Leading By Example

I have just been blown away by the number of people that are being saved as a result of the outreaches that are going on in my church. I've never personally witnessed so many salvation's. Just this past week our youth group under the leadership of Shawn Symons, lead 4 young people to Christ at Jackson Square in downtown Hamilton. To my knowledge this is the second time they have been there. There were seven baptized today, four of whom were giving their life to the Lord for the first time as a result of others witness and friendship. When someone gives their life to Christ at my church, a candle is lit at the front of the church. There haven't been very many weeks since I started attending last October when that candle hasn't been lit. I asked myself why? Why is this happening? The answer I received was because there has not been one week go by when the Word Of God and the Gospel has not been preached from the pulpit. God's Word is powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. Now our church is going out door to door throughout this city to bring the gospel to people in their homes, lead by the senior pastor. Wow! That's leadership by example. This is exactly the example Jesus himself and his disciples left for us to follow. It's so exciting to be part of something that you know is in the center of God's will lead by the Holy Spirit.
A growing church is a healthy church.
I'm just so thankful for what the Lord is doing and allowing me to be a part of it.
Praise God!

LEADERSHIP TIPS

I was looking for something to read today before starting my shift, anticipating a slow day, since nothing was open and the strike halted all Canada Day celebrations. That amounts to people not travelling around and a holiday for the bus driver. Lot's of time to read at the end of the line. Nothing was open, so I picked up this free magazine from a stand at Royal York Subway Station called " Fifty Five Plus Magazine". Surprisingly, it had some interesting articles in it. The first one I read was about a retired Major-General Lewis Mackenzie, who is retired from the Armed Forces and is now speaking on leadership and racing cars. He is very highly respected and in much demand as a public speaker and lecturer. What caught my eye was some tips on leadership taken from his book " Soldiers Make Me Look Good". I thought I would like to share them with you. These tips come from pages 231 to 248 of his book.
Here they are:

Definition: Leadership is getting people to do what they don't necessarily want to do, and having them enjoy the experience.

Tip:

-be yourself

-Lead by wandering about: your primary responsibility is the people who work for you.

- Listen: pay attention and pick up good ideas.

- Set difficult but achievable objectives: determine how much is enough to be proud of and how much is too much to ask.

- Accept responsibility, even when you're not responsible. Accepting responsibility frequently makes the problem go away much more quickly.

- Be an actor. This means be consistent. A good leader does not exhibit moodiness.

- Think outside the box. Step back and think about the problem. Don't just tinker with the status quo.

- Strive for ethical decision-making. Imagine that someone you love is looking over your shoulder when the decision involves an ethical issue. Then you will do the right thing.

- Have the courage to disagree. It's a leaders job to create an atmosphere in which honest disagreements are aired.

- Prepare and train your subordinates.

- Be approachable.

Good advice from someone with over 35 years experience and has spoken to over 1,ooo,ooo people. He also wrote a best seller in 1993 called " The Road To Sarajevo".
He is also humble enough to say; " I'm not an author". He'd rather be known as a race car driver. He does that very well too!

Very Interesting.

JESUS A GANG LEADER?

I was watching 100 Huntley Street this morning and they were talking on the subject of gangs and why young people are joining them in the big cities at an alarming rate and have been doing so for the past 15 to 20 years. There were two testimonies, one from a young Muslim man in Vancouver's east side, who was in a gang from a very young age. He had a twin brother in the same gang who murdered somebody and ended up in prison. This tragedy along with his parents converting to Christianity was the catalyst that led to his conversion. His life was totally changed and now he has dedicated his life to helping educate students and street kids against joining the gangs. He stated that the purpose he joined a gang was because he had a deep desire to have some kind of identity that would give him a sense of belonging and self worth. He found this identity in Christ. A peace he did not know existed.
The other guy is a politician from Alberta, who used to be a gang leader. I can't remember his name, but I'm going to find out because he wrote a book I want to read. His first name is Serge, I think. His position is Secretary in the penal system( to do with jails in particular). He is very knowledgeable about gang life and what needs to be done to correct the problem. He too, stated that it is an identity problem in young people that leads them into gang life. The cause of this identity crisis comes from many sources. Partly due to the break up of the family, the introduction of left wing Humanist values in our society, and the taking of God out of the schools and political systems. The thing that interested me about his testimony was how he first saw Jesus when he read the bible for the first time. He was in jail doing time for drug manufacturing and got a hold of a Gideon new testament for something to read. He read the story of Jesus and his disciples and could totally relate to it. He said; " Jesus the gang leader had 12 members, one of whom was a snitch who handed him over to a rival gang and took over his turf and killed him." He could totally understand the story from his perspective as a gang leader himself. The thing that got him though and ultimately led to his conversion, was the fact that after Jesus died, the scattered members ( disciples) came out of hiding and were willing to die for him. This really touched him. Then when he read that Jesus also died for him so he could live. He totally got it. He is now dedicating his life as a politician to bring prison reform in to our penal system.
I thought that was such a cool way to look at it. Jesus the gang leader who was willing to die for his members, then and now. It worked for him!
I'm going to find out his name and the book title and I'll let you know what it is. Should be good.

