Report of return to Solomon's

Dear Friends,

(This is excerpts of a letter sent to churches that hosted us on our last HA) 

Summary of our Home Assignment:

We visited 11 districts and had district tours on 5.  We shared the story in 45 venues (mostly churches) and held 59 services.  This was somewhat down from last time, which was providential because we needed the time for medical checks [the 100,000 mile check-up].

Thank you for your prayers and generosity.  We were able to bring 20 e-readers back to the Solomon's to use in the Bible College.

Please continue to remember us in prayer.  Some of you have been our prayer partners for a number of years while some are new and we welcome you.  We can stay connected through Christ and email.

Travels:

We had an enjoyable time in the states, . . .   We have many fond memories, reconnecting with old friends and making many new ones.  This was our 8th home assignment in our 25 years of ministry.  During our home assignment we travel lots of miles, and have seen a lot of accidents, but God has been good to us and kept us safe again as we traversed one of the most dangerous places on earth, the US highways.  Thanks for your prayers for traveling mercies.

Our return trip took longer than expected.  We were almost home to the Solomon Islands when our aircraft developed a "minor" mechanical problem and we then returned to Nadi, Fiji to sort the problem out.  We then arrived 7 hours or so late and after the stores were closed and it was dark.  Minor inconvenience as we had packed our house up preparing for 4 months away and there was no food in the house.  But we were safe, and praising God to be back in the Solomon's.

New Computer:

We purchased a new computer (for me, George) as our old one was processing slow (kind of like me somedays).   I think I'll like my new Apple but it has been a while getting my address and mailing list straightened out.  If you do not want to get our letter please let us know or if you see this letter and would like one delivered directly to your box let us know that too.

Update on the Some of the Stories:

You know when I was with you I told you to pray for those I talk about because Satan will work hard in the Solomon's to destroy their testimony.

Patricia:

I shared about Patricia who had tragically lost her son right before our last District Assembly.  Pastor Patricia and Pastor Phillip from Vella la vella Island and their group of 22 from their island are still here.  They came to attend the district youth and then followed by the district children (Sunday School) camp.  They are doing fund raisers to earn money to return home.  It is an expensive trip and quite a sacrifice for them.  It was awesome seeing them make the sacrifice to come and in such number.

Patricia was encouraged when I told her that I had shared her story.  I assured her of your prayers. She thanked me (and you) as she relayed how she almost died.  She credits the Lord for healing her.  The ministry in Vella la vella is going strong.  Continue to pray for her.

White River Church:

I showed a photo of the baptism in White River and about the church that was started by Pastor Osborn among the children.  I want to report the church is growing.  They lost their uncompleted building where they were meeting and moved the church into a homemade tent, using a plastic tarp covering a frame.  The church is continuing to grow as people are coming to the Lord.  It was exciting hearing Osborn and others attest to what God is doing.  They now have a number of adults.  Osborn shared that he is beginning a membership class and hopes to start construction of a church building soon.  It sounds like this church will soon be organized.  They are still carrying on with their Saturday night prayer.

I mentioned in some services about a woman who was led to the Lord through the testimony of her daughter.  Prayer is requested for her as I am sad to report that she has backslidden.

Kwailatutu Church:

I told you about the Kwailatutu church where daddy Jacob lived.  Their new pastor shared with me how the Lord is moving there and he has over 20 that are ready to join the church.  Their attendance has now outgrown their building.  What a wonderful problem!

Delegates to General Assembly:

Our Solomon Island delegates had a wonderful time at General Assembly.  Our GA delegate was Alick Hagi, and then we had two NYI convention delegates Ezra Kuki and Rex Dagga, and we had one visitor, Hannah Konainao.  The delegates traveled to the USA on $20.  The banks ran out of US currency and so they went to the airport to wait their flight when someone from the church was trying to exchange their funds.  The plane departed before their treasurer returned.  They have numerous stories of miracles along the way to meet their needs. 

Hannah, met up with us in Los Angeles and toured with us for 3 weeks prior to General Assembly.  She had a wonderful experience and I know she was a blessing to those churches she visited and sang a special.  She made lots of friends along the way.

One incident that I'll relate concerning God's provision for the delegates - We were together in OKC eating lunch at a Golden Corral and a Maury man from New Zealand, seeing the Melanesian Neighbors talked with the boys and asked if they were from the Solomon's, then he shook hands with Ezra and passed through his handshake $40. This was a gift from a stranger.  Thank you for praying, as they were supported through your prayers.

Health Checks:

We had extra complete physicals while home this time.  

I have been experiencing weakness and also had the liver cysts diagnosed during last term.  I am 62 yo and have never had a colonoscopy done.  Our Nazarene Physician said, "It's time."  Then my brother died suddenly from presumably a massive heart attack, so I was advised to have my heart thoroughly checked out.

I had my stress test and the cardiologist looked intently at the cardiogram scan and sonogram images for a long time in complete silence, before turning to me and exclaiming, "I don't see anything at all here, it looks completely normal."  That's good news! 

After viewing my colonoscopy the doctor said, "There was a small polyp but it was nothing to worry about, you don't need another one for 10 years".  More good news!

The liver was checked out by every lab test imaginable to see if there was a pathogen causing the liver cysts.  All tests returned negative.  Good News!

