That I may Know Him

Re: Phil. 3:10That I may know Him,and the power of His resurrection,and the fellowship of His sufferings,being made conformable unto His death;Since we are entering the season, may we sharewith one another, what it means to you.To Know Him More,Pastorfrin

Questions:Can we know Him without knowing the power ofHis resurrection?What is the fellowship of His sufferings?How can we be made conformable unto His death? :-) Have a wonderful dayTo know Him more,Pastorfrin

That I may know Him,Hi Pastorfrin, You have opened up a very important question, and one that deserves attention. This is so intrinsic to our calling. It is not a matter of knowing ABOUT our Lord, but KNOWING him intimately through identification. I think of the Psalmist who identified with his suffering by experiencing the same thing. We too, when we are living in Christ and for Christ suffer the rejection that comes with our identification with him. The world wants to "spit" us out, just like they didn't want Jesus - beginning with his birth. .. No room for him... As we decrease, his resurrection power is at work within us. This power is not impressive to the world. It doesn't look like power as the world knows. In fact, it looks like weakness. It is foolishness to the world. Those are only a few superficial thoughts, and I'm sure others have much wiser thoughs to add. Perhaps you do. Pastorfrin, I see that you have joined us recently, and it would be wonderful if you shared a bit about your own spirtual journey. How has Christ been taking you through this process? Diane

Re: short historyDiane,Sorry for abruptly coming on the site with no introduction.I totally enjoy reading all the different threads.Ok,introduction.pastor/sheperd since 1976.Currently pastor asmall home missions church, our second. Married 40 years to my sweet heart and motherof our 7 children. A quiver full. We have 14grandchildren we call our crowns.I work a secular job,so as not to be a burdento our church. A tentmaker, not really but close, a bricklayer.I was introduced to my Lord Jesus Christ asa young teen in 1960 and shortly thereafter He called me and I said ok, not really knowingwhat I was saying ok too. To make it short,after much running He convinced me that I was never going to outrun Him.Yes, The Lord is my Sheperd and my cup runneth over. I should not want, but I do and I always will. I want to KNOW HIM MORE.Questions: I would really enjoy hearing fromall of you. Your thoughts on these things.I've heard mine for 30 years.Yours in Christ,Pastorfrin :-D :-D

Married 40 years to my sweet heart and mother of our 7 children. A quiver full. We have 14grandchildren we call our crowns.I work a secular job,so as not to be a burdento our church. A tentmaker, not really butclose, a bricklayer.Wow! And you are just one person?? Even brick laying itself is a very demanding job. You must be in good shape physically. Now, if you live in a hot climate - that would make it even more challenging.I'm sure that you could write a book about your life experiences - about your family, your church experiences etc. If you hang around, you'l likely share bits here and there, and also learn about us.I've been here on SI since last May, and have throughly enjoyed it - lots of great people to meet and chat with. It's a good place to get your mind challenged. There are so many sermons and articles, that I know I will never be able to hear/read them all. It's such a gold mine of rich material. Above all, we learn from those who know the Lord, have walked closely with him, those who are a good role-model for us.

That I may know Him,and the power of His resurrection,and the fellowship of His sufferings,being made conformable unto His death;I love this verse even thou I am scared of suffering , my dad is a block paver he also believes in working and being a pastorThis verse in fantastic because to know him, that phrase is a sermon in it self . Ge 4:1 - Show Context And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.Ge 4:17 - Show Context And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.Ge 4:25 - Show Context And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slewThis is a love relationship I have just got to mediate on that but his relationship is one. I have only commented on the first part and all I want to do is worship

Hi everyone,Or should I ask where is everyone? This old pastor has been waiting to feast on your thoughtsand it appears I will starve.Please, some food. :-) I was walking to my work van this morning and Iheard the joyful singing of many birds coming from a little bush. I walked over to it and on every branch and twig sat a sparrow singing its heart out. Not one of them showed any fear, they just sat there and sang. As I stood there it hit me, their singing because they KNOW HIM.So I joined them. There I stood, in front of admissions at the V A Hospital, where I work,singing with a bunch of sparrows, We Know Him,We Know Him, Praise His Holy Name, We Know Him.Oh, Bless God what a time we had. I got into the van to leave and Matt. 10:29,30 came to mind.Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head areall numbered. Oh how He Knows us1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should becalled the sons of God. Oh how He Loves usEph.3:17-19 that Christ may dwell in your heartsby faith; that ye being rooted and grounded inlove, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breath, and length, and depth,and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Oh that we may KNOW HIM MOREPs. 150:6 Let every thing that has breath praisethe Lord. PRAISE YE THE LORD. pastorfrin

