Attend On-Line Church Services to Improve Your Soul Better than a Billionaire

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Introduction

When I was a youngster, our minister often came to dinner. That meant that we had extra guidance into God's way during the week.

Although no minister visits my Mom now for dinner, I think she misses that mid-week contact. She often attends church services on Wednesday night as well as her regular Sunday service.

When Tom Monahan, founder of Domino's, was at his peak as a businessman he withdrew from day-to-day operations to work on his relationship with God. He was rarely seen without a Catholic priest or two in his company. Mr. Monahan once told an interviewer that he had been in a constant state of Grace for many years. I'm sure that being accompanied by Godly people helped him with that.

In the New Testament, Jesus ran into a wealthy man whose wealth was getting in the way of his spiritual growth. Jesus advised the man to give away his wealth and to follow Jesus. The man couldn't bring himself to do that. In our wealthy society, we can allow our wealth to blind us to the spiritual path. Think how much worse this temptation must be for those who are billionaires.

How can we increase our contact with the great preachers who know the Gospel and explain it well?

Observations

My older son was visiting last weekend and asked me where he could attend church services with me. He described the kind of church he wanted to attend . . . one just like his home church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

After thinking about his request for some time, I finally came up with the obvious answer: Let's watch his home pastor preach live on the Webcast from that church.

We sat comfortably in chairs in front of the computer and attended the service together. It was a fine experience.

Recommendations

Our need for God doesn't end on Sundays.

1. Locate good sources of sermons that you find helpful.

I went to google.com and searched for Webcasts of Sermons and came up with many sites that have thousands of free sermons on them. You can select by subject.

2. Listen to ministers and pastors you haven't heard before.

Even the best preachers I've heard are better on some subjects than others. Why not reach out to God through the most effective messages? By listening to more minister and pastors, you'll find better messages. Your soul will approve!

3. When your soul is troubled, seek out sermons that may help you.

While this is not as good as seeking personal counseling, it has to be God's way of making His Word more available to you.

4. Jot down the Biblical references and do more reading in the Bible in those sections after you listen to the sermon.

Most of us who aren't Biblical scholars just start in Genesis and read through to the end . . . and start over again. You can use sermons to help you find the references you need in time 0f troubles.

5. Invite others to join you in hearing the sermons.

My son and I had a nice discussion of the sermon last Sunday. I'm sure neither of us would have learned as much without the discussion.

6. Let a sermon be your choice when you are surrounded by temptation.

Some nights, it's hard to find anything on television that isn't suspect from a Christian point of view. But you may be in the mood to watch something. A sermon is a great choice!

7. Ask others what on-line sermons they like.

Your pastor or minister is a good source as are your fellow church-goers.

8. Encourage your church to make videos of your services.

This will allow you to hear sermons again that moved you.

*******************************************************************

N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color. Many thanks to Linda Grace for her suggestions which I am following!

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to check out

Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Do You Seek Praise from Man or God?

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote a wonderful devotional today
that I highly recommend to you.  He has given
me permission to copy his e-mails, and I'm sure
he would be happy if you would share this with
people you know as well.

*********************************************

DAILY DEVOTIONAL    TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2005
(John 12:43)

Loving the praise of men more than the praise
of God.  I want to ask you a very personal and
direct question this morning.  Do you love the
praise of men more than the praise of God?  I
am going to assume most everyone answering
that question will immediately say, NO!  Are
you sure?  You SAY you love the praise of God
more than the praise of man but do you
really?  When you are confronted with a
situation where you have the opportunity to
proclaim Jesus Christ as the only way, the
only Truth, the only life, the only answer
.....do you do it?  Or, do you chicken out?
The last time you were in a conversation with
people who didn't believe in Jesus and you
had the opportunity to defend Christ, did you?
Or did you sit back and go along with the
others by your silence?  My friend, when given
the opportunity to proclaim Christ and Christ
alone and you fail to do so, despite what
you may say, you love the praise of men more
than the praise of God.

I was in my office Friday morning working away
when the coverage of the National Day of Prayer
service at Washington's National Cathedral came
on.  I don't usually watch these events since I
end up so frustrated hearing the one true God
of the Bible spoken of in the same breath as
the false gods of the world, seeing the false
religions of the world put on the same plane
as faith in Christ.  I realize that at these
national events this is the script, so rather
than be frustrated watching the house of God
desecrated by the false gods and religions of
the world, I simply don't pay much attention.
However, Friday was different.  As the
service moved forward, all of a sudden I saw
a familiar face striding to the pulpit to
deliver the sermon, Bishop T. D. Jakes.  I
quickly turned up my volume to hear this
bold and brazen Gospel preacher stand before
that congregation and the world watching and
tell people that JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY
ANSWER!

I am still waiting.

