HOW WILL YOUR WORSHIP TODAY?

Today is the day we call the LORD’S DAY. It is a day when we gather together as a body of believers to celebrate who God is and rehearse His goodness. This morning in my Bible reading, I read again Psalm 100 from The Message:

Psalm 100

“On your feet now — applaud God!
Bring your gift of laughter,
Sing yourself into his presence.

Know this: GOD IS GOD, and God, God.
He made us; We didn’t make him.
We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.

Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
Thank him. Worship him.

For God is sheer beauty,
All-generous in love,
Loyal always and ever.”

How will you worship today? Reflect on the words of this Psalm that many of you have committed to memory. Enjoy Him and his people today as you gather together to worship HIM — He is the Audience of One!!!

Check out a new feature on our website: Addiction in the News: Find Truth in the Midst of Chaos. Up-to-date information to help you understand addiction. http://www.americaskeswick.org/AddictionintheNews.htm

A WEEK OF ENCOURAGEMENT

This past week was one of intense struggle and discouragement for me. My staff can tell you that just before God is going to show up to do something incredible, we seem to go through all kinds of difficulties from equipment breakdowns to interpersonal relationship struggles. Little things seem to grow into big things.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were very difficult and by mid-afternoon on Tuesday, I have to confess, I was ready to throw in the towel. In fact, as I walked into the Colony Chapel for our weekly staff chapel, I looked at one of our staff who was aware of some of the stuff I was facing, and said, “I’m done!”

But God showed up at Chapel and did a mightily work in our midst, and from that point on, the rest of the week was one amazing victory after another. The conclusion of our Prophecy Week conference was an outpouring of God speaking to hearts and transforming lives.

Looking back now, today’s verses from the WORD OF GOD as recorded in the daily devotional, DAILY LIGHT, have significant meaning for me. Maybe someone reading today’s Freedom Fighter needs the reminder too:

“You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name. ‘No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me’, says the Lord. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in HIM! O, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance.” (Psalm 61:1; Isaiah 54:17; Psalm 34:7-10; Psalm 16:6)

The Lord knows WHAT we need WHEN we need it. I pray that if you are discouraged today, under attack by the enemy, that your soul will be comforted by the encouragement from HIS WORD to you today.

I made an offer this week for your to secure the messages that were presented on Bible Prophecy by our speaker, Dr. Jimmy DeYoung. I would like to make them available to my Freedom Fighter friends — 8 messages which includes a Q & A. This is a must-hear series for every Christian. I’d be happy to send them to you and ask that you consider a special gift for the ministry of America’s KESWICK. You can make a donation right from our website: http://www.americaskeswick.org. To order the eight CD-set, simply respond to this email and we will ship them to you. Please include your mailing address.

Tomorrow afternoon’s concert: THE GREINER FAMILY. 2:30 PM Hymnsing followed by the concert at 3:00 PM.

Freedom Fighter is a daily ministry of America’s KESWICK. Thank you for the support of this ministry.

MORE NUGGETS FROM A FRIEND’S BIBLE

Yesterday I shared that dear friend in her nineties, gave me her Bible. It contains so many precious notes, poems and outlines that she has written throughout her life. She loves the Book, and yet because of her loss of vision, cannot read it. She holds onto the Word that she has memorized over the years.

Here is a precious poem I found on one of the inner pages of her Bible:

O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me,
And all things else recede!
My heart be daily nearer Thee,
From sin to be daily freed.

Each day let Thy supporting might,
My weakness still embrace,
My darkness vanish in Thy light
Thy life my death efface.

In Thy bright beams which on me fall,
Fade every evil thought,
That I am NOTHING, Thou are ALL,
I would be daily taught.

More of Thy glory let me see,
Thou, Holy, Wise, and True!
I would Thy living image be,
In joy and sorrow, too.

Fill me with gladness from above,
Hold me by strength Divine.
Lord, let the glow of Thy great love
Through my whole being shine.

Make this poor self grow less and less
Be Thou my life and aim;
Oh, make me daily thru Thy grace
More meet to bear Thy name.

What a wonderful prayer for today!

I want to offer once again to send my Freedom Fighter friends a set of the messages that Dr. Jimmy De Young has presented at America’s KESWICK this week on Bible prophecy. It is a timely series in light of all that is taking place right now in the Middle East. We ask that you consider a special summer gift to help us with our summer conference expenses. Respond to this email to let me know you want the CD’s and be sure to include your mailing address. If you’d like to make your gift on-line, you can do so right from our home page: http://www.americaskeswick.org. Mark your gift “Prophecy Series.” Your help at this time will be greatly appreciated.

God bless.

