I grew up in the CRC, and am still here, along with my family. I'm married to Daryl, who has a construction business. I had a CPA license for 10 or so years, then I added EX to the front, and MOM to the back, so now I'm an EX CPA, MOM =). I am MOM to Duncan, Ian and Samantha. Our family also owns a raspberry farm, and in the summers we get to work out there together.
I know this is suppose to be about money, but I'm going to share a fun little testimony on how God values the support of prayer. This came through a telemarketer of all people! Bless his heart.
So, several years ago, I was working at my desk when the phone rang. I looked at the caller ID, and it said "unknown number". I debated about answering, thinking "it's probably a telemarketer, but it might be family", so I answered. It was a telemarketer. He went through his "spiel"/monologue about raising support for children, and then asked if we would be willing to give on their behalf. I told him that we supported children in other ways, like through prayer. His reply astounded me. He says, "why didn't you tell me you were one of the top donors?!?! You have a good day Mrs. Sterk." and he hung up. My mouth fell open, I was so surprised. This man understood prayer, and shared with me that very encouraging message from the LORD, on how God views our prayers.
anyway, I know we need the practical side of the $ as well, and we have lots of cool testimonies on that too! I'm sure as a result of our prayers. Just the other day, a crc council cut the rent in 1/2 for a non crc ministry I'm involved with on their campus, and the decision was made in 3 minutes. WoW!! I joked, most times, any decision in a crc setting takes 3 mos- 3 years to get anything done =)!! Thank You Jesus!!
You know, I think John Z has mentioned George Mueller before somewhere before, but George prayed in all of his support to care for over ten thousand orphans, and travel over 200,000 miles (in pre aviation days) evangelizing. He never requested any money, never gave an appeal for funds other than to God.
Through all this, Müller never made requests (other than to God) for financial support, nor did he go into debt, even though the five homes cost over £100,000 to build. Many times, he received unsolicited food donations only hours before they were needed to feed the children, further strengthening his faith in God. For example, on one well-documented occasion, they gave thanks for breakfast when all the children were sitting at the table, even though there was nothing to eat in the house. As they finished praying, the baker knocked on the door with sufficient fresh bread to feed everyone ...
one documentary on Uganda and the LRA that I found insightful was "An Unconventional War" by the Sentinel Group which looks at it from a spiritual warfare angle... if you have an opportunity and can get a hold of a copy of the dvd, I would encourage you to do so.
Our battle is not against flesh and blood... it's against the enemy, and the Church is the one that is not fulfilling the calling to be on our knees on behalf of those around us, we will be held accountable for our prayerlessness (there are statistics that give us insight on the low level of prayer in the church)...
we have to stop trying to point to society and our ills and think we can fix this with man's ways, because there is something deeper and darker driving this violence... we have to pray for those who have come in agreement with the enemy through their choices... for God to reveal (including prophetically) these hurting people/lost souls, to bring light alongside of them, so they can escape the dark pit they are in...
Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, the only True Counselor, through listening and healing prayer is a key, so we can point people to Jesus, His love and mercy and bring healing... our "rational" reasoning and intellect is not enough, God gave us the authority and power to do so much more, through His Holy Spirit, let's start walking in it more fully... Your will be done LORD, on earth as it is in heaven...
thanks Mark, as I pray on behalf of and support/choose life, I realize that there will be different dynamics as a result of that... that we need to pray for the LORD to raise up the support needed to embrace life as well, which would include more families opening their homes for adoptions (and the related adoption ministries of course), more homes for say, those with downs or disabilities, more support for young moms who choose to keep their baby, and do not have the resources/support to do so successfully...
unfortunately, that level of commitment seems to scare some off for a variety of reasons; from our human perspective, it might seem overwhelming..
Yes, the Church needs to step up in a lot of ways... and we can only do so with much prayer and the walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, which helps us be sensitive to His calling on our lives...
