If you read last week's article and felt compelled to join the last-days troops of God, ministering on the streets, in the market places and neighborhoods of America, I would love to hear how you are doing. I would love to hear all your praise reports, and especially the reports of any problems you ran into. One person can make a big difference in the Kingdom of God. Two thousand years ago one solitary man turned the whole world upside down in three and a half years, and He is still the focus of world attention. And it gets better - When He left this earth He sent His Holy Spirit to equip the saints for the continued ministering of the Gospel. If you have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, if you have been baptized and filled with His Spirit, you have been made the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus. Do you understand what that means? It means you are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. It means you have His seal of betrothal. It means His unwavering watchful eye is upon you - no matter how abandoned you might feel at times. It means you have His anointing. It means His gifts of the Spirit are the tools of your administration that you may bring to light and profit the Kingdom of God. It means you have His promise that He will never leave you nor forsake you and - DON’T MISS THIS - You have dwelling in you the faith of God so that, in the Kingly Name of Jesus, HIS power will work through you just as it worked through Peter, James, John and Paul. Stir it up, stir it up, stir up that faith and those gifts within you, and let them bubble and overflow – it is the faith of the Creator – they are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You’re meant to be a walking explosion of faith, a vessel of miracles for those in need. Go – lock yourself away and declare Words of promise and Words of truth that Satan cannot deny. When he tries to tempt you, when he tries to distract you, do what Jesus did. Remind that fox, “Satan, it is written…” Then rebuke him soundly and cause him to flee. Then be still, wait upon the Lord for His instructions… It is because of the intimacy of His sweet, sweet presence, and the faithfulness with which He ministers to you, that you know you can trust in His historical Word, His teaching Word, His promised Word, His declared Word, His infallible Word, His everlasting Word, and you know these words can never change or be destroyed. They are everlasting. And they are there for YOU to proclaim for the building of His Kingdom… Unfortunately, you will also learn rather quickly that many people in this world are fickle. They say one thing and do another. Some love Him, some hate Him. Some follow Him, some curse Him. But, to those that know Him, He is the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the Mighty God who made us all in His image. He is my best friend and He wants to be yours, He is my steady companion and He wants to be yours. He is Father to the orphan, husband to the widow, friend to the friendless, the resurrection of the just and life everlasting. He is the truth-spittin,' sword-totin,' life-breathin,' serpent-chasin' Creator of all things in heaven and in earth. He has the keys of hell and death, He opens doors no man can shut, and closes doors no man can open. And in all of these things, He is love – perfect and personified... It is a very sad truth that the world does not know Him as He wants to be known… If I could paint a portrait of joy, bubbling up through the heart of a man, escaping through streams of laughter and praise, I could show the world the portrait of Jesus Christ who is the embodiment of joy. But alas, I cannot paint. I have no artistic talents with a brush. But I have precious Words that were painted by the Father's brush, beautiful Words of life, encapsulated with spontaneous shouts of joy that the world could heal itself in if they would receive it. No, the skeptics of today are not the descendants of Cain - the Cain bunch drowned in the flood. But they are the children of Satan in that they pledge their allegiance to Satan every time they reject Christ. You see, there are only two contenders for our souls, Jesus Christ and Satan, and we will love the one and hate the other or we will serve the one and reject the other. We cannot walk with both, we cannot serve both. Jesus said so… God is a jealous God, He will not share His Glory with anyone or anything. He has given His all for you and me, and He asks (desires) that we give our all for Him. Such is the core of a perfect and lasting love… So - when you run into those lukewarm folks, especially the older congregants who stake their faith in church membership and baptism instead of in the living Christ, remind them that they are sitting on the fence between two eternities. Remind them that one day they are going to fall off into one eternity or the other, right after they are weighed in the balances, when they are just a breath away from the judgment seat of Christ. They need to be led back to their first love, to the One who loves them more than they know. Sometimes it takes a Jesus smile and a Jesus hand (within you) to muster the strength to rescue the perishing, but it is the will of God that we jump in and try… To the shame of many shepherds, generations of congregants were never encouraged to put their faith in Christ alone. They were patted on the back and taught to relax and just trust the organized church and the shepherd. How many lost souls were not prepared to meet eternity because of proud and negligent pastors? And this type of shepherding still exists today. I have heard them preach – they preach everything but the Gospel - with no altar call for prayer or ministering to the sick - and no invitation to come to Jesus and be saved. There are many churches today that feed the flock warmed over leftovers, cold by the time it reaches their ears, with lukewarm water to wash it down. They should be fed with spiritual nourishment to last a week, but most of them have forgotten the sermon by the time they walk out of their pews. It is no wonder so many of our churches have failed to attract the young and those that are searching for the truth. Enough of this – it sounds like complaining, even though it was never meant to be. My purpose was to show you some of the trouble spots and what you can expect in some of the areas you go into for Jesus. Go with a friend or two and stop in a coffee shop or storefront mission and just visit with the folks there. Missions do great work meeting the needs of the poor but their messages are often weak. You might be of some help to these charities in this regard if you can volunteer it... Above all, just share God’s love – the love of Christ on the Cross –and how it is Christ entering into the heart of a repentant man that makes the real difference. Then remind them, God sees and God hears and God cannot be fooled… Joan Krempel |