COMING TO THE TABLE

Karen and I just spent three wonderful days up in Penhook, VA at an old fashion camp meeting. Now do not go to the camp meeting in Penhook if you do not know your Bible. I have never met a man (I include myself) that has a greater love for the Scriptures than Elliott Scott (Scottie to his friends) and with his charming wife Debra “the Red Head” who completes a couple of great generosity, wisdom, and love. For the last seventeen years they have had a Thursday night service and once a year they have a week-long camp meeting. Scottie converted his fertilizer warehouse into a meeting place (not a church because he knows the truth we are the church) in which to hold a non-denominational service. Folks from all walks of life come together to just lift up the name of Jesus in song, the preaching of the word of God, and after the service in a meal. I had the gracious opportunity to minister two of the six days and our special friend Pastor Niki Markov and his family from Bulgaria shared one night. What a wonderful time it was to go back to the old fashion ways that our lives have seemingly forgotten in our hurry up and cannot wait world. Jeremiah said, “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.” (Jeremiah 6:16) “rest” is what God desires for us far beyond faith and trust. Now do not think the church is immune from this break neck life style of ours where we are told bigger is better and faster and flashier is of God; oh no my friend for those who believe this lie they have been conformed to this world and are deceived in their heart. Did you know if you spend more time on face book (or any other social media) than you do reading your Bible or time spent waiting before the LORD you have been conformed to this world? If your life is run by a hand held electronic gadget you have been conformed to the world. I will even bring it down further, if you pack your cell phone around in your back pocket you have been conformed to this world. How subtle this conforming can be in our lives. Please do not get me started on Christians with their bodies covered by tattoos and body piercings. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and is not a canvas to express our feelings and desires. I have found those people (Christians included) that are heavy into the arts have been conformed by the world. Oh I know you will say he is judging us and you would be right, but how else can I tell my brothers and sisters they are wrong according to the Scriptures and need to take heed to themselves before they get carried away and out of God? This non-judging attitude in the church has opened the church up to an anything goes thinking and life style that lacks the anointing, authority, and the power of the Holy Spirit. No wonder there is little to no Holy Spirit power in the lives of most Christians these days it has been replaced by a religious self-seeking, selfish, unteachable know-it-all spirit of non-judgment. Yes pray for people by all means, but for the love of God please tell them also of the error (according to the Scriptures) in their lives before it is too late. Then let them judge for themselves your words, but do not break off friendship with them be there for them. At the heart of our conforming to the world is a deep love for the world that is greater than our love for the LORD. I have pastor friends that have sworn by “God Almighty” they would never be on face book, twitter, etc., but today they recommend contacting them exclusively through the many social media sites. Everyone is using face book and twitter they tell me, you need to get onboard with social media, step up into the year 2013, everyone is using it . . . well, as Karen always says (words from her wonderful mother) if everyone jumped off the Empire State Building would you? Maybe I am just speaking for myself, but the more I go towards technology the less of God is in me. On second thought I know I am speaking for all of mankind. How can we be so plugged into the ways of the world and expect to hear from God and be used in ministry by the Holy Spirit when we have no ear for Him? Solomon said it this way, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 16:25) Sadly Solomon would know because he did not listen to his own advice. To me this is the greatest lesson from the Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes Solomon failed to heed his own words and in the end he was conformed to the world and lost it all in God. Let us not follow after Solomon it is not God’s intention for us to, but let us follow after the example of Jesus Christ which leadeth to life. 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. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:15-17) Again “love not this world neither the things that are in the world” that means our favorite TV programs. I remember in 1968 Howard Reckley (I believe he is with the LORD now oh I loved him so) the pastor of the Assembly of God (AG) church we attended was strongly against TV, now it was not the position of the AG Church just his. Sadly he lost that argument, but now I see the wisdom in his position we are not better today. Maybe that is why the power and influence of the church over the years has dwindled down to just feeding and clothing people when people need hope and a purpose that is only found by coming to know a Holy God. We will never come to know a Holy God if we are conformed to this world because “the love of the Father is not in him” no love no power. In Romans Paul taught the Church at Rome and us, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (Romans 21:2-3) So if our mind is not renewed we can never be transformed and will be conformed to the world. How then is our mind renewed? By displacement. When a battleship sinks into the water the weight and