”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. Well, America celebrates another birthday on 4 July, 248 years old. I am proud to say I am an American and proud to have served 24 years in the US Navy in defence of this great land. Okay, let us continue to look at some of the diverse instruments God uses to speak to His people. You know many people say God is always speaking to His people and if we have spiritual ears then we will be able to hear Him speak, well, I am not so sure about that. I will be honest I do not believe God is a chatterbox. I do not believe God talks to His people as much as they want Him to. At the end of the Old Testament God did not speak for 400 years to the nation of Israel. The 400 years of silence happened between the Old Testament and New Testament, during which, so far as we know, God did not speak—no Scripture was written. The 400 years of silence began with the warning that closed the Old Testament, “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6) and started with the coming of John the Baptist, the Messiah’s forerunner in the Book of John. Today I think people get confused when it is the Holy Spirit often speaks to us and not God, Himself. Okay so, this month we will look at how God can use the handicap to speak to too us. In Exodus 4 God is trying to convince a handicaped man to go and represent Him to the nations of the world, but the man refused God Almighty, so again God had to change some things around to make His plan and purposes go forth. Now, this man we all know was the mighty deliverer Moses. In Exodus Mose writes, “And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 11And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? 12Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.” (Exodus 4:10-12) This is Moses after his 40 years of watching Jethro’s sheep. His first 40 years he was raised and trained in the halls of the Pharaoh “mighty in word and deed.” Luke tells us, “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. 23And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the
children of Israel.” (Acts 7:22-23) It took God 40 years (following behind sheep) to get Egypt out of Moses so that He could be used for the last 40 years of his life, to be the mighty deliverer. In Exodus 4:10 we find Moses cannot even speak correctly. “And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” My friend God knows what He is doing. Often, God has to break us so He can use us. The broken alone are useful to the LORD and this is what He did with Moses. Now this is not the case with everyone. Often times people are born with deformities and problems, have car accidents, you name it, in their lives that they must, with God’s help, overcome to be useful to God. Did God cause the individual to be born that way or did God cause the accident so that the person can be a testimony unto the glory of God? I will be honest I do not know. But I do know we are now over into the sovereignty of God, an area best for moral men and women not to venture into. I like to live by what Moses writes in Deuteronomy. “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29) And I do know in their overcoming God does a work in them that could not have been done if they were whole. When I think of God using a handicapped person the story and character from the Bible that come to my mind is the story of David and Saul’s grandson son, Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth. “And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s sake? 2And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. 3And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. (2 Samuel 9:1-3) I recommend you read the entire story, because it speaks of God’s graciousness to us as we all are Mephibosheth, handicapped with sin. How God brought us to His banqueting table and fed us, restoring us back to life What a wonderful story of redemption and restoration for David as well as for Mephibosheth. Yes, God can use anyone who wants to be used. You know we think God is looking for talents, physical ability, intelligence, all of those things we think are important to be used of God, but not so my friend. God can best use the broken and even the handicapped. Remember, the broken alone are useful to God.
More next month as we continue to look at the many diverse instruments God can use to communicate with us. Are you there my friend? In tough situations and circumstances? Have you heard His voice? Listen closely and you will. Written by David Stahl
ARTICLE REVIEW:
Guards Against Heresy
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I believe, the foundational truths, like a threefold cord, have been lost by the Body of Christ and unless the Body of Christ gets back to the fundamental principles and doctrines on which she was established she will continue to be what she is today an irrelevant collection of groups of people trying to seek God through the blindness of not knowing truth and real power. These foundational truths will also guard against heresy. Now, these three-fold cords I speak of is: the Scriptures, creeds, and the hymns. To understand the importance of these cords we must look at them through the power of the Holy Spirit, something else that has been lost in the Body of Christ. Let us face it the Holy Spirit has been watered down by the Pentecostals, the Church of God, the