pastorant's Xanga

Esperanto

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 05:44:46 GMT

La nasktago de mia edzino estas morgaŭ. Mi ne povas diri ŝia aĝo, ĉar tio estas malbona formo, SED ŝi estas pli maljuna ol 30.
Ho, parenteze, mi skribas ĉi tiun blogon Esperante nun. Mia kukurbo gravedas dum 3 monatoj.
Tamen , ni vespermanĝas restoracion ĉe la urbo.

Words of Life

Mon, 01 May 2006 17:41:15 GMT

John 6:60-71

In this deep passage Christ sifts his followers, weeding out those who are not capable of going with him. He tells us plainly: no one can come to Him unless the Father draws him.
Some of these were drawn by the show. Miracles, after all, make a good story to tell your grandchildren. Some of us today are drawn by the show, also. The music is lively, the preacher's words alive—we walk out saying, "Good sermon." Unless the good sermon affects our lives, we are not drawn by the Father but by the show.
Some were drawn by the crowd. Many of us follow the crowd to the fashionable church. After all, we might need a place for a wedding or a funeral some day, and how much better that it should be an elegant building, full of fine musicians and excellent speakers.
Some were drawn by what they saw as an opportunity to succeed in life. Like Simon the sorcerer, they saw the Gospel as a chance to make money. A place to make all the right contacts for the business, and—after all—it never hurts to have the reputation of being an honest Christian businessman.
All these are sifted out by the hard words of the Gospel, for they were not drawn by the Father. Note those who remain, however. Jesus, seeing the many depart, queries those who stay. They give us the clue we need to see who is really drawn by the Father.
"To whom shall we go?" they ask. "You have the words of eternal life." There it is. Those who were sifted out had their sights set too low—the show, the crowd, the opportunity. These men had their sights set on God himself, and they understood the price of that quest. It does not matter if it costs you everything you have, including your physical life—if you gain eternal life.
There is only one source for that life. Peter knows it, and puts it in the form of a question: "to whom shall we go?" The question answers itself: there is no one else. It's better to take the hard, slow road to the right place than the easy road to anywhere else.
Jesus, with the foreknowledge of God, knew who was who—but still suffered at their departure. It was their choice. We have the same choice today. Do not let the show, the crowd, or the opportunity blind you to the call of Christ. Allow the Father to draw you to the living Christ, the source of eternal life. The way may be hard—but there is no other.

Friday April 7th Jumaa Prayer

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 16:57:58 GMT

For Friday April 7th, please pray
……that the Church in the Middle East will grow this year, not shrink. Christians are migrating at an alarming rate from Middle
East countries because of fear and persecution.
……for the repeal of blasphemy laws in Pakistan. The laws are consistently used to incite anti-Christian violence.
……for strength and courage for persecuted Christians in Yemen. Several converts from Islam have been beaten, interrogated and
imprisoned in recent months.
……for missionaries struggling as they witness to the Uyghur Muslim peoples of China.

Friday March 24th Jumaa Prayer

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 21:14:09 GMT

Every Friday, I pray that you join me in the 12:00 Jumaa prayer. At 12:00 every friday, Muslims go down to pray at the most important of their prayers. At this time, I fast and pray for the following things. I ask that all Christians join me in fasting the noon meal and praying for our Muslim brothers and the largest Religious minority in America, soon surpassing Christianity.
This Fridays Jumaa prayer is:
……that King Abdullah of Jordan will give further protection and legal recognition to Christians.
……for small Christian house groups in Djibouti.Their meetings are under constant surveillance.
……for those who are ministering to drug users in Pakistan. Pray that the love of the Lord will shine through their lives.
……that the Church in Europe will be emboldened to stand strong in the face of the Islamization of Europe.The patterns of migra-
tion and demographics show that Europe has the potential to become a Muslim-majority region.
……for Christians in Malaysia who are affected by the laws of this Muslim nation.
……that teens in the Middle East will be influenced by the new television programming being prepared for them by SAT-7.

