Loose Lips Sink Ships

Loose Lips Sink Ships

During WW II many men were drafted to serve the country. Those who were new to the military didn’t know how to conduct themselves when it came to safeguarding military information. To help them gain a quick understanding the military sent out a notice with the saying “Loose Lips May Sink Ships”. In this notice the soldiers were told the importance of secrecy in written and oral communication:

“SILENCE MEANS SECURITY -- If violation of protective measures is serious within written communications it is disastrous in conversations. Protect your conversation as you do your letters, and be even more careful. A harmful letter can be nullified by censorship; loose talk is direct delivery to the enemy. If you come home during war your lips must remain sealed and your written hand must be guided by self-imposed censorship. This takes guts. Have you got them or do you want your buddies and your country to pay the price for your showing off. You've faced the battle front; it’s little enough to ask you to face the home front.”

This same mindset needs to be in the church. Satan will use any means available to him to destroy God's church and in so doing cripples us from reaching a dying world. I personally do not want to be a tool in Satan’s arsenal to destroy those around me. My careless talk could hurt my brother or sister in the Lord as well as those who we’ve yet to win. It’s up to us to stop our loose lips from sinking God’s ship. 

It’s a sad, sad thing when God’s people turn on each other. It doesn’t even have to be outright hatred for one another, but if you even sow a tiny seed of dislike for one person in someone else’s heart, that is the beginning of the destruction of a family.

Matthew 12:25 KJV “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:” (The Message: “Jesus confronted their slander. “A judge who gives opposite verdicts on the same person cancels himself out; a family that’s in a constant squabble disintegrates;”)

 

It’s human nature to have conflict with others at some time or another. Clashing with someone’s personality isn’t a sin…talking with others about that conflict is. We think gossip is sharing untruths we’ve heard from someone else regarding another person. However, one definition of gossip is: general talk that is damaging to reputation. It could be a truth you are sharing with a friend or family member, for example: Someone said something about my son and it hurt my feelings, because I’m hurt I call someone else and talk to her about it. This other person had nothing to do with the situation, but because she’s my friend she also feels hurt by what was said. What just happened by my talking to this other person? Did it help or hurt her relationship with the one who hurt me? What do you think this other person is going to do now that she is also feeling hurt? Innocently enough, I just sowed a seed of division amongst my church family. Maybe you don’t like how a sister treats her kids, or her spouse, and you express your opinion to only a few people. This has the same affect…division. If you multiply all the “innocent” pieces of gossip we exchange by the number of people in a congregation; how can God's church stand?

Message  James 3:5-6“A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.”

In the medical field, when a body turns on itself it’s called an Autoimmune disease: A disease in which the body attacks its own tissues, leading to the deterioration and in some cases to the destruction of such tissue. This is what gossip does to a church body. Like I mentioned, we may not mean for it to happen, but it is an inevitable outcome of gossip. We must learn to control our tongues!

James 1:26

KJV “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.”

How many of us are turned off by someone who said something foolish? I knew someone who wanted so desperately for her mom to be saved. When we first became friends I was awed by her spirituality and sensitivity to the Spirit. Then one day her mom invited us over to her house for lunch. It was then that I realized why her mom wasn’t interested in coming to our church. My friend’s mom started asking questions about some touchy (and dramatic) situations at church. I couldn’t believe it! My friend wanted her mom saved but bad mouthed God’s people to her mother! Obviously this friend’s mom saw my friend’s religion as vain…and all because my friend couldn’t hold her tongue.

 

We need to be mindful of what comes out of our mouths. We know before we even say anything why we’re saying it. The only reasons to repeat gossip are to 1) get people on your side of a situation; 2) prove to others how knowledgeable you are about someone; 3) prove to someone how much better you are than another. We are by nature a curious people, so we invite useless information about people because we are curious as to what is going on in their lives. I’ve learned long ago, if I’m not directly told by someone about something in their life, I’m better off not knowing! God knows every single detail about each one of us, so if we see something a little off about a brother or sister, we don’t need the details in order to pray for them, and we don’t need the details before we can reach out to them in love. We need to “watch our own bobber” as Pastor Peckham would say. I think we all have enough going on in our own lives to keep us busy, and if we find ourselves with free time we’d be better off using it drawing closer to the Lord than finding and sharing information about one another.

Titus 2:1-5 teaches us what we, as women, should be finding ourselves doing within the family of God. KJV “But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”

The Message:“Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine…Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior.”

 In other words, we should be busying ourselves with keeping our homes in order, treating elders with respect, seeking to live holy, pure lives so when new ladies come into the church they can see by our examples how a godly woman lives. We all have at least one godly woman we admire; God wants us to become the kind of godly woman someone else can admire…no one admires a gossip.

