Thinking Out Loud - DaRonnWashington

I have moved to Wordpress.

2008-10-11T08:38:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone,

I am posting this post to let you know that I have moved my blog site to wordpress.

You can now visit me at http://daronnwashington.wordpress.com/. I am updating it frequently so you can come by and check it out. Thanks, DaRonn

How do we define ourselves?

2008-09-04T08:10:00.001-04:00

My wife recently came across a comment on a Christian website that from an atheist. The creator of the site asked an atheist that had been visiting the site for several months to come and comment on a question that they had been discussing. Before he made his comment he shared his experience in reading the website for the last several months. One of the things that he found interesting was before he started reading the website that Christians thought sex was only for the purposes of procreating and Christians were pretty much anti-sex. I thought it was interesting that the atheist from his experiences with Christians was that the Christian was against having sex. Now it is true that the Christian is against having unmarried sex but to think that a Christian would be against having pleasure though sex in the marriage relationship was standard practice for those in the church.

How do we define ourselves?

So why is there such a vast opinion about the Christian in general society as well as in the church itself? One of the reasons is because we have over the years allowed ourselves to define ourselves by what we DO NOT DO as opposed to what we do. Let me give you an example.

“I am not a Christian because I do not smoke cigarettes.” If we were to ask the majority of the Christian population I would guess that they would say that this is a true statement. But let’s take a close look at it. Does not smoking make you a better Christian? Aren’t there people who do not smoke that are not Christians? What about the person that has an addiction to smoking for years and gives their life to the Lord. They struggle with this addiction for all of their life and have occasional victory. Is this person less of a Christian? Sometimes does not a process take place to be free of this addiction? So to say that I do not smoke is not necessarily an accurate description of a Christian believer.

“I am not mean to my neighbors so I am a Christian.” Again if we ask the majority of the Christian population they would say this is an accurate statement. But let’s examine it a bit. Are you a Christian because you are not mean to others? Are not their people that are nice to their neighbors and are not Christian? Is this an accurate definition of a person’s spiritual condition?

“I do not watch movies so I am a Christian.” Would this be an accurate definition of a Christian? Because a person stays away from the movie house does that make them a Christian? If so many people that could not afford to go to the movies would qualify as well.

What I am not saying is that Christians should not have restraints. I believe that over this a person can be freed from smoking. I believe that is the desire of God. I believe that being nice to your neighbors when it is called for is a Christian thing to do. I believe that there are certain movies that we should steer away from. All of these things are good. But what I am not in agreement with is how over the years Christianity has become defined as what we do not do as opposed to what we do.

What do you think?

CNM Bolivia Church - Sunday morning June 22nd

2008-06-23T19:40:00.002-04:00

The Spirit filled life
Basic principles for the Spirit filled Christian
Lesson #13 “Living the life of Victory”

Introduction: For the last few weeks we have been looking at the 5 basic foundational principles of the Spirit filled Christian. We have discussed that learning these 5 different principals are important because they are the different subjects that will continually be a part of the messages we will share in our church. No study like this would be complete without a look at the subject of the victorious Christian life. It is a theme that will continue to come up in our teachings when we come together for church so in this lesson I would like to spend a good amount of time exploring the concept and also explaining what is God’s desire in the area.

The promise of victory
As we read the Bible we find that it talks a great deal about victory. One of the main reasons is because the writers of the New Testament were constantly surrounded by war and fighting being a part of the Roman world. Battle was a constant reality to their world.

2nd Cor. 10:3-5
“ 3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”

In this passage Pablo is using terms of battle to explain spiritual concepts. He is using something that his readers would understand to explain new things that they had never heard before.
Ephesians 6:10-12
“ 10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against then world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

In this passage just as in the other we can see the comparison of battle and the Christian life. Paul describes different parts of the armor of a Roman soldier as the spiritual preparation we need to have as we do the will of God. Again taking something that was common in the everyday life of his readers to explain more higher spiritual realities.

Victory is a by production of the lover of God
It is important that we keep in mind that victory was meant to be a by product of the Christian life. What I mean by “by product” is that the creator meant for victory to be a something that came along with the pursuit of knowing God. As a person made the decision to seek the “God priority” the result would be that God would also bless them with victory. As they grew in the things of God they would experience more and more a life of victory (3rd John 2, Romans 8:37).

The three antagonists
The Bible is filled with scriptures that give us our legal decedent to be able to approach God and receive victory in our lives but for the purposes of this study we will us the following scripture as our key text focus on three areas of victory we have been given. These three areas of victory that Jesus has given us are also the three main antagonists of the Christian life. It is important to realize that faith in Christ has allowed us to defeat these three antagonists.

1) Faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1st John 5:4 “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.”) The first area of victory we have been given is the area of over the world. Before we knew Christ we were slaves to the system of the world but now since we are born again have been freed from the world’s system. Where before we simple obeyed the system of ungodliness in the world now we have the choice to obey God with our lives, conduct, thoughts and actions.

What is our responsibility as believers in this area? Be transformed in our mind. Romans 12:2 “2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” As we renew our mind to the things of God we fortify our position of victory over the influences of the world.

2) Faith is the victory that overcomes the flesh (Galt. 3:20 “"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”) The second enemy that we face in the area of the victory that the Bible promises is the flesh. The flesh is our natural desire to do things that disobey God and lead us back to slavery to sin. Because we were all once sinners and our body stills remembers how to sin we are at a constant conflict with the ungodly desires of the flesh. The good news is that the Bible promises us that we have overcome the flesh. The challenging news is that it is a life long process to bring the flesh under the control of the spirit.

What is our responsibility as believers in this area? Crucify the flesh. Romans 12:1 “1Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” God desires for us to be a 24 hours a day, seven days of the week living sacrifice for Jesus. It is a constant process of denying the cardinal desires that take us away from closeness with God and obedience to His Word.

3) Faith is the victory that overcomes the devil (Hebrews 2:14-15 “14Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”) The scriptures us that the third enemy that we faces is the enemy of the devil. Many people give him too much credit thinking that he is all powerful but the Bible teaches that after Calvary his is a defeated foe. The only power that he now has over us is the power that we give him.

What is the responsibility that we have in this are? Resist Him James 4:7 “Submit therefore to God Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” The Bible teaches us clearly the way that we defeat the devil is through resisting him. Resist him by obeying and submitting to the plan that God has for our lives. Just about every day we have opportunities to obey or go along with the devils plan for our lives. When we go along with the devils plan for our life this is called temptation. If we resist those temptations the devil has absolutely no power over us.

All three of these enemies we had not power in ourselves to defeat them. Through Christ we have been given the assurance that not only will we be victorious in battle against these foes but Jesus has already won the battle for us.

The past tense reality of the victorious Christian life Romans 8:37
A large part of living in the victory that the Bible promises is identifying who are your enemies. With that same though in mind it is also important that we understand that the victory that the Bible promises is a past tense thing.

Romans 8:37
“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”

In other words we are not promised victory from the stand point of something that is actively coming to pass like a plot being developed in a theatrical performance but we have been given victory already. Jesus has already defeated our foes for us. They have no power over us. So all we have to do is show up to the battle and fight and we will walk into the reality of the victory that has already been given to us. Yes we have our part to play but we should never confuse this with the part that Jesus has played. We are victorious because Jesus has defeated our foes for us.

CNM MESSAGE 6-15-2008 - The promise of continual healing

2008-06-17T09:42:00.000-04:00

The Spirit filled life
Basic principles for the Spirit filled Christian
Lección #9 “The promise of continual healing”

Introduction: For the last few weeks we have been looking at the 5 basic foundational principles of the Spirit filled Christian. We have discussed that learning these 5 different principals are important because they are the different subjects that will continually be a part of the messages we will share in our church. In this lesson I would like to continue with the lesson and look at the next area of inheritance that the Spirit filled Christ has and that is the revelation that Christ is their healer.

The ministry of Jesus
The gospels are filled with stories of the ministry of Jesus. Particularly in the New Testaments we see that God giving us the perfect example of how the Christian is to live through the example of Jesus. We see Him displaying love to others. We are to display that same type of love. We see Him displaying mercy to others. We are to display the same type of love to others. We see Him sharing the principals of the kingdom of God with others. We are to show the same types of principals to the people in the world that do not know Him. As we study the Bible what we need to keep in mind is that God intended for the life of Jesus to be a blue print for our lives. He absolutely planned that we should live our lives observing the way that Jesus lived His. He finds the greatest joy when we try to be like Him.

A personal example
The other day I saw this principal at work in my own life. I had taken one of my sons out to go bowling with me. Bowling is my hobby and I go rather frequently throughout the week. When I had taken my son bowling with me I noticed that every time that he throw the ball he expected to bowl a strike and when he did not it would frustrate him. After a while I sat down and talked with him to explain that the purpose of the game is to have fun not to be frustrated. After talking with him I noticed that the main reason that he was so frustrated was because he was trying to be like his father. He had seen his father consistently bowl strikes so he thought that he had to bowl strikes as well. It did please me that he was frustrated but what did make me feel good is that he was trying to be like his father. He reasoned that if his father could do it then he could as well.

I think that is what our Heavenly Father thinks of us when we are try to be like him. He is pleased when we try to model the life of Jesus. In all actuality that is why we have the accounts of the life of Jesus written in such detail because God intended for us to try to live our lives in the same manner that Jesus did.

Healing: One of the most visible characteristics of the life of Jesus
As you study the scriptures you cannot help but to notice the numerous accounts of when Jesus prayed for people’s physical healing. The Bible is filled with examples of it. In fact it is one of the most visible characteristics of the public ministry of Jesus. Jesus prayed for the sick and they were healed so much so that people were drawn to Him because of it.

Matthew 4:24 “The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.

Matthew 8:16 “When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill.”

Matthew 12:15 “But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all”

Matthew 12:22 “[ The Pharisees Rebuked ] Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw.”

Matthew 14:14 “When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.”

Matthew 15:30 “And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them.”

Matthew 19:2 “and large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there.”

Matthew 21:13 “And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.”

Mark 1:34 “And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.”

Mark 3:10 “for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him.”

Luke 5:15 “But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.”

Luke 14:4 “But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away.”

Healing as shown in the gospels is as much a part of the ministry of Jesus as was teaching and preaching. Many times he would do them both. He would teach and later pray for the people or he would pray for the people and then teach. It was so much a part of His ministry that people recognized it and brought the sick to Him so they could be healed. He was recognized as a person that could pray for the sick and God would heal them.

The Biblical view on healing
One of the things that I have noticed from teaching this subject in many different places is that many people have many misconceptions of how the Bible presents healing. It is many times because of those misconceptions that they fail to receive the promise of healing. Everything in the Christian life is a process. As we grow in the knowledge of the things of God we become more confident to receive from the Father things such as healing. Here are a few things to help guide your thinking when it comes to the subject of healing.

• Healing is a gift of God that all believers have access to. God does not have preferences when it comes to this subject. He treats all people equally. So if you will do what He says to do it will bring the reality of divine health into your life.

• God desires for us to live in constant good health and not the provision of miracles all of the time. A miracle is God’s best for you if that is the only thing that will get you out of a desperate situation but it is not God’s long-term consistent plan for you. It is better to live in constant health then having to receive a miracle all of the time.

• It is usually what you do when you are not sick that helps ensure your consistency in living in divine health. Many people do not realize that there is a difference between receiving healing and staying in divine health. Many times if a Christian is mature and has had enough teaching in the area of healing they have learned how to receive their healing when they get sick but what God desires is that they also know how to stay in divine health. He desires that His children continue to operate in a healthy life style.

• There are practical things that we can do and do not do which help us stay in good health. Jesus because we have a promise from God that He will heal us if we need it does not mean that we should not be responsible with our own bodies. Things like exercise, eating right and getting the right amount of sleep will add a natural element to the supernatural ability of God.

• If we fail to live in this level of health we should not be discouraged. Divine health, just like anything else in the kingdom of God is a process. You just do not wake up the next morning in the morning living completely in the revelation. Many times an acquired discipline of living a revelation in the Word of God comes through the process of trial and error. Sometimes we will fail. Failure hurts but it is a natural part of the process. But just because we fail does not mean we should give up on the truth. It can be a reality that we live in because Jesus lived in it. It will most likely take work but once we have achieved it in our lives it is worth the price we had to pay.

Defining the term divine health and divine healing
Up to this point we have talked a great deal about the terms “divine health” and “divine healing”. Before we go any further we should examine these terms so that we understand the reminder of the teaching. The best way to understand the subject is to realize that healing according to the Biblical mandate comes in three levels.

• Level #1 – Divine healing (1st Peter 2:24 “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” )- Divine healing is the ability of the believer to apply the principals in the Word of God ones the experience symptoms of sickness. It is what someone does once they have become sick and to get out of it. It is the personal application of the Word of God to get out of a sickness situation.

• Level #2 – Divine health (3rd John 2 “2Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.”) - Divine health is the ability of the believer to apply the principals in the Word of God and maintain a life of consistent health. This is when a believe very rarely battles with sickness or if they do they apply their faith and overcome it quickly. It is the daily application of the principals of God to maintain a life of constant health.

• Level #3 – The application of healing in the lives of others (Mark 16:18 – “they will lay hands on the sick”) - The last level is one a believer has moved from simply believing for themselves and has started doing the works of Jesus. They realize that one of the most visible factors of the life of Jesus was Him praying for others. As a result when they come in contact with those that are sick they follow in the footsteps of Jesus and pray for others. The take the

It is important to remember that both of these processes are necessary to receive the promises of God.

My suggestions to you when you need to receive your healing
The subject of healing is so vast that we could spend an entire series just talking about it but what I think would be of the most benefit to us is if I give you a few words of advice for when you need to receive your healing. No matter how strong we are in face there will come some time when we need to receive or healing or to pray from someone else to receive their healing. When that time comes these words of advice may be useful to you.

1) Remember that healing is a “past tense” reality. If we study 1st Peter 2:24 and Matthew 8:17 we see that healing is a reality that the Bible shows as something that has already taken place. It says that Jesus “bore” our sicknesses and diseases. That means that God has already released healing to us. When we realize that it changes the way that we pray. Instead of repeatedly asking God to heal us our pray becomes a prayer of thanks giving for what God has already done.

2) Find a scriptural precedence for your right to be healed. The Bible is many times referred to as a book of law. The way that I often like to look at it is a court case. We refer to the law book to find legal precedence of why we have a right to a certain benefit of the Christian life. So instead of believing that you can be healed because you feel it is a good thing, you come before the Father with a scripture that says He will do it. This is not to convince God but more so that we can have assurance that He will do what He said He will do.

3) Do what you can do I the natural. Do not limit God and force yourself in a position that He can only answer your prayers through a miracle. Medicine is a way that God heals and so are doctors. Unless you have a direct word from God and also several words of confirmation do not illuminate the help that medical science can bring you.

4) Ask and believe that you have received when you ask. Mark 11:22-24 says that when we ask believe that we have received when we pray. When we ask the Father for healing we should do our best to be convinced that we have received what we have asked for even though we do not see the physical manifestation yet. Symptoms sometimes take time to change but once the root of the sickness if removed healing is just a matter of days.

5) Get someone to agree with you. Our prayers are powerful but we increase the amount of power available when we prayer with others. When a person couples their faith with ours it provides a wealth of power.

6) Do not neglect the ministry of the laying on of hands. In Mark 16:18 and James 5:14-15 shows us that having people lay hands on you is a Biblical way of receiving healing. When we seek out others to lay hands on us we are applying a mandate in the area of healing.

Conclusion: Healing is a promise that every believer has access to. Jesus displayed this and if we apply the principals in the Word of God we can live I that reality as well.

Commitment to Closeness with God

2008-04-18T07:33:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone. I just wrote a teaching for this Saturday's youth group and I thought you might appreciate it. It is about establishing closeness with God. Hope you enjoy it.

