Being Fear-less in a Fear-filled World

Welcome! And thank you for Pressin'In with us for this GREAT NEWS that we can "Be FEAR-LESS in a FEAR-FILLED world"!

Who of us DOESN'T want to walk this earth in the authority that Christ came sooooo far to make available to us, through His Death, Burial, and Resurrection?! We don't know about you, but we know that we surely want both Jesus's authority AND His courage!

        To put it plainly, if Jesus gave EVERYTHING He had, in order that ALL that He has be made available to you and me, and all of us on this earth, then we want EVERYTHING He died to give us!

        Proverb 18:10 tells us, "The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." Do you want to be "SAFE"? Do you want to be fear-LESS, like the title of our message says, from all the fear-filled matters here in this world?

        Never has there been a better time than now for us to stop allowing ourselves to be robbed of the "courage" of "LIFE" that is made available to us through The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

        So, let's journey through the answers to the question, "How do I begin the process of 'running INto' the Lord, our Strong Tower?"

"The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it (Psalm 68:11)."

        Your love and prayers mean more than you know, both to us and to those we reach with The Gospel of Christ Jesus and The Gospel He preached. We pray that The Lord returns to you 100-fold reward for all of the caring, sharing, and faith-fullness you pour out!

We are grateful for the wonderfully fruitful opportunities The Person of The Holy Spirit is blessing us with, to glorify the Great Name of our Father and Lord Jesus Christ, opportunities we simply could not take advantage of if not for the passion and support of our TTM partners to magnify Jesus Christ by sending us into this final hour's harvest! On behalf of the two of us, and those we are reaching, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking part in our work, friendship, and all our family of faith has been doing to encourage and reach this end time's generation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ... and with the Gospel Jesus Christ preached! Your friends and servants in Christ Jesus,

    

To Show GOD BIG in a World that Sees Him small… 
sums up the reason Keith stepped out in faith to focus on reaching the lost and strengthening believers everywhere, through Toward The Mark, Inc.  Keith and Brenda's prayer is that you will be encouraged and edified by the Secrets from God's Word that Keith recounts in our written and recorded products.

We couldn't do this without the help of our friends!
This blog channel, along with the complete collection of original podcasts, music, blogs, books, CDs, and other Bible-based resources of Toward The Mark, Inc. is made possible by the faithful prayer and financial support of the TTM Sponsorship Family. We'd like to invite you to come on-board, to become a part of the TTM Family as well, by becoming a monthly financial partner. Your support will go toward fulfilling our God-given calling to help provide effective, contemporary outreach tools that are available to everyone, the churched and un-churched alike, who desire to know more of the love, truth, and salvation of Jesus Christ. We invite you to partner with us, as we, "press Toward The Mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14)

Keep PRESSIN' IN!

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We INVITE YOU...
 see and hear, follow and share, more from Toward The Mark, Inc.:

~  Keith and Brenda "Between The Lines" Podcast on TTM's Libsyn Channel

...BORN TO TRIUMPH!

~ "Keith Shealy & Toward The Mark" on Facebook

~ "TTM SingingSgt" on Twitter

~ "Sharing with you the Secrets God Whispers to us" teachings on our website 

        Take me back to the top of this post.

Go To The ONE Who Wired You To Know What You're Created To Do

Remember...

"Only By Fulfilling God's Will For Our Lives Can We Actually Be Fulfilled!" - Keith, Brenda, and Team TTM

There are areas of real estate in our own communities that contain something so valuable that not even all of the world's money, diamonds, gold, and countless precious minerals can compare! Did you know your community has a place like that? It's a fact ... it's your own local cemeteries! Cemeteries are where the most wealth in all the world can be found! Deep inside the cemetery's grounds are songs that were never sung, books that were never written, businesses that were never started, important words that were never spoken, and all of the countless, wonder-full things that never became more than good intentions,... now laying six feet under the ground.

Why does this happen? Why do so many people talk about doing great things, but end up taking the visions and dreams that God placed in their hearts to the grave? The answer is simple. They never found the reason why God put them on earth, so they never lived "real LIFE". They lived as mere shadows with no definition or real meaning or "success". They did not succeed in fulfilling their life's purpose for which God created them because only "IN HIM" is life's purpose to be found... the secret to a successful life.

