New Wineskins

“No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins”

(Mark 2:22).

Greetings brethren –

It is my desire to write words of encouragement to you that I pray will lift you up and bring you joy as you pursue a life of righteousness and walk daily in your kingdom assignments.

It is a privilege to be commissioned as believers to share the Gospel of Christ with others. Jesus invites us, instructs us, enables us, and trusts us with this assignment that our joy in serving with Him in this endeavor might be full!

            Why is it then, you may wonder, does discouragement often choke out joy, fear challenge our faith, and complacency triumph over action in our calling as disciples???

Jesus, in the Gospel of Mark points out the fact that trying to put new wine into old wineskins is the problem and the very answer to this question. We simply skip the preparation process and the result is defeat! Defeat in a witness to someone, defeat in a Bible study gathering, defeat in prayer, defeat in all things pertaining to God.

            The preparation I speak of is shedding our old wine skins. The spiritual discipline required in this task for every believer is fasting. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to fast away our desire to indulge in worldly pleasures. In fasting we destroy the hunger and thirst for worldly desire and in its place we develop a hunger and thirst for righteousness. As we fast specific practices of sin are revealed and destroyed as confession and repentance bring and end to the old wineskin and a new wineskin emerges in the form of a believer freshly transformed by God with a renewed mind, a strengthened faith, and a softened heart that is ready for new wine, an abundance of anointing by the Holy Spirit.

            Brethren, let Jesus call you into a fast. Let Him have total control of your desire to conform to His righteousness. As your shortcomings are revealed, own up to them, and repent!! Allow Christ to prepare you for new wine, new vision, new understanding, and sensitivity to His discipleship. Walk in the fullness of your purpose as a living sacrifice, a fresh wine skin ready for new wine!

Blessings,

Pastor, Jim

Faithful Stewardship

“I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9).

Dearly beloved,

            I first put money in the church offering plate at the ripe old age of twelve. It was all the money I had earned from yard mowing that summer. From the moment the deacon lifted the plate from the table, it had my complete attention. Everything else around me faded and when the plate arrived in my hands, freely I surrendered all the money I had in the world. If anyone noticed or if any comments were made about the giving, I don’t remember; the plate knew, as did I, as did the Father, and that’s all that mattered. The feelings I had after a few days passed, however, is what I really want to share with you.

It wasn’t long (the next day) until I was wishing I hadn’t put all my money in the offering plate. There were a few things at the dime store I’d liked to have had; almost everything I saw I thought I needed! Walking out of the store upset, I promised myself I would never surrender all of my money in the church plate again!

Every possible thing that could tempt me and challenge me that week did. My friends were buying the best baseball cards to ever hit the planet, my sister had a birthday, a pinball machine, a new pool table, and foosball tables were all purchased at the downtown restaurant and all I could do was sit back and watch people play on them! I didn’t have a dime! All that hard work I did for my money was thrown in the offering plate at church!!

As I was crying late Saturday evening in bed the image of the offering plate came to mind. I knew I would be seeing it in the morning, and it was the only thing I could see or think about. It was then that a voice in my mind gently spoke similar words Jesus spoke to those surrounding Him, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

I thanked Jesus that night for rescuing me and for keeping Satan from robbing me of my giving. I thanked him for showing me how easily one can be tempted, like the “unfaithful servant,” to waste money foolishly.

I share this with you to encourage you as you give to others for the sake of Christ. Don’t let Satan rob you of your offering to God. Don’t let the world convince you that it knows better than God how to manage your worldly wealth. Do not allow this wealth be your master, rather, use the wealth God loans you to serve others! Put Satan’s deceptions and temptations aside and do not let anyone or anything come between you and your spiritual desire to give to others for the sake of unity and eternal fellowship. Let your giving say “thanks” to Jesus for the glorious purchase of our salvation!

Blessings,

Pastor, Jim

The Poor Amoung Us

The first glimpse I had of the poor was a rich young ruler who after confronting Jesus with how to achieve salvation walked away from His counsel sad and depressed. This example was a revelation for me and has also been a great help in discerning who the poor are that Jesus said would always be around us.

Jesus’ concern was not about the people who lacked material wealth; His concern was for those who lacked Spiritual wealth. He stated, “Blessed are you who are poor in the spirit,” not from the perspective of material poverty but in the position of a person who simply could not fill his heart up enough with the saving Words of Christ. He instructed the poor to give to Caesar what was Caesar’s and to give to God what was God’s. This gives us conformation that a person whose heart is right with God will always be able to give to God and anything the world requires. Jesus also told the masses to seek the kingdom first and all the things they needed would be provided. What we can glean from these passages is that material poverty and spiritual poverty are not at all the same. We can also surmise that from a spiritual perspective we are all bankrupt in some way and found poor, wanting, and in need of Christ’s service.

A worldly perspective of poverty sets a servant up for deception. Focusing on material needs only can exacerbate the problem a person is facing leaving them afterwards worse off than they initially were; the band-aid term has been used to describe this method of relief. Addressing the symptom, a worldly method, rather than focusing on the cause of a problem leaves the person in need in a holding pattern of poverty. This result can leave both the servant and the person in need broken and disappointed.

Addressing need correctly begins by understanding what the true need in question is; this is where biases, presuppositions, and worldly advice must come to and end. Spiritual discernment must be exercised in order to enter into a needy person’s situation. Spiritual disciplines must be exercised in the process of serving need as well. Praying for guidance before, during, and after a calling to address need will allow the servant to walk with a good conscience and a pure heart. Allowing the Spirit to lead us into service will always bring us assurance that we are in the correct position to serve.

In the book of Ezekiel, God calls on Ezekiel to go to His people and observe them for a period of seven days. Ezekiel was instructed not to say anything, but just to watch and take in everything he saw. God told Ezekiel there would be moments when he would want to speak out about something he saw, but in those moments God would stick his tongue to the roof of his mouth. God told Ezekiel there would come a time when he would need to address the people and at that time God would provide for him the very words to say. I have always cherished this portion of Scripture as it describes God’s guidance in leading his servant in the call to serve need.

First, we learn that God, who is sovereign in all affairs, calls upon his servant to go to His people. Too often we take the initiative to address the poor. We journey out as if we have all the answers, and have the ability to resolve every situation we come across. The truth is with this mentality and practice we are in the wrong place, dealing with the wrong people and completely out of God’s will during the whole period of service. No wonder people in need get hurt, servants grow weary and skeptical, and everyone involved falls deeper into the pit of poverty.

Second, we learn that help does not come right away. God told Ezekiel to observe His people for seven days. Is it not true that we are just as anxious as the person in need to resolve a particular problem? How can empathy be discovered; how can the real need in question be flushed out and how can God’s grace be sufficient in the situation if diligence, discernment and patience are not exercised. Symptoms are an easy fix but they are only deceptive issues; real need can only be discovered through waiting upon the Lord. Like Ezekiel, I am sure we want to point out problems immediately and if God does not shut our mouths and quench our limited knowledge of a problem dimly seen, we will cause great harm. Allowing us to observe need for seven days allows for relationships to be established, empathy to manifest, truth about the real need to surface, and grace to abound.

We need to ask the Holy Spirit to lead us into every situation, not because we know how to deal with it or fix it, but because once inside the bowels of brokenness we have the ability to see the light and bring the person in darkness to its safety.

Breaking The Missional Code (Review)

In his book, “Breaking the Missional Code,” author, Ed Stetzer describes a plethora of ways churches are effectively reaching the 21^st century North American culture. The adjective, “local” church has been referred to as, “glocal,” to better illustrate for us how diverse our country has become and to better define the church that’s reaching out to that diversity. Communal awareness, (i.e. ethnicity, age, location, vocation, education, etc…), is what the glocal church digests; an understanding of these cultural characteristics, marinated with a desire for outreach, is what allowed Christ to transform the church into the type of body He needed them to become in order to reach the community they found themselves in. The churches that become aware of their community and submit to this transformation are the glocal churches that are reaching people and growing exponentially in the process.

As Mr. Stetzer shares the locations many of these churches have manifested and how they came to be, we discover methods used to establish successful churches in these areas in the past have changed. The message from God hasn’t changed but the methods used to relay His message has, and it is completely related to the church’s understanding of its missional outreach to a specific people. The author describes what God is doing through this glocal church as, “breaking the missional code”.  Here is where the author suggests the need for a church to become indigenous; within the culture, but not to be a participant in its behavior. The indigenous church offers sanctuary for people to come as they are, without expectations from them to conform to a certain behavior or type. An indigenous church learns to contextualize Scripture, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to its culture, therefore, transforming behavior and type from within a person. This is a description of a glocal church; breaking the missional code and reaching people for Christ!

As a church pastor wanting to obey the Commission as commanded by Christ, succeed in the battle for the lost, and become part of the church Christ is establishing and growing, I see the value of becoming, for loss of a better term, a “glocal” church. Why? Number one, the harvest is right before us. One of our stumbling blocks has been looking beyond the community, our Judea, thinking that in order for us to grow we needed to reach out beyond our boundaries. Although this may happen, and should, it never will, if we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to sensitize us and make us aware of the lost right beside us. This book has challenged me to re-access the community in our midst. It gives me hope to know we have an opportunity to reintroduce ourselves to the culture surrounding us as a body that cares for them, understands them, and welcomes them as they are without expectations from them to conform to us, but be transformed by the Holy Spirit. Number two, instead of falling into the trap of copying the success of another church, we can focus through prayer and practice what kind of a church Christ needs us to be in order to reach the culture we are a part of; our identity becoming whatever Christ transforms it into. Number three, and the most important, as a glocal church, submitted to the culture Christ has planted us in, we can be certain through obedience that everyone in our immediate area will have the opportunity to hear the gospel, repent, be baptized and walk in the power of Christ! It alarms me to think of how many people in our neighborhood go overlooked and therefore, fall through the cracks! I’m not suggesting that simply becoming an indigenous church that learns through grace, how to effectively contextualize the Word for the culture is going to bring salvation to everyone within the given community, but a church that is intentional about breaking the missional code within that community is going to give everyone a chance to receive Christ, and no stone will be left unturned!  

Thy Will Be Done

 When is the last time you did something kind for someone without expecting anything in return? Have you thought about what motivates you to reach out to help others? Do you know for certain where your wisdom to serve others is coming from?
“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.” (James 3:14,15)
 Through the book of James, God gives us a warning that wisdom can come from three different sources other than from Himself! As we examine ourselves, especially during these next forty days of lent, I thought it would be appropriate to point out these different sources of wisdom that would like to change us in ways that don’t line up with God.
*Earthly wisdom is plentiful and quite easy to acquire. We receive earthly wisdom from each other, the media, and many various outside sources that are separate from God’s Word. We’ve adopted the mentality that if it has been printed in the paper or announced on the television or broad-casted on the radio, it must be the gospel. How have many of us come to be so gullible? The answer lies in our unwillingness to read God’s Word and place His wisdom in our hearts. With this lack of spiritual discipline, earthly wisdom molds us and changes us into a being that doesn’t line up with God. The sad reality here is that we are being changed without knowing it’s in the wrong way!  
*Natural wisdom or sensual wisdom is that wisdom that comes from within us. In (Proverbs 12:15) God says, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.” Jesus tells us plainly in (Mark 7: 23), “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” Brethren, how easy it is to be deceived in our own thinking that we know what is best for ourselves. Scripture challenges us to think, and often times after reading scripture we are left with nothing more than questions. Instead of seeing the chance to grow by searching deeper into the scriptures for answers, we choose to rely on what we think the answers might be and therefore become molded and shaped by natural wisdom instead of God’s wisdom. What a tragedy! This is the reason many Christians don’t grow in faith!  
*Demonic wisdom can also change you in ways that don't line up with God. Do you experience dark confusion or fear? Are you still experiencing feelings of bitterness or even anger in your life? Have you ever thought about how these feelings invaded your thoughts and actions? God tells us in the book of (2 Timothy 1:7), "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." This verse alone gives us evidence as to who is shaping our lives. The contrast couldn't be more clear!
 *Godly wisdom comes to those that practice spiritual disciplines such as Bible reading and earnest prayer; we witness this in the life of Jesus Christ. He spent a lot of time in prayer and spoke the words His Father gave Him to speak. He tells us in the book of (John 14:10), "The words that I speak to you I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwells in Me, He does the works." Jesus did nothing apart from God's endorsement. To make His point quite clear, Jesus prayed to His Father for divine guidance in the Garden showing us that the only true way forward is not by our will, the world's will, or Satan's will, but by God's will. Not my will Father but Thine be done.
Blessings, Jim

Time on the Mountain

“Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves” (Mark 9:2).
Greetings brethren –

Jesus called to Peter, James and John saying to them, “Come, follow Me and I will make you fishers of men” (Mark 1:17). At the invitation they laid aside what they were doing and immediately followed the Lord.

