Christian Fellowship
“That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving...” Psalm 26:7
Vol. 23 No. 5 May 2014
The Church needs power today. The only way we can have power is through the Holy Spirit. Not only do we need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, but we also need to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day.
How do you know if you are filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you operating in the fruit of the Spirit? Instead of impatience are you gaining more patience? Are we gentle with others, even as our God is merciful to us? It is His goodness and mercy that enable us to deal with the sin and wretchedness around us.
What about meekness? Jesus said, "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” (Mat.11:29) The Holy Spirit wants to impart to us the fruit of meekness to our hearts so we can say like Paul, “I have the meekness and gentleness of Christ…”
Do you need peace today? We seek for it in this day of busyness. But we must have power with God so our souls can know and follow the voice of peace to lead us into pastures of peace and still waters.
There is also faith and temperance. We are led forth by faith. Temperance leads us carefully and unselfishly in our desires and fellowship with one another. We must use temperance in all our dealings with the world so we can maintain righteousness in all we do.
The fruit Christ desires comes only through the power of the Holy Spirit which is how we maintain the power of a cross-bearing life. It is the power of a loving and living faith. It is the power of moral courage to live the gospel and the power to do whatever Christ wants of us.
May the fruit of the Spirit be operating in us every day!
In Christ,
Pr. Steve
Outward Brokenness
Rom 7:22 (KJV) “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:”
Eph 3:16 (KJV) “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;”
2Co 4:16 (KJV) “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward [man] is renewed day by day.”
From these verses we find two very important elements of a person’s life: We have the outward man which consists of the soul (psuche); and we have the inward man which is the spirit of man (pneuma). Anyone who begins to serve God will soon discover that man’s soul is not in harmony with man’s spirit (even a born-again spirit). They oppose each other. The outer man must learn to submit to the inner man. To do so, the outer man must learn the spiritual conditions that surround him; he must know and be directed by the Word of God; and he must receive clarification as to how to live. None of these realizations will happen until the outward man is dealt with. That is why spiritual renewals do not last except in those places where “brokenness” occurs. The outward man must be broken!
The inward man consists of the born-again spirit deep within a person’s being. The outward man, which is the soul, consists of the mind, will and emotions. The outermost part of man or the physical body involves the physical senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.
With that awareness, we realize that the inward man is the human spirit, the place where God dwells, the place where the Spirit of the Lord is joined to our spirit. Just as the body wears clothing, so the inward man wears the outermost man – i.e.,the spirit wears the body. While most people are conscious of the outermost man, they know little about their inner man – their spirit.
For a person to become spiritually mature enough to be used by God, the inward man must be released – and that release comes through brokenness. Until we learn how to release our inward man through brokenness, we will not be of service to the Kingdom of God.
When I talk about brokenness, I am talking about the inner man breaking through the outer man. The Lord uses trials and tribulations to break through our outer man so that the inner man can come forth. When the inner man is released, lives are impacted for the Kingdom of God.
(John 12:24) Life is housed within the grain of wheat. But on the outside, there is a shell, a very hard shell; and until the shell is split open, the wheat cannot sprout and grow. “Except the grain of wheat fall into the ground and die…” What is this death? It is the breaking of the shell through temperature and the elements working together in the soil. Once the shell is split open, the wheat begins to grow. So the question is not whether or not life exists inside the shell, but whether or not the shell can be broken.
(Vrs.25) Life = soul = psuche The Lord identifies the outer shell as our own life (soul), but the life which He has given us within is the true eternal life (zoe). For the inner life to come forth, the outward life must be replaced. If the outward life remains unbroken, the inward life cannot come forth. Therefore, the question is not, “How do I obtain life?” but “How does this life come forth?” When I say “We need the Lord to break us,” I am stressing the vital importance of the Lord’s breaking us so His life can come forth. The Lord blesses us time and time again, but life can only flow out when there is an avenue through which it can flow – that avenue is brokenness. If the outward man remains unbroken, we can never expect the Lord to bless the Word of God through us to be a blessing to others.
Mar 14:3 (KJV) “And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.”
In the above scripture, the emphasis is not on the box; it is on the “very precious spikenard.” The treasure is inside the vessel. Many people treasure their outward man more than they do their inward man [outward = soul; inward = spirit]. Do we treasure our thoughts? Our emotions? Do we regard ourselves better than others because we feel superior?
Our desire should be to release the fragrance inside. Without breaking the outward, the inward fragrance will not come forth; so it is with the church when nothing is flowing out. Release the fragrance – allow brokenness so the fragrance may come forth.
The Holy Spirit is at work today in the body of Christ allowing one challenge after another, one difficulty after another to affect us. These workings of God are for one purpose: to break our outward man so that our inner man may come forth. Instead of submitting, we fret, we murmur, we complain at even the most insignificant things. The Lord is at work continually finding ways to release the inward us. But when He begins to work, our mind and emotions take over. We become unhappy and begin to view ourselves as victims. Every time God touches someone it is to break the outer person. Whether we are conscious of it or not, the aim of the Lord is to break this vessel, our soul man.
2Co 4:7 (KJV) “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”
If the earthen vessel cannot be broken, we cannot know what treasure lies within. Let Him break the earthen vessel; let Him break the alabaster box; let Him break that outer shell so you can become a blessing to someone else and a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.
We must allow the Lord to break open our outward man so that He may find a way out for His working through us. Each person is responsible to find the mind of the Lord for his or her life. People need to find meaning today so that nothing is wasted, but many neither know nor seek God’s intention for their lives. Searching for meaning begins by allowing God to break the outward man.
If we trust in God, then we will know that all of life’s experiences, troubles, and trials which the Lord sends or allows are for our highest good. The Lord would like you to know this, “What I have given you is the best for you, and your daily trials are for your greatest profit.” Once the breaking takes place, our spirit can come forth with true life which makes life worth living.
