Proverbs 8

Homeless in Philly

2012-01-30T10:45:00.000-08:00

(make sure your speakers are on so you can listen to this song by Matthew West - My Own Little World - it's so fitting!)

This past weekend God enabled my husband, daughter and I to share His love among the homeless in Philadelphia. We had 20 survivor kits that contain things like water, vienna sausages, socks, hat, scarf, applesauce, gum, crackers, handwarmers and more. Even more important than the physical provisions, we were able to put a Bible in each bag to share the word of God with these beautiful people. I want to share some photos with you - some of the homeless gave me permission to take their pictures. Please, please keep these street people in your prayers - by name when we were able to get a name - and in general for Philadelphia and all over the world.

All that came to my mind is this plea to God - Break my heart for that which breaks Yours. Amen.

This is the city of 'Brotherly Love' - oh, the irony. God forgive us - we are such sinners.

Defamation?

2012-01-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

I am taking a break from posting a prayer today to address something I find very serious. First, let me step forward to say that I have done this very thing myself, so I am not pointing fingers unless standing in front of a mirror. Second, as a Christian, I have been convicted and feel the need to share this information with other Christians. We need to be the salt and the light - and when we do this, we are not.

So what is it we are doing? We are forwarding many emails that are not only unflattering to others, they are downright false. Maybe we don't like Obama - or maybe we don't like one of the candidates running for office - or maybe it's a celebrity - it doesn't matter. If we don't know something to be 100% true, then we shouldn't be forwarding the email. The excuse "oh, I thought it was true" doesn't cut it. There are many sites that fact check (Snopes, Factcheck) and in a matter of minutes one can find out if something is true or not. If you don't want to take the time to find out, then don't forward the email - delete it. In fact, we should probably be deleting it even if it is true as it very well may qualify as gossip. Certainly it's important IF the email is informing us about a policy, a bill to be passed, a raunchy movie to avoid, etc. AND it's true. Many of the emails being forwarded, however, are just plain hateful and full of lies.

I guess you can deduce that I don't want to be the recipient of any of these emails anymore - thanks for taking my name off the list. Oh, and feel free to forward this blog to anyone - or EVERYONE - you know! You not only have my permission, you have my blessing.

Here's some FACTUAL information about sending untrue emails around (from lawyers.com):

Email Defamation

Email has become a part of our everyday life. Things you might never say face to face, or even over the telephone, are easily communicated to others through email. Often times an email received by one person is forwarded to a host of other parties in a sender's email address book without regards to how the receiver may feel about the message being sent.

Emails can be Defamatory

Can you be liable for a defamatory statement you made in an email? Yes you can.

Defamation is defined as communication to third parties of false statements about a person that injure the reputation of or deter others from associating with that person. Defamation can take one of two forms: slander or libel. Slander covers oral defamatory statements while libel addresses the written version. Defamation is an abusive attack on a person's character or good name. If a person is harmed in any way by your statement(s), you can be held accountable in a court of law for your actions.

Defamation requires "publication." When you send a defamatory statement about another person to others than the one you are defaming, that constitutes publication. Any every time an email is sent, it is considered a new publication. Every one who has a role in the publication of that email may be liable.

You should treat email as any other form of communication. If you do not want others to see what you have written, do not put it in an email. Also keep in mind that the person you send the email to may forward it on to others, who may do likewise. What you may think is a joke may very well be offensive to another person.

Deleting an email does not protect you. Remember that the message is stored somewhere else on your computer and those computer whiz kids have a way of retrieving it no matter how old.

Email has made the world smaller. But this creates another new problem in defamation litigation. A lawsuit can be filed wherever the email was sent, received, or published.

Emails May Not Be Private

The right to privacy is recognized in most states by law or court decisions. However, emails sent through employer provided email can be monitored as long as the employee was given notice that the employer intended to monitor all email transmissions. The Electronics Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA), the federal wiretap statute, does not specifically provide privacy protection for email systems. However a state court may consider email within the scope of its anti-wire tapping and eavesdropping statutes. It is always best to check with an attorney in your state regarding this issue.

Free Speech Lies in Stating Opinion not False Fact

The First Amendment protects your right to free speech. But that means what you say about another must be an opinion and not some false fact. If what you write embarrasses someone or hurts them, if the facts are the truth, you will not be liable. In order to prove defamation, it must be shown that the information was not privileged (that is made to a doctor, lawyer, or clergy); the statement must be a false assertion of fact; and some injury must have resulted.

Some things to remember the next time you hit the "send" button on your computer:

Check that the person you are sending it to is correct. Don't just hit "reply" or "reply all"
Check and recheck what you have written
Emails can be forwarded and reproduced Finally since the laws in each state vary, be sure to check with an attorney in your state.

Prayer for January 25

2012-01-25T07:50:00.000-08:00

When You, O God, emerge in splendor from your ivory palace, your garments are noble myrrh, aloe, and cassia. You are the King of Glory, strong and powerful, mighty in battle. Fling wide the door and unbar the gate so that the King of Glory may enter!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the Lord God who enlightens us. O Lord, aid us so that we will succeed! You have removed sin, curses, and death, and you have blessed us eternally in heavenly places. Give your people power, strength, and victory over all spiritual and physical enemies. Amen.

The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:25-26

Prayer for January 24

2012-01-24T05:28:00.000-08:00

God, You created me to praise you; make me worthy of your love. You are the noblest, most praiseworthy, the holiest, most righteous, most beautiful, most benevolent, the kindest and the truest. You are just in all your works, and holy in all your ways. You are the most wise, and you know all your works from eternity past. You are all-powerful, and none may withstand you. Amen.

Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. 1 Chronicles 29:11

Prayer for January 23

2012-01-23T06:25:00.000-08:00

You are our Creator and Provider, O Lord and heavenly Father, under whose gracious protection we have mercifully passed this night in peaceful rest. For this we praise and thank you! But, dear Father, where we have in some way abused your kindness against your divine will, we freely confess and ask that you would forgive us for the sake of your dear Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

But now thus saith the Lord that created thee . . . Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by they name; thou art mine. Isaiah 43:1

Prayer for January 17

2012-01-17T05:28:00.000-08:00

We should praise and bless you above all else, O holy Father in heaven, for you are our God and Creator. You molded and made us in your image, and you have blessed us much more than any other creature.

And for this we acknowledge, O holy Father, that we, more than any other creature, owe you praise, thanksgiving, and blessing. Therefore we fall to our knees before you. Amen.

This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise. Isaiah 43:21

Prayer for January 16

2012-01-16T07:34:00.000-08:00

We ask you, Holy Father, to have mercy on us and draw us together under your protection. Do not let dissension or separation (which do not reflect your divine will) form among us, and protect us, O Lord, from false belief and evil understanding, especially against that which would confuse or separate us from your love and righteousness. Amen.

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 1Corinthians 1:10

Prayer for January 12

2012-01-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

O Gracious, kind, loving Lord Jesus Christ! Gentle, humble, patient Lord! You left us a beautiful, virtuous example of a holy life so that we might follow in your footsteps. You are an immaculate mirror of all virtues, a perfect example of holiness, an irreproachable measure of piety, and a sure standard of righteousness. How different my sinful life is compared to your just life! Amen

He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Psalm 23:3

Prayer for January 10

2012-01-10T09:43:00.000-08:00

Remember, Lord, Your mercy and your kindness, which you have shown since the dawn of time. Do not remember the sins of our youth, nor our wrongdoing, but remember us according to your mercy, for the sake of your goodness.

Give us true repentance, heartfelt remorse, and grief over our sins, O Lord Jesus - a godly sorrow, one that prepares our hearts to receive your comfort and forgiveness. Give us the spirit of love, gentleness, humility, devotion, reverence, mercy, and prayer so that we and all the saints may possess your kingdom with love and eternal life. Amen.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. Galatians 5:22

Prayer for January 6

2012-01-06T05:54:00.000-08:00

Holy Spirit, we take comfort in the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has had mercy on us. We give Him thanks and praise for this, with the sincere hope that He will never abandon us. Without ceasing, He represents us to His heavenly Father; indeed, He does so for all who have surrendered themselves to Him.

Inasmuch as you, Holy Spirit, are the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us also enjoy such devotion, love, and kindness. Pour your mighty strength into us, and give those who are weak in faith, yet who submit themselves to you in word and truth, a new, reborn heart. Amen.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17

Prayer for January 5

2012-01-05T12:18:00.000-08:00

Give us this day a heart that is pure in your sight, O Lord, so we might look upon you. O God and Father of love and peace, grant us your eternal peace and grace so we may at all times prove ourselves peace-loving people and avoid all evil discord and strife. May we endure with a meek spirit and calm heart any hardship we encounter on this earth, be it a cross or tribulations, disgrace, or merely misfortune. Since you are our God and Creator, O Lord, reconcile our life and walk with your holy and divine will, for all our works and deeds are in your hands. We commend ourselves and our families, body and soul, into your care, Lord. Govern and promote our work, O God, according to your will. Amen.

Be ye holy; for I am holy. 1 Peter 1:16

Prayer for January 4

2012-01-04T11:58:00.000-08:00

As you have loved us, holy Father, so may we obey you out of childlike love; just as we acknowledge your fatherly love, so may we love our neighbors as ourselves. Let us do nothing contrary to this love, and so do right by our neighbors.

We ask, holy Father, that we may enjoy in moderation all you give us to fulfill our needs and not misuse it due to extravagance or evil impulses. Give us a sensible heart, one faithful with your gifts and not overly concerned for food, drink, or earthly nourishment. Instead, teach us to put our faith in you and to yearn for your divine help and grace. Give us a humble, broken spirit, a penitent nature, true gentleness, and a hunger and thirst for your righteousness. Amen.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Ephesian 4:32

Prayer for January 3

2012-01-03T06:15:00.000-08:00

You have once again let day dawn for us, O heavenly Father; may we remember this is your merciful gift. Teach us to understand why you have given us this glorious gift, and why you let your wonderful sun rise above us: so we may live each day according to your will and prepare ourselves for the never-ending day you will create.

Holy Father, may we learn to abandon and avoid the night of darkness and sin so we may walk in the clear light of your divine mercy. Let us set aside the acts of darkness and take up the weapons of light so that we may always walk with integrity. Amen.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield: The Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. Psalm 84:11

Prayer for January 2

2012-01-02T04:50:00.000-08:00

O Lord, Almighty God and Heavenly Father, you did not give us life and set us in this world merely so we would nourish ourselves with grief and work until we return to the dust from whence we came. Instead, you ordained our lives so that we should fear you and love you, and cleave to you with all our hearts. Even as your divine grace gave us the day to work, so you gave us the night to rest. Under your fatherly shield of protection, we have mercifully enjoyed this rest, and for that we humbly praise and bless you with deep gratitude. Amen.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the Heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

2011-12-31T05:41:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the start of a new year - new beginnings - new habits - new attitudes. Praise God!

For Christmas my husband, Paul, gave me a wonderful little book titled Amish Prayers compiled by Beverly Lewis. These prayers come from the German prayer book Die Ernsthafte Christenpflicht printed in 1708 and have now been translated into English.

My 'new beginning' - 'new habit' - 'new attitude' is to use this blog to bring you these wonderful prayers so you, too, can pray them with me. What could be better in this fallen world than for us to raise our voices together to praise the God who created us, loves us and saved us from ourselves. I hope you will bookmark my blog and pray in unison to our great and mighty God.

Amen

Forgive Me

2011-12-15T06:06:00.000-08:00

(from the blog - i am servant )

July 1, 2010

I read this quote recently, and it conjured up a variety of counterproductive emotions in me.
“I like to define forgiveness as ‘giving up the right to punish the one who has hurt you.’ That’s what Jesus did on the cross.”
-Jan Silvious

Wow.

I am sure other people dont do this, but I have spent a lifetime perfecting the art of punishing people for their transgressions against me.

I can remember doing it as a child. If someone offended me or mistreated me I made it my unspoken mission to make them suffer as I had.

I used forgiveness as a weapon, a form of strategic manipulation in my ultimate battle to see who was the most ‘right’.

Thats very important to me you see… to be right.

When someone sought my forgiveness I had determined that it meant I was right. They were wrong and I had won.

This distorted view of forgiveness has brought me to disturbing conclusion.
I am wrong.

Over and over again, I am (was, is, have been) wrong.

Coming from someone who spent a lifetime trying to convince the world (and myself) that I am right, this is a horrific admission.

I read an excerpt from my Bible on forgiveness:

“Love is the prime ingredient in forgiveness. Often the one wounded must forgive with an act of the will, giving time for working through feelings and experiencing healing. Forgiveness comes with the removal of past offenses from the mind, followed by meditation on Scripture, giving over to God our hurts, praying for the offender, and serving as a willing channel for God’s grace.

…Forgiveness is the willingness to search for new solutions. (not mine or yours, but a new mutually acceptable way)

You must use words that do not cast blame or create questions. You must be concerned with seeking forgiveness only for your wrong. You must remember that a forgiving attitude does not excuse self, defend self, or accuse another.”
(emphasis mine)

I love the transparent and authentic forgiveness that is God’s perfect design. His recipe is flawless. His way ideal.

I have been on a mission to seek forgiveness from everyone that I have wronged. (and shamefully, the list is long) Some have offered me mercy, some have not. Some hurts run deeper then others.
What I am learning is that through forgiveness, I am truly finding out what mercy is.

“Seeking forgiveness frees you to receive Gods mercy.” (from my Bible, ‘The Womens Study Bible’)
And after I try to amend the wrongs I have done on this earth, I can lay them all at the feet of Jesus, and he wipes the slate clean.

Now, my responsibility doesn’t end! I must seek to change my behavior! To learn from my errors.
But He doesnt hold them over my head… He doesnt whisper in my ear, “You dont deserve this joy Amanda, remember that one time you did that bad thing?”

He whispers, “I forgive you. I forgive you. I forgive you. You are forgiven.”

John Piper - Why Christmas?

2011-12-13T05:13:00.000-08:00

Misguided Anger

2011-12-02T11:42:00.000-08:00

By James Robison

“Be angry, and sin not.”[1] The Scripture goes on to say we are not to let the sun go down on our wrath. This is a clear indication of how adversely animosity, hurt, and resentment can affect us. Although there are numerous occasions when we should be deeply disturbed, even angry, about damaging or evil practices, we must not allow them to lead us into bitterness.

There’s plenty for Americans to be concerned, unhappy, and angry about. It could be because of personal failure, evil actions, bad policies, political leaders, or economic woes. Our nation and most people normally take action because they are mad about something or at someone, or sometimes both. We’ve become a reactionary people instead of a responsive people. Reacting hastily and with anger produces far less than the best or even desired results. We need to respond to truth and act with patience and wisdom.

Our truly blessed and once-great nation will never see the desired and necessary changes until we respond appropriately. Now is the time to take action—not because we are mad at someone or something, but because we love Someone. We should love God and others (the two great commandments of Christ). When this happens, we will recognize truth and see clearly what is best for us personally and nationally to the benefit of all citizens.

Whether anyone agrees with me or believes it, America has drifted from God, our roots and our foundation. It is important to love America, but we must first love God. If we do not, our focus will be misdirected. “Love is patient and kind, not boastful, proud or rude; does not seek its own way; is not irritable and does not keep records of wrongs committed against it and will not allow a root of bitterness to spring up defiling many. Love rejoices when truth wins. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance or challenge. Faith, hope, and love last forever, but the greatest of these is love.”

Now is the time for love-filled and faith-filled people to stand up and lead the way out of this present darkness. Anger will fail – love will not.

People of faith with a God-centered worldview far outnumber those who are committed to the upside-down godless worldview. The sad fact is, however, these groups who oppose God and free expressions of faith are wielding far more influence over our national direction. I agree with C.S. Lewis who said, “We must not remain neutral in the titanic struggle for the hearts and minds of the human race.”

James Russell Lowell shared in poetic style, “Once to every man and nation, Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, For the good or evil side, Then it is the brave man who chooses, While the coward stands aside.” This is not a time for the timid, but for the bold who are compelled by love, not hatred, anger, and wrath.

In his first inaugural address, George Washington shared, “The propitious smiles of heaven fall only on that nation that does not disregard the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained.” One of our nation’s wisest spokesmen, Noah Webster said, “The moral principles and precepts found in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws.” Our founding fathers’ three-branch model for our government was patterned after Isaiah 33:22. “For the Lord is our judge [judicial], the Lord is our law giver [legislative], the Lord is our king [executive].”

For years, some Americans were angry at another race of people and lowered their value because of prevailing prejudice. This was not only foolish, it was damaging and dangerous. Today the anger of many is again misplaced. Venomous wrath has been focused on those considered rich—on those individuals who have succeeded and earned material possessions. Many of these create the majority of jobs, opportunities, and investments while meeting many pressing needs and carrying the greatest tax burden. According to the Heritage Foundation, the top 10% of earners paid 70% of all federal income taxes in 2008. A whopping 49% of U.S. households paid no federal income tax at all. The investment of the top wage-producers benefits virtually every American, yet where is the gratitude? The fact is there is ever-increasing hostility.

The anti-God, post modernists, one-world government and leftist liberals have much in common with Islamic radicals in their opposition to everything that made America great. David Horowitz stated, “In word and deed both of these allies [radical Islamists and radical Leftists] make it plain that they consider everything about the United States to be evil and unworthy of preservation, that they wish to see American society and its way of life crushed by any means necessary, including violent revolution.” We need modern-day Daniels who, like the three Hebrew children, refuse to bow the knee to any idol or godless belief system and practice.

To help correct America’s course, those who love God and truly care about others must resist misguided anger and all who are controlled by ingratitude. People are being encouraged to hate the very people who can best help alleviate our economic woes, helping provide jobs and opportunity for vast numbers of people. Attacking productive people is actually a way to commit economic suicide. It diminishes the potential of every citizen. God is no respecter of persons, and in His eyes, we are all equal—but He never promised equal results, outcome or wealth. Wealth is not and has never been a problem for the poor or less fortunate. It is in fact a part of the only hope for alleviating poverty anywhere. Even if a person believes in socialism, they still have to have a source from which to take the means they wish to distribute.
It’s a historic, irrefutable fact that when the state, national government, or leader takes total control, wealth diminishes and is even destroyed, and the entire population suffers in bondage to a form of what amounts to another Old Testament Pharaoh or New Testament intolerable imperial rule. Yet many nations are continually drifting into this pit of hopeless despair. Much of our population and media controlled by misplaced, misdirected anger will help destroy the only possible way out.

Wealth is not the problem of the rich or the poor. Greed and envy are the issue. God is the answer to both greed and lack. God is love, and His love must be expressed through us. It can touch everyone in a positive way. Most people can’t seem to wrap their mind around God. What they need to do is wrap God around their mind. We have a desperate need for “people who have understanding of the times.”

The only way we will correct our course is to love that which is right and shun that which is evil. It is a great detriment to resent or hate others. If we put first things first loving God with all our heart, we will also love truth, sound principles and recognize positive, effective policies. As people of faith, we should not try to get people to oppose an issue such as abortion just because they hate it—but because they love and value life. We resist excess on the part of individuals and government because we love biblical justice and understand the primary role for government is protecting freedom and the innocent while also punishing evil doers. It must never be seen as our source.

We take a stand not because we hate what we are opposed to or because we are against the people doing it, but because we love righteousness and truth. This is the approach necessary to turn things ar capitalism, Christ, church, Christians, Christianity, Christian, Congress, Consititution, deceit, Democracy, desires, election, envy, false idol, freedom, God, government, Lord, leaders, truth, United States, wealthound. Bitterness defiles and destroys. Love heals and restores. It is time to stand for and speak the truth in love. In order to see the highway of success restored in America, we must first come to understand the importance of living on the highway of holiness.

What Does The Bible Say About Lying?

2011-11-30T07:03:00.000-08:00

There is a plague that is grieving the heart of God because it is preventable and can be stopped. It has spread among all churches and is particularly rampant in society. Even God’s ministers are not immune and many of them are infected with it.

