When last we left our young, fearless preacher hero...
Just kidding. Kind of.
I feel it, as I stated before, vital that for you the reader to understand me better as a person, you must understand those that have had close and personal relationships with myself. We are shaped by, if nothing less, the relationships we hold in life. We have spoken at length of my immediate family; Candice my wife, and my two great boys, Isaiah and Jeremiah. I then spoke briefly about my parents. Perhaps at another point in time I will delve deeply into the personalities of my mother and father, but I do not feel to write about it at this time...
I thought I would take some time to mention a very special person in my life. God blessed me with a little brother growing up. When I was 2 1/2 years old, Shawn Casey Armey came into the world. The last of my parents children, and at the time, my worst enemy (according to the recollection of our mother.)
My earliest honest memories of him don't really begin until I was already close to four years old. I suppose, besides being blood related, our closest thread growing up, and really until this day has been that of professional wrestling. I know, I know. Just, suspend your disgust with me momentarily...although, I could quip on the few things positive about wrestling I will probably save that for another blog. Now that you all think less of me, I will continue on with the mainthought. In about mid-1990 I can remember watching wrestling with my brother as much as we could, only having an antenna you understand. We didn't get cable until 1994, and even then I think we only had 30 channels, but my brother and I would find wrestling.
Soon, we started wrestling. I know. Don't try this at home. Looking back at it retrospectively, and sometimes reviewing some of the surviving video tapes I realize how lucky we were to never be seriously injured. Ironically, my brother started to train to actually wrestle professionally this year and totally blew his knee out during training. Now don't get me wrong. There were plenty of bumps and bruises to go around, but we never wound up in the hospital or anything (though there were probably a few times we should have gone.)
I would be remiss not to mention the famous among us nuance of our mutually binding hobby called the FWF. Better known as the Figures Wrestling Federation. We would get all of our wrestling figures together and actually put on little shows with them, complete with ongoing storylines, champions, and predetemined outcomes for the matches. (I think so much to the point that I passed it on genetically to my youngest son Jeremiah...) I still vividly recall the first 4 inch Hasbro WWF figures we purchased when they first came out. We were going to buy Hulk Hogan, but the first week we went to the Wal Mart in Palatka they didn't have the Hulkster so we got Andre the Giant. Now, if I had any foresight at all, Iwould have kept at least a few of these in the package (some of them are now worth in the hundreds of dollars in the package!)But of course we didn't....we played with those things until the arms and legs fell off. Show after show.
I would say the bulk majority of our time spent together growing up was spent either watching wrestling, putting on wrestling shows with our action figures, or wrestling each other in the backyard in one of several homemade wrestling rings, or playing a wrestling based video game. When we got a video camera for Christmas of 1994 we began to tape our in ring exploits frequently...by spring of 1995 we had built our first off the ground ring complete with posts and ropes (though not well enough constructed that we could actually bounce off the ropes, mind you...) That summer we had a bunch of our friends over for a wrestling party that we called "Crash Carnival..." a tape that I just got through converting to DVD a few days ago...
I guess there is some pyschological warmth of feeling I have for the 'sport' despite some of the things about it that are not of redeemable value because it is hard for me to differentiate between memories of my brother and memories of wrestling. For the most part, they go hand in hand.
There is one major thing I do recall however, that involves me and my brother outside of the realm of professional wrestling. In the summer of 1995 mom and dad were dragging us to a home Bible study at one of my dad's friends' house...for most of these lessons we stayed in the back bedroom playing their Nintendo, you guessed it: 'Pro Wrestling.' However, when it came time for Bro. Finley (another person of whom I have much to say, though I will not at this point to be out of context) to teach the lesson on water baptism in Jesus' name mom and dad requested our presence at the dinner table.
Sadly, I recall no specifics of the lesson itself, only a terrible feeling in my gut: why didn't they teach us this at the Church of God? What am I going to do? These were thoughts, and I kept them to myself. It was just Shawn and myself standing outside on the small porch, together sharing no doubt the same feelings on the inside...it was my brother that spoke up. "I think we need to be baptized in Jesus' name..." Would I have had the courage to say anything at all had my brother not spoken up when he did? I honestly do not know. His resoluteness lead to our baptisms on October 1st 1995 in Gainesville, by Bro Finley, under the ministry of Jeff Arnold. When I came out of the water, God filled me with the Holy Ghost with the supernatural evidence of speaking with tongues, (of men or angels, I did not discern.) It was the greatest spiritual event of my life, but I really don't know if I would have had the courage to step in the water if Shawn had not vocalized what I was holding inside. I am forever indebted to him. I have always admired that part of him...
In high school we drifted apart to some degree. I was girl crazy. I had two or three 'serious' relationships that at the time I put above everything in my life, including God, and especially my brother. He began to hang out with kind of a gothic, punk rock crowd, and I just wasn't in to that scene. We still wrestled, but there was one year in high school that I remember going the whole year without stepping in the ring, or spending much time together at all. We had two separate lives. But it was my fault. I was neglecting him for my own selfish ambitions. I later apologized to him for this in a letter a few years ago. If I had it to do over again, I would have spent more time with my brother. For that matter, I would have spent more time with all of my family. But him especially.
Life happens so fast. After graduating I moved to Gainesville a year later, and a year after that I was in Texas, and a year after that I was married, and a year after that I was a father...And in that span of time I saw him only two or three times for the physical distance between us. He came to my wedding in 2003, along with my parents.
Now I'm 28. Still in Texas, clearly, trying to mow down the path that God wants for me. My childhood, I have realized, has come and gone. But my heart is still filled with years worth of memories, and it seems like Shawn is in all the good ones.
He has since married a wonderful girl named Amanda, and God has blessed him with twins, Kennedy and Alyssa - both of whom I got to hold the last time I was in Florida to visit. They are two now. They really were miracle babies. But do you see what I mean? How fast life goes by. I know that's not really the theme of this article, but it seems it could be.
Since moving away from Florida, Shawn and I have grown much closer. Via the magic of the telephone, we talk quite a bit. In fact, I talk to Shawn on the phone more than anyone else in my family. Something I should have spent time doing the last two years of high school. Anyway. I once told my brother in a letter, and I reiterate the point here, that the bulk majority of my favorite childhood memories involve the presence and relationship with my brother...and now that we are grown we spend time often reminiscing about those moments, but we talk about pretty much anything. I love and respect him, and he will always be my brother. Shawn, if you're reading this, I am very proud of you, and proud to call you brother.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Random Musings #1 "People I Love"
From time to time I am going to write a blog that is not really centrally focused on a single topic. A bit of freewrite if you will. Today is Mother's Day, and of course my thoughts went to mom on many occasions today during church and other goings on. Not sure if I have really put in print how I feel about my mother, or my father for that matter. I thought today a good Random Musings topic would be about people that are of great importance to me in my life, that way if I happen to mention them in a later blog, and you don't know who I am referring, perhaps you may be able to refer back to this page for some background info...
Now these are as they relate to me. These are not all encompassing bio-pics to be sure of these wonderful people, but I will give you a little window into who they are and why I love them...why don't we start when some family members.
FAMILY
Wife, companion, and best friend on earth: Candice.
There is not a more important soul to me than that of my lovely wife. We have been married for over six happy years, and every year it gets better. I become a better husband, she is continuing to be a great wife, and our marriage is as strong as ever. I look at Candice and see so many deep levels of real beauty that few people possess. Oh, yes, she is gorgeous to look it, but her value to me goes so much deeper than just what I see on the surface. Every look in her wistful brown eyes is soft reminder of how kind, and patient, forgiving, and self-sacrificing she has been to me, and those reminders of how lucky I am our like precious diamonds and jewels that I keep on a display, reminding of how valuable she really is. I will no doubt speak far more of my wife in future blogs, but I just thought you would like to know up front that without her, I would not be who I am.
Isaiah - My Oldest Son
When Candice told me we were going to have a baby just six short months into our marriage, I was more than a bit overwhelmed. I was making about $150 a week back then in a good week. I was not sure how I would afford him. I was still extremely childish myself; how was I going to teach him how to be a man? Nevertheless, Isaiah Omar arrived into our world on February 15th, 2005. We took him home a few days later and my life has never been the same since then. Marriage does not really change a person to a high degree. It can motivate you to change, but having a child really forces you to grow up.
I remember many a night I spent in the small bathroom in our two bedroom apartment with the shower turned on to provide some soothing background noise while I rocked our little Zaybo and sang to him to get him to go to sleep night after night. I remember vividly when he was about four months holding him one night and seeing how big he got so quick and just weeping, knowing one day I would miss him being this small, and that the growing wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Children have a unique way of teaching us to live in the moment, for it will soon pass into the realm of memories. I have so many memories of Isaiah, and he adds new ones every day. He is now at the pivotal age of five. Out of that toddler stage for the most park, talking in full sentences, having a very defined personality already. I see so much of me in him, and Candice, but I see so much in him that is unique, hard to identify exactly who he got it from. I know he is going to be able to be and do whatever he applies himself to one day. Its going to be hard to watch him grow into young man, but at the same time I can think of no greater accomplishment than to see that he succeeds in becoming that godly young man. No matter how old he gets, he'll always be my first child, I will always call him "Bobi," and I will always have precious memories to replay of sleepless nights, wobbly first steps, and Christmas's no longer about what I was getting, but about what I was giving. Thank you Isaiah, for all you have done for me as a person...
PS: He LOVES Thomas The Train...first it was Blues Clues, but Thomas has pretty effectively taken that title away for a few years now. I am so proud of him!
Jeremiah - My Youngest Boy
Oh Lord, where do I even start? The truth of the matter is, though I love him, Isaiah was Candice's idea. When Isaiah turned three, this time it was me that wanted another baby. We got Jeremiah. I was not all that helpful in the early going with Isaiah because I really didn't know what I was doing. But when JJ came along, I did my best to get up with him, rock him back to sleep, change diapers...I remember holding him in my arms one service at the altar just weeping over him. I asked for it, I got it. Now I've got to raise it, and raise it right. Daddy grew up a little bit more in that moment.
I remember the panic we felt not knowing what that bump on his skull was. Of course, it turned out to be just a calcific hematoma, nothing to worry about, common with c-sectioned babies. But I now know what its like to sit in the neourosurgeon's office and wait for news that could be not just bad news, but sometimes the worst just runs through you're mind. What if? What if he needs surgery? Am I really prepared to loose the child I prayed for? How do you handle that degree of loss? If I ever lost JJ, I would never be the same.
He likes to be held a certain way. He always has to lay his head in the nape of my neck. He won't let me hold him any other way. 'He feels safe' I think to myself. He trusts me. My prayer is: Lord don't ever let me make a mistake that would damage that trust, no matter how old he gets.
He likes hot dogs, professional wrestling ('wammo' in baby language), and crawling in bed with mommy and daddy in the middle of the night...
He's the perfect little brother for Isaiah. I love watching there relationship unfold right before my eyes. God has blessed with me with the two best boys a father could ever want.
MY PARENTS: Jack and Linda
My parents are, if nothing else, unique. They parented four of us, Melanie, then Mary, then Me, and then my little brother Shawn. Dad was born in Fort Wayne Indiana to a church of God preacher and wife; Willard and Glenna Armey. My father served in Vietnam in 1968 and saw some very heavy combat (which I didn't really know until a few years ago, he never talked about it when were kids...) Shortly after coming home from the war and moving to Florida he met my mother. Mom was the baby of her family, the youngest of five children. In 1972 they were married. I love my parents very much. Were they perfect? No. But they both did their best to see to it that we were well taken care of, happy children. I had a great childhood. As a matter of fact, I will devoting some blog space later on hopefully to a memoir of my childhood. They still live in Florida...in the same house my mom grew up in. Dad still likes guns and fixing things...Mom is still mom, doing her best to make everyone happy, making every dollar stretch as far as it will go. I'll say this much, I think my parents were very giving growing up. I don't remember them buying much for themselves. Seems they were always giving in to the whimsical fancies of us boys...plus necessities. I guess there just never was much left for them to do much fun stuff. I don't recall them going shopping, or going on date nights or anything like that. They both lived for us kids. Dad worked for us...Mom did everything she could to see that we were well adjusted children. She never let on that we were poor, though they themselves to this day are low maintenance, easy to please people...So if I'm not impressed your fancy clothes, house, car, food, you know where I got it from...
Think I'll stop there for the night...on the next random musings I will talk more about my siblings, and some very close friends and highly influential people on my life...until next time!
Now these are as they relate to me. These are not all encompassing bio-pics to be sure of these wonderful people, but I will give you a little window into who they are and why I love them...why don't we start when some family members.
FAMILY
Wife, companion, and best friend on earth: Candice.
There is not a more important soul to me than that of my lovely wife. We have been married for over six happy years, and every year it gets better. I become a better husband, she is continuing to be a great wife, and our marriage is as strong as ever. I look at Candice and see so many deep levels of real beauty that few people possess. Oh, yes, she is gorgeous to look it, but her value to me goes so much deeper than just what I see on the surface. Every look in her wistful brown eyes is soft reminder of how kind, and patient, forgiving, and self-sacrificing she has been to me, and those reminders of how lucky I am our like precious diamonds and jewels that I keep on a display, reminding of how valuable she really is. I will no doubt speak far more of my wife in future blogs, but I just thought you would like to know up front that without her, I would not be who I am.
Isaiah - My Oldest Son
When Candice told me we were going to have a baby just six short months into our marriage, I was more than a bit overwhelmed. I was making about $150 a week back then in a good week. I was not sure how I would afford him. I was still extremely childish myself; how was I going to teach him how to be a man? Nevertheless, Isaiah Omar arrived into our world on February 15th, 2005. We took him home a few days later and my life has never been the same since then. Marriage does not really change a person to a high degree. It can motivate you to change, but having a child really forces you to grow up.
I remember many a night I spent in the small bathroom in our two bedroom apartment with the shower turned on to provide some soothing background noise while I rocked our little Zaybo and sang to him to get him to go to sleep night after night. I remember vividly when he was about four months holding him one night and seeing how big he got so quick and just weeping, knowing one day I would miss him being this small, and that the growing wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Children have a unique way of teaching us to live in the moment, for it will soon pass into the realm of memories. I have so many memories of Isaiah, and he adds new ones every day. He is now at the pivotal age of five. Out of that toddler stage for the most park, talking in full sentences, having a very defined personality already. I see so much of me in him, and Candice, but I see so much in him that is unique, hard to identify exactly who he got it from. I know he is going to be able to be and do whatever he applies himself to one day. Its going to be hard to watch him grow into young man, but at the same time I can think of no greater accomplishment than to see that he succeeds in becoming that godly young man. No matter how old he gets, he'll always be my first child, I will always call him "Bobi," and I will always have precious memories to replay of sleepless nights, wobbly first steps, and Christmas's no longer about what I was getting, but about what I was giving. Thank you Isaiah, for all you have done for me as a person...
PS: He LOVES Thomas The Train...first it was Blues Clues, but Thomas has pretty effectively taken that title away for a few years now. I am so proud of him!
Jeremiah - My Youngest Boy
Oh Lord, where do I even start? The truth of the matter is, though I love him, Isaiah was Candice's idea. When Isaiah turned three, this time it was me that wanted another baby. We got Jeremiah. I was not all that helpful in the early going with Isaiah because I really didn't know what I was doing. But when JJ came along, I did my best to get up with him, rock him back to sleep, change diapers...I remember holding him in my arms one service at the altar just weeping over him. I asked for it, I got it. Now I've got to raise it, and raise it right. Daddy grew up a little bit more in that moment.
I remember the panic we felt not knowing what that bump on his skull was. Of course, it turned out to be just a calcific hematoma, nothing to worry about, common with c-sectioned babies. But I now know what its like to sit in the neourosurgeon's office and wait for news that could be not just bad news, but sometimes the worst just runs through you're mind. What if? What if he needs surgery? Am I really prepared to loose the child I prayed for? How do you handle that degree of loss? If I ever lost JJ, I would never be the same.
He likes to be held a certain way. He always has to lay his head in the nape of my neck. He won't let me hold him any other way. 'He feels safe' I think to myself. He trusts me. My prayer is: Lord don't ever let me make a mistake that would damage that trust, no matter how old he gets.
He likes hot dogs, professional wrestling ('wammo' in baby language), and crawling in bed with mommy and daddy in the middle of the night...
He's the perfect little brother for Isaiah. I love watching there relationship unfold right before my eyes. God has blessed with me with the two best boys a father could ever want.
MY PARENTS: Jack and Linda
My parents are, if nothing else, unique. They parented four of us, Melanie, then Mary, then Me, and then my little brother Shawn. Dad was born in Fort Wayne Indiana to a church of God preacher and wife; Willard and Glenna Armey. My father served in Vietnam in 1968 and saw some very heavy combat (which I didn't really know until a few years ago, he never talked about it when were kids...) Shortly after coming home from the war and moving to Florida he met my mother. Mom was the baby of her family, the youngest of five children. In 1972 they were married. I love my parents very much. Were they perfect? No. But they both did their best to see to it that we were well taken care of, happy children. I had a great childhood. As a matter of fact, I will devoting some blog space later on hopefully to a memoir of my childhood. They still live in Florida...in the same house my mom grew up in. Dad still likes guns and fixing things...Mom is still mom, doing her best to make everyone happy, making every dollar stretch as far as it will go. I'll say this much, I think my parents were very giving growing up. I don't remember them buying much for themselves. Seems they were always giving in to the whimsical fancies of us boys...plus necessities. I guess there just never was much left for them to do much fun stuff. I don't recall them going shopping, or going on date nights or anything like that. They both lived for us kids. Dad worked for us...Mom did everything she could to see that we were well adjusted children. She never let on that we were poor, though they themselves to this day are low maintenance, easy to please people...So if I'm not impressed your fancy clothes, house, car, food, you know where I got it from...
Think I'll stop there for the night...on the next random musings I will talk more about my siblings, and some very close friends and highly influential people on my life...until next time!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Working On Some New Stuff
Greetings in Jesus' name blog reading friends! It has been a few weeks, and I apologize for the delay in updating you all...I am currently settling in to my new job as a customer service specialist at Mardel ( a Christian book store/office supply joint,) helping out with some projects at Life Tabernacle and the usual stuff of spending time with my wonderful family...
Having said that, let me give you a few thoughts to chew on. Mark chapter 9 verses 14-29, read it. Amazing portion of scripture, and I think we have overlooked some things that will help us in our pursuit of helping others.
Having some trouble pasting the scrips, oh well, better to avoid copyright infringement I suppose...
Verses fourteen through eighteen give us the situation. We have a scribe, a group of disciples, and a boy possessed with a devil that is, among other things causing the boy to not be able to speak. From what I understand, the scribe brought the boy to the disciples hoping for the devil to be cast out, and the disciples were unable to do it. This is the message relayed to Jesus.
There are still particular devils today that wish to silence you. Just a sidebar.
Let's take a look at the list of things this devil does to this poor boy, for we ourselves could learn a thing or two: this is the devil's will for your life. God has a will for your life, so does the devil. Here's what he would like to do to you, according to verse 18:
1.) He taketh him (he seizes, grabs control)
2.) He teareth him (breaking, rending, tearing)
3.) He foameth (foaming at the mouth)
4.) Gnashes with his teeth (literal, but can spiritually represent bitterness.)
5.) Pineth away. This is the devil's ultimate will in your life: for you to dry up spiritually and wither away.
Problem: Jesus' boys couldn't get it done.
In verse 19, we get Jesus' initial response. He rebukes. He rebukes the disciples for their lack of faith. You need to note that: LACK OF FAITH, because he expounds on that statement later. He said "how long shall I suffer you..." Scriptural principle: 'without faith it is impossible to please God' - lack of faith GREIVES the Spirit. It frustrates him. It irritates the Holy Ghost when we demonstrate a lack of faith.
Let's jump ahead to the end, and then we will come back to the text. The disciples later asked Jesus why they were unable to cast out the devil. He said 'this kind comes forth only by PRAYER and FASTING. Can we make a connection. First vital connection: your level of FAITH is effected by your level of PRAYER and FASTING. Prayer is an excercise of faith. It strenghtens faith. You fail to pray, you can atrophe spiritually in the faith department. He also said, FASTING. Fasting is an act of faith, and a dying out to the will of your flesh. Because it takes FAITH to trust in God, your flesh can get in the way via you depending on you instead. FASTING says: I can't do anything in it of myself, HE must do the work IN me and THROUGH me, and he can't do that if the flesh is in the way.
So we have a lack of faith, prayer, and fasting on the part of the disciples, and at this juncture, we still have a boy possessed with a devil.
In verse 20, they bring the boy to Jesus. Notice how the devil in him acts up as they get in God's presence. The devil acting up in your life or in a church's life is a good sign that he knows that Jesus is getting ready to drive him out. Devils have a keen sense of when their time is up. This is when they act up the most. It is a defense mechanism, a last ditch effort at intimidation.
Jesus turns to the boys father next and asks how long the boy had been this way...chalk this up to LENGTH of CONDITION is no matter to God. If you've been bound for ten, twenty, thirty years, Jesus troubles the water wherever he goes, and he is not bothered by how bad things are, or how long they've been that way. The answer: since he was a child.
Now the next few verses are crucial, and I think they contain the things that we have previously may have missed.
Verse 22 gives a good picture of the work of Satan vs the work of God: the devil would throw the boy into both the water and the fire TO DESTROY him. Remember, John 10:10 - 'the theif cometh not but for to steal, kill, and DESTROY. Be it by water or fire. Two totally opposite things. He'll get some with sins, he'll get others with success. He'll get some with devils, he'll get others with distractions.
'But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us'
The devil desires to destroy, but it is God's will to do, the have compassion, and to help.
But now we're getting into the greater issue. I want you to note two things: one, this scribe was struggling with his faith: he said IF. He didn't ask for a sterile, simple religious fix, he asked for compassion, and for help. He was unsure of his faith, but he was quite sure of his need. Wow. I find it observationally humorous that Jesus rebuke the disciples for a lack of faith, but this guy gets off clean, even though he was struggling with his faith: MOTIVE. The scribe wanted compassion and help, the disciples wanted CREDIT.
Jesus responds in verse 23: watch, there is a credential for an answer here: "if you can believe, all things are possible..."
We know he's struggling with his faith, but its almost like Jesus cheering him on: just believe, just a little bit, just a mustard seed...if you can have just a little faith I can help you: watch the honesty of this man.
The bible says this man 'cried out with tears, Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief...'
And that man got a miracle. Why? The twelve had the power. The twelve had the authority. They had the credentials, they couldn't help this guy. But the scribe gets a miracle...I think I figured out why. He cried out with tears: that man loved his son, and Jesus was able to instantly read that in his tears...combined with the struggling 'I believe.' Don't you get it...Galatians said that faith worketh by love...not by pretense, or authority, or power, no it works by love...the scribe wanted the miracle for the right reasons, though he stuggled in his faith, his spirit matched that of God's - our spirit must match his, that's why motive is SO SO IMPORTANT in ministry. Because if our motive is wrong, we can have all the power and authority and position in the world, and none of that will help us when the rubber meets the road of real ministry...WE MUST LOVE PEOPLE! BECAUSE GOD LOVES PEOPLE...and he wants to love people through us. Your faith is not the biggest issue, the issue is wether your faith is working by pretense or by love.
Compassion, help, that's the motive for ministry. If its anything less, we are in the wrong field. This is why it is so key to be in tune with the will of the Holy Ghost in a service, and out...if we just do out of pretense we won't see much in the miraculous, but if we can follow his lead, he show us people that need to be loved, and shown the love of God. Friend, you have got to let it flow through you out of love: for God and for your neighbor.
How? How do I love those that I do not know. 'This kind comes forth not but by prayer and fasting...' You can't love in the flesh. Period. Real love, God love, faith that worketh by love love, it has to come from God's spirit in us, and can't be fake or conjured up in the flesh, so we have got to move the flesh out of the way to allow the Spirit to do what we cannot do: love sinners.
Prayer and Fasting weakens the flesh, and strenghthens not only your faith, but the Spirit in you is allowed to work with more liberty. The will of the Spirit is to love...get your flesh out of the way and let him do it...that's why the disciples were rebuked and unable to help, flesh was in the way. Could fake it real nice, call on the name, operate in pretense and religiosity, but couldn't help...Yes power comes by prayer and fasting, but power is not the issue. Remember, this guy was struggling with unbelief...what we need out of our prayer and fasting is compassion, and the desire to HELP.
Isaiah 58:6-8
it was never about power,
"Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
it is all acts of mercy, and love, and compassion, and deliverance...not just faith...
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily: and they righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward...
Great will be the reward of a church that prays, that fasts, and that whose faith works by love. No devil can stand up to a person of God filled with holy, awesome love and compassion...especially when that love and compassion gets mingled with faith...then we see awesome things happen!
Having said that, let me give you a few thoughts to chew on. Mark chapter 9 verses 14-29, read it. Amazing portion of scripture, and I think we have overlooked some things that will help us in our pursuit of helping others.
Having some trouble pasting the scrips, oh well, better to avoid copyright infringement I suppose...
Verses fourteen through eighteen give us the situation. We have a scribe, a group of disciples, and a boy possessed with a devil that is, among other things causing the boy to not be able to speak. From what I understand, the scribe brought the boy to the disciples hoping for the devil to be cast out, and the disciples were unable to do it. This is the message relayed to Jesus.
There are still particular devils today that wish to silence you. Just a sidebar.
Let's take a look at the list of things this devil does to this poor boy, for we ourselves could learn a thing or two: this is the devil's will for your life. God has a will for your life, so does the devil. Here's what he would like to do to you, according to verse 18:
1.) He taketh him (he seizes, grabs control)
2.) He teareth him (breaking, rending, tearing)
3.) He foameth (foaming at the mouth)
4.) Gnashes with his teeth (literal, but can spiritually represent bitterness.)
5.) Pineth away. This is the devil's ultimate will in your life: for you to dry up spiritually and wither away.
Problem: Jesus' boys couldn't get it done.
In verse 19, we get Jesus' initial response. He rebukes. He rebukes the disciples for their lack of faith. You need to note that: LACK OF FAITH, because he expounds on that statement later. He said "how long shall I suffer you..." Scriptural principle: 'without faith it is impossible to please God' - lack of faith GREIVES the Spirit. It frustrates him. It irritates the Holy Ghost when we demonstrate a lack of faith.
Let's jump ahead to the end, and then we will come back to the text. The disciples later asked Jesus why they were unable to cast out the devil. He said 'this kind comes forth only by PRAYER and FASTING. Can we make a connection. First vital connection: your level of FAITH is effected by your level of PRAYER and FASTING. Prayer is an excercise of faith. It strenghtens faith. You fail to pray, you can atrophe spiritually in the faith department. He also said, FASTING. Fasting is an act of faith, and a dying out to the will of your flesh. Because it takes FAITH to trust in God, your flesh can get in the way via you depending on you instead. FASTING says: I can't do anything in it of myself, HE must do the work IN me and THROUGH me, and he can't do that if the flesh is in the way.
So we have a lack of faith, prayer, and fasting on the part of the disciples, and at this juncture, we still have a boy possessed with a devil.
In verse 20, they bring the boy to Jesus. Notice how the devil in him acts up as they get in God's presence. The devil acting up in your life or in a church's life is a good sign that he knows that Jesus is getting ready to drive him out. Devils have a keen sense of when their time is up. This is when they act up the most. It is a defense mechanism, a last ditch effort at intimidation.
Jesus turns to the boys father next and asks how long the boy had been this way...chalk this up to LENGTH of CONDITION is no matter to God. If you've been bound for ten, twenty, thirty years, Jesus troubles the water wherever he goes, and he is not bothered by how bad things are, or how long they've been that way. The answer: since he was a child.
Now the next few verses are crucial, and I think they contain the things that we have previously may have missed.
Verse 22 gives a good picture of the work of Satan vs the work of God: the devil would throw the boy into both the water and the fire TO DESTROY him. Remember, John 10:10 - 'the theif cometh not but for to steal, kill, and DESTROY. Be it by water or fire. Two totally opposite things. He'll get some with sins, he'll get others with success. He'll get some with devils, he'll get others with distractions.
'But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us'
The devil desires to destroy, but it is God's will to do, the have compassion, and to help.
But now we're getting into the greater issue. I want you to note two things: one, this scribe was struggling with his faith: he said IF. He didn't ask for a sterile, simple religious fix, he asked for compassion, and for help. He was unsure of his faith, but he was quite sure of his need. Wow. I find it observationally humorous that Jesus rebuke the disciples for a lack of faith, but this guy gets off clean, even though he was struggling with his faith: MOTIVE. The scribe wanted compassion and help, the disciples wanted CREDIT.
Jesus responds in verse 23: watch, there is a credential for an answer here: "if you can believe, all things are possible..."
We know he's struggling with his faith, but its almost like Jesus cheering him on: just believe, just a little bit, just a mustard seed...if you can have just a little faith I can help you: watch the honesty of this man.
The bible says this man 'cried out with tears, Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief...'
And that man got a miracle. Why? The twelve had the power. The twelve had the authority. They had the credentials, they couldn't help this guy. But the scribe gets a miracle...I think I figured out why. He cried out with tears: that man loved his son, and Jesus was able to instantly read that in his tears...combined with the struggling 'I believe.' Don't you get it...Galatians said that faith worketh by love...not by pretense, or authority, or power, no it works by love...the scribe wanted the miracle for the right reasons, though he stuggled in his faith, his spirit matched that of God's - our spirit must match his, that's why motive is SO SO IMPORTANT in ministry. Because if our motive is wrong, we can have all the power and authority and position in the world, and none of that will help us when the rubber meets the road of real ministry...WE MUST LOVE PEOPLE! BECAUSE GOD LOVES PEOPLE...and he wants to love people through us. Your faith is not the biggest issue, the issue is wether your faith is working by pretense or by love.
Compassion, help, that's the motive for ministry. If its anything less, we are in the wrong field. This is why it is so key to be in tune with the will of the Holy Ghost in a service, and out...if we just do out of pretense we won't see much in the miraculous, but if we can follow his lead, he show us people that need to be loved, and shown the love of God. Friend, you have got to let it flow through you out of love: for God and for your neighbor.
How? How do I love those that I do not know. 'This kind comes forth not but by prayer and fasting...' You can't love in the flesh. Period. Real love, God love, faith that worketh by love love, it has to come from God's spirit in us, and can't be fake or conjured up in the flesh, so we have got to move the flesh out of the way to allow the Spirit to do what we cannot do: love sinners.
Prayer and Fasting weakens the flesh, and strenghthens not only your faith, but the Spirit in you is allowed to work with more liberty. The will of the Spirit is to love...get your flesh out of the way and let him do it...that's why the disciples were rebuked and unable to help, flesh was in the way. Could fake it real nice, call on the name, operate in pretense and religiosity, but couldn't help...Yes power comes by prayer and fasting, but power is not the issue. Remember, this guy was struggling with unbelief...what we need out of our prayer and fasting is compassion, and the desire to HELP.
Isaiah 58:6-8
it was never about power,
"Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
it is all acts of mercy, and love, and compassion, and deliverance...not just faith...
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily: and they righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward...
Great will be the reward of a church that prays, that fasts, and that whose faith works by love. No devil can stand up to a person of God filled with holy, awesome love and compassion...especially when that love and compassion gets mingled with faith...then we see awesome things happen!
Friday, April 2, 2010
From Bound To Revival
Hey folks, I am working on a message tentatively entitled "From Bound To Revival..." I want to share with you some notes and thoughts and get some feedback. This is by no means a finished set of notes, but rather just some thoughts I want to jot down before they pass through the exit door of my brain...
Judges 15:12-19 (New King James Version)
12 But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.” Then Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”
13 So they spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will tie you securely and deliver you into their hand; but we will surely not kill you.” And they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands.
15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it.
16 Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men!”
17 And so it was, when he had finished speaking, that he threw the jawbone from his hand, and called that place Ramath Lehi.[a]
18 Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the LORD and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”
19 So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi,[b] and water came out, and he drank; and his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he called its name En Hakkore,[c] which is in Lehi to this day.
A brief background, Samson just got through burning down the wheatfields of the Philistines because his father in law gave away his wife to one of his friends...(some friends.) Well, the Philistines in return burned down the house of the father in law and estranged wife. Next, the Philistines show up in Judah and start attacking people. Judah in turn, not wanting to suffer the loss for the cause of one man proceed to turn Samson over to the Philistines...that brings us to this passage. Judah selling out Samson for the sake of peace. Sheesh.
The Bible explains that Samson was basically hiding in the cave of a rock. Then Judah came to him and said: "we are come down to bind thee and to deliver thee to the Philistines..."
It was not the Philistines that bound him, it was Judah. Lets get on the same wavelength. The Philistines represent the enemy, Satan, sin, evil, etc. It was not the enemy that came to bind Samson, who is a representative type of the church, it was Judah. Judah was God's people in a broken, backslid, carnal condition. Man of God, saint of God, church of God, it is not the devil that comes to bind you. Its worldliness, carnality, the hint of a backslidden heart. Its not even sin that comes to bind you, its weights.
There is a two step process that will attempt to stifle you from doing damage to the enemy. The first thing that happens that prevents you from praying like you should, worshipping like you should, preaching like you shoud is you get BOUND by carnality and worldiness; by the condition of a backslid heart.
The second thing that happens is what has you BOUND attemtpts to deliver you to the ENEMY: Satan, sin, total backsliddeness. This is why weights are so dangerous, why carnality is so dangerous, because if you get bound by something, then you can easily be led away from your ROCK, your GOD, your place of safety. And this unfortunate happenstance befalls Samson in our text: he is bound, and then he is led away from the ROCK by a condition of backwards prioritied people.
Samson made the men of Judah promise not to kill him. Weights are not what kills you spiritually. Weights are what lead you astray to things that CAN kill you spiritually. That is why being bound is so dangerous. First weights and worldliness and distractions bind you, and then they lead you away to a place called DEATH...or at least that is the process that enemy wants to engage you in. It is too dangerous of an attitude to have: well, its not really that bad, its not really that sinful, so it won't kill me...IT DOESN'T HAVE TO KILL YOU, all it has to do is BIND you, and then you are spiritually useless and vunerable to an attack from the enemy...
In verse fourteen Samson arrives bound in Lehi. Now this is where the encouragement for you and I comes. He shows up in a place that would seem to be a situation of certain doom. He's bound, and the enemy is his way to take him out, but pay close attention. In verse fourteen, the Bible says that the Philistines "shouted" against Samson, but when they shouted, the Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord came MIGHTILY upon Samson. Here is a message you need to hear: the enemy has a voice, be we have a SPIRIT...This is why the book says "greater is he that is IN you than he that is in the world..." he that is in the world has a VOICE, but YOU have a SPIRIT inside of you...
The voice is dangerous ONLY if you listen to it. Satan used his words to deceive Eve, and she listened. Woops. The devil talks to you all the time. He breathes out threatenings, he is the accuser of the brethren. Its that voice that is always disagreeing with what God told you. He is trying to get you to believe his false, negative report, but he can only use his VOICE. BUT YOU CAN YOU TAP INTO THE SPIRIT IN YOU....
The Philistines shouted victory against Samson, but the Spirit of God came on Samson, and when it did the word says "and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands."
Saint of God, preahcer of God, hear me, the solution to unbinding you from what has you bound is the SPIRIT coming mightily upon you...remember what John the Baptist said: ''he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and FIRE..." Remember on the day of Pentecost "there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of FIRE..." Remember that the writer of Hebrews said that "our God is a consuming FIRE..." If you need to get unbound, put yourself in the middle of a red hot apostolic prayer meeting, put yourself in the middle of a red hot, Holy Ghost saturated altar call and let HIS SPIRIT come on you MIGHTILY because John said the Spirit, the fire, will burn up the chaff; thats the waste, the weight, the sinful part that has you bound...
Church, we have got to get unbound or we will lose this fight against the enemy...we have got to get a fresh touch of Holy Ghost fire, we have got to pray through, worship through, preach through...we have got to let that FIRE come on us MIGHTILY to get us unbound...physical fire burns things, so does Spiritual fire...it BURNS things that BIND you. If we can get unbound, we can fight!
So once you get unbound, you have got to get an instrument in your hands by which you can fight the enemy. Samson picked up a freshly deposited jawbone of a donkey. HE PICKED UP THE FIRST THING THAT HE SAW! Maybe you can help me figure out what it means. I'm not what if anything that jawbone represents. Who killed the donkey? I don't know. Did it die of natural causes; did it starve? I'm not sure, I just know that because it died, because it gave up or lost its life, it was right were God wanted it, and right where Samson needed it. Maybe we're not Samson, maybe you're the donkey. If you're willing to sacrifice, lay down your life if you will, then you could be in a God-ordained position to be used by a man of God in a fight against the enemy. It was just a jawbone, but it was available, and in the hands of an UNLOOSED man of God, it became the instrument by which Samson dropped 1,000 Philistines in one fight.
So get unbound, pick up a fresh weapon. Pick up a fresh prayer. Pick up a fresh session of praise and worship. Pick up a fresh sermon, preacher. Pick up a fresh WORD...the sword of the Spirit, your offensive weapon against the enemy is the WORD of GOD...pick up a fresh WORD and start swinging it: "no weapon formed against me shall prosper..." "rejoice not against o mine enemy for when I shall fall, I shall arise..." and WATCH THE ENEMY FALL AT YOUR FEET. Sin will fall, devils will come out, sickness will leave, addictions have to go when you get UNBOUND, and you start swinging that God ordained instrument...my my.
After the victory, Samson sang about it. He had himself a praise session about his victory. We need some more of those in our churches.
Samson named that place Jawbone Hill. We need to name our victories. We need to landmark them. We need to remember them.
Now, this is where we need to go. Read verse 18 again, here I'll paste it so you don't have to scroll back up:
"Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the LORD and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”
Friend here me, we can't miss this truth. Your greatest moments of spiritual vunerability come immediatley following your greatest victories. Listen to me prayer warriors: spiritual warfare will deplete your spiritual energy...virtue goes out. You get thirsty. You become weak. When you are thirsty and weak you are just as vulnerable as when you were bound...but Samson cries out to God. I find this interesting, when he was getting put into a position in which he needed to fight, the Spirit came MIGHTILY upon him, but when he needed something in himself, for himself, HE cried out to GOD. God will equip you for the battle, loose you, provide a weapon for you, but when it is a relationship aspect between you and God, he is a gentleman. He wants you to call out to him. Jesus, I need you, I'm spiritually spent and dry, I need you.
Watch verse nineteen:
"So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out, and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he revived..."
This is the dangerous mistake we can make if we are not careful: we cannot affor to mistake or replace revival with just a spiritual victory over sin and or the enemy...Getting loosed is not revival. Victory over the enemy is not revival. Getting loosed and defeating sin and weights and devils are PREDECESSORS to REAL REVIVAL...
Samson, even after his great victory over the Philistines cried out to God "I THIRST!" And maybe you are in that place...Lord I don't understand, I've been loosed from weights and sins, I've prevailed in prayer over the enemy, WHY DO I FEEL SO EMPTY AND THIRSTY??? Its because God never wants your deliverance and your exploits spiritually to replace your relationship with Him...Your victories are given to lead you to a place where he can refresh YOU with living water. Not to fight, not to do some great exploit, but just to refresh YOU.
The Bible says that when Samson drank of that water that God caused to spring up from the ground at Lehi, a representative type of the living water spoken of in John chapter seven, he revived. Friend, real revival is a place beyond victory, beyond Jawbone Hill...we must ge to the place called En Hakkore - which means "The Spring of the Caller..." Getting loosed and gaining victories will put us in a place to call out to God in desperation "I thirst..." and there in that place the waters of the Holy Ghost can refill us, and refresh us personally. Don't stop at getting loosed. Don't stop at gaining the victory...CALL OUT TO HIM, and will refresh, and revive...The spring is "in Lehi to this day..." that place will be a landmark for you, greater than victory, a landmark of relationship between you and your God.
I hope this helps someone...if you have feedback, let me know. God bless.
Judges 15:12-19 (New King James Version)
12 But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.” Then Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”
13 So they spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will tie you securely and deliver you into their hand; but we will surely not kill you.” And they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands.
15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it.
16 Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men!”
17 And so it was, when he had finished speaking, that he threw the jawbone from his hand, and called that place Ramath Lehi.[a]
18 Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the LORD and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”
19 So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi,[b] and water came out, and he drank; and his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he called its name En Hakkore,[c] which is in Lehi to this day.
A brief background, Samson just got through burning down the wheatfields of the Philistines because his father in law gave away his wife to one of his friends...(some friends.) Well, the Philistines in return burned down the house of the father in law and estranged wife. Next, the Philistines show up in Judah and start attacking people. Judah in turn, not wanting to suffer the loss for the cause of one man proceed to turn Samson over to the Philistines...that brings us to this passage. Judah selling out Samson for the sake of peace. Sheesh.
The Bible explains that Samson was basically hiding in the cave of a rock. Then Judah came to him and said: "we are come down to bind thee and to deliver thee to the Philistines..."
It was not the Philistines that bound him, it was Judah. Lets get on the same wavelength. The Philistines represent the enemy, Satan, sin, evil, etc. It was not the enemy that came to bind Samson, who is a representative type of the church, it was Judah. Judah was God's people in a broken, backslid, carnal condition. Man of God, saint of God, church of God, it is not the devil that comes to bind you. Its worldliness, carnality, the hint of a backslidden heart. Its not even sin that comes to bind you, its weights.
There is a two step process that will attempt to stifle you from doing damage to the enemy. The first thing that happens that prevents you from praying like you should, worshipping like you should, preaching like you shoud is you get BOUND by carnality and worldiness; by the condition of a backslid heart.
The second thing that happens is what has you BOUND attemtpts to deliver you to the ENEMY: Satan, sin, total backsliddeness. This is why weights are so dangerous, why carnality is so dangerous, because if you get bound by something, then you can easily be led away from your ROCK, your GOD, your place of safety. And this unfortunate happenstance befalls Samson in our text: he is bound, and then he is led away from the ROCK by a condition of backwards prioritied people.
Samson made the men of Judah promise not to kill him. Weights are not what kills you spiritually. Weights are what lead you astray to things that CAN kill you spiritually. That is why being bound is so dangerous. First weights and worldliness and distractions bind you, and then they lead you away to a place called DEATH...or at least that is the process that enemy wants to engage you in. It is too dangerous of an attitude to have: well, its not really that bad, its not really that sinful, so it won't kill me...IT DOESN'T HAVE TO KILL YOU, all it has to do is BIND you, and then you are spiritually useless and vunerable to an attack from the enemy...
In verse fourteen Samson arrives bound in Lehi. Now this is where the encouragement for you and I comes. He shows up in a place that would seem to be a situation of certain doom. He's bound, and the enemy is his way to take him out, but pay close attention. In verse fourteen, the Bible says that the Philistines "shouted" against Samson, but when they shouted, the Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord came MIGHTILY upon Samson. Here is a message you need to hear: the enemy has a voice, be we have a SPIRIT...This is why the book says "greater is he that is IN you than he that is in the world..." he that is in the world has a VOICE, but YOU have a SPIRIT inside of you...
The voice is dangerous ONLY if you listen to it. Satan used his words to deceive Eve, and she listened. Woops. The devil talks to you all the time. He breathes out threatenings, he is the accuser of the brethren. Its that voice that is always disagreeing with what God told you. He is trying to get you to believe his false, negative report, but he can only use his VOICE. BUT YOU CAN YOU TAP INTO THE SPIRIT IN YOU....
The Philistines shouted victory against Samson, but the Spirit of God came on Samson, and when it did the word says "and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands."
Saint of God, preahcer of God, hear me, the solution to unbinding you from what has you bound is the SPIRIT coming mightily upon you...remember what John the Baptist said: ''he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and FIRE..." Remember on the day of Pentecost "there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of FIRE..." Remember that the writer of Hebrews said that "our God is a consuming FIRE..." If you need to get unbound, put yourself in the middle of a red hot apostolic prayer meeting, put yourself in the middle of a red hot, Holy Ghost saturated altar call and let HIS SPIRIT come on you MIGHTILY because John said the Spirit, the fire, will burn up the chaff; thats the waste, the weight, the sinful part that has you bound...
Church, we have got to get unbound or we will lose this fight against the enemy...we have got to get a fresh touch of Holy Ghost fire, we have got to pray through, worship through, preach through...we have got to let that FIRE come on us MIGHTILY to get us unbound...physical fire burns things, so does Spiritual fire...it BURNS things that BIND you. If we can get unbound, we can fight!
So once you get unbound, you have got to get an instrument in your hands by which you can fight the enemy. Samson picked up a freshly deposited jawbone of a donkey. HE PICKED UP THE FIRST THING THAT HE SAW! Maybe you can help me figure out what it means. I'm not what if anything that jawbone represents. Who killed the donkey? I don't know. Did it die of natural causes; did it starve? I'm not sure, I just know that because it died, because it gave up or lost its life, it was right were God wanted it, and right where Samson needed it. Maybe we're not Samson, maybe you're the donkey. If you're willing to sacrifice, lay down your life if you will, then you could be in a God-ordained position to be used by a man of God in a fight against the enemy. It was just a jawbone, but it was available, and in the hands of an UNLOOSED man of God, it became the instrument by which Samson dropped 1,000 Philistines in one fight.
So get unbound, pick up a fresh weapon. Pick up a fresh prayer. Pick up a fresh session of praise and worship. Pick up a fresh sermon, preacher. Pick up a fresh WORD...the sword of the Spirit, your offensive weapon against the enemy is the WORD of GOD...pick up a fresh WORD and start swinging it: "no weapon formed against me shall prosper..." "rejoice not against o mine enemy for when I shall fall, I shall arise..." and WATCH THE ENEMY FALL AT YOUR FEET. Sin will fall, devils will come out, sickness will leave, addictions have to go when you get UNBOUND, and you start swinging that God ordained instrument...my my.
After the victory, Samson sang about it. He had himself a praise session about his victory. We need some more of those in our churches.
Samson named that place Jawbone Hill. We need to name our victories. We need to landmark them. We need to remember them.
Now, this is where we need to go. Read verse 18 again, here I'll paste it so you don't have to scroll back up:
"Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the LORD and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”
Friend here me, we can't miss this truth. Your greatest moments of spiritual vunerability come immediatley following your greatest victories. Listen to me prayer warriors: spiritual warfare will deplete your spiritual energy...virtue goes out. You get thirsty. You become weak. When you are thirsty and weak you are just as vulnerable as when you were bound...but Samson cries out to God. I find this interesting, when he was getting put into a position in which he needed to fight, the Spirit came MIGHTILY upon him, but when he needed something in himself, for himself, HE cried out to GOD. God will equip you for the battle, loose you, provide a weapon for you, but when it is a relationship aspect between you and God, he is a gentleman. He wants you to call out to him. Jesus, I need you, I'm spiritually spent and dry, I need you.
Watch verse nineteen:
"So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out, and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he revived..."
This is the dangerous mistake we can make if we are not careful: we cannot affor to mistake or replace revival with just a spiritual victory over sin and or the enemy...Getting loosed is not revival. Victory over the enemy is not revival. Getting loosed and defeating sin and weights and devils are PREDECESSORS to REAL REVIVAL...
Samson, even after his great victory over the Philistines cried out to God "I THIRST!" And maybe you are in that place...Lord I don't understand, I've been loosed from weights and sins, I've prevailed in prayer over the enemy, WHY DO I FEEL SO EMPTY AND THIRSTY??? Its because God never wants your deliverance and your exploits spiritually to replace your relationship with Him...Your victories are given to lead you to a place where he can refresh YOU with living water. Not to fight, not to do some great exploit, but just to refresh YOU.
The Bible says that when Samson drank of that water that God caused to spring up from the ground at Lehi, a representative type of the living water spoken of in John chapter seven, he revived. Friend, real revival is a place beyond victory, beyond Jawbone Hill...we must ge to the place called En Hakkore - which means "The Spring of the Caller..." Getting loosed and gaining victories will put us in a place to call out to God in desperation "I thirst..." and there in that place the waters of the Holy Ghost can refill us, and refresh us personally. Don't stop at getting loosed. Don't stop at gaining the victory...CALL OUT TO HIM, and will refresh, and revive...The spring is "in Lehi to this day..." that place will be a landmark for you, greater than victory, a landmark of relationship between you and your God.
I hope this helps someone...if you have feedback, let me know. God bless.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
God Is Alive And Well In Oklahoma
Greetings to all of my friends and family reading my blog.
My wife and I, and the boys just returned from an evangelistic trip to Oklahoma. We were there for about nine days I believe. God did some wonderful things while we were there.
First of all, let me say this. Its my blog, its not like you could stop me if you tried. I want to thank my good friends and mentors Pastor and Sis. Vickers in Antlers for making the trip possible. Secondly, I want to say what wonderful people, friends, and Christians they are. Having said that, we made a whole bunch of new friends while we were there as well. They took the church in Antlers (the deer capital of the world, apparently, though I saw no deer there) about two years ago. In two years, they have gone from running 8 to start, and now they have a solid church of 30 people and growing, in just over two years. God is using them to grow an awesome church.
They were kind enough to have us over to their home and ranch for dinner far more than once...and stocked our fridge full of groceries at the hotel - that's first class Christianity, folks. Their property is like walking into a scenic calender. Pastor Vickers home (gorgeously decorated by the lady of the house...) sits on 160 acres with a small lake and a creek with several horses and some cattle. The tree line this time of year is a mix of evergreens, bares, and red leaved trees...if was scenicly breathtaking.
We had great church while we were there, and in just over an hour of door knocking in Antlers we made 8 brand new prayer contacts, and 1 van ministry recipient. God blessed.
Wednesday was a bit of an eye opening experience for me. It was ALMOST a disaster because I drove for 15 minutes in the wrong direction looking for Bro. Tyson's church in a town called Atoka. I barely got there before service started. If you have ever preached out to a place you've never been, it can be a nerve-rattling situation. For me, I get rattled because I don't know what to expect. I didn't know anyone there, didn't know how big the church was, or how small, I had no way to really mentally visually prepare myself in advance for the service.
When I got there I realized very quickly that I was the only one wearing a purple shirt. Bro. Tyson and his assistant pastor were in suits and white shirts; I left my coat in the van! I felt like an orange in a bucket full of potatoes. I hate, hate to be late. And I hate to be under-dressed in a first impression situation. Pastor Tyson greeted me and quickly put me at ease, welcomed me, and shared a laugh at my lack of navigational skills. I did, however, buy a new white shirt before we got to Broken Bow...
An older lady began to play the piano on the platform. A somewhat younger lady began to play the drums, which were situated on the floor by the altar due to space limitations. The well-dressed service leader called out a number as we all stood. Hymnals. I had not sung from a hymnal in many years. It felt very, very different from what I am now used to (though truthfully I came in under a hymnal using church). I felt so out of place.
But then, the most AMAZING thing began to happen. The forty or so saints there in that sanctuary began to sing, and they began to clap their hands to those older songs, and they began to praise God, and they lifted there hands in worship, and I am going to tell you as an eyewitness, the Holy Ghost fell into that place. If we are not careful, we will miss it in this generation. I am all for new songs, I'm all for having talented people on the platform, but if we are not careful, we will place the focus and the emphasis on those things, and if the song is not just right, or the praise team is a little off, we could fall into the trap of worshipping based on mood, and emotion, and reaction, versus worshipping God out of the depths of our hearts. I had myself a wake up call. God is still God no matter the style, no matter the age, no matter the language, God still dwells in the praises of His people...so dance, shout, sing, praise, clap, worship...no matter the song, no matter the people on or not on the platform...your praise and worship should flow from your love for God, nothing more, nothing less. Music, no matter what kind is only an avenue by which we can worship him.
When those saints began to worship and praise, I felt at HOME! I felt God just the same as I do everywhere else. The Lord ministered to those precious saints of God and their wonderful pastor during the preaching and altar call. The word of knowledge was flowing freely, always a good sign of being in God's perfect will.
Afterwards, Bro and Sis Tyson were gracious enough to take us out to dinner. They are an older couple, but they were very nice people and we talked as if we had known each other for years. Bro Tyson is an awesome man of God, and he LITERALLY built his own church, the building and the saints. I made sure to get his permission to call him as a friend and mentor when I needed someone to bounce ideas off of. Great people. So glad we met them.
And then it was on to a place a bit closer to Arkansas called Broken Bow. Up to this point, the weather in Oklahoma had been phenomenal. When I was out door knocking on Friday, one of the people I met matter of factly informed me that it was supposed to snow. On Sunday. The first day of spring. I'm from Florida. I don't do snow. I thought to myself 'great, Stoneking brought the rains to Fiji, and I'll get credited for bringing a spring snowstorm to Oklahoma.' My legacy is almost cemented.
We found a great park for the boys just down the road from the hotel we were staying at. We took them there three times in two days to keep them entertained. All things considered, Isaiah and Jeremiah did really well on the trip. Its not easy on kids being couped up in a van or a hotel all day, so we did our best to let them get there 'jollies' out as much as possible.
If you are reading this, and you believe in prayer, please pray for a young lady named Lisa Seriva. She is suffering from two forms of cancer and the doctors are pretty much out of options. We met Lisa out door knocking in Broken Bow, and she allowed us to pray for her right there on her front porch. We are believing that God is going to heal her of cancer completely. Overall, we signed up 14 families on our prayer contact list in Broken Bow. We are very excited about what is going to happen with them...
Saturday night our great weather turned ugly and fast. It didn't stop Pastor and Sister Cheek taking us out to eat though. I heart food. LOL.
When I awoke Sunday morning I poked my head through the curtains to find the ground completely blanketed in snow. Not frost. Not ice. Not a cold rain. Not white paint. SNOW. In late March. And it was still coming down. It came down ALL day. The van was covered in it. I was amazed. It was all I could talk about all day. The snow this, the snow that. It would be like seeing the Cubs win the World Series. You just don't ever expect to see it. If it ever does, its all people will talk about. So all I'm talking about to all the nice people I'm meeting is 'wow, the snow,' and 'the snow is so amazing,' and 'I'm from Florida, I've never seen snow.'
I had met Pastor Cheek briefly before. He came and preached in Floresville about six years ago. He is not a man of many words, but there is a kindness in his eyes well reflective of the Lord's that he serves. He has pastored in Broken Bow now for thirty four years. He also serves as the Presbyter for his section. Folks, that is true committment in the good times and bad, and something to be respected. I have notice that it seems to me that pastors that put down roots and stay in the same church for a long time tend to have very solid churches. You look at guys like Jeff Arnold, Anthony Mangun, James Varnum (Belleview, FL), they have all been pastoring for 30+ years in the same place, and they all have solid, powerful, and growing churches.
Sunday I found that the same was true for Bro Cheek's church. In a town of only about 4,500 people, where most young people move away after high school, we were introduced to a church of at least 70 or so saints (not counting those out of town or snowed in) that were not just coming to church, but you could tell that they were solid, SOLID saints. Its because the pastor has been pouring into them and investing for more than thirty years, and it shows. Larry Booker taught something that stuck with me. He said there are three things that go into building saints. The Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the man of God. The Word and The Spirit are unchanging in any Apostolic church...its the MAN that makes the difference in the saints. When you've seen the core of a solid church, you've seen that pastors guts exposed in the maturity of those saints.
Well, Sunday morning came and went, and we had a really good service. I preached a message entitled "If He Paid For It, He Will Perform It." I trust God answered many prayers in that service, as his Word challenged our faith to come up a level.
But Sunday night. Wow. Sunday night was incredible. We give God ALL the glory and credit. After I preached "Anointed to See," the saints responded to the calling of the Spirit, and we prayed, and we wept, and we spoke with tongues...and not out of routine or obligation, we got lost, LOST in the presence of God. And I mean ALL of us, me, my wife, and the whole church. It was such a beautiful thing. The men were praying together on one side, and the women folk were praying together on the opposite side of the altar. When the church began to lay hands on each other, and especially I noticed when the women gathered around Sister Cheek and began to lay hands on and pray for her SOMETHING BROKE in the spirit realm...I don't know what it was, but that church broke something right then and there, and when they did there was this RUSH of God's presence, like a wave, or a gust of wind or something like that, and EVERYONE began to call out to Him at once, seemingly at the top our lungs...I can't really explain it too much, you would have to have been there, or been in a similar situation...Gifts of the Spirit were very much in operation...my wife was so helpful during all of this praying for people, and one young lady in particular. She helped her pray through for the first time in a while. It was such a wonderful, wonderful sight. I was so proud of my wife. My wife spoke out in the Holy Ghost to all of us. The Spirit said that He is jealous for US! He wanted our attention, and to lay aside our distractions in life to spend more time with him...I wish you could have been there.
I'll end on that note. We went and had lunch with the Vickers on our way back to Texas. We will definately have to do this again soon. I am so glad my wife and I got to spend time with good friends that we have missed, and I am really thankful he allowed us to meet NEW friends as well. He's still God in Texas, and he still God in Oklahoma!
My wife and I, and the boys just returned from an evangelistic trip to Oklahoma. We were there for about nine days I believe. God did some wonderful things while we were there.
First of all, let me say this. Its my blog, its not like you could stop me if you tried. I want to thank my good friends and mentors Pastor and Sis. Vickers in Antlers for making the trip possible. Secondly, I want to say what wonderful people, friends, and Christians they are. Having said that, we made a whole bunch of new friends while we were there as well. They took the church in Antlers (the deer capital of the world, apparently, though I saw no deer there) about two years ago. In two years, they have gone from running 8 to start, and now they have a solid church of 30 people and growing, in just over two years. God is using them to grow an awesome church.
They were kind enough to have us over to their home and ranch for dinner far more than once...and stocked our fridge full of groceries at the hotel - that's first class Christianity, folks. Their property is like walking into a scenic calender. Pastor Vickers home (gorgeously decorated by the lady of the house...) sits on 160 acres with a small lake and a creek with several horses and some cattle. The tree line this time of year is a mix of evergreens, bares, and red leaved trees...if was scenicly breathtaking.
We had great church while we were there, and in just over an hour of door knocking in Antlers we made 8 brand new prayer contacts, and 1 van ministry recipient. God blessed.
Wednesday was a bit of an eye opening experience for me. It was ALMOST a disaster because I drove for 15 minutes in the wrong direction looking for Bro. Tyson's church in a town called Atoka. I barely got there before service started. If you have ever preached out to a place you've never been, it can be a nerve-rattling situation. For me, I get rattled because I don't know what to expect. I didn't know anyone there, didn't know how big the church was, or how small, I had no way to really mentally visually prepare myself in advance for the service.
When I got there I realized very quickly that I was the only one wearing a purple shirt. Bro. Tyson and his assistant pastor were in suits and white shirts; I left my coat in the van! I felt like an orange in a bucket full of potatoes. I hate, hate to be late. And I hate to be under-dressed in a first impression situation. Pastor Tyson greeted me and quickly put me at ease, welcomed me, and shared a laugh at my lack of navigational skills. I did, however, buy a new white shirt before we got to Broken Bow...
An older lady began to play the piano on the platform. A somewhat younger lady began to play the drums, which were situated on the floor by the altar due to space limitations. The well-dressed service leader called out a number as we all stood. Hymnals. I had not sung from a hymnal in many years. It felt very, very different from what I am now used to (though truthfully I came in under a hymnal using church). I felt so out of place.
But then, the most AMAZING thing began to happen. The forty or so saints there in that sanctuary began to sing, and they began to clap their hands to those older songs, and they began to praise God, and they lifted there hands in worship, and I am going to tell you as an eyewitness, the Holy Ghost fell into that place. If we are not careful, we will miss it in this generation. I am all for new songs, I'm all for having talented people on the platform, but if we are not careful, we will place the focus and the emphasis on those things, and if the song is not just right, or the praise team is a little off, we could fall into the trap of worshipping based on mood, and emotion, and reaction, versus worshipping God out of the depths of our hearts. I had myself a wake up call. God is still God no matter the style, no matter the age, no matter the language, God still dwells in the praises of His people...so dance, shout, sing, praise, clap, worship...no matter the song, no matter the people on or not on the platform...your praise and worship should flow from your love for God, nothing more, nothing less. Music, no matter what kind is only an avenue by which we can worship him.
When those saints began to worship and praise, I felt at HOME! I felt God just the same as I do everywhere else. The Lord ministered to those precious saints of God and their wonderful pastor during the preaching and altar call. The word of knowledge was flowing freely, always a good sign of being in God's perfect will.
Afterwards, Bro and Sis Tyson were gracious enough to take us out to dinner. They are an older couple, but they were very nice people and we talked as if we had known each other for years. Bro Tyson is an awesome man of God, and he LITERALLY built his own church, the building and the saints. I made sure to get his permission to call him as a friend and mentor when I needed someone to bounce ideas off of. Great people. So glad we met them.
And then it was on to a place a bit closer to Arkansas called Broken Bow. Up to this point, the weather in Oklahoma had been phenomenal. When I was out door knocking on Friday, one of the people I met matter of factly informed me that it was supposed to snow. On Sunday. The first day of spring. I'm from Florida. I don't do snow. I thought to myself 'great, Stoneking brought the rains to Fiji, and I'll get credited for bringing a spring snowstorm to Oklahoma.' My legacy is almost cemented.
We found a great park for the boys just down the road from the hotel we were staying at. We took them there three times in two days to keep them entertained. All things considered, Isaiah and Jeremiah did really well on the trip. Its not easy on kids being couped up in a van or a hotel all day, so we did our best to let them get there 'jollies' out as much as possible.
If you are reading this, and you believe in prayer, please pray for a young lady named Lisa Seriva. She is suffering from two forms of cancer and the doctors are pretty much out of options. We met Lisa out door knocking in Broken Bow, and she allowed us to pray for her right there on her front porch. We are believing that God is going to heal her of cancer completely. Overall, we signed up 14 families on our prayer contact list in Broken Bow. We are very excited about what is going to happen with them...
