When Does Sunday's Best Season 5 Starts

Season 5 of Sunday's Best starts Sunday July 8, 2012 with a two hour audition. Talent from all over will come and try to wina recording contract along with a Ford Escape.

The judges for this audition will be Yolanda Adams, Donnie McClurkin and special guest Pastor Kim Burrell. The show will air on BET starting at 7pm.

There is nothing like Gospel Music so it will be interesting to see the competition for this season.Pastor Burrell will be the mentor for this years talent.

Being In The Presence Of God

Nobody knows or understand why you serve the Lord the way you do but you and him. Testimonies are given to tell a person story of how God has brought them through things, and by this testimony people can relate to why you serve God the way you do.

I have a place in my home where I go each morning to be in God's presence. It's in this place where I can hear his voice and I can turn all my heartaches over to him and reverence him for bringing me through. But sometimes when things come against you, you can't make it to the comfortable place where you normally go. That is when you just praise him where you are. I did this and caught all kinds of grief from a sibling.

I had just had a very rough day at work. It seem like I was just plain being picked on by everyone and it just wouldn't stop. I couldn't wait to get to my comfortable place at home and needed to be in God's presence. On the way home, I just started singing to God letting him know how much I Thank Him. I come from a family of singers, but I was not given this talent. I sing off key and I know it. But God does not care about how you sound as long as it comes from your heart.

Well, while I'm in my car coming home and singing off pitch praises to God, God shows up and comforts me. I gets out of my car and continue to sing to God, and as I enter into the house I am met by my sister, who ignores that I am worshipping, and she just continues to call my name. As I continue to sing, I address her by saying "hold on one second". She then begin to say outloud, if I only knew how I sound, I would be quiet.

After I finished with my song, I asked what it was that she wanted, and her answer was "that's ok now". She then start saying that she had never heard me sing and how off pitch I was. I told her that God didn't care about how I sound and she just happen to be in my presence when I was in God's presence.

I didn't tell her about my troubled day and why I needed to be in God's presense. She probably would not have understood anyway because all she heard was my terrible singing.

Whatever you may be going through, I encourage you not to let anyone take away from you being in God's presense.When you are in his presense, nothing else matters.

Will You Serve God When Things Are Bad?

The question a lot of Christians need to ask themselves is, how do I serve God when thing are just horrible in my life. When things are going right, it is so easy to walk around with a smile. It's even easier to get up on Sunday morning to attend Service.That is something I refer to as Praising God, because we are giving him thanks for what he has, or what he is doing in our lives. But what happens when things starts to go downhill. I'm not just speaking about one event. I'm talking about numerous things that is happening at once.Losing your job, marriage falling apart, house going into foreclosure. What do you do when all of these things begin to take shape in your life? Do you still serve God with the same zeal you had when things were going good? Most times as humans we act like we feel. If things are going good, we let the world know with our praise. If things are going bad, don't ask us to sing the solo,or pray for the sick.
If you are a person who Worship God, it does not matter what is going on in your life, because knowing that God is able, is enough for you.In my book that is true christian faith.Without the belief and trusting, it is impossible to serve God to the fullest.In the book of Job, we see a man who had it all, and was continuing Serving and Thanking God.But one day, out of no fault of his own, everything was taken away from him.Even though we can see the affects this had on Job, he did not let that interfere with his Services toward God.His Praise and Worship was still at a high level. It didn't mean Job didn't question God, because he did.We will always have questions when things are happening to us, we just have to keep in mind that, if we keep our Praise and Worship front and center, God is able to give us more than we could ever imagine.

How Would You Live Your Last Days On Earth?

Yesterday, I was sitting watching the verdict in the death case of Casey Anthony, and was wondering what could have been going through her head. If convicted, she was facing death.It made me think, what if I knew I only had a short time to live.How would I spend my last days on earth if I knew for sure I was dying.Would I visit Disney Land, a place I’ve always wanted to go since I was a kid? Would I spend that time with my love ones? Would I call the people that I’ve wrong to say I’m sorry?All these questions started flooding my mind as I sat and watch for any sign of fear in this girl. I’m not saying if she was innocent or guilty, because that’s not what this message is all about.When you face something of that magnitude, the thought of being spared another chance is overwhelming.A lot of Christians came to the Lord because death knocked on their door, but God spared them.We never know what God would have us go through to get us to come back to him.