In the battery of tests they did Serum Iron level, and Iron Binding Capacity [IBC], and ferritin level.  The Iron level was really high, IBC nearly zero, and Ferritin level 5x normal.  Then I had a DNA test and MRI.  I was then diagnosed with Hereditary Hemochromatosis [HH] (DNA tests showed I inherited the gene from both parents)  This means I have too much Iron stored in the liver, confirmed by the MRI.  Therefore I had to do a weekly therapeutic phlebotomy or donate one pint of blood weekly to reduce the iron.  In the USA this was not an easily obtained procedure, for a traveling/transiting man.  Some places it was expensive and most places I had to jump through lots of hoops.  The easiest place, prior to returning to the Solomon Islands, was in Spokane, WA.  I was unable to get this done weekly during our travels but successfully donated 6 units of blood during the last 10 weeks of our HA.  Then on my lab exam prior to return the values were back to almost normal and doctor ordered a monthly phlebotomy.  Some things about the developing world is much easier.  I went into the Hospital (Red Cross) Blood Bank in Honiara yesterday to try my first monthly draw in the Solomon's and discovered the tech here knew exactly what I needed and I didn't even show her the doctor's order.  Thanks for your prayers as over the next term I'll be a regular blood donor.  HH does not make the blood unsuitable for transfusion, as long as the donor criteria are met.  HH does have symptoms of weakness, which explains some of what has been going on.  One of the problems in the US is my recent travel overseas.  Thanks for your prayers.

Nancy did not have the extensive tests.  However, as many of you witnessed she has a chronic cough.  She was under the care of an ENT as he tried various things.  The cough comes and goes.  We do not really know the cause of this cough.  Please be in prayer for her.

Health checks were done and nothing serious enough to keep us from returning to the field.

All Authority:

As you remember my theme for the deputation message was Jesus was given all authority in Heaven and on earth and we are under His authority to make disciples we are not alone.  Thank you for partnering together to build the Kingdom and make disciples under HIS authority.  

God Bless and Keep the Prayers coming.

George Miller
PO Box 712
Honiara, Solomon Islands

Phone: +677 7468920

blog: http://georgeandnancymiller.blogspot.com

Web: http://oceanianazarene.org

Devotional Thought - Holiness or Hypocrisy

Holiness or Hypocrisy

Words of Holy living to encourage and inspire

From Uncle George

Throughout the past two millennia Christians have attempted to live a holy life before God.  In order to accomplish this holy life style and therefore be a “Spiritual Person” some have isolated themselves from the world.  Others have adopted outward standards of dress, behavior, and customs. 

            Jesus cautioned against hypocrisy in Matthew chapter 23 when he spoke of the seven woes.  Jesus said that some try to clean the outside of their cup but leave the inside dirty.  If the heart is cleansed and full of the love of God and His light, the outside actions will be a reflection of that light and love coming from within.  It is impossible for one to purify the heart by just cleaning up one’s outside actions.  The Pharisees during Jesus’ time lived this double standard and there are Christians today who are acting the part of a servant of Christ without having the Holy Spirit reigning within.

            On the outside the actions of a person living with Christ reigning and one living a hypocritical life will be similar and in fact it may be difficult to tell the two individuals apart.  The difference is the motivation toward holy behavior.  If the motivation is due to the love in one’s heart, that person is truly a child of the Savior.

            I am certainly not advocating disregarding the standards of behavior within the Christian community, for we need these standards.  But if we are merely performing a certain way because of the church’s rules or customs we do not have the spiritual freedom Christ died to give us.  If we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves, as Jesus instructed, the church rules will give us no problem because we will be living a higher standard.

            Many times our rules exclude sinners from church, because they do not fit in.  They cannot live that way or match up to the standards.  Some want to become “good enough” first and then come to worship.  Others who are trying to live the double standard just give up and backslide because it is so hard to live righteous.  Hospitals are for sick people to make them well and churches are for sinners to heal them spiritually.  The first thing a person should do is to seek God and after the sinful heart is replaced with a heart of love, everyone will notice the difference in attitude and actions.

            If you are living a life based on outward works, God has a better way, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6.  God is waiting and ready to fill you with his Holy Spirit and purify your heart.

            May God bless you this week as you draw closer to Him.  If you need spiritual counsel, contact a Bible believing church.  You can also contact me at address below.

Uncle George Miller, 

A servant of our Lord, serving in the Solomon Islands

PO Box 712, Honiara, Solomon Islands

 

email: george_nancy@reachone.com

For other information about our ministry - http://oceanianazarene.org

Christmas Letter from the Millers

Merry Christmas to all,

2012 in Brief.

·       Nancy served as principal of ZCA for her fourth and final year.  She has now resigned, retired, or been dismissed by the Government (a little of all of those).

To explain, She did submit a letter of  resignation as I need her at home more; retirement age in the Solomon’s is 55 (she qualifies) but you can be considered year by year after that; then also the labor department said this would be the last year for them to issue a work permit.  Principal in the Solomon’s is a position filled by local laborers.

This was a tough year for Nancy as she had excessive teacher absenteeism and tardiness.

The water supply for the past four years only arrived at our location every other day beginning at around 1-2 a.m. and it goes off by 7 a.m. so Nancy had to get to school by 6 a.m. on the days the water came to fill up the tanks and drums so they would have water.

·        George served as District Superintendent and Principal of our Solomon Island’s campus of the SPNTC [South Pacific Nazarene Theological College].

