VICTORIOUS LIVING A PUBLICATION OF VICTORY FELLOWSHIP CHURCH
MARCH / APRIL 2008
THE PERFECT VACATION | PRISON OF SECRECY | TRUSTING YOUR COMFORTING SAVIOR | WHEN THE DAWN BREAKS
Design by Jon Horton
VICTORIOUSLIVING A P U B L I C AT I O N O F V I C T O R Y F E L L O W S H I P C H U R C H
CONTENTS MARCH / APRIL
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VICTORIOUS LIVING March / April 2008 Volume 10 issue 2
CONTACT
Address 1250 Aversboro Rd. Garner, NC 27529 Email info@vfgarner.com Website www.vfgarner.com Phone 919.779.5180 Fax 919.779.4180
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Anne Houston Frann Sarpolus Aimee Tutone Pastor Mitch Horton Jon Horton
STAFF
| 6 | PRISON OF SECRECY | 9 | TRUSTING YOUR COMFORTING SAVIOR | 15 | WHEN THE DAWN BREAKS Pam Hawkins Receptionist pam@vfgarner
Anne Houston Administrative Secretary anne@vfgarner.com
Renee Horton Creative Assistant renee@vfgarner.com
Dianne Boyette Youth Pastor dianne@vfgarner.com
Sarah Horton Weekly Cleaning
Frann Sarpolus Personal Ministry frann@vfgarner.com Jon Horton Creative Director jon@vfgarner.com
FAITH RECEIVES WHAT GOD PROMISES | 4 | THE PERFECT VACATION
Mitch Horton Senior Pastor pastor@vfgarner.com
Diane Grubis Finance Director dianeg@vfgarner.com
10 FEATURED ARTICLE
Shawn Tracy College & Career Pastor shawn@vfgarner.com Steven Hoyle Music Minister steven@vfgarner.com Tim Theriot Weekly Cleaning
Nikki Dentrone Children’s Ministry Director nikki@vfgarner.com
Victorious Living is a bimonthly publication of Victory Fellowship Church. Comments, questions, or suggestions can be mailed or emailed to us at the addresses located above. To view previous newsletters, visit
WWW.VFGARNER.COM/NEWSLETTER
| 18 | FROM THE BLOG | 19 | CHRISTIAN LIFE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY
The Perfect Vacation by Anne Houston
Ah …. and of course the weather ……… My thoughts nestled down into my daydreams. A few precious days off, visiting my elderly parents out of state, away from the demands of office and family. For four days -- no interruptions, no phone, no teenagers, no pressure! I had just checked into a rented guest room in the huge assisted living towers where my parents resided. I let my roller case slide to the floor as I flopped onto the bed. And slipped back into my daydream. What would the perfect vacation be like? The mountains or the beach? Living in middle North Carolina, we always faced the classic dilemma – east or west? I considered.
Nothing can replicate the smell of the beach, and it touches me just as I top the dune. Open, so open, that’s what always hits me. From shoulder to shoulder, nothing but sky. I move toward the ocean, relishing the sandy slowness. The waves fold and break, fold and break. Always reaching, just like His love. I sink into a plush beach lounge; rhythmic waves tease my outstretched feet. The sun is warm, friendly, the sounds soothing. Once again, I read and doze, think, and just sit and absorb the beauty. Both of these places slow me down. Again, the wind lifts my hair and carries away all the tension. Inside I stirred, awakened. Still in my four-day guest room domain. It was His voice. “I want you to take the perfect vacation…. “ No question we were in agreement there! But the thought continued, “ …. a vacation from yourself.”
Crisp gulps of morning mountain air wisped with wood smoke, hiking up a winding trail reluctant to yield its solitude, snuggled under a homemade comforter watching the cabin’s fireplace glow, steaming chocolate, rocking chairs on wooden porches where shoes thud. The wind strokes the trees, wild rhododendrons laugh with color, oh, and the smells, fresh and woodsy ….
Whoa. Without forming all the words, I knew the entire paragraph of what the Lord was saying to me. Vacations, breaks, they’re always about ME and MY freedom. What would make me feel good, what do I want to do, this is my time …..
An overhanging outcrop shielded by flowering bushes becomes my retreat, a blanket and a book my tools for relaxation. An afternoon of reading and dozing in the sun restores my soul. The wind brushes my face and carries away all the tension.
I must’ve had twenty stories I had wanted to tell my parents, mostly about how hard everything had been for me with our kids. I had experienced some heart-breaking trials during the past few months, and I was sure my parents wanted to be astounded by each one.
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Or did I just want a captive audience guaranteed to be sympathetic, who would shake their grey heads with mine, and wonder how in the world anyone could act that way ….. I stirred again and opened my heart to everything He was saying. “I want you to listen. Forget about yourself, and enter into your dad’s world.” So this wasn’t about vacations; it was about selfishness. Or SELF. Ouch. Definitely God. That night after Mom had gone to bed, I visited with my 87-year old Dad. I touched on what was going on with me, then felt the nudge from the Lord …. and embarked on a journey. As I asked questions of my father, gently veering the conversation back to him again, he began to open up. He talked and talked and talked. I learned about relatives whose names I vaguely recalled. Crosscountry journeys and distant uncles came alive. One great-uncle’s life was forever altered when God touched and called him. A part of my heritage, I realized. And I’d never known it before. Some of my Dad’s fondest memories are of playing basketball and baseball as a highschooler. I was privileged to share in them. I learned about life as a tenant farmer’s son in an unpainted house on a tobacco farm during the Great Depression. Astounding. Could we survive like that today? I wonder.
college and go on to a 36-year career as a pilot with American Airlines. Through all of this, he had trusted God to bring about His best for him. I had known the facts, but re-living it through his eyes filled me with righteous pride. My father was such a godly man! I am so blessed! Nightly we visited. My admiration crested as I witnessed my Dad looking back on his life and giving praise to God for things he didn’t understand at the time that had later worked for his good. Just like God promised. Romans 8:28 manifested was sitting before me in a hospital bed with steel blue eyes pouring out his life to a daughter who had almost missed this irreplaceable opportunity. I would not have traded those nights for any vacation I could dream up. The temporal comforts of mountains and beach fade when held next to the grandeur of entwined hearts. And the freedom from being consumed with my-SELF? I am convinced there’s no greater joy. SO. Vacations? They’re wonderful, and I intend to go on one this year. We need them! But whenever I think of planning one now, I remember the Lord’s leading to take a vacation from myself. Hey, I think I’d just like to STAY!
What was our country like during World War II? I lived it through his experiences. My Dad had risen from that tobacco farm to attend VICTORIOUS LIVING | MARC H / A P R I L 2 0 0 8 | 5
PRISON OF SECRECY A STORY OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE FOREWORD BY FRANN SARPOLUS
FOREWORD Recently, Pastor Mitch was teaching about how some people experience events in life that are much harder than others have experienced, events that they really have to overcome with the Word to get to where they believe that they are loved by Father God. We all must take a look at our lives and realize that it is not what has happened to us in life, but what we do with what has happened to us in life that defines how we see ourselves and how we walk out the truths of God’s Word. The following is the testimony of a woman who allowed God to take what had happened to her and make something beautiful out of it in her life. Although she struggled through immense emotional pain and great shame, God healed her and is using her to help others. This is who our Father God is, Jehova Rapha, the God who heals.
THIS IS MY STORY
I was a child of maybe seven or eight years old. I was outgoing, but tenderhearted. I was eager to please and couldn’t stand the thought of hurting someone’s feelings. Perhaps that made me an easy target. I would lie with my step-dad on the couch and watch TV. That’s where it would happen. He would touch me in ways that were inappropriate and illegal. He would tell me to keep the secret. I was an obedient child and did as I was told. I would remember less about the act than how it made me feel for many, many years after.
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Guilt and shame were my closest companions, rivaled only by insecurity and worthlessness. The secret was kept from my mother. The taunting accusation from within was that my mother would be disappointed and betrayed by me. I had lied to spare my stepfather’s feelings. From the first touch, I felt shame. I didn’t like it. I didn’t ask for it to happen. However, I was convinced my mother would not believe me, and that she would feel betrayed by me. I kept the secret. In the chambers of my secret prison, I was tortured and punished for my transgression - the victim of sexual abuse. Now, this wasn’t the only time I experienced a form of sexual abuse as a child. Unfortunately, I had very curious step-brothers (unrelated to step-dad). In my mind, the physical acts taken by them were worse. However, they seemed to damage me less, as they were more my peers than authority figures. There is something so destructive about the person in charge of protecting you causing you the most pain. Who will protect you? Who will comfort you? Who will validate you and tell you it’s ok and it isn’t your fault? The sexual abuse inflicted by my stepfather did not shatter my childhood innocence physically, but it did mentally and emotionally. The prison of secrecy is a deceiving place. From the outside, I was just another kid. I showed no outward signs of having suffered any traumatic event. I knew I could keep people off my scent of worthlessness if I behaved exactly as they wanted. In my prison of secrecy, accusations ran rampant in my mind. The accusation was that everyone knew I was trash. I had somehow enticed my step-dad, hadn’t I? I had misled him when I had lied by telling him I enjoyed it, so that made me guilty. My best defense was doing everything possible to convince everyone that I was a good person. I became a people-pleaser, especially a motherpleaser. I gave her no reason to assume anything was wrong. She had no idea what valiant efforts I was making to prove myself, because in her eyes I had nothing to prove. I was just her daughter whom she loved for no reason at all.
You may ask, “How can someone do that to a child and genuinely love that child?” This is difficult to explain, but I know it to be true. I was saved when I was six years old, and I can testify that God speaks to the heart of children. I felt like my stepfather had a sickness within him that caused him to do what he did. I compartmentalized the abuser from the encouraging father; they were two separate people living in the same body. In addition, I have come to understand his actions had nothing to do with sexual gratification. I am protective by nature. Perhaps I feel that in a relationship at least one person is bound to be. In normal circumstances, that would be the parent. Unfortunately for me, I was the one assigned the protector role. My mother stayed. Due to my protective nature, I will not tell you why. But I do ask that you not judge her harshly. The deal was that she would stay, and he would get counseling. It didn’t take long to figure out the problem with the plan: If someone goes to counseling for sexually abusing a child, he will be disclosing a crime, and it will be reported. In addition, anyone known to be covering up the crime could face criminal consequences as well. This revelation invoked a stern warning to me not to tell anyone this had ever happened. My prison of secrecy had just become more burdensome. I was now responsible for protecting my parents and ensuring they did not get into trouble. So, he didn’t get counseling, and neither did I. When you have no one to talk to about the offenses you have endured, accusing thoughts batter you in the prison of secrecy. I was a dutiful, pleasing daughter and did as I was told. In fact, through the years, I would find my mother sobbing at the guilt of her decision, and I would comfort her. I assured her that I was where I wanted to be, and that I had survived the past just fine. Her tears only brought more guilt and shame.
For a while, I wasn’t sure if the shame of secrecy was worse than the shame of exposure. Someone asked if I had been touch by him; I answered yes. I don’t know how much time passed before my mother was told. I think it was a matter of a year or more. I feel the shame now as I recall her questioning me and asking me if it were true. “Yes,” I answered with my eyes hidden behind a box of cereal, avoiding eye contact. The eyes are the window to my soul, and I could not let her see the ugliness it held. Exact time lines are kind of blurred, but I was probably about ten or eleven years old, and my prison walls were about to get taller and thicker. My mother loved me very much. My worst fears of having my mother think I betrayed her did not come to pass. However, she had her own prison fears. The walls were not formed out of the same stone as my walls, but they enclosed her in boundaries she feared to conquer. Upon learning of what had taken place, my mother asked if I wanted her to stay or leave. A couple of thoughts ran through my mind. First, I would be responsible for us having to uproot if I said, “Leave.” Second, by telling my mother to leave, I may hurt my stepfather’s feelings. In spite of what occurred, I had a genuine love for him, as he did for me.
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PRISON OF SECRECY A STORY OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE
She stayed because I told her to stay. It was my fault she was feeling guilty, right? She was a young woman that never enjoyed the full benefits of marriage again. She was a life companion and best friend to her husband, but physical intimacy no longer existed, nor was it expected.
