Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Blue is Beautiful. (Some art collection pieces of Sonia & Isaac Luski)

Blue is Beautiful

These are photos I took (with permission) of some art collection pieces of Sonia & Isaac Luski, at the Foundation of the Carolinas gallery in uptown Charlotte.

It was during my lunch break (free admission!) and I always wondered what was in the building.

They are beautiful, and I just wanted to share them with you.

Be blessed,

Steve Martin

Love For His People, Inc.

The Foundation For The Carolinas is located on North Tryon St. in Charlotte, NC.

Foundation For The Carolinas
Luski • Gorelick Center for Philanthropy
220 North Tryon Street
Charlotte, NC 28202
704.973.4500

About Us

Since 1958, Foundation For The Carolinas has served as a catalyst for charitable good, connecting individuals, companies and organizations to needs and philanthropic opportunities across the region and beyond. A community foundation deeply dedicated to the collective strength of communities, we work in close partnership with donors, civic leaders and nonprofits to help achieve a wide variety of charitable goals and to inspire philanthropy that will benefit generations to come.

Today, Foundation For The Carolinas is one of the largest community foundations in the United States.

The numbers (as of April 30, 2014):

Total Assets Owned and Represented: $1.33 billion
Total Gifts: $113 million
Total Grants: $83 million

Mission Statement

Foundation For The Carolinas inspires philanthropy and strengthens our region through innovative community initiatives and quality services to donors and constituents.

Our Art Collection

Inspiring the Art of Philanthropy

Renowned art patrons and philanthropists Sonia and Isaac Luski contributed much of the art featured in the Foundation's 370-piece collection. The Sonia and Isaac Luski Gallery, located within the Foundation's headquarters, provides a free and accessible place for the public to enjoy and be inspired by art.

Foundation For The Carolinas is home to an extensive art collection, featuring an array of works donated and on loan from the Luski family and other entities.

Sonia and Isaac Luski, who contributed much of the collection, are among Charlotte's premier arts patrons and philanthropists. The couple has donated hundreds of pieces, mostly glass, from their extensive art collection to institutions in North Carolina and beyond.

The Luskis began contributing works to the Foundation in the 1990’s, with the hopes of sharing their art in order to inspire philanthropy and civic service in others. In 2011 the Luskis gave a significant portion of their collection to Foundation For The Carolinas for its new headquarters facility. Their philanthropic vision was to create an accessible place for the public to enjoy and be inspired by their art.

The Foundation’s Sonia and Isaac Luski Gallery is now open for the public to enjoy free of charge, and the headquarters building is named the Luski • Gorelick Center for Philanthropy in honor of the family’s generosity to our region. Jon Kuhn, Jose Chardiet, Chuck Close and Andy Warhol are among the many artists currently featured in the gallery.

The facility is also home to a vertical garden created by French environmental artist Patrick Blanc, a stunning suspended piece by renowned Italian glass artist Lino Tagliapietra, and a sculpture garden featuring works by North Carolina artists Jodi Hollnagel and Hanna Jubran. The building recognizes our region’s most revered philanthropists through bronze reliefs by Charlotte artist Chas Fagan, and with paintings by portrait artists from across the United States.

Photos From Our Collection

Is Grace a License to Sin? by Sue Birdseye

Is Grace a License to Sin?

by Sue Birdseye

IDENTITY NETWORK

Have you ever gotten a continual message from God over and over and over again, in as many different ways as you can imagine?

Lately that has been my experience with the gospel. Every book I pick up, every sermon I hear, every quote I find and every verse I read points me to the gospel - or at least it seems that way.

And although I've heard the concept of preaching the gospel to myself daily and understood it to some degree, I haven't got it as profoundly as I'd like.

I'm praying for understanding, for application and for ability to live out the gospel daily.

I just read these verses and again what struck me was the gospel!

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen" (Gal. 1:3-6, ESV).

