Feel Weak? Then You Are Useful to God!

Feel Weak?  You Are Useful to God!                                               By Kelly Durant   5-19-13

1 Corinthians 1:26-28

²⁶ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:²⁷ But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;²⁸ And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

2. How many of you have known of disabled people serving in The Salvation Army? I have! All people in life need in to be used by God, we are inherently born this way! You have seen this video of the man with no arms and legs, Nick Vujicic, right? Imagine, with his condition, he does great things and is an inspirational speaker! Most people imagine that someone in his condition would never leave home! But he is full of life and inspired, happy and used by God, talking in public places and travelling. What an amazing man of God used by God despite no arms and legs!

3. One of the first things I noticed and liked about The Salvation Army when I first got involved was that they had a variety of strange characters (even bearded ones) serving in disasters. Then, after visiting their churches, I saw many characters out of rehab. No matter the age or health problems, people were serving others and each one was happy to help. I love seeing others get a second chance, how about you?

For example with Hurricane Rita while in Lake Charles, right after serving in Katrina, I met a man that had metal rods in his entire back because all of the cartilage of his spine had degenerated. He walked rather straight like this (rigid). He had been through a rehab for heavily using cocaine and he said to not be depressed he would find ways to volunteer his time. In disaster service you can find people with all kinds of personal problems, but they are made happy while serving others, making new friends, and hearing about the gospel. God will use anyone who is willing, no impediments!

4. The way to be happy is to make someone else happy! You have heard that simple formula, right? But do you know what makes people happiest? It is to find out that no matter how ugly they may look, no matter how bad their physical problems, weaknesses, or handicaps, there is a God of love that loves them and can still use them despite their conditions and faults! No one wants to feel like life is over, that brings mortal depression!

I have always believed that God is a God who cares for the weakest of the weak, and in the world there are a lot of hurting and weak people! We are here as representatives of Jesus to help heal and give meaning and purpose to the lives of everyone we meet. That is what the kingdom of God is about! In the Salvation Army we, and it should be this way with any Christian, carry out activities in which everyone is valued and included with no discrimination of any kind. We must fight to maintain this standard!

5. But for work in society, you are discriminated against considering you past training, capacity, and education amongst other factors. We are an Army but of volunteers and we are made up of wounded healers; But the military Armies of the world, only accept young fit men and women to serve. These requirements exclude about 70 % of the population! God’s word makes it clear He rejects noone, rather he specializes in the rejects!

When you look at the population at large in the U.S., the majority of the people are either weak, older, or disabled. Even worse they are often depressed and spiritually incapable, or unwilling to do anything for anyone else due to embarrassment, or impediments, from allergies or whatever, not to mention laziness or selfishness. In this country currently about 45% of the people get government support for being either retired or incapacitated somehow. That is a lot when you think about it!

So when we read… 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;… what can we conclude?

6. That God needs on this earth a people group, an organization, a movement, (or a kingdom of God as Jesus phrases it) that is made up of anyone who (whosoever will theology) will serve! And if you are not in such good shape mentally or physically, be happy and encouraged! God specifically wants you to serve and be of value! God loves misfits!

When we consider the foolish things, not many people here are scholars that can discuss the pious platitudes of philosophy or theology, so it is a comfort that God is not concerned about our education level, or even our physical condition, he just loves us and wants us to be useful and active for Him. In the end we are taking in breath from day to day to serve in the mission to win souls to Jesus, otherwise our lives are just wasted not preparing for eternity.

7. How can we not be proud of the Salvation Army for being willing to work with the lowest of the low, the homeless, the addicts, and the ones with HIV? In other countries our line of service includes taking into refuge homes orphans and prostitutes. Your upper class suburban churches do not make these types of people their specialty! But Christians should focus on the despised and the weak, which is where God’s blessings are at!

My wife and I visited several of the rich mega churches in Atlanta and some boldly proclaim they are called to reach the rich middle upper class baby boomers. Hispanics, blacks, and poor (sinners) seemed to not even be in their radar! What a poor and ignorant vision! Ultra-rich churches intimidate the weak and poor. When something is so big you lose the sense of family, I think it is time to break it down into more manageable groups as Moses did in Joshua 14:4-6. Delegation and division allows more attention to each one.

So when we read in 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: Can we not conclude that some Christians do not have the right focus since they are targeting the opposite people of the verses we are studying today? Is the exclusivity to one group the non-discriminatory attitude a Christian should have?  Obviously not! Too many people live in a comfort zone that has them stagnant and being ineffective!

8. There is a serious problem within Christianity, too few Christians are actually reading the Bible and obeying what it says, to seek out the low base things of the world and then empowering them to serve in God’s Kingdom.

See Barna Research Group (http://www.barna.org/culture-articles/101-americans-are-misinformed-about-poverty-but-widely-involved-in-helping-the-poor?q=poor) Three out of every four Americans see poverty as a big issue. Christians interviewed only showed 1 out of 2 believing it concerned them, yet about 83% of evangelical Christians claimed to be involved in helping the poor. What is wrong is that 2 in 3 Christians believe the government should take care of the poor, not them! But God called us to care for the widows & poor, and even give them place to serve: The low are the despised, the rejected, the weak, these are the ones God can use!

For the most part we can be proud of the Hialeah Corps as everyone who comes here regularly does what they are capable of doing, here or in the community, teaching, cooking, and sorting donated food for the poor, visiting the rest homes as well. But we have a long way to go yet to get the Hialeah community to do that as well! This community is a challenge, what can we do to get them more involved? Volunteers are so few!