The Lord uses two different means to break our outward man. One is gradual, the other sudden. With some, the Lord gives a sudden breaking; but with others, He arranges constant daily trials until a gradual breaking occurs. For most of us it is the latter as we endure years of frustration to accomplish His purpose.
The timing is in His hand. We cannot shorten the process, but we can certainly prolong it. Sometimes we are so stubborn it takes a lifetime, and still the work remains unfinished. This incompletion hinders the progress of the church; for until we wholly consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we are delaying the inevitable. The Lord has been saying, “Will you allow Me full control?”
We hear often about the cross, but what is that to us? It is the outward breaking of man. The cross reduces the outward man to death
(2 Cor.4:16). It splits the human shell right open. The cross must break all that belongs to our outward man – our soul – our thoughts, our emotions, our self-will, our opinions and all our self-interests. When our outward man is broken and the spirit of God comes forth, we find we no longer need to cling to our weak, soulish characteristics. After a few years of our serving the Lord, people should be able to see us as a different person, one who is alive and vibrant in the power of the Spirit of God. It is imperative that we allow the Lord to break our hard shell so He can rule and reign as Lord and King.
Two reasons for not being broken: Why is it that after years under the Lord’s dealing, some people remain the same? The answer lies in the “will.” Some people have powerful emotions and some strong minds, both of which the Lord is more than able to break. Still others cling to their own freedom of will and refuse to allow the breaking. But why?
First, they live in darkness. Refusing to believe that God is behind their difficult circumstances, they live in darkness and despair, continually comparing themselves to others. They consider “what they have” instead of “who they are”; and they listen to the lies of the enemy who tells them God doesn’t love them or care about them.
If that is you, then it is time to surrender your soul – to kneel down and say to Him, “I believe You are in charge of my life; and since it is You, I will do whatever You say.” We must begin by recognizing who is in charge of our life and who it is that has been dealing with us – the answer – it is God Himself.
The second hindrance for not allowing the soul to be broken is “self-love.” We love ourselves inordinately. Did you know the greatest reason for all misunderstandings, all fretfulness, and all disappointments is that we secretly love ourselves so much that we plan our own ways of escape from the work of the cross of Jesus.
In surrendering His self-will, Jesus gave us the prayer, “Not my will but thine be done.” Mat 26:42 “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.”
Self-love is one of the most difficult battles of believers. All the hardships that we endure are to bring us to this place of brokenness. No life can manifest true beauty until it is broken, and only by the process of brokenness can we serve the Lord. Like Jesus, we must determine, “I will not take the easy way out of this trial.”
Only after our outward man has been stricken and dealt with can the Spirit of God within the spirit of man emerge. Let no man despise the Lord’s dealings. Should the outward man remain whole, we will remain useless to His Kingdom. Therefore, let us expect the Lord to deal with our outward man so the true spirit of life can come forth.
-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 2013
May 1: Be strong and take courage!
May 2: Humility is the place of total dependence upon God.
May 11: For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jer 29:11)
May 14: For God is not the author of confusion but of peace. In you, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put in confusion. For where envy and strife is, there is confusion and evil work.
May 16: What Father do you desire today?
May 17: Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
May 23: He will give me strength to bear whatever evil that He permits to happen to me.
May 28: Roll your works upon the Lord. He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will and so shall your plans be established and succeed. (Pro 16:3)
May 29: The Lord knows what is best for us. What He does, He does for our good. If we really knew how much He loves us, we would always be willing to receive anything from His hand. We would receive the bitter or the sweet. If our love for the Lord is great, then we will love Him as much during grief as in joy!
Abiding in the Restorative Presence of God
Psa 119:10-11 (KJV) “With my whole heart have I sought Thee: O let me not wander from Thy commandments (11) Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.”
The magnitude of Psalms that King David wrote about the Lord was a grand testimony of his ongoing relationship with God. Those writings were not just written about the good times, but were at times filled with desperation, sorrow, repentance, questions, and requests. No matter the state of his heart, David would still draw near unto the Lord so that their relationship would remain restored and sound.
Psa 51:5-17 (KJV) “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (6) Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. (7) Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (8) Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. (9) Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. (10) Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (11) Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. (12) Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. (13) Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. (14) Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. (15) O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. (16) For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. (17) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
Many times it is easy to say the right words as we try to tell God and others about how we feel, but it is never easy to be truly broken and contrite on a heart level. In society today many people are taking steps to assure that their physical hearts are healthy. That process usually involves ex-rays and other tests that can reveal possible blockages and other damages that may already have unknowingly taken place. While doctors can often do well with repairs on the human heart, only the Holy Spirit of God can truly restore and renew the soul and the spirit of man. The spiritual surgery requires our abiding in His restorative presence.
Heb 4:1 (KJV) “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” Heb 4:9-11 (KJV) “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. (10) For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (11) Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
“Rest” is the root word for “restoration,” and restoration is the act of replacing in a former state. Every Christian must be willing to take time to find God’s restorative presence. And we must never allow ourselves to be drawn away from our devotion to God by the cares of this life and by other things that would consume our time, our hearts, and our spiritual fortitude.
1Jn 2:28 (KJV) “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
-Kurt Thurston
Quotes:
It is impossible for God to dwell or rule when self is on the throne. Sin and self-love have a blinding influence, and often the believer is not truly conscious of the extent to which self-will reigns. Until it is revealed by God’s Spirit, there can be no true humility. Andrew Murray
"God did not save us to make us happy, He saved us to make us holy."
"I have need of nothing." -The Laodicean Church
Next course from Christian Life Educators Network - Richmond Center:
Summer Break! Classes Resume in August
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