The following was posted by a nonSDA pastor friend of mine on another website where it produced quite an aray of responses including even one from an atheist.
Your input?
==========================================================
I did not intend to post another article till I read this headline in many news sources today and it seemed to fit what I wrote the article for.
The headlines in the yahoo news was that the leadership of the Lutheran organization voted to allow gay/lesbian ministers as Pastors who are in an active homosexual relationship. The sad thing is that now makes five plus groups identified as "Christian", that have openly gone from the truth of the Bible.--Pastor Jim
SEARCHING
I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, And my spirit makes diligent search (Ps. 77:6).
My eyes fail from searching Your word, saying, When will You comfort me? (Ps. 119:82).
O LORD, You have searched me and known me (Ps. 139:1).
In the past few months I have experienced a hunger to be in the presence of the Lord unlike anything Ive known. There have been times in our home when it would seem you were walking in the river of His presence.
Now it would seem that for some reason I have lost some touch with that connection and have become aware of what letting the powers of the oppression from the world can do to you. I have spent a lot of time talking with believers who are empty in their spiritual lives. I have even talked with a woman online who said she is now an atheist because Christianity failed to meet her needs.
One thing is certain in any search: whatever you put in the void that is the object of search must be truthful relating to that situation. So many times it becomes so easy to accept a lie or something phony instead of the reality you need.
To search out truth in the things of the Lord you must determine to accept nothing less than the best the Lord has. The prodigal son was willing to accept the best the world offered and ended up in a pig slough or feeding area. He realized that as little as the Jews thought of the pigs, they were better off than he. He had to make the decision to change his circumstance or die where he was in the mud and slop among the pigs.
You can never relate to anyone else how to find the Lord for themselves unless the Lord has become so important that you will allow nothing to stop your search for Him. Search for reality is something that begins in a persons life when they have crashed or gone to the bottom in life and cant fail or even fall any further. The prodigal felt that pig slough was the end of the line for him, so he made the decision to go back to his father because maybe even being a slave there was better than where he was.
How many of you are in the place that couldnt be any worse, nor have as many failures as where you are? If so; you know it is time for a change in the direction of your life.
What do you have to do to have that change occur? One secret is in a well-known verse in 2 Chronicles 7:14. This verse basically takes you to a beginning point of change when the writer wrote, If my people that are called by my name will humble themselves and pray The Lord was basically saying, Turn away from where you are because it should be obvious by now that I am not where you are looking.
In the case of a little girl from Florida who was missing, everyone looked for months; but after awhile it became obvious that someone was lying because the little girl was not where everyone was looking. That basically leads us to the next thing; the Holy Spirit said that we would look for Him and find Him when we search for Him with our whole heart.
The third world is searching for a reality that is said to be in the spiritual world but that in all reality is the home that God the Father encompasses. Yet He can be brought to the reality in this world by the mention of His name. The believers that I write to in what we call the third world may be a little ahead of us because they do believe that Jesus is available at the mention of His name. We in the West are spiritually motivated, but that is not to say that we are spiritually superior to others. While we are the mission station that took faith in Christ to them, they took the Word as we gave it to them one step further and believed. That is the key to heavena total belief. We here in the West in most circumstances operate on a philosophy of seeing, and then believing; however, those we ministered to just simply reversed it by hearing then believing. Paul wrote something about this to the Romans when he said we hear then believe. Nothing comes between receipt of the Word and the seed of the word becoming the object of our faith in reality.
Dr. Phil on his TV show has several favorite expressions that he will use when something that someone is doing isnt working; one of the major ones is, Hows that working for you? Or to rub something in a little, he might say, Not working too well, huh? The point is there is no telling how many failures people will try until they get to the successful road.
It seems that people will also try any way they can to get to God but by the prescribed formula in His Word. People right now are searching for whats real in spiritual circles and are swallowing anything that looks good.
