The Official Island Blog of Dan Pennell

A Stronghold for the Humble

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 00:00:00 -0600

Isaiah 25:4a "For you have been a stronghold for the poor, a stronghold for the humble person in distress, a refuge from the rain, a shade from the heat."

Tonight I am making plans to leave for Cat Island in the morning. My faithful friend, Paul, and I will travel (as is our custom) for the 8th time to make plans for the upcoming mission trip. We will no doubt find oursevles tomorrow evening sitting around the dinner table with Pastor Newbold, enjoying some of his famous Grouper or Lobster salad. And, we will take three days to saturate ourselves in the Word of God, seek God for direction and pray.

I am sure, once again, we will be confronted with the simple, often impoverished people of the island. Many of them have very little. Most of them know what it is to suffer in the heat, live as the poor and be distressed.

Thank God we take to them the same message of our Faithful God that Isaiah took to the people of Israel. God will be your stronghold, people of Cat Island. God will be your refuge - he will be your shelter. Simply trust Him.

Will this be the year we see revival on Cat island. Will this be the year of salvation for Stanley, Hugo, Manerva and so many others who have heard the Gospel and stopped short in year's past?

Pray. Pray as we plan. Pray as we go. Pray for those people on Cat Island. Man may have forgotten them, but God never has. Pray for this to be the year of revival.

Dan

Three Important Concepts for Christians

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 00:00:00 -0600

I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.

Revelation 3:1b-2

What a powerful charge to Christians. I notice three things in this passage that are vital to our outlook on Christian lifestyle and service. Let's take a look.

God knows who we REALLY are and what we REALLY do. There is no faking with Him. There is no hiding from Him. What good would it do for us to trick everyone we know only to face God with the truth in the end?
Better to have a good reputation with GOD even if it means having a bad reputation with MEN. God says the problem here is we have a great reputation with Men, but it doesn't hold water with Him. The reality is, if we make a firm decision to live our lives according to HIS standards and purposes we will quickly be labeled by men - even Christians - as judgemental, intolerant, legalistic and unloving. We live in a society that calls the arrogant blessed (Mal. 3) and the godless Godly (2 Tim. 3:5). The way of Jesus lead Him to public disgrace and a reputation that was destroyed in the courts of men. When He told us to pick up our cross and follow Him daily, did we think the result would be any different for us? One clarification - it is not desirable to have a BAD reputation just because we are BAD. This is similar to the warning that suffering in and of itself is not desirable, but suffering for the sake of Jesus' name is a great honor. If your choice to live a God honoring life leads to defamation by those who are more 'casual' in their faith, then accept this as an opportunity to fellowship with Christ in the context of His sufferings.
We haven't done enough. We realize we can never make ourselves "good enough" for God, but this does not exempt us from making every effort (2 Peter 1:5). The encouragement here is to "strengthen" what remains and is about to die. How do we do this? Well, certainly we must be fed from the Word of God if we are to have energy. But, eating alone does not produce strength. Perhaps our society is filled up with Christians who are OBESE in their "knowledge" of God's Word, but are no more spiritually healthy than the heathens they live among. Why? They are hearers only - not doers (James 1:22-25). To become STRONG, you must put the perfect Word of God into ACTION in your life. You must phsycially apply the work of the Spirit to the events of your life. The text in Revelation 3 says, "I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God."

So, let's take this charge to heart and rise up in Christ to: BE REAL. SERVE GOD AT ALL COST - EVEN THE COST OF OUR OWN REPUTATIONS. COMPLETE OUR DEEDS IN CHRIST BY STRENGTHENING THAT WHICH IS ABOUT TO DIE - PUT THE WORD OF GOD INTO ACTION IN OUR LIVES.

For those preparing to serve on Cat Island this summer, why wait until then? Let's get started today - in our homes, businesses and churches.

