Occupy Our Churches

Do you remember the days when most everybody respected the church, the pastor or the Bible?  Seems like a long time ago.  You could pretty much count on the fact that when you went door knocking or spoke to a neighbor about church they would tell you they went to one or they really ought to get to church.  They would even appear to feel guilty if they had been out of church for a while.  Now if you ask someone about church it doesn’t seem to really matter to them.  It is just another activity to choose from.  No more important than anything else.  Matter of fact staying home to watch their favorite football team or watching the Super Bowl is way more important than worshipping God. They don’t feel one bit guilty that they don’t go to church.  People use to respect the Pastor/Minister/Priest/Rabbi.  Now they don’t.  They use to value their opinion and actually attempt to make changes in their life if they suggested some scriptures to apply to their lives.  They use to respect church property.  Now it is just another parking lot or building to make out in or graffiti up or steal things from.  Really there used to be a fear of God.  That is what was behind all the respect for God’s things.  People use to be concerned about what God thought about them or fear what they might do to them if the persisted in their sins.  Not anymore.

The habit of being in Church on Sunday morning and nights and Wednesday nights is gone.  Matter fact is even hard to get people to turn out to social events.  You would think with free food, fun activities and no Bible thumping people would be more tempted to turn out in record numbers for a social event before they would for Worship where they might get preached at.  These issues really speak to the fact that even Christians do not really understand the importance of time with God, worshipping God, fellowshipping with other believers or truly showing love to and for God.  They have let love for God be replaced with other things as priorities.  We are reminded of why we need to be at church and with other Christians in Hebrews 10: 24-25.

²⁴ And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, ²⁵ not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

It is just common sense to realize that the less time we spend with God, the more our love will grow cold.  No newly in love earthly couple can survive being apart for hardly five minutes.  They call, text and spend lots of personal time together.  They spend time getting to know each other intimately.  They spend time showing each other how much they love one another.  We are expected to have that first love with our God (Rev. 2: 3 – 5).  We are told here in Hebrews 10 that it is important to spend time together in church to encourage one another and promote love and good works.  Can’t do that if we are too busy shopping or watching football.  The last part says we should be all the more importance in doing this as we see the “day” drawing near.  That “day” is the day the Lord returns.  The day our time ends for making a difference for Christ in this World for His Kingdom.  We should all know just by looking around and common sense that we are drawing closer to that day as each day passes.

So W.I.S.E. is calling everyone to “Occupy” their churches.  Stop putting other things over God.  Let’s start an “Occupy Movement” amongst Christians at our churches.  Let’s go back to our first love, God.  Let’s go back to church and occupy it!  What a testimony to our communities if every Christian Church was over flowing and building new ones because everyone attended regularly.  That the cults and false churches would be empty because we had reached them for the Lord and they now attended the Christian churches.  How glorified would the Lord be if the World saw Christians loving God and loving being with Him at church and loving each other as they fellowshipped together.  So, let’s get going…let’s “Occupy Our Churches”.

Wisdom to Stop

Are you a busy servant for the Lord?  What I mean is…Do you worship and serve regularly at your local church?  Does a particular ministry consume a lot of your time?  There is nothing wrong with that.  God calls us each to one or ministries.  After all He has given us one or more gifts to use to glorify His name.  So naturally we should be using them.  Sometimes though to our detriment, we get caught up in the busy-iness of our ministries.  We forget to pay attention to where God may be actually re-directing us momentarily or permanently for His particular purposes.  It is important to stay in constant communication with God and be in tune with His leadings.  We may be on the way to do our ministry or already involved in it and be interrupted by something God wants us to pay attention to.  I know I tend to get very frustrated with interruptions.  After all they slow me down and hinder the work I am doing for God.  In reality, those interruptions may very well be God’s work that needs to be done instead of my usual ministry.  The Apostles Peter and John were on their way to pray one day at the temple at the appointed time.  Read in Acts 3: 1 – 10 what happened:

¹ Now Peter and John were going up together to the temple complex at the hour of prayer at three in the afternoon. ² And a man who was lame from his mother’s womb was carried there and placed every day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so he could beg from those entering the temple complex. ³ When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple complex, he asked for help. ⁴ Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, “Look at us.” ⁵ So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them. ⁶ But Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I have, I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” ⁷ Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong. ⁸ So he jumped up, stood, and started to walk, and he entered the temple complex with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. ⁹ All the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰ and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple complex. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

Now think what would have happened if they had not stopped to respond to the Lame man at the temple gate.  They could have said, “Not now man, we will be late for church”.  Then the man would have not been healed, and would not have come to know Jesus.  An appointment to do Jesus’ work would have been missed.  An opportunity to reach someone for the Lord would have been lost.  Sometimes we can get so busy doing our evangelism projects we miss our real opportunity to witness to someone.  It is true wisdom to know when God is calling you to stop what you are doing and do what new thing He is showing you to do instead.  So stay in tune with God and learn His wisdom to know when to stop what you are doing and join Him where He is working (as Henry Blackaby would say).

The Hand of God

This picture was accompanied by an article in April 2009 from the Telegraph.co.uk website that said,

“What appears, with a little imagination, to be the outstretched fingers were created by a spinning neutron star known as a pulsar buried deep inside the fist, which releases energy as it rotates. Although the pulsar itself is only 12 miles in diameter, the cloud or nebula that it produces stretches across 150 light years of space. The X-ray image was recorded by Nasa’s Chandra observatory which is circling 360 miles above Earth taking images of high-energy locations across the universe, such as the remnants of exploded stars. Dubbed the Hand of God, following on from an ‘Eye of God’ image released by European astronomers in February, the nebula pictured in the new X-ray was produced by the pulsar B1509, which is about 17,000 light years away.”

I always think it is great when men, who may not be God-fearing, see something in nature and some how equate it to God.  Those are special moments when I think God puts a little visible reminder of himself out there for us to see.  We always think we are so smart and so powerful as men and yet if we would just look around we would see the mighty hand of God working in our universe.

David wrote this in Psalm 8:1-4 “¹ O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. ²From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. ³ When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, ⁴what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? ⁵You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. ⁶You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: ⁷all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, ⁸the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. ⁹O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

David saw God’s care and provision for mankind very clearly.  David saw God’s hand in the heavens above.  What a mighty God!  Yet, David, knew that God paid attention to his creation, man.  David saw the work God provided man to do.  God gave us his creation to care for.  Even as lowly as we are compared to our Maker, God still gave us glory and honor. 

Are you looking around you and taking time to see the mighty Hand of God at work?  Are you taking time to find out what work He has for you to do in His creation?  Remember your are His “Handy” work and He created your for His purpose(s).  What an encouragement you will receive from God when you take time to look at His handi-work and find where you fit in to it all.

Jealousy is Good?

We have all heard stories (or maybe even experienced personally ourselves) about a jealous husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, best friend, neighbor, classmate, or family member.  Jealousy is seen as a very negative thing.  It usually leads to harm of self and/or others.  So you might think I am crazy for saying this, “Jealousy is a good”.  The Merriam-Webster’s dictionary would even disagree with me, “1 a : intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness b : disposed to suspect rivalry or unfaithfulness 2 : hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage 3 : vigilant in guarding a possession”.  I say jealous is good, because God gives us His own example in His Word. 

Nothing God does is bad.  It is usually us humans that make things bad.  Exodus 34:14 “Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” One of God’s names is even “Jealous”.  Why would God, who is the ultimate good and sin free, be named Jealous or be jealous?  Many times in the bible we see the people of God, whether it be the Hebrew people or Christians, be equated as God’s wife or bride. One example is seen in Revelation 19:7 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.  This is a reference to the Christians as Christ’s bride.  When a man marries a woman, he is taking her as his own.  They are to become one.  They are becoming totally committed to each other.  No longer will they date and see others.  The will spend their time with each other.  They will be devoted to each other.  On earth when a man becomes jealous of his wife, he is suspicious that she is being unfaithful.  He thinks she is spending time with someone other than himself.  The reason this thought would bother the man is because he loves her so much and he can’t stand the thought that she is not showing love and devotion to him.  Instead she is sharing it with someone else.  This jealousy usually leads to spying, bad actions and words.  God, like a husband, loves us so much, that it is heart wrenching for Him to think of us being devoted to someone else other than Him.  The difference between man and God is that He is holy and pure.  He will not let His jealousy turn in to sin like man would.  It is a good thing that God is jealous of us.  It demonstrates how important to God our relationship is with Him.  He loved us so much in the first place that He gave His Son for us.

It is not good when a spouse evokes jealousy in their spouse.  We are hurting them.  We should do whatever it takes to show them our total love and devotion.  That is why we married them.  We let temporary pleasures draw us away from them.  It can be anything from an activity we spend too much time doing or another person.  Our focus should be loving our spouse and fulfilling their needs.  That’s what we committed to when we married them.  The same is true of our relationship with God.  We need to think of Him as our jealous spouse.  He committed to us and we committed to Him when we became Christians.  We need to show our love and devotion to God by removing anything from our life that would draw us away from Him.  Just like your spouse, are you spending time with God?  Just like your spouse, are you talking each and every day to Him?  Just like we spend time getting to know about our spouse, are you spending time getting to know God through His Word.  If you want to bless or exalt the Lord, as scripture tells us to, then be zealous for Him and your relationship with Him.  Put some time and energy and commitment in to it.  God, like our spouse, should be number one in our life.  Is your job, your hobbies, your TV, your money, your friends more important to you?  Do you give those things more time than you give God?  We can take away some instructions from this concept of our jealous husband, God.  Be Zealous for our Jealous God.  Jealousy is Good!

Heart’s Desire

Watching TV can sure ignite the passion for shopping.  You see all the cool toys and clothes you can buy.  I know watching HGTV can work up all the ideas about remodeling.  You day dream about this and that.  You watch the international house hunter show and think, “Wow!  How cool would that be…to have a beautiful home on an island.”  It’s ok to have desires.  However, if we focus on being materialistic and getting everything we can for ourselves we will be way off track.  If we become selfish with our money and keep it all for ourselves, we will find that God will not bless us.  God gives us some encouragement about our desires in Psalm 37:4 -

 Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart’s desires.

The first key is to let God fulfill your desires.  Let Him guide you about what is appropriate for you to have.  The second key is to delight in the Lord.  Delighting in the Lord means He is your priority, not the things you own.  Delighting in the Lord means He is your focus in your life.  Delighting in the Lord means you take pleasure in pleasing the Lord.  When the Lord is number one in your life, He will give you your desires.  What is amazing is that the more we draw close to the Lord the more we will see desires that we should have that would please the Lord.  Our hearts will be one with God.  Our desires will be one with God.  What an encouragement to know that we can have the desires of our heart.

Mine!

When we are kids we loved to keep all our toys to ourselves.  If other kids came over to play, we would pull our toys to our chest and cry out, “Mine!”  Our parents came over and would tell us that we must share.  It seems like some kids grow up and never learn that lesson.  They want all the grown up toys for themselves.  They become greedy.  Christians should never have that attitude.  The correct attitude about belongings and finances starts with the right view about ownership.  Even if we have a job and buy a home, we have to realize that we are still not the owner.  The truth is that everything we have belongs to God.  He owns everything and provides everything to us to use.  Read Psalm 50: 9-12.

9 I will not accept a bull from your household or male goats from your pens, 10 for every animal of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know every bird of the mountains, and the creatures of the field are Mine. 12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and everything in it is Mine.

God was trying to give the people some instructions on where their attitude should be when it came to pleasing God.  They thought their riches were what was important and that they could buy off God with their sacrifices.  So God makes it plain in these verses that their sacrifices are not acceptable.  Rituals and ceremonies will not please God.  That is not true religion in God’s eyes.  To put them in their place, God reminds them that they really do not own anything and that He owns everything.  They were really just giving God what He already owned.  They were not sacrificing anything.  To give out of our great riches or comfortableness is no sacrifice.  Instead to honor God with a grateful heart for what He provides for us will be more pleasing to God. 

We would be wise to follow God’s instructions.  Keep the right view about belongings and money.  It is not ours.  When God asks us to give back to Him in tithes and offerings or to give to others in need, it should not be difficult.  Since God owns everything, He will provide what we need.  So if we give part of it away at God’s request, then we have to realize that God will bless us and take care of us.  We have to stop grabbing our checkbook and belongings and yelling out “Mine!”. 

