Be Real

Acts 1:8 (New International Version)
8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

People are watching us all the time as Christians to see how we talk, act, and think. Our Children, families, Friends, Co-workers, neighbors etc This video today shows the importance of every word and action and how much it impacts those around us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSx98jbt37Y&feature=related

The Road Not Taken

Matthew 7:13-14 (New International Version)
The Narrow and Wide Gates 13"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Read it While You Can

Amos 8:11
"The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.


Many times we take things for granted until we don't have them and we realize how much they meant to us. For example when storms come and we lose power and water we realize how we take them for granted. Do we read God's Word everyday? Or because it is so available to us we just take it for granted. I talked to a friend yesterday who had been suffering from migraines. He said the worst part was that he was not able to read his Bible when he had one of those headaches. Take the time each day to read some of God's Word and let it speak to your heart. Read it while you can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNww8F6G9U8&feature=related

Jeff Nichols

Are You an Unfinished Work?

Philippians 1:6

God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.

The picture on the left represents many of our lives. God begins a work in us and then we walk away and do not allow Him to continue what He started. There is a plan for this building a blueprint but it remains a drawing and not a completed work. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us God has a plan for our lives but many times we do not allow Him to finish. We drop out of Church, stop reading the Bible, we don't pray, or fellowship with other Christians. What interrupts our Christian growth? Sometimes a new love interest that does not share our belief in God, a new job, moving to a new place, a great loss that makes us bitter towards God. Allow God to finish what He started in your life. Pray right now that today is the day that construction begins again.

Listen to this great song by Steve Green. Click on the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNjZlHARnEk

By Your Side

It's easy to search for love and acceptance in all of the wrong places. As a college student, I get discouraged over insignificant things. A low test grade can turn a good day into an awful one, simply because it makes me feel as if I failed at something important. School is an aspect of my life that defines me. An argument with a friend or family member has the same negative effect. The people in my life define me. The idea of being single and "lonely" can also get a 19 year old down in the dumps. Significant others and my relationship status define me. The things that define us give us praise, love, and joy, but they can also let us down. My faith in God is another aspect of my life that defines me. However, God NEVER lets me down. He is ENOUGH for all of our hopes, dreams, and desires. We do not have to "earn grace." It is given to us by the One who created us and saved us. God is beside us in all of those moments we are afraid, lost, confused, and in need of a friend. That should make every day a good day!:)

-Olivia Morgan Shipp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8eUjk0ECZY&feature=related

2 Corinthians 12:9
And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness " Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Rules vs. Relationship

Galatians 2:16

know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

It is so sad that people long ago turned Christianity into a set of rules; do's and dont's It is even sadder that people today still practice that misguided Religion. Christianity is so much more that a list of Rules, Regulations and Rituals it is a RELATIONSHIP. It is an eye opening, life changing, purpose giving, exciting, loving, Relationship with Jesus Christ. Why reduce something like that to a list of rules. That my friends is the difference between Religion and Christianity. Religion is man's attempt to reach God, Christianity is God's attempt to reach man.

Jeff Nichols

Come Now is the Time to Worship

Move Your Clocks Forward this coming Saturday March 13 or you will miss your time to Worship

Click on the Link below and turn UP the speakers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPWq8eM4lu8

Seeing Eye to Eye

Romans 12:18

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

Sometimes it appears as though Christians must put up with all sorts of ill treatment and simply turn the other cheek. We must forgive 70 times 7 as Jesus told Simon Peter. Does that mean we must let people run over us and abuse us and never say anything, NO. This passage in Romans makes it clear that we must try to get along and are expected to forgive, however some people make that impossible. They are just difficult. As far as it is possible with us we should live at peach with everyone but sometimes it is just not possible. We do not need to be ugly to the person simply avoid them. Maybe with time the situation will get better but maybe not We can not always see eye to eye on everything with everyone.

Where are You Going?

Proverbs 20:24

A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?

Well you know where you have been. The question now is, where are you going? Do you have a plan, a dream, a vision? Are you doing anything about it? For six years I was Dean of Students at a small Bible College in North Carolina. A lady came in to talk to me about returning to school. She always wanted to attend college and pursue a degree to learn more about the Bible. At the end of our talk she said, " But maybe this is silly. I am 52 years old and in four years I will be 56." Then I asked her how old she would be in four years if she did not return to school. I was standing on the platform when she received her degree, she hugged me and cried and then looked me in the eyes and said, Thank You. Where are you going?

Jeff Nichols

Anchor Baptist Church

Wilmington, N.C.

Fruit of the Vine

John 15:5

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Don't these grapes look delicious? But, once they are picked they begin to die because they are separated from their source of life. We are like that. Once we are grafted into Christ we receive what we need to bear much fruit but we can do nothing apart from Him. He is the source of abundant and Eternal life.

Now That is Good Sleeping

Ecclesiastes 5:12

People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.

There is no pillow quite as soft as a clear conscience. I read that somewhere once and it is so true. The passage from Ecclesiastes reminds us that money is not everything. Many who have it worry about keeping it or making more. The writer of Ecclesiastes had more of it than anyone and yet Solomon had no peace. More is never enough for some people. The Apostle Paul said he had learned the secret of being content. What is that secret? I believe the secret is " To want what I have, and take what I'm given with Grace." Sweet Dreams