Friends

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Friends

Our Family Freedom Walk will be held this year on Saturday, May 7, 2011. Diane Hunt, our Director of Development and Addiction Recovery thinks that she can get the gals who read Victory Call to out give the men who read Freedom Fighter. I don’t think that is possible … so I need your help today. Make your pledge to support this ministry and join the fight by giving financially click the link below!  www.americaskeswick.org/givenow

If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Ecclesiastes 4:10
We live in such a busy world that sometimes we as men don’t do friendships well. We have many acquaintances, but we don’t have friendships that go deep and are real.

I read a cool story this weekend that was a good reminder of the importance of friendships. Paul David Leopoulos received a call from his wife asking that he go to their local hospital. Their 17-year old daughter had been hit by a drunk driver and was in serious condition. Before he made it to the hospital, she died.

The town was shook by this tragedy and kids started showing up from everywhere to comfort the family within 45 minutes of Thea’s death. On the hour, Paul David received a call from one of his closest friends. His friend was a very high profile individual and Paul was amazed how quickly he had heard the news. His friend told him that he would be there just as quick as he could.
A few hours later, his friend walked in the door. He stayed and did all he could do to comfort his friend and their family. When Paul asked his friend where he was when he received the news. His friend shared with him that he was in an airplane halfway to Japan when he received the news. He cancelled his calendar, turned the plane around and immediately went to be with his friend.

Pretty amazing story of a deep friendship.  By the way, the friend? President Bill Clinton.

Over the years I have been blessed with good friends. I will never forget the day that we had a tragedy at America’s Keswick and two of my dearest friends, Pastor Matt Reed and Jim Shields dropped everything to come and support me. It meant more to me than they will ever know.

Don’t miss important opportunities to be a friend to someone today. Maybe you have a friend that you’ve not communicated to recently. Why not pick up the phone, drop him an email, or better yet … maybe it’s time for a visit. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Judges 16-18; Psalm 88; Proverbs 5
Compass Pointers: “It is rare that Christians earnestly seek the Lord’s face when things are going swimmingly, when material blessings abound and we seem to be protected from the vicissitudes faced by others. But in the blackness of discouragement, when we are harassed and downcast, we may indeed turn to the Lord and acknowledge our helplessness apart from his grace; we may do so knowing that God is a compassionate God and that Jesus’ compassion was particularly directed toward the harassed and the helpless.”D A Carson
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 14:29; Level 2: Proverbs 14:25-30
Anchored to the Rock: “If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.  Martin Luther

The Subtle Power of Sin

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The Subtle Power of Sin
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2
I thought it would get easier when someone I love seems to walk away from their walk with God. I’ve lost track at how many of my friends have done this over the years. How can it be? How does it happen?
The answer is quite simple: sin is powerful. Sin is subtle. Sin wants to take us out. I shared this devotional from Daily with the King back in 2005, but it bears repeating and is a good reminder for ME!
I must realize that the closer I walk with God, the more subtle sin will become. The natural man does not hate sin as sin; he only hates the mess he has gotten himself into. But the disciple soon discovers that sin has great undoing power, the power not only to neutralize the present, but also to cancel the past.

Israel made a calf of gold and said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). This was a direct contradiction to what Israel said earlier, “Thou has led the people whom Thou hast redeemed (Exodus 15:13).

Sin is ALWAYS a contradiction. It is the great no to every manifestation of God’s truth and power. Even more, it destroys the present benefit that past blessings have brought us. The great strength occasioned by the song of Moses was wiped out by the creation of the calf.

God answered prayer for me yesterday, and I found that I still nourished me today – until I made my calf of gold. Yesterday’s blessing is dissolved by today’s idolatry.

The subtle power of sin is that it prevents me from relying on my spiritual savings account. Sin not only defeats me, but it also strips me of my armor.

