Escaping the Gray - The Cost of No Compromise

True unity for believers in Jesus Christ comes through our oneness, and that oneness comes through an uncompromising belief in Jesus being the way, the truth, and the life.  Jesus only....Only Jesus.  In a nation of political correctness we see the daunting effort it takes just to keep the faith at all.  If we narrow down the options of who God is and who is the savior, the world muddies those defined lines to keep it all palatable.  What is palatable for the world we live in?  All truth is relative to how I feel about it.   That is what the world preaches as truth.  For believers we are to live by a different standard of truth.  God's Word is the only source of that truth and our uncompromising stand on the Word of God puts us in a place, or standard of understanding that can only come from an absolute.  Our absolute is Abba Father, Jehovah God, the Great I Am.  He made all things come into order and made the world we walk on and the air we breathe, so He is very important as our standard.  Without God as our pure source of truth, we lose some very important things, like life, like existence, like life after death.  So it is very important to set up the foundation of our lives on Him and Him alone.  When we drift toward the dark side it causes a weakening of the overall effect God intended for us to have as believers.  It makes our black and white truth gray in nature and that is a dangerous thing to do.  We have seen the effect of compromising believers and we are living with the result of that compromise.  It causes us to fight each other and thus sets us on a course of weakness.  What can get  the strength of the movement of believers back strong again?  The undeniable belief that God is the ONE we must believe and follow.  In Ephesians 4 Paul wrote, "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."  

Genuine tolerance for other believers is our attempt to keep the unity of those of the faith and that unity is still bound to the truth of who God is.  In verse 4 Paul completes the thought by saying "There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all."  Here is the escape for those who are living in the gray.  They just need to believe once again that our faith is the only faith that gives the life we are looking for and that the world needs.  The desire to live for Christ alone is rekindled and the fire of the Holy Spirit begins to work a great work in their life and they are back "in the flow" of the sanctification process as they grow with their brothers and sisters in Christ.  Oneness is a reality again and the strength of the gospel message is once again the priority to reach a lost and dying world.  The problem with our faith today is that we are segmented and wandering aimlessly around with no central conviction that we stand on and that causes  the graying of our spiritual condition.  Gray is a cool color, but it is known as a compromise color to please all who see it.  We are to live the color "white" and that is to be lived with others in what the Bible calls a like-minded lifestyle.  What has caused us to compromise?  In Revelation, God's Word says, "But this I have against you, that you have left your first love."  If God has crept down the line and is no longer your first love it is time to put Him back where He deserves to be at number one.  When He is number one everything else falls into place and there is a no compromised life position when that happens.  That life compels other believers to get in line with you.  That oneness comes from all of us putting God where He has to be....at the top of our life.  When that happens we begin to see God changing us, changing our relationships, and changing our world.  It changes our convictions.  We hear the word religion thrown around a lot today and even used it to describe the Christian faith.  I don't personally subscribe to that word.  I am not part of a  religion.  I am in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ my Lord.  Made possible through the shedding of the blood of the Son of God my sins are paid for completely and my relationship with God is very intimate as I am able to call Him Abba Father.  There is no religion that can make that happen, so I reject the world's terminology in that area of my life.  It's just "a thing" for me.  To quote a well known president from the past "It wouldn't be prudent."  But, my relationship with God through Jesus does have it's conditions.  That relationship compels me to be convicted about sin and compels me to share the message of hope with others.  All of that compelling is done by the Holy Spirit and God grows me even closer every day to the person He wants me to be.  That takes me far away from gray and leads me to His way of thinking and living but that is contrary to the world's way of thinking.  In Matthew 24 Jesus is speaking of His return and what will happen before His return, and it is very sobering, yet encouraging, to see that we are an intricate part of the end times.   So important are we that satan will try to stop us at every turn and try to put gray in our life purpose.  Apathy will become the magnet that is the attempt to keep the gospel from being preached.  We see it today in our world and those who take a stand will have to stand withtout  other believers standing with them at times, but God will continue to be our strength and our shield.   In Matthew 24:12-13 Jesus says, "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.  But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved."  The tendency to compromise is just a "trick" and that trick should be seen by all who know Jesus.  The cost of compromising the true gospel is lost souls  that should be reached.  

