It's time to go back to Church

Sunday, September 18th 2011 is "Back To Church Sunday" at Refuge Temple of Christ in Lockport.  We welcome you to rediscover church again.  Many people have left church for many different reasons but god wants you back in fellowship with His people.  There are many excuses for not going to church but there is no excuse for missing out on God

Just blessed

I was just giving some serious thought to the fact that we are blessed.  When we look at the news and everything that happens in the course of a day do you ever wonder why all of it passed over you.  People face devestating tragedy everyday and most of it never personally touches us.  I thank God for His angels that watch over us day and night.  I dare you to let your mind go back to a time where you almost lost your life and see if you have a praise.  The other day I missed a major deadly accident by just a few feet.  I thought about it all day and imagined what the funeral would have been like, who would do my euology and who would be taking care of my family.  I cherish today and that god he allowed me to see it.  I have no reason to complain for truly God has been good to me.

I think about the awesome companion that God gave me and I give Him praise.  A wife is truly a gift from God and she can not be substituted or replaced.  I have three healthy beautiful children who are the image of God's goodness.  What more can I say than "I'M BLESSED

People are our Business

Ministry is a customer-based business and Yes ministry is customer based.  Many Christians are trying to serve God and avoid human interaction at the same time.  This can not be done.  God called us to bring the gospel to the world not to yourself, not to the people you choose but to the world.  Many of us go through life experiences whereas we are hurt by people but that is never an excuse to get away from the true mission which is to serve God by serving one another.  When I think about the things that people have done to me I began to think about the garbage that God had to put up with in me.  I don't have a right to hate, I don't have a right to be judgemental, and I don't have a right to isolate a person who has done wrong.

Jesus had a solution for those who did him wrong he declared "Father forive them for they know not what they do".  Forgivesness is one of the highest acts of worship and it makes you at one with God.  I feel holy when i am forgiving and beigng forgiven.

Many people walk around with a victim mentality.  This mentality loathes in self-pity and low self-esteem.  It is easy for people to remember all that was done to them but their memory becomes cloudy when they think about the hurt they may have caused in their live.  When I wanted to play the victim the Lord caused me to remember when I was the perpetrator.  I got real humble when I thought about the damage that I have done in the course of my life and all i can say is "thank God for the blood".  Never let temporary circumstances keep you from developing meaningful relationships.  sometimes we don't realize how important people are to our survival.  It takes years to forge great friendships but they can be torn down in one day.

I enjoy people because they are my business.  I have no time to make enemies but a lifetime to make friends.  There is a hurting world out there and many just need a good friend.  I challenge you today to love people as Christ has loved you.

Signed,
Your Friend

Division in the Church

Someone posed the question to me in Bible Study:  "What causes division in a church?"  I can up with threee main reasons even though there might be plenty more.

1. Immaturity-There are many out there in the body of Christ today who have just not grown up yet.  Maturity is essential for a healthy congregation.  When children rule the result is oppression.  Immature Christians focus on things that don't matter.  They are the type of people who strain at the gnat and swallow the camel.  Spiritual immaturity has nothing to do with chronological age.  The worst thing to see is older immature Christians.  When an immature christian gets offended they will literally take their ball and go home like a child.  We must understand that the church was not established to cater to our personal needs but it was the vehicle that Jesus established to further the Kingdom of God.  When I was a child my older brother and I did not get along but when we became men we put the childish things behind us.  We can still disagree but nothing comes between us being brothers.  People leave the family of god everyday because they were offended by another child in the house.  When my brother and I would fight I never left my father's house because of it.  Why?  BEACUSE IT WASN'T HIS HOUSE IT WAS DADDY'S HOUSE.  Why would you leave your spiritual father over an issue with another child.  We must check our attitude at the door when we become disciples of Jesus Christ.  The love that Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians 13 was a love for the spiritually mature.  Division will stop when people decide to grow up
2. Carnality-You can be a Christian and still be carnally-minded.  When the church is so pre-occupied with the matter of the flesh then the church is weakened.  Romans states "that to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Gutter gossiping, murmuring, complaining, judging, and fault-finding are all products of a carnal mind.
3. Selfishness-Me me me me me me me me me me.  Selfish people are determined to get their way at all cost.  It doesn't matter who they hurt, how they live, or what they say as long as their selfish ways are pleased.

The early church grew so fast because the people had all things common.  They were busy caring for others.  They even established deacons so that they could help others more effectively.  The church is strongest when flesh is weakest.

