The Surprising Truth About Amazing Faith

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“So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” – Mark 11:22-24 (NKJV)

We all want to have real, strong faith, but seriously, what does that kind of faith look like? Is it only for the “anointed,” the super-spiritual and those who are called to a position of leadership in ministry, such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, the so-called five-fold ministry?

Let’s look at what the Bible has to say.

It’s for all who believe

First of all, it’s for all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t believe me? Let’s read what the Lord Jesus Himself said:

“I say to you, whoever says to this mountain…”

Read that again. According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, “whoever” is a pronoun that means “Any or without exception; any person whatever.” This simply means anybody with faith can say such words to their mountain and the mountain will obey, if the person has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about that.

Jesus’ own words had no qualifier, except that the person be of faith. You don’t need to be a pastor or lay minister to have faith. If you believe in Christ Jesus and His finished work, that’s enough.

It doesn’t need to be super-spectacular

If we keep asking God for more faith, then we should also act on it. Romans 10:17 tells us, “then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” James 1:22 tells us, “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

“But I love God,” we say. “I just find it hard to do what the word says.”

Jesus responds to that, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word” (see John 14:23).

He simply asked us to keep His word.

Picture this: His own disciples asked Him one time, “Increase our faith.” He simply replied, “If you have faith as a mustard seed…” (see Luke 17:5-10 in context). We only need to do as He says.

It’s believing that He will do as He said

So here’s what I want us to see: faith is simply believing in Him, His nature, and character. It’s believing He will do as He promised, believing without a doubt that He will do as He said.

Read this short story from Matthew 8 to see what kind of faith is this.

“Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.”

And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.” (Matthew 8:5-13)

Think about it, friends. That centurion wasn’t even a Jew. He wasn’t listed as a disciple. He was a Gentile with no special rights or claims on God’s blessing or favor. But he believed that Christ had authority to heal, even with His words alone. He believed that Christ Jesus didn’t even need to go by Himself, that His word was enough to do as He wished. And he had the audacity to believe Jesus would grant his request.

How about us? Do we take God at His word? Do we really believe His word will never fail? Do we really believe that He will not fail to fulfill all that He has promised and declared?

Do we believe Him, that what He said He will do? That’s faith.

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If You Really Want to Be Free From Sexual Sin, This Bold Habit Can Help .

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If You Really Want to Be Free From Sexual Sin, This Bold Habit Can Help .

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This is how to break the chains of addiction. (Public Domain Pictures)

I remember being in Bible college and crying out to God, fasting, praying, and begging to be set free, only to fall again and repeat the same plea week after week, month after month for all four years.

I had been radically saved. My alcohol and drug use fell off at that point and I’ve never had a desire for them since, but I couldn’t get free from sexual addiction. I was learning about God and the Bible. I was part of a vibrant, passionate church that had great worship, where people got saved every week. I sang in the choir. I did evangelism. Nevertheless, my secret addiction held me in chains.

What’s wrong with this picture? If you’re an addict of any kind, you know exactly what I mean.

I want to assure you, your prayers and pleas have not gone unanswered. Sadly, for me there was no addiction recovery in the church, no recovery workbook, no 12-step programs, not anything. I had to learn recovery from the Lord and he taught me well.

I’ll never forget it. After spending some time in recovery, I worked in a psychiatric hospital in the addiction unit. I was a seminary student at the time. Part of my job was to take alcohol and drug addicts to their addiction classes and 12-step meetings. I spent years in smoke-filled rooms with people sober from alcohol and drugs, but not nicotine or coffee! Early on in that job, I decided to sit in on the addiction class. I threw my book bag down next to my chair. The counselor began facilitating a discussion on recovery with the patients, but I soon found myself attracted more to what was on the wall than the conversation the counselor was leading.

I found myself reading the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. I thought back to the long road to healing Jesus had personally taken me through, to when I truly began to get free from my addiction. I want to share with you some biblical principles so that you can see that recovery for everyone is greatly rooted in biblical truth. He is the author of our own freedom. He has given us all that we need to be free. We just need to know what these truths and principles are so we can go from struggling to recovery.

I want to share some powerful truths with you about who you are. You are a son or daughter of the Most High God. You are precious, wise, resourceful and capable. You have a divine mission to break these curses off your life and clean up the damage from your past choices. God has chosen you to take the journey to recovery. Millions of people are saved, yet still addicted to many things, including relationships. Of all the people in pain who are crying out to God for help and freedom, God chose to give you the opportunity for recovery.

Recovery for Everyone is an opportunity. You decide what you do with this opportunity. You can push it away, do just a little to get out of a current crisis, or you can be consistent, do the work, become free, stay free for a lifetime and be a part of seeing others get free and stay free as well.

Through Christ, God has already decided you are worthy of total freedom from every addiction. For me, that meant alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography, caffeine and sugar. I know recovery, so I know that if you are ready, God wants you to be free. I just thought you should know that Father God thinks you’re awesome and is very proud of you for taking this journey we call recovery.

In Bible college, I cried out to God and constantly looked for Scriptures to help me get free. Early in my walk with Jesus, I found a very familiar Scripture that anyone who fails again and again can cling to for forgiveness. Here is what I found:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”(1 John 1:9).

When I messed up, I did what you probably did as well. I knelt down, sometimes crying for Jesus to forgive and cleanse me. Like you, I experienced true forgiveness. I felt the forgiveness of Jesus. I believed His blood had more power than my sin in which I was choosing to participate. I felt cleansed and this would last for days or weeks until I acted out in the sin again; then wham-o! The guilt and shame came back and I would be forgiven again.

I think you get the picture. Most of you lived the same movie: act out in your addiction patterns (sin), ask for forgiveness, and do it all over again. This pattern is all too familiar for most of us.

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When God Doesn’t Give The Miracle

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We all want to see miracles happen in our lives. We want to see God do the humanly impossible. We want Him to do for us things that we could never do.

And so we pray, we plead with God, we cry out to Him. Many times, however, we get disappointed. We prayed hard, but God didn’t seem to give us what we prayed for. We asked, but did not receive the miracle we hoped for.

Why does this happen?

The Miracle Maker

Friends, we all read several Bible accounts where God, in His goodness, did miracles for His people. We read Him do these awesome things at different times and in different places. Different people experienced them, witnessed them, and heard about them.

We read God rescuing Israel from Egypt with the ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea. We read Him protecting them in the wilderness with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to keep them warm and their paths illuminated. (see Exodus and Deuteronomy)

We read God providing for Israel bread from heaven. We read Him giving them water from the rock. We read God winning wars and battles for them. (see Joshua)

In the New Testament, we read Jesus healing the sick. Some of these healings were quite extraordinary: He spat on the ground to make a mud salve to let a blind man see; He only spoke and a centurion’s servant was healed from afar; and an old woman only had to touch the fringe of His clothing to be healed from an issue of blood. (see John 9:3-8; Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 8:43-48)

Christ Jesus even produced wine from water. He turned five loaves of bread and two fish into a feast that was able to feed thousands, with some leftover for others. Think about that. (see John 2:1-11; Matthew 14:13-21)

Jesus also allowed Peter to walk on water. He also allowed Peter to haul in a great catch from the sea. Funny, He even told Peter to get money from a fish’s mouth, so they could pay taxes (see Matthew 14:22-33; John 21:4-7; Matthew 17:24-27).

Amazing, right? These and many other miracles cause us to want to see miracles ourselves. But why don’t we see them? Why doesn’t God do miracles in our lives?

It could very well be because of us. We doubt Him. We don’t believe Him.

Our unbelief in Christ spoils it

The Bible tells us that Jesus didn’t do many mighty works in His own hometown of Nazareth. This isn’t because He was powerless. It definitely is not because He was shy. Moreover, it’s not because He was conscious of what people would think as they knew Him as the son of Joseph the carpenter and Mary.

It’s because the people there did not believe in Him.

“Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” (Matt. 13:58)

This should make us ask ourselves. When we pray to Him and His response seems delayed, do we stop believing in Him? When we desperately ask Him to do a miracle, do we waver between believing He will do it and believing He won’t?

Friends, our unbelief doesn’t render Him powerless but it does hinder our ability to receive what He wants to give to us according to His will.

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (1 John 5:14-15)

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Anger Management For Christians: Is Anger A Sin?

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Is anger a sin? Charismatic Christian speaker and author Joyce Meyer says not entirely, but there are some forms of anger that are indeed classified as sin.

She wrote on her website that even God Himself feels anger against sin, injustice, rebellion and pettiness. Because some anger serves a useful purpose, it can be good. However, it is wrong for anger to lead people to do bad things.

Meyer stressed that Christians should always deal with their anger in a godly way. “God sometimes allows us to feel anger so we’ll recognize when we’re being mistreated. But even when we experience true injustices in our lives, we must not vent our anger in an improper way. We must guard against allowing anger to drag us into sin,” she said.

Regardless of the cause, Meyer said all anger has the same effect on people’s lives – it upsets them and causes them to feel pressure. Some people opt to sweep their anger under the rug and pretend it doesn’t exist, but Meyer warned that it can be dangerous to their health.

“Most of the time we’re only hurting ourselves, and the person who angered us isn’t even aware of it. So we must take responsibility for our anger and learn to deal with it,” she advised. “Process it and bring closure to it, and that will relieve the pressure.”

Personally, Meyer has dealt with some issues in the past that have made her very angry. She let her anger make her a bitter and hateful person until she realized she had to find out how to deal with anger God’s way. “The Holy Spirit gives us the power to be stable and walk in the fruit of the Spirit. We have the power to forgive those who do injustices in our lives and to love the unlovely,” she said.

Meanwhile, Jon Bloom from Desiring God said that being angry and not sinning “requires the discernment of constant practice” because most of people’s anger is rooted in their prideful, selfish and sinful nature.

“Sinful anger is so common in us that we must be regularly reminded to put away ‘anger, wrath, [and] malice’ and that ‘everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment,'” said Bloom.

He added that the only proper anger is righteous anger, which is being angry at what makes God angry. “Our anger is righteous when we are angered over evil that profanes God’s holiness and perverts His goodness,” he explained.

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The End-Times Sign You Dare Not Miss .

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The End-Times Sign You Dare Not Miss .

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Jesus is coming back soon! (Pixabay/PublicDomainPictures)

In the words of an old Gordon Jensen song, “Signs of the time are everywhere./There’s a brand-new feeling in the air.” These words are ever increasing in their veracity. All around us, violence is on the rise. The tensions of inter-racial relationships seem to be increasing rather than growing better. Political differences divide our nation like never before in our history. Internationally wars and the rumor of wars abound. Natural catastrophes are occurring on a record-breaking scale.

Deception is on the rise even within the ranks of the church. Many seem determined to follow after signs blindly even if the source appears questionable. While signs and wonders are still valid for today, Jesus gives us a strong warning about false prophets who would come with great signs and wonders (see Matt. 24:24). We dare not qualify something as being of the Lord just because it appears to be supernatural. Jesus instructed us to, “Take heed that no one deceives you” (Matt. 24:4b). The followers of Jesus must be discerning so that no one causes us to wander from the path of truth. The church must avoid both sensationalism and skepticism; living open to the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit but not ignoring affirmations, attitudes and actions that are contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said lawlessness would abound in the last days, and we see it on every hand. Many, even in the church, want to cast off anything that brings restraint to their lifestyle choices. Under the guise of being free, they mistakenly act as if freedom equals a life without boundaries. But real freedom isn’t the right to do our own thing, but the enabling of grace to do the God-thing! Jesus also predicted that with a lawless attitude, true love would grow cold. When people live as their own standard, they inevitably chill in their love toward others.

