This Is The Final Call!!

Praise the Lord everybody! I pray you all are enjoying Gods blessing. I myself was blessed to make it to church this past Wednesday for the "Hour of Power" and it was truly a blessing. It feels good when you are obedient to God. There were no hindrances, no broken elevators or Access-A-Ride problems, God smoothed the way for me. That's what He can do for you when you are obedient.

I received an e-mail late last night asking me to write something for an up coming church consecration at my sister in laws church. The theme was "A final call to worship." As I began to meditate on the subject I became stuck on this one question, when is the final call to worship? or Is there a final call to worship? Is it when Jesus comes to rapture His Church?, is it when we die? or is it everyday of our lives? We never know when God is going to call us home so any time could be our final call, and praise and worship should never be far from our lips.
John 4:23 says
²³But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 
To me this is the final call to worship, the call of Jesus saying True worshippers worship God in spirit and in truth. We should live every day as if it is our last, our last chance to serve God, our last chance to be obedient, and our last chance to worship him. The time for lip service is past.
Isaiah 29:13 states
The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.(NIV)

We see it every Sunday in churches all over America, pews filled with people and most are just mimicking things they learned as children while being dragged to church week after week by their parents. They have the body language and church lingo down pat but their hearts are cold, the fire having burned out long ago or it was never ignited in the first place. The time has come for us to examine ourselves and get real, are we in the way? or ARE WE IN THE WAY? We should want to walk in the way, not be in the way.

The final call to worship has already been made, Worship in spirit and in truth, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, not on the last day but everyday.
                                                 God bless you All, Brother Darrell, A Watchman

Touchdown Jesus! / Stop Kicking against the Pricks

Praise the Lord everybody! I pray everyone is enjoying God's blessing. I am truly blessed of God to have this privilege to convey what the spirit of the Lord has to say to the church. My wife has gone back to work and now it's just me and God and you all again. If you have been following my recent post you know I have been having trouble getting to church on Sundays and if it's not the elevator hindering me then it's the transportation problems with Access-A- Ride. What I'm about to say those of you who are not believers may have a hard time understanding but true believers should have no trouble understanding.

The church I attend has a Wednesday afternoon service called "The Hour of Power" and about six months ago or so I heard the spirit of the Lord say to me "I want you to stop going to or trying to go to Sunday service and start going to the Hour of power for I have plans for you there." And I have not been obedient, but in Acts 26:14 Jesus says to Saul on the road to Damascus
¹⁴And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the
pricks.
The spirit reminded me again of what God had asked me to do and then brought that scripture back to my remembrance. I thought back to how it seemed that there was a force trying to hinder my trying to go to church on Sundays. I know this is where true believers and a lot of others part company. You see it on TV. all the time. when ever a christian is being interviewed on secular TV about anything and they say "God spoke to me" or "I felt the Lord say to my spirit" The person conducting the interview jumps on them and says "what makes you so special that God would stop what He's doing to speak to you?" You see it all the time on "The View" TV show, every time one of the panel members who are Christian say they heard from God then one of the others,  who might even be a Christian also, looks at them like they are crazy and puts them down because of what they believe. What is worse is that  the Christian being interviewed lets them get away with it by not challenging them through God's word.
Matthew 10:29-31 states
²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
³⁰But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
³¹Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
God is interested in every aspect of all His creations, He has numbered the very hairs on our heads! He has taken time out to do this. Psalm 139:14 states
¹⁴I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made! By who? By God! He cares about every aspect of His creation. Look at the grief Tim Tebow gets every time he gets on one knee and prays after scoring a touchdown and then thanks God when being interviewed after game. People call into talk shows and rant "who does he think he is?" They don't get it, they say the same thing about players who score then point up into the sky thanking God after a touchdown or home run. It's not that God Has money on the game, but that he cares for his people on both sides and wants them to prosper and be healthy in all that they do. It is not about winning the game, it's about everybody playing their best and not getting hurt.

The time has come for Christian athletes to do more than just point to the sky or bow down after scoring touchdowns or doing positive things during games. They must be ready and able to give a clear account to reporters after games as to why they do what they do and why God is interested in what they are doing. Yes contrary to popular belief God is not so overwhelmed by the problems of this world that He can't be bothered about your Job situation, your marriage, your children or whether you should put your car in the shop to avoid an accident. God is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord our provider, how can he provide for our needs if He is not keeping tabs on our lives and taking time to listen to our prayers? How can He heal us if He is not aware we are sick? HE CARES ABOUT US!

