Ministry by nature is lonely. I have been lonely sitting in a crowd. This musing came some time back when I had walked a particularly lonely path. Blessings
True spiritual greatness comes from aloneness
Jacob was left alone before he struggled with the angel…..
Moses had his desert
Paul was in the desert for 8 years….
Elija was alone, then the wind, earthquake and the still small voice……
God I'm the only one doing right he wailed....
Nope, I have 7000 hidden away
I went through a period of time when I did not hear from one person for over one year
A fellow minister mentioned of God Isolating him and not even his pastor being able to get with him for 1 year…..
There comes a time when the hum of the mundane must be closed out.
The splashing of the shallow must be washed away
We must each manage our alone times….
We must take advantage of them
We must create time alone with him….
For if we don’t….
He will…
And when he does....
Revel in it....
Rejoice...
And commune.....
Don't fight it....
Don't become embittered by it...
Surrender to it....
And Him...
For it is the lonely experience that truly makes us great with Him....
Monday, January 21, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Three Gifts for Every Church
God gave three gifts to every local church.....
His Word....
His spirit....
His man....
The word is the same in every church....
His spirit in the same in every church...
The difference in any local church is God's man.......
The effectivenes of everthing in the local church is determined by the man...
The effectiveness of the HG....
The effectiveness of the word....
The spirit is subject to the prophet.....
Hence......
The whole local church is determined by the spirit of the man...
Worldly man...worldy church....
Praying man...praying church......
Bitter man....bitter church......
And the list goes on......
His Word....
His spirit....
His man....
The word is the same in every church....
His spirit in the same in every church...
The difference in any local church is God's man.......
The effectivenes of everthing in the local church is determined by the man...
The effectiveness of the HG....
The effectiveness of the word....
The spirit is subject to the prophet.....
Hence......
The whole local church is determined by the spirit of the man...
Worldly man...worldy church....
Praying man...praying church......
Bitter man....bitter church......
And the list goes on......
Saturday, January 19, 2008
The United Pentecostal Church Needs a Healer
Shocked silence filled the conference when the announcement was made….
The resolution passed….
Those there, will never forget the sudden vacuum….
Time only will tell what really happened in that moment….
Some declare Ichabod…..
Others Revival….
I personally feel our movement was swept with a spirit of confusion….
We all have been confused since the vote….
We have all grieved….
However….
Such a decision will not be without consequence….
The consequence may well be more painful than any really understood….
Unity has been called for….
Global Impact desired….
But now division is greater than ever….
Now we hear of a great convocation in Tulsa…..
Great men from the east coast are leaving….
Great men from the west are leaving….
Great men from the south as well….
Great men from all over…..
Leaving……
Will the UPCI loose 100 ….500….1000….
Or more….
Now, many men who favored the resolution realize that those leaving had promised to do so before the vote….
The leavers are only keeping promises….
I have not heard from any who regret voting No…
I have heard from many who regret voting Yes…
“If we had only known”, one said an hour ago….
Brethren it appears there will be a major exodus…..
Sadly all will suffer…
I have come to a new conclusion today…
We need a healer…
Blessed are the peacemakers….
The United Pentecostal Church Needs A Healer….
Brethren….
Some are saying the 2000 seat convention center in Tulsa will not be large enough…
What if such predictions are true and we see over 1000 UPCI credentialed men make some sort of commitment to leave….
The UPCI will suffer greatly….
The United Pentecostal Church Needs A Healer….
If indeed unity is a mandate….
Then should not unity come from World Evangelism Center….
Indeed the United Pentecostal Church Needs A Healer….
General Superintendent Haney….
Lead the way to healing….
Go to Tulsa and tell the brethren you will lead the charge in reversing Tampa’s decision….
Pastor Mangun….
Use your platform this year at Because of the Times to help heal the UPCI….
Without a healer….
We are divided and weakened….
Two organizations will never be united….
Rather both….
Untied….
The United Pentecostal Church Needs A Healer….
Is there a voice….
Is there a man …..
Who can stand and serve as healer….
Somewhere within the UPCI is a man with a voice who is able to help bring healing….
Will the leadership come from WEC….
The General Superintendent….
The General Secretary….
Alexandria….
Indianapolis….
Home or Foreign Missions….
Indeed the UPCI must have a healer from within….
The healing will not come from those convening in Tulsa….
The course they choose was selected for them….
Brethren….
The United Pentecostal Church International Needs a Healer….