Along the path Jesus told others, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mark 8:34). We are not told how many heeded Jesus’ instructions and followed, but we are told later that many fell away from Him out of disbelief and decided to follow Him no longer (John 6:66).

We are also told that Jesus commanded his disciples to let the children come to Him saying, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all” (Luke 18:17). This He told us to teach us there is a way to come to Him that will be received and a way to come to Him that will not be received by the kingdom of God.

I share these precepts of Scripture with you to suggest that to truly be with Jesus one must have a renewed heart. This renewal begins with an unconditional desire to be with Jesus; to trust Him, to long for Him, to want to be in His presence above all other things.

When we find ourselves coming to Christ out of a sense of duty, expectation, routine, or self need, we must immediately pause and ask God to remove these practices of fear from within us and replace them with a genuine desire to quietly and reverently be in Christ’s presence with the sincerity and innocence of a little child.

Seek the kingdom and God will supply your needs (Matt 6:32-33). He will be with you to carry you through difficult times, the moments in the valley and the splendid times, the moments on the mountain. Your desire to be with Him sparks His compassion to gently lead and guide you through all that has been planned for you during your life on earth. Pray to the Lord and ask Him to give you a desire to do His will (1 Kings 58). Let the moments Jesus shares with you on the mountain give you the faith to follow Him during the trials in the valley.

Remember, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt 22:14). Few are chosen because it is not their desire to follow Jesus in the way he instructs them to. Few are chosen because they fall away out of disbelief in Jesus. Few are chosen because they will not submit to Christ a follow Him with a childlike innocence.

Of the twelve disciples Christ called upon, only three were chosen to go up the mountain to witness His glory. Why, because it was their desire to be with Christ at all times and knowing their hearts He joyfully supplied their needs.
Blessings,

Pastor, Jim Bringman

www. pastorstudy.org

The Spirit of Error

Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus –


As we walk together in this New Year, preparing our hearts and minds to serve and build up the body of Christ, I want to take a moment and expose a threat that will always try to work its way into our assembly, the spirit of error. It is my conviction that the Word of God and only His Word will enable us to see this menacing strongman and take action against it.

“We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (I John 4:6).

Error finds its way into the church and operates successfully there when there is and ignorance of God’s Word. It is not my position or thought that people desire to follow a false religion; I believe they get caught up in one because they cannot discern the truth of the Gospel and then just follow along in a wave of deception without even realizing it.

Confronting a spirit of error can only begin with prayer and submission to the Spirit’s authority. This can be accomplished more effectively when a plurality of like minded believers who operate under the authority of Scripture gather in unity to call out to God to bind the spirit of error in the name of Jesus Christ.

A commitment to the Word: from the pulpit and the classrooms is where this battle against error is fought. A strong eldership that adheres to the command to guard the flock against false teaching is another dynamic that works in tandem with the teaching of the Word.

Allowing the Word to put the body in action and encouraging each other in the kingdom’s purpose(s) also thwarts the strongman of error. The importance is to allow the Word to grow the body so that when a false doctrine does show up everyone can identify it immediately and with the power of Christ exterminate it!

It is a wonderful thing to live in unity under the authority of Scripture and it is most essential in the body of Christ. The Word corrects us, rebukes us, instructs us and edifies us to a place where the unity of faith and Spirit keeps us all on the narrow path of Truth. “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness” (2 Peter 3:17). Submission to the Word protects us from potential offenses that occur. We who live under the Words authority hear the wisdom from a brother or sister who points out our shortcomings in love and compassion when we most need it. “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20).

The Word of God is our only foundation. As the Scripture says, “study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15); proving there is a right and a wrong way to interpret Scripture. Gathering around the precept that God is always right and Scripture does not contradict Scripture the body submitted to this truth will always be protected from error; it will prosper in knowledge and grow in grace.

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).