Freedom Fighters

Yo! Change Is Coming!

03/25/201603/24/2016Leave a comment

1 Chronicles 23:1-32 (Numbers 3:5-12); Psalms 69:30;100:4;147:7; Romans 12:1,2; Hebrews 13:15,16; Romans 13:8; James 1:25; Hebrews 8:10;10:24

Change was coming to Israel: David selects the site for the temple, Ornan, the Jebusite’s threshing ﬂoor and his property. He paid full price for it. No freebies (1 chronicles 21:18 -30, A symbol of the Lord Jesus paying full price to secure our redemption). David then gathers the materials and personnel to build it. He appointed Solomon to build the temple and made him co-regent (co-King). You can search chapter 22 to ﬁnd out why.

After doing the above, d was faced with an additional problem. What to do with the Levites, the helpers for the high priest and his sons? One of the key jobs of the Levites was to carry and care for the tabernacle, the furnishings and materials used for ministry. But when the Ark of the Covenant and the furnishings would be moved to Jerusalem from Gibeon, it presented a change problem. They no longer had to carry all those things.

David assigned them all the care of the furnishings and materials used in ministry. He replaced the carrying duty with another duty: “They were to stand every morning, thanking and praising the Lord, and likewise at evening…” (V30).

We are a completely new priesthood serving The Great High Priest, The Lord Jesus Christ. We are living sacriﬁces with minds being renewed and with the law of liberty (love) written on our hearts. There is no blood sacriﬁce left; The Great High Priest made the sacriﬁce once for all on the cross. Our duty is to offer Sacriﬁces of Praise and Thanksgiving to the God who loves us and to do good works (which includes making disciples) as an expression of the love written on our hearts. Will you join me?

Today’s Afﬁrmation:

I am a believer-priest, I will offer a Sacriﬁce of Praise and Thanksgiving to God, morning and evening, and express God’s love by good works.

Written by Pastor Bob Wood: Pastor Bob is a retired Pastor and a dear friend of America’s Keswick.

The Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 84; Proverbs 24

Click Here to Download our 2016 Daily Bible Reading Plan

Daily Quote: “The chains of love are stronger than the chains of fear.” ~William Gurnall

This Week’s Verse to Memorize:

But the transgressors shall be destroyed together;

The future of the wicked shall be cut off. ~Psalm 37:38 (NKJV)

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Misappropriation of Worship

03/24/201603/23/2016Leave a comment

“Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth.” ~Isaiah 58:14a

There was a strong sense of fear for me growing up of ever being arrested. I could remember my Father telling me “don’t ever do anything so bad that your name would be in the newspaper”. My Dad had a high regard for our name and didn’t want it to be “dragged through the mud”, and I certainly wasn’t going to be the one to do it. Now I wish I could say I never broke the law but that would be a lie. I was just very good at not getting caught.

The word misappropriation is a strong word that brings with it a condemnation and certainly nothing that I would want any part of. It is usually associated with mishandling money for self-serving or illegal gain.

The 58th chapter of Isaiah is an account of the Prophet proclaiming to the people that their worship is nothing more than self-serving with a hope that God would hear them and bless them because of their efforts. The people’s complaint is ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’

The idea seemed to be “If I fast then I’ll be able to perform my religious duty and God will bless me”. It’s a mentality similar “misappropriation” of funds but instead it’s a “misappropriation of worship”.

God is displeased with His people once again in this potion of scripture and is using Isaiah to bring a warning that this type of behavior only leads to bondage, a type of imprisonment. Similar to what would happen to us if we were to misappropriate funds and get caught.

I’m afraid that I think I can get away with my “acts of worship” and fool God. The truth is I might be able to fool you but not God.

The message from Isaiah is that God desires an authentic attitude when we gather together in His name. I have been thinking about the events leading up to the Easter season and the purpose Jesus had in coming. He not only made away for us to be forgiven but also exposed the idle worship of His people while He was here.

So, at this time of year let’s make the appropriate attempt of worship, placing our worship where it belongs not trying to “work the system”. Isaiah delivers a message to God’s people in verses 13 and 14,

“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,

From doing your pleasure on My holy day,

And call the Sabbath a delight,

The holy day of the LORD honorable,

And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,

Nor finding your own pleasure,

Nor speaking your own words,

Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD;

And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,

And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.

The mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Written by Rob Russomano: Rob is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a full time staff member at America’s Keswick in the maintenance department.

The Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 83; Proverbs 23

Click Here to Download our 2016 Daily Bible Reading Plan

Daily Quote: “Are you facing fear today? Perhaps you are afraid of losing your job, of developing cancer or being left by your spouse. At times all of us experience fear. But don’t allow fear to keep you from being used by God. He has kept you thus far; trust Him for the rest of the way.” ~Dr. Woodrow Kroll (Enjoy Dr. Kroll this Memorial Day Weekend at America’s Keswick

This Week’s Verse to Memorize:

But the transgressors shall be destroyed together;

The future of the wicked shall be cut off. ~Psalm 37:38 (NKJV)

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The Art of Forgiveness

03/23/201603/22/2016Leave a comment

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

There are various debates on numerous theology and precepts. One of them involves the art of forgiveness. One would argue that believers are already forgiving and they don’t need to continue asking for forgiving. Another would argue that acknowledging transgression is the way to stay in perfect fellowship with our father. Others would separate judicial forgiveness and the relational aspects of forgiveness. And the list goes on…

The reason why there are so many concepts on forgiveness is because there is no easy ways to warp this principle in a neat box. They’re many facets in the art of forgiveness, and an important part is the art of forgiving one another.

I have been redeemed; forgiving, on my way to heaven. My life is now hidden in Christ and I’m not in the business of hurting others around me (no more). I have the privilege to go on and live a life that is honoring to God; I have a clean slate. But Because of my poor choices in life many people were/are hurt.

In this verse Paul is speaking on the relational part of forgiveness. And forgiving one another is a direct reflection of our relationship with Christ. He took the penalty knowing all we have done, and reconciled us with the Father. And we are to take on this attitude for ourselves.

It does not mean condoning or excusing what happened. Nor does it mean forgetting, accepting the behavior of the other as ok, or immediately being reconciled with an offender or suppressing feelings of hurt and pain. It is a process that allows healing and inner peace; to look on a person and circumstances from a God’s perspective.

For believers it’s the chance to allow Christ to shine through you. It liberates us from burdens, offenses, and being controlled by emotional strongholds. We don’t lose our morality because we give people a free pass, it actually helps restore relationships and in many case restores people back to God. If there is anyone that you have offended, or was offended, maybe it’s time to make it right. In your prayer time ask God to reveal any unfinished work.

Written by Juan Mendez: Juan is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a full time staff at America’s Keswick.

The Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 82; Proverbs 22

Click Here to Download our 2016 Daily Bible Reading Plan

Daily Quote: Only he who can say, “The Lord is the strength of my life” can say, “Of whom shall I be afraid?” ~Alexander MacLaren

This Week’s Verse to Memorize:

But the transgressors shall be destroyed together;

The future of the wicked shall be cut off. ~Psalm 37:38 (NKJV)

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Prodigal Humility II

03/22/201603/21/2016Leave a comment

“God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made Him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; He made us pure and holy, and He freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.” ~1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (NLT)

Have you looked at the parable of the prodigal son and ever ask yourself what his aim was with receiving his inheritance early? What was the end game with all that loot? I’m gonna stretch this out a bit and say that where ever your heart is with the story there you will not only find the prodigal but the prodigal within you. If you’ve said that he just wanted to rock and roll all night and party every day and needed the money to throw away on it…I would wonder if that was what you wanted to do. Me? I’ll be honest, since it is a young lad we’re talking about, I’ve leaned towards that same answer in the youth of my walk but I now I might just give him the benefit of the doubt and say he wanted to start his own life with it. Maybe….

So…what was your aim when you came to a saving grace knowledge of Jesus Christ? Do you plan an end game with that? Now if you give me that same fire alarm answers that states the end of The Bible can be summed up in two words (WE WIN) then my guess is all you want is to be able to say you’re on the winning team. Which isn’t a bad thing but it can’t be what you rest your walk on. Because if that’s all you intended to do then you’ve cheapen the grace that YHVH has imparted to you and it really is all about you. And I think when you come to humility we should see the end game much clearer than we did when we first accepted Christ. But the unfortunate truth to this is very often we don’t tend to make God our ultimate end because humility isn’t an easy thing.

When you look at the parable of the prodigal do you ever wonder how his presentation was when he approached his father for his inheritance? Was he asking as a humble son or was he belligerent one? Once again I’ll say where ever your heart is with story there you’ll find not only the prodigal but the prodigal within you. And I’ll once again say that in the youth of my walk I could envision this kid being pushy about getting’ his stuff BUT I’ll give benefit of the doubt and say there was a certain sense of humility to it, but in the sense that I said in my last Freedom Fighter. Parleyed humility…I be humble to you if are humble to me. Philia over agape.

Being humble on our terms is a contradiction of itself. And at times we can slip into “moral corruption” and make humility some kinda happy thing to do. Like there is a pleasure seeking end game to it. So our walk looks more hedonistic than Christ-like,

(then the Doobie Brothers sing…” Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just alright oh yeah”!!) and I think that like the prodigal getting the father’s inheritance, we sorta waste our inheritance from Jesus and we feel good about. Never one time bringing it to the forefront of our mind that this is gonna get hard and this gonna take effort. And a funny thing to note is there are some who would dangle the enjoyment of heaven as the reason to come to Christ, never once telling you about the cost. Sad, but true.

Well my time with you is coming to an end today but in closing I hope you not thinking that I’m being a killjoy. It isn’t wrong to enjoy conveying humility to one another and it isn’t wrong to have that as a desire but what I am saying is to make sure it is not ultimately and only self-serving. I’ll be getting into the parable of the prodigal a bit further next time I am with you but until then let me ask you…How much me-time do you need? How much of your time, money and energy go into bringing yourself pleasure? Now think of the widow with the two mites and tell me if you see yourself worth more that. Me? I have to be content on knowing that wasted time, money and energy I don’t get back but I’m also content knowing that losing 100% for the Kingdom is time/money/energy well spent. Amen?

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris, a graduate of The Colony of Mercy (11-2003) is married with two adult children (you may remember them from summer staff) and serves on the Deacon Board at Trinity Alliance Church in Cologne NJ.

The Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 81; Proverbs 21

Click Here to Download our 2016 Daily Bible Reading Plan

Daily Quote: “To many of us it has been a new joy in the Christian life to know that we may yield ourselves as servants, as slaves to God, and to find that His service is our highest liberty—the liberty from sin and self. We need to learn another lesson—that Jesus call us to be servants of one another, and that, as we accept it heartily, this service too will be a blessed one.” ~Andrew Murray

This Week’s Verse to Memorize:

But the transgressors shall be destroyed together;

The future of the wicked shall be cut off. ~Psalm 37:38 (NKJV)

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Teaching The ABC’s to Your Children

03/21/201603/20/2016Leave a comment

Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it. ~Proverbs 22:6

Now that we are the second half of life’s journey, we now get to invest in the lives of our grand kids. Some of you are there. Some of you are in the child-rearing stage of life.

Here is a very helpful list of how we can teach the ABC’s to our kids and grand kids from Christian counselor, Glenda Hotton:

Always be on time.

Be a model of honesty.

Care about their hurts.

Do acts of kindness.

Every day give plenty of hugs and kisses.

Forget past offenses.

Give occasional “token gifts” of love.

Have a happy disposition – “a merry heart.”

Invest quality time.

Jump for joy when they bring home good grades.

Keep looking for the good and positive.

Listen to their cares and woes and excitement.

Make adjustments for physical pain.

Never criticize in front of their peers.

Only say word that edify.

Put on the heart of patience.

Quietly discipline in private.

Recognize each child is creatively, uniquely different and specially gifted.

Spend time reading to them and listening to them read.

Take care of yourself.

Understand the age-appropriate behavior of each child.

Voicing – teaching them to share facts, thoughts, ideas, dreams, opinions, intuition.

Welcome their friends.

X-ray to the need of the heart.

Yesterday doesn’t have to dictate today.

Zoom in on good behavior.

Did you notice that this list is what WE need to do for them? Not what they need to do for us. It’s a long list – but well worth your consideration and mine. Think about it!

The Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 80; Proverbs 20

Click Here to Download our 2016 Daily Bible Reading Plan

Daily Quote: A man ought to live so that everybody knows he is a Christian… and most of all, his family ought to know. ~Dwight L. Moody

This Week’s Verse to Memorize:

But the transgressors shall be destroyed together;

The future of the wicked shall be cut off. ~Psalm 37:38 (NKJV)

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Afraid of Who We Are

03/18/201603/14/2016Leave a comment

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner—no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. ~C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure. ~from 1 John 3

Oh beloved, it is true. At least we hope it is. But what if it is even more? Read the text. We are being made into something so far beyond our imaginations as to bend the abilities of even the best writers to even begin to describe.

