FINALLY WE CAN TALK ABOUT IT!

It's about time, but I understand it's all in God's timing! For the past 4 weeks Pastor Neal has been preaching and teaching on the Spiritual Gifts. I'm so happy to finally feel like we can discuss them and talk about them openly. Based on that last sentence one would think I'm talking about something taboo, but I'm simply talking about the Holy Spirit.

It's amazing to me how much the Western Church has demonized the "sign gifts" of the Spirit (i.e. speaking in/interpreting tongues, prophecy, etc) to the point that our leaders and pastors are afraid to bring the subjects up in their pulpits. The silence from pulpits in many denominations is deafening. I have blogged many times about this very subject so I'll try not to go back to the same points.

I'm very happy that Pastor Neal has moved us into a discussion and teaching on these things. I think it's been a very enriching time for the body based on the many positive comments I've heard. There is a mass of people that have seen the Holy Spirit's power mocked and abused by people we don't really trust. Then there's a mass of people that are afraid of what might happen to them if they experience the Holy Spirit's manifestation in the ways described in the Word. I'm thankful that there's a trust factor with our pastor that the congregation has so that we can be taught from someone that we know and that we know hears from the Lord and is grounded enough to teach us the right things. Then there is the Holy Spirit to verify in our spirits what we hear as we continue to study and seek understanding.

Interestingly enough, we've also heard from our missionaries in the field of East Asia who have started seeing many signs and wonders follow them as they go out in the Name of Jesus and teach, preach, and sow His word. Why should anyone be surprised that our God is the same God and has the same power and intentions as the God of the Bible, specifically the New Testament? Now a problem can arise if we aren't careful that we start looking and "following" the signs and wonders instead of following after Christ. If we follow Christ and are working for His Kingdom then those things FOLLOW US...not the other way around...they are simply a by-product of our obedience.

Why is it God's Spirit is revealing Himself to our missionaries in South Africa and East Asia? Why do they see healings and experience Words of Knowledge and Wisdom and prophecy and on and on as they see God use their work to expand His Kingdom? I guess the question really isn't why do we see it there, but more in line of why don't we see it here in the USA like that? It's because we've placed the Holy Spirit in our tidy little boxes and closed the lid in many cases. We are happy to say that we have the Holy Spirit when we get saved and that He gifts us with the ability to be a great administrator or an encourager, but we stop there because the other gifts would actually require us to exercise our faith! OUCH!

Should we be surprised to hear that our missionaries pray in the Spirit? No! Should we be surprised that the Spirit can give them the faith to be healed of a chocolate allergy or a broken tooth? No! We should be thrilled that God continues to fulfill his promises that He will pour out His Spirit!

I am thrilled that we can finally talk about this. We aren't crazies. We aren't super-spiritual nut-jobs who think they are better than everyone else. We are just ordinary men and women, hungry and seeking after our God. Let's keep up the discussion and keep looking and living with expectancy as we follow Him.

FROM MAINE TO UKRAINE

Well the big vacation to Maine is finally over. It was nice to get away for a while but it was a challenging trip. Many of you have read just how rough conditions are in Ukraine...well let me just tell you that Maine and Ukraine have some interesting things in common besides the rhyming name.

1) Maine and Ukraine both have HORRIBLE roads. I'm not sure if people just don't pay there taxes in Maine or if their state government is as bad as handling money as the Ukrainians are...nonetheless, off of the main roads, the conditions are very very bumpy to say the least. Sarah tells me that like the snows of Ukraine, the snows of Maine are very very hard on the asphalt there so it's almost impossible to keep the in tip-top shape.

2) Roads takes me naturally into our second point which is transportation. In Ukraine we have only Bruce and Sergei to haul us from one spot to the other. We are at their mercy to get us there and back safely...and to avoid those nasty pot-holes in their roads. There is no air conditioner in the cars and you just squeeze in with everyone else to get to where you're going. IN MAINE it was much the same story. Sarah's sister Sage was our taxi for the week in a nice sized SUV, with no a/c. Travis had his vehicle there as well. 3 car seats and 8 adults had to go and come at various points in the week. It was a challenge to say the least. My experience as a missions pastor wasn't much help in this coordination of efforts. It was way too complicated to factor in car seats, what had to go where, and getting us all to the wedding at 3 different times of the day...in a town 40 minutes away. I'm happy to have my own vehicle to drive again.

3) The weather. Forgive me for thinking that my trip to New England would be filled with cool, blue-sky days and crisp fall-like nights...NOPE! The weather was very sunny and very hot and oh yeah it was humid too. I thought I was in the deep south. Like most of Maine, our house did have any a/c since it rarely gets hot enough to justify the cost. As a result we spent 8 sleep-deprived nights lying on top of the covers with a single fan and a small window to provide any natural a/c. Many of the items in our lake house were wet from having the windows open and the humidity being so high. So yes just like Ukraine, I didn't sleep very well and I sweated more than I slept.

4) The water. Interestingly enough the water at our lake house was drawn directly from the lake. There was no way you could drink the water from the sink (just like Ukraine). We had to rely on bottled water. No since the stores were so far away and since it was so challenging to go anywhere it seemed like we just couldn't get enough or keep enough water. I can say that I've had my fill of Diet Dr. Pepper for now...oh and another neat parallel...no one serves Dr. Pepper in Maine either just like in Ukraine. I did find my stash at a grocery store thankfully.

5) The religion. Maine is, just like everywhere else in the USA or Ukraine, full of cults and chaos. There is a prominent "camp" in one town that I will not name here that advertises MEDIUM DAY with the Reverend Sally Whoever...in the newspaper..big ad proudly encouraging all to come out to this spiritual event. It goes to show that in the absence of truth, the enemy fills the void with his lies and deceit. This again is true all over the place but you definitely could tell you weren't in the good ol' Bible Belt of SW Virginia anymore. I saw way more Obama stickers than I cared to see and way way way too many "COEXIST" stickers that have advertise for the Unitarian Church that seems to have a presence there (that's where people of all beliefs come together for one, non-offensive, full package service from the Jew to the Muslim to whoever.

6) The food. Just like in Ukraine I probably gained 5 or 10 pounds from eating all of the goodies and junk that I could take in..hey I'm in a new culture...it's important to try new things right!

7) The beauty. Just like Ukraine, Maine is full of beauty. I am in awe of God's creative hands in nature. Just a few days before hurricane Bill slammed Maine's shoreline with incredible waves we visited the very area where the little 7-year old girl drowned. The shoreline was covered with huge boulders with the back drop of amazing pines and seascapes...and just like in Ukraine there were white birch trees everywhere as they are indigenous to this area as well.

8) The language...everyone there speaks some form of Yankee English that I can hardly understand....and they can hardly understand me...no joke. I found myself barely even speaking to people at the check out stands or wherever because they would probably ask me to repeat myself or ask me if I was from the south. Just like in Ukraine, where no one understands me and I don't understand them I was just as uncomfortable with the language barrier.

8) Finally it's home. For Sarah Maine isn't just a mission trip or a place to visit it's her home. Sarah spent almost all of her child and teen years in Maine until the Lord directed her here so that we would fall in love with other on our trip to Ukraine. Ukraine is also like our home as we leave pieces of heart there each and every time we visit.

I'm happy to be back. It was great to meet new family members and see the places Sarah grew up in or businesses she worked at but there's nothing like coming home and enjoying the place that you're in and living where God has placed you.

I'm OUTTA HERE

Well my faithful blog followers, I am officially signing off for the next 9 days. Me and the family are heading to Maine tomorrow morning at 4am. We are looking forward to a much needed break and a time of rest and relaxation.

Sarah's entire family will be there (most of them are originally from there) and we will get to see everyone and spend some time with them. I'm looking forwad to seeing all of those places that Sarah talks about that she loved while growing up.

