Observations and Reflections

Monday, September 12, 2022

! Thessalonians 5:

12We ask you, brothers, 1 Cor. 16:18; Phil. 2:29 to respect those who labor among you and 1 Cor. 16:16; Heb. 13:17are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. See Mark 9:50Be at peace among yourselves. 14And we urge you, brothers, admonish 2 Thess. 3:6, 7, 11 the idle,5:14 Or disorderly, or undisciplined Isa. 35:4; [Heb. 12:12] encourage the fainthearted, Acts 20:35; See Rom. 15:1 help the weak, See 1 Cor. 13:4be patient with them all. 15See that 1 Pet. 3:9; See Rom. 12:17 no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always [Rom. 12:9]; See Gal. 6:10seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16Phil. 4:4Rejoice always, 17See Luke 18:1pray without ceasing, 18See Eph. 5:20give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19[1 Cor. 14:30; Eph. 4:30; 1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6]Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise See 1 Cor. 11:4prophecies, 21but 1 John 4:1; [Job 34:4]; See Eph. 5:10test everything; hold fast what is good. 22Abstain from every form of evil.

23Now may See Rom. 15:33 the God of peace himself Ex. 31:13; John 17:17 sanctify you completely, and may your 2 Pet. 3:14; Jude 1 whole Luke 1:46, 47; Heb. 4:12; [1 Cor. 14:14] spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at See ch. 2:19the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24See 1 Cor. 1:9 He who calls you is faithful; [Phil. 1:6]he will surely do it.

Many of us have read and heard these verses so many times that we can quote them. Actually, the 10 verses before, Paul is exhorting the Church (us)to be alert and to live alert lives every day. He tells us that while Jesus will come as prophesied, as "a thief in the night", He won't catch us off guard as the world. He actually writes that the church has "no need to have anything written to you" about the coming of the Lord! The implication here is that the church to which he was writing was prepared and living an alert life ready for Jesus to return. That is the assumption regarding the prepared Bride of Christ, the Church. But is she prepared today? Of course, even in the day Paul was writing, he follows those words with the verses which began this article. He seems to have some concern. As a spiritual father, he was saying, "I know you are living your lives in a way that reflects you are ready to meet Jesus but just as a reminder, let me exhort you a little more." Now allow me to lift out some standout instructions from our text today.

OUR ACTIONS- What we must do.

1. Respect your spiritual leaders. V.12-13 While we know that no one is perfect in their walk with the Lord, we are told to respect and honor those who are our leaders in the Church. When we lose our respect for our leaders, any group will decay and become ineffective. There must be a chain of command.

2. Be at peace among ourselves.V.13 Unity is the atmosphere of power released from heaven. It was the prerequisite of Pentecost. Unity releases spiritual authority to accomplish Kingdom work and division withholds it.

3. Admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak and be patient with them all. In every group, we will have all these kinds of folks. We aren't told to run them off but to take positive steps to bring them along. It is hard when everyone is pulling together and working to fulfill our vision, and we see those not helping but hindering. But we are a spiritual family. We don't get to choose those who join us. Actually the Bible says that it is "God who gives the increase." What can we do?

"BE PATIENT WITH THEM ALL!" That is really hard, but it is our marching orders.

4. "Seek to do good to everyone." We are told to avoid the worldly, natural temptation to withhold doing good to some or to have favorites. It is so natural to live this way but our call is not the call of the wild but the call of heaven.

5. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances. I didn't finish the verse. It is completed with "for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." This verse is the key to being able to do steps 1-4.

6. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not hinder, deny or work against the working of the Holy Spirit. This is one of the big things that frightens me most about voting in churches. It is possible and has been done many times I'm sure, to vote down the will of Almighty God. We have to be living in the daily presence of the Holy Spirit to discern and submit to the will of God. Of course, even in churches with a presbytery system of government, this same danger is present if the leaders are not walking in spiritual unity with the Lord and each other. The life of the Church is dependent upon the Holy Spirit being in charge and free from our natural thinking limitations.

