'Be anxious for nothing..." ~Philippians 4:6

Monday, April 18, 2011

HAPPY MONDAY

From the Founder's Day celebration and Sunday morning service in Ramstein, the Living Last Supper at Kaiserslautern Assembly of God, it really was a wonderful weekend. To say that I feel refreshed would be an understatement.

Here are some excerpts from an outstanding message spoken (at Agape Christian Faith Center in Ramstein on Saturday afternoon) by Otis V. Wilks, Pastor of the Tabernacle of Refuge Church, in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK.
The message was aptly entitled "Just In Case".

"...When the law was read, the people of God stood. We're about to read the Law of God concerning our lives. We stand not in honor of a person, but in honor of God, and in observance of a principle. We stand for everything else, we need to stand for God, too....There are some situations taking place where humanity's focus has shifted off God, and their focus is now on building themselves up; making themselves look good....When God created humanity, he did not create it to glorify itself...When you hang around somebody, invariably, something of their glory--their style-- rubs off on you...God has created humanity in His image; in His style, to represent Him...The purpose of humanity is so that, when you turn up on the scene, they don't see Wilks coming; they don't see Smith coming-- but when you turn up on the scene, everything in the created order is supposed to hear and see GOD...When you speak to a thing, it's going to obey--not because you spoke to it, but because when you opened up your big mouth, it heard God, 'cause you've been created in His image...When I turn up on the scene, I ought to expect something in the atmosphere to change. I'm a walking, talking rebuke to the devil and his co-workers simply because I carry and bear the image of God...If you represent God, you don't always have to open your mouth to rebuke. You just need to show up...When humanity turns its focus off representing God and begins to glorify itself, it defies its purpose. Any time a thing has reached the end of its purpose, one of two things must happen-- either it must be revived, or it must be thrown away..."



"...Even though there is the APPEARANCE that we are speaking the same language, MY understanding, of the language used, has been colored by my social/ political situation--which is entirely different from yours...So, we're using the same words, the same verbiage, the same language, but yet there is disagreement somewhere in the mix, because our communication has been scrambled. Now, we speak in the same language, so really, we OUGHT to be in agreement, but the problem is there's been a mis-communication...You've got to be able to see past the thing that offends you, to look at what lays BEHIND, it--to get behind what you are hearing--because its only when you get behind what you're hearing, you will REALLY see what THEY are trying to say; what THEY are trying to do, and not what you THINK... if you took the time just to find out where I'm coming from, you might be able to help me...It really is not just about our relationship with each other that mis-communication can come in, but it can EVEN come in, in the context of reading and understanding scripture..."



"What do you do when the hell you're in is because of the Heaven you're trying to reach? What do you do when pursuing GOD places you right in the middle of hell?...That is where (the apostle) Paul finds himself. He's sitting down in a prison cell preaching the Gospel--in a PRISON cell...Paul is a living witness that, on the other side of SMOOTH, sure 'nough, you're going to find you some ROUGH...negative situations can indeed catch up with the child of God...but GOD!...What do you do when the hell you're in is because of the Heaven you're trying to reach, but the outcome is uncertain?...Make a mental transition...Grow up. Since I'm in hell trying to reach Heaven, Paul says I'm going to sit here in these chains and preach anyhow...Even if it doesn't work out, I will bless the Lord at all times...I'm going to praise Him like I've never praised before--just in case...Hallelujah."
~Otis V. Wilks

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