THIRSTY?

The sermon today was based on John Chapter 4: 1-30. It was a short one because we had 7 baptisms, but as always, a good one. It's the story about the the Samaritan women at the well. You know the story. Jesus is talking to this women at Jacobs well, which was a no no for a Jewish man to be doing that. As we know Jesus was no normal Jewish man, he was God in the flesh. I've read this story many times and as usual, when Pastor John tells it, I see something I have not seen before in the scripture. The conversation starts out about water, because Jesus was thirsty after a long journey, but then very quickly turns into a spiritual lesson. We need food and water to sustain our physical bodies. What Jesus was offering this women was not physical in nature. He was offering her "living water". Jesus pointed out to her that the water from the well only satisfies for a short time and then you keep needing more to be filled. The water he was offering satisfies forever and even creates a spring from within that keeps on filling the emptiness within. Each person has an emptiness and a longing and a thirst for this spiritual living water. We don't necessarily know what it is other than an emptiness that needs to be filled. Before we knew Jesus, we would fill this void with all kinds things. Careers, hobbies, sports, alcohol, drugs,sex, and anything else we liked. But it is never enough, we always need more to keep trying to fill that void. There is only one thing that can permanently fill this emptiness and that is the living water Jesus talked about. Plain water is still. Living water is moving and pure and alive. There is only one thing that keeps us from receiving this water and that is the sin in our life. As he pointed out the women's sin by all the men she had been in relations with, was keeping her from this living water.
So. if we want that deep emptiness within us to be permanently satisfied and filled, we need to deal with the sin in our life and receive the living water Jesus offers us.
Then the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

Talk 10- The Manifesto Of The New Sexual Revolution

This is the conclusion of this series, Sex And The City Of God. This topic is a passion of Pastors John's and is something that has been burning in his heart for some time. It has revolutionized my thinking on the subject of sex, particularly as it relates to Christians and answered many of my unanswered questions and has given me a whole new perspective and understanding of the Word Of God as it relates to our sexuality. One of my questions which was answered is; : Why have so many Christian leaders and churches fallen into sexual sin in recent times?

If you are interested in watching this series it is all recorded and you can see it at www.westhighland.org. It would be an excellent teaching series for a church on Sunday evenings or for a bible study discussion group. CD's and tapes of the whole series can be ordered for a nominal fee.

This lesson is based on principal #5- The Glory of God.
When we sin sexually we are hurting the Lord God.
God's displeasure can be seen :
1) As a Law-Giver- It was God that gave the law through Moses and the Ten Commandments. When we break the law, we do wrong to the giver of the law.
2) As a lover- We can see in scripture that God loved King David. He chose him to be King. When we look at 2 Samuel 12:7-9, we can see how God was talking about suffering a personal wrong. He was telling David of all the good he had done for him from the time he was a shepherd boy to the time he was made King of Israel. God gave many gifts to David and even provided for his sexual gratification. In verse 9, we read the words of a heartbroken lover. It was these words that devastated David and put him on the road to repentance. Psalm 51:4 is really not accurate, because David sinned against many others, not just God. Bathsheba, Uriah, his family, and himself, just to name a few.
The root of sexual sin is spiritual, not physical. Sexual sin is committed not because we lack anything, but usually happens in the midst of great blessing. We want what we can't have. The forbidden fruit. Satan would like us to think this will bring us freedom, but only results in bondage and judgement. His strategy is to get us focused on what we can't have so we forget all the blessings we have received from God. He would have us think God is deceiving us, not him. We think, If I don't act on my own I won't get what I want. When we believe Satan's lies and take matters into our own hands we do great harm to God.
The real fuel that drives sexual passion is not physical, it is spiritual. Sexual sin is the result of Idolatry, greed and covetousness. Sexual sin is rooted in Idolatry. Look at Sodom and Gomorrah. This is a prime example of sexual sin that flowed out of a self centered idolatrous lifestyle. The scripture mentions the sin of Idolatry much more than the sexual sin itself, although it was evident that was the result.

The generation that grew up in the 60's and 70's was willing to lead and to rebel over a cause. We could see that with all the riots in the Universities in the U.S. during that time period. Our current generation, unfortunately has very few leaders. Many would rather follow that lead.
Jesus has given us a cause to rebel against the status quot.
He is to be the center of our life, not only the savior that saves us from hell, but to be Lord of every aspect of our life which should revolve around him, including and especially our sexuality.
We should have the attitude; " I will die before I sin against him"
This is a radical way to live.
We should want not only to live well for Christ, but we should want to finnish well!

At the conclusion of the talk, Pastor John called for all the men who wanted to join the New Sexual Revolution to join him at the front of the church to make a public commitment before God to be leaders in our homes, and our society and to live a life of sexual purity for Christ. Hundreds of men got down on their knees and made that commitment.
I was one of them.
Thank you Pastor John for your courage and your obedience in teaching this series and may God richly bless you.

