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Pastor, Gimme some sugar

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For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 2 Timothy 4:3-4

There are five things I would like to point out in this passage of scripture that should make all of us concern:

1. The time is coming.

When one reads this verse it almost sounds like Paul is warning Timothy about something that was going to happen in a distant future. But Paul is not referring merely to sometime in the distant future but to a situation he expected Timothy to face or one he was already facing. It is not in some distant future – it is happening now, maybe in your church.

2. People will not endure sound teaching

If you ever thought that preaching was supposed to make you comfortable and happy; and not challenge and provoke you, well think again. All scripture is useful for Reproving, rebuking, and exhorting. All scripture is useful and should include—doctrine, instruction, correction, and encouragement when we share it. Anything less is not good enough.

3. Itching ears they will have.

Itching means to rub, to scratch; and then to tickle, and to feel an “itching” for something pleasing or gratifying. The words itching ears also show a yearning for novelty. The key word here is “Novelty” a strong preference to hear tantalizing theories, stimulating rhetoric and flowery phrases and not the word “which is able to make them wise unto salvation.”

4. They will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions

This verse has nothing to do with whether a preacher is popular or not. It has everything to do with the kind of message and lifestyle he promotes. This is what people are seeking. They itch for something to satisfy their passions, lust – that is, their own tastes, or wishes. “This is a state of endless curiosity, and an insatiable desire of variety.” This is the life of the church hopper, the life of a Christian longing for that next meeting/conference – the next evangelist to come to town.

5. They will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

There are many churches/believers today that have wandered so far away from the truth and they don’t even know it. A quick look at what they believe and teach about creation, sexuality, sin, marriage grace, love, heaven and hell (to name a few) will make you sick. Whenever we turn away from the word of God we expose ourselves to half-truths, cultural myths and fables – that’s when things get easily twisted. Half-truths do no good to the soul, it only leave it barren and corrupt. That’s why Paul told Timothy to preach the WORD! Be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

Therefore, I charge you today in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead:

Preach the word

Always be sober-minded

Endure suffering

Do the work of an evangelist

Fulfill your ministry.

Fight the good fight

Finish the race

A man with God is always in the majority

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The courage to stand for God before a hostile and indifferent culture comes to those who continually trusts in Him to take care of them and govern over the affairs of man.

Too often, because we fear the rejection and wrath of the world, we water down truth, cave in to the overwhelming pressure of seemingly powerful people.

But we must never forget that “a man with God is always in the majority.” Even though you may feel small and insignificant, continue to stand with and for God.

Don’t give up now: Fight the good fight of faith, press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Question of the day

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Do we live like we truly believe God is in control, or do we make choices in life as if God were an uninvolved, apathetic audience… Rather than the Prime Mover?

Behind every great man

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I have often heard it said, “behind every great man is not just a woman, but a godly woman.” Well, how about 5 godly women?

When God was about ready to deliver His children at of captivity and bondage into freedom and the land of promise, he did not just raised up a man for the task.

The first thing God did was to raise up and prepare five (5) extraordinary women of exceptional courage. Women who would help shape the destiny of a male child called Moses.

We often hear about the greatness of Moses but not much about the great women God strategically placed and used to make him great.

They are all around us, mothers, grandmothers, wives, sisters, aunts. One or more women who’s been a solid rock, confidante and inspiration. Sent them flowers today and don’t wait till they are dead.

Meet the fab five:
Shiphrah and Puah the midwives who feared God enough to stand against the king’s command. The mother of Moses and his courageous big sister. And of-course, the daughter of Pharaoh.

Had it not been for these women, as imperfect as they might be, we probably would have never heard about Moses – the conquering hero and deliverer, the most humble man ever.

Take some time today to acknowledge and celebrate the woman or women God has placed in your life.

Shalom!

Divine Appointments

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El Roi – The God of Seeing

I have studied Genesis chapter 16 many times but didn’t realize there was a deeper truth hiding in this verse 13. The angel of the Lord comes to Hagar and begins to speak some very comforting words to her. We understand that Hagar is in this place because she we kicked out of Sarah’s and Abraham’s home after bearing a child for the couple.

After the angel appeared to her and began to talk with her; she mentions something very profound – but you will miss it if you don’t pause for a second or two to dig a little deeper.  She said,  “you are the God who sees.” Hagar is impressed by the perceptiveness of God as revealed through his angel-messenger. This is seen in the name she gives to the Lord; she calls him ’El Ro’i – meaning – God of seeing. For she is saying – here I have seen him who looks after me.

Divine Appointments

A similar thing happens again in the New Testament where Jesus comforts a non-Hebrew woman – and she too recognizes that God had appeared to her (John 4). I want you to notice a few things that are very similar in these two stories:

1. Both  encounters happened at a spring.

2. Both women are in distress.

3. Both of them are gentiles.

4. They are both outcasts

5. God does everything to seek them out and bring comfort to them.

He knows your name – He sees your tears – He seeks you out

Here is the truth in these stories. God sees you. Jesus knows where you are. He understands what you are going through. He will always show up to help you. He is the ‘seeing God.’ He is not taking a nap or on a long vacation. He is aware about every trouble and trial you go through. So whatever distress, trouble,  dark valley you find yourself in today – El Roi has seen you and you can rest assure that He is coming to encourage you.

