Category Archives: Religion

October 19, 2009 · 8:36 am

“My Journey Out” (Part 7)

moses-parting-red-sea

Click on following for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6.

The Easter Sunday crowd packed the seats at the school gymnasium where the young church was holding its service. The worship team led off with some awesome music. One song, Hungry, seemed to capture the assembly’s attention, especially its chorus: “So, I wait for you…So, I wait for you.”

As the worship team finished, the young, good-looking pastor walked over to the microphone. He was clapping his hands in appreciation for the great music. Then, he turned toward the assembly, winked an eye and said, “Maybe by now, you’ve realized that we’re a little different than all the other churches in the city…”

The pastor continued on, but I did not hear a single word that he said for the next five minutes or so. I was in a different zone, one where the Holy Spirit had my full attention.

“No, this church is not a bit different than the others,” said the Holy Spirit. “Not one bit different than any of the other churches in this city. If you were, right now, attending a Catholic Church or a Baptist Church or a Pentecostal one or any other church in the city, it would be no different than this one. You would be still sitting like a bump on a log listening to a head frog croak to you. Your only input into this service will be the check you toss into the offering plate when it is passed under your nose. Is this the church Jesus hung on the cross and died for?”

I sat there, stunned by His words. I wanted to weep. I wanted to run. I wanted to vomit. I wanted to quit.

But I did nothing.

On the way home, I told my wife about the experience. She sighed and stared at me. “You’re sure different, aren’t you?” she said. “I really like this church and now this happens.” She looked away.

Now, just so you know, the Holy Spirit was not referring to the doctrines of the different churches. If that were the case, each would be different. But instead, he was referring to the wineskin, the particular format that all traditional churches follow in their services. Basically, they are all the same, in that there is a definite separation between the active few (the clergy) and the passive many (the laity).

So, what about the separation of clergy and laity? Is it scriptural?

(Continued in Part 8.)

Larry Who’s writings and teachings appear on this 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 journeys.

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Filed under Christianity, Christians, Church, church planting, Emergent Church, Faith, Gifts of the Spirit, God, grace, Home Church, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, reformation, Religion, spiritual warfare

October 16, 2009 · 10:47 am

“My Journey Out” (Part 6)

moses-parting-red-sea

Click on following for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20)

The above scripture has been used ad infinitum by preachers. Many evangelists use it to say Jesus is knocking on the door of sinners’ hearts. Prophets proclaim Jesus is trying to get back into His own church. On and on, it is used for this reason or for that one.

But seldom have I heard anyone mention why Jesus wants to dine with believers. Is He hungry?

Maybe, you’d hazard a guess by saying, “The word dine is used to simply illustrate intimate fellowship and intercourse between the Lord and us.”

Okay, you get a passing grade for this answer; let’s say, a D-.

Let’s look at the context where the dining remark is mentioned which is a specific discourse by Jesus to seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

Now, when we western culture believers view the word churches, we instantly think structure. As in buildings at specific locations with governing systems, replete with pastors, boards of elders, deacons, ushers, worship leaders and worship teams.The whole shebang, right?

But this was not the case for these seven churches…not at all.

The Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation around the year 90 A.D. At the time, one of the churches, Ephesus, had been around for forty or so years, having been founded by the Apostle Paul. Laodicea is mentioned in Paul’s letter to the Colossians, thirty years earlier (Colossians 2:1; 4:16).

So, knowing that Paul stayed in Ephesus for a little over two years, training and teaching men like Titus, Timothy, Gaius, Sopater, Aristarchus and Secundus, it is easy to hypothesize that these apostolic workers could have founded these churches in Asia Minor, twenty to twenty-five years before John wrote this letter. Each church was only 200 miles or so from Ephesus.

Since the early church was not a lethargic, static organism as it is today, we also can hypothesize that new believers were continually added to the seven churches through evangelism and by their witnesses to their individual communities. These churches were not small. Maybe, hundreds and hundreds of members in each one.

Okay, so far?

When Jesus referred to the seven-city churches, He was not talking to single-building or single-location churches. Instead, Jesus was talking to collections of home churches in each city. Because of the sizes of homes in this era, twelve to twenty-five people usually gathered in each home church.