Have Church Organizations Lost their Usefulness

In an age where the coming of Christ is soon and the war on the church is so severe is it not time that the church moves to be the most effective force on the planet.  As some of you might know I am a second generation pastor and preacher.  All I ever knew through my whole life was church.  I have no regrets about it.  The church gave me a solid upbringing and God gave me a spiritual father who preaches and teaches the pure Word of God.  I have also been part of an organization my whole life and I have had some wonderful experiences and opportunities being a part of the organization but now I am left in a place wondering if it has a place with me.  I really don't believe that denominations and organizations were a part of God's divine strategy of the building of His mystical body called the church.  In the study of the early church it appears that the church was built on the family structure.  that is why we address each other as brothers and sisters.  the Apostle Paul was a spiritual father to the men and women that followed him.  They loved him as a father and he loved and cared for them like children.  Great people proceeded from the family of Paul and the other Apostles because of the great love that they had for the church.  If Christ died to make me a part of His family than why should I be pressed about growing in an organization.

I do believe that the church has been called to be in divine order but i also believe that the Word of God has addressed that order.  In some organizations the development of leaders is done like a pyramid  scheme.  The more people you get to join the greater you move up in rank or the greater amount of tribute that you pay to top officials the greater opportunities are provided to you. 

I would like church leaders to read this without getting seriously offended because if it offends you than you are guilty.  Why should a church pull money from its treasury to give to a group that doesn't care whether the ministry lives or dies as long as they are paying their way.  If you represent an organization that only takes and never gives then that is exploitation.  When an organization takes money from the local church and that church has no say so as to how resources are spent than that is taxation without representation and a famous patriot said that "taxation without representation is tyranny.  This type of conversation does not come up too much because grown men who are leaders of their own churches have been made to fear the powers that be.  I am tired of people being labeled rebellious just because they disagree with the powers that be.  I write this blog with a heavy heart because I love the church and i love the fellowship of the saints but their needs to be a reformation of the entire body of Christ.  I am not going to leave my present organization because god has ordained me to birth change.  My father has taught me that you can not change anything standing on the outside but you must get involved.

I have been pastoring for almost thirteen years and I have asked God to make me a true spiritual father because I am tired of seeing another fatherless generation.  We have seen the effects of a society where fathers are absent.  do we think that it is any different in the spirit world whereas children are being born spiritually and there are no fathers.  Organizations are raising up foster children.  They will not take on the full burden of parenting but they will take the resources that the foster children provide.  There are pastors crying out for fathers and their voices have not been heard except by their true father.

I am not saying that all organizations are evil or bad but we must examine the structure carefully and make sure that the structure is designed to feed the children and not just bless the parents

If I Left The Lord Today Where Would I Go

The bible says that in the last days that there would be a "falling away" meaning many would leave the faith and I am seeing this to a point where it is scary.  Many people that I know that had a relationship with the Lord have left him and for what NOTHING.  I began to ask myself if I was to backslide what would I do.  Church and worship is such an intricate part of my life that I would be totally lost without my Savior.  I'm not going back to the bars or the clubs.  I'm not going to embrace some other faith AND I JUST CANT PRETEND LIKE I NEVER KNEW HIM.  I have heard do many backsliders say that they still pray and they still love God but that is hard to believe since Jesus declares "If you love me then keep my commandments".  So I can drink, drug, fornicate and abuse his grace and still be in love with him?  I don't think so.  Many backsliders are angry at the church like the church did something to him but it's not the church that left, YOU DID.  I walked away from God and it was the loneliest place in the world.  I center my whole world on God AND HIS PEOPLE.  I love the people of God and if I leave God I also leave His people.  That is why when people backslide it destroys relationships that people have had for years.  I remember watching the movie "An Officer and a Gentleman" and Richard Gere was playing an officer candidate that was going through flight school and he messed up and was punished and his commanding officer did everything to try to get him to quit and he finally screamed "Why don't you just give up" and The candidate said "because I have no place else to go" and that's how I feel.  If I give up I have no where else to go.  This is all I know and all I care to know.  We all go through trials and tests but I didn't sign up to quit.  I am going all the way until I make it home.  Leaving God, leaving church, leaving the saints is not an option.  these things make my life what it is.