What is the defense against this insidious thing? Only my bedrock relationship with God. That is the one thing sin cannot change, remove or dissolve. God has vowed my salvation, not on the basis of what I experience, but on what His Son experienced for me. While sin can eliminate a day’s or a year’s growth in my soul, it CANNOT eliminate the thing that makes that growth possible – the vibrant, pulsating life of God!

Wow. I needed to be reminded of that this truth. I need to plaster it in front of my eyes as a continual reminder of sin’s subtleness. Don’t be another statistic. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Judges 13-15; Psalm 87; Proverbs 4

Compass Pointers: So how do we hold ourselves to a standard without becoming legalistic? By relying on the Holy Spirit for both direction and empowerment. He will tell us what to do to resist temptation and grow in holiness; and He will give us the grace to overcome and follow through – when we do as He says. If our disciplines are not led by the Spirit, they are merely dead works – good as they might seem.
Joy Strang

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 14:29; Level 2: Proverbs 14:25-30
Anchored to the Rock: Our lives must be as holy as our prayer. Andrew Murray

Lead Me to Calvary

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Lead Me To Calvary
“I resolved to know nothing … except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2
Today is the Lord’s Day and in most of our churches we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Here is a great hymn written in the early 1900’s to help you prepare your hearts:
King of my life, I crown Thee now,
Thine shall the glory be;
Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned brow,
Lead me to Calvary.

Show me the tomb where Thou wast laid,
Tenderly mourned and wept;
Angels in robes of light arrayed
Guarded Thee while Thou slept.

Let me, like Mary, through the gloom,
Come with a gift to Thee;
Show to me know the empty tomb,
Lead me to Calvary.

May I be willing, Lord, to bear
Daily my cross for Thee;
Even Thy cup of grief to share,
Thou hast borne all for me.

Refrain
Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget Thine agony,
Lest I forget Thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.

The Lord’s Table is a time to remember and reflecting back on what Jesus did on the Cross of Calvary. Have you been forgetting lately? Go back to the Cross and worship Him. Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Judges 10-12; Psalm 86; Proverbs 3
Compass Pointers: When we are too busy to sharpen the axe, we are too busy. Vance Havner
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 14:29; Level 2: Proverbs 14:25-30
Anchored to the Rock: How our prayer avails depends on what we are and what our life is. Andrew Murray

What Does Jesus Do?

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What Jesus Does for You
I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance. John 10:10b
I came across this power teaching by Frances Ure that reminds me what Jesus does for you and me …
Jesus takes the lone out of loneliness, and puts the friend into friendship.
He takes the fear out of fearful and puts trust into trusting.
He takes the fright out of frightful, and put peace into peaceful.
He takes the doubt out of doubting, and puts believe into believing.
He takes the hat out of hating, and puts love into loving.
He takes the curse out of cursing, and puts bless into blessing.
He takes the grief out of grieving, and puts happy into happiness.
Jesus takes the sin out of sinful, and puts health into forgive into forgiveness.
He takes the sick of out sickness, and puts health into healthy.
Jesus puts the gold into the street of gold – Isn’t He wonderful!
Take some time and reread the above and allow those thoughts to prepare you for tomorrow – the Lord’s Day. Thank You Jesus for all you do and so much more. Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Judges 8-9; Psalm 85; Proverbs 2

Compass Pointers: Action is the proper fruit of knowledge. Thomas Fuller
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 13:14; Level 2: Proverbs 13:25-30
Anchored to the Rock: How our prayer avails depends upon what we are and what our life is. Andrew Murray

The Daily Dozen Part 2

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The Daily Dozen (Part 2)
Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word cheers it up. Proverbs 12:25
Yesterday I shared with you the first six principles from the life creed of Robert Louis Stevenson. Here are the next six:
7. Don’t borrow trouble. Imaginary burdens are harder to bear than the actual ones.
8. Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish enmities or grudges. Avoid people who make you unhappy.
9. Have many interests. If you can’t travel, read about new places.
10. Don’t hold postmortems. Don’t spend your life brooding over sorrows and mistakes. Don’t be one who never gets over things.
11. Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.
12. Keep busy at something. A busy person never has time to be unhappy.

Not bad principles to have as your life creed. Why don’t you compile your own daily dozen list! Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Judges 6-7; Psalm 84; Proverbs 1
Compass Pointers: it is not enough that our actions be good and praise worthy, if our intentions are not pure and upright. It is to profane the good to do it with a bad end in view. Jean Daille
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 13:14; Level 2: Proverbs 13:20-25
Anchored to the Rock: The decisive preparation for prayer lies not in the prayer itself, but in the life prior to prayer. Handley C. G. Moule

The Daily Dozen (Part 1)

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The Daily Dozen (Part 1)
Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word cheers it up. Proverbs 12:25

Robert Louis Stevenson had a “daily dozen” that comprised his personal creed. They are worth looking at today. Here are the first six:

1. Make up your mind to be happy. Learn to find pleasure in simple things.

2. Make the best of your circumstances. No one has everything, and everyone has something of sorrow intermingles with the gladness of life. The trick is to make the laughter outweigh the tears.

3. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Don’t think that somehow you should be protected from misfortunes that befall others.
4. You can’t please everybody. Don’t let criticism worry you.
5. Don’t let your neighbor set your standards. Be yourself.
6. Do the things you enjoy doing, but stay out of debt.

Not bad principles for us to consider for our daily lives. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Judges 3-5; Psalm 83; Proverbs 31
Compass Pointers: Unless a man has to do more than he can do, he will not do all that he can do. Gordon Cooper
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 13:14; Level 2: Proverb 13:20-25
Anchored to the Rock: Honest dealing becomes us when we kneel in God’s pure presence. David McIntryre

Duty or Devotion

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DUTY OR DEVOTION?
“But Martha was distracted with much serving…”  (Luke 10:40)
            What do your outward actions say about you?  Do they say that you are serving the Lord out of a genuine love for Him?  Martha allowed her sense of duty to get in the way of her devotion to the Lord.  We know this because Jesus had to remind her that her sister Mary had chosen the good part, which was a quiet sense of devotion and worship.
            There is a time for work and there is a time for worship.  I am not attempting to minimize the importance of work.  The Apostle James said, “…I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18).  He also said, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” (v.26).
            Martha’s problem was not laziness.  Her life did not have a shortage of activity.  Like many Christians of today she was extremely busy.  Her problem was that she was too busy.  She was so involved in working to serve Jesus, she forgot to stop and worship Him.
            Mary’s life was marked by adoration.  Martha’s life was one of frustration.  What set these two sisters apart?  Their focus!
            Martha’s preoccupation with service led to frustration.  Do you frequently feel disturbed?  Do you find yourself complaining about others and comparing what you are doing to what they are doing?  Are you easily worried or agitated?  Do you serve Christ out of necessity rather than devotion?  If you answered yes to these questions you need to pause and ask the Lord to stir the fires of your devotion to Him.
            Mary knew the value of true devotion and worship.  Worship should always precede work.  Our work should be the overflow of our worship.  Or focus should be on being not on doing.  What we do for Jesus should emerge out of who we are in Jesus.
            I have heard Dr. Stephen Olford say many times, “God is more concerned with who you are than what you do; and if you are does not please Him, then what you do is virtually useless.”
            Make devotion to Jesus a priority in your life. Dr. Roger D. Willmore will be speaking at America’s Keswick July 31- August 5, 2011
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Judges 1-2; Psalm 82: Proverbs 30
Compass Pointers: Man’s practices are the best indexes of his principles. Stephen Charnock
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 13:14; Level 2: Proverbs 13:20-25
Anchored to the Rock: When a man is on his knees before God, that he is – and nothing more. Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Don’t Try Taking Shortcuts with God

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Don’t Try Taking Shortcuts with God
“You earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” (Haggai 1:6)
            There is a tendency in our society to try to cut corners and take shortcuts.  Sometimes a shortcut to avoid traffic is a good idea.  But generally speaking, shortcuts have a way of backfiring on us.  This is especially true when we try to cut corners in things regarding our relationship to God.

            In our Haggai text, God is chiding His people because while they were rebuilding their own houses, they were neglecting God’s temple.  The result was that, even though they were planting crops and working hard at their respective occupations, they were not making any profit.  Earlier in the nation’s experience, the people had apparently greedily refused to allow the land to rest for its Sabbath year (see Leviticus 25).  But according to 2 Chronicles 36:21, they had been neglecting those years of rest and had been harvesting all they could.  Thus, when the nation went into the seventy year captivity, God said the Sabbaths would be made up while they were gone.

            I had a pastor friend in another state who frequently visited a man who had been shut in for some time.  During one of these visits, the man asked the pastor why he thought the Lord was leaving him in his condition so long.  The pastor suggested they both pray for an answer and discuss it on the next visit.  Sure enough, when the pastor entered the house on the next visit, the man had an answer.  He related how some time earlier he had been suspected of not dealing honestly with some church funds.  The man because angry and decided to leave the church and prove that he could make money without the church . Now he realized that God was leaving him in his condition until all his money was gone.  Not too long afterward the man died and the pastor had his funeral.  At the service a daughter related to the pastor that all the man’s money was gone and they were about ready to sell the house. 

            That which he thought he could enjoy without God’s people became useless to him except for surviving.  God is an excellent bookkeeper and we need to be very careful about cutting corners with Him.

Rev. Thomas D. Murray was a great mentor to many men in ministry over the years, and was a dear friend of America’s Keswick
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Joshua 22-24; Psalm 81; Proverbs 29
Compass Pointers: May the power of your love, Lord Christ, fiery and sweet as honey, so absorb our hearts as to withdraw them from all that is under heaven. Grant that we may be ready to die for love of your love, as you died for love of our love. Francis of Assisi
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 13:14; Level 2: Proverbs 13:20-25
Anchored to the Rock: There is nothing that tells the truth about us as Christians so much as our prayer life. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Ain’t It a Shame, What Happened to Cain?

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Ain’t It a Shame, What Happened To Cain?
“The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”  Gen 4:6-9 (ESV)
Am I my brother’s keeper? This is the first question, full of anger and seasoned with sarcasm, ever to be uttered by man. I have often thought how things might have been if Adam asked God “Why can’t I eat the fruit of this tree?” but he didn’t. Maybe it was because Adam knew better to challenge His Creator. After all, we all know what happened to Creation after the serpent crawled out from under the rock that he was hiding beneath. He began to question the authority of God to Eve. And would have God answered Adam…hmmm? Well, He doesn’t answer Cain directly but if you’re reading your Bible you can tell that God has used the entirety of His Word to give Cain and us His answer.
We all should know the story. Cain and his brother Abel bring their offerings to God. Abel’s offering is accepted because he approaches the altar as a sinner. Cain’s offering is not accepted. It could have been that because he approached the altar with a heart that may have said, “I’m in the building, I’m in the pew with my Bible open to some chapter, here’s the tithe check and can we get this over with I don’t want to miss the ball game on T.V.” attitude that God rejected his offering. And maybe you just had an “OUCH” moment with that statement or maybe you are an Abel who sits next to a brother who is huffin’-n-puffin’ this under his breath.
As we follow along in the story Cain lures his brother out to the fields and strikes him down giving us the first recorded act of murder. What we don’t get told in the story is why. Why did Cain feel the need to kill his own brother? I believe that if we look at the entirety of God’s Word we will find that the answer is throughout the Bible. It does begin with disobedience and then it branches out in many directions. Perhaps Cain’s pride of being the first born or the jealousy of a man who toils on the earth while watching someone take a nap under a tree as the sheep sorta-kinda tend to themselves. How about just the plain simple envy of someone else who has gotten that Fatherly recognition that maybe they rightly feel is theirs. In any case, I think Cain allowed himself to become offended and killed to try to get it out of his system.
Cain displayed a proud and unbelieving heart towards God. How do we recognize this?  It’s when we take a look at the beginning of chapter four in Genesis you see there in verse three, “In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground”. Doesn’t say first fruit does it? No it doesn’t. In a nutshell it says that Cain wanted to hurry up and get this offering stuff done and over with, right? Ain’t got the time to pick the best just pick something up off the ground and throw it on the altar. Maybe he was already angry that because of what Adam and Eve did in their disobedience is what had him digging in the dirt. We’ll never know…or will we? Have we looked in the mirror lately? Hmmm…
 “Am I my brother’s keeper?” In his pride Cain felt that he didn’t answer for nothing. But that doesn’t work for us does it…Brother? If you have Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior in your life you are your brother’s keeper by default. If we are alive in Him and dead to ourselves we called to go that extra mile with each other. So you might as well wear your best walking shoes because that mile may be longer than you think.  It is a shame what happened to Abel for certain but ain’t it a shame what happened to Cain? But we don’t have to carry around this same shame, do we?  That was nailed to a Cross of wood at Golgotha. We need to leave that there and live for the One that was able to bear it for us. Amen? – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular contributor to Freedom Fighter

