Speaking up, speaking out, speaking truth

Open the Eyes of my Heart, Lord.  Open the eyes of my heart, I want to see You, I want to see You.


So goes a popular worship song, sang in many of our Evangelical churches.  We often sing without paying any attention to the words, being moved, greatly moved in our hearts even, by the melody or the feeling evoked.  Yet never really grasping the very words our lips are forming.  

Imagine if we actually received what we said, or sang.  Imagine if your eyes were truly opened to the Spiritual realm and you "saw" the Almighty God!  Would He be smiling benevolently?  Would the countenance of His face indicate that He was pleased with you, with what occurs in our world today?

I read recently that California passed a law which allows children, young children under the age of 18, to decide for themselves what "gender" they would like to emulate.  Boys are free to experiment, as are the girls, with behaviors and activities of either gender, in their dress, manner of action and usage of restrooms in the public schools.

WHAT?!?!  I hardly even know what to say to this.  In fact, my heart wants to shut my eyes to this and other abhorrent behaviors I see happening all around me.  I want to wrap myself in Gods truth and pretend these things don't affect me.  In essence, I fear this is what the Church of God, the Body of Christ, the fellowship of believers has done.  We've squeezed our eyes shut, as if, in not seeing, we don't have to acknowledge it, so we don't have to be concerned about it.

The Apostle Paul wrote in the book of Romans chapter 4 verse 15 that "whatsoever was written aforetime, was written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scripture might have hope."  The Old Testament has a lot to say to our world right now, today.  Though we do not live under Law, we can certainly learn from the Law.

Deuteronomy 28:67

In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”—because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.

This scripture refers of course to the Jews, under the Law, who were suffering persecution from all around them.  But read those words.  When things are going SO WRONG, we find our hearts filled with dread and we wish that it were different than it is, that we wouldn't have to see the things we are seeing, experience what we are experiencing.

I find this is how I'm feeling, as I take a good look around me, and really SEE how the "way of the world" is going.  False idols, laws declaring sin is "legal", people deciding that snuffing out the life of other people is the humane thing to do, because they are in pain or their lives when compared to others is somehow less desirable.  Despicable acts of sin like adultery, fornication and lieing being tolerated in the lives of our leaders as if the consequences of these acts are of no more importance than squashing a bug.

Deuteronomy 4:9

Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them to thy sons, and thy sons' sons

Matthew 7:3-4

And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?

Verses like these can make us keep our mouths shut about speaking out,  for which of us has led a perfect life, that gives us ability to point at any other?  Not me, I can assure you.  My past is littered with my sin and error and foolishness.  For all my attempt to teach my own sons, the example of my life may keep them from repeating my mistakes, but it won't stop them from making their own.

We are a fallen world.  Many soften this by saying, "we live in a fallen world".  I prefer to state the obvious.  We ARE this fallen world.  I thank God that through Jesus, I am saved and delivered and have the opportunity to yield to Him in obedience and make every attempt to submit this sinful flesh to righteousness because I am washed in His blood and made clean.  The great sin I committed in ignorance and more often in arrogance is forgiven by God, and I am thankful.  By His grace, I am an overcomer.

But am I only responsible for myself?  Once set free, do I have an obligation to make this freedom known to others?Even others beyond just my family?  To more than just my friends?  I see from scripture that I am most certainly not original in my struggle.

Isaiah 6:10

Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

To make the heart "fat" indicates make it unteachable.  Heavy ears so they won't hear the truth, understand the need for salvation, ask for forgiveness, and BE HEALED.  Now there is a selfish and unloving attitude, not wanting to share what has so freely been given to us.

But that is exactly what we are commanded to do.  Preach the Gospel.  The good news of salvation through Jesus, by His sacrifice in giving His very life, allowing Himself to be nailed to a cross to pay the penalty for OUR SIN, the penalty of death, so you and I can be forgiven, healed and set free.  

And once free ourselves, we are to share that same gift of salvation with others.  What others?  ALL OTHERS.  Whoever you come in contact with.  My boss?  My neighbor?  The stranger out in public?  As you have opportunity - yes, yes and YES.  Begin by sharing with your own family, your friends and then all around you.  Tell them of the reason you have HOPE, though this world is gravely sick and depraved.  Tell why you, though once a slave to sin as they are, have the strength, and peace, and joy of salvation.  That even now, when you stumble, when you fall to sins temptations, you are healed and delivered and forgiven.  Whether they choose to hear, to believe or to receive Gods great gift is between them and the Lord.  But Jesus commanded us (Acts 1:8) to tell it.

TELL THE WORLD THAT GOD LOVES THEM AND MADE A WAY OUT OF SIN FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US.

Knocking on Doors

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we were going door to door and offering to pray for people.  Only one said no and shut the door on us.  Most were very pleasantly surprised and responded positively to the offer, made with no strings attached.  We knocked on the next door and a man answered.  He seemed rather distracted, but invited us in and asked us to sit down.  We made the offer to pray and he accepted, but had some questions he wanted to asked first.

