Temporary Trouble & Eternal Glory

I can't seem to get away from something that I posted a while back. "Our perseverance testifies of the power of the Treasure within us. When others see our troubles overshadowed by the light of His strength shining through us, they are in fact receiving the Good News of Christ." 

While I used II Corinthians 4:8-10 as a text for that post, it is the later portion of the chapter that speaks of the fleeting nature of our afflictions and the eternal nature of the glory that is revealed as we endure them.

In Romans 8:18, the Apostle Paul wrote "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." 

It is the revealed glory of God at work in us that draws others to Him. When they see us suffering in pain without complaint, when they see us bereaved, but putting our feelings aside to comfort someone else, and when they know we are financially strapped and yet we will give to the needy, that is when they see Christ. That is what will draw them to inquire about the source of our strength & compassion. That is when the lost will open their doors to the Gospel.

If the very thought that our malady is temporary is enough to give us a measure of hope; how much more should we be comforted knowing that the Holy Spirit is making intercessions for us.

"So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.

And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God’s will.We are assured and know that [[j]God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose." Romans 8:26-28 Amplified Version

" I have done the Lord’s work humbly and with many tears. I have endured the trials that came to me from the plots of the Jews. 20 I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes. 21 I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike—the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.

22 “And now I am bound by the Spirit[a] to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, 23 except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. 24 But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

25 “And now I know that none of you to whom I have preached the Kingdom will ever see me again." Acts 20:19 -25 NLT

Psalm of the Shepherd

Who has not heard the 23rd Psalm? The only ones who haven't heard it are the ones who have never been exposed to the Gospel at all. It is probably the most familiar text of the Bible along with John 3:16. Even the un-churched have heard the Psalm of the Shepherd. It is a staple of funerals everywhere. Often Sunday School children memorize it before they enter elementary school. It is a simple chapter, yet so profound.

It is so familiar that I often take it for granted. When attending funerals, I often join the minister and softly quote it as he reads. It is ingrained in me. Seems like I memorized it when I was only 5 or 6. Learning it by heart came through years of repeated interaction with the verses. Sometimes it seems to be an "old hat" kind of thing and other times it is the best medicine. Nothing really comforts me more than knowing The Good Shepherd will take care of me all through this treacherous journey called life. And He will be there when it is time to step over the threshold and into everlasting life with Him.

Rather than continue with my observations of the chapter, I want to link you to some sermon notes that really spoke to me. Please take time to check them out and leave a comment or two. I'm sure the pastor would be encouraged by your visit.

Just a Reminder

There are a few things I would like to remind you to remember. They are just as important today as they were when the Apostle Peter reminded the church of these things over 2000 years ago.

Peter exhorts the church to remember. II Peter1:12-15, II Peter 3:1,2

This indicates that the knew already. They had heard already. II Peter 3:17

What were they to remember?

Promises and knowledge of God IIPeter 1:4

Prophecy of scripture IIPeter 1:19-21

Prophecy of the OT & commandments of the NT Apostles IIPeter 3:2

Why were they to remember?

to make their election sure IIPeter 1:10

to obtain a heavenly home IIPeter 1:11

to understand the apostacy of their dayIIPeter 3:3

to understand God's promises IIPeter 3:9

to be prepared for the 2nd coming of Christ IIPeter 3:10

to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ IIPeter 3:18

Not the Same Old Story

Some time ago I posted a synopsis of a Sunday morning sermon given by my pastor. I had a lot of traffic and seven comments on that one. Perhaps I should use Mondays for posting my sermon notes from the previous day. Then again, my note taking may be limited since I am now working with the media production crew and in the sound booth. That's another story for another day. Guess I just wanted you all to know that I gone from techno-wanna be to a multi-media flunky. (smile)

Pastor entitled Sunday's message, "Speak Lord". Sunday School veterans, stay with me now. I know you are thinking of a couple of Bible stories you heard so many times as children. I had the same thoughts as he continued on giving the text references. Just as I was about to put myself on auto-pilot, the Lord spoke to me. He simply said, "Watch and pray". It wasn't what He said that roused me. It was how my mind completed the verse, just as I had heard it so many times.

