The Old Landlord

The Renewed Mind By Larry Christenson

Think of yourself as living in an apartment house. You live there under a landlord who has made your life miserable. He charges you exorbitant rent. When you can’t pay, he loans you money at a fearful rate of interest, to get you even further into his debt. He barges into your apartment at all hours of the day and night, wrecks and dirties the place up, then charges you extra for not maintaining the premises. Your life is miserable. Then comes someone who says, “I’ve taken over this apartment house. I’ve purchased it. You can live here as long as you like, free. The rent is paid up. I am going to be living here with you, in the managers apartment.” What a joy! You are saved! You are delivered out of the clutches of the old landlord! But what happens? You hardly have time to rejoice in your newfound freedom, when a knock comes at the door. And there he is – the old landlord! Mean, glowering, and demanding as ever. He has come for the rent, he says. What do you do? Do you pay him? Of course you don’t! Do you go out and pop him on the nose? No – he’s bigger than you are! You confidently tell him, “You’ll have to take it up with the new landlord.” He may bellow, Threaten, wheedle, and cajole. You must quietly tell him, "Take it up with the new Landlord.” If he comes back a dozen times, with all sorts of threats and arguments, waving legal looking documents in your face, you simply tell him yet again, “Take it up with the new Landlord.” In the end he has too. He just hopes that he can bluff and threaten and deceive you into doubting that the new Landlord will really take care of things.
Now this is a situation of a Christian. Once Christ has delivered you from the power of sin and the devil, you can depend on it; that old landlord will soon come back knocking at your door. And what is your defense? How do you keep him from getting the whip hand over you again? You send him to the new Landlord. You send him to Jesus.

Very interesting to read what Thomas Jefferson said in 180O’s:

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." ~ Thomas Jefferson


"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by
inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their
fathers conquered." ~ Thomas Jefferson

Ed Stetzer, - Starting a Church Without Losing Your Soul

Taken from article on Edstetzer.com,

Eugene Peterson makes an interesting observation in his introduction to "Working the Angels." "The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches. They are preoccupied with shopkeeper's concerns-how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from competitors down the street, how to package the goods so that the customers will lay out more money." 1

Many pastors are feeling the pressure to attract spiritual customers, but at what price? Megachurch pastor Walt Kallestad reveals similar feelings in a recent Christianity Today article, "Showtime No More."

"On the surface, all was well. I was a megachurch pastor with invitations to speak at conferences, write books, and mingle with dignitaries. Our church had state of the art facilities next to a major freeway. But that was on the surface. Deep down inside, I was mortified at what we'd become. We had to change. We just couldn't keep going like this. Not anymore."

The Sea Kelp Christian- Written by friend and Bible Teacher, Judge Travis Bryan III

As My wife and I walked the beach at Carmel-By-The Sea, California this morning, I saw a long stalk of seaweed (kelp) lying on the beach. I noticed the bottom end was very firmly attached to a rock apparently swept ashore with the kelp. I tried to separate the roots from the rock but it was too firmly connected. I pictured this plant alive and growing out in the sea but rooted on the rock deep down. On the surface it was tossed to and fro by the turmoil of the ocean. But down in the gloomy depths the plant is still, fixed, always quiet and at peace. This is a perfect picture of the Christian. On the surface we are tempest tossed in our circumstances and outer man but deep in our new man spirit we have a vital connection with Christ. To be rooted and founded in Him is to be deep down in Him and the humility of His death. For ye are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Col 3:3. Kelp rhymes with help. Like Kelp our help and stability in life flows from our union with the Rock. That Rock is Christ. 1 Cor 10.

-Travis Bryan III

So Long Bush

Contrary to the liberal media’s intense efforts, we didn’t all become Bush haters. Let’s not forget some of the great accomplishments George W. Bush did for our country. To name a few he; Banned Partial Birth Abortion, nominated two conservative Supreme Court Justices, signed no the Child Left Behind Act, took out Saddam Hussein, expanded the role of faith-based organizations and probably greatest of all, prevented a “Sept. 12”. History will judge the 43rd president more fairly. Thank you President Bush.

For a complete view of President Bush’s accomplishments click here.

Reaching the Addicted of our city.

Today there are 49 men passing out 50,000 flyers in Houston, TX. for the Victory Family Recovery Center. Please pray as we bring a new harvest of men and women. There is hope in Jesus!

Summertime lesson / Anytime application

Day on the Beach

What I thought was going to be another day on the beach with my kids turned out to be one of the most profound and practical lessons of my Christian life. Earlier that day I purchased a skim board for my daughters to play with along the shores shallow edge. While I was content to relax in my chair and enjoy a book, my children were determined to draw me into their adventure. They begged and pleaded for me to show them how to gracefully glide on a small board (with a 150lb weight limit) across an inch of water. It was a crowded beach in the peak of summer and I knew how this would play out. I just wasn't in the mood for making a fool out of myself as the clumbsy dad. "No" was my final answer. I wasn't prepared for what happened next. As my children turned away in disappointment, I felt the Spirit of God speak to me as I sat on the beach that afternoon. In that moment I saw more clearly than ever, the principle of the cross. There was an opportunity to resurrect a joy within my daughters but it meant that I would have to be willing to die to myself. I had a chance to usher in resurrection power into my relationship with my children but I would have to die to my pride, comfort, and agenda. God was calling me into the story of the cross through what seemed to be an insignificant event. In that moment I thought of the countless other times I had missed opportunities like this. ‘You don't want to die so that something within your daughters might live,’ is what I felt God speaking to me that day. I was led to repentance and into the story of the cross. We learned how to skim board that day. I fell many times and probably looked very silly but it was glorious. I was full of joy, uplifted with my girls, and a memory was created that will never be erased. Who knew that on a sandy beach during a summer vacation I would have a cross to bear? In speaking of the principle of the cross, the Apostle Paul said "So then death worketh in us, but life in you." 2 Corinthians 4:12 As the LORD blessed me to place Himself and my children before myself (death), His life filled our whole situation and blessed my daughters beyond measure.”

Do you know what grace looks like?

You have probably heard the joke about the man lost at sea. He cries out to the Lord to save him. Not long after the Coast Guard comes by and throws him a lifesaver. “No thanks, I’m waiting on God to rescue me,” the man foolishly replies.

Do we recognize when God is revealing His grace to us? When someone hurts you, do you accept the hurt and hold resentment toward that person, or do you allow that hurt to bring you to the low place of forgiveness? Instead of seeing an injustice or a wrong, let the Spirit open your eyes to the opportunity before you. Through this test God has provided the means for you to humble yourself. It seems that God will almost always use other people to test us.

There are two beams of the cross. The beam that stands upright and is held in place by the earth, and the beam that was placed upon the back of Jesus by the Roman soldiers. The vertical beam represents our relationship with God. There is a level of brokenness that enters into our life through dealings with God Himself. This is the sorrow and repentance that is ushered into us through the deep conviction of personal sins. These are internal dealing with our conscience and convictions. Then there is the horizontal bar. This speaks of our relationships with others. The ones in whom we live and work, shoulder-to-shoulder everyday. There is the portion of the cross that is imposed upon us by other people. These are often the hardest to carry. If you remember, Jesus Himself was unable to carry the cross beam to the top of the hill on His own.

And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. -Matthew 27:32

As Christ humbly carried out His sentence of death we see the limitations of the human flesh. God provided someone for Jesus. A man standing on the side of the road to help. Just as Christ was hindered by the limits of the flesh and could not bear the cross on His own, how much more will you and I never be able to bear the cross on our own strength? God has also provided someone to come along side us to bear the weight of the cross for us. We cannot endure it on our own. We cannot forgive others, love our enemies or even keep “The golden rule”, without the power of the Spirit. If you look around and see only hurt and wrong, allow God to open your eyes to the grace He is affording you. No only does God call us to take up our cross and follow Him, but He himself will bear the cross for us when we have reached the end of ourselves

The Stockdale Paradox- An exert from Good to Great by Jim Collins

The name refers to Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was the highest ranking United States military officer in the “Hanoi Hilton” prisoner-of-war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Tortured over 20 times during his eight-year imprisonment from 1965 to 1973, Stockdale lived out the war without any prisoner's rights, no set release date, and no certainty as to whether he would even survive to see his family again. He shouldered the burden of command, doing everything he could to create conditions that would increase the number of prisoners who would survive unbroken, while fighting an internal war against his captors and their attempts to use the prisoners for propaganda. At one point, he beat himself with a stool and cut himself with a razor, deliberately disfiguring himself, so that he could not be put on videotape as an example of a “well-treated prisoner.” He exchanged secret intelligence information with his wife through their letters, knowing that discovery would mean more torture and perhaps death. He instituted rules that would help people to deal with torture (no one can resist torture indefinitely, so he created a step-wise system—after x minutes, you can say certain things—that gave the men milestones to survive toward). He instituted an elaborate internal communications system to reduce the sense of isolation that their captors tried to create, which used a five-by-five matrix of tap codes for alpha characters. (Tap-tap equals the letter a, tap-pause-tap-tap equals the letter b, tap-tap-pause-tap equals the letter f, and so forth, for 25 letters, c doubling for k.) At one point, during an imposed silence, the prisoners mopped and swept the central yard using the code, swish-swashing out “We love you” to Stockdale, on the third anniversary of his being shot down. After his release, Stockdale became the first three-star officer in the history of the navy to wear both aviator wings and the Congressional Medal of Honor.

You can understand, then, my anticipation at the prospect of spending part of an afternoon with Stockdale. One of my students had written his paper on Stockdale, who happened to be a senior research fellow studying the Stoic philosophers at the Hoover Institution right across the street from my office, and Stockdale invited the two of us for lunch. In preparation, I read In Love and War, the book Stockdale and his wife had written in alternating chapters, chronicling their experiences during those eight years.

As I moved through the book, I found myself getting depressed. It just seemed so bleak—the uncertainty of his fate, the brutality of his captors, and so forth. And then, it dawned on me: “Here I am sitting in my warm and comfortable office, looking out over the beautiful Stanford campus on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I’m getting depressed reading this, and I know the end of the story! I know that he gets out, reunites with his family, becomes a national hero, and gets to spend the later years of his life studying philosophy on this same beautiful campus. If it feels depressing for me, how on earth did he deal with it when he was actually there and did not know the end of the story?”

“I never lost faith in the end of the story,” he said, when I asked him. “I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”

* * *

I didn’t say anything for many minutes, and we continued the slow walk toward the faculty club, Stockdale limping and arc-swinging his stiff leg that had never fully recovered from repeated torture. Finally, after about a hundred meters of silence, I asked, “Who didn’t make it out?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” he said. “The optimists.”

“The optimists? I don’t understand,” I said, now completely confused, given what he’d said a hundred meters earlier.

“The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say,‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”

Another long pause, and more walking. Then he turned to me and said, “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

To this day, I carry a mental image of Stockdale admonishing the optimists: “We’re not getting out by Christmas; deal with it!”

Taken from JimCollins.com

You're in swaddling cloths too!

Aside from wrapping babies, swaddling clothes were used to prepare dead bodies for burial. Jesus was born and wrapped in dead mans cloths as a sign of his call to die. When we are born again we become wrapped in dead cloths, and we are called to die daily! The dead cloths are this flesh, (Body of Sin). Romans 6:6

Consider this reality: You are walking around today DEAD ON THE OUTER MAN but ALIVE ON THE INNER MAN. The outer man (the flesh) is the life of sin; the inner man (the spirit) is the Life of Christ. The more you die to the flesh, the more alive you become to the spirit! Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes and so are we!

The swaddling cloths will become old and slowly waist away!

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. - 2Corinthians 4:16

Your flesh should be in constant state of decline and decay. Decay means to decline in quality gradually and steadily, or cause something to undergo such a decline, to decrease gradually in magnitude, the fading away of a musical note

The power of sin, lust for sin, desire for sin and all that is of the flesh, is in constant decay within the life of the believer. We are wrapped in swaddling clothes, like Christ. This speaks of our daily dieing and rising with Christ. The Christmas story is not about a baby lying in a manger any longer. It is about a savior God, who bids man to come and die with Him. God is not asking for a blood sacrifice any longer, he is looking for men and women who will be living sacrifices. Those who will die daily with Him. If we say with Paul “I die daily” 1 Corinthians 15:31, we will know what it is to be risen daily into new life.

What if I owned an automobile that needed to be taken into the shop at least once a week for servicing? It had some malfunction, which caused it to stall every few days. You would probably tell me that I either needed a new vehicle or a new shop. What if I told you that the shop I took it to every week was called a gas station and the service it received was gasoline? You would obviously have a different attitude since automobiles are designed with a dependency on fuel. All who operate motor vehicles are in constant need for a source of gasoline. To consider filling a tank with premium gas and enjoying peak performance only to later fill the same tank with water and experience engine stall, is to understand the intensity of Paul’s confrontation. “You foolish Galatians…Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” Galatians 3:1-3 The Christian life is designed for constant dependency on Christ as our source. Just as we received the Spirit of God by believing in the finished work of the Cross-, we also must receive power to live out that finished work by faith in the Cross. It is the cross alone for salvation and the cross alone for sanctification. A few degrees away from this truth are enough to throw us entirely off course. God is still calling us to the highest standard of faith, to be a Cross-centered church.

