I guess I can't help myself. I read two articles in our local paper that clearly demonstrate why this country is in such dire straits. The first writer uses the most obvious reason to have no gun control by quoting an old statistic about how many people get confronted by a bad guy with a gun, suggesting that more gun control might mean that bad guy wouldn't have a gun. Can anyone over eight years old be so incredibly naive. Since when did criminals obey laws. That's why we call them criminals. They ignore the laws good citizens do their best to obey. Disarm the good buys and the bad guys will own the streets. Obviously, someone caught her next real humdinger. In the printed version of the paper she argued that she understood those who wanted to argue about their Fourth Amendment right to bear arms. Of course, "everyone knows," she meant the Second Amendment. Then she proceeds that bad guys don't get guns legally anyway, so gun laws are not working. Finally, as if she hadn't shown sufficient ignorance of the facts, she wrote about how much she appreciated Michael Moore's movie on violence in America, (Bowling for Combine)as if she thought his work would be an accurate, definitive presentation on the topic. How airheaded can one brown haired female reporter act. She closed her article by stating, ". . .if it was (sic) up to me there would definitely be heavy restrictions."
I rest my case.
The second article was by a guy who began by suggesting conservatives had a bad week. I'm really curious what kind of kool-ade he's drinking. He applauds Bill Clinton for doing his wife's job by going to North Korea and rescuing two people who were taken captive by North Korean troops who should never have been where they were to begin with. Of course this was a political ploy by the North Koreans, and they worked it to perfection. Now, our other enemies like Iran, have learned how easy it is to make us look stupid worldwide. The good news is that conservatives in this two horsepower town where I live ate this radical left wing ideologue alive. The comments made to both of these extreme liberal writers about their miss informed rantings were just more evidence conservatives in America are rising up in force to turn this foolishness Obama's adminstration is attempting to perpetrate on free citizens of a heretofore free country around. God bless America and those citizens in it who are, once again, on the move.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Ten Reasons I Believe the Church is Failing to Fulfill Its Mission
The church in America is sputtering around rather impotent and listless. I would like to humbly suggest there are at least ten reasons for this lackluster presentation it is making to a lost world.
1. It is filled with luke warm people. I suggest it’s not appropriate to call these people disciples of Christ (aka true believers) because it seems Revelation 3:14-16 makes it clear God does not tolerate a lukewarm attitude when it comes to the things of the kingdom.
2. It is filled with people whose lives are out of balance. I have discovered in my 37 years as a Christian that most people’s lives are completely out of whack. People like Arnold S. spend way too much time lifting weights so their body becomes their idol. Actors spend enormous segments of time pretending to be something they are not, so they end up with an inability to deal with real life. Industrial moguls work twenty hours a day, so they have no private or family life. Entire families regularly miss bible studies and other important church activities when their children are involved in local sporting activities. Many professing believers get overly involved in non church activities so they stop growing spiritually. There’s nothing inherently wrong with lifting weights and exercising, being an actor, working hard at one’s job, or having a child in sports, but when any of those activities replace bible studies, worship times, personal devotional time, prayer time, church services, or congregational meetings, someone is too busy doing the wrong things.
3. Churches do not make it a condition of membership to be actively involved in ministry. There is no such thing as a born-again believer who doesn’t have a gift or several gifts. Thus, it is incongruous to allow members to be fed without working for their feed. Following Christ is work and the church that doesn’t teach and require its members to work in ministry is not being faithful to the clear teaching of scripture.
4. Churches tolerate known sin in their midst. I am currently working in a church that addresses this problem, but I believe we sometimes fail to follow through correctly. The lesson to Ai as recorded in Joshua 7 should cause us to sit up and take notice. Thirty-six people died unnecessarily because of the sin of one family in Israel. That incident teaches us the sin of one can drag any associated with that one into the consequences of that sin. That’s why it is critically important to promote ministries like small groups where brothers and sisters in Christ can be intimately acquainted with each other's needs and help when one or two get temporarily off track.
5. Pulpits across America are being filled by men and women who don’t have a clue what the bible says and they know even less about what it means. Some of the teaching I have heard spewed from these unregenerated heathen claiming to be Christians is almost unbelievable. The most significant example of utter foolishness I have ever heard came from two pastors who taught one can fast from such things as their favorite television program or their favorite dessert. Of course one can fast, in principle, from anything I suppose. Those two preachers just failed to point out that such fasts have absolutely no connection to the biblical reason for, or act of fasting.
6. There is no accountability. The church I currently attend has about 100 people attending each Sunday. Less than ten attend the midweek refresher bible study. There are four or five who attend my Monday night study off and on. When we have things like back yard bible clubs less than ten volunteers show up to help. The senior pastor mows the lawn because no one else is willing to take on the task.
7. Few preachers preach that one who is really saved will, because his spirit has been regenerated, produce fruit. In other words, if one’s life is fruitless, he is dead in his trespasses and sins; and unless he repents, he’ll spend eternity in hell.
8. Preaching is to often unsound biblically regarding Christian stewardship. I have written an entire book on this topic, so all I will say in a few words here is that tithing is an Old Testament practice intended for a nation that used the tithe to pay for its entire legal, medical, and religious operations. For Christians living in the church age, the bar is much higher. There is so little understanding about Christian stewardship today I’m amazed Churches function at all. Most of what must be done for the kingdom requires two things: 1. people committed to ministry; and 2. money for that ministry. In most churches one or the other, or both are scarce.