What about the people who have written hit songs or best-selling books? Are they successful? Only if those things were done with God, because what the ungodly understand as success is not success at all. While it may be true that they pursued their dreams and accomplished some or all of their vision, whatever someone accomplishes outside of Christ is not in the will of God but is achieved by the arm of carnal flesh. Such efforts are the abuse of their own beings: the abnormal use or abuse of God's original intent for the gifts and talents that He placed in them for His purposes and for His good pleasure.

The truth is without God we can do nothing! The sooner we realize this, the sooner we can begin accomplishing God's purpose for creating us. Only then can we truly be fulfilled: only then can we live genuinely successful lives. For our dreams and visions can only be fully understood and truly realized within the context and fulfillment of God's vision for us. In other words, it is only by fulfilling God's will that we can be fulfilled.

When our heart is filled with thanks for God, for Who He is more than for what He can do for us, God can most certainly smell it. For God, a gratitude-filled heart is sweet in His nostrils. When God is our passion, so much so that we are continually grateful to Him, for Him, the contents of our hearts rise up before His Throne like a sort of invisible smoke, or a sweet-smelling savor, that is Holy, acceptable, and pleasing to Him. This sweet-smelling savor, or fragrance, is the praise mentioned in Psalms 100:4. God is the Consummate Family Man, and nothing makes Him happier than when His children love, and want, Him more than they want their own lives, or His "stuff" for that matter. "But seek ye first the Kingdom of God (the Kingdom that IS God), and His Righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)

If there was just one thing we could give to you now, it would be "the road map" for discovering the gifts and talents God placed in you to fulfill your life's purpose and His good pleasure! "The road map" is also the ONE THING we ask in prayer on your behalf: --that you develop the "want to", the passion and desire like never before, to get into the pages of God's Holy written Word; --that you ask The Holy Spirit to bring to you, from Jesus Christ, what God had in His heart for each passage of Scripture He gave to His Prophets to write down; --that you come to recognize God's Holy spoken Word in the pursuit of "oneness" with Christ Jesus and walking out each step toward The Prize of His Calling.

"See flipcard titles of Pressin'IN Blog"

We pray that you join us in our unquenchable passion, with eternal thanksgiving and praise, for lighting a fire for The Lord God in the hearts of others... a fire that will burn hot and constantly for Who He IS more than for what He can do for us!

Your friends and servants in Christ Jesus,

     ...and the entire Team of Toward The Mark, Inc.

We couldn't do this without the help of our friends!
This blog message, and each of our full-Bible tools and resources, is made possible by the support of our faithful partners. If you would like to be part of helping us expand our outreach, we would like to invite you to become a monthly financial partner. Your support will go toward fulfilling our calling to provide effective, ongoing outreach tools for the churched and un-churched alike to know the love, truth, and salvation of Jesus Christ. We invite you to partner with us and, together, "press Toward The Mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14)."

CLICK HERE to make a tax-deductible contribution securely by PayPal.

Every gift is tax-deductible and helps. We thank you in advance for sowing your financial seed into the fertile soil of this ministry, and we pray God bless you with a 100-fold return for your generosity!

Mail tax-deductible check contributions to:  Toward The Mark, Inc., P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152.

Sharing practical and effective ways for knowing and showing the Love and Truth of the Gospel that Jesus Christ preached... Living a victorious life during turbulent times in a lost and dying world.

"See flipcard titles"

          Take me back to the top of this post.

          Take me to "Happy is Giving-Thanks" post.

          Take me to "Prayer and Our Vote..." post.

          Take me to "STOP..." post.

          Take me to "Is Your Nest Becoming Unfeathered?" post.

          Take me to "Love Letter from FATHER" post.

          Take me to "Out From Under His Wings" post.

          Take me to "Gold Star Tribute for Memorial Day" post.

          Take me to "Special Tribute to Godly Moms" post.

          Take me to "New CHURCH Leader Prophetic Word" post.

          Take me to "'Rein In' our Runaway Brain" post.

          Take me to "Celebrating 'SINGLEness'" post.

          Take me to "Worship God with sacrifices of Praise" post.

          Take me to "MONEY is not the root of all EVIL" post.

          Take me to "The BEST New Year's Resolution" post.

          Take me to "Aristo & God fulfilled their 3rd military deployment!" post.

          Take me to "Leave it ALL on the Field!" post.

          Take me to "Happy THANKS-GIVING IS EVERYTHING Day!" post.

          Take me to "BEST Keith Shealy Quotes, Recent Most-Requested" post.

