Living Word Christian Fellowship
“That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving...” Psalm 26:7
Vol. 14, No. 7 July 2005
Dear Family of God:
God seems to be emphasizing the need for each member of Christ’s body to rise up and use their giftings so that the giftings might mature along with the people. In other words, we will be ready for greater works than we have seen or been a part of in the past. But let me remind you not to let the gifts rule your thinking or your relationship with the Lord. The majority of Christians today want to be useful. That is not so terrible, but do we wait on the Spirit to lead us? Then there is a group that wants to be important. If you want to be important, then be ready for the insults and the attacks, along with the competition that tries to take your lead. Being important is not all that it appears.
But then there is a place few come into. It is not being useful, it is not being important. It is being pleasing to the Lord. That is the ultimate place I try to be everyday. Sometimes it is lonely. Many times it leaves me misunderstood, and most of the time I am not used in a spectacular way. But, it is a place of His Divine Presence, a place of abiding in Him! It is a place of comfort and peace. Knowing that God is with me in all I endeavor to do with Him and learning to wait on Him will not make me ashamed.
In Christ,
Pr. Steve
Defeating Temptation & Fear
1Co 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it].”
As long as we live in this world we cannot be without tribulation and temptation. Job says that man’s life on earth is a continual warfare. So every one of us must be concerned about his own temptations by staying in prayer and watching, else the devil finds a way to deceive. The devil never sleeps or grows weary – he only goes about seeking whom he may devour. No one is ever so mature and holy that he does not have to deal with some form of temptation.
Temptations are useful to us if we want to be like Jesus Christ. These temptations humble us, cleanse us, and instruct us. All true saints pass through tribulations and temptations to increase the Kingdom of God.
There is no man free of temptations because the source of temptations is in our selves. Born in sinful desire, we always have something to suffer as long as we are striving to be more like Christ. Many seek to escape temptations, only to fall into them. We cannot win by flight, but by patience and humility we are made stronger that our foes.
If you simply turn aside, the root remains and becomes worse. But with God’s help, an enduring spirit will harden you with determination not to give in. This is the comfort we can give one another in time of need.
Giving into evil temptations is a sign of instability in the mind and a lack of trust in God. Yielding makes like a ship without a steering helm – it goes wherever the wind blows. The winds of temptation are blowing. This is the way of a man with instability. He never knows where he might end up and what damage could be done.
Fires temper iron. Temptations temper the man. None of us knows what we will do until we are tempted. Only as we stand firm in the Lord Jesus Christ is there a way of escape.
So if you are living a life of resistance against all temptations by submitting yourself to the pressures of God right now even though it seems like a long enduring grievous time, take heart, you shall be able to bear it.
If you are not actively resisting, YOU ARE GROWING WEAKER EACH DAY – THE ENEMY IS GROWING STRONGER. Deception is operating.
CONCEIT is the problem = to imagine what is not true. Look at us as a society. Blindness! We live in conceit. We don’t want to face reality – too difficult to ascertain (to make certain). [Only 16% of Christians believe in discipling. These are the same ones who believe in absolutes – the rest live in conceit – imagination, deception.] Here is the shocker – I was meditating on the demise of older generation – what will be left of us? Only those who have a work ethic, a standard of discipline, and who pay the price to improve themselves are the ones willing to be disciplined!!! More and more people are giving up the effort to go on and improve themselves. The work of deception is already increasing at an alarming rate. People don’t care anymore about the standard of Christ over their life. They think everything is OK without the discipline of the church which Christ rules.
So who are the conceited? Those who refuse to accept the leadership of others. They think they know enough and nobody can tell them what to do or how to live. Have you heard, "He’s a proud man!” That is a disgrace. That man will never receive any help from anyone, especially God. That man is ignorant. That man cannot stand under temptation, adversity, or any sort of trouble because he is conceited and has too much confidence in himself.
The proud and conceited are always looking for security now. They believe that they take care of themselves and save themselves now. But listen, these are the ones who become the most fearful and cast down in the day of trouble!
FEAR is a painful emotion excited by the expectation of evil. It is accompanied with a desire to avoid evil (temptation). It produces an uneasiness of the mind about what may or may not befall us. Fear is what causes our imaginations to go wild. If not dealt with, fear will produce terror to respond beyond the “normal” reasonable method.
The more fear is allowed to operate, the greater the degree of deception that will follow. As fear increases, people are going to become more and more deceived. Fear produces uncontrolled emotions to rule our decision-making. We won’t think clearly or hear The Lord’s direction or counsel. And those who are not submitted to authority and leadership will drown in the temptation of fear.
Fear produces a stress that literally shuts us down. Our bodies and makeup won't operate. More and more people need help to function throughout the day – FEARS have gripped them. If we don’t deal with this pattern in our lives, we will react to people with confusion, judgmentalism and condemnation.
