Your Daily Bible Verse – 12-05-11

(2 Cor 5:20 NKJV)  Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

We’d like to share with you what was taught today with our home group. This is fitting for all of us, no matter where we are or what we’re going through.

We are ambassadors for Christ. Think about that. Think about what that means.

As ambassadors, we represent the kingdom of God here on earth. Everything we say and everything we do should be done in a way that represents God and His kingdom accurately and in a way that brings glory and honor to our Creator and our Savior.

We are the love and the light of God here on earth. We carry God’s spirit in us and we bring His love, grace, mercy and compassion to those around us, with our words and our actions.

What an incredible gift and an awesome responsibility!

It’s our job and our purpose to share God’s excellence. We need to carry God’s best within us and be ready at a moment’s notice to share it everywhere we go.

God has equipped each and every one of us with His spirit so we will have the words to speak and the actions we need to take in order to show His love to a dying world.

Let’s do our best for him!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 12-03-11

(John 3:16 NKJV)  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

We often see this verse quoted when people are trying to tell others how much God loves us.

Today, though, I’d like to talk about the fact that He actually gave His son.

God could have given anything because He is God. He chose to give His son, His very best, to save us. He didn’t give His second best. He gave His best.

So today I’d like to encourage everyone by reminding you that God gave His very best for you when He gave Jesus. He loves you that much.

So in return, I want to urge you to give God your best! Give Him your all. Let Him have your whole heart and all of you!

He deserves it.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 12-02-11

(1 Cor 13:13 NKJV) And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Christmas is fast approaching and it’s around this time when people get stressed out over how much to spend on gifts. Somehow the focus is put on gifts and taken off of LOVE.

Giving gifts at Christmas is fun and I think it’s great! But there are other ways to show our love if things are tight for us financially.

Don’t go in debt over Christmas. This is a holiday to celebrate and enjoy.Be creative and have fun with it. Showing that you love someone and that you really care for them can be done in many ways and it doesn’t have to take a lot of money… so no more stressing.

If you have a computer you can design little gift certificates to hand out with little services on them that you could offer. You could bake cookies or fudge and put then in cute little tins with little bows on them. People love treats!!

Arts and crafts are a lot of fun too and people love getting homemade gifts. Get some friends and family together and have a good time, sharing stories and testimonies while being creative, etc.

Pray about it and let God lead you, He loves to help us be creative and unique and He knows the heart of the people we’re giving to better then we do.

Have fun this Christmas…Let God’s love shine through you!!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse 12-1-11

(Luke 18:17 NKJV)  “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

God is not as complicated as we make Him. Yes… he is deep and our human minds can never fully comprehend the depth of God and His majesty, but we have made Him complicated when He truly isn’t.

The verse above tells us that we are to receive the kingdom of God as a little child; we are to have faith like a child.

Children think simplistically. They don’t over-complicate things. They don’t over-think things.

We adults should heed the words of Jesus and take some good lessons from observing the children around us. If we would learn to receive God and His kingdom the way children do, we’d sure be a lot better off.

Try today to catch yourself over-complicating God. Let’s try our best to see God through a child’s eyes.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 11-30-11

(John 6:66 NKJV)  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

I am always saddened when I see someone who once walked with Christ now walking away from Christ.

I often wonder what happened in that person’s life to cause them to walk away from God and act as if they had never known Him.

Sometimes people go through tough times and blame God for it, getting angry and turning their backs on Him for the trial they went through.

Other times people get caught up in the cares of the world and simply forget about God, slowly, a little at a time.

But then there are those that never really seem to have a reason, or at least a reason that is obvious. These are the ones that I wonder about the most, curious as to what it was that pulled them away from God.

One thing I have noticed is that, many times, it is the person who was the most outspoken about their faith… the one who would be the very first to shout praises in church or tell someone they’d just met about their faith. I’m not sure why this is, but many times it seems like this person’s faith is superficial for some reason. In the scripture above, the people who walked away from Jesus were actually some of His disciples.

Now I know that this isn’t always the case and that there are many people who are very vocal about their faith who really, truly love God, so please don’t take this wrong and be upset or angry if you are one of these people!

But I’d like to encourage everyone today who is reading this to stand firm in your faith. Hold tightly to God and learn to trust Him with everything in you. Trust Him with your life, your soul and everything else about your life.

If you’re going through hard times or trials, don’t give up. Keep pressing into God and seeking Him for the answers you need. His timing is not our timing, but He will come through for you and you will have victory.

Whatever you do, never, ever walk away from Him.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 11-29-11

(John 4:42 NKJV)  Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

I got saved at an early age in my life. I remember the day I gave my life to Christ. I have 8 brothers and sisters and we all went up to the front of the church that day to receive Jesus. It was an exciting moment, but very serious indeed.

My parents paved the way for us. They gave us this opportunity to learn about Christ by sending us to church even if we didn’t want to go. They would pray for our salvation and believe that one day we too would have Christ as our Savior.

I did accept Christ that day as my own personal Savior, even though I was with all my brothers and sisters. It was years later that I began to learn more about Christ and He became even more personal to me.

At first, as a child, I would watch and learn how to be a good Christian by the way my Mom and Dad would do things. But as I grew and matured, Jesus taught me more as an individual and led me in a way that I could understand Him.

He taught me how to trust in Him and believe Him for the things He would advise me to do. He walked me through personal situations that no one else knew of but me and I saw His love and faithfulness in answering my prayers.

He became my very own personal Savior and today our relationship is so dear and special to me. I made Him my own.

