Go look for those that need a doctor.

The young man in front of me in a intense voice exclaimed: we must look for those who need a doctor.
I felt his frustration. He knows of people who are truly and desperately in need - very basic needs - a place to stay, people that would befriend him, a job that would pay for his basic needs of food and boarding...people who doesn't have a place they call home. People who needed to know that they are loved and valued, those who desire to experience a family, those who longed for father, mother, a brother or a sister.
If I have left everything to follow Jesus, where is the 100 fold blessings of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, houses; relationships and homes? Is is not what the Church is supposed to offer? The Church: - We have it and WE ARE IT...the 100 fold blessings.
The sick needs a doctor and not those who are well. Why do we usually end up with those who are well like us. Why are we usually having fellowship with those who are so much like us. If we are well we should go look for those who need a doctor. Maybe we are not as well or healthy as we think. Then let us acknowledge our need of the Great Doctor, ask Him to heal us and as we are being healed, we WILL go forth looking for others that need the Doctor. The Doctor is in our midst. When 2 or 3 are gathers in His Name, He is there.

Murmurings of the heart

What happen when the people of your church finally come crashing down being bored with the exerrcise of religious ritualism?
How can I prevent that? There can be a crisis of spiritual boredom and dullness inspite of all the hardwork we can put in in our church activities and programs to make them exciting and interesting.

I am convinced that the crisis of spiritual boredom and dullness is a crisis of spiritual intimacy with the Father. How long can people be hyped up with the most fantastic music or preaching or teaching?

Lk 6:19..and the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.

Why are people drawn to us as ministers of Christ or just representatives of the Lord in our market place? What is coming out of us..the power to heal?

Jn 10;11 - the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
Jn 10:14 - I know my sheep and am known by My own.

Do the people whom we minister and come near to us....actually know us..is that the reason that they still are drawn to us..in that in the knowing of us..they find the power of healing flowing out of us?

Or Do they run away from us when they really know us?
Are they there because they do not know us? Am I known by them?

Oh that I may know You and the power of your Resurrection, and the fellowship of Your sufferings, being conformed to your death....i count all things loss for the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, and if I suffer the lost of all things let me count them as rubbish that I may gain You..Amen

Are you Mr or Miss Cool ?

Artist: Jamie O'Neal Lyrics
Song: All By Myself Lyrics
When I was young
I never needed anyone
And makin' love was just for fun
Those days are gone

Livin' alone
I think of all the friends I've known
But when I dial the telephone
Nobody's home

All by myself
Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore
All by myself
Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore

Hard to be sure
Sometimes I feel so insecure
And love so distant and obscure
Remains the cure

Last Sunday I included part of this song into my message.Sometimes a song just captures the essence of the message effectively.I spoke about the fear of intimacy that have trapped us from receiving love and giving it away. Maybe as a child growing up we have suffered a deficiency of parental love or some traumatic form of rejection that we have set up boudaries or walls that kept people out of our life at an early age. This 'coverings" hinder us from experiencing intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father and Healthy Relationships with others. So many people cannot bond with people ending up bonding with their jobs or hobby. It's only when they are physically or chronologically incapable of engaging in their career or sports that they realised the emptiness and loneliness of keeping their hearts safe from fear & pain of authentic relating.

Human beings are beings not doings.Beings relate and need affections to thrive. We are created by God to receive and express love. Adam, adam, where are you??? Adam was afraid because he was naked, so he hid himself behind some the image of Mr. cool".

2 questions

At our staff devotion I asked them to think about these two questions.

1. What do you think is your joyful earthly reward in ministry? Why do
they choose this "vocation'? This was asked in the context that to
serve sincerely and genuinely in ministry is usually not easy,
requiring one to die to self all the time, facing much trials and
testing of our character, frequently judged and misunderstood, not
much appreciated by those we served and even mishandled many times by
those we choose to love. The answer did not come fast. After some deep
eye-brow expressions 2 of them said that their own character
development itself is their reward.God uses their "vocation" to hone
their character and personality. Well I really thought that it was a
very noble perspective.I probed them further..about what is their joy
in ministry...We finally all agreed that our deepest satisfaction
comes when we see lifes touch, healed and transformed by the Lord
Jesus Christ through our humble, imperfect respresentation of Christ
in the ministry.

2. When would you regard FCC to be a "great church"?
Is it when we reach thousands in number?.......NO
is it when we have great Music, Worship and Preaching?.......NO
Is it when we have produce our own CDs and is well known?.....NO

So.....when is FCC a great church?
We concluded that FCC is a great church when the people of God have a
growing intimate love relationship with God. To us all, that is the
non-negotiable foundation of greatness, be it in numbers, performance
or productions. When God's people at FCC take ownership of their
relationship with God, to be loved by God and to love God...then they
will enjoy loving others, they will enjoy serving others, they will
enjoy sacrificing and laying down their lives for the ministry. They
are here at FCC not because of the great music or preaching or the
beauty of the building. They are here excited because of their love
for God and His House and His people and Work.

That's why and where we begin....The place of Prayer...the place of
dependence upon God and His Holy Spirit. Not by might or power, but by
His Spirit.Zech 4:6 The place of intentional humility.The place where
we acknowledge that we can do nothing without Him. We stand strong and
firm by being on our knees together...Fcc - House of Prayer.

What do we want to see? We want His Name to be Praised & Glorified
when we see lives touched, healed and transformed by the work of the
Holy Spirit in and through our lives, our ministry and our sacrifice
together. We desire to see individuals, marriages, families,
communities and nations being healed...Fcc - House of Healing.

We are created to receive love and to give it away.