7. Do not despise prophecies. This could be preaching and teaching under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, but it can also be spiritually led words of instruction to leaders given directly from the Holy Spirit. The Bible is filled with such examples. Then comes the balance right on the heels of this instruction...

8. Test Everything. Every prophecy must be tested by the Scripture and the discernment of the leadership. This is a big responsibility of church leadership. No one bringing a Word, whether in the pulpit or in a congregation, should ever be closed to correction. If you bring forth a "word" you feel is from God, you are finished now. Your assignment is over. Now the system of the Holy Spirit working through leaders now must take Biblical action.

9. Abstain from every form of evil. We must make moment by moment decisions to walk in the Lordship of Christ. We must choose to refrain from every form of evil. It is usually a split second decision to choose God and reject sin. Big sins always begin with small mental temptations. We must choose Jesus.

All these 9 things are choices we must make and follow. As we do these things, God responds to our decisions as His disciples by:

GOD'S ACTIONS

1. God of peace sanctify you completely in spirit, soul and body.V.25. As we obey and choose the Lord, He releases grace to accomplish in us all we need to live Godly overcoming lives and complete the work he gives us to do.

2. We are kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul then declares triumphantly, "He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it."

Our being prepared for the coming of the Lord is only possible because of our salvation through the Blood of Jesus, but our daily life and obedience to Him keeps us ready to meet Him!

God's Response To Our Obedience

! Thessalonians 5:

OUR ACTIONS- What we must do.

"BE PATIENT WITH THEM ALL!" That is really hard, but it is our marching orders.

All these 9 things are choices we must make and follow. As we do these things, God responds to our decisions as His disciples by:

GOD'S ACTIONS

2. We are kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul then declares triumphantly, "He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it."

Our being prepared for the coming of the Lord is only possible because of our salvation through the Blood of Jesus, but our daily life and obedience to Him keeps us ready to meet Him!

Monday, August 1, 2022

Summer Blessings!

Have a great summer! We will resume our monthly blog in September.

Monday, June 6, 2022

The God of All Comfort

[2Co 1:3-4 ESV] 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

It is a wonderful realization that God, our Heavenly Father, does not leave us alone to fend for ourselves. He comforts us in "all our afflictions." The Greek word here for affliction is very broad and takes in every possible torment the enemy could throw in our path. Verse 4 here makes it clear that it is God who actually comes alongside us in our tribulation, torment or persecution and comforts us. It is a good thing to comfort people who are suffering, yet, no one can comfort the soul of the follower of Jesus like Jesus Himself! When someone comforts you, their act of kindness says, "I recognize your burden, I care about you and I want to help you though this difficult time." The Lord is the "God of all comfort!" He alone has the remedy of all our discomfort! No matter the wound, He has the balm of Gilead! He can comfort us in all our afflictions. The Word doesn't say that His comfort always removes us from the trial or the trial from us. He comforts us in our trial. Here marks the difference between the novice and the veteran soldier of the cross. The novice is immobilized by the pain of the attack. He says that when this pain is over, I will serve the Lord again. The veteran of the Lord's army presses through hardship faithfully seeing in the future, by faith, the victory that is assured for the one who overcomes. As Jesus as our example, "He endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy that was set before Him! How can we who are suffering such anguish continue to serve the Lord and His Church? Because the one who comforts does so with ALL COMFORT! There is a learning curve to receiving comfort from the Lord. The is an important lesson to learn. King David learned to receive from the Lord as he was able to "encourage himself in the Lord."(1 Sam. 30:6). He learned to go to the One who had all comfort.