Thus, when Jesus stated, “…I will come into him and will dine with him...” He was simply saying, “I will come to the home-church meeting and have a Lord’s Supper with you.”

You see, the early church had meetings in homes and ate full meals as Lord’s Suppers. These meetings were fellowship feasts for the believers, not wafer-snacks and thimbles of grape juice gobbled down while looking at the back of a person’s head, sitting in the pew in front of you (1 Corinthians 11: 17-34).

So, what about the separation of clergy and laity? Is it scriptural?

(Continued in Part 7.)

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October 14, 2009 · 9:37 am

“My Journey Out” (Part 5)

moses-parting-red-sea

Click on following for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Being a car salesman at ten different auto dealerships allows me to have some interesting insights, such as: most Christians don’t wear their white robes when buying cars. Somehow, they disrobe at the entrance of the dealership and act just like pagans when entering the door; they lie… a lot!

And if that’s not bad enough, wait until you hear the next insight.

Car salesmen – including me – absolutely hate trying to sell a pastor or preacher a car. In fact, if a known pastor or preacher parks his car in front of a dealership, veteran salesmen will run for the restrooms, parts departments, service areas, anywhere to avoid greeting the preacher. Only a newbie will be left standing at the door, awaiting the preacher.

It’s obvious why Christians lie at dealerships, right? They hope to get a better deal and save their precious mammon.

But why do car salesmen hate selling preachers?

Over and over again, I have watched various Christian clergy act like arrogant hypocrites when they’re purchasing vehicles. They expect favors. They whine and complain. They treat auto personnel as underlings. On and on, the list continues. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!

Now, don’t get me wrong, auto dealerships are high pressure cauldrons where it’s tough to hold onto Christian integrity on the part of the sales person or of the buyer. It’s a tough atmosphere for Christians to survive in.

And yet, let’s be honest, what’s the real reason that pastors and preachers (clergy) have a bad reputation with car salesmen? The separation between clergy and lay people. Period.

But of course, there will be readers who will state, “My pastor is not like that at all!”

No doubt there are countless godly pastors and preachers in America who walk the walk, and talk the talk, even at auto dealerships, but even with almost everyone of these godly people, there is an aura of separation about them.

Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation. (Mark 12:40)

Is the separation between clergy and lay people scriptural?

(Continued in Part 6.)

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October 13, 2009 · 9:21 am

Waiting On The Lord, You Know, Just Waiting On Him! (Part 7)

The_Thinker,_Auguste_Rodin

Click on the following for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6.

So, what can a New Testament believer do to help bring a personal prophetic word to pass in his (or her) life?

D. Waiting And Waiting And Waiting.

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

If any group of people in America should know about waiting, it should be us Southern Californians, all 24,000,000 of us. We wait on expressways. We wait in banks. Grocery stores. Libraries. Post offices. Walmarts. LAX. Disneyland. We wait everywhere. It’s a fact of life. Period.

But is this the type of waiting referred to in Isaiah 40:31?

The Hebrew word qavah which is translated into the English word wait in Isaiah 40:31 means more than just hanging out and passing time while doing nothing. It’s number one interpretative definition actually conveys the thought of “to twist or to bind like a rope.”

Now, consider that rope making has been around for thousands of years. Natural fibers, such as jute, sissal or common vines, are woven into strands which are then woven into ropes, usually three-stranded ones (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

Hold the picture of a woven rope in your mind for a moment or two, okay?

The second interpretative definition for the Hebrew word qavah implies “to be strong, robust” as in the notion of tying fast with a rope. And even the third interpretive definition imparts the idea of “enduring, waiting for or expecting with strength.”

Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait for You. (Psalm 25:21)

Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land… (Psalm 37:34)

Scripturally, waiting on the Lord does not imply that a believer can sit around, doing nothing, and still hope that his personal prophetic words will come to pass in his life. It won’t happen!

Waiting on the Lord means winding and weaving yourself around the true vine – Jesus – so that like a rope you will be strengthened and renewed to receive the promises offered by your prophetic words.

If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15:7)

(This concludes this series.)

