Welcome to my blog! I am excited about the opportunity to discuss many of the things that mean so much to me and even some things that don’t. I know I am going to have a blast just sharing what is on my heart and being able to get feedback on it. These post are not intended to be easy to read, they are going to be open, honest and to the point so if your looking for the easy way out change the channel now, if you are ready for real life change, grab your Arizona Arnold Palmer Tea, a bag of pizza combos and sit back for what is sure to be an exciting ride.
Christine Darg Teaching on “Ish Elohim’
I have a variety of sources for devotion and one of my favorite is Christine Darg and her “Exploits TV”. After I posted a couple of blog articles on Ministry Ethics, Quality Worth Pursuing Pt 1 , A Quality Worth Pursuing Pt 2 and MINDUSTRY:Redefining Christ’s Ministry to Our Generation,; I was so blessed to see Ms. Christine in her Facebook post this wonderful teaching. Be blessed as Ms. Christine teaches what it means to be a Man or Woman of God!
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Ministry Ethics
Many years ago a book publisher mentioned to me that I should take the values I have been taught and the ethics in ministry I have established and write a book. I was humbled by the request and though I will defer that task to another I will take this blog post just to focus on some major ministerial ethics.
- First in foremost if you are representing the Lord in ministry you must always remember it is the Lord’s work the enemy will try to diminish. You will make the mistakes, you will fail to always do what is right, you will be the one who commits unrighteous acts but God will take the blame and the ministry will be the one that is hurt. So you must surrender everything to God and you must have discipline to withstand the many temptations that will be thrown at you so in the end the ministry is not blamed. 2 Corithians 6:3
- Your demonstration of ministry is only a reflection of your relationship with God. You must live something before you can effectively tell others to. There are many eloquent speakers who say but don’t do and this is hypocrisy. Matthew 23:15 Your ministry will develop and grow with your growth in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18
- NEVER ask for an opportunity! We live in a supply and demand world so if there is a demand for what you have then you can supply the need. Many today make calls, invite themselves, do everything they can to be seen and be noticed but this only weakens the strength of your ministry. If you have to tell people (who aren’t asking) what you have then it means they do not recognize the anointing on your life and 1. You need to prepare yourself more or 2. the ground of the need has to be fertilized with fruits of your ministry. Lets throw in name calling here too because many people want to use names of personalities to give themselves a place of opportunity, so if you need to use another ministry name to give yourself some prestege you might want to rethink that because the only name that should be called is Jesus Christ.
- KNOW your place! Today people want to go to conferences and ministry outlets and start ministering over people when they are not a part of the team or their services haven’t been requested. This is arrogant! They hide under the excuse, “God told me” or “the people weren’t being ministered to”.
Suggestion: have your own conference or plant your own outlet but don’t go into another one’s labor and start ministering over people! They have come in respect to the one’s integrity who labored. You not only make a fool of yourself but you impede the honor of the host. Romans 12:3 - When you are invited into ministries NEVER contradict the statement of faith. There is enough in God’s Word that we have in common to not have to go in and sow seeds of confusion and discord. If you are invited to share on a controversial matter then the invitation is your opportunity to enlighten but otherwise meet them where they are at. Again it is pride to go into a ministry that you have not labored to build and override the established doctrine that is the foundation of a ministry. If you are not mature enough to stand on common ground then don’t except the invitation.
Acts 17:23 - When you go into as a guest speaker, the pastor is literally turning the congregation over to you so you should always be mindful to honor that pastor and be sure that congregation is better prepared to do the work of the ministry when you hand it back. 1 Corinthians 3:10
- Hirelings are very big in this day. Ministers for hire. If you are called to ministry then God is your source. Yes a workman is worthy of the hire but we must remember God is the paymaster. If you have to ask for an offering or make demands like hotel, airline, restaurant and other amenities then maybe you should find another field of work. I know celebrity ministries do these things and younger ministries want to follow the example but this is not the model of Jesus Ministry. He knew His words were the Fathers, His power was the Fathers and that when the people saw Him they saw the Father so he conducted Himself with the highest standard of integrity. He never lacked provision and Father always took care of Him. Matt 8:20 Jesus made it clear you can’t serve both God and mammon so ask yourself who do you serve?
