God’s Laughter, & Ours

God’s Laughter, & Ours                                                               by Kelly Durant  7-27-14

Psalm 126:2 “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.”

2. A little boy opened the big and old family Bible with fascination, and looked at the old pages as he turned them. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible, and he picked it up and looked at it closely. It was an old leaf from a tree that had been pressed in between the pages. "Momma, look what I found," the boy called out. "What have you got there, dear?" his mother asked. With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered: "I think it's Adam's suit!" 

How many of you like to laugh? We don’t usually think of the Bible as humorous but from all the different stories, we can conclude God often did some humorous things to get our attention! I think God must laugh at our feeble attempts to understand the mechanics of the universe!  

God made us to laugh and to want to enjoy life! What is the Christian conclusion of the purpose of mankind? “To enjoy God and love him forever!”

3. God seems to have made us with an appetite for laughter! Science cannot explain laughter, it is involuntary. Think about it, can you premeditate laughter? Ok, in 10 seconds I am going to laugh! Hum, it didn’t work! Ha! Maybe it is because we need our internal organs massaged a few times a day, right? Little kids and even teenagers laugh a lot more than us as adults. Sometimes the teens in back laugh during the sermons and I have no clue as to why! It is sad, that many stop laughing with age! Laughter is all about connections and the people we love.

Most laughter is not even sparked by a joke. For example, Olga may be telling me about where to buy some shampoo that makes the hair fluffy, and how everyone could all use some of it, and I answer, ‘that’s how it is’, and she tells me more and when I say it another time, ‘that’s how it is’, we both laugh out loud because we both know I say that when I really don’t know what to answer back on that subject, ‘Isn’t that how it is?’ When I am lost for words I also love other sayings in Spanish (English too) like, “Oh, don’t tell me that!” Say that 3 times and that’s funny too, right? Well, you can see how what’s funny relates to the relationship you have with person! With some people, one can never be funny though! That’s scary!

So how funny is the Bible? Some parts have funny expressions; did any of you ever finish reading Song of Solomon?  However, other parts are very sobering with heavy lessons. We might actually conclude God matures us more in the sobering trying times than in the fun times in our lives, but the balance is found in Psalm 127:2 “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” Laughter, seriousness, and sadness all have their time and place in our lives and we must pray to have discernment.

4. There is a time for everything, and the Bible teaches us to be connected to our family of brothers and sisters as in one collective heart! James 5:13 “Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms.” What we can conclude is we will laugh and sing when the mood is right, but if a brother is down or sick, we will be serious and pray for him or her.

There is nothing more irritating than some kid or adult laughing when everyone is trying to get everyone quiet for a serious message, right? And also when everyone is happy and singing “Happy Birthday” laughing that one of our teens is wishing for a new Porsche, how out of place it would be for someone to be hanging around with a bored ugly angry face, right?

Kids seem to help us laugh the most! This is why the Bible mentions children as a blessing!  Psalm 127:3  “Children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward”. Our kids do so many funny things! They even make TV shows on the funniest home videos with kids and people in funny situations. My mother told me that when I was little I was putting ice cream from my bowl into my pocket. When they asked me what are you doing I told the babysitter that I liked this stuff and that I wanted to take some home to eat it later, ha!

5. You can read the Bible and even laugh out loud at times. For example, do you recall Balaam’s ass that argued with him? To begin with, an ass or donkey is an ugly, funny, and temperamental creature. Balaam beat him 3 times to make him go straight but angels were in the way. Imagine, instead of Balaam passing out from fear when the ass spoke to complain about being beaten, Balaam argued back! Isn’t that funny? Many things are humorous in the Bible!

And speaking of funny, just think how silly Jesus looked riding on an ass through Jerusalem? The Romans would ride in chariots or on powerful stallions, and yet Jesus, the King of the universe is on this silly little colt! A big guy on a little animal!

Sometimes we laugh after we have been frightened to death, has that ever happened to you? You fall down playing basketball and everyone thinks you broke your back and is quite and serious but then you jump up and laugh to make the pain go away! Can you imagine the disciples laughing after Jesus calms the sea? They probably could have said, “We were like (terrified face) during the storm and then we were like (mellow face) afterwards!”

6. Certain false churches even included long sessions laughter in their services in the 1990s in the Neo-charismatic churches teaching that ‘holy laughter’ was a Third Wave of the Holy Spirit. It was funny for a few sermons but then the fad passed. Laughter is mentioned in the Bible, KJV, seven times and of those 7 most of the time laughter is put in the context as something not of much value. Ecclesiastes 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

James 4:8-10 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

The conclusion here is that God is not happy with people that entertain their selves with laughter while they ignore cleansing their selves from their own sins indifferent to recognize the suffering in the world and how each of us need God. Some people pay big money in big cities to go to big comedy clubs to hear some stand-up comedian tell foolish jokes, even offensive and vulgar jokes and why do they laugh? I can only stand to watch one of these over-rated comedians for about 1 minute when on a show on TV! I think most of the audience laughs because they are embarrassed for the stupidness of it. Is this really a good time? People seem to have to be drunk in order to laugh, how sad! Most all of the mocking is not funny but rather degrading. They laugh, then what? Nothing! Ecclesiastes 2:2 I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?

