Every style goes out of style.The only way to always be relevant is to focus on what’s eternal-God’s purposes. – Rick Warren
A dose of fright can keep a child from running across a busy road or an adult from smoking a pack of cigaretts. Fear itself is not a sin. – Max Lucado
To succeed in life, we must stay within our strength zone but continually move outside our comfort zone. – John C Maxwell
Just a couple of thoughts I had on the subject of submission to spiritual leaders in the church.
First of all, there are many clear and emphatic scriptures in the Bible about submission to spiritual leaders……and it’s all wonderful. The Bible is very clear on the subject of submission, not just in the church, but also for husbands, wives, children, and employees, to civil, parental, and spiritual authority.
As I read the scriptures I see a couple of words in the Bible that are synonymous with submission; Honor, respect, giving, love and humility
Find a person who understands submission to authority and you’ll see a person who is humble, full of love, unselfish, accountable, and personally responsible.
Find a person who does not understand submission to authority and you’ll see a person who is prideful, full of criticism, selfish, self ruled, and spiritually irresponsible. Continue reading ‘Submission to Spiritual Authority’
Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary for our church. We had a weekend full of dinners and meetings, ending in a celebration service Sunday. What a time of thanksgiving and joy as we reflected on what God has done and the lives that were impacted by Pastor Wayne and Margaret Holcomb (my parents). I plan to somehow make pics and information available soon.
My parents never dreamed that the prayer meetings in a small country home in Quiggleville Pa would grow into the strong and powerful New Testament church that it is today. I’ve been so challenged these past few months in my Faith starting with the passing of my grandfather and now our incredible milestone of our church. Challenged to abandon all worldliness and selfish living to seek after Jesus and further His Kingdom in the earth.
1969-2009 Congratulations to Dad & Mom and The Door Fellowship Church
Ps. 119:33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.
When God met Moses on Mount Sinai He gave him the awesome call to go back to Egypt and deliver His people. He gave Moses His word with power and demonstration to face Pharaoh and all the power of Egypt. But Pharaoh wasn’t all too eager to listen to Moses, so he tried to make compromises with the children of Israel so that they would not fully obey the word of God. (Ex. 5:1-2)
This is a perfect picture of what the devil tries to do in the life of believers. He wants us to be half hearted about our salvation and to make little compromises that lead to big disobedience. But like Moses we must respond with a strong resolution to fully obey God’s word.
Pharaoh gave Moses 3 compromises;
1. Make your sacrifices in Egypt – Ex. 8:25
But Moses said, “Our sacrifices to God are hated by the Egyptians, and if we do this right here before their eyes, they will kill us.”
The principle: The world doesn’t understand our worship and even despises our narrow minded views of Holiness. It’s clear that the worship of the church should be totally different then the worship of the world, but all too often christians compromise in their worship and then wonder why the world won’t listen to them. We are called to worship God in spirit and in truth, but unless you are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, you will not understand the worship and therefore hate it.
2. Sacrifice in the wilderness, but don’t go very far and ask God to remove the swarm of flies from Eygpt – Ex. 8:26
Moses said he would ask God to remove the swarm of flies but later on realized that his act of kindness was a mistake.
The principle: You have to fully obey the Lord and completely do His will. There’s no such thing as “half saved” or “sort-a” translated into His kingdom. It is complete obedience that leads to a complete work. The devil doesn’t want people to become too committed to the Lord, too zealous about purity, too serious in the call of God. But that’s what following Jesus is – complete repentance, conversion, and worship.
There cannot be any strings attached to the world. (I’m not talking about making friends with people to win them to Christ) God told Israel “come out from among them and be ye separate…and then I will recieve you…” There must be a separation from the world and concecration to Jesus, period. – A little compromise will spoil the whole sacrifice.
You can’t make the least compromise with the devilbecause, COMPROMISE IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE DEVIL! There must be an absolute, no compromise, sold out, complete walk with the Lord. David said this about Jesus “there fore He was anointed above His fellows because He loved righteousness and hated iniquity.”
Proverbs 10:10 Winking at sin leads to sorrow; bold reproof leads to peace.
3. Keep your livestock in Egypt – Ex. 10:24
But Moses said, “we must take our flocks and herds for sacrifices and burnt offerings to Jehovah our God.”
The principle: We don’t look to the world for our provision and source of life. In fact, christians are to be leaders and not followers. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is their will your heart be also”. Our affections are on things above not on the things of the earth.
Again, the theme of this account was to thoroughly obey God and be completely separated to Him. This attitude must lie in the hearts of God’s people even to this day as it was in Moses. Remember; God doen’t conform His nature to the devil and the world, neither should we.
Proverbs 15:24 (TLB) The road of the godly leads upward, leaving hell behind.
This is for all the germ conscious folks that worry about using cold water to clean.
John went to visit his 90 year old grandfather in a very secluded, rural area of Saskatchewan.
After spending a great evening chatting the night away, John’s grandfather prepared breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast.
However, John noticed a film like substance on his plate, and questioned his grandfather asking, ‘Are these plates clean?’
His grandfather replied, ‘They’re as clean as cold water can possibly get ‘em. Just you go ahead and finish your meal, Sonny!’
For lunch the old man made hamburgers. Again, John was concerned about the plates as his appeared to have tiny specks around the edge that looked like dried egg and asked, ‘Are you sure these plates are clean?’
Without looking up the old man said, ‘I told you before, Sonny, those dishes are as clean as cold water can possibly get them.. Now don’t you fret, I don’t want to hear another word about it!’
Later that afternoon, John was on his way to a nearby town and as he was leaving, his grandfather’s dog started to growl, and wouldn’t let him pass.
John yelled and said, ‘Grandfather, your dog won’t let me get to my car’. Without diverting his attention from the football game he was watching on TV, the old man shouted ‘Coldwater, go lay down now, ya hear me!’
Job 17:9 (Living Bible) the righteous (those upright and in right standing with God) shall move onward and forward; those with pure hearts shall become stronger and stronger.
The more I walk with the Lord the more I love Him. The more I want to change to be like Him. I see His majesty and holiness and like John in the book of Revelation, I fall at His feet when I see Him and hear His Words. I want to conform to His image at my expense. When my heart longs for this I will move forward and upward.
Why am I seeing multitudes of Christians, who have been in the faith for a long time, walk away from the things of God so easily? Why are preachers who have preached the unadulterated word, turning the truth of God into a lie? Why are people so easily offended with the church?
One of the problems is the deceptive false teaching of “once saved always saved”. This false concept of grace tends to focus on the level of sin in the life of a believer rather than the working of righteousness in the life of a believer. You can dress it up and call it “Grace” if you want to, but it’s still mans attempt to be free from conviction not sin.
Take what is being taught in the church today and apply it to marriage. What I would be saying is, “honey, I want the freedom to be with other women, spend our money on gambling, rob a store for money, beat you up when I’m mad, neglect our children, not have a job ever again, and still be married to you.” It’s a ridiculous perception of grace.
When my heart is right, I will Love my wife more everyday, raise my children right, work tirelessly to provide for the next generation, and become a powerful godly man. Things shouldn’t get worse… but better. My faith shouldn’t grow weaker or my love wax colder. But stronger and more fervently. As David said, ” the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” – Ps. 4:18
Recently I was in Hawaii and the Lord began to put something together in my heart on discipleship. I quickly scribbled on a piece of paper what God was giving me and I realized it was nothing new… I just never saw in that way before.
What started out as one piece of paper with a few thoughts has turned into a 3 section 50 page lesson on discipleship. If you’re like me, the word “discipleship” only meant taking care of people who just got saved. But as I studied, and continue to study, what the Lord showed me, I saw that it was much different that what I thought.
Joel Stockstill once said that there are 2 parts to every ministry that will make it fruitful and effective; Services & Discipleship
With services (meetings) alone you can only grow so much and people can only function so much. But that’s like having only one wing on a bird, it can get off the ground a little, but it will only go in circles. But with the two functioning together you’ll get to where you need to go.
Many people think discipleship is just about winning souls. But Biblically, it is a life long journey of relationship with Jesus and other people. There are three areas of discipleship the Lord showed me for our youth ministry.
1. Walking with Jesus
2. Fellowship with others
3. Winning souls
In the next few months I’ll share a little bit from each point.
As American troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, President Franklin Roosevelt called for our nation to unite in prayer. He also offered a prayer to prepare each citizen for the road ahead. “Let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be. And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee.” The victory that followed on June 6, 1944-also known as D-Day-began the march to Berlin. Eighteen months later, WWII was over and one of the world’s greatest evils had been defeated. The prayers of a nation had been a powerful force.
President Abraham Lincoln knew this well. It was his belief that, “it is the duty of nations as well as men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God.” When it came to the fate of the nation, he practiced what he preached. Before the battle of Gettysburg, he turned to God in prayer. “I went to my room one day and I locked the door and got down on my knees before Almighty God and prayed to him mightily for victory at Gettysburg.” Won by the Union, Gettysburg was one of the turning points in the war that ended slavery and kept the states united. Today the need for prayer is as great as ever. Our nation again faces battlefields, along with an epidemic of broken homes, violence, sexual immorality and social strife. As the heroes of our nation did in the past, we must again bow our heads in prayer. We must ask the Lord to bless our leaders with wisdom and protection, and that we will have the fortitude to overcome the challenges at hand. If Roosevelt, the Pilgrims and Lincoln never underestimated the power of prayer, neither should we.
While working on the yard, the boys were “helping me” with the yard work. (this usually last 10 min tops) After mowing and edging the front yard, I reached for my leaf blower to clean off the sidewalk. Well, after 15 minutes of trying to start it i realized that something was wrong with the gas lines. After further inspection I discovered that Ethan (one of my busy helpers) took some pruning shears and cut both gas lines. Ahhh yes……Daddy’s little helpers.