The question is; Are you living in the gray and living a life of compromise?  Or are you living a life of no compromise?  It is important to know which you have attached your life to and then recognize the life God wants you to live.  I hope you are not compromising the message of Christ, but that you are standing stronger every day for the message of Christ.  Eternity is looking on as you live.   Make the right choice.

The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

Zombie Apocalypse

1 Peter 2:21-25 21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. 

Apocalypse - an event involving destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic scale.

In this tornado called our world, we see the spinning increasing to a frantic pace for those who don't have Jesus and for those who do.  The whole Zombie thing has been a central theme for many people where you have an undead person with no mind going about feeding on non zombies without regard for them and thus turning them into zombies.  Those people turn into zombies and begin their aimless, nightmarish walk to find others to feed on.   Scripture has warned of this apocalypse and it seems like the zombies are turning out, but not flesh eating zombies.  They are faith eating zombies.  These zombies feed on the fear of those who don't know Jesus and that feeding turns those people into zombies also.  If you watch the latest news  you can spot the zombies who are leading the pack and their wanton, disregard for God has taken their undead condition and ramped it up to the ludicrous level.  When I say undead, I actually mean the stage of spiritual deadness that is evident by their rejection of Jesus.  Oh they are dead, but they don't know it, so they wander around aimlessly looking for whom they may infect with the deadness.  They are the walking dead.  Only through a saving relationship with Jesus Christ can a person really find true life and here is how.

Admit you are sinner - Romans 3:23  For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  ALL IS ALL.

Believe in Jesus  - Romans 5:8  But God demonstrates His love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us.  Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Confess your sins and believe - Romans 10:9-10  That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raise Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Faith is the key - Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faithful and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Now when you do that, heart change happens, and you are no longer a zombie, but a living person with real life.

A friend of mine watching the latest news asked me what I saw in all of that, to which I replied, "I see dead people!"  He said, "How so."  To which I also replied, "Without Jesus we are all zombies; dead, but not realizing it.  They are aimlessly wandering around trying to find life, but not succeeding, so those zombies feed on those who have life by trying to infect them with their deadness and make them zombies."  How do I know?  I used to be a zombie.

With this condition in our world, we see that we definitely are in a destructive state.  The condition will only worsen if we, as Christians, do not share that life with others to replace their deadness with life.  And specifically the life of Christ when they receive Him.  The scriptures above tell the story of coming to know Jesus and that message is the key to eternal life in heaven and the abundant life here on earth.  In John 10:10 Jesus put it out there very plainly when he said  "the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy (zombie condition); I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly (real life).  The message hasn't changed.  We just haven't shared it enough to overcome the zombies and bring them to life.

Just remember this pure truth.  There is no other way but Jesus.  Acts 4:12 says it clearly, "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."

If you found out by reading this you are a zombie, you don't have to stay a zombie.  Accept Jesus and you will have found  "the cure."  If you have been lured into hanging with zombies, it is time to change your allegiance back to Jesus and repent.  If you have been fighting zombies and are tired, don't despair.  Keep fighting the good fight and God will sustain you.  Ephesians 6:12 says it well, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."  Think about that the next time you choose a movie or TV show to watch.  When your eyes are opened everything changes.

JESUS IS THE ONLY  WAY TO HEAVEN AND FATHER GOD IS THE GREAT I AM.  NO ONE ELSE!!  Sound the alarm and brush the dust off your sword (Bible).  Time to go to battle.

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

Shine the Light to Keep from Stumbling

John 16:1-4 “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. 2 They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. 3 These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. 4 But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you ]may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you."

I love these commercials for these super bright led tactical lights that have 10,000 candle watt power and can shine up to a football field in length with superior brightness.  The cool thing is with all that power you can still buy them for $11.95.  It seems that the technology  cost for this type of equipment has been covered when they can be sold for such a cheap price.  So you get a real good flashlight that sends a strong, clear beam through the darkness for under $12.00 when the cost to get to that point may have been thousands of dollars in research expense in order to make the light work.

So it is with the light of Jesus.  His death, burial, and resurrection cost Him everything (His life).  With that sacrifice to defeat death, hell, and the grave came a great opportunity for us in the area of shining the light.  He offers the light to us as a free gift.  We can't do anything to deserve getting the light and we can't do anything to earn the light.  All He asks is for us to believe and turn to Him by faith.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."  That is the switch that turns our light on and boy is it bright!!  We need that brightness in the dark.  Jesus, in speaking to His disciples said in verse 1 of the above scripture "These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling."  What causes us to stumble?  Darkness!!  The darkness they were going to have to experience was from doubters who were going to try to intimidate them  from following Jesus by threatening them, even their lives.  They really needed some good light, as we do.

We live in perilous times right now, as we know there are church people, who seem to be attending for looks more than commitment who are leaving the church in droves.  The truth of God's Word is no longer applicable for their lives and the intimidation of an ever increasing dark world has them stumbling when they need to stay on the path and follow the light of Jesus.  The warning in the above scripture from Jesus is just as true today.  We need the light of Jesus!!

Some may think that it is a very arduous faith walk to get access to that light, but in reality it is not.  It is surprisingly easy to access.  It doesn't mean it is cheap though in the forming stages of that light.  Just as in the research and development for the led flashlight was in the thousands to make it bright and clear, the sacrifice of Jesus to overcome the darkness for each of us came with a heavy price.  The price for us is relatively cheap though.  Just give your life to Jesus for Him to lead and guide.  That saving faith gives us access to the light that exposes the dark things and lights our path so we don't stumble.  In Luke 9:23 Jesus said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me."  Our cross is super light in comparison to His cross.  And our path is to be lit with the Light that only Jesus can give.  In John 8:12 Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

NO MORE STUMBLING!!

In these perilous times the people who will show they are the remnant of true believers will shine the light and they will not stumble.  They will stand!  The question is "are you stumbling right now?"  Take the offer He gives with his light and let Him show you the way. Further down in John 16 Jesus says a comforter, the Holy Spirit, is coming and He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness, and concerning judgment.  The Holy Spirit is here to enable us to do great and mighty things in the name of Jesus, and one of those things is to shine the light to keep from stumbling.  Ask the Holy Spirit to fill  you afresh and anew and get your batteries charged for your life flashlight and turn it on!!!  The world could use some people who really have the light and I hope you are one of those people.

The Pilgrimage continues..

David Warren

Don't Just Plant the Garden, Know the Garden

Exodus 31:3 3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of [craftsmanship, My Dad was an extraordinary kind of guy.  I wish I would have listened more to him and taken some of his wisdom about life into my thinking.  I got more of it than I thought and I can see it as I react to things or think things out.  Basically he was super intelligent.  I regret not listening better when he was trying to explain basic things to me.  One example of me not listening was every year in the spring dad would want to plant a garden, and boy what a garden it was!!!  He had prepared the soil by spreading chicken manure over the soil during the winter.  I would see (or smell) that chicken manure and wonder, "What compels him to do this every year?"  Year after year in the spring he would have the dirt plowed up and that is where I come in.   We had a tiller that took the dirt and beat it into smaller chunks so we could get the rows ready to plant.  That tiller used to beat me to death when I was using it until dad saw me out there getting shaken into a frenzy.  He came out and said, "You are doing it wrong.  Here's what you need to do to keep it from shaking so much."  Of  course, my pride kicked in, but I did what he said and sure enough it quit shaking and went on as smooth as possible.  I learned how to run that tiller like it was supposed to be run.  He would pull a lawn chair up to the edge of the garden and point to a row I had tilled and said, "Now take those seeds and plant them just a few inches under the soil about 10 inches apart, to which I would start that back breaking work. Dad would continue on talking and telling me why I was doing what I was doing, but my ears just heard lalalala.  I would quickly get the planting done without considering what I was doing and then left that garden for dad to deal with.  I could have learned a great lesson about growing plants, which dad was a natural at, and learned to plant my own garden.  But I didn't.  I thought I knew more than my dad. But I didn't.  Jim Warren was a natural at gardening and he knew the in's and out's of that gardening. The end result was a beautiful garden that produced great tasting produce that we enjoyed every year.  I could have gotten the inside information about gardening, but I had better things to do.   Or so I thought.  So, now my gardening is done in the produce area of Wal-Mart.  I miss the joy of gardening my dad wanted to pass down to me because I was distracted with what I wanted to do.  I was surely stupid and uninformed.  My mistake.  My dad passed away a few years ago and now I cannot access him for the wisdom that is gardening.  It's too late!

In the above Exodus scripture God has filled different men with wisdom and understanding to do his work to help establish some very important things for the observance of the Sabbath.  The list of accomplishments is many and include the making of artistic designs for work in gold, silver, and bronze.  The cutting and setting of stones, woodworking skills, and all kinds of crafts.  These guys know their stuff and it is all because the Heavenly Father has given them the understanding to do these things.  What if they had rejected all of the instructions given to them by God?  God in verse 12 told Moses  to make sure that all the people of Israel participated in the Sabbath because it will be a  sign for now and for generations to come.  The preparation of the place for the observance of the Sabbath was vital for the experience and the wisdom God gave these artisans for doing the work was a big part of them doing it right.  Why was the plan and all the details important?  Because it was God's perfect plan.  Enuf said!!

In Romans 12:1-4  2 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, [a]acceptable to God, which is your [b]spiritual service of worship.2 And do not be conformed to this [c]world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may [d]prove what the will of God is, that which is good and [e]acceptable and perfect.

3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,  We can see by this scripture that when the Heavenly Father has a plan, we need to realize it and follow it.  As Paul wrote, the plan for the believers in Christ is to live dedicated lives of service to the Lord.  We can no longer just bump around from place to place trying to make our way.  It must be a concentrated effort to do everything God commands and do it right.  Here is where we miss something though.  Paul says there must be a renewing of the mind in verse 2 in order for this to be accomplished.  We need to take on a new spiritual understanding, a new wisdom that compels us to "serve in the right way."  No more, just doing the work.  But knowing the significance of the work with a spiritual understanding that only God can give us.  When that understanding kicks in we no longer do the work of the evangelist as a function or a duty.  We do it with an understanding of the why from our Heavenly Father.  Here is a potential problem.  We could do the work, just out of duty and miss the great truths God wants to show us about the whole thing.  Those truths help us take over the ministry as a lifestyle, but if we ignore the extra things God wants to show us, we miss the "heart" of the whole thing.  Those truths firm up our motivation for why we do what we do and in verse 3 Paul says "don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to."  If we get into comparing our work with others in the body, we miss the point of why we do what we do.  That messes everything up.  Just like when I did the planting without getting to know the story behind the planting, we miss the reason for everything and it can cause us to do it for the wrong reasons.  In order for us to function properly in the body of Christ, the church, in the right way, we need to listen further to God's instruction and let Him teach us the depths of understanding that only He can teach.  Why?  Because His plan is perfect in every way!!  If we will just read further in verse 4 where Paul says, "For just as we have many members, in one body, and all the members do not have the same function. so to Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."    Many times the failing in a church is that a small group of people do most or all of the work and those whom God has gifted for certain things don't realize the overall need of them using their gifts.  Perhaps those who aren't serving are like me when my dad tried to explain the whole gardening thing in detail and I ignored him and just did  the grunt work.  I believe those who don't really understand what God is trying to do and how important they are to it will one day realize they have missed a great amount of blessing and at an old age don't even know how to "plant the garden" or in church terms don't even know how to build a church fellowship.  The cause of Christ will have been compromised or given to others who "get it" and bypass those who don't want to listen and understand.  How tragic.  Are you willing and ready to learn about the heart  of the Great Commission from God's Word or are you stiff necked and unaccepting of change enough to miss the call God has on your life?  Then you are sorely troubled and will continue to be unless you have a change of heart.       

Just remember the garden illustration.  Don't just do the work.  Learn what your work is doing and it will change your attitude about everything.  Don't just serve Christ.  Get to know Christ.  2 Corinthians 2:16 says, "For who has known the mind of the Lord, that He will instruct Him?  But we have the mind of Christ!  Open your mind and let the mind of Christ take over.  Your life depends on it.

The Pilgrimage continue...

David Warren

Hold Fast!!

Hebrews 10:23 says "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."  To hold fast means to stay connected to whatever you are attached to and keep the bond firm.  In life terms we know it means for us continue to cling to those things in life we value and believe in.  When it comes to the belief system, we as born-again believers hold on to our faith in the Word of God.  That Word has some fantastic guarantees attached to it.  Let me give you 10 of them.

1. We base our life on it. Matthew 4:4 - Jesus answering the devil when being tempted int he wilderness.  It is written, "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."

2.  It gives us boldness in our faith.   Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the Word of God with boldness."

3. It is wide reaching. - Acts. 8:14  Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John,

4.  It compels learned men to seek it.  Acts 13:7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

5.   It is our offensive weapon to fight satan.  Ephesians 6:7  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

6.  It can never be chained down or held back.   2 Timothy 2:9  or which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.

7. It gives us our growth in the faith.  1 Timothy 4:5  for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. 

8.  It must be handled carefully.  2 Timothy 2:15  Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

9. It must be honored.  Titus 2:5  to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

10.  It is active and alive.  Hebrews 4:12  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.

What is your confession of faith?  Do you know it? If not, you need to get one and hold fast to it. Just make sure it is founded on the Word of God or it will crumble and fade away.

The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

Voices From the Mist

James 4:14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.  

We were on our way to Knoxville, Tennessee this morning and we noticed there was a mist on the grain fields at the beginning of the trip.  The further we went along we began to see that the mist had cleared.  What was such a dominant effect on the fields only there for a short time.  It helped remind me that we are only here for a short time, but our time on earth should produce good fruit in the time we have to live it.  When we are young we let days slip away without much direction or purpose because we think we have a long time to live on this earth.  As we get older we realize our mortality is real and approaching, so we take a more determined, direct approach to our life.  The truth is the James scripture above is very true and every day needs to be lived with great purpose and direction.  To do anything less is to be presumptuous at best.  Ephesians 5:16 says, "making the most of your time because the days are evil.  If we hadn't taken a picture of that mist when it was there we wouldn't have even remembered it because it was there and then it was gone.  Just like we are.

We let a moment slip by without capturing it and then it turns into a day, then a week, month, and year.  Make the most of every day by living a life of purpose and let God's Word give you the direction you need and the Holy Spirit in your life will give you your purpose.

Words like could have and should have should not be a part of our vocabulary.  We should be saying words like will do and can do and pursue the direction God lays out before us.

The story below is about time wasted.

How would you like to spend 2 years making phone calls to people who aren't home? Sound absurd? According to one time management study, that's how much time the average person spends trying to return calls to people who never seem to be in. Not only that, we spend 6 months waiting for the traffic light to turn green, and another 8 months reading junk mail. These unusual statistics should cause us to do time-use evaluation. Once we recognize that simple "life maintenance" can chip away at our time in such huge blocks, we will see how vital it is that we don't busy ourselves "in vain" (Ps 39:6). 

Psalm 39 gives us some perspective. In David's complaint to God, he said, "You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You" (V. 5). He meant that to an eternal God our time on earth is brief. And He doesn't want us to waste it. When we do, we throw away one of the most precious commodities He gives us. Each minute is an irretrievable gift--and unredeemable slice of eternity. Sure, we have to make the phone calls, and we must wait at the light. But what about the rest of our time? Are we using it to advance the cause of Christ and to enhance our relationship with Him? Is our time well spent?

So let us ask ourselves.  What is the goal of my life while here on earth?  If we are believer it should be spent trying to serve Jesus Christ and using the talents He has given us for His glory.   If you are not a believer, then you need to receive Jesus by faith and when you know where you will spend eternity everything else falls in to place.

To those of us who getting older we are living in the mist and seeing it living too quickly.   To those of you who are young, hear the voices from the mist and start allowing Jesus to enhance your daily walk by showing you how to live a life of service to Him. I am a voice from the mist and I say, "Commit to Iive for Jesus and you will never regret it."  The mist is clearing and so is your opportunity to work for the Savior.  Seize the day and impact your world in a positive way.  You will be glad you did.

The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

Zizzer - Know Who You Are

My hometown, West Plains, Missouri, is in the center of south central Missouri.  My family moved there when I was 10 years old and I graduated from West Plains High School.  I was fortunate enough to play basketball for my high school in my sophomore year and I learned  quickly that basketball wasn't going to be in my future much longer.  I hustled real good, but the talent to compete at the level of varsity high school basketball wasn't a part of my skill set.  I do remember how it felt to play for a team that had the name of Zizzer as our competition name and I also remember that I needed to know what a Zizzer was if I was going to represent the name of our sports team.  This all came into focus quickly one night during warm ups before the JV game.  As I finished a lay up and came back up to half court to get back in line for the next drill a player from the other team walked by and said, "That's stupid.  What's a Zizzer?"  To which I replied, "I don't know."  It embarrassed me.  Not the name, but not knowing what it was.  I thought, "What is a Zizzer anyway?"  As I sat on the bench I turned to one of my teammates and said, "Hey, what is a Zizzer?"  To which he replied, "The other team's worst nightmare."  He was really saying what the effect of a Zizzer team was, but not the meaning of the name.  It turns out that in the Dr. Seuss world there is a character called Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz and that only confused the issue because I couldn't see me representing a goofy looking Dr. Seuss dragon-like creature.   Not much motivation there.  Everything I ever saw at our high school showed a lightning bolt attached to the Zizzer name, so I thought it might be "we are the lightning bolts."  That brought a little more respect to the name, but I was still searching.  Finally, I settled in on the fact that a Zizzer is a powerful force that splits through the sky or the athletic competition and brings the team to victory!!  That made me feel better, but it is still a little foggy to this day.  When I lived in North Carolina, I was driving through our town and I noticed a car with a Missouri license plate.  As we both pulled up to the stoplight and I yelled over to him.  "Where are you from in Missouri?"  He said, "Waynesville."  I said back to him, "I"m from West Plains, to which he yelled out as the light changed and he sped away, "Go Zizzers!"  I guess the name stuck with him.  I laughed and thought to myself.  "I wonder what people think when a  person says "I'm a Christian."

If someone were to come up to you and say, "What is a Christian?"  What would you say?

A person who attends a Southern Baptist Church or insert another denomination in here.

Or what would be your reply?  The truth of the matter is a Christian is a person who has realized they are a sinner, repented of their sin, and by faith has asked Jesus Christ to come into their heart and save them.  That's it.  They are a regenerated human being that has been changed by the power of the Holy Spirit and is a co heir of eternity with Jesus.  I live in the south, so everybody thinks they are a Christian, but they aren't!  Only those who have experienced life change in Jesus can be known by the name Christian.  Jesus himself said in John 14:6 "I am the way, and the truth, and the  life; no one comes to the Father but through me."  Pretty plain language so we should all be able to understand it clearly.  Without Jesus you have NO HOPE!!!  In the early church, those who were on the Jesus team were called followers of The Way.  They preached that Jesus was the only way to heaven and that any who wanted to go there needed to receive Jesus as Savior.  When they took a strong stand for the name of Jesus, some were persecuted and some killed.  When my senior high school class had our twenty year reunion, one of my classmates asked me what I did for a living and I replied. "I am a minister of the gospel."  He looked at me kind of funny and said "Well, that's a good thing."  He didn't quite know how to deal with the information I had given him and his image of me probably changed into "Bible thumping preacher."  And that is good.  I know who I am and I am a follower of The Way, just like the disciples of the new testament.  I have taken that step of faith to give my life to Jesus and I gladly proclaim Him as king of my life and Savior of the world.  I will have to say it made some of my classmates look at me a little different than they had when I was in high school.  Some didn't think me approachable, but found out I was.  Some looked guilty when drinking alcohol in my presence, even though they shouldn't have worried about drinking in front of me.  Mainly, the Zizzer who didn't know what his school mascot meant, did know what his faith meant.  No question about it.  David Warren is the same guy, but a different person from the inside out and for that I say, "Thank you Jesus."  Now think about this very seriously.  If someone comes up to you and asks you what a Christian is, what will you say?  Will you say, ME!  I hope you can say that and that you gladly have given your life to Christ, because that is the only life that means anything.  I remember one of my friends at the reunion say, "Once a Zizzer, always a Zizzer!"  I can change that for my life and say, "Once a believer, always a believer."  Thank you Jesus for your life-changing forgiveness and grace.  Thank you Jesus for giving me a new look on life.  Thank you Jesus for giving me a name in the Lambs book of life. Thank you Jesus!!  I know who I am.  A follower of Jesus Christ, my hope, my all in all.

