Oh Come on! Jump in!

Years ago my parents had a lot on a river called Spring River and it was just that, "a spring!"  I mean it was super cold, even in the dead of summer.  I think the temperature was something like 55 degrees year round, and many people would stay clear of swimming in it for that very reason.  For me it was different.  Every year when the weather started warming up I would go to the lot, which was located by a deep hole of water, and take a big run and jump into the river without any advance "sticking my toe in the water or wading out a little at a time, or even splashing some of the water over my back to adjust to the freezing cold of the river." I mean, no preparation, an all  out sprint and then jump!!  I remember when sailing through the air prior to hitting the cold water thinking, "this is really going to hurt!"  But then I hit it.  All under!  Totally immersed in the cold water and far from shore, so no jumping back out quickly.  I know, it all sounds so juvenile, but for me it was a rite of passage.  I could handle the cold of the water, and it actually refreshed me.  I would come out of the water and go WHOOOOO.  Then I would proceed to swim in that cold water for the rest of the afternoon and never notice the cold anymore.  I would usually take some of my friends down there with me when I was going to jump in for the first time of the year, and some of them would follow my lead, and  some would say "no way!"  The latter would usually prompt a "chicken" comment from me.  Why?  Because I was brave (or stupid) enough to jump in without first testing the water.  I knew it was cold, so what's to test?  I just had to convince myself it was worth the initial blast of cold on my body.  The great thing about that lot was there was a set of falls above it and below it and they were great to body surf over, but if you didn't get in the water, no fun on the falls!!  The rite of passage did have reward, if you like that kind of stuff, and I do.  Many times I would make the body surfing look so fun, the otherwise non jumping friends would eventually do the jump and come in for some body surfing also.  Usually they would come up out of the water saying, "you are crazy."  To which I would say, "yeah, crazy fun!"  As I think about that lot and my youth years I have to think "what if I didn't jump in every spring?"  What if I just stayed away from the lot and didn't even attempt to use it for swimming and having fun?  What a waste!!  Then all the refreshment of that super cold water would be missed by me and all the friends who fought back their fears.  I would hate to think that I would just ignore the possibility of some great excitement because I just didn't care.  The point is, I did care and I miss that lot and that rite of passage and even at 59 years of age, I would still make the leap....I promise.  I mean, I love that kind of stuff!!!

I'm kind of that way with ministry too.  I look at people in churches today and they are sitting on the shore not wanting to get into the water because they "think it's too cold or uncomfortable."  When in reality, it's very resfreshing and fun.  I have been a risk taker in ministry for years, I just can't help it.  Years ago God gave me a burden for reaching more students than just our community and I started a Student Conference called Student Renewal in a town of 10,000 population.  The first year of the Conference we had 260 in attendance, but I knew it was the start of something much larger.  The next year we had 970 in attendance and the last year we had over 1500 students and adults attend the conference.  We had speakers like Josh McDowell, Dawson McAllister, and many other notables who shared their message of Christ with those who attended.  The year we had Dawson McAllister we had over 300 students make decisions for Christ and it was an awesome year.  When diving off into this conference planning, I had many people ask, "why do you want to do such a thing?"  To which I would reply, "because I can."  I believe the over 85 churches who brought their students to the event would say, "thank you."  In fact, they did just that again and again.  Our students and adults poured their lives into the conference, believing, like I did, that God was up to something special and the changed lives were proof positive of God's presence in the whole thing.  Godly businessmen gave funds to help make the conference cost friendly and accessible to anyone and God blessed the effort with great results.  It was kind of cool when I went to the next church we served in and they said, "can you do that here too?"  They wanted someone who would "jump in the cold water" without testing it, hoping for a great movement of God at that church.  In reality, we are all looking for the "jumper" in each of us, but we forget the faith that it takes to actually jump.  I know many times in planning Student Renewal I would, like in the air before hitting the water, think "if this fails, this is gonna hurt."  But I jumped anyway, and just like getting to body surf on the falls down from our lot, I got to body surf on the great things God brought out of that conference.  I would have loved to keep that conference growing and touching lives, but I couldn't find anyone else who believed in it enough to jump in the water with me.  Who knows what others missed by not getting to keep Student Renewal going in the lives of this generation.  It was a formula, a formula that worked, but alas, the water was just too cold for some.