You see, I was about to lean back and let my mind wander. I was about to allow the familiarity of the text, keep me from hearing a fresh admonition from the throne. I was about to be a poor example for the rest of the body. I was about to let my pastor down. I was about to open the door and let satan step inside. I was about to .......sin.

I always exhort folks to interpret scriptures in light of their context. And I'm not much on studies that are wholly topical in nature. But there are single scriptures that can stand alone as commands of God. Each of the 10 Commandments support this notion, as does many of the Proverbs. Is it a stretch to apply shutting the devil out and avoiding the path of the wicked , to my Sunday morning experience? I don't think so. Different contexts but same principle.

The 3 verses I have referenced convicted me. They became a single exhortation that went something like this: Be alert and pray so you will not yield to temptation. Don't let satan disrupt your purpose. Push him out of your way and get involved in the service.

It was clear to me that I had to take authority over the enemy and over my flesh. Much like casting my thoughts into prison. I could not tune out my pastor just because I thought I knew where he was going with the message. I go to church to be fed the Word of God, to worship the Lord, to fellowship with the saints, to support the pastor, and to use my gifts to serve others.

So I rebuked the tempter, put my mind on the Lord, inclined my ear to hear the preached Word, and I gave hearty amens as I responded to the message. My soul was filled and my heart encouraged. All because I heard the Lord speak to me at the beginning of the sermon. I am thankful for the chastening of the Lord.

Soon I will be posting highlights of pastor's sermon "Speak Lord". For now, I will leave you with this exhortation: Muzzle your flesh and hear the preached Word. Always listen for the voice of the Lord. He may speak to you at any time, even during Sunday morning service; even when you think it is the same old story.

Let's Get Busy

I just had to share this link. It is a wonderful addition to my previous post. Many thanks to Pastor Brad Williams. Read @ Sojourner.

For a closer look at what kind of busy we should be: check out Tyler's post @ Sons of the Prophets.

A Deliberate Call

The book of Acts is one of my favorites. It is rich in historical data, sets forth the foundation of the New Testament Church, chronicles the exploits of the Apostles, and provides an overview of the life of Paul. For today's post, I want to use a portion of chapter 26; copied here from the KJV. Follow this link for the entire chapter.

16But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
17Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
18To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

Here Paul recounts the words previously recorded in Acts 9:3-6 then elaborates a bit more on the message from Christ in verses 16 - 18. For our study today; I want to glean from the text some reasons Christ makes Himself known to us. Why He takes us out of the world just to send us back unto it.

1. to make us His ministers/servants
2. to make us testimonials/witnesses of His power/acts
3. to use us as His heralds of the revelations He will show us
4. to enable us to enlighten others; to be guides
5. to aid us in turning others from darkness into light; to be reflections of the Light
6. to use us to loose those who are bound by satan; to be agents of deliverance
7. to use us to teach sinners what is required to be forgiven; to be teachers
8. and to show them how to lay claim to what belongs to the sanctified; to be models

No different than Paul; we all are called and empowered to be His witnesses. We must declare the same message as Paul, as we minister to the world .

Also worth mentioning: We must be knocked off of our "high horse"of sinfulness before we can be of use to the Lord. Secondly, we have to stand up/become attentive in order to receive instructions for salvation and ministry. We can't work in the Kingdom lying down!

LCF & My Spiritual Father

Just a little background info related to my 08/10/07 post about the awesome conference I attended in NM. You may remember back in May I posted an e-mail from my father in the ministry. His name is Earl McQuitty and he is the senior pastor of Liberty Christian Fellowship. He is also the vice president of Vision Ministries which is headed by Pastor Wilford Carrasco.



It was springtime 1991. I had just moved to Colorado as a newly wedded transplant from TN. We were looking for a church home. After shopping* around a bit my husband suggested ____ in Aztec, NM. I don't remember the date, but I recall the experience. It was on a Sunday morning and we had arrived for morning worship service. As we crossed the threshold I felt the Presence of God and knew we had found home.



We were welcomed with smiles and hugs. The music was the old-time Pentecostal kind that I had enjoyed all my life. Pastor McQuitty preached the Truth with anointing and fire. We were invited back for the evening service. The only problem was that we lived 60 miles away.



Sister McQuitty said we could stay in the evangelist's quarters for the afternoon if we wanted to stay close until the evening service. We did and that was the beginning of a relationship that has grown dearer as the years have gone by.



We relocated to Aztec and found jobs locally. It wasn't very long before Pastor had put us to work in the church. He recognized God's call on our lives and began to train us in the ministry. Rather than try to sum it up in a post, I'll just list a few events to bring the story current.

• At some point we needed a larger facility and another church needed some folks. We moved to Farmington, NM and merged with another local church.


• This actually happened twice in the 9 years I served under Pastor McQuitty.


• In 1999, my hubby and I moved back to TN. God allowed us to have almost 2 years with my mother before He called her home.


• Every time we have visited w/Pastor, he has offered to bring his truck and trailer to TN. In other words, help us move back to NM.


• He now pastors Liberty Christian Fellowship. He has several ministers on staff as well as a full compliment of teachers, musicians, and singers. He continues to train and equip leaders for today and for the future.
• LCF serves as a mother church to a growing number of churches in Nigeria; where souls are being saved daily and miracles happen every service.

Please remember Pastor McQuitty in your prayers. He has chronic back and foot pain that often hinders his pace. If I have any one earthly person to credit with success in ministry, it is Pastor Earl D. McQuitty.

* shopping is not the same as church hopping. Shoppers have their roots in the Lord and want a place to serve. Hoppers have little roots of any sort.

Pastor's Part 3

I have never considered myself to be a prophet, but my comment to e-mom was correct. We did get part 3 this Sunday. Pastor went right back to last week's text: II Chronicles 20:15-28. The focus was a somewhat different from 1 and 2, so I guess it could be a stand alone sermon.

Again, rather than duplicate his message, I'll just give you the basic idea. After he read the text and gave a few introductory remarks related to the sermon of last Sunday, he titled the message:"The battle is not yours."

When a child is abducted from a rich family, the motive is to extort money from the parents. It is not to have a child to feed, clothe, and care for. The kidnappers do not ask the child for money, they demand it from the parents. The child is taken as a means to get to the parents.

Abusive people often hurt the people closest to them. Much of the time, the people they hurt actually have little to do with the conflict within the abuser. The victim simply is in the presence of the abuser when he/she commits the acts of violence.

The devil is not really interested in mankind at all, except as a means of getting to God. Yes, he is jealous that man can be saved and become a permanent resident in heaven. Yes, he knows that one saved person can put a thousand enemies to flight. Yes, he desires to sift believers as wheat. But that is not his driving force. He wants to hurt God. Knowing that it is impossible for him to over-ride God in any way, he chooses to afflict God's creation. He is much like a spoiled child; willing to do anything to gain attention for himself even if it is the wrong kind of attention. Christians are merely targets in satan's war-games.

Ultimately, we win! How frustrating that must be for old beelzebub. It further aggravates him when he finds us rejoicing in the midst of our trials. Praising God brings confusion into his ranks. The noise of exalting our Savior deafens his forces. When we worship the Almighty it sends the devil into a blind rage.

Deaf and blind, just what are the chances of them making a direct hit? And what if they do? Is it not merely our flesh that suffers? The Apostle Paul put it this way, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Satan can not take true life from us. In his efforts to destroy us, he inadvertently drives us closer to the Life-Giver.

Somewhere along the way, Pastor elaborated on the fact that the devil does not have to kill us to accomplish his purpose. Many times he advances more through trampling on Christians, tarnishing our witness, and tainting our message. We must not be moved by the aggression of our enemy. Should we fall, we must get back up and into formation.

The Church must set herself in battle array in a united front. She must be poised regardless of the nearness of the skirmish. She must follow the orders of the Captain of the Hosts. When it is time for her to engage, He will direct her every move. In the meantime, she must PRAISE! While she is praising, He is setting the ambushments. The battle belongs to the Lord.

