Denominations...God's Dysfunctional Family

I just returned last week from Kenneth Copeland Ministries 30th Annual Southwest Believers Convention. Now, now before you dismiss me because you perhaps don't like Kenneth Copeland and his ministry, read on and hear what I have to say. It will do you good I promise.

Jesse Duplantis spoke on Wednesday August 4th in the evening service and boy was it a good word for sure. If you'd like to hear the message click here and then find the 8/4/10 message. I promise you it was a good one. He talked about the parable of the prodigal son, and truthfully I've never heard it the way he shared before, it was real good.

Anyway, after hearing his message a couple of times, (I've downloaded the mp3 and listened to it several times) it started me thinking about denominations and how they really aren't God's idea. In Scripture there is found in Ephesians 4:7-16 Paul describing to us how there are various gifts in the body of Christ, ie. the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. And that they are given to help us (the body of Christ - the ones who believe in Jesus) to help grow us up.

Paul uses a phrase here, "unity in the the faith". Interestingly enough, Paul does not say into the "unity of doctrine". Now if you've read anything at all in the Bible you know that God is a God of faith. Actually it says that it is impossible to please Him unless we have faith. Again, He didn't say it's impossible to please Him unless we have the same doctrine.

As Jesse said in his message, there are a lot of good sons and daughters of God in the body of Christ, but not a lot of good brothers and sisters. I mean, when was the last time you did something to bless another church in your city? I mean, if you are Baptist, when was the last time you went and blessed the Pentecostal church when they were doing something? Or for those Pentecostals, when was the last time you went and blessed a Methodist church by showing up for something they were doing?

If we all believe in Jesus, and that is the one thing that most all Christians agree on. Then why can't we fellowship with other believers, even if they don't belong to your denomination? Maybe because we're acting like bad brothers and sisters? And for those of you (like me) who are part of the "non-denominational church" and say we're not like denominations, well you can forget that, because non-denominational churches have become a denomination.

I think that we should all try and find some way to get along with those who may or may not believe doctrinally some of the same things. As long as we all believe in Jesus, we're brothers and sisters in Christ, and eventually if we all go by the way of the grave, we're going to see each other in Heaven. Don't you think we should get to know each other now instead of waiting for the marriage supper of the Lamb?

Thanks Jesse, for inspiring me to reach out to others who believe in Jesus, but may not believe doctrinally like me...fighting the fight until I see His face,

Dave, son of God...brother to ALL Christians

A Different Look At Jesus

This morning I had the urge to put the movie Braveheart in and watch the speech that William Wallace (played by Mel Gibson) gave before the battle at Stirling. This particular speech stirs something in me every time I see it.

This is the first major battle between the Scottish army and England. It's interesting to watch the faces of the Scots as they survey the British army taking position. They are outnumbered three to one, and are looking at being ridden over by a three hundred heavy horse cavalry. It is no wonder that the Scottish men begin to break ranks and start for home. One of the noblemen rides over and begins to hollar at the men saying, "Men! Do not flee! Wait until we've negotiated!" It is at this point in the movie where William Wallace and his men ride up and take command of the situation.

Now, a couple of years ago at a men's weekend, we were shown this clip from the movie. What made it different, and I think has been the deciding factor of why I love this clip so much, is that we were told to watch the scene as if we were one of the Scottish men in the army, leaderless, fearful and wanting to quit. We were then told to view William Wallace as Jesus riding up and calling to us. I must tell you, I walked away that night really stoked to be a part of God's Kingdom and ready to face the forces of the enemy.

Here is the transcript of that speech, with a few minor adjustments to help you visualize Jesus as the man on horseback calling up the faithful:

(Jesus and his men ride up to the religious leaders.)

Stephen: The Almighty says this must be a fashionable fight. It's drawn the finest people.

Religious Leader (To Jesus): Where is thy salute?

Jesus: For presenting yourselves on this battlefield, I give you thanks.

Religious Leader: This is our army. To join it you give homage.

Jesus: I give homage to God and His Kingdom. And if this is your army, why does it go?

Wearied Believer: We didn't come here to fight for them.

Young Believer: Home. The demonic forces are too many.

Jesus: Sons of God, I am Jesus Christ.

Young Believer: Jesus Christ is 7 feet tall.

Jesus: Yes, I've heard. He kills demons by the hundreds, and if he were here he'd consume the demonic forces with fireballs from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his fingertips. I am Jesus Christ, and I see a whole army of my brothers here in defiance of evil. You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?

Wearied Believer: Fight against that? No, we will run, and we will live.

Jesus: Aye, fight and you may die, run and you'll live. At least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom?! The Lord Reigns!

