Not a beggar but a Barber

I saw on the streets of Manila, something that is an unusual site, even for the Philippines. A man was cutting hair on the sidewalk. He only had a stool, comb, scissors and towel but he had a line of 3 people waiting. The cardboard sign attached to the stool advertised 20 pesos. That's under 50 cents in US currency. A haircut in a mall runs about 4 dollars and in a street side shop, maybe a dollar plus. But I love the attitude of this man. No job, no shop, no capital, but he found a way to work and not to beg. Maybe some of his customers are beggars? Could be! But I love it! May more people develop a "can do" attitude like his!

I'm reminded that God does not respond to prayerful begging either. God responds to faith. I was given a prophetic word many years ago in which God told me that "...because you haven't begged, because you have stood firm in faith, I will release blessing in your life and ministry." It started to happen the very next day.

I'll break one of my own rules here and use this Cliche: If you want to be on the "cutting edge" of what God is doing, then don't beg. Instead, do something with what God has placed in your hands.

don't be Half Cooked

Psalm 66:10-12 explains that God allows us to be tested as silver and that among other things, we are brought through fire and water. This is a similar thought to the instructions that God gave the Israelites in Numbers 31. After they had returned from battle, they were to pass everything that could be passed through fire, literally through fire in order to purify it. Everything else which could not withstand fire had to be passed through water in order to be purified. Even the returning soldiers clothes had to be washed before they could re-join the camp. Passing something either through fire or water in ceremonial terms is a purification process which in life terms as the Psalmist explained is akin to passing through challenges and tribulations.

We want our hearts purified and we want to become like pure gold with the dross (impurities) drawn to the surface and removed, but there is a process and the process must be completed. The key word is "through" and the implication is all the way through.

The first time I saw an oven with a conveyor belt, I believe was at a Burger King. They put the raw burger on the belt at the front of the oven and it came off the back perfectly cooked every time. Nobody sticks a spatula in there to remove one before it's done, er, unless something breaks. I have seen similar ovens for pizza and many other kinds of food. In essence, the item being cooked is being passed through the fire.

Back before conveyor belt ovens or ovens with heat on both top and bottom, the only way to fully cook an item was to flip it, to turn it. In our homes, we use pans. In more primitive times, hot rocks were often used.

Hosea 7:8 (NIV) remarks of a rebellious Ephraim (tribe of Israel), “Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over."

Verse 11 of the same chapter says that Ephraim is like a senseless dove that is easily deceived. How many could it be said of in the Church today that because they mix with outside influences, because they have not been adequately purified, because they are like Ephraim, half cooked, are so easily deceived? I don't know the stats but I know it is many. I know it has been me on many an occasion.

How often I have run away from the process, the purifying, avoided the storm rather than going through it? Too many times to count! There is comes again! The same test that I didn't take the last time. And I want to advance? There is no advancement until this levels exams have been passed. Verse 9 states that Ephraim's hair is turning gray but he doesn't even realize it. Nobody enjoys being the oldest in the class!

Jesus wants us to become like him. He is Bread for the hungry and Water for the thirsty. When non believers come into contact with us, we should be as refreshing for them as a meal of pancakes and milk would be in the morning for a weary traveler who has arrived at their destination in the morning. But if we are not turned, only half cooked, then that non believer will be put off at best. They will leave our table muttering something about hypocrites because we claim to be something wonderful, a Christian, but in reality we are as inedible as a pancake not turned.

I was anticipating a dinner of b-b-q ribs several years back. When it was almost time for dinner, a large platter of ribs lathered in rich sauce was brought in from the patio and the house was filled with the wonderful aroma! "I want my baby back baby back baby back..." (if you don't get that part, don't worry about it) My mouth was exploding... I hadn't eaten and I was HUNGRY. I grabbed a rib and took a bite but I stopped mid bite. My mouth filled with blood and the temperature nearer to the bone was cold. Um... It wasn't sushi and it was pork... Not good!

I was severely disappointed because even though the cook tried to rectify the situation, it just didn't turn out the way it should have. I ate a hot dog instead and even went through a McDonalds drive through later.

I had been deceived by the reputation, the look and the smell. I had been offered a half cooked helping of ribs. Upon investigation, I found that the ribs had been put on the grill almost straight from the freezer. The cook had been running late..

As Christians, we need to make sure we have gone through God's purifying processes, eliminated the foreign elements in our lives by allowing them to be burned out. No longer avoiding conflicts, trials and challenges, but rather, willingly going through them with God's help. In America, we often hear it said, "don't jump from the frying pan into the fire." In other words, no matter how hot it gets, trust that the Lord your Great Cook will not allow you to over cook but that you will always come out just right. Tried in the fire and purified like Gold.

