Hanging with the Wrong Crowd - reallifestoriesbooks.com

I grew up in a Christian home. We went to church every Sunday morning and evening, plus on Wednesday. I lived with my mom in Memphis, Tennessee until I was 15. I accepted Christ at a young age and was baptized around the age of 9 or 10. I believe I was sincere about my decision at the time.

As I got into Middle School, I started hanging with the wrong crowd. I started drinking, smoking, and experimenting with drugs. When my mom found out, she sent me to my dad’s in Wisconsin. I still drank and smoked with my dad’s permission, but I didn’t do drugs.

After High School, I joined the Navy and got married. During this time, I had walked away from God. I got into porn and committed adultery on my first wife. She was doing it to me, so I figured I would do it to her.

After the service, I started Truck Drivers Ministry. I fell further from God. I became addicted to porn and got married to my second wife. I kept drinking and watching porn, which kept me from showing my wife the affection she deserved. It damaged me, and I ended up getting married again before I met my current wife.

In 2010, we went back on the road and came across a Rig CD entitled “Dominoes” by James Payne. That CD lit a fire in our soul. We started searching truck stops for more CD’s. We got the “Free in Christ” CD, which God used to bring me back to him. I believe whole heartedly in media ministries. God is using CD’s to bring people to Him. I still struggle with things, but I now can call on Jesus, and He will give me strength to get through the day.

Friend, you can call on Jesus too! Go ahead and call out to Him right now!

Contact  :  Jim Barbarossa

Phone :       219-762-7589

Website : reallifestoriesbooks.com

Email :jim@step-by-step.org                              

 

Everything Was Falling Apart - Real Life Stories

 

I was going through a period in my life where everything was turned upside down. I was at a job that required me to work over 55 hours a week, my home life was very stressful, and I had started to distance myself from friends and family.

My job started to become a very hostile environment. Life at home was even more hostile. I started to see everything that I had worked so hard for falling apart. I would cry myself to sleep at night and would cry at work in between breaks. One day at work, I couldn’t catch my breath. I had the biggest panic attack that I had ever had at my desk. They called 911, and I was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. The doctor came in and told me he was going to put me on medicine that would stop the panic attacks. However, I wouldn’t be able to work or drive a motor vehicle. The medicine would basically keep me sleepy and sedated all day long. I went to the pharmacy to have the prescription filled, and the pharmacy told me the medicine was on backorder. As soon as the shipment came in, they would call me.

I went home and cried out to God. I began to pray Mathew 18:18.

“Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Real Life Stories

I began to use my authority and quote God’s word. I never had another panic attack from that day forward. For about like to this type of inspirational story Visit : www.reallifestoriesbooks.com

Discipleship/Evangelism That Works "Today" !!

The most important part of Discipleship is Commitment! Jesus could not have made disciples had they not committed to follow him. The commitment Jesus asked for was simple. Follow me! As people followed him they were discipled. They learned to be imitators of Jesus! The strength of what we teach is also based on commitment! It is not as strong as the 3 year commitment that Jesus required, but it has been proven very effective. We have been able to effectively disciple a couple hundred people over the last 3 years as a result of getting the following commitments! We have found that, if a Christian will commit to write out their testimony and commit to share it daily, that this commitment sets the stage for the Holy Spirit to disciple them! The first thing we challenge people to do in our discipleship teaching is to commit to write their testimony and be a part of a Real Life Stories Christian Testimony Book or their own Testimony Flyer. The second thing we do is challenge people to carry 2 copies of the Real Life Stories Christian Testimony Book or their Testimony Flyers in their hand every time they leave the door of their home and every time they get out of their car. The third thing we do is challenge them to ask the Holy Spirit to help them in the giving away of the Testimony books or Testimony Flyers! The forth thing we do is challenge them to practice what was taught in that session. In session 2, we taught on As You Go: Hear and Obey the Voice of God. The commitment to carry the Testimony Books or Flyers and the Commitment to Hear and Obey the Voice of God, As They Go...is joined with the commitment to ask the Holy Spirit to help them. This sets the stage for the Holy Spirit to be active in their life! If a person is always carrying the Gospel message with them in the form of a Real Life Stories Christian Testimony Book or Testimony Flyer and always practicing Hearing and Obeying the Voice of God as they go, then they are always trusting in the Holy Spirit to help them! This gives the Holy Spirit total access to all their Time and Daily Life! Sons and Daughters of God are led by the Spirit of God! What we accomplish during our 12 Discipleship Sessions is getting a strong commitment from the person being discipled to allow the Holy Spirit to lead them into Living a Witnessing Lifestyle! When the Holy Spirit comes upon us we will be His Witnesses! Watching the 12 Discipleship Videos is Good, but on their own it is not enough to make a disciple! It is the joining together of the videos and the commitment to write, carry and use your testimony that will help you to be a strong disciple of Jesus! If you would like to know more about "Making Disciples" I suggest that you study everything at this link and all the links connected to that page. For what we teach to work you must have a complete understanding of everything on this page and linked to this page:http://www.step-by-step.org/reallandi... After studying everything at the above link please feel free to ask any questions you may have. For information about submitting your testimony for our next book go to this link: http://www.step-by-step.org/wanted.htm If you would like to watch the 12 part Discipleship Video Series on line. Just send an email to jim@step-by-step.org with the words "Discipleship/Evangelism Video Link " in the subject line. Please pass this information on to people in your sphere of influence ! God Bless You! Jim and Carla Barbarossa Step By Step Ministries www.reallifestoriesbooks.com 219 762 7589

