Tag Archives: Church

The Pastorate is not Gained by Man

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Church of Body of Christ in Kaunas. Lietuvių: ...

Church of Body of Christ in Kaunas. Lietuvių: Dievo kūno bažnyčia, Kaunas. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How shall a man determine that he should stand in the body of Christ in a certain place?  Is he to render himself to the Lord and speak like this:  “Lord, Most High God, I will stand here and do these things for I am worthy.”  Is it not the Lord who places each of His people among the body?  We have heard of gifts given to man by the Lord, and that for the building up of the body of Christ.  Yet some suppose, in their vain imagination, that they possess certain gifts.  And so they provoke, prod, push, and tender their way to a position.  Some have even had the gall to become teachers in the Church with this pompous attitude.  These are those who consider that the Word of God is all that is necessary to achieve position.  Yet they miss the mark.  And the Church today suffers under the oppression of their folly.

It is the Lord Jesus who gives position to man.  If there were but one teacher appointed by the Lord he would do great things beyond ten thousand presumptuous men.  There is nothing accomplished, which will last eternally, if it is not accomplished by the power of the Lord Himself.  A man should become promoted to position because he has shown the power of God within him to accomplish that post.  The ability to read and speak are no sign of the power of God among us.

May the Lord Himself give insight into these things.  May all His people search for His Holy will with all their might.  May wisdom from God be first, and the will of man be last.  Unless the Lord builds the house the builder builds in vain!

There are those who will take your money to give you a position in the Church.  And there are people who will take you in to lead them and call you pastor, priest, even “father”.  But I urge you to consider this:  You are a man.  They are but men.  Shall the blind lead the blind down, what the Lord Himself has called, “the narrow way”?  Decide for yourself what is right.  Who shall know the mind of God but the Spirit of God within us.

In ALL things it is first and last Jesus, the Lord and King of all righteousness.  Seek Him aside from man.  Search out His will.  Why would you pay money for what you cannot eat?

Lord I ask that you give insight into these things for all who seek to serve You.

By His Grace.

Just a Thought

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If you stopped going to church for a couple weeks, would you notice a serious difference in your life and habits?  Other than missing some of your friends, and their subsequent phone calls.  Would there be a measurable difference?

I ask this because most people confuse “going to church” with a relationship with the Living God.  I can say the following with great confidence:  “If you would miss only your friends and the traditions of the church, then you have nothing.  If, on the other hand, you would experience a silence from God and miss it you likely have something worth holding tight to.”

The nearness of God is such a natural state of affairs for the soul that people often don’t know what they have until it is disrupted.  Just something to ponder folks.

Førde Church, a typical Protestant church in N...

Førde Church, a typical Protestant church in Norway (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lack of Will = Lack of Productivity.

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Productivity

Productivity (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Lord has given as He pleases to men.  To some He has determined to restrain the mind.  To those He extends a wonderfully beautiful grace.  Yet to most men He has given a full mind, capable of understanding and free to choose what is good or evil.

It is the way of men, in all generations, to do what is partial.  To work, think, will, and choose, with half a heart or less.  We see it appear in the work place.  And productivity suffers as a result.  We see it make itself known in the family.  And parents, as well as children, suffer under an oppression of half heartedness.  And we see this choice to live half-hearted lives make itself known in even the Church of Jesus, the Lord of pure life.   And the testimony of the Most High God suffers under the oppression of this rebellion among men.

I urge all of us, including myself, to consider what you are capable of producing for the sake of God’s grace extended to us.  If your mind works well enough to rebel against what is good, then it also has the potential to obey.  What is it that causes this lack of productivity in the world and in full sight of Heaven?  Is it not laziness?  We prefer to remain ignorant of what is good.  We make that choice with our very desire to be less than what we know is good.  “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (James 4:17)

Strengthen your will.  Move toward what is good and God will bless you for it.  Every step you take toward His perfection will receive what is appropriate.  God is wise, merciful, yet is judge of all men.  Be wise then and turn away from the slothful spirit that grips all men.  Be diligent.  Become aware of what is right and good, and then do what you know must be done.  There is no other word, given to men, concerning this.  It is up to each of us to work hard to present the Lord with the fruit He deserves on the day He judges His people.  All good things belong to God.  And those who render their lives to the doing of the will of God will not fail to receive what is promised.

