CampfireTALK: May 21st, 2014
CHURCH 
... her primary purpose!
Who can tell me the purpose of the church, and the ministry? 

I have to ask this because recently I have become aware that in many denominations we have turned our churches away from "teaching and raising up the saints for ministry" and into more or less a "service center", or a "ministry of helps". 

Our mission trips and our retreats have become "work farms" where we take our youth and go out and build, and clean up, and work in the community.  While this is a worthy task, it is not at all the primary purpose of our churches!  Have we so quickly forgotten the command of Jesus? 

In Ephesians 4:11 Paul tells us of the 5-fold ministry offices and why they were put into place.  He says they are "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."  He goes on to tell us in verse 14 that we are to be "no more children" tossed to and fro by various teachings and doctrines, but we are to "grow up" into Him in all things! 

He teaches here that the Body of Christ (the Church) is to become fitly joined together, working well together.  He says we are to abandon the ways of the Gentiles (the non-Christians) and are to walk with a renewed spirit in the faith of God.  

We often think that because Jesus fed the hungry, and healed the sick, that this was why He was sent.  The fact is that healing the sick or feeding the hungry is a temporary fix, at best!  Jesus used these to meet the needs of the people so that He could "get their attention"!  If you heal a man, or feed him, or pay off his bills, YOU HAVE GOT HIS ATTENTION! 

Somewhere in the process, we have become so focused on the feeding and the healing and the caring for others that we forgot the whole purpose of those was to "get their attention" so that we can "teach them"!  In every event where you see Jesus healing the sick, He was also preaching and teaching to them!  And I assure you "THAT" was His primary goal!  For if you teach them and you get them saved, "they" can carry on the healing and the feeding and the caring for others ... so that they too can preach the word!

So, in your church plannings, and in your missions, don't get so focused on helping others that you forget your "primary purpose".  We, the "Church", are here to prepare the saints for the work of the ministry!  We are here to "preach the gospel ... to the World"!
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CampfireTALK is our weekly e-newsletter, speaking life into your heart, with stories, a word from our affiliate ministries, and a devotion from pastor Rich.  It's a source for you to feed your spirit, to challenge your faith and to build you up! 


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WORD CHURCH Ministries
Word Church banner - the directors WORD CHURCH is a church, a ministry, and a fellowship, even an outreach, where like in the days of the Apostles and Acts, the people joined together! 

Our vision and our goal, is to bring churches together in the unity of the faith, to help them to begin to bring together the gifts and talents of each separate church, and to share those gifts and talents with each other, that we may be better and more effective in teaching and training the Body of Christ, for the word of the ministry, to tell the World about Jesus!    .... Learn More


DEVOTION
LET PATIENCE DO ITS WORK

Have you ever read the scripture, "Let patience have it's perfect work that you may be found complete, lacking in nothing."? 

I believe the New American Standard Bible puts it this way, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."    [James 1:2-4  NASB]



Endurance, a word often used for patience, means the "power to withstand hardship or stress".  I like the King James word for this better, as it's definition reveals, "enduring trying circumstances with even temper or characterized by such endurance." 

In a nutshell, what the Bible is getting at here is that "we", as Christians (those who strive to be Christ-like in our behavior) should consider it all joy when we are put to the test, not by God but by our surrounding circumstances and trials, and the many things that we encounter as we live our lives here, in the Earth. 

The reason we should be so excited about these trials is that they produce the character and even temper that can only be developed through adversity and trials.  The good thing is that the fruit of this practice is that we will be strong, steadfast and secure in our faith, as we apply the Bible principles of teaching in our daily lives.  In a nutshell, "we will be blessed, prosperous and will achieve our goals and endeavors in life! 

To boil it down in plain terms:  If you want to be successful, and stable, someone that God can use in all situations, then you WANT THIS!   You "want" to go through these trials and tests, because through them you ...

1.  learn to be consistent and stable
2.  learn to hear from the Holy Spirit, receiving direction
3.  learn to pray and stand in firm belief, regarding your faith
4.  learn to trust and believe
5.  learn to "succeed"!


There will be times that others are freaking out around you, and the circumstances that arise have them in shambles!  And yet, there you stand, like some Jedi Master Ninja, a prime example of a solid, stable, confident, member of the family of God!  You are unmoved by your surroundings, unshaken in your faith, and not the least bit run by your emotions.  You are strong in the Lord, and in the Power of HIS Might!  You are an "example" of those who .... believe! 

Love is patient, kind, not jealous, does not brag, is not arrogant, and does not act unbecomingly.  It does not seek it's own, is not easily provoked, not not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rather rejoices in the truth! 

Love bears all things, believes all things, and hopes all things.  It endures all things ... 

Because love ... never fails!     


Make me proud!   
-pastor rich-  


Get ON-TRACK with HIS Plan ...
1.  Be holy - the Bible calls us a "Holy Temple", where the Spirit of GOD lives.  the Spirit of GOD lives in your heart!  And to keep it holy, we must confess our sin when we sin (1 John 1:9).  "
If we confess our sins, HE is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness."  In order to remain holy and clean, before GOD, we must avoid sin, and when we do sin, we must confess those sins before GOD, so that we can be made clean again.

2.  Study the Word - Jesus said in John 8:31-32, "If you continue in My word, then are you truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."  Folks, rare is the time you will ever see someone skip eating for the day, let alone days upon end.  But we do that all the time spiritually.  The Word of GOD is food for our spiritual bodies!  We need that spiritual food, for spiritual energy, and for the faith that we need ... to live the life that GOD has called us to live, here in the Earth.  When we study and meditate the Word of God, our spirit man grows strong, in much the same way as a battery is charged!  (Romans 10:17)  But when we do NOT study the Word, our spiritual battery begins to run down, and the natural man begins to surface.  We act more like our "old self" than like the renewed man that GOD created us to be.  In other words, the "flesh" wins out. 

3.  Pray in the Holy Spirit - Paul teaches us that we are to pray in the Holy Spirit.  "But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the spirit."  [Jude 1:20 - AMP]  Our supernatural energy, our faith, is charged and built up when we spend time in the presence of GOD, and when we "pray in the Holy Spirit".  We are told in Ephesians 6 to "be strong in the Lord, and in the power of HIS might", putting on the whole armor of GOD.  We cannot be strong if we do not spend time in GOD's presence, and in supernatural prayer! 

ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS: 
"This is YOUR day ... YOU control it, how it goes, how you deal with the obstacles that come, and how you finish it!   Master it!  And don't let the day, or the little bumps that come with it determine how "YOUR DAY" is going to be.
  This is "YOUR" day!
Master it!  Conquer it!  MAKE IT ... what your Father wants it to be!

-pastor rich-  



    

WORD CHURCH Ministries 
15612 Poynette Place, Austin TX 78717-5351  USA
 
 
Pastors: 
Rich Allcorn, sr. pastor    <[email protected]>     Skype:  richallcorn    
Jane Allcorn, co-pastor   <[email protected]>    Skype:  janeallcorn

Associate Pastors: 
Margarett Lunzmann     <[email protected]>   Skype:  margarettparker

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