·      SPNTC – Solomon Islands offered 10 block courses this year.  All the teaching this year was performed by Nancy (3 courses) and George (7 Courses).  {For more info about this check out our blog http://georgeandnancymiller.blogspot.com or our field WEB page http://oceanianazarene.org. or www.SPNTC.net.

·    Visitors to the field this past year.

January our Field Treasurer, Joani Goossens and husband Randy visited for 5 days from PNG, to audit and help our Solomon Island treasurer (Nancy) with the books.

During the USA summer we were overjoyed to have our Son, Greg, and family (Wendy, and children Justus, Ransom, Addie, and Elisha) visit.  Their two month visit passed very quickly.  I had the privilege of baptizing our grandson Ransom during their visit.  Ransom got sick during that trip and so we took a trip to the hospital.

We went to the airport to say good bye to our departing family, heading back to the USA via Fiji, and also to pick up another visitor, Dave Kerr, our new SPNTC Chancellor stationed in Fiji.

·      Trips in 2012.

In March we (Nancy and George) travelled to Papua New Guinea.  We attended and took part in the 20^th wedding anniversary of Baru and Christina Dirye, dear friends of ours.  Baru was one of my (George’s)  first students that I helped train in our Medical Laboratory Assistant’s school, during the first year of our work in the Nazarene Hospital, Kudjip.

While in PNG I (George) had a routine medical exam which revealed some liver cysts and so we took an unexpected detour to Brisbane, Australia.  We were well looked after by the generosity of our friends Bruce and Jacque Allder, at the Nazarene Theological College, Brisbane.  

While Greg and Wendy were here, I (George) took them to Malaita to attend the Malaita Circuit youth camp, visit a church, and visit with Hannah’s uncle and family. 

In September Nancy and I went to Nadi, Fiji to attend the SPNTC Board of Trustees meeting.

In October I (George) made an emergency trip to Vella la vella Island to comfort one of our pastors and family who lost their son.

·    Nationally 2012 was a busy year
Solomon Islands hosted the Festival of Pacific Arts (FOPA).  There were over 20 Pacific Nations represented.  This was the largest FOPA ever and was a tremendous success.  The country benefitted by better infrastructure development in preparation for this event.  Greg and family were here during this time.

We hosted a major soccer match involving several Pacific Island countries.

We hosted royalty this year when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge came to visit.

The US Marines visited for the 70^th anniversary of the battle of Guadalcanal.  A Coast-watcher Memorial was erected to show the valuable partnership between the Marines and the local Coast-watchers.

Family Update:

·     Nancy’s mother, is still living by herself in a retirement home.  We praise the Lord for helping her through some health issues and no doubt healing her, so she did not have to undergo a scheduled heart procedure.

·    Gloria and Scott, with their 3 sons (Zach, Geoffrey, and Joshua) live in Nevada, TX.  Zach has really grown tall and has filled out.  He took after my Grandma Miller “Bigler’s” side of the family.  He is a star football player in his high school.  (That is American Gridiron Football, for my non-American friends.)  He plays on both sides of the ball (offense and defense).  He is active in his church’s Bible Quiz team.  Scott has his Podiatry practice and Gloria assists her husband in the practice and is busy with their active family.

·     Greg and Wendy and their children, (3 daughters and 1 son, named above) still live in Spencer, Oklahoma.  Greg is a High school teacher and Wendy is a home school mom/teacher.

·    Geoffrey and Churie live in Bethany, Oklahoma.  In September this year Churie gave birth to our 11^th grandchild, a girl named Kyla.  Kyla was welcomed into her family by her three sisters Raina, Felicity, and Tessa.  Geoffrey works as a paint contractor and the bulk of his work is at SNU (Southern Nazarene University).  Churie is the children’s pastor at their church and homeschools her children.

·     Gary is still single and working weekend security at SNU and the rest of the time he is working for his brother, Geoffrey.

Anticipating 2013: 

·     General Assembly:  Pray for our Solomon Island Delegates as they are raising money to go to the USA for General Assembly.  The dates of the General Assembly and convention to be held in Indianapolis are June 17 – 28.  We plan to return to the Solomon Islands soon after this assembly. 

·      30^th of January we begin our Bible College Block courses with Bruce Allder from Brisbane coming as our guest lecturer.

·   Looking Forward to Bible College graduation in February and our Chancellor attending and staying for a week or so to teach a class for our former graduates to train  teachers for our campus.

·     Home Assignment:  Our Home assignment begin March 5, 2013.  Maybe we can make contact with many of you.  Our schedule up to this point is printed below.

2013 Tour Schedule   Mar. 8, 2013 -June 9, 2013

March 8-10, 2013 Westminster, MD  –

March 17, 2013 NE Okla. district –

March 24, 2013 Carnegie Oklahoma, Church of the Nazarene, -  

March 26 – 8 a.m.  Southern Nazarene University – Introduction to Missions class –

March 27 p.m.  Woodson Park, OKC

April 7-14, 2013  NE Indiana District  

April 17, 2013 Spencerville, OH

April 20-28, 2013 Indianapolis District Tour 

May 12-16, 2013 Upstate New York Convention 

May 19-26, 2013 Los Angeles District Tour

May 29 – June 9  Northwest District (Eastern Washington State, Panhandle Idaho, & Small portion NorthEastern Oregon)

If you are on one of these districts listed and would like for us to speak in your church please contact your district’s deputation secretary.  If we are in your area but you are on a neighboring district or a non-Nazarene church and would like for us to share in your church, school, club, etc, please contact us directly. 

