Christian Fellowship
“That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving...” Psalm 26:7
Vol. 22, No. 7 July 2013
It seems like the shaking has intensified greatly in the past few weeks and days, but the shaking is all a part of God’s plan, for He said in Heb 12:26, “Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”
The battle is getting greater because there is war in heaven. The principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness do not want to give up their positions in the air. But as the Church grows stronger, the forces of evil must fall. This earth is not going to be governed by evil and darkness much longer.
This battle affects each of us in the Body of Christ as we are being changed into His glorious image. But this transformation doesn’t come without a cost. We must give up all worldliness, all carnal desires and all lustful living. Renounce those things and draw closer to our Lord and Savior. He is the only One who can bring us through this chaos.
One thing that helps me get through is knowing that our God is not surprised by any of it. Every single thing that is happening to me, God was aware of even before it happened. I take solace from that realization because the shaking can make me feel threatened about my very existence. Once I realize that God knew it first, I can relax and accept that whatever He is doing is for my good and that I will come forth with the glory of God shining through me. I will keep myself free from the filth and rot of this world and press in more and more with Christ Jesus.
Realizing that our God is not upset with us when we experience these frightening situations keeps our perspective positive and our focus clear so that we move forward without giving up. So be encouraged. I am going to make it and so are you. Don’t listen to the devil or allow him to discourage you. Listen to God and walk in the Spirit.
In Christ,
Pr. Steve
Where are the Elijah’s?
Mal 4:5 (KJV)
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:”
Jesus said, that John the Baptist was Elijah, but then later on to His disciples he explained that Elijah must come to prepare for the restoration that takes place at the “Day of the Lord,” also referred to as the “Day of Judgment” or the “Day of God’s wrath.” We know that Jesus was talking about the spirit of Elijah and not the actual person. So Elijah’s spirit will once again be prevalent on the earth before the end comes.
The first time we met Elijah was when he was an obscure, fully grown man. Queen Jezebel had destroyed the Prophets (or she thought she had) and had them replaced with false idolatry throughout the land. Darkness had covered the land and gross darkness the people, and the filth and immorality were becoming worse on a daily basis. The altars of God had become desecrated because there was no holiness left in the temple or with the priests of God.
All of this happened while a people claimed to be God’s – after all, they were the children of Abraham. They had been delivered time and time again. But now the glory had departed and backsliding was the precedent.
So God raised up a man, not an angel, but a man -- not to preach, but one to stand in the gap. This man’s epitaph would be simple: “He was a man of prayer.” No other charismatic characteristic was in Elijah. He wasn’t well liked, or handsome, or especially gifted. He simply prayed and God heard. He knew the mind of God. By faith, Elijah closed heaven and made Ahab, the king, tremble. Three years later, Elijah prayed and heaven was opened.
If we will simply do what God desires through prayer, the time will come when God’s blessing will come down and the windows of heaven will once again pour out the rain.
If there is no one to stand in the gap when the enemy comes in like a flood, then there will be no standard to push back the gates of hell. The price is high. God is looking for ownership today.
Elijah lived with God. He grieved over the sin of His nation and he spoke against it.
1Ki 18:30 (KJV) “And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.”
Just a few years earlier Israel had been plush with prosperity and wealth, but King Ahab led the nation down a path away from God. He and Jezebel cared more about the carnal appeal and desires than the fear of the Lord. Desiring prosperity above everything else, their lives became consumed with worldliness. Religion was old fashioned and it was time for something more exciting.
So Elijah came on the scene and they laughed him down. True prophets had become thorns in the side of everyone who wanted prosperity and their messages were viewed as equal in importance to that of court jesters. Prayer to Jehovah was outlawed because it got in the way of society’s lifestyle.
Elijah became one lone voice crying for the return of righteousness. [Few today who speak out for righteousness – it is an unpopular subject.]
Elijah, an ugly and hairy old man, had no credentials or theological standing in the community. He didn’t even dress appropriately.
But it took only three years before the people no longer laughed at Elijah. We are fast approaching the day when people will no longer take righteous preaching for granted. The message of repentance is going to come to the forefront. We are no different than the Israelites of Elijah’s day.
America is now at the place where there is no one to turn to. Trouble after trouble after trouble is all around us. What is it going to take when we lose our prosperity and wealth? What kind of society are we going to have left? What will happen if we come to a time of drought and have to be fed by ravens?
The job of the church is not to tell you how blessed you can be, or how loving you are. The purpose of the church is to rebuild the broken-down altars and declare to the people of God their sins and transgressions that have brought this judgment upon us. Turn to the Lord God of Israel and repent.
Rev 3:17-19 (KJV) “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: (18) I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. (19) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
Elijah did not pray for destruction, but for the glory of God and the power of God to be revealed. Elijah didn’t make it easy for God. He filled the trenches and the sacrifices with water. That is “holy-boldness!” God doesn’t need advice. He needs the freedom to be what He needs to be on behalf of a people who trust in Him and honor Him with their hearts and words and walk.
