Fans of talking vegetables can sing along with Princess Poppyseed and Vanna Banana on the new VeggieTales DVD for girls, Princess and the Pop Star. Songs include “Radio Sweetheart,”
“That’s Not Everything” and “Right Where I Belong,” plus VeggieTales favorites newly recorded by Princess and Vanna such as “Stand,” “I Can Be Your Friend” and “One In a Million.”
So you think you’re a Bible smarty-pants? Try the Bible Brain Builders series of five books and increase your Scripture IQ with word games and crossword puzzles about the stories, people and places of the Bible. Also included: mazes that teach about the symbols of Christian history.
Is laughter the remedy for divorce? The Christian filmmakers behind Marriage Retreat (on DVD Aug. 23) think so. They soften a few hard lessons about love and relationships by playing up the
laughs as three struggling couples embark on a marriage-enrichment getaway led by a “uniquely yoked” duo.
“We think it’s important to laugh at ourselves,” says David A.R. White, one of the male leads. “Humor can lower people’s defenses; their walls come down and it allows the message to penetrate.” For more information go to pureflix.com.
Throwing a curveball at the viewer, baseball drama Milltown Pride sets the story of the prodigal son in the sports world. The Bob Jones University feature-length film follows Will Wright as he leaves his privileged background to pursue a baseball career by joining a local textile-mill team. His journey includes an encounter with real-life evangelist Billy Sunday, himself a former baseball star, played by scriptwriter David Burke.
Filming took place in four states, including at a baseball field with stands dating back to the time period. Cast and crew were largely drawn from the faculty and student body, though several hundred extras from the local community were drafted in for some scenes.
With its solid story, the film should encourage “anyone who knows someone who has lost his or her way, who has lost their focus on God,” producer Darren Lawson says. “There is hope, just by turning back to God.”
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. —Exodus 33:19
The only way to be saved is to ask God for mercy. Mercy, to be mercy, can be given or withheld and justice be done in either case. Jesus described two people in prayer: one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself; the tax collector begged God for mercy. Jesus warned us, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).
If you want to compare yourself with others, God says you are lost. You should climb down from your pride and say, “God be merciful to me a sinner. I’d be so grateful.”
God sometimes chooses to withhold His mercy.
Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.” But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. You will see it with your own eyes.” —Malachi 1:4-5
That is enough to bring us to our knees.
This word at the beginning of the Book of Malachi was an oracle to the people of Israel. You say, “Well that is fine. God loved Israel, but I am a Gentile.” But in Romans 9:6, Paul says, “It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.” God has widened the family. His family was not to be continued along racial lines but through those who would hear the gospel and respond to it.
Because God decides to whom to show mercy, it makes all the difference in the world how we approach Him. He is sovereign. When you know that He has said, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” (Exod. 33:19), you come to your knees and say, “Will You be gracious to me?”
Excerpted from Between the Times (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 2003).
welcome to the family, charismanews.com
Like parents of a newborn, we’re showing off our latest addition, charismanews.com. And we think you’ll agree, she’s a beauty! Expanding beyond our award-winning reporting of what the Holy Spirit is doing around the world, we now offer 24/7, up-to-the-minute coverage of breaking news—complete with videos, interactive reporting and social media. For trusted news from a Spirit-filled perspective, turn to Charisma News.
But you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. —Romans 8:15-17
If we are serious about glorifying God, because it makes a difference, we can also glorify Him by perceiving Him as Father. The words that Paul uses point to this: “to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:11).
Jesus called God “the Father.” This is because they were of the same essence: there was therefore no alienation between Father and Son. However, He also told us to call Him Father. How can this be?
We can call God Father because Jesus’ blood atoned for our sins. The blood that Jesus shed on the cross satisfied God’s justice, and the consequence is that, because we are joint-heirs with Christ, we too can call Him Father.
Let me remind you of the most dazzling thought in the world: God loves you as much as He loves Jesus. Indeed, Jesus actually said it: “[You] have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23). Now I do not have the vocabulary to convey how much God loves His Son. I only know that God spoke from heaven again and again saying, “This is my Son whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”
As a parent, I want my son and my daughter to know that they need never doubt my total and absolute love. Yet just as human parents want their children to know that they love them, so the Father in heaven wants you to know how much He loves you.
