• About
    • Welcome
    • Prayer Partners
    • Ministry Partners
    • Angel Partners
    • How to Promote
    • Crowdfunding
    • Statement of Faith
    • The Desert Warrior
    • The Temptations of the Cross (A Novel)
    • Jesus was an Alien (and Other Stories of Faith)
  • Desert Warrior Series
    • Tears of the Desert Warrior – The Absurdity of an Abnormal Existence
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
      • 1. The Secular Problem of Evil
      • 2. The Essence of Religion
      • 3. The Heart of the Human Experience
      • 4. The Moral Interpretation of Religion
      • 5. Finding Life in the Face of Death
      • 6. Reality, Language and Meaning
      • 7. The Myth of Human Morality
      • 8. The Dangers of the Divine Ethic
      • 9. The Religious Problem of Evil
      • Conclusion
    • Whispers of the Desert Warrior – Evidence of the God who is There
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
      • 1. The God Who is There
      • 2. The Breath of Life
      • 3. Pride and Prejudice
      • 4. The Divine Perspective
      • 5. Return to Babel
      • Conclusion
    • God of the Desert Warrior – Evil and the Goodness of God
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
    • The Desert Warrior – Finding Strength in Difficult Times
      • Series Introduction
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
    • The Way of a Desert Warrior – How the Desert can give you Courage
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
    • The Heart of a Desert Warrior – How Reality can set you Free
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
    • The Life of a Desert Warrior – How a Conversation can Change your Life
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
  • Jesus was an Alien
    • Preface
    • Created For His Pleasure
    • 1. Charles Benton. Neighbor.
    • 2. The Wedding
    • 3. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
    • 4. Truth in Flip Flops
    • 5. Jesus was an Alien
    • 6. Lucifer at the Cross
    • 7. The Way of the Desert Warrior
    • 8. The Anointing
    • 9. The Tower of Babel
    • 10. The Eight Year Old Evangelist
    • 11. Dr. House. Brilliant. Idiot.
    • 12. The Old Lady and the Giant
    • Return of the Prodigal
  • Temptations
    • Prologue
    • 1. Death of a Warrior
    • 2. The Old Man in the Temple
    • 3. Memories from the Past
    • 4. Battle Over Jerusalem
    • 5. Passover in the Holy City
    • 6. The Shedding of Blood
    • 7.Messianic Prophecy
    • 8. Ten Divine Words
    • 9. The Days of Artistry
    • 10. Breaking the Alliance
    • 11. The Covenant of Promise
    • 12. Birth Pangs
    • 13. Temptation in the Desert
    • 14. Prophet, Priest, and King
    • 15. Mobilizing the Forces
    • 16. The Gathering Darkness
    • 17. The Dark Night of the Soul
    • 18. The Divine Irony
    • 19. Truth on Trial
    • 20. The Descent into Hell
    • 21. Death Comes in Darkness
    • 22. The Divine Sting
    • 23. Divine Visitations
    • 24. Thy Kingdom Come
    • 25. Transformation
    • Epilogue
  • 7 Hrs of Glory
    • Magic Blue Jeans
    • 1. A Burden of Glory
    • 2. The Glory of God in Christ
    • 3. Revealing the Glory
    • 4. Be Who You Are
    • 5. Already But Not Yet
    • 6. The Promise of Power
    • 7. Intimacy with God
    • 8. The Means of Grace
    • 9. Stay, Talk, Try
    • 10. Joy That Lasts
    • 11. My Life Ministry
    • 12. The Gift of Meaning
    • Renewal, Revival and the Reality of God
  • Book Projects
    • Distinctive Apologetics – The Uniqueness of Christianity
    • Radical Discipleship – A Lifestyle of Repentance
    • Relational Evangelism – Heartbroken for the Broken Heart
    • Responsible Stewardship – Creation as the Context for Redemption
    • The Edge of Faith – A Philosophy of Ministry
    • The Jerusalem Oracle (A Novel)
    • The L Word – The Divine Preference
    • The Three R´s of Christian Living – Repentance, Restoration and Reconciliation
    • The Triune god of Self – Pleasure, Power and Pride
    • Unconditional Intimacy – A Marriage made in Heaven
    • Your Life Ministry – A Burden of Glory
    • The Unattractive Church – A Practical Guide
    • Unconditional Parenting – A Family made in Heaven
    • Unconditional Fellowship – A Church made in Heaven
  • Short Stories
    • A Conversation with God
    • Conversations with an Elder
    • God is an Atheist
    • Life on Red Bull
      • Casting Crowns
      • Dead On
      • Hide and Seek
      • Life on Red Bull
      • Loser
      • Mission Impossible
      • Solidarity
      • The Fringe
      • The Honor System
      • The Secret
      • The Tango Player
      • The Tree of Life
      • Truth and Consequences
      • Xtreme Home Makeover Edition
    • Mighty Mosquito Hunter
      • Cooties
      • Hidden Valleys
      • Mighty Men of Zion
      • Mighty Mosquito Hunter
      • The Least, the Last and the Lost
      • Villa Los Pinos
    • Pillar of Fire
      • A Cruel Blessing
      • Conspiracy Theory
      • Heat of the Desert
      • Hellfire and Brimstone
      • Mr. Templeton´s Doubts
      • Reverse Takeover
      • Rock, Paper, Scissors
      • The Blood-stained Bible
      • The Pillar of Fire
      • The Strange Case of Dempster Laurel
    • Shut Up and Pray
      • Anchors of the Soul
      • Beautiful Illusions
      • Blonde, Bold, and Beautiful
      • Heaven is a Musical
      • Of Popcorn and Pancakes
      • Shut Up and Pray
      • Spiritual Warfare
      • The Disciple
      • The Eyes of God
      • The In-between Place
    • Temptations
      • Lucifer and the Cross
      • Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
      • The Divine Embarrassment
      • The Prayer of Onkelos
      • The Temptation of Gabriel
    • The Adventure of Grace – Our Crowdfunding Journey
    • The Holy Spirit is a Fake
    • Reflections
    • Life in the Desert

Desert Warrior Ministries

~ A Burden of Glory

Desert Warrior Ministries

Category Archives: Short Stories

Weekly Update No. 7 (Crowdfunding Campaign)

27 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Adventure of Grace, Short Stories

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The Anointing

This is probably my favorite story.  Perhaps because it touches close to home and reflects some aspects of my own life.  It is also the most clear exposition of what I believe the church to be all about and how to live in the anointing of God.

