Category Archives: Home Church

March 20, 2009 · 5:50 am

Swimming Upstream: “Does Jesus Dance?”

Honey hung up the phone. “Guess what?” she said. Too excited to wait for my reply, she blurted out, “Becky is going to pay for the disc jockey at our wedding. Isn’t that great?”

Her words were like ice water being poured over my spine. My holiness teachings jolted me into a catatonic stiffness.

Noticing my discomfort, she asked, “Don’t you want dancing at our wedding?”

Oh no, I thought. What do I do? My bride to be wants dancing at our wedding? Isn’t this what Israel did while Moses was up on the mountain? They rose up to play and dance (Exodus 32).

The Lord seems to love taking a sledge hammer and banging away at my rigid religious stances. It’s almost as if He concocts these situations just for me. I think part of His reason for doing it is that He wants to change me; and the other part is that it is so much fun for Him and Father. He delights in it.

What did I do? I prayed and studied the Bible.

The party and dance put on by the father for his prodigal son’s return in Luke 15:25 loosened me up a little bit. Yes, this was not a wedding, but at least, it was indicative of a joyful celebration.

Then, I meditated on Jesus’ first miracle: the turning of water into wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11).

The six stone waterpots of water being turned into wine works out to about a gallon or so of wine for each guest. A gallon of wine each. A wedding feast. Music. Celebration. No matter how I hard I tried, I could not imagine Jesus sitting off to the side at a table with his disciples and not participating in the celebration. I believe He jumped in and kicked up His heels with the other celebrants.

We are now in the midst of March Madness, the NCAA basketball playoffs. The final four has even been dubbed “the Big Dance”, but I believe they’re absolutely wrong. The Big Dance will be the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.

If you’re wondering about me, I will be out on the floor, strutting my stuff with my Bridegroom, my Husband, Jesus, the dancing Son of God. And you? What will you be doing?

…a time to mourn and a time to dance. (Ecclesiastes 3:4)

Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s a little of this and a little of that, all written to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian jouneys.

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March 19, 2009 · 6:29 am

Have A Desire to “Go”? Here’s Your Chance.

Mark Pedder, who lives and ministers in one of Asia’s worst slums, wrote the following article: Missionaries Wanted…Must be Qualified…aren’t we all…?

Caution: His words are like two-edged swords dipped in honey.

Swimming Upstream: “24/7 Examples and Patterns”

As I a young Christian, I spent lots of time around numerous prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers when they ministered at our church. Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, these people were awesome. The gifts. The miracles. The signs and wonders. Their ministry examples triggered my desire to be like them whenever I ministered.

However, there was also a downside to all of this because I was with them when they were offstage. And what I often saw sickened me and turned me off to the whole ministry game.

There was greed, envy, selfish ambition, gossip, lousy jokes and more. It was really bad! And yet, they would walk back out every evening and the anointing would be awesome.

But there was one man who was different from all of the others. A person who walked in humility and love. An apostle with works in Africa. If you needed money, he reached into his own pockets. If that wasn’t enough, he would mortgage his house or another asset to help out.

The man of God he was on stage, he was no different off stage. He was the real-deal, a 24/7 example for me to pattern my life after.

Remember: If you are a leader, it’s not so important what you say, but rather, it will be your example and 24/7 pattern of life that will change people’s lives.

(See here.)

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March 17, 2009 · 2:40 pm

Want To Be Touched? Watch and Listen

I admit to being out of touch on the Christian music scene. The only reason that I have even heard of this song is that Sissel, a classic singer, sang this on her CD. Then, I checked youtube and this really, really broke my heart.

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March 17, 2009 · 8:50 am

Economic Worries? Try This.

If you’ve lost your job, if your house is in foreclosure, if credit card debt is eating you up, the stress is genuine. You can’t take two aspirins, go to bed and wake-up the next morning, feeling better. The stress will be there, waiting for you.

What can you do? Maybe, you can try the following:

Twenty years ago, I received a letter from the State of Kentucky stating that I owed $40,000 in back taxes. They gave me two weeks before they would begin law suits and placing liens on our home, auto, first-born child, second-born child and whatever.

I phoned the Kentucky Tax Commission and discovered that I had failed to file a Kentucky State Income Tax form for seven years earlier. I apologized and told them that at best I owed them five hundred dollars. And of course, they said, “Prove it.”

Sadly, I had thrown out our Kentucky tax stuff when we moved to Iowa. So, I was forced to call the Federal IRS center and ask for copies of our past forms. They said they would put the info in the mail.

