What in the World! Eggs? Really?

You can't go through a day, or a part of a day without hearing or seeing something on the news that makes you say "What in the world?"  And that is just it.  It is the world.  Jesus said in John 17: 9-11 9 I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.   

What are the effects of "more world, than God?"  It is a slippery slope and very hard to move back up to a higher vantage point once we drift down into the pit.  But it can be done.   Jesus in his prayer in the verse above asked on behalf of those who would be living their faith out in the world, and His prayer helps us see that we are in the world, but we are not of this world anymore once we have a born again life.  We will appear different, and that is because we ARE different.  Paul wrote to the church at Rome in Romans 12:2  "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  THEN you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-His good, pleasing and perfect will."  The effect this world can have on a believer is usually less than good and the ongoing draw of this world will cause you to go down a path that is not leading to anything good.  Conformity to the ways of this world is a sure formula for destruction and a very weak faith.  Compromise will creep in and drain the life out of you to the point that you have no more joy in  your Christian walk and the truth becomes more relative to your circumstances that the truth being the answer to your circumstances.  Point in case....EASTER.  

What have we Christians done to Easter?  We have cheapened the most precious act of love ever in the history of man and made it into a promotional campaign for rabbits.  Oh, don't get me wrong.  I have hidden "and found" the yearly Easter egg as a child and as an adult like most others.  But really, is all of this really the "best" way to celebrate Easter?  If children of today were to think about the true meaning of Easter, they might wonder if any Easter eggs were hidden in and around the tomb of Jesus.  Do you see what I am saying?  The two just don't go together.  Why? Because the world hates believers.  That is just the way it is and always shall be.  In John 15:19 Jesus said, "If you were of the world, the world would love it's own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you."  With the worlds hatred for us, we also see that world is full of deceptive practices and that world will try to minimize anything that has to do with lifting up Jesus above all other things, also known as glorifying God.  My marshmallow bunny is really starting to look suspect in all of this.  Plus it is full of the white stuff.. you know...sugar.  In 1 John 2:15-17 John writes 15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever."  

So, what is a person to do?  Reject egg hunts?  Every church I have attended has had an annual egg hunt on Easter.  My family does annual eggs hunts for our kids and now grandkids.  I let the grass grow a little longer to make it possible to hide the eggs as good as I can.  C'mon,  are we actually gonna be "party poopers" and possibly go too far in this whole "living for Jesus" thing?  Probably not, but just in case you do.  Here is what John wrote about it.  ! John 2:6  6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. And also Jesus said this about being "different" than the norm in Luke 9:23  "and He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me."  

Let's be sure and anchor our kids in the truth and minimize, or do away with, the false narrative about Easter that has crept in from the world about the meaning of the event we know as the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Our Savior.  Eat those hard boiled eggs and save on the money you spend on dye kits and open up the Bible and read the truth about Easter.  The moment you take that stand the "world" will try to chew you up and spit you out, and it will probably come from those very close to you.  But don't give in.  The moment they try to chew you up they will notice a wonderful flavor from your life that is best described as "real Christianity."  Then you will be the "what" in the world.  And your what is best described as a "true believer."

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

The Walking Dead

John 11:38-44 - 38 So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, *came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus *said, “Remove the stone.”Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, “Lord, by this time [a]there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus *said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the [b]people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” 44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
A man dead for four days and Jesus comes up to the burial tomb and brings him back to life and tells him to come out. Only Jesus can perform such a great miracle. This scripture reaffirms the power Jesus has over death and that includes spiritual death. Are you living the abundant life or are you the walking dead? There is a TV show that deals with The Walking Dead, otherwise known as Zombies. Zombies can walk and move around, but in a trance, because they are dead. Are you that kind of a Christian. You have accepted Jesus, but because of a lack of pursuing a closer relationship with Jesus you are moving around, sitting in church, singing praise songs, and even doing churchy things, but you are dead inside. This should not be. The church of today is struggling to even get Christians to participate and serve as commanded by the Lord. Members are leaving the church in record numbers and it shows that we do have many who are the "walking dead." The Apostle Paul dealt with this issue when writing to the church at Thessalonica and in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 he writes 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
In speaking about the coming of the Lord and the events leading up to it Paul refers to a time when people will believe all sorts of falsehoods about the faith and many will not actually be saved. The truth is veiled and a deluding influence will cloud their minds and they will believe what is false. Here is a question to ponder. Is your hope in what people say, or is your hope in the Lord? This is a very important question to answer because it makes everything very black and white. Truth or falsehood. Oh, you might say, "of course I choose truth." But if you live in a falsehood, how can you say that? Some of the false teachings are: "Truth is relative to my circumstances" "The Bible is a book of stories and they don't apply to modern day problems." "Tolerance is the new norm in Christianity." "Church life is no longer applicable to my life." "I can hedge on commitments made to God because of His grace." It goes on and on, and the continued "watering down" of the Word of God is birthing more and more "walking dead." Disobedient people have always tried to fit God into their little box to make living for him "user friendly." We need to change our attitude about that and become "God friendly."
The dangerous part about being the walking dead is they seek out others and try to inoculate them and feed off their weakening faith. This is all from our enemy, Satan. So, how do you deal with the walking dead? Do not get near them or they will turn you into them. In 1 Corinthians 15:33 Paul wrote "Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." Avoid those kind of people and strengthen your resolve as you grow in your faith. I am constantly aware that new Christians can be discipled in the opposite way they should be by people who are the walking dead. They teach them a marginalized faith that will fail at best. Instead of growing them up in the Word of God. They are inoculated with the faith that causes delusional thinking and there is no growth, but just them becoming the walking dead as well.
Here is what to do: Get involved with people who love God's Word, love God, and are growing in their faith and you will grow also. Then start taking back territory we have long ago lost to this weak condition that causes the walking dead. Paul didn't just identify the disease, he knows the cure. In 1 Timothy 6:12 Paul says, "Fight the good fight of faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." The eternal life to which we were called is the source of our hope and joy and that brings about a new life that can only be explained as the Holy Spirit living in us. Back to the story of Lazarus. Dead and buried for four days, to those who were there he seemed like a lost cause. But he wasn't. Why? JESUS! Jesus always makes the difference and he called Lazarus out of that grave and into the breathing air. He was alive!!!
Jesus is the only hope for the condition of the walking dead, and He is the best hope for fighting this dreaded condition that so many believers have today. It is my prayer and the pray of many I know that Jesus call forth those who have been dead way to long, and revive their spirits and cure them of their walking dead condition. Won't you join with me in praying to God to bring the dead back to life by curing the walking dead condition that is plaguing the spread of the Gospel. Here is how we stand and pray per the word of the Lord through Ezekiel in chapter 37 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
It is time for the army of God to fight the good fight and quit fighting among ourselves and focus our eyes on the Lord. It is time to allow the Holy Spirit of God to revive our spirits and for His gospel to be proclaimed as never before. No more walking dead. Just those who were dead, now alive forevermore. I pray for the breath of God to revive our hearts and for a sweeping revival to take place in the church and out of the church. I can hear the rattling of the bones. Can you? I believe Jesus is calling each of us by saying "Church come forth!" It is time. Are you ready? Of course you are, if you know Jesus!!


The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

Your Filter is Plugged Up!!

We turned on our air conditioner to combat this seemingly uncharacteristically warm weather and to my surprise our air wasn't cold coming out our vents.  Oh boy.  Probably needs some freon or something else like that to make it work properly.  So, the air heating/air guy comes out and takes apart the unit and checks everything and....looks good!  So he came in the house thinking I might need a new thermostat.  That is when he says those fateful words..."come here, I found your problem."  I go to the hallway and he opens up the area where the filter sits and pulls out the dirtiest air filter I have seen in a long time. There was not a way for any air to go through that filter because of the dirt.  My face turned a little red and I started thinking, "When did I replace that filter?" I thought I replaced it three weeks ago, but it was apparently more like three months!!!  He and my wife had a good laugh at my expense and I went and bought a case of filters and put a new one in there and guess what?  It cools great now.  He suggested changing it every time I get my monthly statement for utilities as a reminder to replace it once a month.  That is a great plan and that is what I will do.

This little experience is chocked full of great illustrations for the Christian life.  

The first one is this: We don't realize how far we have drifted until something in our heart shuts down and just doesn't work anymore.  Hebrews 2:1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to [a]what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.  It is too easy to drift away from our faith and in that drifting float into unfamiliar, dangerous waters.  If you read further in that chapter you will see the need to keep our life under the direction of Jesus Christ, from whence comes our salvation.  In a world brimming over with information, the only information that builds our faith is what we get from God's Word.  So, read the Bible every day and pray to God to apply it to your life and keep the dirt of the world out of your system.  If you continue to let too many questionable lifestyle choices creep into your life, you will not notice that you are drifting from the truth and that the dirt of sin is piling up in  your spiritual filter.

The second lesson is this.  Go to the one who is an expert at fixing your life.  Ask God if there be any wicked way in  your heart and let Him guide you through the steps to get back on track.  The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 139:24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."  This psalm finds the writer really trying to clean up there life and they go to the heavenly Father, who is the one with all the answers about how we are and who we are.

The third lesson is this.  God is perfectly willing to show us how to live our lives if we will just come to Him for direction.  Another writing by the Psalmist says in Psalm 25:4-5  Show me Your ways, O Lord;  Teach me Your paths.  Lead me in Your truth and teach me,  For You are the God of my salvation,  On You I wait all the day.  

The fourth lesson is this.  I need to realize the importance of every moment of every day to serve Christ.  Ephesians 5:16 says to be redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  If we don't watch our time, we may wake up one day and find out we don't have any.....TIME.

The days can turn into months, and months into years, and we look back and regret not using our time more wisely.  But then it is too late.  The best way to fix that is to start right now....don't wait!!  If the world has some strongholds in your life pray that God will break them down and put Him back on the throne of your life.

The fifth lesson is easy.  Confess your sins as God reveals them to you and keep your spiritual health as a priority.  The best way to realize your sin is to read God's Word and pray to God asking Him to show you as well.  1 John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins.  Of course we know that our sins are forgiven at our conversion and we are as white as snow before the Lord, but letting sin have more and more space in our walk sends us down a path that is further and further away from God.  He wants us to move closer and closer to him, so "get the dirt out and get a good filter."  You can see how easy it is to drift away from God.  Getting back into a right relationship just takes you checking all the areas of your life on a regular basis and God will show you how and when to clean your filter so it doesn't clog up your relationship with Him.

You may be saying right now you just don't have the drive and passion in your life you used to have to serve God and you just don't know what is going on.  Maybe my little problem with my air conditioner filter will bring the truth into focus for you.  Maybe, Your filter is plugged up!!!

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

5 

Rescue Me

Galatians 1:3-5  3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

Paul, an apostle, writes to the church at Galatia and reminds them of the great sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross to rescue them from eternal life in hell.  Not only eternal life in hell, but from this present age or "the now."  Why do we need to be rescued from "the now?"  Man's great plans and solutions are only temporal at best and the ways of the world fade away quickly leaving us wanting.  Our life focus must be on the ways of God found in His Holy Word, the Bible.  But, not all people, even Christians, deny that God's ways are the best and continue to live in accordance with the world's way of thinking and living.  The church at Galatia had many problems that had become known to Paul and he jumped right in the middle of their worldly reasoning with a "truth bomb."  He shared with them, and us, the reality of what Jesus did on the cross and how it affects our lives now and forevermore.  Jesus giving Himself on the cross for our sins gives us the opportunity to receive eternal life in heaven, but also to "live" a life that is much different from the world.  The explosion of that truth bomb should affect all who come in contact with it.  Here are some things to think about in accordance to the truth.

The Big Ten

1.  We are separated from God because of our sin.  Romans 3:23  For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

2.  God intervened in that condition and exhibited His love by sending Jesus to die for our sins.  Romans 5:8  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

3.  We realize that our only hope for forgiveness is found in Christ alone.  Romans 6:23  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

4.  God shows us there must be life change and repentance to receive it.  Romans 10:9-10 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

5.  God offers this salvation right now to all who come for it.  Romans 10:13  Whoever will call on the Name of the Lord will be saved.

6.  There is no other option.  Acts 4:12  12 And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

7.  He gives us power to live a life that is above the world's understanding. John 10:10b - I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.  (present tense)

8.  Our minds have changed.  1 Corinthians 2:16 - For who has known the mind of the Lord, that He will instruct Him?  But we have the mind of Christ.

9.   We have the Holy Spirit to show us how to keep living and growing in Christ.  John 14:26  But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

10  Now live it and let God be God in your life.  Ephesians 2:20 - Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the corner stone.

You may feel like you are on an island and that no one is listening.  God is listening and He wants to give you peace, security, and direction.  The peace passes all understanding.  The security is the promise from God that He will never leave you or forsake you.  The direction is God's perfect will for your life.  All of this is found in the Word of God, so read it, and be rescued from the lies this world is trying to get you to follow for your life direction.  God's way is the only way to life and that life is good.

The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

Water, Water, Everywhere!!!

It is amazing just how much God uses water to illustrate things in the Bible.  In the book of John, Jesus is baptized, and later on He turns water into wine.  He meets a Samaritan woman coming to a well to get water and gives her the chance for spiritual water.  Jesus then heals a lame man who was by the pool of Bethesda, and then in John 7:38 says this, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water."  Which corresponds with Proverbs 20:27 where it says, "The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the innermost parts of his being."  

One thing leads to another and the continued use of water by our Savior is something from which we draw great truth. Here are some facts about our bodies and water.  The body needs about 3 quarts of water a day to operate efficiently. It helps break up and soften food. The blood, which is 90 percent H2O carries nutrients to the cells. As a cooling agent, water regulates our temperature through perspiration. And without its lubricating properties, our joints and muscles would grind and creak like unused parts of some old rusty machinery.   When you go on a diet, they always say, "drink more water."  There is something about the flushing of our body and when that works efficiently, everything works better....and we DO lose weight.

In John 13 Jesus washes the disciples feet with....guess what?  WATER.  In Matthew 14 it tells of Jesus walking on the water and we marvel at that feat.  Why?  Because it is AMAZING!  We go a few weeks without water in our area of the country and we are calling it a drought.  When it does rain, we are so thankful God supplied the water to end the drought.  We cannot do without water, and it has been pivotal since the beginning of man.  Uh.....Noah!!  God has been moving and manipulating water to do great and mighty things from the beginning and we just miss it.  Miss what?  Miss the symbolism of this great and mighty thing called WATER!!

Water is another wonderful reminder of all God does to keep us alive and functioning and I believe we should never drink a glass or bottle of water without thanking God for his supply.  In some ways water is an ongoing miracle from God that we tend to appreciate way too lightly.  

Back to the Samaritan Woman.  When Jesus saw her coming to draw water He shared with her the water that would make her never thirst again.  The "spiritual water" he told her about was also an ongoing miracle from God.  We call it salvation and it is eternal.  Believe it or not, some have even taken for granted this great spiritual water that God paid so much  to give us.  I see people drinking water from bottles all the time.  What a great reminder of the water that Jesus gives of which we will never thirst again.  SALVATION-HOW SWEET IT IS!!  From this spiritual drink we receive from Jesus we have an amazing change that takes place that causes that water to flow from us for others to drink.  Open up the spigot and let the water flow.  Water, water, everywhere flow out of believers to a lost and dying world.

The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

Shipwrecked!!

1Timothy 1:19 - 19 holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.  In this passage the Apostle Paul is charging his "son in the faith" Timothy to keep sharing the gospel and keep offering the grace of God to those who are lost.  He charges him to "hold on to the faith" and also to hold on to a good conscience.   Conscience (def) - an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior.  Paul, in charging Timothy to keep the faith, is in fact holding him to the commitment he made in his life to follow Christ and proclaim the gospel.  "Holding him to it" means that the commitment Timothy made must be followed through and completed.  In writing these words to Timothy, Paul also brings up that some have rejected "following through" with their commitments and have been shipwrecked.  Important facts about being shipwrecked.  First, you need to have a ship.  Second, you need to sail on the water.  Third, you need to lose your way and tip the ship over and wreck it.

What is our ship?  It is our faith in Jesus Christ.  It is "who we are."  I hear Christian people and others sometimes speak about our faith as though it were some religious belief that is just like any other religious belief.  WRONG!!  Our faith is built around a relationship with the Son of God.  That faith is strengthened when we develop that relationship through ongoing instructions and admonitions from the Lord.  So we have a great ship and it is ready to go.

What is our water?  Life itself is the sea on which our ship travels.  Once again, that life is based on the incredible relationship we have with Jesus Christ.  Our inner voice changes at the time of salvation and our life is bouyed on the sea of life.  Not just to be floating around aimlessly moving from port to port but with direction.  Our sea has purpose and it is formed from living water, not a dead sea.

How do we lose our way and wreck?  We just float around and have no care about where we go and before long we hit the shore and wreck.  The ship becomes useless at that point and the water no longer keeps us afloat, but actually drowns us.  The ship was so sea worthy and the water was so crystal clear, but lo, the ship wrecks because it lost it's way or it's compass.  Compass (def) - an instrument containing a magnetized pointer that shows the direction of magnetic north and bearings from it.

Paul goes on charging Timothy, telling him that all of this is in regard to the faith.  An amazing  thing about shipwrecks.  Many of them are carrying cargo that is worth a lot, but that cargo goes down with it.  In verse 20 Paul tells of two who were shipwrecked and what happened to them.  verse 20 - 20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander,whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.  Paul's patience had worn out and he let those two go because they had abandoned the faith and shipwrecked.  All of our lives are important to God and when we don't use them for His glory all the gifts he gives us go down with the ship.  Which brings to mind the very advice that Paul was giving to Timothy, and what it means for us today.

There are many who have shipwrecked in their faith and God's direction is no longer in their compass readings.  They have turned their lives over to the world and their faith is on the rocks of the shore.  Paul's advice to us would be keep on keeping on with our faith and live for Jesus in good conscience.  To do this will cause us to draw closer and closer to Jesus and become more and more focused on compass settings that give us direction toward Godliness.  No shipwrecks in our future.  Just clear sailing to glory.  For those who have fallen away....they are handed over to the one that led them to the rocks and the eventual shipwreck.  So be it.  Their lives  became a living blasphemy to the faith and those lives were not productive anymore.

The question is "where are you?"  Are you holding on to the faith and living in good conscience?  Or are you approaching the rocks and a terrible shipwreck?  Time to evaluate your life and commitment and get in line with the direction Paul was giving Timothy.  In today's world we hate absolutes don't we?  We always want to have an "out."  Paul's example was to get on with it our get out of the way.  One way or the other, "we are moving forward."  That lines up with Paul's words in Ephesians 5:16 where Paul says, "making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."  Life is short....Live for God!  NOW!

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

The Keeper of the Spring

2 Timothy 4:3 - "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. " Are your ears easily tickled?  I hope not!!

Ears tickled means being tantalized.  Tantalized (def) - Torment or tease with the sight or promise of something that is unobtainable.  The promises of a lost and dying world are weak at best, but very appealing to those whose eyes have lost their true focus.  The writer of Hebrews wrote these words that have to be heeded and followed, Hebrews 1:2 "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."  

I believe we are in the Laodecian church age and the condition of apathy is gaining more and more ground in the Lord's church and among His people.  The warning for Timothy, and us, by the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:3 is very real today as we see people who have been saved and regenerated turning a deaf ear to the call of Jesus Christ.  We are in such a poor position right now and the time has come when those who call the name of Jesus are falling away from their faith.  The process looks a lot like this:

1.  A generation quits teaching the truth of God's call and what it means and the book of assumptions is taught instead of the Word of God.  That ole dead rhetoric is causing a drifting as we take our eyes off the horizon and quit looking for Jesus to return.

2. The following generations inherit the teachings of watered down theology and the drifting continues to the point that those believers are now serving the enemy, satan.

3. The uproar of weak theology and me-centered teaching has taken it's toil and all the excuses in the world cannot right the ship to the Lord's course.

4. The lazy condition completes it's process and once vibrant Christian Faith is replaced with a new  "me first" faith that makes the person their own god in their mind and the teachings of scriptural truths are substituted with scriptural half truths.

5.  The eyes that should be focused on Jesus are now focused on ourselves and we look to  the world for answers to our unhappiness, when deep down inside the Holy Spirit is telling us we need to change or repent.

6.  The cold, dark shadow of apathy has covered the land and all it's inhabitants and the vibrant, enlightened church is now dark and barely breathing.

7.  Change is needed, but the darkness is now so great even those who are faithful are falling away and defeat has become the norm.

I am not painting a very good picture here am I?   No, I am not.  But, it may be a reality picture if we just look deep enough to see it.  This is no "chicken little" false alarm.  It is the reality of the changing of hearts from serving God to avoiding God.  Where did it all start and where did it all go wrong?  Ears were tickled.  Mistakes were made.  God's Word was put on the shelf.  The late Peter Marshall tells a story of the Keeper of the Spring. Please read.

The old gentleman had been hired many years earlier by a young town councilman to clear away the debris from the pools of water up in the mountain crevices that fed the lovely spring flowing through their town. With faithful, silent regularity, he patrolled the hills, removed the leaves and branches, and wiped away the silt that would otherwise have choked and contaminated the fresh flow of water. The village soon became a popular attraction for vacationers. Graceful swans floated along the crystal clear spring, the mill wheels of various businesses located near the water turned day and night, farmlands were naturally irrigated, and the view from restaurants was picturesque beyond description. Years passed. One evening the town council met for its semiannual meeting. As they reviewed the budget, one man's eye caught the salary figure being paid the obscure keeper of the spring. Said the keeper of the purse, "Who is the old man? Why do we keep him on year after year? No one ever sees him. For all we know, the strange ranger of the hills is doing us no good. He isn't necessary any longer." By a unanimous vote, they dispensed with the old man's services. For several weeks, nothing changed. By early autumn, the trees began to shed their leaves. Small branches snapped off and fell into the pools, hindering the rushing flow of sparkling water. One afternoon someone noticed a slight yellowish-brown tint in the spring. A few days later, the water was much darker. Within another week, a slimy film covered sections of the water along the banks, and a foul odor was soon detected. The mill wheels moved more slowly, some finally ground to a halt. Swans left, as did the tourists. Clammy fingers of disease and sickness reached deeply into the village. Quickly, the embarrassed council called a special meeting. Realizing their gross error in judgment, they rehired the old keeper of the spring, and within a few weeks, the veritable river of life began to clear up. The wheels started to turn, and new life returned to the hamlet in the Alps. 

Who is our keeper of the spring?  You are!  I am!!  The trick of this whole thing is to make us believe we have no worth in the cause of Christ.  But we do.  If we don't guard our hearts against the teaching that has become the norm in the modern day Christian church, then we are feeding and worsening the problem.  It is time for all believers to take a stand for the Word of God and for the gospel of Jesus Christ as never before.  It is time to fight the darkening skies of apathy with sold out commitment to Christ and His Message.  It is time to come back to our first love, Jesus Christ, and once again stand with Him in a lost and dying world.  You may think you are not needed or necessary, but you are the "keeper of the spring" and it is vital for each of us to recapture our first love and once again fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith!!!  Our relationship with Jesus is the spring.

You may ask, "what can I do?"  The first thing we must do is "repent."  If you hate hearing the word it means you are further into this apathetic condition than you might have realized.  It means you have become a part of the problem, but now it is time to become part of the solution.  Be real to yourself and before your God as never before and He will heal your disobedient heart.  This new heart will be a threat to what is happening and you will face opposition, but it won't be from God.  In Proverbs 4:23 the Word of God says, "above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."  When you take this stand and  repent you need to put a guard on  your heart to keep you from drifting again and then go forward shining like a light to all who see you.  In Revelation 2:4 it says, "But I have this against you, that you have left your first love."  God is not happy with what is going on and we need to found serving Him and Him alone during these troublesome times.  Time to rise up O church of God!!

Isaiah wrote in chapter 60 verse 1 and 2 "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.  For behold the darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon  you."  It's time for a glorified Zion to arise and be seen once again in the middle of this perverse generation.  It may only be a remnant, but a remnant with God's power is enough.  We are the "keeper of the spring" and God wants to use us for His glory, but we must change and line up with His will and His way.

Paul wrote in the book of Romans 13:12 "The night is far gone; the day is at hand.  So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light."  

Time for the army of God to fight the good fight once again and stand in the gap with Jesus Christ, our sustainer, our Lord.  Today is the day to fight!!!