- Avoid every appearance of evil! The world and the devil want to take away from the creditability of the church and its ministry. Our weaknesses are open doors of invitation for the enemy to destroy us so we must be constantly on guard. Little things like being alone with the
opposite sex that is not your spouse. Especially when attraction is involved! Just because you have an anointing doesn’t mean you can withstand temptation! Look at all the mighty ones who have fallen into sexual sin because they thought the anointing to touch peoples’ lives didn’t
need to be guarded with integrity. 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 What you watch, what you listen too, where you go, all these things must be considered. - Fasting and Prayer are essential ethics that must be incorporated into your ministry. Your ministry is first and foremost to God, even when it is to people it is to God. Fasting is removing yourself from those things that have removed you from God. If you think your place with God right now is
enough you are deeply deceived. We are talking about the eternal, immortal, omnipotent, only wise God and know where or no place in humanity is enough. All of humanity through all the ages could combine their capacity to know and experience God and it would still be the fringe. Fasting and prayer were practiced by Jesus Christ and He was deity so what example does that set for us? Matt 17:21 - You have been given the greatest honor given to humanity and that is to carry the message and ministry of Jesus Christ to the nations. It is His message not your and it is His ministry not yours! Jesus when faced with a people he saw as sheep without a shepherd ministered to them all.
Matt 9:36 So discern when they all need ministry and stretch yourself and please don’t use that as a trophy that you ministered a few hours. This is about Christ not you and you don’t want to take any glory from HIM.
These are just a few of the ethics I live by. This list is only a fraction of this code of honor ministries should have in this day. The Bible is full of ministerial example and mistake and if we want to bring credible ministry to the world we must raise the standard but the unchurched and unsaved many times look at what we offer today and it is a circus act. Lets represent God in a way that brings honor to His name!
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MINDUSTRY:Redefining Christ’s Ministry to Our Generation
Have you ever noticed how so often what is being categorized as ministry has really no resemblance to what ministry truly is. The word ministry in regard to Christ has been redefined in this generation and what Christ set as an example is far from what is being reflected today. One day in my devotion I couldn’t escape the thought “MINDUSTRY”, this is when ministry has become an industry. Yes MINDUSTRY is a new word I just received in my devotion, like snickerative it has very little exposure and carries similar qualities: sneaky and secretive.
Today there is an excessive amount of mindustry, people who proclaim to be carriers of the message and ministry of Jesus Christ are actually using it as a means of profit. To them it is a job, a means of making a living, becoming the authority in their craft and they are very good at it! Just like other occupations there are mindustry professionals that have found it to be a very lucrative field not just financially but socially they have achieved rock star status.
Mindustry has also reproduced a breed of young, mislead, undisciplined, church leaders who have actually birthed a movement in this millenium that focuses on quantity rather than quality. These mindusters lack in virtue, morality, honesty and character; this has trickled down to their followers and as a result the lost are turned off to the church because there is not difference.
There are schools of mindustry that have produced a generation of very ambitious mindustry agents who have twisted the message and misused the giftings to create revenues that have given them lavish lifestyles. Those in the church have been taken by these individuals and there is a growing covetousness, blinded by this deception they have become like Demos who Paul said had,”forsaken me, having loved this present world” 2 Timothy 4:11. Paul would also warn the church in Philippi of two types of Christ representation. The one group he would categorize this way, “some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, … from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains” The other group, “some also from good will: …out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel”, Philippians 1:15-17.
Today there are Christ representatives who are consumed with selling their books, their Cd’s and numerous other products. Christian TV has become not much different from the as seen on TV ads. The preaching of the Word of God has become less and less, the product info has taken an even larger time slot and then the extra time given to soliciting of funds has made those who are in the national spotlight look like charlatans. I am not wanting to pass judgement on people but the old adage “if the shoe fits wear it” applies. Working in missions I have had to clean up the messes left by these mindustry agents. It is a heart breaking task having to correct people who were honestly deceived by these mindusters and thought they had to implement their strategies to be successful.
In the next couple of post we will take a Biblical look at what the ministry of Christ looks like and expose the deceptions of the mindustry.
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Song Leader Tutorial
I have worn many hats in my ministry career and one of them has been song leader. Recently I have been asked a lot of questions concerning this very topic and want to share a few ground rules to help out. I don’t believe singing songs is worship or praise(Mark 7:6), I know this is shocking but at the same time when we worship and praise God we can use music as a vehicle to express ourselves to the Lord. I personally am also a little at odds with the term worship leader for several reason: 1. It isn’t possible to make people engage their hearts in love and adoration to and with God (though you may help people who want to engage their hearts do it with greater ease). 2. Many so-called worship leaders are nothing more than entertainers and though thier music might be really nice they aren’t worshipping God only singing songs. And 3. In my opinion the better terminology is song leader because the primary responsibility is to orchestrate the unity of a congregation as they gather corporately to worship God through song.