What is this evil plague? You may be surprised as it appears rather harmless at first glance. It is now so commonplace that people are deceived into just accepting it as normal, instead of recognizing and resisting it. This epidemic is the practice of lying and dishonesty.

What does the Bible say about lying? A lying tongue is not only something God hates, it is also something that is an abomination to Him.

Proverbs 6:16-19 says, "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."

EXAMPLES OF DISHONESTY

As the moral climate of our society has been deteriorating, lying has become a major problem. The business world is particularly plagued by this problem--men’s dishonesty with each other, meetings "forgotten", company theft, promises not kept, contracts broken, etc. Lawyers have increased in numbers over the last decade, mainly because of irresponsibility and broken contracts among men due to lying. A news organization recently did a survey here in America and asked people several questions to determine the percentage of people who lied or were dishonest about things. Some of the questions were:

Do you cheat on your Income Tax Return?
Do you compliment people when you really don’t mean it?
Do you tell your spouse to tell callers you are not at home when you are there?
Do you tell "little white lies" if it will keep you out of trouble?
Do you tell creditors that "the check is in the mail" when you have not yet mailed it?
Do you exaggerate in repeating things you have heard?

The results of this survey determined that nearly 80% of Americans are not truthful under certain circumstances.* (Documented Survey Stats Below.) This is understandable when we look at the morals of our society but what about Christians? Have they fallen into the habit of lying also? Also, what constitutes a lie according to the Bible? Anything that is not the truth is a lie and God’s Word the Bible tells us what is truth. The Bible is the standard or measuring rod we must use in determining truth. Sadly, Christians are also succumbing to this epidemic of lying. Lying to each other has now become so commonplace, Christians too, have become liars.

THE FATHER OF LIES

Have you been lied to lately? Was it another Christian that lied to you? A minister perhaps? Each of us have had our trust in people undermined, or in some cases even destroyed because of lies. We would all agree that lying is an ugly evil. The Bible tells us that lying began with the devil and that he is the father of lies.

John 8:43-47 says, "Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."

The Bible is filled with admonitions against being dishonest and lying. One of the Ten Commandments states:

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." Exodus 20:16

Before we point our finger at another for being a liar that we feel God needs to deal with, let us examine our own lives to see if we are infected with the same disease. What kind of witness are we to those around us? Are we deceived and have we become liars ourselves? Let us first give a definition as to what a lie is according to Webster’s dictionary:

1.) To make a statement that one knows is false, especially with the intent to deceive.
2.) To give a false impression or action or false statement, especially with the intent to deceive.
3.) To make a false statement in order to evade the truth.4.) The invention of a false story or excuse in order to deceive.

Perhaps for a Christian, a Biblical definition of lying could be summed up in this statement:

Any time our word does not agree with God’s Word.

In Numbers 23:19 the Bible says, "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"

When we do not keep our word we are guilty of lying. Over the last year I have lost track of the number of times Christians have failed to keep their word to me. I am not angry or resentful or bitter over this, as the Lord has worked those attitudes out of my life. I have learned to take every offense to Him in prayer and He then removes any personal ill I might have and He gives me a forgiving and gracious attitude toward others. However, since I began to notice how many of God’s people were not keeping their word, I received a prayer burden of intercession for this evil to be removed from God’s people.

I first began praying about my own life and asked God to expose any areas where I might be guilty of this sin. I have tried to obey Romans 12:17-21 which says, "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men."

Most of the time I would just forgive these lying offences and would just pray for them and try to "live peaceably with all men." However, in prayer, the Lord spoke to my heart that I must go one step further and "speak the truth in love" to my brothers and sisters if I truly loved them.

Ephesians 4:15-16 says, "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.""

If we, as the body of Christ, are to mature and grow up we must conform to the truth which is Jesus. The devil is behind every lie and as Christians we are admonished not to lie to one another.

Colossians 3:9-10 says, "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."

TWO ROOTS OF DISHONESTY

The two main reasons we lie are usually rooted in either fear or pride. Fear is the first reason. We are afraid of the consequences if we tell the truth. Yielding to fear shows a lack of trust in God to take care of the situation. If we yield to God and do it His way He will usually give us favor with those that we fear. The other reason is pride. We are prideful and concerned about what men will think of us (desiring man’s approval instead of God’s approval.)

Jesus always kept His Word. God still keeps His Word and is faithful to keep every promise He makes in the Bible. That is why He is reliable and we can trust Him. We are called to be like Him. The Bible says that out of a man’s mouth proceeds what is in His heart. If we tell lies or fib then it means that we need a heart cleansing.

Matthew 15:18-20a says, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man..."

We need to ask God to cleanse our hearts and begin reading and studying the Bible so that His Word resides in our hearts. As we keep His Word and water it with prayer it will produce good fruit in our lives. Lying is not only speaking an untruth; another form of lying is not keeping our word to others.

Luke 8:15 says, "But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.""

LITTLE "WHITE" LIES

Let us look at some specific ways the devil gets us to lie. We will expose some of his devices. These sorts of lies are being practiced by many Christians. Now remember, we are guilty of lying when we do not keep our word. Even if these sorts of lies seem harmless and don't appear to really hurt anyone else, they are harmful to our own souls. The more we practice telling untruths of any kind, the duller our conscience becomes.

1.) "I will call you back tomorrow." (This excuse is often used with a deliberate intent to deceive. The person does not call back at the appointed time and will call back at a much later date with excuses of why they were unable to call which usually goes something like: "I just was so busy, I meant to call , but did not get around to it." We all have been guilty of this, but we need to realize when we say we will do something we need to keep our word. We do understand there are legitimate reasons that make it impossible at times to keep our word. This is not the case we are referring to here. It would be better to not make this promise or to say, "I will try to call you back tomorrow.")

2.) "I will be happy to do that for you." (Whatever promise was made, it was not kept and their word about the matter causes them not to be trusted. The Holy Spirit is trying to purge this lack from His people and is using a group of men known as "Promise Keepers" to help restore trustworthiness back in the heads of families by stressing that they need to keep their promises.)

We could list numerous examples but these two cover a lot of territory; any time we say the words "I will" we need to be responsible to do it. We all, on occasion, fail to do the things we have good intentions of doing or we are hindered in some way and can’t do them. However, if we are unable to keep an appointment we should be thoughtful enough to call and cancel, or tell of our delayed arrival. We are living in an age when there are so many uncaring attitudes expressed. As Christians, we can be good witnesses by being different.

One of the biggest faults of many Christians, and our society as well, is that we tend to over-commit and then we are unable to keep our word. It is disheartening to see this shift prevalent in businesses. They commit to the jobs, then, are not able to produce them on time and thus the standard for business practices is shifting to not expecting them on time. Business people must now factor in lengthy time delays just to compensate for people’s lack of business ethics.

People that tend to over-commit sometimes have a pride problem and are people pleasers. They want people to like them so they offer to do things for them, and because they are unable to keep their promises to all they end up not being able to keep their word; thus they are dishonest. In business it is usually greed that tends to cause them to over-commit. They want more business and more money, even when they must work from a backlog that was promised timely.

As Christians we need to ask the Lord to forgive us if we are guilty of lying or deceit. It is a very serious matter with God when we lie. (We can read of the incident of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5 in the Bible. They both fell dead when they lied to the Holy Spirit.)

The Bible also lists this sin of lying as one that can lead us to hell along with some other grievous ones.Revelation 21:7-8 says, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.""

We can be overcomers through the power of the Holy Spirit as we seek to be like Jesus. We not only do not want to lie, but we also want to keep our word so that people know we are honest and trustworthy. As Christians, we want to represent our Father well in this life and be honest and free from fabrication and fibbing.

Being Authentic

2011-11-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

I'm reading Becoming a Contagious Christian by Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg and finding myself needing some introspection. Why do we Christians so often put on the SMILE for everyone - you know, the "my life is perfect; my marriage is perfect; my kids are perfect; I love everyone and nothing can get me down" smile. Is that really attracting seekers to Christianity? Or is is repelling them due to the hypocricy and phoniness of it all? I mean, these people aren't stupid - in fact many of them are highly intelligent. So are we fooling them when we "act" happy all the time? Like Stepford wives? Like there is one mold for Christians and we're all going to fit that mold or die trying? God made us all so different with different personalities, character traits, desires, and talents. He has a different purpose for each of us. So lets stop trying to be just like the Christian that everyone puts up on a pedestal and be authentic. Here's an excerpt from the book:

. . . authentic identity. I can't tell you how many brand new Christians stop me after our weekend services to say that part of what drew them to Christ was the realization that there can be great diversity in the makeup of God's family.

I remember one man's saying, "I came to this church expecting the leaders to be pushing everyone into the same mold. And I anticipated hearing that there was a thoroughly defined set of specs for how a Christian should look, act, talk, smell, dress, and think. But guess what? I found exactly the oppostie to be true!

He continued by saying, "I was shocked to learn that there was no single mold that everybody had to be crammed into." Then he said something I hope I'll never forget: "I discovered I didn't have to renounce my identity to receive and follow Christ. It blew my mind to learn that God cares deeply about me, He loves the way I'm put together, and He wants to use me in a fashion consistent with the design He gave me."

One of the greatest mistakes a believer can make is to renounce or repress his God-given uniqueness in a vain attempt to appear more spiritual. That error is deadly on two counts. First, after ten or fifteen years of identity repression you can totally lose your understanding of who you really are. Second, there are some people outside the family of God who will never see Him for who He really is until they watch Him living and working authentically in one of His unique sons or daughters - one just like you!

Do you want to be a contagious Christian? Then stop apologizing for your God-given design. Quit trying to deny your individuality. Give up on trying to stuff yourself into someone else's mold of what a good Christian should be. That's not the game plan God has in mind for you.

The Trouble with Occupy Wall Street

2011-11-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

By James Robison and Jay Richards

For the past month, thousands of Americans have “occupied” a park near Wall Street in New York, as well as many other American cities. The so-called Occupy Wall Street (OWS) throngs have had a hard time agreeing on a coherent list of demands, but they seem to agree that America’s free enterprise system—or what’s left of it—has got to go. They look at America and see greed, inequality, and a top one percent of income earners who take more than their fair share, and leave the rest of the 99% percent, supposedly, in destitution and poverty. If there’s one policy the protesters seem to agree on, it’s that the government needs to confiscate the wealth of this one percent and give it, apparently, to the protesters.
We’ve encountered a few well-meaning Christians who agree with the OWS movement. This concerns us, because Occupy Wall Street has mixed up a few legitimate concerns with envy and economic confusion.
The protestors are right to be bothered by the cozy relationship between the federal government and some businesses and banks. During and after the 2008 financial crisis, Americans sensed that the rules were manipulated and suspended for the politically well-connected. We saw the government protect and bail out certain banks and businesses because they were supposedly “too big to fail.” Whatever you call this—crony capitalism, crony socialism, corporatism—it’s a problem.
Some businesses are only too happy to solicit government favors to protect themselves from competition and to regulate and restrict their competitors. And we saw several keep their private gains but pass their losses on to taxpayers. Politicians for their part often assume the authority to pick winners and losers in the economy, using other people’s money. This is wrong, and we ought to denounce it, just as we would denounce a referee who tried to change the rules to benefit one team in a football game or any athletic competition.
But cronyism is not an example of the free market at work. As Christian friend and economic adviser Dave Ramsey points out in a recent column, the OWS protesters don’t seem to realize that tea partiers and defenders of the free market oppose these policies, too.
OWS is also fueled by the fact that millions of Americans are hurting. Unemployment has been over nine percent for most of the last three years, and most experts think that won’t drop much for the next year. Many of the protesters are disillusioned college students who have tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, but can’t find jobs that pay well enough to repay their debt. Our hearts go out to them.
So what do the OWS partisans propose to do about unemployment? Instead of calling for policies that free up business and entrepreneurs to invest in the future, they have issued scatter shot attacks on free enterprise, business, corporations, and the wealthy in general. Most of their unofficial list of demands calls on Congress to expand its power over business, the economy, and our lives.
Where do they think jobs come from? It’s been said that few people were ever employed by the poor. The last thing businesses and entrepreneurs need is more discouragement from the federal government.
Just because a few businesses seemed to conspire with government to escape the disciplines of the free market, and a few may have broken the law, that doesn’t mean that business, free enterprise, or financial success is the problem. It doesn’t mean that “Wall Street” is the problem. “Wall Street is a street that people drive on,” Dave Ramsey notes.“The New York Stock Exchange is a building where people exchange stocks in New York. This is the flea market of the financial world.” Where do the occupiers think businesses like Apple go to raise the capital to create jobs in the first place? Without a stock exchange, all of us would be much poorer.
Unfortunately, the occupiers don’t seem to understand how a free economy works. They imagine that the only way for Peter to get rich is by robbing Paul. Poverty, they imagine, is a side effect of wealth. Market competition leads to mass destitution.
But as we explain in detail in our forthcoming book, Indivisible, free enterprise does not mean that anything goes. The rich are not free to steal and defraud others. A free market is played according to certain rules. It only exists where there is respect for the rule of law, enforceable contracts, property titles, and the like.
Sure, there are winners and losers when businesses compete for the same customer, but free enterprise is not a zero-sum game overall. It’s a win-win game, where the success of our neighbors often benefits us as well. That doesn’t mean we all end up equally well off. It does mean that we’re all better off in a system that provides opportunities, rather than guarantees or entitlements, and that rewards hard work, ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and creativity.
As Dave Ramsey says: “Sure, there are some scoundrels, but the vast majority of successful men and women got that way by working hard and serving people—lots of people.” Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who recently died from pancreatic cancer, did not get rich by stealing his wealth from the other 99% of the population. He got rich by hard work and ingenuity, which ultimately created wealth for himself and for others. The same is true for many, if not most, successful business people in this country.
Many of the Occupy Wall Street protesters have iPhones and iPads, and benefit in untold ways from the productivity of the reviled “one percent.” In fact, without modern technologies, these protests, staged from New York and Philadelphia to San Francisco and Seattle, would never have gotten off the ground.
Besides their economic confusion, many of the protesters are consumed with the sin of envy. Though their outrage is often camouflaged as moral indignation, if you read the comments of the OWSers, you soon discover that many of them hate people who have more than they do. They should remember what Jesus said: "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15)
Ironically, compared to the poor in the developing world, most of the OWSers are wealthy. We’re not just talking about Hollywood liberals like Michael Moore and progressive evangelical Jim Wallis, whose annual incomes are already close to the top one percent of income earners in the US. The occupiers’ incomes, on average, are almost surely in the top five to ten percent worldwide. They have benefited from free enterprise, whether they know it or not. And now they seek to destroy it.
We should do what we can to make sure that everyone plays by the same rules in the market. Policies that privatize profit but socialize loss have no place in a free and just economy. The OWSers are right to be upset about cronyism and high unemployment. In a time of economic hardship, however, we must resist the false prophets of the politics of envy.
We suggest you take Dave Ramsey’s challenge seriously. “And stop complaining that companies are TOO RICH while also complaining that they aren't RICH ENOUGH to hire you! I've seen a lot of you guys. I wouldn't hire you, either. But if you take all of that energy and excitement and pour it into something new and creative, you'll get the chance to serve a whole lot of people really well, and over a decade or two, you'll get to become the very thing you're now protesting: rich people who actually earned their money.”

Confronting Sin in the Church

2011-11-02T05:14:00.000-07:00

by John MacArthur

The Lord's Table is certainly a time for remembering; a time for remembering the death of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. A time for considering the great realities of the cross, substitution, atonement, satisfaction, propitiation, expiation; all of those terms that define some aspect of the great work of Christ on the cross.