Again, thank you... I am so glad safe church is dealing with this!!! Thank God...
yes, this connection is so important for people to understand, I made this connection a while back as I was praying about, so I'm so glad this is being shared...
we need to know, that when they are coming in agreement with pornography, there are horrible, horrible, results, that i would hope none of us would ever be a part of... i have a friend who goes to asia on missions to expose the human trafficking and help rescue those trapped in it, and the stories of what happens to these women/children, are beyond evil, we would never want that for anyone .. and we don't want to have any part of this, we are called to holiness, we are called to take care of the widows and orphans, as many involved in the human trafficking are widows, orphans, the poor, the outcast... Oh God, help us to live up to the calling You gave Your Church, help us to live lives of holiness, help us to step up and be obedient to the calling You gave us to care for the widows, orphans, the poor and the outcast, for Your Glory, for Your Kingdom....
Loren Cunningham (YWAM founder) confirms your experience of finding more greed among the poor and shares that in his "daring to live on the edge" book... and some of my experiences in helping those who come for help also lines up with that =(
thanks for sharing Rob, this is exactly why we need both Spirit and Truth, and a healthy balance of them...
Ok, I don't think I ever said the catechism was dry and unspiritual... I said that they have gaps, such as on the gifts of the Spirit, there's not much there... and it's not the first place I run when I have a question on something related to my faith...
The Word and prayer are my first resource, and I don't how many times, I will have a question, and often within 24 hours, through Divine orchestration, the Spirit will start to reveal insights and answers in various places... I remember one time I wanted to find a certain sermon by the Scots revivalist Duncan Campbell... I spent some frustrating time trying to listen to some scratchy sermons of his that were online, with lots of interruptions, since I have little ones, and I gave up... a few weeks later, when I was working on something totally different, the sermon I was looking for was posted on another site that I "stumbled" on, and had just been posted a week or 2 before I "found" it.
I do believe the LORD will use these confessions and catechism to stir up peoples faith, same as He might use a preacher whose message is based on the Word of God, or powerful and profound writing, ie CS Lewis' writings, Chuck Swindoll, and any number of the theologians...
Having been raised in the crc, attended a CSI school, involved in all the youth programs, sunday school, catechisms, attended a crc college... I have a very strong appreciation for grounding in the Word, and that salvation is only through the grace of Jesus Christ, it is not based on anything we do or merit... from discussions with other believers that grew up in different denominations, they didn't always get that message at the church they grew up in, and it wasn't until high school or college when they went somewhere else that they heard the gospel of Jesus' grace... So I appreciate our heritage and reformed foundation of salvation, and realize this is unfortunately rare in other denominations.
Now, one of the gaps I found in our confessions is walking in certain gifts of the Spirit and "hearing" God speak to us in our inner man, and through Divine orchestration, as well as through scripture, and always in alignment with scripture... we're (Crc) are good with the Spirit working in our heart and leading us to Christ, we are good with the Spirit convicting us of sin (though not sure how well we always listen to Him when He's convicting us), and that the Spirit helps illumine scripture, and distributes His gifts - though traditionally these have only been the non-sensational ones... ie like administration and giving and encouraging, and somehow He helps us pray...
so the gap in my life was in high school, I would have amazing conversations with the LORD, but didn't really realize what was going on... at about that time the new age garbage was coming out, and so since there were mystical similarities, I did not pursue these conversations... my prayer life became dry.. because it became a one way monologue... for almost 20 years... no one in the reformed traditions was teaching or training on "listening" to God, that He still does speak to us, now one way, and then another (and of course primarily through His Word)... so I did lots of Bible studies, which is all good of course, and lots of serving which is good too, attended church 2x a Sunday (usually) but it was not the delight that I experience now, since the LORD re-opened the eyes and ears of my heart to His Spirit's leading... now I crave my time with Him, i love abiding in the "secret place" with Him (Ps. 91:1 NKJV)... last night I had the opportunity for extended worship with other believers... 2 hours flew by... I get to spend most of my days in July contemplating/pondering as I work out in our raspberry field... I'm hungry for His Living and Active Word and have internalized more scripture in the last 5 years, than I ever did in all my school, catechism and beyond years, and even this morning as I was thinking about your questions, and how I was going to respond, I wanted to spend some time in the Word first...
Before reading Zech. this morning , I was thinking about responding on how the Spirit had transformed my life, and as I reflected on it, I wasn't sure if it was an infilling by Him, or a stripping away of what was blocking my receptivity to Him... I concluded it's probably both... and right after that I read the intro to Zechariah in the Bible that I use, which has a section on "the Holy Spirit at work" for each book of the Bible... and here's what it says: "Zerubbabel is comforted in the assurances 1) that the rebuilding of the temple will not be by military might our human prowess but by the ministry of the Spirit of God 2) that the Holy Spirit will remove every obstacle that stands against the completion of God's temple."
so 1 would be an infilling, and 2 would be removing what is blocking our receptivity to Him .. ......
that confirmed my "both" conclusion
and God's temple is us, as He indwells us through His Holy Spirit...
I have run into similar types of attitudes like you mention in the charismatic circles, for example, but that is not always the case... if you praise God for 20 minutes at a prayer meeting, then you have invited His Presence and then can request whatever you wish... one time, when I was praying with them... I felt the LORD was asking for us to keep praising Him... and the prayer leader was on the same wave... but one of the ladies was not! it was like a punch in the gut... the comment was "we already did this, we don't need to do it again, it's a waste of time" or something like that.. the prayer leader literally fell back in his chair with a very shocked look, and i was in tears, it was so harsh...
amen! Salvation is not about us... we are Jesus reward... it's all about Him, He deserves the reward (us/our souls) of His suffering... I love this sermon exposing humanitarianism in the Church by Paris Reidhead... on 10 shekels and a shirt... here's the link if you aren't familiar with the sermon. http://www.parisreidheadbibleteachingministries.org/tenshekels.shtml yhr
the story he shares of when he is in Africa is especially insightful...
I don't think I'm bitter about the cessationist tradition in the crc, as God's sovereignty is a key and well loved doctrine in the reformed tradition, and so I trust He had a reason to let us believe that for so long... I would say I have some frustration though, that we refuted cessationism almost 40 years ago, and seem to not have made very much progress in moving forward in the more complete power of the Spirit. I get a little irked when i hear about denominational "dominees" and professors that continued to teach cessationism after 1973... and i have to be careful not to get too snarky when we point out all these charismatic personalities, and yet John Calvin seems to be one of ours... granted most of his stuff has stood the test of time... but it's time the cessationist thinking goes... at least that's my opinion, and unfortunately the confessions and creeds do not address this very well, if at all.
hope that all makes sense... again, thanks for being willing and taking the time to get more in depth here...
Yes, we probably all have some degree of greed to deal with... no one is exempt from greed... and we should note that the Luke 12 parable in response to the "poor" brother is specifically about a rich man...
Here is the quote from "Daring to live on the Edge" Loren Cunningham - YWAM publishings p 56
BOQ- Satan uses these tactics to enslave men financially: greed, the lust of power, pride, and fear - especially fear of financial insecurity. When we think of greed, we may think of a rich, miserly man. Some scrooge like miser, sitting on piles of money, running his fingers though his coins and bills. However, greed is more prevalent among the poor and the not-so-rich. The ones most consumed with lust for ownership are the ones who have the least. Greed leads parents in India to break their infants' legs so they can use them as beggars, eliciting more pity as cripples. EOQ
in another story Loren shares how one baby died, seven people hospitalized, 48 people homeless after their apartment (Austin Texas) burned by someone who was owed $8 from one of the residents.
However, he doesn't let the rich off the hook as he sees that they tend to use their wealth for control, power over others including manipulating the greed of the poor. So this isn't any better than greed, and has much more potential damage!
You are right Wendy, there are all kinds of reasons we don't understand for why people do what they do and so we struggle with much desperation in this broken world... we need grace to love on them, because none of us are deserving of what God has gifted us with... so LORD, pour Your love into our hearts, and helps us to see each person as You see them, as You intended them to be
Posted in: Support Raising: Begging or Biblical
I know this is suppose to be about money, but I'm going to share a fun little testimony on how God values the support of prayer. This came through a telemarketer of all people! Bless his heart.