Is there something you do not fully understand?  Have you come to a place where what is good is obscured, and confusing?  Then we should pray in these places.  Does anyone rightfully believe that God will restrain understanding while holding us under judgment?  It is not His will that any should die, but that all should come to an understanding of His Holy Will.  He will give you what you need to endure such tests.  But we are not talking of those moments as much as the simpleton ideals of sloth.  If we present ourselves toward what is right, so that we might do it, we will prove far more able to encounter those moments of doubt.

If you stand as one who does not believe, then reach out toward God and believe.  It is for this very reason that you were given life.  If you are of those who believe, yet find yourself less than you ought to be, surrender to what is right.  We are only given this one life to allow our hearts to be tested.  And after this we will give account to Him regarding His testimony in Christ Jesus.  And let us not mistake this:  Right now is eternity.  The future belongs to God.  What has been done belongs to God.  Only this very moment belongs to you to make choices toward what is right and good.   And it is at this very moment that you can choose to do what is in your hand to do.

Do not be fooled by liars.  He who does what is right is righteous.  And He who chases after the things of God receives the blessing of God.  All else will be destroyed.  This is a truth:  Only God and what is His will enter eternity.  All else will cease to be.  Let us all be willing to produce for the sake of His Holy Name.  If you lack willingness then ask Him for a willing heart.  Those who earnestly seek Him find Him.  Those who chase righteousness with half a heart will end their days with nothing.  And those who remain willingly in rebellion will receive the reward which is held in waiting for the destruction of “the accuser”.   What more can be said about this?

By His Grace.

Folly Goes to Church

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English: Church of Holy Wisdom, Thessaloniki

Image via Wikipedia

Folly goes to the church building dressed in fine clothes.  He attends the service provided.  He even takes part in the pageantry; making nice to all that is expected of him.  He dresses himself in humility for a time so that all men might understand that folly is acceptable.  Then he retires from that “holy place” sure that he has accomplished his duty to a “holy practice of men”.

One hour or a lengthy two are given as payment for the activity of the week.  He has bought forgiveness and given thanks.  In his eyes he is a rich man.  And people speak well of him because he presents himself for what is right.

Through the next 6 days he does as his heart seems best to do.  He is a religious man.  And he perceives that his religion will keep him well before the eyes of the Most High God.  What he does is based entirely in his understanding of what he heard, what he saw others do, and the praise of his friends.  All is well in folly’s world.  He is free to raise a family as best he can, for he has interpreted Scripture through his own understanding.  Indeed, on earth all is well for folly.

Wisdom goes to the church building dressed in knowledge he does not own.  He attends the service with great joy, as one might feel when coming home from an extended trip.  He is part of the pageantry, for he understands that it is for the good of all that he brings his soul to be accountable for what God has done within him. And “to the building up of others”, wisdom applies his worship.  His clothes of humility are his shining skin, and is never removed.  Then, when the service is over, he presents himself to the God he loves that he, by all means, might serve eternity in this land of shadows.

One hour or two are to him but time spent serving the God who never sleeps.  And payment cannot be given for what he has received.  He has accepted the forgiveness offered him with a contrite heart; knowing all too well that God is the riches of all things.  Whether people speak well of him or beat him about the head, it makes no difference.  For he obeys what he is ordered to accomplish for the glory of He who calls him heavenward.

Through the next 6 days he listens intently to hear what must be done.  And he perceives that he has entrusted his mind, heart, body, and soul, to He who is able to keep him until the day appointed.  What he does is based entirely on the “wisdom he has received”, and those four words are the fullness of his name.  All is well in wisdom’s world, for he is a citizen of a distant country whose language he is learning to speak.  He raises his family as the Lord of Life prescribes.  For the Scriptures have laid out clearly what is good and pure.  Indeed, on earth and heaven, all is well in Wisdom’s life.

Curious Place to Live.

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Pig 2

Image via Wikipedia

A curious place in life I stand, twist the brothers of the board.

Those men who kill the Lord Most High, then boast among the horde.

And a curious place in life I stand twist the brothers of the Promise.

Those men who handle the Holy Word, yet gladly suffer foolish.

A curious place in life I stand In this battlefested land.

I neither fit midst the sinful crowd, Nor the people of the God’s Hand.

Stripes of hatred scar my mind.  And they’d have done so greatly more.

And I beat them back with tools in kind, Till I found the sacred store.

And then I found, to my chagrin another loss I suffer;

The holy ones will stand me not, and cast me to the other.

For I brought the war to the feet of those who cared to suffer loss.

Perceived I was to war and war. I cared not any cost.

They spoke the words, but action’s missing.  Now what was I to do?

Should I ignore The Lord’s soft kissing, and act like one of you?

There’s no room for me among the throngs; not earth nor heaven bound.

What shall be said of this man I am?  I’ve lived as I saw how.

So I’m hung between the lost and saved.  I hover up and down.

And here I’ll stay with out stretched arm, till He brings me a new gown.

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The above is an indication that I am not where I should be.  Yet is it a picture of where I am.   It is also a picture of the rebellious of this world, who hate the Lord and His commands.  And it is a picture of a body of people who think they own the commendation of the Lord of Life.

The world is a war ground.  And this is the result of rebellion toward God.  If we don’t hear the sounds of war in our front yard, it doesn’t mean there is no war.  God instills in His people a certain measure of His Truth.  And it is the instilling which causes all manner of turmoil among us.  All men are a people of rebellion.  Those who desire to understand more of God’s truth will encounter resistance from those who do not.  And the more truth we find or desire, the more intense will be the opposition.  The central portion of the conflict will always center around obedience vs rebellion.  And those who strive to obey will be fewer than those who rebel.   Yet one thing must be said regarding those who strive to obey.  Once the Truth of God is tasted, there will be no turning back.  I know this causes frustration in those who would wish this war to end.  But God’s Truth is a transforming power.  And once transformed from a solid liar to one who desires to know the Truth, there is no turning back.

It would not be proper to air our filthy laundry before the world.  But I find the word “our” is a bit mixed in this generation.  Corruption in teaching and in action have entered the Church, to the point that it’s hard to tell where it starts or where it ends.  What is called the church today often would not qualify as part of the war.  Men have come in to render her powerless and nullify this war.  They adopt every kind of teaching in the hopes that embracing the enemy will end in peace.  There will be no peace among men as long as there is even one person who remains in rebellion against God.  And so I speak against the diluted body of people who call themselves Christians.  I could name a pig “Christian”.  That doesn’t make it a child of God.

By His Grace.

 

By His Grace.

This Place of Testing.

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How amazing is the Lord Most High.  We consider our world as though it has always been.  For we only know of this place.  But I ponder that this place has a place of origin.  It began somewhere.  This causes me to ponder why.  God didn’t need to make us, or did He?

Eternity was rolling on.  Then at one point, God said, “Let us make man in our image”.  Why?  I’ve come to call this world a “Place of Testing” for this reason.  I’m not a smart man.  And I can’t remember everything I read or write.  But I rely on a general body of knowledge for the following.  Perhaps a scholar can add the pointed scriptures to support what I’m about to write.  I’ve written about this before.  But it just blows me away to consider the Greatness of God in this topic.

There was perfection from eternity.  God had created what was Good.   Since there’s no lie in God, no lie was in creation, until. . .  There was an Angel who thought he knew better than God what was good.  Rather than have to explain to an innocent creation what a lie was, he created a world of choice.  A people were given the choice to follow what is Good or chose to disobey. 

God is just.  Along with creating this place of testing, He also chose One to redeem those who would certainly fall to disobedience.  The only thing which marks us as able to be redeemed is that we are blind to the Glory of God.  But God is also going to put an end to the liar and all his ways.   And this is what we speak today.  Repent and seek the Redeemer.

There is a whole lot more to this story.  But with this as the basis, I find a great responsibility to seek Him.  He began this place.  He will end it.  Those who spend their life serving Him by the power of Jesus’ sacrifice will receive a certain reward for their loyalty.  Those who follow after the lie which started all this will receive a certain reward also.

I’m sure I’ll write more about this later.  But my meager mind runs out of words quickly. 

By His Grace.