Thank and God Bless: Never forget the Word of God which says Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May those who love her prosper! May there be peace inside your defenses, and prosperity inside your fortresses! For the sake of my brothers and my neighbors I will say, "May there be peace in you!"
(Psa 122:6-8)

For those interested when praying for Djibouti, the people are called Afar and their language is similar to Somali.
Here are some words in Afar:

Hello Mahisse
Goodbye Ma'uk ged
No Maley
Yes yey
Thank you gadda ge

Restoring Faith

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 00:39:14 GMT

Mat 11:2-19

To the casual eye this dialogue seems unusual. John the Baptist, after all, is the one who opens Jesus' ministry with, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Why, now, does he send his followers to ask, "Are you the one?"

Some might think that this was because John did not really see what was happening; but Jesus assures us he is a prophet.

It might appear that, in the loneliness of his prison cell, he began to doubt even his own memory.

Possibly the fear of death was upon him, as Herod's axe came closer.

All these are likely thoughts to us today, but a careful examination of verse 6 tells us the answer. In the hearing of his disciples, Jesus warns them against falling away. John sent these men as the last step in bringing his own disciples to Jesus. John cared for his disciples and did this one last thing to bring them to the truth.

Jesus honors John in this. By asking the crowd about the "reed blowing in the wind" he tells them that John is not a man of weak faith. Indeed, they would not have gone into the desert to hear from such a man. John is in fact the last and greatest of the prophets of the Old Testament period. He is greatest because it is his privilege to introduce the Christ; as such, he is the Elijah spoken of in prophecy.

To the crowd, however, he points out one of their chief difficulties. It doesn't matter who God sends to them, they just don't want to believe and repent. God sends a man like John, an ascetic fellow who fasts, lives in the wilderness and is roughly clothed. Did they respond to such devotion? No, they preferred to eat, drink and be merry. John, in their view, is a nut case. So then God sends his Son, eating, drinking and making merry—the very things that they wanted of John—and he obviously is making friends of all the wrong people.
But the Wisdom of God—Christ himself—tells us that wisdom is proved right by her actions. Those who believed the ascetic John now come to know the Savior. Those who reject his ascetic life style in favor of wine and food now find one just like themselves. The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. The question is, will you be one of the children of Wisdom?

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Joshua 1

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:50:38 GMT

Verse 1.

Moses' minister; it doesn't mean that Joshua was Moses' pastor. The word "minister" there actually is in its true meaning, which is "servant". It is interesting how that somehow we've really sort of twisted the concept of a minister. So many men in the ministry today really don't look at the ministry as servanthood, but they're almost wanting people to serve them. "You know you ought to bring it to me because after all, I'm your minister." That's totally opposite of what the word minister really means. It means a servant.

Jesus said, "If any man would be chief among you, let him be the servant of all"(Mark 10:44). So a true minister is a man who is there not to be ministered to, but who is there to serve the needs of the people. So when it reads that he was Moses' servant, or his minister, it means that he was Moses' personal servant. He accompanied Moses, he helped Moses do the things, and Moses was, he was just his valet sort of, just his servant.

Now after the death of Moses, God elevated him from Moses servant, to the servant of all of the people of Israel. Faithful in the little things, now the Lord has entrusted into his hands even greater things. This is always the process of God. Jesus said, "Because thou hast always been faithful in little things, now I will make thee ruler over many" (Matthew 25:21). He said, "If I've entrusted to you the little things, and you haven't been able to take care of them, how can I entrust you the things of the kingdom?" As the Lord encourages us to the faithfulness to our service, no matter what avenue of service He may call us to.

Many times we look with disdain on particular ministries within the body. We look with sort of envy or desirability on other ministries within the body. Men are prone many times to put greater honor on certain ministries. There are some ministries that never cause any attention or notice to be drawn to them, which God has placed as some of the most vital and important ministries within the body.

There is that ministry of intercessory prayer. Rarely do you know who it is who has that ministry. Yet what an important ministry within the body. What great honor God places upon that ministry. What great rewards will that person have who has and is faithful to that ministry. I don't know that they'll have rows in heaven, I hope not. Because I'm afraid that I'll have a back row because there is so much feedback to the ministry that I have. It's so neat to have people like you who display and show so much love, and so much warmth, and so much kindness. I fear lest I often am getting all my rewards here, and they'll be nothing left for me when I get up there. I'll have to stand in the back on my tiptoes trying to see down to the front. Some of you people who have never been on the platform, never been in the public eye, you'll be right down there on the front row, because you have been faithful to God in that ministry that He has called you to fulfill. Though it wasn't one that caused a lot of attention to be drawn to you, but you were faithful in that to which God called you.

