Pastoral Perspective - Proof of the Promise

It is incorrect to assume that the Christian journey will become easier the further you travel. Consider your attempts at climbing a mountain or reaching a higher elevation.

Every time I have climbed to Mystic Lake, the last push to the summit was the steepest and the most strenuous part of the journey. According to my “Day Hikes in the Beartooth Mountains” book, it’s a 7-mile roundtrip hike from the West Rosebud Trail with an elevation gain of 1,200 feet. It hasn’t mattered if it was sunny, windy, rainy, or snowing, it still gets harder with every step I take.

On another level, it has been observed that “the more important the work, the more resistance you need to expect to feel.”

In Hebrews 10 the writer was addressing believers who had tasted fear. They were exhausted, their friends and family had been imprisoned or killed, and they were questioning their commitment. They were scared for their lives and families. And we read this encouragement - Hebrews 10:35,36 – Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

There is a time when there is a temptation to throw away what we have put our confidence in, and it is at that time when we need patience.

There comes a time when we have done the will of God and still not received the promise of God!

It’s not just you, and it’s not just now!

For every one of you that has trudged on up over that last steep incline before you rounded the corner and looked down on a mountain lake beach, no one had to tell you it was worth the climb.

For those of you who are currently on in an incline in your faith journey – it’s worth it!

You are almost to the summit and about to reach a whole new level in what you can see, expect, and receive in your walk with God!Stephen referenced a timeless truth we still experience today.
Acts 7:17-19 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.          

The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.

It had been 400 long years, and all during that time the people of promise grew and multiplied.
But when it was almost time for the promise to be fulfilled, they really began to feel forgotten.
They became slaves whose children were taken from them. Even though things were getting harder, the children of Israel were nearing the time of their departure from Egypt.

If things are getting harder for you it doesn’t mean it’s over.
If you are experiencing greater challenges in your walk with God, you are right on time.
It means you’re getting closer to seeing your promise fulfilled and your prayer answered!The promise is still valid, and the reward is still real!

Pastoral Perspective - God knows where you are and where you are going!

In Isaiah 43:2, God says, “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you pass through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned up. It will not consume you.”

The giant standing before you as a mockery to everything you believe in is a result of the last battle you fought. You brought this on yourself by trying to do the right thing, by attempting to honor God, to worship Him, and to be faithful to His call.

You’re trying to do right; you're the one that loves God and tries to please Him
Engage the lion who threatens your flock, destroy the bear who tries to make off with your lambs, and you get more than just a warm rug and coat; more than the admiration of everyone who gives you the title – lion slayer. You get to face the giant!

In reality, you are more prepared than ever to face the obstacles in your path. But you’re still recovering from the last battle, and would gladly trade the battlefield for the hillside. The loneliness and lack of pressure in the pasture sounds good, and you began to wonder if it is worth it all . . .

Joseph – you believed the dreams God told you, and you did all you could to share them, to explain them, and to act on them. Look where it got you! Betrayed by your brothers, lied about by your boss’s wife, isolated in a jail cell far from home, forgotten by your friends . . . but God knows where you are!

Moses – growing up in the palace, you always remembered that you were not an Egyptian; that God had a plan for you and his people. When you tried to act on God’s promises, you ended up running for your life. Now here you sit in isolation in a barren and desolate land . . . but God knows where you are!

In Psalm 73 we read the confession of the psalmist who says, “…even though God is good, my feet were almost gone out from under me because I saw the wellbeing of the foolish and wicked.”

It wasn’t until he went into the sanctuary of God that it all came into focus.
It wasn’t until he went into the sanctuary of God that he understood their end.
It wasn’t until he got in God’s presence that He was reminded that the pressures of this life are temporary, and that in the end God would never forsake him!

It is disheartening when it seems that all is in vain, but you are in good company -and you will see another day!

Abraham, you were the one who obeyed God and left everything behind when you were 75 years old, but now there is a famine.

