Don't you get tired of junk?

I've had a couple of conversations this week that have led me to this blog. Both were respectful and considerate, but both have led me to this conclusion-I'm tired of junk. They both centered around things someone said about me that were untrue. If you are a pastor, you get used to it after awhile (you don't LIKE IT, but you get used to it). The sad part about it is I don't even KNOW this individual that made this false statement about me, but he came off to these folks like he knew everything about me. I would not know this person if he came up to me on the street or even if my life depended on it, but from what was said, he doesn't think to highly of me.

At first it really did make me mad when I found out about it, because it's nothing but junk. Junk that a supposed Christian should not be saying in particular since he doesn't even know me personally, nor do I know him. It's at those moments the flesh wants to retaliate and get vengeance, but then the Spirit of God steps in and calms you down. But let me tell you I have sacrificed too much and come too far to let this kind of junk weigh me down or let the devil get the best of me.

We often wonder why we can't reach the world like we used to in the church. It's not because the anointing isn't there, but I believe it's because the Bible is being fulfilled and as Jesus said, " The love of many will wax cold". The first thing some of you reading this will think is that Jesus spoke that about the worldly and ungodly, but folks it's happening within the church.

Preachers are guilty, members are guilty, and the world is dying and going to hell because we run down people we don't even know because in our minds we are more spiritual or anointed than they are. We get on a tangent because it's our Christian duty to tell everybody how they ought to do if it fits into our genre and ours alone. Yet, often times we just say stuff about people whether we know them or not because it makes us look more spiritual.

Here's what the Word of God says:

Romans 8:6 "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

James 4:11 "Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge."

Matthew 7:1-5 "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or 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? Thou 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."

If you are spiritually minded, you don't mess with junk. Junk has a tendency to smell and it has a distinguishable odor. So what that means is it will be figured out by people who have good sense before you know it. Sadly in the church world we are dealing with more junk than we are dealing with drunks getting saved and being set free.

I don't always agree with Pastor Perry Noble of NewSpring, but I've got to give the guy credit when credit is due. I was reading one of his blogs recently and he made a statement similar to this.

"The internet is full of cowards who can hide behind words without a face. But if you allow yourself to be controlled by what people think you'll never accomplish anything for God."

How true it is. The world is laughing at us because instead of seeking those that are lost, we're more interesting in tearing down people we don't know on hearsay and gossip. In other words instead of looking for treasure we're looking for junk. Now anything can be made junk, especially if we want it to be, but we have a choice.  That choice is to be one thing or another:
Carnally minded or Spiritually minded.

If you're carnally minded you are always looking for junk. You want an edge, leverage, or something that you think can give you control. If you're spiritually minded you're looking for treasure. You see past the fakery, the Pharisaical spirit, and you don't repeat gossip as fact. You seek the truth and not trash because the trash was taken out of your life by the blood of Jesus.

So for this person who has spoken lies about me, that doesn't even know me or I him, I do forgive you. I have to admit it's hard to do even for a pastor, but as a Christian I do forgive you. Your opinion of me, although you don't know me, is skewed and I am sorry you pretended to know me to cloud others vision of me before we even know each other. I will pray that somehow God will reveal the truth to you before you have to stand before God and give an account for every idle word you have spoken in error to try and hurt a persons character that you don't even know.

And to those who don't know Jesus as their Lord and Savior today, the church is not the only place where hypocrites live. Jesus fought the religious order of His day to preach the truth, and that truth is that church is important, because it is His bride-but a true relationship with Jesus is more important than anything in this life. Don't let people or organization failures keep you from finding Jesus. He will help you change, and who knows, you might just get as tired of junk as I am and become a real follower of Jesus.

Life ain't easy

The best lessons of life are often learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes.  Sometimes it seems like everything that could possibly go wrong is going wrong, and you might feel like you will be stuck in this place forever, but you won’t.  When you feel like quitting, remember that sometimes things have to go very wrong before they can be right.  Sometimes you have to go through the worst, to arrive at your best.

Life is tough, but you can make it by remembering these simple things:

-Laugh every day.  

-Be courageous.