If you are not familiar with Bishop Jakes,
he has become well known in the Christian
world as the pastor of The Potter's House in
Dallas, Texas.  He is on all the Christian
TV stations daily and is a powerful and
articulate preacher of the Gospel.  Some have
questioned his theology, but the bottom line
is he preaches Christ and Christ crucified
with blazing rhetoric that brings his audience
to their feet numerous times during his
message.  Even though he is virtually unknown
outside of the Christian community, here was
his opportunity on a world stage to deliver a
passionate message of the hope we have in Jesus
Christ, the only One men can turn to in times
of trouble.  It is Christ and Christ alone who
is the answer for the victims of Hurricane
Katrina, for the rebuilding of New Orleans and
the Mississippi Gulf, and it is Christ and
Christ alone who is the answer for this lost and
hurting world.

Sadly, with the world watching, Bishop Jakes
never talked about Jesus.

As he stepped down from the pulpit Friday
morning, I could only think of when Jesus said,
"if you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed
of you before my Father."  How could a man who
is so bold when he preaches to the choir be
so meek when preaching to the world?  The
message was nice.  It was a politically correct
and socially acceptable message, one any Jew,
Muslim, Hindu, or New Ager could have given.
I can only guess one of two things happened.
When asked to give the sermon he was forced to
give an advanced copy of his sermon to the
White House for approval and was told
specifically NO JESUS ( at that point he should
have either declined to speak or done what I
would have done in that situation, say OK and
half way thru my message preach JESUS anyway!),
or he simply decided to "play it safe" and
leave Jesus out of his message so nobody would
be offended.  Either way, Bishop Jakes decided
to go for the praise of men over the praise of
God.

*Note:  For anyone that is going to try and
defend Bishop Jakes by saying "this was not the
place to talk about Jesus," please save your
emails.  If God's house is not the place to
talk about Jesus, where is?  If the people
of the false religions of the world are going
to be offended, so what?  I've got news for
you.  When they die in their sins and are cast
into everlasting darkness they are going to be
offended for all eternity!  When you are
there to bring hope to the hurting and
encouragement to the world, Jesus is the
ONLY One who can do that!  When those who are
supposed to be the spokesmen for Christ fail
to tell people about Jesus, who is supposed to
tell them?

The point of today's Devotional is very
simple.  Do we live our lives for the praise
of man or the praise of God?  Let me assure you
that it is easier to get the praise of God than
of man, and it is praise that is not
temporary but eternal!!!  You see, trying to
please man is an impossible task because
what is expected and required of us changes so
often.  You can try your entire life to please
man but you will end up most sad and frustrated
because it is not possible.  The wonderful
thing about God is that He has told us in His
word what He expects, thus we know without a
doubt what is required to please Him.

The other problem with the praise of man is
that it is so temporary.  How many people in
the entertainment, athletic, the industry you
may be part of are "hot" for a period of time,
then are all but forgotten.  The praise of
man is fleeting, temporal.  The praise of God
is everlasting.  I realize that many of you
struggle with this issue.  Trying to get the
praise of someone in your life, whether it be
in school, professionally, or in some sort of
relationship.  I am not saying not to try to
please others or do a good job.  What I am
saying is that your first priority is to
please God.  So many email me how distraught
they are because they just can't seem to
make this person or that person happy.
Continue to try, but always remember that
your goal should not be to receive the praise
of a man, but the praise of God.

I realized a very long time ago that I could
not make everyone happy.  No matter how hard
I tried it just wasn't possible.  I still do
my best each day, but in that effort, I never
forget that ultimately it is God that I have
to please.  Even though everyone else may not
like what I do, as long as I am doing what God
wants and He is pleased then I have succeeded.

We read about the human cry of the prophets
in the Old Testament complaining how nobody
would listen to them.  Nobody was willing to
heed their warnings.  How frustrated they were.
I can guarantee you this.  None of those men
were ever going to receive any awards from
their city, but they were receiving far greater
rewards from God because of their faithfulness.
In the Book of Acts, Stephen's reward for
preaching the Gospel was death by stoning.
Even though those around him were so upset they
literally stoned him to death, Jesus rose from
His throne and stood to welcome Stephen into
Heaven because of his faithfulness!!!!!!

I love you and care about you so much.  I
pray today that you will never forget that it
is God who we must ultimately please each and
every day, not man.  I will be praying for you
that the next time you are in a situation
where you can tell someone about Jesus, that
you will "always be ready to give an answer
to anyone who asks you the reason for the hope
that is within you." (1 Peter 3:15)  Like
everyone, I enjoy the praise of man but I do
not live for that.  I live my life for the
praise of God and to one day hear those words,
"well done thou good and faithful servant."

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

If I can help you in any way you can contact
me through my personal email at
bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND
ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.
At that moment, you will either spend eternity
with the Lord or be cast into everlasting
darkness forever separated from God your
creator.  To know for certain you will be
forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html

***GET YOUR FREE LPeMAIL ACCOUNT!  Never miss
receiving your Daily Devotional again.  LPeMail
is an effective email SPAM filtering
application that most ISP's charge $10/mo, for
FREE!  Get your LPeMail account now at:
www.lpemail.com .

