Accounting News and Notes

Alpharetta/Duluth GA CPA…Living a Christian Life is Messy…Are You Going to Serve the World or Serve God?

I am tired of being a Mamby Pamby Christian. I am tired of watching idly by as others seek to do the work God told me to do or worse…no one doing it at all. Some twenty years ago…I started whittling and soon nibbling greatly on witnessing to some of those closest to me in my life…my family. Remember those people you can’t pick!! Over the last ten years I have come to know the truth we are living in the End Times. It is time for ALL of my brothers and sisters in Christ to pick up their cross and to follow Him.

I share the below note not to bring any glory to me as all I did was to be obedient.

I share this note with you as an encouragement for you to seek to save and encourage ALL those around you, for you may be the only Jesus someone else sees today.

Fulfill Your Destiny. Speak God’s Truth Boldly Into the Lives of Others for there are those around you that only you will reach!!!!
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Some time ago I chose Proverbs 24: 3-4 as my life verse. So you do not have to look it up I will quote it for you. “By Wisdom a house is built and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.” Since I have chosen that verse I have spent many hours trying to explain to myself why! It cannot be much of a life verse if I really do not know how it applies to me or my life. I have on several occasions decided to leave it alone and pick something else. But for some reason I have not been able to do so. God laid that verse on my heart for some reason and I just need to figure out why. Be patient Gary! But first let me give you some background that got me to the point in time I even decided I needed a life verse.

On one Sunday morning, when I was 10 years old, (57 years ago) the sermon was coming to a close and Rev. Lyle Jesse was going through his usual preparation to call people to the Lord. I had heard the same approach since I was old enough to hear, not from Rev. Jesse, but a few other preachers as well. But this Sunday not only did I hear the music, but the actual words to the song. “Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me. And that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.” Man I am almost crying just typing it. I think that was the first time I became aware of the Holy Spirit. I do not think I realized it, but none the less I found myself hot footing it down the aisle, and I was baptized a week later. Now I was baptized in water, but I am not sure I was baptized by the Holy Spirit at that time. I do think that was first time I became aware of the Holy Spirit but whether I actually had an indwelling or not I cannot say. I know there are varying arguments that you can’t have one without the other but it doesn’t really say that any of the disciples or Paul for that matter were ever baptized other than by the Holy Spirit. The criminal on the cross next to our Lord Jesus was granted salvation and I am pretty sure he was never baptized in water. So maybe being baptized in water is just a tradition of public profession that you have accepted Jesus as your Savoir since Jesus and many other people were baptized in water. I don’t know! However I have come to realize that God will not grant you Heavenly wisdom, understanding, and knowledge without accepting our Lord Jesus as our Savior by acknowledging that He is who He said He is, the Son of God and that He died on the cross for our sins and rose again just as He Promised,. Then you are born again and it is up to you as to what you do with it from then on as you still have your own free will to either build on that initial experience or just ignore it and dwell in the “world”. For me I chose the latter and pretty much ignored the “Spirit”, but fortunately He did not leave me.

To make a very long. long, long,…..story short, I took the new Gary and hung him up in the closet on a very nice wooden hanger, as you would any nice new suit, pretty much ignored the Lord for 43 years. Then at the insistence of my daughter I began going to church again on a regular basis. But even then it was not until April 28, 2011 when my whole life turned spiritually around. By the way I would occasionally check the closet for the new Gary and because God is patient it was always there, but to me that new Gary looked much too big for me to wear and yes he looked a little too boring for the life I was leading.

My brother-in-law , John,(not the Baptist, but then again I guess he is a Baptist) invited me to go to a retreat called Walk to Emmaus. All I can say about that retreat is that you are emulsified in the Word of God for 3 days. But for me the highlight of my experience was on Saturday the 30th of April, 2011. I know I experienced a complete indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I never experienced such a feeling of peace, joy. and love in my life. For 56 years our God of enduring patience finally dropped the bomb on me. To Him all the praise and glory, the Creator of all creation, the One and Only True Living God. Hallelujah!!! Ever since I cannot get enough of God’s Word. And then I read Proverbs 24: 3-4. It hit me that this should be my life’s verse. I quickly dropped down to the notes in the Bible to get the explanation for these words and guess what? There was not any explanation for those two verses. There is for vs. 1-2, 5-7, but not 3-4. Now come on God, you could at least have given me some insight, but nooooooooooo! Why would God want me to pick this as my life’s verse and then give me no clue as to its true meaning?

Well as I said, after thinking about it for many hours and giving up many times, I think I have figured out why God wants this to be my life’s verse. God wants me to study the Bible and see what Heavenly wisdom is and how it relates to understanding and knowledge! Then He will let me know why this is my life’s verse. What would you think? To Be Continued. By the way I will accept any input any of you may have. God Bless you all!

I am tired of being a Mamby Pamby Christian

Frequently when we are in the midst of pain, we forget who made us and who are true deliverer is. It is at these times that we need to redouble our efforts to seek Jesus with all our heart soul and might. For it is in the darkest of times, when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, that we need to lean HARD, on HIM and not our own understanding. For even when we think he has deserted us, he has never left our side and has been constantly there watching and waiting for us to seek Him alone for solace, comfort and salvation. For He will fight all of our battles as indeed He will redeem us with His righteousness.

Exodus 6:6  “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

After the Israelites had fled their bondage as slaves, the Egyptian army pursued them seeking their end. When all hope appeared lost, the Lord spoke to the Israelites as they were backed up to the Red Sea by an army of evil. When  problems strike our own life we need first to seek God!

For He indeed rules the Earth and everything in it (Psalm 24:1). God does not want us to struggle in our challenges, He wants us to trust Him alone so when calamity hits our first response is to look to Heaven, not to man or our own efforts, and to seek His Peace. One that can surpass all understanding. For the God of the Universe does not need me often to do anything but to be still and to wait on the Lord.

Exodus 14:13-14 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.  The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

We often think we are responsible for fixing problems, for fighting for the truth, for helping others (even when they do not want our help) and for being a beacon for righteousness and often we are. HOWEVER, there are also many times that God wants much more from us that our efforts. He wants our faith. Our trusting and our knowing that He is going ahead of us, clearing the way for our journey (Deuteronomy 31:8). WOW. This verse tells what where we are going, he has already cleared the way so our job, gets simple. Will we follow?

After God had protected the Israelites as they were surrounded by the Red Sea on one side and the Egyptian army on the other…keeping them safe from trials, tribulations and those set against them. Then God asked the Israelites to do something simple. To Walk. To Freedom. To Safety.

Exodus 14: 21-22 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided,  and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

Are You Seeking Your Lord and Savior. Join us in our 9-10-11 Challenge as we seek to put on the full armor of God  as we read the Bible a bit at a time until we have read the whole of it in a year.

We live in America. The richest country in the world where we have our freedom. God has given us much and it is ours to do with as we will.

I have made my decision. I am tired of being a mamby pamby Christian. I want to kill my old self…And to put on the very Armor of God. Seek Him with all your heart and He will rise you up at the anointed time.

In the Matchless Name of  Jesus Christ,

john