Series Ministerio de Jovenes
A Youth with the Heart of God SeriesChoice #6 – Commitment to Closeness with God

Introduction: A few years ago I heard a story about a small city in the country side. This city had a clock tower that many of the people used to make sure they had the right time. The clock had a system that had to be adjusted each day so that it could operate correctly. Each day the man in the clock tower on his way to work would walk by a clock shop, take note of the time and adjust the time of the clock tower based upon the time in the shop keeper’s window. For some time this continued to take place. He would walk by each day find out what time the clock in the window and then adjust the time accordingly. One day when the man was walking by the shop the shop keeper of the clock shop just happened to be outside washing his front windows. The man proceeded to tell the shop keeper how thankful he was for his shop because every day he adjusted the clock tower according to the time of the clocks in the shop. The shop keeper responded in shock. He proceeded to share that each day the shop keeper adjusted his clocks based upon the time on the clock tower. So the majority of the town where late for the majority of their activities because both the shop keeper and the man in the clock tower adjusted their times based upon each other.

Adjusting ourselves daily to the person of the Father
I share this story because in this lesson we will be talking about the commitment to closeness with God. The man in the clock tower had to adjust his clock each day in order to keep the right time. In many ways this can be related to the need for us as Christians to draw close to God each day or else we can be out of sync with the Father and not even know it. Listed below are a few things about closeness with God:

• It is the responsibility of the Christian to draw near to God not God. The invitation to have intimacy with God has been given to each believer. Whether they accept that invitation or not depends on the believer. God is willing to accept them but they must take the first step and make Him the priority.

• Drawing near to the Father requires that you let go of things that are distractions. The process of drawing close to God is a process that brings us face-to-face with distractions. Distractions that have to be removed become more visible the closer we draw to God.

• God longs for us to draw near to Him. It is the desire of the Father to have an intimate relationship with each of His children. It is more important to Him that we draw near to Him then it is what we do for Him.

• As we draw near to Him we become more aware of the things that must change in us. The prevailing characteristic of drawing near to holiness is an awareness or ones lack of holiness. That means that as we take steps to further relate ourselves to Him it demands that we start correcting the flaws in our own faith walk that are hindrance us from the goal of knowing God.

• When we draw near to God, he draws near to us. The first step is that we draw near to God. Then He draws near to us. It is a requirement to knowing Him.

• Closeness with God does not come by accident. Knowing God intimately is not a by accident. Those who have intimacy with God have done so through purposeful effort. They simply do what is necessary to make “the God priority”.

Drawing near to God in the scripturesAs we study the scriptures we find a number of things that are revealed about the importance of drawing near to God.

Hebrews 10:19
“19Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21And having an high priest over the house of God; 22Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)”

I like this passage because it says we draw near to God by a new way of living and with confidence that God will accept us.

Psalms 73:28
“28But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.”

Drawing near to God means that we out our trust in Him. Specifically the confidence that He knows what is best for us and that He will act in what is in the best interest for us whether we understand it or not.

James 4:6-7
“6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

Again drawing near to God is the process of removing ones self from pride. It is exchanging ones own self-sufficiency for the assurance that the Father has everything under control.

The pocket watch

The way that I like to look the process is that our life is like a pocket watch. In this day and age people do not use pocket watches any more but years ago the main type of watches were pocket watches. Pocket watches are very different then digital watches because pocket watches require more of a commitment to maintain the right time. Twice a day, once in the morning and once in the night, a pocket watch must be wined or adjusted to ensure that it has the right time. If the process is skipped just one day then there is a greater chance that the watch will not keep the right time. The same is true with our spiritual relationship with the Father. We frequently draw near to the Father so that we can (1) know what it is that He desires of us, (2) maintain Him as the priority in our lives, (3) so that we can learn His ways and (4) so we do not make the mistake of thinking our desires are the desires of God when they actually are not.

Adjusting yourself daily to God’s Time
In the last part of this lesson I would like to help you by giving you a few bits of advice to draw near to the Father:

1. Making intimacy with God “THE PRIORITY” Psalms 1:2-3. Too many people make the mistake of making the Father one of their highest priorities. The only problem is that God does not want to be one of our highest priorities, he desires to be “THE PRIORITY”. Psalms 1:2-3 “2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Everything else and every other activity gains significance through how it helps us to better become who the Father desires for us to be.

Application: The only way that this happens is through spending time with the Father. If we love Him as much as we say we love Him we will spend time with Him. Begin to set appointments with the purpose of simply being with the Father.

2. Come to the father on His terms -Hebrews 4:12. The most dangerous position for a believer to have is when they think they are doing what God wants them to do when they really are doing what they want to do in the name of the Father. A separation must take place where the individual will of the believer can be examined and indentified when it is not in agreement with the will of the Father.

Application: The only way that this takes place is when a system is in place that helps us indentify when we are doing our will and not God’s will. This system only comes with maintaining contact with the written Word of God the Bible. Hebrews 4:12 “ 12For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The Bible helps us discern the difference between what is simply our soul’s desire and what is the desire of the Father. The more we go to the book the more we will be able to identify the difference.

3. Find yourself a holy place. I almost hesitate in using these phrase because of the over spiritualized picture that has been painted over the years in the church but there is something to be said about holiness. Holiness by definition is does not being super spiritual. It actually has several elements help us draw us near to God.

Application: First it transcends time. When you go to this place you lose track of time because God is there. You can spend hours in a holy place and it seems like minutes. Find yourself a place that is free from distractions and where time seems to stand still. The next element is a holy place brings an awareness of God. There is a literally awareness that God is there. I have noticed in my own prayer life that when I have a holy place and I know that God is there I talk less and listen more. Enter your holy place with an awareness that God is there. Lastly a holy place is a place of focus. It is a place dedicated to knowing God. When we go your holy place do your best to limit distractions.

Conclusion: An intimate relationship with the Father is available to everyone that desires it if they are willing to do what it takes to draw near to the Father. Again it is not God’s responsibility to draw near to us. He did that when Jesus came to the earth and died on the cross. Now it is up to us to respond to that invitation.

Refuse To Ever Let Go Of Your Dream!

2008-03-21T14:12:00.002-04:00

I just read this morning a section in my "Sparkling Gems from the Greek" devotional by Rick Renner (if you do not have one I would encourage you to pick a copy up) and I was encouraged by the section. You know when you read something and it seem like it was written just for you. I thought I would pass it on to you.

DaRonn

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Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;
(for he is faithful that promised;).
— Hebrews 10:23

What do you want God to accomplish through you in this life? What are the dreams you think about every night when your head hits the pillow, or every day when no one else is around? Do you daydream about what you’d like to become or do in the years that lie ahead? Have you considered the possibility that these daydreams may in fact be the will of God for your life — dreams He placed deep down inside your spirit that are starting to be awakened? Is it possible that this is the timing for God’s dream for your life to be ignited in your soul?

Dreams are powerful. They usually seem impossible at first, but those who dare to do the impossible are the ones who eventually see the impossible come to pass in their lives. Everything great starts as a dream. Consider the example of Thomas Edison, who worked so long and furiously to realize his dream of the light bulb. Although Edison failed literally thousands of times in the earliest pursuits of his dream, he learned from every failure and pushed forward. Finally, his dream came to pass, and it changed the course of human history.

What if this brilliant man had given up and given in to discouragement? I’m sure someone else along the way would have invented the light bulb, but Edison wouldn’t have had the great honor of being a part of it.

There are myriads of Bible examples of individuals who had a dream. For instance, let’s consider the dream God gave Abraham — called the father of our faith — regarding a new land and a new people. When God first spoke to him about the son He would give him, Abraham and his wife had long been infertile and unable to conceive a child. The thought of having a baby probably seemed like an unattainable fantasy to them. They could have asked themselves, Is this really the plan of God for our lives, or is this a hallucination?

God also promised Abraham a new land but didn’t tell him where it was located. In their efforts to find that land, Abraham and Sarah were stricken with colossal challenges, problematic circumstances, and horrible internal family problems. First, Abraham’s father died. Then they lost their nephew Lot to Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham also took Hagar as a second wife, producing a son that didn’t belong to Sarah and a great deal of jealousy and strife. In addition, Abraham and Sarah experienced a terrible famine in their promised territory that forced them to leave due to a lack of food. Traveling to Egypt in search for food, they soon found themselves evicted from that land as well.

