Christian Rapper: DJ Official featuring Lecrae and Flame

This is the first single off of the EnterMission album by DJ Official.  You can order the album here off of the Reach Records website.


video credit: by 116boi


UPDATE!! UPDATE!!  (Effective December 26th)

Entermission the debut album from DJ Official available in stores now!.


After producing for over 10 years and serving as traveling deejay, Official finally has the opportunity to reveal the dynamic of his skill-set on one project. The album is purposed to influence Christians to think about the Great Commission (Matt 28:19) and the Great Commandment (Luke 10:27) on a local level. As Christians we have a personal mission field, which consist of those that God has placed in our sphere of influence. With a missional mindset we can affect the people around us with the Gospel message by the way we live and conduct ourselves in our everyday walk. This is a message that needs to be heard and with everything from Reggae, Downsouth, East Coast, Commercial, Underground, Electro, and Rock/Hipster featured on the album there is something for everyone!

EnterMission features over 20 artists such as Lecrae, Flame, Sho Baraka, JR, Tedashii, Trip Lee, R-Swift, Thi'sl, Jahaziel, and more! Every single track on EnterMission is produced by DJ Official.

To buy it on iTunes, click here

To order the physical album, go here

You can listen to the singles, read about the album, and create your own version of the album cover here

There are three versions to choose from:













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God's Recipe for Your Success

Did you know that God has already given you everything that you need to be successful in life? It's like looking at a recipe in a cookbook. God has given you every ingredient that you need to make the resulting dish of your life. The key to finding peace in this information lies in understanding how dishes are made using a recipe. You have all the ingredients layed out before you. You know you have them, but you have a specific order in which you need to use them in order to be successful. Here's an example of a recipe:

Candy Bar Cake:
(please note all the ingredients are right here before you)

6 (2 ounce) chocolate-coated caramel and creamy nougat bars
1 cup butter softened and divided
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2.5 cups all-purpose flour
.25 teaspoons baking soda
1.25 coups buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
creamy chocolate glaze

Instructions:
(please note that the instructions are specific)

Step 1: Melt candy bars and .5 cup butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Set aside

Step 2: Beat remaining .5 cups butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs (one at a time) beating mixture until blended after each addition.

Step 3: Combine flour and soda; add to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed after addition

Step 4: Stir in candy mixture, vanilla and pecans. Pour into a greased and floured 12 cup Bundt or 10 inch tube pan.

Step 5: Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Step 6: Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Drizzle with creamy chocolate glaze. Yield 1 ten inch cake.

not actual candy bar cake

Picture taken from The Village Bake Shoppe


Please note that I made a couple of statements bold in the recipe. In step 1, the words Set aside; and in step 4 the words stir in candy mixture. Think of the specific ingredients as the characteristics of yourself and the steps in the recipe as the years in your life. You will notice that in step 1, you mixed up some of the ingredients and set them to the side. That can be viewed as God giving you some gifts and talents, having you take some steps to use them, and then telling you to wait on using that gift or talent for a season. Here's a literal example: You can see a specific ministry that you would like to do. You have the talent to perform that ministry, but you don't have the time to launch that ministry right now due to other obligations. So you have to set it to the side for right now.

Going back to our recipe... step 4 tells you to stir the candy mixture into the ingredients that you mixed together in steps 2 and 3. That's just like our life. Steps 2 and 3 represent the things in life that God wants you to do before you can add gifts from step 1. The things that you set to the side cannot be effectively used until you get the things in step 2 and 3 together. But you can't step go to step 4 if you don't have the items that you put together in step 1 on the side waiting to be used. This represents God not only giving you all the ingredients that you need to complete the task; but the proper order of instructions to effectively use them.

If you follow the recipe that God sets before your life, you too can experience the sweet results like the cake at the end of the recipe. If you decide to skip a step(or not use all the ingredients), then your life's cake will resemble something horrible that looks nothing like the original picture that God planned for you. I pray that your life and your recipes turn out exactly the way that God plans them. Just remember to follow His directions to the letter.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike







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Servant Partners

The Servant Parteners San Antonio team:  from left to right Levi Thomson, Molly Unruhe, Rev. Carrie Lewis, and Lewis McNeel


There is a wonderful organzation that joined my church a year ago.  The Servant Partners is an organization whose purpose is to share the love of Jesus with people all over the world.  They move into urban areas that have experienced a season of decline and seek to build them up by becoming an active part of the community.  They hold community meetings, bible studies, and neighborhood cleanups (among other things).  Our church partners with the San Antonio team by allowing them to use our church and resources to further their cause.