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

1Corinthians 2:2

Years ago I heard a riddle that says something like this; let’s say you could climb into a space craft that had the ability to travel at the speed of light. You are 25 years old when you boarded the ship and blasted off, and were gone for 100 years, how old would you be when you returned? The simple answer would be 125 years old. But we know that questions like this don’t have the simple answer. The answer is that you would still be 25 years old when you returned. Apparently at the speed of light the particles that make up our human body would undergo a process of breaking down into smaller particles until we essentially become the very essence of light. You would be removed from the realm of life and transferred into the realm of light. If you found this content remotely interesting, you may have some geek-like tendencies. If not however, please allow to seaway into my reason for sharing this with you. Much like the realm of light travel, there is a mysterious unseen realm that transcends space-time. I know that sounds kind of weird and mystical or even silly, but if you will bear with me for a few moments I want to explain some amazing things to you today.

The dictionary defines realm as a particular area or space, a domain or a kingdom. God has created a realm for man to step into. In this realm are some incredible solutions! May I be so bold as to say that in this realm are the solutions for every known problem in the world today? From addiction to world poverty, the true source of social justice and reconciliation emanates from this sphere of divine creation. There are three kinds of people in the world today. Those whom God is calling into this realm, those who have answered the call and stepped into this realm and those who stepped in at one time and have walked away. It is THE REALM OF THE CROSS. Which person are you?



May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. -Galatians 6:14

To the world the cross was a terror, to God it is a tool. To man the cross was shameful; to God it is the path to victory. To onlookers the cross was a gory display of torture; to Jesus Christ it was glorious display of love. Some amazing things occurred at the cross and are waiting to be experienced today. God calls us into this realm so the realities of the cross can become our realities.

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. -Romans 6:3-9

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family.

Thanksgiving Day- a public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness.

Let us never forget what we are truly thankful for. I would like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for my salvation. Without Christ I am nothing.

Texas A&M students to unveil architectural concepts for faith-based drug rehab center

Texas A&M architecture students will unveil designs for a new facility to house the Victory Family Recovery Center, an inner city faith-based drug treatment program in Houston, during a public presentation set for 5 p.m. Nov. 19 at Victory Family Church, 712 Llano St. in Pasadena.

Five alternative architectural designs for the 14-year-old center will be presented in models and sketches developed by students in a fourth-year healthcare architecture studio led by George J. Mann, holder of the Skaggs-Sprague Endowed Chair in Health Facilities Design at Texas A&M University.

“The students were challenged to create a facility that better portrays the transformative mission of the Victory Family, which has been hampered by the run-down, dilapidated buildings currently in use,” said Steve Treviño, the center director.

The nonprofit Victory Family Recovery Center currently provides a no-cost, Christian faith-based six-month residential recovery program for men and women with substance abuse problems.

“Our mission is to bring Jesus to hurting people, restore families, change lives and provide a safe haven for people where their addictive natures can be overcome through the power of Jesus Christ,” said Treviño.

Located at 222 Royder St. in Houston, the center is mostly housed in a two-story apartment building that was donated to Victory Family Church in 1992. At the time, Treviño said, the building had become a magnet for drug and criminal activity.

The recovery center opened in 1994 as a registered 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization in the rehabilitated apartment building and it has since expanded to included two adjacent homes.

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The Message of the Cross- 1Corinthians 1:18

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Every pastor should be preaching this. The reality is that they are not. Churches today have deviated from the gospel of the Cross and drifted into a gospel of self.

This is not a recent phenomenon. The church in the New Testament was already dealing with this problem. The apostle Paul addressed the Galatians as *“Stupid” because of it! *Foolish in most translations

“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”- Galatians 3:1-3

The flesh exalts human-effort, the Cross extinguishes it. This is why the message of the Cross is “foolishness” to the one perishing spiritually. The Cross attacks the best of mans efforts in order to reveal the best of God; which is Christ.