And in fact the theological glories of the cross have been the inexhaustible theme of millions of sermons for 2,000 years. The cross and the remembrance of our Lord's work there. It certainly draws us to a very careful consideration of the nature of God as he reveals in one great event both his wrath and his mercy.
A consideration of the cross causes us to look at the person of Christ to consider his humanity as he dies as a man. And consider at the same time his deity as he forgives the sin of the one dying beside him and promises himself to rise from the dead.
Looking at the cross also points out the horrible plight of lost sinners who are so deep in sin that one must pay such a penalty to free them from it. It is also a time to consider the hope of saints who in the death of Christ find their great release and hope of eternal glory.
There's much to remember and when you look back at the cross, and we do time and time again, you must consider all of those wonderful realities that are part of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But it's also a time to look at our own lives to consider the sin in us. The apostle Paul laid down a very straightforward command for those who come to the Lord's Table. This is what he wrote: "Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup for he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep or literally are dead but if we judged ourselves rightly we should not be judged. But when we are judged we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world."
Paul says, "When you come to the Lord's Table it is a time for self judgment. It is a time for self examination so that you can avoid the discipline of God. It is a time to come in a worthy way and that means having confronted and dealt with sin in your own life."
Here is a call to self examination. And every time we come to the Lord's Table we not only look back but we look in. It's a time for us to examine our own hearts. It's really reminiscent of the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 5 verses 23 and 24 who said, "When you come to bring an offering or when you come to worship if there's something that isn't right between you and someone else, leave, make it right then come back."
It is to that theme of self examination, that theme of dealing with sin in our lives, that theme of worthiness and the avoidance of judgment and chastening, that I want to call your attention this morning.
We are called not only to remember but we are called to be holy. We are called not only to proclaim the cross but we are called to live a godly virtuous holy life. We are called to bring heaven down. We pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven and there's only one place where that can happen and that's the church. The church is the only heaven the world can see and heaven is a place of holiness and the church must be as well.
If we are to bring down heaven we have to bring down what's going on in heaven. And what is going on there is the worship of God, the exaltation of Jesus Christ and holiness. The church of the redeemed should be a holy place and coming to the Lord's Table forces us to deal with those issues because we cannot participate unless we have.
In 2 Corinthians chapter 7 some of you will remember a few weeks ago when we were studying that great chapter. And we were reminded of the words of Paul who said "Let us cleanse our selves from our defilement of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
Each of us personally must attend to the matter of holiness by bringing our sin before God, confessing it, repenting of it and seeking a path of obedience. We are called to deal with sin. Sin is a reality in every Christian's life. We don't deny that because we're Christians doesn't mean we deny sin. Quite the contrary, we of all people confess it.
To deny sin is foolish particularly in the light of the Scripture 1 John 1:8, the apostle John writes, "If we say that we have no sin we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us". Verse 10, "if we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us".
Two things happen when you deny sin, you deceive yourself and you make God a liar because God affirms that indeed we are sinful. James 3:2 says, "We all stumble in many ways." Paul said, "Oh, retched man that I am who will deliver me from the body of this death." We have not been freed.
James 1:21, "From all that remains of wickedness, we still have remaining wickedness to deal with. And in order for us to let our light shine so that men can see our good works and glorify our father in heaven, in order for us to be useful to him in serving him, in order for our worship to have any meaning at all we have to deal with sin.
We all know what the Bible says. Sin devastates us in our worship, in our service. It takes our joy, our peace, our love, our assurance, our youthfulness. It poisons the church with its permeating influence like leaven as Paul discusses it in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 and says, "You've got to put out that sinning person because a little leaven leaven's the whole lump."
Sin weakens our confidence in God. It weakens our trust. Sin steals our anticipation of the return of Christ and robs us of the hope of heaven. Sin destroys our ministry because we become vessels unfit for the master's use.
And we must add that sin cannot easily be dealt with. Paul said, "I have to die daily. I have to constantly beat my body into submission." And he said, "I can't do it in the flesh having begun in the spirit I can't be made perfect in the flesh", Galatians 3:3. "It is a supernatural, spiritual divine matter to battle this remaining wickedness. It does not rest easy. It fights all the way but it must be dealt with." This is true individually as we well know and we are all before God called to deal with the sins in our lives.
But I want to go beyond that if I may this morning and remind us that it is also a corporate issue. It is also a corporate issue. We all know that a chain is not stronger than its weakest link. And the testimony of a church is no greater than its weakest member.
We all collectively have to demonstrate to the watching world the power of the saving gospel; the power of the transforming God who has changed us and put his spirit within us. We must do that collectively if we are going to let his glories shine. And so then I must be concerned not only about my sin but I must be concerned about yours as well because your sin may debilitate my testimony as much as my own.
We must be concerned about our own holiness. We must be concerned about the holiness of the church. Back in 1 Corinthians a little earlier than where we read in chapter 11 in the 5 chapter which I referred to a moment ago. Paul says in verse 7 of 1 Corinthians 5, "Clean out the old leaven that you may be a new lump. Wherever there is sinful influence in the church, clean it out," he says. "So you are unleaven. So there's no sin in the church. Clean it out."
What do you mean Paul? Verse 9, "I wrote to you in my letter." The first letter which we don't have it wasn't inspired and included in the cannon of Scripture but it was written nonetheless. "I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people." You have to make a break with immoral people and I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world or with the covetes and swindlers or with idolaters. And for then you would have to go out of the world.
I'm not talking about not associating with unbelievers in the world but verse 11 actually I wrote to you not to associate with any so called brother if he should be an immoral person or covetes or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or a swindler. Not even to eat with such a one. In other words, you've got to make sure that you deal with sin that you put out the evil influence of a sinning person and that you have nothing to do with an immoral person.
Verse 12, "For what have I to do with judging outsiders." Do you not judge those who are within the church? We're not sitting in judgment on the world. We've got to deal with the church. In all honesty, I grieve in my heart that Christians can get so upset, and so anxious, and so distressed, and so disturbed, and so militant, and so aggressive, and so involved in dealing with the sins of non-Christians, but they do.
They create major enterprises to deal with the sins of non-Christians. Getting involved in matters with regard to pornography, matters with regard to homosexuality, matters with regard to a social injustice; problems in the court system, inequities, matters in regard to the pollution of the minds of children in the education system.
They get involved with all those kinds of things; trying to stop abortion in our society. And people become militantly involved in those things who wouldn't turn a finger to deal with the sin of a believer in their own congregation. And yet that is the priority. That is the priority.
We are to be so much heaven on earth that people look at us and see holiness. Something that is utterly other worldly and completely uncommon and unfamiliar to them. The Lord is not asking us to deal with the sins of the unconverted first but rather to deal with the sins of the Christians, who thus through their holy living can become a shining light and the testimony of the power of God of forgiveness, and thus have impact on the Christian -- on the non-Christians who've sinned.
Jesus even gave us a pattern for this in Matthew 18, he said, "You go to your brother if he sins and confront him. If he repents you've gained your brother. If he doesn't you take two or three witnesses. If it still doesn't work tell the church which means you send the whole church after them. If they still don't repent you put them out of the church."
That is a pattern for dealing with sin in the church. It is absolutely crucial we do that. It is a rare communion service when we don't have to do that publicly, isn't it? And this morning, thank God, is one of those rare occasions. That's a good indication that we're doing our best to deal with sin. We do it communion, after communion, after communion.
And that's only the end of the process. If it ever gets here it's a step three or step four. Steps one and steps two are going on all the time as believers confront each other with the issues of sin. When you come to the Lord's Table, beloved, you must come here having dealt with sin in your life and done everything you can to deal with sin in the lives of others so that we help them. So that they don't come in an unworthy manner. So that they don't desecrate the Lord's table and harm the testimony of his beloved church.
Now there are a lot of passages of Scripture that we could look at to address this issue of dealing with sin in each other's lives but I want you to turn to Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6, a very familiar text and briefly in the time of meditation before we share in the Lord's Table I want to make a few comments about this passage.
There is always the threat I suppose and the real threat that if you get engaged in the confrontation of sin it can become ugly. It can become pharisaical. It can become humanly judgmental. People can abuse the privilege of doing that and can be conducted in the wrong manner and with the wrong attitude. In Galatians 6, is a corrective to all of that in such that frame of mind in place for how we are to deal with sin in the lives of other. "Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit gentleness each one looking to yourself lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the Law of Christ." We'll stop at that point.
Paul says, "If a man is caught in a trespass." A paruptema is the Greek word, a fall. The Bible talks about sin as a fall. The Bible talks about sin as a stumbling, tripping up, that's simply a term for sin. Someone is in sin. You know it. It says, "You who are spiritual restore such a one."
The responsibility for dealing with sin in the church belongs to those that are spiritual that's very important. The responsibility for confrontation belongs to those who are spiritual. The spiritual have to go to the fleshly or carnal. You who are spiritual, who are they? Who are the spiritual?
Well, let me help you to understand that because it's very important. Being spiritual has nothing to do with how long you've been a Christian. It has nothing to do with whether you've been a Christian for ten minutes or fifty years. Being spiritual is not something relative to time or knowledge or experience or exposure. Being spiritual is something absolute.
From the moment of your conversion, at any point in time till now, you were either spiritual or carnal. Being spiritual simply means you are walking in the spirit. And he picks it right up from the passage just prior in chapter 5 verse 16 where he says, "Walk in the spirit." Verse 25, "If we live by the spirit let us also walk by the spirit." That means to walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit; to walk in obedience to the word which the spirit has given us in Scripture. To be filled with the spirit. If you desire you could even add to bear the fruit of the spirit.
Verses 22 and 22, "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control." A spiritual person is simply an obedient believer. A spirit controlled, spirit filled, selfless believer walking in obedience to the word of God and the will of God in the power of the spirit of God.
And that can be true of you at any time. It's not the same as being mature. Maturity is relative to time, and knowledge, and experience, and exposure. Spirituality is an absolute. You either are spiritual or carnal depending on whether you are obedient or disobedient whether you are God centered, Christ centered, spirit centered or self centered.
But only a spiritual believer can be of any help to a carnal one. So when a believer falls into fleshly conduct, fleshly behavior, which is described for us earlier, the flesh manifests itself in things like "immorality", verse 19, "impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these."
When people fall into that, those are evidences that they are walking in the flesh. Spiritual believers must come to their rescue that's basic in the church in the family of God.
Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 for a moment and just another look at this concept of spiritual. In the words of Paul as he writes to them in chapter 3 verse 1 he says, "I couldn't speak to you as spiritual. I had to speak to you as fleshly. I couldn't give you solid food. I had to give you simple things; milk. I had to treat you like an infant." Why? Verse 3, "You're still fleshly." And how does that manifest itself? "Jealousy, strife." And he says, "You are walking like mere men." That's what it is to be fleshly. It's to just conduct yourself like an unconverted person.
Paul says, "You are fleshly rather than spiritual." But only a spiritual believer can help a fleshly one. That's why we want to take care of our own lives and deal with the sin in our own lives so that we can be of benefit, encouragement, strength to other believers.
Romans 15:1 says, "The spiritually strong have to bear the weaknesses of those without strength." 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 14 says, "That we are to admonish the ruly -- unruly, encourage the fainthearted and help the weak."
James at the end of his Epistle speaks to those who are weak and says, "Is any among you weak," that term meaning weak rather than having some illness, "call for the elders of the church let them pray over him, massaging him with oil in the name of the Lord." In other words, when you're in a spiritually weak condition you go to the spiritually strong for strength and intercession on your behalf.
The spiritual pick-up, the fleshly, that's how it is in the church. We have to be all about that. Church isn't something you attend. Church is a way of life. It's living in a community of people who are concerned about holiness enough to confront sin. But you do it with the right attitude.
Let's go back to Galatians and begin to look at the attitude that is required in this confrontation. "Restore", an interesting verb," that our over means to mend or to fix or to repair. You go to this person you help them see their sin. You bring them to confess that sin and to repent of that sin. That's the three step process.
You help them to see the sin, confess indeed that they have committed it, and repent of it which is a determination to turn from it and walk in obedience. But you must do that with a right attitude and that attitude is indicated there. "Restore such a one in a spirit or an attitude of gentleness -- in an attitude of gentleness each one looking to yourself lest you too be tempted."
There's no place for abuse, cruelty, harshness, unkindness, maliciousness. And I suppose there's no better illustration of how this works then John gave us in the eighth chapter of his gospel; a graphic scene that shows us the spirit of Jesus in restoring the sinner.
Jesus went to the temple verse 2 after a night at the Mount of Olives. And all the people were coming to him and he sat down and began to teach them. And typically the scribes in Pharisees wanted to capture him and catch him in his words.
So they brought a woman caught in adultery. They literally went somewhere and the question has always been asked how did they know where to go find a woman in adultery. They may have known well. They brought a woman caught in adultery and they just threw her into the middle of the group Jesus was teaching.
And they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery in the very act." This was a sorted scene. This is a pretty potent, powerful moment. This is a captivating, traumatizing event. They've yanked this woman right out of an adulterous act thrown her right into the Temple ground in the front of Jesus in the midst of the crowd. And they said in verse 5, "Now in the Law of Moses commanded us to stone such women but what do you say."
And again they probably have been staying up nights trying to conceive of this plot because if Jesus says don't do it. Moses said let her go. Then Jesus is in violation of the Mosaic Law and is self condemned with the Jews. If on the other hand, Jesus says grab some stones and kill her he will be condemned by the Romans because the Romans have taken away the right to take a life from the Jews.
So he is between those two alternatives and they were saying this testing him in order that they might have grounds for accusing him. They were either going to accuse him before the Jews for denying the Mosaic Law or accuse him before the Romans for calling for an execution but Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground. It doesn't say what he wrote. He might have written a few sins there one after the other perhaps. Or he might have just patiently doodled. We don't know. That's hard to imagine, frankly. But some have suggested that. It's hard to be sure.
When they persisted in asking him he straightened up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you let him be the first to throw a stone at her." This is again divine brilliance. And he stooped down and he wrote on the ground some more. It may have been that he was writing sins.
When they heard what he said they began to go out one by one beginning with the older ones because they had more sins to remember. And they knew they were not without sin. And he was left alone. And there was the woman right in the middle.
And straightening up Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" She said, "No one Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way." "From now on", what? "Sin no more." That's how you pick somebody up. That's how you do it.
Considering yourself those Pharisees and scribes knew they had no right to throw a stone. They just turned and walked away. They knew their own lives. Before you get abusive, judgmental, condemning, malicious, unkind towards someone else consider yourself.
Jesus did not destroy this woman. He just picked her up and restored her. And then told her don't sin any more.
Sometimes the church can be pretty malicious. Someone wrote, "I have often thought that if I ever fall into such a trespass like that woman I pray that I don't land in the hands of censorious, critical, self righteous judges who are in my church. Let me fall into the hand of the bartender, street walkers or dope peddlers rather than church people who tear me apart with their long wagging, gossiping tongues cutting me to shreds."
It shouldn't be that way. I suppose it is. It's not that way here. Thank the Lord. But we come, we mend, repair, fix, lift up in a spirit of gentleness. That very gentleness mentioned back in chapter 5 verse 23 is a fruit of the spirit. We treat people with tenderness, with gentleness as the Scripture continually commands us to do. Looking to ourselves, considering our own lives, and realizing that we really could fall just like they did to the same temptation. Jesus obviously couldn't do that but he does demonstrate to us how to restore.
And it reminds me of Matthew 12:20 where Isaiah the prophet is quoted and Isaiah says of the Messiah this magnificent statement, "A battered read he will not break off. A smoldering wick he will not put out." Both the battered reed and the smoldering wick are metaphors. They are pictures. They're illustrations of broken people. And the messiah when he comes isn't going to destroy broken people.
Shepherds in ancient Israel used to take reeds that they would find growing in the land and they would cut them and make them into flutes. Reed flutes were the common musical instrument used often by shepherds and they would play them and play them.
And eventually because of the fact that they were exposed to the weather and they weren't particularly valuable and maybe not cared for as you might care for something precious. And because of the saliva from the mouth of the shepherd blown into them they would eventually become soft in the middle and they would lose the ability to make any music.
Perhaps a time would come when they even became brittle and cracked or a portion of them broke and the shepherd might just take such a useless flute and snap it in half or break it in half and toss it away because it couldn't make any music any more. But when the messiah comes he won't take the flute that can't make music and break it. He'll restore its song.
In those times, they had little oil lamps with oil in them and the wick would float on the surface of the oil. The wick occasionally would get down to the place where all it did was smolder with smoke and someone would reach over and extinguish that irritating, smoking, flickering wick. But when the messiah comes he doesn't do that. He doesn't extinguish the bear light. He fans it back into full flame.
That's the tenderness and the compassion and the grace and the kindness that the messiah will exhibit in restoring. And that's exactly what he did with the women there when he picked her up, forgave her sin, and restored her.
That's what we're called to do beloved. That's how we do it in the church. And verse 2 defines that for us in some very simple terms, that's called bearing one another's burdens. That's what it's called.
I think sometimes we assume that bearing one another's burdens is sort of sharing prayer requests about things that aren't quite intimate. I think sometimes we think bearing one another's burdens is helping each other financially to be able to get through a difficult time. And certainly there is truth in that but bear one another's burdens here has to do with something very specific.
The word burdens here is heavy loads. Hard to carry. It's not even the same, for example, as down in verse 5 where it says "Each one shall bear his own load." There you have a word load that simply means duty. It doesn't particularly mean something really heavy just the normal routine generic deals of life.
But here we're talking about a different issue; heavy, heavy loads. And when you bear one's heavy, heavy load you really fulfill the law of Christ. And what is the law of Christ? The law of Christ is John 13:34, "Jesus says a new commandment I give unto you that you," what? "Love one another." That's the law of Christ. That's the new law.
That's what James called the royal law or the law of liberty; the new law. It's the law of loving one another as I have loved you. And that loving one another means that after you have lifted up and restored this person you continue to be there to help them shoulder this heavy, heavy, heavy load. And that's how you share your love. You, like those elders in James 5, you massage that person. You rub that person as it were infusing strength into them and you continue to do that.
Now, what is that heavy load? Well, very simply two things -- two things. One, it is inordinately familiar temptation. It is that same old temptation that always comes and comes and comes. And we all know that we have patterns of temptation; those temptations to which we have fallen many, many times. Those temptations that we just can't seem to conquer.
There are some temptations that are weak in our lives. We have strong resistance to them for whatever reasons. But there are other temptations to which we have great susceptibility. They become our heavy burdens. They become heavy loads hard to carry on our own.
And they lead to the second part of the heavy load and that is habits of sin. There are familiar temptations that have led to habits of sin. We feel the same temptations coming and we feel weak before them and they push us into the same habits of sin; very familiar temptations habitualations to sin. Those oppressive temptations that regularly pull us down to familiarly sinful habits.
We're going to help each other. We have to stick around long enough to bear those burdens. We have to be there not only to pick that person up, not only to restore that person and to bring them back to spirituality, but we have to stay there in some kind of accountability in some kind of love and some kind of commitment to sustain the strength they need.
That's what the church is. It's not something you attend. It's a life you live. Church doesn't fulfill its responsibility when it sits and looks up here. It fulfills its responsibility when it turns and faces itself; the royal law of love. We have to be there. And we have to stay there to hold them when the heavy burden comes. Establish a pattern of prayer. Establish a pattern of accountability.
I remember a young man came into my office and he had come to Christ. And he said, "I'm so tempted. I was a homosexual" and he said, "I'm so tempted." He said, "I don't know if I can bear it. Those habits are so ingrained into my life and the power of that homosexual temptation is so strong I don't know if I can deal with it."
So I spent a prolong period of time in prayer with him in the office after which I said here's what I want you to do. I gave him a little pad of paper and I said every time you fall to the sin of homosexuality whatever expression of homosexual sin might occur I want you to write it down. And I want for you to write a detailed account of it. I want you to write a detailed account of the battle of temptation in your mind and when you fell I want you to write it all down. And then I want you to come back here in a week and we're going to read it together.
He came back in a week later, I'll never forget it, and he walked in and he sat down and was absolutely ecstatic and overjoyed. And he said, "I didn't have to write anything." And I said, "That's amazing, why?" He said, "Because I knew anything I did I'd have to write. Anything I wrote you'd read. And I didn't want you to have to read that."
That's how you begin to wean somebody away by creating a relationship of trust and accountability. Sometimes people don't want to do that. They think they're superior. They're not willing to stoop down to that level. Verse 3, "If anyone thinks his something when he's nothing he deceives himself."
Get a grip on it folks. You're not too good to do that that's what Paul's saying. You're not too good to do that. You're not superior. Your sins are only different ones. There are some that may be socially despicable and generally speaking we like our sins better than we liked other peoples.
We're certainly much more appalled at their inequities than we are our own. And consider their temptations more heinous than ours. And if you think you're something when you're nothing you're in a situation of being self deceived. You're not any better. You need to be willing to stoop down and lift up that person who's fallen.
And verse 4 takes us right back to where we need to be. Let each one examine his own work. Don't you be looking at somebody else that's not where you start. And you'll have reason for boasting in regard to yourself alone not compared to somebody else.
If you have any reason to boast, if you have any reason to rejoice it's because you alone have met God's standard. It's not because you're better than them. You don't compare yourself with them. You compare yourself with God's standard. Right? That's what verse 4 is saying.
So examine your own work. Examine your own life. Examine your own heart. And if you have reason to boast or rejoice, probably a better translation, if you have reason to rejoice it's because you alone stood by the divine standard. It's not because somehow you're superior to someone else. You don't measure yourself that way. You are -- you're no better than anybody else. The only cause for joy is that you've met God's standard. Get the log of pride out of your own eye and then you'll be useful with somebody else.
God doesn't grade on a curve. This is an absolute standard and if there's reason for you to rejoice it's because God has worked in you and done something through you not because of how you compare to somebody else. So you bear your own load. "You carry the weight of your own responsibility", verse 5 says. You deal with yourself deal with the reality of what you are. And don't consider yourself better than anybody else no matter what they've done. You get over there and you pick them up and you restore them and you bear their burdens.
Jesus wasn't too good to do that. He bore yours and mine on the cross. The shame of it was unspeakable but he was willing and he was perfect. And you're not and neither am I. And who are we to be unwilling?
As we come to the Lord's Table this morning; yes, it's a time to remember. Yes, it's a time to think of our own sin. But it's a time as well to remember our responsibilities to one another.
Father, thank you for your word to us; how we are refreshed in our spirits. How we are confronted in our sin and how we are instructed to our responsibility. And we desire to fulfill it. As we come now Lord to this time of communion, time of coming to your table, what we ask oh, Lord that you would cause us to be honest in our own hearts. Make sure our lives are right before you. That you would remind us as well that we have a responsibility to those precious members of the church around us to come along side them and lift them up and get under the load. We're not too good for that.
Lord just give us a passion for the purity of the church. May we be reminded that you want the church to be heaven on earth and heaven is a holy place. And this is the only place where holiness can come down because we're the only holy people. And we want to be holy as our father in heaven is holy. So that the world in seeing us will not see anything they've ever seen before. And that means we have to care for one another.
Lord we pray that you might reveal sin in this fellowship that we might see it and know it so that we can confront it. And gently considering ourselves who are so susceptible to temptation lift those people up and get under their load and carry it. Keep your church pure. That's what you died for. That's our desire.
Take this time now in prayer with me prayer of confession. Forgive us Lord for sacrificing your interests for our own, for selfish affections, being interested in our own good rather than the good of others. Forgive us for seeking the joy and the feelings that come from material things rather than enjoying the unchanging privileges we have in you.
Forgive us for lacking confidence and trust in your wisdom and sovereign purpose. Forgive us for fear and worry and distrust. And on the other hand, forgive us for self confidence in our ability to control our own lives. Forgive us for resentment in our suffering, for retaliation in our pain, for impatience, irritability and anger with your time table.
Forgive us, on the other hand, in our suffering for laziness, and apathy, and indifference, and doubt. Forgive us for not being generous with money, time. Forgive us for hypocrisy, for being untruthful. Forgive us for not being dependable or faithful or following through on our promises to you and others. Forgive us for irresponsibility, half heartedness.
Forgive us for pride and feelings of superiority, self consciousness, self preoccupation. Forgive us for an uncontrolled spirit, lack of discipline, the absence of willpower to do what is right.
Give us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self control. We confess all our sins Lord known and unknown, felt and unfelt. We ask you to wash us as we come now to your table.

Is Mormonism a Cult, and Does It Matter in 2012?