9. Ordaining of ungifted pastor/teachers is both a cause and an effect. Bible colleges and seminaries are graduating and ordaining thousands every year who have neither the gift nor the call to be pastor/teachers. The implications of this one are so far reaching it is impossible to calculate their impact.
10. The final and most significant problem with today’s churches is that they are spending millions of dollars on programs that are doing little to further the kingdom of God. Most churches in America are only interested in filling pews with tithers so they can make the church bigger so they can seat more tithers. The health, wealth, and prosperity preachers tell us if we give sacrificially to whatever it is they are doing, God will give us more things, keep us well, and make us happy as little bunny rabbits. "Buy a prayer cloth and you will be blessed." In contrast, the bible teaches one must carry his cross daily, expect to be persecuted and most often poor, our joy comes from a deep, personal commitment and relationship with our Lord, and that we are to rejoice when persecuted for our faith. "Whoopy ding!" you say. "I attend a church where 5,000 attend each Sunday morning and there are bible classes for every age group." God bless you brother. The next time you want to tell the world how holy your church is, check the statistics for the crime rate in your neighborhood. That just might wake you up to the possibility that the doors of your church aren’t open to the poor, orphans, widows, and aliens who are residing in your own community.
This list is certainly not exhaustive. I just picked the number ten because it’s a significant number and makes the point. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because there weren’t ten righteous people in it. Some estimate it had about 120,000 residents. By extrapolation, one can surmise that America has about 330,000,000 citizens. If there aren’t at least 39, 600,000 born-again, bible thumping, turned on, God lovin’, sacrificial, cross bearing followers of Christ He may destroy these currently Un-United States like He did Sodom and Gomorrah. I think we would do well to ask if there are 40 million born-again disciples of Christ, would they be sitting around, letting this country sink into the dregs of the sin in which it currently resides? Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin pales when placed along side the sin of this country. We murder babies, promote freedom of speech and religion, hire aberrant sexual deviants to teach our children in the public school system, preach that drunks have an incurable sickness, grant licenses to strip clubs, gambling casinos, and businesses that serve nothing but alcohol whose sole reason for existence is to get people drunk and make a few bucks in the process. Murderers and rapists walk the streets, or spend their entire lives in prisons that are often more luxurious than many homes in America because we are fearful we might improperly convict one person out of a million. For decades we spent millions of dollars yearly taking illegal aliens back to Mexico while farmers, ranchers, and sweatshops spent millions bringing them back.
I fear if we don’t get the message soon, it will be too late. Nine-Eleven, Hurricane Katrina, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, mines collapsing, volcanoes erupting, Iraq, Afghanistan, and rising, out of control, crime rate are all signs meant to call us to repentance; and so far they aren’t working. God’s patience is not endless. The land of Canaan (Gen. 15:16; Joshua), Pharaoh of Egypt (Ex. 7-14), and Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen.19) learned that lesson the hard way.
Thus says the Lord,
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.
Indeed, I will cast her on into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to you according to your works.
Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent.
Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
The church in America is sputtering around rather impotent and listless. I would like to humbly suggest there are at least ten reasons for this lackluster presentation it is making to a lost world.
1. It is filled with luke warm people. I suggest it’s not appropriate to call these people disciples of Christ (aka true believers) because it seems Revelation 3:14-16 makes it clear God does not tolerate a lukewarm attitude when it comes to the things of the kingdom.
2. It is filled with people whose lives are out of balance. I have discovered in my 37 years as a Christian that most people’s lives are completely out of whack. People like Arnold S. spend way too much time lifting weights so their body becomes their idol. Actors spend enormous segments of time pretending to be something they are not, so they end up with an inability to deal with real life. Industrial moguls work twenty hours a day, so they have no private or family life. Entire families regularly miss bible studies and other important church activities when their children are involved in local sporting activities. Many professing believers get overly involved in non church activities so they stop growing spiritually. There’s nothing inherently wrong with lifting weights and exercising, being an actor, working hard at one’s job, or having a child in sports, but when any of those activities replace bible studies, worship times, personal devotional time, prayer time, church services, or congregational meetings, someone is too busy doing the wrong things.
3. Churches do not make it a condition of membership to be actively involved in ministry. There is no such thing as a born-again believer who doesn’t have a gift or several gifts. Thus, it is incongruous to allow members to be fed without working for their feed. Following Christ is work and the church that doesn’t teach and require its members to work in ministry is not being faithful to the clear teaching of scripture.
4. Churches tolerate known sin in their midst. I am currently working in a church that addresses this problem, but I believe we sometimes fail to follow through correctly. The lesson to Ai as recorded in Joshua 7 should cause us to sit up and take notice. Thirty-six people died unnecessarily because of the sin of one family in Israel. That incident teaches us the sin of one can drag any associated with that one into the consequences of that sin. That’s why it is critically important to promote ministries like small groups where brothers and sisters in Christ can be intimately acquainted with each other's needs and help when one or two get temporarily off track.
5. Pulpits across America are being filled by men and women who don’t have a clue what the bible says and they know even less about what it means. Some of the teaching I have heard spewed from these unregenerated heathen claiming to be Christians is almost unbelievable. The most significant example of utter foolishness I have ever heard came from two pastors who taught one can fast from such things as their favorite television program or their favorite dessert. Of course one can fast, in principle, from anything I suppose. Those two preachers just failed to point out that such fasts have absolutely no connection to the biblical reason for, or act of fasting.
