Tri-Productions

Who is need of the Father?

2012-01-10T19:49:00.000-06:00

Luke 15:11-32

I believe many of us have heard different lessons taught from this piece of scripture. We’ve heard it preached about the prodigal son and we’ve heard it preached about the father in the story. Today I want to present a slightly different look at this scripture.

As a storyteller, I see all the characters within the story to gain a better understanding of the message being presented. This story is not only about the father, or about the prodigal son. It is a trilogy. There are three main characters within this story that we need to examine. And as we do, I want you to take a look at two sons and a father and seek Gods answer to the question, “who is in need of the Father”.

At the beginning of this chapter the Pharisees and the Scribes (religious people) began to murmur because of Jesus’ association with those they felt were unworthy, the publicans and the sinners. They are outraged that Jesus is eating with sinners. This started Jesus on his reciting of several parables to get across his point to the religious people why he was associating with the sinners, which led us to the parable that Jesus gives regarding the father and the two sons.

(NIV, Verse 11-13) Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.

Imagine, scene 1 of this drama, the youngest son made the decision to go to his father and ask him to give him his portion of goods. The father then divides the goods up between the two sons. And as soon as the younger son receives the inheritance from the Father he goes to a distant county and blows all his wealth on wild living. Now let me give you some of the sub-plots to this drama.

When the son goes to the father and says give me my share, what he is saying in essence is I don’t want to wait for you to die and I don’t want you to have the control over my life any longer. I don’t want to listen to your will, your rules or follow what you say. So give me what is coming to me so I can go my own way and do my own thing. I call this scene – “The road to nowhere” or “The path to the pit” I can see in my imagination that he took the road that lead from his Father’s house that would take him to this distant country.

And as he walked farther down this road that he thought was leading to riches, fame, success, it was really leading to destruction and death. With each step, it took him farther away from the father’s house (farther from the sounds, smell and visual of the father’s house) and closer to the sounds, smells and the visual of destruction. Oh, I believe he made a lot of friends along the way that probably told him what he wanted to hear because he was the “man” of the hour. This is not just my thought but scripture let’s us know he had help in his wild living and blowing his riches. You can always find friends along the path of destruction that are willing to help you blow your inheritance, but then are they true friends? Or are they pawns to draw you further from the Father’s house?

(NIV, Verse 14-19) After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.'

In these verses we see the son has come to the place that his money has run out and now there is lack in the land. Did you know that when you waste the Father’s inheritance, that a famine will always surely follow? There is always lack in the life of a child that squanders his Father’s blessings. There is a lack of power, a lack of spiritual insight, a lack of discernment because you have squandered God’s riches. So this son decided to try and fix his lack. He tried to attach himself to a citizen in the place. Why is it when we mess up instead of realizing it and changing, we make matters worse by trying to fix it ourselves?

We try to attach ourselves to “foreigners,” those that do not know the ways of our Father and therefore will not help to direct us back into His presence. These foreigners ways are not in line with the Father and we simply find ourselves further away from our Father’s house, instead of solving our problems. So when this son joins himself to the citizen he begins to work in the field to feed the swine, an abomination for a Jew. He was hungry and allowed his fleshly desire to overrule what he knew about the rules of his father’s house and began to eat from the swine’s food. But then it says in verse 17, “He came to himself”. Did you know sometimes we have to be flat on our faces in a pigpen and in slop before we come to ourselves? Some of us have to come so low before we turn around and realize who our Father is and ask why are we living the life we live?

When he came to himself he decided to humble himself and he came up with a plan. He decided he would go to his father, and seek his forgiveness. So that path that this son first took to lead him away from the father was the same road he had to turn around and go back on to get to his father. Sin will foolishly make you walk away from your Father’s house, with much pride but God’s humbling will make you humbly return. How humbling must it have been for this son that went away from his father’s house with money, and dreams of grandeur, but to now have to pass those same houses along the way that he passed before, this time in shame of his sin? What realization he must have had to now see himself for who he really was. No longer prideful, huh?

So what do we learn from this first son and his story titled “The road to now where” or “The path to the pit?”

The first son, the youngest son shows us several things. First the youngest son shows us in this instance that youth represents immaturity. In our immaturity we make the decisions that we do not want to wait on God, who is our Father, to give to us his riches. We make the decision like the youngest son to tell God, you can no longer have control over my life, and I’ll take care of it myself. But I do want your gifts and your provisions, but I want to do things my way. How does this translate?

We take our gifts, physical talents, and natural abilities and we tell God I will make my own way and I will do my own thing. I do not want to wait on your timing so I’ll go and do things myself. Then foolishly; we begin the path that leads us out of the Father’s house and to the road of destruction. Some of us don’t want to wait for God to heal our marriages so we leave, and start that path down the road of destruction ourselves. Some of us don’t want to wait on God’s timing for a mate, so we go get one ourselves. Some of us don’t want to wait on God’s timing regarding healing our hurts or issues in life, so we go and find our own way of dealing with it, things that we think will numb the pain.

There are so many ways we do not want to wait on God so we foolishly turn away. In this instance the house represents the place where the Father dwells, His presence. Yes some have turned from the church because they are tired of waiting on God to do something and so they leave the presence of God so they can do it themselves. And in doing so with pride and arrogance we walk down a road that we foolishly thing is leading somewhere, but it is the path of our destruction.

We move to a foreign country and attach ourselves to those citizens in that country all trying to live this fantasy of a life we think we should be living. But what we are really doing is attaching ourselves to things that are foreign or contrary to our Father and his ways. And sometimes it takes us in the midst of our foreign situations to come to ourselves, turn back to our Father’s house and go running to seek His forgiveness. We have to do like this son and “arise”, get up out of our sinful thinking, get up out of the sin of our pride, get up out of the slop. And in our arising we realize that it is Jesus that we need to help us, so we need to go humbly back to our Father’s house. This story doesn’t end here. Scene two takes place, where the father enters.

(NIV, Verse 20-24) So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

In these verses, the scene unfolds as the son goes to the father and is ready to confess his sins. Yet something happens that catches our attention. The father saw the son and come to meet him on the road. He showed him compassion, he did not allow the son to have to make the journey all the way back by himself, and as a result he came to get him. And the son confessed his sins. The father did not banish the son, instead he tells his servants, come, bring him the best robe, and put it on him, put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. My son that was dead is alive again, he was lost and he is now found. And they began to party.

So what do I call this scene, I call this scene “Amazing Grace”. The son was lost but now he is found, he was blinded by sin but now he can see. He was a wretch, but the father said come to me. It was not because of his own power but because of the compassion or grace of the Father. Now looking at this scripture from a human standpoint the father may seem to be too soft on the younger son. He could have told the son no in the first scene. That’s what we would have done had one of our children came to us and said give me your hard earned money and let me go blow it on what I want to blow it on.

We would have given them a lecture about the importance of a dollar and how we probably had to recycle a thousand pop cans, deliver 2,000 news papers at 3 a.m. in the morning to make our first dollar. But why didn’t this father do that?

I believe the son did not just wake up one day and decide to ask for his money. There had to be some thoughts brewing in his mind as he got up day after day to do the work in his father’s house. He probably was thinking, why do I have to work so hard when my father has all that I need. Why do I have to sacrifice when what I need my father has? Why do I have to deny my own desires when my father can let me have what I want? The son became angry and bitter at waiting.

So I believe the father was aware of the son and he only allowed the son to take the money because he already knew what was up that road. Just as he knew that the road would take his son away from him, he also knew it would bring him back, so he stood and waited for when the rebellion would turn into repentance. How many days did the father come out and wait for the returning son? I believe daily he waited for his son to return.

What does this tell us today? Our Father is not sitting in heaven unaware of the journey we are on. He knows the dissatisfaction that we allow to fester in our hearts against his ways. He knows the rebellion of our hearts and He wants us to turn to him, but He will willingly allow us to go on the journey that leads us away from his protection and His presence.

Yet, because He knows what is ahead for us on that journey, He is patiently waiting for us to turn back to His presence.

When we do, we then can experience the “Amazing Grace” of God. The son said I’ll be happy just being your servant, but the father said no, I will restore you to complete son-ship and ownership. He gave him a robe, God will give us new clothing when we turn back. He will clothe us in His righteousness. He doesn’t give us some cheap clothing but costly, the best. It is the best and it is costly because it was purchased with the blood of Christ. This father gave him a new ring; in that time rings had the signet or the seal of the family on it. Our Father gives us a new ring, or a new seal that brands us as one of His family, one of his chosen children and along with that ring it carries the full privileges of the Father. This father gave his son new shoes.

Ephesians 6:15 reads “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” We are made ready with the gospel to run our race for the Father. This father welcomed the son back into the house and a celebration took place. We should all rejoice, but not yet, there is another scene to this trilogy. This next scene presents for us the oldest son.

(NIV, Verse 25-32) "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' " 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

In this scene we have an older brother that has come from the field and he sees all this partying going on in the house and he wants to know what’s happening. The servants tell them your brother has come home and we have killed the fatted calf and we are having a party. Now we look to see the brother’s response. Is it joy, happiness that his lost brother is found, right? No, he’s angry! So, what would I call this scene? I call this scene “What about me?” or “When is it my turn?”

Now I want us to take a look at this brother. I believe this brother has often been neglected in the preaching from pulpits. Our focus has been on the brother that was lost and his return and the father’s response to that. These are important but in forgetting the other son, we neglect the other side of this lesson God wants us to see.

It is ironic that we often forget about this brother, because that is part of his complaint, I’m often forgotten for my willingness to stay faithful. This brother became so angry that the verse says “he would not go into the house.” The father then comes out to the son and talks to him about why he would not come in. The older son complains to the father, but father I never left you, I did whatever you said do but where is my party, when will it be my turn? The father did not answer the son harshly as some of us would. Instead this father took the time to help the oldest son understand that while he had not thrown him a party, everything that was his was available to him. We are only celebrating because your brother was lost and now we want to rejoice that he has come home.

So I have a question for you? Which son was in need of the father? Or let me ask it another way, how far outside of the house do you need to be, before you need the Father to come and get you?

The older son represents the one that was more mature or had a greater understanding about the father because he had been with the father longer. This older son saw what his brother did and how his turning away affected others, including himself. Think about it. When the younger son moved away from the father’s house who had to carry on in his absence? It was the older brother. So not only did he have to take care of his own responsibilities he had to also take care of his brothers. Resentment had to have been growing there. This brother had to be bitter at having to carry all the weight while the younger brother did as he wanted to do to please himself.

He probably wanted to see the brother come home, however he wanted to see the returning brother treated differently. He wanted him to be punished, at least a little bit. He wanted him to have to hurt, or feel the burden of what his leaving had placed upon this older brother. But to hear that the father forgave him and restored him, the older brother was angry. Think about it, he was still out in the field working and then is surprised with a party going on. He had to have been thinking, I’m still taking care of his work and he is being treated like an honored guest, what’s up with that? His anger kept him away from the father’s house.

How many of us have stepped away from God’s presence because of our anger at our brother or sister? You know what I mean? Your spiritual brother or sister, or maybe your wife or husband, was like the younger son. In their weakness or immaturity they stepped away from the Father’s house. Their stepping away called for you to carry the burden of their turning.

You labored many days in their absence and now they have returned. But why aren’t you happy about it? Maybe because you have become angry that it seems like they have gotten away with something. You thought they would have to suffer or something but instead they have been given all the provisions they had before. You are not jealous about that, but you are saying in your spirit, “What about me God? I did not walk away from you but I still have to deal with the burden of their leaving and to see them partying it up, it’s so unfair.” Or we say in our spirit Lord when will it be my turn? I have not stopped serving you as I should but now you make a big deal about him or her, what about me? When this thing hits our spirits and our hearts, we step outside the doors of our father’s house. Now we do not go the total distance of moving away as the first son did, but we still have stepped outside and we, just like the other son is missing the blessings of being in the Father’s presence.

This then leads us to the final climax of this story. The father just as he waited for his first son that had gone away to come and meet him and bring him into the house, this same father moves away from the festivities going on in the house to come get his son that is standing outside the door. The Father is always aware of His children’s absence from His presence. And because of His amazing grace He is always willing to get them from where they are.

How does this apply to us today? Today, we have some younger brothers and some older brothers standing distant from each other because of ones sin and the others inability to let go of the anger. Which one is in need of the father? Both of you are. I am asking you today to be transparent not before me, but before God.

There are some relationships right in our churches that God wants to heal both the one that has gone a long distance on the wrong path and the one that stands just outside the door. Both of you are in need of the Father so that He can heal your hearts. This is what He wanted the religious people to understand. I am giving my time with the lost, but you too are in need of my presence because of your heart condition. Don’t let your heart condition keep you on the outside of God’s presence. See this story is about the relationship not only with the father and the lost son, but also the relationship with the hurting son and the father. And then it is also about the relationship between the two brothers. They all depend on one thing, the “Amazing Grace” of God.

Parents and children. Do you have anger toward a rebellious child or are you a child that is anger and disappointment in their parent? Right now I have to tell you God has restoration for both of you. His amazing grace can restore the prodigal that has gone his or her own way and has blown the blessings of God. He wants to restore you back to a rightful place within his love as well as a right relationship with each other. To the one that has stayed behind and continue to carry the burden, He wants you to know He has not forgotten about you. He wants to release the burden of your heart so that you can find yourself back in His presence.

Husband to wife, or wife to husband. God wants to restore some relationships today. The people of God cannot move to the next level God wants us to be, until his two sons are back in the same house, under the control and guidance of the Father. I believe God wants to do that today. If you want to be able to go to the next level God has for you and you want to move back into the full presence of God, then today is that day. Don’t worry about what others think, because all that matters is God. He already knows who the prodigal’s are. Because there are some prodigal’s reading this today.

Some that have turned away from God; some need to come home and some have already humbled themselves but just don’t know how to make that journey back. Well God already is waiting to meet you; He will not make you take the journey by yourself. Think of it this way. Today, God the Father stands waiting to restore you, to embrace you with His love and to show compassion on you, all you need to do is humble yourself and come to Him. For those that have anger or bitterness in their hearts because of what the prodigal has left on them, step out and met God, the Father and be reminded he is what you need today.

The Holiday Cake

2011-11-30T21:01:00.002-06:00

There was once a pastry chef that create a cake to share with a vast number of loved ones that had been invited to a holiday celebration. The pastry chef went into the kitchen to get all the ingredients to create the cake.

All the ingredients were taken and placed one by one on the counter. The eggs, the flour, vegetable shortening, sugar, salt, baking powder, milk and vanilla were sat on the counter. The pastry chef then took out the pan. The pastry chef turned on the oven to 350 degrees to prepare the over for the cake.

The pastry chef then took the mixer and creamed the butter and shortening together. He added the sugar, a little at a time. He then added eggs, one at a time and beat the mixture together after each egg was added. In a separate bowl, he stirred all the dry ingredients together. He added the dry ingredients into the butter mixture alternately with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour. He then mixed in the vanilla.

The cake was not quite ready, but it was progressing nicely. He then poured the mixture into a greased and floured pan and baked for 1 and ½ hours until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake came out clean to show it was ready.

The chef created a powder sugar glaze to top off the pound cake. It was ready to serve up to his guest at the holiday party. The cake was a success each person that tasted it stated, “That was good!”

Well, there’s a catch to this story. There are two stories hidden in the tell of the cake and the pastry chef. The first story is not really about a cake at all, but about the wonderful holiday gift we have been given. God, that “great pastry chef” decided to invite this world, a vast number of people to a feast. He offered all the “right” ingredients in the cake (bread of life) for His guest. That sweet treat offered to everyone to come and taste and see that the Lord is good! All those that partook of the sweet treat were feed and delighted at the goodness of God. The chef’s added in his loaf only the ingredients that would produce the required results. God’s offer of salvation only adds in the ingredients that line up with his recipe. His Son came to this earth, offered Himself as the sacrifice for the world to ensure our salvation. Into his body was inserted the nails and when out came the blood and water, God knew salvation was sure. In the midst of all that appeared ugly, God added the final touch of sweetness to top off this event. That added sweetness was the assurance of all being saved that call on the name of the Lord.

There is still yet a second story. The second story is us. We are in the hands of the great pastry chef. He takes the ingredients of our lives and puts them together to make all things work together for our good. These ingredients by themselves are not very tasty (accept maybe the sugar). Just as the chef takes the butter and shortening and blends them together; God takes those things that are hard and difficult in life and softens them to become the base of the batter of our lives. The chef added the sugar a little at a time, just as God sprinkles His joy into our difficulties in life as we learn to be thankful in all things. Little by little He adds each ingredient to build the perfect batter. Yet, we are not done yet, there is still more work that needs to be done. Into the hot oven we must go. The chef knows the perfect time to pull the cake out of the over. When the toothpick is placed into the cake and it comes out clean, it is time. So it is with our lives, when God sees that we have firmed up and there is no residue clinging to the inserted tester, we are ready to serve.

God tops us off with a little sweetened glaze (love) before serving us to the vast gathering group of hungry people. Then little by little he serves His guest a piece of our lives (through our testimonies). And when they receive the sweet offering they too declare, “I have tasted and this is good!”

I encourage each of you today to allow God to serve you up this holiday. Go and allow someone to “taste and see” that God is good because you represent the work of the master chef!

Living With Many Signals

2011-10-31T11:14:00.000-05:00

“Living with many signals”

Ephesians 4:31-32 “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

Colossians 3:2 “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

Life is busy! Track a normal day in the life of a mom for instance. You get up to get your kids ready for school. You get them up, feed them, get their lunch’s ready, homework packed up, clothes on, and teeth brushed all while trying to keep them from killing each other. You try to get them out on time and if you have a job, you need to get where you need to be all at the same time. Add daily home care needs, clothes washed, food purchased and cooked, and the list goes on. In this list add whatever your families needs are, your husband’s needs, the church needs, and if time (Ha!) your needs.

How do you handle all the signals without malfunctioning? Sometimes we are hit with so many signals in our lives, we can overload our mental, emotional or spiritual circuits. We can make wrong choices before we stop and process all the information that we receive in this daily moving from one signal to the next. We can be hurt by others responses to our situations or what we perceived as their lack of concern. We have to examine the signals and find out from God what our proper approach should be to our situations. When we do not, we can become bitter, angry and unkind to one another. When we do not examine the signals in our lives, we can also become focused on our selves (focused on things on earth, instead of on things above). Instead, what we need to do is seek God to help us handle the many signals in our lives so that our affections can be focused on God and not on the things that affect our emotions.

What happens when our focus is our emotions:

Ø We can easily become captive by our feelings.

Ø We may hide or deny our feelings or wallow in them, usually the latter.
Ø Our feelings show what is lodged in our hearts.
Ø Our heart’s emotions rule our minds and direct our actions.
Ø We question where is God during our hard times.
Ø We (women) do not handle the multitude of signals we receive well, where our husbands appear to be able to tune them out, thus frustrating us to no end.
Ø We do not recognize our basic differences without putting any value judgment on them.
Ø We do not die to our demands and forgive when others treat us insensitively.

What are we to do to change what happens?

ü Tell God immediately how we feel about hurts and injuries.

ü Ask God to speak his best response through us.
ü Sometimes we may need to dig dipper to understand our own emotions and responses.
ü We have to change the “old” for the “new”. – Changing or the removal of our old foundation
ü We must not place our emotions under the subjection of God, they can no longer rule our decisions and choices
ü We must not allow how we feel to determine if God is there for us, we must trust regardless of how it feels.
ü We must recognize our basic differences between men and women and allow God to help us remove judgment from our interactions with each other.

Our theme this year for the C.O.M.E. ministry is about changing our mindset so that our lives can be changed, to line up with God's will. This writing was from several years ago, but I thought it was worth bringing back to remind us of what we need to do with our emotions and the many signals we receive during the day.

What House Do You Represent?

2011-10-05T10:32:00.002-05:00

Short Story by: Rev. Jewel D. Williams, M.R.E.

Hazel Crest Community Church of God

H.A.T.S ~ Having an Anointing That Sticks

There was once a model that looked for a designer, a house to represent. Her journey took her to different designers to find one to represent. One house said they would have her, but when they told her what she had to do, she said no, because she was not ready to sell her soul for it. Her journey took her from one house to another with no success.

There was one house that she had not tried yet, even though it was the most famous house. She wondered if they would accept her. Without any further hesitation, she put on her best outfit and went to “The House of Dios”.

She opened the door and was greeted by the receptionist.

“How can I help you?” She asked.

“I would like to speak to someone regarding representing ‘The House of Dios’.” As she was speaking the owner walked into the room.

The reception turned to him and spoke, “This lady is here to see if she can represent ‘The House of Dios’.”

The owner took one look at her and turned away, “I cannot even look upon her, no, no.”

The model was shocked; she didn’t know what the problem was. She turned to leave, but someone tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hello, I am the co-owner, wait one minute please.”

She turned back to hear what he had to say. The co-owner turned to the owner.

The owner spoke to him, “She cannot represent this house her clothes are filthy rags!”

The co-owner spoke, “Father, I know, but I see potential in her. If I give her a new garment would you re-consider?”

“Yes, let’s see what you can do.”

The co-owner, who also is the owner’s son, spoke to the model. “You came here thinking your best would work and that was insulting to my father. However, if you are willing to allow me to give you the right garments, I know my father will forgive your actions. Are you willing to receive my gift of the right garment so that your wrong deeds can be forgiven and you can be given a new start and the opportunity to represent this house?”

“Yes!” She exclaimed.

And with that her old clothes were removed and she stood standing in an elegant white garment. The owner then turned and smiled at her. The son and the owner stood looking at her for a few moments. They then spoke to each other. She needs something else to complete her outfit.

“Yes”, the Son said, “and I know just where she should go.”

“Yes, take her to our division, ‘Espiritu Santo’, and our helper will know what to do.”

She was quickly whisked off to a room filled with hats. There were yellow hats, red hats, and blue hats. There were small hats and large hats. There were hats with flowers and hats with feathers. She reached out to touch one of the hats. It was a hat with feathers fanned across the front.

“You have to be brave to wear this hat.” She thought, “It’s way too much hat for me.”

As she examined the hats, someone entered the room. She assumed this must be the helper the owners spoke of.

“Welcome to ‘Espiritu Santo’. I am one of the owners. I work directly with the models and help them represent the House of Dios. You are here for me to finish your outfit with a HAT.”

To her surprise, he took the hat she had touched and placed it on her head. She lifted her hand almost by instinct to stop him, but quickly lowered her hand.

He smiled at her. “Yes, it might be overwhelming at first, but once you become comfortable with it, you’ll be able to work the runway and show off the outfit. There are a few rules I must tell you about. First, the show isn’t about you. We aren’t looking for divas but for models that are drawing attention to the garments. We want the audience to want the designs of the House of Dios. Secondly, I am the one that makes all the decisions on what the models wear. I’ve done this job a long time and I really don’t need help. What I do need is your willingness to represent us properly. And lastly, we need you to continually work at your craft. You have to be ready whenever we need you to do a runway show. Can you handle that?”

She thought about it, “Yes I can.”

The helper smiled at her and said, “Well then, hit the runway and show off the garments of the ‘House of Dios’ and the Hat’s from ‘Espiritu Santos’.”

And that is just what she did; she worked the runway and presented The House of Dios!

Prayer to a Compassion Savior

2011-09-01T03:00:00.000-05:00

Prayer to a CompassionateSavior

This is taken from a message I preached, I thought it was worth sharing:

Compassion means: afeeling of deep sympathy (empathy and understanding) and sorrow for another whois stricken by misfortune (adversity,trouble, hardship, and disasters) accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. (Loan-translationof Gk. sympatheia)

What God was showing me as I looked at this word was compassion has two parts. The first part is when one person (in this case, Christ) feels deep sympathy for the suffering of others. The second part is what many of us miss. The person does not only feel for the person, but they are so moved that they do something to alleviate the persons suffering. This is what Christ does. His compassion moves Him to rescue us. Let's look at who Christ has compassion on.

Christhas compassion for:

Matthew9:36-38 “³⁵ Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teachingin their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing everydisease and sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they wereharassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then hesaid to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvestfield.”

Christ has compassion for the ~ HELPLESS, THE LOST AND PEOPLE WITHOUT A SHEPHERD

Matthew 14:14 “...he had compassionon them and healed their sick.”

Christ has compassion for the ~ SICK (we see often Christ having compassion on those that were sick)

Matthew15:32 “Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me threedays and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or theymay collapse on the way.”

Christ has compassion for the ~ NATURAL NEEDS OF PEOPLE (food, shelter, etc. Jesus did not want to send the people away because He knew they had not eaten, instead He told the disciples to handle their need.)

Jesus had compassion for people that were lost (sinners), for the sick and for the everyday-natural needs of people. Again, He did not stop at feeling for their needs, HE DID SOMETHING. His compassion moved him into action.