2011-10-19T07:26:00.000-07:00

Dr. James Emery White

You’ve probably read the news by now. In a less-than-veiled attempt to sway evangelical voters to presidential hopeful Rick Perry after introducing him as a “true” Christian at the Values Voter Summit last Friday, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church-Dallas termed GOP front-runner Mitt Romney’s Mormonism a “cult.”
So is it?
The answer is both “yes” and “no,” and understanding why is an important discussion.
The answer is obviously “no” from a popular perspective, and this is what has created a bit of a firestorm.
Mention “cult” and most people think of Jim Jones or David Koresh. Or even worse, Charles Manson. They think poisoned Kool-Aid and Waco, mind control and isolation.
None of which would be true of Mormonism, and would be wrong to insinuate.
But in theological terms, if you were to define cult as a religious group that denies the biblical nature of God, the full divinity of Jesus Christ, and that we are only saved through His atoning death on the cross through grace, then yes, it is.
This is not news; it has been the position of mainstream Christian faith since Joseph Smith came on the scene with his extra-biblical revelations. In a LifeWay Research survey of 1,000 American Protestant pastors, 75 percent rejected the idea that Mormons were Christians.
Not because of bigotry, but because of theology.
So sociologically, no, Mormonism is not a cult. It is not like Scientology or Hare Krishna, Jehovah’s Witnesses or Christian Science.
But theologically, yes, it is.
But because of the cultural overtones, we’re better off calling them a religion that borrows heavily from Christianity but stands outside of mainstream orthodoxy. They themselves would agree, maintaining that they have something different to offer than traditional Christian faith.
But whether a theological cult or not, does it matter? Does it matter whether we elect a non-Christian president? In the rush to condemn the comments by Jeffress, many seem to be bending over backward to maintain that one’s personal religious beliefs are irrelevant to higher office.
Much of this is pure politics. If Romney’s Mormonism becomes a liability, it will hurt the GOP’s chances in 2012 if indeed he proves to be their candidate for president. According to the Pew Research Center, 34 percent of white evangelicals report themselves “less likely” to vote for a Mormon for president.
But should faith matter?
Again, “yes” and “no,” and, again, understanding why is an important investment.
The answer is “no” in that we are not electing a president to be a pastor or Pope, priest or prophet. The title is commander in chief, not cleric in chief. Further, Article VI of the Constitution is very clear: “[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
There should be no doubt as to the freedom for any citizen to participate in the political process, regardless of faith.
But the answer is “yes” in that a person’s religious convictions, or lack thereof, shape their thinking. And we are very much electing someone to think and decide on our behalf.
Does the candidate claim a faith but it has no real bearing on their life?
That matters to me.
Does the candidate hold to an End Times view that will shape their dealings with the Middle East?
That matters to me.
Does the candidate sincerely pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jesus and Paul for wisdom and discernment?
That matters to me.
Does the candidate hold to a theological perspective that will shape views on marriage, the sanctity of life, the treatment of the widow and the orphan and the alien?
That matters to me.
I think the question would matter to any thoughtful voter of any political leaning. They may want different answers than I would, but most in the electorate would find the answers to be relevant. People who say personal conviction, or religious faith, is irrelevant to a presidential candidate are being politically and intellectual naïve. Yes, vote for president on the basis of your estimation of their ability to govern, but don’t be misled that religious conviction is irrelevant to the decision-making process inherent within governance.
So is Mormonism a cult?
Yes and no.
Does it matter if a presidential candidate is a Mormon … or a Muslim, or a Jew or a Christian?
Yes and no.
Just make sure you know which “yes” and which “no” you have in mind.
James Emery White

A Mission Story

2011-10-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

It was a sunny, cool morning - perfect weather for what we were about to do. My daughter and I had packed our backpacks the night before and were laughing over the fact they weighed around 50 pounds each. Add to that another tote bag full of CD players and Bibles and we were wondering if we'd even be able to walk! We woke early, had breakfast and drove down to the train station. We had started our adventure - the one God had been calling me to do for the past year or so. And He had blessed us with beautiful weather.

Arriving in Philadelphia about 50 minutes later we paused in the train station to pray about our mission that day - ministering to the street homeless. We had 16 survivor kits, 10 CD players with the CD The Invitation, and 8 New Testaments. Our brothers and sisters in Christ had contributed in so many ways - finances, materials and prayers. We asked God to guide us, give us a boldness, soften hearts, keep us humble and most of all, give all the glory to Him. We were excited!!

The first homeless man we came across was playing a guitar while sitting on the sidewalk, leaning against a building. No one was paying attention to him. We approached, I bent down and asked him if he could use a kit. He nodded, stopped playing and started talking. It took me about a minute or so to realize he was rambling and making no sense whatsoever. Just disjointed words racing from his mouth. It broke my heart. In fact, the next couple of homeless were the same. They all had lost their minds. We tried to talk to them about Jesus, but it was difficult. One said he knew Jesus and then went on to tell us how Jesus had a steel plate in his head. Another one told us Jesus lived next door to him. All we could do is love them and pray for them.

Perhaps God was testing us - or maybe preparing us to be bold. Because after that He put homeless in our paths that were coherent. There were also some that were asleep so we would leave a pile next to them of the kit, CD player and Bible. Wonder what they thought when they woke up! There were a couple of men that told us we were the second ones that day to give them something - that others had given them some tracts about Jesus. Of course we smiled and told them God must be trying to reach them! Praise the Lord!

My daughter and I started walking down one street and I spotted a homeless guy with a cardboard sign up ahead. He was sitting on the sidewalk leaning against the building. We also saw a family of tourists coming the other way. As they passed the homeless man, they all looked at him and his sign, then the mother actually made a face of distaste and rolled her eyes. It could have been something right out of a movie it was so surreal. We stopped to talk to him and give him our goodies - he was so excited! He stood up and thanked us. We asked him his name (Bobby) and could we pray for him. He seemed apprehensive but excited at the same time and said yes. So we held hands and prayed for him. Will you keep Bobby in your prayers, too?

By noon we had given away all of our stuff and decided to make a stop at the bookstore before going home. Instead of looking at a map I figured I had been in Philly enough to wing it, so we just started walking. I wasn't sure of the streets, I just knew the general direction to head in. But God knew - and He took us down a street we had been down earlier, unbeknownst to us. There had been a homeless man earlier, sleeping on a grate, that we left one of our piles with. Next thing we know, we are passing him again. And lo and behold, he was sitting up listening to The Invitation CD we had left him!!! We were so thrilled and knew God took us there to show us and use it to encourage us. Thank you, Lord.

By the end of our adventure, I could hardly walk - literally. My calves hurt so bad I was limping. And the next day my pain wasn't much better and my daughter was hurting, too! But it was worth those pains - they are minor in comparison to the pain of being eternally seperated from God. And we can't wait to do it again. I pray this will become a regular mission for us. God is good - all the time! I know the weather may not be so beautiful the next time we do this - I think God was generous our first time out - but that's okay because I'm blessed to have a roof over my head while these street people do not. God bless them.

Please pray for all the homeless. Pray for their safety; pray they will be fed and clothed; most of all pray they will come to know Jesus. One last note - my daughter and I wondered how the mentally diminished will be able to accept the Lord in their lives when they can't understand what we are saying to them. Well God reminded me that with Him all things are possible - could He not give them lucid moments? Perhaps when they are listening to The Invitation or reading a passage in the Bible. So we need to witness to everyone - everywhere - all the time.

May all the glory and praise go to Him.

Campaign Against Sin

2011-09-30T07:03:00.000-07:00

One of the best articles I've ever read - perhaps because it has such personal meaning to me..............

Truth and Consequences: Exposing Sin in the Church

By Bob and Gretchen Passantino

Copyright 1994 by Bob and Gretchen Passantino.

King David had a humongous problem. A problem that threatened to destroy his administration. This problem not only could destroy his career, but in doing so it could destroy the economic and social stability of the nation and leave it ripe for internal decay and external exploitation. He'd had tough problems before in his years as Commander in Chief, but this was the worst yet.
How was King David going to explain to his people that his affair with the wife of one of the army's most successful generals had gotten so complicated that he was forced to send the general to his death in a hopeless battle so he could quickly marry the new widow to legitimize their child?
The ordinary people didn't know how hard it was to run a country, to have multitudes depending on you for leadership. They didn't understand how the extraordinary stresses leaders faced almost demanded extraordinary tension relieving activities. They didn't understand how using all of one's energies to run the country left one vulnerable to what the ministers called the "sins of the flesh."
It was time for a damage control strategy meeting. King David called in his most trusted advisors for a top-level secret meeting. First to arrive was his court magician, Mike, who had parlayed a brief flirtation with the black arts into a national inspirational comedy ministry. He had been able to hide his four marriages, numerous affairs, and tall-tale telling for twenty years. He was sure to have some great ideas.
The next to arrive was Brother Jimmy, from Southern Judah. True, Jimmy wasn't as well-liked anymore since that last police stop with the prostitute in his chariot, but he did have years of experience covering up his pornographic recreational activities. He could help devise a plan for keeping the worst details out of all but the most tacky tabloids.
The West Coast Kingdom Network contingent arrived later that day. Paul and Jan were sure to give David good advice on how he could appeal to the people with a powerful "word from the Lord" and take pledges for a new temple franchise at the same time. In addition, they brought suggestions from several West Coast ministers who had managed to overcome their bad PR to form new speaking platforms, and from other national ministers who were unable to attend because of their busy crusade schedules but who advised how to prosper in the midst of human suffering and poverty.
Last to arrive was Prophet Hal, brimming with ideas about how David's "little problem" was actually a sign that the Messiah was near and that the people should be concentrating on the refurbishing of the temple instead of David's personal life.
The top secret summit lasted all week. The media tried to crack security, but the usual "high level administration sources" were curiously silent. Nobody knew what was going on behind closed doors, except that the Jerusalem Kosher Pizza Hovel was making a fortune on late night deliveries.
When the king's press conference was finally announced, media from all the world jammed the pomegranate garden awaiting the king's presence. King David's communications advisor, George the Greek, strode to the podium.
"Members of the press. I have a brief statement from the palace, then King David will give his statement. Copies of both statements will be available as you leave, as well as 8x10 glossies. Now, to the statement: 'The palace announces that King David has instituted a new policy of cooperation with the armed services and chosen as liaison between the palace and the Hexagon Mrs. Bathsheba Uriah, whose late husband, General Uriah, sacrificed his life for his country in the recent battles supervised by Secretary of Defense Joab. This is a wonderful opportunity for this administration to confirm its commitment to supporting women in strategic leadership roles. In an effort to further reduce the national debt, King David has additionally decided to marry Mrs. Uriah so that she can perform her duties without salary. Thank you.'"
The murmurs of the reporters had started to die as King David walked briskly out the palace door, into the garden, and to the podium, flanked by his advisors. The morning sun glinted from the special highlights applied to his hair. No shine reflected off his carefully powdered cheeks and forehead. He turned his best side to the press artists and gave the magic smile that had won him the popularity of the people.
"My fellow Israelites. Today marks the beginning of a new era in God's kingdom. After careful consideration and agonizing self-sacrifice, I stand before you fully prepared to continue my responsibilities as the Lord's servant according to the Lord's calling. There have been rumors about my relationship with Bathsheba, wife of the late General Uriah. I tell you in all sincerity today that these rumors are vicious and are tearing down the trust relationship I worked so hard to build. A man in my position expects attacks from the Enemy, and Satan has been working overtime on this one. Sometimes all it takes for a war to be lost is for the people to lose trust in their leadership because of evil rumors and destructive gossip. Well, I think better of you all than that. I know you will reject any such malicious talk and not believe anything you hear unless it comes from my lips.
Over the years, God has used me in mighty ways to further his kingdom. All of you know how as a young boy God gave me the power to kill the giant Goliath with my little slingshot. And those of you who've read my best-selling biography know the words God directed the prophet Samuel to speak when he anointed me as king. I waited patiently for the old administration to finish its term and for King Saul to die before I took office. Israel has never been so prosperous or so safe as it has been under my rule (by God's grace, of course).
Now, all of us have our little imperfections. Take my magician advisor here, Mike. He got in a little trouble a while back for using exaggeration and embellishment in his comedy routine, and he learned a lot about God's forgiveness for his moral lapses, but he's still going strong -- he didn't let those little things keep him from the ministry God called him to. And look at Brother Jimmy. I think people appreciate the struggles he goes through with demons. It isn't easy to keep on preaching against pornography when demons are harassing you at every turn with the stuff. And my dear friends Paul and Jan, along with the dozens of ministers God has prospered through their crusades, they know that when God entrusts you with 30 million pieces of silver, Satan can tempt you to use it for personal gain. And yet they allow the Lord to use their mansions, chariot limousines, Nile barges, and jewels as an inspiration to their "partners" to give even more to the Lord's work so everybody can prosper just like them.
Frankly, we're all sinners. I apologize for being merely human. I don't want you all to think I've gone Holy-wood on you -- I would never do that. In fact, I think my human shortcomings should reassure you that I haven't forgotten what it's like to be struggling with sin. I'm just a simple country boy who's been called by the Lord to the most important leadership position in His kingdom, and my communications team just hasn't caught up to the big league yet.
I'm proud to announce my marriage to Bathsheba, and her appointment to liaison with the armed services. I know this move will strengthen our nation, save us tax money, and restore in you the confidence you once had in my administration.
I close with advice from my dear Brother Hal here, who years ago wrote prophetically that demonic activity, Satanic temptations, and even the moral failings of Israelite leaders are a sign to rejoice because the Messiah is right around the corner. I am confident that Brother Hal and his wives, as well as my wives, join me in encouraging you -- The Messiah is Coming! Rejoice!"
As King David gazed out over the media crowd his smile broadened into a grin. The glazed eyes, the vacuous smiles, the reporters' blank notebooks all testified to David's triumph. God's kingdom was saved!

Exchanging Truth for Lies

When the Church allows compromised Christian leaders to explain away sin, compromise truth, and sin with impunity, we exchange truth for lies. We become no better than idolaters, people whose credulous adoration of compromised leaders fulfill what Paul calls exchanging "the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man . . . exchang[ing] the truth of God for a lie" (Rom. 1:22, 25). Our recasting of King David's story from 2 Samuel is a lie, but sadly, it represents a popular attitude in the Church today toward sin in Christian leadership. Unfortunately, although most Christians sincerely want truth and want to follow biblical ethics, we too often listen to such lies from our leadership and instead of denouncing sin and demanding accountability, we parrot excuses like those given here and allow compromised leaders to continue in leadership.

Biblical Accountability

The Bible clearly states that Christian leaders should be accountable both to the Word of God and also to God's people, whom the leader serves. Among the requirements Paul describes for a Christian leader are that he be "blameless," and "of good behavior" (1 Tim. 3:2). A Christian leader must "have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil" (1 Tim. 3:7). This does not mean that the Christian leader is simply good at covering up his sin. Christian leaders must display integrity and honesty -- they must prove themselves worthy of Christians' trust.
One would think that our outspoken faithfulness to truth telling would extend to telling the truth about sin within the Church. And yet at this point many Christians shrink from truth telling, instead hiding behind empty platitudes such as "don't judge;" "forgive and forget;" "don't shoot your own wounded;" "look at all the people who came to the Lord through this ministry;" etc. Sadly, we have unbiblically acted as though telling the truth contradicts biblical concern for a sinning Christian leader.
Christians who cry out, "It's wrong to judge," are ignoring the context of the passage (Matt. 7:1-2), which does not forbid judging, but instead insists on judgment according to God's word. In addition, a judgmental criticism of judgement is self-refuting. If it is wrong for a Christian to publicly criticize a Christian leader whose testimony is false or who is immoral, then isn't the critic also wrong for publicly criticizing the Christian? Paul points out this contradiction among some Jews, saying, "You who say, 'Do not commit adultery,' do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?" (Rom. 2:22). One who speaks English to utter the sentence "I can't utter a word in English" has refuted himself. Aren't those who accuse Christian investigative journalism of being the "Christian Gestapo" themselves acting Gestopo-ish?
Assuming that integrity and accountability exclude compassion unfairly brands truth telling as "shooting" and ignores that "the wounded" have been wounded by their own sin.
Christians who excuse false testimonies and immorality by pointing to the "fruits" of a ministry deny Paul's forceful argument in Romans 3:8 that to do evil that good may come is slanderous and contrary to biblical ethics.
To equate forgiveness with absolution from personal responsibility is to cheapen biblical forgiveness and to deny biblical justice.

Christian Leadership

The objections against revealing a Christian leader's sin seem to imply that it is possible for one to have a valid Christian ministry or profession, and yet have a private life of corruption. However, the Bible explains that it is not possible for one's sinful conduct to have no negative effect on one's profession of godliness. Titus 1:6-8 summarizes the same qualifications for a Christian leader Paul gave in 1 Timothy 3, but goes on to condemn one who says he believes, and yet whose works deny his profession of faith:

To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. The profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work (1:15-16).

To attempt to combine immorality with godliness to produce spiritual fruit is completely contrary to scriptural teaching. In fact, Paul ranks it with "profane and vain babblings" and warns Timothy to avoid "contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge" (1 Tim. 6:20).
In addition, Jesus openly rebuked Peter when Peter argued against Jesus going to the cross (Matt. 16:22, 23). Paul writes Titus that it is the responsibility of the church to hold the leader accountable for his sin: "Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith" (Titus 1:13). Paul also commands Christians to rebuke sinning leaders publicly, "Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear" (1 Tim. 5:20). Paul took his own advice, as recorded in Galatians 2, and publicly rebuked Peter "before them all" (Gal. 2:14).
If we neglect to uncover sin within the Church, we rob the Church of the integrity it should expect from its members. The Church becomes weak through compromise, and the leader becomes weak because of his or her immorality. Fallen leaders betray the trust of those they lead. Maturity in the Lord, which is an essential part of qualifying one for spiritual leadership, can be confirmed only by an established pattern of resisting sin and walking faithfully with God, family, and others.
First Thessalonians 5:21-22 commands us to "test all things," and Paul commended the Bereans for "searching the scriptures" to test what he himself had taught them (Acts 17:11). The Christian whose life is characterized by truth telling must support spiritual leaders whose lives exemplify Christian maturity, and must hold those leaders accountable. If a Christian leader is chosen whose life is bound by immorality, the Christian has the obligation then to expose that sin publicly since the leader is public and his actions impact the church he leads.
Fallen leaders damage the trust relationship established between them and their followers, a relationship mirroring the trusting relationship we are to have with the Lord. In addition, they break the trust relationship Peter tells us to have with the world; that is, we are to live so that even the world will note our trustworthiness and be unable to speak against us, but will, instead, glorify God (1 Peter 2:12).
It is unethical for Christians to cover up for leaders who have achieved their position through false qualifications or stories, or who are living immorally. Can the Church claim a higher ethical standard than the world when we adopt a "code of silence" worthy of the most pernicious organized crime conspiracy or even some suspected invisible satanic ring?
Some people in society have a greater responsibility for honesty and integrity than others. This does not mean that it's less wrong for one person to lie than another, but a public leader has a greater responsibility because the consequences of his failure have greater ramifications. A lay person who has a mistaken medical opinion will not affect the lives and health of as many people as a doctor with a misunderstanding of medicine.
An individual in a position of public trust surrenders his privacy regarding his suitability and trustworthiness. He has asked the public to trust him for specific reasons or qualifications. Those reasons and qualifications are open to public scrutiny. If the leader is trustworthy, they will withstand examination. If he is not, close examination will reveal their inadequacies. Christians who are committed to truth must preserve this fundamental right and obligation to know in whom they are asked to trust.