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

Enemy at My Gate - The Battle for My Heart

William Craig wrote a nonfiction book called Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad The book describes the events surrounding the battle for Stalingrad in the winter of 1942/43.  His story tells of a  sniper named Vasili Zaitsev, who was faced with an all out offensive by the germans on Stalingrad.  This book was depicted in a fictional movie starring Jude Law and Ed Harris.  In the book Vasili finds himself on the front lines and uses his extraordinary marksmanship to save himself and his commissar during the suicidal charge by the barrier troops.  He learned to shoot when he was just a child from his grandfather and his honed skill was the difference in keeping himself alive during the assault.  He became so adept at killing Germans, that the loss of many soldiers by the Germans prompted them to bring in a  famous German sniper by the name of Erwin Konig to take out Vasili.  Konig was an expert marksman, but the country-trained Vasili won the battle of wits and killed Konig.  The enemy at the gate was a real threat to the entire army, but the battle between two individuals brought that enemy to their knees through their one on one battle.

The Battle for our heart is a battle that is waged every moment of every day as satan again and again brings assault after assault against our heart.  Knowing that if he has our heart, he has all of us.  We must be diligent in protecting our heart and we must also lean in to God for His protection during this assault.  Proverbs 4:23 says "Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life."  Like Vasili, we are to be trained in God's Word to live a life in the battle as marksmen.  If we look at life in such a way as to worry about the whole thing it can be overwhelming.  The battles we face are in the trenches or the small things and in those battles we must learn to kill the little things that can drag us away from God's purpose for our life.  We must be snipers who use God's scope to spot and gun down those advances on our hearts by satan.  Sometimes we might think that we lose our heart in the big things that come our way, like liberalism, worldliness, and other big issues.  Those things are assaults we must guard against, but the smaller things are where 

 we can start to drift and before long the bigger things overwhelm us.  The Proverbs scripture above tells us two things.  Our hearts have the springs of life in them and we must guard our hearts.  It cannot get any more plain spoken than that and the reality of the battle must be looked at and fought with precision.  Jesus dealt with the attack of satan face to face when Peter tried to convince  him not to go to the cross and Jesus said in Matthew 16:23 "Get behind me satan!  You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." Enemy acquired and defeated!! Man's interests will always be for man's gain and many times compromise is a big part of that quotient.  We DO have an enemy at our gates and he is trying to "shut us down!"  Job was a man the Bible states that feared God and turned away from evil.  Satan accused God of having a hedge of protection around Job which made him untouchable to the devil's advances.  Here was Job's part...he feared God and turned away from evil.  That's it, and God blessed him and protected him.  Perhaps a good start for any of us in this battle of life would be for us to fear God and turn away form evil.  In the area of movies and tv, it might be good to turn your mind and heart another  direction instead of compromising your beliefs to go see something that is contrary to your belief system.  Enemy spotted through your scope....a kill.  Perhaps you have bought into the new way of serving in a church, by not serving in a church, and you can tell it is compromising your faith.  Pray for God to give you a purpose statement for serving in a church that preaches the Bible and get involved specifically in a ministry that furthers the kingdom.  Enemy spotted through your scope....a kill!!  Perhaps you have an unresolved problem with another believer and you just let it go on and on and it keeps you from forgiving them like you should and it eats away at your soul.  Go to that person and make things right and get on with your life free of the unforgiveness that satan wants you to wear around  your neck like a weight.  Enemy spotted through your scope.....a kill!!

