Successful December Camp Mission

Bible reading: Psalm 103

Focus verse: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled."
Matthew 5:6

I returned safely last Thursday night (Dec. 20) from a trip to Kenya.  I struggle to find words to describe God's work that I witnessed.  Even though this was my 18th trip to Kenya since 2001, participating in the camp program was a different experience.  It was absolutely amazing to see how God worked in the 3 camps.  The Kenyan staff worked so well together, even though many of them had never done anything like this before.  What a privilege for me to be able to go and to watch God work out His great master plan with the Kenyan body of Christ.

Your prayers have made all the difference.  I saw so many situations where I could tell that your prayers were the key to unlock the power of God there.  We even saw family members of staff come to know Christ!  We are excited that 225 trusted Christ on this trip and 163 made commitments for True Love Waits sexual purity in their lives!

Sometimes we see many needs around us.  Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. 


We hope you have had a Blessed Christmas!
Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries

Pride Humbled

With the success of the recent Interlocking Ministries in the camps of Kenya, we want to offer this devotion taken from Wisdom Hunters, Boyd Bailey.  http://www.wisdomhunters.com/  We believe that every Christian leader needs this wisdom.  It is a long devotion, but necessary.  ~Bobby & Page

"Authority without accountability creates pride."

Bible readings: Exodus 10:3; 2 Kings 22:19; Romans 12:3; Philippians 2:1–11

Focus Verse:  “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything He does is right and all His ways are just. And those who walk in pride He is able to humble” (Daniel 4:37).

Pride will eventually give way to humility. It may not happen overnight. It may have to follow a painful process, because pride can be very, very stubborn. Like an embedded splinter deep in the flesh of your foot, it is hard to remove. You cannot remove it alone, and there is constant throbbing and pain until it is extracted.

Pride provides a false sense of security. Spiritually minded people know it is only a matter of time until a fall, as pride will catch up with you. Humility was once a staple in your spiritual diet, but success has squelched your humility and subtly replaced it with pride. Authority without accountability generates pride.

The more authority you possess, the more you are required to submit to accountability. Otherwise, you cannot handle this great power. Your behavior defaults to pride without the checkmate of humility. This is true in relationships, business, ministry, and churches. Beware of obsessing over control.

Paranoia is an application of pride. You are fearful of losing control. It is better to hand over control than to lose control. Humility gives control, while pride grasps for it. So be open and humble about your insecurities. We are all insecure to some degree. Humility builds security, and pride tears it down. The humble have nothing to hide. So root out pride, replacing it with humility.

The process of pride’s removal begins with submission to Christ. It is acknowledging His lordship and ownership over your life. He is in control. He is large and in charge. Nothing in your life has sneaked up on God. He can be trusted. He holds your life, family, health, and career in His hand. You start by humbly bowing to God with your head and heart. He is to be feared and loved.

You have the awesome opportunity to worship and adore Him. When you walk with God, you walk in humility. Pride cannot coexist in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Pride is extinguished in the presence of Jesus. Pride is like a roach lurking in the dark recesses of your heart. The Holy Spirit’s light reveals pride and convicts you during times of prayer and Scripture meditation.

The second offense to pride is praying people. Ask people to pray for humility to infiltrate and occupy your life. You want the occupation of humility on the soil of your heart and mind. Be transparent with others about your sins and shortcomings. Talk about them with the motive for change.

Humble yourself, and trust God to humble others. It is easy to recognize pride in others while it is still looming in your spirit. Run from spiritual pride. It is the worst kind. It is insidious. It is self-righteousness in nature, and it chokes the Holy Spirit. Humility grows in an environment of honesty, openness, prayer, and change. Be a change agent on behalf of the humble. Humble pride!

“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time” (1 Peter 5:5–6).

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me walk in humility of heart and mind and submit to accountability.

Community of Care

Scripture Reading:  Matthew 25:31-46

Focus Verse: "“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’" Matthew 25: 37-40

Jesus was clear in his teaching to care for others who are struggling with sickness and physical needs.  We may find that the needs are great around us and feel like we can't do much.  Jesus didn't say that we should solve all of their problems, but that there is something, even something small, that we can do.  Anyone can give a drink to someone or visit someone who is sick.  How difficult is it to give a shirt or dress to someone whose clothes are torn and tattered.  If you don't have something, maybe you can ask some friends to help you to get some clothes for someone in need.  

