Real Time Christianity...The Book
The Set-Apart (from the Ways of the World) Church of God
REAL-TIME CHRISTIANITY
The Set-Apart Church of God
by Richard Mahli' Author of 'A Glimpse of God'
Copyright 2019
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Scriptural references taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter 1 Real-Time Testimony Living
Chapter 2 Real-Time Outreach
Chapter 3 The Real-Time Good News
Chapter 4 Real-Time Prayer
Chapter 5 The Real-Time Awakening
Introduction
In these present days, church attendance is declining as more people are becoming indifferent towards God because of little spiritual awareness. And now with this pandemic and other worldly situations, it is even more important to stay connected to God always! It is time for us to call upon the Lord for His solutions!
The time has come for the ''Real-Time Church" to arise and stay separated unto God by the Word of God and prayer. This is called sanctification. It is time to become of one mindset and reveal that God is alive and working in our lives, so we can share our testimonies and His power, His Holy Word in us, to the world.
Psalms 105:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known
his deeds among the people.
An ''Army of One Mind", in one accord with the mind of God, is unstoppable! For instance, if we lived according to our needs and not our wants, we could control the economy of this country and then the world. When Israel hearkened to Moses and Aaron, they left Egypt and the entire economy collapsed overnight! Has God changed? It is up to us to understand how God works so we can follow and obey His lead.
John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me.
If God has blessed you with a wealth of talent, giftings or money, why not use them for any and all of the many causes of Christ, so Heaven can rejoice in transforming the world? This is not about making one feel good, but about us making God feel good about us and our function in the world. Just like a soldier is content in an army because all of his or her needs are met, we too should be content as we are told by the Holy Spirit to do.
1Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
Edmund Burke once said: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing''. Today, the evil in the world is rampant and is becoming overwhelming. The Holy Spirit, via the Holy Bible, spoke these words on how to overcome evil with good by a few key principles:
Romans 12:21 ...overcome evil with good.
Revelation 12:11 And they overcame...by the word of their testimony;
John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their word (of their testimony);
There is way too much division in the church of today. This is the result of
ideologies that sound good, but may not be good because they create divisions
within God's church. At best we can only prove out and live out the principles
within the Holy Bible. Those principles are like gold nuggets, that help us navigate
through this life and make for a more prosperous spiritual life.
Most ideologies or beliefs from generations ago cannot even be
substantiated because we were not there to witness them. Yes, they can sound
good, but are they of God? All they create is strife and division in the church that
God hates. All we have to do is look at the wars in life and they all stem from
ideologies from men's imaginations! And God hates war!
Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things doth the LORD hates: yea, seven are an
abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed
innocent blood, An heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in
running to mischief, A false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows
discord among brethren.
Somehow we need to begin the process of uniting as ''one man''. Unification
within the HB always began with the fear or reverence of the Lord. Reverence is
greater that respect. When that happened, God gifts His favor to and for one
another, so that unity will prevail.
If that is the case, we as His people, should show greater respect for one
another so that a love from God can be imparted to create godly relationships.
Should we just stay humble and say, "I will be quiet about what I believe, but live
by what I know works". All good concepts come from Above, from the Father of
lights.
1Peter 2:17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
Our past and real-time testimonies are one thing that we can stay united
about because we experienced them. We must remember that our testimony of
then is different from our testimonies of now. What God is doing in our daily lives,
by His favor and answered prayers, should be shared with those in our respective
worlds. If His deeds towards us have stopped, we need to enquire of Him why.
Today, IF we live the daily sanctified life, by daily refreshing and renewing
our minds, He promises to create daily wonders. When we live in this ''united
mindset'' we will spiritually thrive. This is about living the DSL, submitting to His
plan and will of God everyday. The sanctified life is living within and by the Word
and prayer, not just prayer.
Joshua 3:5 And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.
1Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to
give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you...