As you can see it is important to identify the enemy, surgically remove him by killing his advance on your heart and using God's power to seek him out and kill him.  Satan will even bring in his own snipers to defeat you, but God gives you wisdom to handle them also and you win again.  1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."  I'm not much of a name it claim it guy, but one thing I will claim is the blood of Jesus to handle the enemy.  That blood from the Lion of Judah, who can fight my battles for me and give me the power to live a life spotting satan at every turn and snipe him when he gets close.  The enemy is at our gates, but the great equalizer is at my side, fighting for me and with me all along the way.  Remember, Paul told Timothy to "fight the good fight" in 1 Timothy 6:12 and just so you  know  "This is the good fight!!"  With eternity close and Jesus in sight and the power of God on our side we can fight this fight against our enemy the devil and win every time.  Get back on the winning side and set your sights on victory from here on and you will win the battle of the heart every time.

The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

Drain the Swamp

With the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States, Mr. Trump has been leading out with many notable phrases that have really caught on with the American people.  One catch phrase that has gotten my attention has been the phrase "drain the swamp."  As I see it, "drain the swamp" is the attempt to get the corruption that has settled in our government out of power and influence.  To "kick out" the hypocrites and the ones who have held power too long with wrong motives and have set a tone of corruption that has become the norm in our country.  The message of draining the swamp has really caught hold with all of us who are tired of those in high positions abusing their power at our expense.  This is not the first time the swamp has been drained.

In Matthew 3, John the Baptist came out of the wilderness saying "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"  and began by quoting the prophet Isaiah.  He was saying it was time for a reckoning and that reckoning prompted people from Jerusalem to go out to him and let him baptize them as they confessed their sins.  So John is baptizing people in the Jordan river and this was a baptism of repentance and life change.  He looks up and sees the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism and declares a great statement to these chiefs of all hypocrites.  These men who had manipulated the Law of God to uplift them and their agenda to positions of power and prestige. RELIGION!!  Here is his comment to them when they came for baptism in verse 7-10  7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 10 The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  These men were positioning themselves and their religious selves to be covered by their  attendance at the baptism.  John called them out and proceeded to tell them that life change would only come through true repentance.  John was draining the swamp and here is what came out from it.  He doesn't leave them hanging though.  John tells them where this life change will come from in verses 11-12  11 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  John's draining the swamp resembles the draining that needs to take place in many of our religious institutions that have long ago compromised the message of the Messiah by putting Jesus in a building and taking away the individual message that each of us must share wherever we go.  This message takes Jesus out of the church building and puts Him exactly where He wants to be, on the street!!  

If we only worship Jesus in a church building then we are living in the swamp.  What forms a swamp?  Swamps are usually found near another body of water that is flowing.  Swamps form when the water doesn't drain out of a certain area and because of a hammock of tree cover continue to exist and actually have a flourishing plant and animal population.  Those plants begin to depend solely on the swamp water itself and cannot escape because a condition has been formed that makes them totally dependent on the swamp itself.  The largest swamp in the world is in the Amazon River floodplain.  The Amazon floodplain is the source of many dangerous animals and fish, notably the piranha.

If we as Christians are ever going to fulfill The Great Commission we are going to have to drain the swamps of religion and force those who have become comfortable in the church building to get out and take the gospel wherever they go.  I can't help but think that John the Baptist would say, "The Kingdom of heaven is at hand and you have got to get out of your buildings into the streets and proclaim the coming of the Lord.  And develop and disciple those new converts to keep them from forming their own swamps of comfort.  The vibrant message of Christ cannot be contained in buildings or in white washed tombs of church building Christians.  Time to drain the swamp and proclaim the day of the Lord.  We still have freedom in our country and it is time to move on from the birth of the Messiah to the message of the Messiah, just like John the Baptist did.

DRAIN THE SWAMP!!  Maybe there are some swamp areas in your personal life.  If so, drain them by repenting and falling in love with the Messiah once again.  Feel the freshness of the Holy Spirit in your life once again and see what God will do through you. Drain the Swamp!!!

The Pilgrimage continues.....

David Warren