The time has also come for me to stop kicking against the pricks and be obedient to God. I will be in Church this Wednesday and every Wednesday until God tells me something different. Keep me in prayer as I keep you in prayer.
                                                 God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman

God Blogers: This is why I blog

Praise the Lord! I pray everybody is being blessed by God real good. I am truly blessed by God. I spent the last week catching up with my wife after a long absence due to scheduling difficulties. It was a blessing, everything except the fact that we couldn't go to church Sunday because the elevators in my building were broken again. We decided to have our own little service at home and God was faithful as ever as He met us there and we know He abides in our praises. We were blessed and God even blessed us more the next day when our Pastor came and despite not having any elevator service walked up with his wife and administered communion to us. Hallelujah!

Lately I've been reading other christian blogs on different sites and it has caused me to wonder about my own blog. "Why do I blog?" I  asked myself. The answer for me is multifaceted, number one: God blessed me with the ability to write. Two: I believe God has called me to be a Watchman and to preach His word. Three: because of my disability my pulpit is not in the sanctuary but on the Internet. If you have read any of my past posts you have seen that God has given me a strong word. I repeat God has given me a strong word, I did not give them to myself. It is so easy to lose sight of what you are doing and why you are doing it in ministry. Being human we like to get feed back when we do something, Just being obedient and carrying out God's will should be enough but a lot of times it's not. We constantly seek man's approval and we want to know if  we are reaching the people and we want to be known for the people we are reaching. We check to see how many "Hits" our blogs get each day, We say God gave me the word yet we don't trust him to deliver His word to the people He wants to hear it. We come up with all kinds of schemes to boost our readership, even compromising the word God gave us.  Isaiah 55:11+12   says 
¹⁰For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
¹¹So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
God's word, if it truly is from Him, will accomplish His will whether your blog is "viral" or only has a handful of followers. Our job is to plant the seeds it is God who gives the increase.

 Some of the blogs I have read did not use any scripture to back up anything they wrote. I don't care how much since what you are writing seems to make, if your doctrine can not be backed by scripture than you are playing a dangerous game with God's people and yourself. My fear is that in my own zeal to do God's will is that I would equate success with the number of readers of my blog. Success is not measured in large numbers but in how obedient we are in writing  what He is telling us to write. We are not to write to taste like a cook cooks to taste. The blank page is my pulpit and it is my privilege  to send out God's word from that pulpit. 2nd Timothy 4:2-4 states
²Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
³For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
⁴And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Just as not everyone is chosen to preach or teach from the pulpit of a church, not everyone is chosen to preach from this pulpit. Matthew 20:15+16 says
¹⁵Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
¹⁶So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.


People have asked me "Aren't you afraid you will offend someone with some of the things you write?" and I say " If God is in it why should I fear? and besides God told me that he did not give me a spirit of fear." 2nd Timothy 1:7
⁷For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

You have to be fearless in whatever ministry you do for God because our enemy the Devil is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. I can not write to please man, I must write to please God.
I live at his pleasure and it is my pleasure to serve Him. This is why I blog.

                                                       God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman

Will There Be Faith?

Praise the Lord! I pray that everyone is enjoying God's blessing. I am truly blessed Just to be alive and doing what God wants me to do and that is writing this blog. Recently I have been spending a lot of time on a Christian website I stumbled on called "God's Faith Book" a sort of Facebook for Christians and I have been really enjoying the different activities and people on the site. Today I was reading a blog and this scripture was used. Luke 18:2-8  
²Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
³And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
⁴And he would not for a while: but afterward, he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
⁵Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
⁶And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
⁷And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cries day and night unto him, though he bears long with them?
⁸I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Nevertheless, when the son of man comes, shall He find faith on the earth? That question began to roll around in my head and my spirit. This parable was just one of many Jesus spoke in that chapter. It's a shame that after all the healing, Resurrection's, demons cast out and other miracles Jesus still wondered if he would find faith when He came back for his Church. Jesus said it then in Matthew 17:16+17
¹⁶And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
¹⁷Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
And He is probably is saying the same thing today as he prepares to return.

Once God called His people "stiff-necked" I wonder what he is calling His people now, I wonder what He is calling me? Where do I stack up against the children of Israel? Not too long ago I posted a two-part series on faith, entitled "Where is your Faith?" It is no coincidence that I'm writing about Faith again. The Word says that "without faith, it is impossible to please Him."(Hebrews 11:6) Without faith, nothing happens. It is faith that moves God. How many times in the bible did Jesus say "your faith has healed you?" or "according to your faith be it unto you". Yet we often waiver in our faith, one day rock solid and the next as brittle as a dry leaf. We trust God for some things and not for others as if the situation matters to God. We Lean back and forth but Is there anything too hard for God?

Which way will you be leaning when Jesus comes? In Luke 17:5 the disciples asked 
⁵And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. With all they saw and all they did while with Christ they still asked that their faith be increased. They all paid a price for their request, the only way to increase faith is to increase your trials, your tribulations and then stand still and see the salvation of God. Will Jesus find faith on earth when He returns? I pray so, but one thing I know, I will always strive to live as a man of true faith and trust in God no matter what the circumstance so that when He comes back he will at least find faith in me. Will He find faith in you?
                                               God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman
 P.S. If you want to read more about faith please read in the archive, "Where is your Faith? 1+2"

Being There:The Ichabod Part Two

Praise the Lord! I pray everyone is enjoying God's blessing. I am a little disappointed today as I write this because I was not able to attend church today because of transportation issues. After a wonderful return to church last week this week I am unable to be with my church family. If you read my last post "The Ichabod" you might say to your self "why are you so eager to return to a church that is lacking the shekinah glory of God?"

The answer to this question is many fold, but number one is I want to be obedient to God and his word.
Hebrews 10:24+25 states
²⁴And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 
²⁵Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

This scripture really covers it all. We as believers are commanded to come together in groups, which we have done down through the years. But more and more it seems we have forgotten why we should come together. Number one, church is not a social club! We don't go to show off or to observe the latest fashions. We don't go to hear or pass on the latest gossip. We are not there to showcase or show off the gifts that God gave us.
The word says we should come together to "exhort" one another. To exhort means to encourage, to spur on or to urge or persuade. That is why I try and press my way to church when I can because I have this urge or desire to encourage others to keep going in Christ, to hold onto His unchanging hand. I also want to be encouraged, encouraged to keep walking, keep striving and to stay under the burden that Jesus has given me because His burden is light.

We have the obligation as a church to be there for each other and for those that are lost, our gifts are not for record contracts or mega churches or mega money but for each other from the greatest to the least of us. When a crack head wonders into your church they are not interested in how good we sing, but the good we sing about. They are not interested in how good we preach but in the good we preach about. It's not the garment we wear on the outside that attracts but the Garment we wear on the inside that draws the people in and to Christ.

So Shekinah Glory or no Shekinah Glory, Ichabod or not, my responsibility is to gather together with my Brothers and sisters in Christ so that we can be there for each other. Sometimes I needed them and sometimes they needed me but most importantly we need each other and together we all need Jesus.

                                                        God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman

The Ichabod

Praise the Lord! I pray you all are enjoying the blessing of the Lord. Yesterday I went to church, the reason that this fact is blog worthy is because for the last couple of months it seems that the enemy was pulling out all stops in an effort to keep me at home on Sunday's. Broken elevators, transportation problems and bodily infirmities also contributed to a long string of Sunday morning no shows. The last few weeks the elevator again was the culprit. Ah but yesterday after much prayer the Lord opened the door for me to leave my apartment / prison and venture out to be with my church family.

The process of getting there was not without incident, but when I finally arrived the feeling of accomplishment and joy was overwhelming, but the pain of the press was well worth it. As I stepped off the van I was greeted by one of the church trustees who was surprised to see me. I had not told anyone I was coming because every time I had said I was coming in the past something would always come up and prevent me from attending. As I walked in they were praying for the sick and shut in and my name was one of the names being mentioned. Only a few noticed as I made my way in and as they looked up after prayer there I was. Home.

