Month: July 2018

Article 21 – July 19, 2018                        It Was a Wonderful Camp

 

I have been to numerous gatherings of Christian believers through the years and to a number of summer Christian Camps as well. Last year we attended our first Harbor Light Christian Family Camp. I can’t even remember the theme, but it inspired and blessed us so much that we decided to go again this year. Having said this, Matthew 18:20 comes to my mind, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” We had eighty five people or so at this camp, but it felt like one of the old Rock of Ages with many thousands from my perspective.

What a joy and privilege it is to be gathered together with lots of like-minded believers and men and women of God who teach because they love the teacher’s task and have people receptive with minds that ask. In Luke 4:18, Jesus said: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor: he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” That’s a very power packed verse! We were gathered together to hear the Gospel. Some that were there were perhaps broken hearted to a degree. Fear is a great captivator and we heard about deliverance from fear. Some of us were perhaps spiritually blind in certain ways, and the Word recovered us. And certainly, all of us get bruised in our hearts at times, and the Word of God taught lovingly will wash all of that away. I quote this verse because of how the presentation of God’s Word at the Camp came over to me.

Perhaps others who were there did not see it in that particular light, but it would have been difficult to have sat the five days involved and to have come out uninvolved. The simplicity of salvation as set forth in Romans 10:9 was handled and it was awe inspiring. Salvation has been referred to as “the miracle of miracles”. And why not! People look for miracles and speak of them often very lightly, when really a miracle is a supernatural happening and certainly not a light thing in the eyes of God. Things of the spirit are always awe inspiring, because it’s our wonderful Father God, Who is at work, via our believing. To think that a person can go from spiritual death unto life in a moment of time is incredible and to think that from that moment on, that person has everything spiritually they’re ever going to need to live a life that is more than abundant. John 10:10b: “…I am come that they might have life, and they might have it more abundantly.”

We worked our way through prayer in one of the sessions and saw examples of people who were strong in believing and prayer. I’ve wrestled with understanding prayer in years past, and it’s wonderful to know that prayer is simply either speaking in the spirit which is speaking in tongues, which is perfect prayer or just talking to God. And God loves to have us talk to him.

We also saw that it’s available to have freedom from fear. How much freedom? As much as you want to have: How much can you believe for, because it’s the same God in Christ in you as it is in the examples we read about in Acts and the Church Epistles. We were challenged to face the fears in our lives which hold us back from believing and to know that God would never tell us we can do something if we were not able to do it according to His Word. 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” What men wouldn’t pay for a sound mind: yet the irony is that most men think that they do have sound minds. They have working minds, calculating and cunning minds, but it is impossible to have a truly sound mind without a working knowledge of God’s Word. Now you can challenge me on that statement, but I’m simply quoting what God’s Word says.

We ended with the Hope of Christ’s return and the period following that into the new heavens and the new earth, because the believer’s hope is largely energized in knowing that some day life won’t be as it is today. One great aspect of the believer’s hope is in knowing that Jesus Christ will gather us some day and we will be free from the wrath to come. Revelation 21:4 tells us, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Isn’t that a great thing to look forward to, and that’s part of our hope as well.

Whether you are a new or old student of the scriptures or just an interested person, there’s no escaping the warmness of the fellowship and the healing wholeness of the Word taught and shared. So the next time you’re looking for a wonderful time in God’s Word during the middle of summer, try a summer camp with the believers. I’ll bet that it’ll just hit the spot.

Funglimpses and all! Thanks for reading. Respectfully submitted, Will Grove

 

Article 20 – June 18, 2018

Fellowship Is the Key

1 John 1:3 tells us: “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” It wasn’t until I’d been a student of the scriptures for a long time, that I began to understand how important our fellowship with God is. I think we understand that to get along in life with people, you have to be pleasant with them, to get along and be nice as it’s called. That’s fine with other people. The fellowship that God desires with His people goes way beyond that.

Webster defines fellowship simply as “the quality or state of being comradely – meaningful communication for building trust and fellowship.” In the physical world this is very easy to understand because we build fellowship with others from the toddler stage. However, to build fellowship with God, we need to keep in mind that God is Spirit (John 4:24) and to build fellowship with God we have to enter into the spiritual realm, which is what God intends for us to do. Having fellowship with God is very simple if we allow it to be. Simply read God’s Word often, pray or talk to God often, pray in the spirit, which is speaking in tongues often and practice the presence of God. Do these things as much as possible and you will find life to be a real joy.

On the other side of the coin, there are lots of people who think that fellowship with God requires a lot of work to get saved and to stay saved. That is wrong teaching. Ephesians 2:8,9 tell us “For by grace are ye saved…Not of works, lest any man should boast.” And man does like to boast.

In 1 Timothy 2:4, we see that God would like to see everybody saved. God also knows that that isn’t going to happen because man is born into a carnal world and it’s very easy for man to fall in love with the things of this world, which are not the things of God. They are talked about in Galatians 5:19-21, and they are not pretty.

So why is fellowship so important to God, and why should it be important to those of us who love God? Very simple! It leads to the more abundant life that Jesus Christ spoke about in John 10:10: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” This breaks down, in one verse, the whole purpose for Jesus Christ’s ministry. It refers to the thief, who is the devil, whose sole purpose is to mess up our lives and to keep us from God’s Word if he can. It tells us that Jesus Christ came to destroy the power that the devil has over us at the moment. This means that we still have to deal with the pressures of this life. However, our abundant life is spiritual and it includes the power we have as sons of God on a daily basis, culminating someday with the return of Christ, and all that is involved with that.

For us to enjoy that abundant life daily, that is all day, every day, we need to understand how important it is for us to have fellowship with God. Having fellowship with God is highly contingent on our controlling the mind and keeping it God oriented and that is discussed in Romans 12:1,2, which tells us “…but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” We cannot prove the perfect will of God without controlling the mind. If we do not control the mind, the adversary will control it for us. Too many Christians, mind you, take this very lightly and as a result, get sucker-punched, so to speak and frustrated. Wrong teaching concerning the things of God will do that and it’s very sad but it happens every day.

Jesus Christ knew this very well. He knew he had to control his mind and that his sole source of everything was God. In John 5:30, he says, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” He knew he had to have the most intimate fellowship with his Father to do what he had to do to redeem mankind. He knew it at an early age, actually before he was a teenager, it tells us in Luke 2:42. He didn’t know everything at that point, but he did know his calling was special.

Our calling is special as well, as we are called to do the works that Christ did. Our problem is getting our believing up and it’s different for everybody. I know I don’t see a fraction of what’s available in my life spiritually, but I continue to work on it because I know I should and because I find it to be fun. Too many people I’ve come into contact with do not think it to be true because it requires working the mind to have fellowship with God. As Bob Dylan once said:

“You’re gonna have to serve somebody – Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody. ”

Too many people do not think this is true. They think you can spin off in life without serving either and think it’s not a big deal. That is not true. You will always be serving one or the other, either directly or indirectly. So often it’s the wondrous things of the world that attract and dissuade. 2 Corinthians 2:14,15 say it very plainly, “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” Pretty revealing, huh?

Without a doubt we will all be serving, the question is who are we serving. We can either have fellowship with the works of this world and take the consequences or have fellowship with our Heavenly Father and reap the blessings. I’ll take the blessings and I hope you will too.

Funglimpses and all! Thanks for reading. Respectfully submitted. Will Grove