FRIENDS AGAIN

Karen and I just returned from 16 days of ministry in Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania and as we traveled I got to reunite with old friends (how sweet and precious to God) and Karen made new friendships. At each stop along the way I saw just how important friendships are to God and to us. You know we value our strengths and abilities often by numbering the friendships we keep, but I would think God measures our real strengths and abilities by the number of friendships we have lost. While it was good to see wonderful old friends I know I still have some old friendships (I still call them friends) in the States that need to be reconciled. One friend I contacted before we left to see if he had a message or anything I could carry in to some of our mutual friends by way of dinner at our home, but was told I still had to meet his conditions for our friendship to reconcile. I was told we would have to meet on neutral ground to see if I have changed. Well, I have reached out time and time again to my old friend, but he is stuck in his offense at me (while thinking he is doing the spiritual thing) and continues to rebut me. Charles Haun taught me a man cannot give what he does not have and I can see this play out time and time again in our relationship, and yes this article may not endear him to me, but that is a risk I am willing to take because there is something the LORD showed me on our travels that I feel to share with my friends and in hope to prevent this from happening to them. Here it is now it is not deep, but common sense; for restoration to happen in any relationship there must be one person who is willing to hold on to the hope in believing reconciliation can happen. I know that is not really deep, but it is so true. In Galatians Paul said it this way, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 3For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” (Galatians 6:1-3) Someone must be willing to extend the olive branch in reconciliation. Someone must be willing to stand in the gap for friendship to happen if not then it would be almost impossible for one time friends to come together. Now it is important to know past mistakes cannot be a part of reconciliation, even issues of sin can be dealt with in God and gotten over if we truly desire to see things from God’s perspective and not be arrogant and haughty. Remember Paul told us, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Only one that is spiritual can restore, so when we hold offenses close to our heart we are not spiritual we are nothing and deceive ourselves. Often times we harbor our desires and wishes even wrong motives to justify our anger and offense. I know I have done this before and if we all will be honest we all have done this or worse we take information from other friends to support our actions not knowing what was really (sometimes called bearing false witness) said because we were not there. And even worse by taking someone’s words at face value and then running with it you will miss out on what God is doing (because you were not there) sadly the end result will only turn the heart of another friend against (I know my friends did this to me) another friend. Friends do stick together even if they are misguided and ill-informed. Funny how in the Body of Christ we value someone’s spirituality over knowing the facts and truthfulness, but I guess that is the way it always has been. One’s ability to preach and teach must never be the basis on which to establish relationships if so that relationship is self-centered, selfish, and defiantly one sided. Godly relationships are based on mutual respect, honesty, and trust. It is not a servant master relationship because we all are to be servants, right? Godly relationships are based on the work of God in our lives, not on someone being over another by being “senior in the LORD.” Senior in the LORD what is that? Where is that found in the Bible? Ah yes another title we have made up to establish a preconceived pecking order to stroke our arrogant ungodly egos. We ALL are privates in the LORD’s army and not generals, oh we may think we are a general by the conditions we make up and by the treatment of each other, but not so in God. In Mark Jesus taught the disciples and us, “But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. 43But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: 44And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 45For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45) We truly desire to be great it will be our humbleness and servant hood that makes us so not our abilities and strengths in God. There are two levels of servant hood here: for us to be great will require us to be a minister and the second deeper level, “whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.” The word “servant” here in the Greek is slave, not too many ministers want to be a slave to all. To be the leader spiritually we must serve everyone if not we will lead with our abilities and persona. When it is time to grab the bags at the back of the car the true leader in God is first in line. When time to get into the car spiritual leaders does not always have to get the front seat to want this is selfish and is a character trait of a taker not a giver. Now I can think of no greater loss of relationship between brother than between Esau and Jacob. I know of other brother relationships in the Bible like with Cain and Able or Joseph and his brothers. Yes Jacob the deceiver who out witted and took advantage of his older brother Esau, who deceived his own father with the help of his mother, who himself was deceived by his father-in-law (Laban), but as time wore on we see in the end it was Esau that allowed God to work in his life and seemingly had a change of heart hoping for reconciliation between him and his brother. In spite of wrestling with an Angel (Genesis 32:24-32) Jacob comes face to face with his older brother and has to face his actions. Did you know there are consequences to our actions? God is good at making us eat our words and face things we did in the past. Jesus did die for our sins, but he did not die for our bad choices. Here in Chapter 33 God brings Jacob face to face with his bad choices, but Jacob resorts to his name sake “deceiver” and tries to appease his older brother by having his wealth walk before him as if to say take what you want, but leave me alone. “And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. 2And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. 3And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. 4And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.” (Genesis 33:1-4) Please notice it was Esau who ran to meet Jacob maybe it was the limp Jacob had from wrestling (how foolish to wrestle with an Angel) with an Angel, but the Bible says Esau, “embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him and they wept.” This is the result God is after in us. I guess in the end it was Esau who was the spiritual brother as Jacob was still trying to save his own skin. For reconciliation to happen here either Esau or Jacob had to hold on to hope, but Jacob was trying to save his skin that meant the burden was on Esau. I say hold on my friend with relationships you think are worth redeeming and the ones you think are hopeless double down in your hope, continue to keep open contact, and in time (LORD willing) you will be friends again. Written by David Stahl

WHO REALLY CARES

Karen and I just returned from 16 days of ministry in Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania. Oh how God showed Himself strong in the ministry of the word and the many lives we touched. I just marveled as God provided more and more opportunities to touch lives and feed hungry hearts as we made ourselves available. We were sitting in a rented hall for the 20th anniversary celebration for the Farul (Lighthouse) Church in Constanta, Romania when Pastor Jacob leaned over and said, “you will speak next after this guy.” I tuned to Pastor Jacob and said, “you are kidding right?” He replied, “no I guess we should have told you.” As I walked up to the stage God gave me a word for the church that quieted all of the singing and dancing celebration. All of the previous speakers told warm stories of days gone by well I started weeping there was such a sweet and unusual presence of God in the room. There is a time to sing and dance and then there is a time to hear from God. God had prepared me in the morning hours when I awoke with the story from the Book of Ezra to share, “And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. 12But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: 13So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.” (Ezra 3:11-13) I ended by saying do not forget those who came before you because your foundation for success was built on their sacrifices. There was not a dry eye in the place (ours included), but as I went back to my seat I got this thought, “who really cares?” Now many people (me included) really care about the great struggle the Farul Church (and the Bible School I have taught in many times) has paid to share this wondrous Gospel message, but that was not the thought God intended. The thought God intended was much deeper and fuller: who really cares about circumstances, situations, the economy, our health, etc.? What does it really matter at the end of the day (even if we come from the States to minister in three countries) the only thing that matters is us following Jesus. In the Gospel of John is one of the most profound statements Jesus ever made. In Chapter 21 verses 20 and 21 Peter gets offended at John. Can you believe Peter got offended at John? Verses 20 and 21, “Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? 21Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Wow Peter got offended with John. Did you know offence is THE biggest obstacle in our lives that will keep us from hearing from God? God took me to a special needs orphanage outside of Suceava, Romania to teach me this lesson. There I met 10 blind girls who had soiled their pants and were extremely dirty; God called them “the least of the least” of the Romanian children. Earlier I made the statement that the special needs kids upstairs were the least of the Romanian children, but God told me I was wrong, these little 10 blind girls were the “least of the least.” And on our way back to Suceava the LORD spoke to me and said I could not offend those little girls because there was no offence in them. Did you know we cannot be offended if there is no offence in us? We get offended when our brothers and sisters (even our spouses) words and actions reach out and touch the offense in us and out of our mouth speaks our heart. Getting offended time and time again is a sign we have not allowed God free reign to His dealings and judgments in our lives which yields spiritual growth and development. God would desire to work so in our lives that He can bring us to a place of maturity where nothing will cause us to stumble and fall out of the way He has for us to go. In the Psalms we read, “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” (Psalms 119:165) I wonder what we would give up or pay for this great peace? The price to be paid to have this great peace is the keeping of the law, the law of love one for another. When we keep the feast of love one for another we will have great peace in our heart and then nothing (in the Greek) “will cause us to stumble and fall out of the way.” In spite of the previous work Jesus did with Peter in Chapter 21, he still got offended at John. So verse John 21:22 Jesus plainly lowers the boom on Brother Peter and us, “Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.” (John 21:20-22) Did you get that, “follow thou me.” In other words what does it matter what John does? What does it really matter what happens in the world? Who really cares what happens, “follow thou me.” It does not matter what really happens, it does not matter what this church or denomination does or what this preacher says at the end of the day it does not matter, what matters is, “follow thou me.” We seem to get all wrapped around the axle with things that do not sit well within our understanding of God (and His ways) and doctrinal position, but what does all that really matter Jesus is telling us, “follow thou me.” What words to live by! My friend if we can allow this truth to grasp our heart God will be able to teach us anything. Nothing will be impossible for us, yes we will even be able to speak to the mountains (troubles or governments that rule our lives) and they will be cast into the sea. But till we come into such a divine place in God our continual focus and gaze MUST be on Jesus. The writer to the Hebrews knew something powerful that most Christians today have forgotten, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) Most Christians today would rather do something for God than to become something in God. It is much easier building a big ministry and traveling the world than to have God reveal our heart to us. Our understanding of all we do for God must be from the perspective of Jesus being “the author and finisher of our faith” nothing else will do, because verse 3 says, “For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” (Hebrews 12:3) God will keep us humble and contrite and He will use the sting of our friends and family. We too will have to face our “contradiction of sinners,” but like Jesus we too can overcome if we can learn to keep the feast of love. Who really cares what this world says and does? Who really cares what governments and powers of this world does? We will if we keep our mind and heart on things of this world. John tells us, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15) How many Christians and ministries are hooked on Facebook, twitter, and all of the technology of this world? Do you know how many times I have texted? Three times to my sweetheart Karen and I am proud of it. My friend we will love this world and more if we allow our minds to think on things of this world. We must not allow our mind and heart get ensnared we must keep our mind and heart free from such traps. We must, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9) These are things of the heart that affect our character. And yes peace the same peace that is promised in Psalms 119:165. Who really cares? Do you really want to know who cares? God really cares! Written by David Stahl