So, several years ago, I was working at my desk when the phone rang. I looked at the caller ID, and it said "unknown number". I debated about answering, thinking "it's probably a telemarketer, but it might be family", so I answered. It was a telemarketer. He went through his "spiel"/monologue about raising support for children, and then asked if we would be willing to give on their behalf. I told him that we supported children in other ways, like through prayer. His reply astounded me. He says, "why didn't you tell me you were one of the top donors?!?! You have a good day Mrs. Sterk." and he hung up. My mouth fell open, I was so surprised. This man understood prayer, and shared with me that very encouraging message from the LORD, on how God views our prayers.
anyway, I know we need the practical side of the $ as well, and we have lots of cool testimonies on that too! I'm sure as a result of our prayers. Just the other day, a crc council cut the rent in 1/2 for a non crc ministry I'm involved with on their campus, and the decision was made in 3 minutes. WoW!! I joked, most times, any decision in a crc setting takes 3 mos- 3 years to get anything done =)!! Thank You Jesus!!
Posted in: Support Raising: Begging or Biblical
You know, I think John Z has mentioned George Mueller before somewhere before, but George prayed in all of his support to care for over ten thousand orphans, and travel over 200,000 miles (in pre aviation days) evangelizing. He never requested any money, never gave an appeal for funds other than to God.
from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_M%C3%BCller
Through all this, Müller never made requests (other than to God) for financial support, nor did he go into debt, even though the five homes cost over £100,000 to build. Many times, he received unsolicited food donations only hours before they were needed to feed the children, further strengthening his faith in God. For example, on one well-documented occasion, they gave thanks for breakfast when all the children were sitting at the table, even though there was nothing to eat in the house. As they finished praying, the baker knocked on the door with sufficient fresh bread to feed everyone ...
Posted in: Kony 2012: What CRC Agencies are Doing in Northern Uganda
one documentary on Uganda and the LRA that I found insightful was "An Unconventional War" by the Sentinel Group which looks at it from a spiritual warfare angle... if you have an opportunity and can get a hold of a copy of the dvd, I would encourage you to do so.
Posted in: Diagnosing Evil
Our battle is not against flesh and blood... it's against the enemy, and the Church is the one that is not fulfilling the calling to be on our knees on behalf of those around us, we will be held accountable for our prayerlessness (there are statistics that give us insight on the low level of prayer in the church)...
we have to stop trying to point to society and our ills and think we can fix this with man's ways, because there is something deeper and darker driving this violence... we have to pray for those who have come in agreement with the enemy through their choices... for God to reveal (including prophetically) these hurting people/lost souls, to bring light alongside of them, so they can escape the dark pit they are in...
Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, the only True Counselor, through listening and healing prayer is a key, so we can point people to Jesus, His love and mercy and bring healing... our "rational" reasoning and intellect is not enough, God gave us the authority and power to do so much more, through His Holy Spirit, let's start walking in it more fully... Your will be done LORD, on earth as it is in heaven...
Posted in: Another Side of Prolife
thanks Mark, as I pray on behalf of and support/choose life, I realize that there will be different dynamics as a result of that... that we need to pray for the LORD to raise up the support needed to embrace life as well, which would include more families opening their homes for adoptions (and the related adoption ministries of course), more homes for say, those with downs or disabilities, more support for young moms who choose to keep their baby, and do not have the resources/support to do so successfully...
unfortunately, that level of commitment seems to scare some off for a variety of reasons; from our human perspective, it might seem overwhelming..
Yes, the Church needs to step up in a lot of ways... and we can only do so with much prayer and the walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, which helps us be sensitive to His calling on our lives...
I pray for this to become reality...
Posted in: Mental Illness or Moral Illness?
I wonder how the demonic is involved...
