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The Present
Truth Magazine (Email)
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FROM THE EDITOR’S HEART
You, God, act for the one
who waits for You. You meet him who rejoices and does
righteousness, The words leaped off the page and pierced my heart. I had gotten into the sin of anxiety. (Phil. 4:6-7). The Psalms instruct us over and over to “wait on the Lord,” and yet in our instant, high-speed society, many of us have trained ourselves to quickly gather data and make hasty decisions so that we can move on to the next task or decision. Yet this isn’t how the Lord operates. As we yield to Him and ask for direction or resolution of a particular circumstance, oftentimes He makes us wait. I’ve heard my pastor say that it is during the waiting period that saints are made. As school starts back, I’m going to help my kids remember the Lord’s ways and attempt to keep them from running their “hurry-up offense.” (Ps. 37:34). But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint (Is. 40:31).
Sincerely in Christ,
THE LAST DISCIPLE is a well-written novel that
is a good alternative to the left-behind series. It is written from
what we consider a partial-preterist viewpoint; i.e. that the
great-tribulation and most of the book of revelation was written about and
fulfilled in the first century. Reading it is an excellent way to both
enjoy a novel and gain a scriptural understanding of how Jesus' and His
apostles prophecies were fulfilled in the first century.
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We are glad to have you as a subscriber to our Present Truth Magazine. Below you will find articles from individual authors who have written for our magazine. Our prayer for all who receive read these articles is that the Lord "...may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:17-18).
FOR ME TO
LIVE IS CHRIST AND TO DIE IS GAIN Recently while being examined and attended to in a local hospital, I heard the words, “Sir, you are having a heart attack”; those words resonated in my spirit and mind. The cardiologist did not say, “You have had a heart attack,” rather, “You are having (present tense) a heart attack.” The doctor then said, “We can take you upstairs and fix it,” (i.e., my heart). I had come into the ER with my wife because she had gotten overheated and dehydrated out in the sun. As I was filling out her paperwork, I experienced severe discomfort and tightness in my chest. That’s when the medical personnel began to give me some medical attention. After further consultation with these fine healthcare people about my immediate concerns of my wife’s wellbeing and the need to notify some family members about where we were, I signed the consent papers for them to work on me. The doctors and their trained staff wheeled my bed toward the elevator and up to the cath lab where they would do an angiogram. The Holy Spirit brought to my mind the words of our Lord: (Comforter) that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him, nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17). Those words “with you” and “in you” brought a great peace into my heart and mind as I continued to have conversation with the doctor and nurses who found a blockage, clogged artery, in my heart. That peace remained throughout my hospital stay and still remains today. The medical procedure known as angioplasty was completed by placing a stent in the coronary artery to help prop open the clogged artery to keep the blood supply flowing in the heart. This was a serious matter with which we were dealing. On the morning after being discharged from the hospital, the Holy Spirit directed me to revisit the divinely inspired letter that the apostle Paul wrote to “…all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons” (Phil. 1:1). Paul was a prisoner in Rome for the defense of his gospel of grace, the gospel that the Lord had revealed to him. While under house arrest, he knew that his chains were in Christ (Phil. 1:13), and the recipients of his gospel knew this too. He was there by the sovereign will of God. Paul’s knowledge of God gave him spiritual discernment, and he anticipated his release from imprisonment to come to them shortly. Paul gave this divinely inspired testimony:
Paul was released from his first imprisonment in Rome and had more fruitful ministry and activity in writing and speaking his gospel of grace in the midst of fierce opposition from Jewish unbelievers and Rome’s ill treatment of Christians. Paul’s kingdom message made him a target. He lived in constant danger with life-threatening circumstances. Paul’s last inspired letter that he wrote to Timothy from prison (around 64 AD) gives us insight into his ministry’s end before his transition into heaven. (2 Tim. 4:6-7). The Holy Spirit reminded me through these divinely inspired scriptures that He is sovereign. He is in control, and I am responsible to hear His voice and obey His leading in my life. I find deep satisfaction and security in my covenant relationship with Father God. He is in me and with me. I am in union with Father God, Jesus my Savior, and His Holy Spirit (John 14:20, 23). I have been bought at a price. I am here to
glorify God in my spirit and in my body, which are God’s (1
Cor. 6:20). The Holy Spirit has been prompting me to
I will continue to do what Father God has called me to do. The time of my departure to transition into my spiritual body is still in my future. Father God is still loving, gracious, and kind in dealing with me. Like Paul, I trust that I will have fruit from my labors in Christ. The steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord. The best is yet to come. A. Wilson Phillips is the co-founding and senior pastor of Abundant Life Covenant Church.