(The believers cheer "The Lord Reigns!" repeatedly)

So my question to you today is this, "What will you do with your freedom? Will you fight?" There is a world of hurting people, held captive by the enemy. They are captives of this invisible war between the forces of evil and our God. They are looking for a Savior, and those of us who are children of God, and brothers of Jesus must lead them there. I read a quote from Charles Spurgeon that I think applies here, it says;If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for.

Fighting the fight, until I see His face!

A Warrior's Heart

Last night as I was eating a late dinner in my home, I decided that I would watch the movie "First Knight". It has become one of my favorite of the Arthur stories. There is something in this movie that calls to my heart. It stirs something in my heart that few things can.

You see as a Christian man, I bear the image of God. I'm not bragging, if you are a believer in Jesus then you too bear the image of God. In the book of Exodus, after the Jewish people have crossed the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's army pursued them, God caused the waters to close up on the Egyptians and destroyed the entire army, to which the Jews cried out, "The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is His name!" Well if I am an image bearer of God and He is a warrior, then that means there is a warrior's heart in me as well.

That is what calls to me in this movie. It's not the love story, or the betrayal that happens because of that portion of the story. It is the fact that Arthur is willing to stand against Malagant (the bad guy) to protect the innocent. Check out this portion of dialogue between Arthur and Malagant:

Malagant: I mean no harm to Camelot.

Arthur: You know the law we live by. And where is it written, beyond Camelot live lesser people? People to weak to protect themselves, let them die, hmmm?

Malagant: Other people live by other laws Arthur, or is the law of Camelot to rule the entire world?

Arthur: There are laws that enslave men, and laws that set them free. Either what we hold to be right and good and true is right and good and true for all mankind, under God. Or we're just another robber tripe.

Malagant: Your fine words are talking you out of peace and into war.

Arthur: There's a peace that is only to be found on the other side of war. If that battle must come, I will fight it!

Arthur's knights rise and proclaim: "And I!"

Malagant: The great Arthur and his great dream. No dream lasts forever. (Malagant leaves)

Arthur: What is the strength of the army?

What I really like about this is the fact that Arthur doesn't even hesitate. He tells Malagant that he will face him, and the look on Malagant's face is actually a mixture of bewilderment and rage as he is leaving. I want to be that way. There is something in my heart that wants to meet the enemy head on. Yet, in most Christian circles men are asked, in so many ways, to be nice, not rock the boat, just let it go and so on. And truthfully this makes me sick to my stomach. I'm pretty sure it does Jesus as well, for He stated in Revelation 3:15-16 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

If you haven't watched this movie lately, maybe you should. And while you're at it let that warrior spirit that God has placed in every man rise up and take a stand, be hot or cold...let's stop being lukewarm.

Fighting the fight, until I see His face.
Dave

A Daddy's Job Description

In 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 the Word states: ¹¹For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, ¹²encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

As I read this passage this morning during my quiet time with the Lord, the phrase "as a father deals with his own children" jumped out at me. It was one of those moments where I sensed the Holy Spirit over my shoulder pointing out something to me that would help me. As I pondered that, I went on to see listed three things in this passage that would help all of us as fathers. Here they are:

1. Encouraging
2. Comforting
3. Urging

I know from my own life that I have fallen short in all of these areas. I try to encourage my kids, but end up arguing or yelling at them for their behaviors. When they are struggling, my comforting them isn't all it should be. And as for urging them on to live their lives worthy of God, it usually comes out more like don't embarrass your mother and me. This is not to say that I'm a horrible parent. Because I don't believe that lie of the enemy for one minute. What I've seen here is three things that if I will use as a filter when I'm dealing with my kids, will make me more of a blessing to their lives, than a frustration.

The dictionary says that to encourage is to to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence: His coach encouraged him throughout the marathon race to keep on running. This is what fathers are to do, we are to coach our kids to keep going and we do that by inspiring them with courage, spirit and confidence. If we want our kids to be successful in life, we have to do this for sure.

The dictionary says that to comfort is to to soothe, console, or reassure; bring cheer to: They tried to comfort her after her loss. We are to reassure our kids that they are doing well. This is especially important for teens, they are going through so much these days that we must try to bring cheer to them, and to reassure them that they are doing well.

