Outfitters for Adventure Articles

Family of God

2010-10-22T17:37:00.003-05:00

Hugh Laybourn - 2006

As a young Christian I was invited to a main line church in Boise, Idaho to speak to the youth about what was happening in my life. After I had shared a little of my personal encounter with God, the leader of the church interrupted me, saying I was presumptuous for thinking the Creator of heaven and earth would stoop down to talk to a puny human. He rebuked me for being proud to think that God would be personally involved with me. I sat stunned as I realized that this man, responsible for thousands of others’ spiritual lives, was trying to lead them without personal direction and guidance from God.

The whole idea that men can have a personal relationship with God is an amazing and much-disputed idea among the religions of the world. Many religions feel that the idea of God precludes anything personal. In most religions, God is kept distant and impersonal, because he is considered too great to have any contact with mere humans. Many religions teach that in order to know God, we must become perfect, or at least a whole lot better than we are, if we are going to have any kind of relationship with God, the Creator.

The good news is that God wants us to know him! He wants us to be able to draw near to him. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:19-22, NKJV).

We can come close to him, “through the veil”, by the blood of Jesus Christ. Matthew 27:51 reveals that at Jesus’ death on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn, “from top to bottom”. The direction of the tear of the thick horsehair felt temple veil, or curtain, from top to bottom is a picture of God reaching down and ripping open a way for us into the Holy of Holies as Jesus’ death re-established God’s intimate relationship with man. What a loving God!

What does relationship with God mean? Relationship in its broadest definition means relating with someone or something else. The whole idea of being connected or related by some kind of a bond is central to this definition. Can men be connected to the God of the universe? Are we related by blood to the Creator? God the Father has provided, through the blood of his own Son, Jesus Christ, the most amazing and wonderful opportunity for the created to connect to The Creator in ways we ordinarily would not and could not be connected. Relationship with God cannot be bought, earned, or demanded. It is an underserved gift, in the Biblical definition. Relationship with God by any means other than by faith in Jesus Christ’s provision of forgiveness is unacceptable to God. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6, NKJV).

This intimacy with God is available to everyone who will believe in Jesus Christ. But what we do with this gift of relationship is the choice of every individual. We can feed it and it will flourish; we can ignore it and it will fade. We can pursue it and it will develop; or we can flee it and it will diminish. We can nurture it and it will grow; or we can starve it and it will decline. We can respond to it and it will intensify; or we can react against it and it will slip away. What is your desire? What do you want your relationship with God to become?

I remember as a child my dad, a big 6 foot 4 inch hulk of a man, inviting us to grab his huge index finger and climb onto his size #12 feet as he walked around the room. It was a wonderful game, and we couldn’t get enough! Here I was with my chubby little baby fingers hanging on to my father, walking where I couldn’t walk and doing what I wouldn’t normally be able to do, because I was literally riding on the footsteps of my father! I remember the joy I had as we played this game and the security of knowing that, as long as I held on tight, I would not fall. We also have a ‘Father’ in heaven who similarly delights in us and he also wants us to walk in His footsteps. He loves more than any earthly father could, because his love is perfect.

I would like us to examine the family aspect of our relationship with God. To be a father you must have children, i.e., sons and daughters who are born or adopted into your family. A family is a social unit created by God. Family relationship was designed by God the Father at creation when the human race began. After God made Adam and Eve, God said to them, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they will become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24, NKJV). “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. ’” (Genesis 1:28, NKJV). This was followed by the birth of Adam and Eve’s children to fulfill another part of the destiny of God for their lives. In this first reference in the Bible of family relationships we see some very important things. There is a joining and there is a leaving; there are two that become one; and there is a multiplication of this relationship again and again through their children and their children’s children down through the generations. Marriage was a pleasurable, intimate, wonder-filled relationship created by God for the benefit and continuing existence of mankind.

However, today the world is painting many distorted pictures of family. God, the creator of mankind designed the family, providing a blueprint of how a family should relate and function for all generations. His demonstration of family as the Father of all, is the most correct and accurate picture. I am thankful that the Biblical portrait of family is unchanging and secure.

The Apostle Paul makes it clear that we are part of a named family, “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” (Ephesians 3:14-15, NKJV). What is our family name as believers? The name above all names is the Lord Jesus Christ. We share this family name with God the Father, and with Jesus our elder brother. Jesus asked the Father:

“Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name.” (John 17:11-12, NKJV).

There are some delightful aspects of family that we might consider in our meditation of our relationship with God. The fact that God is our Father is so wonderful and truly amazing! Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil.” (John 8:44, NKJV). But Hosea says, “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ there it shall be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’” (Hosea 1:10, NKJV). So when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, the Bible teaches that our Father in heaven adopts us into his family as full-fledged children.

Only Jesus Christ can reveal the Father to us. Jesus said, “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” (Matthew 11:27, NKJV). In fact, much to the anger of the religious leaders of his day, Jesus spoke and acted as though this personal relationship with God as Father was not only possible but totally necessary. Because Jesus introduced the idea of God as Father in a personal sense, let’s go to him to discover what the character of the Father is.

He loves us as a father should love his kids. Psalms 103:13 says, “He cares for us with the tenderness of a father and teaches us with great wisdom and patience the lessons we need to learn.” The Father in heaven can be touched with the feelings of our weaknesses. As a Father, God is strong and gentle, loving and disciplining, taking great joy in us, but sorrowful when we mourn. God wants us to be in the bosom of the Father. I believe this is a picture of the depth of intimacy we can have with him. In his gospel, John wrote of Jesus, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” (John 1:18, NKJV). Jesus was in the bosom of the Father.

Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, and Jesus said to Philip, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.” (John 14:9-11, NKJV).

By faith we, in Jesus, can also be in the Father. We can be so close to God that we are leaning on His bosom, just like John. Speaking of himself at the Last Supper John wrote, “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.” (John 13:23, NKJV). When your head is resting on the Father’s bosom, you can hear his heart beat. You can feel what he cares about and what he is passionate about. What an amazing picture for us to see the depth of the Father’s love for us! He loves us as a father should love his kids.

God wants us to know how deeply he loves us and that he is the source of all things for us. John the Baptist speaking to his own disciples of Jesus said, "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.” (John 3:35, NKJV). The Father will set his seal on us, (for security), and protect us. He will feed us and care for us. He will fill us with his life and give us a full, quality life in him. Unlike earthly fathers, our Heavenly Father is always with us.

God wants us to know that it’s right to worship him as Father. Jesus said to the woman at the well, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:21-24, NKJV).
The Father is looking for worshippers. He is looking for those who want a relationship with him. Our relationship with the Father should be so close that we only do what we see the Father do, and we only say what the Father tells us to say. This was true of Jesus as he said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19, NKJV). Jesus lived to please the Father, and our desire should be to follow Jesus’ example. If we are relating to God as our personal Father, we will only want to do his will. He will show us what he is doing, even the great works of God. He will speak to us and tell us what to speak to others. We won’t need to fear or wonder what to say. God our Father will teach us how to live and what to do. He lives in us and will never leave us alone. What a wonderful Father we have!

What is faith in God? It is a simple, unreserved trust in God. Faith requires leaning on and depending on Him. Faith is trusting in His Word which contains His promises to us. Trust is very practical in our relationship with the Father in Heaven. Our every waking moment should be lived out of our trust in the Father heart of God. We depend on Christ’s sacrifice that secures our relationship with him. God is our Father by the new birth. We are adopted into his family by faith in his sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We even take on His name in this adoptive process. We can trust in Him, our Father and our God to lead, guide, and direct our every moment. We, who are justified, “live by faith.”

One thing that is wonderful about children and parents is the trust relationship they have. Children enjoy a wonderful simplicity of faith and trust in their parents. In the same way, we can relate with simple faith and trust in our Heavenly Father. We, being hidden in Christ, can call God Abba, or Daddy, just as Jesus did. What a privilege we have! I remember throwing my sons up in the air and catching them when they were little. They trusted me. I could have accidentally dropped them, but they never doubted for a moment that I would catch them. They laughed and enjoyed the game. In the same way we must trust that our Father in heaven will always catch us. We will not fall, especially when we are putting our confidence in Him.

