September 2011 - Word from the Lord

Jesus testifies to His mission.

This is a prophetic word I received from an email earlier this month. I thought I'd share. Peace, joy and blessings.

I am bringing change to all areas of life; some are obvious and many not. The face of the landscapes are in change. Yes, even within you I am at work. Do not fear what you do not know.

I am testing the trees of the forests. My Spirit is blowing over and through them. The mature have learned to bow before me and bend in my ways.

Yet even in them pruning is necessary. The weak and inner decayed are exposed. Many are yet to fall. They become a part of oncoming generations.

There are changes coming and you are to learn to recognize what is me. Study my ways and do not be fearful. Listen for the sound of my voice. You will find it has many tenors and tones. I am directing those who know me.

If you live in fear you do not know me. I am love. I bring fear to the ungodly as their ways and progresses falter. It crumbles in my light, yet my people will prosper.

Greg Mann, Church Without Walls.

Making the Team

An excerpt from Voddie Baucham's book called "Family Driven Faith”

Making the Team

Pastor Voddie Baucham

Another full-screen issue is found in the ever-so-popular arena of sports. Not long ago I had the privilege of sharing my views on Biblical parenting with several classes at one of the world’s largest seminaries. One of the things the students found most intriguing was the fact that my wife and I homeschool our children (more about that later). Several students asked me the same question: “What about sports?” Their curiosity was piqued even more when I responded, “Who cares?” They didn’t know if I was being provocative or if I had simply taken leave of my senses. Inevitably they would follow up with something like, “How do your kids learn teamwork and sportsmanship?” Or “How do your children learn to be competitive?” At this point I answered their question with another question. “How did Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, or George Washington learn those things?” Better yet, since Jesus is our ultimate model of Christian manhood, how did He learn those things? Was Jesus in Little League?

I’m not trying to say that it is necessarily wrong for children to play organized sports. My point is simply this: Being a member of an organized traveling baseball squad at age ten doesn’t add a single day to one’s life. In fact, many of these activities get in the way of much loftier pursuits. People turned boys into men and girls into women for most of recorded history without dragging them around town with their tongues hanging out in an effort to keep up with their overachieving, undereducated, theologically illiterate peers as they try to win trophies that will eventually gather dust in a basement somewhere.

If I teach my son to keep his eye on the ball but fail to teach him to keep his eyes on Christ, I have failed as a father. We must refuse to allow trivial, temporal pursuits to interfere with the main thing. Making the team is a tremendous achievement; however, it must be put in its proper perspective. No sports endeavor will ever be as important as becoming a man or woman of God.

The Divine Light in Darkness

The Divine Light in Darkness                               

Jesus, the Light of the world!

For thou wilt light my candle. (Psalm 18:28)

It may be that my soul sits in darkness; and if this be of a spiritual kind, no human power can bring me light. Blessed be God! He can enlighten my darkness and at once light my candle. Even though I may be surrounded by a "darkness which might be felt," yet He can break the gloom and immediately make it bright around me.

The mercy is that if He lights the candle none can blow it out, neither will it go out for lack of substance, nor burn out of itself through the lapse of hours. The lights which the Lord kindled in the beginning are shining still. The Lord's lamps may need trimming, but He does not put them out.

Let me, then, like the nightingale sing in the dark.

Expectation shall furnish me with music, and hope shall pitch the tune. Soon I shall rejoice in a candle of God's lighting. I am dull and dreary just now. Perhaps it is the weather, or bodily weakness, or the surprise of a sudden trouble; but whatever has made the darkness, it is God alone who will bring the light. My eyes are unto Him alone. I shall soon have the candles of the Lord shining about me; and, further on in His own good time, I shall be where they need no candle, neither light of the sun. Hallelujah!

John Wood, September 26, 2011

Walking with the Lord by Greg Mann

...that is when I carried you.

Walking with the Lord is a banquet and not a buffet. We don't choose a god of our liking to be the meat of our spiritual sustenance—our Truth is not Jell-O that wobbles and wiggles into any shape we like. And dessert does not come first.

Our society prides itself on being able to serve up the best desserts. Indulgences prove prosperity and the most expensive sweets are dished up to whoever opens their hands. I'm afraid the church has broken its diet while still proclaiming it has lost weight. We put on expensive clothes to hide our spiritual obesity and offer the same bad habits to all who accept the invitation to get in the buffet line. Just pull out your wallet, pay the man, get your ticket, and then gorge. There's plenty of soda and sticky buns. But it's OK because the soda is diet.

Over using, the metaphor of food, churches today look like Dairy Queens. Flashy neon advertises the Blizzard of the month, soft serve cones, greasy fries and burgers that are little more than dressing on dry bread with a chip of meat hidden in the middle. We are spiritually obese worshiping the god of the buffet and promising the world spiritual food that doesn't require much chewing and is healthy if we remember to spit out the bones. Cheap meat has bones. Bones will choke.

Our diet is obedience and repentance. We eat in the order the Lord serves. We may not like vegetables, but they make us strong. Dessert before dinner makes us spiritually fat and lazy, then there's no appetite for the Bread of Life. Therefore the sweets we eat are the fruits of the Vine, a blessing for the discerning.

If anyone has overeaten the offerings of the world, fast and pray. The Lord will cleanse and provide a program of proper eating—the Bible. This word is now finished because it's lunchtime. Praise the Lord and pass the broccoli.