LOST IN THE CHURCH: [GETTING LOST IN CHURCH] Part Seven Worshipping the Word of God/Scripture. The Word of God, together with the Church, are among the things given to us for the purpose of salvation, to bring people to God, although they themselves are not God. Therefore, I can say that the Word of God is like a signpost pointing us to where Christ is. When a person ends up building his life upon the Word of God without going to Jesus Christ, this becomes the foundation of one of the greatest deceptions of religious spirits and idolatry in the Church. If you read John chapter five, you will see how the Lord spoke to those who had fallen into this kind of deception: > “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” John 5:39–40 Today, many people have ended up in religious institutions, while others have ended up in Scripture, yet they have never truly come to Jesus to receive life. Jesus did not come to establish any religion or bring a system of laws to the world; rather, He came to restore the RELATIONSHIP between humanity and God—the relationship that was lost in Eden. It is within this relationship that salvation and eternal life are found. > “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3 A person can know all the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, and may even teach them with great skill and accuracy, yet never have encountered or truly known the Lord. It may be easy for someone to explain things about the Lord based on what they have heard from other people. However, it is completely different to know the Lord personally. Jesus is the Way and the Life. There is no way for anyone to come to the Father except through Him. And when He says that He is the Way, many people picture a dusty road, a gravel road, or a paved road. But the Way He is talking about here is a Person. To know the way to heaven is to know a Person. And you cannot truly know Him without having a relationship with Him. > “Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Matthew 7:23 It is entirely possible for someone to preach, teach the Word of God, cast out demons, and perform many works of the Kingdom, yet still not know the Lord—and likewise, not be known in Heaven. It is easy for a person to build a name for himself and become famous on earth, but it is very different to be known in Heaven. Many of the things we glorify on earth are often considered worthless before God. Therefore, it is possible for someone to be well-known in Heaven while having no name or recognition on earth. Glorifying the Word More Than the One Who Gave the Word There has been a very strange tendency among people to glorify the Word of God more than God Himself, who gave the Word. In this way, many people hold on to what God said yesterday against what He is saying today. For example, it is possible for God to say “Yes” yesterday concerning a particular matter and say “No” today, according to His will and timing. If we have not learned how to walk with the Lord, it is very easy to cling to a dead word, which undoubtedly becomes an idol. In this way, we have many churches today that have died because they continue holding on to a dead word. The Apostle Peter is one of the examples in Scripture of someone who almost made such a painful mistake. He resisted the Lord’s command concerning the animals, relying on the earlier word from the same God who had declared those animals unclean. However, by His great mercy, the Lord corrected Peter and told him: > “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” Acts 10:15 #ToBeContinued..! Mwl. Ernest Nyalula WhatsApp: +255 616 609 885 #LostInTheChurch #JesusChrist #WordOfGod #Christianity #ChristianLife #FaithInChrist #KnowJesus #RelationshipWithGod #BibleTruth #SpiritualGrowth #KingdomOfGod #ChristianTeaching #FaithAndTruth #GodsWord #JesusIsTheWay #ChristianYouth #GospelTruth #WalkWithGod #KnowGod #ToBeContinued

A real fun and inspiring discussion with Pastor Peter Jenkins on the next INSIGHT Bible chat show… INSIGHT with Peter Jenkins - Ask the Animals 2 - Ask the Donkeys https://soundcloud.com/godtracker/in-59-insight-with-peter "Jesus taught with parables. Some were true stories while others were fictitious, but all help us to understand the purposes of God. On the next INSIGHT Bible chat show, I chat with Pastor Peter Jenkins. Peter will be sharing his own parables, asking the animals. Scripture exhorts us to ask the beasts, and they will teach us, and the birds of the air, and they will tell us. Peter will be asking the donkeys of the Bible on the next INSIGHT." #interview #insight #animals #donkey #bible