Praise Your Way Out

Cowboy and I just got in from a revival in progress. Tonight our pastor was the guest speaker. He began with a brief re-cap of what he had preached to us on last Sunday morning. Then.......
Well, you need to know that our pastor is a bit long winded at times. He promises to preach about 15 minutes and some 60 minutes after that, he gives the altar call. At that 15 or 20 minute mark, he generally says, "I'm through preachin. Now I'm gonna talk to y'all for awhile."

The "preaching part" is usually a passage from the Old Testament and then one from the New Testament, with a bit of exposition of the texts. When he is a guest speaker somewhere, he will add the comment, "I'm just a foundational preacher, y'all." Then he proceeds with a theme or principle found in both passages.

Tonight he chose IIChronicles 20:15-28 (paying particular interest to verses 17 and 22) and Acts 16:23-26. Rather than transcribe the complete sermon or elaborate on the scriptures, I want to offer them along with the following statements he made to the crowd tonight. All of this fell under the "just talking to you now" category.

1. Anyone can praise the Lord, even the sinner man. Psalms 150:6
2. When the righteous praise; the captive,whether he is a sinner or a saint, will be set free.Acts 16:26
3. Only the righteous can enter into true worship. John 4:23,24
4. Worship will take you to another level in God. (I don't recall a reference for this one)

Basically, he elaborated on the idea of how much can be accomplished through us when we are free from sin, habits, and cares of this life. When we live a life of worship we live a victorious life. He went on to encourage us with this statement, and I quote: "The devil can't touch the anointing, he can only hinder the vessel. He can only touch the vessel, if God allows him to do so." To further back that statement, he mentioned Job. Job 1:8-12 and Job 2:3-6 . Somewhere along in here, he talked about: the joy we have in Christ, being stripped to our joy, and how the enemy can not steal our joy.

These were not all run together in the way you see here. Between each one, he gave a discourse to substantiate the point. He quoted many scriptures along the way. Too many to link here. You preachers, teachers, evangelists, and the like, understand how the Word just flows out when you are under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Giving scripture to reinforce scripture is a common practice in delivering a topical message.

I can not begin to tell you about the applications and illustrations he used in this message. For one: I experienced an information overload. (I once heard, 'the mind will only absorb what the seat can endure.') Secondly: only the mature could handle much of what he said. Thirdly: I prefer to be more concise; particularly when I have to type it all out. :-)

P.S. I will eventually get my other posts done. This stuff was just too hot to keep for myself.

A Strong Ox

No cattle, no crops; a good harvest requires a strong ox for the plow.
Proverbs 14:4 The Message


There is no mention of the farmer in this verse, neither of the seed or soil quality. The farmer is a given since he is required for the ox and plow to be of any use. The actual soil contents are not mentioned but it's condition is implied. The soil is unbroken, else there would be no need for the plow. The plow is not useful without a beast strong enough to pull it. The farmer and the ox can do little to work the ground without the plow. In order to have a good harvest there must be a farmer, a plow, and an ox.


Again, this is just basic info setting the stage for the spiritual parallel. The amount of time spent on these things would depend on the age group being taught. For this post we will pick out a couple of traits and draw the appropriate conclusions. In a classroom setting, you could use as many or as few as needed to fill the time slot or make the desired points.

It is essential for church workers to be saved. A wild ox is of little value to the farmer until it is domesticated. The first lesson in obedience for the ox is yielding to the farmer's restraint. When a worker in the church struggles against leadership then he jeopardizes the whole work of the church particularly as it relates to the harvest. Consistent commands and disciplines will bring about the desired responses.

Just as the younger ox will often be paired with an older/more experienced one, a new convert in the church should be paired up with a mature saint. Proper lifestyle changes will be brought about by teaching as well as example. Mentors are an indispensable resource for those new in the Kingdom and new to a particular duty within the church.

The tough hide of the ox affords protection from the elements. It can hold up to the wear and tear of the yoke and harness. It is difficult for insects to pierce. When the ox dies, it's hide can still be useful to the farmer. Let me hear your comments on a parallel for this one.

Without strong oxen in the church, there will be no harvest. The pastor can not do it alone. Get in the yoke today and help your pastor pull the plow.