The Bible says there is a broad road that leads to destruction and a narrow way to life. You dont have to guess which road people are on; all you have to do is ask them a question or two and in just a few minutes youll find out. The Bible says out of the abundance of the mouth the heart speaks.
There are thousands of children of baby boomers alive today who have little or no concept of the person of God. There are churches today that exist by the hundreds that are little more than social service centers. There are ministers behind the pulpit that are little more than social service workers and who have no real idea of what a true gospel might mean. The men who were used of God in such powerful ways are no longer ministering, and it would appear that those of this generation have little desire to know a real God in the way those of earlier times did.
People are searching earnestly for a manifestation of the Lord, and that manifestation is just not to be found today. We are in a generation that pretends to earnestly search for God but will not attend services on Sunday evening because of television or any other excuse that might be invented. It is not uncommon to go to the computer and spend hours searching anything from porn to the newest car models.
There are those who are hungry just to be in the real presence of God. In their determination they will not quit seeking and searching for God. Guess what! His Word guarantees He will be found of those who seek and search for Him.
There have been times when I play worship music, and it seems that the Spirit of God just roams the hallways in the house, but lately it has been a struggle just to hear Him. You ever see those cartoons of a little old lady cleaning out her closet, and there was more than a house size pile of trash outside. She then turns and says, I can welcome Him again. I have really had to ask myself, if there is some cleaning I need to do? What could be more important than the Spirit of God present in you?
There is something lost in the house today, and if we dont make a heartfelt effort to search for it, I am concerned many church buildings will become just a shell with a sign on the building. The altar was a place that you went to make sacrifices; I wonder now how many sacrificial offerings from our lives are given on that altar today?
In your home, have you sanctified the place and made sure there was room for the Lord to occupy your entire home? Maybe God has become so passé in the home that you have left little for Him to occupy. Is it really time to search out those little rooms in your life that no one knows of? As with the little old lady, is it time to have a bonfire outside from the junk inside so the house is cleaned and ready for the Lord of your life?
Pastor Jim
____________________________________________________________
Your brother in Christ,
Doc
Your input?
==========================================================
I did not intend to post another article till I read this headline in many news sources today and it seemed to fit what I wrote the article for.
The headlines in the yahoo news was that the leadership of the Lutheran organization voted to allow gay/lesbian ministers as Pastors who are in an active homosexual relationship. The sad thing is that now makes five plus groups identified as "Christian", that have openly gone from the truth of the Bible.--Pastor Jim
SEARCHING
I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, And my spirit makes diligent search (Ps. 77:6).
My eyes fail from searching Your word, saying, When will You comfort me? (Ps. 119:82).
O LORD, You have searched me and known me (Ps. 139:1).
In the past few months I have experienced a hunger to be in the presence of the Lord unlike anything Ive known. There have been times in our home when it would seem you were walking in the river of His presence.
Now it would seem that for some reason I have lost some touch with that connection and have become aware of what letting the powers of the oppression from the world can do to you. I have spent a lot of time talking with believers who are empty in their spiritual lives. I have even talked with a woman online who said she is now an atheist because Christianity failed to meet her needs.
One thing is certain in any search: whatever you put in the void that is the object of search must be truthful relating to that situation. So many times it becomes so easy to accept a lie or something phony instead of the reality you need.
To search out truth in the things of the Lord you must determine to accept nothing less than the best the Lord has. The prodigal son was willing to accept the best the world offered and ended up in a pig slough or feeding area. He realized that as little as the Jews thought of the pigs, they were better off than he. He had to make the decision to change his circumstance or die where he was in the mud and slop among the pigs.
You can never relate to anyone else how to find the Lord for themselves unless the Lord has become so important that you will allow nothing to stop your search for Him. Search for reality is something that begins in a persons life when they have crashed or gone to the bottom in life and cant fail or even fall any further. The prodigal felt that pig slough was the end of the line for him, so he made the decision to go back to his father because maybe even being a slave there was better than where he was.