I have often wondered; what do disabled or retired people do all day? Wal-Mart’s are full night and day, but in the daytime most beaches are only full of tourists, so what is going on these people? Where are they all day?

You may know a few people who have government support, so tell me what do they do all day? God wants to use them for something good but I have a feeling many people are just deaf to this calling. They have ears to hear but they do not hear how God loves them and wants them busy with things that make the world better. Those indifferent are wasting their time giving them a meaningless life. We must invite them to serve since God uses the weak.

9. Like it or not, we should confront those who waste their time. Our society and Christian heritage was built with an attitude and spirit of great sacrifice but more and more people are failing to maintain the volunteer spirit of sacrifice and pureness and of love for their neighbor and community as they should. Being unproductive in the work of God is a sin, especially when you know you should be doing good and you are not doing it.

Consider these verses that are basic warnings to the people (even Christians) that are excusing their selves for not giving their time in something for God because they think they are too busy or too old, too sick or too handicapped, or living in denial that they are just plain rebellious, selfish, and lazy.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.               I Tim 5: 12 Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith. 13. And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.                                    Ephesians 5:16  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

10. Never think there is nothing to do for God! Invite your friends! Do you realize how many people have started coming to church because they first volunteered? I think I told you I came to know the Salvation Army by volunteering for disaster service.

But people in these past few decades have become self-complacent, people with nothing to do are not giving their time for something noble. This is a sad new cultural trend! It is up to us to be salt and light and to teach others to serve God, and God wants those who are weak. Here is a truth: you cannot make yourself better without first investing in someone else.   

In the end, everyone you know that is weak, everyone that seems not-so-pretty, to be of the nature most people would think they are nobodies, these are the very people God wants and uses! God specializes in using the low, the base, the ugly, the despised, and the not-so-bright. So if you think you are not worth much, cheer up, you are wrong, you are one of God’s chosen! 

How To Help Others: Expose Their Sin, And Your Own As Well

How To Help Others: Expose Their Sin, And Your Own As Well

by Capt. Kelly Durant  May 5,2013

1-2 Timothy 3:15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.16 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.

2-Today is May 5^th! We could discuss freedom from oppressors in relation to Mexico’s Puebla victory but here with us today there are no Mexicans (here in Hialeah), so instead let’s learn about freedom from yourself and your own faults.  Have you watched any soccer lately?

The job of a Local Officer, or the Captain/pastor is sometimes similar to one like that of a referee. He has to make the call of a foul when someone in the game is in the wrong or not following the rules. People can get that so mad that a fault gets pointed out and the ball gets passed over to the other team, but that is in the rules. A player can try hard to hide from the referee that his foot hit the other player (and coaches often miss fouls!) but when others point this out to the referee, then the last play becomes invalid. No one can change the rules, not the players, the refs, or the team owners. The same as God with his rule book the Bible! (Which apart from rules also contains love letters about His Son’s atonement providing mercy to all). Notice how the people will correct the ref on a wrong call too!

3-The problem between people when there is a clash, a friction, or a problem is when one starts talking, accusing another of having a sin. This could be true, but even though there is proof someone is doing something bad, you need a little time for it to come to light what the accuser is doing.

Sometimes bad behavior or sinful actions are provoked in response to unkind words, frustration, or some negative communication.

I recall when I was in kinder garden, one kid one time pulled the chair out from under me when I was going to sit down and I hit my rear hard on the ground. I got up and hit the kid on the arm. I got the timeout but he didn’t. So I learned early in life things can sometimes not be fair because some people in control may not know all the story of what is happening.  

This is why I (and neither should you) do not move fast to judge, or condemn, someone by someone’s else’s report of them without learning more. And often times you or I never get to gather all the facts! So how do we fix problems amongst ourselves, as we should? Reprove, correct, and apply God’s Word for instruction in righteousness exhorting as in 2Tim.

4-It first begins with you; you are responsible to speak up and be candid, and most of you have no problem with that. But are you talking to the right person?

Most people don’t realize the pastor/captain cannot always resolve things because the scripture makes it clear people have to fix misunderstandings between their selves (but without punching others as I did as a kid, of course!). Telling others about other people does not always help because others do not know all the details and history like you who are involved.

Matt 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. (That’s 3 chances!)

5-So first, when there is a problem it should be handled between the ones with the problem but when there is not a peaceful outcome, then a few others must get involved. And in the end if a person is deaf to everyone’s Godly council, it is at that time that the person will be considered as one who does not respect God’s standards and not be capable of keeping the peace. That person will be on timeout like in a foul in a game. In other words, this person’s faith and behavior is missing the mark.

The problem with actions, words, and behaviors is that a majority of people will always believe that their own behavior is in the right, when actually for others, their actions are offense. We see this situation occur a lot especially between people of different cultures and languages, of people of different income or educational levels, and even of people with different Christian doctrine preparations, right?

We should use the Word of God to correct one another, it is for reproof and instruction, but how you do that could either win the person or offend them. The verses of 2 Tim 3:15-17 point out we must seek their salvation and resultingly good works will happen due to their acceptance of the correction by God’s word.

6-We live in a society where everyone wants to sin and not be responsible for the consequences. From the bottom to the top everyone wants to pass the buck. Responsibility often gets aimed at the wrong person. It is human nature to be cowardly, lazy, or in the wrong over some incident.

People so easily go to someone else wanting him or her to fix an offense and correct someone else. Responsibility, however, actually lies with the ones in the middle who should fix it.  

An example of misguiding correction was on the radio last week when I heard about a policeman that got a DUI. He is suing the City over the ticket because he claims he is protected by a law that says he has a chronic illness, alcoholism. So it is not his fault, but the disease! Really? Seems crazy, right? But actually many people have this same idea about their own sin, they think that someone else is to blame, and when you call them out on it, they accuse others of having the fault.

7-The real problem we get into is that many people have little knowledge of the Bible and little understanding about the application of the precepts and standards of God. People that know more Word get scandalized that the other ones are not doing what they should. Not choosing the right thing, or doing things that are offensive to God show either:

-Ignorance of the word of God and the expected standard of behavior

-Rebellion against the word of God, knowing the standard but refusing to obey it

-Falling into temptation and making a mistake due to one’s personal issues of bitterness, jealousy, lust, or greed which damages relations with God or another.

Here is the good news, any of these situations of ignorance, rebellion, or mistakes are forgivable and fixable with you or that person asking God to work through you repenting with love, prayer, and humility. When you mess up and make a mistake, don’t you want God and others to keep on accepting you?  2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

8-Getting yourself right with God and others is always His will and if God has patience for everyone, how much more we need to have patience to wait on the repentance of others. I often consider how patient God had to be with me before I came to repentance, so I have tried my best to be very generous with my patience with others. I rebelled from age 14 to age 21, and 7 years is a long time in rebellion to obeying God, but God was patient!

When people offend each other, they offend God as well, and this is the part most of us overlook. Not having peace with another person indicates not having peace with God.   Mark 11:25-26

25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.

9-A person might have the attitude, like well, I don’t care if so & so hates me for what I said or do. But the “I don’t care” attitude in itself is not of God’s love. The serious concern is: Is God angry with you for offending or not forgiving another who walks in the faith?  

To God everyone is of value and everyone deserves love, and you had better start loving and forgiving in the same measure that you want it; God even says we are to have love for our enemies! Are you capable of that?! Not many are, but we must try our best! Forget how other people act, focus on how you are responding.

10-No matter what others do to us we are to forgive  Luke 17:4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. (The key is if they say, I repent)

If someone does hurt you intentionally and unrepentedly though, what is implied in the scripture is that you are not bound to forgive them. If they are not sorry and keep on harming you, it could get to the point that you are letting another destroy you.

You are not responsible for other people’s actions, but you are responsible for how you respond to them! You need to get out of a person’s life when necessary. You need God to heal your pain and He does heal it if you ask Him! But in a perfect world, everyone would say they are sorry and mean it and then they would not repeat their offense to you ever again!

11-Romans 12:19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

Bitterness is acid that rusts its own container, and your anger will never hurt anyone but yourself. God avenges, and often in this life, and for certain in the one after this one, so let Him handle it! I have seen evil people reap what they have sewn and be punished terribly in my lifetime. You have seen that too, right?

I have noticed that most of us have a desire to want to help others when we perceive a problem or see they are caught in a sin.  This is a noble thing and we are our brother’s keeper. It is a correct to not want sin in the camp because the damage ends up costing everyone something and we cannot afford it!

12-So the way to help others is to confront with the truth in God’s Word, but doing it with love and compassion, and not with judgment and condemnation. When a crisis is provoked from someone’s sin, exposure is God’s opportunity to bring correction and healing!

Recall the exposure of the prostitute, how everybody wanted to throw stones at her and they wanted Jesus’ approval of it, and what happened?  The reality is Jesus turns the focus from outward sin to inward sin; no one is qualified to throw any stone at anyone when we include the whole picture of the condition of each one of us!

13-We still need to have a way to stop undesirable and destructive or self-destructive behaviors; faults need to be brought to the light and talked about it. Sin tries to hide, people keep secrets, but the Lord lets it all come out so it can be dealt with. If not dealt with, sin brings great devastation to many!

Proverbs 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.

Will you, before applying the mirror of truth (as in Don Quixote), use it on yourself as well? When we hear about someone’s sin, it is time for everyone to sober up and let the light of the burning sun purge us all from all impurities. We desire to be pure and holy but it only comes by soberly submitting as the Lord is sovereign and He can take our life from us at any time. Fear Him in a healthy way and you will live in peace with God and others!

Peace comes after the storm of sin exposure, and storms happen from time to time, and that is just how life is in this fallen world. But God wants us to do the cleaning up; the cleaning up of our selves, and of others.  If you have fallen tree limbs that others could trip over in your yard, pick those up and throw them away quick; then you are ready to go to the neighbor’s to offer help to pick up his.

Help others by first helping yourself with repentance and allowing God to work in your life with His Holy Spirit. If you do then you will truly help with love and mercy and not make matters worse. Love, correction, instruction, repentance, forgiveness all are needed, then restoration and peace happens as God works! 

Mature, Not Old! Senior Appreciation

 Mature, Not Old!                                                            Kelly Durant 4-28-13

1-    Titus 2:2-4  2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

2.An old man limped into the doctor's office and said, "Doctor, my knee hurts so bad, I can hardly walk!" The doctor slowly eyed him from head to toe, paused and then said, "Sir, how old are you?" 
"I'm 98," the man announced proudly. The doctor just sighed, and looked at him again. Finally he said, "Sir, I'm sorry. I mean, just look at you. You are almost one hundred years old, and you're complaining that your knee hurts? Well, what did you expect?"    The old man said, "Well, my other knee is 98 years old too, and it doesn't hurt!"

