Archive for May, 2009

The Walk

Posted by Christoferl in Bible Study on May 31, 2009

Wondering what I was getting at with the video – ‘The Walk’? Well, here it goes in a nutshell…

There are three cups in the video… a brown liquid, a clear li-quid, and a red liquid.

The brown represents self, the clear represents the Holy Spirit indwelling a Christian, and red represents sin. I believe that when a person truly accepts Christ into there hearts, they are washed clean of all their sins – and if the conversion is sincere – then even if it is for a moment, the Holy Spirit is pure and complete in the new Christian.

It doesn’t take long, however, for us to inject a little bit of ourselves back into our hearts… and inserting ourselves leads to a little bit of sin… and though still possessing the Holy Spirit – the heart slowly becomes tainted… as we get further and further from God, it becomes harder and harder for us to realize just how bad things have gotten. It becomes a cycle of pride, claiming we aren’t sinning and that we are just fine with God – even convincing ourselves.

This sin might be obvious – such as a thief who keeps on stealing… some of it is less obvious – such as an unteachable heart due to pride in one’s own studies and devotions… but the end result is the same. Yeah we still have some Holy Spirit in us – but He’s being mixed with self and sin thus – he will allow us to go our own way so that we might be humbled back into repentance.

So how does one truly die to one’s self? How does one get rid of self and sin?

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Pastor Mike – The Youtube Youth Pastor

Posted by Christoferl in Bible Study on May 30, 2009

You know, when I first saw Pastor Mike’s video declaring himself to be THE Youtube Youth Pastor, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. My pride was plucked a bit – as I wondered – is my brother so full of himself that he dare call himself THE Youtube Youth Pastor? I held my tongue and prayed on it.

This morning, as it would so happen, I was made aware of some criticism that had been leveled against Pastor Mike – and to my surprise – I found myself rejoicing in his announcement. You see, there were others who also felt their pride pricked – but instead of holding their tongue – they raced to their cameras to criticize. Oh Lord, how great you are to reveal your glory and expose the follies of men.

You see, those who are criticizing Pastor Mike aren’t even aware that they have exposed themselves because they are guilty of the same thing. They have declared themselves watchmen on Youtube – seeking out Christians to rebuke – but in turn – everything they threw at Pastor Mike was applicable to themselves. These men appointed themselves to the position of watchmen. These men assume their own righteousness. These men assume their own clarity to judge.

All the good Pastor has done is extend his title from the 3-D world into his cyberworld. He really is a legitimate Youth Pastor in a legitimate church. Whether or not God has led him to declaring this title remains to be seen – but if not – the Lord will correct him in His time, right? However, I am full of confidence in Christ that Pastor Mike is going to do great things for God.

As for these watchmen? They’ve already been revealed and exposed.

GBU and HJD!

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If You Follow Christ, It’s Not an Option… You Must Help

Posted by Christoferl in Bible Study, Commentaries on May 29, 2009

Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

You ever get the feeling that we somehow miss the point of what Christ was teaching us? We get hung up on labels and titles and outward appearences, and yet Jesus was all about the heart. In the parable above – we see a man asking Him for advice. But the man was trying to justify himself – so to claim he was about reproach…

Jesus – knowing his heart told him the parable of the Good Samaritan. Samaritans were an odd people for a Jew like Jesus to make the hero of His story, particularly since there two Jews who passed by the mugging victim. You see, Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans… there was no love between the two people. Yet, Jesus tells of the Good Samaritan who went out of his way to help the stranger – beaten – half dead – naked – and broke.

One can only assume the victim was Jewish – but regardless of his affiliation – The Samaritan made the righteous decision to care for another. Next time you find yourself in a position to help another – don’t make excuses as to why you can’t help – but instead seek reasons why you MUST help.

