Prayer for a friend 6...

Carolyn goes to the doctor tomorrow for a blood test as a precursor to her chemo treatments starting this Friday. Please pray that she is healed and that the doctor finds no cancer cells. That would be a blessing! And certainly not beyond the power or grace of God.

Spiritual Attack

Last year I decided to go the the "Lead Slead Spectacular" car show in Salina Kansas this coming weekend. I am the Chaplin for the "Christian Rods & Customs" Car Ministry (we use our cars to spread the gospel). I will be speaking at the Chapel Service Sunday Morning, July 27th.

Well, the last month has seen some of the most ridiculous spiritual attack in my life. My car (a 1950 Pontiac Silver Streak) started overheating. Fixing that, the carburetor started acting up. To make a long story interesting, I unknowingly got some ethanol and it cleaned my 58 year old gas tank, sending all that gum into my carburetor. So the carb's in the shop getting repaired. Meanwhile, I removed the gas tank so it could be cleaned. Rolling over under the car, I felt something go "pop" in my chest; it looks like I cracked a rib or some cartilage in my chest just by rolling over! (Man, I hate getting old).

So, I'm still going; the gas tank and the carb should be ready Thursday to go back together; and pain or no pain, I am going. So, please pray for me and for the ministry, that God would be glorified. If Satan is working this hard to discourage me, God is definitely up to something...

Prayer for a friend 5...

Good morning my brother....well today at 11:30 will be Carolyns first visit
to the Burzynski clinic, in Houston, they said we would be there for 3-4
hours, doing some tests & consultation with the team of Drs. & Dr.
Bruzynski, and a nutritionalist,
They also indicated that they might want to get her started on a treatment,
but that the treatment may change after they evaluate all the genes to
specifically target the bad ones, the goal is to "turn on" the good ones &
"turn off" the bad ones so that the bad ones will die a cell death, which at
present they won't die they just keep mutating.
At present according to the pet scan Carolyn has cancer in a good portion of
her body, rendering it in-operable.
The cancer has spread to some areas of her neck as well as stomach areas, a
fairly large tumor at the base of her spleen
was also noted.
Carolyn is in good spirits and knows that the Lord is in control and will
never leave her or forsake her, she is like a rock,
she continues to amaze me with her faith, and even with this dark cloud
hanging overhead her concern for others has not
changed one bit, I pray that one day I can be just half the person she is.
Carolyn was like a rock even when Darcie our daughter passed away from this
dreaded disease, she was like a rock when her Dad passed away from an
anurism, she was like a rock when her Mom passed away from colon problems,
all this just within a very short time span.
I know she gets her strength from Our Lord, in spite of all this, she is
continuing to serve Him, & continues to teach her 3-4grade SS Class, please
keep praying for her and me as we face this One More Mountain.


Ralph

Prayer for a friend 4...

I have been forwarding your comments to Ralph, husband of Carolyn who has cancer. He sends the following to all who post here:

"Thank You my Brother for sending this, i do not have the verbal skills to say how much we appreciate you and all these wonderful brothers & sisters that are praying for Carolyn , if you would please put this out there so they may know how much the Prayers mean to us. God Bless & keep You in His Arms. Ralph"

This just came in: "Carolyn up-date........She has appointment with her Dr. today a 2 p.m. to go over results of recent PetScan. Tomorrow She has an appointment at the Burzynski Clinic at 11 a.m. to have initial consultation and for them to start to lay out a plan to attack this savage disease, please keep Praying for Her & this team of Drs. that will be doing everything they can to help her."

Thank you again, for all who are praying. The Lord bless and keep you...

Prayer for a friend 3...

Carolyn's pet scan came back; her cancer has spread throughout her body. The Dr. will begin chemotherapy this week. They are hanging in as well as expected. We now know how serious this is, so let's continue to pray that Jesus will have mercy and heal her. Thank you all...

Sunday Spurgeon...

Psalm 56:9: "When I cry unto Thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me."


