Priorities

Middle Class, Where Art Thou?

Posted on May 26, 2012 by mcalmond

It is not the responsibility of Leadership to increase the size of the church. It is not the responsibility of Leadership to grow up and mature the church. It is not responsibility of leadership to do all of the work of the ministry for the church. The mandate of Leadership is to assist, help, pray for, cover (protect) encourage, guide, train, equip, and facilitate. It is the responsibility of the Church to reproduce, to mature, and to do the work of the ministry, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and through the living and alive Word of God, Worship and Prayer.

However, the church of America is not growing, Christians are not, generally maturing, and the work of the ministry is being done by the oh so very few and watched by the many. This is why the few are so lifted up and exalted. We, as the Church are all called as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession (1 Pet 2:9). This nation of the USA is our nation and our calling as a Church to reach and influence, for the Kingdom of Almighty God and our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. In the previous post, “What In The World Are We Doing?”, I wrote of my deepening concern regarding the Church and a few of the general issues I see as severely detrimental to its growth, maturity and healthy development, on a personal level. These issues seem to stem from some basic assumptions being made by those in primary leadership and influence that has caused much of the church’s focus and ministry to become directed toward the lowest common denominator, thus creating a ministry of co-dependency, immaturity and laziness.

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Categories: A Genuine Heart Cry, Accountability, Anointing, Breaking Forth, Christian Maturity, Church Forms, Discipleship, Misplaced Dependency, Priorities, Steadfastness, Training, Word, Work of God | 4 Comments

The Night of My Calling

Posted on January 7, 2012 by mcalmond

Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. Joel 3:14 (ESV)

I was up in the beautiful Cascade Mountains at a church campground. We had been there for several days. The evening meetings had been unusually powerful that week. One night after the service, I had gone down to the altar for a time of prayer and of seeking the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.

At some point, I laid down on the dusty plywood floor and ended up on my back with my hands extended up to the Lord Jesus. As I lay there praying and seeking the Lord Jesus, I began to have a vision.

At first I saw the Lord Jesus on the cross. He turned his head and pierced my heart and soul with his very eyes. He asked me what I had done with what I had been given? I knew the answer was nothing.

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Categories: Anointing, Calling, Calvary, Celebration, Darkness, Death on the Cross, Dying to Self Will, God's Faithfulness, Grace, Hell, Holy Ghost Burdens, Last Days, Mercy, Ministry Motivation, Obedience, Priorities, Prophetic Revelation, Repentance, Work of God | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

What Really Matters

Posted on November 13, 2011 by mcalmond

There is within the verse found in Ecclesiastes 4:8 a question that is posed. It is a question that has nagged me positively over and throughout the years; “For whom am I toiling…?” It is an important question. It is a question that helps me look beyond myself or situation and discover my genuine heart and motives in any given circumstance. I find that when this question arises in me, I must be careful to not answer it hastily or presumptuously. It is a question that the Lord Jesus is using to probe and expose what is going on inside of me, truly.

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Categories: Abiding, Absolute Dependency, Authenticity, Belief System, Breaking Forth, Calling, Christian Maturity, Dependency, Growing in Faith, Humility, Intimacy, Obedience, Pastor, Prayer, Presumptions, Priorities, Reflections | 2 Comments

Will The Real Church Stand Up?

Posted on November 5, 2011 by mcalmond

There is truly only one universal church. This universal church is, in spirit and in truth, The True Church or The Body of Christ Jesus. It is made up of many and varied members. These members are those found throughout the world in various local church fellowships, missions, organizations and denominations, etc.; a scattering of salt throughout the world. They may not be fully aware of their place strategically within the Body of Christ Jesus, but as genuine believers in Christ Jesus they should be aware that they are indeed a part of the Body of Christ Jesus. It is in so many ways a church without boundaries, for it is a church of the Spirit. For me, this is the bottom line.

Not everyone who says they are a believer is a believer in spirit and in truth. This is also true of the church, not everyone or every church, mission, organization, etc. is actually a genuine part of the Body of Christ Jesus just because they claimed to be. Having said all of this I am aware of a very real danger. This danger is that one would leap into trying to discern that which is the true church and that which isn’t? I am saying that this is a danger in that we are not exactly called to this. We could say as scripture says, that we shall know them by their fruit and this would also be true for the church or churches as it is for individuals or even nations, etc.

