When We Mess Up!

For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. (Psalm 27:5 ESV)

In life, we can count on times when we are not at our best, and we will mess up. Not if we mess up, when we mess up? Furthermore, what is our response, when we mess up? Since we are not the only ones that make mistakes, let’s look at two example from the Bible of individuals who have messed up.

First, King Saul had specific orders from the Lord to destroy the detestable Amalekites’ idols, and all that they have. God did not want Saul to spare anything, and to kill both man, woman, children, and life stock.

Saul declared to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep, and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.” (1 Samuel 15:20-22)

Saul directly disobeyed the instructions of God, to make matters worse, when Samuel confronted him; he tried to justify his action with his own reasoning. The Bible warns, “Do not be wise in our own eyes.” Saul’s reign seemed to have plummeted from that very moment.

Conversely, King David was not at his best, fell into temptation, and eventually led him to a sinful relationship with Bathsheba. The prophet Nathan confronted him, And David responded, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.” (Psalm 51:2-4)

There is no question; both were in sin; however, David had a different approach. He demonstrated an attitude of repentance, as well as, a concern for His relationship with God.

Here are two principles, out of many, to consider from His word when we mess up.

1. Confessions bring Healing

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

2. Our strength comes from Him:

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

These two principle seem to work alongside each other closely, it is at the moment when we begin confessing our weaknesses, God reminds us that we can do this without Him, and He provides the strength we need. Are you feeling powerless over your circumstances or a specific situation today? Good, you are in good company, because the moment you let go, He will be magnified in our life. Let Go, and Let God! Juan Mendez is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves full-time at America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Romans 4-7

Think About This: The Church on earth is a cross-eyed church, with one eye on God in His heavenly benediction, and one eye on the needy world of men. David Head

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,  comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

It’s Not All About Me …

Welcome to this new week of Freedom Fighter blogs. I want to thank you for joining me and the guys who are faithfully writing each that encourage you and me to walk in victory.

Last week I was having one of those rough days and I was finding myself getting frustrated with everything. One morning last week, the Lord reminded me that it is not all about me …

It isn’t all about me:

My flesh wants:

To be right
To be respected
To be understood
To be appreciated

BUT …

I don’t need to be right
I don’t need to be respected
I don’t need to be understood
I don’t need to be appreciated

Jesus wants me

To serve HIM whether or not I am right or wrong
To serve HIM whether or not I am respected
To serve HIM whether or not I am understood
To serve HIM whether or not I am appreciated

If I can fully grasp this – then I can really say, “But none of these things move me nor do I count my life dear to myself – so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24 – Dr. Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Romans 1-3

Think About This: The long dull monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather for the Devil. C. S. Lewis

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,  comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Out of Order

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33

“Out of Order”, now there’s a familiar sign. Sometimes when I respond to a work request I arrive to see that because of a dysfunction there is an out of order sign. My job is to examine the issue and take the proper steps so when I’m done the issue is resolved and things are back up and running.Matthew 6:33

“Out of Order” is a good way to describe my life when I allow things to bring me to a place of dysfunction. There are times when, because of misuse or overuse of my time and my treasure that I become useless.

Sometimes it’s as if I was walking around with my own “out of order” sign hanging over my neck and the responses to some of my reactions from people cause me to fill out a spiritual work request. There are many places in scripture where God has provided us a place to come to Him and allow Him to put things back in order. I find myself taking time to examine the path I’ve been walking and use a good method to allow God to show me the areas I need to give Him for repair.

The verses King David records in Psalm 24 have become my spiritual diagnostic formula. He asks the question in Psalm 24, “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place?”  He goes on to instruct us, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully”.  For me this is a good place to start. Clean hands tells me that when I’ve gotten dirty from the things of this world I need to wash my hands by confessing my sin. A pure heart is allowing the Holy Spirit of God to take His proper place by reading and meditating in His word, making sure there are no idols on the throne of my heart and the truth of God is in focus and ruling my walk.