God never intended fear to be bondage. He intends it to guide us, keep us safe under the protective covering of God: (Psm.19:9) “The fear of the Lord is clean.” It is a physical cleansing, purging to make holy.
Psa.23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”
How do we know when to fear? “In God do I put my trust; I will not fear what man can do to me.” WE are to love God, hate evil; trust in God, not in man; fear the Lord and flee from evil.
Fear negates truth. So you must speak truth to your fears. Where you have been robbed of life because fear has its grip, speak truth and be set free.
-Pr. Steve
I am going to be sharing with you thoughts from my journal over the past few years. This is to show you how the Lord has brought about His Word in my life to minister to you and to show you how real this walk can be. Please read and understand by the Spirit about ...
. . . My calling as a pastor
Pastor’s Journal 2004
July 3: Obedience with faith equals trust. It conquers all things. This is the time and the day of judgment. With it comes restoration through fullness.
July 5: First the information, then the inspiration will bring forth the revelation.
July 17: I want to know the truth of Your Word. I want to walk in the way of Your will. I want to be in the completeness of Your Life in Christ.
July 31: This month has had so many ups and downs. The battle rages but I do put my trust in God, the God of the heavens and the earth. Jesus Christ rules supreme. There is no other God besides Him.
Ministry Minded - part 2 of 3
Encouragement for the Body
Like minded
Being like minded is to have the same common goal. What are our ministry goals? We should write them down and share them with others that we may be joined together in unity.
Rom. 15:5 (KJV) 5Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
We should not be critical. Challenging another’s ministry is challenging the very word of God. Blasphemy is questioning or challenging whether the ministry was God when it was God. If we are critical, we are not likeminded or ministry minded.
We should be careful not to put ministers on a pedestal.
1 Cor. 4:6 (KJV) 6And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.
A result of being ministry minded is unity.
Christ Minded
Being Christ minded is having relationship with Christ and being aware of how He would handle situations.
A result of being ministry minded is to be compassionate. We become so moved with compassion that we cannot help but to minister.
Jer. 4:19 (KJV) 19My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
What we see affects our heart toward compassion. Lam. 3:51 (KJV) 51Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
We must be servants if we are to be perfect.
2 Cor. 13:11 (KJV) 11Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
Eph. 6:5 (KJV) 5Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;
Col. 3:22 (KJV) 22Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:
We should seek spiritual perfection, not natural perfection. Being “professional” isn’t always the correct response. How would Jesus handle the situation? He meets us where we are.
-Pr. S. Chad Ross
Weaklings or Warriors? -part 1 of 2
Jos 24:14-15 (KJV) “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. (15) And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
We live in a time when the opinions of what it means to be a Christian are multiplying daily. There a too many excuses for living in sin and giving in to weaknesses. No matter what anyone else says, the fact remains that a person must be Christ like! Christ was meek but not weak. Though He was not a fist fighter He was a Spiritual Warrior. Jesus Christ lived and died to do the will of our Heavenly Father. It was not until after Jesus was baptized that He faced His greatest temptations. People think today that they are saved because they get baptized, but biblically it is after baptism that the real spiritual warrior in the person is confirmed. The same was true when Moses led the people out of Egypt. Immediately after the people of God had passed through the Red Sea, they had to endure great temptations, and eventually even go forth in battle to take the land.
1Co 10:1-13 (KJV) “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; (2) And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; (3) And did all eat the same spiritual meat; (4) And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. (5) But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. (6) Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. (7) Neither be ye idolaters, as [were] some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. (8) Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. (9) Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. (10) Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. (11) Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (12) Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (13) There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it].”
Though the temptations were hard, Christ overcame them all, and He gave us power to overcome the temptations we go through. Therefore our profession of faith in Christ must be: Rom 8:37 (KJV) “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
-Kurt Thurston
The Adventures of Great God and Stupid Cat
We have a cat at our house that lives outside. She showed up one day, we fed her and she stayed. On more than one occasion I’ve had to climb a ladder and coax her out of a tree. Why or how a cat would repeatedly climb a tree when it isn’t smart or brave enough to climb back down is something that really baffles me. Recently, when the cat hadn’t been around the house for a few days, we assumed she had either found some place else to live or hadn’t been quite quick enough crossing the road. One night while walking toward the front of our house I heard her. She had, ONCE AGAIN, climbed up in a tree and couldn’t or wouldn’t climb back down. I don’t know how long she had been there. We hadn’t seen her for a few days, so I assumed she’d been there the whole time. With much frustration, I set out under the 9 o’ clock moonlight to try to get her down. This time she had climbed so far up, the ladder came nowhere close to her. No matter what I tried she wouldn’t climb back down. After a couple hours of nonsense I decided I was DONE with the cat. “I don’t care if you die up there. I’m not trying to get you down anymore,” I muttered on my way back to the house.
