Romancing the Stone - Part 2
Writer Author Jerry Lee Kay Sr.
Christian Article
:
Christian Living
- Fiction No
The first church I pastored was small and I was very young. Looking back now I realize I was not qualified for that very large sacred responsibility, but thank God a few of the members were. One elderly sister full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom took me under her wing, "Pastor you truly are anointed and are as a blazing fire when you are preaching, and someday when you are matured and seasoned in the things of the Lord you will make a great minister, if you don't backslide and leave your First Love."... O' Me! talk about making a young roosters tail feathers droop, if I remember correctly they were almost dragging in the dirt!
Poppa has spent a lifetime doing stuff for the cause of the Kingdom of God. Not as a bossman, but more on the level of servant, and that's okay. it seems as though Father has always chosen to have me do things that no one else wanted to do, and that is okay also. If a Methodist called me and needed something I would respond, If a Baptist called me, a Pentecostal the next day, a Catholic the following, a Presbyterian the next day, If you or anyone else has been genuinely washed in the Blood of the Lamb, then that makes you my Brother/Sister, just don't try to scam me, cause you can't kid an old kidder! God used me in starting a medical clinic for folks that are in need of treatment without the funds to do so in one of our larger cities in Texas, and the only thing "that denomination" and I have in common is that Jesus Christ is the Messiah King of Glory and some day soon we will meet Him face to face. Father used me to help organize missions from Texas throughout Mexico to Honduras. He used me to be one of the founders of Teen Challenge Houston, helped finance and build 14 churches throughout the USA.... Armchair Quarterback?.. No Sir!...and never had use for them. Anyone can talk about how things oughta be. Same as folks that moan and groan about politics and never vote!...Man O' Man, you must have big bucks Poppa to enable you to do that stuff? The answer is, if it took only 10 cents to go around the world, I couldn't get out of the driveway!....My Heavenly Father owns all the cattle on a thousand hills!..and He gave me permission to use His money! The hilarious thing is, more often than not, it was the devils money and God showed me how to take it away from him and use it for the Glory of God....Come on and say Amen!
What are you doing here Poppa, bragging about your exploits? The answer is, not in the least. Many times over those years I asked God to give me a break, and let me pastor a small quite church for the rest of my life instead of being an evangelist. All that stuff was not my idea and I deserve absolutely no credit for any of it. All the glory is to be given to God. There was a lot of pain involved in every project.. and precious time I gave up with my family. If it had not been for their love of God and encouragement, I may have never been used in those things, and many times over the nearly half a century of ministry I had to seek the face of God and constantly keep my love affair with Him as fresh and vibrant as I did with my wife. Someone said, "Poppa when you get to glory, you will have many crowns to lay at the feet of Jesus" My answer is, " Not more than anyone else that does the will of God for their life. One may be chosen to keep the grass cut at the church house, or teach Sunday school or clean the toilets or be the church secretary or be a Christian writer of books, maybe to be in music, one I like the best is for those that are a faithful witness to His Glory by the Life they live. Someone said, "It
is much better to see a sermon than to hear a sermon!" It's all about finding your niche in the will of God" "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy
name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
The reward will be no greater for the preacher than for others if they are in the will of God ...Can you say Amen?...When Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. But when His disciples saw it, they were
indignant, saying, "Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor." Matthew 26: I really like the heart of Mary of Bethany. She was not an apostle. She was never famous, never wrote a book, never did a conference, and never said much. Her passionate love was quite˜she just loved the Lord
ferociously quietly. She took all she had, her earthly treasure˜an alabaster box filled with spikenard, worth thirty thousand dollars˜and she lavishly, extravagantly poured it upon the One she loved. All the apostles were mad, not just Judas. In fact, everyone was mad about this. But Jesus ignored their reactions. He silenced their accusations
by honoring this adoring worshiper. Jesus knew that she would never write a book or speak at a conference or do anything of worldly significance, but despite her obscurity, no one would ever forget how she moved the heart of Christ with her love. Something magnificent happens when human beings recognize the gold of the pleasure of this
'romance' and choose it instead of the sawdust of this world. Mary had so little to give, yet she gave all she had. She lavished her love upon Him. I only told you about those things to point out that no one is exempt from the danger of neglecting what it is all about. That being, the love of the sinless Son of God, and keeping the fire of that love glowing while we do our daily things and live and walk through the humdrum monotony of this journey called life. Many,Many, times over these years the words of that dear old saint of God have echoed in my ear and my heart and pulled me back to the altar to refresh my love and commitment to my Master.
