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This morning we are continuing in our Bible study looking at the spiritual gifts and our basic study has been from the 12thChapter of I Corinthians. For our visiting friends I might just say a word to put you in context a little bit. We are studying through the letter of I Corinthians. Having arrived at Chapter 12 and verse 8, we began to look at the spiritual gifts there and realized that they were just a part of a greater whole. And so we're stopping in the midst of the flow of the text to discuss all of the passages relative to spiritual gifts. So it's really kind of a theological study in the midst of an expositional study of the book.
We've been incorporating verse 28 of Chapter 12, in which there are mentions of spiritual gifts as well as verses 8 to 10. We also added Ephesians 4 and Romans 12. And so in all of those Scriptures we have pulled together the listing of the categories of spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit has granted to the church.
Now we find ourselves in part 4 of reiterating these gifts and studying them in order to gain an understanding of what they are and how they operate. It is clear to us at this time that the Spirit of God has given to the church gifts, enablements, manifestations, energizing services. All those different words are used to describe the same things. They are Holy Spirit enablements allowing us to minister to one another within the body of Christ. So that we are not spectators, but rather we are involved in the actual operation of the church carrying out the ministry as God has designed it and the Spirit of God has planned it.
And so, as we learn our gifts, as we learn how they operate, as we understand how the Spirit of God works through us, we can give a greater and deeper and broader commitment to do that thing, which God has gifted us to do. So we're studying the spiritual gifts, and in order for you to get the whole picture you need to get all that's involved because we're taking it a piece at a time.
Now to begin with let me just remind you of a Scripture in Ephesians 2 as a backdrop for what we want to say. Ephesians 2:22 says this: "In whom ye also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." And here the apostle Paul says that the church collectively is a habitation of the Spirit. In other words, the Spirit of God not only indwells individual Christians, but indwells the collective assembly of believers. The Spirit of God indwells the total church. The Spirit indwells any local assembly. The Spirit indwells any individual believer.
So, we at Grace Community Church are an assembly of believers who have become, in a sense, the habitation of the Spirit of God. He lives within us individually and collectively or corporately as He does in the total body of Christ worldwide.
Now this is repeated again in I Corinthians Chapter 3 as a concept and one, which would probably be good to look at. I Corinthians 3:16, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God." And there the ye is plural. Ye collectively, you in total, are the composite temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you. And at the end of verse 17, "The temple of God is holy, which you are."
So we see then that we collectively are the temple of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God doesn't dwell in this building. That's why we don't call it a sanctuary. We call it an auditorium. The sanctuary is the name for the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament where God's Spirit dwelt, where God was manifest, but nowadays the Spirit of God dwells in the body, the individual Christian and in the bodies collectively of the corporate assembly of believers.
Now since we are an assembly of believers that are the habitation of the Spirit, it seems obvious to me and reasonable that the Spirit of God should be in control of this assembly. We would be denying our very identity if He is not. Since He dwells in us He should manifest His indwelling by His power and control over us. That's true in the Christian life. You can possess the Holy Spirit and not be controlled by him, right? That's carnality and the church can be equally carnal. There are assemblies where the Spirit of God dwells because Christians are there, but because they manifest carnality and selfishness and self will the Spirit of God is not in control.
Now that is exactly the case in the Corinthians Church. They were believers, they possessed the Holy Spirit, they were the habitation of the Holy Spirit, but because of their sinfulness and carnality the Spirit of God had been removed from leadership. His power usurped and they themselves were running the show. I pray God that Grace Community Church would be a church where the Spirit of God rules, wouldn't you? Wouldn't that be your prayer? That's mine. Where the Spirit fills, where the Spirit of God controls, where the Spirit of God energizes. And as I look at the church, as I look at this church or any other church, there are certain ways to tell if in fact the Spirit of God does control. Let me give you eight of them, just running them by quickly.
Number one: you can tell a church where the Spirit of God is in control by its unity, by its unity. The Spirit is the spirit of unity, Ephesians 4. And where there is a loving unity, where there is a unity without crushing individuality, the Spirit of God is in control. He seeks unity.
Secondly, you can tell an assembly where the Spirit of God is in control by its fellowship. Its fellowship will be both deep, that is honest and intimate, and real and wide that is inclusive of anybody who cares and who comes and who is a part. It will be non-separatistic and it will be non-superficial fellowship.
Thirdly, you can always tell an assembly where the Spirit of God controls by its worship. It will be one that worships God really, genuinely, honestly, and its worship will be shared by all. In other words they will come to honor God, they will come to honor Christ, they will speak in honor of the Holy Spirit. They will praise God, they will sing praise, they will live praise, they will talk praise.
Fourthly, you can tell a church that is controlled by the Holy Spirit by its evangelism. The Holy Spirit has come to point us to Christ. The Holy Spirit is the one who declares Christ and in a church where the Spirit of God controls Christ will be being declared. And evangelism will be spontaneous. It will be top priority. It will be natural outflow in the lives of the people who make up that assembly.
Number five: You can tell a church where the Spirit of God is in control by its love. It will be an assembly of people who care about each other, and assembly of people controlled by the attitude of selflessness where real love works, where sacrifice is a bi-word.
And sixthly you can tell a church where the Spirit of God controls by its obedience. It will be a church that will be walking in the path that the word of God prescribes. It will be a church where spontaneous obedience is the pattern of life. Where all that ever needs to be said is this is what the Bible says and response is immediate.
And seventh and tied right with that one, in a church where the Spirit of God controls there will be people who are submitted to the lordship of Christ. There will be people submitted to the lordship of Christ. He will rule and they will lovingly, joyously, willingly submit to that rule.
And then eighth, you can always tell a church filled with the Spirit because there will be ministry, ministry. There will be saints interchanging spiritual gifts. There will be not just a professional pulpit, not just hired practitioners, and pastors and teachers and ministers, but there will be the mass of the community of believers ministering their spiritual gifts. And we've taught in all of these areas, haven't we? We've taught about unity, taught about fellowship, taught about worship, taught about evangelism, love, obedience, the lordship of Christ. Now we're teaching about ministry. If the Spirit of God is thriving in His control of Grace Church there will be ministry and the way we minister, beloved, and the way we minister is by those enablements, those energizing, those gifts that God has given us.
So you see how important it is for us to see and understand them. That's why Chapter 12:1 says, "I don't want you to be ignorant of these things." They are vital to the area of ministry.
Now we've studied point number one in our long-term outline, the gifted men, and we saw that God has given to the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, teaching pastors and teachers for the job really of instructing the saints in terms of building them to maturity so they can use their gifts.
Now once we've discussed that we move into the second point of our outline into the area of understanding what the gifts are that the individual believers have and through which the Holy Spirit ministers. We said that there are a total of eleven that are mentioned in the New Testament. Eleven gifts, eleven enablements, eleven categories of ministry, and you remember our illustration last week? We said please don't feel that there's only eleven gifts everybody's got this one or this one or this one or this one and it's all the same for all of us. We said that those eleven gifts are like colors on an artist's palette and the Holy Spirit is like an artist and He takes those eleven primary colors and mixes them into combinations and by the time it gets put on you it's different than it is with anybody else. And that's the meaning of verse eleven of I Corinthians 12, which says He divides to every man individually so that no two Christians are alike in the area of their spiritual enablements.
But we've been studying these primary gifts, these primary colors on the palette, if you will, in order to get an understanding of all the categories of ministry, of the areas of ministry and we said there are two basic categories of gifts: the speaking gifts and the serving gifts. Remember those? The speaking gifts: prophecy, knowledge, wisdom, teaching and exhortation, the verbal gifts. Now we're looking secondly at the serving gifts.
Now all that kind of brings you down to where we are. We said there are six serving gifts mentioned in the two passages we're looking at, I Corinthians 12 and Romans 12. The first one we mentioned was leadership. The second one was serving or ministry or, if you will, helps. The third one was giving.
Now lets go to the last three. Number four: the gift of mercy, the gift of mercy. Romans 12:8 says this: the end of verse 8, this picking up that one gift in the list of gifts here, "He that shows mercy with cheerfulness." Some people in the body of Christ has been given the gift of mercy, showing mercy. I would say that this is one of the gifts that you can be almost absolutely clear in understanding. There just isn't really that much deviation in what this gift is and how it operates and it's beautiful and I want you to understand so I'm going to spend a little time explaining it to you.
The word mercy is the word eleon, eleon. It means pity or mercy or compassion and it's a beautiful term really. It's a term that's characteristic of the character of God. In Psalm 103, you have some marvelous statements about the mercy of God just painting his character as merciful. Psalm 103, for example verse 8, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy." Verse 11, "So great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. How great, as the heavens are high above the earth." Verse 13, "As a father pities his children so the Lord pities them that fear Him." God is merciful. God is pitying. God is compassionate. God grants mercy according to Matthew 5.
Now generally the concept of mercy gets scrambled up with the concept of grace in the Scripture. And we talk about God's grace and God's mercy and sometimes we don't distinguish them. Let me see if I can give you a little bit of a run through in Scripture that will help you distinguish from grace. I'm going to give you a definition right now and then I'm going to show you how it works out. Here it is: grace is extended to men in relation to guilt. It has to do with their sin. Mercy is extended to men in relation to misery. It has to do with their situation. Now hang on to that. Grace is related to guilt, mercy is related to misery. Grace is God taking care of our sin. Mercy is God taking care of the mess we're in, our situation. I want to illustrate that to you by having you look at Proverbs 14:21 and 31. Proverbs 14, and we could look at a lot of Old Testament Scriptures but for time we're going to look at two or three and then go on. They all say the same thing.
Proverbs 14, well let's look at verse 20 and we'll get the context a little bit. "The poor," Proverbs 14:20, "The poor is hated even by his own neighbor." Poor people have rough life. "But the rich has many friends," right? A lot of people trying to get into the rich man's pocketbook. Poor people don't have many friends. "He that despiseth his neighbor sins." Watch out how you treat that poor man. "But he that hath" what, "Mercy on the poor is happy." Now listen, or blessed. Mercy is connected with no being sinful, but being what, poor. Poor people need mercy. And here's the introduction of the concept that mercy is related to misery. Mercy is related to a state. Look at verse 31: "He that oppresseth the poor approaches his maker," why because God didn't oppress the poor. He reached out to them. "But he that honors Him has mercy on the poor." If you want to honor God have mercy on the poor. Now the connection I'm trying to make is this: mercy is connected with something you do for someone who is poor. It is connected to misery rather than sin.
Now I want to show you another thought on it. Look at Hosea, Hosea Chapter 4. If you don't have time to look it up don't worry. It just says this: Verse 1, "Hear the word of the Lord children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land because there's no truth nor mercy, no knowledge of God in the land." What happened was there became a terribly oppressing society that everyone, in which everyone was oppressing the poor and no one was relieving them. And relieving a poor man of his poverty is mercy. See. That's his point. But rather than anybody helping the poor there was swearing and lying and killing and stealing and adultery and so forth. And at the end of the book of Hosea in the third verse of the 14thchapter it says, "In thee the fatherless find mercy."
Now notice mercy is connected with poor people. Mercy is connected with orphans. Did you get that? Now if you were to trace mercy further through the Old Testament you would see that God's mercy is relative man's misery. And God is merciful in the sense of freely without any deserving on our part taking us out of our misery and meeting every need. So you say, "All right John, that's the general concept. How does it relate to the gift? What is the gift of mercy?" The gift of mercy is the same thing. Now listen, the gift of mercy is relative to people who are in need, poor people and orphans for sure. Terrible. We'll find out later there are others in that category.
Let me give you a parable about mercy. Look at Luke 10:30. Jesus is having a conversation with a rich, a lawyer rather, and probably rich too, and he says, "What about the law and so forth?" They have a little dialogue. And Jesus says, "Well I'd like to fulfill the law and love my neighbor but I don't know who my neighbor is. Could you kindly fill me in? He says, "Who is my neighbor?" And Jesus said, verse 30, "A certain man when down from Jerusalem from Jericho and fell among thieves, who stripped him, he was mugged, took his clothes, wounded him, departed leaving him half dead. And, by chance, there came a certain priest that way and when he saw him he passed by on the other side," pointing up here was a really strong indictment of Jewish priesthood. Same with the Levite in verse 32. He went on the other side too. "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw him he had compassion on him."
Now here you have the introduction of the concept of mercy or compassion and it is beautiful because there is nothing here to motivate this man but compassion. He isn't told that if he goes and helps this poor beaten Jew he's going to get a great reward from the Samaritans. In fact, he wouldn't even dare tell any Samaritans that he did it because the Samaritans had no dealing with the Jews and there was nothing but animosity and he wouldn't popularize himself with his own people by helping this poor beaten Jew. And so he does something, which he can never get any credit for from his own people. He does something for which there is no ulterior motive, there is no response, there is no remuneration, there is nothing to be gained except the relief that comes from dispensing the compassion that's in your heart. That's the beauty of the selflessness of the way a spiritual gift operates.
"He went over to him, bound up his wounds, poured in oil and wine, set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn and took care of him." That's quite a deal. The guy was probably in a hurry. We don't know what kind of business he had in Jericho, but he stops and takes the day to do this and take care of this fellow. He heals his wounds as best he can, takes him to an inn, takes care of him, next day departs, leaves a couple of coins to the host, and says, "If there's any more than this I'll pay you on my way back." You say, "Why did he do this? What did he have to gain? Was this a famous guy lying by the road?" No. It was just a nobody. It doesn't say a thing about him. Why did he do it? Because he had what, compassion. Somewhere down in his heart there was pity. There was mercy that was unmixed with any self motive. And then Jesus says to the lawyer, "Which of these do you think was really the neighbor?" Well he said, "The one who had mercy," verse 37. Jesus said, "You go and do the same thing." It's the spirit of mercy. It is giving without any thought of any return and giving to someone who is in misery.
So we find out it's the poor, it's the orphans and it's the mugged, the beat up, the maimed, the rejected, the despised on which mercy operates. Now let me take you a step further. Look at Matthew 9, and you're going to see something very consistent in the gospels. Matthew 9:27, now notice this: "When Jesus departed from there two blind men followed Him crying and saying." Now He's got two blind people following Him. This is what they say: "Son of David, have grace on us." Is that what they say? What do they say? Mercy. Why? because mercy is connected with misery. "Have mercy on us." When He was coming to the house the blind men came to Him and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do it? They said, 'Yes Lord,' and He touched their eyes and said, 'According to your faith be it unto you.'" He had mercy. What was mercy? Mercy is eliminating human misery.
Matthew 15:22, Matthew 15:22, hurry a little bit here, "Jesus," verse 21, "went from there and departed into the borders of Tyre and Sidon and the woman of Canaan came out of the same border and cried unto Him saying, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with a demon.'" Here is a lady whose misery is a demon-possessed daughter, and again she's asking for mercy. To the Jewish mind mercy is always related to misery, so you can have the misery of poverty, the misery of being an orphan, the misery of being beaten up and left for dead, the misery of being blind, the misery of having a demon-possessed daughter. It's somebody in human suffering; somebody in misery. And, of course, it's wonderful to see what Jesus did. Jesus healed the people who had these miseries, who had these terrible sins and diseases and so forth.
Now in this case you have an interesting result, verse 23, "He answered her not a word." The case here, of course, is relative to Jesus dealing with the Jews before He dealt with the Gentiles. Later on it says, verse 24, "He answered and said, 'I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of Israel.' Then came she and worshipped Him saying, 'Lord help me,' and He answered and said, 'It is not right to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs.' And she said, "Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs, which fall from their master's table.' And Jesus answered her and said to her, 'Great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou will,' and her daughter was made well from that very hour." Such a persistent Gentile He couldn't turn back, even though His primary ministry opened up to Israel. Now He again is showing mercy. That's the main point.
Look at the 17thChapter of Matthew the 14thverse: "When he was come to the multitude there came to Him a certain man kneeling down and saying, 'Lord have mercy on my son for he's epileptic and greatly troubled and falls into the fire and into the water all the time.'" Again human misery a father with an epileptic child.
20thChapter of Matthew verse 29, "They departed from Jericho and a whole multitude followed Jesus and another two blind men came by the wayside and heard Jesus passing by and they cried and said, 'Have mercy on us O Lord, Son of David.'" And again in verse 31 the crowd said, "You guys shut up and leave Him alone. They said, 'Have mercy on us O Lord, Son of David," and Jesus touched them and opened their eyes. He had compassion. He had mercy. Verse 34 says, "And they received their sight."
