Grace Fellowship

Looking for additional thoughts from Pastor Phillip? You’re in the right place!

Martin Luther said, “I am so busy now that if I did not spend two or three hours each day in prayer, I would not get through the day.” Sir William Temple said, “God is perfect love and perfect wisdom. We do not pray in order to change his will, but to bring our wills into harmony with his.”

God’s vision includes us. Prayer helps us to know and embrace that vision. It is not unusual to hear people talk about how busy their lives have become, welcome to planet earth. Jesus warned that this would be a ploy of the enemy to distract us from what is really important. Some of the early church fathers can help us rethink these priorities. Martin Luther was a man of vision yet he recognized his own inability to accomplish it without prayer. The Bible says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). Vision causes us to focus on our priorities and stay on track. If we allow God to establish these priorities, they will have eternal value.

*”John Wesley averages three sermons a day for 54 years, preaching more that 44,000 times altogether. To do this he traveled by horseback and carriage more than 200,000 miles, or about 5,000 miles a year. At the age of 83, he was upset to discover that he could not write more than 15 hours a day without hurting his eyes. At age 86, he was ashamed to admit that he could not preach more than twice a day and he was angry that he would sleep until 5am. At the age of 88, he was still traveling on horseback and preaching.”

What keeps a person alive and moving forward past the age most have stopped? It is the power of a God-given vision that gives purpose and meaning to living. Colonel Sanders discovered, “finger lickin’ good” chicken at 70 years of age. 

Ray Kroc introduced the world to the Big Mac at the age of 70. Picasso was still painting at 88. George Washington Carver became the head of the Agriculture Department at 81 and Thomas Edison invented the mimeograph machine at 85.

Some of our goals may seem small compared to these mighty visionaries. But, the purpose isn’t to become driven by performance, but alive with purpose. Titus 3:8 tells believers to be careful to maintain good works. Good works are filled with purpose, passion and love for the Lord. They are motivated by and birthed from love. Dead works are those we do in an effort to win God’s favor. His favor is a free gift. He has already given us His approval in Christ Jesus! The difference in good or dead works is the motive behind them.

What makes Grace Fellowship different from other churches, even charismatic? It is this message of faith, grace, peace and the finished work of the cross.

Matthew 5:1-2 “When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions… (The Message)

No one accomplishes a vision alone, not even Jesus. He was able to draw huge crowds with the help of His climbing companions. They were apprenticed, committed and teachable. Greater crowds were drawn after Jesus’ ascension than during His lifetime, but why? They owned His vision. A hand full of men empowered by the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ vision changed the course of the world forever. The only one who didn’t have the vision betrayed Jesus and then hung himself. A vision causes ordinary folks to do extraordinary things, but without it people perish.

Have negative circumstances robbed you of your God-given vision in 2009? You don’t have to stay there. The Lord has not lost the recipe for filling us with the Holy Spirit. Our prayer should be, Lord rejuvenate us again in 2010 and make Your vision alive in me!

*Excerpt taken from Be All You Can Be by: John C. Maxwell

The recent but very real craze is the removal of Christ from Christmas and the transition from “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays.”  Christmas can be by nature a stressful time. Every year believers talk about slowing down and remembering the true meaning of Christmas.  We can’t remind the world of why we celebrate Christmas until we remember for ourselves.

A few years ago, there was an article in Christianity Today entitled, “Christmas Grinches.”  These are the thieves that have come to steal our peace and joy.  The article reads, “Things can go terribly wrong with Christmas so I want to warn you about some of them.  It would be a shame for your Christmas to be ruined.  You have heard of the Grinch, you know the Grinch that stole Christmas.  Well there isn’t just one.  There is a whole tribe of Grinches.  I want to tell you about a few of them and how to keep them from stealing your Christmas peace and joy.  There are different Grinches like the secular Grinch, the time pressure Grinch, and the financial Grinch.”

If we are going to experience peace and joy, we must understand our source of it.  Joy comes from experiencing peace.  The world has defined peace as the absence of conflicts but this is not how Jesus defined it.  Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” (Matt. 10:34)  God is our source of real peace.  Not the absence of conflicts, but knowing the “Prince of Peace.” (Isa.9:6)  If peace is not the absence of conflicts, then what is it?  It is the fact that the war between man and God is over.  God was not at war with man, but mankind, in an effort to be self-governed, was at war with God.  God’s wrath on behalf of sin has been satisfied in Christ. 

The outward acts of sin are merely the fruit of the inward nature. This inward nature of sin is changed by receiving Jesus as our deliverer.God is a covenant keeping God.  He is not fickle, or moody.  He does not wake up on the wrong side of the bed.  He is our solid, stable, unfailing and unchanging Father.  He is not angry or mad with mankind. The problem of sin has been handled on our behalf because Jesus cut a covenant of peace for us. (Isa.54:9-10)

The thought of someone being mad or angry creates stress.  Many live in constant fear that God is angry or mad with them.  I remember feeling this way towards our sergeant at the Army Navy Marine School of Music in Norfolk VA.  I watched him chew out many men during inspections for not measuring up to his standards.  Each soldier was supposed to remove the lacquer from their brass in basic training many months earlier.  The lacquer made the brass shine as long as it didn’t get scratched or turn yellow.  During an inspection he snapped in front of me in military style coming face to face.  Almost instantly he bellowed, “Hamilton is that lacquer on your brass?”  Should I lie saying “No sergeant”?  Images of him chewing out other soldiers rushed through my head.  There wasn’t any getting around it.  I was clearly guilty and caught.   I had to do what was right and take my medicine.  So, I responded “Yes sergeant!”  Prepared to receive a verbal tongue lashing of profanity, I braced myself for the worst!  To my utter astonishment, I was not at all prepared for what followed.  He snapped to the next man saying calmly, “Have it off by the next formation.”  I am certain he already knew the answer to his question and wanted to know how I would respond.  My refusal to lie and willingness to take the heat “saved my bacon” so to speak!  I gladly obeyed his command to remove the lacquer.  Not because he was angry but because he showed mercy.

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, took the heat for our sin upon Himself.  God is not mad, angry or disappointed with us, but why?  It is because Jesus our Prince of Peace cut a covenant of peace with God for us.

Romans 5: “¹Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Luke 2: ¹⁰Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

While writing the first blog on Costa Rica, it became very obvious that it could not be done in one article. This is a continuation of those thoughts.

The day I asked Jesus into my heart at the age of 9, I remember gripping the back of the pew in resistance to the Spirit’s urging. It was uncomfortable but I knew there was a tug on my heart to yield my life to Him. Many who have come to Christ can testify of similar experiences. Yet, in our churches today there seems to be a trend to make people so comfortable that I wonder if we aren’t missing the voice of the Lord. Someone once said,”God loves us just the way we are but He loves us too much to leave us that way.” We shouldn’t purpose to make folks intentionally uncomfortable but the exaggerated emphasis on comfort can quickly become an idol if we aren’t careful.

How many times have people said to a pastor, “I have a guest coming to church, please preach a good one today or let’s don’t do anything to make them uncomfortable”? Where does trusting God come in? Who but God knows what is working in that person’s heart? Wouldn’t it be better to be left uncomfortable than to be untouched and unchanged? Trouble occurs when we want to do the Holy Spirit’s job for Him, rather than simply be used by Him. In the light of this, I have never understood why there is so much controversy over the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

At the conference center, Campamento Rio Haranjo, I taught three more times on the Holy Spirit and the Gifts. After the sessions, there was sweet worship and Q&A time. I was surprised at their well thought out questions and the comfort level at which they seemed to express themselves. After lunch and between breaks, they came over and continued to ask many wonderful questions through Eunice who interpreted. Their hunger to know more about God was refreshing. Then, I asked Pastor Rodriguez what he would like me to share in my last lesson. He said, “Your testimony is very similar to mine, coming from a denominational church, could you share it and how it affected your ministry?” I laughed and agreed to the task “but you must know it ruined my plans for ministry. It became a total walk of faith that took me away from the denomination I so dearly loved.” After sharing with the pastors, there seemed to be a river of compassion flowing from the Holy Spirit to us.

Some days later, we were in Pastor Juan’s home. (Pastor Juan sponsored us being there and introduced us to Pastor Rodriguez, the president of the Association of Bible Churches.) When you walk into Pastor Juan’s front door you can see straight through to the back door. The doors are left open to allow a breeze to flow through. In the kitchen is a wood burning stove where they cook meals and make coffee. One of his members may walk in the back door just to say hello. It is not unusual for him and his family to sit, talk and laugh together.

The interpreters, David and Eunice, were laughing and talking to Pastor Juan as we drank coffee. I heard him say something like “El Pastor Felipe.” I didn’t have to know the language to understand that he had said something about me. So, I asked, “what did he say?” They said he was just laughing about your hearing Pastor Adolfo worshiping God in English and said you will be speaking Spanish next. As they continued talking they said, “Wait a minute, pastor he’s serious! Pastor Juan said when you had finished preaching he heard your praying by yourself. You were speaking Spanish but it wasn’t formal Spanish, but in our dialect. It was like country or Costa Rican Spanish.” “What was I saying?”, I asked. He responded, “You were just magnifying the Lord and thanking Him that He allowed you to be here with these people.”