At any moment, it would have been so easy for Abraham and Sarah to say, “Enough is enough! Pack it up — we’re going back home to the city of Ur!” But instead of giving in to defeat and discouragement, they held tightly to the dreams God had put in their hearts and kept pursuing those dreams until they had witnessed their fulfillment.

If you want to see the dream God has given you fulfilled in your life, it is imperative that you have this same attitude. As Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;).”

I want you to particularly notice the phrase “hold fast.” Abraham and Sarah “held fast” to their dream, and that is what you must do as well. The phrase “hold fast” is taken from the Greek word katecho, which is a compound of the two words kata and echo. The first word, kata, carries the idea of something that comes downward.

You could say the word kata carries the force of something that comes down so hard and so heavily, it is overpowering and dominating to the point of being subjugating. When this force arrives on the scene, it conquers, subdues, and immediately begins expressing its overwhelming, influencing power.

The second part of the word katecho is the word echo, which simply means I have and carries the notion of possession. This is the picture of someone who has sought and searched for one particular thing his entire life. After years of seeking and searching, he finally finds the object of his dreams. Joyfully he rushes forward to seize it and hold it tight. He wraps his arms around that object, making it his very own. Finally, he can say, “I have it! At long last it is mine!”

When kata and echo are compounded into the word katecho, it literally means to embrace something tightly. However, because of the word kata, we know that this is the image of someone who finds the object of his dreams and then holds it down — taking control of it, dominating it — even sitting on it so it doesn’t slip away!

The phrase “hold fast” is so strong that it can actually be translated to suppress. It is used this exact way in Romans 1:18, where Paul tells us about ungodly men “who hold [or suppress] the truth in unrighteousness.” In other words, because these ungodly men don’t like the truth, they “sit on it” or “put a lid on it” in an effort to keep others from hearing the truth and getting set free. But in Hebrews 10:23, this same idea is used positively to describe you sitting on your word from God and refusing to let it slip out and get away from you!

This is the attitude you must have if you want to see your God-given dream come to pass. You have to wrap your arms around that word from God and never stop believing and pursuing your dream until it comes to pass. If you’ll katecho your dream, it won’t be able to get away from you, nor will anyone else be able to take it away from you!

The word katecho in Hebrews 10:23
could be interpreted this way:

“And let us hold fast to our confession, tightly wrapping our arms around it and embracing it with all our might, rejecting all attempts of anyone who tries to steal it from us.”

When you finally discover God’s will for your life — when His plan finally begins to awaken in your heart and you know exactly what you are to do — hold fast to that dream. Tightly embrace what God has shown you. Seize it — wrap your arms of faith around it. Hold it down, and hold it tight!

Whenever you are tempted to get discouraged, give up, and release your dream, remember Abraham and Sarah. Although it took them awhile to receive their dream of a son, and although they had to overcome titanic hurdles along the way, they refused to let go of that dream and eventually saw it come to pass. In the end, they discovered that their dream was not a hallucination; it really was a word from God!

If you’ll hold tight and refuse to let go of YOUR dream, it will just be a matter of time until you see it come to pass! Place all your weight on top of that dream so that NOTHING can steal it away from you!

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, I am well aware that events will occur in life that will tempt me to release the dream You put in my heart. So right now I ask You to fill me with the courage I need to refuse to let go of my dream. Even though my mind and the circumstances around me may send signals that the dream will never come to pass, I know that You are faithful to what You have promised. Help me wrap my arms of faith around Your promises and never let go until I see them come into manifestation!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I boldly declare that my word from God will come to pass! It may take a little while for it to happen, but I will firmly hang on to the promise God has given me. And because I refuse to let the dream slip from my heart, I stand by faith and declare that it is only a matter of time until I see the manifestation of what I’m believing God for!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. What can you learn about faith by looking at the lives of Abraham and Sarah?

2. In what ways does your own walk of faith compare with Abraham and Sarah’s walk of faith?

3. Can you think of a time in your past when you claimed a promise, hung on to it in the face of opposition, and later saw that promise come to pass? What was the blessing you received by faith?

A man without a country

2008-03-04T12:35:00.000-04:00

They say that when you go to the foreign mission field it is like going to another planet but that is an understatement to say the least. When Angie and I first packed up everything that we owned in plastic crates (that is everything that we did not sell in garage sales) and bought our non-refundable one-way tickets to Bolivia we had no idea what we were getting into. I can still remember going through the airport on our way to Bolivia. It was a few weeks after the incidents of September 11th. Angie, our three babies (Raimy was 3, Timothy was 1 -1/2 and Gabrielle was 3 months) and myself were all loaded up like pachyderms with all of our earthly possessions on our backs or in plastic crates. When we finally reached the third check point and they asked us to unload all of bags again I think all of us just about had a nervous breakdown but some how we made it here.

The first year was not too bad. We actually enjoyed it. We had been waiting so long to get here that it was like a breath of fresh air when we finally did arrive. Two years of “I can’t wait until we get there” had suddenly become “we made it”. The first year was a time of adjusting to a new culture. We did not speak the language. The culture was very different. We weather was different. The food was different. Here were the earthlings in the middle the planet Mars trying to learn how to be Martians. Slowly and slowly we began to be able to communicate with more than just hand signals and picked up a few words. The city became less and less complicated to get around in. We began to become more Bolivian.

I say that we began to become more Bolivian but I share that with a little hesitancy. The reason why is no matter how hard we worked at fitting in we would never completely fit in. The accent would be a little different. The selection of word usage and body language would be different. At the least people would look at us and see we were from another place. We would never completely fit into the country of Bolivia.

Another interesting thing started to take place when we started traveling back and forth to the United States that I did not realize would take place: we started to become foreigners in our own country. The first year we went back it was not so visible but the following year it was very visible. First there was the desire to answer all of the questions that people were asking us in Spanish instead of English. Next there was the being out of touch with the things that were happening in the American culture. We shared once with a person how we liked the new movie that came out and they shared how that movie had been out for a couple of months. Lastly I think we really realized that we did not fit in completely into our own culture when I ate at McDonald’s and had diarrhea for a week (I know some of you say the food is bad anyway but McDonalds is a sign of America to us).

So we do not necessarily fit in Bolivia because we are foreigners and when we go back to the United States we do not exactly fit in completely there as well because we have changed so much. So we have become a people whose country is American Airlines flight #922. A family who is between American culture and Bolivian culture not fitting in completely anywhere. People without a country.

After six years I do not have an answer if this is right or wrong. To tell you the truth I have stopped asking the question. I am okay being a man without a country. It keeps us flexible. I some how think that is how Jesus felt as he was here on the earth although he did not do it by airplane.

The Genuine Conversion of the Unchurched Social Misfit

2008-02-16T16:02:00.001-04:00

What do you say to someone when a member of their family dies? Or maybe a better question is: what can you say? I found myself without words a few weeks ago when Janet’s aunt died in a car accident. Janet is one of the members of our church. I could tell she was broken up, because as she cleaned the front walk of our church (she works for us cleaning the church) you could see her fighting to hold back the tears. “I guess I just need to be strong,” she muttered almost unintelligibly. The accident was a terrible thing. Her aunt, who basically raised her like a daughter, had lost control of a car, drove over the side of a ravine and drowned. What do you say to a person when something like that happens? I guess the only good answer is that you cannot say anything. There are not magic words you can share to help ease the pain. Most likely it is going to hurt for a long time and leave a scar that may never completely heal. I found myself without words to share with Janet in this time of hurt. The only thing that I could do, which was probably the best thing I could do at the time, is stop looking for magic words and just cry with her.

Janet has an interesting story. Many of you know that for a little over two years Angie and I have been pastors of a church here in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It has been hard work but now we are starting to grow at the rate we hoped for in the beginning. One of the things that surprised me is how many people from other churches flocked to our church when we first started. I guess one of the reasons was because we were new and our message was different then many of the other churches in town. Many people felt they were to congregate with us despite our encouraging them not to switch churches.

Now if you know anything about us we love reaching lost people. Sometimes I wish I had a secular job just to be around more unsaved people. We believe that some people will decide to congregate with us because they feel God is telling them but there are plenty of unsaved people in our city that don’t attend anywhere. In the middle of all of this starting of the church we kind of got hungry for real genuine conversions.

