Christ Follower or "Christian"

I was catching up on Facebook this evening and ran across a post from an Associate Pastor of a United Methodist Church. His comment was "how sad" he was that the voters in Florida chose to limit marriage in the state to between only a man and a woman.

People, it is time to stand up and start to confront people like this! They are leading their flock to HELL by teaching false doctrine and picking and choosing what they wish to present as fact from the Bible.

I believe the WHOLE Bible from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation... every word... EVERY WORD is inspired by God. If I choose to throw out even one sentence, what gives me that right? If I pick and choose, why can't someone else? If we all did that, what good is the Bible to anyone?

Listen and listen up good. I'm angry and SICK AND TIRED of 'pastors' and 'ministers' that are tearing apart the Bible. Watch out for the label "Christian" as it means little in today's society. Lots and lots of churches have church members that use the term Christian very loosely yet have little interest in following Christ by believing the ENTIRE Bible.

If your church is not preaching the entire Bible from the pulpit, run away quickly! This sort of false teaching is rampant in our country and becoming more so by the day.

We are in the end times, time is short. Are you a Christ Follower or just a "Christian"?

Climbing Back Out of the Valley

This past week or so has personally been a rough one for me. There was not one event or thing that I can point my finger at but it has just been a spiritual valley.

The turning point though was what I heard from a message that I heard at church this past Wednesday evening.

• No matter where I am, on top of the mountain or in the midst of a valley, seek God with ALL of my heart. Don't let off!

I found that indeed I had let off. I was having this internal pity party in my head and looking at myself instead of looking up. What I learned in my Bible study from Luke 7 is

• My faith in God is what saves me. My faith is what should also guide me and protect me.
• Just because I do not 'feel' God's presence, it dosen't me that He is not there.
• Keep looking up, keep praising, keep pursuing God... NO MATTER HOW I FEEL.

I'm climbing back out of the valley. I see God's hand reaching down to me and I see the path before me. I walk forward today in faith.

Christians, Do You Have Your Eyes Open?

We are one week away from the most important Presidential election ever in the United States. This election has the potential to hasten our country towards insignificance and distruction or a path that may (and I do stress 'may') lead toward recovery.

No country in the history of man has ever lasted more than two hundred years where moral values have taken a back seat to personal wants and greed.

If Obama is elected as President a week from tomorrow and if he follows through on his promises to the American people, moral values will plunge. The killing of the unborn through legal abortions (presently at four thousand per day) will continue and be expanded. Restrictions in abortions that were signed into law by President's Clinton and Bush will be recalled. Homosexual 'marriage' will become the law of the land. Rights of free speech will be quelled in the name of tolerance.

Indeed if McCain becomes President, he must prove that he will not continue the distructive spending habits of the Bush administration. He will have a very hard term with what will probably be a Congress that is solidly controlled by the Democrats. We do have the opportunity to start moving back in the moral direction that God's Word speaks of.

So what will it be, those of you who label yourselves "Christian"? Is that just a label or are you true Christ Followers that seek to follow God first and foremost in your life? Do you have the guts to live dangerously by swimming against the flow of the immorality or are you more concerned about the economy and your wallet?

Please pray, fast, and seek God in this election. I love our country and I seek to honor our country by standing with our founding fathers in honoring our Creator.

S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G or Existing

I was reminded today of the need to be constantly stretching my relationship with God. If I am to live on the edge... to live dangerously for God and put my full trust in His ability, I must remove myself from my comfort zone.

How often do you go to church not really expecting to learn anything new that can be applied to your life. And of those times, how often are your expectations confirmed. I wish to challenge you (and me) to think outside of the box. Go with great expectation and KNOW that God will deliver direction and purpose!

Satan is alive and well and is lulling us into a sense of contentment and satisfaction going through the same old routine. Both my wife and I have an intense heart for missions, both local and worldwide. Even when we are working in our mission field, I have noticed that we must not become complacent. We must be ready for change. God will lead us in one direction for a season and then lead us in a different direction. I am working on being able to comprehend when God changes my direction. I must not become too burdened with 'stuff' that it is hard for me to change.

My wife is already in full-time missions. Will there come a time when He too will call me to that field? I feel that the answer is 'yes' and I must be ready.

What are you doing in your mission field? Is God stretching you to reach out in new areas or are you merely existing?

Get Up Off of Your Duff and DO Something!

Some call it an epiphany, I just call it waking up and smelling the coffee.

I got the message from God yesterday that I have been thinking too much of ME lately and not enough about Him and what I need to be doing for His Kingdom.

You see, I've been plagued with tension headaches for the past four weeks. They usually come in the late morning and little medication takes them away. It has been a cycle that has created an 'oh, woo is me' attitude that has placed my eyes on me instead of on God.

It is time that I change that. It is time that I lay these headaches at the cross and get back to God's business. Time is short and I have so much to do. OK, today I move forward and get off my duff!

I heard a great quote yesterday and it applies here. "We need to quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death." (Mark Batterson Wild Goose Chase) As I sit here writing this morning, the sun is just about to rise above the horizon. My heart is beating and my lungs are breathing in and out, therefore God has given me purpose for today, He has a job for me to do.

What is your purpose of life? Is it to focus on yourself or to focus on others? Please take the time to reply and I would like to see your views.

God's Judgement on Jerusalem

I have been reading the book of Joshua in the Bible the last several days. What an incredible job that God gave Joshua to do. Jerusalem's impending doom and destruction was at hand. God basically told Joshua to phophecy to the people about the upcoming destruction. Yet, God also tells Joshua 'oh and by the way... they won't listen'. Wow, how is that for an encouraging word.

The bottom-line though is that Joshua is FAITHFUL to what God called him to do.

God judges the people of Jerusalem and they end up in captivity for 70 years after a 2 1/2 year siege on the city. Why? Because they have forsaken their first love. They have turned to idols for worship. The priests of the day told the church goers only what they wanted to hear. They included 'idol' worship even in the services. The people longed for debauchery, lust, greed and the like.

How might that compare to America today? What are we wanting to hear in a church service instead of the voice of God? Good music... the hymn played correctly? Words from the pulpit that underscore what we are doing and give credence to it? Or do we want to hear the WHOLE truth from the Word of God... the Bible?

What are we saying to others... are our ears itching to hear tidbits of tantalizing information about celebrities and friends, or do we want to hear God Himself?

What are our eyes longing for... more and more violence that we see on TV and in the movies? More and more bed-hopping and lust that is so common today? Or do we want to see Jesus face-to-face?

It is time to wake up and smell the coffee, folks. I envision that America is not long for this world in the path that we are presently on. We look A LOT like the citizens of Jerusalem in the days of Joshua. Will we as a nation wake up and REPENT (i.e. turn around)? Or will we continue down this path to destruction?

The day is near...

The Prophets are Speaking

I was reading from the book of Amos in the Bible this morning. A verse that really popped out to me was Amos 3:7. It says 'surely the Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets'.

I started thinking about that verse and how it relates to us today. Does God have prophets today that are 'revealing His plan' or were they all in Biblical times?

I do believe that He has as many prophets today as He had during Biblical times. There are men of God that have true insight of the spiritual realm of God and the spiritual warfare that is ensuing around us. Take some time to read the works of Chuck Smith, Mark Balmer, Skip Heitzing, Franklin Graham and Joel Rosenberg.

God is speaking to us today not only through His Word, the Bible. He is also speaking through modern day prophets.

Am I listening? God will guide my actions of the do so that I am most productive for Him if I am #1) listening, and #2) obedient.