Seeking the King

Annnd we're back!

2011-01-15T11:04:00.001-08:00

It has been a while since I have posted here. I was in Argentina for a few months and I didn't have any internet access. I will do my best to keep everything up to date from here on out. As I get myself organized to post more in-depth teachings and testimonies once again, enjoy one of America's most historical and famous sermons!

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
Enfield, Connecticut
July 8, 1741

Their foot shall slide in due time. Deuteronomy 32:35

In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, who were God's visible people, and who lived under the means of grace; but who, notwithstanding all God's wonderful works towards them, remained (as vers 28.) void of counsel, having no understanding in them. Under all the cultivations of heaven, they brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit; as in the two verses next preceding the text. -- The expression I have chosen for my text, their foot shall slide in due time, seems to imply the following things, relating to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were exposed.

1.

That they were always exposed to destruction; as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destruction coming upon them, being represented by their foot sliding. The same is expressed, Psalm 73:18. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction."
2.

It implies, that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once without warning: Which is also expressed in Psalm 73:18,19. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction: How are they brought into desolation as in a moment!"
3.

Another thing implied is, that they are liable to fall of themselves, without being thrown down by the hand of another; as he that stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.
4.

That the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is only that God's appointed time is not come. For it is said, that when that due time, or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then, at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he that stands on such slippery declining ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost.

The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this. -- "There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God." -- By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God's mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment. -- The truth of this observation may appear by the following consideration.

1.

There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands. -- He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defence from the power of God. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God's enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. They are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by: thus easy is it for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down to hell. What are we, that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?
2.

They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands in the way, it makes no objection against God's using his power at any moment to destroy them. Yea, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins. Divine justice says of the tree that brings forth such grapes of Sodom, "Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?" Luke 13:7. The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God's mere will, that holds it back.
3.

They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not only justly deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to hell. John 3:18. "He that believeth not is condemned already." So that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is, John 8:23. "Ye are from beneath:" And thither he is bound; it is the place that justice, and God's word, and the sentence of his unchangeable law assign to him.
4.

They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that is expressed in the torments of hell. And the reason why they do not go down to hell at each moment, is not because God, in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them; as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth: yea, doubtless, with many that are now in this congregation, who it may be are at ease, than he is with many of those who are now in the flames of hell.

So that it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such an one as themselves, though they may imagine him to be so. The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them.
5.

The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at what moment God shall permit him. They belong to him; he has their souls in his possession, and under his dominion. The scripture represents them as his goods, Luke 11:12. The devils watch them; they are ever by them at their right hand; they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry lions that see their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back. If God should withdraw his hand, by which they are restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor souls. The old serpent is gaping for them; hell opens its mouth wide to receive them; and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and lost.
6.

There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning, that would presently kindle and flame out into hell fire, if it were not for God's restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men, a foundation for the torments of hell. There are those corrupt principles, in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them, that are seeds of hell fire. These principles are active and powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if it were not for the restraining hand of God upon them, they would soon break out, they would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, the same enmity does in the hearts of damned souls, and would beget the same torments as they do in them. The souls of the wicked are in scripture compared to the troubled sea, Isa. 57:20. For the present, God restrains their wickedness by his mighty power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled sea, saying, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further;" but if God should withdraw that restraining power, it would soon carry all before it. Sin is the ruin and misery of the soul; it is destructive in its nature; and if God should leave it without restraint, there would need nothing else to make the soul perfectly miserable. The corruption of the heart of man is immoderate and boundless in its fury; and while wicked men live here, it is like fire pent up by God's restraints, whereas if it were let loose, it would set on fire the course of nature; and as the heart is now a sink of sin, so if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the soul into fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone.
7.

It is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no visible means of death at hand. It is no security to a natural man, that he is now in health, and that he does not see which way he should now immediately go out of the world by any accident, and that there is no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. The manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages, shows this is no evidence, that a man is not on the very brink of eternity, and that the next step will not be into another world. The unseen, unthought-of ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day; the sharpest sight cannot discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell, that there is nothing to make it appear, that God had need to be at the expense of a miracle, or go out of the ordinary course of his providence, to destroy any wicked man, at any moment. All the means that there are of sinners going out of the world, are so in God's hands, and so universally and absolutely subject to his power and determination, that it does not depend at all the less on the mere will of God, whether sinners shall at any moment go to hell, than if means were never made use of, or at all concerned in the case.
8.

Natural men's prudence and care to preserve their own lives, or the care of others to preserve them, do not secure them a moment. To this, divine providence and universal experience do also bear testimony. There is this clear evidence that men's own wisdom is no security to them from death; that if it were otherwise we should see some difference between the wise and politic men of the world, and others, with regard to their liableness to early and unexpected death: but how is it in fact? Eccles. 2:16. "How dieth the wise man? even as the fool."
9.

All wicked men's pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell, while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from hell one moment. Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do. Every one lays out matters in his own mind how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself, and that his schemes will not fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell; but each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have done. He does not intend to come to that place of torment; he says within himself, that he intends to take effectual care, and to order matters so for himself as not to fail.

But the foolish children of men miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow. The greater part of those who heretofore have lived under the same means of grace, and are now dead, are undoubtedly gone to hell; and it was not because they were not as wise as those who are now alive: it was not because they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to secure their own escape. If we could speak with them, and inquire of them, one by one, whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to hear about hell, ever to be the subjects of misery: we doubtless, should hear one and another reply, "No, I never intended to come here: I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind; I thought I should contrive well for myself -- I thought my scheme good. I intended to take effectual care; but it came upon me unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and in that manner; it came as a thief -- Death outwitted me: God's wrath was too quick for me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter; and when I was saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction came upon me."
10.

God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any natural man out of hell one moment. God certainly has made no promises either of eternal life, or of any deliverance or preservation from eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of grace, the promises that are given in Christ, in whom all the promises are yea and amen. But surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant of grace who are not the children of the covenant, who do not believe in any of the promises, and have no interest in the Mediator of the covenant.

So that, whatever some have imagined and pretended about promises made to natural men's earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain and manifest, that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion, whatever prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, God is under no manner of obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction.

So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.
Application

The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. -- That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell's wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.

You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but do not see the hand of God in it; but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it.

Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock. Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment; for you are a burden to it; the creation groans with you; the creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly; the sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan; the earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your lusts; nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon; the air does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals, while you spend your life in the service of God's enemies. God's creatures are good, and were made for men to serve God with, and do not willingly subserve to any other purpose, and groan when they are abused to purposes so directly contrary to their nature and end. And the world would spew you out, were it not for the sovereign hand of him who hath subjected it in hope. There are the black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure of God, for the present, stays his rough wind; otherwise it would come with fury, and your destruction would come like a whirlwind, and you would be like the chaff on the summer threshing floor.

The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. It is true, that judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto; the floods of God's vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the mean time is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath; the waters are constantly rising, and waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, that holds the waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God, would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it.

The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all you that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God. However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction. However unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it. Those that are gone from being in the like circumstances with you, see that it was so with them; for destruction came suddenly upon most of them; when they expected nothing of it, and while they were saying, Peace and safety: now they see, that those things on which they depended for peace and safety, were nothing but thin air and empty shadows.

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.

O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment. -- And consider here more particularly,

1.

Whose wrath it is: it is the wrath of the infinite God. If it were only the wrath of man, though it were of the most potent prince, it would be comparatively little to be regarded. The wrath of kings is very much dreaded, especially of absolute monarchs, who have the possessions and lives of their subjects wholly in their power, to be disposed of at their mere will. Prov. 20:2. "The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: Whoso provoketh him to anger, sinneth against his own soul." The subject that very much enrages an arbitrary prince, is liable to suffer the most extreme torments that human art can invent, or human power can inflict. But the greatest earthly potentates in their greatest majesty and strength, and when clothed in their greatest terrors, are but feeble, despicable worms of the dust, in comparison of the great and almighty Creator and King of heaven and earth. It is but little that they can do, when most enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost of their fury. All the kings of the earth, before God, are as grasshoppers; they are nothing, and less than nothing: both their love and their hatred is to be despised. The wrath of the great King of kings, is as much more terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater. Luke 12:4,5. "And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him."
2.

It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read of the fury of God; as in Isa. 59:18. "According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries." So Isa. 66:15. "For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire." And in many other places. So, Rev. 19:15, we read of "the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, "the wrath of God," the words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful: but it is "the fierceness and wrath of God." The fury of God! the fierceness of Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful that must be! Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them! But it is also "the fierceness and wrath of almighty God." As though there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict, as though omnipotence should be as it were enraged, and exerted, as men are wont to exert their strength in the fierceness of their wrath. Oh! then, what will be the consequence! What will become of the poor worms that shall suffer it! Whose hands can be strong? And whose heart can endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery must the poor creature be sunk who shall be the subject of this!

Consider this, you that are here present, that yet remain in an unregenerate state. That God will execute the fierceness of his anger, implies, that he will inflict wrath without any pity. When God beholds the ineffable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom; he will have no compassion upon you, he will not forbear the executions of his wrath, or in the least lighten his hand; there shall be no moderation or mercy, nor will God then at all stay his rough wind; he will have no regard to your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer too much in any other sense, than only that you shall not suffer beyond what strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld, because it is so hard for you to bear. Ezek. 8:18. "Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them." Now God stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy; you may cry now with some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of mercy is past, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain; you will be wholly lost and thrown away of God, as to any regard to your welfare. God will have no other use to put you to, but to suffer misery; you shall be continued in being to no other end; for you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction; and there will be no other use of this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath. God will be so far from pitying you when you cry to him, that it is said he will only "laugh and mock," Prov. 1:25,26,etc.