WHEN MY HEART IS OVERWHELMED … When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I (Ps. 61:2). King David’s circumstances were about to destroy him, and His heart was maxed out. He was no stranger to danger, and he had learned by revelation that his God was the only answer. God-ordained sufferings were instrumental in driving him to the Lord and fashioning him into a man of faith and worship. We, along with David, will have times when our hearts are overwhelmed. God allows His children to experience testing and suffering to perfect the character of Christ in us. Through our heart sufferings, we become convinced that we are out of our league. We were not created to carry our burdens (Ps. 55:22; 1 Pet. 5:7), and God will see to it that we learn this lesson. Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah (Ps. 62:8). Though God never leaves His children, He imparts a special manifestation of His presence to engulf us during our catastrophic experiences. We know times when we feel numb, and nothing short of a supernatural intervention will suffice. His living Spirit-Word surfaces from within our spirits and souls to guide us and carry us. What the Lord requires of us is to draw near Him… and then to draw near Him… and then to continually draw near Him! One of my favorite verses in the Bible is John14:27— Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. As far as I’m concerned, there is no greater assurance that Christ could have given us than His peace! The same essence of divine power and presence that Christ functioned with is ours in Him. As we dial down our minds and emotions and let His Word dwell in us richly, His peace will calm our troubled souls and be with us forever. My soul, wait silently for God alone,
For my expectation is from Him (Ps. 62:5). And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Col. 3:15-16). Richard K. Clark is an associate pastor of Abundant Life Covenant Church.
Brokenness and the Release
of God’ Spirit God can use anyone at anytime to accomplish His purposes. That said, His healing presence is only released and experienced through His broken vessels—people who willingly yield to Him and allow Him to have His way with them. The prophet Isaiah gained revelation of this truth. He wrote: For this is what the high and lofty One says— He who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, To revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite…” (Is. 57:15 NIV). God has taught and re-taught this truth to me over the years as I served Him. I remember one specific time (the story is still humorous in my mind) that He taught this truth to me in college. I was an R.A. in my dorm and had the responsibility to keep things under a measure of control. Mostly this meant stopping bouncing basketballs, rolling bowling balls, slamming doors, and general running/shouting/wrestling after 10 p.m. One day I woke up with a disturbing thought, and I didn’t quite get my thinking right during my devotional time with the Lord. That thought ended up draining the faith from my entire day, which made it a long one. I went to class and worked as usual, but it was without the enthusiasm that comes from a faith-filled mind and heart. That evening, I was exhausted and went to bed early (before midnight, which was considered early for our college dorm life). Around 1 a.m., I woke up to this intermittent running and slamming of doors, which was a sure sign of potentially damaging pranks. I knew the area from which it came. There was a group of kids (my peers) that congregated in that area whose hearts were not toward the Lord. I had relationships with these peers and had attempted to live the gospel before them and speak to them as the Lord gave me opportunity. After listening to the racket for quite some time, and thus discerning that it was not going to stop on its own, I decided it was time to go up there and stop it myself. I found the room where the congregation was and knocked on the door. As the door opened, I was immediately sprayed in the face with a fire extinguisher. If you’ve never experienced such, it is difficult to describe how the white foam from the extinguisher sucks the oxygen out of your mouth, blinds you for the moment, and generally turns you white as a ghost. The irony of this predicament was that the blast from the extinguisher was not meant for me. There was a small prank war going on, and this room of pranksters thought I was the enemy, so they sprayed before they looked. From their side, they were horrified to discover it was me. From my side, God performed a miracle. As I stood there and received the blast of extinguisher fluid, the cloud of God’s manifested presence came over me. In one swift moment, He revealed to me how my day had been robbed of faith because of the lie I had swallowed early that morning. The revelation of His truth poured over me as I stood there dumb, mute, and blind. To finish the story, the horrified members of that room escorted me to a sink to help me recover and then vanished as quickly as their limited sense of integrity would allow. What followed was not revenge, nor retribution of any kind. God had used it to break me and give me revelation—well worth the cost of the extinguisher fluid experience. Further, because that group of kids witnessed a surprising reaction to their blunder, I was set up in a position to now minister to them and was able to lead many of them over the next year into experiences with the presence of God. Jesus said to one of His closest disciples, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me” (Luke 22:34). While Jesus was on the cross, Peter fulfilled this prophecy, vehemently denying Jesus three times. After the rooster crowed, Peter wept bitterly and gave up his calling—returning to his fishing business. After Jesus’ resurrection, He appeared to all His disciples, but He had a special walk and talking session with Peter alone. At the end of their time together, Peter broke and yielded his life to his Master’s calling. Thus, Peter became a key apostle in the founding of the early church.