One of the song leaders primary functions is to help to set the mood or atmosphere for the service and that is something they must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit about. It is the most import part of his/her job, being sensitive to the Holy Spirit about direction He has for the service (John 4:24). The heart of the song leader must be right and the focus on God in order to accomplish this (Psalms 24:3-4). Though you might be singing in front of a congregation but you must never forget your audience is the LORD and He is who you are singing to(Ex 34:14). Sounds elementary but you would be surprised how many song leaders sing more to the congregations and for the congregations, pathetically it can get as bad as “American Idol Auditions” or even worse like ”So You Think You Have Talent”.
Those who are truly called to this position carry an anointing for it and it is a ministry to the Lord as well as a blessing to the church. Everyone can sing but it doesn’t mean it sounds very good to the ears. Everyone can worship but not everyone lives a life in which they continually engage their hearts in love and adoration to the Lord as a worshipper. Worshippers have been in the presence of God and it has affected them in such a way they do everything in their power to live free from sin and to allow Holy Spirit to make them Holy; for God is Holy. There are also very talented singers and musicians out there but you can tell they are not worshippers because they have no character or integrity, they are performers and in a church that is worldly/fleshly oriented they are stars and their music is just another brand.
There is technique involved in effective song leading and though you don’t have to understand music theory, you do have to be able to “carry the service”. “Carrying the service” is being able to engage your heart with God in such a way that those you are leading in song can break through their barriers to engage their hearts too. This will creat a flow and an enthusiasm as the congregation is elevated out of their circumstances and carried away by the Holy Spirit into the heavenly to the Father.
Some of the most basic techniques are:
1. Theme: The Holy Spirit will set the theme for His work in the service and the lyrics help to keep that theme. Singing multiplies lyrics breaks the established theme creates disunity in the atmosphere, which prevents a deep work to be done in the ears of the hearers. Though you might have more than one theme is a song service be careful that too many themes don’t make the service atmosphere multiple personnality. Song selection is a major component of orchestrating a song service. If you are songleader you must be certain your selections have been done with great study to reflect your heart to God with passion and intimacy and the lyrics should be memorized. An anointed worshipping song leader knows a littany of songs that express their heart to the Lord on a variety of themes so they are to able to move freely without the need for a book or rehearsal to the theme set by Holy Spirit. When I was a song leader I enjoyed practicing all the songs I knew with my wife(Song leader/muscian) as our devotion so when we had to be in service we could follow the Holy Spirit and not try to make Him fit into our song selection.
2. Key: Song leaders must be able to distinquish which key they can/cannot sing verious songs in. One must also know which songs by key and message can flow together because if not you will be jumping all over the place and your song service will be a train wreck. Knowing the keys you sing in for the songs you choose shows you are serious about effectively ministering to the Lord in excellence. Arranging songs by key is important too though it is possible to mave many keys ina song services if you cannot bridge them properly you will break the flow of the service.
3. Pitch: Pitch is the ability to articulate the key and unfortunately not all people can sing in pitch and therefore sing out of key(this is not a very good sound and can be very distracting). Pitch will also help you know the range of your voice capacity and this is also a serious consideration for song leaders who want to open up to the Lord. People who continually engage their hearts as they lead songs have seriously considered pitch to help them determine keys so they can smoothly ascend high into worship making a beautiful sound to the Lord.
Not all songleaders are musicians, so they need someone to accompany them on instruments. You can see why it is imperative to know the keys in which you sing a song so you can not only arrange your songs but sustain the unity of the accompanying musicians . If you do not know your keys and range you will find yourself to low or high in a song and the horrible sounds coming from your mouth will be a distraction to those you are leading in songs. If you don’t know your keys you will start out of key or most likely start without the musicians. Maintaining the unity of your team is first step in bringing the congregation together in unity. Note most musicians are dedicated to their craft and desire to bring God excellence so as a songleader you must have that same commitment.
4. Tempo: This has to do with the speed and the rhythm of music. This is a major area of sensitivity in regard to setting the mood and flowing in the wave of the Spirit. Songs have beats and these beats determine tempo. Mixing lyric message can destroy the unity of the song service, mixing songs that have different keys can also destroy the unity of a song service and mixing the tempos can destroy the unity of a song service. Anyone of these not being considered in arrangement will be like a very rocky wooden roller coaster ride and when the song service is over you will feel like you have whip-lash rather than being in the place of rest with the Lord.
