(November 6, 2009)

Prayer House News!

This must be Indian Summer. What a great weather weekend we are going to have. Finally some typical Fall weather. Enjoy your day today and tomorrow and then tomorrow night make sure if you registered for our Missions Convention to be there at 5:00pm.

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UnShakable Kingdom

Abiding Fellowship

continued from yesterday

Isaiah 40:31; "Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength, they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."

The word "wait" means to attach yourself to God. Both hands are to be gripped upon Him so that you cannot be shaken. Intimacy really means attachment. Through intimacy the two become one, they become a part of each other so that they cannot be shaken apart.

Most Christians do not possess this type of intimacy with Christ simply because they do not desire it. Why do we loose our passion for Christ? What happens to our first love desires? Why doesn't our heart pant for the presence of God in the same way the deer pants for the water brook? It's because we have learned to refuse Him who is speaking. In so doing, we are on shaky grounds, we lack intimacy, we lack a closeness. Anything can throw us for a loop.

Let's get back to this issue of abiding fellowship. Abiding fellowship is different from being saved. I realize that being a Christian means we house the Holy Spirit and subsequently, we take Him where ever we go. But there is a difference between having the Holy Spirit with you and desiring abiding fellowship with Jesus. It's like the difference between being married and having a good marriage. If you are married, you are married whether or not you spend much time with your mate. If you have a good marriage you have a desire to be with your mate. You want to be in their presence.

Jesus once said, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in my love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love."

I had a minister friend once that died of cancer. His death was long in coming and so in the midst of it he wrote his memoirs. He wrote all about his ministry in Africa and various parts of the world. But when it came to writing about his prayer life he said this; "I was never the type of person to actually spend a lot of time in prayer. But rarely was there a moment in my life when I was not god-minded." In other words he was saying that he thought about God all the time but never really sat down to spend time with Him.

It sounds good to be god-minded however, how would that sound if he were writing about his relationship with his wife? Suppose he wrote in regards to his marriage and said, "Concerning my wife, I was not the type of person to actually spend time with my wife, but I rarely found myself not thinking about her."

You can be married and not have a closeness with your mate at all. Just like you can be saved and not actually desire to spend any time in Christ's presence.

Most of you know that I have written some books. My very first book is called, "Prayer Can Change Your Marriage." Suppose my wife was reading my book and that's all she ever did, just read my book. One night I come to her and say, "Honey let's spend some time together. I've got the night off and maybe we could just be together tonight."

Then suppose her response was something like; "I think I just want to keep reading this book. It's very good." I say to her, "I can certainly understand that, I read it several times while writing it, however, isn't that book dealing with how to develop an intimate relationship with one another and with God?" "Oh, yes," she says, "It talks about the great need for a close relationships and how the only way to come into that kind of relationship is to spend time with one another." "Hum," I say stroking my beard. "Then does that mean we are going to spend some time together tonight?" Finally she looks up at me with her big eyes and says, "No way! I like just reading the book."

This is a very common attitude. Somehow we have come to believe that reading the Bible is the same as prayer. We somehow think it accomplishes the same thing in our relationship with God as prayer does - but it does not. There has to be more than just knowledge of God and theology, there must be a knowing of God that can come by no other means than spending time in His presence.

If all you have is knowledge and theology then you tend to get involved in discussions and arguments about God that are irrelevant even if you are correct. So what if your theology is correct but you have no intimacy with Him. Without intimacy, theology becomes all consuming. I would almost rather be off a little in my theology and yet know God than to be correct in my theology and not know God.

You might say, "How can you say that, you are our pastor you must be correct in all your theology." First of all, I do want to be correct, and I do study the scriptures for that purpose but, have you ever met a man that had all the light there is to have?" Did Peter have all light? When Peter took the sword and cut the guards ear off, Jesus rebuked him and told him he didn't know what he was doing.

What would you rather be, one of the disciples of Christ or one of the Pharisees? The disciples had a bunch of bad theology but they also had a longing for abiding fellowship. The Pharisees had their theology down pat - but they had no desire to abide with Him. They had no desire to spend time in His presence.

Don't refuse Him who is speaking to you. The word refuse is often associated with intimacy. Don't refuse Him. Develop a desire to be with Him. God can sort through your theology. He can bring you into doctrinal purity. The issue really isn't whether or not you have it correct. It's whether or not you are refusing Him who is speaking to you. Do you have a prayer life? Do you have any sense of longing for His presence?

Most of you know that I travelled full-time for 20 years teaching prayer conferences and prayer retreats, I taught pastor's schools in many different places around the world even. Being gone from home a lot caused me to think about communicating with my family. I used to say suppose God allowed me to invent an apparatus that allowed me to be in my families presence without being home. It's kind of like a time machine, but it's a presence machine instead. It would be better than the telephone where you simply hear their voices. Plus this would be free - no long distance charges. They could literally get ahold of me wherever I am.

With this apparatus you could actually experience the presence of the one person. The only problem with this invention is that it is to large to bring with me on airplanes. I don't fully understand why God could not have helped me to invent this thing a little smaller but He didn't. I had to leave it at home.

So here is the dilemma. My family needs to initiate the use of it. I could call them on the phone and prompt them and encourage them to use it. I even left a great owners manual they could read and learn all about using it so we could experience each others presence. But they just are not interested. They have no desire for abiding fellowship.

Pretty soon you would have a situation like God has with our prayer lives. God has come up with a way to spend time in His presence called, prayer. The problem with prayer is that it must be initiated by us. He prompts us, he draws us, he woos us but we are just not interested. He has left a great owners manual for us to read, and we do read it, but we really have no desire for abiding fellowship.

Christianity in America has learned how to refuse Him who is speaking, while convincing themselves they have a great relationship with Him. Subsequently, we can't handle the shaking. We don't have the attachment we need to hang on during the hard times. We have very little spiritual capacity, therefore we drift off and come back, we drift off, we come back. Don't refuse him who is speaking. Determine to develop a prayer life that consists of a pursuit of Him, not just things from Him, but Him Himself.

END

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Medication: A Merry Heart

YOU JUST MIGHT BE A BLUE NECK (somebody from up North) IF:
Instead of referring to two or more people as "Y'all," you call them "you guys," even if both of them are women
You think barbecue is a verb meaning "to cook outside."
You think Heinz Ketchup is really SPICY.
You would never stop to buy something somebody was cooking on the side of the road. (e. g., boiled peanuts).
You don't have any problems pronouncing "Worcestershire sauce" correctly.
For breakfast, you would prefer potatoes-au-gratin to grits.
You don't know what a moon pie is.
You've never had an RC Cola.
You've never, ever eaten okra -- fried, boiled, or pickled.
You eat fried chicken with a knife and fork.
You've never seen a live chicken, and the only cows you've seen are on road trips.
You have no idea what a polecat is.
You don't see anything wrong with putting a sweater on your dog.
You don't have bangs.
You would rather have your son become a lawyer than grow up to get his own TV fishing show.
You drink either "Pop" or "Soda"- instead of "Cokes."
You've never eaten and don't know how to make a tomato sandwich.
You have never planned your summer vacation around a gun-'n-knife show.
You think more money should go to important scientific research at your university than to pay the salary of the head football coach.
You don't even have one can of WD-40 somewhere around the house.
The last time you smiled was when you blocked someone from getting on an on-ramp to the highway.
You don't have any hats in your closet that advertise feed stores.
You have more than one professional sports team in your home state.
You call binoculars opera glasses.
You can't spit out the car window without pulling over to the side of the road and stopping.
You don't know anyone with at least two first names (i. e., Joe Bob, Faye Ellen, Billy Ray, Mary Jo, Bubba Dean, Joe Dan, Mary Alice)
You don't know any women with male names (i. e., Tommie, Bobbie, Johnnie, Jimmie)
You don't have Maw-maw's & Pawpaw's.
You get freaked out when people on the subway talk to you.
None of your fur coats are homemade.

(November 5, 2009)

Prayer House News!

Below is a picture from youth convention. Isn't it great to see our youth seeking God together.

FYI - Our mission board is so well run that there will be NO love offering taken this weekend for our guest missionaries. They budgeted a very healthy offering to give to them. Lately we have been taking a number of love offerings and I really appreciate the way you have responded. This convention will be the Missions Board's gift to you.
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Unshakable Kingdom

Abiding Fellowship

continued from yesterday

1 Peter 2:2 like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.

I want us to consider the milk and the meat of God's word. Many consider the milk of the Word to be the light stuff and the meat to be the deep stuff. I disagree with that. The Bible does talk about these different aspects of God's Word but I don't believe the difference between milk and meat has much to do with depth.

Milk is a food that has gone through the digestive system of something else before you receive it. Whereas, meat is a food that you must digest yourself. In that light, I cannot present to you meat, but rather milk. I can only present to you what I have digested no matter how deep or shallow it is. You cannot receive anything more than milk from me.

Hebrews said the difference between milk and meat is determined by the receiver, not by the Word itself. The only thing the babe can receive is milk. Meat is for the mature. So what is the difference between the babe and the mature? Reason of use.

For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. (14) But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

The reason they are mature is because of practice, or reason of use. Practice of what?

John 4:30‑34 They went out of the city, and were coming to Him. (31) In the meanwhile the disciples were requesting Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." (32) But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." (33) The disciples therefore were saying to one another, "No one brought Him {anything} to eat, did he?" (34) Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.

Jesus said, "My food, or meat, is in doing the will of God." So here is how the Word of God becomes meat to us. When I bring a teaching from God's Word to you the most I can present to you is milk, that which I have digested. If it is going to become meat to you then you must do the Word of God. It must be lived out in your life.

Look at what James says about this.

James 1:22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. Be doers of the Word not hearers only. Hearers only deceive themselves. They think they are doing well while they are gradually dying. To have a diet of milk only - without the balance of meat, will ultimately kill us spiritually.

2 Timothy 3:7; "Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Suppose you went to every prayer seminar you could attend. You learned everything there was to learn about prayer. You sat under the best teachers on the subject there are. But you never did pray. You never did spend any time in the presence of God.

Without the doing of what you have taken in you will forever live in a spiritual state of staleness, always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. This is part of what's wrong with the church in America today. We hear the gospel from 100 different sources and do nothing about it. We have deceived ourselves into believing that hearing alone is healthy. James says, Don't be deceived, be doers, not hearers only.

That brings us right back to the issue of spiritual capacity or the ability to learn spiritually. The habitual exercise of the will of God is what increases our capacity. The doing of the Word of God increases our ability to grow spiritually. This is why we have people today that have grown up hearing the gospel, can quote one scripture verse after another, and never miss a church service and yet when something hits them hard they are shaken. They have not become a part of the unshakable kingdom Jesus talked about.

Let's go back to Sarah Smiley quote, "Many of the hidden truths of God's Word require more spiritual-intelligence than most Christians can bring to them. To apprehend them, requires a certain measure of spiritual capacity and habitual exercise in the things of God, which all do not possess for want of abiding fellowship with Jesus."

She says, “Most do not possess this spiritual capacity because they lack a desire for abiding fellowship with Jesus.” Our opening verses began by saying, "Don't refuse Him who is speaking." If we lack a desire for abiding fellowship with Jesus it's because we are refusing Him who is speaking. Jesus woos us. His spirit was sent as a drawing agent into an intimacy with Him. He wants us attached to Him.

continued tomorrow

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Medication: A Merry Heart

Strange Quotes:

"The only difference between doctors and lawyers is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you, too." (Anton Chekhov)

"It's not the people who are in prison worry me. It's the people who aren't." (Arthur Gore)

"Now that women are jockeys, baseball umpires, atomic scientists, and business executives, maybe someday they can master parallel parking." (Bill Vaughan) You can do it Barb!

"When you see what some women marry, you realise how they must hate to work for a living." (Helen Rowland)

(November 4, 2009)

Prayer House News!

Since this is Family Week there is not much going on. We are however, gearing up for our Missions Convention this weekend. This is always one of my favorite weekends. I love the way our church responds to the call to support those who are serving him around the world.

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Unshakable Kingdom

Abiding Fellowship

continued from yesterday

Hebrews 5:11-14; Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. (that’s a reference to spiritual intelligence) (12) For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. (13) For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. (14) But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Solid food is for the mature, who because of habitual exercise in the things of God have their senses trained, or you could say, have come into a spiritual enlightenment. The writer of Hebrews begins by saying, "Look, I've got some deep, meaty, things to say to you but it's very hard for me to explain these thing to you because you don't have any spiritual capacity." Another way of saying "dull-of-hearing" could be, "no spiritual enlightenment."

Solid food or "meat" is for the mature. The babe has no capacity for meat. Just think of that little stomach that has never had anything but fluids. It's all shriveled-up, there is nothing in it. You have to introduce meat to it in very small quantities until it finally gets big enough to handle - lots.

Listen to this quote from A.W. Tozer's book, “The Pursuit of God.” I’m going to read a quote from it; “Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must in the Church of the Living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such a way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know that inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.”

continued tomorrow

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Medication: A Merry Heart

Strange & Unusual Facts

Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.

Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a bellybutton.

A pack-a-day smoker will lose approximately 2 teeth every 10 yrs.

People do not get sick from cold weather; it's from being indoors a lot more.

When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop ...even your heart. This is why people have always said "God bless you" after a sneeze.

Only 7% of the population are lefties.

40 people are sent to the hospital for dog bites every minute.

Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until they are 2-6 years old.

The average person over fifty will have spent 5 years waiting in lines.

The toothbrush was invented in 1498.

The average housefly lives for one month.

40,000 Americans are injured by toilets each year. Don't ask how.

A coat hanger is 44 inches long when straightened.

The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute.

Your feet are bigger in the afternoon than the rest of the day.

The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning it's head are the rabbit and the parrot.

In most television commercials advertising milk, a mixture of white paint and a little thinner is used in place of the milk.

Prince Charles and Prince William NEVER travel on the same airplane just in case there is a crash.

The first Harley Davidson motorcycle built in 1903 used a tomato can for a carburetor.

Most hospitals make money by selling the umbilical cords cut from women who give birth. They are reused in vein transplant surgery.

Humphrey Bogart and Princess Diana were seventh cousins.

If coloring weren't added to Coca-Cola, it would be green.

(November 3, 2009)

Prayer House News!

A few of you have asked me about my message from Sunday. It is now available to view at the address below. Click on the link if you are interested in hearing (and seeing) it.

http://www.prayerhouseag.org/?TargetPage=312AF88A-5BDB-4980-84D1-C9CD430E2276

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Our Missions Board is busy getting our building ready for the Saturday night Missions event. It all starts at 5:00pm. It's going to be great. We've got live Missionaries and everything. I hope you signed up and are praying about what God would have you give this year.

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Unshakable Kingdom

Abiding Fellowship

continued from yesterday

One of the keys to discipleship is enlightenment. Enlightenment has a lot to do with drawing close to the one who is speaking. Of course this is a reference to the Son of God. Jesus is certainly able to speak to us in many different ways but one of the primary ways He speaks to us is through His Word.

The Word of God is not a dead book. It is very much alive. It will speak to us, it will guide us, it will correct us and discipline us, so don't refuse Him who is speaking.

Sarah Smiley quote: "Many of the hidden truths of God's Word require more spiritual-intelligence than most Christians can bring to them. To apprehend them requires a certain measure of spiritual capacity and habitual exercise in the things of God, which all do not possess for want of abiding fellowship with Jesus.”

The first line of this quote (Many of the hidden truths of God's Word require more spiritual-intelligence than most Christians can bring to them) which talks about spiritual intelligence is quite interesting.

The truths of God's Word are revealed through spiritual-intelligence. Just think of the task Jesus had in trying to get His followers to see things spiritually. I believe there is a “spiritual-intelligence quotient” referred to in the Bible.

Paul said in Ephesians 1:18; "I pray that the eyes of your heart (understanding) may be enlightened." In John 3:3 we read; Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see (understand) the kingdom of God."

A man has no spiritual understanding until he is born-again.
Jesus often referred to this "spiritual-intelligence quotient" when He said, "I have many things to say that are to hard for you to understand." The "hard" saying of Jesus were not solely a reference to Him saying things that are hard for us to take. Many times the reference to something being "hard" refers to spiritual-intelligence.

Smiley continues; To apprehend them, requires a certain measure of spiritual capacity and habitual exercise in the things of God. To understand the scriptures one must have a certain spiritual capacity. One must have the ability to house spiritual truth. And that ability comes through habitual exercise in the things of God.

I remember when I was a kid. Me and my cousins would spend a lot of time at the swimming pool. I had one cousin that had the ability to hold her breath underwater longer than any of us could. The reason she had that capacity was from habitual exercise. She was on the swim team, she was training to be a life-guard, she was in the water all the time, subsequently her lungs developed a capacity to hold her breath much longer than any of us could.

Habitual exercise in the things of God is what is missing in our lives today. How are we ever going to come to the place of great spiritual capacity without the daily exercise of prayer and the Word of God?

continued tomorrow

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Medication: A Merry Heart

"PC" Quotes:

"Being Politically Correct means always having to say you're sorry."

"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." George Bernard Shaw"

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money." G. Gordon Liddy

"Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries." Douglas Casey, Georgetown U. (1992)

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." Ronald Reagan (1986)

(November 2, 2009)

Prayer House News!

Fret Not! We had a wonderful weekend of ministry once again. This is Family Week! Take it easy - do some fellowshipping - relax. However, at the end of this week is our Annual Missions Convention. Start praying now asking God what He would have to give to missions this coming year.

My Rapture Series is available on our web site. You can listen to each session - down load them to an M3P - or print the outlines. Click on the picture on the side bar.

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The Unshakable Kingdom
# 1 Abiding Fellowship

I have a growing concern for discipleship in our church.
I remember a friend on mine was once on a missions trip to Romania. He said he was talking to a group of ministers from that country when they begin to deal with discipline issues.

My friend thought that this would be a great opportunity to get their opinion on a growing problem in the American church. He said, "How does the church handle the issue of ministers that are caught in adultery?" He was quite surprised when they looked at each other with puzzled faces and said, "That cannot happen within the Christian church."

I don't believe that they meant it was impossible for that type of thing to happen as much as they were saying that if it does happen it can no longer be considered Christian. There is something I believe we as a church, as well as the church in America, need to consider.

We are involved in many ungodly activities and believe we are still in right standing with God. We too need to respond to some of these activities and actions by saying, "That cannot happen within the context of being a Christian." If we don't, we will soon be accepting anything and everything as “Christian."

I think this comes from poor discipleship and poor discipleship comes from a lack of desire to abide with Jesus.

Hebrews 12:25-29 See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. (26) And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN." (27) And this expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those thing which can be shaken, as of created things, in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (28) Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; (29) for our God is a consuming fire.

Verse 28 said that we have received an "Unshakable Kingdom." For the next few weeks I want to talk about this Unshakable Kingdom and how we can become a part of it, because things have been shaken amongst us that I believe should never have been shaken. This series is called the "Unshakable Kingdom" but the individual title for this message is "Abiding Fellowship." It is taken from the very first verse we read, "See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking."

continued tomorrow

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Medication: A Merry Heart

You Might Be a Nurse if?

~You avoid unhealthy looking peoples in the mall for fear that they'll drop near you and you'll have to do CPR on your day off.

~ You've had a patient with a nose ring, a brow ring and twelve earrings say, "I'm afraid of shots."

~ You've ever bet on someone's blood alcohol level.

~ You plan your next meal while performing gastric lavage.

~ You believe every waiting room should have a Valium salt lick.

~ You have your weekends off planned a year in advance.

~ You have ever had a patient control his seizures when offered food.