Psychedelic Sanctification

I shall start this post the right way, after all yesterday was Easter/Pesach (Passover).

I praise thee Adonai.  I praise thee for the the promise you have given to all human beings of eternal life through  Yeshua haMashiach.  May we each come to accept His might gift and truly learn to walk in his ways.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Most years it would be an exhausting week for me; one full of Messianic Passover Seders, preaching Good Friday sermons, attending Sunday surise sermons and helping out with breakfast afterwards, aiding in the Church and my father-in-laws egg hunts and of course the normal church service on Easter Sunday.  I would be busy on the internet and in person teaching how Easter is historically the Feast of First Fruits (Leviticus 23:10) and the Last Supper was a Pesach Seder.  But not this year.


This year was a medical mess for my family.  My wife seriously injured her back and spent several days in the hospital.  She is now on doctor ordered bed rest.  I, on the other hand, am having a rough and tumble time with my pancreas.  I am going on five + days in the hospital and we stil cannot get it figured out.  So I have been thinking what can I do on the ministry blog to help inspire my friends, ministry members, brothers and sisters in Messiah and fellow bloggers and I have come to realize that I am not going to come up with much of anything in this narcotic pain-killer haze.  And yet as that realization came to my tye-dyed mind so did an epiphany...for It showed me how far I have come in my sanctification (growth in Christ) that I am actually) hating this morphine!!!!


So where are you in your growth?  Think about it, pray on this.  Are you growing?  For everyone of us should continue to have growth as a Christian.  We want to be as Christ-like as possible; and as it is impossible to be sinless as Christ then we should be growing until our last breath.

Thank you Eternal Adonai for all the blessings You have bestwoed upon each one of us.  I praise You Ha El  Elyon for endowing humans with the desire for self improvement.  I pray that our desire to better ourselves does not become pride.  May we each take our promise of eternal life and share that with those of this fallen world who remain Lost to this day.  Help us mighy I AM to speak the proper words as you did Moses' broether Aaron, so we may fill those who are Lost and bring them to Your Holy Mountain.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Burning the Koran...Again?

I have been out of touch as of late due to some personal and family health concerns.  Still when I got home this evening I flipped on the local news station.  The news report I saw honestly disturbed me to no end.  Perhaps you may  remember some time back that Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida planned to burn copies of the Koran on September 11, 2010.  This controversial act was the cause of world wide acts of protest not only by the Muslim community, but by Jews and Christians as well.  Finally, just a day before the event Pastor Terry Jones decided to call off the book burning.


Now Pastor Terry Jones is back, this time in Dearborn, Michigan; the site of the largest mosque in America, the Islamic Center of America.  Pastor Jones has filed a permit with the city of Dearborn to hold a gathering at the mosque to burn the Korans under his first amendment right.  Thankfully, the city of Dearborn has denied this permit but will allow the Pastor to hold his rally in the Dearborn free speech zones.


As Christians we each know the one true path to God, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  (John 14:6).  Yet, it is not our place as Christians to force others, and I am referring to those who are Lost (including Muslims) to our way of thinking.  It is when we act like Pastor Terry Jones, with these acts of hatred, then we are no better then those who perpetuated the Crusades.

Precious Lord, during this Pesach I pray that the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb may give us each pause to look beyond ourselves and find the hope of salvation that is Christ Yeshua.  In His name Amen.

Ask Your Pastor

The Ask Your Pastor show just release episode #2.  This is a cable show that The Road to God Ministry has done in cooperation with First General Baptist Church of Waterford.  I posted the showtimes and available links to watch these shows on the ministry website...I do hope you enjoy!


http://www.theroadtogodministry.com/gpage24.html


Blessings,


Steve

Thank You's & AWOL

Hello friends and supporters of The Road to God Ministry, I greet you with the shalom (peace) that can only come through the grace of our risen Lord and Savior,

I must first pass along my overwhelming thanks to all of you who have sent your wishes of strength, fellowship and encouragement during these last few weeks where I have been fighting my thorns of the flesh.  More importantly I thank you for the continued prayers, for it is through the prayers that I truly find myself humbled.  Truly humbled, for when I, a pampered American, receive a prayer from a Japanese woman outside the evacuated radiation area or an Indian youth who deals with daily persecution because of his faith...well, then I am humbled.  Fir in my eyes it is THEY who should be prayed for, THEY are the ones who need the prayers, not me!  So I thank you, humbly!

Now the ministry also needs to report some bad news.  Over the next couple of weeks we will be having an extremely limited internet usage.  Thus, the blogs and website updates will be a bit AWOL.  But please do not let this hinder you e-mails to the ministry as we will continue to respond to your inquires as fast as we can.

Eternal Father, I thank you for blessing the hearts of those you call Your children around the world.  You have graced the spiritual gift of compassion in so many and it is in the face of sure tragedies that we see the gift is truly shown.  Lord, I pray that those who are suffering in these terrible calamities may feel Your presence and thus know You are near.  Adonai, I also pray for those Christians in the Middle East who are battling under sever persecution at this time.  Lord, my greatest prayer is for the Lost, those who have yet to find and accept you Son Yeshua as King and Savior.  Lord, may they do so before it is to late.  In Yeshua's name.  Amen.

Always a Testimony

It has been a wild week for me!  My constant  thorn in the flesh, which is chronic pancreatitis, flared up last Monday and I ended up in the emergency room (ER).  The doctors wanted to admit me, but I somehow convinced them to let me go, with the promise that I would return if my pain got any worse.  The next day, while I was directing the next Ask Your Pastor show the pain returned, tripling in intensity.  Thus, after the shooting I returned to the ER and I was admitted for pancreatitis and an intestinal blockage.  I then spent three days in the hospital being pumped full of pain killer narcotics, blood thinners, pancreatic enzymes, and laxatives.


So, there I was in the hospital, with limited options of activities.  I could watch TV and movies, I could lie in bed and try to sleep (impossible with the pain), I could lie bed and watch the ceiling (also impossible with the schizophrenic screaming for a waitress in the next bed), or I could do what I chose to do and read my Bible.  And it was during my Bible readings that I came up with several new thoughts and views, ones dealing with Ya'akov (Jacob) and his issues with lying and deceiving other.   I came up with an understanding on Enoch and why he was translated into heaven.  And most importantly after a visit from the hospital Rabbi I truly now understand that the Lord will always put us in places, like hospitals, for one purpose, to share our testimony.


Let me share with you what happened.  I was lying in bed watching a sermon by Dr. Charles Stanley, a preacher who I've always enjoyed.  My compact leather KJV Bible with a fold-over snap-flap was lying on my tray table.  The schizophrenic in the next bed was out for tests, so the room was quiet except for the TV.  In came the chaplain-Rabbi with a knock introducing himself and we greeted each other with a friendly "shalom", though I added a "alakeim" (peace be with you).  He asked how I was feeling, I told him spiritually blessed, physically like whats in my bedpan....he chuckled as I hoped he would.  We chatted for a couple minutes about my Jewish background, and he was a comfortable about my Jewishness.  It was then he saw the book on the tray table.  Now for someone who has never seen my Bible and how it may compare to a Jewish siddur (prayer book) his mistake was understandable.  He walked over to it and asked if this was my prayer book, I said yes it was my prayer book, it is also my book of answers.  I explained that it was my Bible and that I was a Jewish believer in Yeshua haMashiach (Jesus the Christ).  So he would not be confused I quickly explained that I was not a Messianic Jew or a Jew for Jesus, that the first was a specific denomination and the second was a particular organization.  I was a Jewish Christian and I was still Jewish.  The Rabbi started asking questions, he was truly interested.  At least that is how it appeared; in truth he was attempting to see if I would trip up in my answers.  For with every answer I gave his feet inched ever closer to the door, to the point of a goodbye and a running Rabbi down the hospital hallways.  He was fast!


Yet, a seed was planted there.  A seed of Yeshua that can not be taken away.  The Rabbi did not hear what he was planning to hear, yet what he did hear was the truth of the Gospel as given by the Lord of Lords.  I cannot say why, but perhaps the entire reason for my illness and being in the hospital was just to plant that very seen in that old Rabbi's mind.

Precious Lord, for some time now I have had great difficulty in praying to you for personally health concerns, for the concerns of the spirit are so much more important.  Lord, I pray that as I continue to work through my health issues that I have the strength of character and spirit to look to you first and foremost to share the Gospel unashamed.  In Yeshua's name.  Amen.

Since my return from the hospital, yesterday was the first time I had my wife and daughter home and let me tell you it was an answer to many prayers!  The first ministry God gave human kind was the institution of the family and I can with some honest testimony let me say that my family was in serious disarray, for we were apart. Now we were not apart for emotional or negative reasons; no, we were separated because of physical heath issues.  But it wasn't until yesterday that the physical rift in that ministry of our family became healed.  

Precious Lord, I thank You for answering prayers.  I know in truth You answer ALL prayers whether or not we are receptive to the outcome, thus I pray that we, in particular I, gain more faith to accept Your will.  I pray this in the name of Your Son and Messiah, Yeshua.  Amayn. 

So with my family home I was able to resume my nightly Bible readings with my 8-year old daughter last night.  Now Sarahfay (SF) and I are the only two Jewish believers in Messiah in our whole family.  Kolleen is a Gentile and if she would have to be put into a denomination it would have to be an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist  (take that 20/20!).  So SF and I often talk about Bible stories and how they affected the Jewish communities in the past, in the present and how they will in the future.

Last night we started read from the King James Bible on the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 1.  Let me just say we did not get very far.  For our discussion took on a very important turn, one that I feel would keep us away from many Messianic Jewish circles.

It went something like this:  

"you know how important my Jewish heritage is to me, right?, I asked.

"Yes, daddy", she answered.  

"And you know how important it is for me that you come to understand your Jewish heritage too, right?"  

She relied with a quick, "Mmm, hmm."  

"Well, I want you to listen to me baby, and look at me for this may be the most important lesson I teach you...nothing is more important then the Word of God; not our heritage, not church, not people, not momma or daddy, nothing.  The Bible says the Word of God is Jesus and Jesus is the Word.  We can know the Word through the Bible, and that makes this Bible your most important possession you own.  This is your connection to God.  Do you understand?"  

"Yes Daddy."

So my question to you is...do you understand?

El Shaddai, God Almighty, Adonai Sabaoth, Lord of Hosts, I pray you walk with us and grant us this wisdom to know that you are the Word of God.  Amen.