal of anamnesis.
God instituted it precisely for the purpose of searing the memory of His deliverance of His people from Egypt into their minds. “This day shall be a remembrance for you.” (anamnesis in the Greek OT) (Exodus 12: 14)

The Passover rituals were not merely recalling an event; they were a ritual way of making the past present. When a Jewish family gathers for Passover they realize, “We are those people.” It’s our Exodus. So, when the Jews remember the Exodus they are actually participating in it. ??That’s also what Jesus meant when He invited us to eat this meal in remembrance of Him.

When we have communion in remembrance of Jesus tonight, we do it with  that special kind of remembrance.

There is an old Negro spiritual someone asks: “Were you there when he shared the bread and wine?” the answer is, “Yes, I am there.”

Because when we do this in remembrance of Him, we are saying and believing that we join with those disciples at that table, that He is sharing His body and blood with us.

That last meal Jesus had with His disciples becomes our own experience:

•    You become one of those disciples to whom He gave the bread as His body.
•    You become one of those to whom He gave the wine as His blood.
•    You become one of those for whom He was about to give His life for their freedom and salvation.

I know this guy.

He not only works for Microsoft but United Airlines and Cingular support.

Junk Science: Hey Al Gore, We Want a Refund!

Friday , October 19, 2007

By Steven Milloy

British judge ruled on the eve of Al Gore co-winning the Nobel Peace Prize that students forced to watch “An Inconvenient Truth” must be warned of the film’s factual errors. But would there be any science at all left in Gore’s “truth” if these errors and their progeny were excised?Minutes of non-science filler dominate the opening sequence — images of the Gore farm, Earth from space, Gore giving his slideshow and the 2000 election controversy. Gore then links Hurricane Katrina with global warming. But the judge ruled that was erroneous, so the Katrina scenes would wind up on the cutting-room floor.

Another 12 minutes of filler go by — images of Gore in his limo, more Earth photos, a Mark Twain quote, and Gore memories — until about the 16:30 minute mark, when, according to the judge, Al Gore erroneously links receding glaciers — specifically Mt. Kilimanjaro — with global warming.

The Mt. Kilimanjaro error commences an almost 10-minute stretch of problematic footage, the bulk of which contains Gore’s presentation of the crucial issue in the global warming controversy — whether increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide drive global temperatures higher. As the judge ruled that the Antarctic ice core data presented in the film “do not establish what Mr. Gore asserts,” this inconvenient untruth also needs to go. [Note to readers: A video debate between Al Gore and climatologists on this point produced by me can be viewed by clicking here.]

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