"Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and
stay there till you go out. Matt. 10:11 (NKJV)

Jesus didn't have "holier-than-thou" attitude, even though he was. He
mixed with prostitutes, pimps and priests alike. But when it came to
dispatching his apostles on their mission, he had specific
instructions for them. These instructions reflect some power
principles, one of which is the principle of associating with worthy
people.

We all can have many casual acquaintances. I have over 1,000 names and
addresses in my Address Book alone! I may even end up doing fun things
together with some of them, share in similar experiences and like the
same style of music. This doesn't qualify them automatically as
someone I can associate with when it comes to my mission.

To succeed in your mission, you need to associate with worthy people.
But first of all, you yourself need to be a worthy person.

It's scary how many so-called Christians float around our churches and
at the same time fornicate, lie, steal, gossip, are hateful,
hypocritical, lack work ethic and so on.

We all make mistakes. We all occasionally do something we need to
repent of later. The born-again part of you is your spirit, not your
mind, will and emotions. We therefore have many born-again Christians
who are foolish, stubborn and emotionally unstable. They need help.
Some of them get it and become better people, some don't. They choose
to blame everything and everyone for who they are, what they do and
most importantly for who they will never become and the things they
will never achieve. They end up being not suitable and dependable when
it comes to getting something serious done.

You can't possibly be one of them and expect to be counted among the
"worthy" people I am talking about.

You don't have to be flawless as a Christian, but you must be and you
can be a worthy person.

According to the Greek Concordance the word worthy is the Greek word
"axios", which means: deserving, comparable or suitable (as if drawing
praise). We all tend to judge other people by their actions, but
ourselves according to our intentions. However, to be counted as
worthy, you need to have deserved it in one way or another; you must
have some track record as someone who has done something that reveals
who you are internally.

You must be comparable to something or someone we all all recognize as
good and noble. And finally, you and I must be suitable when it comes
to being entrusted with something significant, whether it's a
position, money, influence, etc.

John the Baptist called on people to bring fruits "worthy" of
repentance, or to put in today's language: to be real!

Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance. Matt. 3:8 (NKJV)

The prodigal son realized he was no longer worthy to be called a son:

"and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of
your hired servants." Luke 15:19 (NKJV)

When it comes to committing yourself in a significant way to someone,
whether it's potentially a marital relationship, covenant relationship
in ministry, a friendship or even a business partnership--are you a
worthy person and are you looking for those who are worthy to commit
yourself to?

In this day and hour you can't trust people only because they say they
are Christians. You need to examine their track record and see if they
are a worthy person. That's how you're going to succeed in your
mission and that's how you're going to leave a legacy for the
generations worth emulating.

George Bakalov (c) 2009

"Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near! (Mat. 4:17)

Jesus could have started his preaching ministry with a nicer message. The call to repentance is actually counter productive if your goal is to gain followers.

But Jesus wasn't betting his success on catering to people's pursuit of comfort. He appealed to those who were seeking the truth. They are the ones who are ready to come out of their comfort zone. Many preachers today try to build a "following".
Jesus came to call us to start living in the truth.

One of the most important principles we can base our life, our ministry or our business on is this: Truth is more important than comfort!

The axis around which your life will revolve is either truth or comfort. But it can't be both!

Granted, to live in light of God's truth it doesn't mean you don't have peace, joy and inner confidence. What it means that you never allow those to hinder you from going deeper, higher and wider!

If you tolerate a bad habit, don't shut God out - seek deliverance from it! If you can't seem to grasp some things - don't pretend you do, learn instead! Whatever it is - seek God's objective truth about it!

The Kingdom is about Truth a lot more than it is about comfort, if at all!

[youtube]http://www.myspace.com/whitehouse[/youtube]

Obama has a MySpace page....Wow! How impressive! Here's the comment I left on his page. Subject to moderation. Take a guess if it will be published :)

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"Mr. Obama, you were WRONG to release the CIA EIT memos! You were WRONG to push through the 900 billion bailout! You were WRONG to go around apologizing about America - when did you hear Muslims apologize for ANYTHING? Like for cutting heads off and burning people alive?

But you were flat out PATHETIC to bow down to the Saudi Royal and allow Daniel Ortega and Chavez to mock you and this great nation by openly showing how weak you are!!!!

Mr. Obama, you don't look presidential, you don't sound presidential and as far as your birth certificate goes, you are probably not even a President of the United States -- most probably an usurper!

The sooner you and your extreme liberal friends leave the White House, the better!

I hope all your Marxist policies FAIL!"