Now, we come to a critical step in walking in the Lordship of Jesus. We must get to a place in Christ where we move from a "me" perspective to "others." Most people are happy to stop at being comforted. That is really very normal. Just stop the pain and I'm fine! But this verse tells us that God's heart is that we receive comfort for two reasons. First, we are comforted because God loves us and wants to comfort us. Then, the mature realizes that receiving comfort equips and empowers us to share that comfort with others who are suffering. Like an injured soldier in a field hospital in a time of war, they want to get back in the battle. The immature soldier wants to use the wound to go home. The veteran warrior wants to get back to his fellow soldiers in arms. Today, receive the comfort of Jesus as He gives it freely. Then, be aware that your gift of comfort is bigger than your need. It is the gift of ALL comfort. There is enough to share! The Lord always gives us more than we need. He opens the windows of heaven and pours out blessings that we can't contain. It is exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think! He always gives enough for us and enough to share with others.

Monday, May 9, 2022

Hearing and Obeying

[Act 16:6-10 ESV] 6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

It is an amazing thing to see how God works to get his servants into position to do His will. We all who walk with Jesus want to hear and obey His voice. It isn’t always so easy. There is a lot more of a process than we think. This is the great Apostle Paul going through a process of hearing and obeying. Too many people would simply go to a place and begin preaching and ministering in the name of Jesus assuming that the Lord would bless their efforts. God isn’t obligated to bless all that we do in His name. However, He will bless all that we do in obedience to His direction. I have heard missionaries and church planters make plans for where they will go and work next. Often it is by a map or by what makes sense to them. But with the plans of the Lord, it is not about convenience. So many variables are involved. One of the big things in God’s plan is the readiness of the harvest. Is the harvest ripe and ready for this season or will it be at a later time? As a young church planter, early in the ministry, I heard the Lord say, “false starts hinder future efforts.” That means that if we are insensitive to the Holy Spirit and plant a church in an area too early, when the real time comes it will be less effective because of starting too soon.

Paul here keeps listening as he walks with the Lord. Notice the Word says, “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word.” That is incredible! Are we sensitive enough to hear a specific word that might be an adjustment to a general word? The general word was, “go into all the world and preach the Gospel.” The specific word was not now and not here. What a sensitive heart to the voice of the Holy Spirit! May we draw even closer to Him and His voice in order to hear directions from Him that may not make sense to us.

Saturday, April 9, 2022

Cooperating With God In Life Directions

Prayer offered in faith builds the pathway on which we can walk confidently. Jesus said that whatever we ask in prayer, if we believe, we receive it. That is one of those verses where many of us look back on our prayer life and ask, "Really?" By faith, we know that God's Word is always true. We also know that God does not fail, so if we don't see prayers answered, we must examine our own lives and hearts and ask, "Have I missed something? Am I violating a Biblical principle or omitting an important part of what brings about answered prayer?" Of course, there are times when we don't seem to have prayer answered because the thing we are asking for is out of the will or timing of the Lord. There are some questions that just go unanswered and that is a part of our faith life too. There will always be mysteries when the the human walks with the Divine. Can we walk by faith even with questions? Of course we can! Answered prayer, like a lot of things, is not automatic just because we are Christians. Let's look at some things that could hinder prayer that God wants to answer.

First, how are you praying? Are you praying in faith expecting to receive? Maybe you think you are and really you are praying in fear or confusion. Maybe you are praying in desperation or anxiety. That kind of prayer can seem sincere but begging God is often not praying in faith. We must approach our loving and benevolent Lord confident that He wants to answer our prayers. We can joyfully expect His favor! It is a good thing to check the way we are praying from time to time. We can drift into a faithless religious prayer and out of a faith prayer.

Next, it is also very important that we are praying in faith with a clear conscience. If we are trying to pray a prayer of faith with a guilty conscience then we are "like the waves of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind" as James 1 tells us. That verse goes on to say that such people will not receive from the Lord. They are unstable in their faith posture. 1 John 1:9 tells us, - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What a powerful verse. When we confess our sins, he not only forgives but cleanses. We need a clean conscience to truly pray in faith. When our conscience seems unclean or guilty, we cannot pray a prayer of faith. Accept the forgiveness of Jesus and embrace his cleansing of your inner man. Now you are bold. The Bible says the wicked flee when no one pursues but the righteous are as bold as a lion! That is the posture of faith prayer. Now you are truly "standing" in faith.

