Good morning and Happy Friday everyone. Growing up in Chicago I had the chance to see when the Chicago Bulls when they were winning their six titles. In the first three peat ( 1991-1993 ) they were a great bunch of guys who had Michael Jordan , Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant as their three best players. I rarely heard anything bad about this championship team and most times the focus would be on Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. But when the Bulls did a three peat again ( 1996-1998 ) Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were still on the team as well as others but the third person considered a star on that team was Dennis the Worm Rodman. When the Worm came to the Bulls those people who may have liked the Bulls before but when he came to the Bulls their opinions changed. The Worm was considered ( and actually was ) a dirty player but in order for the Bulls to get back on top they needed the Worm. I had people who did not like Rodman and therefore they did not like the Bulls. Each time they would do this I would find myself Defending a Champion.
So when I would find myself defending Dennis Rodman I had to focus on the positive things he had done like; 7 years in a row a rebounding Champion including the Championship years with the Bulls, a two time
defensive player of the year ( 1989-1990 and 1990-1991 seasons ) and had won two titles with the Detroit Pistons before he came to the Bulls. As a matter of fact I used to did not care for him when he was with Detroit for most of the same reasons that I was know defending. In our base passage for the month ( Acts the 7th Chapter ) I look at how Stephen defended Christ in the face of some serious opposition. As I said in my last blog ( Defending In December ) the problems started in Acts chapter 6. But today I focus on the Defending of a Champion that Stephen gave. He actually focused on a lot of people of patriarchs in his defending but I am going to focus on three, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. In doing so I want to focus on the question asked of the high priest verse one in each of the three paragraphs to make my point. Are these things so ?
In Acts Chapter 7:1 after the high priest ask, are these things so, Stephen immediately begins his defense by going to earthly Father of us all, Abraham He goes to Genesis 12 and tells how Abraham stepped out on
faith and followed the promises that God spoke to him. In Acts 7:2-8 he presents his case with a history lesson on the people of God. I want to continue to encourage you all that anything you are a part of you are a Champion. You have given the best that you can and that is all you can do. You are above many and that is so because of the promises given to our earthly Father, Abraham. We step out on faith everyday. We trust in the Lord with all of our hearts. In the book of Isaiah 54:17 it tells of nothing shall prosper against the people of God. In Matthew 28:20 we see in the last verse of this book Jesus said he will be with us always. When you are Defending a Champion these are answers to the questions are these things so.
As we get deeper into this chapter Stephen he speaks of Jacob and Joseph ( verses 10-15 ) but gives another answer to, are these things so when he gets into defending Moses. In verse 20 Stephen begins
a lesson on how Moses can into his own. You can see that Stephen is bright and full of the Holy Spirit because he basically quotes from Exodus the 2nd chapter, Exodus the 3rd chapter,Exodus the 14th chapter and continues defending using the Word of God through verses 21-44. But the key passage is verse 37 that comes from Deuteronomy 18:15. The people of God have waited on there Messiah since the time of Moses but still they refused to believe in Jesus and enforced Mosiac law as a way to keep the people in check. Today I am urging you Champions do not let the ways of old keep you in a place where you cannot see, hear or feel God. In Malachi 3:1-3 speaks of the Messiah coming. In Matthew 5:17 Jesus tells he came to fulfill the law. Fulfill your destiny and step out of the box and defend the Word of God. We are Champions. We are filled with the Holy Spirit. When a person who does not know God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit we cannot ask them are these things so like the high priest we have to ready willing and able to tell them the awesome news of Jesus Christ like Stephen did in Defending of a Champion.
In my last paragraph of how Stephen answered the question of are these things so while Defending of a Champion I go to verse 45-54 where Stephen goes ham ( as the the young people would say ) about how
they turned a deaf ear and crucified Jesus. The religious people are very upset when he tells them about how they never listened to the prophets of of old and persecuted them ( verse 52 ) and tells them they have not kept the thing that was dear to their heart, their very existence the law ( verse 53 ). The leaders of the church are now angry but in Stephen does something amazing. In his Defending of a Champion he is sees the Champions ( verse 55 ) and tells the people what he sees ( verse 56 ). How many times have you known that what God has told you is true but as a Champion you find yourself around those who do not believe you. Defend the Champion and look to the heavens and you will see a Champion. In verses 57-60 we see that Stephen was stoned to death. But even in death his Defending of a Champion was a way for a young man named Saul to see the great works of God as he say Stephen not only killed but forgiving those who killed him.
In closing I am Defending a Champion today as I tell you that you all are Champions. No matter what country, state, city, village, burg and province you stay in you are still a Champion. No matter if you are employed, unemployed, in school, out of school, or doing nothing you are still a Champion. No matter what race, creed or color you are, you are still a Champion. You are the leaders of leaders, the best of the best, the talented of the talented, the stars of the stars, the Champion of Champions. I will defend you not only in December but all my life the same way I would defend the works of Christ. I would like to raise my glass of soda high to salute Stephen for answering the question are these things so and show the Defending of a Champion. To God be the glory. I am a writer for thegeekchicmag.com. I am Facebook as Frederick Wesley. I am on twitter @brandnewweek. I have a Internet show called Brand New Week. Brand New Attitude on blog talk radio. Have a great weekend. God bless all of you Champions. Great job this week.
Good morning and Happy Monday. Brand new week. Brand new attitude. The past is the past. The future is unlimited. This past month I was riding with my friend Angela Francis. On this particular day she had to go get her hair done and her friend Roxanne' shop. I had done this numerous times in the past so when I was getting ready to leave I told Angela I was going to the forest preserve to sit and wait as she got her hair done. At the forest preserve I would be able to do two things while I was there. I would be able to think of ideas for my blog, my radio show and my daily postings on Facebook. When you attempt to write you sometimes get writer's block and need to get to a different atmosphere ( Hmmm Writer's Block may be a blog soon LOL ). The other reason I wanted to go to the forest preserve is because it was hot that day and I needed some shade. So as I approached the forest preserve I put on my left turn signal and waited for traffic coming southbound to clear. After
Good morning and Happy Monday. Brand new week. Brand new attitude. The past is the past. The future is unlimited. Growing up we used to love to take pictures. Maybe not myself because I had a self confidence problem, but everywhere you went there was someone taking pictures. In grammar school we took pictures every week. In high school we took them every year. At church we took pictures. In the club we took pictures as a group to show we all went to a party. Most of the pictures we took were with a Polaroid camera which had great quality then. But if you wanted the best pictures you wanted the photographer to take your pictures. This was one of the coolest professions back then because all the ladies who wanted to be models or actresses had to go to the photographer to get that photo to take to the different agencies to show how they look. So in order to get the best quality the photographer had to go someplace where he could get the best results. It was his Dark Room. This is the na
Good morning and Happy Friday. The summer is now beginning and the weather is now reaching its highest temperatures. It has reached a high point of 90's so far in the Chicagoland area and it appears to be nothing in sight to relieve us of these conditions that are almost drought like. As the summer gets ready to start in earnest next week we anticipate the warmest temps of the year after a winter that saw a little snow but the hawk, ( that's what we call the wind in the CHI ) was in full effect. But the sun has been out daily and we need a little moisture in our lives. We expect things to get wet in order for us to not only cool off but to wash away some things and bring a freshness of new things in our lives. The hotness of the weather coincides with the hotness in our lives. We need things to cool off a little bit but need some things to come down so we can enjoy the things in our lives that is promised to us as Christians. We are faithful and trusting in his Word. So as we
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