Assembly of God, and the evangelicals. He has been explained away by the Baptists, the Episcopalians, the Lutherans, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, and worse the 1,000s of non-denominational churches out there which most of them having strange, unscriptural, and mostly ungodly doctrines which have hyper-spiritualized the Holy Spirit into something He is not. Boy, could we tell you about the ungodly churches just in the Jacksonville, NC area, but I will save that for another article. Where is the power of God? I can remember growing up as a child being in a service and suddenly without warning the power of God falls; people crying out, running, shouting, repenting, snot running out of noses, tears running down faces, but it has been a long time since I have seen the Holy Spirit move like this. Today pastors preach their guts out and give an altar call and no one responds. What has happened? Could it be heresy has snuck into the Body of Christ? I do believe the Holy Spirit has not changed, maybe it is us who has changed by allowing deception and heresy (false teachings and doctrines) in the camp. The Holy Spirit will NOT move in the midst of lies, confusion, and self-exaltation. Today I believe the greatest need in the Body of Christ is not another blessing or another new ministry, but a heart seeking examination of what we believe and why we believe it. Sin has entered the camp and it needs rooted out by shedding the light of truth on practices and beliefs in the Body of Christ that prevents the Holy Spirit from working while exalting the flesh of man. God, in His wondrous love, has given us a way of escape to get back on track if we only stay in the paths He has ordained and directed for us to go. That way (a narrow way) is maintaining the ways that was once delivered to us from the fathers of the faith from days passed. Let us look at these three-fold cords that will prevent heresy and a continual shift away from God through the eyes of the functions and activities of the Holy Spirit. First off He is a worker and needs us, for we are His instrumentality, or the means by which He accomplishes His work. We are the canvas the Holy Spirit gets to paint on, we are His
workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). Paul tell us we are made up of three major areas, spirit, soul, and body. I think no one would differ with that thought, but the Holy Spirit employs instrumentalities to carry out the work of the Father in these three areas of our triune being. He does this by means of the various ministries of the Spirit of God and He works with these ministries through the Body which is not the “Church” because WE ARE (the people) the “Church.” I am speaking collectively of the Body of Christ. We are the Body of Christ not the Church. I do not mean any particular denomination, but rather the Body of Christ consisting of all true believers that are born again through faith in Jesus Christ whether they are in the Pentecostal sheepfold, the Presbyterian, the Episcopalian, or whatever. The idea being if we are truly born again through faith in Jesus Christ then we are all one family, one great body of Believers regardless of what denominational tag we may wear. Remember what Paul said, “Henceforth, know we no man after the flesh.” And yes, the LORD is mightily working today calling many people out of all denominations and is calling out a new people composed from the whole spectrum of faiths to make up His Bride. God is on the move and I am moving with Him. What counts is our personal relationship to Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is active as a person and to keep up with Him we must not run after the denominational worldly ways to draw men to the LORD. To be honest we should be interested and jealously seek the LORD that we might be used by the Spirit of God as the need demands. If there is no need then there is of course no demand. The LORD is not encouraging that we make an empty display of things as the Body of Christ is doing today, but the gifts are available to meet a particular need. Now here is the need, to go back to the foundational principles by the Spirit of God to restore the power and authority the Body of Christ once had. For this to happen we MUST restore the knot of the threefold cord of the Scriptures, creeds, and the hymns. These three guards the Body of Christ against heresy. All three agree concerning the power and doctrine of the Holy Spirit and is the foundational support that the early Christians depended on for their revelation and guidance. The first cord is the Scriptures. This is where we must begin because anything not built on Scripture is not of God and will not stand. I think of the sudden explosion of the Vineyard churches in the mid to late 90s how they would explode on the scene and just as fast as they were planted they dried up and withered away as grass from lack of a spiritual foundation in the Scripture. The Vineyard churches were built on music (not hymns) and a fleshly approach that appealed to emotions, but Scripture does not appeal to our emotions oh no Scripture will put a nail in the heart of our emotions. Hill Song churches today remind me of the Vineyard churches, remember, if your hands and feet move before your heart it is your emotions and probably not of God. Sadly the Body of Christ has
replaced the Scriptures for technology, commentary, and other’s revelation. I was talking with my son Daniel and he was asking me my thoughts on a story in the Bible. Well, I shared my thoughts and he went into other events that were not a part of the Scriptures so I asked him where he got these events and he said from commentary reading and then he said, “after all most preachers get their messages from commentary.” Now this may be true, but it is not of God. I told Daniel I can only defend the Scriptures to the extent of what is written in the Scriptures anything written outside the Scriptures is another man’s revelation. Most pastors get their Sunday sermon (a good moral lesson not a message direct from God) from other’s books and commentary. If so, they are not getting something from God oh no they are preaching another’s man’s revelation, what God has revealed to that man. Great as the revelation was there is no authority and power in what God has revealed to another man (apart from the Scriptures) no matter how gifted the speaker is. Getting a word from God will cost you something of which most preachers and teachers are too busy and/or do not have the stomach to endure God’s dealings and judgments. Oh no it is easier to get something off the internet or out of some commentary. NOTHING my friend replaces Scripture yet the Scriptures have been laid aside even trampled on and the Body of Christ is now in an ungodly mess that ONLY hearing and internalizing within our heart and soul can fix. The next cord (second) is creeds. You know most Christians do not know what they believe. Oh, they will say they believe Jesus saved them from their sin and they are on their way to heaven, but after that they do not really know what they believe. Did you know there is such a thing as an unbelieving believers? All Believers believe in Christ or they would not be Believers, but not all Believers believe what is spoken from the pulpit. Now I will be honest there may be times when it is better that we do not believe in what we hear, but there are also times when God is sending to us His pure word, His message to our hearts, and yet some in the audience (in spite of being a Believer) will not believe. And why? Because most Christians are so busy working for God they never become the work of God. I was in a church one Wednesday night and one of the movers and shakers in the church asked for prayer. She said Satan had her so busy doing things she did not have time to do more in the church, well foolishly I spouted (I am sorry I can only take so much foolishness) out, “that is not true.” Well, needless to say, we are no longer welcome at that church. But, the truth is we do what we want to do and when we want to do it. Satan does not make us do things we just like blaming Satan for our short comings and mistakes. So too many Christians are reading Christian fiction they never get around to reading the creeds written by the fathers of the faith. The creeds are a declaration by the fathers of the faith and what the Scriptures taught. The Apostles Creed (AD 390), Nicene Creed (AD 392), and the Athanasian Creed
(AD 415). These declarations of faith and of the Holy Spirit and of the Father have come down through the years and this is what the fathers of the faith believed, what was handed down from one generation to the next. When companies of Christians met they declared these truths some while having their tongues cut out, while others had their ears burned off, others their arms and legs torn asunder. Martyred old saints of God knew the truth. They wrote these creeds, they lived these creeds, and gave their lives for these creeds they gave these creeds to us and the world for the ages. Yet today they have been discarded as rubbish for something that tickles our ears, for something that causes our tongue to flap in the breeze while saying nothing, and all for an emotional stir that moves our arms and legs. What a huge contrast indeed. I think we will have much to apologize for to the fathers of the faith. And the third cord is hymns. With the introduction of amplified musical instruments (mid to late 40s) into entertainment and sadly into the “nominal” church began the end to real understanding and true belief in God. No longer were the words the focus, but now the beat and rhythm took center stage. Who cares what the message is just give me a beat and rhythm that will drive my spirit. We also saw this play out in the 60s in a huge way with the counter-culture, anti-war revolution that swept the US. Believe it or not it was the same anti-Christ spirit that fostered the counter-culture, anti-war revolution also fostered the death of the hymns. Instead of the Body of Christ affecting the culture the anti-Christ culture affected the Body of Christ tapping into a spirit of greedy fleshly assent to God not to mention the masses this new media can draw. People mean power, influence, and money. Hollywood learned this a long time ago and sadly most churches are following their bad example. They and other organizations learned music affects our spirit nothing stirs our spirit and get us up more than an arousing song or even a good march, but hymns affects our soul. Hymns cause us to stop and reflect on the message and what we are hearing. Since our emotions are NOT engaged there is time for an inward reflection. Then mediating on hymns enables us to understand what the fathers of the