NextGenKent

Perseverance is an important virtue,  requires confidence in God,  and is your means to overcome! And it looks good on a T-Shirt! What is  one thing you feel like you are “persevering” right now? I have three projects I am working on at our house: an upstairs closet for my wife, a wall behind the fridge has come loose, and a small, stairwell window needs to be made bigger so we can move bedroom furniture upstairs (finally). I say three projects, but you and I know projects are never ending (I am also simultaneously working on painting the back patio and resealing our driveway and maybe ...). I think I am persevering a lot! James wanted us to know something about persevering. He wrote from a Christ-like perspective to inform us that perseverance is not a natural outcome unless faith is involved: the testing of your faith  produces steadfastness (or perseverance) . The faith he is speaking about is in Jesus specifically. When we have made it throug...

Generosity honors God, b ecause  Giving flows out of hearts that reflect the heart of Jesus. H as anyone ever given to you generously? Proverbs 11:28. Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf. We trust in so many things throughout the day. We trust the refrigerator and our roof kept working over the night and that our car will still be in the garage and will start the next morning. Think about in comparison and contrast: Trusting in something is quite different than trusting in someone. People move around, not just physically but attitudinally as well. Trusting in God is trusting in a person--a worthy person to trust if not the ONLY person to trust. The Psalmist had this down when he he writes (20:7),  " Some trust in   chariots and some in   horses,      but we trust in the name of the  Lord  our God." We can trust in what can run out, however we can trust in Who ...

Don’t hold back  in prayer. James 5:13-20  Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray.   Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.   14  Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders   of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil   in the name of the Lord.   15  And the prayer offered in faith   will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.   16  Therefore confess your sins   to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.   The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 17  Elijah was a human being, even as we are.   He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18  Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. 19  My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someon...

2 Timothy 3:16-17.  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. This is the last letter Paul wrote to Timothy. Paul wants Timothy to know how important God’s Word is to His people. Scripture is historically a chronicle of God's activity in His people's lives--recording the commands, promises, blessings, and curses. God's Word can be trusted; even in those places where we are unsure, God will testify to us by His Spirit.  Jesus was God’s Word embodied so all of Jesus’ teachings should be considered as “Scripture.” (cf. 1 Cor. 2:12–13; cf. Heb. 3:7; Acts 1:16; 2 Pet. 1:21). There are building blocks in all areas of life—things that have to be done in order. You have to accomplish first grade before you advance to second and so on. What other areas besides education must be built upon in levels? God’s plan for growing spirit...

Exodus 2:11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. 12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” 14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well. "One day, when Moses had grown up;" whatever that means, he came to point where he was different; he was his own man now, he saw things differently, FELT THINGS DIFFERENTL...

Exodus 2  Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. 4 And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. 5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women ...

2COR 4:16  So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. In pursuing God’s glory we are looking for stages and arenas for Him to display Himself in our world, but we do not have to go very far at all; we begin with the everyday little things and work our way in to the bigger ones. That is where affliction comes in   working as the agitation of a washer and providing the friction needed for a good wash. The disciples asked Jesus, “Who sinned? This man or his parents?” Jesus answered, “Neither.” God wants to be glorified—He wants what is hidden to be made known, the hidden things about Himself put on stage as the h...