Dipendente

A new beginning

Since everythign is changing, we thought we would start a new blog also. SO........Drum Roll Please.......... we are moving to www.jkdinale.com

You are Invited to the

Following Jesus is the safe bet??

Who on earth ever said that being a follower of Jesus Christ was a safe en devour?? how have we made the Christian faith so safe and so tame?? I reckon the reason we are not experiencing revival in the church today is because our faith is not costly enough for us, and we have become domesticated by the world. Even though we are bible believing.

(1) The Apostle James

James, the Apostle of the Lord, was the second recorded martyr after Christ’s death (Stephen was the first). His death is recorded in Acts 12:2 where it is told that Herod Agrippa killed him with a sword. Clemens Alexandrinus and Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History II.2) both tell how the executioner witnessed the courage and un-recanting spirit of James and was then convinced of Christ resurrection and was executed along with James.

Date of Martyrdom: 44-45 A.D.

(2) The Apostle Peter

Although, just before the crucifixion, Peter denied three times that he even knew Christ, after the resurrection he did not do so again. Peter, just as Jesus told him in John 21:18-19, was crucified by Roman executioners because he could not deny his master again. According to Eusebius, he thought himself unworthy to be crucified as his Master, and, therefore, he asked to be crucified “head downward.”

Date of Martyrdom: ca. 64 A.D.

(3) The Apostle Andrew

Andrew, who introduced his brother Peter to Christ, went to join Peter with Christ in eternity six years after Peter’s death. After preaching Christ’s resurrection to the Scythians and Thracians, he too was crucified for his faith. As Hippolytus tells us, Andrew was hanged on an olive tree at Patrae, a town in Achaia.

Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.

(4) The Apostle Thomas

Thomas is known as “doubting Thomas” because of his reluctance to believe the other Apostles’ witness of the resurrection. After they told him that Christ was alive, he stated “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). After this, Christ did appear to him and Thomas believed unto death. Thomas sealed his testimony as he was thrust through with pine spears, tormented with red-hot plates, and burned alive.

Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.

(5) The Apostle Philip

Philip was corrected by Christ when he asked Christ to “show us the Father, then this will be enough for us” (John 14:8). Christ responded, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father ‘?” (John 14:9). Philip later saw the glory of Christ after the resurrection and undoubtedly reflected with amazement on Christ’s response to his request. Philip evangelized in Phrygia where hostile Jews had him tortured and then crucified.

Date of Martyrdom: 54 A.D.

(6) The Apostle Matthew

Matthew, the tax collector, so desperately wanted the Jews to accept Christ. He wrote The Gospel According to Matthew about ten years before his death. Because of this, one can see, contained within his Gospel, the faith for which he spilled his blood. Matthew surely remembered his resurrected Savior’s words, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20), when he professed the resurrected Christ unto his death by beheading at Nad-Davar.

Date of Martyrdom: 60-70 A.D.

(7) The Apostle Nathanael (Bartholomew)

Nathanael, whose name means “gift of God” was truly given as a gift to the Church through his martyrdom. Nathanael was the first to profess, early in Christ’s ministry, that Christ was the Son of God (John 1:49). He later paid for this profession through a hideous death. Unwilling to recant of his proclamation of a risen Christ, he was flayed and then crucified.

Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.

(8) The Apostle James the Lesser

James was appointed to be the head of the Jerusalem church for many years after Christ’s death. In this, he undoubtedly came in contact with many hostile Jews (the same ones who killed Christ and stated “His [Christ's] blood be on us and our children” (Matt. 27:25). In order to make James deny Christ’s resurrection, these men positioned him at the top of the Temple for all to see and hear. James, unwilling to deny what he knew to be true, was cast down from the Temple and finally beaten to death with a fuller’s club to the head.

Date of Martyrdom: 63 A.D.

(9) The Apostle Simon the Zealot

Simon was a Jewish zealot who strived to set his people free from Roman oppression. After he saw with his own eyes that Christ had been resurrected, he became a zealot of the Gospel. Historians tell of the many different places that Simon proclaimed the good news of Christ’s resurrection: Egypt, Cyrene, Africa, Mauritania, Britain, Lybia, and Persia. His rest finally came when he verified his testimony and went to be with Christ, being crucified by a governor in Syria.

Date of Martyrdom: 74 A.D.

(10) The Apostle Judas Thaddeus

Judas questioned the Lord: “Judas said to him (not Iscariot), Lord, how is it that you will show yourself to us, and not unto the world?” (John 14:22). After he witnessed Christ’s resurrection, Judas then knew the answer to his question. Preaching the risen Christ to those in Mesopotamia in the midst of pagan priests, Judas was beaten to death with sticks, showing to the world that Christ was indeed Lord and God.

Date of Martyrdom: 72 A.D.

(11) The Apostle Matthias

Matthias replaced Judas Iscariot (the betrayer of Christ who hanged himself) as the twelfth Apostle of Christ (Acts 1:26). It is believed by most that Matthias was one of the seventy that Christ sent out during his earthly ministry (Luke 10:1). This qualifies him to be an apostle. Matthias, of which the least is known, is said by Eusebius to have preached in Ethiopia. He was later stoned while hanging upon a cross.

Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.

(12) The Apostle John

John is the only one of the twelve Apostles to have died a natural death. Although he did not die a martyr’s death, he did live a martyr’s life. He was exiled to the Island of Patmos under the Emperor Domitian for his proclamation of the risen Christ. It was there that he wrote the last book in the Bible, Revelation. Some traditions tell us that he was thrown into boiling oil before the Latin Gate, where he was not killed but undoubtedly scarred for the rest of his life.