That God is our Father is almost too wonderful to imagine and truly amazing! You can pray this prayer right now: Lord would you reveal your Fatherhood to us? Would you come and remove any false portraits of father and show us how deep and pure and good your Father-love is? I pray for you to make us totally secure in your love and help us to know we are accepted and loved perfectly in your family, for Jesus sake.

Unless designated NKJV, all Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society noted as (NIV). Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Putlishers.

Being One With God

2010-10-22T17:05:00.003-05:00

by Hugh Laybourn, 2006

     Jesus came to reveal the Father. Remember when Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us (John 14:8, NKJV).” Jesus said, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9, NKJV). Jesus’ mission was to reveal the Father in his character and his nature, and that is exactly what Jesus did.
    To the hearts of the hungry this was exciting, but to the hearts of the religious this idea produced anger and even hatred. “Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.” (John 5:18, NKJV.) Jesus’ claim to be God’s Son stirred up extreme anger and hatred in the Jewish leaders.
    We can see the human analogy of being one with God in the picture of the marriage relationship. In Genesis the physical union between husband and wife is described as the two becoming “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). In the marriage of two believers, they also become one in spirit. However, notice that there is still something in the two that is becoming one. Both their flesh and their souls are becoming one. That’s why they don’t think alike, they don’t desire the same things. They’re still becoming one!
    Do any of you have conflicts in relationships? Are any of you married and you see things differently or disagree with your spouse? Any of you? It’s because you’re still becoming one!
    In the same way, if we are believers, we are one Spirit with Jesus in God. We have the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead in us, and in Ephesians 5:30 the apostle Paul wrote, “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and His bones.” We’ve become married to him, in a sense, as members of the Bride of Christ. But guess what? We’re still becoming one with Jesus. Because even though we are believers, we’ve got a lo-o-o-ng way to go to become like Jesus.
John 17 is the key passage about being one with the Father. Jesus prayed, “My prayer is not for them alone, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” (John 17:20).
    Hello, we may be Christians, but guess what? Whoa, it’s a process! The process begins by talking about oneness with one another. We begin working through relational issues. Jesus said, “. . . that all of them may be one, Father just as you are in me and I am in you.” (John 17:21). Although it’s apparent that we need to be one with each other, we need to one with God first. That process is also happening. Furthermore, we need to be one with one another, in the same way as the Father and Jesus were one. Why? Jesus said, “May they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21). This is not some side issue is it? This is an important concept. To be one with God and one with one another is vital!
    We are not going to win the world, we are not going to impact the world, unless unity with God and unity with one another exists. In spite of our differences, if we can’t learn to love one another, and love authentically, we are not going to change the world. Do you see how important this is in the heart of God? Unless we find out how to walk in unity and walk in love, the world will not believe! The heart of God is throbbing with this message: Jesus came to earth to win the world; Jesus came to turn the world back to Him. Jesus died on the cross to make a way where there was no way.
    Jesus’ prayer continued, “I have given them the glory you have given me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.” (John 17:22-23). How do we become one? It’s through the glory! What’s going to cause us to come together? What’s going to cause us to tear down the walls? What’s going to cause us to resolve conflicts? What’s going to cause us to forgive one another? What’s going to cause us to have this unity? It’s the glory of God!
    What is the glory? It’s Jesus. He is the glory! It’s his presence. Becoming one with Jesus is the only way we can ever hope to become one with one another. The more we get filled with the Holy Spirit, the more we connect with the body of Christ.
    You know what? Humans are not easy to love. I mean just generally, humans. We can look around the world and say, humans are tough to love. There’s some bad stuff going on isn’t there? Just open your newspaper and read about it. “For God so loved the world,” (John 3:16a) – the whole world! Give me that kind of love, Lord.
    I confess to you, I am not there yet. But I want to be there. I need more of the glory. I need more of the life of God in me. I know I’m one with God. I know his life is in me, but I want more of the glory! I need an exchange, because I still see a lot of flesh, a lot of bad attitudes in my life. Jesus said, “I have given them the glory that you [Father] gave me.” (v. 22). You can’t buy the glory. You can’t work out a deal with God. Jesus settles it in this verse, “I’ve given them the glory.” If the Spirit of God is in you, then the glory is in your life. We just need to let the glory be in charge! We just need the glory of God to bring those changes in us and we need to get out of His way and let the glory be revealed. “I have given them the glory you gave me.” Was Jesus glorious?
    Yes! Read the gospels again. Jesus is beautiful! He is so gracious! He is so kind! He is so loving! People respond or reject God when they are in Jesus’ presence. Such a glorious presence is with Jesus, that it changes the atmosphere. He ruined every funeral he went to, because he would raise the dead. Now that’s glory! I’m trying to stir you with a greater desire for intimacy with God. We might know intellectually or theologically that we are one with God, but there is a gap between what we know and what we experience.
    The glory of God, the fragrance of God, is not exuding from us like it did from Jesus. Jesus said, “I in them, and you in me (v. 23).” Just close your eyes for a second and say that with me, “I in them and you in me.” Jesus is saying, I’m going to be in them like you’re already in me. So guess who else is in us? The Father is living and abiding in us. Jesus describes this indwelling of the Father in this way “. . . I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:23). It is a process, isn’t it? See, God has created us, God has bought us, and transformed us, that we might exhibit the love of the Father to the world. The people in the world are not going to read the Bible without knowing Jesus, having the Holy Spirit to teach them. They might read the Bible intellectually, but they will not understand it. However, they will read you. You are the one who will exhibit God’s glory to the world. You’re the one, as you love the unlovely that will reveal Jesus. Something has to happen inside of us so we love one another blemishes and all. There’s not one perfect person alive on earth, yet God loves us. Heavenly Father, give us this kind of love for one another, love that loves beyond the blemishes.
    First we need to be one with God in intimacy. Second we need to be one with him in proximity. In other words, we need to hang out with him. Jesus said, “. . . I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20, NKJV).” We need to be one, in his presence. We need to wake up in the morning and get into God. Don’t let the morning start without getting into him, and then walk all day with him.
    Third we need to be one with God in security. Jesus said, “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. (John 10:29, NKJV). In conclusion, be with Jesus, be intimate with Him, find yourself in proximity with God, and abide in Him.
    Build your confidence. Paul wrote in Hebrews 13:5, “For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Build your confidence, knowing nobody can pluck you from God’s hand. Put your confidence in his strength, his ability, not your own resources.
    I’m so glad God is the one who pursued us and grabbed us.
Paul wrote: “There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6).
     That’s where we want to live, every day, with that sense of unity. No matter where we are, there is a presence, a glory. God wants us to be conscious of His presence. Someone defined the fear of the Lord in this way: to have a constant awareness of God’s power and presence. I like that. We are one with Him. Let us be continually aware of His presence with us.

Unless otherwise noted, all scriptures taken from the Holy Bible,
    New International Version®, NIV®.
    Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™
    Used by permission of Zondervan.
    All rights reserved worldwide.
    www.zondervan.com

What are you doing here?

2010-10-22T16:31:00.005-05:00

by Keith Hazell, Lethbridge, Alberta; Canada

   When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the
   mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
   (1 Kings 19:13)

Airports are interesting places! Sitting and listening and watching can be fascinating for us as we travel. Sometimes the public address system in a big airport will blare out the name of someone we know. We wonder “Is it him or her, or someone else with the same name?” It is even more surprising when we actually see someone we know as we are passing through a mega airport. Our first question is, “What are you doing here?”

It’s a good question to actually ask ourselves about the city we live in and call home. Why are we here? What are we doing? Motivation for where we live can come from a multitude of things: weather, education, employment, proximity to family. Should God have a part in our choice of home and why we live there? Rarely in current Christian circles do people actually indicate that they are in their present location because God told them to be there. Of course we expect a missionary to be able to say, “The Lord called me to Tajikistan,” but what about Joe the average believer? Should you sense a call of God to your city?

Paul and his companions travelled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to

Macedonia

and help us." After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for

Macedonia

, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:6-10)

Paul and his companions set out with their own intention of a destination. They were blocked, however, by the Holy Spirit from entering several places. I wonder whether we take the Holy Spirit into account in our choice of location. Would we actually be aware if he was blocking us? So often we find ourselves in locations that are pleasing to us but perhaps not the will of God for our lives. For Paul and his party there was an intervention of the Holy Spirit that they all acknowledged, but more than that they decided to respond to it.

I asked a leader of the underground church in China how they set about planting a church in a new community. She said “We hear from God the name of a city or town, and then we pray and choose 5 families from our church. We go to the 5 families and tell them of this and they move to the new city and become the foundation members of the church there.” For them, their priority about where they live is determined by the Holy Spirit.

Today in many churches there is a lack of leaders who are really committed to the task of building a New Testament Church in their community. Why is this? In so many cases believers in these churches have no vision or commitment to the specific City where they live and no heart to actually be involved like Paul and his party in preaching the Gospel there, and building something significant. For them church is a place they attend regularly, but it is basically generic. Any church in any city would be fine! Thus they do not have a heart for building with their leaders a vital church in their community. Paul and his party were called together on a mission to build something specifically in Macedonia, and could invest their lives in it because God had called them.

How about you and I? I met an accountant who lived in a western Canadian city. This man had been offered promotion five times, which would have greatly improved his finances and prospects of further promotion. Each time he refused, because he felt that God should determine his location. He was convinced that it should not simply be in the hands of his employer to make the decision for him.

Is it possible for us to be called to a city or town? Can that understanding effectively change our attitude to our commitment and involvement in our local church? If we felt called might we not invest more of our time, money and energy to see the Gospel firmly planted there?

For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have
many people in this city. (Acts 18:10)

The urgency of the hour demands that a sense of destiny and purpose be evident in our lives and actions as responsible believers. Knowing we are where we should be is a good beginning. What are you doing here?

All Bible references are taken from the:

New International Version (NIV)

Beware of the Amalekites!

2010-10-22T16:24:00.000-05:00

by Keith Hazell, Lethbridge, Alberta; Canada

“Where are you going?” I was often asked as a child in the little village where I lived. Usually I answered with conviction, “Nowhere,” since I had no real direction in my daily meanderings through the paths and woods where I wandered.

In those days it was pretty safe. There were very few child predators in wartime England. Time spent on our own as children was not a thing that put fear in the hearts of our hard-working parents. Today parents need a clear definition of where their kids are, what they are doing, and how long they will be there.

Simply put we live in dangerous times! As in the natural, so also in the spiritual this is a dangerous time for us as believers. There has been a tendency for Charismatics to always be on the move. Our churches have been marked by a cafeteria style which means if you can’t find what you want here, you go somewhere else. I have heard amazing stories of believers of 25 years vintage leaving churches because they are not being fed. In the natural a 25-year-old would scoff at being handfed with a spoon! Yet in the spiritual realm their expectation is a lifetime that never requires any spiritual growth or maturity based on seeking after God and reading His Word for themselves.

In the Scriptures the Amalekites, also called the sons of Amalek, were at odds with God’s chosen people always looking to trap them one way or the other. Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. (Deuteronomy 25:17-18)

Something was happening here. The people of Israel were on a journey to the land God had prepared for them. They were pursuing their godly call and direction, but a strange thing was happening. Some of the people were losing their place in the marching order. They had started well but were slowly, but surely, losing touch with Moses and the leaders and slipping further and further back in the crowd. They were complaining and making the journey difficult for others as well, with gossip and division marking their regress. As time went on they were losing sight of the direction of the nation, and they were soon enveloped in a cloud of dust where they lost orientation, and suddenly became vulnerable to the Amalekites lurking in the shadows.

We have a similar pattern in our churches today. Peter cautions believers:

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. (1 Peter 5:8-9)

We need to be careful in our behavior in the local church, lest we find ourselves willingly surrendering vision, speaking critically, and becoming a liability instead of an asset in the Kingdom. Paul encourages Christians to resist the devil and to stand firm in faith. In another passage Paul encouraged believers to restore out of love the sinner in their church who repents, “in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes”. (2 Corinthians 2:11)

Just as Satan did with Israel in the Wilderness, today it is definitely a plan of the Enemy to deceive many believers, enticing them to drop out of local churches in a cloud of confusion, and to become neutralized in their effectiveness in the Kingdom. Therefore, great care must be taken by those leaving a local church, to make certain they are not departing without the direction and destiny of God. Above all they need a real attitude check to ensure their departure has the purest of motives, and does not spring from pride, rebellion, or a spirit of independence. Is the person leaving out of frustration, or out of faith?

Abraham is an excellent example of a man who acted by faith after God called him to leave his homeland.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:8-10)

There are times in our walk of faith, when like Abraham, God tells someone to set out and leave for an unspecified destination. For Abraham and those with him, this was to be the beginning of a journey of faith leading to a destination that they were unable to define. Many people today are hearing a distinctive call, as Abraham did. They know they have heard, but may seem to be abandoning ship without an adequate explanation. Yet they have heard from the Lord and are stepping out in the same spirit of faith as Abraham.

Another good example is found in Acts 13 when Paul got a word from the Prophets separating him and Barnabus to a new ministry.

In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. (Acts 13:1-4)

The Antioch church, as well as Paul and Barnabas, were all unaware of where their mission would take them, how they would be supported financially, or when or if they would actually return to Antioch.

The preceding thoughts are two sides of the same coin. On one side there are those who carelessly drop out of their local churches, because of offence, fickleness or carelessness. These people are not seriously considering the dangers of falling behind into the dust cloud where the spirit of the Amelakites is waiting to destroy them. For them, moving on is not the result of a sense of mission and forward movement in God, but rather one of inertia, indifference and lack of being joined or accountable to anyone for anything.

The Amalekites are still with us! Those who are falling back into the dust, often lay claim to being treated badly, but they frequently are the cause of their own troubles. Bad attitudes and spiritual naivety are leading people into isolation and often into spiritual deception. In the present situation of turmoil, church leaders need to take a clearheaded look at people and their true reasons for the present extreme mobility in the Body of Christ.

On the other side of the coin, there are some who are moving on, but without a clear and obvious situation to step into. They do so, without rancor, bitterness, or their own agenda, seeking the permission of their overseers. Because they are unable to articulate an acceptable explanation, they are often considered, rebellious, and having a bad spirit by their leaders. This misunderstanding can divide personal relationships that would otherwise continue profitably for both parties.

Those who are leaving in faith need to go, where possible, with a sense of release and blessing from their local church. They need to step out, not drop out. They need to step out in faith to become a catalyst for change, rather than drop out to become a critic for destruction. At the same time, since there are new things happening all around the Body of Christ, local churches need to be willing to expand their umbrella and covering to different expressions of the life of God.

Fear of innovation and creativity are making some leaders become defensive and threatened in their position in local churches. Some of those who have vision that goes beyond the present scope of their local church need to look for ways of pursuing this vision with patience and the co-operation of their leaders, rather than simply abandoning ship. Both leaders and those leaving need to avoid anger and bitterness since this will impede either party from being able to walk in the blessing of God.

If you are moving into something new that you see God doing, don’t take your chip or bitterness with you, because you will only infect the very thing you are trying to support or initiate. Sadly, many new things that are being initiated will be destroyed. They contain a kernel of truth, but the truth is overridden by the entrenched bitterness of promoters who have fallen out of relationship with their former spiritual home. Thus the Enemy achieves his goals, and the Amalekites strike again.

If we really have new or renewed vision from God, the genuine calling from God propelled by the Holy Spirit will supernaturally attract others without the need on our part to denigrate something else. In the natural world we encounter the Butterfly who begins as a caterpillar and then goes into a hibernation stage in a chrysalis. When the caterpillar emerges, it comes out as a beautiful butterfly. While the butterfly can never fit back into the chrysalis without breaking its wings, it must honor and respect the provision of God which kept it through a period of change and transition allowing it to be born to its ultimate destiny.

A principal in Scripture teaches us that what happens in the natural realm is paralleled in the spiritual realm. The church as the company of believers is going through a time when something new is appearing out of the apparent hibernation and irrelevance of the past. There is a butterfly slowly emerging. The church as the company of believers cannot be confined by its immediate past, but must recognize with thankfulness that it is springing from the chrysalis of the past to new life by the power of the Holy Spirit of God who has the ability to preserve Christ’s Body of believers and to release it in due season.