Free Dates on Home Assignment Schedule:

11 – 15 March: Reserving for Medical Checks.  Available for evening services in Dallas area, assuming the medical checks go well.

18 – 23 March: Available for services in Oklahoma/Texas or within 3-4 hour drive of OKC

25  & 26 March  (26^th Evening only) in OKC area.

28 March – April 5:  Available anywhere in USA for Faith Promise or District Tour with easy airport access.  For a one night service needs to be 2 hour drive from OKC or Dallas.  March 31 (Easter Sunday) is available.

15, 16, 18, & 19 April -  Available to speak Northeast Indiana, Northwest Ohio, or Southern Michigan.

April 29 – May 10: Available anywhere in USA with easy airport access.  May 5^th is an available Sunday.  We are reserving this time for a district tour or faith promise. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

George and Nancy Miller

Updste on Solomon Island District Assembly

I tried to post this with photos, but the photos did not come through so now I’m posting the text and later I’ll try to get the photos on there.

 

The 18^th district assembly closed the final service on November 4^th.  Nothing like promptness in posting.  A frequent comment that I received and I agree with this statement is, “This is the greatest assembly ever.”  No one attended from the International Headquarters or the Regional office.  The field strategy coordinator called the day before his scheduled arrival with the news that he had a crisis situation elsewhere, preventing his travel to the Solomon’s.  We were so looking forward to Harmon’s visit, but we our pastors filled in his preaching schedule.  This is the first assembly that I fill rested after its conclusion.  All the district leaders performed their jobs superbly.

 

What made this assembly so great?  I am convinced it was a direct result of the prayers of God’s people and an answer to your prayers.  Usually the afternoon workshop sessions of the assembly are not well attended, but not this year.  We had the largest attendance of delegates ever to attend an assembly and they stayed there throughout all the workshops.  The theme of the District Assembly was, “Equipping and Empowering the Saints to Live a Holy Life.”  The workshops were on Spiritual Formation and a lot was drawn from the book “The Upward Call” by Wes Tracy et.al.  We emphasized, prayer, fasting, Bible Reading/Study, and Accountability with others (Accountability partner, spouse, small group, and within the community of faith).  We also held a peace-building workshop.

 

Our Evening worship services began on Wednesday evening 31^st of October.  [Note: We do not celebrate Halloween in the Solomon’s, so the 31^st was just another Wednesday night for us.]  The Wednesday night was for the Sunday School emphases.  The district Sunday School/Discipleship Ministry International (SDMI) director asked me to preach that service.  I had an object lesson where I involved the congregation.  I first took two 4 year old children a boy and girl to help me.  I talked about the importance Jesus placed on children.  These two small children named Graeme and Sandreth were my ushers and they went to the audience and ushered to the platform other people (a male and female of all ages from young to very old).  These were to represent all ages and people the SDMI were to reach and disciple.  It was a simple message to illustrate that each age group has different needs and challenges.

 

Each ministry had a different service.  The Nazarene Mission International was in charge of the Thursday service and Alick Hagi, the NMI President, preached for us.  The presence of God was really felt as he preach from Mark 1:16-20 on the call of the fishermen to become Jesus’ disciples and the need to follow the right person, to have the right preparation, and the right process. 

 

Friday was the Nazarene Youth International service.  God blessed the service through Pastor Osborn’s message of Hannah from 1 Samuel 1.  Of course during the youth service the music was way too loud for me, even after they turned it down for me, but I just need to get over it, or get use to it. 

 

The District Advisory Board led the Saturday night service and I again preached.  I preached a sermon that came to me one night in a dream.  February 5, 2012, I awoke after having a dream and in the dream I was preaching this message during district assembly.  I got up in the early morning went into my office, took down my journal, and wrote this dream that I feel was given to me by the Lord.  The title of the sermon is, “The 4 Heresies of the Post Modern Evangelical Church.”  This sermon has been posted on our blog if you are interested.  As in my dream not many responded to this holiness message, but there were 10 seekers at the altar.  I was thrilled to have 5 children come for prayer.  In Solomon Islands normally children do not respond to the invitation.

 

Sunday (4^th) we had an 8 a.m. baptism service where we baptized one young lady.  Saturday night after service I went to bed without knowing about the baptism.  Lois came to the Saturday night service.  She testified that she was the “prodigal daughter” but even though she did not plan or intend to come to District meeting, but through God’s prevenient grace she came.   She was one of the adults who responded to the invitation and gave her heart to the Lord at the altar on Saturday night.  It was 5 a.m. on Sunday morning while I was in my office having my time with the Lord that the phone call came informing me of the baptism.  We had a baptism service scheduled on the program but we canceled it due to no one ready to be baptized.  We took two vehicles (25 or so people) to the Lunga River, the place where we usually baptize people.  Upon arrival at the baptism site, I noticed a gate across the road and unbeknown to me, the people have started charging money for access.  I drove up to the gate and told them what we were going to do and they opened the gate.  I had no money in my pocket but they allowed us free access.  We arrived back at the church, where the women were preparing to lead the worship.  The 9 o’clock service was ready to begin when we arrived back at church. I went to the house to change out of my wet clothes and get ready for the service.  When I walked to church I was met at the door by someone with wonderful news.  “The church is really packed out”, then the pastor who was the usher added, we have saved you one chair.  Pastor Patricia brought a powerful message on the healing of the lame man from Acts 3 and the altar was packed especially with the women.  Her message brought tears to the eyes and really resonated with the women as the response to the invitation was instant.  Then the final service last night, Pastor Jeremiah preached a powerful message from Romans 8:1-17 about their being “no condemnation” to the one in Christ. 

 

The district assembly issued 18 minister licenses.  As soon as the District Secretary tallies up the statistics we will know about the numerical growth of the district. 

 

By George Miller

 

 

Sample schedule for the 3-weeks (Nov 6-23, 2012)

Schedule:

I am frequently asked, “What is our schedule like on the field?”  To which I reply, “What do you mean?”  and I get a response such as, “What does your average day look like?  What do you do?”  I don’t have a clue where to begin, but for the three weeks (Nov 6-23), we had a rigid schedule, so I thought I’d list it for your curiosity.   Keep in mind we do squeeze in time for the essential things like, preparing the coffee, visiting the restroom, showering, and brushing tooth, etc.

 

Here is George’s schedule: Week Day Schedule, weekend schedule is different.

3:30 a.m.  Get up to begin my day. This is without help from an alarm and so is from 3-4, but usually around 3:30.

3:30 – 4:30 Prayer and devotions

4:30 – 6:00 Work on Class Preparations, preparing for teaching.

6:30 Breakfast together,

7:00 – 8:15 Grade class work, do laundry if needed, etc.

8:30 – 12 noon Teach Bible College Course - Johannine Literature Class

12 – 1 Lunch prepare for the next class.

1 – 2:30 Teach Bible College Course - History and Polity Class

2:30 – 4:30 Take a nap

4:30 – 5 Time together

5 – 8:00 Writing lesson (With District Assembly and then trip to Vella la Vella I only had 7 of the 15 lessons written prior to start of class.)

8 – 10 Supper/relax/ time with wife/ or time for students to talk with.

Goal is to get to bed by 10:30, earlier if possible, so I can get an early start the next day.

 

And now here’s Nancy’s

4:35 Get up to begin my day after the snooze goes off one time.

4:35 – 6:00 Devotions, preparations for teaching

6:00 every other day I have to go to school and collect water before the city water goes off at 7 a.m. or so. (The water only comes every other night from about 3-7 a.m.)

6:30 Breakfast together,

7:00 – 3:00 Zion Christian Academy where I am principal.

3:00 I Take off early from ZCA to prepare for teaching at the Bible College.

3 – 4:30 Preparation for teaching

4:30 – 5 Time together

5 – 8:00 Teaching of Bible College course - Life and Teaching of Jesus Christ.

8 – 10 Supper/relax/ time with husband/ or time for students to talk with.

Goal is to get to bed by 10:30, earlier if possible, so I can get an early start the next day.

 

I trust you enjoyed that one.

Sermon

The 4 Heresies of the Modern Evangelical Church

Introduction:

I had a dream 5^th February 2012.  In that dream I was preaching at the District Assembly.  This is the message the Lord gave me in that dream that night.  I awoke from my sleep, went into my office, took down my journal and wrote down the main points. 

That is why I know precisely the night of this dream.  It was so vivid and Jesus shared with me some points and as I pondered this dream and thought about what was shared with me that night, I realize how true the dream is.  Many times since then I have thought about that dream, especially when I see people living below what Jesus provided for us with his death.   “The Abundant Life”

That dream is going to come true in your hearing tonight.  [I preached this sermon at the Solomon Island District Assembly November 10, 2012]

This sermon is entitled, “The 4 Heresies” – There are four heresies that have so infiltrated the modern or post-modern church that we believe they are scriptural but they are propagated to make mediocrity & nominalism a norm.  It is hard to tell by the way people live whether they are a Christian, non-Christian, or backsliders.  The way “Christians” live, the things they watch, their business dealings, their personal integrity, etc. is almost identical or even lower standard to that of a non-Christian.  Since the points of this sermon cuts so close to what you and I [Fellow Christian believers] have been taught and have come to believe, many who hear this message may really disagree with me. 

Even some of the things I share tonight even go against some of my own former beliefs and teachings.  This is what was shared with me and God in my dream gave me scripture after scripture with each point.

1.  Heresy #1 Are we a Saint or Sinner?

There is a popular song and I use to sing this song and cry while it was being sung and it would bless me.  The lyrics goes, “I’m just an old sinner, saved by grace.”

Is that true?  Are you a sinner?  The Bible refers to believers most often as Saints.  Are you a sinner or a saint?

Now let’s look closely at the Bible passages most often quoted when affirming this belief. These are the “sin” passages if I can refer to them as such.  The Bible says, “We have [past tense] all sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” Romans 3:23. 

1 John 1:8 Says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

So you say there you go it proves we are sinners.  1 John 1:7, the verse right before verse 8 says, “if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  1 John 1:7  The remedy for the sin is the cleansing power of the Blood of Jesus.

If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:9-10 (NRSV)

Verse 10 is very true in that anyone is lying who claims to be sinless and therefore has no need for the cleansing/forgiving power of the blood of Jesus.

1 John is written as one letter or more likely as one sermon, and one of the purposes for the evangelist’s writing of this letter is that they “will not sin.” (see 1 John 2:1) 

Then notice what is written in John chapter 3 verses 5-10.

⁵ You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. ⁶ No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. ⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸ Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God's seed abides in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰ The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:5-10 (NRSV)

Now let’s read from Romans, the same letter of Paul where we read the “all have sinned” passage.  This letter too was written in its entirety as a unit.  So when interpreting Romans 3:23, we have to keep it in context of the full letter.  We need to maintain the integrity of the message Paul was trying to get across.

Romans 6:1-18 says,  ¹  What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

      ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For whoever has died is freed from sin. ⁸ But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

{Note here it does not say to consider yourself a sinner, but consider yourself dead to sin.  Let’s quit the “I’m just a sinner” talk.  Let’s live like and talk like we are dead to sin and alive to God.}

      ¹² Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. ¹³ No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

     ¹⁵ What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, ¹⁸ and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. Romans 6:1-18 (NRSV)

The most common words for Christian in the Bible is saint or believer.  I don’t see one place where a Christian is referred to as a sinning believer or sinning saint.

2.  Heresy #2 I will call for lack of a better term “Decision Theology”

It goes something like this “We make a decision to follow Christ”.  This is said like it is our choice and we can decide to become a Christian when we are good and ready.

In one sense this is sort of true.  But the way it is practiced is not true and on the practical side it is a heresy.

Salvation is a gift of God not a decision of the human.  It’s not about praying, saying a prayer, or repeating a prayer, and you are now “born again”.  You can pray forever and ever and never have it.  It means dying to the old ways.  Surrender everything to God.  Give it all up. 

{I want to make this point many people have genuinely been born again from this type encounter because the person did in fact surrender the will to God and they then received the gift of salvation.  I will and I want to urge you to continue to use any method possible to bring the message to the unsaved, but we need to be careful claiming someone is born again unless we disciple them and see the fruit evident from a life devoted to God.}

We can decide to receive or reject God’s gift, but we have no control over when the gift is offered.  As soul winners we need to be sensitive to when God is moving in the life of a person.  In that time a simple prayer in faith will do it.  But a good persuasive salesman can convince almost anyone to pray after them and can be a mighty “soul-winner” and have thousands of converts on his/her records, but people are not saved through salesmanship.

You can decide to come to church, join the church, be baptized.  You can decide a lot of things but you cannot save yourself.  You can never become a Christian by your decision.

3.  Heresy #3 – You know you are saved based on “Fact” not Feeling

It is commonly brought this way.  We have the assurance of our salvation based on Fact not Feeling.

The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: Romans 8:16 (ASV)

True?  What is the ‘Witness of the Spirit’?  Is that fact of the head or a feeling of the heart?

The fruit of the Spirit contains, ‘Love, Joy, Peace, Patience’.  These are emotions.  I venture to tell you these are feelings.  We certainly have the knowledge or the fact that they are a part of our life, but we ‘know’ love is there because we feel love. 

It is true, that just because we wake up with a serious head ache, or the flu and we don’t feel good, or our boss cusses us out and we don’t feel especially holy, it does not mean we’ve lost our salvation and backslid.

If someone says something, or we feel discouraged, down-hearted, etc. and we don’t especially feel holy it does not mean we’ve lost our salvation.  (Job)

Whatever the witness of the Spirit is it has to be a feeling.  When one is saved or sanctified there is a radical change, accompanied by the witness of the Spirit, whatever that is it has to be a feeling.

I have a marriage license that confirms the “fact” that I am married to my wife.  It is an undeniable fact and I can prove that to anyone who questions it.   But our relationship is much more than that fact.  I have a deep love for Nancy.  It is a feeling that I have in my heart that makes me want to ring her whenever we are separated.  It’s the “feeling” of love that makes me want to get home to her soon.  That fact that we invited Jesus into our heart, is not enough, we need to live in that committed love relationship with the master.  Whatever “Love” is, it has to be a feeling. 

When the thieves came to my house and I was caught outside on the Veranda and they were threatening me with a bush knife {Machete} and through the turmoil of this potentially dangerous situation, I had an inner peace.  That peace was a feeling.  During that time the fact or knowledge of my salvation would not have been enough to sustain me, but the inner peace, which was a “feeling” allowed me to have a calm and even courage to witness to those who wanted to harm me.

4. Heresy #4 I will term “Easy Salvation”

This is closely related to Heresy #2.  It’s easy to be saved, all you have to do is repeat this prayer after me and you will be saved.  It definitely can happen that way, but often nothing transformational happens at that time.  Frequently that is the start of one’s hunger and thirst for God.

Is salvation really about repeating a prayer?  Neither Jesus, Paul, Peter, Phillip nor any of the other Apostles or people in the Bible used this plan of discipleship, and of conversion.   If it was such a hot idea why didn’t these people think of it.  Does that make it a bad plan?  NO! but it does have limitation.  Where it is not good is where you tick that you have one more conversion, just because someone came to the altar and prayed or repeated a prayer after another Christian.  That does not make them a Christian.

This type of conversion reduces the salvation of Jesus to a magic formula.  You do the formula right and zap you are a Christian.

In Jesus’ approach to people what does he say.

To Nicodemus he said, “You must be born again,”

To the rich young ruler he said, “Go sell what you have and give to the poor.”

To the crowd he said. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.

And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26-27 (NIV)

 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.   Luke 14:33 (NIV)

²¹ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.   Matt 7:21 (ASV)

There are many scriptures, quotes from Jesus’ own mouth about the radical lifestyle of being a Christian.  It was easy, however for those who had faith in Jesus.  Like the woman who touched the hem of his garment.  Frequently with Jesus ministry divine healing and spiritual healing went together. 

Let’s see what the New Testament writers say:

Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 2 Tim 3:12 (ASV)

The writer of Hebrews says, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Heb 12:14 (NIV)

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:13 (NIV)

Peter calls us to Holy living, “Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. ¹⁴ Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. ¹⁵ Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; ¹⁶ for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:13-16 (NRSV)

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Without Confession

NO Repentance

Without Repentance

NO Forgiveness

Without Forgiveness

NO Salvation

Without Salvation

NO Heaven

SORRY but this person is LOST in SIN

Many are Christians in name only, “I’m a Nazarene” or whatever.

I go to church (Unless I want to miss or have something else to do.)

I obey the rules of the church, (At least most of them.)

I’ve received Christian Baptism

I partake of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion, or Eucharist)

I’m a Sunday School teacher

I serve on the Church Board

I’m a pastor, missionary, evangelist (or whatever position you hold).

I sing in the Music Group.

These are all good “spiritual” things but they do not make one saved.  Salvation is a gift from God and the trouble is we have many converts but many of these converts have received NOTHING.  Help us LORD!  They have converted to our church, but the “Gift of God” is about being transformed into the likeness and nature of God.  To be Christ-like if you will. 

That is why we have so many backsliders.  They are serving the Lord, doing the best they can, but have received nothing.  They are reformed.  The reformation is sometimes complete.  The transformation has not happened.  They have not received the nature of Christ.

Illustration from the Butterfly: The butterfly young is a caterpillar.  It eats leaves and is quite destructive.  These caterpillars can destroy your garden or fruit trees, by eating all the leaves.  Once the caterpillar goes into the cocoon (dies), it is changed and “born again” into a beautiful butterfly.  The adult butterfly can no longer eat leaves.  It is impossible because its very nature was changed.  It no longer has the chewing mouth parts necessary to eat leaves.  There is a similar radical transformation that takes place in the life of a Christian, who dies with Christ and is born again into a new life with Him. 

There is no easy way to be a Christian.

Conclusion – You Too Can Be a Genuine Christian

Jesus Christ is waiting for you to come to him.

Are you still a sinner or are you Saved by Grace?  You are not both at the same time.

If you are a sinner, confess your sins to Jesus, he is ready to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He wants to save you by His grace and to save you from all sin.

Has Christ come to you?  Do you have the assurance and know for certain that you are going to Heaven?  Do you know that you are His child?  You can know and be assured of your salvation.

Have you given everything to God?  Is God in control?  Is He the boss of your life?  God wants control of your life.  God wants the reigns.  Let him set in the driver’s seat of your life.  Are you tired of the mess you’ve made of your life?  God is ready to help.

Do you have a love for God?  Do you have that deep feeling of love that goes way beyond the fact of your salvation?   I want to assure you that you can.

When I was a child I never heard the talk about making a decision.  The talk I received was, “Pray, until you pray through to victory.”  I’d like to encourage you to pray and earnestly seek God until you have the victory.  As for me that victory came in the form of tears to my eye, songs in my heart, a flood of love all over me, and the weight of sin was removed.  These were all feelings.  The historical fact that something wonderful happened is good but I know that Jesus is still there due to the love that I feel for my Lord and the witness of the Holy Spirit that I am His child. 

The fact of salvation is an historical reality but the feeling confirms the indwelling presence of our wonderful Lord and Savior.

May God bless you in your walk with Him.

Sermon by George Miller

Marvelous Answer to Prayer

Prayer Requests,

 

Pray for one of our pastors and her husband.  Their 22 year old son died Friday night 19^th October apparently from suicide.  They pastor on the island of Vella la Vella.  As I received the call and prayed with the deceased boy’s sister and aunt who live in Honiara.  I felt really a strong urge that I should prepare to travel to mourn with and comfort this pastor and family.  I am preparing my bag and know that if it is God’s will for me to go there will be space on the plane in the morning.

 

As I boarded the plane I realized there were a lot of empty seats on the flight to Gizo and so no problem.  I and the boy’s sister travelled on the Dash 8 aircraft to Gizo.  I thought I heard some funny noise coming from the engine.  Anyway the airplane broke down and was grounded in Honiara until it was repaired this morning in time for this return flight.  I had word that they were sending someone to pick us up at the airport, but when we arrived no one was there.  Another pastor called and asked if I needed him to come pick us up at Gizo.  I didn’t want to pay fuel for 2 boats so I told him another person arranged to pick us.  He went on to the funeral and when we finally realized we were stranded he was already where there was no phone coverage.  We arrived in Gizo around 10 a.m. and waited until 3 p.m. before we found someone with a boat that would take us for the fuel expense.  It took us one hour with this 40 hp engine on the fiberglass banana boat to arrive at Lambulambu village.