faith have believed down through the centuries. Songs like, “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” Blessed Assurance,” “At the Cross,” these and so many more hymns that have great meaning and impact in our heart and soul. Hymns connect us with the Christian folks of the past. Sadly, many Christians want to forget the past even as we see this play out in the back drop of our culture wanting to rewrite history or just remove things we do not like. Some questions I would ask are, “are we going to seek God together? Are we going to stand by that masterful threefold cord God has built as a foundation for the Body of Christ to prevent heresy or shall we drift away from the foundation to satisfy our fleshly lust? Will we stand firm on the Scriptures, creeds, and the hymns? Like all things in God time will tell, but one
thing God’s word tells us is, “a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12) Written by David Stahl
THOUGHTS FROM KAREN:
Wonderful Nosie
Dave and I were overseas and we received an invitation to go to a symphony with some old friends, how lovely it was to see them after many years. We arrived early and observed the people going into the symphony hall, although dressed nicely most were not dressed “to the nines” as one would think. At the proper time we found our seats with our friends was, instructed to shut off our phones with a loud phone jingle from the orchestra and a verbal suggestion from the conductor, and waited for the production. The music was nice, but since I wasn’t familiar with the arrangements nor the composer it held little meaning for me. Later, I googled the author and read the person’s bio, apparently the music was supposed to be fantasy. Well, to my little pea brain what kind of fantasy? Fairies and gnomes in the woods, talking plants, winsome woodland creatures, what? What was the composer trying to convey? What was he saying? It had no context for me. The two lead musicians, a violinist, and a cellist, seemed to be so emotionally involved in the music, which I found rather sad. All I could think of was, are these musicians saved? How much of this audience is saved? If music is not glorifying to GOD or at least pointing to Jesus, all it is, is just wonderful noise. That’s all. It may lift our spirits and grab our emotions, but it’s still just wonderful noise. We need to be careful of that. It was just a performance, that’s it. Do the musicians who get all worked up over their music get as worked up over GOD and salvation? How about the conductor, the musicians, and the audience? You know that answer. I thought of two of our favorite churches; one in Romania and one in Bulgaria and how different the music and singing is. It is about GOD and about Jesus. Do you know the difference between REAL singing to the LORD and the “look at me” or “look how long I can hold that note” music? Proverbs tells us, “A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself (express itself).” (Proverbs 18:2) Be careful if something stirs your emotions whether it be singing, music, football, work, baseball, cooking, or WHATEVER take heed to yourself. Our emotions can lead us out of God faster than sin. Paul tells us in the Book of 2 Corinthians, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” (2 Corinthians 10:5) All things are to be under the captivity of Jesus Christ. If I go the rest of my life without going to another symphony, I’m OK with that. I don’t need wonderful noise in my life, just more of Jesus. GOD BLESS. READ your BIBLE. Written by Karen Stahl
NEEDS NOT WANTS:
1. In Dobrich, Bulgaria Pastor Niki Marsov and in Silistra Pastor(s) Yanko, and Marcho. Times are troubled in Bulgaria much prayer and support is needed.
2. Constanta, Romania Pastors Luke and Jacob at Bethel Church and in Agigea Brother John Vlad as the Director of the Romanian Center for Cross-cultural Studies Bible School.
3. Pastor S. J. Peter, Founder of DAWN Ministries in Hyderabad and Pastor Wilson and his son Pastor Julian at Gospel Assembly in Sankaraguptham, India.
4. Dan, Cathy, and members of Uskudar Son Buyruk Kilisesi in Istanbul, Turkey.
5. Pastor Elieti Msangi in Dar Es Salaam and Pastors Isreal Mutaitina and John Balone in Bukoba, Tanzania.
6. Pastor Tek Dahl at Gethsemane, Church (his church) and their radio station “Good News 105.1 FM” in Kathmandu, Nepal.
7. Bishop John, Samuel Kamanzi (from the Congo), and, Emmanuel Ndolimana in Ruhengeli, Rwanda.
8. Christian and Ina Kopjar Missionaries to the County of Liberia.
NEXT HOME GROUP MEETINGS:
23 July 24 at 7:00 pm
At 232 Everett Drive
Sneads Ferry, NC 28460
7:00 pm please RSVP
(910) 382-9287
BEHOLDING HIS GLORY ON THE RADIO:
On WJCV Jacksonville, NC
“Pebbles of Truth”
1290 AM or 98.3 FM
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 7:30 am
FUTURE BHG SCHEDULE:
July: Local Ministry
August: Local Ministry
September: Eastern Europe
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:
Mobile: (910) 382-9287
FAX: (910) 741-0489
Email:
mtnebo@hotmail.com
Website: www.beholdinghisglory.com/
Blog: http://bhisglory.blogspot.com/
FREE OFFERS
Booklets on Spiritual Authority, Spiritual Leadership, Prayer, Body of Christ, and Righteous Living the Four Anchors of God are now available by contacting us and requesting one. You can see them on our home page. Get one now.
The Author House 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.