Well, as you know, federal bureaucracy moves very, very slowly. It took ten months for them to finally tell me that all tax forms over six years of age had been destroyed.

In the mean time, the state of Kentucky was beating on my head like a bongo drum. Their final offer was that they would settle for $5,000 and gave me fourteen days to come up with the money.

Owing $5,000 is better than owing $40,000, but when you have $0, it doesn’t really make much difference. The end result is still the same.

So, I fasted and prayed. After a while, the Lord gave me this plan:

(1) Write a letter to the State of Kentucky offering to pay them $500. Not one penny more. Take it or leave it.

(2) Also, write a covenant letter to the Lord, stating that this problem had been placed in His hands, according to the dictates of 1 Peter 5:7. And that He needed to take care of it because it was no longer in my hands.

I sent letter #1 to Kentucky and placed letter #2 on my bedroom dresser. Whenever fear hit me – which was often – I would run into the bedroom, place my hand on the letter and remind the Lord of our covenant. Peace would instantly drown out my fears.

What happened?

The state of Kentucky offered me a better deal than I offered them. They allowed me to pay four monthly payments of $125 and interest-free.

Will this work for you? Why not? Our Lord is a covenant-making God who wants us to cast our cares on Him because He cares for us ( 1Peter 5:7).

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March 16, 2009 · 8:13 am

Swimming Upstream: “David Wilkerson’s Prophecy”

David Wilkerson, pastor of Times Square Church, author of The Cross and The Switchblade and founder of Teen Challenge, declared in an urgent message on March 7, 2009:

AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. IT IS GOING TO BE SO FRIGHTENING, WE ARE ALL GOING TO TREMBLE – EVEN THE GODLIEST AMONG US.For 10 years I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires – such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago.

There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting – including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath. (For full story, see here.)

So, what do you plan to do about this prophecy? It seems to me that we have three options:

(1) We can be like most Christians and take a wait-and-see posture. You know, if it doesn’t happen, then we can start up blogs decrying Wilkerson as a false prophet. But of course, should the fires begin and the bombs go off, we are in a pickle, right?

(2) We can ask our pastors and other leaders what they think about Wilkerson’s prophecy. After all, these leaders are trained and paid to hear God’s voice for the rest of us, right?

(3) We can seek God for ourselves and ask Him what we should do.

Options (1) and (2) are road maps to disaster. The history of the church is filled with tales of woe about believers who followed these paths.

Option (3) is the only godly and responsible action to take. Don’t wait. Begin today.

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March 15, 2009 · 8:59 am

Ready. Fire. Aim.

Thanks to Cindy Hanson’s comments about my testimony, a light bulb lit up inside me:

“… nice story, glad yours ends with cash, my experience, however, is the true gift besides salvation, is being a husband and father to your family and offering love and kindness to the community you live in. Not saying money isn’t a good payout,but I believe it to be a rare one. I too am glad you visited your insurance man. God rocks. (Cindy Hanson)

Believe it or not, I have not paid much attention lately to the fact that the Lord brought $50,000 to my publishing company after I was saved on May 20, 1985. It somehow gets loss in the shuffle over the years.

Now, at the time it was a BIG deal. I even daydreamed that maybe I would be this successful Christian businessman with a jet, flying to Full Gospel Businessmen’s meetings across the nation, giving my testimony on prosperity. But hey, give me a break, I was a baby Christian; this was where I was at. Maturity takes time.

Cindy pointed out that receiving cash as a part of the salvation experience was a rare happening, but is it? What do scriptures reveal?

Now when He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

But Simon answered and said, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”

And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.

…When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken.

…So when they brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. (Luke 5: 4-6, 8-9, 11

I do not believe in the so-called prosperity gospel, but the facts are that Peter, Andrew, James and John dropped everything and followed Jesus because the Lord blessed their fishing business. The fish meant money in their pockets and food on the table for their families. It was what they desperately needed, and the Redeemer used their needs to capture their hearts.

Jesus said:

If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works…(John 10:37-38)

Think of all the masses of people crowding around Jesus wherever He went. Do you think these people were thinking about eternal salvation and forgiveness of sins? No, almost all were not. Most needed healing miracles or food or something. And Jesus met them where they were at so that He could capture their hearts.

Now, the revelation that I received because of Cindy’s comments concerns us Christians and how we evangelize homosexuals, perverts, drunks, drug addicts, gangs, prostitutes and the like. We tend to hold our noses, point our fingers at their sins and tell them that they are “rotten sinners going to Hell.” No wonder they don’t like us, right?

