INFORMATION PAGES

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Week 14 April 1st - April 7th

SUNDAY               Judges 8-9    
MONDAY             Judges 10-12        
TUESDAY            Judges 13-15
WEDNESDAY    Judges 16 - 18
THURSDAY        Judges 19 -21
FRIDAY                Ruth 1 

SATURDAY         Samuel 1 - 3

I just finished reading last weeks chapters, and I don't pretend to understand all spiritual things, but I see such correlation between the physical activity of the Israelites, and what SHOULD BE the spiritual activity in our lives!
We are to take the land and obey God!  We fall short - we don't obey completely, we don't complete the task and then we wonder, God, why aren't I being blessed????  Sometimes, I wonder if the physical fight might not be easier than the battle in our hearts!  I don't know, but it's something to think about.  Was the physical fight any less or any more demanding than the spiritual one we fight?  Share your thoughts-just click on Comment below!
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GRACE-on demand is not only posted on the Blog, but beginning April, we will be posting the Sunday Sermon Blogs on Video! They'll be available both at YouTube, GodTube, and right here on Tide Turning Tales! Know someone who would enjoy 20 minutes of Bible Teaching on Video each week? Tell them about us, and pass on our link NOW, so they can sign up to receive the Video's Weekly in their email inbox.
LIVE DELIBERATELY; LOVE DELIBERATELY


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You are receiving this update because you signed up for THE UNITY PROJECT. (or you are signed up to follow TIDE TURNING TALES) Your comments, insights, questions or ideas are welcome, please keep them within the context of the two rules: NO ARGUMENTS (just state your view) USE SCRIPTURE (as valid as your opinion is, this isn't the forum for it).

Sunday, March 25, 2012

GRACE - on demand. Part 5

The elegant beauty of Gods favor and goodness.

Elegant - beautiful - favorable in the sight of God, the Creator of ALL.  Goodness - what is goodness?

I believe we are so convinced of our own "badness" that we just cannot accept any "goodness" without "working hard" on our part to have some semblence of "earning" it.

GRACE = the FREE gift of God the Creator to His creation in order that they may walk in harmony with Him without any sense of guilt, condemnation or unworthiness. 

GRACE= already paid for with a mighty price we can never replicate and must never even try to replicate!

GRACE= a sense of peace and calm, knowing you are loved, wanted, and treasured by ONE whose standard and demands you could never measure up to!  So He set you free from any sense of "measuring up".   He pays the price your freedom costs.  He "BLESSES" you.

GRACE= an incredible gift that draws you in and fills you up and declares that you are a part, a vital, imporant, loved part of a whole - a whole family.

GRACE= opening doors to everything good and right and joyful and clean and healthy and beneficial and extraordinary you've ever dreamed of and knew you could not achieve on your own, now yours by divine right and privilege as a child of the Living God.

And it comes with no strings attached.  Nope, none.  There is structure to living a GRACE filled life, but there are no strings.  Grace is the free gift - please see Grace - on demand Part 3 for details.   No strings means you can't earn it, so you can't LOSE IT either!  It's yours when you have opened your heart to the Salvation Jesus made available to you on the cross. See Grace - on demand Part 4 to understand what that means and how you receive it.

By structure, I don't mean there are rules, regulations and "steps" to be followed! * you guessed it!  See Grace - on demand Part 1.   Structure has to do with free operation within certain boundaries.  For instance, Paul declared "all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful" in I Corinthians 6:12 and 10:23. 

He was instructing the New Creations in Christ in living within the structure of Grace.  There is FREEDOM - but not every action of freedom enhances that freedom.  Your actions (sin for instance) can actually hinder your freedom...which is why I expressed earlier in Part 3 that Grace isn't freedom to sin but instead, freedom from sin. 

 Let me be graphic.  You are FREE.  If you choose to walk off the edge of a 60 story building, you may do so.  However, though you continue to be FREE in making that choice, you've crossed the boundaries of the structure, by your own choice, and the consequence of that choice IS NOT HELPFUL.  For you will by the law of gravity hit the ground at a rate hard enough to crush life from your body. 

You were free - but leaving the STRUCTURE of that freedom had a very bad end.  Graphic, I know, but you get the point I hope.  Grace operates within a structure - the structure of Gods loving will for His dear children.  Operate in the structure, and you will find such blessed joy!

Want to know more?  Join us on a journey through Gods Word, the Bible, at The Unity Project.  Contact us directly with any questions, thoughts, comments or concerns.  The great walk of Grace is not done in solitary, but in Unity with others.  God has so GRACIOUSLY called us to a family, so we can encourage, support and help one another.  By His Grace, we live and move and breathe and have our being.  Happy Grace to you!

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LIVE DELIBERATELY; LOVE DELIBERATELY

Friday, March 23, 2012

WEEK 13 March 25 - March 31


SUNDAY        Joshua 12-15
MONDAY       Joshua 16-18
TUESDAY      Joshua 19-21
WEDNESDAY   Joshua 22-24
THURSDAY      Judges 1-2
FRIDAY            Judges 3-5
SATURDAY     Judges 6-7

Things are starting to get exciting, and this is only the beginning!  The same God who came through time and again for Joshua and the Israelites is the one Who comes through for you and I over and over again.  Different ways each time, for each different situation, but there He is, on our side, for us and not against us!

Are you still watching for how the truths in the Old Testament are relevant to your life today?  Happy Reading!
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Don't forget, Sunday April 1st - Tide Turning Tales goes LIVE!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

MAMMON IN YOUR WAY?

Why are so many Christians struggling with finances?  Is it really money we struggle with, or is the financial struggle simply a symptom of a much wider, much deeper issue? I believe it is the latter. Money isn't necessarily our problem. Trusting God is our problem. Allow me to elaborate in hopes of illuminating.

God is our Provider - in every situation, for every situation and through every situation. There is NO blockage, issue or withholding on that side of things. He hasn't waited to long to provide, He provides before we even know about our own need!  So let's set this aside and concentrate on what's going on with US, that there appears to be such widespread lackin the lives of so many who serve the Lord.  I say appears to be, because although lack in our lives is VERY real to us, from Gods perspective, He knows He has provided and we just are not receiving.

What keeps us from receiving Gods provision and blessing in our lives? Oh, we could delve into faith and trust and sin - but would you allow me to bring a different thought process into the picture? There are a few things God has put on my heart, that you might find helpful for your situations as I have in mine.

God called us to be "set apart" from the world. In it, but not "of" it. We are to be different, peculiar, operating almost - no, that's not right, operating exactly the polar opposite of how the world operates.  Trusting in what our eyes do not see yet.  Trusting in what our hearts are not certain of - yet.

Are we operating in what can only be called faith? Collectively, churches for the most part aren't behaving very different from worldly activity. I won't go deep here, because that isn't what I'm trying to highlight. I point to the churches only in that they influence the thought patterns and behaviors of the individual.

Individually, are we set apart? Do our actions, words, dress, behavior and lifestyle choices indicate that there is something VERY different about us?  Are we operating differently from the ways of this world? Are we holding God in our hearts as Holy, Just, Pure, Perfect and Worthy of ALL Honor and Worship? 

Do we REALLY have NOTHING above or even NEXT to Him as the Only True God? I'm not concerned here with tithing, giving, or other "behavior" issues.   That's for another place or time.  I'm not saying they aren't of importance, only that in this short amount of time I have your attention, I want to focus a very bright spotlight on this one item:

DO WE HAVE OTHER GODS CROWDING THE THRONE OF OUR HEARTS?

Before we can even begin to address any other issues, we MUST have this issue laid to rest. There is no magic action, no perfect behavior, no list of rules, no "TO DO" list from which we can check everything off and reach the goal. The hard work of humbling our hearts before the Living God and in AGREEMENT WITH HIM examining honestly all our thoughts and fears and desires and hopes and CLEANING HOUSE in our hearts, so to speak, is the only true way we can be "set apart" to His will, in the world but not "of" it.

Over the next several weeks I hope you'll join us in a journey of heart examination as individuals in order that when we come together as a Body in our churches, we will be found "peculiar" by the world and our very differences will draw them to be interested and want to know WHY we are different, joyful, peaceful, powerful and SUCCESSFUL even though we are subject to the same hurts, setbacks, pitfalls and issues as everyone else.

Meanwhile:
LIVE DELIBERATELY; LOVE DELIBERATELY
DId you know?  April 1st - Sunday - Tide Turning Tales goes LIVE via YouTube  and each successive Sunday.  Join the discussion ONLINE - sign up now for #automagic updates in your inbox each week.
ps- share us with your friends, won't you?  Especially those who don't like to "go to church".  THANK YOU!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Auto...what?!?!!?

Automagically.  Someone used that word to me recently, and instantly I thought to myself "Yea, that's how people wish it went with change."  Change is vital to the continuation of growth - yet we resist change at every, well, point of change!

We want it to happen instantly, we want it to happen without our even noticing it.  We want it to happen

                                                       AUTOMAGICALLY!

No thought or effort on our part, no uncomfortable moments as change takes place.  Just press a button or wave a wand and presto zesto! we are AUTOMAGICALLY changed into New Creations in Christ, who speak perfectly, act perfectly, assess situations perfectly and never have a misstep, misspoken word, difficult emotional reaction.  We are just CHANGED.

But.... it just doesn't work that way.  When I push certain buttons on my computer it works that way.  When I program my phone correctly, it seems to work that way.  When I hit the magic buttons on the remote control it's all PRESTO CHANGO with no effort from me!

But alas, the human being, though we are the most complicated computer ever invented, we have no magic chango button.  Only the difficult work of change brings about change.

These ideas and other practical applications of Biblical truth are coming your way ON VIDEO!   For us, this is a change!  After lots of prayer and thought and prompting from others, we've decided to begin "vlogging" I believe its called.  Instead of writing out these blogs, we'll video 15 - 20 minute segments, sharing encouraging words of Gods principles found in His matchless word. 

We'll video these segments, and then they will AUTOMAGICALLY appear here instead of the written word!  You can watch instead of read!  This is amazing!  Tell all your friends!!  I may still write some stuff in between, because I really like to write things, but every Sunday, we'll AUTOMAGICALLY post a video sharing something we hope you're going to find useful as you grow and #AUTOMAGICALLY change in Christ!

God bless you!  We'll see you (or rather, you'll see us) on Sunday beginning April 1st - and that's no joke!  We aren't fooling!

Sign up now to #AUTOMAGICALLY receive these updates in your email inbox!
Be sure to tell your friends.

LIVE DELIBERATELY * LOVE DELIBERATELY

Friday, March 16, 2012

SUCH EXCITEMENT!! WEEK 12 Mar 18 - Mar 24

The Chronological Order for this coming week:

SUNDAY    -         Deuteronomy 24-27
MONDAY    -        Deuteronomy 28-29
TUESDAY    -       Deuteronomy 30-31
WEDNESDAY    -   Deuteronomy 32-34 & Psalm 91*
THURSDAY    -   Joshua 1-4
FRIDAY    -           Joshua 5-8
SATURDAY    -     Joshua 9-11

I cannot speak for any but myself - this re-reading of the Old Testament is so exciting I can hardly stand it!  Not only have I been made RE-AWARE of the incredible filth in Gods eyes of our sin, reminding me how incredibly THANKFUL I am to live in this age of GRACE, but how true Gods words are, how applicable to my life, how wondrous this great thing called LIFE really is!  To be lived as an ADVENTURE!  Not to exist, drift by, float through - but to GRAB HOLD and make the most of!!

I feel more alive than I have in the past, and more at peace!  What a GREAT ADVENTURE is this wonderful LIFE God has created for us to live!!

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LIVE DELIBERATELY
                           LOVE DELIBERATELY

Sunday, March 11, 2012

GODS PURPOSES..

As I'm reading through last week and this weeks Unity Project chronological read of the Bible, though it seems "harsh" to us, Moses was REQUIRED by Gods very HOLINESS to obey without deviation.  He struck the rock he had been commanded to speak to, and for that, he was not allowed to physically enter the Promised Land.  (Numbers 20)  


Then in Deuteronomy, we read where God sent him up on a high mountain to survey, view, SEE the Promised Land, and he is told to turn the leadership mantle over to Joshua.  I wonder, I just wonder, if it wasn't absolutely necessary that Moses NOT be the one to lead the people into the NEW thing God was doing?