Make Him your own today. Let Him take you on a journey you won’t forget and you won’t sell out on Him, because His love is so real!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 11-28-11

(Mat 21:21-22 NKJV)  So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. {22} “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

We all ask a lot of God. We ask for little things and we ask for big things.

Some of us want our marriages healed. Some of us want a loved one saved or healed. Some of us ask for more finances. The list of what we ask for is probably endless.

Many times it seems like we ask and ask, yet we fail to receive, at least based on what we see in the natural. So after a while, we give up and move on.

Now let me tell you, first of all, that it is not wrong to ask things of God. He expects and wants us to ask. The questions is; “Are we believing for what we’re asking for or are we simply asking because we think it’s a good idea?”

We need to believe that God will give us what we’re asking for. If we are lining up with His word, we have no reason to believe otherwise! Jesus said we are to ask in prayer, believing! He didn’t say to ask and hope. He said to ask and believe!!

Believing will make all the difference in the world. Ask God and believe and you will see a change in the way your prayers get answered.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 11-26-11

(Luke 12:48 NKJV)  “… to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

What we are required to give is based on what we have been given.

This applies to our finances, our lives, our time, our talents and so much more. We have all been blessed by God with some kind of gift, whether it’s a material blessing or a natural talent or something else that we have or can do.

God tells us that if we have been blessed with much, we are to give much. If we would all live by this, there would be so many less problems in the world!

As we get closer to Christmas, try not to get caught up in the hype and commercialism that we have shoved down our throats by greedy merchandisers, but ask God what He would have you to give and who to give it to.

Sometimes, the smallest gift can change a person’s life when it’s given to the right person.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 11-25-11

(Phil 4:11-12 NKJV)  Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: {12} I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

One thing we have learned over the years is to be thankful, no matter what season of life we’re in.

The biggest lesson we’ve learned is that when we are in times of need, not to complain. God has taught us to be thankful and content even when things are tough.

If tough times and trials come our way, which they will, the worst thing any of us can do is to complain and whine. Falling into the trap of negativity only keeps us where we’re at for longer than we need to be.

If we’re thankful for what we do have and learn to make the best of it, we’ll be able to move on that much more quickly.

In everything that we go through, there is always something for us to learn, so the sooner we learn it, the better off we’ll be.

So express your gratitude to God for what you have and look forward to what He will do for you next and you’ll see a huge change in how you feel and how your life goes for you.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 11-24-11

(Eph 5:31 NKJV)  “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

Marriage is not something to be taken lightly. Marriage is a vow, made between a man and a woman, promising to spend the rest of their lives together.

The vast majority of people who get married nowadays go into their marriage relationship with a “let’s try it and see” attitude. They believe they can try marriage out, like taking a car for a test drive.

This is a very sad thing to see, as people spend years of their lives giving their marriage only half of the effort it deserves and then giving up and walking away when it doesn’t turn out like the fairy tales in the books and movies.

Marriage is the most significant commitment that any of us will make, second only to our commitment to God himself. We need to take it seriously because it’s a serious thing.

Men and women need to work at their marriage equally. It needs to be a joint effort. There isn’t a greater burden or responsibility on the man or the woman. Both are responsible for making it work.

If you’re in a marriage that is having trouble, we urge you to make every effort to work it out. It takes two people to make a marriage work. This can’t be emphasized enough.

Both people need to respect each other and honor each other. This is not optional!

We have gotten a lot of emails the past couple of days with many, many questions and prayer requests. We will be replying to them during the next few days. If you have a question or prayer request regarding your marriage, please feel free to reply to this email
and we will be honored to try to help you.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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Your Daily Bible Verse – 11-23-11

(Eph 5:22 NKJV)  Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

Yesterday we touched base on a tiny little piece of how husbands should treat their wives. Today we’d like to take a look at a piece of how wives should handle their end of things.

Wives are instructed in this verse to submit to the husbands. This is a hard thing for some people to swallow and a lot of that arises from the fact that this verse has been used by ill-intentioned men to abuse their wives under the guise of “being the heads of their homes”.

This is very sad, because it has caused many women to live in fear of their husbands. This is a topic where much time could be spent, but for today we’d like to talk a little more about the submission part of being a wife, from a Biblical perspective, not from man’s warped ideas.

God’s word instructs women to submit to their husbands in a healthy, holy way, where the wife loves and respects her husband and gets love and respect in return.

God has placed the man as the head of the household for purposes of protection and security. In a proper, balanced relationship there will never be manipulation or control on the part of the husband or the wife. And the husband will be, in a symbolic way, the savior of the household. He should provide for and protect his home and his family.

This should never be taken to extremes or abused.

Women should respect their husbands and honor them, remembering that men have feelings and a need for love and compassion. Each man is different and may need different amounts of attention, based on his personality, but men should never be seen as rocks that have no emotional needs.

Ultimately, in a properly balanced relationship, the wife will have no problems submitting to and respecting her husband.

Regardless of how well or how poorly a husband handles his end of things, wives should never taunt, antagonize or provoke their husbands with their words or their actions. This includes flirting with other men, dressing provocatively around other men, etc. These types of behavior are wrong, whether the marriage is going well or not.

The subject of marriage and the building of a healthy marriage relationship is one that can be discussed at length and from so many different angles and points of view. It’s a topic that can get very heated because there are so many unbalanced relationships out there.

So we want to encourage the wives to be at their best, honoring God in your marriage, just as we encourage the men to love and respect their wives, honoring God.

Please feel free to contact us if you have questions, prayer needs or anything else related to marriage. We are more than happy to help.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
401-377-5400

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