How awful are those words, Isa. 63:3, which are the words of the great God. "I will tread them in mine anger, and will trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment." It is perhaps impossible to conceive of words that carry in them greater manifestations of these three things, viz. contempt, and hatred, and fierceness of indignation. If you cry to God to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your doleful case, or showing you the least regard or favour, that instead of that, he will only tread you under foot. And though he will know that you cannot bear the weight of omnipotence treading upon you, yet he will not regard that, but he will crush you under his feet without mercy; he will crush out your blood, and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on his garments, so as to stain all his raiment. He will not only hate you, but he will have you in the utmost contempt: no place shall be thought fit for you, but under his feet to be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
3.

The misery you are exposed to is that which God will inflict to that end, that he might show what that wrath of Jehovah is. God hath had it on his heart to show to angels and men, both how excellent his love is, and also how terrible his wrath is. Sometimes earthly kings have a mind to show how terrible their wrath is, by the extreme punishments they would execute on those that would provoke them. Nebuchadnezzar, that mighty and haughty monarch of the Chaldean empire, was willing to show his wrath when enraged with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; and accordingly gave orders that the burning fiery furnace should be heated seven times hotter than it was before; doubtless, it was raised to the utmost degree of fierceness that human art could raise it. But the great God is also willing to show his wrath, and magnify his awful majesty and mighty power in the extreme sufferings of his enemies. Rom. 9:22. "What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?" And seeing this is his design, and what he has determined, even to show how terrible the unrestrained wrath, the fury and fierceness of Jehovah is, he will do it to effect. There will be something accomplished and brought to pass that will be dreadful with a witness. When the great and angry God hath risen up and executed his awful vengeance on the poor sinner, and the wretch is actually suffering the infinite weight and power of his indignation, then will God call upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty and mighty power that is to be seen in it. Isa. 33:12-14. "And the people shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire. Hear ye that are far off, what I have done; and ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites," etc.

Thus it will be with you that are in an unconverted state, if you continue in it; the infinite might, and majesty, and terribleness of the omnipotent God shall be magnified upon you, in the ineffable strength of your torments. You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and when you shall be in this state of suffering, the glorious inhabitants of heaven shall go forth and look on the awful spectacle, that they may see what the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty is; and when they have seen it, they will fall down and adore that great power and majesty. Isa. 66:23,24. "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."
4.

It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long for ever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it; it is inexpressible and inconceivable: For "who knows the power of God's anger?"

How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh that you would consider it, whether you be young or old! There is reason to think, that there are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse, that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity. We know not who they are, or in what seats they sit, or what thoughts they now have. It may be they are now at ease, and hear all these things without much disturbance, and are now flattering themselves that they are not the persons, promising themselves that they shall escape. If we knew that there was one person, and but one, in the whole congregation, that was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful thing would it be to think of! If we knew who it was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person! How might all the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him! But, alas! instead of one, how many is it likely will remember this discourse in hell? And it would be a wonder, if some that are now present should not be in hell in a very short time, even before this year is out. And it would be no wonder if some persons, that now sit here, in some seats of this meeting-house, in health, quiet and secure, should be there before tomorrow morning. Those of you that finally continue in a natural condition, that shall keep out of hell longest will be there in a little time! your damnation does not slumber; it will come swiftly, and, in all probability, very suddenly upon many of you. You have reason to wonder that you are not already in hell. It is doubtless the case of some whom you have seen and known, that never deserved hell more than you, and that heretofore appeared as likely to have been now alive as you. Their case is past all hope; they are crying in extreme misery and perfect despair; but here you are in the land of the living and in the house of God, and have an opportunity to obtain salvation. What would not those poor damned hopeless souls give for one day's opportunity such as you now enjoy!

And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see so many others feasting, while you are pining and perishing! To see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart, while you have cause to mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit! How can you rest one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as the souls of the people at Suffield, where they are flocking from day to day to Christ?

Are there not many here who have lived long in the world, and are not to this day born again? and so are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and have done nothing ever since they have lived, but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath? Oh, sirs, your case, in an especial manner, is extremely dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart is extremely great. Do you not see how generality persons of your years are passed over and left, in the present remarkable and wonderful dispensation of God's mercy? You had need to consider yourselves, and awake thoroughly out of sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite God. -- And you, young men, and young women, will you neglect this precious season which you now enjoy, when so many others of your age are renouncing all youthful vanities, and flocking to Christ? You especially have now an extraordinary opportunity; but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as with those persons who spent all the precious days of youth in sin, and are now come to such a dreadful pass in blindness and hardness. -- And you, children, who are unconverted, do not you know that you are going down to hell, to bear the dreadful wrath of that God, who is now angry with you every day and every night? Will you be content to be the children of the devil, when so many other children in the land are converted, and are become the holy and happy children of the King of kings?

And let every one that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit of hell, whether they be old men and women, or middle aged, or young people, or little children, now hearken to the loud calls of God's word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great favour to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men's hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls; and never was there so great danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts of the land; and probably the greater part of adult persons that ever shall be saved, will be brought in now in a little time, and that it will be as it was on the great out-pouring of the Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles' days; the election will obtain, and the rest will be blinded. If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born, to see such a season of the pouring out of God's Spirit, and will wish that you had died and gone to hell before you had seen it. Now undoubtedly it is, as it was in the days of John the Baptist, the axe is in an extraordinary manner laid at the root of the trees, that every tree which brings not forth good fruit, may be hewn down and cast into the fire.

Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom: "Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed."

The Father's Love Letter

2011-01-15T08:46:00.001-08:00

A Dream From Jesus

2010-02-04T19:22:00.000-08:00

I had a dream where I was sitting in a park with lots of trees at one of those wooden tables that parks in the U.S. always have. I was with a church, and we were sitting right next to the park lake. On the other side of the lake was a volcano. We were eating in this park, it was like a church picnic or something, I didn't really know the people in the church, I was only acquainted with one girl who was sitting across the table from me.

While we were all eating, there was a very heavy nervousness that was over everybody. It was supposed to be a fun time together but everyone was eating in silence because of the heaviness of how nervous they were. I felt it to and asked the girl across from me, "Hey, how are you doing?" She didn't reply so I said, "Do you feel nervous even though you don't know why?" Then she looked up at me and said, "Yes I do, but I don't know why." Then I replied, "I don't know but I feel nervous too and I have for while now, but I don't know why."

As soon as those words finished this creepy music started, it was the kind of music you would hear in a disaster movie or end of the world music. It was scary but sad at the same time. This in itself was very strange to me because I have never had music in my dreams before, this is the first time. After a few seconds of the music there was a rumbling and the sound of a far away explosion.

I looked up and a cloud of green smoke starting rising rapidly out of the volcano. Nobody else saw it at first so I started yelling for everyone to look up, when they saw it they all thought the volcano was erupting. As the green cloud started to rise suddenly out of the volcano.

However as the orange cloud was rising the entire planet was covered with these insects from the green cloud that looked like mosquitoes. They covered everything and it happened almost instantly.

Then, the orange cloud that was rising out of the volcano consumed the green cloud and they mixed together. Then out of the orange cloud came a plague of birds that looked like pigeons or doves. They started eating all of the mosquitoes that were plaguing everything.

Everybody was terrified and was looking for a place to go to escape from these mosquitoes and birds. But they were everywhere, nobody could get away. They were inside of houses and bedrooms and anywhere anyone could go they were there.

As for myself I had planned on taking a trip, I was just visiting that place as an evangelist it seems. I was just going to minister for a few days and then leave by boat to another place. However when this happened I decided to try and help people get to safety if there was any safe place. Through all of this the music continued until I woke up.

That is the end of the dream, I don't know what it means but it is the most unique dream I've ever had and the fact that it had music in it puts up a really bright flag because I've never had music in any dream before.

Encouragement

2010-01-18T10:59:00.000-08:00

I just got off a 5 hour bus from Huehuetenango (That's right, that really is the name.) to Guatemala City. For a good part of this morning I was thinking about how important encouragement is in our Christian lives. Every one of us live every day reminded constantly of all our flaws and shortcomings. For me personally, it doesn't matter how many people get out of wheelchair, or how many cancers run away, I still feel every day that I am not doing good enough.

We don't encourage each other nearly as much as we should. I have noticed that you can preach in churches, pray for the sick, give to the poor, and do everything in your power to glorify God and help people. The problem is, you, (or at least I) rarely know how well you are doing or how to gauge if you are doing anything right. Now you may be saying, "But Alan, if someone is healed of cancer because of your prayers, wouldn't that prove that you are doing something right?) In my opinion, no. Because as I mentioned in an earlier post, power does not make you a man of God. Character does. For example I sometimes struggle with whether or not I should even mention the miracles that happen because I wonder if I am telling people because I want to glorify God, or if I want people to see what "I" did. Motive is extremely important. God does get glory from my testimonies and the Bible does say to proclaim what God has done so I continue to tell them. For example the YWAM team here (Which I am a part of) prayed for a baby who had severe bodily deformities and because of it he couldn't breath well at all. He only slept three or four hours a night and his parents were miserable because they couldn't sleep either. He would wake up gasping for air and choking every night. We prayed for him, and a couple days later they took him to the doctor because he was sleeping better. His lungs were healed. Praise God!