When I came to the Lord I was a junior higher that had very little experience in church. I could probably count the times I had attended a church services on one hand. I was pretty much an unchurched social misfit. Unchurched because I had hardly been to church. A social misfit because I did not know how to fit into normal church culture. So when our neighbors started filling up their station wagon carting all of us to church it was a different experience to say the least. We did not know when to stand, when to sit, what was tithing or even what was the difference between the New Testament and the Old Testament. I can still remember one Sunday when all of us had gotten new hats that were in style at the time and wore them to church. Everyone looked at us strangely because, of course, everyone (except us I guess) knows men don’t wear hats in church! They even tried to explain the reasons to us but it did not make sense to us so we just keep wearing them.

Although we were unchurched social misfits the saving factor for us was that we had a sincere desire to know God. Church culture was foreign to us but a loving God was some how attractive to us. So in a short amount of time we started giving our lives for the Lord and here we are today. I laugh as I look back at how we were because no one would have picked us for the church’s dream team but man did we love God. We were illiterates when it came to church culture. We socially disqualified ourselves because we did not know how to act in church. We broke all of the unwritten church protocols. All we had going for us was we were genuine converts. My first church had a lot of grace for us. We were born and raised in that small local church.

I mentioned that the story of Janet is an interesting story because the other day, before the accident, my wife was talking with her asking how she came to the Lord and to her surprise Janet said with a smile on her face, “I came to the Lord in this church. I had been attending church for about a month and one day when I heard the alter call it just made sense. I understood that God loved me and wanted to have a relationship with me and I just went down front and gave my life to Jesus.”

Wow! Just hearing that testimony put enough gasoline in my encouragement motor for a few months. To think that our church could be considered the intersection where a person came face to face with the knowledge that God loved them and wanted to have a relationship them. The place where they can look back and say, “that was the moment that my life was changed forever. That was the place that I met God.”

I guess since we have become pastors of this Bolivian church we have a wonderful opportunity. We get to celebrate the good events with our Bolivian congregation and cheer when the good times come. We also have the uncomfortable but still blessing to be able to cry with them as the tough times come. In the middle of both these extremes there is the satisfaction that someone met God as a result of something we have been able to build.

Giving according to the missionary gracing - Part 1

2008-01-16T14:40:00.000-04:00

The other day as I was discussing with Angie a message I was preparing to share with our Bolivian congregation. The topic I was teaching on was giving money to the local church and noteworthy projects. My natural tendency was to teach that giving to a good program or even to the church is always a good thing because is helps the local church (I do not know any local church, including our own Bolivian church, that could not use more finances). But the question that arose on the inside of me was, “Is it good that everyone in my Bolivian congregation give at the level that Angie and I give?” I am still in the process of assessing the question. On one hand I believe that giving money is always good but the on other hand I would never demand or even expect the people of my congregation to give at the level that our missionary family gives. So here are my thoughts on missionary giving.

Missionaries should give more because they are called to a lifestyle of giving - There is something that I call a missionary bias. I guess this is not limited to only missionaries but I think in our case it is a little more exaggerated. It is the tendency to expect others to live up to the same convictions that God demands of you. For example in the case of a person that God convicts that they stop eating sugar. The person stops eating sugar because it is something that the Lord wants them to do and it a good thing. Their health gets better. So as a result of that conviction they make the wrong assumption that God want everyone to stop eating sugar. So they go on a campaign trying to motivate everyone they know to stop eating sugar literally making everyone else miserable because of a personal conviction that God is dealing with them about. Now when it comes to my missionary world there is a certain level of giving that God expects from us. To put things plainly: my life is giving. Not just financially either. We give above what is generally expected from the average Christian because we are sent to Bolivia to give. That is just a part of the job description. But I will have to confess that sometimes there is a tendency to expect that everyone should give at the same level that we do but there is only one problem, not everyone is called to be a missionary. So carrying the missionary bias in the area of financial giving is not exactly fair. Not everyone is called to be a missionary.

I hope you enjoyed this first part. I will post the other half in a few days. I would love to hear what you think. Go ahead and leave a comment.

The 4 Elements of a Church that Has the Heart of God

2008-01-02T17:12:00.000-04:00

In our church we are doing a series on why people do not go to church and in part of the teaching I thought I would share with you. Hope you enjoy it. DaRonn

The 4 Elements of a Church that Has the Heart of God
On new years night eve night I shared with you 4 characteristics that the church in Acts 2:41-47 had and my desire that our church carry as well. These are the 4 elements of a church that has the heart of God. A church that has the very purposes of God for its existence. One that God is able to send the lost to. As we look at these 4 characteristics I want you to examine your own conduct in whether you are helping the church in this area of hindering it.

Element #1 – The church that has the heart of God is a church that covers others with the wings of unconditional love. – John 13:34 “4A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” - When Jesus formed the church His desire was that it would be recognized by its expression of love. He actually meant that the world would recognize us by the way that we loved each other. Outside of this family people would experience judgment but within this family there would be the presence of unconditional love. This was meant to be express by:

• Liberty to be oneself and not conform to a mold.
• Acceptance that everyone had the potential to make mistakes and grace was applied for that tendency.
• The understanding that as a community we worked on our shortcomings as a work in process.
• The community looked for mercy as opposed to judgment.

This does not say that they never judged one another simply that they used the rule of judgment before they judged. (1) The applied the measuring stick to themselves first before they administered it to others. (2) They did so from a forgiving Spirit. (3) They involved church leadership. They allowed church leadership to judge there motives to see if they were pure. (4) They left room for restoration and the grace of God.

What does the wings of unconditional love look like in ICN? First of all each and every member should consider it their responsibility to show acceptance to those who are trying to enter into our community. It should be an expression of who we are that people are accepted in our midst. That means that we should carry the Biblical expression of friendliness. We should talk to people we do not know. We should express interest in them. We should smile more when we look at them. The church should be the most encouraging place that people attend through out the entire week. That is not necessarily done from the pulpit but from the congregation. WE ARE HERE TO MAKE CHURCH THE MOST ENCOURAGING FAMILY ATMOSPHERE THAT WE POSSIBLY CAN MAKE IT.

Element #2 – A house of friendship of doing life together – Acts 2:42 “42And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread,...” The second element of a church that has the heart of God is a when the church transforms itself from a once a week meeting to a circle of friends that do life together. If we study the church in the books of Acts one of the things we will notices is that the church is not a just a place where they hosted meetings. In all actuality the church was a group of people that mixed their lives together. Christ never meant for the Christian life to be lived alone. He meant for the church to be an interconnected organism that interrelated itself with one another. So church was much more what they did outside of the four walls of the meeting then inside. This was expressed by:

• The believers having spontaneous times of fellowship.
• Eating at one another’s houses on a regular basis.
• Sharing in the needs of one another.

The church became more of a circle of friends that enjoyed spending time with one another, seeking God with one another and fellowshipping with one another. They actually liked being together.

What does a house of friends look like in ICN? The idea is that we are friends. Friends enjoy spending time with one another and place a high priority on being with one another. They enjoy and appreciated one another. A circle of friends in ICN is making a conscious effort to spend time with the members of your church family outside of church. Eat together. Spend time together. Get to know each other. Do things together. Anything you can do to make your journey of seeking Christ a communal one and not a solo one.

Element #3 - The mystery of finding God - Philippians. 3:8 “8Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,” The early church spent a considerable amount of time setting and learning the Apostles teachings. One of the reasons was that the church was the central focus of the Jewish life. The synagogue was life to Jews. After a while the Jewish Christians began to be kicked out of the synagogues and they needed something to fill the void. So instead of going to the synagogue each day they decided to plan meetings to learn the Apostles teachings. One of the main reasons why the early church was so strong and grew so fast was because there members were learning the Word of God all of the time. It was the excitement of learning the mysteries of God that motivated them to have an increased hunger for the teachings of God. The showed up whenever the Word of God was presented because they did not want to miss the mysteries that would be presented.

• Constantly sitting the under the teaching of the Word of God allows you to understand who Christ is better.
• Constantly setting under the teaching of the Word of God allows you understand the will and plans of God better.
• Constantly sitting under the teaching of the Word of God allows you to not get bored with the Christian life. Mystery is not boring but captivating.
• Constantly sitting under the teaching of the Word of God prepares you for the challenges of life.