All Bible references are taken from the:
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

What Is Our Aim?

2010-10-20T15:22:00.005-05:00

By Neil Thielke, August 12, 2007

   My mom told a story about two kids who were trying to walk the straightest line in the fresh snow across the field to the farm place about a quarter mile away. Climbing into the hay mow after their walk to judge the results laid out in the field of snow, they discovered that one line was far straighter than the other. The crooked walker asked his straight-lined friend how he did it. “Simple” was the reply, “I just walked with my eyes focused on the hay mow window at the top of the barn”. Focusing on a goal in the future helps us live straighter, too.
   Once again I am preparing to leave Morris on several extended overseas trips to Ireland, Spain, Kenya and The Republic of Georgia. Traveling offers an opportunity to review my life before departure. How does my life look in light of eternity? If this were my last day in Morris, what would I want my life to mean? Jesus was the Word of God made incarnate. As Christians, we are also meant to have the Word (Jesus) made flesh in us: Jesus living through us as an offering to the world around us.
It is totally irrelevant what other people say, because Jesus gives the final assessment about how straight our line is. What the neighbors or relatives say means nothing, compared to what Jesus says. Things like caring for the disadvantaged, loving others, engaging our community (as well as what goes on in our private lives), are all components of a healthy life-journey -- a straight line.
   Socio-cultural values are crooked sticks to lay our lives against, because the values in society change over decades and centuries. Self-righteous Americans judged Nazi Germany harshly for persecuting the Jews. However, evidence is now surfacing that Americans could have relieved the suffering by allowing the Jews to emigrate to America. For the most part, America closed her doors to the Jews trying to flee Germany for their lives. An even more blatant example is Tony Blair’s written apology on the Dublin airport wall concerning the English ignoring the plight of millions of Irish who perished in the potato famine. Rather than feed the Irish, the English Lords who owned the productive land in Ireland, turned their Irish tenants out of their homes to avoid the taxes designed by British Parliament to feed the starving masses, and exported the food from their farms to be sold abroad. Today’s Cultural values are now casting a negative light on actions that were socially accepted in the England of the 1840’s. Even though the Bible was written centuries ago to a pastoral third world country, the values found in God’s Word never change.
   Bill Clinton said, “It’s about the economy Stupid”, winning the American presidency, because the majority of the American voters accepted his views. But in light of eternity Bill Clinton’s slogan looks pretty trite. Lest the politically Right be left feeling self righteous, the prevailing sexual moral morass of their own camp is also disgusting, whether they are directly involved, or whether they just wink at it by their failure to demand correction.
   US World News and Report ran an assessment on the worst presidents in American history last week. I wonder how God would have ranked them. Even though I have my doctrinal issues with Jimmy Carter, perhaps his morning time in the prayer closet with God every day, whether people saw him or not, would weigh in heavily with God? I think so. Biblical Christianity is not primarily a political movement according to the model in Acts in the Bible. Christianity in the Book of Acts majored on straightening personal lives to walk in line with Jesus, footprints etched in the snowfield of time.
   God sees past our public image. How do we treat our wives -- or husbands for that matter? How about the way we treat our children? Where do our eyes gaze when no one is watching us? Proverbs 17:3 says: “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.” This testing is done in light of the eternal Word of God. 1 Peter 1:25 says “the word of the Lord stands forever." There is no allowance for changing moral standards or for current social trends there!
   As I am packing, these are good questions to consider in light of the haymow window glimpse of eternity. As I look at the weather report, it looks like a lot of fresh snow is coming. It is time to keep my eyes on Jesus, and walk a straight line.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible,
    New International Version®, NIV®.
    Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™
    Used by permission of Zondervan.
    All rights reserved worldwide.
    www.zondervan.com

Are Apostles for Today?

2010-10-20T08:52:00.045-05:00

by Neil Thielke, January, 2006

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you--even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. Acts 3:19-21

In the 1900's we saw many components restored to the church that Jesus established in the first century A.D. The church in the Book of Acts was the new wineskin Jesus spoke of that would be able to hold the new wine of the Holy Spirit. Now God is rebuilding His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Apostles are a gift Jesus gave to the church that is being restored today.

Foundation versus Building Apostles

The Bible is divided into the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Testament is another word for covenant. God made covenants in the Old Testament with leaders like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. The people of Israel in the Old Testament would often drift away from the covenants made by their forefathers. As the time drew near for Jesus' birth, the religious leaders in Israel had turned the faith of their forefathers into empty traditions.
Jesus referred to new wineskin issues when he said to the Jewish leaders “You have made the Word of God null and void with your traditions!” Jesus made a new covenant with his followers that went into effect when Jesus shed his blood on the cross and the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The curtain hid the holy of holies from the people. Only the priests could enter there, and then only once a year. By opening the way into the Holy of Holies, God was establishing a new temple in the hearts of every follower of Jesus. The apostles first job after Jesus ascended into heaven was to establish the fledgling church’s foundations as a separate entity from the Jewish nation. These were foundation apostles.

Jesus as the word of God incarnate came to make the Father known to us. Jesus said to Philip: “If you have seen me you have seen the Father!" (John 14:9). Christians are still called to represent Jesus and the Father to the world. Jesus said in John 20:21, “As the Father sent me, I am sending you.” We also have the Word of God in us. What an awesome responsibility and privilege Jesus has given to us.

Apostles were one of the gifts Jesus gave the church “so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:12-13). Did God have his tongue in his cheek when he inspired Paul to write this? When will the church “attain to the WHOLE measure of Christ?” or when will “ALL reach the unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God”? We are not there yet. Will we arrive there before Jesus returns? Probably not. Based on the lack of unity in the church, and in light of this passage in Ephesians we can conclude that apostles are for today.
Referring to his job in laying a solid foundation that would stand the test of time, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15:

¹⁰By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. ¹¹For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹²If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. ¹⁴If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. ¹⁵If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:19-22 about their church being built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets:

¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

To retain the effectiveness God ordained for the church, the first century apostles built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, who is the chief cornerstone. In the Book of Acts we can study the work of the foundation apostles as they started the first century churches. Today we are building on top of that foundation. Building Apostles are those who are still constructing on top of the original parameters laid by the foundation apostles. To alter the original foundation would be not only be sacrilegious, but we would be ignoring the ongoing critical need for apostles. In other words, we would be disregarding one of God's permanent gifts to His church: apostolic leaders especially called and gifted by the Holy Spirit to the ministry of building on Christ's original foundation. What would building apostles look like today?

Often before a person leaves on a long trip, they tell family and friends the things that are most important. After witnessing first-hand the dangerous traffic in some countries, I have adopted the wisdom of telling my friends where my will is located before departure! Just before leaving planet earth Jesus told the apostle Peter, “Feed my sheep”. One of the ways Peter fed Jesus’ sheep was by shepherding pastors in the first century church. Similarly Paul's shepherding of pastors is abundant in Paul's epistles to the churches.

There is much evidence that pastors still need personal shepherding today. Behind almost every transfer (or resignation) of pastors there is a sad story that often remains undisclosed. The reason for relocation is clothed in spiritual language: “I feel called to a different place”. But often the real reason for the exit is hardship in leadership relationships because of the lack of an outside referee. What some authors call “church dragons” are too often left to control and manipulate the flock because of their past unresolved hurts and issues. As the new shepherd arrives to pick the discarded baton off the floor, the dragons lie in wait behind friendly faces and smiles till the honeymoon period is over when they begin to pounce.
A leader of a church denomination in Minnesota has administrative oversight for over 500 licensed ministers. He gets frequent phone calls from pastors, mostly when they are in dire circumstances. Sadly although he is an excellent leader, with such an overwhelming demand for oversight he cannot visit the churches even on an annual basis to develop good relationships among the pastors, elders, and church members. The most he can do in those local churches in the aftermath of ruptured relationships is to try to stop the hemorrhaging. There should be much more to the role of an apostle than just operating an emergency room. Consider for a moment what that would look like in a marriage: “Call me, dear, if you run into any dire crises; otherwise I will see you at the rapture.”