Matthew 25:45
He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

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A Message to Jeff and the Yokeimites of Youtube

Posted by Christoferl in Bible Study, Commentaries, YT Related on May 29, 2009

This is the actual script I wrote for my video response to Jeff posted on Youtube. I am sharing it here for those of you who aren’t able to watch Youtube because I feel there is a lot here that can help others.

Matthew 5

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.

Hey Jeff – ChristoferL here – I am making it with every God given ounce of love I have in my body for you. I watched your video today concerning Matthew 5:22 – and I noticed that you really grabbed on to the words – without a cause… yes – that means you can be angry if you have cause and not fear judgment for it – but whether you’re reading the KJV or the NKJV – or any other version – you will find the word  ‘but’ or  ‘and’ as in ‘But whoever says fool is in danger of hellfire.’ This is separate from justified anger. Even those who have justifiably angry are going to be held accountable for calling others fools, idiots, or even knuckleheads…

I am telling you this because as a fellow watchman for Christ – concerned about the well being of my brothers and sisters in Christ like yourself – as you’ve been teaching – if I don’t blow the horn – your blood will be on my hands… right? After all – we are all responsible for each other – and therefore – we are all a watchman of sorts. I love ya – and don’t want to be standing in Heaven looking around wondering where you’re hiding… ya know?

Listen, I know you have a purpose – and I am sure you mean well – but there’s a lot in the New Testament  spoken about anger – spoken about our behavior towards one another – and there is far too much of it to simply be ignored… I beg you to consider what they are saying…

James 4:4-11-12

11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

You know – that verse isn’t saying you should not call out problems in others – but when you declare people as false phony and fake Christians – you are judging their salvation. Now I know – you are like – but Chris – Javid’s a liar – Kitty’s wicked – Jerome is soft – Jarood is false – Pastor Mike is weak – Nathan’s lost -  and me – you’ve labeled me the king of knuckleheads – even made me the first inductee of your hall of fame – even dusted your feet of me while still carrying a grudge against the others – fine – lets say you’re right on all counts – that doesn’t mean we aren’t God loving believers in Christ – it doesn’t mean we aren’t Christians – it means that iwe have a way to go in our maturity in Christ.

Romans 14:1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.

Romans 14:10-13
10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written: As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.”

12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

When you judge me – or I judge you – when we say hurtful things to each other – what we do is put a stumbling block before the other – because the insults create defensive responses – imagine if we were to stop worrying about everything the other is doing and started focusing on ourselves first…

Galatians 6:1-5
Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass (or sin), you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one will bear his own load.

When we catch a brother or sister in a sin – its quite clear that we are supposed to be gentle – why? Because if you go to a brother in sin with an angry heart – you are in danger of being tempted – tempted to call that brother a fool – and idiot – tempted to put stumbling blocks in his way – tempted to judge his salvation… all things that none of us can do because there is only one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy – and that’s God bro -

Romans 14:19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

It is in the Holy Spirit of this verse that I am asking for your forgiveness Jeff… and I apologize whole heartedly for the insults I spoke against you. I handled the whole situation poorly – and I repent… I judged you in just the way Paul warns us not to judge our brothers – I am also publicly apologizing to anotherbrothermark, pastor george, and every person who I’ve dubbed as a Yokimite… and I hope you have the love and the courage to do the same – not only towards me – but towards everyone you’ve offended as well. Pastor George called me a supposed leader in the Christian community – I know you consider yourselves to be leaders as well – if this is indeed the case its time we beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks. not taking up our swords against each other, not fighting a war against each other anymore… but using our gifts to help bring in those who haven’t even started their walk with Christ – because as He said – the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Our time is running out Jeff… if we fail to make amends with each other – we are going to fail in being effective witnesses of Christ…

1 Peter 3:15-16 …in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

We have a whole world of unbelievers watching our every move Jeff – we are not showing the love of Christ with these attacks… we ought to be sharing the Gospel…

With brotherly love -

HJD and GBU

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I Am Not a Salesman for Christ

