Ministry Leader Mitch Minney

Greetings in the Love of our Lord Jesus!

I realize most of us do to know one another personally. My wife Lena and I run down a list of seventy or so names every month and transcribe them to the newsletter. As we read your names, cities and states, I try to imagine your homes, the landscape that surrounds you. What your daily lives might be like.

I sometimes wonder if your Christian walk is as challenged as ours is from time to time. Do you question your desire to be a card-carrying minister of Full Gospel Church in Christ? Do you even feel like a minister? Perhaps you are like a caterpillar in a cocoon waiting for your chance spread your wings and fly. Maybe you are flying and circumstances are attempting to chase you down and pull your wings off. We pray that is not the case.

Whatever condition this new calendar year finds you in, we all need to encourage ourselves and one another that we are more than conquerors in Christ. Because, we are confident that we are already victorious in the eternity of tomorrow, we can meet the challenges of today with a tenacity and fearlessness. Willing to take risks, we can attempt actions that are outside our reasonable capabilities. If we end up falling short, we get up, nurse our wounds and search out another battlefield. By God’s nature, we are not quitters, nor do we glory in our success. We live and give our lives for his kingdom, His Honor, His Glory.

To the sneers of strangers and sometimes friends and family, we waste our lives on Jesus. Like an expensive, precious perfume, we are poured out on our Savior, our friend.

If there is an enemy we need to fear, it is our own heart. Where there is envy and strife, there is every evil work. We must be humble, quick to forgive, especially in our own homes. We should prefer others before ourselves. We are not doormats but we are willing servants. Our humility will not go unrewarded. The small, seemingly unimportant tasks we do that may not be called ministry by some but touch the heart of our heavenly father who is deeply in love with you. If you were in McDonalds and Billy Graham and Oral Roberts and several other big name ministers were also dining there and Jesus walked in… He would look around smiling and nodding and upon seeing you, he’d say, " hey… Can I share your table?" That is how His heart is. He is so gracious and kind. He is merciful and understanding. He loves you for you. When we can absorb that truth of his love toward us, it will make this one of the happiest New Years of our life.

In his love

Your brother,

Mitch

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Reverand Deborah Cain

Ladies Designed with Destiny

Recently I taught at a Ladies meeting and shared this word there. I would also like to share it with everyone who reads the FGCC newsletter. I hope it will be a blessing and give encouragement.

In the story of Israels deliverance from Egypt, we will see how God used women in their giftings to bring about the plan of God. We all know of Moses being called to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, and I would also like to expound on the way God also used the women. We also see how their examples inspire us to see OUR gifts and abilities and fulfillment of our destinies, to accomplish Gods’ will today.

READ EXODUS 1:15-22 AND EXODUS 2:1-10

Midwives- Shiphrah and Puah their names mean brightness, garnish and brilliant, smart, to glitter, brilliancy.

Brightness, glitter, splendid, brilliancy! The Lord revealed in them, true women of God!

They chose to obey God rather than Pharaoh BECAUSE THEY FEARED GOD MORE! Even though it could cost them their lives. BECAUSE OF THIS THE LORD GAVE THEM WISDOM in dealing with Pharaoh. The fear (reverence) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Proverbs 9:10). Do you face a situation you need wisdom in? Here is your answer. Reverence the Lord, recognize who He is, all wisdom comes from Him! Also they chose to OBEY the Lord! Because the midwives obeyed God, Moses’ life was spared. Obey God! You may never know whose life you will touch because of YOUR obedience. When Moses was spared, how could they have known he would be the one chosen to deliver Israel? How do we know what blessings we can be, simply by DOING WHAT IS RIGHT!

Moses ‘ Mother-was also a Levite (priestly tribe), she SAW Moses as a FINE child! No ordinary child (NIV), and hid him to keep him safe for his first three months of life. Then she made an ark for him to save him from destruction When the scriptures record that she SAW, does this mean SHE SAW PROPHETICALLY or simply the seeing that comes with motherhood? To see the potential in a child and nurture the child who is not ordinary because the child is yours (MOTHERS LOVE). In either case the seeing was strong enough to move her to protect him. Parental love is a gift from God, God uses our giftings, and the ministry to our children is as important as pastoring a church! Hebrews 11:23 records her actions in the FAITH HALL of FAME..

Moses’ Sister- protector like her mother (never underestimate the power of a woman and motherhood), she keeps watch over and she makes arrangements for the care of the baby Moses. She does this with WISDOM for she sees to it that her mother nurses the child until time for him to be weaned and sent to Pharaohs’ daughters house. She has a PROTECTOR calling. What is that? To watch over and care for one another! She represents how families work together. She is a SISTER! Sisterhood, being a sister to one another in the family of God is important also!