space of the battleship pushes down into the water and pushes away the water that would occupy the very space and weight, so too in our lives we are to replace or displace the things of the world and our loves and desires with, “ that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” We are to think on those things that are pure and of a good report. Paul tell us, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” (Philippians 2:5) Will we do this after or before we read the newspaper? We are to fill our mind, heart, and lives up with the things of God and NOT of: the Real Housewives of New Jersey, the Kardashians, and the like, sports programs, cooking shows, the daily news scrawl, and the endless list of worldly entertainments and attractions that most Christians subscribe to so that we CAN come to the table in sincerity and partake of the bread of life. While at Penhook after each service we would sit down and eat supper. What a wonderful time. It reminded me of a church in Koln, Germany, Christliche Gemeinde Koln with Pastor Terry Jones. After each service the entire congregation (Sunday usually around 2,500) present would orderly and efficiently (German style) help convert the warehouse sanctuary space into a restaurant with tables and the chairs from the meeting. What a spread they would put on, what fellowship and the food was good too. Well in Penhook the same was true a meal was served to all in attendance for free after the service. Everyone like one big happy family would bring something to eat, sit down, and enjoy each other’s company and the Spirit in the meal. As I sat there I thought what did I bring to the feast? Oh we brought some cole slaw and potato salad, but I was not thinking about physical food I was thinking about spiritual food. What spiritual food did I bring to the feast? In 1 Corinthians Paul tell us to, “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:8) We are to keep the love feast with both “sincerity” and “truth” one will not do it, both are required to keep the feast. Sincerity (Strong’s #1505 purity and ingenuousness) without truth leads to an unteachable spirit and selfishness. This was the heart condition of the Church at Corinth. They were sincere in their wanting God in their approach, but it was not mixed with truth the critical element that energizes spiritual growth and maturity in us. How we handle the truth (especially about ourselves) is one of the greatest signs of spiritual growth and development. We can sing, dance, and wave flags all day long, but if the truth does not humble us and bring us down into a low place where Christ is then all we do is for naught. Here is the testimony of Paul about the Church at Corinth, “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) The Christians here were coming together at church to keep the “Lord’s supper” (probably not the spiritual ritual we keep today, but a dinner like in Penhook), but each was taking their own supper first; they could wait on their brothers and sisters, they could not wait and allow someone hungrier to go ahead and some kept drinking wine to the point they were drunk. You see at the “Lord’s supper” we would prefer others ahead of ourselves. At the “Lord’s supper” there would be restraint and moderation in our habits and actions. At the “Lord’s supper” there would be “simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God,” Thank God for 2 Corinthians. After correction Paul’s testimony of the Church at Corinth was, “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.” (2 Corinthians 1:12) After the lesson was learned Paul could commend them rejoicing. When we come to the “table” what are we bringing? Are we bringing the unleaven bread of truth and sincerity? What is our heart condition towards our brothers, sisters, our enemies, or ourselves? Just how simplistic is our lives? You know the more I learn of God the more I want to learn of God, but the more I learn of God the less it seems I really understand about God and this is because in the learning we see the vastness of God as compared to our heart. The table is set and the call “come and dine” is given, but what are we bringing to the feast? Written by David Stahl

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

ALL IN GOOD TIME

One thing we must learn as we walk this wondrous walk with the LORD is; God has His time and we have our time. For us to be successful in what God wants us to do is for us to be found patiently waiting and endure. There is always a waiting time between when God speaks and when His words become alive in reality to us. We humans seem to have a problem with waiting and it is when we are waiting that we fail to continue in the words that God speaks. If you think you have no problem with waiting just go to the supermarket and get in line. Now it is not a question of our faith because faith is a thing of the Spirit of God whereby God speaks to us, we hear Him, and contained in the words God speaks to us is all we will ever need to fulfill the intentions of God’s words to us. We see this divine spiritual principle in the life of Abraham. In Romans we read, “Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” (Romans 4:18-21) Because God spoke to him and he believed the words God spoke, “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.” Did you get the beginning of verse 18, “Who against hope?” Hope and faith has nothing to do with it unless God first speaks it and if God does not speak then it will not happen. I do not care hold long you “stand on the promises” or “hold on to the horns of the altar” by faith. So many Christians are holding on in faith believing just to believe when God did not tell them what to believe. They are holding on to THEIR belief, what they want to believe because that is really what THEY want (how selfish) and not what God might want after all it is easier to hear from our self than from God. It is in these times of waiting for something (hopefully waiting for the promises of God) we can get off track and stumble and fall out of the way. I do not know why we think things must happen now or when we want them to happen. We did not make the earth and put all of its physical laws into motion. We did not arrange the heavens or the many birds that fly in them. Who do we think we are to expect things to happen when we want them to happen. Oh LORD please forgive me of my presumption and high mindedness when I think I am more than what I really am, when things do not go my way and I expect them to happen when I want them to. Oh LORD teach us to be found patiently waiting. All we have to do is read the Bible and we will discover (we discover things in God not find them) things take time and will face pain, confusion, mistrust, deception, bewilderment, etc. in God to happen that will bring things to completion, purpose, and fulfillment. Let us look at few examples that should help us understand and embrace this central truth in our lives, if not we will keep making the same mistakes again and again. God’s intention for us is to be learning and ever learning (mostly from our mistake and the errors we make), and not learning but NEVER learning. When Jesus was born the Angels heralded His arrival, told the shepards who He was, and told them of His mission in life, “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11) yet it took 33 years of sacrifice and even rejection to go by until the Angele words manifested into reality. Again in Luke, “And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. 46And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” (Luke 23:44-46) Jesus’ mission on earth was not to do miracles, feed people, and tell good stories, but to come to earth and die as a blood sacrifice for the sin of mankind, “a Saviour.” In the first Book of Genesis we read God talking (again God must speak it) with Abram, later called Abraham, “And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.” (Genesis 15:3-5) Abraham said I have no seed, but God said your seed shall be as the stars of the heaven. Did God’s word come true? Yes of course, all you have to do is go to Israel and the see the countless faces of people who call themselves Jewish, not to mention the Christians who say they have been grafted into the family of Abraham, yet 1,000s of bloody, horrific years have passed for the Jewish people from when God spoke these words to Abraham. Later on in Genesis God spoke to Abram again, “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” (Genesis 17:1) Maybe Abram was wavering in faith to what God spoke to him the Bible does not clearly say, but for Abram (Abraham) to have countless decedents he will need to have a son, but then Abram was 99 years old and his wife Sari was 90. Later on in verse seven we read, “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” (Genesis 17:7) Again God spoke to Abram, “Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?” (Genesis 17:17) Sadly like us, along the way Abraham could not wait on God’s word to come to pass so he heeded the words of Sarah and “went into” (Biblical way of saying had sex) Hagar (Sarah’s Egyptian handmaiden) and Ishmael was born. He was a son as God promised, but Ishmael was not the “promised son” God promised. When we cannot wait and move outside of God’s words and time to us we turn God’s words into a lie and what God promised us, now will take more time to come to reality and the offspring of our impatient behavior will only complicate the plan and purpose for God’s will. We see Abraham’s mistake play out in real time every day when we see the events of the Middle East and the impact in the world from the struggle between the Arabs and the Jews. Abraham waited 1 year until Isaac the son of promise was born and God’s words to him became reality that Abraham could hold in his arms. “And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.” (Genesis 21:5) David was anointed king by Samuel at age 16 (best guess) then it was back to the sheep fold for him and another 14 years of much pain and sorrow running for his life before David sat upon the throne. In 1 Samuel we read, “And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.” (1 Samuel 16:12) And all along the way to the throne (and even after he was King) David ran for his life from Saul and battled (himself, others, and even his own son Absalom) to keep what God promised him. In 2 Samuel we read where David takes the throne in spite of being called and anointed by God 14 years earlier, “So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel. 4David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.” (2 Samuel 5:3-4) There are so many wonderful lessons we can take from the life of David, but the one that really speaks to me and give me great pause is one not often preached about or even talked about, there are consequence for our actions even if God forgives us. Just because God forgives us does not mean we will not pay a price for our disobedience. God forgave David of his adultery with Bathsheba and for the murder of Uriah, but still David’s first born son died (a huge penalty in the Jewish culture), but the spiritual principle; the requirement of innocent blood still needed to be shed for sin and sins in those days. We too may have to face the consequences of our sins (of course this is God’s call) like King David did. The forgiveness of our sin was paid for through the precious shed blood of Jesus Christ spilled on the cross which wipes away our sin: IF we confess (agree what God is saying about us is true and that is we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God) our need for God