Archive for December 2011
Our Performance Interview Of 2011
Our Performance Interview Of 2011
Employees of many companies are given performance interviews on a scheduled basis. Some of the questions asked by the interviewer, are similar to some of those found at www.jobinterviewquestions.org.
Performance Interview Questions
- Tell me about your last position and what you did.
- Tell me about the last time you made a mistake and how you corrected it.
- If you don’t leave your current job, what will happen there? How far can you advance?
- Of all the work you have done, where have you been most successful?
- I see you were unemployed for a period of time. Tell me about it.
- Give me an example of when you’ve demonstrated your customer service skills.
- How do you define continuous improvement? What is the last new procedure you integrated into your job?
- What makes you stand out among your peers?
- What have you done to reduce your department’s operational costs or to save time?
- What would your current supervisors say makes you most valuable to them?
- If I asked your boss to evaluate your performance, what would he or she say?
- Have you held positions similar to this one? If so, tell me about them.
- What is the most important thing you learned at a previous job?
- What did/do you enjoy most/least about your last/present job?
- If there were two things you could have changed about that job, what would they be?
- How did your job change while you held it?
- What qualifications do you have that make you successful in this field?
- What have you learned from previous jobs?
- Describe a typical day at work.
- How have your previous positions prepared you for this one?
- What parts of your job do you consider most important?
- What job tasks do you feel most successful doing?
- What special skills or knowledge have you gained to help in this job?
- Describe an important project you worked on.
- Define excellent customer service.
- You have a lot of experience. Why would you want this job?
- What do you consider your greatest strength?
- What is your most significant professional accomplishment?
- What was the last job related book you read?
- What was your favorite job? Why?
As 2011 comes to a close, so does another year of living for the Lord. If He was to ask us about our performance in His Kingdom this year, how would we do? Could we answer His questions easily? Would our heads have to drop after the Lord asked us a direct question? Here is a list of possible questions He might ask:
The Lord’s 2011 Performance Interview Questions
- What if He asked about the Spirit and Attitude we manifested this year?
- What if the Lord asked us about our obedience, or our Submission?
- If the question of Soul-Winning came up, how would we score?
- If questions about our involvement in Worship were asked, what would the answer be?
- What would happen if the Lord asked us about our Prayer Life in 2011?
- Would the answer be favorable to you if there were questions about paying your Tithes and giving in Offerings?
- Faithfulness in church attendance is sure to be asked. How would you do on that one?
- Surely, a question about any unwillingness to Forgive, will be asked.
- Would He as about the display of the Lusts of our Flesh?
- Would Jealousy or Envy be mentioned?
- A lack of Brotherly Love, or not Preferring One Another, will not sit well with Him.
- What if the Lord asked us about our lack of Sacrifice in service, or in giving?
- Would any questions about our involvement in Gossip put us in a bad light?
- What if the subject of Tale Bearing came up?
- If we were asked about Criticizing our Pastor, what would the answer be?
- Surely the Lord will act questions about our showing any signs of Loving Pleasure More Than The Things Of God.
- What is He asked us about our Love of the World?
- Do you think He might ask us why we had a problem with Holiness?
- Would there be any questions about Loving Our Neighbor?
- What if He asked us, if we Love Him With All Of Our Heart, Our Soul, And Our Might, And Our Strength?
I pray that you do well in your Interview with the Lord. (He already knows the answers, before He asks.) If you’ll pardon me, for a while, I think I’ll have a talk with Him right now. I need to, before He talks with me later!
There is however, coming a Day when we shall all stand before Him, as we are judged. That Interview will be both an Entrance Interview for some, and an Exit Interview for others!
Revelation 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Revelation 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
(May your Performance Interview of 2011 end with Joy, and not with Grief!)
Join me in pledging to do better and do more for Him in 2012!
Some Assembly Required
Some Assembly Required
The most dreaded words found on any gift are, Some Assembly Required! To the experienced among us, that phrase means that it will be a while before the present can be enjoyed.
I am one of those males who at times, has been dumb enough to just look at the picture on the box and think it can be assembled without reading the instructions. The joke was on me. As a last resort, I humbly picked up the instructions.
Regretfully, I can still remember one occasion, that I not only 
had to stop and read the instructions. I had to undo a step or two, to make the gift look like the picture.
Some Assembly Required is not warning enough. The really bad news is when the instructions are ignored, or not properly followed. The gift then, will never look like the picture.
The Apostle Peter wrote the instructions and explained that there was Some Assembly Required in becoming like the picture. He explained it this way; first, start with your Faith. Then, add Virtue.
