Living Word Christian Fellowship
“That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving...” Psalm 26:7
Vol. 16, No. 8 August 2007
Pro 14:12 “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof [are] the ways of death.” (Proverbs 16:25)
The watchword for today is “careful.” Please be careful how you are living and handling life in general. This is a day of deception and dread for multitudes. But for the children of God it is a day to press-on into Christ no matter what we experience. Sometimes we are hurting so badly we make mistakes that affect others, but that cannot stop us from pressing in to the Lord’s voice and direction. He is leading us and guiding us into all truth. And truth is the only thing that will give us the freedom we need to live. You won’t find truth any place except in Christ Jesus. The attacks of the enemy want you to believe lies that bring you no relief. Truth always brings relief. The problem is that God opens the door of our prison cell, but we don’t want to believe His Word or His Way; so we sit imprisoned in our open cells, afraid to go free.
Take the Word of Truth and devour it. It won’t make you sick; it might just heal you and give you all the freedom you desperately long for. Make a concerted effort. Remember, freedom isn’t free. It will cost you everything, but there is nothing like it. And oh, the joy and peace that fills your innermost being sets you in a place that is higher than any other you have ever known.
The heavenly places on earth are genuine and real. Many have given up on the truth, but I won’t, I have experienced true freedom and I want it more than life itself. My freedom is Jesus Christ. He is my all in all.
In Christ,
Pr. Steve
What People Need
Phil.4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
In order for the body of Christ to grow today, people must know their needs will be met. Generally speaking, this subject is the greatest concern of the body. How are we as believers going to work with the Spirit to help meet people’s needs? The solution begins with a spirit of compassion, courage, skill and perception. Compassion is the character of Christ. Courage is the outward working of an inward mindset that is free from the fear of failure. Skill and perception must be learned and experienced.
Perception is developed by understanding the basic needs of every individual living: Biblically speaking, only God can meet the needs of an individual (text). So we must be rooted and grounded in the life of Christ because God is going to meet the needs of people through His body.
ACCEPTANCE – “I am” - everyone needs to be accepted – this is the need to be loved for who I am, not who I might be. Love = agape, not phileo or eros. Three basic elements of agape love include:
Being acknowledged as a person – I acknowledge you as a person
Being cared about – I allow you to make decisions, right or wrong
Being esteemed as an “I” – cherished, valued {Everyone has this need of acceptance – it is a basic human requirement of life.}
How do you meet this need of acceptance? You do it by affirming people, letting them know by what you say you value them. Pursue people in what they are about. {Today, people are standoffish, they want to do their own thing without others involved,. They wish to be alone and don’t want to be bothered with the needs of others. The church cannot do this and still be a part of the Church. We need one another’s acceptance.}
SECURITY – “I belong” Everyone needs to be around a safe environment to feel secure.
How do you meet this need of security? First, the church must be a family, not an institution. If we are a family, then we are brothers and sisters. This may be old school, but the Bible calls the brethren “brother or sister.” This is not old fashioned. It gives the sense of family. (You don’t have to use it if you can find another way. I don’t want just a vogue word for the sake of terminology) Second, there must be a sense of faithfulness. Once again society has removed this trait from families. But God’s family is faithful one to another. Faithfulness is relationship. If you are to help meet the needs of other people, then you must be dependable.
IDENTITY – “I matter” [I am, I belong, & I matter.] Each person needs to be recognized for his unique giftings, abilities and standing with God.
How do you meet this need of Identity? Encouragement – to express his giftings and allow room for mistakes. Communicate others’ worth and value in what they do. Exhort them so they are lifted up. Tell them they are good in what they do.
PURPOSE – “I can”. Each person needs to know he has an important reason for existing and living.
How do you meet this need? Create opportunities for others to be a part with you. They don’t have to accept, but they do need to know they are welcome to participate in what you are doing. {I was never athletic, so I was never picked to be a part of the team.} I was excluded because of competition, not because of purpose. We will miss much in life if we don’t include others in what we do and in not giving them a chance to explore their purpose. If you think about the times you were rejected, what potential has been lost? Remember, the church is a body. If one person is not participating, then that part of the body is dying or lost, thus bringing disease to the body. All parts of the body must be operating to be made whole.
Acceptance – Security – Identity - Purpose
A.S.I.P. – “A sip of grace everyday” because “I am - I belong - I matter – and - I can.”