Date of Martyrdom: 95 A.D.

(13) The Apostle Paul

Paul, himself a persecutor of the Christian faith (Galatians 1:13), was brought to repentance on his way to Damascus by an appearance of the risen Christ. Ironically, Paul was heading for Damascus to arrest those who held to Christ’s resurrection. Paul was the greatest skeptic there was until he saw the truth of the resurrection. He then devoted his life to the proclamation of the living Christ. Writing to the Corinthians, defending his ministry, Paul tells of his sufferings for the name of Christ: “In labors more abundant, in beatings above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once was I stoned, three times I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeys often, in storms on the water, in danger of robbers, in danger by mine own countrymen, in danger by the heathen, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness, in the sea, among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness “(2 Cor. 11:23-27). Finally, Paul met his death at the hands of the Roman Emperor Nero when he was beheaded in Rome.

Date of Martyrdom: ca. 67 A.D.

quote for the day

"No mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore." Sigmun Freud

This is such an inspirational story (thanks to J.R's Twitter)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uUd98KhLA4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88JV8PRmFuo

Things i have come to believe

The way of Jesus, the way of the cross, is a call to die to ourselves and lacks the dignity of a refined faith and civilized religion.

I don’t believe Jesus suffered and died so that we could build ourselves safe Christian havens, but so that we might expand the Kingdom of His Grace

I believe the church has become so tame that Jesus is being lost in a religion bearing His name.

I belive people are being lost because they cannot reconcile Jesus’ association with Christianity.

I believe the church has become so tame that we have forgotten that there is a kingdom of darkness stealing the hopes and dreams and souls of a humanity without God. 

Thought on Humility

I think humility is somethign that is one of those things that is hard to attain, harder to maintain and sometimes is lost in the business of life or the arrogance of theology.

Robert Morrison said that the great fault in our missions is that nobody likes to be second

One verse used often i think to justify lack of humility is Philippians 4:13

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

This verse is often pulled out of context and used in some triumphalistic manner “I can do anything cause God is on my side”. Paul’s ‘everything’ is not ulimited, as if Paul could say

“I can leap a building with a single bound, cause I am a Christians and God is on my side”  And in the same way this verse should not be pulled out by well-meaning but –ill-informed Christians who are trying to manipulate each other into doing something they really don’t think they should do:

“But Mrs Brown, you can’t say ‘NO’ to our invitation to teach ten-year-old boys just because you have never taught Sunday school before, or just because you feel you have not gifts or calling or interest in this area. After all Pauls teaches us that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength”

This is horrible. Paul’s everything is constrained by the context. His point is that whatever the circumstances in which he finds himself, there with the rich and the powerful or with the poor and the powerless, whether preaching to substantial crowds or incarcerated in a filthy prison, he has learned to cast himself on God and be content. He can do all things, everything that God assigns him to do, through the one who gives him strength. Let the gospel advance; let god’s will be done in me and through me, Paul is saying: I am content, for I can trust the one who invariably strengthens me to do what he assigns me.

Paul is a humble servant of the Lord and humility is something that he works on and strives for through out his life.

Paul’s progression of his view of humilty:

Early on “Least of the Apostles” 1 Cor 15:9
“Less than all of Godss people” (Eph3:8)
“Christ came to save sinners of who I am the worst” (1 Tim 1:15)

How do we work on humility and attain it.

William Law said: Let every day be a day of humility; condescend to all the weaknesses and infirmities of your fellow-creatures, cover their frailties, love their excellences, encourage their virtues, relieve their wants, rejoice in their prosperities, compassionate their distress, receive their friendship, overlook their unkindness, forgive their malice, be a servant of servants, and condescend to do the lowliest of offices to the lowest of mankind.

Sir Marcus Loane dies

Former Archbishop of Sydney, great teacher, preacher and leader died yesterday at age 97. Pray for his family and praise god for his amazing ministry over the past nearly century.

More info

Saying something by not

I just came across these commercials for Hyundai cars, i gather they are from teh USA because i have no tseen them here. What i really liked about these is that they are making a point but getting you to reason through. They are not forcing you to buy (well i know they are an ad company and so their aim is to make you buy) they just want you to think about it and come to the conviction yourself.

Questions for leaders or those aspiring to be leaders from Sanders

1.    Have you ever broken a bad habit
2.    Do you keep self control when things go wrong?
3.    Leader must be calm in crisis
4.    Do you think independently?
5.    A leader must use the best ideas of others to make decisions
6.    A Leader cannot wait for others to make up his/her mind
7.    Can you handle criticism, can you profit from it?
8.    Can you turn disappointment's into creative new opportunities?
9.    Do you readily win the respect and confidence of others?
10.    Can you exert discipline without making it a power play?
11.     Are you a peace maker?
12.     Do people trust you
13.     Can you induce people to do some legitimate thing that they would not normally do?
14.     Can you accept opposition to your view point without taking offence?
15.     Can you make and keep friend?
16.     Can you hold steady in the face of opposition?
17.     Are you at ease in the presence of strangers?
18.     A leader should be sympathetic.
19.     Are you tactful?
20.     Are your ideas steady?
21.    Can you forgive?
22.     Are you optimistic? Pessimism and leadership DO NOT mix
23.     Do you feel a master passion such as that of Paul?
24.     Do you welcome responsibility?