Rebuild your house before the storm comes.

In college,  I took a class called Building Construction 101.  To explain for those of you that know me,  the other classes offered that hour did not interest me at all.  As I think of this blog entry I reminisce on some of the instruction from that class. 

Jesus said that a wise man built his house upon a rock, but a foolish man built his house on sand.  Both the wise and the foolish man encountered the same storms.  Both had heavy rains, so much so that flooding followed with such heavy winds  that both homes were "beaten". (Sounds like straight line winds, a hurricane or a tornado to me).  The only difference in the outcome was what was not seen initially. Underneath the one house was rock;  under the other home, sand.

What we are founded or built upon will only be evident after the horrendous trials and storms  come our way.  Trials and storms  bring deep pain and suffering. But to experience all that pain in addition to losing everything would be devastating.

God has not promised that we will not suffer the storms of life.  We need to be more clear on this point, we need to teach our youth these things.  We should teach that "no weapon formed against us shall prosper", Isaiah 54:17  "and it (the house) fell not: for it was founded upon a rock."  Matthew 7:24 and " but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."  I Corinthians 10:13.

We are truly founded upon a rock, though unseen, it sustains us in any storm.

What if we have not built our house upon a rock?  Is there hope for us?  Of course!  Rebuild before the storm comes! How do we do that?

We open up the depths of our soul and allow God to go in and remake us.  We admit that we have not done right in the past.  We allow God to take over; we trust him with every area of your life.

He will be your ROCK, and the storms of life will NOT destroy you.  You will still have troubles like anyone does, but the ROCK will be holding you up and you will NOT FALL.

The term,  "SAVED" means: To be born spiritually.  Rebuilt.  Reborn. Remade. Redeemed.  Renewed...these are terms that we use to describe this wonderful process of salvation.  Jesus spoke to Nicodemus the lawyer about what it meant to be saved in John 3.  We are born of the water (baptism) and of the Spirit ( Holy Spirit baptism).  The Bible says that God would pour out his Spirit on all flesh., everyone can be saved! 
So, get your house ready for the storm coming, you will be fine IF you are built on the Rock Christ Jesus.

Let's play Simon Says...

Games are fun, especially when people desire to play and are willing to play by the rules.

I looked this up on eHOW.com.

How to Play Simon Says....

Instructions
The Basics
1 Line up the group across from you, 10 to 20 feet away.
2 Tell the players that they should all obey you if you first say the words "Simon says."
3 Tell them that they are out of the game if they follow an order that doesn't begin with "Simon says," or if they fail to do what Simon says to do.
4 Begin by saying something like, "Simon says, put your hands on your head."
5 Look to make sure everybody has put their hands on their heads.
6 Give another order such as, "Simon says, stand on one foot." Check again.
7 Continue giving orders. Mix it up and say something like, "Raise your right hand," without the preface "Simon says."
8 Call out the players who raise their hands.
9 Play until one person is left. This is the winner.
10 Let that person give the commands for the next round.


And now let's play a game where the prize has eternal value:
Simon was the first preacher to address the crowd that had gathered in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost where the early Christians were filled with the Holy Ghost.

Listen to his commands and see if you could win "the game".

1. Simon (Peter) says, "Repent"
2. Simon (Peter) says, "Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins"
3. Simon (Peter) says, "And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"

Read the rest of the text in Acts of the Apostles chapter 2....

I find that so many Christians trust the directions on how to be saved and born again from people that are not even quoting the Bible. They take scriptures out of context, they say, "Accept Jesus as your personal saviour", which is NOT EVEN IN THE BIBLE. No where did Jesus or the Apostles ever tell the unsaved to accept Jesus!

If you really want to know how it was done, follow the example of the Apostles; do what they did.

they repented...
they were water baptized in Jesus' name...
they spoke with tongues as the Spirit game them utterance....

if you want to know more...
I suggest you open this pdf....
http://www.intohismarvelouslight.com/resources/InteractivePDF_KJV.pdf


p.s. This game may have originated from long ago using Bible references???? Anybody know?