If we understand the four basic needs of people, then we will have healthy relationships one with another. In order for us to have a strong relationship with the Father, we must have a healthy relationship with each other. In relationship we find the development of authority. People want to have authority, but authority, though basic to Christian’s walk, does not exit outside of relationship one with another. You must have authority today to overcome the obstacles of life; otherwise, you will be stepped on over and over again and finally crushed. Outside of healthy relationships there is no authority. No matter what you try to do it is not genuine authority. If you don’t want to pay the price of relationship, then don’t try to exercise authority. All authority is limited. Don’t try to exercise authority outside of your relationships.
In order to help meet other people’s need, remain a servant. Those who have servant hearts will be able to facilitate the concerns of others and be ready to step in and offer assistance. When we try to help others but point to ourselves in assisting, people get offended. Remember to keep the focus on Christ. “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phi 4:19) Our assistance must always point to Jesus as we recognize Jesus in all that we do to help meet other people’s need. The problem exists when we feel important because we help others, as if we are their source. You will never truly help another individual unless it is pointing to Jesus. He is the only one who can supply all you need. If help comes from you and your effort, people will tend to depend on you – and you will fail at some time or the other – the Lord doesn’t fail people. The Lord never gives one person enough to meet all the needs of others – it takes all of us. NEVER brag about your accomplishments in helping others. Today, churches advertise all they do to help others, but when they point to themselves instead of to the Lord, the help is not of Him. It points to you
The needs of people will increase greatly in the days ahead. Only the Lord through His people will be able to meet all the needs. People must find their help in and through the Lord working through people who are led by the Spirit of God who are not looking for a pat on the back. They are simply led with compassion, courage, skill and perception.
On the other hand, you may feel inadequate to help other people; but Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” So when a need arises, be willing to be used to help meet the need.
Be sensitive. These days are crucial. People don’t always know what they need. Don’t presume to understand if you don’t. ASK before you decide what to do. Get a better understanding. Too many are wasting their time offering handouts, and that is not what people need. Choose your words wisely by the Spirit so you can help with an eternal perspective instead of a natural one. One who is truly sensitive will be able to make a lasting impact on the lives others.
Be able to discern those who want help right now verses those who need help. God is never in a hurry to help. (Have you noticed?) People will wear you out by demanding of you “right now.” A true need can be thoroughly reviewed and followed through properly. When a need is real, don’t withhold in order to accommodate yourself. Be willing to change your agenda if the need is true and valid.
Proverbs 3:27 (KJV) “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.” Don’t say, go and come back tomorrow when it is in your power today to help.
It will take maturity to reach out and truly help other people today. It will take a determination to say, I am willing to help others when the need arises. But it is a process that starts where you are today with what you have. LONG TERM INVESTMENTS ARE WHAT PAY OFF, not short term reserves (“Well, I feel like helping someone today”). Long terms begin with what we have and then increasing a little at a time, thereby producing maturity and ultimately enabling us to help others.
If you care more about people than you do results, you will be used to help meet the needs of others. And Jesus Christ will be honored according to His richness in glory. Those who are willing to reach out to help others will ultimately become leaders in the Kingdom of God. Our purpose during the millennium will be to help others. Nations will come to the Saints that are made ready to help through the greatest days of earth.
Are you willing?
-Pr. Steve
. . . My calling as a pastor
Pastor’s Journal 2006
Aug. 3: The weapon for the battle with the city was trust. I clearly heard the Lord say, “unfavorable and favorable.” Trust was all I was to do, because it was clear I wanted to do more than trust. Now I understand, to suffer wrong rather than be wrong. The Lord is gracious. Trust is a tremendous weapon.
Aug. 15: The past two days were the worst of all. Trouble, oppression, nothing working right, but God! You never failed to tell me or encourage me. You brought us through. Many still do not understand the battle or the experience of the battle. “Why,” they ask? Because, You are Lord and You know what we must learn to serve You better. It’s almost over and I am still breathing.
Aug. 17: “For the Lord is great.” His promise is for victory tomorrow, overcoming victory with no defeat!
Aug. 19: The victory is in my spirit, but the natural is in much pain. The battle keeps intensifying, but I will believe the Word of the Lord. God is teaching me something far greater then I can understand. I can see clearly with all the confusion around us that the enemy is fighting hard to stop the opening of Richmond Academy. You have said “Nothing can stop the building.” O God, arise and let Your enemies be scattered.