THE REVOLUTION BEGINS!

Talk 9- The Manifesto Of The new Sexual Revolution

Whether it be a church or a nation, there needs to be a firm foundation upon which to build. Jesus said in Luke 6:48, that a wise man builds his house on a firm foundation. Ideas and philosophies have consequences. For example, look at Marxism or Nazism. They both collapsed. Our current Post Modern Society is the consequence of Freudian Philosophy that goes back 150 years. Freud thought every Human behavior is an expression of their sexuality. Guess what is dominating our society today? Foundations are very important.

So how do we avoid the inevitable consequences in a society that is patterned after Freud's philosophy?

Let's take another look at King David in 2 Samuel. David offered an innocent man ( Uriah) on the alter of his own reputation. Why? To try and cover up his sin. That's what happens with sexual sin. It puts in motion a whole bunch of other sins to try and cover it up. Lies, deception, murder, jealousy to name a few. It creates subterfuge. To deceive through a strategy to conceal the truth. We are so sinful we need to know the potential depravity of our hearts. David was a believer when this took place. No Christian should ever say " I would never do that!". A very dangerous statement. We don't even know how evil our hearts can be. What we should be saying is " I need Gods grace so that won't happen to me. " There is a deeper repentance that needs to take place than for just for the sexual sin. We tend to compartmentalize our lives which diminishes the seriousness of sexual sin. We may say to ourselves, " I have a good prayer life and I read the bible every day, I have a good job and am honest with my customers, so If I messed up in this one area, I'm not that bad off compared to some others I know." In 1 John 1:5, it talks about light and dark. Light is that which reveals, dark is that which conceals. Light is God's nature. Truthfulness must be our approach to God. Honesty is required. What do you find when you lift up a slab of rock? A bunch of bugs and worms running around looking for a hole to crawl into. Why? They can't stand the light. They have been exposed. It's the same with our sin. It's honesty, not holiness that's the basic requirement in our relationship with God and with others!
Just so we don't forget, yes God hates sin, but he loves the sinner and because of that he is merciful and willing to forgive our sin and give us hope, thanks to the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross.
In 2 Samuel 12:14, we can see that David was forgiven, restored and reconciled "but" there was still consequences to his sin that God did not take away. Why? Because if you look in Hebrews 12:4-12 God loved David enough to discipline him. God's hand was heavy on David. He reaped his sexual sin and murder through his children. This was God's loving discipline to remind David of his own sin, so that he could see the seriousness and harm it caused to others. He wanted to make David pure and Holy.

David finally did repent and got honest with God, himself and others. He accepted the consequences of his sin, he didn't try to excuse his actions, he accepted the responsibility. This is why God called him a man after his own heart.

That is the destiny of every believer. To be Holy, as he is Holy.

So, let's get honest with God, ourselves and others, so we can get on that road to Holiness!

Start building a firm foundation. On "The Rock". Jesus Christ!

Watch the final talk # 10. This coming Sunday at 6:30pm at www.livechurch.ca

Talk 8 - The Manifesto Of The New Sexual Revolution -Principal 2- Love Your Neighbour

In Talk # 7 the discussion centered around a truth about ourselves and the dishonour done to one's own body when we sin sexually. This talk is centered around the wrong done to others.
In our culture we have tried to diminish the seriousness of sexual sin by calling it by other than what it really is. Instead of adultery, we say " affair", or instead of homosexual we say " alternate lifestyle" etc. God, on the other hand, takes this sin very seriously, as we can see in scripture.
Let's take a look at King David in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. From reading this scripture and others like it in the old testament we can conclude that when God is displeased, he always responds. His actions and the timing of his actions are determined by his own sovereign will. When King David sinned with Bathsheba, he knew he was doing wrong, but deceived himself into believing it wasn't as bad as it really was. When God sent Nathan the prophet to David who told him the story about the poor man and his sheep to show David his own sin, David was outraged by the story, not knowing that Nathan was talking about him. Here's a man that committed both Adultery and Murder, but still had a proper sense of justice. That teaches us that people can be deceived about their own sin and still maintain a sense of justice as it relates to others.( even church leaders).

So, what is the wrong in Adultery?

It is one of the most calloused sins you can commit to another man. It's like murder and steeling rolled into one. It can bring out a jealous rage that can lead to murder. You steel another man's spouse and it kills the relationship. Not only between the spouses, but other family members as well. Children, parents, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, you name them and they are affected by this sin. It's not just the two people involved in the sin. It's effects are devastating and permanent. Even though God is full of mercy and grace and can forgive this sin, there are still consequences that nobody can escape. In King Davids case he ended up losing his sons, who were heirs to his throne, to the sword.

What is the wrong in pre-marital Sex ?

