Pick-up the Phone

In the days of my youth there was visits from friends, the friends of my parents and so forth. One thing they all had it common was communication. Back then there was no cell phones just the typical old land line. Or in the case of my friends it became a case of pounding on the door and yelling, of which I don't think the adults were fond of.
I clearly remember one time I was very sick and out of school for a couple weeks. Do you know what transpired? Here is what took place:
My friends stopped by to see how I was doing otherwise known as "can he come out and play yet?"
My music teacher stopped by. Of course she lived accross the street but she came by anyway.
School teachers came by, with school work of course. All the while I was runnning a fever of 104 degrees. Nevertheless they stopped by to visit.
Do you know who also stopped by besides the doctor that is. People from church; Sunday Scool teachers, Pastors and even those who sat in the pews.

What transpired back then in the sixties is a far cry from this day and age. Dispite the invention of the cell phone it seems society has lost touch with one key factor of every day life. It seems society has forgotten how to communicate with each other. Now here is a though; if society as a whole has forgotten how to communicate does this apply to the household of faith? If so lets take a look and see if that true. In the mean time set your cellphone down and listen.

Back in the 50's and 60's you could go by a church at high noon and they would still be having service. Pass by again in at 1300 hours and they are still having church service. And if you went by even at 1400 hours  there is a good chance they would be having church service.
Take that same church and go inside and what do you find? the pastor preaching, choir singing and the very people in the pews worshiping the very God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.

Sadly today a member of the household of faith has to duke it out nearly alone. No visits no phone calls from the very church they attend. Its as if a person had encountered some sort of abduction.
Go by a church today and you learn that they let out by high noon as if there was going to be some gunfight in the center of town. Think I am joking!? Look at the how packed restaurants get on Sundays between noon and two in the afternoon. Sadly, there seems to be more care for what on their plate than whats missing in the pews.

The very household of God needs to demonstrate the self same kind of mercy that God showers us with each and every day. "But God whose rich in mercy....." as it is written in Ephesians 2:4
It does not say faith nor grace. In fact it says God is rich in mercy.

Does the church, as a whole or part, really care about those who attend? Or does it care more about how much can be collected in the morning offering? And does the same church care about spending time with God or is God just something to be hung over the fireplace to look at?

Its perhaps time that the church starts really caring about its members. Allow me to explain: if  you knew of a Christian going through a tough time financially would you try to help them? Well back in the days of the early church they sure would have. In fact the book of Acts proves they did. So what is so different about the church today?

In short let me say this:

its past the time for embers of the Christian society to pick up the phone and ask these questions;
#1. we miss you at church
#2. ask if there is any way the church can help.
#3. pay a visit to there home. In other words  make it personal. Meeting face to face adds the persnoal touch.
#4. If a person needs a place to live or needs help with their living quarters the assist them. Even offer him or her a place to live by making use of an extra bedroom or guest house.
#5. If a person needs food then help them with filling the refrigerator and shelves with good quality food items. If you do this aspect please don't push your like and beliefs onto them. Let the person in need choose the food; this keeps it on a personal level not  an institutional level.

In closing remember this:
When God sent His Son He did so out of love, concern and out of mercy.
Demonstrate the mercies of God instead of harping on the faith and grace issues. Why not the faith and grace issue? For one reason and one reason only; each human is given a measure of faith. Thus the faith of one person may be different from that of yourself.

Show mercy to others and God will demonstrate more mercy unto you and your family.

I Am Me

Over the Easter season of 2016 I lost my spiritual mentor, spiritual father,  best friend, tennis partner, chess partner and so much more. Its still hard to talk about my friend Pastor Richard E. Blue as he meant so much to me over the 26 years we were together.

After his departure from this planet I frankly was lost. I knew I had a task to do with the Lord but I was still at a loss. Which way do I go left? or how about right? or how about I just take the middle ground and  play it safe. Even to this date May 21st I want to pick up the phone and talk to my best friend, then in a small way I remember. I remember he is gone but God is not.

Even as I pen this I hear the voice of te Lord saying, "Do you trust me?" and I answer indeed I trust the Lord with all my heart so whats next?

First, God says, "be yourself. Don't be Pastor Blue but use the tools we taught you." Then I say, Lord they wont listen people are just not all that fond of me so what do I do?  "Its their loss." Says the Lord "You have much to teach them and share with them if only they would listen. Does it not say that I will teach them by my Spirit? "  I understand more about Moses and Jeremiah as it seems they had speech problems. But God always finds a way to get the task done.

"Be Yourself" yes that's what the Lord said, simply, "Be yourself."  But who am I Lord? "You are whom I made and love. I even gave you tools to use." Now I know that God gave us His Word but He gave us more. God gave us the Holy Spirit who, according to scripture will teach us and guild us in all things. Yes even in the things of God.

People may not like yours truly. But the fact of the matter is the very "God who is rich in mercy" wants me to press on. Press on? Yes indeed, press on to the mark of the high calling of Jesus who is the Christ the very Son of the living God.  Indeed press on.

Press on? But how?  God game me a learning tool, a teacher, a pastor, a friend. While that person is gone the lessons and example he left behind are for my use. There are a lot of tools Pastor Richard "Dick" Blue gave me but the one thing that sticks out the most is as follows, just be yourself and teach and  preach what God has given me.

