OUR HURTS AND LOSSES

One of the toughest things we must allow God to do for us is to get us over hurts and losses in our lives. Now no one is immune from hurts and losses and I promise you the more we walk with the Lord the more we will have to confront them and allow God to strengthen us with might (an inward ability to deal with issues of the heart) in the inward man. God is good at making our way constructive in life to make our living worth the while of learning how to function correctly with Him. Many Christians fail to allow God to deal and judge in their lives and they carry these hurts and losses all along their way and even carry them to heaven where God will have to deal with them at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Please do not think we will be able to sneak into heaven with some unresolved issues in our lives. Sadly the message of grace has cheapened the requirement for spiritual growth and development in the church today. The message we hear today in most churches is: God loves you and He will forgive you which is true, but it is not God’s intention for us to continually use His grace (as a crutch) to ask forgiveness again and again. God’s intention for us is to confess with our own words and then repent (about face or turn away from) of our sin so that we grow in the grace and the knowledge (both) of our Lord Jesus Christ. John tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:9-10) God never intended for a bunch of babies with no spiritual ability, power, and revelation to lead His church. Remember at the heart of every issue is always an issue of our heart. And it is our heart (as God deals and judges in it) where our spiritual ability and character is developed. And guess what that brings us back to our hurts and losses.

Make no mistake my friend hurts and loss in our lives can be very painful. The sting of death hurts, even the death of a beloved dog. Recently our Boxer dog Grimme died, he was better than some people I know and even in this the sting of death was bitter to us. Now we understand he was a dog and not a person, but when our affections and feelings get involved in our decisions we hurt from our loss. We have always liked dogs. Karen has even taught our daughter Connie and others never to marry a man who would beat an animal, if he will beat an animal he will beat you, sound advice even for today. Do you know animals know love when they see it and when they do not see it? When we lived in Germany I pastored a church with people from all around the world who came to church with all kinds of different cultures and customs. One American custom I always liked (and still do today) is to invite people over for dinner. You learn a lot about people when you sit around a dinner table; do they fill their plate first or pass the food. Do they get the last piece of chicken or prefer it for their friends or host. But one thing I would notice was who our Boxer dog Annie (a very loving and humble dog) would go to for some affection. I noticed who Annie would let pet her, but more important I noticed who Annie would not allow to pet her, and time bore out those who Annie would not allow to pet her were real snakes in the grass.

One of the biggest areas we get hurt in is from our friends and our family. Karen and I can personally speak of this. Since returning from Germany in 2003 we have been excluded from our family because we have stood for the truth of the word of God. We have spoken out against the drunkenness and homosexuality in our family for this we have been vilified and marginalized. But that is okay I must answer to God not to my family. He will not thank me for compromising the truth of the word of God for the sake of family peace and togetherness, but I will have to answer Him for how I handled the truth of the word of God in my life, we all will. Now I will be honest I do not understand Christians some times. We understand sinners they cannot help themselves, but lately I have found sinners to be more truthful and with more integrity than most Christians, ah I forgot we have grace to fall back on. I can take you to five churches in Jacksonville (a Baptist, a Pentecostal, and three non-denominational) that Karen and I have been asked to leave or been given the cold shoulder because the pastor found out about Beholding His Glory (BHG). Two of the pastors (the Pentecostal and one of the non-denominational) invited us out to a restaurant to get to know us, but when the check came both pastors waited for me to grab the bill. One pastor (another non-denominational) and his wife we invited over to our home for supper and all they did was eat and grab three of my books not even asking me for cost to cover the books. And another pastor (the Baptist) never went out to supper with us nor even came over to our home even though we asked many times. Yet when all five pastors learned about BHG their attitudes and reactions did a 180 degree change towards us. All Karen and I wanted to do was attend their service, just come and go, give them some money, and not get involved, but once the people started talking to us and we opened up a little the pastors got defensive with us and started guarding their members as if we were going to steal members from them so we could start a church. We assured them this was not our intention, but the pastors poisoned the heart of the people against us and we got the cold shoulder so we moved on. Friend this ought not to be in the Body of Christ, but jealousy, anger, immaturity, greed, and plain old contention in the hearts of pastors and leaders will only yield division, jealousy, anger, immaturity, greed, and plain old contention in them and in the people. Never forget the closer someone is the greater the hurt they can cause in our lives. Just ask a divorce lawyer. We must guard our heart with great diligence, with the word of God, and even some good old common sense from such people who would want to manipulate and take advantage of us for their personal gain. The last time I went to Kenya we had a very busy and ambitious schedule. We spent three or four days in Mombasa (man was it hot and my air conditioner did not work in my room) and then we drove six hours up to Nairobi. Well on the trip our host pastor was getting tired (he is always a real trooper giving of himself and family) so my friend (I still will call him friend) suggested I drive since I had an expired international driving license. Now another name for an expired international driver license is no driver license, but my friend insisted I drive. Driving was not the problem, in the past I have driven from Mombasa to Nairobi, but then I had a license. I suggested we stop for an hour or two and let our host pastor get a power nap and then continue, but not my friend of 30 years he insisted I drive, well I said no, so he berated me soundly and took the wheel. He blasted off gunning the engine and I am not really sure what he did, but the entire time he drove the engine was not working properly and the brakes seemed to fail at times. This continued for some miles so we decided to stop in Sultan Hamud where our host pastor knew some folks who could take a look at our car. After about two hours and after our host pastor and the car (they could find nothing a wrong) rested our host pastor took off driving again for Nairobi. Now here is the best part of this story. When the conference started the next day one of the Kenyan pastors who served as my interrupter shared a story about how he was stopped, arrested, and taken to jail for driving without a driver license. In your country of residence it is important to follow the laws and rules of the land, but when you are a foreigner it is more important you follow the rules and laws. Just because we are doing the Lord’s work we think He is going to cover all of our little omissions of obedience to the laws of then land or following the rules in the name of the Lord, well this my friend will land you in jail just as fast as anyone else. We as Christians are held to an even higher standard of doing what is right and following the laws. I guess my friend of 30 years was not so concerned about following the laws or for my well being as he was about getting to Nairobi or resting our host pastor. But this is the same friend of 30 years who says he is eating up my sin against him (not a Biblical principle) for telling him the truth to a question he asked about his character and got greatly offended. Again take heed my friend it is your closest friends that will cause you the greatest hurts. Did you know God is more concerned about our character than He is about our ability to minister the word of God? Our revelation of God to minister the word of God must match our character if not we know not God because His words (the truth about ourselves) have not gotten down into our precepts and concepts that form our daily living, thus the manifestation of our character will always be fleshly and carnal, even though we can recite the Bible backwards and forwards or masterfully weave Scriptures to support what we are saying. Our character is God’s biggest area of concern in our lives. At the heart of all of these issues (even maybe some in me) believe it or not is pride. At the heart of our hurts and losses believe it or not is pride. Solomon tells us, “Only by pride cometh contention (confusion, anger, strife, bitterness, envy): but with the well advised is wisdom.” (Proverbs 13:10) Now many Christians do not believe this verse. They blame everyone else, even the devil for the contention at work, in their home, or in their lives, but the Bible says it is pride. And it says “only by pride,” there is nothing else that causes contention in our lives. When our pride get hurts we strike back with everything within us to seek our revenge and get our pound of flesh. Our carnal nature wants its way and will do and say anything it can to get even. Think not our flesh is not alive, oh no my friend our flesh is alive and well, subtle and sure waiting for every opportunity to get hurt and play the martyr.

