Category Archives: Christian Life

An Observation about Relationships

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Having been relocated recently, I have come to a realization about relationships, especially long term friendships. You can’t replicate in a year or two, what took 20 or 30 years to build. It takes shared history to really know someone. You have to have been together in a multitude of situations.

I have also come to realize that there are people who are now in their twenties that Lisa and I have 20 plus years of history with! (Those of you who fit that category, we are truly grateful that God placed you in our path! We want to be of service to you in any way we can. We pray for you on a regular basis.)

When Lisa and I married we were friends with a small group of couples. Those people are still some of our closest friends. The realization that came to me is that we have almost as much history with their children as we have with the parents. We even know their children’s children. Wow!

We are purposed to sow into these groups of relationships as best we can for the rest of our lives and ministry. Lisa and I have been so blessed to serve, not only our generation, but multiple generations through Youth and Young Adult ministry. We want to continue to be a voice for these generations as best we can. We fully understand that many of you have also been moved to other churches. We applaud your faithfulness to the Lord.

So, to those of you who have come to these same realizations, I ask that you come on this journey with us to stay connected and to continue to share community and ministry to one another by every means possible. You are not alone! Even though many of the people around us may not fully know us, we can still draw from the relationships that we have known so well.

Distance cannot deter friendships unless we let it.

The Impassioned Pursuit

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Patience is an impassioned pursuit. It is the persistence of the weary runner. One step in front of another, step after step, mile after mile, training day after day, in dark and in light. This is what the rain or shine pursuit of a dream is like. This is the gritty, dirty, back story of attainment.  This is not race day, only preparation for the pursuit.

Patience is David being promised a kingdom and getting almost two decades of delay, then when it begins to materialize receiving only a part of the promise. Patience was keeping his attitude right with his boss attempting to kill him.  Patience is believing that God sees what is happening and will make it right. Patience believes God’s promise, not the delay or rejection, as the truth. (Imagine keeping a respectful attitude toward someone like Saul! Imagine finding it safer to hide in Goliath’s hometown than your own. I would think that someone there would still be looking for revenge!)

Delay is the training ground of patience; especially the delay that does not make sense. You keep thinking, “This should work! Surely this time will be different,” but it turns out to be another false start, just more time in waiting.  You just can’t seem to put the thing in gear. You can’t make the pieces that should fit, go together. It is the unreasonableness and the irrationality of these situations that try our patience, that cause some to stumble in their pursuit.

Remember that you have an enemy that doesn’t want you to get the job or that promotion. He does not want you to start the ministry or find your mate. Delay, delay, delay . . .

Patience is pushing through the rejection and setbacks. It is coming out round after round and taking the hard hits that life throws at you and not backing down. It is mustering the strength not to give in to the abuse and manipulation that taunts you to give in, to take shortcuts, to compromise. Rocky put it this way, “. . . it ain’t about how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. . It’s how much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done…But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not point fingers and blame other people.”

I know the race is hard at times; those who could help, who should understand are sometimes the very obstacles that must be overcome. I know the mind numbing existence that can try your soul day in, day out. The promise is sometimes obscured by the fog of delay. I know the sting of rejection and hurtful words; words that you cannot forget – and that you dare not forget. These become the fire that steams the relentless pursuit that patience is.

Patience is learning to keep the principles of God above the opportunity to succeed on man’s terms. If God can’t get you there, you don’t need to go there! Certainly there are delays that our attitude or disobedience causes. But even then, they are delays that the enemy has utilized.

Patience is Noah building an ark, not just for the saving of his family but yours.

Persistence, pursuit, principle that go against the grain are the kinds of things that actually seem to destroy the very stuff from which the fulfillment of the promise is made. These are actually the indispensible elements that hold you once attainment comes.

Patience is holding the promises of God in an open hand and not wincing when He takes the one you deem most precious, the one you were most sure about. Patience lets the manifestation rest in His hand. Patience let’s God have His perfect work. There is a principle involved in patience that is greater than the fulfillment of a promise. This principle has at stake the very integrity of God. Not every promise has its fulfillment aimed at blessing you!

Hebrews 11:13 ESV  These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

We don’t always understand the value of the promise that remains in the realm of hope. Sometimes we only get to see our promises “afar off.” We carried them but they were not for us. I don’t have answers for when that happens. I only know that God is a God of justice and equity and that sometimes life, and faith, isn’t just about us. Sometimes we get to use our faith in order to pass the baton to another generation of runners who we hope will see the results that we desired. When this no longer disappoints you patience has had her perfect work.

