The End of the Story For Me

 When my wife died, that marked the end of that story. I have memories. She died and I have no regrets and no reserves. The only thing left undone was how to spend our 50th anniversary.

Since Kathy died I have not thought at all about how to be a better husband. My fathering days seem to be over too. 

Maybe this is part of the reason why I am not actively searching for a new wife. That story has ended. I don't need to go back to try to relive married life or to try to do it better. I have moved on from married life.

You who are still married will not understand my situation now and I do not expect you to understand. You think that I need a wife and you are clouded in your thinking by your own married life. I have learned to live without the one who I thought I could never live without.

There is no epilogue to my story. When it ended, it was over for me. I can ponder it, I can reminisce over it, but it is over and I am done with it.

It's kind of how I see Christmas. When Christmas day is over I am done with it until next year. Except in marriage, there is no next year.

The End of the Story is Important.

Here's my thought for today. Every good story has a good beginning. It progresses to a logical climax. Then the story proceeds to an ending that leaves us pondering the meaning of it all.

When there is no ending to a story, it kind of goes in circles around and around a person or an idea or a theme with no resolution of it all. Like Israel circling around in the wilderness waiting for rebels to die. Endings give us a chance to move on and free us from a worn out story.

Since pastor Mitchell died our Fellowship has had to move on from his direct influence. And we have, to an extent. But fundamentally nothing has changed. We still evangelize, make disciples and plant churches.  But our rules and bylaws and structures are the same as they have been for years.

Have you ever thought about what will happen when our Fellowship comes to an end?  No revival lasts forever. The history of revival seems to be that they form a denomination or they fade away. Denominations seem to be a shadow of a once thriving Holy Ghost movement.

When my wife died I was forced to make changes to my life. I had to learn how to cook and clean and do laundry. I had to develop relationships outside of marriage so that I had someone to talk to. I no longer spend even one minute thinking about how to be a better husband. The end of life for her made me think about the end of life for me.

Every good preacher knows this and practices this every time he preaches. There is a beginning, middle, and end to every sermon. No good preacher preaches the same sermon to the same group of people lest they stop listening to him. A good preacher knows how to open, and he knows how to close.  A good preacher is like a clam; he has a good opening, and he knows when to close. The mind can only understand what the seat can endure.

A Challenge

 In 2026 my challenge to you who read my blog is:

1. Follow me.

2. Comment on what I write.

Are you up to the challenge? Or are you just scrolling and uncommitted?

Enduring To The End

 I am looking forward to being in church on Christmas Eve tonight. We have church on Christmas Eve not because it's Christmas Eve, but because Christmas Eve falls on a regular church night. 

I think that we as a Fellowship could do a better job with holidays in America. 

One day years ago Christmas fell on a Sunday. We got to church like we always do and pastor Wayman Mitchell said, have you gotten the victory over Santa Claus? We squeezed in traditional gift opening with church attendance and we waited until after church to have Christmas dinner.

The older I get the more I desire a focus on the true meaning of Christmas. And where best to find that but in my church.

Revival is for the young. The rest of us are enduring till the end.

Go Ye?

 "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." Acts 2:42

"So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." Acts 2:46-47

Our Fellowship is focused like a laser beam on evangelism. Go Ye is our driving mantra. But when I read Acts chapter 2 I don't see the first church focused on the things that we focus on.

I see attention to doctrine, I see fellowship, I see eating meals, and I see prayer. I see them living in one accord, and praising God, and eating meals. I read how the apostles studied and taught and ministered and I read that the Lord Jesus added people to the church daily.

In the first rush of revival, evangelism happens. People are so excited by what God is doing and by what happened to them in salvation that they naturally share that with their families and friends and those they associate with in society. In the early days in Prescott pastor Wayman Mitchell did not preach on witnessing and evangelism often. He didn't need to.

