Rev. John Del Turco

The Word of God Pt 4

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:38:00 +0000

Free in Jesus

I have heard Christians talking to other born-again believers, baptized with the Holy Spirit, telling them that perhaps their problem was that they were under some curse and it had to be broken.

WAKE UP! God’s Word proclaims that Jesus became a curse for us. All old things are passed away and behold all things are new. Who are you going to believe, the Word of God or what someone tells you?

The wonderful Word of God tells us that Satan places in bondage and that Jesus gives freedom. “…I am come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Don’t spend your life looking for demons in people, or always praying that God will break the curse on born-again believers.

Remember always that the Word of God took you out from under and placed you on top, the moment you made Jesus, Lord and Savior of your life. Don’t accept less.

The prevailing Word of God brings freedom. That freedom was purchased on Calvary by our Lord Jesus. God knew from the beginning what would be needed to save man from hell. Not only did He know what would be needed, but He did something about it.

The moment you make Jesus the Lord and Savior of your life, all things become new. The old is passed away and you have become sons and daughters of the living God and heir of His promise.

Jesus said in John 10:10 that He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. It is so sad to be born-again, Spirit-baptized Christians still walking in bondage; not realizing that the cross of Jesus was the means whereby Jesus truly set us free. Satan’s hold on the born-again Christian is broken once and for all. Guilt and condemnation are his tools for keeping Christians bound up.

One of Paul’s remarks to the Galatians fits many Christians today. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

Jesus did a complete job, not half or quarter; but complete and that goes for curses, too. Books have been written which even go so far as to say that a born-again, Spirit baptized Christian could be under a curse and need deliverance from it. All I can say is lie, lie, and more lie.

If that person has truly been born-again, what is the curse doing there. What is going to be the last say in your life…what some man says or what God’s Word proclaims. There is no curse that can hold the born-again child of God in bondage.

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, curseth is everyone that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).

The Word of God says, Christ was made a curse for us. We are redeemed from the curse of the law. The devil has Christians going around trying to find someone who can break the curse they are under. I would have to say to them the words of Paul, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?”

When Jesus looked up from His cross, He said, “It is finished.” There is nothing you nor I can do to add to or subtract from what Jesus has done. What He did was all that the Father sent Him to do.

The born-again believer has absolute freedom at the cross.

The Word of God, that is alive in your heart, will give you total freedom from bondage. Live in God's Word, and let it be your criteria for walking with Him, and victory will always be yours.

The secret to continuous victory is to always prioritize the reading of God’s Word, doing everything within your power to never let the urgent take the place of the important in your walk with God.

The Word of God Pt 3

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:15:00 +0000

Already Done

“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1-John 4:4).

One of my favorite Scriptures is 1-John 4:4. Notice that just like the Scripture from Colossians 1:13, God points out that something was done – taken care of, finished, complete, have overcome. We have overcome them. WHO? Satan and his whole mess of demons. We have overcome because the greater ONE lives in us. Jesus fought the battle and won. He won!

There are far too many believers who look and act as though God had baptized them in pasta sauce instead of power and might. You are children of God, the God who controls the entire world in His will. This same God has willed that you sit down in heavenly places with His Son, the Lord Jesus.

God did not place us in this world to come up short or be bullied around by the devil. Man lost his authority with Adam’s sin, but praise God, Jesus defeated Satan once and for all. He has placed in His body all power and authority through His mighty name.

All we need to know about the devil is found in God’s Word. When you have the Word prevailing in your heart, you can see him for what he is, a thief and a liar. Satan comes to steal. That’s right, steal. You know, if you had nothing to steal, he wouldn’t be there.

The Word of God Pt 2

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:02:00 +0000

We Have Authority

Matthew’s gospel, chapter four, the first eleven verses, talks about Jesus being led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. I noticed that each time Jesus was tempted, His answer was the same.

WOW! What power in the Word of God.

The first thing I noticed was that Satan did all of the talking, just as he does today. The answers that came from Jesus were sharp and to the point.

Notice in reading this account that Jesus did not debate the devil over any point. His answers started, “It is written….” At the last temptation Jesus simply commanded Satan to get lost, “For it is written….”

It was at this point that I recognized that I have the very same Scriptural authority that Jesus quoted. I don’t have to put up with the devil’s attacks, his lies, and his abuse. I can simply come back at him the same as Jesus did: “It is written, Satan…” and then quoted an appropriate Scripture.

If it happened to be a physical attack, I could say, “It is written, Satan, that by the stripes of Jesus I am healed.”

One of the great tools of the devil is to cloud up your idea of what authority you have. Remember the famous comic who used to say, “The devil made me do it?” That’s a lie from the pit. There is nothing the devil can make a believer do. We have to set aside our power and authority or simply not use it. You see, thanks to the shed blood of Jesus, Satan has no legal hold on you or me. He takes from us only by stealing.

I like to think of Satan as the sneakiest poker player in the world. He makes, or tries to make you think he is holding all the aces. In reality, he has a second-best hand all the time to the person who is grounded in the Word.

The Word of God Pt 1

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:27:00 +0000

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God."
(John 1:1)

How many times I read this verse from John’s gospel, I do not know. What I do know is that I did not truly begin to live the abundant and victorious life until I got it settled in my heart that the Word and Jesus were one and the same. You could not separate the two, they were and are one.

I wasn’t saved by a head knowledge of Jesus, but by taking Jesus into my heart and having a heart knowledge. Many people in the world today have a head knowledge of Jesus. They know who He is and yet are not saved. WHY? Because knowing about Jesus does not save you. The devil knows there is a God and trembles at that knowledge. We need a heart relationship with Jesus.

I needed to get the Word of God settled in my heart before I could expect to be a real man of faith. I had to let the Word of God not only be the FIRST say in my life, but more important, it needed to be the LAST say. The Word, in other words, needed to be that source which motivated my actions – the last thing which impressed me to act. In order to walk in the total victory Jesus had obtained for me, I needed to let the Word of God prevail in my life.

When you and I allow the Word of God to become so real that it is the prevailing last say, great and tremendous things are going to happen.

Delivered From the Power of Darkness

Like many Christians today, I had gone through my early walk with the Lord expecting attacks. I just figured that if I were going to be used by God, the devil naturally would come against me. I assumed the more abuse and harassment I took, the better job I must be doing. After all, Satan’s is God’s enemy and therefore he is mine also.

What I did not know is that if the Word of God prevailed in my heart, I could stop the attacks before they really got serious. I would not be immune to the attacks of the enemy, but I would be able to conquer these attacks before they conquered me.

Many Christians not grounded in the Word but anxious to serve God, remain under constant attack, because the work of God cripples them, simply because they don’t fully realize that Jesus utterly destroyed Satan’s power over you and me.

“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son.” (Colossians 1:12-13).

What a blessing it was for me to find out that Jesus did it already. Notice in the 13th verse: who hath. Hath is past tense. It was already done. We are delivered from the power of darkness. We are delivered from Satan’s hold and dominion.

Sovereignty & Providence Pt 4

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:15:00 +0000

When Ruth walked out of Bethlehem, the Scriptures say, “She happened to come to a portion of the field belonging unto Boaz” ( Ruth 2:3). I hear people today talking about knowing God’s will, and I get the impression that they’ve seen a green light, a bell has rung and they’ve already had a vision. I believe that can be true and God can make His will know in this fashion. That didn’t happen to Ruth. If you met her going down the road and asked, “Do you know what field to go in?” She would have answered, “No.” You would have told her, “well, you’d better go in the right field, because if you don’t Jesus won’t be born in Bethlehem, but I’m going in that field over yonder. I prayed about it. I looked to the Lord God of Israel. But I’m going in that field over there because the fellow on this side looks like a mean one. Very few are gleaning in his field, but quite a few are gleaning over there.” And you would say, “Well, thank the Lord. That field belongs to Boaz and everything is all right.” I’m sure the angels of heaven breathed a sigh of relief as they were looking over the battlement of heaven, and said, “She’s gone in the right field.” God, by His providence, was overruling and leading and guiding.