The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

No Fainting Allowed on the Path of Life.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Failure is a reality in life because we are a fallen people.  But,  failure is not an end, but an opportunity to do better the next time.   Too many times  we stop our progress when we don't have a very successful result from what we are attempting.  The  apostle Paul, of all people , knew about failure, but  his heart was  always looking at the eternal.  Since his perspective was that way, he continued to be energized inwardly.  Through beatings, persecution, lies, deceit by enemies, and misunderstandings by those who listened to him at times Paul kept his shoulder to the wheel.  He knew that the  present affliction at the time was only temporal and that the message still needed to be shared and Christ be glorified in his life.  Even though his body had taken a toil with all of his travels for Jesus, he knew that inwardly his faith was growing more and more each day.

Paul gives us a great example of Godly intensity that cannot be slowed or stopped by temporal setbacks.  May our lives be lined up with the same attitude Paul had keep us moving forward in our faith.  When Paul writes to the church at Corinth about the inner man He speaks from experience and his continued growth as a disciple of Jesus Christ supersedes all human reasoning in the are of commitment.  To continue to believe and strive in the midst of struggles and failures is a point of growth for any believer and turning the negative into a positive is a sign of ongoing growth and strength.  

A football coach gave this advice on how to deal with failures. "When you're about to be run out of town, get out in front and make it look like you're heading a parade."

Perspective is an amazing thing.  The continued sold out life to Jesus is the life that is inwardly growing closer to Christ in all things.  Jesus said in Matthew 5:10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of  heaven."  

The question is "How do we develop that kind of attitude and faith in the midst of failure?

1. Remove yourself from the picture.  Too many times I take things way to personal when God is the one who is in control and working out His plan, even through my failures.  My pride causes me to think poorly of myself because of the result of my efforts when God is directing the circumstances for His will and way.  I must remove myself from the "result part" of the whole things and leave it in God's hands.  The same thing applies when people insult us for sharing the message of Christ.  It is HIS message, not ours.   God will have His way if we will just be faithful to share the way to eternal life.  To look at it in that way is a sure sign of spiritual growth in serving.

2.  Realize what plans God has for you in the circumstances you are going through.  It would probably be good to consult with God about what He is trying to show through the things that are going wrong at this point of your life.  There is always a lesson and God is the great, loving, instructing teacher we desperately need to learn from in all things.  We begin a process where we see less of us and more of God in handling these life challenges.  In John 3:30 we see John the Baptist make a move all of us need to consider making as a matter of personal growth.  The verse says, "He must increase, but I must decrease."t  II always thought "Wow, good job John.  Let Jesus take his earthly ministry to the next level by getting out of the way."  That was not the end of truth.  That must be seen in me as well.   I must realize that God has a plan for my life and that plan is for Jesus to be seen more and more in my life, and less of me to be seen so His ministry can be realized through me.  In the 2 Corinthians scripture Paul's words of admonition to the church ring true for each us today.  As we approach the return of Jesus Christ, we are promised more affliction if we stand for Him and our inner life will need to be much stronger if we are to handle the persecution that will surely come.  HE must increase in my inner life and I must decrease in my inner life, so that my outward life, even though it is fading away will not be in vain.  So, all of the struggles should not cause us to drift further away from Christ, but draw us closer to Him as we get to know Him better in our inner self.  Hebrews 12:5 says, "and you have forgotten the exhortation which is to you as sons, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him."   God directing our steps should be received as an honor and not a curse when He calls us sons and daughters and fulfills His promise to direct our steps in all ways.  We truly must rely on God to take all of the events of our lives and continue to direct our ways toward thinking and living as He wants us to.  Proverbs 16:9 says, "The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.  That is the path I want to be on and stay on.  

Oh Lord direct my steps and teach me to walk with You in every area of my life.