with our own mouth (no such things as a sinner prayer) and repent (about-face and walk in a different direction) no consequence awarded except hell if we do not confess and turn, however our sins (individual acts of the flesh) have to be paid for and is a different arrangement. Jesus died for them too: we must confess and turn (stop sinning!!). Sin (to know right, but do wrong, to miss the mark) is a nature we all (from Adam forward) were born with and sins are things we do that are not in keeping with how God has instructed us to live in spoken word to us and the Holy Bible, His written word to us. When we live and operate outside the framework of God’s written and spoken word we are committing sins against God and maybe man, and yes Jesus died for these too, however sins like sin have consequences. We can see that in the life of Moses (like King David revered by the Jewish people) the man that God said was the humblest ever in the world. Moses was the great deliverer of the Children of Israel, but it took him 40 years of wandering in the wilderness before his people were delivered and dies at age 120. In Exodus we read, “And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11) God used Moses to deliver His people from 430 years of bondage in Egypt, but in the 40 years they wandered in the wilderness they murmured, complained, and bellyached saying, “back in Egypt we did eat the leeks, melons, cucumbers, and fleshpots.” Moses put up with this for 40 years and because of this behavior and heart condition, “For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?” (Hebrews 3:16-17) and yes one time Moses displeased (Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it as God instructed him to do) God and yes even Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land, “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. 6And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. 7And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” (Deuteronomy 34:5-7) I wonder why we sometimes think God does not mean what He say? From the time of the bondage in Egypt God spoke to the people of a deliverer who would one day come and lead them out and God’s word came true, but look at the consequences for the behavior of Moses and the people for their sins, “was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness.” Make no mistake my Christian friend there are consequences for our behavior God may forgive us like he did with King David and Moses, but still they both paid a dear price indeed. 

Everything we receive from God we receive all in good time. Now I do not believe God has a big clock in heaven and when the second strikes it is time to give us something. No I believe God gives us things when we have the ability to move correctly with Him in whatsoever He is doing, when we are able to give the expression of what He wants to see in any given situation, when we look (have the image of God in a given situation) like the Father as the Son looks like the Father. This is the hallmark of God’s timing. Then and only then can we function and move with God correctly. And yes, years (time) will pass by, pain, hardships, loss, joy, and blessing all will be involved in the plan God is unfolding in our lives all in God’s good time. Written by David Stahl

WHO TOLD YOU?

Many people (Christians alike) think the Book of Genesis is about creation, well if this was so God left out many of the details. Now the Book of Genesis does talk about things created; the heavens, earth, man, and etc., but more the focus of Genesis are spiritual principles God has established in which man must operate in to be correctly aligned with and to correctly function with Him. One cannot begin at the beginning of God since He has no beginning. The first few chapters of Genesis are a revelation of God by means of what He says and does. The main attraction of Genesis is not creation, but God. In the Jews Torah it starts, “GOD in the beginning.” God is always to be the beginning of all things. God is to be in every area of man’s being and doing, but sadly the zealous and fundamental religious focus on what God did and not on God Himself. I have a good friend who asked me if I thought drinking alcohol was a sin because his denomination has deemed it a sin. He said he has two sheets of verses, from the Bible, that his denomination puts out that proclaims drinking a sin. I asked him how many sheets of paper does his denomination put out that proclaims lying a sin? Paul told the Church in Colossi, “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. 20Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21(Touch not; taste not; handle not;” (Colossians 2:18-21) If we focus on God and what He says and does we then will not get all bogged down in all of these “Touch not; taste not; handle not;” fleshly earthly pursuits of trying to please God. God is not impressed with our keeping of the “ordinances,” He wants to write His commandments on our heart. In the first Chapter of Genesis we also find God provides for man’s physical needs, “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” (Genesis 1:29) Man was taken care of the only thing he lacked was his need for his spiritual development so God planted a garden eastward in Eden (Genesis 2:8) and put man in it for his spiritual maturity and development. The garden was a spiritual arrangement for man’s learning. At first man was not in the garden God planted eastward in Eden. God needed a place to get man alone so God planted this garden so that He could have a place for regular communion and fellowship with man and more important to be able to teach man (whom He created) His ways, His divine spiritual principles that would enable man to do the things God created man for, but alas we know the rest of this part of the