A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise (Ps. 51:17). For further reading on the subject of brokenness and the release of God’s presence, I would recommend the book The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit by Watchman Nee. Benjamin Davis is an associate pastor of Abundant Life Covenant Church
CONTROLLING THE NOISE Information overload. The Lord recently showed me that I have to guard against information overload. It is very easy for me to be overloaded with information. Information is coming at me from all sides… from all angles… in many different forms. Some of the information may be useful, but most will not. I suspect that my information-overloaded lifestyle is similar to most others who have the privilege of living in our technological age. If I do not control the onslaught of information that comes my way, then the information becomes noise to me. My mind will be noisy and busy trying to process all of the “good” information. If I don’t control the noise, the noise will control me. As a matter of fact, patients who can’t sleep often say that they are having a hard time “shutting down and turning off their minds.” Be still, and know that I am God…(Ps. 46:10a) The problem with a noisy mind is one can’t hear God. We hear God in silence, not noise. Quietness of heart and stillness of mind give God the best chance of “getting through.” If I am spending a majority of my time trying to catch and digest all the noise, I will usually not be hearing God nor heading in the direction that He is leading. I may be so busy processing all the good information that I miss God’s information. I must take time and dial down,
in stillness and quietness—blocking out the
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! (Ps. 46:10) Jonathan Clark is an elder of Abundant Life Covenant Church and a physician in Springfield, Missouri.
ENJOYING THE RIDE Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us… (Eph. 3:20). Our journey of faith is like a rollercoaster—highs and lows—but God’s love, mercy, faith, and wisdom are constant. After a year of marriage, my wife Cristen and I believed God wanted us to step out in faith and expand our family. We tried the natural way without success. We felt we should take the step to get checked out medically. As we talked with our pastor about our need, the Lord showed us this was the path that He had for us, and we needed to listen to what the doctor had to say. After we had the tests, the doctor recommended taking fertility drugs and then trying invitro-fertilization. Starting out, we were very excited, but after each of these possibilities failed, our faith sank. The rollercoaster was definitely dipping. Continuing on the journey, we believed we were to lay down our pursuit of having a baby for a time. Then it came up again, and this time the Lord directed us to look into adoption. There was a sense of loss, giving up, because we really wanted our “own” baby. We thought, “Why should we go down this road? Others have babies the ‘normal,’ supposedly easier, way.” The Lord wanted us to see that adoption was as important as having a baby naturally. We would just go through the process differently. Our journey of faith required us to lay down our preconceived mindsets about the way our family would expand. To start the adoption process, we gathered information from the computer, family, and friends. Our path led us to meet and interact with many people. Adoption has its own timeframe, not just nine months. With a natural birth, there are no choices—boy or girl, ethnicity, etc.—but with adoption we had an unending list of characteristics to choose. The list reminded me of buying a car—what color, size, accessories, etc., did we want? Along our journey, we did experience some miracles. One such event happened when we had to travel to the highway patrol office in Jefferson City to renew our background check. Cristen and I arranged to get off work and made the three-hour drive only to discover the office closed for Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. We were shocked, thinking we came all that way and would not be able to process our background check. However, an officer told us that the lady who processes the background checks was in doing some overtime work and would be glad to help us; we got our background checks processed that day. God is a good God. We finished all the required paperwork—background checks, financial records, recommendations, proof of employment, etc.