IS GOD LIVING IN YOUR GUEST HOUSE?

Praise the Lord! everybody!! Let everything that has breath praise His holy name. It has been a while since I last had the pleasure to share with you guys what is going on with me and what doth sayeth the Lord. Since my last post, God has instructed to not only leave my comfort zone but leave my home for a new home in a new state that I had never been or thought about. Two months before if you had asked me if we were leaving New York we would have said no, but God made a way out of what appeared to be no way. Just like that God blessed us with an apartment we could never afford or even be eligible for in New York. Praise His holy name! Please keep us in prayer because to whom much is given, much is required.

I'd like to share with you something God has been dealing with me about. I was reading out of Haggai when I came across this in
HAGGAI 1:7-9  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. 9Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that [is] waste and ye run every man unto his own house. 

God showed me how many Christians, including myself, go about daily looking to upgrade our position in life while at the same time allowing our relationships with God to fall into disrepair. I began thinking about how rich landowners often live on properties where they have their main residence, a large well kept home that is the centerpiece of the property. Then they have a guest house out back, a small, not so well kept, humble abode for staff and "certain visitors" deemed unworthy of the big house.

How often do we do God the same way? We are always looking to increase our quality of life, better jobs, better homes, and better toys, but not so much concern about a better relationship with God. We want God with us, but not necessarily in the main house where He can be involved in everything we do, no, we regulate God to the guest house where we can call on him when we need him. We keep Him in our servants quarters where we want Him to serve us and not the other way around.
These are the last of the last days, Jesus is coming soon and the time is not now for us to be expanding our own territories while neglecting our real assignment, to serve the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, and our strength. We need to bring Jesus out of the guest house and restore him as the centerpiece of our lives. God will serve you when you start serving Him.

God bless you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off the Wall

THE NON-PECULIARITY OF THE BODY OF CHRIST!

Praise the Lord everybody. As Christians, God has called us to be a lot of things. We are called to be Soldiers, Conquerors, and Holy, among other things. Today we’re going to discuss one of those things, and that is the non-peculiarity of the Body of Christ.
  1 Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:”
When God looks at us He sees a people constantly trying to be like the world and not apart from it. When you think of peculiar people you think of everyone but Christians. You think of the Jews, the Hasidic and the Orthodox, you think of the Muslim and Islamic faiths and so on. Christians, not so much.

The Christian Church and its members for years have been seemingly trying to be non-peculiar rather than peculiar. We have been guilty on many occasions of trying to integrate worldly practices into our churches, from dancing to Rap music and mimes. If we feel that the only way to bring in the lost to Christ is by offering them entertainment and a listener-friendly Gospel, then we are in for a surprise when Jesus comes back for His Church.
Peculiar means: 1. strange or odd; unusual.
"his accent was a peculiar mixture of Cockney and Irish"
2. strange · unusual · odd · funny · curious · bizarre · [more]
particular; special.
"any attempt to explicate the theme is bound to run into peculiar difficulties"
synonyms: distinctive · characteristic · distinct · different · individual
When people look at us do they say, “there’s something about those Christians, I can’t put my finger on it but there’s something about them I want.” Or do they say, “Those Christians, they aren’t so special, going to church with them is like going to a Broadway show, except on Broadway you only pay once as you enter.”
God wants us to not only win people over by what we say but how we live. The world is in darkness, and those of us who live in the light must show a distinct and attractive alternative lifestyle to those lost in darkness. When all the world is walking to the left, they must see us always walking to the right, not down the middle or leaning to the left, but to the right.
PRAYER: Father God, we thank you that you have called us out of darkness into your marvelous light. Help us to be the peculiar people you have called us to be, a Royal Priesthood, Lord help us to live lifestyles attractive to those that are lost. In Jesus name, we pray, Amen.
God bless you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall.

CHRIST'S UNIBODY CONSTRUCTION

Praise the Lord everybody, let everything that has breath praise His holy name. I just finished reading the chapter entitled “The Task of Church Planting” from the book, “Global Church Planting Biblical Principles and Best Practices for Multiplication.” A book I wouldn't normally choose for myself but a friend recommended it to me. I found “The Task of Church Planting” to be great as a history of 20th-century church planting.

 As a historical article, I found it very well written, loaded with facts and information on what it takes to plant a Church, not only how to plant a church but how to keep it alive and growing. Even more importantly it was filled with Scriptural references to back up its most important points, like for instance scripture on what is a church (Acts 2:46-47) (Acts 5:42) (21:20,26 basically the whole book of acts). It talks about the importance of putting together a proper team to carry out the task.  It covers “the purpose of the Church” and even tries to answer the question, what exactly is “Church planting”?
This is a very ambitious project that supplies its readers with a comprehensive Guide to establish a God-pleasing Church.

Unfortunately, it all comes a little too late. Especially for the Body of Christ in America, and other modern countries across the globe. The whole dynamic of Church planting has changed in America where there is no shortage of churches. Some neighborhoods have as many as four. Except for some small isolated areas of the world the body of Christ is not in need of more Church planting teams, instead, it needs Church unification teams.

 If all the different denominations of the Church would come together and be one as God intended, the Church would easily spread the Gospel of Christ to every corner of the world. The Gospel of Luke does end with Jesus giving us the “great commission” and the Church has been trying to carry it out ever since, sometimes effectively and sometimes not so effectively.
Again, this article is full of great examples and ideas on Church planting, including, of course, Paul’s apostolic outline in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 where he states, What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it.

This scripture brings out an important point when Paul says, “I laid the foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it.” The time has come for the body of Christ to start building on, or perhaps rebuilding on what it has become. This is a well-written article that is rich in history and wisdom, but that is all that it is a history lesson.

God bless you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off the Wall

CAN YOUR FAITH PASS THE "SPIT" TEST?

Praise the Lord, everybody. Let everything that has breath praise His holy name!! The Lord has truly been moving in my life these days. I have been blessed in many ways and I can not thank Him enough for what He is doing in my life right now. God has been keeping me very busy these days, causing me to neglect this blog, and for that, I am truly sorry.

  Today I have a couple of questions to start off with. How strong is your faith? And, would you let someone spit in your eye?
Mark 8:23 King James Version (KJV)
23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.
 Blind or sighted, it takes a special type of Faith to allow someone to spit in your eye and call it healing. To make matters worse, after He gave him the first “treatment” the man still could not see! Yet he allows Him to rub more spit in his eyes. Verses 24+25 tell us the results of the man’s faith,  24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
25 After that, he put his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up: and he was restored and saw every man clearly.
The man may not have known who Jesus was as far as His deity was concerned but he had enough faith in a man he heard could heal him of his affliction. How many times have we believers blown our healings and blessings because we wanted to control how God was going to heal us or bless us. How many of us today would let our Pastor or Church Elder anoint us with his saliva or “spit” today to obtain our healing? Most likely we would run out of the door, go home and get on FaceBook or Twitter and tell everybody how the Pastor or Elder has lost their minds, meanwhile, our pains and afflictions would continue. If Jesus himself came down to heal us personally, I believe some still would not believe, and we know who He is.

The blind man did not truly know who Jesus was and is, but we have no excuse.  If you read the Bible you know that God does not think like a man, His thoughts are not our thoughts. We must stop trying to assist God with His work. The blind man did not question God. He could have said “is that spit you’re about to put in my eye? You sure you want to do that? Why can’t you use water?” but he trusted Jesus, that He knew what He was doing. Today's believer has too many worldly options to choose from when something goes wrong in our lives. We run here and there, looking for help and answers, always turning to God as a last resort. God wants us to trust Him to the point where even if He asks us to let him rub spit in our eyes, we will say “whatever you will, Lord.”
   PRAYER: Father God, forgive us for our lapses in faith. Help us to trust in you in all things, for it was you who created all things. Let us not turn to created things for help but to the creator of all things that were created. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
                                God bless you all, Brother Darrell, Spaking Off The Wall                                                                       
                                                           

THE SELFISHNESS OF DISOBEDIENCE

Praise the Lord everybody. As a Christian, have you ever felt the Holy Spirit instructing you to do something, and you want to be obedient, but something does not quite make sense to you, trust God always because disobedience is a selfish act.

 1st Kings 17:8+9            8) And the word of the Lord came unto Elijah,  9) saying, “Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon and dwell there; behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.” 
 Elijah’s survival in this incidence depends on the obedience of two people, himself, and the widow woman. Imagine if Elijah had traveled all the way to where God had instructed and found that the woman had been disobedient. He would have found the woman and her son dead from starvation, because this is what she had planned, her and her son were down to their last bit of flour and oil, and she had made up her mind that they were going to make one last loaf of bread, eat it and then die, but out of obedience she gave her last to Elijah and we see what happens in verses 13+14  13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first, make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”   
There is a blessing in living an obedient life, but the blessing may not be just for you, so don’t be selfish, be obedient, and everyone will benefit. God Bless you.
PRAYER: Father I want to thank you for loving us enough to let us know how selfish we are in our disobedience to you. Father help us to have an obedient spirit reminding ourselves that our obedience not only blesses you can be a blessing to someone else as well
A little food for thought that the Lord gave me to think about and to share with you.
           God Bless you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall

SALVATION: WHAT'S IN YOUR WALLET?!!

