God Appointed You to Live on Earth at This Time

In 1864 during the Civil War, Henry was a student at Virginia Military Institute. When the Union army attempted to destroy a railroad that brought supplies to them, the VMI cadets were called up by the Confederate army to engage them at the Battle of New Market.

     During the battle, Henry was struck in the stomach by a Minni ball, but instead of penetrating his skin, the bullet miraculously bounced off. If the bullet had entered his body, he would have died in battle due to lack of medical aid. If he had died, you wouldn’t be reading this. Henry Stuart Crockett was my great grandfather. If he had died, I wouldn’t be here today.

If you climb up your family tree, you’ll find someone who barely escaped death. If that person had died, you would not exist. You are not here by accident. God determined when you would live on earth and where you would live. “He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation” (Acts 17:26). Out of all the centuries you could have been born, God appointed you to live at this time.

The Lord also created you with a purpose to fulfill. King David “served the purpose of God in his own generation” (Acts 13:36). Just as David accomplished God’s will during his time on earth, the Lord has a purpose for you to fulfill. If you will seek Him, He will show you your purpose in life. It’s not too late for you to get started.

Over 270 printable Bible studies at www.makinglifecount.net

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BIBLE STUDY:  “Did any prophets come out of Galilee?”

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Making Life Count Ministries

P.O. Box 680174

Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174

www.makinglifecount.net  Twitter: @KentCrockett

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How Is It Possible to Love Your Enemy?

Corrie Ten Boom was a prisoner in a German concentration camp during WWII. Years later, while speaking in a church in Munich, she spotted in the congregation a former SS soldier who stood guard at the shower room door at Ravensbruck. When the church was dismissed, the former Nazi guard came up to her and said, “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein. To think that Jesus has washed my sins away!” He reached out to shake her hand.

Corrie kept her hand by her side as vengeful thoughts boiled within her. Here she stood, face to face with the evil soldier who had been so cruel to her. She prayed, “Lord Jesus, forgive me for hating him and help me to forgive him.” She struggled to raise her hand, but couldn’t. Again she prayed, “Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness.”

As she slowly lifted her hand and grabbed his, an incredible thing happened. She said, “Into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our own forgiveness that the world’s healing hinges. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” (Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place, p. 238)

How is it possible to love your enemy? God can and will do it through you. “For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another” (1 Thess. 4:9). Jesus will give you love for your enemy, just as He did with Corrie. All it takes is being willing to do it. www.makinglifecount.net www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com

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Making Life Count Ministries

P.O. Box 680174

Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174

www.makinglifecount.net  Twitter: @KentCrockett

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The One Thing That Could Stop Salvation

When Jesus died on the cross, He paid for the sins of the world. But the apostle Paul makes a stunning statement in 1 Cor. 15:17, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins.” I’ve often wondered WHY that was true.

The answer is found in our being united with Him. Every believer is “IN Christ” (Eph. 1:7, 13) and Christ is IN every believer (Rom. 8:9-11). When Jesus died, we died with Him (Rom 6:8). “Even when we were dead in our transgressions, (He) made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:5-6)

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but though Me” (John 14:6). If He was still in the grave, we could not go with Him to the Father in heaven. We would still be in the grave with Him. That’s why Paul said, “If Christ has not been raised…you are still in your sins.” If there is no resurrection, there is also no redemption, no reconciliation with God, no justification, no salvation.

But then Paul continues, “But now Christ HAS been raised for the dead” (1 Cor. 15:20). Paul had seen Jesus in His resurrected body (15:8) and spent his entire life trying to convince others of that fact. “If you confess with mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). www.makinglifecount.net www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com

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BIBLE STUDY: If Jesus died on Friday, how could He be in the grave three nights?

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Making Life Count Ministries

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Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174

www.makinglifecount.net  Twitter: @KentCrockett

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God Will Show You The Next Step

Worry always concerns things that might happen in the future. You don’t need to know everything about your future. You only need to know where and when to take the next step.

I hated being in second grade, so I asked my father why I had to go to school. He explained, “So you can get to third grade, and then fourth grade, and then later to high school, then college, and then you’ll get a job to support your family.” 

That was NOT what I needed to hear! I was just trying to get through the next day at school, and now my dad was adding even more burdens on me for years to come. It was too much information for me to handle.

That’s why Jesus told His disciples, “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). To make life easier, He would reveal things to them a little bit at a time—as they needed to know it. God leads us one step at a time. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” God gives enough light to your feet to take the next step. The light keeps moving with you as you take each step, which lights the path to your destination.

After the prophet Elijah stopped the rain in Israel, God led him to the brook Cherith. After the brook dried up, God told him to take the next step—go to Zarephath (1 Kings 17:1-9). The Lord didn’t speak to him about taking the next step until Elijah needed to know it.

When Joshua was leading the people into the Promised Land, they wondered how they could cross the Jordan River. God told Joshua to tell the priests, who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant, when to take the next step. When the priests arrived at the Jordan and took the next step into the river, the waters parted for them to cross over (Joshua 3:8-4:18).

God isn’t going to reveal everything that will happen in your future, but if you will seek Him, He will tell you when to take the next step. It’s called walking by faith (2 Cor. 5:7). www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com www.makinglifecount.net

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BIBLE STUDY: Here is a list of scriptures telling you to not be afraid. For more information about why God can be trusted and how to be set free from fear and worry, read The Sure Cure for Worry

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Making Life Count Ministries

P.O. Box 680174

Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174

www.makinglifecount.net  Twitter: @KentCrockett

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Jesus Slept Through the Storm to Make a Point

The disciples were on the Sea of Galilee when a violent storm hit. The waves were breaking over the sides and the boat was filling up with water. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion (Mark 4:38). Did you know this is the only time the Bible says Jesus was asleep? That’s no accident. He was sleeping during the storm to make a point.