1. Misleading occurs- people tell each other things they don't really mean just to get what they want.
2. Pressure to go against conscience- people have an inner sense that they are doing is wrong but feel the power of peer and social pressure and not wanting to look like a wimp if they say "no".
3. Beginning of a slippery slope- once you start and cross the line it is harder and harder to resist.
4. Rob yourself ( and other participant) of the most precious gift you can give your future spouse. Your virginity is the one gift that you should give your spouse that is not shared by anyone else. That's what makes the wedding night so special and unforgettable.
5. Destroys the foundation of future marriage stability- if you have had multiple sexual relationships prior to marriage, you bring a piece of each person into the marriage making it very difficult to give all of yourself to your spouse.

The good news is there is forgiveness for sexual sin and counselling available to help us cope with the consequences, however just like King David we cannot escape the consequences.

Wouldn't it be better to love our neighbour as ourselves? Love does no harm to a neighbour.

We are our brothers keeper!

There will be no Lesson this Sunday night due to the Easter holiday. The next lesson , Talk #9- The Manifest Of The New Sexual Revolution- Principal 3 - Walk In The Light( Honesty)- Principal 4 - Pursue Holiness will tale place on Sunday night, April 19th at 6:30pm. Join us at www.livechurch.ca

This Sunday night join us for "The Sacrifice" musical and drama Easter special at 7:00pm. See www.westhighland.org for more details!

God bless you and have a great Easter!

HE IS RISEN!

Talk 7- The Manifesto Of The New Sexual Revolution

The question remains, how do we, in The City of God, live in a sexualized culture? From examples in the Old testament we have concluded that we have three options:
1. Jonah - avoidance
2. Esther - Accommodation
- Assimilation
3. Daniel - Separation
- Activist
From the last lesson, we concluded that Daniels example was the best one to follow. Daniel was totally immersed in a culture that was hostile to his Jewish faith. The Babylonian culture he lived in, tried to brainwash his faith out of him through education in a total immersion program. They even changed his Hebrew name to one after a Babylonian God. Him and his three Hebrew friends. If you have trouble remembering their names, just think of " my shack", " your shack" and a "bungalow". The Babylonians tried to totally change their thinking and their way of living. Daniel drew the line at eating the Kings Food, because he believed God's word and did not want to defile his body because he knew this would destroy his faith. This was the one thing he knew he must not do, in order to keep his faith in tact while living in this pagan culture. He could learn their culture, even be called a name after one of their god's, but he must not defile his body by eating food that had been dedicated to their Gods, which by the way were all sexual Gods. As we learned last week, our Kings Food is our cultures sexual ethics. We too, in our culture, must keep our bodies from being defiled in order to maintain our faith. Look at 1 Corinthians 6:18. " Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body." You see, sexual sin is much worse that other sins because of the total damage it does to our whole psyche. It has adverse effects on our whole being. Our sexuality is so closely related to our emotions, body, mind and spirit. Cameron Diaz said it really well in the movie Vanilla Sky. She was so engrossed with Tom Cruise she was stalking him, because she couldn't get over the fact that he didn't want her any more after their brief, but intense sexual love affair. She said to him " Your body makes a promise, even if you don't." Imagine that! Cameron Diaz saying what Paul the Apostle said In 1 Corinthians 6:18!

So what can we conclude from all this? How was Daniel able to stand up to the pressures of Babylonian culture?

1. Influence of the Believing Community

Daniel was around 9 or 10 years old in 622B.C. It was during this period after the reign of an evil king , that the Jewish temple was re-opened after being closed for 70 years. There would have been great revival of faith during this time. The Jews were once again on fire for God, and was this influence on young Daniel that shaped his religious convictions that carried him through the tough times during the exile.

2. Influence of Godly parents

Nothing is mentioned specifically about Daniels parents, but we know through familiarity with Jewish culture of that time that Hebrew parents gave their children names that meant something. Daniels name means " God is my judge". we can conclude therefore that God was very important to his parents and they wanted his name to reflect that fact. They must have raised him to be a God fearing young man.

Psalm 78: 4-7 " We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands."

Pastor John invited us to a New Sexual Revolution. One that would honour God by honouring our bodies and keeping them pure according to his word in order to maintain our faith in our paganistic society. We must pass this down to future generations.

Next week Talk # 8 - The Manifesto Of The Sexual Revolution- Principal # 2 Love your Neighbour. Watch live at 6:30pm, www.livechurch.ca

TALK 6 - THE NEW SEXUAL REVOLUTION

Our society has moved from Modernism, which didn't believe in anything spiritual. The high point of atheism and the "God is dead philosophy" to Post-modernism, which believes in everything spiritual providing a Psychic or Astrologer/Tarah Card Reader on every corner. Because of it's spiritual nature, post-modernism was able to infiltrate the church faster than the rest of society. It was like a dark spiritual force that was able to change minds. Spirituality was affirmed, especially in relation to sex. It gave birth to a Neo Pagan Spirituality. The highlight of this paganistic sexual revolution was really manifested in " The Clinton Factor". You remember the U.S. President Bill Clinton and his friend Monica Lewinsky? First he denied any wrong doing. His wife Hilary said in order to protect the sanctity of the Presidential office he would have to resign. Then after he admitted guilt, everybodies mind seemed to mysteriously change and what he did turned out to be not that bad after all. At least not bad enough to resign. In fact the media made it out to look rather tame in nature, not that wrong, and almost like it was normal behavior for a president under those circumstances. What a turn around! We went from a sexual revolution to sexual Anarchy!
If you study the history of past paganistic societies, they teach a "Salvation Through Sex" philosophy. Many of the pagan temples had temple prostitutes and part of the worship of that pagan God was to have sex with the prostitute in the temple.
That is where we are now in our society.
So, how do we live in the midst of a pagan culture?

Take a look at three Old Testament examples:

(note: You can look up and read the stories for yourself.)

1. Jonah- he was called by God to be a prophet He was proud of his distinctiveness as a Jew in a paganistic culture, but was asked by God to prophesy to that Pagan society. He fled and didn't want to engage that culture. He took a " leave me alone" attitude.
Obviously not a good example as to how to live in a pagan culture.

2. Esther- She was a beauty queen that was very much into how she "looked" to others. It was disclosed that she was a Jew, but she wanted to fit into and blend into the paganistic culture she lived in rather than stand out. She wanted to be liked by everyone.
Obviously not a good example.

3. Daniel- He was living in exile as Jew in a paganistic society which was hostile to his Jewish convictions. Daniel 1:8, he wouldn't eat the Royal food because it was dedicated to the Babylonian God's first. Him and his jewish friends would only eat vegetables and their health flourished. They stood by their convictions and would not bow down to the pagan Gods and were delivered from the fiery furnace and the lions den.
He is obviously the best example of how to live in a paganistic society.

Our " Kings Food" is our cultures sexual ethics.

Our Christian witness depends on staying pure and not indulging in sexual immorality.

WE ( in The City Of God) HAVE BEEN CALLED TO EMBRACE HOLINESS AND PURITY AND SEPARATE FROM OUR CULTURE AND TO GO AGAINST THE FLOW TO A NEW SEXUAL REVOLUTION!

See the tape of this teaching at http://www.livechurch.ca/. Watch Talk #7 " The Manifesto Of The New Sexual Revolution" next Sunday live at 6:00pm.

Talk 5- Lessons On Romance, Sex, And Coveneant Love From The Song Of Songs

The Song Of Songs reveals that it is OK to desire sexual love and passion and to express them within a covenant love relationship according to God's definition of a covenant love relationship. The churches attitude over the decades has not been a positive one in this area, leaning more towards avoiding the issue and hiding the truth. This has not only been unhelpful to those within the City of God, but has left it up to the secular world to offer instruction to our youth and married couples about sex and sexuality. If you want to know the truth, we are all sinners because we live in a fallen world. That's not something people these days want to hear, but true none the less. Because we are sinners, our fallen nature expresses itself through our sexuality resulting in each one of us being sexual perverts. The good news is, we don't have to remain in that state, once we know the truth about sexual expression of covenant love and begin to express it according to Gods will.
There are three principals for cultivating passion: a) Be attractive- people have a tendency to let themselves go after marriage, and not attempt to look their best for their mate like when they were dating. Maintaining this practice can help to maintain the passion in the relationship. b) Be available- If you take a look at 1 Corinthians 7, it explains how the husband and wife are one flesh and their bodies belong to each other. The only reason to withhold sex is on mutual agreement for prayer and fasting. Otherwise Satan may bring temptation into the relationship. c) Be anticipatory- Our brains have a tremendous effect on our sexuality. It is possible to think sensual and erotic thoughts within a marriage and keep them pure and holy.
Covenant love has three elements to it: 1) It places a seal on the relationship that goes beyond the sexual act to a commitment of the whole person. Is your husband or wife the most important thing in the whole world to you? 2) Strong as death- this love is as fierce and unyielding as the grave. It is jealous towards that one and only person. It is powerful and final. 3) Flame of the Lord- This love is fueled by divine power. God stirs up love in your heart for your spouse. We become stewards of the love we have covenanted to our spouse. If it dies, we are held responsible by God, because we have not been good stewards. Covenant love cannot be destroyed. Only good sex can happen in a covenant love relationship. It is not a right, but something to protect.
The world has made sex their icon.
We, in The City Of God, make long lasting covenant love relationships, such as those who are celebrating 40,50, 60+ years of marriage our icon.
We have to live and love just like Jesus Christ did.
If we are truly following him, It's not a burden, but a joy!

This is the last week on the Song of Songs. Next week will begin to look at the societal attitudes that have been formed over the decades. and how that effects us.
Tune in, 6:30pm Sunday evenings at http://www.livechurch.ca/

Special Note: There are those who have suffered sexual abuse and may find some of this information confusing or hurtful. Our hearts go out to these people and they may require special attention and counselling to help them through their understanding of this subject.