Gideon, if you wouldn’t have torn down the altar of false gods everybody wouldn’t be out to get you.

Moses, you wouldn’t be a wanted man in Egypt if you would have just turned your head and let things go on as they had.

Joseph, if you would have just kept your dreams to yourself, your brothers wouldn’t have gotten jealous and sold you into slavery.

Simon Peter, if you wouldn’t have responded to the beckoning call of Jesus, you wouldn’t be wet and cold right now.


You wouldn’t be where you are today if you didn’t have enough confidence in God to cast your cares on Him. He came through, even though it may seem that you got more cares thrown back at you, He’s still the wave walker, and He still speaks peace in the middle of the storms of life!

Your setback is just a setup! God knows where you are, and He will be with you where you are going!

The Trap of Anger

We’ve all done it! We’ve gotten angry. There are a lot of reasons to get angry. You may have not gotten a good grade on your math test and you’re angry at yourself for not studying more. You could be angry because you see someone at your school getting bullied, and you wish that people treated others with more respect. Or perhaps you’ve gotten angry because someone auditioned for the school play and got the part you knew you deserved. Anger can come to us from many different sources.

Anger in itself isn’t necessarily bad. Its your response to anger that can make or break you in life. For example, if you got angry that you didn’t get a good grade on your math test. And let’s say you used that anger to motivate you to study harder for the next test. That response to anger would be good. You channeled your anger into something productive, like studying harder for a test. Sometimes though, your response to anger can be bad. If you allow your anger to consume you you can do things you regret. The story of Cain in Genesis four is a good example of this. Cain got angry with his brother Abel and that anger drove him to ultimately kill Abel. The Lord asked Cain, "Why are you angry? Why does your face look sad? You know that if you do what is right, I will accept you. But if you don’t, sin is ready to attack you. That sin will want to control you, but you must control it."

Cain said to his brother Abel,

"Let’s go out to the field." So they went to the field. Then Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. – Genesis 4:6-8 (ERV)

Cain made a bad decision out of anger. He chose to kill his brother Abel. Now, we know that killing someone is wrong, and most of us aren’t tempted to kill someone, but what do you do when someone gets something you feel is unfair? Do you talk about them behind their back? Give them the silent treatment? Or maybe try to get even with them?

Doing these types of things will not help you in the long run. It might make you feel better in the moment, but trying to get even or not treating someone nice isn’t the right way to respond to anger. When you get angry, you have a choice to make. Will you sin when you get angry and do something you may later regret, or will you channel that anger into something positive in your life. Ephesians 4:26 says it like this:

"When you are angry, don’t let that anger make you sin," and don’t stay angry all day. – Ephesians 4:26

When you get angry, choose to not get even or hurt someone else. Choose instead to channel your anger into something positive.

Taken from our October newsletter, read it here...

Lessons on Growth from Stinky Shoes

There’s not many things that smell worse than stinky shoes. I’m sure you’ve come across a pair that has that odor with the extra kick. Maybe its your brother’s basketball shoes. You know the ones that make you gag a little when you pick them up? It seems like shoes can get stinky pretty easily. Its just the nature of them. You put them on, run around in them for a few days, and they start to accumulate that funky stinky feet odor. But many times, because you wear the shoes all the time, you don’t notice the odor. Its easy to become accustomed to the foot odor and not realize…your feet stink. You know that’s a lot like personal growth. Its easy to become so accustomed to your daily activities, routines and things that we can forget to grow personally. Unless we try to do something beyond what we’ve already mastered, we won’t grow. That principle can apply to lots of areas in our lives. If we don’t push ourselves to grow, we can easily become stinky and not realize it. The Bible says it like this:

All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize- 1 Cor 9:25 (NLT)

To win, you’ve got to be disciplined in training. You’ve got to push yourself beyond where you’re comfortable in natural things and in spiritual things. So decide today that you’re not going to become stinky like your shoes sometimes get. Decide to keep pushing yourself forward in your relationship with God and in your habits and routines. The secret to your failure or your success is found in your daily routines.