3. What happens to old things? They get taken care of with great care! For old things, you might find a few old cars around maybe 40 years old or more but they usually are rusted and in need of many repairs but a few have been maintained and conserved and they then are priceless.

The value of old things be it old furniture or machines, is valuable only if it is in good condition, right? Value is relative to the wholeness of the item. People too, the mature ones, are purified by time and the trials of life and valuable if pure and holy.

4. Many people in the Bible were used by God only when they were older because leadership and a record of being a faithful good example require maturity and an older age! Age 40 was considered young in certain time periods and old in other time periods. Old or mature is culturally relative; this is why we usually say anyone past 30 is old! Today’s message is good teaching for everyone.

The scripture in Tit. 2:2 tells the elderly to be serious, Why? Because quite a few are not! Serious means they are using their time to be productive and helpful to teach to others what they know, not wasting their time on gambling games and vain talk in the coffee shops as many retired people in the world do. Do you know of some old person that still acts and thinks like they are a teenager pursuing shallow carnal pleasures? They look foolish and it is shameful, right?

5. Next, it says for the aged people to be temperate (which means living life in balance, calm, and not exaggerated in any area). The tendency of some older ones is to succumb to extreme behavior out of boredom. Some overspend, some over sex. If you investigate right now the increase in STDs, you would think it would be highest with the young people, right? Wrong! Its too bad Viagra exists because elderly people (46-64) in Florida are going to doctors by the droves because they have been contaminated by STDs. Over 12 million new cases appear per year in the U.S. alone! This reveals too much foolish promiscuity. Most of these people affected I doubt are people of real faith or the Holy Spirit would convict them to not do this behavior which harms their bodies and hearts and their relationship with God, and it frequently brings on divorces and murder.

6. Which brings us to the next words in the scripture, sound in faith. Faith increases over time after faithful years of study and practice (I repeat practice) of the word of God. Real faith is not gained with age, or years of going to church, it is gained by years of living in a relationship with our Lord Jesus!

Those that have strong faith are good people who respect and love others and their maturity is evident to everyone. Spiritual maturity, or being sound in the faith, is often not relevant to age but relevant to a serious dedicated obedience to the Word of God.

7. The next words in the verse: love and patience. Older people should act upon what their tender hearts feel which often is a love for all. Older ones do love children and want to see others happy. But, doesn’t it bother us when we see an older bitter, unkind person? Do you recall the comic strip Denis the Menace?  Have you known old men like that, bothered by everything? No matter your age, ask yourself, am I easily bothered and complainy about things or people?

And now: to be patient. Have you ever seen an older person impatient? They can make you crazy, right? Well, right now each of us are becoming more of what you will be when you are older. If you are impatient now, you will be twice as bad 30 years from now! Try practicing more patience today! Patience comes with taking control of your own spirit, something every one of us need to work on.

8. Tit2: 3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

How can a person have a behavior that is holy? The scripture answers it, by not falsely accusing, over drinking, and by teaching good things. The greatest temptation of your average carnally minded person is to talk about all of what they imagine that everyone they know is involved in. It is always some sinful activity which is far worse than their sins and quite often (no offense intended!) some mature people speak up about things they do not even know about. It is amazing all the things I have heard in my lifetime about other people, most of which has been untrue!  Why is this mentioned in scripture not to accuse? Because women speak 20,000 words a day men speak from 7,000 to 10,000.  In the multitude of words there is often many things said that should not be said!

People usually falsely accuse so they can manipulate the opinion of others so that they come out getting what they want or looking prettier than the others. Speaking imagined things without knowing the facts is false accusation, and these habits make people lose their holiness; it is a abomination that unglues the love and unity. Today gossip, slander, and scandal are commonplace in the media and everywhere. I knew a lady that would always speak bad of the young girls; that they should never be allowed here with their modern clothes, that they were flirty, etc. and she would eye them down and give dirty looks and we lost several young people because of her attitude, and words!

9. Next, why does it mention not being a wine bibber here? In the Biblical times there was wine which everyone had to drink due to the water being full of bacteria; however, today wine is mostly for pleasure. The factor here is that it is wrong to want to get a buzz or high all the time from wine (or any other substance) because that provokes unclear judgment. Note that the smaller bodies of women are more susceptible to drugs, pills, or alcohol addictions than men’s. Possibly women alcoholics were a problem back then!

9. Next, where it mentions teachers of good things, the emphasis on good is so important. I was shocked when younger when I discovered that in Brazil (and it is here and around the world) that there are mothers that teach their children to steal and do crimes. There are multi-millions of kids that grow up seeing older people do drugs, crimes, and horrible things so what are they teaching? People teach by our actions much more than they teach by words.

Adults that do crimes, or anything sexual with kids, or abuse them in any way, or make fun of God or church goers in front of them, prohibiting that they learn about God, or that practice occult things, these are people that will suffer the fate of hell according to Jesus.

Matt 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

10. Now advance to the part of the verses to Titus 2: 4 where it mentions the women (being mothers or grandmothers). 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, The idea is that the older women are to be respected role models as teachers explaining about good family relations and how to attend to the men and the kids.

Young women are always going to have problems with their husbands but what happens when a girl recently married goes to the mother for good advice but it is not given? She might say, how can I get my man to help me more to clean the house? A correct teacher would say, well, start the day with him praying and planning the day together, maybe even discuss some surprise you have for him if he helps you clean the house. That will get him interested just like a child.

But instead I have heard women say to younger women, I know sweetheart, men are terrible, they never help, they do nothing but take advantage of you as a woman! Get out of the marriage while you can!  I know many young women now that live very unhappy due to bad advice from bad female mentors! This is why we have the terrible mother-in-law jokes. But I never repeat them, I want peace with everyone! Usually it is the non-Christian bitter women that speak like this.

11. Today, sadly, we have a generation of youth that disrespect the elderly. Like it or not the elderly must teach the children to respect. Do you want to know how a young person shows they are mature? When suddenly they respect and want to be around older people so they can learn from their deep well of knowledge! This usually happens about college age when young people realize professors and older people are not so dumb after all, they actually have learned a whole lot! The mature ones should always be ready to teach about the lessons of life! And most of all teach prayer and the Word of God!

It is the job of the young to learn from the mature and experienced and the older ones should be willing teachers! The mature ones have a big job in our Corps, they must be mentors to the younger even when the younger don’t value it. (yet)

12.There are many articles about how we age and many of them are positive and state how people often get more mellow, worry less, get more friendly, get more happy and less worried, and even more productive. Later in life many people go on to accomplish great things in business, in writing, in service to the community. Old age, or maturity, is a blessing from God!

In my life, as in yours, you have met thousands of older people. I can tell you the names of some people right now that I know that have sought the Lord even later in life, come to church, and lived better holy lives, and they have prospered. On the other hand, some people I know have been too slow to get close to the Lord, I see them now in the same or in worse condition than what they use to be! We are on God’s time as always our timeframe has a limit, our days are numbered.

God waits for us to mature in order to pass on to us greater things. It is God’s plan that we all grow more mature in our faith, holiness, and love. There are some people that get older but still make the same mistakes over and over though, and that is because they have a record of living out habits for 10,000 days or more of their lives not seeking God and changing with Him and the times. People, usually the non-Christian ones, get older but not wiser and quite a few might agree that South Florida has an abundance of older but not necessarily wiser individuals.

13.In my time here with the Salvation Army I have meet hundreds of older and retired Officers and what I have seen is amazing. They are a very bright group like a person in their 40s! I have seen some retire at 65 and keep working another 20 years! And just like some of you here, your memory of Bible stories and of life’s experiences is lucid. Even though we live a busy stressful life for the Lord, it is as though the Lord blesses us with length of days for serving Him. Look up… Prov, 3:1,2 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

William Booth started the Salvation Army later in life and look how much he accomplished! When he died the whole city of London stopped that day to honor him!

Age with faith will regenerate you and you will be useful and fulfilled, but age without the qualities covered today will degenerate you and kill you quickly!

14. We need to thank those who visit the elder in the Community Care ministries! Remember, the people out in the world, those that have not known about righteousness and our loving life filled with the renovating Christian way of life, are not anywhere near as happy as most all of us are in this Corps.

Relationship issues such as having a deceased spouse, living far away from family, loneliness, etc. Mental issues such as depression, forgetfulness, moodiness; Health issues such as arthritis, osteoporosis, high or low blood pressure, cancer, and many more issues such as a loss of hearing and eyesight afflict the elder.    

On the bright side though, you and I have been in enough rest homes to see that there are all kinds of elderly people and most can be very nice, calm, and sweet!

15. Answer this question, what habits do you have today that will be many times stronger when you are old? You will be more of who you are today tomorrow!

Will you be energetic, in love with the Lord, and with life, and blessed because you planted good seeds in others so you could reap? Here there is teaching, service, generosity, and encouragement, and a lot of it comes from the mature faithful ones!

Will you be old and bitter about how you don’t have what you wanted out of life? Will you complain how others have treated you unfairly, how you should have been richer, how your family held you back! Age & time is a collection of what was lived day to day and daily living in God’s praises will always be renovating but our own thoughts with our own carnal minds are degenerating and discouraging!

16. Each one of us is responsible for the effect of what we are feeding our minds and spirits day to day over our time on earth. People look up to the older ones around us, and what do they see? With age we get better or bitter! Like wine that gets more fine, or like vinegar that gets more tart!

Let’s appreciate, respect, and pray for those with us that are mature! Each of us must make plans now on how to mature being full of God’s seriousness, holiness, love, patience, wisdom, and faithfulness!

Pray for those you know who are elderly today, for family members, friends! Ask the Lord how you can inspire them and honor them!

Jesus…in Your Dreams! By Kelly Durant 4-21-13

Matthew 27:19 When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.

2.How many of you have dreams? Can you distinguish when a dream really means something and when it is just your mind floating out there trying to make a collage of strange purposeless things?

Have you ever dreamed you are flying? Many people have! According to the scientific study of dreams your mind keeps working on problems you could not solve in the daytime. People who dream flying could be learning what they will need to know after they leave this body behind! Jesus will raise us up!

We passed Easter and you can find tens of thousands of sermons on Jesus’ resurrection and that important day. But there is one verse I want to explore, and that is how Jesus appears to and appeared to different people communicating to them in dreams, even though these people did not choose to meet him, nor had they ever met him personally.