 

 

Interesting Quotes – Mark Brazee (Preparing for His Glory)

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“In a spiritually hungry church, the gifts of the Spirit move at almost every service.  Each service leaves a residue of expectancy, spiritual hunger, and anointing.  The difference between these churches is in the desire of the people for the things of God.”

“God is not looking for great ability; He is looking for cooperation.  He is looking for people who desire to see Him move.”

“The greater the degree of expectancy, the more the Spirit of God is free to manifest Himself.” – Mark Brazee (Preparing for His Glory)

Be Aware of the Counterattack

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Now the prophet Elijah saw the Lord do great miracles. We read in 1 Kings 18 that Elijah had a showdown with the prophets of Baal to prove once and for all whose god was really God. At that place, the Lord showed Himself as the all powerful Lord of the universe. Then, Elijah prayed and God ended the drought that had lasted seven years. Elijah was so excited at the victory that he even outran King Ahab’s chariot! But look what happened next. In 1 Kings 19:1-4, we read,

“And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”

Stop for a second and think about this. Elijah just saw great victory over the prophets of Baal. God just proved Himself as omnipotent. So why did Elijah want God to take his life? He was not prepared for the counterattack. He forgot about the faithfulness of God. He chose to look at the circumstances rather than looking at the sustaining power of God, rather than pressing the battle, knowing that God would see him through, he chose discouragement, depression, and defeat. Notice I said he chose.

Like Elijah, David also made a choice when he was facing the challenge of Goliath. That decision was an important factor in the outcome of that battle. Yet, unlike Elijah, he chose to remember the promises of God and God’s faithfulness. He knew he would win because he knew God was with him. Goliath was big, but David knew that God was bigger. In 1 Samuel 17:37 it says,

“David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.”

Many times people think that just because they have given their lives to the Lord, that it is going to be smooth sailing from then on. No, our lives will have difficult times. We must remember that there is an enemy out there who does not want us to have the victory. It is his specific purpose to thwart any effort to glorify God. He is going to put resistance, obstacles, and outright attacks into our lives. We need to keep that in mind so that we do not fold at the first sight of attack. In all of that we can remember that we already have the victory, we just need to contend for it!

 1 Timothy 6:12 says,

“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called …”

Be aware that resistance will come. Counterattacks will come, but we have a choice to make. Like the great powerful leaders in the Old Testament we must choose between discouragement and confidence; between defeat and victory. Let us choose confidence and victory in the Lord. It is been said “We have read the end of the Book, and we are on the winning side!” Yes, but we must still press through to get to that end. Let us agree with the apostle Paul who says in Philippians 3:13-14,

“…this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The enemy will not be able to take you by surprise. You will be ready for any counter attack. Take courage no weapon formed against you is going to prosper!

Good Stuff Prepared for You!

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God has made you for this time! He has prepared great stuff for you to experience and to do. He is, right now, preparing you for what He has prepared for you. That means He is making sure that you will be prepared when opportunity comes. If you flow with the process you can seize the destiny that He has designed for you. Preparation will always precede manifestation.

Ephesians 2:10 NASB For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Let’s get this straight – you are going to walk in the things that God has prepared for you! All the stuff you’ve been going through, He is going to use all that to help you to help others. You are His workmanship! You were created for good works. God has even prepared the works before us so that we would have the joy of walking in them. In this case obedience is victory. When you obey – you win!

Acts 10:38 NASB “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

I love this verse! We usually think about Jesus’ healing people and casting out demons – all the supernatural stuff. Yet, this verse says He went about doing good. He was “anointed” and the result was he went around doing good. Maybe you don’t feel quite ready to be casting out demons, but you can do good, right? You can! You have been prepared. He is the prototype for you to follow.

One day Jesus had an appointment with a woman in Sumeria at a well. She had gone there to draw water from the well and Jesus talked to her about water that she could have and never thirst again. There is someone waiting for you to act in obedience to the call God has placed on their lives. He is waiting for you to step into the works He has prepared you for.

Someone is waiting on the other side of your obedience. You can obey the Lord. You can do what He has put in your heart to do. It starts with simply doing good to others. Ask God to direct you to people who will receive from you. Then, follow the impulses that God puts in your heart. He has been preparing you for works of service. It is time to step out and experience the good stuff He has prepared for you!