After Virtue has been attached, connect the Knowledge module. Then add Temperance. Patience is next, then attach Patience, Godliness, and Brotherly Kindness. Finally, add Charity to create a godly life; just like the picture in the Book.
2 Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2 Peter 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2 Peter 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2 Peter 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2 Peter 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
The Holy Ghost is a Gift from God. Some Assembly Required!
The Kiss Of Death
The Kiss Of Death
“Remember Elizabeth? She just got a hearing implant to see if that would cure her deafness,” my wife said. We were eating lunch in Georgia, at a National Country Club.
“They call that, The Kiss Of Death, in the deaf community,” offered the court certified Interpreter for the deaf who was seated at the table with us.
“The Kiss Of Death?” I was in shock! “Why would they call being able to hear, The Kiss Of Death?”
“Hearing would ruin their life, as they know it. Many deaf people are very happy in their own world,” she said. “It’s a very tight-knit society. Lip reading is a coveted gift. Most deaf people don’t want to be healed. They are happy being deaf.“
She related an incident about signing to a client. The client signed back to her that she could read lips and only wanted to be spoken to, not signed to by a hearing person. Although the court had certified the Interpreter, she was still an outsider to the deaf.
The Interpreter began to describe some of her client’s anti-hearing sentiments. She served several expectant mothers who were deaf. These moms-to-be wanted their babies to be deaf as well.
As a hearing person, I’ve had very limited communication with the deaf. If they can read my lips, that’s wonderful. I cannot read theirs. We can only write notes back and forth to each other. I cannot imagine anyone not wanting to hear.
I also have no way of knowing how accurate the Interpreter’s opinion conversation was. She was only relating her life experiences.
Although my interaction with the natural deaf is somewhat limited, I am however, very familiar with the attitudes of the spiritually deaf.
The spiritually deaf that I know, don’t want to be healed. They resist getting a spiritual implant to hear the Word of the Lord. To them, that would be The Kiss Of Death!
Forty-two times the Bible uses the phrase, “He that hath an ear to hear.” Evidently, not everyone can hear what the Spirit saith. Their Pastor/Interpreter is an intrusion into their world.
They too do not wish to be healed, and want all of their children to be deaf as well. The preached Word of God is something that the spiritually deaf person cannot hear. They can’t hear sermons about:
- Doctrine
- Tithes
- Holiness
- Separation from the world
It is really futile to try to communicate with those that are deaf to God’s Word. The interference of hearing people into their life is resented.
Jesus healed the deaf. We read about it in the Gospels. He is still able to heal the spiritually deaf today who want to be healed.
My father had been the pastor at a church for three years. A brother came up to him after the Saturday night service, and complimented his sermon. Dad thanked him. Sunday morning the same man gave him another compliment.
Sunday night, the same brother came up to Dad and with tears in his eyes said, “Bro. Ballestero, I thank you for that message! That was the best I’ve ever heard! You saved me tonight!”
My father invited the man into his office. When they sat down, my father began his inquiry.
“Brother, for the last three years you’ve fought me tooth and toenail. You have resisted me at every turn. Not one time have you said a nice thing to me since I’ve been here. You have never complimented any of my messages before. Now, for three sermons in a row, you’ve bragged on me. What’s your game?”
The brother broke down and cried. He apologized to my Father. He said, “I am so sorry I’ve been like that to you Pastor. The reason I’ve complimented your preaching, is because I just got my ears open!”
All a Pastor can pray for is that his hearers will get their ears opened! He knows that for those who are content not to hear preaching, it is truly, The Kiss of Death!
The People We Hurt, While God’s Trying To Help Us.
The People We Hurt, While God’s Trying To Help Us.
Many people have run from the will of God. Most of their story endings are not pretty. The running from God is bad enough, but it doesn’t end there. The naïve mindset that thinks, “I’m not hurting anyone but myself,” is dangerous.
Failure to submit to God’s will shows a character defect, which requires immediate attention from the Lord. Remember, the Biblical subjects of Worship, Holiness, Tithe, and Ministry are wrapped up in submission.
Worship is all about submission.
- God, you’re everything, I’m nothing.
- You’re Holy, I’m unholy!
- You’re great and I’m nothing!
Tithing is all about submission.
- The first tenth of my increase belongs to You.
- I put you first in my life.
Holiness is all about submission.
- I dress this way, to please you Lord.
- I act this way, to please you Lord.
- I think this way, to please you Lord.
- I present my body, holy and acceptable unto You, which is my reasonable service.
Ministry is all about submission
- Paul started most of his Epistles with, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ.”
- Peter, James and John did the same.
- Ministry is all about being a servant.
- Servants must be submissive.