As of others? well I cant not vouch for them but I can teach them if they are willing to learn? And if they fail to learn, then it is their loss, their rebellion.
By the way, God gave the church an example that needs to be mentioned before closing and here it is;

Ananias & Sapphira that's right the lessons of Ananias, & Sapphira  found in  Acts chapter five.

You see they had said they would give unto the church. But they said they would hold back a portion of what they were to give. Their punishment was death. But how can you learn from this story of the early church? Here it is in a nutshell:

When you make an oath unto the Lord and to a fellow believer you are required to keep that oath.
Otherwise it becomes the sin of disobedience and that my dear reader is as the sin of witchcraft and if you have read Gods Word enough then you know the punishment for such.

But wait you say, you cant afford to do the entire oath in a lump sum situation?  Then do the oath in parts, provided the both of you agree. Just make sure you honor the entire oath. Forgetfulness is a far cry from an excuse. If need be write down the oath and make copies, one for you and one for the other person.

BE yourself/

Yes, be yourself. God made you, taught you, left His Holy Spirit just for you to be you.
Its hard to travel the road without a mentor and best friend. "But God who is rich in mercy" (Ephesians 2:4) has brought you to this point for a reason. That reason is rather simple; to move forward with the "ministry of reconciliation." And so the person who  God has made did so with a mission in life,

 Be yourself in all you do. Be whomever your meant to be by Christ Jesus.
Don't try to be like your Pastor, your Sunday School teacher and so forth instead be yourself.

I am me in HIM

By the way I need to to add this following:

In recent 30 plus days some Christians have been lead by the Lord to help with the repairs of my 007 Dodge Caliber. But you have failed to come through for your brother in the household of faith.
Yes, God has shown me that there are many who has lead to assist in this need. But you have used excuse after excuse not to assist. Even going so far as thinkning how much you dislike yours truly.

So I say this:  you have two choices, just like there are two sides to a sheet of paper.

You can continue in your rebellion and pay the price. 

Or

You can give and or assist in this need and see the blessings flow afterwords.

Now Im going to stick my neck out on a limb and say the following:

There is a Christian who has a Dodge dealership/repair business. And God mentioned to you of taking up this need in full and make all repairs as if the car would be new.
However, you have failed thus far to produce the fruit that is required of thee. You know who you are so you need to make things right between you and God in this matter
So, dearly beloved, will you come out of hiding and do the right thing? Or will you continue leaving a member of the household of faith in bondage?

IF you would like to assist in this writers need:

#1.  step up to the plate and say I will help

#2.  Ask how you can help

First you could help by adding to the GoFundMe account @ gofund.me/2015bucket 

or you could text yours truly @ 1+2482951365  Subject line: 007 Caliber Fix

Be yourself 

 trust yourself

 trust God  

obey God

I am me in HIM

URGENT

Do you have Chick tracts laying around your house?
They are needed for this Saturday's Woodward Dream Cruise.
Give or send them to either Lawrence Adell Sefa​ or mail/deliver them directly to me @

                                             David Liebler/Founder
                      Thunderdome Ministries Network Inc.
                                       3513 Clairmont Street
                                                Flint Michigan
                                                  48503-6602

The latest we can receive them would be Friday August 14th @ 5pm
Usually a team attends this event with up to 1000 tracts.
However, at this point there is no tracts and only brother Lawrence and myself are attending.

If you desire to be part of the team please be at my house by Saturday August 15 @ 9:15am
Prayerfully we will have Chick tracts to pass out the day of the event.

Just a reminder of sorts: Chick tracts do get read.
But according to stats: every tract gets read at least 10-15 times. Those are seeds for the kingdom of God. The next step is for some one to water those seeds.
BUT it must be kept in mind that it is GOD that gives the increase.

DONT let those Chick tracts just lay around your house. Instead, put them to good use.

Will YOU help us reach a little corner of the world this Saturday?

This Is Your Life

The Color Is The Same

When I was growing up I heard about "white lies" as if there was such a thing as blue lies, green ones and well you get the picture.
Fact of the matter is as follows; no matter the color of the lie it is still a lie and, this is important, it is still sin before God and man.
Secondly: in Gods Word it reads that "the wages of sin is death." It fails to use the word sins, meaning more than one. This can mean only one thing. To God all the various sins we catorgize here on Earth mean zilch to God. Thus sin is sin regardless what title we place on it.
A good example of this can be found in the prison system. In the prison system they have various ways of handling various offensives. Most crimes will get you a pat on the back but they recognize only one worthy of either rape and or murder. Thus whether bond or free don't let your sin find you out.

While I am on the subject of lies and sin let me address an issue I've seen over the years:

Brother A tells brother B he will help him with a certain project. When that time comes for brother A to help there is all kinds of excuses under the sun. And the help brother B was counting on is lost to the annuls of time. BUT God has seen and heard what brother A has done and God is truly not happy.
If you ever been a brother B needing the help of brother A there is true disappointment and how could you ever trust brother A ever again.

Allow me to clarify something here. If you offered to help someone then turned your back on him it simply makes you look untrustworthy and a liar.
If you said you would help put that on the calendar and remember your commitment.

No matter what color your lie may be there still lays the problem of sin before God.
And as in most cases God is faithful and just to forgive us or sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

BTW...
if you know of someone on a fixed income you very well may want to not only donate your time but parts and labour too. As your reward should be greater in heaven than on this old planet.

(Sorry about any misspellings. Sometimes even the spell checker don't catch everything.)