“Waking Up the Sleeping Giant” – Now Think On This by Steve Martin

April 1, 2020 Love For His People ministry Charlotte, NC USA

“How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?” Proverbs 6:9, NASU

Did the Lord just turn up the heat to get some of His people off the church pew, if they were still sitting there and not at home from years gone by?

Is our Lord waking up the sleeping giant?

If you have been on Facebook this past month, or any other social media, national and international news websites (forgetting about the talking heads on the TV tube more and more, who give 40 minutes of opinion and 5 minutes of news, with the rest of the hour taken up in paid advertising time), then you know the level and warmth of the rising water is heating up.

Take a look at this post I shared on my Facebook page on Monday, March 30, 2020 at 4:38 pm. I tried copying each and every response, but that would have taken up a lot more of this message white space than you or I would like to see, let alone read.

The large amounts of postings which followed the mug shot of Rodney Howard-Browne – posted on Christian websites – the revivalist pastor who brought to the sleeping church worldwide laughter and fire, starting in the 1990s (who even prior to “The Toronto Blessing, a term coined by British newspapers, refers to the Christian revival and associated phenomena that began in January 1994 at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church, which was renamed in 1996 to Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship and then later in 2010 renamed to Catch the Fire Toronto. Wikipedia) also brought a new spark of fire.

Yes, it looks like this pandemic coronavirus, COVID-19, which has brought fear and panic among many populous states in the USA and nations of the world, has lit a fire under the cold seats of the wooden pews and padded folding chairs of the churches.

Look at the following: the mug shot, my post, and the multitude of other comments (80 at this time of writing) that came forth.

Steve Martin  March 30 at 4:38 PM · 

Lord, let Your government rule on the earth. Let Your people gather to give You praise and honor. Stop the craziness.

14 Jane F Schultz, Jorge Parrott and 12 others

80 Comments1 Share

James Laura Bolen Not shame on the pastor. I commend him for standing up for his faith and not being a frightened sheeple. Where are people’s faith?? Shame on the government for doing that. People have bowed to the government even when the government tells you to defy God. I bet thousands would throw away their Bibles if the governors ordered it. Not enough Joshuas and Calebs these days. – L

Nita Brown Shame on the government for restricting freedom of religion and exercising faith that God can and will protect His people when they PEACEFULLY ASSEMBLE to worship him. This is an outrage and I hope Pastor Brown sues the ever-loving heck outta them and wins!!!!!!!!!

JanetMeadows Phiri Lets be in prayer for him

Rachel Anders What a joke! People are dying due to this virus but let’s sing the praises of a mad man for “standing up for his beliefs” even Jesus respected the authority of the government

Richard Scholtz They should charge him with negligent homicide if any of “his congregants die” — as much stupidity as the snake-handling stunt. 🤔🤔🤔 Another Jim Jones wannabe who will be sued by the survivors ….so much for his $$

Sandy Shepard 1Tim1:9

Karen D Marsh There’s several who think they are higher than the law

Michael Allerton He knows what the NWO is up to.

Cornelius Steyn I wish it was me

Ben Martin I’ll leave this one alone…

Robert Arthur McDuffie I read the statement made by Liberty Counsel who is representing this pastor. They met responsibly and abiding by all the guidelines and more. The truth is it would be safer to go to their church than your local Wal-Mart.

Kathy McPherson My question is in regard to the difference(s) between it being a business vs a place of worship…The law still permits worshiping God, it only states no more than 10 people and suggest those people be essential for, as an example, for running the appr…See More

Warren Marcus Christians break the law when they smuggle bibles into other countries or preach the gospel in hostile lands. The early church preached the gospel even though the Romans were hostile to it.
Paul was imprisoned by Rome fir preaching the gospel but continued to do so even as a prisoner

Tom Fahey Warren Marcus yes, but smuggling Bibles doesn’t cause people to contract a deadly disease.

Warren Marcus Tom Fahey – well if the people get caught with a smuggled bible given to them by a missionary might just have their head cut off

Kay Knop Kah-nup Warren Marcus Acts 4 …obey God or man?

Ron Cantor Warren Marcus, yeah, this is just like that…except RHB may have caused his own people to die instead of giving life.

Warren Marcus Ron Cantor – Florida Governor just made church services as “essential” and so did Texas

Warren Marcus That’s what Rodney wanted to happen

Steve Martin Great to see some energy coming forth from the believing community. Maybe this is what the Lord wants all along – to wake us all up and get on with His plans and purposes – getting the Gospel out, being lights in a dark and dying world. I say let’s do this.

Is the Lord above, knowing that the time is now for His church, His Body of Christ, get a fire lit under them so that He can wake the sleeping giant? Is His Father God letting us know that we don’t have decades left to get the job done, which He sent the Holy Spirit to equip and prepare us for these end times, to bring as many to salvation in His Name as would?

I think so. And I say again, which I posted on the same above, “Great to see some energy coming forth from the believing community. Maybe this is what the Lord wants all along – to wake us all up and get on with His plans and purposes – getting the Gospel out, being lights in a dark and dying world. I say let’s do this.”