Jonah, God’s servant, ran from his Master’s will. He didn’t want to go where Jehovah wanted him to go. He didn’t want to do what he was asked to do. He wasn’t willing to submit.
Most backsliders provide dangerous company. Who wants to be around a backslider while God is trying to work on them? The backslider, or someone running from God, would never knowingly put anyone in harm’s way. It just happens.
While Jonah ran, God sent a custom-made storm to get his attention. God knows how to build you a prayer room! He knows how to let a set of circumstances come together that will bring you to your knees!
In what was probably a state of depression, Jonah slept aboard ship during the storm. Other passengers were throwing their possessions overboard, but Jonah slept on. He was oblivious to the peril he was causing for others.
When someone finally awakened him, he recognized that he was the cause of everyone’s problem. He didn’t know that, until someone woke him up. Realizing that he was the cause of the storm, he requested that the sailors throw him overboard. They did. He would rather die than submit. Jonah’s actions not only threatened his own life, but the life of everyone around him.
Jonah didn’t want to hurt anyone one. He just wasn’t willing to submit. God stopped Jonah’s little charade in one storm. Jonah had to go through an intense attitude adjustment.
Backsliders, and others that run from God, are a danger to their friends and even to their own families. Too many innocent spouses and children have suffered because of the Jonah in their home. Every church family knows Jonah stories. Most of which are tragic enough to frighten every hearer.
Someone needs to awaken these modern-day Jonahs! Awaken them to the heartache and danger they unwittingly bring to those around them Awaken them to the hurt they cause, even to those they love. Lead them back into the will of God. One of the hardest thing in life to do, is to run from God!
Proverbs 13:15 …the way of transgressors is hard.
Jonah? It’s time to quit running from God!
“The Desire Of His Eyes”
“The Desire Of His Eyes.”
Ezekiel had been given a word from the Lord, to speak to Israel. The painful part of this story is found in the twenty-forth chapter. The “desire of his eyes,” his wife, lay dead in his house. Yet, God commanded him to preach anyway.
“The Desire Of His Eyes.”
What a beautiful description of a man’s feeling for his wife. “The desire of his eyes.” She was the love of his life. One look at her, always made his heart skip a beat. He truly loved her. Looking at her made his eyes happy and fulfilled.
Every day, when Ezekiel was gone from the house, he couldn’t wait until he got home to see her. His eyes never got tired of looking at his wife. She must have been something to see!
Sadly, we do not even know her name. We have no description of her. Nothing is known of her, except that she was the desire of her husband’s eyes. Surely, she never had to worry about him looking at another woman. He only had eyes for her.
Experiencing Pain In The Midst Of Ministry.
Knowing that his beloved wife was dead, Ezekiel knew he still had to preach. She was dead! What utter devastation he felt! His heart never felt emptier. The light in his eyes had just gone out. His plans had just died, in the mid-stride of life. There was no time to grieve, now. No time to be comforted, now. There was a word from the Lord that had to be delivered, now.
Grief would have to wait till church was over. This was not the time to sob in sorrow like he wanted to. He put his focus and thoughts upon the work of God at hand.
In spite of his pain, he preached. Ignoring his own heartbreak, he continued on with his sermon. Forgetting, for the moment, that he was now a widower, he preached what God told him to preach. He knew that his world must always be submitted to God’s world.
All of Israel would have understood the need of Ezekiel’s emotions, to take some time off and mourn. Grief always needs time. No one would have faulted him, if he had asked to stay home from church that day. But he didn’t.
There was no one to comfort him. No arms of compassion were wrapped around him. No one offered to, “Hold him up in prayer.” He’d never felt lonelier.
Nevertheless, there was a word from God that Ezekiel must preach. It could not wait. It must not wait. His pain was secondary to Heaven’s mission. He must preach!
He must preach, in spite of his pain. He must preach, in spite of his loss. He must preach, even though the “desire of his eyes” lay dead. And he did preach.
He preached without letting his tears flow. He preached without soliciting comfort. He preached without mentioning his grief. He preached while his darling wife lay dead in his bed. He preached on, without complaining.
Ezekiel 24:24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel’s example became a sign unto his generation and to us all. He was an example of putting the work of the Lord first. God’s call came before his own personal pain.
Life is not fair. It never has been. Life has tears, and much grief. It is too often filled with overwhelming pain. But we must go on. God still has work to do. Do not disqualify yourself from His service because your pain and sorrow is great. Serve Him in spite of life’s heart breaks. Ezekiel is our sign, our example.
The Desire Of Our Eyes
The saints of God have a precious hope! We press on, just waiting for Him to split the Eastern Sky! There is coming a day when we shall look upon Him, “The Desire Of Our Eyes!” Oh, What a day that will be! The old saints used to sing songs like:
Oh I Want To See Him
Oh, I want to see Him, look upon His face,
There to sing forever of His saving grace;
On the streets of glory let me lift my voice,
Cares all past, home at last, ever to rejoice.
When We See Christ
It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.
What A Day That Will Be
What a day that will be,
When my Jesus I shall see,
And I look upon His face,
The One who saved me by His grace;
When He takes me by the hand,
And leads me through the Promised Land,
What a day, glorious day that will be.
Is Jesus The Desire Of Your Eye’s?
Everyone Deserves To Be Loved!
Everyone Deserves To Be Loved!
I grew up knowing nothing but the blessing of a loving family. Sure we were poor! We lived below the poverty level for years. It didn’t feel like we were poor, because of the warmth of love from family and friends. Not everyone in this world is so fortunate. Not everyone knows how it feels to be loved all your life.
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Unwanted Children
UNICEF defines an abandoned child as one who:
- Does not know where his or her next meal is coming from.
- Does not know where he or she is spending the night.
- He or she does not live with either the mother or the father.
While defining a problem is helpful, no definition illustrates the plight of abandoned children as clearly as the following set of statistics:
- Every 2 seconds, a child becomes an orphan.
Nearly 60,000 children are reported to be abused or neglected each week in America, with an estimated 900,000 confirmations of violence every year. When these children are dumped into foster care, they too often lose not only their childhood, but their dreams, and their futures.
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- 40,000 new infants are placed in foster care each year
- 25 percent of the individuals who end up in prison spent time in foster care
- 30 percent of all people who are homeless spent time in Foster Care
- The average number of home placements per child is three
- Girls in foster care are six times more likely to give birth before the age of 21
- 50 percent of foster youth are unemployed four years after leaving foster care
- 37 percent – 48 percent of foster children don’t finish high school
- Only 7 percent of foster children attend a four-year college
- Only 1 percent of foster children graduate from a four-year college
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-moulene/americas-abandoned-childr_b_867265.html
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Abused Children
2011 CHILDREN’S ADVOCACY CENTER STATISTICS (January through June) 3
Among the over 141,000 children served by Children’s Advocacy Centers around the country from January through June 2011, some startling statistics include:
- 53,932 children were ages 0 to 6 years
- 51,196 children were ages 7 to 12 years
- 36,131 children were ages 13 to 18 years
- 95,120 children reported sexual abuse
- 25,414 children reported physical abuse
- 88,312 children participated in forensic interviewing at a Children’s Advocacy Center
Among the over 116,000 alleged offenders investigated for instances of child abuse from January through June 2011, some startling statistics include:
- 75,829 were 18+ years old
- 11,973 were ages 13 to 17 years
- 7,911 were under age 13 years
- 45,496 were a parent or step-parent of the victim
- 23,763 were related to the child victim in another way
- 36,628 were an unrelated person the victim knew
http://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/NCANationalStatistics
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Parents Selling Babies
News reporters tell of parents selling babies on the black market. We only know about the ones that got caught.
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Battered Wives
One in four women (25%) has experienced domestic violence in her lifetime.
Between 600,000 and 6 million women are victims of domestic violence each year, and between 100,000 and 6 million men, depending on the type of survey used to obtain the data.
Separated and divorced males and females are at a greater risk of nonfatal intimate partner violence.
On average, more than three women and one man are murdered by their intimate partners in this country every day.
http://www.dvrc-or.org/domestic/violence/resources/C61/
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Infidelity Statistics
Too many spouses feel the pain of rejection. Below are compiled statistics on infidelity and marriage:
- Percentage of marriages that end in divorce in America: 53%
- Percentage of men who admit to committing infidelity in any relationship they’ve had: 57%
- Percentage of women who admit to committing infidelity in any relationship they’ve had: 54%
- Percentage of men who say they would have an affair if they knew they would never get caught: 74%
- Percentage of women who say they would have an affair if they knew they would never get caught: 68%
http://infidelityfacts.com/infidelity-statistics.html
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1639 Buried In A Mass Grave This Month
I have grieved all week for the unclaimed bodies that were recently buried in a mass grave. No one claimed them. Most were never missed. Others, family members knew they died, but decided to let the county bury them.
- The annual mass burial in LA has been a December custom since 1896.
- The remains of 1,639 people were buried this year.
- The coroner’s office says bodies of those never claimed are kept in storage for two to three years before being sent to the common grave.
- There currently are 5,199 people on the coroner’s unclaimed persons list.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/12/08/state/n061159S93.DTL#ixzz1gBZ3COgt
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Holiday Suicides
The overwhelming feeling of loneliness, weighs heavy. For some, it is too much to endure. (Note: suicide should never an option.)
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All these facts are stark indicators to me of a world without love. True love.
The Most Beautiful Love Anyone Could Ever Experience, Is The Love Of God.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Jesus Really Loves You!
- Let Him be your Comforter
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
- Let Him Be That Friend That Sticketh Closer Than A Brother.
Proverbs 18:24 …there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
- He Loved Us First! Even, While We Were Sinners.
1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
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There is a precious old song that still brings tears to my eyes. It’s called, “No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus.”
“No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus”
Words and Music by C.F. Weigle
I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus,
Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true;
I would tell you how He changed my life completely,
He did something that no other friend could do.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus,
There’s no other friend so kind as He;
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me,
O how much He cared for me.
All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me,
All my heart was full of misery and woe;
Jesus placed His strong and loving arms about me,
And He led me in the way I ought to go.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus,
There’s no other friend so kind as He;
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me,
O how much He cared for me.
Ev’ry day He comes to me with new assurance,
More and more I understand His words of love;
But I’ll never know just why He came to save me,
Till some day I see His blessed face above.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus,
There’s no other friend so kind as He;
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me,
O how much He cared for me.
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He Loves You, Even When No One Else Does.
- He’s Been Waiting A Long Time For You To Love Him Back.
- His Love Is Unconditional.
- His Love Never Ends!
Everyone Deserves To Be Loved. That’s How God Thinks!
He Came To A Stable!
He Came To A Stable!
Luke 2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
Of all the places in the world for the King of kings to make His inaugural appearance to mankind! He chose the lowliest place of all! He chose a Stable. It was a place where filth and stink were all too common.
Imagine a God so holy, that He had to humble Himself to look upon heaven. I can understand Him having to humble Himself to look upon earth, but heaven too? He came to a stable. Man’s mind cannot completely fathom a Divine introduction into such a lowly estate.
It wasn’t like the sanitized nativity setting in a Macy’s Department Store window. The stable where He was born wasn’t used to elegance. It was only familiar with life on the lowest level. Straw, dirt, old boards, rusty nails, spider webs, bird nests, a rough-hewn manger, and smelly animal droppings created the ambience for the birthplace of our Lord.
Animals made this stable their home. They had spent all day eating the finery of the plush fields heaven had provided. At night, these same creatures turned heaven’s best into earth’s worst.
One step inside the stable was convincing enough. The animals had created an atmosphere of nothing but filth and stink. There was an overwhelming odor. There was excrement that had to be removed. That’s the place He chose.
He Came To A Stable!
Garden of Eden
Sin takes heaven’s best and turns it into earth’s worst. That is what happened in the Garden of Eden. It’s still doing that today. God closed down man’s Paradise because of the filth of sin, and evicted Adam and Eve. Yet, in the New Testament, symbolically, he came to the same kind of place. A place of filth.
Mary Magdalene
He was called a friend of sinners. He was a friend of those that lived in filth. Remember the story of Mary and her alabaster box? She had lived her life in filth. But in Jesus, she found cleansing and forgiveness.
Woman At the Well
“I must needs go by Samaria,” Jesus said. What was in Samaria? Samaria was an off-limits place for Jews to even visit. The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. It was as dirty to them as a stable.
“I must needs go by the stable,” was what His statement may have sounded like to the disciples. A stable creature was what He found when He went there. A woman who had been married five times, and was now living with someone else, was the reason He came. She ran back to her village and brought everyone out to meet Jesus.
Peter’s Vision
The Apostle Peter had a difficult time at first. He couldn’t comprehend God’s willingness to deal with the unclean. A vision from God of a sheet being let down with all kinds of unclean animals, was shown to him. A voice said, “Rise Peter, slay and eat.”
Peter vehemently protested, because to him they were common, and unclean. The voice finally instructed Peter.
Acts 10:15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
Because of this, Peter went to the household of Cornelius and opened the door of Salvation unto the Gentiles. The very people Jesus had called dogs. Peter was sent to unlock the door of the stable and let every one out.
He Came To A Stable! He Is Not Afraid Of The Filth In Your Life! He Loves You!
It will be the biggest mistake of your life, if you buy into the thinking that Jesus will not forgive you because you’ve been too bad. That is not true. There is no sin common unto man who He won’t forgive.
1 Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
1 Corinthians 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
1. Washed – God specializes in cleaning up lives. Let Him clean yours.
2. Sanctified – He makes you into a pure and holy vessel He can use.
3. Justified – NOW, it’s just as if you’ve never sinned.
- In the name of the Lord Jesus – (The Biblical mode of Baptism)
- By the Spirit of our God – (The in-filling of the Holy Ghost)
He Came To A Stable, He Knows About Filth! He Wants To Make You Clean!
We couldn’t go to where He was, so He came to where we were. He came to a stable. He came to save the drunkard, the drug user, the immoral, the profane, the unbeliever and other sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. God is not afraid of the dirt and filth in your life. He will cleanse you and wash you if you’ll just repent.
Get baptized in Jesus Name, and let Him fill you with His wonderful Spirit, just like the disciples did:
Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Only Love, Could Have Made Him Come To A Stable!
What Is Class?
What Is Class?
My father-in-law, Rev. William R. Starr was blessed with five beautiful daughters. He had no sons. He wrote a note to his girls which they have always cherished. He was indeed a wise man. He passed his wisdom on to his daughters.
Pardon me, while I invade family privacy and make public his advice to his children.
Class never runs scared. It is sure-footed and confident in the knowledge that you can meet life head on and handle whatever comes along.
Jacob had it. Esau didn’t. Symbolically, we can look to Jacob’s wrestling match with the angel. Those who have class have wrestled with their own personal angel and won a victory that marks them thereafter.
Class never makes excuses. It takes lumps and learns from past mistakes. Class is considerate of others. It knows that good manners are nothing more than a series of small sacrifices.
Class bespeaks an aristocracy that has nothing to do with ancestors or money. The most affluent blue blood can be totally without class, while the descendant of a Welsh miner may ooze class from every pore.
Class never tries to build itself up by tearing others down. Class is already up and need not strive to look better by making others look worse.
Class can “walk with kings and keep its virtue and talk with crowds and keep the common touch.” Everyone is comfortable with the person who has class because he is comfortable with himself.
If you have class you don’t need much of anything else. If you don’t have it, no matter what else you have, it doesn’t make much difference.
Dad
Guess What Moment I Think About, When I Drop Money Into The Pot.
Guess What Moment I Think About, When I Drop Money Into The Pot.
It was such a pleasant Wednesday evening, that night in December of 1958. Daddy had just gotten home from a revival somewhere and we were so happy to see him. We lived in National City, California and had been attending the church pastored by Bro. Leamon Reynolds. Daddy was an Evangelist and we had based out of National City since June.
I was in the 9th grade. I was old enough to understand that money was hard to come by and that we had none, to speak of. We had just come through a period of time where there had been very little food in the house for the last several months. For a month, or so, we’d had nothing to eat but pinto beans. We had eaten the beans without salt or seasoning, because there wasn’t any. Mother’s gift of imagination was contagious as we all acted like we were eating fried chicken or corn on the cob while eating the beans. We learned to laugh about it too.
Tonight was extra nice though, because Daddy had made it home. He’d been gone for a month or so. Tonight was Christmas Eve. There were no decorations to be seen. There was no tree. We’d never had a Christmas tree. We never missed not having one either. There were no presents on display. Our gifts were family, shelter, and enough food to keep body and soul together. All was well with the world, for us.
All of our clothes and shoes were from the Goodwill or some Thrift store. My shoes especially looked like Goodwill shoes. I had on old men’s shoes. Other guys my age wore ‘White Bucks’ or some cool looking ‘Blue Suede Shoes’. I wasn’t cool and I was OK with that. My Mom and Dad were doing the best for us children and we knew it. Most of all, we knew we were deeply loved. Our parents often did without food, so all of us children could eat. I noticed that, and it made it hard for me to eat very much.
We all sat in the living room talking. My two youngest sisters were not much more than toddlers. They were so happy to see him they crawled all over Daddy’s lap while he sat on the couch with Mama.
Mama always treated Daddy like a King. He always treated her like a Queen. We laughed while Daddy held her in his arms and sang a song to her, made popular by the McGuire Sisters. “Sugartime.”
Sugartime
Sugar in the morning
Sugar in the evening
Sugar at suppertime
Be my little sugar
And love me all the time
Honey in the morning
Honey in the evening
Honey at suppertime
So by my little honey
And love me all the time
Put your arms around me
And swear by stars above
You’ll be mine forever
In a heaven of love
Sugar in the morning
Sugar in the evening
Sugar at suppertime
Be my little sugar
And love me all the time
A knock on our door interrupted the moment. Mom and Dad looked at each. We weren’t expecting company. This was Christmas Eve. Everyone should be home tonight. This was special family time for most people.
All my family joined in behind me as I opened the door. Standing there were faces I had never seen. Six of them stood there, dressed in neatly pressed Salvation Army uniforms. They all smiled. In unison, they said, “Merry Christmas”
They each held armloads of sacks and packages. They said they were for us. They came into the house and began laying sacks of groceries on the counter on the table and on the floor. They brought in so many sacks of groceries, that my mother cried.
