The Milky Way Over Mauna Kea [APOD] view!

THINK Before You Give

Panhandlers making $110,000 per year in Edmonton, Canada Okay, this is ridiculous: police revealed today that some panhandlers make as much as $400 CDN/day in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. That means an average of $2800/ week or $11,200/month or...$134,400/year! According to today's market, $134,400 Canadian dollars means $110,000 USD.http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/328421_beggar21.html

Let's Allow Him to Move in our Midst.....

Psalm 139:7- "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your Presence?" Proverbs 20:7- "The Lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of a man; It searches out his inmost being." Luke 24:49- "I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.".....

Who is the Holy Spirit? He is nothing less than God Almighty. We see from these verses that He is everywhere at all times and that we can never escape His Presence, that He searches the spirit of man and knows us to the very core, and that He desires that His people wait upon Him. He knows that we absolutely require His constant Presence and makes Himself known to us, but do we allow Him to move as He would in every detail in our lives? We believe Him, yes- but do we allow Him to be what He intends to be in our lives? Remember that He always points to Christ, always testifies of Christ, always draws people, by His power, to Christ (John 15:26). He enables believers to be passionate witnesses for our Savior- and the power is HIS. Why then, do we act as if we we're ashamed of Him? Many of God's own children treat the Holy Spirit like the proverbial 'ugly stepchild'. We want to intellectualize everything spiritual and make the Holy Spirit fit into our nice, 'tidy', 'respectable' idea of our own churchianity- and then we have the gall to wonder why He doesn't move in and through us as we know He desires to!....

God have mercy on us, we must stop trying to be 'gate keepers' for the Spirit of God! We cannot use Him (remember, He is God)- rather, we have the incredible privilege of being open, willing, yielded vessels through whom He can move, yet we want to relegate Him to the back room for fear that He may do something among us which brings us out of our comfort zone- after all, what would we do if lives were actually touched and changed? What do we do if He steps out of the 'box' that we try to put Him into?....

Let's look directly into the mirror and ask ourselves, "How much of God do I really want in my life? Do I desire 'rivers of Living Water' gushing through my soul, as God would love to pour into me, or am I satisfied with an intermittent drip? We're the ones who limit Him- it is He who would do so much more in and through us, if we were only willing! Remember that as we receive, we also give out. We are the Body of Christ, and we were never meant to be stingy, either in receiving, or in giving out- that's simply not God's way of doing things. He is always robust, always so generous in His love, mercy and life changing power, and He would have us be the same- after all, we are HIS children!....

I urge every believer who senses a 'dryness' in his or her life to begin seeking- earnestly- the very heart of God. Allow His Spirit to move in you, first individually, then as a body, in a totally yielded and open manner, and ask Him to do all of the wonderful things in and through your life that He would. He will not lead you into anything silly or ridiculous, and He will never violate His Word. He WILL begin to move POWERFULLY in you, and He WILL give you a new-found adoration of Him, though. Are you up for it?

En Agape,
Pastor Jim Ewing

Idolatry- What is OUR Golden Calf? ....

John 4:24- "God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth."
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Now, here is a verse that we all know and can easily quote, but so few believers seem to know just what it means. I want to cut to the chase on the subject of idolatry, not because it is a characteristic of a lost and dying world, but because the Church herself is presently so involved in it.
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I do not want you think that I like 'picking' at faults among the Body of Christ, because I don't, and I do not believe in seeking out problems just to have something to write about. The fact is, though, that many, many of today's Christians have such misconceptions of the nature of God, that they do not realize that we require the leading of the Holy Spirit- even in terms of how to worship our Lord. Because of these misconceptions, believers (and non-believers as well) will often reach for 'tangible' objects to worship in place of our Holy God. Sometimes this is done with the best of intentions, but it is idolatry nonetheless, and must be thoroughly avoided.
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There is absolutely no substitute for the living God in the lives of believers, and we must see that. Not our own ideas of God, not 'images' of Him, but Almighty God Himself- as He IS, not as we would have Him.....

The Israelites had such a tough time just being without Moses for a few days that they managed to convince Aaron to "make us gods, which will go before us" (Exodus 32:1-6). A golden calf was the pathetic result. What an insult to our Holy, Righteous God! You would think we'd have learned over the years that only God could satisfy our spiritual hunger, yet history is replete with examples and stories of people attempting to reach God in their 'own way', completely ignoring the fact that "God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth".

I believe that the Lord has hidden the arc of the covenant purposely, for He knew that if it had been found, generations of people would have worshipped IT instead of HIM...

The shroud of Turin is a prime example of believers worshipping something other than Christ. So what if it is genuine? He's not there! He's not in the empty tomb either, and there's nothing sacred about a tomb, no matter who was laid in it.....

Did you know that Adolf Hitler searched for years for the spear that pierced Jesus' side? Why? Did he think that it would somehow bless or protect him? It was a stinkin' spear, for goodness sakes! ...

Do you remember the big movie, "The Robe"? If not, you can probably guess what it was about. But the robe that Jesus wore had no power- HE had power. Why has that always been so difficult for the Church to understand? I'm so glad that there were no cameras in the days when Jesus walked the earth, for if t here had been, then photos of the Savior would have been worshipped, sold, looked to for help, and put in peoples' tunics for good luck- and you know that!

I've previously mentioned that there are people in certain countries who actually whip and even allow themselves to be nailed to a cross for a while during 'special' times of the year in order to get closer to the Lord. What a ridiculous display of unbelief! Why is it so hard to believe that HE took our punishment, and that none of our own efforts are of any value whatsoever? We believe the Gospel, yet we feel that we must add this or that to it, don't we? It's so difficult and so cutting to our pride to simply believe and receive what our blessed Savior has done for us, so we look to other things to make us 'spiritual' IN ADDITION to the cross and resurrection. How can you truly adore Him when you can't even believe Him?....

2 Corinthians 5:19 "...God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." Now, what does He desire that our response be? The next verse tells us- "Be ye reconciled to God." So simple, right? Then why do we insist on adding to His wonderful work? When you attempt to add to the cross and resurrection, you take away from them. When you try adding to God's grace (and there are so many ways that we try), then you take away His grace, because you refuse to see that HIS work is complete and quite sufficient to have dealt with your sin FOREVER. That refusal, beloved, is IDOLATRY, and it is a stench in the nostrils of God! Stop trying- start believing. Seek HIS face. Worship HIM in Spirit and in truth. Adore Him and only Him.......

I'm going to leave you with a beautiful scripture from the psalms. "When thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." (Psalm 27:8)...Make that your prayer as you worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

God bless you,
Pastor Jim Ewing

Moving in Christ- Dynamic vs. Static....

Luke 9:62- "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Sobering words, aren't they? But our Savior has brought us into new life, and He intends for us to walk continuously IN that life, from the moment that He wonderfully apprehends us, to the very last breath that we take. The believer was never meant to be static in this faith that God has so graciously given us- rather, we are to constantly press forward, as the apostle Paul said- "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14).

Notice that I often quote Paul? It is because he realized that he was 'plucked from the fire', as it were, by the Lord- and he didn't want to waste one moment of the new life that God had given him. He was always grateful to Jesus Christ for having saved him, and it was so apparent in everythin g that he wrote, from the first of his epistles to the last. He actually desired to 'depart and be with Christ', rather than to go on living in this world (Philippians 1:23&24), thou he knew that it was more beneficial to the young body of believers in Philippi (and no doubt to the rest of the early Church) if he remained for awhile......

There is nothing more unattractive than a static believer, especially when God has given us so much to do! There are Divine appointments that God places in every believer's life, yet some of us live as though we think that we were called to sit back, relax, sing hymns, and wait for the Lord to 'rapture' us out of our Cadillac on the way to the church picnic! How sad. Where is the passion? Where is the 'fire' that seems to characterize so few of us, when it is the same Savior who calls ALL of His people from EVERY age and time to an INTIMATE relationship with Him? Well, the blame certainly d oes not fall on Christ! He has not changed (Hebrews 13:8- "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.") He still constantly woos us by His Spirit, but we must respond. Please RESPOND!.....

Now this is going to be a crude illustration, but it'll help get my point across. Back in the summer of '76, I worked in some wheat fields in eastern Washington. The farm that this man lives on had a bunch of chickens inside a short fence. One of my co-workers showed me something that amazed me- he climbed over the fence and grabbed one of the chickens, putting it's left wing over it's head (covering it's eyes), and moved that chicken in a circular, clockwise motion for just a few seconds- that's all it took. The chicken fell fast asleep, and when my friend put it back on the ground, it just lay there in a slumber. I was shown this a number of times, and even did it myself, grabbing one of the chickens, and putting it to sleep. The most fascinating about it though, was that every single time a slumbering chicken was placed back on the ground, one of the other chickens would see that it was sleeping, run over to it and 'peck' it awake! It was as if the other chickens were saying, "Hey, wake up! It's not evening- what do you think you're doing? It is daytime. You need to be awake!" ....

Well, I warned you that it would be a crude illustration, but I tell ya'- Sometimes I want to go and 'peck' certain believers awake, "Hey, wake up! It's still daytime- the night has not yet arrived...God has work for you to do! You still have breath in you- use it to pant after the Lord and to reach others while there's still time! Persue this dynamic relationship that Christ draws you to, NOW! C'mon- wake up! For the love of our Savior, WAKE UP!"

Pastor Jim Ewing