Praise the Lord everybody!! Let everything that has breath praise His Holy name! The Lord is surely moving me into a different place in Him. In these last and evil days, and I am letting Him have His way, gladly, since He knows whats best for me. I am truly looking forward to where He takes me.

The Bible tells us in Job that Job gave sacrifices for his children just in case they forgot or were negligent.I often wondered what kind of believer they were, did they sit around thinking they were okay because their father had them covered, or were they working out there own salvation with fear and trembling.



Genesis 15:6      Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as
righteousness.

 Whenever I'm out witnessing for Christ I've noticed there are a lot of would be Christians out there with other peoples credit cards. I don't want to say they're stolen because they may have picked them up by mistake or maybe they thought it was okay to use them.

It all starts when I ask them this one question, "Are you a Christian?" They immediately replied "yes I am" and then they go on to tell me about how their mother has been a member of Mount so and so's for twenty-five years and is head of the usher board, volunteers twice a week to give out food at the food pantry. Or they tell you how their father has been a deacon at the same church for thirty years etc but when I ask them about themselves they start making excuses about why they themselves do not go to church nor do they feel the need to set aside a day to fellowship and to worship the Lord.

 They are under the mistaken impression that their parents or spouses relationship with God is automatically accredited to them also. Then I have to pull out the word and give them the bad news. First I read Genesis 15:6  "Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to HIM as righteousness."

Not his son, not his wife, not his daughter or anybody else. Then I tell them about Philippians 2:12 12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

We must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, then read to them Romans 10:9+10 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

They have to make their own confession of faith with their own mouths and their own lips. Thank God for your mothers and fathers and spouses salvation, but you can't get into heaven using their credit cards. Most were surprised to find out that their salvation wasn't covered by birthright and allowed me to pray with them and start them on their way.

Check your pockets and see whats in your wallet.

God bless you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall

                                                                        

                                                                     

                                                                        

                                                                     

                                                                                                                             

LET GODS WORD BE TRUE...

Praise the Lord!!! Everybody!! Let everything that has breath praise his Holy name!! As I've been saying all year, these have been challenging times for the body of Christ. I have been nudged to higher and higher levels in Christ by the Holy Spirit in recent times, ready or not, here it comes seems to be the theme this past year, and I thank God for the nudging.



Galatians 1:11+12     11) I want you to know Brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up.  12) I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.


While out witnessing I hear it all the time, “men wrote the bible” or “the bible was changed by men to fit their purposes.” Paul had to address the same accusations from the Galatians. People then and today don’t want to hear the truth. They want to soften Gods word by saying “God never said that! Men just put that in there because it was a popular idea at the time of the crusades.” A lot of homosexuals said that about scripture condemning homosexuality. The truth of the matter is, yes, homosexuality was an accepted practice among men pretty much since the beginning of time, especially during biblical times. So was prostitution, human sacrifice and a plethora of other unseemly practices, they were called SIN, and God Spoke against sin from the very beginning when Adam and Eve committed the first one allowing sin to enter the world. Even before God gave Moses the law He Gave man a sense of right and wrong, a conscience that’s how Joseph knew to run and not sleep with Potiphar's wife.

I’m sure back then just as today there were plenty of men who would have gladly taken his place. We, believers, have more than just a conscience we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, leading us into all truth. Paul says “we have the mind of Christ”So I say to you “who is making up what?” The Bible tells us in 2nd Timothy 3:16 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Next time a nonbeliever tells you that the Man made up the Bible; just hold your head high and say “all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” “ Gods word says it and I believe it. Let God be true and every man a liar.” Ever since it was written, people have tried to Question the authority of the Bible. It is an attack ordained by Satan to undermine God's plan of redemption cause once you start to doubt even one part of Gods word, it's only a matter of time before you doubt the whole thing, and the devil knows this, so he tries to plant that seed as early as he can.

2nd John 1:7-10 states  7 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.

8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:

God Bess you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall