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Acts 1:6 -7 - So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;… NASU · We Really Do Not Need To Know The "Future". I am pretty certain that we all have wanted to know the future at some point in time during our lives. When I was born no one could tell what gender a child was going to be when born. You had to wait and see. I know there were a lot of old wives' tales that went around how we could know the sex of our child before birth but they were just that. Today they can tell us if a child is going to be a boy or a girl with some degree of accuracy. Yes, I know it isn't 100% and some times they are incorrect. We almost receive some type of satisfaction when they are wrong. It is like in your face, see you and all your modern technology are not so smart after all. · Why Has This Happened? In life a lot of events have happened to us and we would liked to have known about them in advance. Why did my mom or dad have to die when I was so young? Why didn't I get that job, or promotion? Why did my child have to die? Why did my parents divorce? Why didn't I win that game? Why did we have to move? Why did my neighbor win the lottery and not me? The list can go on forever. I likewise have got caught in the trap of asking the question "Why this had to happen to me?" The problem with asking the "Why" question is you may never know the truth? You might also believe something about why it has happened and be totally incorrect. · The Better Question To Ask Until one day I found a better question to ask. It is the question "What?". Instead of asking "Why?" try asking yourself the question "What?". What can I learn from this event? What can I now do to make this a positive situation? When you ask the "What" question I believe a lot more positives will come from this type of questioning. When you arrive at positive answers to the "What' questions and start to act upon them your life changes for the better. People have experienced tragedies in their lives only to turn them into positives because they asked themselves the "What" question. What have I learned from this situation? What can I do to insure it doesn't happen again? What can I share with others to help them if something like this happens to them. · Jesus Told The Disciples As you continue to read the above text in verse eight Jesus informs the apostles to prepare themselves to focus on what they are going to do next and that is be His witnesses. Jesus doesn't want them to be concerned about the future of what God is going to do, but rather be prepared for what they are going to do. Jesus had basically told the disciples not to worry about the future because God has that under control. What He wants them to do is focus on their next mission. I would say that Jesus' command is applicable for us today. We are not to be concerned about the future. We are to be concerned about how we are going to handle the future when it arrives. So my Pump Up for us today is this: Don't worry about the future, God is in control. What we need to do is prepare ourselves for our next mission. Think About These: Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it only saps today of its strength. True patience means waiting without worrying. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Prov. 13:20 - He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm. NASU
Former University of Wisconsin's Head Wrestling Coach Barry Davis told me about quite a few different wrestlers that he knew and coached that associated with the wrong people. One wrestler connected with the wrong girl friend and instead of returning the next year and becoming a National Champ, he didn't even finish as an All American. Solomon said it many years ago and this is still great advice today. Choose your friends wisely. If you become friends with a fool it will cost you dearly.
All in all both men are simply saying something like this: "Show me your friends and I will show you your future."
We all have this in common and that is we are going to die. So what are you going to do with your life before death comes knocking on your door? The one thing you don't want to do is waste your time associating with the wrong people. Serago's paraphrase of what Solomon says reads like this: "You associate with fools and it will bring guaranteed suffering into your life." THE MESSAGE says it this way, "Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces."
Read God's Word because it will tell you the type of people to have as friends. Think About These: A wise man learns by the experiences of others. An ordinary man learns by his own experiences. A fool learns by nobody's experiences. Knowledge is knowing a fact. Wisdom is knowing what to do with that fact. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Try Not Lose This In Life
Ps 42:11 - Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God. NASU Ps 37:7 - "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;…" NIV
His adversaries are asking, "Where is your God? If your God really wanted you to worship Him He would have made a way for you to return." So what they are saying is his God has abandoned him. Have you ever felt like God has abandoned you? If you answered this question with a "yes" then you know what an emotional roller coaster is like. In life try not to lose your hope in God.
These rides are guaranteed to make you scream. One difference between the roller coasters at Cedar Point and life is the ones at the park end quickly while the ones in real life last much longer.
One day you are happily married and the next day one is deceased or one wants a divorce. One day you are sitting around the dinner table laughing and talking about the events of the day and the next day you are at a hospital as one family member fights for life. We probably have all had to sit on a roller coaster of life at one time or another.
You get to choose if you want to ride the ones at the park or not. In life the roller coast chooses you and sometimes there is no getting off of it.