One other aspect of answered prayer is agreement. Matthew tells us that if two or more agree in prayer it will be done by God. Agreement or unity in prayer is a powerful force. Two standing in agreement in faith is much more powerful than the two praying independently. I have seen prayers hindered in this principle especially in the home. One marriage partner can leave the other partner out of the prayer or faith process. This is a big mistake and can be a hindrance to answered prayer. I Peter 3:7 says, "Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered." I hope you saw that. Husbands and wives are "heirs together" of the grace of God. Understanding this is so important. As a matter of fact, it says that if we don't get it, our prayers could be hindered. I saw a businessman once neglect this principle and his prayers for his business weren't going through. Once he saw this and he and his wife entered agreement in prayer, he saw the breakthrough!

Next, we can now act in faith. Faith and prayer gets us in position to walk out God's will for our life. Too many people pray for God's will for years, and I'm convinced that many wait far too long to act in faith. The bus comes and goes while they are still waiting at the bus stop. Once you pray and have confidence in your heart, start walking in the direction of your heart motivation. God confirms His will and direction in the motivation of our heart. A clear conscience is motivated by the will of God and is courageous enough to move out in that direction. Trust the leading of the Lord in your heart. Faith always has an element of uncertainty that must be pressed through, but walking out your prayers of faith brings success.

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Don't Quit!

How do we continue to advance and not quit in difficult times?

Phil. 3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

1. Know God and learn His ways. This requires moving from a religious acquaintance to really knowing Him! (Israel knew the acts of God but Moses knew the ways of God.) Psa. 103:7

This involves intimacy. The cost of every relationship is the time invested in the relationship.

2. Gain and maintain a heavenly perspective. Our earthly lives fit into His heavenly mission!” Don't get bogged down in the cares of this life and miss the real mission of God.

3. Trust Him- Faith and Trust are partners . We must come to believe He is “redemptively involved” in our circumstances. “He has my back!” He has your back!

4. Understand spiritual warfare. Eph. 6:10 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

A big part of this is to know who the enemy is and who he is not.

John 10:10- The thief comes to destroy!

5. Surround yourself with a faith filled support group. An accountability group is important for everyone. We don't mature to the point we don't need others. It requires ongoing humility to participate and not isolate. By the way, the Church is that place of accountability.

6. Learn how to Encourage yourself in the Lord. 1 Sam. 30:6 “And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God." This is a learned art of worship. Practice true worship in the Spirit in the good times and it will strengthen you even in hard times. It is learning to open the door to God's Presence.

7. Finish the mission! *It has been said that the greatest way to answer your enemy is to finish the mission the Lord has given you!”

Phil. 13-14 “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

“I HAVE NEVER SEEN A CHRISTIAN LOSE WHO DIDN’T QUIT!”

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

The Enemy At The Gate

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?" And he said, "No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, "What does my lord say to his servant?" - Jos 5:13-14 ESV

As Joshua approached the man with his sword drawn, he was apprehensive as to whether this powerful looking man with sword drawn was friend or foe. When Joshua put the question to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?", the answer came back, "NO!" He wasn't on either side of human battles but he was clearly on the side of God and the Army of the Lord. Of course we always feel, as Christians, that God is on our side based upon our perspective of things, our opinions, or the words of those we esteem. In actuality, even on our best day, we are out of balance. I have thought many times when preaching or after delivering a message, "that message standing on its own is out of balance." That means when we are "right" we aren't totally right from all angles. Though we stand for right in one area, we are possibly offending in another. During the American Civil War, both sides prayed and believed that the Lord was fighting for their side of things. As a Southerner, I look back at the central cause of the Civil War, slavery, not States Rights as I was taught in school, and wonder, how could the South have thought the Lord was on their side when their side represented taking people from their homeland and forcing them into hard labor as slaves. Often breaking up families and selling them to the highest bidder. But the South believed just that. They even preached in their churches sermons that justified their error. Their belief and their fidelity to that lost cause cost 655,000 lives. The back of the South was broken and they paid a very big price for their deception. They were sincere but learned in the end that they were sincerely wrong.

