If you have been successful in serving (I mean really serving) Lord and if you have been successful in seeking (I mean really seeking) God then next subject is really a foregone conclusion: "Also I heard voice of Lord, saying: 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me.'" (Isaiah 6:8)

If we truly love God and serve Him and seek Him, we not only want to be able to spread good news, we look for ways and opportunities to spread good news. How can one be a Christian and not ever tell others about what He has done for them? In reality, they can't! If they are not telling others what Christ has done for them and meant to them, then they should really begin to question validity of their conversion.

How can we do this? Share Christ with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Help give them strength to carry on and "fight good fight." Share this and other literature with them, and help them to see need in their lives to be more faithful. Host Bible study groups or discussion groups in your home. Share your love for Christ with your friends, neighbors, and coworkers who are not Christian. Always be aware of opportunities to speak out and support Christian values when you can. Our values are being attacked daily in almost every area of society. It is not difficult to find opportunities to do this. And finally, visit sick and shut-ins to give them a ray of hope and love from a fellow Christian. We who are able-bodied have no way of knowing how much our time, love, and compassion means to these fine people. Let's help them in their final days on earth to know that Christians love them.

I started this print ministry (Be Ye Doers Of The Word) because I see a need for Christians to develop an effective Bible study at home. I hope that these monographs spark a little interest in what God's Word has to say to us that are living today. The truths found in Bible are just as relevant to our Christian walk as they were to people living in first century. Can you start your own personal ministry? Of course you can. It doesn't have to be a print ministry such as this. It can really be anything: visiting sick, teaching Sunday School, working with youth groups, singing in choir, etc. Each person striving to serve Christ should (maybe MUST) have a personal ministry and try to reach lost for Christ.

And just as important as preceding three Scriptures is this: ". . . not My will, but Yours, be done." (Luke 22:42b) Jesus told this to His and our Heavenly Father just before He was crucified when He was praying in garden. This is kind of attitude that we must have as Christians. We all have deep concerns in our lives, things that really trouble us. We often pray to God and ask for Him to help us in a particular way. But what we really should be seeking is His will in our lives, not our will in His life.

This is difficult for us to accept. Often we are not sure what God's will is for us. For example, we may really want a different job and may be trying to get it by whatever means is available to us. We pray and ask God to help us secure new job -- but that we want His will to be done. Then, how much should we try to get this new job? If we don't try hard enough to get job, and don't, is it because God did not want us to have job, or because we didn't try hard enough to get it? We can only do one thing! Try as hard as we can to get job we want, do what is acceptable to secure it. Then if we actually get job, we can rest assured that it was God's will, and if we don't, we will know that it was God's will as well.

In many instances we can determine what God's will is for us. We can do this by studying Scriptures and being aware of what they have to say about particular subjects. We know that lying, stealing, murder, adultery, etc. is against God's will. So if we are considering any of these, we don't need to wonder what His will is, Bible tells us. There are many other less drastic examples, being faithful to worship services, meeting around Lord's Table, giving of our tithes, helping a brother or sister in need, and so forth. These are all spelled out in Bible. Studying Bible helps us to know these things.

Choose this day whom you will serve! Seek first kingdom of God and His righteousness! Here am I, send me! Not my will, but Yours be done! This is truly a road-map to good Christian living. May God bless you as you continue journey to Heaven.

All scriptures quoted are from New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Stephen Kingery is an author, preacher, teacher and founder of The Home Bible Study Institute.

Visit our site at http://www.james1-22.org

Being selfish, saying spiteful or hurtful things to a brother or sister in Christ, gossiping, etc. are "dead works." Indeed, they are works of devil himself. The devil probably gets a big laugh out of way some "Christians" behave themselves in church. But there is hope for those people: "... how much more shall blood of Christ, who through eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve living God?" (Hebrews 9:14) Before this purging can take place person must repent and turn away from old life and turn to Christ. We need to pray for those people who appear to be in this situation. We need to ask God to convict them and help them to realize exactly what it is they are doing to hurt church.

There are other ways in which we quench spirit. The manner in which we worship God can, and I'm sure in some cases does, quench Spirit. Jesus tells us that we must worship in "spirit and truth."(See John 4:19-24) In this passage a woman asks Jesus if they should worship on a mountain (as they had been doing), or should they go to Jerusalem to worship as Jews had told them. Jesus tells woman that it doesn't make any difference where you worship, it is how you worship. We are to worship in "spirit and truth."

So what does this mean? I am convinced that we have people who "play Christian." I think this is what Jesus is talking about. We should not just be going through motion of worshiping. We need to get back to a worship where we allow Spirit to lead us, and to show us way. A worship where hymns touch our hearts, where word convicts us, and where Lord's Supper moves us to a closer and more loving relationship with God. We need to get away from listening to sermon, and start living sermon. We need to get away from singing songs, and start singing praises to God and His precious Son, Jesus. And we need to get away from being served Lord's Supper and start communing with God to remember with every fiber of our being sacrifice which Jesus made for us and fact that He was crucified so He could take our sins to cross. Bible study and prayer are so very important to us if we are to remain in Spirit. How can we please God and develop a loving relationship with Him if we never study His word and never take time to talk with Him?

We need to quit being afraid that we, or someone else, will show some emotion in worship service. I remember a few years ago (I was a deacon at time), a young girl of about twelve years old was being baptized one Sunday morning. I was sitting on second pew right next to her grandfather. As she was being baptized I knew how much her being saved meant to her family, especially her grandfather. A tear streamed down my cheek as she was lowered into watery grave. I looked over at her grandfather and he too had a tear streaming down his cheek. I wonder how many times we could see two grown men crying in our services today?

We have been talking about quenching Holy Spirit as He tries to work in our individual lives. What happens when an entire congregation (or at least most of them) begin quenching Spirit? All too often, especially if leaders do not take immediate steps to correct situation, congregation begins to die. Attendance begins to drop, people become very unhappy, many start looking for another congregation, and some just fall away.

It is up to each one of us as a member of a congregation to help congregation to grow and prosper. We should dwell on positive, and consider our blessings. We should reach out a loving hand to lost in our communities and help them to come to know Christ. We need to build church up. We need to support and care for each other in times of need and sorrow, as well as rejoice in times of joy.

I think I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to throw a little caution in here. There are so many people today who attribute things to Holy Spirit that are simply not true. We need to be aware that this is happening and ask God to protect us from those false ideas. Paul wrote to Timothy concerning false spirits. He said, "Now Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons..." (I Timothy 4:1) These deceiving spirits are real and are all around us in this society in which we live. Sometimes their message is so subtle while at other times so bold. The New Age movement is wide spread in America and gaining popularity with each passing day. John tells us in his epistle what we need to do in relationship to teachings of these false spirits. He said, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test spirits,whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into world." (I John 4:1)

Do you need to get back into a right relationship with God? Or perhaps you need to strive harder to make your relationship all that it could be by allowing Spirit a free reign in your life. In reality we all can seek to walk closer to God and give Spirit more of our lives. I pray that every Christian will come to realize need for a closer walk with God and earnestly seek His will in their lives. "Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by Spirit whom He has given us." (I John 3:24) Jesus abides in us if we keep His commandments, and allow Spirit to move in our lives.

All scriptures quoted are from New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Stephen Kingery is an author, preacher, teacher and founder of The Home Bible Study Institute.

Visit our site at http://www.james1-22.org