June 3, 2010 with God

June 3, 2010

I went to my “spot” this morning and while there I had this overwhelming sense that God was there. Now, let’s not get caught up on the clichés that “God is there.” We all know that God is there with us. His Word teaches us that. Nevertheless, I felt so humbled that God was there with me. I opened my Bible to I Kings chapter 22 and began reading my morning devotion. When I read about the King of Israel’s comments concerning a prophet named Micaiah, I was happy, elated, and disturbed all at the same time. This supposedly spiritual leader of a nation hated a prophet b/c this prophet never told him anything good. While the other 400 Prophets said one thing, Micaiah said something different. It made me realize that we will never make everyone happy.

I am ordained through the Assemblies of God in the state of Kansas and in my opinion; I think my denomination is the tops. Am I bragging? Well, duh, sure I am bragging. Is my denomination a perfect denomination? Nope! Not by any means. There is no perfect denom. b/c each denom. is made up of people. I support my denom. b/c I feel their stance on the issues at hand matches up with the Word of God. Does that mean, I think other denominations are bad? Certainly not. I just think mine is the tops. Don’t you think your church, business, school, etc. is the best? If you don’t, then shame on you. If you are supporting something, then you should support it all the way. I have some great friends who are in other denominations and they are just as saved as I am. Some don’t believe the same way I believe and I accept that. But, what I don’t accept is the fact that people are afraid of the truth. I echo the sentiments that a board member told me one day in conversation when we were driving to a lake to fish. “Pastor, I will support you as long as you don’t preach on my sins.” Now, he was joking with me, but we both discussed this at length and what he said was the truth. People will support the Pastor/church as long as the pastor/church doesn’t preach about their sins. Let me elaborate a little further. John the Baptist was doing nothing but telling the truth. He told Herod that he was doing wrong by taking his brother’s wife. Stephen was stoned to death for preaching the truth. Paul was beaten for telling the truth. Peter and John arrested for preaching the truth. John the Revelator banned to the Isle of Patmos for telling the truth. Are we telling the truth? Jesus couldn’t do some works b/c of the people’s unbelief. Listen to me please. This is happening today. We are not seeing people stoned to death in America or beheaded for telling the truth, but what we are seeing today is the use of the tongue to bring destruction to a nation. People who have great intentions are slowly destroying their influence b/c they just don’t know when to shut up. Matthew 12:36-37 says I tell you, on the Day of Judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (ESV). We are destroying the reputation of some great men and women all in the name of madness.

I am not perfect and my congregation will be the first to say that to me. I make mistakes because even though I am a pastor, I am still man. Do I regret my mistakes? There is not a Pastor around with any sense that doesn’t make mistakes and doesn’t regret it when He/she makes those mistakes. I make no qualms about the fact that I preach hard. I still believe in Hell fire and brimstone preaching and will always believe in that. I think the days of watering down the Gospel are over. Preachers have sugar coated the Word of God in hopes of retaining a nice paycheck and in the process they have let down their congregations because of this. I know you have heard it said before, but I believe His return is eminent and we should shout it from the housetops to get prepared. We have got to stop worrying about trying to please each person we minister to and I am not just talking about Pastors. I am talking about every Child of God reading this blog. You preach the truth and if people don’t like it, then tough. Stop trying to please man, and try to please God. If you lose friends, then you lose friends. Jesus was not that popular amongst the church crowd for preaching the truth. I am pretty sure the money changers didn’t like Him that much when he overthrew their tables. The religious crowds despised Him and the Pharisees feelings were just as bad as the religious nuts. I still believe in building relationships with people outside the church and doing what Jesus did by being friends to the sinners. But we should never lower our standards just to build a relationship. My meaning on this is simple. Don’t engage in their activities if they are sinning just to get them in church. The Bible says for us to come apart from that. What we need to do is live a Christ follower life in front of them and that is our best witnessing tool. I still challenge my church each Sunday to live a Christ follower life each day and make sure their families, friends, and neighbors know they are saved. Our actions in the public prove that. Why do church folks get irritated when someone tells them or teaches them or preaches to them that they must live a holy life? We should live a holy life?