Dan

We Have the Answer!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 00:00:00 -0600

1 Thessalonians 5:3 (New International Version)

³While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

This is a sobering warning! The culture we are living in is a challenge for any Christian. Sometimes I find myself outraged and at other times just saddened. We have teenagers who have named their casual approach to sex "friends with benefits". The other day I was spending some time with Ron Luce at Teen Mania Ministries. He said that 65% of the "Christian" graduates who attend their honor academy have experimented with some form of homosexual activity. Our government is rapidly passing legislation that is thrusting forward the radical homosexual agenda, allowing homosexuals to brashley demonstrate their lifestyle within the ranks of our military - and soon we will see further attempts to force the legalization of homosexual marriage. We recently saw the passage of "healthcare reform" that will ultimately mean every tax paying American will be part of the funding of Abortion (the murder of innocent babies).

Pretty discouraging, right? So what is the answer?

We can, and should, fight politically. We can, and should, let our voices be heard socially. We can, and should, fight tooth and nail for education reform - specifically to remove the perversion and corruption from the ranks of our public schools which have become a breeding ground for homosexuality and promiscuity - and, even more importantly to reintroduce open prayer and worship of God within those school corridors. We can, and should, fight. But, fighting is not the answer.

You know the answer. More than any other thing, the answer comes in only one name. That name is Jesus!

We have the answer! God, forgive us if the name of Jesus has not quickly and easily flowed from our lips. God, give us courage to speak the name of Jesus with courage and faith. All around us people are confident. They think there is peace. They think they are safe. But, the Bible says destruction will come on them suddenly and they will not escape.

We live among a vast multitude who are perishing before our very eyes. They are deceived and entrapped. They need Jesus.

We have the answer. Let's GO FORWARD. Let's multiply the family of God by boldly speaking the name of Jesus to all men. Let's start today.

Dan

Praise God for Provisions!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 00:00:00 -0600

This year we have seen fewer donations than usual coming in as we prepare for our Annual Cat island Ministry. The cool thing is that we've seen God providing in other ways. Here are a few examples:

The Andersen family had a bad experience with a certain airline last year. This year, when he called them they remembered what happened and gave their entire family roundtrip airfare for just over $400! That's a savings of about $1,700!!
We prayed God would provide our lodging this year for less. He opened the door for us to get a rate that is $3,000 LESS than last year. That's a savings of $3,000 more!!
Last year the roundtrip airfare cost us just under $550 per person (on the average). This year it appears God is providing a $200 discount per person (around $350 ticket price per person) - which is a total savings of about $6,000!

Obviously we are still praying God will provide the much needed donations necessary to perform this ministry, but already we have seen God provide around $10,700 in savings from our expected expenses!

Dan

What makes us unfit for service in the kingdom?

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 00:00:00 -0600

In Titus 1:16 Paul writes:

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are
detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

Clearly, a profession of "knowing God" is not enough. Pretenses of
spirituality will not suffice. Paul makes a statement that wouldn't
play well in most churches - a statement that comes across quite
"intolerant" and "judgmental". He says people who profess to know God
with their mouths but deny Him (by disobedience to His Word) with
their actions are unfit for service. In fact he calls this particular
state of lifestyle "detestable".

The trademark of these people? Disobedience.

Consider the words of God in Deuteronomy 13:3-4:

For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the
LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4You shall
walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments
and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

Obedience or Disobedience? It is the testing grounds of our
relationship with a holy God. Knowing Him is a good start, but
obeying Him is the true evidence of intimacy - the trademark of
relationship with our Heavenly Father.

In obedience there is service. In obedience there is a demonstration
of heart and soul love. It glorifies God when His people submit
themselves to His Word, acknowledging ever word, phrase and expression
as perfect and sufficient. It glorifies God when we obey His voice
above all else.

No amount of study or education will ever qualify us for service in
the kingdom more than simple obedience. Just as importantly we must
remember obedience is an issue of the here and now. It is possible
for a person to serve God obediently their entire life and discredit
all they have lived for and represented by giving themselves over to
willful sin. How sad to see the countless thousands who have served
God faithfully for decades only to find themselves unfit for service
right when they should be doing the most!

