Christian Fellowship
“That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving...” Psalm 26:7
Vol. 23 No. 4 April 2014
I don’t like tension. I don’t like having to do the same thing over and over because I can’t remember what to do. I don’t like it when I can’t remember something. I guess it is part of life and growing older. But God has been good to me. He gives me a mind that recovers quickly, but only when I am in Him. There are so many distractions that throw me off balance. And as a result I get nervous and anxious and pretty soon forget what to do.
Oh how I love the peace of God. It is so heavenly and glorious. I try to stay in it all the time. I know the tension and anxiety come from the evil one who is trying to stop me. Yes, it is a battle. But we are in the day of battles – one right after the other. But thanks be to God, I will be victorious.
Rom 8:36-39 (NIV) As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." (37) No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (38) For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, (39) neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I often awaken to this verse reminding me that throughout the day no matter what happens I can be a conqueror over the darkness if I continually abide in Christ. Within that continual abiding, I find my peace and my joy!
In Christ,
Pr. Steve
CHRIST CRUCIFIED – THE POWER OF GOD
(1 Corinthians 1:23-24)
How can I believe in God’s power anymore?”
Of course this is not a new question. We confront it everywhere for many reasons:
· A church splits and people are hurt because they won’t love one another.
· A family is torn apart by infidelity and unforgiveness.
· A drive-by shooting takes place and an innocent victim is killed.
Why doesn’t God stop all this wrong behavior? If He is all powerful – He could do it. And if He is all good – He would do it. But people pray and He doesn’t do anything about the devastation all around us.
What is wrong with this scenario?
If we had to choose between faith in God’s power and faith in His goodness, which one would we choose? Goodness! Right?
It is much better to believe that God wants to prevent evil and cannot than to believe that He can prevent evil and will not.
If God did not want to prevent evil, He could not be good! And how could any of us live with a God like that?
So what is necessary to make sense out of the presence of evil in our world such as war, murder, hatred and at the same time believe in a God who is both All-Good and All-Powerful? We have to know what true power really is.
What is it? POWER IS THE ABILITY TO ACHIEVE PURPOSE! If you have the ability to do what you want to do; if you have the ability to do what your purpose is, then you have true power. If you do not have the ability to achieve your purpose, even though you are the strongest, brightest, richest person in the world, you do not have true power.
True power is defined in terms of Purpose. For example: a bull is powerful if you want him to plow a field, but if your purpose is to run a china shop, you have more power than that bull.
EX: A jet engine is powerful for flying a plane; but if your purpose is to teach young children their ABC’s, then a loving teacher has more power. POWER IS THE ABILITY TO ACHIEVE PURPOSE.
Let me go a little further. A very strong man has a wife who is frail and sickly. She imagines that she is worse than she really is. So her husband carries her from the bed to wherever she wishes to be. She only becomes worse and worse. The doctor tells the husband not to carry her any longer but make her walk. Each time she tries she falls and suffers and cries out for help. What is easier? For the husband to carry her or to stand back and do nothing while watching her fall and suffer and cry? But what is the husband’s purpose? To see her become well and strong! So he stands there and watches her fall and weeps over her pain.
TRUE POWER IS THE ABILITY TO ACHIEVE PURPOSE! It would be weakness for him to carry her; doing so would defeat his purpose for her. But it takes true power to do nothing and let her fall.
This is the way God is with us. He could step in and stop our evil wars and sin. But if He did, He would defeat His own purpose for us. And that would be weakness, not power.
There are two parts to the will of God for us.
1. The DESIRE of God – His immediate will 3Jn 1:2 KJV “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” Psa 35:27 KJV “Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.” God wants you to prosper!
2. The PURPOSE of God – His ultimate will Rom 8:28 KJV “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” God wants you to be blessing!
What is the difference? Your prosperity is a response to the happenings of your life which are immediate. To be a blessing is a state of being characterized by peace and joy in your relationship with God.
While it is God’s immediate desire that we be free from worry and frustration, His greater purpose is that we be transformed into the image of His Son Jesus Christ. So God often is working on the greater purpose for which we are unable to see the results until His purpose is fulfilled.
It is God’s greatest purpose to transform us by the freedom of our wills into sonship with Himself and brotherhood with Christ.
God has given us a free will along with the power to use or abuse it. In other words, God made you with the ability to accept or reject His purpose for you. When you accept, you cooperate with Him in that purpose.
In light of this truth, we can understand why God does not stop war, sin and hate. Doing so would deny His purpose and would force us to be like Jesus against our wills.
FORCE IS NOT POWER – IT IS WEAKNESS!
So if power is the ability to achieve purpose and if God’s purpose is to transform us into the image of Christ through the freedom of our wills, then what is the true power of God?