This is a story of a Pastor who was walking downtown near the soup kitchen with a fellow parishoner from his church and they were held up by a drugged up young person with a gun.  His friend is killed and the story starts with the Pastor trying to get his act together on the morning of the funeral.  Peter, his friend, was a businessman who lost a lot of money for himself and his partner, Frank, who killed himself when the bottom fell out of the market.  A lot of people in the church had invested their life savings with Peter and Frank and so the entire community was upset and hurting.  What would the Pastor say about Peter and this situtation now that Peter and Frank were both dead?

Six years.  Six months.  Six minutes.  That´s what it all came down to.  Six years of work in the church.  Six months of putting up with Peter who claims to have found the key to the abundant life even though he lost the life savings of most of the congregation.  No one wanted to listen to him and he was creating problems and division in the church.  And then, six minutes.  From the moment they were confronted in the street by the druggie until Peter was dead.  Six lousy minutes.  And it changed everything.  The seventh minute.  The seventh month.  The seventh year.  The time of anointing.

This is a story about the importance of the anointing of God in the life of the church.  It takes about an hour and fifteen minutes to read out loud so it´s a bit long – the longest story in the book.  But it probably most accurately tells the story of what I believe about the Chrisitan life and the fellowship of the saints in the life of the church.  There is some music involved near the end so the audio version should be great and I am looking forward to putting an audio book together for Jesus was an Alien.

This story about the Anointing is not on the website.  It is only available for those who buy the book.  I hope you enjoy it and that you learn how to live in the anointing of God as a community of faith.

The Desert Warrior

An Adventure of Grace – Our Crowdfunding Journey by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012  vanKregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net           info@desertwarrior.net

Weekly Update No. 6 (Crowdfunding Campaign)

19 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Adventure of Grace, Short Stories

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Tags

christianity, spirituality, temptations

Lucifer at the Cross

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

These two stories come from the novel The Temptations of the Cross.  Admittedly, they are short and to the point but the idea was to give people a taste of what they could find in the book.

Lucifer at the Cross is a short snapshot of the moment when Lucifer realizes that all is not what it seems and that there is something more going on than meets the eye.  Of course, all of the build up to that point in the book is essential for really “feeling” that moment even though we know the story well.  Essentially, I wrote the story of Jesus from the point of view of the angels (and demons) in order to interpret the story from the point of view of the two temptations of the cross.  The temptation of Jesus to avoid the cross and the temptation of Satan to use the cross as his instrument of revenge.  It all culminates at this point when the divine sting is fulfilled and Lucifer is destroyed.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a snapshot of heaven at the time of the fall of mankind.  This is after the temptation of Gabriel by Lucifer and after the temptation and fall of mankind.  Now Gabriel (and the other angels) have some questions for God about what to do next.  In this section, a general concept of evil and how God will ultimately use evil´s own nature to defeat itself (poetic justice) is given.  Also, there is a picture of God dancing and working out the details of the Story of Redemption in the sands of time.  This is a combination of the main character of Fiddler on the Roof together with the passage in the OT that tells us that God dances over us in joy.

Hopefully these two quick pictures of the spiritual dimension of the History of Redemption will motivate many of you to check out my novel The Temptations of the Cross.  Enjoy.

The Desert Warrior

An Adventure of Grace – Our Crowdfunding Journey by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net        info@desertwarrior.net

Weekly Update No. 5 (Crowdfunding Campaign)

13 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Adventure of Grace, Short Stories

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The Old Lady and the Giant

This story was dedicated to a wonderful old lady in our church on the ocassion of her 80th birthday.  She was born on a leap year so she was really only twenty years old.  Her granddaughter, Sonia, asked me to write something special for her to be included in a special book that the family was putting together for her.  Great fun.

I wanted to write something about the poor and homeless people who were visiting our church and give another perspective on who they were.  I thought of the passage that says that we ought to be hospitable in case we are visited by angels.  When I first met Scotty, one of the street evangelists and homeless men that came to our church, he was so different, so strange, that the thought crossed my mind that he might be a visitation of Jesus trying to challenge our approach to the poor and needy.

From there, the whole story simply wrote itself.  I took the basic concept of a large, Santa like character from one of my other stories and compared him with the smallness of the old lady and the story was born.  Yes, it was also a challenge to our church but it had a positive spin to it.  In the end, God wants to give each one of us and the church a miracle, the miracle of seeing each other through his eyes.

I hope that you also receive that miracle in your lives.

The Desert Warrior

The Adventure of Grace – Our Crowdfunding Journey by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 vanKregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net         info@desertwarrior.net

The Miracle Journey

12 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Conversations with an Elder, Reflections, Short Stories

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Tags

arrogance, christianity, grace, Humility, Love, religion, shame, spirituality

There are three things too wonderful for me,

Four that I do not understand.

A child made in the image of it´s Father,

A cross in a garbage dump outside the Holy City,

A journey from arrogance to shame

and the grace that transforms it into love.

*****

The Desert Warrior

Reflections by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net       info@desertwarrior.net

A Genealogy of Grace

11 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Conversations with an Elder, Reflections, Short Stories

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Tags

A geneaology of grace, Argentina, christianity, missionary, redeemer, religion

Steve Green is a talented musician and a Godly man who was a missionary son in Argentina where he grew up.  I wanted to share a little bit of his testimony with you.  He resented being a missionary kid and wanted to get back to the States as quickly as possible.  In his own words….

“I wanted to bury some things, run from some things, forget some things but I´ve discovered in the years that have followed that God is the author of all of our story.  It doesn´t mean that He is making us do things that are wrong choices along the way but He is present in all of our story.  He is writing a genealogy of grace, bringing us to a place where we have to have a redeemer to rescue us.  And through all the ups and downs and twists of life, He is doing something way beyond what we normally can see that will someday be for His glory and our good. So what I resented so much early on, I now treasure.  Those are the things that brought me to Jesus and continue to bring me to Jesus….”

Now, of course, he has a worldwide music and worship ministry and has sung and given testimony to the grace of God in his life in every Spanish speaking country in the world.  PTL.

The Desert Warrior

Quoted from Giving Thanks, A Homecoming Video by Bill and Gloria Gaither.  Copyright © 2010 Spring House Productions, Inc.™    All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net      info@desertwarrior.net

The Leadership Question

10 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Conversations with an Elder, Reflections, Short Stories

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Tags

christianity, church discipline, leadership, maturity in Christ, religion, spiritual warfare, spirituality

Beyond the general maturity in Christ expected from all leaders, a few more questions might reveal the beliefs and values they hold on to when the going gets rough.  Many other questions could be added, but these get to the essence of whether or not this potential leader is ready for spiritual warfare and has some idea of what the strategic and tactical plan of God is in the context of the church.

1.  Is it possible for a leader of the church, one who truly loves God and has good intentions, to make fundamental and dangerous mistakes in morality, life and spiritual management of the church and be blind to it?      yes/no

2.  Which things are essential for every Christian (and even more so for a leader) to protect them from the ignorance, blindness and willfulness of the flesh?

  • the conviction and ministry of the Holy Spirit within,
  • the knowledge and ongoing application of the Word of God,
  • the fellowship (and accountability) of a group of mature and wise believers,
  • all of the above.

3.  Do you believe that there is a spiritual battle going on for the hearts and minds of every believer (including your own) and for the church as a whole with a particular focus on the leadership?     yes/no

4.  Do you believe that a leader of the church, including the Pastor, has the right and responsibility on their own to prohibit the use of a believer´s gifts in ministry within the church based on a general lack of maturity in the believer as judged by that same leader?      yes/no

5.  Do you believe that a leader of the church, including the Pastor, has the right and responsibility on their own to prohibit the presence of a believer (or non-believer) in the church for any reason or any sin whatsoever (other than temporarily because of an immediate physical threat of danger to themselves or others)?    yes/no

6.  When do you think it is appropriate to spiritually and publicly confront a leader, if ever?  How should a leader act when he is confronted in that way?  When is a rebuke spiritual and when is it an expression of the flesh?  Is our reaction to sin and flesh in others as deadly as the sin itself that we are offended by?

7.  What (and who) are you willing to fight for?  You can either have the status quo or the abundant life, but you can´t have both (until you arrive in Heaven).  What do you believe is the bottom line for the church?  When will you stand up and be counted, at least in an ultimate, defensive manner (since a proactive approach is what is really needed)?

Finally, is the job of the leaders to defend the church or to defend the gospel?  And no, those are not the same thing.  They are supposed to be, but they´re not.  Sadly.  If we defend the gospel, we defend the church.  If we defend the church, (most often from unsavory characters such as prophets or the least, the last, the lost and the losers) we may, in fact, be hindering the gospel.

Send me a comment with the answers you would give.  Privacy assured unless permission is given.  Pray.  Think.  Share.

The Desert Warrior

Reflections by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers. All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net     info@desertwarrior.net

Revealing the Glory

07 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Conversations with an Elder, Reflections, Short Stories

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John Eldredge, in his book Waking the Dead, talks about three eternal truths that we must “see” with the eyes of our heart.

1.  Things are not what they seem.

2.  This is a world at war.

3.  Each of us has a crucial role to play.

He goes on to talk about the “glory” that each of us has, and that it is essential to God´s plans that we reveal that glory, live in that glory and share that glory with others.  I would add that the “glory” is not only our creational gifts and abilities, but, first of all, our redemptive glory in Christ.  The creational integrated into and providing the real world context for the redemptive.  The redemptive empowering and focusing the creational.

The key concept that Mr. Eldredge uses to convey these ideas is the famous phrase from St. Irenaeus.   “The glory of God is man fully alive.”  I would add, for clarification, “in Christ.”

The glory of God is man fully alive in Christ.

Man was made in the image of God.  That is our creational glory which is muted and tarnished by our rebellion so that it is but a mere glimmer of it´s former glory.

An essential part of that glory, lost through rebellion and sin, was the intimate relational glory of man´s conscious, loving connection with his Father and Creator.  Man was created in his very nature to be fully alive only in an ongoing, intimate relationship with his Maker.

The moral life is dependent on the relational.  

Since morality expresses itself in relationships, it must find its power in the love and safety of the primal relationship with our Creator, as our Provider and Protector, because no other relationship is strong enough to survive in this dangerous world.  How could it be otherwise in a world infused with and totally dependant on the ongoing presence and favor of it´s Maker?  He has not left us to our own purposes.  He has intervened and confronted and transformed our evil into a new relationship with Him.

This in-between place, this abnormal existence, deludes us into thinking that independence from an intimate relationship with God is an option, that God´s justice will somehow be controlled by His love rather than be fulfilled by the cross, calling us to a new lifestyle of dependence and obedience to our Maker, whether we like it or not.  And we don´t.   At least, not at first.

Man re-created in the image of God through Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, restoring the relationship between man and his Father and Creator is our redemptive glory.  Created in the image of God, fallen, rebellious, evil but re-created in the image of Christ.  From beginning to end, life is relational.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Romans 8:18 (NIV)

Therefore, the glory of God, the nature and character of God, is revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ in us.  Our new bodies, our adoption as sons, our hope of glory is the result of something that is already within us, namely, the Holy Spirit of God, which is our guarantee of resurrection to new life now and when Christ returns.

The glory of God is the cross of Christ.

The cross of Christ, the nature and person and work of Jesus Christ, is the most valuable thing in the entire universe to God.  It is because of the value of Jesus Christ, God Himself, that his suffering and death can substitute for and be sufficient for all of the sins of the world, even though it is only efficient for some.

To the degree that we also live in the glory of the cross and resurrection of Christ, to that degree the glory of God is revealed in us now and will be fully revealed in us creationally (through a new, powerful, resurrected body in a new heavens and a new earth) and redemptively (through final, and complete freedom from the corrupting influence of sin within us and the full liberation of the Holy Spirit´s influence in us, without barriers, without limit), the true hope and focus of the resurrection.