Sex And The City Of God- Week 4

My wife said I should make my posts more personal and tell more and about myself. I think that will come later. Right now I feel compelled to report on these messages, because I think people, mostly Christians, the people of The City Of God need to hear this message. I see Pastor John like a modern day Moses trying to lead Gods people out of Egypt. Just like those people of old, I'm sensing a resistance to follow him. They didn't want to leave their slavery into the unknown land of promise God was offering. People! Pastors! Listen up! Jesus said: " MY sheep hear my voice and they follow me!" Let me repeat myself. There is no other message like this one being preached out there. When Pastor John consulted his good friend about preaching this message, the friend said " don't do it!". Pastor John said " I have to !" This is an original inspiration of the Holy Spirit. A relevant prophetic message to the church! HELLO!!! God is speaking. Are you listening? Pastors and churches should be letting their pride down and grabbing hold of this message for the sheep in their congregation. This is not a competition, it's a campaign against evil. Will you join with us? This assault of sexual propaganda is destroying marriages in our churches. The word of God is sharper than any two edged sword. Let's use it to remove the evil from among our people. As Moses said to Pharaoh, " Let my people go!"

This week we looked at The Song Of Songs and learned what romance is really is all about. Essentially romance is about intercourse. Not sexual intercourse. Verbal intercourse. Any strangers can have sex. Speech and sex are closely related. This week the emphasis was on the man in the relationship . (next week will be on the women). The Song Of Songs is a poem. A lost art in today's society. A verbal exchange between two lovers, in the context of marriage. Words are powerful. They can give life or they can kill. This exchange of words in poetic form, between the man and the women, create an erotic atmosphere, which is perfectly OK in a marriage and even encouraged by God in order to experience that love and intimacy that a husband and wife are supposed to have. Marriages that are on the rocks, have lost this art of communication, lost the intimacy and are headed for divorce court. The man, after the marriage, has failed to romance his wife with his words. Bitterness and anger take hold, and unless they are taught how to communicate effectively, the prognosis for the marriage is not good. But I do believe that it is the man who is responsible for initiating romance and then the women will follow. Romance is meant to be a growing reality, not a diminishing memory. The key is carefully composed words. A mans excuse when he gets home for work for not talking to his wife is that he is tired. The truth is we are just being selfish and lazy. Before we touch our wife's body, we need to touch her heart and mind. How we speak to our wife makes all the difference in the world as to how she responds to us. The Songs Of Songs gives a good example of how to do this. It is verbal foreplay. A model that allows us to feel and articulate sexual passion which is perfectly OK in a marriage. It is good and esteems this kind of talk in marriage to encourage sexual passion. Women are wired through what they hear. Men are wired through what they see. God wants a Christian husband to communicate sincere, carefully composed words to his wife. These can be of a sexual nature, but honoring, wholesome and pure and encourage and initiate a natural response in her.
This lesson really hit me between the eyes.
I need to go back to the time I was romancing my wife with my poems during our courtship. The very thing that captured her heart.
I dropped the ball, but I'm going to pick it up again and get back in the game!
Thanks Pastor John. This lesson is just as good as marriage counselling!

P.S. Let me make this clear, that all of the aforementioned commentary, are my words and not Pastor John's. I am just summarizing in my own words my understanding of what was said. If you have any questions you can contact him through the churches website at www.westhighland.org, or email: sex and the city@westhighland.org. The first paragraph was totally me. He didn't say any of this. That is my picture of what is happening.

Watch live Sunday evening at 6:30pm, or download recordings at www.livechurch.ca

Sex And The City Of God- Week3

This week was very interesting. I heard some things I have never heard before. Most teachings and commentaries on the book Song of Songs says that is just allegory and is over spiritualized. Pastor John has stepped outside of that box. He believes this is about what it says it is about, sexual love. Only he believes this is God's way of teaching us how to do it right. 2 Timothy 3:16 says: : " All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." God created us to be sexual beings, and sex is his gift to us, not only for procreation, but for pleasure. So would God give us a gift and not provide a means for us to learn how to use it? Would he leave it up to the world through TV sitcoms, movies, advertising, with their "Sex In The City" mentality to teach us? No! God provided instruction in the bible, called the Song Of Songs to give us a picture of what real sexual love can be like in the confines of a monogamous, safe,committed marriage relationship.

Once again, you need to listen to this whole teaching, which you can do by tuning in live at www.livechurch.ca, or go on the site and watch a download that has been recorded.