—and then the waiting game began. We thought we would be getting a baby girl from Texas or California. We got our first call, and to our amazement, it was for a baby boy right here in Springfield, Missouri. We were thrilled that it was local and was more than satisfied that it was a boy. But the more we got involved, the more it looked like the biological father did not want to release this boy; so we laid that case down. This was the first of several possible adoptions, and we have a special place in our heart for, and pray for, all of the kids we were not allowed to have for our own. Another one came up, this time in Houston, Texas, a little girl. We got the information on her mother and waited. When she delivered the baby, we flew down there. The baby was a tiny little thing in an incubator. Her biological mother was very quiet. She let us hold the baby, but through difficult circumstances, the aunt (who had initiated the adoption process) saw the little girl and helped change the mother’s mind. It broke our hearts; that trip back from Houston to Springfield was a long one. We had told all of our family about the Houston baby, and now we would have to report that it did not go through. This case taught us that we should wait until we had a child before telling everyone we knew. Otherwise, everyone will go on the rollercoaster ride with us. We got another call on a mother who was to have a baby in Dallas. She was only a few months along and had selected us. We called her about once a month and felt the Holy Spirit leading us to ask to meet her face to face. The arrangements were made for us to meet her and the social worker. We took some vacation time, got down there, and she was a no-show. The social worker found out that she had moved without telling us or the social worker and had decided to keep the baby. Through all the ups and downs, God gave us hope and peace. We have always had a great support from our church and family. Pastor Clark and his wife Christi met with us many times. We got our fourth case; this time the mother was in St. Louis and due within the month, around the same time the Dallas baby would have been born. I had scheduled a six-week vacation for the Dallas baby’s arrival and had not rescheduled it. Our St. Louis baby was born only one day earlier than when my vacation started. The birthmother wanted to meet us and offered to let us see the birth. When she went into labor, we quickly drove to St. Louis, only to find that she was still unsure. We spent the next few hours answering her questions and reassuring her that we were more than ready to adopt her child. When the birth finally took place, we were allowed to be in the room when the baby boy was born. The nurse took him and talked to us like we were the parents! We were so awed. We then had to leave when visiting hours were over, but we were on cloud nine! The following morning, the social worker called before we got to the hospital and said that the birthmother was upset about something. The social worker wanted us to meet with her before going in to see the baby. We were devastated… here we go again. As we were driving to the hospital, we prayed for a miracle, and the Lord gave us peace through our tears. We met with the social worker and followed her instructions. She told us to be patient; she felt the birthmother was, in her own way, saying goodbye to the baby. Two days after his birth, we got to take our baby Brian home with us! Praise the Lord! For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us (2 Cor. 1:20). Jeffrey Farinha is a physical therapist for Cox Health Systems in Springfield, Missouri.
INDWELLING SPIRIT
Holy Spirit:
As I submit my will to His discipline,
Trinity plus adopted son in perfect union, Paul Gabbert owns and operates R & P Cleaning Service.
It Is No Longer I Who Live Growing up, I was a
“performer.” I believed if I did things right and did the right things, I
would like myself, and so would God and others. When I was in my early
thirties, the Lord allowed (although I didn’t know it was His doing at the
time) my “performing well and doing good” to hit a brick wall. My marriage
was failing, my parenting skills weren’t working, and I had serious
physical and emotional problems. During this downward spiral, I went from
doctor to doctor and counselor to counselor, read self-help books, and
prayed—but things only got worse. I came to the point where the great
“performer” that I was couldn’t decide what can of green beans to buy at
the grocery store. I finally despaired of life itself and became
hospitalized. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved and gave Himself for me. I had been in church all my life but never heard this great co-crucifixion truth. I only knew Jesus had died for me—not that I died with Him. I knew His substitution cleared me of my sins so I could be with Him after I died, but I needed something to allow me to live NOW. My desire to die to who I was had already been accomplished about 2000 years earlier. I didn’t have to cope with the “old me” or my problems any longer. I wanted a new life, and He had already accomplished that for me—I just didn’t know it! The Holy Spirit began showing me that the new creation truths that Paul wrote about were true for me.
