Walter Ice

The past 5 weeks have actually been very sobering. What I have truly been convicted of is that we are indeed the lukewarm church that John wrote of in Revelation. The strength and the power and the glory of Christ represented in the Church is muddled at best. We have become so fragmented by our "doctrine" and our "tradition" that it is difficult to tell the difference between us and the Pharisee's and Saducees of Jesus' time. I hear the prayer of our LORD as he pleads, "Father, let them be one as we are one." And my heart sinks... I realize that I have to be like him. If Jesus were walking with us in the flesh today, where do you think he'd be hanging out? Not with the giants of theology and professors of religion..he'd be with people like me..and you...and people in San Francisco and New York who are broken and mired in their sin and he would be loving them..that is the church, that is our purpose. Since when did we suddenly become so enlightened that we no longer have concern for our broken brothers and sisters? When did mercy and grace become strange to us? The reason that we cannot fix this despondent society is because we have taken ourselves away from it and have set ourselves as it's judges. Jesus said to be seperate from the world..it's desires and idols..not it's people! We need to wake up church! He has called us..for a time such as this. -In the love and mercy of our LORD Jesus Christ, -Walter

I believe Paul said it best in Romans Chapter 7 when he was trying to explain the difficulties of the warring parties of the flesh and spirit. Can we be disobedient disciples...of course, in our flesh..but if our hearts are truly set on GOD than it is not us who are disobedient but rather our sinful nature which resides in the flesh. I am sure we have all found ourselves doing things that we wish we would not do and yet not doing things that we wish to do.. does this mean that we have turned away from our LORD?..I think not, no more so than a child turns away from his mother/father in his fits of rage. I believe it is sometimes a matter of growth and understanding..we live in the pain of our disobedience until we are reconciled to our father and we want not to do that again. Food for thought brothers and sisters. In the love of Christ, -Walt

I am not one to talk about the source or the orgin of sin by any stretch, but what I see is that Gideon's heart wasn't toward GOD and that was truly the manifestation of sin in his heart. His attention was drawn from GOD and given toward a "thing" a portion of the creation rather than the heart of the creator. I find all too often in my life that when I take my eyes from my LORD (usually to look at things that glitter and sparkel-something you fishermen should appreciate!) I end up off the path, over the hill and down in the gulley somewhere! It's really an awkward place to be because I know better. It is not the gift(s) that GOD gives us, it is what we intend in our hearts to DO with it. Our GOD is a GOD of love and mercy but he knows our hearts and just how desperately wicked they are...I believe that is why Jesus implores us to keep our eyes fixed on him and on his heart. My prayer would be that we would give up the urge to look elsewhere simply knowing that it is most likely not what GOD has intended for us and to keep our eyes and our ears, and most importantly our hearts open to his word and the sound of his voice so that we might see his hand on our lives and his breath in our ears and his blood in our hearts, coursing through our veins in the humble actions of his will. In your Holy name Jesus- Amen

Holy Smokes what a question??!!! I thank our Lord Jesus Christ that indeed we can and quite frequently are indeed disobedient. Otherwise we would all be doomed don't ya think? Hey folks, honestly, Jesus knows that this side of heaven we will never achieve the status of perfection, Paul reiterates this is his letter to the church in Philippi when he pens the wonderfully soothing words found in verses 12-16 of Chapter 3. ...Not that I have already attained or am already perfected..etc -NKJV We all find ourselves in compromising situations and we all fail in them at times...some more than others but it seems that we still have an advocate in Christ and only Satan would attempt to convince us otherwise. Yet we must always keep in mind the sobering reminder that our sin comes at a great cost... the cost of our precious LORD and savior to hang on the tree...lets not keep him there huh? Your brother in Christ, -Walt

Holy Smokes what a question??!!! I thank our Lord Jesus Christ that indeed we can and quite frequently are indeed disobedient. Otherwise we would all be doomed don't ya think? Hey folks, honestly, Jesus knows that this side of heaven we will never achieve the status of perfection, Paul reiterates this is his letter to the church in Philippi when he pens the wonderfully soothing words found in verses 12-16 of Chapter 3. ...Not that I have already attained or am already perfected..etc -NKJV We all find ourselves in compromising situations and we all fail in them at times...some more than others but it seems that we still have an advocate in Christ and only Satan would attempt to convince us otherwise. Yet we must always keep in mind the sobering reminder that our sin comes at a great cost... the cost of our precious LORD and savior to hang on the tree...lets not keep him there huh? Your brother in Christ, -Walt

Gideons response is very familliar. It seems that much time has passed since the generation of Israel's deliverance and Gideons current situation. He questions the validity of his forefathers faith and questions the prophet from that perspective. He feels that he and his people have been abandoned by GOD since they are under the cruel oppression of the Midianites. What I believe Gideon has missed is the "message" that GOD gave his people when he delivered them from Egypt. Gideon has not seen first hand the mighty works that GOD displayed before the people of Israel when he delivered them from Egypt and his faith is telltale of that alienation. But GOD set conditions for Israel when he delivered them from bondage..that was to forsake the idols of the land and to avoid the worship of those idols and the false religions they represent. Israel fell prey to the seductive influences of the peoples and their ways and turned from GOD to worship worthless idols. Kinda like our cars, houses, big screen TV's and such that we worship today huh? Israel had fallen into a trance of sorts with the alluring call of the fleshly gratifying practices of the Moabites and Midians who frequently indulged in sexual practices during worship services. GOD's purpose was to bring them back to a place of need. I see so many corellations to todays society that it is quite alarming. We may not have personally experienced any "miracles" lately but don't we have the Holy Spirit and his presence to guide us? We have also left our first love and allowed idol worship into our hearts..we simply call them by different names. I feel that in order for us to stop this incursion of idolatry in our lives we need to honestly consider what we are spending our time and our money on. If we look at our pocketbooks do we spend the majority of our wealth on "worthy" causes or "fleshly" ones? I noticed that Gideon begged the prophet to wait so that he could go and prepare a peace offering...a sacrifice if you will for his Lord. I believe that this is where it starts.

Hello my name is Walter Ice and I am In love with Jesus. I am from Richmond, Virginia and am a member of the Vineyard Church which just one small part of the body of Christ. I am looking forward to talking and studying with all of you as we start down this road together. God Bless!!