2Chronicles 31:18b they sanctified themselves in holiness:
John 17:17 Sanctify (make holy) them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
It is time for each of us to become one and stay one with God, by spending
needed and often time in the Word of God and prayer. Many say that to pray at
least an hour is hard. But the more time we spend time in His Word, the more we
pray for situations, others and/also listening for His real-time solutions. He will
then do wonders for us and through us. God wants to work through a holy people!
Those wonderful happenings then become real-time testimonies for the world
to hear, creating a jealousy towards us, so they can make the proper choice to
turn unto God or not. This is the least we should do for mankind for His goodness
towards us as we reveal the invisible and Genius Holy God of Creation. Why?
Psalms 68:18-19 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive:
thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God
might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with
benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.
If we are not willing to do this small thing, why should He keep blessing
us? God has not and will not change! He is still merciful and patiently waiting for
us to do things His way. God did this way back then and is willing to do it today.
Chapter 1
Real-Time Testimony Living
Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the
word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their word; (Jesus)
In this modern life we live in as Christians, how are we to live and what are we
called to do as witnesses for all that God has done and is doing for us? We have
many over worked and well intentioned ministers but who are the witnesses? The
potential real-time witnesses are those that sit in the pews every week wondering
what their function can be in and outside of the church.
In visiting and observing many churches over the years, I heard weekly
testimonies of how God had done many things for His people. Shouldn't we be
sharing those with the world...our testimonies of answered prayers? How could
one refute real-time testimonies like that? And why wouldn't we share the
goodness God that He is doing and has done in our lives, even those things we
never even asked about in prayer?
In the present and distant past, signs, wonder and miracles followed them that
stayed set apart from the world and worldly influences. What was so amazing to
me was that those miracles were not shared with the outside world! Yes, there
were many who expressed who and what Jesus was to them. But the fruit of
staying faithful unto God by His Word and their answered prayers was not
expressed to the outside world. Living that kind of life is what brought forth the
miracles and wonders in the past. Why not now?
The pastor or teacher is the one that is called to equip the saints for the work
of the ministry. That means the pastor must teach his flock how to connect and
stay connected with the Lord. The Word of God and answered prayers will inspire
God's people to action and they will desire to live out a real-time walk with the
Lord. This is the sanctified church life.
The sanctified church then becomes an army of witnesses that proclaim, to a
confused and wandering world, what God is doing real-time in their lives that
then draws them to the reality of the existence of the living God, working in and
through the lives of His people within the sanctified church.
Real-Time Revival
Many in today's churches have suggested that the Church is asleep, needing
an awakening, and have asked: "Where are the signs, the wonders and miracles
that we have all experienced in our pasts"? A few reasons they have stopped are:
1) Do we prioritize God on a daily basis by living in and by the Word of God and
prayer...living out the daily sanctified life (the set apart mindset)? The Word is
our gifted daily spiritual bread to be fed and to inspire our inner man.
Luke 11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread...the Word.
2) In prayer, are we asking God to do this or that, when God wants to do great
things to and through His people?
1John 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his
commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
3) Are we sharing information with the the poor in thought, those that do not
know the ways of God, by our real-time testimonies?
Proverbs 22:9 He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he gives of his bread to the poor.
Proverbs 31:20 She stretches out her hand to the poor; yea, she reaches forth her hands to the needy.
4) Who are the poor? Instruction and guidance goes a lot further than some money for a meal.
Jeremiah 5:4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
The people of Israel cried out for revival as the church does today. Yet God was angry with His people because they did not, at the least, live lives set apart unto Him and then share what He was doing for them in their daily lives, not even with each other. If we are, at the least, sharing our testimonies with one another, our faith will become greater, living out lives of joy.
The signs, wonders and miracles also ceased because they stopped trusting, acknowledging and revealing the invisible God that solved their problems and/also kept forgiving their sins. The children of Israel, too, kept mingling with the world around them instead of staying separated unto God within God's boundaries. Are we doing the same thing today as Christians?
Psalms 85:5-6 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out your
anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may
rejoice in thee?
So what did God do with Israel because they became unfaithful? He just kept quiet. They then created their own imagined righteousness and set up their own teachings, according to their religious leaders. This became a provocation and God put them into a deep sleep! They became enemies of God. Is the Church of today, like a sleeping giant that needs awakening?
Denominationalism
In the Israel of old times, the religious groups were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the lawyers and the scribes that we know of. They all had different beliefs and interpretations of God and the Law. They were the denominations of then.
Today, we have so many denominations we cannot even count them! If the truth be known, denominations into modern times have been created by commentators rather than inspired HS interpreters of the entire Word of God. Those commentators did not understand what Paul taught about interpretation.
2Timothy 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that
needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2Corinthians 13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two
or three witnesses shall every word be established.
Acts 20:27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
How can we know what the true understandings are within Scripture? If one
of the writers within the Bible brought forth a concept or a principle to live by,
there has to be 2 or 3 others (witnesses) that will elaborate, explain and/or
confirm that truth. All that Jesus spoke of was eluded to or was established by the
HS in other areas of Scripture. This is next to impossible, because it takes a
lifetime to go through the entire Scripture over and over to extract these truths.
Today, we have Bible software to speed up the process. Even then we are
baffled when we find even more understanding of these truths. There are many
layers of understanding because the Scripture says that the understanding of God
is infinite. At best, ministers should speak of what we know so far and what God
has done and is doing for them and each of us real-time.
Psalms 147:5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is
infinite.
Denominationalism compounds more divisions that makes the real-time church of little effect...so we suffer and the world suffers from confusion from imaginations even more. Are we the ones creating the confusion in the world, sending mixed signals to the world as we call down each other by speaking what we believe instead of living by what we know? If we lived by what we know works and keep quiet about what we believe, the world would probably listen to us a lot more. God is not the author of confusion.
Acts 23:6-8 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and
the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a
Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am
called in question. And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between
the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided. For the
Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit but the
Pharisees confess both.
What is the desire of God?
Psalms 133:1-3 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell
together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down
upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his
garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the
mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for
evermore.
Gifts for ALL Mankind
When God gives us a sign, a wonder, a miracle or an answer to prayer, do we share the good news with others? Has God stopped creating miracles because we are not willing or not aware to share them with the world? One of the reasons He does what He does is to show the world that He is the invisible God that manifests Himself through signs, wonders and miracles. He is also our ''Solutionist'' that brings forth solutions to problems we have imagined or created.
I have found in these modern times, that few people really want to hear about the Gospel or Jesus or God. What they do want to know is: "What has God done for you lately?" When I tell them how I prayed for this or that and got answers that resolved my issues, then they ask how 'real-time Christianity' works. So how can we become those witnesses God that bless others?
1Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to
give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you
with meekness and fear:
To stay sanctified (set apart for His purposes) is a daily task by the Word of
God and prayer as Paul also said. This is about keeping our inner man separated
and always clean by the Word of God. This is our daily spiritual and personal
hygiene...our reasonable service to God, so we do not get carried away to worldly
thinking then doing the things that God hates. What parent that cares would
send out his or her child into the world without bathing and preparing them?
John 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that
ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God.
God has not changed, neither have His promises. We are the ones that need to change and stay changed to live the daily sanctified life!
Chapter 2
Real-Time Outreach
In the beginning of Creation, Man became a living soul AFTER God had breathed into him the breath of life. God communed with Adam daily in the Garden. Man sinned and was driven out of the Garden and made to live in a survival mode, having to fend for himself. He not only tried to cover his sin, but he also provoked the One that created him, rewarding God evil for good. This grieved God at His heart and what He spoke to Adam created sorrow. The Garden was no longer a place of carefree joy.
Proverbs 17:13 Whoso rewards evil for good, evil (sorrow) shall not depart from his house.
Jeremiah 31:12b ...and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
The angry words from God created ''the curse'', sorrow, and affected all of His creation. The inner being of Man had become like a dead garden without water, seed or nurturing. There is a sorrow Paul talked about that is good for us, the godly sorrow that leads us to turning back to living the daily sanctified life. This is God's mercy because, in ancient times, if 2-3 witnesses said you had sinned, you were killed. Today, God gives us space and time to acknowledge and confess our sins, to then ask for forgiveness so we can live another day unto Him.
Lamentations 3:65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
Job_21:17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributes sorrows in his anger.
2Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death.
Because of the New Beginning, the re-start that Jesus Christ brought forth, our inner beings are now tilled, seeded and revived and have become a watered Garden by the rain (thoughts) from Heaven He has provided and still is providing. We now have the power to share with others what God has done and is doing real-time in our lives by our testimonies.
The wonders and miracles of God can now become our rain for those that need their gardens tilled, seeded, watered and sown for God to again walk within us and among us. This is the power of the written word, published and proclaimed in thought or audible form. Jesus Christ fulfilled His promise to turn our sorrow into joy. It is up to us now to manifest that joy by sharing with the world why we can smile and/or laugh in life and at death.
Effective Outreach
God, within His sanctified church, has gifted writers to be the scribes of the day to convey to the world what He is doing real-time in His people's lives. What they write will be proclaimed through His people as a witness that He is alive, in control and well. His writers are His fighters that will be instructed by the HS to get this work done. They are His hands. The battle is the Lords because He will give us what to say or do in any given situation.
Psalms 18:34 He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by
mine arms.
Within each church there are many writers. In old times, they either spoke what they thought upon, or as scribes, wrote what some authority told them to speak. Many also wrote what they heard via the Spirit of God, that kept God's people on the path He desired. The scribes within the kingdom also recorded what God had done to encourage, to build and refresh the faith of His people. Where and what would we be without the many testimonies within the Scriptures?
Today the writers should become more like scribes to relay what others are living out in real-time, bringing forth the testimonies of those within the church. They are the ''Word and prayer warriors'' that are needed to change the world by what they write and then be proclaimed to the world through the internet. Even today, the youth live in a real-time mode and would love to hear what God is doing real-time via their smart phones and computers.
12 Effective Ways to Reach Out
1) The Outreach Postcard
"The Testimony of Answered Prayer" is a true, real-time testimony. It can be put on the front side with a created border. The back side has a written prayer, with quotation marks for emphasis and the needed information for contacting the church through the website. The whole purpose of the real-time testimony and prayer is to sow the truths of God and create a ''living path'' to lead others to the living church via the website.
SAMPLE: Front side
ANSWERED PRAYER!
The other day I was wrestling with how to reach my son, age 8, who was wandering everywhere! It did matter what I did, I couldn't control him! This went on for a month or so and the more I tried disciplining him, the more he rebelled! What was I to do? I prayed about it and an incredible thought that came to mind. I was to set him down and have him draw a picture, to show me what was going on inside of him. He drew a forest, a stream, deer and two 'stick people', one tall and one short on a path. The tall one was way out in front of the short one. I asked him what that meant. He said, "Papa! Please slow down, I can't keep up with you!" I then realized I was as much the problem as he was. That night, at 3 AM, I wrote him a letter of apology, put it on his pillow and went to work. I came home and he was still there! He gave me a hug with tears in his eyes, thanking me for caring and loving him. Thank you God! Richard M...
Back side
Written Prayer in quotes Name
Visit us online @oschurch.com. Address
Call or text us at 303-986-5553. City/State
All inquires are confidential.
Our Savior's Church of Hope 1234 Main St. Glenwood, CO 80227
2) The Church Bulletin/Newsletter
The bulletin could be redesigned and reconfigured as a postcard or a tri-fold brochure and/or given out with the bulletin. After each person would get their tri-fold bulletin or postcard, they would keep it and then mail it out or put it on their neighbor's door (too many are left in the pews and thrown out). Any ''left-over postcard or tri-fold brochures'' need to be mailed or distributed to neighborhoods surrounding the churches.
Again, this is about what is happening ''real-time'' in the church as a ''Good News Newsletter''. The cost for each postcard and stamp is less than a dollar! What is a soul worth? We are told to by Jesus to give, expecting nothing in return. We are to proclaim His deeds among the people. This is godly love!
3) The Website
The first page should be about answered prayers, testimonies, real-time and past testimonies, where ''the comers'' can read and/or listen to them audibly. The information should be posted in writing or an audible voice reading the testimony, along with background music, by the person that it happened to so the emotion of that person comes through also. A forwarding tab would be inserted so the reader of the testimony can email it to others.
The more they read or hear, the more seed is sown in them to the awareness of God and what He is doing to and through His local churches. The website should also have a cell phone number, manned by somebody, 24/7. There are times when a person needs to hear a live voice, any time of the day.
4) ''Testimony Creating'' workshops
In each church there are writers that would love to be acknowledged and be used of God. They are the ones that would teach seminars about testimonies to their church or other churches. The seminar could also be up on each church website too. The writers within the church then become the ''scribes/recorders'' that write testimonies or scripts for recording, for others in the church.
Example:
Testimony of Ron G.
Ron, at age 50, was a pastor for many years and then left that post because his wife left him for the world and its trappings. He then went back to construction and built houses. He remarried a few years later. He and I shared an office space.
Ron got sick and went to many doctors and none could find out his problem. He was in and out of the hospital many times as he became very weak and was losing weight quickly. Finally, his heart doctor told him to put his house in order because he would die within 6 months or so. Ron accepted that, went home and did as he was told. All he could do was pray with his new wife and stay strong about the inevitable. I visited him often and encouraged him to just continue in the Word and prayer.
A few months went by and his doctor, being troubled about Ron's plight, was awakened in the wee hours one morning, and in prayer, a profound thought came to mind to check a hidden part of his heart. He was startled! Was it God that spoke? Where did that thought come from? Was this an answer to his prayer? He called Ron right away to come in for one more test .
Ron got x-rays again and they found the source of the problem. The real problem now, was he needed a heart transplant. He was put on a waiting list. The waiting list put him a year out to get this done because he needed a certain size of heart and a specific blood type. To get that perfect combination, a miracle was needed. His doctor told him that he would probably die before all that could come together. He said he was content.
Lo and behold, he got a call, within a month, to come in for heart surgery because a lady died in a car crash that had the right size heart and the right blood type. It was a miracle for this to happen in time because Ron's health was deteriorating very quickly and was not expected to live very much longer. He got the new heart and the operation was a success! He got stronger and stronger and could then get out and about for church functions and eventually go back to work.
After about a month, I saw him at a Bible study. I was shocked how well he looked! He was eating normal, but he had a handful of pills he had to take with each meal, 3 times per day. I asked him what they were for. He said, "These pills are my anti-rejection medicine that I have to take the rest of my life because the other organs in my body will do all they can to destroy this foreign heart. They know it is not my old heart''.
Ron and I got together again and we discussed what God was trying to show all of us in this 'near death', experience. We prayed about the understanding of it. What came to mind was this Scripture:
Eze 11:19-20 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
We, as God's people are called to live lives separated, in mind, from the world. We need spiritual heart transplants so our thought life will line up with the heart of God. King David had a heart after God's own heart, but still fell very short of the desires of God. Today, we have the Holy Spirit within the Word of God that leads us, guides us and prepares us for that surgery. The HS also reminds us to take our daily medication. Our spiritual anti-rejection medication is the Word of God. With our new hearts, we need to take it in daily, to live stress free lives. Stress weakens our bodies and effects our walk with God.
Stress also creates sorrow. Jesus Christ, the Word of God, promised He would turn our sorrows into joy. Praying for a healing and praying to stay healed is good, but to take one's medications, on a regular basis, is much better. We now have a choice to become better or bitter about this marvelous life God has for us, being His people!
Psalms 107:20a He sent his word (Christ), and healed them...
Proverbs 17:22a A merry heart (the heart of God) doeth good like a medicine...
May God, through Christ, turn your sorrows from stress, into an everlasting joy!
5) The Legacy
The writers should be writing spiritual legacies for the older parishioners too, for their children and grandchildren and even great grandchildren. The legacies could be recorded with their voices and any songs or favorite Scriptures that they loved in their lives. Background music by design could be used along with the reading. The writers could be compensated in some way also or just be a cheerful givers of their talents and time.
To write down all that God had done for His people was commanded by the
Lord in Scripture. It could be in written booklet form or recorded on a disk, so
subsequent generations could actually hear the voice of their departed loved ones.
The outline for the Legacy would begin with a timeline and important events that
happened, when and where God intervened, from birth into old age.
Joel 1:3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and
their children another generation.
Psalms 90:9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
Our Bibles are full of the testimonies of others that endured this life and went on the the place prepared for them by God. All we have to do is read Hebrews 11 and see those witnesses of God that endured much more that we have to today. Like someone once said, "The only Bible people will see is the story we live out, led by God". We are his real-time cloud of witnesses today!
6) The Virtual Minister
When a church service begins, we are asked to turn off our phones. That is a good thing. But before the sermon is delivered the people could send a link to a live stream feed. When the service is over, the pastor could tell the parishioners to turn them back on and give them a living truth learned and a short prayer and then send the texts to all or chosen contacts within each smart phone. The church website could be texted out too.
If 100 people send out a texted truth of God or the church website to 100 contacts in each of their phones, that church has just touched 10,000 people...God's Truths do not return void! They have their intended purposes!
7) The Family Minister
To write notes, texts, emails, cards or letters to a wife, children, grandchildren or friend is powerful and priceless! This a powerful tool when we can tell past or real-time stories (testimonies) of what happened or is happening to a person! This is to keep those we love from doing the same worldly things, with worldly thinking, that creates needless, but maybe, needed suffering. If people want to rebel, tell them they will suffer. Rebels need to suffer!
Just like the Word of God leads and guides us, we too can lead and guide those given to us by our words when we write down our inspired thoughts. They are like seeds sown in a garden. Eventually, they will come up and be seen in their hearts.
The inspiration of God, the gifted spirit in us, feeds on food for thought. The spirit then thinks upon what has been ingested and then it can pray to hear or make a wise decision in any situation, and/also counting the cost of their actions. Inspired letters or cards are usually kept for years in people's Bibles.
8) Networking employment information
Small support groups created for the men and women in the church are very important. For the men, a group could be created of men that are business owners that are out and about that could gather information on job opportunities to the church so families would have more than enough to take care of themselves. Those outside of the church would come for work information. This type of group would be about networking for work, sharing real-time testimonies, praying and sharing what God has for all people.
Within each church are men and women who are in business for themselves or know others that are. A networking group that focuses on the importance of prioritizing God on a daily basis and/also has leads for profitable work is priceless. The positions for the youth then become on the job mentoring programs in safe and respectful workplaces.
Example:
Christian Business Referral Network
CBRN is a group of active business owners that desire to learn more about growing themselves spiritually and/also becoming effective and respectful business owners, that live by what they do more than what they say.
Principles to live by:
We are only as good as our last business transaction or personal relationship.
Integrity is what will always wins out in the end.
Peace of mind is more valuable than money.
Maintaining a good conscience creates a stress free life of blessing.
Our actions speak more than our words do because they are 'thought driven'.
Business owners and those than desire to become business owners will meet often to encourage each others to live respectable lives by the principles of the Holy Bible so they become better and stronger in character to be the ''Lights of Business'' in their communities and their spheres of influence.
The group will share information from their day to day interactions and give them out to those within the group so all can prosper. Referral fees, if any, will be provided with each other as agreed upon. All information will stay confidential.
Employment, apprentice training and mentoring opportunities will also be presented as business owners desire. Needs for housing or other things, needed in life, such as vehicles would also be offered within the group.
Principles on how to do good business will be provided by speakers on a rotation basis. Presentations of principles to live by will be provided by the leaders of the group.
Any one member of the group that is not willing to live by ''the higher standard'' will be asked to not attend. To abuse any gift of information or opportunity will not be tolerated. This is about becoming an elite member in and for society.
9) Latch-Key Kids
After school programs could be set up for children whose working parents do not get home until later in each day. The children would have a safe place to come, to have help with homework, a snack and/also be able to talk about each day and its problems. The people in church could give them comfort and solutions, so they could go home in peace and then share with their parents how the church helped them understand daily life. Notes could also be written to parents about what is observed and said by the children. Eventually, the parents would come to the website and then the church. The church doors are to be open 7 days per week. That was the intent of God.
10) Celebrate Recovery, The Landing, The Good News Club, Youth for Christ, etc.
Programs like these can help relieve people of emotional problems and trauma in the community. The church then becomes a safe place to overcome issues from life along with any addictions.
11) The Ministry of Restoration:
Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual,
restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also
be tempted.
Here are a couple of real-time examples:
Steven M.
He and I attended the same church in our early years. I met him when he was 10 and I was 12. He came from Brazil and it was a struggle for him to adapt to America. A couple years later his mother died of cancer. This was devastating to him because he was an only child. His father remarried to a lady in the church shortly after that, that had two kids. That too became a trying time for him because the parents fought for long time.
Steven began to stay away from home because of the arguments and eventually spent more and more time with his friends doing alcohol and drugs. At 17, he got a girl pregnant. They decided to marry and the child turned out to be mentally retarded. This was devastating in Steven's life, but then they had a second child. The older child would constantly beat up on the younger child and the Down Syndrome child had to be institutionalized.
Steven and his wife would resort to alcohol and drugs to cope with their problems. Eventually they divorced. The devastation in Steven's life took its toll. At age 38, he lost his job and resorted to live of loneliness, medicating on drugs and alcohol. This effected his health badly. Steven now lived alone with no friends or family in a secluded place waiting to die. He would not even interact with his friends or his own father.
I happened to come to the city where his father lived. I ran into him at church and he came to me and asked me if I had heard about Steven's plight. I told him I heard he was in a very bad way. He begged me to contact him and see what I could do. He told me the church had been praying for him for 25 years and he only got worse. He would not talk with his dad and did not want to hear about anything of the gospel. I told his father I would try to contact him.
I went back home and the next night I was awakened at 2 AM. I spent time in the Word getting my head clear and I had a thought come to mind to call Steven in the morning and try to get his address. The other thought was to not speak of anything of the Word and I would only get less than a minute to talk and he would get mad. I called him and as was told me, I got only a minute with him. He got angry for bothering him, but I did get his address.
The next night at 2 AM, I was awakened out of a deep sleep and read my Bible again. After about an hour, I had thoughts come to mind to write a letter to him about where I was in life and to not use and Christian words like God, love, Jesus or anything...no Christianeze was the last thought. So, I wrote a letter being careful what I was saying as the thoughts came forth. I edited it and sent it out.
A week later, I had a thought come to mind to call Steven and see if he got the letter and see how he was doing. I got about 2 minutes with him and he got angry again. I told him I had to go so the conversation would not escalate. This process went on for 7 weeks, 7 letters and 7 conversations. Week by week I would write the thoughts that came to mind after spending time in my Bible.
The last letter that went out was most interesting. I was to write out the thoughts that came to mind and then add a prayer put in quotation marks. This was new to me. I wrote the letter out but did not know how to structure the prayer. What I call, "Prayer Thoughts'', came to mind. I wrote them down and was astounded at what was given to me! It was an intercessory prayer by the HS!