Now you see this is over and over in the gospels. Check out Mark 10:46. Check out Luke 17:11. These places you're going to find the same thing, mercy connected with human misery. So we got a lot of things. Now let's go one step further in Acts 9 and we'll pull it altogether. Acts 9 we meet a very very lovely lady and when we meet her she's dead, but she isn't dead for very long. She does get a death ministry in the truest sense. Peter raises her from the dead. That we are not able to do. But verse 36 of Acts 9, "And there was at Joppa a certain disciple by the name of Tabitha, by interpretation, Dorcas," which means gazelle. "This woman was full of good works," and notice this word, "almsdeeds."
This is a word that is interesting. Some of you know the word in the English language, eleemosynary. The word eleemosynary is used to speak of a non-profit corporation. This corporation is eleemosynary, that means it doesn't seek to make a profit. It is supposedly a charitable organization. It is giving rather than taking. The word eleemosynary in English comes from eleemosunein Greek, which is the word here for almsdeeds and eleemosune in Greek comes from eleon, which means mercy. So the way to translate would be the woman was full of good works and mercy deeds. Mercy deeds. Here is a lady with the gift of mercy, is you will. Mercy deeds. What do we find out about her mercy deeds? Well it came to pass in those days she was sick and died and they washed her and took her in an upper chamber and leave her body there for a while and Peter heard about it and the story goes, "And Peter arose," verse 39, "And went and they came to the upper chamber and all the widows were there weeping." A whole bunch of old widows were there weeping. And you know what they were doing? They were showing the coats and garments that Dorcus had made while she was alive.
You know what the gift of mercy is? The gift of mercy is meeting the misery of orphans and the poor and the sick and the beaten and the abused and the widows, even if it is making coats or blankets for them. That's the gift of mercy. It's doing whatever needs to be done to extend compassion and pity to somebody in misery. And, of course, Peter knelt down and prayed and said, "Tabitha, arise, and she opened her eyes and got out of bed and they had a party." That's the gift of mercy. It's relative to the compassion of the heart. It isn't emphasizing the giving. That's a different gift. Often they come in combination, but it's emphasizing the compassion of the heart that's involved. It's like I Corinthians 12:26, "When one member of the body suffers," what, "all the members suffer." It's the gift of mercy. It's the enablement to sympathize with the suffering person, to come alongside the poor, the sick, and the destitute, and the orphan, and the widowed, and I would add even those in prison and minister. And maybe it isn't that you give them anything except your heart.
Dr. Criswell tells the beautiful story of a little girl who came home from school and said, "Mommy, my best friend came to school today and said her mother died." The mother said to her little child, "Well what did you say to her dear?" The child replied, "Oh I didn't say anything, mother, I just went over to her desk and sat beside her and cried with her." And maybe that's the gift of mercy. Sympathy. And you know what it says in Romans 12:8? It says, "Mercy with cheerfulness." And the Greek word is hilaraus, from which we get hilarious, cheerful ness. Joyously offering sympathy to the sufferer. That's mercy. Great thing.
Some of you are gifted in that area. I know you are. The Spirit of God has given you those areas of ministry, and you're involved with hospital visitation, convalescent ministries, and shut-ins and the poor and the needy. Some of you, I see ladies here making quilts and I see people going to convalescent homes and sometimes I go to the hospital to visit somebody and they'll tell me, "Look they've had too many people there already from that Grace Community Church. Who are you?" I went to see George Berry and they said, "Who are you?" And I said, "Well I'm the pastor." They said, "Ha, we've heard that five times already. Are you the chief pastor?" Some people have that ministry. God bless them for that. I've never felt that I was supposed to be a professional hospital caller. There's nothing worse than somebody running around doing all of that without the gift of mercy. But I do believe that God gives all of you those enablements and when you have them use them, use them.
Fifth of the six gifts. We'll hurry with this one. The gift of faith, the gift of faith. I Corinthians 12:9 mentions the gift of faith. You say, "What is the gift of faith?" Well obviously it is a supernatural capacity for believing God. It is a supernatural capacity for believing God. Somebody to whom obstacles are only challenges. Somebody who believes beyond what is visible. Now I'm sure in the early years of the church, in the first century, it was connected with miracles, and it was connected with very very astonishing miracles, but in our day the gift of faith is connected with prayer and with God's response to prayer as we see Him work today.
We don't mean by the gift of faith here saving faith. All of us have received that. We don't mean the general faith by which we live. We all manifest that, but this is a special gift limited to certain Christians. It has to do with an intensive ability to trust God, an unusual capacity to believe God in the face of a storm, in the face of enormous obstacles. Jesus pinpointed it in Matthew 17:20 when He said, "If you had the faith of a grain of mustard seed you could say to that mountain be removed." And Paul reiterates that in I Corinthians 13:2 and he says, "If I have all faith so that I could remove mountains," and there is the gift beyond what anyone else could believe to be done, the gift of faith can lay hold of the promise of God. And read Matthew 21, God says, "If you ask anything," Jesus said, "Believing you shall receive it." Faith activates God. There are many New Testament Scriptures, say that, faith activates God. You say, "But I don't always have a lot of faith." Yeah, well you can thank God that somebody else does on your behalf. You know there are certain people that when I have a need I want them to know about it because they have the faith to activate the power of God in a certain thing.
Let me give you an illustration of it. Acts 27, there was storm that Paul was in the ship and they were trying to get over to Rome, having a lot of trouble, the ship was falling apart. The eurquillo or the Eruoclydon had hit, ship was being torn to pieces so they frapped the ship, that means they wrapped it with these like wenches tight underneath, under girding it, and they were afraid they were going to go down toward North Africa to the Certies and get smashed. So they lowered the gear and they were just driven with the wind. As they were driven and driven and driven Paul pops up in verse 21, in the midst of this horrible nor'easter storm that was going to destroy them all, no way to navigate, just being moved by the storm, Paul stood up in verse 21 and said, "Sirs, you should have hearkened unto me and not have loosed from Crete and gained this harm and loss," this is what you want a Monday morning quarterback in the middle of that storm, told you so, "But now I have a word to add. Be of good cheer." Cheer up everybody. The ship goes over on its side and gets dunked in water. Cheer up. Why? "For there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, only of the ship." Oh that's wonderful news. The ship sinks and we walk to Rome, right? Where do you get that confidence Paul in the midst of the storm?
Verse 23, Well, "There's an angel that came to see me tonight and you know what he said to me? 'Fear not Paul, you must be brought before Caesar and lo God has given you all them that sail with you.' Wherefore sirs, be of good cheer," here it comes, "For I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me." Now I know some Christians that would be down in the bottom of the ship panicky. There's Paul on deck, "Everybody cheer up, it's all going to be great," in the middle of a storm, like no storm, a Euroquillo, the severest storm that ever hit the Mediterranean, that style of storm. "I believe God." Isn't that good? I'm glad for people like that. This is special faith.
Now listen, it is this kind of faith that supports all of us, that under girds all of us, because all of the gifts edifies others. It is the power to lay hold on God's promises for the benefit of everybody. When you go down through the book of Hebrews, the 11thChapter, and see those heroes of faith, Abel, and Noah, and Abraham, Moses, and Joshua, and David and all the time, every time you see their faith it is on their faith that somebody else is strengthened. It is on their faith that something wonderful happens to somebody else. With the history of the church there has been thousands of saints who believed God in the face of terrible fear and even death, who strengthened them who are around. There are people today with this gift that don't see any obstacles, who just believe God for amazing things. That's exciting.
Hudson Taylor believed that God could win the Chinese people of his day, without any money, without any support, and refusing to ask for a penny, he founded the China Island Mission and had the greatest work in the history of that nation. George Mueller did the same thing. There have been missionaries who've gone in and claimed tribes and people and nations for God. There have been evangelists who have claimed a whole city, a whole county, a whole country for God and it has happened in response to faith. And you know what's so exciting about that is we who don't have that kind of faith we get caught in the whole glory of the thing and get swept along.
When I came to Grace Church, I was one of those kind of people who had the not too much faith. I figured if the Lord was good we'd be able to build this church up to 7 or 8 hundred people and maybe a thousand in God's grace. But there were some people who were way beyond me in their faith and I'm just riding the train right along with them. Their faith is the engine. I'm just in one of the cars and I thank God for what God has done in all of our lives because some people have activated His power because they have faith beyond obstacles. We talked about building that building. We said, "Well we need to get a million and a half dollars in cash," and at the time we had about sixty thousand and somebody said, "That's a lot how are we going to have it?" And on and on we went and there were some who said, "But that's no problem. God's going to do it. We believe He's going to do it," and here we are today and because of their faith God has moved in response and all of us have been built up and edified. And I can believe God today more than I ever did in the past because others who have believed Him He has responded to and I have been a part of seeing that response.
If you have the gift of faith use it would you? Spend time on your knees. Spend time believing God and take what you believe and tell it to somebody else to encourage them to see what God does in response.
Lastly, the gift of discernment. I would kind of short cutting things here for time's sake, the gift of discernment or discerning spirits. Verse 10 of I Corinthians 12, add to the gifts, the serving gifts of leadership, serving, giving, mercy, faith, the gift of discerning spirits. Now this is a very controversial gift and I'm not even going to try to get embroiled in all of the controversy about it, but just to present to you what may be as valid a view as any in understanding what the gift is.
The root word for discern, diacrenomeans to judge through, or to see through something to the truth that is there, to truly evaluate something, and discerning spirits is simply to evaluate the spirit, whether it is God or it is a spirit other than the Holy Spirit.
Now in the early church it's very clear how this gift would manifest itself. This gift was the watchdog of the church. This was the patrol. This was the guard, the sentinel for the church. In the early years of the church when the Bible had not been written the New Testament was not penned, people would say, God says this and God says this and I'm a prophet of God and I speak for the Holy Spirit, and it was difficult to know who did and who didn't. And there was some people that the Spirit of God gave a supernatural ability to so that they could say you're true, you're a phony, you're for real, you're not; the gift of discerning spirit. That is the Spirit of God speaking they would say, that is not the spirit of God speaking but a demon spirit that is from Satan here and so forth.
Now the sad part of the Corinthian church is that the people who had that gift were either not using it or when they did use it they were being ignored by the rest so that as we saw in I Corinthians 12:3, somebody had actually stood up in the assembly and cursed Jesus and they had agreed that it was from the Holy Spirit. Well somebody with the gift of discernment should have stood up and said, "That is not the Spirit of God speaking," and they should have listened to that. That's what the gift primarily was used for. In I Corinthians 14:29 Paul calls on the Corinthians to exercise it. "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge." Let them discern. Let's have somebody checking on what's being said. It's a very important for the protection of the church.
Paul illustrates it as the apostles illustrate all the gifts, but Paul particularly in Acts 16, listen: There's a girl going along and Paul is walking along with Silas and this young maiden comes along and she says, "These men are the servants of the Most High God who show us the way of salvation." That sounds like good P.R. These men are the servants of the Most High God who show us the way of salvation and she did it for many days. You say, "Terrific," you know it's just like the car going down the street with the PA system on announcing these men. All of a sudden Paul turns around in verse 18 and says, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ come out of her, and the spirit came out the same hour." You know what Paul knew? Paul knew that was not the Holy Spirit. Paul knew that was a demon spirit and he cast it out. How did he know? Not by what the spirit said, but because God had given him the discernment to know it. The gift of discernment in those days was to recognize the satanic counterfeit, to pen it.
Now some argue that doesn't need to be done anymore because you can always recognize a counterfeit by comparing that person with Scripture, right? And so any more there's no need for the gift of discernment, but I rather think it difficult to say that since you can't find anywhere in the Scripture where it says the gift of discernment has ceased. There is no such intimation even made, certainly no such statement. I think it's best to just let the gift shift and change as the history of the church flows and be what it needs to be in any period. I think today it's just as important to protect the church from impure doctrine as it ever was and maybe the style of operation is different.
In studying a little bit into church history to see if the gift ever operated in the past I got into the early father's period after the New Testament was done and a movement arose known as Montenism and Montenism was a disastrous movement, frankly, where Montenism claimed to be the only voice of the Holy Spirit and it was very very unbiblical. And one of the historians said this: "The whole Montenist movement was rejected because of the exercise of the gift of discernment on the part of a few people. They recognized that his chief spokesman, Maxmilla, was speaking with a spirit other than the Holy Spirit and because of that recognition they denied credibility of the whole Montenist movement and it was written off as a heresy, thank God. And God protected that church in those early years from that heresy by some who had the gift of discernment.
I remember going into the prayer room one time, right here, and a certain occasion happened on a certain night. A girl came in there and began to speak and to pray. And one of our staff stopped right in the middle I demand to know what spirit that is. That's not the Holy Spirit. That's the gift of discernment and praise God it protected the church from a very difficult situation and moreover protected her. When it was all said and done God delivered her as well.
What is the gift of discernment? Well it's kind of like in the United States House of Representatives, we have that trophy of bureaucracy called the committee on committees. And discernment is the gift on gifts. A. T. Robertson says, "It is given to tell whether the gifts are really of the Holy Spirit and supernatural or merely natural or even diabolical." Peter exercised it in Acts 5 when Ananias and Sapphira came and supposedly were worshiping God and Peter says, "Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?" How did he know that? He had discernment. This kind of gifted Christian can intuitively identify truth from error, hypocrisy from genuineness, and false prophets are everywhere today and I believe there are some people who are gifted by God to unmask false prophets. I think some of them write books. I think some of the people who have done good work in the cults and in the occult may be exercising the gift of discernment, the capacity to see through something to the core of its hypocrisy.
The gift can be exercised in many ways. Let me just share what possibly could be the use of it today. It could be used to reveal demonism in any form, any form. It could be used to reveal false prophets and spiritual phony's. You know I have a very dear friend who has that gift and this is one of the most convincing things to me that it still exists, is that I see it operate in this person's life. This person can spot a spiritual phony without missing, usually. Something's wrong in that person's life. I don't know what it is, but something's wrong. And where I would go blissfully on thinking the best, something's wrong, for the protection of the body.
Sometimes someone say to me, "You better not put that person in such a such position. You'd better not have that person come to your church and do, because something's not right, protecting the church. I think the gift can even be used to see the intrusion of carnal elements into worship. There are people who minister even from here singing and so forth and doing things all throughout the church in any ministry, in any area of worship that are doing it in a flash. And there are some people who can read that loud and clear, and some of the rest of us we don't know what is going on.
The gift can discern one in whom the Holy Spirit is genuinely working. The same person will often say to me, "You know there's a person really energized by the Spirit of God. I can see it." But perhaps the gift of discernment can be used too when you have two Christians arguing instead of going to a pagan court they are brought before some people to make a judgment. I Corinthians 6:5, and if they both argue for their own side you maybe use somebody with the gift of discernment to determine whose right and whose wrong and who deserves what. They are the watchmen of the church. And I don't have any reason to believe that they're gone. I do have reason to believe that maybe their ministry is altered from what it was in the first century.
Now I want to warn you about something. This gift can easily deteriorate into critical, proud, condemning. It can easily degenerate into a judgmental spirit when operated in the flesh. But it's important.
There they are, six categories of serving gifts: leadership, supervise the saints; serving, support the leaders; giving, supply the needy; mercy, sympathize with the sick and the poor and the destitute; faith, secure God's power; discernment, save the saints from the counterfeit. All those dimensions sum up with the speaking gifts to make the church mature in Christ. So we see the primary colors, eleven of them on the palette of the Spirit as He paints the portrait on the canvas of the church. And it's a beautiful combination designed to reveal Christ and it only really works when you are faithful to minister in your area.
Father, thank you for helping us again this morning to understand your revelation. We bless your name for giving us a part in your ministry, letting us share in the gifting ness. Help us to be faithful, Lord. There's so many folks who you've given the gift to and they just don't use it, self, carnality, the flesh, laziness, ignorance, counterfeits. Lord, move all that out of the way and let us minister. Let it be said of us the Holy Spirit operates that church because there is unity and fellowship and worship and evangelism, because there is obedience, because there is submission to the lordship of Christ, because there is love and because those people there minister to each other with their gifts. May that testimony be our testimony. It can only be ours collectively when each one of us is faithful. In Jesus' name, to do what He's gifted us to do. That's our prayer. Amen.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information