I have spent time with the members of the San Antonio team and have found them to be a source of great inspiration.  The team leader is Rev. Carrie Lewis.  The rest of her team consists of Levi Thomson, Lewis McNeel, and Molly Unruhe.  The program requires the members to make a committment to live in the neighborhood for a certain number of years.  At this time, Carrie has a five year commitment and Molly has a three year commitment.  In the past year they have accomplished quite a few things in the neighborhood surrounding our church.  They have established a prayer meeting group, they have completed phase one of the neighborhood clean-up program, and they are beginning to hold community meetings that allow the residents of the neighborhood to express their concerns about the neighborhood and address them together.


    

The project has had its share of interesting experiences.  The team has told me numerous stories of success and stories of amazement.  One incident occurred when they offered to pray for a woman that had a multitde of problems.  Her father has alheimers, and she has a teen aged daughter that was beginning to act out as she has been getting older.  The mother was completely stressed out.  They talked and prayed with her and left.  A couple of weeks later, the woman saw them out during their "prayer walking" and told them that the daughter has been acting better and has been doing a better job of helping out with her father.  The situation is not completely perfect now, but the woman expressed a spirit of thankfulness that it has become a little bit more tolarable.  She said that the team must have been sent by God because they crossed her path right when she was feeling overwhelmed by everything.  My personal opinion is that people appreciate it when they know that someone else cares about them without having an ulterior motive. 

Please take a look at the San Antonio Team's bio here and the complete Servant Partners website here.  The San Antonio team will be looking to expand it's size to include two more team members.  If you are interested, please send me an email or leave a comment on this site and I will pass it over to Rev. Lewis.  If you would like to join Servant Partners in one of its established communities or possibly start a local team in your community, see the website.
 

prayer walking in the neighborhood



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Hang in There (part I)

I feel as though God is taking me and my family through some things right now.  The reason we are going through is so that we can be better prepared to do bigger and better things for the Kingdom in the future.  I have to tell you that this is not always an enjoyable process.  But God is continuously talking to me through other believers.  I have received several messages of encouragement over the past couple of months and this time I wanted to share a couple with you.  I don't know if you are struggling with anything right now.  But I do know that God is in control and He is right there with you.  The first message I received was from a friend on Facebook. I'll simply post it the way that I received it. I think that you will be blessed by it.


I was lost, but now I am FOUND! Got Jesus?
by Allen Mark Taylor

Matthew 4:1-4 - Man does not live on bread alone
NIV
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
KJ
Notice the Scripture states that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert. In ancient times, the desert is equated with a place incapable of sustaining life. Matthew (with Luke and Mark) is stating that Jesus was going into a place where His only hope would be in God. Notice that the journey into the desert was the first act in the ministry of Jesus after His baptism.

Do you feel like you are in a wilderness? We may think that we are being set up for destruction, but God is training us to live a life of dependence upon Him and not our surroundings. This was the path of Jesus and we should not be surprised that this is a part of our journey as well.





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Hang in There (part II)

I received this one as an email from my brother.  It is a daily devotional called "Marketplace Leaders".  The message is below:

Jehovah Jireh

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2
by Os Hillman

"But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs" (Phil 2:25-26).

I got onto the bus with the other delegates attending a workplace conference in South Africa . It was a season in my life in which I had experienced many losses both financially and relationally. God was stripping away the old wineskin and creating a new one. One of the things He was teaching me was that He - not my skills, not my work - was my provider of financial needs during this season of training.

God provided me the means to attend the conference. One day before the registration deadline, a man came to my office and gave me $2500 and told me I was to go. Now, a man had just placed an envelope into my hand. "Here, God says I'm to give this to you. Inside are 10 crisp American $100 bills - $1000!" The man was from Kuwait .

Every believer needs to come to know Christ as their provider. Jehovah Jireh means God is my provider. When God called the Israelites from their place of slavery they had to walk through the desert. There is no way to earn a living in the desert. So God provided manna each day for them. Sometimes He even brought water from rocks. They had to experience a new way of gaining provision that was not rooted in sweat and toil. God had to demonstrate His faithfulness as Jehovah Jireh to His people.

