Greetings again my
Brethren. As we behold His glory more
and more we will be able to come into fellowship with God and man. Do you know you will never be able to have a
correct relationship with me unless you first have a correct relationship with
God. We must satisfy first things first.
A husband cannot love his wife correctly unless he first has a correct
relationship with God. Most problems in
the church today, as in the past, stem from an improper relationship with
God. How can we want our own way or try
to take advantage of our Brothers and Sisters if we have a correct relationship with the
Lord? Relationships are critical, they
are the strength of the church, not God’s power, God’s power is unquestioned,
He is God and He can do whatsoever He desires. All Godly ministry comes out
from Godly relationships, this too is why many ministries lack the power of
God, their relationship with God and with man is improper. My son Daniel Stahl (European Director for
Beholding His Glory) has it right. I
would like to share some thoughts he shared with me and at his church in
“When considering communion I immediately think of the
word relationship. Our relationship is
vital to our walk with the Father, Jesus knew this point to be true, and He
always prayed or “communed” with the Father.
He spent time praying because He saw His need for that. We too have this same relational need with
God; David says “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and
appear before God?” (Psalm 42:2)
here is an apparent desire for more of God in the chief Musician, Maschil’s
life.
God places great importance on relationships; to Him
they are crucial if we are to become perfect in Him. Take for instance one such possible relationship. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)
For as many as are led, this is a possible arrangement; it involves one
that is able to be led by God, we can’t lead ourselves and expect to be
children of God. In this life there are
many relationships which we can or cannot keep.
The choice is in our hands, I can choose to have a better relationship
with my wife, I can choose to listen to her and meet her needs or I can ignore
her and destroy that relationship. Same
in God, I can choose to sleep in and not read the Bible or I can stumble to the
table in our dining room and read and have a relationship with Him. What did Jesus say, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mathew
26:41) Let’s choose not to be
weak in this area.
There is much keeping in the Bible, God is a God to
gives eternal possessions, He desires for us to keep what He has said. Keep my word says God, wouldn’t it be nice to
do so, that would make our life much easier don’t you think. Now if we have
this relationship how do we keep it, or rather how is it carried out? As I prepared my message for communion I
thought the Saturday before that Sunday I’ll go up to a hill near my house and
watch the sunrise. So I got dressed,
kissed Sarah and headed out in the brisk German morning. Arriving atop the hill
I became cold and I wished the Sun would hurry up and show itself. My attire
was incorrect for the environment; we have great need to make preparations for
the right environment. I was wrong in
choosing something light, it was something that made me cold. Even though I got
dressed I put on the wrong attire, in so doing I missed the sunrise. I could no longer take the cold and returned
home to warm myself. I left prematurely
and missed the sunrise. We read in (1
Corinthians 5:8) “Therefore let us keep
the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and
wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Here Paul is telling us to live our life
without corruption “leavened” bread, and to keep the feast with sincerity and
truth. In our relationship with God we
must be sincere and truthful, no untruthfulness can be found in use. We too must have the correct attire in the
God. I pray that we go on into perfection,
desiring a deeper relationship with the Father.” The more we desire a correct relationship
with God the more we will have a correct relationship with our spouse,
children, and the world. The more we behold Him the more we will be able to
behold our self as compared to Him. And
the more we see our self compared to Him, the more we see just how short we
fall from God’s intention for our maturity and perfection.
Brethren let us go on to perfection as God has purposed and planned for
us. Let us move in Him correctly, full
of righteousness and honour both with Him and man. We cannot have correct
relationship with God and not with man. This can only happen as we come into
correct relationship with God first and then allow free sway in our lives to
areas that are displeasing to Him.
Correct relationship with man results from us allowing God’s dealings
and judgments in our lives and us agreeing what God is saying about us is true,
“we all have sinned and come short of God’s glory.” And in doing so, we
are conformed the more into His image from glory to glory, from trouble to
trouble to more glory. More next month on this and other topics.
ARTICLE REVIEW:
Built by Tears or Joy
As I travel around the world I see churches of all types and construction, some made with straw and mud, most made with concrete and brick, and still others with steel and glass. It seems we spend so much time and money in building the building we assemble in as like Believers. I wonder why we put so much energy, time, and resources into a building? Bigger, brighter, and newer is not always better. After all are we not the building, the temple, the house? Paul shared these words with us, What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19) Many Christians today get so involved with building things and doing for God they miss out on allowing God to build them into the person God wants them to be. We seem to forget, “ye are not your own?” We think we can do and say whatever we want to and still enjoy the things of God, well my friend this is presumption and not how God operates. Solomon knew this truth and shared it with us, “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” (Psalm 127:1) Solomon knew God was the masterbuilder in our lives. He knew God lays the cornerstones and more important he knew if he tried to build himself he would “labour in vain:” The word “vain” here means: emptiness, worthlessness, and to come to no place of profit. Sadly many Christians today work and work for God doing church activities, even paying their tithes, but in the end for them there is no place of profit, because God has not been involved in the building process. Now God still will be glorified in the work they do, but the profit for the individual will be lost because of how it was done. Paul warns us, “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.” (1 Corinthians 3:10) Please notice, not take heed to what is being built, but “take heed HOW he buildeth thereupon.” God always looks at how we do things, not what we do. He closely scrutinizes us to our motives, our intentions, and our desires.
But this type of heart condition is nothing
new. Solomon also said, “ . . . there
is no new thing under the sun.”
(Ecclesiastes 1:9) and this is so true in many churches today. Today
in many churches there seems to be a great division between those who desire a
traditional format of worship and those who desire a more contemporary style. Believe it or not you can even see this
separation in the people in Ezra’s days when the temple was rebuilt. “And
when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the
priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with
cymbals, to praise the LORD, after the ordinance of David king of
So too today there are many contemporary style Christians
in churches all around the world who are built by outward worship and emotions
like the folks here in Ezra who, “sang together by course in
praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy
endureth forever toward Israel.” but, by reason of age and experience they
lacked the understanding to just how beautiful the first temple was. Only those, “who were ancient men, that
had seen the first house,” could compare the two temples. And, these seemed to value an inward worship
over an outward display of “self” glorifying it’s self. Only the, “ancient men, that had seen the
first house,” could make a true and accurate judgment. Now here is my
concern, there seems to be a great moving away from the traditional music,
services and thinking towards a more emotional contemporary style. On the
marquee of a number of churches in
One reason many churches give for this movement toward a contemporary format is so that they can reach the young people. I heard a very well-known female hostess (on a very well-known TV Christian satellite network) on a Christian program that targets young people say “they are mixing things of the world (music, dress, and thinking) with the things of God so the young people will be able to relate.” The goal is not to get them to relate, but to present to them the true and uncompromised word of God. The Bible teaches us, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4) Her words are just plain wrong in God’s eyes. Remember, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and smells like a duck, and acts like a duck then its probably not a chicken, so too in God. If it looks like the world and walks like the world and smells like the world and acts like the world then its probably not God.
Brethren, let us repent from
our “friendship of the world.”
Let us stop this movement away from the things our churches and lives
were built. We rarely sing the old hymns of the church. What are we going to do with all of those
hymnals that fill up the pews? Let us stop giving our young people away for the
price of the latest praise and worship song, dance, dress, or church fad. Let
us once again be built by traditional truths of foundational Godly principles;
on Christ the solid rock I’ll stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Let us again be built by tears on our knees
in repentance and not by the fleeting joy of our salvation experience. Tears cleanse
us while joy most often masks our true unrepentant heart condition and helpless
need for God. You know people are laughing on the outside while crying on the
inside, let us the church have the answers and not just another song or dance.
Written by David Stahl
THOUGHTS FROM KAREN:
It’s About Time
While driving Joshua to
school Dave and I were talking about marriage and how it takes years to grow
together as one in unity and purpose. It
also takes time to properly raise children. In our “I want-it-now” and “instant
gratification” society, waiting or taking ones time seems oddly out of
place. Even in these fast-paced times
when we find slowness imposed on us, we fuss and squirm because we want to get
going and stop wasting time.
Case-in-point the ever popular traffic jam and my personal farovite
waiting in line. The funny thing about time is we all have the same 24 hours in
a day and we get to choose how we are going to spend it. When young time just seems to drag on. When we are sick the time it takes to heal
seems to go even slower. It takes an
instant to fracture a bone in our arm or leg, but how much time will it take
till it is usable again? Or our longing
to go outside in the sunshine and warm air as we gaze through a frosty winter
window wishing time would move much faster.
