"If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon (wealth), who will commit to your trust the true riches?" Luke 16:12
We wrapped up the Realizing Rich series by looking at why this issue of money and riches is so important: because God uses riches to test you and He will hold you accountable to what you do with it.
The way to fail? BELIEVING THAT "MORE" IS ALWAYS FOR ME.
The way to pass? BECOMING INTENTIONAL AND ABOVE AVERAGE GIVERS.
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The following guest post is written by Youssef Iskander - a high school student living just outside Toronto, Canada. Despite being young in age, Youssef presents a profound viewpoint on the recent bombing that took place at a Coptic church in Cairo. Very wise for an 11th grader! If you too are interested in guest posting on my blog, please visit my Guest Post guidelines for more info.
This past Sunday, multiple people were killed as part of an attack on the St. Peter Church in St. Mark's Cathedral in Egypt. I don't know exact number of casualties as many are still in hospitals and their life still at risk.
Why is this relevant to us?
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By now, most of the world is aware of the horrific act of terrorism that took place three days ago in a Coptic church in Egypt. Someone went into a crowded church on a Sunday morning during the time of worship and set off a bomb that killed at least 25 people and injured 50 more – the majority of whom were women and children.
Awful awful awful. Makes me sick to my stomach. Another senseless tragedy to add to the list that was already too long to begin with.
What I want to talk about today is how we can make sense out of tragedies and disasters like this. How do we process the event and move forward – not forgetting what happened but also not letting it consume us and fill us with fear and/or anger?
Whether it’s across the world or across the street… whether it’s terrorism or racism… whether it’s called an act of God or an act of the devil…
…how can we make sense of the inevitable tragedies in our lives?
Read More"...he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful." Matthew 13:22
What did Jesus mean by that? What does "the deceitfulness of riches" mean? There's no way that applies to me. Right???
Part 2 of Realizing Rich and this week we examine that question. What is "the deceitfulness or riches" and could it be possible that I am falling for it without evening realizing it? In the message, I speak about 3 ways to tell whether or not that "deceitfulness" is affecting me.
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This is a guest post from David El Sabawy - a student from Mississauga, Canada who has guest posted on my blog before. In today's post, David writes about the internal battle we all face in life: the one against procrastination and laziness.
The absolute worst feeling in the world is to be unmotivated to do a task that you know you should be doing.
How terrible is it to feel, that you need to do something, but lack any self-motivation to get yourself to work on it? The regret that can build up in you after-the-fact is devastating because you begin to understand that there was more that you could bring to the table.
Procrastination, sloth and slacking off; all terms synonymous with LAZINESS
Read MoreIf I don’t FEEL RICH,
I’ll continually try to GET RICH,
Never recognizing that I am ALREADY RICH,
Which means I will always LIVE POOR.
We kicked off a new series yesterday called Realizing Rich and in it, we're trying to answer a question that you may never thought to answer before: WHAT IS RICH?
"Rich" is something we're all after right? So how do we know when we've gotten there? And is there any chance that we're actually already there and just don't know it yet?
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This is a guest post from Minas Nehad – an office manager living and working in Cairo, Egypt. Minas works with a Coptic NGO that works to help the poor in countries throughout Africa and Asia.
As a graduate with high ambitions, I began my career with a large telecommunications company where I enjoyed the corporate life. I moved between several departments, gaining a lot of experience & real success
Then one day I realized what a nonsense cycle I am running in. A lot of effort… a lot of time… a lot of dedication… for what exactly?
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Tis the season! It’s the last day of November and that pretty much makes it official: the Christmas season is here!
The music’s on the radio and lights are up everywhere you go. It’s just a matter of time before Christmas Day is upon us and we celebrate the single most important event in the history of all mankind – a day that divides history between BC and AD… the day that Jesus Christ was born.
If you’re in the Orthodox church, you know that we prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth by a 40-day period of fasting called Advent. Advent is to Christmas what Lent is to Easter – a time to prepare ourselves for the enormity and significance of what is about to happen.
When something is important (ie, wedding day, birth of a child, Super Bowl), it takes time to prepare. You can’t just show up on the day of the event without preparation; doing so would lead me to question the value you place on that day/event.
That’s why the church gives us this time of fasting – so we don’t just “show up” on Christmas without being prepared.
So what should our focus be during this time? How should we prepare ourselves? What should we be doing?
I've been off this week for Thanksgiving, but since SOOOOOOOO many people are off today - people that don't always get to tune in to my weekly scopes because of work - I'll be doing a special Thanksgiving week ASK ME ANYTHING scope today at 12:30 pm EST.
This is your chance to ask whatever question you want; nothing is off limits!
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Understanding the concept of "The Father" can be bewildering. The challenge is being able to separate YOUR father from OUR Father.
