Reprint Compliments of Men At The Cross By Joe White

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Matthew 8:23-26

23 When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And behold, there arose [a]a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. 25 And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” 26 He *said to them, “Why are you [b]afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and ©it became perfectly calm.

She may be one of the most talented actresses in Hollywood, but she is definitely the poorest. She has read dozens and dozens of scripts from wooing directors and producers, but to this date in her young career, she has not accepted one. Every script has suggestive romance. Every script has language. Her response is always the same, "No, thanks. I'll wait for a script my conscience can live with."

Last week, a beer company sought to capture her beauty and offered her $300,000 to take a part in a TV commercial. She definitely needed the money to pay her rent. She immediately called her dad for advice. "No way," was his response. "We don't need money that badly." The actress agreed with relief.

My dear friend, Shannon, has faith that God will meet her needs.

All day long before the big storm in the boat, the disciples had listened to Jesus delivering the greatest lectures on faith ever preached. Now they were in the laboratory. It was time to test their listening skills. Had they really heard the teacher.

"Save us Lord, we are perishing!" Give 'em a big standing ovation. At Kanakuk Kamps we call it giving 'em a big O!

You haven't closed a deal in months. You could lower your standards.

The competition for customers at your sales office is intense. You could stretch your offers to "sell" more than you can deliver.

You turn expense reports in every month, and this month you could use a few more dollars to make ends meet. What will it hurt to bump up your mileage or claim meals that are not work related?

Faith that God will come through. It's the issue of the day isn't it! Storms rose up on the Sea of Galilee in a heartbeat. Storms prevail at school, sports and work that seem to pale the wind in comparison!

A word from Jesus and there is peace.

QUESTIONS:
1. What is your laboratory of faith today?
2. Where is Jesus in your boat?
3. What do you need for peace and calm in your storm right now?

LIFELINE:
In the storms of life, it's the home that points you to the One who brings peace and gives wisdom to the questions that arise when the boat seems to be going under.

Reprint Compliments of Men At The Cross By Joe White

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Matthew 8:1-3: Jesus Cleanses a Leper

1 When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. 2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

I have a lot of great memories from my childhood. One memory from my high school days has never left me

Cathy was the girl in our high school that hardly ever went out or was even noticed by a boy. Cathy had a rare disease as a little girl, which left her neck and her mouth grossly distorted. (I do remember, however, more than once noticing her beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes.) Even though Cathy was as sweet as any girl in my high school, no boy would ask her for a date because of her strangely disfigured features ... that is, until her senior prom.

David was the president of our student council and was about as nice a guy as I've ever met. He not only asked Cathy to prom, but he took her there and treated her like a queen. Cathy looked stunningly beautiful in her baby blue dress with pure white lace. Alfonse was a quiet, but sincere country boy who was also at the prom. He too noticed her hidden beauty. Alfonse took a special interest in Cathy after that dance and eventually asked for her hand in marriage. The loving touch of Christ-through-his young servant, David, "healed" Cathy's quest for love and attention about as beautifully and completely as Jesus might have done had He been in the good ol' Class of '64 with David and Cathy.

The account of Jesus and the leper has always amazed me because as I read it, I picture Jesus with the compassion of love in His eyes that is only known by the father of a daughter in need, reaching His hand out and touching the disfigured leper right in his biggest sore spot on the side of his face. While others backed away and turned their heads in disgust, Jesus reached His hand straight into the heart of the man's greatest need.

QUESTIONS:
1. Why were dramatic physical healings so much a part of Jesus' ministry on earth?
2. What need, hurt or problem gives you "leprosy" today?
3. Describe how you'd like for Jesus to touch you in that need

LIFELINE:
Think how you can be a "David" to a "Cathy" in your home today!

Reprint Compliments of Men At The Cross By Joe White

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Matthew 7:13-14: The Narrow and Wide Gates

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

"It's the real thing." (Is there such an entity on this planet?)

Imagine what we'd all look like if we were completely transparent as we walked around planet earth and all you could see was what was inside a person's heart

Your motives.

The real you.

Your intentions.

Your true self.

No baloney; no excuses; no hoop-la; just truth. What would people see?

Better still, what would Jesus see?

I believe that a truly, sincerely dedicated Christian is always God's child. I don't believe He disowns those who are truly His.

