Sunday, October 28, 2018

How Do I Practically Follow God's Will?

Let's consider today how we can learn to follow God’s direction for our lives. How does God leads us? How can we know the direction that he has for us?

Discerning God’s will begins with the vital relationship between us and God. The more I’m treating my daily life as a constant dialogue between God and me, the more I will be able to follow His will.

There’s a simple prayer I learned and I pray it often: “God grant me knowledge of your will for me, and the power to carry it out.” Two fundamentals, knowledge and power. Knowledge, to know it, and power to do it.

It would be nice if God would just come out and say what’s next. But it doesn’t work like that. One of the hardest things is waiting, not knowing what’s next. And I insist to God, that he tell me what’s coming. But he won’t say. I try to figure it out, I spend hours in prayer, reading scripture, pondering the events in my life trying to line then up in some coherent fashion, but everything is silent.

I walked outside one night, to see a full moon in the sky, and I wondered just what will happen next in this crazy life? Where will God take me next?

And once I’m done strenuously wrestling, begging for dreams and visions, and insights and signs, emotionally exhausted, disturbed, I finally surrender, and come like a little child, lost, upset, confused, and simply nestle into the arms of the Father and say: “I don’t know what’s happening Father, but I trust you completely, and rest in you, in the not knowing.”

Waiting… waiting… waiting… Weeks, months, years… hoping in Christ. And suddenly a string of events take place, a series of doors open, and that’s when God amazes me.

I’ll often go out at night and walk around the city. And I’ll see the lights. They shine in the darkness.  I’ll walk out in the sticks, see the street lamps, leading me down the road. It’s like the Holy Spirit, symbolically leading me through life. God is speaking always, we just have to attune ourselves to watch for it. And understand what he is saying.

But I always must remember, my ability for self-deception is extreme. I can create scenarios in my mind and develop all sorts of false delusions, and believe many things that aren’t true. So there is a danger that I will take what God is revealing to me, and twist it to suit my own desires. Or I’ll construct a future of my choosing, point in that direction, manipulate my way forward, and then say “this is from God” when it was really me manipulating events.

But, if we really, honestly seek to do God’s will, and not our own, He will lead us in beautiful ways. It won’t be easy. But it is so worth it. Sometimes, as I live with God... it’s the craziest thing, but it’s like I can sense things that are coming. I have a communion with God that begins to reach beyond today. He shares perceptions from Himself. He tells us that a trial is coming, or a blessing is coming. We begin to have a emotive perception of reality.

Practically speaking, it begins with asking in prayer, God are you calling me to this. And it takes action. When I first encountered the Salvation Army, I began to attend conferences. At the conference they would have a moment of “calling forward to officership” and I would feel God calling me out of my seat, and toward the front to pray. That’s a sign from God. When others see the calling in you, that’s a sign from God. When doors begin to open in front of you, that’s a sign from God. When you love what you do, that’s a sign from God.

In the final analysis, the way God communicates with me and shows me his will is really a daily dialogue, hour by hour through the day. God is always doing so many things in my life. 


He’s calling me forward in officership. He’s preparing me in dozens of ways for officership right now. He’s bringing me through trials right now in fact, the past six weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions, thoughts, and challenges. So if God is calling you to officership. And your really seeking to know the truth, praying, and looking for God’s signs in your life, you will find your way forward. Do it. Do God’s will.

The words are true: I’m in his hands. I’m in his hands. Whatever the future holds, I’m in his hands, The days I cannot see, have all been planned for me, His way is best, you see, I’m in his hands. 


Sunday, October 21, 2018

How to Set Up an Evangelistic Literature Area in your Corps Building



Looking for a new way to help connect the social assistance work of the Salvation Army with the gospel?  The phrase "mission integration" has been on my mind lately ever since it was presented to us as an area that God is desirous of the Salvation Army to pursue.  There are not two separate areas of the Salvation Army, there is one Salvation Army that considers the soul and the needs of the person holistically.  

To that end I would like to share a simple, yet effective way to connect the gospel with the social services work of your corps building: Set up an evangelistic literature table. 

I helped set this up at my previous corps in Michigan, and it was quite helpful. We had a display case with some historic Salvation Army items in it sitting in our waiting room, near the chairs where people sat to wait to meet with the social worker.  I took responsibility as the intern at the time to keep the area stocked.

We often have extra tables or cabinets that could easily be set up in our waiting area.  Find that display table and set it up, and perhaps give one of your employees the responsibility of keeping it stocked with supplies.  

Here are some recommendations for items to place on the display table:

1. Prayer Request Bin - I'm sure, especially if you're a creative individual, you could find or even make a beautiful prayer box, with an opening in the top to write and place prayer requests.  We had a simple wooden prayer box that had carved in it: "Prayer requests."  And there were a few pens and blank paper there for people to write down prayer requests.  Then the administrative assistant would empty it every week, and give the prayer requests to the officers.  I took the idea further because the officers didn't always have time to pray for those requests. So I typed them up into an email and sent the email out to members of the congregation who agreed to pray weekly for those individuals.  We normally got 2-8 prayer requests a week!  Prayer is powerful.  This is simply, effective, and inexpensive.  And it helps people visiting the corps for services to feel they are cared for. 

2. War Crys, Tracts & Devotionals - There are tons of sources of free and cheap tracts out there on the web to access. I would send out for them, receive them in the mail, and then set them out in the table.  Walking by the table I'd often see people bored in the waiting room wandering over to the table reading the literature.  I also sent out for "Our Daily Bread" the free devotional books, and I placed them out as well.  Click here to order ODB for free.

Free Gospel Tracts: http://www.bibletractsinc.org/
Fellowship Tract League
http://www.tracts4u.org/

3. CDs / DVDs - Millennials like me don't have a lot of time to read, we're too busy listening to CDs, watching DVDs, and surfing the web.  To that end, I decided I needed to get some media out on the literature table.  For quite a while I would purchase sermon CDs from Christianbook.com. I mainly left out apologetics messages given by Ravi Zacharias.  Those went very fast, wow, super fast! So I found some free to share sermons on the internet, several from LivingWaters.com Ray Comfort's ministry, and I would purchase CD-writables, and spend time each day burning a few messages to CDs and then leaving them out in little Cd sleeves on the table. Additionally, Ray Comfort's ministry offers DVDs in bulk, ten DVDs for two dollars each, and I would buy those and then leave them on the table as well.  They went very fast!  

Click here for "free to share" MP3s from Ray Comfort's ministry.

4. Church Service Pamphlets - We created a three-fold church services and weekly activities pamphlet for our corps, and printed hundreds of copies.  A good program to do that is Windows Publisher.  We had two upright standing pamphlet holders on each side of the table, one was our church services pamphlet, and the other held some information on our social service programs.  Later I also researched some of the alcoholics anonymous and narcotics anonymous meetings in the area, and created a pamphlet listing the meetings in the area.  We printed those out as well, and placed them on the table.  You never know when someone struggling with addiction might need to access that resource.  

5. Gospels / Bibles - The word of God will not return void!  I ordered little "gospel of John" booklets and set those out on the table.  They went fast.  For a while I set out Bibles, but we decided on a different approach for a Bible. We tacked up a sign that said come to the front window and ask if you would like a free Bible.  We must've had at least 10-12 people ask over the time I was there.  The gospel of John booklets were available through Lifebook.com.  Those sort of materials can also be purchased from sources on the web.  I like Lifeway.com, Christianbook.com, BiblesbytheCase.com, and BiblesinBulk.com

So in conclusion, here's my encouragement: Literally everyone who walks through your doors needs Jesus.  We obviously can't talk to everyone who walks through the door to access services.  But we can make materials available.  We can offer pray, materials, media, and Bibles to these people.  Try it out, and see how it goes!  Set aside a small amount of money in your budget, $200-$1000 annually depending on how far you want to go with the idea.  We spend a lot of money feeding and clothing people, we can also spend some reaching them with literature.  Good luck and God bless! 



Related Posts:
  1. The Army of God will have Victory after Victory
  2. The Church of Laodicea & The Church of America
  3. How Holiness Theology Transformed My Understanding of Christianity
  4. Fasting and Prayer: Why You Should Fast Twice a Week
  5. An Investigation of the Biblical Concept of Hell
  6. Why Do I Exist? A Quick Look at the Human Life
  7. What is the equation that shows us how to inherit Eternal Life
  8. How to Repent of all Sins in your Christian Life
  9. God will Uphold His Army: Standing on the Truth
  10. To Those Who Overcome: How to Be Free from all Sin

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

On a Journey Home Together: The Israelites in the Wilderness



Audio Message: 


You’re in the woods, in the depths of night. You’re searching for something. Your life has been an aimless journey of twists and turns that seemed to be leading nowhere. You’ve done evil, you’ve struggled... You’ve never known what you’re supposed to do with your life.

The stars are shining down… and darkness surrounds, and as you turn in the cold night, you hear coyotes howling. Something within leads you up along an ancient path up a steep slope, and around the corner you see something burning. A fire is roaring, and it doesn’t go out, it seems to beckon you forward. You feel something present in this place: It’s God. And you fall to your knees in revelation of His glory.

Just like God called Moses to the burning bush, and toward his great calling for his life, each of us have been called out of the dead end ways of the world. God has given our lives purpose, when we used to be aimless wanderers.

God said to Moses from the consuming fire, “The cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” Moses’ response is probably similar to ours: “Who am I to go?”

That is a question we often ask ourselves. I’m nobody special, how can I go? But God is calling us. There are people out there counting on you to fulfill your calling. We must go! Or someone else may steal our blessing. This calling is ours. As William Booth said:

“Who is to go? You! You who read this; who else is there to go?... You are saved. You say your sins are forgiven, and that you belong to the family of God. You say the promises apply to you; why not the commands? Have one and shirk the other? Never, never, never! They are united. Do not say you are a child and not a servant. You must go yourself. This is a personal call which comes down through the centuries to you! You cannot evade it and remain true to yourself and your God.”

So we must go, no matter how high the cost. I’m not speaking this to scare you, but it’s true that many people leave the work in the Salvation Army. Difficulties will come in officership. Hold fast to your mission. And what is our mission? We do many things in the Salvation Army, but there is one primary mission.

Your primary mission is not giving out food. Your primary mission is not social services. Your primary mission is not budgets and finances. Your primary mission is not political social justice action. Your mission is to make the winning of souls the first purpose of your life. It’s easy to get caught up, in good things, that we ought to do, but lose touch with the most important thing: The gospel of Jesus Christ.

Hold fast to your calling. Don’t ever give up. Even when you’ve worked to exhaustion. Even when you’re sick, bed ridden, burnt out and overwhelmed. Even when your DHQ treats you poorly. Even if your wife or husband leaves you. Even when no one seems to care.

Hold on, for the good times… When someone new joins the church and gets saved. When a baby is born and you get to do the dedication. When you lead an elderly woman from this life and into the next. When you stop what you’re doing for a moment, at the corps, and you smile to yourself and realize, I absolutely love what I do here.

God will deliver people through your ministry, from bondage in Egypt, to freedom in the promised land. God brings people out of bondage to sin, entirely of Himself, just as the Israelites crossed over dry ground. God himself parts the waters, through Moses’ lifting his staff. And when you lift up your voice, and speak the gospel, souls will be saved by Christ.

But the journey doesn’t end there. After the Israelites crossed over the dry land, they began their journey to the promised land. In the same way, as we lead corps in the future, we will be like Moses, journeying with the Israelites in the wilderness.

We don’t believe in “once saved always saved” in the Salvation Army. We don’t just cross on dry ground and then stand there at the other side. This Christian life, is a lifelong journey of obedient faith in Christ. As the 9th doctrine says “We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.”

So we will walk with our people, our corps families as we journey together through the wilderness, and toward the promised land. We’ll be there to help our people overcome sorrows, challenge them to defeat sin in their lives in the Spirit, we’ll be there to guide our people toward acts of service, and missional lifestyle. We’ll be there, to face the strongholds of Jericho, the dry deserts of affliction, the idolatry of golden calves, and the bitter waters of dark nights of the soul, alongside our people.

So I hope your excited for this journey. Right now we’re all being prepared for this bright future. And I want to tell you something: You will do great things in Christ. God did not make a mistake when he chose you. You may feel weak, you may feel empty, you may feel overwhelmed, but let me tell you a secret: So did Moses. So did Gideon. So did Peter. So did Paul. And so did Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. But if we cling to Christ, we have nothing to fear.

As Jesus said to his disciples on that fateful night: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” –John 15:5-6

Jesus Christ loves you. So remain in his love. If we depart the faith and walk off into sin, we will inherit an eternity of darkness. So be diligent in this faith walk, and you will persevere. Jesus doesn’t just call us servants; he calls us friends. He helps us to obey his commands and remain in his love.

In conclusion, two applications from the scriptures of Exodus 3 and John 15. First of all, while you’re here on campus: Build your prayer and personal study life. Everyday. Not just a quick prayer, or 10 minutes a day. But spend real time with God. Moses spent real time with God. He climbed mount Sinai, searching tirelessly for the Creator.

Full disclosure: If we neglect the life of prayer, we’ll be useless as officers. There will be no power in us.

Secondly, get real about sin in your life. Fight those battles now, today. Once you’re in the field, it will be harder. While you’re here, put to death the sins that are in your flesh. And come to love the doctrine of Wesleyan holiness. Dare to believe that Christ will fully deliver you from every sin you struggle with.