At youth group last night we had a teen give his testimony of how he was healed of a life long kidney disease. totally impossible situation, but God stepped in. In the entire process, he came back to the Lord in a radical way. I’ll be posting the entire testimony tomorrow.
Grace is not the level of tolerance God has for my lifestyle, but rather the ability He gives me to conform to His.
I want to encourage every Christian to stay awake and do the works of Jesus in the earth like never before. We cannot be asleep in our generation like so many before us and lose ground for the kingdom of God. If the world is getting so corrupt and vile then so the church must be become so much more powerful and pure. We see the world shaking it’s fist at God and asking the church, “where is your God”?
The enemy wants the church asleep and therefore ineffective. Only when we are sleeping will the enemy take ground.
Matt 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Notice a couple of things about this passage; it’s “while men slept…” the enemy came in and sowed tares. We are called to be children of the light and are to work while it is day. If we fall sleep that means we must lie down and close our eyes. The enemy works in darkness and is hindered when Christians are standing up. When we sleep our heart rate slows down. This is the time when Christians become distracted by the things of the world and their heart isn’t beating as fervently for the Lord.
Remember that the enemy is a roaming lion seeking to devour. He is constantly busy trying to reap a harvest in the present generation, but we are called to preach this gospel in the entire world and to show forth the praises of Him that has called us out of darkness
Stay awake in this hour. Do not allow yourself to be lulled to sleep and therefore giving place to the enemy to come and sow his seed. I believe the church was sleeping when Hitler came to power, in 1962 when prayer was taken out of schools, in 1973 when a lawyer lied about the unborn and abortion was legalized.
THIS IS THE HOUR TO ARISE out of sleep and slumber and spread the gospel with mighty power and demonstration.
A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”
The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.
“She rolled her eyes and said, “You must be a Republican.”
“I am,” replied the man. “How did you know?”
“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help to me.”
The man smiled and responded, “You must be an Obama Democrat.”
“I am,” replied the balloonist. “How did you know?”
“Well,” said the man, “you don’t know where you are or where you are going. You’ve risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You’re in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it’s my fault.”
Ex. 25:8-22
8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
9 According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it. 10 And they shall make an ark of shittim wood:
22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
In the holy of holies was the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat which is where God’s manifested presence in the earth was. Men could have fellowship with God but in a limited way. But thank God when Jesus came the veil was ripped in half and through His blood we have unlimited access to His presence, both His manifested presence and His abiding presence.
But look at the ark of the covenant closer; it was made of shittim wood or acacia wood, which is a hard heavy dense wood. It was used for various things such as chests or coffins. In this case it was a box that was overlaid with Gold inside and out. Quite simply it was a box. That’s it. It wasn’t special in itself but the pure Gold gave it significance.
The ark is a picture of us. We are perishable containers in and of are selves but, Jesus and His blood make us holy and acceptable to God and His presence give us significance. He desires close fellowship with His people to fill us with His Glory and power to be His people in the earth.
2 Cor. 4:5-7
Vs 7 But we have this treasure (the divine Light of the Gospel) in earthen vessels,
(in a perishable container,) that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not
of us.
Notice what God said about the ark. There would fellowship and communion there but also He would reveal His commandments (truth) to Moses. And God promised that His commandments would be put in the ark. (later the golden pot with manna and Aaron’s rod that bubbed would be put in there as well – Hebrews 9:4)
But ultimately the ark was overlaid with pure Gold on the inside and outside. When you are born again and receive the Holy Ghost you receive all of God inside and out. God works in our lives for close fellowship and purity inside and out. The ark by itself didn’t mean anything without the Gold and the word, so it is with us. God’s not looking for famous or fabulous people, just a box. A person who walks with the Lord with a willing and obedient lifestyle. A person who says in and of myself have nothing but with your presence and word I can be pleasing to you.
All God needs is a box.
(taken from 04.10.09 sermon)
I am alive …I promise. i just got back from Hawaii. I know what you’re thinkin, “nice ministry trip (aka vacation) But truely there is a great need to preach the gospel and encourage the body of christ on that gorgeous Island. Our friends live in Waianea on Oahu. My wife and I had an awesome experience because of the people that were there and not the scenery. It was the longest we had been away from all four of our kids. Thank God for loving grandparents.
Go to my facebook page to see pics of our friends and the youth camp we ministered at.
It’s been awhile since the last blog. (I can’t believe how long it’s been) My summers always seem to be like that. I guess I’ve always felt that as long as it’s summer i need to be outside doing stuff or i’ll miss it. My wife and I have been busy having fun with the kids. Plus we’ve been seeing some great answers to our intense prayers from this past spring.
FYI – I’m uploading more messages, redoing our website, and writing more blogs in attempt to catch up to what the Lord has been saying and doing this summer. Look for “24/7 fire – life after camp” and “the ambassadors field guide” in early fall.