So, maybe it’s time to take the “dys” out of dysfunction, fill out a spiritual work request and allow the Spirit of God to “do His thing”!  — Rob Russomano is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves full-time at America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 1-4

Think About This: Someone asked William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army,  what was the secret of his success. He replied, tears filling his eyes. “I will tell you the secret, God has all there was of me to have.” William Booth

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:20

Don’t Jump Like Jehoshaphat

“Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, my people as your people. We will be with you in the war.” 2 Chronicles 18:3 (ESV)

There was time in American life where the phrase “Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat” had been in use. I think when I was a kid I may have heard hit on the TV (F-Troop comes to mind) when it was still a black and white world without any idea of HDMI or High Definition. The phrase can be traced back to Mayne Reid’s novel “The Headless Horseman” written in 1866 but it might just go back a bit further. Maybe back before the Ten Tribes of Israel had been carted off into captivity. Maybe around a time when the people of Judah watched as King Jehoshaphat jumped from doing the very will of YHVH to aligning himself with the wicked kings like Ahab and Ahaziah.

We get introduced to King Jehoshaphat in 2Chronicles 17:1 and 1Kings 15:24. For the most part he is a man of YHVH and we know this by what we can see in the text of 2Chronicles 17. The first thing we can see is he just may a king who will cry out to YHVH, we know this because he is of the house of David, the great-great-grandson I do believe (if this isn’t right…eh, I tried). David is known for crying out to his God. Another thing we glean is that Jehoshaphat delights in the ways of YHVH because he removes those high altars of the Baals. And then he sends many men of YHVH to go out and teach the people the very things of YHVH he himself delights in. Not Too Shabby!!

And by 18^th chapter of 2Chronicles Jehoshaphat jumps, not so much physically but certainly spiritually. He makes two of the three worldly alliances he is known for with Ahab, first by an arranged marriage between his son and Ahab’s daughter then by helping Ahab with his army against the occupiers of Ramoth-gilead. That military campaign goes bad for Ahab so Jehoshaphat jumps back to the safety of Jerusalem, having learned his lesson it was back to the things of YHVH. But before his death he will make his third worldly alliance with Ahaziah, Ahab’s son, in a commercial boat building venture that a prophet named Eliezer exclaims, “Because you have joined with Ahaziah, the LORD will destroy what you have made.” And the boating business sinks to the bottom of the waters…Not Too Smart!!

In the 19^th chapter there was a real “tell it like is” from a guy like Jehu and by the 20^th chapter Jehoshaphat was getting his reign back on track and vertically aligned. Which leads me to think how we all need a Jehu in our lives to say, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD?” We tend to think that we can take a step backwards and help those that God leaves behind in our lives and I think this is what Jehoshaphat is thinking. We think that helping out those left behind is an okay thing so we’ll jump into something that is clearly ungodly, take our place with Elohim for granted and have to run back to Him for safety. Praise Him that He will…but not without consequence.

If there was anyone who understood what it meant to run back to the safety of Him who is able it was Peter. “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10)  When Peter gets outta the boat to meet with Jesus on the shore after the Crucifixion I wonder if it could have been Jehoshaphat as well or me or you? None the matter of who it is coming out the boat it’s Who is on the shore that makes the difference. I think we’ll be jumpin’ like Jehoshaphat every so often but for those of us who name the Name above all names we will find comfort, rest and a healthy breakfast waiting for us, all established ahead of time by Him who is worthy to be called El Elyon! Amen?  Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is a weekly Freedom Fighter blogger

Daily Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 15-16

Think About This: “Another reason why Christians know Christ and God so little is that we want things instead of God. We are more interested in the gift than the giver. God wants to us Himself. God wants to impart Himself with His gift. Separated from God, the gift is dangerous.”—A.W. Tozer

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:20

Walking in the Light

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1: 1-10 ESV

Our pastor just started a series in 1 John and he has been unfolding for us that John unfolds in the little letter the “true marks” of a Christians.  John is rebuking the heresy of the day, Gnosticism which is still prevalent in our day today is various forms.  I am not going to explain the Gnostics views, what I am going to do here is to reveal the one of the true marks of a follower of Jesus Christ.

Passage states that God is Light and there is no darkness in him at all.  What John is telling us and what Pastor Jamie reminded us of was that since Christ is our life, and he lives in us, He dispels the darkness that is in us.  You know as I think about this truth it comforts me that Jesus exposes the darkness in me by his presence living in me.  Now the trick for us is to admit it when it is exposed.  Look at verse 6, if we say we are in fellowship with Him yet walk (live our lives) in darkness, we lie and do not practice (live in) the truth.

Can you see what John is doing here?  Listen, he is not saying to us, that we are to reach sinless perfection, no, no, no.  What he is saying is that as He reveals to us the darkness in our lives (we all have it and will have it until we get home), we need to own it, confess it and repent of it.  For many of us we make living in sin a habit.  John says, that if that is you MO, then you are not walking in the Light, actually you are a liar (which is darkness).

Problem #1 – We get comfortable with our sin. We hang around sin.  See the word John uses is “walk” which means, ongoing, planning, enjoying being around sin.  One of the traps that those in early recovery have is that they do not change the old friends (who are still practicing sinful living) and we go around to check on them.  Hey, we have to be smarter than that.  Many of us know, through failure, that our old friends on their territory will bring old memories and emotions to the forefront and we will long for that which we ate back in Egypt because we are comfortable around sin.

Problem #2 – After we begin hanging around sin and get comfortable with it, we the start to get hardened by it.  You know what I mean by this. You lose your sensitivity towards sin, that which once was off limits you do not even consider that it is sinful.  Many Christians today are looking for the “grey” areas and looking for the loopholes.  Pastor reminded us of some who say things like, “I going to go ahead and do this because eventually God is going to have to forgive me”.  Ever been there?

Problem #3 – Once sin hardens us, we get a distorted view of sin.  As stated above, we start calling things slip ups, character defects, and things like that which may have some truth but they are never-the-less sin.  Pastor reminded us of Galatians 6, where Paul said, “God will not be mocked”.  You see part of the Gnostic’s belief was that what we do in the flesh does not affect our spirit.  This is so far from the truth and John was exposing the falsehood of that belief.

Finally, there is hope for us.  John encourages us to choose to walk in the light.  This is a choice that we have to make.  We must walk under the leadership of the Holy Spirit who is in us, shining the light because he is the light.  Then when darkness is exposed by the light, instead of covering it up, we need to confess it.  We need to do this immediately, do not delay, God is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse us.  Confession must be made to God and for most of us, to others for accountability sake.  You see when we choose to walk in the light and confess sin when it is shown to us we conqueror sin before he happens.

So, are you walking in the light?  Do you have true fellowship with God and others?  John says, that if you are a true believer, you walk in the light and if you are walking in the light you have fellowship with God and with other believers.   Have a great day and remember it is the King of kings and Lord of lords that you are walking with.  He has already conquered our sin, we just need to walk in the victory He has won for us.  – Doug Barger served as Administrator of the Colony of Mercy and is now the Director of Men’s Ministry at Bethesda Mission outside of Harrisburg

Daily Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 12-14

Think About This: No one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one else talks to you more. —Paul Tripp

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:20

Why Me Lord?

Have you ever asked yourself this question, “Why me Lord?” Have you ever been in place/situation where these sorts of thoughts were pondered?

“For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,”( 2 Corinthians 1:27)

Life has taken me places that I am not proud of. Poor decisions lead me down a path of destruction. I spent useless amounts of time seeking out the things of the world, with individuals of the world. If there is one thing life taught me, it is that if left to my own devices, I will fail.

Yet In the midst of the all, God chose me. It is not because I’m more sophisticated than others; it is not because I’m smarter, funnier or richer. Let us consider 3 of the many reason why chooses us.

1. He desires that no one will perish.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.(2 Peter 3:9)

He does not desire it or wish it. His nature is unconditional love, and He sincerely desires the eternal happiness of all. His patience towards us is evidence that His will is that we are saved.

2. He has a plan for our lives.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.” (Psalms 33:11, 12)

God’s plan is to complete His good work through His children utilizing all the gifts and abilities he provided. This was/is His plan while we were still in our mother’s womb, still in sin, and even before the foundation of the earth. Our assignments may differ, but it is all part of His sovereign plan.

3. Further His Kingdom/The Great Commission.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

We are to complete the works, the instructions, and minister the Gospel of Jesus, the purpose of the Father as revealed in the Son. We have the opportunity to share this message to a lost generation – the message of hope that comes from faith in Christ. This is pleasing to God and moreover brings him glory.

These three reasons allude to the revelation that the question should not be “why me Lord,” but rather “why not me?” – Juan Mendez is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy, serves full time at America’s Keswick and is a student at Lancaster Bible College

Daily Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 9-11

Think About This: To really hear the gospel is to be shaken to your core. To really hear the gospel is to change. —Mark Dever

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:20

All Creation Sings His Praise

Let the skies rejoice and the earth be glad;  let the sea and everything in it shout.  Let the fields and everything in them rejoice. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy. Psalm 96:11-12

For the Lord your God is living among you.  He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.  With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Zephaniah 3:17

I have been reading through the Psalms in 30 days, and am on my 10^th time through. Over and over again, I am amazed at how often King David, the shepherd-musician turned King, talks about praise and worship. He often talks about the heaven’s and earth rejoicing.

Pastor Mark Batterson in his book,  All In: You Are One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life (Zondervan) paints this word picture for us:

Arnold Summerfield, the German physicist and pianist, observed that a single hydrogen atom, which emits one hundred frequencies, is more musical than a grand piano, which only emits eighty-eight frequencies.

Every single atom is a unique expression of God’s creative genius. And that means every atom is a unique expression of worship.

According to composer Leonard Bernstein, the best translation of Genesis 1: 3 and several other verses in Genesis 1 is not “and God said.” He believed a better translation is “and God sang.” The Almighty sang every atom into existence, and every atom echoes that original melody sung in three-part harmony by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Did you know that the electron shell of the carbon atom produces the same harmonic scale as the Gregorian chant? Or that whale songs can travel thousands of miles underwater? Or that meadowlarks have a range of three hundred notes? But the songs we can hear audibly are only one instrument in the symphony orchestra called creation.

Research in the field of bioacoustics has revealed that we are surrounded by millions of ultrasonic songs. Supersensitive sound instruments have discovered that even earthworms make faint staccato sounds!

Lewis Thomas put it this way: “If we had better hearing, and could discern the descants [singing] of sea birds, the rhythmic tympani [drumming] of schools of mollusks, or even the distant harmonics of midges [flies] hanging over meadows in the sun, the combined sound might lift us off our feet.” Someday the sound will lift us off our feet. Glorified eardrums will reveal millions of songs previously inaudible to the human ear.

Batterson, Mark (2013-09-24). All In: You Are One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life (Kindle Locations 1490-1501). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

My brother, if all creation is filled with praise today, how about you? Right where you are, you can break out in praise. Come on – are you bold enough? Brave enough? Go outside, look to the heavens and join all creation in praising Him. – Dr. Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 5-8

Think About This: In order to worship, this relationship with God our Father must be a reality in our lives, so that our worship is not dependent on the things that can be seen-the buildings, ceremonies, rituals and trappings of religion that can so easily become a substitute for a personal knowledge of God. Worship that depends on the externals for its existence is not real worship at all; true worship is what you have left when the externals are taken away. This does not mean that certain aids to worship are not valid and useful, but they are useless without the internal reality. Graham Kendrick