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Joshua 19-21; Psalm 80; Proverbs 28

Compass Pointers: “In all ages there have been two sorts of worshippers, such as Cain and Abel; namely, proud, hardened despisers of the gospel method of salvation, who attempt to please God in ways of their own devising; and humble believers, who draw near to Him in the way He has revealed. Cain indulged malignant anger against Abel. He harboured an evil spirit of discontent and rebellion against God. God notices all our sinful passions and discontents. There is not an angry, envious, or fretful look that escapes His observing eye.”  Matthew Henry Concise

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 13:14; Level 2: Proverbs 13:2-25

Anchored to the Rock: There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him. William Law

Psalm 145 — A Paraphrase

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Psalm 145 – A Paraphrase
Here is a great paraphrase of Psalm 145 from Leslie Brandt’s book, Psalms Now, which I hope will prepare your heart for worship:
God is here – let’s celebrate!
Let us enlist our lives in perpetual celebration
   over God’s goodness and greatness.
Let us announce to the world God’s presence and
   proclaim His loving concern for all men.

How compassionate He is over all He has created,
   how tender toward His failure-fraught creatures!
He will not cop out on His promises to us,
His blessings are not reserved only for those
   who fit obediently in His design for them.
He is just – He is forgiving!
He gently picks up those who have fallen
   and restores them to sonship and servanthood.
He sustains those who are wavering in weakness
   and grants them His grace and strength.
He reaches into the void of empty lives,
   and enriches and fulfills their hungry hearts.
He is near enough to hear our every cry,
   to sense our every need,
   to grant us whatever is necessary,
   to make us happy and productive
   as we seek to follow and to serve Him.
How incomparably glorious is our great God!
May our mouths articulate and our lives demonstrate
   His ever-present love for all His creatures!
Let us celebrate the eternal mercy and goodness of our God.

Today is all about HIM! Celebrate Him – He is here! – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Joshua 16-18; Psalm 79; Proverbs 27
Compass Pointers: Late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient and so new; late have I loved you! You were within me, and I was outside; and I sought you outside and in my loneliness fell upon those lovely things that you have made. You were with me, but I was not with you…. You called me and cried to me and broke open my deafness; you sent forth your beams and shone upon me and chased away my blindness; you breathed your fragrance upon me, and I drew in my breath and now I pant for you; I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst for you; you touched me, and I burn for your peace. Augustine

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 13:14; Level 2: Proverbs 13:20-25
Anchored to the Rock: No can pray well but that he lives well. Thomas Fuller