3.For example, the wife of Pilate had a dream and in her dream Jesus appeared to her and she took seriously the injustice that was happening to him. In a dream she was touched by the purity and holiness of Jesus because she described him as a “just man”.  That is divine communication. The rumors were he was a devil!

Then, like good wives do, she tells her husband what she feels and thinks about a decision he will make concerning Jesus. The men have the power, but women usually do have a strong invisible influence. Women often change things behind the scenes with their words, do they not? She told him she had suffered in a dream because of him. When the wife suffers and is disturbed it affects the man as well.

That dream that she had that we do not know the details of, then troubled Pilate as she got through to him about the true holy nature of Jesus. This started troubling him that a just man would die, and he was accustomed to sending men to die daily.  So much was he disturbed by his wife’s dream, and God’s conviction, that he washed his hands in public to symbolize he didn’t want anything to do with what was happening with Jesus condemnation, do you recall that?

4.Matt27: 23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. 24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. 25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

What we can conclude is that Jesus visited Pilate’s wife and this visit influenced how he handles the case of having Jesus in front of him. He tried to change the mind of the the people by releasing Barabbas instead of Jesus, a known murderer, but it did not work. In reality, he tried to protect an innocent man, but the people chose the death of Jesus despite that. So even evil rulers fear God’s justice!

I am sure Pilate, and his wife was very disturbed after that day.  What sort of terrible people would choose the death of Jesus, a just man over a man who was a dangerous murderous threat to society?

5.Dreams are a major component in all our lives. A long time before Jesus birth, God sent dreams to Joseph in Egypt and there are many accounts of dreams in the Bible. Recall the dreams of Joseph of Mary to marry her and then to flee Egypt and that of the Wise Men who took action on their dream and traveled away from Herod to avoid his wrath. They did not even know of his plot to kill Jesus. How do we explain such detailed communication in dreams?

There are day time dreams that happen as well, but those we usually referred to as visions. Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus and that changed Paul’s entire life!

Here is a strange reality, Jesus, God, or angels have been appearing to millions of people in visions, premonitions or dreams ever since he came to earth and these experiences are so real that millions of people have taken radical decisions to start living very different lives from what they were.

6.Referring to how dreams change others, let’s look at Muslims and those of faiths who are isolated in lands where the gospel is not heard. I have read many testimonies of people being converted just because of a dream they had of Jesus appearing to them.

These unexplained dreams of Jesus or God have been so real that people have been willing to change their lives and their religion, often leaving their country, or even going to jail to be persecuted for their new found faith in Jesus!

How can science explain that? It can’t! Some things are just supernatural and it is not that some people in the world are just superstitious or ignorant, to the contrary, many people know how to be sensitive to spiritual communications and act upon them!

Your spiritual sensitivity is everything! Have you been shown things from God in dreams, or in prayer and then acted upon them appropriately?

7.When I was 21 and deciding which direction my life would go, I was stuck between staying in the university or leaving it to serve Jesus as a missionary in South America. A major factor in my decision was a dream that came to me.

Dream of Bob Dylan concert. I dreamed I was in a rock concert and the main artist that I thought was the most amazing person alive, was being arrogant and stupid and was keeping the people waiting for hours. During that time the auditorium was filling up with thick smoke form the marijuana everyone was smoking. Suddenly I felt glued to my chair and I got very scared as if I felt I would die immovable right there if I did not get up.

But I forced myself to get up and when I did in the isle it seemed like a drama skit of something, but a guy said, hey you, come here and help us. There was Jesus carrying a cross and some others nearby and one gave me a hammer and long nail in my hands and said here, help us to crucify this man? I dropped the hammer and ran outside as fast as I could! I did not want to help them kill Jesus!

Outside I thought it was night, but instead it was day and there were hundreds of police cars and police that were getting ready to invade the auditorium and take everyone to jail.

The Lord showed me I needed to escape my old life radically, if not I would be paralyzed from drugs and crucifying Jesus in the process. The police were representative of the angels of God that will return with Jesus to judge the world.

8.Jesus changed my life by appearing in a dream. ? My sister in law also told me one time that she had a dream in which Jesus told her to stop following the church of her past and follow the evangelicals. Now, let me ask you, how many of you have ever had a dream, or a vision, or an experience with Jesus communicating to you? Look around, that is quite a few of you! My point is Jesus ever since his death, and in all the book of Acts, has appeared to others in dreams and visions in supernatural ways.

Communication through dreams and visions is not history; it is a phenomenon that keeps happening today! There is a science study of the mind called noetics to try to discover how we experience precognitions and the unexplainable.

It is also a fulfillment of the verses of Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: (Note: The last days began with Jesus birth) Also please contextualize that these verses are not a license to get disorderly and randomly interrupt the service to proclaim some personal revelation as if you are the most spiritual one in all the church as is done in some churches today.

9.But here is an undeniable reality, there are people that Jesus has communicated to in his pure and holy way, and they have either resisted or accepted the mission! What did Jesus tell Paul on his way to persecute Christians in Damascus? Acts 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks?

Jesus was troubling him and rebuking Paul. How? By a vision shining through his darkness! Jesus love, His nature of purity, of righteousness, his just way of fairness of bringing healing to broken hearts and bodies contrasted greatly against Paul’s intentions of destruction. Jesus getting close to anyone of us would expose our ugly selfish proud human nature which is the opposite of His! So the people that seem to still have many sins and faults, I assume have not really met Him!