Most vacations require a vacation afterwards so we are all going into this vacation with one agenda in mind...REST! I'm tired. It's been a challenging spring and summer both in our home and in the ministry. I'm in some serious need of refreshing.

Please keep us in your prayers as we travel but more importantly just ask the Father to take us deeper in our walk with Him as we find peace and rest by the lake on what we hope to be a marvelous retreat!

Be blessed,
Ron, Sarah, katie, and Chloe

BECOMING A GOD OR BEING CHRIST LIKE

As I mentioned in my blog from Friday, it's been an eye-opening experience to travel the world and learn about some of the bizarre belief systems in different cultures. In the squatter camps of South Africa, I find it most compelling that they pray to their dead ancestors and count on them to intercede for them and to do things for them while in Ukraine the Orthodox follower also prays to dead saints of the church in hopes that they can help them or do them a favor....just to clarify...1Ti 2:5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.

Okay, I'm off the subject a little but my point is that there are some strange thoughts out there about religion. The ones dealing in the powers of darkness, like voodoo or something like that, are twisted as it is, but the ones that take our God and make Him into something that He isn't is even more perplexing.

Ukrainians work so hard to become a "god" by doing good works, taking Communion, etc...they will even say a prayer of "repentance" when you witness to them because they think it earns them extra points towards their soon-to-be god-like status. Just to clarify what God's Word says about Him...Eph 2:8 God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Eph 2:9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

It baffles me how different "Christian" beliefs just write off part of His Word like it never even existed. It's like how certain denominations would say that the sign gifts of the Spirit are dead in today's world...okay I am certainly getting off the subject but you get my point...just like God's Spirit is still alive and well and distributing gifts as He pleases to build up His kingdom, God does indeed want us to be LIKE Him, but not work to BE HIM!

There's a fundamental difference in mentality if you look at just that one single issue between the Orthodox and the Evangelical Christian. We are to have the mind of Christ. We are to be a REFLECTION of Christ that lives in US, not work to become a God. The Lord never called us to be HIM, but He did tell us that we are to be like Him.

What reflection do we give off to others? Do people around you see Christ living in you by your attitude and your actions and your words? One thing that I was so blown away to witness in Africa was the comments by people that we were witnessing to that went "Something is different about you...what's so different about you...you smile...you laugh different...what is the difference in you?" Oh it's Christ, just Christ that lives in me and shines out of me for the world to see.

Be a light, be Christ-like and let others see you as a reflection of your heavenly Father. They will see the difference. Ukrainians see the difference too. They work themselves to death trying to be good enough and work hard enough to earn their way into deification, but in the end they all say, "We're condemned to die and go to hell." How sad. They don't know of Christ. They don't know that He came to set the captives free and that by His grace and grace alone they can be saved. It's so important that we are Christ-like in every culture and let His Holy Spirit open doors and prepare the way for us to talk about His amazing love and amazing Grace!

What on earth IS an EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN?

Over the last 4 years, I've been traveling to Ukraine. In preparing for this travel, I have been studying their belief system and their culture so that I can better understand their worldview. I was amazed in my studies to find that they will often refer to the Christian roots of the nation dating back to like 900AD...Christian roots??? Wait? What?

I've been in that culture and while I love the people and love the beautiful land and desire to be among them, I would hardly say that this is in fact a nation that has Christian roots. Eastern Orthodox was the dominate "state-run" religion for many generations, even centuries and it is in no way a belief that actually follows CHRIST JESUS. So it got me to thinking...what does it mean to be Christian vs. Evangelical Christian.

According to Wikipedia..."To begin, let’s break down the two words. The term "Christian" essentially means "little Christ." "Christian" is the term given to followers of Jesus Christ in the first century A.D. (Acts 11:26).

The term "evangelical" comes from the Greek word that means "good news." Evangelism is sharing the good news of the salvation that is available through Jesus Christ. An evangelical, then, is a person dedicated to promoting the good news about Jesus Christ. Combined, the description "evangelical Christian" is intended to indicate a believer in Jesus Christ who is faithful in sharing and promoting the good news.

The article continues..."In Western culture today, there are many caricatures of evangelical Christians. For some, the term "evangelical Christian" is equivalent to right-wing, fundamentalist Republican. For others, "evangelical Christian" is a title used to differentiate an individual from a Catholic Christian or an Orthodox Christian. Others use the term to indicate adherence to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. In this sense, an evangelical Christian is a believer who holds to the inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of Scripture, the Trinity, the deity of Christ, and salvation by grace through faith alone. However, none of these is inherent in the description "evangelical Christian."

Clearly the Eastern Orthodox Chruch wants to label themselves as Christians of the real type but I have yet to see one single ounce of love demonstrated in their belief system. Their followers will all tell you that they are condemned to hell and that there is no hope. They work themselves to death to try to become a God and believe that Mary was the closest to making this level of diefication. They only see Jesus as the one who's death on the cross brought victory over satan so that man could get back on to the right path of diefication and begin his work again towards becoming a God.

They want to become a god in their Christian religion and we as EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS want to become CHRIST-LIKE....there is a huge difference...we'll discuss this more next time...stay tuned.

NO LUKEWARM IN THE UNDERGROUND CHURCH

I was reading "Tortured For Christ." It's an amazing and horrifying story of Richard Wurmbrand's imprisonment in Romania during the years of Nazi and Communist rule. Some of the things he experienced just because he believed in Jesus Christ and because he preached about His grace are just beyond description.

I found my interest in his particular story was elevated because of his understanding of the Russian mentality and mindset. The things that I've only started seeing on the surface when visiting Ukraine are just the tip of a very dark and deep iceberg of darkness and destruction that Communism has rammed into the culture of Eastern Europe.

His story tells of the heavy indoctrination that the government would place on the people of the USSR and her captured nations. Indoctrination that was full of anti-Christ thoughts and teachings. Sadly enough priests and pastors even gave in and fell under the control of the government. Many priest/pastors would inform the freaks in Stalin's govt of who would take Communion more than others or who would seem deeper involved spiritually than others. Of course these people would then be arrested and imprisoned and/or killed. Sadly the believers in these countries had no where to turn in terms of a loving and trusting church body because even the priests were corrupted.

The underground church thrived however. Richard told of how there are no lukewarm Christians in the Underground Church of the world. When you decide that you will follow Christ no matter what, you could be signing up for a life of pain and torture for you or your wife and even your kids. Yes most Americans would walk away from there faith I think if they were tested this way. No lukewarm Christians. That hit me hard I must say. How willing ARE we to follow Christ and to be BOLD in our witness for Him.

The murderers in the communist regimes that ruled for decades were filled with a hate. They wanted the blood of believers and instead they found many that were filled with an amazing determination to demonstrate the love of Christ as they were being tortured. Some of these Christians even led their torturers to Christ as they were able to witness to them and experience the power of the Holy Spirit there in their jail cells.

Rev 3:15-20 "I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! (16) But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth! (17) You say, 'I am rich. I have everything I want. I don't need a thing!' And you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. (18) So I advise you to buy gold from Me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from Me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. (19) I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. (20) "Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.

Have you ever drank lukewarm water? In Ukraine the only type of water that you can find is lukewarm water. Sometimes I'd leave my water bottle in the sun to make it hot just so it would taste like something worth drinking. Of course, it was impossible to find cold water there, which we craved daily. My point is I'd rather get my water to the point of boiling so I could drink it rather than drink the lukewarm water. How much MORE does God detest a lukewarm church? Where are you in your personal walk? Where is your church? Would you be spit out? Would your church?

It's time we got "hot" for the Gospel of Jesus. Instead of warming our pews we need to warming the roads as we take the gospel to our community, our state, our nation and the world!