Allow me the pleasure to elaborate some more. We can all take the Word of God and twist it around to suit us. We have women who wear pants in the church. The Word of God says for a woman not to wear pants. So, why do they? Now, don’t go saying I am against it. Keep your tongue silent on that. I am giving an example. So, follow me on this. The Bible says for a woman to keep silent in church. Now, how can this be? I am credentialed in an organization that not only allows women to wear pants but allows them to preach and pastor. I am even married to a pants wearing women preacher. I have studied those scriptures toughly and I know the meaning of them. I agree with my denomination in regards to women ministers. My sectional presbyter is a woman and she is doing a great job in a town that was destroyed by a Tornado a few years ago. She hung in there and is doing a great job. She is the woman for the job! Nevertheless, if I wanted to do so, I can take just those two scriptures and mess some new convert up if I get mad and turn those scriptures around. People are doing that each day. Why? B/C they are upset and they have to find some way to turn it back on someone else.

There are three issues in churches that strike a chord with people today and they react at times violently with their tongue. Thank you Jesus they are not reacting with their fists, clubs, knives, guns, etc. as of yet. Money, attendance, servant hood.

Money has destroyed more souls than probably most anything. The Word of God teaches us that the love of money is the root of all evil. Church attendance has dwindled down b/c people are just too busy to come and be with other saints. We are giving God less time today for whatever reason. People get mad and leave a church. They just can’t say, “Well, Jesus led me away to help another church.” They have to blame someone so they can justify their cause to their friends and family. The top three reasons that I have heard my entire life on why people leave is this: Not being fed. Not being used. Too big. Let me share about those for just a moment. My friend, and church member, **(left name out) said to me the other day when he and I went to my spot and prayed. “Pastor, the shepherd leads the sheep to the pasture. The shepherd doesn’t open their mouth or puts the food in their mouth. The sheep must eat what is there.” Then when I dropped him off, he read to me out of the NIV Bible this to me.

I Thessalonians 5:12-15. I was honored. I meditated on this and I agree with that. Grant you there are times that we need to tone it down some, b/c we have new converts in our midst and I could do a better job of that, and what Pastor around couldn’t say that, but we must still eat away from our places of worship. Now, if we are only being fed at church, then we are missing the mark. We must be fed outside the church in our own daily walk with Jesus. We must be fed prior to coming to the church also. If it takes the Praise team to get us excited for Jesus, then once again, we are missing the mark. We must come into the House of God with our stomachs full and ready to devour His Word some more. You will find that a man that devours the Word of God away from Church is a fired up soul for Jesus! We must eat the Word of God through reading, studying, and working with it. We must spend time with God in prayer and fasting. If we only get food when we come to church, then we would all be undernourished. As to the not being used, that is another cop out. There are just too many street corners for a servant to do something for God. You don’t have to work in a Church building in order to do something for God. You can go elsewhere and work for God. The last one is so sad. I have heard that one just as much as the other two. People are so afraid of crowds that they are saying to the community that they don’t care about their friends, families, and neighbors souls if they only want to be in a small church. Servant hood is no more b/c people have lost their need to serve one another.

Back to my original topic before this last paragraph. King David struck down a man for doing what King Saul told him to do; b/c according to David, Saul was still God’s man. That was harsh wasn’t it? Some youth(young men)(crowd of them) made fun of the Man of God in the Old Testament and two bears came out and attack and killed them. That was harsh wasn’t it? Just for talking about his baldness? No, it was more than that. Study deeper and you will see that it was more than a group of young men taunting a Man of God. Listen beloved, when you make fun or ridicule one of God’s servants whether they BE A PREACHER OR DEACON OR SUNDAY SCHOOL TEAHCER OR ANYONE ELSE WHO IS A CHILD OF GOD, you had better be careful, for you are making fun of God Himself. When we do make fun or ridicule or talk about such a person out loud to others; what kind of witness are we showing? We are worse than the one we are talking about. Will that happen today? Well, I don’t know. But, I will say this. I don’t want to find out, do you? Has someone made you mad recently and you lashed out at them? Has someone done something hideous to you and you took vengeance yourself? Is this not the truth what I am about to say. Someone makes you mad. So, what do you do? You start talking about that person to other people in hopes of turning them with you to destroy that person.

