Fire And Grace - David Johndrow: September 2011

Monday, September 19, 2011

The New Direction

If you look back over the years of posts here at Fire & Grace, you'll see that God is at work in my life. I am going somewhere, and the next step is pretty well established. I am teaching at the Apostolic School. It is really what I love to do. In addition, it looks like there are some other opportunities as well. I could not be more excited!

So what is the new direction?

David is taking a new direction in his walk with Christ - no I am not going to become a Buddhist or a recluse, praying night and day - I am being promoted - the Lord has called me to some other areas of the Kingdom which have been on my heart for years! Like any good web site, no one wants to read all the fine print, so here are some FAQs:

Q. Are you quitting blogging?

A. Mostly, yes. I have been writing blogs since 2005, and there are now over 1000 of them on the Internet somewhere. I am sure you haven't read them all. In addition my weekly contribution on Kingdom Bloggers, the ones I have written on my own site, Fire & Grace, and recently post a few wise cracking blogs about weight loss on MyFitnessPal , there is lots of me to go around for some time to come.

Q. What will you be doing with your extra few hours a week?

A. It's a good question. I am devoting more time to teaching and ministry, which; is a great honor, privilege and joy. I had a prophetic word about returning to my second love (ministry over a year ago), it is just time. I have written a second book (the first one is free online HERE) which is out for editing. I hope to publish it as soon as I can afford to.

On a personal level, I am taking care of my health, my marriage, and my family. The heart trauma put a stress on every area of my life. I get up and run 2 miles pretty much everyday, and have dinner with my family every night. It's all good.

I will be posting from time to time - but there won't be a schedule for now.

Q. How can find out how all that is going on with David?

A. You can follow me on Twitter (or my ministry), that is the best way. I am going to be writing 140 character blogs on a regular basis, as well as updating those who care. You be able to see my progress working in the Kingdom, the details of my new book, and probably what I had for dinner - I often post grill pictures! Facebook is a good option too- but that is more about posting pictures of my family with goofy expressions.

Q. Will you miss blogging?

A. Of course I will, but what I loved about it the most was the people, not the words. Please stay in touch, and be blessed. As soon as the Lord gives me a street address in Heaven, I will be sure to post it. Until then, you can find me at FireAndGrace.com.

Q. Is there anything else?

A. Yes, the teaching and ministry requires travel, and I could use your prayer support. A couple of people asked if they could give financially, and the answer is yes. I need a plane ticket for late October.

Friday, September 9, 2011

5 1/2 Getting Down

I have some good news today!

Here is where I am heading!

The good news is after prayer at church my viral panel came back negative, completely healed! As I wrote about a few months back, after being called out with a word of knowledge at church: "someone with a weak heart", 3 days later I had a confirmed echo-cardiogram showing my heart was back to normal.

Two healings, two major ones! Wow!

I have found that I have two more health hurdles, and I expect the same from God. One of them is potentially serious, while the other is just a knee injury for which I am getting and MRI for later today.

You can pray for both issues if you like.

The other good news is that I am down 60 pounds from working out, and eating a bit differently. I have 25 to go.

Here are 5 1/2 things I am looking forward too:

1 Buying new shoes that tie, now that i can see my feet.

2 Putting on my old 32x34 black jeans.

3 Not wearing 40x32 pants with elastic waist bands.

4 Putting on a regular length tie that does not miss my belt line by 4 inches.

5 Getting completely off my blood pressure medication! (I am half way there)

5 1/2 Never seeing my weight start with "2"

Tell us about a change in your life that you are happy about?!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

What is Sin Really? Why We are All Hypocrites

I started this post years ago, and it caught my eye again. I am need of a post, and this one was almost done.

To listen to a traditional evangelical preach the Gospel, we are quickly aware of the following points.

- We are all sinners (Romans 3:23)
- We all need a personal Savior: Jesus to be exact. (John 14:6)
- The Bible is law and our guide to God's will. (2 Timothy 3:16)

Those particular points ask the following questions:
- What is sin, and who says so?
- What happens when we sin after we are "saved" and have a personal relationship with Jesus?
- Why does it seem OK for some to sin?

What Is Sin?
1 John 3:4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

Sin is breaking the Law, missing the mark set by God.

The word "sin" is a translation of the Greek word "hamartia" which means to miss the mark.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Religious tradition labels many things as sin which the Bible does not. People make up all kinds of rules based on what they think is right. But God is the judge and only God can decree what sin is.

Mark 7:9 And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!

God has not left us to wonder what sin is. The Bible reveals it to us. We don't have to guess, or make it up as we go.

Just because you do something someone else thinks is wrong does not mean it is a sin. So don't let people condemn you over things the Bible does not clearly say are wrong. God is the judge.

Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Another error is to think being tempted is a sin. Temptation itself is not sin. You cannot help being tempted. Even Jesus was tempted - but He never yielded.

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin

A common mistake is believing that having a desire is a sin. It is not a sin to be tempted with a bad thought. It only becomes a sin when we embrace those thoughts as our own and decide to act on them.

James 1:15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

God is against sin because it is deadly. Sin brings forth death, not life and blessing. God loves people, so He is against everything that harms people.

All sin harms people. (Just because you don't see how a sin would harm anyone, does not mean you know more than God.)

But no human can be right with God by never sinning. We have all fallen short and need a Savior. It is only by God's grace and His forgiveness that we can be right with God.

Romans 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

We can be glad because Jesus came to save sinners, and He paid the price for the forgiveness of all sins by shedding His blood.

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

So what if we are saved, what about those sins?
1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

It's a pretty good plan!

What do you think, is you faith in Jesus enough to receive His eternal grace and heavenly presence?

Friday, September 2, 2011

The Call of the Wild

Don't you find it interesting that a lot of Christians see ministry as a vocation? I belong to a Christian discussion group on Linked In and there was a big to-do about all this. It did make me think, why do people get in the God business any way? Are there folks in ministry that God did not call? Are their folks in ministry that he did call, and they are dormant because they don't fit the religious molds of the church?

Here is what David thinks about all this:

The indicators of calling are spiritually discerned. If someone is called they would know it in their spirit. For others to recognize the call - in particular a very young person (IE: King David) - it would have to be revealed by the Spirit.

I teach about being called in our 5-Fold School of Ministry. Here are some of the points I believe are the building blocks of "calling.".

- Ministry is not a vocation.
- Ministry is not a position.
- Ministry is not a title. (I think that some folks have concentrated on the "office" and not on the role.)
- Ministry if filling a God-given role in the church.
- Those who don't recognize their call are often in religious structures that do not permit, or recognize the role they are called to. There is no one to model it, or a lack of teaching. (The very reason we did the 5-Fold School)
- Intimacy with God defines our call (or the lack of it) I likened it to salvation. There is a point where we cross the line (called), however; we have to work it out and mature.
- Relationship also helps define our role. Paul was in relationship with Timothy and Barnabas. Those relationships helped define the role that he was called to. The same was true of Phillip the evangelist.
- The fruit of ministry confirms a person's role in the church. IE:
The apostle's fruit is sound doctrine, tasks and teams.
  The prophet's fruit is revelation, focus on the living word.
  The evangelists fruit is salvation and the watering of the saved.
  The pastors fruit is is the healing and wholeness of people.
  The teachers fruit is imparting the knowledge of God,
  They are the equippers for all other roles in the church.
  The elders fruits is teaching, and corporate healing.
  The deacons fruit is service.

Those that are called often go through a process:
-1 The Call (Hearing God)
-2 Submitting to Leadership (Learning to be obedient)
-3 Trained through Trials and Testing (Maturing)
-4 Desert Experience (Doing the right thing when no one is looking.)
-5 Reentry into the Church (Doing well in the little things, being a servant.)
-6 Appointment by Elders (Public recognition of the call)

I believe intimacy with God is the key. If we cannot see what the Father is doing, it is going to be really tough to do it.