How would Jesus evangelize these groups?

Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. (Luke 5: 3)

Jesus climbs into people’s boats (their lives), discovers their needs, meets their needs…and then, day by day, cleans them up.

Wow! Hello Larry Who! I need to follow His example.

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March 13, 2009 · 4:39 am

Swimming Upstream: “Ever Wonder Why God Saved You?”

Six months after my salvation, I wondered, why did the Lord save me?

If you’ve read my testimony you’d know that I was an agnostic, and my salvation happened on the day that I was planning on committing suicide. Agnosticism plus suicide does not usually equal personal salvation unless the individual is somehow seeking after truth. And I wasn’t. I was seeking $50,000 for my publishing company. Period.

Why did the Lord save me?

This question really bugged me and I did what the Bible said to do: I asked the Lord and kept on asking. And asking. And asking.

Finally, one morning the Lord spoke to my heart. “I saved you because Mabel Raddemacher prayed and prayed for the stuttering twelve year-old boy who attended Bible Camp.”

Mabel Raddemacher, I thought to myself. Wasn’t she the religious nut that everyone made fun of? Stuttering? That was me. But twelve years old? Then I remembered what happened.

I attended Bible Camp as a twelve year-old boy. Like most kids, I liked the baseball and swimming parts of the camp, but was not overly enthused about the religious side. Then on the last night, we had a special bonfire where kids could give their lives to the Lord. I mumbled some words aloud, but in my mind I said, “I don’t want You Jesus. And I don’t ever want what these weak Christians have. Never!”

So, there you have it. I was an agnostic. I sought to commit suicide. I had rejected the gospel. I was not seeking the truth. And yet, the Lord swept all of my negatives aside and listened to the prayers of a godly woman.

How unbelievably wonderful is grace! How great is our Lord! And thank you Mabel Raddemacher.

…the effective prayer of a righteous man (or woman) can accomplish much. (James 5:16)

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March 12, 2009 · 6:25 am

The Bear

bear_bryant

When the best football coaches are mentioned, Paul William “Bear” Bryant (1913 – 1983) is usually at the top of the list. His coaching status, even today, is considered legendary. 323 college football victories. 6 national championships. 13 Southeastern Conference titles.

But for me, I like his quotes best of all:

“The old lessons (work, self-discipline, sacrifice, teamwork, fighting to achieve) aren’t being taught by many people other than football coaches these days. The football coach has a captive audience and can teach these lessons because the communication lines between himself and his players are more wide open than between kids and parents. We better teach these lessons or else the country’s future population will be made up of a majority of crooks, drug addicts, or people on relief.”

“It’s not the will to win that matters – everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.”

“It’s not the dog in the fight that counts, it’s the fight in the dog.” (For more, see here.)

And if you’re interested in whether or not he was a Christian, read here.

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March 11, 2009 · 6:27 am

Swimming Upstream: “Dreaming Big? Plan On Dying First!”

Burt Prelutsky said, “I don’t pay for other people’s ideas. I steal them.” So, with that in mind, the idea for this article was gently swiped from Stuff Christians Like #506. Kudos to Burt and Prodigal John!

About fifteen years ago, I began everyday by praying something like this: “Father, send me. Place me on a street corner preaching the gospel in LA or Rwanda or somewhere, but send me.”

After a while, a prophetess showed up at my place and proclaimed, “The Lord doesn’t want you asking to be sent out preaching for the next thirty days. Instead, He has something else for you to do first. Then, you can ask again.”

I obeyed the prophecy and sought the Lord on what He wanted me to do. It seemed He wanted me to be a painting contractor.

And within thirty days, I was in the biggest trial of my life. One that destroyed my reputation, my finances, and me. I lost all of my friends and my ministry. Like Job, I spent the days weeping and bemoaning my birth. The only thing that kept me going was the understanding that the Father loved me and His grace. The following verse became my hope:

I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13)

Now, after all these years, I know what the Lord actually meant when the prophetess said, “He has something else for you to do first.” He wanted me to die first; and He had the perfect plan to achieve His desire for me.

I’d like to say that I died easily. No mess. No fuss. No bother. But it was a slow, agonizing death. When death happened in part of me, another part would be revived and attempted to climb out of the grave. Then, that part would be dealt with by the Lord. All of this took time. Lots of it.

And yet, this morning, I finally obeyed the second part of the prophecy. “Lord, send me.”

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