Thecompassion of Christ results in:

Compassionfor the lost unto salvation

Christ saw our plight. Wewere sinners separated from a Holy God. Our destination for our sins was death and eternal separationfor this Holy God (Romans 6:23). We were powerless to do anything about it.Christ compassion moved him to demonstrate his love while we were still sinners,He died for us (Romans 5:8). At the right time, Christ helped the helpless(Romans 5:6). Christ compassion moved him and in exchange He alleviated our sindebut and we are made the righteous of God, as credit to us through Christ(Romans 4:24). Being justified through faith, we have peace with God (Romans5:1). Not only that, we can boast that we are reconciled to God through Christ(Romans 5:11). Therefore, we are no longer condemned because we are in Christ(Romans 8:1). This process of receiving God’s compassion is given to us when weconfess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that Godraised Jesus from the dead, when we do, we will be saved (Romans 10:9). We askGod to forgive us of our sins, and His compassion that saw our need in ourhelpless state, will forgive us and give us His Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

Matthew20:34 “Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediatelythey received their sight and followed him.”

The Compassion of Christ results in ~ RESTORING SIGHT (to the physically and spiritually blind)

Matthew 14:14 “...he had compassionon them and healed their sick.”

The Compassion of Christ results in ~ THEHEALING OF DISEASES AND INFIRMITIES

³⁰Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the muteand many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. ³¹The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well,the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. –Matthew 15:30-31

Christ did not discriminate. He touched all kinds of lives and all kinds of needs. He touched the rich, the poor, men, children and women. His compassion, His love called Him to action.

As followers of Christ, we must take on the compassion that He had. No, you or I cannot heal anyone but we can be the channel of healing, restoration and salvation Christ uses. We do this by moving from only having sympathy for others needs to DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT! We do that through our prayers. and however God leads us.

Prayer:

Psalm6:9 “The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;the LORD accepts my prayer.”

Prayer ~ ACCESSES GOD’S MERCY (his compassion,his kindness, his forgiveness and his favor)

Psalm 86:1 “(David) Hear me, LORD, andanswer me, for I am poor and needy.

Psalm102:17 “He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will notdespise their plea.

Prayer ~ ACCESS GOD TO ALLEVIATE OUR HELPLESSNESS

Mark11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believethat you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Prayer ~ ACCESS GOD’S PROVISIONS FORHIS CHILDREN

Now then, it is time to pray. Just as I prayed for the church that day, let us pray now as you read this blog.

Prayfor lost: Do you have loved ones you know need to meet the savior? Let's pray for them now.

Psalm 85:7 (NIV)
Show us your unfailing love, LORD, and grant us your salvation.

Prayer: Lord today, as we call out the names of our unsaved loved ones, we ask that your Holy Spirit would touch their lives and bring them to the knowledge of their need for Jesus. Lord help them to accept your gift of salvation. May their hearts be turned to you and may you give them you Holy Spirit to guide them and help them become the person(s) you created them to be. Amen.

Prayfor those in need of natural needs. Are you, or someone you love standing in need of something from God? A job, finances, food, shelter, whatever the need. Let us take it to the Lord.

Philippians 4:19 (NIV)

Andmy God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Prayer: God you are our sustainer and our provider. You promise that you would not hold any good gift from your children. Today we ask that you would meet the needs of those seeking your help. We understand that these things will not be done by our might, our abilities or from our surplus. They will be accomplished through your riches in Christ Jesus. Today we ask, that you open opportunities for income for those that in need of it. Even if the need is a $3,000 a month, you can do it. Provide clothing, food, and whatever the needs are. Provide funds to fix roofs, and other things. Nothing is to difficult for you. We pray right now that you provide and we say, yes and amen to your will as we seek your face, Amen.

Pray for the sick. While I cannot be right there with you to anoint you, I anoint myself in your proxy. God sees our hearts and our trust. There is nothing in the oil but out of obedience to scripture I anoint myself as representing a touch from God's Spirit.

James5:14-16 (NIV)

¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let themcall the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in thename of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayeroffered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise themup. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confessyour sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person ispowerful and effective.

Prayer: I offer to you God this prayer in faith. Faith in belief that there is no sickness to great for you to heal. I speak healing right now in the name of Jesus Christ. I state, you are healed in Jesus name. Lord reverse decrees of cancer, high blood pressure, MS, depression, and all kinds of sickness. Jesus you looked upon the crowds that came to you and you were moved with compassion and healed their sickness. Today, we come and seek your compassion. Lord allow your healing oil to flow even right now as we pray. Through your Holy Spirit I ask that you touch those in need and heal them. May they feel even now, the touch of your anointing upon them. This healing we ask for because your Word says pray faithfully for healing and you, the Lord will raise them up. I ask now, Lord raise up the sick amoung us and allow them the opportunity to glorify you before others of your good works. This is our prayer, amen!

Debt Free Living

2011-07-06T12:17:00.002-05:00

⁴⁴ I will always obey your law, for ever and ever. ⁴⁵ I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. ⁴⁶ I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, - Psalm 119:44-46

It is amazing how much wisdom is in God's Word. We however, often want to separate what we think is spiritual from natural. I would like to interject, however that God's Word is wisdom for both our spiritual life and our natural life. In fact, if we do not seek God for wisdom in our natural life we will find our spiritual life made more difficult because of the situations we find ourselves in due to our lack of good choices in our daily lives.

This scripture speaks to someone having freedom because of being obedient to God's standards. Those standards are the tools we use to help us live a godly life. The precepts (teaching, instructions, guidelines) help us to know how to live God's way.

Can I also state that God's precepts (teaching, instruction and guidelines) help us to live a debt free existance in our daily lives? I admit I'm slow so this concept took some time to ring true for me. Yet, now that I have it, I HAVE IT! I have determined that I am going to be debt free. And I would like to share with you some of the steps God has shown me to getting there.

1. Tithing - We often do not see tithing as a means to being debt free. Well I do and I'll tell you why. God requires us to be obedient to him. Therefore if I want God's freedom, I have to do things God's way. I must learn to pay my tithes first. In the natural it also helps me to understand discipling myself. If I can discipline myself to give a 10th to God, I can learn to give a 10th to savings and learn to live on the 80 % left.

2. Learn to face my situation - Many of us get in more trouble when we refuse to look at our current situations realistically. If you only have $1,000 for your household, don't go out and spend money that would require you to need $1,200 a month. We must be willing to learn how to live within the amount of money we have, not what we hope to have.

3. Develop and carry out a plan to pay off debt - I am reminded of the scripture in James that tells us not to be hearers but doers of the word. That's what we must do to get out of debt. If we develop a plan on how to pay off our bills it does us no good until we "DO IT". That means I cannot get out of debt if I find myself buying things I really don't need just because it was a good sale. We have fooled ourselves. We think, well I only spent $20 on something that should have cost me more. But did you really have that $20? I have had to pass by some really good "deals" because I did not have the $20 or whatever it was. Instead I took that $20 and paid on a bill until I paid it off. Develop a plan and work it.

4. Don't use borrowed money for unecessary things - I know I was guilty of this. I would use my credit card for something but when I looked at it later I realized that for that one moment of shopping I would have to pay 3 years to pay for it. I don't know about you but I don't want to pay 3 years for a dress! If I don't have the money, I won't get it. Now there are times when you may have to use a credit card, but the goal is to pay it off as quickly as you can. And if you can't pay it off in one or two months, I recommend that you do not use that credit card again until you pay it off. Discipline yourself, with God's help and watch it happen.

5. Commit to faithfully repaying your creditors - I know sometimes the best I can do is pay the minimums. Yet, I have committed that every penny I get extra, I am paying on and off my credit cards and bills. We often get "extra" money and we think, oh I get to do something special for myself. Well, the best thing you can do for yourself is pay off what you have already spent.

6. Save along the way - Many times we do not save because we think we don't have enough to save. I started saving in M & M candy containers. I take my quarters and put them in the containers. When I fill 4 up, I'm taking them to the bank. I have decided to alternate. One time I'll put the money in my savings and another time I'll use the money towards bills. The containers I have can hold at least $20, so that's $80 total when I go to the bank. I am also reminded each time I open the container how "sweet" my disciplines must smell to God. See, the container still smells like the chocolate candy that was in it. So when I smell the scent, I say to myself, your determination to be your best in your finances is a sweet smell in God's nostril! (hint: it also keeps me from taking quarters out).

7. Prayer and godly wisdom goes a long way - Even though this is listed last, it is the first and the last thing we should do. We need to ask God to teach us His ways so that we can apply godly principles to our lives as we seek to not only live financially debt free but spiritually as well.

Prayer: Lord we are not looking to the president or the government to help us live free, but you. God we need your wisdom so that we can learn how to live frugal lives that are pleasing to you. Help us learn it and teach it to others. Help us so that we can say like the psalmist we walk in freedom all the days of our lives. This is our prayer, amen.

The Importance of Children to Jesus

2011-06-06T13:01:00.000-05:00

This Month many churches will celebrate Youth day or Children's day. I wrote this some time ago and I thought it would be good to share it again.

The importance of Children to Jesus

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for this kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God lik a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them ad blessed them. - Mark 10:13-16

* Jesus was indignant (angry, annoyed, offended) when his own disciples tried to stop the children from coming.

The message to us today is: We must make sure as the disciples of Christ we are not responsible for turning away the children. Like the disciples, we turn them way because we don't think that they are vital to the work of Christ. The disciples thought the children were in the way of Jesus doing his work. We likewise turn them away because we feel they are getting in the way of the "work" we should be doing. When in fact they are part of the work. God is requiring us to train up our children in his ways so they can follow after him.

Jesus said do not hinder them from coming.

The message to us today is: we as the people of God must make sure we are not hindering the children from coming. Anything we do that puts us between them and God, hinders them. They do not need to come through us to get to Jesus, in fact we should be making a way for them and not standing in the way.

· Jesus put his hands on them and blessed them.

The message to us today is: Young people, Jesus wants to put his hands on you, on your life and he wants to bless you. As a church we are making the commitment to be a way maker for you to the Lord and not a hindrance, keeping you from receiving the blessings God wants to place on your life. Young people it is however your choice to receive the call from Christ to receive the blessing. Before we pray if there are any young people that wish to be anointed you can, if not we will pray for the young people to allow Christ to place his hands on their lives and bless them to live his way and as a church we be disciples that bring the children to him.

Importance of Praying for Youth

2011-05-02T14:01:00.000-05:00

2010 Women's State Prayer Retreat

Prayer Group – Importance of praying for youth/young adults

Theme: Women Dispatched by God to pray for others - James 5:16-18

Focus – Praying for our youth/young adults to fulfill the mission of God for their lives

If we are going to help our youth, we must pray (as well as teach them this truth) that they see that God has need of their unique abilities, skills, talents and spiritual gifts.

Paul describes a threefold process that moves from the inner to the outer person and aligns the believer with spiritual truth. The first step starts with knowing your identity in Christ (Romans 6:3-10).

Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

The second step moves to reckoning or considering these truths as “the only truth” (Romans 6:11).

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The last step results in yielding or presenting yourself to God (Romans 6:12-14).

12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

What does this have to do with helping our youth/young people see their place in the mission? If they do not understand these three key steps they will begin to forget or never know who they are or can be in Christ. This can result in them believing they are not capable of handling the gifts the Holy Spirit has placed within them. This ultimately will result in our youth not using their gifts and taking their places in the mission.

1st Prayer Focus ~ Knowing – Who am I in Christ?

Read Luke 9:18-20 ~ Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God."

Ask yourself three fundamental questions:

1. Who do you say that you are?
2. Who do people say that you are?
3. Who does God say that you are?

All too often our acceptance of what we can do rests on the answer to the first two questions rather than the third. When this happens we will base our thoughts about ourselves on unbiblical conclusions. This is also true for our youth. If they are basing who they are and what they can do on what they think or what others say, they miss knowing what God says they can do. We need to help them understand the truth as listed below:

Romans 5:8 - “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.

• God loves me regardless of how I feel about myself or how I perform.
• My identity is changed from what I was to what I have and am becoming.
• God’s love is unconditional.

Romans 6:5 – “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”

• My old self was crucified with Christ (I am changed, no longer the same).
• My new self comes from Christ (I can be and do whatever God says I can).
• I am united with Christ; therefore I am no longer alone.

The conclusion we are to draw from these scripture is that even if we do not “feel” the truth (that we are new and changed because of Christ and equipped by him) we must not allow how we perform God’s assignments to be based on our feelings instead of the truth. We must learn that because Christ is not threatened by earthly failures or rejections, we must not either. Instead we must base our behavior on the belief that Christ has already overcome all the failures and rejections, therefore he can strengthen me as well. Who we are in Christ should determine what we do. Our identity is based on our new birth in Christ. We have his righteousness (Philippians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 5:21), and his life is our life.

2nd Prayer Focus ~ Reckoning – God’s truth as the authority

After Paul describes who we are in Christ (Romans 6:3-10), he moves to us knowing the truth to believing the truth. This process of reckoning is neither a natural or easy one. Most often it is not until people arrive at the end of their ropes that they move from the self-life to the Christ-life. We can read and say we know the truth of God’s word, but we must by faith apply it so that we can be strengthened to run the race ahead of us.

Hebrews 4:2 – “For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.”

• Hearing God’s Word must be combined with faith to apply it.
• God’s word does not benefit me unless I accept it and what it can do.
• Faith in God’s Word activates results.

1 Timothy 6:12 – “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

• When we believe what God said about us is true, God gives us assurance.
• God will strengthen me to live this life well.
• I am empowered by God to win.

God’s truth does not simply inform us but it also transforms us. We are new creatures therefore we can do and be different that we were before we were transformed (and continually being transformed).Therefore, we must reckon that if God’s Word says I am, then I am.

3rd Prayer Focus ~ Yielding – To God’s power

As we come to know and accept the truth of who we are with Christ and reckon that it is true, then the next step is for us to yield ourselves to God as a new creature in Christ.

Romans 6:12-13- “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.”

• To reject the things of God is allowing sin to reign in my life.
• Rejecting the truth of what God has called me to do is not allowing my body to be an instrument of righteousness.
• When I offer myself to God, he will use me to glorify his righteousness.

Excerpt taken from “Shape II” Discipleship training created by Minister Jewel D. Williams for SSCOG

Words of Encouragement

2011-03-07T13:28:00.000-06:00

Judas in the midst

Theme Scripture ~ I can do everything through him who gives me strength. – Philippians 4:13

Have you ever had to deal with betrayal? Have you had a friend that you thought was true to you to find out that they were plotting your destruction? What are you suppose to do? Do you get back, do you retaliate or do you cut them off? Today let’s look at how Jesus handled betrayal.

20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” 22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?” 23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” 25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.” – Matthew 26:20-25

Background ~ What’s taking place is the Lord is preparing the last supper, the Passover supper with his disciples. As he is seated he tells them that one of them will betray him. Judas, the one that betrayed him ask surely it couldn’t be me? Jesus’ response, you have said so.

What stood out to me is that Jesus is in fellowship and part of the godhead. Therefore he knows everything. Even when he picked Judas he knew he would betray him, yet he picked him anyway. He took the time to teach him, he allowed him into a close fellowship with him even though he knew he would betray him. Does that make senses?

Not to you and I, but to God it simply shows his character. God is ready to give every man the opportunity to live for Him. He turns no one away, the liar, the cheater, the killer, the rapist, the everyday sinner, no one. Some will not change, but no one will have the opportunity to say God did not give them the chance.

Sometimes God will require you and I to allow some Judas’ in our midst. We may even know going in that we shouldn’t trust them, or that they may hurt us, but we are still to offer them the same opportunity as everyone else to hear the about goodness of God.

Now before we move from this point, let me make it clear. I’m not talking about a false understanding. See Jesus was well aware of what he was dealing with. We have to deal with people with godly wisdom and insight. For example, we may try to help someone on drugs, but we are not foolish enough to think well I can trust them with everything I have. Jesus knew what Judas was doing. He knew his character.

The question you may have is, that’s too hard, how can I put up with a Judas in my midst? Well that goes back to our scripture theme. It is only through the strength of Jesus that we will be able to handle those Judas’ in our midst. Oh it’s hard. I had one myself. I knew the person was lying on me, they were telling people things about me and trying to destroy my name. Yet, when they were around me they acted like the loved me. But I was aware of what was going on. I wanted to get out, but God said, not yet. You need to be the one that offers repentance. I did, and I was only able to stand because of God strengthening me.

Do you need him to strengthen you today as you stand through and face your Judas in your midst?

Words of Encouragement

2011-02-01T13:21:00.001-06:00

THE GIFT OF LOVE

Some may send you flowers,

Some may send you perfume,

Some may send gifts beyond the imagination.

My gift does not smell of the flowers,

But when given time it blossoms

And it lingers long after the flowers wilt.

My gift may not excite the senses.

But it’s touch need never be replenished,

Like perfume that soon fades away,

With no trace of being there before.

I may not send expensive gifts

Beyond the imagination,

But my gift was designed by God

Who had no limit to His creations.

If I could give you the world, I would.

If I could give you the stars, I would.

If I could give you anything in the universe,

I would.

But I still do not think it could come close

To the gift I give to you,

You can not hold it or taste it,

But as you listen, you will feel the gift I give

The gift of love.

This is the greatest gift I can give you,

Because God first gave it to me.

For God so loved the world,

that He gave His only begotten

Son.

Happy Valentines! Better yet, Have a happy February!

The Week in Review

2011-01-29T15:30:00.001-06:00

LIFE GIVER

Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. - Genesis 2:7

God took dust or dirt from the ground and formed a man. He then breath life into that dry dust and it became a living being. As I was studying this chapter, there were a few points that stood out. The first thing that stood out was the fact that man was formed from a lifeless substance. The second point that I saw was that this lifeless substance took on a life-form after God breath into him.

I looked at these two points from a spiritual perspective. We may have physical life but we are actually lifeless people because we have not yet had the "spiritual" breath of God breathed into us. We are moving and utilizing our physical selves but we are really as lifeless as the dirt on the ground. Dirt on the ground it of no good until something is done with it. If you want grow something in dirt you must put seeds in it, water it and make sure the ground is is turned over so that oxygen can get it.

We are like that ground. We need to have something done to us so that we can be useful, living ground. God wants to deposit in our "soil" the seed of salvation. It then needs the living water and the oxygen, the breath of God to make sure it grows.

Did you know that seeds won't grow well in packed down soil? That's because the air isn't circulating. You need to have some one come and do a treatment on your ground so that air will circulate and that your grass and plants will grow better. We need God to do a procedure on us so that the seed of salvation will take root and grow in us. He needs to treat our hearts so that hatred, hurt, anger, etc. won't pack it down so hard that nothing will grow there.

The Lord breathed life into a form that was without life. He was the only one that could do that. And when He did, Adam took on attributes of God. He had the ability to create, love, rule. etc. It wasn't until Adam allowed the enemy to trick him (through the woman) that he again became lifeless.

This is the plight that humanity finds itself in today. We are lifeless until we are united with God and He breaths life into us. I pray today that we allow God breath new life into us so that we can become a living soul. A person designed to show off the handiwork of God and to be His ambassadors in the world.

Watch out For the Crafty One

2011-01-10T04:00:00.001-06:00

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” - Genesis 3:1-5

In this scripture, we are given some background about the serpent. The scripture says he is more crafty than any of the other animals. This sets the tone that we are going to have trouble. The scripture tells us that the devil is trouble, so why does God people hold converstations and debates with him?

He then approaches the woman and begins to have a conversation with her. He asked, "Did God really say...". This question is expressed in a way that is trying to call for doubt, or maybe to have the person question the instruction they have received. The woman responded but she added something to God's Word. When she answered she put in that God said you should not touch it or you will die.

Eve's first mistake was listening to the serpent. As soon as he began to question her about God, she should have stopped the conversation. In fact, how natural was it for her to be having a conversation with the animals in this way?

Eve allowed the enemy to deceive her and she had what I call the "Eve Complex". She entertained a conversation with the serpent and in doing so, he began to make her turn her attention to the one tree she was forbidden to have and in doing so, she lost sight of all the other trees available to her. Remember she was in the garden. This is not like your backyard with a few trees, think more of a vast grove of trees upon trees. From all these different trees she could take and eat.

We sometimes have the Eve Complex ourselves. We allow the enemy to draw our focus to that one "tree" we don't have and therefore, we take our focus off the fact that we are living in the abundance of God.

We also should learn from Eve that as soon as the enemy see that we don't really understand the Word, he is ready to attack. In this instance Eve had been told the command, but somewhere along the way she changed it. She added her interpretation to it. When you and I add our own understanding or interpretation to the Word of God, the enemy is ready to attack us and trick us into sinning.

We must not entertain any conversations with the enemy. When he comes and ask us "did God really say..." we are to quickly rebuke him because we know he is trying to trick us.

Prayer: Lord help us to see the tricks of the enemy as he tries to deceive us and in doing so we begin to doubt your Word. Help us combat the enemy with your truth when he brings lies or questions your authority and your power. Help us to flee from him so that we do not become deceived into seeing the one thing we don't have and miss the bounty of what we have available to us. Amen.

Practice the WORD

2010-12-06T03:00:00.002-06:00

Practice the WORD - God's Promises

One day as I was studying, I began to write down and pray the word of God. I wanted to remind myself of what God's WORD promises us and the best way to do that is to practice it. Meaning we need to recite it over and over again to ourselves and then think on it and finally act on it. Here are some of the scriptures that I study. I wrote down a few points that I prayed after reading the scripture, I hope they help you as well.

You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.’” 18 Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD. – 2 Chronicles 20:17-18

• God will fight my battle. - Therefore I do not have to try and figure everything out by myself.

• I must stand firm where God places me. - I have to be patient for God's timing and move as he instructs.

• God will deliver me. - Therefore, I do not have to fear anything that comes against me because there is no weapon that will prosper.

• I do not have to be afraid or discouraged. - Therefore, I can continue to have hope regardless of what my situations or circumstances look like.

• The Lord will be with me whatever I have to face each morning. - God promises we a full supply of new mercies every day. Therefore, I will make it through my day.

• Worshiping the Lord for his promises is done before the promise if fulfilled. - I can began to be grateful before I receive because I know God will fulfill all that I need.

Prayer: Lord today I thank you for fighting my battles and for delivering me from all and any difficulties I might face. I thank you that I do not have to be discouraged because you are a faithful God and you always keep your promises. I will thank you even now because I know that my answer is there, I am simply standing still and waiting for you to reveal it. Help me to stay where you have placed me. Amen.

7 Arise, LORD! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. 8 From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. - Psalm 3:7-8 (New International Version)

• God will deliver me when I ask. - God will answer my call for help.

• God will defend me from my enemies. - God will not allow my enemies to defeat me.

• Deliverance comes only from God. - God is the only one that can save me from my situations or difficulties.

Prayer: Lord I thank you for answering me call for help. No weapons that are aimed to destroy me or stop me will be successful against me because you are my God. You will deliver me from any problems as only you can. Lord help me not to run away from you in times of need, but help me to run quickly towards you for you are the only source of help. Amen.

6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. 7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. - Psalm 32:6-8 (New International Version)

• I should pray for my help. - Seeking God should be the first thing I do when difficulties arise.

• God is my hiding place.- When I seek God, He becomes my place of safety away from all that would try to pull me down.

• God will protect me from trouble. - God keeps me from the troubles that would try to take my joy and peace.

• He will surround me with songs that remind me of his deliverance. - His Spirit will help me to continue to walk in victory as I think on the right things.

• God will instruct me. - The Lord will lead me, if I listen.

• God will teach me how I should go. - He gives me His Word to guide me, if I will apply it.

• God will keep his loving eyes on me as he guides me. - God never leaves me to walk this way alone.

Prayer: Lord help me to always seek you first in all things. When I come to you first, you will provide me with a safe place, a place that keeps my from being overcome by my problems. You will teach me and guild we lovingly through this journey. You will even give me encouragement in the things around me, such as a song. Help me to so that I can stay focused on you and your goodness. Amen.

(Come back next week for the final installment)

Unusual Assignments Bring Miraculous Results~ Are you taking your position?- Part 4

2010-11-20T16:02:00.000-06:00

2 Chronicles Chapter 17

We are lulled to sleep by our traditions. Let me say this carefully so we understand what I am trying to convey. It is good to look back at our history within the church. It is good to hear about the early pioneers of the faith. But for many, they are figures in history. There are others that are coming into this church now that these names have little or no significance to. So when we talk about what has gone before, but we don’t see the hero’s of today, you actually discourage those coming behind. How do we discourage them, because we hear about what was done in our past, about greatness, but we want to know what are we doing with our future, where is the greatness, the power NOW? We have been lulled to sleep resting on our history. Those in the Bible talked about their history but it was to rally them to stand up and take their positions for the time they were in. When Jehoshaphat talks about God’s goodness it is to remind the people about what they could lean on for today. We are here for such a time as this. The saints of yesterday have their rewards because they stood and refuse to be lulled to sleep by their history; instead they used it to build on. They took what had gone before and stood on the shoulders of those earlier pioneers of the faith and looked further into the future. They become reformers of their time. A reformer is one that has vision, for without it the people will die. However, many of us today are lulled to sleep in our pride of where we have come from as if the work is complete, not so.