10.Jesus in dreams is usually not the superman that takes you by the hand and lifts you flying in the sky over the mountains and moon, He is the one who sends a message to you about something important that is happening in your life at that moment and he often is warning you to change immediately, change your attitude, move away to another place, or to take action on an important decision. Jesus wakes you and I up to a new truth and this reality requires a reaction!

Jesus appearing in a dream, or in a vision, is an unexplained internal awareness and it is as God’s Holy Spirit at work.  Those who ignore that tugging of the heart, or reject the revelation of the truth of God, miss the out on the blessings of God, and depending on what message God is convicting them of, that person might even be rejecting salvation!

11.We see an instance of this is Acts where Stephen, filled with the Holy Ghost, reveals the truth of Jesus to the crowd but despite his vision & powerful glowing presence, despite the heart piercing conviction his anointed words brought to the crowd’s ears, they still resisted! They murdered him as they did Jesus, out of the hatred in their hearts rejecting the fact that Jesus actually is the Son of God.

We all must bow down and reverence Him as Lord of Lords when the Holy Spirit convicts us, if not the only alternative is rejection by choice and an eternal separation from the God which is hell. Stephen’s final warning while having a vision (a daytime dream) was, Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

12.Today I want you to decide, has Jesus or the Holy Spirit ever appeared to you, in a prayer, in a vision, in a dream in the night, or in a still small voice in your heart and mind? If so did you act on it? Or do you know someone to whom God communicated? God communicates today but few are talking about it!

John 15: 26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

God may comfort in his message or trouble you, but you must wake up.

Have you responded to some troubling dream or message gotten in a prayer? If not, it is never too late to obey God! God is merciful, but that second bus (after you missing the first) is on a different time clock of God. Many people miss God’s will and really mess things up in their lives! Start asking your friends today, have you ever dreamed with God or Jesus? Use that as a way to share the gospel of His love! 

Be a Self-less Servant! by Captain Kelly Durant

Be a Self-less Servant       by Captain Kelly Durant

 2. Have you ever heard 2 kids arguing? Many times one will grab a toy and say it’s mine. Its mine! By nature we are selfish and we want it all. But to be sacrificial and be a good servant… now that is the opposite, a nature only God can give us!

I recall when my kids were here with me in Miami in the 90s, and one little kid friend of theirs said this is Miami, Miami! And the other one started crying saying, “No! No! It is My ami!. My...ami! Ha!

   Matt 20:25-28

25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

3.In the world today there is a lot of confusion on how the church should be governed and clearly Jesus states that the chief one amongst you should be a servant! He teaches us that we are to serve one another in love as a servant. Leaders, and Christians that have been around for a while, should be the ones who serve the most.

Jesus came to love, serve, and heal, and He teaches us that He expects that each of His followers, who are servants, to do the same! But God is limited by how willing you are to do all of the things that Jesus did!

In other words, there is a war within you to be an obedient surrendered selfless following servant of Jesus, or be a common lazy human whose nature is to be selfish. Or some people want to do some little thing and then get a big recognition and applause for it. With God it is not that way, when it is done for Him the rewards are in heaven. Don’t let you right hand know what your left hand does, its done for God. 

4.All Salvation Army Officers, Soldiers, and volunteers are in the business of serving those in need, be it a spiritual or physical one! Being a servant to the suffering is the reason for our existence! The reason we are not the largest church around is because not too many people want to deal with what we deal with; the homeless, the addicts, and the poor. A real servant will do the dirty uncomfortable work and then never complain.

We can all be proud that right now in in 126 countries there are a few million in the Community Care groups serving others who suffer needs. Please keep all missionaries in your prayers too! We are proud of Jaime that is going on a mission trip to the Islands in the Caribbean. It is great to see a young person willing to serve others living in conditions less fortunate than ours! Thank you! We will pray for you!

Jesus came to minister and to teach us to minister and be sacrificial as He was. But only He was able to put his life as a ransom to pay the debt of all sin! But he expects us to lead by serving others in love as He did!  So how much are you serving?

5.Have you ever heard the quote that states ,“You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink?” That is the way servanthood is, some will do it and some won’t. In this Corps we have a healthy group of people going out to minister to others, the Home League and the Community Care leaders, most leaders do their best to serve.

Raise your hand if you are a part of one of these groups? These are the ones who drink the water, the bold ones who act and do! The ones who lead by example! We are proud of you because each year over a thousand hours of serving and ministering to others gets done! The word of God shared, comfort and prayers given to many hundreds, and the value of the gift-in-kind gifts you share is invaluable!

You are hope to many! May God reward you greatly in heaven! But today we invite anyone not serving yet to consider that you can do it with the support of us and of these dozens who are in action.

6.How blessed we are that here there is a group of people who sacrifice their time and visit rest homes, visit and pray for people who are sick, go and lead Bible classes, and they come or go to serve food boxes, paint and clean or just serve no matter how dirty they get. So there is no excuse for anyone to say, I don’t have anyone to go with, I don’t know how to serve or where to go to serve others. We have the system working.

But there is a reality, neither you nor I, nor Mrs. Captain, nor Al nor any leader here can get anyone to love God or do anything for their neighbor and be a servant! The free will of each person limits what you or I will do. Jesus wants the results of seeing each person as a servant leader but each person has their own laziness, selfishness, or rebelliousnesses and free will to deal with to choose what they will do or not do!

What each person chooses to do for God is between them and God but after knowing how Jesus gave His life with His blood and His suffering, not one of us have any excuse to not follow in his example doing the best we can for God and others!