🌿 Mystical Gardens Tale 🌿 🪑 The Empty Chair Mary had friends, technically she wasn't alone. That was what she always told herself. She had people she could call. People who would answer a message. People she could talk to about the weather, the latest news, or something funny that had happened during the day. What she didn't have was someone to do things with. She wasn't completely alone, but there was a difference between having people she could talk to and having a companion to spend time with. Mary knew there was a difference. She knew it every evening when she came home. She knew it when she made dinner and automatically put two plates on the counter before realizing there was only one person eating. She knew it when something funny happened on television and she turned toward the other side of the couch to share the joke, only to find an empty cushion. She knew it when she poured herself a glass of tea and, without thinking, reached for another glass. Then stopped. There was no one to pour it for. One evening, Mary sat on the couch with her dinner untouched beside her. The television was playing, but she wasn't watching it. Her eyes kept drifting toward the empty chair across the room. It wasn't anything special. Just an old chair with a cushion that had lost some of its shape, but tonight, it seemed to be extra empty. Mary stared at it for a long time. Then she whispered, “I wish somebody was here.” The words surprised her. She had spent years teaching herself not to say things like that. Whenever she admitted she was lonely, someone would remind her that she already had friends. Whenever she said she wanted companionship, someone would tell her she needed to learn to be happy alone. Whenever she complained about having no one to do things with, someone would say, “You just have to get out there.” Mary knew they meant well, but sometimes she wanted more than advice. She wanted someone to sit beside her. Someone to go places with. Someone to call and say, “Want to grab a coffee?” Someone who would watch a terrible movie with her and laugh at how terrible it was. Someone who would notice when she was quiet. Someone who didn't have to be invited because they were already there. Mary leaned back against the couch. “I don't want to be needy,” she whispered. The room offered no answer. The loneliness tightened around her heart. The loneliness engulfed her and tears formed in her eyes. Mary closed her eyes, curled into a fetal ball, and allowed herself to cry. When she opened them again, she wasn't in her living room. She was sitting in a beautiful garden beneath a giant tree. The mystical garden stretched around her in the soft evening light. Flowers moved gently in a breeze she couldn't feel. Somewhere nearby, water trickled over smooth stones. Mary didn't know how she had gotten there, but she wasn't frightened. She had been to this garden before. Some people claimed it was magical. She looked up at the giant tree. “You know why I'm here, don't you?” The leaves rustled. Mary smiled sadly. “I'm so lonely.” The tree remained silent. Mary pulled her knees toward herself. “I know what everyone says. I know I do have people in my life. I do have friends. I know I should be grateful. I really am grateful.” She swallowed. “But I want someone...” The words finally came out. “I want someone to share my life with.” A breeze moved through the branches. Mary looked up. “Can you help me?” The tree did not answer. Mary waited. “Can you find someone for me?” Still nothing. Her smile disappeared. “It's silly, but I thought that since I just appeared here, maybe you had some magic that could help me.” The branches swayed gently. Mary looked away. “Apparently not.” She stood and began walking through the garden. At first, she noticed all the companionship around her. She saw two birds that sat together on a branch. A pair of rabbits chased one another through the flowers. A butterfly rested on another butterfly's wings. Even the bees seemed to have somewhere to go and someone waiting for them. Mary stopped beside the pond. “Even the animals have someone.” Her voice cracked. “And I don't.” She sat beside the water. For a long time, she didn't notice anything different. Then something strange began. The garden seemed to change. Mary watched as a bee landed on a flower. The flower gave it the nectar that it searched for. A bird flew down to the pond where it found a worm in the soft soil and water to quench is thirst. A fruit fell from one of the branches and disappeared into the soil where the seed would grow. Mary watched quietly. She finally began to understand. The garden wasn't showing her perfect lives. This wasn't exactly the companionship she longed for. What it was showing her was a different kind of companionship. It showed her the connections that are made in all life. Little ones. Simple ones. Necessary ones. Then its leaves shimmered and Mary heard a whisper in her heart. "You are not wrong for wanting companionship.'' Mary's eyes filled with tears. People had told her it was good to be independent. They had told her to enjoy her own company. They had told her she didn't need anyone, but nobody had told her that wanting someone beside her wasn't a weakness. Mary rested her hand against the tree. “I don't want someone to rescue me.” The leaves rustled. “I just don't want to do everything alone. I just need a friend to do things with.” The tree remained silent, but somehow Mary understood. There was a difference between being incomplete and being lonely. She could be whole and still want someone to share some of the things in her life with. She could be grateful and still wish for a little companionship. She could love herself and still want someone sitting in the empty chair. Mary wiped her eyes. “Then why can't you find someone for me?” The tree's branches slowly moved toward the ground. One small branch pointed toward the garden gate. Mary frowned. “You want me to leave?” At first she was hurt, but then she understood. The garden couldn't choose another person's heart. It couldn't manufacture friendship. It couldn't make someone walk into her life. It couldn't promise that tomorrow she would meet the person she'd been waiting for. But it could give her somewhere to come back to when the loneliness became too heavy. It could remind her that loneliness wasn't proof that she was forgotten. Companionship had many different forms. Perhaps most importantly, it reminded her not to close her heart simply because she had been disappointed before. Mary stood. The tree's leaves shimmered. “I guess I just stopped trying.” She looked toward the garden gate. “Because every time I tried, I got hurt.” The garden grew very still. Mary took a deep breath. “Maybe I decided it was easier to do things alone, preferring to be lonely than to be hurt. That's not the same thing as being okay, is it?” The tree answered with a gentle shower of golden leaves. Mary laughed through her tears. “No,” she whispered. “It isn't.” When Mary returned home, the television was still playing. The empty chair was still there. Nothing about her house had changed. But Mary had. She looked at the chair. For years, she had thought the empty chair was proof that nobody was coming, no one wanted to be with her. Tonight, she saw it differently. It was simply an empty chair waiting to be filled. The next morning, Mary picked up her phone. She stared at the screen for several minutes. If she wanted a friend, she should make an effort. There was a woman she occasionally talked to. They had always talked easily, but Mary had never asked her to do anything outside their usual conversations. Her finger hovered over the call button. Then she pressed it. “Hi,” Mary said when the woman answered. “I was wondering…” She almost stopped. She fears that the woman would be too busy. That she would think Mary was being strange. But Mary continued. “Would you like to have coffee with me sometime?” There was a pause. Then came the answer. “I'd love to.” Mary smiled. It wasn't a miracle. It wasn't the end of her loneliness. It wasn't the person she had dreamed about finding for a relationship. It was simply coffee and the beginning of a new friendship. Sometimes the beginnings of any kind of relationship are very small. Sometimes they sound like: Would you like to come with me? Would you want to watch a movie? Do you want to get coffee? Would you like to sit here? Mary still visited the garden. She still had lonely evenings. There were still nights when she looked at the empty chair and wished someone were sitting in it, but now she wouldn't allow the loneliness to tightened around her heart. She knew she could ask for simple companionship when she felt lonely and she could always come here for comfort and peace. Wanting someone beside you does not make you weak. Being lonely does not mean you are forgotten. An empty chair is not a threat that no one will ever come. Sometimes… It is simply a chair waiting for a story that hasn't been written yet. Seed from the Garden “God setteth the solitary in families.” — Psalm 68:6 Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two people are better than one because they can help each other up. God sees the lonely places we don't always know how to explain. He doesn't shame us for wanting companionship. While He may not answer that longing in the way or timing we expect, we can trust that our loneliness does not mean we have been forgotten. Sometimes the first step isn't finding the person we've been waiting for. Sometimes it's simply finding the courage to open the door to allow people in. #christianwriter #christianfiction #christianfantasy #stacyfrantz #MysticalGardens