Now let’s take a look at how hardening our hearts lulls us to sleep like Asa.

We are also lulled to sleep because things don’t go our way. When God wants us to do something one-way and we do it another, we have moved into disobedience. When God sends us the correction it is to our advance to heed it. We must not be like Asa and have a tantrum and get mad at the messenger. The messenger is just like the UPS or FEDEX person they just deliver the package and if you have problems with the package, go back to the sender. Asa just like Ahab both wanted to imprison or stop the messenger, but God won’t let you stop his move, so you better watch out what you try to do to those he has anointed to carry out his ways. It is foolish to try and stop what God wants to happen. I envision it is just like a person standing with a superman suit on in front of a cannon and thinking they can stop a cannonball, yet what comes out is a missile, and that thing will blow a hole right through them. That is truly under estimating the power of God, you don’t have enough power to stop even the slightest move of God. Like Asa, if we refuse to heed the correction God is giving to us even now, we risk dying in our diseases of disobedience looking to other things to remove it, when only God can do it. He says lulled to sleep, by disobedience and refusal to stand. And when we refuse to heed God’s correction, we set ourselves up for hell. Many don’t want to talk about it, but I’ve got to say this. If God is calling you to repent of something you are doing and you refuse, you are playing a foolish game. It is foolish to think you can refuse God and still receive his mercy and favor. Do you know why hell is a place of torment? If you die in your sins you go to stand before God and in that moment you will experience the fullness of God. See here we know something about love, both the saved and the unsaved. We love our husbands and wives, our children, our parents and we feel and receive love in return. But when you stand before God you will experience the fullness of his love, only to have it quickly snatched away. What is the torment? To have known what you could have had, to be in the fullness of God, to fill his fullness of love, yet not receive it and to realize what you have missed. You will be forever in torment because for an eternity you will never feel the love of God again, but your mind will always long for it, your heart will always long for it to never have it fulfilled. See the worst thing about hell, is you miss heaven. There is no joy there, no peace there, but to be forever aware of what you could have had, because just as the saved will know the Lord more fully, so will the unsaved know more fully what they have refused (return next week for the next installment).

Week In Review

2010-11-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

Unusual assignments bring miraculous results - Are you taking your position? - part 3

Preached in 2007

We are lulled to sleep by our worship. A few years ago, we had a birthday party for my husband's grandmother. We had gathered together to discuss who would do the food, who would do the decorations, what committee would be responsible for what, but she was never invited into the planning process. Then the day of the party came. We invited her into the party, told her to have a seat and we set about celebrating and honoring her. Some told about how important she was to them. Some told about the impact she had on their life. Songs were sung to honor her and for a few brief moments we allowed her to get up and give us a few remarks. She was quickly done and things were over. We thought it was a success. Well God says that works fine for a birthday party or an anniversary but not as worship to him. In churches across this country we are inviting God in, when we offer the invocation, we say come in have a seat and we will honor you. We will talk about you in our life, we will even say how you have changed our lives and we will sing songs to honor you, and for a few brief moments we will allow the guest of honor to say something through the speaker or preacher. We however, want the speaker to get up and give the message of God quickly sit back down and then we say, wasn’t that a good worship service? God says not. He wants us to be willing to let go of our plans and give him 100% access. So if that means that we skip something on the list and allow the Spirit to direct in another direction, we do so without getting upset, sitting down, folding our arms, closing our eyes and being lulled to sleep because we feel slighted because we were suppose to sing the solo and instead someone else was called or because you were suppose to do one thing and it was left out. Who is this about anyway, us or God? He says, lulled to sleep.

We are lulled to sleep by our programs, plans and agenda’s. When we planned for that birthday celebration, we didn’t let grandmommy know what was going on. It was for her, about her, to honor her, but we didn’t involve her in the planning. Just like we planned what we wanted to do for that party, in our churches we do the same things. We begin by planning things to line up with what we want, how we want to honor God and we forget that as long as we lined ourselves up with God first, we were successful, we had victories, we had healings taking place, we had deliverances from sin and demonic possession. We become comfortable and turn to our own thinking. So we plan our programs and then we ask God to bless them. Well that doesn’t seem like a bad idea, but the problem is it is based on our own ideas and understanding. We do like Jehoshaphat, and move from Judah and head toward Israel. We move from where God has placed us and turn to seeking after what looks good to us. Instead God says, stop asking me to bless your programs, and start asking me to show you what I want you to do, for that I am surely blessing. We plan our agenda’s a year in advance. I have no problems with list; I’m a list person. I’ll write something down on my list that wasn’t on it, just so I can cross it off, because I did it. But even with that, I still must be careful not to get so involved in doing what I think, that I miss what God is saying. When we get to the end of the year, is the calendar saving a soul? Is the calendar changing individuals from being converts, because God didn’t ask for converts, he asked for disciples? Are the things we plan teaching the basic training that disciples need so they can go out and do the same? Are the saints encouraged and strengthen. Sadly no, for agendas, programs and calendars do not save or change people, only the living power of God. Instead what happens is we get to the end of the year and the end of the business of doing all the events posted on the calendar and we are tired, and frustrated because we have been spinning our wheels and longing to feel the presence of God. Jehoshaphat took steps that led him away from Judah and away from being a reformer, and so has God’s people when they take any steps away from being a true reformer led by God’s Spirit. And just as Jehospaphat was led into aligning Judah up with the sinful behavior of their brother, Ahab, out of ignorance, so does God's people when they turn from teaching and preaching his truth to going after what is popular during the times, programming for the sake of programming. Lulled to sleep. (Return next week to read the next installment.)

Raise up a Child

2010-11-01T13:48:00.000-05:00

RAISE UP A CHILD

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. - Proverbs 22:6

I have heard many people quote this scripture. Often times it is used in a way that seems to state that if you raise a child in a Christian home they will be saved. This isn't the right way to utilize this scripture. We all have to make a choice whether we accept Christ or not and God will not make us saved simply because we were raised in a Christian home. How then should we understand this scripture?

The Message version says point your kids in the right direction so that when they are old they won't be lost. In otherwords, as Christian parents, grandparents and mentors of young people; we are to point them in the right direction so that when they get older that which they have heard (if they apply it) will help them see clearly the way.

Oftentimes we do not realize that in order for us to point our young people in the right direction, that calls for us to actively be doing something. Let's take a look a few scriptures that show us what it is we should be doing to raise up a child in the right way, one that points them to God.

All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD. Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly. He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. - 2 Chronicles 20:13-16

* If we want our young people to realize the importance of prayer, we have to exhibit it in front of them. We have to take them to where prayer is going on. In this scripture the people all gathered, children included to go before God to request his help. The children were there to hear the instructions and to hear the promises of what God was going to do for them. They were being allowed to have a first hand encounter with what God could do. This is something we need to do so that our children will know that God does hear and he does answer.

* We must allow our children to see first hand the power of God. In the scripture above, the children were right there in the midst of what the promise of God was. While they may not have seen how it was worked out, once it was, they had their own personal experience of knowing that God keeps his promises and that he does have power over all that touches our lives. We may not tell our children all the things that go on in our houses (there are somethings that are too much for them), but we sure can let them know what God has promised and what he has done because they are right there and can see what is going on. This also helps by exampling for them a heart of gratefulness to the things that God does for his people. If we do not show thankfulness to God why would our kids? We have the opportunity to show them that it was not mommy or daddy that made things happen, but God.

Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. - Matthew 19:13

* We must bring our children to Jesus. This means we must be willing to take our children where ever Jesus is being taught or exhibited. It is hard and I know first hand to get your kids up and out everyday. Sunday comes around and you just want to get that little extra sleep. However, you would not sleep late and keep your kids from getting to school. Why? Because you know the important of them learning to help them be ready for their future. Sunday school does the same thing, it prepares them for their spiritual future. What we are not aware of is this, if our kids don't see the importance of being around where Jesus is talked about through us, they won't see him as important. We must bring our children (not send them) to Sunday school, youth hour, retreats, etc. Why, so they can be placed in Jesus' hands over and over again.

* We must allows Jesus' hand to be upon our children. We must bring our kids to Jesus and those places that show him so that we can have his hand upon them. God's Word will help to soften the hearts of our children so that Jesus can become important to them. They can learn to love him. And we must be careful not to do as the disciples and rebuke them, turn them away. Jesus desires the little children to come to him and adults must make sure that the enviroment welcomes them, not turns them away.

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. - Deut. 6:7

* We must impress God's word upon our children daily. I must admit I am not always on point in this area. I have great plans to have family devotions and something gets in the way sometimes. However, God impressed it upon me that I cannot be changed without the hearing of the Word so why would I think my kids would be any different? We must impress the Word of God upon our children daily. While we are sitting at home and a teaching moment comes up where we can talk to them about the truth of God as it references a movie, a game or something they are doing. When we are out and about walking around we can talk to them about God's Word and how the lack of obedience is effecting our world. When we get ready to go to bed or get up in the morning we can start and end, with the word. When we do that, we direct our kids in the right direction so that seed planted may help them when they are older to do what is right.

Prayer: Lord help us to raise up a generation of young people that will change this world like it has never seen before. Help us to plant into their lives. Help us to talk to them about you, show them your power at work in our lives and help us to teach them the importance of prayer and walking right before you. When we do that we trust that as we lead them in the right directions, that your truth will be their for them to draw upon. Help our young people to see clearly the tricks of the enemy that desires to destroy them. Help this generation of parents, grandparents and mentors raise up our children right. Amen.

Week In Review

2010-11-01T11:14:00.001-05:00

Unusual assignments bring miraculous results - Are you taking your position? - part 2

Preached in 2007

In this chapter Jehoshaphat aligns himself up with Ahab. And it almost cost him his life. The moment Jehoshaphat took the first step out of Judah and began toward Israel, he was stepping away from God’s purpose. Judah in this instance represents the place where God’s presence is. Jehoshaphat even though he didn’t mean to, was stepping away from God’s presence and the further he went out of Judah the less he could hear the sounds of Judah, until finally he could not hear Judah at all. Because of his turning away from God’s presence, his lost his ability to discern what was good and what was evil. He had stepped away from the presence of God just as his father Asa did. He was however different than his father because when the prophet approaches him in 2 Chronicles, chapter 19 and tells him God’s wrath is upon him he didn’t have a tantrum.

He turned and went back to standing in his position of reformer. He repented of his folly. As soon as Jehoshaphat began his journey out of Judah, he began to leave his purpose and was being drawn away after foolish things. As soon as we allow ourselves to be drawn away from the place God dwells, we too leave our purpose and turn to foolish things. What had happened was Jehoshaphat had allowed himself to be lulled to sleep. He sat down, moved away from the place he should have been standing. Folded his arms, a show of self-satisfaction at his own efforts, closed his eyes, lost sight of God and fell asleep, a spiritual separation from God’s calling. He had allowed his ideas to take place over the work that he was doing for God. Instead of him going to Ahab, that wicked king or as one commentary calls him that depraved Israelite, he should have been back home taking care of God’s business. But when corrected, he woke up and continued the work. His father however refused and in his anger, was lulled to sleep permanently by his own refusal to listen and suffered for it. Both however were lulled to sleep, even though Jehoshaphat only for a while. When they turned from their first love, sat down, folded their arms, closed their eyes, they were lulled to sleep.

What do I mean by lulled to sleep? And what is God’s word speaking to us today? In this instance lulled to sleep means lack of action, which causes sleep, which represents spiritual death. There are two different ways we can be lulled to sleep. Sometimes we can be lulled to sleep because of the stubbornness of our hearts. We refuse to listen to God’s word and correction, so we sit down, which means to move ourselves from our position, fold our hands which means no evidence of works and close our eyes, refusal to see and go to sleep, die spiritually.

We are also lulled to sleep because of our own ideas and agenda that seem good, for we know that the ways of a man seem right in his own eyes, but none the less we are allowing ourselves to fall asleep. Jehoshaphat probably thought lining himself up with Ahab was a good idea because he might be able to bring back the two kingdoms that were divided. But nowhere do we see in that scripture that God called for him to do this, God was more concerned with him obeying his will instead of trying to bring everyone together, it was all his own bright idea.

God is telling his children, to wake up. God is telling us that we must stop being lulled to sleep; we must stop moving from our first love. Here we go, time to fasten on our seat belts, God posed a question in my heart, he said, what things lull my children to sleep today? First let us look at the things that lull us to sleep like Jehosphaphat, things like our own ideas or plans. (Return next week to read the next installment).

Week in Review

2010-10-23T05:00:00.001-05:00

Unusual assignments bring miraculous results - Are you taking your position?

Preached in 2007

Today, we will look at some important points through the life of the king Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah and he took reign after his father Asa died. A little history about his father, In 2 Chronicles chapter 15 & 16 gives us the end of Asa’s reign. God sent his prophet to Asa and told him to turn to him and he obeyed. Starting with verse 8-12 of chapter 15, Asa became a reformer and turned the people to God. He renewed the altar of the Lord, even though this altar was probably no older than 35 years old, yet it was in disrepair. This shows us, when God’s ways are rejected; we see a quick decaying or death of true worship and devotion. We also see a quick death or decaying of things set aside for God that even includes us. Asa also removed his mother from being queen (vs. 16) because she had made an idol. So Asa was even willing to remove those in places of authority if they were not worshipping the True God. That is what a reformer does he or she removes individuals from a place of leadership that are not willing to allow God total access, no matter what position they may hold. Asa is restoring God’s people to seeking God and bringing their best before him. He has determined to stand for God.

Oh But in the 16th chapter, Asa became comfortable or complacent. When he became complacent, he became distracted. When he became distracted he began to rely on his ways and not Gods. Asa turns from his first love, which was to be a reformer for God and begins to lean to his own understanding. Asa took from the temple of God the gold and used it for his own purpose. As he was taking the gold out of the temple, he was moving further and further away from God. He was taking those things that should have been set-aside for God and using them for his own purpose. God gives gifts and provisions that should be used to build the kingdom, but if we are using them for our own purposes, we too move from God purpose to our own benefit. God had protected Asa against the battle with the Ethiopians. God’s wrath against Asa was that he had shown himself faithful to Asa, yet Asa turned away from the faithful God to rely on lesser things, man. I believe God’s wrath is strongest against his people who know him, and have seen his power and have felt his protection, yet they turn from him to lesser things for help or instruction. Asa relied on the power of someone else other than God and when he was corrected for it, he became angry. He had a tantrum.

I saw a child do the funnies this when he has a tantrum. What he does is he will sit down, fold his arms and close his eyes. I guess he says if I can’t see you, then what ever you say won’t count, you don’t count. After awhile of him keeping his eyes closed, he fell asleep.

So that is what Asa did in a sense. He became angry at the words of correction of God; he sat down, refused to stand for God anymore, folded his arms – a show of defiance, closed his eyes – refusal to see or acknowledge God’s presence and fell asleep - died spiritually. Because of this disobedience, he lost the favor of God. He was diseased and died sick (you can see that at the end of this chapter, vs. 12-13). He refused to turn to God and seek his healing and because of it, he died filled with sickness and disease. He turned to other things for the healing, but the only one that could do it was God and Asa refused, so he dies in his sickness. I don’t know about you, but surely I do not want the sickness of sin to lead to my death, do you?

So this is where Jehoshaphat reign begins. Now let me give you a bit of the history of Jehoshaphat. What amazed me is like Asa; Jehoshaphat had some of the same tendencies. We should note, these tendencies in Asa and Jehoshaphat are also in us. In chapter 17, Jehoshaphat came into power as a reformer. A reformer is someone who brings about a change, improvements, or a transformation. He came in setting things in motion for the Lord. In other words he was waking the people up spiritually to the things of God. He was making them take a stand. They had priest and teachers, before this, but they were not speaking God’s word or teaching God’s truth, so now Jehoshaphat was making improvements so that the people would receive teaching in the ways of God and the priest would function in the ministry of God and no longer be vessels of destruction or following their own ideas and ways. But even as much as God was leading him, Jehoshaphat did the same thing his father did, he turned from his first love, he became comfortable or complacent, he then became distracted and finally he began to rely on his own idea. This tendency in Asa and Jehoshaphat is present in us, when we become comfortable in what we are doing, we can become distracted. Now let me give you an overview of chapter 18, where Jehoshaphat turns to his own ideas (return next week for the next installment).

Words of Encouragement

2010-10-04T12:52:00.000-05:00

Wrestling for your Breakthrough

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, [g] and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon. ~ Genesis 32:22-32

Jacob is seeking God's mercy as he prepares to face his brother Esau. He is afraid that Esau will hurt him because of what had transpired between them before he left home. Jacob finds himself along and he begins to wrestle with a man. Jacob wrestled with this man from the night time until the breaking of day. At that time the man saw that Jacob was not giving up and he touched him on his hip. Jacob said he would not let the man go until he blessed him. The response of the man was, what is your name? Jacob told him his name and he changed it to Israel.

Have you been in a place where what you faced was overwhelming? You did not see how you would come out alive. Bills and finances, emotional difficulties, unsaved loved ones and so many other things pressing on you until you felt divided, just like Jacob when he divided his family and sent them in different directions. Are your situations pulling you in different directions?

Maybe you are at the night time and you are all alone. There's no one with you and you find yourself wrestling for your answer. You are wrestling all through the night, and now day break is finally dawning. What does that mean? Sometimes we are in some dark places and we are wrestling through our prayers seeking God to answer us, bless us, bring us a breakthrough for what is overwhelming and soon to be upon us.

We must be willing to learn from Jacob's example. We have to be willing to wrestle through the night not giving up, not letting go. We have to wrestle so until God has to put his hand upon us to move us. And when He sees we are not backing down from seeking a blessing from him he will speak to us as he did with Jacob.

He will ask us what is your name? Strange question, not so. God knows your name, he simply is asking to get your thinking ready for what he is about to release in your life. He ask us, who are you? Who do I say that you are? By what name do I call you? And when we answer him, he is ready to tell us I have answered you and given you a new standing, a new name, your breakthrough. Jacob's name means "He supplants". Jacob had gotten somethings because of trickery and being quick (first one out of the womb). Yet, God was now telling him you will no longer be mighty because of your own hands but because of mine. His new name is Israel "He strives with God" or "Prince with God". It is also said to mean, Let God rule. Jacob was now elevated by God to be worry of the honor of a prince, "a royal priest hood", and one led by God.

When we are going through some of our difficulties and things seem to be overwhelming us, let me encourage you as I encourage myself that God has a plan in place. He is allowing these situations because he wants to bring us to that place that our faith in him will not let us stop seeking him, crying out to him, even to the place where we will wrestle for our breakthrough. We will come away from our wrestling time with God broken. Yes, broken. God has to break some things in us so that we will always remember how we were humbled during our time with him as he prepared us for our breakthroughs.

Is your name changed? Have you moved from being one know by doing it in your own power to one that allows God to rule? Today, let us seek God's hand to break somethings in us so that we can receive the breakthroughs in our lives.

Prayer: Lord today, we seek a breakthrough for our situations and circumstances that seem to be overwhelming us. We will not back down, we will not give up. While it might be night time and we feel all alone, we will stand here until the light shines upon our situations and we see your answers. We are wrestling for our breakthrough today. Let it come, in Jesus name, Amen.

Words of Encouragement

2010-09-07T12:12:00.000-05:00

FRET NOT!

Because it changes nothing.

Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace. - Psalm 37:1-11

As I was preparing the message for this month, September I went to this Psalm. I realized that I wrote something last month from this scripture and I was about to look for another one. Yet, God stopped me and told me we needed to hear the message again.

This scripture starts off with a direct instruction for the people of God. That instruction is do not fret or worry about what evil people will do. The reason why we should not worry is because God already has taken care of that.
Instead he instructs us do something positive. The positive things we are told to do instead of worrying are: trust, delight, commit, rest, and cease from anger. Why do you think we are given these instructions? Well first what can we change with worrying? Can we worry or fret away the enemy? Can we change our situations and circumstances by worrying? Will our finances or relationships be better because we worry? The answer is no.

On the flip side, if we do as the Psalmist instructs us we can see some change, even if the change is only in ourselves. So let us take a few moments to look at the things that can change.

Verse 3 says "Trust in the Lord." And in our trusting in him it should compel us to do what is good. When we do that we see that it will result in us being able to dwell in the land and be fed. This feeding from God is both physical and spiritual. When you and I determine to trust God it results in a change in our actions. We move from worrying (which keeps us standing in the same place) to actively pursuing God and his plans for our lives. Like the sheep that follows the shepherd, we too will be fed and taken care of.

Verse 4 says "Delight thyself also in the Lord." While you and I are trusting in God we should also find delight (pleasure in being in the presence of the Lord and in doing his will) in him. This attitude of gratitude results in God granting the desires of our hearts. Partly because as we dwell in his presence our desires change from selfish ones to ones that line up with God. We then move from worrying, which makes us focus on what we do not have and keeps us from having a grateful heart to one that delights in all that God is, all that God does and all that he does through us.

Verse 5 says "Commit thy way unto the Lord." I often hear of individuals trying to get jobs, or trying to do things and they want God to bless it. What we fail to understand is this key point, if we want God to bless us and what we are doing we have commit our ways to Him. That means I cannot do what I want and still believe that God is going to bless it. And we should not be fooled into thinking because something "bad" hasn't happened to us when we are going our own way, as if that says that God is pleased with us. It is fact simply us living off the mercy of the Almighty God and we should change our ways to line up with his before he removes his mercy from us because of our stubbornness and unyielding spirit. When we commit, we move from worry that says "do it, because God isn't moving fast enough" to saying, "Lord, I trust you and where ever you say go, I will go."

Verse 7 says "Rest in the Lord." Resting in the Lord also requires us to wait on him and not get fretful (worried) when things are not moving as quickly as we desire. When you and I rest in the Lord we are willing to say Lord,you are more than capable of handling my situation and I wait on you. And in the waiting time help me to commit even more of myself to you. When we worry and fret, we somehow believe the lie that we have to take control of our lives and we know best on how to pick our relationships, our behavior, or whatever it is we think we need RIGHT NOW. Our fretting moves us to make RIGHT NOW choices that lead from resting and trusting in God.

Verse 8 says "Cease from anger." What are you angry about? We often get angry when things are not moving as quickly as we would like them to move. This results in us looking at others around us and thinking, why do they have it good even though they are not doing what God says, maybe it doesn't take all this for me to live for God. I can do like the "evil man" and have my own way and then I'll receive the blessings. The psalmist warns against this thinking because again he states that God will cut off the evil ones. So the instruction for the people of God is not to get angry or to grow weary in doing what is right. Instead, we must not make RIGHT NOW decisions and miss receiving God directed decisions. We must not fret or worry, because it changes nothing for the positive, in fact it really changes us for the worst.

I pray for us today, that we would seek God to help us commit to him and to rest, trust and lean on him. Lord help us your people to turn from trying to doing things our way, with our own ideas and turn to doing things your way and in your will. Amen.

Words of Encouragement

2010-08-15T11:15:00.001-05:00

Theme: Women charged by the Spirit

Preached Metropolitan Church of God

Detroit, MI, 2007 (Part 3 of 3)

What does it mean to be charged? Charged – excited (eager, energized, animated), stimulated (inspired, stirred, moved, motivated, encouraged), electrified (exhilarated, amazed), thrilled (delighted, overjoyed, pleased, ecstatic).

So the day you gave yourself completely to God was the day, he said, I empower you with my Spirit. My Spirit will transform you from the misfit you were, to the mighty vessel of honor I have ordained you to be. I now charge you to go forth. I give you a mandate. I want you to go forth in the excitement of my spirit. I want you to stimulate, inspire, and stir the hearts of men and women. I want you to motive and encourage the people and move them to taking a closer walk with me. I want you to amaze with the transformation that has happened in your life, because no one can heal the brokenness of your heart the way God can. I want you to be overjoyed in me, pleased to do as I say and delighted to be my servant, my child. I charge you.

There are some of you right now that God has given a vision of what he wants to happen in your life, but you have hidden it because you can’t believe it can come to pass. Let me tell you, nothing, I say nothing is impossible with God. I stand here before you, a picture of what God can do. I did not like to talk in front of people and I surely could not image he would want to use me for anything. Yet, next May I’ll be graduating from Mid America Christian University with a 4.0 average. A girl who was told she would never be anything or was stupid, but God said I have the last word on that. A girl who didn’t think she could speak well or could write well, in a few weeks my first book will be available. God said I have another plan. Remember you are never God’s second choice! Whatever the world says you’ll be is not what God says. He has the final word on our lives.