What is my point in this post? What am I trying to get at? Well, you can do all kinds of things in your life, trying to do them for Jesus, but a lot of times you SEE very little of the fruit from that, at least if you are travelling a lot like I do. For example, over the past month and a half in Huehuetenango I preached in a lot of different churches, to thousands of people, and prayed for dozen. Almost every day I was praying for at least one, most of the time more sick people a day. However a lot of those people are on the street, or in a church you go to one time and then never see them again. So after all of that it is pretty rare that I get to hear any of the testimonies of what happened or if anyone at all was touched by my sermon. As a matter of fact, people in my experience are far quicker to doll out criticism than encouragement. I feel like I am criticized everywhere I go. There is always someone who thinks I said something wrong, or didn't dress the way they like, or I didn't preach with the style they like and so on. I hear about that kind of thing all the time. SO, because of that it is hard for me to ever know if I am doing anything right or not.

But then, after all the church services and prayers, in one day God decides to bless you. That day was yesterday for me. I am not going to tell you what was said to me, but I will say that two people came to me a separate times and both of them encouraged me so much that I feel like I am ready for another month and a half of critics and pharisees. All it took was a few words, basically God speaking to me through them saying, "You're doing alright, keep moving forward."

So what is the point? Encourage one another. Encourage your pastors, elders, deacons, youth leaders, and whatever other leaders you have around you. Be sure that they are getting enough discouragement from the devil, so bolster their strength and tell them that they are doing a good job. Bless them, because they are doing their best to take care of you and bless you too. Even if you don't like the way they dress, or you think their message is watered down, or cheesy, or whatever other problem you have with them, just let it go and try to lock arms with them. All of us Christians are on the same road, and there are an awful lot of pits and byways, we need to help each other so we can all get to that great throne together and worship God forever. It's not our job to judge, that's God's job. We just need to help each other along.

Awesome Testimony!

2010-01-12T08:05:00.000-08:00

Roughly two weeks ago I preached at a church and after the service the pastor did an altar call and asked if I could pray for the sick. Only a few people actually came up, just three or four if I remember correctly. One of those people was a woman who was just bawling. When I got to her and asked her what was going on, she told me that her husband had been vomiting blood and was dying of cancer, the doctors only gave him a few days to live. He was literally laying on his death bed in the hospital vomiting out his life as we spoke. He wasn't there so I just laid my hands on her and prayed for him there, and then I told her to lay her hands on him and repeat my words when she got to the hospital after church.

Two weeks went by and I never heard another thing about it; until yesterday.

Yesterday we went to go do what we have done just about every day for the past month and a half in Guatemala. In the afternoon we go to visit people in their homes, and then we got to church at 7. The churches here have services every single day.

So when we got to the first and only visit (one is a rarity) for that day we were taken into a room where a family was waiting for us. While we were there the wife starts talking about how happy she is that we came, and then says that she is especially happy that I prayed for her. Now, you have to understand that I am really really bad at remember people unless I get to know them for a while. So I had no idea who this lady was or why she was happy I prayed for her.

Eventually her husband started giving his testimony. Two Sundays ago he had been in the hospital vomiting blood and waiting to die, the doctors were basically standing around waiting for it to end. Then after church his wife came in, commanded him to be healed, and laid her hands on him. Instantly he stopped vomiting blood. The rest of the day was uneventful, he didn't die like the expected him to. So the next day the doctors did all their tests and probes and things that they do, and to their astonishment, not only was he totally healed, but every organ that had been riddled with cancer was completely recreated and not a single sign or scar remained from that cancer! They asked him what he had done, and he said nothing, (It turned out that this man was a pastor who had turned away from God, and had been living in the world until this day.) he just told them what had happened when his wife came and prayed for him.

The doctors, who didn't believe in God held a meeting to decide what they were going to do about this. They said, "What can we do? We don't believe in God or in miracles, but one just happened and we can't say otherwise."

Our God is awesome, and He didn't have to let me know this whole story, but He wanted to let me know so that everyone else can be aware of it. Why? Because any one of you who are reading this can do the exact same thing and have the same kind of stories to tell!

Precious Jewels

2010-01-09T07:29:00.000-08:00

Here are the notes from Wednesday, a good chunk of them were in Spanish so bear with me if you find some Spanish words in there. I know the format isn't very nice, but at least it's readable.

Malachi 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my

jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

The Greek used for treasure here is:

seg-ool-law'

= Jewel, peculiar (treasure), proper good, special.

Different jewels are for the most part formed in the same ways, there are

differences in pressure and heat, but for the most part it is the same. To keep

this simple we will look at diamonds.

1. Before a diamond is formed it is a stone that is called carbon.

a. Carbon is an ugly stone, and it is useless in its natural state.

b. Carbon is just like we were before we ever came to Christ, ugly, and

worthless.

2. In order for carbon to become a diamond, there are very specific things that

must happen.

a. The first thing needed to form a diamond is pressure. A lot of pressure is

needed. Around 60 kilobaras is needed to form a diamond. That is 840,000

pounds, which is 380,000 kilo.

b. The other thing that is needed is heat. The amount of heat needed is

between 900–1300 °C.

3. Without these two things carbon will stay as carbon.

a. It is interesting that it does not matter where the carbon is, scientists

can create them in their laboratories, or they can be created in the Earth.

The location is not important, what is important is that this amount of heat,

and pressure is there.

4. There is a lot of carbon in the world, as a matter of fact it is number 15

of the most abundant elements on earth. But to find a diamond among

so much carbon is something that happens very little.

a. This is just like the world today, the world is full of people like Christ,

but we are God's special jewels, His diamonds.

b. There are many chunks of carbon that begin to form a diamond, but

if the quality is not right, it can be crushed under the pressure. We can see this in many

people who come to the Lord. The accept Him with joy, but as soon as difficult times

come they leave the church and turn back to the world.

5. Many of us wonder why God allows us to go through the difficult situations

that we go through. There are many of you that are going through some

very difficult things. The reason why is because God is forming you into a

diamond.

a. All kinds of difficult situations can come up in our lives, but the purpose

is not because God wants to hurt us, but because He wants us to have

victory.

6. As I mentioned before another thing that is needed for a diamond to form

is extreme heat. The Bible says that our God is a consuming fire. He is a

fire that purifies.

Now, let's look at how this applies to missions. We have looked at jewels in terms of

how God sees us, and what He wants to do with us, but now we are going to look at

how this same principle is used to call us into missions.

Romans 4:17 “God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they

were.”

1. There are many lost souls in the world that God sees as diamonds.

The most beautiful diamond in the world can sit in the earth, but if

nobody goes and gets it out, nobody will ever know about it.

2. Diamonds have no value until someone finds it and cleans it up.

Mar 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

1. Our jobs as Christians is to go out into the difficult places, into the caves

and seek out the diamonds that belong to God.

– My wife met a man in the park not long ago, and when she

told him about Jesus he was thrilled. He was born again right

there on the spot and told us that in his 85 years of life

nobody had ever explained the Gospel to him.

2. All over the world there are people just like this man. They are precious

jewels to God, and He has told us to go and find them.

3. Jas 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own

selves.

4. The Bible commands us to go and preach the word, and to seek out the

precious jewels of God. If you do not do this you are a disobedient

servant.

5. Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom

of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

a. What is the will of the Father? To preach the Gospel, save the lost,

and find the precious jewels.

And the Blind Recieve Their Sight

2010-01-07T05:30:00.000-08:00

Last night I was preaching at a missions service for a church. They didn't give me much time, only 30 minutes, and I didn't even have time to do any kind of altar call. I was just a get up, preach, get down, situation. I don't like those very much. I love to preach of course and I thank God for the opportunities I get, but I like to have things more relaxed that.

So after the church service I was gathering my things and my family to leave when two older men came up to me, both were being led by someone else. The first one was named Abraham and he was crying before he even got to me, his wife or sister or whoever the lady that was with him was explained to me that he was almost totally blind in both eyes. Now I have never seen a blind person healed through my prayers. I prayed for a very good pastor friend of mine named Aniseto back in Panama for years without any healing happen at all. So, needless to say, blindness to me is a tough one. Praise God it isn't tough for Him!

I started praying for Abraham and nothing happened the first time. I did everything I could think of that Jesus did in the Bible, I put my fingers in his eyes, I breathed on them, (I didn't spit or make any mud...maybe I should have) and after all of that nothing happened. I would ask him if anything would change and for a few seconds he would say, "Yeah, it's a little better." but then right after he would say, "No wait, it's the same." So that was frustrating.

After praying for him twice with the same results I decided to turn my attention to Juan, who was blind in one eye and deaf in one ear. Now, I'll be honest, after the defeat I felt with Abraham, my faith level was not exactly overflowing for Juan's eye. So I did the only thing I know to do when I'm not strong enough for a situation, I asked God for mercy.

I did all the same things with Juan that I did with Abraham, finger in eye, blowing on face, finer in ear because of deafness, that kind of stuff. I was really hoping something would happen because these two men really needed miracles and I felt so bad for them, I wanted them to be better so bad! After I prayed I asked Juan if there was any change, and in the most nonchalant way you can imagine he said, "Yeah I'm better now."

I thought he probably didn't understand my question, or maybe he was just saying it so I wouldn't feel bad, so I asked him again. He covered the good eye, looked around, and said, "Yeah, It's completely healed now," and then he added, "Everyone told me I was going to have to go to the doctor for this, but I told God I was going to wait for Him to heal me, and now He has." Then Abraham piped up and said, "I can see better too!" I spun around and asked him how much better, he said, "I'm not totally healed yet, but everything is brighter all of the sudden!" That got me excited of course, so I did what I see every other evangelist do with a deaf person and started snapping my finger in Juan's deaf ear and he could hear!

It was funny to me because once Juan was healed, he never really showed any emotion at all, he just said, "Well, thank you brother Alan, I'll see you later." He shook my hand and walked away. The wonderful thing about it though, is that God gets all the glory. I learned a couple very big lessons last night with this healing. First is that how you feel is totally irrelevant to how God is going to work, obedience is what is important. I did not have the faith to see that blind eye or deaf ear open, I didn't feel faith, I felt doubt. So even though some people may think that I have some special anointing, or I am some kind of great man of God because of these miracles, I know full well that I had absolutely nothing to do with it. I didn't have the faith for it, I wasn't even expecting to pray for anyone because I wasn't given the time too. God simply saw that one of His kids was in that church (That's me!) and there were a couple of people He wanted to heal, so He brought them to me so that I could do my part which is just put my hands on them, and then He does all the rest. There is nothing more I can do, I have absolutely no power to heal anyone, the only power I have is to be obedient and put my hand on sick people, God does the rest.

If you are wondering about Abraham, when he left the church he was not completely healed, but I will be seeing him again in a couple of days and if he isn't totally healed yet I will pray for him again. I sure hope he gets total healing though, I felt so bad for him and he really needs his eyes back.

What Makes a Man a Man of God?

2010-01-03T05:12:00.000-08:00

This is a question that I have been thinking about a lot lately. There are all kinds of opinions flying around these days, and especially with all the miracles that are going on. I know I've been talking an awful lot about miracles these days, but since they have been coming up more in my life there are a lot of things I need to figure out! This happens to be one of the questions I have been working on. Although in honesty I am pretty sure I have this one pretty well nailed down. One thing I noticed was that as soon as I started having some miracles happen around me, the people who saw them instantly started treating me differently. They started treating me as if I was some kind of super spiritual mega Christian. The fact is though, even though I do feel more confident in Jesus, and I certainly have more faith in general, I don't feel like I am any more spiritual or special than I was before. As a matter of fact, I feel like I'm just now starting to become what a normal Christian is supposed to be!

I recently had a conversation with a guy who has a lot of miracles in his ministry. On his blog you can see pictures of all kinds of things, gold teeth, weight loss, and you can read about a whole lot of interesting things about anointing and so on. I was talking to him on messenger for a while one day about all these different things, and all of the sudden he asked me if I wanted him to pray for me to receive the fire anointing. Now I'm not going to lie, when he said that I could feel the fire like it was coming through the computer screen. But, I turned him down. The reason why I turned him down is because of a few verses, but I think I can sum it up in these three verses right here,

"Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but the ones who do the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many works of power? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; "depart from Me, those working lawlessness!"

That is Matthew 7:21-23. Ever since I have been seeing all these miracles this passage has played through my head every time something powerful happens. And I ask myself, "Does power equal godliness?" After reading this verse, and all kinds of other verses on false signs and wonders, I am confident that I can say that no, power does not equal godliness. With this guy and the fire anointing, I'm not saying that he is not a godly man, he probably is! However I don't know anything about him other than two blog entries of his that I've read. The Bible says to test every spirit, so that's what I'm doing. As we have clearly seen in the church today with so many ministers and Christian falling away, even seemingly powerful ones, that the ability to do miracles does not mean someone has character.

I have decided that character and love in the kingdom of God are far more important than miracles. Miracles are wonderful and I am happy to be able to experience them in my life and fairly frequently now, but as we just saw in Matthew, Jesus cares more about living a holy life than he does about how accurate we can prophecy or how much gold dust we can make fall. So I keep that in mind all the time now for two reason.

One is because in charismatic churches most ministers use signs and wonders as sort of badges to prove that God has confirmed there ministry. God does confirm a ministry through signs and wonders, but the devil does too. There is a warlock in the town I live in back in Panama, and he and his entire family levitates on a daily basis. There are other a trinity of warlocks out in the jungle that can teleport from one place to another at will. That is power, but it does not make them have anything worth paying attention to.

So to finish here, I think that even though it is great to ask for power in our ministries, the Bible says that we would be known by our love, not our power, so we should pursue love more than anything else.

Robbed!

2009-12-31T12:31:00.000-08:00

A few hours ago I went to the market with my family and another American guy named David. There weren't many people in the market and it seemed like a nice time to walk. However all of the sudden a whole group of about twenty people seemed to come out from everywhere when we were in the center of the market. They just pressed all around us and it seemed ridiculous because they wouldn't let us out of the swarm. When we finally got out of there, my wife wanted to buy a jacket for her brother and asked me to pay for half of it. I went for my wallet and it was gone, I told David who checked, and his was gone too. After asking around we discovered that we had been followed for a while and that the thieves worked as a group and did the same thing frequently. It amazed me that so many people knew the tactics and yet nobody tried to help us or anyone else.

So, I now have no bank card, very little money, no social security card, and no residence visa to Panama. It sounds pretty bad, but I assure you that God will work this all our for His glory. The Bible says not only to forgive, but to pray for your enemies. So may God convict every one of those thieves of their sin and bring them to His throne in mercy and grace.

Another good thing that has come out of this is that now I can identify with Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:26 when he said he was in danger of robbers. In all things, whether good or bad, we always give glory to God. Amen.

Pharisees Are Still Running Rampant

2009-12-29T05:38:00.000-08:00

I was amazed last night. For the first time in all my years running around the world preaching the Gospel, I ran into the clearest example of a pharisee spirit that I have ever seen.

A few days ago I preached at a church, and God did some amazing things. People were set free emotionally and physically of all kinds of things. That same church called me two nights ago and asked me to come back and preach this Sunday, I said I would come. However last night they called again and said that if I am to come and preach, they want me to dress more formal than I did the last time. I don't dress like a bum when I preach, I wear the nicest clothes I have. Unfortunately for them, I did not bring a suite with me to Guatemala. I have boots, a button up shirt, and some nice pants. So I told them that I don't have anything nicer than what I already have here. They in turn suggested that I go out and by some nicer clothes. Once again, unfortunately for them, not only have I checked the shoe stores here and not a single one I have been to in this country has a size 13 shoe, but even if they did I wouldn't buy a new pair of shoes just to please men. God doesn't seem to mind at all the way I dress. The sick are still being healed, the demons are still fleeing, and people are still getting saved, and God hasn't ever mentioned anything about my clothing. If clothing made a difference lots of prophets in the Bible would have been useless to the kingdom of God. As I recall some ran around naked, dressed in camel hair, covered themselves in ashes, and all kinds of stuff like that. God still managed to use them all.

So, to my amazement, when I explained to them that I simply cannot buy new clothes, despite all the miracles that happened the last time I preached there (That was the service where gold dust fell) they took back their invitation and now I will be ministering elsewhere.

Why am I writing all of this here in this blog? Well, mostly because I am so shocked that someone who has seen God use someone so powerfully, would reject that person over something as trivial as shiny shoes. It is incredible the way that religious pharisee spirit has managed to slip into so many different churches under the guise of being wise and holy. Just like it always has.

The Focus of the Message

2009-12-28T11:30:00.000-08:00

Acts 2:43 "And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles."

There are a lot of miracles happening in the church today, both healings and signs and wonders of many different kinds. The signs and wonders side of thing are a hot topic right now, and one of a lot of debates and opinions. Because of the accelerated amount of these signs and wonders that are happening not only around the world, but in my life and ministry personally, I have been studying about them quite a bit. I certainly don't understand them completely yet, but I have come to one major conclusion that I would like to share in this post.

The reason that signs and wonders are so controversial and debated by people, is because the Bible is very vague on the issue. It mentions several times that signs and wonders but it rarely gives much information on what they were. One of the more common signs that has been happening is gold dust, or glory dust, however you want to call it. It is happening pretty frequently in the church and is readily accepted by most of the charismatic church. The more conservative church members often reject it because there isn't an example of it happening in the Bible other than a couple of verses where God says He owns the gold and silver and that kind of thing. It may be a stretch to claim those verses as proof for this sign to be of God, but what are you supposed to do when the sign is happening? Like I said, I don't understand it all just yet and I am not here to try and prove or defend these signs and wonders. They are happening to me and I don't even know what I'm doing to get it to happen! I don't really talk about signs and wonders when I preach, that is mostly because I don't know all the verses on them and I have never really studied them until now. I always wanted them, but had no idea how to go about receiving them. Again, I'm not sure WHAT I did, but things are happening!

But what is the conclusion I have come to from the small amount of study I HAVE done on signs and wonders? Well, God knew what He was doing when He wrote the Bible and He made no mistakes when He did. I personally think that God was purposefully vague on these things for two reasons.

1. God was vague because He didn't want us to get locked in on just one type of miracle. God is infinite, all powerful, and amazingly creative. There is a huge array of different miracles that happened all through the Bible, and a lot of them are totally unique. So gold dust is great, feathers and gem stones and all that stuff is wonderful, but I personally think that there is a lot more that we haven't even begun to tap into yet.

2. The other reason that God is so vague, and this is something that is the most important to me, is that signs and wonders was never meant to be the main message. They are exactly what they are called, they are signs that point to Jesus. There is nothing wrong with talking about them, there is nothing wrong with experiencing them, but when our entire focus is on the miracles and the angels and all of that stuff, we are becoming dangerously close to idolatry.

It is okay to ask God for signs and wonders, in the Bible the apostles asked for them (Acts 4) and God promised them. However Jesus should always be the focus of our message. There are lots of people saying that they talk about sign and wonders in order to build faith for them to happen, and that is okay to a certain point, but the only time I see anyone in the Bible mention signs and wonders it was to prove that Jesus is King and Lord. These miracles are of course mentioned, but only as evidence of Jesus.

So praise God for His awesome power and His willingness to let us experience it and move in it. But, don't ever take your eyes off of Jesus, because He is the whole reason that signs and wonders exist. They exist to point us to Him and nothing else. If an angel comes and visits you, glory to God! If gold dust falls, glory to God! But not matter what our eyes must be fixed on Jesus.

Authority in Jesus

2009-12-24T06:54:00.000-08:00

These are the notes to the teaching I have been giving at the churches here in Guatemala over the past couple of weeks. It isn't as extensive of course, but I did add a little to it so that it would make more sense when you read it without the sermon itself.

Genesis 1:28-30

And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food: and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so.

1. This is the original plan of God for us. That we would have authority over all the earth.

a. When Adam sinned, he gave that authority to Satan.

b. When Jesus died on the cross, he defeated Satan and took that authority back from him

c. Complete authority has been given back to those of us who are in Jesus. Now we not only have authority over the land, but also over sickness and demons. There are other things as well, but today we will be looking specifically at sickness and the demonic.

Demonic Forces

Luke 9: 1-2

And he called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. And he sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.

1. Jesus gave to His disciples, that is us , authority over ALL demons. It does not matter how big it is or what it is called, if you are in Jesus you have authority over it.

Philippians 2: 9-11

Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

2. At the name of Jesus every demon and sickness must bow. They have already been defeated by Jesus on the cross, they do not have a choice but to obey. When we proclaim the name of Jesus those things in the spiritual must bow.

3. Revelation 5:10 says that we are kings and priests. A king has total authority over everything that has been given him. God has given us authority over demons and over sickness.

This is why God is called the King of Kings. We are kings, and He is King over us. We have authority, but everything we do must be done by His will and not our own.

A. There are people who are afraid of demons and witchcraft. This fear is not only wrong thinking, but it is sinful and shows a lack of trust in the power of God to protect you.

1. The Bible says 365 times, “Do not fear.” That is one time for every day of the year. God does not want you to be afraid, and you have no reason to be.

Matthew 16: 18-19

And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

a. Once again we can see the authority given to us in verse 19, but let's look closer at verse 18. It says here, “the gates” of hell. Gates are not an instrument used for attack, they are something used for defense.

b. In the church we often think that we need to defend against Satan, but the Bible tells us that Satan is the one who should be defending against us!

3. Matthew 11:12 "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force."

a. We are called to fight, and to take the devils territory from him with violence.

b. Ephesians Chapter 6.

I am sure that most of you know about that armor of God, and have probably studied it and talked about it many times before. However I have noticed that there is one point that most people have never realized. If you study carefully the armor, and all the different pieces that there are, you will come to realize that there is no armor at all for your back.

This is why the devil tries to scare you, if he can convince you to run away, you will show your back and the devil will have the opportunity to wound you.

Never run from the devil, the Bible says to resist him, and he will flee from you.

Sickness

Matthew 4:23

And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people.

Jesus healed every sickness, not just a few, and not just some of the people. We are called to be like Jesus. When we lay hands on the sick, every kind of sickness should flee.

1. You may be saying right now, “But that was Jesus, he was God!” Jesus was not the only one to heal all sicknesses in the Bible.

Acts 5:15-16

The Apostles healed every sickness in this passage as well. It was not just Jesus.

In Acts 28, Paul healed everyone who came to him on Malta.

1 Peter 2: 24

Who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.

This says, “You were healed.” This is something that happened in the past, it is already done. Any sickness you have in your body has already been healed by the blood of Jesus. It is there illegally and has no right to be in you.

If perhaps you are one of those who would argue that this verse is referring to spiritual healing, please refer to Isaiah 53:4-5 which Peter is quoting.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

The Greek word translated "griefs" in this passage is the word "chŏlıy'" this word according to Strong's means the following:

- Malady, anxiety, calamity: - disease, grief, (is) sick (-ness).

Young's Literal Translation of the Bible translates the verse this way:

Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains--he hath carried them, And we--we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and afflicted. And he is pierced for our transgressions, Bruised for our iniquities, The chastisement of our peace is on him, And by his bruise there is healing to us.

The Amplified Bible is translated this way:

Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.

To finish, it is important that we understand these benefits that Jesus has given us on the cross. Because this is authority to claim health and to live without fear of the enemy. God has made us champions and has given us more than enough tools to live victorious lives for His glory. It is not God's will to have weak and stumbling soldiers, He died on the cross so that we would be strong.

Supernatural Gold Dust

2009-12-22T05:46:00.000-08:00

This Sunday I was preaching at a church service here in Guatemala, and everything seemed pretty normal at first. I didn't notice anything particularly strange or different, I preached on our authority in Jesus (A teaching I will have in my next post) and God healed people of all kinds of sicknesses as He always does. However after ministry time when I sat down in my seat and held my Bible, I noticed that there were several gold flakes on the cover. Then I looked at my hand and it also had the gold. I showed my wife who started looking for more, and saw that the area around my chair and under it was just covered in this gold dust!

Now I am not one to just take something and assume that it was a miracle without confirming it. So after the service we brought a deaconess over for her to check it out, she was shocked when he saw it and told us that she had no idea where it came from and that they hadn't had any kind of party where flakes of gold or glitter or anything like that had been used.

Our God is so awesome and powerful, and as a result of this wonderful miracle the churches here in Guatemala want us to come back for at least a month travelling around the country in the churches and proclaiming the Gospel and its power. Hallelujah!

Hospital Miracles

2009-12-17T15:48:00.000-08:00

Today we went to a hospital, it was one of the most powerful times of hospital ministry I have seen in a while. I went there determined to to see someone in a wheelchair healed, so when I arrived I was hunting the halls for them. I found two men in wheelchairs, both of them had broken there back. Rafael, the first one I met, had been in a wheelchair for seven months and could not feel anything from the waist down. When I asked him if I could pray for him he agreed reluctantly, I imagine a gringo who speaks Spanish arriving at this tiny hospital in Guatemala would have made anyone scratch their heads! However he consented and I got to praying. I noticed his feet which were sticking out from a blanket that covered him in his chair. They were hideous and swollen, they looked like feet that hadn't moved in months, and of course, that is what God told me to touch. I didn't at first because I rationalized as anyone would that God could heal him no matter where I touched him! So I prayed, and nothing happened, so I told him that I would go pray for others and pass by and see if he was healed yet later.

I walked down the hall where I found Emilio, the second man in the wheelchair. As I mentioned he also had a broken back, but he had been in that wheelchair with no feeling in his legs for four years! His legs were so thin from lack of use that they just looked like bones with the tiniest bit of muscle clinging on. I asked if I could pray for him, read him a verse on healing, and he agreed. He was not feeling well, and he had a high fever, so he didn't seem too excited about me praying for him. However that all changed when I touched him. The instant my hands wrapped around his pencil thin legs, his calf muscles started spasming as if bolts of electricity were shooting through them. He instantly became more interested in what was happening and he started praying as loud as I was! After a moment he still couldn't feel anything and so I told him that I was going to go pray for others, and I would pass by to see if he was healed yet in a few minutes.

About half an hour when by and I went to see Rafael, he was still the same with no change and God was still pushing me to touch his feet. Once again I ignored the prompting, prayed with no results, and went back to Emilio.

When I get to Emilio he had a small smile on his face, he told me that his fever had gone down since I prayed for him, and the muscles in his legs were very tight and that something strange was happening. I touched him and he still had no feeling, so I told him I would be back.

Next, I was asked by the pastor who was with us to go into the women's room to pray for the ladies in there. When we went in there we came to the first lady in bed and asked if we could pray for her, she agreed and we started to pray. The reaction was amazing! God touched the woman and she began weeping right there in the hospital room, and then the other two women in the room began to cry as well. After just a few moments one of the other women made Jesus her Lord!

After that we went back out and I knew what had to be done: I had to touch Rafael's feet. I went back to him, and I prayed, and this time I grabbed his feet and I knew that God was going to work. When I asked him if he felt anything, he still said that nothing had happened! So I went back to see Emilio.

When I got to Emilio there wasn't a small smile anymore. Now he had a huge smile and was bouncing around in his chair as he waved me over. When I got there I said, "What happened!" he replied, "I can feel!" So I reached down and grabbed his little legs and squeezed and asked, "Can you feel this!" his head bobbed up and down furiously as he said, "Yes!" It was an amazing miracle, he had felt nothing in his legs for four years, and within an hour he had gotten his feeling back by the power of God.

Right as we were about to leave another pastor who heard we were there and that God had touched so many people asked us to go to a room and pray for a brother from the church. As we were on our way I wanted to go pray for Rafael one last time, but he was gone. I felt really disappointed as I made my way to pray for the other pastor's friend, until we got to the room.

Inside the hospital room, laying right next to the brother we were supposed to pray for was Rafael! He looked at me, reached out and grabbed my hand and said, "I can feel blood circulating in my legs again!" I was so excited that I grabbed him and said, "You see! Our God is a mighty God who heals!"

We did not have time to stay and watch them get up and walk, which I am sure they will be doing soon if they aren't already, there is so much ministry to do and we can't always take the time we want with individual people. We did get their contact information however and we will be in touch. I am convinced that God healed them in that moment, and wonderful miracles took place and as their muscles get used to working again, their recovery will be complete in Jesus name.

For you the reader, have you ever experienced a miracle like this? If you have I would love to hear about it, and I am sure the other readers would as well. So please feel free to leave a comment with your story, and let us always remember that all the glory belongs to God, to Jesus who shed His blood for our healing.

Brother Lawrence: The Praying Monk

2009-12-16T11:49:00.001-08:00

Brother Lawrence was a monk who was born in modern day France. He had a life that some would say was unique, but in truth it was the normal Christian life. He made a decision in his life to pray constantly, and to always be in the presence of God. He did this for many years, and his relationship with God was so strong, that even though he was given menial tasks to accomplish in the monastery, people would travel from miles around just to watch him wash plates. The presence of God was so thick on him that the gospel was preached while scrubbing plates! Can you imagine that?

Often times we imagine witnessing to others as some great and complicated task we need to plan out to the last detail, and have all of our theology perfect before we can do so. The truth is, our relationship with God, when it is healthy and strong, can bring people to Christ without saying a single word.

1 Thessalonians says 5:17 says, "Pray without ceasing." All throughout the New Testament we are told over and over again to always give thanks, praise God always, make requests and so on. We are often told in church that we should try and take fifteen minutes, maybe thirty each day to spend with Jesus, but the Bible says that we should never stop spending time with him! Brother Lawrence understood this, and once said that the times of prayer required in the monastery were no different than any other time during the day. He was always in the presence of God, and this is not something special or extreme, this is the normal Christian life.

Prayer has been made into something very dramatic, and something that we think we need the newest soaking cd, or worship music playing. The fact of the matter is though, we don't need any kind of atmosphere to be in the presence of God. When prayed He was often out in the middle of nowhere with the bugs and other distractions. When he did miracles he did not have any kind of worship band, or atmosphere to help him. Brother Lawrence was not in any kind of atmosphere to pray when he was washing dishes or doing shopping!

You can pray and be in communion with God when you are at work, or at home taking care of the kids. This is not a lifestyle for pastors and evangelists or other ministers alone, it is for every single Christian every single day.

For those of you struggling with sin, take this verse to heart, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." If you will make the decision to live a life of prayer, and remain in the presence of God, you will not fall into those old sins any more.

One other thing we have been taught in church is that we need to call God down to fill a particular area with His presence. This is a wrong teaching. The Bible says that we are the temple of God, and that He lives IN us. We have been taught that God leaves us, but Jesus told us, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age". He never leaves us regardless of what we feel. When we pray, and we feel the presence of God, what is happening is not that God is coming down from heaven onto us, but we are allowing His presence that is already in us to come out! The reason why you don't always feel the presence, is because you stop focusing on Jesus. When we lose sight of Jesus, and allow ourselves to focus on the world, we become blocked by the flesh. If we can remove that block, then we can always be in the presence of God. So remember this: The presence of God never leaves you, it is you that is leaving the presence of God.

If you are interested in learning more about Brother Lawrence, and reading some of his teachings, there is a great book called The Practice of the Presence of God. This short book is a collection of letters that he sent back and forth with another believer who was interested in having that same lifestyle and intimacy with Jesus. You can read it online for free at the link below, or you can buy is very cheaply on several sites online.

http://www.tochrist.org/Doc/Books/Lawrence/The%20Practice%20of%20the%20Presence%20of%20God.pdf

George Mueller

2009-12-16T09:19:00.001-08:00

George Mueller was a man of prayer who can be a great example for us in our personal lives. He lived during the 1800's and ran an orphanage, which during his lifetime housed over ten thousand orphans. He also pastored a church, preached three times a week, and in his later years traveled the world preaching the Gospel. All of these things he accomplished without ever asking for money from anyone. He relied completely on God throughout his entire life. Whenever there was a need he told Jesus about it, and Jesus always answered.

There is one story of his life that has impacted me personally. After years of operating his orphanage on faith alone, one day there was no food for the orphans for breakfast. Some of the staff members said that it had finally happened, the day had finally arrived when their faith was not enough to provide for all the orphans. George was not shaken however, instead he told them to wait for him. He went outside where a little girl was playing, grabbed her by the hand, and said, "Come, let us see what God will do." They went in to the dining hall where hundreds of orphans awaited their breakfast. George, in his rock solid faith, led the orphans in a prayer of thanks for the food God had provided for them to eat, and yet there was nothing on their plates! After the prayer the orphans all sat down, and in a flash there was a knock at the door. When George answered it there was a baker who told him that he couldn't sleep all night, and had awoken long before dawn to make bread for the orphans! A few minutes later there was another knock at the door, it was the milkman. He told them how his milk cart had broken down right in front of the orphanage, and that it was too heavy to take back for repairs, he wanted to know if they needed any milk! So all the orphans ate and were filled by the miraculous mercy of God.

This same type of miracle happened to us in Costa Rica for this past Thanksgiving. Here is the story, which was taken from an email I wrote.

*****

Hey, so it´s evening now, and we had an awesome
Thanksgiving! I just wanted to share with you the miracle we had here
in Costa Rica, it was really exciting for me because this is the first
time I have experienced this particular miracle. I ended up cooking
one of the turkeys, and we were supposed to
have a second turkey but the oven broke and so it didn´t
get cooked. We were supposed to have 30 people, but several
unexpected guests showed up and we
ended up having 40 people. Now, Donna, the base director´s wife here
made seven pies, which had exactly enough pieces for 30 people to
eat one each. That is 30 pieces. Since one Turkey didn´t get cooked, we only
had a single, small, 14 pound Turkey to feed forty people, which of
course is pretty much impossible unless each person gets a
very small sliver of it. So here is the miracle, that one
Turkey lasted for every single of the 40 people to eat, and everyone
was stuffed by the end. And THEN, by another miracle, the 30 pieces
of pie that were only going to last for the original people to eat was
multiplied, and every single person ate at least one piece of pie, but
most people ate TWO, and several even ate THREE pieces! THEN, there
were two and a half pies left over. Karmy and I took three pieces of
pie home with us! It was incredible, totally something right out of
the Bible! I hope this blesses you like it has me, and I hope
everyone had a wonderfulThanksgiving!

*****

These kinds of miracles are the result of prayer. God wants us all to experience them, not just a select few. George Mueller had an interesting habit that I would suggest to any Christian. I do this myself and have found it to be an amazing faith builder. George would keep a prayer journal. The way he would do this is that any time he had a need, or any kind of prayer request, he would write it down in his journal. Then when the answer came, he would write down what the answer was. In my own prayer journal, I write down the date, and all the details of exactly how it happened, but that is simply personal preference.

One prayer that God recently answered for me, was that I wanted to preach in a place that had no Christians. I had done evangelism in Turkey for the years I lived there, but it was mostly Bible distributions. I wanted to have a meeting and preach, and give an altar call, the whole package. So two days ago our team was invited to go preach in a town, and that was all we were told. We agreed to go, and I was asked to preach. It wasn't until we were nearly arriving that they told us that the town did not have a single evangelical Christian in it, and no established church! Not only that, but the next village up the mountain, the last time this group had sent a team up there, had come out to greet them with machetes and threatened their lives. So I got to go and preach in that town, and I was able to pray for several sick people and see God touch them. It was a wonderful night and I was probably blessed a much as anyone else by it!

So I urge you to start your own prayer journal, it will build your faith and help you in your walk with Christ Jesus.

God Really Does Answer Prayer

2009-12-16T09:17:00.001-08:00

In September of 2001 I left my home in Texas and made my way to Minneapolis Minnesota for a Discipleship Training School with Youth With a Mission. Now, at the end of 2009 I find myself in Huehuetenango Guatemala. Between now and that first training time I have spent three months in Scotland, two years in Istanbul, Turkey, four years in Panama, three months in Heredia, Costa Rica, and now will be here in Guatemala for the next two months. There are hundreds if not thousands of stories I could tell about these different seasons in my life. They are each filled with the supernatural, the ordinary, extraordinary healing, and times of wandering and confusion.

You may be asking, what is the big deal? Lot's of people have traveled to different parts of the world. So why should I share this part of my life? I will tell you up front that the reason I am sharing this is not so you can think I am something special, because anyone who knows me can tell you that I am a pretty normal person. I am sharing this because it can help you in your walk with Jesus. What makes my story different than the thousands of other people who travel each year (and yet it is the similar to many other around the world right now) is that I have no personal fortune that I am living off of. I don't have some business back in Texas that I am living off of. I don't have any kind of degree or special schooling to run around the world preaching the gospel and having adventures. As a matter of fact when I left home for that school in 2001 I was only 16 years old and barely mature enough to be considered worth having on the mission field. I am nearly 25 now and I have a wife and child and I continue to survive the same way I did years ago. It is all through prayer and faith that God will answer me in one way or another.

For example: Several years ago while I was in Panama another missionary and myself needed to buy something for dinner, but we didn't have the money for it. We decided to walk toward the store and try to figure out what we would do about this. As we were walking, there, in the dirt, was a green piece of paper! That's right, you guessed it, it was cash! It was enough for us not only to buy dinner, but to buy burgers and french fries, which was exactly what we had been talking about having! When you speak, God really does hear you.