God truly has been reminding me over and over again about His relentless, passionate and unconditional love for me - for all of us.

Grace….

The first word, grace (love that word, BTW), is defined as "an undeserved act of kindness." It represents all that we have received as a result of Christ's sacrificial death on the cross.

And then that other lovely word, peace, is a result of the grace we have received because of Christ's sacrificial death on the cross.

That sounds a little bit repetitive, but I'm trying to get that gospel message into my head and heart more deeply than ever - that the grace and peace that God gives us is because of Jesus, not us.

Isn't that freeing?

It was God's will for Jesus to die for our sins so that we wouldn't have to, so that we could have a relationship with Him, so that we would know that He loves us more than we could ever imagine.

I don't know about you, but I need to know that - I mean, really and truly know that.

Bogus Fears and Feelings

I have recognized lately that I really struggle with thinking I'm worthy of anything. I wonder if everything happened because I really am a complete mess -because a lot of times I really feel like one.

Sometimes I feel like I'm such a failure. I wonder if I'll ever get things right with parenting, home management and my career (whatever that may be). I wonder if anyone would truly be able to deal with my life - really. I wonder if I could ever truly be a blessing of a wife to someone; my first time around didn't end so well.

The funny thing about my fears and my feelings is that know they are bogus. They don't reflect who I am in Christ. And I know who I am, so why do I struggle so?

Why is it so difficult to see my value as a child of the King? Why am I so impacted by my successes or failures in this sin-ridden world?

I think the key word is sin-ridden. Stuff is just gonna be a struggle here.

Fear is gonna assail us, but it doesn't have to defeat us.

Doubts are gonna rain down on us, but they don't have to drown us.

Failure is gonna happen, but it doesn't have to define us.

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:31-35, 37-39).

More than conquerors! Seriously, how can we be more than conquerors? That's crazy!

Crazy good, though.

Free to Live

God didn't send Jesus to live and die for me so that I could live a life of defeat. He's not even content with me living a life of mediocrity. I'm free from the power of sin and death. I'll struggle, to be sure, but God has already given me all I need to live a life of freedom and victory.

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Gal. 5:1).

I'm free to live without fear of condemnation. Free to live without fear of failure. Free to live without fear, period.

I'm not a slave to sin, to fear, to anxiety, to past mistakes, to expectations, to failures, to successes, to anything.

I don't have to fear because God loves me perfectly.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18).

But that love - that perfect love - that is God. That is the gospel. That is what Paul is talking about - the source of our grace and peace.

I want grace to impact me daily, to speak to the way I think about myself, others and life. But how do I make grace not just something I know about, but something I live for and by and with constantly?

Is it as simple as waking up and reminding myself of who I am and who He is? Is that it? I guess that's a definitely step in the right direction!

God's Pursuit of Us

Time in the Word - as always, that's part of the answer. It just is! When I look for it, I see the gospel everywhere in Scripture. God's relentless and loving pursuit of His people is all throughout the Bible.

Prayer - yup, prayer. Who would have thought of this?

I'm asking God to show me how the gospel of grace should impact me and my children. And God is showing me in little ways - in my parenting adventures, in my interaction with friends, in my attitude about things, in how I do what He's called me to do, in everything.

I'm getting it, slowly. I don't get things easily. I gotta work for it. But God is working with me!

I believe that God is showing me the huge amount of grace I need so that I can be a grace-filled person toward others.

My prayer is that grace would spill out of me all over everyone around me.

As God shows me how to live this grace-filled life, this gospel-centered life, I will share and we can grow together in our walk with the Lord!

Sue Birdseye

www.suebirdseye.com

Pure Grace

The Life Changing Power of Uncontaminated Grace

E-Book-PDF Download

By Clark Whitten
Price: ~~$15.99~~
Sale! $10.99

Click HERE to order.

2 FREE MP3 Teaching Downloads

from Identity Network

by Jeremy Lopez automatically.