Let’s take a look at one other transformed life, Mary Magdalene. “And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him. And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out whom went seven devils. And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.” (Luke 8:1-3)

What do we know about Mary Magdalene? She was a woman sick and possessed. She was not in her right mind, who could be possessed with seven demons? She was infirmed or sick; if not from a physical illness surely from the sin in her life. We know that Jesus healed her of all that possessed her, he set her free from the sin that she was entangled in he released her from her island of misfits.

While we do not know a lot about Mary’s beginnings, we do have more information about her latter part of her life. She was a woman that had met the savior and had felt the beauty of his touch on her life. The ugly life she had before had been transformed into something beautiful. The ashes of her life were now turned into beauty. She was able to come with other women that had been changed by Jesus and minister in his work. Mary also came with others to prepare Jesus’ body after he was crucified (Mark 16). It said they came early in the morning at the rising of the sun. As I thought about this, instead of them coming to the rising of the sun, they came to the find the risen son. They came to be part of the witness of Jesus’ resurrection. Mary had been a witness to his treatment and his crucifixion. Now she would be a witness to his resurrection, she would be able to tell others about the power of Christ to raise lives from sin and to transform them. She would be able because she had been one of those people transformed and now she was united with other transformed women to see what Jesus needed. These women came to prepare the body of Christ for burial, well we, as transformed women today need to band together and be about the service of God and we then become like those women that were preparing the body of Christ for burial. This burial isn’t an actual burial, but as we help others be transformed we become help in the burial of their sinful condition and then the rising of the son in their lives can be witness by us as we walk together. Are we transformed women about the business of the savior are we looking to see how we can serve Jesus?

What is God’s plan for your life? He wants you to know you do not have to be the best of the best to come to him. He doesn’t expect you to be good at anything. He doesn’t choose us based on what we have or what we think or what positions we hold. He simple says come as you are, that means with your brokenness, your hurts, your fears, and your issues. And when you come, he says, I will heal you. I will restore wholeness to you. He takes the brokenness of our lives and creates the beauty inside. He takes those things in us that are pleasing to him and he cultivates them and shapes them. Those things that need to be removed, he removes until we look more and more like his Son.

But he doesn’t do all this so you can keep this transformation to ourselves; he wants us to go find those other misfits that are in need of a savior. The beauty of the body of Christ is we are all a bunch of misfits that God put together and made us work in unity. We become like that band of women in the scripture working together for the purpose of Christ. That can only happen with the power of God.

My question to you then is this; do you want to be a woman charged by the spirit of God? Then come and yield yourself completely to him. Allow him to transform your life from what it is to what he wants. If you have a relationship with Christ then ask God to revive you for the mission he has especially for you. I cannot fill your place, only you are the one. See it was thought that someone else was going to be here today, but I was God’s first choice all the time. We are never second choice for God. We are always the ones he has called to do the work he has called us to do. Today, rededicate yourself to the work of the Lord. You were once a misfit, but God changed you into a vessel of honor. So he says go to the uttermost parts of the world and find those other misfits and bring them into the kingdom. Help someone know that they have a place with God. We have someone that seeks us and ask us to be his disciple. We have been given a great honor, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Are you charged for the journey? What if you are a misfit? Do you know sitting right in your midst is your light? There is another woman sitting here ready to hold you hand through the darkness and help you find the light of Christ. They won’t judge you, but love you as you allow God to heal your hurts and brokenness. You have to first accept the gift of salvation that God offers freely to you today. When you do, he will give you his Spirit so that you can make it in this world, and he bonds you with others so that you no longer have to walk alone, you have a home, a place to belong. You are wanted, and no longer an outcast, a misfit. I leave you with this poem I wrote as God spoke to my heart one early morning.

Tribute to a Friend, Brenda

2010-08-10T14:05:00.002-05:00

Today is Tuesday, August 10 and I just recieved news of the passing of my dear friend, Brenda. It feels unreal to me, but yet it is the truth. I wanted to tell her so many things, but we did not have the time. I wanted to be there for her, but things went differently.

So how do you mourn the lost of a 20 year friendship? For me the only way I know is to write it down. I have no doubt that she loved me and that she knew I loved her. I was able to tell her that when I visited her a few weeks ago. She looked at me and said, I am so glad to see your face and I love you so much.

I felt bad because I didn't know she was sick. I had called recently but I often got the voicemail. Sometimes I left a message and other times I didn't. But to see her and know that she had been going through broke my heart. I believe I may have even spoken the words, "...but I didn't know."

Even in the midst of her own difficulties I believe that she did not want me to be burdened so she told me, I know you didn't know. I wasn't really able to talk about it, but you're here now...

Brenda Parks-Simmons has been a dear friend to me as well as to others, I know. She has been support to me when I faced some difficulties in my life. And when she went through a time of difficulty I was there standing with her as well. We were able to cry as well as laugh with each other.

Brenda and I were not related but she was so much more to me. She was my friend, my sister that God gave to me when I was in need of a sister. There was a time in my life where I felt really lonely and I asked God to give me some sisters that would love me for me, he sent me two sisters and Brenda was one of them. We went to the Women's coventions together; Brenda, Pam and I. We had good times together.

Brenda found a wonderful man in Hampton and they had two beautiful girls. I was happy for my friend when Hampton came into her life. Glad to see her receiving happiness in her life at a time when she needed it. She had someone who loved her and received the children her heart had longed for.

I prayed, like alot of other people for God to grant her desire to be able to continue to raise her beautiful daughters. However, God had a different plan. And as believers sometimes it is really hard to wrap our hearts around what our heads know. I know that God is going to give Hampton the strength he needs to raise his girls, but my heartaches that these beautiful girls will not have their mother.

I believe God was preparing me for this time, but I didn't want to hear it. On Sunday when I was preparing the blog he took me to the picture that I have at the top of this post. I picked this picture, but I didn't know why. I put a caption in memory of Sis. Bessie Park and I clearly heard, you'll have to write a tribute to Brenda. I said NO! This thought came again to me yesterday evening. So today, I realize God was preparing me, but even still, my heart aches. But today, I sit and write my tribute to my friend. To let someone know about this special women, Brenda. You may not have known her, but if you know anyone that knew her, she has in someway actually touched your life. See, she believed in me and encouraged me which in turn helped me to be a better me. So when you see me, you see also the touch of Brenda's life on my life. You see her life print upon my life.

I also want to say this publicly to Hampton. You are a good man. You treated my friend special. I am grateful to God that she had you to stand by her, to love her and to bless her time with the beautiful daugthers, Kara and Karrington. You my brother gave a new meaning to her life. She may not have let a lot of people into that dark time in her life but when you entered in, along with you came a new hope and a new understanding that God had not forgotten about her. Thank you for loving her and my heart breaks now for your great lost.

So today, I needed to grieve my own way. I needed to tell somebody that today as we go along our normal routines, somebody will be missed. That somebody is Brenda Parks-Simmons. You may not know her but she was my friend. She was more than my friend, she was my God-given sister. She was special in my life and the lives of many people. The sun has grown just a little dimmer for some today. Oh, we will in time move from this place with the help of the Lord, but for today, it is a little cloudy.

Pray with me for the family of Brenda, they have suffered two losses so close. The lost of our dear Sis. Bessie Park (Brenda' mother) and now Brenda. The family and friends are feeling the lost.

Prayer: Lord, today I ask that you touch the family of the Parks and the Simmons. Give them the strength they need to go forth. Bless her children and give Hampton the ability to care for them as you word promised to be the mother to the motherless. They will need you guiding them, strengthen them and carrying them in this time where they are the weakest.

Help them as each day goes forth. Step by step you will give them what they need to carry on. Touch the hearts of the friends and loved ones that she touch, forour hearts are also broken. Bless her god-children that will miss her as well, Chrissy, Jackie and any others that she took into her heart. Thank you for such a beautiful honor of knowing a person such as Brenda and though she may be gone from this world, let her love linger in the hearts of all she touched. Thank you Amen.

In loving memory of my friend,
Brenda Parks - Simmons

One of my sisters sent me the words of this song to help me today, and I share it here:

When it seems that no one cared if i should live or die.
When no one bothered asking, why I go alone and cry.
When my burdens get so heavy that I can not face the day,
Then I feel His arms around me and I hear Him gently say....

Lean on Me when you have no strength to stand.
When you feel you're going under, hold tighter to my hand.
Lean on Me when your heart begins to bleed.
When you come to the place where I'm all you have,
You'll find I'm all you need.

Lean on Me when you have no strength to stand.
When you feel you're going under, hold tighter to my hand.
Lean on Me when your heart begins to bleed.
When you come to the place where I'm all you have,
You'll find I'm all you need.

When the road ahead seems rugged and the path is getting steep.
I feel that I can't make it and my heart begins to weep.
Then I turn to see whose coming to help me on my way
And I see that my Savior and I hear Him gently say....

A sweet friend, with a sweet and loving spirit. In 20 years of our friendship,I never remember one time of her raising her voice or getting anger with anyone. She simply forgave and continued to move on.

Words of Encouragement

2010-08-09T05:00:00.003-05:00

In memory of a dear sister, Sister Bessie Parks

Theme: Women charged by the Spirit

Preached Metropolitan Church of God (part 2 of 3)

Detroit, MI, 2007

There is a kid’s movie “Rudolph the red nose Reindeer” that I thought about when I prepared this message. I see things in the everyday. If you remember in this cartoon, there was a group of toys that were rejected so they were sent to the island of misfits. There was a train with square wheels, and a jack in the box, with the name Charlie, who wants to play with a jack in the box named Charlie in the box? There was a boat that didn’t float. These toys wanted to belong to someone, but they could not fulfill the purpose of what the toy should be, so they were rejected.

Rudolph, who was a misfit himself, went to this island and met the misfit toys. In the course of the movie, Rudolph found his purpose. That stormy night when they thought Christmas wouldn’t come; Rudolph’s nose, (his time to shine, his bright light) was what was needed. That nose of his that everyone laughed at, talked about, and said didn’t belong, was just what was needed to help. And you know what happened, that misfit Rudolph didn’t forget about those that he had met on the island of misfit. He went back to that island and got those misfits. He helped those misfits find places of importance. I hope you’re following me.

There are many women in our world that are misfits. We have some that have been banished to the island of emotional misfits. They have been hurt by life. They have been so wounded that they don’t fit in anywhere. They feel discarded, angry, lonely, hurt and the list is endless. They don’t know if they’ll be able to make it, so instead they are left stranded on the island of emotional misfits.

There are some women that are banished to the island of worthless misfits. They have been told all their lives they won’t be anything and will not amount to much. Nothing they do seems right. They have sought approval from one relationship or another, but again they are abandoned. So instead they are stranded on the island of worthless misfits.

There are some that are banished to the island of rejection misfits. They wanted to belong somewhere, but everywhere they went, they were told you are not good enough. You are not smart enough, you are not pretty enough, or you just are not our choice bunch. So banished they are to the island of rejection misfits.

What will get them from those places? That is where we, as the church come in. Each one of us was a misfit. We didn’t fit in somewhere. Some were in the pitiful group. Some of us didn’t trust, we didn’t have faith, we flip-flopped in our decisions. We didn’t understand fully what we were supposed to be doing. Jesus didn’t choose you or I because we were the best or the brightest. Sometimes I wonder why he chose me at all? Yet he did. He chose us and what he did was tell us to come and follow him.

When we do, he promises us he will give us his Holy Spirit to equip us for the task ahead. What is that task, to tell others about the transforming power of God.

What does a transformed woman look like? A transformed woman is one that has been changed; she is no longer the same as she was before. She doesn’t walk the same, talk the same nor does she think the same. There is a conversion that takes place. The old self is exchanged for a new one. In other words, the old man is dead and the new one is made alive through Christ Jesus. There is a switch that takes place. Jesus took your punishment and mine so that we would not have to, and he replaced our old, sin sick spirit with a new one, a cleansed one. So when we accept Christ the first thing he does is give us his Spirit and we must give him access so he can transform us. If each of you stood up and gave your testimony of where God really brought you from, we would rejoice in hearing how great a God we serve.

Unfortunately, we are too afraid sometimes of being transparent before others. We are afraid others will judge us, or look at us crazy because of where we came from. But let me tell you this that is especially the reason you have to tell. There is someone stranded on the same island of misfit, that you were rescued from. You have to be like Rudolph and let your light shine through the elements that blind others from seeing, so you can help them get off the island. See misfits know where other misfits are. You know what someone looks like that is depressed, if you fought with depression. You know the signs of someone lonely if you faced loneliness. Jesus came for the ones in need of healing. He came for the sick in soul and spirit. He needs you and I to go and offer this gift of transformation to the other misfits.

If you look up misfit, I believe my picture might be under the definition. If you look at me, it doesn’t look like anything could have been wrong with me or in my life. But I was a broken child, who became a broken woman. I was on my own at the age of 14, looking to find somewhere to live. I lived with my father, but his live in girlfriend hated me. She would not allow me to eat in the home unless I did things she told me to do. She had my father put out all of my other brothers and sisters and moved her nephew into our home. This nephew tried to rape me. When I told my father, I heard his girlfriend say, I was a liar. He never stood by me. When I had to go to court for this, he stood with the accused. Talk about rejection for a young girl.

So I went to live with my mother. That wasn’t any better. My mother had become an alcoholic and my stepfather was verbally abusive to my brother and me. He was physically abusive to my mother and I would hate to see the bloody fights and having to leave the home with my mother drunk, hoping that wouldn’t be the night we died at her hands. My stepfather thought it was his responsibility to tell me daily I would be nothing, I would have nothing and no one would want me for anything other than my body. He tried to sell me to the old men in the neighborhood, and when I refused, he made a joke about me being gay. What made me decide to leave my mothers home was she was fighting with my stepfather with a gun and it went off. She told me to come get it, but I thought if he kills me, she’d probably still be with him, so I said no. I decided then I would leave. The day I left my mother’s home I thought to myself, is this all there is to life? These were just a few of the scares because I had others. I was sexual abused, the first time I was seven years old and the last time when I was raped in college. Not by the same person, but by 5 different, random people. Truly something had to be wrong with me, why would these things happen to me? I had to be defective or something, right?

So you can image I was a misfit with residency on several islands. I could not image me being useful for anything or anyone. Yet, one day, Jesus said, follow me. And I did. He took this broken person and created something wonderful inside. He took the ashes of my life and brought beauty from it. When the Lord called me to preach I couldn’t accept it, because in my mind the words of my stepmother rang in my spiritual ear, she is a liar. Yet God told me, I know you. I have tested your heart and I know you.

You expected one person to be standing here today, but in his own way and for his own purpose, God ordained for me to be standing her. That’s what is so wonderful about our God. I might no be well known, I might not seem to be one chosen to have entrance to see the president, but that doesn’t matter to God. His Spirit worked things out so that this once misfit could tell some other once misfits and current misfits the good news. See there is somebody stuck on the island of misfits waiting for you. You have been charged by the Spirit to go and rescue them (come back next week for the final installment).

Words of Encouragement

2010-08-02T11:17:00.000-05:00

Women charged by the Spirit

(repost of message preached in 2007)

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” ~ Acts 1:8

As I read this scripture, I had a few questions.

1. Who gives the power? This is a simple enough question, but it still needs to be answered. I cannot give you the power, nor can I take it away from you. Solely God gives this power. He instructs the Holy Spirit to indwell within the hearts of all his children. This spirit is the same spirit he sent to woo you and I. This was his prevenient grace, the Holy Spirit calling us to repentance. You or I couldn’t even accept salvation without the Holy Spirit because we were too lost to realize we were lost. God’s spirit had to bring us to the point of clarity to understand we needed saving. When he did, God’s Spirit then was promised to dwell within the life of all believers. And there should be some evidence of his indwelling. We should look like children of God. We shouldn’t be liars, cheats, or any thing that continues to reflect fleshly things. We should however show forth the fruit of the spirit, love, peace, longsuffering and the like. If there is no evidence of God’s spirit in our lives, then maybe we need to go back and check where we are standing with God. His spirit does not pick or choice just a few select to dwell in, but those that are yielded to God are the ones that the Spirit dwells within. So we must check ourselves to see if we are truly yielding all to God.

2. Who has the power? God gives the power to all that come accepting his gift of salvation through the blood of his son. “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” – Joel 2:28-29. That means God does not limit who is able to come to him. In our society we have limitations on who can go to talk to the boss. You cannot just walk into your boss’s office and demand audiences you might get fired. If you wanted to talk to the president of the United State you can’t go into his office. Even those that are granted entrance have to be put through some rigorous things before they become part of that choice bunch. We are limited in access. With God, however, he does not limit who can come. There are however, some requirements for access. You have to be his, period. We cannot live an unsaved life and think we will have the Holy Spirit directing us because the two don’t mix.

3. What is the power for? – The ultimate purpose of the indwelling Spirit is so that the people of God could enact the standing orders of Jesus that he gave to his disciples before he ascended (Acts 1:2-7). That mandate has not changed for you or I. He didn’t want them wasting time on when would God reestablish the kingdom, see they were looking for power to come in God setting them back in power as a nation, they were looking for an earthly kingdom. (Acts 1:6) God’s purpose was to establish a spiritual kingdom in the earth. God doesn’t want you or I worried about earthly things, either instead he wants our complete focus to be on the building of the spiritual kingdom. And you can do that even as you go about in your day to day. Jesus was instructing them to prepare themselves to be transformed by the divine visitation of the Holy Spirit that would help them tell what they knew about Jesus Christ to others (Acts 1:8). What did they know? They knew Jesus as the Lord of all creation, redeemer of all who trust in his death for their deliverance, and stern judge of all who reject his call to repent and pledge their loyalty to him. Yes, I said he is a stern judge. We only want to talk about heaven, but never tell people that there are consequences to your rejection of Jesus. That is hell eternally, a place where there is no joy, no peace, no love of God. That is what makes hell punishment. You are forever aware of what you have rejected.

4. So how does the Spirit charge us? Let’s look back at the word transformed. To be transformed means you have been changed or altered. As I was thinking about being charged by the Spirit, my mind first went back to the disciples. Did you know they were a group of misfits? In our day, they wouldn’t get the invitation to go into see the president; they wouldn’t be part of the choice group.

Let’s look at the disciples for a moment. When we read scripture have you every wondered why the disciples so quickly left what they were doing and went with Jesus? As I was studying with a pastor friend of mine, I found that it was customary in the Jewish culture for boys age 5 or 6 to study in schools called “bet sefer”. They studied and memorized the Torah. Boys that excelled would move on to the next level in their education. They would study more complex oral traditions of the Torah.

The local rabbi hired by the community or small village/town would use this level of education to teach using the question and answer method. Male students became a religious adult at age thirteen and if a student were gifted enough he could continue his studies with the rabbi in secondary school called “Beth Midrash.” If the Jewish male student was not a good enough scholar to advance to this next level of education, they were encouraged by the rabbi to go home and continue to learn the trade of their family, as this would be far most purposeful in making a living in the coming years.

Those that went on would continue to study the rest of the Hebrew Testament. At age 15, the truly gifted would travel to study with the famous Rabbi. The student would be asked a series of questions by the Rabbi, if he was able to answer them to the satisfaction of the Rabbi, he would then become his talmid or disciple, if not, he would be sent home and told to take up the family business. It was rare for a Rabbi to ask a student to be his talmid, even though some would ask the Rabbi.

So why do I tell you this? The disciples were all from this same culture as Jesus. They had all gone through the same training, but they were not good enough to be the talmid or disciple of the rabbi, that is why they are about their business as fishermen and the like. Yet here comes Jesus and calls the misfits to be his Talmid, disciples. What an honor. First it was an honor because they didn’t have to go and ask him, he came seeking them. “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” (John 15:16)

This group had some characters in it. There was a doubter, There was one that was quick to react, but would become doubtful to accomplish what he asked for, so he sank. They didn’t understand the nature of Jesus always and fought amongst themselves who would be in a place on honor on Jesus right hand in heaven. They scattered when trouble came. They couldn’t stay awake in times of need. This group was the ones rejected as disciples by the rabbis of their time. They were all banished to a place of misfits among the people. Oh they went about life, but they knew they had not cut it as disciples to the rabbi.

Jesus took this misfit group and taught them, walked with them and offered them something wonderful. That was because he knew what they would become. The after picture was something to behold. This same one that denied three times, never denied again. He became bold for the cause of Christ. The doubter stopped doubting. The ones that ran and hid during difficulties now stood even as martyrs for the cause of Christ. What happened? The Holy Spirit transformed them. They went from misfits trying to find a place to fit in, to having a divine assignment given to them from Jesus himself. They went form misfits, to mighty vessels of honor.

Come back next week for the next installment in the message.

Words of Encouragement

2010-07-02T17:33:00.000-05:00

Study notes from the message: What are you doing with the Crumbs?

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food." Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." "We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered. "Bring them here to me," he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. ~ Matthew 14:13-21

This is a message that I preached twice, yet I cannot let it go (or better yet, it will not let me go). In this scripture we see something about the two main characters, Jesus and the disciples. What does this teach us about Jesus? What does it show about the disciples?

Jesus was moved with compassion. Whenever you read in scripture that Jesus had compassion on someone, he did something. Jesus' compassion is his love for people and it causes him to see the need and respond.

Jesus performs miracles. When Jesus took the fish and bread he did the miraculous. Yet for God this is simply him being himself. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit dwell or take up resident in the miraculous. This is simply God doing what he does, being himself. It is miraculous to us because it is impossible by any other means, than God.

Jesus brings results. When Jesus performed the miracle, the needs of the people was filled. The scripture says they all ate, were filled and satisfied. And there were leftovers!

Now what does this scripture show us about the disciples?

Disciples were moved by situations and circumstances. The disciples saw the crowds. They saw the remote place they were at (a remote place is a place without provisions and supplies, it has a lack and is seemingly too far away from what is needed). They wanted Jesus to send the people away to take care of their needs, yet Jesus wants them to do it.

Disciples did not see the potential. When Jesus told them to feed the people they began with the "only" statement. The disciples saw the fish and bread in their hands and they did not see what Jesus could do with it. It was too small to fill such a big need.

Disciples did not see their part in the results. The disciples because of their lack of vision did not see the results that Jesus saw, therefore they did not see that the little they had would result in the final outcome.

What's the point? Jesus because he sees the needs does what seemingly to us is impossible and brings about a result. In this instant, God saw the need of the people to be fed, therefore he took the little from the hands of the disciples and performed a miracle. He then gave it back to the disciples so that they could do their part and feed the people. And all were filled and satisfied. Yet the miracle of miracles is there were leftovers. How could what was so small in a place that should have not provided provisions, result in needs being meet and more to spare?

What does that mean? When God performs a miracle in your life, there are some "crumbs" leftover. It is in those out of the way places in our lives that God takes the little we have and performs a miracle. What are we suppose to do with the crumbs? The disciples collected 12 baskets, a basket for each disciple to carry or be responsible for. Each disciple of Christ has a basket of "crumbs" that many would eat from. In chapter 15 there is a women that speaks to individuals willing to take even the crumbs of what Jesus has to offer.

Are you offering to others the crumbs so that they will be blessed? Sometimes we look at the little and think it is not important but this message speaks to how God can use even the littlest of things to glorify himself.

Prayer: Lord help us to stop looking for the big thing, the dynamic thing to happen in our lives and because of it we are missing the miracles you are doing with the little that we have. Help us Lord to feed people from the baskets of "crumbs" that are the leftover from the blessings in our lives. You have do one miracle after another and because of it we have some leftovers. Help us to stop holding onto them, but to feed those in need so that they too will be feed, filled and satisfied. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

The Week in Review

2010-06-27T05:00:00.002-05:00

“LEAD ME”

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. – Psalm 139:24

Belief test

1.Do you believe that the devil or Satan is not real but a symbol of evil?

2.Do you believe that all religious faiths teach equally valid truth?

3.Do you believe that Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Jews and all other people pray to the same god, even though they use different names for god?

4.Do you believe if people are generally good, or does enough good things for others during his or her life, they will earn a place in heaven?

5.Do you believe when Christ was on earth he committed sins, like other people?

You would be surprised how many people (youth especially) answers these questions contrary to what we would expect a Christian to answer. This goes to the fact that many have allowed the views of the world to infiltrate their belief system. Last week I posted the “Search Me” notes. This is important for us to allow God to show us ourselves so that we can see if our beliefs are in line with a godly view or a secular worldview. Below are some of the lies we allow ourselves to embrace and the truth that will set us free from those beliefs.

VIEWS

ABOUT TRUTH

Lies the world says
You cannot know what is true. Truth is relative; there is no absolute truth.

What God says
God is truth. His Word is the standard for truth.
Psalm 119:142 Your righteousness is everlasting and your law is true

Lies the world says
Lying is sometimes good or best. White lies are okay.

What God says
God hates lies
Proverbs 6:16-17 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

ABOUT LANGUAUGE

Lies the world says
You must tolerate contradictory views; don’t speak against the opinions of others.

What God says
Fear God and not man
Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

Lies the world says
Swearing is okay. Vulgar langage can be funny.