It is impossible for any human speech to express the full meaning of this delightful phrase, "God is for me." He was "for us" before the worlds were made; He was "for us," or He would not have given His well-beloved son; He was "for us" when He smote the Only-begotten, and laid the full weight of His wrath upon Him-He was "for us," though He was against Him; He was "for us," when we were ruined in the fall-He loved us notwithstanding all; He was "for us," when we were rebels against Him, and with a high hand were bidding Him defiance; He was "for us," or He would not have brought us humbly to seek His face. He has been "for us" in many struggles; we have been summoned to encounter hosts of dangers; we have been assailed by temptations from without and within-how could we have remained unharmed to this hour if He had not been "for us"? He is "for us," with all the infinity of His being; with all the omnipotence of His love; with all the infallibility of His wisdom; arrayed in all His divine attributes, He is "for us,"-eternally and immutably "for us"; "for us" when yon blue skies shall be rolled up like a worn out vesture; "for us" throughout eternity. And because He is "for us," the voice of prayer will always ensure His help. "When I cry unto Thee, then shall mine enemies be turned back." This is no uncertain hope, but a well grounded assurance-"this I know." I will direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up for the answer, assured that it will come, and that mine enemies shall be defeated, "for God is for me." O believer, how happy art thou with the King of kings on thy side! How safe with such a Protector! How sure thy cause pleaded by such an Advocate! If God be for thee, who can be against thee?

Prayer for a friend 2...

Carolyn had her pet scan today. They will get the results on Monday. Ralph is overwhelmed with the prayers that you all are offering. He is humbled and blessed that so many are praying for his wife.

I will keep you all updated as we continue to pray. Thank you all so much; I love you all...

Prayer for a friend...

I just got this email from a friend:

"My Brother, this has been a very sad day ....we just got back from Dr. and were told that the cancer has returned in Carolyn's body, the prognosis is not very good, if the cancer is in one location he said that surgery & chemo were going to be necessary, however if it was spread out over several areas then only chemo would be done, we are awaiting a phone call from them, to tell us where & when a PET scan would be done, we will know more after that happens & a meeting with her Dr. to find out what he plans on doing.

He plainly told us that it was not curable, but perhaps they would be able to just manage it, But you know what....I know a Jewish Carpenter who can make it go away with just a flick of his finger, please join me & ask your Church to join me in asking HIM to just flick his finger....please Lord I'm begging you ..."

My friends name is Ralph Derickson; his wife is Carolyn. This her second bout with cancer, having survived breast cancer several years ago. They are the nicest, most sincere Christian's I know. There is nothing I wouldn't do for them. They are the kind of special people God brings into your life to be a blessing to you; and they have been a constant blessing to my wife and I and to Fellowship Bible Church.

I love Ralph and Carolyn and I am asking you, when you pray, to ask Jesus to heal Carolyn.

Thank you for your prayers...

Dog Tired...

"For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God." 1 Thessalonians 2:9

Tonight I'm tired; dog tired (whatever that means?). Physically, I'm spent. I've been burning the candle at both ends. When I try to go to bed early, I'm up late; when I try to sleep in, I get up early. My days seem to go so quickly and any time I plan for "myself" is quickly consumed by other duties. Yet I cannot claim Paul's statement to the Thessalonians, for I have yet to work that hard.

The ministry is difficult; it's imposable apart from the power the Spirit gives. Someone once said that "God buries His workers, but His work goes on."

As I have blogged, I have met some of the most wonderful men of God in the ministry; pastors, who like Paul would gladly be spent for the ministry. Pray for your pastor; pray for these men; pray for the ministers of America, that they would continue to labor in His vineyard and proclaim the truth, no matter how unpopular or un-politically correct; finally, please pray for me...

The Death of Self...

“To consider persons and events and situations only in the light of their effect upon myself is to live on the doorstep of hell.” Thomas Merton

In our narcissistic church culture this quote is amazingly relevant. It is sad that in the Church that bears the name of Jesus Christ we have so much self-absorption.
Christians don’t serve because they are too busy…too busy serving themselves and those that they love in the natural.

Christians don’t give because things are really tight…which means we only have enough to spend on ourselves and those we love in the natural.

Christians don’t share their faith because they are intimidated…intimidated that the listener will think ill of them and not like them anymore.