Although mental sickness does not excuse sexual abuse, I still feel my stepfather was sick. But my mom wasn’t. She and I had a strained relationship for a while. I could not hide my growing resentment, and I could not face her. Confronting her would be much too painful.
As the years passed, I continued to strive for perfection – falling very short, of course. I continued to live an outward existence in opposition to the inner voice of accusation. As I stated, I got saved as a small child. God says that those things done in darkness will be brought to light. We cannot grow in a relationship with Him and not have our soul shaken up. God was preparing me for a purpose I did not know. During my junior year of college, the accusing voice in my prison of secrecy got louder and louder. I lay awake at night crying. The pains of my past were rising up from the depths of my soul to be exposed.
Sometimes God has a way of giving you a little nudge when you are too stubborn to do something He wants you to do for a purpose He desires. My stepfather was facing a difficult physical challenge and felt the need to talk about the past. In the two decades since the abuse occurred, we had never discussed what happened. I thought he had suppressed it so far into the recesses of his mind that he would be shocked if it was ever brought up to him. Although he had never touched me in that way again, I still experienced behaviors that were very inappropriate from him. However, for the most part, I had a relationship with my stepfather much like other girls share with their fathers.
It was during this time that I betrayed my mother. I told the dirty little secret. I was having lunch with my best friend. We had never talked about such things as sexual abuse or childhood pains. However, I chose this particular day to walk out of my prison. Of course, the accusations of shame, guilt, and betrayal attempted to dissuade my determination. I braced for my friend’s response. Not only did she embrace me, but she told me of her own childhood experience of pain, which had left her with feelings of guilt and shame. My prison of secrecy had been a very dark place. After many, many years, my eyes were finally exposed to light. I felt a freedom I never knew existed by doing only one thing: I talked to my friend. Disclosure released me from the prison of secrecy. I found that I was not a bad person, filthy or ugly. I discovered I was not alone. I picked one friend to tell, and she understood. She accepted me, and for that I will always be grateful. Her kindness and empathy were the keys to the prison I lived in for so long. If she understood and could relate, how many others were there? Disclosure was just the start. God wasn’t finished yet. I continued in my commitment to comfort my mother’s pain. However, two years later, I found myself facing another secret. I realized I really wasn’t all right with my mother staying. I had felt so guilty for so many years about telling her to stay, but now a new voice was countering the accusations. The voice said, “I should never have been asked.” I was a child – an abused child. It was not my responsibility or burden to decide what should happen to our family. I was the child and should not have been asked to make such a weighty adult decision. Should a child be expected to know the consequences of such a decision? How is a child to know he or she needs counseling, or how childhood events will pursue on into adulthood? My growing resentments about the position I had been placed in as a child erected a wall between my mother and me. My animosity was not geared toward the one who abused me, but the one who did not protect me when it was discovered.
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Before I talked to my step-dad, I talked to my mom. It was very difficult, but needed to be done. Our relationship had become very strained, and I knew the truth was the only release from the strain. I finally confronted her about her decision. She attempted to make the “But I asked!” argument. I swiftly cut her off and repeated several times, “I should never have been asked.” I told her about the feelings of responsibility I had for keeping the secret and protecting them. I told her I should have been in counseling. I told her that the prison of secrecy was a place of torturing thoughts. I explained that breaking the silence brought freedom. Of course, she implored me to keep the secret; she did not want to be exposed and judged. Some things are out of my control. You see, God set me on a path during the years of estrangement from my mother. I began working with crime victims. Victim Services was a field of work I never knew existed. However, God put me in the middle of it. His purpose for walking me through my fears and false accusations were very apparent. He will use that which was meant to destroy for the greater good. I am thankful to be given the opportunity to serve. This is my story. It happened to me. I decide who to tell and when. I will not be kept in a prison of secrecy by the choice of another person, but by my choice. I love my mother and stepfather and choose to continue my protection of them. However, I also choose to tell my story in the hopes that at least one person will read it and walk out of the lonesome prison of secrecy by telling their story to a trusted friend, pastor, or counselor. I am not damaged goods (Acts 9:34). I live in the light (John 12:36). I am beautiful (Psalm 90:17). I am cleansed (John 15:3). I am free (John 8:36). I am redeemed (Isaiah 4:17). Inquiries about this article and its author may be made to Frann Sarpolus. The author’s name is being withheld out of love and respect for family members.
Trusting Your Comforting Savior by Aimee Tutone, age 10
Do you ever feel like you’re alone and helpless, like God isn’t helping you through your hard times? Sometimes I feel that way, but – guess what – He’s really helping you a lot! He put you in this situation for a special reason. God has a reason for every good and bad thing that happens in your life. He really loves you and wants the best for you. He is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles. He comforts us in many ways. Sometimes it’s something we read in the Bible. It may be something your mom, dad, teacher, friend, or pastor says. Sometimes it’s something you read in a book, or a thought that comes to you as you pray. And the comfort God gives us is something we can give to someone else, too, when that person has troubles. God’s comfort has a definite purpose. Paul says God comforts us so that we “can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” To get through your hard times better, pray for strength and courage. Read his word; read about trusting him. He does these things to test our faith and to see if we will trust him. God says problems will come, but when we trust him, we are deciding to not allow troubles to worry or upset us. The more you trust him, the more faith you will have. Trusting him doesn’t mean he tells you what the future is going to be like – it means you know you are safe with him no matter what happens. Nahum 1:7 says, “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” He is your strength and your courage. He is a great God.
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I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7) Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. (Ephesians 6:16) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6) For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. (1 John 5:4) If you’re going to successfully navigate through the bumps and challenges life brings us in a fallen world, you’re going to have to learn to walk by faith. The Father wants us to be blessed and to live a life of victory. He wants to change our character, and He also wants us to exercise our faith to change the encroaching circumstances around us! The above scriptures make it clear that faith is God’s answer to the challenges we face in life. Faith is a fight! Faith is a shield! Faith overcomes! Faith pleases the Father! Faith is like a sixth sense, but it has nothing to do with hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, or touching. It has to do with believing what God says about you and your circumstances, while the other five senses say that it’s not working.
