Deeper Truths for Hungry Hearts
November 2015 • Volume XIV Number 03
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
Thoughts for Consideration:
Greetings again my Brethren. Before God can use us in ministry so that we answer His call we must allow God to reveal Himself to us. As we look at the life of Moses, the one called by God (not by Pharaoh or even Moses) to lead his people out of 430 years of harsh bondage we learn there are six areas as part of his preparation for the work ahead Moses had to allow God to open up to him. We often think God as being all powerful (and He is) he should just do things in our lives that He (being God) wants done, but that is not the way God operates. All that God does in our lives comes out of us wanting what God has for us. God will not twist our arm nor will He violate our will and sovereignty. We often think (and even say) we are the captain of our ship and without God at the helm of our life this is true. God has no desire to turn us into angels, oh no He made man in the image and likeness of Himself and He wants icons of Himself ruling and reigning on earth as His will is done in heaven. For this to happen God will not interfere with us. God will allow us to continue in our selfishness and self-seeking all the way to hell even though He wishes none to be lost no not one, but sadly there are. The first of the six areas Moses (and us if we are going to be used of God) had to allow God to reveal to him was God’s presence (where He is). In Exodus we read, “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.: (Exodus 3:1-4) The presence of God is always in His glory. What a glorious sight for Moses to behold the presence of God in a bush that burned, but was not consumed. And please notice Moses only saw this glorious sight because “he turned aside” or stopped doing what he was doing and looked to see what God was doing. Moses knowing God’s presence was invaluable to Moses as he led the Children of Israel the 40 years in the wilderness. Time and time again it was the presence of God that spoke to Moses getting guidance and leadership to the point again in Exodus 33 we read,
“And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give the rest. 15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” (Exodus 33:14-16) Moses valued God’s presence more than anything funny how often we take God’s presence for granted. Moses knew something about the presence of the LORD. The next area God had to reveal to Moses was of His nature (what He is). It would do us all well to come to understand the nature of a holy, but loving God. Too many Christians look at God as a loving old grandfather, well my friend that is so far from the truth. Yes God is loving, but first He is a holy God who wants us to obey His holy word. At the essence of God’s nature is love. 1 John tells us, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” (1 John 4:7), but God’s love is in the form of a benevolent dictator. We cannot do and say what we want to say and do. Did you know we cannot even love the way we want to love. Oh no we must love like God wants us to love, unselfish with no ambition or intention as God loves. Again God wants us to be icons (images) on earth doing and saying things according to the way He would do and say things. With Moses’ first encounter (God’s presence and not face to face) with God, He told Moses even the ground where I am is holy. “And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5) Now you know if the very ground where God dwells is holy everything else in between must be holy. God was saying I am holy (and you are not) from the Alpha to the Omega I am holy and there is nothing like me. If we have a wrong understanding of God’s nature all that we do for God will be wrong our motives and desires will be skewed and our intentions and heart condition will be wrong. Remember in God it does not matter what we do for God that counts, but how we do it. Our how in God is what we shall receive rewards for.
Next month we will continue to look at more areas Moses had to allow God to reveal to Him (of His character) by way of preparation for ministry. Think not these areas are just for Moses, oh no. All who would be called into ministry MUST allow God to reveal them for the work of God to come. Do you hear Him call now?
Written David Stahl
ARTICLE REVIEW:
Something I Seem to Re-learn
I would like to preface this article by saying this article has been written after much soul searching and inward reflection of my greater need to be more like Jesus in this area and many others. But, in 2009 the Lord again taught me to keep my eyes on Him. The goal is to be more like Jesus, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) I know this all sounds simplistic, but that is God’s style of teaching. Jesus was a master of deep teaching by using such examples as: wine, bread, light and darkness, and seeds. We think we have made it when God opens our eyes to some unsearchable truth of Scriptures, yet we pale in comparison to the deep truths of life and relationship. Do you know God is more concerned about the maturity of our character than the maturity of our spiritual ability to teach and even know all truth. Now please do not get me wrong here, we must go towards truth and we must even speak the truth in love as Paul taught, “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:15-16) This is something most Christians have a hard time doing and is the biggest reason why most Christians; do not “grow up in him” and why “the whole body” (what we call the church) is not “fitly joined together.” This and of course the wrong teaching in this area that comes with it and because of the grand push in the church for denominationalism. But, knowing the truth and possessing a deep revelation of God must never over ride the maturity and development of our character.
Back in 2009 two great men of God that I have known for many many years, men I have looked to as mentors, men who I have read and studied their books, teachings, and lives, men in some ways I have idolized well let’s just say were exposed in their ministries and in my eyes for who they really were. This is a very scary place for all of us to come. When we arrive at the place of knowing who we really are and we refuse to agree with God what He is trying to reveal to us stand by. Often we ignore and dispute what we see in ourselves by blaming everyone else or most often hold to some bogus teaching we have heard, but all of this will not work in our lives if we truly desire to walk in the truth and grow up and come to maturity in our character. Now if you willfully put yourself under someone make no mistake that person, unless they have been truly dealt with and been humbled by God, will take that position in your life and even expect certain things from you. I have seen and even experienced this for many many years, but here is the problem. It is not you being a servant to someone, God desires us all to serve one another, but the problem is when someone thinks they are better than someone because of their message, revelation, or deeper teaching. At the heart of this thinking is: ambition, arrogance, and pride. Our human nature goes towards this in a great way. I have caught myself doing this, maybe that is why I can see it clearly when someone thinks they are better than me because of their understanding of God and His ways. Well here is a spiritual revelation my friend, no one is greater than the other. It does not matter how deep your knowledge, revelation, or teaching of the Scriptures is these do not qualify someone for being a leader of being over someone. The standard Jesus taught was, “But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: 44And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 45For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Luke 10:43-45) True greatness, true spiritual leadership is achieved not by reducing men to one’s service, but in giving oneself in selfless service to them. And this is never done without a cost. At the same measure you can become a servant you will be great in God. At the same measure you can become a servant at that same measure you will be able to walk, not just teach, in the revelation God has given you. It is one thing to teach something (no matter how deep in God), but is it a different matter to walk in the revelation of the words we speak. I have seen it for years. It is funny how people really know the truth. Words often are cheap. It has been said, the way up is down and this is true, but let us not forget deep in God is also down.
Charles Haun (my teacher) addresses this issue in his four tape teaching series on “Truth.” Here Charles shares the importance of knowing the truth, by allowing the truth to develop our character so that we can come to greater levels of maturity not only spiritually, but also personally where God also desires us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us never forget truth is heavy to carry. Truth often can be too much for us to handle, especially if it is about us. In Daniel we read, “And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days. 27And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.” (Daniel 8:26-27) I cannot think of anyone in the Bible that has received more truth than Daniel. Here we see Daniel’s response was “I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days.” It weakened him and caused him to lay sick for some time. Have you ever approached God to know so much of His things of the kingdom that it simply drains your strength? Again it takes strength to carry truth and the more truth you carry the more strength you must have. The more you know in the spiritual realm the more grace and strength you will have to have in order to live. And this is why men in God progress and the grace of God is upon them, they gain and gain in their knowledge and revelation until they are staggering under the load and to add to that load a claim to fame that comes with all that and some men neglect the other critical elements in their lives such as grace, mercy, and judgment which are necessary to grow in to sustain them under that heavy load and they fall. Most men in work of the Gospel have risen to an apex and then at some point they begins to decline and fall away because they have not cultivated and sought the grace and strength to develop their character to help bear up under the load. As the armor of God is not for children it takes strength it is not made for babes, those who are weak, so too we must develop our character so that we can develop strength to be able to bear up under truth. We can get too much truth and it will drown us and someone will haul up our body and say (what I said after I handled the ungodly things of these two men) I would have never expected that of him, nor did anyone expect the great loss to their ministry that follows their fall. For us to be developed correctly with truth we must be continually exercised in truth that is not to be selective, but receive whatsoever truth God gives to us and from whomever God brings our way.
Let us not think we are greater than what we really are. Take heed my friend, going after revelation and a deep teaching will lead you down that road and if you do not develop other abilities and skills in God you will find yourself being pulled out of the water wondering what happened. “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 4For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” (Romans 12:3-5) This is the place of unity where the “whole body” can grow and come to maturity and spiritual development. Let us take heed to our selves.
Written by David Stahl
THOUGHTS FROM KAREN:
Rock Star
Please let me start off by saying I have measured my words out from 19 years as an active member of the Catholic Church. From a little girl until I left home I went to mass, confession, and kept the holy days. I thank God for my mother and father who faithfully took me to mass and instilled strong Christian principles in me that often carry me today. I think of my Grandfather (a good and faithful Catholic) who always told me to say my prayers, read my Bible, and go to church. I believe I will see Him in Heaven one day. However, when the Pope recently visited the States I could not believe the amount of media coverage over each event, now I am sure he is a nice man, but the media coverage was appalling. Large numbers of people who follow you does not make you a Godly leader. Although, I guess the man himself didn’t orchestrate his time here or his schedule of events so he was not all to blame. But, I wonder if he had any say in the amount of attention he received while traveling away from the Vatican. Let’s face it he was pretty much treated like a rock star. I guarantee you when Jesus himself was walking upon the earth He didn’t receive such star treatment, in fact there was a time when people wanted to lay a hold of Him and stone Him! Please see John 8:59 and John 10:31 to check me out. The Pharisees and Sadducees couldn’t stand Jesus because they taught from the traditions of men—-things that were added on to GOD’S ordinances which were provided in the Old Testament which by themselves (GOD’S ordinances) were enough for anybody. Make no mistake when Jesus returns He is NOT coming back as a humble little baby born in a stable. He did that once and that was enough. He is not coming back to die on the cross, again. He did that once and said, “it is finished.” It does NOT have to be repeated daily ad nausea because the Son of GOD said, “it is finished!!!!” And for the Pope to state, “and if at times our efforts and works seem to fail and produce no fruit, we need to remember that we are followers of Jesus. . . and His life humanly speaking ended in failure, in the failure of the cross.” That is what the Pope said which by the way there was no failure in anything in what Jesus did while here on earth. I’m sorry but that was worse than a lie. To suggest that Jesus failed at anything even “humanly speaking” SHOULD give one pause to examine why such high esteem and regard is given to someone who would say such a thing about our LORD and Savior who came to earth, took our sin upon himself, was treated like trash (hardly like the Son of GOD), and then what? Crucified. For us. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” (Hebrews 9:28). What unmitigated gall—to even utter the words, “in the failure of the cross!” Read the Bible for yourself no mention of Jesus failing anything, anywhere, or any time. Our friend Brother Peter who many say was the first Pope—which isn’t true, pointed people to Jesus and not himself. “For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of (speaking of Jesus) your souls.” (1 Peter 2:25). Am I picking on Catholics? That’s not my intention, but if you hold someone anyone dead or alive who was just a HUMAN BEING like the rest of us (yes including Mary and all the Saints, and any denominational leader) in such high regard and on such a high pedestal that’s idolatry!!! If you call someone who is just a man a holy father when the Bible says, “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” (Matthew 23: 8-9) and then give them the rock star treatment something is wrong. Very wrong indeed. And it’s not just the Pope, all these guys on Christian TV aren’t much better. Fancy clothes, fancy churches, fancy studios, fancy homes, fancy cars, etc. Jesus had none of the above, Granted cars weren’t invented yet, but He didn’t have a fancy camel or horse! But, He was humble and came to serve us, not only healing people and casting out devils, but by the ultimate sacrifice done once and for all for our sins dying on Calvary’s cross. The truly humble Christian leaders aren’t on TV, they aren’t in the limelight, scores of people aren’t vying for their attention, they just quietly go about their business—just like Jesus did, obscure, in the back ground. Beware my brethren high esteem of fellow human beings dead or alive smacks of idolatry. “And GOD spake all these words saying, I am the Lord thy GOD, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (1) Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. (2) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord am a jealous GOD visiting the inequity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me:” (Exodus 20:1-5) Look we’re all in the same boat it’s easy to get bamboozled and impressed with all the outward trappings, the great flowing words, the traditions of men. But how does all this measure up with the word of GOD?? It’s best to keep our eyes and hearts on Jesus and less on human beings—–because they will not, and cannot save you. ” For there is one GOD, and one mediator between GOD and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim 2:5) One thing I have learned and rest assured if the world is running after you God is not.
Written by Karen Stahl
NEEDS NO WANTS:
1. In Silistra, Bulgaria Pastor(s) Niki Marsov and Emil Nedelchev. Included now are missionaries from Romania Nicu and Elena. Times are troubled in Bulgaria much prayer and support is needed.
2. Constanta, Romania Pastors Luke and Jacob at Bethel Church and George Ritisan at the Romanian Center for Cross-cultural Studies Bible School and the Faru (Lighthouse) Church.
3. In Suceava, Romania Pastors Nicu and Marcel at St. Andrews Church. They are still standing by God’s grace.
4. Pastor Joseph Mutua in Nairobi, Kenya needs your prayer and financial support.
5. Pastor Mike Olufemi in Aveile, Nigeria. He needs our prayers and support to be a light in great darkness.
6. Pastor S. J. Peter, Founder of DAWN Ministries in Hyderabad and Pastor Wilson and his son Pastor Julian in Sankaraguptham, India.
7. Pastor Metin Mintaz, Dan, Cathy, and members of Uskudar Son Buyruk Kilisesi in Istanbul, Turkey.
8. Pastor Elieti Msangi in Dar Es Salaam and Pastors Isreal Mutaitina and John Balone in Bukoba, Tanzania.
9. Monthly financial support for Vivian’s Maternity and Child Care Clinic project in Aviele, Nigeria.
10. Pastor Tek Dahl at Gethsemane, Church (his church) and their radio station “Good News 105.1 FM” in Kathmandu, Nepal.
11. Bishop John, Samuel Kamanzi (from the Congo), and, Emmanuel Ndolimana in Ruhengeli, Rwanda.
12. Money for an industrial strength potato peeler at the Mission School in Romania.
Next Home Group Meeting:
Our next Home Group Meeting will be TUESDAY 24 November 2015
232 Everett Drive
Sneads Ferry, NC 28460
7:00 pm please RSVP
Home: (910) 741-0489
FUTURE SCHEDULE:
November: Bulgaria and Romania
December: Local Ministry
January: Local Ministry
I am still available to share what God has given me at churches and/or home groups. If God moves on your heart to support BHG or other ministries we personally know we would be honored to serve as a go between. Remember, if we want a blessing from God the spiritual principle is we must bless others. Remember, God is to you what you are to God.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Address:
David and Karen Stahl
232 Everett Drive
Sneads Ferry, NC 28460
Phone:
Home: (910) 741-0489
Mobile: (910) 382-9287
FAX: (910) 741-0489
Email:
Ministry E-mail: dstahl@beholdinghisglory.com
Personal E-mail: mtnebo@hotmail.com
Online:
Beholding His Glory Website
Beholding His Glory Blog
The AuthorHouse link below will lead you to our latest book, “Thoughts for Consideration.” Just copy it into your web browser and return. Also you can purchase two of our other books “Adventures with God.” and “God Still Performs Miracles: A Book of Personal Encouragement.”
http://www.authorhouse.com/AuthorCenter/Protected/BookHome.aspx?bookID=61464
Please take a minute and take a look, they all make for a great encouraging gift, giving hope and sharing God’s love through a deeper teaching that someone can enjoy again and again. All of our books can be purchased at all book stores like Barnes and Nobles, Borders, Book-A-Million, and etc., any Christian Book Store that orders, and all book ordering on-line companies like Amazon.com. Or if you are like me from the old school just contact us, we will let you know the price and then we will mail it out to your home address. Postage and handling is on a case by case basis.
If you know someone you think would enjoy receiving this newsletter or if you receive this newsletter and do not wish to please let me know. Contributions to this ministry is always appreciated and needed the more time continues. Please feel free to contact us with the above information. The cost is great, but the cost for not supporting to others is even greater. And remember, all donations are tax deductible.