7. There will come a day when we will be able to laugh as much as we want! For the moment, however, laughter helps us forget about how our earth’s basement is on fire and how at any moment of the day an earthquake, a war, or someone’s accident can provoke a sudden life of suffering! As compassionate sympathetic people we always will suffer after some news channel announces another disaster, another plane down with hundreds dead, or another 300 more school kids captured by extremists into slavery! How much evil, and how much more scandal can we take?  Lately most people are not laughing at what is happening in the world, they are angry at the injustice and apathy, at the lack of resistance to the violence and abuse, and at the fact that their privacy and legal rights are being mocked by officials. The Romans rulers had servants to follow them around and repeat in their ears, “You are a man and not a God”, we need hire a few thousand of these types of servants again to speak to our leaders as blatant disrespect for the law and abuse is at an all-time high!

People when in a crisis will cry in despair and that can haunt and depress you! No one with a heart like God’s heart likes to see any other person suffer. Most of us feel the urgency and the need to help those who are in pain! But many times we are on the other side of the world and we are helpless to act, all we can do is pray, and keep on praying, prayer does do great things! Locally you can do something though by investing your time, talent, and treasure.

So if I, or someone, were to laugh all day while living on this earth in this miserable life we would either be considered as vain and shallow, high on drugs, or out of our minds and mentally insane! The truth is laughter is a gift and a commodity that lasts only a few minutes of every day! We should appreciate it more!

8. There will be a day when we will be able to laugh all day in heaven! But until then, let’s try to create more laughter (like our creative brother German)! The world knows enough hell, let’s show them a little more heaven!

And finally I am reminded of what the Lord will laugh at. He will laugh at the evil people and fallen angels when they think they have conquered Him in the final battle. Listen to this prophetic Word and what the Lord answers to those who think they will usurp Him, Psalm 2:3-5 “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4 He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.  God, who laughs last, will laugh best!

God will separate the evil ones from the good ones and put us under His protection where we will laugh and the evil doers will be punished!

9. Listen to this prophetic word, Psalm 126:2 “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.”

In order to laugh, you have to have joy and Joy comes from obeying God's Word.  A person at peace with God will have a happy, free, and forgiven spirit and heart right with God as He brings joy, peace, and the conditions to permit laughter" John 13:17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them

Do you have Jesus in your life? Jesus can help you laugh with real joy because of the purity you will have in your heart by being in God’s will! Every one of us has to pass through a repentance, a breaking process, an uncomfortable unhappy time period, like going through an operation to extract the sickening infection of sin. But then, after the storm comes and goes the sunshine of happiness comes out and you suddenly feel elated, happy, and laughter will fill your voice! 

Jesus, Not Religion

Jesus, Not Religion                                                           by Kelly Durant    7-20-14

James 1:27 Pure religious conviction and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

2. In our English language there is an expression for people that seem to radically change their lifestyle, for example they stop drinking, smoking, cursing, and start being nice when they were mean, it is the cliché, “They found religion”. This might be a good thing if a person “found” (discovered) salvation in Jesus, but to people in the world “finding religion” usually implies something bad. It implies that that person is now committed to some traditional rigid set of rules by some big organized institution. Religion might imply something that is all controlling, and dominating over every aspect of one’s life. “Finding religion” means that that friend may not remain your friend anymore. This is a sad reality and with some religions and cults this is true, they make you leave behind all your friends and family for their cause!

Why bring this up? Many young people today write blogs questioning the good and bad in churches, religion, and yes, even in the Salvation Army. To grow our church and win new youth and more people we must focus in on what people perceive about religion! We must change  as well. As beings influenced culture, it is easy to have a love/hate relationship with ‘religion’. I grew up in the 60s and 70s hearing old gospel songs like, ‘Give me that old time religion…and its good enough for me’. No one sings that song anymore, why not ? It’s catchy!! Consider that our current tech culture has influenced the minds of many with more information on the details of what global religions and sects are all about. We have discovered over time that not all religions and denominations are so nice with their ‘old time’ tradition, cold formalities, and rules. However, critics of religion are usually ignorant of the cultural contexts, not factoring in the life threatening surroundings of the time. For example, Martin Luther is a liberating hero but still some are confused by his animosity towards the Jews; to understand the whys you must read much history, but times change and it is what is relevant today that matters. No person has ever had every detail of what they believe or comment on correct all the time and my wife and I have learned to not split hairs over opinions as we all have all eternity for Jesus correct us.

Back to influences, in the 70s John Lennon’s song, ‘Imagine’ was a song expressing a dream for a perfect world to come filled with peace. It had a resonating phrase in it that spoke of a utopian future with things passé; it was a world with no heaven or hell and ‘no religion too’. Of course this song is regarded by many as a expressing non-Biblical views but it struck a chord with several million confirming that they were tired of religion as man has made it. Remember the Beatles had just been recently burned by the Maharishi in India that wanted their money and wives. The frustration humanity has is that nothing seems to bring us closer a utopia, no religion, politics, technology; nothing seems to transform the people of the world into a system where a heaven of love and peace rules ending poverty, war, and violence. Hearts continue evil.

3. So what is religion? In itself, referring to spiritual methods or means by which one is devoted to God, shouldn’t it be something good? When one does a search with Biblegateway, one only finds the word ‘religion’ in the Bible (KJV) 5 times in the N.T., and 3 times it is referring to the Jews. But it is defined clearly in James 1:27 ‘Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world’.  What a surprise that Jesus never used the word religion to describe following His teachings. What a surprise the Bible reveals that it is something simple!

So if the Bible defines clearly what religion should be for us as Christians, we should do our best to live by what is stated here which means we are to love God and others, and show compassion on those who have needs and suffer, and also, to live a pure life, unspotted by corruption. Living in “holiness” goes hand in hand with being compassionate. If you let this definition of religion sink in you will start to wonder, what has happened then, why do people understand religion to mean something totally different from what we find in the Bible here?

The Wikipedia definition of religion is (but still not how everyone understands it): “A religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.” The word ‘religion’ conjures up the images of what religion includes; most of us imagine people in a special style of clothes in diverse positions, like Jews praying at the Wall, or gurus in orange gowns sitting meditating, or Muslims bowing towards Mecca. It is natural for people to reject things not understood, especially the observance of strange ways of worship. It is natural to reject becoming subject to a system that we perceive will exploit us, break our wills, and force us to conform to strange interpretations of what God expects from you and what He wants everyone subjected to. Sad but true, usually religious teachings enslave instead of liberate, but Jesus spoke that His truth would “make you free”!  (John 8:32)

4. On the flip side of these negative perceptions, most professionals assess that the human race has a strong tendency to be religious. As people we want to be in community, we want to have a purpose, we actually want to worship God with the assurance He is a higher power caring for us and interested in us. Every human being has a God shaped hole in them that only He can fill! Everyone wants to experience the unexplainable, a connected feeling one gets when worshipping  God,  and depending on the culture, family, and mindset nearby influencing each person, most people conform to the religious beliefs and practices of their cultural at large. But tragically many people discover that their local religions often do not connect them to God. John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. I have worshipped with many diverse religions, and I affirm that only Jesus and the Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways! All the others leave you waiting in nothingness!

So what happens to the people who get a bad taste of the dominant local religion?  What happens when some bad experience or some abusive person causes someone to see religion or God as undesirable?  Often, in search of God still, that person will try something radically different! This was my case and the case of multi-millions of young people in the 60s & 70s who experimented with meditation and oriental religions. The fact remains that all religions contain some wise teachings, certain universal truths, and certain practices that are good for the spirit such as meditation and prayer.  But in the end only Jesus gave up his life on a cross to erase our sins with forgiveness, and not by our earning it though a religion made by man! Resurrection and eternal life come through the belief and submission to a life in Jesus Christ, and no other religion or prophet has the power, and glory, and authority to grant this! Only Jesus produced followers willing to die for Him because His resurrection was and is real! Martyrs still are dying!   

The reality of the 70s (and still remains today in a different way today) is that the Christian ‘religion’ has not been in step with James 1:27, being compassionate and being pure. Christianity will always suffer being sabotaged and under attack to become the opposite of what it should be! A sad reality is the fact that many self-serving and corrupt religions and churches exist! Here is the matter on religion: Christianity should always be at war with the impure uncompassionate because ambitious leaders will always try to consolidate wealth and power by turning worship into a rigid mold of a certain set of rules and traditions (condemning all others) while by effect render the faith ineffective and worthless.

5. So erase from your mind that the Christian religion means that you must copy a certain model, have a certain haircut, a certain way of dress, a certain slang talk of adding brother and sister in every sentence, or if not one is not welcomed in the church! According to this verse in James it is the uncompassionate and impure ones that should be considered as having no religion! (unless they repent, of course) Some churches have been learning to be more tolerant and to have compassion on others while others are stuck in their own clicks not winning new converts. So ask yourself if you are on the path of compassion and purity in your personal life?