DEPEND ON GOD

From the writings of FENELON — THE SEEKING HEART

“I know I talk a lot about being totally detached from yourself and about loving in a completely unselfish way. Since this is such a difficult thing to do, I don’t want you to feel so guilty when you fall short. Your failures don’t make you displeasing to Him. It is a long process toward being completely dead to your selfishness. There will be self-seeking in many things that you do. You can tell if your old self is involved in a situation when something stands in the way of what you want and your are upset or disgruntled.

You cling to yourself without realizing it, but see how you cry when something is taken away! You do not deliberately hang onto your bad intentions, but you do not look at them too closely for fear of what you might find out! God reveals a thousand things in your heart which you will swear are not there, but He will help you to deal with them.

Do you think you want to discover all your weaknesses at once? God tenderly spares you this frightening discovery. He does not send too much light too quickly. Do you see how admirable and good God is not to ask you to change something which He has not given you the resources to change?

The people who watch their faults the most are still in the dark about how to give up certain weaknesses. God reserves this wisdom for a more advanced state.

Be faithful to what God has given you — not what He hasn’t. God will show you, in HIS time, everything you need to know. Meanwhile, God hides your own imperfections behind a veil lest they overwhelm you. You impatiently want to be perfect, but it is much better to wait humbly under the hand of God. Bear yourself without condemnation or flattery. The process will work a deeper death to your self-nature than instant perfection.

God wants to foster your dependence on Him. He gives you light as a wise mother would give her child tasks to do. No more light is given until that particular job is finished. Have you finished all that God sets before you? He will instantly give you a new work for He never leaves you idle. But if you haven’t done what He has asked, He will show you more.

Let God work in you, and be happy with the light He gives you. Each new gift from God is built upon the one before it.” Written over 400 years ago!!! Good words for today.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” Psalm 139:23

Join us this week for uplifting and challenging messages by one of America’s leading scholars on Biblical prophecy. Dr. Jimmy DeYoung will be speaking each morning (M-T) at 9:30 AM and then in the evenings at 7 PM. Call for information — 732-350-1187.

A MEETING WITH GOD

“Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.” (Genesis 32:24)

Jacob is a perfect example of a man who strives to do the will of God in his own strength and intellect. Jacob rose to great heights and acquired wealth by his human abilities, but in all of his success he was far from being in the will of God.
We are first introduced to Jacob in Genesis 25. At the time of his birth we see two things. First, God informed Rebekah that the struggle she felt in her womb was because she was carrying twins. God promised that the blessings of the birthright, always given to the first born, would be given to the second born. Secondly, Jacob’s nature is revealed in the birth process as he holds to the heel of his twin brother Esau.
In time Jacob convinced Esau to sell his birthright as the first born for a bowl of stew (Genesis 25:29-34). Later he lied to his father Isaac and tricked him into bestowing to him the birthright (Genesis 27:18-29). From the time Jacob lied to Isaac until we see him wrestling with the Lord in Genesis 32, over twenty years elapse. Jacob’s entire life was one of deceit and deception. The tragedy of his life was that God had promised to give everything to Jacob that he was lying and cheating to get. If only Jacob had waited on God how different his life would have been.
Jacob’s actions eventually backed him into a corner at Jabbok. It was here that God arranged a long overdue meeting with Jacob. This meeting with God would be the turning point in Jacob’s life.
Genesis 32: 22-32 describes the nature of this meeting. First, Jacob was left alone. God requests that we spend time alone with Him, but if we refuse or neglect to keep this appointment God will arrange an appointment of His own. He knows the value of His children spending time alone with Him. Are you spending time alone with God?
At Jabbok God broke Jacob. It was out of this brokenness that Jacob saw himself for he was and he confessed all his sin. It was in this state of brokenness that God changed Jacob and blessed him with a new name and a new nature.
Are you spending time alone with God?

Roger D. Willmore

Scripture Reading: Genesis 33-35; Matthew 10:1-20

Today’s devotional is written by our good friend, Dr. Roger Willmore, who will be speaking at America’s KESWICK in August. The writing is from our daily devotional, REAL VICTORY FOR REAL LIFE now in its second printing. You can order a copy right from our website — http://www.americaskeswick.org

Sunday afternoon concert: July 23 — David Hibbard — vocalist and trumpeter. 2:30 Hymnsing followed by the concert at 3.

THE FEAR OF THE LORD (Part 2)

I have read many definitions of the fear of the Lord but the one the has helped me the most is one that Bill Gothard shared at his seminars: “The fear of the Lord is the continual awareness that God weighs, sees and knows every one of my thoughts, deeds, words and actions.”

We like to focus on the love of God and I am thankful for His everlasting, unconditional, and unfailing love. But there is the other side of God — His holiness, His justice, His righteousness that needs to be realized.

Most of us have heard the fear of the Lord defined as reverence for God. The word reverence means to treat with awe and respect. Dr. Ed Welch in his book WHEN PEOPLE ARE BIG GOD IS SMALL says that on one side of the fear of the Lord there is terror, dread, and trembling as we consider who God is. In this side of the fear of the Lord we want to hide from Him because we fear Him. Yet the more I come to know Him and love Him, it leads to astonishment, awe, reverence, devotion, trust and worship of Him — We seek, draw near and submit to God.

Growing up I can remember having my Mom say when I was naughty, “Just wait till your father gets home.” There was dread and trembling because of the discipline that I knew was coming. I respected my Dad and yet when I knew that I would face discipline from him, I wanted to run and hide. And yet there was in that respect for him, the desire to be in his presence … something that created in me a desire to be near him and a desire to submit to his authority.

John Bunyan, author or PILGRIM’S PROGRESS wrote: “Christian, let God’s distinguishing love to you be a motive to you to fear Him greatly. He has put His fear in your heart, and may not have given that blessing to your neighbor, perhaps not to your husband, your wife, your child, or your parent. Oh, what an obligation should this thought lay upon your heart to greatly fear the Lord! Remember also that this fear of the Lord is His treasure, a choice jewel, given only to favorites, and to those who are greatly beloved.”
Tomorrow I want to share with you the benefits of fearing the Lord.
Have a great day!!!

Next week Dr. Jimmy DeYoung will be on campus at America’s KESWICK for our prophecy week. Sessions will be Monday – Thursday mornings at 9:30 AM and the Monday – Thursday evenings at 7:00 PM. With all that is going on in the Middle East, you don’t want to miss this great week. For further information, call 732-350-1187.

THE FEAR OF THE LORD

One of the phrases that is repeated often in the book of Proverbs is “the fear of the Lord.” I have been preparing for a message that I will share this morning, and it has been an interesting study (just scratching the surface) on understanding the concept of what it means to fear the Lord.

Bill Gothard says: “The fear of the Lord is the continual awareness that God knows, weighs and sees, every one of my thoughts, deeds, words and actions.”

That is a pretty powerful definition. As I did a phrase search through the Scriptures, I learned several principles about “the fear of the Lord” that I would like to share with you over the next couple of days.

The fear of the Lord is a concept that was to be taught by fathers to their children. There is a huge market right now in a series of books on a variety of topics from auto repairs to developing a strategic plan. You’ve probably seen the series … “Auto Repairs for Dummies” and the list goes on.

Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs, not for dummies, but so that we would have an instruction manual for life. For dads in particular, this is a great training manual for teaching our kids and grandchildren on how to fear the Lord.

There are three ways that we can teach this life-changing concept:

1. Instruction. The Word of God is such a powerful tool in our lives. That is why it is so important that we spend time in it every day. Not just reading it, but meditating on it and memorizing it. Most of us have experienced the pain of trying to put something together without reading the instruction manual. We get to the end of the project and there are three or four pieces left over! We end up having to start over. We could have saved ourselves time, energy and frustration, if we had just taken the time to read the manual.

2. Example. My grandson Tanner is very inquisitive. He constantly asks, “What’s that?” which is helping him learn much about life. One of my favorite vacation spots is Disney World (don’t send me letters, please). I enjoy visiting there for many reasons, but one of the things I like to do is observe what they do, how they do it, and why they do it. They have worked hard at serving people, and since I am serving in that field, I can learn much by their example. I have a copy of their “training manual” which is over 1000 pages. The easiest way for me to learn is by example. The Scriptures contain many biographies of men who feared the Lord. They weren’t perfect, but we can learn from their examples. You can also read biographies of great men like D. L. Moody, Jonathan Edwards, George Mueller, etc., to learn how they lived their lives.

3. Application. All the knowledge in the world doesn’t mean a thing if we don’t apply it. I have come back from a trip to Disney with lists of things I have learned. If I don’t do anything but file the information in the folder, there was really no value in taking the time to observe and learn. I have just gathered useless information. The value in observing and learning is taking the information and using it in my world.

