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Goldminer
Member



Joined: 2006/11/7
Posts: 1178
Alabama

 Re: URGENT! Seeking pastor/mentor/prayer instructor

Dear Corey,

I can understand your discouragment with the church in general. But we have to understand that we are all under construction and God is able to make His body into what He would have us to be. In just a single day He can remove years of blindness.

Lately God has put on my heart to study the Sermon on the Mount with regards to Christian conduct. This is the blueprint, but we view it as just a nice sermon. We will see just how important it is in the days ahead. I would suggest you study that yourself. Get every book you can find on the subject off ebay or Amazon.com and Greg Gordon has a wonderful sermon on the subject as well on Sermon Index.

The fact that we don't live this lifestyle is the reason there is no power in the church. When we come to understand that a crucified life is the key to walking in all Jesus called us to, we will turn the world upside down.

The Argentia revival was precipitated by just this thing. The pastor was frustrated because of the selfishness of the congregation, unwilling to receive visiting ministers because it interrupted their lives, lack of willingness to work, etc. He told them that until Jesus became Lord of their lives in more than name they were not going through the motions any more. They canceled all regular meetings, no preaching, no worship, no music, etc and they just lay on their faces and sought God. After three months the spirit of repentence fell on the group and the fire of the Holy Spirit washed over them. After that they could care less about their stuff or their selfishness. They would do anything for anyone. The Sermon on the Mount became their lifestyles. This is the beginning point. God layed on Mike Bickle's heart that the church wasn't going forward until we returned to that foundation.

There is a ministry that is walking in just that power. The blind are receiving sight and deaf hear and the dead are raised. They are the most humble unselfish people imaginable. I have never met them and am not connected with their ministry, but I would love to be. Family prevents me. It is Rolland and Heidi Baker of Pemba Mozambique. www.irismin.org , Check it out. If you are really looking for what you say this might be a great ministry to grow in. They take in every cast of child that comes to them. They love them like their own children, because that is what they become. They care nothing about stuff and sure aren't fluff.

Rick Joyner says what the body of Christ is lacking in is fathers. There are so many like you who want to receive instruction and can find it nowhere. God says if you seek you will find. It pleases Him when His children want instruction in His ways. Know that He will meet all your needs including that one.

I would suggest again you do as I am, find any book you can on the Sermon on the Mount, devour them. Study it word for word in the Strong's Concordence. Ask God to imprint it on your heart. This is a most excellent starting place.

You need to know that God has not left you fatherless and He sets the solitary in families. Trust Him to know exactly what is best for you every moment. It may be the solitude you are experiencing right now is what will cause you to run after Him more fully. Nothing is wasted with our Father. This is just a dressing room for eternity says Duncan Campbell.

Bless you,
In Him,
kathy


_________________
KLC

 2006/12/18 1:26Profile
Yeshuasboy
Member



Joined: 2006/6/10
Posts: 668
Northern Rockies, BC, Canada

 Re:

just wanted to toss in a quote from George Fox - An Autobiography; Chapter 1, Boyhood - 1 Seeker:
"During this time I was never joined in profession of religion with any, but gave up myself to the Lord, having forsaken all evil company. Taken leave of father and mother, and all other relations, and travelled up and down as a stranger in the earth, which way the Lord inclined my heart; taking a chamber to myself in the town where I came, and tarrying sometimes more, sometimes less, in a place. For I durst not stay long in a place, being afraid both of professor and profane, lest, being a tender young man, I should be hurt by conversing much with either. For this reason I kept much as a stranger, seeking heavenly wisdom and getting knowledge from the Lord, and was brought off from outward things to rely on the Lord alone."

I felt compelled to put this quote down here for future reference as a blessing to those who may not be as fortunate to travel to find fellowship with God's children. This lack of finding Godly fellowship amidst today's [u]churches[/u] is truly sad and grievous. However, the Lord cares for His children...this is not our home. Best to be alone with the Lord than surrounded by a bunch of "miserable comforters."
Let God be a light in you amongest the unbelieving if you work within a unGodly environment, spending time in much prayer and worship that day "before" running off into enemy territory.
Praying that God will bless you Cory and incline your heart as to where He wants you to go for His glory.
richie


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Richie

 2006/12/18 2:37Profile









 Re:

Quote:

Peacecraft wrote:
Quote:
Maybe church isn't such a good idea. Anyone know of a good desert?



Corey!! I know EXACTLY how you feel! Lol, This line about the desert is ironic to me because I literally live in the desert, in Arizona. Now the cool thing is that God has plopped me here in the desert and transformed my life in a matter of months. Led out into the desert to be changed forever. NOW, the problem is I can no longer attend the church I am at because all around me I see compromise and watered-down Christianity. Just today, I'm taking a class called Evangelism explosion and our pastor has said we are not to teach commitment/salvation as requiring that we accept Jesus as Lord or that repentance is required (only accepting him as Savior and trusting him). I was in tears! How vile a thing! So now, I'm in the same boat, I've been to so many churches. If anyone knows of a church with a pastor who is on fire and preachers in the Spirit, and is unpopular because he speaks TRUTH then please tell me too!! I live in Tucson, Arizona, I will drive hours to Phoenix if I have to, I just want something more than this fluffy, happy, empty Christianity that is being taught. WHERE IS THE POWER?? Sorry, I can't help you Corey, I'm very much in the same boat!



Don't feel so bad. I live in the Bible-church belt of North Carolina and it's a desert also. No church for me. I teach in a retirement community on Sunday morning and that by invitation. I didn't ask for it. It was an "outta the blue" kind of thing, an open door for someone to walk through. Seems no church would accomodate those folk who have since told me I fill a void in their lives. I pray God that is so. I believe that is so. Been there almost a year. Started with sixteen and because I speak Jesus only 5 have remained faithful. All the rest quickly jumped ship in aweek or two. No music and I speak for close to an hour; a fast hour. They don't object. For a bunch of 85-95 yr olds, that's pretty good; that's gotta be God, for them and me.
I say me because I have no church because of reasons shared here. This gives me responsibilty for which I must pray and study to show myself approved. Trust me, the Holy Spirit will convict if you are careless about God. He will also excite your sensibilities to Him if you are hungry for Him. God has met me on numerous occasions in these early morning hours.
So to Corey and anyone else I would encourage to remain faithful and allow God the time He needs to bring about the more certain path He would have you take in your endeavor for intimacy with Him. It may not be what you want or expect. That's only because He knows our frame better than we do. So whatever your hand finds to do in Him or in life, for that matter, do it as unto Him. Trust Him with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. He will direct us if we have a love for Him as He desires-craves. The key to success in this is to be emptied of the world, it's influences-attractions-solicitations and be filled with Him who teaches us His ways that we have His Life and have it more abundantly.

These two books I have found to be foundational. After reading them, I find I need no others aside from my Bible:

"The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers" with CD. and "The Ultimate Intention". These two books will shed fresh light on your Bible. It will come alive. Understanding other authors like Tozer, Ravenhill, etal will be easier with fresh insight given to what what they speak of. Recognizing false teachings will also be easier to do.


www.seekerstrove.com

www.amazon.com/Complete-Works-Oswald-Chambers/dp/157293039X

I pray this is a help to you, Corey

In Jesus,

Orm

 2006/12/18 5:41









 Re:

You are all kind, faithful brothers and sisters... I know because my eyes are welling with tears!

Thanks for your support, prayers, and love. I had a discussion last night with my cousin (about our living LORD. He's intensely insightful yet estranged from his family) and I was trying to explain to him the true meaning of "communion with the saints" and how, when we pray, we "meet in the clouds together with Jesus", no matter where we are on earth. What a strange and wonderful thing to be converted by an mp3 recording of a man dead some forty-odd years and to find my real family in this electronic medium!

God bless you all and I'll be praying, thinking, and musing about your peace and wellbeing all day!

-Corey

 2006/12/18 9:38









 Re:

Dear Corey,

Your post has blessed me so much. I have had the same struggle in the past year or so. I didn't see how the churches I went to were different from the world, but I knew no better. It was not until this summer when I went to Bulgaria that I saw what "a demonstration of the spirit and of power" meant. Now, I, just like you, have been discipled by God alone, having only a friend with me--another college student--who knows the Spirit of God. That has been all, our church, the communion of the saints, the gathering of ourselves together. We haven't been to a congregation for weeks!

I just want to tell you, Corey, and to all of you brethren who feel the same way, that you are in a good place to be, in the wilderness. And the Lord is going to work in you, even if the whole world were turned against Him. What matters is that your heart is right before Him, that you seek Him and love HIm with your all, that you lose your life so you can find it--and God will surely reward those who diligently seek Him!

I still do not know--have not received a certain answer from the Lord--about what congregation I should seek, or what Spirit-filled minister will disciple me. One thing I know though: it is said in the Word, "And they shall all be taught by God." I know that all I need is Him. I need to seek Christ first and foremost, and trust Him that He will complete His work in me, knowing also that all things will work for my good, according to His perfect will.

One last thing, Corey: do not let the enemy bring you to despair or frustration! Rejoice, because your name is written in the book of life. You are now 33. The Lord did not start His ministry until He was 30, and He turned the whole world upside down. And to His disciples He told, "You shall do even greater works than these." With the Lord all things are possible, Corey! Praise His holy, precious name!

Let the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you always,
Slavyan

 2006/12/18 13:15
Kolombian
Member



Joined: 2006/1/14
Posts: 50
Colombia

 Re:

Quote:

NotMe wrote:
Dear Corey,

I just want to tell you, Corey, and to all of you brethren who feel the same way, that you are in a good place to be, in the wilderness. And the Lord is going to work in you, even if the whole world were turned against Him. What matters is that your heart is right before Him, that you seek Him and love HIm with your all, that you lose your life so you can find it--and God will surely reward those who diligently seek Him!

I still do not know--have not received a certain answer from the Lord--about what congregation I should seek, or what Spirit-filled minister will disciple me. One thing I know though: it is said in the Word, "And they shall all be taught by God." I know that all I need is Him. I need to seek Christ first and foremost, and trust Him that He will complete His work in me, knowing also that all things will work for my good, according to His perfect will.