To the degree that we pursue and live out the value and centrality of the cross in our lives, to that degree, we reveal the glory of God in us.

To the degree that we walk in step with the Spirit in abundant life, as part of a fellowship of believers, to that degree we reveal the glory of God in us.

To the degree that we seek to please God above all and pursue Him with all of our hearts, casting down every idol, every pretension that sets itself up in our lives as a barrier between us and God, to the degree that we are willing to live out the miracle of wanting to sacrifice anything and everything to please the God who truly likes us, and loves us, enough to endure hell for us, to that degree we reveal the glory of God in us.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs
– heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,
if indeed we share in his sufferings
in order that we may also share in his glory.
Romans 8:17 (NIV)

To the degree that we are willing to be trained, to grow, to become the kind of people that God sees when He looks at us, and to do so out of gratitude and love rather than necessity and fear, to that degree we reveal the glory of God in us.

Finally, to the degree that we live a life of loving obedience to his priorities, goals, purposes and plans, using every gift, every ability, every treasure, talent, time and thought, living with a redemptive focus in a creational context, to that degree we reveal the glory of God in us.

Perhaps it will not be so clear now, but certainly before the throne of God where everything will come to light, this revealation of the glory of God in our lives, this miracle of grace to which we responded in our weakness and frailty, this glory which is ours only in Christ, and only to the degree that we live out of our true selves in Christ, this redemptive new creation glory will be made known and we will share in the joy of our Master, casting our crowns before Him in humble and true recognition that none of it was possible without His intervention of grace.

We are significant to the purposes of God since it is only the miracle of His glory in us that can change the heart of man.  It cannot be about propositional truths only, as important as they are.  The power of evangelism is a transformed heart fully alive to God in Christ.

It has to do with the real transformation of the heart of man by the ongoing glory of the cross in salvation and sanctification.  Redeemed by the cross but also living out the glory of the cross in our daily lives by crucifying our old nature and flesh through confession and repentance and carrying that cross with us as we follow him.  It is a lifestyle-yoke which is easy and light because it is the enslaving, will-limiting yoke of love, requiring us to live in the freedom of forgiveness for ourselves and others (even our enemies) with the goal of reconciliation and spiritual unity.

Love is what makes this world bearable and Divine love rooted in the cross is the only power that can transform evil into good.  That is the glory of God.  The cross shows Him as He truly is in His justice and in His love.  Love does not forgive by dismissing justice but by fulfilling it.  The message of sin and despair and hell is essential to the glory of God.  Our situation is much worse than we can imagine.  We are arrogant when we should be ashamed of ourselves before God as we try to live out our lives as if He doesn´t exist, His will doesn´t matter, as if we are gods unto ourselves.

That arrogance will be revealed in us to our judgment in this life and before the throne of God on the Day of Judgment.  Either our arrogance, that is, or God´s glory will be revealed in us through a cross rooted lifestyle of confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation with the goal of spiritual unity in our joint purpose in Christ.  Either our arrogance will be revealed to our judgment or God´s glory will be revealed in us to our salvation and joy.  It is not cheap grace after all but, rather, the most expensive grace possible, a price we could never pay, which is why it´s free.  The power of evangelism is the glory of God lived out in the daily lives of God´s people.    

It has to do with the radical nature of the  resurrection-empowered presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer demonstrated….

  • when we live out a lifestyle of repentance and forgiveness with the goal of reconciliation and spiritual unity in the fellowship of believers,
  • when we love our enemies (and our frienemies) even if  they remain our enemies (or frienemies),
  • when we give grace to those who deserve nothing but our anger and contempt,
  • when we impoverish ourselves for the sake of the gospel (Word) and the needy (Deed), even if their ongoing enmity toward Christ, or their poverty and need is their own fault,
  • when we treat one another as we are in Christ rather than as we are in the flesh (even when we continue to be in the flesh),
  • when we prioritize the poor and powerless in society and in the church and identify ourselves with them (whether they are Christians or not) and
  • when we live in humble awareness of our ongoing sinful tendencies and constant need for His intervening and confrontative grace and respond wholeheartedly (imperfectly, inconsistently, partially though it may be).

This is the radical nature of the normal Christian life, uncommon as it is.  

It is a miracle of His grace, after all, given to those who seek Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength by keeping the value and centrality of the cross first and foremost in their lives.  The abundant life is not automatic.  It is a relationship after all.  It requires comittment, loyalty, faith, hope and love.  Just like any relationship but even more with God.  The abundant life is a product of walking in the Spirit.  It has the conditions and requirements that all relationships have.  Our eternal life, the timeless relationship itself may be secure but living it out is a process, a journey, a transformation over time.  There is a process of going deeper in and further back.  Just like all relationships.  It is not enough to be married, we must also be, and stay, in love for this relationship to bear fruit – not for salvation, not to avoid divorce, but, rather, to find the joy, the power and the purpose of the relationship.

The abundant life is a miracle of God´s grace.  It is interactive.  We must respond, but He empowers us to respond.  He creates the desire, we develop that desire into obedience in the context of the desert (just like all the creational gifts He gives us).  He gives us the gift of grace, and faith and the miracle of wanting to please Him, just because we can.  But we must respond.  We must make every effort.  We must work, fight, whatever metaphor you want, but we must value the relationship and show it (at the expense of our pride).  That is the abundant life which is full of the presence and power of the joy of the Lord.  It is the pearl of great price.

And we,
who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord´s glory,
are being transformed into his likeness
with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord,
who is the Spirit.
I Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)

We are significant to God because, by the glory of the cross, we now have the ability to please Him or grieve Him, as a child can please or grieve his natural father, with our behavior, intentions and motivations.

We are significant to God because we are channels of His grace, broken, earthen pots, that reveal the glory of a man or woman fully alive in Christ.

Why do you think the Devil spends so much time and energy, in our lives and in the life of the church, distracting us from the essential, strategic importance of the cross, not only in preaching but in the daily reality of how we relate to one another in the body of Christ?  Often the preaching of the cross does not translate to living out the value of the cross in the fellowship of the believers.  There is a blindness, a deception, an ignorance and even willful disobedience, excuses, justifications, rationalizations, anything to avoid the transparency of confession, the vulnerability, difficulties and effort of a lifestyle of repentance.  Anything to avoid the humility (and shame) of forgiveness (both giving and asking) and the inter-dependent priority and value of reconciliation (spiritual unity, value and prioritization of those we normally would prefer not to associate with – the least, the last, the lost, the loser).