Gods Creation, 100 / evolution,0 We speak this in love because truth matters. Dr. Hugh Ross and some other theologians teach that Noah's Flood was "universal but not global." Yet Scripture repeatedly describes a worldwide catastrophe: • "All the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered." (Genesis 7:19) • "The mountains were covered." (Genesis 7:20) • "Every living substance was destroyed." (Genesis 7:23) • "The waters were on the face of the whole earth." (Genesis 8:9) If the Flood was merely local, why build an Ark? Why spend decades constructing a massive vessel to preserve animals when Noah could have simply migrated out of the region? The Ark only makes sense if the judgment was global. The issue is not whether these men are sincere. The issue is whether their interpretation agrees with what God's Word plainly says. When human ideas conflict with Scripture, Christians should trust Scripture. "Let God be true, but every man a liar." Romans 3:4

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice By faith Enoch was taken.... By faith Noah built an ark to deliver his family and the animals....... Hrb.11

Sometimes character shows up in the quietest places. Even in the way we treat the animals that depend on us.

The casting out of demons testifies to the future casting out of Satan and his armies into the lake of fire. The Church, by this power, asserts Jesus to be the world’s true King, and Satan to be a deposed prince. The speaking with tongues testifies to the universality of Christ’s redemption, not being confined to one nation, and to the future restitution of a divided humanity. The taking up of serpents testifies that in Christ’s kingdom even animals will lose their ferocity (Isa. 11: 6–8). Drinking poison without taking harm. This testifies to the power by which Christ will completely eliminate the curse out of this earth. He will liberate Nature from her thraldom. All hurtful properties will be taken away. The healing of the sick. The first fruits of that power by which death itself shall be destroyed by the Prince of Life. - MAX I. REICH

Psalm 66 How Awesome Are Your Deeds To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm. Shout for joy to God, all the earth; 2 sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise! 3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. 4 All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.” Selah 5 Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man. 6 He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him, 7 who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations— let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah 8 Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard, 9 who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip. 10 For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. 11 You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; 12 you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance. 13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to you, 14 that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. 15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah 16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. 17 I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was [under] [and he was exalted with] my tongue. 18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. 19 But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!