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

Maximizing Minimal Things - The Art of Purity

Maximize - Make as large or great as possible  Minimize - Reduce something unpleasant to the smallest possible amount or degree.  One of the best ways to water down something or make it less pure is to over do it.  Purity is an amazing thing and the essence of something is best seen in it's purest form, unblemished, with no additives...pure.  One of satan's most subtle assaults on God's people is to take the purity of God's Word and make it....less, or with options other than what it says.  If he can water down the pure truth then the whole thing is subject to the change that he wants to put in place.  Take for example Eve in the garden of Eden.  She had a one on one encounter with ole satan himself and things did not work out so well.....for eternity.  Paul spoke to this deception in 2 Corinthians 11:3  "But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ."  The church at Corinth had it's own set of problems as the members, through their ignorance, were distorting God's simple plan and making it a monster with more rules, regulations, and spiritual traps.  Paul addressed it in both letters and tried to rein them back in to the basic ministry at hand, which was "share the gospel and follow the elementary teachings of God's Word.  The people in the Corinthian church were trying to contaminate God's Word with their own impressions of what was being said and it had gotten out of hand.  Purity (def)-   freedom from adulteration and contamination.  When we get into our impressions of what God is saying and then base our belief system on it, we have succumbed to maximizing what we think and minimizing the purity of the message itself.

Our world has gotten to the point in knowledge that we feel we can do anything and our maximizing of our own abilities has led us down a path of self glorification and self gratification.  We think our brains, that God gave us, will help us solve any problem if given time to figure it out.  The maximizing of what we can do minimizes our dependency on God.  It puts us in a position that satan tried to put Jesus in after Jesus had been in the wilderness for forty days.  In Matthew 4:1-11 we see that Jesus, after fasting for forty days was hungry.  How did satan tempt him?  In verse 3 scripture says, "The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell the stones to become bread."  To someone in our world today the tempter might say, "if you think  you are so smart, then figure this out on your own."  Like Jesus, our best bet is to use the purity of the Word of God to fight this tendency to maximize our abilities and minimize God.  Jesus answers in verse 4 "

It is written, Man shall not  live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."   Pure truth to fight a battle of the senses...hunger.  satan wanted to take the need for food and make it the BIG thing, but in reality is was a minimal thing for the Son of God because He knew where His real food was coming from.  You  may say, "Well, being hungry is a huge thing  when you are the one who is lacking in food."  It's all about perspective.  Take fasting itself.  The denial of physical food puts into perspective the desire for spiritual food that is only found in the Word of God.  Our focus changes during fasting and that focus is tuned in to God and His ways.  The purity of the Word begins to make so much more sense to us and we totally rely on it for satisfying our desire in life.

Another way the devil tempted Jesus was to take him up to the highest point of the temple and tell Him to throw himself off.  Now here the devil tries to use scripture, or seemingly scripture, to make his point.  Jesus has been set forth by the Lord God to His mission and now the devil attempts to stop him even getting started by offering up half truths in scripture to the one who IS the word.  Bad move.  Of course, the devil in this temptation left out part of the verse he was quoting because it did not benefit his cause.  The scripture he stated was Matthew 4:6 as he quoted from Psalm 91 ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands,so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."  The devil left out a very important part of this verse where it goes on to say "For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways."  The affirmation from God the Father to the Son is this "I will guard all the ways you go and all the ways you are tempted."  The devil at times tempts us in the same ways and with great effect if we follow our "humanistic" vantage point about life. Then we will see ourselves going down a broad path of destruction.  I have seen learned men take the purity of God's word and pollute it to the point that the devil polluted it when trying to tempt Jesus at the very beginning of His ministry.  Those men have decided to follow the commentary on the Word of God and not follow the Word itself.  It is very dangerous to water down the word of God with our human impressions taking precedent when trying to study it.  The words "I think" and "in my opinion" can maximize our opinions and minimize what the Word actually says.  Those words can sometimes lead us to adulter the Word of God.  Joining our thoughts and opinions with the Word of God and thus maximizing us and minimizing the Word itself.  The art of purity takes the Word of God as it is and as it is portrayed in Hebrews 4:12 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Those thoughts and intentions can change, thus making them minimal.  When we maximize our thoughts and intentions and try to make the Word of God fit them we get in major trouble and the purity of the Word is lost in the shuffle.

What can we do to preserve the Word of God in our lives?  Do what Jesus did.  When tempted to "explain away a very direct Word from God in scripture" just do what it says and believe it without wavering.  Don't put your own "spin" on it because it will make it dead and lifeless.  Let the pure Word of God speak for itself and if you follow it you will find wisdom.  Don't believe me?  Well, that is from the Word of God too.  James 1:5  But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."  Nuff said...

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren