THOUGHTS FOR CONSIDERATION: Greetings again my friends. This month we will continue to look at the Prophet as a Servant. What a wonderful thought, a Prophet as a Servant. Most people who call themselves a “Prophet” are not called of God and certainly not called by God. All you have to do is go to YouTube or some other media website and type in “Prophet” in the search engine and page after page of so called “Prophets” come up to empty your wallet. Take heed to these liars and thieves, but if you choose not to heed my warning and if you are taken for a bunch of money you only have yourself to blame and why? Well, you did not know the truth of the word of God and you were deceived. I do not believe a true “Prophet” would have a website and cast his life and ministry as pearls before the world. My friend God’s superstars names are not up in lights. The one thing one of God’s Prophets would be is a servant. Maybe it is me, but I have a hard time believing in Prophets in the year 2025. With the accessibility of the Holy Spirit in our lives, I do not see the necessity of a Prophet. Now, I know in Ephesians Paul talks about what we today call the five-fold ministry and what these “functions” not so much “ministries” do in the Body of Christ. Paul writes, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:” (Ephesians 4:11-12) God gave “some” people like Paul the ability to edify the Body of Christ. But sadly, today these “functions” are now titles and ministries, areas in Christiandom where you can make a good living by making good money or an accruing power and influence to fleece the flock. In 1 Timothy Paul writes, “Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.” (1 Timothy 2:7) Paul most definitely was all of these three things. He needed to be a preacher, apostle (even though the other apostle gave him a hard time) and a teacher. Well, how did he receive these functions and by whose power did he function? By and through the power of the Holy Spirit. One thing you will not find on internet websites is a Prophet who is a servant. You cannot make a lot of money being a servant. Who wants to follow and learn about a servant? Me! That was Jesus a servant. And I feel sure in Paul’s day they knew the difference between a function and a ministry. Last week we said we would talk about not diminishing the Word of God so what does this Prophet discussion have to do with diminishing the Word of God, well everything. Anytime we misrepresent God we are misrepresenting His Word and when we misrepresent His Word we are diminishing His word because we are diminishing Christ, the Word, Himself. Any time we say, “Thus Saith the LORD” we are speaking for God Himself. When we say we are a Prophet and God told us this thing or that thing we are representing God and if our words ring untrue then that makes God untrue in the ears and heart of the people. This is why integrity, honour, and truthfulness must always be forefront in the heart and minds of a servant of God. We can never forget we are speaking for God Himself. In the Book of Jeremiah, the Prophet Jeremiah writes, “Thus saith the LORD; (take heed when you say these words) Stand in the court of the LORD’S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’S house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:” (Jeremiah 26:2) Now you might say “Prophet Jereimah?” Well yes, but, I do not call him a Prophet God did. In 2 Chronicles we read, “Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD.” (2 Chronicles 36:11-12) If God is going to call someone a Prophet who am I to say he is not? You know in the Old Testament most people DID NOT want to be a Prophet. Life expectancy was not too long and most times if you said something the King did not like you spent most of your time in prison. Not to mention if your words were found to be untrue you were stoned to death for diminishing God’s word. Again in the Book of Jeremiah we read, “Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. 2Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.” (Jeremiah 20:1-2) Not a very cushy place for a man of God. I wonder how many so called “Prophets” today would endure a good smiting and stocks? My friend we must NEVER diminish God’s Word. Let our words be seasoned with truth, integrity, and honour, not for “Prophets” only for the entire Body of Christ.
