Discipleship Network Forum

Good Heavens!

The heavens declare the glory of GOD,

the dome of the sky speaks the work of His hands.

Every day it utters speech,

every night it utters knowledge.

Without speech, without a word,

without their voices being heard,

their line goes out through all the earth

and their words to the end of the world.

• Psalm 19:1-4

If you live in a highly urbanized area with plenty of neon lights and electronic billboards, you would not be able to appreciate a moonlit night sky or a star-filled horizon. Too much nightlife, would ensure that you would miss GOD's spectacular star show. If you work too hard or if you would rather work than take a much needed vacation out in the boondocks, you're missing all the fun watching birds and butterflies, even your children frolicking with farm animals and fishing and swimming in rivers or sea.

Imagine, GOD made the garden of Eden just for Adam so He could fellowship with him in the comfort of 'home'. Imagine GOD walking in the cool of the day with Adam, showing him all the sights and all the wonders of His garden. Imagine GOD lying on the grass with Adam as they watch the clouds go by and GOD pointing out the Orion and the Pleiades hanging on nothing, designed as part of GOD's universal order.

Indeed, the heavens declare the glory of GOD in all His wisdom and magnificence. One cannot help but appreciate the exactness and “order” of things. There is no speech but we observe the seasonality and continuity of order in the universe. The sun will come out tomorrow and day will give way to night. You will never see a tree or any plant for that matter, grow upside down. Every plant will always reach out to the unseen Creator. Unseen, but not uncaring as we can see by the way He pours rain on the land and irrigate its furrows with streams and rivers. He feeds every creature and commands them to perform their assigned task. For each creature has an assign task with a view to help man maintain the fertility and beauty of His earth.

Have you ever watch a baby sleep? A sleeping baby is a picture of beauty at peace. A baby has no troubles. A baby trusts his father and mother completely to provide everything, to protect him at all times and to nurture him at all times. A sleeping baby is a wonderful picture of faith at work in a child of GOD – complete, unwavering trust.

Seeing the vast universe and realizing how orderly all of GOD's creation is, I can't help but know that my GOD is real and completely loves me with an unconditional love. They utter no speech but their words are so loud, they ought to awaken every man with delight, and a longing to know GOD!

All of creation naturally worships and obeys GOD, but only man has the choice to reject the word of GOD. The Word of GOD created all that we can see and all that we cannot see. The Word of GOD is GOD. He sustains the universe by the word of His power.

YHWH wants to create a garden in each of our hearts. A special garden where the Tree of Life grows with all the other wonderful plants full of fruit. A special garden where only you and GOD can frolick and have fun. A special place where GOD could teach you wisdom direct from the mind of YESHUA the Messiah. A beautiful garden nurtured by the Word of GOD's promise. In this garden, your spirit never sleeps and often hears the words of the SPIRIT say, “Come away with Me....!”

You can decide to receive His word and be blessed; or reject His word and be cursed. Once you hear His word, you have an obligation to do it. This is what divides the children of GOD from the children of wrath. The Word is the golden thread that connects us to an abundant life.

Do you want to have the real thing; or are you contented to play religion? It's your choice!

ἀγγελος

In the history section of the Old Testament there is buried a literary gem called the book of Ruth. Long touted as a writing masterpiece, the book of Ruth includes all the makings of a great and timeless love story. You can read through it at lunch, but it can take a lifetime to grasp the depths of its lessons.

Most commonly, when reading the book, our focus is drawn to how God cares for two widows named Naomi and Ruth. We see God’s hand in Ruth’s faithfulness, in the widows returning to Israel, in Ruth’s godly romance, and in her eventual place in the bloodline of the Messiah. But, as you read it, be sure to slow down enough to consider the first character mentioned. His name is Elimelech, he’s first referred to simply as, “a man of Bethlehem.” Elimelech had a real “grass is greener” complex, and he gets credit for starting all the trouble that we see God work through for the rest of the book. His “grass is greener” decision sets the black back-drop on which the vibrant threads of the book are sewn.

The first verse of the book of Ruth starts out, “In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land.” That is a very telling sentence. The days of the judges were very dark spiritual days for Israel. Twice in the book of judges the writer tries to describe the spiritual condition of the nation with these words, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Israel was spiritually drifting aimlessly, further and further away from God. Unfortunately, God had told the nation that if they turned away from Him that he would bring a famine to help turn them back to Him. They had turned away, and God had brought the famine. Bethlehem, whose name means “House of Bread”, was now an empty bread basket, and Elimelech had a decision to make.