Then there was Ahab – terrible, dirty, evil Ahab (The most evil ruler of all Israel). Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, made a terrible blunder in making an alliance with him. When they went to battle against the Syrians, Ahab pulled a clever trick. He put on a common soldier’s uniform. The Syrians could see only one king in the battle, and that was Jehoshaphat, and they were all after him. Ahab was smiling because he thought he would not be touched, though Micaiah, that unknown prophet, had said, “You’re not coming back alive.” I think as the battle drew to an end, Ahab really began to gloat: “Well, Micaiah is wrong and I’ve escaped.”

But when the battle was over, A Syrian soldier had one arrow left in his quiver, and he was “trigger happy.” He put that arrow in the bow, and the Scripture says, he drew his bow “at a venture” (1-Kings 22:34). It was all by chance. But that arrow had Ahab’s name on it. It might have turned two corners before it got to him, but you can be sure of one thing: it found Ahab and slew him. How did it happen? By the providence of Almighty God. He overrules in this world today.

When Caesar Augustus signed his name to a tax bill, if somebody had said, “Did you know you are fulfilling a prophecy made seven hundred years ago?” He would have smiled and said, “I don’t know about a prophecy seven hundred years ago, but I do need taxes to carry on the great society here in Rome and the army out in the field.” And he signed the tax bill. That tax bill, of course, is what moved Mary out of Nazareth down to Bethlehem so that Jesus might be born there in fulfillment of Scripture.

Listen Church, if we understand the providence of God, then we would be able to see God’s working in the history of our own nation, as well as in the world, God’s agenda is right on target, according to His providence and will. God is setting the stage, and the fulfillment of His plan, according to Scripture.

That’s one of the reasons America today, and the Church, needs to turn to God. It’s time for the Church to come out of exile and recommit her life to the fulfillment of God’s Word.

God is not only guiding nations today but he is also guiding individuals by His providence. But somebody asks, “What about the man who has turned his back on God?” May I say to you that God today is leading even the lost by His providence. Over in Isaiah is a verse that always interested me: “I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known” (Isaiah 42:16).

If it were not for the providence of God, I would quit preaching. I would leave the ministry. His providence is the most thrilling thing about the ministry to me. I do not believe that God will let any of His servants bring a message that is in His will without using it in some way to reach hearts and lives. How does He do it? He does it by providence.

God is the One that’s moving, that’s leading, that’s directing today. I believe I’m here because of the providence of God. I believe that you are here because of the providence of God.

Back when Abraham brought Isaac to the top of Mount Moriah and Isaac said to him, “Dad, here’s the altar and you have the wood. But where’s the lamb?” Abraham answered, “God will provide Himself a lamb” Genesis 22:8). The word provide is a form of the word providence. God did not provide Himself a lamb at that time, because there was a ram caught in a thicket, and He used that. But nineteen hundred years later, probably at that exact spot, John the Baptist pointed his finger and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.” God, by His providence, provided a Lamb for you and for me.

I thank God for His providence. By His providence, I was given the opportunity to make a choice, to either accept Jesus as my personal Savior, or reject Him. By His providence we are here today.

I do not know what this day holds forth, but God is overruling no matter what happens today and tomorrow and on into the tomorrows that lie ahead.

I do not know what is in store for the world, for America, and the Church during this twenty-first century. Many are beginning to panic, and are deeply concerned because of the many dark predictions that are being made.

But this I do know, that faith in God and in His providence will enable the Christian to be victorious, with peace in his heart, believing that God is in charge of the world’s circumstances, and our only responsibility is to make sure that we are totally committed to Him, living in the center of His divine will.

Sovereignty & Providence Pt 3

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:30:00 +0000

Though he seemed to be what could be called “the hard luck boy,” God was moving in the life of Joseph. At seventeen years of age, he was taken by his brothers and sold into Egyptian slavery, and there was nothing quite as dark as that. But Joseph was an exceptional young man, and before long he had worked himself to a very prominent position. But again bad luck hits. He is falsely accused – and a slave couldn’t put his word up against the wife of one of the most prominent officers in the land – and he finds himself not only a slave but in prison. And he is put so far back; he is forgotten and may never be brought out again.

That is an occasion for real discouragement. But the optimism of this man is thrilling. If everything that happened to him had happened to me, I would have given up a long time ago. But every time Joseph was knocked down, you find him coming forward with a tremendous impact that God was working in his life.

Here he finds himself in prison. And then Pharaoh’s baker and butler are also put in prison. They both have dreams and Joseph interprets the dreams. To the butler he says, “When you get back” – and the butler would be the one that would be next to Pharaoh – “be sure to tell him about a young Hebrew boy who has been put down here in prison unjustly, and see if he won’t help me. Let me at least state my case.” But the butler no sooner gets out, and he forgets all about the boy, and I think I would have been very much discouraged. I would have wanted to give up. I would have thought surely God was against me.

But God was moving in the life of Joseph in a very definite way. Suppose the butler, when he got out, had told Pharaoh about Joseph, and suppose Pharaoh had let him out of prison. He would have been back up in that land of Canaan when Pharaoh had his dream. And God wanted him down there when Pharaoh had his dream. God was moving in Joseph’s life and even in circumstances like that, he recognized the moving of God’s hand. When his brethren came to him after the death of their father and began to plead with him because they felt now he would get revenge on them, Joseph said, “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good: (Genesis 50:20).

Have you ever stopped to think that even today, God may permit certain people to cross your pathway who become enemies? He does it for a purpose. Maybe you don’t, but most people have a tremendous habit of whining and crying, and they interpret bad circumstances as meaning that God is against them. Someone once said, “God permits a dog to have a reasonable amount of fleas; and it’s a good thing, for it enables the dog to take his mind off the fact that he’s a dog.” God today permits you and me to have enemies, to have trouble, primarily so we’ll turn to Him. He permits these things in our lives always for a purpose.

So in the life of Joseph you see the providence of God moving. It produced an optimism in this man’s life such as I am confident we need today. When we look about us at the things taking place today: chaos, confusion, wars, abortions, gay life, perversion, immorality, etc, we need faith in God and in His Word, believing that God who is sovereign, has an agenda that will be fulfilled through His divine providence. God’s people today need to be optimistic. We can be optimistic only if we can see the providential hand of God moving today.

A woman went into a toy department of a store and the clerk showed her one of these educational toys. “Isn’t that a little complicated for a child?” she asked. The salesman answered, “Any way he puts it together, it’s wrong.”

You and I, as we look about us today, are looking at this kind of world. God’s people need to see the hand of God moving in providence today.

(Next Week: Sovereignty & Providence Pt 4 - The Life of Ruth)

Sovereignty & Providence Pt 2

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:30:00 +0000

There is a very interesting statement in the Book of Daniel: “All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest thou?” God does not have to make a report to anyone. He is responsible to no one. God is moving this universe according to His own plan and purpose. Too long we have had the idea that this universe is earth centered, or that it is man centered. But the Scripture says, it’s God centered. Even when you do your good works and let them be seen before man, it is for one purpose: to glorify your Father which is in heaven. Everything exists for Him and He is the center of activity. Neither Washington, nor London nor Moscow is the center of God’s universe. Paul puts it like this in Ephesians 1:11: He worketh all things after the council of His own will.”

To get the concept of providence down to street level, it means simply this: God is at the steering wheel of this universe. Providence is the way God coaches the man on second base. Providence is God back of the scenes, shifting them. It’s the hand of God in the glove of history. Or, as it’s been stated in such a lovely fashion, “in the shadows standeth God, keeping watch over His own.”

The Book of Esther, I believe, teaches the providence of God. As you know, the name of God is never mentioned in Esther. The critics, of course, try to use this as an excuse to remove this book from the canon of Scripture. However, God had a very good reason for omitting His name from this book. The Jews had been given a decree to return to the land, and when that decree was given, the will of God for them was back in that land. Many did not return, and this is the story of those who did not return. The are out of the will of God; nowhere is prayer mentioned in this book. Nowhere do they turn to Him, because they know they are out of His will. But God will overrule; He will protect; He will provide, for that, after all, is what the word providence means.