Here are a few more scriptures on gossip:

            Leviticus 19:16

            Proverbs 11:13
            Proverbs 18:8
            Proverbs 26:20
            Ephesians 4:29-32
             1 Peter 2:1

           

 

 Overcoming Offense 

It’s natural to want to share our pain when someone offends us, and the Bible tells us to share one another’s burdens, but there is a Biblical way of handling an offense that will stop the spread of the autoimmune disease “gossip”, and it isn’t to bury the offense deep in our Spirit, matter of fact, God wants us always to reconcile with our church family(Matthew 5:23-24). Offenses that are not dealt with have a way of rearing their ugly heads at another time. It’s one thing to feel and offense and quickly forgive (Proverbs 10:12; 2 Corinthians 2:10-11), but if the offense is eating at you and making you want to retaliate or share it with another, then it needs to be dealt with biblically.

 
 Matthew 18:15-17 tells us how to handle a situation where a brother or sister has offended us: KJV“Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.”

The Message “If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.”

 You’re probably thinking “HA!! See! It says I can go to one or two others and tell them about it!” Jesus is not teaching us to go to our best buddies and tell them all about how Sally hurt me so all three of us can go tell her how wrong she was. Jesus is saying, if someone hurt you, go have a private conversation between you and him/her, let them know what was done that caused the offense and give them a chance to make it right. If they say “Too bad, so sad” then you take it to an elder in the church (a board member) because elders are suppose to be unbiased and wise in helping work out the situation. If the person STILL refuses to repent, then the Pastor will take it before the church and explain the situation. Once you take the situation to an elder, you’ve done your part in trying to reconcile with that individual, you need to let go of the hurt, forgive and move on. Sometimes that is the hard part, forgiving and moving on, but God has shown us over and over in scripture the importance of forgiving others…if we don’t forgive, He can’t forgive us.

 

 

In conclusion let me reiterate LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS! Once something leaves our lips it is sure to make its rounds, so let’s keep our conversations pure, holy and loving. We want to win hurting people and we can’t do that when we are hurting each other.

 Psalm 34:12 -14 NIV Reader’s “Do you love life and want to see many good days? Then keep your tongues from speaking evil. Keep your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil, and do good. Look for peace, and go after it.”

 Philippians 4:8 The Message: “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Mighty in Battle

"All your life, no one will be able to hold out against you. In the same way I was with Moses, I’ll be with you. I won’t give up on you; I won’t leave you. Strength! Courage! You are going to lead this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. Give it everything you have, heart and soul. Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don’t get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you’re going. And don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you’ll get where you’re going; then you’ll succeed. Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.” Joshua 1:5-9 ~ The Message

One day I was lamenting to the Lord about the many trials our family has gone through, going over each one as if He had forgotten. I think I was expecting Him to tell me how sorry He was for putting us through all that, or maybe to weep with me as I rehashed the agony of each trial, but His response kicked me out of the pity party I was throwing for myself. He told me those trials I rehearsed to Him were actually victories for which I should be rejoicing! It shook me a little, and I felt His Spirit inject a little victory dance in my heart! I became excited about having won those many battles! I started to feel infused with strength as I thanked God for giving us victory after victory!

None of us like going through hard times. Trials are painful, stressful and seemingly last forever. We've been through emotional struggles, financial struggles, physical struggles...sometimes all at once, sometimes one at a time, but God showed me though each battle is fought on different fronts, they are all the same battle. Have I gotten weary? You bet. There have even been times when my fellow soldiers have had to step in and fight for me, but those battles were still won! I'm still alive! I'm still serving the Lord! I'm still proclaiming His truth!

God spoke another truth to my heart...battles are fought to be won! This was probably a no-brainer for you, but it was an exciting revelation for me! I realized no one goes into a battle to lose, all who fight are in it to win! As children of God we have the advantage; our Father is the Lord of hosts, the Lord mighty in battle! We're in an army that can't lose! He raised us to be warriors for His kingdom and placed us on the front lines of the battleground of His choosing not to be defeated by the enemy, but to be victorious! I am in this battle for the souls of my family and for this city God placed me in. He prepared me for this very battleground and my God never loses a fight! The Lord's army in Marshfield is getting stronger and larger in number, we will win every skirmish we are in because "Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle"! (Psalm 24:8)

 

Setting Aside that Sin...and Getting Up!

^" Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!" Hebrews 12:1-3 The Message

Pastor Peckham's sermon Wednesday (9/19) was very timely and was exactly what my heart has been saying for a month now. We HAVE to wake up, strengthen ourselves and say no to bowing to those things taking us away from God! My heart and spirit are very grieved watching God's people slowly fade away as meaningless things take them away from God. About a month ago I wrote the following in my personal journal:

We think we're something special because we are Oneness Apostolics, but I'd venture to say the Apostle Peter wouldn't even recognize this Apostolic faith. We are anemic compared to the Apostolic faith of Acts! What if Peter were to have lived for God as we do today? If Peter were as preoccupied with video games, TV or Facebook as we are do you think the gospel would have ever reached the gentiles? Would the lame man have ever been healed if Peter decided he just didn't "feel like" going to the temple that day? Seriously think about it, there are souls who are dying to have what we have in the Lord and we sit day after day wasting the gift God has given us. It breaks my heart...it breaks God's heart.

What's the solution? Just "Get Up in Jesus' Name"!!!

Search me, O God...

"When you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you, don't take on the abominable ways of life of the nations there. Don't you dare sacrifice your son or daughter in the fire. Don't practice divination, sorcery, fortunetelling, witchery, casting spells, holding séances, or channeling with the dead. People who do these things are an abomination to God. It's because of just such abominable practices that God, your God, is driving these nations out before you." Deuteronomy 18:9-12  The Message

Sometimes we think God gave us commands like this simply because He's a jealous God, which is a good enough reason all on its own, but I'd venture to say there is more to it. Perhaps our all knowing God gave us this command to protect us from things we cannot see but that are real and can cause us real harm.

Every time I hear that one of God's people watched Twilight or read Harry Potter or some Stephen King novel, it just tears my heart out. These things may seem like just another form of entertainment, but they are more than that. Cleverly disguised as harmless, Satan uses these movies or books to desensitize us to God's Spirit and to lead us down a path of indifference or worse. Why, oh why, would we even want to come near anything that has even a remote resemblence to the occult when God clearly states it is something He hates? As His people He asks, He commands, us to stay away from these things! Why? Not only do they hinder our personal walk with God, they hurt our family. When we allow these things into our home we are opening up our children's lives to a demonic demension they are not prepared to fight, neither should they have to! As parents we are to train up our children in the way they should go, to protect them from ungodly influences, not willingly open up our home to these things. Why is there so much contention in our homes? Why do we we sense a spirit of fear, have nightmares? Could it be the forms of entertainment we are allowing in our home? You don't have to take my word for it, ask God. If the above scripture isn't enough proof for you, then be led by the very Spirit of Christ that dwells in you. Ask Him to show you if something you find entertaining is actually offensive to Him and and if it opens your home to things that shouldn't be allowed.

Is this also why we struggle in our walk with God? Why we have become weak in faith or have compromised those things we once proclaimed to never abandon for Christ? Let's examine ourselves, clean our homes and hearts of these seemingly innocent forms of entertainment and live in real supernatural power that comes from God alone!

Marshfield...An Apostolic Legacy

Marshfield is rich with Oneness Pentecostal heritage beginning with the tent revival held by Bro. Benjamin Urshan in 1939. From here many received the gift of salvation as the seed of truth was sown by many pastors, evangelists and missionaries

as they  passed through the streets of this beautiful Wisconsin city. Among those with ties to Marshfield are Sis.Valerie Demos, Bro & Sis Monte Showalter, Rev. Samuel Hardt, and our beloved Sis. Jennifer Ophiem.

Though Satan has tried to silence the Apostolic message in

this city, God has proven that His Word will not return void

and that the gates of  hell will not prevail against His church! In 2003 we were contacted by a family who had a desire to restore the Apostolic church in  Marshfield. We started with 12 people in a Home Bible Study held at a  mobile home. Outgrowing the accommodations, we began to meet at a hotel until 2006 when a storefront became available for us to rent. In 2011 God made a way for us to purchase a building at 201 S. Maple Ave right in the heart of Marshfield. With the help of our Section 4 churches and the Wisconsin District Home Missions Department we became the owners of our first church building on April 29th 2011. This beautiful building is everything we had been praying for, right down to the fully furnished basement which allowed us to provide guest quarters for our missionaries and evangelists!

In 1939 Bro. Benjamin Urshan most likely fell to his knees many times in prayer for the city of Marshfield as he labored to reach souls for God’s kingdom. I wonder if he ever prayed the words, “Lord, let a truth preaching church be established right here on this very ground,” for that is exactly what happened! 73 years later Riverside Apostolic UPCI purchased the very lot that Bro. Benjamin Urshan held his tent meetings! This fact has been established in a book dedicated to the history of Marshfield. A newspaper article is quoted in this book stating Bro. Urshan pitched his tent in an empty lot across the street from city hall, which is today named Tower Hall and is located right across the street from our church building!