Warren Weirsbe says this about trials in our lives, “When trouble comes into our lives, we can do one of three things: endure it, escape it, or enlist it.” Elimelech could have enlisted this trial for his good. He could have recognized his need to turn back to God and done so. God had put Elimelech and his family in Bethlehem. God had a plan and a purpose for them there, and Elimelech could have stayed and allowed God to use this trial for good in his family’s life. Or, at the very least, Elimelech could have just hunkered down and endured the trial. This may not be the best use of a trial, but Elimelech knew he was where God had put him, and so he could have just held on and trusted God to bring him through the difficulty.

Instead, Elimelech chose the escape hatch, the back door, the easy way out. Moab was not too far away, and there was no famine there. He knew the grass was greener there. And he was right, the grass was greener. But does that mean Elimelech should be there? Moab was an enemy of Israel, they had oppressed Israel and drawn them away from God and into idol worship. It was an adversarial environment with no support structure for Elimelech and his family. But, the grass was greener. So, Elimelech pulled up stakes, took his wife and two sons, and headed for greener pastures.

Ruth 1:2-3 says, “. . . They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.” Now, I’m not saying death is the normal consequence for chasing the “grass is greener” syndrome, but I do believe this makes a pretty strong point. And the point isn’t finished being made yet. Ruth 1:5 says, and both [her sons] died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. Okay, now I think the point is made.

Guys, if we are in a place where God has put us, we need to be very careful about running off to where the grass is greener. It may very well be greener, but does that mean you should be there? If you are where God has put you (and that may need some reflection of its own), then you have three options when trials and difficulties come your way; First, you can enlist them. Meaning, you can look for how God wants to bring good out of this difficulty (see Rom 8:28). Next, you can just endure them. But, a word of warning here, just hunkering down and enduring trials tends to make us hard and bitter, so be careful. Or, you have that third option; you can try to escape your trials. You can jump ship, throw in the towel, hit the eject button, head for greener pastures.

But know this, very often, when we choose the escape route, we miss the good that God had planned to bring through that difficulty. We circumvent what God wanted to do for our good. When we do that, I assure you, God’s plan is not derailed, as the book of Ruth attests. God is still at work. His plan will still come to pass. But we miss out on the good that God wanted to bring, right through that trial, for us. So, if we are where God has put us, let’s beware of the “grass is greener” syndrome.

You can receive Pastor Dave’s teaching on the book of Ruth, one CD a week in the mail, at no cost. Just sign up at www.wordbymail.com.

On Tuesday night at 1:30am my next door neighbor was robbed at gunpoint. They stole some of her jewelry and her cell phone and of course scared the daylights out of her.  This is obviously quite disturbing.  We live in a very nice, quiet and (usually) safe neighborhood.  But this happened next door!  Literally 25 feet from where I was sleeping.  You can’t ignore it now that it has happened.  So the big question is, what do we do now?

First, I am thanking God that my neighbor was not physically injured, although the emotional scar will be
there for some time and I am praying that God will heal that. Secondly, we will be more vigilant about keeping our lights on at night, our doors locked and try to be as aware as possible of our surroundings.

But am I really surprised that this happened?  Yes and no.  Yes I am surprised because these things don’t
normally happen in our neighborhood.  There has always been the occasional car break in or vandalism but I
have never heard of someone being robbed at gunpoint.  I am not surprised though that people have
the will and desire to rob other people.  It is in our nature to do whatever we want regardless of the
consequences and regardless of anyone else.  We live in a culture that believes in “the survival of the
fittest.”  It only makes sense that if someone wants something someone else has then they will just take it.  Originally, we were created by God, to live in a relationship with Him.  But, we rebelled, we decided that we wanted to live life the way we wanted to and said,  “The heck with God, I’m going to live life the way I want to.”  The problem is that living this way has created a pretty chaotic world.  One in which people lie to one another, cheat on their taxes, start wars, say mean things to each other, think evil thoughts, and even rob each other at gunpoint.

The real answer to all of life’s problems is to return back to God.  Because God created life and He’s the one who designed it, then He is going to be the one who knows best how to live it.  God has this intense desire for us to enter
back into this awesome relationship He originally created us to live in.  Some of you have done this already and you
understand what I am saying. Some of you are not exactly sure who this “God” is or what it means “to have a relationship with Him.”  My suggestion is for you to pursue God and get to know Him a little better.  But how?  There are two main ways: First, read what God says about Himself in the Bible.  God has chosen to make Himself known in the Bible.  Actually, God has made Himself known through His Son, Jesus Christ.  The Bible says that Jesus is the exact
representation of who God is.  God chose to communicate to us in the flesh, through a human, Jesus, who was both God and man.  So I encourage you to dust off your Bible and check Him out.