Follow the story of a lovely young Hebrew maiden by the name of Esther. She won a beauty contest. When she won, she probably said, “I Guess I was just lucky. There were so many other beautiful girls here, I wonder why I won.” But she did. Then she became queen, and I suppose she said again. “I guess I’m just lucky.”

Then her uncle, Mordecai, was sitting at the gate and overheard a plot against the king. He reported it to Esther who in turn reported it to the king. Again, that seemed to be just a stroke of luck. Then the very interesting thing was that Mordecai was passed by. They forgot to reward him or recognize him in any way. I suppose Mordecai said, “Well, that’s just my luck. I’m bypassed again.” But back of all this the hand of God was moving in their lives.

One night the king couldn’t sleep. That’s a little thing, but, as someone has said, God turns big doors on little hinges. God was moving, even in a night when the king couldn’t sleep. The king asked that the archives of the kingdom be brought; that was the Tylenol-PM tablet of the day. I’m sure the archives of the kingdom were the minutes, you know, and they were conducive to sleep. They had probably put the king to sleep many times. But the secretary who read that evening just happened to turn to this record, and the king hadn’t quite gone off in a doze, and he asked, “By the way, was Mordecai rewarded for this? He saved my life.” And the secretary answered, “No. He was bypassed. ”And that began to turn the wheel that saved the people. It was by – well, the world calls it luck or chance today; The Word of God calls it providence – that God was moving in all this.

Now providence is not confined only to the book of Esther. It runs all the way through the Word of God. I think the noblest example is the life of one of the Patriarchs – Joseph. God appeared to Abraham, He appeared to Isaac. He appeared to Jacob. But we have no record that He ever appeared to Joseph. Yet there is more evidence of God’s moving in the life of that man than of any other of the Patriarchs, with the exception of Abraham.

(Next Week: Sovereignty & Providence Pt 3 - The Life of Joseph)

Sovereignty & Providence Pt 1

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:47:00 +0000

Sovereignty means that God has supreme rank, supreme power, and Supreme authority. God has indisputable power that cannot be questioned. Because God is sovereign, He can become a God of strange providences that are recorded in His divine Word.

It is my desire in this in this message, to elaborate on the providence of God.

Providence of course, is a theological term and I suppose the best thing to do is to start with Dr. Strong’s definition. He says, “Providence is the continuous agency of God by which He makes all events of the physical and moral universe fulfill the original design with which He created it.”

Now let’s reduce that to the lowest common denominator for laymen. There are three words that describe the three acts of God in relation to His physical universe.

The first is creation. This explains the existence of the universe – that by His quiet word He made all things. Actually, today the world is on the horns of a dilemma. Either you have to accept revelation or you have to accept speculation. Regardless of what you say about evolution, it falls into the category of speculation. You are either in that category or in the category of revelation.

The second word that relates God to His physical universe is preservation. As far as I am concerned, that’s a greater work than creation. To make something is one thing; to keep it going is something else. I have found out that to make an automobile is one thing, but to keep it going is something all together different. It’s a bigger undertaking, I think, to keep it going. Preservation explains the continuance of the universe. God today continues things – “upholding all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3). And Paul says in Colossians 1:17, “By Him all things consist,” that is they hold together.

The third word used in relationship to God’s physical universe is providence. This explains its progress and development. Providence is the means by which God directs all things, both animate and inanimate, seen and unseen, good and evil, toward a worthy purpose, which means that His will, will to finally prevail. In other words, the Scripture says, “His Kingdom ruleth over all” (Psalm 103:19).

Where Have All the Leaders Gone Pt2

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:10:00 +0000

1. Leaders make decisions

Power is merely the ability to make decisions, to take risks, to lead, to get things done. When leaders choose not to make decisions, stagnation sets in. Nothing happens. Most churches are looking for decisive leaders.

2. Leaders command respect for their leadership, not their position.

Church leaders seem to fill their position should automatically give them the respect of a leader. However, if the leadership skills needed for the position are not present, that respect will not come. God’s leaders in the Bible were men who were in the position they were in because they were controlled by God. Without that control the position is meaningless.

3. Leaders inspire confidence in themselves and in the plans of God.

If the pastor is perceived by the people, to be a man of God, they will usually follow. If by his life, if actions, his thought process, that pastor shows that he is more concerned about himself than about his Lord, confidence in his leadership may be eroded.

4. Leadership Style is not merely as important as the leader's spirit.

How we lead, attitudinally speaking is more important than how we lead mechanically. While most literature on leadership tries to promote the participatory style of leadership as the best, there have been many autocratic leaders who have been tremendously effective because of their attitude. One can be a participatory leader and have a bad attitude and be very unsuccessful.

5. Leaders must know their task and be in harmony with the purpose of their organization.

If we do not know where we are going we might end up some place we do not wish to be. Most of our programs deal with “how” without ever giving much thought to “what.”

6. Leaders must delegate responsibility.

Perhaps one reason many are reluctant to do so is we do not wish to have to deal with the failure of others. We find it easier to do the job ourselves than to get someone else to do it. This, of course, results in no leader, because we had no one but ourselves. When a person fails in an assigned task we need to ask ourselves if we were at fault. Did we make the task clear to him? Did he have the ability to do the task? Did we provide the necessary training?

7. Leaders need accountability.

Somewhere we have developed the idea that a pastor is to be accountable to no one but the Lord. We say that often, as though the Lord does not care if we are ineffective, impotent leaders. The truth is, if we are going to be accountable to the Lord we should try harder than if we were accountable only to men. Every pastor needs accountability in human terms, also. How is this done might be open to debate, but it should be done.

Since the pastor is the head of the church, his office is obviously the most important, and his function must be a success if the church is to have the supernatural movement of God. That is the aim of his calling. The pastor is not only accountable to God but he is also accountable to his congregation to share with them that which the Holy Spirit puts upon his heart.

Paul says in Ephesians 4:11, 12: “And He gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

The pastor is to perfect the saints, to do the work of the ministry, and to edify the body of Christ.

It’s up to the pastor to equip the saints with the knowledge of God’s Word that will enable them to go out and do the work of the ministry.

Paul says in Acts 20:27, 28: “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with His own blood.”

In his words to the assembly of pastors before him, Paul first encouraged them by telling them of the trials he had faced and had overcome. Then he told them that they were responsible for their own spiritual progress, WHY? Because he had kept back nothing that was profitable for them.

The responsibility of the pastor begins when he receives revelation from the Holy Spirit, and it doesn’t end until he passes it on to his congregation. If he fails to do that he then becomes responsible for their failures.

Paul said he had proclaimed the whole counsel of God in public and also in the homes of the believers. He had held nothing back. Their blood could not be on his hands. So Paul tells the pastors the same thing. They are not to keep anything back from their congregations. They are accountable to God and their congregations when they fail to relate truth that is give by the Holy Spirit.

Do you see why Paul could tell the pastors from Ephesus that he wasn’t responsible for them any longer? He had taught them all he knew to teach them, so they had to take up from there. “Take heed to yourselves” meant they had to apply the counsel of God to themselves and to pass it on to their congregations so the people could walk by the Spirit and the Word and not by their feelings.

Next week - Where Have All the Leaders Gone Pt 3

Where Have The Leaders Gone?

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:01:00 +0000

Leadership is the greatest need of the church as we approach the return of our Lord for His Church. Leadership can strengthen churches, promote church growth, rebuild damaged relationships and bring revival.

We need leaders who are not only strong, but who are uncompromising, trustworthy, and unselfish in their ambitions.

God has called us to lead his people and our direction will determine their direction.

If one would consistently listen to the news on television, read daily the newspaper, and that one is negative and pessimistic by nature, and everything about him is alarming, that one would conclude that there is a gradual decline and total collapse of nearly everyone.

Because of my hope in God’s Word, and my faith in the promises of God, I am positively optimistic, that when we walk daily in the will of God, victory will always be ours.

Where have all the leaders gone?

The list of movers and shakers is not at all easy to find. In fact, there are very few powerful figures left in American life.

Not so long ago teachers ran their classes; generals ran the army; policemen were feared and obeyed; college presidents were respected figures, remote and awesome…and so on down the line. America was, in effect, ruled by authority figures.