What God says
Do not swear speak only words that build others up
Matthew 12:36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

ABOUT PRIDE

Lies the world says
Take pride in yourself and your talents (in a self righteous manner).

What God says
God is the source of all your talents
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Lies the world says
You can do anything you set your mind to

What God says
You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you
Phil 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength

VIEW OF SELF

Lies the world says
Think of yourself first

What God says
Treat others the way you wish to be treated
Luke 6:31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

VIEW OF AUTHORITY

Lies the world says
Questions authority

What God says
Obey your leaders and submit to their authority
Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Lies the world says
Not all rules apply to you.

What God says
God has established the authority in our lives
Romans 13:1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

Lies the world says
Respect those that respect you and those who treat you well.

What God says
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you
Matthew 5:44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Romans 12:1-3 (The Message)
Place Your Life Before God

1-2 So here's what I want you to do, (God helping you): Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

3I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

3 key points:

1.Make a commitment to God.

2.Be a living sacrifice to God.

3.Respond to the will of God.

Final points:

= Go to the word of God for direction and the right way to think (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

= Apply the truth of the word to your life (Matthew 7:21).

= Pray

Make these commitments:

•Evaluate your current beliefs and values

•Form personal and biblical convictions

•Depend on God to help you as you seek to apply the truth to your life.

Why, because God took the time to form you in your mother’s womb, therefore he wants to direct your life, for you are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Words of Encouragement

2010-05-31T05:00:00.003-05:00

What do I have to offer?

Jeremiah 1:5-8 (The Message)

5"Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations—that's what I had in mind for you."

6But I said, "Hold it, Master God! Look at me. I don't know anything. I'm only a boy!"

7-8God told me, "Don't say, 'I'm only a boy.' I'll tell you where to go and you'll go there. I'll tell you what to say and you'll say it. Don't be afraid of a soul. I'll be right there, looking after you." God's Decree.

We can read this scripture and see how it applies to Jeremiah, but can I tell you these same words apply to you and I? Before we were born, God already knew what his plan for us was. It is the same thing David said in the 139 Psalm. God has shaped and molded each of us and he has a divine plan for all his creation.

The tragedy is we miss accepting his calling upon our lives. Jeremiah had an excuse. He said, I'm just a boy. I'm too young, I don't know enough, one excuse after another. It is not just Jeremiah, but we do the same. We are overwhelmed with the idea that God would want to use us, so we make excuses why we could not be called by God. We say, but I'm a woman, or I don't have enough education, I don't know enough, and that's the way the excuses go.

What would God's answer be to us? It is the same as the one he gave to Jeremiah. Do not tell him what you do not have or what you cannot do. He tells us that he will give us what we should speak and he will strengthen us for the journey that he is calling us to. What is he calling you to do? His call for you may not be to preach, but maybe it is. His call for you is what he has decided for your life and to find out what that is, we must go to God and ask him to show us.

When he does we cannot say, what do I have to offer? God is not looking at us for our skills or abilities because what we need he will give us. He is looking at us to offer ourselves. We all have that to offer. I pray that this month of June we really seek God closely to find out what his direction is for us.

Ask God to show you the answer to these questions, but you must become quiet to hear what he has to say.

1. What is your mission or call for my life?
2. What things am I holding onto that are hindering me from moving forward into what you have for me to do?
3. Help me to see those things that I am afraid of and then give me the strength to overcome them.

Lord: I thank you for desiring to have me as a part of your plan and as part of the family of God. Lord help me to see my part in the mission. I know I ask the question of what do I have to offer, but really all you desire is me. Help me to release myself into your hands so that I can be what you desire. Help me to hold onto the promise that you gave to Jeremiah that you would be with me and help me every step of the way. Today, help me to move forward so that I can make an impact for Christ, amen!

The Week in Review

2010-05-30T09:47:00.000-05:00

“SEARCH ME”

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts – Psalm 139:23

When I think about God searching me I also think about what happens with the information. What I mean is this, it is one thing to ask God to search you but are you willing to hear the results of what he shows? God already knows all about us it is really about you and I being willing to see through His eyes the results.

I often have what I call self-inventory times. This is where I check myself to see how I line up with the things of God. In several retreats that I have done with young people, I have given them a self-inventory sheet. I will attach that here today. Take the inventory and see where you line up. Are there some areas where you see you need to work on? What do you do then with those areas that need work? We will answer that next week, so come back. Take the inventory now to see where you line up.

SELF-INVENTORY SHEET

1.Are you on fire for God?

2.Are you taking your personal relationship with God more seriously? Or do you have a personal relationship with God?

3.Does your life resemble the values of the world more than the Word?

4.Do you love holiness and hate sin?

5.Do you strive to fight the sin of your heart and not simply address your sinful behaviors?

6.Do you like attending church?

7.Do you enjoy reading and studying your Bible?

8.Do you have strong personal convictions?

9.Do you pray and what do you pray about?

10. Do you enjoy reading the Bible? Do you experience God teaching you when you read your Bible?

11.Do you worship God? Why do you worship?

12.Do you think about God? What aspects of God do you think about?

13. Do you confess your sins to God?

Your Motives

Why do you pray?

Why do you read your bible?
Why do you go to church?
What do you think about in times of corporate worship (the entire church coming together)?

Why do you do good works?
Why do you acknowledge sins in your life?

Your Relationships (do you put God first in your friendships?)
Do you talk about God with your friends?
Do you tell non-Christians about your faith?
Do you enjoy spending time with Christians?

Do you desire to serve others?

The Week in Review

2010-05-23T05:00:00.004-05:00

THE PRICE OF ENCOURAGEMENT (PART 3)

Theme: Women dispatched by God to share Christ – Through encouragement

2 Samuel 24:17, 24-25 (New International Version)

Encouragement means to prod, spur, urge. This verbalization is one that encourages you to attempt something. We must not give up on individuals. We must keep urging them on to being what God has in store for them to be - And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. (1 Thes 5:14) What is the cost? – I have to be willing to take rejection, persecution, and ridicule, why? I will take it because it is more important to me that you see what God desires, than to have you like me. It is more important to urge you on than my own personal comfort. I do like David did, like Christ did, I love you so much that I am willing to stand in the place of hurt and pain so that you can be saved. Are you that kind of encourager?

Encouragement means to give a vote of confidence. This is outwardly putting your trust in someone. We must allow people to see that we have faith in them. – encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word (2 Thes 2:17). What is the cost? – I will trust in what God is doing in you. I will not try to make you into a “mini-me”. I will encourage you to follow Christ and to become all that God has said you can become. I will encourage you and let you know that I am here cheering you on. Like a small child taking his first step, when you let go and start to walk, I’ll be there cheering you own. My presence, my words, my life journey will serve to be the reminder that I trust what God is doing in you.

Encouragement is the act of giving hope or support to someone. We must be willing to make the sacrifice to support people where they are, and help them to gain hope in what God can do. We must take upon us the cares of the world, but not so that we can hold them, but so that we can carry them to Christ, the one that can bear our burdens. We must simply become the avenue for them to get there. We have to be like the man that was told to help Jesus carry his cross. He had to walk the distance and carry the cross with him. We must be willing to make the sacrifice to help someone carry their cross. - learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:17) The cost is being willing to be poured out wine and broken bread. We become what the weak feed from. We must be willing to feed those that are not able to feed themselves. And when we do, yes we will get tired sometimes, but God says, come back, get filled, and go do it all over again.

Encouragement is a morale builder. We must become the one that others feel lifted through. We must be that sight that encourages others, that “sight for sore eyes”. It’s like looking out the window and seeing the beautiful flowers in bloom. It has a way of picking up your spirits. We must be the bouquet of God. We are all different but with one purpose to be a sweet smell in the nostril of God and a sweet smell to those around us. And when they walk away, will our fragrance, the fragrance of God still linger upon them? - Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. (Phil 1:14) What is the cost? I must be that living example even in the midst of my trials. When my trials come, I must not whine and pout, but I must show forth the valor and bravery that others need to see. I must be willing to count it all joy. Not joy because it feels good, but because God is using me in this time and place to grow me and encourage others in the process.

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints. – Philemon 4-7

This scripture sums up our missions. We should remember each other in prayer as we hear about how others are about the Lord’s business. Our prayer for each other should be for us to be active in sharing our faith. Our love will make others rejoice and be encouraged on this walk. Do you know when you are faithful doing the will of the Lord that you can refresh the hearts of the saints? You become an encouragement to others.

Let us be reminded of what great gift we have been given. Let us also remember that in order for us to receive this gift of salvation, there was a great cost. Are you willing today to take upon yourself the great cost of encouraging someone else? Are you willing to give your time, your money, your prayers and your efforts? Let us stand pray.

The Week in Review

2010-05-16T05:00:00.001-05:00

THE PRICE OF ENCOURAGEMENT (PART 2)

Theme: Women dispatched by God to share Christ – Through encouragement

2 Samuel 24:17, 24-25 (New International Version)

Encouragement means to give words of approval. This is a verbal act of urging on and support. In the sense you are cheering and shouting encouragement. We must “speak words that bring life, understanding, wisdom, and comfort” – But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief. (Job 16:5) What is the cost of our sacrifice? We must stop talking about the wrong things. We must stop putting people down, or judging others because they do not fit a mold that we set. We must take every opportunity to lift someone up, and not tear them down.

Encouragement means to advance and promote someone. Encouragement is also acceptance. We must “accept people where they are, and help them to get where they need to go” - But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see." (Deut. 3:28) What is our cost? We have to begin to have God’s heart for people. We have to see them as they will be and not simply where they are right now. If someone had not seen what I could become, I might not be who I am. We have to help prepare people to step into the leadership roles God has for them, even if it means that someday they will surpass us or take the role we currently hold.

Encouragement fosters, it aids in the development of someone. We must be willing to sacrifice our time, our energy and our example for others to develop into what God has for them – Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (1 Thes 5:11) The cost? – We must be willing to be living sacrifices. That means what I want to do has to take a back seat to what God is leading me to do. Is there someone right now that God has shown you that you need to walk with? You need to spend time with? But you haven’t because; well you are just too busy with your life. That person is in need of a hero, what are you waiting for? (Come back next week for the next installment)

The Week In Review

2010-05-09T05:00:00.001-05:00

THE PRICE OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Theme: Women dispatched by God to share Christ – Through encouragement

2 Samuel 24:17, 24-25 (New International Version)

"17 When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the LORD, "I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall upon me and my family."

24 But the king (David) replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. 25 David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the LORD answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.

Background notes: David allowed himself to be provoked into taking a census of the fighting men. There were 800,000 fighting men in Israel and 500,000 in Judah. After David received this information, he realized he should not have taken this census. He realized his action showed his focus was in physical power, instead of God’s power. So he begged God’s forgiveness. God sends the prophet to David to have him choose what judgment he would choose for his disobedience. David told God to choose. Therefore, God sent a plague upon the people for 3 days. In that time 70,000 people from Dan to Beersheba died {NOTE: A LOT OF LIVES CAN BE LOST IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME, IN FACT A LOT OF LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST IN THE PAST THREE DAYS}.

David saw the destruction that was going on in the lives of the people and he was moved with compassion to do something to stop the devastation. He built an altar to sacrifice to the Lord, to pay for the sin that had been committed. The servant that he tried to purchase the land from wanted to give David what he needed, but David’s response was he could not sacrifice to the Lord what did not cost him anything.

This brief picture of David shows us some vital points. First, David presents for us how through one man’s sin, punishment entered and the whole world would suffer for it. Secondly, he also represents how one man’s sacrifice would lift the plague of death and set the people free. This points you and me to one greater than David that came and was willing to make a sacrifice on behalf of the people. Like David, he saw the people as lost sheep. They were wandering and in need of a shepherd, one that would lead and care for them. Like David, he saw the devastation upon the people, as the people were lost in their sins and dying with no way of stopping the punishment that was befalling them. Jesus knew that countless lives would be lost, if not for his intervention.

However, unlike David, Jesus was without sin. And from his place in Heaven with his father he said, No Abba Father, do not take this judgment out upon the people, let it fall on me” and just as David refused to give a sacrifice that cost him nothing, so did Jesus. Jesus gave himself. The price he paid so that no one would have to perish was a great price, a price we could never pay ourselves. It was his life.

As I study, God often ask me a question, so I bring that question to you. The question is, “What is the cost of encouragement?” David was willing to place himself before God on behalf of the people. He even said, God let this wrath, this judgment, let it fall on me and my family. He was willing to give his life for the releasing of the people. Jesus came and said likewise. Now there is something I don’t want us to miss. David said him and his family would carry the burden for the people. I believe this scripture is pointing forward to what Jesus would fulfill. So then who is Jesus’ family that would be willing to take upon themselves the burden for the hurting, lost and dying people? Who can this family be? Aren’t we fellow heirs with Christ? Aren’t we children of God, the father? Christ made his sacrifice for us, now his Father; our Father is sending us forth into the world to share Christ, to be his example, to carry a burden for the lost and dying.

Now you may be trying to figure out what does this have to do with encouragement? When I looked up the definition for the word encouragement, one application had to do with valor and being a hero. When someone steps in and shows valor and becomes a hero in hopeless situations, they embody encouragement. David stepped in and was willing to sacrifice himself. He was willing to show valor or bravery. He was willing to be the hero, the savior of his people. Jesus, stepped in and became the true hero, the true savior to save his people and bring them encouragement. We as the family of God, we must now step in, be willing to be the hero, to show strength, courage, valor. We must be willing to be that Christ-like hero so that we can be the encourager to the hurting, lost and hopeless.

But we cannot do it, without it costing us something. To be an encouragement to someone requires us to make the stand like David and say, I cannot give this sacrifice (this sacrifice being the giving of encouragement to others) to God without it costing me anything. And when we do, we will see like David did, that God will heal the land. He will heal the sin sick, when we are ready to sacrifice for others (come back next week for the next installment).

Words of Encouragement

2010-05-03T04:00:00.002-05:00

The Love that Never Ends

Psalm 44:2-4 (New International Version)

With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish. It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them. You are my King and my God, who decrees [a] victories for Jacob.

As you read this Psalm you can understand the psalmist praises about the love of God. The psalmist tells of the wonderful things that God has done as he begins to enumerate God's blessings. The first point is that God drove out the other nations from the land and planted or placed his people there. Secondly he allowed them to prosper. The psalmist reminds the readers that it was not by the people's strength, power or ability that gave them this land and these blessings. The psalmist tells it very simply, it was because of the love of God.

What does this tell us today? It is a reminder that we must be grateful for the doors that God opens for us. He sees his children and he knows their needs. He removes the obstacles that stand in front of his children that keeps them from going into the places that he has set for them. He not only gives his children a place to dwell, but he prospers them in those places.

God does it all because of his unending love for us. God wants to take us into some places to occupy. The problem is we often do not see that we can make it and we began to complain, grumble and lose focus. We then try to work things out, we try to figure it out and use our own natural abilities.

Yet the psalmist reminds us that these things cannot help us to enter into the places God has for us. Though we often get in our own way, God's love for us is what keeps us. I simply marvel at how much God loves us and how he prepares for us, even when we don't always listen and we lose faith. Today I want to remind us that God knows how to prepare for our needs. He knows how to open those doors that will never be opened by our own hands and ability.

I pray for us today to stop looking at our situations and thinking we are defeated. I pray that we do like the psalmist and remind ourselves of what God can do in us, for us and through us. I pray that we enumerate to ourselves the doors God has opened in our favor that we could not only open but we did not even know how to find the door knob!

Prayer: Lord today we seek you to help us be reminded about your unending, unfailing love. Help us when the enemy of our soul comes to try and discourage us, to be reminded that you are the one that removes our enemies that stand in our way trying to keep us from entering into the places you have ordained for us. We pray today that you will help us be reminded but also to remind someone else that is feeling hopeless or discouraged to find comfort in your unending love. Amen.

The Week In Review

2010-04-25T05:01:00.001-05:00

My Position on Women in Ministry

(This was a post I wrote in response to several other students remarks on women in ministry)

I would like to say that I have had to fight some battles regarding what God has and is calling me to do. In my pursuit of education I have fought this fight even more. I am presenting here today a response that I wrote to a "conversation" among several indviduals regarding women. I do not present it to cause fight or debate. I really want you to look at the ending of my post to see if we can challenge ourselves to carry out what I write:

Dear (name removed),

Before I answer your question, I want to go back to the scripture that is often used to show why women cannot be preachers (or to teach or be part of the internal workings of the church). 1 Corinthians 14:33-36 where it states “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak…” Many commentators have long considered these verses to be culturally embedded statements at odds with Paul’s own practice and Galatians 3.

Now I have heard some still say, they do not believe this scripture is addressing the culture of the time but is speaking to all women today as well as yesterday that women should not be permitted to preach or teach. Then the question is, how do you reconcile Paul’s speaking earlier in this same book? 1 Corinthians 11 (especially 5 and 13) talks about women giving prophesy. It does not forbid the act of speaking but of her head being uncovered. Later interpretations made this to mean women being subordinated to men. The Greek interpretation of the word “speak” (laleo) in Corinthians is easily rendered “babble” and the word “silence” (siagao) bears connotations of desisting from chatter. This interpretation of the words would make the understanding of some commentators that state Paul was not stopping the women from speaking, but from the babbling and chatter that was taking place. Because to believe otherwise how do you reconcile women being able to prophecy but not able to speak?

Furthermore, women have been a part of the church and of God’s plan always. Early church leaders were itinerant missionaries or heads of household assemblies. The Great Commission was given without gender distinction, for if it were Jesus’ intent that women keep quiet he could have easily explained that when giving the commission. Women were the first witnesses to the resurrection and the Spirit descended equally upon men and women at Pentecost. Romans 16 for example, cites numerous examples of women in positions of leadership – Phoebe the deacon/minister, Priscilla and Aguila, co-workers with Paul, and perhaps Junia as an apostle.

Mayn contemporary scholars – Schussler, Fiorenza, Torjesen, and Kroeger, among others, have exhaustively studied this early inclusion of women in leadership. Some of the reasons for why women should be included in the ordination process from a theological issue include a theology that centers around the universal and eschatological proclamations of Galatians 3:28 that in Christ, “there is neither…male nor female.” And Joel 2:28. And also on the emphasis of the priesthood of all believers.

The roots of the church lie in early Israel, where women occupied a high position and had a strong influence both in the home and in the believing community. The leadership of Miriam (Exod. 15:20-21) is viewed as a special gift to Israel (Mic. 6:4). Deborah served as judge, general, and prophetess (Judge 4-5). Hulda the prophetess declared an old scroll to be indeed the Word of God and called the nation to a repentance that resulted in a great revival (2 Kings 22:8-20, 2 Chronicles 34:14-28). “Wise Women” played a considerable role in the moral and political life of Israel (2 Sam. 14:1-20; 20:14-22; Prov. 14:1). Female officials served in both the tabernacle and the temple (Exod. 38:8, 1 Chron. 25:5-6; Ezra 2:65; Neh. 7:67; 10:39; Ps 68:24-25; Luke 2:36-37). Female prophets functioned through the history of Israel (Exod. 15:20; Neh. 6:14; Isa. 8:3; Ezek. 13:17-23; Luke 2:36-37).

The first women in the church were the group of female followers who were attached to Jesus and traveled with him (Matt. 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41; Luke 8:1-3). These are just of the examples of women and their importance and inclusion in the work of the people of God. Some would respond to this list by stating while Deborah for example is mentioned, she is the only one in a total of 13 judges. So the way women are explained away is because only a few were mentioned. But that is unfair. How many prophets and prophetess, or leaders and teachers were not listed? That we do not know so we have no true way of knowing how many more women or men for that matter were doing the things of God. Even if only a few women were mentioned, does that negate the fact that women were important to God’s plan? I do not believe this stand can be taken.

We often speak that God is the same today, yesterday and forever more. If women were allowed to have leadership roles in his people, the Israelites, why would he exclude them from inclusion in the body of believers when he in fact opened up the opportunity to more, not less?

Some writers state to take literally that women are not to speak would mean that women could not teach (even to the youth), sing, participate in the worship service in any capacity or even get saved because they could not give any confession. The point is this; there are those that stand on both sides of this issued. Both sides present scripture that they believe supports their position. I would only like to state this additional point, if any be pastors among you, how do you handle the woman that comes to you and states she has a certain gift. Will you tell her that she is mistaken, that God surely would not give her the gift of teaching especially if he has no intention of her using it to build up the body? Or what if she states she has been given the gift of prophecy, will you tell her she cannot proclaim the things of God?

I find it difficult to believe that God’s word states clearly that the Holy Spirit gives gifts as he desires, with the distinction that certain gifts are only for men (since women will not be able to utilize those gifts). I read someone’s post that stated women believing they are called to preach have an attitude of arrogance. Unless you have spoken to every woman that has accepted her call to preach, you really have to be careful making such a statement. I had no idea and no desire to preach. I was happy teaching the teens and that was where I thought I would continue to be, it was God that decided otherwise. We have to be careful to make judgments such as this. I also read someone stated that it is a “confusion” on the part of the women to go based on emotions that they are called. That also is in unfair stand. Unless you have had the opportunity to speak to every woman that has accepted her call, you cannot state she made some “emotional” decision. To assume that a woman feels a calling totally based on emotions states a belief that a woman cannot make a decision through prayer and going before the Lord. How would a man feel if someone said they based their decision to preach based on emotion or arrogance? This would not be acceptable, and therefore I do not believe it is acceptable to make that generalization against women.

The point I really am trying to make is this; I understand where both sides stand (those that believe women can preach and those that do not). I respect what each side believes as they have felt convicted. As a female preacher and one that is willing to accept the call to be a pastor if God so says it, you then know my stand. I often ask God the question, why do we believe so many different things as believers? I always come away with this same answer, it is less about what we believe differently and more about how do we get along before the world? How do we handle these differences? Do we let them pull us apart or do we rise to the level God has called us to, to love one another? I choose today and everyday to rise to the level of love. I choose to love those that do not understand nor accept my calling. I choose to love those that make remarks that are uncalled for because in doing so, I am choosing to show Christ. I choose to say to those among you that do not believe I am to preach, I love you, I pray for you and I hope that God would bless you as you seek to do his will. For when it is all said and done, I will not stand before any of you. I will stand one day before my Lord. And when I stand before him, it is my greatest desire that he finds me having been faithful to what he called me to do.

One servants humble submission.

The Week in Review

2010-04-25T05:00:00.000-05:00

Duties of the Shepherd

What need does the shepherd met?
How do they help us to be complete?

The flock, the shepherds do feed.
They make sure we get what we need.

If we are willing to follow, the shepherds will lead,
They will follow the words God tells them to heed.

For our protection they most surely will pray,
To our supreme shepherd that gives us each day.

How to the shepherds do we show respect?
We eat what the shepherds prepare without neglect.
Jeremiah 15:16a “Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and
thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.”

We follow the shepherds as they lead us God’s way
So we will not venture from the truth and go astray.
Psalm 23:3a “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

We follow the protection given in their words of instruction,
It keeps us from spiritual danger and destruction.
Psalm 23:4 “yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

We honor our shepherds when the teaching of Christ we heed,
For God’s word has all that we will ever need.
II Timothy 3:16-17 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

So this day we come to honor our shepherds.
We come to feast with them, to praise them and to thank them.
Let us come and feast on the words that God gives them utterance to speak
Let us show them praise by our actions of true worship and dedication to the mission of the Lord as he directs them.

Let us show our thanks but being willing to give of ourselves to the up keep of the kingdom of God, that was founded on the one true shepherd our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

Honor your Shepherd today!

Written By Jewel D. Williams

The Week In Review

2010-04-18T18:18:00.000-05:00

Reflections on the Cross

We have heard many messages about the cross. Before we venture away from Resurrection Sunday can we have a brief review? Our understanding of God love tells us that the cross was on the mind of God before there was light, sea, before God said, let it be…

We were reminded that Jesus came to bear our grief, our sorrows, to be bruised for our sins and that we were healed by his stripes. We were told God made this promise when he said the serpent’s head would be crushed under the heal of the seed. Jesus is the seed of woman that crushes the power of Satan. And when you read in scripture about the “seed” of woman, this word for seed carries a feminine attachment. Whenever you read elsewhere in scripture it talks about seed, but the reference is to the man. This is simply another confirmation that God had chosen his son to come through means not of man but divine means.

Jesus fulfilled the mission that began with God. However, Jesus’ purpose did not start the day he was born, but his birth only began the process of fulfillment, of enacting the mission that you and I are now called to carry. The Holy Spirit equips you and I to carry the mission of God to a world that is in need of hearing the message of salvation.

The cross reminds us of who Jesus really is and the power of our savior. Jesus fulfilled all the words the prophets spoke of his coming. They told us he would be…the Lamb of God, The Son of man, the bread of life, the living bread, the light of the world, the gate for the sheep, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth and the life. He is the counselor; he is the true vine, he is the priest, the prophet, the Son of David, the seed, He is the prophet like Moses, he is the kinsmen redeemer and so much more.

Jesus also finished any doubt about who he was and still is. He showed his authority and power over illness and diseases, over blindness, and leprosy, over sin and demons, over nature, over history, over space, over time and the future, over the wind and the water, over death, over Satan, over religious forms and fashions, over his own future and even over our future.

When he states it is finished, he is also saying, there is nothing left to be done, I have done it all, for now and forever more. And nothing was able to keep him from finishing his mission. Mockers, liars, betrayers, the power of men, not even physical pain. Not even the feeling of separation from his father and the emotional and spiritual pain that entailed, kept him from finishing his mission.

The cross was the method used to open salvation but it was not the end of Jesus or of God’s plan…because had Jesus not gotten up it would have been simply a good man with a bad idea, because it did not work. However it was God!! Jesus did not stay in the grave. He rose!! He rose and gave us victory over all that held man captive. What Jesus finished gave you and I a new start…

What did he rise to give us…

I have to make it personal. See I was lost, but he found me,

He left his place in heaven to come and find you and I because we would not have any other way to the Father…not our goodness, not our works, nothing.

He knew your need so he bled, died and rose to take care of that need. He died to show God’s mercy.

We were empty. Lost, unable to live as we should and nothing we seek fills that void; relationships, status, nothing. So Jesus came to fill me, to fill you so we can find wholeness in Christ.

We were blind and he came to restore sight to our spiritual blindness so that we could see.

We were broken, from hurt, abuse, neglect or whatever breaks us, but he came to heal us from all sins stronghold. He stretched his hands and in one hand they nailed your sins and in the other they nailed all the sins that were done and would ever be done against you. They were all nailed to the cross. And we were set free from them all!! When we felt like nothing, he came to bring us a purpose and a mission to fulfill.

So what was our need for the cross?

We needed the cross so we could worship God in spirit and in truth… so that we can be like Jesus and give a shout of “IT IS FINISHED” when our lives are over. We can say we took up our cross and followed Christ to be the example in this world that God has called us to be. We are able to live because of the resurrected life of Christ. We were dead, but now we are alive. We live because he lives. The cross of Christ…The resurrection of the savior…the salvation of the lost…the indwelling of the Spirit…the body of believers…the fulfillment of God’s mission…all because of God’s love. This is why we rejoice on Resurrection Sunday. This is what we need to remember so that we continue as if every day is Resurrection Sunday!

The Week in Review

2010-04-18T05:00:00.002-05:00

Servant Leadership – Purpose for Today, Impact for Tomorrow (conclusion)

Written by Minister Jewel D. Williams

Written December 2009

Goals of a Servant Leader

Authors, Howard J. Morgan, Philip J. Harkins and Marshall Goldsmith, of the book The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching: 50 Top Executive Coaches Reveal Their Secrets, enlighten their readers about the goals of a leader. They state, “I don’t think you can lead people unless you have a sense of where you want them to go. Leadership is about going somewhere.”[1] Therefore the first goal of a servant leader is to cast the vision for those that he or she leads. Morgan, Harkins and Goldsmith state that once your people know where they are going the next step is implementation. “That involves helping people to live according to the vision and direction.”[2] It is at this point that they state the leader shifts from directing people to serving people by guiding, supporting, and cheering them as needed. “The coaches now become servant leaders.”[3]

Caruso and Salovey support that one of the goals of a good leader is to do right by people. They state, “We have found that those higher in emotional intelligence tend to be more interested in developing and helping people. The emotionally intelligent manger, then, should be able to focus on the development of these human resources.”[4] Another goal Caruso and Salovey submit is one of communicating a vision. The goal of inspiring a shared vision is part of the communication process of an effective leader. A starting point for Caruso and Salovey in articulating the shared vision is the leader understanding others current concerns and attitudes (Caruso and Salovey 2004, 205).

Stowell explains what a servant leader should look like as it relates to the church. The shepherd that is caring is flock-focused and his primary motivation is not the interest of himself but the interest of the safety, security, and satisfaction of the flock (Stowell 1994, 180). He further adds, “And when all of this is done well, love develops a style of ministry in which not only the flock can prosper, but also from which the testimony of Jesus Christ can be enhanced.”[5] While Stowell is speaking specifically to the church there is a general application to the servant leadership style overall. When a servant leader cares for his people, he will try to motivate them through meeting their needs, which in turn may help them to be satisfied in what they are doing. When all is done well, a servant leader is able to accomplish the goal of motivating his people and helping them move forward with the vision as set forth. How can this leadership style impact our future? This writing explores what is the future for servant leadership.

The Future Impact of Servant Leadership

Manfred Waldemar Kohl in the article, “Radical Transformation in Preparation for the Ministry” writes about future developments in preparing individuals for ministry (leadership). In this section of his writing, he talks about interviews done with hundreds of graduates from seminaries. This was his finding, “…graduates of seminaries make clear that they received the greatest benefit from personal time spent with their professors discussing spiritual issues, taking time to pray, sharing values and dealing with challenges.”[6] He goes on to state that hardly any of the students mentioned the brilliant lectures they heard or the outstanding discoveries or achievements shared with them by their professors. What is the point? In education in general and Christian education specifically, there needs to be a transformation of how instructors view their roles in the lives of their students. Professors must begin to see themselves in the role of a servant leader to serve their students by helping them fulfill their needs (in education) as well as helping them to catch the vision of their future place in leadership roles as a servant leader. Specifically Kohl is seeking to transform educating so that teachers see themselves in this new light. He states, “promotion or tenure should be based not only on the number of publications produced or the number of papers presented at academic conferences but also on the depth of personal involvement with students.”[7]

Authors, Tim Taylor, Barbara N. Martin, Sandy Hutchinson and Michael Jinks, of the article “Examination of leadership practices of principals identified as servant leaders,” give what they feel are the implications for practice. They state, “If servant leadership is relevant and an effective means of leadership, as indicated by the results of this research, educational leadership programmes should be adapted to include the study and practical application of the principles and practices of servant leadership.”[8] They believe people should prepare themselves to lead and accept the opportunity to do so when it is offered. The result will be more people who serve as moral agents in our society. Additionally, they posit that modeling sets an example for others. “To model a type of leadership which exhibits personal integrity and the work ethic desired of subordinates the servant leader must set a high standard for the treatment of everyone in the organization.”[9] Spears and Lawrence suggest that continual evaluation should be done on current leaders to help future leaders. They state, “To examine our expectations of leaders in the future seems to me to be a good idea. Everybody seems to know a good leader when we see one in action. But toward what should we work in trying to make ourselves better leaders?”[10] The writers suggest that talking about leadership should continue because there are so many corners to explore. Servant leadership cannot be reduced to a formula, but it is in fact a quest, a search that never ends.

For the Christian leader, Henri J.M. Nouwen in his book, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership, offers insight on what a servant leader should look like in the future. Nouwen’s position is that future leaders are vulnerable and are in need of the people as much as the people are in need of their leaders. He writes, “From this it is clear that a whole new type of leadership is asked for in the church of tomorrow, a leadership that is not modeled on the power of games of the world, but on the servant-leader Jesus, who came to give his life for the salvation of many.”[11] Nouwen encourages his readers to understand that being a leader, for a large part means being led. Furthermore, he states the Christian leadership of the future is not one of power and control but of powerlessness and humility in which the suffering servant of God, Jesus Christ, is manifested (Nouwen 1989, 82).

John Maxwell in his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, writes about how a servant leader should approach the future. Maxwell writes, “Just about anybody can make an organization look good for a moment…But leaders who leave a legacy take a different approach. They lead with tomorrow as well as today in mind.”[12] The servant leader prepares for the future when they are gone. Jesus did this with his disciples. He spent time with them because he knew he would leave them to do the work that he started. Maxwell states, “‘Succession is one of the key responsibilities of leadership.’ Yet of all the laws of leadership, the Law of Legacy is the one that the fewest leaders seem to learn.”[13]

Conclusion

A leader’s ability to create change is influenced by his or her leadership style, which can facilitate the motivation of others to embrace the vision and strategy for change. This writing examined the leadership style of the servant leader. The servant leader is one who is willing to serve others in order to be powerful. This style has a distinct biblical perspective. The future for this leadership style will require others to mentor, train and prepare others to step into the roles they now hold. A servant leader is one that is willing to humble himself and seek the success of the whole over one’s personal success. When a servant leader is prepared to pass the vision on to others, he or she prepares those coming behind, and creates an environment they can grow into the future. This servant leader is more concerned with building others and leaving a legacy that will last when they are gone, whether that legacy is in the church or the business world. The organization that is run by a servant leader is one that is made better for it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Howard J. Morgan, Philip J. Harkins and Marshall Goldsmith, The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching: 50 Top Executive Coaches Reveal Their Secrets (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005), 128.

[2] Morgan, Harkins, and Goldsmith, The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching: 50 Top Executive Coaches Reveal Their Secrets, 128.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Caruso and Salovey, The Emotionally Intelligent Manager: How to Develop and Use the Four Key Emotional Skills of Leadership, 203.

[5] Stowell, Shepherding the Church: Effective Spiritual Leadership in a Changing Culture, 181.

[6] Manfred Waldermar Kohl. 2006. “Radical Transformation in Preparation for the Ministry.” International Congregational Journal 6, no. 1:39-51. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, (accessed December 2, 2009), 44.

[7] Kohl, “Radical Transformation in Preparation for the Ministry.”, 44-45.

[8] Tim Taylor, et al. 2007. “Examination of leadership practices of principals identified as servant leaders.” International Journal of Leadership in Education 10, no. 4:401-419. Academic Search complete, EBSCOhost (accessed December 2, 2009), 415.

[9] Ibid, 416.

[10] Spears and Lawrence, Focus on Leadership: Servant-leadership for the Twenty-first Century, 89.

[11] Henri J.M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989), 63.

[12] John C. Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc, 1998), 219.

[13] Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, 221.

The Week in Review

2010-04-11T06:35:00.000-05:00

Complaining turns an 11 day trip into 40 years

The LORD replied, "I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times- not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: "How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But you—your bodies will fall in this desert. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.' I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die." – Numbers 14:20-35

Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in." – Joshua 6:1-5

These two scriptures show us the difference between what happens to ungrateful, complaining people and those that are grateful and obey God. In the first scripture, the children of Israel were complaining about everything. Do you get tired of people that never have anything positive to say about anything? What do you think God must feel when we refuse to be grateful for all the many blessed things he does for our lives? Because of their complaining, which in fact leads to having an ungrateful heart, which leads to a disobedient heart, God tells them that they will never enter the promise land. Their complaining and ungrateful spirit led them to be disobedient, which made them lose the things God had for them. So for 40 years they have to wonder until all those 20 years and older die off. The trip to the promise land would have taken only 11 days, yet because of their complaining they took 40 years to make an 11 day trip. The number 40 represents cleansing or perfecting.

Think of other times when we see 40. It rained 40 days and nights to cleanse the earth of the disobedient people, Jesus fasted for 40 days before he began his work here on earth. If we go back briefly in the life of the Israelites we find out that they were slaves in Egypt after Joseph had died and the new pharaoh did not know about Joseph’s record. So the people cried out to God to hear about their problems. And he did. He chooses Moses to deliver the people from bondage. They are happy about that right? No they complained that Moses messed things up because their task got harder before they were delivered. Well they were finally delivered and set free to leave Egypt, they are happy right? Wrong they complained that Moses had brought them out to the desert to die. God provided food for them and surely they were grateful for that right, wrong again. They complained that they needed meat, so God gave them meat, and we can all say it together, they complained about that. They complained when they were in bondage and they complained when they were free. They complain, they complained and they complained some more. They complained so much that they missed out on the blessing that God had for them. What’s the message for us today? Have you asked God to do something for you? You cried out and asked him to help you in some situation. Maybe to help you get to school and he did, but now you are complaining because you don’t like the arrangements, or the food, or some such thing. Have you asked God for a job and he gave it to you, but instead of being grateful, you complained that the pay isn’t good enough, or that you don’t like the people.

Let us learn today from the lives of the Israelites. If you don’t want to be on the outside looking at the blessings that God has for you, let’s learn to be grateful for everything. Yes, even when things seem to be going wrong, let’s be thankful if only for the fact things are not worse. The key message for us today is to understand that grumbling and complaining sets you up to miss the blessings that God has for you. The main reason, because you do not take the time to be thankful for what you already have. The Israelites were so focused on what they didn’t have, that they forget the miracles they were right in the midst of. The plagues that fell upon Egypt because of them, the parting of the Red sea, the pillar of fire and the cloud that guided them daily. They forgot all about the wonderful things God was doing for them right then and they become self-focused and only saw what they did not have. Let us not be like the people and forget to take inventory of what God does for us every single moment of the day. When we grumble and are unappreciative of the great things that God does for us, we often will find ourselves in a place of disobedience. This will cause you to find yourselves going around and around in circles never getting to the place that God wants for you because you have become a complainer and a grumbler. Why take a 40 year trip and never reach what God has for you, when you can be obedient and find yourself making the trip much faster and then receiving the reward.

Do you want to take the11 day route or the 40 year one, and miss your destination? If we are seeking God to do something wonderful in our lives, then we need to start this day, and at this moment being grateful to what God has and is doing for us. When we make that decision to place ourselves on the right path of making our journey into the place that God promised for us, we can see the realization of that come to be in our lives. Instead of being in an endless routine of going around and around with nothing to show afterwards, go in the path God has that will cause walls to fall down for you so that you can go in and enter your land. God has a place just for you and me, but we have to follow God’s direction to get there.

In the second scripture about Joshua, God tells them to walk around Jericho for 7 days and then the wall will fall down and they can go in and conquer the land. You might remember from the scripture from the book of Numbers that God said he would only allow two people to be able to go in and receive of the land he had promised. Those two people were Caleb and Joshua was the other. Joshua not only was able to go into the Promised Land, he was now the new leader of Israel for Moses too did not go into the new land. If you take the time to read the entire book of Joshua you will find some very interesting points. When Joshua was obedient and listened to God, the people were blessed and victorious, when Joshua did not consult God, they had problems. Joshua is faced with how to go into the city of Jericho and take what God has promised to the people.

Joshua had a visitation from God, which simply means God spoke to Joshua on how to conquer the city. He told Joshua to walk around the city walls and for seven days they did that. On the last day, the seventh day they were to walk around the city seven times. Seven is a number that stands for completion. They were told to walk around seven days, then seven times on the seventy day and they also had seven priest. Seven was also the number of years that someone would be released from their debt; it was a year of jubilee. Another example of seven in the Bible is that the earth was completed and the Lord rested on the seventh day when his work was completed. At the final time they were to blow the trumpets, and shout with a loud voice and the walls would fall down. We do not know what they shouted, but whatever the actual words were, their shout was a “victory shout”. It was a shout of praise. Did you know that just as a spirit of complaining causes you to miss your victory that a shout of praise brings down the walls that stand against you going in and possession the land God has for you? I find the contrast between these two scriptures interesting. One we have people circling a land for 40 years to know they will never go in and possess it. The other we have people circling a wall (that seemed like a mountain to overcome) for seven days to possess the promises of God. 40 years of circling was needed to purify the people of their complaining spirit, and seven was needed to complete the process, to set them free to obtain their promise. So what is the lesson for us today? If we are going to be victorious in our lives, we have to be willing to do some things.

First we have to be willing to follow God’s instructions even if it seems unusual. How strange must it have been for the people to keep walking around a wall and simply expecting it to fall down? Yet they did not complain like their forefathers. Secondly, we have to follow those instructions with God leading the way and worshipping him through it all. The ark was always in the midst of the people, but because of their complaining, they forgot about the power of God. Joshua and the people trusted God’s power as they followed his instruction without crumbling and complaining. Which leads to the third way we have success in our lives, we have to be grateful. We have to be grateful for what God is doing and will do in our lives. And if you find yourself “circling” a wall or a mountain, don’t complain. In fact use it as an opportunity to learn. I bet when those Israelites finished going around that wall they knew every weak spot, every place where the mortar was missing and probably that big wall began to look less scary and insurmountable because they had examined it so closely. So today, let us be grateful no matter what we find ourselves facing. Let’s pray today for God to help us to be thankful and in doing so, we appreciate his leading and we commit to following with praise so our walls can come falling down and allowing us entrance into the areas God has for us. If you don’t want to miss what God has for you, then follow as Joshua did. They followed as God gave and because of it, the walls came falling down.

The Week in Review

2010-04-11T05:00:00.001-05:00

Servant Leadership – Purpose for Today, Impact for Tomorrow (part 3)

Written by Minister Jewel D. Williams

Written December 2009

Characteristics of a Servant Leader

After examination of what the Bible contributes to the understanding of servant leadership, it logically leads to the next step, which is to ask how does the biblical example of servant leadership present itself today in the leadership of an organization?

Woolfe mentioned that there are cynics that believe the “Golden Rules” have no place in business. In fact Woolfe writes, “They argue that the real ‘Golden Rules’ of business are ‘Them that has the gold makes the rules,’ and ‘Do unto others before they can do unto you.’”[1] He further affirms that a number of modern business leaders have found that without compassion and kindness to their employees, customers and suppliers, that short-term results do not last for the long-term. The workplace becomes a mechanistic environment where the employees become discouraged, performance lags, many “retire on the job” or become bitter and others go looking for a more human environment (Woolfe 2002, 50).

One can ascertain from Woolfe’s writing that while there are some that are not comfortable looking at leadership from the “servant leader” perspective, the results are undeniable when these Christ-like characteristics are lived out in the life of the leader. Where then does the leader start in developing a servant leadership style? Caruso and Salovey posit, “Developing others forces leaders to ask, ‘Who does a leader serve?’ Does the leader serve him- or herself first, or the needs of his or her team, shareholders and customers?”[2]

James M. George, one of the contributing writers to John MacArthur’s book, Pastoral Ministry: How to Shepherd Biblically writers about the character of a leader. “The Bible says much about what a leader is to be than it does about what he is to do…if he does not meet qualifications of biblical morality, he is unfit to be a leader in God’s church.”[3] George argues that the minister is far more important than what he is able to do. In the long run it is more about who one is, more so that what one can do (MacArthur 2005, 90).

Joseph M. Stowell in his book, Shepherding the Church: Effective Spiritual Leadership in a Changing Culture agrees with George’s stand about the character of the person in leadership. “…we who are called to spiritual leadership need to expect more of ourselves and hold ourselves accountable to scriptural standards rather than societal opinions. The biblical perspective on effectiveness in leadership consistently regards character as the essential prerequisite.”[4] Stowell encourages spiritual leaders (but this wisdom can be used by all leaders) to be more concerned with their character. Additionally he states, “This is a world where it’s not what you are as a person that counts, but it’s what title you hold, what floor your office is on, and what your business card looks like.”[5] Segil, Goldsmith and Belasco add additional insight when they state, “Getting things done is important for manger performance, but doesn’t doing mundane things need to be in balance with our private lives? As a leader, you also need to be able to be yourself.”[6] They concluded from their research that leaders are not different from what they do. In their research they found that successful leaders do things in harmony with who they feel they are. They reconcile private and work life. “This is not easy, but the ‘servant leader’ doesn’t use his or her ascribed status only to help people achieve, he or she also uses it to balance family life and business.”[7]

What has been discussed thus far? A servant leader does not hold to the standard that it is every man for himself as positioned by Woolfe. The Servant leader’s character is not one that only affects his work, but it also is part of his every day life. The character of a servant leader is bigger than what he does, it is also who he is as stated by Stowell and George. This leadership style has a moral application that can be seen throughout the pages of the Bible. The servant leader influences others by his character and this is true both in the church as well as in the work environment. If a leader is uncaring, her or she cannot expect to have employees that care. Stowell states it this way, “A critical shepherd will foster a critical flock.”[8]

What are the characteristics of a servant leader and how are they developed? Burke and Cooper pose that leadership development and character development are one and the same. Character can be developed leading to habits and behaviors that result in one being a servant leader (Burke and Cooper, 2006, 14). “Servant leaders make a commitment to be the best they can be…Servant leaders gain their influence over others through their authority not their power.”[9]

Spears submits a list of ten characteristics and how they appear in the life of the servant leader. Spears list was extracted from Greenleaf’s original writings. These characteristics are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people and building community (Spears 2004, 8-9).

Listening. A servant leader listens intently to others. The servant leader seeks to identify the will of the group and helps clarify that will. Empathy. The servant leader strives to understand and empathize with others. People need to be accepted and a servant leader does that. Healing. One of the great strengths of the servant leader is the potential for healing one’s self as well as others. Servant leaders recognize they have the opportunity to help others reach wholeness. Awareness. General awareness, as well as self-awareness helps to strengthen the servant leader. Awareness also helps the leader understand issues involving ethics and value. Persuasion. A servant leader’s primary reliance is on persuasion rather than positional authority in making decision. He seeks to convince others rather than coerce compliance. Conceptualization. Servant leaders seek to nurture their ability to dream. The ability to look at a problem from a conceptualizing perspective means the leader must think beyond the day-to-day realities. Foresight. This characteristic allows the servant leader to understand the lessons from the past, the realities of the present and the likely consequences of a decision for the future. Stewardship. Servant leadership, like stewardship, assumes a commitment to serving the needs of others. It also uses openness and persuasion rather than control. Commitment to the growth of people. Servant leaders believe people have an intrinsic value beyond their tangible contributions to work. The servant leader recognizes the tremendous responsibility to do everything possible to nurture the growth of employees. Building community. Servant leaders realize that much has been lost in recent human history as a result of the shift from local communities to large institutions as the primary source where lives are shaped.

Manz remarks about the humility of the servant leader when he states, “No longer are they the king or queen of the hill, or do they dominate the spotlight…Being a humble servant is the path to greatness that Jesus points to.”[10] These few sources show an overarching theme that a servant leader is a one that seeks to serve others through a humbling of ones on self. After examination of the character of a servant leader, the next step is to examine the goals of a servant leader and that is what this writing now addresses (come back next week for the next installment, FUTURE GOALS OF A SERVANT LEADER).

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[1] Woolfe, The Bible on Leadership: From Moses to Matthew: Management Lessons for Contemporary Leaders, 50.

[2] Caruso and Salovey, The Emotionally Intelligent Manger: How to Develop and Use the Four Key Emotional Skills of Leadership, 203.

[3] John MacArthur, Pastoral Ministry: How to Shepherd Biblically (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2005), 90.

[4] Joseph M. Stowell, Shepherding the Church: Effective Spiritual Leadership in a Changing Culture (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994), 148.

[5] Ibid, 149.

[6] Segil, Goldsmith and Belasco, Partnering: The New Face of Leadership, 213.

[7] Ibid, 214.

[8] Stowell, Shepherding the Church: Effective Spiritual Leadership in a Changing Culture, 164.

[9] Burke and Cooper, Inspiring Leaders, 14.

[10] Manz, Leadership Wisdom of Jesus: Practical Lesson for Today, 119.

Words of Encouragement

2010-04-05T05:00:00.003-05:00

What are you talking about?

You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit. You speak continually against your brother and slander your own mother's son. These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether [a] like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face. - Psalm 50:19-21

I'm sitting here at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, before Easter preparing this message. I had a heaviness upon my heart because of some of the things I have been hearing lately regarding the children of God. Why do we speak evil of one another? Why do we go on the job, into the church and other places and speak bad about one another? I have people asking for prayer because of the things being done to them. The problem is these "people" are not necessarily the unsaved but those that call themselves children of the most High God.

Do you work with a another Christian brother and sister but you refuse to treat them with respect? You do not speak well of them when you talk to others about them? You accuse them of things that really you do not have a clue is true or not? Do you gossip about the people you sit next to at church or talk about their "issues" when you shouldn't? Then guess what, that is evil speaking. It is evil speaking not because I said so, but because God has admonished us to encourage one another and to watch our mouth.

How do you know if you are guilty of this? Let's look at a few points:

1. When you speak about someone, is what you say good or bad? - If the only thing you can say about a person is something negative, then you need to change what you are saying.

2. Do you feel you are justified about what you say regarding a person? - If you say things about a person and you have a sense of being better than that person, I need to warn you. God's command is that we love one another. That means we do not treat people right only because we feel they are our equal or better than us. We are even to treat those that we may feel do not live up to our standards right. Besides, who are we to determine where a person stands? If Christ was willing to die so that all men could have the opportunity to be with him, who are we to say that someone is unworthy of our respect and good treatment?

3. Does it make you feel good to be able to point out others faults and flaws? - Many people do not understand that when they have a need to talk about or point out others flaws it is really because of their own insecurities within themselves. Oh, they hide it well. They may even be over-achievers. On the outside they may look polished and on top of their game. Yet inside, they are hurt, broken and bitter because of past things in their lives. They often find some relief by releasing it on others.

So what's the point? The point is this, like the scripture writer, I could no longer be silent. And can I say today that we have been too silent when we see these kinds of things going on. We see other believers on our jobs that do not treat others right, and we simply just shake our heads at them or worse we give them a listening ear. Today I challenge someone that if you work with or go to church with someone that always has something negative to say, that in love you let them know you will not listen anymore.

I remember once when I went to a banquet. One of the sisters at the table was talking negative non-stop. She had something negative to say about the event, the people and how slow the food was in coming. A minister at the table smilled at her and said in a very sweet voice, well you know, we are just going to be thankful. We have so much to be thankful for that we are not going to complain about any of that. I saw as she spoke that complaining, evil speaking spirit just dry up.

What if you are the one that speaks evil, complains? If you really want to change you can. How do you do it?

1. Seek God's forgiveness. - The first thing you have to do is ask God to forgive you for using your words to hurt and not to heal.

2. Change your mind. - What comes from your mouth did not start first with your lips. The scripture tells us to think on things that are pure, lovely and of a good report. My mother said it another way, if you can't think of anything nice to say, then don't say anything. As believers we need to change what we think. Sometimes that calls for us to examine our own hearts. Are you lashing out with your tongue because of your own hurts, insecurities?

3. Pray, it changes things. - You cannot change who you are without the help of the Lord. Daily you need to seek God to help you change those things that need to be changed within your heart. You also need to ask him to reveal to you who you are. When he does, then ask him to help you change those things that are not pleasing to him.

4. Make the commitment. - Nothing really matters if you have not made up in your heart that what God shows you and what you see yourself doing, you will change. No one will make you change and no one can do the work for you. You and I have to determine in our hearts that we will seek excellent service for God, otherwise we will not do it.

I pray for us this month that we determine to change every conversation we have. Ask yourself with each conversation you have this month, "WILL GOD BE PLEASED WITH WHAT I'M SAYING". or "IF I WAS SAYING THIS TO JESUS, HOW WOULD HE RESPOND TO ME?"

Prayer: Lord, today we seek you to help us speak words that will bring life, not death. Lord help us to be an encourage to one another. Let us show true love to each other. Help us stop tearing each other down and therefore, having a poor witness before this world. Lord I pray that all of your children will be convicted in their hearts to season their words with love and to speak with the humble understanding that every word we speak you hear them. Help us to be pleasing in your sight, amen.

The Week in Review

2010-04-04T05:01:00.014-05:00

IT IS FINISHED

This was presented one Good Friday as the Seven Last Words of Christ was shared. I pray you receive a reminder about the wonderful gift we received in Christ as we draw closer to the Resurrection (Easter) season. God bless.

John 19:30 “When Jesus therefore had receive the vinegar, he said It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”

I asked myself this question, “What did Jesus finish?” Before time as we understand it, before the very first man, God had a mission in place for his son. God’s mission was to redeem sinful man back into a right relationship with him through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross, paying for all of our transgressions. Therefore God originated the mission that Jesus came to fulfill. However, Jesus’ purpose did not start the day he was born, but his birth began the process of fulfillment, of finishing the mission.

It is imperative for us to understand that Jesus when he calls out, “it is finished”, that he finished everything required of him. He did not finish 50% of the job, or 99.9%, but 100%.

Jesus finished or fulfilled the prophetic words that pointed to him. He is the Lamb of God, The Son of man, the bread of life, the living bread, the light of the world, the gate for the sheep, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth and the life. He is the counselor; he is the true vine and so much more.

Jesus also finished any doubt about who he was and still is. He showed his authority over illness and diseases, over blindness, and leprosy, over sin and demons, over nature, over history, over space, over time and the future, over the wind and the water, over death, over Satan and even over his own future.

When he states it is finished, he is also saying, there is nothing left to be done, I have done it all, for now and forever more. And nothing was able to keep him from finishing his mission. Mockers, liars, betrayers, the power of men, nor physical pain. Not even the feeling of separation from his father and the emotional and spiritual pain that entailed, kept him from finishing his mission. Even when he called out like David did in Psalm 22:1, My God, My God, why have thou forsaken me?!”

Nothing stopped Jesus from calling out from the cross it is finished. And his words serve to let us know two things. First he finished everything the Father told him to and in the manner that God wanted it done. He did not do things his way, but Gods way. He was obedient to ALL that the Father asked of him. We know this because he said, not my will, but thou will be done, when he asked for the cup to be removed. And then secondly his words serve as a call to all believers to come after him.

What do you and I need to finish? Before you or I were born, God knew that we would be here this very moment this very day, and he had a mission ready for us to fulfill, to finish. He is calling us to be a living sacrifice and pick up our cross and follow his son. He is calling us to fulfill our mission not 50%, not 99 ½% but 100%. This can be done because it is not in ourselves that we do it. Jesus came to show us how to do it and his spirit will equipped us to do it. We can finish our mission in spite of mockers, liars, betrayers or nay Sayers. We can finish our mission even through the physical agony. Even through the emotional and spiritual pain, when we feel like calling out in a loud voice and saying, My God, My God why have thou forsaken me?!” When we want to put down our cross because it seems to hard to bear, yet we can carry on, because God’s spirit is there to lift the weight of it when it feels too heavy. Why? So that when you or I get to the end of our journey with a shout of victory we can say, It is finished!

And let us not forget this, Jesus finished his mission but he also took the time to take others by the hand and teach them how to follow after him, as he followed after his father. So as you and I set out to fulfill our mission, let us not forget to grab someone by the hand and teach them how to follow after Jesus, who did the father’s will. So we can say as Jesus did, not a saying of despair or one of failure, but in a shout of victory “It is finished”.

The Week in Review

2010-04-04T05:00:00.001-05:00

Servant Leadership – Purpose for Today, Impact for Tomorrow (part 2)

Written by Minister Jewel D. Williams

Written December 2009

Biblical Examples of Servant Leadership

It has been established that a servant leader must be one that is willing to serve others. David S. Young, author of the book Servant Leadership for Church Renewal: Shepherds By the Living Springs, explains how servant leadership should be viewed from the Christian perspective. He states “The best leaders are servants – servants of God and servants of the people. To be a leader, one must first be a servant.”[1] Young presents seven characteristics of a servant leader from the Servant Songs in second Isaiah. He states a servant leader first feels a sense of calling (Isa. 40:2). The second trait of the servant leader is seen in the personal and humble manner of the leader. “The Servant experiences internal change to humility and does not cry aloud in public, making a big scene (Isa. 42:3).”[2] Third, the servant leader leads from a heart of peace. Much of leadership is connecting with what happens within people, that a leader must be able to “discern” or have discerning gifts (Young 1999, 33).

The fourth trait is one of clear vision. “All through the Servant Songs in Second Isaiah, we see the tremendous vision of one called by God for a purpose, to establish justice and a right-ordered society (Isa 49:5 GNB).”[3] The fifth trait Young presents from the scripture is a servant-leader must listen. “In the third song, the Lord actually opens the servant’s ear every morning. Servanthood originates with attentiveness to God (Isa. 40:4b, NRSV).”[4] The sixth trait is that the servant does not have a dazzling appearance. The servant is chosen for good inner qualities rather than outward appearance (Young 1999, 35). The seventh trait builds on the other six. The servant leader as presented by Young experiences power in weakness (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9; 4:7). Young concludes by stating, “People who are willing servants are key in deliverance and renewal because they lift the spirits of others as they open themselves to God. They mediate the covenant of God through their very presence…Thus our mission is defined.”[5]

Lorin Woolfe presents the biblical basis for servant leadership. In the book, The Bible on Leadership: From Moses to Matthew: Management Lessons for Contemporary Leaders lists the biblical characteristics of a servant leader. The first of the biblical examples is honesty and integrity (Prov. 24:26; Ps.7:8). Woolfe writes, “…if you have failed to back them up in the past (or even if you simply lack a track record of trust and honesty), no one is going to line up to follow you through a deep mud puddle, let alone the Red Sea.”[6] Moses’ integrity helped him in leading the people of God.

Woolfe mentions purpose next (2 Cor. 4:16; Acts 20:22). “Noah, a novice shipbuilder if ever there was one, was spurred on by an ennobling purpose…to save enough of the sinful world so that is could continue to survive after the most catastrophic natural disaster it had ever experienced.”[7] Abraham had a purpose, to unify the entire universe. Moses’ goal was to lead the Hebrews out of Egyptian slavery. Woolfe mentions kindness and compassion (Job 29:16; Dan. 4:27). Then he presents communication. “A leader who cannot communicate clearly, powerfully, and succinctly barely qualifies as a leader.”[8] Woolfe presents other examples of communication to consider such as, the Sermon on the Mount, the protests of the prophets against idol-worship, Moses’ exhortation to the Israelites as he led them through the desert and the delivery of the Ten Commandments (Woolfe 2002, 87). “Without frequent and appropriate communication of overarching ideas, mission, and vision, Judaism or Christianity would not exist today.”[9]

The other biblical examples include performance management (Prov. 12:1; Acts 20:18), team development (1 Cor. 12:12, Prov. 27:17), courage (Ezek. 2:6; Joshua 1:9), justice and fairness (Ps. 106:3; Amos 5:24), and finally leadership development (1 Kings 1:47, Deut. 3:27-28) (Woolfe 2002, 109-195). Woolfe posits, “Cynics believe that Jesus’ words, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’ are an ideal that belongs only in an ‘ideal environment,’ such as a Sunday School or Monastery.”[10] Truly this is an unusual idea that one should lead the way the Bible sets forth, yet many modern leaders have been able to permeate their workplaces with kindness and compassion without them sacrificing the achievement of their business goals (Woolfe 2002, 50). The servant leader understands the principle of reaping what is sown. The servant leader knows how he invest in people today, determines the results he will receive tomorrow. If he is uncaring, he cannot expect to have people that care about his vision. An apparent question is how does the biblical example of leadership express itself in the characteristics of today’s servant leader? (Come back next week for the third installment and the section titled, “Characteristics of a Servant Leader”)

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[1] David S. Young, Servant Leadership for Church Renewal: Shepherds By the Living Springs (Scottdale: Herald Press, 1999), 32-33.

[2] Young, Servant Leadership for Church Renewal: Shepherds By the Living Springs, 33.

[3] Ibid, 34.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Young, Servant Leadership for Church Renewal: Shepherds by the Living Springs, 36-37.

[6] Lorin Woolfe, The Bible On Leadership: From Moses to Matthew: Management Lessons for Contemporary Leaders (New York: AMACOM Books, 2002), 2.

[7] Ibid, 24.

[8] Ibid, 87.

[9] Ibid, 88.

[10] Woolfe, The Bible on Leadership From Moses to Matthew: Management Lessons for Contemporary Leaders, 50.

The Week in Review

2010-03-28T05:00:00.001-05:00

Servant Leadership – Purpose for Today, Impact for Tomorrow

Written by Minister Jewel D. Williams

Written December 2009

Introduction

Ronald J. Burke and Carl L. Cooper in their book, Inspiring Leaders ask the question, what do leaders do? Their response is, “Leaders have two main activities: Create an agenda for change (vision and strategy) and build a strong implementation network (a strong motivated core group).”[1] A leader’s ability to create change is influenced by his or her leadership style, which can facilitate the motivation of others to embrace the vision and strategy for change. This writing will examine the leadership style of the servant leader.

Larraine Segil, Marshall Goldsmith and James A. Belasco in their book, Partnering: The New Face of Leadership, posit, “The concept of ‘servant leadership’ has become very popular in the last few years. As Confucius wrote, ‘To become the master, you must become the servant of all.’”[2] Servant leadership conveys the understanding that one must be willing to serve others in order to truly institute one’s power. This writing will define what it means to be a servant leader from a biblical perspective. Furthermore, it is this writer’s intent to explain the characteristics and the goals of the servant leader to understand how this impacts organizations today and how it will influence organizations for tomorrow.

What is Servant Leadership?

Charles C. Manz, writer of the book, Leadership Wisdom of Jesus: Practical Lessons for Today, defines what servant means. “Being a servant is fairly straightforward: look for others’ needs and try to help meet them. The Golden Rule – do to others as you would have them do to you.”[3] The concept of a servant leader is not a new one; it first appeared in the Bible, but how did the concept appear in the business world?

Authors, Larry C. Spears and Michele Lawrence of the book, Focus On Leadership: Servant-leadership for the Twenty-first Century, elucidate how the term began. Robert K. Greenleaf coined this term in an essay he wrote in 1970 called “The Servant as Leader”. “Since then, the servant-leader concept has had a deep and lasting influence on many modern leadership theories and practices.”[4] Spears and Lawrence further explain Greenleaf’s concept when they write, “Becoming a servant-leader begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.”

Authors David Caruso and Peter Salovey of the book, The Emotionally Intelligent Manger: How to Develop and use the Four Key Emotional Skills of Leadership, explain the emotional make up of a servant leader. “We have found that those higher in emotional intelligence tend to be more interested in developing and helping people.”[5] The finding that emotional intelligence contributes to one becoming a servant leader substantiates the necessity for one to understand the needs of others and utilize that understanding to lead.

Larry Spear in an article titled, “Practicing Servant-Leadership” further explicates Greenleaf’s servant leadership concept. “True leadership emerges from those whose primary motivation is a deep desire to help others.”[6] Spear’s further explains that Greenleaf felt a need for a better approach to leadership, “one that would put serving others – including employees, customers, and community – as the number one priority.”[7]

So what is servant leadership? Servant leadership emphasizes increased service to others, which is a holistic approach to work, promoting a sense of community and the sharing of power in decision-making. A servant leader is emotionally motivated to care for others. This is in line with what God requires from his children that they care for one another. God calls his children to be “emotionally intelligent” and make others a priority.

Where can an individual obtain information pertaining to what makes one a servant leader? There are unquestionably many writers that are willing to lend their understanding to this subject, however this writing turns first to another source, the Bible (come back next week for the next installment).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1]Ronald J. Burke and Cary L. Cooper, Inspiring Leaders (New York: Taylor & Francis Routledge, 2006), 8.

[2] Larraine Segil, Marshall Goldsmith and James A. Belasco, Partnering: The New Face of Leadership (New York: AMACOM Books, 2003), 253.

[3] Charles C. Manz, Leadership Wisdom of Jesus: Practical Lessons for Today (San Francisco: Berkeley Berrett Koehler, 2005), 117.

[4] Larry C. Spears and Michele Lawrence, Focus On Leadership: Servant-leadership for the Twenty-first Century (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002), 18.

[5] David Caruso and Peter Salovey, The Emotionally Intelligent Manager: How to Develop and Use the Four Key Emotional Skills in Leadership (San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004), 203.

[6] Larry C. Spears, “Practicing Servant-Leadership.” Leader to Leader 2004, no. 34:7-11. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed December 2, 2009), 8.

[7] Ibid.

The Week in Review

2010-03-28T04:59:00.002-05:00

WHERE ARE WE GOING?

Poem Written by Minister Jewel D. Williams

Do you know where we’re going?

Have you any idea where this road is leading?

Sometimes this path gets lonely.

There’s no one around to talk to,

or that understands the things you do.

Every now and then,

you meet a friendly face.

Sometimes this road has deep drops and tall mountains.

They slow you down, but God is always there directing your path.

Sometimes the road gets long,

the further you go, the longer it gets.

That’s okay, you’ll reach your destiny in do time.

You lose those that didn’t want to make the journey,

they get smaller and smaller in the horizon behind you,

until they aren’t there at all.

Sometimes you get tired on this journey.

God is your fueling station,

ready to replenish your strength so you can go on.

Where are we going?

Have you any idea where this road is leading?

This is the path of life,

the path God gave you to take.

It’s hard at times, but it has its rewards.

For when we reach our destiny,

God is standing at the paths end,

welcoming his faithful travelers to there heavenly home.

So journey on weary traveler, journey on.

The Week in Review

2010-03-14T08:01:00.001-05:00

Written by Minister Jewel D. Williams

Christian Education Ministry & Discipleship (part 3)

On September 29, 2006

One key finding of faith development is that it has the potential to grow throughout adulthood. Adult activities must be created to challenge an individual’s faith to grow. The development of faith is nurtured by encouraging Christians to understand and interact with other’s thoughts, feelings and behavior. The author Dennis Dirks, one of the contributing authors to the book, Introducing Christian Education: Foundations for the Twenty-first Century, states, “The insights of faith development theory have much to contribute to the Christian leader and the process of Christian education. Its principles enlarge our understanding of the human psychological aspects of spiritual development” (83). With all of these theories, there are positive aspects that can be used to help in teaching, however there are also weaknesses and limitations. The Bible must be the final determining factor as to how development of faith is measured. This must be based on sound doctrine and biblical imperatives.

I must determine how does this information help me to guide and instruct individuals? I must determine what my purpose and goal of teaching is in light of this new learning. I must find what my intended leadership style and teaching style is in light of this new learning. Every person is unique in the way they learn and this is true for how people lead others. It is important for one to review their personal style for its strengths and weaknesses. One should continue to nurture the strengths in their leadership style. The weaknesses should be evaluated to determine what needs to be changed and how to accomplish that task.

One step I took to better my ability to lead is to have a mentor that has gone this way before to help me. I have a spiritually healthy mentor. My mentor, Reverend Cynthia Thomas, has encouraged me just as Paul encouraged Timothy. “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe” (1 Timothy 4:12).

As a leader one must first ensure their life is an example of Christian character. In teaching others, we must first model to them what is acceptable behavior. Joseph M. Stowell, the author of Shepherding the Church states, “First on the list is his speech – what he says about other people, what he says to people, what he is not willing to say, and what he is willing to courageously proclaim” (111). It is important that my speech is godly speech. It is also important that I know when to speak and when to be quiet. People are looking for people that are trustworthy to share their personal concerns and situations. If they feel you are a busybody, they will not trust you with their information. I try to make sure that even when requesting prayer for someone, I do not give more information than is needed so as not to release sensitive information that was shared with me. As the leader of a women’s cell group, I must show myself trustworthy if I am to have those I lead trust in me. The women share very personal things about their lives and relationships. They must feel comfortable to share without fearing they will hear that which they shared being gossiped about from others.

I also believe it is vital to mentor and show others how to live for Christ. We cannot expect a new believer to understand how to walk until they are taught how. The next step is to show them how to duplicate the process. I believe this is missing in some of our churches. New believers are being led to believe all they have to do is “get saved” and that is all there is. This is simply the beginning of the process, not the end. Robert E. Coleman, the author of The Master Plan of Evangelism states, “Surely if the pattern of Jesus at this point means anything at all, it teaches that the first duty of a church leadership is to see to it that a foundation is laid in the beginning on which can be built an effective and continuing evangelistic ministry to the multitudes” (36).

I believe that no amount of programs or activities will take the place of well-trained believers. Jesus calls us to disciple others. This is the vital point of my leadership style. Whether it is in my Sunday school class, Junior Church or as the leader of a Cell group, I want to ensure all are trained in righteousness. I also understand that others will not follow my lead, if I am not doing what I am asking of them. I believe it is important to lead by example. This is what Jesus did with his disciples.

Jesus took aside his twelve disciples and showed them how to pray, how to “be” what he was calling for them to be. “It was an indispensable part of their training, which in turn they would have to transmit to others. One thing is certain. Unless they grasped the meaning of prayer, and learned how to practice it with consistency, not much would ever come from their lives” (Coleman, 72). If I want my students to know how important prayer is, I must show it to them. I also must teach them why prayer is vital to their lives.

I am still developing my style of leadership, but on these points I believe I am following Jesus’ example, as he would call for me to. I am first an example to those that I lead. I show them by my life how important it is to study and live the word. I also stress to those I lead the importance of sharing with others. I give them assignments that allow them to test the things they have learned. I believe this is in line with what Jesus did. He taught his disciples and then he sent them to do what they had learned. I can also take the new learning and use it to see if I am preparing lessons that are appropriate for the age group I am teaching. Am I being aware of the different learning styles and making sure all are receiving the information in a way that is understandable by them?

My desire is to be a leader that is in line with the example given through the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus was creative in his messages. He used things that people were familiar with to share important messages. I must be willing to do the same. I must be creative in my teaching style and be willing to use the things that are common to people to explain the deeper things. Jesus calls us to follow him as he followed after his Father. So I call others to follow me, as I follow after Jesus with the intention of going into the world and preaching the Gospel. Understanding ones purpose and setting goals to obtain that purpose is the first step to realization. After the purpose is understood, one must then understand and learn how to accomplish this goal. Once one has developed the strategies to accomplishing the how, it is time to understand one’s personal commitment and dedication to the purposes. When one has completed that task, it is with the help of the Holy Spirit that one can be a vital contributor to the mission of the church, which is to reach the lost and equip the saved.

Work Cited

Anthony, Michael J, et. al. Introducing Christian Education: Foundations for the Twenty-first Century. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005.

Coleman, Robert E. The Master Plan of Evangelism. Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell Company, 2005.

McBride, Neal F. How To Lead Small Groups. Colorado Springs, Colorado: Navpress, 1990.

Mintools.com/Christian Education Ministry Overview. 2006. 14 September 2006.
http://www.mintools.com/christian-education.htm.

Mintools.com/Christian Education Ministry Philosophy. 2006. 14 September 2006.
http://www.mintools.com/christian-education-2.htm.

Rheenen, Gailyn Van. Biblical Foundations & Contemporary Strategies: Missions. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996.

Stowell, Joseph M. Shepherding the Church. Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1997.

Thompson, Frank Charles, D.D., PH.D. The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, 5th ed. Indianapolis, IN: B. B. Kirkbridge Bible Co., Inc., 1988.

The Week in Review

2010-03-14T08:00:00.001-05:00

Minister Jewel D. Williams

World Religions and Cults (part 2 of 2)

Written on June 4, 2007

The Bible and The Koran: Are They the Same Truth?

They also do not believe that Jesus died therefore he was never raised. “What matters is that people thought that Jesus died, when he didn’t” (Emerick, 232). The Koran teaches that it is a falsehood against Mary, to say that Jesus has been put to death. The truth of Scripture does state that Jesus was crucified and was raised from the dead. “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him” (Romans 6:9).

Muslims and Christians also differ in their belief about eternal judgment. Emerick states, “Will there be Christians and Jews in Paradise? According to Islam the answer is yes. The Qur’an states that any follower of those religions who ‘believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right will have nothing to fear or regret.’ Does this mean that Islam accepts Christianity and Judaism as valid paths to salvation? Yes and no. The Islamic principle is that you will be judged by what you knew. If a person only knew about Christianity or Judaism or whatever and never heard of Islam, then God will take that into account on Judgment Day and judge the person fairly by it. If a person finds out about Islam, then it becomes incumbent upon him or her to accept it and leave behind the former religion. This is because Islam is considered to be God’s last and, therefore, most complete message to the world” (233-234).

It is also stated in this writing by the author, Abu-Hamdiyyah, “God instructs Muhammad in the Qur’an: Say: [Thus speaks God] O you creatures (servants) of Mine who committed excesses against your own selves, do not despair of God’s mercy, for God forgives all sins. It is He who is the forgiving One, the Merciful. Hence, turn towards your Lord and submit [your faces, direction] unto Him before the suffering [of death and resurrection] comes upon you, for then you will not be helped. (Surah 39: 53– 54) Reading the Qur’an, one gets the certainty that God will not wrong human beings on Judgment Day, but other than that we cannot circumscribe God’s actions; after all, He is Sovereign Subjectivity, as is clear from Surah 21: 23: ‘He is not accountable [to any one] for what He does, but He questions others for what they do.’” (120).

It is also stated by Fisher this way, “Basically, Islam says that what we experience in the afterlife is a revealing of our tendencies in this life. Our thoughts, actions, and moral qualities are turned into our outer reality. We awaken to our true nature, for it is displayed before us. For the just and merciful, the state after death is a Garden of Bliss. Those who say, ‘Our Lord is God…shall have all that your souls shall desire…A hospitable gift from One Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful!’ (Sura 41:30-32) (346).

This belief regarding judgment is vastly different from the Christian belief. While there is a time of judgment where all will stand before God, it is not based solely on self. Scripture does not agree that men that have done good deeds will receive a good reward. Salvation and its rewards are only given to those that have accepted Jesus Christ as savior and not by works, lest any one should boast. Those who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and submit their lives to him will enjoy the benefit of heaven; where there is no more sickness, sorrow, disease or death.

Scripture gives Jesus’ own words on his purpose in this world, “Doest thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and they that which see might be made blind…Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should not have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (John 9:35b-39, 41). Jesus was speaking here of his purpose to offer mankind lost to sin, the free gift of salvation. Yet, if one refused his offer, they would remain in their state of sinfulness and would be found guilty in the judgment. It is not based on one’s own trying to do what is right. These are simply a few areas of difference between the Muslim and Christian faith, to do a fuller comparison would call for more than can be covered in this short paper.

“Although Muslims also accept the Bible as a holy book, they believe that the Koran is the ultimate source of divine instruction and information. Many familiar biblical events and people, such as the creation, the flood, the Exodus, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, and Jesus, are also found in the Koran” (Bashir, 346-347). This would make one ask, why are they so different, after reading the last quote? There is a vital point to understand and it is stated, “The caveat is that all other religious books have had their integrity compromised, and therefore the job of the Qur’an is to correct the mistakes of previous scriptures. ‘These are the verses of the Book that make things clear.’ (Qur’an 12: 1) Islam does not accept the Bible that was created in the fourth century as being authentic revelation. The Qur’an accuses Christians and Jews of inventing their own scriptures and mixing them with the authentic words of the prophets” (Emerick, 214).

While Muslims accept some of the prophets, they do not accept that the Bible is accurate and therefore, it is rejected as the true word of God. This is what creates the greatest difference between the Muslim and the Christian, the accuracy of the Bible. It is what the Christian faith is founded on. So when the Muslim takes from the Word of God and adds to it or takes away from it, they are in fact calling down the curse of God. Revelation 22:18 reads, “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book”.

The Muslim and the Christian agree that there is one God, but it is in the application of faith that the differences are evident. Muslims believe they have the true word of Allah and that Christians are in error. Yet, as a believer, I am confident that God’s word is without error. When man is no more, God’s word will still endure. I end with this statement on inerrancy from the word of God, “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:24-25).

Cited Work

Abu-Hamdiyyah, Mohammad. Qur’an: An Introduction to its Message. New York, NY: Routledge, 2000.

Bashir, Shahzad. The New Book of Knowledge: Islam. Danbury, CT: Scholastic Library Publishing, Inc., 2006.

Emerick, Yahiya. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam. Indianapolis, IN: Alpha Books, 2001.

Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions, 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1997.

Thompson, Frank Charles, D.D., PH.D. The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, 5th ed. Indianapolis, IN: B. B. Kirkbridge Bible Co., Inc., 1988.

The Week in Review

2010-03-07T05:01:00.000-06:00

Written by Minister Jewel D. Williams

Christian Education Ministry & Discipleship (part 2)

On September 29, 2006

It is important also for the church to understand that if this great task is to be successful, all must be involved in the process. The resource Christian Education Ministry Overview states, “The Christian Education ministry of the church is not a one person job. It takes many people working at different levels and in different capacities…Listening to a sermon in the corporate worship service is not enough to facilitate true growth. Discipleship also needs to be happening on the personal level, one-on-one with fellow believers, in small groups, and in midsize groups. Each of these levels offers a different dynamic to the growth process” (Mintools.com, 1).

One of the strategies a church can examine is the use of small groups for example. Julie Gorman, one of the contributing authors from the book, Introducing Christian Education: Foundations for the Twenty-first Century states, “In the race to survive, many churches have responded to this phenomenon by developing small group programs with a specific focus on accomplishing biblical mandates…The challenge for the church is to find a way to integrate the benefits of small group ministry in such a way that it is done with theological integrity and programmatic quality” (176). The author Neal F. McBride in his book, How to Lead Small Groups, adds some fundamental input when he states, “Jesus Christ is pictured as the greatest small group leader in history. He is our model. Ephesians 4:1-2 (NIV) admonishes us, ‘Be imitators of God…and live a life of love.’” (15).

When a church has established programs and strategies, it must not forget the importance of understanding “who” they are teaching. It is important for a church to understand the beliefs regarding how people learn and grow in the Christian faith. The church must take the time to understand what effects cognitive, moral, and faith development have on the learning process. There are different learning styles one may utilize in teaching. All of these things must be considered when trying to teach in a way that is developmentally appropriate.

In the book, Introducing Christian Education: Foundations for the Twenty-first Century, the contributing author, Ellery Pullman states, “Piaget maintained that there are four major periods of cognitive development. Each period is age-related and has certain characteristics that permit various types of knowing and understanding” (68). According to the author, understanding these stages will help one better prepare for teaching different ages in an appropriate way. In the Sensorimotor Stage (0 – 2), for example, children learn about themselves and their environment through handling and experimenting with things around them. During the Preoperational Stage (2 – 7) children become more and more capable of thinking, using words to represent the objects and events they experience. The child’s imagination becomes more exposed during this stage. In the Concrete Operations Stage (7 – 11), the child develops the ability to think operationally. “An operation is a thought or mental action. Children are able to think more logically about their environment and execute mental operations that they previously had to carry out physically” (Pullman, 69).

The last of the stages, Formal Operations (11 – 15) is when children/youth are able to manipulate abstract ideas. Thought arises from a combination of maturing and experience. “A distinguishable feature of formal operational thought is the ability to think outside the box – to think of possibilities, not jus present reality” (Pullman 69). Understanding these stages, allows programming that is appropriate for each stage that will help the teacher meet the needs of the student. “There are several guidelines for applying Piaget’s concepts. First, the teaching of biblical concepts needs to focus on what learners at each stage can do and avoid what they cannot meaningfully understand. This implication needs to be understood very carefully, as recent research has shown that children in the preoperational and concrete operational stages can do more than initially believed by Piaget” (Pullman, 70).

The author’s James Riley Estep Jr. and Alvin W. Kuest, contributing writes in the book, Introducing Christian Education: Foundations for the Twenty-first Century states, “What is moral development? This question is often asked throughout society. Interest in the development of morals in children and adults has even reached into the arena of public education” (73). The authors inform the reader that the theories with the most impact on education have relied on cognitive development.

When theories are used in creating appropriate programs, the teacher has more tools available to them to provide what each group needs to grow. “Moral development is a critical concern for Christian educators, both in theory and practice. By gleaning insights from Scripture and the social sciences, we are better able to fashion a more complete understanding of moral development as well as provide more effective ministries in our local church… Understanding the development processes associated with moral development will allow us to be better educators in the classroom, in our Christian schools, and in our homes” (Estep, Jr. and Kuest, 81). (Come back next week for the next installment)

The Week in Review

2010-03-07T05:00:00.002-06:00

Minister Jewel D. Williams

World Religions and Cults

Written on June 4, 2007

The Bible and The Koran: Are They the Same Truth?

Today many believe that the God of the Bible is the same God of the Koran. This belief comes from the fact that Muslims worship one God and mistakenly individuals think the Muslim belief is in agreement with the Christian faith. It is important, however to compare what the Koran states alongside the Bible to see what each faith really believes and teaches. While they both believe in one God, that is where the similarities stop. When such beliefs as the Godhead, the deity of Jesus Christ, salvation, and eternal judgment are compared within each faith, one will see these religions are very different. This comparison will make it clear that the God of the Bible is not the same God of the Koran.

In the book, Living Religions, the author Mary Pat Fisher states, “the first sentence chanted in the ear of a traditional Muslim infant is the Shahadah – ‘La ilaha illa Allah’, Literally, it means ‘There is no god but God.’ Exoterically, the phrase supports absolute monotheism. As the Qur’an reveals in Sura 2:163, Your God is one God: There is no god but He, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.” (342). While this may seem to be in agreement with the Christian belief of one God, there is a vast different in the two understandings of the one God.

One difference is Islam’s rejections of the concept of the Trinity. In the book, Qur’an: An Introduction to Its Message, the author, Mohammad Abu-Hamdiyyah states, “In the words of Surah 112: Say: God is One, the Eternal God. He neither begat nor was begotten. And there is none equivalent to Him” (50). The Koran (Qur’an) misrepresents the teaching of Christianity regarding the Godhead, claiming that Christians believe in three Gods, Father, Mother and Son (20). In the book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam, the author, Yahiya J. Emerick states, “The Holy Spirit - Islam says that there is no Holy Spirit other than the angel Gabriel who has that nickname.” (233).

However, Christianity does not teach there are three gods, but one God with three distinct personalities, The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God speaks of himself in Genesis in the plural, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:26-27). The Scripture also speaks to Jesus being God, “Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).

Muslims do not believe this is accurate regarding Jesus, they do not believe he is God nor do they believe he is the Son of God, but a good prophet. “The Jewish prophets and Jesus all brought the same messages from God, Muslims believe. However, Qur’an teaches that God’s original messages have been added to and distorted by humans. For instance, Muslims do not accept the idea developed historically in Christianity that Jesus has the authority to pardon or atone for our sins…Muslims believe that Jesus prophesied to the coming of Muhammad when he promised that the paraclete (‘one who would be called to help the people’) would come to assist humanity after him” (Fisher, 330-340). When Jesus spoke of the paraclete, the “helper” he was speaking of the Holy Spirit that would guide individuals into all truth and equip them for the Christian life. Christianity believes Jesus is more than a prophet but he is the Son of God as well as one of the persons of the Triune God. Scripture states, “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” and also “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God:” (Matthew 17:5, Mark 1:1). These verses of Scripture clearly show the difference in beliefs.

Emerick writes, “The Qur’an puts it this way: ‘O Muhammad, We have sent revelations to you just as We sent them to Noah and the Prophets who came after him; We also sent revelations to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, his descendants, and to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron and Solomon. We revealed the Psalms to David. Revelations were also sent to those Messengers whom We have already mentioned to you and to those whose name We have not mentioned to you, and God spoke to Moses directly. All these Messengers conveyed good news to mankind and admonished them so that, after conveying the message through the Messengers, people would have no excuse to plead against God. Indeed, God is the Mighty, the Wise.’ (Qur’an 4: 163– 165)” (182). Here Muslims accept Jesus as one of many prophets, but not as the Son of God. The Christian faith accepts scripture where God declares Jesus as His Son, “So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.” (Hebrews 5:5). We also have God declaring this similar message when John baptizes Jesus, where he states this is my son in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17).

Another difference between these two religions is the belief regarding salvation. In The New Book of Knowledge encyclopedia, the contributing author, Shahzad Bashir states, “Islam teaches that each individual has a direct and personal relationship with God and that no intermediaries are required” (347). Emerick gives clarity to the belief about Jesus when he states, “So from the point of view of Islam, the Christian doctrine that Jesus is God is moot, because Jesus didn’t die anyway, and certainly not for the sins of humanity. Who was crucified on that fateful day? If anyone was executed, it may have been the man who betrayed Jesus. If he looked sort of like Jesus, in the confusion the Caucasian Romans may have grabbed him and killed him, thinking all Semites looked alike” (207). The Muslim then believes that salvation comes only through Allah and there is no need of someone to intercede on the behalf of sinful mankind. The Christian faith teaches that salvation comes through Jesus Christ. “Neither is there salvation in any other [than Jesus]: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, where by we must (my emphasis) be saved” (Acts 4:12). (Come back next week for the next installment.)

Words of Encouragement

2010-03-01T04:00:00.002-06:00

(are you ready to jump into life? What's holding you captive? Decide to be fearless today).

FEARLESS

(Message from Virginia Prayer Retreat - 2/2010)

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. – 1 John 4:18

What are you afraid of? There may be several different answers to this question.

Some are afraid of the dark, or of snakes or bugs. Some are afraid of those things they have no control over, such as illness or death. Some are afraid of doing something foolish in front of others, or looking bad. The underlying thing with all fear is a person’s inability to handle that fear and not knowing what the outcome might be, because of that fear. Fears are mainly related to what we think will happen. We are afraid of bugs because we think they will bite us and make us sick or hurt us. We are afraid of dogs because we think they may attack us. Some fears are based on previous experiences. If you were once attacked by a dog, now you are afraid of all dogs. So we are afraid or have fears of what we think may happen based on an event or situation.

There’s an acronym for fear. F=False E=evidence A=Appearing R=Real. Our fears are things that immobilize us because we are looking at evidence that we believe is real based on how it appears to us, and we respond to it even when it turns out to be false.

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. - 1 John 4:13-21

Scripture background: This scripture, this entire book in fact, presents an overarching theme throughout the chapters. On one hand the scripture talks about our belief, our trust or faith. (we see that in 4:13-16). As we read these verses the key points are about us having the confidence or trust that we are in Christ. We have our testimony, our experiences, our understanding of God’s promises to reassure us of where we stand in God (we have our mind – our logical and reasoning processes, our hearts – our testimony and experiences, and soul – our assurance from God where the Holy Spirit bears witness with us). We have also the greatest thing, which is the love of God that dwells within us richly. Therefore we have several things in place to help us have the confidence in God and in our relationship with him.

Therefore this theme that runs through the scripture is: Belief (trust, faith) & Love (which is the perfect love of God) = strength for the believer to accomplish the things of God

But on the flip side: Fear (lack of faith or trust) results when reliance on love is absent. For example: If fear (false evidence appearing real) sets up in my heart or your heart, we begin to lose the trust or reliance on the Love of God which strengthens us. If my money situation is bad, health not so go, marriage in shambles, these things take on an appearance different than what they truly are. The truth may be these are things we are facing, but it is what we think about them that are not true and causes fear to set up in our hearts. The truth is God’s love for me is actively at work in those situations. The false evidence is that these things are going to over take me. They are going to destroy me and I’ll never recover from them. So fear sets in because we are afraid we have no control over those things in our lives and that somehow God has missed what is happening to us.

What things do we need to remember when fears grip us?

God is the source of all love (4:7-8) – Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

We are not talking about emotional, temporary love. You know that kind of love, you love me then I’ll love you. You stop loving me, well then I’ll stop loving you. God’s love is unending. His love for us means God has committed himself, obligated if you will himself, to taking care of the needs of his children. In fact, we need to begin to believe that God finds pleasure in doing for his children. We need to think not of God as the “big Santa” in the sky that wants to give you everything you want. Because some things you want God is not going to give them to you because he knows they will make you a spoiled brat and he will not do anything that will cause you to separate yourself from him.

But he does desires to give his children good gifts. You can trust him. He tells us he is faithful to the faithful. If you were young, and have now gotten older can you say you have ever seen the Lord forsake his children or leave them begging bread? God is the source of all love. So when fears arise, we need to remind ourselves about the love of God for his children.

God models what genuine love is (4:9-10) – This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

When we forget what genuine love looks like we need to remind ourselves using God as the example. He loved us enough to send his son to die for our sins. He loved first. We did not decided one day to love God, but he first loved us. And that love drew you and I to him by the wooing of the Holy Spirit. It is then the example of what we should do, we should in turn love others, first. Not wait until they love us and treat us well, but love them first.

God commands us to love each other (4:11-12) - Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

God shows us how to love by his example. God’s very essence is love, therefore, when we belong to him, we are now equipped to love in return. It is our mandate to love those around us. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

I know you are probably asking, what has any of this to do with fear? Good question, glad you asked. Fear keeps us locked up and away from allowing the love of God to flow through us not only in our lives, but it cripples us from reaching others as well. Fears make us look at ourselves and think, I cannot do that. I cannot pray for this one or that one. I cannot pray like sister “Call heavendown”, so my prayers will simply fall out my mouth and hit the floor. Someone once shared this with me, and now I share it with you. Think of your prayers as smoke, they’ll rise up from your feet and reach heavenward. God is not looking for impressive prayers, just honest, sincere loved laced prayers.

Fears also keep you from seeing yourself. You look at yourself through the lenses of your past. Though those events really happened, fear gets in and you believe that now every time you do something, you’ll get the results you got before. If you were mistreated, you feel if you trust someone you will get abused or neglected again. That does not have to be truth. And really, even if everybody mistreated you, God has already given you the promise that he will be with your always, even until the end of time. So truth is you are not alone. Fear says you are.

Let’s now turn our focus to the verse 4:18 - There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1. No fear in love – As I have been trying to present, fear counteracts love. Fear gets in the way of perfect love being utilized as well as love being accepted. If fear holds your heart it is like placing poison in your yard. The toxin (fear) taints the hearts soil. Therefore, when God plants his love within our heart, if the soil is not ready to grow the seed, it is difficult to bring forth good fruit from the seed God has planted.

2. Perfect love – The good news is perfect love (God’s love) drives out that fear. Perfect love is like a consuming fire that burns off the imperfections of fear. It’s like going into your yard and pulling the weeds out by the roots. Not just chopping the heads off. You think you are really doing something when you pull the heads off the weeds, until you come back a day or so later and see the weed growing again. In this instant the entire root is pulled up. But have you even pulled a weed out that had been neglected and grown big? Did you see how large a whole it left? If something wasn’t put in that whole, you still could have a change of a weed growing again. So you put in some rich soil and took care of it. Well that is what perfect love is, it is like that rich soil that God puts into that now large hole that is in our heart. He removes the hole caused by fear, and places his love there so we can become complete.

3. Fear – has to do with punishment. Punishment has several meanings, “sentence, penalty, chastisement, scolding, caution, concern or worry”. What is that fear associated with? Not necessarily the fear of hell, but the fear of falling short, or being sentenced by God, or being scolded. Fear has several levels that we are drawn into if we allow it to set up in our hearts. We begin to be concerned about something. As our minds dwell on that, we begin to feel as if we are being sentenced or punished for something. We begin to worry that this thing will not go away. If it continues to go unchecked, we can begin to feel as if God is punishing us for something. So we ask, God why me, why does this have to happen to me? If we do not check fear, fear can become all consuming and makes us ineffective, in our prayer life, in our witness and in every aspect of our walk.

4. One who fears is not made perfect in love (this is what fear does). This is the result of what happens when we let fear grip our hearts. We are not made perfect. I like the word “wonderful” in place here. This perfect doesn’t mean without problems (for we will continue to have those), but it means that when we allow fear to get in we do not let God do the wonderful thing in our lives, which is to make us look more like His Son.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. – 1 John 5:13-15

There is something that happens to our lives when we allow the perfect love of God to have control. What are those things:

1. We have confidence.

a. In worship – approaching God

b. In prayer - we can ask, and have faith we will receive

c. In our relationship – we know that God hears us, and that whatever we ask he will respond to us, thus we have faith in our relationship with our father, which helps us to become “fearless”.

2. We have love for others. – This love is what propels us to seek to help others even if it means sacrificing “self”. It helps us to do as Romans 12:1 states, “ 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”

3. We have love for ourselves. – This love is what allows us to face the truth about ourselves. This love will allow us to see our shortcomings but this love casts out fear so we do not respond by trying to hide, or becoming afraid of a sentence against our lives. This love allows us to accept what Romans 8:1 states, there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.

What does it mean to be fearless?

Bold – bold in our witness (Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.")

Unafraid – (Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father.") you no longer walk timidly through life because you cannot figure everything out (walk by faith, not by sight). You are willing to let go of the false evidence and see your life and situations through God’s lenses.

Brave – you are willing to stand even in situations that you may not feel you are capable of, yet the love of God in you propels you to do it. I didn’t want to come here. I told the Lord, what will these women be looking for? They probably have had some really great speakers and they will be looking at me, and I’ll be looking at them. And I had just worked my way into a freezy. God had to tell me, Jewel, I am making you fearless. You can go anywhere I send you in my power and my strength. That is the truth. The false evidence appearing real is that you won’t be effective. But truth is, if God calls you to it, he will see you through it.

Daring – (Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.") You are willing to do things that others may be afraid to do or that others think cannot happen. You’ll be able to walk out on the water like Peter did. You are willing to see the possibility even in situations that seem impossible. The love of God in you, helps you to see you can do even the impossible.

Valiant (heroic) – John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.) You are willing to even lay down your life for what is right. That may not mean your physical life, but you are even ready to be misunderstood, mistreated, misrepresented, all for the cause of Christ. Why? Because you have the love of God in you which compels you to obey even if it means your own way of life is affect.

My question then to you today is this, are you ready to let go of fears and become fearless for the Lord? That means letting go of those wrong self-images. Letting go of past mistakes that keep you from stepping into what God has called you to do? Letting go of all that keeps you from functioning in the perfect love of God. If you really want to step out into the deep, but have been too afraid, now is your day. Let’s do that right now.

The Week in Review

2010-02-28T05:01:00.001-06:00

Written by Minister Jewel D. Williams

Christian Education Ministry & Discipleship

On September 29, 2006

The purpose of Christian Education is to teach God’s directives and to equip the believer to understand the importance of being a part of the mission of the church, which is to take the word to the lost. Where do I fit in, is my question? It is important for one to understand their philosophy of Christian education and discipleship in order to answer the question of where one fits in. The purpose and goals of Christian education and discipleship coupled with an understanding of individual learning styles adds to the success of educating the body. My personal philosophy in light of the new learning I gained from this course focuses on living a life of authentic Christianity.

The author, Gailyn Van Rheenen, in his book, Missions: Biblical Foundations & Contemporary Strategies, states, “Few Christians are able to describe vividly in biblical terms what God desires the church to be. Without biblical undergirdings, the church is swept along by the ebb and flow of culture and in various forms degenerates into a social fraternity. When this happens, the church more nearly reflects the world than the nature of God and has little that is distinctive to offer the world” (28). The first step then is for the church to understand what her purpose is and who initiated the mission. “The church is not a human organization. It is the result of a mission or a sending that began with God. The mission of God, initiated through Jesus Christ and continued through his disciples, led to the formation of the church” (Van Rheenen, 29). The web site, Mintools.com (Ministry Tools Resource Center), in its resource, Christian Education Ministry Overview, states, “Christian Education Ministry involves the administration and coordination of programs or strategies to facilitate the spiritual growth or discipleship of believers into Christ-likeness” (1).

The purpose and goals for Christian education and discipleship are to teach God’s directives so that individuals are equipped to live holy lives as well as become ambassadors to the lost. To understand these basic instructions, one must go to the Bible. God’s word gives all his children what they need to make it in life. One important reason to teach the word of God to believers today is to help them fulfill the mandates of God in their lives. When adults, for instance are taught, they can teach their children. “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and whey thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” Deuteronomy 6:7 (Deuteronomy 11:19 states a similar mandate). The scripture shows how important it is to God that parents actively teach their children the way of the Lord. However, the church must play a vital role in the preparation of the believer so they can be successful at this assignment. In the book, Introducing Christian Education: Foundations for the Twenty-first Century, one of the writers, Judy Ten Elshof states, “Family life education should be centered in the home, supported by the church, and grounded in both biblical theology and strong intimate relationships with God and others. This means that guiding, training, and educating the next generation’s spiritual lives is primarily the responsibility of parents in the home…Therefore, a church that ministers to families recognizes this and elevates its service to meet the diverse needs of the contemporary family.” (195).

It is, however, difficult for a parent to teach their child(ren) what the word says, if they are not being taught and developing their own personal walk with the Lord. “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths” (Psalm 25:4) and “Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies” (Psalm 27:11). The church, being led by the Holy Spirit, is the avenue that God’s people will be taught the plain path of God and equipped to stand against the enemy (Satan) and all his devices that are to destroy the effectiveness of the church and her people.

“Parents need to learn to teach what they believe, model Christian attitudes, and model values that they want their children to have when they are adults…As the modern family continually departs from biblical values, that used to be engrained in secular mores, the cultural repercussions become increasingly evident. Unfortunately, the Christian family often reflects the trends and values of current culture or marginalizes itself against society, rather than being an agent of change in a wayward culture” (Ten Elshof, 198).

Education needs to play an important part in the lives of the family. The church must teach the answers that God has regarding the culture one lives in. God’s answer is, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16) and “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with my eye” (Psalm 32:8). When the church has shown the individual how to teach their children, how to live a holy life and how to withstand the cultural pull on one’s life, they are now ready to learn how to be a witness to the world.

The church is responsible for teaching individuals (both young and old) that witnessing is a mandate of God. “The basis of all mission is sending. Unbelievers cannot call on God until they first believe; they cannot believe until they hear; they cannot hear without a preacher; and preachers will not go unless they are sent. The messenger’s feet appear ‘beautiful’ to those hearing and receiving the word of Christ” (Van Rheenen, 31). Many believers are afraid of the word, witness. The church needs to teach how to witness so that believers will be more comfortable doing what we have been called upon to do. The first way we witness is in the way we live before others. “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1Peter 2:24) and “For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” (1 Peter 4:6). When believers are taught they must live a holy life and what that entails they become a witness of God’s goodness before the people. The second way is when individuals witness to others about how God’s word changed their lives. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14). God is calling for his people to tell everyone about his goodness.

Christian education and discipleship is concerned with individuals being taught so that they can continue the teaching and reaching process. “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ” (Acts 5:42). This is the ultimate goal of education within our churches. Teach every believer so they can continue to spread the word of God daily.

Once a church understands what they are trying to achieve, they must set goals to teach the Christian faith to accomplish this purpose of the mission. The first place to start any task is with prayer to allow God’s spirit to direct in the way one should go. It is acceptable, however, to look to resources to help one get started in developing a successful education program. On the website mintools.com, in one of it’s resources, Christian Education Ministry Philosophy, states, “When a philosophy of ministry is developed from a biblical or theological basis, the potential for coming into the same heart and mind of these matters increases. God’s Word is the standard, not tradition or a certain leader’s bent” (2). The resources list some important aspects such as, one should have an overall purpose (from the acquisition of knowledge to the application of knowledge, from adherence of traditions to the pursuit of transformation; from outward conformity to inward change), the role of the word (from unimportant to central, from truth that is relative to truth that is absolute), and teaching-learning processes (such as from teacher-centered to student-centered, from passive learners to active learners) (1). (Come back next week for the next installment)