When we find ourselves in a world torn and divided even among followers of Jesus, we need to be very careful not to repeat the same mistakes of other believers that have gone before us. It is an easy thing to get caught up in a cause or movement because so many around us are adhering to the same cause. Groups or numbers doesn't make us right. Movements doesn't mean God is behind those movements. Is God on our side? The resounding words come back, "NO!" God is on God's side. God is on the side of Truth. God is on the side of his MISSION! His mission is not a national mission but a Kingdom mission. It is easy to come to believe that our strong feelings about our cause means we are in God's cause. God's cause is much grander, much more important than our cause regardless of how noble our cause may be. God's cause is the cause of the Cross, the price Jesus paid on that cruel cross for all mankind from every kindred, tribe and Nation. We must make sure that our causes don't blind us to lose focus of THE CAUSE. The cause of being in the world as the salt of the earth with the purpose of winning the lost world and not fighting it. The world is lost and it will always act as lost. It will remain lost until we influence it with love and Truth. Truth is our only means of winning the world through love and mercy just as we received that same love and mercy. We can't represent the Kingdom of God with anger and militancy. Anger and militancy only produces more anger and militancy from the opposite direction.

What can we do? It is such a frustrating place to find ourselves. I was trained by my family to be a fighter. When you find yourself in a fight, strike first and hard. It is in my nature, but it is not in my born again Spirit man. My Spirit man is filled with power, Truth and love. God has given us power, love and a sound mind the Scripture tells us. We could win in the natural and lose in the power of the Spirit. We must bring ourselves back to fighting the real fight in the Spirit. Many may need deliverance and cleansing of spirit in order to get back in a position of fighting correctly with a pure heart and a sound mind. Romans 14:17 tells us that the Kingdom of God is a matter of "righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." That Kingdom is within all of us who are walking in the Lordship of Jesus. Let's rediscover that place of righteousness, peace and joy in our hearts and serve Him from that platform. We are living in perilous times and deception is our enemy at the gates. We must guard our hearts!

Monday, January 3, 2022

A New Mind For A New Year

"Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not." - Jeremiah 5:21 ESV

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." - Rom 12:2 ESV

I have been teaching a good bit of late on the topic of the “Renewed Mind.” Romans 12 here tells us that we can discern or know the will of God through the process called the “renewing of the mind.” We won’t just wander around without a clue as to God’s purpose. Every mind must remain in this process of renewal for the entirety of life on earth. It is not a one-time event only. I say “only” because there is a miraculous conversion of the mind, body and spirit as an event at the moment of our conversion. That conversion of the mind however, is only the birth of the new mind. Just as with any birth there must be nurturing of that new birth. This is true in spirit, mind and body as well. There is a lifelong endeavor of bringing our converted self under the Lordship of Christ. While we are ready for heaven the moment of our conversion, Lordship and the disciplines of Lordship, makes us more and more equipped for living the overcoming life here as followers of Jesus.

This is particularly true of the mind. Proverbs 23:7 tells us, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” There is a direct connection between “right thinking”, a renewed mind and hearing the voice of God. Studying the Word of God, meditating on it, is a large part of renewing the mind along with the Holy Spirit which accompanies the Word. As the mind is continually being renewed our eyes and ears are opened and we can see and discern God’s Will. If believers don’t remain in God’s word through reading and meditating on it there is a weakening of the process of the renewing of the mind and there is a dimming of seeing the will of God. Too many Christians today are giving themselves to too many things that are robbing them from uninterrupted time in the life source of God’s Word. While they are going to heaven, they are often wandering aimlessly around in this life without hearing and seeing God’s plan and purpose for their lives.

May we enter a new year with a new commitment to simplify and focus our time less on trivial things, and more on the eternal life source of God’s Word and the power of the Holy Spirit.