Pharaohs’ Daughter-Teacher- ADOPTED and NAMED Moses (his name means pulled out, "I pulled him out of the water"). Teachers can pull people out of despair and reveal the truth. Also note the name change, God even called him by the name Pharaohs’ daughter chose for him. She also was moved with compassion for Moses and had him taken out of the Nile. She was Pharaohs’ daughter, with a mean daddy, but she was in a POSITION and in a PLACE, where God would use her. She was the instrument that God used to pull Moses out of danger. She gave Moses his name and was probably instrumental in teaching compassion to him. Compassion is a gift and fruit of the Spirit of God. Jesus was moved with compassion as the scripture records, to heal and restore people. Let yourself be moved with compassion to show people the way to be restored.

Now Moses stayed in Pharaohs’ house but it was only for a period of time.

IT IS TIME FOR MOSES TO BECOME WHAT GOD HAD DESIGNED

READ EXODUS 2:11-15

Moses knew he was from Israel, thus he tried to protect Israel First by killing the Egyptian and then by exhorting the Hebrew men. He had begun to recognize his calling, but he did not know how to go about answering that call. Can you relate? We make mistakes sometimes simply because we recognize there is a need and we try to fix it ourselves. When that happens we may end up having to deal with the fruit of our mistakes, but God doesn’t want you to give up on being used by Him.This is the key! That He IS DOING THE WORK THROUGH YOU BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT not your power.

PHARAOH TRIED TO KILL MOSES. Moses was running into opposition, but we don’t want to be taken out early. Moses flees to MIDIAN where this is a time of growth. In these places of growing time, you may feel like your dying. And so it is that you must decrease and He must increase. Trust that the Lord is leading you into a land where you receive what you need for the rest of your life and ministry. Endurance is learned through these times.

EXODUS 2:15-22

Midian means….brawling, contentious

This is where Moses learns to fight Gods way, this is where he learned how to FIGHT as a SON!

This is where he learned to be a son of Abraham, his country, his decendants, not as a son of Pharaoh! Moses became the Moses we know him for in the land of Midian. For Moses to live there, God made some arrangements and once again He used women.

Moses when arriving in Midian, sat down by a well. This is a good place to find women. They are the ones who draw water. Here Moses runs into the (7) seven daughters of the PRIEST of Midian. (Seven means perfection, completeness, finished, a day of rest! These daughters were tending their FATHERS’ SHEEP. This reminds me of a Pastoral position, to feed and protect the flock of God. Not an easy job and when they were being threatened, the deliverer Moses, comes to their aid, rescues them from the BAD shepherds and HELPS them water their Fathers sheep. Moses is a type of Christ here, YOUR deliverer is coming! Don’t get weary in well doing. Keep on obeying what your Father God has instructed you to do! He is coming to your rescue, and He will help you to get the water to give his sheep! And he will run the opposition away!

"An Egyptian", the daughters reported, helped them. They thought Moses looked like Egypt, but he acted like God. They reported his helpfulness to their Father. Because of this, the Priest Reuel (name means friend of God) (Jethro), recognizes a good man, feeds Moses, invites him to live there and gives him a WIFE. This demonstrates how important it is to recognize the character and giftings in others, and to help them find their place in ministry.

And finally I would like to address the need in Moses life for a WIFE. Remember she is one of the SEVEN, and she is perfection, perfect for him and she completes him, he can rest in her embrace, he does not have to look any further for she helps to finish the work of the Lord. His wife is name is Zipporah or "bird". She is partner with him, helper for him, how important it is that her name means "bird" for she must be able to relocate, to fly away with him so to speak. But to help she needed to be a part of his calling and in doing so finds and fulfills her own. Moses we know was sent back to Egypt, not to live there and not to be a part of Pharaohs’ house, but as a deliverer, an instrument of deliverance. All these women played their part in God making that happen.

Keep in mind how often we as Christians, use this event to symbolize deliverance from the world of sin, to worship God and enter the Promise Land. Ladies, God has a plan for you, unique, something He has designed, that design is you!

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Minister Elaine DoMoe

Melpilas, CA

To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice

In studying I Samuel 15, we can divide the themes of this chapter into four sections. First is the command from God, and then comes the carrying out of that command. Next comes the blessing resulting in the obedience or the consequences of disobedience.

Samuel goes to Saul to give him a message from God. His identification is "the one who the Lord sent to anoint him king". He was to give him his first assignment from God. The first was to give him his "badge" of authority that was from the Lord and the other was to show what kind of a ruler he would be. Even kings answer to a higher authority and are not excused from obedience. These two things set the stage for the rest of Saul’s life.

The Amalek people were descendents of Esau and the first assignment Saul received from God was to destroy all the Amaleks. God was setting the stage for Israel to receive the promise of Amalek’s destruction. Exodus 17:8 and Deuteronomy 25:17-19 tell us who the Amalek people were and why God promised to utterly wipe them out as well as all memory of them.

During the Exodus, Amalek would lie in wait and ambush the flanks of the people. Those people were usually the less able of the tribes of Israel, the weak, sick, disabled. Like jackals or hyenas, Amalek would attack the weakest that are usually found at the end of the line. They also refused Israel passage through their lands and did not fear God.

God told Moses to write in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua that He would utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. God told Israel that He would tend to Amalek when the people were in the land and rested. He would blot out the remembrance of Amalek. It was a promise and He will fulfill His word.

God is setting the stage for the fulfillment of His promise in the selection of Saul. By now, Moses and Joshua are only memories to the people. They learn of them through the written accounts and by the word of mouth stories handed down through generations of their ancestors. .

Samuel the prophet has contacted Saul and told him what God has said about his being King over Israel. He has also instructed him in what to do about the Amalekites. This particular action had a double meaning. One was to show Saul’s willingness to be obedient and the other was to show Israel that God does not forget His promises.

Do you suppose God still does that today? Did He promise one of His saints 100 years ago that a particular action would take place? Maybe God is telling someone to be obedient in some particular area and that person is wondering what the purpose is. Maybe like Saul and Amalek, our obedience is a fulfillment to that saint 100 years ago. God has no time limit in carrying out His promises. Keep in mind, though, stepping out in obedience to the word of the Lord is not always a fulfillment to a long ago promise. But, in the case of Saul, this it was. We really don’t understand the effect of obedience or why God uses mankind to carry out His promises. But the Word tells us to put our trust in the Lord and follow Him.

Saul takes 210,000 soldiers to carry out this command. In going down, they come across some people called Kenites. During the Exodus, the Kenites had helped Israel and Saul told them to flee because he was getting ready to destroy Amalek. The Kenites had, off and on through the centuries, contact with Israel and had always treated them favorably. God gave them an opportunity to save their lives and they packed up and left. God blesses those who bless Israel and curses those who curse Israel. An interesting fact is that Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, was a Kenite.

Saul and his army partially carried out the Lord’s command. The instruction from the Lord for Saul was not only to utterly kill all the Amalek people, man, woman and child, but to totally destroy the animals as well. Apparently, he did everything God told him to do except he spared the life of Agag and the best of the animals. Some people must have survived because later we read in Esther about Haman the Agagite who plotted to destroy all the Jews. He is considered in Jewish literature to be an Amalekite.

God goes back to Samuel and tells him that he was grieved in having appointed Saul as king. The reason being is that Saul turned away and did not carry out His instructions. Samuel was troubled by this and cried out to the Lord all night. When one of His children is in a predicament, God will often trouble another of His children and cause them to pray. Samuel knew exactly why he was troubled but that is not always the case. Sometimes we call out to God for someone without knowing the reason why.

The next scene in this chapter is Saul in Carmel setting up a monument in his own honor. First disobedience, then pride. We know a better way to do it than how God tells us to do it. When Samuel finally catches up with Saul the first thing out of Saul’s mouth is a lie. He tells Samuel that he has carried out the Lord’s instructions thus compounding disobedience with pride and lies. Samuel is no fool and he asks "What is that bleating of sheep I hear?" So now Saul tries to justify his actions by saying that the animals were for sacrifice to the Lord God, "but we killed the rest" he says. Saul has stepped further over the line. First he disobeys, then he builds a monument to himself, then he lies about the whole thing.

At this Samuel tells him to stop and "Let me tell you what God said to me last night". Be careful in giving permission to the messenger from God to speak especially when we know that we have sinned. Unless we are really repentant and want to hear what God has to say, it could be our undoing. Not all of God’s words are pleasant to hear. But, Saul tells him to go ahead.

Samuel goes on to tell Saul that once he was small in his own eyes but God chose him to be king over all Israel. He gives him his first kingly duty. All he had to do was utterly wipe Amalek off the face of the earth. So now the Lord asks him two questions. "Why did you disobey the Lord?" and "Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?’ The domino effect of sin is compounding with disobedience, pride, lies and now covetousness. If has been said that if you break one of the commandments, you are guilty of them all.

Saul claims he did obey and that he completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back their king. Now wait a minute, utterly destroy does not mean save the king. He was told to kill all of them. It appears that Saul led his army into disobedience as well. All the animals were to be killed but he allowed his soldiers to keep the best of the cattle and sheep. It was only when Samuel asked about the bleating of the sheep that Saul said they were for sacrifice to the Lord God at Gilgal. So, what is he doing at Carmel?

Saul is trying to put the blame on others for his own sin. Ultimately, it seems that when we are confronted with our own sin we first try to weasel out of it and then we claim it was somebody else’s fault.

I Samuel 15: 22, 23 are wonderful verses to commit to memory. They will sustain us during those times when it seems that out of obedience the situation is becoming worse. Keep in mind that obedience is not the problem rather the solution. Look what happens to Saul. Samuel tells him that obedience is better than sacrifice and to hearken is better than the fat of rams, rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. The consequence of Saul’s rejection of the Word of the Lord is that the Lord has rejected him from being king. And, not only him, but his heirs as well. The kingship is to be removed from Saul’s line and be given to another. Another interesting side line is that an Amalekite was responsible for Saul’s death years later.

How does one survive when God has taken His Hand off them, when God rejects them? From that moment on, Saul is plagued by all the mind ills of mental disease. According to some scholars, he probably suffered from migraine headaches for the rest of his life. The Word tells us that God sent an evil spirit to torment him.

After delivering the message from God, Saul says to Samuel that he has sinned. He violated the Lords command and Samuel’s instructions. "I was afraid of the people and gave into them" says Saul. "Forgive me, I beg, and come with me so that I can worship the Lord." Samuel tells Saul that he will not go back with him because he has rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected him from being king over Israel.

This must have terrified Saul to realize that God had removed the anointing. Samuel is beginning to leave and Saul must have known that he would never see him again. He grabs the hem of Samuel’s cloak and tears it. Even this is a message to him and Samuel tells him that God has torn the kingdom of Israel from his hands and given it to another, one who was more worthy. Samuel goes on to say that He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind because he is not a man. The Glory of Israel is none other than Jesus Christ who is our Glory.

Saul states that he has sinned but begs him to appear before the people and honor him before the elders. Everyone knew that Samuel was the prophet and he was the one who delivered the anointing for the king on God’s instruction. If Saul had appeared before the elders and the people of Israel without him they would probably have rebelled and rejected him as king as well. Saul also tells him that he wants to worship the Lord your God. So Samuel goes back with Saul and Saul worshipped the Lord. Notice how Saul has changed his statements for worship the Lord to worship the Lord your God. He realizes that his days are numbered. God is no longer his god but Samuel’s God.

When we are faced with our disobedience what do we do? Do we blame others? Do we claim fear as a reason for not following through with obedience? What do we do when we realize that God has removed his anointing?

Samuel has one more task to perform before he can leave. He calls for Agag the king of the Amalekites. Now Agag was spared by Saul and he figured that everything was alright. After all, Saul was the chosen king of Israel, anointed by God. In fact Samuel was the one who brought all this information to Saul. The Word tells us he was confident, thinking that death was past. If he was to be put to death surely it would have been done before now. Picture him strutting into the presence of the king and the prophet. He probably had somewhat of a swagger in his stride, his back was straight and his expression was probably haughty and maybe a little sneering. He was ready to receive the prophet with all the kingly demeanor in his possession. Imagine his surprise and dismay when Samuel announced that "As your sword had made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women". Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal. Simple little sentence but full of incredible meaning. Samuel had to complete the original instruction from God. He leaves to go home to Ramah and Saul goes to his home in Gibeah.

Saul for the rest of his time is left without a prophet to give him word from the Lord. His rule over Israel, relationship with everyone around him, his ultimate madness and even his death reflect how total the Lord’s rejection of him was. Although he never went to see Saul again, until the day he died Samuel mourned for Saul and God was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.

As we begin to study God’s Word we see how obedience is so important. The things we do now have an affect the whole of the future. In Saul’s case, Esther and all the Jews were in danger because of a descendant of Agag. In Moses case, his father-in-law, Jethro was indirectly responsible for the sparing of the Kenite people. In Saul’s case rejection from God caused madness. How do we know if we are in obedience? Study the word and develop a relationship with our Precious Lord, Mighty Prince, and Wonderful Counselor. Learn His ways, dig deeper into what is being said, apply the principles we learn to our hearts. It is said that the mind is a wondrous thing but susceptible to what it is fed. Garbage in, garbage out. Each one of us is responsible as to what kind of information we feed ourselves. We cannot blame others for what we choose to fill our minds. Just like Saul, in a sense, we are the "king" and as it has been said, we will be judged not so much for what we do but what we do not do.