Jesus gave His life and we should give our lives in sacrifice without limits as He did!

7.We have explored in the past how the entire world’s systems are self-serving, not others-serving. All governments, businesses and even some false pastors have systems set up so that the people are serving them, or just serving their-selves in their self-interest and they are not serving another person with a need as Jesus did.

These people are what we can classify as the “Gentile’ or ungodly leaders. Vs 25 Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

These are authorities who give orders like a dictator and they dominate others and their idea is that the people need to be serving them. After all, they are the deserving wealthy charismatic masters and chiefs, and they do not ever want to be seen as a servant, that is too humiliating. But Jesus was a servant not a master! This is why for millennia Jesus is still loved and followed by over one billion, contrary to any Cesear, recent past leader, or dictator.

8. You cannot just give money to the poor either, sometimes that can even be an abuse. I have been reading a book about that…

It is like giving a man a fish and not a fishing pole. In the end, you are serving him crumbs compared to what you own (the entire fishery), so he feels guilty for the fish given to him and then obligated to serve you when you want something. So what happens is a relationship of resentment. How you serve another matters greatly! Is it a real servant love, or a manipulating ploy? Jesus always healed and set free others.

Instead of loving you in the end, he hates you because your help is no help as he knows you are keeping him under your thumb for the favors you want. And the privileged one giving is disrespectful and resentful as well thinking that the one receiving is a loser, lazy, and abusive for coming back time after time.

But if you give a man a fishing pole, a job, a mission, or a place to fish from, then he can run with it and he will always be thankful because you made a way for him to take care of not just himself, but of others as well. The poor many times are the most generous with other poor because they know what it is like to have nothing!

9. This is exactly how I feel about Jesus and the Salvation Army. I will always be thankful because they gave me a mission in life to bring hope to the suffering ones through His message of salvation. A salvation that is not just for heaven but one for the here and now. This implies I provide for those in need, I bring God’s provision to all without discrimination.

How do you and I get food, help, and things for others? You have to do a lot of sacrificial serving. It takes hours of preparation to get tons of boxes of food, clothes, backpacks, or toys ready and move them around 3 times and then give them out.

So God is developing the character of each of us to become servants; he taught the disciples not just with words but by example and our following should be done with words and deeds as well. God is good all the time! Why, because he saves and solves!

God gives soup, soap, and salvation, but He does it through his servants, you and I.

10. We could define serving others as knowing the Good, loving the good, and doing the good!

Knowing the good is knowing what is right.—(In our mind) this is cognitive.

Loving the good is loving God and the sense of community and reverence for others by following the principles that have been established—(In our heart) this is feeling or conviction.

Doing good is applying what you know to be right, and what you feel to be right (Holy Spirit’s voice), to a given situation—(Our will doing God’s will) this is application.

-Saber el buen es saber que es correcto. - (En nuestra mente) esto es cognoscitivo.

-Amar el buen es amar a Dios el sentido de amar la comunidad y darle reverencia a otros siguiendo los principios que se han establecido (En nuestro corazón) esto es sentimiento o convicción.

- El hacer buen es la aplicación de lo que usted sabe que es correcto, y lo que usted se siente (la voz del Espíritu Santo) que es correcto en una situación dada (Nuestra voluntad  haciendo la voluntad de Dios) éste es ser aplicado.

Sometimes we wonder in our human imperfection, how can we ever be faithful servants? Have you ever worried if you are faithful enough, if you are serving enough?  I have many many times! Inside we all want to please God.

11.There comes a time when you and I need more faith; faith that God will help us to be all of what we need to be to be serving as we should.

Ask yourself, Is My surrendered will working His Will in me! For the good of others?

We give, we do, we serve, but…The only things that can be perfect are the things God gives:

-perfect peace as you let go of concerns about yourself and hang onto Him;

-perfect fulfillment as you stop trying to do it all and let Him do through you whatever He knows is best;

-and perfect faith that even though you falter and fail, you trust fully in His unconditional love that will never fail to hold you close and turn everything for good.

Las únicas cosas que pueden ser perfectas son las cosas que Dios da:

- paz perfecta dejando las preocupaciones de si mismo, y aferrando se en él;

- perfecto cumplimiento dejando intentar hacerlo todo y dejando que El lo haga a través de usted, lo que El sabe que es el mejor; 

- y la fe perfecta que aun cuando usted vacila y falla, puedes confía completamente en su amor incondicional que siempre le sostenga que dé vuelta a todo para el buen.

You are a servant for God so be the servant leader He wants! Then you will feel good about yourself by seeing how you make others happy! If you are not serving other yet, just start!       

 ¡Usted es una obra en el progreso y Dios llegando a ser el líder que sierva en la forma que él desea!

So have patience with God’s molding of your character! Work with God so he will make you what you need to be!

Remember that the disciples were for a time:

12. Not yet ready for the task God was preparing them for

Discouraged not understanding all of what God was doing

Afraid of where they were going to end up 

Time with Jesus, and His Holy Spirit resolved these concerns!  Pray we me…

 Recuerdan que los discípulos estaban a menudo:

No todavía listo por la tarea que Dios estaba preparándolos

Desalentado por no entender de todo lo qué Dios estaba haciendo

Asustados por donde iban a terminar   

¡Tiempo con Jesús, y su Espíritu Santo resolvieron todas estas preocupaciones!