***I am excited to let you know that the
Liveprayer Daily Devotional is now
available via AUDIO each day.  Simply go to
http://www.liveprayer.com/DailyDevotionalAudio.html
Also, you can now listen to the Daily
Devotional by phone by calling 727-856-7055,
or access it on your wireless device by going to:
http://wapdd.com

(C) Copyright 2005, Bill Keller Ministries.
All rights reserved

************************************************

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Love Better than a Billionaire

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Before getting into the substance of this post, let me remind you of my teaching plans for the rest of this month in the Boston area:

In Brookline, Massachusetts (617-730-2700)

Course V267: Raising Capital for Your New Business on September 20 and 27 (this is the expanded version of my popular course on starting a small business and can save you a fortune in capital costs!)

Course V268: Franchising Opportunities to Start a New Business on September 21 and 28 (this is a new course to help you find the right franchise operation for you) -- This course is almost sold out!

In Newton, Massachusetts (617-559-6999)

B 2172: The 2,000 Percent Solution (creating ways to accomplish 20 times as much with the same time and resources: It's like cloning yourself 20 times! -- see www.2000percentsolution.com for background)

I also offer individual tutorials and seminars on these subjects year around.

Introduction

Many billionaires report problems in their relationships with the opposite sex. But so do many non-billionaires.

A friend of mine is quite wealthy and very distinguished. While he's not a billionaire, his net worth is certainly up in that direction. He's married to a wonderful younger woman I've been friends with for 30 years. They are both great people.

One day, my male friend was injured in an accident. He was sure that he would be okay so he told his wife not to bother going to the hospital with him. When he returned from treatment, he was delighted to see her running to greet him. He told me that he thought to himself, "She really does love me." She grabbed him and hugged him, and regaled him with how thrilled she was that she had just birdied a hard golf hole. He felt a little discouraged by that experience.

We would all like to give and receive love better. What can we do?

Observations

Fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce. An even higher percentage of live-in relationships don't work out.

A client of mine had been married eight times before he was 40. A mutual friend used to observe that the client couldn't tell the difference between asking a woman out for another date and marrying her. After three good dates, the client would always propose.

Something's seriously wrong. Books on having better relationships sell in the millions, and the authors get another divorce.

Recommendations

In my role as an Amazon.com reviewer, I am often asked to review relationship-improvement books. Much of what I read in those books doesn't work based on my observations of the lasting and broken relationships around me.

Here's my time-tested list of what I've seen work:

1. Love yourself the way you would like others to love you.

At the Breakthrough to Success seminar, I was astonished by one exercise we did. Each participant was directed to verbalize what their "internal" voice said to them that made them feel bad. All around me I heard people berating themselves in the most unpleasant and hurtful ways imaginable.

If you tell yourself all that bad stuff a few thousand times a day, you're going to be pretty grumpy when you bump into those you love. Undoubtedly, they will get a taste of that bitterness as well.

Jack Canfield gave us an exercise that seemed to really help most people. Before going to bed at night, give yourself a loving talk. Greet yourself pleasantly in the mirror. "Hi, Don. It's great to see you." Smile as you do. Then praise yourself aloud for everything good you did that day. Then appreciate yourself aloud. Take a big breath and say, "I love you." Take another breath and stare into your eyes for 15 seconds.

At first it will seem weird, but after 40 days, you'll like yourself a lot better. Keep it up!

This seemed a little narcissistic to me, so I also started saying that the reason I wanted to love myself more was so I could love God and my family more.

2. Ask those you love how they would rate your relationship. If they give the relationship less than a perfect mark, ask them what would make the relationship better.

You have to know what to work on. Someone you love will be very impressed if you ask what you can do to improve the relationship. That will make them want to try harder. They may also start asking you what would make the relationship better for you.

3. Find a way to be sincerely interested in and to support what your loved ones care about.

Few people have exactly the same interests. Not sharing an interest can feel like a form of disrespect that will undermine a relationship. This is especially true with your children. They want your approval and will find disapproval where you intend none.

My experience has been that I don't usually share the interest in the same way. But I can usually find as aspect of someone else's interests that I can enjoy, and we can enjoy that overlap.

4. Pray twice a day to be a loving person.

Focus counts in relationships. When you think about being a loving person and ask for spiritual guidance, you will do better.

5. Have goals to improve your relationships with all those you love.

Feel free to share your goals with your loved ones. Their awareness of your intention will make it easier to fulfill that intention.

6. Take personal responsibility for the love you give and receive.

Many people seem to believe that Santa Claus will bring them love because they've been good. Love mostly comes from loving, as a form of reciprocity. Also, you have to develop skill in love.

7. Hug your loved ones as often as they will let you.

Feeling your hugs will transmit your love in an irresistible way. Most Americans don't touch each other often enough to have a loving relationship. Set a goal to give at least 8 hugs a day! More is better!

*******************************************************************

N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color.

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to check out

Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell