God's Laws Govern All Of Life.

As someone who has been around for a while I begin to wonder about why things are the way that they are. And then I realize that we live life according to the laws and rules that God set in place in creation. We interact with people and with the natural world according to the way God set it all up.

We start out in life living lives full of wonder and having basic needs. We need food and we need to be changed. But on the other hand everything is new and exciting and full of wonder. Everything is interesting. This is the natural order of things.

We start out in the Christian life in much the same way. We are born again into a brand new life. Everything in the faith is interesting and exciting and full of wonder. Everything is for everyone.

Churches that experience revival go through a similar process. Everything if fresh and exciting and interesting. Every experience is new. Every decision is full of wonder. Every event is astonishing.

But, as we grow up and as we grow older, things change. It does not happen overnight. Rather, it is a gradual fade. We have been down this path before and we have read this story before and we have wrestled with these decisions before and resolved them. And we reach a point when we feel foolish acting like we are young still. We think that we still can, but we can't.

It is not that God has changed or that revival is over. It is that we have changed and that it is rare to be moved with awe and wonder anymore. This is how God created life to be lived for people and for churches. This is why life is about enduring to the end, not being giddy over thing we have see before.

This is why we must keep planting churches. The exciting times are always when things are brand new. This is why the thrust of revival is not in the old churches who pay for it, but in the pioneer churches where new converts are still full of zeal and excitement. Out where everything is interesting and full of wonder. 

New converts in an older church are like grandchildren. All of the excitement of being young, except that you cannot give them back to their parents when you get tired of them!

Jesus is Lord

 There are theological issues that don't have easy solutions. One such issue is, if Jesus was God in the flesh, why did he have to pray? God answers prayer, He doesn't ever pray. I thought that Jesus, in his earthly ministry, was fully human. That he was a man chosen and anointed by God to go to the cross. He did what he did not because he was God, but because he was a man mightily used by God.

My problem with the Jesus was God idea is that the proponents of this also seem to think that miracles ceased with the death of the last apostle and that God does nothing today except to save the lost. No miracles of any kind because the age of miracles is over. No speaking in tongues, no divine healing, no casting our demons. Nothing. 

But if Jesus was a man used by God, then greater works we should be doing because we can be men used by God also. We can speak in tongues. We can heal the sick. We can raise the dead. We can cast out demons. We can see the kingdom of God in open demonstration today. As well as getting people saved, we should help them be touched by God today.

Whether Jesus was God before the cross or not is almost a moot point. He is risen from the dead and he lives forevermore. And these sign ought to be following those who believe in Jesus Christ. Today.

To be much for God we must be much with God. Amen.

Post Conference Appeal

Today was the first time in months that I did not doze off during the morning service at church. I always spend a lot of the morning service with my eyes closed. Not asleep, just with my eyes closed listening. I didn't realize it until I got home today.

I will give a bit of the credit to our young missionary who preached this morning. I guess he did a good job. He kept my attention!

One word of advice. We who host the conference are worn out after a week of hard work. We need something smooth and easy to digest on the Sunday after conference. Maybe some humor. But can the hard hitting sermons wait at least until next week? Please? 

Conference Wrap Up

We will be saying goodbye to one of our assistant pastors soon. Miguel Martinez is being sent to take over a church. He has developed into a fine preacher. He should do well in this new assignment. This leaves us with only one assistant pastor for now.

Pastor Greg did a great job preaching the two services he preached here. Pastor Greg is not his father and that is a good thing. He brings his own unique perspective to the table. I tried to say hi to him, but he skedaddled out as soon as the service was over.

We planted 5 international works and a handful of domestic works. I looked but there is no list on our church web page yet. Prescott would have the new works list posted before we left the building. Just saying.

We had a full house by Friday night. No numbers yet. Maybe 1500 people?

All in all it was a good conference. We will have missionaries preaching for us this Sunday.

I will miss pastor Miguel. That is a part of the price we pay to be a church planting church. You learn to say goodbye, and move on.

Conference Thoughts

 One thing that listening to and watching conference speakers does is it reinforces to me that our Fellowship really is a work of God and not the work of a man. Our pastors are not all slick and polished. But they all preach like one under authority. They may not ever be on TV or on a national podcast, but they will always have a place in their own churches and in our local conference to preach.

It seems obvious to me that the size of a local church is directly linked to the ability of the pastor to minister to that church. God, it seems, will not give us more people than we can take care of. If you want a bigger church, be a bigger man. Talk to God about how to grow.

One more thought. The Hispanic culture seems to value momma above padre. This is cute to an outsider. But it stops being cute in church. A pastor is the pastor. His wife is not his copastor. She is his wife and the mother of his children. Sister Mitchell was not in charge of anything except her home. Letting the pastor's wife be in charge is more feminist than Christian. Honor your pastor and let him honor his wife.

Act Your Age

 Twice today at conference I heard the Holy Spirit speaking in sermons telling this wing of the Fellowship that it was time to grow up and grow in their ministries. I have been praying for this very thing for a long time. I have felt that this church is very immature. So I will continue to pray, and thank God the Holy Spirit has begun to speak.

I'm going to set myself on fire and people will come and watch me burn is a dumb thing to say. How about being a mature preacher who is able to minister to a wide group of people. Old, young, all races, all ethnic groups, rich, poor, etc. You can be active and committed to evangelism and still grow in maturity and stature with God and with men.

The Prescott church is not only old, it is mature. They are not easily shaken or upset by what happens in life. They know what to do and they do what needs to be done. They can turn over their responsibilities to the next generation who is waiting in the wings.

We are old enough to know better. We need to begin to act our age as a church.

Nabal The Conservative.

 "Then Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?" 1Sam.25:10-11

I won't spend a lot of time on this text. But I will say that Nabal is a card carrying conservative. He was wealthy and he had worked hard to get what he had. He felt he had no responsibility to take care of those less well off than himself. He was well within his rights and what he did was no doubt legal. But it was wrong. You can be legal and still be wrong and miss God.

The only people who resent me getting Social Security payments are conservatives. The only people against Medicare are conservatives. The people who value the rich and who despise the poor are conservatives.

Society survives by taxation and helping those less fortunate. No one gets rich on Social Security. And Medicare is healthcare for those who otherwise would not get health care. This is Bible based by the way.

"For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good;" Mark 14:7

Nabal was judged by God and died. God help those who resent me and people like me getting basic help.

"He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given." Prov. 19:17

You can be a card carrying Republican conservative and go to Hell when you die. You need to repent.