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

GOD'S NAME

In the Book of Exodus beginning in Chapter 20 we read about God giving the Children of Israel and mankind today His 10 Commandments. Funny how some Christians think they do not still apply today. I have always wondered if God wanted man to follow these 10 Commandments why did He wait until Exodus 20 to let man know what His standards for living were? Why did He not give the 10 Commandments to Adam? I think there is much more here in God’s heart and law (the 10 Commandment) than what we understand and commonly teach in our churches. In verse seven of Exodus 20 we read, “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7) Now many Christians believe this verse means we are not to use God’s name while reeling off a host of unsavory words of profanity; well this is so far from the truth in which God is trying to express in this verse. Now good common sense and moral teaching tells us we should never use the same word (God) when cussing that we use to identify our heaven Father. Now if you are doing this please stop, but God is not talking about our language here He is talking about our heart condition before Him and how we misuse the power and authority of His name. Our thinking that God is talking about us not cussing (and we should not) only diverts us from the truth of this verse. The word “vain” here in this verse is Strong’s #7723 and means emptiness, vanity, falsehood, and has nothing to do with our language, but looks at our motives and desires when mentioning God’s name. The vainness is not of the tongue, but of the heart. What do we want to get from God and man when we invoke the name of God? What is our purpose and desire when we bring God into the picture, how do we use His name to meet the end results? Do we manipulate people using God’s name to get what we want? Do we make God bigger in the eyes of people to match a selfish goal in our lives? If so we are making God smaller. Do we use the word of God to get people to give us money or power?

In a church we use to attend there was a fellow (would be evangelist) we will call him Anthony for the sake of this article. Well, Anthony often would ask me if I could set up a huge crusade in Africa or India, something that would draw 100s of thousands of people so he could preach. Anthony was not interested in starting small oh no he wanted something huge for his first time outside the country. Well an opportunity to share in joint services between churches in Romania and then some in Bulgaria (it was the first time this ever happened) came available yet Anthony was reluctant to commit to it because it was not big enough, but in the end he said yes. One of many problems Anthony had was he did not have the money for the plane ticket and other expenses so he starting asking people of means in our church if they could give him some money to make the trip. He told me what he was doing and smiled when he said, “Ye have not because ye ask not.” My heart and spirit sank, his focus and motive was all wrong. He was trying to get the money by all means possible, but it is God who provides our need not our wit and ability to spin words to charm or manipulate people into doing what we want them to do. Money (even for ministry needs) should never be a focus of ministry. The focus of ministry is always about relationship between people. If money is the focus then it is a carnal and earthly pursuit with no Spiritual value to our soul. I tell my many pastor friends overseas Godly ministry comes out of Godly relationships, the need for money must never be what bring us together. Yes money buys things, but God can make things happen far beyond what money can buy. Since 1996 when we headed over to Germany God has always provided all we needed without begging Him or twisting the arms of people. Every time God wanted something to happen the funding came in and the need was met. For me this was great blessing for it served as a constant confirmation to me that God was behind what I felt He wanted us to do. Amazingly the funding came from strangers from most unexpected sources. The first time I went to India God brought Belinda into our lives. I met Belinda at the base health clinic in Stuttgart, Germany where she worked as a physical therapist technician and an E-7 in the U.S. Army. I really got to know her when she laid hands on my back during my physical therapy treatments. One day as she was working she said, “I would like to give you my tithes.” I said, “okay I am planning to go to India soon.” After my treatment she said she wanted to see me next week for another treatment and for the rest of the money, but for now here is a start. She handed me a check for $700. I could not believe my eyes. The next week I showed up as she requested. She said, “you better sit down.” I said, “okay.” You know obedience is always the right answer. I thought she was going to give me a check for $300 rounding it off to $1000. I was wrong she handed me a check for $1300 rounding it off to $2000. I needed every penny for my ticket and to bless the people along the way. Belinda continued to support BHG for years and even when she returned to the States in spite of her great struggle with breast cancer. Our hope for Belinda is that she is with the Lord and in our heart there is a very soft and very special place for Belinda. God will use any circumstance, situation, or person He wants to use to meet our need. We need not try to save our self or make things happen to meet our need, but rest in God knowing He knows what we need and He knows how to make all things work out for His glory and our good.

We do not need to invoke God’s name to receive from God. Again, He knows what we need before we even ask. We must be very careful when asking people for money if not careful our dependency and self-sufficient strength on the money and the person becomes greater than our faith in God to meet our need. Too often our first stop is to our friends of means who has helped in the past. Now God may use this individual, but this is His call not ours. Our job is to be able to discern God’s leading in this situation. Sadly when we do this we miss out on the God of the universe not being able to meet our need in ways far beyond our understanding. My friend either we will operate in the strength, resources, and power of man or of God, it is our choice. Sadly today when God come into the picture it is only after our friends have said no. We in the church have really mastered this asking man and God for things. Now I will be honest lately (like Anthony did for his trip to Eastern Europe) I too have been burdening (asking) the folks on our ministry email distribution list to keep our clinic in Aveile, Nigeria in their thoughts, prayers, and finances each time I would send an email out. This my friend is wrong and I ask your forgiveness. God knows what we need; it is His maternity clinic, this is His idea, and He is duty bound to take good care of it without me twisting arms or manipulating people. In Mathew Jesus touched on this thought in a very familiar portion of Scripture. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:7-11) Jesus was not telling us here to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking (many preachers and teachers believe it and minister this wrong thinking leading many Christians astray) until we get God to jump through the hoop for us or beat Him over the head with His own words. Oh no my friend we do not get to God’s heart by repetition or nagging. Jesus was telling us to take heed; if we ask for something, something will be given to us now it may not be what God has in mind for us, but it will be something. The same goes for seeking and knocking. If we seek something we will find something, again it may not be what we are seeking for or what God has in mind for us, but we will find something. If we knock on enough doors one will open. Now it may not be the door God wants us to walk through, but it will be the door we have knocked on and it will be the one opened unto us. Jesus ends His words (verse 11) by saying, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” Jesus was saying to let our desires be known to God (no nagging) then rest in knowing God knows all things (even what we want before we ask) even the intents and desires of our heart (the good and bad ones) and He knows how to give us, His children, good things. It is not that God needs to know what we want, He already knows, but it is because we have a great desire within us (and feel better) to tell Him. Within us is a desire to tell God what we want (like a child tells his parents) and when we do we are satisfied and content within our spirit until we do not get what we have asked (like little children) God for. I am so glad God has not given me what I have asked for in the past. God knows all things, He knows the future, and He knows His plan for our lives. Jesus was telling us to stop all of this asking, seeking, knocking, and just rest in our heavenly Father knowing He knows what He wants for our lives.

How sad it is when we hear people invoke the various names of God: Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Shalom, and all of the other names mentioned in the Scriptures in an attempt to be able to tap into some supernatural power as many TV pastors and evangelists will tell you to do. This my friend is nothing more than our greedy, selfish desires groping and hoping to use these words as a magic wands, but my friend God’s power comes by way of our obedience, submission, and surrender not by invoking His names. Remember our usefulness and authority in God will only be as far as our submission and surrender will carry us. There is no magic formula or words we can conger up to get what we want from God we must receive His “good things” by commitment and obedience to Him and His word. And it funny how we think we get to pick and choose one of God’s names and then “claim” (word not found in the KJV of the Bible) the power and it magically manifest in our lives. This my friend is nothing more than wrong thinking out from wrong teaching and is just plain greedy, selfishness, and self-seeking in our lives. We take God’s name in vain every time we mention or invoke it not in accordance with the word of God (the Bible) and His will and plan for our lives. Last week the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) had their beg-a-thon (they have it now three times a year) on as well as other TV Christian networks begging people for money so they can do the work of God. But does not God own all of the wealth in the world? Does He not own the cattle on 1,000 hills and even the hills? Why does God’s servant doing God’s will have to beg people for money? Something is just wrong here. Could it be maybe they are not doing God’s will and could be it they are not God’s servants? Does God need a Spiritual Diseyland so Christians can go on vacation? Is this what the Gospel message has been watered down to? When Beholding His Glory started finances were never a problem; everything that God wanted me to do was funded with more than enough and still is today.

In the mid 60s after returning from a trip to Kenya East Africa Paris Reidhead delivered “Ten Shekels and Shirt” (I strongly recommend you listen to it or read the text) a powerful message from God that debunks and strips the wrong thinking of the secular apostate church (TBN crowd) today. Reidhead said, “The philosophy of the church today is humanism. And you can define humanism this way: Humanism is a philosophical statement that declares the end of all being is the happiness of man. The reason for existence is man’s happiness. Now according to humanism, salvation is simply a matter of getting all the happiness you can, out of life.” Is this not what we see in most churches today? Christians going after happiness instead of God’s will for our lives? And yes Christians going after happiness instead of God’s dealings and judgments in their lives. The church has adopted a humanistic philosophy and approach to God in application and tries to mix in some parlor magic tricks to make it seem spiritual, but “That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit and that which is born of the flesh is flesh.” (John 3:6) Pastor Reidhead boiled it all down concluding; “we all work for God at His good pleasure and that is our reward no more no less because of who He is.” Our reward is God being glorified; it is not about our happiness or us using God’s name to receive supernatural power or resources, but just God allowing us to be used is God’s good pleasure. When I first started traveling overseas in ministry I would say look what God has done; now to a certain degree that is true, but it is not what God has done in the world through me in ministry as much as what God has done in me. God does not need me to do the work for Him, but I need the work of God to be done in me. Paul said, “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) “We” not the good works. “We” not the names of God are the workmanship of God. Let us not get lost in the humanistic approach of the nominal church today; using God’s name in vain for personal gain and power, but just submit and surrender to God’s work in our lives and become more and more His workmanship day after day. Written by David Stahl

GOD'S POWER

Where is the spontaneous move of God? I can remember growing up sitting in church and suddenly like a mighty rushing wind the power of God would move; everyone would be crying and praying on their face before God (now that is true worship) people would run down to the altar no need for 15 -20 minutes of twisting arms or manipulating. Now the two characteristic marks of early Pentecost that I remember were originally in the moving of the Spirit and spontaneity. These two marks I think are all blurred now. I have been in many Pentecostal meetings, but this substitute that we have now these two marks are not evident. There was an originality of the Spirit, but no one today wants to make room for it. We encourage the Spirit, but tell Him what we want Him to do. This is wrong. When the Holy Spirit wants to work we do not need to instruct or encourage Him we just need to flow with what He wants, but in most services it has come to a method where He has no original design because He is so coached. I remember the Holy Spirit might use one person as a channel to flow through to provide the theme for the meeting it would be the key for that one gathering and the meeting would center around that theme. Now the next night the Spirit may not move on that person (the one the night before) and choose another. The move of God was spontaneous; it was not studied or encouraged. I hope and pray that raising our hands when the recognized harmony of the music is just right or speaking in tongues out of order in a service against what Paul instructed us (1 Corinthians 14:5-6, 18-19, 21-23) is not what the Holy Spirit has been reduced to in our church services. We do need the power of God moving in our church services it is the missing piece the world is looking for. It is what separates the world-wide church from the rest of the world’s meetings. Not the gifts and power of God just to show the power, but the gifts and power of God to show God’s power to a lost and dying world who need a God who can save them from their sins. To answer this critical question I would like to share some reasons (not in order of importance) why I believe the spontaneous power of the Holy Spirit is not present in our church services today:

The first is we have programmed God into doing what we want Him to do in our services and do not allow the Holy Spirit free reign to move in our hearts; we hamstring God out of design. In most churches when we come in we go for the piece of paper that gives us the order of things to come and when we do this week after week we are programming ourselves into what is expected in our service. It is a subtle and an oh so sinister programming the flow of a service in our spirit: three fast ones and a slow one, take up the offering, some announcements, 15-20 minutes of a sermon with a good moral story (not a message of thus says the LORD), and out to beat the other denominations to your favorite cafeteria style restaurant. Every second is spoken for, but what if God just wants us to just sit still and be quiet before Him? What if God does not want us to sing, dance, or wave some flags? What if God just wants us to pray? Lay on our face before Him? Will we give God room? Do we have the Spiritual leaders with a Spiritual ability to recognize the shift of the Spirit to accommodate God’s desires? In most churches I have been in lately I would say no: they plow ahead and do what they have written out in their programs, they sing the songs, they give the announcements, they do what they want to do, as God watches.

The second area is a huge issue in the church world-wide. I cannot begin to tell you of the number of pastors (around the world) I have spoke with that struggle with this one issue. We have denied the truth and ignored the word of God by allowing women to take leadership roles, preach, and teach in our churches. The Holy Spirit is very clear here, “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. 13For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (1 Timothy 2:11-13) The Holy Spirit did not forget women and has provided for their role in the church and in society, “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” (Titus 2:3-5) But this is not what you see in most homes and churches today, this is not good enough for some ambitious women like Jezebel and even some ambitious women we personally know who have leave their husbands to tramp all over the world thinking they are doing God’s will or worse ambitious woman who have emasculated their husbands stripping them of their spiritual authority in their home. Sadly the folly of these ambitious and rebellious women to God’s word is destroying the Spirit of God in homes and in our churches. Say what you will and justify what you may, but God’s word is clear women have NO leadership authority from God within the home and our churches. Now some men will give women this authority, but I have seen time and time again the great confusion, falling away, and destruction (in the end) that comes out of it. God has ordained men to be in leadership positions in the church. The Bible does not support women as: elders, deacons, bishops, apostles, evangelist, preachers, pastors, or teachers. No need for a prophet or prophetess the Holy Spirit is now here. Nowhere in the Bible does God give His permission, now women may be qualified (educated, a great speaker, know the Bible), but so was Jezebel, “Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.” (Revelation 2:20) Women may be qualified, but they are not authorized and this my friend is the difference. For those churches who choose to reject God’s word and order, so be it you will reap what you sow.