I was ordained in a mainstream denomination that expected me to play by their rules, I stayed with it for about 15 years but did what ever the Holy Spirit put on my heart to do. I was called on the carpet several times for helping projects not in my denomination and preaching outside the camp. So I gave them back their paperwork. 34 years later I have never looked back nor regretted it. You may be thinking that hindered my efforts, Quite the opposite, it opened up a whole new world to me. Sometimes I feel like I've been rode hard and put up wet in my sunset years, but when I remember all those beautiful breathtaking sunrises, it makes it all worth it. I can honestly say I did it HIS way, and will not be ashamed at His coming. I know others that have done the same thing, and many are bitter and very critical of the denominational establishment. I must tell you I don't feel that way at all. The psychological makeup of folks probably demand it... A Presbyterian just doesn't fit in with the Catholic style of worship any more than a Pentecostal with the Baptist or Presbyterian way. Being of a different opinion doesn't make one a bad boy! I have nearly 2,000 books in my library and almost that many views on what is the right way and the wrong way. "And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he
followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us." Luke 9:49-50.
Many years ago I was called to go visit a preacher friend in the hospital that was dying with colon cancer. When I got there he burst into tears, I began to try and console him and tell him how much he is loved. When all of a sudden he said, "I'm not weeping because I'm dying Poppa I'm weeping because I never lived." ...I spent my whole life a slave to what our church culture wants us to do and squandering my time in seeking the approval of others by conforming to their rules and values..I would to God that I would have followed the leading of the Holy Spirit all those years and kept the fire of my "First Love" the main issue of my life. He continued..I became so caught up in trying to build a bigger church, defend my view points on doctrine, and put the other preacher down because his doctrine was leading people astray, and worrying about what others were doing that I lost sight of the real thing. I even became ruthless in my tactics to destroy other denominations. I just flat out left my "First Love" and let God down."
Beloved, don't be a "seagull Christian." It's easy to see why people are like the seagull. When my wife died I went to a beach house on the Gulf of Mexico and became a recluse for a while, until I got past my mourning, my anger, and stopped pouting. Did you ever sit overlooking a harbor or beach and watch the seagulls? He exults in freedom. He thrusts his wings backward with powerful strokes, climbing higher and higher until he's above all the other gulls, then coasts downward in majestic loops and circles. He constantly performs, as if he knows a movie camera is trained on him, recording. In a flock, though, the seagull is a different bird. His majesty and dignity melt into a sordid slough of in-fighting and cruelty. Watch that same gull as he dive-bombs into a group of gulls, provoking a flurry of scattered feathers and angry squawks to steal a tiny morsel of meat. The concepts of sharing and manners do not exist among gulls. They are so fiercely competitive and jealous that if you tie a red ribbon around the leg of one gull, making him stand out, you sentence him to execution. The others in the flock will furiously attack him with claws and beaks, hammering through feathers and flesh to draw blood. They'll continue until he lies flattened in a bloody heap. Some selfish Christians have a tendency to peck at others until they destroy them.
After Jesus informed Peter of his future death, in John 21:18 Peter looked behind and sees John following. Peter asked the Lord, "What will John do? What will happen to him?" Peter's question is indicative of the attitude of many Christians today who are so focused on what everyone else is doing instead of what God wants them to do. Do you
ever find yourself thinking these things? What did they get? What do they have? What will they do? Why do they have something and not me? Where do they get to go? Are they going too? Will they do the same work as me? What are their responsibilities?
The person who is on a deeper spiritual level of maturity realizes that the will of God is not the same for all people. God has a different plan for all of us. Each person has different abilities, opportunities, and responsibilities. God wants us to fulfill His will for OUR lives and NOT worry about what everyone else is doing or what they have. The older brother of the Prodigal son lost his joy because of this kind of attitude and so did the laborers in the field. Don't get caught up in that trap. Failure comes from being occupied and focused on others instead of Christ. The pastor I talked about in part one of this series was so caught up in what the other church was doing he fooled around and lost his anointing. And his body of believers, the sheep Father gave him to see after were the ones paying the price of his folly...Amen!..We all can do that if were not careful.....Play the church game that is!
Jesus answered Peter, John 21:22, "If I allow him to live until I come, what is that to you?" In other words, "What business is it of yours?......"Peter", you keep following me!" Keep loving me Peter! Keep the fire that I placed within you hot. This is exactly what we are to do. "Have you ever noticed where God placed his treasure on this earth?" The treasure is not gold, and silver, temples and cathedrals but grace, love, and peace. God could have left it with the lawyers or preachers or musicians, or some big mucky muck big shot. But God chose not to do that, He left the treasure in the least likely of places: in the love, care, and nurture of a first century peasant girl, a young lady not unlike you and I, a young girl that skipped rope played the game of jax on the dusty streets of Nazareth a young girl that played with a ragdolls and loved to read and write poetry.
That's who He chose as the "handmaiden of the Lord." That is where He chose to deposit His Eternal Love! God's treasure was left with the most powerless figure in the ancient world. Doesn't that tell you something about God's grace and love? When we fail or slack up, it may be time to go back to the altar and fan those coals until the fire of your "First Love" is blazing and you are once again in the red hot throes of sweet love with the lover of your soul, and go forward for Christ.
My! My! the preacher is here and He has anointed me to preach His unsearchable riches! May God help us all to be faithful until He comes.."Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee"...continued.....
God Bless You
Poppa
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