Those who make learning His Word a priority have a love for God that others do not have. The church is the mechanism where the Word of God is expounded. So your life line to God is the consistency of your time being taught the Word of God in the local church.

Element #4 - The answer for the search for significance – Jer. 29:11 “11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Life is a journey that one embarks on and the goal is significance. We want our lives to amount for something. Either for our immediate family, our friends or loved ones. There is somehow an instinctive measurement that we know is there even if we have not been able to identify it. Life is meant to have meaning. As important as meaning is to life it is interesting that God hides that meaning from us to a certain existent. What I mean is that the purpose of life can not be discovered by ones self it almost always is through the interaction with others.

• Life is meant to be explored with others.
• Life is meant to be evaluated by how we influence others.
• Life is measured in what we did for others.

The answer for significance in a nutshell if how our lives, no matter how brief it was, rubbed up against other people lives and affected them. The most satisfying thing a person can do is leave another persons life better then it was before they know them. Significances can only be measured in the context of others. There is no other greater expression of this then the local church. It is a moving breathing organism that works together touching the lives of others for the better or the worst. I some how think that is what Christ designed it to be.

What is Revival?

2007-11-26T21:51:00.000-04:00

"The prayer that sparks revival begins long before the countryside seems to awaken from its slumber in sin. It starts when men fall on their knees and cry out to God. That's where true intimacy with God takes place and we begin the journey of being transformed into the image of Christ. And as men are transformed, the course of a nation can be changed." - Wellington Boone

“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” - John Wesley

“When the devil sees a man or woman who really believes in prayer, who knows how to pray, and who really does pray, and, above all, when he sees a whole church on its face before God in prayer, "he trembles" as much as he ever did, for he knows that his day in that church or community is at an end.” - R.A. Torrey

What is revival?
The last time we were together we talked a bit about what is revival and how that our country in particular has had significant moves of God in the past but has not had an outpouring of what can be defined as revival. Once again revival is:

1. The turning – 2 Chr. 7:14 - When the hearts of men return back to God. When revival truly takes place the hearts of men will return back to God.

2nd Chr. 7:14
“4If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Where before men had been selfish seeking their own desires now they become God conscious and God focused. Seeking God and being in His presences becomes the priority. Men, women and young people begin to fall on their faces and repent of their sins.

2. The gathering – Acts 2:42 - Corporate manifestations of the presence of God in corporate settings. Revival, simply by definition, can not be something that can be contained in ones own personal prayer life.

Acts 2:42
“42And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.”

It is something when it takes place there becomes a gathering of liked minded men and women. Like minded in the fact that they are search to know God.

3. The infection – Acts 4:13 - Revival by definition is not something that can be contained in the 4 walls of the church. It spills out into the various different arms of society.
Acts 4:13
“13Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”

Sinners begin to run to the alters to know God. Denominational walls are crossed. Christ becomes know in society because people realize that the people of God have been with God.

“It is important to keep in mind that with all of these factors of revival and with all of the moves of God that we have seen in the past in church history that all have begun with prayer. Prayer is the key to personal and corporate revival.”

Personal and corporate revival
Our desire as a church in these 52 days of prayer is to have both a corporate and personal revival. Both are distinct and different but both are needed for God to move like He desires to.

· Personal revival would be defined as when a person makes spending time with Jesus their priority. Their relationship with God does not only become defined as their intentions towards Him but also their desire for Him. Those who have a personal revival are those that look to spend significant time with the Lord. It is in these times that the Spirit molds them into the believer that He desires for them to be. It is not that they have less things to do our less distractions. It is simply meeting God in their prayer closet becomes their goal. Godly people, making godly decisions to make God their priority.

· Corporate revival is just as vital as personal revival and is necessary for the Spirit of God to be poured out as He desires to be. Believers begin to spend significant time together seeking the face of God. Suddenly individual differences are set aside because of the “God focus”. Church becomes more then a once a week meeting but a time of encountering God in the house of God. The more they worship together the more real God becomes to all.

Revival is in our grasps
It is also important that we realize that is revival is simply establishing personal and corporate revival then it is in the grasp of any group of people that make seeking God their priority. John 12:32 “2And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” As we lift Christ up He begins to draw us closer and closer to Himself.

The House of Dreams Orphanage Bowl-a-thon Fundraiser

2007-11-12T20:11:00.000-04:00

For those of you who have been keeping up with Angie’s blog you know one of my hobbies is bowling (yes there is bowling in Bolivia). As a church we even have our own bowling team; several members of our church participate. While I was bowling the other day the workers at the bowling alley mentioned a city wide championship that they were hosting for 13th, 20th and 27th of November. After thinking about it I have decided to enter into the championship. Being the missionary that I am I wanted to use the opportunity to raise funds for our orphanage project.

Would you be interested in pledging a certain amount based upon how well I do in the city wide bowling championship? Here is how it works.

1) I will bowl the following Tuesdays

2) Each day I will bowl three games (a total of 9 games during the tournament)

3) You can sponsor me in the following ways

a. You can sponsor an amount per point for the entire tournament. For example if you pledge 25 cents per point and I bowl a 155 per game for the 9 games then you would donate $348.75 for the tournament.

b. You can sponsor me for $10 a strike for the entire tournament. So in the tournament if I bowl 10 strikes you will donate $100.

c. You can sponsor me for $5 a spare for the entire tournament. So if I bowl 20 spares then you would donate $100.

d. You can sponsor me for points, strikes and spares for the entire tournament. This will be the highest commitment.

e. You can choose to pledge $1 a point for only the highest score of the 9 games. That way if I bowl a 155 you will pay $155.

4) Just to help you choose my average is around 155 in a given game.

I believe that this will be a good opportunity to raise funds for our orphanage project in a fun way. If you are interested in being a part of this bowl-a-thon you can contact me at houseofdreamsorphanage@juno.com .

Also I am planning to post the scores that I have each week on my blog so you can see how I am doing.

God bless and I am looking forward to hearing from you,
DaRonn

What if our Bible was just as important as our cell phone?

2007-10-26T07:56:00.000-04:00

I came across this illustration a few weeks ago and thought that you would appreciate it. It caused me to think a bit. Send me your comments.

In this age of the IPhone, staying connected means everything, but are we just as interested in staying connected with God?

What if our Bible was just as important to us as our cell phone we would ….

1. We would treat it like we could not live without it.
2. When we forgot it at home we would go back to get it.
3. We would have a lot of gadgets to keep us connected to it.
4. We would always have it close in case of emergencies.
5. We would carry it around in our purses or pockets.
6. We would check it throughout the day for new messages.
7. We would constantly check it to see if we have enough minutes.
8. We would make sure that the battery would not run low.
9. We would feel lost without it.
10. We would make sure we constantly used it to stay in touch.

Reflections from Blaise Pascal

2007-09-06T11:27:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite Christian French mathematicians and philosophers is Blaise Pascal. I recently came across one of his quotes that I used in one of the messages that I taught in my church. Since I had not blogged in a while I thought it would be fun to share a few quotes with you. Let me know if any of these are thought provoking for you.

First of all, my favorite that has been quoted in many different sources:

“What else does this craving and this helplessness proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and traces. This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God Himself.”

I like this quote because as I examine the people that I know, both saved people and those who are not, I see that they are searching form something. Many times they do not know what they are searching for and the only true answer to fill that hole in their heart is God.

“Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.”

I like this one and have actually used it when I have been presenting the gospel to other people. We have the world to gain if we believe in a God and He does exist and nothing to lose if we believe in Him and He does not.

“Human beings must be known to be loved; but Divine beings must be loved to be known.”

Love this one as well. It seems that those who never really make God their priority never truly experience His person completely.

“I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.”

This is so true. It is amazing that as I look at my own life how easy it is just to talk and pretty much say nothing but if I want to say something impacting it takes forever to plan what I want to say.

“If our condition were truly happy, we would not seek diversion from it in order to make ourselves happy.”

I like the point he is making. If we really were so happy with the way things were going then why do we spend so much time trying to get away.

