Hijacked!

Here it is.  Last weeks sermon which explains the vision given to me about many churches, groups & denominations being like airplanes which have been hijacked by wolves in sheep clothing and the Simon the sorcerer types.

When God is Silent, Expect Great Things!

 

One of the ministries that I conduct twice a week is Home Meetings.  I do one on Monday nights and another on Wednesday nights.  There are also many others that our leaders conduct on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and on Sunday afternoon & evening.  Wherever you may live and whatever your schedule is in the Metro Manila area, there is a Home Group that you can join to find the encouragement and love that will help you!  Just contact me at gatewaychurchphilippines@gmail.com to get connected.

 

Below is a typical Bible Study I did just this last Wednesday night.  I share many things including the fact that when God is silent, we need to be expectant that great things are brewing and are on the way!  And so much more!  It was a great night and it is an encouraging and poignant teaching.  Enjoy!

 

Marriage & Baptisms in Pagudpud, March 7, 2015

Amy and I were married on March 7 at a gorgeous beach at Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, Philippines!  I'll post official pics once the photographer gets us the pics.  He happens to be my Brother, Doug from the Portland, Oregon area who was here in the Philippines for the event along with my Son, Devin who also lives in the Portland area.  My sons Chad and Ethan live here in Manila with me.  But the following day, I had the honor of conducting 4 Baptisms in the ocean.  I'm posting the Video here that we also showed in the Sunday morning service earlier today.  It's a compilation of the 4 testimonies followed by the 4 being immersed in the water.  The Vid is about 11 minutes.  Two of the folks are my Son, Chad and his Girlfriend, Lindsey who have both encountered God in an amazing way in the last few months and so this is not only a Church testimony, but it is a great victory for our family as well!  God answers prayer!!

 

 

This is a short 15 minute teaching that Steve delivered right from his living room couch about Jesus our Super-Model.  In other words, He is our ultimate example.  This teaching lays this subject right out there in a fresh way that will challenge your thinking.

Ruined for the Better!

The word “Ruined” is strong.  It means damaged and the idea people get is destroyed to a point that whatever was ruined is changed forever.  The term is often used when a precious garment gets bleached or over-dried in the laundry.  The despairing person will often cry out, “It’s ruined!”  Sometimes they’ll even follow this statement with something like, “I paid $50 for that shirt!”  There is a strong sense of loss when something precious is ruined.

 I’ve spent time in places like Greece, Italy and Turkey looking at “ruins”… formerly grand buildings which are now in beautiful disrepair.  When I look upon those ruins, my mind goes back in time and imagines how great those structures were and how proud of them the people of those days must have been. 

There is no doubt that the devil is trying to ruin us.  He comes to steal, to kill and to destroy and he’s not kidding.  (see John 10:10)  Sometimes, he is successful.  When the children of God fail to operate in obedience and faith, when we give in and give up, the results can be disastrous.

As I have been contemplating my life so far… my 46 years on this planet, I have experienced much ruin.  I’m sure you have too!  But I’ve noticed something!  Whenever I get ruined, as long as I cling to Christ, I get ruined for the better!  Someone once told me, “the devil always overplays his hand.”  This is a poker term (a card game favored by serious gamblers).  It means that the enemy doesn’t really have the good cards.  We have the winning hand in Jesus Christ!  But that dirty devil is a bold bluffer.  He uses intimidation and other tactics to try to get us to fold (give up). 

I have news for you friend!  Based not only on my own experience but also on the Word of God!  If you won’t fold, if you won’t give in or give up, you will always be victorious in Christ the end!  (see Galatians 6:9)

Joseph was one of the guys in the Bible that was ruined by the enemy, using his very own brothers and many others.  But he never wavered and never stopped trusting in God.  Many years down the road after he had been promoted from a slave to the number two ruler of Egypt, he had these words to say:

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20 NIV)

Was Joseph ruined by the efforts of the enemy?  Absolutely!  The course of his life was directed negatively many times!  He spent a good amount of his life in jail!  But God turned it around!  And because Joseph never gave in and never gave up, he was “Ruined for the Better!”

I have many friends who have been ruined and not for the better.  Many used to be successful, had great family situations, fantastic businesses, careers, even ministries.  Then they were destroyed.  Ruined by situations, circumstances, bad decisions, attacks, you name it.  Today, they are empty, miserable, some have disappeared from Church, from life…  But this is unnecessary!  Sad!

I have many other friends that no matter what happened, they kept trusting Jesus, believing in God, persevering, working through the pain…  Yes, they were ruined.  Permanently changed, but because they didn’t give up, they became even better and more effective than ever before!  Stronger!

Job was ruined!  Completely!  But because he passed the testing, God blessed him all the more!

Many times in my life, I have been ruined.  Either through my own wrong turns, by seeming bad coincidence or through spiritual warfare.  But in those times, the voice of the Lord always broadcasts to my spirit that I will only be destroyed if I allow myself to be destroyed.  I will only be finished if I allow myself to be finished.

My encouragement to you is this.  Embrace the ruining process because it really is a pruning process!  Allow the adversities and the tragedies of life to change, mold and make you!  Don’t give up, don’t give in, keep trusting in Jesus, stay in the shadow of His wings!  Get Ruined for the Better!

I know some of your former friends want you to be ruined!  Former friends are worse than enemies, aren’t they? :-)  But it doesn’t matter!  I know they’re out there talking negatively about you, literally trying to assassinate your character & associate your name with scandal, but it doesn’t matter!  God is on your side and He will be the one to right the wrongs.  Stay positive, keep sowing positively, keep blessing, stay focused on Jesus!  Everyone reaps what they sow…

Everyone I know who is not in ministry anymore, allowed it to happen to them.  God’s calling is irrevocable… He will never take it away!  (Romans 11:29)  God still wants to use you, but you have to believe it and continue to go after Him without allowing the disappointments of life to derail you!  Allow yourself to be ruined for the better, everytime!

Becoming more Relatable means Becoming less Pretentious

Many people from my generation (I was born in 68') are having trouble adjusting.  We live in a new era and for those of us in ministry, it is especially important to be relatable which equates now more than ever to being trustworthy.  I'll explain.  The new generation, which I recently heard referred to as the "selfie generation" is all about being real & authentic.  Of course I don't actually buy the alleged authenticity of the reality shows which now dominate much of TV and I also don't believe the majority of what I see portrayed on Facebook.  These things do show us that authenticity is more valued now than ever before, but I still think most people are wearing masks.  These masks are just allot more realistic than they used to be.

So how do we become more relatable?  There are many ways, but I think the place to start is in the way we talk.  There is much pretension in our speaking.

To be pretentious means to exaggerate our worth, value, standing, importance or stature.  You guessed it!  It is to try purposely to be impressive to people!  This can be done by over-dressing, embellishing our background and a multitude of other ways, but many people do this in speech, trying to elevate themselves by using humongous, oops, complex, oops, big words.

Here's how to break away from being pretentious:

Don't use a complicated word when there is a simple one which expresses our thought just as well. Now of course if one of those bigger more impressive words really does say something the more common word cannot say, then by all means use it... not to impress, but to be more clear.  To be a balanced person is the key.  Balance in speech means we learn to be specific and simple.  This is relatable and trustworthy.  And believe me, you will probably notice that people will want to hang around you more!  This is good for making friends. (Proverbs 18:24a NKJV: A man who has friends must himself be friendly)

Now for the funny observation in all this.  In the past generation, to be more accepted, we needed to learn how to speak in a more complicated way.  But now, the opposite is necessary.  In order to be more accepted, we should learn to be just as clear, but in a simpler way.  It's time to unlearn again..

Buckle Up for the New Year!

As I was driving today, the red light on the dash was blinking at me.  It was warning me that I was in danger for failing to put my seat belt on.  It's obvious that it's a good thing to do to wear the seat belt because statistics prove that seat belts save lives.  The problem is that I had been affected by a rebellious streak that comes on me from time to time.  I didn't feel like wearing my seat belt!

But the red light was irritating me!  Irritating me allot!!  What was the solution?  To give in and put the seat belt on?  Or...  my thoughts went to the possibility to going to my mechanic who could easily disable the light so that I would never need to worry about that pesky warning light ever again!  I schemed for a couple of minutes, but then my thoughts went to "what if..."  What if I died in a car crash!  I would go straight to heaven, but what of my family, what of my friends, what of the people who I'm ministering to at this time if I left this planet pre-maturely!  I even thought to myself what I would say to the others in heaven when I arrived...  "um, sorry I'm early, but I didn't feel like wearing my seat belt!"

So I overcame my feeling, my irritation, my rebellious streak and I put on the seat belt.  And I determined that I will wear it and not finish this life until I'm really supposed to.

This was a silly episode, but it reflects human nature in many ways.  It seems that everyone wants to be a prophet but few want to be on the receiving end of a prophetic warning.  It seems that people like encouraging sermons, but when they hear a sermon that hits a nerve, we might not see them again.

Some time back, I was ministering in a Church as a guest and the sermon became quite direct & prophetic.  Too on point for the comfort of the Associate Pastor.  The Lead Pastor wasn't there...  At lunch, he said how blessed & challenged he was by the message personally, but that he hopes nobody was offended.  He said that if they lose people, that the leadership will be unhappy.  I have to admit that my human nature kicked in for a bit and I allowed his comments to affect me.  I went to my hotel wondering if I had somehow failed God.  After all, would God want me to share a message that would cause people to leave?  But in prayer, God assured me that I had been faithful and that I was following the example of Jesus & what  the Bible says to do..  to speak the truth in love.

Later on, I was invited back.  The same Associate Pastor said that they had lost a few people but that many were stirred to get right with God. Some of the Elders had asked specifically that I come back. In this case, the Senior Leadership was appreciative of that pesky warning light. It's not always that way...  You can look at it this way...  many in that congregation had been living their lives carelessly and at risk.  God loved them so much that He sent them a warning to buckle up!

On a personal level, I know that we all get warnings in our lives.  Some blatant on the dash and some like road signs that we can just glimpse.  Often we miss or ignore them. Sometimes they come from sources that we don't recognize or even like.  After all, that red light does irritate.  If we weren't irritated, would we act?

Was Jesus irritating?  Was Paul irritating?  Was Peter irritating?  What about Isaiah, Elijah & Elisha? You know the answer!  Some have said that if Jesus preached the way most preachers do today, that He would never have crucified. Maybe!  There is way too much ear tickling going on.  And it's not motivated by love or care.  It is motivated by kingdom building and I don't mean God's Kingdom.  A better term would be "audience building."  Were these men focused on making friends?  The Word tells us that "faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." (Prov 27:6)

When I evaluate my life & the lives of the others who I relate with, I've noticed that the greatest damage, the greatest losses have come from carelessness.  It's not that God didn't warn.  It's that we fail to heed the warnings.

In this new year, I and many in the community where I minister are fasting yet again.  We are wanting better spiritual eyesight & more.  I pray that we will become more welcoming, more cooperative, more alert towards the pesky warnings in our lives.  God has a fantastic year in store for us but we must be careful & pay attention in order to take hold of it!