          Take me to "Being IN True Faith; OUT of Sin & Doubt" post.

          Take me to "Wine, Deception, and... JESUS" post.

          Take me to "NEW Windows of Opportunity" post.

          Take me to "Defeat the Giant in the Way of your Promotion" post.

          Take me to "What is GOLD STAR MOTHER'S DAY in September?!" post.

          Take me to "NEW Breed of Leader!" post.

          Take me to "God shows Himself BIG in small things too" post.

          Take me to "What do you mean, take up the Cross?" post.

          Take me to "Smite God's Shepherd; Scatter the Sheep!" post.

          Take me to "Bite Your Tongue!" post.

          Take me to "Are You Ready to be Offered?" post.

          Take me to "Bring God a Sacrifice of praise" post.

          Take me to "God, why am I here?" post.

          Take me to "Murder by words?" post.

          Take me to "The BEST Fruit on the Limb" post.

          Take me to "We've Got to Let 'Stuff' Go" post.

          Take me to "Don't Take Your Gifts to the Grave" post.

          Take me to "Salvation is Every-Day Life" post.

          Take me to "Emergency Warning to Professing Witches" post.

          Take me to "Passionate Pursuit of Singleness" post.

          Take me to "We'll Miss You, Dad Shealy" post.

          Take me to "Celebrate Difference; Honoring MLK, Jr." post.

          Take me to "75 Years Ago: Pearl Harbor & Fleet Admiral Nimitz" post.

          Take me to "Our Military Vets Out of Sight...Out of Mind?" post.

          Take me to "Where to RUN When Trials Come" post.

          Take me to "Caught Up With Jesus" post.

          Take me to "True Leaders Speak Life" post.

          Take me to "Greatest Hindrance to Significance" post.

          Take me to Keith's MINI-Series of *Keep the FAITH* book, Chapter TWO.

          Take me to "Rattlesnake Revelation" post.

          Take me to "Gold Star Families Gave ALL" post.

          Take me to "Love of GOD" post.

          Take me to "My Broken Vessel's Fiery Trials" post.

          Take me to "Magnetic Mantle...Why Cats Should Have Kitties" post.

          Take me to "Run TO the Roar!" post.

          Take me to "Overcoming Intimidation" post.

          Take me to "The Invisible Man" post.

          Take me to "The Abomination of Misrepresentation" post.

          Take me to "Living Among Thorns" post.

          Take me to Keith's Journey through Chapter ONE of *Keep the FAITH*.

To Show GOD BIG in a World that Sees Him small… sums up the reason Keith stepped out in faith to focus on reaching the lost and strengthening believers everywhere, through Toward The Mark, Inc.  Keith and Brenda's prayer is that you will be encouraged and edified by the Secrets from God's Word that Keith recounts in our written and recorded products.  The complete collection of original podcasts, music, blogs, books, CDs, and other resources of Toward The Mark, Inc. are made possible by the prayer and financial contributions of the TTM Support Family.  We'd like to welcome you onboard TODAY!

We INVITE YOU ... 
See and hear, follow and share, more of TTM's full-Bible messages of God, His Will, and His Ways:

~ "Between The Lines TTM Show podcasts" on TTM's Channel

~ "Keith and BrendaLee Shealy's Video Channel" on Vimeo

~ "Keith Shealy's Toward The Mark media page" on Facebook

~ "TTM Singing Sergeant media page" on Twitter

~ "Sharing Messages God Whispers" at our website online

Toward the Mark, Inc. © 2005 - 2020 | Privacy Policy and Terms of Use apply |
(757)251-2440 | TowardTheMark.com | Resources@TowardTheMark.com

Winning The Lost ... Throw off religious frames of thought!

Remember...
           "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that wins souls is wise  (Proverb 11:30)."

     In these last days before Christ Jesus returns, we must do everything necessary to make sure that our partnership with God is strong. Only then will we be able to be truly effective at winning the lost, with God, God's Way.

            In 1987, I had a contemporary band that I put together for ministering the Gospel of Jesus Christ through original music and lyrics. The band members and I were invited to a church in Roanoke, Virginia to do a concert for the purpose of reaching out to the lost young people in their city. As the event date drew near, I specifically remember asking God to pack the auditorium with lost teenagers, hundreds of young guys and girls whose hearts and lives we could win for Christ during this upcoming evening. After all, the more people we draw in to a concert event, the more effectively successful the outreach ministry will prove to be. Everybody knows that, right??!!