We need to get away from this concept of full-time ministry, looking at that, those who are on the Calvary Chapel staff are those who've been hired by some mission board are full-time ministers. You are, all of you called by God to be a full-time minister. Now Sears and Roebuck may pay your salary, or some other corporation, but you have been called of God to full time, serving the Lord. Whatever you're doing in word or deed, you should be doing for the glory of God, and as unto the Lord. Knowing that from the Lord you are going to receive your reward. So we need to have the proper concept of the ministry, and especially those who do serve on any church staff. We need to get away from that idea that the minister is someone who is especially holy, or is someone above the others, because as a minister, I'm actually a servant. Can you imagine seeking to serve this many people? But yet that's what God has called me to do. So Joshua was Moses' minister, that is he was his personal valet or servant.

Now after the death of Moses, the Lord then spoke unto Joshua. His name is a very significant name. It was given to him by Moses, originally his mother called him "Hosea", which means "salvation". But Moses after he saw the quality and all in this man, called him "Joshua", or "Yashua", which is "Jehovah is", or "Jehovah's salvation", or "Jehovah is salvation." It is the same name as Jesus. This is in Hebrew "Yashua", in Greek it is "Jesus". So we find in Joshua a very interesting type of Jesus Christ, who, Joshua, led the people into the inheriting of the land.

Now Moses could only lead the people so far. Moses led them out of Egypt and to the border of the Promised Land, but Moses could not lead them in. Moses stands for the law. The law cannot lead you into the fullness of God's blessings for your life. The law can lead you up to the border, but the law can't take you in. So, Moses the representative of the law, could lead them up to the border of the Promised Land; he could not lead them into the Promised Land. It is necessary now that Moses lay down his leadership. Joshua takes up the leadership to lead them into the promises of God.

Now there have been given unto us exceeding rich and precious promises. God has a life for you that is a super rich abundant life in Jesus Christ. It isn't God's will that you be on a spiritual roller coaster, that you be a yo-yo in your spiritual experience. It is God's desire that you enter into the full, rich life that He has for you in Jesus Christ, that you enjoy that life of victory in Christ. But the law can't lead you into that. Only Jesus Christ can lead you in. So where Moses had to leave off, Joshua took up, for the law led them as far as it could. Now the new relationship is gonna be one of faith. They're gonna have to begin by stepping out in faith, coming into this land that God had promised.

Now their conquest of Canaan is typical of the Christians entering into the life of victory that God has for us, as we are conquering over the giants of the flesh that have been entrenched so long in our lives, as we enter into that glorious victory in and through Jesus Christ, that the Lord has for us. Now, it is interesting that Joshua could only lead them so far. He led them into the conquering of the land but he never brought them into a rest. That is something that was reserved for Jesus Christ.

In Hebrews the contrast is made of how that Joshua led them in but could not bring them to the place of rest; that is a work that was reserved for the finished work of Jesus Christ. And once Christ made the work of salvation complete through His death upon the cross, then He has brought us now into the rest where we rest our salvation, our eternal life in that finished work of Jesus. We have that neat rest in the Lord. So Jesus has done for us that which Joshua could not do. He brought them only into the land, not into the rest, but Jesus has brought us into a glorious rest. So you get into some of the typology and it makes a very fascinating study.

Now God spoke to Joshua and the words of the Lord were actually words of encouragement. Commanding Joshua now to take up where Moses left off, and for him to lead the people the children of Israel. The beautiful promise in verse three where God said,

Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses (Jos 1:3).

Now I like that because this is stepping in and laying claim to that which is already yours. Notice it's in the past tense, "Every place you put your sole, I have already given to you." Now God has already given to you a glorious, full, rich life of victory. All you have to do is go in and take it by faith, go in. "Wherever you put the sole of your foot", the Lord said, "I have given to you". You can go in and begin to lay claim to the blessings of God, to the promises of God. Let us beware lest God having given us the promise that we would fail to receive it, or enter into it. It is important that we begin to lay claim to those victories over the flesh life that God has promised to give to us. "Every place you put the sole of your foot, I have given to you."

From the wilderness from Lebanon even to the great river, Euphrates (Jos 1:4),

Now the tragic thing is that they didn't put their sole all the way. So God says, "It's all yours, every place you put your sole of your foot down, I've given it to you." They only went so far and then they quit. They never did go over the river Euphrates. They never did take all that God had given to them.

Now it is also tragically true that so many times we fail to take all that God has given to us. We fail to enter fully into that life of victory in Jesus Christ. We hesitate, or we become as they did, satisfied, "That's all we need." We become more or less complacent in our spiritual growth. We just hit a plateau and we say, "Oh praise the Lord. This is wonderful." We don't press on any further.

So when God tells them the area that is theirs, it is sad that they never did take all of the area that was theirs. They never did fully possess their possessions: that which God gave to them. That is why the scriptures are constantly exhorting us. "Let us go on, let us go on into the completeness, into the fullness." God has so much for you. God wants to do so much for you. If you'll just press in by faith, lay claim, take it, it's yours.

Now the Lord is encouraging him.

No man will be able to stand against you: as I was with Moses, so I'm gonna be with you: I will not fail you, nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage: for unto this people you're going to divide this inheritance, the land. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do all that is written according to the law (Jos 1:5-7),

Now the encouragement for Joshua as God promises His presence, His power. Then as God again tells him the conditions upon which he will experience that presence and power of God.

Be careful that you observe to do the whole law: don't turn, don't deviate from it to the right, or to the left. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for thus thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and thou shalt have good success (Jos 1:7-8).

Now God is saying, "Look keep the law, don't deviate from it, for it is by this observing it day and night, meditating in it, thus thou shalt make thy way prosperous, thus you will have good success."

As we turn to the first Psalm, we read, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law does he meditate both day and night, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper"(Psalm 1:1-3). People looking for prosperity, people who are looking for success, God has given you the rules. Meditate in it, observe it, and thus shalt thou make thy way prosperous, for these are the rules to prosperity. These are the rules to success. So the conditions upon which he can know the power, the presence, the victory.

So Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the land, and command the people, saying, Prepare your food; for within three days you're gonna pass over this Jordan, and go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God gives to you to possess. And to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, he said, [All right now, you promised Moses you were gonna go in and help us, and he reminded them of their promise, told them now to leave their wives and so forth, and to get their fighting men together so that they might cross with them, and take this land that God had promised unto them]; Until the Lord has given [verse fifteen] your brothers rest, as he has given you, and they have possessed the land which the Lord your God has given to them: then you will return and enjoy this land. And they answered Joshua, saying, All that you command us we will do, for whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go. And as we hearkened unto Moses, so will we hearken unto you (Jos 1:10-17).

Forgiveness

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 21:23:50 GMT

"If you forgive the failures of others, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don't forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failures."
Mat 6:14-15

Jesus has finished instructing his disciples in prayer. But like many a teacher, he wants to emphasize the important points. So immediately after the prayer, he talks again about forgiving others. This is so that we will realize the importance of such forgiveness.
Note, please, the order of forgiveness. We are to forgive others first. This is not something related to our initial conversion and baptism, but rather in the daily walk of the Christian—indeed, it relates to our prayer life. God understands us perfectly. He is not going to forgive us first—because if he does, then we will conveniently forget to forgive others later. He knows how deceitful the human heart can be.

Chrysostom said that the strongest resemblance we can have to God is in forgiveness. All other virtues can be found in what the world calls a "good" man. Forgiveness is the divine virtue; it comes from God himself. So then, let us examine just how God forgives:
-He forgives completely. He does not forgive some of our actions and hold back on others; rather, as we forgive and repent, he forgives each, every and all sin.
-He forgives always. It does not matter how many times we sin, his patience with us is never exhausted. The repentant sinner is always received at the throne of grace.
-He forgives to bar further sin. By his aid he keeps us from sinning again; by his forgiveness he removes the temptation to cover up, covering the first sin with a greater one.

It is a test of our faith that we forgive in the same way. Do you pick and choose among the offenses against you which you will and won't forgive? Then God will do likewise with you, carefully selecting the ones you must face on Judgment Day. Has your forgiveness run out for one particular sinner? God's forgiveness of you will have the same limit. When you forgive, do you do so to help your brother from doing it again? Then God will likewise aid you.
God is very fond of using the yardstick by which you measure others to measure you. If you are a merciful Christian, then he is the merciful God. Christ hammered home the point here. He wants you to be merciful, so that in the Day of Judgment you too may say, "Mercy triumphs over judgment."