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Categories: A Genuine Heart Cry, Abiding, Absolute Dependency, Anointing, Authenticity, Awakening, Being Built Up, Belief System, Believer, Body of Christ, Boundaries, Breaking Forth, Calling, Character, Christian Maturity, Church, Death, Dependency, Disobedience, Dying to Self Will, Empowerment, Family, Fear of God, Finding the Right Church, Flesh, Genuineness, God's Righteousness, Grace, In Spirit and In Truth, Last Days, Loving One Another, Ministry Motivation, Now Word, Open Ears, Open Eyes, Presumptions, Priorities, Process, Prophetic, Readiness, Repentance, Simplicity, Spirit, Standing in Faith, Steadfastness, Surrender, Teaching, The Power of God, Training, Truth, Word, Word of God, Work of God, Worship | 2 Comments

The Great Falling Away

Posted on October 29, 2011 by mcalmond

The Lord Jesus Christ one day while he was teaching asked a vitally important question. This question is almost too easily overlooked because of the way that it came forth. His question arose at the end of his teaching. He was telling a parable of the importance of persevering in faith, in earnest prayer, of how we need to be those who learn the power of and value of our praying through until we have what we are seeking the Lord.  For in Spirit and Truth, He is willing, just and ready to answer our prayers. As the Lord was finished sharing his brief parable, suddenly, almost as a passing thought Jesus says, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8 ESV)

Will we as believers persevere in faithful prayer, in genuine faith, while waiting for the Lord’s return? Or will we give up and walk away, throwing in the towel, turning around and no longer walking in the faith, hope and love of the Lord Jesus Christ?

We live in crucial times with rapidly accelerating darkness and sin all around us. We live in a time that all too quickly approaches, what the Word of God refers to as the time of The Rebellion, The Apostasy, The Great Falling Away.

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Categories: Anointing, Apostasy, Awakening, Being Built Up, Belief System, Believer, Body of Christ, Boundaries, Breaking Forth, Calling, Darkness, Dependency, Disobedience, Dying to Self Will, Edification, Empowerment, Encouragement, Exhortation, Faith, Fear of God, Flesh, Following Through, Genuineness, God Faith, God's Faithfulness, Grace, Growing in Faith, His Chosen, Holy Spirit, Hope, Knowledge, Last Days, Mercy, Ministry, Noise and Distractions, Now Word, Obedience, Open Ears, Open Eyes, Openness, Paradigm Shift, Persecution, Perseverance, Prayer, Presumptions, Priorities, Process, Profession, Promises, Readiness, Relationship, Rest, Righteousness, Rock, Salvation, Saving Faith, Seeking The Lord Jesus, Source, Spirit, Spirit of Truth, Spiritual Warfare, Standing in Faith, Steadfastness, Teacher, Teaching, Tenaciousness, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving, The Lord Jesus, Victory, Vulnerability, Waiting on the Lord, Witness, Word, Word of God, Work, Worship | Leave a comment

Awaken To His Praise, His Worship, For Now!

Posted on October 22, 2011 by mcalmond

In 2007, the Lord gave me this word and I wrote out what follows below. I ran across it again this evening and realized that this is already beginning to take place. There is, however, a very real concern, no, a very real growing burden that there will be, as there always seems to be, those who will stubbornly or even defiantly remain in what they know and have known for however long and won’t be open to nor respond appropriately to His, our Lord and Saviors call.

I pray the Lord will rise up and once again confirm His Word for His People to Awake and Arise in His Worship. May He continue to break forth His Anointing for His Worship, His Prophetic Worship Within and Through His Church. May we all by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit surrender to all that He is saying and bless the Lord, doing today! May we once again so deeply hunger and thirst for the Lord Jesus Christ to have His Way With Us All, that we indeed not only cry out but yield, surrender in eyes wide open genuine and authentic saving faith. Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ!

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Categories: Anointing, Authenticity, Awakening, Body of Christ, Breaking Forth, Calling, Church, Churches, Communion, Dependency, Dying to Self Will, Edification, Empowerment, Exhortation, Father, Genuineness, God Faith, Grace, His Gift of Love, His Praise, His Worship, Holy Ghost Burdens, Hope, Humility, illumination, In Spirit and In Truth, Intimacy, Mercy, Ministry, Now Word, Obedience, Open Ears, Open Eyes, Openness, Paradigm Shift, Pastor, Prayer, Presumptions, Priorities, Prophetic, Prophetic Actions, Prophetic Revelation, Prophetic Worship, Relationship, Spiritual Hunger and Thirst, Spiritual Warfare, Steadfastness, Stirrings, Surrender, Thanksgiving, The Lord Jesus, The Power of God, Timing, Transcendence, Word of God, Work of God, Worship | Leave a comment

Let Us Arise, Yet Again!