Might it have kept Joshua from being as effective a leader as HE needed to be?  Might it have caused the people to stumble?    This leads me to think a little something along these lines, see what you think:


God is in complete control; ALWAYS; whether we recognize it or not.


God has a far greater purpose for ALL the events to take place in our lives and all around us; to bring greater Glory to His Name!


We are finite in this flesh; our time here on earth as physical human beings is temporary and God see's far beyond this; though we cannot!


Eternity and all that blesses us in it is far greater than this earth, so it stands to reason that if one leaving this earth will encourage greater growth to the Kingdom and Glory of God it is the BETTER thing to have occur!


Perhaps, God Who knew in His Omnipotence that Moses would mess up that one thing, also knew it was necessary for Moses NOT to go into the Promised Land in order to promote Joshua and continue the growth that would lead to Gods will, not mans, being accomplished.


It is a VERY DIFFICULT THING, to actually think in real terms of putting GOD FIRST and not our flesh!  And yet, that is the very purpose of Christianity.


FOOD FOR THOUGHT!...

Friday, March 9, 2012

WEEK 11 March 11 - March 17


I don't know about you, but especially after this weeks reading, I am sooooo thankful I live in the "age of GRACE" and not under the law!  Whew!  That law, those sacrifices, too much!  Moses disobeyed ONE order and no promised land for him!  Would YOU have made it?  I know I wouldn't have!  As I read through Numbers, all I kept thinking over and over: THANK YOU JESUS FOR SETTING ME FREE FROM THE LAW AND GIVING ME SALVATION FREE!

ENJOY THIS WEEKS READ!

Deuteronomy 3 - 4     SUNDAY
Deuteronomy 5 - 7     MONDAY
Deuteronomy 8 -10    TUESDAY
Deuteronomy 11 -13  WEDNESDAY
Deuteronomy 14 - 16  THURSDAY
Deuteronomy 17 - 20  FRIDAY
Deuteronomy 21 -23   SATURDAY 
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GRACE-on demand is not only posted on the Blog, but beginning April, we will be posting the Sunday Sermon Blogs on Video!  They'll be available both at YouTube, GodTube, and right here on Tide Turning Tales!  Know someone who would enjoy 20 minutes of Bible Teaching on Video each week?  Tell them about us, and pass on our link NOW, so they can sign up to receive the Video's Weekly in their email inbox.
LIVE DELIBERATELY; LOVE DELIBERATELY


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 You are receiving this update because you signed up for THE UNITY PROJECT. (or you are signed up to follow TIDE TURNING TALES) Your comments, insights, questions or ideas are welcome, please keep them within the context of the two rules: NO ARGUMENTS (just state your view) USE SCRIPTURE (as valid as your opinion is, this isn't the forum for it).

Friday, March 2, 2012

WEEK 10 March 4 - March 10




Did you know that all the "Feasts" the Israelites were told to celebrate were "shadows" of Christ Who was to come?  He was the Passover Lamb, His blood covers the "door" of our hearts, and He takes away our Sin (leaven)as the unleavened Bread. 

There is MUCH treasure to be uncovered in the Old Testament!  Read and learn!


Numbers 23 - 25    SUNDAY
Numbers 26 - 27     MONDAY
Numbers 28 -30   TUESDAY
Numbers 31 - 32    WEDNESDAY
Numbers 33 - 34   THURSDAY
Numbers 35 - 26   FRIDAY
Deuteronomy 1 -2   SATURDAY 


GRACE-on demand is not only posted on the Blog, but beginning April, we will be posting the Sunday Sermon Blogs on Video!  They'll be available both at YouTube, GodTube, and right here on Tide Turning Tales!  Know someone who would enjoy 20 minutes of Bible Teaching on Video each week?  Tell them about us, and pass on our link NOW, so they can sign up to receive the Video's Weekly in their email inbox.
LIVE DELIBERATELY; LOVE DELIBERATELY


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 You are receiving this update because you signed up for THE UNITY PROJECT. (or you are signed up to follow TIDE TURNING TALES) Your comments, insights, questions or ideas are welcome, please keep them within the context of the two rules: NO ARGUMENTS (just state your view) USE SCRIPTURE (as valid as your opinion is, this isn't the forum for it).