Forsaking Lies for the Truth

The examples of Jesus and his disciples' commitment to truthfulness and integrity give us our model for holding our Christian leaders accountable. If we do not expose false testimonies and revisionist histories, especially when they are propagated by Christians, then all truth claims and all historical knowledge comes into doubt. We can have no certainty of the truth of Christianity or the objective reality of the resurrection. In the first century, the apostle Paul could claim that the resurrection "was not done in a corner" (Acts 26:26). Should Christians be so careless with the truth that we need to hide our corrupt leaders "in a corner" to preserve the faith rather than speak the truth and call those corrupt leaders to repentance and reconciliation? God forbid!
Good discernment and moral accountability should be practiced among believers. The Old Testament establishes this pattern. Instructions concerning false prophets in Deuteronomy 13:1-5 assume the prophet arises from the congregation of Israel. The passage admonishes the people to banish idolatry from their families, "If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend" (v. 6). Deuteronomy 13 instructs the Israelites how to practice good discernment within their own communities: "you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly." If the community is idolatrous, it must be dealt with publicly (v. 14). Psalm 50:18 states that one who sees a crime and doesn't report it has moral culpability.
The New Testament continues the theme of good discernment within the believing community, most notably when the Bereans test Paul's teachings (Acts 17:11) and the Thessalonians are commanded to test all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). Judgment is not excluded, but unrighteous judgment is, as Jesus declared: "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment" (John 7:24).
Jesus expelled the money changers from the temple, denounced the Pharisees and scribes, and rebuked the teachers of the Law. He reprimanded Peter in front of the other disciples (Matthew 16:22-23). Paul followed Jesus' example and named false teachers in the Church (2 Timothy 2:14-19) and openly criticized Peter (Galatians 2:11,14).
Paul warns that false teachers will arise within the Church, "Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:30). The false teachers of Jude are said to "have secretly slipped in among you" (v. 4).

The Biblical Pattern for Accountability

When immorality occurs in the Church (Titus 1:15-16), the Bible says to deal with it truthfully and constructively. The procedure for public leaders caught in false teaching or immorality is to be rebuked publicly "so that the others may take warning" (1 Timothy 5:20). A congregation member who sins privately against another Christian is not to be exposed publicly unless he persists in sin, in which case he is to be rebuked before the church and we are to "treat him as you would a pagan or tax collector" (Matthew 18:15-17). Paul follows this in 1 Corinthians 5:3-12 concerning the Christian who persisted in his sexual immorality, and affirms that judgment belongs to the Church: "I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present . . . . What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you" (v. 3, 12).
Christian leaders are accountable to God's people, whom the leader serves, and should be "above reproach," "respectable," and "able to teach" (1 Timothy 3:2). A Christian leader must "have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil" (1 Timothy 3:7). A Christian leader who is a false teacher or immoral should be rebuked to encourage reform (Titus 1:13), and cannot dichotomize his ministry from his life, expecting God to bless his preaching while privately he sins; he is "disqualified for every good work" (vv. 15-16).
Telling the truth about false teaching or immorality in the Church corresponds with the ethics and truth characterizing the Church. The Church is "salt of the earth" and "the light of the world" (Matthew 5:13- 14) only if characterized by truthfulness (v. 11) and righteousness (v. 16). Each Christian leader has an obligation to "hold firmly the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it" (Titus 1:9). No Christian is happy when false teaching or immorality arise, but we cannot neglect responsibility, doctrinal and moral accountability.
Christians sometimes are uncomfortable with criticism within the Church because they wrongly assume that public criticism, because it is painful, is also destructive. On the contrary, the "pain" of biblically conducted confrontation produces individual growth (1 Timothy 4:16), encourages others to Christian maturity (1 Timothy 5:19-20), promotes Church strength (Ephesians 4:15), and preserves the Church's reputation in the world (1 Peter 2:12).

A Call for Christian Integrity

The consequences of compromising biblical truth and ethics are devastating. Like an insidious cancer, lies and immorality eat away at the church. Tender believers lose their faith, the associates of the sinner fall into sin themselves, non-believers mock the church and reject the gospel. While covering up for a compromised leader, or tolerating sin in the midst of the congregation may appear at first glance to be loving, compassionate, and "good PR," in actuality it is like a lung cancer patient continuing to smoke.
We cannot condone continuing sin within the Church. We must expose it, deal with it biblically, call sinners to repentance, and then extend the forgiveness, discipleship, restitution, and restoration offered from God's Word.
Sadly, Mike Warnke's problems are not unusual in the Church today. When we began ministry in 1972, we had already experienced some of the duplicity too prevalent among Christian leaders. Gretchen had quit working on one ministry's newspaper because the editor, who was also an evangelist, kept making advances to her, suggesting that the burden of his ministry caused him to need special comfort. Bob, who is nearly blind in one eye, had struggled with what to say when a traveling evangelist prayed for his healing and then announced to the audience that Bob was healed -- but he wasn't. As new Christians, we assumed that these were isolated instances and that the Church wouldn't ordinarily tolerate such moral compromise.
Now, almost twenty years later, we've worked on numerous investigative pieces regarding compromised Christian leaders. Crying Wind, Alberto Rivera, John Todd, Michael Esses, Joey LaVey, Lauren Stratford, Troy Lawrence, Mike Warnke, Bob Larson, and dozens of others have come under temporary Church scrutiny for their ministry and moral lapses. Many were completely defensive when challenged, and many responded much like our fictional King David. No true confession, no real repentance, certainly no biblically mandated restitution and restoration. Tragically, most of them continue in active ministry.
The Christian Church cannot compromise forever by covering up and excusing sin within its leadership. Continued toleration of immorality will transform the Church into what Jesus described as white-washed graves -- pristine on the outside, and full of rotting flesh and decaying bone inside.
The true biblical story of King David is quite different than what we created here. In 2 Samuel 12:1- 14, Nathan rebukes David for his sin with Bathsheba, and God attaches consequences to David's actions that follow him throughout the rest of his life and reign as king. But most important is David's response to God's rebuke through Nathan. Let each of us join David in his confession before God:

Have mercy on me, O God, 
          according to your unfailing love; 
         according to your great compassion  
            blot out my transgressions. 
            Wash away all my iniquity 
            and cleanse me from my sin. 
                                     
            For I know my transgressions, 
           and my sin is always before me. 
        Against you, you only, have I sinned 
        and done what is evil in your sight, 
     so that you are proved right when you speak 
            and justified when you judge. 
                                 . . . . 
    Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; 
      wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 
            Let me hear joy and gladness; 
       let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 
             Hide your face from my sins 
            and blot out all my iniquity. 
                                     
          Create in my a pure heart, O God, 
       and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 
          Do not cast me from your presence 
          or take your Holy Spirit from me. 
       Restore to me the joy of your salvation 
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. 
                                     
     Then I will teach transgressors your ways, 
         and sinners will turn back to you 
                  (Psalm 51:1-13).1

Will Jesus Find You, Too?

2011-09-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

The Right Way: His Righteousness

2011-09-16T05:47:00.000-07:00

This is an excellent article that, in my view, truly explains our role in this country and world - both politically and socially. Without true disciples, all of our efforts to be the light and the salt will eventually fade into darkness.

By James Robison

We have many reasons to be concerned about the national challenges we face, and they go far beyond the economy. We are reaping the consequences of what has been sown in personal and collective lives. Necessary changes will be made by changed people who are led by wisdom from above and purpose-inspired living—God’s purpose. Do not blame a person who has been elected, a party, the media, or any highly-visible person of influence for our problems. And do not be tricked to looking to a politician or party for hope. The Lord is our hope, and the revelation of Christ in the fullness of His life—love, joy, and peace expressed through us—will lead to purposeful, principled choices. We must learn from the past but look to the future while trusting God for wisdom, guidance, protection, and provision. We do not live in fear when trusting the Lord to deliver us personally and nationally from evil and its adverse effects. The following outline of truths, shared by a friend who addressed Leadership Summit attendees this summer, emphasizes the power of Christ’s righteousness and how we can become the “city set on a hill that cannot be hid”:
“When the righteous become great, the people rejoice.”
It is the task of Christ’s people to produce righteous people spread throughout the population of the earth: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20)
Righteous people must be made. They must be taught and trained after they are born again.
Righteous people are people who routinely act in the character and power of Jesus Christ, because of transformation of all dimensions of their personality—heart, soul, mind, strength and social relations. (Mark 12:29-31)
They do not work by human force, but by divine influence working all around them through who they are, what they do, and what they say. (John 7:38; Acts 1:8) They are bearers of the kingdom of God to their surroundings. (Luke 10:9-11)

1. “If My people, over whom My name is called, humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chron. 7:14)

“Humbling themselves” is not a day but a way. It is not an episode but a life. It is a matter of an identifiable group of people living in dependence upon God, constantly calling out to and listening to Him, making it a point to live in His manifest presence, and doing what they know to be right and good before God. These are the “righteous.” They are the ones who build their house upon the Rock. (Matt. 7:24-25) They “hear and do.”

2. This life must be taught and learned. Today our standard is professing “Christians” who are not disciples (students, apprentices) of Jesus. Many of our congregations and groups are not centers for the production of righteous people who live their lives in the Kingdom of God. That is not what those groups are about. The essential message many present is about escaping punishment from sin, not about escaping sin. The “good news” presented is that Jesus took your punishment, and if you will trust that, you will not be punished. This has nothing essentially to do with the kind of person you should become. (“Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven”—bumper sticker theology.)

3. Is forgiveness good news? Indeed it is, and guilt must be dealt with. But Jesus lives and brings good news about life, not primarily about death and hereafter. The New Testament gospel is about life now in the Kingdom of God. That is what he preached and practiced. (Matt. 4:17, 23) That is what the “birth from above” (John 3) is about. That is what Paul preached and taught. (Acts 20:25 & 28:23-31, Rom. 14:17) Those who are Christ’s have been “delivered [by God] from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of His beloved Son.” (Col. 1:13) This life is for now and eternity.

What is the kingdom of God? It is God in action, God “reigning.” It is where what God wants done is done—the range of God’s effective will. The “good news” is that Jesus, the Door and the Way, has opened this domain to all who trust Him—not just trust something He did or said. And trusting Him naturally leads to becoming his apprentice in kingdom living.

As Jesus’ apprentice I am learning from Him how to lead my life in the Kingdom of God as He would lead my life if He was me. The outcome is that “those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:17) Hence, the picture of the righteous life in Christ is given. (Col. 3:1-17) Take a moment to just imagine what this kind of life would mean for our public life today and for our “church life.”

4. “The blessing of Abraham” (Gal. 3:14, Gen. 28:4) is not just the forgiveness of sins, but whole life lived within the action or kingdom of God. Abimelech (Abraham’s nervous neighbor) said, “God is with you in all that you do.” That is “the blessing of Abraham” spoken of by Paul in Galatians 3. Not just forgiveness of sins by faith, but life covered by the Spirit in the Kingdom of God. Not just miracles. Not just prosperity. These are dimensions of the whole life that Abraham lived “with God.” The “With God Life” is the life of the righteous person.

5. Once again: Where do righteous people come from? From gatherings of disciples in God’s presence, undergoing transformation of every dimension of their being so that they routinely and easily do the things that Jesus commanded.

The people thus formed are, of course, already in “the public square.” That is where they live—“Oaks of righteousness.” (Is. 61:3) There they stand in the character and power of Christ doing what is right and good in every domain, private and public.

To see this happen, we have only to preach the good news that Jesus Himself preached, in the manner He preached it, and make disciples (not “Christians” in name only), and teach them in such a way that they do what Jesus told us to do—not legalistically, but because of who they have become in their companionship with Jesus. These lives make a kingdom impact on our culture.

6. This will be a battle, for it lies at a great distance from what is now accepted practice among Christians, and the forces of evil are arrayed against it at many levels of worldly organization. But the first battle, and the one most important to win, is within the church itself…in our own personal lives.

When we become in Christ what you just read, His light will reveal clearly what we are to turn from and what we must turn toward personally and nationally in order that we can continually be a blessing to our neighbors, our nation, and the nations of the world.

Erasing Hell by Francis Chan

2011-09-08T10:35:00.000-07:00

Should We Preach with Authority?

2011-09-08T06:14:00.000-07:00

-by Shane Idleman.

A few years back, I listened in astonishment as postmodern leaders
talked about replacing "preaching" with "having a conversation." At
first, I thought that maybe they were confusing individual conversations
with how we should speak to the masses, but I was wrong. They
felt that we should stop "preaching" from the pulpit, and start being
more passive and less confrontational. Never mind the fact that
Jesus said, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities
also, because for this purpose I have been sent" (Luke 4:43). But
according to many postmoderns, it's time to replace... preaching
with conversing.

Don't get me wrong... I'm not questioning cosmetic issues such as
styles of worship, ambiance, lighting, and mood. I'm challenging
the dangerous practice of removing foundational principles - Spirit-
empowered preaching is foundational.

I'm also not suggesting that we never converse with people; quite
the contrary... We must be slow to speak and quick to listen, but
when we are called to preach, a whole new dynamic takes place.
the Spirit of God speaks, convicts, draws, heals, breaks, restores,
wounds, and rebuilds. In the book, Spirit Empowered Preaching,
the author said, "It must be understood that the preacher does not
share, he declares. Preaching is not a little talk. It is not a fireside
chat. To substitute sharing and discussion for preaching is to risk
the integrity of the gospel itself."

"What does this have to do with me; I'm not a pastor, or a preacher,"
you might ask. It has a great deal to do with any Christian regard-
less of his or her calling. Let me explain. There is a very troubling
trend in the evangelical church, as a whole. Foundational doctrines
such as the cross, sin, judgment, and repentance were declared
openly in the early hours of church history, as well as in American
history-when revivals and awakenings spread across our landscape.

Today, these foundational truths are often neglected, watered-down,
or avoided altogether in the hope of "not offending," "securing an
audience," or being "user-friendly." Judgment is never mentioned;
repentance is never sought; and sin is often excused. This leaves
people confused and deceived because they believe in a cross-less
Christianity that bears no resemblance to Jesus' sobering call to
repentance. Even though you may not be a Christian leader, we all
are called to share God's Word with others-especially the difficult
truths. Then we are also able to offer hope.

"To convince the world of the truth of Christianity, it must first be
convinced of sin. It is only sin that renders Christ intelligible"
(-Andrew Murray; 1794-1866). In other words, the crucifixion only
makes sense in light of the consequences of sin. "Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners" (I Timothy 1:15), yet, we're
not suppose to mention sin, repentance, or judgment?

Again, the good news about Christ can only be appreciated with
the bad news as the backdrop. There are times when the saints
must be fed, and there are times when the sinners must be
warned (-C.H. Spurgeon). Preaching, witnessing, teaching, and
so on must be done with God-given authority to truly be effective.
When we fail to proclaim God's Word faithfully, we run the risk of
"encouraging sin" and "perverting the words of the living God."
(cf. Jeremiah 23).

Has America Found a King?

2011-08-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

By James Robison

This past week when I read the following statement in the gospel of John, I was stunned – even though I had read it before. How could God’s chosen people of faith make such a statement concerning any false god?

“So they cried out, ‘Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests [the top religious leaders] answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’”

What a tragic confession coming from the leaders of the very people through whom God said He wanted to “bless the nations of the earth.”
With God’s gift of free choice given to each person, people too often choose wrong. God created human beings in His own image, and in the Garden of Eden instructed them to be the caretakers of the bountiful land. Adam and Eve quickly confirmed that all of us wander from the shadow, the shelter of our heavenly Father and the watch care of the Shepherd. Deceived by the serpent, Adam and Eve believed they would actually be wiser and have more knowledge if they disobeyed God and followed the deceiver’s advice. Rebellion set in! Cain killed Abel, and evil prevailed to the point that only the ark of God’s safety built by Noah could preserve life as we know it. Jesus today is that trustworthy ark of safety and security.
The Old Testament journey reveals the results of jealous brothers casting their younger brother Joseph into the pit. He ends up a servant to Pharaoh, demonstrating how God can use what others intended for evil for good. This Old Testament type of Christ counseled Pharaoh and told him how to survive the coming famine. Even the brothers that betrayed him became the recipients of Pharaoh following the counsel that comes only from above. God used Joseph to advise the ruler, avoiding total devastation. But ultimately God’s own chosen people, Israel, sold themselves into Egyptian bondage by foolishly trusting a source other than God (Pharaoh) and they were trapped as slaves.
Even in our day when government is presented or perceived as provident – the provider, the hope – the people will become its slaves. Paul reminds the New Testament believers in 1 Corinthians 10 the things that happened to Israel serve “as an example to us” and that we must “flee from idolatry.” Our trust must be in God. His wisdom is necessary for sound leadership and decisions.
When the plight and pain of Israel became so intense from Egyptian bondage, they cried out for a deliverer. God raised up Moses who led them out, parted the Red Sea, and headed for the Promised Land that God said flowed with abundant blessings and prosperity. After leaving Egypt, witnessing miracles, following the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, they rebelled against God. Out of fear, many wanted to return to Egypt and in unbelief they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Ultimately the only ones who entered into the blessings of the Promised Land were those who believed God and trusted Him for every victory.
Sadly, once they entered the land and received from God all He promised, they again turned away and began to worship idols and desired to become like godless nations. The people asked Gideon or his sons to become their king. Gideon declared, “No, the Lord is your King!” Later they complained to Samuel saying, “We want a king!” When God relented and allowed a human king, He told them how he was to lead. The people rejected God’s ideas and said, “We want a king like the nations of the world.” They got them, and suffered greatly for it. The major and minor prophets continually called them to return to God, trust Him and stop seeking the shadow of Pharaoh or Egypt, along with anything mere men could offer. The story of oppression continued throughout the Old Testament and Jews were subjects of the Roman Empire when the high priests made the awful confession found in John 19:15. Many in present day America desire to be like other nations – God, forbid it, please!
Consider briefly America’s birth. Under the weight of God’s Kingdom influence, our nation was founded by people who wanted to be free. They didn’t want the horrible monarchy and tyrant kings that had crushed free men and families for centuries. Thomas Payne, rumored to be an atheist, helped inspire the revolution that led to the birth of our nation, signing the Declaration of Independence and ultimately the Constitution. Any sound thinker who seriously considers unshakable truth can recognize it! Payne described the powers that prevailed in Europe as “interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men who cannot see; prejudiced men who will not see; and a certain set of moderate men who think better of the European world than it deserves; and this last class by an ill-judged deliberation will be the cause of more calamities to this continent than all the other three.”
Payne knew that governments established by mere men without truth and a sound foundation are doomed to fail. He said to those who asked, “Who is king of America? I will tell you friend, He reigns above and doth not make havoc of mankind like the royal brute of Britain! Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter. Let it be brought forth and placed on the divine law, the Word of God; let a crown be placed thereon by which the world may know that so far as we approve of the monarchy that in America the law is king. For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries, the law ought to be king and there ought to be no other.”
Our founders established this nation as a constitutional republic. The founders understood the danger of a mere majority foolishly changing direction on a whim or a sudden urge. We were to be a people bound by the Constitution. They established a sound foundation upon which free people could build and live. Our founders believed this nation and the freedoms we have can only be maintained by people who are responsible and live under control. This nation will only be secure if we live as a nation under the influence of truth, for it is truth that makes us free. Jesus did say, “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s,” and Paul said that we are to submit to authority. But neither Jesus nor Paul for one moment endorsed or embraced what the coins forged by Rome stated, claiming Caesar to be divine. No one understood the Divine better than Jesus. He was “God with us.” He is “the Son of God” and ever lives at this moment to “make intercession for us at the right hand of the Father.” He still longs to be our Shepherd. God continually invites us into the shelter and shadow of His presence.
Far too many Americans have made Caesar or some other source their god. They depend on it and look to it as their hope. What a tragic mistake. Perhaps more tragic is the fact that many professing Christians are also looking to the wrong source and too many pulpits are silent in pointing us to God as our source – our certain help and our hope. The Manhattan Declaration which I signed closes affirming that we must “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but never render unto Caesar what is God’s.”
Consider again what the High Priests (the big religious leaders) had to say concerning Jesus when Pilate asked, “Shall I crucify your king?” Their answer, “We have no king but Caesar.” They chose to trust a godless empirical government rather than God.
He was asking the very people God had referred to as the family of faith through whom He wanted to bless the nations of the world. These were people He said would be so blessed as a nation they would not have to borrow, but would lend to others. (Not to imply that borrowing was wrong or He never would have told His people they would be blessed to lend.) God teaches those who trust Him that they are not live in bondage to debt or any idolatrous power on this planet.
Many national leaders have led America to borrow even from those who have pledged to overthrow freedom as we know it while denying the existence of God and mocking biblical truth. As Christians, we should be witnesses to all people, while refusing to be owned or controlled by them. We must not trust Caesar or any earthy power as our source. There is but one who is Provident and that’s who our founders referred to as “Divine Providence” and declared our rights as given by “nature’s law” and “nature’s God.”
In our present day, just as when Pilate asked the people and religious leaders if they wanted him to crucify and do away with their King, many seem to be answering as the High Priests did: “We have no king but Caesar,” who represents the god of this world. I must ask, have we allowed our leaders, much of the media, the entertainment community, and greed driven manipulators to determine our king? Will we begin to stamp on our currency “In Gov We Trust” and declare we are looking to “the hill” rather than the “hills whence cometh our help.” Or will believers encourage people to focus on God and His will holding to a foundation and principles that even an atheist and deists recognize as solid ground? May God forgive any priest, preacher, pastor or American who would imply that Caesar is king.
In the face of foolishness and out of control government, I see hope arising! There is the dawning of a new day and the light of God’s glory is coming! I have been in ministry for nearly 50 years and I am witnessing more truly Christ-honoring churches, the greatest expressions of Christian faith and confidence in God with genuine love for their neighbors and those who suffer. I am seeing the strongest desire for true believers to come together in spiritual unity as a mighty army that literally overpowers the influences of deception, division and destruction. I am confident and convinced we are about to see people stand up and become that light that refuses to be covered, will not compromise and will not be conformed to this world.
My heart leaps with joy at the hope God has placed before us if those who know the truth will refuse any message that points to Caesar or any other source as our hope. We must have government of the people resting “on His shoulders”. This suggests that sound thinking, unshakable truth and principles will be carried on the shoulders of godly people, not those who pretend to be righteous, but those who truly “love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and love their neighbor as themselves.” The local churches and pastors are the best way to share the necessary transforming truth and encourage sound thinking within our local communities inspiring citizens to accept personal responsibility.
The federal government although necessary for law and order must never be America’s king. Out of control government masquerading as God consumes the productivity and opportunity created by the people. Paul declared truth to the Philippian Christians when he said, “My God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” This is a God grant, not a Gov grant. May each of us respond to the challenge of Joshua in the Old Testament by answering as he did: “Choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”. Transformed people who trust God and take a stand as “salt and light” can correct our course.