There were times when Paul's tent making business was not the way God would provide for him. God often uses others as His instrument of provision. So, God sent Epaphroditus to take care of Paul's needs.

Do you know God as your provider? Do you have a need? Place your need before the Lord today and ask Him to demonstrate His faithfulness as Jehovah Jireh.


To subscribe to this daily devotional, click here: TGIF




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Christian Rapper of the Week: Evangel

video credit: FourthFridays

Album Credits:
Espository Journey (2008)

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KREATIVE BLOGGER AWARD

THE MAN EDITION

                                            
                                               picture credit by:  tdc1767

I am happy to report that I received a KREATIVE BLOGGER AWARD from my friend Anna.  All praise to God for this blessing.  Anna is the wonderful writer behind the Wrestling with God blog. Anna and I just became blog friends over the past week and she has quickly become a blessing to me. She was a little concerned about it being a girly logo, so I made it the "Man Edition"!  I hope I do not offend the original creator of such an honor.  Check out Anna's blog when you get a chance. I know you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Here are the rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award
2. Copy and paste the award on your own blog
3. Link the person who nominated you.
4. Name seven things about yourself that folks may not know.
5. Nominate seven Kreativ bloggers
6. Post links to the seven bloggers you nominate
7. Leave comments on each of the blogs letting them know that you have nominated them!

Here are 7 things that you may not know about me.

1. I am a licensed minister that lives in the San Antonio area. I have been a minister since 2001 and it is my prayer that I will have the opportunity to pursue the ministry full time in the near future.

2. I am a car salesman in my secular job. Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? I work for a high-end dealership in San Antonio. Always remember to be nice to your salesmen! There are a LOT of Christians in the business!

3. I am a huge football fan. I am originally from Louisiana, so my favorite collage team is LSU out of the SEC conference. My delima is that I married into a UT (Longhorns)family so I have to cheer for Texas as long as they are not playing an SEC school. So far so good in that one, but may God help us if LSU ever plays UT in the BCS championship! My favorite pro team is the New Orleans Saints (who are 5-0 as of yesterday!). Hopefully they will continue to play well this year.

4. I have been married for 7 years to my beautiful wife and we have a 6 year old son (If you search through the blog you can find out what their names are). I can only imagine what life would be like without them... and it does not appeal to me at all. I do ask that you will pray for us all as we continue to strive to be the man, woman, and child that God would have us to be.

5. I graduated from Grambling State University in Louisiana with a degree in Marketing. Our mascot is the tiger (check the graphic above).  GSU has produced such great football names as Eddie Robinson, Doug Williams, Trumaine Johnson, and the Earnie "the Big Cat" Ladd. GSU is also well known for having one of the best four year Nursing programs in the state.

6. If you want to make me happy, feed me seafood. Give me fried catfish, gumbo, po-boy sandwiches, and dirty rice; and we will stay friends forever.

7. I truly want to be the man, father, husband, friend, and Christian that God wants me to be. It is through the grace of God that I have a wonderful testimony. And it is my prayer that I can share that testimony and God's love with as many people as possible.


Now, my seven favorite blogs. These are the blogs that I check out nearly every day. They are very diverse and they keep me well rounded. Here's my list in no particular order:

1. Different Frequencies...Same Radio. Dan is active duty Navy and full time on fire for the Lord. He is usually the first one to comment on my blog and I always know where I can get some encouragement.

2. I'm Speaking Truth. This one is not for the faint of heart. Truth is an advocate for challenging the church to remember what the true word of God is. Reading his blog reminds me that I have a responsibility to proclaim God's word correctly and live my life accordingly at ALL times.

3. Urban Resurgence. This is a blog that I have recently started following and enjoying. David is my brother from Austin, Texas (just one hour down highway 35). I definately admire his passion for the Lord and his appreciation of quality Christian rap music.

4. The Prodigal Daughter. This is Di's blog. It is best stated in her own words:
"A website offering a safe environment to share about the pain of pastoral sexual misconduct and the hope that exists within the healing journey." Di has given voice to the pain that a lot of women (and men) have felt as a result of trusting those who have proven to be untrustworthy. I keep her on my blogroll because she can help someone that I may not be able to reach because I have not gone through what she has gone through. Her blog is extremely important.