text:
Hubble Finds Dark Matter Ring in Galaxy Cluster
This Hubble Space Telescope composite image shows a ghostly "ring" of dark matter in the galaxy cluster Cl 0024+17.
The ring-like structure is evident in the blue map of the cluster's dark matter distribution. The map is superimposed on a Hubble image of the cluster. The ring is one of the strongest pieces of evidence to date for the existence of dark matter, an unknown substance that pervades the universe.
The map was derived from Hubble observations of how the gravity of the cluster Cl 0024+17 distorts the light of more distant galaxies, an optical illusion called gravitational lensing. Although astronomers cannot see dark matter, they can infer its existence by mapping the distorted shapes of the background galaxies. The mapping also shows how dark matter is distributed in the cluster.
Astronomers suggest that the dark-matter ring was produced from a collision between two gigantic clusters.
Dark matter makes up the bulk of the universe's material and is believed to make up the underlying structure of the cosmos.
The Hubble observations were taken in November 2004 by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Thanks to the exquisite resolution of the ACS, astronomers saw the detailed cobweb tracery of gravitational lensing in the cluster.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Traveller take heed for journeys undertaken in the dark of
the year.
Carry protection against ravages of a sun-robber, a vandal,
a thief.
no heavy tempting hours of spring;
October journeys are safest, brightest, and best.
I want to tell you what hills are like in October
when colors gush down mountainsides
and little streams are freighted with a caravan of leaves,
I want to tell you how they blush and turn in fiery shame
and joy,
until we wake one morning and woods are like a smoldering
the emerald earth a dragon's eye
the poplars drenched with yellow light
and dogwoods blazing bloody red.
Travelling southward earth changes from gray rock to green
with green grass growing brightly
with saffron skies of evening setting dully
with muddy rivers moving sluggishly.
In the early spring when the peach tree blooms
wearing a veil like a lavender haze
and the pear and plum in their bridal hair
gently snow their petals on earth's grassy bosom below
then the soughing breeze is soothing
and the world seems bathed in tenderness,
but in October
blossoms have long since fallen.
A few red apples hang on leafless boughs;
wind whips bushes briskly
And where a blue stream sings cautiously
a barren land feeds hungrily.
An evil moon bleeds drops of death.
The earth burns brown.
Grass shrivels and dries to a yellowish mass.
Earth wears a dun-colored dress
like an old woman wooing the sun to be her lover,
be her seetheart and her husband bound in one.
Farmers heap hay in stacks and bind corn in shocks
against the biting breath of frost.
The train wheels hum, "I am going home, I am going home,
I am moving toward the South."
Soon cypress swamps and muskrat marshes
and black fields touched with cotton will appear.
I dream again of my childhood land
of a neighbor's yard with a redbud tree
the smell of pine for turpentine
an Easter dress, a Christmas eve
and winding roads from the top of a hill.
A music sings within my flesh
I feel the pulse within my throat
my heart fills up with hungry fear
while hills and flatlands stark and staring
before my dark eyes sad and haunting
appear and disappear.
Then when I touch this land again
the promise of a sun-lit hour dies.
The greeness of an apple seems
to dry and rot before my eyes.
The sullen winter rains
are tears of grief I cannot shed.
The windless days are static lives.
The clock runs down
timeless and still.
The days and nights turn hours to years
and water in a gutter marks the circle of another world
hating, resentful, and afraid,
stagnant, and green, and full of slimy things.


