African Gospel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0SdoQqrE_8

Please follow the links to more spititual resources

Sutherland Presbiterian Reformed Church - Australia
http://www.sutherland.prc.org.au/

Mwing Reformed bible college
http://reformedbiblecollegemwingi.webs.com/

Sherpardhood Ministries
http://market2012.kbo.co.ke/

All about God - Preachings
www.allaboutgod.com

Christianity vs Science

Christianity vs Science

"I Believe in Scripture"

God and Human Suffering

Why Can We Trust the Bible? With Frank Turek

LIFE CHALLENGE -FEAR OF FAILURE

Fear of Failure -- Seven Times Down; Eight Times Up
Why do we have a fear of failure? Failure is an integral part of life. It is our trials and sufferings that cause maturity, not our years or our successes, though these latter things bring confidence. The Bible discusses failure:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4).

Fear of Failure – Don’t be Discouraged

“Don’t be discouraged by failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid” (John Keats).

Failure is temporary and event-specific, but it is also recurring. Sir Winston Churchill said, “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Whenever failure happens to us, we must keep our hopes high, our focus clear, and persist in our goals. We know that “testing … develops perseverance.” Perseverance—persistence—is a muscle only worked through failure. If we never fail, we never learn to persist.

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race” (Calvin Coolidge). 
And the spirit of perseverance, the strengthening of this vital element of our character, leads to maturity. Helen Keller said, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”

Fear of Failure – Consider Trials as Character Builders

The opposite of “fear of failure” is considering our trials and failures “pure joy.” Not because it’s fun to fail, or something to be desired or pursued, but rather “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). If God is working in us, then the things the world sees as failures are simply God’s tools to improve our character and make us more usable by Him.

We must never forget that our purpose in life is to serve God and bring others to Him. God’s goal is to fill heaven—either with us or in spite of us. His definition of success is based upon how many come to Him and accept His free gift of salvation, not by how much money we make or how few times it takes us to pass a given test.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). (See also Matthew 6:25-34). When we understand that our failures bring us closer to God, then we begin to “consider it pure joy” when we fail.

“I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstance” (Martha Washington).

Fear of Failure – Ultimate Victory

Conquering our fear of failure does not suggest that we should seek to fail, or consider ourselves somehow better than others because of our failures. “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). Or, as Henry David Thoreau said, “Men are born to succeed, not fail.” This is how God created us: to succeed in the things we attempt. Success is our goal and purpose, and it should be unflinchingly pursued. But we are to consider our failures and struggles only “light and momentary troubles” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat” (Theodore Roosevelt).

God wants my life

Truth

If I have trusted the Lord Jesus as my Savior, my life belongs to Him. The question is not, "Do I belong to the Lord Jesus?" but "Have I given to the Lord Jesus my life, which already belongs to Him?"

Believe

"God, I believe and now understand that I belong to the Lord Jesus. I believe that He wants to make my life beautiful and useful. I realize that the Lord Jesus must have possession of my life in order to accomplish His purposes. His love has so filled my heart that I want to give Him my life. This day I have definitely decided to give the Lord Jesus possession of my life."

                                      

                                             My Gift to God

"Lord Jesus, I want You to be able to do all that You have planned for my life. I know that I belong to You. By my will and by my choice, I am now giving my life to You, the best I know how. I pray that You will enable me to live such a life of love and service to You as I will wish I had lived when I see You face-to-face in Heaven."

The gift that pleases God most of all is the gift of myself! If I truly love God with all my heart, I will want to give Him this gift that He desires most of all. This is the gift which the believers in the city of Corinth gave to God. The Bible says, "[They] first gave their own selves to the Lord…" (2 Corinthians 8:5).

The Gifts of God

The Gifts of God

by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17).

In the days of the Bible, times of great joy were often accompanied by the giving of gifts, one to another (e.g. Nehemiah 8:10; Esther 9:22; Revelation 11:10). This ancient custom, practiced commonly in all nations throughout history, finds its greatest expression today at Christmas time, when the joy of the wise men (Matthew 2:10) and the joyful tidings of the angels (Luke 2:10) echo in millions of family circles around the world and, even where Christ Himself is not known, people share the joy of giving.

The Gift of Creation

But giving began with God! Human gifts are imperfect often wrongly motivated, frequently unappreciated, always defective and temporary. Gifts that are good gifts and perfect gifts come only from above, from the Father of lights. The marvelous universe itself, as it came from the creative hand of the great Giver, was good and perfect. In fact, God pronounced it "very good" and then "rested," having "finished" (that is, "perfected") everything He had created and made (Genesis 1:31-2:3).

God began with a good and perfect creation and He has maintained that standard, for with Him "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Both He and His creation remain forever. In fact, this principle as seen in the natural world is now recognized by scientists as the most universal of all scientific laws?the principle of conservation of matter and energy, the "first law of thermodynamics."

Into this perfect creation, however, has appeared an intruder, a disordering agent. By man came sin, and then came the great Curse, and now the whole creation is under the bondage of decay (Romans 8:20-22). In science, this also is recognized as a universal law, the principle of increasing entropy the "second law of thermodynamics," the universality observed fact that everything tends to wear out, run down, disintegrate, grow old and die. The term "entropy" (from two Greek words, en and trope, meaning "in" and "turning") itself suggests that any system which "turns inward" for its strength will soon decay.

But with God is no "shadow of turning (trope)." He is not only invariable in essence, but unchanging in nature. Thus, every gift from God is still a good gift and a perfect gift! Not only was His created world perfect, but so also is His inspired Word (Psalm 19:7; 119:89).

The Father of Lights

Theme of giving is strong in the Scriptures. The words "give," "giving," "gift" and other such words occur at least 2100 times. The very first occurrence, however, is in connection with the giving of light. God placed the great lights in the heavens "to give light upon the earth" (Genesis 1:15). Light is the basic energy by which all creation functions but, so far as the earth is concerned, it is the particular light from the sun which energizes all earth's processes. God Himself is the Light (Genesis 1:3; I John 1:5;Revelation 22:5) and that light antedates the sun, but He made the "lights;" He is the Father of lights.

In the same manner as joyful celebrations commonly involve gift-giving, so they have always involved many lights. When Christ came into the world, the shepherds saw the glory shining (Luke 2:9), the wise men saw His star (Matthew 2:2) and John testified that the "true Light" had come (John 1:9). Today, the remembrance of His birth is everywhere marked by an abundance of lights. Even the Jews; festival of Hanukkah, observed concurrently with Christmas, is called by them the "festival of lights ."

The Other Gifts of God

Our purpose here does not require a comprehensive study of the Biblical theme of giving, but we can at least examine the specific gifts of God that are listed as such in the Scriptures. There are actually eight times when the phrase "gift of God" occurs in the Bible, with the plural "gifts of God" occurring once.

In the Old Testament, the emphasis is on God's material blessings, with the only two references being found in Ecclesiastes.

"That every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God" (Ecclesiastes 3:13).

"Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God" (Ecclesiastes 5:19).

Let no one, therefore, take personal pride in his own abilities or his possessions! They are, in the deepest sense, gifts of God's grace.

Spiritual blessings are far more important than physical and material blessings, however, and all six of the New Testament occurrences of this phrase, the "gift of God," emphasize these. Three of these are translations of the Greek dorea ("freewill gift"), with three from the Greek charisma ("gracious gift") but, for our purposes, the meaning is so nearly the same that they can almost be used interchangeably.

God's Spiritual Blessings

These six New Testament gifts of God are listed below in order as we trace them sequentially through the New Testament.

1. The Gift of Christ Himself
   "If thou knewest the gift of God...thou wast have asked of Him ?" (John 4:10).
2. The Gift of the Holy Spirit
   And when Simon saw that?the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,?. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money" (Acts 8:18-20).
3. The Gift of Eternal Life
   "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
4. The Gift of Individual Personal Abilities
   "But every man hath his proper gift of God one after this manner, and another after that" (I Corinthians 7:7).
5. The Gift of Salvation through Faith
   "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).
6. The Gift of Confident Love
   "Wherefore?stir up the gift of God, which is in thee?. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (II Timothy 1:6,7).

The Permanence of God's Gifts

If all of the gifts of God are good and perfect, it is no surprise that they are eternal. It is significant that the sole occurrence of the plural "gifts of God" stresses this wonderful truth. "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance " (Romans 11:29). Every one of these gifts of God will be ours to treasure throughout eternity.

The last mention of giving in the Bible has to do with the rewards which Christ will give His faithful servants at his return. "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be" (Revelation 22:12). He is the great Giver, from the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation!

Therefore, as we share once again the lights of Christmas and the joy of giving gifts to those we love, let us be sure to remember the Father of lights and that greatest of all His good and perfect gifts.

"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" (John 3:16).

Then, after contemplating His great gift and the love that determined it, we can respond only in praise and wonder:

"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift" (II Corinthians 9:15).