Christian Testimony Book Put on God’s Spiritual Armor Every Day

 

How can it be that so many people do not know about the benefits of Salvation and how to gain it? How can so many people have heard of Salvation Testimony yet rejected this most valuable gift? Paul reminds us in the Bible verses from Ephesians 6:11-12 that receiving Salvation is opposed by the enemy who is in the world. As a result, you can expect opposition to helping others learn about, appreciate, and accept Salvation. Despite such opposition, you know that God can do anything. When you put on His holy armor to do His will as Ephesians 6 encourages Christians to do, you can resist all opposition! Surveys show that a tiny percentage of Christians have ever helped lead anyone other than a family member into receiving Salvation. That observation suggests that the ways in which most Christians share or  practice their faith outside their families isn’t what God intended if everyone is to be saved. Obviously, then, you need to change what you are doing in sharing your faith and to teach others to do the same. If Witnessing Made Easy: Yes, You Can Make a Difference you don’t, unsaved people will suffer without hope on Earth and their souls will be lost for all eternity. It’s as simple as that. Naturally, you have a direct responsibility to help nurture the lives and souls of your grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, children, cousins, grandchildren, and other family relations. Keep praying for and encouraging these people to come to the Lord.

However, don’t limit your efforts to just those people, even if there is more work to be done with them. Billions of people are mired in unbelief or belief in false gods; they need your help, as well. Some are friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. Some work next to you as colleagues. Some serve you at the grocery store; others take away your trash. Some will be new acquaintances and play tennis with you today.One reason that God placed you where you are is to help those people around you to come to Him.Many lost people live thousands of miles away and are strangers to you. In the past, just a small percentage of Christians were called to be missionaries in faraway places. With today’s inexpensive mass communications, you can easily reach beyond your family,community, work, shopping, and interests to touch lives on all continents by sending your written Christian Testimony Book through the mail and over the Internet. Your written testimony can help save more souls in other nations than a mid-twentieth-century foreign missionary could ever hope to reach. What a great opportunity God has given you!

God has truly blessed us with this amazing opportunity to share His goodness by helping lost souls wherever they can be found. As a result, your responsibility to share your faith is much greater than in previous generations. Mass communications also make it easy to teach other Christians to do the same. What’s missing for this great opportunity to be fulfilled? All Christians need to gather more courage and overcome any fears and indecision that stand in the way of helping souls to join with the Lord.

In this chapter, we address common fears about witnessing and how to overcome those fears so that you and others you share this book with can know how to become complete, continual witnesses. How many Christians are hobbled by such fears and indecision? Few Christians write their testimonies. Some of that can be due to Put on God’s Spiritual Armor Every Day ignorance, but you can get a sense of the role that fear may play by observing that many people who agree to write their testimonies never do. Opposition from the enemy who is in the world has either paralyzed or neutralized the wills of these believers. After writing a testimony, an even smaller percentage of Christians then continually hand out what they have written. A tinier percentage of Christians who pass out their testimonies also have conversations with lost people about what’s in those testimonies. For each type of witnessing activity,the enemy constructs new doubts and fears to snag, delay, and distract potential witnesses from doing what unsaved people need. Fear is a powerful weapon for the enemy who is in the world to use against Christians to discourage witnessing. Fear can turn an intelligent, caring person into a paralyzed statue so overcome with confusion as to become inactive.