Unless one has been asleep through the last thirty years, it is surely apparent that all this has changed. It is the result of a long process, the consequence of our fear of power and authority.

Two whole generations have turned against the idea of power.

Power, it was felt, had led to abuse. Therefore we could do without it…not only could, but must. Everything must be subject to the will of the people, expressed in open debate. It is conceivable that this distrust of power and authority has spread into many of our churches, and could well be the cause of much of the upheaval which has resulted in unprecedented numbers of pastors and other church staff members being asked to leave or being summarily dismissed from their positions.

Today, no one seems to be in charge, no one seems to want to be accountable.

Without question there is a crisis of leadership in many of our churches. I have spent a great deal of time listening to the frustrations of pastors who “can’t seem to get anything going.” But we also hear the voices of the lay people who are saying, “Our pastor just can’t seem to get us going.”

A simple axiom is that leaders must lead. Leadership requires confidence. That confidence must be expressed by leaders. They must show that they know where they are going and what they are doing. Confidence must also be expressed in the leader. This confidence is best shown by enthusiastic followers, because without followers we have no leaders.

We are told that growing churches are characterized by strong pastoral leadership. What does that mean? What is strong leadership?

(Next Week: Where Have the Leaders Gone Pt.2 - Leadership Principles)

Time to Stand Up Pt 3

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:40:00 +0000

Not Bowing To Baal

First Elijah stood before the Lord, then before Ahab to declare what God had already spoken. Despite the fact that 7,000 had not bowed the knee to Baal, a public opinion poll in Israel would likely have revealed that “the recognition of Yahweh had ceased.” Elijah was not overcome by Ahab and jezebel because he had a proper sense of the presence of Almighty God.

Our success lies where Elijah’s lay when we speak what God speaks. God is scheduling judgment for our nation. We have time to repent of our greed and materialism. We have permitted our security and our economy to become the measuring rod of what is right and what is wrong. God does not allow us to continue to reduce Him to a size and a shape we can manage. It seems that our security and our economy are attempting to manage God. He moves in our lives in ways that burst our categories and overwhelm our finiteness. When we realize He’s bigger than anything we can get our minds around, we can begin to relax and enjoy Him, with courage and faith to stand up for righteousness and morality.

We shutter when in the United States of America, over 45-million innocent babies have been murdered, aborted, since 1973. We must repent of the sexual immorality that is leading the nation to a flood of pornography, the alarming rise of prostitution, child abuse, homosexuality, incest, and rape. We must commit ourselves with compassion and intelligent concern to work for private and public moral purity, and the subsequent safety of children, women, and men.

We must repent of racial and cultural discrimination, including anti-Semitism, which debase human dignity. We must repent of allowing the fear of future upheaval, future predictions of chaos to paralyze our hope for the future and to confuse the issues of righteous peace.

We must publicly commit to obeying the words of Jesus who, as prince of Peace, says, “fear not” and “blessed are the peace makers.” We are looking for His return as King of kings (Matthew 10:28; 2-Peter 3:10-13).

The Chariot Of Fire

How odd that Elijah, who was to be caught up in a chariot of fire, should fall into the depths of despair after the fireworks of God at Carmel! In his intense concentration on today’s problems, he lost sight of the ultimate goal. He demonstrated faith when he stood up to Ahab, but his faith momentarily waned when Ahab, in the face of the incontrovertible demonstration of God’s power, did not repent.

So 7,000 had not bowed the knee, nor kissed Baal, BUT WHERE WERE THEY? It takes faith to stand up and speak the Word, whether or not we see all we desire of immediate positive results.

Elijah, who wanted God to take his life, apparently had no inkling of the great things God had in store for him. Did he at last laugh out loud at himself when safely secured in the chariot of fire, as he felt himself translocated, and saw earth receding and heaven drawing near?

Later on when on the Mount of Transfiguration, as He and Moses discussed with Jesus His impending death on the cross, Elijah must surely have exclaimed, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!”

If Elijah were here today to give us his conclusion prior to his journey with the chariot of fire, he would probably say, “We are on the right track when we define the demands of discipleship not in terms of what we think or feel but in terms of what the cross means to us.

Let me conclude by giving you three reasons why you are important to God: First, simply because of who you are; second, because of what you cost; third, because of what you can become. I believe that when you make your stand for God, no matter what the situation or circumstances, you can go further than you have ever gone before, and you be what you have never been before.

Time to Stand Up Pt 2

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:18:00 +0000

People Of Action

To put it simply, we lack faith and confidence in the Word of God. I keep hearing the following statement: “We cannot win people by publishing a laundry list of their sins.” My response to that is, “Yes you can, as long as you can also tell them of the cleansing fountain.” The prophetic word is more than a pronouncement of certain judgment; it’s a redemptive word.

God did not call a German Shepherd to lead His people out of Egypt. He did not ask an eager beaver to build the temple. He did not direct a whale to make fisher’s of men. He has used, and will always use people. Specifically, God uses sinners who sin, physically weak people who are limited in their abilities and attributes, and social misfits, who are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.

After Jesus had called His disciples, He did an unusual thing. He took them with Him into the world. Not the nice world of spiritual retreats and controlled learning environments, but the world of prostitutes, hypocrites, and demon-possessed.

Ahab said to Elijah, “Are you he that troubles Israel?” To which Elijah responded, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou has followed Baalim” (1-Kings 18:18). We worry about our popularity as we hear people putting down the moral majority, marking them as the enemy. We should be concerned about the immoral majority, and pray to God that we see what God sees, and do what He bids us.

Are we willing to make a stand for morality? If God does not have the freedom to move you into new areas, proclaiming His truth that will set the sinner free, to stretch you with challenging possibilities, to help you discover hidden potential, you may remain largely unused by Him – and largely useless.

Our laundry list of sins is comparable to that of Israel in Elijah’s time. Fifty-eight years have passed since the kingdom had been torn into following the death of Solomon. During that comparatively brief period, no less than seven kings had reigned over the ten tribes, and all of them without exception were wicked men. The evil cycle was completed by Omri’s son, who was even more vile than those who preceded him. Ahab had walked in the idolatries of Jeroboam, took the pagan Jezebel as his wife, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel before him (see 1-Kings 31:33).

People Of Righteous Indignation

The Lord God was provoked, and so was Elijah. God’s people must be standing up and speaking out the same word as the Father. In fact, according to Jesus, this is our entire calling. ”The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do…these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:19).

Let me make two provocative statements: “If I want to ignite others, I’d better be on fire myself.” And “Is a person a fisherman if year after year he never catches a fish? Is one following if he isn’t fishing?”
Our entire Christian life should be one of “making our stand for righteousness. ”Jesus wasted little time with verdicts. He asked just one question of those who came to Him. From His wrangling with the Pharisees to His searing words to Peter – “Do you love me more than these?” This is the question we need to ask ourselves as we desire to be used of God. God doesn’t have any part-timers. He calls men to complete self-denial and obedience. That’s discipleship.

Possible the greatest indicator of the desperate need of revival in this country is our evident inability to summon up within ourselves a proper righteous indignation against Satan and his works which are so easily manifest everywhere we look. Add to that the feeling of powerlessness and hopeless despair, as if to say, “We can do nothing, and neither can the Lord.” You and I live in an age when only a minority of individuals desires to spend their lives in pursuit of objectives which are bigger than they are. In our age, for most people, when they die it will be as though they never lived.

We pray and act effectively when our prayers are grounded in the Word of God. The idea that severe drought, famine and pestilence would be the consequences of people turning to false gods and idolatrous practices was not original with Elijah. Moses had already set forth God’s view of the matter: “Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be no deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and He shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit” (Deut.11:16, 17).

The crime of which Israel was now guilty had been exactly described. Elijah, jealous for the Lord God of Israel who was being replaced in the hearts of the people by unworthy idols, and evil practices, with the insight of a true prophet, longed to see a demonstration of God’s power. The transgressions were many. Where was the drought?

Elijah wanted the entire, beautiful promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey, to be a great nation-sized billboard which would shout out, “Israel, you have been deceived, and your affections tampered with. You have turned aside to serve false gods. You give them what belongs to Yahweh alone!”