Aug. 23: For You, Lord, bless the righteous. You surround him with favor like a shield.
Aug. 24: Even when the battle is won it doesn’t feel like it because there is another battle raging. Nothing could stop Your plan and purpose, O God, but all the irritation makes it seem futile. Please be glorified in Your work so that the will of God is perfected in us. Whether or not I accomplish any success I am justified with God because Christ rules my heart. Anything less comes in the way of my relationship with Him.
Aug. 25: “For the next year, put into practice all you have learned of Me.”
Aug. 29: “The battles intensify but you are prepared. I am fighting for you. The battle rages within but I am come to give you peace and contentment in Me. My Word is in you. Don’t get ahead of Me and it will be clear. Have confidence in the Spirit of Christ that rules your heart and soul and fills your being with eternal life.”
Real Life
Gen 3:6-7 (KJV) “And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (7) And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”
Is it the same test for each of us as it was for Adam and Eve? Will we choose the things that we desire, the things that taste good, the things we like to look at, the things that make one smart, instead of choosing the things that will cause us to fulfill the will of God for our lives in the earth? Can we Christians admit that we may still have some love of this world in our hearts? In the following example of Saul’s conversion to Paul, we have to see the contrast in a man who thought that he was serving God with all of his heart, had studied the word of God his whole life, but still did not recognize the Lord incarnate, and even sought to destroy Him.
Act 26:12-18 (MSG) “One day on my way to Damascus, armed as always with papers from the high priests authorizing my action, (13) right in the middle of the day a blaze of light, light outshining the sun, poured out of the sky on me and my companions. Oh, King, it was so bright! (14) We fell flat on our faces. Then I heard a voice in Hebrew: 'Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me? Why do you insist on going against the grain?' (15) "I said, 'Who are you, Master?' "The voice answered, 'I am Jesus, the One you're hunting down like an animal. (16) But now, up on your feet--I have a job for you. I've handpicked you to be a servant and witness to what's happened today, and to what I am going to show you. (17) "'I'm sending you off (18) to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I'm sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.”
The whole issue here is the difference between religion and relationship. Did Adam and Eve fall because they believed the issue to simply a “do” or a “don’t”? Was their relationship with the Lord in the garden not developed enough to trust Him instead of the serpent? How was it that Saul (Paul) did not have any idea that Jesus Christ was the Son of God? The big question is: Do we as Christians have a solid personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Do we walk with Him and talk with Him and tell Him that we belong to Him? Or do we rather seek to fulfill a quota of religious activities that cause us to surmise that we are ok in God’s eyes? Beware getting caught up in the quagmire of philosophies that make life seem general and non-specific. God has a purpose and a plan for everything, and everyone that He creates. First He reveals Himself to those that will call upon His name. Then He leads us out of darkness into the ways of eternal life. And then He wants us to share Him with others.
Act 26:17-18 (MSG) “I'm sending you off (18) to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I'm sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.”
-Kurt Thurston
Are You Committed? part 2 of 3
Isa. 48:10 (KJV) “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.”
The church goes through some rough times. God is calling us, the righteous, in the rough times to come through the rough times.
Yet all outward difficulties would be as nothing, were it not for lusts and corruptions within. These cause the worst troubles.
1 John 3:7 through 1 John 3:10 (KJV) “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”
Are we committed to God? We know by what we commit. Do we commit sin? Do we commit acts of selfishness? Or do we commit acts of service to the Lord?
The only way to keep the soul well is to commit it to God by prayer and patient perseverance in well-doing.
Psa. 37:5 (KJV) “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”
Prov. 16:3 (KJV) “Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.”
When we are committed to God’s work, He wills upon us true riches!
Luke 16:9 through Luke 16:12 (KJV) “And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. 10He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. 11If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?”
2 Tim. 2:2 (KJV) “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”
To be continued…
-Pr. S. Chad Ross
Shipwreck
The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island.
He prayed feverishly for GOD to rescue him, and everyday he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.
Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements and to store his few possessions.
One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames with smoke rolling up to the sky.
The worst had happened! Everything was lost!
He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger.
"GOD, how could you do this to me?" he cried.
Early the next day he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to
rescue him.
"How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.
Moral of the story:
It's easy to get discouraged when things are going badly, but we shouldn't lose heart, because GOD is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain, and suffering.
Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke
signal that summons the grace of GOD.
-Author Unknown
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