"When you have no helpers, see your helpers in God. When you have many helpers, see God in all your helpers. When you have nothing but God, see all in God. When you have everything, see God in everything. Under all conditions, stay thy heart only on the Lord."
-- Charles Spurgeon
Associations
Untitled Document
Quick Search
AFCI-USA is a diverse group of preachers and teachers uniquely bound together
in ministry with one vision, purpose and mission. Our Vision: To glorify God by life and ministry, seeking to know Him and make Him known to the nations of the world. Our Purpose: We are fellowship of gifted preachers and teachers, called of God, existing to work together with a focus on "Revival in the Church... Evangelism through the Church... and Training for the Church... among all people groups."
"The Nations" slide show presents the rationale behind AFCI-USA's Mission Statement: "To impact the Church in the Nations and to reach the Nations within our Nation." We invite you to view it and catch a glimpse of our vision. Click here to view...
I’m beginning to know what they mean with the exclamation, “Going Postal”. I think I’m about to.
Let’s face it, the Post Office has a simple mission. Get something from point A to point B. Not counting sending 300 of my newsletters quarterly, routinely, I send expense reports and bundled receipts to the Atlanta office. I simply send it first class. Upselling has become an art form in the Postal profession. Uniformed tellers routinely offer, “Express?”, “Priority?”. I repeat, “Just first class, thanks”.
Let’s think about this: aren’t they supposed to get it there in a timely mode? First class doesn’t mean second class! Then I’m asked if I want delivery confirmation. Why? Can’t you trust them to get it there without it? {Am I starting to sound like Andy Rooney?}
A few months ago a stone-faced teller reminded me when I declined her gracious offer of Express and Priority, that first class was quote, “4-6 days, no guarantee”. Coyly, I fired back, “You don’t guarantee your work?” She failed to see the humor in the comment.
Now the clincher. In the downtown Honolulu Post Office across from historic Iolani Palace, I run the gauntlet to secure a metered parking space for my truck, only to find myself locked out of P.O. Box 1533. I had previously paid my “Box Rent Due” utilizing the “No Postage Necessary” envelope conveniently provided. Long story made short, someone lost my payment…and it wasn’t moi. When I pointed out to the Supervisor the irony of the Post Office losing its own mail, he too, failed to see the levity in the moment.
Let me state the premise of this tirade. If you are in business, you should act like it. There is a minimum level of competence and performance. Sound reasonable?
It’s time to start preaching. There is a Christian ethic. We are supposed to act like it. Granted, we are saved by faith, and sanctified by faith. Yet, if we have new life in Christ, it ought to look different than when we were dead in sin! There is a standard of performance for professors of faith {Js 2:26}. Paul wrote, “Let him who steals, steal no longer”. Peter chided, “Put aside all silliness and filthy talk.” Jesus was more succinct, “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Any part of that we don’t understand?
You don’t hear many preachers talk like that, anymore.
I’m going to mention the unmentionable: money. More precisely and painfully, ministry and money! “Uh huh, always talking about money!” Actually, I’ve never written about money…till now. Fact is the Bible addresses monetary matters more than any other. If I’m committed to being Biblical, I best chip in my two cents.
The story is told of a little boy who swallowed a quarter. Family frantically asked if they should call a doctor. Grandpa wryly suggested out the corner of his mouth, “Call the Preacher, he can get money out of anybody!”
People get nervous whenever ministries mention money. I don’t blame them. You can almost sense some sinister symbiosis between Lucifer and lucre. Like you, I have seen tear-stained pleas on television, received glossy mailings promising a hundred fold blessing for seed faith (even Wall Street can’t match that!), and read carefully coded “prayer requests” in newsletters. All deftly designed to separate me and my money.
Let’s clear the air right up front. I’m not asking for money. True, it does take money for ministry. Consider that it required funds for Jesus and his apostles, thirteen grown men, to roam the countryside, for Elijah and Elisha to prophecy, for Paul and his associates Timothy and Titus to plant churches. The Bible names their sources. If I’m candid, it takes money for me to do what I do. That aside, I am not asking for your money.
Jesus indicated that a clear way to put your finger on the spiritual pulse of a believer’s heart was to touch their wallet. He posited, “Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.” The Master sat in the Temple strategically perched near the offering plate scrutinizing as people deposited their contribution. Then, He commented publicly on the amount! (Pastor, try that next Sunday!) Particularly, He remarked about the attitude behind the amount.
Scripture reveals repeated instances of God’s people giving specifically because the Lord touched their heart to do so. It was an inner spiritual issue. In the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness (Exodus 35), rebuilding the Temple with Ezra (Ezra 1), when Jehoash of Judah repaired the Temple (II Kings 12), with the infant Antioch church mission effort (Acts 11), and more, intentional mention is made of the Lord moving hearts to give. There’s a world of difference between giving out of gratitude and guilt. Paul prized motive when he penned, “Don’t give under compulsion…the Lord loves a cheerful giver.” Plainly put: if you can’t give with a willing heart, keep your money.
Let’s be rational. God doesn’t need our money. Psalms asserts He owns the cattle on a thousand hills; for that matter, the grass and soil underneath! Apparently, He chooses to use our money; more to the point, to use us! Hence the real issue is not purse strings, but the heart.
Now, let’s be practical. How does this apply to you and me, making a living in the real world? Grasp this: money matters matter. Faith affects finance. We cannot compartmentalize our commitment to Christ. In more than a quarter century in ministry, I have observed nominal believers grumble while spiritual people rejoice when investing in the Lord’s work. I remember as a kid, overhearing my parents figure out ways to buy bologna after they had willingly and cheerfully tithed. (…I always wondered if the Lord owns all these cattle, how come we never ate steak?...) Mom and Dad had a curious private quirk, when they gave, they would insist on using crisp new dollar bills. They wanted to give God their best. You can tell when a believer is maturing in their love for the Lord. They quit asking, “How little can I give?” and replace it with “How much can I give?”
Everyone in Ambassadors For Christ is totally funded in the Biblical manner mentioned earlier. There is no proverbial Big Corporate Pot in the sky. God’s people make it happen; or it doesn’t. In this ministry, I am called to “Live by Faith” which means support, not salary. I am a receiver. However, the Lord has reminded me; I too, am called to be a giver…a cheerful one at that! Bluntly put: if I can’t give with a willing heart, just keep the Lord’s money.
I did not write this article to wriggle a few more bucks out of you. The Apostle Paul wrote in II Corinthians 12 about ministry and money. In verse fourteen he cuts to the bottom line: “For I do not seek what is yours, but you…” O.K., here’s my bottom line: I don’t want your money, I want you. So does the Lord.
“For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.”
2 Corinthians 2:15
Have you ever had any doubt that our heavenly Father is interested in the small details of life?
During the week I lead tours through the Bonelli House in Kingman, AZ. This particular Monday a single woman arrived for a tour and waited patiently as I completed with a small group. It was unusual for a visitor to wait; most are in a hurry, but this lady was content.
As we were going from room to room she was attentive and alert with questions; she had discovered the Bonelli House “by accident” when she came into town, and was actually doing the town tour backwards, so to speak. She hadn’t noticed the Visitor Center, but had gravitated instead to the County Courthouse and City offices, which are located nearby, and someone directed her to us.
Later I would look for her name on our registration book, only to find “S. Kim” – so unassuming. A bit younger than me, she said she had just retired from the Postal Service in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. During our tour I noticed she was wearing a gold cross. At an opportune moment I asked her why she was wearing it… and was “blown away” at the story of her life – AND how it is quite possible that we are connected in more than one way!
It seems her grandfather was a Presbyterian pastor in Korea around the turn of the 20th century. In order to get training he had to walk into the northern part of Korea (a two month trek) where there was a seminary in Pyongyang and stay for three or four years. When he returned to Seoul he became pastor of a church, thus opening the way for future growth of Christianity in that nation.
My great-uncle and aunt (Dr. Edward and Mattie Miller) went to Korea in 1901 as Presbyterian missionaries… and they were based in Seoul for 42 years. Uncle Ed was a professor of Chemistry in the university (Chosen College) but his greater purpose was to encourage and train local pastors and help them reach their people. He often went north to Pyongyang to teach, but he had transportation. Most of you know of the incredible revival and expansion of the Church in Korea over the past fifty-plus years, especially within the Presbyterian denomination.
The likelihood of our relatives having had direct contact seemed very high; the likelihood of Mrs. Kim and me meeting in Kingman to share that encouragement is incredibly rare. As she left to go on her way, we gave each other a blessing of assurance that we would see one another again one day; perhaps not here but surely in heaven.
Two days later, again working in the Bonelli House, I got a call on my cell phone from Diane Clarida, a woman in Oklahoma. Her pastor, a friend to whom I had just emailed my quarterly newsletter – with a little “blurb” about meeting Mrs. Kim – had shared the story with her. Diane was bubbling over and said she was compelled to call, because she could have written that very story herself! Two of her great-uncles were Presbyterian missionaries to Korea at the turn of the century. She was curious see if there was another link developing in God’s network; her uncles’ names were Herbert and William Blair.
We talked briefly and exchanged emails. Something she had said about one of her uncles being a writer clicked for me. Over the years I had save three small paperback books written by a missionary about Christianity and revival in Korea. These books had belonged to my great-uncle and were passed to me through my mother. I had never read them but the author’s name hit the mark, William Newton Blair.
I located the books at home and opened each thin cover. There was one copy of “Gold in Korea” and two copies of “Chansung’s Confessions.” The author had signed both the Chansung books, but the Gold book had an inscription from another missionary friend, Samuel Moffett, who had given the book as a gift to my parents in 1957. To my amazement, there in Uncle Ed Miller’s handwriting inside one of the
“Chansung” books was, “Blairs and Millers went out to Korea together in 1901”. For a moment I was awestruck, dumbfounded.
In her call, Diane shared that she had misplaced her copy of the “Chansung” book some time ago. Strange; for years I had threatened to sell or give away the extra copy, thinking it a bit frivolous to keep two copies of something I never read… but I couldn’t do it, especially since it was signed by the author, and now I know for whom it was saved! It goes in the mail to Diane this week!
The story really doesn’t end here (the part about how Mrs. Kim got to Canada from Korea and why she was in Kingman, where she was going next and why; what is God’s ultimate purpose in this simultaneous connecting the three of us?)… but it is enough to make my point and bring awareness of the amazing, over-arching way that our sovereign God connects His people around the world. He does it to bring glory to Himself, but to also show us that He is a God in the big and small details of life and He delights in delighting us.
# # # # # # #
So how did this happen? How could it be orchestrated? Look at the odds in “the natural” realm, perhaps I’m missing some but these facts are irrefutable:
I had to be a believer in Jesus Christ and be looking to do His will that day
I had to have been born into a particular family at a particular time in history
I had to be living in Kingman at that point in time
I had to have needed employment and prayed and waited for God to provide the job
I had to be working at the Bonelli House on that particular day
I had to find the opportune moment to mention the gold cross the visitor was wearing
My newsletter had to be ready to be emailed at that very moment in time
I had to have kept the Wm Blair books all these years, having two of the one that was missing!
Mrs. Kim had to be a believer in Jesus Christ and be wearing her cross
She had to have been born in a particular family at a particular time in history
She had to be visiting Kingman that day (she’d been on the road the past three months by car)
She had to stumble upon the City offices instead of the normal stop at the Visitors Center
Someone at the City had to direct her to the Bonelli House instead of the Visitors Center
Mrs. Kim had to choose to live out the fruit of the spirit: Patience (longsuffering)
She had to be willing to open up to a stranger about her faith and life history
Larry Harris had to be on my newsletter mail list (never had mailed him one before)
He had to have been a pastor in Ponca City, OK at this particular point in history
We had to have the Tonga connection (1995) where we were first acquainted
I had to write about my visit with Fale & Rachel in Los Angeles in my newsletter
Fale & Rachel had to have been in Los Angeles in order to have our visit
I had to have facilitated their USA travel, thus communicate with Larry re their Oklahoma visit
Larry had to share my email with Diane – was she in the office, is she staff???
Diane had to have a connection with Larry for him to know her history
She had to have been born in a particular family in this particular point of history
She had to be living in Ponca City
Diane had to be a believer in Jesus Christ to see His hand in this extraordinary
divine appointment and give me a call.
Science can’t do it, mathematics can’t do it – it’s supernatural! We give God ALL the credit and look forward to what comes next!
Recently I was gripped with the need to focus my mind on certain words of Scripture. For some previous weeks I’d been allowing vain imaginings and useless opinionating to rule my heart – much of it due to challenges in my life (such as HVAC problems, car trouble, concern over the second-time marriages of two friends and of family issues for others; about my ministry, my own family issues, employment, etc, etc, etc). Perfectly, the Lord pointed out the following specific six verse groups one morning, graciously pointing me to the goal:
Romans 7:22-25… “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” My “enemy” has one goal which is to capture my mind and get me off track with inconsistent behavior and reactions, and captivity to his agenda! That’s our life-long battle as Christian believers.
I Corinthians 10:4-5…”For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds (of the enemy), casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” My human tendency is to fancy myself so capable or intelligent that I don’t need to take time to ask God about it… but that puts me in direct opposition to Him… not trusting Him completely? Not a good place to be! Even in the smallest detail of life He gives me the weapons [the words of Scripture-see Ephesians 6:10-20] to slice and chop my way to victory over the devil who always tries to take hold of me again.
Philippians 4:8… “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.” Fill my mind with good thoughts, not stressful, defeating thoughts that the world pounds at me (through various media hype) which make me feel unworthy, or unable to attain. God created me for a purpose, He designed my personality, my passions, and my position, and these are set to be used for His pleasure and glory!
I Corinthians 9:24-27… “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it... they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body (and mind) and bring it into subjection lest when I have preached to (shared with) others I myself should become disqualified.” In this life I’m asked to run a marathon, not a sprint. So that I can go the distance, I take it one day at a time, prayerfully beginning each day aligning myself with God’s heart.
Hebrews 12:1-2… “Therefore … let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” As an adopted daughter of the King of kings, there is a place reserved for me near the throne of God. Meanwhile, I have all the rights and responsibilities of a “princess” – to behave, believe, and beam the truth about my position. This position, this adoption, is a free gift and I must not abuse it.
Revelation 21 & 22 (in their entirety)
While I have breath left on this earth shall I give my energy to feasting on His word and obeying it, or shall I use my energy and time for personal pleasures? In what (or in Whom) do I “abide?” The greatest personal pleasure comes with abiding in Christ Jesus. The goal is to keep my mind so focused on worthy stuff, not junk TV or unfounded opinions or useless imaginations (fantasies) or other wasting of precious time, that the tornados (or hurricanes) of my mind have no place to do their damage (thank you, Laura Baker of PRASSO Ministry).
May God use His work of meditation to be helpful for us each to reach the goal!
Philippians 3:12-14
Once we have committed our lives to following Jesus (and I hope with all my heart you have responded to Him and made that choice) there is a satisfaction and “filling up” that takes place and gives us comfort and peace, sometimes beyond explanation.
At the same time that we intentionally give up our own plans for those of our Savior, we enter into a lifelong battle. (Be assured that you are always on the side of the Victor if you remain wholly committed to your new life in Christ.) But we will be faced with such challenges and consternation that it can rattle our confidence and unhinge our faith.
Here are four helpful Scriptures that can protect our minds and hearts, and allow us to encourage others. These four verses should also be read in context in order to gain a wider understanding of God’s intent. But to keep us moving forward on the narrow path, let’s commit these to memory so we acquire a mindset that our Prince of peace will be able to use to enrich and guide us the rest of our lives.
Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; 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 for me.”
Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Ephesians 6:12: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
John 17:4: “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.”
By starting each day adding these to our times of devotion they can be used to remind us throughout the day of God’s power and purpose and design for our life. Keeping them handy when we are faced with difficulties that demand flexibility, compromise, and submission in our earthly environment will become powerful tools for our Lord’s plans.
There are other resources the Lord has provided for us as well. Make use of them! His desire is to find us so open and eager to serve that He lavishly provides godly tools (Bibles, books, Internet, etc), preachers, teachers, and fellow travelers to help us and join us on this narrow, upward road. God bless you!