Posted in: Semper Gumby
thx. for sharing... good word =)
Posted in: The Making of Internet Pornography: When Children Pay the Price
Again, thank you... I am so glad safe church is dealing with this!!! Thank God...
yes, this connection is so important for people to understand, I made this connection a while back as I was praying about, so I'm so glad this is being shared...
we need to know, that when they are coming in agreement with pornography, there are horrible, horrible, results, that i would hope none of us would ever be a part of... i have a friend who goes to asia on missions to expose the human trafficking and help rescue those trapped in it, and the stories of what happens to these women/children, are beyond evil, we would never want that for anyone .. and we don't want to have any part of this, we are called to holiness, we are called to take care of the widows and orphans, as many involved in the human trafficking are widows, orphans, the poor, the outcast... Oh God, help us to live up to the calling You gave Your Church, help us to live lives of holiness, help us to step up and be obedient to the calling You gave us to care for the widows, orphans, the poor and the outcast, for Your Glory, for Your Kingdom....
Posted in: Guard Against All Kinds of Greed - a Reflection on Luke 12
Loren Cunningham (YWAM founder) confirms your experience of finding more greed among the poor and shares that in his "daring to live on the edge" book... and some of my experiences in helping those who come for help also lines up with that =(
Posted in: Living Confessionally in Covenant
thanks for sharing Rob, this is exactly why we need both Spirit and Truth, and a healthy balance of them...
Ok, I don't think I ever said the catechism was dry and unspiritual... I said that they have gaps, such as on the gifts of the Spirit, there's not much there... and it's not the first place I run when I have a question on something related to my faith...
The Word and prayer are my first resource, and I don't how many times, I will have a question, and often within 24 hours, through Divine orchestration, the Spirit will start to reveal insights and answers in various places... I remember one time I wanted to find a certain sermon by the Scots revivalist Duncan Campbell... I spent some frustrating time trying to listen to some scratchy sermons of his that were online, with lots of interruptions, since I have little ones, and I gave up... a few weeks later, when I was working on something totally different, the sermon I was looking for was posted on another site that I "stumbled" on, and had just been posted a week or 2 before I "found" it.
I do believe the LORD will use these confessions and catechism to stir up peoples faith, same as He might use a preacher whose message is based on the Word of God, or powerful and profound writing, ie CS Lewis' writings, Chuck Swindoll, and any number of the theologians...
Having been raised in the crc, attended a CSI school, involved in all the youth programs, sunday school, catechisms, attended a crc college... I have a very strong appreciation for grounding in the Word, and that salvation is only through the grace of Jesus Christ, it is not based on anything we do or merit... from discussions with other believers that grew up in different denominations, they didn't always get that message at the church they grew up in, and it wasn't until high school or college when they went somewhere else that they heard the gospel of Jesus' grace... So I appreciate our heritage and reformed foundation of salvation, and realize this is unfortunately rare in other denominations.
Now, one of the gaps I found in our confessions is walking in certain gifts of the Spirit and "hearing" God speak to us in our inner man, and through Divine orchestration, as well as through scripture, and always in alignment with scripture... we're (Crc) are good with the Spirit working in our heart and leading us to Christ, we are good with the Spirit convicting us of sin (though not sure how well we always listen to Him when He's convicting us), and that the Spirit helps illumine scripture, and distributes His gifts - though traditionally these have only been the non-sensational ones... ie like administration and giving and encouraging, and somehow He helps us pray...
so the gap in my life was in high school, I would have amazing conversations with the LORD, but didn't really realize what was going on... at about that time the new age garbage was coming out, and so since there were mystical similarities, I did not pursue these conversations... my prayer life became dry.. because it became a one way monologue... for almost 20 years... no one in the reformed traditions was teaching or training on "listening" to God, that He still does speak to us, now one way, and then another (and of course primarily through His Word)... so I did lots of Bible studies, which is all good of course, and lots of serving which is good too, attended church 2x a Sunday (usually) but it was not the delight that I experience now, since the LORD re-opened the eyes and ears of my heart to His Spirit's leading... now I crave my time with Him, i love abiding in the "secret place" with Him (Ps. 91:1 NKJV)... last night I had the opportunity for extended worship with other believers... 2 hours flew by... I get to spend most of my days in July contemplating/pondering as I work out in our raspberry field... I'm hungry for His Living and Active Word and have internalized more scripture in the last 5 years, than I ever did in all my school, catechism and beyond years, and even this morning as I was thinking about your questions, and how I was going to respond, I wanted to spend some time in the Word first...