I am a big man. I need to lose some weight. That is no one’s fault but mine. I can’t blame a skinny person or even a restaurant owner for making me the way I am. Now, I can throw some verses around to help my cause if I wish, but the reality is; it is my fault. I caused me to get this way. Now, I have to pay for the consequences of my actions.

I think about Moses and what happened to him. He led the children of Israel so far, but yet, never walked over into the Promised Land. Grant you, he went to heaven, but still, he didn’t enter with them b/c of his actions. He could have blamed it on the people for their actions, but it was his action that caused his issue.

When the Ark was being moved and the man touched it, he was smitten down. There were other men carrying the Ark, and they could have been the ones that made the Ark almost fall, but this man touched it to stabilize it. He felt like he was doing something good and this happened to him. He was smitten down. That seems harsh doesn’t it? What is my point? My point is very simple my friends. We can all find fault in someone else or in a church if we really want to do that. My question is why would you? I pastor the greatest church in the Assemblies of God and if I wanted too, I could list a number of faults our church has. I know my folks find faults in me. I can even live with that. But why would I want to bring down someone b/c they are different?

Now, let me get on to Preachers and Pastors and the leaders of the churches. I know some of you want that, so are you ready. There are some bad ones out there! Amen and Amen. The Word of God does say to beware of false preachers, etc. Yes you must watch out for them. Those characters are deceiving the elect each day. They are preaching false doctrine from pulpits every Sunday. In any organization, there are rules to follow. If you’re denomination believes in water baptism one way and you believe it another way, then which one is right? Both groups can use scriptures to justify their actions. Is that Pastor a false teacher then? Be careful of throwing that verse around until you know for sure what you are talking about. Sometimes we throw Bible verses around like we are throwing around candy to kids. We just dump the stuff with hopes of someone getting some. Is every Pastor bad? Well, it all depends on what He is preaching about that day. J

If there is a man/woman in the church having an affair and he/she preaches about that sin, then yepper, he is bad! He/she just stepped on their toes. If he preaches that you should tithe, and if there are people in the church that are not tithers, then yes, he is a bad preacher. If he preaches that alcohol is a sin and you are a casual drinker, then you will think the preacher is bad. If the preacher preaches…It is easier to blame the preacher, teachers, deacons, singers, etc. than it is to confess our faults. Someone say Amen!

So, what are we going to do about it? Are we going to destroy them. Are we going to ridicule them b/c we are have a different opinion than they do? When you as a Child of God shares the Word of God with anyone whether you’re in a building or at work or on the streets, and someone reacts in a negative way and tries to bring destruction to you by gossiping to others in hopes of gaining their side; do nothing! Just love them and pray for them. When someone hates you and let it be known my friends that people will hate you. If they are against you and talks about you, then they hate you. I know you may not like that, but if they are not supporting you b/c you stepped on their toes, then they hate you. Wikipedia says hatred is of intense dislike. Don’t fight fire with fire. Live for Jesus and if they don’t like it, then pray for them.

I was challenged two weeks ago by someone who made this statement concerning a loved one. This person said that the reason there loved one doesn’t come to church is b/c of the people who live a fake life in front of them. Two weeks prior to that, a man in our church said the same thing to me. A person came to him and said that he/she would not go to church b/c of the fake people in the church. Now, both of these people said that person wasn’t talking about our church, but I ask you this very same question I asked my church two Sundays ago. Are you living a Christian life in front of your friends, families, and neighbors? If not, please do.