The Reason for the Exile

Ever think about why God sent Israel into exile? Probably the most popular answer to that question would be their idoltry, and certainly God was not happy with that. However, when you look at what the God says through Prophets in warning before the exile (read Amos 5:11-17) to start with).

Also, look what God says through Zechariah about the reason for the exile. It all has to do with justice for the poor and the oppressed.

Zechariah 7:9-14
"This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. in your hearts do not think evil of each other.'

But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.

When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the Lord Almighty. 'I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers."

How do we live our lives today? Do we take care of the poor, the orphans, and the needy? Obviously this is a priority to God, and so it should be a priority in how we live our lives.

Danny

Quitting

Read this great post from Seth Godin on his new blog.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/the_dip/2007/04/the_seven_reaso.html

Powerful.
Danny

Have You Read Jonah Lately?

Have you read the book of Jonah lately?

What a powerful little story. I would encourage you to read it again if you haven't read it for sometime, it only takes a few minutes.

While there are some amazing messages about repentance in this book, what struck me as I read it this week were the lessons on attitude. Jonah is a great example a bad attitude.

First of all, he does not have an attitude of love. His attitude is very selfish. He doesn't go to Nineveh because he doesn't want them to receive God's forgiveness (Jonah 4:2-3). He is very selfish. This is the opposite of that attitude that Christ calls us to live in. An attitude of self-sacrifice and love (Philippians 2).

Secondly, Jonah is very stubborn. First of all Jonah, stubbornly runs from God. Then, after getting swallowed by the giant fish it appears that he takes three days before he is willing to pray to God (Jonah 1:17-2:1).

Finally we see that Jonah's attitude is shaped by circumstances. In Chapter 4 we see that Jonah starts off discontent, angry at God. After a God provides a vine, Jonah is happy (4:6). The next day God takes away the vine, and his attitude slinks back into a negative attitude (4:8).

Our attitude has significant influence over the way we live our lives. It has an impact over our relationship with other people, and above all our relationship with God. Let us all live an attitude filled with love and sacrifice. Don't let circumstances control your attitude.

Danny

Seth's Blog

I really recommend checking out Seth Godin's Blog on a regular basis. It contains many insightful comments on marketing, customer service, and just plain interesting thoughts.

In particular, check out recent posts on "Where Do You Park?" and "Time Machines".

Danny

Christian Networker's Perspective - Story of Technical Problems

So, our newsletter is finally back out today. Unfortunately to a smaller subscriber base after the technical difficulties we've been having. That is why it has been so long since we have had an issue.

This fall I was getting ready to send out an issue, when I discovered that without any warning the autoresponder broadcast system I was using (Pro Autoresponder) had shut down. They simply went out of business, and I was left with no way to get my newsletter out.

I thought it would be fairly simple to switch over to a new company. I new it would be a pain, but it ended up being more difficult than I thought. I switched over to a new company, only to find upon testing that it would not work for my needs. It would not send out the broadcasts of the newsletter the way I wanted it to, and further it had a very hard to use control panel.

I eventually found another autoresponder system that has worked. Unfortunately it means that all of the subscribers have had to reconfirm their subscription. As such, we have only a small fraction of the original subscriber base. Hopefully many will confirm their subscription still.

Anyways, it took a few weeks of testing to be able to configure the newsletter for the new autoresponder. Even then we have been having problems with the HTML version. As such, this first issue back is in text only. Hopefully our next issue will work smoothly in HTML. Thank you for being subscribers.

If you are reading this blog and you are not a subscriber of our free newsletter, "A Christian Networker's Perspective", I would encourage you to email me to subscribe. Send me an email at danny@secondincometeam.com and ask to subscribe.

Blessings,
Danny

MySPACE

Hi everyone,

With the huge growth of the MYSPACE world, I decided (rather late I know) to join the crowd.

Anyways, check out our MYSPACE site at
http://www.myspace.com/dannygamache

Enjoy!
Danny