The second way to know God is to talk to people who really know Him.  I have a personal, intimate relationship with God.  I know Him.  I have read the truths about God in the Bible and then have experienced
those truths in real life.  I know about God’s unconditional love, His mercy and compassion, His justice.  I know that He is with me all the time.  I am available to talk to anyone who wants to know more (Plus I have this blog where you can get more information and resources to understand God more. Tomorrow you can read about Cowards vs.
Courageous people).

And I am not the only one, there are others who have this same relationship with God through Jesus.  So I encourage you to talk to them, get to know them, ask them questions about who God is.

The best is yet to come,

Fletch

September 23, 2011

“Do not wear yourself out to get rich;

have the wisdom to show restraint.”

• Proverbs 23:4

Recently, the LORD blessed our business with a lot of orders from customers and my wife and I found ourselves so tired with all the activities, trying to fill the peculiar needs of each customer. It was good to be so busy inspite of the short sleep and long hours. Tonight, the LORD reminded me of Proverbs 23:4. This is one proverb that is easy to understand. GOD exhorted me not to “wear myself out” in pursuit of riches.

As a child, I was often impatient whenever we were on our way to the beach on weekends, wanting to reach our destination as soon as possible so I can enjoy the ocean. I just loved to swim and dive and also gather shells to show off to friends. Growing older, I haven't lost my impatience in “getting to my destination.” I want to finish a project as soon as possible so I can reap the harvest. The pursuit of riches in itself is not wrong but to be so focused on the activity that you lose your joy is not good. A major part of the blessing of work is the journey of accomplishing that work. If we do not learn and become a better person during the journey, then we would have missed the point. Much of life's lessons are learned during problem-solving.

We often think that the journey is a path that we must take by ourselves so we can work out the situation and arrive at a fruitful solution. If we take this route, we would miss the adventure. We were never meant to take a path alone. We can take other friends along and we can probably solve some problems quite well; but still, would it be the best solution? Would I have learned from the best? The only person who would be the best companion for any journey is GOD because He holds the future in His capable hands. In fact, He has prepared good works for us so we can walk in them (Eph 2:10). This is the only way we can have a life and enjoy it too!

GOD exhorts us to exercise wisdom in balancing work with living an enjoyable life. Our spouses and children should have equal time to enjoy life with us. As we enjoy GOD's presence, our family should also enjoy our presence. When they see Immanuel – GOD with us – then they will truly see that our GOD is real and loving.

The LORD also reminded me that “the plans of the diligent lead only to abundance but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty”(Prov 21:5). As we pursue riches, we must do it with all diligence and excellence, but we must never forget that it was GOD who gave us work so we may enjoy our lives on earth. Godly work is our spiritual worship to our excellent GOD. Work performed under GOD's direction is not mere 'work' but a mission that leads to a glorious destiny.

Godly work results in contentment, whatever the circumstances.

ἀγγελος

     I’m a rule follower. I know it’s kind of silly but I like rules. Rules help me know when I am staying within the bounds of what I’m supposed to do. I somehow find comfort in knowing that I am being responsible if I follow the rules. (Jay walking is dangerous. I saw a kid yesterday barely escape getting run over by a car because he was jay walking.) But sometimes when I think I’m being responsible, I’m actually being prideful. I take pride in following the rules. This is a problem when it comes to our spirituality and our relationship with God. We can follow God’s rules, well, at least most of the time. And we can become prideful about it too. We can become so prideful that we believe that God loves us based on our rule following and that He is either happy or disappointed with us when we follow or break the rules. But that is exactly not the way God relates and acts towards us.

Listen to what John Piper says in his book, Fifty Reasons why Jesus came to die:

     “This is why the Bible says that the new way of obedience is fruit-bearing, not law-keeping. ‘You have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God’ (Romans 7:4). We have died to law-keeping so that we might live to fruit-bearing. Fruit grows naturally on a tree. If the tree is good, the fruit will be good. And the tree, in this case, is a living relationship of love to Jesus Christ. For this he died. Now he bids us come: ‘Trust me.’ Die to the law, that you might bear the fruit of love.”

     I am praying that I will be fruit-bearing today and not just a rule follower (law keeper). I don’t need to earn God’s love, Jesus already did that. I need to bear fruit of who I am on the inside. May you think and ponder deeply that one of the reasons Jesus died was so that you do not have to keep the law perfectly but so that you will bear fruit for God, for His glory. I think your relationship with God through Jesus will be much more joyful if you do.

All for Jesus,

Fletch

“The hearing ear and the seeing eye – ADONAI made them both.”

• Proverbs 20:12

Many doctors would agree that the most marvelous and complicated part of all man's senses are his pair of eyes. The eyes are the windows to a man's soul and he forms his opinions of everything that he sees through his perception based on previous stored knowledge. But his perception would be flawed without the keen awareness of sound gathered through his ears. They compliment each other in forming an accurate image of the world around them.