A week later, at 9:15 PM, I had a thought to call Steven. I thought this could not be the Holy Spirit because I thought he was drunk as was his custom. The calls from the previous weeks were always in the morning time. I few minutes went by and I was impressed to call him again. This time, kind of scared, I called him. This is how the conversation went:
"Hi Steven''. He replied. "Richard. Richard. Is that you"? I said yes and asked him, ''Are you ok?". Steven began to cry. He cried for a few minutes that seemed like and eternity. I asked, ''Are you ok? Should I call someone for you?''. He replied no. I asked again, ''Are you ok then?''. Steven then said to me, "Richard. You are my angel sent from Above to get me out of this pit of depression." I asked him, "What do you mean?''. He said, ''You know those 7 letters you sent to me. I read them over and over each week and today I have opened my Bible for the first time! And thanks to you and I am a new man!" I was overjoyed and encouraged him to stay the course and I would see him sometime soon.
It took 7 letters given by the Holy Spirit to get Steven awakened and spiritually healed. I was just trying to comfort him and the HS had greater plans. It was the last letter with the attached prayer from the HS that sealed him unto the Lord. I am not special in any way, but I care enough about those given me to play a part in restoring this person unto the Lord so they too can live a much better life.
Michael C.
He was born to godly parents in a small town that had a great work ethic. His parents did their best to raise him in a Christian home. He met a girl at a Christian camp whose father was a pastor. They married and began a family and had numerous children. He worked hard in construction but he could not stay connected to the family he married into because he saw things were not right as he saw Christians should live. He called them out on those things. It created much contention within the family and eventually he and his wife divorced.
Losing everything and now in depression, Mark turned to drugs to medicate his spiritual pain. Construction stopped for him and instead of doing the drugs he began to work for drug dealers moving drugs across the country. He did this for years until the authorities began to investigate him and the cartel he was part of. I had often asked about him, where he was and what he was doing. I was told he had fallen away from the faith and was now a drug dealer. What is worse is that even his daughter got hooked on drugs and became a drug dealer.
One day I was talking to his ex-father in law and we talked about him and why he had left the faith. He had his reasons, but I also understood how, we as God's examples, had to live an upright life so we would not push any away from the faith.
One can be a pastor behind a pulpit and be a terror at home which sends mixed signals to those that know what that pastor is really like. Mixed signals can make one think that questionable behavior is allowed by God and He does not care. He does and there is a price to pay. God will, in anger, give depression to those called to be the examples to the world. I have seen this over and over.
I went back home and in the night I was awakened and Mark kept coming to mind. I got his information and called him. We met in a restaurant and talked about why he left the faith. He told me his reasons. It was about the family he had married into and the mixed signals that came out of their respective dysfunctional Christian homes. He turned his back on them and drifted into the world, medicating himself with drugs and then drug dealing.
I shared with him how dysfunctional my family was, my father being a minister too. I also told him that what he was doing was much worse than living with actors of the faith that knew of the Lord but did not know the Lord. His eyes welled up and he began the process of turning back to God. I then sent him a letter of confirmation of all we talked about and he eventually turned his life around.
What was so funny is that shortly after he left his dreadful past, the authorities came to the cartel and arrested all of them. He got out of that lifestyle just in time. Now, he is a Bible teacher in the town he grew up in.
12) Staying in Touch
It is imperative for any of us to stay aware of those given to us in our lives that they do not stray from the faith. If they do, sorrow will eventually follow them, and if they do not turn back to God, they fall into their own prison of depression. Yes, the world is full of stimulation that is short lived and sorrow then follows. But it is up to the body of Christ to keep one another strengthened, encouraged and inspired so that joy can keep sorrow away.
It is hard to talk to someone when this happens. But a note, a card or letter, with thoughts given by the HS, can be instructional comfort. We should truly care for each other...or do we? This is God's way we are to love one another.