Greetings pastorfrin!Some quick thoughts to your invitation to share......and the fellowship of His sufferings,There are many times the Lord asks us to forgive others for wrong doing. I remember a small incident where I was on the recieving end of some careless but financially costly offense...what it was is not at all important except as a prelude to a testimony relevant to your inquiry. After comprehending the severity of the offense I was given the grace to forgive and love, and acted accordingly...and the moment I resolved to do so I could almost hear the Lord telling me, that forgiveness for no other reason than love had enabled me to know a little more of His character, which is the very essence of fellowship with Him. It that particular moment, I saw fellowship with the Lord as a sharing, or partaking, even a mingling in with, His character. Indeed, dare I say that such precious fellowship and tasting of the Lord's Spirit blesses not only ouselves, but it is also a blessing to Him. I believe whenever we can identify with even some aspect of His nature, we are bringing Him joy.Now I temper this testimony with all of the many many times I have failed the Lord in this regard. Still I felt the incident related to your question enough to post it!Blessings sir,MC

Thanks MC for your post,obedience in forgivenessgreat thought.Why do we as His children find it so hard to obey His Word, when the reward for doing so is fellowship with Him?1 Sam. 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, toobey is better than sacrifice, and to hearkenthan the fat of rams. To know Him is to obey Himjust a country preacher,pastorfrin

Hi MeAgain,Off subject for just a moment. I gather from reading some of your post that you were at onetime AoG. I was originally ordained through theAoG. I resigned in 1989, you will understand why, by the end of this post.Back to subject:Do you think this might apply?Matt.7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord,Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; buthe that doeth the will of my Father which is inheaven.22. Many will say to me in that day , Lord, Lord,have we not prophesied in thy name?and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?23. and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.24. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man,which built his house upon a rock:What is the will of His Father?To love Him, The Lord our God , with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love one another as He has loved us. A new commandment.To do this, or I should say, the only way to be able to do this, is to KNOW in whom we believe,and then to be persuaded Because WE KNOW HIM,THAT HE IS ABLE to keep that which we have committed ( our hearts,souls,minds, and strength)unto HIM against that day. 2 Tim. 1:12 Matt. 11:15 He that has ears to hear, let him hear.We must know Him or our house will be built on asandstone.To know Him is to do His will. Look at the rich young ruler. Luke 18:18-22He did all the right works except, obey the voice of the Lord. Give everything you have away.You cannot follow me with whats yours,get rid ofall your stuff.Matt. 6:33 Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness;(then I will give you all you need to follow ME)and all these things will be added unto you.WE MUST KNOW HIM AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION! Look at the religious system today, which most of man depends on, in one way or another. THEYhave built BIG buildings, BIG programs,Big menand a BIG form of godliness.What will happen when the people who depend on this system says, Lord, Lord?WE MUST KNOW HIM SO WE WILL KNOW HIS VOICE!Just a country preacher,pastorfrin :-D :-D :-D

Dear MeAgain,The smiles were for you not for them.Yours in Christ,pastorfrinps is this better :-?

To know his fellowship of his suffering is the most intense feeling that you can feel in a relationship you always want to feel what the other person feels.Are messiah died on the cross, you want to know what that person think when you are suffering you are experincing his love in an extreme. His suffering gives us knowledge how he suffered for us and how suffering for him is nothing because he paid everything for us. This verse words do not do it justice