Taken from our July newsletter, read it here...

A Tale of Two Fathers

Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it

Proverbs 22:6
 

This is a command of whatever you teach your children, this is what they will be when they grow up.
Your children see and hear everything that you do, even if you don’t think they are. They pay attention to your reactions, your words, and how you live.

In Genesis there are two different stories of two fathers and how each one lived differently than the other. How they led the destiny of their family was dependent on the choices they made.
Let’s take a look at the first father. In Genesis 13 it talks about how Lot moved his tent in the valley toward the evil city, Sodom. Notice he didn’t move into the city, but toward it, as life went on it states in chapter 14 he dwelt in the city. It is not always a quick move, but a progressive movement when allowing things of this world to break your wall of values you once held. In chapter 19 it states two angels went to Sodom to warn Lot to move him and any of his family out of the city before God destroyed it. In verse 14 Lot went to his family and warned them to escape before it was too late, but they laughed at him and took him like he was joking. Lot lost his testimony to his family by the example of how he lived and how he raised them. He wasn’t a righteous man that walked close to God for his family to fear what was really about to happen. So when the time came Lot was able to just escape with his wife and his two unmarried daughters. As you know Lot’s wife couldn’t look away from the past sinful life, she had to turn and look at the city she didn’t want to give up. A pillar of salt is what she was left as. Because of the life Lot lived backslidden and allowing the worldly ways to sway him he lost everything. Jesus even told the Jews “remember Lots wife” it was Lot, the father who led them to this position.

Now let’s turn to the second Father, Noah. Noah was a righteous man, and in Genesis 6:8 it says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. In chapter 7 right before the water over flowed the earth the Lord said ““Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.” Because Noah was a faithful man, obedient a good and righteous father, his whole household was saved from destruction. His wife and sons saw how Noah lived and obeyed everything the Lord had told him, even when their neighbors would stop and mock him for building an ark. Noah kept going, and stayed focused on God and what He wanted him to do. He stood strong on what he believed and nothing made him twitch or doubt his beliefs.

Fathers today do make mistakes, but there is a choice to make on what kind of inheritance we want for our children, you can be in the church being a righteous, obedient man or out in the world leading your family  out of church. Planting the seeds in your children are important.

Ask yourself these questions: What things do I allow in my house or allow my children to see or do?Do my kids see me worship God? Do they hear me pray? Do I make God a priority in our lives? Do they see me read the Bible? Do the words that come out of my mouth, words of God?
Remember your children will remember the seeds you plant in their life, and you will see it reflect in their lives.

Taken from our June newsletter, read it here...

The Jesus Name Centennial

In 2013-2014 we celebrate one hundred years of the restoration of water baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We find examples of this practice throughout church history, but key events in the early twentieth century led to the greatest revival of this message since the third century.

The Jesus Name message was renewed in the modern Pentecostal movement, which originated with a Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, in January 1901 led by Charles Parham and with the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, California, from 1906 to 1908 led by William Seymour. Based on the examples in Acts, some early Pentecostals began to baptize in Jesus’ name, including Parham (1901), some in Los Angeles during the Azusa Street Revival (1907), and Andrew Urshan, a Persian immigrant in Chicago (1910).

The practice did not yet have strong doctrinal significance, however. Two notable events led to the development of the Jesus Name message as a distinct movement: the Worldwide Camp Meeting in Arroyo Seco in April 1913 and the rebaptisms of Frank Ewart and Glenn Cook in April 1914.

The Worldwide Apostolic Faith Camp Meeting was organized by R.J. Scott and George Studd and held at Arroyo Seco near Los Angeles, on a campground used by the Azusa Street Mission. The month-long meeting began on April 15, 1913, and perhaps two thousand people attended.

