Thanks for stopping by. My blog has been moved over to Wordpress for some time now.
You can access the new site by going to WWW.SPREADTHEFLAME.COM OR HTTP://JOHNLAMBERT.WORDPRESS.COM. Look forward to seeing you there!!
JL
Hi Everyone, Well, if you hadn't seen it yet, I have fully moved Mission Minded over to it's new home at http://johnlambert.wordpress.com. Please take a moment to visit the site and sign up for my new feed. You can subscribe via a blog reader or email. I hope to bring you more focused content in the days to come.
Also, if you have me linked to your site, please update your link to my new address. If you have me linked, send me an email and let me know. I will add you to my blog wall. Unless of course, you are a looney tunes.
Looking forward to hanging out more in the months to come!
JL
Hello to all of my friends and readers. Well, I have recently made the switch to Wordpress.com. Blogger has been good to me, but I feel like it's time for a change. Please update your links to http://johnlambert.wordpress.com. Once you are at the new site, you can subscribe to my new feed via RSS or by email.
I have added more helpful missions links and I hope to continue to bring great Missions commentary and news as well as whatever else catches my attention. So, come on over, kick up your feet, and join the conversation.
I will delete this blogger site within a few weeks. Thanks again for being a reader and an online friend. If you know of anyone who might be interested in the content I write, please invite them over. Everyone is invited!
JL
Hi Readers, I am still alive. I have just been working on a new blog that will be on wordpress instead of blogger. I hope to launch it soon. Stay tuned and I will give you the new address soon!
JL
Steven Furtick recently posted on the single most important aspect of ministry (church planting in his case). He said that it was hearing the voice of God. I tend to agree with him. In his blog, he says,
"You can’t fake or simulate the ability to hear from God. You must cultivate it day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year. The ability to distinguish the voice of God and the promptings of His Spirit is more valuable than a Doctoral degree, 10 leadership books and 4 conferences a year, your hero’s advice, and even 50 years of life experience combined. All of these inputs serve as avenues for God’s instruction to reach our hearts. But they are not a substitute for a “speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” posture, and a willingness to be radically obedient when He clearly reveals your next move."
Like my Pastor, Troy Maxwell, has preached on in the past, the key to seeing miracles is, "Whatever He (Jesus) tell you to do, do it."
JL
I am so thankful today that God is patient. Aren't you? If God would not have been patient with me, I would have been gone a long time ago. I never want to take His patience and mercy for granted. Yet, we know that there are people who will take it for granted and actually spit in the face of it. The Bible calls them "mockers."
As we have been looking into 2 Peter 3, we see that in the last days mockers would start showing up on the scene. Who are mockers? Mockers are people who ridicule, deride, and scorn, in this case, the coming of Jesus and the things of God. They mock by saying things like, "So, where is this Jesus you speak of? Everything goes on as it always has. This Bible stuff is a fairy tale for children."
The scripture tells us that would speak this way because they were following their own evil desires. It's not necessarily that they really don't believe, but that they have a way of living that they are not willing to break from in order to live the way God is calling them to live. As time marches on without any judgement in their life, they get bolder and more readily shake their fists at heaven. God is not moved, in fact, He laughs. He actually mocks the mockers. (see Psalm 2)
The Apostle Peter warns us that God's timing is not like our timing, and the reason that God is holding back is because He is giving men the chance to repent. You see, God does not want us to "perish", but the fact is that we will, unless we repent. To repent means to change the way we are going; to make a 180 degree turn and walk the other way. This is what God's patience is for. If we take it for granted, we may find that our window of repentance is no longer open.
Peter tells us to "bear in mind that the Lord's patience means salvation." But it only means salvation to the ones who are willing to recognize their rebellion against God and repent.
JL
Yesterday I wrote about the coming fire. It's been said before and is worth repeating, that "This world is not our home." In the blink of an eye, each one us will enter eternity. Our lives are like a vapor or like a flower that is fading. Think about it. Tell me the name of the person who governed your hometown just one hundred years ago. No one remembers them. At the time, they were important. People knew them. They had prestige. They may have been local heroes or even infamous. Now they are just a factoid in some dusty historical book. How much more will most of us be forgotten after we are gone.
It makes me think of a quote from the late Leonard Ravenhill, "Have only one life and soon it will past, only what's done for Christ will last."
Speaking of the coming fire, the Apostle Peter asks an important question, "Since, everything will be destroyed this way, what type of person should you be"? Then he answers his own question. Below are the answers from 2 Peter. May God help us to align our lives with His purposes in our generation.
1. People who live holy and Godly lives.
(We are called to be set apart. If this happens we will be a "peculiar" people.)
2. People who are working to hasten the coming of Jesus
(see Matt 24:14)
3. People who are looking forward to a new heaven and a new Earth. (not afraid or avoiding the thought of it, but longing for it.)
4. People who love righteousness enough to live with it forever.
(We should find out what is pleasing to God.)
5. People who make every effort to be found blameless, spotless, and at peace with God. (What kind of effort are we putting in?)
JL
