The W.O.R.D Project

Worship Songs For Sunday April 3rd

Download El shaddai    (Original)

Download Holy Is The Lord  (Chris Tomli n)

Download Pour Out Your Spirit  (Original)

For It Is The Power of God

Rom 1:14-16
14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.
15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
(NKJ)

 The Apostle Paul was well acquainted with unbearable pain and extreme suffering in his physical life. But he was also a man who was brought into the heavenly realm, the very Kingdom of God to see and hear and experience a realm beyond our world. And it was this realm that Paul was given a glimpse of what was coming, and the one who would be coming to rule the whole realm of God. It can be difficult for us to mentally grasp or imagine what God has prepared. We are confined in this realm of time, with physical limitation, and spiritual blindness. We find it difficult to hear and see things that are in the Spirit. Yet God has given us many signs of His power and majesty in ways for us to receive, believe, and experience. But none of the great wonders of His revelation is beyond the remarkable miracle of the incarnation, life, and resurrection of His son Jesus our Christ. Paul saw him in revelation at His conversion. Paul experienced Jesus personally giving him a revelation of the Gospel. And Paul saw the revelation of the glory, power, and majesty of Jesus in the third heaven. So Paul new what was entrusted to him by God. And with this great revelation he was indebted to everyone who God would send him to in order to share the truth that was revealed him. Even if it meant the suffering of his body and eventual sacrifice of his life. It is no surprise now that Paul words "for our light affliction which endures for a moment..." carries us past the struggles we fight in our bodies, our souls, and our minds and into very presence of the eternal power of God. A power that was, that is, and that is to come......

Glory to God in the Highest and peace, goodwill toward mean. For the power of God was revealed to us in the glory, power, and majesty of His Son Jesus Christ.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation!

"This Is My Body Which Is Broken For You..."

Ps 38:5-10
5 My wounds are foul and festering because of my foolishness.
6 I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
7 For my loins are full of inflammation, and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You.
10 My heart pants, my strength fails me; as for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.
(NKJ)

Have you ever fallen into a season in your life of great trial or suffering? A time which is beyond anything you have ever experienced before. Where the freedom you once enjoyed has been swallowed by a great fiery trial. Since these trials are so difficult to express with words it is useless to compare or describe it in order to give someone an understanding of them. Yet they are a very real experience. And to those whom the Lord has allowed such a trial it will appear to them the utmose deepest, hardest, and impossible emotional, mental, and physical fight they have ever had in their lives. 

I have touch this place and have also come out on the other side. It is painful process and one that is the most unpleasant of all experiences in this life. I have wondered why the Lord would allow anyone to suffer through such painful trials. But it is in loving grace of my Father that I have been reminded of the multitudes of saints whom God has chosen to walk in the firey pit. This psalm is no exception. The whole psalm is a painful description of suffering endured during this season. Yet in the end the writer never took away his hope and trust in the Lord His God. And ends the psalm with a call to One and only one who can bring him through unto to salvation.

What is the mystery behind this process is the change one goes through after such a trial. If you have ever aksed God to change you or make you more like Jesus then their is way that seems right to man but God must order these steps. It is not a prayer that you can bring about yourself. If you want to be more like Jesus Christ that everything that is of you must be purged, broken, and burned out. It is a perfect work that only God can do that will produce the transformation that you have prayed for in your life. And to do this work God has chosen to allow trials and deep bottomless and fiery trials are no exception. And the evidence is in the likeness of Christ that appears in your heart, mind, and soul after such a trial. Yet even as the apostle Paul penned "Not that I have attained...yet I press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." 

As a follower of Christ I have never wavered from the moment I turned my life over to Jesus to want to be like Him. But how does one really become like Christ? It is not by my works or following the law. No. It is in and through brokenness. This is where I see the Son of God so vividly demonstrating to me the meaning of becoming Christ like. It is not in my deeds, promises, or prayers. It is not by supernatural intervention. It is through brokenness. For to be like my Lord and Savior I must be prepared to become an offering unto my Father in heaven for others. It is these words that Jesus spoke at the last supper that struck the cord as to a possible explanation into the purposes of God to allow such excrutiating trials in our lives. When Jesus said "This is My body which is broken for you..." I could see now that our brokeness is in turn a process by which we may be able to offer ourselves unto others. And just as the propet Isaiah wrote "And by his strips we are healed..." Our strips can be used by God to heal others. If we are the body of Christ on earth then we too will bare the marks of Christ. We too should know the fellowship of His suffering. And if we have been chosen and trusted to endure such trials then we are being prepared to offer our bodies which are broken just as Christ did. We through our cross are being transformed into the likeness of Christ. And through our brokennes Christ can offer us to those who He desires to bring healing who are suffering.  It may not make sense...but neither did the crucixion of Jesus. At least until we called upon the One who was lifted up for us. Then we understood the power behind the blood, the strength in the offering, and healing in His suffering.

 

The Voice Coming Out of the Wilderness

Mark 1

 ¹ The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ² As it is written in the Prophets:^[a]


  “ Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
  Who will prepare Your way before You.”^{[b]
   3} “ The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

  ‘ Prepare the way of the LORD;
  Make His paths straight.’”^[c]

    I hear a voice coming out of the wilderness. The voice is beginning to come from many but is the unique and indistinguishable voice coming from Jesus. I hear the voice of Lord Jesus Christ rising up in the hearts of many who Christ has prepared and chosen. These messengers have been driven into the wilderness for a season. These are His Messengers prepared in the experience of the wilderness. They have been refined, sifted, and broken until there is nothing left of the flesh. Purified until there is nothing left of pride and aspiration. Now He is beginning to call upon them to rise up, come out of the wilderness and cry out in one voice. Messengers who can carry the pure message of Jesus Christ in their heart and speak with the voice of Jesus to millions and millions. They will begin crying out with a thunderous voice to the world heading down a wide path of destruction.

 How can we distinguish them from the normal crowd? 

   These messengers are hearing and responding to the call of the Lord Jesus. They have been prepared and called to declare the coming of Jesus Christ. They have been anointed. Clothed with the Spirit of God with authority and power. But they are humble servants with one burning desire... to obey the Lord Jesus Christ. In their eyes they see Jesus Christ coming and they want nothing more then to declare this openly until everyone who hears them can see Jesus coming themselves.

  What do these messengers look like?

   They will take on the appearance of the the first messenger God sent to prepare the way for His Christ who was to come into the world as the lamb of God. They walk in the spiritual appearance of John the Baptist. What do I mean....let us look at John the Baptist for his appearance tells us the heart of these messengers....

Matthew 3:1-4

¹ In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” ³ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

  “ The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

  ‘ Prepare the way of the LORD;
  Make His paths straight.’”<sup>[a]

4</sup> Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

First- They will coming out of the wilderness. A place in their lives in which they have been prepared in the dry, hard, and purifying place in the desert.

Second-They will come out of the wilderness. Meaning a place with no name or association. They will not be known through their association to a denomination, fellowship, or non-denominational. They will carry no worldly credentials or acceptable pedigrees. They will carry no affiliation declaring where they have come out of only affliction. however, they will not be found coming out our institutions or religious systems. Yet there will be now doubt from whom their authority and their power rest upon them from. And you and I will know that they have come from is the wilderness and sent by God. 

Third-These messengers are of no greatness or appearance, status or title. They are just messengers who will have no distinguishing marks or denominational brands upon them. Their faces and names will be unknown and not found on the jackets or inside covers of best selling books. They have no real wealth in the world and their manner will be comely and unattractive.

Fourth- They will have spent many days in the wilderness consuming the pure power of the word and the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit. They will have not consumed the food of the world but have purged and purified their soul from the refuse of the world. They cut out the steady diet of television. They have removed from their dinner table the movie buffet. They have removed themselves completely from the world and it's steady diet of tv, movies, and entertainment.

 

    Look toward the wilderness saints. Look for them rising up in our midst. The Lord is sending messengers out from the wilderness.  They will be coming out of this most undesirable and insignificant place. The place you least expect to hear the Voice of the Lord Jesus Christ....They will be coming out of the wilderness! They will have One voice the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ....

 Preparing the way of the LORD;
  Make His paths straight

The Strength of the Carnal Mind

 

Rom 8:5-8
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
(NKJ)

 How often we tend to forget the strength of our fallen nature. It's ability to pull us in directions we don't want to go or to keep us bound in ways we can't seem to loosen ourselves from. Sometimes we wrestle for days with this unseen foe in an attempt to either overcome it with internal strength and fortitude. Yet, other times we hold out until it's grip recedes. Either way struggling with our fallen nature will bring us to a point of spiritual and physical exhaustion and overall discouragement. I believe the discouragement is what causes us the most nagging grief. The bible clearly tells us that we are take up our cross daily, to put off the old man, and to bury our carnal man with Christ. But since I have to live in this carnal nature for 80 years it appears that I will have to deal with this bully every once in a while. And that is what it is like. A school yard bully. A kid who is twice your size who waits on the playground to terrorize kids and every once in a while he targets you. I don't know why this bully goes for weeks troubling other kids then all of a sudden you come to school and you are in his sights. That is what the carnal nature is like. You spend your time minding your own business seeking the kingdom of God, feeding your spirit with the word of God and this bully shows up unwanted and unwarranted. No matter why this bully shows up the fact is you are going to have to deal with it. I would like to tell you that taking on the carnal nature is easy but it is not. Why? Because the carnal nature is strong and has the power to destroy me. What I can tell you is that you are not going is you are not  going to be able to ignore it either. Instead we must know what it wants and how it will try to get it.