Jesus was sleeping the stern, which was the lowest place in the boat. The boat was filling up with water, and the disciples couldn’t bail it out fast enough. As waves crashed into the boat, the water rushed down to the stern. Picture Jesus sleeping as water is filling up the stern. He’s soaking wet, the boat is being tossed from one side to the other, yet He doesn’t wake up! It’s nearly impossible to sleep under those conditions, unless God calms you so much that you can. He might have slept through the entire storm if the disciples hadn’t awakened Him.

When we encounter a storm, we don’t know how dangerous it will get. Some storms have little waves, while others have big waves. This was an intense storm too big for them to handle. It looked like God wasn’t in control. The disciples woke Jesus up and screamed, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” (Mark 4:38 NLT) Jesus commanded the winds to be still and the sea became perfectly calm, which proved He was in control of the storm. He demonstrated that He was in charge of their circumstances, whether He was sleeping or awake. 

The disciples were amazed that He could calm the storm simply by speaking words. And He can calm your fears as well by speaking words to your heart. Listen carefully, and you will hear Him whispering those words to your heart, “Peace, be still. Do not be troubled. Do not be afraid.”

Are you trusting God through the storm? You’ll never be able to sleep through the storm like Jesus did until you first rest in the fact that God is in control, even when your boat is filling up with water. God is still with you, even if He appears to be sleeping and unconcerned. It’s just a test. If the Lord doesn’t calm the storm you are going through, He will keep you calm through the storm. Either way removes fear. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com www.makinglifecount.net

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BIBLE STUDY: Here is a list of scriptures telling you to not be afraid. For more information about why God can be trusted and how to be set free from fear and worry, read The Sure Cure for Worry

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Making Life Count Ministries

P.O. Box 680174

Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174

www.makinglifecount.net  Twitter: @KentCrockett

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How to Make Doubts Disappear

After John the Baptist was thrown in prison, he began to wonder if Jesus really was the Messiah. So John sent a message to Jesus asking, “Are You the Expected One or shall we look for someone else?”(Matt. 11:3)

Dear Jesus,

I am writing to inform you that I have been thrown into prison by Herod. I’ve been thinking about all of those things that I had preached about you, even before you began your ministry.

Remember how I told everyone that your winnowing fork was in your hand, and you would thoroughly clean your threshing floor? And remember how I said you would burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire? To me that meant that you would put an end to all injustice. I was counting on you to correct all wrongs.

To be honest, Jesus, I never thought I’d have to write this letter. I was sure you would have straightened things up around here by now. Rumors have it that Herodias wants my head. If you are wondering when to get out your winnowing fork to start cleaning up, now would be a good time. That is, if you are the one we are expecting. 

Respectfully yours,

John the Baptist

P.S. If we are to look for someone else, please let us know.

A few days later, the mailman delivered a letter to John’s jail cell. He anxiously opened it, hoping to receive news that Jesus was arranging for his quick release. Instead, John read:

Dear John the Baptist,

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Agape,

Jesus

P.S. Blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me.

Jesus wanted him to recall the facts he knew to be true. “John, you know I’ve opened blind eyes. That’s a miracle no one else has ever done. The prophet Isaiah predicted the Messiah would do this (Isa. 29:18, 35:5, 42:7). You know I’ve healed paralyzed people and cleansed lepers. I’ve made the deaf to hear and even raised the dead. Who else can do these things except the Messiah? If you will concentrate on these things you know to be true, your doubts will disappear.” (Slaying Your Giants p.38)

Focus your faith on what you know to be true. Not on what you don’t know. That's how you make doubts disappear. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com www.makinglifecount.net

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BIBLE STUDY: Resolving Conflicts

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Making Life Count Ministries

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Insights Into God's Guidance

God told Samuel, “I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons” (1 Sam. 16:1). When Jesse’s sons came before him, Samuel looked at Eliab and assumed he was the chosen one. Samuel could have made a big mistake here because apparently Eliab looked like a king. God told Samuel Eliab wasn’t the one. After Samuel saw all seven, he said, “The Lord has not chosen these” (16:10).

Samuel couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Since none of the seven were the king, it must mean another son was somewhere else. It’s interesting that God didn’t tell Samuel this. He had to figure it out himself. Samuel asked, “Are these all your children?” Jesse told him the youngest was tending sheep. When David was brought to him the Lord said, “Anoint him, for this is he” (v.12).

What can we learn from this? The Lord gave Samuel instructions, but He didn’t tell him everything. God could have told Samuel at the beginning to anoint the youngest son, David. But Samuel had to go through the process of elimination. It’s like dating seven people and eliminating them before you find the right spouse. Some people choose to marry someone because they “look good,” just like Samuel almost chose Eliab for this reason. We find out later that Eliab was afraid to fight Goliath (17:28). But David wasn’t afraid, which is why God chose him as king.

Many times God will tell you to do something, such as accept a job in a different city. But He won’t tell you everything about the situation. He will give you further instructions after you’ve obeyed what He has already told you to do. God will lead you to Point A, and after you’ve done that, He will take you to Point B.

Are you obeying what He has already told you? If God has spoken to you, it will come to pass, but it may not happen until later. Even though Samuel anointed David as king, it wasn’t until years later that David actually became the king of Israel (1 Chron. 11:9). www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com www.makinglifecount.net

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BIBLE STUDY: Did Two Different People Write the Book of Isaiah?

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Making Life Count Ministries

P.O. Box 680174

Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174

www.makinglifecount.net  Twitter: @KentCrockett

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