When you help someone, the Holy Spirit confirms in your heart that you are doing something good.  You know that is a good feeling.  When you join together as a community to help others, then it strengthens the community. 

My prayer is that God will show me where to help someone today.  May God be glorified in any effort of care that I show to someone today.

Page Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
www.interlockingministries.org

The Nature of Evangelism

Scripture reading: Luke 10: 1-24

Focus verse: Luke 10:1-3 "After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.  Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.  Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves."

There's a moment when you know that the harvest is ready and it's time to collect the harvest.   You need to get the food out of the field.  If you have a large field, you find people who can work in the fields and gather it together.  You have a limited time before the harvest spoils and so you work very hard together.

This is the scene that Jesus used to describe evangelism.  In our scripture reading, Jesus sent them out two by two.  We also might remember that Paul traveled with partners or small groups.  Evangelism is best accomplished together.  It is great that we get to see this example in scripture of Jesus sending his disciples out in pairs.  We need each other as an encouragement and protection as we go out.

The hired worker wouldn't bring back the crop and say that he, himself, made the fruit or vegetable.  In the same way, those who share the good news can't say that we made the conversions.  We understand that it is the Holy Spirit who convicts the soul and makes a life new.  In the same way, we neither take the blame when someone rejects the Gospel if it is presented clearly.

Evangelism is a community event.  In pairs or groups, we go into the fields for harvest when the crops are ripe.

Page Johnson
Interlocking Ministries

Worship Together

Scripture Reading: Psalm122

Focus Verse: Psalm 122: 1  "I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go into the house of the Lord.""

We gather together as a community of believers to worship God.  There is great peace, comfort and unity in the Body of Christ when we can worship our Creator together.  It is important to meet together.  It doesn't matter as much if you meet in a church, a home or under the shade of a tree.  The main thing is that you worship together.  We should praise the name of the LORD.

We can see that by verse 8, the worshiper has found that as a result of worshiping God with his fellow believers, that he is wishing them peace and goodness.  He has spent time in the presence of the LORD and the LORD has given him a heart of love for others.  The love is shown through peace and goodness.  This can create a strong Christian community for the glory of God!

Are you glad when you go to meet others to worship?  Does your worship create a heart of love that shows?

Page Johnson
Interlocking Ministries

Everyone's Involved

Everyone's Involved

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-27

Focus Verse: 1 Corinthians 12:12  "The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body.  So it is with the body of Christ.

You have a place to function in your local fellowship or church.  Every person has an important role to play in the body of Christ.  God has a specific purpose for you.  He has given you certain gifts to help you carry out that purpose.  Sometimes you may feel that you have nothing to offer God.  But God knows just what His plan and purpose is for your life.  We don't function alone but need each other.  We realize that it can be difficult to work with some people.  But there is one who unifies us and His name is Jesus.  See Ephesians 3:10-11 where it says, "to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,  according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord ".  When the church functions as God intended it is a powerful witness to the world!

No gift of the Holy Spirit is more important than another.  We each have a special place in the body of Christ.  Someone may have the gift of hospitality and be able to cook very well.  Another person may be able to work well with their hands and fix things.  Another might teach.  There are many different gifts.  When we each use our gift as God intended, it is like a well oiled machine running smoothly.  We need each other.  Just as when you have coals that you are cooking over.  If one coal gets separated from the others it soon grow cold.  But when all the coals are together the heat last for a long time.  Let us not think that we can be a service to Christ all by ourselves.  We need each other.  Everyone in the body of Christ should be involved together.

Donkey in the well

Do you ever feel like you are in a pit?  This is a good life lesson.

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL :
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The people intended it for burial, but God used it for GOOD.  We can get out of the deepest wells just by trusting God to show us the way out.  Shake it off and take a step up.

Biblical example of intended harm that brought life instead: Joseph's brothers put him in a well and then sold him into slavery.  Genesis 50 (click to read) Genesis 50:20 "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today."