Time to Reactivate Your Faith

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We all have been given the measure of faith (Romans 12:3). The question is not whether we have faith, but are we using it. This is a time that we need to stir our faith up. We need to remember what we were believing God for and pick it back up in order to reactivate our faith.

Make certain that what you are believing for was provided you at Calvary because if grace hasn’t provided it, your faith cannot obtain it. If your are sure about that then get your faith reactivated.

Sometimes it is a matter of us getting busy with other things and maybe not being vigilant about using our faith. Whatever the reason you dropped a faith project begin to believe God again and see Him do great things on your behalf. The only thing standing between you and reactivating your faith is making a decision to do it. So, do it!

Looking Forward to a New Year

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With Christmas recently behind us and the New Year just ahead I think it’s a good time to remember the good things that took place this year. We have had many souls saved this year. I don’t know how many people answered altar calls in services at Calvary this year, but hardly a service has gone by that someone didn’t give their heart to the Lord. We have seen over 1200 won to Jesus in the Operation STITCHES outreach alone. We distributed food to well in excess of 500 families. We have witnessed many miracles and healings take place in the services. There have also been instances of people praying for the sick at work or at school and seeing the miracle working power of God in operation.

There have been a lot of great services where we heard great messages and have seen the gifts of the Spirit in manifestation. So, we have lots to be thankful for. This year, while not without challenges, also saw the Raise the Roof fund started. I love that it started with a word given to someone in the congregation. To date, the amount raised is over $235, 000.00!

I’m looking forward to 2012. We will see great things as we move forward in faith, hope, and love. God will restore, revive, and amaze us again this year as we continue to seek Him. I pray that you will have the greatest year ever because THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

Circumstantial Peace 1 Notes

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Col 3:15-17 NASB  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.  (16)  Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  (17)  Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

LET PEACE RULE IN YOUR HEARTS

He is the Author of Our Peace – The Prince of Peace! His peace is our peace!!!

Isa 9:6-7 KJV  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  (7)  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end . . .

At His birth the angels said, “On earth peace, good will toward men.”

He could sleep in the midst of a killer storm!

Let Peace Be the Decider – act as umpire

  • Judge, decide, control; “be in control of someone’s activity by making a decision.”
  • Imperative mood – expresses a command, intention, or exhortation; it is therefore            not an expression of reality but of possibility and volition.
  • You have to cooperate with God! Faith takes what grace supplies!
  • Let peace be the deciding factor!

When you don’t know what to do, peace must be allowed to step in and make a call.

 

John 14:26-27 NASB  “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.  (27)  “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

JFB “Many a legacy is “left” that is never “given” to the legatee, many a gift designated that never reaches its proper object.

Jesus is the Executor of His own Testament; the peace He “leaves” He “gives”

Some inheritances are given but never received!

Peace and Thanksgiving are connected – Be Constantly Thankful Ones!

We are not to live in reaction to the devil; we are to live in response to the Spirit.

You will manifest the fragrance of the world you are most aware of.

Php 4:6-7 KJV  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  (7)  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Stay thankful; live in peace. If you are going to have the peace that passes understanding, you will have to give up the need to understand everything.

LET THE WORD DWELL RICHLY IN YOU

Let the Word be at Home in Your Heart

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.

The exhortation to the Christian is to so yield himself to the Word that it is at home in their heart.

  • The Word is the Language the Holy Spirit Uses as He Guides Our Lives.
  • He can effectively talk to us to the extent to which know the Word.

Give the Word Unrestricted Liberty

“Richly” = “abundantly.”

Saints are to Teach and Admonish One Another

The participles “teaching” and “admonishing” are imperative it force. Commands.

“Admonishing” is “to warn exhort, admonish.” The word contains the ideas of encouragement, reproof, blame, as well.

As in 3:15 the subject of the imperative is not the readers, but something they must open up to and allow to do its work

Warning and teaching are seen as a corporate responsibility (Fee 649).

It is striking how much of the Paul’s writing insisted that the members of the churches should recognize their mutual responsibility to instruct and admonish each other (Rom. 12:7; 15:14; 1 Cor. 14:26; 1 Thes. 5:14; 2 Thes. 3:15; note also Gal. 6:1–3).

Wuest Translation. The word of Christ, let it be at home in you in abundance; with wisdom teaching and admonishing each other by means of psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, with the grace singing in your hearts to God. And all, whatever you do in the sphere of word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, constantly giving thanks to God the Father through Him.[1]

With Gratitude in your Hearts Sing Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs to God

Only a handful of passages give us some insight into the content of earliest Christian worship, the most obvious others are 1 Cor. 14:26 and Acts 2:42.