The main speaker was Maria Woodworth-Etter, a well-known Pentecostal evangelist. Expectations were high, and 364 people received the Holy Spirit. Many miraculous healings occurred as Woodworth-Etter prayed “in the name of Jesus.” At a baptismal service Robert McAlister, a Canadian minister, explained that single immersion was the proper mode for baptism, not triple immersion. As proof he cited the baptismal accounts in Acts. The apostles baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; they never baptized using the words “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,” as triple immersion requires.

McAlister’s observation planted a seed in the minds of several people. A man named John Schaepe was so inspired that he spent the night in prayer. Early the next morning he began running through the camp shouting that he had received a revelation of the power of the name of Jesus. Quite a few campers were greatly stirred as Schaepe fervently explained his newfound understanding.

Another man who was deeply impressed was Frank Ewart, originally from Australia, where he had been a Baptist bush missionary. In 1903 he immigrated to Canada, in 1908 he received the Holy Spirit in Portland, Oregon, and in 1912 he became pastor of a Pentecostal mission in Los Angeles founded by William Durham. Ewart had been studying the name and oneness of God for some time, so McAlister’s comments were especially intriguing to him. Ewart invited him to his home, where they discussed the theological implications of using the name of Jesus in water baptism. They concluded that when the apostles baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, they properly fulfilled Christ’s command to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19).

After the camp, Ewart began working in Los Angeles with McAlister and Glenn Cook, a noted evangelist who had been the full-time business manager of the Azusa Street Mission. These men continued to study the name of Jesus and the doctrine of God. After several months McAlister returned to Canada and shared their thinking with ministers there, particularly Franklin Small. At some point they also included in their discussions G.T. Haywood, a ministerial friend and a prominent African American pastor in Indianapolis.

In November 1913 at a convention in Winnipeg, McAlister preached the first sermon on the name of Jesus in water baptism. Small had charge of the baptismal service and baptized thirty new converts in the name of Jesus Christ. These were the first Jesus Name baptisms to result from the Arroyo Seco meeting.

Back in Los Angeles, Ewart and Cook concluded that, following the apostolic pattern, water baptism should always take place with the invocation of the name of Jesus. They also concluded that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not three distinct persons but three manifestations of the one God, and Jesus is the revelation of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The reason why there is such power when believers preach, pray, and baptize in Jesus’ name is that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus.

To proclaim this message, Ewart and Cook pitched a tent and began meetings in Belvedere, California, just outside Los Angeles. On April 15, 1914, Ewart preached his first sermon on Acts 2:38. He proclaimed that the full message of salvation consists of repentance, water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost; and he associated Jesus Name baptism with the oneness of God in Christ. Then Ewart baptized Cook in the name of Jesus Christ, and Cook baptized Ewart.

This action—the first rebaptisms in the name of Jesus Christ—decisively identified Oneness Pentecostalism as a distinct movement. As the Jesus Name message was preached, a great revival broke out in Los Angeles. Many were miraculously healed and many received the Holy Ghost in the waters of baptism. Soon the Jesus Name message began to spread around the world.



David K. Bernard is the general superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church International.

This article has been adapted from David K. Bernard’s book A History of Christian Doctrine, Vol. 3. See this book for documentation.

by David K. Bernard  
 

Published on Thursday, 10 January 2013

Copied from UPCI.ORG

Best iPad Apps for Pastors

What are the best iPad apps for pastors? Using my iPad as a pastor for the last 3 years, I have tried a lot of different apps.

If you are anything like me, you are in a never-ending hunt, roaming the iTunes App Store looking for the next app that will make your iPad better than ever.
After trying many different apps, I have compiled a list of my absolute favorite iPad apps for ministry that I truly believe every iPad packing pastor needs.

Day One Journal – Day One recently has won various app awards for a reason. It is the best app for anyone who journals. It is especially useful for your quiet time with God. If you are not into journaling, consider using Day One for recording prayer requests. Another great use is for having a record what God has been speaking to you in your quiet time with Him, so you can pull those thoughts for sermon preparation later.

