About once a month, I am contacted by a person serving on a church staff voicing a similar concern. The pastor has retired, resigned, or been fired. A new pastor will be coming at some point in the future. Life has changed for the staff member with one announcement by the pastor. As an executive pastor recently asked me, “Where do I go from here?”
The question is legitimate. Many church members do not fully grasp how disruptive a pastor’s departure is to the remaining staff. The staff are left behind, even if it’s not in an eschatological sense. Look at some of the possible consequences for church staff.
The staff member and his or her family’s life is disrupted. This consequence is almost universal. It is not just the staff member. The family is uncertain where the next job, town, school, or income will be.
The staff member may be terminated. It is not that common anymore, but some churches “clean house” so the next pastor can choose the staff. Some ask for a written letter of resignation that can be accepted or rejected by the next pastor.
Those closest to the pastor are most vulnerable. It can be rewarding for a staff member to have a close working relationship with the pastor . . . until the pastor leaves. The closest staff members have their ministry identity tied closely to the exiting pastor. And that can be a threat if the next pastor is uncertain where loyalties lie.
The on-boarding of the new pastor is fraught with tension for the staff members. They, in many aspects,…
In other news, the Times Literary Supplement recently profiled “new fiction for children and young adults on an LGBTQ theme.” One tells the story of a boy who decides he is a mermaid. Another tells the “gay love story” of two aardvarks. Another is much more explicit than I am willing to describe.
For years, the left side of the culture wars has been astute in describing the other side as “anti,” knowing the psychological advantage of such branding. We’re “anti-abortion” rather than “pro-life,” “anti-LGBTQ” rather than “pro-biblical sexuality,” “anti-marriage equality” rather than “pro-traditional marriage,” and so on.
Any time I can describe you as what you’re not more than what you are, I gain a significant rhetorical and persuasive advantage.
How should we respond to a culture that seems so antagonistic to biblical values?
“We are not our own. We belong to him.”
One of the most important lessons I have learned in recent years is this: God wants us to love the world without needing the world to love us in return.
Jesus clearly taught us to love even our enemies and “pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). We are to offer the world the kind of love that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7).
But “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) means…
The attack on Sunday took place in Dablo, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) from the capital, Ouagadougou.
Urbain Kabore, a government spokesman for the West African country’s Sahel region, said the gunmen also set fire to a health centre and destroyed all places serving alcohol.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attacks bore the hallmarks of Islamic extremists who are known to be active in the area. An attack on a Protestant church about two weeks ago left six people dead.
Burkina Faso has been increasingly destabilised by jihadists from across the border in Mali. Attacks have included the kidnapping of foreigners.
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He told an audience in central London the vote to leave the EU had created a “fundamental disagreement” about the Britain people want – between being inward or outward looking.
At the launch of Christian Aid Week at Church House in Westminster on Sunday, Mr Brown said countries have to co-operate to solve the world’s problems such as climate change.
He added: “It raises the question of what it is to be British and this, I think, is at the heart of the debate that’s Brexit.
“It does now raise a fundamental issue and I will be honest, my worry is that the divisions in our country are now so deep and so pervasive that it could take a generation for us to reconcile these differences, bring people together and find a unified vision of our country and a sense of purpose and direction that takes us forward into the modern world.
“It is not just that parliamentary deadlock. There’s a fundamental disagreement about what kind of Britain we are trying to be.”
He said the inward vision misunderstands the “Dunkirk spirit” as meaning the UK is better when it stands “alone, aloof and apart”.
But he said: “That of course is not what Dunkirk was about – Dunkirk was about us being alone out of necessity.
“But there is a second vision of Britain, a Britain that’s open, outward looking, engaged and not disengaged with the rest of the world. A Britain that’s internationalist in its…
Psalm 89:34-35 – “34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. 35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.”
Our faith as believers is a function of a love relationship with God which exists within a context which is called a covenant. A covenant is an agreement that is legally binding. Why do we need agreement? An agreement increases the degree of certainty that the terms of a relationship will be met or that promises will be kept.
In Gen 15, Abraham was in this scenario in which he needed some assurance that what God had promised him in Gen 12 would come to pass. Time was passing and nothing was changing except his body and Sarah’s body. God told him to take some animals to cut them into halves. God had to come down to speak human language to Abraham in order to give him the assurance that what He promised would come to pass. In those days, people would cut blood covenants that way. A covenant cut with blood was literally cut with a person’s life. The blood covenant is the highest form of agreement. The two parties would pass through the middle. Those animals died on their behalf indicating that they had ceased to exist the way they were before. When the two parties passed through the middle, it means the old them is dead and there is a new them now and the two parties were fused together and were now one. So Abraham passed through the middle and in the evening, there came a burning lamp and it passed through the middle and God spoke to Abraham that He was going to give that land to his descendants. Abraham came out of that experience with faith exploding in his heart.