Name a time in you life when you thought you were all alone but God showed up and met you at the point of your need.

It is Illegal!

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In Alabama it’s illegal to drive a vehicle while you’re blindfolded.

In Alaska it’s illegal to push a live moose out of a moving airplane.

In Connecticut it’s illegal to walk across a street on your hands.

In Indiana it’s illegal to bathe during the winter.

In Vermont you must take at least one bath a week—on Saturday night.

In Kentucky it’s illegal to transport ice cream in your pocket.

In Massachusetts mourners at a wake may not eat more than three sandwiches.

In the State of Grace it is illegal to gather your friends and throw a pity party

With the Word and the Spirit together, you grow up.

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Too much Word and not 
enough Spirit you puff up. Too much Spirit and not enough Word 
you blow up. With the Word and the Spirit together, you grow up. 
- Anonymous

How you seek this kind of balance in ministry is what this post is about.

Just before I went to seminary for a four and a half of preparation for ministry, the Lord impressed on my heart a verse from Luke chapter 4. I started meditating upon it, but didn’t get it until the end of my first semester.

I went to church at least five different times during the week. I lived on campus, so I attended our school chapel time, midweek bible study, Friday nigh prayer meetings, than both Sunday morning and Sunday evening services. I had wonderful, Spirit filled professors,  great prayer meetings and church services, but my personal prayer time, bible reading and meditation and my personal evangelism gradually came to a standstill. My passion, my fire was going out little by little. I thought to myself, I’m in the right place, why am I neglecting these vital spiritual disciplines?

Now, I am a big fan of theological education, I disagree with those who think you don’t need it. Unfortunately, many young people enter seminary full of zeal and fire but graduate dusty, dry, or sometimes spiritually dead.  This is one of the reasons Christian kids lose their faith and drop out of the church when to go off to college. Knowledge and learning is great, but every scholar, student, minister and leader would have to seek that balance of having both knowledge and Spirit combined so that they can grow up and not dry up or blow up.

Knowledge mixed with a little dose of prayerlessness does something to you. It puffs you up! Sooner or later you begin to feel like knowledge is all you need. Imagine doing a three or four-year ministry preparation where your prayer life does not exist, your bible reading and meditation is lifeless, and your personal evangelism is dead.

You may say, wait a minute Walter, this is Bible school right? Are you not in the word of God, how can you dry up? Our constant exposure to divine things does not guarantee our continued stewardship of it. Sometimes if we are not careful we can easily begin to handle divine things in the most casual ways. When familiarity sets in and that deep sense of wonder and awe begins to fade, it’s a sure that we are drying up.

In Luke 4:1 the Bible says that Jesus ” driven” into the wilderness for his time of preparation for His ministry. I want you to notice that He went full of the Spirit, full of zeal, full of fire, full of power, full of passion going in:

LUKE 4:1 says, And Jesus was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days.

I would also like for you to notice that he came out of that time of preparation for ministry still full of the Spirit’s power, passion, fire and zeal:

LUKE 4:14, 36-40 says, And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country…

Here is the point – He did not return dusty, dry or spiritually dead. Learning is good, knowledge is great, but they are useless without the Spirit’s power. We should never let our academic pursuits or our jobs drain us of supernatural power. I would like to encourage every young person getting ready to enter seminary or is already attending seminary or bible school – keep the fire burning. Some of you young people going away to college or  university for some preparation or training for your life’s mission – no matter your preparation – keep the fire burning.

For those of us in ministry, I’m not talking just about fulltime pastoral ministry. If God has called you to write, teach, lead, in the church and in the market place, let nothing drain us of the supernatural and spiritual power we will need to do our ministry.

The following are a few practical suggestion that will help you stay spiritually alive during your preparation and ready to go out and change the world:

  • stay humble
  • stay disciplined
  • stay hungry
  • stay holy
  • stay prayerful
  • stay grounded
  • stay being yourself
  • stay passionate
  • stay restful
  • stay active
  • stay in a visionary
  • stay teachable
  • stay compassionate
  • stay in love with people
  • stay deeply Trinitarian
  • stay curious
  • stay a learner
  • stay on fire

Please add to the list and join the conversation!

Benefits of Genuine Worship/ Part 4

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Worship increases spiritual strength and endurance in the life of the worshiper

Isaiah 40:28-31 says, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

I don’t know about you, but from time to time I find myself in that place of exhaustion. Sometimes I lack the courage and strength to make progress.  But through worship life begins to make sense again. Speaking to a group of weary and fainting believers, the Hebrews writer encouraged them to “lift your drooping hands and strengthen weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint.” Lifting drooping hands speak of a place of exhaustion, yet it is indicative of the fact that strength and power comes through hands being lifted up in worship (Moses / Ex. 17:12). Weak knees also speak of a place of exhaustion, but it remains true that if we would but bow our knees in worship, waiting on the Lord, he will show up to increase our strength so that we can walk and not faint, run and not grow weary, mount up on wings like eagles.

