Confessions Of A Small Church Pastor

THE GLORY OF THE LORD

2011-12-01T10:23:00.000-08:00

While reading 2 Chronicles, chapters 6-15 today, one particular verse jumped out at me. It was 2 Chronicles 7:1 "When Solomon finished praying, fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple."

I read that and paused for just a moment picturing what happened in my mind. I remember thinking..."WOW!" I mean, wouldn't you have wanted to see that! Here you are praying...and then suddenly the fire descends from heaven...consumes your offering...and the glory of the Lord fills the place you are at!!!! I'm serious people, I'm thinking "WHOOOAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!"

And then it hit me...this should be you and me...this should be our church services...our private prayer times...our private worship time...our corporate prayer time...this should be anytime we worship!

I say that because we have the glory of the Lord filling our temple (our body), the fire from heaven (the Holy Spirit) indwells us and should consume us!

But most of the time it doesn't happen. At the very least, if it is happening, somehow, someway, we have turned a blinde eye towards it...or we have become deaf, dumb and blind when it comes to the supernatural presence of the one, true, almighty, all powerful God of the universe!

I don't have all the answers here, but I have begun a journey this week, a journey of losing myself in the Lord, a journey of immersing myself in the Word, a journey of worship, a journey of prayer, a journey of living out the gospel, of not just knowing the gospel, or knowing the Lord, or knowing the Word, but one of walking the gospel, walking with the Lord, walking in the ways of the Word.

I desire, more than any other time in my life to be consumed by the fire of the Lord, to be filled with His presence, to see the glory of the Lord made manifest in my life and in the lives of those around me. I desire to come to worship with my brothers and sisters, rejoicing, expecting, anticipating the glory of the Lord to come fill this place!

If the church, both the individuals and the local gathering, would be consumed by the fire of the Lord, if the offering of our lives was consumed by holy fire from heaven, then those around us would come rushing to find out what is happening!

There is a quote attributed to John Wesley that goes something like this: "Set yourself on fire with passion & people will come for miles to watch you burn.” I have done some research and have found that some say Wesley never said this. Whether he did or not, I do not know, but what I do know is that this quote is very true. But I would like to state it this way instead, "Be set on fire by the Holy Spirit and people will be drawn to the Lord."

Glory come down, and heaven, fill my soul.
Pastor Dave

DEUTERONOMY

2011-11-30T16:20:00.000-08:00

Thought I would keep my thoughts to myself today...but wanted to share with everyone my favorite verses that I read in my daily reading today from the book of Deuteronomy. So read, think, pray and worship as you read these.

Deuteronomy 1:3 "...Moses told the Israelites everything the LORD had commanded him [to say] to them."

Deuteronomy 1:29-33 "So I said to you: Don't be terrified or afraid of them! The LORD your God who goes before you will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt. And you saw in the wilderness how the LORD your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place. But in spite of this you did not trust the LORD your God, who went before you on the journey to seek out a place for you to camp. He went in the fire by night and in the cloud by day to guide you on the road you were to travel."

Deuteronomy 4:1 "Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live..."

Deuteronomy 4:9-10 "Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don't forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they don't slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren. The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, 'Assemble the people before Me, and I will let them hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth and may instruct their children."

Deuteronomy 4:29 "But from there, you will search for the LORD your God, and you will find [Him] when you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul."

Deuteronomy 4:31 "He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them by oath, because the LORD your God is a compassionate God."

Deuteronomy 5:6-9 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. Do not have other gods besides Me. Do not make an idol for yourself in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. 9 You must not bow down to them or worship them, because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God..."

Deuteronomy 5:11-12 "Do not misuse the name of the LORD your God, because the LORD will punish anyone who misuses His name.Be careful to dedicate the Sabbath day, as the LORD your God has commanded you."

Deuteronomy 5:16-21 "Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and so that you may prosper in the land the LORD your God is giving you. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not give dishonest testimony against your neighbor. Do not desire your neighbor's wife or covet your neighbor's house, his field, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 "Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Deuteronomy 6:18 "Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so that you may prosper and so that you may enter and possess the good land the LORD your God swore to [give] your fathers"

Ok, that's it. No comments from me. Just the Word. Let it speak to you today.

Pastor Dave

FAITH

2011-11-29T08:21:00.001-08:00

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS ON FAITH FROM HEBREWS 11

Reading about faith in Hebrews this morning...and I had some random thoughts that I decided to share on the blog...especially since I haven't posted anything in a long time.

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen."

I love this! Faith is the reality of what is hoped for. Who doesn't hope for a better life? Who doesn't hope for something more than this?!?! I remember when the movie "The Goonies" came out. I was an adult, but it struck a chord deep within me, as it did for every other guy I knew who saw it. What "chord" was it? The adventure that we all desired when we were kids!

My buddies and I were always on the lookout for hidden treasure...for and adventure! We grew up, got married, had kids, jobs, responsibilities...and forgot about the great adventure we all wanted to go on...but when I embraced Jesus as my Lord & Savior, I embarked on a great adventure! This was the inner longing I had as a child that had expressed itself in the desire for hidden treasure, for adventure, for discovery!

The faith I have in Jesus is not some weak, wimpy, wishy-washy type of faith...NO! It is the REALITY of what I have always hoped for! When I live out that faith, expressed in worship, in struggle, in temptation, in trials, in the darkest times of my life...it then becomes the "proof of what is not seen."

Hebrews 11:4 "By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain [did]. By this he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through this."

This is my desire. At the time I am writing this I am 54 years old. Now "old" is a subjective word. My kids think I am old. My Dad still thinks I'm a kid. But I know this, at 54, I'm pretty sure I have more years behind me now than I have in front of me. My death is on the way. This body will not make it to the other side...which I'm glad for. I'm looking forward to a new body one day...but between now and then, this verse is one of my most repeated prayers, that after I am gone and with the Lord, that my life, my faith, will live on.

I pray that even though I will be dead, my faith will still speak to those here. This gives me a "big picture" to shoot for. This faith of mine is not all about me, it is about my kids, my grandkids, my great-grandkids, my great-great-grandkinds, my great-great-great- grandkids, and on and on and on. It is about those whose lives I interact with and how my faith may be an instrument that draws them closer to Jesus.

Hebrews 11:8 "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was going."

This is so not like us today. We have the Word of God, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to guide us to where we should go, and more often than not, we hesitate. We know where God is calling us and we argue and debate the details with Him. We look for loopholes, we try and find hidden meanings in what God is plainly telling us so that we can do what we want in His name, rather than follow Him, regardless of where He is leading. I wonder, would I follow God if He told me to just go north, or go east?

Lord, give me the faith that Abraham had...faith to follow you, no matter what.

Ok, so there's that.Pastor Dave

HAS JESUS REALLY CHANGED YOUR LIFE?

2011-08-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

Over the last year or so I have been reading some books that have had a huge impact on my walk with Christ. They have caused me to rethink my commitment to Jesus, what it means to be a Christian, how to live out the Christian faith…what a life totally surrendered to Jesus might look like, and a host of other questions.

Some of these books have been: “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan; “Radical” by David Platt; “Not A Fan” by Kyle Idleman.

Most recently I have just finished the novel, “Courageous” by Randy Alcorn.

This is based on the screenplay of the upcoming movie by the same name. As a pastor, I have been able to see an advance screening of the movie, and as great as the movie is, the book is even better, and has had an even bigger impact on my life than the movie.

All of these books, and the movie, have one theme in common…how can you stay the same after you have encountered Jesus. They may not seem as if they are addressing this issue, but at the core, that is exactly what they are saying.

How can you stay the same after you have encountered the “crazy love” of Jesus? How can you stay the same if you have come into a relationship with this “radical” Jesus? How could you ever be just a “fan” and not a totally committed follower of Jesus after you realize what He has done for you? And how could you not be changed into a “courageous” follower after you have been loved to the cross by this man, who is God in the flesh, Jesus?

Reading John chapter 8 today, these thoughts and more came to my mind, especially when I got down to verse 11.

In John chapter 8 a woman was caught in adultery and brought to Jesus. Now, the first thing that comes to my mind is where was the man? As my Dad used to tell me, “It takes two to tango.” Maybe the man was a Pharisee or a scribe and so they were protecting one of their own. Maybe this woman was a prostitute, so they were trying to get rid of an unwanted person in their society. Whatever the reason, they were one sided in their presentation of their religious beliefs.

Jesus would have none of that.

After he wrote something in the dirt…(ever wonder what He was writing? Maybe it was the name of the scribe or Pharisee that was with the woman)…He answered them with this in verse 7: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Well, that ended that. One by one they left. Until only the woman and Jesus remained. It was after this that He said these words to her in verse 11: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

If I had a nickel for every person who quoted the first part of that statement from Jesus to me, well, I’d be a rich man for sure. Everyone wants the "no condemnation" Jesus, but not to many are ready to embrace the same Jesus that says, "Go, and sin no more."

But it is the second part of the statement that is essential and vital to this dialogue.

“Go and sin no more.”

In essence He was saying, “Go, and leave your old life behind. Go, and walk in a different direction than what you were heading. Go, and follow Me.”

And how could she not do so? After being forgiven by Jesus, how could her life not be changed? How could she continue in the life she once had? After this day, after this encounter, after being saved by Jesus, how could she not now live for Him?

And yet, many professing believers in Jesus seem to do just that.

Far too often, I have found myself doing just that.

No more.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that I can be sinless…but I am saying that I can sin less. I am saying that I can follower Jesus closer. I am saying that I can love Him more.

And after all, isn’t that what it is all about.

Having this crazy love, this radical love, this courageous love, this love that causes me to be a follower and not a fan, of the one who gave His life for me…Jesus.

Will you join me?

Let’s go.

Pastor Dave

The Incarnation

2011-07-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

We are currently going over basic doctrines at our Bible study on Wednesday nights. Tonight we will finish up studying the incarnation. This has been one of the most enjoyable for me to teach so far. It has really got my brain and imagination spinning.

It is one BIG HUGE GINORMOUS miracle. The 2nd person of the Trinity, Jesus, God the Son, confining and limiting Himself in the womb of a young jewish virgin named Mary. We often think of all the pain and suffering that Jesus went through from the Garden of Gethsemane to Calvary, and yet the incarnation has had me reflecting on the pain and suffering of everyday life that Jesus had to endure because He loved us so much.

It has driven home the fact that His whole life was offered up as a sacrifice for me. His whole purpose for coming was to die...to be offered up as a sacrifice for our sins, to pay the penalty that we could not pay. However, to get to Calvary, the suffering that He had to deal with began long before that night in the Garden.

Even the birthing process is a tramatic part of life for the newborn...and Jesus went through it. He endured stubbed toes and skinned knees. Did he cry the first time he got a splinter from pretending to be a carpenter like His earthly father Joseph? Was He ever made fun of as a child? How many times did the one who formed and fashioned limbs, bones, muscles and nerves trip and fall while He was learning to walk? How often did the One who spoke the sun into existence get sunburned?

I would encourage you to spend some time reflecting on the incarnation and all that it means. I cannot speak for you, but for me, I will never be the same.

Matthew 1:22-23: "Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son,
and they will name Him Immanuel ,which is translated "God is with us."

Isaiah 9:6: "For a child will be born for us,a son will be given to us, and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."

The incarnation. Wow. Mighty God indeed!

Pastor Dave

Got Vision?

2011-06-01T16:44:00.000-07:00

I finished reading the book of Daniel yesterday, and it struck me just how many times the word "vision" was used in the last few chapters. So I did a little search and found that the word "vision" or "visions" was used 31 times in the whole book. That is more than 2.5 times per chapter. Sounds like "vision" in one form or another, is the underlying theme of the book of Daniel.

Daniel was a man of strong conviction, one who saw the big picture and could see beyond his circumstances and the immediate future. As such, I believe Daniel not only was allowed to see visions from God, but that he had a personal vision...he could see clearly that the world around him was not all that there was.

The church today could use some men like Daniel. Not just men of strong conviction, men who would be willing to stand up to the ways of the world so much that they would be willing to be thrown into a den of lions, but men (and women) of vision.

There are more than one Hebrew word that has been translated as "vision" in the book of Daniel, but the one I want to focus on is used in chapter ten. It is the word "ma-raw" which means "looking glass". The term "looking glass" has two meanings. The first is: mirror. The second is: with normal or familiar circumstances reversed.

It's the second definition of looking glass, or vision that I want us to look at.

Normal or familiar circumstances reversed.

We need some men and women of God who are willing to see things that are not normal, who are willing to take a look at what is familiar and reverse it...turn it around.

You see, as I look around at the church I see most beleivers living for the same thing that the world is living for. Nice house, two cars...and maybe a recreational vehicle or two, money for a couple of vacations, a nice retirement and enough money to afford the "normal" entertainment the world delivers - tv, movies, dvds, etc.

Now, there is nothing wrong with any of theses things in and of themselves. But too often I see people, good Christian people who remind me of the lyrics of a Gary Paxton song. The lyrics go like this:

"There goes a cigar smoking a man, There goes a shiny car driving a man."

I meet Christians all the time who seem more interested in keeping their house up, working more hours to pay for their toys, planning vacations until they are stressed to the max...and it seems to me that they aren't buying a house, a house is buying them. They aren't taking a vacation...a vacation is taking them. They aren't playing with their toys...their toys are playing with them. They are entertained to death spiritually, with more knowledge about our plastic culture than about the Word of God.

But after all, they are just normal...they are just natural...but God has called His people to be more than normal...He has called us to be people of vision, to be people who reverse the normal or familiar things, people who are not natural, but supernatural.

I am praying for more men and women who claim the name of Jesus to have a vision that turns this world upside down. More men and women who will look past the homes and the cars and the tv shows and retirement and see eternity...see what they have invested not in this earth, but in the new earth.

I know we need homes, and in our culture a car is more than a luxury, it is a neccessity. I also have no problem with tv and entertainment or taking vacations. The problem is not with having or doing any of those things, the problem is when the things have us and when the things are in control of us. Think about all that you have and then really think hard about what you have that is a neccessity. If you're honest...it's kind of scary. We (myself included) have a lot of stuff...but we need very little. After all, when we stand before God and he asks us to give an account of the life He has given us, a life full of His mercy, grace and love...a life that is to be lived out in worship to Him, and in taking the gospel to those around us, do any of us really think we're going to show off our vacation photos or our title deeds as evidence of being good stewards of the gifts He has given us?

I'm not advocating poverty here. I'm advocating vision.

Got vision?

Ok, I need to take a peek in the looking glass.
Pastor Dave

Trembling At The Word

2011-05-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

I know quite awhile ago I said I would follow up on the previous post about church, and I never did...but I haven't forgotten about it. It is coming, along with another attempt at posting on a regular basis. Until then, here are some thoughts I have had lately concerning the Bible.

I have been reading a daily devotional lately by John Piper. The only problem with it is that Piper is so good it's hard to read just one devotion per day, but I am trying to contain myself and make it last! This devotional is called "Pierced By The Word".

Piper has a way of making the profound very simple and opening up your eyes to the magnificence and glory of God and His Word...and this little devotional does just that. It has got me to thinking a lot about how we treat the Word in our country...and in our churches.

I have begun to feel as if we have turned the Word of God into just another product for sale. We have so many versions now, and on top of that we have an amazing number of different study Bibles. At my desk as I type this I have within my reach seven different study Bibles from six different translations (yes, I have two copies of one translation, the ESV). When is enough, enough?

I went to one publisher of Bibles...and this is only one of several, Zondervan, and they had a total of 24 different study Bibles! Now don't misunderstand me, I am not sure you can ever have too many Bibles available...but is it possible that we have so many Bibles that we have become complacent to what the Bible really is?

I have found everything from comic book Bibles to one called "The Duct Tape" Bible, which is just what it says, a Bible, where the cover is made up of duct tape! I cannot help but wonder if when Tyndale first began to translate the Word into the english language, could he have ever imagined such a thing?

It makes we wonder if we have forgotten just what the Bible is. This is the Word of God! It does not just contain the Word of God, it IS THE WORD OF GOD!

This little devotional book by Piper has come to open my eyes wider to what I have always known, but have not always experienced, nor have I always lived out what I have know, which is that this book, The Bible, is a HOLY book, a book to be handled carefully, a Book to not just read, but a Book to study, to break down, to make a part of our lives. It is meant to be lived out, applied to our lives, weaved into the fabric of our being, change us, rearange us, mold us, shape us, convict us, inspire us, drive us to our knees and lift us up to heavenly places!

And yet, for most of us it goes unread unless we are in church, and treated as though it were not even as important as a cheap paperback novel.

If you think I'm over reacting, let me share a couple of verses that Piper shares in his book.

Isaiah 66:2 "...This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and TREMBLES at my word". Now seriously, when was the last time you or I, or anyone you know TREMBLED when they read the Word? The word "trembles" means: fearful, reverential or afraid. When we open up this BOOK, we should be aware of just what it is that we are handling. While I understand some of the ways we refer to it, I think that the familiarity with the Bible has caused us some damage when it comes to how we approach it. It is not "the good book" or the "owners manual for life"...it is the WORD OF GOD! It is God breathed! It has the power to change lives for eternity! This is big stuff people! It is a really big deal!

Another verse that Piper uses and one with which I am very familar with is found in Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 12, where it says: "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

What other book can do that? What other book is living and active? What other book penetrates so deeply, so carefully that it can divide the soul and spirits? What other book can judge you thoughts and your attitudes? This is an amazing book. Words cannot begin to describe just what it is that we have in the printed Word of God. It is no wonder that our enemy, Satan, has done all he can to destroy this Book, and now since that has failed, he has turned to destroying our desire for the Book. The church today knows more about the latest season of Survivor than she does about the Word of God. How many people do you know are HUNGRY for the Word?

Thank you John Piper for renewing a passion in me for the Word of God. Thank you for opening my eyes to the incredible depth of this Book. Thank you for making me see that when I open this Book to read, I should not do so casually with one eye on the scriptures and the other on the television...but that this is the Word of the Lord.

May the Holy Spirit convict the church in America today of her complacent attitude toward the Word of God, and may He start with me.

Ok, time to tremble some.
Pastor Dave

What's Up With Church?

2011-04-20T17:38:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I thought the sign was kind of funny when I first read it…but I’m not laughing anymore.

I’m not laughing anymore because of a visit I had with a 99 year old saint today.

I’m not laughing anymore, because I no longer see anything funny in the sad fact that more and more it seems as if people who claim the name of Christ; who say that they will abandon all to follow Jesus, and call Him their Lord and Savior, seem to see meeting together with their brothers and sisters, with the body of Christ, the bride of Jesus, as optional.

In the seven years that I have been the pastor at Loma Rica Baptist Church (LRBC), I have heard and seen just about every excuse there is…but there is only one reason for those of us who are called Christians to meet together. We are told to.

In Hebrews 10:24-25 it says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

These two verses tell us some very crucial things about the role the church is to have with itself.

First: We are to consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. This shows that while the church may be saved and sanctified, she is also still sinful. While our identity is no longer as sinners, but saints, we still must be encouraged to do what would have come naturally back in the garden…loving and doing good deeds. The author of Hebrews is telling us that we need to encourage one another to love…one of the ways we do that is by having to learn to love people we spend time with that are different than us in many ways and on many levels. We also need to encourage one another to do what we should: to read the Word, to share the gospel, to reach out to the poor and the needy, to be a light in a very dark world.

Two: We are told to not give up meeting together. In simple terms, that means: “Don’t stop going to church.” Whether it’s a home church or a rented high school auditorium, or LRBC, just don’t stop going.

Three: Not only are we to not stop going…but we are to go even more, the closer it gets to the return of Christ. Now, since we are closer today, than we were when the letter was written, we need to ask ourselves a simple question: “Are we meeting together more often than they did then, or less?” Now, I know some may say that this “more often” is in reference to the statement of “encouraging one another”, and this is true, however, that statement itself is said in connection with “not giving up meeting together”. It’s tough to encourage your brothers and sisters that are at a Wednesday night prayer meeting while you’re out bowling that night.

Please don’t misunderstand me here. I recognize that we all live busy lives, and that we have family, homes, vehicles and “stuff” to take care of, but what a shame that we use these blessings that have been given to us by God as an excuse not to meet together. In addition, with all the options that most churches have for meetings, there is no doubt in my mind that all of us could attend at least once per week, and most of us could attend more than that.

For some reason though, we have seen church attendance, meeting together for study, and for prayer as optional. The meeting of the body of Christ has become something many professed believers attend as long as there is not something better to do.

Let me share some personal statistics with you. Our Sunday morning service has about 100 people in attendance every Sunday. Those who know my history with LRBC know how humbled I am by this. It is nothing short of a mighty work of God, and I pray constantly that I will not get in the way of what He is doing.

We also have a Sunday evening prayer meeting, and yep, it is an honest to goodness prayer meeting we call “Fresh Encounters”, inspired by the ministry of Daniel Henderson. You can check out his website here: http://www.strategicrenewal.com/daniel.htm

Wednesday evening from 7:00 to 8:00 we have a Bible study. The attendance on Wednesday runs about 20 to 30. The prayer meeting attendance is around 10 to 15. This means we experience a drop of 85 to 90% on Sunday evening and 70 to 80% on Wednesday night. Now, I do live in the real world, and so I don’t expect everyone who is there on Sunday morning to make the other meetings, but a drop from 70 to 95% is huge folks!

While I’m not sure why this is the way it is, I have a two thoughts as to why it may be this way.

The first is this: Our prayer and Bible study meetings (we have a Sunday morning all ages Bible study as well, that generally is only attended by about 20% of the people who are there for the “worship” portion of the Sunday service) require more out of you than just showing up. They require participation and attention. Sadly, many want to come and feed on Sunday, but not to come and serve and give on the other nights.

The second is: Believers in the Western church don’t seem to want to meet together if sacrifice is required. If it is hard, or difficult, or requires any extra effort, they just opt out. Of course, it may just be that the lack of commitment to meeting together is just a snapshot of our western culture when it comes to commitment in general.

So, no, I’m not laughing anymore.

I’m not laughing anymore because of a visit I had today with a 99 year old saint. Esther is her name, and she has a brain tumor. She has been going to LRBC faithfully for the last 30 plus years, long before I got there. She will soon be going home to be with Jesus, to worship Him as she never could here. But while visiting her today, she shared two regrets with me.

The first one is that she regretted that she could not remember more Scripture. I laughed with her and told her that I was just glad I could remember to tie my shoes and at her age, anything she could remember would be counted as a success. She could quote quite a bit of Scripture though, but she regretted that she could not quote more.

The second regret is that she knew she would not be able to meet with her brothers and sisters at LRBC again. Oh, she knows she will worship with us again in heaven, and on the new earth one day, but she said she just wished she could meet together in that little country church one more time. With tears in her eyes, she repeated those words, “Just one more time.”

As I drove home I began to cry. “Just one more time,” I thought. All she wants is just one more time…and yet tonight, Wednesday night, more than likely, 75 to 80% of people coming to LRBC will not show up for “just one more time.” Instead, they will go bowling, watch tv, read a book, surf the internet, wash their car, or a hundred other things.

I have read many stories of the persecuted church, and how they will walk for miles in the dark, to meet in secret, and that they will worship together for hours before leaving. I have often wondered why they would do that when here in the good ol’ US of A, too many believers complain if the church service goes past noon. I think I know why now. They never know if the present meeting might not be their last. They never know if they will soon be wishing, like Esther, for “just one more time,” so they grab onto all the worship and fellowship and Bible study and prayer time together that they can.

I’ll be posting about this some more tomorrow, but I have to go now. I have a Bible study to get to. Thank you Jesus for the Bible study tonight…who knows, it just might be my last one.

Pastor Dave

TRAINING

2011-04-19T17:12:00.000-07:00

I have been working out a bit lately in order to lose weight and get in shape. I'm 53 years old and was about 80 pounds over weight (down to about 69 pounds over weight as I type this), and I felt that not only was I not being a good steward of the body that God has given me, but that I wanted to feel better, live longer and enjoy the life that God has given me more.

When I am at the gym, I see all sorts of people, all ages, sizes, shapes, colors...both males and females. I wonder how many of them are working as hard on their spiritual lives as they are on their physical lives. I wonder how many of them realize that the shape of their spiritual life is much more important than the physical shape they are in. After all, every one of them will one day die, not matter how great of shape they are in.

This came to my mind as I read 1 Timothy 4:7-8: "...train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." The word "train" there means "exersize". I wonder how many of have gotten spiritually flabby? We don't exersize our godliness...we don't train at being godly...we eat the wrong spiritual foods, or no spiritual foods at all, and then wonder why we get tired walking the God trail. It's no wonder we get winded serving the Lord when we spend more time with the tv or the video games than we do in the Word...and too many of us expect to get our entire spiritual nourishment from one hour on Sunday...the church is week because she has forgotten that she is in training.

Paul pursues this line of thought throughout this letter to Timothy. In chapter 4, verses 12-14 he tells Timothy, "...set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you." Timothy (and all pastors and teachers, but really, all who claim the name of Christ) needed to set the example in his training. He needed to devote himself to the Scriptures, both privately, and as Paul says here, publicly as well. He was not to neglect the gift that he had. Thirty years ago I used to lift weights and play raquet ball several times a week. I was in good shape...but over time I began to neglect the gift that God has given me...the gift of this body (ok, you can stop laughing now...I realize it may not seem like much of a gift to you, but I'm kind of partial to it). In the same way, my salvation, my relationship with Jesus is a gift I have been given...I need to flex the spiritual muscles that God has given me...work it up and work it out a bit.

To continue this line of thinking Paul then tells Timothy in chapter 6, verses 11-12: "...pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." The word "pursue" conjours up images of a man running...and running fast. Straining to reach an object that is just ahead of him. One of the definitions of the word translated "pursue" is also "persecution". This gives the idea that the pursuing will be so intense, so all consuming that there will be pain and sacrifice involved.

The western church knows very little of pain and sacrifice when it comes to service. Oh, we know of pain, but not pain associated with service to the Lord and His church. We know of sacrifice, but not a sacrifice that could literally cost our lives. As a pastor of a church I see far to many people who claim the name of Christ, but see sacrifice as only for those "super-Christian-missionary-freaky" types. One hour a week sacrifice is about all they can muster up, and that only if they don't have anything better to do.

I wonder just how many of us will be able to say what Paul did to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:7-8: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."

Are we truly fighting the good fight...or just shadow boxing? Will we finish the race, or poop out halfway through the last lap? Do we keep the faith...or drop it before we can pass it off to the next generation? What will be in store for us when we finally stand before Jesus?

I will close with the chorus from a song by Rick Cua. The song is called "Flex" from his album, "Wear Your Colors".

"FLEX"

"Flex. Use the power. Flex. You're not on your own."
"Flex. It's your hour. The flesh is weak, but the Spirit's strong."

Ok, time for some spiritual calisthenics.

Pastor Dave

More Thoughts From Ezekiel

2011-03-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

As I read the last few chapters of Ezekiel today two things impressed me. One was how often Ezekiel mentioned "the glory of the Lord" and his reaction to it was usually the same..."and I fell on my face" in chapter 43, verse 3, and then in chapter 44, verse 4 once again, "And I fell on my face."

I couldn't help but contrast the reaction of the prophet of God with how many of us are sometimes. We go to church as if it is just a weekly appointment, not a time to worship God. We treat church as if we can take it or leave it...and maybe that is because in our experience we have never encountered the glory of God when we worship. Other times I have heard people (myself included), say things such as, "When I stand before God, I have a lot of questions for Him." Based on what I read in Ezekiel, I get the impression that questions will be kind of difficult to express when we are face down on the ground due to the majestic holiness of the glory of God.

We must realign our thinking to that of Scripture. God is not an old man in a rocking chair, nor is he sitting on cloud somewher pontificating about the sin in the universe, and He is certainly not "the big guy upstairs". He is also not some buddy that we will slap on the back when we finally get to heaven. He is GOD! GOD! GOD! And He is alltogether not like us, high above us and so different and set apart from us that we have to hide our face when we encounter His glory! Rich Mullins was right when he sang, "Our God is an awesome God". In fact, that song is so rich, and yet many have not heard all of it, as usually just the chorus is sung in most churches. Here are the lyrics, with all the verses:

When He rolls up His sleeves
He ain't just putting on the ritz
(Our God is an awesome God)
There's thunder in His footsteps
And lightning in His fists
(Our God is an awesome God)
And the Lord wasn't joking
When He kicked 'em out of Eden
It wasn't for no reason
That He shed His blood
His return is very close
And so you better be believing that
Our God is an awesome God

CHORUS:
Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom, power, and love
Our God is an awesome God

CHORUS

And when the sky was starless
In the void of the night
(Our God is an awesome God)
He spoke into the darkness
And created the light
(Our God is an awesome God)
Judgement and wrath He poured out on Sodom
Mercy and grace He gave us at the cross
I hope that we have not
Too quickly forgotten that
Our God is an awesome God

CHORUS(4x)

Our God is an awesome God
(Our God is an awesome God)
He reigns from heaven above
(He reigns from heaven above)
With wisdom, power, and love
(With wisdom, power, and love)
Our God is an awesome God

Our God is an awesome God
Our God is an awesome God

Ok, that was the first thing that impressed me...just how awesome God truly is and how we treat Him as so much less than that. The second thing was this verse (23), found in chapter 44, speaking of the priests: "they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean."

I thought of comparing this to the pastors of the church today. I thought of myself as a pastor. Do I teach the people the difference between the holy and the common? Do the people of God today realize that they have been set apart for a purpose...that they are now holy...and do we live like holy people, or like common people? Now there is nothing wrong with "common", but "common" is not "holy"...and why would you settle for a common life, when you have been set apart for a holy life? I thought of all the mindless entertainment I used to consume...not bad stuff...but nothing that would point to my life as anything other than common. I'm not here trying to put a yoke of legalism on anyone, simply trying to express my own thoughts on the fact that I may have lived a more common life than a truly holy one, a truly set apart life.