text:
Images style.com
Dolce & Gabbana sent down their donnas on the runway today in Milan wearing maxi dresses, brogues with socks and bum bags. I love this unpredictable combination though I find it hard to swallow the star prints that seems to be the red line through the whole collection. Having that said I've never been a D&G fan but these bum bags look fantastic!
See the whole collection here.


text:
VANCOUVER, Wash., March 9 (UPI) -- A UFO flashing lights in the night sky over Vancouver, Wash., has been revealed by its owner to be a large Chinese-made kite.
Witnesses reported what they thought was a flying saucer-type UFO dancing high over Fisher's Landing on the Columbia River last month, emitting a display of electrified colors, The Columbian of Vancouver reported Wednesday.
The reports led to a media frenzy and an outpouring of public opinion but a guy wanting to be known only as Mike identified flying object -- made of parachute fabric into a triangle shape, standing 7-1/2 feet tall with a 13 foot wingspan. He said the lights on his kite are made up of hundreds of colored LEDs, powered by an onboard rechargeable lithium ion battery with a small onboard computer that sequences the lights into repeating patterns every 4 minutes, the newspaper said.
Mike says he isn't breaking any federal rules or regulations flying the $500-plus kite he bought online because he has discussed his flying with both the Federal Aviation Administration and with Vancouver police. He says he keeps his kites lower than 500 hundred feet as required where he lives.
He says people watching him work his multicolored, parachute-fabric, sky-flying baby are agog when he does his thing.
"It's amazing," members of the Carpintero family told the Columbian. "It's really pretty."


