Will You Close the Gap?

 
God's people can get a bit high-minded if they're not careful.Throughout scripture we are taught that high-mindedness is something to be avoided.  God spoke to the Israelites regarding high-mindedness: "In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain.I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord." Zephaniah 3:11-12

The Bible warns the New Testament church against this as well: "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." 1 Corinthians 10:12  "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." Romans 12:3


But what is high-mindedness? High-mindedness can be defined as having open disdain for a person or thing while making claims or pretensions to your own superior importance, or entitlement. The Word of God is rich with examples, but let's just look at a couple: Luke 18:10-12 "Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess."

Mark 9:33-34 "And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest."

How can we tell if we are thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought? When we're first saved we feel so unworthy that we continually fall on our faces before God wondering why He ever chose to "save a wretch like me". Then something happens...we're taught to "come boldly before the throne", "be proud to be a King's kid", and so on. None of that is bad, and we should have confidence in our relationship with God, it gives us boldness to declare war on Satan and take back what is rightfully God's. I think, however, that somewhere along the line we forget from where we came. I think we become so comfortable in our relationship with God and His acceptance of us that we lose the awe of His grace in our lives. When we start looking at others and saying within ourselves as the Pharisee in Luke 18 had "Thank God I'm not like them..." it's time to bring ourselves down a notch because if it wasn't for God's grace we could be just like them, or worse.

It breaks my heart when I hear of people pass judgement on someone who has fallen into sin. The Bible clearly tells us"if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted" Galatians 6:1 In other words, help the person overcome the sin they've fallen into, don't sit back and wonder how they could do such a thing and think you're better than they are because you will be opening yourself up to fall as well.

Not only should we keep a spirit of meekness so we do not fall into temptations, but also so we are available to minister to those who have fallen into sin. If your heart is hardened against those less spiritual than you, God cannot use you to restore others to a relationship with Him. Let us remember that "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" Isaiah 64:6 and stay humble so that when God is looking for someone to be a restorer of the breech we are readily available. I remember a sermon I heard about the "Disciple Spirit". The disciples tried to keep the filthy sinner away from Jesus, didn't want Jesus to be bothered with such riff-raff, but that is the very reason Jesus came to earth! The disciples were busy fighting amongst themselves about who was better...God is no respecter of persons!

Jesus commanded us to love one another (John 13:34) and Paul further teaches us that charity is the most important character for us to have as Christians (1 Corinthians 13). Jesus forgave those who mocked Him, denied Him, crucified Him, yet we chose to stand in judgement of who should and shouldn't be a recipient of God's grace? Why shouldn't those who chose the homosexual lifestyle receive our prayers? They need deliverance from a life of sin, just like many others. Why shouldn't the child of God who fell away receive prayer for restoration? God's grace is longsuffering, they could fall away again and again and still be worthy of our prayers for the salvation of their souls! How dare we withhold prayers for a dying soul! God is searching for a people willing to overlook human faults and reach out to a dying world! “I looked for someone to stand up for me against all this, to repair the defenses of the city, to take a stand for me and stand in the gap to protect this land so I wouldn’t have to destroy it. I couldn’t find anyone. Not one. So I’ll empty out my wrath on them, burn them to a crisp with my hot anger, serve them with the consequences of all they’ve done. Decree of God, the Master.” Ezekiel 22:30 & 31 ~ The Message

Will you be that person God is looking for? Will you love the unlovable? Apply the balm of God's love to the broken? God, give us a heart like Yours! Open our eyes to the needs of others! This is not about you and me, this is about a dying world...I must decrease so He can increase!

Elihu: Whose God is Jehovah

This year I thought I'd change up my BREAD reading by using a chronological reading plan and an Amplified Bible. First, it was cool to find out that Job's life exsisted between Noah and Abraham's time. In addition to that, God opened my eyes to something I hadn't really paid attention to in the past. I've read the Book of Job quite a few times but never realized that in Job 42:7 God only rebukes Eliphaz and two of his friends...there were four friends "comforting" Job. Every other time I read Job I came away with two things: 1) Job's friends were jerks, 2) God is a deliverer. This time though, my curiousity was piqued as to why Elihu escaped God's rebuke, so I took the time to reread each friend's discourse. In summary this is what I came up with:

                      Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar were saying God doesn't trust His people, doesn't bother
                      to cheer His angels, doesn't trust His angels and is causing all of Job's calamity.

                     Elihu basically said: "How can you speak of God that way? My spirit cannot sit idle
                    and let this go on! God works to bring His people out of the pit. He speaks to His people
                   through dreams and visions, but His people don't listen. He is no respecter of persons
                   and helps the needy and afflicted. Compared to God we are all sinners, yet God takes
                   the time to show us the error of our ways so we can correct them and become
                   righteous."

I'm disappointed in the way the seasoned saints of God described God as a hard God, ready to punish and exact vengence on His people, as if He was a God far removed from feeling compassion for us...which is the total opposite of what His Word says! Maybe their hearts became hardened from the many trials they endured instead of using their trials to become closer to their Creator. It should have been Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar schooling Elihu on the characteristics of God, but Elihu stepped up and schooled all of them!

Three things I came away with:

1) Don't assume a trial is punishment from God. In the book "Sifted", author Wayne Corderio teaches that God uses times of trial to bring us back into dependence on Him instead of ourselves.

2) Don't be so quick to offer answers to those who come to you wondering why they are going through a trial. Truth is, just as Elihu said in Job 37:23 "Touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out..." We don't know why someone else goes through what they are going through and throwing specutlations out there, as Job's friends had, can cause more harm than good. We just need to be that steady rock of a friend with a shoulder to cry on, a ready ear to listen, and arms to wrap them in comfort...God alone holds the answers and it is God they should seek for answers.

3) Elihu's name means: "Whose God is Jehovah" or "He is my God Himself", depending on which dictionary you read. Elihu couldn't just sit back and let untruths be spouted off about his God. Let it be our desire to be as bold as Elihu when it comes to witnessing about our one-true God! This world needs to know Who God really is!

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