5. Two Common Thieves. Mark and Misty have the wonderful testimony of deliverance from addiction and are living witnesses that you can make it out. I second that testimony in my own life as well. Thank you guys for being so open and forthcoming. Check them out to find out how God changed them.

6. Solus Christus> Rev. Renaldo Mendes is a Pastor living and spreading the word of God in Brazil. His posts are always challenging and thoughtful. He is also a wonderful encourager of "All These Things".

7. Seth's Blog. This gentleman does not need the publicity, but his blog and books are an excellent source of business growth ideas.

Thanks again to Anna for the award and I hope you will go out and enjoy these blogs as much as I do. As always...

Peace and Love,

Rev Mike

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Litmus Test

What is a litmus test? I checked with dictionary.com and found the following two definitions:

1. In chemistry, a person uses litmus paper or solution to test the acidity or alkalinity of a solution.
2. A crucial and revealing test in which there is one decisive factor.

picture credit: 1995-1996 NT Curriculum Project


It is the second definition that I want to address. My original intentions for this blog were to say the things that I felt like I didn’t have the platform to say in other areas of my life. I felt and still feel that my life experiences are beneficial to other people that may be going through the same things, and feel as though other people don’t understand them. And I know that other people have been blessed by reading the blog just as I have been blessed by writing it. That is a good thing.

But there is also a dangerous aspect to blogging that I have to watch out for. In my efforts to promote the blog, gain more “hits”, and build up my statistical numbers, I find myself constantly being reminded by God that this effort should not be about me. It should be about Him. I want gain one million hits on the blog. I want to alltheezthingz.blogspot.com to be on the top of every search engine. I want fifty comments on every post. But is that what God wants? If I receive a million hits and a book deal from this blog, will that bring glory to the Kingdom? That is a question that I don’t have an answer for yet.

But I do know this. I have to hold up this work to a litmus test every time I put up a posting.  Does what I am doing bring glory to God or to me? If it brings glory to God; then great.  If it does not; then I run the risk of getting into trouble.  I read a statement recently that said that a minister should never say thank you if someone compliments them on a sermon. They should simply say “Praise God!” or “Thanks be to God!” This is because it immediately gives credit to the proper authority. If I preach a sermon well, it is because God allowed me to properly articulate His words. If I write a profoundly intelligent blog post, it is because God has guided my fingers. And If I screw something up, it is because I got in my own way.

So to everything you do from this day onward; give God the glory. Hold your words and deeds up to His litmus test. Then check out the results.  The answer you get will reflect your true intentions. Let every work of your hand bring glory to God. 

Peace and Love,






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Following My Wife's Spirit

Let me tell you about my wife. She works, takes care of our son the majority of the time, and tries diligently to be the Christian woman that God requires her to be. That can be difficult at times when you are married to a minister/car salesman. She does her best to follow my lead even when it does not make much sense. There have been many times when I have asked her to just "trust me" because I was doing what I believed God was leading me to do. And during those many times, she is able to do that because she believes in God and in me. But sometimes the shoe changes to the other foot.

My wife has a very generous and compassionate spirit. And from time to time she will look at me and tell me that we need to do something for somebody else right now. This has happened at least five or six times over the seven years that we have been married. And every time, I look at her funny because I have no idea where she is coming up with the desire to do whatever it is she wants us to do. Yet, every time this has happened, she has been right. Most of the time, it involves doing something for someone else who is completely unrelated to either of us (meaning a stranger or a distant friend). One such event happened last night.

I was driving home from work when she called me and told me that we had a friend in trouble and we needed to do something to help. I looked at the phone and asked if we needed to do it right then and there. She confirmed that we did. Now, I want you to understand that I did not receive any bulletin from God that we needed to do this thing. But I have been around my wife long enough to realize that she receives messages from God that I don't. And this time was no exception. So what did I do? I told her to let me get home so that we could figure out how we should accomplish the task together. By the end of the night, we had driven to the other side of town, assisted the friend in a way that was an immediate blessing to them, and spent two good hours together as a family with our son.

As we were driving home, I told her the same thing I do every time we have this type of adventure. I told her that every time she tells me that we need to do these types of things, I follow her lead because I know that she is following the direction of the Holy Spirit. It's not for me to understand, but to be obedient to the Spirit as it is leading her. It's happened many times over the years. And it has always been the right thing to do. So if I can give any advice to you from this story, it would be to trust your spouse as they trust and follow God. Believe me... it works.