6. There is no accountability. The church I currently attend has about 100 people attending each Sunday. Less than ten attend the midweek refresher bible study. There are four or five who attend my Monday night study off and on. When we have things like back yard bible clubs less than ten volunteers show up to help. The senior pastor mows the lawn because no one else is willing to take on the task.
7. Few preachers preach that one who is really saved will, because his spirit has been regenerated, produce fruit. In other words, if one’s life is fruitless, he is dead in his trespasses and sins; and unless he repents, he’ll spend eternity in hell.
8. Preaching is to often unsound biblically regarding Christian stewardship. I have written an entire book on this topic, so all I will say in a few words here is that tithing is an Old Testament practice intended for a nation that used the tithe to pay for its entire legal, medical, and religious operations. For Christians living in the church age, the bar is much higher. There is so little understanding about Christian stewardship today I’m amazed Churches function at all. Most of what must be done for the kingdom requires two things: 1. people committed to ministry; and 2. money for that ministry. In most churches one or the other, or both are scarce.
9. Ordaining of ungifted pastor/teachers is both a cause and an effect. Bible colleges and seminaries are graduating and ordaining thousands every year who have neither the gift nor the call to be pastor/teachers. The implications of this one are so far reaching it is impossible to calculate their impact.
10. The final and most significant problem with today’s churches is that they are spending millions of dollars on programs that are doing little to further the kingdom of God. Most churches in America are only interested in filling pews with tithers so they can make the church bigger so they can seat more tithers. The health, wealth, and prosperity preachers tell us if we give sacrificially to whatever it is they are doing, God will give us more things, keep us well, and make us happy as little bunny rabbits. "Buy a prayer cloth and you will be blessed." In contrast, the bible teaches one must carry his cross daily, expect to be persecuted and most often poor, our joy comes from a deep, personal commitment and relationship with our Lord, and that we are to rejoice when persecuted for our faith. "Whoopy ding!" you say. "I attend a church where 5,000 attend each Sunday morning and there are bible classes for every age group." God bless you brother. The next time you want to tell the world how holy your church is, check the statistics for the crime rate in your neighborhood. That just might wake you up to the possibility that the doors of your church aren’t open to the poor, orphans, widows, and aliens who are residing in your own community.
This list is certainly not exhaustive. I just picked the number ten because it’s a significant number and makes the point. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because there weren’t ten righteous people in it. Some estimate it had about 120,000 residents. By extrapolation, one can surmise that America has about 330,000,000 citizens. If there aren’t at least 39, 600,000 born-again, bible thumping, turned on, God lovin’, sacrificial, cross bearing followers of Christ He may destroy these currently Un-United States like He did Sodom and Gomorrah. I think we would do well to ask if there are 40 million born-again disciples of Christ, would they be sitting around, letting this country sink into the dregs of the sin in which it currently resides? Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin pales when placed along side the sin of this country. We murder babies, promote freedom of speech and religion, hire aberrant sexual deviants to teach our children in the public school system, preach that drunks have an incurable sickness, grant licenses to strip clubs, gambling casinos, and businesses that serve nothing but alcohol whose sole reason for existence is to get people drunk and make a few bucks in the process. Murderers and rapists walk the streets, or spend their entire lives in prisons that are often more luxurious than many homes in America because we are fearful we might improperly convict one person out of a million. For decades we spent millions of dollars yearly taking illegal aliens back to Mexico while farmers, ranchers, and sweatshops spent millions bringing them back.
I fear if we don’t get the message soon, it will be too late. Nine-Eleven, Hurricane Katrina, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, mines collapsing, volcanoes erupting, Iraq, Afghanistan, and rising, out of control, crime rate are all signs meant to call us to repentance; and so far they aren’t working. God’s patience is not endless. The land of Canaan (Gen. 15:16; Joshua), Pharaoh of Egypt (Ex. 7-14), and Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen.19) learned that lesson the hard way.
Thus says the Lord,
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.
Indeed, I will cast her on into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to you according to your works.
Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent.
Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
It's been quite some time since I have entered notes on this blog. A lot of things have been going on that have prevented me from taking the time to do this. At 64 years of age I have been trying to slow down my life so I can do those things I believe are much more important than making money to pay bills. I have been admonished, quite gently, by both Jordan and Mike to quit my job and be what God has called me to be, a pastor in His local church. I am honored to think that two godly men have come to the same conclusion about my gift or, more specifically, my calling. I believe He has called me to be a pastor/teacher, caretaker of His local church here in Sidney, Mt., so I may be turning in my resignation soon. Sharon and I have had the incredible privilege this week of counseling two dear young believers in Christ about how to make a "Christian" marriage work. Wow! What an unbelievable privilege and opportunity to put 37 years of communion in marriage t0 work helping others. Sharon is an unbelievable specimen of a godly woman. She has stood by my side through good and questionable leadership I have provided for all of those years. She has bitten her tongue trying so desperately to let God's Holy Spirit speak to me without the her input so many times that I'm fairly confident her tongue is raw.
Through all of this, all I can say is, "Thank you Lord Jesus, for knowing what woman I needed to be my helpmate through the trials and tribulations of this life." She left me f0r eighteen days this summer to visit her family in Southern California. The last time she did that was three years ago and it was only for two weeks. That was too much, but it was significantly less than the 18 days she left for this year. I trust you are all getting the point. The older I get, the more I need her at my side, arguing, questioning, challenging, and discovering our purpose in this life. I truly must say, "I don't know how pagan men do it. How do they manage the daily problems life brings to a marriage?" Having a godly woman at my side makes it all so incredibly bearable.