Before reading Zech. this morning , I was thinking about responding on how the Spirit had transformed my life, and as I reflected on it, I wasn't sure if it was an infilling by Him, or a stripping away of what was blocking my receptivity to Him... I concluded it's probably both... and right after that I read the intro to Zechariah in the Bible that I use, which has a section on "the Holy Spirit at work" for each book of the Bible... and here's what it says: "Zerubbabel is comforted in the assurances 1) that the rebuilding of the temple will not be by military might our human prowess but by the ministry of the Spirit of God 2) that the Holy Spirit will remove every obstacle that stands against the completion of God's temple."
so 1 would be an infilling, and 2 would be removing what is blocking our receptivity to Him .. ......
that confirmed my "both" conclusion
and God's temple is us, as He indwells us through His Holy Spirit...
I have run into similar types of attitudes like you mention in the charismatic circles, for example, but that is not always the case... if you praise God for 20 minutes at a prayer meeting, then you have invited His Presence and then can request whatever you wish... one time, when I was praying with them... I felt the LORD was asking for us to keep praising Him... and the prayer leader was on the same wave... but one of the ladies was not! it was like a punch in the gut... the comment was "we already did this, we don't need to do it again, it's a waste of time" or something like that.. the prayer leader literally fell back in his chair with a very shocked look, and i was in tears, it was so harsh...
amen! Salvation is not about us... we are Jesus reward... it's all about Him, He deserves the reward (us/our souls) of His suffering... I love this sermon exposing humanitarianism in the Church by Paris Reidhead... on 10 shekels and a shirt... here's the link if you aren't familiar with the sermon. http://www.parisreidheadbibleteachingministries.org/tenshekels.shtml yhr
the story he shares of when he is in Africa is especially insightful...
I don't think I'm bitter about the cessationist tradition in the crc, as God's sovereignty is a key and well loved doctrine in the reformed tradition, and so I trust He had a reason to let us believe that for so long... I would say I have some frustration though, that we refuted cessationism almost 40 years ago, and seem to not have made very much progress in moving forward in the more complete power of the Spirit. I get a little irked when i hear about denominational "dominees" and professors that continued to teach cessationism after 1973... and i have to be careful not to get too snarky when we point out all these charismatic personalities, and yet John Calvin seems to be one of ours... granted most of his stuff has stood the test of time... but it's time the cessationist thinking goes... at least that's my opinion, and unfortunately the confessions and creeds do not address this very well, if at all.
hope that all makes sense... again, thanks for being willing and taking the time to get more in depth here...
Posted in: Guard Against All Kinds of Greed - a Reflection on Luke 12
Yes, we probably all have some degree of greed to deal with... no one is exempt from greed... and we should note that the Luke 12 parable in response to the "poor" brother is specifically about a rich man...
Here is the quote from "Daring to live on the Edge" Loren Cunningham - YWAM publishings p 56
BOQ- Satan uses these tactics to enslave men financially: greed, the lust of power, pride, and fear - especially fear of financial insecurity. When we think of greed, we may think of a rich, miserly man. Some scrooge like miser, sitting on piles of money, running his fingers though his coins and bills. However, greed is more prevalent among the poor and the not-so-rich. The ones most consumed with lust for ownership are the ones who have the least. Greed leads parents in India to break their infants' legs so they can use them as beggars, eliciting more pity as cripples. EOQ
in another story Loren shares how one baby died, seven people hospitalized, 48 people homeless after their apartment (Austin Texas) burned by someone who was owed $8 from one of the residents.
However, he doesn't let the rich off the hook as he sees that they tend to use their wealth for control, power over others including manipulating the greed of the poor. So this isn't any better than greed, and has much more potential damage!
Posted in: Guard Against All Kinds of Greed - a Reflection on Luke 12
You are right Wendy, there are all kinds of reasons we don't understand for why people do what they do and so we struggle with much desperation in this broken world... we need grace to love on them, because none of us are deserving of what God has gifted us with... so LORD, pour Your love into our hearts, and helps us to see each person as You see them, as You intended them to be