If you are a person today that is holding on to some kind of grudge toward someone, or you are just walking around feeling defeated, what would you do if you knew you were dying in a few days?Would you sit and be defeated, or would you try and make the best out of what time you have left? We all have to think that today is our last day here because we are not promised tomorrow.So today, go tell that person you have wrong that you are sorry. Tell those you love that you love them.Give a smile to the person you see feeling down. Don’t put off today for tomorrow because it just might be too late.

Studying The Bible

Consistency is a saying of a friend of mine who all but destroyed himself by inconsistency.Knowing the problem does not always guarantee a remedy.Doubtless more Christians have gone down the spiritual path drain or failed to grow in their daily devotional lives more than any other one thing.As we know,it is absolutely essential to get into the word daily,to keep fresh and filled with the spirit,but unfortunately only a small percentage of God's people have found this key.Self discipline is not the hallmark of this affluent age in which we live,but I believe that self discipline is the name of the game as far as success is concerned.Whether it is a Micky Mantle,whose 3-5 hours a night as a youngster hitting his fathers right-hand pitching and his grandfather left-hand pitching produced the greatest switching baseball player of all times,or Terry Bradshaw a premier Hall Of Fame Quarterback,or Paul Anderson whose daily hours of lifting weights made him the strongest man in the world,discipline is the name of the game!Admittedly they had talent,but so do thousands of other people,but they added the discipline of practice to their talent and became established superstars.You will never be consistent in bible reading until you train your mind and body.Ask yourself,are you willing to get up an hour early to study the word?Remember you can't grow in the word unless you study the word.

Has God Put You On Hold

Over the past 25 years we have become a right now society. We don't believe in being put on hold for anything.If we are on the phone and get placed on hold for more than 2 minutes we will get impatient and hang up the phone. Caller ID has allowed us to screen calls we don't want to accept.But, what if God put you on hold? Would you hang up(give up) the line or would you be patient enough to wait on the answer? God has a place and time for everything. We pray and ask God for things, and most time we feel that God is not listening.We have to understand that God always hear us when we pray to him.At the particular time we are asking for something, God know that we may not be mature enough to handle it, so he puts us on hold. Those of us who are parents can probably remember back when our children were younger and pleaded with us  to get them something that we felt they were not mature enough to handle.We put them on hold until a later time when we felt they were able to handle whatever it was they wanted.It is the same way with God and us.We can literally destroy ourselves and others if God were to give us things before the right time.
In Genesis you can read the story of Joseph. At the age of 17, Joseph was plotted against by his brothers and was sold in slavery to the Egyptians. Joseph was a faithful servant to God, but now Joseph life is put on hold.Little did Joseph know that God was preparing him for something great. 13 years later, a severe famine swept across the land. There wasn't any food to be found anywhere except in Egypt. Joseph was placed second in command, so he was in charge of the food supply.Because of the shortage of food, Joseph brother were sent to him by their father for food. The brothers had no idea who Joseph was, but Joseph recognized them right away.Joseph was able to save his family from starving. The point of the story is, that if God would have given Joseph that kind of authority 10 years earlie,r he may not have been mature enough to handle it then.Could you imagine what Joseph would have done if his brothers would have come to him years ago?God always have an appointed time for everything. So, if you have prayed for something and God has put you on hold, have patients and don't hang up the line.

Your Daily Devotion

It would be unrealistic to suggest that every morning when you awake 15 minutes early,your brain will be 100 percent "on" and you will be eager to get into the Word.There will be mornings like that,and there will be some when you awake feeling like the rapture occurred and you have been left behind,particularly if you are a late night worker.But don't give in to that lackadaisical suggestion your mind offers.

If you awake feeling drowsy take a shower and get dressed before your quiet time.But put in your 15 minutes minimum reading time whether you feel like it or not!If you are a beginner in studying the word,it will be beneficial to your growth in the Lord that you start with a 15 minute study each morning.Starting with the 4 Gospels will really take you on a journey of getting to know the Lord.There, you will see how he, as a Man, lived upon this earth and doing the "will of the Father".What a great example for us to follow.Getting the mind of Christ will take getting to know him, so make a vow with yourself that no matter what's going on around me,my 15 minutes with the Lord will bring peace unto my soul.I encourage you today!Get to know the Lord for yourself starting this day!