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:20

 

The Fruit and The Vine: COUNT IT ALL A JOY II

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”  Romans 14:17 (ESV)

I thought was an interesting story about our 26^th President of America, Theodore Roosevelt…“While hunting buffalo in the Dakota Badlands, Theodore Roosevelt spent two weeks in intense heat and driving rain. He got a deep gash in his forehead when his horse reared up unexpectedly. As he crawled on his belly to get a shot at an animal, he accidentally place his hand on a cactus and received a fistful of spines. That evening he and his guide were rudely awakened by a cold rain that left them lying in four inches of water. Shivering between sodden blankets, the guide heard Roosevelt exclaim, “By Godfrey, but this is fun!”

Not too sure if that would have been me but joy can be found in the strangest places. If we keep this mentality that we only find joy in those things that make us content just because it is our thing to bring us joy, God will turn that upside down in a New York minute if it gets in the way of His will for our lives. As I have searched out joy in God’s Word I have found that even our heavenly Father will use the strangest things for us to find our joy complete in Him, if we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit moving in our lives. Here are my last three places to visit while on the pathway…

4. Joy in the Gospel (Philippians 1:3-26) The highest honor I could ever achieve, if I am even allowed to say this, is to be called a servant of Jesus Christ. I am not sure about being called a saint because apart from Christ, the best saints are sinners, unable to stand before God. The things which most honor God will most benefit us and whatever turns to our salvation, is by the Spirit of Christ. Our hope should not be to be honored by men, or to escape the Cross for that matter, but to be upheld amidst temptation, contempt, and affliction. Let’s leave it all to Christ and then He will make us servants to His glory. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil 1:21)
   5. Joy in Gods Discipline (Hebrews 12:1-13) Persevering our obedience of faith in Christ is the race set before us, where we could either win the crown of glory, or have everlasting misery for our efforts. However, there seems to be a proneness in us believers to grow weary and to faint under trials and afflictions. Brothers (and sisters) we should not faint under our trials, but at times we do. Maybe we need to learn that the trials and afflictions brought on us by the malice of men are sent as a correction by our wise and gracious Father, for our spiritual good. “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” (Hebrews 12:7)
5. Joy in Christ’s Rest (Matthew 11:28-30) Time and time again throughout my study in what the Fruits of the Spirit are in my life does this verse pop up. “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Joy and contentment is to be found while abiding in Him and being in the same yoke that Jesus Himself says is His. It all sounds so constricting yet so liberating because He has promised that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Then why was I afraid to share in the joy? My answer…

“For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” The answer…”Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” AMEN!! – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is a weekly Freedom Fighter blogger

Daily Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1-5

Think About This: “I Choose Joy…I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.”—Max Lucado

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ … 1 Peter 1:13

Join us this Thursday evening for our first Men’s Fellowship Night of our new season. Pastor Richard VanHeukelum , Shawnee Baptist, Shamong, NJ will be our speaker. Call today for reservations: 800-453-7942

You’re Eating What?

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, ¹³ for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5: 12 – 14) ESV

I have been working in men’s ministry now for over 24 years and I have to say, I love the work even though the work has been grueling at times.  One of the difficulties that I keep encountering in ministry is that there are those who have been around the ministry for a long period of time and they should be teachers but they aren’t because they never fed off the pure milk of the Word.

The more and more I study the early church and how they establish believers, the more and more convinced I am that we have been doing it all wrong.  Paul and the other Apostles made it their aim to build up the Church not individuals.  Look at the book of Acts and you will notice that the Gospel went out from Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria and then the ends of the earth (Rome and beyond).