The next morning I went to see if the cat had decided to come down. Of course not! Once again I endeavored coaxing the moronic feline free from her wooden cage. I tried using food to entice her. I tried maneuvering a long pole to poke her into moving. I even tried tossing rocks, but no matter what I did she wouldn’t come down. I found her reactions really peculiar. Whatever I tried, not only would she not come down, but she kept climbing higher up the tree. I could tell she wanted down. I could also tell she wanted me to help her down; but instead of cooperating, she kept climbing higher. After an hour or so of this game of my trying harder only to have her climb higher away from my help, I gave up. “I don’t care if you die up there. I’m not trying to get you down anymore,” I muttered again. This time I REALLY meant it. I had mowing to do and NO more time or patience left for this animal.
As I began mowing the yard I kept repeating, “Lord, if you want that cat to come down, You’re going to have to help her and show her how to get down because I’m done with it.” Suddenly, He spoke to me, and His response was much different than I would have expected. “Doesn’t that look familiar? She’s stuck and she’s scared, but she won’t climb down to safety. You have a better viewpoint and can see exactly what she needs to do to get down, but she refuses to do it. Instead of climbing down to safety, which is the hard and scary but RIGHT thing to do, she climbs higher because she’s comfortable climbing up. It’s easy and familiar to climb up, but she’s unsure about climbing down because it’s frightening, hard and unfamiliar. So instead of enduring to get to a safe place, she’s stuck in her predicament because she won’t listen to you, take a chance, or trust to get to safety.” To His reply, I had nothing to say but “Wow.”
Continuing to mow, I observed that every time I came near the tree, she seemed to be getting lower. In fact, by the time I finished and rode back by the tree, she was sitting on the lowest branch. Once more I fetched my ladder, but this time I had her down in a couple of minutes.
God is an amazing God. He can use the most everyday circumstances to reveal Himself, His plan and His ways. From the most wonderful to the most frustrating circumstances in our lives, He can illuminate situations and draw us closer to Him. So keep your spiritual eyes and ears open, realizing that in the midst of the most annoying or mundane acts of life there is something to be learned and guidance given. Every situation, even a cat getting stuck in a tree, is just another opportunity for God to reveal Himself in a way you’re not expecting.
Actually, if there is a cat stuck in the tree, give me a call; it’s probably mine… stupid cat….
-Matt Hollingsworth
Arise – Become – Build and Shine - part 1 of 3
KJV and Amplified Bible
Jesus’ final words to His disciples, commonly referred to as “The Great Commission,” emphasize Christ’s sending forth those who will both build and become His Kingdom. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” {Mat 28:19-20}. Theirs was the obedience, His the abiding Presence and enabling. Again underlining the importance of the cooperation (co-mission) between God and man, Paul records that “…we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, laborers together) with and for God…[you are] God’s building” {I Cor 3:9}. In similar fashion but on a physical level, King David co-missioned his son Solomon to build a temple for the Lord.
“David said, Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout the lands; I will therefore make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death” {I Chr 22:5} That King David’s preparation was costly is evident by his own testimony: “In my affliction and trouble I have provided…” {14}. Enumerating for Solomon the amount of gold, silver, bronze and iron already set aside for the temple’s building, he also co-missioned that “you must add to them” {14}. In addition, there were “workmen in abundance, workers of stone and timber, and all kinds of craftsmen without number, skillful in doing every kind of work.” With both the materials provided and the laborers equipped, King David urged his son, “So arise and be doing, and the Lord be with you” {16}.
At incalculable cost, our Father has already provided the Church with all that is needed for the building of His Body into one new man, a temple of and for His Glory. His spiritual provisions symbolically parallel King David’s material provisions: gold, representing the Divine nature; silver, the price of our Redemption paid for by the outpouring of Christ’s blood; and both iron and brass, symbolic of judgment. “Blessing…be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual…blessing in the heavenly realm!” {Eph 1:3}.
Like Solomon, the Church is co-missioned to execute and complete the Father’s plans, using both the physical, spiritual and human resources already provided. Solomon was the establishing administrator, his father the earthly architect, and God the Enabling Power and Provider. “Now set your mind and heart to seek -- inquire of and require as your vital necessity -- the Lord your God. Arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord…” {I Chr 22:19}. Comparable to Solomon’s skillful craftsmen are New Testament apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, those of the five-fold ministry who labor to fulfill God’s desire: “His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church)” {Eph 4:12}. That His temple may be complete, the Lord continues to encourage and urge the Third-day Church to arise, to become, and to be built up “…unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” {Eph 4:13}.
As we obey His Word through the power of His Holy Spirit, blessing His Name, and focusing on the manifest attributes of His nature and character, we are progressively transformed through the outworking of His holy nature in and through us. As with King David, through affliction and trouble we are enabled to become all that the Lord requires. May we continue to yield to the call of Christ within as He urges us to persevere in becoming and doing the Father’s will.
-Ruth French
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