I know I must resolve two agonizing questions in the next few days, weeks, or months; and I would greatly appreciate your prayers for me to administer God's wisdom in the process: 1. Should I immediately quit my current employment? and 2. Should I return to graduate school and get a MA in Divinity or take Cross Cultural Studies for missions. Some may think, Whoa dude, who cares? But I assure you, this is a decision I have wrestled with for decades. I desire to spend my waning years doing all I can to further the kingdom of God. I falter daily because I haven't the energy to do all each day's needs brings. I try to rise at 3 AM to read God's word because my current job does not allow me to read in between assignments like my last one did. But, my current job gives me all weekends off, so I can always be at church on Sundays. But, there is so much more to do at Fellowship Church where I currently attend. I know I could work twelve hours a day doing things for the kingdom of God and still fall far short of all that needs to be done.
Please pray for me to be faithful to implement God's will for Sharon's and my life.
Thanks and God Bless,
Brother Dave
Through all of this, all I can say is, "Thank you Lord Jesus, for knowing what woman I needed to be my helpmate through the trials and tribulations of this life." She left me f0r eighteen days this summer to visit her family in Southern California. The last time she did that was three years ago and it was only for two weeks. That was too much, but it was significantly less than the 18 days she left for this year. I trust you are all getting the point. The older I get, the more I need her at my side, arguing, questioning, challenging, and discovering our purpose in this life. I truly must say, "I don't know how pagan men do it. How do they manage the daily problems life brings to a marriage?" Having a godly woman at my side makes it all so incredibly bearable.
I know I must resolve two agonizing questions in the next few days, weeks, or months; and I would greatly appreciate your prayers for me to administer God's wisdom in the process: 1. Should I immediately quit my current employment? and 2. Should I return to graduate school and get a MA in Divinity or take Cross Cultural Studies for missions. Some may think, Whoa dude, who cares? But I assure you, this is a decision I have wrestled with for decades. I desire to spend my waning years doing all I can to further the kingdom of God. I falter daily because I haven't the energy to do all each day's needs brings. I try to rise at 3 AM to read God's word because my current job does not allow me to read in between assignments like my last one did. But, my current job gives me all weekends off, so I can always be at church on Sundays. But, there is so much more to do at Fellowship Church where I currently attend. I know I could work twelve hours a day doing things for the kingdom of God and still fall far short of all that needs to be done.
Please pray for me to be faithful to implement God's will for Sharon's and my life.
Thanks and God Bless,
Brother Dave
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Stand Up and Walk
“Therefore, confess ( the original tense is in the present participle;
which would have better been translated ‘be confessing’)
your sins to one another, and pray for one another,
so that you may be healed.
The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” James 5:16
I am forever amazed how often we saints of God live in physical and spiritual defeat. All of us realize, and most of us glory in the inheritance we know we will be receiving when our Lord returns and takes us unto Himself for all eternity. What amazes me, however, is that most of us don’t realize the inheritance we have now. We are the righteousness of God, not because of our deeds, but because Jesus made us such when He gave His blood for our sins at Calvary.
I’m relatively sure we’re all familiar with the verses in Ephesians 6 that admonish us to take on the full armor or God so we can stand strong in the battle against evil. But, I suspect most of us forget Jesus’ admonition to his disciples in Matthew 16 when he tells Peter the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. It appears the church (God’s congregation of warriors) in America thinks we should be living in a defensive posture, vainly trying to hold what little ground we have taken. We are living as paupers and a defeated army because we have forgotten we are children of the King. God tells us the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. That means we are supposed to be on the offensive, not the defensive.
Most of us apparently don’t believe God wants to heal both our physical and spiritual infirmities. Most of us seem to think God wants to bring glory to his name by strengthening us spiritually in the midst of our physically infirmities, so we can testify to those around us how joyful in Christ we are in spite of those physical problems we are patiently enduring. James 5:15 does not say, and the prayer offered in faith will enable the one who is sick be joyful in the midst of his sickness. It does say, “. . . and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.” Consider this, it’s impossible for a soldier to march forward into the strongholds of the enemy while he is lying on his back. And, I am abundantly aware God does not heal everyone of every disease every time prayer is offered seeking that end. And critical to the context of James 5 is the church and it's godly leadership known as Elders. I was asked the other day if Elders have some special kind of dispensation, to which I immediately replied, "Absolutely!" Of course that special dispensation only applies to elders who meet the biblical instruction for their selection as provided in I Timothy 3, Titus 1, and Eph 4.
I suggest however that God doesn’t respond to most of our prayers asking that a brother be healed of an infirmity because He knows full well that brother isn’t living like a soldier to begin with (James 4:3). He knows that brother only wants to be healed so he can continue living the self-indulgent, impotent, ineffective, unfruitful life he lived before the sickness. God wants to heal us for service not to ease our pain and discomfort. He wants to heal us because it brings glory and honor to His Name. He wants to heal us because He loves us. He wants to heal us because healed soldiers make the best warriors. He wants to heal us because we are the saints of righteousness fighting a battle with demons from the kingdom of hell. If you’re too old and worn out to be of any use as a soldier any longer, just pray God will ease your pain and He may do that, especially if you lived like a soldier when you were well.