All that to say, over the next couple of days, I want to give you some observations about the fear of the Lord that I am learning so that together we can apply the principles to our lives. Hopefully you will use what we learn to teach your kids and grandkids. And the principles work in every area of life.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10

A PRAYER OF THE PURITANS FOR THE LORD’S DAY

O Lord, my Lord,
This is your day,
The heavenly ordinance of rest,
The open door of worship,
The record of Jesus’ resurrection,
The seal of the sabbath to come,
The day when saints militant and triumphant unite in endless song.
I bless you for the throne of grace,
that here free favor reigns;
that open access to it is through the blood of Jesus;
that the veil is torn aside and I can enter the holiest
and find you ready to hear,
waiting to be gracious,
inviting me to pour out my needs,
encouraging my desires,
promising to give more than I ask or think.
But while I bless you, shame and confusion are mine:
I remember my past misuse of sacred things,
my irreverent worship,
my base ingratitude,
my cold, dull praise.
Sprinkle all my past sabbath with the cleansing blood of Jesus,
and may this day witness deep improvement in me.
Give me in rich abundance the blessings the Lord’s Day was designed to impart;
May my heart be fast bound against worldly thoughts or cares;
Flood my mind with peace beyond understanding;
may my meditations be sweet,
my acts of worship, life, liberty, joy,
my drink the streams that flow from your throne,
my food the precious Word,
my defense the shield of faith,
and may my heart be more knit to Jesus.

From THE VALLEY OF VISION — Prayers of the Puritans

Great quote: When we worship the Lord, let’s remember that He is in control. Nothing alarms Him, or takes Him by surprise. Nothing is too big for Him to handle, or so small it escapes His attention. When the winds of my world begin to blow, He remains seated. When raging waves surround me, He governs their temper…I need not be moved … Because the Lord is seated and sovereign…He alone is sovereign.

Ronald James

TODAY IN CONCERT AT AMERICA’S KESWICK — George and Kathy Abbas
2:30 PM Hymnsing followed by the concert at 3:00 PM — ACTIVITY CENTER

PERSPECTIVE

Things are heating up in the Middle East today and many are concerned the that events unfolding before our very eyes could have ramifications that could trigger a major world. Are these events signs of the times in God’s prophetic timetable?

I believe that they are. But I also want to give your another perspective to think about today. Christians love Israel because we know how God feels about Israel. Over the years we have been admonished to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” We need to be praying for the Jewish people, first of all, that they will come to know MESSIAH in a personal way.

Several years ago, I had the privilege of meeting a man from our church who has served in Jordan for over 30 years. Dr. George Kelsey has helped many of us to see a different perspective that often goes unnoticed. Despite the tensions and factions in the Middle East, God has been working in the hearts of my Arabic and Muslim people. Because of the persecution that they would face for openly talking about their faith, the life transformations going on in these countries often goes unnoticed. But the reality is that there are many Jordanians, Egyptian and Lebanese believers that are growing in their walk with the Lord.

We have several friends right now who have significant ministries in Lebanon. Despite the fact that their families have ostracized them because of their faith in Christ, they continue to serve the Lord and share Christ with their people.

While we are encouraged to pray for our Jewish friends, I want to encourage you pray for the Christians in these Arabic nations. They are the ones that are going to be affected by the current events taking place in the Middle East. While we pray that the Jewish people will come to trust Messiah, let’s not forget to pray for the salvation of people in other Middle Eastern nations for whom Christ died.

Hope that helps to give you a fresh perspective. Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, a scholar on the Middle East and End-time events, will be our prophecy week speaker, July 23-28. Call today for times and information. 800-453-7942.

CATCH ‘EM DOING SOMETHING RIGHT

I do a lot of reading throughout the year and a good portion of the books I read are written on leadership. As a leader of a major Christian ministry, I want to hone my skills and be the most effective leader than God wants me to be.

One of the things that has struck me the past few days is how many books are written with themes that supposedly are new revelations. Concepts and principles are put in writing and the next thing you know — you have a best seller. The more I study leadership, the more I realize that what the “gurus” are telling us come right from the Scriptures . . . They just don’t know it or haven’t quite figured out that God has the market on leadership principles.

Recently I read Ken Blanchard’s book, HIGH FIVE TEAMS. One of the principles of the book is to catch your staff doing something right. People tend to repeat behaviors that are rewarded positively. He encourages us to take the time to watch and observe the people we work with, can reward them with praise when we catch them doing something right. Positive reinforcement will produce men and women who will continue to do the right things.

I challenged my staff to do this and we are giving a $10 cash gift to the person who is caught doing something right during the month of July. My hope is that rather than people looking for blunders and mistakes, we will create an atmosphere of encouragement that will result in greater team unity and a greater understanding of why we do what we do.

The writer to the book of Hebrews said: “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.” (Hebrews 10:24). Ken Blanchard thought he discovered a new principle! It’s been in the Bible for a long time. The context of this verse is in relation to the church … and wouldn’t it be great if we put that into practice. Think about how the church would grow if we took up the challenge. But we can also apply that in the world where we work as well as in our families.

How can you this weekend stir up love and good works in the lives of your spouse and kids? How can you do that in your church? Rather than looking for something someone did that was wrong — how about “CATCHING ‘EM DOING SOMETHING RIGHT!”

Let me know how it goes!