Stewardship

 “Stewardshp means to honor God in everything: your time, your talent and your treasure,” says Who Me Be A Leader’s founder, Ronnie Roque.

Ronnie talks about “stewardship” today because he feels like many Christians are neglecting to use properly what God has given them.

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Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other. And in the home, begins the disruption of peace of the world. ~ Mother Teresa

Here are six practical suggestions Ronnie wants to leave you with:

 

1.  Don’t get engrossed with your possessions.

2.  Take care of the possessions you do have.

3.  Give 10 percent of your income to the work of the church.

4.  Give above a tithe as God blesses and as you feel led.

5.  Save 10 percent of your income.

6.  Get out of debt because debt hold you in bondage.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RONNIE

It’s not luck . . .

It’s God’s favor

Happy birthday

~ from Angie B & your blog readers

Spiritual Gifts

“To receive a gift and not use the gift is a form of disrespect to the gift giver,” says Ronnie Roque of Who Me Be A Leader?

The spiritual gift that is given to the believer by the Holy Spirit once a person receives Christ as their Savior {are Born Again} are special gifts and abilities that are used to minister to the needs of the body of believers.

In today’s video, Ronnie speaks to his blog viewers about spiritual gifts.

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The New Testament contains several lists of spiritual gifts, most authored by St. Paul. While each list is unique, there is overlap.

Romans 12:6-8	1 Corinthians 12:8-10	1 Corinthians 12:28	Ephesians 4:11	1 Peter 4:11
Prophecy Serving Teaching Exhortation Giving Leadership Mercy	Word of wisdom Word of knowledge Faith Gifts of healings Miracles Prophecy Distinguishing between spirits Tongues Interpretation of tongues	Apostle Prophet Teacher Miracles Kinds of healings Helps Administration Tongues	Apostle Prophet Evangelist Pastor-teacher	Whoever speaks Whoever renders service

Meaning & purpose of your life

If we were to find some scribbles on a piece of paper, and ask what they mean, then we would be asking what the person who made the scribbles meant them to signify. Scribbles only mean something if they were made for a reason. If we found out that the scribbles were just drawn at random then we would cease to look for meaning in them. Random scribbles don’t mean anything.

The same is true of life; it only makes sense to ask “What is the meaning of life?” if we believe that life was created for a reason. If life simply evolved on Earth by accident, if we just happen to be here, then life cannot have any meaning. Life can only have meaning if it was created for a purpose. If there is no Creator, then there can be no meaning of life.

Of course, people can try to find meaning in life without believing in a Creator. We can set ourselves goals—wealth, fame, helping others—and decide to devote our lives to achieving them. If we do this, then in some sense our lives seem to become about achieving wealth, or fame, or whatever, to take on that meaning. It seems possible to impose meaning on life through our own decisions and desires.

Indeed, most people who ask “What is the meaning of life?” really mean something like “What goals should we set ourselves?”

In this video, Ronnie talks to his blog reader’s about the meaning and purpose of life.  He discusses the:

• The eternal purpose
• The earthly purpose, and
• The cultural mandate

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You may not know your specific purpose today or tomorrow, but as long as you keep seeking, you will find all that God has stored up for you. Never give up.

An Easter with the Roque & Wilcox family

Quiet time, can you hear God?

“You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working, and to love by loving.  All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.” ~ Saint Francis de Sales

In today’s video, Ronnie challenges us to commit ourselves to opening our day with our own individual  quiet time  in God’s Word.

One of  his practical suggestions for those just beginning is to start reading a Scripture that applies to a certain area of your life, meaning something that you are going through—possibly a struggle of some sort.

Don’t forget: Our faith comes alive when we apply Scripture to our daily tasks and concerns.

Did you know the Bible is like medicine?  It goes to work only when we apply it to the effected areas of our lives.

 To know your way through a day begins with listening: And your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” ~ Is. 30:21

Our lives are occupied territory…
occupied by a cacophony of voices,
and the din outdoes us.