Posted by Christoferl in Bible Study on May 26, 2009

Judging by the title of this article you might be scratching your head wondering where I am going with this… but I have to tell you – the Lord hit me hard with this message – and its not one I can stay silent about…

Many of us think we are salesmen for Christ. We see it as our duty to win souls to Christ. Some of us will do anything necessary to draw a person into accepting Christ as their savior…

Some are like amway sales man – they pester people to buy their soap every time they see them – and the people they are pestering? They start avoiding the amway salesman – thinking to themselves – ‘I am quite happy with the soap I buy from WalMart thank you…’

Some are like used car salesmen – and they try to hide segments of the Gospel they think might drive away the customer – and they won’t discuss all the facts about Jesus. They never really get into the meaning of true repentance – or the wage of sin – which is death – and sometimes – they really won’t even get into the subject of Hell…

Some are like salesmen driven to make a commission – like those guys who sell vacation timeshares who don’t want to let you leave the conference room until they’ve made a deal – they will use fear against the client – telling them that if they delay on their decision the price is going to go up – or someone else is going to buy their spot… they will use pressure tactics – warning of the limited time offer – they will insult the client – telling them how stupid they will be if they pass up the offer – they will even use the hard sell techniques – getting mean and nasty with a customer who simply doesn’t want to buy their product…

Some are just con artists – wanting nothing more than to hang another convert on their proverbial mantle of trophies bragging that they’ve saved yet another soul – they are probably the most dangerous of the salesmen because they will use any and all techniques to get that sinner’s prayer out of a person…

all of these approaches are wrong – and I will tell you why…

John 6:44 ”No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

John 6:65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

Pushing a person into a confession of Christ is probably one of the biggest mistakes we can make because unless that person has been drawn to Jesus by the Father – all you are going to get is a false conversion that will likely fall apart somewhere down the road. Either they will abandon the faith – or they will follow a perverted version of the faith that is more in tune with who they were to begin with – which only makes for more problems when other people look to them as examples of Christ…

By all means we should be out there evangelizing, witnessing, preaching and teaching the Gospel – but we must do so as true followers of Christ. We must conform to His image – His way… we must humble ourselves and submit ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit… we have to be completely sold out to Christ – letting all that He was on earth become all that we are on earth…

John 3:30″He must increase, but I must decrease.

If you are acting as a salesman for Christ – ask Him for help. Ask Him to increase your faith – and then believe that He will straighten your path. Check yourself against the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles found in the Bible – when you start understanding what they are teaching and emulating it – you’ll know that you’re on your way to a holier relationship with God.

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To the Pure

Posted by Christoferl in Bible Study on May 13, 2009

This post – I want to share with you something that God showed me concerning You Tube – We have three cats and a dog – Princess, Angel, Twinkie, and Vera… Twinkie and Vera have a very unique relationship – I’ve never seen a cat and a dog get along so well…

This morning, while I was letting Vera out for her morning duties, Twinkie came up and rubbed my leg while crying – I knew what she was getting at – because she’s done this before… looking down she led me over to the corner of the door, revealing her gifts for the day… two dead mice…

I love animals, and really – the last thing I want to see in the morning is the fact that my cat has brought me two dead little mice – never the less – I praise her – because being a cat – she doesn’t know any better – she is just showing her love for me… and she can’t comprehend that I don’t want or need her to bring me dead mice in order to show her love for me.

Now here’s what God put on my heart while this was going on…

This is what it looks like to Him when we divide over matters that are quite trivial in His eyes… this is what it looks like when we tear each other apart – leaving the remains of what was at His feet – thinking that this is how we show Him that we are His… and even though this really isn’t what He wants us to do to each other – He still loves us – and waits for the day we not only believe in His Son – but become true followers of Christ… brothers and sisters in Christ – it is one thing to be saved – and another to be sanctified…

I am far from where I want to be in my walk with Christ – but let me share this scripture with you as I find it to be an excellent reminder of where I want to be in Christ…

Titus 1:15To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.

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