Many that will read this blog might have left God, left his church, or left his people but the fact is that they all still love you.  When you were at your lowest it's not the world that is praying for you its the saints.  I have pastored people that have walked out of my life like I was the cashier at Walmart not realizing that I pray for them constantly and making intercession for them at the throne of God.  GO BACK HOME BECAUSE THERE IS NO WHERE ELSE TO GO

SOUL TIES (The Silent KIller)

Some years ago I was introduced to a term that changed the way I viewed relationships.  When I was single and on the dating scene I was not very knowledgeable about the effect that relationships can have on your walk with God.  I was wondering why I could never commit to a person.  I had dated several people but could never seem to be satisfied or content.  Even though I was saved I was still seduced into disobeying God's word and entering into a world of fornication.  I also knew that it was wrong but i convinced myself (what is the big deal) I'm not hurting anyone and I'm not forcing anyone to do something that did not want to but I failed to realize the damage that was going on that I could not immediately see.  When people engage in sex outside of marriage it seems to be fulfilling enjoyable and the natural course of a relationship but their is an ugly demonic side of it that draws you into a world of depression, misery, and further rebellion against the things of God.  The Bible states "and the two shall become one".  This is not just true in marriage but it is also true in fornication.  Every time you sleep with a person that is not your spouse a demonic marriage takes place.  Satan has joined you two together in a destructive, perverted union that can only be broken by the power of God.  I look at married couples who have been together for a while and they start to look alike, talk alike, and sometimes even think alike and the reason is that their souls have been knitted together by their commitment and more so by the fact that they are sexually intimate with each other. This is called a soul tie.
Not all soul ties are bad their are some very healthy soul ties.  The bible states that "David loved Jonathan like his own soul".  This type of soul tie brings peace and spiritual enrichment but a sexual soul tie can either bring peace or mass destruction.  Married couples should never underestimate the power of their sexual intimacy.  One of the big causes of divorce in this country is over sexual confusion in the marriage.  Either it is adultery, sexual starvation, or lack of intimacy meaning "the fire has gone out".  that is why it is important that couples keep a healthy intimate lifestyle.  the soul tie between husband and wife keeps others out.
On the other hand, when single people engage in fornication it breeds shame, guilt condemnation, insecurity, manipulation, abuse, and spiritual neglect. 
Ladies have you ever  noticed that when a man commits fornication he never wants to stay and hold you or he is quick to leave?  It's because he has no investment and you have no other purpose than to meet his needs.
Men have you ever noticed that when a woman commits fornication it leaves her in a place of confusion and she begins to ask questions about your intentions because she does not trust you know.

Transfer of Spirits
Soul ties also allow spirits to be transferred into people.  When people engage in fornication they leave a demonic gateway open and anything that person has you are likely to pick it up too.  I have talked to many women who either are or have been drug addicts and many admit that they were turned on to drugs by someone that they were sleeping with.  Woman who sleep with abusive men often end up abusing themselves.  I remember when I was an HIV educator and we always use to tell young people that when you sleep with someone you also sleep with everyone they have slept with.  If it's true in the natural it is also true in the spiritual.

Soul ties and your spiritual life
Sexual soul ties will simply destroy your relationship with God because you are not doing it behind his back you are doing it in his face.  It's like a man commiting adultery and asking his wife to watch.  A soul tie will silence your prayer life because your sins have formed a wall between yourself and God and the only thing that will bring it down is an act of true repentance.  I look at prominent people in ministry who have fallen over the years and it always seems that there is an element of sexual misconduct somewhere.  That is why people who have soul ties will try to hide it at first because of the guilt and the shame but the deeper they get into it their develops a spirit of arrogance and pride that says "YOU CANT JUDGE ME".  Their hearts become hardened and they slip deeper and deeper into the tie

What do I do now?
If you really want to be delivered you need to brace yourself for what I am about to tell you.

1. You must repent to God for your sins with godly repentance and ask God for his forgiveness for placing an idol in your life.  If you are not sorry then you have not repented.  If you are not convinced that it is wrong you must search the scriptures so that the Holy Spirit may open your heart to your sins
2. You must renounce the relationship and the person and remove them from your life.  It is not good enough to say that we will stop because the damage has already been done.  Keeping a platonic relationship with them just breeds more confusion especially if they have not repented or sought God either.
3. Do not accept gifts, favors, money or anything else in the relationship
4. You can not visit or be alone with this person because they are a drug to you
5. You must find a spiritual counselor whether it be a pastor, or a spiritual mentor that you can confess this to in order to keep you accountable and start the intercession on your behalf
6. I recommend a period of prayer and fasting in order to start the healing and restoration process
7. You must also repent to the other person for the damage that you have done to them.  I recommend you do this with your spiritual counsellor
8. Give it time because this will not be fixed over night.  Repentance fixed the issue with God but the deliverance process is to work on the issue with yourself 

I SPEAK ALL OF THIS FROM THE HEART AND NOT A PLACE OF JUDGMENT BECAUSE I HAD TO GO THROUGH IT MYSELF