The church is the battleground for the glory of God.  The glory of God revealed in us through Jesus Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit, rooted in the cross, demonstrates itself in confession, repentance, forgiveness and, above all, reconciliation and spiritual unity.

Christ in us, the hope of glory
Colossians 1:27b (NIV)

It is not only about salvation, but about our sanctification, our maturity in Christ, our walk in the Spirit, our revealing of the glory of God redemptively and creationally by living a lifestyle of repentance with the goal of reconciliation.  That is the source of power in the Christian life and it will bring the transforming anointing of the presence and pleasure of God into our lives personally, and, even more importantly, corporately, as a body of believers.

Spiritual unity in the body of Christ is a miracle of the intervening grace of God as we live out the value and centrality of the cross in our personal and body life.

Therefore, there is one more change that must be made to the famous saying of St. Ireneaus.  It isn´t only about individuals but about the body in Christ.  The body is made up of individuals who reveal the glory of God personally in their daily lives, no doubt, but we must not shy away from the goal of bringing the fellowship, as a group, as a body, into the glory of God rooted in the cross.

The glory of God is a body of believers fully alive in Christ
in spiritual unity with God and others.

The key to that kind of spiritual unity as an expression of ongoing reconciliation within the church between each other and God, is the leadership.  If true fellowship is not practiced there, fiercely and with determination, then the consequences for the rest of the church will be severe.

The thing to remember is that we will be opposed.  Opposed by the flesh (even and especially our own), the world, and, especially, the Devil.  It is important to be aware of the Devil´s schemes, our weaknesses, and the world´s distractions.

If you can “see” with a heart that truly wants to understand and follow the ways of the Lord, you will recognize the validity of these three eternal truths that Mr. Eldredge shares with us.  Things are not what they seem.  This is a world (and a church and a marriage and a life) at war.  Each of us has a crucial role to play.

The Desert Warrior

Ref.  Eldredge, John,  Waking the Dead – The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2003).

Reflections by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net    info@desertwarrior.net

Footnotes and references included in original manuscript.

Maturity in Christ

06 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Conversations with an Elder, Reflections, Short Stories

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We are either cursed or blessed by the leaders we have chosen.

Rather than choose leaders, learn to recognize the leaders that God has chosen.

Maturity in Christ is necessary for recognizing maturity in Christ.

Maturity in Christ is not only about consistent moral and social behavior.  Even more importantly, since we will most certainly sin, it is about the humble ability to deal with our sin at the foot of the cross.  It is about confession and repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation, despite the embarrassment, despite the judgment, despite the loss of social status.  Simply because the cross, and our relationship with God is more important to us than anything else.  Period.

Understanding God´s goal of reconciliation in Christ through our holiness and ministry is an essential ingredient in recognizing spiritual maturity in Christ.

Maturity in Christ is not always wise, not always safe, and, certainly, not always appreciated, even, and often especially, within the church.

Maturity in Christ is a thorn in the flesh to leaders who value peace and the status quo above the ministry of reconciliation and spiritual unity of the church which can be messy and difficult and forces us to pray fervently for one another.

Maturity in Christ is often seen as immaturity to the worldly minded because it is vulnerable, transparent and, even, confrontative by it´s very nature, as it should be.

Without maturity in Christ, a leader is, at best, a wise and able manager, at worst, a barrier to spiritual growth for themselves and others.

Maturity in Christ is about the centrality of the cross in a life of humility and grace with a focus on pleasing God above all.

Maturity in Christ engages in spiritual warfare with humility and grace even when others claim that there is no humility and grace in our spiritual warfare.

Maturity in Christ is prophetic because it challenges the status quo in pursuit of the abundant life of true reconciliation with God and man in spiritual unity.

Maturity in Christ is priestly because it labors in prayer for the very ones it challenges prophetically, including itself.

Maturity in Christ is kingly because it shows the path to abundant living in its own example of holiness, grace and life ministry regardless of popular opinion.

Maturity in Christ is about the humble confession of sin to God and one another.  It is not merely apology, but rather admitting that we were in rebellion against God, or in ignorance or blindness, but still missing His mark, in our behavior towards others.

Maturity in Christ is about a lifestyle of repentance in the context of the fellowship and spiritual unity of believers, the only true marks of the presence of the Holy Spirit individually and corporately.

Maturity in Christ is about forgiveness, even when the other person doesn´t ask for it, or confess and repent of it, not because the sin doesn´t matter, not just because we should love one another, but because the payment for that sin was the cross and we accept it as sufficient for ourselves and others.

Maturity in Christ is about reconciliation and spiritual unity in prayer, worship and kingdom work, a true unity of the heart where we determine to see, value and treat the other in the Spirit and not in the flesh, even if they continue to live in the flesh.  To see them as God sees them, in Christ, as their true selves, blameless and without spot or blemish before the throne of God.

Maturity in Christ is about the value and centrality of the cross which will always be opposed fiercely by the enemy with whatever strategy he can devise, within and without the church, even, and especially, through those Christians and leaders who have fallen into the trap of placing politics and power and their own personal pride and “rightness”, often without realizing it, as more important than the life of repentance and the goal of reconciliation, which are the only true marks of spiritual maturity.

The Desert Warrior

Reflections by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net     info@desertwarrior.net

Footnotes and references included in original manuscript.

Arrogance

05 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Conversations with an Elder, Reflections, Short Stories

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Tags

arrogance, christianity, Humility, religion, shame, spirituality

There is no greater embarrassment

in heaven or on earth

than the arrogance of those

who ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Sadly, this applies to all of us.

*****

The Desert Warrior

Reflections by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net      info@desertwarrior.net

Weekly Update No. 4 (Crowdfunding Campaign)

05 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Adventure of Grace, Short Stories

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Tags

church, cross, Evangelism, grace, spirituality

The Eight Year Old Evangelist

I remember the day when I decided to write the story, The Eight Year Old Evangelist.  Obviously, the story is about my daughter, Michelle, who was eight years old and had more evangelistic zeal than our entire church put together.