Hi Dear Sister,Sorry to hear about the AoG. We have many, many,fond memories of our experiences in the fellowship over the years.I can truly say wehave missed such glorious times. I have many stories, as I am sure you as well, that we couldshare with one another.My wife and I were reminiscing last night aboutwhen we arrived at our first home missions work.You will enjoy this.We were at our first pastorate and the call tomissions would not go away. So I approached the district about the missions field. By this timewe were entering our fifth year and our seventhchild had arrived. The district laughed at mesomething about having too many dependents. Can you Imagine. :-D So much for missions. Now we had been at this work for five years, it was a record, longeststay for a pastor at this church. Kind of sad really, one would have to be there to understand.I received a phone call from a brother in the Lord who had a small group of people interestedin starting a new work. Would I pray about it.So I did, and to make it short, Our Arrival in Egypt.One day many years ago a pastor, his wife, and their seven children arrived at their new parsonage. It had no windows or doors, birds werenesting in the ceiling, it sat next to a dairy farm, and the walls, ceiling and floors were covered with flies. My wife looked at me and saidlooks like the Lord has answered your prayers.I had told the Lord I would live in a chicken coop to serve in missions.We were mistakenly a week early, and the peopleworking on the house began to freak as the nine of us stood there in amazement. The children madethemselves right at home and the youngest, a sonwho was just walking began to eat the raisins, ie. flies, to our horror off the floor.We got the windows and one door installed and a tarp over the other and in exhaustion all collasped into bed.Now this house was a old house trailer with a house built over it, thus making the walls about twenty inches wide. There was a six inch gap between the outside and inside walls. Any thingunder the house could come into the house throughthe gap between the walls.We all feel asleep to the sound of baby birdssinging in the ceilings. Oh what bliss.Then we awoke to a blood curdling cry from our oldest, we run in her room and shes screaming,get them off me, get them off me, we turn on the light and the bed, the ceiling, and the walls are covered with Tree Frogs. My wife looks at meand screams, you have led us into Egypt.Then the family of Skunks introduced themselves.What a night to remember. Last night we laugheduntil we cried. That night we all just cried.HE IS FAITHFUL WHO PROMISSEDLove you allJust a country preacherpastorfrin

Why do we as His children find it so hard to obey God I think one reason may be because it cost us more than we feel we can give, and we can't imagine that God has something far better for us. We pick away at the crumbs on the floor, even till we get exhaused and never look up and see the fabulous banquet that God has freely spread out for us. Pastorfrin, I quite "enjoyed" reading your account about moving into the unprepared house - though at the time, I know it was not enjoyable. Your story sounds like so many missionary stories I have read. God gets right down to business - and lays the cost upfront. Your account reminds me when we went to the mission field. During our first month there, every day, I would find at least one scorpion somewhere in our house - in the sheets, in my shoes, behind boxes, in pots and pans etc. Not only that, but it was a hot climate and our windows had to be left open. We heard dogs all night, and then early in the morning the roosters started up. I was pregnant, sweating, exhausted, and covered with mosquito bites. But the greatest challenge was learning how to live with a form conservatism that we have never experienced. Ex: We couldn't go swimming on Sunday because that was "sinful". And so we had to sweat inside. (Suffering for the wrong gospel)Anyway, I learned to rejoice that many people were getting saved in spite of us through our Christian Radio Broadcasts. God is amazing!!!! Compton's personal account of suffering financial loss, and then forgiving the offender was an encouragement to me. God has placed me in a parallel situtation. Many of our losses are the result of sinful violations against us. Those losses are the hardest to accept because we are called to surrender our desire for justice (vengeance) - and that is the hardest thing to let go of in the whole world. But, God did that for us through his Son! How I praise him for his forgiveness and mercy and grace!Diane

Hi Diane,and everyone of you out there.I only have a minute, weekend and I must finish up for tomorrow. I only wish I could one time feel ready to deliver His Word. After all these years its still like my first sermon. He always comes through and I know He is going to, but the anticipation never goes away. I guess I'm happy it does'nt, I supose if it ever does its time to retire, from here to there.I think the reason it is the hardest thing to do is because our forgiveness hinges on us forgiving.Mark 11;25,26. Is it a matter of power we feel we have over someone, to fogive or not to forgive. I will forgive you if? The enemy ofour souls loves for us to take on this postureof heart. It seperates us from Grace. To receive it we must show it, no exceptions.We are saved by becoming poor in spirit and unforgiveness is from a proud and haughty spirit.To know Him and the power of His resurrection and entering into into the fellowship of His sufferings,allows us to be able to say along withHim, Father forgive them for they know not what they do.This in turn causes us to become conformable unto His death.The means by which we attain unto the resurrection of the dead. WE MUST KNOW HIM! Ps. 61:1,2 Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.Thanks everyone for your comments, must run for now, back Monday Lord willing.Love to all, Just a country preacher,pastorfrin