-Make others smile.

-Don’t stress over things you can’t change.  

-Live simply and love generously.  

-Speak the truth.

-Work diligently.  

-Keep going and keep growing.

If Life Was Easy

If life was easy....

-you'd never be afraid.

-you'd never be alone.

-you'd never be broke.

-you'd never be sick.

-you'd never be worried.

-you'd never be heart-broken.

-you'd never be lied about.

-you'd never be criticized.

-you'd never fight battles in your mind.

-you'd never be intimidated.

-you'd never face adversity.

-you'd never have to deal with junk.

-you'd never get hurt by the people you love.

All that would happen if life was easy, but it's not. If you live in this world you will face adversity, junk, sickness, financial woes, fear, and all the rest of this stuff. So how do you handle it?

Isaiah 54:17 "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord."

Your New Day

No matter what has been taken away from you, no matter what you’ve lost or experienced in the past, if you give it over to Jesus, He will return to you more than you could ask or imagine. 

Jesus will make things right and give you more than what was lost or stolen. Jesus wants to multiply your joy, peace, wisdom, health, finances, and give you a double portion in every area of your life. Today is a new day!

-The first step in moving forward into this fresh future is forgetting the disappointments of yesterday. It’s time to turn loose those disappointments of your past and reach out in faith to God’s abundant future.

-The second step is to praise the Lord for what's about to happen today. Jesus is the author and finisher of your faith and He deserves your praise daily for the blessings He places in your life.

-The last step is to expect something good even in the midst of something bad. That's what a new day brings-hope, expectation, faith, and much more. Today is the first day to the best things of your life if you believe.

I write this on Souper Bowl of Caring Sunday, February 1, 2015. Today someone will win a championship and people will celebrate, but as we all know that changes from year to year. However, today you can make a difference in someone's tomorrow by investing just a little in their future. Their today's can be brighter because of what you invest through your local food bank or soup kitchen. I want to help someone today to have a new beginning just as Jesus wants to help you. 

Are you ready for a new day? Today could be yours!     

- The thief on the cross got a new day when Jesus talked with him.

" Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."

Luke  23:43

-Those in torment got a new day when Jesus preached to them.

"Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)"(Ephesians 4:8-10 KJV)

-The sainted dead awoke from their death sleep when Jesus was resurrected.
Matthew 27:52, 53 "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

Jesus is calling out to you today. Let this be your new day!

Breakthrough 2015-Today is not the last day, it's just the beginning

Although this is the last day of our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, I believe it is just the beginning for what God wants to do in the midst of His people. This year has been earmarked by the Lord to do something special in the church and it's my desire to be a part of it.

My life has been blessed in so many ways I cannot describe them with mortal words, but I will make an attempt. I have been blessed with a wonderful family that I love and adore in more ways than they can imagine. My wife of almost 44 years, a son, who has grown to be my best friend and critic (in a good way), a daughter-in-law that is as loving a wife and mother as she is beautiful, two granddaughters that are talented and lovely, and two grandsons that will be heartbreakers as they get older. My mom still is and dad was (who's in heaven now) such an example to me as pastors and leaders all my life. All of my family is special to me. These are wonderful blessings to be thankful for today.

Life does go on. As we get older God is constantly raising up new generations. It won't be long before Hannah and Gracie graduate and move on with their lives. Hayden and Gannon will soon be 7 and 2 and that's when the fun really begins (LOL)! My nephew and his wife are expecting a baby soon, and my other niece is getting married in just a few weeks. Time doesn't stop for anybody, but neither do the breakthroughs of God.

We often hear it preached concerning family curses or curses on a generation that have come from past sins or troubles. But I declare today on this last day of  TRCOG 21 days of Prayer and Fasting that instead of curses God is going to allow Breakthroughs in our households and break the hold the enemy has had on us. He cannot win, will not win, and can be defeated because God is on our side.

Psalm 21:1-4 "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple."

Deuteronomy 30:18-20 "I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

So folks, today does not end breakthrough, but I believe it opens the passage way to breakthrough. Jesus stands at the door and knocks. Will you let Him in?