We were living at Villa Los Pinos in Tigre, Buenos Aires.  Now, that sounds better than it was.  It was a beautiful property for sure.  Two thousand five hundred square meters of back yard, fifty four pine trees and fruit trees (yes, the girls counted them, every one), and grass everywhere.  A bear to take care of but a real pleasure nonetheless.  The swimming pool was falling apart but useable, but the house (and apartment) were almost unliveable when we first arrived.  Still, it was a real pleasure to live there.  It was a gift of God in a difficult time.  Low rent, no downpayment, but, boy, did it need a lot of TLC.  We painted, cleaned, fixed, scrubbed, and looked the other way until it was liveable….. and we were grateful.

We had visions of Villa Los Pinos becoming a spiritual retreat centre and headquaters (as well as a home) for our ministry.  So far, that hasn´t come to pass and we no longer live there.  But that´s another story.

Part of the deal for moving into the house was that we had to move out again a few months later (in December of that same year) since they had already rented it out for one month during the summer.  There was a small one-bedroom apartment (also a disaster) that we fixed up.  We stored our furniture and lived on the basics for a month in the summer while the other family enjoyed the back yard, the pool and the house.  Still, it was a blessing.

Michelle had gotten to know the kids and she was invited to play with them and use the pool when they were home and generally have a good time.  I wasn´t there when she stormed into our small apartment and said to my wife that the kids she was playing with were not Christians and that she would take her Bible and go over there and tell them about Jesus.  Absolutely precious. 

Of course, we were curious about what would happen…..

But it got me to thinking about our church.  We were going to an English speaking expatriate church in Buenos Aires.  Everyone who knows us and lives in Buenos Aires knows who we are talking about.  That´s an issue.  They say that you aren´t supposed to write about real people and events.  That you can get sued.  But our God is a God of reality and ministry is about dealing with reality.  So I wrote the story, told the truth, but changed the names (and sometimes the gender) of the people involved so that it would be a general rather than a specific story.

Still, I don´t think anyone over there even cares.  We don´t go to church there any more.  We go to the OTHER English-speaking expatriate church in the North Zone of Buenos Aires.  Everyone knows who they are too.

What do I mean, they don´t even care?  That is the sad thing.  They would probably agree with everything the story says, maybe add a few details for clarification, but not be ashamed of any of it.  The capacity of the human heart (including mine) to decieve itself is so great, it scares me.

The church building and grounds are beautiful.  The gardens and trees are a real treat.  The people are nice and friendly, but the church is as dead as a doornail.  No, that is not a judgment on individual people.  Many of them continue to be our friends.  It is discernment.  I believe that the difference between judgment and discernment is involvement and we were very involved.  I supported the pastor, my wife worked in the church as the Director of the preschool.  I preached.  We sang, cleaned, fixed, helped.  We came early and stayed late.  We did whatever was necessary.

We were identified with the poor and homeless that came to the church because we ministered to them, gave them money, clothes, shoes and lots of acceptance and love, and we got into trouble for it.  And they were a pain.  Some of them were real characters.  Scotty, Charles, Julio.  They ate more than their share of facturas and tea (with lots of sugar) after the morning service.  They smelled and they interrupted the worship service.  They asked for money.  They cried.  They laughed.  They sang (mostly out of tune).  They invited more of their friends off the street, because they knew that there was a friendly word, a helping hand, sometimes a few pesos or at least a bit of food that could be had on a Sunday morning.

We were a thorn in the flesh to the flesh of the church.  It´s not a role we wanted or looked for, but it seemed to happen by itself.  We were gentle (we thought), but we wouldn´t back up on the basics of the faith, like the cross, like feeding the poor and standing up for the powerless (even if they smell).  But nobody promised that we wouldn´t get into trouble for it.  Sometimes we have this idea that everything will have a Hollywood ending in this life (though it certainly will in the life to come).  But, often, you get into trouble (even with the church) when you try to follow God (however imperfectly).

So, there you have it.  The Eight Year Old Evangelist is a true story, a sad story, a story of the shame of the gospel (or not).

Frankly, we have found that many of the poor and homeless (like Scotty and Charles) do more evangelism on a weekly basis than the entire church on a yearly basis.

What does that say about us?  Yes, we are ashamed of the gospel.  We don´t need it desperately enough.  We still rely on our own resources and power and we have not yet been destroyed.  Our true flesh and arrogance and pride has not yet been revealed to us.  We haven´t yet understood that we are all homeless, we are all losers, we are all addicted to sin, pride and ego.  We are all in desperate need of the good news.  It is that humility, that awareness of our own need for grace, and the thankfulness that God has given us that grace in Jesus Christ, that is the foundation of the ministry of the church and our spiritual walk with God.

Jesus made the standard of obedience to him how we deal with the poor, the needy, the least, the last, the lost (yes, the LOSER).  There is no question about it. The Bible is abundantly clear on this issue.

Perhaps he did so because only in that context would our humility or our pride be shown for what it is.  The things we learn about ourselves and our faith in God are revealed in how we deal with those around us who smell and are inconveniences and different and a bother.  Forget about our enemies (yes, that too), it is how we deal with our brothers and sisters in Christ (especially the lowly ones) that is the litmus test of our faith.

Yes, the sad thing is that they don´t care.  If they would be upset about the story, if they would protest their innocence, if they would claim it wasn´t so, that would be good news.  It would indicate that there is some awareness of God´s standard of obedience in dealing with the poor and that they don´t want to fall short of it.  Then you can talk, you can discuss, you can even argue, about how, and when and where and what happened, and “you don´t understand, and what I was trying to say or trying to do was”…..that conversation would be wonderful.  I have no problem disagreeing with someone who is zealous for the things of God.  That would be a welcome discussion, a necessary process, like iron sharpening iron.

What I have a problem with, is people who simply don´t care.

So they got rid of us.  Had an official meeting.  Came up with some bogus reasons, some half-baked accusations, some misunderstandings.  Yes, there were other things going on about evangelism, pluralism and preaching the cross of Christ but that is in the story itself and I don´t want to give it all away here.  Suffice it to say, that it was more of the same.  And the process was a disaster.  No conversation, no heart-to-heart.  Just……go away.  So we went.  Who are we to defy the leadership of the church?  We never intended to do anything wrong.  So, we left.

