My Response to Carmelita and Benny

I wrote the following response to Carmelita and Benny as they are stepping out by faith to start a new church. I did not include any personal aspects of their letter. As a father in the Lord, I try to encourage and as Peter said(2 Peter 1:12, 13), I want to help you remember the important things that will help you succeed in your ministry.
I include it here because whatever new beginnings you are facing this year, you should run through the check list that Jesus Gave us in Matthew 5, 6, 7.
Make sure you are following Him in truth and that, like Abraham Lincoln said once when he was asked if he believed God was on the Union's side in the American Civil War of 1861-1865. He responded to the effect that the real question is not whether God was on the Union's side, but whether or not we (the Union) are on His side!
That is still the question we must ask, not in our human effort at ministry. But in the light of His word and His ability to produce it in us by filling us with the Holy Spirit.
Enjoy!


Carmelita and Benny,
It sounds like great things are happening in your life and ministry. I am glad that you are not letting what other people think stop you in your obedience to the call of God. Even if we are wronged, we are not to return evil for evil, as some do and as I have been guilty of myself. I am a real follower of Jesus, though, and have repented and gone to Him for His help(Revelation 3:14-22). In Matthew, Jesus said, "Blessed are you when people persecute you, insult you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets that were before you. Later in chapter 5, verse 43, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you:
"Love your enemies;"
"And pray for those who persecute you;"
"That you may be sons of your father in heaven." (That means ...if you don't love, pray and forgive from the heart, you are NOT acting as a son of your father in heaven! And as a disobedient son or daughter are probably moving toward some very unpleasant discipline!!! You ask, "How do you know?" You ask, "Where did this man receive this wisdom?" Hah! Don't ask... just try it for yourself if you are feeling really tough!)
"If you love those that love you, what reward will you get?" (None. There is no debt, no imbalance left by that action; It creates no upward pressure, because everything is balanced. But if you love those who hate you, then you are giving, or investing, more than is being given back and it begins to create a pressure in the spiritual dimension; a pressure to bring God’s blessing down on you!
"Are not even the tax collectors doing that?" People with NO spiritual awareness or knowledge can love those who love them and bless those who bless them!)
And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? (Apparently, even showing the courtesy of a greeting is not something that God overlooks!
Hey, if that is so with an outsider, do you think he notices when you are angry and won't greet your wife/husband?
Do you think this is hindering us and our ministries? In the very same chapter he gives the cure... There will be stuff of your flesh that needs to be cut off that will be as hard to do as to pull out your eye or cut off your hand! Cry out to God for help and DO IT ANYWAY! If not, you are not following Jesus and will soon be one of those religious leaders yourself with a little church and mad at the next new guy that God sends to minister in that area!
Forgive your enemies, or you will become your enemies... and hate yourself worse than you hate them.
Forgive. Love. Pray. Bless. Greet. Rejoice. These things are impossible to do without help from God.He might as well tell us to walk across the South China Sea. If you read this and realize how impossible it all is in your own strength, you begin to get hungry, desperate, thirsty, and willing to fast for help to change. It is not just my enemies that need prayer. It's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.
Here is where you begin to beg for more of the Holy Spirit. More help. More comfort. More strength.
You weep at your own failure and inability to forgive, even with those you love.
He will answer and refresh you.
He will cleanse you by his blood, and immerse you again in the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit is able to give you victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Go to Him again and wait in His Presence.
The miracles of changing you, and helping you crucify the flesh and resurrecting IN YOU the character of Christ, have not passed away anymore than the healings and miracles of his earthly ministry.
But too often, we have stopped pursuing Him. Read Revelation Chapters 2&3 again, and do what he instructed them to do, if you need to.
Renew yourself and don't get caught off guard by the things that you mentioned that other pastors are doing. Finally, when the time comes and God sends another pastor or ministry to that area, don't do to them what is being done to you.

I love you guys, and I know that if you will build your church on the solid rock of both practicing the commands of Jesus and teaching others the words of Jesus Christ, your ministry to that part of the country will flourish!!!

Write again soon,
Phil and Beth