            We believed that our motives were pure, but our goal to draw the biggest crowd had become a bit too high in our outreach priorities. That popular, misguided, religious frame of thought, "the bigger our crowds, the better our ministry" led us to become too focused on mainly drawing the crowds to our concert rather than preparing to meet the needs of individuals who came. I was unknowingly well-on-my-way to becoming desensitized to the increasing need of the folks coming to the outreach concert ministry. Was I doing a good thing? I surely was, without a doubt! Was I doing the "right" thing? Not nearly as much as I should have been!

            A few days before the concert, after I had been praying for only about 10 minutes, The Lord said something that would forever change my life, especially in the way I would conduct my band outreach ministry from then on. The Lord said to me, "Keith, do you know why I was so successful at reaching the masses during My earthly ministry?" I replied, "Why Lord?" He said, "Because My passion has always been for loving people on a personal one-on-one basis, first! If a crowd assembles to hear you share what I have placed on your heart for them, then that gathering should be held for no other reason than for those in attendance to receive My Word of direction, correction, encouragement, or affirmation. And we make sure to address their individual lives first, then address the group. Always remember, I never call an assembly for entertaining individuals. I will only call individuals to gather together for solemn assemblies."

            In this age when a church's success is largely based on the number of people that are in attendance, or the amount of money that is in its coffers, it is no wonder that much of the body of Christ in America is in the impotent state that it is, especially where winning the lost God's way is concerned. Jesus said, "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer (permit) ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence  (a false show)  make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte  (be converted)  , and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves  (Matthew 23:13-15)."

            I know that this may be a bit hard to swallow, but Christ Jesus could just as well be addressing the vast majority of church organizations in this country today, with that same message. God loves loving people. He hates when His people put anything ahead of loving Him and loving others. Before we can truly become effective at reaching people for the reasons God wants to reach them, we must understand that, contrary to popular belief, God is not at all impressed with our buildings, bank accounts, programs, or any other outward thing that secular society deems is an outward indication of inward spiritual maturity. In fact, secular society operates contrary to the ways of spiritual maturity. Therefore, with a lack of spiritual maturity in the lives of church leaders, the church's function will, in great part, sadly be operating in this all-too-popular religious frame of thought.

            Why have those religious mindsets and secular things become sought-after in churches, even more-so than the will of God for people? In short, it is because the church has allowed popular culture to affect the church more that the church has intentionally affected pop-culture. No matter what growth experts may tell you about buying facilities or adding programs, God's passion is for having an intimate relationship with each one of His individual people, individually. Not that I'm saying money and what it can buy is bad; I am saying that, when the pursuit of these things is hindering our ability to demonstrate God's Love for people, we have, as I like to say, "put the cart before the horse." We have to play a more effective role in winning the lost, as well as encouraging currently-active believers in the church. Millions of dollars are being squandered away on things, like the construction of facilities, the purchase of buses and other equipment, and developing exorbitant programs, that, for the most part, are never fully utilized for the purpose that they were acquired. It's just bad stewardship.

            In Matthew 6:33, Jesus gives us the starting place where it all must begin, "But seek ye first the Kingdom of God  (the Kingdom that IS God), and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

            As you hold on to that thought, Part II "Winning the Lost...We Can Only Give From What We've Got" is coming soon, then Part III, "Winning the Lost...Counting the Cost" after that too. We encourage you to ask the Person of The Holy Spirit to meet with you in the pages of God's written Word where He helps us develop our increasing WANT for oneness with others along with our become One IN God, IN Jesus Christ, and IN Him (The Person of The Holy Spirit). You see, for us to become truly effective at winning the lost in these last days, we must do everything necessary to make sure that our partnership with God is strong first. I once heard a very wise man say, "The best thing we can do to help the poor in this country is to not be one of them." The same thing applies where leading the lost in spiritual things is concerned. Make it your goal to befriend people who are outside of your own circle of friends, and share with them all that The wonderful Holy Spirit brings to light in all those times God has answered your prayers and walked and talked with you in your life. The results will bless both you and them, as your hearts become filled with gratitude that compels you to offer up thanksgiving to Him, for Him, and for everything He IS and does.

            We must always remember Revelation 12:11, "And they overcame him  (the devil)  by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." And, no matter what,  KEEP PRESSIN' IN!.