Did you know for us to allow God to get us over being hurt in our lives there must be a constant putting off of things so that we can put on other things? This is a spiritual principle we must operate in to get over hurt and even offense in our lives. In Romans Paul encourages us, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.” (Romans 13:12-13) Now the spiritual order is, “cast off the works of darkness” and then we can “put on the armour of light.” No casting off, no putting on. No allowing God to work in our lives so that we can cast off hurts no putting on the new things that God has for us to replace the hurts. How can we receive the beauty God has for us unless we first get up from the ash pile? In our lives old things must pass away before God can bring new things into our lives. As we move from our present home to a new home and even our dog dying we must embrace these old things and allow God to work them out of us so we can walk in the new things He has for us. And again casting off hurts is painful, but please know when we get hurt it is most often our fault; we have opened up ourselves to people or things maybe we should not have. I was amazed to hear and watch the lies of Harold Camping when he said Jesus was coming back first in September 1994 and then recently in May 2011. It was not the lies of Camping that amazed me, but how the people who followed him were deceived. Millions from around the world believed him they sold or gave away their homes, cars, clothing, everything. I got emails and phone calls from Christians around the world asking my opinion if Jesus was coming back in May 2011. They all were hurt, but they all hurt themselves. No one held a gun to their head and said you must believe Camping’s lies. This is where knowing the truth will really save your life.

Now please let me turn to loss in our lives. We do not want to lose because when we lose we feel bad and cry, but this is nothing more than our selfishness coming through. When Grimme died we cried, we cried not because he died his death was a blessing due to his sickness, but we cried because we were going to miss him, it was out of our selfish nature that we experience loss and we do not like that. We all at the center of our will and nature are selfish and prideful, we do not want to lose anything and when we do our selfishness comes alive and causes us to hurt and our lives are now filled with pain and sorrow. But believe it or not God has a purpose for loss in our lives. Lose in our lives creates more of a place for God’s glory in us if we allow it. The more we lose the more God can come (if we allow Him too) and fill that empty place in our heart. If we never experience loss in our lives we will never be able to experience the spiritual gain God has for us. Did you know God measures our gain in Him not by what we can add, but by how much we can lose? The more we can lose of this world and our self the more we gain of God. This too is why God allows suffering in our lives to help keep our heart out of this world. But at the end of the day, no matter what hurt or loss we have experienced in our lives: death of a family member, an animal, our health, bankruptcy, whatever we must be able to trust them to God’s able and faithful hands, if not we will never be able to get over them in our lives. In our hurts and losses we must be able to say, “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” while keeping our eyes on the Lord. Written by David Stahl

GOD'S DEFINED TIME

Over the last two or three years as God kind of slowed us down from going abroad six to seven times (that is every other month) a year and resting us I often thought about how we operate in God for a specific time while fulfilling a specific function (pastor, missionary, etc.) for a defined period. When we headed over to Germany back in 1996 we had no idea we would be pastoring a wonderful church and it would grow and many people would be changed by the word of God. We never thought we would be traveling in ministry to the four corners of the world sharing the good news of the Gospel message, but we did. We never thought Beholding His Glory would be birthed, we never thought we would see the failures and victories in so many lives, but we did. When I think back to all God did (the church in Germany, the traveling, the lives that were changed ours included) all I can say is, “This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. 24This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalms 118:23-24) Now this is the very thought “this is the LORD’S doing” I have been thinking about as I reflect over the seven years of ministry while living in Europe. Before moving to Europe we were faithful in prayer, studying the Bible, in church activities (attendance, leadership, and service), doing whatever we could do to draw closer to God, but there was no special anointing on our lives. I guess with accepting a special call comes the special anointing. To be brutally honest during this time I really struggled with my faith and with relationships within the church we were attending seeing the lackluster approach to God and the blatant hypocrisy in many lives (even in the church leadership), but in spite of all of this God had a plan for our lives and wanted us to move to Stuttgart, Germany. As I look back over my 24 years in the U.S. Navy I can see how God did many things (assignments, education, favor from seniors) to help lead us along the way He wanted us to go. I remember the church we were attending had a huge going away party (after Sunday service) for us and they even gave us a nice plaque, but while playing softball (at the party) from left field the pastor (he always called me elder) yelled to me in center field, “elder where do you think you will be attending services next Sunday?” And I yelled back, “I do not know probably a chapel on base.” Well little did I know (because of my faithfulness to church and God’s plan for our lives) going to the chapel on base would be the beginning of the unfolding of what God had for me, our family, so many other lives those seven years in Germany, and even all that God is still doing today with Beholding His Glory. Now all of this was not our intention; our intention was to travel to Europe and enjoy our years raising our kids like most American military families who move to Germany. My military intention was to be the very best Naval Officer in the world, but God had other intentions. When we started up (at the Lord’s wishes and on Karen’s birthday) Christliche Gemeinde Stuttgart I naively and foolishly thought all of my co-workers in my office were going to join our church, but was sadly disappointed with they rejected me and me as a pastor. I found out quickly (and painfully) religion is much thicker than friendship. Karen says I am more loyal to other people than what they are to me and she is right I can name relationship after relationship of over 30 years, but that is okay with me I would rather err on the side of other’s presumption and give my friendship than not to be honest and forthright, God expects nothing less. When I think back to our seven years in Germany how could I not think of our four kids. They were raised a lot in their formative years during this time and I will be honest they endured many long church services (some four hours plus) and many things they did not really understand (an international church overseas is much different than a church in the States), but in the end today they all would say they are much better off for the experience living overseas and the lessons they learned in God. It is kind of funny how when we come to the Lord we do so because we have some intentions in mind for us well guess what, God too has some personal intentions of His own for our lives. Often we come to the Lord thinking we will have some kind of fire insurance from hell or we will get God to give us some things (like money, spouse, car, house, better health, etc.), but this all is wrong thinking, all wrong apostate religious thinking like a religious cancer that is destroying the Body of Christ. In Jeremiah we read his heart, “For I know the thoughts (plans or intentions) that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts (plans or intentions) of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13) Usually our plans, intentions, or thoughts are selfish and our motives are self-seeking, but God has eternal holy purposes, His intentions are for the betterment of our soul and a desire to bring us to an expected end, which is also another intention of His.