One of the top qualities of successful churches recently listed by a prominent author was “the pastor has been there a long time”. Consider the difference in terms of commitment between a hired shepherd and the shepherd/owner. In the United States, the average length of service for pastors is only two years per church. The congregation is dreaming of the perfect pastor, while the pastor dreams of the ideal pastorate. But the relationship between a pastor and his church is meant to be like the marriage covenant between a man and wife. Jesus was willing to lay down his life for his sheep. Each pastor is an under shepherd serving under their Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ. The Bible refers to the church as Jesus' bride. Under shepherds are to honor the church as the bride of Christ. Conversely, the church is to honor their pastor as a covenant gift given to the church by God. Just as there are no perfect wives or husbands, there are no perfect pastors or churches. Perfect marriages result from two parties committed to working out their differences with love, honor and respect for each other. The same should be true in many aspects of pastor-flock relationships.

One pastor told me that he had probably been in his parish long enough. He was having difficulty keeping from crying at the funerals, because he had come to know the people so well. My thought was that he had finally arrived! He was no longer a hireling, but had become a true shepherd. Many veteran pastors declare that this does not happen till the 7th or 8th year of their pastorate.

One important function of an apostle is serving as a pastor of pastors when establishing churches. Paul's model for building depth into his apostolic relationships with the leaders of the churches Paul had planted was that of a shepherd. While saying goodbye for the last time to a group of local leaders, Paul said:

²⁸Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. ²⁹I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Acts 20:28-29

³⁶When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. ³⁷They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. ³⁸What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

21: ¹After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. Acts 20:36 - 21:1.

The example of the first apostle's relationships with their pastors is a model for all time. Although the foundation of the church was laid in the first century, the need for true shepherds has not diminished- especially for apostles, the shepherds of pastors of local churches.

Shepherding- A Sign

The job description for an apostle modeling his ministry after the ministry of the apostles in the New Testament includes the following functions:

1. Mediator - Philemon, Acts 15

2. Church consultant - 1 Corinthians 7:1

3. Troubleshooter - 1 Corinthians 1:11

4. Training leaders - 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy

5. Counselor -

6. Team leader - Paul in Book of Acts

7. Discipline consultant - See 1 Corinthians 5:1

8. Doctrine consultant - Galatians 4, 5

9. Church planter - Book of Acts

10. Pastor to local church leaders - the pastoral epistles of Paul to the churches

11. Visionary

All of the above functions are necessary for an apostle today. Without apostolic input, local church boards are left to duke it out among themselves in a real life game of Survival. An apostle can facilitate a peaceful change through kingdom-building problem resolution. But the most important function given to leaders called by God to be apostles that is so desperately needed by many pastors today is ongoing, constant, caring shepherding of the shepherds.

How to Test an Apostle

Apostolic shepherding is part of God's restoration of the church whose foundations were laid in the book of Acts. Leaders do not become true apostles by being elected or by calling themselves apostles. Frequently, when the ministry of apostle is embraced as a valid ministry in churches today, everyone with a ministry is quick to proclaim, “I’m an apostle”, as they gather up churches like notches on their belts. Revelation 3 talks about a church that was able to test apostles to see which were genuine. Incredibly, as important as it is, we were left without the substance of the “test”.

Some assume that signs and wonders are required to prove an apostle because of 2 Corinthians 12:12, “The things that mark an apostle--signs, wonders and miracles--were done among you with great perseverance."

However, this verse does not say that these signs are required before an apostle begins their work. Looking at the context of this verse, Paul was using the signs, wonders, and miracles as evidence of his leadership calling when the Corinthians questioned his role as their apostle.

True pastoring of pastors is also a valid sign of genuine apostles. Just as a son can recognize his father, a pastor knows his apostle by the pastoral care he receives. Unfortunately, being an apostle is often reduced to a status symbol rather than an important ministry service to the church for equipping pastors. Apostles also have their own cross to bear carrying huge responsibilities. True apostles should be quick to pick up the staff of servanthood as they shepherd pastors. Desiring the title of apostle, or comparing how many churches they oversee with others should be the last thing on the mind of a true apostle. Pastors who are in their care appreciating and accepting their shepherding service is proof enough of the apostolic gift in them.

The Scope of What One Man Can Do

How many pastors can one man apostle? Anyone who tries to personally oversee 500 churches would not have time for shepherding pastors one-on-one. There are apostolic teams who share the ministry of shepherding to cover many churches. However, unless each pastor receives personal shepherding attention from someone on the apostolic team, the apostle designation becomes an empty formal title, and the apostle as shepherd is relegated to function merely as a hireling.

Jesus related to twelve men who Jesus left in charge of the church in Jerusalem with the primary task of sharing the gospel with the entire world. Jesus lived night and day with those twelve men as they walked throughout Judea and Samaria for the three years of Jesus' ministry. Those twelve men knew Jesus intimately as their Shepherd. How many men can we relate to on a personal basis? How many can we give personal care to? When the apostle gets stretched, relationships fall into neglect. Apostles more interested in the title sometimes blame breakdowns in relationships on the very pastors the apostle has failed to shepherd. There is a need to personally shepherd those God has put in our care. Nothing can replace quality time: not anointing, miracles, or personal charisma. These may facilitate our relationship, but even the US military has to place men on the ground of the country that they wish to occupy in order to establish governmental structure. Merely tossing bombs, supplies, or pamphlets from the air will never establish order. Hands-on work on the ground is crucial. The same holds true for apostolic oversight.

The Acquisition of an Apostle

If a church is looking for a shepherding apostle who will help them build lasting foundations for solid relationships, where can such an apostle be identified? The actual implementation of apostleship in a local church needs to be a work of the Holy Spirit, because the apostolic gift is from God. Rushing to get under an apostolic umbrella of authority too quickly can be worse than no apostle at all. Those in apostolic ministry whose names are known regionally or nationally are often already carrying too many churches to effectively meet the needs of individual churches. Oversight in a large network of churches do not actually shepherd the pastors.

   We were blessed at Morris Community Church to have had God speak to us from our inception in 1982 about God-given five-fold leadership. A small group in Bible study at Neil and Ruth Thielke's house were reading in Ephesians 4:

⁷But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸This is why it says:
   "When he ascended on high,
      he led captives in his train
      and gave gifts to men." ⁹(What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? ¹⁰He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) ¹¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

There was a God-breathed pause. They all understood as the Holy Spirit spoke to their spirits that the ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers was still for today. They stopped to pray that God would lead them to a church modeled after the Word of God.

Two weeks later Don Webster died. Don was the father of Ruth’s best friend Judy. Judy’s brother, Doug, came home from Texas for the funeral. In the week that Doug was home, Neil and Ruth visited with him about his church. When Doug lived in the Twin Cities, he attended New Testament Church in Eden Prairie, which is now City Hill Fellowship. They had apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers serving in their group of churches. The more they heard about Doug's church, the more convinced they were that this was the answer to their prayers for a church like the one in the Book of Acts. Neil and Ruth asked Doug to arrange a meeting with the folks at New Testament Church.

At the first meeting in Morris, they were introduced to Jim McCracken who began to mentor Neil into pastoral ministry. Jim served as apostle for Morris Community Church for over twenty years. During that time, Neil began planting other churches. Jim McCracken set Neil in as the apostle over the Outfitters for Adventure hub within Jim's TrueBridge family of churches. The Outfitters for Adventure hub is a like a grandchild within TrueBridge. It utilizes apostolic shepherding of pastors that Jim McCracken modeled--the model Jesus established for apostolic ministry in the New Testament. The first generation of apostles and prophets we read about in the Book of Acts laid the foundation that apostles today are still building upon. Apostolic ministry is one of the ministry gifts that Jesus gave the church. Apostolic ministry helps enable the church to stand the test of time, as apostles pastor the pastors to hold fast to the teachings that Jesus poured into his church.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible,
    New International Version®, NIV®.
    Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™
    Used by permission of Zondervan.
    All rights reserved worldwide.
    www.zondervan.com

How Many Faith Units Needed for Heaven?

2010-10-08T00:30:00.004-05:00

by Neil Thielke, July 2006

Trust/Faith Units Needed for Heaven?

Did you ever wonder how much trust (faith is trust) is really needed to go to heaven? How much faith? I was preaching at the funeral for a friend of mine. Looking out at the crowd of mourners, I asked them, “How many faith units are required to get you into heaven?” Even among most church-goers, there is a paranoia about where they will spend eternity that runs way down deep. What happens if I don’t have enough faith, and I’m just one faith unit short when my time comes? All you have to do is mention it to a congregation, and there’s lock-on attention. Looking over the crowd, two eyes out every face were staring right up at me. What happens if I’m one unit short? How many units do I need? Oh, they were interested in that. The Bible says exactly how many units of faith you need to get to heaven. You need a whole lot more than one. You need enough units . . . enough faith units to entrust your life to Jesus. That’s the faith that’s necessary to get to heaven. Do you trust Him with your life? He wants the whole thing. It takes enough faith to trust Jesus with your whole life: past, present, and future. There are some benefits that go along with that. One benefit is that you can forgive yourself for all the dumb stuff you did. The only reason I know that, is that I had a list. I don’t have to beat myself anymore. It’s over. Christianity is not beating yourself for all the wrong things you have done. No way! You’re set free from sin. You're forgiven!

There Are Five Promises of Salvation in Romans 10:5-13

Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) "or 'Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

The five promises for having given our life to Jesus:

· You will be saved

· You are saved

· You will never be put to shame

· You will receive rich blessing

· You will be saved

Never Be Put to Shame

Paul wrote in Romans 10:11, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.” The shame Paul was referring to is the shame the unsaved will experience when God gathers all mankind from the beginning of history until the end before his throne for the final judgment. Those who believe in Jesus will not be put to shame, but those who did not give their lives to Jesus will be put in hell for all eternity with the devil and his fallen angels. There are about 10 billion people living in the world right now who will be among the generations before us and after us who will be gathered before the King of Kings on the judgment day. In some churches at funerals the pastor says something to the effect of, “Lord, please preserve these remains until we see you again.” God will not need to use any part of your body to make a new body. Another portion of the funeral service at some churches is, “Receive now this lamb from your fold.” When a person dies, that person is going to wherever he or she is headed. Their decisions made while they were alive determined their final destination for eternity. In Hebrews 9:27 it is written, “and as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment (NKJV).” When we die, the deciding is over. Our destination after death isn’t something left to be finished up at your funeral. The funeral ceremony is for the comfort of the living. The deceased is already gone. Their body in the coffin is just a coat their spirit left behind. I can take my shirt off, and it’s just as significant as my body will be at my funeral.

What did Paul mean in Romans 10:11 about never being put to shame? In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus said: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Out of the 10 billion people alive on the earth today, most will go to hell. Jesus said the road to eternal life is narrow and that few find it. Jesus IS the road to heaven. There is no other way. Jesus said, I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

You can’t get to heaven through Buddah, you can’t get to heaven through Mohammed, you can’t get to heaven through anyone or anything except Jesus, and few are on Jesus’ road. On judgment day, it will suddenly be really apparent who’s the boss! When Jesus comes to judge all the people who have ever lived, every knee is going to be bow down. As Paul wrote in Romans 14:10-12:

For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.
   It is written:
   'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,'Every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'
So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

No matter how important people appeared while alive on earth, at the judgment God is going to bring everybody down on their knees to worship Jesus, the King of Kings. It’s all about Him, it’s not about anyone on earth. Well, the guys who didn’t make it will realize, “Whoa! This is for ALL ETERNITY! I missed it!” That’s the one thing that kept me turning my life around to give my life to Jesus. If you aren’t ready to give your life to Jesus today, may that thought stay with you forever. I remember the rock and roll song that said, “I know there ain’t no heaven, and I hope there ain’t no hell.” My parents had taught me enough that I knew there was a hell. The biggest shame that will ever be experienced by anybody, will be to realize that they have missed heaven for all eternity. That’s the big one. The Bible says that if you give your life to Jesus, you will never be put to shame. If you have given your life to Jesus, you can say, “I will never be put to shame!” You don’t have to worry about being gated off with the goats.

Today is the Day of Salvation:

I was invited by a woman in my church to visit her father who was dying in the hospital. He had been drunk most of the time since WWII. When we got to his room the hospital, he was having delirium tremens. I grabbed hold of him and I said, “In the name of Jesus, we command this man’s mind to come back to him.” Just like that, his mind was back and he was talking to us. I told him, “You are dying, and you need to do something before you get out of here. Do you want to receive Jesus?” He was staring at me like I had just rescued him from something really frightening. Yes, he wanted to receive Jesus!
I said, “Pray after me. Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner. Please forgive me for all my sins. I give you my life, and invite you to be my Lord and Master. Amen.” He prayed those words after me, and he really meant it!” As soon as he got done praying he went back into the delirium tremens again. He was gone. We weren’t able to connect with him anymore. He died the next day.

Now, the thing I’ve got in my mind is, we get to heaven, and there’s Ernie. His buddies who were drinking with him for all those years look across from where they are gated among all the goats, and the sheep are on the other side. They’re facing the greatest shame they’ve ever known, and they’ll yell across, “Ernie, how did you get over there?” Ernie will say, “You won’t believe this, but I was nine tenths dead, and this guy grabbed hold of me, and brought me back to life, and told me what to pray, and here I am.” Close! Don’t cut it that close! There are lots of people who try to skin it close, and they don’t make it. You don’t have to worry about the shame that goes along with missing heaven, if you take time now and commit the rest of your life to Jesus.

Every Ethnic Group is Welcome

Paul wrote in Romans 10:12, “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, . . ..” No ethnic groups are excluded. All are welcomed by Jesus. I’m blessed to have some Christian brothers and sisters from Asia, I’m blessed to have African American brothers and sisters. Every ethnic group is represented in the family of God. God is restoring the family of Noah who had all the genes of all the ethnic groups in him when he was on the ark. Praise God! As I travel the world, I really appreciate the rainbow of skin colors that there are in God’s family. In God’s family there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, the same Lord is Lord of all. The same owner, the same landlord is owner of all and richly blesses all who call on him. Everybody who gives Jesus their life is in for rich blessing.

I used to think, “If you become a Christian – no more problems.” Well, that’s bunk. I’ve just got Jesus walking with me through my problems now. That’s the difference. We lost two of our kids. They both died in my arms after we were first married. It was one of the toughest things I’ve ever been through. I can tell you that Jesus has never been closer to us than during that time. It’s almost like I wished I had those moments back. Oooh, that’s as close as I’ve ever been to heaven. Jesus was right there. Yes, it hurt like all get out, but Jesus was right – there! I don’t know how people who don’t have Jesus handle it. I know what some of them do. They do what I did before I gave my life to Jesus. They go out and get drunk, because they can’t handle it.

The Highway of Holiness

I developed a diagram to help people visualize the difference between salvation and restoration, and another diagram to illustrate the processes of salvation and sanctification. The first diagram I call "The Road", based on what the prophet Isaiah wrote:

And a highway will be there;
      it will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not journey on it;
      it will be for those who walk in that Way;
      wicked fools will not go about on it.
No lion will be there,
      nor will any ferocious beast get up on it;
      they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there, . . . (Isaiah 35:8-9)

   Jesus is the road. In John 14:6 he said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me ”.  Before we give our life to Jesus we are in the ditch. Jesus said that in order to get on the road, we need to be born again (see John 3:5). We just talked about how to do it, and I told you a prayer you could pray to commit your life to serving Jesus. The guy in the diagram is on the road. He got out of the ditch when he was born again. The guy on the road is the renter now. He gave Jesus his life, so Jesus is his owner, and he is just living in his body that he gave to Jesus. Jesus is his owner. Let’s say that the guy muffs up big time, begins sinning, and takes a trip down into the ditch again. Now what? Some of you did ditch time after you gave your life to Jesus. When you came out of the ditch when you were born again, it had to do with relationship. Relationship makes my heavenly Father my dad, and Jesus my brother. Walking away is deciding we don’t want anything more to do with that Christian stuff. Now what? Now how do we get on the road? We can never get born again, again. We can only give our life to Jesus once. After that the issues are different. I can only become the Father’s adopted son once. He may take me out to the woodshed, but being his Son now is a problem.
   How do we get on the road again after we walk away? The answer is found in 1 John 1:9-10, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
     When we confess our sin, the Father restores us. This has to do with fellowship, or how well I am getting along with Dad. Let’s say that little Johnny gives his life to Jesus on Thursday night and he means it. So, if he gives his life to Jesus, the promises we read in Romans 10:5-13 apply to him, right? Little Johnny is walking along the road the next day, and a Mac truck is bearing down on him. Little Johnny says, “Jesus Christ!”, and it isn’t using Jesus’ name in a good way. Then the truck hits him, and he dies. Boom, he’s gone! Does Johnny go to heaven? Usually in a room full of people there will be some who say, “He goes to hell. He shouldn’t be playing around in front of a Mac truck anyway.” No, Johnny had a bad habit, but he gave his life to Jesus the night before, and the promises in Romans 10:5-13 still apply. Jesus’ blood covers him. Johnny would go to heaven. Notice that before we give our life to Jesus, we are His enemies. You can put x’s in the eyes of the first example, to demonstrate that he was an enemy before he gave his life to Jesus. After he gives his life to Jesus, and falls into the ditch, he is a still a child of God, but he needs to restore his fellowship with his Father.
   One of the first things Jesus worked on in my life was getting rid of foul language. How many of us still had a problem with the words that came out of our mouth when we gave our life to Jesus? Jesus wants us to clean those foul mouths up. I thought he would work on my tobacco habit. Preachers were always checking on whether or not you were smoking cigarettes. Forget the cigarettes, man. It’s the mouth! Jesus said it isn’t what goes into the belly that make a man unclean, but rather what comes out of a man – what comes out of our mouths. What we are saying reveals the condition of our hearts.
   I remember chasing hogs into the barn when I was farming, and one sow wouldn’t go into an opening. She would run back outside. I’d get her back in. This went on for awhile. The hogs would run back outside, and I’d chase the sow in again, ad nausium.   Finally, after about the fourth time, the sow got her snout under the chasing gate, knocked it up in the air, and I went flat on my back right in the manure. I let loose with swear words that I wouldn’t want to repeat. All of a sudden I sensed the presence of God. I thought He didn’t hang around pig slop. I started crying! It was like, whoa, I just did that to Jesus! After that I just cut out the foul language. I didn’t use that rot anymore. What if you die right in the middle of that? Realizing the greatness of God’s forgiveness isn’t a matter of, “Well, if that’s the case, I can keep on doing whatever.” No, then you’re not really responding to the One who owns you, the One who loves you. That’s not good. If you’re thinking, as Christians we can go out and do anything, it doesn’t work that way. When you give your life to Jesus, you’re owned by Jesus. Now we serve Him. Jesus said to his disciples, “I no longer call you servants, I call you friends.” It didn’t end the idea that they were his servants. All he was saying was, “You are my servants. Now I’m going to treat you like friends. I own you, but I’ll still treat you like a friend.” What a deal!   We are a slave whose master treats like His friend. We’re still slaves. So it isn’t like, anything goes. God calls us to a new way of life, and He changes everything. I’m not the person I was 27 years ago. You wouldn’t recognize me from then to now.

Obedience from Love Relationship

The Bible says that if you have given your life to Jesus, you WILL BE SAVED. Someone will say, “Whoa, saved by warranty, if you go back to that, you’re in big trouble.” Wait a second. Let’s say that you adopt a son. He’s ten years old, in the fifth grade. He’s old enough to understand. You invite him into your house and sit him down at the table and you say, “Bobby, there are twenty rules I’m going to tell you. If you break any one of them, you’re out of this house!” What kind of a father is that? Yet, isn’t that how we are treating God if we are always wondering, what happens if I do this? What happens if I do that? He’s not that kind of a Dad. In fact, He expects that we will develop enough of a love relationship with Him that we will never do that stuff. It is out of a love relationship, not serving a legal system, but walking with Jesus. That’s what He expects. The first thing He wants to do in our Christian life is to love on us. In fact, for new Christians, it’s just great. You ask God for something, and it shows up just like snapping your fingers. It’s almost not fair. New Christians ask God for something and, (snap) it’s right there. Now that I’ve been serving God for several years, I’m finding it takes a little more than that to get answers to prayer. The baby bottle’s gone, and I've been weaned. I'm on to some serious stuff. I believe that if we enter into that love relationship with God, we stop obeying God out of fear of punishment. Jesus loves you. Even bigger yet, He says, “I’ve come that you might know the way to the Father.” If you want to know the Holy Spirit, get acquainted with your Heavenly Father. The Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are three persons, but they are also one God. The Holy Spirit is the spirit, or the essence of the Father. We receive the Holy Spirit when we ask the Father for the Spirit, and the Heavenly Father who is better than any earthly Father gives us the Holy Spirit and not a stone or a scorpion, because of the Father’s great love for us. (See Luke 11.) If you don’t know your Heavenly Dad, what kind of a guy He is, that’s the one who really frees you up. Your Heavenly Father is a real dude. You can talk to Him. I had to go to my Heavenly Father and find out what HE said. Do you know what HE said? “I made you special for a purpose. You’re special. You’re not junk. I’ve got a plan and purpose for you. You’re going to be a success!” That’s what Heavenly DAD says to me. He’ll say the same thing to you, if you just walk with Him. God made everybody to be a success. Everybody. True success comes out of a love relationship with Jesus, and with our Heavenly Father. You may think, “I don’t think God the Father can really love me, because if He really knew who I was and what I really did, and stuff I still think, . . ..” No, He already does know you. He wants to walk with you, so get rid of those thoughts and give your life to Him. Amen?

Defining Our Relationship With God

   Two guys are sitting in a bar soaking suds, one of them might be saved and the other one not saved. How would you know the difference? Neither is going to hell for being in a bar drinking beer. How would you know that one was saved? Well, you need to ask, “Where are you at with Jesus?” This illustration of the Highway to Heaven is great for helping people define where they stand with God. With some people I ask them to please put the pen down where they belong. One guy put the pen down in the wrong place. I said, “No, you’re not there.” He was seeking to follow God with his whole life. He wasn’t backslidden. So sometimes you have to help people find where they’re at with God.
   Several years ago an evangelist and I went into the bar I used to get drunk in, to play pool and win people for Jesus. There were two gals sitting there. One I don’t think was saved; the other one was from our church, and saw us walk in the side door. She told her friend, “Oh, my God! There’s the pastor!” She was out the other door like greased lightning. She never went back in there. She wasn’t in there to share Jesus. She was in there getting drunk. She was saved before she went into the bar that night. There was a conviction from the Holy Spirit that came on her, “I don’t belong in this place!” Light has no place in the darkness. Did you ever notice, in a bar there are no windows? What do they do when they want you to leave? They turn the light ON! Something is wrong with that picture! Do you know what we have to do to get people out of our church after a good evening service? We shut all the lights OFF! Maybe they’ll leave, OK? What a difference!
   A good pastor will feed people. We don’t feed them beer anymore. We feed them the Word of God. We know what they need, and we feed it to them. That’s why we need to have things like the illustration of the Highway to Heaven in our tool kit.