This is where I ask myself and hopefully you also ask yourself what areas in your life may be half cooked. In what ways are we no different than non believers? What are the flaws that we have failed to submit to the Lord to transform from weaknesses into strengths?

Pray with me? Father, may your Holy Spirit search us now and may we be open to see and hear about and improve in every area that we fall short. Cook me to perfection in the fires of this life so that I may enter into eternal glory with you and bring many with me who taste and see that You are good through my life devoted to You. Amen!

An Amazing High School Camp!

I spoke for two evening sessions of the Tabernacle of Faith Christian Academy high school camp this past week. Though the school is a ministry of Tabernacle of Faith International which is a Charismatic/Pentecostal group of Churches, the school caters to families from dozens of Church groups, many of which are more traditional Evangelical. And so we avoid teachings and experiences that not everyone agrees with and focus on what everyone does agree with.

With that in mind, let me report to you that we had an AMAZING camp! It was not what I am used to as a frequent camp speaker used to emphasis on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, but awesome! The camp was marked with a spirit of prayer that fell on the students in a supernatural and completely spontaneous way. Not surprising, I noticed that the spark occurred in both services in a part of the crowd where a majority of Korean students were standing. They know how to pray! A few became like spiritual furnaces and the fire of prayer spread rapidly. Some were on their faces, others were standing with their faces set towards heaven, several were on the ground like mops (not just Koreans but Filipino's too), completely consumed and focused, unaware of anything else going on around them, wet with tears and sweat as they cried out.

Repentance, reconciliation, personal revival, fresh awareness of God, renewed commitment to God's Word... The list would go to 100+ things that God was doing. No man could take any credit at all. The line of those who would testify on the final night was long and the testimonies were incredible. And yes, even though we did not emphasize the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, we did conduct Prophetic Actions which accomplished big things, and yes, there were those who received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, spoke in unknown tongues and prophesied. God is amazing!!

Let me leave you, particularly my Pentecostal friends with a thought. It is amazing how much God can accomplish when we don't "push it"... when we let His Spirit take control. I think that we must admit to ourselves that sometimes for the sake of a perceived good meeting, we push it. Not only is it not necessary, but it robs us of the true move of God that He uniquely plans for every gathering. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we should not move in boldness, power and faith. But I am saying that our model is that Jesus said He only does what He sees the Father doing and that is also what we should do. Nothing more, nothing less.

I Don't Know WHAT to Believe

Unfortunately, most of life's dealings seem to be based on "he said, she said" rather then on facts, figures and concrete evidence. And even when there are offerings of evidence in any given argument, it seems that the documentation which in theory should be without bias has often been tampered, falsified or given in a way as to skew the results. The bottom line? I hardly ever, if ever, know WHAT to believe. I don't trust government, I don't trust the media, I don't trust educators, I don't trust accounting firms, lawyers, business people pushing their own agenda's... I don't even trust the barber talking about the headlines anymore. It's not necessarily that I don't trust him personally, but I don't trust his source of information. Goodness! I don't trust hardly anyone's source of information anymore. Whenever anyone tells me that they have received information from a "reliable source," that sets off sirens and red flags for me. What is a reliable source? To most people, it means it comes from a friend and this reliability they are speaking of is based in friendship. Can I just say that listening to someone with complete acceptance of whatever it is they are saying simply because they are your friend does not make their information reliable? Is that alright if we just establish that right now?

Do I trust the Word of God, the Bible? Absolutely! Do I trust every person teaching from it? Absolutely not! The Word of God must be delivered in proper context and with proper motives on the part of the teacher in order for the point of the message being delivered to be trusted. Even the Apostle's and the Prophet's in the Bible did not expect their listeners and readers to blindly accept their messages without confirming them through the proper study and confirmation through the Word.

But now let's talk about sensational situations in the Church. The kind of things that make ears tingle. I have been in ministry long enough to have much experience seeing, hearing about and even being on the receiving end of whatever you want to call it... speculation, banter, gossip, rumor, etc. My Father has not been a Pastor since the 60's but he has been involved in Christian education for decades. The rumors and lies that have been told about him would make you wince. My Father in Law has probably been "rumored" and lied about more than almost anyone else I know and what he has been through makes what I have been through seem small. The things that have been said about me are awful! I have even had people admit to me at later times that they had been paid to give false accusation against me. That is how it is in this day and age. Even in the Church. So very sad.

