![]() It’s the end of the day, you got everything done today, and you feel a sense of peace. But it wasn’t like this all day, at different times of the day you had to endure and press through to reach this point. Endurance got you here, but it may not have been smooth you may have whinnied, you may have lost self-control at some point, but in the end you had to push through to finish the work that needed to be done. Our lives are extremely busy for most of us we take on more things than we should ever try to do. There are many reasons for this but that is not the point of todays EFMag. Today we are talking about and looking to understand that in this life, we have to have endurance to finish the race that is before us. What is endurance? Dictionary.com defines endurance this way: 1.the fact or power of enduring or bearing pain, hardships, etc. 2.the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress or other adverse conditions; stamina: He has amazing physical endurance. Endurance is the character trait of a hero, to press through pain and discomfort to complete a task, or assignment. We all have the ability to have and to live with endurance to get through the rough and hard times of our days. A hero endures and fights on, is a big statement. If we are enduring then we are going through hard ships, and endurance is what allows us to fight on. Without endurance we would quit and give up. The Bible is very clear that we all have the ability to receive and live out of endurance. Romans 15:5 puts it this way. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus. God gives out endurance and strength to us when we call on Him and ask for it. He also gives us encouragement to press on. The task and the job that we have been given to complete will stretch us and test us, and in the end will cause us to be dependent upon God to get the job done. This is the mission, to tell the world that Jesus is Lord and that He loves the world. We are all on a mission from God to carry out the message of Jesus Christ! If you are living out this mission then you will need endurance and you will need to depend on God every step of the way! A hero endures and fights on, is a character trait that we each need to have to see our family and friends come to know who Jesus is. So press on and depend on God! Po
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What Make A Hero? " A Hero Follows God No Matter What..." XGT Experience Lesson for the week...7/1/2013 ![]() No matter what you do, no matter where you go with you life, do this one thing and you will be a hero. “Follow God No Matter What...” Sounds simple enough but this is the the truth. Follow God and keep moving forward at all times. I know we all like to say that we follow God, and we all do but a Hero follows God no matter what. Hey there has been times that I have been a hero and I have followed God no matter what, and there have been other times where I ran as fast as I could. To be a hero I need to follow God, and keep trying harder and harder each day. Not so that God will love me more, no there is nothing that I can do to make God love me more, He loves me when I fail, and He loves me when I win. That’s just the cool thing about God. But here’s the deal, deep down in me I want to follow God with everything, because I love Him Soooo MUCH! My following God no matter what has everything to do with the fact that I love God and it is how I show Him I love Him. As I do this I become a hero because God is the maker of Heroes! Look all through the Bible and you will find where God has taken ordinary people and made them a Hero. It is what God does. The cool thing is He can do this with anybody and we all fall into the category of anybody. So how does it work, well we make a choice to follow God no matter what..., and when we do this we are telling God that we love Him and that we care about Him more than anything else in life. When we are living this way I guarantee that you will hear the voice of God and you will follow it and He will lead you to places that you will have a powerful impact and influence on others. Remember a Hero is “A person, who makes a radial impact on another person causing that person to be completely changed because of the interaction or experience.” God leads us and then allows us to become Heroes to other people as we go about doing the work of the Kingdom. We have been digging out of Romans 15 to learn more about How God defines what makes a hero. Verse 5 says this, Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it's written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. That says it all we are to follow God and be built upon His scripture. We are to be Heroes because His word comes alive in us and allows us to be a people who will follow Him no matter what... Take the challenge and follow God! ![]() What Makes a Hero? Ready to Risk Everything?... How many risk do you take each day? What do you call a risk? Heroes take risk, every time they step out to help someone. There is tension in taking risk, otherwise it would not be a risk at all. So follow along with me as we look at risk. There is risk in being a hero, like once you decide to be a hero your life will never be the same, the people you help might not even want your help, you might fail along the way or you might find out life is not just about you as you become a hero. Risk are everywhere but as a hero the risk you take are for other people. We all take risk, we take them everyday, but most of the risk that we take are for ourselves and we benefit from them. A hero takes risk for other people and for them to benefit. Which means you could lose something for someone else’s sake. Dictionary.com defines risk this way: “exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazard or dangerous chance” so you could get hurt or you could lose something, when you step out as a hero to help someone. Romans 15:2b-3 puts it this way. “Asking ourselves, "How can I help?" That's exactly what Jesus did. He didn't make it easy for himself by avoiding people's troubles, but waded right in and helped out. "I took on the troubles of the troubled," is the way Scripture puts it.” Jesus jumped right into our troubles and took risks to save us. A hero is a person who jumps right on in and helps people out of their troubles. When were you saved by a hero? Can you remember a time that someone came along and took risk for you? Chances are it has happened to you. The person who came in to help you out did not ask if you wanted help, they did not ask themselves if they should help, they just jumped in and helped. We need to do the same. We need to ask “How can I help?” Then we need to jump in and help. It is a risk, but that is what heroes take everyday. It is in the fabric of a hero. We need to only look to the hero Jesus Christ to know what a hero is and what a hero does. So step out and become a hero. Ask “How can I help?” Then do something to change and impact the person who needs help! Take a risk and be a hero to someone who needs a hero. The person you help will never be the same and you will never be the same. What Makes A Hero? "Everyone Has A Decision To Make" The XGT Experience Lesson for the week...6/18/2013 ![]() Decisions, we all have them, what will we do with the day, what we will eat, what will we wear as we head out the door. Some decisions are easy and we make them with out any thought. Like breakfast for me, every morning, the same thing 1/2 a cup of slow cook oatmeal, with a banana and a cup of coffee. Keeping some decisions simple well it helps keep our lives simple, and less complicated. Heroes have decisions to make as well and when we take a look at them they are not always so easy to make. Think about this statement, “strength is for service not status.” A hero has the character trait of strength, which can be physical strength, or mental strength. No matter which one it is a hero can stand up in the storm and have confidence that they can face it. Heroes are strong that way. But with great strength there is a decision to be made, use your strength for status or use your strength for service. A true hero understands that their strength is to be used to serve others. Some false hero’s use their strength for status. Isn’t that the way it is in any great action story you have people with great strength who serve and defend people, and you have a villain who seeks to use their strength for their status. The true hero ends up fighting the villain who only seeks personal gain and status. They both have incredible strength, but only one is a true hero. Strength alone does not make one a hero. A hero chooses to use their strength to serve others. Many people have great strength, but only a few every become a hero, because only a few ever choose to use their strength to serve others. Think about the people who are hero’s to you, you see them as someone with strength, and you pull from and have access to their strength because they choose to serve you. If they did not serve you and give you a greater vision for your life you would not see them as a hero. As we continue our journey this summer we need to ask this question. “When will we take our strength and choose to serve those who need our strength?” Everyone of us has strength everyone of us can serve others, it is a decision to use our strength to serve that make us all heroes. Mark 10:45 “That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served-- and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage." Posted by CH ![]() Everyone loves a hero, we look up to them and we imagine ourselves being one someday. But just what is a hero? Dictionary.com defines a hero as. he·ro [heer-oh] noun, plural heroes. 1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. 2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.
The world loves a hero, look at movies and books, they are crammed packed with hero’s doing what hero’s do, saving people or themselves. Here’s a question for you what about a person who stands up against the odds to do something that is against the culture, or the way everyone else does it? Could that person be a hero? Or what about a person who does something, like saving a life but is never noticed or recognized for it, could that person be a hero? Or what about you could you be a hero, could you do something that changes a persons life so they are never the same, change them for the better, could you do that? Would that make you a hero? Here is my definition of a hero. “A person, who makes a radial impact on another person causing that person to be completely changed because of the interaction or experience.” In your mind would that be a hero? If you agree, then be encouraged, you are already a hero... We all love hero’s and we are all hero’s waiting for the chance to do what hero’s do...”Save a life.” |
Cover Articles from Extreme Faith MagazineWritten and Posted by The XGT Experience Team of leaders Archives
October 2015
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