Now the longer I walk with the Lord and the more I see even in the lives of others in Christian ministry and leadership I am ever the more convinced God has specific jobs for us to do, for a specific time, and no matter how much we kick or scream we cannot start our mission until we qualify or have been approved for the next thing He has for us to do. I see now this was what was going on with us in the church we were attending and through the many years of service to God. Now we all have the duty and responsibility to share the good news of the Gospel message to everyone we come in contact with, but that does not constitute a ministry. Sharing the Gospel message with everyone we come in contact with is an expectation God expects of us. Doing or not doing this has nothing to do with our salvation, but it has everything to do with whether God can trust us to fulfil the plans, thoughts, and intentions He has for our lives. If we critically look at the lives of key people in the Bible we will see this spiritual principle in action. In the Old Testament we read about Adam serving God in the garden for a specific time and place, but after he sinned things changed significantly. For most of Noah’s life he was a man who just love and honored God; he was qualifying and being approved at this time to be able to build the ark and save his family (mankind) and the animal kingdom, but after that he was back to just loving and honoring God while living out his life. Abram who later became Abraham was the same way. Before he was called out of Ur of the Chaldeans and before he became the father of many nations, and all of the many wondrous things he allowed God to do in his life he just loved and honored God. After God was finished with him he went back to running his family and loving God. Moses’ life can be divided into three 40 year periods: the first 40 years he served in the courts of the Egyptian pharaoh (as an Egyptian Prince) mighty in word and deed becoming learned and wise in wars and affairs of state, in his next 40 years God had Moses on the back side of the wilderness shepherding sheep. Do you know how dump sheep are? And how they stink? It took God 40 years to get Egypt out of Moses and when Moses stood before all mighty God, “And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.’ (Exodus 4:10). And his last 40 years God used him to lead his people out of 430 years of bondage and all recorded in the Scriptures that Moses allowed God to do. For two-thirds of Moses’ life he was being qualified and being approved for the last one-third of his life. Isaac and Jacob’s lives were the same in character and service. I really like Joseph’s life it followed this same spiritual principle. Before Joseph became Zaphnath-Paaneah (second only to Pharaoh in all the world) so that he could save the entire Hebrew nation (including the birth line of Jesus) and the world he first had to qualify and be approved in enduring ridicule and shame from his father and brothers, being sold into slavery in Potiphar’s home, and going to prison because of false charges. And us today? Now the Bible does not say how Joseph ended his days, but it does make a statement about his faith, “And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.” (Genesis 50:25) In the New Testament we see this spiritual principle continued. In the life of John the Baptist John lived a normal life before he was called to be the voice crying in the wilderness, “to make straight the way of the Lord.” His life was lived to fulfill a certain time and a certain mission in God’s eternal plan. In the case of John he never stopped baptizing and never followed Jesus so God had to put him in a place where there was no water, prison. Even today in Israel you can find some of John’s disciples still baptizing in the Jordon River. The same held true in the lives of Jesus’ Disciples. Before their encounter with Christ they were fisher men, a tax collector, a doctor, all living their daily lives, but once they really met Jesus their lives were changed and they served for a specific time and all had a specific function in God’s plan. One of my favorite examples is Saul who later became Paul. Saul was in Bible School and God called him out (go figure) before God could use him. Even having a face-to-face encounter and Jesus speaking to Paul was not enough God still had to take him to the wilderness for three years (qualifying and approving him) to put his word in Paul’s heart. Even Jesus our Master and example was qualified and approved by the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. There is a specific time of ministry and during this time there is a special time of favor and even at times a supernatural anointing. I have seen it and I have felt it, now that does not mean after we pass through this specific time we will lose our anointing oh no just the contrary, we will receive of God what we need next (even by way of supernatural anointing) to do what He wants us to do. Why do we think God is just going to give us things so that we can store them up for a rainy day? God does not give us His power and ability to just have His ability and power, oh no my friend God (like His faith) gives us His power and ability to do the things He wants us to do when we need them during our specific time. And I am here to let you know when it is over it is over. When God closes a door it is best to keep the door closed. I have seen many Christian friends try to keep things going that God was doing in their lives, but God was not in it. One thing for sure, if it starts in God there will be an end time in God. Realizing this spiritual principle often will take a lot of the pressure off of people to perform. They identify with what God has done in the past or what He is doing now and cannot see themselves in any other kind of service for God. I still say God pours us out from vessel (function or ministry) to vessel and as we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Christ Jesus He uses us and what we have learned of Him to share Him with the world and even uses us beyond our abilities and power. Paul speaks of the Church at Corinth, “For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; 4Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 5And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.” (2 Corinthians 8:3-5) We will never be able to give ourselves to others unless we first give ourselves to the Lord. And how do we do that? In that specific time and place of ministry we often find victory and failure maybe both at the same time, but for sure we will always find suffering. And why? Because shared suffering always builds unity and comradeship within any army. Written by David Stahl

OUR SELFISH SELF

Lately Karen and I have been occupied house hunting. What a wonderful surprise from the Lord, our land lord of eight years informed us we (two weeks ago) had 30 days (but he graciously gave us 60 days) to find a new home because he was going to sell it. What a shock and bewilderment to our routine our world was turned upside down for awhile, but when we got our orientation back things just started to work out for us. Now when things like this happen in our lives (and they will God loves us that much) we must not be moved and run around like a chicken who just lost their head, but relax, slow down, and be not moved. I think the best example I can give for us to be is like a camel or maybe a turtle. Camels and turtles just lumber along, plodding on, and nothing really excites them nothing really moves them, but they get to their destination in due time without all of the stress and worry. We must keep our mind stayed on Christ to be able to have the peace in our heart to make correct decisions. Did you know when we get all stressed out over things in our lives it is really an admission of lack of faith and confidence in God? We are saying (because of our stress and worry) God cannot handle this situation in our lives. God is not able to take care of this circumstance it is too big I have lost my trust in God so I will lose my peace of mind. When we lose heart and faith in God we also lose our peace of mind. Our peace of mind is only found in our trust in God. Isaiah tells us, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” (Isaiah 26:3) The word “stayed” here means fixed or focused, halting in one place. Our mind must be fixed on God as we halt in a place of trust and confidence in God. Did you know if we draw back from God at this time we will lose His presence and direction for our lives? It is not God has abandoned us, but we have left the place of staying and lost the perfect peace of God. You will never know what I am talking about until you for yourself drifts from this place in God and I promise you my friend serve God long enough and you have this to look forward to. Sadly we move or drift from God here because of our selfishness. We do not (I include myself here) want to lose what we want; our flesh screams to stay alive and will do everything in this world to live, but we must allow God to put our flesh to death. Even Paul had struggles in this area. In Romans we read, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” (Romans 7:18-20) Success or failure in God does not depend on conquering the devil (Jesus has already defeated him), but depends on us allowing God to strengthen us with might in the inner man so that we can conquer our flesh. James tell us, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” (James 1:14-15) Now it says “his own lust and enticed.” This lust (and not wanting to lose what we want) is in our flesh, it is a part of our character, our attitudes, our motives, and we must allow God to strengthen us through His dealings and judgments in our lives if not we will not be able walk in the victorious Christian life God has for each and every child of His. By keeping our focus on God we will be in God’s perfect will and have God’s peace even though the storm rages around us the storm within us is stilled. God does not lead us into defeat oh no my friend God always leads us into victory. This is a divine spiritual principle we must learn to be able to come into the victorious Christian living God desires for our lives.

Often when we talk about God’s peace we often talk about God’s will for our lives. I cannot begin to tell you the number of people that have asked me to pray for God’s perfect will for their lives. Well . . . guess what, God’s perfect peace is God’s perfect will they are one in the same. Praying for God’s perfect will is nothing more than not really believing God knows what He is doing. We have already determined God does not lead us into defeat, His destination for our lives is always victory, if you are looking for defeat you will have to find it somewhere outside of God. Now follow me closely here. Where ever we find ourselves, as long as we are not over in willful sin (and we know it), then we are in God’s perfect will for our lives. All we need to do is continue in what we are doing and if God changes His direction for our lives we just flow with whatever God is doing. His peace is there, even though all hell is coming against us, and we rest in Him. His will for our lives is there and we rest in Him. There is no need to pray and fast for God’s will. How could it be anything different? No struggle or guessing just resting. All we have to do is to keep looking at Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;” (Hebrews 12:2)

While house hunting I made a discovery that really surprised me. We looked at many houses, but we were looking for a home, there is a big difference, but in all of the new houses the master bathroom was grand and spacious: whirlpool or jacuzzi tubs, separate shower, double sink vanities, soft toilet seats, fancy lighting, all of the bells and whistles. But in the older houses the master bathroom was small and plain: usually a combination garden tub and shower, a base toilet and only one sink. I could not get over the difference, then it dawned on me how today the most important room in the house is the bathroom how we like pampering ourselves in the shower or soaking in the tub with music, candles, and perfume water. But not so in times gone by. In the past the most important room in the house was the kitchen and/or dining room. This is where the living of the day was discussed, where relationships were strengthened, where noses were counted, and where we would eat together, laughing and sharing. In new houses today the kitchen and dining room have been made smaller to make room for bigger bathrooms. I discovered in this how selfish we are today, how we want our time spent alone to be spent in luxury and ease. How we go after ease and comfort; in all of these pleasures our selfish self just screams to be pampered and pleased. All of this is nothing more than our selfish self wanting to exalt itself and push out from “under the mighty hand of God.” I wonder what the “mighty hand of God” looks like? Peter tells us, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7) The “mighty hand of God” for Joseph was his brothers, Potiphar, and the Egyptian prison. What does the “mighty hand of God” look like in your life? Do you even know? I doubt it is a huge hand coming off of heaven, but it is probably some situation or circumstance in your life that God wants you to humble yourself in. You know we have a hard time discovering what the “mighty hand of God” looks like because we like to add a “s” to “care.” Verse seven reads, “Casting all your care (not cares) upon him; for he careth for you.” Cares are things like houses, cars, money, a job, health, happiness all of the things we think we are entitled to and try to twist God’s arm into giving us. But “care” is the attitude of caring for things. Peter was telling us we are to cast the attitude of wanting things from God on Him because “he careth for you.” God knows what we want and God knows what we need. Our focus is not to be on what we want or even what we want God to give us, but our focus is to be on what God wants to give us. God knows we need a house. We do not have pray and fast about getting a house all we have to do is be fixed on God and allow His peace to grip our hearts to such a degree we will be in “perfect peace” and able follow His will. Our selfish self wants to do the religious things; pray and fast, lay prostrate on the floor before the Lord (Charles Haun told me many Bible School students would do this, but they were not before the Lord they were somewhere else), but that is not what God is after. God wants us to allow Him to kill our self our flesh so we can walk with Him. Micah helps us here, “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:6-8) Our ability to humble ourselves will be the same measure we will be able to walk with the Lord. Written by David Stahl

COMPASSION, MERCY, AND GRACE

The longer I go with God the more I see how we easily substitute meanings of words and precepts. Now for some words this is not a big deal, but when we start talking about words that affect our concepts such as compassion, mercy, and especially grace our substitution can cause great problems with our understanding of critical Biblical truth and if this does happen my friend we will get off track faster than anything I know. Now I am talking from personal experience. Recently (say over the last two years) the Lord has opened my understanding to some teachings (that were not quite right) from some friends that may take me and God some time (with some heartache) to get me back on track with the right precepts. And if we get our precepts wrong my friend then our daily concepts (the basis of Godly character) will be wrong. This area seems to be a major battle for us in allowing God to form His character in us. We must be careful to who and what we open our spirit to. Also something I have learned over my many years, especially while living in Germany, words matter. The words we say reflect our understanding to certain truths and they reflect the intimate workings of our character. Here is where I often can have troubles. For example let us look at three words: compassion, mercy, and grace that are often miss used or substituted for each other, but in reality these three words have different meanings and their projects are different in precept development and application.