 Authorities on fear report that most people while afraid:

• cannot think clearly.

• don’t appreciate when substantial risks are present.

• put off making decisions.

• look for someone else to save them.

• find it difficult to take action after choosing what to do.

• take actions slowly.

• are extra courteous and shy while acting, sometimes to the point of ineffectiveness.

Those who are slightly afraid become less decisive. When fear leads to indecision, concerns about possible negative consequences make it hard for fearful people to pick a direction and act on it.Let’s look more closely at common fears about witnessing and how to overcome them so that you and others you share these lessons with can become complete, continual witnesses.    

Real Life Stories Books - Raised In A Christian Home

I was raised in a Christian home, married a man from a Christian home, and we raised our children in a Christian home.

My life was built on a solid trust that God would be there --- and he has never failed me.

Raising six children, helping raise my own and husband’s orphaned siblings, taking care of “Papa”, sometimes the work seemed unending. Having been taught to be thankful and sing praises helped me get through. We never had a lot of extras, but we always had everything we needed. I know God took care of that.

When I reflect on my life, I am proud of the people I helped raise. Living a Godly life by example and showing them God’s love helped create a loving bond. Never doubt that people are watching how you handle the good times and the bad. Let your life be your testimony.

Real Life Stories Christian Testimony Books
Jim and Carla Barbarossa
Phone: 219-762-7589
Email: jimbarbarossa7@gmail.com or jim@step-by-step.org
Website: https://www.reallifestoriesbooks.com/

Hearing the Call to Discipleship

New Christians often need a lot of support after accepting the Lord Jesus as their Savior and repenting their sins. Many converts don’t yet know what it fully means to be a Christian, and most will want to learn more. For that reason, those who come to an altar call in church are usually given briefing materials and encouraged to take classes to pursue their new faith.

Many people asked me what would come next after the contest was over and the books were published. Some suggested that perhaps the contest could be repeated from time to time (much like Carol Coles, Robert Metz, and I encourage people to repeat the 2,000 percent solution process on the same issue).

I don’t know if that’s the right approach or not, but it may well be. Recently my mind has been very focused on concern about what could happen to lots of new believers if they aren’t Discipleship Resources well by more experienced Christians to learn more about their faith. I suspect that the numbers of people who have paid a lot of attention to what to do after Salvation are much larger than the people who have looked for more effective ways to share their faith about Jesus and Salvation. Is

discipleship an area where there should be another contest? Or should some other activity be initiated? I’m sure that what to do next will be much clearer after the books are written about the winners of the contest to identify and publicize ways to help lead more souls to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Naturally, if God wants me to do something else, He’ll let me know. Please realize that the full story of this contest about helping lost people find and accept Salvation Testimony won’t be written and understood for several years. Time is needed for the ripples of this contest to move forward in my life and across the lives of others to do God’s will. God knows where it’s all going, but I don’t.

Real Life Stories - Indiana Regional Unity Gatherings

In December, 2012 as Jim Barbarossa prepared to speak a message at a Saturday night meeting, he kept hearing the word “Unity” over and over again in his spirit. Then God directed Jim to go look in an old file cabinet in his garage. To Jim’s amazement in the back of this old file cabinet were 30 messages Jim wrote as a baby Christian, 18 years earlier. One of those messages was on the topic of “Unity” in the Body of Christ.

Jim preached that “Unity” Message on December 22, 2012.

Shortly after preaching the “Unity” message, the Father told Jim to call a meeting of leaders, elders and 5-fold ministers for the purpose of joining hands and working together to equip the saints to go beyond the walls of our buildings to reach and disciple the lost.

On January 20, 2013 the Father brought together forty 5-fold ministers representing a diversity of 12 churches scattered throughout three Northwest Indiana counties, including the cities of Valparaiso, Porter, Chesterton, Portage, Gary, Michigan City, St. John, plus Hazelcrest, IL and Chicago, IL.

Four things all of the ministers present have in common is their love for Jesus, their desire for more of Jesus, a passion to reach lost souls and a hunger to see revival in our land!

One additional thing most of us, if not all, held in common, in the natural, we were all too busy to even consider attending this gathering in light of everything else we had to do.