Then there is that part about the clean and the unclean. I don't think many Christians even think about this any more. We have become a culture where being a Christian is just something you do on Sundays...and the result is that we no longer influence society, instead society tends to influence us. Somewhere along the way the church has bought into the lie that we can receive forgiveness of our sins and yet never abandon our lives to Jesus. The Scriptures know of no such salvation. In a book I am reading right now called, "Costly Grace" by Jon Walker, he states, "Costly grace justifies the sinner: Go and sin no more. Cheap grace justifies the sin: Everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are." Sadly, cheap grace is run amok in the churches in the western world.

May we as shepherds of the flocks that God has graciously given us be about the business of teaching the difference between the common and the holy, and between the clean and the unclean.

Ok, so there's that,
Pastor Dave

Thoughts On Ezekiel

2011-03-29T20:23:00.000-07:00

Been reading Ezekiel this week and I should finish it by tomorrow, so I thought I'd share some passaged and thoughts on the last few chapters that I read.

Chapter 33 is familar to many, with the analogy of the watchman often used to show how we are responsible to warn the lost that judgment is coming. Here are verses 1-9:

1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, 4 then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. 5 Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’
7 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for[a] his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 9 But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.

It just got me to thinking about the "job" of the church. If we are not leading people to Jesus...taking the gospel out of the four walls and into the street, then no matter what else we are doing, it really amounts to nothing more than rearanging the furniture while the house burns down around us.

I wonder how many Christians, how many churches really believe in hell. I wonder how many really believe that people will die and go there and burn forever without Jesus? I wonder, because I don't see a lot of churches reaching the lost...maybe it is just MY church...maybe we are the only ones with the problem...but I have to come to the realization that the guy next door is on his way to hell...and the guy acorss the street, and the one at the corner...I have to let this sink in...and maybe, maybe it will cause me to move, to take action.

I understand that we cannot make people believe, and that it is not our job to make them believe even if we could. But it is our job to take the message to them, to warn them of their condition.

Yes, it will be inconvienient. I know it might make us a little uncomfortable. And maybe that is the root problem. The job the church was given, commissioned by Christ Himself to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, has been seen, not as the normal life of a believer, but instead it is seen as an option. After all, it seems that too many believers won't even adjust their schedule to make a church service, much less adjust their lives to reach the lost. What's sad is that there has to be an adjustment at all.

Isn't the proclaimation fo the gospel supposed to be a part of the normal Christian life? Isn't the church called to be the watchman to the world? If the watchman does not sound the alarm...then who will?

Thoughts on Ezekiel...thoughts on the church...thoughts on me. Lord, give me the boldness, the passion and the love for the lost so that I will set the trumpet to my mouth and sound the alarm.

Just some thoughts...
Pastor Dave

A God Sized Vision

2011-03-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I am amazed at my ability to drop the ball (spiritually speaking), to get complacent, to coast, to let things ride, to just go through the motions. A few months ago I was so very fired up about this blog...ready to go, both guns blazing...and then three months went by and nothing...zip...nada.

It has only been in the last week that God has shaken me to my very core. He has convicted me of my sin, driven me to my knees, and shown me the coldness of my heart. He has served up a plate of steaming, tasty food in His Word! I have devoured the written Word of God as never before, and renewed my commitment to be not only a man of the Word, but a man of prayer, and a man who seeks the face of God.

As a part of this process He has done two things that have led me to this point. First he directed me to a book that has caused me to question the state of the church in America as never before. I am more sure than ever before that if Revival does not come to the church in the United States of America, that judgement will. For the sake of our children, and our childrens children, but even more for the glory of God Almighty, the church must once again march on her knees, cry out to God to send the Holy Spirit with fire and wind and for God to bend us towards Him, His ways, His Word, and His throne.

The book that has impacted me is this one: "A God Sized Vision - Revival Stories That Stretch And Stir" by Collin Hansen and John Woodbridge:

Room does not allow me to post all the quotes that are recorded in this book by those who lived through past revivals. But I will post this one by Jonathan Goforth, who was used to bring revival to China in the early 1900's. The quote is not really about revival, but it is inspiring to me as it reveals the heart of this missionary when it comes to revival and the plight the church in the US finds herself in:

"Brethren, the Spirit of God is with us still. Pentecost is yet within our grasp. If revival is being witheld from us it is because some idols remain enthroned; because we still insist on placing our reliance on human schemes; because we still refuse to face the unchangeable truth that 'it is not by might, but BY MY SPIRIT.'"

To be honest, if you can read this book and not be moved...if you can read this book and not desire to see revival in your lifetime, well, you don't need to be revived, you need to be resurrected.

The second thing He did was inspire me to preach the boldest most evangelistic sermon that I have ever preached in my life...and with good reason. The Sunday that I preached this message, two people showed up who did not know the Lord...and one of them has cancer, and it is terminal. Although they did not respond to the message and accept Christ, the intensity of the Spirit that morning was evident. I cried more during this message than any other as I sensed that here was someone who was knocking on the very door of death itself and yet would refuse the offer of eternal life. In my heart as I was preaching God began to speak to me that I needed to share my faith more, that as a pastor I was to teach the church, but as a Christian I am to take the gospel to the lost and the dying and the hellbound. I got a very clear picture of hell in my minds eye....and I cannot be quiet any longer.

My desire is to be used by God and to sacrifice anything and everything that takes away from this goal. I want to pour my life and love into my wife, to give myself to my children, to shepherd the church God has given me with the heart of the Great Shepherd, to pour my life out as an offering to the One who has given me not only the purpose of my life, by my very life itself. I want to have a broken heart for the lost and a fresh heart for the Lord and His people.

Part of that, I pray, will include firing up this blog once again. How often I will post I do not know, but this one thing I do know, that God has called me to a work and I dare not fall asleep on the job. I pray that from this day on I will be found ever pressing on to the high calling in Christ Jesus.

Join me in praying for the church, for the lost and if you would be so kind, pray for me as I embark on the next stretch of my journey on the God trail.

No turning back,
Pastor Dave

AND THE WINNER IS....

2010-12-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

Ok, just did the drawing for the latest book giveway....drumroll please....and the winner is: Brenda May! Brenda, contact me ASAP so I can get your book to you. To everyone else...remember, I am giving away another book at the end of the month: "Unashamed" by Robby Gallaty. All you need to get a chance to win this book is to leave a comment on any post in the month of December. You get one entry for each post you leave...the more comments, then the better your chances.

Ok, so there's that.
Pastor Dave

HOW FULL DO YOU WANT TO BE?

2010-12-07T16:53:00.000-08:00

In 2 Kings chapter 4 we read the story of the widow who is deeply in debt and the creditors are about to come and sell her only two children into slavery in order to pay her debt. In desperation she cries out to Elisha about her situation. We’ll let scripture tell the rest of the story:

2 Kings 2:4-7 “Elisha asked her, "What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" She said, "Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil." Then he said, "Go and borrow empty containers from everyone—from all your neighbors. Do not get just a few. Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all these containers. Set the full ones to one side." So she left. After she had shut the door behind her and her sons, they kept bringing her containers, and she kept pouring. When they were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another container." But he replied, "There aren't any more." Then the oil stopped. She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go sell the oil and pay your debt; you and your sons can live on the rest."

Now I want us to stop for a second and think about a couple of things here.

First, the woman said she had nothing except a jar of oil. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been down and out before, but I’ve never been so down and out that all I had was some Crisco. I’ve lived paycheck to paycheck, and had to rob Peter to pay Paul, and have had to humble myself and go to Dad and Mom and ask for some help, but I’ve never been so broke that all I had of any worth was one jar of oil. Now the oil here was valuable as it could be used for a variety of things, but one jar was not going to get anyone very far….or was it?

You see, no matter how little you or I have, if it is given for use by God, if it is offered up for the Lord, if we are willing to let go of what we have for Him and for the sake of the gospel, God will take it and multiply it and expand it far beyond what we could ever imagine.

Another thing we see is that she had to pour out the oil from her container into the other containers. God wants us to pour our lives into the lives of those around us. God wants us to give away our most valuable asset we have to those around us. No, I’m not talking about your house, your car, your 401K, or your computer…I’m talking about yourself. Your experience in walking with the Lord, your knowledge of the Word of God, your spiritual depth…He wants you to give it to others. The church is not to be a holy huddle, but an ambulance with a spiritual emergency kit to take to a lost and dying world. We are to be a lean, mean disciple making machine!

And lastly, notice that the widow told her son in the end:

"Bring me another container." But he replied, "There aren't any more." Then the oil stopped.

I think that often the reason we don’t see more of the Lord working in and around us, the reason we don’t have revival in our homes and in our churches and in our country, and the reason we don’t see the lost coming to Jesus all around us is that we are satisfied with far less than all.

Jesus doesn’t want much from you and I. Only all. Everything.

The oil flowed until they ran out of containers. What if they had held back a container or two? You know, the one they got from Grandma the last time they saw her…or that one that was special because it was from the widow’s childhood…or maybe the one that was won as a prize for the best oil at the county fair…or that one that is the collectible one - you know it’s worth a lot on eBay as long as it has never been used.

You see, we have all sorts of excuses as to why we don’t bring Jesus all of us. We like to have a little control here and there. We have our pet sins. We have no problem giving God a certain portion of our live, a certain amount of our time, a certain (10 %) amount of our money, but we feel free to do with the rest what we want.

And because we do not give all of our containers to God, we do not get all the oil that we could have.

When it comes down to it, we get all of Jesus that we really want. We get as much revival as we desire.

How much do you and I really want to see a mighty move of God across this land? How badly do we really want to see our loved ones come to know Jesus? How serious are we when it comes to our relationship with the Lord? The real question we must ask, is how full do we want to be? How full of Jesus do we want to be?

Are you, and I ready to give all of containers to God? Are willing to allow Him to fill them up completely with Him? Are we willing to say, “This is all I have Lord…and all I have is Yours.”?

Well, I cannot answer for you…but for me…well, I gotta go know. I think I have a few more containers in my closet that I need to find.

Pastor Dave

Unashamed

2010-12-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I was in our local Christian Book store (Crosspointe Christian Books and Gifts, find them here: http://www.crosspointebooks.com/), and I came across this book by Robby Gallaty:

To be honest, the first thing I noticed about it was that it carried the following recomendation by David Platt, the author of "Radical". "I wholeheartedly recommend this pastor and this book to you." Now the book "Radical" has had, for lack of a better word, a radical affect on my life. So I thought, if David Platt recommends not only the book, but the pastor, maybe this is worth checking out.

So I bought the book. I took the book home. I put the book on the shelf. The book stayed there. I forgot about the book.

Last week I was on vacation, and I saw the book on my shelf of "books I want to read", and decided to give it a go.

All I can say is "WOW!" Just in case you didn't get that let me say it again: "WOW!"

Robby has taken his messages from the book of 2 Timothy and turned them into chapters for this book, and although most read 2 Timothy from the perspective of Paul writing to Timothy as a pastor, Robby takes this and makes it applicable to anyone who calls themselves a Christ follower.

Reading the short biography of the author in this book goes along way to appreciating the content of the book. You realize that Robby did not grow up with a spiritual "silver spoon" in his mouth. He lived a hard life...and then lived a redeemed life. The contents are not dry knowledge...it is the stuff you find that has been lived out and put into practice by the author.

If you are a pastor...you need to read this book. If you are a Bible teacher...you need to read this book. If you are a believer in Christ...you need to read this book.

Very few books have moved me to tears...but by the end of the chapter, as Robby is talking about finishing well and the Apostle Paul, I was crying, crying tears and crying out to God that I might finish well. I have been convicted by the words in this book and the teaching of Robby Gallaty. It has inspired me to crank up the ministry that God has given me, so much so, that I am considering taking some of my sermons and attempting to put them into book form...you can pray for me about that, ok. It has motivated me to dig deeper into the Word of God. It has caused me to refocus my energy and my attention to those things that have eternal value. It has reminded me that to run the race that has been set before me and to offer my life up as an offering to the Lord, poured out in ministry all for His glory!

There is much more I could say about this book, but let me just sum it up in three words: Buy this book! Ok, let me sum it up in six words: Buy this book! Read this book! Ok, nope. Let's try nine words: Buy this book! Read this book! Live this book! No, that's not it either. Hmmm...ok, let's try twelve words: Buy this book! Read this book! Live this book! Share this book! Yeah, that works. Twelve words.

In fact, I'm so pumped about this book that I want to give one away.. Yep, I will give one of these away to anyone who comments on any of the blog postings this month. (And no, I haven't forgotten the "Think" book giveaway...the winner will be announced tomorrow).

The only "negative" thing I have to say is that the book does have some errors that a good proofreader should have caught. At least my printing did. But that is a minor quibble...nothing that would cause you to misundertand what Robby was trying to get across in the pages of this book.

You can check out the church that Robby pastors here: http://www.brainerdbaptist.org/index.php

Taking a radical stand for Christ,
Pastor Dave

CRITICS, COMPLIMENTS AND ELISHA

2010-12-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

I’ve been reading 2 Kings over the last couple of days, and right at the beginning something jumped out at me. As Elijah is getting ready to go home to be with the Lord, he tells Elisha that he should leave him (Elijah) at this time. As Elijah is going forward, he tells Elisha to stay put and not to follow him any longer.

This is not a one time statement from Elijah. It happens several times.

2 Kings 2:1-2 “The time had come for the LORD to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal, and Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; the LORD is sending me on to Bethel." Elisha responds in verse 2: “But Elisha replied, "As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you."

Once again in 2 Kings 2:4 Elijah instructs Elisha to stay behind while he (Elijah) goes on where the Lord has instructed him: “Elijah said to him, "Elisha, stay here; the LORD is sending me to Jericho." And in verse 4 we see the answer of Elisha, the same as before: “But Elisha said, "As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you."

A third time (2 Kings 2:6) Elijah tells Elisha: 6 Elijah said to him, "Stay here; the LORD is sending me to the Jordan." And the response from Elisha? You guessed it, the same as before. Here is the response of Elisha from verse 6: “But Elisha said, "As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you."

Three times Elijah tells Elisha not to go with him. Three times Elisha responds with “I will not leave you.”

Now, Elisha knew where Elijah was heading. If you read, you will know that Elisha knew that Elijah was going home to be with the Lord. We find this in verse 3 of the same chapter: “Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, "Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?"
He said, "Yes, I know. Be quiet."

He knew where Elijah was going, and although he also knew that he could not follow him all the way to glory, he was determined to follow him as far as he could…he was determined to see him off. Even when the sons of the prophets were basically telling Elisha, “Hey, you DO KNOW what is happening here right? Why go any further? He told them to be quiet…in other words, “Don’t distract me. I know where Elijah is going, and I know what is going to happen, and I will follow him to the end.”

As a pastor, I think this is huge.

Let me say it again, as a pastor, I think this is HUGE!

Why?

Well, simply, every pastor needs an Elisha.

We need someone who is determined to walk with us, to travel the faith journey with us, to not be deterred or sidetracked. When the end is near, and we are ready to depart, we need to know that we have poured our life into others that will continue on the work of the Lord.

Before I was a pastor I could be very critical of the pastors that I sat under. I have since found that almost every criticism that I leveled at one of my pastors in the past, has now been leveled at me. I have found many who have told me how great I was as a pastor, as a teacher and as a preacher. Unfortunately, somewhere down the road, most of those have leveled criticism at me to the point where they have left the church that I was the pastor at.

I’m not saying that you should only give your pastor glowing compliments. That would not be honest, or realistic. I’m also not saying you should not have any criticism when it comes to your pastor. As a pastor I try to turn my critics into my coaches. I try to learn from the critical comments and emails I receive. However, many times the critics main concern is that things did not go their way.

Let me speak plainly here. Your need to be careful before you lob your criticisms at your pastor, and your pastor does not necessarily need compliments. What he needs are a few good “Elisha” men. Men who will stand beside him. Men who will walk with him. Men who will say, “As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you."

Ok, so there’s that.
Pastor Dave

YOU'VE GOT TO HEAR THIS!

2010-12-02T13:46:00.000-08:00

When I was a child and we would have family over for the holidays, there were two tables set up. One was for the adults…and the other was for the kids. Of course, those of us at the kids table always wanted to sit at the adult table. We always felt marginalized at the kids table. This would become even more humiliating to us as we entered into our teenage years….how dare they make me sit at the kids table…I’m not a kid any longer…I’m 13!

As the years passed, so did the kids table, until one day I found myself at the adult table and my kids were now sitting at the kids table. As I looked at my kids, I wondered what the hurry was for. The conversation at the adult table did not seem to be nearly as entertaining as what was going on at the kids table. No one at the adult table was putting olives on the ends of their fingers! No one at the adult table was making a lake of gravy in the middle of their mountain of mashed potatoes! Or pretending that the gravy running down the side of the mountain of mashed potatoes was molten lava about to destroy the village made of cranberry sauce. And no one at the adult table was eating a turkey leg while pretending to be an ancient barbarian!

This whole idea of separation seemed to be merely for the sake of convenience for the adults. I understand there may be space issues, and such, but mostly it often seems as if the adults don’t want the kids to enter into the adult conversations that they are having…and while there is a time and place for adult conversation…it hardly seems to me that the best time and place is the holiday dinner table.

As adults, we need to spend this time when our families are together, sharing our lives with our children. Sharing our family history together. And most of all, sharing the Lord, His Word and what He has done in our lives together.

Psalm 18:3-4 expresses this: “things we have heard and known
and that our fathers have passed down to us. We must not hide them from their children, but must tell a future generation the praises of the LORD, His might, and the wonderful works He has performed.”

I come from a family of believers in Christ (on my Mothers side), and yet rarely did I hear any stories of how the Lord worked in her family. Her Dad (my grandfather), was a preacher and a pastor, and yet I don’t remember her ever sharing a sermon he preached, a revival she saw, or an answer to prayer they experienced. The results of this lack of sharing what the Lord had done resulted in a salvation experience for me that was limited to church. Church is where Christians went. Church is what Christians did. Church is where God was. There was life outside of church, and that was yours, and then there was church life and that belonged to God.

It took me years to come to the point that what I had with Jesus was not a religion but a relationship. It took me years to come to the place where I understood that my whole life was to be offered up to the Lord as an act of worship. It was years before I realized that I did not need to come back to church, but that I needed to come back to Jesus. Once I was back with Jesus, well, church took care of itself.

This year, when you gather with the family, even if you have to have a kids table and an adult table…take time to share what the Lord has done in your life. Take time to sing the praises of the Lord. Take time to tell of the wonderful works that He has done.

In fact, why wait for the holidays? Why not make it a tradition to share every day with our children something that God has done?

Excuse me now, I’ve got to go….kids come here…you’ve got to hear this, did I ever tell you about the time the Lord…….

Pastor Dave

BORING!!!

2010-11-14T06:27:00.000-08:00

"Church is boring...it is sooooooo booorrriiiinnnnggg!" I remember saying those words as a teenager many, many times. I also remember when we would have week long revivals, which is how I learned how long eternity was, by my teenage calculations, having to go to church every single night seemed to last for an eternity. We went to church every Sunday morning and Sunday night, which explains the fascination I have today with the tv show "Bonanza". You see, every Monday morning during the first recess at school the guys would get together and talk about "Bonanza"...and Hoss and Little Joe, and Pa Cartwright...and I had nothing to contribute, because I had to go to church on Sunday nights, and that is when Bonanza came on. My response was always a depressing sounding, "I didn't get to see it...I had to go to church."

I could not think of any worse punishment than having to sit on a hard wooden pew (anyone remember those?), and listen to some "old" guy go on and on about stuff that I felt had no application to me or to my life at the time. This is why I know God has a sense of humor...because you fast forward several years and here I am...the "old" guy that other people listen to now.

Of course, my opinion of church has changed over the years as well. I not only enjoy, but look forward to meeting and worshiping with my brothers and sisters every chance I get! I love to hear preachers and teachers break open the Word of God and how it is active and living and breathing! I no longer see church as something I HAVE to go to, now I see it as something I GET to go to!

For some reading this, maybe you still find church boring. Don't feel bad...I get it. As I grew from childhood to my teenage years and into adulthood, nothing much changed...I still found church boring. But what I have learned through the years is that it is not church that is boring...it is us. God (and His Word) are magnificent, spectacular, awesome, and more exciting than we can imagine...but we settle for so much less and because we do, church becomes boring.

This week I ran across some principles that if you will apply them to your life, I believe you will leave "boring" church behind you, and enter into a worship service and time of teaching, preaching and learning that will not only change your life, but change the life of your church. My thanks and appreciation go out to Greg Laurie for these nine listener principles.

1. Support your pastor with prayer before and after the message.
2. Bring your Bible.
3. If you know the Scripture passage in advance, read it and become familiar with it.
4. Prepare your heart with prayer to accept God's Word and that you would be open to its truth.
5. Look for ways that you will use the key Scripture or ideas in your life in the next week.
6. Seek to hear the truth for your life, not someone else's life.
7. Listen carefully and think how you would share this message with someone else. Could you summarize the message clearly?
8. Take careful notes. Don't assume you will remember everything that is said. Also, write down the scripture reerences to look up later.
9. Trust God for the results in your life.

Doing what I can to eliminate boring church services forever,
Pastor Dave

ALL

2010-11-13T20:24:00.000-08:00

Acts 5:12 "The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people, and ALL THE BELIEVERS used to meet togethr in Solomon's Colonnade." (Emphasis added)

All. Three letters. One simple word. So why do we have such a problem with it?
I know, you're thinking that we don't have a problem with it, but as a pastor it is my experience that we do have a problem with this word.

If you don't believe me, take a look at your church. When was the last time ALL the members were there? When was the last time ALL the members came together for a Bible study? Now some might say that since their church is of a large size that they have several different services so there is no way that all of the members could be there at once...but even so, when was the last time on one Sunday that all the members showed up even if it was spread over all of the services?

In this country we tend to take attending worship services as not a big deal. Yeah, we go if we want, but if not, no bigee....it will be there next week.

But the early church was not like that. Take a look at how serious they took meeting together:

Acts 1:14 "They ALL JOINED TOGETHER CONSTANTLY in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."

Acts 2:1 "When the day of Pentecost came, THEY WERE ALL TOGETHER in one place."

Acts 2:42 "THEY DEVOTED THEMSELVES to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

Acts 2:46 "EVERY DAY THEY CONTINUED TO MEET together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts"

Have we forgotten this in our country, in our culture?

I hear from Christians all the time how they want revival, and I do believe that when revival comes, then God's people will want to come together to worship...on the other hand, until God's people are committed to meeting together to worship I don't believe revival will be here.

Sadly, this has been going on for a long, long time. It rears it’s ugly head from time to time. J.C. Ryle ( May 10, 1816 - June 10, 1900 who was the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool) said, “For another thing, let me warn all careless members of churches…You live on year after year as if there was no battle to be fought with sin, the world, and the devil. You pass through life a smiling, laughing, gentlemanlike or ladylike person, and behave as if there was no devil, no heaven and no hell. Oh, careless churchman, or careless dissenter, careless Episcopalian, careless Presbyterian, careless Independent, careless Baptist, awake to see eternal realities in their true light! Awake and put on the armor of God! Awake and fight hard for life! Tremble, tremble and repent!”

Oh, that we might unite in the spread of the gospel, in time spent in prayer…in reaching out to the needy, in going out into the fields that are ripe for harvest, in holding up one another when we cannot walk any longer, in lifting our voices in praise and worship to God the creator of the sun and the moon, who gives us our very lives!

For too many the church is only something to do, someplace to go as long as you don’t have anything better to do.

About now, someone will cry out that all this talk of not missing church sounds like legalism. Well, maybe it is...but only in the same way that it is expected for a husband to come home to his wife each evening...only in the same way that it is expected for a skydiver to put on a parachute...only in the same way that it is for a deep sea diver to strap on an oxygen tank.

The church is not the church of one...it is the church of many. As a pastor of a small but growing church, let me cry out to you today....your church needs you! We need you when we come together, we need to worship with you, we need to study the Word with you, we need to pray with you.

I cannot help but wonder how believers in countries where they are persecuted for meeting together would perceive us, how they would look at our faith? What would believers in other countries think of us? Those followers of Christ who can only imagine meeting in a well lit building with protection from the elements and cooling and heating…and the freedom to meet and study the Word, and yet they see us coming together when it is convenient?

How will the world ever take the church serious, if the church doesn't take itself serious? How will the world ever see the need to worship Jesus if His own followers don't see the need to meet together?

Why has the word, "all" slipped from the vocabulary of most believers today?

On one hand, some will say that the answer to that question is varied one and has many layers and is tough to answer.

I don't think it is that hard to answer...I just think we don't like to look at what the answer really is.

The reason we have a problem with "all", the reason "all" has slipped from our vocabulary is because we "all" don't want take corporate worship serious. We don't want to go to church services. We just plain don't want to.

Now, this is not addressed to those who have to work when worship time arrives, or those who may be on vacation, and of course it is not addressed to those that are sick. But how many of truly HAVE to work during worship time and how many CHOOSE to work during that time? How many vacations do you really need to take that fall on Sundays? How many times have we gotten sick on Sunday morning...only to feel much better by two or three in the afternoon?

Come on people, let's at least be honest with ourselves.

Maybe you disagree with me. Maybe you think I'm way out in left field with this one...well, then prove me wrong...and show up for church services this Sunday...and every Sunday that you possibly can.

Ok, so there's that...hope to see you ALL in church on Sunday!

Pastor Dave

I'm Sorry....Really, I Am

2010-11-10T16:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, I am really, really, really, really sorry. If the picture of the sad dog with the "sorry" sign doesn't convince you, then I don't know what will.

In all seriousness, I am very sorry that waaaaay back in August I blogged about having a drawing to increase traffic on the blog...and then I dropped the ball big time.

But, I'm back, and here are the winners of the book drawing:

Valeri

Jesi

Dan

You will need to send me your mailing address so I can mail you the book. Send your address to my email: pastor_dave2004@yahoo.com, and let me know what book you want. The books will be given out as they are requested, so the best thing is to send me your first choice, second choice and then third choice.

The books available are:

"The Last Christian" by David Gregory (a novel of the future)
"Crave" by Chris Tomlinson (wanting so much more of God)
"A Tale Of Two Sons" by John macArthur (the inside story of a father, his sons, and shocking murder)

And now, because I feel really bad about all of this, I am going to offer another book giveaway.

Check this out:

Yes, I will be giving away a copy of the new book "Think" by John Piper.

I will give this away on the first of December. All you have to do to be entered into this drawing is be a follower of the blog. That will get you one entry. After that....you will get another entry for every comment you leave. I promise, to blog more often...hopefully daily, and to not neglect the giveaway this time.

I'll be back sometime tomorrow with a new post.

Still following Jesus, one step at a time,
Pastor Dave

GOD LOVES YOU...HE REALLY DOES!

2010-08-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading a book that was loaned to me...and now I think I have to go buy my own copy...because you cannot mark up a loaned book with yellow highlighter, and this is one book I will need to read again and mark up.

The book is called: "He Loves Me" by Wayne Jacobsen.

Now, to be honest, when I first started reading this book I was not real sure about it. In fact, there were two main reasons that I kept reading the book even though I was not in agreement with what the author said at first. Reason One: the people who loaned it to me are the kind of followers of Christ that we should all strive to be. They are not perfect, no that is not it, they just love Jesus and His people, and so if they thought it was good enough to loan to me, I thought I should finish it. Reason Two: I'm stubborn. If I start a book and invest a little time in the first few chapters, I'm bound and determined to finish the book. This is a bit of stubborness that I have had since I was a little kid. In fact, in all my many years of book reading, there has only been one book that I did not finish...just couldn't get through it, and I was determined that this book would not be unfinshed book number two.

Truthfully, I do not agree with a few things that Wayne Jacobsen writes in this book, and some of it, if you are not grounded in the Word of God could trip a new believer up. Some of it is hard to accept, but that is the way it is when you're learning about the grace and love that the Lord extends to His children. But by the end of the book, I found this one of the most rewarding books I have ever read. In one way or another, it will impact my relationship with the Lord, His church, the lost and my even my family.

The premise of the book is that most of us don't have any idea how much God really loves us, and that even those who have tasted of the relationship with the Lord that is provided to us only through the sacrifice of Jesus, still try and earn the approval and love from our heavenly Father. While I had grasped the concept many years ago that God has never loved me more than He did when Jesus died for me, living out that knowledge and living in that love has not always been easy. This book paints the love of God in brilliant colors and vivid pictures.

The last two or three chapters alone are enough reason to read this book. In one chapter it shows how the love of Christ is lived out in us as we in turn love those around us who are unloveable or have hurt us.

I want to share just one short story that the author tells in chapter 21, "In Exactly The Same Way" :

"Recently I met a woman from the Midwest who had been divorced when her ex-husband told her he was gay, that he had AIDS, and that he wanted to live with his partner. A few years later as the disease progressed, she felt compassion for her former husband and felt God wanted her to help care for him as the disease worsened. She did just that. With her husband's permission she moved back in, not as wife but as nurse, and cared for him as the disease progressed...she talked about it as one of the greatest experiences of her life. Before he died, her husband and his partner came to repentance and faith (MY NOTE HERE: while it does not state it in the book, if, they came to repentance and faith, I would assume they ceased their homesexual relationship as you cannot repent and stay the same way you used to be). What's more, after her former husband's death, she took care of his former partner as he died. While she was doing that, other AIDS patients came to the door and asked for help. During the next decade she cared for more than sixty other patients and watched them all come to faith."

Now I don't know what you would call that, but I would call it POWERFUL LOVE! That is the kind of love that the world needs to see from the church. That is the kind of love that is able to be poured out on those that hurt us, those that sin the sins that disgust us, those that live the lives that repulse us...because we have experienced and are secure in the love and relationship that Jesus gives us.

Thank you Kitty and Jessica for this book...and thank you Jesus for loving me, even when I was not your child and yet You loved me enough to die for me.

Pastor Dave

DO YOU READ THE BIBLE?

2010-08-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, pop quiz time.

What is the best selling book of all time? Answer: The Bible.
What is the most stolen book? Answer: The Bible.
What is the most unread book? Answer: The owners manual for your car.