Yet man is the most unique creature among all lifeforms because he has the ability to conceptualize images through his creative imagination. But as intelligent as man could be, he utilizes only ten percent of his brain most of the time. He has been endowed with much, but much is left uncultivated because the god of this world has blinded his carnal mind to the Good News about the glory of the Messiah who is the image of GOD (2 Cor 4:4). He can see the natural order of the world; but it is only when GOD energizes man's spirit with His SPIRIT, that he begins to see the spirit realm also. The 'image of GOD,' because of man's union with the Messiah, enables the new man to see and hear, with sanctified imagination, the many things that GOD has in store for him.

What can be seen through the natural naked eye is self-explanatory, but what can be seen through the spiritual eye is subject to the revelation of GOD himself. Even though much of the spiritual realm is already revealed in Scriptures, these are not easily open to all believers. The spiritual eye only operates by trusting the holy word of GOD; that is, the Scriptures in the original Hebrew language. Why? Because there are so many translations, most in English, and much of the original thought and meaning have not been accurately revealed. Much of the translations are replete with the Greek style of thought process plus being americanized. Since GOD revealed His will through the Word, then we must know the Word accurately according to original writings. I do not mean that you and I must become Hebrew scholars before we can understand Scriptures, but I do mean that as serious students of the Word, we have to ensure that what we are digesting in the spirit is Truth. There are a lot of research materials such as concordance, dictionaries, encyclopedias, lexicons, etc. in print and also available through the world wide web so that no one has an excuse.

Cultivating spiritual sight is only practiced through meditative prayer using the Word of GOD. Without trusting, it is impossible to please GOD, because whoever approaches Him must trust that He does exist and he is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him (Heb 11:6). GOD does not demand that His people trust Him without evidence or substance. The whole of creation declares the glory of the Creator. Has He declared and it was not? He declares the end from the beginning so that all may see that GOD knows all and sees all, because He caused it all and it became.

The building blocks of creation is GOD's Word. From A (Aleph) to Z (Tau), ELOHIM created all with the Word of His mouth in all its fullness. The LORD YESHUA, himself, said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will certainly not pass away”(Mk 13:31) “I have not come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets but to complete it. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a 'yud' or a stroke will pass from the Torah – not until everything that must happen has happened”(Mt 5:17,18). He sustains everything by the word of His power. YESHUA is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

Knowing that the building blocks of creation is GOD's word, we also use it as building blocks of our sanctified imagination so we can see the limitless possibilities of GOD's kingdom. Particularly, the promises of the FATHER to us, His children, are the foundation of our trust and destiny. Living the abundant life depends much if we believe his specific promises and proclaim it as real in our lives.

So, unless YESHUA the Messiah is in you, you cannot perceive the Kingdom of GOD. He is the basis of all creation and all of creation depends on Him for its existence. In Him, we move and exist and live! To believe in YESHUA is to trust His word and to trust that He is the Word. To trust the Word is to do it as YESHUA did it. To truly 'see' is to trust that YESHUA is true to His word and proclaim it as if it already were. Like Abraham, who saw, not an earthly city but a city whose architect is GOD, we are to declare that which is not, as if it were because GOD says so.

Hearing and seeing was given by ELOHIM so we could see Him!

ἀγγελος

Last week, a prayer request was submitted to me. The caller explained her daughter has chemical dependency addictions and psychiatric problems. Therefore, she repeatedly advised her to ascertain some medical care.

In the meantime the court , gave custody of her only child to her husband. Thus the daughter refused medical help, and kidnapped her child from preschool. I prayed with her and the child was returned safely two days later.

 Praise the Lord....

May I pray with you?

diane

Lee and her husband are members of our church. But when her husband fell victim to Alzheimer's, they moved five hours away to a senior adult community that specialized in treating patients with the disease. On vacation with friends, two of us visited the couple this week.

It was good to see Lee.

It was good to see they were settled in a beautiful place.

It was good to know that Lee had help with her husband.

It was also heart-breaking to see her at this stage of life.

She is incredibly thin because she literally made herself sick taking care of him. She's living alone and struggling with the transition of leaving her home and her church that had been so important to her for her entire adult life. And, she is alone in her apartment, with her husband locked in the Alzheimer's unit.

But I saw a disciple who had continued in discipleship through it all. Lee spent 35 years at the church in the nursery, loving and rocking babies. When she became too weak to be able to pick them up, the babies were placed in her arms so she could rock and love them. She embodied the love of Christ.

Now living alone in her apartment, when she's not at meals or with her children or her new friends or visiting her husband, she sits studying an old leather Bible. The Bible seems to stay next to her on the sofa all the time. When I looked at the cover, I realized it was her husband's . . . his name was imprinted on the cover.

For me, that's a beautiful picture of love and discipleship. The Bible demonstrated her connection to the two people most important in her life, Christ and her husband. One is slowing disappearing from her as he forgets more and more; the Other will never disappear from her. In a dark time, Lee continues to rely on her "hope for things to come."

That's a disciple.

Often, our spiritual enemy capitalizes on people being disgruntled in the church. They may be upset about any number of things, but almost always, when someone begins causing conflict in the church, they are definitely disgruntled about something, although they seldom admit what they are truly upset about. Instead, they turn their anger on the church, and specifically on the pastor, usually making unfounded accusations. Our spiritual enemy can easily turn their disgruntled-ness into division and dissention in the body of Christ.

Please, be careful listening to people who are disgruntled and upset. You will never hear both sides of the story, and listening to people who are sowing division and dissention into the church is a matter of high spiritual battle. Please protect yourself from this. If you do listen, or if you are caught off guard and have this divisive talk forced on you, please be careful not to blindly accept anything a disgruntled person says without first talking to a pastor about it.

Prov 18:17 says “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”

Phil 1:27 clearly spells out conduct that is worthy of the gospel of Christ. We are to stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. And if we understand the importance of Christ’s prayer in John 17, then we will understand the eternal significance of our unity. Jesus put so much importance on our unity that He said it would be a sign to the world for them to believe in Him.

Here are some additional scriptures that pertain to this subject;

1Cor 1:10 – I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

Rom 16:17-18 – I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. 18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

Titus 3:10-11 - 10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Prov 26:20-21 - 20 For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. 21 As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.

Prov 6:16-19 - 16 There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

2 Timothy 2:23–26 (NLT) — 23 Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. 24 A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. 25 Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. 26 Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.

1 Timothy 6:20–21 (NLT) — 20 . . . Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge. 21 Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness . . .

Acts 20:29–30 (NLT) — 29 I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. 30 Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.

Please protect yourself in this area. If you are hearing from those who are disgruntled over something, please call your pastor and talk openly and honestly about what you have heard.

Division and dissention that starts with gossip and slander brings destruction into the body of Christ. That’s all it does – nothing else. May we be strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy (Col 1:11).

From my heart,

Pastor Dave

The gospel of grace is central to all of life. Everything we do, say and think about will be impacted by the gospel. The gospel is simply the good news that God sent his son Jesus to save us from our sins. We were created to live in relationship with God but we chose to turn our backs on God and live life the way we wanted to live. This rebellion broke our relationship with God and left us to face the wages and consequences of our own sin, which is death. But God, who is rich in mercy and grace, did not leave us to ourselves. God sent Jesus to come and die, paying the penalty for our sins, past, present and future. Through faith in Jesus we can have a restored relationship with the God of the universe. This renewed relationship will last forever and cannot be broken.

The Bible says that we are “new creations” and that we who live might no longer live for ourselves but for him who died for us. God’s Spirit comes and makes his home in our hearts. The Holy Spirit will work in and through us to glorify God in all we do. Every day should be one in which we live in the gospel of grace. This grace infects us and causes all our interactions with others and with ourselves to glorify God. You will have people that irritate you, dislike you, disobey you, make fun of you and you will love them with the grace that God has given you. You will have financial stress, your computer will stop working, you will miss an appointment and you will work through these issues with the grace that God has given you. You will enjoy a date with your wife, you will accomplish something great at work, you will find joy in smelling the fresh spring air and you will thank God for his abundant grace in your life. The gospel of grace is central to all of life. It permeates our thoughts, our actions and our words. As we walk through today and the day after that and the day after that, let us never forget to bathe ourselves in God’s grace. May you be completely overwhelmed just by meditating on this infinite grace.

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through GRACE, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” (II Thess.2:16-17)

All for Jesus,

Fletch

Is it better to live here on earth or is it better to be in heaven with Jesus?  To live here on earth means that we
experience pain, suffering, difficulty and sorrow.  We have to live in a wretched world full of
sin and misery.  Disease, sickness,depression, hatred and selfishness characterize our daily lives.  But in heaven none of this exists.  There is no sorrow, pain or sin.  Heaven is a holy place.  So is there really a question as to which is
better?  Of course we will be better offin heaven.  Then the question follows…why don’t we just go to heaven once we become a Christian and skip the pain and misery of living here on earth?

The answer comes from the Scriptures;

²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²²
If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I
shall choose I cannot tell. ²³ I am hard pressed between the two. My
desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. ²⁴
But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. ²⁵
Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for
your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶ so that in me you may have
ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

Paul says that it is better to be with Christ but
to remain here on earth means fruit labor. He says “it is necessary on your account.”  Don’t miss this.  For Paul, it is better to be in heaven with Christ.  But Paul is not looking at his
life according to what is best for him. Paul is looking at life from the perspective of what God thinks is
best.  God wants Paul here on the earth for the progress and joy of the Philippians. 
So Paul’s life here on earth has nothing to do with himself, at least not directly.  Paul’s life is to be lived
for others for the glory of God. 

The problem is that most of us go through life
living for ourselves.  So we live life exactly the opposite of how God wants us to live it.  We must understand the Biblical concept of not living life for ourselves but for God and for others.  Jesus makes this clear when He is asked what
is the first and greatest commandment in Matthew 22:34-40.  Jesus says that the greatest commandment is
to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and the second is like
it, to love your neighbor as yourself. Neither commandment says that we should live for ourselves.  There should be no confusion.  Except that our sinful nature constantly and consistently puts ourselves at the heart and center of everything.

Somehow we have to lose sight of ourselves and get caught up in loving God and loving others. 
Joel Osteen has a bestseller called “Your Best Life Now”.  Where’s the focus? It’s on YOU.  I think a title of a more Biblical book would be called, “Life is not about you!”  It probably wouldn’t be a bestseller.  But
it would be glorifying to God, whereas Olsteen’s book is a stench to God.

So why should we even take care of ourselves?  Be healthy? Exercise? Stay emotionally and
mentally sharp?

What changes do I need to make in my life to shift
the core focus from myself onto loving God and others?

Psalm 8 sheds more light on these questions…

^ESV Psalm 8:1 TO THE
CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO THE GITTITH. A PSALM OF DAVID. O LORD, our Lord, how
majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the
heavens. ² Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have
established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. ³
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place, ⁴ what is man that you are mindful of
him, and the son of man that you care for him? ⁵ Yet you have made
him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and
honor. ⁶ You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet, ⁷ all sheep and oxen, and
also the beasts of the field, ⁸ the birds of the heavens, and the
fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. ⁹ O
LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

This Psalm explains to us that God, whose glory is
above the heavens, made man a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned
him with glory and honor.  So we do have
significance.  My questions prior about
why are we left on earth were not to diminish the significance of man or his
dignity.  We cannot forget that we were
created in the image of God.  However, my
question is why are we left on earth? 
What is our meaning and purpose to be here?  Verse 6 tells us that God has given man
dominion over the works of his hands, He has put all things under man’s
feet.  So our purpose is to have dominion over the earth, what
God created for Himself and also for us to enjoy.  Maybe the question itself is self-centered
and self serving.  Because God’s answers
to why we are here still center on Him and His creation, not just on us.

Maybe some better questions should be, “Why did God
create man and what purpose does God have for man while he is alive?”  This Psalm begins and ends glorifying God not
man.  “O Lord, our Lord how majestic is
your name in all the earth!”  It is the
Lord’s name that is majestic, it is the Lord’s name that must be praised and
lifted up and worshiped.

Once again we are challenged that life is not
centered around us but around a God whose glory is above everything, it is
about His name being proclaimed, established and lifted up.  Man carries out the will of God here and in
heaven.  We do have a purpose here, we do
have significance here on earth but it centers around God, not us.  We will relentlessly pursue the  meaning to 
life, and most people do, trying to create meaning and significance that
revolve around man somehow.  The problem
is that this pursuit will never end until one finds that they are pursuing the
wrong thing, down the wrong road.  The
purpose and meaning to life are found in the Scriptures, not in the world we
live in.  It is found in the Creator, not
the creation.

All for Jesus,

Fletch

Have you noticed how many things have gone retro… clothes,
cars, furniture, appliances.  Vinyl
records are making a comeback.   I wish I
had kept my leisure suits because I am sure they will return soon! Maybe even
my bell bottom pants I wore in college.  Some
are nostalgic and want to return to the good ole days when church attendance
was up and life seemed much simpler.   This
retro thinking reminds me of how we sometimes view discipleship.

We go to all the new conferences, seminars and read the
latest books to get a grip on how to more effectively grow our churches and
make disciples.  Nothing wrong with that,
but everyone seems to be looking for the discipleship silver bullet; that one
easy step that will propel our church forward and solve all our problems.  Maybe, something from the past was lost.  We debate Sunday School versus small groups,
traditional music versus contemporary, deacons versus elders, using hymn books
versus projectors, and on and on. 

The truth is the Lord can bless any church He chooses to
bless regardless of their music or methods.  
1 Cor 3:6 says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.”  NASU 
“makes things grow” NIV “God gave the increase” KJV  “God gave the growth” HCSB

The single factor I’ve observed in churches that are growing
is the fact that they are committed to “make disciples.”  They constantly celebrate baptisms and spiritual
victories in the lives of their members and other lives that their members
touch.  They are not doing church but
being church.  The members have been
equipped, trained and released to do ministry. 
All feel called to make disciples and all are using their spiritual
gifts to make a difference in their churches and communities.  This is not rocket science.

