Financial Support

I have often heard is, "God will provide."

And, as God is ministering through me, I have come to realize that He will bring a team of believers alongside me. God will provide for me. And in the future, I will do like Paul did when he wrote to the Philippians, I will have the privilege of sharing with my fellow believers in the work of the Gospel. Just as God has called me to 'Preach His Word,' He has called others to help with the bills.

Just as I enjoyed giving my truck to a family in the ministry, God will bring people to me that have "the gift of giving."

I will, "Rejoice in the Lord always (verse 4)."

I will "think about" "anything [that] is excellent or praiseworthy . . . (verse 8)."

And "I [will] rejoice greatly in the Lord that (verses 10 - 19)" fellow believers are supporting me in the ministry.

Romans

Every now and then, I look to Romans for my quiet time.

Today, my 'church planter's heart' was caught by Romans 9: 1 - 6.

Most of you probably remember the passage that goes something like this, "God knows that I wish that I could be cursed to Hell in your place, but I can't."

You know, I cannot count the number of times that I have felt that passage upon my heart. Every time I drive past down town Fort Worth, my heart remembers the hours I spent praying for the lost in this city. My heart breaks for those that are lost and going to Hell.

That is why I am starting a church. I want to snatch a couple of people back from the fires of HELL. Well . . . to be honest, I want more than just a couple.

God bless

Socializing

Dating might be the term we want to use when we are socializing together as men and women. However, when you have published group social event and only one other dedicated Christian shows up, the term 'social event' is more apt. However, from a dating perspective, the lady was emotionally attractive and pretty! So from this man's perspective, the event was successfully FUN!

;o)

OK, we were able to identify [not rectify] almost all of the problems of so called 'Christian dating'. We could even identify some of the character flaws of different that we know. [I bet they wish they knew what we said about them ;o) !] And we identified many of our own character flaws.

Overall, it was a great time that will live in infamy.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the ONE family holiday that I love!

God bless everyone and Happy Thanksgiving!

Psalms 89: 9

"You rule the raging of the sea."

I wonder how long it took for the Apostles to realize just who Jesus was? I mean they WERE there with Him, but just as there are people today that say they believe and do not believe: just how long was it before they realized who Jesus was?

Sunday . . .

Whew!

Isn't it amazing that when I do have the time to fight a cold, I get one. But, I really did need to be at full strength this week.

Oh well, such is life.

The Parable of the Sower was especially important to me this week. I preached from the passage recorded in Mark. However, even more important to me was my friend's conversation as I went to preach. My friend stpped me and said, "I want to share a parable with you. I want to talk with you about the parable of the sower." God is great! Even if He had not confirmed His precense, God had already laid upon my heart what He wanted to say through me. But, it was nice to have God confirm His message for the service.

Days like this

Days like this!

Some days are just exhausting, even if you don't do a single thing.

Yet, Jesus had more bad days than I have had. In the Bible it says, "All the people in the synagogue were furious when the heard this. The got up, drove him out of the town . . . . In order to throw him down the cliff (Luke 4: 28 & 29)."

Sometimes during days like this, I wish that I could just walk right through the day like Jesus walked through the crowd that was around him.

And then I remember that I can. Because with Christ in me, I am an overcomer.

-- ***

Well, today like so many others is passing. I was able to catch up on some reading. I am amazed at how little time there is in a day. But, I am glad that I caught up some reading. I just wish I had caught up on all of my reading.

Today I was really amazed at how some people react to my encountering demonic activity. "That was only during the New Testament era." "I do not think that is biblical." Well, it did occur during the New Testament era. And it is recorded in the New Testament. And while there may be a sessation of certain spiritual gifting, I am unable to find any scripture that indicates a sessation of the demonic activity in the modern world.

I would like to think that all activity is easily explainable, but I have a feeling that I will be face to face with the supernatural soon.

WOW!

Ain't God great?

Through it all, God is great! In Nehemiah, God revealed how His leader was able to lead His people to do great works. But, it was not without risk and problems.

Spiritual Warfare

I chose "Spiritual Warfare" instead of just "Warfare" to prevent any confusion.

Wow! What a week it has been. People yelling at me. People treating me badly. People lying to me. People deceiving me. And all the time, I know that I have an appointment to help a woman with demonic type issues.

This week is driven by the enemy knowing that God will use me to push back the evil stronghold in the life of one person. At least I know the reason behind the madness. Of course, knowing why does not really help slow down the pace of everything coming at me. But, it does help to know that each of the weird events become part of the famous, "This to will pass".

Thank God for His blessing ahead of time.

Books

Reading used to be my addiction. Now, reading is a necessary sideline as I study church planting . . . I will add notes to this post as I read new and interesting books.

In The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner, they mention how leaders must encourage the hearts of their followers (13). This is a must read for leaders and church planters in specific.

Bob Buford in Half Time brings out the fact that once we pass 35, we are on the down hill side of eternity. If we want to make a difference we had better do so in a hurry. And most importantly, if we want to live for Jesus on this side of eternity, we had better get 'right' with Jesus right now.

Godly Image

So, if Jesus is the Image of God, what would be a godly image? I realize this a pretty loaded question. However, yesterday was pretty loaded. I had missed the previous day's expression of anger towards me. Therefore, yesterday caught me off guard. God in His infinite wisdom allowed me to forget my jacket, on Saturday. I went back on Sunday to pick it up. There in lay the surprise.

"Pastor, do you speak Spanish? I think that you do. If you do, would you answer a question for me? When you and the other Pastor are finished will be fine. I will wait." [This blog is exhibiting strange behavior.]

I knew then that I was in for a deeeep question. How little did I know that was an understatement.

What is a godly image? Well, I believe that a godly image is NOT an ungodly image. You will need the short answer, first.

"Pastor, my daughter is seeing these apparitions. She can see them. Her dog (about the size of a large bull dog) can see them. Her husband cannot see them. They call her name from the other room, and when she goes to the room there is nothing there. They cause the table to levitate. The dog growls at them. They will not let her leave the house some times. She is a good girl. Well, she is a woman. She is in her forties. But, what could this be? I am scared for her." [During the first publication of this blog, the conversations disappeared.]

First, Satan can only attack us in this realm. Satan can only attack us with permission (Job chapter one). Further, sometime the spiritual is an emotional (physical &/or mental) manifestation. However, there are times that the attack is truly demonic.

Time for a longer answer.

A godly image is an image that glorifies God. Any thing that does not glorify God is not godly. Apparition that cause fear, only to cause fear in and of this world, are not godly. If the apparition is godly, then the apparition will cause a greater fear OF GOD. If the apparition only brings fear and uncertainty of the physical things around us, then the apparition (thought or even demon) does not glorify God.

Amazingly, this definition applies to every person that we meet. If a person does not glorify God, then that person is not a godly person. If a friendship does not bring glory to God, then that friendship is not godly. If my job does not bring glory to God, then that job is not godly.

Now just to be fair, an image does not have to bring glory to God each and every time we interact with it. (Do not quit your job, yet.)

These next couple of weeks, I will engage the spiritual warfare up close and very personal. It will be amazing to read my blog in a few months or in a few years.

May the Lord shine His face upon you!

-- *** And DID HE! I windexed my windows to get them clean and was thinking about the events of today when I looked at the sunset. Today had been dreary all day long. The overcast had cast a dull sheen to everything. But, there God let His light shine forth in stupendous brilliance! Thank you God!

Image of God

Our Apostle Paul wrote that "Christ is the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1: 15). While I understand what the 'image of God' means, I am more interested in how I should respond to that.

Today, our world is full of violence. How should my following the image of God change the way that I act.

Yesterday, I saw two violent drivers. The first one, would have hit the drive in front of my, but that driver slammed on his brakes. The second would have hit me, but I swerved into the left hand turn lane. Ironically, the man that almost hit me, leaned out of his window and started yelling at me.

I am not proud of my reaction. I was angry. I felt righteous anger. Unfortunatley, this is not a reaction that I can claim Jesus WOULD have done. I can justify myself and say that Jesus did get angry at times. However, I do not know that Jesus would have been angry at this time. I can say that Jesus would have reacted. But, I cannot say that He would have been angry.

A better reaction than anger would have been for me to immediately ask God what to do. (I did this, but my reaction in speaking with God was delayed.) Ironically, God did not tell me to chase the man down and talk to him. But, He did give me a peace about my having behaved calmly.

And Jesus did behave this way. He told us to pray to the heavenly Father. Jesus told us that He did what the Father told Him to do.

Church planting stresses

OK, one purpose of blogging (online journaling) should be to let stress out . . .

However, church planting stresses me out more than I would have ever thought it could.

Today, I took part in an assessment. WHAT was I doing there? The two assessors told me their combined church planting experience was under a year.

I just wanted to screem! "If they can church plant, then I can church plant!" I am not being arrogant, just confident. The Northwood program is built around solid church planters. Today was a focal point. After the assessment, I went and heard Bob Roberts preach. Talk about a juxtaposition! WOW! He is a church planters' church planting pastor! Northwood is led by an outstanding church planting pastor.

"Father God, I thank you that there are men that have given their lives to building your kingdom. However, the men that give their lives and then share themselves with other leaders within the Kingdom are even greater" (IMHO).

Mark 2: 17

Mark 2: 17 is rapidly becoming my favorite verse: "On hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'"

My heart breaks for those that do not know Jesus as I know Jesus. When I listen to so many people with the pain and hurt from this world, I think: "If only you knew Jesus as I know Him." It is a shame that we live in a world that tears us apart and does not build us up. I look around and see people everywhere that are torn by divorce, drugs, and every day stress.

Like my boss, Jesus, I am proud that I am sent to find people separated from God and lead them to a life complete in God.

Luvs Iesous' practice blog

Lancair: "Wellllll"

I am learning 'how to'. One important 'how to' is linking to other pages. So, now I have to re-verse engineer what I did so that I can use it regularly . . . Yes! It is that easy to figure out how they code in extensions! All those years of computer geek-dom will pay off!

God bless

Wayne

Days like this . . .

WHEW!
Days like today are the worst kind.
Today has not been bad, but it was not 'good' either.
God has been 'good' to me, but today is one of those days that I just do not feel much about.

And here I get on the world wide web and write about it. No, this is not writer's block. This is genuinely a day that is just another boring (even though there were many events today) day.

The verses that stood out during my Bible reading were:
(Isaiah 1: 16) "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil,";
and (1: 18b, c, d) “ Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool."

Isn't God great? Even though I do not do what God wants me to do, He forgives me! MAN, I want a boss LIKE THAT!!! Oh yeah, He IS my boss ;) You know today is one of those many days that I will look back upon and see nothing special about in itself. However, today (& many others) is special because God gave me another day to live.

I lost a friend (many friends and family) last year. I knew him as 'Eddie'. I was never very good at his Chinese name. He was 36 years old . . . He died as my father died. It was painful to gain and loose a friend. And even though I feel a tear in my eye, I know that I will see Eddie in Heaven soon. So, even though today is not 'great', today is still 'great'. All because God has given me another special day. A special day that Eddie does not have.

Genuinely a dog day . . . I pray that Chapinsan does not mind my posting a picture of one of his 'dogs' . . .

Church Planting Dinner with author Milfred Minatrea.

Tonight, I enjoyed an awe inspiring supper. The meal itself was great, but the fellowship with other church planters was thrilling. At first, I was fascinated by Milfred Minatrea. But soon, I was enthralled by the response of my fellow church planters. When I saw that all of us were willingly engaged in this discussion about church planting, I became absorbed. A dozen men gave up our evenings to learn how church planting should reflect God's heart.

God wants each of His local churches to be local with a global missional thrust. Historically, church leaders have conducted missions with a global perspective. Yet, God wants us to be missional. Christ declared our focus as making disciples. We are always to be making disciples. Disciples are people that believe in Christ and lead others into the journey of becoming new disciples. Missional thinking is a constant. We should never conduct a mission, rather, we are to always be making disciples.

A dozen men encouraging each other on our journey. A journey of a lifetime became more focused for each of us around the table. Shortly, there will be a dozen new churches led by men of God that are missional.

To God be the Glory.

Wayne

Important life event

Years ago, I realized that I could not handle life alone.

Last year, I was thankful that I had placed my future in the hands of Jesus Christ. My father passed away, and then my uncle passed away.

This last year has been difficult for me. I remember something small happening about a year ago. I tho't, "I will call my dad and tell him about my new car". Immediately, I felt melancholy wash over me. I honestly felt my eyes mist up. I would tell you that I really did not cry, but it would not matter if you believed me or not.

It is hard to believe that they have been gone a year, now. Yet, I know why the Apostle told us to comfort each other with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I know that I will see them again. (1 Thessalonians 4: 18).

Sunday

Hello everyone!
Today is my first Sunday online. I am enjoying blogging as a concept. And even more, I look forward to encouraging other people as we all seek a closer relationship with God.

This is an ironic time to begin blogging. France and Denmark are currently living through rioting in the streets. Young muslim immigrants are angry at the native people of Denmark and making strong comments like: "The police has to stay away. This is our area. We rule this place." (Article online)

Love could become the greatest victory of the present age. Or, anger could continue to shape our world. Personally, I pray that we will love as God has loved us (1 John 4: 11). And I pray that we will remember that He gave His son for us (John 3: 16 and 1 John 4: 10).

May the Love of God embrace you this week.

Welcome to all who want to grow spiritually!

Welcome,

I will try to keep this blog site up to date and interesting!

Tonight I am watching 'Pirates of the Carribean'. Entertainement is a beautiful reflection of our world today. I am intrigued by the rapid advance of entertainment and media.

The cinematography in 'Pirates' is awsome.

Well, back to the movie!

God bless!

Beginning a new era

Fellow Believers,

I am beginning a new era in our adventure as we are enabled by God to reach His people here on this Earth.

May Our Lord and God bless you and keep you.

In Christ,

Wayne