Chris Dorner - The Aftermath

by Pastor Ken  

A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. ~Ecclesiastes 3:4 

 

I am certain, that like me you have seen nothing but news about the pursuit and capture of Chris Dorner, and the distruction and disregard for life that he left in his wake.   My prayers and deepest condolences go out to the families who suffered the loss of their loved ones. 

What can we do in such a time, when we face the loss of ones dear to us, I believe that Soloman had this right in Ecc 3:4 when he said that there is an appropriate time to for eveything, now is a time to remember, to weap, to laugh, to mourn and then in due season a time that we learn to dance in the storm.   I cannot speak to the anguish, nor of the loss of those who have been impacted by this great tragedy, but I can offer my prayers, my thougts for you and your families.  I can tell you where I find comfort when I in the midsts of storms in my life.

I am encouraged to know when I am at my lowest point:

GOD WILL BLESS & COMFORT ME

When I am destroyed, when I mourn there is a God who will bless me and comfort me, He touch the very depths of my life to comfort me, He will send people to support me and to lift my head.  I have learned to look for the comfort, look for the things that made the difference so that if I experience trouble again I can spot out the blessings, the comfort that is promissed in this verse:

Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

I am encouraged to know that when I am at my lowest point:

GOD IS NEAR ME AND WILL SAVE ME IN MY ANGUISH

The first thing I feel when things fall apart, I believe that is the enemy of my soul (Satan) trying to make me believe God wont help me.   But I am encouraged that God is most near when I am broken, when I am empty, I am most blessed when I realize I need Him, when I need God, then it says He will draw near to me and raise me up from my brokeness.    See the comfort I recieve in this verse comes from the fact that I recognize that no one else can identify in my unique situation but God can, and it says that He draws near to save me from my brokeness, see He wont allow me to be crushed but will raise me up from the ahses to make beauty out of ugliness...

Psalm 34:18 ESV
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

GOD WILL MEND MY BROKENESS AND HEAL MY WOUNDS

The  problem with loss,  pain or angusih is that we never will be exactly the same, we are left scared by the situation.  

If it be the loss of a loved one, or some other tragedy we are changed so deeply by the pain of the loss; alone will never be the same.   I do believe this,  God can heal our brokeness, He can mend my wounds and beyond that He can work my tragidy, my loss, my brokeness to make me better, stronger.   Not immediately, not all at once, but I believe that God will work even the worst of situations out for my good, whether it be by my testimony, of  how he touched me in my greatest grief, or it be who  He used me to touch the lives of others, I will be changed, I will be transformed,  I will be blessed by the work of the testimony that He will give though the process.

Psalm 147:3 ESV

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds

 

Agian my heart goes out to all those who suffered loss in this situation and I pray that you recieve comfort, that God touches the deepest parts of your sould, that He guids you through the process of being healed.   


Birthday Interview With Pastor Alex Prokopchik

by Pastor Ken  

Pastor Alex

Had a wonderful opportunity to interview my good friend and mentor Pastor Alex Prokopchik on Saturday.  We celebrated his 40th birthday this last Saturday.   He text me earlier that weekend and asked  if I would assemble a list of questions to ask him, so that those who came to the celebreation would get to know him better (smart man.)   The following video is from that interview:

 

 

New Life - School of Leaders Week 3

by Pastor Ken  

 

LA International Christian Center 

We have been in an awesome time at our Church with the School of Leaders;  last night I had the privilage to teach a wonderful group of leaders on the subject of being born again.    

One of the great privilages of learning/teaching the word of God is that,  God always has a way of bringing  fresh revelations that inturn cause growth.   As we press in and seek Him, He opens us to new revelation, new illuminations.   

What is the "Born Again" experience and what are the effects of this experience?

I believe a greatest summary of the what new life is, can be no better represented than by the story of the prodigal son and summerized by this process:

  • Accept my need for saving
  • Believing
  • Repentance
  • Forgiveness
  • Yielding our lives to Christ Control

Luke 15:11-32 (read here)

We Were Living a Life in Need of Saving.

The prodigal son he ask's his father for his portion of the inheritance, and this passage tells us as soon as he recieved his portion he left to spend it in a foriegn land on wild living.    

Before Christ we lived wildly squandering the purpose and plans that God had for us on fast living.   We were as Paul said in "Romans 7" the worst of sinners.

In verse 17 it says that He came to himself, that is (Recognizing the Need for Saving.)

 

We Must Believe Christ Paid The Debit and Has the Power to Save Us

Verse 17, goes on to say how he recognizes that his father has everything he needs and can meet his needs.