Next month we will continue looking at the “Prophet of God” as we look at how we must go on whatsoever errands the LORD send us on. Is this you my friend? Are you a Prophet of God? To be a Prophet we must be able to hear His voice. Listen closely and you will. Written by David Stahl
ARTICLE REVIEW:
At the End of the Day
At the end of the day it will not matter what you did or did not do (by ways of good works) for the LORD. There are no do overs or redoes in the LORD. At the end of the day what we have done for the LORD will be on full display for those standing around to see. There will be no talking, arguing, praying, discussing, or even horse trading. At the end of the day we all will stand before the LORD and the Books will be opened and if our name is not found in the Book of Life of the Lamb we are heading to the Great White Throne judgment, “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.” (Revelation 20:11) Believers will also stand before the LORD. Their names were found in the Book of Life of the Lamb, they are heading to the Judgment Seat of Christ, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.” (2 Corinthians 5:10-11) to receive their reward for not what they did for the LORD, but for how they did things for the LORD. God is not so concerned what we have done for Him, but He will be very concerned about how we have done things for Him. It is going to be not “much done,” as good well intended Christians have been taught, but “how done,” how we did things for the LORD. Funny when you ask most pastors about their church they usually start with something like this, “well . . . we have about 100 members on Sunday (to be honest the mid-week service is a better gauge or determining factor of membership), we do this and/or that, but seldom do they talk about the spirituality of the members. Why are we so works focused? I guess it is easy enlarging our faith when we see a new building or new fellowship hall built, but now seeing spiritual growth and development as the LORD puts one through despair well that is a whole different focus. I will be honest I am as guilty as some pastors. When I pastored in Germany I would do the same thing thinking I was helping the LORD out impressing maybe a new member, but at the end of the day I was just embellishing the truth (most call it lying) to make things look better than they are. I wonder why we are so impressed by what we can do for the LORD? I wonder why we think the LORD is going to love us the more if we can do great things for Him? Great things for Him? He created the heavens (all three) and the earth, man, all we know and see, and we think building some building or big ministry to travel the world sharing this wondrous Gospel message impresses Him? Oh no my friend all of our good works, those good works we do for God are for our benefit not the LORD’s. For it is in these good works in the hours of loneliness on planes, trains, and automobiles, in times of danger, in times of feast and famine, times what Paul calls the “terror of the LORD” in these times God can work in our heart and in our thoughts conforming us into the character and images of Jesus Christ, the LORD’s grand goal in our lives. When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist God the father openly spoke of His son, “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” At that time Jesus had not started His earthly ministry. Jesus had not yet preached one message, made one disciple, or even performed one miracle. I wonder what made the Father so pleased with His Son? Maybe it was the wonderful relationship the Father and Jesus had. Of course the Father knows all things and saw the day (in the future) that Jesus would be stretched out on the cross between heaven and earth for the atonement of our sin. Maybe it was the utter dependence Jesus had on the Father. Funny how today we think we are independent and we can handle things for the LORD. In John Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” (John 5:19) We run around and say we have the power, brother do you have the power? And Jesus said he had no power, “except for what the Father gives Him.” Something is wrong here. As we walk with the LORD there are some very important things we must discover because soon we will find ourselves at the end of the day and it will be too late. We must learn we have no power, God is God and we are not! We must learn the only way we will ever be affective for the LORD is if we have a relationship with Him. We must learn He is not looking at what we are doing for Him, but He is closely scrutinizing us in how we are doing things for Him. The smaller the issue the closer He scrutinizes us. Big things in God really do not matter, but ah the small things, well they are life and death to us. Something as small as a realization of our need for Him and a confession of our faith in Him to change us from who we are means all of the next world to us. We must learn the way up is down. We must be like Jesus lowly in heart and see of ourselves no reputation. My heavens just look at Christian TV (an oxymoron) the effort spent to build up a man over another man. Each working so hard to build up a reputation: as end-time teacher, pastor, prophet, apostle, healer, you name it. Commercials are even made to promote a man to his greatness, but Jesus said the meek and humble shall inherit the earth. David said, “But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” (Psalms 37:11) That is peace now on earth not in the sweet by and by. The meek and humble know truth. Jesus said in Matthew, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matthew 11:29) Wow peace and rest! People of ambition trying to