Today, ask yourself, what religion do I preach with my actions? Is my religion one that shines with a light of compassion healing the hurting ones? Am I striving to be pure in all ways pleasing God in all things? Remember God’s love includes us loving the unlovely and the dirty undesirable sinners, prostitutes and street people (publicans). Paul, being a Jew, in a culture where all had to be sterile and kosher spent most of his time with the argumentative Greeks, and the sexually immoral, corrupted Romans and pagans in order to win them for Christ! Jesus and Paul led by example, so we could follow in their steps.

Years ago I was converted back to Jesus (conversion is supposed to be just once, right?), after I met some Christians that were different and not judgmental of me as a sinner for having my long hair, and they were tolerant to spend hours with me teaching me the Bible when I wanted to argue in favor of yoga and other concepts of my understanding of God’s nature. What converted me was their love and compassion and application of the word of God, as they were unquestionably pure compassionate people. It was their perplexing example and dedication that won me over. I woke up to the fact that I had been foolish to abandon my Christian faith for the contradictory teachings of the gurus of India that at that time seemed more convincing to awaken spirituality. I observed that most gurus seek wealth; what a disillusion! 

6.  So how are you going to apply James 1:27? I am thankful the Salvation Army has Women’s, Men’s and Youth groups dedicated to the visitation of the abandoned and suffering ones in rest homes, and dedicated to helping others. The practice of compassion for the suffering ones was what attracted me to the Salvation Army and here I remain for 20 plus years! I saw it was a church with mostly humble people serving the outcasts with active ministries, with compassionate people, and it was not another typical mega-type church that serves just the pastor and their selves.

When I discovered they had hundreds of facilities worldwide for the homeless, alcohol rehab centers, gymnasiums, daycares, health clinics, and community centers, I was in awe that finally I found a church that was helping with the needs of the community, and preaching the gospel! They were not only open on Sundays but every day! This was a religion in action, the way that I understood religion was intended to be! I praise the work, but there is always room for improvement.

But generally, unfortunately many wars have been and are being fought over religion and many today are disillusioned. Tom Lerhrer (popular in 60s) wrote a song that says, “The Hindus hate the Muslims, the Protestants hate the Catholics, and everyone hates the Jews”.  He continues, “The same sects fight each other.  It's ridiculous and it's a fight over each other’s mythology, that's right, over each interpretation of made up stuff. I'm totally against organized religion.” Many people today, as this artist, I believe could be converted if they only could learn of how we can change the world: by love, compassion, and purity. 

7. Here is a case study that indicates people are hungry for a relationship with God, but not so willing to accept ‘religion’. Dr. Alex Himaya is the author of a book, "Jesus Hates Religion: Finding Grace in a Works Driven Culture" and he is founding and Senior Pastor of the CHURCH at Battle Creek, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  He has one of the fastest growing churches in America, having grown from 120 to over 5,500 in just eight years!

So is it possible that, “God Hates Religion”? It depends on how you define ‘religion’ and which religion, right? But basically we can conclude that a majority of religious worship has been man made and not God inspired! Jesus’ religion (if we dare to call it that) was what we just confirmed in James 1:27, a practice of having a relationship with God that erases sins and makes one pure through the study and application of the Holy Scriptures, preaching the gospel and praying, which leads followers into doing deeds of compassion for those who are suffering. Suffering caused by life’s circumstances is not for us to judge, it just for us to do something about!

The design of God is that people reap what they sew, so if your concept of religion is to live pure and sew compassion, which is the gospel of Jesus which brings eternal life (salvation) in others, then the compassion from God (and sometimes from others) will reciprocate back to you.  God we know ‘hates’ sin, but He probably forgives ignorance by those with religion.

8. So what is our religion? Is Christianity a religion? A few billion may be classified as of that ‘religion’, but even Christianity is a plethora of conglomerates with such diverse practices it confuses the observer over what it actually is. Christianity should mean being ‘Christ-like’! You, as a Christian, please make it clear to others that Jesus never spoke of ‘religion’ but rather He taught of your relationship with God: to worship Him in spirit and in truth! The Salvation Army is defined as a ‘movement’ instead of a religion; I like that, don’t you? “A MOVEMENT” implies a forward action, a belief system in action, doing, and moving! This is such a good title!

Are you loving, compassionate, and pure? Is God doing a work in your life so much so that what you practice as your belief or religion glorifies Him as the scriptures indicate? Tune out what other religions are doing, if you ever are trying to compare yourself to their idea of purity and worship! Don’t be foolish as I was to think there is high value in other global religions, to the contrary, there is low value. And the ‘Co-exist’ idea (as on some bumper stickers) is non-functional! Only with Jesus is there an authentic worship and relationship with God! Only He saves, inspires, and motivates one to have an authentic selfless sacrificial focus.  