And as a final thought…it won’t surprise me that sooner, if not later, this whole thing will be blamed on the Jews, as has so often happened and recorded in the history books of mankind, beginning with the Bible itself. (We just celebrated Purim – Queen Esther, Mordecahi and the evil Haman.) And when that happens, we pray that these same believers, who have caught the fire, will be there to assist our friends the Jews in making aliyah to their homeland, Israel.

Now think on this.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin, Founder/President  Love For His People, Inc.

SPECIAL NOTE: Our ministry’s new mobile app is available for iPhones and Androids is available. These are free app downloads! Look here: Love For His People free phone app

Please sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter: Now Think On This. The sign-up form is on our new ministry website: https://loveforhispeople.com

E-mail: loveforhispeople@gmail.com

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.  Others will be thankful you did. And I thank you too.

Now Think On This #497 – in the year of our Lord 04.01.2020 – “Waking Up the Sleeping Giant” – Wednesday, 5:45 pm in Charlotte, NC USA

“A Time to Pause and Rest” – Now Think On This by Steve Martin

 April 1, 2020  

April 1, 2020 Love For His People ministry in Charlotte, NC USA

“But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Daniel 12:4, NKJV

Over the decades I have learned a few things. One of them is that when you see the world’s culture go one way, you can bet (that is just a saying, so don’t get excited here) the Lord’s way is usually found to be going in the opposite direction.

Consider the word from Daniel given above, where it is written, “many shall run to and fro…” Has it not been, until recently due to government shutdowns, a most common occurrence in most societies these days? Running around, as the old saying goes, “With your head cut off”?

Have you ever been around someone that was going so fast that if you didn’t step out of their way you would have been literally run over?

Growing up I still to this day recall my Grandma Martin yelling at me from our front porch, to stop, when I about 10, as I started mowing our Cedar Falls, Iowa yard on one particular Sunday afternoon. Today we wouldn’t even give it a second thought to not do housework, shop, or anything else the other busy six days we fill our time with didn’t allow to happen.

But she was right, and we are wrong when we labor on what has been lost as a day of rest, given to us to enjoy.

Consider why the Lord Himself, the Creator of the Universe, had recorded in the very beginning, when life on earth began as we know it, “Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them. On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce.” Genesis 2:1-3, Complete Jewish Bible

If God Himself rested, and He knew it to be a good thing, should not we, as He did?

When we look at Scripture, the foundation of all that we should be standing on and building our life on, we find that there was given a time, each week, to rest from our work, to put down the tools of our trade – the hammers, the pens, the mobile phone, the shopping – and to just rest.

One of the main causes today of so much illness is simply because people have left the commands of the Lord, one of which is “for six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day,  a sabbath of complete rest to the Lord;” Exodus 35:2, NASU

You say, in your highly enlightened mind, that this doesn’t apply anymore today, that the Lord’s commands are not for us, but only for Jews, religious people, or those who still live in the “dark ages” and are not as brilliant now as we are?

Have you considered that the current forced shutdown imposed by many local and national governments may actually be of the Lord’s doing, causing us to slow down, stop, and consider His ways in the way we have been living?

Do you know that when those given as our example, the Jews in the Bible, the same Bible Christians are to be basing their lives on, didn’t follow the instruction of the Lord, that He forced them to rest, to have a “Sabbath” or more properly said, a “Shabbat” time?

Is it not pride in ourselves that we keep on running around, thinking we are accomplishing all this good through the abundance of activity we have and do 24/7, when in fact in the Lord’s eyes it may amount to nothing?

Is not selfish ambition, demonstrated through our constant push to achieve more, listed among the other evil works of the flesh?

“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,  idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21, NKJV

I believe the Lord has given many of us this “time out” to actually take the time to pause and rest; to consider what we have been doing all this time that has gone by already in our life. Has it been for us and our self-seeking purposes, or has it been for His plans and purposes to be fulfilled through the gifts and talents He has given to each of us, in order to do His thing, and not ours?

Are we working for Him, or have we been working for ourselves?

Take the time to reconsider what you have been doing, while you have been given this time. I believe it is He who has been the One giving it to you. Acknowledge Him in this fact.

So where have you been going? Is it time to re-consider, and seek Him to know? I think so.

Give it a rest. You will be happy, and healthier, when you do.

Now think on this.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin, Founder/President  Love For His People, Inc.

SPECIAL NOTE: Our ministry’s new mobile app is available for iPhones and Androids is available. These are free app downloads! Look here: Love For His People free phone app

Please sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter: Now Think On This. The sign-up form is on our new ministry website: https://loveforhispeople.com

You are welcome to help support the work of this ministry, including the assistance we give to families in Israel: DONATE online now. You can also send checks to: Love For His People P.O. Box 414 Pineville, NC 28134

E-mail: loveforhispeople@gmail.com

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.  Others will be thankful you did. And I thank you too.