If, on the other hand, you are ready to get back into the battle fighting for the lives of those lost souls who surround you every day of your life, call for the elders of the church, let them pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. The immutable God of the universe, through His inerrant word, says He will restore you and raise you up (James 5:14, 15). The only thing you have to decide is whether or not you believe Him?
Living in Christ’s Love,
Brother Dave
which would have better been translated ‘be confessing’)
your sins to one another, and pray for one another,
so that you may be healed.
The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” James 5:16
I am forever amazed how often we saints of God live in physical and spiritual defeat. All of us realize, and most of us glory in the inheritance we know we will be receiving when our Lord returns and takes us unto Himself for all eternity. What amazes me, however, is that most of us don’t realize the inheritance we have now. We are the righteousness of God, not because of our deeds, but because Jesus made us such when He gave His blood for our sins at Calvary.
I’m relatively sure we’re all familiar with the verses in Ephesians 6 that admonish us to take on the full armor or God so we can stand strong in the battle against evil. But, I suspect most of us forget Jesus’ admonition to his disciples in Matthew 16 when he tells Peter the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. It appears the church (God’s congregation of warriors) in America thinks we should be living in a defensive posture, vainly trying to hold what little ground we have taken. We are living as paupers and a defeated army because we have forgotten we are children of the King. God tells us the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. That means we are supposed to be on the offensive, not the defensive.
Most of us apparently don’t believe God wants to heal both our physical and spiritual infirmities. Most of us seem to think God wants to bring glory to his name by strengthening us spiritually in the midst of our physically infirmities, so we can testify to those around us how joyful in Christ we are in spite of those physical problems we are patiently enduring. James 5:15 does not say, and the prayer offered in faith will enable the one who is sick be joyful in the midst of his sickness. It does say, “. . . and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.” Consider this, it’s impossible for a soldier to march forward into the strongholds of the enemy while he is lying on his back. And, I am abundantly aware God does not heal everyone of every disease every time prayer is offered seeking that end. And critical to the context of James 5 is the church and it's godly leadership known as Elders. I was asked the other day if Elders have some special kind of dispensation, to which I immediately replied, "Absolutely!" Of course that special dispensation only applies to elders who meet the biblical instruction for their selection as provided in I Timothy 3, Titus 1, and Eph 4.
I suggest however that God doesn’t respond to most of our prayers asking that a brother be healed of an infirmity because He knows full well that brother isn’t living like a soldier to begin with (James 4:3). He knows that brother only wants to be healed so he can continue living the self-indulgent, impotent, ineffective, unfruitful life he lived before the sickness. God wants to heal us for service not to ease our pain and discomfort. He wants to heal us because it brings glory and honor to His Name. He wants to heal us because He loves us. He wants to heal us because healed soldiers make the best warriors. He wants to heal us because we are the saints of righteousness fighting a battle with demons from the kingdom of hell. If you’re too old and worn out to be of any use as a soldier any longer, just pray God will ease your pain and He may do that, especially if you lived like a soldier when you were well.
If, on the other hand, you are ready to get back into the battle fighting for the lives of those lost souls who surround you every day of your life, call for the elders of the church, let them pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. The immutable God of the universe, through His inerrant word, says He will restore you and raise you up (James 5:14, 15). The only thing you have to decide is whether or not you believe Him?
Living in Christ’s Love,
Brother Dave
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Make Sure Your Treasure is Fireproof
“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” (I Cor. 10:14)
At first glance, one might be tempted to say, we don’t worship idols in America. That’s done in pagan countries. And I suppose in a sense that’s true. Most of us don’t set up a figurine before us and bow down to it. I think it is important however for all of us to consider that most of us do have something(s) in our life to which we are so attached that it keeps us from being used effectively by God to minister to the needs of others. Jeff Foxworthy speaks about how one can tell if he might be a redneck. I frequently ask myself if I might not be an idolater, if I believe others will be more impressed with my personal testimony because I drive a Cadillac rather than a Ford, if I tell God I’d be happy to go the mission field, but I have too many responsibilities right now, if I think I’d have a lot more time to witness if I were financially independent; and the list goes on, if I want a bigger, fancier boat so I can take more people out fishing, if I want more, more, more, when I already have so many “things” I could sell them and live comfortably for the rest of my life in most countries without ever working again.
Most contemporary westerners have an incredibly distorted concept of how to measure success, and I’m relatively certain it all began with my generation. We are goal driven to be sure; and that wouldn’t be so bad except that for most of us, those goals are to acquire things like huge houses, several fancy cars, big boats, ATVs, SUVs, 60 “ plasma screen TVs, 1000 watt surround sound stereo systems, Rolex watches, 3 karat diamond rings, and mounds of gold jewelry. To say that our society is obsessed with declaring ourselves accomplished is to grossly minimize the problem.
I am convinced the main reason so many of us fail to speak out against ungodliness when we have the chance to do so is our desire to make sure we do nothing that will jeopardize the important and comfortable position to which we have risen in this earthly life. It is often more important to us to maintain the status quo and not to upset the proverbial apple cart than to model godliness to those around us. I am likewise convinced that is our twenty-first century, All-American version, of idolatry. I am not suggesting there is anything ungodly about modest possessions. I am suggesting that most of us in America have forgotten, or never knew, the wondrous joy of leading a lost soul to the saving knowledge of Jesus, because we’re too busy maintaining those possessions we believe convince our friends and neighbors we are so successful. God, speaking to us through the apostle Paul, makes it abundantly clear not one physical thing we own will enter with us into eternity. It will all burn up in the fire. However, every lost soul help find his way into the kingdom of God, by our lives and our words, will be jewels in the crown we will wear for eternity.
A dear friend and brother in Christ just recently took a solid biblical principle (an example of twentieth century idolatry) and applied it to his life. He realized his family was more important than his job. He decided the tears of his daughter that came because he had missed an important event in her life, were enough to cause him to tell his boss he wasn't going to continue missing out on his children's lives for his job. Of course, all of us who need jobs to pay our bills have to find the godly path He would have us take. We can't just up and quit a job because it is an inconvenience. But if we have our priorities in line with God's word, we can discern when our job is making it impossible to be the godly father and husband we must be to be pleasing to Him.
In closing, I leave you with this one last thought taken from Mark 8:36, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” I think it's also crucial to ask ourselves, “What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and not help others enter into the kingdom of God?” If you're not bearing fruit, it may be because you're too busy making sure you and your family have all those great things that will burn up in the fire (I Cor. 3:13-15; Jude 23; II Pet. 3:7).
Love in Jesus,
Brother Dave
“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” (I Cor. 10:14)
At first glance, one might be tempted to say, we don’t worship idols in America. That’s done in pagan countries. And I suppose in a sense that’s true. Most of us don’t set up a figurine before us and bow down to it. I think it is important however for all of us to consider that most of us do have something(s) in our life to which we are so attached that it keeps us from being used effectively by God to minister to the needs of others. Jeff Foxworthy speaks about how one can tell if he might be a redneck. I frequently ask myself if I might not be an idolater, if I believe others will be more impressed with my personal testimony because I drive a Cadillac rather than a Ford, if I tell God I’d be happy to go the mission field, but I have too many responsibilities right now, if I think I’d have a lot more time to witness if I were financially independent; and the list goes on, if I want a bigger, fancier boat so I can take more people out fishing, if I want more, more, more, when I already have so many “things” I could sell them and live comfortably for the rest of my life in most countries without ever working again.
Most contemporary westerners have an incredibly distorted concept of how to measure success, and I’m relatively certain it all began with my generation. We are goal driven to be sure; and that wouldn’t be so bad except that for most of us, those goals are to acquire things like huge houses, several fancy cars, big boats, ATVs, SUVs, 60 “ plasma screen TVs, 1000 watt surround sound stereo systems, Rolex watches, 3 karat diamond rings, and mounds of gold jewelry. To say that our society is obsessed with declaring ourselves accomplished is to grossly minimize the problem.
I am convinced the main reason so many of us fail to speak out against ungodliness when we have the chance to do so is our desire to make sure we do nothing that will jeopardize the important and comfortable position to which we have risen in this earthly life. It is often more important to us to maintain the status quo and not to upset the proverbial apple cart than to model godliness to those around us. I am likewise convinced that is our twenty-first century, All-American version, of idolatry. I am not suggesting there is anything ungodly about modest possessions. I am suggesting that most of us in America have forgotten, or never knew, the wondrous joy of leading a lost soul to the saving knowledge of Jesus, because we’re too busy maintaining those possessions we believe convince our friends and neighbors we are so successful. God, speaking to us through the apostle Paul, makes it abundantly clear not one physical thing we own will enter with us into eternity. It will all burn up in the fire. However, every lost soul help find his way into the kingdom of God, by our lives and our words, will be jewels in the crown we will wear for eternity.
A dear friend and brother in Christ just recently took a solid biblical principle (an example of twentieth century idolatry) and applied it to his life. He realized his family was more important than his job. He decided the tears of his daughter that came because he had missed an important event in her life, were enough to cause him to tell his boss he wasn't going to continue missing out on his children's lives for his job. Of course, all of us who need jobs to pay our bills have to find the godly path He would have us take. We can't just up and quit a job because it is an inconvenience. But if we have our priorities in line with God's word, we can discern when our job is making it impossible to be the godly father and husband we must be to be pleasing to Him.
In closing, I leave you with this one last thought taken from Mark 8:36, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” I think it's also crucial to ask ourselves, “What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and not help others enter into the kingdom of God?” If you're not bearing fruit, it may be because you're too busy making sure you and your family have all those great things that will burn up in the fire (I Cor. 3:13-15; Jude 23; II Pet. 3:7).
Love in Jesus,
Brother Dave
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Choosing A Spouse
Sermons, and I suppose books, have been or could be written about the incident in Genesis where we read that Abraham sent his servant Eliezar to Haran to get a wife for Isaac. Over and again, in the Old Testament, we see arranged marriages that worked incredibly well. They were based on things like cultural background, financial status, breeding (another term for family values), and religious preference. Such thinking is not necessarily prejudice, but it is discriminatory. I believe such discrimination is both wise and godly. I humbly suggest the fact that we, in this country, allow our young, teenage children to choose their own lifetime mate is evidence enough that such a system doesn’t work. Our national divorce statistics alone amply support such a conclusion. While I’m not suggesting we’ll ever be able, in western culture, to insist that a daughter has no say about whom she marries, I am suggesting parents should be playing a major role in assisting their children in finding a marriage partner.
