Phish Bowl Ministries November 2013

PHISH BOWL MINISTRIES

November 2013

“Chummin’ for Saints until the nets are full”

Matthew 4:19

Dear family,

I am sitting here thinking of what to say with so much on my mind.  First, by the time this gets to you, I will still be in prison or I will be at a halfway house.  If in prison, I will be planning a Thanksgiving spread for the fellowship.  If in the halfway house, I don’t know what Thanksgiving will look like.  I do know that I will be thankful for being on the streets.  If in prison, then I will be thankful for one last Thanksgiving with the brothers behind the walls; but, for now, one day at a time, waiting for Community to pick me up.  However, this does not stop the work of the Lord.  Today, my head is in prison and I serve Him and His Church; here, today.  If tomorrow I am a slave in the free world, I will seek His will in my new phish bowl.

Peter is going to do just that here in Acts 10-11:18.  He is going to do something which no good Jewish man would ever do; he is going to the unclean Gentiles.  However, not just any Gentile, but he was going to a hated Roman conqueror.

 
Peter’s life since his first meeting with Jesus was never what he thought a good Jewish boy saw as his life following his Messiah.  This life was not going to have the best clothes, latest car, and the best motels with a 6 figure salary.  We never see that picture of Christianity until sometime in the 20^th century.  Instead, we see:

10 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, ² a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. ³ About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!”⁴ And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. ⁵ Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. ⁶ He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.” ⁷ And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. ⁸ So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa.

Father just rocked Peter’s world in one big area, kosher food, an outward way of showing righteousness and being clean!  This will lead to another big change, who is really clean and not clean?  Now in the last PBM, we already covered Acts 10:1-2, and the person Cornelius.

³ About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!”⁴ And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.
The ninth hour or 0300 was likely one of Cornelius’ regular times of prayer as it was a custom of the temple.  An angel of God will be described further in Acts 10:30 that the angel was “a man in dazzling clothes” (NLT).  This is not the first time God has used a heavenly messenger. Other examples are:
               Exodus 3: 1-4:  The burning bush with Moses
               Numbers 22: 21-30: A talking donkey of Balaam
               I Kings 19: 1-44:  A gentle whisper heard by Elijah
               Jeremiah 13: 1-11: The strange object lessons of Jeremiah.
This is a veteran soldier whose “memorial offerings” and “prayer” are known before God.  Don’t miss this, Cornelius is not a Jew, but he is a devout God fearing man whom God hears. This is a new concept since Father was the God of the Jews only.  We sometimes get so caught up in the here and now that we don’t give room for Father to move us to a different tomorrow.  We hold on to ‘right here’ and ‘right now’, afraid of change and losing our comfort zone.  When I study the saints, what I see is them always looking to see where Father is working and then moving in the direction to follow Him.

Look at it this way: My church family, my friends, my safety are in Loveland, CO.  But Father has me going to Henderson Colorado where in my mind, I have nothing, but that is not true.  See, where the Holy Spirit leads, He will prepare the path before me.  For the past 7 years, I’ve thought about how I will join Calvary Chapel Loveland in ministry:  What will my role be? What work will I be doing? But all this time, Jesus has had His perfect plan being set down before me.  So, do I tell Jesus, NO, your choice is wrong?  Or, do I do what I believe a life which is sold out to Jesus should look like?  I am so looking forward to seeing what He has in mind as my role in His kingdom.

Do you look at Jesus with your list of what your life is to look like or do you look to see where He is and what work He has for you and just join Him, leaving the details up to Him?  I don’t know how we can read Acts and not see men, such as Paul, Peter, John and many others who, no matter what it looked like, did not follow the calling of the Lord.  Now days, we look back and say, “Wow, if I could live like that for you Jesus, that would be cool”.  But could we instead say “Lord, in spite of me and my flesh, please break me so that I can fully be used for the Kingdom”?However, if we look at all of God’s Word, this is not true.  God has always answered the sincere prayers of those who seek Him by sending the right person or the right information at the right time.
⁵ Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. ⁶ He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.” ⁷ And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. ⁸ So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa.

The angel tells Cornelius to do something and he does it, he doesn’t debate with the angel.  Cornelius wants God’s best and knows that to receive Father’s best, his life has to be worked out His way.  The picture of Acts 10 and really the whole Bible is of God setting events and individual lives to bring about His eternal purposes.  Father has a big, cosmic plan that He is setting in place, and He is using obedient servants to make it happen.  Are you in a place and of such a mind to be used by the Great Conductor?  Can you get ready?  God may just send someone into your Phish Bowl today who needs your help, wisdom or your gifts.  I wish to close on this thought:

A Gift to God:

Cornelius was generous in helping the poor.  Here are ten common excuses for not helping the poor and needy:
1.      They don’t deserve help.  Tell them to get a job and work, like the rest of us!
2.     God’s call to help the poor doesn’t apply to them.
3.      After I take care of my needs there isn’t enough left to help others.
4.     I would, but something might happen next week and I would need those resources.  God tells us to save up in case of an emergency.
5.     The money that I do give never really reaches the poor.
6.     I don’t know where to give, I don’t have the time to do the research, and I just don’t have the time to give.
7.     My little bit won’t make a difference.
8.     If God really wants me to give, He would give me more!
9.     God likes a cheerful giver, and I don’t have the gift of giving, so God is OK with this.
10.  If I give, then I would be the poor.

Luke mentions the habit of Cornelius’ care for those in need.  Acts 10:2, “He and all his family were devout and God-fearing, he gave generously to those in need…” (NIV).  And, the angel’s messenger did so as well.  Believers must never forget God’s love for the poor (James 2:5) and the importance of caring for them.

               Exodus 22: 22-27:  ²² “You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. ²³ If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry; ²⁴ and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.²⁵ “If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest. ²⁶ If you ever take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. ²⁷ For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.
Leviticus 25:35-37:  ³⁵ ‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. ³⁶ Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. ³⁷ You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit.
Proverbs 14:31: “He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who honors Him has mercy on the needy”.
Luke 6:21: ²¹ blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now,    for you shall laugh.
Galatians 2:10 ¹⁰ They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.
1 Timothy 5:3-5: ³ Honor widows who are really widows. ⁴ But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God. ⁵ Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

Jesus could not have been clearer on the importance of the subject:
Matthew 25:44-45: ⁴⁴ “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’
⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

The angel painted Cornelius’ action as an offering to God.  That is a beautiful picture of what our properly motivated acts of faith are like; they ascend to God like the smoke of the sacrifice.  This is the language of the Leviticus sacrifice (See Leviticus 2:2) and commonly applies to our prayers and good deeds in Christ’s name (See Phil. 4:18 & Heb. 13: 15-16).

Semper Fidelis!

Love, Timothy (I Corinthians 16:13-14)

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Calvary Chapel Loveland .276 E 29^th St.Loveland, CO   80538

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Good news brothers and sisters!  As of today, October 28^th, Timothy has been moved to the Phoenix Center, 8031 Highway I-76, Henderson, CO  80640.

We praise our heavenly Father and His timely, perfect will and wait to see what He does next in Tim’s life!  AMEN!!

 

New King James Version (NKJV) The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.