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TWO KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE To understand the basics of walking by faith, you must understand that there are two kinds of knowledge. There is sense knowledge, and then there is revelation knowledge. Sense knowledge is limited, but revelation knowledge is not; it’s unlimited! Sense knowledge has to do with the five senses. And sense knowledge uses the five senses as the detection system as to what is happening in life. Sense knowledge knows nothing that it cannot see, hear, taste, touch, or smell. So it’s limited. Science is limited by facts received by the five senses. It doesn’t bother me at all that the people only relying on sense knowledge tell me that they don’t believe in God, or in spiritual realities. They are looking in the wrong place! God and spiritual realities are only detected through the spiritual channels of the Word of God and faith. You’ll never find God with the senses. Revelation knowledge is unlimited. And revelation knowledge is based only on the information found in God’s revelation, His Word. A person who lives by revelation knowledge is not basing his
The symptoms did not leave immediately. They continued for several days, but I never prayed about it again. I just acted on revelation knowledge. I thanked and praised God for healing me, and every symptom left!
YOU HAVE A MEASURE OF FAITH Understand that when you’re born again, God gave you faith that He wants you to use to navigate through life. Notice Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. When you’re born again, God gives you both the faith and the grace needed to be saved! Romans 12:3 reads: For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. These scriptures in Romans and Ephesians reveal that God has given every believer the necessary faith needed to live as a Christian. And God wants you to use your faith to please Him and to overcome the challenges life brings your way.
GOD DOESN’T JUST GIVE YOU FAITH TO BE SAVED FROM SIN
HE WANTS YOU TO USE YOUR FAITH EVERYDAY TO BELIEVE HIM FOR HIS BEST TO COME INTO YOUR LIFE
HE WANTS YOU TO LIVE BY FAITH life on what he can see, hear, taste, touch, or smell. A person living by revelation knowledge knows that God’s Word never changes, that God watches over His Word to perform it, that God’s Word does not return to Him void, but has the power to bring to pass God’s will when it is believed and acted upon! A person living by revelation knowledge is living by a higher power than the senses. The person living by revelation knowledge knows that God creates the visible world from the invisible spiritual realm. This person knows that what is seen is subject to the unseen, and that what is seen can be changed by the unseen! Sense knowledge tells me that I have a fever, chills, a sore throat, and that I’m coming down with the flu. Revelation knowledge tells me that by His stripes I am healed (Isaiah 53:5), and that Himself took my infirmities and bare my sicknesses (Matthew 8:17). If I’m walking by faith, I choose to side with revelation knowledge, I command the sickness to leave in Jesus’ name, and I choose to look beyond the symptoms to the promises of God’s Word. Eventually, the symptoms dissipate and leave. My faith takes the place of what I believe in the Word until it manifests, and my senses detect it! Here just a few weeks ago, all of the symptoms of the flu came on my body. I made a choice that I just simply was not going to have this in my body! I commanded these symptoms to leave me in the name of Jesus, and I reminded the devil that according to the Word with His stripes I am healed. I had to stand my ground on the Word.
God doesn’t just give you faith to be saved from sin with, but He wants you to use your faith every day to believe Him for His best to come into your life! He wants you to live by faith. He wants you to work by faith, relate to others by faith, live in health by faith, overcome habits by faith, receive answers to prayer by faith, receive all your financial needs met by faith, and believe for circumstances to change by faith!
FAITH CAN BE INCREASED Faith is like a muscle. Muscle size and strength can be increased by eating properly and by exercising. And faith can be increased with the spiritual food of God’s Word! Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). Faith starts small and then increases in size as you exercise it against the circumstances of life. The scriptures mention great faith (Matthew 8:10; Matthew 15:28), weak faith (Romans 4:19), strong faith (Romans 4:20), little faith (Matthew 6:30; Matthew 8:26), growing faith (2 Thessalonians 1:3), and shipwrecked faith (1 Timothy 1:19-20). Faith comes by hearing the Word. Be careful about what you allow yourself to hear a lot of, for faith comes through hearing. If you want faith in God’s Word, you’ve got to allow yourself to hear VICTORIOUS LIVING | MARCH / A P R I L 2 0 0 8 | 1 1
more of the Word than the news, the latest dictum of science, or the latest statistics! The Word feeds revelation knowledge. And the more knowledge of the Word that you have, the potentially stronger your faith will grow. It’s just a matter of hearing and acting on the Word! Make sure you’re hearing more of the Word than of the problems of life! Faith comes by hearing! Watch what you hear!
FAITH IS FOR WHAT YOU DON’T HAVE BUT GOD PROMISED Hope is a blueprint for faith. Hope is a desire for something to take place. If our hopes are grounded in what God had promised, then hope is on a strong foundation. We have no basis to hope for something that God doesn’t promise us. Don’t just hope and pray. Hope is a desire with no substance. It’s like a dream. You can be deeply involved in some dream, and when the alarm awakens you, the whole thing disappears! Hope must be combined with faith, or it will never come to pass! Faith takes hope and gives it substance. Faith is the proof that what you hope for will happen! Notice Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The Greek word for substance here means a standing under, a foundation. So what this verse is telling us is that faith is the proof that what we are believing for actually exists! Don’t consult your feelings or circumstances for the proof of what you’ve prayed for. Your faith is the evidence that it already exists!