That is the kind of God we have. He does not tell us to stand in the cleft of a rock as He passes by; He just says, “Call Me your Father.” By the merit of the blood of Jesus, all who love Him come before the God of the shekinah glory, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, and He says, “This is what I am. Love Me for being what I am, because I love you as you are.”
Excerpted from Meekness and Majesty (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1992, 2000).
All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him. —Psalm 72:11
Having lived this life of humility and obedience, Jesus’ glory is restored and enhanced in heaven. Yet God gave Him more: He gave Him universal glory, that every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord. There is coming a day in which all will be in perfect agreement, when everybody will be united.
At present we have places and people united in name only—the United Nations, the United States of America. But there is a day coming when every congressman … every United States senator … every Muslim … every Jew … every atheist … every journalist … every television commentator … is going to be in perfect agreement: every tongue will confess the same thing.
They are going to have to get down on their knees, all of them, because Philippians 2:10 says, “Every knee should bow.” All men and women will be on their knees; every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is not a question of if we are going to do it; it is a question of when. But if we sacrifice our opinions for the opinion we will all have then, it brings Christ glory now.
There is coming a day when every angel will make way for the King; every human being will make way for Him, as will every demon. Then we will join the everlasting song and crown Him Lord of all. The same God who once said, “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another” (Isa. 42:8), now says, “You bow to My Son and confess that He is Lord to My glory.”
God calls you today to bow to Jesus and worship Him and, in so doing, give God the glory. In that day it will not be the preservation of your name or mine, but Jesus will have all the glory.
Excerpted from Meekness and Majesty (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1992, 2000).
Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering … but rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ … for the Spirit of glory … rests on you. —1 Peter 4:12-14
God has a glory in mind for each of His people, whoever they are. It does not mean that you will necessarily be famous or a great thinker, a great speaker, a singer, a politician, a doctor, an accountant, a theologian, or a philosopher. But God wants to make you great.
The point is that your glory is true spirituality, and it comes through tribulation: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
Although your gift under God could lead to greatness even in the eyes of men, it will never be apart from your receiving the glory that He has assigned for you. For God has a glory in mind for you, and that is that you become a truly spiritual person, an unpretentious person like Jesus.
When we are pretentious, people can see it, and yet we do not have any objectivity about ourselves. We go right on trying to pretend how clever, brilliant, sophisticated, or cultured we are, but that is not spirituality. Peter said, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time” (1 Pet. 5:6). Unless you become humble, unpretentious, and truly spiritual, all that you seek to do will not amount to a hill of beans.
When we speak of the glory of Christ, we are talking about the sum total or essence of all that He was; you could actually refer to Jesus, properly, as “His Glory.” In fact, Paul called the very gospel that we preach, “the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:4).
Excerpted from Meekness and Majesty (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1992, 2000).
“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent and had him brought in. —1 Samuel 16:11-12
Have you learned to recognize God’s setup? This is what we find in John 6. When Jesus went so far as to say, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (v. 53), that did it. “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? … From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (vv. 60, 66). They could not have felt more justified in their disgust. The offense in some people’s anointing is camouflaged by God’s setup. This way people can rationalize and dismiss the person and feel completely justified.
Eliab, Jesse’s firstborn, was a setup. This is surely the one, even Samuel thought at first. But fortunately, Samuel kept listening to that voice he trusted.
If we are not truly tuned in to the voice of the Holy Spirit, we can let any prejudice of our own charm us to miss the authentic. On top of this, God may well test us by allowing our prejudice to overrule when someone’s outward appearance is not up to what we think should befit an anointed servant of Christ.
Once Samuel saw David, despite his young age and utter lack of experience, the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one” (1 Sam. 16:12). How did Samuel know? I only know that he knew. He knew he was not deceived. But he would not have been able to supply evidence to Jesse or anyone else that would be totally convincing. The pain of being today’s man is that you can’t convince another person of what you see unless the same Holy Spirit shows them as well.
Excerpted from The Anointing: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (Charisma House, 2003).