At the end of our impromptu interview, he allowed us to pray for him and his family.  He asked where we gathered on Sunday and we told him along with a welcome to join us anytime he chose.

His children began attending regularly and became part of the church family.  Several times when they were not working he and his wife joined us as well.

As we are a traveling ministry, the time came for us to move on.  Joyfully we bid farewell to our new friends and followed the Lords leading once more to parts unknown.  Several months later we received a phone call from the pastor of that church we'd worked with while in that area.  He asked if we remembered the gentleman on who's door we had knocked who subsequently visited the church.  We said we did.  Then he shared a story that reminded us and encouraged us in the work God has called us to.

Pastor began "Jim (not his real name) called me out of the blue the other day.  He wanted to share a story for me to pass on to you.  He said that day we came to his door and offered to pray for him, he had at that very moment been sitting in his office.  His marriage was falling apart and his business was a mess.  He cried out to God and asked for help.  Right then is when we knocked on his door!"

Since then, with open hearts to the Lord this family has received much healing and deliverance.  If Jim hadn't called Pastor to share with him, we never would have known the impact our little insignificant act of obedience had harvested for the Glory of God Almighty!  We don't always see the result, but God always knows the end He is moving us toward.  Always, it is for not only our good but the good of others as well.

What a mighty, awesome, loving, kind and infinitely creative God we serve!  This story and so many others like it are the reason we have forsaken all to travel where the Holy Spirit leads and share the glorious Gospel of Salvation through Christ Jesus with any and all that we come in contact with.  We don't count souls harvested, we just obey our God and trust in Him with all our hearts, leaving things in His ultra capable hands!

What a joy, what a privilege to serve the Lord and fulfill His purposes in our lives.  Whatever the Lord has called you to in YOUR life, be encouraged that He is there working all things together for good even when you don't see or know the result of it.  Every insignificant act of obedience He turns to SIGNIFICANT GLORY TO HIS WONDERFUL NAME.

SURRENDER IS VICTORY!

Man did not create the true God for mans purposes, but the true God created man for His own purposes.

Hebrews 11:6 ….for he who comes to God must believe that He is…..

All the human race starts somewhere.   We have a beginning and we realize at some point in our life journey that we will most certainly have an end in this physical world.

If we haven’t already been introduced to the Creator of Heaven and earth it is certain that we will start thinking thoughts of this nature.  Once we do, we discover a choice must be made.  To believe or to reject.  How fearsome a thing is free will after all.  Rejection has its own consequence. 

This morning, let us consider the consequence of believing.

As we begin to learn and grow in understanding it is very possible and almost probable that we will find ourselves again in conflicts.  Conflicted between our new heart’s desire to please the Almighty God we’ve now chosen to abandon ourselves in obedience to and the old, fleshly desire of sin that continues to rear its ugly head and demand our attention.  Most of us might even come to agree that this is the hardest “fight” in the life journey of a believer.  When won, it is almost surely a long arduous battle which has left many scars.  We take courage in the knowledge that all believers face this fight.  We are enlivened to know we do not struggle in this alone, but our brothers and sisters in Christ struggle as well. 

But there is another battle.  One more subtle than the battle of flesh and spirit quarreling over our attention.  One deep in our heart we wrestle mightily with and are hard pressed to see anyone else’s struggle in order to be encouraged by it.  It is the struggle of FAITH, wrapped snugly around and intertwined with the struggle of understanding.  Being human, we want to SEE before we believe, but that is not an available option.  We form our thoughts and behaviors on our experiential history, but this struggle often defies that avenue of wisdom.

It is the struggle to reconcile ourselves to trust and believe and obey and surrender our complete and whole and total selves to a God we cannot see, hear, taste, touch or smell in the even harder circumstance of what appears to be contradictions.  He is a God of GRACE and MERCY, yet also a God of WRATH and RIGHTEOUSNESS.  He is kind and forgiving, while remaining completely HOLY and JUST.  He LOVES US, yet CHASTISES US in our disobedience sometimes quite severly.

And we are to TRUST HIM, not in spite of these seeming contradictions, but inside these very contradictions.  Brothers and Sisters, this is hard!  Hard to walk by faith, hard to live in obedience.  Yet this is the place of SURRENDER.  Not blind faith, not foolish faith.  Perhaps not even faith at all.  Simple SURRENDER, embracing the spiritual knowledge that when one comes to the Lord, one must believe that He is…..AND that He is a REWARDER of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

In the diligent seeking is where you will find, not easy to follow directions, but the strength and grace necessary to SURRENDER.  Consider the idea in this sentence deeply and well:

Man did not create the true God for mans purposes, but the true God created man for His own purposes. ~ Reverend Marie Krebs

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Planting, Watering and HARVESTING!