The Holy Spirit has now placed my family and me with a local group of believers where the pastors teach God’s thoughts and ways and the power of our identification with Christ. We are accountable to each other to think, speak, and do His truths on a daily basis. Yes, God has and continues to exchange His life for mine! Shari Walker is an administrative assistant at Greene County Extension in Springfield, Missouri.
A Paradigm Shift Have you ever had one of those serendipity moments when you go through a fundamental paradigm shift? It happened to me during a recent Wednesday night Bible study at church. My only response was, “Wow!” We were studying the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had told the distressed disciples: …It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged (John 16:7-11). I had read and studied this passage several times. It was always an enigma to me because although I comprehended the Holy Spirit convicting the world of sin, I did not understand how He convicted the world of righteousness and what that had to do with Jesus going to the Father. I felt very much like the disciples to whom Jesus further stated: I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth … (John 16:12-13). As our pastor expounded on this passage, it became clear to me that the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to the church not to the world. Why would He try to convict the world of righteousness if they did not receive Him? The purpose of the Spirit of Truth is to dwell in the believers and guide them. Jesus said: And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17). I began to see that Jesus’ statement regarding the Holy Spirit’s ministry to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment was actually directed to the church. The Greek word for convict (elenchō) can be translated effectively as convince. It’s the same word that is used when speaking of unbelievers coming into a church assembly, hearing prophesy, and being convinced that God is present. The convincing ministry of the Holy Spirit is what makes believers from those in the world. But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced (elenchō) by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” (1 Cor. 14:24-25 NIV). Once the unbeliever has been convinced of his spiritually lost state and enters the kingdom of God, the Holy Spirit begins the work of convincing the new believer of righteousness. The apostle Paul states: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.... For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:17, 21). The Holy Spirit reveals to the believer that he is made righteous—not by his own works but by receiving God’s righteousness through the Holy Spirit. This righteous state exists because Jesus went to the Father enabling the Holy Spirit to bring His righteous presence into the believer’s life. This was not possible while Jesus was still physically present with His disciples. Thus, He stated: the Holy Spirit would convince “of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more…” (John 16:10). He further explained: At that day (the day of Pentecost) you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you… If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him (John 14:20, 23). Lastly, Jesus stated the Holy Spirit would convince “of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (John 16:11). This statement has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit convincing the world it is under judgment. Jesus Himself had previously declared: For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:17). Jesus also said, “I did not come to judge the world but to save the world” (John 12:47b). The Holy Spirit’s ministry is to the church. Jesus is affirming that the Spirit will convince the church that the devil has been judged. John stated: …For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). This was accomplished at the cross when Jesus “disarmed principalities and powers; He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross” (Col. 2:15). This is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges of the Holy Spirit, i.e. to convince God’s people that the devil has been defeated. After so many years, this passage finally made sense to me. Jesus said the Holy Spirit “will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14). I realized Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to: a) convince the unbeliever of sin, in order that he/she will believe in Jesus, b) convince the believer of righteousness, because Jesus would indwell the believer, and, c) convince the believer of the devil’s judgment, because Jesus has defeated the ruler of the world. Byron Hamilton and his wife Leesa own Med-Soft National Training Institute in Springfield, Missouri.
THE
AUTHOR OF MY LIFE
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reevaluate
my priorities following this unexpected incident in
my life.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
noise…
hearing God… sleeping well… maintaining good mental health. When I am
quiet with the Lord, I am in a position to
properly discern and effectively digest all
the information that I need. You are receiving The Present Truth Magazine Email because you signed up on our web site. If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, please reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.