Sources

It's been a while, I'm sorry. I've been a bit busy with meetings and then school, but I will get back on top of things!
I would like you all to know that I get all of these teachings from the Without Walls ministry and Travelers Rest Christ Fellowship. On the Without Walls (http://xwalls.com) website, you can check out who we are and what we believe, as well as listen to some of our past services and the teachings of Rev. Loran Helm.
At the xwalls youtube page (http://www.youtube.com/user/xwallswitness) are a few videos that might better explain or help you to understand some of the things I talk about here. Also on youtube, videos from Rev. Loran Helm (http://www.youtube.com/user/RevHelmMemories)

Pride Is Teflon - Grace Can't Stick!

Pride keeps us from Grace. Our love of the world, the flesh and the devil limit how much Grace we get, too. We need to give up pride and submit to God! This means getting closer to him! Getting closer to him is the fastest road to Humility. We also need to resist the devil, but to do that we MUST stop agreeing with him!

Spirit Controlled Temperament: The Sanguine

Our Temperaments are our personalities. Every temperament has it’s strengths and weaknesses, and every temperament is unique. There are four basic temperaments; however, I’ll only be talking about one right now – the Sanguine.

The Sanguine is very talkative, and knows everyone. They love to party, and are exceedingly extroverted. Anything could cause an outburst of response, and they tend to go to the extremes. They have really high highs, and really low lows. They know everyone, and are definitely easily distracted.

The Attributes of the Spirit, the Soul, and the Flesh

 Everyone is born with two parts, the Soul and the Flesh. However, we were made to have three parts, the Spirit, the Soul, and the Flesh. When you abide in God, the Spirit is born within you.

The Flesh is your connection to the world. Your five senses, sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell, are the attributes of the Flesh. Your mind, emotions, and will power are all attributes of the Soul. The attributes of the Spirit are intuition, conscience, and communion.

How The Devil Gets To You

If you’re on the right track, the devil will attack. If you’re in un-repented sin, the devil has legal access to you.  And if you’re passive, the devil has legal access to you then, also.  However, if you’ve repented and are clear, the blood of Christ covers your sin and the devil does not have legal access to you. But there is something he can do if you’re not legally accessible. He will come around and ‘rock the boat’, trying to intimidate you.  The devil uses deception, intimidation, and your own passivity and sin to get to you, so be wary of his ways.

Intercede, Not Accuse

“I affirm that I will not call criticism, discernment. I will join with Jesus to intercede, not join with the Devil to accuse” 

 Criticizing someone is a trespass. Because you are a child of God, your words have power. When you say something bad about someone, the Devil uses the power behind your words to hurt that person, and because they get hurt, they say something that hurts someone else. It creates this tangled web of hurt. Once you look back on your day, you’d be surprised how many times you criticize people. Plead the blood over anything that you said, knowingly or unknowingly.

 

Weakness, Resource, and Comfort

 "I affirm that my weaknesses, resources, and comfort are placed under the Lordship of Christ."

             Obeying. It sounds simple enough, right? It is, especially if you follow this affirmation. In order to obey, you have to put God above your weaknesses, resources, and comforts. That means you don’t evaluate what you can do by what you have. You can’t say “I’m not strong enough.” God has all the strength you need. You can’t tell him “I don’t have enough.” Because he will provide. Telling him you don’t want to is putting your comfort above him. With the order, he gives you exactly what you need to obey.

 

Nobody's Perfect

What are you? A cheerleader? A football player? The straight A, student body president? We do so much to create the perfect image of ourselves. We’ll do almost anything just to look good in front of our peers. Jesus gave his life for the 'losers' filled with humility, not the 'winners' filled with pride. We try our hardest to be something we’re not. It makes God sick to see us try and be something other than what he made us. God gave us our personalities, our strengths, and even our weaknesses. We need to give our strengths to the Lord and ask him to fill our weakness.

It's the Small Things

            Now, I’ve given you the definition and two great examples of God Stories. But, what are God Stories meant for? God Stories are a good way to review! Recently we’ve been learning how important reviewing is. Reviewing helps to keep what God has done fresh in your mind so that when you feel discouraged, you can go back and know God has helped in the past, and he has not brought you this far to leave you! Now, some of you may sit there and think “I don’t have any God Stories…” What about the day you were saved? Sometimes even the smallest of things can become a God Story. One of my favorites happens to be very small, but it definitely had a very big effect.

            I don’t remember the exact date, but I know it was a Sunday after service. I don’t know how to describe how I was feeling, sort of small and insignificant. I was sitting on the front row, beside my mom. Almost everyone was gone already, but we had stayed with a few others to listen to Pastor Thomas. I had been thinking recently about when I was little and people liked to play with my hair. I had been wishing someone would just play with my hair again. I hadn’t told anyone I had been thinking about it, but while I was sitting there Mrs. Barbara came over and she starting playing with my hair. As she did, a sense of peace rushed over me.

            See? Even the little things can make a big difference. For the rest of that week, and since then, every time I think of that one simple thing, it makes me smile.

Redeemer at the Racetrack

Here’s another God Story from one of our own, Mr. Will.

He grew up in religion, not in God. People were setting expectations for him that he knew even they couldn’t reach. It seemed plastic. He didn’t want to be plastic, and he knew he couldn’t be perfect, so he went in the other direction. He started going to the race track every Friday and Saturday. But one night, radiator hose busted in his face, and he remembered a sermon someone had preached when he was younger about how Hell will be 10 times hotter than anything you’d feel on Earth. Sometimes it takes a scolding for us to remember the words of our teachers.

What's a God Story?

            Alright, first things first, what’s a God Story? Well, a God Story is a story that you know God is in, something you can go back and review for encouragement. This blog is about a God Story we heard on Wednesday night, told by our own Ms. Terry.

 In 1980, she wasn't in the least interested in church. But one of her friends invited her to go to church. She kept making excuses, like any teenager would, but one night her friend invited her to volleyball, and she absolutely loved volleyball! She had so much fun playing Volleyball with the youth that she started hanging out with them a lot, and eventually she started going to church with them. If it hadn't been for that friend’s determination, she might not have gotten saved.

Welcome

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog. I’m new to all this, so please be patient while I figure it out! But, of course, I have a reason for this blog, and a very good one at that. My church! I’m going to be blogging about the goings on at Travelers Rest Christ Fellowship (TRCF) and some of the events that TRCF partake in. Some of you may know where it is and what it’s about, and you’ll know and have probably heard a lot of what I talk about! Some of you may live across the country, and that’s okay, too!