(August 6, 2010)
Prayer & Medication
RPM was excellent once again. It's so fulfilling for me to see a growing group of men gathering for the purpose of seeking God.
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My message this weekend is going to have an evangelist twist to it. Please be in prayer for it and ask God to help you in getting someone to the service who needs Christ.
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Devotional!
A proneness to be always judging the rights and wrongs of everything can ultimately become an attitude of mind, and an obsession. With time grace is merely a theory and legalism is the only thing you pay attention to. You toe the line and you make sure everybody else toes the line. You say things like, “Yeah I know we are saved by grace – but if you were really a Christian you wouldn’t do this or you wouldn’t do that.” The simple test for legalism is how it must ultimately make salvation depend upon works.

The problem with legalism is the demand it puts on others. It’s very common for us to put certain standards on ourselves. We are saved by grace, and we understand all of that, but gradually we develop a lifestyle that we call “Christian.” Within our “Christian” lifestyle we develop certain boundaries for ourselves. All of that is fine. If you don’t want to do certain things as a Christian, that’s not a problem. Look at it this way. When the unmerciful servant was forgiven of his debt – it was erased. If after being forgiven he decides on his own to pay his master back – there is nothing wrong with that. But it doesn’t add to his salvation one bit. The problem would not have been any kind of standard he adapted for himself. The problem is the standard he adapted for someone else.

A legal spirit is an unforgiving spirit. The unmerciful servant taught us that in Matthew 18. Rather than forgiveness the legalist is prone to argument. Reasoning is the business of the Law courts. I love watching court cases. I love watching lawyers reason. The emotions of the heart have a very small place in a court of law. However, logic and the ability to argue thrive in court. The pharisaical mind can dispute every matter and prove its correctness, even from the Scriptures. It loves controversy. It is so argumentative that it can never conceive of the possibility of it being wrong because it feels it has the law on it’s side. And that is the spirit of the Pharisees. When you believe you are in line with the law you become very adamant about your position? You feel righteous. Suddenly you are exalting yourself above Christ and putting the law above grace.

The legalist imagines he knows just how and why God works as though divine activity could be reduced to mere formula. He will probe into every circumstance where the Lord’s blessing seems to be lacking, seeking the cause in some supposed breach of spiritual rules. Now while it is true that spiritual principles do apply in all God’s working, we can never confine Him to our understanding of His laws. Grace always goes beyond such limits and surprises those who live by it. The legalist, however, is never surprised, for he imagines that he knows the explanation and the cause of all that takes place. To him everything happens according to a person’s obedience to God.

Legalism has a paralyzing effect on spiritual life. Legalism really hinders love. The legalist believes that he finds favor with God through his actions. Therefore, when he encounters someone who does not follow the rules he cannot allow himself to love them for fear he will offend God.

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Medication: A Merry Heart

Girlfriends' Lunch Out

A group of 40-year-old girlfriends discussed where they
should meet for lunch. Finally, it was agreed upon that they
should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the waiters
there were very good looking.

Ten years later at 50 years of age, the group once again
discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally it was
agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant
because the food there was very good, the wine selection was
good also, and the waiters were cute.

Ten years later at 60 years of age, the group once again
discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally it was
agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant
because they could eat there in peace and quiet, the
restaurant had a beautiful view of the ocean, and the
waiters were sweet boys.

Ten years later, at 70 years of age, the group once again
discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally it was
agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant
because the restaurant was wheelchair accessible, they even
had an elevator, and the waiters were kindly.

Ten years later, at 80 years of age, the group once again
discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally it was
agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant
because they had never been there before.

(August 5, 2010)
Prayer & Medication
The weekend is almost upon us. Are you ready for it? Let's spend some extra time in prayer for our services. A part of my message will have an evangelistic twist to it - so bring a friend who needs Jesus.
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Devotional!
Through the law we attempt to get close to God – but no man will ever qualify through the keeping of the law. What we must do is simply allow the Son of God to come to us. We cannot earn grace – we do not deserve grace.

Grace comes to us at a time when we can do absolutely nothing for ourselves. This is both a blessing and a problem. It’s a blessing in that there is no other way to be saved than by grace. The problem is that men tend to love legalism, it is very dear to the natural man. Subsequently we get saved by grace and then tend to lean back towards legalism. Legalism is not a fault of the ungodly, but of those who have a zeal for God.

Galatians 2:18 “If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.” The Galatians were prone to rebuild that which they had formerly destroyed at their conversion. He says in essence, "If I build again the things which I destroyed- (the Mosaic law – stating that it is not necessary for justification), and then turn around and by word or practice, teach that it is necessary-I make myself a transgressor.” In this case he would be a transgressor of grace.

The principle of “salvation by works” seems to be deeply engrained in all of us. If we were to track down the source of clashes, strained relationships, and criticisms in the church we will usually find that the source is a failure in respect to the grace of God. In other words, if people don’t act in the way we think that a Christian should act, or they did not respond in the way we think a Christian should respond, we tend to get upset with them. All of these certain “ways” that we put on people are legalisms.

Legalists are always occupied with externals or outward actions. They attach the greatest importance to the comforts of orthodox practice and language as “things” in themselves. In other words, the spirit of a thing is lost sight of in an exaggerated devotion to the thing. However, with God nothing has value apart from the spiritual truth it is meant to express. Let me give you an example, lets say the thing is church attendance. The very spirit of why we go to church can be lost when there is an exaggerated devotion to the thing (attendance). When the spirit of it is lost to a devotion of the thing – then it has no value to God at all. In other words, church attendance means absolutely nothing to God when the attendee is devoted to attendance rather than why he goes to church.

Here is the problem, if you are a legalist you tend to believe that your attendance makes you more right with God than those who don’t attend as much as you do. Subsequently, you begin to preach church attendance as a means to salvation. That is a gospel of works and puts you into trouble with God.

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Medication: A Merry Heart

Survival instinct: Old dog performs new tricks.

One day an old German shepherd starts chasing rabbits and, before long, discovers that he's lost. Wandering about, he notices a panther heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.
The old German shepherd thinks, "Oh, oh! I'm in deep doo-doo now!"
Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the panther is about to leap, the old German shepherd exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious panther! I wonder if there are any more around here?"
Hearing this, the young panther halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. "Whew, that was close!" says the panther, "That old German shepherd nearly had me!'
Meanwhile, a squirrel who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the panther. So, off he goes.
The squirrel soon catches up with the panther, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the panther.
The young panther is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, squirrel, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!"
The old German shepherd sees the panther coming with the squirrel on his back and thinks, "What am I am going to do now?"
Instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old German shepherd says:


"Where's that squirrel? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another panther!"

(August 4, 2010)
Prayer & Medication
This week is Family Week at Prayer House which means there are no mid-week services. Pastor Nick will be home today from his vacation. Pastor Kevin will be home on Friday from kid's camp. Finally, after a hectic Summer the whole staff will be back at church. We are gearing up for an exciting Fall at Prayer House. We have been growing lately and need God's direction for what's next for us. Please pray along with us.
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Devotional!
I have a friend that shared with me an incredible story about an event in his life that taught him a lot about grace.

When he was a boy he lived on a farm. As a kid they had many different rules to follow just like most families have. However, as the boys grew older their parents sat them down one night and told them the rules concerning the neighbor girls. Along with many other rules and regulations there was to be no hanky-panky whatsoever. They were to have no physical sexual contact at all. Then the father said to the boys, “As long as you follow these rules you can live in our house. If you break the rules you will no longer be allowed to live here. You will have to sleep in the barn.”

My friends name is Nate. Nate lived by the rules until one night when he found himself outside alone with one of the neighbor girls. He said they started kissing and doing things they had no business doing. Afterwards he felt so guilty he went into his house and told his mom and dad what had happened. Immediately Mom said, “You have violated one of the cardinal rules, you cannot sleep in this house.” He looked to his dad for some sympathy but found none. He had to take his blanket and pillow and head for the big, dark, scary, barn to sleep in.

He broke the rules. He could no longer enjoy the fellowship of his father and mother. He told me he crawled up to the loft and made a bed out of the hay. He lay on his bed looking at the lights of his house wishing above all else that he could get back into his house. But he couldn’t – he broke the rules.

After a few sleepless hours in the barn he heard a noise. Someone or something was coming up the ladder. Much to his relief it was his father. Upon seeing his Dad he said, “Can I go back into the house?” His Dad said, “No Nate, you broke the rules.” About that time he noticed that his dad had a blanket and a pillow. He said, “What are you doing with those things?”

His Dad said, “Well, because you broke the rules – you no longer can be allowed into the house – but there is nothing that says I can’t come to you.” “I’ve come to you and I will stay here with you so that we can be close to each other.”

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Medication: A Merry Heart

School prank gets their goat.

At a high school in Montana, a group of students played a prank on the school. They let three goats loose on campus.
Before they let them go they painted numbers on the sides of the goats: 1, 2, 4.
School administrators spent most of the day looking for goat No. 3.

(August 3, 2010)
Prayer & Medication
It's another Tuesday which means it's prayer day. Our ladies will be praying at 9:00am.
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This week is Family Week at Prayer House which means there are no mid-week services.
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Devotional!
There is so much confusion among many interpretations of the Bible because scholars can gather numerous scriptures to back up their own conclusions. One can say that at times God is Calvinistic, and at other times he is Arminian. To put it simply, God is a God of predestination and sovereignty, but He is open to the free will and response of mere humans. The truth is that God is on such a higher plane than we humans are that we can only grasp Him as He is revealed in an abundance of experiences depicted in the Bible.

God can do things that go beyond, but not contrary to, the revelation of Scripture. For instance, the book of Acts shows some phenomenal things occurring beyond understanding. Think about when Peter’s shadow healed a man. Is that God’s will now for all men? What about Philip being transported by the Spirit to the Gaza Road? Have you ever been translated? Philip was – it must be God’s will. What about Paul healing people through his handkerchiefs? That one may blow your theology right out the window.

The point is this. It is very presumptuous for some to say either that God does not heal today or that God wants to heal in every case. We must let God be God. We must trust Him to move by His Spirit regularly to perform miracles, or we must receive the grace to accept His sovereignty if difficulties are allowed to continue.

Here is the bottom line. Without God we are nothing. We are a needy people. Subsequently we simply fall upon the mercy of God. The most powerful prayer in the Bible is the prayer for God to be merciful.

A friend of mine, Ken Dignan, has written an excellent book about healing called, “Til Healing Comes,” I highly recommend it if you want to study the subject further.


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Medication: A Merry Heart

Statistics: With age comes wisdom.


At his 103rd birthday party, my grandfather was asked if he planned to be around for his 104th.

"I certainly do," he replied. "Statistics show very few people die between the ages of 103 and 104."

(August 2, 2010)
Prayer & Medication
Another powerful weekend at Prayer House. Two different speakers, completely different from each other, ministered to us. On Saturday night Spencer Jones from Chicago preached up a storm. It was good to hear some good old fashioned preaching (they never get it from me). Then on Sunday Kevin Senapatiratne from Minnesota spoke to our hearts about our pursuit of God. In both services the altars were filled with people seeking God. It was great!
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This week is Family Week at Prayer House which means there are no mid-week services.
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Devotional!
John 5:19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

When Jesus said that he could do nothing by himself, He was not saying that He did not have the ability to do something apart from His Father. He was saying that He was so committed to the Will of His Father that he was driven to obey Him. In that sense He was incapable of disobeying Him. Look at what he says just a few verses later.

John 5:30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

I do not seek to please myself but Him who sent me. The loneliness of our Lord comes to me more and more. Do you want to feel the loneliness of the Lord? Set aside some time to pray late in the evening or even early in the morning. Just get quiet before Him and you will begin to realize how few Christians do that type of thing. So very few of us are concerned about satisfying His heart. That is why it is so easy to live in disobedience to Him and not think a thing about it.

It seems we don’t really care about His heart. We care about our comfort. I read a statistic this week that states that today among born-again Christians only 6% tithe. We live without the least bit of concern about His will and yet cry out to Him, “Unfair,” when we face a challenge in our lives. We don’t even want His will in our lives and yet when we have a need we demand that He hold true to His word.

Jesus was obsessed with the will of His Father. I believe that our perspective on the will of God has a lot to do with the type of theology we are drawn to. If you can honestly pray along with Jesus, as He did in the garden, and say, “Not my will but yours,” then you can have a clear head in regards to theology. And good theology is critical to us because it develops our concept of who God is and our concept of God is what determines our faith or our ability to believe. I believe a lot of people have developed their faith around a wrong concept of God and subsequently struggle with what life is bringing their way.


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Medication: A Merry Heart

King of the Jungle?

A lion woke up one morning feeling really rowdy and mean. He
went out and cornered a small monkey and roared, "Who is
mightiest of all jungle animals?"

The trembling monkey answered, "You are, mighty lion!

Later, the lion confronted an ox and fiercely bellowed, "Who
is the mightiest of all jungle animals?"

The terrified ox stammered, "Oh great lion, you are the
mightiest animal in the jungle!"

On a roll now, the lion swaggered up to an elephant and
roared, "Who is mightiest of all jungle animals?"

Fast as lightning, the elephant snatched up the lion with
his trunk and slammed him against a tree half a dozen times,
leaving the lion feeling as if it had been run over by a
safari wagon. The elephant then stomped on the lion until it
looked like a corn tortilla and ambled away.

The lion let out a moan of pain, lifted his head weakly, and
hollered after the elephant, "Just because you don't know
the answer, you don't have to get so upset about it!"