Peace and Love,






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Five Simple Questions

I have five simple questions for you.  When you get done, please feel free to ask your friends and acquaintances.  You can even copy and paste them to an email and send them out if you want.  I have no ownership rights.

1.  Do you believe that Jesus is the son of God?
2.  Do you believe that Jesus died for all of the sins of the world; yours and mine included?
3.  Do you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead?
4.  Are you willing to let Jesus be the Lord of your life?

Romans 10:9-10 states,"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

Last question...
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V




5.  Are you saved?



Check out the Roman Road to Salvation as a reference.

Peace and Love,






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Christian Rapper of the Week: Dillon Chase

Video credit: TLRJF


Albums:
The Pursuit (2009)
The Light (2006)







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Something Lite!

I placed this video on my facebook page and asked if the Pastor should have killed the kid or hugged the kid. Either way, it's pretty funny.








10/08/09 UPDATE TO POST: Please be advised that I do NOT condone the killing of young children:), but you have to admit that the Pastor looks a "tad annoyed".

Peace and Love (but no murders),

Rev. Mike


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God's Voice...Can You Hear Me Now?

Every Christian should want to communicate with God. But sometimes the way that God speaks to us is different than the way we expect to be spoken to. Sometimes God whispers to us. Sometimes He uses a booming voice. I have found in my life that God very rarely communicates to me in the way that I want Him to. But I am also beginning to believe that God has a reason for communicating to us in the ways that He does. Sometimes, God whispers to us because he wants us to sit still and listen. And sometimes God needs to raise His voice to get our attention.

It’s kind of like the way that a teacher communicates with their students. Sometimes the teacher will get the attention of the student by simply standing silently and saying nothing. The teacher will usually use this method when the classroom is being too loud. The teacher will not scream at the classroom because there is something important that the students need to hear. At some point, the students will realize that the teacher is just standing there silently and will quiet down in order to find out what is going on. Then the teacher can say what needs to be said while knowing that he or she has the complete attention of the class.

Sometimes, the student is daydreaming about something other than the task at hand and needs to be brought back to attention. In this case, the teacher will raise their voice in order to snap the student back to reality. These are situations where the teacher is already communicating with the student and the student’s mind begins to drift. The louder voice is needed to wake the student up and bring them back to reality.

If you hadn’t figured it out by now, God is the teacher and we are the students. The way that God communicates to us is directly determined by the way we are acting at the time. Sometimes we are being loud and don’t realize that God is standing before us, waiting for us to focus on Him. Sometimes, we are so distracted by life that God needs to yell at us in order to wake us up. Check out these examples of God whispering and God raising His voice. It is my prayer that we will recognize when God is speaking to us, listen to His words, and apply His instructions from now until Heaven.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike





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Happy Birthday To Ru

My son Ruben turned six years old today.  Please join me in wishing him a

Happy Birthday!!!

then

now

Mommy and Daddy love you Scooby!



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This is How Your Bible is Supposed to Look

I dropped off my son at school this morning and was driving home when I saw a book lying on the inside lane of the road. As I was driving past it, I realized that it was a Bible. Now, I couldn't very well just leave it there, could I? I immediately turned around and went back to retrieve it. It had been run over by at least one car (see tire mark on picture below), and about 60% of the pages had been crumpled. Fortunately, there was a name and phone number inside the cover so I took it home to see if I could unwrinkle some of the pages and call the owner. After all, a soldier needs his sword! I showed it to my wife and you would have thought that it was a wounded animal by her reaction. She is a self-proclaimed book nerd (she said I could call her that), and she was visibly upset over the fact that it had received so much damage.

I called the owner and left them a message that I had found his Bible and that he could call me if he wanted it returned to him. Then S. and I sat down and smoothed over the pages as much as we could. As we were doing so, I noticed that this Bible was pretty well used. Yes, it had received damage from being in the street, but that's not exactly what I'm talking about.  I noticed that there were several pen marks, notes, names, and phone numbers that had been written in it as well. You can look at the pictures that I took of it and see that many of the markings were made with different types of pens, pencils, and markers. Also, I figured that the owner must have had this one for a while because there was a date beside his name that suggested that he received in back in 1992. Now I don't know this for certain, but I think it is safe to say that this Bible has been read, studied, and used quite a lot over the last sixteen plus years. You just don't see that type of use in a Bible that stays in the closet collecting dust.

Well, the gentleman called me and we arranged to meet at a location so that I could give it back to him. He was extremely greatful and gave me a big thank-you. Mission accomplished. I was so impressed by the look of his Bible that I went home to check mine out to see how my "usage" was going. I came to the conclusion that i need to be reading more! How does you Bible look? Is it a coffee table decoration? Or is it a well-worned weapon used to complete the full armor of God?

p.s.  God gave me a whisper with the pages that I photographed.  Check out the following verses and see if they don't bless you:

Romans Chapter 1:1-25 (The Gospel Exalted)
1 Peter 4:12-14 (The Christian and Suffering)
Hebrews Chapter 1 (The Son is God's Revelation)

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

                              Tire track.  Had to remove some phone numbers on this one.

Romans Chapter 1:1-25 (The Gospel Exalted)

1 Peter 4:12-14 (The Christian and Suffering)

Hebrews Chapter 1 (The Son is God's Revelation)

Peace and Love,

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Milestones

Look what you did! More importantly, look what God has allowed to happen. All These Things has accomplished a couple of milestones over the past two months. The blog went over the 1000 visits mark in August! And during the month of September, "All These Things" registered 398 visits (a new monthly record!). Now I am well aware that some blogs are registering over 500 visits per day but I thank God that the blog is growing and will continue to grow. Thank you to everyone that has visited and signed up as a follower of the blog this year. This includes Facebook, Blogged.com, and Google followers as well as those of you that have signed up via RSS feed. Remember that you can also register your email address with the blog in order to receive new updates in your inbox that you can send to your friends and family. Just see the tab that says, "To receive "All These Things" via email, please enter address here," on the right side of the screen----->. Thank you again for your visits, comments, and participation.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike





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Be an Encourager: You are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made!

Be An Encourager is a group that I contribute to on Facebook that was created by some friends of mine from college. It follows the instruction of Hebrews 3:13: "Encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin”.

Be Encouraged! You are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made!

Psalms 139:14: “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well”(NKJV).

Do you know that you are fearfully and wonderfully made by God? What does that mean? God made you fearfully in His image. Fearfully made means that God was careful with you when He made you in His image. He was careful with you because He wanted you to be a beautiful representation of Himself. God also made you wonderfully. Wonderfully means that you are a one of a kind, unique specimen. You are a work of art! There is no reason that you should ever feel inadequate because you can rest assured that you have been created exactly the way that God needed you to be made.

Why is that important? There is not another person in the world that can do what you can do. You bring a different set of characteristics and gifts to every situation. You don’t have the same attributes that your friends and colleagues have. And they don’t have the same gifts that you have. The beautiful part about this is that when you combine your gifts to the gifts of others; the entire body is enriched by the sum total of all people involved. If everyone was the same, the body would never look at things from a different point of view. Thus, the body would never stretch and grow. The body of Christ is stretching and growing because you are stretching and growing!

As you become more comfortable with the fact that you are fearfully and wonderfully made; you can see the value in yourself as a child of God. As you begin to appreciate the value in yourself, you can better appreciate the value in others. As you appreciate the value in others, you can use your uniqueness and their uniqueness to reach new people that need to be reached. That means that you can continue to help others grow in God as you are growing in God. So be encouraged and be excited! You are fearfully and wonderfully made! You are a perfect creation in the Lord!





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The Importance of Showing Your Scars

If this post looks familiar, it's because I wrote it when I first began the blog. I deleted it by accident while I was doing some blog-maintenance and could not place it in it's original location. Maybe someone needed to see it again.

In the movie "Jaws" there was a scene where three of the characters were sitting in the bottom of a boat, drinking beer and talking. The characters were Quint, Brody, and Hooper. Quint and Hooper had been fighting with each other throughout the movie because Quint thought Hooper was too soft, and Hooper thought Quint was a pain in the... back. Well, in this particular scene, the two men began to bond with each other by showing their various scars and sharing the shark stories behind them. One of them would show a scar on the leg and the other would show a similar scar on his leg. One of them had a scar on his hip, the other showed a scar on his head. You get the point. The quincher was when Hooper opened his shirt and pointed to a spot over his heart. "Mary Ellen Moffit," he slowly murmurs. "She broke my heart!"