Jesus says, “You did not choose me, I chose you.” Jesus called us into the Salvation Army. And he has appointed us to go, and bear good fruit, by saving souls and making disciples. So seek God in the dry mountains of pain and darkness, and the consuming fire of God’s presence will find you. Remain in the love of Christ on this journey, through unconditional obedience, as we lead our people home to paradise. If you do these things, you will be a truly great officer of the Salvation Army.



Sunday, October 7, 2018

A Mighty Faith Community: Committing Subversive Acts of Love and Holiness



Audio Message:

The story is told of a religious man who was shipwrecked on a deserted island. He found ways to survive, for seven years, and finally he was rescued by a ship passing by. When the ship crew came upon his encampment they saw his shelter. But they were surprised to see another building, and then another building next to that one. So two additional buildings. And the captain asked the man, “What is this building here?” And the man replied, “That’s my church. Where I worship God.” The Captain smiled and said, “What about the second building?” And the man replied, “Oh that’s the church I used to go to.”

Many today church shop, for the church that is the most engaging, that has the best preacher, the best music, or the best morning coffee? It’s funny to think that even on a deserted island a man might switch churches. But it’s endemic of our culture. We go most places to be served, to receive care and service. And sometimes we bring that attitude of entitlement, and I want what I want to church, instead of thinking of church as a place where I serve.

Church membership… what does that bring to mind for you? I think of a dusty church building, with an old binder, that hasn’t been looked at in years, full of a list of names who no longer go to the church.

Church membership, as a knee jerk reaction makes me think of something passe’, something I don’t care about, something institutional, denominational, something that is part of a bygone era. And if I’m seeing “church membership” in this way, then I’m not seeing it correctly.

Let me tell you who you really are: you are part of a holy insurgency, a great Jesus movement that began 2,000 years ago at the resurrection of Christ. And we as that body of Christ, this army on Earth, have been fighting, tooth and nail, day and night, to pull souls from the depths of hell and darkness, ever since Christ left us with His Holy Spirit and returned to heaven. You are part of a legacy of victory over death that spans human history. You are a holy resistance movement against the kingdoms of darkness of this world.

You’re currently under orders from Christ our commander, to commit subversive acts of love and holiness that shock people out of their apathy, toward realization of ultimate reality. You are bursts of light and color in a shadowed world of bland grays, cubicles, contracts, bills, and dull monotonous consumerism.

You bring a clear, meaningful message to a confused world: God does exist. Sin is a disease on humanity. And Jesus Christ is the cure. Heaven is real, hell is real. And everything hangs in the balance, today.

Catherine Booth said, “To better the future, we must disturb the present.”

Be a disturbance to your friends, neighbors, and people you see at gas stations, department stores, and grocery markets. Disturb their misery with just a few words: I’m praying for you. Jesus loves you. Can I give you a Bible? Or even, “Let’s pray right now.” Make the other people in line wait a little longer.

You’ve been chosen by God for this task. You’ve been chosen by the creator of space, time, the universe, and humanity to be part of his own personal family. This is a great gift. But also a great responsibility: People out there are counting on you to fulfill the calling God has placed on you. And we’re all called to serve.

Each of us… chosen by God. That’s crazy to me. Because I never get chosen for anything. I’ve never won a prize drawing in my life. I was never cool in high school; I’m still not cool today. But I’m chosen by God. He chooses outcasts, the most unlikely people. And let me add this: He has chosen you for just such a time as this.

Christianity was once the predominant view of what life really is on this Earth. But we’ve seen in the past 100 years, a decline in the influence of Christianity in public life. Today, sometimes we treat it as if it’s a nice thing, a nice social activity that isn’t really true though. Or maybe we believe in God but practically we live like an atheist. To me, there’s far too much at stake to live as if there is no God.

As C.S. Lewis said: “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

Once I got saved, I saw what was happening to my own generation. So many young people are estranged from the church, lost in sin, cut off from the God that loves them. I get on the L train, and I sit down, and I watch people. I’m an introvert I like to watch people, what they do. And my heart aches as I look at their faces. They need Jesus. And if only someone just a little braver than me was there to speak up and say something, do something. But it’s just me. But sometimes, every once in a while, I do say something. Hope.

Honestly, “you don’t know what you don’t know.” I’ve lived that. You go to school, work the job, play videogames, drink on weekends, watch football, go to concerts, go to the dentist, visit grandma, and… they just don’t know about Jesus. There is a massive stream of people, millions and millions out there who are oblivious to the reality of Christ.

Jesus is coming back, and he is making all things new. So there is a great urgency to our church mission. And you and I are chosen by God, to be part of the body of Christ, what we call, the church. We are church members.

So, I will cherish church membership as a gift. It is a gift. It’s a sacred gift, better than any gift I’ve ever received in my life, or will receive. Better than millions of dollars, better than the perfect house and the white picket fence, better than true love, marriage and children, better than retirement, better than anything, is my love relationship with the eternal God.