The one thing that stood out to me in this session was the "Narrowness of marriage". As part of the City Of God, once you become married, that's it, you have forsaken all others. No more exploring the ocean for other fish. You are with that person until death do you part. That is Gods perfect will for marriage. Yes, there is forgiveness and restoration for sin and mistakes and other things that happen beyond our control, but these things still leave a scar that will last a lifetime. The thing is though, that although it appears to be narrow and restrictive, it opens up a whole universe of discovery in that one person, that you could not achieve any other way. A fulfillment and a joy and a growth and a depth, that cannot be attained through multiple relationships.
God is a God of pleasure and he wants us to enjoy sex the way he created us to enjoy it. That is why he chose it to be expressed in the confines of a marriage. Waiting for marriage to have sex actually increases the pleasure. It's the anticipation. Sharing that one thing with that one special person that gives the power to the expression of it. In other words the pleasure of sex is much greater within the confines of a loving marriage relationship than if you indulged in lots of sex with multiple partners. God wants us to maximize our pleasure. The enemy on the other hand wants to decrease our pleasure because he hates God and the gift God has given us. His strategy is to create " an ever increasing craving for an ever decreasing pleasure". For example, those that have indulged in making porno films, have been so overexposed to sex, they find it harder and harder to become sexually aroused. For them, the pleasure is almost completely gone.
What a shame!
Next weeks continues the study in the Song Of Songs.
Want to learn more about romance? Stay tuned!

Sex And The City Of God - Week 2

This is a continuation of week 1- Orienting All Of Life To The Glory Of God. There is so much to this teaching I'm not sure I can do it justice in a short blog. I will just highlight what stood out to me and once again, you can watch this live at www.livechurch.ca. There will be a break next week due to a musical concert, so the teaching will resume two weeks from tonight.
I would like to add, I don't think there is another teaching out there that is more relevant than this one. We need to hear this!

Knowing Christs supremacy Guides, Guards and Governs our sexual lives.
Knowing the supremacy of Christ enlarges the soul so that sex and it's little pleasures become as small as they are.
The root of most problems with sex is that people, Christians included, really do not have a passion or desire to go deeper with God. Non Christians, who have rejected God completely, have been given over to their own lustful desires as described in Romans Chapter 1. Christians who have become complacent and comfortable in there relationship with God, with no desire to go deeper which causes their souls to stop growing, can be deceived and led astray into finding intimacy in sexual perversions. This is the reason many Christian leaders have fallen into sexual sin. God created us to have an intimate relationship with him and we have everything we need for Godliness through knowledge of him. See Colossians 3:10 & 2 Peter 1, 3-4.
Christ needs to be the center of our lives and everything that we do. Just as the Sun is central to our universe and holds all of the planets surrounding it in a gravitational pull giving order and life to the universe. Should something happen to the sun, everything else would be affected and we would die. If we do not make Christ supreme in our lives, it affects every aspect of our life, particularly our sexuality. Little souls give sexual lusts great power. Your soul was made for Jesus Christ, nothing else will make little lusts lose their power.
Knowing The supremacy of Christ saves our sexuality from sin by empowering us to suffer.
Unfortunately, we are prone to avoid pain and maximise comfort. Yet as Christians, we are called to share in the sufferings of Christ. see Mathew 5: 27-30. Better to suffer in this life, than to spend eternity in hell.
Whether we give in to sexual lust or decide to follow Christ, we are going to suffer either way.
Take a look at the lives of Joseph who ran away from Pottufers wife. He resisted temptation and look at all the trouble he suffered as a result. King David gave in to his lust with Bathsheba. Look at all the problems he suffered in his family as a result.
The question remains: are we willing to suffer in order to make Christ the center of our life?
The irony of this is, that if we do, we will experience more pleasure and freedom than we could ever imagine.
The next talk we look into the book of the Song of Songs. All that is in the bible about sexual love is not negative. Here we will learn how God shows us the sexual pleasures that can be experienced in a right relationship.
To be continued..............................

Our Cities Cry To You, Oh God

Lyrics: Margaret Clarkson (c) 1987 Hope publishing
Tune: English melody: "Kingsfold"


Our cities cry to you, O God, from out their pain and strife; you made us for yourself alone, but we choose empty life.
Our goals are pleasure, gold, and power; injustice stalks the earth; in vain we seek for rest, for joy, for sense of human worth.

Yet still you walk our streets, O Christ, we know your presence here, where humble Christians love and serve, in godly grace and fear. O word made flesh, be seen in us, may all we say and do, affirm you God Incarnate still and turn sad hearts to you.

Your people are your hands and feet to serve your world today, our lives the book our cities read to help them find your way. O pour your sovereign spirit out on heart and will and brain: inspire your church with love and power to ease our cities pain.

O healing savior, Prince of Peace, salvation's source and sum, for you our broken cities cry: O come Lord Jesus, come! With truth your royal diadem, with righteousness your rod, O come, Lord Jesus, bring to earth the city of our God.

This was a new hymn we sang in church today. I loved the lyrics so much, I wanted to share them with you. It's like a prayer!

Getting To Know God

This post is an added thought that came out of the teaching of the last post. I have been thinking about this allot. There is a passage of scripture in the bible found in Matthew 7:21, that has always puzzled me and disturbed me at the same time. I finally think I understand it as a result of the teaching " Sex And The City Of God".

The scripture says: " Not everyone who says to me " Lord,Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, " Lord, Lord," did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, " I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers!"