The beloved disciple John seems to have the best handle on this. He had felt the friendship of his Best Friend here on earth. John and Jesus hung out and enjoyed each other’s company for about three years. They ate together, laughed together, shivered in the night together, got sick together, prayed in synagogue together, and then spoke with each other while Jesus died for us all.

John saw something pretty amazing after Jesus death as well… What if you had walked in on the ‘smoking gun’ of the resurrection? What if you smelled the scent of the freshest air you had ever breathed in the tomb of dead Man who was no longer there? What if you saw the impact marks of the Light that rolled back the stone on that morning of mornings. What if? How would you live your life from that moment on? Ever wondered? Read the writings of the Apostle John, and listen to a man utterly, completely, astoundingly convinced that his Beloved had both died and conquered the grave!

And it gets better. John saw Jesus Alive AFTER His ascension.

John saw Jesus in His full glory and strength. It was a sight, that at first, dropped John to his own face in abject fear. John knew – instantly – that he was in the presence of The King of The Universe. And this same Jesus said something that should change all of our minds about the future: “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the Living One. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

Can we see it? Don’t shrink from it. Don’t let your pride get in the way of it. He said through His own dear friend. We are to be like The Jesus that John saw in Revelation. We are to be so beautiful that we will actually fit within the most amazing scenes of Heaven that we can imagine. We are to actually become what we were created to be by The Designer. We are to become men who actually take on the image of G_d.

Yeah.

So, do you struggle with parts of Scripture? This fool of a writer does. The depth and power of some of His Word frankly drives me to the edge of any sense of understanding. However, it does help me to remember what the old saint, Corrie Ten Boom, said one time: “God said it. That settles it.”

Tonight is your night beloved. Time to quit being afraid of who He is making you into. Let Him work. The outcome is going to be more amazing than you can imagine!

According to Viktor Frankl, “a person finds identity only to the extent that “he commits himself to something beyond himself, to a cause greater than himself.”

Written by Makala (Mak) Doulos: Makala Doulos is a child of God, a husband to his wife, a father to his children, and a teacher to his students. But mostly, he is a prisoner set free by Jesus. Love has invaded his life, crushed it, and made it new. Now, God’s Love is what constrains him to live in full surrender to the freedom The Father and Son and Holy Spirit have bought for us all. Grace and Peace to you all.

The Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 78; Proverbs 18

Click Here to Download our 2016 Daily Bible Reading Plan

Daily Quote: The meaning of our lives emerges in the surrender of ourselves to an adventure of becoming who we are not yet. ~Brennan Manning

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. ~Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)

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Prodigal Humility

03/16/201603/14/2016Leave a comment

“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’” ~James 4:6 (NKJV)

(Before I go too much further I have to confess that this writing is going to come from some notes that I found on my desk that I know came from a Keswick conference. I just don’t know from whom I got them from or how long ago I got them. So if what I write looks familiar to what you spoke on…let me know who you are, you musta gave some sermon that time period)

One of the things I have been encouraging folks to understand is that humiliation only pleases Satan. If we were to go back to the beginning of The Book everything Elohim created was good until Satan showed up. It was in humiliation that Adam and Eve covered up their disobedience their own way and when YHVH asked “Where are you?” it was all over, shame set in. Now here we are, in the 21^st century and very few of us can truly say it’s “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” and it’s all because of this skewed view we have of humility (thought I was gonna say humiliation, didn’t you?) Anyway…

So often in the Christian world we tend to parley humility to each other. If you treat me with humility, I’ll treat you likewise. So from the view point of a guy that greets everyone at the front door of the church he attends, every now and again, parley is no way to handle humility. Now, at times, when I hand out bulletins to people with a gracious smile, a big ole’ “GOOD MORNING” what I’ll get in return is a growl of “…morin’…” then off they go. Now if I parley my composure for the next time I see them they might just get “…mornin’-ing…” themselves. In essence it is no way to show Christian humility, however, when it does come to showing Christian humility we’ll go philia before agape every time. Sad…but true!