These four techniques are just a few important ones in creating an atmosphere for the congregation to worship freely. I have been in song services that were like fingernails scratching a chalk board, the songleader did not engage their heart to the Lord, they sang out of key, they had so many tempos that your head was left spinning and they did not know the words to the songs they were trying to sing. There is nothing worse than watching someone not care enough about worship to God or the people they are responsible to lead in song that they have not taken the time to prepare themselves to bring God something beautiful.
Pastor Heflin used to always teach, “The song service sets the mood for the preaching and if it is chaos the preacher will have a much greater battle to wage when he sets the Word into the atmosphere”. The singers and the dancers go out before the warriors to do battle in the heavenly. Some very anointed worshipping songleaders have written books and that will help you develop your craft as a songleader and these few techniques will be a good start.
It is understandable that many churches don’t have anointed musicians or anointed song leaders. They basically just come together and do the best they can with a pure heart and I promise that God is so pleased with your heart. He knows where you are and the responsibilities you have. God would rather have those out of tune voices with hearts that are engaged and a willingness to make their sound not only a joyful noise but a beautiful song than nothing at all. So make your joyful noise a beautiful sound with attention to theme, key, pitch and tempo. This blog post is for those who aspire to work in the ministry of song leading in church or conference settings and do it with excellence.
Though I don’t lead song services anymore here is a pic of Davene and I in a conference, was I ever young there wow! CBA Convention New Orleans, LA. Notice the horns in the pic the negative was analysed at Texas A and M University and the results proved it was not flaw in the film but it is unexplained phenomena.
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Where Did The Costums Come?
Easter is a day that is honored by nearly all of contemporary Christianity and is used to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Is it truly the day when Jesus arose from the dead? Where did all of the customs come from, which have nothing to do with the resurrection of our Saviour? I thought to go along with my Rabbi friend’s thoughts on Purim I would add this about Easter.
The pagan roots of Easter: “Ishtar”, which is pronounced “Easter” was a day that commemorated the resurrection of one of their gods that they called “Tammuz”, who was believed to be the only begotten son of the moon-goddess and the sun-god. There was a man named Nimrod, who was the grandson of one of Noah’s son named Ham. Ham had a son named Cush who married a woman named Semiramis.Cush and Semiramis then had a son named him “Nimrod.” After the death of his father, Nimrod married his own mother and became a powerful King.
Genesis 10:8-10, “And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad,and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.” Nimrod became a god-man to the people and Semiramis, his wife and mother, became the powerful Queen of ancient Babylon. Nimrod was eventually killed by an enemy, and his body was cut in pieces and sent to various parts of his kingdom.
Semiramis had all of the parts gathered, except for one part that could not be found. That missing part was his reproductive organ. Semiramis claimed that Nimrod could not come back to life without it and told the people of Babylon that Nimrod had ascended to the sun and was now to be called “Baal”, the sun god. Queen Semiramis also proclaimed that Baal would be present on earth in the form of a flame, whether candle or lamp, when used in worship. Semiramis was creating a mystery religion, and with the help of Satan, she set herself up as a goddess. Semiramis claimed that she was immaculately conceived. She taught that the moon was a goddess that went through a 28 day cycle and ovulated when full. She further claimed that she came down from the moon in a giant moon egg that fell into the Euphrates River. This was to have happened at the time of the first full moon after the spring equinox.
Semiramis became known as “Ishtar” which is pronounced “Easter”, and her moon egg became known as “Ishtar’s” egg.” Ishtar soon became pregnant
and claimed that it was the rays of the sun-god Baal that caused her to conceive. The son that she brought forth was named Tammuz.Tammuz was noted
to be especially fond of rabbits, and they became sacred in the ancient religion, because Tammuz was believed to be the son of the sun-god, Baal. Tammuz, like his supposed father, became a hunter. The day came when Tammuz was killed by a wild pig.
Queen Ishtar told the people that Tammuz was now ascended to his father, Baal, and that the two of them would be with the worshippers in the sacred candle or lamp flame as Father, Son and Spirit. Ishtar, who was now worshipped as the “Mother of God and Queen of Heaven”, continued to build her mystery religion. She also proclaimed a forty day period of time of sorrow each year prior to the anniversary of the death of Tammuz. During this time, no meat was to be eaten. Worshippers were to meditate upon the sacred mysteries of Baal and Tammuz, and to make the sign of the “T” in front of their hearts as they worshipped.
They also ate sacred cakes with the marking of a “T” or cross on the top. Every year, on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, a celebration was made. The truth is that Easter has nothing whatsoever to do with the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We also know that Easter can be as much as three weeks away from the Passover, because the pagan holiday is always set as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. The true Passover and pagan Easter sometimes coincide, but in some years, they are a great distance apart.
Some commentaries also suggest Acts 12, tells us that it was the evil King Herod, who was planning to celebrate Easter, and not the Christians. The truth is that the forty days of Lent, eggs, rabbits,hot cross buns and the Easter ham have everything to do with the ancient pagan religion of Mystery Babylon. Other commentaries also suggest that “Easter” was placed in the KJV Acts 12 passage when “Passover” had been used several other times previously to support festivals in England during the era of the translation of King James.
Are these hypocrisies? Is it wrong to hide eggs, give chocolate bunnies or call the day Easter? It would be harsh considering Paul used the idol of the unknown God on Mars Hill to preach the gospel(Acts 17:17). St. Jerome wrote concerning adapting Sunday on the christian calender, “”If it is called the day of the sun by the pagans, we willingly accept this name, for on this day the Light of the world arose, on this day the Sun of Justice shone forth.” The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing ! So focus on Christ and what He has provided for us. Have fun but know the truth!
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Children of God or children of the devil? Part 1
1 John 3:9-10, “Whosoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest; whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother”
Man was created for intimacy with God and man could not meet the reason for his very existence unless he was created in God’s image. In order for man to have God’s life he must be in God’s similarity, in God’s realm, so God made him in His image and likeness. Man was created as near to Deity as possible in order to be God’s child and heir. Like God,man is a triune being; the spirit is the real man, created in the image of God, man’s soul and body equip him for his life upon this material world which was created for him. The real man is the spirit and it was the spirit man who was to walk in fellowship with God and in His realm, which is the realm of the spirit. Man, a creation, a higher being, is dependent upon a higher power than himself for his spiritual life. So when man was created man’s fellowship was perfect and complete with God. God so loves man that he gave him the authority to rule the universe which he made for man (Genesis 1:26-31).
Satan tempted man because of his bitter hatred for God. Knowing what man meant to God and the love Father God has for him, it became satan’s objective to separate man from God and bring humanity into bondage to himself, man’s total destruction. Man’s sin was in total disobedience to God’s word and a turnover of the dominion God had given him to satan, it was the ultimate betrayal, with it came spiritual death the taking on of satan’s nature: DEATH. The first man’s, Adam, sin made him spiritually dead and with him all mankind is born this way. The spiritually dead man does not realize he was created in God’s image to walk with God. There is a separation from the spiritual realm and man only knowing what he gains through five senses that belong to the physical body can only perceive what is in the physical or material realm. Alienated from God, man walks in reason, in vanity of mind and in a darkened and blinded spiritual death.
Spiritual death is a state of existence in a condition separated and alienated from God and in union with satan. Spiritual death is really a nature, God’s nature is life for life emanates from God(John 5:26), satan’s nature is death for death emanates from satan (John 8:44). Man too is a spirit whose nature is either God’s or satan’s. When Adam sinned he became a partaker of the nature of satan (Ephesians 2:1-3); turning him into a child of satan. Spiritual death seized the sovereignty, the dominion, the lordship of man over creation and death now reigns with sin as king in this realm of death (Romans 5:21). All humanity is now born into this realm of death, under the lordship of sin as children of satan!(Psalms 51:5). Spiritual death is the soil of which sickness, physical death and every sorrow that has darkened man’s life has come. Spiritual death has to be destroyed in the life of man and the nature of satan completely eradicated from man’s nature so man could stand free from satanic authority.
Man needs redemption to be free from this death. Redemption is more than forgiveness of sins, the power and authority of sin over man has to be broken. God could forgive but forgiveness would not break the relationship between man and his spiritual father, satan nor would it grant fellowship between God and man making him God’s son again. Redemption must do much more it must give man a new nature, a new life, it must make him a new creation in his spirit man. Man’s need could only be met by giving him the nature of God within his spirit. Man was absolutely helpless to redeem himself neither was there any man who was not under satanic dominion to redeem, so God Himself would redeem humanity.
…..Continued in part 2
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