text:
Email a friend about this page:
The AMCP Concepts in Managed Care Pharmacy Series is a series of papers written to explain managed care pharmacy terms in plain English, and clearly and concisely describe how these concepts are implemented in the managed care setting.
The below concepts are currently being reviewed by AMCP and revisions will be posted when Board approved.
Disease ManagementDisease management is the concept of reducing health care costs and improving quality of life for individuals with chronic conditions by preventing or minimizing the effects of the disease through integrated care.
Drug Utilization ReviewDrug utilization review (DUR) is defined as an authorized, structured, ongoing review of prescribing, dispensing and use of medication.
Electronic PrescribingE-prescribing is the use of health care technology to improve prescription accuracy, increase patient safety, and reduce costs as well as enable secure, real-time, bi-directional, electronic connectivity between clinicians and pharmacies.
Formulary ManagementFormulary management is an integrated patient care process which enables physicians, pharmacists and other health care professionals to work together to promote clinically sound, cost-effective medication therapy and positive therapeutic outcomes.
Maintaining the Affordability of the Prescription Drug BenefitThe purpose of this paper is to explain how managed care organizations (MCOs) are able to secure lower drug prices from pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Medication ErrorsMedication errors are among the most common medical errors, harming at least 1.5 million people every year.
Medication StockpilingAMCP is concerned about the harmful effects that medication stockpiling couls have on individual patients as well as the population as a whole.
Outcomes ResearchOutcomes research is a facet of research that measures results of various medical treatments and/or interventions in patient populations.
Patient ConfidentialityPatient Confidentiality Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in 1996.
Population Health ManagementThis resource provides an overview of population health management and its application within current models of care.
Prior AuthorizationImplementation of a well-designed prior authorization program optimizes patient outcomes by ensuring that patients receive the most appropriate medications while reducing waste, error and unnecessary prescription drug use.
Specialty PharmaceuticalsOver the past several years, utilization and cost of specialty pharmacy products have been increasing at a rate substantially greater than that of other pharmaceuticals.
© 2018 Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy675 North Washington Street, Suite 220 | Alexandria, VA 22314703-684-2600


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Garcinia Cambogia Pure
October 9th, 2018
When talking about weight management, it is easy to get tangled up in the complicated scientific issues. However, sometimes, controlling weight can be as simple as mediating the volume of what comes into your body vs what comes out. This is why diligently managing your diet whilst taking the right supplements, can be of great assistance in complementing your weight management regime. Especially when one considers that appetite is the driving force behind our eating habit, and is at the mercy of multiple factors. For example, stress can be a huge influence on appetite, as well as how active we are. Even the season of the year!
An illustration of this would be our animalistic instincts, which as humans tell us to consume more and conserve energy in the winter. When the cravings take hold, maintaining a wellness orientated set of nutrition parameters can help us stay on top of things by affecting satiation (our bodies' natural desire not to eat), which can work to complement the effect of dietary changes and exercise. Be that controlling sugar levels, or prioritising certain foods over others, it is important to make compensatory efforts to manipulate appetite to suit a positive goal for you.
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text:
Josh Blundell necesitaba un nuevo diseño de impreso o envases y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 18 diseños de 10 diseñadores freelance.
Tony Ireland Townsville
We are a unique Holden, Volvo, Jaguar, HSV, and Pre-owned Car dealership located in North Queensland, Australia.
Our brand defines what makes Tony Ireland Townsville relevant to our customers and different from the competition. It is the glue that connects everything we do enabling us to communicate across a variety of different media with a singular but versatile focus. The recognition and perception of a brand is highly influenced by its visual presentation. Effective visual brand identity is achieved by the consistent use of particular visual elements to create distinction, such as specific fonts, colours, and graphic elements. At the core of every brand identity is our brand mark, or logo.
The aim of developing a value guarantee for Tony Ireland Townsville is to allow our customers to distinguish between why they should choose Tony Ireland Townsville to purchase their products instead of a competitor. By utilising the "Value Guarantee" on all marketing material, promotions, showrooms, business stationary and the internet we are able to create a fine tuned brand that customers trust.
We are requiring a A1 (594mm × 841mm) poster for our Value Guarantee.
We want it to be professional as it will be displayed in our new Multimillion dollar dealership.
I have attached a PDF with examples of our brands. On the left is always the same (Our Philosophy) and on the right column our "Brand Pillars"
We need something that is unique and will be modern as it will be displayed for years to come.
We only need one template (Feel free to do them all if you want) and the attached is not what we are looking for.. we need something better.
We need our Logo (Attached) the brand logo and the text "Value Guarantee" in the document somewhere. As well as our philosophy and brand pillars.
Our font is called ITC Stone Sans if required.
The final design should be provided in Adobe Illustrator Document or Portable Document Format without restrictions.
Happy designing and may the best design win!!
Tony Ireland Marketing Department


text:
Getty Images
The Chargers announced the release of 10 players on Sunday night, including ex-Seahawks wide receiver Deon Butler.
The club now has 80 players on the roster. It must cut at least five more players by Tuesday, per NFL rules.
The other players released were running back Edwin Baker, center Colin Baxter, cornerback Greg Brown, safety Tony Burnett, guard Brandyn Dombrowski, quarterback Nathan Enderle, punter Richard Kent, defensive lineman Jamarcus McFarland and tight end Dallas Walker.
Butler, 27, had played the previous four seasons with Seattle, catching 57 passes for 611 yards and four touchdowns from 2009 through 2012.


text:
Temperamental by Everything But The Girl (Review)
I can't shake this feeling that Watt and Thorn were just trying too hard to make this album full of club singles, of trying to raise their DJ cred.
Welcome to Opus. My name's Jason Morehead and I've been blogging for 20+ years. To date, I've posted 4,104 articles on numerous topics including music, movies, anime, pop culture, web development, technology, and religion.
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to this site's RSS feed.
If you enjoy reading Opus and want to ensure its continued existence, become a supporter today. Contributions help offset the costs of hosting and maintaining the site.
I've also written for Christ and Pop Culture, ScreenAnarchy, and Filmwell. By day, I create elegant user interfaces and beautiful websites at Firespring and Red Bicycle.


text:
world health alliance conference
divinity health diversity summit
Here is a quick snapshot of his credentials:
Lee has been described as captivating, inspiring, engaging and amazing. He is a broadcaster, author and motivational speaker that travels the world sharing his story of personal change while challenging people to live their best life by connecting to their creative perspective in the midst of chaos. Lee is driven to make the world a more positive, compassionate and energetic place.
He accomplishes this through his work as an innovation keynote speaker, broadcaster, creative thinker and writer. Lee has covered entertainment for over 20 years. His work takes him around the globe covering different entertainment events from New York to Moscow, interviewing some of the most successful and distinguished people on the earth. He is a film critic with the Broadcast Film Critics Association and an Anchor /Entertainment Reporter in Detroit, Michigan. He is truly a testament to positivity, creativity and perseverance.
link to Lee's new 501c3 Charity Foundation
A Memoir Of Change
In this thought-provoking memoir,
Emmy Award-winning broadcaster and motivational speaker Lee Thomas shares
the physical and mental battle he is waging with vitiligo -- a skin disorder that is literally turned him from black to white. As someone in the public eye, vitiligo has completely transformed his life. Lee shares his honest and revealing journey to help people understand and cope with difficult challenges using successful life strategies to obtain positive results.


text:
Hi 2 u!
I'm back with another monthly update and the past month we have a very interesting highlight. First I want to talk about the You decide, first edition poll and the results.
As you might know, the "New Shadowlands Mission" initiative won the poll by only 7 votes. If this initiative goes well and we continue to get a lot of positive feedback, we will make sure to continue this plan in the future and set up a new poll once the winning project of the "You decide, first edition" is delivered. So that the losing projects could become winners the next time we set up a poll.
We have already started working on the winning project and the first area in Inferno has been created. The quest starts in Inferno garden and Clanners need to talk to the "Essence Hunter" and Omnis need to talk to the "Soul Devourer". Players will be sent to a portal within the garden which will take them to a secret outdoor area of Inferno. I have attached a screenshot to this letter so you can see the area. (The screen shot is a raw "work in progress" screen shot.) There will be a lot more action when we have set up the spawns and paths.
Both missions will be the same; to defend an ancient relic while the opposite side attacks in waves. The redeemed will protect the relic for its religious values, while the unredeemed wants to extract it and bring it back with them to obtain power. After x waves, the opposite side will be defeated and the defenders will get their mission reward. I am still unsure if I want to make this mission type hard core mode and that dying while participating in this defense, will make you fail the mission. Maybe we will make one hard and easy mode. We have also considered adding a random boss that might or might not spawn during the defense, defeating this boss while defending will grant a handsome reward for the team that manages to do it.
If this mission type is a success, we will create similar missions for Penumbra and Adonis too, so we give players of different level ranges the opportunity to test their abilities as well. You will see the Inferno version on Testlive when we have gotten the 18.6.12 patch shipped to the live dimension. I hope to see many of you on Testlive when the time comes so we can get proper feedback in regards to the quests layout and design.
As for the other initiatives we have worked on this past month, we have made one patch for the Live dimension and one for the Beta. The Live patch is currently on Testlive, but we will have to patch Testlive once more before we push this to the Live servers. Both the 18.6.12 Live patch and the 188.8.131.52 beta patch contains mainly small bug fixes and exploit fixes.
I also want to talk about one of the new exciting features we have added in the 18.7 branch this month: A new set of spawn points that we can enable/disable without patching the servers. Once they have been placed and the playfield has them, the spawns will be disabled until we activate them. When we decide that the spawns should stop spawning, we disable them and all the spawns will disappear instantly. This will be especially handy for us in regards to seasonal content as we can decorate cities and place spawn points without ending up having sneaking holiday content linger in the game world for months after the actual event. Not to mention that the spawning will be a lot less cluttered and we will avoid stacks of Uncle Pumpkinheads standing on top of each other. With this we could also make various events that we can randomly enable/disable. We will be testing these spawn points on the beta servers the next beta patch (which is 220.127.116.11). The Phasefront/Funcom Shop display dungeon will be opened this patch and will display seasonal special items when we enable them. (Well, unless something goes wrong that is...)
As mentioned previously, the 18.7 branch is getting really close to a Testlive state and when patched to Testlive, everyone will get to see the new ICC HQ, the new player experience, the shop changes and various systems changes that have been made in this branch. As a reminder, the new engine client will remain accessible exclusively to the participants in the closed beta, even though we patch out 18.7 to the Live dimension.
Well, thats it from me this month. Until next time!
- Genele


text:
It was difficult to maintain a straight face during Midway's presentation of This is Vegas, but according to developer Surreal, that's the whole point. Far from the serious business of popping caps in Liberty City asses, This is Vegas is chasing a different, significantly sillier mood. That's not to say that the game doesn't exhibit some serious gameplay, but if you're looking for a hard-hitting Vegas tycoon simulator then you'd better prepare to have that serious demeanor wiped right off your face.
Open for Business
There are a few key areas in which you can interact with Surreal's open-world version of Vegas: combat, gambling, partying and driving. Of those four, we only saw the first three since Midway is hesitant of tipping its hand too early. Anyway, the fighting, gambling and partying seemed to offer plenty to keep us busy for awhile.
Combat is as simple as it can get, asking only that you press the X button (or Square button on PS3) in order to punch a jerk until he drops to the ground... at which point pressing X will execute a merciless stomp. Holding down the X button will charge up a major uppercut that will generally knock foes down with one attack. There's also a Buzz Meter that increases when you do well in a fight, and once it's full, you can press the left bumper to perform a finishing move that is so brutal that it gets its own camera angle and slow-motion treatment.
Still, in the sequence we played, the most awesome part of the fighting didn't come from that actual combat as much as the poor schlubs that we were beating down. We fought a couple of beefy frat boy dudes out front of one of This is Vegas's neon-encrusted casinos, but those guys were just the little fish. See, it seems that the proprietor of that particular casino didn't take kindly to having folk get stomped on in front of their place of business, so they sent out some muscle to deal with our shenanigans.
This muscle, however, consisted almost entirely of two casino mascots: one that looked remarkably similar to the most recent incarnation of the giant-headed Burger King and the other dressed in a costume that mimicked a valiant medieval knight riding what looked like Yoshi of Super Mario fame. By the time these two chumps dropped, we were already close to rolling on the floor ourselves. Just then we were joined by one of the Chairmen (This is Vegas's version of the Rat Pack) and things really started to get crazy.
This guy (named Frankie D in an obvious reference to Frank Sinatra) had a bone to pick with the dude running the casino. So when the joint disgorged another batch of comically costumed casino lackeys, Frankie D joined in the fight issuing some of the funniest parody dialog ever. Granted, a lot of Frankie D's lines seemed to have been cribbed from Phil Hartman's impression of Frank Sinatra on "Saturday Night Live," but that didn't make them any less hilarious.
So, while the combat system was neither intricate nor innovative, the presentation was what really sold the package.


text:
Eartip basics
Eartips go in your ears, so you'll want to treat them right. Here's the protocol:
Selecting the right size
Remember—one size does not fit all. Beats earphones come with several sets of eartips, so try them all to find the pair that fits most comfortably.
Insertion and removal
- Pull back on your ear to straighten the canal.
- Insert the eartip securely, so that it's firmly in place.
- To remove, twist the earphone gently to break the seal in your ear.
- Always remove the eartip from the earpiece before cleaning. Failure to do this may result in damage to the earphones.
- Use warm water and mild soap on a damp cloth to remove dirt and earwax from the eartips. Don't use harsh cleaning products.
- Rinse completely and dry before placing them back on your earphones.
- Gently push the eartips back onto the eartubes.
- Learn more about how to treat your earphones.


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The best package designs are aesthetically pleasing, creative, and provoke (hopefully positive) emotions. They must also be functional, and meet legal and organizational requirements of the company and the consumer.
Color, typeface, and layout are integral to surface package design, with which graphic designers are most involved. These package designers work closely with marketers and engineers to develop packaging suitable for a variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, food, beverage, software, and almost anything else that is sold in bulk or retail.
Package label designers must work within the constraints imposed by the physical dimensions of the package and the information that must be shown. For example, food packaging is limited by many government regulations on size, nutrition information, symbols, and logos. The package designer's challenge is to meet all these needs while still making the package attractive to the consumer.


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Redskins Free Agency Tracker – March 12th
Whether the Redskins have mountains of money to spend or are counting their pennies like this year, this time of year is like Christmas for fans.
THN will keep you up-to-date with news throughout the day that affects the burgundy and gold. Keep it locked here all day. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Aqib Talib, Barry Cofield, Chris Chester. Stephen Bowen, Derek Cox, Greg Toler, Josh Wilson, Joshua Morgan, kedric golston, Kyle Arrington, Lorenzo Alexander, Reggie Bush, Robert Griffin III, santana moss, Sav Rocca, Sean Smith


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As the holidays approach, look sharp! You've got dinners to go to! Gift-getting ceremonies! Arraignments...no matter where you are, a t-shirt always says "I woke up just for this occasion." And we've got a sweet-smelling shit-ton of them here to clothe your exhausted (upper) ass! No matter how many classics we got in stock, we can always count on the Bonnie 'Prince' of Billy to supply us with fresh designs for his fiends and mignons alike. The latest is a pink reason for living - well, another one anyway - that also brings us back to the legend of Wolfroy, who went to town and gawd only knows what he did there and saw there and ate there. You can see him though - his silhouette anyway - and a tree and some clouds that are exquisitely traced in thin lines of white against the pink sky. Take a look! It's just like everyday in the life of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and just like everyday, you can put it on your own damn chest too, if you want.
While shoppin' 'round for this special item, TAKE NOTE dam you that we've also got back in stock in all sizes for the first time in awhile the "I See A Darkness" and "Ease Down the Road" shirts, both of which set a new bar for shirt designs and colors and what people like in both them areas when they too were new. Now they're a little order and kinda venerable in their ageless awesomeness - and most important, they've now back to clothe your upper-middle parts.
Seriously though - if T-shirts R U, or U R a gift-giving son of a bitch(stress?) who's got another T-shirt wearing SOB in your androginal sight, then you just can't stop there! A couple of our other perennials just washed back into stock (no, they're not pre-washed, not stone-washed either - that's just a turn of face, dam your hide): Death Tees, so the whole world sees! Both designs in either black or white, so take your pick and then choose one. Speaking of two shirts, what's about Ty Segall - not his new "Twins" tee, but the "Goodbye Bread" shirt as well! They're both back the fuck IN and we're rarin' to shovel them straight onto your back. And this doesn't even begin to touch upon the two colors that the Blues Control shirt comes in, and it's so wicked as well. And then there are the other classic Bonnie 'Prince' Billy shirts and the Palace Music "Days in the Wake" shirt, which could have started it all (but didn't). Thank our Yankee creator that we're still selling a record here and there. It means we deal with the shirts that really matter.


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Patent Medicine Advertising - Kendall's
Vermonters like other Americans in the nineteenth century, sought cures for their ailments, real and imagined, through "patent medicines." These ready-mixed nostrums were self-prescribed and vigorously marketed by their creators. Although their benefits were dubious, consumers clung to the hope that, in an era of rapid technological and social change, patent medicines would cure the stresses of modern life. Vermont was home to an untold number of patent medicine companies, many of which are documented by advertisements, publications, and bottles in the collections of the Vermont Historical Society. This exhbit includes a sample of the paper advertisements for patent medicines that are at the Leahy Library.
Please click on an image below to enlarge and view gallery.


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I am starting a new column devoted to women of style. In the initial stages of my column, I will profile society ladies who pursue philanthropic endeavors but are also fashion standouts. I will be covering their hectic lifestyles, interesting fashion choices and philanthropic endeavors. I always was curious as to what designers these ladies wear, who their fashion icons are, and what type of effort they make in getting dressed.
Eventually, I would like to expand the column to include entertainment figures, fashion leaders and those who astound with their brave and interesting sartorial garb. Some have the means to purchase couture while others have the creativity to look like they purchase couture; both of these prototypes are interesting subjects. The column will explore the ideology behind getting dressed. As a woman, I know how clothing mirrors my attitude, mood and disposition. I will be exploring this phenomenon with the personalities I write about.
This is a column about that small segment of society that likes to make a statement with the clothing they choose; those who are not afraid to wear white in the winter or boots in the summer. Jean Shafiroff is one of those who understand that fashion rules precisely because there are no rules.
-Lieba Nesis


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Sharon Stone will christen AmaVida in March, 2013
CHATSWORTH, CA - (Mar. 12, 2013) - Award-winning river cruise line AmaWaterways is proud to announce Actress, Producer and PhilanthropistSharon Stone as the godmother of the AmaVida. The new 106-passenger vessel is leased from Douro Azul, its Portuguese partner. Stone will bless the ship at a traditional christening ceremony in Porto, Portugal on March 22, 2013.
"We are thrilled to have such an accomplished and acclaimed person as Sharon Stone as the AmaVida's godmother," said Kristin Karst, AmaWaterways' Executive Vice President and Co-Owner. "We are so inspired by Sharon's extensive humanitarian efforts over the years. Her beauty and grace make her the perfect match for the AmaVida, one of the loveliest and most technologically advanced river cruise ships in operation today."
In addition to her starring roles in such acclaimed films as Basic Instinct and Casino, Stone is a passionate philanthropist who supports a number of charitable causes. Since 1995, she has helped raise over $300 million for AIDS research, including $1.1 million in a single night at anamfAR Foundation charity auction in 2012. Stone currently works with Drop in the Bucket, a nonprofit organization that builds wells and sanitation systems at schools in Africa.
The tradition of christening a ship originated more than 4,000 years ago. A respected and well-known woman is carefully selected to serve as the new ship's godmother, entrusted with blessing the vessel at a special christening ceremony. The blessing for the safety of the ship's passengers and crew typically concludes with the time-honored ritual of breaking a Champagne bottle against the ship's hull.
The AmaVida is a deluxe 106-passenger vessel that incorporates many innovative design features and spacious staterooms and suites that measure up to 323 sq. feet. Guests will enjoy free-flowing fine wine and beer with every dinner and a choice of dining venues. The AmaVida also features a sun deck, heated pool, massage and beauty salon, fitness center, and complimentary in-room Internet access and Video On-Demand.
The AmaVida will cruise exclusively in Portugal's pristine Douro River Valley, designated one of the world's top sustainable destinations by the National Geographic Society's Center for Sustainable Destinations. In an effort to be as environmentally responsible as possible, the AmaVida's technically advanced design features photovoltaic solar panels on the Sun Deck to generate energy for the ship's operating systems.
The AmaVida will serve the Douro River on several itineraries in 2013 and 2014:Portl Wine & Flamenco (2013 and 2014);Enticing Douro (2013 and 2014);Impressions of France & Portugal; and Classic Port Wines & Charming Quintas.


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Birth As We Know It (2006 film, 73 minutes), directed and produced by Elena Tonetti-Vladimirova, is a stunningly beautiful film about natural births. It delivers a powerful transmission of what it really takes to give birth consciously and gracefully. Since its release in 2006, Birth As We Know It has spread to 58 countries without any advertising or marketing, and has received global recognition as the most comprehensive guide to Conscious birth. It is already on its 6th edition, and has been translated into 12 languages.
Click here to buy a DVD or download instantly!
Birth As We Know It has been featured in countless international magazine editorials, such as 'Mothering', 'Byron Child' and 'Midwifery Today'. Its importance has also been recognized by educational institutions. In 2010 the film was added to a course at the UN University for Peace and its affiliate, the International University of Monaco. In 2008 it became part of the mandatory curriculum of every medical school and University in Iran. The Educational Committee of Iran allowed only 5 foreign titles in their schools, Birth As We Know It being one of them. In 2009 Iran issued a bill about reducing C-section rates down to 12% (from the existing 40%) by the year 2012. The Chair of the Educational Committee said: 'This film helps my students to be more at peace with Americans.' It was shown at the 2012 Human Rights Congress in Seattle, WA and received a lengthy standing ovation. It was also shown at the 2006 Congressional hearing in Washington D.C. and at the 2008 Hawaii State Senate hearing, both dedicated to the prevention of domestic violence. It won the "Most Impactful Film" award at the 'Raw Lifestyle' Film Festival in Hollywood (2007), and the Accolade Award (2007).
The film features 11 exquisite natural births: at home, in the sea, breech delivery, and home waterbirth of twins. Also included are interviews on topics rarely discussed: Limbic Imprint, Sexuality of childbirth, Cesarean-section, Circumcision, Lotus Birth, and Conscious Birth preparation. Viewers are given a rare opportunity to witness the true nature of birth, and the potential to give birth gracefully and fearlessly. With rich cinematography, invoking narrative and a breathtaking soundtrack, the film runs 73 minutes plus 3 hours of bonus material, including 'Director's Commentary' by Elena. There are also two short edits of the film (25 minutes and 40 minutes long), called the 'Educational Version', for time-limited classes and conference presentations.
Film creator and producer Elena Tonetti-Vladimirova was one of the pioneers of the Conscious Birth Movement in Russia since 1982, where she first recognized the need for a transformation in our birthing practices. "The quality of our formative period defines the quality of our life," says Elena, "The birth process affects our ability to love, experience happiness and intimacy, as well as whether living in a body is experienced as safe and joyful or as painful and lonesome". Elena has brought her wisdom about how to avoid complications at birth through an effective preparation program shown in her film. "The birth itself is the last accord in this fascinating journey of self discovery," Elena says, "After all the preparation is accomplished, the delivery of the baby unfolds naturally in all its magnificence."
Through her years of experience, Elena developed the Birth into Being Method, and has led hundreds of workshops sharing it with people. It is a powerful technique that helps participants release their own birth trauma and self-limiting beliefs and experience a profound power of the Birthing Field. She has also certified numerous practitioners, who continue to share the Birth Into Being Method with the world while she focuses on new creations. Dr. Christiane Northrup wholeheartedly endorses Elena's work. After attending Elena's workshop with both of her daughters, she dedicated most of her March 2008 newsletter to praising the Method and explaining its main focus, and also included Elena's Limbic Imprint article.
Click here to buy a DVD or download instantly!
Standing, right to left: Igor Charkovsky, Elena Tonetti-Vladimirova, Tatiana Sargunas
Testimonials - Read All
Joshua Morrill
"The film is Divine, literally, gift to humanity from earth mother goddess herself."
Dr. Michel Odent
"We must pay tribute to Elena for prompting us to re-examine basic features of human nature. Her film explains why millions of women, all over the world, dream of giving birth in the sea, among dolphins."
Tatiana Sargunas, Russian Spiritual Midwife, Mother of 4
"This film delivers a powerful transmission of what it really takes to give birth consciously."
George C. Denniston MD, MPH, Retired Professor of Family Medicine, University of Washington President, Population Dynamics, Seattle WA President, Doctors Opposing Circumcision Former Associate Medical Director, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
"Every young woman in the world, before she even thinks of having a child, should see "Birth As We Know It", Elena Tonetti-Vladimirova's film. Every woman needs to know that she has a choice between fear and joy. This film is about the happiest day in a woman's life, the day she gives birth. It will help her to prepare for a joyous birth, instead of a possibly wretched one and avoid the pitfalls of 'modern' medicine, which fails to recognize that birth is a normal, natural process that women have been carrying out successfully for five million years. This film will lead her toward experiencing the empowerment that a natural birth will give her, which is her birthright. It is unlikely that she will ever see as important a film again during her lifetime."
Vicki Abrams, CCE, IBCLC, Director of the Childbirth Education Program at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing
"Rich with some of the most stunning images of birth that I have seen, "Birth As We Know It" captures the peace and connection of the birth experience and beautifully demonstrates that pregnancy offers a profound opportunity for increased awareness, opening, and transformation. Imparting an important and powerful message through its bold statements and imagery, Birth As We Know It will infuse women with the inner knowing that they can create a natural and loving journey into birth. I highly recommend this film to health care providers and prospective parents alike."
Dr. David Chamberlain, Psychologist, Author, www.birthpsychology.com
"Dear One, I spent a morning on your film and other treasures- your bonus features, going back and forth, and taking notes. I have already begun to spread the good news of your priceless work, and will certainly write a review for all APPPAH publications. My congratulations and best wishes."
Dr. Michael Trout, APPPAH Vice-President
Dr Sarah J Buckley, GP/Family Physician, Author, www.sarahjbuckley.com
"Beautifully crafted and visually stunning, Birth as we know it not only inspires us to birth consciously; it also gives us the information we need to prepare our minds and bodies for this pivotal event. Birth as we know it will be invaluable for mothers, fathers, midwives and everyone involved with birth and babies, awakening us all to the central role of birth in life-long health and wellbeing."
Matt Monarch and Angela Stokes, Raw Food Authors/Speakers, www.therawfoodworld.com
"Elena will show you that birth is not only something not to fear - but that it can, in fact, have the potential to be the most ecstatic, ORGASMIC experience of your life! I highly recommend her LIFE-CHANGING, world-shifting work! I also recommend purchasing her DVD NOW! I feel it's the BEST DVD on Natural Birthing out there - absolutely phenomenal!"
Green Apple Award for "Most Impactful Auxillary Film", Raw Lifestyle Film Festival (2007)
The Accolade Award (2007)