Another example is when I was invited to preach at a crusade in a small town in Panama. After I preached the message I invited the people up for prayer. One woman was helped to the front by some of her family members. She had broken her ankle earlier that day and could not afford the treatment. It was horribly swollen and red, I could only imagine how much pain she was in. Now I personally believe 1 Peter 2:24 which says, "By His you were healed." You were healed is past tense, which means it already happened on the cross. I believe that, and know that it is true. So when that woman came up for prayer, I got down from the platform and reached down to pray for her. The instant I touched her I was shocked with God's reply to the woman's need. I watched with my own eyes as her ankle instantly shrank back to normal and the woman was completely healed. As soon as her shock passed (Because she felt it happen) she could walk around by herself as if nothing ever happened!

These are the kinds of miracles that I have come to expect from our wonderful God. Jesus blood was not poured out just so we could have peace and happiness. It was poured out so that we could move in dunamis prayer, which is powerful prayer. This is the kind of prayer that we will be looking at on this blog, and we will continue to see God perform miracles and great things; not because we want to see a sign, but because God loves people and will do anything to reach them. So stay connected with us here, and read about what God is doing. Send us your prayer requests and we will pray for you until God answers. Jesus really is with those of us who love Him, and He really does care about you. You are not alone.

Are You Cowardly?

2008-10-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

I was reading the book of Revelation today, and as I was coming to the end I found a verse that shocked me. Revelation 21:7-8 says "He who overcomes shall iherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son."

Verse 8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in teh lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

I added the bold, italics to cowardly up there as I'm sure you know. However this shocked me so much because cowardly, is right next to murders, sexually immoral, and so on! Imagine that, God sees cowardice as just as bad a sin and those things!

Most Christians never share their faith because of fear. Every day they walk down the street and pass several, maybe hundreds, maybe even thousands of people who are going to the lake of fire and they don't even hand out a few tracts! This is a horrible sin, and those who do that need to repent. We can see here in Revelation that it is not something to be taken lightly.

Let's look at another example, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:16 "For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" Paul himself said "woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel." We need to take these things to heart and understand that it is sin to live in fear, and to keep the gospel of our Lord Jesus bottled up inside of us. Cowards will have their place in the lake of fire, we don't want that. We have no been given a spirit of fear, but of courage. So let's put off that old fear, and take up courage, and preach the gospel with fearlessness. We know that the goal is to hear the words "Well done, good and faithful servant." There is nothing more important than that.

Amen.

Christians in Crisis

2008-10-09T11:00:00.001-07:00

I have always had a broken heart for our brothers and sisters in chains all over the world. They need our prayers. Here are some stats that I took from christiansincrisis.net. I highly recommend going there and reading, praying, or even donating to their ministry.

Were you aware that ...

Since the death of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago,

43,000,000 Christians have become martyrs.

Over 50% of these were in the last century alone.

More than 200 million Christians face persecution each day

60% are children.

Every day over 300 are killed

for their faith in Jesus Christ.

These things are happening every day, look at this new report from yesterday.

Date: October 8, 2008

The Persecution & Prayer Alert

Three Christians were killed in Mosul, Iraq over the past week. On October 4, an armed group of suspected Islamist militants assassinated a man named Hazim Thomaso Youssif (40) in front of his clothing shop and Ivan Nuwya (15) was shot to death in front of his home, located near a mosque in the Christian-majority neighbourhood of Tahrir. On October 6, a disabled 25-year-old shopkeeper was shot and killed in the neighbourhood of Karama. Some Christians believe that Islamists are targeting shopkeepers in an effort to wipe out the Christian community's economic activity and drive out believers from the area.

Pray for those who mourn these lost lives. Ask God to continue to embolden the Christian community in Mosul to proclaim the Gospel even while suffering. (2 Timothy 4:16-18).

To learn more about Christian's suffering for righteousness' sake in Iraq,

visit www.persecution.net/iraq.htm.

Look at this report from India.

TAMIL NADU, INDIA (ANS) -- Gospel for Asia missionary Vinay Ganpati is still facing threats months after an anti-Christian mob attacked his church in Tamil Nadu, India. The attack happened after a local woman, believed to be a goddess, blamed two deaths on the Christian community.

After the attack on the church building and congregation, one of the anti-Christians died in an accident. This caused people to further blame the Christians, and there were threats of more violence.

On September 26, a group approached pastor Vinay and told him to vacate the church and stop all activities by October 10. Vinay tried his best to reason with the group, explaining the land was lawfully owned by the church and that he couldn't leave so suddenly.

"The extremists were not ready to listen to him and again warned him to vacate by the deadline or face dire consequences," GFA's correspondent wrote. "Vinay seems very worried."

Vinay and his leaders plan to file a complaint with the police station in an effort to protect their land. This is not their first choice, as it could further hinder relationships with the people of the village.

Vinay earnestly requests prayer that God would remove fear from the Christians' hearts and make them strong to face these trials. Pray that the Lord will bring a peaceful solution, and that those opposing the Gospel will realize God's love for them.

So often we forget that 2Timothy 3:12 says "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."

There is a great war going on in the world today, and we need to take part. There are too many benchwarmers out there. We are all soldiers of Jesus Christ and we must take up our shields and swords and fight the good fight. The older I get the faster time seems to pass, and the more I realize how little I have done with the time I have been given. I refuse to regret the way I have lived my life, and you should too. There are billions of souls that need Jesus, let's do everything we can to give them the Kingdom, with every breath we take. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Stages of the Christian Road Pt. 3

2008-10-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

Part 3: Spiritual Fathers

"I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning."

The word Father here means Parent in the greek. So again, this is for male or female.

Here we have arrived at the stage we must all aspire for. As you can see, John only said ONE thing about the spiritual fathers; those who are mature. "You have known Him who is from the beginning." You see, spiritual parents have moved on from knowing God simply as a forgiving Father, and Warrior King. They still know Him in those ways of course. However they have come to understand deeper, eternal aspects of Him. For certain, even spiritual parents have MUCH to learn and will spend eternity learning about God. Despite that, they have at this point reached a maturity where they can understand the great secret of this saying, "I AM". They know God like Moses, Elijah, Paul, and John. They speak to God as a friend, their relationship with Him is so deep, they drink from His love and power profoundly. They are like the great oaks planted by the river of life. They are the ones who should disciple the children and youth. Unfortunately there really aren't very many of these spiritual parents around. We all know how much we need them, and we all know the great desire for more discipleship. However with this there is a great responsability, when someone is a spiritual father or mother, they are the ones that people flock to for help, they very often don't have privacy, they don't get much rest because of the constant flow of people who need. These are the people who when you see them, you see the eyes of Jesus looking back at you.

These fathers and mothers are the ones that people see and they can feel the presence of Jesus, when you see one of these elders, you know they have been with Jesus. Most people don't make it here because this is the narrow path, this is the group of people who truly have been crucified with Christ, they have made great sacrifices and found the great treasures of heaven that most of us long for. We need these great men and women of God, and sadly they are so hard to find.

To conclude I want to make one clear point, these different stages of the Christian road are based on spiritual levels. They have nothing to do with age, Timothy was young, and Paul told him to be an example, and not to let anyone look down on him because of that youth. I have met pastors who have led churches for thirty years, and yet are still immature in the faith. I have also met teenagers who truly have intimacy with the King.

What will you become?

Stages of the Christian Road pt. 2

2008-10-07T13:21:00.000-07:00

Part 2: Young Men

Okay, let's turn our Bibles once again to 1 John Chapter 2.

Verse 13 "I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one."

Verse 14 "I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one."

In these verses, "Young Men" is translated from the Greek word "Youth", so don't think that this applies only to young men, it has the same application to young ladies.

Youth are the ones who have moved on from infancy and have begun to use the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. They have learned to feed themselves and defend themselves against temptation and many kinds of sin. This is not to say that they are perfect of course, even a soldier with the best training can still be wounded. However, they are strong, the warriors of God. They have overcome and are no longer bound by sin, youth are still immature in many way but they have the hearts of champions and are moving forward. They have soaked in the Word of God and have a passion and a fire for our King Jesus. They have learned about the power and authority that we have in the name of Jesus. This is usually the point where people start to think that these youth are radical. By now they have usually overcome most if not all fear of man, and understand that following Jesus is all that matters. Not looks, money, comfort, or anything else but the cross. They have the hearts of martyrs and are willing to die for the sake of Jesus. However, they still need the spiritual fathers to disciple them. Without guidance from a spiritual father, the passion they have can become misplaced and lead to teaching false doctrines and pride.

Many times people get to this stage and think that this is all there is to it. Be on fire and radical for Jesus, just go for it! This is a mistake though, because even though in this stage there is great adventures and exploits for the sake of the Kingdom, there is still more maturity to be attained. With more maturity comes greater authority and power. Even though growing to this stage is better than being stuck as an infant, it is still sad when people get stuck here. We will talk about more reasons why in our next teaching. The stage we all must aspire for. Many times ministers, missionaries, and any other Christians stay here as I said before. They tend to be leaders because they are the ones who are willing to move forward. The baby Christians can't handle the responsibility yet, so the youth step up and lead. This is good because youth need to learn leadership, however without the spiritual fathers we end up where a lot of churches are stuck now; which is spiritual youth leading spiritual babies. Everyone ends up thinking that youth is the end and you come out with a church that is only half baked..

I hope you've enjoyed this teaching, and learned something as well! I will be posting the 3rd and final part of this teaching tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Don't forget that you can always write us with prayer requests at seekingnewheights@gmail.com!