Saturday night our great weather turned ugly and fast. It didn't stop Pastor and Sister Cheek taking us out to eat though. I heart food. LOL.
When I awoke Sunday morning I poked my head through the curtains to find the ground completely blanketed in snow. Not frost. Not ice. Not a cold rain. Not white paint. SNOW. In late March. And it was still coming down. It came down ALL day. The van was covered in it. I was amazed. It was all I could talk about all day. The snow this, the snow that. It would be like seeing the Cubs win the World Series. You just don't ever expect to see it. If it ever does, its all people will talk about. So all I'm talking about to all the nice people I'm meeting is 'wow, the snow,' and 'the snow is so amazing,' and 'I'm from Florida, I've never seen snow.'
I had met Pastor Cheek briefly before. He came and preached in Floresville about six years ago. He is not a man of many words, but there is a kindness in his eyes well reflective of the Lord's that he serves. He has pastored in Broken Bow now for thirty four years. He also serves as the Presbyter for his section. Folks, that is true committment in the good times and bad, and something to be respected. I have notice that it seems to me that pastors that put down roots and stay in the same church for a long time tend to have very solid churches. You look at guys like Jeff Arnold, Anthony Mangun, James Varnum (Belleview, FL), they have all been pastoring for 30+ years in the same place, and they all have solid, powerful, and growing churches.
Sunday I found that the same was true for Bro Cheek's church. In a town of only about 4,500 people, where most young people move away after high school, we were introduced to a church of at least 70 or so saints (not counting those out of town or snowed in) that were not just coming to church, but you could tell that they were solid, SOLID saints. Its because the pastor has been pouring into them and investing for more than thirty years, and it shows. Larry Booker taught something that stuck with me. He said there are three things that go into building saints. The Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the man of God. The Word and The Spirit are unchanging in any Apostolic church...its the MAN that makes the difference in the saints. When you've seen the core of a solid church, you've seen that pastors guts exposed in the maturity of those saints.
Well, Sunday morning came and went, and we had a really good service. I preached a message entitled "If He Paid For It, He Will Perform It." I trust God answered many prayers in that service, as his Word challenged our faith to come up a level.
But Sunday night. Wow. Sunday night was incredible. We give God ALL the glory and credit. After I preached "Anointed to See," the saints responded to the calling of the Spirit, and we prayed, and we wept, and we spoke with tongues...and not out of routine or obligation, we got lost, LOST in the presence of God. And I mean ALL of us, me, my wife, and the whole church. It was such a beautiful thing. The men were praying together on one side, and the women folk were praying together on the opposite side of the altar. When the church began to lay hands on each other, and especially I noticed when the women gathered around Sister Cheek and began to lay hands on and pray for her SOMETHING BROKE in the spirit realm...I don't know what it was, but that church broke something right then and there, and when they did there was this RUSH of God's presence, like a wave, or a gust of wind or something like that, and EVERYONE began to call out to Him at once, seemingly at the top our lungs...I can't really explain it too much, you would have to have been there, or been in a similar situation...Gifts of the Spirit were very much in operation...my wife was so helpful during all of this praying for people, and one young lady in particular. She helped her pray through for the first time in a while. It was such a wonderful, wonderful sight. I was so proud of my wife. My wife spoke out in the Holy Ghost to all of us. The Spirit said that He is jealous for US! He wanted our attention, and to lay aside our distractions in life to spend more time with him...I wish you could have been there.
I'll end on that note. We went and had lunch with the Vickers on our way back to Texas. We will definately have to do this again soon. I am so glad my wife and I got to spend time with good friends that we have missed, and I am really thankful he allowed us to meet NEW friends as well. He's still God in Texas, and he still God in Oklahoma!
Friday, March 12, 2010
I Finished My Notes!
I wanted to share my outline for ANOINTED TO SEE, but I can't figure out how to copy from Word onto my blog. Dang.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
I Should Probably Be Studying
Hello again. Thanks to all who read my first entry.
I'm working on a message entitled "Anointed To See." I was telling Grandma Holliday that study really is the foundation of a message. It's a delicate art, it really is. What I mean by that is, if you are going speak on a broad subject, such as love or faith, or in this case vision, the scriptures are PACKED with information. I like to do as much research as I can on a subject. I'll note on everything I think notable. And I've done that. I've been in the garage (don't ask) for 2 and half hours doing that.
Now I've got too much information. Instead of a sermon, I've got five. This is the real carpentry part of it. I've got to take the whole tree that I just cut down and whittle it down to a regulation sized baseball bat. I have to shave off the extraneous. I've got to take this lump of clay and mold into SOMETHING. Thank you Lord for five point outlines.
I took a five minute transitional break from studying to tell ya'll that. I'm going to go work on my bat, now.
I'm working on a message entitled "Anointed To See." I was telling Grandma Holliday that study really is the foundation of a message. It's a delicate art, it really is. What I mean by that is, if you are going speak on a broad subject, such as love or faith, or in this case vision, the scriptures are PACKED with information. I like to do as much research as I can on a subject. I'll note on everything I think notable. And I've done that. I've been in the garage (don't ask) for 2 and half hours doing that.
Now I've got too much information. Instead of a sermon, I've got five. This is the real carpentry part of it. I've got to take the whole tree that I just cut down and whittle it down to a regulation sized baseball bat. I have to shave off the extraneous. I've got to take this lump of clay and mold into SOMETHING. Thank you Lord for five point outlines.
I took a five minute transitional break from studying to tell ya'll that. I'm going to go work on my bat, now.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
First Blog. An experiment, at best.
Hello all! Mostly friends and family to be sure. This is my first blog ever. Given how much I like to write and how opinionated I am, I suppose it to be a bit surprising it took me this long to start a blog. Well, better late than never, or so the saying goes.
I am 28 years old, I am married to a wonderful young lady named Candice, now for over 6 happy years, and I have two wonderful boys, Isaiah (5yrs) and Jeremiah (whom we affectionately refer to as "JJ" (22 mo)).
I am a Christian. I am a "young" minister. I am apostolic. I am a Pentecostal. Everything I am and will be has everything to do with what I just told you. So now that you know where I am coming from you'll be able to better understand my musings.
Something that God has been dealing with me the last few days is the subject of being ashamed when it comes to being a minister. I'm not sure when it happened. My wife has encouraged me to carry myself "like a minister" since we have been married. I think the biggest hinderance for me in this area is the feeling of guilt and shame and unworthiness of the call on my life. That over-carefulness if you will of not wanting to come off as self righteous and holier than thou to the point where I don't even come off as a minister at all! This has got to change. I must NOT be ashamed that I am called to preach. Am I worthy? No. None of us are. But the cross makes us worthy. It doesn't make sense to me. God why did you call me? Not sure. Not qualified. No pedigree. No noteworthy name. But called. Oh yes. Undeniably. I am going to carry myself not pridefully, but joyfully knowing that God has seen fit to allow me the privilage to be a part of a great ministerial fellowship.
I was praying this afternoon concerning some meetings my wife and I are going to in Oklahoma. I really felt the Holy Ghost lift the rest of that hindering shame off of me. I felt a fresh anointing. I really did. I will go to Oklahoma with a CONFIDENCE and FAITH in GOD that He knows what he's doing when it comes to using me, and that if I'm apparently so usable, I am going to let Him use me, and give HIM ALL THE CREDIT for any good that comes of it. Thank you so much Lord, for grace and mercy. Until next time...
I am 28 years old, I am married to a wonderful young lady named Candice, now for over 6 happy years, and I have two wonderful boys, Isaiah (5yrs) and Jeremiah (whom we affectionately refer to as "JJ" (22 mo)).
I am a Christian. I am a "young" minister. I am apostolic. I am a Pentecostal. Everything I am and will be has everything to do with what I just told you. So now that you know where I am coming from you'll be able to better understand my musings.
Something that God has been dealing with me the last few days is the subject of being ashamed when it comes to being a minister. I'm not sure when it happened. My wife has encouraged me to carry myself "like a minister" since we have been married. I think the biggest hinderance for me in this area is the feeling of guilt and shame and unworthiness of the call on my life. That over-carefulness if you will of not wanting to come off as self righteous and holier than thou to the point where I don't even come off as a minister at all! This has got to change. I must NOT be ashamed that I am called to preach. Am I worthy? No. None of us are. But the cross makes us worthy. It doesn't make sense to me. God why did you call me? Not sure. Not qualified. No pedigree. No noteworthy name. But called. Oh yes. Undeniably. I am going to carry myself not pridefully, but joyfully knowing that God has seen fit to allow me the privilage to be a part of a great ministerial fellowship.
I was praying this afternoon concerning some meetings my wife and I are going to in Oklahoma. I really felt the Holy Ghost lift the rest of that hindering shame off of me. I felt a fresh anointing. I really did. I will go to Oklahoma with a CONFIDENCE and FAITH in GOD that He knows what he's doing when it comes to using me, and that if I'm apparently so usable, I am going to let Him use me, and give HIM ALL THE CREDIT for any good that comes of it. Thank you so much Lord, for grace and mercy. Until next time...
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