What is the lesson I am learning? It is to be less consumed with wondering why Christians fight over such clear  truths and simply enjoy what He is doing in me! My mind often struggles with why believers would dare compromise such a beautiful supernatural experience of love given by the Father. Instead of asking why should I pray like that shouldn’t it be why not? Most people who have asked me what good is praying in the Spirit have never trusted God enough to go to His Word to find out. It is not a badge of maturity or spirituality. It is simply a language of love given by our heavenly Father to be enjoyed and to help us when we pray.

As a preschooler, Dad would take my two brothers and me to get a haircut. The shop had a rather large ceiling fan that made a whooping sound as it turned. There was no air conditioning, and this was pretty common at the time. The front door was open to help create a warm but humid breeze. Often, we fell asleep waiting our turn. Mr. Moore lifted us onto a wooden plank set between the armrest of the barber chair. This sat us up high enought to be reached. A white apron was tied around our neck to keep the hair off of our clothes. The clippers hummed lightly behind our ears as Mr. Moore balanced a cigarette between his lips. It looked like it might fall from his mouth at any moment. His eyes blinked continuously from the smoke curling around his face. So much for second hand smoke! Once my dad said, “Boys wait right here. I am going across the street to the store. I’ll be right back.” In a few minutes, panic set in. I began to wonder, would he really come back? As my eyes began to tear up, here he came just like he said. Although my father worked out of town on many occasions, he always came home when he could. His “being there” became a defining trait in his life. At his passing, I found myself unreasonably angry with him for not being there. I, a grown man with children of my own, had to deal with feelings of being angry for something that he couldn’t help. He just wasn’t there. In ministry and in life there are times when people with the best of intentions just can’t be there.

So what does this have to do with Costa Rica? On October 10th-18th, we went on a special mission’s trip to Costa Rica to teach pastors, among many other things. Our assignment included teaching on the Holy Spirit and the Gifts. Pastor Luis Rodriguez, the President of the Association of Bible Churches, had requested this topic. As a non-Charismatic/Pentecostal denomination, he wanted them to be given the opportunity to learn more about the infilling of the Holy Spirit with Gifts. This is one of my favorite subjects so I was given the task of teaching it.

The conference began on Monday morning, but we were invited to bring the Sunday morning service too. Many of the pastors arrived early and Pastor Adolfo was in charge of the morning meeting. This was held at their conference center- Campamento Rio Naranjo. It is a beautiful center with rolling mountains and green fields all around. There are no air conditioners but lots of open windows and ceiling spaces to let the air flow through. I taught on “Let the River Flow” from Ezekiel. It is about the river that flowed from the throne of God hitting the earth on the day of Pentecost. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

At the end of the message, we prayed for the needs of the people. Dexter, our associate pastor, prayed while Maria translated for him. (Maria is a great organizer and these trips would not be possible without her and Dexter’s hard work!) Eunice, a worship leader from “Oasis de Bendicion” in Augusta, GA., interpreted for me as we prayed. Eunice can sing the horns off a Billy goat. Worship is not an option for her! She enjoys moving in the Spirit and praying for people’s needs. She became so involved in praying for others that I was left alone. So, I just worshipped the Lord prayerfully to the side. Pastor Adolfo stood up to bring the meeting to a close so we could go to lunch. Since Hispanic people are very expressive and vocal in their worship, it is difficult to know exactly what is going on when you don’t speak the language.

Pastor Adolfo was singing to himself before the Lord with his hands slightly lifted and since I didn’t know the language, I could not tell if he were praying in Spanish or praying in tongues. I was about 12 feet in front of him as he stood on the stage. With my head bowed to the floor I heard these words in a singing fashion, “I will never leave you.” I thought, that sounds like English, but Dexter was nowhere around. Again Pastor Adolfo simply sang, “I will never leave you.” By now, I was looking right at him. A third time I heard him sing in clear English with my eyes firmly fixed, “I will never leave you.” My first thought was – does he speak English? He took us to lunch so I seized the opportunity to have Maria ask Pastor Adolfo, “Are you filled with the Holy Spirit and do you pray in tongues?” There was some hesitancy on our part because these pastors didn’t all practice this belief. Pastor Adolfo responded, “Si!” We continued, “Do you know how to speak any English?” No, was his response. “But Pastor Adolfo”, Maria explained, “the American pastor just heard you worshiping God in English!” Maria told him what he had said, “I will never leave you.”

I am not a sensationalist and neither is Pastor Adolfo. I have no interest in fabricating signs and wonders. God does very well without my help, thank you very much! While, I have heard of this phenomenon among many respected friends and ministers, it had never happened to me. Doubters will always explain it away in their minds. God is best understood from the Word and a recreated heart and not from fallen human logic. It was a sweet word from the Lord reminding me of a simple truth He has been working in me for sometime, “He will never leave us.”

In John 14:17-18, Jesus promised to give us the Holy Spirit whom the world could not receive! In verse 18, Jesus promises that He will not leave us as orphans! In Hebrews 16:5, He promises to never leave or forsake us. In Psalm 46:1, God revealed Himself as Jehovah-Shammah or “Jehovah is present.”

If the Lord had asked me, do you believe I will never leave you? I would have responded, of course I do Lord! I know it doctrinally in my head but what about emotionally? Sometime ago the Lord began to deal with me about knowing this in my heart. I wanted to argue, but Lord I know this! Gradually, lovingly and kindly, He opened this area of my life up as I prayed in the Spirit. “I want you to know Me as the One who will never leave you!” One of the benefits of praying in the Spirit is we do not know how to pray as we ought. But, the Holy Spirit knows how to pray through us. I wish I could report to you that the lesson has been learned well, but I have a feeling it is ongoing.

The Christian life is a journey and the Holy Spirit sweetly teaches and woos us if we are open to Him. It may not be learned in one setting but He continues to encourage us to write it upon our heart! Trust Me! Trust Me- for, “I will never leave you! I will never leave you! I will never leave you!”

There are several things which seem to make time stand still. One is the memory of my Grandmother. She was raised a Methodist and later became Baptist after my dad married mom. She was always way over the top, out of control, good to her grandchildren. This wasn’t always true of how she treated other family members. Grandmother was a strange dichotomy being enthusiastically in love with Jesus and ready to share her affection at the drop of a hat. She was also ready to tell someone what was what when things didn’t go her way! You never had to wonder what Grandmother was thinking.

At her grave side, we couldn’t help but laugh under our breaths, as the pastor told the story of how Grandmother would simply bake a pie for someone who offended her. No doubt, a story she told many times to him while he was visiting her! I’m sure she did bake the pie. But, this usually came after a long string of verbal and emotional antics. Was the pie really a peace offering or was it gratuity for guilt? Only heaven knows!

In all her humanness she is the one who led me to trust Christ as my savior. I never doubted Grandmother’s love for me and for this I am grateful.

While visiting her in the hospital, it didn’t appear that she would be with us much longer. Her pastor, my brother, and I were walking down the hall talking about her going home to be with the Lord. We agreed to pray and the pastor said something like, “Let’s just agree whether she lives or whether she dies that the will of the Lord be done.” My first thought was if we are willing to accept whatever happens to her as the will of the Lord, why bother praying?

Many think that whatever happens to us can only happen because it is God’s will. This relieves them of any personal responsibility while blaming God for everything that happens. It is a kind of circumstance theology.

I read where a very popular minister said he knew it wasn’t God’s will to heal his wife of cancer because they prayed and she wasn’t healed. Therefore, it wasn’t God’s will to heal her! The outcome of her circumstances determined his beliefs. Wouldn’t it be better to simply admit that I don’t know why she is sick? To blame God, when He is not guilty, is to impinge upon His character. We live in a fallen world, in a fallen place that is imperfect. Things happen that aren’t the will of God. Someone once said, “Heaven is the only place where God’s will is always done. Hell is the only place God’s will is never done. And, on the earth sometimes His will is done and sometimes it is not.” Are we afraid of losing our faith because we don’t have all the answers?

In Luke 13:16, Jesus said Satan had bound this woman with sickness for eighteen years. In Acts 10:38, sickness is referred to as an oppression of the devil. In contrast, some have even said, “Satan is an unwilling puppet in the hand of God to do His evil bidding because God is too good to do it Himself. The enemy can’t do anything to us without it passing through the all-seeing eyes of God. While God may not do evil, He allows it.” This is not what Jesus said!

While we fight over semantics, the end result is the same. If George hires a hit man to kill me because he doesn’t want to do it himself- doesn’t that make George a murderer also? Jesus said the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy- not God.

1 Timothy 2:4 (CEV) says, “God wants everyone to be saved and to know the whole truth.”

In Job 38:2, God rebukes Job for daring to open his mouth without knowledge and speaking when he did not understand what was going on. In other words, he didn’t know what he was talking about. Yet, many want to quote this man’s ignorance when it comes to the Father.

No, God is a good God. Goodness and love are His nature. I would rather be accused of believing He is just too good than to be accused of having slandered His character and misrepresent Him in this way.