To Catch a Thief

There is a great moral lesson scene in the old classic movie “To Catch a Thief” with Cary Grant (the cat burglar/jewelry thief) and John Williams (the insurance man hiring him).  They are having a fine dining luncheon at Cary Grant’s villa.  John Williams is about to hand over a list of names of people who have jewelry to Cary Grant.  He is nervous.  John asks Cary, “So why did you steal?”  Cary simply explains that he wanted to have nice things.  John was expecting the answer to go something like Cary had a hard life and needed to steal to survive.  The conversation moves in to Cary explaining that everyone steals.  The insurance man will no doubt charge his company on his expense account for the lunch with Cary even though Cary didn’t charge him.  The insurance man admits he has even taken things from hotel rooms like everyone does. Cary is making the point that it doesn’t matter what or how much we steal, but that we all have the tendency to steal and that it is all wrong.  The size or price of the item you still is not what makes the difference.  It is the action itself.  We all know the basics of the Ten Commandments.  Number 8 is “Do Not Steal”.  Yet, how many of us have taken a few minutes off early from work and charged work for the full time?  How many of us have taken a pen from someone?  The list could go on and on.  We think nothing of it, but to God those things would be breaking the 8^th Commandment.  There is one other time that many Christians steal and don’t think about it.  Read Malachi 3:8-12.

8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.

God Almighty, Creator of Everything, Supplier of Life and Provider of all we have feels robbed.  Many of us have stolen from Him.  When Christians do not give their ten percent or tithe to the Lord they are robbing Him.  He expects us to give.  The truth is we do not trust our God, who owns and controls everything in this universe, to provide for our basic needs.  Yet, over and over again in scripture He tells us He loves us and will take care of us.  How could we not trust our omnipotent and omniscient God to provide for us?  He knows what we need better than what we do.  So instead we worry and hold back part or all of our tithes and offerings to try and take care of the financial problems ourselves.  God has even said in this passage that if we obey and give what we owe, He will keep the pests from devouring our crops.  In other words, He will protect us and make sure we have what we need and financial woes may even be held back.  It would appear that wisdom would be to give God what He is due and to stop robbing Him.  Are you a thief that needs to be caught?

The Opportunity Exit

We looked at last time that the devil and/or sin takes the opportunity to deceive us.  They trick us in to thinking that whatever we are about to do or say is not so bad or might even be pleasurable.  In reality it is just a temporal pleasure and has repercussions.  There are always consequences to our actions.  The Apostle Paul in Galatians 6: 7-10 gives us a reminder, warning and encouragement when it comes to our opportunities as Christians:

⁷ Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap, ⁸ because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. ⁹ So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

We are reminded that there is someone out there trying to deceive us in to wrong thoughts and actions.  We are further strongly reminded that when we take our opportunities in this life to do wrong we are mocking God and that He will not stand to be mocked.  We are warned that whatever we decide to do that is not in His Spirit or godly that we will reap the same in our life.  Living like the devil will only bring bad in to our lives.  The temporal pleasures will never outweigh the consequences.  As we make these tough choices in life to live God’s way we can be worn out by the struggles and pressures we encounter.  Paul encourages to not give up.  We are to not tire of doing good.  We are not to grow weary as we live God’s ways.  He further encourages us to make the most of our opportunities in this life that God gives us.  We are to work for the good of all as we have opportunity, especially when it comes to serving our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord.  What an encouragement we can be to others if we keep up the good work.  We will inspire them on, help them out and strengthen them.  And what an encouragement in return to us, because our fellow brothers and sisters will do the same for us.  So just like the devil takes the opportunity to deceive us, let us as Christians take the opportunity to work for the good of all and put him out of business.  Take that exit to opportunity, don’t pass it by!

Flip Flop Opportunity

Putting on shoes for the day should take some thought.  We pick out an outfit and need to find a pair of shoes that match.  We think about it and find the pair that matches perfect.  We are all set and ready to go.  For example, you are wearing a pair of shorts and a short sleeved shirt, because it is hot outside.  After thinking for a moment you decide to wear a pair of flip flops.  What other pair of shoes would be better to keep you cool and comfortable.  After wearing them for a little bit you realize they flip flops hurt.  The strap between your toes is rubbing you raw.  The sole of the flip flop gives you know support. The problem is…you didn’t think long enough about what pair of shoes to put on.  You didn’t think about how long you would be walking in those flip flops or what kind of ground you would be walking on.  Those are extra variables that make the difference in shoe choice.  You find some comfortable slip on shoes at the store to buy to slip your feet in to help solve your problem.  They feel so much better than the flip flops.  So you continue your day walking in your new shoes.  Next thing you know your feet are hurting again.  Turns out that because they are new shoes they needed to be broken in a little at a time, not by a long day of walking.  A little use of some common sense and thinking things through before putting our feet in to those shoes would have made a world of difference.  Our feet would not have ended up with sores on them or in pain.  It’s the same thing in other decision we make in our life.  We need to put more thought in to them and we might have had less repercussions from them.  The in general comfort of both those shoes deceived us.  They are temporary pleasures.  You might say those flip flops and slip on shoes of comfort did a flip flop of deception on us. Sin is like that too.  Many sins are unrecognizable as sin at first glance, but then they flip flop and deceive us.  Soon we are in a world of hurt because of decision to sin.  Read these three verses:

Romans 7: 11-12

¹¹ For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. ¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

Ephesians 4:27

…and don’t give the Devil an opportunity.

The Devil and or sin looks for opportunity to deceive us.  If we knew the truth of what the sin was, we would never commit the sin in the first place.  That is why the devil or sin must deceive us.  Walking through this life as a Christian takes thought and common sense or else we will find ourselves flip flopped by the deception of sin.  We have to think our decisions through.  We have to think about what the consequences will be of that decision.  What are the long term outcomes of what we are doing or saying?  Don’t give the devil or sin opportunity to do a flip flop and deceive you. 

By All Means Take the Opportunity

Flying over the landscape from 10,000 to 50,000 feet above can give you a new perspective.  Jets fly 30,000 to 50,000 feet up.  From up there you can see the topography of the land between breaks in the clouds you are flying over.  The ripples of the mountains and the shapes of lakes come in view.  As you descend you begin to see the outlines of crops and fields; a variety of green patches and brown patches.  As you approach cities you see outlines of parking lots and dots of roads and houses.  When you get to about 10,000 feet you see cars moving along the roads.  You can see the whole town from above; rooftop after rooftop. It becomes quite clear just how many people are in this world.  You begin to think, “Who lives in that house?”  Who is driving that car? How many people are in that skyscraper?  My mind goes as far as to wonder how many people love the Lord and how many have rejected Him or not even heard about Him.  When I am back on the ground driving around town, I look at all the churches.  In my own town I know what the churches are like and about how many attend each one.  It makes me sad to think about how many of them are half empty and I know what the population of the town is.  I know that if every church was full, we would still not have enough churches to fit our town’s population.  So it is sad to think that they are still half empty.  We are nowhere reaching our potential.  We are not reaching our town for Jesus. 

I have seen what happens in a church when the people are excited about their relationship with Jesus and what He is doing in their lives.  I have seen those people excitedly reach out and invite others to church.  I have seen the affect multiply and the church begin to fill with people that are even more excited and happy to see so many people at church.  Somewhere along the way, people’s excitement cool off and they become more deeply involved in their own personal lives.  The thermometer drops, attendance drops and the cycle continues downward.  As Christians God expects us to be busy for Him and His Kingdom and not our own lives.  Read I Corinthians 7:21-35.

²¹ Were you called while a slave? It should not be a concern to you. But if you can become free, by all means take the opportunity. ²² For he who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called as a free man is Christ’s slave. ²³ You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. ²⁴ Brothers, each person should remain with God in whatever situation he was called. ²⁵ Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. ²⁶ Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are. ²⁷ Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. ²⁸ But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this. ²⁹ What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; ³⁰ those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; ³¹ those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. ³² I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. ³³ But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— ³⁴ and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. ³⁵ I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.

Some will say, “Well, I have a job or a company to run.”  Others will say, “I have kids in school and after-school activities.”  The reasons go on and on as to why Christians can’t be involved actively in their church and witnessing to others about Jesus.  Paul instructs the Corinthians that they are to “by all means take the opportunity” whether we are slaves/employees/business owners or free to serve the Lord.  He wants them to realize that time is short.  We aren’t to be so concerned about our lifestyles that we put that ahead of the Lord.  We are to be busy about His work no matter where are at in this life.  In verse 35 Paul gives us further instruction, “live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.”  That is the problem.  Too many of us live divided.  We let the things of this life divide our focus and devotion to the Lord.  He is to be number one.  Not our job and not our families.  Those things will fall in place when we put Him first. 

Are you grateful to the Lord for what He has done for you?  Are you grateful you will spend eternity in Heaven with Him enjoying His presence and blessings?  If you are think about all those people under all those roof tops that do not know Him and do not have the same assurance that you do.  We have a lot of work to do for the Lord.  We have a lot of people to reach.  We have a lot of pews that are empty and a lot more church buildings to build.  So by all means take the opportunity.  Reach out to someone else for the Lord.