9. In the time of Paul Christians were not labeled as religious ones but labeled, ‘those of the way’ (Jesus said, ‘I am the Way’…) Jesus ‘way’ was this, Matthew 22:37-39  37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.38 This is the first and great commandment.39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Conclusion: We have a relationship, not a religion! You belong to a church that is a movement and not a religion! To connect with God and have purpose, it is not with religion that does it, but it is in being compassionate and living pure that does it! It is simple: love God and others!

      

Friendships: Improve Them!

Friendships: Improve Them!                                by Capt. Kelly Durant

Proverbs 17:17

A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 18:24

A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

2. Here is verse that can change your life… John 15:13 (GNT)The greatest love you can have for your friends is to give your life for them.

Love for others has caused men in battle to jump on a grenade in order to give their lives to stop the killing of all of their friends right by them! Often vets are honored, and we must recognize the honor they deserve! Many soldiers and people throughout history have sacrificed their lives so that others would not be hurt or killed. This is absolute love! A true friend is one who loves all the way and he will do anything, even die for you! Would you do that for someone? Jesus did it for you and me!

In the past decades I have noticed that a majority of people in society do not have many friends, not even 1 or 2! This is a crisis in my opinion! In others words when you get a flat and need a ride while stuck on the side of the highway, who are you going to call? A large majority of people don’t have family nearby anymore either, so who will help?  Sometimes we as pastors are the only ones others call on for help and this should not be; everyone must cultivate friendships!  In this nation, and worldwide, there is a crisis of people not having a friend when they need one!

I observe that a few of you have a few friends, but a few more of you have only one or none though so let’s explore the dynamics of friendship. You need friends!  Proverbs 18:24 A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. The first prerequisite to having friends is that you yourself must initiate it, cultivate it, promote it, and it means that you must be friendly!

3. Friends are people that you enjoy hanging out with, people with the same common interests, people with similar backgrounds, quite often they are around the same age as you, but not necessarily from the same race and country as yourself, however, these are common things but not always necessary. A friend can be anyone really! Look how diverse the disciples of Jesus were! But what more makes you and I be a friend to each other? It is in the sharing of our pains, the sharing of our deep sufferings, and also in sharing our blessings and joys with each other. 

When you are young, and start hanging with young friends you learn about life. You see life’s situations; you learn of divorced parents, you may see supportive parents. You may observe another one who has a father always drunk; you discover new things about people’s feelings, pains, and passions. Most young people are idealistic and accepting of one another for friendships despite their vast differences in backgrounds, but what happens as we age?

As we age we become hardened like dried out cement! (Castillo, who works with cement can relate to this, ha!) When we are young we are like the fresh cement, soft and drying, and people come by and leave their handprints and writing in it and then it dries out hard never to be changed. We all have seen sidewalks like this. So after certain unpleasant experiences, what happens to us? Most people get bitter and protective and stop having so called friends! Most people dry hard as a stone cold rock so they keep others out! Becoming like a rock and an island to their selves is not the way God intended for us to become! Sin has caused this!

4. Let’s explore how a friend should be. A friend is closer than a brother or sister, being loyal, they are there when you need them, and they sacrifice their time or material goods for you when needed. A friend is emotionally close to you so there is a connection that grows and remains over time. Most of all, a friend is a person you trust and have no fear of them harming you either by stealing from you, by revealing personal painful information, or speaking betraying words behind your back. A friend loves always and is concerned for your well-being!

The values, or glue that enables people to stick together, are inherently Christian, and these values are needed to support and maintain a relationship. These are the values of love, loyalty, trust, sacrifice, forgiveness, and of serving one another. However, all of us must be careful as even certain Christian friends may not be mature in the faith enough to practice these values!

Jesus says in John 15:14 “You are my friends if you do whatever I command you”. So is your friend living in agreement with what Jesus commanded? What was Jesus greatest commandment? To love God above all things and love your neighbor as yourself! A person you deserve as a friend must be loving and nice to all, not just nice for being interested in something! Jesus said we have no reward if we just love our own as the heathen do, implying that we must love everyone, even our enemies! We may not have a friendship with our enemies but we still show them an example of God’s love anyway.

Only love can motivate a person to sincerely connect to you or to another, producing loyalty and trustworthiness. Only Jesus transforms the character you and I have to remake us into friendly people. We kill our pride and selfishness learning to be like Jesus with noble sacrificial hearts for the salvation of all.

5. Let’s examine the quality of loyalty, or as some would define it as faithfulness.

God has always modeled to us His loyalty and faithfulness, and in particular we capture this through the forgiving loving and sacrificial actions of Jesus Christ. In the O.T. we find  Psalm 119:90

Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides.

Here is also another thing involving faithfulness, we must remain faithful and forgive the offenses of our friends knowing how God forgives us.     2 Timothy 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

Within loyalty we find forgiveness and sacrifice. Soldiers from all countries if captured by the enemy will always remain loyal and never share any damaging info about their country.  This means that even under torture, they sacrifice their lives. This sacrificial loyal quality we also know about took place within the first Christians while dying as martyrs under the persecutions in Rome.

Remaining loyal until death is a faithful quality still happening in the world today with over an estimated 157,000 Christians being killed every year for their faith! Revelation 2:10 “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life”. Christians are being killed by extremists and the news media will not divulge these horrific acts! There are 2,400 media outlets in the U.S. controlled by only 6 corporations and they are not loyal to Christian values! To know truth, don’t trust the mainstream media that has an agenda diametrically opposed to Christ, but rather search in Christian resources and in other alternatives.

6. Let’s examine the quality of connection, or as some would define it as an emotional attachment. What defines what this is better than “love”? Love is the strongest emotion that exists between humans and God even commands that we love each other and Him! (We love Him back, since He first loved us).

Matt 22: 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 

For me it is easy to get emotionally attached to people just because I do my best to love them! You and I can gain the power to love everyone if we wake up daily and ask God to give us His power through the Holy Spirit. You can even look at any person on the street and feel a great love for them, even for the rejected ones like a beggar, prostitute, or drunk. You can feel in your heart sympathy for their pain and hurt. You and I can suffer with them for the lack of the knowledge of Jesus that has led them into such a sad desperate sad state in life.

In every person you can find reason to feel for them for all the suffering they have had, either in their childhood, or adult life. This is why we must as a Corps, and amongst our friends, always take time just to talk and share, to get to know each other, to sympathize and empathize with each other. Technology has done us the favor of helping us connect through Facebook, Tweeter, and many others, but sometimes people communicate wrong or false things, and this ends up damaging the good emotions and connections that could have been made.

7. Let’s examine the quality of trust.  Trust is when a person knows all your secrets, your pain, your weaknesses, and all about your life yet they love and esteem, and honor you anyway! They would never be unfair to you, and never allow others to ridicule, take advantage of, or humiliate you.

Trust is what everyone wants and needs, but sadly, amongst friends and family, this gets violated too often! Today, sadly, hardly anyone trusts anyone!  And considering the violation of trust happening worldwide in the current governments, false churches, corrupt corporations, and the violating human rights, there is good reason to mistrust authorities and be suspicious!

A violation of your trust is a crime against you involving a lie disrespecting who you are as a person; it ultimately is an action of abuse against you. When people get abused they feel pain and to stop it they make their selves dead and cold inside. Matthew 24:12 “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold”.  The world has become quite cold, but we are not of the world, we must stay warm for the Lord!

8. Be careful as we must not confuse the values within friendships and family, as some have done in today’s world. We all have friends but if, for example, a good friend were to come to my home seeking refuge from the law because he did a hit-n-run while intoxicated, my duty, no matter having loyalty and trust, would be to call the authorities, right?  If not, I am an accomplice aiding and abetting a fugitive! A friend is a friend only if they are not putting you at risk or in danger!

In the hood language of today a friend is one who does not “snitch” on you. Beware, this reveals a potential enemy! If you have a so-called friend that commits illegal and immoral actions and then they want you to show your trust by not snitching on them, you need to recognize they are not your friend at all! Exposure of criminal activity is supporting a friendship to the larger community. The only way for truth to dominate over evil is to do right despite the losses.

All organized crime, mafias, corrupt business men, crony governments, and anti-Christ religions, cults, all operate within the premise that their friends will never expose their illegal and immoral activities.  Never misplace your trust in this kind of a traitor as you may become the next fall guy for their cover-ups! Read books, read the news, people are sacrificed and even killed all the time for trying to expose corruption or for not covering up for their so called friends! A terrible reality: often enemies are disguised as friends!

9. Here’s a new concept related to friendships.  How do you understand this verse by Jesus?  Luke 16:9 “And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles”.

Jesus wants you and I to be friends with those people who are of the world, not just friends with those of your faith! In churches so often when the pastors or the leaders have friends with those outside the church the people often get suspicious, jealous, or uncomfortable thinking they love the sinful things in the world by hanging with these non-churched people.

Here is the issue: It is the pastors (Captains) job to be friendly and to be a socialite like Jesus was and to hang out with the publicans and sinners seeking to love them into the kingdom of God! In all workplaces and families there will always be people that drink, swear, and not think like you, but if you exclude yourself from them (and I understand why you want to since many of them are trouble), you will never be showing them enough acceptance so that they will listen to you talk about Jesus one day when the opportunity is there.

Jesus when he travelled did not always have friends of his faith, he stayed with Nicodemus and other people of the world who received him into unexpected habitations. To obey Jesus you and I must make friends with those outside our Christian world. Will you do your best to do this? Tell me how you can do this.

10. The truth is this, Jesus is your and my best friend, but we also need to have friends on the earth as well!

John 15:15

No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from my Father, I have made known unto you.

This verse implies that to be a friend as Jesus was to us, we must spend time with each other. A friend reveals truths and secrets, a friend transmits teachings and information along that will bring blessings in life, and especially sharing the faith of Jesus to gain eternal life! Do you follow the friendship example of Jesus? 

I want to challenge you with making the people here more your friends! Several of you have already, but when is the last time you had lunch with someone you do not know so well here? Or even paid them a friendly visit? And others outside your world of current friends, are you trying to win them to the Lord by being friendly?

And if you have ever done anything, or said anything that has violated the trust of a person here, today is the day to make it right. Go and ask them forgiveness! Ask God to change your heart so you get ideas how you can be a better friend to those around you, in the church, within your family, and within your community! Prayer…  

Love…More! Be In Love!

Love…More! Be In Love!                                                    By Kelly Durant 7-6-14

Song of Sol. 5:16 His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

 2.My wife and I were married on this exact day 36 years ago! That’s 13,140 days ago! Wow, right? The good part is we are still attracted to each other, isn’t her smile amazing? She is beautiful, right?  We still work at trying to make the other one happy too! One of the best moments in my life was kissing my wife in the falling rain! Love always starts out with a big bang, but each one of us has to put in effort to keep our universe of love expanding after that! Love between people exists as God does, it gets created, and then it must keep getting energized, renovated, and preserved. Love is eternal if you want it to be! 

Isn’t love amazing? God made it unfathomably mysterious and multifaceted! Love between humans overcomes all limitations and still loves anyway; love seems to unite people together who are opposites and very improbable to be succeed or be attracted to one another. Take me and my wife for example, ha! We are from backgrounds in many ways quite opposite. We are from very different types of families, culture, generation, etc. And our kids who married turned out being attracted to opposites as well: the tallest one married a short one, the lightest one married a dark one, the brown girl one married a light one, and they all have very different personalities, gifts, and talents! Funny, right? That’s love!

How many of you think you are quite different from your spouse in many ways? Well, I think God allows us to experience differences in relationships so we can get balanced out and understand how God is the same in all things, all loving and all accepting of us no matter how we are physically or in personality! For God, ugly people do not exist, but all God wants from us to love Him back! He loved us first, I John 4:19 “We love him, because he first loved us”.

3. Our verse of the day is from Song of Solomon. How many of you have ever read this book? It is entirely romantic! Few people preach from this book, and it is hard to use this book for the general public, but like I have done here, one can chose the least scandalous verse to preach on so we learn more about love relationships, God’s love, and all relationships in general.

Basically we can interpret the verse of today two ways, either the man knows how to speak sweet enticing words with his mouth to his love (the woman speaking here), or he knows how to kiss good! Ha! God made people to enjoy each other but I will stop right there with those details.

So now, what does the part mean, “he is altogether lovely”? Well consider this, when a person doesn’t have love for someone, they can’t even walk across the room without you finding fault in it! And love works as is stated in this verse, when you love someone you see everything about them as perfectly good and refined, attractive and lovely, and no matter how they walk, or what they do, you find it agreeable. Here as everywhere, there are some people that never see any wrong in their favorites! (Despite the fact this is not good many times as there could be plenty wrong that someone should tell them about)

4. So let’s go on to the last half of the verse, it is a proclamation to everyone in the town (the daughters of Jerusalem) that he is her “friend and beloved one”. There are many details in the whole book describing in what ways how this couple is attracted to one another, but I personally find this verse makes the main point.

It is the fact that when a person is in love, they will go around and declare that love to the whole town! When identifying with the other, you are full of emotion, and both of you are mutually accepting ownership of each other in your love. By declaring your love to all, you are affirming to all everywhere that you are happy with the one you have, meaning you don’t want anyone else.  For something to be real, we must proclaim it with our mouths as in Romans 10:9,10.

Like a few recent young couples that have come to the Corps, at first they declare on their facebook their love for each other, which is the equivalent of telling the world or all of Jerusalem, that they are engaged and love each other, and then later they get married! Well, first they check the “in a relationship” box. Do you check and claim your mate, your family, your Corps, your Christian brothers?