Now compassion is not mercy or grace, compassion is a human feeling or emotion of sadness or pity for someone (friends) or something (animals). Compassion is something that is most often self-generated that touches our emotions and can easily move our spirit and decision- making. Anything that moves our heart (especially quickly) we must be very careful with. Compassion is not necessarily a Christian characteristic. I know many non-Christians who are very compassionate, but know not the Lord. Mercy is not compassion or grace, mercy is a power of our self will to forgive (ah another word we often substitute) or to be kind. When Karen and I take our dog for a walk we have compassion and mercy on the earthworms (we call the Brethren) we find dying on the sidewalk by picking them up and putting them safely in the grass. Mercy is like compassion it is most often self-generated that touches our emotions and can make us feel good about ourselves when we do something right. Mercy can make us feel good, but mercy like compassion is not necessarily a Christian characteristic. I know non-Christians who can show mercy to people, even earthworms. Now please do not misunderstand me here compassion and mercy need to be a part of our character. Micah asked, “Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? (Micah 6:7) and then answered his own question, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8) What great advice for today knowing how the worldly religious church has forgotten, it is not about doing for God, but becoming something in God. Here we see it is not about working for God, but becoming (Ephesians 2:10) the work of God. Jesus was great at not talking about compassion, but being moved by it. In Matthew we read, “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36) Fourteen other times in the Gospels we read where Jesus was “moved with compassion” and if the Master was compassionate should not His servants? And grace is not compassion or mercy, only grace is grace. Grace is the love and favor God shows toward undeserving man. Grace is God not giving us something we deserve. In Romans we read, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24Being justified freely by his grace (not our grace or good works) through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:’ (Romans 3:23-24) The Gospel truth is; “we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (we all deserve to be found guilty and punished) and the rest of the Gospel truth is we have “justified (Strong’s #1344, to render righteous) freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” God’s grace (His love and favor for us) renders us righteous (right relationship with God and man) and the more we allow God to work in our inward man and bring us to the spiritual place of seeing what sin has wrought in our lives and how sin destroys every relationship and every area of our lives the more grace we will be able to walk in. Grace and this deeper work of God (some call it sanctification, but few people teach it) is for everyone, but everyone does not receive grace and fewer Christians receive the promise of sanctification. Jesus died on a cross so that all can taste of the goodness of eternal life that is now on earth and into eternity, but sadly everyone will not “taste and see that the Lord is good” and will spend their eternal life separated from God and in hell. In spite of Jesus’ sacrifice many will be lost (their choice) and remember salvation is for only those who accept it. Here are two big differences between grace and compassion or mercy. Grace is a free gift from God “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:22-23) And the second truth is before we can receive grace we must be judged and found guilty. A blameless or innocence man needs no grace. Isaiah tells us, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) Grace is for only guilty people who stand in the way of God’s judgment, but we do not like to admit we are guilty. Never forget, great is the man in God who knows his strengths, but far greater is the man in God who knows his weakness. But God cannot look the other way to sin, He must deal with it. For God and us looking the other way from sin is not compassion, mercy, or grace oh no, sin must be judged and sentenced in our lives before God can extend grace to us, but who wants to be called a sinner? That is easy, only the one that want to be saved. My friend God does not just forgive sin as most denominational religions teach. Oh no, sin must be dealt with by God. Most denominations teach just walk the aisle, repeat some words (the sinner’s prayer may sound good, but the precept or concept is nowhere in the Bible), and God will forgive you of your sins, well that is not true and that is also why there are so many would be Christians who do not live a Godly life and do not reflect the character of Christ and why because they are not saved. They have been deceived by man’s plan of salvation. John tells us in 1 John, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:9-10) The word “confess” here means to agree what God is saying about us is true and that is Romans 3:23. Our confession must be of our own words and out from a broken and contrite (crushed and ground to powder) heart condition not by another’s words. With the sinner’s prayer the one thinking they are confessing is just agreeing with the words of another person. And my friend, make no mistake this is a painful process (you may even cry) in our lives when we begin to allow God to show us our heart and what sin has wrought in our lives. Listen to the words of Paul, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7:18-25) Do you hear the pain and anguish in his words? Do you hear the cry of Paul’s heart here? If not then you have missed the truth of his words and you have missed the work God was doing in Paul. Funny, how Paul answered his own question “who shall deliver me.” In verse 25 Paul tells us, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

In Malachi we really see what happens when we get our precepts wrong or when we substitute the meaning of a word for another. When most Christians think of the Book of Malachi they think here it comes again; the pastor is going to beat us over the head, again, over our poor tithing, but Malachi is a very fascinating Book. It only talks about tithing a little bit, but the rest of the Book is about Godly character and what God expects of us. In Chapter one we find the people bringing impure sacrifices to God, “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts. 12But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. 13Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD. 14But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.” (Malachi 1:11-14) Now some people would say that is okay; the people are having a tough time making it and God does not really expect unblemished and unspotted sacrifice as He commanded. The people and even the priest turned their heads to the truth of God’s words. Today many pastors are turning their heads to the truth of God’s words: so that seats and offering plates will be filled, so that their plans and agendas can be fulfilled, so that their church can climb up the denominational ladder, but just like in Malachi God wanted nothing to do with sin and folly. You can read what God told the priest in Malachi 2:1-9, it was not pretty. Believe it or not the priests were being compassionate and even giving mercy to the people, but that was not what God was after. We can be compassionate and give mercy all day long to people, but if what we do for people does not line-up with what God’s word says and what He expects of us then we are doing more harm than good. We must learn to “speak the truth in love,” if not we do not really care about people. Now I will tell you this is a very tough thing to do. In my family for the last eight years or so Karen and I have been holding the line with the truth of God’s word and it has cost us dearly, but that is okay. I believe my father is in heaven today because Karen and I held our ground with God’s word, a small price to pay for my father being in heaven. We must never forget grace was not free, it cost Jesus His life and for us to be able to have more (than just salvation) of this wonderful gift of God it will cost us something too. The more we can humble ourselves before God and man the more grace we can behold. Written by David Stahl

A MEDITATION ON EASTER

Around Christmas time I shared some thoughts on Christ not being a baby and now as we draw closer to what many call the Easter season I would like to share some thoughts on this topic. First, the word we use to express the great victory of Christ, “Easter” is found once in the KJV of the Bible and has nothing to do with the Gospel; the death, the burial, and (our blessed hope of glory) the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The word, “Easter” is found in Acts and is talking about Peter, “And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.” (Acts 12:4) and is translated from the Greek as Passover, again it has nothing to do with the Gospel message. I am not going to go into all of the pagan rituals and religious traditional practices that surround the historical myth of Easter my intent is to lift up the name of Jesus. But, my friend we have “truly” (taking something from the physical realm and projecting it into the spiritual realm) drifted so far from the true meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and the great price He paid for my sin and your sin. We have insulted God’s supreme act of giving His only begotten Son and the truth for an emotional swell during the holiday season, to increase church attendance, and to spread ones denominational message under the guise of sharing the Gospel. We do so much in church that displeases God and cover it up by saying we are sharing the Gospel. God please forgive us. God does not need special services that effect our emotions and feelings to share the Gospel message. God needs dedicated and consistent children to follow Him and His basic plan.

A few years ago I heard a statement from a pastor (of a church we once attended) that just shook me to my knees. He said after Jesus was arrested and crucified the light of the world went out. How my spirit quivered within me. How my stomach churned and ached for this fellow’s words were not true, but was in keeping with the emotional Easter tradition. At no point in time has Jesus not been the light of the world. My friend even when Jesus obediently and willfully laid His life down, He was still in control; of all Heaven, earth, hell, and will always be the light of the world. His light will never go out. Death could not hold Him, the grave could not hold Him, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57) Because this is true about Jesus we too can say, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” Let us not be led by our emotions and plans to practice an Easter season, but be led by the Holy Spirit to know and understand the true message of the Gospel. This my friend is the message that will change your life forever.

At the Passover Supper (before He went out into the garden) Jesus knew the garden experience was there and He knew that the cross, death, the grave, and hell was waiting Him. Yet Jesus went out with a song in His heart, “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.” (Matthew 26:29) How could He do that? He could sing because He had the victory already in His heart. The victory and trust He had in His Father to carry Him through the garden, onto the cross, and into and out of the grave. He knew His Father would never leave Him nor forsake Him. The victory was first won as the Father pressed out the life and will of Jesus at Gethsemane (which means where oil is pressed), “Then saith he unto them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. 39And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:38-39) Knowing what was before Him Jesus could still break bread with His disciples, “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.” (Matthew 26:26) Knowing what was ahead for Him Jesus could still give thanks, “And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:27-28) He could only do this because it was the most sublime manifestation of faith ever expressed. We think He had faith when He restored sight to the blind, strengthened limbs, and raised the dead. Yes that was wonderful, but we must see the spiritual side of things. We must see the necessity of faith in the realm of the Spirit, not in the flesh (like the Easter myth), but the realm of the Spirit where we have the faith to dare to believe like Jesus. It is Jesus’ victorious life which leads up to His victorious death and that is what presents Him as the Lamb without spot and blemish. When seen on the Mount of Transfiguration, He is a Lamb without spot or blemish, but it is a Lamb that has been slain! We are not saved by His life we are saved by His death. His life is exemplary it is beautiful, but He did not come to display great character and to do miracles, He came to die for us. The way of life is through a region of death and unless we partake of His death we shall never reign with Him. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:” (Romans 6:3-5) The truth of the season is a bitter sweet message of death so that we may live. It is not about new clothing, many church activities, special foods, and musical programs to get people to come to church, but it is about us loving God enough to be willing (like Jesus) to fall into the ground and die, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (John 12:24) And, to love God’s word enough in simplicity to share it without fanfare and emotional ceremony knowing the Holy Spirit will do His work in lives. Then too we will be able to say we have before the throne (our heart) of God today a victorious risen Lord. Let us keep the love feast of Jesus’ sacrifice. Let us honor Him and His work in us and for those who we are to lead to the cross for His glory. Let not this season be a myth or holiday, but an invitation to life, the life of God. Written by David Stahl

THE EXPRESSIONS OF GIVING

As I walk with the Lord and the longer I go with Him the more I see a paradoxical (a statement that seems to contradict itself or seems false, but may be true in fact) truth. Nowhere is this paradox seen then in our giving. On one hand there is the selfish, self-centered, and greedy giving where the giver expects to receive “giving to get” and then there is the other hand where the giver gives so that others may receive. You can always tell which type of giver you are dealing with when they quote their favorite Scripture to support their giving and it also often speaks of the spiritual maturity (if you can discern) of the Christian you are talking with. In Luke Jesus’ words can serve as an example of a greedy giver. Here Dr. Luke shares some words that selfish Christians most often use to express their motives and desires, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 38Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” (Luke 6:37-38) Now what Jesus was saying is an eternal truth, but when we use His words to justify our (that is a plural pronoun which includes me) selfish, carnal nature and ways for getting something for giving or not getting something that we deserve (judgment and condemned) then we have missed the truth of the Scriptures. The selfish giver manipulates Jesus’ words (missing the true meaning) to express, “I do not want to be judged (even though I am guilty and I know it), I do not want to be condemned (even though I am guilty and I know it, but I do not want to be held accountable), I always want to be forgiven if I make a mistake (and I know it), and I always give to God so He will give me back more than what I gave.” One of the greatest signs of spiritual maturity in our lives no matter the depth of our education (even our Christian education) or ability to minister the word of God is when we can receive judgment and correction from others and then incorporate their verdict into our lives. I will be honest I do not like it when someone says, “Dave have you considered this, or that, or you know what you said maybe is not be right. And if they really want to get me going all they have to do is mention my character. Did you know God is more concerned about our character than about how long we can speak in tongues, how much money we give to the church, or more than all the things we do for Him in service? Remember the greatest objective of the spiritual leader is not service, but obedience to the Master.

In John we discover another type of giving from the story of the Samarian lady’s encounter with Jesus at the well. Funny, how we are always changed for the better when we truly have an encounter with Jesus. Here we read, “Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 10Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:9-14) Here the giving (by Jesus the giver) is not for the benefit of the giver as in Luke 6:38 above, but for the benefit of someone else. This is a more correct model of giving where we give so that others may receive. We give so that others may be able to come closer to God and come to the “living waters” where the waters will be “springing up into everlasting life” for us. Here a more mature Christian would quote verses like these because they are concerned not about themselves, but about others receiving. What a wonderful place in God when we can come to the place where we would rather see our brothers and sisters get blessed ahead of us. This was one of the many problems the Church at Corinth had during communion. Paul told them, “When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. 21For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.” (1 Corinthians 11:20-22) In other words Paul was saying they did not wait or prefer (allowing someone to go ahead) each other they were concerned about themselves first receiving the blessing. He was saying they were not eating the Lord’s supper they were eating their own supper while other were hungry. What scathing words from Paul. Our motives and intention in giving must always be done not thinking of ourselves and the reward or benefit we shall receive, but on the impact of the person who will be receiving. Giving must never be done blindly or quickly, but with a Godly purpose in mind. When I think of this point I always think of the day in the City of Bosque in the Islamic Republic of the Mauritania. While sitting in the back seat of the U.S. Embassy’s Suburban I caused a young boy to be beaten almost to death by giving him $5 and asking him to share it with his friends; well his friends saw the money and thrashed him soundly and anyone else who recovered the $5. The money was passed hand-to-hand and with the money came the beating. What a riot we had to leave quickly before the folks in the town attacked us. As we were driving away in safety our translator said it will be months, maybe years, before we could return to Bosque. I really messed things up. My heart was in the right place, but my giving was not done with wisdom and when this happens the purpose is lost. Often in giving it is important not to let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.

A third type of giving is where we give not of our resources (money, time, talents), but of our self. This is the greatest of the three types of giving mentioned thus far. God is always after us giving all of ourselves so that we have nothing left to give; where we give beyond our resources, abilities, and this is always seen especially when we give to someone who cannot give back to us. It is easy to give to someone who someday can repay us, but how about someone who can never repay us? How can we do this? When we allow God to empty us. I hear many Christians say (even hear some pray) God come and fill me. There is even a Vineyard Song that says, “come and fill me now,” well that is not the way God operates. God does not just come and fill us because we want Him to oh no, God comes at His sweet time and fills us when we first allow Him to empty us. The condition to be filled by God is first to allow God to empty us of the world and our self. The more we allow God to empty us of these things, the more we can be filled with His nature and Spirit, no more no less. This is a willful process in our lives God is looking for. God will never be able to make us the type of giver He is looking for unless He first can get us to empty ourselves of our greedy selfishness and the love for worldly ways and ideas. God’s expression of giving is then seen in our obedience and dedication not only to God, but to man. We think when we give of our resources or self to man that is the end of the giving, but not so my friend every time we give even a drink of water to a friend or especially our enemies God notices. When I think of giving beyond one’s ability and giving to the end of their self I always think of my dear “Sweet Heart” Karen. When I retired in 2000 we were still living in Germany and to be able to stay in the American military system either Karen or I had to get a Federal job, if not we could not use the U.S. Post Office, we could not shop at the Military Post Exchange, we could not shop for food at the commissary (without paying high German taxes), and worst of all for our household Connie and Joshua could not go to the American High School they were attending for years unless we paid $1,200 per month per child. Well, spending $2,400 a month was totally out of the question. I was working at the High School as a Substitute Teacher (not a Federal job), with a German speaking company called KMP teaching business English and management, traveling in ministry, and pastoring the church, so it was up to Karen to get the Federal job. Now Karen had not worked outside the home for over 20 years, this was not going to be an easy thing for her to do nor would this be an easy thing on our family dynamics. Well, Karen inquired around the base and found out the only Federal job she was qualified for was working at the dining facility (chow hall) on base as a food service worker. What a prestigious job scrubbing floors, cleaned mountains of pots and pan, cleaned the serving line, cut potatoes, scraped food off of trays into big garbage cans, and anything that needed to be done. One day she was a big important officer’s wife and the next day she was the nice kind lady that took your food tray and said, “have a great day.” I could go on and on, but you would not be able to understand what it cost my wife, how she allowed God to empty her and how her sacrifice ensured education for our kids and a way of life we were accustomed. You would never be able to understand what I am saying unless, like Karen, you too endured the whispers, jeers, and snide comments of her one time friends. You will never know what I am talking about unless you too have been emptied by God to the end of yourself so that others can benefit, even enjoy your sacrifice. How could I not love her?

Lastly when God invest things in us especially Spiritual things we are not to spend them on ourselves. God does not give to us dead ended, oh no my friend. When God gives us things He expects us to give a portion of whatever He gave us away. If God gives us $100, He expects, it is His intention in the giving to us that we give some of that $100 away. God NEVER gives to us so that we can spend it all on our selves. If you do this my friend you are a greedy and selfish person. God always gives enough to us so that we can give something away. No matter the amount God gives to us He expects a portion of what He gave us to be given away. The portion that is given away is what God is after in our lives. He gives us $100 and He is looking for our obedience to Him in what to give. God may say give $10 away or He might say give $100 away, the amount does not matter (it was given to us by God), but what does matters is are we going to be obedient to God and give what He asked so He can invest more money? Most Christians who lack spiritual and earthly things is because God cannot trust them to give them away. The condition to receive from God is to be able to give away what God has already given you. Funny how we are willing to give God our lives and heart, but when God asks for our wallet we feign deafness. Charles Haun always said, “once God gets a hold of our wallets He has all of us” how true. “For God so loved the world He gave” this is why giving is at the heart of the Gospel. If God cannot make you a giver then He cannot use you my friend you will disqualify yourself for service. Written by David Stahl

THE HARVEST

Recently I have been emailing a wonderful pastor friend from Suceava, Romania who has been going through some very tough corrective surgery on his legs and hips. Over the last 13 years he has opened his Bible school, his home, and heart to me. After the surgeries he has a lot of down time and not being able to put weight on his legs he has plenty of time to put together (writing down what God has done for us and sharing it with people is the very best thing we can do for God) some lessons for the Bible school. God is good at getting us in some positions to where we can do some quality work. Well, he emailed me and asked if I could buy him some VCDs of a certain Bible teacher in the States. A certain church in Colorado use to provide them, but now no more. How could I say no; for years he has opened the Bible school he is responsible for, opened his home, opened his heart to me, and I know of his character and dedication. I asked what happened to the church who use to provide the VCDs and he said a new pastor has come in now and they have not heard from the church in over a year. I thought to myself what was the churches’ (in the past) motive in relationship with the church in Romania? And how could they just break off fellowship without a simple letter, email, or phone call? But then I remembered one of the first things a new pastor must do (if they want to take charge) is consolidate power in the church or he (she in some cases) will have to put out forest fires from the old pastor. And one of the fastest ways of doing this is making a clean sweep of mission’s support and ministry programs. Sad how political churches in America have become, but make no mistake overseas mission programs in churches bring in big bucks for the local church and for the big denominational churches huge dollars so that they can pick and choose who gets and who does not get the money, almost like a reward and punishment scenario. One of the main message projections of churches today in America is “go therefore making disciples of all nations” and to do this my friend it takes a lot of energy, time, and money, especially a lot of money. Now please do not misunderstand me here my friend I too believe in traveling abroad to share this wondrous Gospel message, but over the last 15 years God has worked much zeal out of me and now He can work some wisdom and understanding in me. For ministry to be Godly it must be God focused, but sadly we see money and influence on both ends of the spectrum can often becomes the focal point. From the local church or denomination (not only in the States) they can unite people behind a cause (please be careful in God when people in church gather for an earthly cause), attract people to their church, and collect money to go save the heathens around the world. And sadly (I have seen this from both side) the folks on the other end are friendly and give invitation only because they can get money from folks to push their agenda and plans, make international connections (very important in some circles) to be able to come to the States (or elsewhere), or invite pastors and teachers to come and hold big conferences and seminars. The bigger the conference, seminar, and name invited the bigger the registration fee can be requested. It is no accident the big TV Christian evangelists, pastors, and teachers have their mega conferences and seminars at big resorts in Florida, California, and Texas where they get discounts and kick backs, sadly it has become a business. In all of our years of traveling abroad I have never charged one red cent to come and minister, as a matter of fact we have always either totally funded the BHG conference or seminar or paid a significant portion, but not so with most evangelists, pastors, and teachers that travel abroad. I have a very special pastor friend in Poland that told me (with tears in his eyes) that the Pentecostal Church in Poland wanted to invite a certain famous TV evangelist (my friend was being gracious, but I believe he was talking about Benny Hinn because of similar stories I have heard and after following him in many countries) for three to four days to come and minister. My good friend and a team of others traveled to another country and waited for three days to be able to talk with this TV evangelist’s handlers. After waiting three days on a string to have a quick meeting they were told this TV evangelist charges $250,000 and the host churches will have to provide all transportation, a communication capability, hotel rooms at a really nice hotel, and all logistics. They returned home shocked and contacted their superiors. Two week later my friend called the TV evangelist and told them all they could get was $75,000 and could with great troubles provide the other requirements. He was told they would be in touch. About one week later my friend was called and told the $75,000 was below the work of God in the TV evangelist’s life so he could not come to Poland. What have we done to the Gospel message to make it about money, influence, and power? Whatever happened to the simplistic Gospel message the bible talks about?