How many of you are in the place that couldnt be any worse, nor have as many failures as where you are? If so; you know it is time for a change in the direction of your life.
What do you have to do to have that change occur? One secret is in a well-known verse in 2 Chronicles 7:14. This verse basically takes you to a beginning point of change when the writer wrote, If my people that are called by my name will humble themselves and pray The Lord was basically saying, Turn away from where you are because it should be obvious by now that I am not where you are looking.
In the case of a little girl from Florida who was missing, everyone looked for months; but after awhile it became obvious that someone was lying because the little girl was not where everyone was looking. That basically leads us to the next thing; the Holy Spirit said that we would look for Him and find Him when we search for Him with our whole heart.
The third world is searching for a reality that is said to be in the spiritual world but that in all reality is the home that God the Father encompasses. Yet He can be brought to the reality in this world by the mention of His name. The believers that I write to in what we call the third world may be a little ahead of us because they do believe that Jesus is available at the mention of His name. We in the West are spiritually motivated, but that is not to say that we are spiritually superior to others. While we are the mission station that took faith in Christ to them, they took the Word as we gave it to them one step further and believed. That is the key to heavena total belief. We here in the West in most circumstances operate on a philosophy of seeing, and then believing; however, those we ministered to just simply reversed it by hearing then believing. Paul wrote something about this to the Romans when he said we hear then believe. Nothing comes between receipt of the Word and the seed of the word becoming the object of our faith in reality.
Dr. Phil on his TV show has several favorite expressions that he will use when something that someone is doing isnt working; one of the major ones is, Hows that working for you? Or to rub something in a little, he might say, Not working too well, huh? The point is there is no telling how many failures people will try until they get to the successful road.
It seems that people will also try any way they can to get to God but by the prescribed formula in His Word. People right now are searching for whats real in spiritual circles and are swallowing anything that looks good.
The Bible says there is a broad road that leads to destruction and a narrow way to life. You dont have to guess which road people are on; all you have to do is ask them a question or two and in just a few minutes youll find out. The Bible says out of the abundance of the mouth the heart speaks.
There are thousands of children of baby boomers alive today who have little or no concept of the person of God. There are churches today that exist by the hundreds that are little more than social service centers. There are ministers behind the pulpit that are little more than social service workers and who have no real idea of what a true gospel might mean. The men who were used of God in such powerful ways are no longer ministering, and it would appear that those of this generation have little desire to know a real God in the way those of earlier times did.
People are searching earnestly for a manifestation of the Lord, and that manifestation is just not to be found today. We are in a generation that pretends to earnestly search for God but will not attend services on Sunday evening because of television or any other excuse that might be invented. It is not uncommon to go to the computer and spend hours searching anything from porn to the newest car models.
There are those who are hungry just to be in the real presence of God. In their determination they will not quit seeking and searching for God. Guess what! His Word guarantees He will be found of those who seek and search for Him.
There have been times when I play worship music, and it seems that the Spirit of God just roams the hallways in the house, but lately it has been a struggle just to hear Him. You ever see those cartoons of a little old lady cleaning out her closet, and there was more than a house size pile of trash outside. She then turns and says, I can welcome Him again. I have really had to ask myself, if there is some cleaning I need to do? What could be more important than the Spirit of God present in you?
There is something lost in the house today, and if we dont make a heartfelt effort to search for it, I am concerned many church buildings will become just a shell with a sign on the building. The altar was a place that you went to make sacrifices; I wonder now how many sacrificial offerings from our lives are given on that altar today?
In your home, have you sanctified the place and made sure there was room for the Lord to occupy your entire home? Maybe God has become so passé in the home that you have left little for Him to occupy. Is it really time to search out those little rooms in your life that no one knows of? As with the little old lady, is it time to have a bonfire outside from the junk inside so the house is cleaned and ready for the Lord of your life?
Pastor Jim
____________________________________________________________
Your brother in Christ,
Doc