In the daytime we have no time to listen,
beset as we are by anxiety and goals
and assignments and work,
and in the night the voices are so confusing
we can hardly sort out what could possibly be your voice
from the voice of our mothers and our fathers
our best friends and our pet projects,
because they all sound so much like you.

We are people over whom that word shema has been written.
We are listeners, but we do not listen well.

So we bid you, by the time the sun goes down today
or by the time the sun comes up tomorrow,
by night or by day,
that you will speak to us in ways that we can hear
out beyond ourselves.

It is your speech to us that carries us where we have never been,
and it is your speech to us that is our only hope.
So give us ears.

Amen. Walter Brueggemann, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth

Christ the King the firstborn of all creation

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature following its desires and thoughts.  Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. ~ Eph. 2:3

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him, smitten by God, and afflicted . . . ~Isa. 53:4

He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and beauty that we should desire Him ~ Isa. 53:2

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted . . .

He is Christ.

Christ the King

Through His Son, God has now spoken

“We want to remind you that without Christ there is no Savior and without a Savior there is no salvation and without salvation there is no eternal life, and without Eternal life, there is no peace with God.”

 Happy Easter to you and your family friends.

Godliness plus contentment is great gain

In today’s video Ronnie discusses what it means to be content with us.  Of course, I’ve jotted down some of my thoughts from his video to share with you.

As I think about the title the first thing that captures my mind is the fact that “Godliness plus contentment is great gain” is exactly what the Christian needs in order to grow spiritually, and it is what’s needed for our own personal fulfillment.

Contrary to what many of us read in the Word and are taught in church about money, most people still believe that money brings happiness.  Have you ever noticed that some people with money and an abundant of material possessions often times still crave more?  This wanting more and the lack of contentment for what we have can get us caught up in an endless cycle that often times leads to ruin and destruction in various forms.

How can we keep away from the love of money and become people who have learned to be content you asked?

I’m so glad you did.  Here goes:

1. We must live like we will die one day and we do that by recognizing that our money and material possession will part from us one day.  They will be gone.
2. Simply put, we must learn how to be content period.
3. We must monitor what we are willing to do to gain our money and our things {our possessions}.
4. We must be sure to love people more than we love our money and our possessions.
5. Love God’s work more than we love money
6. Freely share what we have with others
7. We must prayerfully learn how to discern between our needs and our wants

So many of us have all that we need to live but we let ourselves become anxious and discontent over what we merely want.

Consider being like Paul—learn how to be content without having all that you want.  The only other alternative my friend is to become a slave to our desires and who wants to be a slave?

The pride of life

Some people think worldliness is limited to external behavior—the people we associate with, the places we go, and the activities we enjoy. Did you know that worldliness can also be an internal attribute because its desires are birthed in our hearts first?

There are three attributes of worldliness: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.  In this video Ronnie talks about the boastful pride of life.

The three attributes of worldliness are:

1. the lust of the flesh-preoccupation with gratifying physical desires
2. the lust of the eyes—the craving and the accumulation of things bowing to the god of materialism, and
3. the boastful pride of life—obsession with one’s status or importance.

When the serpent tempted Eve {Genesis 3:6} he tempted her in these areas.  Likewise, when the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, these were his three areas of attack {Matt. 4: 1-11}.

In contrast God values, self-control, a spirit of generosity and a commitment to humble service.

Like Jesus, too, it is possible to love sinners, spend time with them while still maintaining your commitment to the values of God’s Kingdom.

Ask yourself:

“What values are most important to me?”

“Do my actions reflect the world’s values or God’s values?”

Being truthful with yourself will help you know where to ask God for help, so that you can begin the work that is necessary to becoming more authentic in your Christian walk.

Fear not

Teach your men about fear.  All men struggle with the emotion of fear, though it is customary to conceal such feelings.  Fear is “the feeling of something bad will happen whether real or imagined.”

Does fear make a man a sissy?

No fear is a normal human emotion, and it can be healthy. ~ Patrick Morley

In this video, Ronnie Roque talks to the Christian man about the correct way for him to handle his fear.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. ” (Proverbs 3:5-6).