One of the most disgusting traditions in the history of mankind is practiced openly and by nearly all western cultures. I have recently heard it called recreational dating, and that description is incredibly insightful. Actually, it is a rather recent occurrence that arrived on the scene with two, turn of the century phenomenon, the car and the woman’s liberation movement. Prior to the arrival of these two things onto the scene in western culture, courting was the norm. A single man and woman of good reputation were never allowed to be alone together. A man had to get permission from a woman's parents to court her. The only purpose of courting was to find a wife. And parents had the final say as to whether or not their daughter was allowed to marry the man courting her. Neither time nor space permit me to expand on the manifold problems that came with the auto and the infamous woman's liberation movement. At least one book could be written about the long term dastardly impact each has had on the family in America. I have written more extensively about the problem in my book titled Raising Godly Children in a Pagan Society. I will only point out here that recreational dating has devastated American families, probably more than any other single factor. It is in direct contradiction to everything the bible has to say on the topic. It is the breeding ground for the “Try it to see if you like it,” mentality that is directly linked to the divorce rate in this country. If you are raising children in this culture, you need to read my book on Raising Godly Children in a Pagan Society, and you need to keep your children out of the public school system. I do not give such advice lightly. I was a public school teacher filling various assignments for over twenty-eight years, so I know about what I speak. Do not swallow the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on true followers of Christ for many decades that your child will be a light shining in the darkness. Please trust me when I tell you, he or she will be squashed like any one of those millions of bugs that get sacrificed on the windshields and grills of cars yearly if you place him under the authority of public school demagogues.
The overwhelming number of administrators, teachers, and service personnel in that system are atheists, left wing radical socialists, fascists, dictators whose number one goal in life is to indoctrinate those under their care into their ideological cult; and they call it education. These freaks of nature are godless, lifeless spirits who drink too much, smoke too much, gamble too much, party too hardy, lack any sense of godly morality, engage in the sexual exploitation of our children, and a huge contingency of them live with multiple sex partners, both hetero and homo sexually. I humbly suggest if you commit your, less than adult, children to being a light shining in that dungeon of depravity, you are, though possibly quite unintentionally, sacrificing them on the altar of Baal. Children of men and women who call themselves followers of Christ have a right to expect more from their parents.
Finally, choosing one's spouse, as practiced in western culture, is kind of like a crap shoot. Place your bet, roll the dice, cross your fingers, and hope you don't crap out. Unfortunately, approximately 54% of marriages in America do just that. If that number alone doesn't sufficiently frighten you parents of little children, I suggest you have no right to have them. It is not a pithy little saying that today's children are tomorrows leaders. It is a fact to which we had best pay closer attention. It is a fact that should cause us to take a serious look at that boy or girl who has plans to spend time with the child for whom God has given us the responsibility to raise. Ethics and morality in America is spiraling downward at an alarming pace. the God of creation is not pleased with America; and He is our only hope. True followers of Christ, kneeling at His altar, seeking His face, and confessing their sin, are the one last chance this country has to stand firm on His promises and reap the benefits of His blessing (Jer. 18:7-10)
God Bless,
Brother Dave
Sermons, and I suppose books, have been or could be written about the incident in Genesis where we read that Abraham sent his servant Eliezar to Haran to get a wife for Isaac. Over and again, in the Old Testament, we see arranged marriages that worked incredibly well. They were based on things like cultural background, financial status, breeding (another term for family values), and religious preference. Such thinking is not necessarily prejudice, but it is discriminatory. I believe such discrimination is both wise and godly. I humbly suggest the fact that we, in this country, allow our young, teenage children to choose their own lifetime mate is evidence enough that such a system doesn’t work. Our national divorce statistics alone amply support such a conclusion. While I’m not suggesting we’ll ever be able, in western culture, to insist that a daughter has no say about whom she marries, I am suggesting parents should be playing a major role in assisting their children in finding a marriage partner.
One of the most disgusting traditions in the history of mankind is practiced openly and by nearly all western cultures. I have recently heard it called recreational dating, and that description is incredibly insightful. Actually, it is a rather recent occurrence that arrived on the scene with two, turn of the century phenomenon, the car and the woman’s liberation movement. Prior to the arrival of these two things onto the scene in western culture, courting was the norm. A single man and woman of good reputation were never allowed to be alone together. A man had to get permission from a woman's parents to court her. The only purpose of courting was to find a wife. And parents had the final say as to whether or not their daughter was allowed to marry the man courting her. Neither time nor space permit me to expand on the manifold problems that came with the auto and the infamous woman's liberation movement. At least one book could be written about the long term dastardly impact each has had on the family in America. I have written more extensively about the problem in my book titled Raising Godly Children in a Pagan Society. I will only point out here that recreational dating has devastated American families, probably more than any other single factor. It is in direct contradiction to everything the bible has to say on the topic. It is the breeding ground for the “Try it to see if you like it,” mentality that is directly linked to the divorce rate in this country. If you are raising children in this culture, you need to read my book on Raising Godly Children in a Pagan Society, and you need to keep your children out of the public school system. I do not give such advice lightly. I was a public school teacher filling various assignments for over twenty-eight years, so I know about what I speak. Do not swallow the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on true followers of Christ for many decades that your child will be a light shining in the darkness. Please trust me when I tell you, he or she will be squashed like any one of those millions of bugs that get sacrificed on the windshields and grills of cars yearly if you place him under the authority of public school demagogues.
The overwhelming number of administrators, teachers, and service personnel in that system are atheists, left wing radical socialists, fascists, dictators whose number one goal in life is to indoctrinate those under their care into their ideological cult; and they call it education. These freaks of nature are godless, lifeless spirits who drink too much, smoke too much, gamble too much, party too hardy, lack any sense of godly morality, engage in the sexual exploitation of our children, and a huge contingency of them live with multiple sex partners, both hetero and homo sexually. I humbly suggest if you commit your, less than adult, children to being a light shining in that dungeon of depravity, you are, though possibly quite unintentionally, sacrificing them on the altar of Baal. Children of men and women who call themselves followers of Christ have a right to expect more from their parents.
Finally, choosing one's spouse, as practiced in western culture, is kind of like a crap shoot. Place your bet, roll the dice, cross your fingers, and hope you don't crap out. Unfortunately, approximately 54% of marriages in America do just that. If that number alone doesn't sufficiently frighten you parents of little children, I suggest you have no right to have them. It is not a pithy little saying that today's children are tomorrows leaders. It is a fact to which we had best pay closer attention. It is a fact that should cause us to take a serious look at that boy or girl who has plans to spend time with the child for whom God has given us the responsibility to raise. Ethics and morality in America is spiraling downward at an alarming pace. the God of creation is not pleased with America; and He is our only hope. True followers of Christ, kneeling at His altar, seeking His face, and confessing their sin, are the one last chance this country has to stand firm on His promises and reap the benefits of His blessing (Jer. 18:7-10)
God Bless,
Brother Dave
The Doctrine of Election
Ephesians 1:4
Ephesians 1:4 reads, ”. . . just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” Four key thoughts stand out in this short verse:
1. God chose us before the foundation of the world. You see, our security rests on the fact, not that we accidentally came across a believer at just the right time to hear the gospel and get saved, but on the fact that God chose us before the foundation of the world. He then used a faithful believer who would speak the words of salvation to which we would respond. And the glorious truth is that He will use each of us for that same purpose if we will be obedient to speak those words of salvation when God brings one he has chosen to us to hear the gospel.
2. We should be holy. God’s purpose for saving us is that we should be holy. There are lots of reasons we should be holy. One of the most significant is that our being holy is the magnet that draws others to us. Being holy is the same as being a light in the darkness.
3. We should be without blame. Of course when God sees us through Jesus’ shed blood on the cross, He sees us without blame. But this admonition is important because just like the previous admonition to be holy, being without blame, causes others to look at us and see something they don’t see in the multitude of lost souls of this world around us. Thus, those who were chosen before the foundation of the world are drawn to us because they want what they see we have when we live a life of integrity.
4. We walk before Him in love. This admonition seems as if it might be the easiest one of all to follow; yet, I suspect it is the most difficult. Sadly, most of us in western society have a convoluted idea of this word love. We’re told by our Greek scholars there are three words in the Greek that we translate into the word love; I think we miss the point when we begin delving into such distinctions. I think, in one sense, it’s a lot simpler than all that. I suspect God only had one thing in mind when He commanded us to love one another and that’s defined as well as it can be defined in I Corinthians 13. What we discover there is that God’s love is a choice, not an emotion. Godly emotions are the natural overflow of all right choices. When one leads with his emotions he usually gets belted on the chin.
Devine love is a test of the character of the one administering it. It has nothing to do with the character of the one being loved. Devine love is where the rubber meets the road in Christian theology. It doesn’t exist when there is no overt positive action on the part of the one loving. And that’s our thought for the day.
In Christ,
Brother Dave
Ephesians 1:4
Ephesians 1:4 reads, ”. . . just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” Four key thoughts stand out in this short verse:
1. God chose us before the foundation of the world. You see, our security rests on the fact, not that we accidentally came across a believer at just the right time to hear the gospel and get saved, but on the fact that God chose us before the foundation of the world. He then used a faithful believer who would speak the words of salvation to which we would respond. And the glorious truth is that He will use each of us for that same purpose if we will be obedient to speak those words of salvation when God brings one he has chosen to us to hear the gospel.
2. We should be holy. God’s purpose for saving us is that we should be holy. There are lots of reasons we should be holy. One of the most significant is that our being holy is the magnet that draws others to us. Being holy is the same as being a light in the darkness.
3. We should be without blame. Of course when God sees us through Jesus’ shed blood on the cross, He sees us without blame. But this admonition is important because just like the previous admonition to be holy, being without blame, causes others to look at us and see something they don’t see in the multitude of lost souls of this world around us. Thus, those who were chosen before the foundation of the world are drawn to us because they want what they see we have when we live a life of integrity.
4. We walk before Him in love. This admonition seems as if it might be the easiest one of all to follow; yet, I suspect it is the most difficult. Sadly, most of us in western society have a convoluted idea of this word love. We’re told by our Greek scholars there are three words in the Greek that we translate into the word love; I think we miss the point when we begin delving into such distinctions. I think, in one sense, it’s a lot simpler than all that. I suspect God only had one thing in mind when He commanded us to love one another and that’s defined as well as it can be defined in I Corinthians 13. What we discover there is that God’s love is a choice, not an emotion. Godly emotions are the natural overflow of all right choices. When one leads with his emotions he usually gets belted on the chin.
Devine love is a test of the character of the one administering it. It has nothing to do with the character of the one being loved. Devine love is where the rubber meets the road in Christian theology. It doesn’t exist when there is no overt positive action on the part of the one loving. And that’s our thought for the day.
In Christ,
Brother Dave
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