 

Recognizing My Need For Repentance

Verse 18, the son recognizes the need for repentance and he tells his father "I have sinned."   No excuses, no reasons why, just an honest confession to a God who "allready knows what you did." 

 

We Must Accept Forgiveness

Verse 22, I love this verse, because his father did not give him what he deserved but instead gave him what he didn't deserve.   He forgave him, so too often we cannot forgive ourselves, or others but forgiveness should be just as much received as it is extended.   We need to forgive ourselves and out of the forgiveness we have received forgive others.

 

Yielding our lives to Christ Control

Verse 22, the father restored his son to the place under his covering and control and received him back into the family.  We must give over our lives to Christ's care and control, we must invite him into the most personal places of our lives and allow Him to influence them.

 

I would like to invite you to come be a part of our School of Leaders.

LAICC 5833 Laurel Canyon Blvd, Valley Village, CA - Wednesday Nights at 7:00 PM

 

Drawing Near - Relationship

by Pastor Ken  

Worship

 

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you… ~ James 4:8 

Drawing near... 

  • When you want to “see” someone clearer you have to "Draw Near!"
  • When you want to “hear” someone better you have to "Draw Near!"
  • When you want to “get closer” to someone you have to "Draw Near!"

When I draw near, my relationship grows and this verse tells us that Jesus  reciprocates,  He in turn draws near to us.  

I don't know about you, but I want Jesus closer to me in every aspect of my life, drawing near to my family, my finances, my health, just in my everyday  daily walk..  

See I need His counsel, His direction in my daily life, drawing near really means, I must let Jesus into all those areas, give Him control in them, allow the work of the Holy Spirit to speak to those areas.

Worship and prayer are the greatest  ways I know to draw closer to Him, to Jesus, in my prayer I allow God to speak into my heart, I listen for His voice, and when I am quite that is when I can hear Him speak most clearly.  In worship I have this freedom to wash the exteriour distractions away and focus on praising Him, thanking Him for all He is and has done for me.

We had a great time of Prayer & Worship this last week, check out a picture from that event.

 

 
 

 

I encourage you to press in to draw close to Jesus, allow Him to draw close to the things most important to you, “invite” Him into your personal life, increase your relationship with Him

Living Right in a Wrong World

by Pastor Ken  

Living Right in a Wrong World

 

 

How do I live right, in a world that is so obviously wrong.    

Truth is,  we live in a fallen world and have a sin nature, this inheirant war between right and wrong living.  

Paul has some great insight on this subject:  Lliving Right in a Wrong World:

I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.

But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

 I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.  ~Romans 7:14-25


Paul, who I know that most would say was a righteous dude;  in Romans 7 declares what I think to be something we need to hear.   Paul says:  there is this natural  struggle to do right, he says I want to do right I set out to do right, but all too often I do the opposite. He is saying in this text that no matter how right you are trying to live it doesn't make you immune to the effects of the sin-nature (that is on your own,)  it just screams for your need of the power of Christ in you even more.

 

Paul says (ephasis mine)

"What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise."


Left to my own devices I am going to make the wrong decisions, so if I want to live right in this wrong world, simply put I am not going to do it alone, or in my own strength.   If I do I am only excercising the definition of insanity "trying the samething, expecting a different outcome."     Paul points out that he has the desire to do what is right I belive that is God infused, but he says  on his own, it never ends well. -- Can you relate?

 

But how does Paul says some things that can help us to live right in this wrong world:

1.  It's Predictable 

"It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up"

Because it is predictable,  I can be prepared, I can take safeguards to ensure that my sin-nature doesn't trip me up.  I can bring every thought captive and under the submission of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) Predictability allows me to recognize when I am on the wrong track and get back on the right one. 

2. I't Can't Be Resolved In My Strength

" I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?"

Isn't this the truth: The very things we struggle with, the things we do over and over are the very things we have tried to overcome in our own strength.   Paul said "I've spent a long time in sins prison, "  why,  because more than often than not: "Change doesn't happen in your own strength"  if we were able to change on our own we would have done it a long time ago, in fact we would not need Christ's help.

3. The Solution is Christ's Power

"The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different"

"He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions"   This verse says it all, Jesus Christ because He overcame the sin-nature, because He defeated the enemy and because the very power that rose Jesus Christ to Victory the Bible says is at work in us (Romans 8:11,) to help us life the life we were intended to, to Live Right in  Wrong World...  

Thank you Jesus. 

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