Video Talk
Psalms 44:1-3 ESV
“O God, we have heard with our ears,
our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
in the days of old:
you with your own hand drove out the nations,
but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but them you set free;
for not by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
and the light of your face,
for you delighted in them.”
Okay, so I had to look up parts of this in some commentaries
to understand what this is saying here, and from what I gathered, this is about
the Lord leading his children Israel to physically conquer a nation (the
ungodly), and so he drove out the nations from their land, and then he planted
his own people where the nations had been. And so God’s people did not do this
in their own strength and wisdom, but under the guidance of God and in his
power. And it was only by God’s purpose and grace that they were able to do
what they did.
But I am not going to go into all that history, for the Lord
has a message he wants me to share based off this passage of Scripture, which
is relevant and applicable to our lives today, to those of us who are his true
servants, particularly to (but not exclusively to) those who live here in
America.
Now, I am going to share a little bit of my own history here
as it relates to this Scripture passage, but which is also relevant to all of
our lives, so I hope you will bear with me while I give this illustration. For
I was brought up in the church denomination called “The Christian and
Missionary Alliance.” And no, it is not a cult or some weird sect, but it
is a mainstream Christian church denomination which was begun in the late 1800’s,
but was never intended to be a church denomination, and it didn’t become one
until 1971.
Its founder was a man by the name of A. B. Simpson, who was
a pastor of a Presbyterian church in New York City. He was in his 30’s when he
was their pastor, and when he was also ministering to the immigrants in his
city. And many of these immigrants were coming to faith in Jesus Christ. And so
he invited them to come to his church gathering. But the high society people in
his church gathering did not want the immigrants in their gatherings, so he
prayed about it, and he was led of the Lord to resign his position of pastor at
that church.
On Monday, November 10th, 1879, A. B. Simpson wrote in his
journal: "It is well that I should begin here. For tonight my pastorate
was dissolved by the Presbytery. And I am Christ's free servant."
At the time that I read that I was training to become consecrated
as an official worker under the C&MA. But the Alliance rejected me and who
God called me to be, I eventually learned, and so I had to make a decision
between being who they wanted me to be or to be who God wanted me to be. And so
I resigned my position under the C&MA so that I could be “Christ’s Free
Servant.” That was in 2004. But it wasn’t just them.
Then the Lord led me to leave the “institutional church”
altogether, for so much of what are called “churches” today are really
institutions of men (businesses) being marketed to the world as any other
business, and so they are largely making compromises of truth and righteousness,
and they are diluting and altering the character of God/Christ and his gospel
so that they can attract the world to their gatherings, and so that they will
not offend them with the truth. So, I became an outcast and unwanted in the I.C.
So then, in 2004, the Lord called me to go out to the
people, like he did with A. B. Simpson, and he placed me on the internet, and
he called me to write whatever he was teaching me from his Word each day. And
now, through the ministry the Lord has given me, the message of the gospel is
going out to people across the globe in many nations, and they are being taught
the truths of the Scriptures, as best as I understand them, and about how we
must die with Christ to sin and live to him and to his righteousness.
But those of us who have been called out of these institutions
of man, to be used of God wherever he leads us as “Christ’s free servants,” are
not doing this in our own strength and wisdom, but in the strength and wisdom
of God, under his leading and direction. And because of our obedience, the gospel
is going to people across the globe. And I believe many people are believing in
Jesus and are growing in their walks of faith because of the obedience of those
who have decided to follow the Lord and not man.
But let me make this clear. I have not left “the church.”
The church is the universal body of Christ who have died with Christ to sin and
who are living to him and to his righteousness. And on the internet I am now
free to minister to the body of Christ as the Scriptures teach we must all do,
and I am free to share the truth of the gospel, at least for now, where I was
not in these institutional market-driven “churches” (businesses). And the body
of Christ on the internet is ministering to me, as well. So, I am able here to
be “Christ’s Free Servant,” where I was not in those institutions.
So, also let me encourage you to also be “Christ’s Free
Servants” in doing what God has called you to do and to be. And if you can’t do
that where you are presently planted, then ask the Lord to show you where he
wants you, and then go there. For you need to be where you can be used of God
for his purposes and glory, and not for the purposes of meeting marketing goals.
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Full Release
An Original Work / April 15, 2012
Walking daily with
my Savior
brings me joy.
Loving Father;
precious Jesus;
He’s my Savior and
my Lord.
Gently leads me;
follow Him.
I’ve invited Him
within.
Now abiding in His
presence,
oh, what peace.
From my self-life
He has brought me,
By His mercy, full
release.
Hope and comfort,
peace and safety
Jesus brings
When I daily bow
before Him;
Obey freely; do His
will.
Follow Him where’er
He leads.
Listen to Him; His words
heed.
Now obeying his
words fully,
oh, what love
That He gives me
through salvation,
By His Spirit, from
above.
Loving Father;
precious Jesus,
He’s my friend.
With my Savior, by
His Spirit,
I will endure to the
end.
Share the gospel,
tell what’s true.
Witness daily; His
will do.
Tell the world of
how their Savior
bled and died.
On a cruel cross He
suffered
So that we might be
alive.
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