Another year has come and gone and we move into the future with great expectations. I believe the Spirit is speaking to His Church and the Vision is “IT’S TIME TO DRAW THE LINE IN 2009.” The LORD spoke to Amos and showed him a vision of a “plumbline.” The plumbline was to represent a “reference point” from that point forward to all generations. A plumbline has several functions, to assure accuracy, to use as a guide for a level and straight structure, to use as a “standard,” etc… It is always “true” and accurate! As Israel would “drift off” from God’s plan and find themselves in limbo or no-mans-land so to speak, God would use His prophets to guide them back with His Word. About 700 years before Jesus was to be born God spoke to Amos and declares, “I will not pass by them anymore” or that the plumbline will always prove to be true and accurate to reveal God’s works! (If God is working in them it would be evident!) Man could work “with” God, if man was willing to, so that God could express His glorious works through His works in man!
Of course Jesus is the “plumbline” that would forever be a reference to guide God’s people in the right direction. The plumbline for us today would be a reference for so many areas of our lives. For instance for our walk of faith, for raising our families, for marriage, for ethics, and so much more. If we want to know how our lives measure up according to God’s plan we can always refer to the plumbline of Christ and His Word! The plumbline is for three main purposes then and now. These 3 purposes are:
- For God to establish His “Covenant Standard”
- For God to establish His “Covenant Word”
- For God to establish His “Covenant People”
So for us today God is calling us back to the plumbline so we can express His purpose in the earth. Christ is the Standard of an Abundant life, the Word made flesh, and the expression of a Father and Son Covenant relationship. So now I have a standard to compare my walk of faith with, and His Word to give me Wisdom and Truth, and allows me to be one of His people. When I think about it I get excited about the possibilities for restorations, healings, provisions, protection, and victory! I’m drawing the line in 2009, and I’m leaving all of 2008 behind. Anything that didn’t express His goodness and blessing is staying on the other side of the line and I’m looking to the standard to straighten me out, and His Word to be made flesh in me, and His Witness to show the world He Lives!
Blessings,
RB
Last Updated: December 30th, 2008 |
Today as a nation we have an influence that is a “silent” attack on our faith and values. The attack is in the form of a “paradigm” which defines the way we view our world. It is called “negativism” and it is not going away. Negativism has crept into the media, the home, the workforce, and yes even into the church! A careful study of negativism will reveal the objective of such a mindset beginning with the definition itself. Negativism is simply, “to neutralize and make ineffective; to make inoperative by means of an opposing force.” This paradigm if not recognized will affect everything in its path including the Christian faith. Negativism will take man on a journey that leads to an end that is not where we want to end up and the journey is a progressive path that follows these built-in influences: (Negativism is a philosophy that no knowledge is secure, and that we therefore no nothing!)
- Negativism leads to Skepticism, which is defined as “an attitude of doubt, that true knowledge is uncertain therefore suspending judgment.” Skepticism will keep a person from making a decision because all of the choices seem to be negative. (Just look at politics and elections.) The Truth is always “positive” and freeing in nature but remember negative influences “neutralize” what is truth.
- Skepticism leads to Pragmatism, which is “opinions relating to “matter of fact” – or practical affairs leading to exclusion of truth.” Pragmatic thinking will simply close off any kind of faith and relate everything to what can be seen, or experienced by natural senses. In other words, if I can’t see it or touch it then it’s not real. Can you see the influence this could have on faith?
- Pragmatism will lead to Individualism, which adheres to a “doctrine that the will of an individual makes one ‘ethically paramount’ to all others.” This is better known as Ethical Independence or the phrase, “well it’s right for me.” When man begins to isolate himself from the influence of community and feels as though he must “find his own way” to survive then he is headed for a rude and crude awakening. The Christian will begin to use God as a leverage by saying things like, “God told me…” even though the action they choose is contradiction the Word itself!
- Individualism leads to Anarchism, which is “a political theory holding that any and all forms of governmental authority to be unnecessary and undesirable by promoting a society based upon voluntary cooperation and free association of individual’s and ‘groups’.” The meaning is clear that this final offspring of negativism leads man to determine his existance as “I will submit to nothing outside of myself.” Man will reject even the government of God and find his faith challenged with the same thing that was found in the Judges of the old testament, which was a statement made several times by the Holy Spirit, “and every man did what was right in his own eyes.” This cause a whole nation to go astray because they began to follow a distorted path of negativism.
The end result is where this journey ends, and the story is told in generations to come which is “SELF-DESTRUCTION.” Be careful in the days ahead, stay focussed on the truth of God’s Word, and keep trusting in God’s Plan. Negativism will separate man from his faith and trust in God, and cause one to think that “he” alone has the answers to lifes problems. As Christian’s we must follow “the way, the truth, and the life” that is only found in one place… Jesus Christ! Jesus is still our great Salavation, and the Head of His Church. He still builds upon His Wisdom and understanding according to His Government which Isaiah spoke of as, “and the government shall be upon his shoulders.”
Stay the course of Colossians 3:1-4,
RB
Last Updated: November 20th, 2008 |
Life at The Rock is and has been awesome, but quickly moving into absolutely amazing! Some of the recent testimonies are truly fantastic! We’ve experienced physical healings, people walking out of depression, restored marriages that were nothing short of miraculous, breakthroughs in financial needs, businesses prospering like never before, reports of answered prayers like never before!
Jodi and I are so excited about what’s happening, however we believe that we’re really just getting back to “normal” church and haven’t even began to experience the “greater works” that Christ promised. We are expecting more testimonies to come and can’t wait to give all the Glory to Jesus Christ who is “The Rock!” I can’t help but say, “The Best is Yet to Come!!!”
See ya at our next service!
RB
Last Updated: October 20th, 2008 |
We just got home from Los Angeles, Ca. Jodi and I had a great trip while we also got a lot accomplished. We didn’t have a lot of meetings like we usually do, so we went downtown to do some shopping for The Rock Church “Girlfriends” ministry. The ladies will really enjoy browsing through the items that Jodi shipped back. With Christmas coming soon, this will give our ladies some options for gifts, and or for some new looks for the fall/winter wear.
RB
Last Updated: October 20th, 2008 |
The Pastor’s and Leaders conference at Word of Life Church, Pastor Brian Zahnd, was awesome and inspirational! When we arrived on Thursday we went straight to the Church and this began the conference for us. We learned so much and absorbed lots of helpful information about reaching our generation. Then to top it all off, Pastor Zahnd preached with a prophetic unction on Friday evening during their regular Friday Night Service. As always we thank Pastor Zahnd for his willingness and obedience to share the “fresh” word with us!
Blessings,
RB
Last Updated: October 7th, 2008 |
We all have “core values” that determine the way we think, and make decisions in our life. These are the beliefs that we live by and especially refuse to compromise on. When we look at our life of faith, we must have core values just the same as our values in our natural life. Colossians 3:16 says to us as believers, “let the word of Christ dwell in you ‘richly’ in all wisdom…” This implies that the word must be anointed to be effective in life, and that we will need His wisdom to know how, and when to apply that living word! The word “richly” is simple yet very intense for the believer, and it means “abundantly in supply, or more than enough for necessity.”
The core values of faith must be maintained in four area’s of our lives as believers. What I’m saying is this, you must have an abundant supply of the word in these four areas to maximize faith for the times we live in. There will come a time when I believe that the word of God will be so “valuable” that it will surpass the value of oil, gas, cars, houses, etc… and our hope is that Christians will recognize this and make the investment of their time and energy to have the word of Christ in them richly! The four areas I mentioned previously for faith to be maintained by our core values are as follows:
- Faith must be “rich in your head.” For the word to be in you richly, you’ll have to “put” faith in your head. This means to fill your thoughts up with the word, to submit your emotions to the word, and to “think” in line with Philippian’s 4:8. I know that faith is found in the “heart” but you have to renew your thoughts with the word and that’s why I say that faith must be “put into your “head.”
- Faith must be “rich in your heart.” The word dwelling in you “richly” would be to have your heart filled up to overflowing with the truth of the scripture. The overflow is how you maintain the connection with the next and previous areas.
- Faith must be “rich in your mouth.” Mark 11:22-24 declares that YOU must SAY to the mountains [problems] a faith command to be removed from your heart, and mind! This implies that the mountain is no longer a factor, nor a hinderance to your progress through life!
- Faith must be “rich in your hand.” The action of faith is carried out by an action following the words you speak out of your mouth.
I like to use the illustration of David and Goliath for this application. The word was richly found in David’s core values when he faced the giant. He “saw and heard” everything that was being said and done against the army of God. But the difference is that David had the word in his head, heart, mouth and hand! David’s mind was made up, and he faced this opposition with an edge not found in anyone else involved. David responed from his mouth what was thought out, believed and uncompromised in his heart, which is the Covenant of Israel with God! Then David took in “hand” a sling and a stone and defeated the adversary with one swift release of his faith.
There is no way a believer can have this kind of faith without a solid set of “core values” to base their decision to face an adversary. There are many enemies to faith, none of which are flesh and blood. The origin of all destruction is a well orchestrated plan of pricipalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world working with the wicked spirits of the earth to carry out the purpose of satan himself. To face any one of their destructive devices you will have to develope some core values in your faith and let those values flow into every area of your being! I will share my personal “core values” in my next blog.
Keeping the faith,
RB
Last Updated: September 8th, 2008 |
We had a great trip to the West Coast last week to attend “The Conduct and The Call” Conference at In His Presence Church pastored by our friends Mel and Desire Aires. Mel preached a dynamic life changing message about “Holiness.” We had the opportunity to meet with a couple of our pastor friends in Rancho Cucamonga which is about an hour East of Los Angeles, Steve and Dodie DeYoung, who were having a special guest in at Mountain View Church that same weekend. Overall we were excited to hear and be a part of the conference and catch up with our friends to have a little “hang time” with them during our trip.
RB
Last Updated: August 5th, 2008 |
Beginning on Wednesday July 16 we had our Pastor, Dr. Richard Ledford, come to The Rock Church to preach a message entitled “The Final Generation.” He preached Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights under a tremendous anointing. We witnessed 100’s of salvations, countless altar responses for various needs, and so many awesome testimonies have been reported from these meetings. On Friday night Dr. Ledford and Pastor Andrea laid hands on several hundred men and women who responded to the altar call!
Our mission team came in from Mexico about 10:00 pm as we were just finishing the service, but Dr. Ledford laid hands on the 16 people who asked for prayer. It was an unforgettable week of services at The Rock but we believe the best is yet to come!
Christ Jesus is coming soon!
RB
Last Updated: July 21st, 2008 |
Wow! The services have been great, and getting better each week. This past week was intense, we started on Friday with our annual men’s conference that was for The Rock Church, (we didn’t have any other churches involved for this one). It was the “Passion for His Presence” theme, and from Friday night to Sunday morning we saw a change in our men during worship. In the second service there were men on their knees at the altar giving all of their heart in worship! The Presence of the Lord is more intense and recognizable by all! Souls are coming into the Kingdom, healings, restorations, refreshing times, and people getting set free from past issues that were keeping them from moving forward with God. The Praise Team has stepped it up a couple of notches and you can feel it in the atmosphere… things are up and getting up, good and gettin’ better at The Rock Church and we give all Glory and Honor to Jesus Christ for His mercy and grace upon us!
RB
Last Updated: June 23rd, 2008 |
Have you ever considered what other people think about, or say about you from their “point of view?” What if their opinion of you were compared with someone who you didn’t want to be compared to, would it bother you a little? Would that point of view motivate you to want to change because you didn’t really want to be compared to that person? Galatians 6:14-17 Paul encourages us to lay aside all of our religious practices that avoid the reality of the Cross. He says what is most important is becoming a “new creature” through the work of Christ on the Cross. Then he concludes with “as many as walk [live] according to this “rule” will experience peace and mercy in their new walk.
Any initiative requires a “new metric” to guage the progress by. If you got a promotion on your job, a new metric would replace the old one. A metric is implying a new set of rules or guidelines, or a standard to measure by. Paul used the word “rule” which is from a word in greek, “kanown” or in english the word is canon. We know that canon is the canon of scripture, and Paul the apostle who didn’t walk personally with Christ is referring to this fulfilled scripture that guides him in his new walk of life. Jesus is the “metric” for the new believer!
What are some of the “rules” we need to adopt to have a successful journey on earth? Well a few of them are the rules that Jesus taught and lived. To name some of them we’ll start with the rule of Love, then Submission, and Truth, followed by Faith, and Righteousness with a Giving heart. Just to name a few important life changing “rules” we can learn to live by, that if we’ll use the metric of Jesus as our guide, we can certainly change the Point of View that others have of us into a whole new “point of you!”
Keeping it pure,
RB
Last Updated: June 12th, 2008 |
