Stay The Course

January 20-22 marks the date for our annual Prophecy Conference at the Church. Mark Hitchcock is a friend of mine who will be speaking at the Conference. Here is an interview for a lead up to the Conference. Maranatha!

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January 20-22 marks the date for our annual Prophecy Conference at the Church. Dr. Tommy Ice is a friend of mine who will be speaking at the Conference. Here is an interview for a lead up to the Conference. Maranatha!

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Of course the Bible is pretty clear on the extra level of accountability God gives to those who teach the Bible.  James 3.1 tells us: “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.”  Peter (2Pet 2:3) warned of the prosperity teachers; “And  through covetousness  shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you : whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not , and their damnation slumbereth not.”  This is an interesting view of the prosperity doctrine’s spread to Africa.

Another good resource for the Believer is the Wilberforce forum.  They have put together some great podcasts to strengthen your Biblical Worldview.  This interview with Dr. Stephen Meyers is great.  He’s a brilliant man and it’s good to know he’s on our side.  I watched him in a mini debate with Dr. Michael Shermer of Skeptic.com.  Dr. Michael Shermer is one of THE antagonists of the Gospel.  He would probably fit into the Hebrews 6 category.  He says he was a “Born Again”  Evangelical Christian, went to Pepperdine and went street witnessing on a regular basis.  Now of course he is an Atheist.  Anyway, he’s a brilliant man too, plus, he knows scripture.   Dr. Stephen Meyer, won the day in the mini debate.  Anyway, here’s a great interview with him by the Wilberforce Forum.  Their podcast site is: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wilberforceforum

Click here for interview of Stephen Meyer

My beautiful wife and I shake our heads every day when we look at or listen to the 3 foot gift that Jesus gave us about 2.5 years ago.  Our little girl Madigan grows more incredible and wraps me tighter around her little index finger by the minute.   Since I have a fantastic 25 year old son who is just as much an incredible gift, I do have some experience in Biblical child rearing.  That said, I am re-reading, studying and taking advantage of anything I can to disciple her the right way.  What good is it to disciple adults in the Church if it can’t happen at home.  Listen, she is one smart, energetic, beautiful little girl!  I have my hands full, and she is going to give me a run for my money.  Anyway,  I noticed recently she has begun to mimic me at the dinner table.  When I moved, she moved.  When I stopped, she stopped.  She is watching, learning, recording like a computer, reading me like a book.   This video really emphasizes this aspect of our discipleship in the home, hope you enjoy it.  Maranatha!

My Mother Rosemary exchanged this life for a far better life on November 5th 2009.  Of course, our family has a great big gaping wound since we love and miss her so much, and because death is not normal.  At the same time, we are realizing that the faith we have produces real, tangible results that are both emotional and physical.  She had a liver disease for about 20 years, and really began to fail in the last 7.  We watched her deteriorate and suffer so much sickness in a number of different ways because of Primary Billiary Scirocis (PBC).  The confidence of Heaven, the assurance that we have, genuinely produces happiness and relief knowing that she no longer suffers from that disease.  Once she left, the suffering ceased, and we realized that we stopped worrying about her.  The burden lifted, and this actually produced laughter and praise to Jesus!  These are the tangible, physical results of the faithfulness of Christ.  My mother inspired countless people both women and men in a number of ways.  She raised the bar for excellence in ministry and gave and gave and gave.  I tried to come up with a verse or two that exemplified my mothers life.  This one really stands out:

“According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be shamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death”

Philippians 1.20

We all watched my mother glorify her Lord in her life, especially when she was ill these last 20 years, since she never complained.  We all watched her glorify Jesus in her death.  May all of us, follow that example.

Maranatha!

This week I had a great privilege to spend some time with a new class at our annual Shepherd’s School.  It’s modeled after the original that Pastor Chuck had at Costa Mesa years ago.   Guys like my Father, Jeff Johnson, Greg Laurie etc…had a two week intensive set of classes/prayer on the Ministry.  Pastor Bil started one here many, years ago.  These are guys who already meet the Acts 6 requirements, have served faithfully in the ministry.  But, now, they believe that God is calling them to “drop their nets”, and serve him full time, maybe plant a new Church, by starting a home Bible Study somewhere in a town that needs one.  This class was special, no one was there that was a distraction, seeking their own agenda.  It was tremendous.  Anyway, as the Spirit moved, we all believed that there is an urgency to the call that Jesus has placed on their lives, and that like Esther, it is “for such a time as this.”  Maranatha!