Our church is not a big mega ministry housed in some grand edifice. It is a modest building with an historical look to it with its old wooden pews lined up on either side of it's one narrow isle that splits the sanctuary in half from the pulpit to the door. The sanctuary definitely has a since of history about it, I had often imagined how it was "back in the day" with people dancing and falling out slain in the spirit during one of of those Holy Ghost ho-downs churches in Harlem were famous for. When I look at it now I see the  faded glory of a ministry that had fallen on hard times at one time and is now being resurrected by God through the hard work and dedication of it's core group and a  Pastor who God placed there over three years ago for this very purpose.

As I sat there I looked out at the sparse crowd and noted that only the core group was in attendance that Sunday, the faithful few who have been attending regularly for over thirty years in some cases. I am a new comer having come after the new pastor was installed by God. 1st Samuel 4:21 states
²¹ She named the boy Ichabod,^[a] saying, “The Glory has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² She said, “The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”
The word "Ichabod" means no glory or the glory has departed and as I sat there I was painfully aware that whatever glory this place had had back in the day was no longer present. The man of God whom God had put in place was obviously giving his all spiritually and physically yet the glow of Gods glory was absent from the faces of the people as they appeared to be entering in to the praise and worship  but were without the anointing. It is a common occurrence in churches throughout the body of Christ.

The time has come for us to reach for a higher level in Christ, We are the Church, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are the reason for the absence of Gods glory in our temples. Haggai 1:2-8
²Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built.
³Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,
⁴Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
⁵Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
⁶Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
⁷Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
⁸Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.

We have restored the physical Church, with new tiles and carpets, lights and ceiling fans but in order to restore the glory we must rebuild our temples. We must consider our ways, are we living all we know for God? And if we are do we know enough? Are we studying to show ourselves approved? Are we concerned about others or are we just looking out for ourselves? Are we in the valley? or are we on the mountain top? We must consider our ways, we must get before the Lord and bring the wood of prayer and supplication and build His house. Let us build our temples and return the glory of God to the Church.  God bless you all,
                                     Brother Darrell, A Watchman

Cracked Pot or Vessel Of Honour

Praise the Lord! I pray everyone is enjoying God's many blessings. I myself am definitely having a valley experience. I have been held hostage in my apartment for the last eleven days due to disrupted elevator service. I need a hair cut and I have been ready to start back going to church for weeks and now I can't get there. I trust God and I know He knows what He is doing so I accept what God allows.

I was just talking to a good friend of mine in the Lord, Brother Richie, and as we talked I began reflect on my life. When I could work I worked as an R.N. I was a good nurse, not bragging, and I loved what I did. I was on the fast track to being a Director of Nursing and I threw it all away for the life of a crack head. All the time I invested in studying and preparation was wasted. The pain of unfulfilled potential is still with me.
 Then I began to look at myself and my record as a man of God. I began to notice some similarities. God had invested a lot of time in me. He blessed me with many gifts. I had an insatiable desire to study God's word right from the beginning. Within  one year of giving my life to Christ I was in full time ministry and preaching with such authority my pastor asked me if I was a "ringer"he couldn't believe that I had never preached before. Don't get me wrong It was God who was doing all this not me. Even after I ran back to drugs because I was not comfortable with how fast I was being elevated, God was with me molding me and making me until I was finally delivered from drugs for good.

This time around God has brought me along slowly and has used my new affliction as a thorn in my side, just as He did with Apostle Paul in the New Testament. My concern now is that I do not waste this opportunity to be used by God as I did with my nursing career. The stakes are higher now. Lives and souls are on the line. My time is growing shorter, all the trials and tribulations have fulfilled their purpose and God has given me a wife to help me during this part of my journey, She is truly my help mate.

I look at my age and realize this may be the last chance for me to fulfill the promise that God has put in me. I've been to the potters house, I've gone through the crucible and now He is putting me in position.
Don't get me wrong I will always be evolving in Christ, ever learning, ever growing as we all should be doing. 2nd Timothy 2:19-21 states
¹⁹Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
²⁰But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
²¹If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

I dare say I am a vessel of honour, sanctified, ready and prepared for whatever good works the Lord would have for me. This blog is a part of that. God has taken me from cracked pot to vessel of honour. It is not always an easy walk but we all as children of God have our paths to follow but they all end in the same place if we stay on them. If you are going through  something right now just remember it's all part of the process of becoming a vessel of honour.
                                                                  God bless you,
                                                                                Brother Darrell, A Watchman