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October 9, 2009 · 8:23 am

“My Journey Out” (Part 3)

moses-parting-red-sea

Click on following for earlier articles: Part 1 and Part 2.

“Too much pastoring in the church.”

The Holy Spirit’s words stunned me, but at the same time, they instilled a desire to understand more about the pastor’s calling. So, I began studying the Bible.

Did you know the word pastor is only mentioned once in the New Testament?

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11)

The Greek word poimen (Strongs #4166) which is translated pastor in the above verse is also mentioned seventeen other times in the New Testament, but in these verses, it is translated into the English word shepherd(s).

A verb derivative of poimen, the Greek Word poimano (Strongs #4165), is mentioned ten times in various verses, but is translated in the King James Version into the English words feed or rule.

Now let’s say, that a Bible somehow landed in the hands of a linguistic expert who lived on Mars. After studying the Old and New Testaments, he convinced his government to capture an American Christian out of the traditional church system and bring him back to Mars.

Of course, the Mars expert would question the captured Christian. And being a knowledgeable believer, the Christian would have done quite well, explaining Jesus, the Gospel and the New Birth.

But when the Christian would have explained the church and our modern CEO-like pastor, the Mars expert would have most likely blinked his eyes in unbelief. “Hey, are you sure that you haven’t got the Old Testament and the New Testament mixed up?” he would have asked.

Then, the Christian would have blinked his eyes in amazement. To his scriptural reasoning, the traditional church and our modern CEO-like pastor are so obvious that he can not explain it to others. Maybe, he would have thrown his hands up in the air and said, “That’s just the way it is, okay?”

The captured Christian could have been me. Because when I started studying the calling of pastor, I looked through the lens of all the teachers who had been my instructors for over ten years.

A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher. (Luke 6:40)

Admittedly, I am resistant to change. I like to walk on the paths of our church forefathers, men like Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, D. L. Moody, Smith Wigglesworth and so forth who have been a part of the traditional church system. This seems to be the well-tread path of safety, right?

So, what has caused me to veer off onto old, hardly visible paths?

(Continued in Part 4)

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October 8, 2009 · 7:21 am

Waiting On The Lord, You Know, Just Waiting On Him (Part 5)

The_Thinker,_Auguste_Rodin

Click on the following for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

So, what can a New Testament believer do to help bring a personal prophetic word to pass in his (or her) life?

C. If The Prophetic Words Are Confirmed, Then What? (Continued)

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. (Hebrews 11: 32-34)

The above verses in the book of Hebrews point out an important fact: obtaining prophetic promises by faith is akin to warfare. It’s a battle.

Now remember: the Lord is not the one fighting us. He wants His prophetic words to be manifested in our lives, especially about our callings. And He will bankrupt heaven to supply us with whatever we need to obtain them.

So, who is the fight of faith with? Demons and ourselves (the flesh).

This is the command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. (1 Timothy 1:18-19)

What does heaven consider a good fight? Winning the battle. Period.

Let’s consider my personal situation in 1987:

I was an unknown nobody in a small Midwestern town. No money. No car. A marital separation. A 1o’ x 8′ apartment. A minimum wage job at a motel. I walked in all types of weather wherever I had to go. No one believed in me or my calling. And I had no open doors to preach, teach or prophesy, as in none, zilch, nada and zero.

Then, what did the Lord do? He gave me a vision that I would eventually preach, teach and prophesy in large cities and large inner cities of the United States; and I believed in the vision.

Now, I could have said, “Okay, God, I’ll just wait and see if You can do this in my life or not. Who knows, right?” But I didn’t. You see that’s not fighting a good fight, that’s sitting on the sidelines, covering yourself with fear and doubt.

So, what did I do?

I hung a map of the United States on the wall with all of the major cities and the toughest inner cities marked on it. Then, each morning, I would get up and place my hand on the map and proclaim, “Lord, I’m coming to these cities. And I command these cities to open up to me because I’m on my way!”

Then, I walked around my small apartment and proclaimed, “Lord, You called me; I didn’t. And Lord, I’m fully persuaded that You are able to do what You have promised to do. Furthermore, I don’t believe any man or demon can stop You and Your promises. So, unless You kill me, I’m going to preach, teach and prophesy in those cities.”

Nobody heard me or saw my faith while I was doing this. It was strictly between God and me.

I did this for years until I knew that God knew how determined I was to obtain His prophetic promises.

But I did other things, too.

(Continued in Part 6.)

“My Journey Out” (Part 2)

moses-parting-red-sea

Click on following for earlier article: Part 1.

If you have read my two series, It’s Your Decision…Run or Fight! and Sifting Through The Ashes of A Spiritual Defeat, then you know that 1994 was not one of those years Frank Sinatra sang about in his hit song. It was not a very good year; it was an absolutely, miserable one for me.

And 1995 was not much better.

By early summer, I was just looking for a back pew in a church where I could hang out, keep quiet, and hopefully, put myself back together again. My life and calling were a mess.

A church, thirty miles away, seemed to be the answer to my prayers. The pastor was a man with a shepherd’s heart. Its congregation was around seventy or eighty members in size, and fun to be around. The worship music was awesome. And the meetings were informally held in a school gymnasium.

It seemed the perfect fit for me.

Though giving prophetic words was not what I hoped to be doing, I knew the Lord used me on good days and bad days as a prophetic voice. So, to be safe, I went up to the pastor after the first service. “Do you have any rules about giving prophetic words at your church?” I asked.

He smiled and shook his head. “No, we don’t,” he said. “We encourage people to give prophetic words.”

Over the following four weeks, I broke every rule he said that he did not have. Each Sunday, he was upset with me about something.

“You said there were no rules,” I whispered in exasperation one time.

“That was before I knew you,” he exclaimed. “And I’ve never met anyone like you in my thirty years of ministry.”

Finally, we met for lunch, hoping to settle our differences. It’s not that we didn’t like each other or anything like that. It’s just that he was comfortable with prophetic BB guns and I was an AK-47 assault rifle. We were miles apart in our prophetic thinking.

“Listen,” he said toward the end of our conversation, “why don’t you just submit yourself under my ministry. Then, when the Lord tells me to release you into full-time prophetic ministry, I will let you know. All of the doors of our denomination will then be open to you.”

“What if you don’t hear the Lord’s voice for my calling and life?” I asked.

He blinked. “I had not thought about that,” he replied. His eyes looking down.

The meeting ended with us giving each other hugs and going our separate ways.

The next day, I received a letter in the mail from a member of the church who was not even aware of my meeting with the pastor. She wrote that I was rebellious and needed to submit myself under pastoral authority. And if I failed to follow her so-called godly counsel, she felt my prophetic calling would never come forth. As in never, ever!

I was upset and did what Hezekiah did when he received a letter from an enemy of Israel (2 Kings 19:14). I walked around, reading the letter to the Lord.

“Lord, she says I’m rebellious and that I need to submit under pastoral authority. I don’t even understand pastoral authority, what is it?” I went on and on until finally I had finished.

Then I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Too much pastoring in the church.”

(Continued in Part 3)

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October 6, 2009 · 1:39 pm

Book Review: “Finding God”

thebook

Have you ever bought a book without thinking much about the reasons for doing so? And then, when you began reading it, you are thrilled with your purchase?

Finding God In The Storms of Life by Mike Jones is such a book for me.

In the INTRODUCTION of the book, Jones uses a special occasion card to state the underlying theme for his book. He describes the front of the card as showing two doors, one at each end of the hallway. The opening line reads, “When God closes one door, He always opens another.” But the tagline inside the card is the real reason why it is still on display in Mike’s home. It reads: “But it’s hell in the hallway.”

Throughout the book, the author uses the hallway analogy as a descriptive term for surviving the storms of life, especially during times of transition and change.

The book is written in a devotional format which offers hope via scriptures, prose and poetry to those of us who are in the midst of our own transitions and storms. Here is an excerpt from one of my favorite poems, The Lure of Good Things:

It’s not just the bad that keeps us from God,

good will work too, and it’s more common than odd.

Good is so plentiful in these days that we live.

We have toys and church and tithes we give.

We think ourselves rich; that we don’t need a thing.

We’ve been lured into things, being our aim.

I’ll admit you have good, but it’s cost you My best.