And so what is the result? Usually, you find out in any given escalated situation that a small group of people will not "listen" to the gossip or believe the falsified reports. There will be another small group who will flat out come against you either by promoting those things or by believing them (usually because of friendship). Then there will be the rest of the people. The remaining majority. These are the ones the Do Not Know WHAT to Believe and will "wait and see." And really, what choice do the majority of people have when faced with a dilemma of an argument of "he says, she says" or when the "evidence" has obviously been embelished or falsified. Like I said, I personally find myself in this group the majority of the time.

From one of the ones who has been bashed and bruised in the ministry spot-light from time to time, and by the way, I'm sure more is coming in the future because this is one of satan's modern day fields of expertise, let me offer some personal words. It isn't the slanderers, the ones operating with a demonic spirit of destruction who ultimately hurt me. It is the ones who believe them who hurt me. You know, the ones that remove you as a friend from Facebook, who don't ever again reply to an E-mail or a Text or a Voice Mail, they stop greeting you on your Birthday... You get the point. And all you can figure is that they believed a well placed lie or a partial lie. They never even bothered to talk to you personally before making a quiet judgment.

The Bible explains that we are to "touch not God's anointed" and "do His prophet's no harm." (1 Chronicles 16 and Psalm 105) I have stood back, sat back and kicked back and watched the people who have touched and harmed me, my Dad, my Father-in-Law and all the other ministers of God who I know. I have watched them become ineffective in ministry, sail the Churches they lead into luke-warm waters, meet tragedies, struggle with strokes, sickness and disease. Some have disappeared and others have died prematurely. Many years ago, there was a Pastor who mocked me publicly after some Bible School services became too Pentecostal/Charismatic for his taste. He even falsely accused me of some foolishness. I went to his death bed a year later at his request. He was dying for no explainable medical reason. I saw him, a sack of bones, barely able to breath. He said, "forgive me and release me. I'm sorry." I did, and a month later he was back to health with a miraculous recovery. It is fascinating how God's Word is always accurate and true!

One more point before making a recommendation. Even when I have received a prophetic word for a man or woman of God which somehow corrects or rebukes them and then they end up in some kind of public hot water. I am still very aware that even though I may have been privy to a weakness in their life, I still do not understand their situation and I am in no position to judge. I remain in the ranks of those who either continue to actively support that person or just decide that I don't know what to believe and will simply pray for them from a neutral position.

Now for my recommendation. Let me put the touching not God's anointed and doing God's prophets no harm in a modern term. I simply will not EVER talk about a man or a woman of God in a negative way. I recommend that you don't either. Because God is listening and He makes sure His Word is true.

As for all of those bloggers and watch dogs who maintain critic ministries in order to publicly chastise the "big name" ministers which you can find on the internet these days, don't get caught up in that hell. Let God judge. You yourself watch what you are being taught and from whom you are being taught, don't receive anything that does not bear witness with God's Word and His Spirit, but don't judge.

The good news is this. Even though you will seldom if ever know What to believe, you will always know Who to believe and to believe in. His name is Jesus Christ. He is God! He never fails, He never lies and He never stops believing in people and giving them chances. He is perfect. Never put your complete trust in any man but put your trust in the One who uses imperfect men!

On a final note, I absolutely love what I have seen Rick Joyner do with the restoration of Todd Bentley. Rick Joyner is a Man of God! Check it out at

www.morningstarministries.org/Articles/1000045589/MorningStar_Ministries/Media/Special_Bulletins/2009/Special_Bulletin_17.aspx

Now did I say I agree with everything Joyner or Bentley teach and do? I didn't say that. But I do know that they are among God's prophetic anointed servants. Be careful what you say.

Bring Your Lips to the Altar

I spoke for three sessions this week at the Fire Revolution, an annual event at a friends Church in Sta Rosa, Laguna, Philippines. Other speakers including Pastor Ray Llarena and the Pastor of the Church, Tom Molina. It was AWESOME! Every session was amazing!

On the final night, Pastor Tom asked me to speak with him in a tag-team. He would start and I would end.

He spoke from Jeremiah 20:9 (NIV) "But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot."

I followed with Isaiah 6 with emphasis on verses 5-8 (NIV)

"⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Earlier in the day, I was asking the Lord what he wanted to do in the final session and He spoke to my heart saying, "tell the people to bring their lips to the altar" and then I was impressed with this very familiar passage.

I'm not going to print the sermons (Tom's and mine) here, but a brief synopsis is that in order for fire to spread, we have got to be touched by the Lord to speak His Word and go forth on His behalf. What we wanted was not normal fire from earthly altars, but we wanted fire from that altar in heaven that the angel took the coal from. We wanted our lips to be touched with fire from heaven so that we would be prepared to be asked by the Lord and then to respond to Him that we will go spread the fire!

I have not experienced an altar ministry time in this manner before. I would lightly touch the lips of many of the hundreds who flooded the altar and they were completely set ablaze by the Spirit most with their bodies completely reacting to the fire on their lips. The room was filled with sounds of crying out and wailing in the presence of God. Many were baptized with the Holy Spirit and many began to prophesy in loud voices.

I am personally changed by the ministry of the Holy Spirit last night. I will never be the same. I have fresh fire shut up in my bones that must be released and my mouth is on fire to proclaim the Word of the Lord.

But this is only possible because I have soaked myself in the Word of God and because I am open to the the Spirit of God. Just as those hungry people who attended the Fire Revolution are. Not everyone has fire shut up in their bones and it doesn't come simply by laying on of hands. It comes through the discipline of feasting on God's Word day and night, becoming one with God in purpose and learning to love what He loves and hate what He hates (Hebrews 1:9).

Friends, let me encourage you to become like Jeremiah and to submit yourself to God like Isaiah did. Purposefully get full of the Word of God and then bring your lips to the altar of God and allow Him to set you ablaze for Him!

Judge Yourself

The Word of God never returns empty or void, It always accomplishes It's purpose. But sometimes It cuts particularly deep as it did this last Sunday at TFI Gateway. I have lost count of the numerous testimonies which have come to me of how this particular teaching has impacted lives. I'm blessed and thrilled!

The key verses are 1 Corinthians 11:31 & 32. (NIV) "³¹But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. ³²When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world."

There is one kind of judgment you don't want. And that is at the end of this age, to be judged with the world, attached to the world, condemned with the world, doomed to everlasting punishment with the world. The better options which are for those who are destined for eternal life which are to be judged before the end of the age. According to our aforementioned scripture, the two options are to proactively do it yourself, or to procrastinate which will lead to the Lord "doing it for you", after having out-waited the "grace period" which only God knows the length of. Our Righteous Judge wants us to turn ourselves in. He doesn't want to send for you. If you turn yourself in, there is leniency available from the court of the Lord.

It is clear from the scripture that even when we have failed to judge ourselves, that the Lord does it out of grace and with mercy so that we will not be condemned with the world. He truly loves us! But let me tell you friend, it hurts allot more when God does it because that means He is dealing with our pride, arrogance, disobedience and a generally uncooperative or even unteachable spirit. That calls for a bruising! And it's so unnecessary. Why lose the finances, the relationships, the opportunities, why suffer in health and in so many other ways just so that God can get your attention. (whether it's He Himself or Him allowing these things to come your way is a teaching for another time). Why indeed, when the Word of God says we can avoid all that mess and pain by simply judging ourselves!?

So how do we judge ourselves? I asked this question at one of my Life Groups last night and got some good answers. One lady said that she evaluates her day, every day and writes down everything noteworthy and flat out asks the Lord in prayer and with Holy Spirit interaction, what she did that pleases Him and what she did that could have been better and also what she did that did not please Him. She then thanks God for assisting her in her good decisions and she asks God's forgiveness in the areas she came up short or was sinful. She then repents. To repent is more than to ask forgiveness. It is to make a decision to turn from a wrong way and go in the right direction. "Sorry" may wipe your slate clean, but it won't prevent it from getting immediately soiled again. Repenting changes everything because it involves a commitment to make better decisions. To change. Her goal is to clear herself before her God every day and just as importantly to improve herself according to His ways every day. Another man talked about how he prays "purging prayers" every day. Praying through every issue and praying things literally out of himself. And another lady told us about how she gets together with a group of spiritual friends and they work together to judge themselves using an honest group evaluation. All of these are great examples of how we can judge ourselves.

The context of our scripture if you read all of 1 Corinthians 11:17-33 is that of judging ourselves before partaking of the Lord's Supper (Communion). The scripture exhort's us to first examine ourselves and then to judge ourselves. This means to us that one of the primary reasons for the ritualized partaking of the Lord's Supper in the organized Church is that it is an opportune time to examine and judge ourselves. However, the once a month that most Churches offer a communion element to the service is simply not enough. It should serve only as an example of what we need to do daily. In the New Testament, it is obvious that in the house Churches, they were participating in the Lord's Supper most every day. I believe that this is a call that before we partake of our food at every meal and even between meals, we need to be in constant examination of our motives, our words, our hearts and our deeds. Self judgment according to God's Word is 24/7.