RKS
The resolution passed….
Those there, will never forget the sudden vacuum….
Time only will tell what really happened in that moment….
Some declare Ichabod…..
Others Revival….
I personally feel our movement was swept with a spirit of confusion….
We all have been confused since the vote….
We have all grieved….
However….
Such a decision will not be without consequence….
The consequence may well be more painful than any really understood….
Unity has been called for….
Global Impact desired….
But now division is greater than ever….
Now we hear of a great convocation in Tulsa…..
Great men from the east coast are leaving….
Great men from the west are leaving….
Great men from the south as well….
Great men from all over…..
Leaving……
Will the UPCI loose 100 ….500….1000….
Or more….
Now, many men who favored the resolution realize that those leaving had promised to do so before the vote….
The leavers are only keeping promises….
I have not heard from any who regret voting No…
I have heard from many who regret voting Yes…
“If we had only known”, one said an hour ago….
Brethren it appears there will be a major exodus…..
Sadly all will suffer…
I have come to a new conclusion today…
We need a healer…
Blessed are the peacemakers….
The United Pentecostal Church Needs A Healer….
Brethren….
Some are saying the 2000 seat convention center in Tulsa will not be large enough…
What if such predictions are true and we see over 1000 UPCI credentialed men make some sort of commitment to leave….
The UPCI will suffer greatly….
The United Pentecostal Church Needs A Healer….
If indeed unity is a mandate….
Then should not unity come from World Evangelism Center….
Indeed the United Pentecostal Church Needs A Healer….
General Superintendent Haney….
Lead the way to healing….
Go to Tulsa and tell the brethren you will lead the charge in reversing Tampa’s decision….
Pastor Mangun….
Use your platform this year at Because of the Times to help heal the UPCI….
Without a healer….
We are divided and weakened….
Two organizations will never be united….
Rather both….
Untied….
The United Pentecostal Church Needs A Healer….
Is there a voice….
Is there a man …..
Who can stand and serve as healer….
Somewhere within the UPCI is a man with a voice who is able to help bring healing….
Will the leadership come from WEC….
The General Superintendent….
The General Secretary….
Alexandria….
Indianapolis….
Home or Foreign Missions….
Indeed the UPCI must have a healer from within….
The healing will not come from those convening in Tulsa….
The course they choose was selected for them….
Brethren….
The United Pentecostal Church International Needs a Healer….
RKS
Principle Stands Alone
I went through a particular difficult time and was greatly misunderstood by those involved. My arguments were not heeded. I was alone. Only time will tell the value of standing on principle...
When a man stands on princple....
He often stands alone.....
Have you ever stood....
Alone amid the swirling criticism of the less principled.....
Alone with the cunning smirk of the more manipulative.....
Alone as the foundations of your principle was chipped away at.....
Alone while the crowd thought you were crazy.......
Alone......
While your principled stand was mocked.....
Alone while priciple was met with disdain.....
And that same disdain ruled the day.....
A great ones "feet well night slipped" when the principless prevailed.....
Have you ever been in a place that you asked yourself.....
Self.....
Why do I hang onto principle.....
Nobody else does.......
But never forget my young friend.....
When a man stands on principle.....
He often stands alone....
With his principle.....
And few that will agree or even stand with him.....
But when he stands with princple...
He stands.....
He never falls if he stands with principle.....
For principle stands alone.....
Continue to stand with your principle....
You might stand alone.....
For one is never alone....
When he is principled....
For princple may stand alone....
But......
She will always stand....
When a man stands on princple....
He often stands alone.....
Have you ever stood....
Alone amid the swirling criticism of the less principled.....
Alone with the cunning smirk of the more manipulative.....
Alone as the foundations of your principle was chipped away at.....
Alone while the crowd thought you were crazy.......
Alone......
While your principled stand was mocked.....
Alone while priciple was met with disdain.....
And that same disdain ruled the day.....
A great ones "feet well night slipped" when the principless prevailed.....
Have you ever been in a place that you asked yourself.....
Self.....
Why do I hang onto principle.....
Nobody else does.......
But never forget my young friend.....
When a man stands on principle.....
He often stands alone....
With his principle.....
And few that will agree or even stand with him.....
But when he stands with princple...
He stands.....
He never falls if he stands with principle.....
For principle stands alone.....
Continue to stand with your principle....
You might stand alone.....
For one is never alone....
When he is principled....
For princple may stand alone....
But......
She will always stand....
Pastor's Perfectly Performing Possession
A tribute to Tracie and every pastor's wife our there....God Bless
Pastor…..
When you got up this morning your perfectly performing possession was already performing…
Today she will perform for your children, church, family, community and you…..
If you handled one dilemma, she handled twenty…..
She keeps the women of your church lined up so you do not have to worry about the men….
She coordinated the chicken dinner to pay the insurance premium, while you sat over at the folding table with the brethren…
She will be there for prayer, teach her class, lead her choir, lead the praise team, dress her kids, iron her husband’s shirt, pick up the neighbor kids for Sunday School, make plans for the pot luck dinner, remind the youth leader about the car wash, clean up the mess left in the church nursery, answer the phone twenty seven times, get somebody to run up and pick Sis Juanita because her ride is out of town, smile like a china doll, clap when nobody claps, act like she is really enjoying your sermon, she works the altar, help the 8 year old change clothes to be baptized, welcome the visitor family from the other church, run interference for you while you greet the visitor family, listen to the chronic complainer, referee the spat between the two rivaling mommies, hug the grannies on afghan row, remind Sis Betty about the upcoming chicken dinner, fuss at the 16 year with chin whiskers, gather her stuff and kids and get them in the car, serve as hostess at the Waffle House for the same two high need families she hosted last service, take a cell call between words with the high need wives, gather up her kids and husband again and go home, finish homework, rinse out the dishes in the sink, scrub the kids, feed the dog, tuck in the kids, take a dip in the tub, get in bed and perform for you like the sexual goddess of your fantasies………
And while you will drift off to sleep pastor…..
She is left with the performances of the day racing through……and the performances of tomorrow beginning to cloud the horizon of her mind…..
Pastor, the most vulnerable person in the parsonage is that perfectly performing possession you take so for granted….
Oh yes Pastor, we understand that you carry the souls of the saints and the responsibility of providing for your own family…..
But she dear sir holds it all together for you…..
She gives until she is emptied out to make your ministry and kids the best it can be…..
And who gives back to her…..
She gives until the emotional, spiritual and physical gauges in her body register empty….
Is it any wonder that some of those perfectly performing pastoral possessions have….
Found comfort in the attention of another man…..
Or withdrawn into her children and left you to pastor all alone…..
Or found solace in herself and became carnal because maybe a haircut, or coloring in the hair, or those gel nails, or that slinky outfit, or the color placed on the face might just make her feel like somebody……
She empties herself for you sir…..
What are you doing to make sure that her emotional tanks are not empty….
Pastor friend, I have seen so many of our wives seemingly change or have another spirit come over them all because they have given until they cannot….
Pastor, that perfectly performing person and possession that presides along side you in the parsonage……
Is the most vulnerable person there…….
Beware….
And care for her…
For pastor without her….
You are pitiful…
Pathetic…
And powerless
Pastor…..
When you got up this morning your perfectly performing possession was already performing…
Today she will perform for your children, church, family, community and you…..
If you handled one dilemma, she handled twenty…..
She keeps the women of your church lined up so you do not have to worry about the men….
She coordinated the chicken dinner to pay the insurance premium, while you sat over at the folding table with the brethren…
She will be there for prayer, teach her class, lead her choir, lead the praise team, dress her kids, iron her husband’s shirt, pick up the neighbor kids for Sunday School, make plans for the pot luck dinner, remind the youth leader about the car wash, clean up the mess left in the church nursery, answer the phone twenty seven times, get somebody to run up and pick Sis Juanita because her ride is out of town, smile like a china doll, clap when nobody claps, act like she is really enjoying your sermon, she works the altar, help the 8 year old change clothes to be baptized, welcome the visitor family from the other church, run interference for you while you greet the visitor family, listen to the chronic complainer, referee the spat between the two rivaling mommies, hug the grannies on afghan row, remind Sis Betty about the upcoming chicken dinner, fuss at the 16 year with chin whiskers, gather her stuff and kids and get them in the car, serve as hostess at the Waffle House for the same two high need families she hosted last service, take a cell call between words with the high need wives, gather up her kids and husband again and go home, finish homework, rinse out the dishes in the sink, scrub the kids, feed the dog, tuck in the kids, take a dip in the tub, get in bed and perform for you like the sexual goddess of your fantasies………
And while you will drift off to sleep pastor…..
She is left with the performances of the day racing through……and the performances of tomorrow beginning to cloud the horizon of her mind…..
Pastor, the most vulnerable person in the parsonage is that perfectly performing possession you take so for granted….
Oh yes Pastor, we understand that you carry the souls of the saints and the responsibility of providing for your own family…..
But she dear sir holds it all together for you…..
She gives until she is emptied out to make your ministry and kids the best it can be…..
And who gives back to her…..
She gives until the emotional, spiritual and physical gauges in her body register empty….
Is it any wonder that some of those perfectly performing pastoral possessions have….
Found comfort in the attention of another man…..
Or withdrawn into her children and left you to pastor all alone…..
Or found solace in herself and became carnal because maybe a haircut, or coloring in the hair, or those gel nails, or that slinky outfit, or the color placed on the face might just make her feel like somebody……
She empties herself for you sir…..
What are you doing to make sure that her emotional tanks are not empty….
Pastor friend, I have seen so many of our wives seemingly change or have another spirit come over them all because they have given until they cannot….
Pastor, that perfectly performing person and possession that presides along side you in the parsonage……
Is the most vulnerable person there…….
Beware….
And care for her…
For pastor without her….
You are pitiful…
Pathetic…
And powerless
I Met Eva Today
The Following is musings on an airplane a few days ago......
Did ever tell you I hate the seats that recline on an airplane…
The cat in front of me loves them….
So I have sat for an hour or so and thought about hating reclining seats….
About arriving….
And about the shuttle driver that drove us from the City Economy Parking lot at IAH in Houston to Terminal C.
I met her when she blew the horn of the shuttle and yelled at me to bring my stuff over three rows of cars to her shuttle…..
Oh brother….one of those…..
Indeed she was….one of those….
“Oh brother”, I told Tracie……
But then she bounded out of the bus and ran through the rows and pulled most of my stuff over to her shuttle….
“Get on sir and sit find your seat”
“Sir I’ll take care of these bags”
“Here I’ll do that”
“Sir find a seat and enjoy the ride”.
“OK”, I said, “I’ll just leave you in charge”
She already was…..
So Eva loaded us up…..drove us over….unloaded us with a cheerful, “Have a good trip”…..and was immediately gone…..
Here take this tip……
But Eva was gone…..
Without my tip….
She didn’t need mine….for she had found her own……
Eva was gone….
To brighten another’s day and to help another hapless traveler make his way from the economy parking lot to the terminal so he could connect to his destination….
Eva added value to me this morning….
I offered little to her…
I met Eva today….
The only reason I know her name is because she had pinned a card up with it on the shuttle…
But does the name really matter?
Her essence does…..
The world seems to be filled with folks looking for a terminal to connect them to their destinations….
And dreams…
But while I am enroute to my destination….
Eva, the Parking Cents shuttle driver seems to have found hers….
Helping others get to theirs….
And while I an anxious to arrive…
Eva already did….
Did ever tell you I hate the seats that recline on an airplane…
The cat in front of me loves them….
So I have sat for an hour or so and thought about hating reclining seats….
About arriving….
And about the shuttle driver that drove us from the City Economy Parking lot at IAH in Houston to Terminal C.
I met her when she blew the horn of the shuttle and yelled at me to bring my stuff over three rows of cars to her shuttle…..
Oh brother….one of those…..
Indeed she was….one of those….
“Oh brother”, I told Tracie……
But then she bounded out of the bus and ran through the rows and pulled most of my stuff over to her shuttle….
“Get on sir and sit find your seat”
“Sir I’ll take care of these bags”
“Here I’ll do that”
“Sir find a seat and enjoy the ride”.
“OK”, I said, “I’ll just leave you in charge”
She already was…..
So Eva loaded us up…..drove us over….unloaded us with a cheerful, “Have a good trip”…..and was immediately gone…..
Here take this tip……
But Eva was gone…..
Without my tip….
She didn’t need mine….for she had found her own……
Eva was gone….
To brighten another’s day and to help another hapless traveler make his way from the economy parking lot to the terminal so he could connect to his destination….
Eva added value to me this morning….
I offered little to her…
I met Eva today….
The only reason I know her name is because she had pinned a card up with it on the shuttle…
But does the name really matter?
Her essence does…..
The world seems to be filled with folks looking for a terminal to connect them to their destinations….
And dreams…
But while I am enroute to my destination….
Eva, the Parking Cents shuttle driver seems to have found hers….
Helping others get to theirs….
And while I an anxious to arrive…
Eva already did….
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