Posted on October 8, 2011 by mcalmond

There is so very much more than we are experiencing in and of Christ Jesus. There is so very much more of the Kingdom of God than we know or understand. There is so very much more of life in the Spirit than we are living out on a daily basis. There simply is so very much more yet to do and that needs to be done; I for one, long to know, do and experience the more. I also am haunted by what I have known, have accomplished or think I know. I also understand how tempting, as I get older, it is to remain in what I have come to know and experience.

What I mean is, that what I have known, done or think I know of Christ Jesus and the Kingdom of God, seems at times to get in the way of the more. It gets in the way by having captured my attention, my heart and the battles that were for or needed to contend for it has passed. Yesterdays victories become all too easily today’s excuses. As I look forward to the more, this means more battles, contending, more stretching, more dying, more of that which we already and all too often resist in our growing in the Lord Jesus Christ. This looking forward seems to be less and less attractive when I honestly consider the cost of the past. While I know that nothing of what life and ministry has cost us compares to that sacrifice of Christ Jesus, it still, for us remains a very tangible, real and essential counting of the cost. We have given our all so many times, yet the call remains, to surrender our all yet once again.

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Categories: A Genuine Heart Cry, Abiding, Absolute Dependency, Anointing, Awakening, Belief System, Believer, Body of Christ, Breaking Forth, Calling, Character, Christian Maturity, Church, Commands, Confidence, Covering, Dependency, Dying to Self Will, Edification, Empowerment, Encouragement, Exhortation, Faith, Family, Father, Fear of God, Flesh, Following Through, Foundations, Genuineness, God's Faithfulness, God's Love, Grace, Healing, His Chosen, His Gift of Love, Holiness, Holy Ghost Burdens, Hope, Humility, In Spirit and In Truth, Inspiration, Light, Ministry, Mother, Noise and Distractions, Now Word, Obedience, Persecution, Perseverance, Pioneering, Prayer, Priorities, Process, Promises, Readiness, Relationship, Rest, Resurrection Life, Righteousness, Sacrifice, Seeking The Lord Jesus, Self Justification, Selfishness, Selflessness, Separatism, Simplicity, Spiritual Fathers/Mothers, Spiritual Warfare, Standing in Faith, Steadfastness, Tenaciousness, Thanksgiving, The Lord Jesus, The Lord's Fullness, The Power of God, Timing, Truth, Victory, Wind of the Spirit, Witness, Word, Word of God | Leave a comment

Who’s Word Is It?

Posted on September 24, 2011 by mcalmond

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV) All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

It seems that in the last 100 years or so, Bible Translators have radically changed their approach and philosophy concerning this revered and all too often under valued work, Bible Translation. We have moved from the all too common, word for word or essentially literal translation approach to Bible Translation, to what is currently referred to as the “functional equivalency (FE) or dynamic equivalency (DE)” approach. Another description for this latter approach is “thought for thought” or “meaning for meaning” translation philosophy.

In general, dynamic equivalency claims that it isn’t the original words that we need to capture in translation but the thoughts or ideas of the original writers, what they meant by what they said. It is also believed that what is needed is for the translator to recapture the impact for today’s reader that was intended by the original writer’s words, ideas, or thoughts, as they impacted their original audiences. This has only increased in scope and breadth until we have bibles such as the Message being promoted as a translation when in truth it most certainly is not.

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Categories: A Genuine Heart Cry, Abiding, Authenticity, Awakening, Bible Translations, Bibles, Body of Christ, Boundaries, Calling, Character, Church, Church History, Churches, Commands, Communion, Confidence, Darkness, Death, Dying to Self Will, Exhortation, Fear of God, Fields of Ministry, Foundations, Genuineness, Growing in Faith, Hermeneutics, History, Holy Spirit, Homiletics, Hope, illumination, Inspiration, Intellectualism, Isolation, Light, Ministry, Obedience, Pastor, Post Modern, Presumptions, Priorities, Process, Prophetic, Question, religious idolatry, Repentance, Simplicity, Spiritual Warfare, Steadfastness, Teaching, Theology, True Love, Unrighteous Ambition, Vulnerability, Word, Word of God, Work of God | Leave a comment

I’m No Scholar, I’m Just a Guy

Posted on September 3, 2011 by mcalmond

Acts 4:13 (NKJV) Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

I can think of no greater compliment than that one was recognized as having been with Jesus. I believe that for me, this is genuinely my goal in life, to become one who is recognized as having been with Jesus. To become one whose life was so changed and impacted by the Life of Christ Jesus that while my other deficiencies may be noted, Christ Jesus is still readily visible and evident in and through my life.