After two years in the new church, we are leaving again.  Lord, how heavy my heart is.  It must be me.  It must be my flesh, my zeal, my lack of gentleness, my pride, my ego, my sin.  Forgive me for my blindness.  Restore to us the joy of our salvation and the favor of a fellowship dedicated to you.

Yes, we have left.  We were kicked out, again.  Basically, for the same reasons.  The poor seem to follow us around.  We have been identified with them.  The leadership comes to us to complain about them or to ask us to deal with them for some imagined (or real) slight or embarrasment.  Thank you, Lord, for that priviledge.

But when they publicly kick someone out because he asks for money (wouldn´t you if you were broke?) and they threaten to call the police if he comes back and he only wants to meet with me on the street because he is afraid to come into the house of God…..we are talking here about a Christian brother who is a street evangelist…..and he cries  on my shoulder …..a grown man….not able to handle, on top of everything else life has thrown at him, the rejection of the church, his own brothers and sisters in the Lord…..where else can he go?  He is alone, rejected, worthless…..noone sees his true self in Christ……my family surronding us and laying hands on him as he weeps…..yes, even my children and my eight year old (now ten year old) evangelist……and praying on a street corner near the church because there was no room, no place, no acceptance for him in the fellowship of believers……..then there comes a time when a public rebuke is necessary and the church as a whole needs to know what is going on and decide what kind of church it is going to be.

Well, that kind of thinking will get anyone in trouble.

Perhaps the point is, that following God is not an easy task.  There is no guarantee that even the church will not reject you, or throw you out.  The status quo is precious to people even though God has condemned the status quo as a deception of the Devil.  God wants us to grow in obedience and spiritual maturity.  Spiritual growth and the status quo are not compatible.  At least, not in this world, with the power of the flesh, the world and the Devil against us…..not when sin is automatic and the spirit takes dedicated effort…..not if you want to be useful to God and get your hands dirty and make a difference in the lives of real people in the power of the Holy Spirit as you share the good news of the power of God in the hearts of man through the cross of Christ.

Of course, that assumes that you actually want all this……but why bother?  It´s not very comfortable.  It´s rather inconvenient.  Takes up a lot of time.  It´s a lot of work and requires a lot of sacrifice…….

This time new accusations are made.  I am spiritually immature (of course, aren´t you?).  I lack self-control (I keep asking for forgiveness for my sins, so obviously I don´t have any victory over sin in my life…..or is the victory in the confession and repentance of the sin in the first place?).  But, even worse……I am machavillean (with evil intentions) and “the Bible warned us that people like you would arise in the church.”  (I am now either a wolf in sheeps clothing or the anti-christ).  Lord, please forgive them.  And show me where I am out of your will and how to conduct myself so that you are pleased with me.  Do I really give them that impression?  I always say that their list of accusations is shorter than my own list against myself and both of ours are nothing to the list of accusations that the Devil brings against us.  Thank God that all of the accusations are covered by the blood of Christ.  We do not deal in justice but in grace and that grace was bought with the blood of Christ because of the justice of God.

The problem is that kicking Scotty out of church was a line that I could not cross.  Sure, there are lots of things that I might disagree with the elders on.  Of course.  I have opinions but I can write about them here, in my blog, and get them off my chest.  But how do I condone kicking the poor out of the church?  How can I be in agreement with the corporate sin of the fellowship?  How can we have the anointing of God on our ministry, if we don´t minister to the poor (and everyone else)?  I just couldn´t find a way to continue working on Desert Warrior Ministries, much less be a part of the fellowship in the church, if I just let this go.

Sure, I could have handled it better.  I apologized for that later (again with the confessions of sins, how weak I must be).  I find that there is some flesh in everything that I do, so I end up confessing whatever the Lord makes me aware of…..but, the truth is, I could not let this pass.  I brought Scotty into the church after the service (he was waiting outside and scared to come in) and found the elder talking to a bunch of people, gentle and friendly, shaking everyone´s hand, a great preacher of the Word actually, and a genuinely good man.  Someone that I like and respect as a community and even a church leader.  I harbored the hope that it was all a big misunderstanding.

I brought Scotty to him and told him that Scotty was under the impression that he was not welcome in the church and that he, the elder, had threatened to call the police if Scotty showed up again.  He said that it was true and glared at Scotty as if to say “what are you doing here”….perhaps that is where my flesh got the upper hand in my own heart.  It was the arrogance of the leader, the bold faced assertion that he had the right to kick someone out of the church on his own authority if he wanted (without even consulting the rest of the elders, who ended up agreeing with him anyway after the fact).  He claimed that Scotty had lied to him about coming from Canada (Scotty´s english wasn´t that good), but who cares?  I don´t know if it´s true or not.  Even the elder didn´t know, really, if it was true or not.  He suspected that Scotty lied to him.  So what?  Are we kicking all liars out of church now?  Then I have to go and the leader has to go, in fact, all of us have to go…..what was this?  And it got worse from there.  People had gathered around and I raised my voice and made it clear that this was not of God.

He wasn´t so much embarassed as angry that I was challenging his authority.  What authority?  Last time I checked, no one had the authority to do anything in the church that Jesus would not do.  I can´t see Jesus kicking Scotty out and calling the police.  In fact, Jesus said, “Whatever you do to the least of these my brothers, you do it unto me.”

Of course, we already had a history of discussions in private and with the elder board about my involvement in the church.  This wasn´t the first time that they have accused me of doing something wrong.  He didn´t like how I prayed in a prayer meeting.  How I cried and was upset in a Men´s Bible Study because we pretended that everything was all right in the church when no one is ever saved and lives are not transformed.  How I rebuked this same leader in a more private setting for suggesting that Charles was a danger to the church and could not come to a congregational meeting when we talked about money as if he was a gangster or would hold up the meeting with a gun or something.  Who knows?   We just don´t want him there, was the position taken.  I had just prayed with him for safety on the streets because he had been threatened in the group home he was living in at nights……he leaves his extra meager possessions in my house, a few shirts and pants and a coat so they don´t get stolen……In any event, now I am an evil man.  Apparently, in their eyes, I have no respect for the church elders and their spiritual authority, my goal is to destroy the church and I have evil, machivillean intentions towards the leadership……Lord, how did this all go so wrong?  Yes, my flesh got the better of me.  Yes, there was probably a better way to handle it…..but since when do we throw people out of the church and then throw other people out of church for standing up to defend them?

Now, a few months later, there is a new pastor in the church.  My wife refuses to give up on the church even though she is in full agreement with what I did (minus the flesh parts).  She is a true spiritual warrior.  She believes, as I do, that God can use this situation to teach the church (and us) the value of spiritual unity on the basis of confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.  Not just sweep it under the rug.  Not just let time heal the wounds.  Not just let sleeping dogs lie.  No.  God confronts sin and pride and ego and demands confession and repentance.  God confronts pride, we negotiate, compromise, even ignore it.  After all, it is the most difficult thing to do, take the journey from pride to humility.  You can´t make anyone do it.  It is always a miracle of the grace of God.

For us, it is impossible to imagine that these leaders would ever confess their sin in this matter.  But what is impossible with man is possible with God.  Now there is a new elder and a new pastor and they want to talk.  My wife will meet with them first (at their request).  Will the miracle of the grace of God prevail? or will this just be more political maneuvering?  Psalm 133 tells us that the blessing of God rests upon those who are in unity with each other.  We know that spiritual unity is based on confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.  It is not the unity of compromise but the unity of obedience and loyalty to the same Master.

I don´t know the end of the story yet.

The Eight Year Old Evangelist continues to inspire me.  It has led me to the story of Scotty (which I have yet to write) and perhaps the story of the triumph of God´s grace in our church fellowship and a renewed commitment to the priorities of God and the centrality, necessity and value of the cross.  It may lead us to a growing, changing, developing ministry rather than the status quo.  And that would please you immensely, Lord, I know.   We want to be useful to you, Lord, in building your Kingdom and revealing your glory.

One of those same elders, an older man, who has been a Pastor for the Spanish service for many years, asked me once, why the church doesn´t grow.  I told him what I honestly thought.

We, as a church and especially the leaders, do not seek the anointing of God with all of our hearts.  If we did, we would crucify our pride and confess our sins one to another, help each other to repent, forgive one another in Christ and treat each other as we are in Christ not as we are in the flesh, which brings true reconciliation and spiritual unity.  On that basis, in humility and spiritual power, we can minister in the anointing power of God to everyone who comes to us without shame or discrimination.

We lack the power of transforming lives because our life is not transformed.  Frankly, that is always the answer and the solution.  (I found out later that he was offended by my answer and that, too, became another reason why I was asked to leave.)

Lord, will they even care that I write these “truths” about them.  They can hardly deny that this is what happened but, hopefully, your Holy Spirit will stir up some anger, some concern, some sort of explanation or justification why this interpretation of the facts is not so.  Hopefully, they will care enough to fight back and then, perhaps, your new servant, the new pastor, can say something, do something (bathed in prayer and dependence on you) that will help the scales to fall from their eyes, so that they can see and repent and be restored.  And then there can be reconciliation in the church.  That is always the way that division in the church must be handled.  Anything else is fake and powerless.

Lord, I pray for them with all my heart.  It doesn´t matter whether or not we go back to church there (although we would like to if it is in the context of true spiritual unity).  Lord, I pray for them because they are your children, they truly have good intentions, they are good people.  They simply haven´t learned  the power of the flesh to keep you in ignorance, blindness and willfulness.  Lord, help them to learn that they can be good people, love you and have good intentions and still mess up big time and be blind to it, even (especially) as elders.  After all, there is a spiritual war going on.  Things are not what they seem and each of us, especially the leaders, has a crucial role to play.

Lord, help them to see that there is spiritual warfare going on all the time and that the heart and soul of our church fellowship is at stake.  Lord, help them to understand that our own hearts are our biggest enemy and that we need the fellowship of believers to help us uncover our blind spots as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Being an elder isn´t about getting it right all the time.  It´s about having the humility to go to the cross immediately when you become aware of your flesh and sin.  That humility before the cross of Christ in the hearts of men and women, so rare and difficult to obtain, is the glory of God and the reason why nothing of importance can happen without prayer.

And you will reveal that glory in us, both as individuals and a church, both now and before your throne.  That glory, the power of the cross in the hearts of men, is why the world continues on.  It is the great adventure.  It is the goal and purpose of creation.  That ministry of reconciliation is the power of God for salvation and sanctification and it will empower our church to minister to the Spanish and English communities throughout the region.  I know that is your will, Lord.  Make us useful to you in your great rescue effort for the hearts of our families and friends and community.

Lord, we so desperately need your power and presence in our lives.  Fill us with the certainty that we have your anointing because we dedicate ourselves to spiritual unity rooted in the cross.  This ministry of reconcililation is the heart of what the church is and does.  It is difficult to see our pride much less crucify it (me too).  We need each other to help search out and destroy our blind spots and to keep each other accountable in humility and thankfulness, to help each other to stay at the foot of the cross in that sweet spot of grace.  We need to keep our discipleship rooted in the humility of our own need for grace.

That is what I leaned from my Eight Year Old Evangelist.  The simplicity of the truth, the humility of love and the natural result of evangelism and discipleship as expressions of the ministry of reconciliation.  I truly wish we were all eight years old.

“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”   – Jesus    (Matthew 18:3 NIV).

The Desert Warrior

An Adventure of Grace – Our Crowdfunding Journey by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by van Kregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net        info@desertwarrior.net

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  • Change Requires Learning the Truth by Pastor Rick Warren pastorrick.com/devotional/eng… Desert Warrior Ministries 2 days ago
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The Desert Warrior

Artwork by Astray-Engel.

All rights reserved by Artist. Used with permission. Click artwork for details of the Creative Commons License.

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© 2012 vanKregten Publishers and Desert Warrior Ministries. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to vanKregten Publishers, Desert Warrior Ministries and/or Bert A. Amsing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Specific reprint permission will be granted upon request via email for inclusion in digital and print media.

Scripture Copyright

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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