Let the Writing Begin...

I am so very happy to announce that Tina and I have signed a publishing contract with Kregel Publications to write a new book.  We have been working on a project for quite some time and we are thrilled that Kregel is going to partner with us on the project.  Pray for us as we move forward and as we seek to create something that will have a big impact on broken and wounded lives.  Kregel published Tina's first book, Wounded Women of the Bible, and so it is fitting that we continue together.  This is my first attempt at writing and so Tina will have her hands full keeping me on task.  I look forward to sharing more with you in the near future.  Thanks for your support and I can't wait to share this book with you.  I don't believe anything like this has ever been written before.  We're believing that lives will be changed through this resource.

Jesus and Addiction

I've just begun reading a new book I've recently purchased entitled, "Jesus and Addiction".  It's subtitled, "A Prescription to Transform the Dysfunctional Church and Recover Authentic Christianity".  The author is Don Williams, pastor of Vinyard Christian Fellowship of the Coast in LaJolla, California.  A statement on the back cover hooked me, "Willams concludes with a bold, clear-cut model of what a Church in recovery, a Church that could be ours, can look like".  I'm intrigued.  I am attempting to pastor a "recovery church".  Williams seems to infer that what we really need is a "church in recovery".  hmmm......

Here are a few quotes from the introduction...see if you can relate:

"No wonder I have been vulnerable to burnout and workaholism.  My heart has cried out, 'If  I perform for you, if I gain your approval, then I will fill the emptiness inside and be able to love myself.'  But, humanly, my efforts are never enough.  Only giving myself up to God's love is enough.  But I've tried everything else rather than make this ultimate surrender" (p5).  Bingo!  This guy has lived my life and thought my thoughts!

"My dad's absence, my mom's denial of negative thoughts and emotions, and my search for complete value through meeting the needs of others created a sense of being lost to my own needs and emotions.  This all resulted in an inner loneliness--what addiction expert John Bradshaw calls 'the hole in the soul.'  This was a perfect setup that led me to become a servant of the Church and, conversely, to be abused by the Church I served.  I became addicted to its life and ministry" (p5-6).  Addicted to the church!  Exactly!  That's the reason why I felt such loss when I was separated from my church for some three months.  I went through withdrawal because I was addicted to the church.  I needed to be needed!

Listen to this next statement, "Through the wrenching experience of a church split, the groundwork had been laid for me to admit my inadequacies and let people into my life in a new way.  As I tried painfully to acknowledge my needs to others, I received love and care in return.  With this experience came a new realization:  I must be worth something because these people genuinely want to serve me and invest in my life.  They see something in me that is worthwhile, even when I don't.  Rather than running from my needs, they respond to my needs" (p7).  This has been my experience as well.  I am learning to experience the love and acceptance of God through my church.  Before, I always thought that I had to have some level of performance in order to be accepted.  I am now experiencing love and acceptance through my church because these people love me for who I am--not who they want me to be.

Good stuff, Pastor Don Williams.  I can't wait to read the rest of the book.

The Gold of Exodus

I just finished reading an excellent book that describes itself as, "The Discovery of the True Mount Sinai". The book is titled "The Gold of Exodus" by author Howard Blum". Though historical non-fiction, the book reads like an adventure novel. It’s the kind of book that I have a hard time putting down. I was fascinated with the book’s revelation of the actual site of Mount Sinai as being in Saudi Arabia rather than at the traditional site. The evidence given by the books lead characters, Larry Williams and Bob Carnuke, is supported by the biblical narrative. There is much available on the internet to support the books claims as well. I guess my interest began when I rented a documentary at the video store entitled, “Mountain of Fire”, that includes interviews with Williams and Carnuke. "The Gold of Exodus" is a good and enjoyable read that will perhaps cause your heart, like mine, to become thrilled with the possibilities and the historical evidence that remains at Jabal al Lawz.

downpour...chapter 2

"There can be no personal revival without a right view of God."

"...your entire life revolves around your view of God."

"At the core of our sinfulness is our desire to usurp God."

"Yes, in all of us is a self-centered bent to get me up and to get God down. There will be no downpour until that sinful inclination is reversed."

"When God is humanized and man is deified, holiness is lost. Everything gets our of perspective. The first step in personal revival is to get God in His rightful place."

"When God is recognized as being above me, beyond me, highly exalted, over me, and totally separate from me, I am getting in position for a downpour."

"When I know God's place, I can know my place--then things start to fall into place".

"When God is recognized for the infinitely holy being that He is, you don't stand around questioning His decisions".

"God has deemed that the central, defining characteristic of His being--the word that is to be spoken in heaven, eternally and continuously, the characteristic around which all other aspects of God's nature revolve--is this: holiness".

"We can't come close to overdoing our expression of praise and worship. Sincere worship, given from the heart, is never over the top, or too much, because He is worthy".

downpour...chapter 1...

"Revival begins here: with a profound awareness of God's absolute holiness, our absolute sinfulness, and our complete inability to bridge the divide that separates us. Revival always begins with God reaching down to us--not in a trickle of blessing, but in a deluge of Himself that covers our past and welcomes us to begin again" (p18).

"The call to return to the Lord begins with the recognition that some things have to go" (p21).

"...there is no downpour without returning and there is no returning without repentance" (p22).

"If you want to experience a downpour of God's mercy, you have to come back to the place where the water flowed before" (p22).

"Everyone is converted by faith at a moment of time in some sort of crisis...'As you received Christ Jesus the Lord', Paul declares in Colossians 2:6, 'so walk in him.' The crises are not supposed to be left in the rearview mirror as we begin to grow in Christ. There needs to be a regular interval of turning and returning to the Lord where the chords of commitment that bind our hearts to His are tightened up again" (p24).

"Take it from me, if you've known Christ for three or four years, you probably need another crisis" (p25).

"When we talk of personal revival, we envision a passionate pursuit of the knowledge of the Lord" (p31).

"Pressing on to know the Lord means waking up and giving that pursuit everything you have" (p31).

"Why does God approve pain's intrusion into our personal experience? God is trying to bring about another crisis...Whatever the particular point of pain is, the circumstance you would most change, the unwanted source of shock and sadness that you beg God to reverse or sesolve...God has a purpose for that pain. And it will not go away until the reason for its arrival has been completed in you. Worse, when God has finished His work in that part of your life, He will move on to another area He wants to change in you. God is relentless in His pursuit of us. His love is not a pampering love; it's a perfecting love. The pathway to revival is through pain" (p34).

"God would rather see you anywhere else than living in rebellion and resistance to His will. Once you come to the cross of Christ, God's will for you is your sanctification. If you're not advancing in that process, God will take you to some awful places so that His purposes in you might be accomplished" (p38).

"God would rather see us in a world of hurt than not be the prize of our highest affections. God is willing to do whatever it takes to bring us to that level of relationship" (p39).

downpour...

I have just begun reading "downpour" by James MacDonald. It is subtitled, "an encounter with God that will soak you with joy". For the next several days, I want to publish what I consider to be the most interesting quotes out of each chapter.

Introduction

"I believe that life is too short to waste time reading or writing books that only entertain. This is a book to change your life" (p1).

"This is a book about personal revival" (p4).

"Revival is renewed interest after a period of indifference or decline" (p5).

"Revival is not long lines of anxious sinners waiting for a turn at the microphone to reveal their most secret sinful something. That's not revival. Revival is not emotional extravagance..." (p5).

"The Bible does not invite us to seek a revival, ask God for a revival, or pray that revival will come" (p5).

"...we don't have control over moves of God that affect entire cities or regions. What we can affect is the experience of 'being revived' personally" (p6).

"Don't attempt to be revived if you have never been 'vived' in the first place" (p.6).

"Revival involves an increased hunger for and delight in God's Word after a difficult season of life" (p7).

"Revival involves a disdain for sin and renewed desire for obedience to God" (p7).

"Revival brings increased commitment to and interest in personal prayer" (p7).

"Revival is: God, gladly at the center of my life, experienced and enjoyed" (p7).

"If enjoying a happening relationship with God were easy, everyone would have one" (p8).