Blessings!

Stages of the Christian Road

2008-10-06T12:37:00.000-07:00

Here is an old sermon I preached from some revelation God gave me. Today we are going through such a drought of spiritual maturity, I think ahead to our children’s future and wonder who they will have to look up to. It is time to step up and be mature in Christ.

I’ll be adding each part over the next couple days. So stay with us to see the conclusion!

Part 1
The Stages of the Christian Road
1Jo 2:12 "I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake."

1Jo 2:13 "I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father."

1Jo 2:14 "I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one."

These verses are often read, and often overlooked. However I found something very important and impacting within these passages. You see what we find here are three stages of growth in Christianity, or perhaps the three ranks. It is very important that we understand that there are in fact different stages in our walk with Jesus, different seasons and changes. The Bible says that we change from glory to glory; I believe that this lesson will help shed a little more light that.

Children: "I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake."
"I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father."

The word "Children" in Greek here literally means infants, one who is newly born. Children are those who have just received Jesus, the new converts who only know God as a loving and forgiving Father. They don't have much experience in Jesus, they don't know other aspects of his character than His love and forgiveness. However, unlike in the physical world, you can actually stay in this area of Christianity. It's nice to remain only in the forgiveness and love part of Him. It's easy because it is the most comfortable rank. It is where you can be saved and still have a minimum amount of responsibility. This is the stage where the majority of Christians dwell. These are the ones who just absorb, like children. They don't, or won't walk by themselves, feed themselves, or advance in any way because they don't want to for whatever reason. They live their lives just feeding, absorbing, and depending on others. They are still immature in the faith and don't know how to fight. They are the babies, we all start there, but a lot of us stay there, and that is truly a horrible mistake. It is not only dangerous but very sad, because those who stay in this area never get to experience any more of the Father; not until they are in Heaven of course. It is not wrong to be in this stage, it's wonderful, it's just wrong to stay there.

Stay tuned for part two, where we will be talking about young men, and then fathers!

The Moravians

2008-10-05T07:51:00.000-07:00

1Thessalonians 5:17

"Pray without ceasing."

Have you ever heard of the Moravians? Today they are not very well known in the church, perhaps they never were as popular as say, the Vineyard church. However they had an incredible impact on the world. In fact, it was a group of Moravians showing humility and example on a ship crossing the Atlantic ocean that impacted John Wesley powerfully. Their lives directly effected his life, and eventually lead to his salvation. During a severe storm the Moravians remained calm, singing hymns and worshipping Jesus. Wesley was deeply touched by this.

Now, who were the Moravians? You can read all about them all about them in a lot of different places, today they are still functioning in several parts of the world. However I want to take a look at a very specific part of their history.

At one time the Moravians were just a group of Refugees being cared for on a piece of land in Germany called Herrnhut, by a certain Count Zinzendorf. They were Christians, as was the Count, and they had an increible life serving the Lord. They preached the Gospel and were some of the first missionaries into many countries all around the world.

When they arrived in Herrnhut, they began a prayer service. They prayed, and prayed, and then prayed some more. Then, 100 years passed and they were still praying! The Moravians prayed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for a century! They were incredibly devout and out of that prayer came revivals all over the world.

For example, we can see one huge effect they had through of their impact on John Wesley. Wesley's Methodist teachings are still held all over the world today. In Kansas City, Missouri we have the International House of Prayer, who have also been directly effected by the Moravians prayer life. For many years now the House of Prayer has held intercession for the world 24/7.

Now the Moravians were not the only people to have such prayer lives. We can see not only in the Bible, but all throughout history groups of people who devoted themselves to prayer, and nations were changes. Evan Roberts prayed for hours every day, sometimes for days on end before the Welsh Revival broke out.

We could take a more detailed look at every revival in history, but there is one common event, prayer. Prayer has the power to change individuals, it has the power to change nations. Without prayer Billy Graham would be just another motivational speaker. It was through prayer the Elijah raised the dead, and through prayer the Jesus fed the five thousand and calmed the angry sea.

The Moravavians who started that hundred year prayer meeting, and Count Zinzendorf are all gone now. The power of prayer remains though. We have access to that power, but only on our knees before King Jesus. We have the ability to effect the world as well. Unfortunately though most of us have lives that are too full of the world to have any kind of potent prayer. We can pray 8 hours a day, but if there is sin in our lives it will be to no effect. Let's return to the old paths, seek lives of Holiness, and pray. We can bring nations to Jesus.

What is Your Goal in Life?

2008-01-28T07:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I translated for a new church, and the pastor asked a very interesting question. He said that many Christians just live their life with no direction, no goals, and no plans. As a result they are no effective in their walk with Jesus. Only rare souls are reached, very few are discipled, and so on. I really thought a lot about that, because even in ministry there are many missionaries who don't really have a goal. They have the right hearts. They want to preach the Gospel and be on fire for our King, but if you really ask them what it is what they want to do there are very few straight answers.

Most missionaries in my generation are like I once was, wandering from one country to the next for a few months without ever really settling down to touch a single nation. If you ask most missionaries what they are called to, the answer you will get quite often is, "I am called to the nations!" Which sounds rather epic, but the problem is that unless their ministry is to be evangelists or apostles they are most likely wandering with no real purpose. That may sound harsh, but that was my life and ministry for my first years of ministry. It took harsh words for the Holy Spirit and more experienced missionaries to finally convince me that being "Called to the nations" was not this heroic and special, epic calling, but it was in fact just a testament that I actually had no idea what I was doing and had no real purpose.

I am grateful to the Lord that he showed me these things, and I hope that younger missionaries will take these words without offense. However if one were to be completely honest, the only reason we once wandered from one place to the other was because we really didn't know what we were supposed to be doing in the first place.

Without vision, we perish, and so those of us without one often fill ourselves with smaller visions that fulfill temporarily. This keeps us going, but it is a grave and ineffective mistake.

So grab hold of a vision for your life, stay away from small temporary things that have no real effect on anything. Paul said in Hebrews 12:1 "let us lay aside every weight..." a lack of vision is a large weight to carry, it weights on the heart and on the mind. If you don't have a vision, a goal, take some time to pray and fast and seek God. I once heard an older missionary say that what you dreamed of as a child (Baby Christian as well) is most likely similar to what you are called to do with your life. When I was a child I dreamed of preaching the Gospel in places that no other man had gone, in villages deep in the jungle. I have made it to the jungle, and to the villages, but I'm still looking for one here that hasn't ever heard the Gospel. I'm getting close now, I know! Let us seek the King and find out vision, and then lay down everything we can get it. Let us light ourselves with the fire of God through prayer and burn for Him.

Are You Ready to Die?

2008-01-24T06:00:00.001-08:00

For the past several Sundays I have been invited to preach in a local Church here in Volcan. Every time I go there is a 94 year old man named Manuel who always comes up to talk to me with a big smile on his face; and every time I see him I ask the same question. I always say, "Brother Manuel how are you today?" And he will always answer the same way, "Well, I'm old now and ready to go with Jesus any day now, so I'm doing very well!"

Speaking with Manuel amazes me, because there are so few people in the world who have the kind of peace and joy that he does even though his life here could end at any moment. He is well aware that this night he may not wake up, and yet there is no sadness in his old eyes, only excitement for meeting his King face to face after a lifetime of worship.

Do you have that light in your eyes? If your end were to come today would you be ready to face eternity? I think it is a rather important question, because it is the one thing we will all face in this lifetime, our death. Are you ready to die?

Prayer in Ministry

2008-01-23T17:13:00.000-08:00

Leonard Ravenhill, in his book Why Revival Tarries said that (Slight paraphrase) "Any minister who does not pray at least 3 hours a day is useless."

Many Christians today have forgotten the power of prayer, Evan Roberts said on a similar note, "There is great power in prayer." The Welsh Revival is greatly attributed to Roberts crying out for his people for many hours every day. It is said that he prayed 8 hours a day for 3 months before the great revival broke out.

History has shown that every revival has begun with hours and hours of prayer. God moves when we pray, yet the enemy blinds us and makes us so busy, even in ministry that we forget to take the time to pray. This makes us ineffective. Even if we go out and preach every day, and we help the poor and the sick, if it is not bathed in prayer then we will not bear the lasting fruit that we could.

Making a Difference

2008-01-23T10:09:00.000-08:00

I've been a missionary here in Panama for a while, getting up to 3 years now. One of the things I have found to be the most difficult is keeping a clear vision and not allowing distractions to get in the way. For example money can be a huge temptation sometimes. When you live month to month like I do, hoping that you have enough support to come in, and then you get certain job offers that would give you financial security but force you to give up your dream can be difficult.

Not too long ago I was offered a position to become a minister with the Church of Christ. They said that they have seen the fruit produced in the ministry we have been doing here and would like me to work with them. They offered me financial security, something I have never had before. The catch though, is that I don't agree with many of the things they believe. They believe that the supernatural gifts of God, like miracles, signs, and wonders passed away with the apostles. I can't agree with that, and if I were to say I did then I would be denying the many miracles that have happened in my life.

I didn't think it would be so tempting though, it's easy to convince yourself that you won't sell out your beliefs for anything until the money is sitting in front of you. Especially if you are going through a very uncertain time financially.

So, I had to make a choice, stay with the vision I have and stay poor, or sell out and have plenty of money. I decided not to sell out, I refuse to be Esau, selling my birthright for food. It's just not going to happen. It doesn't make the choice any easier though. The Name of Jesus be praised always.