Then they brought in presents and clothes for all of us children. They had our names written on all of the presents. I never did find out how they knew our names. We never told them.
My sisters each got a doll and some doll clothes, among other gifts. I got a bat, a baseball glove and a baseball. I also got a toy model to put together.
Somehow, someone had guessed the approximate clothes sizes for each of us. My sisters got dresses, skirts and blouses. I got jeans and shirts. We all got shoes and coats.
The Salvation Army people stood grinning, as they looked at our faces. They smiled at my mothers’ tears. All of us children sincerely thanked them. My Dad and Mom thanked each one of them too.
So, today, when I walk into a store and see a red Salvation Army kettle hanging on a tripod with a bell-ringer standing behind it, guess what moment in time my mind goes back to? Guess what I am thinking about as I drop some money into the pot?
The New Math Of Pentecost
The New Math Of Pentecost
When the Russians sent up Sputnik, American educators panicked. The National Science Foundation was expanded in 1957 to promote changes in science and math beginning with the Middle Schools.
The main thrust was to switch from the teacher, “instructing” the student”. Now, the pupils were encouraged to “discover” on their own. No more student recitations were necessary. The New Math was born.
- Teachers didn’t like it and the parents were up in arms.
- Books began to hit the shelves decrying the changes found in the new math.
Morris Kline, in Why Johnny Can’t Add: The Failure of the New Math, wrote that “with near perfect regularity, [teachers] applaud the return to tradition content [and] instructional methods, and higher standards of student performance.”
Wikipedia wrote:
Parents were concerned that they did not understand what their children were learning and could not help them with their studies. In the end it was concluded that the experiment was not working, and New Math fell out of favor before the end of the decade, though it continued to be taught for years thereafter in some school districts.
- Why the need to change from the old Arithmetic to the New Math?
- What was to be gained?
- Was the change because one generation didn’t like the answers they got from the older generation?
- What it because they were sick of be told what the answers were to the problems and wanted to discover them for themselves?
- Arithmetic is about numbers, and New math is about concepts.
The basic difference between the new math and the old arithmetic might be explained this way.
1962: (Arithmetic) A farmer sells a load of hay for $150. His cost in raising the hay is 2/3 of this price. What is his profit?
1972 (Arithmetic): A farmer sells a load of hay for $150. His cost of raising the hay is $100. What is his profit?
1977 (New Math): A farmer exchanges a set H of hay for a set M of money. The cardinality of set M is 150 and each element is worth $1.
- (a) Make 150 dots representing the elements of the set M
- (b) The set C representing costs of production contains 50 fewer points than set M. Represent the set C as a subset of the set M.
- (c) What is the cardinality of the set P of profits?
1990 (Dumbed-down math): A farmer sells a load of hay for $150. His cost of production is $100 and his profit is $50. Underline the number 50.
2010 (New Math): By cutting down a field full of hay, a farmer makes $50.
- (a) What do you think of this way of making money?
- (b) How will the birds and animals be affected?
- (c) Draw a picture of the field, as you’d like it to look.
Some Americans felt we were falling so far behind in the Space Race, so we had to do something to catch up. Evidently, (they thought) the old way isn’t working. So they changed. It took many years to realize their reaction to the problem only made things get worse.
How Does This Math History Lesson Apply To Pentecost?
To the older generation, looks at it this way…
The New Math Concept Of Not Wanting To Be Taught, Is Deeply Embedded In This Newest Generation Of Pentecost.
They freely flaunt words like, “relationship.” At they same time, they scorn the words, “commandments” and “rules”.
- They say they love the Lord; but they just don’t want to be bogged down with any rules.
- The New Math people do not welcome standards. They resent being told “NO”.
The New Math of Pentecost Says, “Every Time Jesus Met A Hurting Person He Chose A Relationship, Over Rules & Regulations.”
Really? Every Time?
- Jesus once said, “You are of your father the devil.” How did that relationship turn out?
- He called some, “Hypocrites? Did that hurt the relationship?
- He turned over the tables and drove them out of the Temple for turning His House of Prayer into a den of thieves? He made a whip and thrashed it at the people? Really now, does that sound like a normal relationship?
- Why would Jesus do that? Could it be those Jews were doing something wrong? Surely not.
A relationship with Jesus begins with our accepting His ways, not Him accepting ours.
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
There cannot be ANY Relationship with God without Obeying His Commandments.
Brothers and Sisters, we MUST have a relationship with God. It’s imperative. It’s necessary. It’s extremely important.
- But if we do not obey His word, we have NO relationship.
