The Greatest Danger in Christianity

From AW Tozer:

"Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures."
~Luke 24:45

Truth that is not experienced is no better than error and may be fully as dangerous.

Remember that the scribes who sat in Moses’ seat were not the victims of error; they were the victims of failure to experience the truth they taught!

We should see that one of the greatest foes of the Christian is religious complacency. The man who believes that he has “arrived” will not go any further; and the present neat habit of quoting a text to prove we have arrived may be a dangerous one if in truth we have no actual inward experience of the text.

The great saints of the past have all had yearning hearts. Their longing after God all but consumed them; it propelled them onward and upward to heights toward which less ardent Christians look with languid eye and entertain no hope of reaching.

May we offer this word of exhortation: pray on, fight on, sing on! Press on into the deep things of God. Keep your feet on the ground, but let your heart soar as high as it will!

22 November , 2012

Dear Friends,

On this US Thanksgiving Day, we find ourselves with so much to be thankful for that it is hard to know where to begin!

Growing Family. We write this update to you today from the home of our daughter Nicole, and her husband Eric, in Horseheads, New York. God has blessed them, along with big-brother Asher, and all of us, with a new baby boy. Cayden Robert McCrorey was born a week ago, and he is beautiful! We are so blessed to be able to be here to lend a hand and visit them! This Sunday we will participate in the dedication of Cayden to the Lord, along with Eric's parents.

Growing Church. Converge International Fellowship has officially been open for 7 weeks. It has been a wonderful and exciting time! On October 24, at the Annual Convention Meeting of the International Baptist Convention, we were officially welcomed as an Associate Member Church (see photo). Think about it! Today a church is ministering and growing that did not exist a year ago! God is so good! Each week we see new faces and meet new friends. God continues to bless us with families and students who come to us from countries as diverse as England, Cameroon and China. At one of our LIFE Groups recently a new friend from South Africa joined the group, and an old friend rejoined the group from Denmark via Skype!

God has been making it clear to us that ministry to the International Student population is going to be an even larger component of our mission here than we ever imagined. We continue to meet students in need of everything from language assistance to housing. Please pray for us as we seek His direction to minister to this diverse and open group.

Healing bodies. Bob spent four days in the hospital in Darmstadt last week with a kidney stone. God was so good through it all – if it had been a week later, it would have been on our departure date for the US! God is so good – He even made sure Bob had an aisle seat right in front of the lavatory on the flight over here!

Faithful Friends. While we have been blessed with new friends from all over the world, we know that it is our long-term faithful friends like you who make it all possible. We are blessed by your love, support and prayers for us as we live, work and minister in Darmstadt. Thank you for your participation in our mission! We could not do it without you! Please join us in giving thanks to God for His eternal faithfulness!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

~ Bob & Carol

Anti Christ Revealed?

A friend asked me about a new YOUTUBE video that has gone kind of viral...he asked for my thoughts.

Here's a link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlT9SYR6jq4&feature=share

Here are "my thoughts":

Over the course of my lifetime there have been claims that a prominent personality, generally disliked by conservatives, is the Anti-Christ. John Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, even Ronald Wilson Reagan ("6 letter per name = 666 - obviously it's him!"). I had a pastor when I was a kid who showed us a book that he kept in his office - the title was "100 Reasons why Mussolini is the Anti Christ!" He kept it there because it reminded him of how we can get distracted from the important teaching about the end times when we get focused on the minutia and major on the minors.

There are two things about the end that we need to be concerned about:

1. Be prepared.  Jesus makes it clear that we are to be ready for His return, period.  That means living a life that is faithful.  We are to abide in Him, love God with all our heart, and obey His teachings.
2. Prepare others.  Our orders are clear:  "Go, teach, baptize."  Our focus is to be spreading the gospel to as many as we can, and allow God to open their eyes to see His glory in the face of Christ.

That being said, the Bible uses the word “antichrist” only four times, with one instance in the plural, in the following verses:

• Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. (1 John 2:18)
• Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. (1 John 2:22)
• And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (1 John 4:3)
• For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. (2 John 1:7)

As you can see, much of the direct references are to an attitude, or spirit of antichrist, which has certainly been displayed and personified many times in human history.