The elements of Christian worship: “the word of Christ,” teaching and admonition, and singing and thanksgiving.

1Co 14:26 KJV  How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

Ac 2:42–43 Wuest  And they were giving constant attention to the teaching of the apostles and to that which they held in common with them, and to the breaking of the bread and to the gatherings where prayers to God were offered. And a reverential fear came upon every soul. And many miracles that excited amazement and attesting miracles were performed by the apostles.

in Eph. 5:18–19 singing is the result of being filled with the Spirit, in some ways like the uninhibited singing of those who are drunk (Eph. 5:18; cf. Acts 2:13–18),

Do Everything in the Name of the Lord

(17)  Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Everything, whatever . . . do everything in the Name!

Doing something in someone else’s name . . .

Giving Thanks through Him = because of, on account of, by reason of.’[2]

No matter what happens in the world, we can ALWAYS give God thanks because of Jesus! “On account of Jesus!!!!”

Make sure it’s in the name of Jesus – Many people are eliminated from usefulness not due to lack of calling but because of wrong motives.

  • His gifts are grace gifts. We can’t “qualify” for a grace gift orit isn’t grace anymore.
  • Gifts are like the sails on a boat – useless without the wind of the Spirit
  • Willingness to obey is what qualifies you to do what you are unqualified to do.

[1] Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader (Col 3:15–16). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

[2] Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Vol. 1: Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament : Based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition.) (779). New York: United Bible societies.

Year of Fulfillment!

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The New Year arrived just over a week ago now, but it feels like we have stepped into a rushing river. We are being swept along at an incredible rate. It seems like we have been in 2011 much longer than we actually have!

Something has changed, many things actually. It seems that when the clock struck midnight on Dec. 31 we stepped into a new era. Things that Lisa and I have been waiting for immediately came to pass. Boom! We stepped into a greater dimension of the plan of God for our lives; our family did too.

Things have sped up. Dreams, visions, and desires of the heart are coming to pass this year at an unprecedented pace.

Luke 16:16 says, “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it.”

Your destiny just picked up speed! Some of the things you have desired for a long time, God things, are moving to fulfillment. Just like the Magi’s caravan was moving to supply Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus, everything you need is moving at you in the unseen realm.

We are in a period at Calvary that we need to rejoice! Good things are beginning to happen. We need to be happy people! Fulfillment is a great thing. Some of you have been holding on to promises for a long time – press on in!

Romans 8:25 NASB  But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Hope is that positive anticipation that is produced by faith. Because faith believes that it receives without physical evidence we can rejoice even before we see what we are receiving. Get your hopes up!
Since God wants to fulfill dreams and desires of the heart, it would be a good idea to start digging around in there to see what hopes have been abandoned. Dust off those desires and start to believe again. He only gave you them to you so that He could fulfill them.

Stick with God’s Meal Plan

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We are entering our 24th week as of this Sunday, Sept. 5. We have seen several hundred people (my estimate) walk the aisle to receive Jesus or rededicate their lives to Him. These have been great days. I don’t think we have seen all the purposes of God revealed for these meetings. I do know that they have been important days. God has been working on our hearts. People have been changed. Marriages have been restored.

Because people have preconceived ideas of what revival is and how God should do it this time, we have to deal with expectations. What we expect God to do and what He does are not necessarily the same thing. When we insist on Him doing what we want rather than what He wills we develop a condition known as “leaness of soul.”

Psalms 106:14-15 KJV  But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.  (15)  And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.

The people tired of the manna and “lusted a lust” for meat (not God’s plan). It is no small issue when His provision is not seen as sufficient. The people had also forgotten the deliverance God gave them from Egypt. Note the poetic terseness in the verses that precede these verses:

Psalms 106:11-13a NASB  The waters covered their adversaries; Not one of them was left.  (12)  Then they believed His words; They sang His praise.  (13)  They quickly forgot His works;

We need to let God be God and allow Him to determine the scope of His work. Our job is not to analyze but to appreciate and enjoy what He does. We need to accept the move of God at face value realizing that not everyone receives in the same way. The supernatural is not alway spectacular. Let’s not be like those who sing His praises one minute and forget what He has done the next. Keep your heart open and we will all receive what God has for us. And, we will see a lot of others blessed in the process.