Christians don’t confront people because they love them too much…in reality they don’t love them at all; they love themselves and their reticence is purely motivated by selfishness.

This is a very different Christianity than what Jesus preached. Jesus told us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. We have settled for pampering ourselves, taking up our rights and following what makes us feel good.

Ryan Couch

(This and other fine postings can be found at http://ryancouch.wordpress.com)

Cry Out to the Lord...

Psalm 28:1
Unto Thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

A cry is the natural expression of sorrow, and a suitable utterance when all other modes of appeal fail us; but the cry must be alone directed to the Lord, for to cry to man is to waste our entreaties upon the air. When we consider the readiness of the Lord to hear, and His ability to aid, we shall see good reason for directing all our appeals at once to the God of our salvation. It will be in vain to call to the rocks in the day of judgment, but our Rock attends to our cries. "Be not silent to me." Mere formalists may be content without answers to their prayers, but genuine suppliants cannot; they are not satisfied with the results of prayer itself in calming the mind and subduing the will-they must go further, and obtain actual replies from heaven, or they cannot rest; and those replies they long to receive at once, they dread even a little of God's silence. God's voice is often so terrible that it shakes the wilderness; but His silence is equally full of awe to an eager suppliant. When God seems to close His ear, we must not therefore close our mouths, but rather cry with more earnestness; for when our note grows shrill with eagerness and grief, He will not long deny us a hearing. What a dreadful case should we be in if the Lord should become for ever silent to our prayers? "Lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit." Deprived of the God who answers prayer, we should be in a more pitiable plight than the dead in the grave, and should soon sink to the same level as the lost in hell. We must have answers to prayer: ours is an urgent case of dire necessity; surely the Lord will speak peace to our agitated minds, for He never can find it in His heart to permit His own elect to perish.

Should Christians Drink?

Well, for one thing, Christians have been drinking since the beginning of the church, as wine was the only palatable substitute for the stale water of Israel. (The area was so arid, that cisterns were hewn out of rock to catch the water when it rained; after a few months, the water would get stale and start to smell, so the taste and water were masked with wine).


The Bible has somewhat to say about drinking:

I Timothy 5:23: “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities.”

Ephesians 5:18: “And do not be drunk with wine , in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.”


The Bible has somewhat to say about getting drunk:

Proverbs 20:1: “Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”

Proverbs 21:17: “He who loves pleasure will be a poor man; He who loves wine and oil will not be rich.”

Proverbs 23:30-35: “Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things. Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying: ‘’They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?’”


Now these are but a few examples from scripture; I could go on, but you get the point.

Before I became a Christian I was an alcoholic and a drunk. I drank every day, usually until I passed out. I did things that I have never told anyone about, about which I am ashamed of to this day (even though I know that I have been forgiven; we all have those regrets, the things we wish we could go back and change; but we can’t and so we must leave them with Jesus).

As a pastor, I do believe that it is wrong for me to drink: “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine , not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous.” (I Timothy 3:2-3).

As a Christian, I believe that it is equally wrong for me to drink; I don’t wish to be brought under the influence of alcohol; it lowers your inhibitions and you will find yourself saying and doing things you normally would not do.

Also, countless individuals have been hurt by drinking and the subsequent drunkenness and violence that usually follows; it is a fact that families suffer when drunkenness is prevalent in a household.

For me the greater issue is love; am I walking in love by drinking? Listen to what Paul wrote: “It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. (Romans 14:21).

If a weaker brother sees you drinking, and uses your drinking as an excuse for his drinking, are you walking in love?

If an individual who has come to Christ and been set free from alcoholism is stumbled and once again enters into that from which Christ has set him free, are you walking in love?

If an individual who has been abused by an alcoholic is stumbled by your drinking, are you walking in love?

If an individual with an addictive personality sees you drinking and decides to try it and falls into bondage to alcohol, are you walking in love?

If my son or daughter, who sees me drinking, decides to drink and falls into bondage to alcohol, am I walking in love?

These are the questions that you and I must answer before we consider drinking. For me, the answer is simple: I will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, seek to do nothing that will stumble my brother, or offend my brother, or weaken him (or her) in any way.