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Notice the New Century version of Hebrews 11:1: Faith means being sure of what we hope for, and faith means knowing that something is real even if we do not see it. Faith is for what you can’t see, feel, or detect with the senses, but that God has promised you. Faith takes the place of what you believe until it actually shows up. The idea here is to be as confident that what you’re believing for is yours as you would be if you could actually see it! Faith is the evidence that what you’re believing for exists! If I’m taking a walk down a dirt road on a beautiful spring day and see some deer tracks in the dirt, what are the tracks the evidence of? The tracks are the evidence that there is a deer in the area. I can be sure that, based on the evidence, there is a deer nearby. If I continue walking and actually see the deer, then I’m no longer acting on the proof I have from the tracks that the deer exists. I can now actually see the deer. I no longer need the proof. Back in May of 2005, I had two physical attacks at once. My back began to hurt terribly! No matter what position I was in, I could not get relief. I hurt standing, I hurt sitting, I hurt as I lay in bed, and I hurt walking. Then my knee twisted, and walking on it was unbearable! I knew the Word, so I knew what to do to receive healing. I took some time to meditate on the Word about healing. Then I prayed and asked for healing according to Mark 11:24: Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. After I prayed, there was absolutely no physical evidence that God had answered my prayer. In fact, it seemed that the pain in my back and in my knee increased instead of decreased! So did I pray again? Or did I assume the prayer was not answered as some people do? No! I simply acted in faith on the Word! I had no physical evidence of healing, but faith doesn’t rest on sense knowledge, or evidence from the senses. It rests on the promises of God’s Word! So what did I do? Well, since I had decided to receive my healing by faith, I took the evidences of my faith as my guarantee of healing. The evidence of faith is the Word of God! If God said with His stripes I am healed, then according to His Word, I am healed! The Word is like the deer track I mentioned earlier. That deer track was proof that a deer was in the area, and eventually it was seen! The Word was my guarantee that my healing existed before I could see or feel it, or before my circumstances told me that I was healed! You see, my faith took the place of my healing before I could see or feel it! So if my faith is the evidence or proof that I have what I don’t see or feel, then what did I do?
I acted as though I was healed. I talked as though I was healed. I praised God as though I was healed. Every time I moved and felt searing pain in my knee and back, I praised God for hearing and answering prayer. Over and over throughout the day, I would verbalize my thanks to the Father for healing me! I refused to give voice to the doubts that entered my mind telling me that I wasn’t healed. I believed that I received! And Jesus said that if you believe you receive, you will have! The manifestation of what you believe will come! This went on day after day. This test began in late May. It was still raging strong throughout June. Day after day I endured the pain and agony from the back pain and the pain in my knee. The enemy told my mind that I was a fool for not going to the doctor. There’s nothing wrong with going to the doctor if you need him, of course, but I really believed that I was healed according to the Word. So I knew that in this case, I didn’t need the doctor. I had the Word from the Great Physician! So when the enemy came with doubt, I said out loud that according to the Word I believe I receive my healing! The manifestation for my back came one day in early July. I got up, and usually the pain in my back was severe when I got out of bed. But this day, the pain was totally gone! Is that the day I was healed? No! I was healed two thousand years ago by the stripes of Jesus, and I received the healing for my back in May of that year! It was only the manifestation that came that day in early July! It was almost anti-climatic! I had praised God for so long and so knew that I was healed, that I really expected no less! Just a few days later, the healing for my knee manifested as well! But again, I had believed I received the healing that Jesus provided for me for my knee back in May when I prayed. Acting on revelation knowledge works! Let me say it again: Faith takes the place of what you don’t physically have, but what God has promised, until it manifests. Faith is the evidence that what you’ve asked for and are believing for exists.
EVERYTHING EXISTS IN TWO REALMS God spoke the worlds into existence. All that we see in creation was manifested from the spiritual realm where God lives. Notice Hebrews 11:3: By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. You see, everything exists in two realms. Things exist first of all in the spiritual realm and then are manifested in the three-dimensional world that we live in! God released His faith with words, and the earth and its contents came into being. Go read Genesis chapter one and notice that again and again you read, and God said! Every part of creation was pulled from the spiritual realm into this natural world with God’s faith as He spoke.
A good illustration of everything existing in two realms is found in 2 Kings 6:8-17. There you read about Elisha and his servant being surrounded by the Syrian army. Elisha had been receiving words of knowledge from God about the location of the Syrian army, and was telling the king of Israel where they were. The King of Israel found out about it and sought to kill Elisha, and so his army had Elisha and his servant surrounded. Elisha’s servant saw all of the enemy, thousands and thousands surrounding them, and in desperation told Elisha. Elisha calmly replied, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:16-17) Elisha’s servant could not see the invisible spirit world until Elisha prayed that God would open his eyes to see the great army of angels surrounding them! And God delivered Elisha and his servant from an army of thousands with an army of angels from the invisible world of the spirit. So to make the point clear, everything exists in two realms. It exists first of all in the spiritual realm. Then as faith is exercised, it manifests in the seen realm where we live. Here’s the exciting part! We are already blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3) God’s Divine power has already given us all things that pertain to our natural lives and our spiritual lives! (2 Peter 1:3) And all we need to do now is to exercise our faith in God’s Word and believe we receive until what we have by faith is manifested in our lives and in the circumstances here where we live. Faith pulls what God has promised you in His Word from the spiritual realm where it actually exists, into the natural world where you can see, feel, and experience it! So the answer to your financial need, your need for healing, your need for a circumstantial change of some kind, already exists. And acting in faith in the Word of God will cause the solution to your problem to manifest!