In looking back,  I am so thankful that God put me through that rite of passage into a realm of ministry that was far reaching and I will say the shock of all that it brought along with it was refreshing and well worth the jump.  I just wish I could have gotten more people to jump in to experience the thrill of stepping out in faith and seeing God do something awesome!!  From time to time I will get an email or call from a student who's life was changed at Student Renewal and it fires that passion back up because I know what God can do in students lives when the right questions are asked.  But the fire finally goes back to an ember when the reality of our world kicks in and I realize how little funds I have to support it.  Perhaps the hold up is my lack of faith, or the reality of how much more things cost today.  Whichever it is, Student Renewal is no more and even though I still believe it is a viable ministry effort, the water is too cold for even me.  I know my oldest son giving his testimony about purity and my oldest daughter singing in front of over a thousand people molded them into some great servants for Christ, so I get to see the benefits every time I marvel at the accomplishments they have had in their lives.   He is a Godly doctor who impacts many lives every day and she is still singing and leading conferences of her own.  To God be the glory.  Great things he has done!!!

The Pilgrimage continues..

David Warren

Wild At Heart? Then Now is the Time to blow your trumpet!!

Have you ever heard of a man called Gideon in the Bible? If not, you need to read about ole Gideon.  God used him in a great way in a terrible time in the lives of the Israelites.  In Judges 6 the Bible tells us that God came to Gideon while he was threshing wheat hidden from the Midianites.  You see the Midianites were "large and in charge" because once again the Jews had taken their eyes off of God and God was judging them by giving them over to be in submission to the Midianites.  When the angel of the Lord came to Gideon, Gideon doubted everything the angel was telling him to do.  The angel of the Lord told Gideon he was going to bring the Children of Israel back into favor again and that God needed him to stand strong.  Gideon did the usual by asking "who me?"  He told the angel to stay right there while he went and made some bread, with a lot of flour, and brought it back and then the angel had Gideon put it on a rock and he consumed it with fire.  Then Gideon walked out of the meeting in power and confidence because he knew God was with him.  In fact, when he realized it was God he said, "Oh no, I have been talking to God face to face."  God said, "Don't be afraid, just do what I say."  Gideon had experienced the God of the Universe face to face and He was calling him.  I just can't imagine that meeting.  Gideon knew it was God!!  

Gideon needed to know that for sure because the Midianites had put worshipping idols ahead of worshipping the Lord.  Anyone bucking that system would be killed for sure, so only God's power was going to win the victory.  The first thing Gideon did was to destroy the idols of Baal, including cutting down the Asherah fertility poles.  The next thing Gideon did was to build God an altar in full sight of the Midianite leaders. The next thing Gideon did was to destroy the idols of Baal, including cutting down the Asherah fertility poles. They came to his father Joash and said "What in the world is your son doing, cutting down our idols. We want to kill him."  Joash told them in Judges 6:31 "Are you going to fight Baal's battles for him?  Are you going to save him?  Anyone who takes Baal's side will be dead by morning.  If Baal is a god in fact, let him fight his own battles and defend his own altar."  

At that time God's Spirit came over Gideon and he blew the ram's horn trumpet and the Abiezites came out, ready to follow him.  He called others to battle with him against the Midianites, and they all came to fight with Gideon.You would have thought that all of this was enough to prove that God was on his side, but Gideon wanted to see more proof.  He proceeded to take a fleece and put it on that threshing floor and told God if it was Him to make the fleece wet with dew and leave the floor around it dry.  God did just that, and instead of Gideon going "wow" this really is God calling me, he asked Him to do it again, but do it the opposite way this time, with the fleece staying dry and the floor getting wet. Guess what?  God did it!!  

The next morning Gideon got up early and gathered his troops right there with him.  Then God did something very unexpected.  God told Gideon he had too many troops and he needed to cut some of them out of the battle force.  God cut the army down to 300 and Gideon positioned his 300 in such a way that they could look down on the Midian Camp and there were so many against them that it looked like sand on a seashore.  So many they couldn't even count them.  After seeing the pure volume of those against him Gideon went and told them to watch what he did and instructed them to blow their trumpets all at the same time and when they did that God made the Midianites fight and kill each other and put the Midianites on the run.  Victory by a group of 300 men led by a man of God who believed in God's power and fought in that power.  That is what I call Wild at Heart.  The children of Israel needed to believe and see God move again because they had taken their eyes off of God and they were living in weakness and disobedience.  They needed to see someone who would stand for God and Gideon was God's Man for that battle. Here are some necessary qualifications for being a Wild at Heart Man of God.

1. Called by God- Be someone in God's sights that God has equipped to know how to follow Him in the weirdest of circumstances.

2. Positioned by God - Be someone who is in the right place at the right time for God to use them.

3. Powered by God - Be someone God has put His mantle of power on and empowered to lead and conquer.

4. Addressed by God - Be someone God  has spoken to and has seen the hand of God moving in their life.

5. Protected by God - Be someone God is protecting through all of their actions.

6. Led by God - Be someone God is giving instructions to with who, what, when, and where.

7. Needed by God - Be someone willing to follow God's Call no matter what it may do to your life.

8.  Wild at Heart - Be a person of adventure and faith that doesn't faint at the thought of standing alone with God and trusting His power to be enough.

9,  Someone who hates the status quo - Be someone who won't bow to the ways of the world, but fights it all along the way.  Vowing to never give up.

We need more like Gideon.  When?  Now!  As disciples, we have drifted away from God and let the gods of this world invade our relationship with the Great I Am.  It is time to listen for God's call and be Wild at Heart.  Time to stand.  Time to fight.  Time to cut down some idols that we have put ahead of our God.  The odds may seem against us, but they are never bigger than our God!  Time to build a new altar that exalts Jesus Christ our Lord in our lives and see the gods of this world defeated and bowing before our God once again.  Are you Wild at Heart?  Are there any Gideons out there?  If so, blow your trumpet.  It's time to do battle!!!

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

Are You Condemned? I hope not!!

Romans 8:1, 3 - 1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.  3 For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.  6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.

Living in the freedom of Christ is an amazing thing that most of us cannot even begin to grasp the awesome depth of this great truth.  That those who are free in Christ are FREE INDEED, is a strange concept in our human reasoning and if not realized fully can be restricting and confining for believers whom Christ died to give freedom to.  Freedom to keep sinning?  I think not!  Freedom to walk out of your sin completely and live "changed" by  the Spirit?  I totally agree with.  Lately I have caught myself passing judgment on certain sins more than other sins and qualifying them according to my human reasoning.  In other words, I have set myself up as judge, and put myself dangerously in the place only God can sit.  I may even say, "Oh that sin is worse than other sins because it affects so many people" when in reality the only one it truly affects is the person sinning.  It may be a bad witness and cause confusion in other Christians, but that is because those Christians don't understand the truth behind the word "grace."  Sin is sin...  I hope we can agree on that because that is what God says.  If I qualify sin, I am moving myself into a whole new position in the grace quotient.  I am now becoming the one who decides which sin is worse than others.  For example; is gossiping worse than judging others?  If you are the one being judged, then judgment is way worse.  But if you are the one who is getting gossipped about, then gossip is way worse.  Do you see the problem here?  Our opinion on the levels of sin is relevant to our situation at the time.  If I'm not having a problem with gossipping at the time, then I will tend to say, "gossipping is worse than other sins I have a problem with."  Is that right?  NO!!  It can't be right or grace is just not grace anymore.  I have made grace something that is dependant on my impressions of what grace is and how it applies.  That is dangerous, but that is exactly what we do on a daily basis when we see someone fall because of sin.  We condemn them.  I have even heard some say that God is going to hold that sin against them throughout eternity because that sin is way worse than most.  If that is the case then Christ's death on the cross was conditional.  Meaning it didn't actually apply to all sin.  Jesus, the Holy One, took on "most sins", but not what we call "the bad ones."  In human reasoning, we may think that way of looking at things is right, but in Biblical reality it is the opposite of how things work in the area of grace. In Romans 8 Paul addresses this in verse 1 by his statement that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, or living in the Spirit.  Get this....no qualifying which sins we believe are forgivable, just forgivenesss.  Life in the Spirit is true freedom living, without condemnation.  Can you grasp that?  If you can, you are way ahead of most believers who want to condemn sinners and keep those condemned who commit sins beyond human reasoning. If we are to be judged for those sins, then the power of Christ death, burial, and resurrection is iimited.  Remember Paul said, "NO CONDEMNATION!"  Some may say, "well that means for heaven and hell."  In reality it means for living the Christian life free or bound.  If condemned, then we are bound and cannot share the message of Christ as we need to.  If Free, then that freedom draws us closer and closer to our loving God who loves us no matter what we do.  What would it be like to live a condemned life here on earth?  Just think about those people you know who don't know Christ.  Ask them.  No hope, no reality of life after death, no firm set of values, bondage.  When I accepted Christ, my sins were forgiven once for all.  My sinful nature was replaced with the Spirit of God, so the law of sin didn't apply to me anymore, but the free life in the Spirit took over.  I said, "took over."  Maybe our problem in the area of judgment comes back to our distrust of the Spirit of God.  I sincerely hope not, because that will make us powerless at every point of our life.

When I received Christ my intentions in life were changed from hopeless to all out hope.  But my reasoning about what God's grace is should have come along too.  That's where there is a break in the chain.  We are so enamored with our freedom, that we qualify who will get their freedom and where that freedom stops.  It's almost like we have become like God in our freedom, but that has caused us to think we are now judging for Him.  That won't work.  Listen to what Jesus said, "Luke 6:37 - Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and  you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned."  

That does not compute for many who like to be God and condemn wherever they can.  Why do we condemn?  It's a competition thing.  If we condemn others, it keeps our sin from being highlighted and helps us win the sin game.  Remember Romans 3:23 - "For  all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God."  All means all.  The effect of condemning others is this.  We don't love them like God does so we don't have a desire to help them.  We want to hurt them more because of their sin.  A bad problem for us is when we start shooting our wounded.  Wow, what a mistake of JUDGMENT.  Glad those who do that aren't God.  I would be in trouble!!!  Also, this condemning attitude is something satan uses to hold us back from experiencing the full extent of the grace given to us.  To minimize grace in others, is to minimize it in ourselves.  Those chains really start to poison our attitude about serving Christ.  You can see a true of example of that poison in the lives of the Pharisees in the life and times of Jesus.  They were held by the chains that they formed themselves and wanted everyone else to be in those same chains.  I don't think we need to go back to that way of thinking.  Like Peter Pan said, "Time to fly, time to crow!"  Some may ask, "What are you so happy about?"  To which you can say, "I am forgiven and my sins are not held to my account.  I am free!"  You may wonder what crowing has to do with anything.  I guess our Biblical word for that would be WORSHIP!  We worship best when we worship out of the freedom of God's Grace.  We tend to show more love when we let that grace apply to other sinners as well.  Are you condemned?  If you are a believer, then no way you are condemned.  So don't condemn others, but encourage them to live to the fullest in the Spirit.  That is God's way.

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

God's Rope

In Joshua chapter 2 we read the story about Rahab the Harlot, who housed the spies Joshua had sent   This was their report!  Yes, God has given the whole country to us.  Everybody there is in a state of panic because of us.  Mission accomplished!!  The spies were successful in getting the information Joshua needed to best approach the city and defeat their army.  Thank you Rahab.

to Jericho to scout out the city they were planning on overtaking.  The spies are welcomed into the home of Rahab and she takes it on herself to hide their presence and protect them while they are there.  She also gives them a way of escape down a rope out her window to the outside and that was possible because her home was part of the city wall.  She made a deal with the spies to protect her and her family when the army took over the city, by taking another rope that had a scarlet thread run through it and putting it outside her door so the army would know to spare her and her family per their agreement.  The spies warned her not to let her family venture outside the protection of her home though, lest they be killed like everyone else.  Thus the wonderful story of mercy for Rahab and her family that happened because she protected the spies when they needed her the most.  Rahab knew that the approaching army was powerful and that they would win the city and her belief in that truth helped her anticipate  the need to be spared when the overran the city.  She did everything she could to distract the ones who were trying to find the spies and sent them on a wild goose chase that allowed the spies to escape and get back to Joshua with the information he needed.  Their information was this:

Two different ropes come to mind here.  First, the rope the spies used to escape the city.  The rope was long enough for them to get out of the city and make their way back to the main army.  That rope was redemptive for them and supplied the needed escape from being captured by the army of the city.  The second rope was the rope with the scarlet thread in it that Rahab put outside her door, so her family would be spared when the army entered the city.  That scarlet thread was important for her safety, because if she put just another rope outside her door, she would have lost her life and the mercy promised to her wouldn't have been applied as promised.  There is a need for ropes in the modern day as well, as we fight the fight we have been called to fight.  Jesus is our escape from the coming judgment and he is our scarlet thread through His blood sacrifice for our sins.  His blood covering us is our supply of mercy given by God in His great promise to those who accept His Son and turn to Him in faith.   If we are ever going to be effective in our fight, we must combine in unity with other ropes (Christians) and trust in Jesus to be the scarlet thread that holds it all together in unity.  The strength of this rope will be one that will help many others escape the coming wrath of God, when Jesus returns.  We as "spared ones" need to be creative in our approach in sharing this message of mercy with everyone we can and trust the strength of our rope with the scarlet thread running through it to be enough to reach them.  Modern day believers have backed away from helping God's Army fight the fight, even though like Rahab, we know that God will be victorious. We need to get all we can into the household of faith for their protection when God does come in judgment, but for some reason we have quit participating in the main thing God called us to do.  Share His message with a lost and dying world.  We need to refresh our belief that Jesus is the only way to eternal life and burn brightly in our sharing that message to the lost world.  A very popular TV show called Lost parralleled the struggle of a lost world as they attempt to find their way to security, but find out there is so much more to it than what they are seeing.   A lost world doesn't see Jesus, but the moment we share God's Living Word with them that's when God takes over through the Holy 

Spirit and the chance for hope and mercy is so evident they come to a crisis of belief.  Live on my own strength or live on God's mercy.  They will never get to this crisis of belief if we don't share the message.   Remember, Rahab had a crisis of belief.  Help the spies or turn them over to the authorities of the city.  She knew that God's army would win, because that army was feared and respected because of their might and their past victories.  She chose wisely when that crisis of belief came and her and her family were spared.  There are individuals and families that must hear the good news and be given the opportunity to get the mercy God is offering because Jesus is coming soon and the judgment will follow and then it will be "too late."  God is calling us to allow the change in the look of our rope by allowing Jesus rope to be seen in us and heard through us as we trust His strong message of hope and share it with the world.  That scarlet thread is the only hope for mercy when the Lord comes back and we are commissioned to share that message with everyone we can.  The message needs to be relevant to our society without compromise.  The power is in the truth of the Word, not in the messenger, so we might not think more of ourselves than need be.  We must get back to the heart of that message by living a vibrant, passionate life of faith atht is centrered in the Word of God, and reviving the urgency of using each day as a day to share this message of hope.  That is the Rope of God.  His people joing hands to unapoligetically proclaiming that Jesus is the only hope for mankind and that God's judgment is real and appoaching the gates of city, ready to rain down and conquer.  We must never lose sight of the promise of God and trust the time is coming when we won't be able to reach others because it is eternally too late.  Time to grab a rope, don't  you think?  The grab the Rope of God!!! NOW

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

]