“It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by reason.”

Although God can be proved to exist by reason there are still things that we have do simply do by faith and simply trust in God. I like it.

“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.”

Ouch!!! Enough said.

“The only shame is to have none.”

I like this one because it keeps us humble.

“The strength of man’s virtue must not be measured by his efforts, but by his ordinary life.”

So many times we find ourselves trying to be great by trying to do great things when greatness is a result of living the same way day in and day out. I like this basic truth.

“Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that unless we love truth, we cannot know it.”

It is amazing how times have not changed much from his time to ours.

I encourage you to pick up a few books by Pascal. Makes you think and challenges you.

DaRonn

Reflections on turning 32…

2007-07-09T20:58:00.000-04:00

On May 8th I celebrated my 32nd birthday missionary style in Miami airport coming back from the USA to Bolivia. This year it was particularly hard because my family (wife and 4 children) were all in the US traveling and I needed to come back to Bolivia and watch over our church.

This has seemed to become the custom because the year before I celebrated my birthday in the airport in Chile. So I guess you could say that I have found a number of things to do while I have been waiting for flights (If you ever need a good place to eat or the best place to get an internet connection in a South America airport just let me know).

I do not know if you are like me but many times when it comes close to my birthday I get into this stage of evaluating my life. Sometimes it only last a few days. Other times more. This time it has taken a little longer then in the past. Basically it has been a sort of crock-pot type processing for about a two years since I turned 30.

The reason why is because when I was twenty years old I sat down and wrote myself a letter where I wrote down the different things that I wanted to accomplish in my life before I turned 40 (I know, I had read far too many future planning books but I guess that is who I am). Shortly before I turned 30 I opened the letter just to see how I was doing. Also I could hardly remember some of the things that I had written down. When I read the contents of the letter it was the most shocking thing that I think I have ever experienced in my life up to that point because I noticed that the majority of things that I had on my list I had already accomplish!!!

Now I know some of you may be thinking that is wonderful but for me that was shocking and even boarding scary. Here I was sitting down, reading a letter for my 20 year plan and after 10 years now all of a sudden I was face to face with reality. What am I going to do now? God, now what??? It is like going to the grocery store and picking out a cart full of groceries and then realizing that you left your only form of payment in the house (at least that how it was for me).

So for the last year I have been in this state of “what do I do now?” What should I do for the next 20 years? Over the last year I have been writing some things down about what I would like to accomplish in the coming years but what has been the most interesting is the way that my desires have changed. How my priorities have changed. How my reason for existing has changed.

Here are a few of my observations about my goals from when I was 20 to now that I am 30:

1. When I was 20 my goals were what I could accomplish but now that I am 30 my goals are how I can help other. Somewhere along the road, I do not know exactly when or where it happened, I decided helping others was infinitely more rewarding then anything I could have achieved personally.

2. My goals when I was 20 were to do more and accomplish more where now that I am 30 my goals are to do less. I guess I learned something over this ten year stretch and I am surprised that I took me so long to learn it. I can not do everything good. So the things that I do good I do and the things that I do not do good I do not do. At least it makes sense to me J

3. My goals when I was 20 were to acquire things for myself where now that I am 30 I want to give everything away. I am so much less attached to things then I was before. Not that we do not want nice things, simple that we do not need them to feel good about ourselves.

4. My thoughts when I was 20 was that I knew a lot but now that I am 30 I feel that I am just starting. I guess the saying is true if you want to know something ask a young person while they still know everything. Now that I am a little older I feel like I do not know as much as I once did (to tell you the truth I do not want to know as much as well).

5. When I was 20 my goals were to do more things internationally but now that I am 30 my goals are to do more locally. A few years ago I remember when I would travel and minister at every invitation that I had but now I have started to see the value of staying put and ministering to the same people. Now I only travel if I have to and sometimes not even then. Plus it is hard being away from my family for that long.

6. When I was 20 my goals were to do more to impact many people on a large scale but now that I am 30 my goal is to pour my life into to a few people. Years ago I was only happy if I was able to help many people on a large scale but now I am more then content pouring my life into a few people. It is like I can see the fruit more clearly.

7. My goals when I was 30 was to do something big for God and now that I am 30 my goal is to just obey God. Personally I do not care as much as before the scale of what I do as long as God is pleased with me. If I obeyed Him then I can rest at night comfortably.

I can not really say what these next few years will have in store for me but I will say that I sure am enjoying them more. That does not mean that they have not been hard work. I do not think that I have worked harder in my life. But I think I like the DaRonn that I am becoming. So 20 year old DaRonn wrote a letter to 30 year old DaRonn about goals and got corrected in the process. Maybe this time it would be better if 40 year old DaRonn wrote 30 year old DaRonn giving him his advice (I know, I know it is far too deep for a blog).

Things you would never know if it were not for the action movies

2007-05-22T21:22:00.001-04:00

I was looking around the other day on-line and came across a few things that you would not find unless you watched and action movie. I went through and copied a few of the ones that I liked the most. There were many things that I did not notice but were true. If I forgot something send post a comment.

It doesn’t matter if you are greatly outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts. Your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one… dancing around in a threatening manner until you have dispatched their predecessors (I loved this one!!!)

Should you decide to defuse a bomb, don’t worry about which wire to cut. You will always choose the right one (I could not resist to add the next one). Also they are all fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off.

Rather than wasting bullets, megalomaniacs prefer to kill their enemies using complex machinery involving fused, deadly gasses, laser, buzz saws and hungry sharks, all of which will give their captives at least 20 minutes to escape. Also the bad guy will always tell the good guy every detail about his masterplan instead of just shooting him.

You’re very likely to survive any battle in a war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.

It is easy to land a plane, provided that there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.

As long as you are in an action movie you need not worry about running out of bullets because it almost never happens. Even if it does happen there is always another loaded weapon lying around within arms distance. Also guns are like disposable razors - if you run out of bullets, just throw the gun away. You can always buy a new one.

A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty. Also action heroes never face charges for manslaughter or criminal damage despite laying entire cities to waste.

It is always possible to park directly outside the building you are visiting.

An electric fence powerful enough to kill a large dinosaur will cause no lasting damage to an eight-year-old child (name that movie).

Cars and trucks that crash will almost always burst into flames.

The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty. And the biggest miracle is that they are always clean.

It's very easy to fool the security guards at highly top secret government institutions.

Did you think of any others?

Things you would never know if it weren’t for the action movies…

2007-05-22T21:22:00.000-04:00

Bitter and sweat…

2007-04-25T08:26:00.000-04:00

(Noela, Stephanie and Joselin coming from school.)

It has been 7 months since we started The House of Dreams Orphanage in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Currently we have 19 children between the ages of new born to 6 years. Many people have asked what is like to have so many children. To tell you the truth it has its ups and downs. Sometimes its sweet times where it is the greatest thing in the world and other times it has its bitter times where it has its pains.

Bitter

One of the first children that we received was a little girl by the name of Neola. Neola’s story is that she came to us one afternoon when the state department called our office asking us if we would accept her. We had just been watching the news that night and her story was featured. She had been abused by her grandfather and for that reason was taken away from her family. One of the striking things about her was that her feet were so badly cut from walking without shoes on that I it took a few weeks for them to heal.

Because of her situation it took a little time for her to warm up to the orphanage but not long. In the beginning she missed her mother and cried pretty much every night. But after a while of showing her the love that a stable home can give she began to open up and let the world see her beautiful character and what a lovely child she is.

Then one day it happened; we got the phone call. We never truly know when or even if it will happen but we always know it is a possibility. The courts had made the decision that it was okay for Neola to go back to her mother. One day the child is happily playing with the other children and the next day the bed she sleep in is empty. Technically it was not Neola’s mother that abused her but her grandfather. So when the judge ruled that it was time for Neola to go back to her mother a part of us was happy. It is probably the best thing but that does not mean that it still does not hurt a little. Actually it hurts a lot.

Sweet
Like I said before the orphanage has its high points as well. I like to call it the sweet times. The times when you get to see a kid take its first steps or when the light bulb turns on in their little head that you are their friend or when the scream your name from the upstairs window. The little miracles that let you know that you are actually pleasing God in the things that you are doing.

The other day I had one of these moments on father’s day here in Bolivia. We have two children in our orphanage that have started to go to school (kindergarten). It is actually pretty fun to see them running off to school with their little back packs. One of these children is Stephanie. A very social 6 years old that came to us because she and her sister were abandoned. In her class she had to make a card for her fathers. There was only one problem, Stephanie’s father abandon her a long time ago. But some how, in the mind of this little 6 year old, she found an answer; she wrote the card to me. She could hardly wait until she got home from school to give it to me. As I opened it I saw the words written in very bad grammar but still legible “Te Quiero Papa (I love you Papa)”.

In my office I have many different things hung on the walls; posters from pastor’s conferences we have had, picture of small victories we have experienced in the ministry, pictures of my family, but this one will definitely have a special place on that wall. To help me remember the sweet times. The times where God smiles down on you and says well done.

Changing your perspective…

2007-04-02T08:25:00.000-04:00

I heard a story the other day about how the war against drugs is starting to affect the Amish Community. One Amish family realized that their teenage boy was not ready for the real world and decided to do something about it. They decide that they would leave the farm for the weekend and go to some place that they had never been before to show their son there was more to the world then the farm. During their trip they decided to check into a 5 star hotel. So the father, mother and their teenage boy went to the hotel. They had never seen anything like it. They were blown away to say the least having never seen anything close to it. As the mother was trying to check in the family the father and the son went to take have a look around. As they walked they came to the elevator at the end of the hall. Because they had never seen one before the both of them just stood there staring at the elevator. As they were watching an elderly woman walked over to the elevator, the doors open and she went in and the doors closed. A few second later the doors open again and a beautiful young woman came walking out. Amazed at what just took place the father looks at his sons and said “Go get your mother!!!”

You may or may not have thought that this story was funny but I told you it to try to make a point. The point is that sometimes we look for a magical formula to change things when if we just tried to look at things from a different perspective we would start to appreciate what we have.

Do you appreciate what you have or do you think if you had something else you will be happier? Chances are if you are not happy with what you have now you will not be happy with something else. Does happiness really come from what you have or does it come from some other place. Maybe in your quest to find something else that will make you happy you are missing what is right under your nose. Just a little something I have been thinking about….

Found this interesting...

2007-03-25T18:09:00.000-04:00

This may be interesting to you or not but I find it very interesting. AT ANY RATE, IF THIS BORES YOU JUST JUMP DOWN TO THE BOTTOM AND TAKE THE DICTIONARY I.Q. TEST. Let me know what you think.

How does a word get into a Merriam-Webster dictionary?

The other day I came across an article from the Merriam-Webster dictionary that listed how words are selected to be placed in the dictionary. Actually it is a very in-depth process.

1) First stage is tracking word usage (they’re out there watching us) - To decide which words to include in the dictionary and to determine what they mean, Merriam-Webster editors study the language as it's used. They carefully monitor which words people use most often and how they use them. Each day most Merriam-Webster editors devote an hour or two to reading a cross section of published material, including books, newspapers, magazines, and electronic publications; in their office this activity is called "reading and marking."

2) Citations (that is a lot of words) - The marked passages are then put into a computer system and stored both in machine-readable form and on 3" x 5" slips of paper to create citations. Merriam-Webster's citation files, which were begun in the 1880s, now contain 15.7 million examples of words used in context and cover all aspects of the English vocabulary.

3) From citation to entry (this will help you in your next game of scrabble) - To be included in a Merriam-Webster dictionary, a word must be used in a substantial number of citations that come from a wide range of publications over a considerable period of time. Specifically, the word must have enough citations to allow accurate judgments about its establishment, currency, and meaning.

Test your dictionary I.Q.: The 2006 update of The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary added 100 new words. Listed below are some of those words. Take a look at these words to see if you use them or if you even know what they mean.

Instructions: See if you can pick the definitions of the words below. When you are done you can send your answers to my email address (christnationministries@juno.com) and I will tell you how you have done. Good luck.

New words added
1. Brain freeze (noun):
2. Chick flick (noun):
3. Wi-Fi (noun):
4. Mouse Potato (noun):
5. Supersize (noun):
6. Drama Queen (noun):
7. Unibrow (noun):
8. Sandwich Generation (noun):
9. Soul Patch (noun):
10. Google (verb):

Definitions:
a) to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web
b) a sudden shooting pain in the head caused by ingesting very cold food (as ice cream) or drink
c) used to certify the interoperability of wireless computer networking devices
d) a person given to often excessively emotional performances or reactions
e) a person who spends a great deal of time using a computer
f) a single continuous brow resulting from the growing together of eyebrows
g) to increase considerably the size, amount, or extent of
h) a motion picture intended to appeal especially to women
i) a generation of people who are caring for their aging parents while supporting their own children
j) a small growth of beard under a man's lower lip

Place your answers below:

1 _____
2 _____
3 _____
4 _____
5 _____
6 _____
7 _____
8 _____
9 _____
10 _____

Click here to take the test online:
http://www.christnationministries.org/forms/use/iqdictionary2/form1.html

How much sin are you willing to accept?

2007-03-20T17:25:00.000-04:00

I would like to start this section with an informative report from the United States Food and Drug Administration’s guidelines of purity for a few familiar products which I got from John Ortberg’s books “The Life You’ve Always Wanted” (which I highly recommend):

· Apple butter: If the mold count is 12 percent or more, if it averages 4 rodents hairs per 100 grams or more, if it averages 5 or more whole insects (not counting mites, aphids, or scales insects) per 100 grams, the FDA will pull it from the shelves. Otherwise, it will go right onto your English muffins.
· Coffee beans: (Caffeine addicts beware!) Coffee beans will get withdrawn from the market if an average of 10 percent of more are insect-infested of if there is one live insect in each of 2 or more immediate containers. (The FDA says people just don’t like getting too many live insects with their coffee beans – one container is okay, but with more than that we draw the line).
· Mushrooms: Mushrooms can’t be sold if there is an average of 20 or more maggots of any size per 15 grams of dried mushrooms.
· Fig paste: If there are more than 13 insects heads per 100 grams of fig paste in each of 2 or more subsamples, the FDA ruthlessly tosses the whole batch. (Apparently other insects body parts are tolerable, but we do not want to be staring at too many insect heads).
· Hot dogs: You do not want to know about it.

If anything is really good, we long for it to exist in its pure form: oxygen without exhaust fumes; snow unmixed with slush. This holds true of people we know. Purity is a word greatly prized in the New Testament. Unfortunately, in our day it has been largely lost. It sounds quaint, Victorian, prudish, bloodless. It sounds as if a person isn’t fully human, when actually God’s call for us to be pure is precisely his call for us to be purely human – humanity is as he intended it to be, uncontaminated by sin.

Made me think about how much sin I am willing to accept in my life. Hmmm…..

Reflections...

2007-03-19T23:40:00.000-04:00

For my first blog on my new site I wanted to share a little bit for a book that I am writing. It is not necessarily a book that is one to read but it is a note book that I have next to me when I read a book. As a read a book I can quickly write down thoughts that make me think. In this post I want to share a few of these thoughts from some of my heroes.

As you read them let the statements provoke thought in you because they did to me.

"One design of God in the gospel is to bring us to make God the object of our undivided respect, that He may engross our regard every way, that whatever natural inclination there is in our souls, he may be the center of it; that God may be all in all." Jonathan Edwards

"You see the Christian faith is really not one that calls us to a ceremonial life by means of which spirituality is attained. Rather, it challenges us to remember that by our own efforts we cannot produce a truly spiritual life It takes the Holy Spirit in us." Ravi Zacharias

"Let us then consider it certain and firmly established that the soul can do without anything except the Word of God and that where the Word of God is missing there is no help at all for the soul." Martin Luther

"No one doubts that an ordinary man can get on with this world: but we demand not strength enough to get on with it, but strength enough to get it on... Can he hate it enough to change it, and yet love it enough to think it is worth changing? Is he enough of a pagan to die for the world and enough of a christian to die to it?" G.K. Chesterton

I would like to hear what thoughts they provoked within you.

DaRonn