Don't Let Discouragement Get You Down

There will always, and I mean ALWAYS, be people who tell you that you aren’t good enough, they will belittle you, overlook you and talk down to you. They are not who holds the keys to your future, they are not who has called you and equipped you for such a time as this. Seeking wise counsel is valuable, but don’t listen to everyone who gives you their “expert” opinion. When God lays something on your heart, follow His lead and allow Him to guide you through this thing until completion. 

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” 

- Galatians‬ ‭6:9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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Prayer is a Radical Act...

I was reading on prayer this afternoon and could not get past this powerful quote from theologian Henri Nouwen who said, 

"We want to move closer to God, the source and goal of our existence, but at the same time we realize that the closer we come to God the stronger will be His demand to let go of the many "safe" structures we have built around ourselves. Prayer is such a radical act because it requires us to criticize our world's way of being in the world, to lay down our old selves and accept our new self, which is Christ... prayer therefore is the act of dying to all that we consider to be our own and of being born to a new existence which is not of this world."

This certainly puts our "shopping list" and "symptom manipulation" prayers into a new light...

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Take Courage, There is a Yes in our hearts!

This is a powerful time of worship that I cannot stop listening to, just had to share with anyone who stopped by to read today's post, btw, Happy New Year!

This is “Take Courage” from the album “Every Nation” from Lindy Conant! We are living in days of great harvest and outpouring! As you listen to this song, I am praying that you are FILLED with courage for what God is doing all across the earth! Lift up your voice! Jesus is alive!

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Want to throw some rocks...

Christians, Jesus didn't die on the cross so that we could use Him as a means to bully and look down on others who don't know or share our beliefs. He came so that we might tell others about his Amazing Love, Compassion, Grace, Forgiveness and Eternal Life. 

When you talk about your faith, if you aren't telling others about the Love and Compassion of Christ, and showing them what that looks like, what are you really doing, and what do you honestly expect from them?

Condemnation and finger pointing will get you nowhere, expecting spiritual conviction and righteousness in someone that doesn't even have a relationship with Jesus yet is foolish. Jesus said in John 8:7, "...Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone..." 

It is not our job to judge and condemn unbelievers, but to show them the love of Christ, to be authentic and do our best to tell them who Jesus is and about His love for them.

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Step Into The Harvest

I've taken a little bit of an unplanned hiatus from writing blogs the past 2 years. I don't know if its due to business or social media cutting in on my blog writing, but whatever the cause, I'm attempting to make a comeback. I've never had much of a following, but I find great joy in putting my thoughts "out there," if anything, I can go back after a while and re-analyze what was going through my mind at a given time. I do hope, as I get back in to posting regular content, that you can find some encouragement through these posts.

I have an itch that needs scratching you might say. I recently had a friend take his own life, and it makes you evaluate everything you ever said or did to them as well as everything you didn't say and didn't do, I'm sure that I'll share more about this experience as time progresses, but for now, I just wanted to encourage you with what I think is so important for the times we live in.

As believers, it is our responsibility to show the love of Christ and share our faith with family, friends, co-workers, strangers and certainly those who are in need. Often times we find it difficult for varying reasons; lack of confidence, confusion, fear of failing, doubt in our own abilities due to comparison to someone we feel is far beyond our level or any number of other reasons. Whatever the rationale, we (me included) often shy away from sharing our faith and loving on others as we should. I'm here to encourage you, it doesn't matter how good that other person may be at sharing, or how inexperienced you might be, there are people in every aspect of your life that are hurting, lonely, lost, depressed and overcome with burdens we don't have the first clue about. Be someone they can hear some kind words from, a pat on the back, a hug around the neck, someone that brings a prayer they never expected.

I don't care what stage of their life they are in, I don't care if they've never heard the gospel before or if they are a seasoned 50 year veteran of Christianity, it is our responsibility to share the love of Christ, freely, as it is freely given to us.

I wanted to share this verse, "5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building." - 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 (NIV) 

Whatever it is that they might be going through, you might be the very person that makes it a little more bearable, might just help them get up the next morning, and maybe they want to spend more time with you, visit your church, have a coffee together, or it could turn into a long term valuable friendship for both sides. You never know what part of the plan you are playing, so be there for people in general, show the love of Christ, share your faith; Love God & Love People...

If you'd like to subscribe to this blog and receive updates by e-mail, just click this LINK and follow the instructions, thanks and have a blessed day!

In Christ,

Ryan

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5 Questions to Ask When Reading the Bible

I'm re-posting this blog post I read today, it was totally on point. Let's read God's Word intentionally and be aware of what it's communicating!

How exactly does the Bible—an ancient book written thousands of years ago—reveal God’s way to people today? There are several key questions we must ask, the answers to which reveal to us the way. Here they are:

1. Is there a command to obey?

The Bible is filled with divine commands for you and me to obey. There is no question what God’s will is in these areas. Our obedience to His commandments leads us precisely into the center of His will.

Click HERE to read more

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Are You A Christian? Are You?

"Christian" - What does that even me? I've always taught that it meant "Christ-Like" and that is what we should strive to be as believers in Jesus. But it means so much more. If you really want to know the truth...read with caution.


"And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." 

- Acts 11:26

The word "Christian" shows up only 3 times in the entire New Testament. It was originally a term used to describe a servant and follower of Christ. Today it has become a general term devoid of the original meaning.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

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Awesome Relationships and Spiritual Growth!

We had an amazing time yesterday! From the very start of the day in our staff meeting at 7:30 we were praying for walls to come down in the lives of the campers. We were praying that they would be open and receive all that God had for them and for overall spiritual growth and understanding in their lives.

We had our morning worship session with a powerful testimony from one of the German Camp Staffers followed by our English classes, which continue to go better and better everyday, both our teaching teams and the students are enjoying each session. Its amazing to see them learning English and the Gospel message at the same time!

Click HERE to read the rest of this post!

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Awesome Time so far at the camp!

The lovely view I have at my desk this week 

I intended to write this post earlier in the day while you were all sleeping, but I didn't end up having time, so you are going to get like a 36-48 hour micro synopsis instead of a 24 hour wrap up.

One of our 4 English Classes at work today

Yesterday at camp was phenomenal, we hit the ground running with staff meeting at 7:30, had breakfast, and went straight to work in the English Classes - Josh R., Kayla, and Sarah are all class leaders and a 4th class is led by one of the missionaries, Tiffany, Tim, Becca, Talitha, Israel,and Josh W. are all assisting in the English classes. Day 1 was more challenging than today was, the language barrier obviously presents certain challenges, the classes are ranked in the ability the students already have with the English language.

Click HERE to read the rest of this post!

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We made it to CAMP!!!

After roughly 32 hours of consecutive travel around 8:30 p.m. CEST (Central European Summer Time) we arrived at the English Camp in Pockau, German, the name of the camp is Strobel-Mühle.

So much I'd like to say in this first post...

Let's talk about what's happened so far. We seemed to be plagued with small issues to start off, the door of the bus wouldn't stay closed on the way to the airport and once we got there we found out that our flight was being delayed... and then delayed... and then delayed... we started with about a 90 minute layover in Atlanta which shrank drastically by the time we landed. There was major concern about missing our connection, to the point they were working with other airlines to get 5 of us out that night on a flight through Paris and then the other 5 would stay behind and go out to Amsterdam the next day... eeek!

 Fortunately we set a Guiness Book World Record...landed at Terminal B and had to get to F-18 I think it was...from the time we got off our airplane took the train got out at Terminal F and hoofed it to our gate and got on the plan only 15 minutes elapsed, we got on the plan and they closed the door, if you've ever been to Atlanta, you know how big that airport is!
Click HERE to read the rest of the post!

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What's Important?

Are the things that are important in our lives relative to our current situations or are they absolute?

I believe the important things in our lives should be absolute, however, we allow our circumstances, emotions, selfish nature to dictate what's important to us at any given minute.

Truthfully, our relationship with God should be paramount, should be the most important thing day in and day out. But really, how much time to we devote or invest into that relationship? Prayer, study, etc..

Click HERE to read more!

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Save $1,000 in a Few Months

1 Timothy 5:8 says, “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” There are very obvious spiritual and moral implications to this verse, but I believe  you can directly apply this to your personal finances as well. If you do not provide well for yourself and your family you are not living up the call of God to be responsible and a good steward of what He has blessed you with.

A very  beneficial and needed aspect of your personal finances is an “emergency" fund. Sometime or another an financial emergency is bound to happen in your life, it's up to you whether you are prepared for it or not. Some people allow these financial hardships to shape or detour their foreseeable fiscal future, and others are able to overcome and move past them due to wise planning and solid execution of a simple plan.

Click HERE to read more... 

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Fostering, Adopting, Loving, Caring

A young boy waiting on Hope to show up...

I came across two different personal accounts today dealing specifically with the subject of children without parents. The first story comes from a friend of ours who has her own orphanage and ministry in Ecuador and the second story comes from our Youth Pastor's wife (they've done foster care for some time now and recently adopted a sweet little girl).

I'm sharing these stories for a couple of reasons; 1 - they touched my heart, deep in my heart, you'll know when you read and 2 - they perfectly illustrate the Word of God, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." - James 1:27.

If you personally don't have the calling or ability to be active in helping children, you can contribute to either one of the outreaches listed in this post, I give links to their web sites.

Please take the time to read their personal stories...
Click HERE to read more...

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#TBT Why Young Adults are Leaving Church...

Ryan and Tiffany #TBT  (Graduation from Ozarks)

In honor of #TBT or for those who don't know #ThrowBackThursday, here is a post from last year, one of my most popular posts actually, its slightly modified, but pretty much the same, and the message is still true today! 

Our message, is that there is a void in church around the country. When young adults, late teens and early 20's get out of high school and into college, move out from under mom and dad's roof, their are things they just aren't ready for yet. This is where I hope our ministry can come in and lift them up, encourage them, share wisdom, knowledge, and past mistakes to help them in the journey of life!

Click HERE to read more!

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Should You Volunteer In Your Church?

We are busy with work, family, life, hobbies, side jobs, and needing an occasional rest in between...so why in the world would we or should we even consider devoting more of our time to anything? ...like volunteering in our local church...

Faith without works is dead...the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few...go into all the world...what you've done to the least of these...

These are just a few phrases from some powerful Bible verses concerning service. I ask the question, 

"Should You Volunteer in Your Church?"

It's an easy thing to move into the back seat, sit in the back row, and slip into the shadows in your church. There is enough going on and people volunteering we can convince ourselves of a few lies-

1. There are enough volunteers already, they don't need my help

2. They probably wouldn't want my help, I've never done this sort of stuff before

3. I haven't been going to church long enough to volunteer 

4. I come to church, believe in God and pay my tithes, I don't "need" to do anything else

5. If God wanted me to help with that stuff He would send someone to ask me to help

I'm going to address these 5 misconceptions about service, volunteerism and lay ministry within the church. After we address these issues, I'm going to leave you with some awesome scriptures to help you get over that "Should I Really Volunteer?" hump.

1. There are never enough volunteers (PERIOD) They do need your help, sometimes things look like smooth sailing and a well oiled machine, but I can authoritatively promise you, there is always room for more help. New volunteers give relief to current volunteers and leadership, and hey, guess what, you might be the best volunteer ever, which is a HUGE blessing to your church and to God.

2. As mentioned in #1, they do want your help, and it doesn't matter if you've never done this kind of work before. A lot of ministries and volunteer opportunities in churches come with training or give you time to learn from someone already doing what you will be doing. For example, my wife and I oversee the Multi-Media Ministry at our church, we require 10-12 volunteers to fulfill all the duties needed for a service (running cameras, computer/presentation, lighting technician, video switching, recording, live sound mixing, and much more) 

- sounds kind of intimidating, and at times looks even more intimidating. Guess what, pretty much none of our volunteers had any experience doing any of these things before they came into our ministry. We aren't super leaders or excellent trainers either, it boils down to desire, passion, and God. If you want to serve and you put your "All" into it, God will bless it, and will most likely help empower you to serve him to an even greater level.

3. I don't know what the perfect length of time is before you can help out in a church regularly, but again, if you are a believer, God is ready to use you. Maybe its just picking up chairs and tables after events, helping take trash out after small groups or Sunday School, door greeting, or something else, but if you show a desire to help and do it with passion and love, your church and God will notice. You will be blessed and more opportunities to serve will come your way.

4. All those things, coming to church, believing in God and tithing are great! However, we are called to service by God, so yes you "need" to help if you are able because the Body of Christ needs you! 
Mark 10:44-45 
"...and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. 'For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.'" -
yeah I went there, I pulled out the Bible to prove my point, if service was required of our savior, and we as Christians are to be Christ-Like, we too should be active in our service to Him.

5. Yup, God has sent a number of people to tell you that your help is needed, dozens of authors in the Old and New Testaments, most likely your pastor at sometime or another has asked for assistance from the pulpit, and if you are reading this now, God sent me to you...and I'm telling you, Your Church Needs Your Help.

Here are a few more verses to help inspire you to lend a helping hand in your church:

Do it to Glorify God
Matthew 5:14-16 
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. "Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Jesus as an Example
Matthew 23:11 
"But the greatest among you shall be your servant.

Serving One Another
Ephesians 6:5-7 
Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eye service, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men,

Showing Love to one Another
Philippians 2:1-4 
If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 

Blessed are the Givers
Acts 20:35 
"In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Love Your Neighbor
Galatians 5:13-14 
For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Jesus came to Serve
Mark 10:44-45 
and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

To the Least of Them
Matthew 25:40
"And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

Mark 9:35
And sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all."

By the Strength of God
1 Peter 4:10-11 
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

I pray that this post and these scriptures not only lift you up but help you realize the call God has placed on you to serve Him and the local church you attend. Volunteers are crucial to the mission of the local church, and without you, we can't do what we do.

Be Blessed!
-Ryan

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Follow Jesus' Example of Masculinity

I had the opportunity to do a couple of devotional segments for our District Men's Ministries, here is the second one:

Post by Arkansas AG Men's Ministries.

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Unshakable Foundation

I had the opportunity to do a couple of devotional segments for our District Men's Ministries, here is the first one:

Post by Arkansas AG Men's Ministries.

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Gone?

What if you woke up tomorrow and your family was gone? 

"Gone?" you say, "what do you mean, gone?" 
I mean gone, never to be seen again, dead, kidnapped, abandoned you...

If you knew that was going to happen tomorrow, what would you do, could you prevent it, could you apologize and set things right, what would you do?

Apply this thought process to your family going forward, you aren't promised another day with them, make the most of the time you have with them, and honor them, be the person God has called you to be. Have no regrets about where your relationships stand.

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Sacrificial Availability

I want you to think of a close friend or a family member who at any time you'd drop what you were doing to help them out. Now most likely you'd take a phone call from them, run them gas on the highway if they ran out, pick them up from somewhere, loan them money, offer advice, be a shoulder to cry on, right? Why? Because you care, they are important to you, their needs are important to you and their future is important to you.

Now I want you to think about someone you know that you aren't exactly "close" to on the same level as the person we just talked about. Get someone on your mind...

Do they know Christ? If they are a believer, are they grounded? Do they have a good support system, could they benefit from you reaching out to them?

Over the years I've had people come in and out of my life, people that I believe God positioned in my life so that for a time or season I might have some positive influence on them (some more than others). This isn't a "oh wow Ryan you are so wise and almighty" comment, I think God allowed me to learn as much if not more from the experience than what I was able to impart to these individuals. One thing I've taken away from these experiences, which I was reminded of recently in my Sunday School class(we now call them Connect Groups), to truly reach someone and be there for them, we have to make ourselves "Sacrificially Available."

So you might ask, "What do you mean 'Sacrificially Available?'" Well I'm glad that you asked, I feel like it means to make yourself completely and totally available to a person in order to benefit them to the best of your ability. Often times we tell people to give us a call or shoot us a text if they need prayer or anything at all. Frequently we press ignore on our phones or don't call them back for days. This is not being available at all and certainly not on the sacrificial level. 

So why the sacrifice? To be a Christian means to be Christ-like. What did Christ do? Sacrificed himself so that we might have eternal life. Any chance we can sacrifice something to help someone else we are being like Christ. I feel like true "Sacrificial Availability" means that you put another person's needs and priorities above your own, this would be the common behavior in a marriage or between a parent and their children. This kind of activity obviously breeds love, success, maturity, discipline, the list goes on. Why not try this with someone in need? 

Pray that God opens your eyes to see a person in need, or ask that they literally be dropped in your lap. It can happen, and this is the kind of ministry where we can be really effective in sharing about Christ, what He's done for us, and what He can do for them. Think about Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch from the book of Acts, Phillip was minding his own business traveling from one town to another town and God brought him somebody....
29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” 30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. 31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
    and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
    Who can speak of his descendants?
    For his life was taken from the earth."
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him."
-Acts 8:29-38

Phillip, in this instance, made himself "Sacrificially Available" to this man, and because of it, he was able to lead this man to Christ and Baptize him as well. More often than not, our experiences won't be this simple or short lived, but the moral of the story stays the same. As ambassadors of Christ, we make ourselves available to deliver his message, but we don't just leave it at that. We must make an effort to continually encourage and build up those we witness to. Sometimes the continual contact and conversations will minister more to a person than all our efforts to "evangelize" them. Personal contact goes a LONG ways today.

So again, what is "Sacrificial Availability?" I say it means answering the phone when that person calls, it may mean stepping away from the dinner table, muting the TV show, waking up in the middle of the night, or going over to someones house to let them unload all of their emotions. It means going beyond what any normal person would, because guess what? We aren't normal people, we are believers in Jesus Christ, we are Christians, we are more than Conquers and we are empowered for ministry by the Holy Spirit and called by the Great Commission to go preach, teach, and reach.

Become "Sacrificially Available" to those people you are ministering to, or to that friend who needs your help, or that coworker or classmate that really doesn't have anybody. Go out of your way to care about someone else's needs and make their priorities your priorities. Their future ought to matter to you, they need to be important to you, you should care...

Be blessed!

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The Power of Words....

From an experience I had recently.

Things we say, especially those recorded on the Internet forever, can be very powerful for many many years in the future.

Our words have the power to do good and to bring harm, what are you saying when you communicate?

"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."

-Proverbs 18:21

Fortunately in the instance I'm referencing, my words did some good. I gave a friend of mine a reference a few years back. She worked under me when we were in a University Television Program. She was awesome at anything she did, but she really excelled in graphic design. One of the lines in my reference was, "(she) is the kind of person you wish you could clone and make an entire team out of."

We are connected through LinkedIn among many other social media platforms, and I happened to see this tidbit listed on her profile. I was shocked to see that she was portraying it front and center on her profile, not because I didn't mean what I said, I did, but I figured there were just better things a person could use to promote their abilities than a quote from little old me. After a little messaging, she shared with me that this quote from me had been very beneficial to her professionally with interviews and promotions and much more. Here is a quote from one of her responses, 
"I have to say this quote has taken me places! ...not only has it given my employers a "better" idea of the kind of person I am, but it has given me a lot of confidence to think of myself in this way and know I can be a valuable team member. Sometimes the job market takes away your confidence! 

So, obviously, thank you. 

Who knew such little things could have such an effect in someone's life, huh?" 

Who knew indeed? It struck me, what if I said something bad about her, or anyone else, and what if those comments had been made in anger, haste, frustration. What if I had posted it on Facebook, text it to a friend, tweeted it, blogged it, etc? What would the affects of those words have been?

The things we say about people have the power to do good...and the power to do bad. What do you choose to do with your words? 

"Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone." -Titus 3:1-2

The King James Version is very clear...

"...To speak evil of no man (person)..."

I challenge you, take a 7 day period of time, and don't say one bad thing about any person. Its gonna be more difficult than you think, but guess what? 

That's what God wants from us 24/7-365

Be blessed!

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