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Content for these pages has been migrated to ANSSWeb. For all past and current content see ANSSWeb
New Subject Headings in the Social Sciences
Part of the charge of the Subject and Bibliographic Access Committee is to provide a forum for exchange of information, and a clearinghouse for issues and concerns related to bibliographic access (including, but not restricted to, subject headings, call numbers, and name authorities) to materials in anthropology, sociology, criminology and criminal justice, and related fields.
The Committee will be looking at the weekly lists of new subject headings in the Library of Congress Subject Headings, and sending out a list of all of those that are pertinent to the social sciences.
If you have any comments or suggestions about these informational postings, or any questions, please send them to the Subject and Bibliographic Access Committee.


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Find Your Perfect Home.
Manistee Real Estate
Manistee is located in Michigan. Manistee, Michigan has a population of 6,084. Manistee is less family-centric than the surrounding county with 20.41% of the households containing married families with children. The county average for households married with children is 22.42%.
The median household income in Manistee, Michigan is $35,587. The median household income for the surrounding county is $40,408 compared to the national median of $53,482. The median age of people living in Manistee is 43.9 years.
Manistee Weather
The average high temperature in July is 80 degrees, with an average low temperature in January of 18.3 degrees. The average rainfall is approximately 35.2 inches per year, with inches of snow per year.
View Homes for Sale in Manistee
Manistee Map
Real Estate Near Manistee
Nearby Cities
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Manistee Zip Codes


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Bar Kits
Grey Simmonds Bar Kits are perfect If you fancy becoming a master at cocktail making, our range of cocktail starter sets are the perfect choice for any beginner. Whether you're looking for enough bar tools and cocktail equipment to kit out your home bar or just need a few basic cocktail accessories to whizz up a quick drink, we've got a cocktail kit for everyone.
Making your favourite cocktail has never been easier with our selection of drink specific sets, which includes cocktail making kits for Mojito cocktails, Martini cocktails and Margarita cocktails. We also offer great value portable cocktail sets for anyone with a mobile bar.


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A man who is suffering from a terminal brain tumour will next month tie the knot with his "best friend" and partner of 11 years.
David Smith, who is 34, will marry girlfriend Katy Harris in her home town of Rochdale, with their son Danny (4) standing alongside them.
The Portadown man, who is trying to make the most of every day he has left, was first diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour in 2010.
He has undergone two major, lifesaving operations since then but has now been told there is nothing more the surgeons can do for him.
The couple, who live in the Park Road area, are being helped by the charity, Gift of a Wedding, to make sure they have a day to treasure.
And planning their 'big day' has given them a much-needed 'lift' and something to look forward to.
Said David, "Katy has given up her life for me and my dying wish is for us to get married."
David's diagnosis came after he began experiencing severe headaches and memory loss over the space of about a month.
One day, Katy found him in the kitchen of their home and he didn't know where he was. The day he was taken to hospital, he was barely able to get out of bed.
A lorry driver by trade, David was "never at the doctor's" and when he wasn't at work he was with Katy or out with his mates pursuing his main hobbies of fishing and hunting.
As he explained, "life was good" so the diagnosis was a bolt from the blue.
An MRI scan confirmed the couple's worst fears - there was a tumour 11cm long and a cyst as well - and David needed a highly risky operation. Said David, "I was told I might not make it - in fact, I was initially told I only had six months to live."
But David pulled through and the tumour remained stable for four years practically to the day.
However, last October David had another MRI scan and was told he again needed a major, urgent operation to take some of the pressure off his brain.
Said Katy, "Afterwards, they told him they will not operate again."
Since then, David has endured a "horrendous" course of chemotherapy, which didn't work, and has just finished another course which appears to be keeping the tumour stable.
Through all of this, Katy has stood by David, even though he told her at the outset to leave him and go back to England, which she refused to do.
He said, "At the start, I was at an all-time low. I remember lying on the sofa in the early hours of the morning, I was terrified I was going to die in the bed with Katy."
But the couple eventually decided to have their much-loved son Danny, who attends the nursery at Portadown Integrated PS. He will be four on November 12, the day before their wedding.
David, who also has a son by a previous relationship, is a doting dad. He says that if it weren't for Danny he would give up. "He is so funny, he makes me laugh," he said. "He knows I am not well but I want to make memories for him. I am having the best time of my life with him."
And there will be plenty of memories. The family spent the summer in Cranfield - thanks to a caravan Katy's mum and dad bought for them - two weeks ago they were at Dublin Zoo and there are daily trips to the park and the swimming pool.
Added David, "If I had died before he was two, he wouldn't have known me, and sometimes I wish I had died then to spare him what he is going to go through. But Katy is a fantastic mum and I have no worries that way whatsoever.
"Everything I do now is for the child. I am fighting even harder. I live every day for Danny. I am not a religious person but when I wake up I think 'I have got another day'."
David and Katy met when Katy, who is from Rochdale and worked for O2, phoned David about an upgrade.
And they will return there to marry, with 40 people attending the wedding and 80-90 the evening do.
Among the wedding party will be members of both families and David's good friend Gareth Martin.
The couple are also hoping to have an evening do when they return - money permitting - for those people who cannot make the trip to England.
Funds have been tight for the couple as David has not been able to work since his diagnosis so when Katy's mum contacted the charity, Gift of a Wedding, they were delighted.
The Portadown pair's wedding is the first in Northern Ireland that the charity has organised. The charity invites businesses to donate what they can to the 'big day' leaving the couple with less expense to worry about.
Local businesses have stepped in to help, with Debonair in Portadown providing the suits, Perfect Day in Lurgan 'gifting' the dress, and town jewellers Nigel O'Hara and David Van Scoy donating the rings and necklaces for the bridesmaids.
While David has had a few unpleasant experiences of people thinking he was drunk - the tumour affects his balance - and has had to put up with some stares at his scarred scalp, he has good friends, from both sides of the community, and both he and Katy have support from their families.
His fishing friends take him out, the guys from the gun club visit, Sure Start have been "fantastic" while the women in the Costcuttters store and Post Office on the Garvaghy Road "are great".
He is not afraid of dying - "It comes to us all, it's out of my hands. You come in on a date and you go out on a date and the middle bit you make yourself.
"I don't want to die, who does, but I will never give up."


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Sam Barnes
Really nice article. As a project manager this sort of topic appeals to me and it's nice to see it here.
For a split second I thought this was going to be a 'shut up and pay me for my world class services, I'm worth it' toned article – but damn it, I hate being wrong!
It had me thinking back to when clients have uttered these reactions to quotes and people around me have reacted negatively, sneering at the client, laughing at what their idea of a "fair price" is etc.
You know what, in my earlier days I did this also, but it never felt good, in fact I cringe thinking about it now.
With just a little twist on how to take a client's response and react to it can make all the difference in that sales process and client relationship… and to me, that's as valuable a skill in this business as any design or development ones.
Wise words Mr. Clarke.