If you think of how you came to be, there's a good chance that within your parents’ grand design there was a child. But what they couldn't design was how you would turn out: the color of your hair, the width of your smile, the sound of your voice… these were all things that weren’t within their control.
But when God added you to His grand design, every inch of you was intentional: the color of your hair, the width of your smile, even the sound of your voice.
Read More"Changed lives happen through changed minds."
We wrapped up the Finding Your Flavor series with my favorite flavor: the INTELLECTUAL.
That doesn't mean someone who is smarter than everyone else (although in my case, it's obvious to see how people could make that assumption); it means people who realize that the best way to move their hearts is by engaging their minds.
By the time you read this post on Wednesday morning, we will most likely know who our next President will be. The election will (hopefully) be over and it'll be time for us to pick up the pieces as a nation.
But as I'm writing this post, it's still Tuesday night. The election is still up in the air and all indications are that this one is gonna go down the wire.
Read MoreOnly two weeks left in our FINDING YOUR FLAVOR journey and this week we looked at the two spiritual flavors that I know quite a bit about.
ENTHUSIASTS: connecting with God through expectancy (that's me)
CONTEMPLATIVES: connecting with God through adoration (that's my wife)
Christianity is all about a relationship with a supernatural God and so therefore we shouldn't be surprised if that God works in supernatural ways. Enthusiasts and Contemplatives are all about connecting with God through mystery and wonder.
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That’s it America. We’re almost there. Only four days left till the booths are opened and the most heated Presidential election of our lifetime takes place.
Most Americans – regardless of political party affiliation – are anxious about what is going to happen to our country as a result of this election. Each side fears the worst if “the other candidate” wins.
She’s gonna ruin our country…
He’s gonna start a world war…
How can I support someone like that to be my president?
And the list goes on and on.
While the entire world sits on the edge of its collective seat to see what will happen on Tuesday, I wanted to share some of my concerns and worries as we approach this election as well.
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Below is a post I originally wrote back in 2013. I am reposting it today because a) it is one of my all-time favorites, b) I was speaking about the importance of caring for others this past Sunday, and c) God has been pounding this lesson into my head repeatedly over the past two weeks.
That's because I've spent more time in hospitals and emergency rooms in the past two weeks than the rest of my life combined - not for my sake, I am just fine, thanks be to God. I've been in and out of hospitals attempting to provide care for some loved ones - people who I love and care about deeply. That's actually the reason why I've been a little off-schedule with my posts and scopes recently.
And this experience has really taught me a lot - both about myself and about how God works in this world. Once things settle down and I get a chance to catch my breath, you can be sure that I'll be sharing those lessons - but for now, here's an important one to start off with: MY GOOD SAMARITAN MOMENT.
Read MoreChurches are supposed to be more like an army and less like a country club. We aren't here just to pray and socialize and that's it. We're supposed to be making a difference in the world.
If that idea strikes a chord with you, then you're going to enjoy Part 4 in Finding Your Flavor. This week we talked about the two "action-oriented" flavors: the Activist and the Caregiver.
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There is a genuine and real joy in trials.
Genuine because it is an experience that involves the whole of your being - spirit, soul, and body. It is holistic, not partial. Full, not empty.
Joy - for the simple fact that there are myriad of gifts ready to be given, to those who endure to the end. There are revelations that He desires to reveal in the depth of your soul. About His Person, about who you are, and about your neighbor. To those who wait on the Lord and have there strength renewed.
It intensifies the intimacy between you and the bridegroom of your soul.
But many of us fail to discern this. If your eyes were opened to the working of our good God, you will begin to realize, as Father, He desires to continually give. Pour out. Think about it. If the Father of the Beloved has given us His Beloved, to be incarnate, die, rise, and ascend for you and me.
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FINALLY! It’s been a long few weeks but thanks to a lot of behind the scenes from some super hard-working people (thank you Andrew, Katie and Sandra), we’re finally done! The all new FrAnthony.com is here!!!
So what’s different?
Read More"The goal of Christianity isn't just spiritual BIRTH; the goal is spiritual GROWTH."
And that's exactly why today's topic - Part 3 in our Finding Your Flavor series - is so important. While you may not by nature be a TRADITIONALIST (loving God through ritual) or an ASCETIC (loving God through self-denial), those are two aspects of spiritual growth that we all need to some degree. It may not be your "bread and butter", but it certainly needs to be part of your repertoire if you aim to grow towards spiritual maturity.
Why do I say that? Check out the video and see for yourself.
It's week 2 of FINDING YOUR FLAVOR and this week we are jumping in to the first two of 9 spiritual temperaments: the NATURALIST (connecting with God through nature) and the SENSATE (connecting with God through our senses).
If you never knew that you could actually worship God through either of those methods, then be sure to listen to the end and join in the weekly challenges that we'll be doing this week.
Enjoy!