Slavyan



Oh dear brothers, this is so encouraging for me too...i feel as I just have to say "bis"...because i`ve had the same experieces as you, i just came out of an organization full of humanism where my parents were misionaries for thirty years! And so since 2002 our Good Father called us to start this wonderful journey through the desert... Has been almost 4 years, and in 2004 the Lord guided us to a very small group, a non popular ministry in the "Christian world" were we started to received and know the very Word of God...It was such a blessing from our Lord, we met wonderful brothers and sisters whom love the Lord with all their hearts, who were living a true christianism in a country were is hard to find it...Colombia. Since 2005 my family and I are living in the little Island of Domincan Republic, and i must say how much i miss that little congregation of saints, is incredible but since that time i havent been in a church which someone would say we should be congregating, but now I know that is in here where God want us, and as hard as it is to not enjoy of the companionship with other bretheren whom their hearts are burning for God, Is encouraging to know that God is doing this with all His people, in one way or in other, but dear Corey and notme, what a wonderful blessing to be in the wilderness of the loving treatments of our Good Father! And I have to say that in this years in the desert I have learned more about God that in my entire life in that organization, i feel that i love the Lord with all my heart and i`m longing to be a vessel for His Glory all the days of my life!
Thank you so much for sharing this with us, you have made my day!
;-)
Love
Karen


_________________
Karen

 2006/12/18 15:03Profile









 Re: URGENT! Seeking pastor/mentor/prayer instructor

Hi Corey,

Quote:
About a month-and-a-half ago I visited a site (www.crossroad.to) where I read some quotes by A.W. Tozier and after googling his name, found sermonindex. Listening to his sermon "Holy Spirit: Why Some Can't Receive Him" had me groaning and weeping and praying all nigh



What was it about this sermon that had you weeping? I haven't listened to it yet but I probably will. :)

 2006/12/18 15:12
lovejt
Member



Joined: 2005/11/5
Posts: 124


 Re: URGENT! Seeking pastor/mentor/prayer instructor

Hey Bro Corey: Thanks for sharing your heart. I pray that God leads you where He wants you to be. Your experience sounds like the norm for a disciple of Christ. So no frets my friend. It's not easy at times or certain seasons. We are all in the same boat together. Don't forget what J-Bird said.

"I know what your going through brother. You probably feel isolated, lonely, and misunderstood. That's great!!! Now you know how Jesus and the apostles and every true child of God feels. Were only pilgrims passing through, this is not our home and were all homesick for a country."

It is great!!!! Thanks for telling me about Tozier's sermon. I will check it out!
God bless you.


_________________
james thorpe

 2006/12/18 15:54Profile









 Re:

sscott,

you asked "What was it about this sermon that had you weeping? I haven't listened to it yet but I probably will. :)"

To sum it up briefly, Tozer didn't tell me what i WANTED to hear, he told me what I NEEDED to hear. I'd been reading the Bible religiously for years, and an unregenerate sinner all that time, but had NEVER HEARD anyone talk so frankly and with such conviction. Sure I'd been to church, and had many a superficial Christian ask me, "have you accepted Jesus into your heart?" But I'd never heard the voice of a good shepard care so much about his flock that he'd risk angering the goats by saying, in all truth and scripture, that some so-called Christians in his congregation will never be able to receive the Spirit. He mentioned that a man or woman who is "disturbed" or "alarmed" by the conviction of their conscience, and knew something radical had to be done, was far better off than the Christian that was was sure of his salvation (and man, oh man, was I on trial). Everything he said was scriptural, passionate, and without a doubt, Holy. The Spirit was talking to me through Tozer. I wept.

Austin-Sparks has a sermon in which he mentions how reading the Bible without the aid of the Holy Ghost is downright dangerous for a worldly man. I think what he meant was the cognitive dissonance, the enmity between the World and the Spirit playing out in the mind rather than the heart, can cause great damage. I almost went insane reading the saints prophesy one thing, the church doing another (which I knew I could never be a part of), and my wretched soul caught between two worlds with no VOICE of a good shepard to rebuke me, and guide me into safety.

The Holy Spirit led me to an interesting reference about "why some can't receieve Him" during breakfast this morning:

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." JOHN 3:8

Why would the Holy Spirit seek out a sin-locked man like me? Whatever thy reason LORD, thy will be done!

God bless all of us here on sermonindex! I love you all!

-Corey

 2006/12/20 0:23
adamdawkins
Member



Joined: 2006/11/13
Posts: 140


 Re:

This thread has had me near to tears of hope! There is a remnant the Lord is faithfully raising up! Halielujah!

Still feel I should give the old UK a mention though, don't know about fired-up preachers but I know that we're a land that brought the Wesleys, Spurgeon and the like. In all church denominations the UK (excluding Northern Ireland) has about 3% church attendance, of which over 90% is nominal, of the 10% most preach the forgiveness-is-full-salvation Gospel we've become acustomed too.

Not really relevant, but was on my heart as you mentioned New Zealand, Ireland and Canada! lol!

God bless you all richly! What a thread!

:)

Adam.

 2006/12/20 10:21Profile





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