His prayer: 1Ki 18:37-39 (KJV) “Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. (38) Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. (39) And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.”
God’s ways are not our ways. His ways are past finding out, but He reveals them unto us by His Spirit. Let our spirits be in tune and hear what God is saying.
Mal 4:6 (KJV) “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
-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 2012
Jul 1: If you obey Me and follow My commands I will not bring upon you the diseases of this world, for I am the one who heals you.
Jul 2: A faithful man will be richly blessed. (Pro 28:20)
Jul 3: Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways.
Jul 7: I will wait on God. It is the only true way to know God as our salvation. We must come to the place of absolute and total dependence on God. Without this, we are utterly lost. Waiting on God brings us the most blessed hope and joy. And it teaches us there is no glory to compare to such great salvation.
Jul 10: Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous hand.
Jul 13: Awaken this nature to seek Your face and cry out for the rain of Your Spirit to transform us into Your image. AMEN.
Jul 16: Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart. (Psm 37:4)
Jul 21: The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, how blessed you will be. (Isa 32: 17, 19)
Jul 30: It is not something formed in you. It is not something put on you from without. Holiness is the presence of God resting on you. Holiness comes as you consciously abide in His Presence, doing all as a sacrifice to Him.
Problems and Difficulties
People have a natural tendency to lean towards the negatives, and that inclination is not just because we are not automatically born with an overabundance of optimism. It is factual that the first behavioral word spoken by infants is always, “No” instead of “Yes.” And we all may attest that we are less than happy when things go against our personal grain. Those responses all stem from being born into sin and having to deal with overcoming our sinful nature. But there is good news, and that is the “Good News” of the Word of God.
Mat 7:24 (MSG) "These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock.”
Wow! Matthew took the words of Christ and wrote them down so that he and everyone else who is willing to do the same could apply them to their lives and keep them in their hearts.
There are many people in the world who are always trying to disclaim and negate the validity of the Word of God in the Holy Bible, a response that arises from mankind’s in-born sinful nature allowed to rule in their lives.
Those of us who have asked Jesus Christ to change our hearts and minds see the Holy Bible as something good, true, and proven. God gave us His Holy Word to do us good, and not to do us evil; but our cynical and suspicious and doubtful carnal natures are bent towards resisting God and following the carnal nature instead.
2Ti 3:16-17 (KJV) “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
All of mankind is born with the need for God and His Word! Sometimes people will start to allow God to rule in their lives, but then they cave into the old nature because of experiencing some kind of suffering or loss. We all know that sometimes life can be full of frustrations; and those frustrations can cause us to vent upon God and upon other people. But that is no way to deal with our frustrations; and if we insist on continuing to deal with the problems that same way, we cannot expect a different outcome. It has been said that to continually attempt to solve a problem repeatedly but without success and without changing your strategy is insane; and even though that is not in the Holy Bible, it is still true. As a result, as more and more frustration and failure manifest, you become more and more angry until you are bound and tortured by your own doing.
In Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver woke up one morning and found himself tied to the ground by thousands of small threads attached the night before by tiny people called Lilliputians. And as the Casting Crowns song states; “It’s a slow fad.” Like the ebbing tides that ever so slowly erode away the shores, so does the daily denial of our need for the truth of God cause us to lose the very life that Christ died to give us.
1Pe 1:13-19 (KJV) “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; (14) As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: (15) But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; (16) Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. (17) And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: (18) Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
-Kurt Thurston
Quotes:
"I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe."
-Smith Wigglesworth
"Any objection to the carryings on of our present gold-calf Christianity is met with the triumphant reply, ‘But we are winning them!’
And winning them to what? To true discipleship? To cross-carrying? To self-denial? To separation from the world? To crucifixion of the flesh? To holy living? To nobility of character? To a despising of the world´s treasures?..."
-A.W.Tozer
"You are what you are when you are alone!"
-Unknown
"Anything that cools my love for Christ is the world."
-John Wesley
Kidz Corner
Father William, the old priest, made it a practice to visit the parish school one day a week. He walked into the 4th grade class, where the children were studying the states, and asked them how many states they could name. They came up with about 40 names. Father William jokingly told them that in his day students knew the names of all the states.
One lad raised his hand and said, 'Yes sir, but in those days there were only 13 states.
__________________
What was the craziest battle of the Revolutionary War?
-The Battle of Bonkers Hill.
Why were the first Pennsylvania settlers like ants?
-Because they lived in colonies.
Why did Paul Revere ride his horse from Boston to Lexington?
-Because the horse was too heavy
to carry!
Next course from Christian Life Educators Network - Richmond Center:
Feasts of the Old Testament by: Dr. Grady McMurtry
This course is a study of the Jewish Holy Days and Feasts. The student will gain a greater appreciation of the Jewish calendar, Jewish catechism and God’s plan for man and how we are to approach his presence. Emphasis is placed on the messianic significance of the Feasts of Israel.
August 8-10, 2013
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