The validity of the covenant depends on the integrity of the parties in the covenant. This covenant cannot fail from God’s end because God will never lie. In Hebrews 6:13-20 describes what happened in Genesis 15. There is absolutely no threat to God’s capacity to fulfil His promises. God cannot lie because God cannot die. If He makes a promise to you, He will hang around you till it is fulfilled.
God will not lie because there is no power that can stop Him. God cannot be stopped by the power witchcraft. We were raised on the culture and diet of fear of witchcraft which has shaped our Christianity. Our concept of God and prayer point. If any entity anywhere can leverage supernatural powers to stop god, that god is not the God of the Bible.
In Numbers 23:19-20, Balaam was hired to curse Israel, he proclaimed that God has blessed and he can’t curse them. God cannot lie because whatever He says is created.
Our greatest aspiration in life should be to cultivate a relationship with God. Jesus said in Matt 22:37-38 that loving God was the first and greatest commandment. Unfortunately we have been indoctrinated into a transactional relationship. We recognize God because of what He can do. But love is a celebration of value. Loving God is celebrating His worth and value. Praise is celebrating what He does, Worship is celebrating who He is, His value. Your greatest ecstasy on this planet will be found in a loving a relationship with Him then ultimately you will be able come to the point where like Jesus in John 10:30, you will say “I and my father are one”
Pastor Samuel Adeyemi is the Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Centre, a fast growing, life changing church committed to “raising role models” based in Lagos. He is also the President of Success Power International
Prayerful people are blessed people and blessed people are prayerful people.
SCRIPTURE: After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Mathew 6:9-11
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Prayerful people are blessed people and blessed people are prayerful people.
From our anchor Scripture, we see that prayer is a major Scriptural channel of the Blessing of God. Prayerful people (who observe the demands of the Blessing Covenant) are blessed people and blessed people are prayerful people.
Abraham is a Scriptural example of a man whose secret was a life of prayer. In Genesis 18:23-33, Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah. He was at the highest level of prayer which is intercession, and worship. General prayer is praying for yourself but intersession is taking yourself out of the picture and standing in the gap for others.
Abraham interceded on the behalf of others and the outcome of that prayer was that he ended up as one of the most blessed persons that ever lived on the face of the earth.
Beloved, your communion with God determines your coverage in life. What you make happen for others especially at the place of prayer determines what God will make happen for you.
Now, take note of the following key facts about prayer:
Your schedule with God is the determinant of your success in life. You cannot be successful in life when God is not within your schedule.
Your private victory at the place of prayer determines your public success. Those who are failures privately at the place of prayer can never be successful publicly.
Beloved, make up your mind to develop a deep intimacy with God at the place of prayer and the Word. Resist the lifestyle of prayerlessness.
REMEMBER THIS: Prayerful people are blessed people and blessed people are prayerful people.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Pray without ceasing
Let intercession be a major agenda of your prayer life.
PRAYER: O Lord, I ask that You guide my prayer life. Help me not to be selfish Lord; let me intercede for others as I would for myself, Lord in Jesus’ Name.
FOR FURTHER UNDERSTANDING, GET THIS MESSAGE: THE BLESSING OF PRAYER
QUOTE: Do not just do the convenient; do the expedient, even when it is not convenient. Culled from PRINCIPLE AND POWER OF PRAYER by Dr Paul Enenche
DAILY READING: 1 Samuel 14:1 to 52, John 7: 31 to 53, Psalm 109:1 to 31, Proverbs 15:5 to 7
AMAZING FACT: Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875) was an American theologian, educator and revivalist; he was a famous evangelist who brought frontiers religion to the urbanised East. He carried an unusual presence of God such that all the workers in a company broke down in tears and surrendered their lives to Christ by merely looking at him without him uttering a word.
DON’T FORGET TO ATTEND: The Healing and Deliverance Service tomorrow by 9:00am. Invite someone. God bless you as you do so.
PROPHETIC DECLARATION/WORD: Receive the grace for intercessory praying today; and your life shall reflect both the Presence and Blessing of God in Jesus’ Name.
Today’s devotional was written by Pastor Paul Enenche of the Dunamis International Gospel Centre (DIGC), headquartered at Abuja, Nigeria, with Pastor Paul and Becky Enenche, as the Senior Pastors. It is a power-packed arena where God’s Presence, Principles and Power are at work for the salvation, healing and restoration of human destinies and dignities
Flatimes Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:
Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.
If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.
Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. — John 13:13
He (the Spirit) will never lead you contrary to the Word of God. I hear people saying, “The Lord led me to do this. … The Lord told me thus and so …” I am always a little suspicious unless what the Lord has said is in keeping with His Word. God never directs us to do anything contrary to His Word. The prophet Samuel once said, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” The Scripture teaches, “He that willeth to do His will shall know the doctrine.” When you find yourself up a blind alley, not knowing which way to turn, if you are willing to do His will, He will reveal Himself. He conceals His will only from those who, before they consent to do His bidding, seek to know what He is going to say. Be an obedient Christian. Remember that “where God guides, He provides. Where He leads, He supplies all needs!”
Prayer for the day: Let me be acutely attuned to Your Word, so that each decision I have to make will be in Your will, almighty God
Written by Billy Graham, Founder of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association(BGEA). BGEA exists to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ by every effective means and to equip the church and others to do the same.
John 6:56, ‘He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.’
John 6:47-59
Many thought that Jesus was speaking of cannibalism, but He was speaking of the spiritual man. Just as the physical man receives life from the food he eats, so the spiritual man receives life as he partakes of Jesus, the life of men (Jn. 1:4; 10:10; 14:6) or the ‘Bread of Life.’ Just as the life of a root is found in the soil, or a branch in the vine, or a fish in the sea, so the believer’s true life is found to be in union with Christ.
The Bible presents salvation as a life transforming experience. Change is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a true believer. Yet, failure to understand that this change takes place in the spirit first, and is then reflected in the outward thoughts and actions, proportional to the way we renew our minds, has caused much confusion. This change has to take place in our bornagain spirit. Why is that? If you were overweight before you got saved, you will be overweight after you get saved, unless you go on a weight loss program. Your body doesn’t instantly change. Also, your soulish or mental realm doesn’t instantly change. How you thought about things before you got saved will be how you think after you get saved, until you start renewing you mind. The only part of you that is left is your spirit. It is your spirit that is instantly changed at salvation. It is perfect (Heb. 12:23). It cannot sin (1 Jn. 3:9). Everything that is true of Jesus is true of our bornagain spirit. Your spiritual salvation is complete. At salvation, you receive the same spirit that you will have throughout all eternity. It will not have to be changed again or cleansed again. It has been sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13) and is therefore sanctified and perfected forever (Heb. 10:10, 14; 12:23). Jesus lives in the spirit of believers. All that He is will be available to you if you will depend on Him instead of your own abilities.
This message was written by The Association of Related Ministries International (ARMI) is an extension of Andrew Wommack Ministries (AWM). ARMI is a unique partnership committed to providing resources to help like-minded ministers succeed in a spirit of excellence and to draw from the experience and expertise of both the AWM and Charis Bible College staff. (www.awmi.net).
READ: Galatians 5:1-15 New King James Version (NKJV)
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.
A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.
And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.
I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
THE MESSAGE:
Belonging to the Lord, Jesus Christ positions one to the side of freedom. You are required to stand firm and refuse to be yoked again in bondage. The Advanced English Dictionary defines yoke’ and ‘bondage’ as follows: yoke (n) is an oppressive power; yoke (v) is to become joined or linked together. Bondage is the state of being under the control of a force or influence or abstract power.
Yoke of bondage connotes one being under the influence of oppressive power that confines the person. Such power creates limitations and loss of ability to control one’s actions in the very area of bondage.
In dealing with yoke of bondage, we must consider these – truth liberates, falsehood enslaves and half-truth is disastrous. Jesus declares that you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Your liberation is to the extent of the truth you know and can apply to your life. If Jesus is the truth, an encounter with Him, (the bondage breaker) will breed total freedom.
Like the warning to the Galatians who allowed false teachers to present to them with a false gospel and half-truth, thereby exposing them to bondage, we are to avoid every wind of doctrine with their attendant bondages. Most bondages are self-imposed. Jesus sets free. Get glued to Him.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, my bondage breaker, I surrender to You. Help me to know You better, for the more I know You, the freer I become.
“Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.” 1 Corinthians 14:34 (KJV)
One of the strategies of the devil is to distract us with the minors to the extent that we forget the major issues, the central focus of the gospel. Many have taken that scripture out of context and have made a doctrine of women not speaking in the Church. Some people have missed out of God’s plan because they deafened their ears to the ministry of women. Beloved, in the New Testament, there is no bond or free, no male or female. God chooses to use anyone who is available to Him and uses the person for the benefit of everyone.
Even in the Old Testament, look at the ministry of Deborah. In Judges 5:7, she said: “The inhabitants of the villages ceased in Israel, until I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel”. Did you see that? No one appointed her, she saw a need and rose up to meet the need. When it was time to go to war, Barak said to her “if you do not go with us, we will not go” Can you imagine that? A man, a trained warrior making such a statement. Before you judge him, sit where he sat. He simply recognized the grace of God upon the life of Deborah and took advantage of it. I call him a secure man. He is one man that was not intimidated to acknowledge the hand of God upon a woman.
Get rid of the minors: women speaking in church, women covering their hair or wearing trousers, and grow up into more crucial issues of the Kingdom. It is not about covering of hair or wearing of trousers, it is about the hand of God upon a vessel. Let me also balance it here, all things are lawful but not all things are expedient. You must also be careful to understand your environment and gradually bring them up to speed. Do not flaunt your freedom in their faces.
Further Reading: Judges 4:1-6; 5:1-7
Daily Bible Reading: Morning- 2 Kings 17-18; Evening- John 3:19-36
Written by Dr. Mike Okonkwo; Is the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM); a versatile man of God with over 30 years of dedicated service unto the Lord.
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