Apostle David Johndrow - Fire And Grace

For those of you who have been long time readers, you know the things that matter to me. One of them is people with cancer . I belong to a "mailing list" entitled Apostles Toda y . It is a group of folks that God has given as a gift to the church. One of them become a close friend through the miracle of the Internet and cellphone technology. His name: Curtis Forbes. He was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago. I had seen posts by him on the list, and one day I read that he was in the hospital. I emailed and asked for his cell so I could text him during his recovery. That was back in June. I started to check in with him, and not long after he was released, I called him to say hello; it was a bit awkward at first. We didn't have any history - just Jesus. Contact with cancer patients is tough, and I am not too good with people in general. Because both my parents died of cancer, I just have heart for folks who suffer from cancer. My strategy is this: it...

I have a friend who's infant daughter spent 4 days in the hospital. HERE is the story. I checked in with him each day by text or phone, and prayed too. She's home and doing great! PTL! I am sure it was scary. Healing, and good results come from a good God. What happens when things don't go so good? What happens when folks get sick and die? Is God good then? It's a tough question. Not to mention that serious illness is tough to watch, and worse to have. I have another friend that was diagnosed with cancer. I have been praying for him, as well as testing or calling just about every day for most of the past year. I have done it before . I hate cancer! It was painful news to hear that the doctor recommended Hospice Care. I have been a Christian professing healing for 35 years. I have seen God do it, and he has used me a few times along the way too. I purposely wrote about the dead being raised on Wednesday to challenge the faith of my readers for the "big...

What do you think about the floods and natural disasters in Australia and Brazil? Some folks think that it is a sign of the End of the Age, and others think it due to Global Warming and climate change. Personally, I don't really care. What matters is that there are people down there that God loves. Yesterday I was reading an account about 16 folks being raised from the dead in the Brazil these past few weeks. Before you decide to read or not read, please read. HERE is a link to the article. Think about it, Lazarus times 16! I am sure you are thinking one of the following thoughts: - This is a hoax or a lie. - They probably were just unconscious and woke up. - How can we scientifically confirm what happened? - There has got o be a logical reason for this. - I guess God can do it - He can do whatever he wants to. - Why does He always do stuff like this in other countries? - I could believe 1, but not 16. - OK, that is really cool. I suppose it won't happen again in ...

I am like most Americans, my life gets pretty busy. I commute into Boston and work an 8+ hour a day. I have a wife, kids, pets, bills and all the regular stuff. My wife handles a lot of  things for me - a lot! I manage to fit in date nights, music, writing, social networking, teaching a class - oh and church. Life zooms along at near light-speed and doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon. I also take time to pray for a couple of sick friends and my family every day. I used to be baffled by the presence of God. I would go to a great service and feel spiritually recharged. On the way home, or soon after, something would come up and it would be as if I had never been there. Maybe you understand what I am saying. God just didn't seem to fit into my day-to-day. While I was working, I didn't have time to give him a thought. I began to ponder the presence of God. I discovered that the presence of God comes in two forms. The manifold presence of God (John 1...

Well, it is Friday, and because of the the weather I decided to take the day off from commuting. I am teaching my class tonight - I think it will be live on the web if your not busy at 6:30 EST.  Video Feed Page I was pondering a few things this morning - and I was thinking about how the church always says that we need to love. Then they proceed to define love by actions that make others feel loved - or so they think. I have written about love a lot of time, HERE is my take on the 1 Corinthians 13 "the love passage." What I am thinking about this morning - and winging it here - is how we love others; what is the method of love? I read a lot about how we can love the poor by feeding them, by drilling wells in Africa where there is no water, buying goats for farmers, and stopping human trafficking, all of which are noble, important and valuable ministries. We can love others by serving them. I am always stunned when churches don't k...

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way-in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."  - Charles Dickens,  A Tale of Two Cities If you have ever traveled outside the country, you know there can be a distinct difference in culture, especially if they speak a foreign language. Over on Kingdom Bloggers I wrote about one of my favorite verses a few days ago. It had to do with the reality of the new man living inside the old man . ...

Class 1 of the  Apostolic School is complete. I received an email from my pastor. David, You did an exceptional job last night.  I mean REALLLLLLLLY exceptional. Love you, Daryl I certainly appreciate my pastor very much. He is becoming a close friend. Most of all, it is nice to be loved, even if when I don't do anything; he's good at that. I say "thank you Jesus for what you do." I knew going into this I had nothing to offer without God's intervention. So what happened? I talked about my passion for Jesus, for helping others find their spiritual gifts, and I taught them to pray for one another.  The Doctrine of the Laying on of Hands is very simple. I stumbled across one of my favorite verses and went for a quick sermon on the releasing the new man. HERE are the details. We had folks put down their prayer needs on paper, and picked 3 of them to receive the laying on of hands. I am looking forward to the testimonies next week. ...

Today I am teaching my first class in the 5-Fold School of Ministry . As a group of Christians, we'll be looking at some challenging topics, encouraging the participants to love others with their gifts, and in some cases, relying on tradition. All three aspects of the class are scary. Topics that challenge existing church paradigms are scary because they could conceivably create another ineffective model for doing church. Asking believers to step out into spiritual gifting is scary because, let's face it, the gifts of the Holy Spirit can get messy some times; it's a lot less risky to make someone a pan of baked ziti than it is to hear God in prophecy, and deliver it. And finally, knowing when to depart from tradition, and when to stick with it, is also scary. The church tends to reinvent itself every so often, and the results are mixed at best. The question I am exploring is how to we change what is broken, and capitalize on what is working (what God is actually doi...

I have to say, I get tired of Christians bashing Christians - it is NOT God. I read the entire Bible an no where does it say publicly denounce others because they are different from you. Jesus never said that we had the right to punish others with public displays and neither did Paul - especially when we don't even know them. We are reminded to go to our brother or sister, and see if we can work things out. (Matthew 5:22-24) But it is worse than that. Matthew 5:22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. And if that doesn't work, take along a another to establish their testimony. (Matthew 18:15-16) Of course if they will not listen then we are to tell it to the church, and in the end treat them as tax collectors and pagans. (Matthew 18:17) These admonitions are for sin in the church, not for differences in worship style or even theology. Peter and Paul did not always agree! Each one had their own...

I thought I would put together a list of biblical things that you can do in church - maybe even should do. Stand When You Sing:  2 Chronicles 20:19 Then the Levities of the children of the Hohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with voices loud and high. Clap Your Hands:  Psalms 47:11a Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout: Psalms 47:11b Shout to God with the voice of triumph! Raise Your Hands: 1 Timothy 2:88 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands. Bow Your Head: 2 Chronicles 7:3 When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord. Use Drums and Electric Guitars for Worship! 2 Samuel 6:55 Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of fir wood, on harps, on stringed in...

I often think about about the times that God has spoken to me. Sure, there are a lot of kooks out there that don't hear God and claim to, or worse, hear Satan and call it God. I am neither. :) For the Christian, we have two dilemmas, hearing God, and not hearing God. It seems pretty logical that if we don't hear God, we are off the hook pretty much. I mean if you don't have any instruction from On High , you just plug along doing what you are already doing until you get some. Conversely, when you do hear God you are presented with a different quandary, what now!? So for Christians that are pretty much used to NOT hearing from God, here is what I find. They seem to wish that God wold tell them what to do, or they are happy with their own opinions and biblical knowledge and they go on with life trying to be good. Some even read the Bible every day and pray too. For Christians that begin to hear from God, they have a lot of conflicts of ...

The new year is upon us. There were lots of different topics that the handful of bloggers I read, wrote about. It was pretty standard stuff for this time of year. I wasn't especially moved. I am not sure why. But don't be offended if you are one of my favorite bloggers, it's probably me. The Bible talks about both years, and seasons; I guess both are necessary. The "year of the Lord," "for everything there is a season" - you get the idea. We mark an orbit around the sun and call it a year - it's a good thing we don't live on Mercury. During that time, stuff happens. Kids make bad decisions, another learns something new, there are flat tires, bills, work, money, snow - a whole year of sleeping, eating, drinking, and TV. We mark the times of our lives in seasons: High School, College, single life, married life, middle-age and yikes, old-age. Seasons can last years, or they can be a few months. Time, it slips a way a few moments at a time. I h...

Headphone Mics - Man this is a handy gadget! You can do all sorts of gymnastics in the name of Jesus. When preaching, it will fire you up with the word of God! You can be expressive, and dynamic! Gone are the days of pulpit mics, and lapel mics along with organ music! Altar Calls - Still a staple of the the evangelical church. Funny, the truth is that 94+% of Christians got saved through making friends with some one that was already saved. Maybe we could have relationship calls? Overhead Projectors - no more hymnals. I guess that is because they don't tech folks to read music in schools anymore. Just plaster the lyrics to the song on the overhead. But someone, please teach the worship leader the same words! The Word "Freakin'" - it sort of goes to show you that we are not of this world. Usually accompanied by crap, shoot and gosh dang it. Titles followed by "Pastor" - I am not sure how all this started. In the olden days of...

I have a friend who's infant daughter spent 4 days in the hospital. HERE is the story. I checked in with him each day by text or phone, and prayed too. She's home and doing great! PTL! I am sure it was scary. Healing, and good results come from a good God. What happens when things don't go so good? What happens when folks get sick and die? Is God good then? It's a tough question. Not to mention that serious illness is tough to watch, and worse to have. I have another friend that was diagnosed with cancer. I have been praying for him, as well as testing or calling just about every day for most of the past year. I have done it before . I hate cancer! It was painful news to hear that the doctor recommended Hospice Care. I have been a Christian professing healing for 35 years. I have seen God do it, and he has used me a few times along the way too. I purposely wrote about the dead being raised on Wednesday to challenge the faith of my readers for the "big...

Today is the first day of another new year. I normally post on Friday; however, this is my actual 500th blog right here at Fire & Grace. I wanted it to coincide with the tectonic plates of time shifting to 2011. For New Year's Day I could write about the past year, what the future holds, or reminisce about the alcohol fueled ghosts of New Year's past. I could write about the food we are going to have at our little celebration that will be over at 10, or what it was like to watch the ball drop. I might even cast spiritual vision for the future. Enough about what I am not going to write about ! The original intent of Fire & Grace was for me to tell stories about my Jesus. This life is described in  Deuteronomy 6 .God commands his people to answer their children and tell them about deliverance, signs and wonders and the reason they are living a bountiful life. God has truly brought me out of a bunch of places of bondage, through the ...