First the carnal nature is going to try and take what you have. If you have peace it will use its strength to project fear. If you have purity it will try to take away your purity. This first struggle usually is quick and packs the hardest punch. If your carnal nature can hit you off guard then it is easier for it to get a feel of your strength and defenses. Once it has taken what it wants from you then it knows that it can take it again. If it can't take what you have then it will move on to the second attack. It will try to manipulate you in to doing something you don't really want to do. This one is very powerful and one not to be overlooked. It is subtle but deadly. Now that you have gained your carnal natures respect it turns the tables and seeks to bring you in as a friend. Not a friend that looks out for your good but one that tries to tell you to do something against your better judgement. With the table turned it forces you to make a decision. If I don't do what it says then I will be back to fighting this bully, but if I just do what it says maybe it will leave me alone. See the power in this play. Again, stand against this bully and if he cannot take from you or get you to do what it wants its only option is to attack you and force its will on you. This is when the fight begins!  I didn't pick this fight. I was just was minding my own business. But this is all to common in the life of a believer in Jesus Christ.

One thing we must remember is that our carnal nature is not on our side. It is fallen and corrupted. It is separated from God and can never be conformed. This means that our carnal mind is against God and always will be. Our carnal members is against God. This means that any thought or desire that comes from the carnal mind or our carnal nature is and always will be against your spirit and your new born again spiritual nature. So we must expect that as long as we live in this world and in this body of flesh we will have to deal with this bully. However, you are not your own anymore, you were purchased at a price. This bully no longer has a right to you anymore. And even when your carnal mind fights against you it does not own you anymore. You are Christ and He is yours. This is the hope of glory!

Since we have been born again we no longer are slaves to our carnal nature. As the apostle Paul explains "Oh wretched man that I am. Who can deliver me from this body of death. I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!" This is the freedom that Jesus has won for all who come to Him. To free us from the bondage of this Egyptian overlord called our carnal nature. No one enjoys the bully or the fight we must endure with it. The good news is that we have a Lord and Savior who has endured the fight of our bully and won. And in Him we can defeat our bully and live in the new man created in the image of Jesus. 

 Don't give in to the bully called our carnal mind. It is just a bully an no more. It does not own you anymore. So don't accept anything it throws at you. If you give in it has the power of death!

 

TOTAL ABANDONMENT

 

1 Cor 6:14
14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.

  It appears that the more you press onward toward this upward call of God in Christ Jesus the more God reveals to me the weakness and frailty of my own strength and power in this world. We are raised to problem solve and find solutions to life's challenges and roadblocks in our life. Some would even call this gaining knowledge and applying wisdom to overcome life's obstacles. From the moment we take our first breath we start a journey of trying to figure out problems in order to overcome them and survive them. Many of the great books hinge on the hero or heroin being able to overcome an insurmountable obstacle in their life and journey. But there are certain challenges in life that seem insignificant in the early stages of our life's. This is because these obstacles don't present themselves to us at first. Instead they are distant and almost abstract ideas. But as you grow older these obstacles begin to loom on the horizon, and what seemed like small shadows cast by twigs become larger and large shadows cast by what appears to be immovable mountains. There comes a time in life that you realize that you are heading straight toward these challenge and there is no other direction to turn to. Now this is where life's lessons, school of hard knox experiences, and all the street wisdom you attained and mastered in your fruitful youth doesn't seem to be adequate in the face of these giants. Even as they grow ever closer and larger in size with each day that passes in my life I find myself grasping the reality that what is approaching is unavoidable. This is when I begin to gulp as my once strong knees begin to buckle, and the courage that once gave me the strength to stand in the face of world now flows out from melike water. So here I stand. Facing the inevitable forces that have the power to ovecome my life. What can I do? At first I begin to grope for answers to what is coming. Then I begin to frantically find solutions to overcome or circumvent the finality of my future. Yet nothing in me seems to comfort me and all the solutions I resort to through my own intelligence, innovation, creative inspiration falls lifeless in the midst of such a daunting problem. All that is in me fails to give me the strength or power to solve this problem. My own power has been eclipsed by the power of my enemy that is rising in the horizon of my future. I have only two choices or directions that I can take. I can turn back and return to where I started this journey or move forward and take my stand before the giants waiting for me knowing that my defeat is sealed and certain.