There is something that I will always remember from that scene. Here were two people who really didn't like each other discovering that they had more in common that they originally believed. Sharing their scars with each other allowed them to relate to each other; thus causing their attitudes to change.

How can we as Christians show our scars? II Corinthians 1:3-7 states: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. (niv)

In II Corinthians , Paul was saying that we go through the trials of life so that we can help our brothers and sisters when they go through the same things. Have you ever been going through a tough stage in life, only to have someone you didn't expect to see tell you that you could make it because they had gone through the same thing? I recently shared a hardship with one of the members of my church. They smiled at me and let me know that they had gone through the same thing. They then told me to hang in there and know that God would bring me through it. And as I made my way through the hardship, I was encouraged by her testimony and felt better about my situation. She had shared her scar with me.

By definition, a scar results from the biologic process of wound repair in the skin and other tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a natural part of the healing process. If that sounds really intelligent, it's because I got it from Wikipedia! Your scars remind you of the events that caused them. But more importantly, they remind you that you survived the event. By showing our scars to other believers, we let them know that we survived the trials and events of our lives. That will encourage others to keep trying, and keep healing. Who can you think of right now that would be encouraged by your testimony? Don't be afraid. You have your scars for a reason.

Peace and Love

Rev. Mike

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Altered Minds Fall Concert Tour

Reach Records artists Lecrae, Sho Baraka, and Tedashii are teaming up with a couple of groups that are new to me(After Edmund and Mikeschair) for a fall concert tour.
They have several dates in my home state of Texas and I look forward to seeing the show. And since I am not familiar with After Edmund and Mikeschair, I put up a video for each of them for you to check out.


video credit by: awesomeallyson6692



video credit by: NxtPh3n0m





Here's a link to the Tour's concert dates.



Also check out the Reach Records Link Under my "Favorite Blogs" list on the right side of the blog.

Peace and Love,






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Books You Have to Read

I have a couple of books that I am going through right now. The first one was recommended to me by my father in law. I'm about four chapters into it. The second book is part of the curriculum in an Evangelism class that I am taking at a local church. Click on the book titles for more information. I would recommend both books because they will help us in defining what makes us Christians and the examples that we should be as leaders in our homes and our churches.



Here is the synopsis of the first. It's called "The Character of Leadership":

Seminary president Jeff Iorg believes that character, and character development, are essential foundations for effective leaders. In The Character of Leadership, he writes about how God ever shapes character in the life of every leader, and in relation, how continual spiritual formation is a process to which every good leader must pay close attention.

Iorg puts insightful chapter-long emphasis on nine important character-shaping qualities that help readers in “becoming the leader God intends me to be rather than doing the leading God intends me to do.” The nine qualities are: Integrity, Security, Purity, Humility, Servanthood, Wisdom, Discipline, Courage, and Passion.



The second book is called, "What Christians Believe". It is produced by Moody Press. This is an important answer book for everyone, from seeker to long-time believer. It is essential for Christians because it systematically covers the fundamentals of Bible doctrine and Christian living.

What are you guys reading? Shoot me a title and I'll try to check them out.

Peace and Love,








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Perfect From Imperfect? I Don't Think So

We have always been taught that all men were born sinners and that all men have sinned. And we are taught that Jesus was born as a human baby to Mary and Joseph. But we have also been taught that Jesus was the only man to live a sinless life. Although I have always believed this fact, I had a hard time putting it into words if I had to explain it to someone. I mean, how can that be correct? If Jesus was born to Mary and Joseph (born of man), and man is always born a sinner, how can Jesus be born of man and not be a sinner at birth? Did God do something to keep Jesus from being a sinner? The answer is a resounding yes!