Prayer Meeting

2011-08-25T08:22:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Paul and I along with our daughter, Kristina, were blessed to be able to attend the 1st Annual Delaware Valley Prayer Gathering held at the Philadelphia Convention Center. The main speaker was Jim Cymbala, author of Fresh Wind Fresh Fire and senior pastor at Brooklyn Tabernacle. The Lord has grown this church from a broken down (literally - one pew fell to the ground as a group sat on it!), shabby building with about 18 members in downtown Brooklyn to what it is today - a church that not only serves thousands of people, but one that serves some of the most downtrodden and desperate. Pastor Cymbala outlines this transformation in his book and rightly gives all the credit to the Lord. Cymbala's part? Faith and prayer. Trust. Obedience.

Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope.

Psalm 119:49

This is the scripture Jim Cymbala's talk was based on this past weekend. We can be assured that God will keep all of His promises. All. And Cymbala also spoke of how God does almost nothing unless He speaks about it first. Why? To secure glory for Himself lest someone think it was a coincidence. And to see our faith - He loves us to have faith. It pleases Him.

Pastor Cymbala did not spend a lot of time speaking. Part of me wished he did as I really enjoyed his book and wanted to hear more from him. But he reminded us how important prayer really is - that's right, it IS important. It connects us with our Father. It grows our faith. It empowers us. When we pray, we must believe. Believe God is holy and righteous. Believe He answers our prayers. Believe in His promises. And so we quickly went from listening to Cymbala to praying. It was incredible to be praying with thousands of other Christians. We prayed for many things but I think the thing that gave me goosebumps was when we prayed for all the churches that were represented there that night. We prayed that each one would be filled with the Holy Spirit, blessed and used by God to further His Kingdom. How awesome is that?!? And the churches represented there will continue to be prayed for by Pastor Cymbala's church.

If you haven't had the opportunity to read Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, I would highly recommend it. You can also listen to one of Cymbala's talks from Youtube:

The bottom line? Prayer is so important - not just personal prayer, but corporate prayer. Our churches don't have enough corporate prayer. We get together on Sunday mornings, say a few prayers, and think we are a praying bunch. No, we aren't. We should be gathering, in great numbers, each week, to petition and praise our heavenly Father. Not because we "should" but because we love Him and want to spend time with Him. Are you ready? Are you committed? Then what's stopping you?

the gods??

2011-08-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

The video below is from Levi's and it is definitely the work of the enemy. Please pray for all the young people that may see this and believe it - pray that their eyes would be opened to see it as deception.

The Function of the Church

2011-07-26T07:02:00.000-07:00

I'm currently reading The Peace Maker by Ken Sande and came across some information that is quite interesting. I remember reading scripture that says believers are not to be suing one another and Sande explains it further. 1Cor. 6:1-8 tells us WHY we should not be suing each other and what we should do instead. Paul rebukes the Corinthians because they were suing each other in secular courts which means they were doing this in front of non-believers - certainly not showing the world the love of Christ! And he also states that since the saints will judge the world, we should be competent enough to judge trivial cases. We will judge angels one day - we should be able to judge disputes between each other. He also states that even men of little account in the church should be able to perform this function. He states that it would be better to be wronged and cheated than to bring a lawsuit among each other. Peace and unity among Christians is SO essential to our witness for Christ that God commands us to take unresolved legal issues to the church rather than to the civil courts. Yet how many churches deliberately ignore this passage and do nothing to help their members settle their legal disputes in a biblical manner. I laugh because most churches won't even step up to resolve simple disputes between brothers and sisters much less a legal matter. Instead their main concern is the entertainment planned for Sunday's service and/or the potluck dinner scheduled afterward.

But there is something even more interesting that I picked up on while reading this chapter. It seems Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made this observation:

"I think this passage (1 Cor. 6:1-8) has something to say about the proper Christian attitude toward civil litigation. Paul is making two points: first, he says that the mediation of a mutual friend, such as the parish priest, should be sought before parties run off to the courts . . . I think we are too ready today to seek vindication or vengeance through adversary proceedings rather than peace through mediation . . . Good Christians, just as they are slow to anger, should be slow to sue."

How important it is that our judges - especially a Supreme Court judge - are Bible reading Christians! When our leaders are well versed in the Bible, they know what God expects from His children and how to accomplish it. God has given us everything we need to run our lives, our churches, and our country right in His Word. The instructions are there if we spend the time to read and implement. Unfortunately, as Christians, we have become a "pick and choose" lot meaning we elevate the scriptures we prefer and ignore the rest. This is a dangerous practice and one that will bring not only unbalance but eventually unwanted consequences. Our enemy roams the earth looking to devour those who are not vigilant (1 Peter 5:8).

This makes me wonder if our churches are performing the tasks and functions that God has commanded. Do they even know what all their responsibilities are? When they neglect their duties, the flock suffers. Are our churches today so worried about numbers and dollars & cents that they are hesitant to keep their flock on the path of righteousness?

The DESERT EXPERIENCE - An Introduction

2011-07-21T05:14:00.000-07:00

-by Ken Brown.

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My
ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways." (Isaiah 55:8-9)

- It is imperative that every child of God should understand His ways.
- We think in straight lines and fixed points, and move in a
consecutive manner, that is, from point to point (we start and finish
a book; we look forward to something, and look back on something;
we measure progress by time spent or goods produced; when we
travel, we leave a departure point and arrive at a destination point, etc.)

- God doesn't think in straight lines, He thinks in circles. He's
doing many things simultaneously, He's at the beginning and the
middle and the end of many things - all at the same time.
Therefore, He doesn't think of things in the context of time, He
exists outside of time. Time is irrelevant to Him. He is not
affected by time.

- God's timelessness presents a very real problem for us. God
may speak into our life today and we will assume that it's going to
happen today, or very soon. We will probably place it on a time
line of some sort. But, God may be speaking to us from a point
that is still far into our future. The reason is because He is not
concerned with time, and this is why: God does not measure time;
He measures growth! When God deals with us, His purpose is
growth, maturity, and preparation. And, it always involves death to
self! God will draw us into a desert experience with Him to give us
the opportunity to grow (to die to self), to learn to trust Him or to
gain more insight into His ways.

- And, because of the way we think, our first question is always
"How long is this going to take?" We're not having fun. Dying to
self is never fun. But God won't tell us how long it's going to take,
because He understands that if we know how long, we'll just try to
hold our breath until it's over. He doesn't want us to hold our breath.
He wants us to die!...

- For us the practical result of all this is that God has spoken
words into our lives (even though we must be careful and know,
what was spoken by God, and what wasn't). And because of this,
we know He has wonderful plans for us, and that excites us. We
have aspirations for God. We want to do all those great things
He's spoken into us. But, many times what we really experience
is great frustration, because those things He's spoken aren't
happening yet! When you're frustrated, know that God loves
frustrated people. He knows you're frustrated because you care.
Also know that the reason they may not be happening yet is that
God is still measuring growth, not time.

- In our relationship with God, His purpose is to conform us to the
image of His Son. And, He's content to take as much time as
necessary. We, on the other hand, want everything to happen now,
without suffering, pain, or sacrifice on our part. And God's only
response to that is - too bad. Adjust your thinking. I'm doing this my way.

- When God is dealing with us, we must learn the value of doing
nothing. This seems to be a contradiction; but most everything we
do with God (if we do it right) is a contradiction to us...
We have to learn the value of doing nothing before God. That's
why quiet time with God is so great - you don't have to do anything.
Just hang out with God.

You don't have to fast for three days to get His attention, or recite
long prayers to impress Him. Just rest quietly before His presence
and wait for Him. If He doesn't speak immediately, He will
eventually. But, you do have to learn to wait. It's a matter of
respect and submission on your part. God does not act according
to your time, He acts according to His will. Anytime a believer
decides to press in to God and really get to know Him, one of the
first things God will teach him is His Sovereignty! God moves in
His time and acts according to His ways. Religion teaches that
man is the creator and God is what they created. They expect
Him to do what they say, when they say it. Of course, He doesn't.
But they're too stupid and bound up in their own deception to notice.
- Also, God operates on a different noise level than we do. When
we cry out to Him, He whispers back to us. God wants us to learn
to be quiet, even when everything around us is in turmoil. Psalm 46
starts out with an earthquake and a tidal wave and ends with God
telling us to "be quiet and rest assured that I am God (and
everything is under control, regardless of what you see or hear)".

But know this, when you learn how to rest in God, you'll be
accused of not caring about what's going on around you. In this
world, anxiety and hand wringing is the universal sign that you
really care (that, and whether or not you're wearing the appropriate
color ribbon or symbol on your lapel). However, in the Kingdom of
God, anxiety is only proof that you're dumb. After all, you're
supposed to be having a relationship with the Prince of Peace.

- God delights in drawing us into times of intimacy with Him. Later
in this paper we will see just how He does that. In each cycle of
intimacy there are two specific points we must be able to recognize.
The first is submission and the second is obedience. In order for
us to benefit from being in God's presence, we must first
acknowledge Who He is in submission, and then be ready to obey.

When Christians Lie

2011-07-13T06:13:00.000-07:00

(taken from Bible.com)

What does the Bible say about lying? A lying tongue is not only something God hates, it is also something that is an abomination to Him.

Examples of Dishonesty

Do you cheat on your Income Tax Return?
Do you compliment people when you really don’t mean it?
Do you tell your spouse to tell callers you are not at home when you there?
Do you tell "little white lies" if it will keep you out of trouble?
Do you tell creditors that "the check is in the mail" when you have not yet mailed it?
Do you exaggerate in repeating things you have heard?

The results of this survey determined that 90% of Americans are not truthful under certain circumstances. This is understandable when we look at the morals of our society but what about Christians? Have they fallen into the habit of lying also? Also, what constitutes a lie according to the Bible? Anything that is not the truth is a lie and God’s Word the Bible tells us what is truth. The Bible is the standard or measuring rod we must use in determining truth. Sadly, Christians are also succumbing to this epidemic of lying. Lying to each other has now become so commonplace, Christians too, have become liars.

The Father of Lies

The Bible is filled with admonitions against being dishonest and lying. One of the Ten Commandments states:

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." Exodus 20:16

1.) To make a statement that one knows is false, especially with the intent to deceive.
2.) To give a false impression or action or false statement, especially with the intent to deceive.
3.)To make a false statement in order to evade the truth.4.)The invention of a false story or excuse in order to deceive.

Perhaps for a Christian, a Biblical definition of lying could be summed up in this statement:

Any time our word does not agree with God’s Word.

I first began praying about my own life and ask God to expose any areas where I might be guilty of this sin. I have tried to obey Romans 12:17-21 which says, "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men."

If we, as the body of Christ, are to mature and grow up we must conform to the truth which is Jesus. The devil is behind every lie and as Christians we are admonished not to lie to one another.

Two Roots of Dishonesty

Luke 8:15 says, "But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience."

Little "White" Lies

Let us look at some specific ways the devil gets us to lie. We will expose some of his devices. These sorts lies are being practiced by many Christians. Now remember, we are guilty of lying when we do not keep our word. Even if these sorts of lies seem harmless and don't appear to really hurt anyone else, they are harmful to our own souls. The more we practice telling untruths of any kind, the duller our concience becomes.

1.) "I will call you back tomorrow." (This excuse is often used with a deliberate intent to decieve. The person does not call back at the appointed time and will call back at a much later date with excuses of why they were unable to call which usually goes something like: "I just was so busy, I meant to call , but did not get around to it." We all have been guilty of this, but we need to realize when we say we will do something we need to keep our word. We do understand there are legitimate reasons that make it impossible at times to keep our word. This is not the case we are referring to here. It would be better to not make this promise or to say, "I will try to call you back tomorrow.")
2.) "I will be happy to do that for you." (Whatever promise was made, it was not kept and their word about the matter causes them not to be trusted. The Holy Spirit is trying to purge this lack from His people and is using a group of men known as "Promise Keepers" to help restore trustworthiness back in the heads of families by stressing that they need to keep their promises.)

People that tend to over commit sometimes have a pride problem and are people pleasers. They want people to like them so they offer to do things for them, and because they are unable to keep their promises to all they end up not being able to keep their word; thus they are dishonest. In business it is usually greed that tends to cause them to over commit. They want more business and more money, even when they must work from a backlog that was promised timely.

We also have an obligation to our brothers and sisters to keep them accountable by bringing this sin under conviction. So often I hear "he's just human" or "don't judge 'em , just love 'em" - both are not only excuses, but are actually harmful excuses which can lead to eternal damnation. God hates sin and will not tolerate sin. Our sins have been forgiven, but there is a condition - repentance.

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3

2011-07-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure who wrote this article, but it sure got my attention and woke me up! Don't be fooled or lied to; don't assume you are saved; don't believe man's word over God's Word. Open your Bible and READ it for yourself. Pray for discernment and repentance. Take it all seriously - very seriously.

He who Overcomes!

The Dead, the Corrupt and the lukewarm.

Described vividly in the book of Revelation, chapters 2 & 3, is the professing Christian church in its present state. The people in attendance however are almost completely unaware of the Judgment standing at the very doors. Called upon to repent by the Spirit of God, they ignore His probing and proclaim themselves 'in need of nothing'! But the fact remains, they are destitute of His holiness, full of lies & hypocrisy, possessing a 'form' of godliness & void of power.
Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God! Ask them what they love most: "I just love ice cream!" "I love going to the movies!" "I love the church picnics!" "I love going to the pastor's house to have dinner!" When is the last time you heard a professing Christian say: "I love being persecuted for my faith!" "I take great joy in my trials & tribulations, knowing that the testing of my faith produces steadfast endurance!" (1Pet1:6-9)
"From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks!" Matt13:34
"These people draw near to me with their mouths & honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!" Matt15:8
Anyone who must be compelled to love God is only deceiving himself. Those not 'receiving' with meekness the implanted WORD (which is Christ Himself) daily into their hearts, being Purified from all filthiness of the flesh & overflow of wickedness, and then PUTTING it into practice, ARE NOT the son's of God. ONLY those keeping themselves 'unspotted' by the world will inherit the Kingdom of God. (James1:21-27)

"More blessed are those who hear the Word of God and PUT it into practice!" Luke11:28

You have either crucified your flesh with its passions & desires or you're living according to the flesh. You are either putting off the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts or being renewed in the spirit of your mind. You are either walking in newness of life with Christ, dead to sin, or pretending to be a Christian because some preacher told you that a past moment of faith guarantees your entrance into the kingdom.
Stop kidding yourself that your church is 'The Church'. Face the reality that FEW have kept their garments from defilement. The Christianity passing itself off as genuine today is VACANT of spirituality. Every imaginable type of immoral conduct is being condoned and practiced inside the church and the preachers remain silent. Even if they 'appear' to be preaching against sin & demanding obedience, it's done in such a manner that those 'in sin' remain comfortable & complacent in their rebellion. Where is the godly sorrow that leads to genuine repentance....NOT to be regretted a week later when the flesh cries out for more!
People aren't getting saved FROM sin, they are given a LICENSE to keep on sinning! Protest all you want and claim, "Not my church! We're preaching against sin & demanding holiness." But open your eyes and look around! Is there any difference between your church and the world? When a sinner walks through the door of your church is he immediately taken back by the very presence of God? (he should be, according to scripture) Are the secrets of his heart laid bare and falling on his face does he proclaim that God is truly among you? (again, scriptural)
NO! This isn't happening because most professing Christians are too busy making excuses for their sin or listening to some popular teacher tell them why the 'hard parts of scripture' don't apply to them! Those in bondage to sin are not convicted of it because everyone is too comfortable in it. And who sets the standard? The Church leadership standing in the pulpit telling you that no one is perfect, so don't look to me for an example? When the pastors tell you it's normal to 'lust' in your heart everyday and everybody does it, including him, it's time to start thinking about repentance!
The contrast between Biblical Christianity and what's being passed off as Christianity in our churches is appalling. Those who refuse to examine themselves in the Light of Scripture will never enter the Kingdom. The Spirit of God is speaking to His Church, but FEW are listening. The flesh doctrines have given many over to strong delusion. They have become 'lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God', satisfied with a 'form' of godliness without power to overcome sin. This is a deadly state of affairs to be ensnared by. Your soul is hanging in the balance! Take heed to what the Spirit is saying and KNOW, only those who OVERCOME will escape His Wrath.
To the Dead Church the Spirit says: Rev3:1-6 (listen closely, the Lord Himself is speaking.)
"I know your record and what you are doing; you are supposed to be alive, but in reality you are dead! ROUSE yourselves and keep awake, & strengthen & invigorate what remains and is on the point of dying; for I have not found a thing that you have done---any work of yours---meeting the requirements of My God or perfect in His sight. So call to mind the lessons you received and heard; continually lay them to heart and OBEY them & repent. In case you will not rouse yourselves and keep awake & watch I will come upon you like a thief and you will not know or suspect at what hour I will come."
Notice the language Christ used in this passage and how perfectly it applies to the situation at hand. Ask yourself, is THIS what I am doing? Stirring myself, Keeping awake, strengthening my faith, obeying the Word? If not, you are among the 'dead' and stand in danger of His Judgment. Not many will pass the test!
"Yet you still have a FEW names in your church who have not soiled their clothes and they shall walk with ME in white because they are worthy & deserving! Thus shall he who overcomes be clad in white garments & I WILL NOT blot his name from the Book of Life!"
Take special note of the promise, given to those who have ALREADY kept themselves unspotted by sin, still they must OVERCOME to make it through. What of those who are comfortable & self-satisfied in their complacency? Will they awaken in time to escape Judgment? Chances are very slim they will be roused in time since they have been so long asleep and under the influence of strong delusion.
"He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the Spirit says to the churches!"
The Dead Church has works, lots of them! No denying that. The outward appearance is one of godliness. They are feeding the poor, sending out missionaries, supporting numerous social programs. They have lovely buildings, comfortable pews, Choirs that sing with the voices of angels! Some visit the sick & elderly and even minister to prisoners, widows and orphans. BUT they have NOT kept themselves UNSPOTTED by the world! They have forgotten that Purity of heart goes hand in hand with Obedience to the faith. The inward defilement of the flesh makes everything they do unacceptable to GOD! Sacrificial acts from an un-clean heart.
"Remember then from what heights you have fallen. REPENT---change the inner man to meet God's will--- and do the works you did previously (when you first knew the Lord) Or else I will visit you and remove your lamp stand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent!" Rev2:5
Those of you who insist on remaining in the dead churches know that your eternal soul is at stake. This is not a game. The Spirit of God is not saying one thing to you and something entirely different to us. Those who are hearing Him comprehend the desperate hour we are in. Unless you have absolute Divine PROOF verified by scripture that you should remain in your church to warn them of the impending danger, LEAVE NOW before it's too late. How much time remains is solely in the Lord's hands, but He's calling out His Bride to MAKE HERSELF READY. (rev19:7)
Even the Lukewarm has Works:
"I Know your record of works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are LUKEWARM and neither cold or hot, I will spew you out of MY mouth! For you say I am rich, I have prospered and grown wealthy and I am in need of nothing; and do not realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked!"
The lukewarm have excluded Christ from their midst. Although they don't realize it, He is standing outside the church knocking on the door! He loves them dearly and wishes to tell them of their faults, convict, convince, reprove and chasten them back to obedience. (rev3:19) This is the reason He wants them BURNING HOT or Stone Cold, because in between they are NUMB to His prodding. With earnest & burning zeal REPENT, He says, and I will grant you to sit beside Me on My throne! What a promise! Given to those wallowing in sin & rebellion. Such is His undying Love. No one will be able to stand at the Judgment and say that the Lord didn't give them EVERY chance to turn from sin and come to Him. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever, the Judgments of the Lord are true & righteous altogether! (ps19:9)
The warnings have gone forth
FEW are the faithful and of little power (on earth) Yet the Lord has set before them an open door that NO man can shut! (rev3:8) They reside in the very 'abode' of satan himself, as sojourners in a strange & hostile land. BUT they have KEPT His Word and GUARDED His message and have NOT renounced His name! (rev3:8) They are the FAITHFUL, who throughout history have patiently endured every hardship & remained Steadfast in the face of all obstacles. Refusing to compromise the blessings & the cursing of their God. Holding forth the WHOLE Counsel, warning the Righteous & the wicked that sin will bring them to spiritual death.
"I am coming quickly; HOLD FAST what you have, so that no one may rob you and deprive you of your crown!" (Rev3:11)
The final warning from our Lord to Overcomers:
HOLDFAST to what you have, take firm possession of it and hang on securely! Beware lest anyone use trickery & guile to deprive you of eternal life! GUARD what you have as a precious treasure, a pearl of Great price! Protect & secure it from loss. Blessed it the man who hears the Word of God and 'KEEPS' it! (lk11:28) Overcome by the word of your testimony and the Blood of the lamb! (rev12:11)
If you are numbered among the faithful then you know these words are true. However, if you harbor doubt and resentment because these things don't seem to fit into your 'doctrinal' views, your spiritual slumber is almost complete! He who searches the minds, thoughts, feelings and purposes of the inmost heart, KNOWS where you stand. (rev2:23)
Examine yourself today in His Holy Light and prove once and for all He is reigning in your heart and keeping it Pure and upright. Make no excuses, you are only cheating yourself.

2011-07-07T05:58:00.000-07:00

"What," Not "Who"

2011-06-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

By James Robison

Already, many candidates and major media are moving into full swing for next year’s elections. We must first understand what must be done before we can identify who can best help do it. Perhaps as important as any time since our founding, those who believe in divine providence and eternal principles must become well-informed and actively involved in the political process. Christians, pastors, and all church leaders must totally reject the lie that “separation of church and state” means people of faith must remain silent, uninformed and uninvolved. Those who recognize truth and stand for it can turn the tide.
Our nation’s founders knew that the limits of the Constitution were placed on the government, not the people or religion. The right to stand up and support first principles is both a privilege and a responsibility. True freedom grants citizens the right to choose and we have a responsibility to choose right. The Bible declares, “Righteousness exalts the nation”¹ The psalmist affirms, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”² “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice.”³
The only solid ground on which individual lives, families, communities and nations can safely build is the foundation consistent with unshakable biblical truth. When the weight of God’s kingdom impacts planet earth, you will clearly witness the footprints of our Father in heaven revealed through yielded lives, wise leadership, enforceable laws and national policies. The stage is set for a spiritual awakening. Now is the time for Christians to stand together as a mighty army in the face of all evil—even when it masquerades as the source upon which people are encouraged to depend.
The Old Testament reveals that God as Father wanted a family through which He could bless all the nations of the earth. The wise will learn from Israel’s journey. Paul said in the New Testament that what happened to Israel was an example for us.⁴ When ancient Israel wandered into idolatrous foolishness, they always ended up in oppression and bondage. Search the scriptures and observe the progression from freedom to slavery, from prosperity to poverty. In Genesis, the Israelites sold themselves into Egyptian bondage under the pharaohs. And then, after the Lord led them into the Promised Land, over and over they rejected God’s rule and ended up oppressed, until they repented.⁵ Once God restored their freedom and blessings, however, the cycle of rejection and oppression would start over again.
Now is the time for all Americans to choose whom and what they will serve. Christians must respond to the invitation issued by the prophet Joel to “return to God…and rend our hearts and not our garments.”⁶ There’s no time for religious ritual and meaningless tradition, but for the transforming worship of the living God. Truly transformed people have a positive impact on every aspect of life and culture. The profound effect of those living in the light and power of His kingdom is also revealed in history.
The correct question which demands focused prayer and active participation is, “What must we do?” rather than “Who should we elect?” When the citizens know the “what,” they will insist the “who” makes the right decisions or put them out of office as soon as possible. If all professing Christians, both Protestant and Catholic, along with Jewish people and those who believe the Bible is reliable, will stand together, the foundations will be restored, the walls of protection rebuilt and the people will have reason to rejoice.
Along with many national and church leaders, I’m seeking to know what must be done in order to effectively deal with present-day challenges. We must hold fast to moral principles and also make wise decisions concerning fiscal policies and practices. Some legislation and policies may be well-intended and based on sound moral principles, but they don’t work because they are based on bad economics. There is a difference between a principle and a policy.
For instance, you might believe that since God is concerned about the poor (a principle), we should raise the minimum wage to a $1,000 an hour and then everyone would be rich (a policy). But believing won’t make it so. The policy would create massive unemployment whether we like it or not. Permit me to share some of the obvious “what’s” to consider while seeking divine guidance. It is important to recognize:

As the Pledge of Allegiance states, we are a nation under God; and as our currency proclaims, our trust is in God—not “gov.” If national leaders do not acknowledge what America’s founders understood concerning the importance of divine providence, there will be no recovery.
All life must be protected and seen as precious with unlimited potential however unexpected or planned for. Remember, we can clearly learn from Nazi Germany that something can be legal but also very evil (i.e., the horrific extermination of the Jews and others considered less than perfect or unimportant).
America must stand in the best interests of Israel against the evil forces calling for its destruction.
Marriage is between a man and a woman and must be viewed as sacred. The strength of our nation depends on strong families, and national policy must protect marriage.
There are moral absolutes. No person’s failure reduces or redefines the standards carved in stone by the finger of God and revealed in His Word. We must find a way to stop judges and courts from misinterpreting the Constitution and writing their own laws.
Success and prosperity may be mishandled by some, but the potential for success that produces opportunity for all and prosperity at different levels is not the problem. Those we elect must keep the free market free, healthy and under the influence of people who understand the importance of personal responsibility.
There are forces of good and evil, and they must be wisely and rightly defined, discerned and resisted. A strong national defense is critical. Radical Islam and terrorism are serious threats. Extreme environmental activism is, also.
Depending on the federal government as our source is idolatry. We must control it, or it will control us. Stop the madness! Hitler believed that Germany needed a government over the people, not of the people. God deliver us from this kind of insanity.
Out-of-control spending, mismanagement of the people’s money and excessive, intrusive regulation is as wrong and immoral as stealing. Spending must be brought under control now, at whatever sacrifice. This does not include foolishly giving the government more of the people’s money to waste or mismanage.
“We the people” must be understood to mean that we all have a “dog in the show.” We are all responsible. We can’t just lay the load and responsibility on others, no matter how many twisted thinkers try to play the blame game. The opportunities and possibilities to succeed is not the problem. Don’t blame opportunity, begin inspiring and teaching responsibility. We must find a way for every citizen to help in some way shoulder the load. This can be accomplished without being unfair and riding on anyone’s back.
Deal with excessive, foolish taxation and revamp the tax code along with the IRS so we can rejoice together because it will stimulate economic growth. This would create jobs and ultimately enable us to better assist the suffering, the weak, helpless and poor—not with just a handout, but with compassionate hands extended. The church can and must set the example.
Let the people go. Turn them loose and behold the miracle made possible when people are truly free to be productive while assuming personal responsibility. Nehemiah rebuilt the wall in 52 days. Impossible? Not with God!
The church must be delivered from the spirit of religion and filled with the Holy Spirit, leading us to the supernatural unity that produces holy harmony. National leaders must rise above partisanship and reason together, seeking effective solutions to serious challenges.

Now is the time for us to become the city set on a hill that cannot and will not be hid. This is the time for action. God is anxious to make up for the years the locusts have eaten, to pour out the former and latter rain, to reveal His love and His ways to those living in darkness, who are controlled by a worldview that denies God’s truth, minimizes it or ignores it. Never doubt, it is the enemy’s desire to bring all of God’s creation into bondage and defeat, ultimately leading to destruction. God and His truth offer fullness in life, fruitfulness and freedom manifested by abundant life with or without the abundance of material possessions.
The sad fact is, many people—including Christians—have not handled blessings and prosperity well. The church has grown in character strengths more through persecution and poverty than in prosperity. Do not make the mistake, however, of interpreting this as the perfect will of God. It is not! He wants us to live as overcomers in this life—trusting Him, living in Promised Land blessing, enjoying all things richly, enduring all things, assisting those who suffer and rejoicing continually when facing all trials or when exalted beyond measure.
I am declaring to everyone with ears to hear: Now is the time to return to God. Stand up like a mighty army! Pierce the darkness, storm the gates of hell, set captives free, correct our course, reclaim the land, make God the “who” in our personal and national life, and point people to the “what.” We will never find the right “who” until we know the right “what.” When the population understands the “what to do,” we can find the “who” to help lead and insist that every “who” does the right “what.”
Be assured when the Lord is our Shepherd, He leads us to lie down in green pastures, not a barren desert and beside still waters, not devastating storms (although He surely helps us overcome their impact). He comforts us in the valley of death, defeat or despair, and even while facing enemies, He prepares a table before us and anoints our head with the oil of His abiding presence. May we together run to the shelter of the Shepherd who will lead us to "what" and "who."
¹ Proverbs 14:34

² Psalm 33:12

³ Proverbs 29:2

⁴ 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11

⁵ Nehemiah 9

⁶ Joel 2:12-13
PLEASE SHARE THIS AND ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO PASS IT ON AND JOIN IN PRAYER.
James Robison is co-authoring the book Indivisible with Jay Richards to be released early next year. They will help clearly identify what must be done spiritually and nationally to restore faith, family and freedom.

Do Not Be Deceived

2011-06-22T07:27:00.000-07:00

Do you understand that Islam is from Satan? Or have you been tricked into believing they worship the same God as we Christians? If you are confused at all, listen to this talk given by John McArthur:

The Audit of a Lifetime by Ron Hutchcraft

2011-06-22T04:52:00.000-07:00

Oh, when the auditor leaves from our annual audit, man, our administrative team is high-fivin'. Partly because, well, again we got a clean audit this past year, and our ministry's been blessed with that year after year, and partly it's just because it's over! They worked pretty hard to be ready for all the things the auditor wanted to check out.
In the business world, and sometimes even in the Christian world, audits aren't always happy. Auditors can find things that get you in trouble with your boss, with the government, even with the law. Audits uncover hidden secrets.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Audit of a Lifetime."
Now, I have a meeting scheduled with the auditor in the future. Except, I don't know when it is, because the appointment is with The Auditor, and only He knows when my audit of a lifetime is going to be. Fact is we're all facing the audit of our lives. Our word for today from the word of God in Romans 14:12 says "...each of us will give an account of himself to God."
There will be no exceptions, "...each of us." There will be no excuses, "...will give account of himself to God." No blaming your spouse, your parents, your kids, your friends, your coworkers. I will answer for me and me alone. Also, there will be no secrets. "God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ" - Romans 14:12 says that. The Auditor knows every website we've ever visited, every e-mail or conversation we've been involved with, every sin we thought we got away with.
Many times I've seen a road sign with these stark words: "Prepare to meet your God" (Romans 14:12). Since heaven's all-knowing Auditor will expose everything about my life, it actually makes sense to work on what I'll face in His presence. The Auditor has let us know what He'll be auditing. I'd like to know that now.
Now, I know He'll be auditing the words I speak. Jesus said so: "Men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless (or worthless, that means) word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted and by your words you will be condemned" (Romans 14:12). All our words, including the gossip, the angry stuff, the putdowns, the dirty stuff, will be there to meet us on the day of judgment and there will be no denying my own words.
The Auditor's also going to examine why I do what I do. The Bible says, "Wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts" (Romans 14:12). I'm not too excited about those new full body scans that they're installing at airports; they reveal what no one else can see. But that's nothing compared to God's full heart scan at the judgment seat. No matter how good what I've done may be, it will burn if my real motive was me, not Him. God cares a lot more about why we do than what we do. If it wasn't for His glory, if it wasn't because of pure love, it will never survive the audit.
Then Jesus said, "Give an account of your management" (Romans 14:12). The audit is going to be about what I've done with what He's given to me: my money, my influence, my home, my abilities, my opportunities. I'm suspecting that a lot of us are going to be feeling the shame and sadness of what might have been, of how much we could have done and should have done.
And then there's this really sobering warning of what's going to come up at the audit. "When I say to a wicked man (the Bible makes it clear that's all of us), 'You will surely die,' and you do not...speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood" (Ezekiel 3:18). Whew! God will confront me with all the people I didn't tell about Jesus, whose eternity depended on hearing about Him.
I guess the hardest-hitting exposure at the audit of a lifetime will be about what we do with Jesus. The Bible says about Judgment Day, "...the books were opened. Another book was opened which is the Book of Life...If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (Romans 14:12). What an unspeakably horrific moment.
Jesus checks the Book of Life to see if a person's name is there. If it's not, it's too late. It's entered there when you pin all your hopes on the Christ who died on the cross for your sin. If you never have, you can have your name put in His Book today by giving your life to Him.
The Auditor's told us how to take the dread out of the audit. It says, "If we judge ourselves, we would not come under judgment" (1 Corinthians 11:31). Face it now so you don't have to face it then. It's no wonder He's so deeply interested in how we live our life. He's pretty heavily invested with His blood.

Prayer

2011-06-01T08:50:00.000-07:00

Came across this article/blog and thought it was too valuable to keep to myself. I am just as guilty as the next of not tending to my prayer life enough. But this cannot be an excuse and we should not allow ourselves to be sidetracked - prayer is powerful, prayer is necessary, prayer connects us to our Maker. When we fall down, God is waiting to pick us up and set us on the right path again - if we just ask Him. The enemy is also waiting and will try to keep us down by making us feel guilty, shameful, useless, etc. While our individual prayer life is our own responsibility, corporate prayer is often initiated by the leader(s) of the church. Just as we are an example to our children, the leaders of the church are an example to the rest of the flock. And when our leader(s) step up to the plate to do the right thing, we need to support and encourage them. Make your private prayer time AND corporate prayer time a priority in your life. Don't allow other things - meetings, games, work, shopping, life - get in the way. Amen.

What Happens When We Pray

December 21, 2010 by Leisa Jenkins

As a volunteer or a full-time children’s minister, it is important that we attend to our own spiritual lives and development in order to be able to minister to kids. One important aspect of our own spiritual lives is prayer. It is, after all, impossible to forge a relationship with someone without talking to them. Our relationship with God is no exception. A vibrant prayer life is critical to a healthy relationship with our Heavenly Father.

What happens when children pray?

Each Sunday morning I stand before the most gorgeous group of children and ask who wants to say our prayer today. Wow! Do the hands go up! It is extremely hard to pick just one child to pray when each of them wants to do it. Why do they want to pray? That is the real question. Is it because of peer pressure or because they think it will give them bonus points? I doubt either of those is the case. So why? Our children understand that God is present, God will provide, and God loves them. They understand that he will answer their prayers no matter how long it takes. But more than anything they have witnessed him working in there lives.
What happens when adults pray?
How much time do we, as adults, spend praying? Do our hands shoot up when someone ask us to do it? Why not? Many adults fell like praying is a very uncomfortable thing to do both publicly and within our homes. We often put prayer on the back burner because we have not recognized that our prayers are being answered. Maybe we just think our prayer is silly. Oftentimes, we don’t even think about prayer until it’s too late. When you don’t make prayer a priority in your life, things don’t happen. You don’t recognize that God is present, and we forget that if we have prayer and faith – he will provide.
Let me give you an example I was privileged enough to see firsthand. This awesome church that my family is members of had the chance to witness this first hand. We had to come to the realization as a congregation that we loved the church more than God. Everything we were doing was for the church. The programs were awesome, the people are awesome, the kids were awesome, but behind the scenes things were slowly taking a turn for the worse. Finances, key leaders, attitudes, relationship, egos, etc. were slowly becoming mouting problems. Through many days of phone calls and emails about what was and wasn’t working, not my Senior Pastor finally said:

“Ok enough!. We can talk and talk until we are all blue in the face, we can point fingers, and we can spend weeks trying to figure it ou,t but where will that really get us?”

So what he did was one of implement one of the most intentional plans that I have ever witnessed. He called a meeting with those of us at the church who desired to see this church do the incredible things it was meant to do. This was not a a gathering intended to achieve a meeting of the minds or determine how to fix it! No, this meeting had one and only one purpose – we were going to nothing but pray. Prayer had not been a priority in our church! We had not involved God! We had done and done and achieved and achieved so much that we have missed the most important thing. We had missed God’s plan! We resolved to meet at the Pastor’s house every Sunday night to pray and to begin studying prater in the Bible. We wanted to go back to the basics of praying and then move deep into scripture as we grew spiritually. God has made it very clear that he wants us to meet with each other one on one and pray as well. We call each other on the phone and pray. We email each other and pray. We pray as families, and we pray as an individuals.
This is what we’ve seen since we, as a community, began to be very intentional about spending time in prayer:

People are growing spiritually.
People are recognizing that prayers are being answered.
Our Senior and Executive Pastors have grown closer in their relationship.
Our Senior and Executive Pastors are spending more time with families on Sunday morning.
Attitudes have changed.
The environment has changed.
Couples are praying together.
Sunday night bible study has been consistent.
We are experiencing more, and more genuine, community.
Closer relationships are being built.
Worship music is exceeding expectations.
Offering has grown and sometimes doubled.
Finances are continuing to get better.
We, as a church, are making ourselves more available.
Our congregations has nearly doubled.
New families are coming in.
Families that we haven’t seen in a while are coming back.
The Donations for creating food baskets for needy doubled.
Our Linus blanket project with the public school doubled.
Prayer requests are being answered.
The children’s ministry environment has changed dramatically.
The children are stronger and so excited to be with us on Sunday morning.
Letters to God has changed lives.
Parents are growing, participating and using the resources made available to them.

This list continues to grow daily! If your church has been where our church was then I beg you to pull together and pray. Watch God work within your church and within your hearts. Let him reveal himself! Unless you involve God in your labors, your labors are in vain.
Do you pray as a community? Do you pray with those you do children’s ministry with? Are you intentional about finding times to pray? Do you pray with your children? Do you pray with your spouse? Do you keep a record of answered prayer?