Now Think On This #496 – in the year of our Lord 04.01.2020 – “A Time to Pause and Rest” – Wednesday, 5:45 am in Charlotte, NC USA

“It Will Come – The Lord’s Provision for Ministry” – Now Think On This by Steve Martin

    

March 18, 2020

“After Athens, Paul went to Corinth. That is where he discovered Aquila, a Jew born in Pontus, and his wife, Priscilla. They had just arrived from Italy, part of the general expulsion of Jews from Rome ordered by Claudius. Paul moved in with them, and they worked together at their common trade of tentmaking.” Acts 18:1-3, THE MESSAGE

Paul made tents. Or as most understood in the Jewish craftsmen trade, tallits. Non-Jews, Gentiles, would know these as prayer shawls. These are the large head coverings used in prayer and sometimes, when needed, as protective clothing against the wind and rain. For those who have had the joy and honor of going to the Western Wall (the Kotel) in the Old City of Jerusalem, it is good seeing the men (and some women) praying in earnest with their tallits covering their heads.

Men wearing tallits at the Western Wall (Kotel) – Photo by Steve Martin, 2019

Here in the USA, most synagogues have them available before entrance into the main auditorium for gatherings, should you not have your own with you. As a Gentile, I never do, though I have one at home.

How do I know that the English word used here in Acts 18, “tentmaking” in Hebrew would be “tallit”? Because a Jewish man explained this verse in Acts to me. This good friend, a Messianic Jew who Love For His People ministry assists with monthly provision, also labors in a trade in Israel. Being indebted to the Jews for what they have given Christians also (Bible, Messiah, Prophets), we consider it our privilege and duty to bless his work in the Land of Israel.

As several of you may know, who have read my books or have known of my history, I served with three ministries in the USA for 24 years, as Director, Administrator, and/or Accountant. Usually, it was both the administration and the accounting positions at the same time. Each of these three organizations had a primary interest in Israel and the Jews. One organization’s founders resided five miles west of Jerusalem, with an American office that I ran for 5 years, prior to beginning Love For His People in 2010.

As one very attuned to the vast financial and operational cost of these ministries, I made a commitment that when I started a ministry, our income would come from resources other than the monthly mass appeal letter choice, which is very common with large (and small) ministries. And yet I had a difficult time justifying all the time and expense, needing paid staff and constant volunteers, outside contractors for specific portions of the job, and just the overall expense of scheduled monthly appeals (“opportunity letters” as one called them).

I personally committed to not do that and would trust the Lord with other means of provision.

Being I had left the $70,000 job in 2010, with full benefits, medical, vacation and more, one simply does not cover that income loss by trusting in family and friends to “come forth”, even though a good handful did. I had to get part-time work to pay our personal house mortgage, car payment, and everything in between. With my good wife’s income from her daycare job. The Lord did provide and give some great ways to cut expenses at the same time. It is amazing what you think you need but don’t when you really don’t have that extra to shell out.

But in all of this, and even if it took a while, the Lord has shown me that I too can be as Paul, and be a “tentmaker”, which in turn would bring in provision for the ministry work He has called us to do.

Yeshua HaMashiach

And thus, through my accounting contract jobs, the funds came, and continue to do so. Right into the ministry’s bank account, too. No personal taxes deducted. Nothing.

We are grateful for the ones who have joined alongside us in sharing their financial gifts, seeing the need, knowing the work that is done – provision for those we do support with extra gifts, along with with the outreach through social media, book publication, and teaching opportunities given to advance the Kingdom of God.

I wanted to write this testimony to let you know that there are more than the “usual” ways most ministries operate in having income to fund the mission.

As the Lord has given me the skill in accounting to do it, you too may be wanting to have a ministry outreach, and He will have you use your years of experience, training and skills developed, to also have a service or trade in order to provide for your ministry work.

And yes, Love For His People ministries does accept and receive all gifts, small or large, with thankful hearts! https://loveforhispeople.com/donate/

As one closing thought, here is a word from the Word, that I practice very often, because I believe it, and found He is true to His Word.

“But the generous person devises generous things, and his generosity will keep him standing.” Isaiah 32:8, Complete Jewish Bible

Now think on this.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin, Founder/President Love For His People, Inc.

See the Love For His People app?

SPECIAL NOTE: Our ministry’s new mobile app is available for iPhones and Androids is available. These are free app downloads! Look here: Love For His People free phone app

Please sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter: Now Think On This. The sign-up form is on our new ministry website: https://loveforhispeople.com

COMING July 10-11, 2020

LOOK HERE: Aliyah event in Charlotte, North Carolina region

You are welcome to help support the work of this ministry, including the assistance we give to families in Israel: DONATE online now. You can also send checks to: Love For His People P.O. Box 414 Pineville, NC 28134

E-mail: loveforhispeople@gmail.com

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.  Others will be thankful you did. And I thank you too.

Now Think On This #491 – in the year of our Lord 03.18.2020 – “How It Will Come – The Lord’s Provision for Ministry” Wednesday, 6:30 am in Charlotte, NC USA