CampfireTALK: June 28th, 2014

Sign up today. 

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

Recently I took a vacation day from my job, to attend a picnic sponsored by a Christian organization, so that I could show my support and spend time with the many wonderful people in leadership for that organization.  This picnic was heavily advertised, leading me to believe that a really good turnout was to be expected! 

When my wife and I arrived, there was the smallest group of folks there, many of who were not the staff, or the leadership of the organization.  My wife and I visited with the people where were there, and we waited.  We were, after all, early.  I learned a long time ago that "leaders" always show up early!  So, we waited. But as time went on, we would learn that not only the leaders but the staff as well, would not be attending.  I left feeling like I had wasted a day off on an "empty venture". 

Have you ever had something like that happen to you?  You work to get "hooked up" with what "appears to be" a moving, growing ministry and work of God, and as you jump in with both feet, and all of the zeal and excitement you could imagine, you soon realize that you just may be the only one who "IS" excited about this ministry and it's venture!  All of the leaders, and the department heads, that you would expect to be there at a "company picnic" (or, in this case, a ministry picnic) never show up! 

I compare this to many of the multi-level marketing schemes that are "out there" that I have tried.  Some were legit, and just required a lot of work.  But there are also those that later prove to be only "hype".  The very strength of their existence comes from the excitement and the zeal of others who are coming onboard!  The problem with this is that once these new folks get onboard and realize that it is "all hype" and that there's nothing really serious about the commitment of those who are in leadership, these same folks who were excited before begin to lose their interest, and they eventually give up and move on! 

I felt that way, after attending this highly advertised ministry picnic, where everybody in the organization is supposed to be there.  I arrived to find only marketing hype, and a "no-show" from the very one's who started the organization!  The only one's keeping it alive were a small select few who had an interest in trying their very best to keep CPR going in hopes to keep the dying vision alive!  It was really sad, because the one's who WERE THERE are people I really respect.  And they were let down by their leadership, and the folks who make up that organization. 

Jesus ran into a similar situation when one day after a long tiring walk he grew hungry.  He saw what looked like a fig tree, in full bloom!  He was refreshed at the idea, encouraged at the thought that He would get something good to eat to strengthen Him and to help Him carry on.  But at last, when He arrived at the tree He found it bare and lacking fruit!  It had only the appearance of being fruitful and flourishing, but when it came to the time for reaping the fruit of the tree for food ... there was nothing to give!  And like my day at the picnic where almost nobody showed up from the organizational staff or leadership, Jesus was left wanting and disappointed. 

Jesus cursed the tree, saying that it would from this day forward "never ever bear fruit again"!  After this, He pulled together His strength, and without the encouragement and rejuvenation from the expected fruit of the tree, He and His disciples pressed on. Afterwards, the following morning, Jesus and His disciples were again passing by the same fig tree and the disciples remarked at how quickly the fig tree had withered up from the roots up, and had died so quickly! 

When you are a member of a ministry, an organization or a calling that God has placed upon your life, YOU OWE IT TO THAT CALLING to always be there in support of the ventures of that ministry or organzation!  When they have a meeting, you need to be there ... "early" ... ready to help with any preparations that may be needed, and giving your very best to be in support of that organization and what it is that they stand for.  If you don't then you have no honor before God, for your service! 

This goes for your local church, or the fellowship that you may attend.  If you are going to be there, be all about what they are doing!  Give your very best!  And in your doing, "believe God", for that church, for it's vision, for the leadership, and for it's growth and maturity! 

As children of the Most High God, we are to be carriers of His Presence when we enter a room, a meeting place, or anywhere that we may go!  When YOU walk into the room, GOD walks into the room!  GOD lives inside of you, and YOU carry HIS Presence with you.  But if you are slack or lethargic about your involvement, in your church, a ministry you support or work in, or whatever it is that you are about doing for the Father, then you are a "friend to the one who destroys", proverbs tells us!  YES!  That means that you have, without realizing it, stepped into league with the devil himself, and have become a part of "the problem" instead of "the solution"! 

If I could tell you anything that you NEED TO REMEMBER about your Christian life, it is that YOU - CARRY - HIS - PRESENCE!  You literally "bring" ... GOD ... in with you, when you get involved with something for HIS service!  After all, you are a member of the "royal family of GOD"!  Think about that this week!   

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-