I know, you thought the answer was going to be the Bible.

If we are going to be technical, the owners manual is not an actual book, but then again neither is the Bible. The Bible is actually 66 books, written by about 40 different people, from Kings to fishermen, over a period of about 1500 years, all inspired by God. This makes the Bible unique among all other books.

Unfortunately, next to your cars owners manual, sits the Bible, the 2nd most unread book ever written.

Many people have a Bible. It sits on the shelf somewhere. It lies in a drawer somewhere. It gathers dust in a closet somewhere. Yes, many people have a Bible, but few use it. This is to be expected among those who are not professing Christians. For them, the Bible is nothing more than a coffee table type book...something to glance at, but no one expects you to actually READ it, much less spend any time attmepting to undertand it.

Sadly, statistics tell us that it's not much better among those who profess to follow Christ. A recent poll by the Barna Group showed that just 4 out of 10 Christians read the Bible on a weekly basis….people that is less than 50%!!!

To make matters worse, of those that DO read the Bible on a weekly basis, commit on average, about 1 hour per week….that is 1 HOUR PER WEEK, NOT PER DAY! In other words, the average Christian in America will spend more time in the shower each week than in the Word of God! Which goes along with our consumer mentality believe-ism in this country. We’re more concerned about LOOKING good than being set apart, and living holy lives honoring to God!

Why have we lost the desire to read the God-breathed words of the creater of the universe? Why do we no longer desire to dig for the nuggets that God has hidden in the Scriptures? This is not a dusty old book with a lot of nice philosophical sayings. This is the only book that has the cure for the disease that each and every human being is infected with: sin.

One of the tragedies of the modern church is that we are largely Biblically illiterate. We know more about the Kardashians than we do the Scriptures. We can name all the top ten finalist of the current season of American Idol, but cannot recall the names of the 12 apostles. We have lines from our favorite movies memorized, but can only recall John 3:16 and maybe the 23rd Psalm from the live giving, inspired word of God.

I am amazed at the number of times I have heard of people going to church and they don't have their Bible with them...that's like going to work or school and not having any pants on! When you ask them where their Bible is, the general response is, "I couldn't find it." You couldn't find it. You couldn't find it?!?! Do you use it so sparingly that you cannot remember where you last had it? The other day at church someone told me that they could not find their Bible. I lovingly, with a smile on my face asked them when the last time was that they forgot where their underwear was. They replied, "I've never forgotten where my underwear is." And of course, they looked at me kind of puzzled. I went on to explain to them, "You've never forgotten where your underwear is for two reason: 1) You put it in the same place all the time, so you always know where it is and 2) You've developed a good habit over many years that you don't go anywhere without your underwear. It is the same with the Scriptures. If we got into the habit every day to read it the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night, we would soon always know where it was, because we would seek it out at the end of the day and at the beginning of the day. In addition we would develop a pattern over the years of daily, ongoing, regular Bible reading and would find that we just don't go anywhere without it." They smiled at me, nodding their head and told me, "I get it. I get it."

I hope they do get it. I pray that they get it, and that it gets them. If those who call themselves followers of Christ, disicples of the living Savior, students of the Messiah do not read the owners manual that He has written for them...how do we ever expect to carry out what He told us to do? The great commission will not be carred out as long as we remain a part of the great ommission of Bible readers.

So join me won't you, on one of the greatest adventures you will ever have. Turn off the tv and tune into the Word of God.

Pastor Dave

THE POWER OF PRAYER

2010-08-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

Well, sorry that I didn't get around to doing this "tomorrow" as I said on my last post. It has been a very busy week, but it has been a good busy. As I said on the last entry, I wanted to share what others have had to say about prayer, so here are some of my favorite quotes on prayer:

"If any of you should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say that it is in one word - prayer. Live and die without prayer, and you will pray long enough when you get to hell." Charles Spurgeon

"Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into
harmony with Him.” Hudson Taylor

"The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor" Charles Stanley

Prayer is the highest intelligence, the profoundest wisdom, the most vital, the most joyous, the most efficacious, the most powerful of all vocations. Edward M. Bounds

"When I am praying the most eloquently, I am getting the least accomplished in my prayer life. But when I stop getting eloquent and give God less theology and shut up and just gaze upward and wait for God to speak to my heart He speaks with such power that I have to grab a pencil and a notebook and take notes on what God is saying to my heart." A.W. Tozer

"God does nothing except in response to believing prayer." John Wesley (who spent 2 hours daily in prayer)

“Prayer is where the action is." John Wesley

"Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still." E.M. Bounds

"There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer." A.T. Pierson

“I have seen many men work without praying, though I have never seen any good come out of it; but I have never seen a man pray without working.” James Hudson Taylor

"A man who is intimate with God will never be intimidated by men." Leonard Ravenhill

"We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little; many services but few conversions; much machinery but few results." R. A. Torrey

"God is not the author of boredom - especially when we are conversing with Him." Daniel Henderson

"Prayer is dangerous..." Eugene Peterson

"Prayer is the most-often talked about, but the least practiced discipline in the Christian life." Daniel Henderson

"I would rather teach one man to pray than ten to preach." Charles Spurgeon

"Prayerlessness is my declaration of my independence from God." Daniel Henderson

And now, for a story or two on the power of prayer:

"In 1857 there were 30,000 men idle on the streets of New York. Drunkenness was rampant, and the nation was divided by political issues. God raised up a praying businessman, Jeremiah Lanphier. On September 23, 1857 he began a noontime prayer meeting on Fulton Street in the Financial District of Manhattan. Out of a city of 1 million people, six people showed up a half hour late.
The group decided to meet the next week and there were 14. The next week there were 23. The following week there were 40. Within weeks there were thousands of business leaders meeting daily.
God moved so powerfully that the prayer meeting spread across the nation.
Newspapers reported that over 6,000 were attending various prayer meetings in New York, and 6,000 in Pittsburgh. Daily prayer meetings were held in Washington, D.C. at 5 different times to accommodate the crowds. Other cities followed the pattern. Soon, a common mid-day sign on business premises read, "We will re-open at the close of the prayer meeting". By May, 50,000 of New York's 800,000 people were new converts
It is estimated that nearly 1 million people were converted out of a national population of 35 million, including 10,000 weekly conversions in New York City for a season."

And here is another story linking prayer and revival:

"In Wales in 1904 a revial began with Evan Roberts praying. Seventeen men began to pray with him and committed themselves to these four principles: 1) you must confess every known sin to God; 2) you must remove every doubtful habit from your life; 3) you must obey the Holy Spirit’s prompting; and 4) you must go public with your witness of Christ.
In this revival, thirty-seven thousand people were saved in one month and one hundred thousand in five months. Colleges closed down, and students marched, singing and praising God on their way to prayer meeting. For a time, crime came to an end—there were no more murders, robberies, rapes and burglaries. This revival also spread to America."

When I read these stories of prayer and revival in the past, I ask myself, "Can it happen again?" And the answer I recieve is in the form of more questions: "Has God changed? Have His promises changed?" The answer to the first question is "YES" and the answer to the second two questions is "NO".

Join me in praying for revival. Revival in our hearts. Revival in our families. Revival in our churches. Revival in our neighborhoods. Revival in our towns. Revival in our counties. Revival in our states. Revival in our country. Revival in the world. It can happen, but it will not happen without prayer.

On my knees,
Pastor Dave

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PRAYER MEETING?

2010-08-16T18:56:00.000-07:00

Last night, (Sunday, August 15, 2010), our church met for our weekly prayer meeting, which we call "Fresh Encounters". It was the highest attended prayer meeting since we started this about two months ago. There were about 30 people there.

Now, 30 sounds like a lot, and it is....but Sunday morning...just a few hours earlier on the same day we had about 90 for our morning service. Only one third came back to pray together.

What has happened to the prayer meeting?

I read in Acts 1:14 "They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."

They ALL joined together in prayer. Not 10%, not 25%, not 33%, not 50%, not 75%...but they ALL joined together in prayer. Now that got me thinking, and please, don't misunderstand what I'm about to say here, because I LOVE Loma Rica Baptist Church where I pastor, but if we were the first church, it is obvious that the passage would instead have read, "And one third of them joined together constantly in prayer." How sad.

I hear all the time that people wish the church was more like it used to be in the early days of the church. That they wish church was more like it was in the book of Acts. Well, truthfully, I don't think most people know what they are asking for when they make this type of statement, but the bottom line is, we are the church. If the church is not what it should be, then whose fault is it?

I really believe that one of the major problems of the church is that they don't meet for corporate prayer, seeking the face of God together. Think about it. If we were to travel in time for just a moment, and if you or I were part of the early church there, would you have been there? Would I have been there? No fair using the excuse that of course you would have been because that's where the Christians were back then...based on our prayer habits today....would we have been there?

I hear from every corner of Christianity today that we want to see revival in America, that we want to see a move of God, that we want to see the Holy Spirit poured out on the church, and yet what do we do to prepare the way?

Those words "joined together" means unanimously...they were all for it! Think about that for a moment. Can you imagine what it would be like for everyone who goes to your church (or mine) to join together, unanimously in prayer? GLORY TO GOD THAT WOULD BE AMAZING!!!

Verse 14 also says that they joined together "constantly". Other translations use the following words: "steadfastly" (AMP), "continued" (KJV), "devoting" (ESV). Now we have to ask ourselves, do any of those words describe the prayer life you have with your church? If not, why not? Is this not the example set before us? Now stay with me here, while we unpack this word "constantly" a bit more. The word, "constantly" is a combination of two greek words, one (en) meaning to “have hold, use” and the other (proskartereo) meaning o be earnest towards, to persevere, be constantly diligent, or to attend assiduously all the exercises, or to adhere closely to - attend (give self) continually (upon), continue (in, instant in, with), wait on (continually).

When you put that all together you have a description of prayer that is energetic and muscular...it is having a tight hold of prayer...and persevering in prayer, being earnest in prayer, and continuing in prayer.

Our biggest problem with prayer in the church is that we have developed into such a "me" churh. We want what we want and we don't want to have to coninue in anything, much less persevere...oh no, that would require time, sacrifice, and that really bad word: commitment. We want McChurch! We put in our order for a little McSermon, heavy on the grace, but light on the doctrine and commitment please. We will take a small serving of McPrayer, but super-size the blessings please!

I want to encourage you to be men and women of prayer. I want to encourage any pastors who are reading this to become pastors who pray! The church will never rise higher in prayer than where the pastor is. If the pastor is small in prayer, so the church will be.

I wasn't always so fired up about prayer, but I went to a "Prayer Summit" put on by Daniel Henderson through his ministry, "Strategic Renewal". I will post the link to his website at the bottom of this entry, and tomorrow I will share a little about what others have had to say about prayer, and some stories of prayer meetings throughout history.

http://www.strategicrenewal.com/

If you find Daniel Henderson is conducting a prayer summit anywhere near where you can get to, my advice to you is: GO! Churches, if your pastor wants to go to a prayer summit, let me just say that you should encourage him and pay for his way and for his wife to go as well...you, as a church, will reap blessings from having a pastor who is convinced of the need and the power of prayer.

Praying for all who will read this,
Pastor Dave

PRAY HARD

2010-08-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

I got my first job when I was 12 years old. I became a paperboy. It was my job to deliver over 50 copies of The Hanford Sentinel newspaper every afternoon (except on Sundays-there was no paper on Sunday). If you are reading this and you have no idea what a paperboy is...well, go ask someone who is older because I don't have the time to explain it to you here.

I found myself pushing myself on this job. Nobody made me do it, but there was something in me that made me try to be the best paperboy I could. I tried to porch every paper. I tried to see how fast I could roll my papers and get them delivered. I set a record and continually tried to break that record. While a paper route is not what I would call a hard job, I will say that I worked hard at it.

Three years later, a the age of 15 I went to work for the same newspaper in the Circulation Department. I was one of many who inserted the ads into the paper, as well as the separate sections (section B, C, etc.), when there was one. I also eventually helped bundle the papers, fill newspaper racks and deliver the bundles of papers to the houses of the paper boys (and paper girls). As with my paper route, I also pushed myself at this job. I began to "race" with others who were inserters to see how fast we could insert 25, 50, 100 or more papers. I would try and finish my delivery of the bundles and the filling of the racks in record time. As with the paper route, I don't think the job I had was hard work, but I did work hard at it.

While I think that some of that desire to work hard at the job I was given is due to the instruction I received from my Dad while growing up, what I think continued to drive me on to work in that way was the satisfaction I got out of it. It always felt good when I was done...especially if I was a little "spent" once it was over, and even more so if I had broken a personal record.

All of that crossed my mind briefly while I was reading this passage in Acts. Acts 1:12-14 "Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. THEY ALL JOINED TOGETHER CONSTANTLY IN PRAYER, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." (emphasis added)

The way I see this is that if they were "joined together constantly in prayer" they must have been praying HARD! Why is it that too often, the least attended meeting of the church is the prayer meeting? The prayer room was the delivery room for the birth of the church! The church was born during a prayer meeting!

I realize that some of the problem is the kind of prayer meetings we have had. I've been to some of "those" prayer meetings, so I get it.

But hasn't god promised to "show up" when we pray? Has the Spirit not moved in mighty ways in prayer meetings of the past? Is God dull and boring? Then if our prayer meetings are that way the reason is not God...the reason is US! We don't desire deep communication, deep communion, on a deep spiritual level.

But it shouldn't be that way. If God's people will join together, to seek the face of God, the face of the ALMIGHTY, the face of ADONIA, the face of ELOHIM, the face of EL SHADDAI, the face of JEHOVAH, the face of I AM, He says He will meet us...and He will hear us...and He will be with us!

Is anything better than that? Oh that the people of God would start to seek the face of God before we approach Him for His hand.

This is praying hard. There is much satisfaction in being "spent" for God in prayer. There is a strengthening of your relationship with the Lord, a boldness that will come in sharing your faith, and a love for the brothers and sisters like never before. How can you not be changed after you encounter the living God in prayer!

Charles Spurgeon wrote, "We shall never see much change for the better in our churches in general until the prayer meeting occupies a higer place in the esteem of Christians."

I'll write more about praying in the blog tomorrow, but for now I want to leave you with these passages.

Colossians 4:2 "Be earnest and unwearied and steadfast in your prayer [life], being [both] alert and intent in [your praying] with thanksgiving."

1 Thessalonians 5:17 "Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly];"

Praying for you this morning,
Pastor Dave

CAN I GET A WITNESS

2010-08-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

Nothing strikes fear in the heart of most believers than this one word:

Witnessing! I can hear the shrieks in my head as you read this word. It conjours up sermons from the past that produced guilt because you didn't leave a tract at McDonalds, that you have not shared your faith with your neighbor, and that you still have not memorized the Roman Road verses. It brings to mind those strange people that carry signs by the road side, or the ones that go around your neighborhood knocking on doors, invading the private homes of people they don't even know.

Believe me...I can feel your fear. I have been there. Fear of witnessing...of sharing your faith is very real...and very common.

But it shouldn't be.

I think often that the reason for much of our fear is two-fold.

One: We think witnessing is something that it isn't. We feel that whe have to have a degree in greek and hebrew and that we have to be able to answer any and every question that someone throws at us.

Two: We have bought the lie that we don't know how to be a witness.

I want to offer you some ideas, some thoughts of mine that just might relieve you of your fears and release the inner-witness inside of you.

First of all, if you know the Lord as your Savior, then you are a witness. You see, being a witness is not something you do, it is something you are. If Jesus has changed your life, brought you from darkness to light, from lost to found, from dead to alive, then you are a witness to what He has done in your life.

Second, a witness does not have to have a degree in anything. If you are called to be a witness at a trial, you don't have to go to law school. You simply have to testify to what you have seen and heard. When it comes to being a witness for Christ, it's the same thing. All we have to do is testify to what we have seen and heard. You may not know all the ends and outs of theology. There are people that use big words to impress people, but we are called to be a witness and you don't need to have a degree to be a witness of anything...you just tell what you have seen and heard, and experienced.

Third, you don't have to have all the answers to every question you will get asked. In fact, there is no way you will have the answers to every question you are asked, and even if you did, some people wouldn't believe the answer anyway.

Fourth, don't think you are the one that is responsible for the salvation of anyone...because you're not. That's the job of the Holy Spirit. Don't worry if you might say something wrong...in fact, let me assure you of this, you probably will say something wrong, but it's not about you, how well you speak, how good you look, how smooth your voice soungs, or how convincing of a case you make...you and I just need to be obedient, and let the Holy Spirit do His thing...after all, He's much better at it than we are.

So remember when you wake up tomorrow, when you go to work tomorrow, when you go shopping, go to school or go get your hair cut....you are a witness. We're not called to be the judge, jury, executioner or a super salesman. Just share what happened to you....share WHO happened to you.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

Pastor Dave

DUG DOWN DEEP

2010-08-08T16:36:00.000-07:00

I finished reading "Dug Down Deep" by Joshua Harris yesterday. I have come away with a very high level of respect for Joshua Harris and a conviction that everyone who calls himself a Christian should read this book.

As a pastor, one of the things that I am aware of is that we are raising a generation of biblically illiterate believers. The sub-title of the book by Joshua Harris is "Unearthing What I Belive and Why It Matters."

What we believer will determine how we act, and sadly, many believers have no clue as to what they really believe.

While the word "deep" is in the title, the book itself is not a deep theology book, and Harris acknowledges that. In fact, if you don't generally like theology type books, I think you will enjoy this one...consider a theology book for people who don't like theology. You may not even consider yourself a theologian at all, but as Harris states in the first chapter, "We're all theologians. The question is whether what we know about God is true."

But just because it is not deep, does not mean that it is not good. In fact, it is very good. Harris weaves autobiographicaly stories along with sound theology, making the book not only readable, but memorable as well. While I have read "deeper" books on the subjects Harris addresses, I have not read about theology in more entertaining, while still thought provoking way.

Some of the subjects Harris tackles are God, the Bible, Jesus, the death of Jesus, redemption, sanctification, the Holy Spirit, the church....and humble orthodoxy. In my opinion the chapters on the Holy Spirit and the church are worth the price of the book all by themselves.

But don't take just my word on it...here is what some others have to say about the book:

J. I. Packer: “Via vivid autobiography, Pastor Harris takes readers on a personal journey into the biblical theology that, belatedly, he found he could not manage without. A humbling, compelling, invigorating read.”

John Piper: “When the apostle Peter says, ‘Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God…casting all your anxiety on Him,’ he implies that humble people are fearless. They have the courage to stand up for truth humbly. I love the term ‘humble orthodoxy.’ And I love Josh Harris. When they come together (Josh and humble orthodoxy), as they do in this book, you get a humble, helpful, courageous testimony to biblical truth.”

Joni Eareckson Tada: “More than forty years of quadriplegia has underscored to me the matchless value of knowing—really knowing—the doctrines of the Christian faith. Dug Down Deep reveals how biblical doctrine provides a pathway to understanding the heart and mind of God. If you’re looking for ‘that one book’ that will push you farther down the road to faith than you’ve ever journeyed before, Dug Down Deep is it. I highly recommend it!”

Get "Dug Down Deep" and get your spiritual shovel out...you'll need it.

Pastor Dave

FREE! FREE BOOK! REALLY FREE BOOK!

2010-08-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

Free? Really? Nothing is free, right? Well, that is what my Dad always told me, and in some ways he was right, even concerning this.

Let me try and explain here.

I have been blogging for awhile now (4 years), but have not been very regular at it. I have learned the truth in what someone once told me, “Starting a blog is much easier thank keeping a blog going.” But I have been very moved by the Lord to jump start my blog and to post on a daily basis. Now, I know I might miss a day or two, but it is my desire to now share with you…whoever you might be…what the Lord is teaching me these days, so missed day will be the exception, rather than the rule.

In order to try and increase the readership of my blog, I am going to give away three books. The titles and descriptions are listed below.

On August 31, I will draw the names of three people and they can win the book of their choice. I will send the book to the winners with no cost to them…I will cover the postage.

That’s right. No cost to you. Nada. Zip. Nothing.

Well, then again, that is not entirely true. It will not cost you any money, but it will cost you a tiny bit of effort on your part.

Here’s the deal. The three drawings will be from these three areas:

One: Followers of the blog. If you choose to follow the blog, then I will draw a name from all of those who are followers and they will win a book. Even if you are already a follower of the blog you will still be put in for this drawing.

Two: Comments posted. If you post a comment on the blog itself (not on the facebook post of the blog, but on the blog post itself), your name will be put in for a drawing for a book. On this one, only comments from today’s post and forward will count. And yes, a comment on this post counts. For every comment you post, your name will be entered, the more you comment, the more chances you have to win. One special note here: All comments have to be approved by me, so no spam, no rude comments, and no generic comments (“Hi, read your blog.” and stuff like that.).

Three: If you refer someone to the blog and they become a follower, you will be entered for a drawing. So if you refer someone to the blog and they become a follower they will need to send me an email to let me know who referred them, or they can let me know in a comment, and that way they get put in for the comment drawing and for the drawing for being a follower, and you will be put in for the drawing for referring a follower to the blog.

In fact, some can have their name put in for all three. If you are a follower, you are entered in a drawing! If you leave a comment on a post, you are entered in a drawing! If you refer someone to the blog and they become a follower, you are entered in a drawing!

Once the names are drawn, I will contact the winners. They will give me their first, second and third choices for the books they want. First one to respond back, wins the first book of their choice, second one will win the first book of their choice that is left, and same for the third.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at: pastor_dave2004@yahoo.com

And now: here are the books:

A TALE OF TWO SONS by John MacArthur

Charles Dickens. William Shakespeare. Garrison Keillor. They're all part of the chorus of literary geniuses who expressed admiration for The Parable of the Prodigal Son as outstanding literature. After all, it is a powerful drama, rich in detail, powerfully succinct, and intensely personal. But beyond the literary critiques-besides being one of the most celebrated written works of all time-the message of this parable is one we can't afford to ignore.
In The Prodigal Son, John MacArthur takes the story back to its roots, when Jesus' words were absolutely revolutionary. As one of America's most beloved Bible teachers, MacArthur leads us through the minefields of interpretation and restores the simple yet profound brilliance of this passage. Giving engrossing historical background, The Prodigal Son will reveal Christ's original message as intended for the Pharisees, the disciples, and the world today.
Gain an enlightening perspective into the prodigal son's story and embrace God's love anew with The Prodigal Son.

About the Author
John MacArthur, the author of numerous best-selling books that have touched millions of lives, is pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and president of The Master's College and Seminary. He is also president of Grace to You, the ministry that produces the internationally syndicated radio program Grace to You and a host of print, audio, and Internet resources. He authored the notes in the Gold Medallion Award-winning The MacArthur Study Bible. For more information, contact Grace to You at 1-800-55-GRACE.

CRAVE: WANTING SO MUCH MORE OF GOD by Chris Tomlinson

From Publishers Weekly:
This first book by Tomlinson, a management consultant, is a perfect fit for the booming spirituality market, particularly for enthusiastic, evangelical 20- and 30-something audiences. He begins his personal musings with a simple thesis: it is too easy to become a “comfortable Christian” and we must always search for ways to express our active devotion to God and Jesus Christ. This premise is not particularly innovative, but his writing style is straightforward and personally honest. The author acknowledges his own struggles with pride while retelling, often with humor, his only-too-human attempts to reach lofty spiritual goals such as charity and purity. Every chapter opens with vivid and iconic imagery—a spoon, a bit of floss, a pager—tangible symbols throughout the book for more abstract ideas like obedience, joy, and comfort. In sum, the product is endearing and inspiring, especially appealing to young, male evangelicals. One chapter specifically devoted to the intersection of his spirituality and military service will also draw the interest of Christian men and women in the armed forces. Tomlinson’s debut leaves room for future development while it meets the expectations of readers and the genre as a whole; he is worth watching.

Reviews:
"Chris Tomlinson addresses the noblest and most necessary question in the most disarming style. It is the theme which engaged the best thoughts of writers from Augustine to Pascal to C.S. Lewis. That question seeks to explore what Pascal called the 'God-shaped vacuum': How do we satisfy our hunger for God? No mortal can answer the question with finality. But this book takes us a long way in the right direction." --Ronnie Collier Stevens, Pastor, Danube International Church, Budapest, Hungary

"Chris Tomlinson possesses a skill rare in Christian writing today: a clean, clear, powerful perspective. Crave is deftly written, with a sneaky comedic sense, but what sets Chris apart is his heart. He'd never say it himself, but he has a lot to teach, and we have a lot to learn." --Jordan Green, Editor-In-Chief, Burnside Writers Collective

"In this creative blend of autobiography and devotional, Chris Tomlinson paints for us a Christ who satisfies our cravings for himself. An inspiring work from a gifted and anointed writer." --Christian George, Author of Godology, Sex, Sushi, and Salvation, and Sacred Travels

"Part autobiography, part theological musing, Chris talks about God in a very personal and compelling manner in Crave. His message is clear and told through the introspective and often hilarious experiences of his own life: that God is great and should be praised. An engrossing read that not only had me laughing out loud but also thinking about my own personal beliefs, even from an atheist’s perspective." --Andy Wang, Friend and Atheist

"Tired of fluffy books on the spiritual life? Chris Tomlinson has written a biblical, God-centered antidote. Crave takes us on a frank and honest journey through the challenges of the Christian walk in today's world. It is at once a wise, practical, and readable guide, useful for those who recognize spiritual mediocrity in themselves but want to grow beyond it." --Duane Litfin, President, Wheaton College

THE LAST CHRISTIAN by David Gregory

From Publishers Weekly:
The hit sci-fi show Battlestar Galactica meets the New Testament in the new novel by Gregory (Dinner with a Perfect Stranger). In the year 2088, Christian missionary Abigail Caldwell leaves her New Guinea village to seek help for fellow villagers, who have all been stricken by a mysterious disease. A message from her grandfather, an American neuroscientist who is the co-inventor of a silicon brain replacement, draws her to America, where religion has died out. Abby joins forces with a historian who has a connection to Abby's family as they investigate the death of her grandfather and face the spiritual implications of transhumanity—humans with replacement silicon brains that promise eternal life but make impossible personal connection with God. The plotting is intricate and imaginative, and the religious elements go beyond formula, though the political intrigue plot thread is less convincing. Gregory's approach is fresh, and he's produced a page-turner.

Product Description:
In the future, it’s possible to live forever—but at what cost?

A.D. 2088.

Missionary daughter Abigail Caldwell emerges from the jungle for the first time in her thirty-four years, the sole survivor of a mysterious disease that killed her village. Abby goes to America, only to discover a nation where Christianity has completely died out. A curious message from her grandfather assigns her a surprising mission: re-introduce the Christian faith in America, no matter how insurmountable the odds.

But a larger threat looms. The world's leading artificial intelligence industrialist has perfected a technique for downloading the human brain into a silicon form. Brain transplants have begun, and with them comes the potential of eliminating physical death altogether—but at what expense?

As Abby navigates a society grown more addicted to stimulating the body than nurturing the soul, she and Creighton Daniels, a historian troubled by his father's unexpected death, become unwitting targets of powerful men who will stop at nothing to further their nefarious goals. Hanging in the balance—the spiritual future of all humanity.

In this fast-paced thriller, startling near-future science collides with thought-provoking religious themes to create a spell-binding "what-if?" nove

Ok, so get to commenting, following and referring.

Hope to see ya there, or in the air.
Pastor Dave

Love

2010-08-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

Love.

A word that we use so casually....we say that we love pizza, we love our dog, we love football and we love our spouses...and each time we use the word, it means something different. It is the most covered subject in all of music. Just imagine a world where there were no songs about love. Yet, even there the word is used casually, without any real thought to the meaning, and often it is is sung without the singer even experiencing what they are singing about. Many musicians and artists have gone through multiple spouses and / or partners that they live with, all the while singing great songs that move us emotionally about love, but that they themselves have never experienced.

Even the Beatles sang, "All you need is love, love is all you need." And then they broke up and sued each other multiple times in the years that followed the recording of that anthem to love from the sixties.

Yes, indeed we use the word "love" so very, very caually in our culture.

But there was nothing casual about the love of Christ.

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

His was the greatest love that has ever existed.

No one can really question the love exhibited by the Son of God. He who gave His life so that you and I might live forever. He who gave His body at the whipping post. He who shed His blood for an uncaring world and a generation of perverts. he who left His home in heaven and came to a world of sinners who rejected Him and nailed Him on a cross. He who in love cried out to the Father, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." He who bowed His head in shame and suffering and then died for a world who hated Him and wanted nothing to do with Him.

That is love.

That is a love unlike any other.

There is no one who will read this (including myself) who would do tht for a world of people who do not care.

He did for you. He died for me. He died for us.

Because He loves you. Because he loves me. Because He loves us.

Because He IS LOVE!

But what gets me is that after this love has been discovered by so many people, after they have embraced Jesus as their Savior, after they have have recieved the gift of eternal life, then so often they...no, WE, WE (myself included), have the audacity, the arrogance, to indulge willfully in sin, to entertain ourselves with wickedness, to excuse or trivialize sin and neglect meeting together for worship and prayer. How sad is that!

I'm reminded of the verse in the book of Revelation, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me."

This verse is usually used in the context of someone who does not know Jesus and explaining to them that Jesus is wanting to come into their life, and to be their Lord and Savior...and while I have no problem when people use this verse in that way, that is not the context or purpose of this verse.

This verse, which is Revelation 3:20, is Jesus talking to a church! Do we realize the implication here? Maybe this can be applied to our church...or to break it down on a personal level...to us! Quite possibly Jesus has been left on the outside of our church services! It is possible that He has been left on the outside of our lives! This is what happens whenever the people of God leave behind their first love. Whenever they begin to love their position, prosperity, and programs more than they love Jesus. It happens whenever they love their time, their stuff, their things, their hobbies, their movies, their tv shows, their music more than they love Jesus. When that happens Jesus is on the outside saying, "Hey! Let me in! I want to eat with you. I want to share a meal...to be intimate with you." And we cannot hear Him knocking over the sound of our tv, movies, music, stuff, and most of all over the sound of our own selfish desires. We have invited Jesus into our hearts, but we want Him out of our lives.

We read in Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Now this is love people! Oh, I know it's not pretty, but real love is not pretty, it's messy. Real love winds up getting it's hands messy. It's dirty...sweaty...bruised...and yes, pierced. That is real love.

You see, Jesus didn't love me once I got it all together....He loved me when I was a mess! He didn't love me so that I could get it all together either! I've been following Jesus now for about 26 years, and I still don't have it all together...in fact, the more I follow Jesus, the more I realize just how much I don't have it all together. Jesus loved me, loves me, and will continue to love me so that I can have His "togetherness".

Let us love.

Let us show love.

Let us BE love.

Let us BE Jesus.

I know that I have a long way to go...but my goal, with each step I take, and with each breath I breathe...is to be more like Jesus...to love more like Jesus.

Hey, I've got a wild idea...why don't you join me?

Pastor Dave

"To Do" List

2010-08-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

My main employment history is in the area of retail. I got my first job at the age of 15 (which was not in retail, but in the Circulation Department of my local newspaper), but since that first job I have worked for eight different retail business, either in sales or in management. One of my more enjoyable jobs was working for Walgreens.

I was in their management training program, and generally was the swing shift manager at the location I worked at. When I first began the program, the manager and/or executive assistant manager would leave a "to do" list of things to be done each day. I would bust my butt trying to get that list done each night. Part of what you did was delegate jobs to the other employees...and I was determined to get the list done each night. Each day the list kept getting longer and longer until finally, I just could not get everything done. I went to the manager and apologized to him. He just laughed. I thought, "What the heck is so funny here?" And then he explained it to me. The "to do" list was put up so that the people working the shift would not run out of things to do...it was never meant to be a list that they expected to get done every night. When he would come in each morning and see that the list was done, he would make it longer the next day so that we would not run out of things to do.

I was thinking about this when I was reading Acts 1:1-2 "In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving INSTRUCTIONS through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen." (Emphasis added).

Notice that Jesus gave us some instructions...a "to do" list if you will. What was it? You can find it very clearly listed in Matthew 28:19, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”

Now the list is not long...or is it. This list was given around 2,000 years ago, and it is still not finished. As long as there is one person who has not heard the message of salvation that is found in Christ, the job is not finished. I pastor a small but growing church, but we have not grown enough...in fact we will never grow enough. As long as there is one more person who needs to be ministererd to, as long as there is one more broken heart to be healed, as long as there is one more lost soul to be found, as long as there is one more hurting person to be comforted, as long as there is one more person who needs Jesus our church is not done growing.

But this "to do" list does not just include salvation of the lost, but also discipleship. I'm all for evangelism, but I'm also for discipleship. It is not "either, or" but both...both of these are on the "to do" list that Jesus left. Many churches are doing ok on the salvation end, but poorly on the discipleship end. For too many churches we get 'em saved, dunk 'em, throw them at the wall, and if they stick, cool, if not, oh well, we just move onto the next one so we can carve another notch in our Bible. This is not the way it is supposed to be. Salvation and discipleship are two sides of the same coin.

Even in our little church we have several ministries and programs going on...but we struggle with an ongoing discipleship program...and that means that the "to do" list remains unfinished.

What about you? How are you doing with discipleship? Does that part of your life remain unfinished?

Do we hear the cry all around of us "unfinished"?

The mission field cries out "unfinished"!

The voices of your neighbors cry out, "unfinished"!

Some of your family members cry out, "unfinished"!

Maybe even your own soul is crying out, "unfinished"!

Taking the good news to those who need it...and discipling those who recieve it...that is the "to do" list of the church....how are you doing with it?

So, just how do we accomplish this?

Well, following the example of Jesus is a good way to start, since He is the one who left us the list in the first place. Let's look again at Acts 1:1-2, only this time we will put the emphasis on a couple of other words:

“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began TO DO and To TEACH until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen."

As the Church, we must DO and TEACH. If we want to impact our nation, we must DO and TEACH. If we want to impact our state, we must DO and TEACH. If we want to impact our towns, we must DO and TEACH. If we want to impact our families we must DO and TEACH.

Notice that DO comes before TEACH. I think this order is important. Why? Because people will follow what you do before they follow what you teach. We must "do" the gospel. Share our faith. Care for the lost. Genuinely love them. Too often they become a "project"...and people can tell if you really love them, or if they are just a project. I don't know why we hesitate so much to share the good news...we'll share a sale at Targe before we share the fact that we have been redeemed, sanctified, bought with a price, have eternal life, been justified and recieved the righteousness of Christ...and I'm telling you a relationship with Christ and my sins forgiven beats a 12 pack of toliet paper for 1.99 any day!

And then, after we DO the gospel, we need to TEACH the gospel. The gospel is more than just salvation, just as life is more than being concieved...yes life begins at conception, but it does not end there. The same is true of salvation. It begins with being born again, but it does not end there. We have been given the opportunity to live a life of work and worship of the creator of the universe. How cool is that!!!

So, let's get out our "to do" list and get busy. It may not be long, but it is still unfinished...

Pastor Dave

What Does It REALLY Mean To Follow Christ?

2010-07-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

In the last year I have read two books that continue to plague my thoughts. They brought up questions that I cannot answer. They have made me rethink many things that I thought I already knew. The information found in these books continue to roll around in my brain....like a never ending blender, slowing down at times, speeding up at other times, but never, ever shutting off.

The first book was called "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan.

I read this book a year aqo...it bothered me...in a good way. But I guess it didn't bother me enough. I didn't change anything because of the book. I just put the information in my mental blender.

And then a month ago I read another book. "Radical" by David Platt.

If possible, this book bothered me even more than "Crazy Love" did. But again, not enough I guess. I still haven't done anything about what I have read, just went and put in the mental blender.

But now I can't seem to turn the blender off. Questions keep coming to the surface. Questions that I cannot seem to find solid answers to. Maybe that is the problem. Maybe there are no solid answers....but that doesn't mean that there aren't any answers.

So, I thought I would put my questions up here. Maybe someone who reads this can help me with the answers....maybe not. Maybe we'll just have a group of us with more questions than answers....but if the questions won't go away, maybe we can search for the answers, and in the searching, while we might not find an answer, maybe we will BE the answer.

What does it really mean to follow Christ?

Matthew 4:19 (New International Version)
19"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

How many REAL "fishers of men" do you know? Does following Jesus mean that you would be a fisher of men if you follow? If you're not fishing for men, are you really following?

Matthew 10:39 (New International Version)
39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

What does it mean to lose your life? How many people who go to church every week, how many pastors have truly lost their life? I'm not talking about physical death, but death to self.

Luke 14:26-27 (New International Version)
26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple

What does this look like? I know what I've been TOLD it means...my love for Jesus in comparison to my family will make what I feel for my family look like hate....but is that REALLY what it means? If so, how does this look in our society? How is it lived out? And the taking up and carrying the cross thing....what does that look like? It's waaaaaaay more than just having to deal with the unpleasent things that come our way...a man in the days of Jesus who was carrying a cross was a dead man...on his way to the execution...so how is that life lived out here? What does it look like?

Matthew 13:44 (New International Version)
44"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."

And now for the last set of questions for the day....how is the above scripture lived out? If the kingdom is worth EVERYTHING...why do we spend more time entertaining ourselves than we do advancing the kingdom? Why do we spend more money on ourselves than we do advancing the kingdom?

Ok...that's enough for one post...but I have more questions...and maybe I'll post more later...but it all boils down to this:

What does it REALLY mean to follow Christ? Do you know? Do you know anyone who TRULY follows Jesus?

Stil rolling the questions around in my mind....
Pastor Dave

Ice Cream Lessons

2010-04-10T18:34:00.000-07:00

Today I enjoyed one of the good things in life. A vanilla ice cream cone, dipped in chocolate.

I had my first chocolate dipped vanilla ice cream cone at a little roadstand burger joint between Lemoore and Armona in central California with my grandpa when I was just an itty bitty dude. Since that time I have been hooked. But as good as they are, and as much as I like them...well, let's just say that there is a time and place for them....and driving in the car while trying to merge onto the freeway is neither the time or the place.

If you've ever had one of these heavenly ice cream delights you will know exactly what I'm talking about and I bet you will be smiling as I describe to you what happened. If you've never had one, well, hopefully you will still get what this blog is going to be about, but you won't get the full effect.

Anyway, while driving and trying to merge onto the freeway, my delicious chocoloate dipped vanilla ice cream cone turned evil on me. It did what they always do, which is kinda cool when you're a ten year old boy eating at a picnic bench with your grandpa...but not so cool while trying to merge into traffic at about 65 miles an hour.

The ice cream began to melt and run down the cone....and then onto my hand...getting my hand all sticky. I tried to steer with my knees, while wiping my hand with a napkin...and then a big piece of chocolate broke off and fell onto my lap somewhere, so I looked down trying to find it.

Not a good idea.

There's a reason why you're not supposed to take your eyes off of the road.

While you are trying to find the chocolate before it melts and leaves a stain that will be there until Jesus comes back, the chocolate has moved from your lap to the seat and your car has just merged into the lane next to you while there is still a car occuping the lane next to you there. Now as we all know it is impossible for two cars to occupy the same space...one must move...or the two cars will become as one...and that is not a good thing.

While all this is going on, and I'm still looking for the rapidly melting chocolate I happen to turn the cone upside down....and get some vanilla ice cream in my lap. So now here I am, a sticky, melty, chocolate mess, as well as a bit on edge having almost caused a pile-up on the freeway.

Thankfully, everything ended up fine. I finished the ice cream cone, the chocolate wound up on the floor mat, the ice cream in my lap was easy to clean up and some handi-wipes took care of the rest.

So what is the point of this blog...well, other than the very good lesson that you should not eat a chocolate covered vanilla ice cream cone while driving on the freeway?

The point is a little three letter word.

Sin.

Yep. Sin.

You see, the chocolate covered cone is kind of like sin. It looks good. We've had it before and it tasted fine. But once the newness begins to wear (melt) off, you're left with a mess. And unlike the ice cream cone mess, you cannot make everything better with a handi-wipe.

In fact Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death..." And sin always pays its wages. Every sin we commit results in death. Death of trust. Death of health. Death of innocence. Death of a marriage. Death of relationships. Death of friendships. Death of a job. Death of life. And the worse....eternal death.

Sin looks good...and honestly, for a little while it is pleasing and pleasurable. But then the chocolate coating begins to melt...and it gets messy. One addiction leads to another. One lie leads to a lifetime of habitual lies. One broken relationship leads to a string of broken relationships and hardened hearts. What started out as pleasing and pleasurable winds up a mess.

You know one of the "funny" things about my chocolate covered ice cream story is that it was not the first time it had happened. I had done this before. But this time I told myself it would be different. I was more experienced. I was more mature. I talked myself into something that I knew from experience was a bad idea.

We do the same with sin. "One last time", we tell ourselves. "I can handle it this time", we say. "This time it will be different" we lie to ourselves.

Sin cannot be managed, excused, coddled, trivialized or played with. It must be dealt with...it must be hated. It must repulse us. We need to move from being sin-sick to sick of sin.

And there is only one way to do that. The same verse in Romans that tells us that sin pays its wages also says, "...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Oh man, you gotta love that! Eternal life!!! Wooo-hooo! Now there's something to shout about!

But how does that help us deal with sin in the here and now? Read it again...."but the gift of God is eternal life IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD." Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, once we have comitted to following Jesus with our lives, we are IN CHRIST...and not in sin. We have the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to help us combat sin. We are no longer identified as sinners, but as children of God! I understand that we will still struggle with sin. We will even still sin...but we are no longer on sin's payroll. We have been forgiven and cleansed from our sin. While it is true that we will never be sinless before we are untied with Jesus, we will sin less. We are set free from sin. When sin calls, I don't have to answer the phone any longer. When sin comes knocking at my door I don't have to open it. I am so grateful to Jesus for this. It took me years to appreciate this part of my relationship with Him. But I am so glad that sin no longer has a hold on me. Thank you Jesus, for dying for me, for saving me, and for keeping me safe....even when I'm making a chocolate covered vanilla ice cream mess.

Ok, that's all for now.
Pastor Dave

God is God

2010-04-09T10:03:00.001-07:00

I have been reading through the book of Isaiah the last few days, specifically chapters 42 through 55, and I've been working my yellow highlighter overtime. There is so much great stuff in this book. Of course, that could be said about every book in the Bible, but I guess that even though I have read Isaiah several times, this time it was different. This time, the place I am in my life, in my ministry, caused the Lord to use Isaiah in a different way.

I noticed that over and over again God keeps telling us that there is no one like Him. Chapter 43:11 "I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior." Chapter 44:6;8;22 "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god....Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any." Chapter 45:5-6 "I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God...I am the Lord, and there is no other...Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other." Chapter 46:9 "...for I am God and there is no other, I am God, and there is none like me."

I have just begun to realize these past few weeks how much I put before God. There is NO ONE like the Lord...there is NO OTHER GOD...nothing and no one else offers salvation, peace, security and contentment. Maybe I should rephrase that last statement...lots of "things" offer salvation, peace, security and contentment...but God is the only one who can actually deliver on the offer. Everything the world has to offer will let us down...even our friends and family will let us down...but God will always be there for us. Our salvation is secure in Him.

So why do we chase after so much? Why are we a people who must be constantly entertained? Why does the average Christian spend more time watching televison in one day than they will spend in the Word of God all week? Why does culture and popular opinion shape our decision making process more than God?

We have so many Bibles to choos from in this country. Go to any Christian book store and you will find a variety of translations to choose from: KJV, NKJV, NIV, TNIV, ESV, NLT, The Message, The Living Bible, RSV, Amplified and more. On top of that, we have more "types" of Bible than you would ever think we need: There are Men's Study Bibles, Woman's Study Bibles, Army, Navy, and Marine study Bibles. You can choose from the Bible that looks like a magazine, or you can even pick up the comic book Bible. You can find a Bible that looks like a tennis shoe, a Bible with a metal case, and even the duct tape Bible! There are Bibles with special helps for single men and women, married couples, mothers, fathers, and new believers.

Sadly, the most common type of Bible you will find is the one that is not read.

We need to get back to the Word of God. We need preachers who will not follow the flavor of the day, the trend of the moment, the hottest thing on the market, but will open up the Word of God and feed it to their flocks!

The church chases after the things of the world and seeks advice from Oprah and Dr. Phil more than we do from Obadiah and the Apostle Paul! Why? Because our eyes are glued to the televison instead of having our nose in THE BOOK!

Why is it that we get all excited over a multitude of things, but can't muster up even a sparkle of excitement over the Word of God? I've seen Christians get more excited about getting a good parking spot at Wal-mart than they do about finding a life changing verse in the scriptures! I've seen Christians get more worked up over someone pulling out in front of them in traffic than they do about the reality of their friends and family members that are heading for hell!

Why are we not burning for revivial in the church today? Why are we not passionate for the lost? Why are not more of God's people on fire for the Lord? Because you cannot start a fire without fuel...and the Bible is the fuel, but it sits in the container instead of being poured out on the lives of believers where the Holy Spirit will then strike the match to start a blazing inferno!

After reading Isaih, I have been on my knees and face crying out to God for revival, for passion, for a downpour of the Spirit and to see a movement of God in my life, my church, my town, my state and my country.

God I pray that you will rend the heavens and ignite in your people a passion for YOU, for YOUR WORD and for the LOST....may your people begin to realzie that You are the Lord and besides You there is NO Savior.

In His service,
Pastor Dave

Abandoned To God

2010-03-18T23:12:00.000-07:00

Almost two weeks ago I had surgery on my left hand. Because of that, I can only type with one hand....and so, I have rarely been online, blogging, on facebook or answering emails. It's just too big of a hassle, and way too time consuming, so this will be a very short blog entry.

What I have been doing though, is a lot more reading of God's Word...and other books, and much more time in prayer.

This has driven me to a conclusion that I do not like, but must admit.

The conclusion is twofold: 1: I have idols in my life, and 2: I'm not as abandoned to God as I should or could be.

I am asking you to join with me in prayer, that I might be what God has called me to be...with abandon. Hopefully, you will see some of the results of a life lived in abandonment to God, here in this blog...but more importantly, I pray that my family , my church, my friends, my brothers, my neighboors and my community will see it in my life.

Monday, the stitches will be removed, and two weeks after that I hope to be able to retun to two-handed typing...and have much to share.

I close with some lyrics to a favorite song of mine:

Abandoned To God

Oh for a heart that loves the Lord, undivided, holy and pure.
A workman unashamed, rightly dividing the Word.
Counting all things loss–except for knowing Jesus.
Just to bear the cross–sharing His sufferings, to glorify Jesus Christ my King. Abandoned to God, heart, soul, and mind.
Surrendering every part of my life.
This is my prayer, my solemn vow: just to be hopelessly, helplessly, faithfully abandoned to God."

By faith alone, in Christ alone.
Dave

Defying Gravity

2010-02-24T21:40:00.000-08:00

I like to read. I like to read a lot. Over the years, I have found a few authors that I have tried to read everything they write. They have become heroes of the faith to me. Some of them are John MacArthur, Randy Alcorn, Bruce Marchiano, John Piper, Tony Evans, Mark Driscoll, Mark Buchanan, Max Lucado & Joseph Stowell...just to name a few.

This last year I have added a new name to the list: Daniel Henderson

While he has not written a lot of books, the two I have previously read, "Fresh Encounters" and "Pray-zing!" have impacted my life in ways that I cannot describe. All I can say is that I have not been the same after reading them. I have also attended a "Prayer Summit" that Daniel facilitated, and believe that it has been a defining moment in my ministry.

Because of that, when I found out that Daniel had a new book out, I jumped at the chance to get a copy and read it. I was not disapointed, and I don't think you will be either.

The title of the new book is: "Defying Gravity-How to Survive the Storms of Pastoral Ministry".

It is a book that I wish was available to read when I first began pastoring. Of course, that would not have been possible, because the book is new, but the information is extremely valuable and will benefit not only pastors, but anyone in any leadership position, in ministry or in the business world, although I think those in ministry will benefit the most.

Daniel compares the person in leadership or pastoral ministry with a pilot flying a plane. The analogy works very well, and it brings a perspective to the subject matter that is missing in other books on the same subject.

What Daniel writes about has been written about before, but I don’t think I have ever enjoyed reading about it as much as I did reading this book. Much of what he covers would fall under the category of “common sense”. However, since the list of fallen leaders in the church is long, and sadly, growing longer it seems every day, the information presented is vital and needs to be read, absorbed and become a part of the life of pastors and leaders today.

Daniel is often known as the “prayer guy”, and if you have read any of his other books (which I highly recommend), or have been to one of the many Prayer Summits that he facilitates, you know why. This book though is not about prayer, although it is touched upon in the book. This book is about making sure you end the journey intact.

The length of the book is just right. At 179 pages it makes for a fairly quick read, and yet it is long enough to tackle a subject that I have gotten bogged down in while reading lengthier books on the subject. Throughout the book I found myself smiling, nodding in agreement and feeling the need to correct the current course of my ministry. I feel that I am not only a better pastor after having read “Defying Gravity” and putting the information inside to practice, but I am also a better husband, father, friend and brother.

Here are just a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

“…the Enemy does not have to destroy us but simply distract us. Little distractions tolerated over a long period of time result in big disasters.”

“The issue of intimacy with God is core to spiritual health and leadership survival.”

“Our identify should rest securely on the unchanging truth of who we are in Christ.”

“Accountability is not always safe, but it is always worth it.”

The book is filled with facts, but also life stories, including that of the author, who have lived out and experienced the subject matter of the book. This is not a dry academic read, but one that engages you with personal stories, real life anecdotes and quotes from others who have gone before. A few of those quotes reached out and grabbed me, like these from E.M. Bounds:

“To give prayer the secondary place is to make God secondary in life’s affairs.”

“It is better to let the work go by default than to let the praying go by neglect.”

I am not a professional book reviewer by any stretch of the imagination, however I am a pastor, and a fellow brother who is doing his best to follow Jesus. The writings of Daniel Henderson have enabled me to not only continue on this journey in a way that has enhanced my relationship with the Lord, with “Defying Gravity” he has shown me how I can complete the journey in a way that will enable me to hear “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”. And in the end, that I what it is all about.

Thank you Daniel, for being obedient to what God has called you to do, for writing this book, and for being a brother....and a friend. I think I need to go check the instrument panel now.

Pastor Dave

To- Now, Not To-Later

2010-02-10T17:11:00.000-08:00

When our oldest daughter Amie was just a little toddler learning how to speak, she would get upset when she wanted to do something, or she wanted us to do something and we would tell her that we would do it tomorrow, or later.

One day, she expressed her frustration, as only kids can, by mixing up the words today & now and tomorrow & later, when she said with determination in her voice, “No. To-now, not to=later!”

That thought came to my mind when I was reading this verse:

1 Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the
reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…”

The very first word in this passage, “but” can also be translated “now”.
Now is when we need to set apart Christ as Lord in our hearts.
But too often our heart is divided. We are always putting things off until tomorrow. Or after we finish whatever currently has our attention.

But the time to do this is not tomorrow.

Not after the big game.

Not after the audtitions on "American Idol".

Not after your favorite TV show is over.

Not after you get your taxes back.

Not after you get married.

Not after the kids are born.

Not after you retire.

Not after you‘ve done all the sinning you want to do.

Not to-later, but to-now.

We need to be clear on that? When do you set apart Christ as Lord?

NOW.

Sadly , that’s not how we normally do things…

We say we’re going to start working out when…tomorrow…

We’re going to start eating healthy when…tomorrow…

We’re going to quit smoking when….tomorrow….

We’re going to start saving money when….tomorrow…

We’re going to start reading the Scriptures on a regular basis when…tomorrow….

Peter is telling us now is the day…now is the time.

Carpe diem…seize the day, the moment to set apart Christ as Lord now!!!

The urgency of doing this now hit me even harder when I was at a Prayer Summit a couple of weeks ago and I heard Daniel Henderson talking about this verse:

Ephesians 5:16 “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

The word “time” is “kairos” which means a “set time” not “chronos” which means a “space of time” - even years.

You see, Paul is not telling us to make the most of our teen years, our twenties, our thirties, the rest of our life, or the time we are involved in a particular ministry (although we should make the most of those periods of time).

What Paul is saying is make the most of right now. Right now redeem the time. Right now decide to live for Jesus. Right now cash in your life for His. Right now set Him apart in your heart. Right now. The time is now.

Or as my daughter Amie would say, “To-now, not to-later!”

Trying to serve God in the here and now,
Pastor Dave

P.S. You can check out the website of the ministry of Daniel Henderson here:
http://www.strategicrenewal.com/

What Facebook Taught Me About Heaven

2010-01-13T11:05:00.000-08:00

Over the last year or so I have learned a little bit about heaven from, of all places, facebook. I know that seems a little odd....but then God has a habit of showing up and teaching us lessons in strangest of places.

He showed Himself to Issac in a dream, and even wrestled with him. For Moses, God showed Himself in a burning bush. Daniel found the peace and protection of the Lord in the lions den, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego found him in the middle of an extremely hot spot in their lives. For Matthew, God showed up while he was at work, extorting money from his fellow citizens. Saul ran head first into God on the road to Damascus while he was going to throw followers of The Way (Jesus) into prison. John got a very special view of God while exiled on the isle of Patmos.

So...for me, God shows up on facebook. And He taught me about heaven.

Ok, let me explain myself.

Over the last year or so on facebook I have gotten reaquainted with many former classmates from my high school (Hanford High, Class of 1975, with an undefeated footbal team-yes, I still remember that-went to every game that year-even the away games-the last minute win against Visalia is one I still remember 35 years later!).

Some of those from my high school were friends of mine, some were people I kinda knew, and others were part of the "poplular" crowd, of which, I was never allowed admittance too. I'm not complaining here, that's just the way high scool is. I had a lot of friends that belonged to my social order / group: the mid-level popular group.

As I have "friended" and been "friended" by people I went to high school with one of the first things I began to notice is that the high school order of things no longer exists. I have become friends now with some who NEVER talked to me at school (again, this is not a complaint, just the facts, and to be honest, the social / popularity order is kept by both sides - in other words, I never talked to the popular kids either). In fact when I sent a message to one person who was part of the popular crowd, I wasn't sure if they would even know who I was, and I described myself as "kind of a dork" back then. The replied back, "Yes I remember you, and we were all dorks back then." The popular kids thought they were dorks too? Wow. What a revelation that was.

On top of the newfound friendships with all types of people I went to school with, I found that many of them have now put their faith and trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. In fact, one person that I barely knew in high school, Bob Craine, I had the honor of having worshiping with him and his wife and going to lunch with them after church services! As Bob and Jeannie shared where they have been and their journey of faith with the Lord, I felt as if I was having a meal with the Holy Spirit Himself! The love of Jesus just overflowed from these two people. As we left, I told my wife that although I barely knew Bob in high school, that after worshipping with him and sharing a meal with him, I felt as if I have known him all of my life. My wife responded, "It's the Jesus factor."

The Jesus factor.

Yep. That's it all right.

Now here is how God showed up and taught me about heaven through facebook.

You see, at the foot of the cross we are all equal. Rich, poor, medium income, black, white, red, yellow, northern, southern, democrat, republican, independent, and on and on.

Just as there seems to no longer be any popular social order left over from high school, so there will be no popular order in heaven. No one will feel left out. No one will feel like a dork, a nerd, a geek, or whatever other word they used these days to describe those that are not part of the "in" crowd.

Just as I have found many from high school to be followers of Jesus now, in heaven I will get reaquainted with many who did not know the Lord when I knew them, but together we will worship the Lord around His throne.

And, in addition to those from my past that I have met on facebook, I have alos had the pleasure of "meeting" and becoming friends with many, many people across the world who call themselves followers of the Son of God, of Jesus, of the one who gave His live for us. Some of these people I have prayed with, and they have prayed with me. Some I have met face to face as they have visited the church that I pastor. Others, I will never meet here, but will await the joyous homecoming one day and live with them forever in heaven, and one day on the new earth. And as I have found myself drawn into their lives here, it makes me realize how many new people I will meet one day that I have never known. People who have gone before me and kept the faith an fought the good fight and sacrificed so that I might have the opportunity to hear the gospel and come to know Jesus as my savior.

Speaking of those who have gone on to be with Jesus in glory, Revelation 5:9 says, "And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation."

If the Bible were being written today, John might have written it this way: "...and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and nation and popular and unpopular social order, and from people on facebook all over the world."

Thank you Jesus. Thank you for life. Thank you for salvation. Thank you for the many, many blessings that you have given me over the years, and yes, that includes facebook.

Ok, so there's that.
Pastor Dave

Primal

2009-12-30T17:36:00.000-08:00

The other day my wife was reading a book. Now, that is not unusual in itself, as my wife has a blog where she reviews books. You can check it out here if you would like to: http://deenasbooks.blogspot.com/

She reads LOTS of books. I read a lot of books, and you might think you read a lot of books, and maybe you do, but my wife reads LOTS of books.

And this particular day while reading this particular book, she kept making noises. Sort of like, “Oh my”, and “Ohhhh” and “Wow”. Stuff like that.

I finally asked what she was reading. She told me. I asked if it was good. She replied that if I would read it, it would ruin my life. Ok, now I was very interested.

So, once she was done, I started to read this book that she said would “ruin my life”. She was right. It did. It has. And I’ve only read two chapters.

Here’s some snippets from the book that I have highlighted:

“…I couldn’t help but wonder if our generation has conveniently forgotten how inconvenient it can be to follow in the footsteps of Christ. I couldn’t help but wonder if we have diluted the truths of Christianity and settled for superficialities. I couldn’t help but wonder if we have accepted a form of Christianity that is more educated but less powerful, more civilized but less compassionate, more acceptable but less authentic than that which our spiritual ancestors practiced.”

“He calls us to faith on the far side of doubt, joy on the far side of sorrow, and love on the far side of anger.”

“Does your heart break for the things that break the heart of God? If it doesn’t, you need to repent.”

Those I got from chapter one. From chapter two I got these:

“…we’ve engaged our culture mind-first instead of heart-first.”

“…minds often remain closed to truth until hearts have been opened by compassion.”

“…compassion is the ultimate apologetic. There is no defense against it.”

“…compassion is always the right reaction. I’m not saying there isn’t a place fo rebuking, correcting, and exhorting. Sometimes that’s the most loving thing you can do. But even those things can be and must be done in the spirit of compassion.”

“In my experience, it’s much easier to act like a Christian than it is to react like one. Anyone can put on an act. But your reactions reveal what is really in your heart. And if you love God with all your heart, you won’t just act like it. You’ll react like it.”

“…what will kill you if you don’t do it?”

“There is something that breaks your heart because it breaks the heart of God…what are you going to do about it?”

Maybe I’m just easily impressed, but these and other statements the author made have really caused me to stop and think.

Do I really love God?

Does it show?

Does anyone else know it?

Do I really care about the lost?

Do I really care about suffering?

Do I really care about reaching out to the lost and the suffering?

If I do, then why aren’t I doing anything about it?

I’m not done reading the book, and I’m still asking questions. At this time I have more questions than I have answers, but this I know: it is time for the church, to be the church. It is time for the followers of Jesus to really follow. It is time for the light to shine…like a blazing sun!

I’m looking forward to the rest of this book…and I don’t know if I will write more about what I find…but at this point I would encourage you to get the book yourself, read it, think about it…and if you feel like it, drop me a line and let me know what you think about what the author has written.

The books is called: “PRIMAL: A quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity” by Mark Batterson.

Ok, I'm going to try and read a bit more before Bible study tonight.
Dave

The Dangers Of Being A Pastor

2009-12-27T07:21:00.000-08:00

Being a pastor comes with it’s own unique set of problems and obstacles. It comes with it's own set of dangers.

One of those is that you can begin to read and study the Word of God because it is your “job”, and not because you desire to grow closer to God, and in your relationship with Him.

Rather than read your Bible because you are in love with Jesus and His Word, you wind up reading it only in an academic sort of way as you prepare for a message or a study each week.

While that must be done if you are going to preach and teach Biblically, if that is the ONLY time you spend in the Word you wind up with a sort of clinically sound, theologically correct religion rather than a life changing vital relationship.

The thing is, this can happen before you realize it.

I know.

It happened to me.

In October I celebrated my fifth anniversary as the pastor of Loma Rica Baptist Church. I felt a renewal in my calling and my mission. I felt a revitalization in my relationship with Christ. I was excited, passionate and on fire.

And then….it happened.

I got distracted.

I began to settle into my “job” as a pastor instead of living my life as a child of God. I worked hard on my sermons and Bible studies, but little on my relationships.

And then I hit the brick wall this week.

As I read through the text for this weeks sermon, nothing was happening. They were just words on a page. White page….black letters. I read it….but I couldn’t see how to apply it. I read it….but I couldn’t see how to LIVE it.

After a week, all I had was an introduction, but no real message. I knew what it said in my mind, but could not seem to move it from my mind to my heart.

So, I began to pray. I prayed for insight. I prayed for wisdom. I prayed for knowledge. I prayed for something…anything that would make these words more than just something from a spiritual textbook.

And after a little while, as I was reading the text for the sermon AGAIN…something happened.

The only way I can describe it is that I felt as if something that was hidden was suddenly found. I felt as Saul must have when it said in Acts 9:18 that “…something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again.” I could really SEE the passage. It came alive to me.

Of course, this is the way the Scriptures should be-alive. It says in
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

These should never be just words on a page, or another dusty religious book….these are the WORDS OF GOD….in fact they are “God breathed” words…inspired by the Holy Spirit.

I cannot describe how this felt.

There was activity all around me, as I was doing this at my home computer, but I was absorbed in what I was discovering, in many ways oblivious to what was going on around me. I was sitting in a chair and at a desk on the outside, but on the inside I was dancing, and leaping, and shouting and rejoicing. If this has never happened to you, I suppose you cannot understand it, and maybe you think I’m a little bit crazy….but that’s ok….because once again the Word became REAL to me. It revitalized my relationship with Jesus once again.

I don’t know where this is going to take me (who knows, maybe I will start to blog more often)….but I’m going to hold onto Jesus real tight….because I have the feeling I’m about to be in for the ride of my life.

Ok, I’m done now.
Pastor Dave

Comment Moderation

2009-11-11T07:53:00.000-08:00

Well, due to someone posting ads and links for sexual products in the comment sections of some blog posts, I have now switched to monitering all comments. As long as your comment is legit, I will allow it to be posted. I have deleted all of the offensive comments. Some people have way too much time on their hands.

Pastor Dave

Living For The Future

2009-11-04T09:21:00.000-08:00

I think it was the late Waylon Jennings who said, "If I'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself!"

Too often, we are just like Waylon when it comes to thinking about the future in a spiritual way. Oh, we take care of heaven...we have come to know the Savior and our ticket is punched and we are on the way...but what about our kids..yep, they know Jesus...and our grandkids...well, most of them do...but what about after that?

What about our future generations. What about 50 years from now when we will be gone and only a distant memory or a picture in a worn out photo album...what about those great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids?

Look at what Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:10-12 "Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things."

This blew me away when I realized what it meant. The prophets of the Old Testament...dudes like Moses, Elijah, Malachai, Amos, and even the reluctant ones like Jonah...they did what they did, not fully understanding it all, but so that we would benefit from it. They recorded what they did so that when Jesus came around, the people coulds say, "Yep, this is the ONE, I know from the directions that the prophets gave us in their writings."

Of course, a lot of people missed it...but that is not the prophets fault.

What about us. Are we living in such a way that future generations will be able to turn and point to us and say, "I've embraced Jesus as my Savior because my great-great-great-great-great-great- grandfather lived a life that is still impacting us today!"

I want to run into someone in Heaven, who lived a hundred years from now and have them tell me, "Because you stood for the truth....because you lived a life of ministry....because you followed Jesus....I'm standing here today."

That is my desire. I hope it will be yours as well.

See you there, or in the air
Pastor Dave

Secondhand Jesus

2009-09-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

Finally finished reading the book, "Secondhand Jesus" by glen Packiam.

As mentioned in the previous entry, this book has really made me stop and think. Glenn doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the table in this book, but he does bring it in a new and fresh way.

The book is about those, "what the heck" moments we all have in our lives. You know the ones where you are doing everything you are supposed to do and then you don't get the results you think you should get. You're being obedient, folloing the Lord and instead of blessings, tragedy strikes, pain enters in, problems arise and your world seems to crumble down around you.

Without going into details, Glenn speaks from experience. He worked for a church that was rocked by scandal, and then by disaster. Through it all, he came out closer to God, redfining what it meant to follow Jesus and to know Him.

He got a firsthand faith.

While the title and premise of the book intriqued me, I didn't think I suffered from secondhand faith. I was wrong. I came away realziing just how much I defined who I am in Christ by what I do, what I hear others say, and not enough on what HE HAS DONE FOR ME.

One of the interesting things Glenn does in this book is he uses his own personal life stories, interwined with the stories of the Ark of the Covenant from the Old Testament to describe just what this secondhand faith, or secondhand Jesus is all about. I love it when an author makes the Old Testament (or any Scripture for that matter) come alive and fell fresh.

But don't take my word for it.

God out and get the book....learn about what Glenn is talking about...firsthand.

Jehovah Adonai
Pastor Dave

REVIVAL!!!!

2009-09-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

I am currently preaching through the book of Habakkuk at our church. This Sunday the message will be based on Habakkuk 3:1-2 "A prayer of habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth. Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy."

This short passage has penetrated my heart this week. I have been feeling worn out, drained, tired and empty. I had lost my joy in service to God and His people. I tried to "work it up" over and over again, but found that I couldn't do it. I began to question if I should still pastor. I did not feel a release from God concerning pastoring, but I didn't feel as if I had anything left to give to anyone...I felt as if I was trying to pump water from a dry well.

So I spent time in prayer Sunday. I spent more time in prayer on Monday. I began to read the third chapter of Habakkuk in preparation for the coming Sunday. I prayed some more....I read some more. As I meditated on the first part of the thrid chapter God began to stir things up inside of me. He began to make me see that I had been living off of rumours of Him, that I had been living in the past while I was trying to move into the future. He began to show me that HE IS HERE and HE IS ACTIVE in my life.

He did this in three ways:

First, by His Word: I read that Habakkuk had HEARD of His fame, and that He STOOD in awe of His deeds, and asked God to RENEW them in our day and in our time make them KNOWN.

You see, I had heard of revivals of the past, and desired to see revival break out across this country again, yet I had gotten sidetracked in my walk with Christ. I was beginning to be more concerned with building a church than building The Kingdom. I needed to stand still, to observe all that God is doing across this great nation and across the world. I then began to experiecne renewal in my heart, in my relationship with Christ...I began to feel energized with a desire to know Christ and to make Him KNOWN.

Second, this was all given a spirtual boost when God put this book in my hands, courtesy of my loving wife:

This book merely confirmed what God has showed me in Habakkuk and what God had impressed upon in my time in prayer. I was shown that although one plus one always equals two in math, it doesn't always work that way when following Christ. In other words, one obedience plus one obedience does not equal out to a trouble free life where everything will always turn out the way we think it should. Although I have always known that the Christian life was not a paint by numbers canvas, I had become to live it as though it was, and if you just put the right color of paint in the right place you would have a masterpiece. Instead, I had to come to terms once again with the fact that you can do all the right things, for all the right reasons and still come out with more of a "mess" than a masterpiece, but regardless, God is still God, God is still good, and He will never leave me or forsake me. I realized that I wanted to KNOW God all over again.

And then came the third thing that God did, in only a way that God could do.

He friended me through facebook.

Well, not God Himself, but through one of his followers, I began to experience a freshness in my own relationship with God. Let me try and explain. I have a friend on facebook that I used to barely know in high school. Her name is Barb. Barb found another person on facebook that we both went to school with. His name is Bob. Now Barb and I were not good friends during our high school years. In fact we really didn't know each other, it was more like we knew of each other, and when she recommened Bob to me as a friend, I couldnt even remember who he was, so it was not like we were good friends in high school either. But after I requested to be Bob's friend he responded with a praise that it was good to hear that I was following "our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Now this was not the Bob I remembered from high school, so I asked him about his faith journey. He responded by directing me to his web site, which you can check out for yourself here:

http://www.heavensentconsulting.com/Bob/BobPersonal.htm

Through his testimony on his site, and ongoing correspondence I have come to know a man, a fellow brother in Christ, a fellow traveller on God's trail, a believer who has had his share of trials and tragedies, and yet one who has a vital, contagious relationship with Jesus. He encouraged me and inspired me to KNOW Christ all over again. I cannot fully put into words just how much of an impact getting to know Bob has had on me. It was as if Jesus was telling me, "Here you go Dave. You need a fresh vison of me. I'm going to show myself to you through the most unlikely person you could imagine: Bob Craine. Everytime I see Bob's picture now on as status update on facebook, or in a comment I see Jesus.

And this has led me back to what I so desired not long ago. Revival. Revival in my life. Revival in my family. Revival in my walk with Christ. Revival in my church. Revival in my town. Revival in my county. Revival in my state. Revival in my country. Revival in my world.

I am reminded of a scene in the movie Braveheart. Mel Gibson plays freedom fighter William Wallace. He is captured and sentenced to death. As they execute him....literally ripping his body apart and gutting him with a sword he screams out the word "FREEDOM!!!" and it sent chills down my spine.

I want revival in that way. I want every fiber of my being, every facet of my life, every breath I breathe to scream out "REVIVAL!!!!!!!!!"

I believe in God. I beleive in Jesus. I believe in revival. I believe that revival is possible. God has already begun revival in my heart and in my life. He used His Word, a book, and a brother.

Will you join me?

REVIVAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pastor Dave

Name Change

2009-09-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is the blog formerly known as "Pastor Dave Lets His Hair Down"....now to be known as "Confessions Of A Small Church Pastor".

I chose the name change for a couple of reasons:

1) My hair is not all that long anymore...and the original name for the blog was a play on the fact that most of the members of the church that I pastor had never seen me with my long hair "down". I had always worn it in a ponytail at church.

2) I find that being a pastor of a small church (just under 100 in Sunday morning service...although it used to be much smaller than that), affects my perspective on many things.

And so, I thought that the change in name was needed.

Hopefully it will spur me on to post more frequently and on a regular basis.

And with that....I'm off to make a REAL blog entry.

See ya in the funny papers.
Pastor Dave

One Thing

2009-08-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

30 Days

Wow....it has been thirty days since I last posted a blog. When I first realized that I could not believe that much time has passed. I thought to myself..."What have you been doing this past thirty days?" "How could you go so long without posting something...anything?"

Then I thought over the last thirty days.

Since I last posted I have:

1) Prepared and began teaching an intensive 24 week study on Heaven for our mid-week Bible study.

2) Finished preaching through the book of Hebrews (which took over a year to complete).

3) Began preaching through the book of Habakkuk (an often forgotten book of the Old Testament).

4) Performed two weddings, with a third to do in two days.

5) Officiated at a funeral.

6) Gave the "charge" for graduates at a Christian based drug program.

7) Had a car break down (which if you would, keep a 2nd car for us in your prayers, as we REALLY need a 2nd car with two college students at the house and a third child in high school), and it is still broken down.

8) Had a washing machine break down (thankfully we got a used one to use for now...)

9) Did four weeks of marriage counseling with two different couples.

And when I came to the end of the list I realzied...I'd been pretty busy. Very busy. But I still want to blog, and I still want to finish a book that I started writing, and I still want to have a weekend seminar on how to study your Bible, and I still want to put together a "Saturday in the park" preaching & worship day in the Yuba / Sutter area, and I still want to.....well, you get the picture.

There is much I want to do.

There is only one thing that I must do.

Follow Jesus.

When all is said and done, that is what I want to be known for.

I don't want to be so busy about the work of the Lord that I forget the Lord of the work.

So hopefully, tomorrow, I will blog again.

But if not....tomorrow, as today, I will follow Jesus. Then I know that not matter what I accomplish (or don't accomplish), I know that I will be doing the ONE thing that He would have me do.

I leave you with the lyrics of a song by one of my top five Christian artists: Rich Mullins.

The song is called: My One Thing

Everybody I know says they need just one thing
And what they really mean is that they
need just one thing more
And everybody seems to think
They've got it coming
Well I know that I don't deserve You
Still I want to love and serve You
More and more
You're my one thing

Save me from those things
That might distract me
Please take them away and purify my heart
I don't want to lose the eternal for
The things that are passing
'Cause what will I have when the world is gone
If it isn't for the love that goes on and on with

CHORUS:
My one thing, You're my one thing
And the pure in heart shall see God
You're my one thing
You're my one thing
And the pure in heart shall see God

Who have I in Heaven but You Jesus
And what better could I hope
To find down here on earth
I could cross the most distant reaches
Of this world, but I'd just be wasting my time
'Cause I'm certain already, I'm sure
I'd find You're

CHORUS

Every night and every day
You hold on tight
Or you drift away
And you're left to live
With the choices you make
Oh Lord please give me the strength
To watch and work and love and sing and pray

'Cause who have I in Heaven but You Jesus?
And what better could I hope
To find down here on earth?
Well I could cross the most distant reaches
Of this world, but I'd just be wasting my time
'Cause I'm certain already I'm sure I'd find

You're my one thing (one thing)
You're my one thing (one thing)
And the pure in heart shall see God

Ok, so there's that.
Pastor Dave

50 People Every Christian Should Know

2009-07-27T22:04:00.000-07:00

I have just finished reading an amazing book. It is called, "50 People Every Christian Should Know".

And if there was ever a book that lived up to its title, it is this book.

It tells us the stories of men and women of God who lived a life of devotion to God. The stories present a brief biography of each person, and it doesn't sweep any issues that may have raised questions or controversy concerning the people portrayed.

While many of these are well known to most beleivers, such as: C.H. Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, Oswald Chambers, D. L. Moody, A.W. Tozer and a few others, there are many that I have never heard of before.

The book has educated me on such preachers of days gone by such as: William Culbertson, Henry Drummond, R.A. Torrey, W.E. Sangster, Alva Jay McClain, William Whitting Borden and so many others.

Three things that seem to be repeated often in each of the individuals stories is this: obstacles that had to be overcome (poverty, physical disabilities, and lack of education), as well as much time spent in prayer, and much time spent in Bible study.

It also appeared that many of these preachers preached much more than we do today. I read of several of these men who preached five, six, seven times each week or more. It also seemed as though most of them were prolific writers. In fact the author, Warren Wiersbe gives you a critique of the books that each of these saints of old has written, and which ones are the best ones to purchase. If you bought all of the ones reccomened by Wiersbe, well, let me just say that I would probably have to get a second job!

What impacted me the most thought wss the amount of time spent in prayer and study of the Word. One of the preachers in the book is stated to put in 60 hours of study for each message he preached. That is amazing. When you also realzie that they did their study often by candlelight and without any of our modern day aides such as comptuters, computer programs, several different translations of the Scriptures and various other helps, it makes me wonder about many of our preachers today, including myself.

What would happen if I spent 4 or 5 hours per day in study of the word....each day? What would happen if I prayed daily for several hours?
What difference would it make in my spiritual life?
What difference whould it make in the spiriutal life of the church that I pastor?
What difference would it make in my family?
What difference would it make to my neighbors?
What difference would it make to my country?

Is this what may be missing in the church in the USA today?

Could this be the secret to revival in our country?

Have we sold out Jesus, not for thirty pieces of silver as Judas did, but for our favorite tv show?

Have we fallen asleep, not while our Lord is praying in the garden of Gethsemane, but while He weeps for the lost in this country and we are too tired to personally share the gospel because of late hours on the internet?

And that leads me to the last thing I want to share about the men and women portrayed in this book: they were passionate about sharing the gospel to the lost.

We need to be the kind of people who, if the Lord does not come back soon, and they write a new book, of the 2nd 50 people every Christian should know, that you and I are listed in that book....not for personal fame and glory, no....may we never ever seek for attention on us, but for the glory of God, for the sake of future generations, to inspire those who come after us to live their lives in a passionate pursuit of the Lord, in leading the lost to salvation and to leave a legacy of faith, long after we are gone.

I'm off to bed now, planning on rising early...time in prayer, and time in the Word...maybe you will join me?

Pastor Dave

Prostitution In The Church

2009-07-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

I found this while doing some blog surfing and thought I would share it here. I foundit on this blog: http://danielfusco.wordpress.com/, but it is not by the author of that blog. The author of the article is David Ryser. This is a very thought provoking article. Read on.

The Question that Changed My Life

By David Ryser

A number of years ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a school of ministry. My students were hungry for God, and I was constantly searching for ways to challenge them to fall more in love with Jesus and to become voices for revival in the Church. I came across a quote attributed most often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this: Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise. Some of the students were only 18 or 19 years old--barely out of diapers--and I wanted them to understand and appreciate the import of the last line, so I clarified it by adding, "An enterprise. That's a business." After a few moments Martha, the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. I could not imagine what her question might be. I thought the little vignette was self-explanatory, and that I had performed it brilliantly. Nevertheless, I acknowledged Martha's raised hand, "Yes, Martha." She asked such a simple question, "A business? But isn't it supposed to be a body?" I could not envision where this line of questioning was going, and the only response I could think of was, "Yes." She continued, "But when a body becomes a business, isn't that a prostitute?"

The room went dead silent. For several seconds no one moved or spoke. We were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the presence of God had flooded into the room, and we knew we were on holy ground. All I could think in those sacred moments was, "Wow, I wish I'd thought of that." I didn't dare express that thought aloud. God had taken over the class.

Martha's question changed my life. For six months, I thought about her question at least once every day. "When a body becomes a business, isn't that a prostitute?" There is only one answer to her question. The answer is "Yes." The American Church, tragically, is heavily populated by people who do not love God. How can we love Him? We don't even know Him; and I mean really know Him.

What do I mean when I say "really know Him?" Our understanding of knowing and knowledge stems from our western culture (which is based in ancient Greek philosophical thought). We believe we have knowledge (and, by extension, wisdom) when we have collected information. A collection of information is not the same thing as knowledge, especially in the culture of the Bible (which is an eastern, non-Greek, culture). In the eastern culture, all knowledge is experiential. In western/Greek culture, we argue from premise to conclusion without regard for experience--or so we think. An example might be helpful here. Let us suppose a question based upon the following two premises: First, that wheat does not grow in a cold climate and second, that England has a cold climate. The question: Does wheat grow in England? The vast majority of people from the western/Greek culture would answer, "No. If wheat does not grow in a cold climate and if England has a cold climate, then it follows that wheat does not grow in England." In the eastern culture, the answer to the same question, based on the same premises, most likely would be, "I don't know. I've never been to England." We laugh at this thinking, but when I posed the same question to my friends from England, their answer was, "Yes, of course wheat grows in England. We're from there, and we know wheat grows there." They overcame their cultural way of thinking because of their life experience. Experience trumps information when it comes to knowledge.

A similar problem exists with our concept of belief. We say we believe something (or someone) apart from personal experience. This definition of belief is not extended to our stockbroker, however. Again, allow me to explain. Suppose my stockbroker phones me and says, "I have a hot tip on a stock that is going to triple in price within the next week. I want your permission to transfer $10,000 from your cash account and buy this stock." That's a lot of money for me, so I ask, "Do you really believe this stock will triple in price, and so quickly?" He/she answers, I sure do." I say, "That sounds great! How exciting! So how much of your own money have you invested in this stock?" He/she answers, "None." Does my stockbroker believe? Truly believe? I don't think so, and suddenly I don't believe, either. How can we be so discerning in the things of this world, especially when they involve money, and so indiscriminate when it comes to spiritual things? The fact is, we do not know or believe apart from experience. The Bible was written to people who would not understand the concepts of knowledge, belief, and faith apart from experience. I suspect God thinks this way also.

So I stand by my statement that most American Christians do not know God--much less love Him. The root of this condition originates in how we came to God. Most of us came to Him because of what we were told He would do for us. We were promised that He would bless us in life and take us to heaven after death. We married Him for His money, and we don't care if He lives or dies as long as we can get His stuff. We have made the Kingdom of God into a business, merchandising His anointing. This should not be. We are commanded to love God, and are called to be the Bride of Christ--that's pretty intimate stuff. We are supposed to be His lovers. How can we love someone we don't even know? And even if we do know someone, is that a guarantee that we truly love them? Are we lovers or prostitutes?

I was pondering Martha's question again one day, and considered the question, "What's the difference between a lover and a prostitute?" I realized that both do many of the same things, but a lover does what she does because she loves. A prostitute pretends to love, but only as long as you pay. Then I asked the question, "What would happen if God stopped paying me?"

For the next several months, I allowed God to search me to uncover my motives for loving and serving Him. Was I really a true lover of God? What would happen if He stopped blessing me? What if He never did another thing for me? Would I still love Him? Please understand, I believe in the promises and blessings of God. The issue here is not whether God blesses His children; the issue is the condition of my heart. Why do I serve Him? Are His blessings in my life the gifts of a loving Father, or are they a wage that I have earned or a bribe/payment to love Him? Do I love God without any conditions? It took several months to work through these questions. Even now I wonder if my desire to love God is always matched by my attitude and behavior. I still catch myself being disappointed with God and angry that He has not met some perceived need in my life. I suspect this is something which is never fully resolved, but I want more than anything else to be a true lover of God.

So what is it going to be? Which are we, lover or prostitute? There are no prostitutes in heaven, or in the Kingdom of God for that matter, but there are plenty of former prostitutes in both places. Take it from a recovering prostitute when I say there is no substitute for unconditional, intimate relationship with God. And I mean there is no palatable substitute available to us (take another look at Matthew 7:21-23 sometime). We must choose.

Dr. David Ryser

Questions, questions, questions.

2009-07-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

I put my faith and trust in Jesus when I was ten years old. After a ten year period of prodigal living, beginning around the age of fifteen, and ending around the age of twenty-five, I have been following Jesus now for almost 27 years.

During this time I have studied the Bible much (not as much as I should have), and shared my faith as often as possible. By studying and sharing over the years I have come up with more questions than answers.

Don't misunderstand me. I still believe. I trust the Word of God and I trust in Jesus as my Savior, and I trust that God will keep me.

But the Bible has a lot of stuff in it. A lot.

And the more I learn, the more I realize that I don't know.

The more answers I find, the more questions I have.

So, I thought I'd share some with you. Maybe one of my readers out there have had the same questions. Maybe somebody has an answer for one or more of the questions. Or maybe it will help someone else who has questions to not feel so alone and not be afraid to ask the questions. I have asked many fellow pastors some of these questions and have received every kind of response you can think of, from, "I never thought of that before?", to "You think too much.", but have not gotten an answer to any of these yet...so here goes.

In Genesis when the serpent talks to Eve she doesn't freak out. Could animals talk back then? Or could only serpents talk? Was this a "special" serpent that the devil took over? Why did God curse the serpent by saying it would crawl on it's belly if the serpent was posessed by the devil? The first part of the verse seems directed at the serpent as an animal, while verse 15 is a prophecy of Christ being born of the seed of a woman (virgin birth) and the devil crushing his heel (Calvary) and then Christ crushing the head of the serpent (the resurrection), so is the whole thing a spiritual event, or a physical event? Does this mean that snakes used to have feet and legs?

Here's another one: When the serpent questioned Eve about the forbidden fruit, she says in verse 2 that God told them "...you must not touch it, or you will die." But in the Genesis account we only find God telling them not to eat it, but nothing about touching it. I know that when my children added to the truth, we called that lying. If so, does that mean that Eve sinned before she ate the fruit?

Now, jump forward to verses 22-24 in the 3rd chapter of Genesis we find this:

"And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life."

So what is this tree of life? Is it a literal tree with fruit that would give you eternal life, but in an ever decaying body? Sort of like a fountain of youth, only without the youth? And how does this connect to what we find in these verses in the book of Revelation:

Revelation 2:7
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Revelation 22:2
down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Revelation 22:14
"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.

Revelation 22:19
And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

Is this the same tree of life found in Genesis, only transplanted? Is this a real tree, or is it to be taken figuratively? I want you all to know that I DO BELIEVE that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and yet this sound as thought this tree of life has something to do with our eternal life.

Ok, that's enought questions for one post. Let me know what you think. And remember, if you're a follower of Christ, I'm on your side. I'm one of you. I believe...but I also KNOW that if you read your Bible, you're going to have questions. These are some of mine. What do you think?

Still following Jesus,
Pastor Dave

Follow Me

2009-06-28T06:48:00.000-07:00

Matthew 4:18-22 "While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him."

I went to bed in amazement at the total abandon with which Peter, Andrew, James & John followed Jesus. He shows up, says "Follow Me" and they leave everything to follow Him. They literally walk away from their jobs! In the case of James and John it means leaving the family business.

As I began to drift off to sleep I had these thoughts swirling around in my mind: "Is it possible to follow Jesus like that today? Does anyone do that today? If it is possible, why don't we? Is it that we do that today, but it "looks" different than it did then? Why do I feel that I am "holding back" when it comes to following Jesus? Is this lack of total commitment, with total abandon, without a backup plan, or even a plan at all, is that part of the reason, or the entire reason that so few of us today could be called "fishers of men"?

Now I know that these men had met Jesus before (see the first chapter of John, verses 35-42), so maybe they did have some time to think about this...but when the call came, they went and followed. I too met Jesus before I became a committed follower. I met Jesus when I was ten years old. I am ashamed of the fact that around the age of fifteen, I began a path that led me away from Him and out into the barren wasteland of this world for about ten years. At the age of twenty-five I returned to Jesus...and have been trying to follow Him for twenty-six years now...but I don't know if I have ever followed Him with this type of radical commitment.

What do you think? Do you know of anyone who follows Jesus as Peter, Andrew, James & John did back then? Why do you think we don't? What do you think that would look like? What would it cost us today? Is it possible today?

I have more questions that I do answers.

Pastor Dave

Romans Six

2009-06-27T21:24:00.000-07:00

Reading Romans chapter six today, and just wanted to share some random thoughts about some of the verses I read.

Romans 6:4 says, "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

That verse rang so true to me today. I FEEL new in my relationship with the Lord and NEW in the way I see my life (including the past, the present & the future). More than ever before I feel as though God has a plan and a purpose for my life. I want to teach people about the Lord and His Word....I want to follow Jesus as close as I can, I want to lead people to the throne of Grace...to show them the joy, peace and contentment that comes from relationship with God.

But two weeks ago, I don't think I would have felt that way. Bad habits plagued me at every turn. Sinful habits that I had thought conquered long ago reared their ugly head once again. Anger and other emotions began to creep over me, casting a shadow of doubt and depression.

I am glad that Jesus rescued me from that place, but after reading this verse I now realize I should not have been there in the first place. I have to remember that my relationship with the Lord and my standing before God has NOTHING to do with my FEELINGS...but it has everything to do with what HE HAS ALREADY DONE in me. I am His. I am a new creation. I walk in NEWNESS of life whether I feel it or not. It is not what I do, but what I am through Jesus.

When I read verse 11 it just reinforced that my standing with Christ is a "done deal" once I have put my faith in trust in Him. Verse 11 says, "11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

This just reminds me that I am alive to God and dead to sin. Sin doesn't rule in my life any longer. Oh, I still sin...just ask my family. But I'm no longer identified as a sinner. My identity is now in Jesus. I'm dead to sin. It no longer reigns in my body. It still "resides" there, and will until I receive a new body...but it doesn not sit on the throne of my life any longer.

Now, I know for many of you this is pretty basic stuff for a lot of you, and it is for me too. But I think what happened in my life, and maybe it has happened in yours too is this:

We forget some of the elementary things we know, and before long we drift from the foundation that we know. We aren't doing the "big bad sins" any longer, but living in a sinful fallen world, in a sinful fallen body begins to chip away at where we know we are in Christ until before long we find ourselves FEELING different than what we actually are.

Anyway...I just rejoiced for God reminding me of this truth and then capping it off with such a wonderful scripture that closes out the sixth chapter of Romans.

Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And with that, I sign off on this blog, not resting in my feelings, but KNOWING who I am in Jesus.

Pastor Dave

From John Piper

2009-06-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

John Piper is one of several well known preachers that I admire.

His books are not easy to read, but always rewarding. I came acrosse this well written blog by Brother Piper on the subject of television. It was reprinted from another blog, and I found it here: http://www.recoverthegospel.com/?p=2750

Just like the above blogger, I too found this worthy to pass on here to the readers of my blog. Great food for thought. Would appreciate any and all comments.

Why I Don’t Have a Television and Rarely Go to Movies:

“Now that the video of the Q&A at Advance 09 is available, I can look at it and feel bad all over again. Here’s what I regret, indeed what I have apologized for to the person who asked the question.

The first question to me and Mark Driscoll was, “Piper says get rid of my TV, and Driscoll says buy extra DVRs. How do you reconcile this difference?”

I responded, “Get your sources right. . . . I never said that in my life.”

Almost as soon as it was out of my mouth, I felt: “What a jerk, Piper!” A jerk is a person who nitpicks about the way a question is worded rather than taking the opportunity to address the issue in a serious way. I blew it at multiple levels.

So I was very glad when the person who asked the question wrote to me. I wrote back,

Be totally relieved that YOU did not ask a bad question. I gave a useless and unhelpful, and I think snide, answer and missed a GOLDEN opportunity to make plain the dangers of the triviality you referred to. . . . I don’t know why I snapped about the wording of the question instead of using it for what it was intended for. It was foolish and I think sinful.

So let me see if I can do better now. I can’t give an answer for what Mark means by “buy extra DVRs,” but I can tell you why my advice sounds different. I suspect that Mark and I would not agree on the degree to which the average pastor needs to be movie-savvy in order to be relevant, and the degree to which we should expose ourselves to the world’s entertainment.

I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.

If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners.

There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.

I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity. There is a reason for these differences. The violence is make-believe. They don’t really mean those bad words. But that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.

I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). What the eyes see really matters. “Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Better to gouge your eye than go to hell (verse 29).

Brothers, that is serious. Really serious. Jesus is violent about this. What we do with our eyes can damn us. One reason is that it is virtually impossible to transition from being entertained by nudity to an act of “beholding the glory of the Lord.” But this means the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation.

All Christ-exalting transformation comes from “beholding the glory of Christ.” “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Whatever dulls the eyes of our mind from seeing Christ powerfully and purely is destroying us. There is not one man in a thousand whose spiritual eyes are more readily moved by the beauty of Christ because he has just seen a bare breast with his buddies.

But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.

One more smaller concern with TV (besides its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects): It takes time. I have so many things I want to accomplish in this one short life. Don’t waste your life is not a catchphrase for me; it’s a cliff I walk beside every day with trembling.

TV consumes more and more time for those who get used to watching it. You start to feel like it belongs. You wonder how you could get along without it. I am jealous for my evenings. There are so many things in life I want to accomplish. I simply could not do what I do if I watched television. So we have never had a TV in 40 years of marriage (except in Germany, to help learn the language). I don’t regret it.

Sorry again, for the bad answer. I hope this helps.

Pastor John”

Revival

2009-06-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

I just got finished watching a movie about a traveling preacher in the 1800,s by the name of Robert Sheffy. The movie is just called "Sheffy".

Now it is not the best produced movie. It doesn't have a Hollywood budget or any big name actors in it. It was produced by Bob Jones University. I know there has been some controversy in the past concerning BJU, but I don't want to address that in this blog, rather I want to share what this movie did to me, or rather for me.

With all of it's shortcomings and faults, it showed a man who was sold out to Christ and the gospel. It showed a man who prayed to God, listened to God and counted on God to answer his prayers.

It is about a man who knew who he was, whose he was, and what he was called to do. It is about a man who never gave up. He never gave up preaching the gospel. He never gave up following Christ. He never gave up believing people would be saved. He never gave up asking forgiveness for his owns sins and shortcomings.

It is a movie about a man that I long to be.

For some reason, this poorly made movie touched something deep within my soul. At the end I was in tears, literally sobbing until my nose ran. I felt revival well up from within me. I repented of my negligence in following Christ. I repented of my pride. I repented of my laziness. I repented of my unbelief.

I asked God to not let me go back to what I was before I encountered Him through this film. I promised Him I would not give up. I will not give up preaching the gospel. I will not give up following Christ. I will not give up believing and trusting that He will bring my prodigal daughter back home to Him. I will not give up asking forgiveness of my sinful behavior, and I will not give up doing the best that I can for the Kingdom of God.

I don't know if this is a movie everyone would enjoy. You might not be able to overlook the fact that the quality is not the same level as a professional film. But if you think you can, then I suggest you find this film (you can rent it from Netflix), and sit back and see what God can do in the life of one man sold out to Him.

I close with the lyrics of a song that is featured several times in the film. It just happens to be a favorite of mine.

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and pow’r.

I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
Oh, there are ten thousand charms.

Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome,
God’s free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings you nigh.

Come, ye weary, heavy-laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all.

I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
Oh, there are ten thousand charms.

Praying for revival for us all,
Pastor Dave

Entertainment

2009-05-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

I got a link on facebook from my good brother Bob about entertainment.

It was a link to something written by John Piper. I have copied it here for you to read, and then made my own comments/questions afterwards:

"How can I Break Free From An Addiction To Entertainment?"

By John Piper May 25, 2009

The following is an edited transcript of the audio.

I believe I do love Jesus, but most of the time I'd rather spend time being entertained than spend time in God's word. How do I break this hold that entertainment has on my heart?

That's a very good question. And I think it's especially relevant because we live, I think, more now than ever, in a day when entertaining kinds of things are immediately accessible.

I was thinking the other day of the difference between our temptations and, say, 250 years ago, the day of Jonathan Edwards. Edwards would write about the folly of young people getting together to do "frivolous conversation" or other worse things. ("Bundling" it was called: getting in bed together and keeping your clothes on, that sort of thing. Just spice up life a little bit. Life gets boring in New England 250 years ago.)

Today we carry in our pockets radio, television, internet, and games, and anything that would be titillating, fun! And "fun" is a word in the church today that's just rampant! It's an adjective, it's a noun, it's a verb, because we do ministry in order to fit this mentality.

I'm deeply concerned about that. I want to stand for seriousness about God, instead of making him palatable by making him "fun"! Turning him into another piece of entertainment.

So this question is, "How do you break free from that kind of addiction?"

Recognizing it is a huge step in the right direction.
Seek the Lord earnestly about it. Pray like crazy that God would open your eyes to see wondrous things out of his law.
Immerse yourself in the Bible, even when you don't feel like it, pleading with God to open your eyes to see what's really there.
Get in a group where you talk about serious things.
Begin to share your faith. One of the reasons we are not as moved by our own faith as we are is because we almost never talk about it to any unbeliever. It starts to feel like a kind of hothouse thing, and then it starts to have a feeling of unreality about it. And then the powers of entertainment have more sway in our life.
And so those would be some of the things, but ultimately it's a gift of grace to feel the glory of God.

One last suggestion: think about your death. Think about your death a lot. Ask what you'd like to be doing in the season of life, or hours or days, leading up to meeting Christ. I do that a lot these days. I think about the impact of death, and what I would like to be found doing, and how I would prepare to meet him and give an account to him.

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It is no coincidence that Bob sent this to me as I have been going over these very issues this past week.

How much entertainment does one person need?

Does the average believer spend more time in the Word, giving of their lives, sharing their faith, building up the brethren.....or....

....watching tv, going to movies, listening to music (even "christian" music can become an idol if we are spending more time in it than with the Lord), reading books and magazines?

I will be 52 years old this year. Now I realize that unless I have a tragic accident or an unforseen fatal illness, I probably have a good 20 years left, and maybe even a bit more than that. However, while that would mean that death is not knocking on my door, he certainly is walking in my neighborhood. Twenty years will go by very fast.

What good will all the entertainment do me then?

Why do we waste so much time entertaining ourselves...is it to numb the pain and realization that there are people all around us that are lost without Christ and headed for eternal separation without Him?

Maybe it is because we don't want the quiet time, the introspective time, the time it would take to look good, hard and long at our own lives and where we need to improve on our relationship with the Lord?

I don't know that I have any of the answers to these questions....but I look forward to your thoughts and comments on what John Piper wrote and what I brought up.

Still trying to follow Jesus,
Pastor Dave

Reading Joshua

2009-05-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

I am reading through the book of Joshua right now, and have just finished chapter five. I thought I would share some thoughts on what I read. Feel free to share with me your thoughts on the following:

In the first chapter, the Lord tells Joshua to "be strong and courageous" three different times. He is about to lead the nation of Israel to take the Promised Land...and so I'm sure he had a mixture of emotions, concerns and fears that ran through his mind. Yet God encouraged him by saying you be strong and courageous. I think this is a good idea for the beleiver in these days. We sometimes get discouraged when we look at the world around us. Sin seems to be running rampant, not only without restraint, but with encouragement and endorsement. Yet we have been intrusted with the gospel message that will enable those witout Christ to come to salvation and gain access into the promised land. How can we be strong and courageous in the face of such wide spread sin and ungodliness? God answers that for us and for Joshua in the same chapter.

Look at what the Lord says in verse eight: "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."

Just as Joshua and the Hebrews were promised prosperity and success if they kept the Word of the Lord, and memorized it, used it, lived by it, so we too are promised the same. Not in material success and prosperity, but in a spiritual way. The Word of God has the answers to the questions that people are asking. The problem lies in the sad state we find the church in today, where we are biblically illiterate to a large degree. We are not usually "careful" in handling the Word, instead we quote it out of context, and twist it to fit our pre-concieved idea of what God "really means".

I'm surprised at the number of christians who state they cannot understand the Bible, or have trouble memorizing scripture, yet they know all the plot details and intricacies of tv shows such as "Heroes" and "Lost". They can follow all of the different versions of "Law & Order" and "CSI" along with all the details of each character on the show, yet have no solid biblical knowledge.

The problem is that we have been seduced by the culture instead of being led by the Spirit. Our salt has lost its saltiness and our light has grown dim. We pray for revival in our nation, but revival needs to first come to the church, and more specifically, it needs to come to you and I.

Just like Joshua, we have a huge land to conquer...and we cannot do it ourselves. Join me in praying for personal revival. May the Spirit come and blow fresh wind into our lives.

Lord, make me strong and courageous, so that with the love of the gospel we can begin to "take this land" for YOU.

Praying,
Pastor Dave

Pastor Dave STILL Lets His Hair Down

2009-05-02T17:41:00.001-07:00

Ok, back in March I posted about changing the name of the blog to something different since I have cut off my hair. I mentioned that if I chose one of the names that was submitted, that I would send the winner a prize.

Here are some of the ones that I liked the best:

Pastor Dave on:Holding our minds to the fire.

Pastor Dave's Show and Tell.

Pastor Dave keeps it short.

...and my very favorite of them all....

Pastor Dave gets jiggy for Jesus.

(My public apology to Bim for losing the ones you sent me through Facebook.)

But I have decided to keep the blog under the current name, "Pastor Dave Lets His Hair Down." I decided to do this for two reasons. One, is that I think it really reflects the intentions of this blog. As one person commented, "Letting your hair down" can mean a candid expression of feelings -- isn't that still legitimate?".

The other reason is that I have decided to let the hair grow back out. From the very first time people at the church saw me with short hair I keep being asked if I'm going to grow it back out. My response has always been, "I've been growing it back out since the day I got it cut."

Now how long I will let it go is another subject. At one time it was fairly lengthy. It was several inches past my shoulders. I cut it to just above shoulder length once before and then it grew back out to just barely past my shoulders when I cut it this last time. So what that all means is that I have no idea how long I will let it go this time, but as it grows I will be sure to change the picture to keep everyone updated.

And in case you're wondering what all this has to do with anything.....ummmm...not much.

Still letting my hair down,
Pastor Dave

How To Survive A Toxic Church

2009-04-25T21:46:00.000-07:00

How can we be followers of Christ who extend grace to one another, yet stand firm for the faith and against sin? That was how I ended a blog post a few posts ago.

It is a question that deserves an answer. Grace is key to the Christian life. We are saved by the grace of God, not of works, so no one can boast about how great or how good they are. In additon, we must extend the grace that we have been given to others who are walking this path of faith with us.

The answer to extending grace and staning firm for the faith and against sin is simple, yet often overlooked in the life of a believer. Here it is, in just five short words:

Read the Bible and pray.

Yup. That's it.

Read the Bible and pray.

There is no magic formula. There is no special annointed prayer or sprinkling with magic water from the sea of Galilee. In order to extend grace and yet stand firm for truth and against sin, we must read the Bible and pray.

2 Timothy 3:15-17 (New International Version)
"and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

It is by reading scripture, over and over and over again that we will begin to see through the errors of false doctrine. We will learn how to live for the Lord, and we will continually see the grace of God poured out on us while we were yet sinners. Not only that, but we will experience the continuing grace of God through our relationship with Jesus, even though we will still sin after salvation. This should give us much grace to give others, yet enable us to speak up and say when something is a sin and what the Word has to say about the sin, as well as what the Word has to say about righteous living.

And how/where does prayer fit into this?

James 5:16 (NIV)"...The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

If you know the Lord as your savior, then you have beome a righteous man, or woman, and your prayers are powerful and effective. Let me say it again, your prayers are POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE. Over the years I have met many, many, many Christians and a common denominater with many of them is the lack of an intense prayer life. Prayer is a chore, or a shopping list at best. It is the last thing we do, rather than the first thing we do. We pray for "little" things because we are afraid that God will not come through on the "big" things. We don't see our prayers as powerful and effective because we don't pray in a powerful and effective way. We spend our time asking God for a closer parking place at Wal-mart, when He wants us to park further away from the store so that on the walk in we might share our faith with someone, plant a seed of the gospel - yet we don't pray for that, so we don't see any power in our prayers or any effects.

Jesus chastised Peter, James & John because they could not pray for one hour, but we have a problem being able to pray for half of that, or even for ten minutes. Yet Paul tells us to pray much more than that. Here is what he says:

1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NIV)"pray continually"

How do we do that? By having a continuous open communication with the Father. By keeping Him in the forefront of our minds. When I think of how many times I have prayed to God to get me out of a jam, only to realize that if I had prayed to start with there would be no jam!

You may be wondering how this relates to the title of this blog though, but all will be explained now, as I share a little of my history.

I was severly backslidden for about ten years. When I came back to the Lord, I prayed this sincere prayer more than once. It went something like this, "Lord, I know that I have learned a lot about You when I was a child, but I don't want to take any of that for granted. I want to make sure I know what I believe. I want to make sure I believe what I know. So please open up your Word to me, that I might see it with fresh and new eyes. Reveal to me if there is anything I used to beleive that is not right."

And then I began on a journey to read the Bible. First I read certain books over and over again (John & Acts several times), then I began to read through the Bible each year.

Eventually God began to show me that some things that the church(es) that I belonged to taught that was not in scripture. This was a long and painful process, and was not without it's own problems. When I raised questions, I was shot down and shunned. I developed a reputation for being un-conventional and rocking the boat. Eventually, I left the church(es) that I was familar with. This was not easy. I was saved and baptized in one of their churches. I met my wife in one of their churches. I surrendered to the ministry in one of their churches. I was ordained in one of their churches. The first church I pastored was one of their churches. There was a loooong history here.

But as grateful as I was (and still am) for all they did for me spiritually, the time had come where they had moved from a help to a hindrance. The area of their teaching that was toxic was infecting myself and my whole family. (For those who are curious as to the teaching that I could no longer follow, I will let you know what it is in a private email if you would like, but will not do so in a public forum such as this blog).

Now I realize that with many toxic churches the "victim" is a new believer, and so they are unlearned and still a baby in the Lord. However, I stand by the formula for growth, and that is Bible reading and prayer. As the infant in Christ grows, then they will be led by the Spirit as they spend time with Christ in the Word and in communication. Will it hurt? Probably. Growing up is not without it's pains, but the affects of remaining in a toxic church and in a stage of stunted growth will hurt more in the long run.

Read the Word.

Pray.

God is faithful and He will honor your commitment in theset two areas.

Ok, next blog will be a little lighter. We will discuss the new name for the blog.

Still following Jesus,
Pastor Dave

On The Eighth Day God Created Rock 'n' Roll

2009-04-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, weird post, and for those enquiring minds, I am going to continue my post about toxic churches.....soon, I promise.

I love rock 'n' roll. Always have. My earliest memories of music are of my Mom watching Elvis movies on tv. I soon discovered my Dad had records by Fats Domino and The Platters. Before long, The Beatles arrived through the screams of my older sister. By 1971 my world was emmersed in rock 'n' roll. Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, Zeppelin, Bad Compan, BTO, ELO, The Stones, Clapton and more.

Fast forward several years and I discovered Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, Love Song, Don Fransisco, Darrell Mansfield, Chuck Girard and all the way to Stryper, Bloodgood, Guardian, Whitecross, Whiteheart, Petra and more.

I know I could live without a tv (because I have) and without the computer (because I have), but without music.....it's never happened.

I have decided today to go on a secular music fast. Not sure for how long, but it starts now. Now that is not the same as doing without music alltogether as I have quite a bit of music that is done by Christians, for Christians - if you know what I mean.

I have done this before. Sometimes for a day, a week, a month, and one time for over a year.

I'm curious if any of you have done so, and if so, for how long? What were the benefits? Any "withdrawal" symptoms? Any of you given up secular music alltogether? If so, have you also given up secular television, books and movies?

I'm not trying to put anyone under any kind of law here, just wanting to know what your thoughts and your experiences are. I know that at times, secular entertainment has hurt my walk with Christ. In my past there were "triggers" that would trip me up, which I can now spot.

I know this subject has been debated ad nausem, but I am curious to see what some of you might think.

I know what the scriptures say, but sometimes the problem comes in where the rubber meets the road of our daily lives.

I would like to get feedback concerning the following verses in connection with the thought of secular entertainment.

Matthew 15:17-19 (New International Version)
"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander."

Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers,by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

John 17:15–16 (ESV)
15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Now, I know that there is the argument that there is no division between sacred and spiritual for the beleiver, and I fully understand the premise behind such a statement, yet we cannot ingore the fact that some things are better for our spiritual growth than others. Some things draw us closer to Christ, others drive us away, or at the very least these things may put a barrier up that interferes with our relationship with the Lord.

The seed of this fast came from reading a book.

This book:

If you haven't read it yet, I encourage you to do so....it is thought provoking.

Looking forward to your thoughts, on the subject of fasting, or on fasting from secular entertainment in its various forms, or the subject of the secular vs. the sacred, or thoughts on the book if you have read it.

Pastor Dave

Preaching

2009-04-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

I've been preaching now for almost 25 years.

I pastored my first church about 16 years ago, and was there for five years.

I just completed my fourth year in October 2008 at Loma Rica Baptist church.

Give or take a Sunday or two, that means I have preached over 200 messages in the last four and a half years.

I say all of this to give a little bit of perspective to what I am about to post here.

Last Sunday I preached a "normal" Easter message. This week I was back in the book of Hebrews as part of our onging series of messages through the book of Hebrews. In my opinion, both last week and this weeks messages were "flops".

My wife told me that last weeks message "rocked". I realize she might be biased, but beleive me, she will tell me when she thinks I did a "stinker", so I trust her judgement.

But it doesn't change my personal opinion of how I viewed the message.

Out of all the sermons I have ever preached, I have only been given negative criticism once....and that was about 20 years ago, and the part they didn't like is that I spoke well of Billy Graham, and they were upset because Billy had shaken hands with the Pope (yeah, I know what you're thinking, but I'm not making this up, it really happened...they were very upset about that & me speaking highly of Billy Graham...no wonder we Christians have a bad reputation with a lot of people).

Anyway, this has made me think today about this. Just what makes a sermon good or bad? The message itself? The preacher? The delivery? The special effects? The humor? References to the original languages? Funny stories? What? Have you ever heard a great sermon from a bad speaker? Have you ever heard what seemed like a great message, yet couldn't remember any of it the next day? Have you ever told a preacher the message was good, when you know it really wasn't?

I take preaching very serious, but I don't take myslef serious. I'm a goof. I tell stupid jokes. I make lots of mistakes. Sometimes I fight with my wife and/or my family before we leave for church...I know shocking isn't it.

And yet every once in awhile, someone comes along and shares what a particualr message meant to them. Or someone comes and wants to know bout salvaion, or about how they want a closer walk with the Lord. These are precious times.

Still, when you preach and you feel unconnected to the people, or when you feel as though your words are falling to the ground like they are made of concrete, you wonder if you are doing any good.

But I know that through all of the faults, the failures, the foibles, the fallings, that God has called me to preach. I read the scriptures and sometimes the message just jumps out at me...with the words right on my lips.

I don't even know exactly why I'm posting this particualr blog. I meant to get back to the continuation of the last entry, and I will get to that, but I just felt like I had to get this off of my chest. I don't know maybe it is just the rambings of a tired pastor.

Ok, thanks for reading.
Pastor Dave

I Used To Go To Church

2009-04-11T09:15:00.000-07:00

If I had a quarter for each time that I have heard the above statement, I would be a wealthy man today. It seems that as soon as someone knows that I am a pastor, they feel the need to explain why they don’t go to church any longer.

While I have gotten used to hearing “I used to go to church” from a wide variety of people, I have never gotten used to hearing why they no longer go. With very few exceptions, the reason given always has to do with an unhealthy church experience. These unhealthy church experiences are not easy to categorize. They usually include a variety of experiences, from emotional pain, cliques, heartbreak, betrayal, hypocrisy, and the list could go on and on. One thing that seems to be a common thread woven amongst all of the stories is this: legalism.

Now it has been my experience that as soon as you bring up the word, “legalism”, someone begins to think that you are going soft on discipleship and Christian living. I do not consider myself as soft on either of those things, rather I believe we should be hard, or heavy with grace. I believe that if we claim to belong to Jesus, then others have the right to expect that we will live lives worthy of the high calling we have received, and that includes celebrating the grace we have received as well as extending that grace to others.

Several years ago Steve Arterburn wrote a book called, “Toxic Faith” which addressed the issue of unhealthy churches. As much as I like the book, I have always felt that the title is misleading. It is not the faith that is toxic, rather it is the unhealthy church that is toxic.

A legalist is always easy to spot. You can see them constantly checking out their “legal” list to see if you and I are measuring up to their “do’s” and “don’ts” of the Christian life, usually with a heavy emphasis on the “don’ts”.

They remind me of the Galatians that Paul wrote to in Galatians 3:1-3 “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”

Please don’t misunderstand me here. I strongly believe that even though we do not become sinless once we are born again, I do believe that as we grow in our faith and in our relationship with Christ we should sin less.

If God has enough grace to save us (Ephesians 2:8-9, 2 Timothy 1:9), then surely we should be able to have enough grace to extend to each other as we “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

How can we be followers of Christ who extend grace to one another, yet stand firm for the faith and against sin? That will be addressed in the next post.

Still following Jesus,
Pastor Dave

Sickness & A New Book

2009-03-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

I've been sick for about a week....the longest I can remember being sick. I'm on the mend now, but it knocked me out for about 6 days. I didn't blog, I didn't study, and I hardly read.

But, now that I am better, I picked up a new book, "Sitting At The Feet Of Rabbi Jesus" by Ann Sangler & Lois Tverberg.

I have only read four chapters, but I have done something while reading this book that I have never done before. I just finished reading the fourth chapter, "Following The Rabbi", which deals with discipleship, mentoring and apprenticeship. When I was done, I went back and read it again. This chapter alone makes this book a must read for everyone who wants to know what it means to be a true follower of Jesus.

We have reduced being a disciple in the western world to completing a class or keeping a list of "do's and don't's". We have not really comprehended what it means to "leave all" and follow Jesus. This chapter has shown me that it is all about following Jesus with our entire life. Discpleship is not something we do, it is something we are. To leave everything and follow Jesus is not about leaving family, jobs, or possessions, it is about leaving self. It is about leaving our wants, our desires and pouring our life out as an offering to Him. It is about living our life in such a way that everything we do points to our love of Jesus.

It is living out Romans 12:1-2(The Message)
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

I think I'm going to go back and read chapter four again, and then move on from there. I'm enjoying sitting at the feet of Rabbi Jesus, and I think you will too.

Still learning,
Pastor Dave

Pastor Dave Cuts His Hair Off

2009-03-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, when I started this blog I thought I would be real clever and title it "Pastor Dave Lets His Hair Down". This was because the majority of the people at the church I pastor had never seen me with my long hair "down"...as it was normally kept neat and tidy in a ponytail. It also was to let people know that these were the ramblings and thoughts of my mind and my journey with Christ and not in any way, shape or form to be taken as the general consesus of the church that I pastor or as some sort of an official church blog.

Now after seven years of letting my hair grow out I have taken the plunge and chopped it off, so I thought a new picture was in order.

So, to any of my readers I ask this question: Should the name of the blog remain "Pastor Dave Lets His Hair Down", or should I change the name to something else?

Let me know what you think, and if you think it should be changed, let me know what you think might be a good name. If I pick a new name from one that is submitted I will send the "winner" a prize.

Ok, so there's that.
Pastor Dave

Witnessing

2009-03-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

If there is one word that seems to send fear (or often guilt) into the heart of a follower of Jesus it is that one word: witness.

I used to wonder why more Christians didn't share their faith. These days I have shifted that question to myslef. Why do I not share what I believe more often?

I just finished a book by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron called "Thanks A Million".

In this book, Ray and Kirk share the adventures they have sharing their faith using a method that is called "The Way Of The Master", along with tracts that they hand out. Now our church has gone through "The Way Of The Master" series and I have to say I learned a lot about sharing my faith. Ray and Kirk have a lot of critcs when it comes to what they do, but I wonder if anyone else is spreading the gospel on such a consistent basis?

Paul said that we are to take the gospel to those who need to hear it.
Romans 10:12 "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"

We must take the gospel to the lost...this is not for the "professionals". This is for all of us who call ourselves beleivers.

If I have any criticism of the book, it is that they don't seem to "close the deal" very often when they let people know they need the Lord. In other words they don't ask them if they want to repent and ask the Lord into their life. In their defense, they beleive if someone really wants to know the Lord after hearing that they are on their way to hell and that Jesus has paid the price so they can have a relationship with God, be forgiven and have eternal life, that the person will not need any prodding, but will be moved to do this themselves. Some in the book did just that.

Others might be critical because they seem to lead people to faith in Jesus, but don't disciple them. I beleive this is a valid point, not just in regards to Ray and Kirk, but for the Western Church as a whole. Remember what Jesus said in the great commission:

Matthew 28:18-20: "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

One of the ways that the the church has dropped the ball is in the area of discipleship. I stand just as guilty as the next beleiver in this area and it is something we plan on correcting in our church very quickly.

To be fair to Ray and Kirk, this was a book on witnessing, not on discipleship. They may have a disicpleship program in place that I am not aware of.

Myself, I beleive the best way to share our faith is to build relationships with those who don't know Jesus and then speak the gospel into their lives. However, this is not always possible. Jesus did not wait until he developed a friendship with every person he came into contact with. Can you imagine standing before God and explaining to God that we did not share our faith more because we did not have more friends? Sounds kinda lame doesn't it?

I have been motivated and convicted by the testimony of this book. So much so, that I took some tracts along with a witnessing card I printed on my computer and began to pass them out yesterday. I left them at various places that I went to all day, and have decided that I would not go anywhere that I will not leave a tract and a card. The tract explains the gospel message and the card gives a phone number that they can contact. I had to go to the hospital three times yesterday to visit someone and left one in the waiting room each time. Each time I went back, the card was gone...who got it...did it do any good...only God knows the answer to that, but I don't beleive it did any harm.

We have a local coffe house here called "The Brick". I'm thinking about going down there to share the gospel next week when they have their "open mic" night. Pray for me.

And to Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron, thanks a million for what you do for the sake of the gospel.

Pastor Dave

Footnotes:

True Worship

2009-03-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Does anyone besides me get annoyed when people refer to the music portion of a church service as the "worship" time, or the "worship" portion of the service?

As a pastor, I have always seen the whole meeting time as a time for worship. Sunday School is worship....singing is worship....praying together is worship....giving of the tithes and offerings is worship...and the preaching is worship.

Then today I read a passage in Romans that I have read many, many, many times. But, as often happens when reading scripture, it hit me different today.

Here is the scripture:

Romans 12:-2: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is TRUE WORSHIP. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Now I think the main reason is that I normally have read this out of the NIV and this time I was reading out of the TNIV. In the NIV the word "true" is not used. Instead it uses the word "spiritual act" instead. In the KJV it says it is your "resonable service", while the ESV uses the word "spiritual" like the NIV. The Amplified version translates that portion of the verse this way: "your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship", so it includes resonable, service, spiritual and worship all joined together.

I went to the original languages to try and see if it could shed any light on this for me. I found that the word for "service" in the KJV and "worship" in some of the other translations was a greek word "latreia" and that it meant "ministration of God, i.e. worship - (divine) service". It comes from the word "latreno", which means ""to minister (to God), i.e. render relgious homage: serve-do the service, worship(er)"

So I by looking at this it tells me that my whole life is to be an act of worship. That our whole life is to be an act of worship. I'm to offer up myself, I am to become worship, (don't misunderstand me here-I did not say I am to be worshipped, only God is to be worshipped). My life is to be worship. I am to serve God in all that I do.

What does that look like?

Well, I can only imagine. I think it would look something like this:

That job that I hate, those people I work with that get on my nerves, I am to present myslef in such a way that they can look at me and say, "Wow. There's something different about him. He isn't working for a paycheck, or just putting in his time. It's like he's doing this for a higher cause."

With our families, we would live as though we are a worshipper. The way we handled ourselves around them, the things we did for entertainment, the things we do for education, the things we do for each other, would all show that our purpose in life is not self pleasure, self fullfilment, self satisfaction, instead it is for an audience of ONE.

This has made me think harder about what true worship is.

Can I worship God on Sunday morning if I live a life of 'un-worship" Monday through Saturday? Can I turn worship on and off at my will? Is it a feeling? Is it an emotion? Is it Sunday morning rituals?

To answer the first question, yes I can worship God on Sunday morning if I live a life of "un-worship" Monday through Saturday, but is it true worship? I don't think so.

To answer the other questions, I beleive the answer is "no". True worship is life. It is living for Christ in all that we do. Is Sunday morning worship special? Sure it is. But so is looking up at the stars at night and giving thanks to the maker of the stars. So is going to a childs softball game and enjoying all that God has made, the weather, the food, the yelling, the celebrating, the people all around us.

The way we live our lives is to be a sacrifce to God. That is a life of worship. To tie it all together, it is to do all the things I just mentioned, but doing it with the attitude that it is all a gift from God and that you are willing to offer it all back up to him at any time, because He is worthy. Because He is God. Because He is merciful to us.

Ok, I gotta go worship God now by picking my son up from school...hope to see some of you at worship sometime soon, maybe at a church service, or maybe at Wal-mart.

Pastor Dave

What Is Your Heart's Desire

2009-03-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was reading in Romans and I stopped at Romans 10:1.
Here Pauls says, "Brothers and sisters, my heqrt's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved."

It caused me to take a hard look at my life.

I asked myself, "Dave, what is your heart's desire?" For a long time it was to not have to be a bi-vocational pastor, so that I could devote myself full time to the work the Lord has given me. Now, there is nothing wrong with that. The Lord has given me a church to pastor, and I am to teach and to lead them as they journey on this road of faith.

Paul too had brothers and sisters he taught and led. He wrote letters to the churches about doctrine, about things they had right and things they had wrong. He wrote to those who he had mentored, and reccomended brothers and sisters as co-laborers in the work of the Lord.

And yet here he states that his heart's desire is to see his fellow Israelites saved.

I realized that my passion for the lost had slipped away somewhere on this journey of faith. I had misplaced it with study, teaching and preaching. All of those things are good and necessary, but they will all be done so much better once I get to glory.

Sharing my faith, leading people to the Lord is the only thing that has to be done now, before we get to eternity. I wonder how many believers will step into eternity, never having shared their faith in Jesus and never having led one person to the Lord. And then it will be too late. Too late for them to experince this, and too late for those who they did not take the time to share with.

Pray for me in this area. I am spending this weekend in prayer for the lost. For some specific friends and relatives, and for a boldness in my life to take the gospel wherever I go. I want not just boldness, but wisdom, kindness and compassion as well.

Don't get me wrong. I love pastoring. I love teaching the Word of God. I love preaching. But I have never had an experience that equals what it is like when you have the privledge and honor of leading someone to faith in Jesus.

I'ts time I get back in the battle. Maybe it is time for you too.

I close with the lyrics from a song by Steve Camp; Run To The Battle.

Run To The Battle

Some people want to live
Within the sound of chapel bells
But I want to run a mission
A yard from the gates of Hell
And with everyone you meet
I'll take them the gospel and share it well
And look around you as you hesitate
For another soul just fell

Let's run to the battle
Run to the battle

Do you have your armor on
We're in the middle of a raging war
We've been training for so long
Have we learned to use His sword?
We may not be ready
But we serve a mighty Lord
And He's made us more than conquerors
So what are you waiting for?

Let's run to the battle
We got to run, run to the battle

He has trampled down the enemy
And has given us the victory
When we pray we learn to see
That His army
We are marching on our knees

There'll be times when we grow weak
Let's keep our faith alive
Let your faces shine with glory
For He's helped us to survive
And in that final hour
When you feel like you're ready to die
Will you hear the trumpet sound
Will you hear the warrior cry

Run to the battle
We got to run, run to the battle

Ok, so there's that
Pastor Dave

Weight Loss-2nd Week Update

2009-03-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm now down a total of 6 pounds.

That's 2 pounds lost in the 2nd week.

It should have been more. It would have been more, but my flesh is so week...and my seasonal temptation was in the house...those little chocolate eggs with the hard candy shell by Cadbury!

Anyway, I refocused and put those little chocolate eggs behind me.

I've extened my workouts to include some push ups and aerobic stepping, in addition to walking for at least a half hour each day. My plans are to dust off the bike and start riding once I get in a little better shape.

Keep me in your prayers...I desire to live a long life in service to God, and the best way to do that is to be healthy.

Pastor Dave

Broken

2009-03-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

As the pastor of a small, but growing church, I am constantly revaluating my walk with the Lord. Like Paul said to Timothy, I want to be able to preach the gospel "in season and out". I want to be as close to Jesus as I can. Sometimes I crave intimacy with His so badly, I can taste it!

As I draw close to Him if I am not careful I can get to feeling pretty good about myslef and my life. I can began to feel as if I'm not all that bad, and that I am a reall asset to "team Jesus".

Thankfully, it usually right about that time that I my sin smacks me upside the head and helps me to realign my thinking!

I am a sinner. A sinner saved by grace.

As I tell people all the time, my identity is not as a sinner. My identity is as a child of God, a blood bought believer in Christ Jesus.

But my nature is still that of a sinner. My flesh wants to sin. As much as I crave to be close to Jesus, my flesh craves sin. When it comes to my sinful desires I sometimes think I hear Gollum whispering, "My precious, I wants it!" and then I realize that the voice is not that of Gollum, it is mine.

These thoughts and more were going through my mind when I was readin in Mark the 14th chapteer today. I read this verse about the woman who poured the costly perfume on Jesus. In verse 3 it reads, "While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table inthe home of a man known as Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head."

The verse goes on about how the disciples thought what the woman did was a waste, and the Jesus rebukes them. This time though, I reflected on one little word in this verse.

Broke.

In order for the perfume to annoint Jesus, the jar had to be broken. The perfume was still the same in or out of the jar. In order to be usefull though, the jar had to be broken.

I started crying.

I realized I needed to be broken again.

I realized I had grown complacent, a little hard, a little smug, a lot distracted, and way too lazy in my Christian life.

And so tonight, all alone in my bedroom, I became broken.

I cried out to be renewed and revived.

I recall years ago when my oldest daughter Victoria had a toy that she really loved. I don't even remember what the toy was, but somehow it got broken. It was broken beyond repair and so I told her that I had to throw it away. She began to cry and to beg me not to throw it away. I tried to tell her that it would not work, and that she might even get hurt trying to play with it the way it was. With tears running down her face she told me, "Give it to Papa. Papa can fix anything!" Now, her Papa could fix almost anything, but even this toy was beyond what he could do, and so I had to tell her so and throw the toy away.

I tell that story because in reality it is about you and I. It is about everyone.

We are all broken. Broken beyond repair. Good for nothing but the garbage pail.

But then Jesus comes along, and we trust in, rely on, and cling to Him for salvation, for grace, for mercy, for peace. By being born again, we then are children of the Father, joint heirs with Christ.

And when our lives get broken again, we can take it to our Abba, Father, Daddy, Papa. He REALLY CAN FIX ANYTHING!

You see this is the beautiful thing about where I found myself tonight. Jesus broke me, but then Papa fixed me. He healed me. He set my feet back on the right path, and renewed my heart.

And He'll do the same for you, but before you can be "fixed", you have to admit you are broken.

And if like me, you have been broken before, and now you feel far away for the Lord, your heart is hardened to the plight of the lost, the poor, the people who will go to bed tonight and wake up in hell tomorrow, ask the Lord to break you...it's ok...Papa can fix anything.

Ok, so there's that.
Pastor Dave

Frustration Update

2009-03-04T09:24:00.000-08:00

A week ago I posted how I was frustated with my weight.

Well, here is the weekly update.

After some false starts, I got going with walking and with changing my diet.

The result is a drop of four pounds in a week.

At first it didn't seem like much for all the change, but then I began to think in terms of many weeks, not just one week. Over time, the pounds lost each week will add up, until I reach my goal.

I also had to remind myself that I didn't put this weight on overnight and it's certainly not going to come off overnight.

All in all, I am quite pleased with the first week of my new lifestyle change, and I want to give all the praise to Jesus...I had to turn to Him for strenght several times so that I did not give in to the old habits of yesterday.

I will continue to post the rest of this week and keep you updated each week as to my progress.

Ok, so there's that.
Pastor Dave

It's A Small World After All

2009-02-26T22:29:00.000-08:00

Just a quick blog today concerning facebook.

I had the privilege and honor of praying with someone I "met" on facebook.
They live in the same area as where I grew up, and are dealing with a child that has a type of cancer. I had posted something about praying for one of my children, and in an instant message with one another, we prayed for each other and for our children.

It was an amazing thing. I felt the power of God while the prayers were being posted back and forth.

It just goes to show that although the internet (along with much of our modern technlogoy) can be used for evil, it can also be used by a Holy God and His children to lift up and encourage one another.

Honestly, I felt as if this was a little slice of what heaven will be like. People from all times and places, coming together as brothers and sisters in the Lord, worshiping and working together, as if we had known each other for years.

I can hardly wait for that day to arrive.

But until then, I will used Facebook to reach out and minister to those who I have never "met", and yet will spend eternity with.

I guess the song was right, it is a small world after all.

Ok, so there's that.
Pastor Dave

Frustration

2009-02-25T17:37:00.000-08:00

How many of you get frustrated?

I have been battling frustration all day long.

I am supposed to teach a lesson at church in about an hour and a half, and I don't know how I'm going to do it.

I am frustrated.

I am frustrated about my weight and my inability to lose it.

I know, it's a strange subject for this blog, but it's my blog, so I'm going to write about it.

I am making a thought out, concentrated effort to lose the weight, once and for all.

If anyone is still reading, I ask for your help. Pray for me. Send me an email of encouragement, or suggesttion.

I will hold myslef accountable to the blog and post weekly updates.

I started out weighing 256 pounds. My goal is to hit 185. Believe me, this is a good weight for me. I'm way too short to weigh what I do.

I know that my weight is unhealthy, and even more important to me, it is not pleasing to God, my Father and sustainer of my life.

I give this issue to you today Lord.

Pastor Dave

Can Anything Good Come From San Quentin?

2009-02-24T11:41:00.000-08:00

When Nathaniel was told by his friend Phillip that he had found the Messiah and that the Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth, Nathaniel replied, "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip. (John 1:46)

I thought of this verse as I finished reading the book, "Lessons From San Quentin" by Bill Dallas. It is subtitled, "Everything I Needed To Know About Life I Learned In Prison".

How could anything good come out of San Quentin (other than a Johnny Cash song & album)?

You'll just have to read the book.

I was attracted to the book because I thought it was a biography, and I love reading biographies of men and women who share their stories of their life before and after becoming a christian.

Boy, was I in for a surprise!

Although the book contains biographical information on Bill Dallas, the book is not a biography.

What do I mean by that....read the book!

This book has convicted me in areas of my life with Christ that I thought I already had "under control". It has made me re-evaluate just what it means to be a believer in the very prosperous United States of America.

How did it do that, you ask?

You'll have to read the book.

This book reads quick, but it does not offer a quick fix, or a lot of spiritual cliches. It will make you think, and think again. It will make you stop, or at least slow down and ponder the direction your life is going, and not just where it is going, by why it is going in that direction.

Bill became a believer in Jesus before he went to San Quentin, but he did not become the believer God wanted him to be until after he was in San Quentin prison, as prisoner number H64741.

How did that happen?

You'll have to read the book.

Pick up a copy of this book, read it, absorb it, and thank God that you are able to learn the lessons that Bill Dallas learned, but without having to go to San Quentin.

Ok, so there's that.
Pastor Dave

The More Things Change....

2009-02-23T20:56:00.001-08:00

Do you remember the saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same"?

I have found that to be true in trying to keep up this blog. I have the best of intentions, and yet life keeps getting in the way.

So, once again I am posting after a long break. I would like to say that I will FINALLY start posting daily....but, even the best laid plans, etc. etc. etc.

Anyway, I want to share something I read online today by John Piper.

I will not add any extra comments or anything, just know that this excerpt from one of his sermons is powerful.

Let me know what you think.

And now, here's John Piper:

"But the hard truth is that most Christians don’t pray very much. They pray at meals—unless they’re still stuck in the adolescent stage of calling good habits legalism. They whisper prayers before tough meetings. They say something brief as they crawl into bed. But very few set aside set times to pray alone—and fewer still think it is worth it to meet with others to pray. And we wonder why our faith is weak. And our hope is feeble. And our passion for Christ is small.

And meanwhile the devil is whispering all over this room: “The pastor is getting legalistic now. He’s starting to use guilt now. He’s getting out the law now.” To which I say, “To hell with the devil and all of his destructive lies. Be free!” Is it true that intentional, regular, disciplined, earnest, Christ-dependent, God-glorifying, joyful prayer is a duty? . . . Is it a discipline?

You can call it that.

It’s a duty the way it’s the duty of a scuba diver to put on his air tank before he goes underwater.

It’s a duty the way pilots listen to air traffic controllers.

It’s a duty the way soldiers in combat clean their rifles and load their guns.

It’s a duty the way hungry people eat food.

It’s a duty the way thirsty people drink water.

It’s a duty the way a deaf man puts in his hearing aid.

It’s a duty the way a diabetic takes his insulin.

It’s a duty the way Pooh Bear looks for honey.

It’s a duty the way pirates look for gold.

I hate the devil, and the way he is killing some of you by persuading you it is legalistic to be as regular in your prayers as you are in your eating and sleeping and Internet use. Do you not see what a sucker he his making out of you? He is laughing up his sleeve at how easy it is to deceive Christians about the importance of prayer.

God has given us means of grace. If we do not use them to their fullest advantage, our complaints against him will not stick. If we don’t eat, we starve. If we don’t drink, we get dehydrated. If we don’t exercise a muscle, it atrophies. If we don’t breathe, we suffocate. And just as there are physical means of life, there spiritual are means of grace. Resist the lies of the devil in 2009, and get a bigger breakthrough in prayer than you’ve ever had."

Ok, so there's that.

Pastor Dave

Job & Facebook

2009-02-11T08:40:00.000-08:00

While reading in the book of Job this morning my mind drifted to my Facebook account. This might seem strange to some of you, but I will explain in just a minute.

In case you are unaware of what Facebook is, here is a consicse definition that I found in Wikipedia:

"Facebook, formerly The Facebook, is a free-access social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves."

Or, as one of my friends have said, "Facebook is MySpace for adults."

Now, on to the book of Job and the Facebook connection.

I was reading in Job chapters 7,8 & 9 and these verses jumped out at me:

Job 7:7: "Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath..."

Job 9:25: "My days are swifter than a runner..."

Job 9:26: "They skim past like boats of papyrus, like eagles swooping down on their prey."

Job has come to the conclusion here that life goes by very quickly. One day your'e young and the next you're old. One day you have a lifetime ahead of you and the next day you're reading obituaries of people who are your age, or younger.

Now, what does this have to do with Facebook?

Well, since I have been on Facebook I have reconnected to several of my childhood friends and people I knew in High School. One person I found I had first become friends with when I was six years old. Another now lives in Spain. Some have battled cancer and survived. Others have gone through painful divorces. Many are still happily married and are now grandparents!! Although some of the people I have reconected with on Facebook were not part of the crowd that I ran around with in High School, we all knew of each other, and the cliques that were so important back them seemed to have vanished. I have enjoyed getting to know some people that I only remember seeing at school back then, but never interacting with.

So while reading Job and his reflection on the brievity of life, I thought of all those years ago, with friends that I have reconected with on Facebook. We could not have imagined being grandparents, battling cancer, the hurt caused by divorce, and all the things that life throws at you as the years go by.

But one of the greatest joys has been finding the number of friends that are now believers in Christ. I knew the Lord in my High School days, but I was not really walking with the Lord back then. What a rush it has been to read of testimonies of people that I knew back then and will now be able to spend eternity with!

And this brings me to the conclusion of this blog. There is life after High School. There is life after marriage. There is life after children. There is life after divorce. There is life after cancer.

There is even life after death.

Yep. You read that right. There is life after death.

You will either live with Jesus forever, or separated from Him forever in hell.

The choice is up to you.

I will be 52 years old this year. Job was right. Life goes by fast. Soon it will be over. The time to choose is now.

Now, I'm going to go check out my facebook page and see what my friends are doing.

Pastor Dave

Pigs, Radical Faith & The Harvest

2009-02-10T21:46:00.000-08:00

I was reading Matthew chapters 8 & 9 today in my daily quiet time....and was struck by three sections that don't really seem to connect with each other, and yet they do.

In Matthew 8:28 - 34 we read of Jesus driving out the demons from two demon posessed men. He then sends the demons into a herd of pigs and it drives the pigs crazy and they run down the steep hill, like jumping off of a cliff, into the water and they drown.

Now here is the part I want you to read for yourself: "Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region."

They were told EVERYTHING, including what had happened to the demon posessed men. Were they happy about that? Did they check out these men to see how they were? Nope. Not a word about how they were healed...nada...zip...a big fat zero.

What did they care about? Their pigs. They were upset that Jesus had wrecked their way of making a living...they didn't care about the men that were changed and in their right mind...they wanted their pigs back and they wanted Jesus to leave, and to leave quickly, they were begging him to go.

Now jump to Matthew chapter 9 and we read where Jesus had healed two blind men and drove a demon out of a man that had caused the man to be unable to talk. The reaction was a little bit different there, the people said in verse 33, "...Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."

And now if you will kindly jump just a few verses ahead, Jesus is talking to his disciples about the need for people to go out and take the healing message of the gospel to the world. In chapter 9, verses 37 & 38 Jesus says, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Now let me pull these three seemingly unrelated passges of scripture together.

First, the pigs. You see I realzied I had been guilty of sometimes preferring the pigs to Jesus. I like my stuff, my time to do as I please. I don't always like the idea of having to give stuff up in order to serve Jesus, in order to share my faith so that someones life might be changed for eternity. I have stuff to do, I have stuff to enjoy, I have stuff to watch, I have stuff to take care of.

No I don't. When my stuff, my pigs come before Jesus and my love for the lost, then my stuff has me. This is wrong. This is sin.

What would happen if I would get rid of the suff/pigs in my life? Maybe someone would start saying about my walk with Christ, "Wow...we've never seen anyone like that around here?" But that is too limiting, and too easy for me to fall into the sin of pride, so better yet, what if I put the lost before my stuff/pigs (I think from here on out I'm just going to refer to them as my "stuffed pigs"), maybe people would begin to say about my church and my community, "Wow....nothing like this has ever happened here before".

I'm just foolish enough to believe that something like that could happen. I believe it could happen because according to what Jesus said in the last scriptures I read, the problem isn't that we are lacking in people that are ready to hear and respond to the life changing power of the gospel....the problem is that there aren't enough people to take the gospel to them. In fact, according to what Jesus said, the people are ripe for the harvest...they are right there...on the edge of chosing Christ.

Maybe there isn't enough people to take the gospel to them, not because of a lack of people, but a lack of willing people. A lack of people willing to get rid of the stuffed pigs in their life and to live a radical life for Christ that causes people to respond to the gospel in a way that whole communities are impacted.

Please don't misunderstand me here. I'm not pointing any fingers at anyone except myself. I know what distracts me. I know what sin easily trips me up. I know just what stuff I covet. You will have to look at your own life, your own stuff, your own heart.

But for me, I think it's time to throw some stuffed pigs off the cliff and drown them.

Ok, so there's that.

Pastor Dave

Prodigal Children

2009-01-28T22:18:00.000-08:00

I was reading about the prodigal in Luke 15, and it seems as if the focus of this story is either on the prodigal himself and how he finally returns, or on the older brother who does not appreciate that his lost brother has come back.

I kept thinking about the Dad. How long did he have to wait? What did he do in between the time his son left and the time his son came back? How did he feel when he heard news about how his son was behaving?

I guess I was focusing on the Dad because my wife and I have a prodigal child.

We have been hurt more than you can imagine, and wonder how long this will go on. We continue to hear things that just break our hearts.

We pray. Everyday. Several times a day.

The prodigal son in the scriptures had to be reduced to living and eating with the pigs before he came to his senses and returned to his Father. I cannot help but wonder what this means when it comes to our child. Who will be the pigs? What form will the pigpen take?

And of course the most important question....when will our child come back?

We pray for our child to come back to the Lord. To return to the love they once had.

I have to be honest, that at times it feels as if our child will never return.

I have to remind myself, that I too was a prodigal. From the age of 15 to 25 I rebelled against the Lord and His ways. I did many things that I am ashamed of today. Somewhere along the way, I found myself in the pigpen, with the pigs. Oh, they didn't look like pigs, but you can dress a pig up in a tuxedo, and it's still a pig. You can spray all the lysol you want in the pigpen and it is still going to stink. It was not an easy road back, or an easy life since I have been back. When you spend time in the pigpen of life, there are consequences. Some of those consequences I have been paying for now for over 25 years. But I wouldn't trade my relationship with Jesus now for anything this world has to offer.

So I know there is hope.

So join me in prayer for my prodigal. Leave me a comment or send me an email about your prodigal story....and the next time you read Luke 15.....remember the Dad.

Time to go,
Pastor Dave

What Is A Healthy Church Member?

2009-01-27T21:22:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading a little book called, "What Is A Healthy Church Memeber?" by Thabiti M. Anyabwile and published by Crossway.

Let me first say that I believe every church member should read this book. Too many people see joining a church the same as joining a club, or civic organization, and nothing could be further from the truth.

I also believe that if every church member would read this book, and apply what is found in it's pages, we would have not only healthy church members, but as a result, healthy churches.

Imagine a church that stood for truth, preached the gospel, cared for one another and those without Christ, supported the pastor instead of working against him, understood tithing, disicpleship, prayer, the need for discipline and for genuine salvation. We would once again be like the church in the book of Acts, "turning the world upside down" with the truth that has been entrusted to us.

My only complaint is to be found in the chapter, "A Healthy Church Member Is A Committed Member". Now, I agree with the statement that the chapter makes, but in this chapter the author attempts to explain why you should join a local church, and in doing so, he comes across very "baptistic"....which he would seeing as he is a pastor of a baptist church. Now I don't say this in a derogatroy way, as I too am a pastor of a baptist church. What I am trying to say is that unless you have a baptist background, or the background of another church that teaches church membership, I don't think the arguments for church membership in this chapter are all that convincing.

The reason I say that is that we have had a lot of people come to our church that don't believe in joining a church. Some have done so because we require anyone who holds an office to be a member of the church, but many have not. In our membership class I have used the same arguments put forth by Mr. Anyabwile in his book, and while some have let me know that they now understand what a church member really is and now agree with joining a church, some still do not see the reason, and have discussed why they beleive what they do.

Now let me be clear here. These are not "fly by night" believers. Most of them come on a more regular basis than many of the members, and give tithes and offerings on a regular basis. Some are graduates of Bible schools, and all have a deep personal relationship with Jesus. But they just don't see joining a church as a biblical concept.

I'm just curious is anyone else has come across this issue, and if so, I would welcome feedback on how you dealt with this issue.

In the meantime, go out and get this book. Share it with your brothers and sisters. See what they think. I'm thinking of using the book to teach a series of lessons at our midweek service. If you pick it up and read it, let me know what you think. It's a short book, only 120 pages, including the appendix.

That's all for now,
Pastor Dave

A Blogging We Will Go

2009-01-26T08:09:00.001-08:00

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away......well, not exactly, but way back on December 29, 2006 I began this blog. I had great intentions of posting often, and of recording a journey of my reading through the Bible in a year.

But, being a bi-vocational pastor of a growing church, it was much harder to find the time to post on a regular basis than I thought it would be.

And that brings us to this post. As of the 24th of January, I walked away from my "tent-making" job and am no longer bi-vocational. I am devoting my life now to pastoring Loma Rica Baptist Church, spreading the gospel and encouraging my brothers and sisters wherever and whenever I can.

My goal is to post every day....even if it is just little post about what kind of a day I had the day before. I hope to have more pictures, video, and updated my links and anything else I can do to make the blog more interesting.

This will be a good way for the church I pastor to keep in daily contact with me, and I pray that this blog will be a way to spread the gospel and encourage the body of Christ. I also hope that as the world keeps getting smaller with the advancing technology we have at our disposal, that this blog might be used to conect the body of Christ from one part of the globe to the other.

Comments, questions, suggestions and criticism (play nice) are always welcome.

Ok, so there's that.

Pastor Dave

A Passion For God - Part 2

2008-12-30T19:29:00.000-08:00

I finished reading the book on Tozer today.

I don't have words that can express how I feel after reading this book.
I finished it on one of my breaks at work, and afterwards I wanted to just crawl under my desk and cry and pray and ask God that I might know Him even more.

A. W. Tozer had a passion for many things when it came to ministry. He had a passion to preach, to teach, to mentor, and to see souls saved. All of this was born out of his greatest passion, and that was to know God more and more, never being satisfied with where he was at, but always striving for a deeper knowing of God the Father, God the Son & God the Holy Spirit.

This biography of this man of God made me re-evaluate my relationship with my Lord and Savior. I realized I have spent much time knowing about God, knowing of God and precious little time knowing God.

My ramblings on this blog cannot do justice to what the book did for me as I read it. I learned of a man who spent time pursuing his relationship with God in a manner that I don't know of anyone else doing.

The book does not paint a "candy-coated" picture of Tozer. His faults are there, in black and white, and they stand out even more so in contrast to the picture of his heart and devotion to God.

Here are a couple of random quotes from the book:
"...he(Tozer) had come to see that most people (including Christians) had such a low view of God that they felt little desire to pursue Him."

"The need today is for leaders identified so fully with the cross-carrying Jesus that they have no life apart from Him, no ambition except to make Him appear glorious in the sight of men. Such as these will seek no place, no reputation. Christ Himself will be their glory and their all."

I think of so many today, who say they are called to preach the gospel, but are more concerned with building a ministry. Tozer believed that if we would pursue the depth of our ministry through our relationship with God, that God would take care of the breadth of our ministry.

I cannot help but wonder what would happen if we had a hundred men like Tozer today.

I encourage every beleiver to read this book about this amazing man of God. I believe you will not be the same when you finish.

I am going back to reading his book, "The Pursuit Of God" again...and I plan on diving into the Word of God more often, for longer periods of time, along with as much time on my knees as I can.

I would like to close with a quote from the introduction to his book, "The Pursuit Of God" that Tozer himself wrote.

"...if my fire is not large it is yet real, and there may be those who can light their candle at it's flame."

I pray for a passion for God as Tozer had, to be set ablaze with the love of Christ, and that others might catch fire with me.

In pursuit of God,
Pastor Dave

A Passion For God

2008-12-27T21:09:00.000-08:00

I've been reading a few books by A.W. Tozer lately.

And conviction seems to follow soon after I finish a book.

Tozer died in 1963, and so his books are written in a style that is a bit different than today, and they take a little work to get through, but they are worth it. He pulls no punches and I have found myself on my knees both in my heart, and physically on the ground, after reading his books.

I desired to know more about this man who wholly surrendered his life to God, and had briefly mentioned something to my wife. Being the observant wife that she is, she noticed that I had been reading books by Tozer, and this along with a couple of brief comments about how they impacted my life, led to me opening a gift from my beautiful wife of 23 years on Christmas morning. That gift was the book, "A Passion For God: The Spiritual Journey Of A.W. Tozer" by Lyle Dorsett.

One of the amazing things I learned is that Tozer did not grow up in a Christian home, and had no Christian influence in his life. He was led to the Lord after hearing two different street preachers preach the gospel, and so alone in his bedroom, he prayed to the Lord for salvation. He was the only beleiver in his family for many years.

Now, I am only on page 68 in this book (which only has 189 pages, so I hope to finish it by tomorrow), and so I cannot give a complete review, but at this point I am deeply moved by the story of Tozer's conversion and commitment to the Lord. I want to just leave you with a portion of the prayer that Tozer prayed and wrote after he was ordained as a minister of the gospel.

If there are any preachers reading this blog, take note of this prayer. The heart of this prayer should be the heart of any man who feels called of God to preach the gospel.

"O Lord i have heard Thy voice adn was afraid. Thou has called me to an awesome task...Lord Jesus, I come to Thee for spiritual preparation. Lay Thy hand upon me. Annoint me with the oil of the New Testament prophet. Frobid that I should become a religous scribe....Save me from the curse that lies dark across the face of the modern clergy, the curse of compromise, of imitiation, of professionalixm. Save me from the error of judging a church by its size, its popularity or the amount of its yearly offering....Save me from the bondage to things. Let me not waste my days puttering around the house. Lay thy terror upon me, O God, and drive me to the place of prayer where I may wrestle with principalities and powers and the rulers of darkness of this world. Deliver me from overeating and late sleeping. Teach me self-discipline that I may be a good soldier for Jesus Christ....if in thy permissive providence honor should come to me from Thy church, let me not forget in that hour that I am unworthy of the least of Thy mercies, and that if men knew me as intimately as I know myself they would withold their honors or bestow them upon others more worthy to receive them.....I concecrate my remaining days to Thee; let them be many or few, as Thou wilt....I am Thy servant to do Thy will, and tht will is sweeter to me than position or riches or fame and i choose it above all things on earth or in heaven....let me never forget that I am but a man of dust and ashes, a man with all the natural faults and passions that plague the reace of men. I pray Thee therefore, my Lord and Redeemer, save me from myself and from all the injuries I may do myself while trying to be a blessing to others. Fill me with Thy power by the Holy Spirit, and I will go in Thy strength and tell of Thy righteousness....Then, dear Lord, when I am old and weary and too tired to go on, have a place ready for me above, and make me to be numbered with Thy saints in glory everlsting. Amen."

All I can say is, "Wow!"

Even now, after already having read this prayer by Tozer once today, I am moved all over again. This prayer took place on August 18, 1920. I beleive that the heart of this man of God in this prayer is needed even more today in the heart of every preacher of the gospel.

I encourage you to pick up some books by Tozer, and devour them.

Some of the books he wrote are:

The Pursuit Of God
God's Pursuit Of Man
The Radical Cross
The Attributes Of God (2 volumes, with study guide)

That should keep you busy for awhile.

And now, I'm off to spend some time in prayer, as I imitate my brother Aiden W. Tozer, as he imitated Paul, and as Paul imitated Christ.

Pastor Dave

Songs For The Shepherd

2008-12-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

Although there have been several Keith Green albums released since his death, "Songs For The Shepherd" was the last recording released in his lifetime.

I remember I was living in South Lake Tahoe at the time the record was released. I went to the only place you could buy christian music in Tahoe (at least back then), the local Calvary Chapel church, which had a tiny bookstore. Of course, like his previous album, I could have written Keith and gotten it for free, but I could afford to pay for it, and so I did.

I got home, put it on the stereo and was a bit disapointed. Nothing seemed to reach out and grab me as his music had before. I put the album up and did not listen to it for many, many years later.

I don't know exactly why, but over the years it has grown on me to where I consider it to be my favorite of all of Keiths' albums. Maybe it took some time in the pigpen of the world before I could appreciate it. Maybe it was that when it was released, albums of praise and worship type music were not very big. Whatever the case, I am absolutely in love with this album today.

Three of the songs are adaptations of scripture from the book of Psalms. One is a cover of the old hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy". It also contains what I feel is the best song that his wife Melody has ever written, "There Is A Redeemer".

Here are some of the lyrics to this album:

"Draw Me"
Draw me, oh, draw me, please draw me, my Jesus.
Into your presence, where I cannot lie.
My soul is so thirsty, I cannot endure it.
And if I can't get closer, I surely will die.

Take me, oh take me, please take me, my Jesus.
Quickly, before I forget that I'm lost.
For so many times, my mind has deceived me,
That I really don't have to carry the cross.

I just need to know how to pray.
My wicked desires block the way,
Sometimes i have grieved you away,
I don't want to do that today.

Help me, oh help me, please help me my Jesus.
Save me from sins that I thought were all gone.
Kill me with kindness, and break through my blindness.
I know till i'm dead, I can never live on.