Then I turn my face toward Jesus and see Him standing up from His throne moved with compassion and stern determination. His eyes fixed on this enemy that has entered into His creation and stands between Him and His people. That is when I see Jesus mission and work so profoundly deeper then what is displayed in His earthly miracles or even His passion. For I see a King who has arisen from His throne to engage in a battle against the enemy that destroys and kills the life that was created by God. And when this King stands before this enemy His power will be demonstrated in all creation to once and for all destroy the work and power of our enemy. So the King of King came to earth with the intention to defeat the enemy and destroy the power of death that stands before me. 

And how did this great and might King defeat the enemy and manifest the power of God? It was in Jesus Christ TOTAL ABANDONMENT. For he loved not His life even unto death, even the power of death on the Cross. Jesus came to stand before our enemy and swallow up death in His own death. He abandoned His life unto to the Father for He Trusted that His Father would raise Him from the dead. Now I see the solution is not in me but found in Jesus Christ who is the power of God. You see how powerful the work of Christ was, not in His miracles, but in his death. You see the author of life had to abandon His very nature in order to allow death to defeat Him. Then once death had conquered Jesus and completed its final work the Father could manifest His power in raising Jesus from the dead. Once God's power raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him on the throne for all of creation to witness death was finally defeated. The enemy that I onced feared has be defeated.

If I am to overcome this enemy that I am going to need the power of God working in me. For the power of God to work in my then I must turn my life over to Jesus Christ and give it over to Him in TOTAL ABANDONMENT. Death is waiting for me and its power is greater then I. But there is a power greater then death and it is the power of God. It is now in Jesus I place my hope and trust in the face of my future foe who has the power of death and will on day triunph over me. But it will not be able to enjoy its victory, because I trust in Jesus Christ, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead will raise me also unto life.    

 
Rom 8:11
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
(NKJ)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have We Lost The Shame?

 

Heb 12:1-2
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
(NKJ)

 Have we lost the shame of our sin? I had this question weigh upon my mind this weekend. It happened after I had been envisioning Jesus and the painful passion of His brutal death, and it was in this verse in Hebrew's that revealed to me something that is terribly wrong today. We have lost the shame of our sin. No longer do we find our actions, our discussions, our entertainment offensive to God, but we don't even blush at the indiscretion of our own conscience. Human psychology reveals that we as human beings take the initial shock of lewdness, indecency, and even horrible atrocities with out right anger and opposition. Yet, when we are exposed to the same environment later on our defense are dropped. We seem to accept it and move on. It is a very sad to be in a culture that drives two cars, enjoys two careers, lives in homes that are twice as large, works twice as hard, plays twice as hard, watches twice as much television, and lives as if they are twice as entitled. We seem to have forgotten the pain of standing before Jesus who was shamed for our sake. In the same way we too have forgotten the shame of our sin.

When someone turns to God their first revelation must come at the crucifixion of Jesus. It is the foundation stone of our salvation. Consider it to be the starting point. It is the place were are sins are forgiven but it is also the place where you and I repent. With the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin but without repentance there is no hope for salvation. When I see the cross in our churches and in our Christian communities and circle of friends I don't see the shame in our hearts. Our passive endorsement for sin amongts those we love and even within ourselves has thrown out the shame. And why is that? Because we no longer want to stand before God naked and feeling ashamed. Instead our sin is called "Mistakes" or "Bad Choices." How can we even describe Jesus crucifixion as a mistake by Jesus. The Apostle Peter once rebuke Jesus for what Peter thought Jesus was about to make a "BIG MISTAKE" when Jesus mentioned that He was going to Jerusalem and will be crucified. No my friends the cross is not a big mistake. It is not the blunder of the world nor is it a place we need to avoid. It is the place where we must take the world to see. For if they do not see the shame of the Savior they will never see their own shame.  And It is here at the cross that I saw the most vital aspect of our salvation lost. We have lost the reflection or our Lords shame revealing the deep shame of our own sin.  