These seven continual signs Jesus gave as indicators of the end (see Matt. 24:6-12) are ever increasing in our generation. He then goes on to talk about what can be called climatic signs. He mentions stars falling; the sun darkened, light-less moon, sea and waves roaring and so on (see Matt. 24:29-35 and Luke 21:26). But it seems to me His most impacting point is the one most easily skimmed over in the search for the signs of His coming.

He says, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating, drinking, marrying, and were given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built” (Luke 17:26-28). Jesus plainly describes the days of the end as being similar to the time of the flood and the destruction of Sodom and the surrounding cities.

What is amazing is that He doesn’t reference the wickedness of Noah’s time nor the perversion of Lot’s time. What He does reference is the preoccupation of the people with living their lives to the max! Nothing Jesus mentions is inherently sinful. Good food, engaging in commerce, planting, building and celebrating marriage are all activities that are meant to be enjoyed. But Jesus says the people were so engrossed in the attempt to carve out the best life for themselves and their children that they missed the signs of impending doom.

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The Verse in Romans That Can Help If You’re Unclear About The Will of God For Your Life

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Have you ever been confused as to what the will of God for your life really is? Many of us have. What’s great is that God won’t leave us confused for long: because He has already made it plain in His word.

Plain and Simple

I’ve spoken with many Christians who are confused as to what God wants for them. I used to be confused myself. I always thought that God would somehow make it known to me in ways that would be so clear and so personal.

Yet I’ve missed the very tool that He uses to tell me about it: His very word. Romans 12:2 tells us,

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

How do we allow ourselves to be transformed by the renewing of our minds? By not conforming to this world, and allowing God to fill our hearts and minds with His word:

“How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” (Psalm 119:9-11)

How this confusion sets in

Many Christians who are confused about God’s will don’t actually read His word. They go to church and wait for the pastor to say something that will instruct them. Some would even wait for someone to prophesy over them. But they don’t read the Bible.

Others who read the Bible, on the other hand, simply resist it. I know this so well. The Bible tells us our sins, but we reject it because we don’t want to admit our sins. The Bible tells us to do this thing, but we resist because we don’t want to do it.

Some would even go as far as twisting Scripture to fit their own desires! (see 2 Peter 3:14-16) They can convince themselves they are doing God’s Word, when in fact they’ve bent the truth so far, they’re actually doing the opposite. It’s dangerous when we start conforming the Word to our preferences rather than conforming ourselves to its truth.

Don’t be confused

Friends, the will of God is really simple. We don’t need to do a lot of things to understand it. Here’s how we do it: Read what Jesus said, believe it, and obey it.

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)

It’s as simple as that. And if we are to obey His words, we won’t get confused about God’s will anymore:

“Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”” (Matthew 22:37-40)

That’s God’s will: that we would love Him above all, and we would love others next as we love ourselves. All that we do should stem from the love we receive from Him and give to Him. If we love Him, we will do nothing that displeases Him.

How could you go wrong with that?

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Many Still Believe Device in Microsoft’s Pipeline Despite Death of Windows Phone

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REUTERS/Morris Mac Matzen/FilesA Microsoft representative shows a smartphone with Windows 10 operating system at the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover in this file photo from March 15, 2015. Rumors claim that the next mobile device from Microsoft will be called the Surface Phone.

Despite the announcement that Windows Phone is dead, many are still suspecting that the fabled Surface Phone may still be in Microsoft’s pipeline after all.

Rumors about the Surface Phone have been around for almost two years now. While there had been numerous rumors on what the mysterious device would offer and when Microsoft would release it, the hopes of those anticipating the arrival of the device has recently been crushed with Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore announcing in a series of tweets that Windows Phone is dead.

In his tweets, Belifiore revealed that Microsoft is no longer developing new features or hardware to support the Windows 10 mobile. This surprised the small number of Windows Phone users as they had hoped that Microsoft would introduce new features to the platform and never expected that the operating system would now only be reduced to a servicing mode to deliver bug fixes and security updates for its existing users.

With Belfiore also announcing that the Redmond-based company would invest in both Android and iOS devices, many believe that the Surface Phone will never come into fruition. After all, Microsoft never really confirmed that it was working on the device.

However, there are still those who suspect that Microsoft may be up to a surprise as it may just release the Surface Phone after eventually. After all, various trusted leaksters have provided some interesting details on what the Surface Phone will look like and how it will work.

Furthermore, it was no less than Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella who said in an interview with the Australian Financial Review late last year that the Redmond-based company is not done with the mobile market yet. With Nadella saying that the next mobile device from Microsoft will not be defined by the current smartphones in the market today, as it will be an ultimate mobile device, some hold on to their hope that the Surface Phone is not just a fable.

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God Is Preparing a Spiritual Backdraft for the Ekklesia .

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God Is Preparing a Spiritual Backdraft for the Ekklesia .

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I had heard the word “backdraft” in a time of prayer. (Pixabay/MarkusVogt)

Recently while attending a conference, I shared with a friend of mine a word I had heard in my spirit a few days prior to this event. As a prophetic voice,  releasing words stamped with the Lord’s name is not something I take lightly. I like to talk with a few other seasoned prophetic people so the word can be judged. I had heard the word “backdraft” in a time of prayer. My friend and I discussed this word and its meaning, and we talked about a motion picture bearing this same name and how the backdraft related to the body of Christ. I had no way of knowing that a few hours later, a guest speaker whom I did not know would mention this very term as well as the content of our conversation which he did not hear to those attending the conference. The Holy Spirit likes to confirm to us when we are hearing His voice.

The day I heard this word, I immediately looked up the definition. A backdraft is defined as, “a phenomenon in which a fire that has consumed all available oxygen suddenly explodes when more oxygen is made available, typically because a door or window has been opened”. I sought the Lord as to what He was saying, and I realized that we had just stepped into the new Jewish year, 5778. It is the year of the open door.

Prepped for a Spiritual Backdraft

The Holy Spirit revealed to me that a second wind is coming to individuals and to the ekklesia, and it is coming through the open door. The fire which stirs on the altar of His people’s hearts has been contained. The devil is a great fire fighter among the people of God. He does not care about contained fires, but when you start igniting cities, regions and nations with the power of God, he will try and keep you watered down so that you pose no threat. The spirit of religion will confine within the four walls, convincing many they have all that is needed with “us four and no more” to sustain a meager campfire.

Many are taking the wind from conferences, weekly gatherings and seasoned leaders to maintain the fire on the altar of their hearts. We can find ourselves using up every bit of wind in those moments only to sustain a flame. We have made the fire more about us and less about Him. As long as we have enough wind to sustain our fire, we remain content. But God does not come with contentment. He comes to agitate the roar of the fire with the desire to consume and to make us consistently combustible.

The Open Door for the Priesthood

This fresh breath of spiritual oxygen has the ability to cause an explosion in the spiritual realm because of the new year upon us in the Spirit. This open door has made the ekklesia a potentially dangerous fire hazard to the powers of darkness. We have been prepped for a spiritual backdraft, a holy explosion of His all-consuming fire.

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Device to Come with its Own Stylus Pen

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Device to Come with its Own Stylus Pen

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REUTERS/Stephen LamThe iPhone X is Apple’s first smartphone to come with a Face ID system.

While the highly anticipated iPhone X has yet to hit the store shelves, there are already rumors on what the iPhone 9 will boast of when it arrives next year. However, among the many rumors attached to the 2018 iPhone, the one claiming it will come with its own stylus pen has been the loudest by far.

Tech pundits opine that the upcoming iPhone X is the Apple smartphone that delivers the biggest changes. Apart from being the first and only iPhone to come with a Face ID system, the mobile device is also the first to be bezel-less. However, as Apple is known for delivering big improvements to their yearly releases of new iPhones, it is now rumored to introduce another first when it releases the iPhone 9 next year: The Apple Pencil.

Sources claim that it is almost certain that Apple is working on its own version of a stylus for the iPhone, or what is dubbed for now as Apple Pencil or iPhone 9 Pencil. After all, numerous leaks have revealed that the Cupertino-based company has applied for a patent for the said phone accessory. As the supposed patent leaks show that the Apple Pencil will come in two sizes, it is now speculated that the more compact one is for the iPhone 9 while the other one could be the one that came with the iPad Pro.

While it is said that it is almost certain for the iPhone 9 to come with its own Apple Pencil, it remains unclear, though, if it will be bundled with the device or will be sold as a separate item. Either way, it is speculated that the Apple Pencil for the iPhone 9 will still warrant money for Apple as it can push the price of the iPhone 9 higher if it is bundled with it or earn from the separate sales of the accessory.

Meanwhile, apart from possibly coming with the Apple Pencil, it is also rumored that Apple may be adapting the Face ID system of the upcoming iPhone X and will completely ditch the Touch ID feature beginning with the iPhone 9. As the Face ID technology is said to be a major selling point of the iPhone X, it is speculated that there is no more reason for Apple not to go full swing with it in its future products.

While the above rumors on what the iPhone 9 will supposedly offer are nothing short of exciting, they are to be taken with a grain of salt for now as they can only be confirmed when the device is released next year.

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Notable Voices and the Week in Review: October 14, 2017

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Notable Voices and the Week in Review: October 14, 2017

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Earlier this week at ThomRainer.com:

 

10 Social Media Commandments for Pastors — Chris Martin

Social media is not going away anytime soon. For a long time, many pastors and church leaders ignored social media, labeling it as a fad or a trend that would pass as quickly as it came onto the scene. This is not the case. So, what guidelines should pastors and church leaders consider as they plan their social media strategy? To that end, here are 10 social media commandments for pastors:

 

Five Questions to Ask at the Two-Year Mark in Your Tenure — Sam Rainer

Expectations tend to be more shared among the congregation. In fact, expectations may be explicitly stated to the church by whatever group is searching for the pastor. People can have different expectations of you, they are not as unique as the individual projections cast upon you. You might think, What can I do to control someone’s projections of me? Clearly, you can’t get into everyone’s heads, but you can ask some questions to help mitigate the risk of collapsing projections, especially at the two-year mark.

 

7 Ways Church Leaders Hurt Themselves — Chuck Lawless

Believe it or not, I write this post to introduce you to a bird—a beautiful cardinal. I haven’t named him, but I know him well because he’s been hitting our window for hours each day. He flies into the window, retreats, hits it again, retreats, and then repeats the pattern. For hours. Literally. A Google search tells me that he thinks he sees another bird of his own kind in his reflection, and he’s protecting his territory. It’s his turf, and he doesn’t want another bird on it. What’s foolish to me is that, in his desire to protect his own turf, he hurts only himself. Over and over again. It’s crazy. Even more crazy to me, though, is when Christians act the same way:

 

Why Churches Should Have Meaningful Membership — Erik Raymond

Church membership is a concept that while not explicitly articulated in the Scriptures is assumed and supported. Many of the New Testament letters were written to local congregations with instructions as to how they were to deal with their life together (for example, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Philippians). Even though church membership is common in churches today and throughout history, I’ve found it helpful to broaden out the answer to help fill out my reasons for why we have church membership. Is church membership biblical? Is it important? Yes, I believe so. Here are four main reasons why.

 

5 Great Things That Happen When Leaders Get Out of Their Offices — Eric Geiger

It takes a love for the people and the work, coupled with a discipline to throw oneself into the work, for leaders to leave their offices. The pull to stay in your office can be strong. There are plenty of emails and plenty of meetings to keep leaders stuck in their offices. But wise leaders get out of their offices; here are five great things that happen when they do:

 

7 High Costs of Leadership Every Leader Should Pay — Ron Edmondson

Leadership should be expensive. If we desire to be leaders it should cost us something. Leadership is a stewardship. It’s the keeping of a valuable trust others place in you. Cheap leadership is never good leadership.

 

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