The third area I would like to discuss is we have gone after emotions (we want to feel good and be blessed) instead of the leading of the Spirit of God. What happened to those verses in the Scripture that talk about enduring trials and tribulations? Whatever happened to, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12) Do we not want to be godly? Most people in church do not want to suffer, they do not want to overcome anything. Sadly we want to use the power of the Gospel to soften life’s problems. Well my friend this is not God’s idea. If we desire to see the power of God again we must get back to enduring life’s many problems with a song in our heart and the word of God on our lips. Why do we think the Holy Spirit should reward our lazy, slothful behavior? We read of the hall of faith in Hebrews 11, but when was the last time you heard a message (or even a sermon) from verses 33-39? “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:” (Hebrews 11:33-39) After doing all of these mighty things of God by faith, “And these all, having a good report through faith receive NOT the promise.” Why would or should God give us the promise and not them? Who do we think we are? Do we think we are better than the Christians in Hebrews 11:33-39? They saw the power of God because they endured tribulations and even death. How about us?

The fourth area why the power of God is absent in most churches today is because in the early 70s there was a deliberate movement away from evangelism to teaching in most Bible Schools. Not much money, power, or fame in evangelism, but in teaching you can get a big international ministry and travel the world, feed and heal the masses in huge crusades, get your picture in all kinds of Christian magazines (an oxymoron) and on Christian TV. In teaching you can get a huge international church and then hit the conference and seminar circuit that are advertized in those Christian magazines or on Christians TV (another oxymoron). This time in history also was when we started to see great crowds of people gathering in tents, stadiums, and conference centers instead of a church. All Godly ministry must be built on Godly relationships and must be filtered though the church, a local body of Believers. If not then it is man focused and profit driven, sounds familiar does it not? Power and manipulation are the characteristics and not the spontaneous and original move of the Spirit of God. Also in the early 70s Evangelist, pastors, and teachers started watering down the word of God to the people by preaching what the people wanted to hear (making them happy) and not wanting to offend them. Remember if you want people to give you money just tell them what they already know and what they want to hear. They started preaching or teaching a sermon (a story with a moral or religious lesson) and not a message from the LORD (thus says the God). And why, it was easier, a good sermon we can get off the internet, but a message from God now that will require us to spend time before Him and endure His dealings and judgments in our lives to be the vessel His word can flow through.

This last area we will look at I wrestle with even today in my heart because I love my country of which I gave 24 years of loyal, dedicated service in the U.S. military. I read the Bible and it tells of the spiritual condition of the world and of man’s heart condition in the last days (oh how I see this before my eyes and even see this in me at times) and I know God must judge America and the whole world for their waywardness. But I also know why America was created by God; not to spread freedom and democracy around the world but to spread the glorious Gospel message around the world. My friend there is no freedom and liberty (this thinking is the product of the liberal social philosophy of many denominations and religions) in God only restriction and limitations that will bring us to fulfillment and completion. And if the church world-wide and American does not walk in the restrictions and limitation of God’s word both will be erased from God’s plan and from history. In most churches we feed our selfish flesh as it cries out, “look at me I want to sing, I want to dance for the glory of God,” but in reality this all is a lie and a sham we sing and dance, clap our hands because we miss the ways of the world like people at some rock concert and now we have justified and incorporated worldly ways in church to satisfy our fleshly worldly desires. Now please do not get me wrong if you want to sing, dance, whatever in church have at it, but Christian music is just that, music it is entertainment and we must not allow ourselves to be caught up in the emotional feeling thinking we can make an approach to God through music, any talent, or skill. A holy God insist on more than singing, clapping, and dancing to come before Him. The Bible says, “Those with clean hands and pure heart shall see God” that is see God now on earth and in the eternity. Our approach to God must never be with singing songs, playing music, waving flags, painting, drama, etc. God is not looking for these things to get us to Him, He is looking for an approach with our whole heart by the Spirit of God. God cares little about how well we sing, dance, jump, run, or paint, but He is greatly concerned about how faithful, committed, and obedient we are to Him. These are the characteristics God is looking for in His children. Sadly, (and I cannot explain it) we see older ladies (ages 40-60) who should know better, but dress and wear make-up like they are in their 20s, where is their modesty and womanhood. My friend unless the church goes back to a simplistic conservative delivery of the word of God the church will become irrelevant in the world to reach lost souls. I will even go further, if the church does not go back to a conservative, Bible-based, Holy Spirit delivery of the word of God America as a nation is doomed. If the church in America fails so does America. Our churches have become political pitting black against white in class warfare, Democrats against Republicans. America’s strength is not her military and money, but God. God does not care about the White House He cares about a pure and holy temple where He can eternally abide. This is why He desires to conform us into the image and character of His dear precious Son Jesus Christ. Yet we have allowed the church to be divided out over political matters and have ignored the weighty matters, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” (Matthew 23:23) the things God holds near and dear to His heart. Unless America and the church world-wide goes back to a simplistic, conservative method of sharing the Gospel message and turn their backs on the social liberal method that has gotten then both off track their best days are behind them. Jeremiah was interceding for the nation of Israel and here is what God told Jeremiah to tell Israel to do, “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. 17Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.” (Jeremiah 6:16-17) God has been telling the church world-wide and America for many years in many ways these words and has sent many watchmen of which I am one. I have qualified and been approved by God for this position. Let us not deceive ourselves anymore. What we call the Spirit of God moving today is nothing more than our flesh seeking after God. Let us expect more from the Holy Spirit by being willing to do the things of God to see the Spirit move again like in the old days. The way back to the heart of the Father is back on the “old paths.” We must get back to the basic, simplistic, one-on-one delivery of the Gospel then and only then will we see the spontaneous and the originality of the power of God again in our service and in our lives. Written by David Stahl

ANOTHER JESUS

In today’s world our lives often centers around the many choices we have. I remember when we came back from Germany; Karen, the kids, and I went up to New Jersey to visit Karen’s wonderful dad, mom, brothers, and her sister. Well, one day we went to the Path Mart with Mom Kreiss and I was asked to go select a salad dressing, pretty simple right? Well not so simple if you have been use to a selection of three or four choices. I turned the corner on the salad dressing aisle and saw a sea of choices. I could not believe the number of different salad dressings I could choose from. It almost became overwhelming, but I struggled through it and selected ranch. I never forgot the view of cascading colors and labels in the 100 foot long, six feet high aisle. Sadly the Christian world often is like the salad dressing aisle we have so many different types of churches and denominations to choose from. If we do not like this church we can just simply go to another, who cares what the Holy Spirit wants. In Kenya they have a term called “churching” to explain the constant shuffling from church to church while warming their hands at others fires. But even sadder with each different church or denomination also comes another Jesus. Just by common sense one would have to know they all cannot be preaching and teaching the same message; there must be a different slant, a different understanding, a different doctrine and with each difference comes another Jesus. I really believe the denominational infighting, confusion, and deception has done more damage to the Body of Christ than Satan. Satan has been defeated, “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:15), but the willful spreading of outright lies and half-truths (which are also lies) for the sake of money, power, control, and authority by the denominations or non-denominations (large fellowship groups with churches around the world) to further their agenda and doctrine (because everyone else is wrong) on the earth are sharing another Jesus.

Paul had to deal with this destructive, deception at the Church at Corinth. Paul shares, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4) The Gospel messages as is our walk with the Lord is simplistic and if we make it anything more than what the Bible says it is we are getting over into presumption (very dangerous) and deception. The message, the Gospel message is: the death, burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the message of the cross, “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.18For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:17-18), but this message is not popular with the nominal church collectively and most denominations and non-denominations today, oh no, it is all about them and their special twist or slant to the word of God or some special revelation God has given just them. To them all I say shame on them and ichabod – the glory has departed.