Paul talks about the "Man of Lawlessness," who is often associated with THE AntiChrist of end times teachings, in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 (as is "The Dragon," "The Beast," "The False Prophet," and "The Whore of Babylon," all in Revelation). I think it is clear from Paul's teaching that his identity is not revealed until the end; that the Holy Spirit will hold his power in check until He is removed; then the AC will burst force onto the world scene - until Jesus overthrows and destroys him.

Paul concludes his discussion of that material by saying,

"But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter."

• The identity of the AntiChrist is not revealed. 
• The Holy Spirit holds AC at back until He is removed. 
• Jesus defeats AC. 
• We have been chosen and saved by God. 
• We are to focus on standing firm on the Word of God.

That's the bottom line. Those are "my thoughts..."

This kind of stuff (the YouTube post) is always fascinating, but usually questionable in its reliability. You've got a guy translating material from one language to another to another to another. Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek then English. Believe me, there is a lot of room for error just translating from one language to another, let alone 4 times!

As I said, fascinating, but probably not all that reliable. Best to stand firm on the Word that we DO know, than to be distracted by a stretched translation of what MIGHT be possible.

Worthy--Or Unworthy?

And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.Ephesians 3:19

From AW Tozer:

The love of Jesus is so inclusive that it knows no boundaries. At the point where we stop loving and caring, Jesus is still there—loving and caring!

The question may be asked: “How does the living Christ feel today about the sinful men and women who walk our streets?”

There is only one answer: He loves them!

We may be righteously indignant about the things they do. We may be disgusted with their actions and their ways. We are often ready to condemn and turn away from them.

But Jesus keeps on loving them! It is His unchanging nature to love and seek the lost. He said many times when He was on earth, “I have come to help the needy. The well do not need a doctor—but the sick need attention and love.”

We are prone to look at the needy and measure them: “Let us determine if they are worthy of our help.” During all of His ministry, I do not think Jesus ever helped a “worthy” person. He only asked, “What is your need? Do you need My help?”

Sent from the Mornings with Tozer, by A. W. Tozer. For devotionals like this one for your iPhone, visit us at43rdElement.com

“It’s A Church!”

After months of anticipation and prayerful preparation, we are thrilled to announce that on Sunday, October 7, the miracle of birth took place in Darmstadt – and, “It’s a church!”  The birth of Converge International Fellowship was celebrated at a special “Birthday Service” by family and friends from churches in Ramstein, Frankfurt and Oberursel, along with members of our extended family worldwide who prayed and rejoiced with the CIF congregation.

The week leading up to the birth was filled with exciting developments. Three weeks prior to the service, we began placing flyers, signs and posters around the city, particularly in strategic areas with large international populations – the Universities, the European Space Agency, EUMETSAT, (European Meteorological Satelite Operations Center), DAGGER (the final US Military outpost in our area), and of course Burger King!

At the final “Preview Service” on 30 September, nine new friends attended the service, having seen one of those signs ads.  One of those wrote during the week, “We feel this is the church we have been searching for for years.”  A newly-arrived couple in Germany contacted us by email on Tuesday to enquire about the church, and was excited to come on Sunday.  On Thursday, a graduate student at the Technische Universitat came to our door.  He had arrived in Darmstadt just two days earlier and had seen one of our flyers in the Student Services Center.  He found a small map of the city, and walked around until he found our apartment.  Those new friends represented the United States, Malaysia, Germany and India – just a glimpse of how exciting and amazing International Church planting and ministry is!

Members of the CIF congregation met on Saturday night for a “Pre-Launch” evening of prayer – surrendering ourselves, our efforts, and the results to the Lord.  It was a great time of fellowship and intercession.  Just before that meeting ended, one of the women of the group said, “Let’s understand that something unexpected will happen – and be prepared to adapt and work it out.”  We all nodded, agreed that our God is bigger than any hurdle.

Sunday the 7^th happened to be Thanksgiving Day in Germany (kind of appropriate, isn’t it?!).  The German congregation had the worship center beautifully decorated with a wonderful display of fall color, displays of bountiful harvest and God’s blessings.  It was great…but then we realized that the black backdrop and the display were going to prevent us from using the projection system that we have used at each Preview Service, and that is an important part of our service!  It was time to “adapt and work it out”!

After experimenting with a small screen and projector, it was decided that a couple of white table cloths, draped in front of the Harvest Display, would allow us to use the normal projection system.  Our Tech Crew leader made the hasty necessary adjustments, and we were able to continue as planned. 