You see, way back in the Garden of Eden, God told Adam that he could eat from any tree except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And of course we know how that turned out. The serpent talked Adam’s wife, Eve into eating the fruit of the tree and she gave the fruit to Adam to eat. It was when Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that sin entered the world. It did not matter that Eve ate the fruit. God specifically told Adam not to eat of the fruit. That is important to remember. When Adam ate of the fruit, sin entered into the world. At that point, Adam became infected with what I would like to call a “sin gene.” A gene is “a hereditary unit consisting of a sequence of DNA that occupies a specific location on a chromosome and determines a particular characteristic in an organism.” That means that a certain characteristic that is inside of an organism can be passed onto another organism. These genes can be passed on from a parent to their child. Some examples of this are character traits like eye-color, baldness or sickle cell anemia. Because Adam was the one that possessed the sin gene, he passed it onto Cain and Able (his sons). And because babies are born from the result of a man and woman, the gene is passed from the parent to the child(male or female) in every situation; resulting in all children being born sinners. So I get back to my original question. How can Jesus be born as a human and not be born a sinner? And how can someone who is born a sinner from the start be perfect? The answer is in the fact that God did do something to keep Jesus from being born a sinner.

Remember that Mary was a virgin when she became pregnant with Jesus. She had never had sex with a man therefore the “sin gene” that all men carry was not passed onto her unborn son, Jesus. Because Jesus was born directly from the Holy Spirit, He avoided being infected with the sin gene because Mary herself could not pass it to Him. Thus, it was possible for him to be born as a human baby, with a Heavenly Father, a virgin mother, and a pure and sinless body. Why is this an important point? The Bible tells us that the wages of sin equals death and the only way to pay for sin is through a blood sacrifice. The sin sacrifice in the Old Testament was typically an unblemished lamb that did not have any flaws. Because Jesus had to die as a sin sacrifice for us, He needed to be pure and unblemished. God had to follow His own laws to the letter. Because sin entered into the world, God needed a way for sin to be defeated in the world. And that way was through the perfect death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike





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Christian Rapper of the Week: Thi'sl

The name is pronounced like whistle, but with a "th". His new album is titled "Chronicles of an X-Hustler". I have the entire album. It is extremely intense but it gives a true depiction of how God can save you from a life in the streets. It is definately worth checking out.

Peace and Love,







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What is the Unpardonable Sin?

picture credit by chadman0420

Check out this link. There are a lot of people who debate whether certain sins can or cannot be forgiven by God. This article by James K. Bridges does a pretty good job of addressing the issue.

By the way, I'm sorry that I've been away for a while. There have been a lot of episodes of life happening lately. Please pray for me and my family.

Peace and Love,







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Ready! Fire! Aim!

Does anything seem odd about the title above? When you watch those old movies with the firing squads they always ways have the solders line up and get ready to shoot the condemned guy with the blindfold over his eyes. The commander in charge of the firing squad will call out, “Ready…Aim…Fire! And the firing squad would get ready, take aim, and fire in unison. What do you think would happen if the squad fired their weapons before they took aim? They would probably not hit the intended target. Not only that, but they might even shoot something that they did not intend to shoot.

Sometimes, we do the same thing in our lives. And that is very similar to what Moses did in his early life. There was something inside Moses that made him know that he was responsible for the welfare of the children of Israel; but he initially went about it in the wrong way. In Exodus 2:11-25, the story is told of Moses killing an Egyptian and then being chastised by one of his own people about the incident. Verse 13 states that the Israelite asked him, "Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?" Moses did eventually become responsible for all of the Israelites and it was because of him and his brother Aaron that the Israelites were freed from Egypt. And it was Moses that led the people to the Promised Land. This was God’s plan for Moses. I want to repeat that Moses knew that he had a purpose. But because that purpose was not completely revealed at that time, he went about it the wrong way and made a mistake. And because of that mistake, he ended up running away from the very people that he was trying to protect.

How are you like Moses in your life? Have you made any mistakes? Did you think about that mistake and say to yourself that you could have avoided some pains if you had just waited a little while longer before taking a particular action? Did you go Ready…Fire…Aim? And then did you look at the damage and realized that you should have aimed first? Don’t worry if you did. I have done the same thing as well. There are some things that I wish I would have thought out a little bit more before I committed to a particular action. But here’s the good news. Even though Moses made a mistake early in his life, he was still able to go ahead and be the man that God destined him to be. You and I can still be the men and women that God has destined us to be. All we have to do is listen for his voice and be obedient. After Moses had been out in the desert for a time, he met God in the form of the burning bush. It was at that moment that Moses was RE-AIMED into the correct direction. We have an opportunity to be re-aimed in the direction that God wants us to go. All we have to do is listen to God when He speaks to us and allow Him to direct our path. We too can be pointed in the right direction. God has a destiny for all of us. Just remember to be patient and allow Him to aim us.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike






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