            Our sincerest hope is that you are encouraged as you take in this blog. We'd like to invite you to take advantage of even more messages of encouragement, for you and your friends and family members, specially available now in one of our most-requested Toward The Mark books entitled, "Letters From The Front." We want to personally invite you to get your copies today.

            Our book  LETTERS FROM THE FRONT is a special collection of 12 of our most-requested teaching titles:

Sin Makes Ya Stewpit	The Cart's Before The Horse;
The Crisis of Eroding Integrity	The Fruit's at the End of the Limb
Too Quick to Compromise	The Rarest of All Breeds
Please...Stop Stinkin'	3 Keys to God-Pleasing Faith
Let It Go!	Understanding the Fear of The Lord
Into The Secret Place	Give to Give!

This collection of twelve teachings, when taken to heart, will help you emerge triumphant over seemingly impossible situations... "LETTERS From The FRONT" available at TowardTheMark online. If you would like to request a special order of this resource or any product from Keith Shealy and Toward The Mark, or if you have questions about our work, resources, or giving tax-deductible donations, please click here to e-mail us.

Would you write and let us know how this message has fanned the flame in your heart for Christ Jesus, His Ways, and God's Plan for your life?  We welcome you to mail us a letter addressed to TOWARD THE MARK, P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152.  If you would like to e-mail your letter to us, please click here to e-mail us.

May you be greatly blessed as God writes this message in your heart. We praise Him, with eternal gratitude, for our loving Toward The Mark Family without whose help and support this work would not be possible!

Your friends and servants in Christ,
         

    

To Show GOD BIG in a world that Sees Him small… 
sums up the reason Keith stepped out in faith to focus on reaching the lost and strengthening believers everywhere, through Toward The Mark, Inc. We are praying that our Father in Heaven is able to encourage and edify your heart and life by the written and recorded products of Toward The Mark, Inc.

We couldn't do this without the help of our friends!
What you have just read is the 1st blog of a 3-part blog message. This blogspot, along with each of our original podcasts, music and video recordings, books, magazines, and other resources in our ministry collection, is made possible by the faithful prayer and financial support of the TTM Family of Sponsorship Partners. If you would like to become a part of the TTM Family, your monthly financial support of any amount will help toward fulfilling God's call on our lives to make Holy-Bible-based messages available to the churched and un-churched individuals alike. You are invited to partner with us in working with God to fulfill His desire for everybody to know Christ Jesus as He IS... The Way, The Truth, and The Life... personally. We will remain steadfast to "... press Toward The Mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14)." Would you consider helping us expand our outreach capabilities by becoming a monthly financial partner? Your support will help toward providing effective, practical outreach tools for ministering the love, truth, and salvation of Jesus Christ.

CLICK HERE to make a tax-deductible contribution securely by PayPal.

Every gift is appreciated and helps.

Mail tax-deductible contributions by check or money order made out to:
Toward The Mark, Inc., P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152. 

Thank you in advance for sowing your financial seed into the vision and mission God has given to this ministry! We pray God bless you with a 100-fold return for your generosity!

Take me back to the top of this post.

Take me to Part II "WINNING THE LOST...We Can Only Give From What We've Got" post.

"See sidebar Pressin'IN Blog titles"

We INVITE YOU...
 see and hear, follow and share, more from Toward The Mark, Inc.:

~  Keith and Brenda "Between The Lines TTM" on our Libsyn Podcast Channel

Abortion...THERE IS HOPE!

~ "Keith Shealy & Toward The Mark" on Facebook

~ "TTM SingingSgt" on Twitter

~ "Sharing with you the Secrets God Whispers to us" teachings on our website 

        Take me back to the top of this post.

        Take me to the "Gratitude is Literally The KEY" post.

        Take me to the "Award Shows and Idols" post.

        Take me to "What Quality Guitars & Instruments Should Be" post.

        Take me to the "HAPPY BIRTHDAY American Flag & USArmy" post.

        Take me to the "D-Day 75th Anniversary" post.

        Take me to last month's "Out of the Shadows" post.

        Take me to "What is God's View of Abortion" post.

"See sidebar Pressin'IN Blog titles"

Toward the Mark, Inc. © 2005 - 2019 | Privacy Policy and Terms of Use apply |
(757)251-2440 | TowardTheMark.com | Resources@TowardTheMark.com