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Davinci Code

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 18:05:36 GMT

I am very sad. I was writing a sermon on the Da Vinci Code, and in my research, I found out that the absolutely beautiful French Audrey Tatou is in the movie! As many of you know, I am completely enamoured with Miss Tatou and I've watched all her French films. But now she will be in the most blasphemous movie of the year. I can no longer hold her in such high regard It's a shame really. If you want to see why her innocence (well, not any longer) makes me stumble, see some of her films, such as:
Amelie
He loves me...he loves me not
A Very Long Engagement

Financial Advice

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:35:22 GMT

Give to those who ask, and don't turn away from those who want to borrow.
Matt 5:42

There has been a remarkable change in attitude towards things financial between the time of the early church and today.
In the early church, giving was largely to the poor—others in need. We often hear the phrase, "The Lord loveth a cheerful giver." Look it up. It's really there. You will see that Paul wrote it in the context of giving financial aid as a remedy to poverty.
It is also the consistent attitude of the early church that those who gave were not to evaluate the need of those who asked. A non-canonical book, The Shephard of Hermas written 100 AD, put it this way:
"Do good, and give liberally to all who are in need from the wages God gives you. Do not hesitate about to whom you should not give. Give to all. For God wishes gifts to be made to all out of His bounties."
The Old Testament tells us to be "open handed" and to freely lend. Our Lord here repeats this attitude. You may not be able to provide completely for someone—the phrase is "give to the one who asks," not "give what they ask"- so it would seem you are not responsible for the result; only the giving. How can this be?
First, because the wealth is not ours—it comes from God. We are stewards, not lords, of our money.
Second, if we won't give, then we're hoarding. This leads only to hardness of heart and misery.
Third, because you have received from those you cannot repay. If you cannot repay, you must do the next best thing: pass it on.
If you truly believe, then you will know that your giving is only lending to the Lord (Proverbs 19:17) - and he will repay you, now or at the resurrection of the righteous.
Finally, are we a family, the family of God? Then should'nt we behave like members of that family?
Consider this: if the church stopped judging those who beg and ask, and gave or lent generously, this would no doubt affect the capital campaign of many a congregation. But which is the better witness for our Lord Jesus Christ: a shining cross on the top of the steeple, or the shining deeds of love done by the Christians inside the church?

On Honesty

Sat, 18 Feb 2006 14:19:02 GMT

"You have also heard that our ancestors were told, 'You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.'(1) 34 But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, 'By heaven!' because heaven is God's throne. 35 And do not say, 'By the earth!' because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, 'By Jerusalem!' for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. 36 Do not even say, 'By my head!' for you can't turn one hair white or black. 37 Just say a simple, 'Yes, I will,' or 'No, I won't.' Anything beyond this is from the evil one.
Mat 5:33-37
The world in which Jesus lived was permeated with a concept that we have forgotten: the oath. The idea is relatively simple. If you take an oath in God's Name, you know that God is jealous for that Name. He will not hold you guiltless if you use his Name when making a promise to someone else; a promise you had no intention of keeping. Therefore men took such oaths, and required others to take such oaths, so that they might be trusted.
The practice is rare now. I have taken two solemn oaths: the first at our wedding, the other upon entering the pastoral ministry. For the rest, the bank wants a check that won't bounce :)
Things were more primitive then. Men elaborately constructed all sorts of oaths which sounded extremely binding—but, by some twisted theological reasoning, were not binding at all. The oath had become something which could not be trusted. This is because the men who gave them could not be trusted. Men regularly used the Name of God as we today would use a check guarantee card.
Which brings us to the reasons Christ forbids the oath:
If you take them often enough, sooner or later you're going to fail to perform your oath. Then you have begged for the wrath of God. Count the cost!
When you fail to perform your oath, you bring the Name of God into disgrace. Your character was not sufficient guarantee, and so you brought God's character—and now you have blackened it.
The oath was to invoke the fear of penalty. Even today, perjury—lying under oath—is considered a crime, at least technically. For the Christian, however, there should be no need to take an oath. It should be plain to those around him that his words are true.
A parent watching his parent carefully count his change at the store, and then hand back some of the money with the words, "You gave me too much," has quite an effect on a young child. It has even more effect when he discovers the miscount at home—and goes back to the store to rectify it.
Do you want your light to shine before men? Then let your yes be yes and your no be no. You need nothing further.