 As was true of Peter and John, I would find myself, in regards to ministry, as fairly uneducated and common. I come from a line, albeit brief line (grandpa, dad and myself), of uneducated and common men who loved the Lord and believed that Jesus had called them to follow Him and so they picked up their Bibles and did so.

 My grandfather was saved out of the Navy shortly after World War 2 under Amy Semple McPherson’s ministry. He believed that he was called into the ministry as preacher of the Lord Jesus. He bought a tent, a flatbed truck (to use as a platform for services and to haul the tent), picked up his Bible and went preaching the Word of God.

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Categories: A Simple Faith, Abiding, Absolute Dependency, Anointing, Authenticity, Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Being Built Up, Belief System, Benefits, Body of Christ, Breaking Forth, Calling, Christian Maturity, Church, Churches, Confidence, Dad, Dependency, Empowerment, Encouragement, Faith, Family, Father, Following Through, Foundations, Genuineness, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Growing in Faith, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit Benefits, Holy Spirit Hearing, Holy Spirit Listening, Holy Spirit Seeing, Hope, Humility, illumination, In Spirit and In Truth, Inspiration, Ministry, Ministry Motivation, Now Word, Obedience, Open Ears, Open Eyes, Openness, Pastor, Pioneering, Prayer, Preaching, Priorities, Process, Promises, Reflections, Relationship, Rhema, Righteousness, Seeking The Lord Jesus, Simplicity, Source, Speaking in Tongues, Spirit, Surrender, Teaching, Thanksgiving, The Power of God, Theology, Training, Transcendence, True Love, Truth, Vulnerability, Waiting on the Lord, Word, Work of God | 2 Comments

Is It All About Knowledge, Really?

Posted on August 27, 2011 by mcalmond

It is how you live in Christ Jesus that is all important, not just what you know. Having said this, there has been many times in and throughout history when this issue of knowledge for knowledge sake, came to a head. It was this issue of Knowledge first, over the simplicity of Knowing Jesus first that seemed to be what the battle was about.

For example, there was a time in the later middle ages when the theologians of that day had gone so far as to create a theology that no one but they themselves could understand or relate to. Their theology had become increasingly complex and stood in direct contrast to the simplicity of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. As this gap widened, so did the reactions of the people. Their reactions were focused upon a theology that was fraught with an over emphasis of subtleties, developing its own exclusive and elitist language with an insistence upon precise definitions and fine distinctions, theologically.

In the book, “Imitation of Christ”, we discover what was the commonly held belief’s of the day, beliefs that were reactions against the theologians and their theology of the day. Here is a taste of it (1.1.3):

“What good is it for you to be able to discuss the Trinity with great profundity, if you lack humility, and thereby offend the Trinity?”

“Verily, high sounding words do not make one holy and just. But a life of virtue does make one acceptable to God.”

“It is better to feel repentance, than to be able to define it.”

“Were you to memorize the entire Bible and all the sayings of the philosophers, what good would this be for you without the love of God and without grace?”

“Vanities of vanities. All is vanity, except loving God and serving only God.”

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Categories: A Simple Faith, A Simple Reminder, Abiding, Absolute Dependency, Anointing, Authenticity, Character, Church History, Communion, Confidence, Core Values, Dependency, Edification, Elitism, Empowerment, Faith, Foundations, Genuineness, Grace, Growing in Faith, His Chosen, History, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit Benefits, Humility, Intellectualism, Intimacy, Knowledge, Ministry, Ministry Motivation, Obedience, Priorities, Questions, Readiness, Reflections, Relationship, Rest, Resurrection, Resurrection Life, Revelation, Righteousness, Rock, Seeking The Lord Jesus, Separatism, Simplicity, Source, Standing in Faith, Steadfastness, Surrender, Teacher, Teaching, Tenaciousness, The Lord Jesus, The Lord's Fullness, The Power of God, Theology, Training, Transcendence, Transformation, Truth, Victory, Word, Word of God, Work of God | 2 Comments

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