I just need to know how to pray.
My wicked desires block the way,
Sometimes i have grieved you away,
I don't want to do that today.

Draw me, oh draw me, please draw me my Jesus.

"There Is A Redeemer"
There is a redeemer, Jesus, God's own Son,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One,

Jesus my redeemer, Name above all names,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah,Oh, for sinners slain.

Thank you oh my father, For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit, 'Til the work on Earth is done.

When I stand in Glory, I will see His face,
And there I'll serve my King forever, In that Holy Place.

Thank you oh my father, For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit, 'Til the work on Earth is done.

There is a redeemer, Jesus, God's own Son,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One,

Thank you oh my father, For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit, 'Til the work on Earth is done.

And leaving Your Spirit, 'Till the work on Earth is done.

"Until That Final Day"
My flesh is tired of seeking God,
But on my knees I'll stay.
I want to be a pleasing child,
Until that final day.

My mind is full of many thoughts
That clutter and confuse.
But standing firm, I will prevail,
In faith that I'll be used.

Amen! I'm asking once again.
Won't you help me my friend, Lord Jesus.
Holy Lord Spirit, set us free,
From chains we cannot see,
Come release us.

I wrestle not with flesh and blood,
My fight is with the one,
Who lost the keys of hell and death,
To God's most precious son.

One sleepless night of anguished prayer,
I triumphed over sin.
One battle in the Holy war,
God's promised me to win.

Amen! I'm asking once again.
Won't you help me my friend, Lord Jesus.
Holy, Lord Spirit, set us free,
From chains we cannot see,
Come release us.

My flesh is tired of seeking God,
But on my knees I'll stay.
I want to be a pleasing child,
Until that final day.

Keith Green died in July, 1982, and while some might say I'm being over-dramatic here, I feel as if a large part of the integrity of christian music died with him. I know of very few like him today, and the christian music industry has turned into a monster of frankenstien proportions.

I would reccomend you pick up the latest Keith Green albums, especially if you don't have any of his music. There is a new Greatest Hits cd:

And a live cd, called "The Live Experience",

that also comes in a deluxe edition with a dvd, which in my opinion is worth far more than the few extra dollars it will cost over the cd only edition.

In closing, if you like the music of Keith Green, I would reccomend you check out the music of Steve Camp, Rich Mullins and Todd Agnew. All three of these artists seem to have a little bit of Keith in their music.

Until the day when I can hear Keith sing at the foot of Jesus myself, I will continue to listen to his music and enjoy it as it convicts me, inspires me, moves me and energizes me to serve my Lord and my God with all that I am.

Because of Him,
Pastor Dave

So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt

2008-12-08T06:56:00.000-08:00

Ok, it has taken a few days, but here we go in the continuing series of posts about Keith Green and his music.

I have just finished the newest edition of the biography of Keith written by his wife Melody. This is an expanded and updated edition, and it is excellent. Even though this is the fourth time I have read this book, and I knew how it was going to end, it still moves me emotionally every time I read it. This is a book that needs to be read by every believer who wants to fully commit themselves to their Lord and Savior.

Ok, now on to the music.

The third album that Keith recorded was called, "So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt".

The most unique thing about this album was this: Keith gave it to you for whatever you could afford. Even if you couldn't afford anything, he would send it to you for free. At his concerts he would let you have it for whatever you could afford, even if it was nothing. You couldn't find it in the bookstores at first. All they would have is an order blank, you filled out the order blank, sent it in with whatever you could afford (even if it was nothing) and Keith would send you the album and send the bookstore a dollar for having the order forms available. Even if you could not afford to pay Keith anything for the album, he still sent the bookstore a dollar for carrying the order forms. Eventually he let the bookstores carry the album, but only with a sticker that said, "If you cannot afford to pay the full price for this record, write to the address below and send whatever you can afford to pay, even if it is nothing and we will mail you an album." When interviewed by a christian magazine who gave Keith a hard time for giving the album away, he was confronted with a statement along the lines of, "Well, if they can't afford to buy the album, they probably don't have anything to listen to it on anyway, what will you do about that?" Keith's response was that while he would not buy anyone a fancy sound system, he would send someone a protable cassette player and a tape (for whatever they could afford....even if it was nothing) in order for them to be ministered to by the music. Is that a radical idea or what? Does anybody do this in music ministry today? While pastors are paid a salary (hopefully), the salary is paid out of the offerings the church collects, which is strictly on a voluntary basis. While that is considered the norm for pastors, Keith is the only christian musician I have ever known who did this with his music.

As for the songs on the album, they reflected the growth and maturity that comes with walking with the Lord. Keith was still very outspoken, but he was starting to understand the grace of God and how that works in our lives as beleivers. This was reflected in many of the songs, and yet he still confronted lukewarm and apathetic beleivers.

This quickly became my favorite Keith Green album of all, and stayed that way until just recently (more about that, hopefully, tomorrow). Just a little bit of trivia about this album, it featured a rock legend, who said that he loved to listen to Keith's albums. He played harmonica on at least one song, and maybe more. His name is Robert Zimmerman, but you probably know him better as Bob Dylan.

Anyway, here are some lyrics to some of the songs on this album.

"So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt"

"So you wanna go back to Egypt
Where it's warm and secure
Are sorry you bought the one way ticket
When you thought you were sure
You wanted to live in the land of promise
But now it's getting so hard
Are you sorry you're out here in the desert
Instead of your own back yard

Eating leaks and onions by the Nile
Ooh what breath for dining out in style
Ooh, my life's on the skids
Building the pyramids

Well there's nothing do but travel
And we sure travel a lot
'Cause it's hard to keep your feet from moving
When the sand gets so hot
And in the morning it's manna hotcakes
We snack on manna all day
And we sure had a winner last night for dinner
Flaming manna souffle

Well we once complained for something new to munch
The ground opened up and had some of us for lunch
Ooh, such fire and smoke
Can't God even take a joke? Huh? NO!

So you wanna to back to Egypt
Where your friends wait for you
You can throw a big party and tell the whole gang
Of what they said was all true
And this Moses acts like a big shot
Who does he think he is?
Well it's true that God works lots of miracles
But Moses thinks they're all his

Oh we're having so much trouble even now
Why'd he get so mad about that c-c-c-cow (that golded calf)
Moses seems rather idle
He just sits aound, he just sits around and writes the Bible!

Oh, Moses, put down your pen!
What? Oh no, manna again?

Oh, manna waffles....
Manna burgers
Manna bagels
Fillet of manna
Manna-cotti?
BaManna bread!"

"You Love The World (And You're Avoiding Me)"

"I want you here with me.
But you've been keeping other company.
You can't sit still, it's plain to see.
You love the world and you're avoiding me.

My word sits there upon your desk.
But you love your books and magazines the best.
Prefer the light of your TV.
You love the world, and you're avoiding me.

You used to pray, you were so brave.
Now you can't keep even one appointment we've made.
Oh I gave my blood, to save you life.
Tell me, tell me is it right?
Will you leave me here along again tonight?

Well I love you, still more and more.
But you're fighting everything I'm working for.
You're acting like my enemy.
You love the world and you're avoiding me.

These other loves, they're hurting you.
If you end up losing me, then what will you do?
Oh, I gave my blood, to save your life.
Tell me, tell me is it right?
Will you leave me here alone again tonight?

Well, I want you, here with me.
But you've been keeping other company.
Prefer the light, of your TV.
You love the world, and you're avoiding me.
You love the world, you love the world,
You love the world and you're avoiding me.
Oh, you love the world.
You love the world and you're avoiding me."

"I Want To Be More Like Jesus"

"As each day passes by,
I feel my love run dry.
I get so weary, worn,
And tossed around in the storm.
Well I'm blind to all his needs,
And I'm tired of planting seeds.
I seem to have a wealth,
Of so many thoughts about myself.

I want to, I need to, be more like jesus.
I want to, I need to, be more like him.

Our father's will was done,
By giving us his son,
Who paid the highest cost,
To point us to the cross.
And when I think of him,
Taking on the whole world's sin,
I take one look at me,
Compared to what I'm called to be.

I want to, I need to, be more like jesus.
I want to, I need to, be more like him.
Remember, there's no greater love,
Then to lay down your life for a friend.

The end of all my prayers,
Is to care like my lord cares.
My one and only goal,
His image in my soul.
Yes my weakness is revealed,
When by his stripes I'm healed.
He's faithful and he's true,
To complete the work he begins in you."

"Lies"

"When I was young I used to believe everything that I heard, just what I heard.
But now the only thing that I can believe is god's word, his holy word.
But even now my doubts will open up for me a world that I just despise.
And then the shades come down, the light turn off,
And I'm left alone with my helpless cries.
When I hear all his lies. all of the devil's wicked lies.
If you believe and your faith just dies.
Don't you be a fool, don't you even open up,
Or expose yourself to just one of his wicked lies.

I want to go around the world and prove jesus lives, you know he lives.
And we're not only friends, we're family, we're relatives, relatives.
But when I'm far from home and so alone, and my imagined fears get so oversized.
That's when I listen to the one no one should listen to, and get fooled by his disguise.
Feeling weak from his lies, all of his bad wicked lies,
If you believe and your faith just dies.
Don't you get fooled, don't you even open up,
Or expose yourself to just one of his wicked lies.

If you're well read, you probably know how the story goes.
That wolf can look so good especially dressed in the right clothes, the wooly clothes.
And as he starts to knit the counterfeit he'll totally make you feel like you're paralyzed.
He'll keep you spun around and looking down,
Just when you should be looking straight to the skies.
Pleading help from his lies, all of the devil's wicked lies.
If you believe and your faith just dies.
Don't you be a fool, don't you even open up, or expose yourself,
To one of his wicked lies, to one of his wicked lies."

"Romans VII"

"The very things I hate, I end up doing,
The things I want to do, I just don't do.
Lord it seems do sad, why am I so bad?
When in my heart I only want to be like you.

The very ones I love I end up hurting,
The ones I want to help I pass right by.
Now I want to be, finally set free
The grace you've shown, the love I've known,
Please let it shine through me.

I want to love them, the way you do,
I want to serve them, by serving you

Lord how I know your tender heart must be broken,
By all those unkept promises I've made,
The question still prevails, please take away the doubt,
About how you forgive, and still you live inside when I fail

I want to love them all, the way you do,
I want to serve them, by serving you.
I want to be like you - Jesus I do

I want to love them all, the way you do,
I want to serve them, by serving you."

And lastly, here is my all time favorite Keith Green song. I have posted the lyrics on another blog here back in April 2007. I'll share the story behind why this song is so important to me at a future date. But the bottom line is this, without the grace of God, we are all hopeless. Our salvation is one huge, enormous, gigantic, unfathomable act of grace.

"Grace By Which I Stand"

"Lord, the feelings are not the same,
I guess I'm older, I guess I've changed.
And how I wish it had been explained, that as you're growing you must remember,
That nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus.
I know that I would surely fall away, except for grace, by which I'm saved.
Lord, I remember that special way,
I vowed to serve you, when it was brand new.
But like Peter, I can't even watch and pray, one hour with you,
And I bet, I could deny you too.

But nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus.
I'm sure that my whole life would waste away, except for grace, by which I'm saved.
But nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus.
I know that I would surely fall away, except for grace, by which I'm saved."

If things go well, tomorrow I will post about the last album that was released before Keith was taken home to be with Jesus. "Songs For The Shepherd" was released April 12, 1982 and Keith along with two of his children and several others would die in a plane crash just a few months later on July 28, 1982.

Pastor Dave

No Compromise

2008-11-30T19:07:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading chapter four in the new updated & expanded edition of the book about Keith Green. Even though this is my fourth reading of this book, all I can say is "WHEW!"

What an intense person Keith was. His passion for searching for the truth was intense. He kept plowing through all of the mystical, religious garbage of the world, never satisfied, always searching for the truth...until he found it in Jesus. He doesn't find Jesus in chapter four, that happens in the next chapter, but the intensity of his search has just about reached it's peak in this chapter.

Where others would settle, Keith would continue to dig. Where others would be satisfied, Keith would be uncomfortable. Where others would be complacent, Keith would be fired up. When others would look at themselves, satisfied with what they saw, Keith always wanted more.

This intensity spilled over into his life as a believer also. He had searched for so long to find the truth that he was overjoyed when he found it. His first album relfects that newfound joy....and even that in a more intense way than it is for many of us.

By the time the second album came around, he had witnessed many who claimed the name of Christ, but did not walk the way of Christ. For someone who had seached high and low, under every spiritual rock he came in contact with, this was something that was baffling to Keith. How could people treat the truth, the one who gave His life for them in such a casual, flippant way. The songs on his second album relfected his boldness in calling Christians to live like Christians.

The album was called "No Compromise"

The album was a wake up call to the church, starting with the cover and straight on thru to the lyrics. It's hard to imagine any of these songs being played on christian "feel-good" raido these days.

Here's a sample of some of the lyrics from that album:

"ASLEEP IN THE LIGHT"

"Do you see? Do you see?
All the people sinking down?
Don't you care? Don't you care?
Are you gonna let them drown?

How can you be so numb?!
Not to care if they come
You close your eyes,
and pretend the job is done

"Oh, bless me, Lord! Bless me, Lord!"
You know, it's all I ever hear!
No one aches, no one hurts,
no one even sheds one tear
But, He cries, He weeps, He bleeds,
and He cares for your needs
And you just lay back,
and keep soaking it in

Oh, can't you see such sin?!
'Cause He brings people to your door,
and you turn them away
as you smile and say:
"God bless you! Be at peace!"
And all Heaven just weep,
'cause Jesus came to your door,
you left Him out on the streets

Open up! Open up!
And give yourself away
You see the need,
you hear the cries,
so how can you delay?!
God is calling,
and you are the one
But like Jonah, you run
He told you to speak,
but you keep holding it in

Oh, can't you see such sin?!
The world is sleeping in the dark,
that the church just can't fight,
'cause it's asleep in the light!
How can you be so dead?!
When you've been so well famed
Jesus rose from the grave,
And you!
You can't even get out of bed!
Oh, Jesus rose from the dead!
Come on, get out of your bed!

How can you be so numb?!
Not to care if they come
You close your eyes,
And pretend the job is done!
You close your eyes,
and pretend the job is done!
Don't close your eyes,
don't pretend the job is done

Come away! Come away!
Come away with Me, mMy love!
Come away from this mess,
Come away with Me, My love!
Come away from this mess!
Come away with Me, My love!
Come away,
Come away with Me My love!"

"MAKE MY LIFE A PRAYER TO YOU"

"Make my life a prayer to You, I wanna do what you want me to
No empty words and no white lies, No token prayers no compromise

I wanna shine the light You gave, Thru Your Son You sent to save us
From ourselves and our despair, It comforts me to know You're really there

Chorus
Well I wann thank you know For being patient with me
Oh it's so hard to see When my eyes are on me
I guess I'll have to trust And just believe what You say
Oh you're coming again Coming to take me away

I wanna die and let You give, Your life to me so I might live
And share the hope You gave me, The love that set me free
I wanna tell the world out there, You're not some fable or fairy tale
That I've made up inside my head, You're God the Son and You've risen from the dead

Chorus

I wanna die and let You give,Your life to me so I might live
And share the hope You gave me, The love that set me free"

"MY EYES ARE DRY"

"My eyes are dry
My faith is old
My heart is hard
My prayers are cold
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to You and dead to me

But what can be done
For an old heart like mine
Soften it up
With oil and wine
The oil is You, Your Spirit of love
Please wash me anew
With the wine of Your Blood"

"TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE"

"To obey is better than sacrifice
I don't need your money
I want your life
And I hear you say that I'm coming back soon
But you act like I'll never return

Well you speak of grace and my love so sweet
How you thrive on milk, but reject My meat
And I can't help weeping of how it will be
If you keep on ignoring My words
Well you pray to prosper and succeed
But your flesh is something I just can't feed

To obey is better than sacrifice
I want more than Sunday and Wednesday nights
Cause if you can't come to Me every day
Then don't bother coming at all
La,la,la etc.

To obey is better than sacrifice
I want hearts of fire
Not your prayers of ice
And I'm coming quickly
To give back to you
According to what you have done
According to what you have done
According to what you have done"

Can you feel the intensity in the lyrics there?

I heard someone call Keith a "whack-job nut" because of the lyric in the song "To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice" where Keith sings (speaking for God), "Cause if you can't come to me every day, then don't bother coming at all." I realize this is a very bold statement and it makes people squirm. Would God really say something like this? I don't know, but I feel Keith was trying to make a point, just as Jesus was trying to make a point when he told us to cut off our hands or pluck our eyes out if they cause us to sin. Jesus was trying to tell us to deal with sin in a radical way in our life...not to literally maim ourselves. In the same way I feel that Keith was trying to shake us out of our complacency into a radical commitment to follow Jesus.

Let's be honest with ourselves. How many people do we come into contact with, day in and day out, who are on their way to hell, and we say NOTHING! I know I am guilty of this very thing.

How many hours do we spend watching tv, listening to the radio, reading books, blogging, etc, compared to how much time we spend with the Almighty, Jehovah, Elohim, El Shaddai, God!

I pray for the intensity that Keith had in my own walk with the Lord. I pray that I will no longer be lethargic, anemic, complacent and satisfied with where I am in my relationship with Jesus. While I know that the work of my salvation was completed on calvary, and sealed at the resurrection, I also know that work that my Savior has called me to do will not be completed until that day when He calls me home.

Let us be satisfied with our salvation, but intense in our relationship with the Lord. May we one day read about what Keith did and find it "no big deal", because it has become the norm for those who claim to follow Christ.

Ok, now I'm off to read chapter five. Tomorrow, I'll post some about the third album that Keith made.

Pastor Dave

For Him Who Has Ears To Hear

2008-11-29T06:51:00.000-08:00

I love to read. I have a ton of books that I have read, and many that I have bought, but don't read. Unlike my wife, who reads books over and over again, there are only three books that I have read more than once. They are "Safely Home" by Randy Alcorn (read three times), "In The Footsteps Of Jesus" by Bruce Marchiano (read three times), and the book I am currently reading, "No Compromise: The Life Story Of Keith Green" (currently on my fourth time reading, but this one is the new "Legacy Edition-Updaed and Expanded").

Keith was only 28 years old when he died in a plane crash in 1982. At the time of his death he had only released four albums (remember them...the large round peices of black plastic with little hole in in the middle....you put them on this box and played the music with a thing called a needle?...talk about the middle ages). And yet I cannot think of any Christian musician that has had a bigger impact on my life, and the life of many others than Keith Green.

I had embraced Jesus at the age of 10 as my Saviour, but somewhere around the age of 15 as trouble brewed at home and I was exposed to many of the temptations the world has to offer, I began a slow decline down a slippery slope that would eventually last for ten years and leave me a broken man in many ways.

When I cried out to the Lord he heard me. He restored me into a sweet fellowship with Himself. My initial prayer inlcuded words that went something like this, "Lord, I want to start all over again. I don't want to take anything I've ever known about you for granted, teach me about yourself like I have become newly born again."

He used the music of Keith Green to do just that. Although I had heard Keith's music several years before, I had not really listened to his music. Now, Keith was with the Lord and I went out and purchased those first four albums that he released. I began to really listen to the lyrics that he was singing.

Let me share some of those with you from his first album, "For Him Who Has Ears To Hear".

"You Put This Love In My Heart"

I found it hard to believe
Someone like you cared for me
You put this love in my heart...

...Well I know
the loneliness I had before
Is gone now
I'll never feel it anymore

Cause your love has released me
From all that's in my past
And I know I can believe you
When you say I'll never be forsaken
Your love is gonna last"

"When I Hear The Praises Start"

My son, My son, why are you striving
You can't add one thing to what's been done for you
I did it all while I was dying
Rest in your faith, my peace will come to you

For when I hear the praises start
I want to rain upon you
Blessings that will fill your heart
I see no stain upon you
Because you are my child and you know me
To Me you're only holy
Nothing that you've done remains
Only what you do for Me

My child, My child, why are you weeping
You will not have to wait forever
That day and that hour is in My keeping
The day I'll bring you into Heaven

For when I hear the praises start
My child, I want to rain upon you
Blessing that will fill your heart
I see no stain upon you
Because you are My child and you know me
To me you're only holy
Nothing that you've done remains
Only what you do in Me

My precious bride, the day is nearing
When I'll take you in My arms and hold you
I know there are so many things that you've been hearing
But you just hold on to what I have told you

For when I hear the praises start
My bride, I want to rain upon you
Blessings that will fill your heart
I see no stain upon you
Because you are My child, and you know Me
To me you're only holy
Nothing that you've done will remain
Only what you do for me

"He'll Take Care Of The Rest"

You know it ain't no use, banging your head, up against that cold stone wall,
Cause nobody's perfect, except for the Lord, and even the best bound to fall,
Remember He is de vine, and you are de branch,
He'd love to get you through it if you'd give Him a chance,
Just keep doing your best,
And pray that it's blessed,
And Jesus takes care of the rest.
Yes the Lord said that He'd take care of the rest, He's gonna do it,
He'll take care of the rest, He'll see you through it,
He'll take care of the rest, the devil blew it,
He'll take care of the, He'll take care of the rest.

"Your Love Broke Through"

Like a foolish dreamer, trying to build a highway to the sky
All my hopes would come tumbling down, and I never knew just why
Until today, when you pulled away the clouds that hung like curtains on my eyes
Well I've been blind all these wasted years and I thought I was so wise
But then you took me by surprise

Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed
Until your love broke through
I've been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me
Until your love broke through

All my life I've been searching for that crazy missing part
And with one touch, you just rolled away the stone that held my heart
And now I see that the answer was as easy, as just asking you in
And I am so sure I could never doubt your gentle touch again
It's like the power of the wind

Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed
Until your love broke through
I've been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me
Until your love, until your love, broke through

These are all from the first album Keith Released, "For Him Who Has Ears To Hear". You can get it, and much more information about Keith as well as resources to help you in your walk with Christ at http://www.lastdaysministries.org/

In I Corinthians 1:11 Paul writes, "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ." I'm glad that the Paul only asks us to imitate the part of him that imitates Christ, because Paul also called himself the chief of sinners, and I'm sure he would not want us to imitate that part of his life.

In the same way, I have reached a point in my spiritual walk where I desire to imitate Keith Green, as he imitated Christ. Keith had many faults, just like we all do, but there is no denying his passion and love for his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. There is no doubt of his love and zeal for the Word of God, and there is no getting around the fact that this man was also passionate about reaching out to a lost and dying world with the love of Jesus.

Thank you Keith, for allowing yourself to be used by God.
I'll see you at home one day.

Tomorrow I will post some lyrics and thoughts about Keith's second album.

Because of You, Jesus.
Pastor Dave

Spectacular Sins

2008-11-28T16:59:00.000-08:00

John Piper makes my brain hurt.

Whenever I read a book by Piper, it takes me longer than any other book, by any other author. Piper puts so much into his books that I find myself reading lines on the page over and over again just so I can understand the point he is trying to get across.

Now this is not a bad thing; it's just that it means that reading a book by Piper is different than reading books written by anyone else.

Having said that, I have just finished reading my first "headache free" Piper book, and what a book it is!

"Spectacular Sins And Their Global Purpose In The Glory Of Christ"

is one amazing book. In it, Piper answers some of the hardest questions that have ever been posed about the God of the Bible and about Christianity.

I'm not going to go into detail about what is in this book; you just need to read it. After all, any book with an introduction that has a sub-title of "When The Bruised Heart Needs A Tire Iron" is a different type of book.

This book answers the question about sin and the devil & how can any "good" come from these two...as well as addressing particular sins of the scripture, such as David's fall and the sin of Judas.

I will leave you with a few quotes from the book to whet your appetite. One thing is for sure, you won't hear this preached in many churches in the good ol' USA.

"Christians in the West are weakened by wimpy worldviews. And wimpy worldviews make wimpy Christians. God is weightless in our lives. He is not terrifyingly magnificent. His sovereignty is secondary (at best) to His sensitivity."

And then there is this one:

"What is missing is the Bible. I mean the whole Bible, with its blood and guts and sins and horrors...and all of it under the massive hand of God. The hand whose fingers flick stars into being. The hand that gives life and takes it. The hand that rules everything. Everything. What we need is to know the great things about God. Knowing great things about God will help make us ready not to collapse under cataclysmic conflict and personal catastrophe."

And finally:

"I am writing this book to build a vision of God into our lives that will not let us down in the worst of times. I mean really bad times. Horrific times. Who is prepared to meet the agony that is coming? Our worship services and our preaching too often pamper us. They coddle."

Believe it or not, the above quotes come from the first six pages of the introduction. That's right--the introduction. And it only gets better from there.

I want to leave you with one last quote. This is where Piper states his reason for writing this book:

"My aim is to show that sin and evil, no matter how spectacular, never nullify the decisive, Christ-exalting, purposes of God. No, my aim is more than that. These spectacular sins do not just fail to nullify God's purpose to glorify Christ, the succeed, by God's unfathomable providence, in making His gracious purpose come to pass."

I cannot say it enough. This is an amazing book. It is a small book (only 112 page of reading, plus some with notes), but the information inside of it is BIG.

Do yourself a favor, pick up "Spectacular Sin" by John Piper...it will make you think but I promise, you won't get a headache.

Now I'm off to read some Tozer.

Pastor Dave

Have You Got It?

2008-10-07T17:38:00.000-07:00

I have just read a book that has greatly impacted my life, not only as a pastor, but as a follower of Jesus.

The name of the book is: it

The author is: Craig Groeschel

The content is phenomenal.

It is a "church growth" book, but not your typical church growth book.
What I like the most about it is that Craig doesn't give us his secret to success, or his formula to build a church.

He simply talks about churches that have "it", and how you know if you are in a church that has "it".

What's great about this book is that it drives you into the word of God, it drives you into a deeper relationship with Jesus, it drives you to a deeper prayer life.

I'm not a book reviewer, that would be my lovely wife. You can check out her blog here: http://deenasbooks.blogspot.com/

But I know if I like a book, and this one is keeper. It has yellow highlighter all over the page. It avoids the cookie-cutter approach to church growth, which I like because the last thing we need is more "McChurches" in our country. He writes that one of the things that a church needs to have in order to have "it", is a desire to reach the lost. Craig says that his church will do anything short of sin to reach the lost. Just imagine if every church, if every believer lived their life in this way! Imagine the difference we could make!

This is why I beleive that even though this book is directed towars pastors, it should be read by every one who wants to leave a spiritual leagcy. It needs to be read by everyone who claims the name of Christ.

We are in the process of ordaining three men as decons in our church, and this book will be required reading for each one of them.

I could not think of just one portion of the book to quote from in this blog. This is the AM/PM of church growth books, there is just "too much good stuf" in this little book. So, I will leave one little quote from the book. In trying to explain what "it" is, Craig says this:

"The best explanation i can give you is this: "it" is what God does through a rare combination of thse qualities found in his people:
* Passion for His presence
* A deep craving to reach the lost
* Sincere integrity
* Spirit-filled faith
* Down-to-earth humility
* Brokenness"

While reading I began to realize how many of these 6 points are missing in a lot of churches. I began to realize how many of them are missing in my church. I began to realize how many of them are missing in my life! I began to weep, and shout and pray as never before. Without a doubt, this little book (it is only 188 pages long)has impacted my life in a huge way.

What else can I say? Do you have it? Does your church have it? If not, then go out and buy "it" by Craig Groeschel...and read "it" and then live "it"!

Ok, that's it for now (pun intended)

Pastor Dave

36 Minus One

2008-09-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

A few posts ago, I shared how in the short time it took to read a blog, 36 people had died without knowing Jesus as their Savior.

I talked about the growth of our church, and how although it has been growing, it has not been growing due to new births.

Well, yesterday that all changed.

A man came forward yesterday and embraced Jesus as his Lord and Savior!!!
His wife had been praying for him for many years, and as he shared with me, his heart was heavy and you could see the emotion in his face, especially in his eyes.

His prayer was simple, yet moving. Among other things he said, "God I've been running from you for a long, long time. I'm lost. I want to be found."

He shared with the church what had happened and said, "I was lost, but I've been found!"

There was shouting....especially from his wife....and clapping and cheering!

Please join me in prayer that he will be the first of many. We also need prayer abut space (we are now having more people coming to services than we have seats for), and for me to no longer be bi-vocational. It is getting harder and harder to pastor this group of brothers and sisters, and continue to put in 40 hours a week as an eligibility worker for the Welfare Department.

Oh, and in case you didn't get the title of this blog....it's very simple, 36 people may have died without Jesus normally during the time it took you to read this blog, but this time, it is one less.

I leave you with the lyrics of a favorite song of mine (I will list the author of the lyrics at the end of the post....it just might surprise you.)

"SAVED"

I was blinded by the devil
Born already ruined
Stone-cold dead
As I stepped out of the womb
By His grace I have been touched
By His word I have been healed
By His hand I have been delivered
By His spirit I Have been sealed.

I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb
Saved
By the blood of the lamb
Saved
Saved
And I'm so glad
Yes, I'm so glad
I'm so glad
So glad
I want to thank you, Lord
I just want to thank You Lord
Thank You Lord.

By his truth I can be upright
By his strength I do endure
By His power I've been lifted
In His love I am secure
He bought me with a price
Freed me from the pit
Full of emptiness and wrath
And the fire that burns in it.

I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb
Saved
By the blood of the lamb
Saved
Saved
And I'm so glad
Yes, I'm so glad
I'm so glad
So glad
I want to thank you, Lord
I just want to thank You Lord
Thank You, Lord.
Nobody to rescue me
Nobody would dare
I was going down for the last time
But by His Mercy I've been spared
Not by works
But by faith in Him who called
For so long I've been hindered
For so long I've been stalled.

I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb
Saved
By the blood of the lamb
Saved
Saved
And I'm so glad
Yes, I'm so glad
I'm so glad
So glad
I want to thank you, Lord
I just want to thank You Lord
Thank You, Lord.

(Courtesy of Mr. Robert Zimmerman, better known as Bob Dylan, from his album "Saved".

Ok, so there's that.
Pastor Dave