There must be a coming together in the essentials of God. In Ephesians Paul sets the standard for Christian commonality and brotherhood being “one.” “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:2-5) How do we miss this? Could it be we have failed to meet the requirement of “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” by wanting our way and not God’s way and our revelation and not God’s revelation? Or maybe we have failed to keep the absolutes absolute and the optionals optional. The absolutes is the Gospel message, the message of the cross (death to our selfishness and self-life), holiness (without having no man shall see God), faithfulness, commitment, perseverance, obedience to God these are the absolutes. The optionals are all of our feeble religious practices we do to try to reach a holy God, things we have done in the past that worked somewhat so we keep doing them in hope God can be found. Or things that have been handed down to us in ritual worship and if not done God will not honor our worship. For example in most Pentecostal churches in Africa the ladies and men sit separated; ladies on one side of the church men on the other. Now is that wrong? No, but if it is done thinking it will get you to God, yes. In most Pentecostal churches in Eastern Europe and many Apostolic churches in the States ladies must wear a doily or some head covering. They get this from the Bible and adhere to it as the Gospel. Is this wrong? No it is an optional, but it becomes wrong when another lady comes into the church who is uncovered and is shunned. I remember when I first went to Moldova I was given the ground rules: to minister within the city you must wear a coat and tie, but if you are outside the city you need only a coat. Except for those churches where you cannot wear a tie because the point of the tie points down to hell. The problem is we have made the optionals absolutes and the absolutes optionals. We have made the major things of God minor and the minor things of God major and in doing so we bring another Jesus to the church and to the world. They have distorted the word of God and now they have a new Jesus to save them from their sins, but Paul in 1 Corinthians tells us if we do this we will have to “well bear with him.” In other words we will have to put up with or deal with this deception on our own and never receive the intent of God’s wholesomeness, wellness, and grace.

We see this deception and confession with the beloved John the Baptist and John’s disciples. In the Gospel of John we read, “After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 23And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. 24For John was not yet cast into prison.” (John 3:22-24) To whom was John baptizing? Jesus was already on the scene and had already started His ministry. Why did not John the Baptist join Jesus? After all he recognized Jesus as the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the Holy and anointed One. Do you know even to today there are disciples of John in Israel still baptizing? In spite of John’s deep and insightful revelation of who Jesus is (as seen in verses 27-36) John was sharing another Jesus. Not the one before the people’s eyes, but one that he made up from a prior revelation of God. We see this deception and confusion again in Matthew when John was in prison, “Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, 3And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” (Matthew 11:2) Did you know there often was a great conflict between Jesus and His disciples and John the Baptist and his disciples and the people. The people were often confused to who they should follow. For example, “Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying. 26And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.” (John 3:25-26) This is why Jesus had to put John in a place (prison) where there was not a lot of water to baptize people. So too if we bring another Jesus to people in the world God will put us in a place where we cannot do any more damage to the Body of Christ. Make no mistake my friend God will not allow us to keep messing things up; He has paid a great price for the redemption of the Body of Christ (His only begotten Son) and He will not lay this sacrifice aside for any of man’s foolishness and religious practices, no matter how well intended. God will be longsuffering (and hopes for a change in our thoughts and behavior), but like Jesus was with John the Baptist there will come a time when His patience conflicts with His plan and His correction is made. Take heed my friend. One of Paul’s main themes in all of his writings is, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthian 1:12) These words will ring true and sure in our heart and lives today if we bring another Jesus before the people, a Jesus that is not found in the Bible, another Jesus, a Jesus that has been invented by our ambitions, our plans, and our misapplication of the word of God, a Jesus that has no power and no ability to save us from our sins. This is the Jesus I see today in most churches. And sadly this is the Jesus the world sees. No wonder the world is confused and hoping for help, but can only be helped by the real Jesus as presented by the word of God and by those people who really love Him.

Many today are waiting for Jesus to come back to earth, now I believe He will not because of what I see in the news on TV or what the guessers on Christian TV says, but because the Bible says so. If the Bible says it then it will happen, but most people in the world expect Jesus (when He comes back) to be the weak defenseless babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying a manger, but He will not. When Jesus comes back He will be THE (one and only) conquering King of Kings and Lord of Lords in all power and glory with a sword of righteousness to judge the nations and all souls. John gives us a fore clue, “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:14) Karen always says, Jesus is coming back to kick our butts. Jesus will not be the savior of the world in all of His meek and lowly manner oh no, Jesus will, “smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” How can the people of the world see this Jesus as a conquering King, “to rule with a iron rod” when every year around the 25th of December Jesus get’s to be born and then over what we call Easter (translated as “passover” in the Bible) we get to kill Him. But that is not who Jesus is today, oh no my friend Jesus is (for those who honor, serve, and love Him) Lord, ruler, and master of our lives. He desires to sit on the throne of our hearts to rule and reign over our lives, but who wants to have a ruler over them when they can be the captain of their own ship, do what they want to do. Well, in God you cannot do and say what you want to say and do. If we desire to walk in the ways of God so that He can share His heart with us, we must do and say only those things the Father wants us to do and say. We must restrict our lives to only those things that are found in the Bible. This doctrine of liberty and freedom in God is from the pits of hell; there is no freedom and liberty in God, only the limitations and restrictions of God’s word and in them is fulfillment and completion. Liberty and freedom lead us out of God’s way to our way. Isaiah said, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) What way was that? The way we wanted to go and not the way God wanted us to go. We must preach and teach only those things in the Bible not those things we think are needed to be shared. When I pastored I was so tempted at times to preach against sin I personally knew that was moving in lives in our church, but I also knew the Holy Spirit knew far greater than I how to reach minds and hearts. When we preach and teach the word of God the power of the Holy Spirit is released to do the work of God in our lives. But when we teach and preach the latest self-help, 12 step, Christian fad from the latest Christian best-seller we release the spirit of the world. Just look at the deception of the world from preachers and teachers like: T.D. Jakes, Joel Osteen, Paula White, Joyce Meyers, others, and from the self-proclaimed so called spiritual people like Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phil has done in the lives of many Christians. It seems every other month these charlatans have a new book out for a donation to their ministry or to be sold for great profit in Christian books stores. Now I am a writer, I have written three books, and I know how long it takes to write a book and my friend it takes much longer than 30 or so days. For the truth to be known most if not all of the “big time” TV celebrity preachers and teachers get books from ghost writers and they put their names on the work, shameful on both parties. When we preach or teach anything (other than from the word of God) we are preaching and teaching another Jesus. We must get back to the word of God and nothing else! Back in 1996 Charles Haun (my teacher) gave me some of the greatest advice and guidance I have ever heard when we last talked on earth, “just give them Jesus” he said. Written by David Stahl

GRACE AND TRUTH

Jesus is full of grace and truth. The Gospel of John and 1 John begins very similar in words and thoughts, Jesus becoming flesh and dwelling among us. I like the 1 John version, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 16And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:14-17)

As I study the Scriptures one thing that has always fascinated me is those verses that have a run (two or more words) we must meet to be able to walk in the truth the Holy Spirit is expressing. For example in Matthew 6:33, “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” It is one thing to seek the kingdom of God (in man’s perspective in God’s kingdom we can get a job and make money, even manipulate and control people), but it is a different thing all together to seek His righteousness. Not much glory, power, and authority in this, but death to our self-seeking, selfish, fleshly desires which is the requirement to having God’s righteousness. Or “the LORD killeth and maketh alive” in 1 Samuel 2:6. Or in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity.” Two things I have learned while studying the Bible; words matter and the order of these words matter more. Usually the last word in the run has been particularly ordered by the Holy Spirit highlighting the greater importance. So too here in our text, the Scriptures says, Jesus was “full of grace and truth.” Jesus was “full” there was no room for anything else in Jesus only grace and truth. There is a spiritual principle moving here; to be full of something we must empty ourselves of other things to make room. So too in our lives we are to be full of grace and truth, but to be able to be full of grace and truth we first empty ourselves of all of our worldly desires, hopes, and ambitions. Oh yes, believe it or not my friend we are to be like Jesus here, we too are to be full of (both) grace and truth. Now this is God’s intention for our lives (us being full of grace and truth), but if it never comes to pass in our lives it is not because God has made it so oh no, it will happen because we have chosen to move in obedience to God’s intention for our lives. God has given us the power to decide in these eternal matters of the heart. God really has no say (it is His intention He wants to see it happen), but whether it happens or not is up to us. Now if we are only full of grace we will not be able to judge righteous judgment and if we are only full of truth we will not be able to express love to others as Jesus did. The end results in all we do for God and man must be love out of a genuine concern for their spiritual and physical well-being.

We have received grace in our lives because Jesus first gave grace and now we can give grace to others. God saves us from our sins so that we can save others; not from their sins only God can do this, but we can save our friends from doctrines that do not line up with the Bible, wrong choices and decisions they have made, and etc. If we see a friend (or anyone for that matter) in a burning building would we not do all we could to save him from the fire? Yes of course, well how about eternal things? How much more should we be concerned for our friends and acquaintances to tell them the truth? But the main point here is unless we receive grace from God we will never be able to give grace to man. A man cannot give what he does not have. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are we saved through faith,” now this is the process – salvation through faith, but how about the other word Jesus was full of – truth? We must never sacrifice grace for truth and we must never sacrifice truth for grace. Jesus was full (and we are to be also) at all times of both. When sharing the hard truths of God’s word it was done in grace. Karen always tells me I can tell people almost anything, but whether it is received or not often depends on how I am saying it. We must never sugar coat the truth, but at the same time we are not to cram that last bit of truth down someone’s throat. I hear many Christians say they have a great desire to know God, but they run from conference to conference, church to church, from the latest Christian movement to the next, from one mighty and anointed song to the next when all they have to do is, “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) Believe it or not we do not have to do all that running around to know God all we have to do is take a good long look at Jesus, because He is like the Father, “full of grace and truth.” Unless we can walk in the truth of God’s word we will never be able to give truth. Remember a man cannot give what he does not have. The best we will be able to do is judge situations and circumstances out of our experiences and our sin sick present heart condition. The basis for our judgment will not be grace and truth, but presumption and religion that sounds good, smells good, feels good, but in the end if not grace and truth and will lead to destruction and death. Still with that being said we still must judge as Jesus judged, He is counting on us to give righteous judgment in the earth. If not His children who then will be able to give righteous judgment? In Matthew Jesus said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5) Jesus was not telling them not to judge situation and circumstances in their lives and others; the Scriptures are full of verses that encourage us to judge, but He was telling these “hypocrites” not to judge until they can clearly see from God’s perspective and out from a Godly heart condition. There is a lot of trash goes on in the church today because many Christians fail to hold people accountable to the Godly standards of the Bible all because they do not want to judge. Well my friend this is just flat wrong we must stand up from integrity, honor, and truth. We must call a snake a snake when we see it. To do otherwise just speaks of our lack of integrity (what God is looking for in His children more than anything), not having a Godly character, and no concern for the truth of the word of God. We seem to be quick today to share the feelings of our brothers and sisters that have stumbled out of the way and gotten off track not wanting to offend, but what does it profit someone to think well of you as they are going further and further away from God. Yes, my Baptist friends we can lose our salvation if we willfully choose to turn our back on God. If we turn our heads and look the other way to things that are not consistent with the word of God (sin) we are not extending grace, oh no, we are committing sin. If I am getting off track I would hope I have friends who care enough about me and my soul to come to me (in humility and grace) and share their concerns, then leave their words and softy heart at my feet so that I can inspect my life (before God) through their observations. But that is not what usually happens. Usually we beat our brothers and sisters over the head with our words and leave them bruised and bleeding because of our callous heart. Now I have experienced both ways and the second format does not work. We must be full of truth at all times and extend grace after the judgment is rendered. Remember one cannot extend grace until after the judgment. It is after judgment (be in our lives or others) has been rendered that grace or punishment is executed. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; we all are deserving of hell’s fire and an eternal death the judgment has already been made, God has spoken, but for Jesus through His shed blood on the cross of Calvary grace has been extended to a sinner such as I. Grace for grace now I can give grace.

In church we are told to give God praise from the bottom of our heart, but how can we do that if our heart has never been changed by the power of God? And for our heart to be changed we first must come to a place of self-judgment about our heart condition by the Holy Spirit. And then allow God to begin to work on our heart through His dealings and judgments. Singing songs will not do it, working for God all the days of our lives will not do it, attending church all the days of our lives will not do it, but coming to a honest place of self-reflection of our ungodly heart condition before God and then in obedience submitting our will (as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane) to Him so He can work on us as a lump of clay on the wedging board of life. We must come to an understanding of what sin has wrought in our lives and it must devastate us for us to really have a true conversion. Sadly many people have walked the aisle (some repetitively) repeat “the sinner’s prayer” (which is found nowhere in the Bible) and go off about their way thinking the work of God was done in their heart, well my friend they are no more saved than Grimme our boxer dog. Believing or thinking so does not make it so. I can sit in a garage all day and believe or think I am a car, but that will never make me a car. There must be more to our conversion. There must be conviction from the Holy Spirit, there must be “Godly sorrow,” there must be great sadness and yes even tears, we must feel bad, even be devastated for our past actions to be birthed from above. If not there has not been much of a work done in our heart, thus there will not be much work done in our lives. Paul helps us again here, “Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 10For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” (2 Corinthians 7:9-10) Did you get the thought “not to be repented of?” What Paul is saying here unless there is “Godly sorrow” in our repentance we are doomed to repeat the wrong process over and over (as many do daily), but God has made a way to do it right the first time. Jesus died once for our sin and He expects; it is His intention for us to repent (about face, go the opposite way sin is going, stop sinning) once and then “grow in the grace and knowledge of the LORD Jesus Christ.”

You know we cannot measure the depth of sin nor can we measure the heights of salvation, but we can measure the change in our lives as we allow God to work in our lives; conforming us and transforming us more and more into the image and character of His precious Son Jesus Christ. We must be able to see God (and God alone) as the one who brings us from defeat into great victory. But unless we come to see the frank sin and short comings in our lives we will never be able to see Jesus “full of grace and truth.” We will never be able to give grace for grace to those lost and going to hell, and the greatest loss we will experience will be never (no never) becoming like Jesus the expressed image of the Father who too is full of grace and truth. Written by David Stahl