Dear Father, I find the story of Jacob interesting, where he obtained greater flocks from Laban, his mother's brother, as a reward for his labor. The agreement between them was that all the speckled, spotted, and brown animals would be given as Jacob's wages, while Laban would retain the pure colored animals. At first, Jacob admits that his choice of speckled flocks was influenced by what You revealed to him in his dream; however, he also did something beautiful. The Scripture says: “Jacob pilled and set rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree, before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.” In the olden days, our ancestors believed that what a mother saw or experienced during conception could affect the appearance of her offspring. The amazing part is that Jacob was not just aware of the analogy between sight and perspective and their influence on outcomes; he went out of his way to build before the eyes of the flocks what he desired to see. Despite having seen it in a dream, he did not leave it to chance. He proceeded and worked towards bringing into his world what he had first seen in Yours. I believe one of the first limitations to fulfilling destiny is not circumstance, but perspective. How can we become what we do not see? These possibilities do exist in Your realm, but to make them a reality in ours, we must first believe it. Translations; Slide 1: English Slide 2: French Slide 3: Bengali Slide 4: Hindi Slide 5: Urdu Slide 6: Portuguese #LettertoGod #believeit #Jacobstory #perspective #mindset

Gods Creation, 100 / evolution, 0 WHY DID T. REX HAVE TINY ARMS? Few animals capture the imagination quite like Tyrannosaurus rex. It's one of the most recognizable dinosaurs in the world. Towering over the landscape with a massive skull and bone-crushing jaws, one feature has puzzled scientists for decades: those tiny little arms. A new study claims to have solved the mystery. After examining the skulls and forelimbs of dozens of meat-eating dinosaurs, researchers found that species with larger, more robust skulls generally had smaller arms. From that relationship, they proposed that as these dinosaurs supposedly changed over millions of years, the head gradually became the primary weapon while the forelimbs became less important. It's an interesting observation, but does that explanation really follow? The study identified a relationship between skull size and arm size. It didn't discover how that relationship came to be. Instead, the evolutionary story is added afterward because that's the framework through which the evidence is being interpreted. But there's another explanation that's much simpler. Think about a playground teeter-totter. If one side becomes much heavier, the other side has to compensate or everything falls out of balance. A two-legged dinosaur faces the same engineering challenge. Its head, neck, torso, hips, legs, tail, and forelimbs all have to work together to keep its center of gravity exactly where it belongs. A massive skull combined with equally massive forelimbs would place tremendous weight toward the front of the animal. Something else would have to compensate. The tail would need to become larger, the hips would need to change, or the body would become increasingly unstable. Suddenly those tiny arms don't seem strange at all. They make perfect engineering sense as part of a balanced, integrated body. The researchers also describe the arms as "reduced" or "vestigial," yet they still don't know exactly what purpose those arms served. History has shown why we should be cautious with that conclusion. Again and again, structures once dismissed as evolutionary leftovers have later been found to perform important functions. The difference ultimately comes down to where we begin. If evolution is the starting point, then every feature must somehow be explained through millions of years of gradual change. But if we begin where Scripture begins, with God as Creator, then coordinated engineering is exactly what we should expect. The Bible tells us God created every creature according to its kind during Creation Week. From that perspective, T. rex wasn't a work in progress. It was created as a complete, fully functional animal whose skull, arms, legs, hips, and tail all worked together from the very beginning. The word "dinosaur" wasn't even invented until 1842. Before that, these incredible creatures would simply have been known as dragons, great beasts, or perhaps even among the kinds of magnificent animals described in passages like Behemoth in the book of Job. Whatever name people used, they were part of the "very good" creation God made during Creation Week. The tiny arms of Tyrannosaurus rex aren't evidence of a failed evolutionary experiment. They are another reminder that God's creation displays remarkable engineering, thoughtful design, and purpose, even in places where scientists are still searching for answers.