The dictionary says that to urge is to to endeavor to induce or persuade, as by entreaties; entreat or exhort earnestly: to urge a person to a greater place. As dads, we need to always be urging our kids to live their lives worthy of God. We need to make sure they know God as Father, and provider for everything they have need of. One of the best ways to do this that a great friend of mine, Joe McGee told me about is to read Bible stories to your kids. By reading Bible stories to them, they will come to learn about the people that God uses, broken, unfinished men and women. There is a great book that you can purchase that is an excellent tool for this very purpose. It's called Egermeier's Bible Story Book, and can be purchased at Amazon.com

I know that I want to become the best daddy I can be to my kids. They don't stay at home forever, and I've got to do the best I can in the short amount of time I have them with me. Remember it's the end times and God said in His Word that now is the time that He is turning the hearts of the fathers back to the children (Luke 1:17) Use these three things found in 1Thessalonians 2:11-12 and go become the best daddies out there!

Fighting the fight, until I see His face....Shalom.

Love & War by John & Stasi Eldredge

Hey everyone,
If you haven't read the book Love & War by John & Stasi Eldredge, and you are married you need to read this book. My bride and I have been married for 21 years (soon to be 22) and this is absolutely the best book I've ever read about marriage.



What makes this such a good book on marriage is that it is not a book of tips and techniques. It is John & Stasi opening up their lives to you and letting you peer in and see what their marriage is like. You get to see the good, bad and the ugly with this book, and that is what so many of us need to see. We need to follow and read after people who are real, and deal with real issues. So many books that I've read are written in such a way that you think they have arrived. Joan & Stasi show in their book that marriage is not really so much about arriving but making the journey together.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is married or thinking about it. It will really help you out...

Why?

I was just here at work thinking about the 17 different people that I have seen today in my store. It's an odd thing, but not one of these 17 people were anything like the other. It would be impossible to play, "One of these things is not like the other" because of the 17, the only thing that they had in common was coming into my shoe store and talking to me.









Most of my days, I spend the majority of my time with my thoughts, and yes they do tend to revolve around me and my world...as I'm sure that your thoughts mostly revolve around you and your world. And in my world, everyone has the same thoughts as me...after all this is "my world" where I am the center.

I guess that the really amazing thing is to see the differences in humanity, I mean there is such diversity even within the races. God must really love variety, because He sure made this world full of it...well there's that...strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Who's Word Will You Believe?

It has been a while since I posted anything here, but as I was reading the headline in my local newspaper today, I was struck with this thought. "Who's Word Will You Believe?" The headline in the newspaper was "Stricter Rules to Deal with H1N1". For those of you who don't know what "H1N1" is, it is also called the swine flu. We almost had hysteria last year because of this virus, and it appears that the CDC (Center for Disease Control) is already putting information out there under the guise of helping inform the people. I think there is something more nefarious going on here, and I think it needs to be addressed.

Now for those of you who possibly don't know, I am a Christian. A disciple and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I make no bones about it, it is who I am. So understand that everything I'm about to say is based on my belief in Jesus. Whether or not you agree, or disagree with me is immaterial, I just want you to know before you read any further.

Jesus, the Bible tells us took stripes on His back to purchase our physical healing. (1Peter 2:24) We do not have to be worried or fret about whether or not we will contract some disease if we will believe what God's Word says in regards to healing and walk in it. In other words, I choose to believe what God's Word says about mine and my family's physical health, and that is, that we can walk totally carefree of whatever the CDC is talking about concerning their latest threat of sickness. We can and do walk in this freedom every day.

I read a story about another Christian, a man named John G. Leake who worked with people who were dying of the bubonic plague. Here is an excerpt about him from his book "How To Be Filled With Spiritual Power":

For five years in South Africa, John G. Lake displayed the greatest spiritual power seen since the days of Jesus — not only for others but also for himself. While assisting doctors during a bubonic plague outbreak, he was asked why he had not contracted the disease since he had used none of their medical protection. He said, "it is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." To demonstrate, he had them take live bubonic plague germs still foaming from the lungs of a newly dead person and put them in his hands and then examine the germs under a microscope. They were dead.

This is a desire of my heart, to walk in this type of power. One thing that I know is that Jesus is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34) and that whatever He would do for John G. Leake, He will do for me and my family as well. And not only that, He will do it for you and your family too! What it boils down to is this, who's report are you going to believe?

In other words, Who's Word Will You Believe? The world's? It says that you have to watch out and be extra careful that you don't become infected with the swine flu. That is full of fear, and fear will keep you from attaining the promises of God. Or will you believe God's Word, and walk in faith holding nothing back? One produces fear, the other faith, and the Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

To bottom line this for you...you have a choice of who's words you will believe. And depending on what you choose will determine what you have in your life. Remember God told us in the Bible that He set before us life and death, blessing and cursing, but that we should choose life. And that is what my family and I will be doing instead of worrying about what the CDC has to say. Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!