One of my favorite passages of scriptures is Romans 8:31-32 - If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? NASU God has given us His Son Jesus Christ and there is nothing more important or valuable to Him than Jesus. Since He gave us Jesus then He will freely give us all things, Paul says. The second key is not an easy one. We are to "be still" and "to wait" for the Lord. Now I don't know about you but being still and waiting are not two of my strong points. The Psalmist is saying while we are being still we are waiting patiently for the Lord. When you find yourself on one of life's emotional roller coasters try not to lose your Hope in God and continue to be still and wait patiently for Him. Think About These: When we let God guide He will provide. The Lord calls for us to stand, though not always understand. God makes a promise - faith believes it, hope anticipates it, and patience quietly awaits it. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word 1 John 2:14 - "I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one." NASU
Navy Coach Barry Davis says, "Preparation is the most important thing a champion does. A champion prepares for his opponent, he knows the moves his opponent is good at, and sees himself mentally countering those moves and executing his own moves to win that match." Navy Coach Cary Kolat says, "The biggest trait of the best wrestlers is that they find a way. Wrestling is man (vs.) man which attracts men who are independent but most of all determined. If the door is locked the wrestler will climb through the window. He will not stop until he achieves or fails. Coach Troy Steiner says, "A Champion is someone who is willing TO GO ALL IN EVERYDAY in all area of their lives. By going all in, I mean that you are giving your very best effort in what you are doing in that moment. This doesn't mean you will win every moment, but if you are persistent in giving your best each and everyday in every moment, You will prevail!" Wrestlers will have a plan to win and they will execute that plan because they want to be winners. The big question here is "What is your plan to win against the devil and his temptations?"
Read the Word of God Daily - that is my plan. Col. 3:16 says, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you,..." NASU A HOF wrestling coach named Mike Hampe preached this one lesson over and over again to his athletes -TOM - Time On Mat. "You will never get any better if you don't spend TOM - Time On the Mat.", he would say. I was thinking about what Coach Hampe said one day and it dawned on me. You will not improve spiritually if you won't spend TIB - Time In Bible. A preacher friend of mine had a saying, "NO Bible, NO Breakfast." Start your day off right by reading God's Word. If you will read 3 chapters a day starting in the New Testament with the book of Matthew you will be finished in 87 days. Once finished with the New Testament you can start on the Old Testament.
Do you want to out wrestle the devil? Then know the Word of God and let it reside in you. When the devil was tempting Jesus we all know what Jesus did. He quoted scripture to the devil and in so doing, He gave us a plan on how to defeat the evil one. We must KNOW the Word of God. I remember this old saying, "Reading the Bible will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from reading the Bible." Think About These: The Bible is most helpful when it is opened and read. A Bible that is falling apart often belongs to one who isn't. If you couldn't get another Bible, what would yours be worth? Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Luke 17:15-17 - Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him.
And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine — where are they? NASU
If you were out walking and you saw a person you had to warn them by crying out, "Leper, Leper." In doing this, you warned them that you were an outcast of society and to stay away from you. Jesus on one of His daily outings approaches 10 lepers and tells them to "go and show themselves to the priest." On their way they are all healed of this horrendous disease. Their skin would have changed back to normal and it would have been very obvious to them. All 10 of them would have known they were healed.
WOW! One out of ten returns to say "Thanks!" Jesus changed all ten of their lives for the better and only one will slightly inconvenience himself and return to Jesus to say "Thanks!" How could such a little thing have been neglected? Why was it so hard for 9 out 10 not to return and say "Thanks!"?
While I was a minister in MD, I would handout Tootsie Rolls on Sunday mornings after the service to the children as they walked out of the building. You don't know how many parents I heard say to their child, "What do you say?" The correct answer was always "Thank you." It makes a parent feel good when the child says thanks without being coached. Some lessons we teach are children are invaluable and one such lesson is teaching them to say, "Thank you!" as well as being thankful. Did your parents teach you to say, "Thanks!" and have you taught this same lesson to your child(ren)?
You know if my parents were alive I would call them to "thank" them for all they did for me. I can't call them, but there are some others that will be hearing from me today. Maybe you have a teacher, preacher, coach, friend or relative that really helped change your life. Today would be a great day to give them a call and say "Thanks!" Let us be like the One Leper and not the nine. Think About These: Even though we can't have all that we want, we ought to be thankful we don't get what we deserve. If you can't be thankful for what you have, be thankful for what you don't have. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word For Past Issues of my Pump Ups go to www.SeragosPumpUps.com |
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