Do you have an ear to hear the rest? (Finding God, page 21)

I really liked the book and look forward to reading more from Mike.

Finding God In The Storms of Life

Authored by Mike Jones; Published by Xlibris.

Trade Paperback; 107 pages.

You can check Mike out at his blog or read more about his book. To order a copy or if you have questions, send an email to: mikejonz@charter.net

Waiting On The Lord, You Know, Just Waiting On Him! (Part 4)

The_Thinker,_Auguste_Rodin

Click on following for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

So, what can a New Testament believer do to help bring a personal prophetic word to pass in his (or her) life?

C. If The Prophetic Words Are Confirmed, Then What?

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. (Hebrews 11: 32-34)

Chapter Eleven of Hebrews is a “Hall of Fame for Old Testament Saints.” In it, we read that mighty men and women of God, such as Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David and others had testimonies which pleased God.

What was it they did?

They acted and persevered by faith. In fact, the phrase, by faith, is mentioned nineteen times and is the underlying emphasis for the forty verses of the chapter.

And why were these mighty people of God exercising their faith? They had prophetic words for their lives.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. (Hebrews 11:1-2)

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

Our faith must be in God and it must be exhibited before Him. And whether or not, anyone else is able to see or understand our faith, is not important at all for the fulfillment of our prophetic promise.

You see, our approval comes from God, not men. He is the One who brings our prophetic words to pass, or rewards our faith and faithfulness.

For myself, I knew I was called to preach, teach and write within a few weeks after my salvation on May20, 1985. It came through a nighttime vision which I never mentioned to anyone for years.

But even as a young, know-nothing believer, I knew enough that I needed to prepare myself for my calling. I prayed. I studied the word. I listened to hundreds of tapes. I read hundreds of books.

Also, I rearranged the priorities in my life. TV, entertainment, sports, career, many relationships and whatever became secondary to my pursuit of God and His calling for my life.

Except for my family, no one knew anything about my spiritual discipline. I was an unknown in a small town. And there were no open doors for me to preach, teach and prophesy. As in none. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Yet, I did things to show my faith to God.

(Continued in Part 5)

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October 5, 2009 · 7:44 am

“My Journey Out” (Part 1)

moses-parting-red-sea In the late 1980’s, I had a nighttime dream in which I was standing in the middle of a palatial ballroom. All of my precious Christian friends were there with me.

At the front of this gorgeous ballroom, a worship team was singing. The music was Holy Spirit inspired and awesome. Everyone was having a great time worshiping the Lord and fellowshipping with one other.

As I stood there, I looked around and thought, “It can’t get any better than this, can it?”

But as dreams often do, the scene changed. The crowd off to my right parted and I could see through some double-doors leading out of the ballroom and into a large hallway. The hallway itself was magnificent with a lush carpet, expensive wallpaper and gold-leaf moldings.

Because of the angle I was looking through the doors, I could see a large gold-leaf mirror at the far end of the hallway. The mirror’s reflection was not of the hallway, but instead, it revealed a glimpse into another ballroom just across the hallway. The glimpse came about because one of the double-doors for the other ballroom was partially opened.

What I saw in the other ballroom stirred an immediate and deep hunger within me.

Now, there was nobody in the room; and the room itself was not as magnificent as the one that I was standing in. But it had an overwhelming presence of God in the room. So much so, that there was an intimidating holiness about it. A holiness which I knew would result in my death if I ever walked into that ballroom.

But I did not care because I absolutely wanted to be in that ballroom.

As I stood there, I knew what was required of me to get into that ballroom on the other side of the hallway. I had to turn my back on all my friends, many of my teachings and walk out the double-doors into the hallway.

This dream so effected me, that for years, I prayed, “Lord, I want to be in that other ballroom and I’m willing to pay whatever price You may require of me.”

So, after all my praying, you’d think I would have been prepared for the Holy Spirit’s statement to me in the summer of 1995, but I wasn’t. His words: “Too much pastoring in the church.”

(Continued in Part 2)

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Filed under Christianity, Christians, Church, Emergent Church, Gifts of the Spirit, God, grace, Home Church, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, Red Letter Christians, reformation, Religion, spiritual warfare