In the meantime, people were busy preparing the foyer for the celebration of new birth.  Balloons and banners decorated the hall, while birthday cakes, cookies and authentic Lebanese foods were displayed for the festivities (another great blessing of International church ministry!).

Friends began to arrive – everyone excited about the miracle of birth that we were privileged to witness.  Soon the hall was filled with the sound of music, as the Praise Team led us in songs of worship and testimony of God’s faithfulness.  Dr. Jimmy Martin, General Secretary of the International Baptist Convention, offered a prayer of dedication and commissioning.  At his side was Mrs. Siggy Levey, who, along with her late husband Martin, have been praying and trusting God for a new International church in Darmstadt for many years.

Another highlight of the service was the dedication of 8-day-old Eleonora, the newest “member” of the Converge Darmstadt congregation.  She was presented to the Lord along with her 2-year-old “big brother” Luca by their parents Jasper and Becca.  We were privileged to have Becca’s mother with us as well, visiting from Canada!

The message focused on God’s pattern of choosing the least likely, the most improbable, the undeserving and the unexpected for His grace and His work.  John chapter 4 tells us that Jesus “needed” to go to the Samaritan village of Sychar - it is obvious God had a divine appointment awaiting Him in that city.  He chose a broken, sinful, racially oppressed woman for His unique focus, and used her to reach her community.    

In the same way, God has compelled His people, through unworthy and unlikely servants, to reach out to the city of Darmstadt.  The love of God reaches across racial boundaries and sees beyond moral failure.  His grace brings new life to those who feel they will never be worthy of His love.

The celebration of a new little girl born into our community, and the celebration of a new church born in the city were eclipsed by the celebration of nearly a dozen people who expressed a desire to be born into the family of God that night!  We praise God for His incredible faithfulness and amazing grace! 

Pray for us as we follow up with these new believers, helping them to grow and mature in their new life in Christ.  Pray for unity and love in our church family which is made up of people from 17 nations (and counting!) around the globe.  Pray as we continue to reach out to the Darmstadt region – the international students, businesspeople, scientific community and the local German population, too!  Thank you for your prayerful support of our mission in Darmstadt.  May the Lord bless you “from His glorious riches and strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being.” (Eph. 3:16) 

~ Bob & Carol

Hi everyone,

On this Launch Day of our church, I want to share with you today's devotional reading from one of my regular sources - It was something I needed to read today, and I hope it will speak to your hearts as well...

Striving For Numbers

"Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest . . . think on these things." Philippians 4:8

In Christian circles today, the church that can show an impressive quantitative growth is frankly envied and imitated by other ambitious churches.

Numbers, size and amounts seem to be very nearly all that matters—with a corresponding lack of emphasis on quality!

This is the age of the Laodiceans. The great goddess, Numbers, is worshiped with fervent devotion, and all things religious are brought before her for examination. Her Old Testament is the financial report, and her New Testament is the membership roll. To these she appeals as the test of spiritual growth and the proof of success or failure in most Christian endeavors.

A little acquaintance with the Bible should show this up for the heresy it is. To judge anything spiritual by statistics is to judge by something other than scriptural judgment. Yet this is being done every day by ministers, church boards and denominational leaders. And hardly anyone seems to notice the deep and dangerous error!

"Lord, I pray this morning for the pastor and elders of my church, that their chief desire will be to invite the Holy Spirit of God into our church to do His refining work in the lives of our people."

Sent from the Mornings with Tozer, by A. W. Tozer. For devotionals like this one for your iPhone, visit us at43rdElement.com

We are very excited!  This Sunday is our Official Public Launch!

Will you join us in prayer this weekend for the birth of our new church?

• Pray for the Genesis Team, our core group of leaders who are directing the church through the launch
• Pray for the effectiveness of the signs, newspaper article, fliers, leaflets and personal invitations that have been distributed
• Pray for the Harvest!  Our goal is to see transformed lives by the power of the Gospel!
• Pray that the Lord will raise up committed, involved members from those new people attending our services.
• Pray for protection of the unity and love of the church - Satan will do all he can to tear us apart.
• Pray for the follow up to the launch.  Pray for continued interest and inroads into the international and local community of Darmstadt.  

The key to our effectiveness is not a system, a plan or marketing strategy - the essential ingredient is PRAYER!  Will you join us in praying for this weekend's service, and for the work of the church in the weeks and months to come?

Next week we will be sending along our newsletter with updates on how the Lord blessed!

Thanks!

Bob & Carol