There comes a time though when you have witnessed to your family and you have witnessed to those you work with and you have been saved for a few years and it is not as fresh and new as it once was. The danger is that we replace the moving of the Spirit with obeying the Law of God. Evangelism goes from the natural expression to an obligation. I witnessed to a guy at work one day and he said to me, Steve, do you fell better now? You did your duty.  I realized that over the long run our actions speak louder than our words. Living out our faith is the best kind of sermon that we can preach among those we spend a long time with.

Most of the exciting events in the first few chapters of Acts happened in a short time span of only a few years. Add in the adventures of Paul and the time covered is still very short. Our solution to everything in life is to act like you did when you were first saved. That like telling someone to act like a baby.

We survive as a Fellowship because out on the frontier, out on the cutting edge, everything is still fresh and exciting. We continue because God moves in new places among new people, not because old timers are hitting the streets in outreach.

One final thought. The book of Acts covers only 30-32 years. From the day of Pentecost to Paul in Prison. From Acts chapter two to Acts chapter 28. Only 32 years. 

Children Do Their Christmas Play

 Our children's church did their Christmas production last night during church. I walked in and noticed that there were no props or backdrops on stage. The only prop was a tiny manger to hold the baby Jesus doll. But the kids filled the stage with their enthusiasm and their excitement. I love how little children sing without worry or wondering how they are doing. Overall it was a great job by the children singers and actors and by their adult directors.

Our children's church is smaller than the one in Prescott. But what they lacked in numbers they made up for with heart. I almost stayed home last night. I am glad that I went anyway.

In Defense of the Innkeeper

I wanted to say a word in defense of the much maligned and misused inn keeper who did not have room in the inn for Mary and Joseph. Here is an example of not letting the truth get in the way of a good sermon.

First, at a busy time like this was, with visitors overwhelming the little town, the inn keeper made a way for these common people to have a place to have their child away from the noise and commotion of the busy inn.

Mary and Joseph were not VIPs. They were common people, blue collar type folks. There was no reservation system. They did not expect deluxe accommodations. They were no doubt grateful to have a roof over their heads and a place to lay the newborn baby.

Because Jesus was not born on December 25th the weather in early fall was still mild enough for a baby to be born in a barn and for shepherds to be out in the open field with their flocks.

The innkeeper did not know who these young folks were. Mary and Joseph did not know fully about the baby being born. 

Yes, there was no room for them in the inn. But how exciting the story is because Jesus was born in a barn! 

The innkeeper might be in Heaven. Won't you feel terrible when you meet him and you preached about him as a cruel, heartless, insensitive man! Here is a perfect example of how simple decisions play into God's bigger plan.

"And this will be the sign unto you; you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger" Luke 2:12

Christmas Thoughts

 I wonder if all of the pastors in our Fellowship do not know how to preach a Christmas message. They see only one thing and perhaps that blinds them to other equally important things.

In the four gospels, only Matthew and Luke talk about the birth of Jesus. Mark and John ignore it completely. Preachers, even first hand witnesses, couldn't preach a Christmas message either!

The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem was predicted by the ancient prophets. It happened just as they said it would.

The birth of Jesus was supernatural in several aspects. Angels were present and active. When's the last time an angel visited your church in person?

The birth of Jesus inspired men to worship and produced great joy.

The birth of Jesus caused men to give gifts.

The joy of the birth of Jesus produced a witness to tell others of what they had seen and been told by the angels.

This natural act that brought Jesus among men is an event that, as it happened, was very ordinary. But looking back from our perspective, it was an event filled with wonder.

Pastor, did your Christmas sermon fill anyone with wonder at the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem? Or were you too busy trying to win souls to think about that?

Feeling Stronger Every Day

 Thanks to the care of my medical team and the prayers of God's people I am feeling stronger almost every hour today. I had to lay down three times earlier. But now I feel almost back to normal. I will be in church tomorrow morning.

Time heals all wounds is a common thing that we get wrong. Time alone heals nothing. But, there are thing that take time to heal. There is healing as a miracle that we call divine healing. There is healing that is helped by doctors and medicine. And there are times when our bodies recover on their own.