When the bible uses the word "know", God is using that sexual language to describe the type of intimacy we need to have with him in order to "know" him and to do his will. In the passage above he was speaking to people who thought they were Christians because of what they did, yet the Lord said, " I never knew you". It is a bit scary to think we can go through our whole Christian life thinking we are serving God and doing his will when in fact we could be rejected by him on judgement day because we just didn't get it. Just saying the words " Lord, Lord" in other words " I believe in you" obviously is not enough. The bible says even the demons believe, yet are they going to heaven? NO! Even Satan believes God exists, yet he hates God. Is he going to heaven? NO!

So, what does it take to get to heaven? We must "know" God in an intimate way so we are able to "know" what his will is and do that!

If that is not the focus of your ministry, then I would suggest you re-evaluate your motives. I believe everything else will come out of that relationship with the Lord. Follow Jesus, and all the other things will follow you.

I have mine and that is now going to be my focus; getting to "know" God.

I want to hear those words from Jesus: " Well done good and faithful servant!".

Sex And The City of God - Week 1

If you would like to hear the full teaching you can download it from the website. It may take a few days to there though. There is a Linc at the top right hand side of this blog entitled West Highland . You can actually see it live each week on line.

The first part of this teaching is about " Orienting All Of Life To The Glory Of God".
The title of this series came from a combination of the title of the TV sitcom " Sex In The City" and a book written by some dude ( St. Augustine?) called " The City Of God". Hence " Sex And The City Of God."
What Pastor John is attempting to reveal is the clear biblical distinction between the worlds view of sex and sexuality verses God's view of sex and sexuality as explained in scripture.
As you probably know the TV show " Sex In The City" is about four divorced women living together who are attempting to find true love and the ultimate relationship through experiencing the ultimate orgasm. All they ever really find is heartache and problems. The writers of this show and other TV shows of the same type are creating propaganda that will affect us, the viewing public and try to influence our thinking to theirs as being a societal norm, when in fact it is not. Their world view of sexuality is "people oriented".

Conversely, Christians, believers in Jesus Christ, are part of " The City Of God" and our view of sexuality as described in scripture is "God oriented". God created sex in order to demonstrate and have a language that would allow us to understand the kind of intimacy we can have with him. Our purpose in expressing our sexuality then becomes, as 1 Corinthians10:31 says, " So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do (including sex), do it ALL for the GLORY of God."
If you want to see an example of the kind of language God uses to describe his relationship with Israel, just take a look at Ezekiel chapter 16 and tell me if this does not sound like sexual language? Sexuality then, is designed by God as a way of knowing him through Jesus Christ more fully. Going back to the book of Genesis God outlines the parameters as to what this relationship looks like, between a man and a women, two very distinctly biologically different genders, in a loving covenant relationship called marriage. Any other variation or deviation from this model causes us to sin by creating an idolatrous relationship as described in Ezekiel 16 and keeps us from knowing God! As Hosea said in chapter 6:3 ( he was the prophet that married the prostitute) " Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises. he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." In other words Gods favour will restore us.

Tune in next week for a continuation along the same theme.
Apparently week three gets really juicy!..... as we get into the Song of Songs which is all about sexual love.
I can't wait!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY PROTESTANTS!

This year is the 500Th anniversary of the protestant reformation of the church. There seemed to be a few people that were not in agreement with the beliefs of the Roman Catholic church. Imagine that? Rebels in the church. Trouble makers. Satanically induced backsliders upsetting the status quot. The likes of Calvin and Martin Luther. Amazing what people think when their authority is threatened. It must be the devil! Yeah right!
As I recall, isn't that what they thought about Jesus too? His teaching appeared to be a threat to their power and authority. They called him the devil and did end up killing him. I guess he was seen as a bit of a rebel too against the church of his day, and he was God! The Word made flesh! I think we need to be really really careful before we start throwing out accusations like that shouldn't we?
There seemed to be a dispute over the doctrine of Justification By Faith Alone ( Sola Fide), and over Biblical Authority ( Sola Scriptura). It seems the Church of the day believed that the apostles ( The Pope being the successor of Paul) had the ultimate authority over the written word (bible), because it was the apostles that created the scriptures. The reformers(rebels) on the other hand believed the bible was "the" inspired word of God delivered through the apostles and was the ultimate authority over anything or anybody else. The Pope had a contract out on the life of Martin Luther. Do you think he felt his authority was threatened? Here's a quote:

" Unless I am convinced by Sacred Scripture or by evident reason, I will not recant. My conscience is held captive by the word of God and to act against conscience is neither right or safe."
Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms


He apparently was delivered through a set of strange miraculous circumstances, from death. Maybe God was on his side?

I think some Protestant Christians and churches today have come full circle and believe they have more authority than the inspired word of God. Some have strayed so far away from the bible, I don't even know why they call themselves Christian. Others have so misinterpreted the scriptures they have become cults. Being involved in such a church would not be right or safe.
Maybe it's time for a protest against the Protestants? or at least some kind of new awakening? Maybe a Revival? A Resurrection? Something has to happen to get the strayed churches back on track!
Let's get back to our Reformation roots and make the bible, "the" inspired word of God the Ultimate Authority. Let the word of God be fully known.