Allow me to pose a few final questions: What good are Kingdom blessings received if they are continually eroded because we fail to judge ourselves and the judgments from outside ourselves just keep on coming?? Rather than just being focused on getting more blessings, why don't we try to hang on to some of them by avoiding judgment? Better yet, why don't we stop living by striving for blessings and learn to truly seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and then all of these things will be added, not subtracted to us?

Pastor People

Ezekiel 34 (NIV)
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.

I’m not teaching specifically from the above scripture today but I am referring to it to present the fact that God has always been concerned about Shepherds properly handling the Flock. This of course is His choice metaphor which references Pastors and Congregations.

I was going for my evening prayer walk a few weeks ago and I was discussing ministry strategy with the Lord. I told Him about all of the potential plans and possible programs as I sought direction.

The Lord spoke something very simple to me on that night. So simple that I almost missed it. He said, “Pastor People.” In that moment, I thought of the millions of people who attend Churches worldwide and I felt the heart of God… Though Churches are full of people, many are not being “pastored.” Hearing a sermon, even a good sermon once or twice a week does not mean that someone is being pastored. The more I considered what God was saying, the more I realized even that just because someone is in a discipleship group or program does not necessarily mean that they are being pastored. All of the organization and all of our efforts, if they lack love, genuine relationship and caring for the basic human & spiritual needs of people cannot be considered pastoring or shepherding people.

A more challenging way to think about it but really the way I believe God is challenging me is that true Pastoral Ministry is the ministry that does not lack godly compassion or the human touch. A Shepherd willingly lays down his life for the sheep.

Needless to say, I was cut to the heart and challenged in a tremendous way. In my 80+ hours of work a week, how much pastoring of the people am I really doing? I was reminded of a conversation that I once had with a friend of mine, Pst Dave Kenney who truly “Pastor’s” a great congregation in Jakarta, Indonesia, “IES” or “International English Service.” In a nutshell, he told me that the key to the growth of IES is that they take care of their people and other people see that they take care of their people and other people then want to become their people. Not an exact quote but I think a good way to say it… J Keep up the good work Dave!

Here in Manila, I have been very impressed with another congregation that is absolutely known for their quick response to the needs of their people and anyone else they can touch. Within hours that someone is admitted to a hospital, the norm for this Church is that dozens of people will visit. It’s important to them and it happens so naturally because they are a Church of Shepherds. Powerful! I use them as an example of how responsive I want our congregation to become. It takes constant nurturing and teaching to develop this kind of a culture.

As a pastor, one of the things I have figured out through the years is that people will likely not remember my sermons, but they will remember when I visit them not only in their time of need but even at random times as led by God’s Spirit. Or call them, E-mail, text, chat with them after service, etc. But the most impacting element is the personal visit.

And so I sounded the alarm in the Church. Noting the fact that God wants us to Pastor People among other things the Lord had laid on my heart including a call to double in finances and in numbers of attendees in the next 6 weeks. On a side note, next week is six weeks and the finances have almost doubled and the numbers of attendees has increased as well, going into a major evangelistic event next week. God is good and we are positioned! It’s time to double!

It is amazing how the people who need pastoring have come out of the wood work and how the people of the Church have risen to the call. Maybe we didn’t notice so much before? I would estimate that the number of home visits and prayer calls have increased 500%, maybe even more. It is resulting in amazing testimonies and Kingdom growth.

So my encouragement is this. When you need to organize a program or set up a structure, do it. Preach good sermons, raise up disciples and more. But don’t lose focus of the very basic fact that we must not fail to be Shepherd’s to the Flock of God. Love people, visit them, listen to them, offer an ear, a shoulder, care for them and care about them. My favorite life quote is this and I believe it with all my heart. “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

As a final point, I must balance this with a warning not to sacrifice your family, your work or job, personal devotion time, physical fitness time, rest time and more. Do not burn out. But I would say to find time that you can sacrifice. We all have some “fat” that can be “cut out” of our lives, I’m sure. And it’s not about a few visits that take you hours each. It’s about being consistent with short visits. My average visit these days is well under an hour. I simply don’t have time to stay for 2-3 hours each visit and people appreciate the 30 minute visits too. May God bless you as you organize your life to be a further blessing to others. Pastor People.