Claimed, gathered and sent

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" He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers" (Psalm 1:3). I was meditating on this passage yesterday and started using my imagination. As I thought about how trees are planted and grow, I realized they don't do anything to make it happen. They don't plant themselves, someone else does. They don't concentrate really hard to grow better, to be more fruitful. They just have to be trees. We cannot of our own strength be better, more spiritual Christians. We cannot cause our lives to be fruitful. For the Christian, this analogy brings us to John chapter 15 of Jesus being the vine and our need to abide in him. "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" (verse 3). Let us trust in God's grace to enable us to grow in him as we abide, then we too can b

http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2007/001/10.62.html "How Do I Uncover My Spiritual Gifts?" 3 ways to discern how God wired you. by Nancy Ortberg I love this question! Discovering and utilizing your spiritual gifts is one of the most exciting adventures a person can have with God. The Bible says spiritual gifts are abilities God bestows on every believer for the common good of the body of Christ. They're a large part of the answer to the question, "What should I do with the life God gave me?" Passages like 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and 1 Peter 4 go into specific detail about what these gifts are and how they should be used. It's clear every spiritual gift is a reflection of God's nature that you carry within you. And because your spiritual gift reflects God's design and direction for your life, you'll find great passion, joy, and satisfaction in expressing it. Your spiritual gift also will be a place of deep spiritual formation in your lif

Please take a minute to read this perceptive piece by Bonhoeffer. Note the circumstances of his life. BONHOEFFER for WEDNESDAY February 7, 2007 Finding Ourselves in Christ It is not that God's help and presence must still be proved in our life; rather God's presence and help have been demonstrated for us in the life of Jesus Christ. It is in fact more important for us to know what God did to Israel, in God's son Jesus Christ, than to discover what God intends for us today. The fact that Jesus Christ died is more important than the fact that I will die. And the fact the Jesus Christ was raised from the dead is the sole ground of my hope that I, too, will be raised on the day of judgment. Our salvation is "from outside ourselves." I find salvation not in my life story, but only in the story of Jesus Christ. Only those who allow themselves to be found in Jesus Christ - in the incarnation, cross, and resurrection - are with God and God with them. - Dietrich Bonhoeffe

Evil in Disguise The great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts. For evil to appear disguised as light, charity, historical necessity, or social justice is quite bewildering to anyone brought up on our traditional ethical concepts, while for Christians who base their lives on the Bible it merely confirms the fundamental wickedness of evil....Who stands fast? Only those whose final standards are not their reason, their principle, their conscience, their freedom, or their virtue, but who are ready to sacrifice all this when they are called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God - the responsible ones, who try to make their whole life an answer to the question and call to God. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer - from Letters and Papers from Prison 2,4 from A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer Carla Barnhill, Ed., HarperSan Francisco, 2005 On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler is made chancellor of Germany

The following article is located at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/40686 Home > 2007 > February (Web-only) Christianity Today, February (Web-only), 2007 Fatah Police Seize Gaza Baptist Church As cease-fire agreements between Fatah and Hamas come and go, a church is literally caught in the middle. Deann Alford | posted 2/07/2007 08:20AM F ive Fatah police officers remain stationed on Gaza Baptist Church's sixth floor as a tense truce has brought at least momentary peace to the tiny strip of coast teetering on the brink of civil war. Related articles and links Tuesday afternoon, fights between the secular Fatah party and its rival, the militant Islamic party Hamas, flared on Gaza's side of the Egyptian border as Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh passed through Rafah Crossing en route to reconciliation talks. The 10-minute gun battle not only threatened to shatter the latest cease-fire but also trapped Hani Fazah, a Christian Gazan doctor and f