 For me this weekend, when I saw the cross I saw something that broke my heart. I saw my Lord Jesus ashamed. I never saw him in this way before. He was falsely accused in front of the very people who were exalting him just the day before. He was beaten by the Romans so brutally and then brought out before the people in the most week and powerless condition. He was cajoled and shunned. He was shouted at and spit upon. He was presented to those He loved as a fraud. Then the worst of all shame was laid upon Him when He was made a foolish spectacle. He was stripped naked and physically nailed to a tree so He could not defend himself. He was at this moment the weakest most pitiful and pathetic representation of a man, and a man who claimed to be one who was sent as a representative by God. Have we ever considered the shame Jesus experienced? What breaks my heart even now as I write this is that Jesus did not deserve to experience such shame. What did He do to deserve this shame? As he passed by the people who taunted him and came to the place of his execution our Lord was experiencing the deepest shame a man or woman could ever experiences. When he was pinned to that wooden cross beam if was forced to experienced wave after wave of shame crash upon His heart. And all for what? For you and me friends. He loved me so much that he swallowed the full cup of my own shame. But what shame am I talking about? The shame that I was to experience once my sin was exposed before God. This is where the true power of God was to be revealed to you and me. This is where the good news would be experience is apex in our hearts. This cross we now remove from all conversion with the world did not ashame Paul to preach boldly of in the streets and synagogues. This is where the devil lost His power and control over our souls. It was all finished at the cross because it all begins at the cross. At least for you and me. This is where my sin and my shame is exposed before God. And this is where we have lost the most crucial understanding of the cross.

Now I ask you. Have we lost the shame? Do we look upon Jesus with just a passing glance? Do we pass our salvation off as just a short prayer and a " I believe Jesus died for me" statement. If you or I have never experienced the shame of our sin then we have never been to cross of Jesus. To look at Jesus on the cross is to see our shame face to face! When I saw Jesus and what He did for me I was ashamed. Not because I understood that He was dying in my place. No-No it was because when I stood in the presence of Jesus himself I was ashamed at all that I had done in His very presence. I was living in the presence of God and my life was laid naked and bear before Him. I never realized that all that I did in secret believing no one would know, or all that I did and thought in my heart was done in the very presence of God. Now I was looking at Jesus and He was covered in shame in the very presence of everyone. Now I saw what was truly happening. Jesus was bearing the shame that I would have experienced if my life if it was open before God. If God would have come to me before I had come to Jesus and His cross, I would be the one naked, powerless, before God. It is at this moment when I was standing at the cross that it wasn't Jesus who was experience the shame but me. He just took my shame upon Himself. And what I was looking at was a reflection of my sin in the face of Jesus. I was now the weakest most pitiful and pathetic representation of a man who. A man who had claimed to be good person and believed in my mind that I was going to be with God in heaven forever. Just thinking this caused me to be filled with shame.

 But this is the good news. He took that shame that day. He despised it but he took that shame so I would not have to experience it in the presence of God on judgement day. So when I see the cross I see shame. My shame. When I see sin in my life I experience the shame that hangs on the cross with Jesus. There are two places in which we can stand before Jesus in shame. One leads to forgiveness and hope the other to an eternity separated from Him. But both inevitable expose you. And in turn bring upon your heart shame. When I came to the cross of Jesus I fell to my knees ashamed of my life and the sins all done in my heart and what I thought was in secret and hidden. When I saw Jesus all my sin was exposed before Him. And I was broken with shame. This is the good news my friend. Instead of judging me there at the cross He revealed that He was dying for me in the presence of the Father. Why so my shame would be taken away and my sin would be removed in the sight of God the Father. From here Jesus promised to raise me to eternal life so I could live forever with Him and without shame. 

If we have lost the shame then we have lost the hope. And one day we will be standing before Him. However, remember this, on that day He will be dressed in glory, holiness, and righteousness and we will be the ones covered in the dark, filthy and tattered rags of our lives. Then it will feel as if we are the ones who are naked and laid bare and pin to a wooden beam. And all of heaven will look upon you and see you as the weakest most pitiful and pathetic representation of a man who claimed His own righteousness before God.

As for me I have turned to cross and accepted the fullness of my shame in the face of One who loved me...enough to take my shame for me. 