Revelation 3:20 "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

Breakthrough 2015-Breakthroughs Come Forth!

John 11:43 "And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth."

Lazarus was dead. So dead in fact that the Bible says they said to Jesus, "He stinketh by now." But Jesus would hear nothing of it and with a calm yet commanding voice called for Lazarus to come back from the dead and he did. In fact Jesus commanded that they loose him from the death clothes he had been wrapped in. A dead man came back to life because Jesus spoke life into his body once again.

Breakthroughs come when Jesus speaks life back into the body once again. The church is His body. We are members of His body. So when Jesus speaks life back into the body He is speaking to us directly and indirectly as well. My advise would be that we need to listen to what He has to say and be obedient.

He is speaking directly because He knows our visions and dreams. He also knows our strengths and weaknesses, victories and losses, and our triumphs and failures. He knows that many things have died within us that need to be revived and when He speaks to us directly He wants them to come back to life. For some joy has been replaced with sorrow, love with loss, dreams with nightmares, and hopes with helplessness. So when He speaks directly to us it is to get our attention and to revive those things that have died, which can help us to receive a fresh anointing and a supernatural breakthrough again.

He is speaking indirectly to us also as the His body. If we are in the church, then we are a part of the body of Christ. We can't deny that fact, but man, we sure can lose what God wants us to have because we fail to allow breakthroughs to come in our midst. Most churches need a breakthrough as much as the pastor or the members of that congregation do. Some are caught up in following the traditions of men more than they are the glory of God. Some are dead to the moving of the Spirit because they are so programed that services have to go one way only. Even the Holy Ghost is limited in some churches because people want to get home at a certain time. Yet when God is speaking to us directly, He is also speaking to us indirectly as His church. He is saying, "I am coming for a church without spot, wrinkle, or blemish!"

How can a church be without spot, wrinkle, or blemish especially in our day?

-We can't unless we are obedient to the voice of God. Obedience is greater than sacrifice according to His Word.

-We can't unless we live as we are supposed to. We are weak and heavy laden, but God can help us present our bodies as a living sacrifice and He can renew our minds daily.

-We can't unless we recognize that without Him we are nothing. It is in Jesus we move, live, and have our being (existence).

So with the same commanding spirit Jesus is saying to us directly and indirectly, "Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." His emphasis today is to give us breakthroughs in our spiritual life, our mind, our finances, our homes, and in every avenue of our lives. Open up your spiritual ears and hear what the Spirit is saying about your breakthrough today.

Breakthrough 2015-Mud and Breakthrough

We say we want change or get a spiritual breakthrough until we realize that most often God's method for bringing that healing or change is not comfortable to us, but very challenging to say the least.

In John 9:1-7 Jesus spits in the mud and heals the blind man. It's a story that I believe has  great truth concerning breakthrough. It is also a story that provides us with the fact that Jesus works in His way our breakthroughs to perform.

When life is not going the way we like, how we would plan or causing struggle, we tend to blame someone or something else. We look for an explanation and a reason. That is human nature. We are trying to find out because we want to control life, and be sure we prevent things from happening.

Struggle, often, is not a matter of fault or reason. It has a much deeper and more meaningful purpose. It is in our struggle and trial we have the opportunity to see what God wants to do. It is a chance to ask, what potential is there for God to do something great. This is a perspective shift and it changes things.

Unfortunately, the way God works is most often not the way we would work, and, even more often God's ways are unorthodox and even uncomfortable. God wants to bring you through your struggle, He wants to see you triumph, but the manner in which He often does will make you uncomfortable in the beginning.

Have you ever noticed that just before your greatest breakthrough, life seems to get messier and more uncomfortable? How do you think the blind man felt when the Jesus spit enough saliva into the dust to make mud and then wiped it on his eyes? If we knew that was the method of choice, most of us would run away, b it was through that mess and discomfort that God brought healing.

I'm not sure what you're walking through. I am not sure how tough life has been for you, but don't run away from what God can do just because it is messy and unsavory. Don't let your comfort level keep you from God's healing and greatest blessings. Like the blind man, in time you will be able to wash away the mess and there is healing on the other side!