My friend the harvest of souls is not to be something to make money, take power and exercise control with. Through the years most churches have gotten this wrong. The harvest of souls Jesus is looking for is about souls, fellowship, and about us being willing to go (to the other side of the world) in obedience to His word. The harvest of souls is about God being glorified and Jesus God’s precious Son receiving all the honor and glory for His work on the cross. Not so that we can save the heathen (we cannot save anyone), but so that God can save souls (ours included) and can work in our lives (becoming more like His precious Son Jesus Christ) and so that Godly fellowship can be established internationally within the Body of Christ. In Ephesians 2:10 we read, “For we are His workmanship” and as we go in obedience to God’s word He is able to work in our lives. The more we go the more God can kill our self-life, selfishness, and self-seeking. I promise God will run us out of our own strength so He (and He alone) can strengthen us with might in the inward man to go and do what He wants done. Now if this is not your perception of going for God please do not feel bad, the disciples got it wrong also. The longer I go in God the more I like the disciples because the more I see myself in them, especially Peter. In John we read, “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. 35Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. 36And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 38I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.” (John 4:34-38) I cannot begin to tell you how many sermons I have heard on these verses. Now many evangelists, pastors, and teachers often teach that Jesus was talking about fields of produce that was ripe for the picking, but that is not what Jesus was talking about. Remember the harvest is always about souls and God working in our lives, not things. Now Jesus did make a reference to a field that needs harvesting, but the field Jesus was talking about was not of food, but of the people that were walking from the town to hear Him speaking. To understand the Scriptures we must not take verses and chapters out of context. To understand what a chapter is talking about we must read the entire chapter, story, or parable, being explained. In these verses here we are at the end of the story of the lady at the well. Jesus has already shared the well of living water with her and she was about to leave, “And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkfest thou with her? 28The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 30Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.” (John 4:27-29) Jesus was still talking with the disciples as the people came out from the town to see Jesus. As they came they were wearing white head coverings (like a scarf) to protect them from the hot sun and as they came 100s if not 1000s of white heads were coming towards them and Jesus said, “behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” Jesus was saying to the disciples; look here comes the harvest I am concerned about, look at the people coming I am concerned about people and their souls. We too must be concerned about what Jesus is concerned about; people and their souls and not the influence and money they can bring us. This was not the only time Jesus used a harvest to convey a Spiritual truth to the disciples. In Matthew we read, “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”(Matthew 9:37-38) Jesus was a master at using the physical realm to express the Spiritual realm. In both portions of Scripture the focus of Jesus’ attention is on the people as the harvest, not things. Jesus tells the disciples (at the end of John 4) that He will send them to the harvest of people that they did not sow other people did the heavy lifting, but they will reap. Other people have gone ahead of them and did the hard work, others have paid the heavy price, but they will get the opportunity to bring in the harvest of souls. Now the Bible is not written chronologically, but I believe in verse 35 Jesus was fore telling the disciples, in a way they could understand, about His death coming in four months as the beginning point of the great harvest.

Real men of God do not need to tell hip funny stories, beg, twist arms, or manipulate people oh no, real men of God count on the Holy Spirit to move in the hearts and minds of people to accomplish what God wants. Real men of God have a correct perspective to God’s order and function. Money is not tied to the wondrous Gospel message as a means to do things, but it is tied to our giving that gives opportunity to others so that others may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and God is glorified. Giving is the heart of the Gospel, “for God so loved the world that He gave.” My friend you cannot be the kind of Christian God wants you to become unless He can teach you how to give by the Spirit. If we get off track here (like the disciples did with the harvest) all we do in God is missed greatly. I am amazed at how preachers and pastors beat their people over the head with the 10% tithes. They say things like, “you better give 10% of your money or God will not bless you, camel cookies! The legalistic and religious man wants to give 10%, but if we truly give by the Spirit God may require of us to give 70%, 90%, maybe 100% of our resources. Does God only want 10% of our heart? Please make no mistake my friend God wants 100% of our heart, our lives, and our availability. Now at times God may require none of your money, but He may require all of your time, require a change of attitude, or a change of heart condition to bring us to the place where He needs to bring us so that we can help bring in the harvest. We often think bigger is better in God, well bigger in God is not better that is the way man thinks. God is not so concerned about the big things in our lives, but He is concerned about the little insignificant things, the things we think have no bearing, the little things we think are not so important, but to God they are critical. I have found the bigger something gets in God the harder it is to maintain unity of purpose. While pastoring in Germany the less administration, less committee meetings, less programs, and less church by-laws we had the more God could meet our need, but the bigger things got and the more the people got into the picture the more troubles and difficulties we had doing things for God. Again, more in God is not better. The Spiritual projection is less not more; less of our opinions, less of our words, and less of our self the more God can move in our lives. Oh I hope we can see this.

We must be careful not to run with verses, examples, and stories in the Bible and make everything a “ministry.” Yes Jesus did say go to the prisons (Matthew 25:35-45) and visit friends and people, but He did not say go start a prison ministry. Jesus did say go feed and clothe the poor, but He did not say go start a feeding and clothing ministry. These are things we must do every day of our lives not because it is a ministry, but because Jesus told us to do it. We must be led by the Holy Spirit to do the things we are told to do, if not we will get off track as the disciples did in John 4 and miss out on what God is really doing. That is the real loss we experience when we do something other than what God expects. We and God miss out on that which is right (we miss the mark maybe not sin) and God’s expectation is lost. To me I can see this in a disobedient or approval number line. On God’s number line there is a point of our obedience or God’s expectation in a given situation or area and then there is the point we find our self. The difference is either our disobedience (moving to the left, falling short of God’s expectation point) or approval (moving to the right, meeting or surpassing God’s expectation point) at any rate the point is God expects certain things in our lives and we must meet or surpass them to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. To help prevent us from falling short we must learn to wait on the Lord (as simple as that may seem) and allow Him to arrange circumstances and situations that will accomplish His purposes and plan for our situation and circumstances, if we get ahead or do something different then what God wants we have complicated things for God and for man. In Isaiah we read, “And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.” (Isaiah 30:18) The image of to “wait” here is a servant standing perfectly still with a towel draped over their arm waiting to serve their master. Here waiting is mutual by God and us. Can you see the disciples waiting on the Lord or running off to reap the harvest? The harvest is ripe and the Lord is looking for laborers, but He is not looking for just any laborer He is looking for the laborer who has learned how to wait and who has learned how to do things His way. Written by David Stahl