Sharing, Giving, Sacrificing

2011-05-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

By this we know love, that he laid down his life

for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for

the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods

and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart

against him, how does God's love abide in him?

Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but

in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:16-18

The Good News

2011-05-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

I've started reading a book titled Revolution in World Missions by K.P. Yohannan. I didn't get very far into it before I found my head in my hands. We have gotten it wrong, so wrong in this country. Our Father must be sad that once again His children have taken matters into their own hands and messed it all up. He never intended for us to take our blessings and turn them into material gratification for ourselves. He never intended for us to hoard our wealth and invest it in material possesions, big houses, fancy cars and lavish vacations. We have become gluttonous in everything we do - eating, work, play, entertainment, even church. Yes, even church.

Here are some facts that might interest you:

* Church buildings in the U.S. have become extravagant. One built years ago in Dallas actually cost $74 million! And less than a minute away from the $74 million church was one that cost $7 million. But here's the REALLY horrific part - The same $74 million would be enough to guarantee that the Good News of Jesus Christ could be proclaimed to a whole Indian state - or even some of the smaller countries of Asia.

* If we earmarked 10 percent of our Christian giving in the U.S. for the cause of world evangelism, there would be more than $10 billion available for Gospel outreach.

* "Many churches have gymnasiums and fellowships that cater to a busy schedule of activities having little or nothing to do with Christ. The orchestras, choirs, "special" music - and sometimes even the preaching - seemed to me more like entertainment than worship." K.P. Yohannan

* 85% percent of all Bibles printed today are in English for the 9% of the world who read English. 80% of the world's people have never owned a Bible while Americans have an average of four in every household.

* Besides books, 8,000 Christian magazines and newspapers flourish. More than 1,600 Christian radio stations broadcast the Gospel full-time, while many countries don't even have their first Christian radio station. A tiny 0.1 percent of all Christian radio and television programming is directed toward the unevangelized world. Little, if any, of this media is designed to reach unbelievers. Almost all is entertainment for the saints.

* The U.S., with it's 600,000 congregations or groups, is blessed with 1.5 million full-time Christian workers, or one full-time religious leader for every 182 people in the nation. What a difference this is from the rest of the world, where more than 2 billion people are still unreached with the Gospel. The unreached or "hidden peoples" have only one missionary working for every 78,000 people, and there are still 1,240 distinct cultural groups in the world without a single church among them to preach the Gospel. These are the masses for whom Christ wept and died.

God did not shower such great blessing on this nation for the Christians to live in extravagance, self-indulgence and spiritual weakness.

Maybe that's enough for today. It's a lot to take in and think about. I hope your head is in your hands by now, too. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Let's pray about it.

Heavenly Father,
Please forgive us, Lord. We have gotten it all wrong. Just like the Israelites did time and time again - when things are good, we turn away and take the credit. We don't listen to You, we think we know better. Help us to change, Father God. Help us to become the salt and the light of the world. Help us to give up our selfish ways, our extravagant ways. It won't be easy, Lord, but you are a patient God, otherwise we would have been wiped out long before now.
There are so many people in this world who have never heard of you, Jesus. How selfish are we to keep the Good News to ourselves? And why? Because we are "nervous" or "afraid" of witnessing to others? What will they think of us! Or what if we say the wrong thing! We also claim we don't know where or how to find nonbelievers. Or maybe we think we need more money to travel somewhere when there are nonbelievers right outside our door. All pitiful excuses, aren't they Father God? We should know by now that with You all things are possible. That you will put the people in our path and You will give us the words. You promised us that and You never lie.
Praise You that we still have hope! It isn't too late! With your strength and perseverance we can change our ways. We can repent and start to make a difference.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few...... Matt 9:37

Help us to change that, Father God.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Power Over

2011-05-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

Do we really believe God is as powerful as He says He is? That He is as holy..... as mighty ...... as loving and caring as He says He is? That He will fulfill all the promises He has made to us? If we do believe these things, then why are we always trying to handle everything on our own? Why do we think we know the better way of solving problems, the better way of being the salt and the light, the better way of convincing others how to live?

You might wonder where this is going, so I'll just come out and tell you. I have a problem with Christians and Christian organizations boycotting and signing petitions like the AFA is constantly doing. Not only do I feel it's not really accomplishing anything, I feel it's downright destructive to the Christian mission - that is to spread the Gospel and make disciples out of the nations. When we use our collective power to force an outcome in this country, it doesn't do anything to promote true Christianity nor does it help to bring the lost to the Kingdom. In fact, it may very well do the opposite by driving people away in anger and disgust. We may think we've done a good thing to shut down a company that supports homosexuality, but what do the thousands of people that work for that company and now have lost their job feel about Christians? How about the vendors that sell their goods through that company? How do you think they will view our efforts? Perhaps they will feel that once again the Christian community has flexed it's mighty muscles and forced their own belief system on the rest of the country. Do you think any of these people or their families are going to want to join a community that wields power over others while all the while making claims of being loving?

Instead, what if all Christians got on their knees and asked their Heavenly Father to deal with the problem. What if we collectively pleaded with the only One who has all the answers, who knows how to solve all problems and loves us enough to grant our desires? Do we think we know better than Him? Do we think the only way to solve the problem is with a petition or a boycott? God's ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9) so we cannot begin to know how He could and would deal with the situation. Perhaps He would convict all the Christians who work for the company to voice their concerns. Or convict the CEO of the company to have a change of heart. We don't know, that's the point. So we take things into our own hands and we usually make a bigger mess of it. Yes we are called to be the salt and the light (Matthew 5:13-16) however that doesn't mean we do it by strong-arming the rest of the world. I believe we are to be the salt and the light through example - by living not a perfect life, but a Christian life. Which means we allow the love of Jesus to come through us and shine onto others and that we repent not IF we sin, but WHEN we sin.

A couple of good books to read on this very subject are by Gregory Boyd - Myth of a Christian Nation and Myth of a Christian Faith. In them he explains the premise of 'power over' versus 'serving under' and why Christians and the Church have gotten it all wrong in this country. We may have good intentions, but our intentions aren't what matters - only God's intentions are pure and righteous. We, as humans, want to solve problems overnight and in a big way. We love to take credit but not blame. We aren't satisfied with small victories for the Kingdom, we want to make a big splash and see our name up in lights. The enemy loves that. He is waiting for the next Christian outrage so he can convince us it's a worthy cause and something we need to spin our wheels trying to solve. To convince us our heavenly Father would be pleased with us if we could just defeat the enemy at his own game. Oh what a game it is!

It's like that game where you hit the head that pops up and then it pops up somewhere else so you hit that one and then it pops up somewhere else - you end up spending all your time and energy trying to hit all the heads but they just keep popping up somewhere else and then you are exhausted. And what have you accomplished? Nothing. The "game" will always win. We are being duped by the enemy to spin our wheels, exhaust ourselves and then collapse because we can't win the game. The enemy then wins because he has succeeded in keeping us from our true mission. WAKE UP PEOPLE! The war has already been won!!! Hallelujah! We need to stop worrying about each and every battle - ask the Lord to take care of those. All we need to do is what our assignment is - to spread the Good News! Amen.

Rock Concert

2011-05-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you are familiar with HALO - it's a local Christian ministry for the homeless. They do great work - serving meals 365 days a year, offering shelter for homeless women and children and even taking meals to homeless on the streets. Our church, Harvest Baptist, is organizing a Christian concert on June 11 to benefit HALO and we're looking for sponsors to help with the cost. We have booked a Christian rock band - JJ Weeks - from Georgia who has opened for groups like Mercy Me and are really good. Our goal is to get sponsors to completely pay for the concert so ALL the proceeds and donations can go directly to HALO. If you are interested in being a sponsor or just coming to enjoy a good concert (there will be food, face painting, bake sale), check out Becky's blog:

Concert of Hope: A Hand Up For Homelessness

Thanks and God bless!!

Prosperity Gospel

2011-05-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

This video may offend some - or many - of you. But guess what -- I don't care. Jesus didn't come here to promise us a life full of stuff. He didn't come here to fulfill OUR dreams. He didn't come here to satisfy all our desires, promise us good health and a cushy life. And for those who believe that, well, you are deceiving yourselves. But it doesn't end there because you aren't just deceiving yourself, you are deceiving others - and that is not acceptable. If you want to believe lies, fine, go ahead, but stop taking others down the path of unrightousness with you.

Costly Grace

2011-05-06T04:36:00.000-07:00

Having just read The Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer, I found this article to be interesting and so true! I dare say if Jesus were walking this earth today, his message would still shock many. We like to think we are following him, but his message has been watered down, diluted and popularized for the masses. Time to get back to true discipleship!

REAL DISCIPLES OR NOT?? - The Big Question-by LibertyWorld."Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring
repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without
confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace
is grace without discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace
without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it
a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great
price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the
kindly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye
which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which
the disciple leaves his nets and follows him."
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship.

(Hitler had Bonhoeffer shot because he chose to bow to Christ
rather than to the Gestapo.)

Matthew 28:19 reads "Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations..." R.S.V., and most versions. The Greek reads, "To
become a pupil." "Enroll as a scholar."Christ did not say to make
"converts," but rather to "make disciples." "Followers." In verse 20
He says, "Teaching them to 'observe' all things whatsoever I have
commanded you..." Again the Greek reads to "hold fast." How
very imperative it is to hold fast the teachings of the Lord Jesus
Christ!

The 'gospel' of our Lord Jesus Christ is not the gospel that is being
preached in most pulpits today! Today's gospel is "another gospel,"
it is not the gospel of the Scriptures! Generally speaking, the church
that provides the best and the most entertainment is the church
that garners the greatest number of attendants.

Much of today's gospel is a false gospel, built on false premises,
built on false teaching! Should any sincere Christian question this
statement, let this individual read Matthew chapter 7:13-28 and
verse 29 which says that those who heard Christ's teachings were
astonished. Can you imagine the astonishment of people today
also, if His message were being preached and taught in our pulpits!

And they of the church
And they of the world;
Walk hand and heart,
And only God who knoweth all
Can tell the two apart.

Hear what Dr. A. W. Tozer has to say on this matter, "Any
objections to the carrying on of our present golden-calf Christianity
is met with the triumphant reply, 'But we are winning them.' And
winning them to what? To true discipleship? To cross carrying? To
self-denial? To separation from the world? To crucifixion of the
flesh? To holy living? To nobility of character? To hard self-
discipline? To love for God? To total commitment to Christ? Of
course the answer to all these questions is 'No'." John Fletcher
said, "More is said from our pulpits in favor of sin than against it."

"No longer is the thundering message of the prophet of God
heralded from the sacred pulpit, warning against the wrath of a
holy and just God against sin" - Wesley Duewel.

Louie Giglio's How Great Is Our God

2011-04-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

For small group we are reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. As I started reading it, I was reminded of this really neat presentation by Louie Giglio. It's in 5 parts and if you've never watched it, well, you are in for a treat!

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

Colossians 2:6-23

2011-04-22T06:14:00.000-07:00

I don't very often read from the Message, but occasionally find it to be a helpful aid. Colossians 2: 6-23 is one of those examples. Read it below and see if it doesn't stop you in your tracks and make you think. Such a good message at this particular time of year. Jesus has done the necessary work for us to be admitted into the Kingdom. We don't need fancy degrees or titles to spread the Gospel. We only need the faith He has given us. We can study His Word our entire lives (and should) but at some point we need to share what we've been given. Trust Him to supply the words in each and every situation.

Below the Message version is the ESV version. God bless you!

^6-7My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
^8-10Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.
^11-15Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.
^16-17So don't put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.
^18-19Don't tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They're a lot of hot air, that's all they are. They're completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us.
^20-23So, then, if with Christ you've put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? "Don't touch this! Don't taste that! Don't go near this!" Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic. But they're just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important.

⁶⁽^K⁾ Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷^(L) rooted and^(M) built up in him and^(N) established in the faith, just^(O) as you were taught, abounding^(P) in thanksgiving.
⁸See to it that no one takes you captive by^(Q) philosophy and^(R) empty deceit, according to^(S) human tradition, according to the^(T) elemental spirits^[a] of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For^(U) in him the whole fullness of deity dwells^(V) bodily, ¹⁰and^(W) you have been filled in him, who is^(X) the head of all rule and authority. ¹¹In him also^(Y) you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by^(Z) putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹²^(AA) having been buried with him in baptism, in which^(AB) you were also raised with him through faith in^(AC) the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³^(AD) And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God^(AE) made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴by^(AF) canceling^(AG) the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵^(AH) He disarmed the rulers and authorities^[b] and^(AI) put them to open shame, by^(AJ) triumphing over them in him.^[c]

Let No One Disqualify You

¹⁶Therefore let no one^(AK) pass judgment on you^(AL) in questions of food and drink, or with regard to^(AM) a festival or^(AN) a new moon or a Sabbath. ¹⁷^(AO) These are a shadow of the things to come, but^(AP) the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸Let no one^(AQ) disqualify you,^(AR) insisting on asceticism and worship of angels,^(AS) going on in detail about visions,^[d]^(AT) puffed up without reason by^(AU) his sensuous mind, ¹⁹and^(AV) not^(AW) holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
²⁰If with Christ^(AX) you died to the^(AY) elemental spirits of the world,^(AZ) why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ²¹^(BA) "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" ²²(^(BB) referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to^(BC) human precepts and teachings? ²³These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in^(BD) promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are^(BE) of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Friendship

2011-04-18T05:57:00.000-07:00

So many times we meet another Christian and we are blown away. They are everything WE want to be - or so we think. They may be cheerful all the time (or so we think); always polite (or so we think); fluent in the Word (or so we think); free of sinful behavior (or so we think); accepting of all (or so we think). You get the drift. And maybe there are a few Christians out there that come close to this. Perhaps they have been on their journey a long time and perhaps God has done a great work in them. But most of the time it's our own imagination that has created their greatness. And so we try hard to be just like them. We want to be their best friend in order to mimic everything about them. Until something happens that brings them tumbling off that pedestal we put them up on. And our own world crumbles a little or a lot on that day. But the point I want to make is that the opposite can be true, too. While we are so busy racing with others to be around those who are admired by all, we often ignore and push aside those who need our friendship even more. The less admired, the less "worthy" in our minds. The ones who are hurting, lost, confused, shunned.

Instead of admiring the "perfect Christians" and trying so hard to be like them, let us admire and mimic the One who IS perfect. The One who will NEVER let us down or topple off His throne. And remember how he loved ALL his brothers and sisters the same. Were they all different? Absolutely. And did one of them, in our opinion, deserve less love and friendship? Most likely. Yet, as Max Lucado illustrates below, Jesus was his friend to the end. Now that is an example to follow.

Jesus Betrayed by Judas

by Max Lucado

When betrayal comes, what do you do? Get out? Get angry? Get even? You have to deal with it some way. Let’s see how Jesus dealt with it.

Begin by noticing how Jesus saw Judas. “Jesus answered, ‘Friend, do what you came to do.’ ” (Matthew 26:50)

Of all the names I would have chosen for Judas it would not have been “friend.” What Judas did to Jesus was grossly unfair. There is no indication that Jesus ever mistreated Judas. There is no clue that Judas was ever left out or neglected. When, during the Last Supper, Jesus told the disciples that his betrayer sat at the table, they didn’t turn to one another and whisper, “It’s Judas. Jesus told us he would do this.”

They didn’t whisper it because Jesus never said it. He had known it. He had known what Judas would do, but he treated the betrayer as if he were faithful.

It’s even more unfair when you consider the betrayal was Judas’s idea. The religious leaders didn’t seek him, Judas sought them. “What will you pay me for giving Jesus to you?” he asked. (Matthew 26:15) The betrayal would have been more palatable had Judas been propositioned by the leaders, but he wasn’t. He propositioned them.

And Judas’s method … again, why did it have to be a kiss? (Matthew 26: 48–49)

And why did he have to call him “Teacher”? (Matthew 26:49) That’s a title of respect. The incongruity of his words, deeds, and actions—I wouldn’t have called Judas “friend.”

But that is exactly what Jesus called him. Why? Jesus could see something we can’t...

Jesus knew Judas had been seduced by a powerful foe. He was aware of the wiles of Satan’s whispers (he had just heard them himself). He knew how hard it was for Judas to do what was right.

He didn’t justify what Judas did. He didn’t minimize the deed. Nor did he release Judas from his choice. But he did look eye to eye with his betrayer and try to understand.

As long as you hate your enemy, a jail door is closed and a prisoner is taken. But when you try to understand and release your foe from your hatred, then the prisoner is released and that prisoner is you.

Commitment

2011-04-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

com·mit·ment [kuh-mit-muh nt]    a pledge or promise; obligation

As Christians in the 21st century, we are faced with major commitment problems. We are over-committed in many ways and under-committed in others. We commit to running the kids around, working long hours, living the American dream and trying to outdo and outlive our peers. We do not commit to serving our Lord, supporting our church and seeking the truth. Our attempts are pathetic and scattered. Maybe some of us are avid church goers.  Others may pray now and then.  And some may read devotions. But is this what Jesus called us to do? Weren't we called to SACRIFICE? When was the last time you made a true sacrifice for Christ? And yet this is how we are called to live DAILY.

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15

Our commitment should be only to God. Any other commitment is to a false idol. We should be commited to seeking His will, truth and words. Evaluating our situation should be a regular practice. If something or someone is taking us away from the Lord or causing us to not seek His will or the truth, then turn from that source. It doesn't need to be complicated - the questions are simple - Does this (thing or person) bring me closer to the Lord? Does it (or he/she) perpetuate truth? Does it (or he/she) cause me to sin?   We must not assume that we are able to withstand sin without corruption.

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”    1 Corinthians 15:33

My Colors

Do we know what it means to be a living sacrifice?
Read this statement by a young African pastor.

Found among his papers in Zimbabwe after he was martyred

       I'm a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I'm a disciple of His and I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

     My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I'm done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.

     I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, or first, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power.

     My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear.

     I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.

     I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

     I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.

     I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for His own, He'll have no problems recognizing me.

My colors will be clear!

Proverbs 8

Homeless in Philly

Defamation?

Email Defamation

Prayer for January 25

Prayer for January 24

Prayer for January 23

Prayer for January 17

Prayer for January 16

Prayer for January 12

Prayer for January 10

Prayer for January 6

Prayer for January 5

Prayer for January 4

Prayer for January 3

Prayer for January 2

Forgive Me

John Piper - Why Christmas?

Misguided Anger

What Does The Bible Say About Lying?

Being Authentic

The Trouble with Occupy Wall Street

Confronting Sin in the Church

Is Mormonism a Cult, and Does It Matter in 2012?

A Mission Story

Campaign Against Sin

Truth and Consequences: Exposing Sin in the Church

By Bob and Gretchen Passantino

Copyright 1994 by Bob and Gretchen Passantino.

Exchanging Truth for Lies

Biblical Accountability

Christian Leadership

Forsaking Lies for the Truth

The Biblical Pattern for Accountability

A Call for Christian Integrity

Will Jesus Find You, Too?

The Right Way: His Righteousness

Erasing Hell by Francis Chan

Should We Preach with Authority?

Has America Found a King?

Prayer Meeting

the gods??

The Function of the Church

The DESERT EXPERIENCE - An Introduction

When Christians Lie

"What," Not "Who"

Do Not Be Deceived

The Audit of a Lifetime by Ron Hutchcraft

Prayer

What Happens When We Pray

Sharing, Giving, Sacrificing

The Good News

Power Over

Rock Concert

Prosperity Gospel

Costly Grace

Louie Giglio's How Great Is Our God

Colossians 2:6-23

Let No One Disqualify You

Friendship

Jesus Betrayed by Judas

Commitment

Do we know what it means to be a living sacrifice?Read this statement by a young African pastor.

Found among his papers in Zimbabwe after he was martyred

Do we know what it means to be a living sacrifice?
Read this statement by a young African pastor.