​John 1:22-23 - Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" 23 He said, "I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,' as Isaiah the prophet said."  NASU 

• A Voice For God 

John the Baptist was being asked, "Who are you…?"  He tells them he is the Voice. He is the one Isaiah prophesied about many years ago. Isaiah under the guidance of the Holy Spirit informed them there would be a "Voice Calling Clear The Way For The LORD In The Wilderness" and John is saying he is that voice. 

• What A Compliment 

Could you ever imagine being called "the or a Voice" by God?
 
No, I am not talking about singing or being on a TV show. I am talking about God calling you "the or a Voice" because your voice is used to inform people about Jesus Christ the Messiah who is coming.
 
John the Baptist was telling everyone the Messiah was coming and you better repent for the kingdom of God is near. 

• Can We Be A Voice Today? 

I believe we can be a voice today. We can tell people about Jesus Christ. John was telling everyone the Messiah was coming. Look at how Mark (1:4-5) describes John's preaching:
 
John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
 
John was getting it done. He was accomplishing the task before him. He was preaching the Lord was coming and the people were listening. They were coming to him from Judea and Jerusalem. I believe we can preach a similar message today because Jesus Christ is coming again.
 
I also believe if we tell people about Jesus Christ people will likewise be converted. They will put their faith in Jesus Christ, confess Him as their Lord and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins and receive the Holy Spirit. 

• John Did 

John did what he was told to do and say. We have been told to go into all the world and preach the gospel. I believe that is why people are being baptized into Christ because we have "voices" and we are using them for God today.
 
Go ahead and be like John the Baptist and allow your voice to be used to glorify God and His Son, Our Savior Jesus Christ.
 
What greater compliment could one receive than someone saying, "He/She uses their voice for God."?
 
Think About These:
 
Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.
 
Small town newspaper once ran this advertisement: "Read the Bible to know what people ought to do. Read this paper to know what they actually do."

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago
 
​Minister of God's Word

​I Kings 19:10 - He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

• When You Lose Your Passion

Elijah uses the past tense verb construction when he said: "I have been very zealous..." I have been but I am no longer very zealous or passionate, Elijah said. I am sure that we all have been "passionate" about something and then we lost that "passion."

I have seen people start college with a full head of steam only to drop out and never graduate. People will start down what would appear to be a great career and in a few years, they are no longer producing like they did when they started with the company.

Look at all the marriages that begin filled with love and passion and then end up in a divorce court.

I know athletes who were passionate about their sport and they get an injury and quit rather than spending the necessary time to recuperate, refocus and re-enter the competition.

• What Causes A Person To Lose Their Passion?

What happens in a person's life that causes them to lose their passion for what they once held so dear? They lose their focus on what it was that caused them to be passionate in the first place.

Howard Thurman said, "Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” 

Look at what Elijah did. He fell into the trap of looking at what other people were doing. Elijah accuses the Israelites of forsaking God's covenant, tearing down His altars and killing His prophets.

• What Will Help You Regain Your Passion?

Remember the victories that you have had in the past. He forgot to remember what God had just done with him.

God had sent down fire and consumed the altar and the offering that was on it in answer to Elijah's prayer.  All the people started confessing that Elijah's God was LORD and they killed all of the false prophets of Baal. Elijah needed to remember the victory that he had over the false prophets.
                                 
Elijah had forgotten this great victory somehow. He forgot what God was doing with him. All he could see is what is negative and wrong with the world around him. He is unable to see that God is in control.

When you and I fail to see what God is doing with us and that He is in control. Then it becomes easy to lose your passion. 
 
Remember your victories and your passion will return.

• How Do We Restore Our Passion?

Some times we need to get away. We need some downtime. We must restore ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually. We need to recharge our batteries by getting a fresh vision of God.  

If your passion needs to be restored today open up your eyes and see what God has done with you and what He wants to do with you right now.
 
E. M. Forster said, "One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested."
 
You are that one person with passion. You are better than forty people merely interested. Now turn your passion loose on the world with God's guidance and Watch For Future Victories.
 
Think on This:

"Purpose may point you in the right direction but it’s passion that propels you.” - T. McAshan

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago
 
Minister of God's Word

​Gen. 6:6 - The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.  NASU
 
1 Sam. 15:11 - "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands."  NASU 

• Regret 

The one thing we have in common with God is "regret". In Genesis the Hebrew word for "regret" has been translated "sorry".
 
God had regretted making Saul the King of Israel and in Genesis God regretted or was sorry He had made man.
 
Most people that I know all have some regrets of the things they have or have not done. 

• What You Can't Allow 

The regret you have for whatever reason cannot be permitted to hinder your future progress. Okay, so you did something wrong or you didn't do something right. You can't allow it to freeze you from moving forward. If you are not making new plans you will find yourself frozen and second guessing every one of your future decisions.
 
I have spoken with quite a few college athletes and everyone I spoke with always told me they learned more about themselves from their losses than they ever did from their victories. 

• Dan Gable's One Loss 

I was walking beside Dan Gable at one of the NCAA Championship Wrestling tournaments and I asked him about his loss to Larry Owens. For those of you, my readers, who have no idea who Dan Gable is or was, he went through high school and college undefeated until his last match. He was 181 - 0 and in his final collegiate match he was upset by a wrestler named Larry Owens.
 
Now this might surprise some of you but this is what he told me, "It was the best thing to happen to me."
 
What a loss was the best thing that happened to him. Yes, that is exactly what he told me.
 
He said after that loss it helped him like nothing else to refocus on his training, conditioning, technique, everything.
 
Dan took that one loss and allowed it to motivate him to become an even better wrestler. In fact, he became so good in the 1972 Olympics he won the Gold medal and never had a point scored against him. 

• Flip Side Of That Coin 

Dan could have become so consumed by regret over that one loss that he lost his focus and the history books would have been written differently.
 
Don't let regret stop you from accomplishing great things.
 
Everyone has regret including God.
 
So if you have some regrets you are in good company. Allow those regrets to work for you not against you.
 
It is all up to you.
 
The decision is yours make the correct one.
 
Think About This:
 
No One Who Ever Gave His Best Regretted It. - George Halas

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago
 
Minister of God's Word

Luke 4:43-44 - “But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose." So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”  NASB

• Have A Purpose 

I believe this is why I got into so much trouble as a youth. I never really had a purpose.
 
Some people have set goals for themselves and anything they do has to help them accomplish their goals or they won't waste their time being involved with something that will not help them achieve this.
 
When you look at athletes who set their goals on becoming the best at whatever sport they are involved with it is easy to see why they say, "No, to drugs and alcohol." They understand drugs and alcohol are not going to help them achieve their goals. So they stay away from them.
 
I was very close to spending a lot of years in prison over drug charges back in the 1970's. In the first trial, which ended in a hung jury, 10 people said, "Guilty" and 2 people said, "Not Guilty."
 
Wow! Not having a purpose in my life was almost a very expensive mistake. Two people kept me from going to prison for a very long time. 

• What's Your Purpose? 

As we can see from the text today, Jesus' purpose was to preach about the Kingdom of God and He was not going to stop preaching because this was His purpose.
 
In fact, His purpose would ultimately lead to people killing Him.
 
He preached about the Kingdom of God and certain people didn't want to hear what He was saying. They hated His message so much they killed Him to try and quiet Him, but we know this didn't quiet Him, except for three days.
 
Then He resurrected and empowered His disciples to preach and preach they did. On the day of Pentecost, they baptized 3,000 people (Acts 2). Hopefully, you have been baptized or immersed into Christ. If not please let me know and I will help you.
 
So, do you want to stay out of trouble? Set a Goal or another way of saying it is "Have a Purpose." 

• Purpose and Long Life 

I believe if you want to live longer then you should have a purpose in your life. I can't prove this but in my mind, the two go hand in hand. If I have a purpose I want to get up in the morning and get started on accomplishing my established purpose(s).
 
In fact, one of my nightly exercises in bed is to say to myself "Okay, what do you want to accomplish tomorrow?" Then I go to sleep happy because I know there is something that awaits me the next day.
 
Think About These:
 
Some people dream of worthy accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them.
 
A genius shoots at something no one else sees and hits it.

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago
 
Minister of God's Word
​

Prov. 24:16 - "For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again,..."

A study of Proverbs will reveal the way to overcome adversity is to get back up after you have had your encounter with adversity. 

• Get Back Up

It doesn't matter where you are in life you can testify to this truth. As you were on your way you were knocked down by something.

It may have been an illness, a medical set back such as a torn ACL, a rejection of your resume, failure to accomplish a set goal, a divorce or the death of a loved one.
 
There are thousands of ways to get knocked down but if we intend on overcoming adversity we must get back up and re-enter the race.

We must get back up on our own two feet and start again. 

• How Do You Get Back Up?

How you get back up doesn't really matter. What matters is you find a way to become motivated again. What does it take to re-invigorate you?
 
For some, it would be a conversation with someone that you respect, or watching a movie or reading about other people who overcame adversities.

Are you one that is able to motivate yourself? Or are you the kind who will graciously allow others to help motivate you?

It doesn't matter which method works for you. What matters is in order to overcome adversity you will get back up and move forward with another plan and a new head full of ideas. 

•  How Many Times Do You Rise? 

You rise every time you get knocked down is the correct answer. But the writer of Proverbs says you get back up 7 times and that is true if you believe he is speaking literally. I believe he is speaking figuratively. The number "7" in the Bible means perfect or complete.

Every time you get knocked down by life you get back up on your feet and start all over again.    

• Why Does Life Knock Us Down?

I have trained myself not to ask the question "Why".
 
I always ask myself "What".
 
What can I learn from this trial? I then write down the things that I can learn and allow these to help motivate me positively to keep moving forward to accomplish my goal.

If you ask "Why" you may never be able to determine if the answers you come up with are true.

If you're knocked down get back up and you'll be glad you did.

If you meet some events that knock you down in life then plan on getting back up and re-engaging.
 
This is the correct way to overcome adversity.
 
Think On These:

The difficulties of life are to make us better - not bitter.

Say what you will about trouble; it always gives us something to talk about.

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago
 
Minister of God's Word