Worship creates an atmosphere for miracles, signs and wonders to happen

If you don’t believe it, try throwing a pity party. The fact here is that Paul and Silas had all the right reasons to complain and throw a pity party: They loved the Lord, they were serving him, but here they were in shackles in a Roman prison. Acts 16:24-26 says, “Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.”

We must always in good times or bad – happy or sad, make a choice to worship. Doors may not always fly open for us like it did for Paul and Silas, but when we choose to worship and not complain, it will create an atmosphere for him to move, commune, dwell or encourage.

Worship embeds deep within our hearts a Peace that surpasses understanding

If you’ve ever met anyone with a praise still on their lips even though they may be going through a trying time – than you have met the fulfillment of Philippians 4:7. That person may be down to their last dime, with unpaid bills, yet they have a peace that surpasses understanding. Philippians 4:7 says, “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

This person understands that there is a problem. He is not in denial of the lack he has or the pain he is feeling. It is not a blind faith that they told us we needed to have – ignore the problem or act as if it is not there. No, we “understand” that the problem is there, and the only think that is keeping us from losing our minds is the peace of God.

This is a supernatural peace that comes from God and it’s activated by being anxious for nothing, but in everything making our needs known to God through worship, prayer, supplication and thanksgiving. When we come into God’s presence leaning on the giver and not the gift and the lack thereof, he drops this supernatural peace deep down in our hearts. The most beautiful thing about it is – it guards our hearts and minds. It keeps us from losing our minds.

I hope this was a blessing to you!

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Benefits of Genuine Worship/ Part 3

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Freedom Reigns

I want to thank the Lord because every opportunity we get to meet with him and worship him is an opportunity for him to release into our lives all of His goodness. I pray that on this independence day, we can all tap into the freedom that comes from pure and genuine worship.

Worship brings freedom to the life of the worshiper
John 4:23 says, “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” For genuine worship to happen it must be done in Spirit and Truth. In fact, it is safe to say that the only kind of worship that pleases God is one done in Spirit and Truth. God is actively seeking a certain kind of worshipper. Only those who worship in Spirit and Truth qualify. Everything else is worthless.

There must be a reason God chose worship in Spirit and Truth as the keys to having a genuine worship experience. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” When we worship in Spirit and Truth we are able to tap in the freedom that comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 1:29 discourages us from letting the flesh glory in his presence. Therefore, to worship in spirit means to be concerned with spiritual realities and not fleshly things. When that happens, oppression is lifted, addictions are removed, the curse is destroyed and strongholds are broken.

So, on this independence day I pray that we will all be able to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily encumbers. As we draw near to the Lord in worship – worship in spirit and truth, may we be able to tap into the freedom that only comes from the Lord who is Spirit.

Benefits fo Genuine Worship/ Part 2

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Every opportunity we have to meet with and worship God is an opportunity for God
to release into our lives all of His goodness. When He shows up, he comes with
healing, deliverance, and power.

Worship releases God’s promise

I remember hearing an old preacher many years ago saying the following… “praise is the plow that prepares the heart for the planting of the promises of God.” – Psalm 103:1-5 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Sometimes, before there is a healing, a deliverance, a releasing of love and mercy or the comforting presence of God, there must be worship. This is one of the easiest ways to walk in God’s blessings. Heartfelt, genuine worship of the King.

Worship has an attractiveness in it to draw the sinner to the Lord

Jesus said in John 12:32 that – “when I’m lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” One may argue that this verse is uniquely about his resurrection and not about worship as well. Well, I beg to differ. Of course, it’s about his resurrection from the dead, but it is equally about him being lifted up in praise. In the same chapter, a woman comes to him and opens an expensive jar of perfume. Well, it was not only an anointing for his burial but also a costly expression of her intense personal devotion and worship of the Lord.

Telling the same story about the triumphal entry, Luke adds an important detail about the Pharisees telling Jesus to rebuke his disciples and stop them from singing – “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” To that, Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” So I don’t find it strange at all when the jailer comes to faith in Jesus after Paul and Silas brought down the house with their songs of praise. The reason most of our worship is not bringing others to Christ is – he is not the center of our worship anymore. Self, ego, popularity and even the songs we sing, have taken his place. But when the church truly lifts Jesus high and make worship all about him – the sinner takes notice and comes running to him.

Worship leaves us wanting, longing for more of God

Worship creates in us a Moses like always at his feet dynamic. Moses met with God every day in face to face encounters. God would show up in his tent where they would speak face to face. God’s presence was with him always. Encounter after encounter Moses saw the face of God. Yet, he did not let this create a false sense of security. He wanted to see more of God – so he cried, “show me your glory.” Matt. 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Yesterday is gone, today is today. Let there be a growing hunger in you for more of him. A desire the keeps growing from glory to glory.

10 Benefits of Genuine Worship/ Part 1