 

When we arrived at the shore the father, met me, we embraced and we just cried together.  Through the tears he said, “Uncle George, we are so glad you came, we wanted to wait for you but the body was beginning to smell and so we went ahead and buried him.”  Then I was thankful, our pastor from Barakoma, who offered to come get me, did not come after us in Gizo, because now he was there for the burial.  If he would have come for us, he too would have missed the burial.  The Father also told me, “Momma is not doing well at all.”  We made our way up the hill to their house, where the mother, our pastor, along with other women were weeping.  When she saw me come in the door, through her sobs she said, “Uncle George, Uncle George, I am really hurting, I don’t know what to do.  Thank you so much for coming.”  Truth was I didn’t know what to do or say.  What do you say to bring encouragement and comfort to a father and mother who have just buried their first born who died two days earlier by suicide (as it was assumed at this time)?  I just cried with them and assured them of the prayers of Godly people.  I was actually relieved that the funeral service was already over.  At the time of his death the pastor and another church leader from our nearest church, Valapatu, were on a logging barge slowly making their way to Honiara, hoping to arrive in time for the district assembly to begin October 31.

 

Sunday evening after the visitors from the village and other churches left to return home we had a service for the family.  We had some singing, I shared from the life of Jesus and especially from John’s gospel and the Seven “I AM” statements of Jesus.  “I am the Bread of Life, . . .  The Light of the World, . . . The Way, the Truth, & the Life, . . . The Resurrection, . . . The Good Shepherd, . . . The Door of the Sheep, . . . The True Vine,” and then the eighth statement, “Before Abraham was, I am.”  Then we had the family members share who wished to do so and had prayer together as a family.  Now as I write this, it is hard to express on paper the blessing and presence of God that was present, as the Grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and others shared. 

 

Then the mother asked me the tough question.  “Uncle George, the children were crying around the grave, and they were crying so loudly, because they will not see their brother.  Can you tell me Uncle George will our boy be in Heaven or will we never see him again.”  I was thankful for your prayers at this time as I gave the following abbreviated answer.  “God is there and I am not Him.  We have a judge and that’s not me.  We do not know how or why it happened, but we can say he is in the hands of Jesus, a merciful judge who will judge righteously.”

 

I could sense God beginning to touch them in miraculous ways. I had originally booked my return air fare for Tuesday, but felt I would be ready to return on Monday, so I could then return to Gizo as a fare paying passenger [saving money] and so I called Nancy on my Satellite phone so she could change my booking for Monday evening. 

 

The Father left at 6 a.m. Monday to go to the sea to look for a boat to take me to Gizo.  He was a long time in returning.  Upon his return he was in tears and said, “There is no boat going this morning.”  He then told me that there was a wooden ‘canoe’ with a 15 hp engine that will take me if I just purchase the fuel.  I sent someone with money for fuel but this gave me a couple extra hours, Divinely appointed time with this family.  Then a man came into the house with a present for the church.  He had made a communion tray to hold their communion cups and he wanted me to pray over it and dedicate this to the Lord.  Communion is not normally a part of our Nazarene funeral liturgy but I sent someone to the small village store to purchase some juice (Cordial) and crackers so we could have communion.  While the boy was away to buy the communion elements the parents of the deceased boy asked me to pray for them.  When I finished praying Dad was in tears.  He said, “DS, your prayer touched me and I need to confess something. When I was away I met someone who told me that our boy’s death was not suicide, but he told me who murdered our son and tied him on the rope making it look like suicide. I came back and told Mom to stay faithful with the church, but as soon as DS leaves I am going to go and kill the one who did this, and then I was prepared to serve life sentence in prison.”  There was so much sharing and confessing, but I don’t remember everything, and it is just something you would have had to experience to see how God moved and intervened through this situation.  I’m thankful for the prayers with us in that room. 

 

While waiting for the Communion elements we shared many things including how God gave his only son for our sins and on the cross Jesus asked for the forgiveness of those who nailed him there.  Then I shared how the power of the Holy Spirit in one’s life is not primarily about doing miracles, but power to live a transformed life, power that will enable you to love your enemies.  That is not natural.  There was many more things and as I write this it seems so simplistic, but we shared for almost two hours.  We ended our time together with communion, sharing and some sick were taken for us to pray for their healing.  As our service was ending we heard the engine of the boat and it was not long until the boy arrived with the news our boat was ready.  Healing is taking place in their lives.  Pray for them as they are now planning to attend the District Assembly to begin in a little over one week.  I encouraged them to come as I feel our program is just what they need to complete their healing.

 

Monday I arrived in Gizo with only SI $150 (US $18) left in my pocket, but that was enough.  I needed to save SI $60 to travel from Gizo to the small island where the airport is.  Then I had $90 left for food so I went to lunch and met Pastor who conducted the burial service and his wife.  The deceased boy’s aunt accompanied me to Gizo.  So the four of us went and found a small restaurant where we could set down, talk together, and eat our lunch on the little money I had left.  Then after eating with SI $66 left I went to check on the airline and then I learned the Monday flight was cancelled and rescheduled for Tuesday morning (today).  The family I sometimes stay with at Gizo was away and anyway I don’t like to stay at their house without contributing to their food, so I went to the Hotel and they accepted my check, so I made it.  The flight home was full but otherwise uneventful.  I was trusting the delayed flight was going to depart because early Tuesday the ships left and if the Wednesday flight was cancelled I needed to board the ship.

 

The pastor is planning on returning to check on them on Wednesday, remember him in prayer as he returns to minister to this family.  Pray for their continued healing, and that they and their family will fully rely on God and not try to take retribution.

 

 

 

George Miller,