It is exciting to know that we own the very property where tears of the repentant and hungry were poured out, soaking the soil and creating holy ground for God to establish His church on 73 years later! Many times we feel our prayers go up in vain as we wait impatiently for them to be answered, but in Marshfield we are reaping the harvest from prayers that began in 1939. God is drawing the hungry, the broken and the lost once again to the exact spot where it all began almost three-quarters of a century earlier. Thank you, Bro. Urshan…we count it an honor to carry on the work you started

   

Where Prayer was Wont to be Made

Pastor Peckham spoke to the ladies at our Bible Study last month on how the church in Macedonia began as a Ladies Prayer meeting...here are just a few more thoughts I had on that subject...

^{Acts 16:13-14 "}On the Sabbath, we left the city and went down along the river where we had heard there was to be a prayer meeting. We took our place with the women who had gathered there and talked with them. One woman, Lydia, was from Thyatira and a dealer in expensive textiles, known to be a God-fearing woman. As she listened with intensity to what was being said, the Master gave her a trusting heart—and she believed!" (The Message)

Paul and Silas went to Macedonia to build a church. When they got to town they heard about a prayer meeting that was known to take place down by the river and went there with the express purpose of witnessing to these God-fearing people. There were only women at this prayer meeting...it was this prayer meeting that was the talk of the town and that shook the spirit world so powerfully that God sent Paul a vision (Acts 16:9). Sometimes, as women, we feel insignificant, but if we come under the authority of Christ we can become a powerful weapon in God's kingdom! Lydia is a perfect example.

Lydia was so excited about what Paul and Silas taught that she begged them to stay on longer (Acts 16:15). It was Lydia's instistance that they stay that made way for a young lady to be delivered from demon possession (Acts 16:16-18). It was this deliverance that caused Paul and Silas to be thrown in prison. It was Paul and Silas' spirit of worship while in prison that created an atmosphere for God to deliver them and save the keeper of the prison and his family (Acts 16:25-34)...and thus began the church in Macedonia.

So, what if the women of Macedonia had better things to do than meet for prayer? What if Lydia was too tired from working all day that she chose to stay home that night?

Getting back to the thought of women feeling insignificant in the church...as we see in Acts 16, it was women who prayed their way to having an Apostolic church established in their city. In Luke 7:12-15 it was a woman that Jesus had compassion on and raised her only son from the dead. In Mark 5:24-34 it was a woman whose faith for her healing got the attention of Jesus in a crowd of people. Matthew 15:22-28 tells of a woman who refused to take no for an answer when she wanted her daughter to be healed. It was a woman who took the time to quietly sit at Jesus' feet (Luke 10:39-42) instead of being too busy with household duties. A woman was moved to anoint Jesus' feet with her precious ointment and wipe His feet with her hair (Luke 7:37-38). And...it was women who first heard of the resurrection of Jesus (Mark 16:1-8) as well as being the first that Jesus appeared to after His ressurection (Mark 16:9). As we can see, women play an important role in God's church!

Then why do we feel we are nothing unless we become some powerful speaker or rise to some higher position in the church?  Let us desire to be used in the prayer closet fighting for lost souls, deliverence and healing! We need to remember what a privelege it is to even be called to live for God and what a greater privelege it is to have unlimited access to His throne...to me, there is no higher calling.

Raise the Banner High!

Chris Tomlin wrote the lyrics, "The cross before me/the world behind/no turning back/raise the banner high/it's not for us/it's all for You" As we sang this song the other day in church God brought new meaning to it for me...

Isaiah 49:22 (NIV) reads "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'See, I will beckon to the nations, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their hips.'" The King James version of that same verse reads: "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders."

So many people have issues with the holiness standards of the United Pentecostal Church, but it's not about us. It's not about me, or you, or your Pastor...it's about God. These are His standards and He choses to use them as a banner to the nations declaring that we are His church! I heard a preacher say that our holiness standards are to the Spirit world like the American flag is to the earthly world...you know us by the flag we wave. If you see a battleship coming you look for the flag to identify which country that ship is from. It's that same for God's church.Our holiness standards are a flag waving high in the air saying "Look at us!! Come to where we are and you will find the living God!"  If we look and act like every other person out in the world then how will the hurting know who to come to for answers? We need to get over our fear of rejection, fear of submission, or whatever it is holding us back and raise our banners high, because it's not for us, it's all for Him.