story. After Adam’s failure God came looking for him, “And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” (Genesis 3:9-11) When God asked Adam for the “who” He was not asking Adam for information. God already knew the “who.” In the question God was teaching Adam a divine spiritual principle whereby, apart from God there is no other source of knowledge for man. The reason for failure and sin was not what Adam and Eve did not know they sinned in spite of what they knew. All that had to be done to avoid fear and death was to heed the word’s of God. Now through a tragic experience it is now learned that the charge from God, which seemed so restricting, was actually given to help man rather than to hinder him. Also in these verses we find a most critical spiritual truth we must embrace whereby God speaks to man and when man hears Him speak, man is nourished, and man’s correct response back to God means life, but for man’s incorrect response the result is death like with Adam. I do not believe God ever intended for Adam to die. Our walk with the LORD is a walk of faith; believing “God is” who He says He is, means what He says, and will do whatsoever He says He will do. Faith in God comes not by sight nor by our feelings, but by hearing, “ . . . . faith cometh by hearing” (Romans 10:17) not by sight or what we feel. Here God is teaching Adam the same lesson (also see Matthew 4:1-4) He will teach Moses and the Children of Israel in the wilderness, “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” (Deuteronomy 8:3) Man lives by every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth and only God’s mouth. God is the one who feeds us and no one else. If we try feeding ourselves then we will get over into strange areas that will carry us out of God. For God to be able to feed us we must open our heart and receive from God as a baby bird in a nest receives from their mother. The LORD is the source of all nourishment and He cannot feed us if we do not open our heart. Man seems to want to take things, but Jesus never took anything, but received all things from the Father. In John we read Jesus words as He was praying, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovdest me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24) God was teaching Adam to be as a little bird, to open up, and respond only to Him; we cannot claim or take anything from God we must receive all that God has for us and we will receive it when and how God wants to give it to us. Who do we think we are to think we can take from God? I hear Christians tell their brothers and sisters to take the authority? Take God’s authority? How can we take something from God? Jesus never did this and is the servant greater than the Master? My friend God never intends for His children to have all things in one day as we try to do. In Matthew we read Jesus teaching the disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11) well, this is more than just words in prayer, but was an instruction to the disciples to daily take whatsoever God has for them (and us) and also was the correct portion of manna for the Children of Israel while in the wilderness to collect. In Proverbs we read, “Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:” (Proverbs 30:8) God was teaching Adam (and us) to eat that which is good for our spiritual development. There is food for different levels of our development. If a new born in Christ tries to eat the stronger meat of the word they will starve to death because they will not (due to age) have developed the ability to understand spiritually what God is giving them. Just the opposite is true with the spiritual man. If a spiritual man takes in only the milk of the word after they have developed some teeth they too will starve death and their teeth will fall out preventing future development. “Convenient food” is based on our spiritual maturity and not on whether it tastes good, looks good, or even sounds good. God never intends to teach us everything in one sitting at the table, but has planned for a long meal with different foods as we grow in the grace and the knowledge of the LORD Jesus Christ. Sadly for Adam and all of mankind he listened to another voice and paid a great price for his disobedience. Peter answered Jesus’ question and said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68) For Adam, God alone had the words of eternal life, but sadly Adam listened to another voice. So to today there are many voices out there in the world we can listen to instead of God’s voice. The world has voices that screams at our flesh to conform itself to. How sad it is to see Christians dress like the world, get tattoos and face piercings (our body is not ours to paint up or mutate), or get hooked on all of the worldly entertainment. Christian musical entertainers today have their own award show where they give each Dove (symbol of the Holy Spirit) Awards for making millions of dollars selling DVDs and CDs like the world does. Remember if it looks like duck, walks like a duck, and sounds like duck it is not a chicken, it is a duck. Well, if it looks like the world, walks like the world, and sounds the world it is not the Gospel message it is a worldly message. Oh how the love of the world rings loud and clear in the ears (me too at times) of most Christians. How can these Christians ever grow in the grace and knowledge of the LORD if they have their sights set on becoming like the world instead of becoming like Jesus which is God’s goal in our lives? 