- If you receive correction, you’ve just proved your sonship.
- And if you resented and rejected correction, you showed who you really are.
Hebrews 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
- What kind of relationship can we have with Him if we don’t want to do what He wants us to do?
- What kind of relationship can we have with Him if we reject His correction?
- Can you figure that out with your New Math?
Mark 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
The New Math of Pentecost Says, “Rules & Regulations Have Nothing To Do With Sin.”
What is considered sin today anyway? What? Name it? Not much. Adultery? Fornication? Don’t make me laugh. Like you, I can read some Pentecostal’s Facebook pages too. There are some that openly flaunt the fact that they are in a Domestic Relationship. Yet they still go to church. Yes, they have a relationship, with God and they also have a relationship with who ever else is willing to have one.
- How many “Spirit filled” women in your church wear slacks?
- How many cut their hair?
- How many wear make up?
- How many have on more jewelry than a Dillard’s Christmas tree?
How many of these still feel they have a true Relationship with Jesus?
If rules have nothing to do with sin, then how do you know when you have done something wrong? Or is there any… ‘wrong’ anymore?
The New Math Of Pentecost dislikes the concept of being told anything. They desire to discover the things of God on their own. If they are not convicted, then it must not be wrong.
The New Math of Pentecost Says, “Rules Can’t Save You.”
They don’t have to give up much to live for God, since they they’ve been studying this “New Math of Pentecost Doctrine.”
Every Jake-leg in Pentecost now knows more than their pastor about the things of God. They’ll argue with him. They look for every scripture they can twist, to get out of living like a Holy Ghost filled person should. They are quicker to take what some compromiser on the Internet has to say about Salvation, than their own pastor.
New Math believers resent being told anything by a preacher, but they have no reservations about getting on Facebook and hollering at the top of their voice to all who will listen, saying that “Rules” are not necessary.
- They don’t want to be told. They just want to tell.
- Evidently, their condemnation makes them defensive.
- Rebellion, is what this whole thing boils down to.
The New Math of Pentecost Says: You Can Have A Relationship With God, Without Rules
My friend, Pastor Kenneth Bow said it well:
- “The Ten Commandments represent the two great relationships in man’s world.
- The first four commandments are about man toward God.
- The second six commandments are all about how to exist with our fellow-man.
- To love God and to love our fellow-man is the basis for the Ten Commandments. It provides the foundation for all man’s relationships.”
The Kenneth Bow Blog
New Math? What Answers Did It Change?
- Tithe is still 10%
- Holiness is still required, no matter how hard you try to get around it.
- God’s Word hasn’t changed for this generation.
- He is still going to require of this generation, what he has always required… Being separated from the world. Not just separated from the world, but separated unto Him.
- It is still Holiness or Hell.
- The Bible didn’t change, just because you did.
- Well, one thing it did change. It seems, most New Math “teachers” don’t even own a suit. They dress very causal in the pulpit.
Man’s Interest In New Math Was Prophesied In The Bible
2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
The New Math of Pentecost Proudly Proclaims That To Win The Lost:
- We should not teach Standards at our church.
- We should not teach, we should let you discover convictions on your own.
- We should not teach standards. It is easier to win the lost by dressing like them.
- We should not teach against Women to cutting their hair.
- We should not teach against Women wearing man’s apparel.
- We should not teach against wearing shorts in public.
- We should not teach against women’s low necklines and tight clothes.
- We should not teach against mixed swimming.
- We should not teach against Hollywood.
These New Math folks don’t want an old-time preacher to preach where they are living. They have a negative reaction to any Holiness preaching.
Why Don’t They Want To Be Told?
They are like a toddler about to do something Mommy already told them not to do. Then turning to their parent say, “Don’t you tell me don’t.”
Americans doing the New Math finally figured out that it was a mistake, and they quit.
Those doing the New Math of Pentecost may not be so fortunate. They may not find out they were doing it wrong until they get to the Judgment.
One thing for sure, you can’t tell them that. They want to find out for themselves.
*My personal thanks to Bro. Bow for making me think about the New Math, and how it applies to Pentecostals today.
Apostolic Expository Series
Christy Ballestero (My Beautiful DIL)
http://marciaballestero.com/
Pastor Anthony & Kim Ballestero, New Destiny Worship Center, Clearwater, FL (My Son)
Pastor Bryan & Christy Ballestero, Temple Of Pentecost, Raleigh, NC (My Son)
James Groce Blog – "Toward The Mark"
Kenneth Bow Blog
Kingdom Speak Podcast
Philip Harrelson – "The Barnabas Blog"
Verbal Bean Ministries
Holy Ghost Radio
The Ballestero Blog 