(Next Week: Time to Stand Up Pt 3)

Time to Stand Up Pt 1

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:02:00 +0000

“And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (1-Kings 19:10).

“Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him” (1-Kings 19:18).

Possibly the greatest indicator of the desperate need of revival, in this country, and in our churches, is our evident inability to summon up within ourselves a proper righteous indignation against Satan and his works which are so easily manifest everywhere we look.

America is the greatest nation in the history of the world – the richest, most powerful, most envied, most consequential. And yet America is the same nation that leads the industrialized world in rates of murder, violent crime, imprisonment, divorce, abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, single-parent households, teen suicide, cocaine consumption and pornography production and consumption.

Despite our wonders and greatness, we are a nation that has experienced so much social regression, so much decadence, in so short a period of time, that we have become the kind of place to which civilized countries used to send missionaries.

In living memory, the chief threats to American democracy have come from without: first Nazism and Japanese imperialism, and later, Soviet communism. But these wars, hot and cold, ended in spectacular American victories. The threats we now face are from within. They are far different, more difficult to detect, more insidious: decadence, cynicism and boredom.

All one has to do is listen to CNN or any other talk show in America, and you will understand very quickly how divided we are and how attached we are to the economy. The economy has become the measuring rod on what is right and what is wrong.

When I think of the decadence of America and the coldness of the church, my thoughts immediately reflect on Elijah, who thought he was alone, and God had to remind him that there are still 7000 in Israel who have not bowed unto Baal. My question is, where were they?

Today, when I think of the amorality of America, and the thousands of Christians that frequent thousands of our churches, my question is still the same – where are they?

I like to think that God’s future beckons us like the yellow brick road. We can either stand beside it wondering what’s ahead, or we can step onto the path and start walking. There are too many of God’s children who are simply standing beside the yellow brick road wondering where they are.

Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word” (1-Kings 17:1). First, Elijah in faith stood up on the inside before God; then he spoke out, at great personal risk to himself. It’s always a risk when one stands up and boldly speaks the truth of God’s Word. Maybe this is why Christians are not standing up for the truth. The risk is too great.

The problem is that we really don’t know or want to know the God of the Bible. We think of ourselves as sort of autonomous. We think we can call the shots. If God tells us something and we find it helpful, we embrace it. If it isn’t helpful, then we can (we think) throw it away.

Plato reminds us that what is real is what endures. This is why it is important for God’s children to make a stand for truth. Even though it is a risk, the truth will endure, and it will also set you free. One thing integrity means is that we speak the truth no matter what people want to hear. How many Christians have the courage to make a mistake, to make a choice that proves wrong later, to willingly risk it – the way Christ did?

Jezebel and wicked king Ahab had thrown down God’s altars, slain his servants, and replaced them in the official system with idolatrous priests of heathendom.

The parallel for our times is dramatic and compelling. Seeing the decline of godliness everywhere around him, Elijah was “jealous for the Lord God of hosts,” and grieved for the people that they were being seduced by false gods, and led away into sin. Elijah is a role model for prophets of our own time; “…subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit” (James 5:17, 18).

Elijah is an excellent role model for persons desiring to move in the Holy Spirit with a word from the Lord for their community, and for the nation. Let us ask ourselves, Why was Elijah, a person subject to the same frailties as we are, so effective in his witness before Ahab, and in his action at Mount Carmel? Why, after such a spectacular victory, did Elijah at Horeb under the juniper tree succumb so soon to depression and despair, saying, “Lord, take away my life!” ( 1-Kings 19:4)?

In anticipation of success in our Christian witness and action, let us discern our major weakness which often leads to a failure to undertake the prophetic task, and even plagues us in the hour of victory.

Is it possible that in some cases God actually wants cracked pots, vessels with flaws, to confirm the divine source of the Gospel, to make it clear that what we accomplish is not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit (Zech. 4:6)? Is it possible there are some weaknesses in your life that God has no intention of correcting – ever?

(Next Week - Time to Stand Up Pt 2: People of Action)

Burn Brightly Part 6

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:25:00 +0000

Jesus said, “…whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain”; that is, stop rebelling against what you are compelled to do and give yourself to your larger opportunities. It is on the second mile that we gain our largest rewards.

The second mile rewards us in our relationship with other people. As long as you go through life, somebody will do you wrong. There are four attitudes you may take:

• “If he hurts me I will hurt him” – that is vindictiveness;
• “If he hurts me I will treat him the same” – that is retribution, the old law of “eye for an eye”;
• “If he hurts me, I will ignore him and have nothing to do with him” – that is disdain;
• “If he hurts me, I will love and serve him” – that is the Christian way, and that is the way that brings rewards. Light a candle and burn brightly for God.

One day Jesus was nailed to a cross. He had been mistreated as no other man had been. His trials were not fair and even as He was hanging there He was scorned and ridiculed. He had the power to strike dead every one of His persecutors or even to ignore them utterly. But He did neither; instead, He began to pray. What was His very first prayer? For the good of those who had done Him wrong, He went the second mile, and on that mile multitudes have has seen Him as the Savior. He bore His cross of duty, but He went further and in doing so He gained His greatest reward.

Church, ministers, leaders, light a candle and burn brightly. Don’t ever give up and finish strong!

Burn Brightly Pt 5

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:03:00 +0000

The most thrilling thing about Christianity is that it works. Jesus said in Matthew 5:41, And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile. Go with him twain. You can only go the second mile, if you burn brightly for God. This one of the basic laws of great living – one of the hardest to master, yet one of the most rewarding.

Jesus lived in the little country of Palestine which had been conquered by Rome. Not only did Rome exact heavy taxes and hold those people under strict bondage, but they also never let them forget they were at all times subject to their orders. This was humiliating to the people.

One of the most annoying laws was the one which allowed a Roman soldier to compel any Palestinian citizen to carry his pack for one mile. A man might be hurrying on some important mission for himself when a soldier would see him and demand, “Pick up this pack of mine and carry it a mile.”

He didn’t ask it, he commanded it. The Jews were proud people and you can imagine how they resented that. They would walk that mile, cursing under their breath. Since under the law one mile was the limit a soldier could command from a person at any one time, we could feel certain they carefully counted their steps and did not go one step farther than the law demanded.

Jesus said, “Don’t stop with only one mile – Go a second mile.” People must have thought Him crazy, but He wasn’t. He was giving them something to live by. The first mile was compulsory; the second mile was voluntary. The first mile one must go; the second mile one chooses to go.

Jesus would have people know that living really begins after one had walked the mile of duty and then stepped out on the mile of privilege. In other words, let your light shine on the second mile. Burn brightly for God on the mile of privilege.

The second mile eliminated the drudgery of life.

We push and work to the point of exhaustion. We say, “I am so tired, I could drop.” Most people operate within the limits of this first fatigue. They never really accomplish much. However, when we go beyond this first fatigue there is almost inexhaustible power. The people who do great things are those who burn brightly for God, and drive past this first fatigue.

I have said it often in my ministry – “If you only do that which is required of you, you’ll never succeed in life.” We have to go the second mile in order to accomplish anything in life. “You can only do that if you light a candle and burn brightly for God!”

Runners on a track team speak of catching their “second wind.” After he has been running for a time, the runner’s legs get heavy and they begin to slow down. But the runner keeps going and suddenly he gains access to new strength. His legs are not tired any longer and he begins to breathe easier; he picks up speed.

Just as airplanes can break through the “sound barrier,” so can people break through the “fatigue barrier.” The point where one breaks through this barrier is that place where we begin what Jesus called “The second mile.”

Many people go through life doing only those things they are compelled. They find life to be hard, not much joy, and they are constantly tired. Other people go beyond the call of duty, light a candle, and freely give themselves on a voluntary basis. They find life to be stimulating, thrilling adventure.

Jesus divided life into two miles: the first mile is compulsion, the second is consecration. On the first mile a man is constantly demanding his “rights”; on the second mile he “lights his candle” and is constantly looking for his opportunities. The mile of duty is no fun; on the mile of consecration we find great joy.

Not only does the second mile eliminate the drudgery of Life, it is also the mile on which we make our progress.