FAITH MUST HAVE ACTIONS THAT CORRESPOND Faith by itself will do you no good. Notice what James said: What good is it, my brethren, if a man professes to have faith, and yet his actions do not correspond? Can such faith save him? (James 2:14, Weymouth) Faith must be demonstrated and released for it to work in your life. And here’s the punch line: You always act on what you really believe! Here are several different translations of James 2:17 to bear the point well:
VICTORIOUS LIVING | MARCH / A P R I L 2 0 0 8 | 1 3
DON’T WAVER
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So also faith, if it is unaccompanied by obedience, has no life in it – so long as it stands alone. (Weymouth) • So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead). (Amplified) • In the same way, faith that is alone — that does nothing — is dead. (New Century Version) • In just the same way, faith, if it have not deeds, is by itself a lifeless thing. (Montgomery New Testament) Faith must be exercised to work. It must be demonstrated, or it has no life and will not bring change! Find a way to demonstrate faith. One way to demonstrate faith is to make sure that your confession, what you say, agrees with what you are believing. If you’ve prayed, and are believing you receive healing, yet at the same time you talk about how sick you are, then there are no corresponding actions, and your faith will be lifeless! It will not produce! When I was standing in faith for the healing of my back and my knee, I acted on what I believed by going to work and by jogging as I would if I were healed. And yes, that really hurt! And I talked and confessed that according to the Word, I was healed! Faith must have actions to back it up, or it will not work! Just after I was Spirit-filled, I was attending a Bible School and living at home. I was 19 at the time. I must have contracted some kind of food poisoning, for I had all the symptoms! I don’t need to give you the details. It was bad! This happened at school, and when I got home, I went immediately to my room. I was very nauseated! To top it off, my mother was cooking collard greens that day, and the aroma of collard greens had filled the house. And that made me feel worse! My mother had cooked a ham, collards, black-eyed peas and some cornbread (good ol’ South Carolina cooking!). She came to my room with what she said was a word from the Lord. She told me that the Lord told her to tell me to eat some of this, and I would be healed! I told her how bad I felt, and she simply left by saying, Well, that’s what the Lord said. It’s up to you. I decided that I already felt awful, and I really couldn’t feel worse, so what would this hurt? I came to the supper table still nauseated. She dipped me a plate of collards, ham, black-eyed peas, and cornbread, and sat it down in front of me. I took one bite, then two, then three. And every symptom left! You see, I had to act on the Word! Faith without corresponding actions is lifeless and will produce no fruit! So find a way to act on what you believe! Make sure your words line up with what you believe. Faith must be released with words and action! If you believe God answered your prayer, act like it! Speak like it! Praise like it! And the answer will eventually manifest! 1 4 | V I C T O RY F E L L O WSHIP CHURCH | WWW.VFGARNER.COM
When standing in faith for what God has promised, be sure not to waver. Jesus said in Luke 12:29: And do not waver between hope and fear. (Weymouth Translation) James 1:6-8 reads in the Amplified: Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord, [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]. Doubt thoughts will invariably come into your mind when you are believing you receive. Don’t voice them. Thoughts that are not put into words or action die unborn! They will remain lifeless. Instead, voice what you believe out loud! When I was standing in faith for the healing of my back and my knee, I said over and over to the Father, Lord, thank you for healing me. Doubt thoughts would persist, but I refused to give in. I never voiced them. And my faith won the victory. Only speak what you believe. And you must refuse to waver on your faith. If you do, repent of the unbelief, and pick your faith back up! As my mother used to tell me when I fell while learning to ride my bike, Mitch, get up son! Brush yourself off, get back on that bike and ride it! If you mess up and get into unbelief while standing in faith, repent of it! And start standing in faith again. Don’t go back and forth over and over between doubt and unbelief. It’s like a farmer pulling up the seed he’s planted week after week to see if it’s doing anything!
FAITH AND PATIENCE BRING RESULTS The very nature of faith means that there is a period of time between the time you believe you receive, and the time you actually see the manifestation of what you believe. Patience gives you the ability to rest in peace and joy while the answer you’re believing for manifests. Hebrews 6:12 reads: That you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. And in Hebrews 10:35-36 we find: Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. God is always faithful. Living by faith has great reward! But it takes time for the results to be seen. There is usually a time period between the time you exercise your faith in prayer and the time the answer actually manifests. That’s the place we must be patient, speak the Word, praise God for the answer, and act as though we believe God answered our prayer. God spoke of Joseph waiting for the fulfillment of his dream of being a leader in Psalm 105:19. Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him. And so we have a similar test in our faith. God’s promises are ours to believe and receive by faith, promises of healing, promises of our needs being met, promises to enable us to overcome problems that arise in life. And as we act in faith with patience, we’ll receive the promised answer! Start living the lifestyle of faith today. God watches over His word to make it good!
As a slight breeze ruffles the leaves of a nearby tree, the bark of a wild jackal pierces the silence of the slowly brightening sky. A huge grassy field, sweet with the smell of onions, stretches north, east and west in every direction. To the south, the city wall stands tall, its massive gates now securely shut. A rough, worn path leads down a hill and to the gates. To the west, a few rays of sunlight can be seen peeking over the tops of the rolling hills. The jackal howls again; then the first sounds are heard. It starts as a low, barely discernible rumble, then the noise increases, and the ground shakes ever so slightly. The jackal begins to howl once again… And the gates burst open. Vehement shouts and screamed obscenities fill the morning sky. An angry, seething mob, full of hatred and rage clamorously clutter the once peaceful field. A line begins to form on either side of the path. Fists fill the air, and vulgarities engulf the people’s ears and mouths. As the mob continues to stream from the now open gates, the attention is drawn to a man dragging himself along the hewn path. Several men are following closely behind. CRACK! The easily discernible sound of a whip is heard over the deafening roar. An ear-piercing scream echoes eerily throughout the dawn. The crawling man is now prostrate on the beaten path. Deep, ragged gashes scatter his back, and blood begins to gush forth, covering the ground. The injured man looks up only to find a soldier towering over him. In an instant, the sickening crack is heard again. Pieces of bone, rocks, and other substances grasp hold of the man’s flesh. The whip is jerked back, and muscles and tendons are exposed beneath a gross pattern of ripped flesh. Blood splatters the face of the soldier holding the whip. “You filthy, disgusting animal!” the soldier sneers, “I’ll show you.” The centurion raises his arm and brings the whip down hard upon the cowering man’s back. The man screams aloud and collapses onto the ground as pain rips through his body. Shouts erupt from the raging mob. Cheerful applause is now parading the air. The group of seven soldiers that was following the man is now swarming around him. One steps forward and kicks the man in the cheekbone, bruising his face. Unable to move, the man can only cry aloud. “Stop your whining,” another soldier orders.
When The Dawn Breaks (continued)
“Why don’t you save yourself?” another taunts. “Ha! This man’s god all right, he can’t even pick himself up!”
“GET UP!” The centurion orders again. “GET UP, king!” There was no missing the sarcasm that coated his voice.
“GET UP!!” the centurion orders. The man lies motionless. “GET UP I SAID!”
The angry mob still lines the path leading up the hill. The soldiers mockingly surround the barely conscious man. Suddenly, the centurion jerks the man to his feet. He wobbles, hardly able to stand. The burly man, still standing near, picks up the long log with a cross beam and heaves it onto the faltering man’s back.
A blow lands on the man’s stomach. He begins coughing violently, and blood starts to drip down his chin. Another kick. The man heaves and regurgitates his last meal. “You miserable wretch,” the soldiers taunts. “Why don’t you clean up your mess.” The soldier shoves the man’s face into his own vomit, then stands back with the other soldiers and begins laughing. The seething mob cheers once more, blanketing the dawn with their obscenities. SNAP! The whip rips tendons and flesh away from the wretched man’s body. Blood lies in a pool all around him, and the legs, feet, and faces of the soldiers are now covered in blood, yet they remain oblivious, driven solely by the lust of hurting this man. The crowd begins the chant. “Kill him, kill him, kill him!” Their voices chant in unison. “Kill him…kill him!” Near the outskirts of the field, a large, muscular man comes running, holding a large wooden club. Hatred pushes him on. As he nears the crowd, the noise becomes increasingly louder. The chant reaches his ears; a small smile begins to play at his lips. The man reaches the crowd and pushes himself through, shoving people out of his way. Suddenly, he is in the midst of the path, and the wretched man is at his feet. Rage fills his veins and a glare takes over his eyes. “Die, King of the JEWS!” he screams and swings the club, hitting the collapsed man on the side of the face. Blood bursts forth from the man’s face on impact, drenching the burly man’s sandals. Bleeding, the man lies motionless again, fighting consciousness, as pain shoots up and down his body, pushing his nerves to the extreme. He groans and attempts to open his eyes, but they are swollen shut. Another kick. A small cry escapes his lips. Another punch to his stomach. The soldiers begin another onslaught of torture. They kick his face, his gut, and his groin. Then one of the soldiers roughly pulls the man to his feet. Another grabs the man’s beard, pulling with all of his might. “Ahhhh…” a pathetic scream sounds from the man’s mouth, and he collapses back to the ground. Little bits of flesh, mingled with blood, dirt, and hair, cover his face, making him hardly recognizable. Time seems to pause in an instant, the man’s voice barely above a whisper. “Father…” he rasps, “Daddy…Daddy please.” He coughs as he gags on his own blood. “Please forgive them...” another violent cough shakes his body. “They don’t know… what they are doing, dad…” Tears begin to spill onto his almost non-existent cheeks, the salt burning in. “Please forgive them…” SLAM! A large, heavy log crashes down upon the man, interrupting his words. The crowd erupts violently into cheers, clapping, screaming, and yelling vulgarities.
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“Up the hill!” the centurion barks. Ever so slowly, the man attempts to take a step. The weight is too great and he instantly crumples to the hard, dirt ground. The log follows, splinters digging deep into the already exposed muscle tissue. “YOU!” a soldier grabs an unsuspecting man from the enraged mob. “Carry his cross!” Fearfully, the man struggles to carry the cross. Slowly he makes it to the top of the hill, his breaths now coming in short, ragged gasps. He drops the cross, and immediately the soldiers drag the wounded man to it. Now limp from pain and exhaustion, the soldiers easily stretch out his arms and legs. The poor man mutters a small cry, but he is hardly able to speak. “For you, dad…” he manages. CLANG! “Ahhhhh…” a blood curling screams fills the darkening sky, easily overcoming the mob, as a long metallic stake is driven into the man’s wrist. A bolt of lightning strikes the ground in the distance, and a faint rumble is heard. CLANG! As the hammer connects with the stake, the man tries to grab his arm with his free hand, but the soldiers restrain him, forcing his arm back onto the cross. Another metallic stake is placed above his other wrist, and the hammer is raised. The man winces in pain, expecting the blow to come at any second. He closes his eyes as if to ease the pain…yet the blow does not come. The man opens his eyes and looks around. CLANG!! Another dreadful scream pierces the dark, brooding morning sky. The man writhes in pain, twisting his body, yearning for the pain to stop. But it persists. His feet are forced on top of each other, and then placed on the cross with his knees bent. The cool feel of the metal stake momentarily soothes his bruised and bloody foot. CLANG! The man’s body buckles, jerking off the cross. CLANG! The stake drives in deep, piercing bone, flesh, nerves, and vessels. The shrill scream that follows echoes throughout the countryside, forever branded in the minds of the people. Four soldiers, drenched in blood, strain to hoist the cross containing the man, into an upright position. After a brief struggle, they carelessly drop it into a pre-dug hole. The wooden post hits the ground with a thud, sending a shock up the man’s spine. Again he screams… CRACK! A clap of thunder reverberates ominously throughout the dark sky. The thick, swirling clouds continue to darken until the once bright, cheery morning sky is now as pitch black as the night.
Slowly, tthe storm begins gins to d diie down, the sky sky starts aarts rts to return to its norma normall state, and the aaiiir,r, once viole viol iolent nt and ragi ragiing, ng, is now now cal calm m, stale with the stench of blood. Yet the pain still remains.
“Daddy!” the man on the cross desperately cries out as loud as he can. “Don’t leave me Daddy!”
“WHY…” the man wails, his voice lost amidst the storm. “WHY HAVE YOU … REJECTED ME?!”
The man hangs his head, not only filthy on the outside, but the inside as well. Rotten…disgusting filth… he is ashamed. He is hurt. He is rejected, despised and hated. Every lie, murder, theft, adultery, immoral act, this man has become. Every wrong…every evil thought. The filth, the stench now covers this perfect man, his heart broken. He looks down at one of the soldiers; then the soldier returns his gaze. But all the soldier can see is love.
Instantly, a streak of lightning strikes the city wall, shattering one fourth of it, sending the dispersed mob into a frenzied run.
“What have I done?” he cries to himself. The soldier holds out his hands—they are covered in blood…innocent blood. That man’s blood… “How could I?” he thinks to himself. “What have I…” the soldier sinks to his knees, surrounded by the blood-soaked grass and dirt. He begins to weep, his face in his hands. Looking up, his eyes connect with that man’s…that wretched man. The one he beat...kicked… mocked…crucified… “How can you love me?” the soldier whispers, barely audible. “You are forgiven.” He hears it from somewhere and yet nowhere. “I love you.” “But I’m not worth—“
That bleeding man, now gasping for one last breath, lets out a violent, earthshaking scream. Then suddenly his head drops and his body goes limp. Slowly, the storm begins to die down, the sky starts to return to its normal state, and the air, once violent and raging, is now calm, stale with the stench of blood. Yet the pain still remains. An ache, a sense of loss begins to settle on the hearts of every person. The soldier, now face first to the ground, begins to sob. The sobs begin, slowly at first, then increasing to a wail. “Nooo…” the soldier cries in between his muffled sobs. He raises his head and looks toward the cross, his vision blurred by the stream of tears now flowing from his eyes. “I’m sorry...” he whispers, his voice trailing off. “I didn’t mean to…I didn’t want to… kill you…” A wave of sorrow washes over him, and he shudders violently, sobs shaking through him. Had he really killed this man? This innocent man? For some reason he feels attached.. like he was connected in some way. What have I done? Another sob. Forgiven.
CRACK! Another clap of thunder drowns out the soldier’s voice, and the rain starts. It comes down in torrents, hard and unrelenting. Each drop stings the broken man’s body, causing a steady stream of blood to flow down his legs and to the ground.
The soldier jerks his head up quickly, frantically looking around. “Who said that?” he queried, his eyes open wide.
A flash of lightning streaks across the sky, illuminating the ground and revealing terror in the eyes of the now scattered soldiers. A resounding clap of thunder rings in the ears of every person present.
It was that voice again, that whispering but powerful voice, coming from everywhere and yet nowhere.
The worn path now lies muddy and bloodied. That peaceful, graceful hill outside the city gate is now covered in blood—innocent blood. The opening dawn is now broken by the screams of a wretched man. Slowly the angry mob begins to disperse, heading back down the path and to their homes within the fortified city walls. The sky becomes darker still, darker and darker every second. So many emotions surround that lone, hanging man. All the hatred, rage, and contempt; every despicable thing covers him…becomes him. Now, the one last person who loves him begins to turn away.
Grace…I forgive you.
“But why?” the soldier starts, “why me?” I love you. The soldier, overcome by his emotions, collapses back to the ground. That voice… it was so full of love…how? You are mine. The voice whispers once more. You are forgiven.
“Daaaddy!!” A long, heartfelt cry can be heard miles around. The man’s heart begins to break; his father…his dad…now rejecting him.
VICTORIOUS LIVING | MARCH/APRIL 2008 | 17
THE FATHER ENABLES
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH 2008 The Father has given each one of us divine ability to fulfill the tasks He has called us to do. He enables us to do His will. One translation reads, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has made me equal to the task. Ephesians 4:7 reads, But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. This grace is a divine ability to walk in the calling the Father has for the individual believer. Each of us has a purpose in the family of God. The will of The Father has been placed deep within us. He places in us a desire for something. Following that desire will move you into the purpose of God for your life. For me, after I received the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, I began to have an innate desire to help people see who they are in Christ. I would find myself constantly encouraging and teaching as I had conversations with friends. That desire to build up the believer led me into the call that is on my life today. I simply yielded to that inward tug of the Father. Some have a desire to help children. Others have a yearning to minister to the imprisoned. Still others find a sense of fulfillment in ministering to the elderly in nursing homes, in helping single parents and widows with house repairs and natural things they can’t do alone. Many will find great fulfillment in helping the pastor in the local church with ushering, greeting, with sound, in children’s ministry, and in all the necessary things that make ministry happen each week. When people ask me what I think God has called them to do I ask them a question. What do you want to do deep down inside? The Father places His desires in us (Psalm 37:4). Then, He gives us the ability to perform those desires. Jesus said, The Father who dwells in me does the work (John 14:10). To walk in God’s best for you, listen deep within to the want to the Father has placed within you. Then follow that want to and you’ll eventually end up fulfilling the high call of God in Christ for your life! (Philippians 3:14)
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INTRODUCTION TO CLST.
UPCOMING COURSE.
Victory Fellowship has joined with Christian Life School of Theology in Columbus, Georgia, to provide a school to prepare believers for obeying the call of God upon their lives as ambassadors for Christ.
“Paul: The Man” April 17 - April 19, 2008 / Dr. Ronald E. Cottle
Christian Life School of Theology is accredited by Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) to award degrees through the Master of Divinity and has been granted authorization to begin offering courses leading to the Doctor of Ministry Degree. In-depth studies are provided in Bible, Counseling, Christian Development, Church Growth and other related topics. These studies are designed to prepare Christian Workers for pastoral, counseling, evangelistic, teaching, music, youth, children’s, and other ministries. They are also designed to enrich one’s spiritual life, along with strengthening the ministry of the local church. If you are not a member of Victory Fellowship, you must be grounded in a local church in order to participate in the courses offered at our campus.
COURSE DATE
This is part one of a two-part study of the life, conversion and travels of the Apostle Paul based upon the biblical evidence from Acts and certain Epistles. It also includes an analysis and overview of several of Paul’s letters. These are studied chronologically.
SIGN UP TODAY AND RECEIVE YOUR BOOK AND SYLLABUS! For more information on Christian Life School of Theology, please contact Shawn Tracy at 550.0618.
COURSE TITLE
INSTRUCTOR
January 17th - 19th
“Apologetics”
Dr. James A. Burkett
February 21st - 23rd
“Interpersonal Relationships and Personality Patterns”
Dr. David L. Baldwin
March 20th - 22nd
“Stones of Remembrance”
Dr. Fuschia Pickett
April 17th - 19th
“Paul: The Man”
Dr. Ronald E. Cottle
May 15th - 17th
“The Book of Proverbs”
Dr. Charles H. Gaulden
June 19th - 21st
“Great Systematic Theology I”
Dr. John Durden
July 17th - 19th
“Godly Foundations For Parenting”
Dr. Larry Keefauver
August 14th - 16th
“The Book of Ezekiel”
September 18th - 20th
“New Strategies For Evangelism”
Dr. Gerald Johnson
October 16th - 18th
“The Book of Mark”
Rev. Terry Mahan
November 13th - 15th
“Great Christian Personalities I”
December 2008
Dr. Charles H. Gaulden
Dr. Jerry Goff
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