Now God’s Word makes this one point very clear, God gives grace to the humble. That in and of its self should blow us away. Our problem is that after we’ve gone through a time of brokenness we relax and get comfortable, pride creeps back into our everyday and then it becomes all about us again. But then on the flip side there is a widespread misunderstanding of this whole sense of humility. Like what was written back in the 6^th century by a monk named Benedict. He had these 12 steps to humility and in the 7^th step he suggested to other monks that they look at themselves as the lowest and vilest of men and quietly say to themselves, “But I am a worm and no man, the reproach of men and the outcast of people.” Not sure about you but I ain’t saying nuttin’ like that! God don’t make no junk like that…besides God already created worms. Can’t question The Creator.

So I guess we need to wrap our minds around what motivates humility in our Christian walk. Andrew Murray wrote that there three motives that should urge us to humility…I like the second one. Humility should “appeal to us in our fallen state, and points out the only way through which we can return to our right place as men” (or women). It’s being oriented away from ourselves and being there to serve the interests of others. But what it’s not is a license to keep screwing up so we can get back to a contrite position with God. If you have been saved and truly believe it is by grace that you have been saved, then you should already be at the contrite part. It’s not sin that makes you humble its grace…got it?

Well this is about as far as I can go today but in the next few Freedom Fighters I hope to be able to work us through humility in the parable of The Prodigal Son. It is my view that Jesus does us a great favor by flipping the script on what was once look upon as humiliation to levels of humility we get the rest of time on earth to achieve. And yes I am proposing that you have the rest of your time here to work on humility. I think one of the greatest disservices we do to ourselves is we think we have to have this all together at the moment we’ve confessed with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus saves. Au Contraire…I believe that God wants us to keep working at it because it shows Him that we love Him enough to pressing on. Amen?

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris, a graduate of The Colony of Mercy (November 2003), is married with two adult children (who you may remember from summer staff) and serves on the Deacon Board at Trinity Alliance Church in Cologne NJ.

The Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 76; Proverbs 16

Click Here to Download our 2016 Daily Bible Reading Plan

Daily Quote: “When I look back on my own religious experience, or on the Church of Christ in the world, I stand amazed at the thought of how little humility is sought after as the distinguishing feature of the discipleship of Jesus. “ ~Andrew Murray

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. ~Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)

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Where Are All The Statesmen?

03/14/201603/13/20161 Comment

Good morning on this new week of Freedom Fighter’s. We don’t take it lightly that you make the choice to dial in to read our blogs each day. Thank you for partnering with us on this journey.

I am really looking forward to November 9th. I am not sure how much more I can take of the debates and all of the craziness that is happening this year with the presidential election.

This Freedom Fighter is not one that is going to attack either party as far as their political agenda, nor is it intended to endorse a candidate.

My disappointment and dismay is really on the use of the candidate’s words. Political rhetoric is one thing – I get that. But we have a bunch of men and one woman who spend more time using their words to insult, tear down, name call and now even use words that are unfit for the President of the United States of America.

Interesting that you don’t hear sound bites from other world leaders talking about their genitals on national television. We have become the laughing stock of the world in so many ways, but the garbage coming from the mouths of these potential presidential leaders has reached a new low.

I have talked about the use of our words many times in my blogs. I constantly battle this in my own life. Stuff flows off my tongue so easy and then I quickly regret what I have said, often times in jest, wishing that I could suck back those words – only to realize that it is too late.

Hurtful names stick. They can stick for a lifetime. They can change the course of someone’s life. And as believers, we need to remember, and remember often that our words make an impact on the hearers.

Words reveal what is going on in our hearts. In fact, Charles Swindol says that our words are the dictionaries of our hearts.

Sad to say, but in some circles, our use of words has filtered down to the pulpit. I know I am getting old when I cringe when Pastors use words from the pulpit that sound like the verbiage from TV. Maybe I am old-fashioned, but is the word “crap” and “suck” appropriate from the pulpit in order to be relevant?

The Bible has much to say about our words. It makes it very clear that our words need to be different than the worlds. Jesus was forceful in the use of his words – He definitely used descriptive terms to call out the Pharisees and Sadducees. But then I am sure there are some that have Jesus drinking at parties that would try and tell us He probably used bad words too in order to reach the crowd.

My prayer will continue to be, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14.

The Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 74; Proverbs 14

Click Here to Download our 2016 Daily Bible Reading Plan

Daily Quote: If we can keep ourselves pure within, we will be pure in our speech and in our actions as well. ~Chris Tiegreen

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. ~Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)

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