Evernote – Never forget anything ever again. This the best note-taking app ever. I use Evernote for keeping a database of every sermon I have ever preached. I also use it to capture down random ideas for sermons, illustrations, blog posts or whatever else comes to mind. Evernote helps you capture great ideas before you forget them. A must for every pastor! Plus, here are more ways Evernote makes a pastors life easier.

Penultimate - Penultimate is a hand-written note taking app created by the good folks at Evernote. Because it is owned by Evernote, as soon as you are done taking your notes, it automatically saves them into a designated Evernote folder for you. I love using this app for taking notes in meetings. Call me old school, but I find that typing on an iPad can seem obnoxious during meetings. People don’t know if you are sending email, surfing the web, or actually paying attention. So I use Penultimate along with a good stylus to write meeting notes by hand, that are later searchable in Evernote. This just feels and looks much more professional to me.

DropBox – Dropbox is an amazing hard drive in the cloud. Dropbox syncs with your computer so you can easily drag and drop any file into it. Then, you can easily pull these files up at any time on your iPad or iPhone. I love having it for things like volunteer applications. Any time someone asks me about volunteering, I can simply pull up Dropbox and email them an application on the spot. (Similar apps: Google Drive and Box)

Paper – Paper also won the app of the year award from iTunes. It is an awesome note-taking / drawing app. Paper allows you to organize notes and sketches into different notebooks just like if you had a bag full of notebooks with you. The interface is smooth and easy to use. I love using it for brainstorming sessions. Plus, it just looks beautiful.

LogMeIn – A must for the pastor on the go. LogMeIn allows you to access your desktop computer at any time from your iPad. It’s like having you computer with you at all times. Everything you need is right on your iPad. It can be a little pricey, but it’s worth it if you are rarely in your office.

1 Password – Never forget a password again! Like most tech-savvy pastors, you probably have multiple different accounts on multiple different websites. Forgetting a password can be an extremely frustrating and time-wasting scenario. 1 Password is an app for keeping all of your passwords in one secure place.

Downcast – The best podcast listener out there! If you want to grow as a pastor, listen to free podcasts from your favorite preachers. It automatically syncs across your iPad and iPhone. The best feature is the ability to speed up podcasts. By going up to 2x speed you can cut an hour-long message to 30 minutes, or a 30 minute message to 15. This is a great time saver, and you will be surprised at how quickly your brain adjust to the increased speed.

Logos Bible! – Logos gives you the power of an entire research library with you wherever you go. If you haven’t purchased the Logos software you can still do Hebrew and Greek studies and read the Bible for free. However, if you use Logos software, this app will sync with your entire book library. Excellent for sermon study on the go!

The Bible App – The Bible App from YouVersion is the best Bible app without exception. This has practically replaced my paper Bibles. The reading plans are a fantastic way to keep you accountable for daily Bible reading. And if you are driving, working out, or just don’t feel like reading, you can listen to the audio versions. All for free!

Bible for Kids – The Bible for Kids app was created by the YouVersion team. It’s FREE. And my 4-year-old daughter loves it. If you have kids get it. You should also recommend it to parents in your church for a fun, interactive way to get kids to learn Bible stories.  I can’t help but wonder why they didn’t have anything as cool as this when I was a kid in Sunday school and we just had the flannelgraph.

Feedly – After Google Reader closed down, Feedly quickly became my favorite RSS reader for the iPad. Feedly allows you to subscribe to all the posts from your favorite blog. I use this app to sift through hundreds of blog posts a day. Leaders are readers. Why not take advantage of the great free content some of the best minds on the internet are producing every day? (Other option: Flipboard – Does the same thing, but puts it together in a visually appealing magazine that also includes news feeds and social media.)

Planning Center – Planning Center is the best worship service and volunteer management system available. If you have never heard of it, do yourself and your worship pastor a favor and go to PlanningCenterOnline.com right now! Hurry up! I use this app weekly to manage the service order and coordinate the scheduling of hundreds of volunteers. Makes planning services and coordinating volunteers easy!

HootSuite – If you are using Social Media to reach your people and community (which you should). HootSuite is a great way to schedule posts across multiple sites. Use it for the church Facebook page, twitter profile and more. The greatest feature is the ability to schedule posts in advance. You no longer have to log in to each website individually at the perfect time to get the message you want out at the optimal hour. I am currently 3 months out in scheduled posts. Did I mention it’s free!

Pages, Numbers, Keynote – The office products from Apple are second to none. For writing documents, managing spreadsheets, or creating presentations, these apps are a must-have for every iPad. Apple has made them FREE for anyone who has recently purchased a new device (iPhone or iPad). But whether it is free or not, I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t use these apps. Check them out.

Kindle – If you love reading, you need to get the Kindle app on your iPad. Why do I use Kindle instead of iBooks? 1) Amazon is the biggest book company in the world, and has a bigger selection of books for often a better price.  2) Call me paranoid, but if Apple ever went downhill as a company – gasp – I will still have all my Kindle books that I can read on an Android tablet, online, or an actual Kindle reader. I am not locked into an iPad. And 3) I love being able to access all my notes at kindle.amazon.com and save all of my highlights into Evernote for quick reference (more on that here).

Presentation Clock – I love using this app for timing my preaching. I speak a lot in environments with no clock. Instead of bringing a big clock and mounting it in the back of the room, I use Presentation Clock (although typically on my iPhone since I use my iPad for preaching). It counts down the remaining time, and changes color to warn you when you are nearly out of time. If you tend to preach too long, your church will thank you for using this app!

Genius Scan – Genius Scan turns your iPad into a scanner. I have gone paperless at home and at work. No more messy stacks of paper scattered across my desk! Genius scan takes a picture of the document, and then exports it to your destination of choice. (I use Evernote). Rather than searching through a messy pile of paper, I can now just search Evernote and BAM there it is. This is great for tracing receipts, meeting handouts, or saving a picture of a whiteboard.

GoodReader – I love preaching with an iPad. GoodReader is a great PDF reader that I use for all of my sermon notes. I write my sermon notes in pages, but word processors are terrible to preach from, because with one tap you could accidentally delete or rearrange all of your notes. GoodReader allows me to crop, highlight, and read my notes without fear of messing them up.

Spotify – Spotify has completely replaced the iTunes app on my iPad. Spotify gives you access to a music library of nearly every song ever recorded! There are free options, but I signed up for the subscription, because it is worth every cent. Instead of paying $10 a month for one new Christian CD, I pay $10 a month for every Christian CD ever. It is great for making current playlists for my ministry. No more old songs playing again and again for years in my church. Nothing but the best.

Garage Band – If you want to make music, record music, record a podcast, record your preaching, or record a meeting, Garage Band is for you. Garage Band is the best audio recording app available. Period.

iMovie – Being able to create video is more and more important in churches. If you want to shoot and edit video announcements, testimonies, skits, video of service projects, or whatever, iMovie is the best. This app can handle just about any video project a church has (other than 3D animations and more technical videos like that).

30/30 – 30/30 is a time-management app for getting more done. It lets you set a list of tasks and a time allotment for each. Then, start the timer and get as much done as you possibly can before the buzzer. Now switch to the next task. This works great if you think about it as a game. How much can you get done before the clock runs out? Just don’t forget to schedule a break or two in between tasks. Use it for managing time on Facebook, checking email, or working on a sermon. You will be surprised at how much more you get done in less time.

Clear – Clear is now my favorite to-do app. I have tried a many to-do lists, and I absolutely love the simplicity of Clear. If you live and die by your to-do list like me, you need a simple, enjoyable way to keep your list across all your devices. This may sound weird, but the gestures you use and the sound effects in this app make finishing and adding tasks feel like a video game. If you try it, you will see what I mean.

I hope you found this list of the best iPad apps for pastors helpful.

By Brandon Hilgemann

Copied from Rocky Mountain District UPCI website.