The Apostles were obeying the command of Jesus from Matthew 28 and Acts 1:8, where he told them to “go out into all the world and make disciples (not converts), baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I commanded you.”  What does all of this have to do with above verse?  Well, many of us who have been in recovery work and or men’s ministry understand that many of those who come to us “know” the truths of the Scriptures intellectually but not practically.  I like what the writer of Hebrews says, “they never fed off the pure milk of the Word”.  I remember a time when a man came to me (and these happens a lot), and asked me what some symbol or sign means from the book of Revelation and I asked him, “before we go there, tell me about the significance that John 3:16 has played in your life?”  To this I get lots of blank stares and then some comment that goes something like, everyone knows what John 3:16 says, to which I say, yes we all know what it says, but what does it mean?

Many of us are missing the elementary teachings of the faith for our lives.  I remember when we sent our daughter to a math tutor for some needed help for math.  The tutor told us that she was going to go all the way back to the basics with her because somewhere along her growing up, she must have missed some basic principles of math that were causing her some problems in her ability to do math today.  After a few weeks of tutoring the teacher and my daughter discovered the missing principles of math and now she can solve math problems that use to give her great anxiety.

So, beloved this passage is a warning of falling away.  Many people I know run into things we call relapse or falls and the writer of Hebrews calls in apostasy or a falling away from the faith.  Some of us do because we are missing the elementary principles of the faith.  Our faith is like other things in life.  It has to grow and one of the ways that it grows or is strengthened is that of building off the elementary principles.  It is like math, you have to learn basic principles of math before you can do algebra and geometry.  So, are you one of those who by now, should be a teacher but you are not because you have been feeding off the meat of the word of God but really do not have the discernment to live off that meat because you never feasted on the milk.  There are some of you who are on the milk and have been for a long time and that is equally as dangerous because you are refusing the milk maybe because of fear, apprehension or some other misguide belief that you are believing.

Let’s us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith says the writer of Hebrews later on in his letter.  So, where are you today?  What’s going on with your faith?  Is it being strengthened or weakened?  What are you feeding on, milk or meat?  I love you all today and hope that you are walking with the King. – Doug Barger is Director of Men’s Ministry at Bethesda Mission outside of Harrisburg, PA. Doug served as the Colony of Mercy Administrator

Daily Bible Reading: Galatians 4-6

Think About This: Till men have faith in Christ, their best services are but glorious sins. —Thomas Brooks

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ … 1 Peter 1:13

Join us this Thursday evening for our first Men’s Fellowship Night of our new season. Pastor Richard VanHeukelum , Shawnee Baptist, Shamong, NJ will be our speaker. Call today for reservations: 800-453-7942

Temporary Residence

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. (1 Peter 2:11)

The reality is there are various principalities warring against our souls. Our life is a journey filled with roadblocks that not only hinders our productivity in the kingdom, but also discourages and lets us down. However, if we call to mind this wonderful passage to remind us that we are temporary sojourners with a greater purpose and a greater hope, we can persevere.

After reading through C. S. Lewis’ story, Lewis is confident that “real” life is still to come; rather we are living in a shadowland of heaven. He indicates that our life on earth is a part of the shadowlands, and real life has not yet begun.

On her deathbed, Lewis’ wife, Joy, declares to her husband ‘your good’ and Lewis responds I am only a shadow. Lewis takes the Biblical stance and has confidence in the afterlife, which has perfect fellowship with God – a fellowship greater than what we now experience. He maintains our real home is where our real identity lies.

Jesus proclaims, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” (John 14:2-4)

As Christians, we will never be completely comfortable with this life because this place is not our true home. The life we are living now is in the shadow of glory, and is merely a blurred image of true life in heaven with our God. – Juan Mendez graduated from the Colony of Mercy, serves full-time at America’s Keswick and is a student at Lancaster Bible College

Daily Bible Reading: Galatians 1-3

Think About This: No one ever graduates from Bible study until he meets its Author face to face. Everett Harris

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ … 1 Peter 1:13.