 Gal 2:20
20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
(NKJ)

 

 

  

TODAY's CLEVER IDEAS ARE DESTINED TO BE YESTERDAY's FADS

I am not so sure that our current focus on creativity and cleverness should be considered as viable "tools for today." Now after much throught and overtime I see that we have sold out to technology and replaced hard labor with quick slick events and mind buzzing entertaining presentations. I must admit to myself that a lot has changed in me since I started out on this mission called ministry. I just turned 39 and I can say with assurance that I have been through the firery furnace of the refiners fire. 14 years ago Jesus entered into my life in glory and sovereignty. I bowed my knee to Him and offered to Him my life. I turned from the world in which I was living in and for, and stepped fully committed into the kingdom of the Son of God. In the beginning I sought to do as much as I could for Him. I offered every gift I had to my pastor in service to my King. I was not raised in the protestant/evangelical/pentecostal culture. So for me I had no baggage. I was a clean slate ready to set my heart a blaze for the one who redeemed me. And in those first 5 years I was used of God to bring a fresh fire to the pentecostal lifers who had been through the carpet changes of church. It never dawned on me that what I had in Christ and what Christ Jesus had set in me was not fully enjoyed and celebrated by everyone who names the name of Jesus. I am glad for those formative years. We were crazy about Jesus. We didn't run out and hand out bottles of water with our church name on it. We didn't go out and clean public bathrooms for nothing. We were different. We prayed with our co-workers and asked them if they wanted to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We opened our mouths and proclaimed Jesus to muslims in carryouts. We prayed hard and fasted often. We bent our knee and pounded our fist on the altar in intercession. We were at war with the enemy and offered peace to those around us. It was not clever or genius. It was labor. In other words it was work. HARD work! But something has changed in the last 10 years. It may have been changing well before that but I have seen the paradigm shifting drastically and evermore rapidly recently. It is like we have lost our grip, or better yet our influence, in the culture. And we, the church ministry, are frantically trying to reach out and regain a grip by any means possible.

As I had mentioned earlier I have been changed by the way I see church ministry. Let me briefly elaborate. After my first ten years of serving in ministry, my wife and I took a call to take over a church that had been abandon and pastor-less for 4 years. We were given advise at the time by those in leadership to do whatever it took. We were in our early thirties and childless at the time. We moved to a city we both were not originally from and we both had to seek employment. We worked both our full time 40 hour a week jobs to make ends meet and we also offered the other 40 hours of the week to revitalizing this church. Now most stories you read about in best selling books start off with these types of stories and end up telling you that through pain, sweat, blood, and tears God came through the church exploded in growth and our prosperity was a roller-coaster of blessings. Well done though good and faithful servant, right? Not this story. This was different. This is the story of the other 9 out of 10 churches that don't get written about. Both Jen and I had many talents and gifts. We both had experience working in large churches. We both have musical backgrounds and evangelism backgrounds. We had planned, started, and engineered outreaches of all kinds. We were fresh with ideas and dreams. For the next three years we threw everything we had at making our presence known in our community. We had other churches helping us with our events. We had hand made billboards, handed out flyer's by the thousands, wore handmade event t-shirts and publicized our church and its events by every clever means imaginable. Not only did we fill our front lawn with multiple 3 story high inflatables we made major changes to our small brick building to offer an appealing curb side appeal to the tens of thousands of cars that passed by our church every day. Because you all know that it's all about location, location, location. These are just a few of the ideas we had. I could mention many, many more that we produced all for the sake of turning this church around and to see God bless us with a growing fruitful ministry. Those were fun times and we had a lot fun. But as for results? Well that is where the story takes a turn. Our results were awful! What can I say? Maybe we should have had a profession ministry coach come in and lead us to the superbowl of church ministry.   

Was I changed because I tried and I failed? Or maybe I was changed by my feelings towards the ministry? Maybe it was my approach. Or possibility I didn't do my research to understand the demographics and my community. Maybe there is merit in all of these questions. However, in my heart of hearts I know that the answer is no to all of these. Actually what has changed are the methods and means by which Jesus desires to use to draw people into His Kingdom and out of the kingdom of darkness. Clever ideas and creative presentations are quick flashes intended to implant an experience but it fails to acheive the deep inward penetrating work that Jesus desires to work in the soul or heart of a person. These self promoting ideas are like fireworks we see on the fourth of July which are exhilarating for a moment to our senses but within minutes they are fading sparks fizzling into a faded memory. We are building peoples memories with events and not the one and only event that they will never forgot. The day they came face to face with Jesus! We even draw people to our music shows called worship services with the hook that they will have a God experience. How can you sell that to someone? I knew to young priests, called Eli's sons, who did that and God made sure they died in battle that very day.

Now after these years I have now seen pure and perfect fruit in the true labor of ministry and I am so thankful that Jesus has allowed me to fail. For I see more clearly than the day I started out on this mission. And that is Jesus has many He has called but few He chosen. I have been laboring in the fields along side the Holy Spirit and the harvest is ripe. However, I have noticed that the harvesters are either in their nicely built barns coming up with new and creative ways to get the people to visit their barns, or they have come out into the fields without a sickle and instead have notepad and pen handy to jot down what types of barns do the wheat like to sit in.