My observation is that discipleship happens best in small
groups with someone who loves the Lord and loves people and is willing to spend
some time and energy helping these people grow in Christ.  Jesus modeled this with His disciples.  We cannot improve on His Message or His Model
for doing discipleship.

We need to retro back to the first century. 

I believe it was Will Rogers who said, “Nostalgia is not
what it used to be.”  I do wish I could
wear my bell bottoms again.

Keep the Son in your Eyes,

Mike James

Obey or Observe?  What’s the difference?  Us Christians sure like telling others to obey.  After all, we are commanded to in the Great Commission, aren’t we?

The New American Standard Bible  renders the Great Commission in this way:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Most of us are used to reading “obey all that I have commanded you;”  To me, at least, these two words have very different meanings and possibly different implications for how we implement the command.

It is interesting to note, that Strongs defines it in this way:

5083 tēréō (from tēros, “a guard”) – properly, maintain (preserve); (figuratively) spiritually guard (watch), keep intact.

It is also interesting to note that in Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right,” where there is little, if any disagreement that obey there means obey in the normal sense of our understanding, is a completely different word.

Strongs defines that word 5219 hypakoúō – properly, to obey what is heard (literally, “under hearing”) & suggests attentively listening, i.e. fully compliant (responsive).

If the Great Commission is to be translated as observe instead of obey, does that change the way we implement it?  If so, how?

In either case, observe or obey, is teaching them how implied? What are your thoughts?

God is constantly gracious. He never stops thinking about you, he is constantly with us all the time, everywhere. I love the Zephaniah 3:17 passage;
"The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."

I want to encourage you to examine your life for "evidence of grace". Because God's grace is always flooding our hearts then we should be able to see evidence of it in our lives. While God's grace through Jesus is infinite let me highlight three areas you can look for in your own life.

New Desires: As we grow in our relationship with Christ, he gives us new desires that well up inside of us. These desires were not a part of us before we became a Christian, but now they are undeniable. Do you have the desire to know God more intimately through reading His Word? The fact that you value God's Word and love to read, study and hear it is evidence of grace. Do you desire to commune with God deeper through prayer? You have seen God give you peace in excruciating circumstances, answer your prayers, and move you to take risks because you prayed. Prayer is evidence of God's grace. You also have a new desire to worship. Worship happens all day, every day and hopefully as you walk through your day you have a new desire to praise God for who he is and what he's doing. Maybe your music library has changed over the last few years to have more worship music to keep your mind focused on Christ. Maybe it's a lot easier to get up on Sunday mornings and head to church, looking forward to worshiping Him with your heart, soul, strength and mind. Again, a desire to worship is evidence of grace.

New Perspective: As you have experienced the deep forgiveness of God through the work of Jesus on the cross you want to pass it on to others. I really feel that God has changed my perspective on life and specifically relationships. We all have wonderful relationships and difficult ones. God has given us so much grace that we are filled to the brim and overflowing. The overflow should pour into those around us...family, friends, co-workers, even the waiter serving us lunch. God's grace gives us a new perspective on how we treat others, how we react to others, and how we love others unconditionally. A new perspective is evidence of grace.

Old Temptations: As we constantly grown in grace then we will also constantly be hounded by Satan. We all know that "he prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour". Grace gives us a tremendous weapon to fight temptation, however we constantly have to be on our guard to fight and defend ourselves. God also roams around,
"For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him."
Fight temptation by believing that the promises of God are far better than the promises of the world.

Bathe in God's grace today, let it wash over your heart, your mind and your soul, and then shower someone else with it as well.

All for Jesus,
Brian Fletcher

fletch@springrunpc.org

Sometimes, a mom can do nothing but shake her head at what God is doing in the lives of her children. I'm shaking my head today as my daughter and son-in-law are in flight to Athens, Greece, to minister to refuges there for the next week.

You would understand my head shaking if you knew my daughter. She's an amazing young woman with a heart for ministry and missions. In fact, she'll be graduating in December with a Masters in Missiology from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and her husband is working on a Masters of Divinity with his sights on the Ph.D. program. During the past two years, she has been involved in a ministry to sex industry workers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and then in the area of human trafficking there. She is also one of the shyest people I've ever known.

She's funny and smart and has a discernment about people that is far beyond her years. She also goes into anxiety attacks when put in an uncomfortable situation. She really reminds me of her mother (that would be me) when she  was younger.

Yet, God sees the heart and the ability. As God proved to Samuel when he chose the youngest brother David to replace Saul as king, He sees what others do not see within us, instead of the outward appearance of who we are.