There just isn't any other feeling quite like the JOY that comes from assisting someone out of darkness and into the Kingdom of the Living God!  That's really all we do you know, assist others.

It is GOD Who calls all people to His Kingdom.  It is His goodness that draws them to Him.  It is His Holy Spirit that anoints them to hear.

Many plant seeds of truth and many more water and nurture those seeds, blessing them with the warmth of the SON and the food of His truth until one day, God graciously allows one of His Ambassadors the awesome privilege and honor of escorting one across the border - from dead in trespasses and sins to ALIVE ETERNALLY in Christ Jesus the Lord!  And what a responsibility - reaping the Harvest of Souls for the glory of God the Creator and Savior!

We are thanking God the Father for just such a "border crossing" privilege, as Kim made confession of Christ as Savior, asked and received forgiveness of sin. 

Many planted truth seeds, many watered and nurtured.  How WONDERFUL it is when the BODY OF CHRIST works together!

MERRY CHRISTMAS indeed!

America and God

We’ve been so “Americanized” about our Christianity that although in our churches you hear us say the words ‘its not about us”; in our hearts – ITS ALL ABOUT US!  Why aren’t WE getting things just the way WE want them?  Why aren’t WE seeing just what WE want to see?  Why isn’t God doing just what WE want Him to do?  Need proof?  Look closely at and READ the words of our modern day so-called “worship” songs.  READ THEM!  Here I AM to worship.    I am bowing down, I AM giving glory, I - I - I - I - I – Oh- we’re worshipping alright – we are worshipping the CREATURE (ourselves) and not the CREATOR!  The truth is- there is only ONE I AM and it ain’t you and it ain’t me!  Jesus declared the only  truth, “before Abraham was I AM” 

Ever wonder why so many miracle stories seem to come from what we consider “third world countries” about AWESOME things God is doing in hearts and lives?  Why their churches are growing by 10’s of thousands on a regular basis?  I wonder if it doesn’t have something to do with the fact that they aren’t spoiled and pampered and convinced that the whole world and God included “owes” them something? Perhaps they have a better understanding of “gratitude” because they haven’t had every luxury handed to them since birth and been brain washed into believing its their RIGHT  to have whatever they think they need.  It may even have something to do with an awe toward God that we seem to lack here in our American churches, allowing us to think its no big deal if we “sell” Gods good news or use it to enrich ourselves.  In the name of Christianity we’ve made “celebrities” of those God has blessed and anointed and then gleefully torn them to shreds when they bought into the hype and started to think they really were something! (Do we really need to name names here?  Just think of headlines in the last few years - Swaggert, Baker, Haggard and more!)

It is very difficult to separate politics from religion in spite of the best efforts of America to do so.  (In fact, I maintain it is IMPOSSIBLE!)  Who we are as a nation is absolutely reflected in who we are as people in our personal lives.  Are we a people who follow a moral code and have a reverent fear of God our Creator?  (See Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.)  America was founded on religious freedom.  NOT freedom FROM religion – but freedom to express religious beliefs as each individual might choose to worship.  NOT freedom FROM worshipping God, but freedom TO worship God in the manner you choose for yourself and your family.  Or not to have any religious expression in your life if that is what you choose.  BUT also not the right to STOP others from religious expression! 

Right now I sincerely hope many reading this are sputtering about “separation of church and state.”  I hope that, because it means we’re being read by those who don’t know the Lord as their God.  And that’s GOOD!  You can’t learn if you never read about things you don’t already know about and it is Gods most ardent desire that every single soul of His creation KNOW HIM!  He doesn’t have ONE specific criteria for HOW you worship either, but just THAT you worship the ONE TRUE GOD.  (See Exodus chapter 20.)  God speaks of having no God before Him, and not bowing down to idols and having no graven images – yet He does not limit your expression of worship to Him.  It is for YOUR health, for YOUR well being and for YOUR blessing that HE desires you to know His truth, because He loves you so very much and He knows the only possibility of YOU being TRULY blessed is to know HIM.

FOR THE RECORD; there is NO such statement found ANYWHERE in the Consitution of the United States of America.  It states that congress shall make NO LAW concerning a religion – not that religion has no place in our laws.  In fact, it is our laws that give our citizens the right to have NO RELIGION IN THEIR PERSONAL LIVES if that is what they choose to do, however,  IT DOES NOT GIVE ANYONE THE RIGHT TO INFRINGE UPON OTHERS INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS TO HAVE RELIGION IN THEIR LIVES!  If the majority of Americans celebrate Christmas – then MERRY CHRISTMAS it is and not Happy Holidays for the majority of us.  Which brings me to this “silent majority” stuff.  If we are in fact the majority,  WE’D BETTER STOP BEING SO SILENT BEFORE WE ARE SILENCED ALL TOGETHER!

You may agree with my sentiments here.  You may not agree with my sentiments.  That’s okay.  That’s the beauty of America.  You have a right to your opinion AND I HAVE A RIGHT TO MINE.