To end this post I would like to say that clever ideas and creative ministry is an american church paradigm. It was not so in the beginning. Paul never thought about using his tent making skills to create a beautiful cool hand made tent backdrop that he could use when he went into the marketplace to preach. It may sound like I am strongly against clever ideas and creative ways to reach our generation. And your right! If we want a quick draw, flash and lights, shock and awe type of ministry then we are in the wrong business. Lets leave that to the american idols. The real light show and shock and awe is seated on the throne. And when Jesus reveals himself to someone believe me it won't be because of your clever idea. It will because there heart was ripe, the Holy Spirit was present, and you were laboring  and battling the devil to help bring that soul into the Kingdom of God.

 

Acts 26:16-21
16 'But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.
17 'I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,
18 'to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.'
19 "Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
20 "but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
21 "For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.
(NKJ)

 

   

I Cast It In The Fire, And This Calf Came Out.

How easy it is for us to imagine God the way we think He should be. I was listening to Kirk Cameron, the teenage star of the old sitcom called Growing Pains, give his testimony. At one point he spoke about a fictional conversation he was having with someone about the character of God. He said "So what do you think God is like?" the fictional character said "I believe God is good and would never send anyone to a place like Hell." Kirk went on to say that what this person was doing was creating a false god in their own imagination. He went on to say that this God was neither God or a god because this person had made this god in their own mind. In fact he said the person who creates a false god in their own mind has created and idol and is called idolatry. "Yes God is good" he said "However the god this person was referring to was a total fabrication and not the divine true God. This is so dangerous. Yet we are prone to do this when we try to imagine or envision what God is like in minds, especially when it comes to holding ourselves accountable for our behaviors and actions. Our first inclination is to not judge ourselves at all. Why? because God won't judge me because I am a good person. Our second is to imagine what we believe God would think. The third is to create a god that would neither judge our behavior or action but instead  justify it some way some how or dismiss it as not that big of a deal. But this kind of walk with Jesus is both delusional and dangerous. Yet, this is exactly how most of us end up creating a false god. We craft it with our intellect and own reasoning forming an object we call call god but is just an idol in our mind. And this is how we form it. We just evaluate what everyone else around us believes, then we embrace all points of view, we put our own ideas and perceptions in the mix throw into our minds and poof...out comes this golden calf. This is not the way God intended for His creation to experience the fullness of His nature and come to the knowledge of the Truth. Jesus  told us that God is seeking those that will worship Him in Spirit and Truth. It is through His Spirit that God is revealed to us And it is His Truth that He has revealed His Character and Nature. As the Bible declares "let God be true and every man a liar." Rom 3:4

 When God brought His people out of Egypt He told them He wanted them to come to Him and worship Him. He told them that He wanted to separate unto Himself a special people in which He could reveal Himself. And this is the key to knowing God. Our God is a God that reveals Himself to us. There is no need for us to imagine or create an image of God. He would reveal Himself to us. No guess work no struggle to wonder what He looks like or what He thinks. He had determined to reveal Himself to His people, speak to His people, and spend eternity revealing Himself to His people. However, I found this section so insightful in the way we chose to create a god in our mind instead of waiting on God to reveal more of Himself to us. I found it at the the point of the story where the Hebrew nation had assembled themselves before God at the base of mountain. God had called His people to cleanse themselves and prepare to meet Him. He reveals Himself in great thunder, darkness, and the mountain shakes violently. He spoke to them and the sound was so intense it sounded like standing behind a Boeing 747 as it hit full thrust at take off. The people were terrified and rightfully so. However, Moses is called up to meet God in the mountain. Moses leaves the people and for over 40 days there is no sign of him. This is when the people of God turn from waiting on God and His plan to reveal the fulness of His character, nature, and plan for them and they turn to construct a false god instead. 

Exod 32:1-5
1 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."
2 And Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."
3 "So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
4 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!"
5 So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD."
(NKJ)

 Our God is a revealing God. We have no right to fashion Him the way we think He is. The text said Aaron took an engraving tool and took the place of God to create Him the way he believed God to be. Yet God already has determined the way in which He desires to reveal himself. His way is perfect and it is pure as we will see later when God gives Moses the pattern of the tabernacle and all that is involved in worship to God. When Moses is ordered by God to come down from the mountain and confront the people he asks Aaron for an explanation. This is what I find evermore alarming. It is not so much what was created in place of god it was how it was created!

Exod 32:24
[Aaron speaking]  24 "And I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.' So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out."
(NKJ)

 I don't believe Aaron was playing the ignorant servant here. This a people who had come out of the world and had been exposed to all kinds of mystical indoctrination. It is not hard to look at our culture today and see the occult and mystical flooding our minds through television and movies. We are surrounded by people who call themselves religious but are absorbed in mystical beliefs and practices. Aaron is saying here that I was trying to allow God to flow through me and reveal Himself to me. I took the gold and tossed it in the fire and then god actively formed this calf. It was a mysterious and mystical experience. However, the One and only true God was not involved in this form of occult practice. Instead this as close to conjuring up a not God but a demon of other spirit in order to create likeness in which it could attach itself too. And this is why God had called them out of the land of Egypt and into the wilderness. To separate them from world and it search and desire to contact and worship other gods. God specifically comes down to reveal himself to the world and He chose the small insignificant Hebrew Nation to do it.

God desires to reveal to us how we are to come to Him and how we are to know Him and experience the fullness of His Revelation to us. Unfortunately we are a people who are all to often stiff-necked. It is easier and more natural for us to break of some gold through it in the fire and ask ourselves now lets have some fun. If only we would wait on God and allow him to show us how we are to come before Him. If only we would ask God what is it that you would like me to do to see your face. Or even in what way could I approach you that would please you the most?

"I know Jesus", you say."I already know what He is like." I suggest you take another look. Make sure you are not staring into the eyes of that gold calf. How long have you been casting others peoples gold into the fire hoping the kind of god you want would come out of it. God has been known to judge harshly those who make a false image of Him and raise it up for others to follow. So who are what are you worshipping today.

I have determined not to bow to the cow but instead turn toward the mountain of God. Call on His Name and allow God to reveal Himself to me through His Spirit and Truth of His Son Jesus Christ. The Rock of my salvation! And as I gaze into the eyes of Jesus and will say "I desire to know you Jesus and you alone.Reveal yourself to me"

 

A Prophetic Voice "It Is Time To Release The Dead"

"My Spirit speaks to the spirit of man. My words cannot be received by the carnal man. For the flesh cannot hear or bear my words. Nor does the flesh desire to receive my words. the Man who's heart is given over to the flesh will hate My Word and reject my Spirit"

Is not the contention truly between the Spirit and the Flesh? Is not strife and division inevitable between the man who speaks the words of the Spirit and the man who's heart is given over to the flesh? Then if the flesh will not hear the words of the Spirits then will not the words of the man who speaks in the spirit profit nothing? At this point is not the man who is given over to the flesh to then be given over to our Lord?

I am not called by Jesus to contend with flesh. Nor will I or should I. I cannot open the eyes of those who refuse to see. I cannot open their hearts. I cannot open the ears of those who refuse to hear. I cannot raise the dead flesh. Nor should I desire to raise the deadness of their flesh. If the flesh is dead to the Spirit then the flesh is dead to the Word of God. Only Jesus can raise the dead! So those who live in the flesh are to be released to Jesus. Just as Paul released the Jewish audience becaused they refused to receive the Word of the Spirit. 

they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our^[b] fathers, ²⁶ saying,

         ‘ Go to this people and say:
     “ Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand;
     And seeing you will see, and not perceive;
      ²⁷ For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
     Their ears are hard of hearing,
     And their eyes they have closed,
     Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
     Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
     So that I should heal them.”’<sup>[c]

28</sup> “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!”

The time is coming and is now upon us. It is time to release the dead and let them go and it is time to turn and seek the ones that will hear it. To go to the remnant who are seeking the words of Life in the Spirit. And to go out to the ones are crying out for The Deliverer? It is time to proclaim to the remnant the Lord is coming near and it is time to go out and seek the ones who will hear!

He is planning to move in sovereignty again and His obedient servants are being prepared and placed in position. And when He moves He will call His servants out of the fields. For they are ones of humble positions and lowly in the sight of men. They are low in their own eyes and have sustain a pure heart after God. They are the unknowns and the unseen and also the ones who have been rejected. They will be chosen by Jesus to lead and navigate His people in the Power of the Spirit. For when Jesus moves upon us He will move in power! Those who are chosen will go out and come in with His power, His Name, His Truth, and they will move at the direction of the Spirit and with the word of the testimony of Jesus.

And this is what it will look like.....

Mark 16

¹⁵ And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶ He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; ¹⁸ they^[b] will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

IN THIS WORD I REJOICE!

I am not sure what God has in store for those He has called yet are going in their own direction. Maybe the Lord Himself will rebuke them. But that is not for me. I'll leave that to the Lord.

Mark 16

¹⁴ Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.