Some will ask, "but what about Grace?". Grace is not a result of
obedience, but obedience most certainly is a result of grace.
Disobedience to the word of God cheapens grace, making a mockery of
God's priceless gift. Have we truly understood grace if by grace we
were freed from sin but willfully continue to live it?

In contrast, obedience to the word of God ratifies grace. It is a
first fruit - an evidence of love for the one who has saved us. Jesus
said "if you love me you will obey my commands" (paraphrase).

For those going to serve on Cat Island this year, I suggest this is
the beginning point for all training and preparation. Before you do
any other thing, examine your life before God. Submit yourself to
obedience to His Word and reject every thing that is contrary. Allow
the Spirit of God to purge your life of anything that is not
consistent with His Word. Embrace this process and reject all previous
attempts you may have made to excuse and justify sin. Smash every
double standard with God's help and commit to live by one standard
alone - God's standard. In this way, more than any other, you will be
fit for service.

Dan

Obedience and Sacrifice

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 00:00:00 -0600

Deuteronomy 28:12:

Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, that it may go
well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do
what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.

Be careful. Obedience requires great care. What happens when
Christians aren't careful? They fail in obedience.

Careful toward what? Obedient to what or whom?

We must be careful toward culture. We must not walk in the world as
if we belong to it. We are intentionally different. Our calling is not
to blend in as well as possible. We are supposed to stand out, stand
up and be different for Christ. What makes us different? Namely, our
obedience. Obedience in the midst of an anything-goes culture will
not go unnoticed.

At a time when Christians and entire churches are taking great care to
blend in to culture I believe God is seeking those few who will stand
out in culture and be carefully obedient in a society of self
indulgence.

And, we're not talking about obedience to yourself. The world says be
"true to yourself". The Bible says your true self is inherently wicked
and should never be trusted when life is on the line! Forget about
being true to yourself. Be CAREFULLY true to God's Word! The text says
"...be careful to OBEY all these WORDS I command you...".

Finally, it's important to remember that although this was spoken and
promised to God's chosen people of Israel thousands of years ago, it
applies to all who are in Christ today. A promise is attached to a
lifestyle of obedience. When we do what is GOOD and RIGHT in the sight
of the Lord, He will see to it that it goes well with us and our
children - FOREVER.

Is there any reason I wouldn't acknowledge before God at this very
moment that "obedience" is even better than "sacrifice"? What does
that mean? Simply put, obedience comes first. Acts of sacrifice
second. For instance, Jesus had to prayerfully submit himself to
obedience toward the will of His Father in the garden before He made
the ultimate sacrifice.

I'm reminded of the lyrics to an old Keith Green song:

To obey is better than sacrifice
I don't need your money
I want your life
And I hear you say that I'm coming back soon
But you act like I'll never return

Well you speak of grace and my love so sweet
How you thrive on milk, but reject My meat
And I can't help weeping of how it will be
If you keep on ignoring My words

Well you pray to prosper and succeed
But your flesh is something I just can't feed
To obey is better than sacrifice
I want more than Sunday and Wednesday nights
Cause if you can't come to Me every day
Then don't bother coming at all

To obey is better than sacrifice
I want hearts of fire
Not your prayers of ice
And I'm coming quickly
To give back to you
According to what you have done

If you are wondering what you can do for God, a very simple beginning
is this: obey His Word.

Dan

For those interested, here is a the song in audio form:

The Permanency of the Kingdom of God

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 00:00:00 -0600

Hebrews 12:28

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, ²⁹for our "God is a consuming fire."

The PERMANENCY of the Kingdom of God!

God's Kingdom is established BY GOD - the Alpha (beginning) and Omega ((end) Rev. 21:6). It is a kingdom of Peace and Holiness (v. 14a - Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy;). It is a kingdom of Grace (v. 15a See to it that no one misses the grace of God...). It is a kingdom where Jesus himself sits on the throne at the right hand of His Father, and this kingdom is WITHOUT END (Isaiah 9:7).

God's Kingdom is the ONE THING in your life that is permanent. It will not go away. Citizens of this kingdom will never be rejected or alienated. It WILL NOT BE SHAKEN.

So, what should we do? Rejoice. Give thanks. Worship God.

But, remember, in God's Kingdom there is a standard for worship. It is the worship of the redeemed. It is offered by those who have rejected the life of sin and given themselves entirely to Christ, made new and Holy in His image. There is only one acceptable tone for the Worship of God by His adopted sons and daughters: REVERENCE and AWE.

Friends, as citizens of God's Permanent Kingdom, we can not keep trying to live with one foot in this world and the other in Heaven. If we are citizens of God's Kingdom, then we are aliens and strangers on this earth (1 Peter 2:11).

Our God, who rules this kingdom, is a consuming fire. Part of the deal is our willingness and acceptance that His Holy Spirit will, among other things, burn up, consume and destroy everything in our lives that is not from Him.

God's Kingdom is Permanent. It's forever. It's hard to be an eternal citizen of the Kingdom of God if you are determined to keep a tight hold on the temporary things of this world. Think about it.

Dan

Great Article from My Wife

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 00:00:00 -0600

My wife, Claudina, forwarded me the following thoughts and I asked her permission to share them with the world. Hope you find it as challenging as I did.

I was reading about Joshua and Caleb; the two men who went to spy out the land God had promised the Israelites. Twelve spies went into the land and only two came back believing in the promise of God. Only two returned ready to conquer the land flowing with milk and honey. Only two believed in the power that was displayed to them so many times before.

The people were so closed minded and lacked in faith that after Josh and Caleb proclaimed that it could be done, the people wanted to stone them. They wanted to return to Egypt back to their lives of slavery and turmoil. Nothing that God had done impacted them. Nothing that God had done changed their heart status. They may have left the physical status of slavery, but their hearts were still in bondage with chains that were difficult to break and burdens that they never laid down. None of these people made it to the promise land....only Joshua and the new generation of Israelites.

The world still hasn't changed. Many come to know Christ and step out physically from the things that bind them, but fail so many times to break the binds on their hearts that later in life bring them back to the state in which they began. Sometimes to the same sin, but many times to a different form of sin masked by their "repentant" status. The bondage of the heart eventually reveals itself in different forms throughout our lives. We must have the discernment and heart attitude to recognize it and immediately change it before other things resulting from that bondage begin to darken our hearts and leave us in a state where we can't even recognize the sin we have allowed to control our lives. Therefore we fall into a form of godliness without power and surrendered to a life of spiritual staleness and luke-warmness that we can't even discern.

God's Wrath: The Backdrop of Romans

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 00:00:00 -0600

Most people would agree Paul's letter to the Romans is largely about Grace and in particular, the transition from the penalty of the law to the freedom of God's grace. It is interesting, then, that the first segment of Paul's letter deals almost exclusively with the topic of God's wrath and judgment. Let me share some excerpts:

1:18 - "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.."

1:21 - "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ^"1:26 - "Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. . . ."

1:28 - "Furthermore . . .he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done."

2:5 - "But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed."

2:8 - "But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger."

2:16 - "This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares."

My company does a lot of web design. One concept in design is, if you want the bright colors to really pop out you need to use deep, dark colors in the background. If we only use bright colors, the vividness of any one color will be lost.

LIKEWISE, IF I ONLY WRITE IN CAPS ALL OF THE TIME, THE INTENSITY OF ANY ONE SENTENCE WILL BE LOST!!!!!! ESPECIALLY IF I PUT A WHOLE BUNCH OF EXCLAMATION MARKS AT THE END OF EVERY ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You get the point. What a dis-service we do to the message of God's redeeming Grace when we refuse to acknowledge His wrath and judgment. I'm afraid the church in America has given itself to just such a thing. We love to paint in the bright colors of grace, but lose the vivid, bold message of redemption in the process. If we are not vial sinners, what need do we have for Grace in the first place? If God's wrath is not truly reserved for us on the day of judgment, then why do we need His forgiveness?

Perhaps the most horrifying statement Paul made (above) is when he said God gave us over to shameful lusts and depraved minds. Interpretation? An entire culture of Christians who have forgotten the wrath of God. An entire generation of church goers who have so grieved the Holy Spirit with their lifestyle of sin and self-seeking that God literally stopped convicting them of their depravity. The result? We constantly say that wrong is right. We consistently claim Grace with no felt need for repentance. Our painting of the Gospel ultimately becomes some "man made" work that takes on an image that is anything but the portrayal of the one, true, living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is a painting of another god - a god we invented ourselves. Even Paul said they ". . .exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles."

My friend emailed me this gut wrenching quote from William Penn this morning. I think it applies:

"The unmortified Christian and the heathen are of the same religion, and the deity they truly worship is the god of this world. It is a false notion that they may be children of God while in a state of disobedience to his holy commandments, and disciples of Jesus though they revolt from his cross."

Oh God, make us aware of our depravity and your wrath today. Don't allow us to live another moment without full disclosure of the depravity of our minds and hearts, that we might truly understand and receive your Grace in it's most abundant form. Grace that saves from all of our sin.

Unchecked Sin in the Life of the Believer

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 00:00:00 -0600

A few comments from Ezekiel 22 this morning.

Sin is an abomination - God calls His people to judge it by His Spirit and Word (v.2; 1 Cor. 2:15).

Sin mocks and defiles the sinner (v.5).

The life of sin despises God's Holy things. The carnal Christian profanes the body of Christ (old Testament - "Sabbath" / new testament - "Gathering of the Saints or Fellowship of Believers")(v.8).

Sin creates a scenario within the church where acts of lewdness are committed by one, only to capture the curiosity and even lead to the profiteering off of sin. What an ugly scenario!! The people of God profiteering from sin! (v.9-12).

Sin causes us to FORGET GOD in our daily walk (v.12).

Sin makes us impure in the sight of God, and is the path that leads to the furnace that burns with the very wrath of God! (v.18-22).

Sin causes the teaching and preaching of God's word, by the ministers of God's word, to literally be as "violence" against the Word of God. (v.26)

Sin causes us not to make any distinction between the Holy and the common. It is sin that causes the man of God to see no difference between the clean and unclean. The result. Although we may still have church, it is as if we have disregarded the "Sabbath" - the Holiness and the Christ-centeredness of it. In fact, instead of the Lord being lifted up among them, He is profaned among them. This does not mean they set out purposefully to profane Him. It does not mean the songs they sang or the scripture they taught had changed. Sin had corrupted everything. There is a fine line between what we do Glorifying God and what we do profaning His name. The difference is the unconfessed sin of the unrepentant Christian. (v.26)

When the church becomes self-seeking instead of Christ-seeking, god searches for one who will build up the wall (between sin and righteousness) and stand in the gap (v.30). The language here is intense. God has never backed down on His expectation of a holy people who are set apart for His name's sake. He has always promised to judge those who turn from Him with wrath. But, He has always demonstrated such mercy in making a way for wayward sinners to cross the great divide between sin and unrighteousness. And, amazingly, he uses His people (sinners saved by Grace) to accomplish this to a great extent.

How can I apply this to my life?
The destruction of unchecked sin in the nation of Israel was absolutely intense. There is no doubt, just as God warned them, their iniquity had become their ruin (18:30). This is not just "Old Testament" story time. This same affliction unchecked, unrepented sin is very much at work within the church today.

I want to live each day with a hyper awareness of the Holiness of God. What a vision to realize that even as His wrath is turned against my sin as the fires of a furnace, He seeks to purify me. Even in His wrath there is mercy if I will surrender myself completely to Him.

How important it is to take sin serious! We live in a Christian culture that literally makes jokes out of sin. I am afraid our church culture, today, has blurred the lines of distinction between holiness and the common. The clean and the unclean have become as though they are the same.

I pray for a remnant who will take the Word of God to heart and make war against sin in the church and in their very lives! Sin has afflicted us, but God offers the healing balm. Bring forth those from among us, God, who will build up the wall and stand in the Gap for the sake of Your Glory. By your grace make me one of them.