The House Illustration

In the house illustration, theologically, Jesus is knocking at the door of the church, but if you have ever given your life to Jesus, you know that He also knocked at the door of your heart. Jesus always knocks, waiting for us to invite Him in. Jesus never kicks the door down, but he says, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20, NIV)

     In the illustration above there are two houses. Each house represents your life. Jesus knocks at the door. When we open the door, and let Him come in, then Jesus becomes the owner, and we become the renter. Although Paul fell to the ground (Acts 9:4) when Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, Paul was searching for God on the inside. When Jesus said, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 26:14, NIV), instead of kicking back, Paul said, “Who are you, Lord?” (Acts 9:5). Paul was looking. Jesus didn’t knock down the door to Paul’s heart, he just knocked loudly, and Paul responded. Paul was a murderer in the first degree. Can you imagine that after Paul became a Christian, he had to go back and ask Stephen’s relatives, “Will you forgive me?” Whew! That was difficult! Somewhere Paul explained in the New Testament that he and his companions tried to force Christians to say they weren’t followers of Jesus anymore. Well, how do you do that? What do you have to do to make a Christian say he no longer believes in Jesus? Torture! Paul was torturing Christians. Paul had a lot of clean-up work to do.
   Not long after inviting Jesus into our life (house in the illustration), we are standing in a room in our house. We have a trash can in another room with last week’s fish guts in it, and we hear that same knock again. It sounds the same. Jesus knocked on your door for you to become a Christian, and he’s going to knock on doors to the inner rooms of your heart in the same way. It will be a nudging on the inside. He wants to come into another room in your heart and clean up the trash can with the fish guts in it. The first knock is for salvation. The other knocking is for sanctification. The first knock is to allow Jesus to have control in your life. If we give him a permanent “no” when he is knocking for salvation, it means that we will go to hell. If our response is, “No,” when he knocks for sanctification, it means a delay in God’s plan. We have an example in scripture of the prodigal son.
   The prodigal son takes off with a third of his father’s property. The oldest son gets two shares, and the prodigal gets one. The prodigal son takes off and goes out and spends it on whores, and one third of his father's hard earned money, all of the prodigal's inheritance is gone. Then he comes back home. He delayed the father’s plan in his life. The father said to the oldest son, “All that I have is your’s.” In other words, when the prodigal came back to his dad, he had really delayed the plan. It would take awhile to earn that money back again. He was restored to his sonship, but not the responsibility. You earn trust. Jesus will restore you instantly into fellowship. When you say, “Jesus, forgive me,” no matter what, he’ll receive you back into his arms. But trust is earned. To be a leader, someone Jesus will use, you need to prove yourself faithful. Jesus isn’t going to allow someone to lead His sheep down the wrong paths. We all want to be looked up to, but need to be faithful to the Master. In order for Jesus to trust us, we need to quickly respond when he knocks on the doors of our heart. We all have issues. How well are we responding to God in the issues in our life? That’s how much He trusts us. Jesus doesn’t trust all his kids.
   Is there an area of your life, a door of your heart, that God has been knocking on for awhile where He wants you to respond, and you want to say “yes”? Tell him “yes” in your heart. “Jesus, I’m saying ‘yes’ to that area in my life. Come on in and change me. Help me to have the right response in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
   I was ministering in The Republic of Georgia. We were traveling on the road. You could tell my host pastor was "with it". He was moving on with Jesus. As we were driving down the road, I asked, “How long were you in prison?” You should have seen him. He knew. He was a mature Christian. He was wondering, “What slipped?” He asked me, “How on earth did you know?” I recognized a prison tattoo on his hand with his number on it. Some of the guys coming out of prison over there become Christian leaders. They lost the trust of others when they went into prison, but if they allowed prison to change them, they have been found faithful when tested by life's trials.

   God has a plan for you, and he wants you to begin responding to it. He’s got a new identity for you. If you have been doing ditch time, or if you have rooms in your house that you have kept locked away from Jesus, He may not be able to trust you as a leader, but he wants to train you. In Hebrews 5:12 Paul wrote, “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!”
     In other words, Paul was saying, “By now you should have grown up.” If you have been a Christian for several years, don't be satisfied to just attend Church on Sundays. After several years, you should be eager to be trained to become a teacher. Jesus loves us as our Good Shepherd, but He also calls us to grow up so he can trust us to minister to the needs of others.
   The essence of your walk has to do with choices, not feelings. Jesus said, “By their fruit you will recognize them.”(Matthew 7:16, NIV) He didn’t say you’ll know them by their gifts. I have heard testimonies from people who had raised someone from the dead. Later we heard they had been beating their wife during the week. Hello! Beating your wife isn’t the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It’s not what a Christian does. Christians are gentle. Christian husbands serve their wives as Christ gave up His life for the church! You won’t recognize a Christian by their gifts. Jesus wants us to put on the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I believe that if just a roomful of Christians would put on the fruit of the Holy Spirit, they would begin to change their whole community, and in doing so, they would begin to change their world.
   It is important to remember what it takes to get to heaven. It isn't how many wonderful things we do for Jesus that will chalk up enough faith units for heaven. The work we do after we have given our life to Jesus is meant to be a response of love for Jesus, when we realize that our sins were washed away completely when Jesus died in our place on the cross, paying the full penalty for our sin. We have been set completely free to serve Jesus in grateful obedience. Therefore, the faith units needed for heaven are enough faith units to fully entrust, or to fully give our life to Jesus.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord WILL BE SAVED.

The Bible says that if you have given your life to Jesus, you WILL BE SAVED. Did you ever wonder how much trust is really needed to go to heaven? How much faith? I was preaching at the funeral for a friend of mine. Looking out at the crowd of mourners, I asked them, “How many faith units are required to get you into heaven?” Even among most church-goers, there is a paranoia that runs way down deep. What happens if I don’t have enough faith, and I’m just one faith unit short when my time comes? All you have to do is mention it to a congregation, and there’s lock-on attention. Looking over the crowd, two eyes out every face was staring right up at me. What happens if I’m one unit short? How many units do you need? Oh, they were interested in that. The Bible says exactly how many units of faith you need to get to heaven. You need a whole lot more than one. You need enough units (faith is trust) . . . enough trust units to give your life to Jesus. That’s the trust that’s necessary to get to heaven. Do you trust him with your life? He wants the whole thing. It takes enough trust to give him your whole life: past, present, and future. There are some benefits that go along with that. One benefit is that you can forgive yourself for all the dumb stuff you did. The only reason I know that, is that I had a list. I don’t have to beat myself anymore. It’s over. Christianity is not beating yourself for all the wrong things you have done. No way! You’re set free!

Obedience from Love Relationship

Someone will say, “Whoa, saved by warranty, if you go back to that, you’re in big trouble.” Wait a second. Let’s say that you adopt a son. He’s old enough to understand. He’s ten years old, in the fifth grade. You invite him into your house and sit him down at the table and you say, “Bobby, there are twenty rules I’m going to tell you. If you do any one of them, you’re out of this house!” What kind of a father is that? Yet, isn’t that how we are treating God if we are always wondering, what happens if I do this? What happens if I do that? He’s not that kind of a Dad. In fact, He expects that we will develop enough of a love relationship with Him that we will never do that stuff. It is out of a love relationship, not serving a legal law system, but walking with Jesus. That’s what He expects. The first thing He wants to do in our Christian life is to love on us. In fact, for new Christians, it’s just great. You ask God for something, and it shows up just like snapping your fingers. It’s almost not fair. New Christians ask God for something and; (snap) it’s right there. They ask God for this; (snap) it’s right there. Now that I’ve been serving God for several years I’m finding, it takes a little more than that to get answers to prayer. The baby bottle’s gone, and you’re weaned, dude. You’re on to some serious stuff. I believe that if we enter into that love relationship with God, it takes care of the rest of the stuff. Jesus wants to love on you. Even bigger yet, He says, “I’ve come that you might know the way to the Father.” If you want to know the Holy Spirit, get acquainted with your Heavenly Father. The Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are three persons, but they are also one God. The Holy Spirit is the spirit, or the essence of the Father. We receive the Holy Spirit when we ask the Father for the Spirit, and the Heavenly Father who is better than any earthly Father gives us the Holy Spirit and not a stone or a scorpion, because of the Father’s great love for us. (See Luke 11.) We’re going to teach about the Holy Spirit, but if you don’t know your Heavenly Dad, what kind of a guy He is, that’s the one who really frees you up. Your Heavenly Father is a real dude. You can talk to Him. I had to go to my Heavenly Father and find out what HE said. Do you know what HE said? “I made you special for a purpose. You’re special. You’re not junk. I’ve got a plan and purpose for you. You’re going to be a success!” That’s what Heavenly DAD says to me. He’ll say the same thing to you, if you just walk with Him. God made everybody to be a success. Everybody. True success comes out of a love relationship with Jesus, and with our Heavenly Father. You may think, “I don’t think God the Father can really love me, because if He really knew who I was and what I really did, and stuff I still think, . . ..” No, He already does know you. He wants to walk with you, so get rid of those thoughts and give your life to Him. Amen?