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) yet the church has adopted the ways, appearance, and heart of the world. Sadly Adam like the church of today has listened to other voices and the Father is not in them. Many Christians today listen to the many voices of denominations and religion. Sadly the focus on more people coming to church has replaced more people coming to Christ and why? People equal money and money equals power. We say we want the power of God well not so in most churches. Most churches want more money so they can build bigger barns. God is not concerned about building bigger barns (bigger churches) He is concerned about His children coming to know something about the way He functions and operates. In the last 5 or so years preaching and teaching on God’s timing has surfaced as to something that is important in our walk with the LORD. Many Christians think God has a big clock in heaven and He is waiting for a certain time to do things in the earth and in our lives, well that is so far from the truth. We hear, with every turn and twist in the Middle East, God’s second hand has moved closer to the appearing of His Son. Rubbish just rubbish. God’s timing depends not on events or circumstances in the earth, but when OUR heart is right to receive from God. God will not reveal His spiritual things to us until we are capable to understand them. Until then they will be a candle hidden under a bushel and our eyes will be blinded. It is not even about the call of God in our lives because most Christians respond more to the call of God then they do to God Himself. I have done this I know. We must not respond to God like Adam, “And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. Adam responded to God after listening to another voice. We are to love God more than His call of ministry on our lives. Who told you these things? God did. Written by David Stahl

THIS LIGHT OF MINE

When I was a little boy we would sing, “This Little Light of Mine” and do all of the hand jives to keep Satan from blowing out our light or testifying I will not hide it under a bushel, but never did we sing about us or a friend blowing it out. One thing I have noticed in my many years walking with the LORD is when I meet someone who thinks my light is a little brighter than their light there is sudden discord. I wonder why we think our light is brighter than somebody else’s? I wonder why we think we are more spiritual than the next person? If we really knew what God was doing in our brothers and sisters lives we would be shocked and probably jealous, but there is the rub. We are to just keep our light lit and not worry about someone else’s light, but it seems we often get off track with a bushel basket in hand and go looking for lights who are dimmer than ours. This is not the way God has arranged things. Why do we think our light is brighter than someone else’s? Paul talked a lot about this problem with regards to the early church. In Galatia Paul writes, “Bear 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. 4But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.” (Galatians 6:2-4) At the Church in Rome Paul shares these words, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3) I wonder why we think we are greater than we are and more highly exalted than what we are? We all are just one breathe from eternity yet we think we are greater than our fellow Christian brothers or sisters. We have no ability in God except for what God gives us. Our words (if from God) are His words. Why do we say we have a special revelation from God? After all but for God seeking us we would be lost. Sometimes we are told this and think we are seeking God, but that is not true He is always seeking us. He even loved us while we were yet in sin. He has been seeking us from the day He sought Adam and He has never been yet satisfied. The eternal attitude of God toward humanity is that of a seeking God. I find it funny when people say they are chasing after God, but how can we run after someone who is to be inside of us? As we advance in God and as we move on in Him it is wonderful how the Holy Spirit can keep projecting before us unexplored areas in us and in the world that we have yet to move into. We say He reigns and rules in our heart; this is very true, but has He found the absolute and perfect control and possession of us? The longer I go the more I see God’s desire to possess me, but I also see how I resist His approach. Paul said it this, “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.” (Romans 7:18) but, God’s goal in all of this is to be able to reveal our heart to us. Revelation in God opens our eyes to a situation or an area then goes deeper to reveal how we measure up in this area or situation. He shows us about love and then reveals how loveless we can be at times. He shows us faithfulness and then reveals how faithless we can be at times, all to train and develop us. He wants to take hold of us, to shape us, mold us, even do miracles in us (our change of character and nature), and with us. And someday Jesus will take us out of this world, out of time, and present us to the Ancient of Days the great desire of His heart. He desires that He shall have something to present to His Father. Now do not let your heart be deceived into thinking that any experience, I do not care how profound it may be, how moving it may be, how very revolutionizing it may be which God leads you will ever mature you. Do not allow yourself to come under the power of an experience and then live in that and build your life around it. Someday when we are released from this earth and taken to be with the LORD we cannot come back and have a redo what we have done in the past will be what we present. What of any spiritual value in us will be all we will be able to carry with us into the next age from what we have allowed God to work in our lives. Our Christian life with God is not about working for God, but becoming something in God. We must not be upset if God is not using us to make a manifestation out here of our life; say as a preacher, teacher, a great evangelist, or missionary. He does not want that from us. He is not expecting it from us. He had one Paul, and He had one Peter. He has one of you and you are the only specific edition of who you are. He is desirous of possessing every last individual that He can find to accomplish in that individual the thing for which He has brought you into time to experience. If He has called you to be a great preacher, then preach. If He has called you to be a good farmer, then be a good farmer. The whole thing swings from this perspective “whosoever will do the will of God” that is all that He is asking. If it is to plant potatoes, then plant the potatoes to the glory of God, and sing all the while you are planting them. We become entangled in the mechanism and forget the objective. Do not lose your objective. Keep it always before you: the Glory of God and our life surrendered. Did you know commitment leads to surrender? There is a huge difference. We will never surrender our life to God as He desires unless first we are committed to Him and His ways. The totality of us being disciplined, educated, trained, and conformed happens by the 1,000 and one things that God throws into our lives. If I am called to be a meat cutter, how many know that this is a sacred calling? What makes it sacred? Cutting meat? No! What makes it holy? It is the will of God for my life. Not the meat cutting, but the will of God. And if we can do this, then we can move on as none of us have arrived. We are in the process of becoming and we will be in this process until the LORD takes us home. God dealt with our sin. He did that in a very short order, but it takes a life time to deal with our character and nature. The LORD is saying, “I have been dealing with all that externally. Now I want to come in here and get a hold of you.” This is what makes it difficult. Truth will always disturb you. But it has a two-fold way of disturbing and moving. If we allow it truth will actually slay us. But it will also be the truth that will resurrect us at the same time. We see this in operation in 1 Samuel, “The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.” (1 Samuel 2:6) How can God do this? Do you see these two opposing forces and how we can vacillate between them? What a strange effect it has upon life. He talks about death, but He also talks about life. He talks about the slaying, the crucifying, but He also talks about the resurrection and the life, but listen all that must have correct application or otherwise we become unbalanced and get over in thinking we are greater than someone else, greater than we really are, or that our light is brighter than others. Make no mistake my friend for those who cannot handle the truth – truth will kill them and every relationship that they have that is not built on a Godly foundation, but at the same time the Spirit will give life as long as there is an open heart by the receiver and a heart willing to give love. Paul told the Church at Corinth, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) In other words Paul was telling them without “charity” (love) their lights are not the brightest lights on the tree. Our revelation of God must change our character and if it does not then it is nothing more than “sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” My friend when someone thinks their light is brighter than another’s they will think they are superior to another brother or sister, but this nothing but arrogance and pride something God despises. Jesus washed the feet of the disciples He did not tell them how much better He was than them. When someone operates in ministry with this type of thinking their ministry becomes all about them and what God is going in them and not about what God is doing for others through them. Self-projection through over spiritualization of events is one’s life can develop this spiritual superiority among the brethren and if we have not allowed God to deal with this character flaw in our lives it will only serve to magnify this character flaw even the more. For example: wanting someone to carry your bag, always wanting the front seat of car, or looking to be exalted in basic conversation. A deep revelation of God my friend should cause us to be more compassionate and giving and not selfish wanting to be served. Again, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples He placed no condition for His friendship. I have good friend (I still call him friend and brother) who has not talked to me in three years because I told him the truth about a question he asked me about himself and in order to reestablish our relationship I must meet certain requirements and conditions he has established. I now see our past 30 year relationship was always one sided, but he would never admit it. As long as I did the things he thought I should do to maintain our friendship things were fine, but if I ever broke any of these unstated rules he would separate himself from our friendship as he did. After all his light is brighter than mine (he told me so) after all he is more spiritual than I am (he told me so) and has a richer, deeper more fuller (he told me so) revelation of God than I do. But that is not what Paul said, “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” My friend when we think our light is brighter than our brothers and sisters we are deceiving ourselves. Let us not think we are better or greater than others. Let us take heed not to think our little light is brighter than the next man if so God will show us it is not and blow our little light out. Written by David Stahl

A MEDITATION ON EASTER

Around Christmas time last year 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 not Jesus, “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 hymn 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