That said, I have to ask the question: Is something out of order in your life? My membership in the body of Christ is ultimate, #1. Do we treat it like that? Or do we show up once a month, or less? Do we treat our faith relationship with God as some sort of caboose, an end attachment that doesn’t really matter?

Are you cherishing something above God? Anything above God is an idol. And anything we put above God we will lose. Do you love your wife or husband or children more than God? Do you love your car, your house, and your big bank account more than God? Here’s a good one, do you love your own selfish pleasures and desires more than God?

We have so much in our society: All the science, all the technology, the free market system, the internet, insurance policies, and every luxury… it’s a house of cards. The only reason we have any of these blessings is because God gave us those things.

The entire world is held together by the one God-man, Jesus. The Jesus who went to the cross. So I want to transition to Jesus. Because everything in the Bible, in the world, and in our lives as church members is ultimately about Jesus.

And if you’ve never heard the gospel, or maybe you’ve forgotten it, the gospel is this: Jesus Christ, lived perfection, as God with us, on a secret mission, to free us from the shackles of sin. Jesus was nailed to a cross, and slaughtered as a substitution for you and me. They call this the great exchange. Every sin I committed, every time I lied, stole something, hurt someone, got drunk, used a girl, manipulated someone.. all of that was put upon Jesus, on the cross. Jesus said, put your sins on me, I’ll take the punishment you deserve. And in exchange, Christ gives us his righteousness, his life, is put inside us… and we are reborn. And just as Jesus Christ came to life, after 3 days of death, so we also, though we die one day, we will be raised just as Christ himself was raised.

Through the long sleepless night of his suffering, and the long morning of his death, Jesus carried our death and sorrow, and pain, away from us, and onto himself.

I’ll direct your attention to John 17:13-23, when Jesus spoke with his disciples at the last supper. And after they had fellowship together, Jesus prayed. Jesus prayed to the Father saying: John 17:13-23 (MSG)

“Now I’m returning to you. I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing, So my people can experience My joy completed in them. I gave them your word; The godless world hated them because of it, Because they didn’t join the world’s ways, Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways. I’m not asking that you take them out of the world But that you guard them from the Evil One. They are no more defined by the world Than I am defined by the world. Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth. In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. I’m consecrating myself for their sake. So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.”

Several of those words stand out to me. We are not defined by the world. We are consecrated “set apart” separate from the world. We are made holy by his word. And we have a mission, in which to live differently. Defined By God, not the world. Consecrated, how, by the word, biblical truth. Holy, set apart from the world for… Mission, our mission in the world, as the church, to move people toward Christ.

I like how the Message translates Jesus’ words as my people are “truth-consecrated” in their mission. Which is why we consider so carefully the reality of church membership, as an expression of ultimate reality. To be “truth-consecrated” I think means for us, to see our eternal future and to see the infinite value of what we do for God.

Because of this consecration the glory of Christ reflects off us, and is a stark evidence to the gray world out there, that there is a God over creation. Thus the lost are invited to partake through the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, into a unified fellowship, as we ascend on the road to heaven. God’s future kingdom is coming; indeed, it is coming very soon.

Let’s look at three ways we can put this into practice:

1. Live missionally on a personal level – Be a self-driven evangelist, on an individual level. Just you and God, taking action throughout the week: Pray for your friends. Talk to your friends about Jesus. Invite your neighbors to become part of the church family. Post about Jesus on social media. Hand out Bibles at a homeless shelter. Go for a weekly prayer walk. Make a personal plan.

2. Serve on a church level – Serve in this corps. Help out with one of the programs. Get to know someone here that is different than you are. Start an evangelism group, and go door to door around this neighborhood. Tithe regularly, tithing isn’t a suggestion, it’s a command of God.

3. Become an adherent or a soldier- Is God calling you to step up and become a soldier of the Salvation Army? If you aren’t ready to be a full on soldier, you could become an adherent. And maybe, just maybe, God is calling you to become an officer. If God is tapping you on the shoulder right now, start praying about it.

In conclusion, our church membership is a gift from God. So please do cherish it as a gift. Because it’s not a binder in a church basement, it’s your life, your future, and your only check against the ways of the world, that are ever present, trying to dissuade you from following Jesus. Thankfully we are not alone. Jesus guides us along this journey, walking beside us every day. And as such, you are a subversive, set apart, revolutionary movement to spread Jesus to lost humanity. We’re traveling home together, to our ultimate home in the new city of God, a perfect, timeless reality. And it’s not simply a nice idea, but a concrete, real future.