5. The first book of the Bible I read to my wife was this book of Song of Solomon, how crazy that was, right? I should have read her John 3:16 first, right? Well, we did discuss salvation and our Christian convictions first thing. I supposed that since I had been praying for a wife, I wanted to be sure that she got the Word of God in her immediately about passionate love, so she would want to share this kind of God’s love with me! Well, many emotions were there for sure!

Love between couples is a subject that for me hard to share about. For one, I am aware not everyone here is married and you may feel that this does not relate to you (but it might one day!). As a matter of fact, some people that have not had their love life turn out the way they wanted it to may get mad at the idea of discussing the fact that love between couples is something beautiful and from God and that we all should support it. Don’t live with no love! Seek more love!

In the end, what does Satan want? He wants to destroy love and wants everyone hating one another, hating conventional families, hating the opposite sex, hating the ex- that got away, hating life and hating love itself, hating the fact that  God’s word makes it known that love is pleasant and enjoyed! People that don’t want to hear about love, whether it be romantic or between family or friends, need to check their hearts, it might be that deep inside they have hate and if you discover that then pray to overcome it because of I John 3:15 “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” 

6. So if this message does not relate to you to cultivate more love in a romantic way because you are not in the situation of talking about how sweet the mouth of your beloved is, then consider this, God wants you to have a love fulfilled life anyway regardless of your situation! God is pure love and He wants you to feel in the clouds in love with life, fulfilled, and living out a purpose, a calling for Him. God’s emotional love for you can be intense, deep, and felt inside if you seek it!

Some Biblical scholars believe that S. of S. has a double meaning or maybe just a spiritual meaning. The words contained herein are not just about a physical romantic attraction and relationship lesson, but it may be an allegory of the love God has for us and the passionate love we should have for Him. It doesn’t matter how you interpret it, the general lesson is simple, any relationship whether it be with a person, or with God, should be passionate, intimate, and faithful! God’s love should be to you like being in love and if it is not then something is wrong!

For you to be crazy in love with Jesus is what God wants! God is crazy in love with you! Isa 62:5 for as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. The Salvation Army’s best words on holiness are from Samuel Logan Brengle who expressed that he had an epiphany with God’s love, all colors became brighter, he loved the most tiny animal, all was beautiful, it was like being in love!

7. Have you ever known people obsessively in love? I suppose it happens mostly to people in the teenage years, but you feel like saying, “Will you shut up already about_(so and so)_!, we know you’re in love!” Some people can talk non-stop about how fine the other one is, how amazing they are, etc. When you don’t have the same feelings as someone else it gets sort of tiring to hear, right?

God never gets tired of talking about you, his bride that does wonderful things to love others in serving those in need! If He loves us like this, so passionately, should we not return the same love and talk about Him with passion? When Jesus came, the love of God shook all of nature! The love of God suddenly was made more powerful, more penetrating, more intense, and more complete!

How can anyone not love Jesus when the way he gave His love to us so painfully? Who can tell me about the very first miracle of Jesus? He turned the water into wine at a wedding party right? Well, what does that tell you about His love for people in love? He wants people to love and have a good time and celebrate when they are uniting. And finally His love for us will be shared at a great wedding party in heaven, at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb! Have you got your invitation? No wise teacher, no prophet, no philosopher, no king, no one ever loved people as Jesus did!

8. In the end our job is to woo others so they drink of the water of life, that Jesus, the groom, gives freely! Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Jesus invitation is to have love for eternity!

So what more can we conclude from God’s word in Song of Solomon? That God created love to be shared, love is to be proclaimed and announced, you share it as if you will die without it! As a matter of fact, people do die a slow death of stress and internal pain when they do not give love nor receive love as God made us to! And sadly, there are many people who need love and they will not take it nor give it!

Just sharing the love we have in Jesus between our brothers and our sisters is enough to make one happy in life but you put effort into it! It takes effort and time to love God, you must pray and study, but after doing your part you feel touched inside, isn’t that true? Loving others makes us feel alive and ecstatic!  

9. A final thought, the apostle Paul was not married but he was in love with Jesus busy preaching and talking non-stop about his greatness and love and notice he was content in whatever state he was in! You don’t have to be in love with a soul mate to be in love with God and life! Being in love with Jesus will cause others to be in love with you though!

God is eternally passionately in love with you and me, his bride, and Hw wants this news to be spread to all the world!

Without a doubt you and I are not living with the intenseness of love God intends! You and I need to love God and each other more! And if we do love more, we can generate our love into a synergy of euphoria, sort of like how it is in the praises of heaven, amen? With more love for each other as God intended it to be, all of us could experience the Holy Spirit to the maximum! I believe that is true! But God is limited by our lack of love for our neighbors! Don’t live dry and ordinary! Fall in love with Jesus today! Love God, enjoy “your friend and beloved”, and your brothers and sisters as never before!