When involved in missions, my daughter's shyness is gone, the discernment is in overdrive, and most of the anxiety is missing. If she follows in the path of her mom, the anxiety will eventually be gone as well.

Isn't it amazing how God can lead us to be more and do more than we can even picture for ourselves?

This week, would you pray from them and the team from New Orleans Baptist Seminary who are not only ministering to refugees, but our building relationships and developing long-term ministry opportunities in Greece? 

Margie Williamson

Community Manager

For years I have been hearing about the importance of "mentoring" in the congregation. I have even been to workshops on this topic - but I could never really get a handle on it. Then one of my Elders informed me of how much she learns by our one on one times. Once a week she would come by for prayer and we would spend 20 minutes to an hour in conversation about prayer, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, leadership - whatever was on her mind. It dawned on my one day that I was mentoring. And then I realized that mentoring was not a program, it was simply sharing and imparting to others what I had learned from the Lord.

In the Spring of 2009 I had an interesting encounter with the Lord. As I was praying in my office, I had a vision. Appearing in front of me was a document - and on that document was a questionaire. I wrote down all the questions that I was seeing and I distributed it to all the folks in the congregation (over 60). Forty seven questionaires were returned to me. The questionaire was about intercession, prayer and spiritual warfare. The results were very diverse but there were two things that EVERY questionaire had: everyone wanted to learn more about spiritual warfare and everyone wanted to learn to hear the voice of the Lord. Now what do I do with this ? The Lord told me in prayer - "write and teach". I wrote a booklet on spiritual warfare and I followed that up with an all day seminar. But what was fascinating was what happened next. To teach people how to hear the voice of the Lord, I didn't write a booklet and I didn't have a seminar. Instead, the Lord directed me to launch a "One-2-One Prayer" initiative. Those who were interested could have one on one time with me to learn how to pray and discern the voice of the Lord. Sixteen people signed up for this. It was based on their schedule and it personal mentoring time with their pastor. We launched it in January of 2011 and we ran it for 5 months. Almost all began having experiences of the Lord in prayer; one experienced the infilling of the Holy Spirit and three were raised up to join me in engaging in spiritual warfare through intercessory prayer. This One-2-One Mentoring is begining to take on new life; some are asking for very specific things to be discussed next time. Since we focus on the Christian Year (Advent to Pentecost) I have decided to expand the mentoring season from November to the end of June. This is how I learned to let Jesus lead me in mentoring (feeding) my sheep. May you be encouraged by this.

I recently had a short but provocative twitter conversation with Ukumbwa Sauti, M.Ed.  who is a professor of cultural media studies, and is trained in Indigenous African Spiritual Technologies in the Dagara tradition.  The conversation centered on the perceived cultural imperialism of Christian Missions.  This is by no means a new concept, and the tendency towards being colonial in Missions still exists.  I would have to say the my North American brethren are far more prone to making little North Americans then Making Disciples of Jesus.  In  my work on the mission field in Ecuador, I have worked among the Shuara and Quichua Indians, and the Mestizos (the mixed indigenous).  I have also worked in the midst of countless sub-cultures in the Cloud Forest Region and beyond.  I have also worked among the Navajo people in the United States.  I can honestly say that I have never, in my desire to bring Christ to these people have sought to simultaneously change their culture.  One could argue that bringing Christ into a culture is to change its culture, and if that be the case, then I am guilty.  A question which should follow logically then, is, can we bring Christ to a people, a culture, without contaminating that culture?

    Yesterday I listened, as did anyone in a two block radius of the bank, to a customer's explosive rant proclaiming they wouldn't let him cash a check. On my way home from work, two cars log-jammed in the middle of a 4-way stop with both drivers gesturing their frustration while jabbing their horns. Whew! Rage in action!

     Why are people so angry? I wish I knew the answer. My best guess is that most of us think we deserve to be first. Our unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness clouds our vision, exuding the "me-first" mentality.

     Jesus must be shaking his head in disgust at us who call ourselves Christians acting like we have "rights." The Bible teaches there are no "first-place" Christians. Remember Salome's request that her two sons, James and John, sit at the right and left of Jesus in the kingdom of God? Graciously Jesus replied this authority was not his to give, but only God's. Yet, note the reaction of the other disciples. "When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers" (Matthew 20:24). And rightfully so.

    Follow Jesus' response: "Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:26-28). If we follow Jesus' example, our rights lessen in our service to others. No more racing at 4-way stops!

What if the Great Commission, Matthew 28:19,20 , was the generative source for all Ministry in the New Testament?  What if every other ministerial function in Church found its genealogy in Going, Making Disciples, Baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that Christ commanded?

See the rest of this post.