The man who thinks only of his duty never really has much success, but when a man thinks in terms of voluntary consecration, he gets enthusiastic. You never find enthusiasm in the things you are compelled to do, but you find enthusiasm in the things you want to do. The word “enthusiasm” is derived from the Greek words, meaning “in God” or “inspired by God.”

If pastors only do what is necessary, and never go the second mile, and do the extra, beyond the call of duty, that pastor will never grow in grace and in the knowledge of God, and will never experience any growth in his ministry. He will remain on the same level of ministry all his ministerial life. Let me repeat it again:

If you only do that which is required of you, you'll never be successful.

(Next Week - Burn Brightly Pt 6)

Burn Brightly Part 4

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:49:00 +0000

I wonder if we are doing our best for God. You say, “I don’t believe in works. I believe that salvation is all of the Lord.” We believe that salvation is all of the Lord and we sit and we sit and we sit, and all the while the Lord is saying, “Child of God, do you not realize that this glorious salvation you have is a free gift?” It can be spoiled, it can be smashed, and it can be ruined. You’ll get to heaven if you are redeemed and washed in the blood of Jesus, but, oh, what God would have for you before you get to heaven. I tell you, salvation is an experience for expansion and growth and victory and conquest here and now.

“Work out your own salvation.” That is the present tense in the original, a present imperative. Keep on working out your own salvation; not somebody else’s, but your own salvation. It is very emphatic in the original. Keep on working it out. This is a moment by moment, continuous thing of working out our inwrought salvation.

Now, there is another simple injunction how we can light our candles and burn brightly for our Lord, and that is by conducting our ministry on the high plain of joyous contentment and contagious love.

In Philippians, chapter 2:14, the Word says, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings.” The original has a very unusual order: “All things continuously be doing. That strikes a note. The Christian life is a life of doing. Every hour of the day we ought to be doing.

You say, “I need a vacation.” Well, vacations are good at times, but we need to be busy. Unless we are busy for God, the devil is going to find work for us to do.

Nothing like getting geared up to the will of God, nothing like having our worked planned so that every moment counts; nothing like having no time to kill; nothing like knowing where we are going, knowing the will of God, the plan of God, and bending every effort to get there.

It is a wonderful blessing, this matter of finding and doing the will of God. It is a shield that quenches every dart of the devil. Listen. If you are having trouble along this line, burning brightly for our Lord, you’re not fully consecrated to the will and plan of God. If you were, you would be so busy moment by moment that the devil wouldn’t find you when he comes around.

“All things keep on doing, without murmuring.” In other words, we are to be delightedly content with the Lord’s will. In 1-Timothy 6:6, the apostle says: “Godliness and contentment is great gain.” Oh, what a balm! What a soft bed to lie down upon and rest! Are you content? Are you resting in the will of God? You won’t find a single unsaved person who is content. You would find one of the world’s entertainers who don’t know Christ really content. They may get a fabulous salary, they may live in opulence, in abundance; but they are not content. It takes settling down in God to be content.

If we are going to light our candles and burn brightly for God, we have to keep on doing all things, the easy as well as the difficult, the soft as well as the hard, the pleasant and well as the unpleasant. We must keep on doing all things in the will of God, flowing with the program of God, without murmurings and disputing.

“Disputings” means “contentions.” We are living in a day when much of evangelical Christianity, fundamental Bible-believing Christianity, is tarnished by a spirit of criticism, of specious discontent. Paul told Titus and he told Timothy, and all Christians need this: “A servant of the Lord must not strife.” We are not in the ministry to strife. The ministry ought to be lit up and warmed up by radiant love. Oh, that God would give us Christian love to the full so that we don’t go around looking for the faults, sins, and apostasies of our brothers. There is no way to shine more brightly, and burn more ardently than by love. There is nothing which so blurs and smokes and beclouds our testimony as a spirit of strifing and fighting and contention.

There should be an out and out devotion to the work of the Lord. But it should never descend to a low level of pugnaciousness. It should always be tempered by the pure, lambent fire of God’s love.

We are living in a crooked and perverse generation. “Perverse” here means bent or twisted all out of proper shape, proper motive or proper orientation. That is the trouble with the world today. Men are bent. God has a straight line of righteousness. God has a rule of conduct, sin has deflected man so that the generation in which we live is bent and twisted and torn.

Every avenue that you can think of – our social life, our business life, our moral life, our political life, all life today – is twisted by sin. But God’s dear people, His blood washed people, are to be lights, are to be luminaries. They are to be straight and walk straight. They are to be cleansed by Christ and they are to be pure. They are to love purity and they are to deprecate the filth of this age and not look at it, nor listen to it, nor have any contact with it. They are to be pure.

We must, with all the strength in us, every day, continuously, light a candle, and burn brightly for our Lord in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. This is not an option; it is a mandate from God’s Word.

If you only do that which is required of you - you will never succeed!

(Next Week: Burn Brightly Part 5)

Burn Brightly Pt 3

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:13:00 +0000

These dear people who are always fighting something! We’re not going to make an impact in that way. I don’t want to get in the business of always stirring theological garbage; it rubs off. You know there are some things it doesn’t pay to tangle up with in this world; when you win, you lose. After all, a bulldog can lick a skunk, but it just isn’t worth it.

We’re not going to win the world by conformity to it; we’re going to meet it by the combustion within our lives ignited by the Spirit of God.

A band of believers like that upset the world one time. They didn’t do it by hiring a liaison man in Jerusalem. They didn’t do it by setting up a lobby in Rome. They were just Christians with all the glorious implications of that word, a few on fire. And we need that as never before. There weren’t many of them; there were just a few, one hundred and twenty. They were faithful, they continued with one accord, and they were on fire, for cloven tongues lighted upon them.

In Mark 6:5 we read the amazing statement concerning our Lord in Nazareth, that there the Lord of glory could no mighty works in His own town because of their unbelief. You and I may limit God. We may limit God by refusing to cooperate with Him as the Holy Spirit yearns to set us apart as His own, to separate us from sin, to be our all and all that we may be wholly God’s; not flirting with the world, throwing kisses at sin, but wholly on the Lord’s side. That is working out inwrought salvation.

Now salvation is in the past tense. We were saved. We are being saved by the working of the Holy Spirit, being sanctified in proportion as we allow God to work in us. We shall be eternally glorified when we see the Lord and are made like Him. I do not believe in Eternal Security, but I believe that as long as we walk according to the will of God, in harmony with the Word of God, we are eternally saved.

You say, “Brother DelTurco, I’m saved, and I’ll get to heaven.” Yes, every born-again child of God is guaranteed heaven. You say, “Well, I have nothing to lose.” Oh, yes, you have something to lose, Christian.
I would remind you of something you may lose, something exceedingly valuable. We Christians today as so correctly taught and so smug in our concept of the truth that we are coasting along on the truth of God and failing to cooperate with God in His desire to work in us and through us to conform us to Christ, that He in His mighty power may work out this inwrought salvation.

I believe we cooperate with God when we are regenerated. We do not just coast, just to put in time, just to do what is necessary, but we get in line with God’s program, and know the direction that God is taking the Church.

We are not automatons. The sovereignty of God and the free will of man may never be explained in our finite minds. But I know that God in our hour of desperate need, in our hour of increasing sin and apostasy, in our hour of perversion, corruption, and unbelief, and in our hour when judgment is being delayed upon America and the world, God is calling for His true people to be wholly yielded, that the power of God, and the power of Pentecost, may work in and through us.

In Hebrews 6 we are reminded about going on to perfection, leaving the elemental truths, the foundational truths, and going on to full maturity. This is our problem today; God’s people are not going on to maturity. The Christian life is big and grand, full of responsibility, full of opportunity, and many of God’s people are busy laying again the foundation. Instead of building the superstructure, many of God’s dear children are busy on the foundation, laying it and relaying it, and arguing about things that are good in their proper place, but they are not going on to maturity in the Lord.

They are like the little girl who one night fell out of bed. The next morning her mother said, “My dear, why did you fall out of bed?” She said, “I don’t know, Mommy, except I stayed too near where I got in.” That’s the reason many of God’s people are shipwrecking their faith; they are staying too near where they got in. God wants us to press on and He wants us to cooperate with Him in our lives that we may go on to full growth.

(Next Week: Burn Brightly Pt 4)

Burn Brightly Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:55:00 +0000

What is the best way to go about it in a day when most people already claim some sort of church connection? Can we renew Christian faith and life in the midst of a country-club Christianity? Can we expect revival in depth in a shallow generation?

Almost every preacher shares this concern today, unless he is a professional looking for a soft spot where he can feather his nest. If he is that kind of preacher, he ought to get converted or quit the ministry.

Salvation is more than going to heaven when we die. Salvation is big and glorious, and is meant to be something big and expansive right here and now. We are to shine as luminaries of the firmament, as the stars and the planets shining in the dark heavens. We are to shine for the glory of God and make Christ known. We are to light a candle and burn for the Lord!

Now principally the apostle in Philippians, chapter 2, was speaking to the local church. The local is just the aggregate of the individual. It is God’s will that every local church, no matter what denomination or affiliation, be a dynamic powerhouse of activity and expansion by the Holy Spirit to the ends of the earth. God is waiting to make your church a model church in every way.

The apostle Paul is talking about a local church working out its own salvation. Every church, especially a new church, has many problems and needs if it is to grow and not be split up and disintegrated from petty divisions and quarrels and jealousies and faultfindings and other operations of Satan, bent on destroying it. The apostle Paul was urging the Philippians to work out their own individual church problems and get in on the plan of God. A church has a glorious salvation in the Lord in the aggregate, but it must work out its own salvation as individual members of that church and not depend upon the pastor or someone else to work out the problems.

So there is such a thing as a local church cooperating with God in His mighty work of sanctifying and empowering that church for dynamic living and serving. But now our emphasis is upon the individual. Here the apostle urges us as God’s people to put this into practice and get in on God’s plan, knowing the direction that God is taking the church and the individual.

We are living in a day when the Lord’s people are to a large extent educated in the things of God. We know the Bible answers; we can pass a Bible test. We know we are saved, but I wonder if we know in our experience all the glory that ought to be ours as a child of God. Maybe we know it textually, maybe we know it theoretically, but do we know the power of God in our individual lives? Are we working out this so great salvation?

Oh, you say, this salvation is entirely the Lord’s; every bit of salvation is of the Lord. We are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves; salvation is a gift of God. Yet we are to cooperate with God and let God do that which He desires to do in and through us.

The present unwieldy mass of nominal Christians is not making much impact. Mediocrity only produces more mediocrity. We must rally somehow in these last days a core of expendables and try to move this age; but not by criticism of it. It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness. You can’t shovel the darkness out of a room. There is only one way to get darkness out of a room, turn the light on.

Burn Brightly

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:10:00 +0000

“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye SHINE AS LIGHTS IN THE WORLD” (Philippians 2:15).

The biggest business we have these days, especially as we continue to walk in this twenty-first century, is to discover God’s program for this age and our part in it; in other words, to find out which way God is going and get going in that direction.

I heard of a woman who was getting a little exercised over the fact that she was getting along in years and hadn’t found a husband. So she went to her pastor about it. He said, “Well, you know the Lord has a plan, one man for one woman and one woman for one man. That is God’s plan. You can’t improve on that.” She said, “I don’t want to improve on it, I just want to get in on it.”

God has a plan, and you can’t improve on God’s plan; but you can get in on it, and that is the thing that matters. We don’t have anytime to waste chasing up blind alleys and exploring dead-end streets. We would want to do the most good, in the best way, in the shortest time. We have only a few years to spend for Christ and the gospel.

Paul says in Philippians 2:12, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” The original has “With fear and trembling, your own salvation keeps on working out.” We are taught in the Word of God that we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Not with cocksureness and self-satisfaction and self congratulation and stuffy ritualism and dead religionism, as is so prevalent in our day; but with fear and trembling as servants of God washed in the blood of the Lamb. By doing so, we can get in on the plan of God.

Our Values Pt. 3

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 19:59:00 +0000

Unaltered Standards

Because many have and are falling, and because evil is an epidemic in America and the world, does this mean we ought to lower the ministerial standards? IN NO WAY!

Let us all take note: “The calling that we have is high and holy. The requirements are exacting. The expectations are almost realistic.” If you can be fulfilled in any other work, by all means, stay out of the ministry. It’s Time To Wake Up!

Young and older alike, are responsible for restoring respect for the ministry. This doesn’t mean that you are not free to be yourself. Nor does it mean you must never do the unusual or try out creative ideas or “break the mold” as a minister of the Gospel.
In my opinion, we need more fresh thinking, unintimidated ministers, who have the guts to model the true GRACE of God, not fearing what others may say or think.

A Word Of Caution

It will help if you and I remind ourselves that for everyone whose moral failure makes the news, there are thousands upon thousands more who remain faithful, diligent, pure messengers of Christ. The vast majority of those who promised years ago to serve the Lord and model His truth are still doing it today. A realistic perspective will keep us balanced in our thinking and optimistic in our outlook.

When we start to believe we are all alone in the battle, the adversary does a number on us.

Let Us Stay Committed

We need to return to the truth of the past. We must proclaim the message of Christ. And in the process, we dare not fail to maintain an exemplary life. This is our wake-up call. Let us be on the alert. Let us hear the alarm. Let us, with all the power of God in us, restore respect back to the ministry and back to the Church.

Our great need today is for leaders, particularly clergy, anointed with the Holy Spirit of God, equipped for every good work, consumed with holy vision of passion, and who say with integrity: Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1-Corinthians 11:1).

Capitulation to compromise for pragmatic purposes is epidemic. Successful evangelists in their institutes teach their lesser colleagues how to be successful by avoiding speaking about sin.

A driving zeal for integrity declares: “We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the Word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2-Corinthians 4:2).

Our Values Pt 2

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:14:00 +0000

Leaders are persons who know they are special and unique. They believe that God created each of us to be “original.” Each person on earth has something unique to offer this world. We must dare to be different. We must learn to say to the world: “Here I am; and here’s what I have to give you.”

Persons with integrity find the physical, moral and spiritual energy necessary to sustain them through long years of testing and triumph. They are energetic, in the riches sense of the word. They are not superficially enthusiastic – like fair – weather fans at a football game. They do not give up in the face of failure. Neither do they give up when they first experience success, thinking that now they can rest. Through testing and triumph leaders keep on with their commitment to bring about a better life for as many people as possible.

Scripturally, integrity is from a Hebrew word that means “whole, unblemished, sound, and unimpaired.” To amplify the meaning, integrity means: “adherence to a code of moral, artistic, or other values…the quality or state of being complete or undivided.”

When one has integrity there is an absence of hypocrisy. He or she is personally reliable, financially accountable, and privately clean…innocent of impure motives.
Integrity is not only the way one thinks but even more the way one acts. Integrity is doing what you said you would do. It is as basic as keeping your word, fulfilling your promise.
For example:

• You told the Lord you would give Him all the glory.
• You promised you would be faithful to your mate.
• You declared that your expenses amounted to a certain figure.
• You promised at your ordination that you would be true to your calling.

Doing what you said you would do is simply an issue of integrity. True integrity implies you do what is right when no one is looking or when everyone is compromising. Real integrity stays in place whether the test is adversity or prosperity.

It is time for the church to wake up to the value of integrity…to recommit ourselves to a ministry anointed with power and godly purity. Let us make a firm statement to other ministers, especially ministers in training. Let’s remind them that they are being entrusted with a high and holy privilege, which if perverted, will result in their forfeiting the right to lead God’s people.

Let us put dignity back where it belongs; in the Church of Jesus Christ…in the ministry. We need to restore much of the respect we have lost over the last three decades.

(Next Week: Our Values Pt 3)

Our Values Pt. 1

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:20:00 +0000

Life in the twenty-first century is different. And, because people’s values and needs are changing, the methods and techniques we use to develop the necessary resources for our ministries will also change. Some will change slightly, while others change drastically.

However, one principle that must not change unless it changes for the better is our basic values as taught in God’s Word.

Values are principles many people talk about but few are willing to address – especially when faced with the impact it will have on their behavior.

I believe the ministries that will survive in the future will be those which clearly address the issue of values in all areas of their ministries and, most importantly, in their development programming.

Values form the very basis of the way we think, act and feel. They’re vitally important.

OUR CORE VALUES ARE:

1. PURPOSEFULNESS: We will stay focused on our mission,

2. EXCELLENCE: We will strive for excellence and professionalism in all that we do.

3. ETHICS: If Jesus was anything, He was ethical. Many of the world’s ethical teachings are built on Jesus’ words. Even the non-Christian, unbelieving, secular world is willing to accept the teachings of Jesus as a good foundation for ethics. They do not live by those words, perhaps, but they recognize their value. Jesus, however, did practice what He preached. He lived what He taught. His life, as well as His teaching, was ethical to the core.

We need people with sound ethics. Leaders are moral, virtuous, good principled and honest. They are trustworthy.
When they make decisions, other people know they will be good decisions, which will benefit the greatest number of people. They know they will make decisions that are right and good, in the fullest sense of these words.

4. INTEGRITY: We will maintain the highest standards of personal and corporate integrity as a Christian testimony in order to honor our Lord Jesus Christ whom we serve. A person with integrity is an individual, one who stands apart from others, one who can be easily distinguished from all other people. A person who is an individual is different. That’s why we have so few real leaders. Few of us want to be different. We try so hard to be like everyone else and not to stand out.

Ask yourself two questions: “If I try to be like him, who will be like me? If I’m not me, who will I be? As long as you’re trying to be someone else, the best you can be is #2. The more you are like yourself, the less you are like anyone else.

(Next Week: Our Values Pt. 2)

Re-Igniting the Flame Pt 5

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:44:00 +0000

Where does the Christian find power to renew, re-ignite, his Pentecostal heritage? It is only through the enabling of the Holy Spirit. In John 16, Jesus explains to the disciples, “But I tell you the truth: it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor, will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment….But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak of his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me” (John 16:7 – 8, 13-14).

Jesus commanded the disciples to go down to Jerusalem in Acts, chapter 1, and they were to wait for the Promise of the Father. In Acts, chapter 2, the Bible says, “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

It is urgent for the believer to renew His Pentecostal heritage. It is necessary for him to re-ignite his walk with God, go down to Jerusalem, and wait for the fire of the Holy Ghost to burn once again.

You can’t live in Pentecostal revival power, or even a Spirit-filled life, unless you are continually filled with the Spirit and unless you are spending time in God’s Word.

In Conclusion:

It is urgent for the church to be revived. Because an unrevived church is affected by the world.

We are called to be salt and light, and an unrevived church is powerless before the world.

It is only when we have a keen sense of God, when our lives are filled with God and His power, that we change the world.

Until then the world will change us.

Lord, help us not to be drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be continually filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:10.)

(Next Week: Our Values Pt 1)

Re-Igniting the Flame Pt 4

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:19:00 +0000

Jesus came that you might have life and have it more abundantly.

God is saying to you right now: “Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3).

Permit the Holy Spirit to re-ignite, re-new your walk with God! If there’s going to be a genuine revival in the land, in your heart, in your church, that produces a change in the moral climate of our lives, we must first return to God’s Word as the standard for our lives.

A number of national spiritual movements have been rooted in experience and emotions rather than the Scriptures. Don’t misinterpret me, because I believe that our emotions are involved when we get excited for God. But our emotions must line up with Scripture. If not, then that can be dangerous and ultimately produce a superficial renewal that does not strike at the root problem facing this generation.

When a Christian begins to look for emotional experience instead of looking for the application of the Word to the heart by the Holy Spirit, he is on the wrong track that can lead to nothing but deception, and can only delay the reality of the blessing. However, when the written Word of God is properly applied to one’s life, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the emotions will be there, and your heart will burn with a flame that cannot be extinguished.

The reason why we need to re-ignite our walk with God, renew our Pentecostal heritage, is because everything that happens in the Christian life, starting with the new birth, is under the direction of the third person of the Trinity: God the Holy Spirit. I can’t understand Scripture unless I am filled with the Holy Spirit. The more filled we are, the more we understand the Word of God. The Holy Spirit inspired holy men of old to record holy truths. It’s only individuals whose minds are controlled by the Holy Spirit that can truly understand God’s Word.

I can’t pray apart from the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. I can’t witness apart from the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that we would receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon us to be His witnesses. I can’t demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit apart from His empowering. The fruit of the Spirit is “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Everything I do in the Christian life involves the third person of the Trinity. It is He who empowers, and produces revival, because His role is to glorify Christ. Revival comes when there is a visit from heaven, by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

(Next Week: Re-Igniting the Flame Pt 5)

Re-Igniting the Flame Pt 3

noreply@blogger.com (International Family Church) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:18:00 +0000

You Can Change

“And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested?” (1-Chronicles 4:9-10).

Have you given up and resigned yourself to the position that nothing can be done about your situation? You can change! Has your hunger for God depleted and you no longer have the desire to re-ignite your flame, or recreate a new hunger for the Master. You can change! Thousands of people, who once thought there was no hope, have re-ignited their flame and found that by daring to believe the promises of God they could revolutionize their lives.

Here in the Scripture is the story of such a miracle. Jabez did what you can do, as a pastor, as a leader, as a lay-person in your congregation. He changed his ways. His very name tells of the condition of his life. Jabez means sorrow, pain, and trouble. Names in the Bible have much meaning. They are meant to communicate a message in many instances. A person’s name in the Bible often conveyed the type of a person they were, or what they were to do for God. The name, Jacob, meant “deceiver.” He became just that. It was picture of his life. When God changed him, He also changed his name to fit his new life. His new name was “Israel,” meaning “a prince.” Abram meant “higher father.” But God changed his name to fit his destiny. He called him “Abraham,” which means “father of many nations.” Moses’ name told of his life, meaning, “drawn out.” Every time his name was called, it reminded Moses that his life had been preserved when Pharaoh’s daughter drew him out of the water as a baby.

It was the same with Jabez. His mother bare him in sorrow. How? Was he crippled from birth? Was he afflicted with some weakness or disease from the beginning? Was he simply born in an atmosphere of sorrow, trouble, and heartache? Whatever the case, every time his name was called it cried out to him, “Pain! Trouble! Sorrow!”

In my imagination I picture this man convinced that this is always to be his destiny. He is confined and limited to weakness, sickness, and Pain. He is convinced that this has to be his destiny for his very name spells it out. Who can tell what went on in his mind? There must have been a constant struggle before he gave in to the fact there was no hope. No doubt someone told him of the unlimited power of the God of Israel.

• He must have heard about the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day.
• He must have heard about God’s miracle manner.
• He must have heard about God’s miracle meat in the desert.
• He must have heard about God’s miracle water that came forth out of the rock.
• He had to hear how God miraculously healed about two-million sick, weak, and downtrodden slaves as they came out of Egypt. “There was not one feeble person among their tribes” (Psalm 105:37).

When Jabez heard of the marvelous works of God, hope began to rise up within him. He realized that with God all things are possible. When he saw God’s truth, he must have repented, called upon the Lord for forgiveness, prayed fervently for a new touch and a new beginning, and started a flame to burn again for the things of God. His faith caused him to cry out. He became angry with his life of status quo. He rebelled! Then he rose up with a burning fire in his soul.

Listen to the record of this miracle: “And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and ENLARGE MY COAST, and thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.”

Jabez wanted God to bless him, but he wanted more. He wanted to be loosed and freed. “Enlarge my coast!" Deliver me from the confining walls of fear, disease, defeat, and pain. Enlarge my coast! Put a fire in my heart. Re-ignite the flame, renew my walk with you. God granted to Jabez that which he requested. And God will grant to you that which you request. It is never too late to call upon God to renew your Pentecostal heritage. It’s never too late to start all over again.

You can change the whole course of your life by looking at the promises of God and daring to believe them. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

Jesus said, “The thief (Satan) cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

It is the devil who extinguishes the flame in your heart. He convinces you to surrender the fire in your heart toward God. Because you yield to your feelings and to the powers of the devil, your life is cold, lukewarm, status quo.