But, we did attend and after introducing ourselves, we discussed the purpose of the gathering and then we began to pray as the Holy Spirit led.

Inter-mixed between the prayers, God spoke prophetically using various gifts to confirm His call and purpose for the “Unity” Gatherings and what to expect in the future.

As we prayed we could sense a shift taking place in the atmosphere.

At one point a symbolic prophetic act took place as every person stood on their feet, symbolizing the army of God rising up. This was followed by the sounding of the Shofar accompanied by a declaration of war, as the army of God called upon our Leader with a “Unified” shout, “Jesus”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was such freedom in the atmosphere. It was such a joy to see the 5-fold ministry gifts working in unity complimenting each other in the body of Christ!

I wish I could find words to express the fullness of this experience, but this is one of those times where words fail to fully describe what happened.

The meeting I just described has “birthed” in the following locations what we now call “Indiana Regional Unity Gatherings!”

For dates, times and exact locations, visit us on our website: www.step-by-step.org

Northwest Indiana/Chicagoland Regional Unity Gathering, Chesterton, Indiana

Central Indiana Regional Unity Gathering, Indianapolis, Indiana

LaPorte/St Joseph County Regional Unity Gathering, LaPorte, Indiana

Northeast Indiana Regional Unity Gathering, Angola, Indiana

South Central Indiana Regional Unity Gathering, Corydon, Indiana

Southwest Indiana Regional Unity Gathering, Paragon, Indiana

We believe these 6 Regional Unity Gatherings are the “firstfruits” of 20 or more that will be started in the State of Indiana.

Regional Unity Gatherings are not the planting of a new church.

Regional Unity Gatherings are not the starting of a new denomination.

Regional Unity Gatherings are calling God’s Leaders, across all denominational lines to join hands in unity and take the Gospel message Beyond the walls of our buildings, out into our cities to reach and disciple the lost. If you are God’s leader, no matter what your title is (bishop, elder, pastor, priest, apostle, teacher, missionary, sent one, evangelist, prophet, youth pastor, or some other), no matter what part of the body you represent, no matter what denomination, no matter what stream, no matter what flow, God is calling us to join hands and carry His gospel into our cities and regions to reach and disciple the lost.

It is Time the lost people in our cities come to know God, through the love that we demonstrate for one another!! If we will come together and work in unity, God will Command His Blessing towards us! It is Time for the City Wide Church and Regional Church to Arise!

Regional Unity Gatherings Function As A 5-Fold Ministry Where Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors And Teachers Work Together To Equip The Saints To Do The Work Of The Ministry. Regional Unity Gatherings Are Part Of “The Church” With A Call To Come Along Side Other Parts Of “The Church” And Work In Unity With The Whole Body Of Christ To Move The Saints Beyond The Walls Of Our Buildings, Out Into The Community With The Training And Tools They Need To Reach And Disciple The Lost.

To help us fulfill our mission to reach the lost, disciple them and equip the saints we have 2 Free Resource tables in every Regional Unity Gathering.

Evangelism Resource Table: This table is filled with tracts, outreach gospel CDs, and Real Life Stories Christian Testimony Books. The people attending these Regional Unity Gatherings are encouraged to take these Free evangelism tools and use them over the next 30 days to reach the lost and come back with a report or testimony of what God is doing!

Discipleship or Equipping Table: This table is filled with books as well as messages on cds, and dvds. These messages are the best of the best and designed to equip or disciple the saints. Saints need a steady diet of faith building messages to be equipped and we encourage the saints to take these Free Resources for their personal growth and to then pass them on to help disciple or equip others. Regional Unity Gatherings provide the saints with the tools they need to reach and disciple the lost!

United Community Outreach:

In addition to equipping the saints to be effective witnesses and disciples in everyday life, we also want to bring the saints together from all the different parts of the Body of Christ in a City or Region to join hands and do, simple, yet effective outreach projects in the Community to touch lives and reach lost people!

You can see a sampling of these types of outreach projects on our DVD titled “Going Beyond The Walls - City Wide Church - How To Go Beyond The Walls Of Our Buildings As One Voice To Reach And Disciple The Lost In Our Cities”.

Real Life Stories Christian Testimony Books
Jim and Carla Barbarossa
Phone: 219-762-7589
Email: jimbarbarossa7@gmail.com or jim@step-by-step.org
Website: https://www.reallifestoriesbooks.com/