Christ Crucified…the Power of God. It may look like weakness – He was beaten, bruised, broken; He was crucified, cursed and crushed; He was defeated, destroyed and decimated. But the very strength of “Christ Crucified” is now in effect for every person who will accept it.
There is only one power capable of achieving God’s purpose: it is the power of love and forgiveness. This power is so formidable that the most hateful person cannot deny it and the vilest of sinners cannot prevent it.
And after mankind’s sin and evil have done their worst to destroy love and forgiveness, Jesus still cries out: “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.”
Paul was right. He points to a broken body on a bloody cross and confesses: “CHRIST CRUCIFIED…THE POWER OF GOD.”
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This love will never cease. The love that began the world will remain even after this present world ends. Death is powerless to stop God’s transforming love, so why not accept that love and become a catalyst of reconciliation?
-Pr. Steve
PS: (Joh 3:16) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.”
STORY: A boy was having a difficult time living a victorious Christian life. He went to his pastor who told him to go see a painting. The caretaker took him to a large room where the painting was. The young man was repulsed at what he saw. It was a painting of Christ on the cross. But the perspective from which the artist painted is was off balance. It looked grotesque. The caretaker told the boy to get closer. The young man came closer. He was told “Son, you need to get lower.” The young man got lower. “No, closer and lower.” Before the young man knew what was happening, he was kneeling at the foot of the cross. And when he looked up, he understood the entire painting.
Until you are willing to take your place at the foot of the cross, your Christian life will never make sense to you.
The power of God will not make sense to you either!
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 2013
Apr. 6: Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for He is faithful that promises. (Heb 10:23)
Apr. 12: Those in authority will be judged by a higher standard and thereby receive more condemnation. For we all stumble and fall and offend in many ways. But do not hurt others willfully. Walk in humility and don’t let bitter jealousy and contention in your heart. Do not let pride rule you. For this is of the devil and brings much confusion and disharmony. Instead live by the wisdom that is pure and peace-loving, gentle and reasonable. Righteousness and peace will follow.
Apr. 13: A just man falls seven times and rises up again (Pro 24:16)
Apr. 19: God wounds us before He heals us. He smites us before He binds us up. (Hos 6:1)
Apr. 20: No weapon formed against you shall prosper.
Apr. 27: You will come through this victoriously.
Apr. 29: When you pray ask your heart what it desires and stick to it.
Apr. 30: Your sorrow will be turned to joy.
Pre – Occupied?
Statistics show that a large number of the people who proclaim themselves to be Christians do not attend church on a regular basis; and an even larger percent of them do not ever participate in any type of evangelism. We must remember that the church is a body of believers. Yes, there is the leadership; but that does not suggest that those who do not work at the church are not just as important and just as needed as those who do. As it is said; “We, not just selected members, are the church. We are the body of Christ, and we all are to go forth every day with a mindset to fulfill the purposes that God created us to do and to be in the earth. We should know by now what we are to be doing on the Sabbath and how important it is to keep ourselves in the Lord.
Luk 13:34-35 (KJV) “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! (35) Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
There is no doubt that things happen at times to keep all of us pre-occupied and unable to keep the Kingdom of God first; but those events should be the exception, not the norm. There was a time in Jesus’ life when His mother and father had started their journey back home from Jerusalem. They had covered quite a bit of ground before they remembered that young Jesus, who had been traveling with them on the trip to Jerusalem, was not present with them on the way back home. When they turned around and went back to get Him, they were aggravated with Him because they had been worried about Him; not knowing where He had gone.
Luk 2:42-49 (KJV) “And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. (43) And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. (44) But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. (45) And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. (46) And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. (47) And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. (48) And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. (49) And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?”
Every one of us who has given our lives to Jesus Christ should be about our Heavenly Father’s business. And, we should be less concerned about and less pre-occupied with the things that we so easily put above Him.
Mat 6:30-34 (KJV) “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? (31) Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (32) (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. (33) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (34) Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
-Kurt Thurston
Quotes:
"Any manipulation of the Scriptures to make them speak peace to the natural man is evil and can only lead to ruin."
- A. W. Tozer
"You know, people say that today. ‘Oh, I am just a saved sinner.’
That is like saying you are a married bachelor. That is like saying you are an honest thief, or a pure harlot. You can´t be a saved sinner. You are either saved or you are a sinner. He came. "Thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall save his people from their sins."
-Leonard Ravenhill
Kid’s Korner
“How will you celebrate Easter?” asked the teacher on Sunday.
“We’re going to kill a bunch of eggs!” shouted a little girl with
excitement.
“What do you mean?” asked the teacher in astonishment.
“Well Mommy says I get to ‘die’ eggs today,” replied the girl.
Next course from Christian Life Educators Network - Richmond Center:
Summer Break! Classes resume in August.
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