(New Subscribers Only Please)

*The Seeing Process of a Seer

*What Next God? Discouraged After Your Prophetic Word.

A $20.00 Value

Print Friendly

Huckabee in Israel: “All Bets Are Off” Against Terrorists

Huckabee in Israel: “All Bets Are Off”

Against Terrorists

By Aryeh Savir June 25, 2014 BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

“Righteous lips are the delight of a king, and he loves him who speaks what is right.” (Proverbs 16:13)

Governor Huckabee with #BringBackOurBoys sign. (Photo: Jeremy Wimpfheimer)

Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/17133/huckabee-israel-bets-terrorists/#ZIGRo9lTVfj07WLW.99

New Breed Rising - Moving Powerfully in Prophetic and Evangelistic Anointing - Jerame Nelson

New Breed Rising - Moving Powerfully in Prophetic and Evangelistic Anointing

Jerame Nelson

The Elijah List

God is raising up a new breed of Christians who will walk and move powerfully in the prophetic and evangelistic anointing.

Recently there has been much talk about it being a time of harvest in the Body of Christ. Pastors, teachers, apostles, evangelists, and many prophetic voices have all been hearing and prophesying the same thing: they have been declaring that there is a great time of harvest at hand.

I too have been hearing the Father in Heaven say the same thing, but I do believe that before God releases the harvest, He will first raise up harvesters. The Gospel of Luke tells us to pray to the Lord of the harvest to raise up harvesters.

Now is a time when God will begin to harvest the harvesters for one of the greatest moves of the Spirit that the earth has ever seen.

The Cost of Breakthrough - From One Generation to the Next

As many of you know, Bob Jones (a papa prophet to so many in the prophetic stream) went on to be with the Lord on Valentine's Day of this year. Both my wife Miranda and I were so privileged and honored to have been able to spend much time with Bob while he was alive during the last few years of his life. Most of our time with him was at conferences where we were all guest speakers; nonetheless, we ended up speaking in approximately eight or nine events with him and were even ordained as seer prophets by both Bob and Bonnie Jones while in Austin, Texas, a number of years ago.

Almost every time we hung out with Bob he would tell us, "You're part of the new breed that's rising." He would then go on to tell us that he was the last of a dying breed of wilderness prophets.

Every time he said this, he would explain to us that his generation was called to bring breakthrough in the wilderness so that our generation could freely walk in the things of the Spirit of God.

Bob would then go on to tell us how Christians today in the Body of Christ are "a bunch of spoon-fed Christians" and that they never had to pay the price for anything. He would say that now it only takes new Christians three or four years to start walking in what took him over 40 years to walk out in the Spirit with God; Bob was referring to things like healing, prophecy, and even speaking in tongues, which are now commonplace things in the Body of Christ.

Bob told us that if he prophesied in the 1970s and missed it even one time, he would have been called a false prophet and would have been alienated from some churches altogether. Then he would say, "But the young ones coming get to practice their gifts freely because of the culture of the prophetic that's around nowadays."

Bob said that healing is another thing that people are moving in so freely today. He said that in his day if he even mentioned that he got a word of knowledge for healing or prayed for someone to get healed, someone would accuse him of being a part of the New Age Reiki movement or occult.

Carrying on in conversation with Bob, he would say, "Now let's talk about tongues..." He told us that back in his early days as a Christian, people had to wait for days, or even months, before they were baptized in the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues. He explained how people in his time would tarry or wait on the Holy Ghost for days, months, or even years to receive their prayer language. In Bob's opinion, people now often receive that precious gift right at salvation.

After a conversation like this with Bob, he would go on to say, "Your generation is a silver spoon generation that never has to work to get anything. Everything you have was handed to you on a silver platter..." You'd think he was bitter or upset about it, but then he would go on to say, "But I'm happy about it, because I'm a papa, and my ceiling is your generation's floor."