build up their reputation know no peace and rest, but striving and contempt. At the end of the day they confuse love, truth, and the weightier things of God. Remember, truth without love becomes a club, but love without truth becomes a perversion. If we get this wrong we are heading for hard times and a great fall my friend. I guess when I think of the Father and His relationship with Jesus (at the end of the day) I think of the many father and son relationships I have personally seen. At the end of the day all we can share is the things we personally know and I have been blessed (term over used) with great examples in my life. Growing up in a military family we made many visits to family members. When my father would deploy somewhere in the world we would move in with my mom’s mother at 57 Carpenters Ave. in Ridgeley, WV. When my father would come home we would drive over to 15 Napoleon Street in Johnstown, PA where his mother lived. Now Grandma Stahl was not Grandma Jewell. I learned quickly not to confuse them. Grandma Stahl was stern not very loving. When her husband left her with four kids she decided to raise her kids with discipline and not much love. Grandma Stahl was a tough lady. But at the end of day when we would leave to head back to Ridgeley we would load up in the car and as we waved good-by I could see a tear or two run down the face of my father and my grandmother. I thought maybe she was not as tough as I thought, but to be honest I never realized what was going on. As we (Karen and I) got older and had kids we would visit our parents. For years we would visit from one address to the next. And as we got older and as we gathered grandkids to our parents (at the end of the day) when we would leave we would load the car and stand and wave as streams of tears would run down our face. I began to understand a little bit about the end of the day. And now when our kids come home with our grandkids and they leave at the end of the day my heart and mind goes back to my father and his mother, back to all of the times we left from Karen’s parents home and my parents home. Oh what a heavy heart. Now we stand at the end of the day with tears streaming down our face as our kids pull out. We wave, oh what a heavy heart. At the end of the day I kind of believe this is the way the Father kind of felt about Jesus. Written by David Stahl
THOUGHTS FROM KAREN:
You’ll See
In Ephesians 2:10 Paul states, “we are His workmanship” not the church or the denomination we belong too. And even as this is very true, we must also listen to our friend Paul and “put off” so that we can “put on.” Paul writes, “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” (Ephesian 4:22-24) My friend we cannot “put on” anything of God until we first allow God to work in our lives and help us “put off” things of the world in us and our selfish, self-seeking character flaws. Recent events in my life have started me on some introspection which I find so ugly that I really don’t want to share, but hey maybe it’ll help somebody. I’ve been amazed, nay flabbergasted at the amount of anger in my heart for one. Not only over the rotten news of the day, but stupid stuff. Dave and I have been playing double solitaire for almost 2 years now and dang if it still bothers me if he wins. It still irritates me and it’s weird because I don’t consider myself a competitive—gotta win, win, win person. I get so aggravated if I do not get a good hand, on more than one occasion, I’ve felt like hurling the cards across the room. I know it’s terrible. There’s other stupid stuff that aggravates me but I’ll spare you. But wait there’s more! Fear is another thing, it’s deep, and deceptive. I truly don’t want to be the one to keep us from fulfilling what GOD wants us to do in our lives because of my fear. If left unchecked it can lead to unbelief in the LORD Himself. Better stop that mess! Time to grab myself by the scruff of my neck and just go through, full steam ahead. Rebellion is another area, if it’s not fear stopping me, is it rebellion? Oh my. Sometimes I just plain don’t want to do something or go somewhere. Oh maybe I’ll go but I’ll be dragging my heels. Folks we’re just along for the ride anyhow, ours is just to go in a good attitude and enjoy and not just endure—enjoy is much better! Whoa, got to check that attitude! Here’s one that maybe I’m not guilty of, but someone else may be and that’s unbelief—that’s a biggie. Unbelief and lack of faith are dangerous ground to be on. Either we believe GOD cares for us or we don’t. The Bible says HE cares! Brother Peter writes, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (1Peter 5:7) Either we believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus or we don’t—it is cut and dry. And if you don’t believe this, well you’ll be going to a very, very hot place forever. Self-deception is a good one also, though I may not be guilty of this one. Brother Paul helps us here, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Galatians 6:7-8) So, my friends as GOD deals in our hearts and exposes these nasty attitudes, ok maybe character flaws, let us be quick to put off these attitudes and renounce them in Jesus’ name, and strive to have a better heart condition before the Lord. We can fool people for a while, but we can never fool GOD. HE knows all things and still loves and cares for us. GOD Bless! Keep studying 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:
18 November 25 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:
November: Local Ministry
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:
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.
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