I am grateful for all of those who prayed for me. I am grateful for the fine job my cardiologist did for me. I am grateful for medicine that is safe and effective.

If you want to see me tomorrow, you better get to church early.

A Slow Recovery

For the first time I had to miss our home Bible study group tonight. The procedure on my heart left me extremely tired and out of sorts. This will pass, but in the mean time I decided not to go tonight. As we get older it takes longer to recover from medical issues. This procedure really knocked me out.

I am grateful for all of the prayer that went up for me. I hope that by Sunday I will be able not only to drive but to assemble with the saints in church. 

Prayer Request

 I would appreciate your prayers. I go tomorrow for a surgical procedure at the hospital. I'm having an afib ablation done to do more work on my heart. I am a little nervous about it. Pray that my doctors and nurses will do a good job.

Something's Missing

When you live alone sometimes you need someone to talk to. I have friends who tell me to call them anytime. I do call them. Sometimes they are there and we talk. Sometimes they do not answer. They do not understand how important it is for me to talk to someone sometimes.

This is something that I lost when my wife died. No one to talk to any time day or night.

It's like when you pray and nothing happens. It's okay, but it hurts. 

I get by anyway. I will not quit.

"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Psalm 27:13

Psychology of People Who Grew Up in the 1960s

Many Teachers, One Father

 I heard a well know philosopher/theologian make the case that the rapture is not a legitimate Bible doctrine. That escaping is a flawed idea.

I heard another very smart person and philosopher say that forgiveness is not necessary and is overrated. 

One thing that these two very smart people have in common is that neither one is born again. They both live in darkness and have no sense of truth. They twist the truth to fit their ideas of how life should be lived. And when the blind lead the blind, they both fall into the ditch.

I bet that Noah and his family were glad to escape the flood and ride it out on top of the water. Jesus said that if we do not forgive, God will not forgive us.

This is so simple to me. But when the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness.

This is why the first words of Christ's message to the world was Repent. Love may have been the motivation, but repent is the message.

Most of what I know about God and the Bible I learned from pastor Wayman Mitchell. He is my father in the faith. I have had many teachers, but only one father.

BTW, the Bible teaches a pre-tribulation rapture. It's there in plain sight. Search the scriptures.

Baby Dedication Service

We had a baby dedication during our morning service today. We had 11 little ones whom we prayed over and committed their young souls to God for safekeeping. This is no guarantee that they will grow up and embrace the faith of their parents. But it gives them an advantage growing up that the children of unsaved parents do not have.

It takes a lot of work, and love, and forgiveness to raise a family. It always has. But it is worth it in the end when we see children grow up and serve Jesus for themselves.

Marriage precedes the fall. Family is the bedrock of society. Long before there was a law given or before Christ came marriage and family have endured. It is the anvil that wears out a thousand hammers. It is a house built upon the rock that is able to withstand the storms of life. Marriage and family are even stronger than a backsliding parent. 

God help our young people to get married and start families.

God Has More

 There are some in society who think that we have reached the bitter end and that it is all downhill from here. I believe that the best is yet to come and that God has bigger and better things in store for us as a church and as people and as a Fellowship.

As long as we stay true and faithful to our calling to win souls, make disciples, and to plant churches we can expect God to continue to bless us with growth and fruitfulness and prosperity. Amen!

Do not believe those who would lead us into unbelief and doubt. Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might!

Disappointing Funeral Service

 I do not like funerals because they make me sad. Even if it is not someone that I know well, it still makes me sad. This is a consequence of my wife's death. I am very sensitive to death and dying.

The memorial service for Mark did not make me sad. It made me annoyed. It seemed to me that everyone was trying too hard not to cry. Everyone tried so hard not to be sad or to show grief. It was all about Jesus and how Mark served the Lord. It was all about preaching to the unsaved friends and family who were there.

Sometimes, our zeal for evangelism blinds us to the needs of grieving loved ones at a funeral service. Funerals are not for the dead, they are for those who must learn to live without someone that they cannot live without. Grieving is proof of your love, not zeal.

My prayer is that this church will go through some things that will make it grow up. Maybe it is time to stop with the memorial services and have funerals instead.

Dating and Romance and Courtship, Oh My!

 Dating and romance are two of the dumbest ideas that society has dumped on us. Thanks to Hallmark, people believe that romance is the goal of life and if you get married, the wedding is the main event, not marriage. Dating is a brief, modern idea that was never practiced before in all of human history. Courtship is not a way to win a spouse. It is rather the rules by which engaged couples are to behave before marriage.

I had a thought today. I thought about pastor and sister Mitchell in Prescott. They spent a lot of time apart from one another. I look at pastor Rubi and Yolanda. They also spend a lot of time apart. It's like successful marriages last when the couples are not joined at the hip and together all of the time. "One flesh" may speak of a sexual union reserved for marriage. But sex is not the only reason to stay together. Despite what Sun City says.

Most of the world works as young people from your tribe grow up around each other and with the help of their families decide to get married. No dating, no romance. More arranged transaction than anything. Sure, the young couple may be excited. But that excitement wears out very soon.

What's the conclusion? Spend more time on your heart being right with God and less time dreaming about a pie in the sky romantic adventure. Turn off your TV. Serve the Lord with gladness.

Still Here

As the Chandler church begins preparations for their 50 year anniversary I was contacted to see if I would be willing to be interviewed for the celebration. I said yes. So soon I will answer questions regarding my tenure as pastor of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Chandler Arizona. Of all the men who once pastored there only pastor Joe Campbell and I are still around. Better men than me have all failed to endure to the end in the Fellowship where God placed them.

The only way to ultimately lose with God is to quit. I have had numerous reason to quit over the years. But through it all, I am still here.

Tuesday Thoughts

 "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;" Psalm 139:14

First, David the psalmist understood that he was made. Not evolved, not transitioned, but made. Evolution fails to describe and define the wonders just of the human body. We are not a scientific accident. We were designed by and formed by God in creation. His design has worked since the dawn of time. Do not be so arrogant as to think that you are smarter than God.

The more that I deal with doctors and medical professionals the more I understand how complex the human body is. We are triune beings with a body, a soul, and a spirit. Just the natural body boggles the mind. Everything is connected in our bodies. Everything is in balance throughout the multitude of physical systems the run our bodies. Doctors spend years of study and often years in practice and they still cannot explain everything that our bodies do naturally.

I think it is significant that Jesus, in his brief time ministering on Earth, spent a lot of time healing the sick. We, with modern technology, still need Jesus, through His church, to heal the sick.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to my Father." John 14:12

Interesting Thoughts

 I read something interesting today. First, I read that we as people tend to be tribal. We associate with groups of people with whom we feel safe and accepted. We give and receive mutual provision and mutual defense from enemies. The church provides that tribal experience in more ways than one. From the pastor to the young new convert, we have something in common that binds us together in love.

Another thing that I read today talked about people who expend emotional energy tied to outcomes that they cannot control. As you watch football on TV nothing that you do or say will effect the outcome on the field. Getting emotionally worked up over the weather is spending emotional energy on something that you cannot control. The only difference we have as followers of Jesus Christ is that we can spend spiritual energy through prayer and giving that can help those out on the front lines of evangelism to do their job well.

One last thought. We have topics of conservation that they call our default topics. That in social communication there are topics that we default to when we chat. Sports, the weather, politics, pastors. Notice that casual conversation is often about things that we have no control over. Maybe that's why we feel safe talking about these topics. Nothing that we say makes any difference.

I wonder if it is pride that motivates people to talk like experts about things we are not involved in.

Triune or Biune? What does the Bible say?

 There are religious groups who claim to be Christian who miss the mark when it comes to spiritual things. They do not believe in the supernatural or miracles or spiritual gifts or spiritual beings. They are more Sadducees than followers of Jesus Christ.

One thing that they miss the mark on is when they view people as only body and soul. They believe that soul and spirit are the same thing. They look down their nose at people like us who believe, based on scripture, that people are triune beings, consisting of body, soul, and spirit.

Lies often sound true at first. It is only upon examination that the error is unearthed.

God is triune consisting of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Three in One. Man is created in God's image so it is not a stretch to view man as a triune being. Three distinct parts of the whole man.

Beware getting your theology from YouTube.

Marriage Thoughts

 Statistics tell us that kids today are abstaining from marriage. This is a serious turn around from not too long ago when most adults were married. I thought that there must be something wrong with this generation that they are not getting married. Then I read these verses.

"His disciples said to Him, if such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry." Mat.19:10

"But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: it is good for them if they remain even as I am." 1Cor.7:8

Jesus said that in the beginning God created men and women to be married and to enjoy married life together. He said that divorce is due to heart hardness. Paul, who gave inspired words about marriage, encouraged new believers to remain single and to just serve the Lord Jesus. Forgoing marriage is not unique to this generation.

My prayer is that God will help our young people find one another in marriage and once found, that they will start families.

"He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord." Prov.18:22

I say amen!  God help our young men to be courageous in pursuing a wife and God help our young women to be enthusiastic about marriage and encouraging to our young men.

RIP Marc Rodriguez

 Marc Rodriguez went to his eternal reward recently. He tried to live but in the end he died. Everyone wants to go to be with Jesus, but no one wants to die. Marc fought his sickness and he did all that he could to survive. In the end, we all go down that mysterious path that leads from life to the other side of death.

Funerals are times for the survivors to remember the life of a friend. We will have a memorial service on Thursday December 11 at 7pm.  The Door in San Antonio.

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Psalm 116:15

Bible Prophecy

 There seems to be a conflict between God's sovereignty and man's free will. If God knows the end from the beginning then what difference does it make what we do. I have a way to understand this that works for me.

First, God is not limited by time and space. He does know the end from the beginning. God does guide us by the Holy Spirit to help us when we face decisions in life. And, as people we do have free will. We are created to make decisions and to make choices. We are not animals only guided by instinct. And God will hold us accountable for the decisions that we make. There is still a still, small voice that says to us, this is the way, walk in it.

Second, Bible prophecy does not depend on God orchestrating every minute detail of life to make His will come to pass. God knows how we think and He knows what motivates us. He sees the future after our choices have played out and the consequences of our decisions before we make the choice. He is God, not just a really smart man.

I think that prophecy is God going into the future and as it were taking a snapshot of how the world is then and showing it to prophets often without explanation or context. With some things we can change our ways and affect the outcome. Other times the issues is too important to let us mess it up. Either way, much of Bible prophecy tells us how the world will be in the future.

This is easy to understand in some aspects and impossible to understand in many regards. God's will will be done, and mankind is free to choose. This answers the seeming contradiction. This gives us hope that if we change today it can change our future tomorrow.

Church Kids

 Pastor Campbell preached an excellent message on church kids tonight. I won't give you his whole sermon here. But a couple of things stood out for me.

First, there are kids who have saved parents, and who grew up in one of our churches. But they reach their teen years and they leave church and act like sinners. Pastor says that these kids knew the language and knew the routine but they didn't know Christ. They knew right from wrong and they choose wrong. They were cultural Christians. They were Christian in name only. They may have been gifted, but they were never converted.

Second, pastor used the example of the Prodigal Son. Especially, he talked about the older brother. He played by the rules, and he was arrogant in his self examination. He put in the time and did what he was told and evidently that was all that he did. This son lived in the father's house, but he did not have the father's heart. 

Being born again is more than joining a church or getting into ministry. All things become new. It is a miracle of a new heart and a new mind. It causes us to serve God no matter what. Being born again in 1973 still is working in my life in 2025. You must be born again to even see the kingdom of God.