(Photo via Pixabay)

He then went on to tell us that often times no one recognizes the cost of breakthrough from one generation to the next. He said that by recognizing the price that the past generations have paid actually releases the key to breakthrough in inheritance in this generation and causes things that weren't so easily accepted to become commonplace now in the Body of Christ.

Bob often reiterated, "I'm the last of a dying breed, but you guys are the new breed that's rising – you and your entire generation." He prophesied that our generation would see some of the greatest miracles, signs, and wonders that the earth has ever seen, and that our generations would do great exploits that would usher in a billion-soul harvest. He told us that an end-time army is rising that would carry a prophetic/evangelistic anointing like never before.

All of this talk of Bob said, I would like to say that with the passing of Bob Jones this last February, I believe that a baton or mantle was passed from one generation to another.

Though we will all miss Bob (no doubt), I believe that his graduation to Heaven is a sign to this generation of a new breed rising.

Bob would often prophesy and talk about a generation that would walk as sons of light and become holy terrors to the devil and his kingdom – a generation that would walk in a double portion anointing of the power of God and see a harvest of a billion souls come into the Kingdom of God.

A Sign of the Double Portion Being Released

Even Bob's passing onto glory on 2/14/2014 is prophetically significant as a sign of what is being released right now. When I learned of Bob's passing and that it was on Valentine's Day, the Lord told me to pay attention to the date of 2/14/14. God spoke to me, saying that 2/14 is a prophetic sign of 2 Kings 2:14 and the release of a double portion over a generation. As I looked at 2 Kings 2:14, I was amazed to find that it was the exact portion of Scripture where Elisha followed Elijah across the river Jordan to receive the double portion mantle.

This portion of Scripture tells the famous story of when Elisha asks Elijah for a double portion of the spirit that was on his life. We know what happens: Elijah is taken up into Heaven in a whirlwind, and the mantle of Elijah falls from heaven to the feet of Elisha.

Second Kings 2:14 says, "Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, 'Where is the Lord God of Elijah?' And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over."

(Photo via Flickr)

I believe that this is a prophetic statement of where we are in the Body of Christ right now. God is releasing that "double portion of Elijah" mantle in this hour, and Bob's graduation to Heaven is a sign that there is a new breed of the prophetic and evangelistic rising to usher in a massive harvest. This new breed will move in breathtaking displays of the prophetic and in the raw power of God.

I believe that when generals like Bob Jones go home to be with the Lord, there is an opportunity for people to pick up and move forward with what was seemingly lost in the passing.

We have an opportunity to step onto the ceiling of that which has been established from the price that others have paid. The key to doing this is all in what I mentioned earlier: honoring the price that people have paid as forerunners.

When we honor the price that forerunners have paid, it launches us into the grace and power of walking in those free gifts that are so graciously available to us today. In Bob's case, it's time to get a vision for the harvest and recognize that Bob lived his life as a spiritual papa to the Body of Christ, teaching us about love, but also preparing us for one of the greatest revivals the earth has ever seen.

I believe that just like in 2 Kings 2:14, it is time to be aggressive for the harvest. Now is a time to train and equip and launch people into the harvest. Elisha received the mantle of Elijah and, striking the ground, he began to walk with the manifestation of the same authority that his spiritual father carried. That mantle of authority was activated right before his very eyes.

Despite a lot of negative prophetic words that have been released about America and the nations of the world, I continue to believe that God is actually preparing His people for one of the greatest moves of the Spirit the Body of Christ has ever seen.

In Elisha's day there were many prophets that tried to discourage Elisha from his inheritance. Fifty prophets even watched Elisha from afar to see if he would receive the mantle and actually saw him begin to walk in the same power as Elijah had.

Don't be one of those who believe a negative prophetic report or just stand there and watch. Ask God for the double portion of Elijah and turn your love on to reaching people for Christ. Then just go for it!

In closing, let's take a look at what this anointing of the double portion of Elijah looks like...

The Evangelist and the Prophet

The anointing of the double portion of Elijah is seen when an anointing of the evangelist and the prophet combine. It is a fiery anointing of boldness and power that causes "the hearts of the fathers to turn to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers" (Malachi 4:5-6). You can see this anointing at work in the life of Elijah as he moved in an evangelistic anointing to turn the hearts of a backslidden generation back to God. When he called down fire from Heaven on Mt. Carmel and confronted the false prophets of Baal, he was boldly confronting the powers of darkness that were prominent in his time and day and operating in an anointing of signs, wonders, and miracles.

Not only did Elijah move in an evangelistic anointing, he moved in a powerful prophetic anointing. He was known to give crazy prophetic words that the Father in Heaven would back up. For example, Elijah told the king of his day (Ahab) that there would be no rain except by his word. When he declared it, it was established; God backed that word up. Elijah carried authority that caused even those who didn't want to hear what he had to say to hear it.

Elijah moved both evangelistically and prophetically.

I believe that in this season we will see this manifestation of evangelistic and prophetic authority come upon a generation like never before.

This generation has the potential to walk in so much authority that the world will marvel and fall at the feet of Jesus, having no choice but to choose salvation.

It's time to start asking God for that double portion mantle. As you begin to ask Him for it, get ready for a whole new level of evangelistic and prophetic authority with signs, wonders, and miracles to flow through your life!

A prayer for you: Lord, I pray that You would anoint me with this double portion anointing today. I receive this anointing of the new breed, and ask you for a fresh prophetic and evangelistic anointing. Help me to partner with you in this new breed authority to see the release of a massive harvest of souls on the earth so that Jesus would receive the fullness of His reward for His suffering. Amen.

Jerame Nelson
Living At His Feet Ministries

Email: admin@livingathisfeet.org
Website: livingathisfeet.org

Jerame Nelson is the founder of Living At His Feet Ministries. He is an author as well as a well-known international conference speaker and a crusade revivalist to the nations. It's Jerame's passion to equip the Body of Christ in the areas of hearing God's voice, as well as walking in the supernatural power of God in everyday life. Jerame and his wife, Miranda, live in Pasadena, California, and work together in the ministry to change the lives of thousands through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

To subscribe to The Elijah List go to:http://elijahlist.com/subscribe

Franklin Graham: Praying for the Next Great Awakening

Hardly a day passes that I don't hear someone say, "We are losing our country; we are losing our churches."

While doomsday appears to be knocking at our door, let me take you back to the early 1800s. Many think of it as "the good old days," but history tells us that society, even then, was as bad as it could get at that time. John Marshall, chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, wrote to President James Madison and said, "The church is too far gone ever to be redeemed." When we examine why, we find that preachers had stopped preaching the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the people were not hearing God's Word.

What changed? Christians began to diligently pray for revival—and the result was the Second Great Awakening. When people's prayers stormed the heavens, and when the Bible was opened in the pulpits and the Word of God proclaimed by passionate preachers, the church was awakened from slumber by the Holy Spirit, who moved in hearts, spreading revival throughout the heartland of America.

There have been several Great Awakenings in our nation's history. When I read about them, I always go back to the Old Testament, to a time in which Israel had once again turned its back on God. When its people came to their senses, they gathered and asked Ezra the scribe to bring the Word of the Lord to them. The Bible tells us that Ezra stood upon a pulpit of wood, and he opened the book in the sight of all the people (see Nehemiah 8).

Our hope and desire—and our prayer—here at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is to stir up followers of Jesus Christ to pray and ask for a great awakening of the church. Through the My Hope America outreach, we have already seen the results of what happens when God's truth is proclaimed. Just last year, multiplied thousands of souls were won to Jesus Christ, and Christians across the country have asked us to continue providing more My Hope evangelistic programming and resources.

This year, as part of My Hope 2014, we are preparing a brand-new film, including a never-before-released message from my father. While he is no longer able to stand in the pulpit to proclaim the Word of God, we have captured on video God's Word that burns in his heart. Last summer as he was taping his message on The Cross, which was released on his 95th birthday in November, he also shared his thoughts on Heaven, and we are excited about bringing it to you this fall. We had no idea at that time how God would direct us to use this message on Heaven, but it is now being developed into a powerful new program that also includes compelling testimonies of changed lives. Please pray with us that the Holy Spirit will use it to transform the hearts and lives of countless people who will realize the hope of eternity in Heaven.

The new 30-minute film will be made available, at no charge, to churches for use across the country as we did last year. Please encourage your church to get involved in praying and planning so that this message can be used effectively in your community. The program will also be televised as well as available for download via the Internet.

We plan to do a new evangelistic My Hope film every year for the next several years and make it available for churches and individuals to use to win souls.

Prayer is the key to reaching lost people for Christ, and I hope you will begin praying now for neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior. Make a point to pray for your church and other churches in your community, asking God to stir up an ever-increasing urgency for evangelism.

This article originally appeared on Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

I shall give you a new heart - ISRAEL365

I shall give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you ... and you will dwell in the land which I gave your fathers.

EZEKIEL (36:26, 28)

וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם לֵב חָדָשׁ וְרוּחַ חֲדָשָׁה אֶתֵּן בְּקִרְבְּכֶם ... וִישַׁבְתֶּם בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם

יְחֶזְקֵאל לו:כו,כח

v'-na-ta-TEE la-KHEM layv kha-DASH v'-RU-akh kha-da-SHA e-TAYN b'-kir-b'-KHEM ... vi-shav-TEM ba-A-retz a-SHER na-TA-tee la-a-vo-tay-KHEM

Today's Israel Inspiration

In Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, the cardiology ward hosts a beautiful sculpture engraved with all the verses in Scripture containing the word "heart." Our verse describes a day when our hearts will become wholly good and seek only to follow in God's ways. Israel's national blood bank is on course, doing good for Jews and non Jews throughout the Land in need of emergency medical help.

Give of your heart to save lives in Israel »

Incredible Story of Hadassah Hospital Nurses

This must-see video tells the incredible story of four nurses, each from different countries and backgrounds, who found their way and purpose in helping others through work at Hadassah Hospital.

Watch here »

Watering God's Garden with Blood

Keith Johnson writes that Israel's enemies "must know that even if they water the garden with blood, they cannot and will not uproot those whom God has faithfully planted—with all his heart and with all his soul."

Connected Rings with Blessings

Three delightful silver rings are interlocked to create one uniquely charming ring. On all three the Priestly Blessing are written.

Get this Meaningful Gift and Free Shipping »

Today's Israel Photo

Ilan Rosen's spirited photo of children enjoying the warm, late summer nights in Israel.

View More Israel Photos »

Yesterday's Photo Trivia

Yesterday's photo by Boruch Len featured a camel in the Negev Desert. Visitors to Israel today can enjoy a camel safari in the footsteps of the patriarchs.

See more photos by Boruch Len »

Thank You

Please help us continue to spread the beauty and significance of the Land of Israel!

Sponsor a day in honor of a loved one »

“Thanks for the Wonderful Messages”

It’s great to hear from so many of you - stay in touch and let us know where in the world you are enjoying Israel365!

Stay in Touch »

Thanks for the wonderful messages and God bless. Paul A.

Shalom Rabbi Tuly. God bless Jerusalem, Israel. Thank you for the work you are doing to keep us Christians up to date on Israel. I love and bless the land and its people. I pray to God to visit Israel and live the Bible. Shalom, shalom. Priscilla from Puerto Rico

Shalom,
Rabbi Tuly Weisz
RabbiTuly@Israel365.com

Copyright © 2014 Israel365, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for daily Israel Scenes and Inspiration on our website,www.israel365.com.

Our mailing address is:

Israel365

36 Ein Gedi Street

Ramat Beit Shemesh 99000

Israel