Matthew 13 contains what we call “The Mystery Parables”.  They all primarily deal with various characteristics of the Church age.  One of them is about the Pearl Of Great Price.  Now there are a few different interpretations about what that Pearl is, but for many reasons I believe it represents the Church during the Church age.  When I was stationed in the Navy, my Submarine pulled into Mallorca Spain.  A beautiful little Island in the Mediteranean.  That Island is famous for it’s cultured pearls.  Do you know how you can tell the difference between a cultured pearl and a real one?  The real one is gritty.  Yes, it’s gritty.  Thats the way the true Church is.  Think about it, all the martyrs down through the centuries, think of all the persecution that it has endured.  Think of all the hardship it has gone through and still praises Jesus.   Yes, there is a particular resiliency the the Lord has given his Church.  Of course Jesus went to great effort and paid a great price for us and soon he’ll retrieve us.  Maranatha!

Bible prophecy is being fulfilled almost every day.  By that I mean events are moving to the conclusion that the Bible told us would be inevitible.  On many different fronts, the World is moving towards Global Religious Harmony.  Man has always thought that he could create a utopia, and right now thee are several organizations, institutions, players and plenty of finances trying to bring this about.  Many paths, one destination, that’s the overarching message and all for the sake of Global Economic Prosperity.  In other words. the key to Economic success it for all religions to come together for the common good.  John told us in Revelation 17/18 that this would be “Mystery Babylon”.  Who doesn’t want global peace?  Who doesn’t want to work together to erradicate malaria, aids, starvation?  Sounds great, but one of the requirements to be involved is that you check your literalism at the door.  Don’t forget, this will be enormously popular with the professing Christian Church.  So, it will be increasingly difficult for those who really believe that Jesus is the only way to be accepted in this new global society.  So what do we do?  How do we reverse this?  You can’t, the Bible told us it would happen.  So what is the Christians response?  We have to know what and why we believe.  I would suggest a couple of books that would get you started to be ready to “contend for the faith” as James told us.  Here are a couple on the deity of Christ, “The Case For Christ” by Lee Strobel and “More Than A Carpenter” by Josh McDowell.

Two others for the authority of the Scriptures and other areas are, “Know What You Believe” by Paul Little and “Answers” by Josh McDowell and Don Stewart.

When we see these things happening, it tells us that Jesus is knocking at the door.  Maranatha!

God judged Moab because she had grown accustomed to her ease and “settled on her lees“.  Jeremiah used an illustration from wine production to explain what would happen to Moab.  Over time, the lees (dregs) would settle and begin to change the smell of the wine.  So as part of the purification process, the vessels would be poured and the wine filtered, and then the wine would retain it’s proper aroma.  Amos said “Woe to them that are at ease…“.    Because of the damaging affects of Original Sin, we don’t fully love the things we should love, we don’t fully hate the things we should hate.  We fear the wrong things, our perception is off because of our sin nature.  One of the things we should learn to both fear and hate is ease and comfort and complacency.  Our flesh loves it, it loves to be coddled, pampered.  It’s so easy, to “settle on our lees” in our Christian walk.  But it is insidious, it creeps and when it begins to take over what happens?  Our worship stinks, our prayers stink, our devotions stink just like the wine.  In Romans 9.22, 23 we’re told there are two types of vessels, vessels of wrath fit for destruction (like Moab), and vessels of mercy (Believers).  How does Jesus handle vessels of mercy?  In his mercy, to keep us from complacency, he will tip our vessels over, mix things up, disturb us.  Our reaction, is to think it’s not normal, but it’s good for us.  We want to draw near to God, but so many times there things that hinder it.  So when he tips me over and pours me out he filters some of those things out of my heart.  Difficulty is SO good for us, our prayers are more focused, our worship is more full, devotion more rich and it no longer stinks.  It is a sweet smelling fragrance before the Lord.  Like Job said “…the Almighty troubleth me and makes my heart soft…“.  Christian, complacency can be the death of you, it’s the right thing to fear, it’s the right thing to hate.  I’d much rather be like Caleb, than Demas.  I’d much rather our Church look like Smyrna than Laodicia.  Do you hate it?  Maranatha!