Are You A Spiritual Leper?

Are You A Spiritual Leper?

Matthew 8:2&3 NIV

2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.

   I always thought lepers lost their fingers and other body parts because the parts rotted off.  Not entirely correct.  The parts are lost because the person has a nerve disease that prevents them from feeling pain.  Not being able to feel pain lets them injure themselves over and over until a body part catches gangrene or is damaged beyond the ability to heal and is lost.

   I have known many Christians who have a type of leprosy:  spiritual leprosy.  They followed their own desires and sinned and then ignored God when He tried to call them back to Him.  They kept ignoring the feelings of remorse their conscience gave them until their hearts were so damaged that they are beyond the ability to feel anymore.  Some have even kept damaging their heart until parts of it die and they lose the ability to heal. 

   Leprosy diagnosed in its early stages is easy to treat and control.  Once one of the most feared diseases known to mankind, now it is a rare disease requiring lifetime treatment, just like cancer patients, heart patients, diabetes patients and others who require a lifetime of treatment to keep well. 

   Spiritual leprosy is a dangerous condition found in some Christians.  First there is numbness in the heart and you fail to respond to God’s movements in your life.  Then the ears get deaf and you no longer hear His call to you to come back to Him.  You begin to lose other spiritual aspects of your life and eventually your spirit dies and you become hollow inside, and you no longer are capable of receiving anything from God. 

   There is good news, though!  There is hope for you if the spiritual leprosy is diagnosed early and you seek treatment.  In its early stages it requires a simple dose of prayer and seeking God and then requires a lifetime of treatment.  So simple.  A prayer and a little remorse for having sinned against God and you’re in remission and recovery.    

   I, like every other Christian I have spoken to, have points of weakness in my life.  There are sins I never commit because I am not tempted by them.  There are sins I do commit because I have a weakness towards those areas.  And our Adversary knows where to attack us, and probes these spiritual weaknesses.  So we need to take our medicine regularly as a preventative measure.  Read the Bible daily and pray often.  Reading the Bible feeds your spirit and makes you stronger and better able to resist attacks.  Praying connects you to God and when you are close to God you will be less likely to want to sin. 

   And never forget the He is willing that you get well.  You just have to ask!  If you suspect you have numbness around your heart or your ears don’t hear God clearly anymore, seek treatment immediately.  If your eyes wander and are hard to focus on the words in your Bible, seek treatment.  There is no danger in taking treatment even if you don’t have spiritual leprosy.  Treatment is not harmful to a healthy spirit and will actually help you grow. 

Stephen Cram                                   October 26, 2014                                

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ. 

Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.

Join Pastor Jon Tuesday nights at 6:30 for Praise Chapel TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/praise-chapel-tv .

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.

Hindering the Work of the Lord

Hindering the Work of the Lord

   My first visit to a church was when I was 9 days old.  I’ve been going to church pretty much ever since.  I can count the Sundays I’ve missed in the last ten years on my fingers and toes.  In the time I’ve been going to church, I’ve heard many sermons, and seen churches going through prosperous, blessed times and times when they have come under attack.  And I’ve noticed that often, these bad times follow one of three basic patterns.  The Spirit has recorded an example of the first two in Acts chapter six and of the third in Acts chapter eight.

Acts 6:1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.  
   The enemy will create dissension within the church.  When you hear constant bickering and complaining, beware!  A church known for it’s bickering and complaining won’t be able to effectively witness to its community.  Who would want to go to a church like that?
   More importantly, don’t join in the bickering and complaining.  You cannot pray effectively about a problem if you’re involved in the problem.

Acts 6:2 Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
   The enemy will try to keep pastors and teachers from concentrating on their duties by distracting them to doing other work.  There wasn’t anything wrong with wanting to feed widows and orphans.  The problem was that the Apostles needed to be in prayer and studying to minister to the spiritual needs of the church.  They were distracted by the need to feed the hungry – work that could be done by others.  Church leaders will always feel pressure to do too much.  I have seen pastors vacuuming floors and cleaning toilets because no one else would volunteer.
   And beware when you begin to think you are too valuable and need to do everything yourself.  A good leader has to learn what the job he has to do personally is and what he has to delegate.  Then he has to find good people to put in those positions and trust them to get the work done.  Leaders so involved in church programs that they have little time for prayer and the study of the Word are failing in their ministry.

Acts 8:3a As for Saul, he made havoc of the church,
   The primary work of the enemy is to destroy God’s people.  Jesus told us the Thief comes not but to steal, to kill, and to destroy.  We need to be aware that we will come under attack; either personally or as part of a church.  At some time in your Christian life you will be the victim of gossip and lies, suffer illness and injuries, see others hurting and lonely, and suffer many other attacks.  You are not being singled out nor are you backslidden.  Attacks happen if you’re doing God’s work.  Try to be clear about this.  YOU WILL COME UNDER ATTACK IF YOU’RE DOING GOD’S WORK.  Sorry to shout there, but I really want you to get this.
   Christians in particular and churches in general must always be ready to counter attacks.  Be in prayer every day, whether or not you feel like it.  Pray for yourself, pray for your family, pray for your friends, and pray for the leaders of your church.  Whether you call them pastor, minister, bishop, father, or “hey you”, they need your prayers.  Whether you agree with them or are disagreeing with them, they need your prayers.    
   Don’t contribute to dissention and don’t backbite.  If you’re really that unhappy, go somewhere else and try to start over.  You are not responsible for how others react to an attack on your church, but you are responsible for how you react.  Your reaction should be to stop, drop to your knees and pray.

 Stephen Cram                                               October 12, 2014                  

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ.

Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.
Join Pastor Jon Tuesday nights at 6:30 for Praise Chapel TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/praise-chapel-tv .

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.

Picking Through Fossils

Picking Through Fossils

Psalm 104:24 KJV

Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

   The boy did not want to go on the science field trip.  Field trips were always boring.  Science field trips were the most boring.  Today’s trip was going to an archeological site to climb around on rocks and look for fossils of animals dead a long time.  Big deal!  Nothing interested the boy less.

   Then, something surprising happened.  The boy was the first one in his group to find a real, genuine fossil.  He held the rock in his hands and traced the fragile trilobite fossil with his finger.  No one really knows how old this was, and there are no trilobites alive in the world today.  He was enthralled by the sight, and a new love was born in the boy’s heart.  He saw the earth as a treasure house of wonders too magnificent to understand.

   I remember sitting in church as a boy listening to preachers and teachers droning on about dead people and things that happened long ago and far away.  Big deal!  What did this have to do with me, anyway?  I saw the Bible as a dead, dusty book full of stories from, “long, long ago.” 

   My attention was elsewhere.  America was in a race to space with the Soviets and there were many other exciting things happening in the world around me.  Who cared what Moses said; I wanted to know what Kennedy said! 

   I felt studying the Bible was as exciting as picking through fossils.  Then something wonderful happened.  My teacher started to teach the Bible as a book of people, real people.  People like you and me who faced real life situations and had real life decisions to make.  And I made a connection.  I fingered the Bible I held in my hand and traced the life of Elijah, and then the life of Elisha.  They were the first two people to come alive before my eyes.  They went from fossils to people.  They went from dry and dusty names to vibrant characters. 

   Have you discovered the joy of reading the Bible?  Pick a story or a character and trace from the account from beginning to end.  If you think as I did that the Bible is a moldy oldie and not worth your time, then I beg you to try it just once.  If the life of Joseph or the story of Esther doesn’t excite you, you’re either dead or comatose.  Run your fingers over the texture of the stories and let these dead people speak to you.  Their lives were recorded to give you direction.  Learn from them.

Stephen Cram                                      October 5, 2014                                            

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ. 

Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.

Join Pastor Jon Tuesday nights at 6:30 for Praise Chapel TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/praise-chapel-tv .

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.

Napoleon and the Private

Napoleon and the Private

2 Corinthians 5:17 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

   There is an story about Napoleon, the legendary French leader, which may or may not be true.  But it’s a good story, so here it is.

   It’s true that Napoleon had a prize horse he valued above any other and he rode it everywhere.  I found different versions about his horse, but the horse’s name seems to have been Marengo.  The story goes that one day Marengo was spooked by something and bolted away from Napoleon.  An alert soldier, a private, was already mounted and he spurred his horse and gave chase.  He caught up to Marengo and grabbed the reigns and led the horse back to his general.  Napoleon took his horse’s reigns and said simply, “thank you, Captain.”  The private was surprised and thanked Napoleon and immediately went to his tent and gathered up his Private’s uniforms and went to the Quartermaster and turned them in and drew Captain’s uniforms.  He went back to his tent and packed his belongings and moved to the officer’s quarters.  He then went to his immediate superior and presented himself in his new rank and the superior put him in charge a unit of men.  He never once doubted or questioned his commander’s word.  If the commanding general said it, it was good enough for him.  He believed and acted on that word.

   As Christians, we are similar to the private.  We were of lowly status and really didn’t account for much in life.  But along comes The Commander of the Army of the Lord and by His death and resurrection we are offered a chance to join this army.  We ask forgiveness and suddenly we are accepted and promoted.  No longer are we condemned sinners, now we are soldiers in the Lord’s service.  All we need to do is claim our new rank and begin to function in it.  Christ says we are new creations and we need to grasp that and begin to act like Christians, not like “only sinners saved by grace.” 

   Have you claimed your new rank?  Have you obeyed His Words that tell you you are now promoted?  Move out of your sinful life and move into your new life.  Stop dressing in your sin and dress yourself in clean robes of righteousness. 

   

Stephen Cram                                                          September 21, 2014         

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ. 

Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.

Join Pastor Jon Tuesday nights at 6:30 for Praise Chapel TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/praise-chapel-tv .

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.