I babysat a set of infant
twins once. I would no sooner get one
infant to stop crying then the other one would start, back and forth it went
that was one of the longest days of my life. And yet the mother was only gone a
few hours. Now the reverse it true when
we are doing something we enjoy, time flies when we are having fun. But it’s still the same 24 hours. It’s merely our perception of events that is
shaping our perspective of time dragging or flying bye.
So too this time issue is in
our Christian walk with the Lord. It’s
our time management we need to be cognizant of.
Peter shares these words with us, “But, beloved be not ignorant of
this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter
3:8) Do not be deceived by all of
the rushing around and instant this or that.
We need to take time for the things that are really important in our
lives. Here is a short list of important
things in our lives we need to make time for.
The number one thing we need
to make time for is our Heavenly Father. Remember, God is to us what we are to
Him. If we take time for God He will take time for us. In the third Book of Ecclesiastes Solomon
shares (verses 1-8) times for our lives and the opposite outcome from our
actions. Never forget there is always an
outcome, have it be positive or negative, to our actions, “A time to tear,
And a time to sew A time to keep silence And a time to speak;” Paul in 1
Corinthians summed up much of what Solomon was saying here when he said,
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child; but when I
became a man, I put away childish things.”
(1 Corinthians 13:11) There
must come a time in our Christian walk with the Lord when we too must “put
away childish things” and thinking. Why do we think God must do all the
things we want Him to do, when we do almost nothing for Him? Why do we expect God to put the universe on
hold while He takes care of our latest “crisis?” This type of thinking speaks
poorly of our understanding of God and sadly our relationship (or rather the
lack of relationship) with Him. Relationships take time to develop and a
relationship with the Almighty is no different.
The second thing we need to
make time for, if married, is our marriage.
It takes time for a husband and a wife to grow together as one. It’s not going to be easy and it’s not going
to take two months. It takes decades,
lots and lots of forgiveness, lots and lots of swallowing our pride,
understanding, much love, and the willingness to stick it out when the hard
times come, and I promise you my friend they are coming just wait and see. Even
our marriage has seen its ups and downs. Everyone hits rough times in their
marriage, but it seems like too few are willing to endure until things get
better. “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder.” (Matthew 19:6) This verse primarily is talking to us married
folks though it can be applied in other cases and people, but we are not to put
“asunder” (put down or totally destroy) our marriage. It is strange to know we are the ones who “put
asunder” our marriage not God or the devil.
We blame everyone and everything, but when it is all said and done it is
our choice to divorce. Marriage is
serious business before God.
Unfortunately most Christians take more time with their pets, hobbies,
and interests than their spouse and children.
It is no wonder over 53% of Christian marriages (same as in the world)
today end in divorce, shocking but true. This “joining together” is more
then the coming together of a man and the woman in marriage, for this union
also includes God in the relationship.
Marriage is between a man, a woman, and God. When a man or woman walks
out on their spouse they too are walking out on God. How can God now bless the man or the
woman? He cannot, for the vow of union
to love and honor each other (including God) till death due us part has been
broken.
The third thing we need to
make time for is our children. Some
people who work and shove their kids into a daycare center or baby-sitter says
what matters is the “quality time” that they spend with their kids. Well this is mule muffins. It takes time to teach a child to obey
you. It takes time to teach a child
manners and respect. It takes time to
teach them right and wrong and this my friend is our (the parents)
responsibility not the daycare’s or babysitter’s. It takes time to teach our children to read
and write and again it is our (the parents) responsibility not the school
teacher’s. It takes time to teach our
children about God. I can go on and on,
but you get the picture. When we die and
stand before God He will ask us why we did not take time to raise our children
to “fear God and keeps His commandants, for this is man’s all.”
(Ecclesiastes 12:13). What excuse
are we going to give Him? I wanted more
money to buy them things. I did not want
the responsibility. What lame excuse can
we possibly muster up before God to justify our throwing away the children God
gave us to raise. Dave has always said he feels, “the wife has no place working
outside the home when little children are involved. It is nothing more then
greed and ungodly desires for unfulfilled personal satisfaction, outside of
God’s will for the family, ruling in a marriage.” Most of us can stay home with our kids if we
drop off the “keeping up with the Jones” expressway. We must again learn how to
live small within our means and learn how to do without. Dave and I were
married for almost 15 years before we even had a VCR and almost as long until
we got a second car. But what we have
today is four kids that love God, four kids whom we are not ashamed of, four
kids who were not in prison or pregnant before graduating from high
school. This my friend was no accident,
but sacrifices, restrictions, and limitations on Dave’s and my part. It is limitation and restrictions that bring
us to purpose and fulfillment in our lives not freedom and plenty. Buy your
kids clothing on sale or at a thrift store.
Go to the library and get a book on economizing or living on a
shoestring budget. It’s not easy, but
raising children if done right brings eternal rewards. There were so many times when the boys were
small that I did not want to check up on them or see what they were doing
because I was feeding a baby, cleaning our home, or just did not feel I wanted
to do it, but I knew in my heart nobody else was going to watch them and they
were my responsibility. It is funny how we go after things we really love. You
cannot tell me parents who drop off their kids so they can work really love
them. It just took time and a little effort to, “Train up a child in the way
he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)
I look back now and wonder where the years went. When our kids where small time went oh so
slow. Would they ever do this, or that, or whatever the next mile stone in
their lives was. Sometimes I wished I had done a few things differently, but I
never regretted being a stay-at-home mom, because I was able to spend the most
precious and value thing in our daily lives (other then God), time and a
relationship with them. Brethren lets
get off the fast track and take time for the important things in our
lives. It is not fame, fortune, and even
our happiness, oh no my friend it is, “Teach us to number our days that we
may apply our hearts to wisdom.”
(Proverbs 90:12) And
remember, the best is yet to come.
POETRY CORNER:
What is
Correction?
By Charles Haun
Some humans beings are of
such orders
That bugs and rats live in
their quarters.
Their senses are in such a
state,
They feel no need to
exterminate.
Everything is right in some;
Right is right by their
rule of thumb.
Their eyesight is of
brightest light;
In lives of others they shine
in bright.
They must correct all wrong
they see;
Everyone like themselves
must be, They go all out to do their apart
To do their work in
every heart.
Shall you and I participate?
Shall we get busy and work
quite late
To chide and harass and bring
duress,
To cause all others like us
to dress?
Or shall we offer them our
love,
And wisdom that comes from
above?
Can we now gaze beyond their
sin?
Can we envision His
work within?
Let us lift from
discouragement;
Let us be God’s instrument
That those who touch may be
lifted up,
That God’s goodness may fill
their cup.
Let us bring His light
divine;
Let dwell in us Christ’s own
mind;
Let His glory abide in you,
That others may see it and
share it too.
DEAR FRIENDS:
On March 15 I returned from
Karen “my sweetheart” and the kids
send their love. 2005 already has been
such a rewarding year. God has been so
faithful to me and my family and yet before me His call to “go” is ever greater
in my ears and heart.
NEEDS NOT WANTS:
1. In
Silistra,
2. In
3. In
4. Pastor
Joseph Mutua in
5. Pastor
Mike Olufemi in the north of
6. Pastor
S. J. Peter, Founder of DAWN Ministries and Pastor Wilson and his son Pastor
Julian both near
7. Financial
support for the printing of: “God Still Performs Miracles Today: A Book of Person Encouragement.”
8. Pastor Metin Mintaz and the members of
Uskudar Son Buyruk Kilisesi in
9. Pastor
Elieti Msangi in Dar Es Salaam and Pastor Isreal Mutaitina in
10. Major Rob McIntosh, Chaplin,
FUTURE SCHEDULE:
April:
Local ministry
May:
June:
Local ministry
I am still available to share what God has given me at churches and/or home groups. Also, if God moves on your heart to bless the ministries I visit and share God’s love I would be honored to make it possible for God and you.
God told
Abram, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.”
(Genesis 12:3) If you want a
blessing, then bless someone Remember,
God is to you what you are to God.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Address:
David and Karen
Stahl
Jacksonville , NC 28546
Phone:
Home: (910) 346-1739
FAX: (910) 346-1739
Email:
dstahl@ec.rr.com
If you
know someone who would enjoy receiving this newsletter or if you receive this
newsletter and do not wish to please let me know. Also if you would like to contribute to this
ministry please feel free to contact me with the above information. Costs ever
increase.
PLEASE look within
your abilities to begin supporting or to increase your support to cover these
costs. The cost is great, but the cost for not supporting is even greater. And
remember, all donations are tax deductible.