I do believe, however, that many of us run around churches and Christian homes calling ourselves "Christians" when we've never really, completely, sincerely given our heart to Him ... thus, today's scripture.

Jesus sees the heart. He sees the core of the apple, the eye of the hurricane, the conductor's tiny wand of the giant symphony orchestra.

The chronicler puts it this way, "For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His." (2 Chr 16:9 NASB)

When He looks at yours and mine and sees true commitment, then perfect love is ours and as I John 4:18 says, "Perfect love casts out fear." Once you're truly His, you're always truly His.

But if He sees a lawless, rebellious, or untrue heart, then we have the right to wonder if we ever were His in the first place.

Paul urges us to test ourselves so that we won't fail the final exam. "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!

Or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you -- unless indeed you fail the test? But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test." (2 Cor 13:5-6 NASB)

The best test I know is to ask your conscience and your family if there's anything in your life that you put before God. If there is, give it up; ask forgiveness and give it all so that you can be one about whom people say, "It's the real thing."

QUESTIONS:

1. What does Matthew 7:21 mean to you?

Matthew 7:21: True and False Disciples: 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

2. How do we know that once we're truly His, we're always His?
3. God is our daddy when Jesus lives in our heart. Why are dads so faithful?

LIFELINE:
Help each other see how God can be #1 in everything, forever.

Reprint Compliments of
Men At The Cross By Joe White

Today's Scripture: Matthew 7: 1-5
Judging Others

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Old "Log Eye", according to Paul Aldrich, is a funny ol' critter. He roams around in every home, every church, every business, every human mind. He's sort of a weird looking dude because he has a magnifying glass in front of one eye, a big bowed-up log in the other eye and a sharp pointy finger always sticking out into somebody else's faults. The first word out of his mouth is always "you".

Man, I fight with log eye in my own mind every day. The big chump! He makes me critical of my wife and kids in a way that I want to take the log out and hit him with it! One time when one of my boys was young, I was "rantin' and ravin'" about something (hillbilly term for overly critical and overly vocal) and my sweet wife stopped me dead in my tracks. "Honey," she said to me, "your son sees himself in your eyes." Oooo, that hurt. But, she was right! "Log Eye" was ruling my life that day!

Billy Sprague, after a short year or two of marriage, told me that, "the adjustment phase of marriage is over as soon as both parties give up on trying to change each other."

Funny thing about pointing your finger at someone ... when you do it, there are always three fingers pointing right back at you.

As parents, we have to teach principles and we have to correct Biblically incorrect behavior, but for all members of a family, the motto I like is:

"Catch each other in the act of doing something good and tell 'em about it."

QUESTIONS:
What do you do when you tend to become critical of each other?
What is a blind spot? Why are logs so hard to see?
How can this family kick ol' "Log Eye" out of the family circle?

LIFELINE:
"Log Eye" has no place in this home!

Reprint Compliments of Men At The Cross By Joe White

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Matthew 6: 22-24, 33: Treasures in Heaven

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,© your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy,[d] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.


"Seeing is believing.".

"A picture is worth 1000 words."

"What you see is what you get."

"It was love at first sight."

"I can't get my eyes off of you."

The picture window into the very core of your mind and heart is your eye. Jesus is very clear when He says back in Matthew 5, "And if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." (Mat 5:29 NASB) Now He underlines it and puts it into bold, neon letters -- good eyes send you to the heights of Heaven. Bad eyes send you to the depths of darkness.

What are you focusing on today? USA Today reported a survey of over 500,000 fourth graders who said "TV prompts them the most" to try drugs and alcohol. It isn't any wonder when you consider that the average TV viewer (16,000 hours of TV between age of 6 and 16) will see 100,000 beer commercials by age 18 and 14,000 sexual references and innuendoes per year.

Meanwhile, Isaiah says, "Turn to Me, and be saved..." (Isa 45:22 NASB) Paul, knowing where true mental peace and happiness lies urges us to, "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth." (Col 3:2 NASB).

The song says, "I only have eyes for you." God would love that said about Him because He knows that if you seek Him first, everything (that's good) will be yours.

QUESTIONS:
1. What makes the eyes the most powerful part of the human body?
2. What can we do in this family to establish an environment for good eyes and good minds?
3. What goals am I willing to set personally to develop eyes for God?

LIFELINE:
The family is the place to seek Him .