Purpose! Newsletter - March 2025

 Walk Circumspectly

Ephesians 5:15-20:

15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

In his final admonition concerning our Christian walk, the Apostle Paul challenges us to walk circumspectly. That is a good wrap-up word. Circumspectly means to live carefully, (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). In English the word originates from a Latin word which means to look around. Thusly, the exhortation is to be watchful and discreet; cautious; prudent: guarded, vigilant, careful. The believer should be aware of what is going on around him. There is an enemy going around seeking whom he may devour. Peter puts it this way: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8. Today that is not only true spiritually but physically also. There are those intent on misleading, deceiving, and even harming the innocent in both realms. Not heeding the exhortation aligns us with the silly or stupid person; a person who lacks judgment or sense, a fool.

The next verse, verse 16, is a continuation of the directive. Part of being wise is our use of our time. Evil days are upon us and require good time management. There is so much waste of time in this present age. That hand held device constantly demanding our attention, the hundreds of TV channels inviting us to the vegetative couch, the numerous sport activities to watch or take our children to. Alas, we don’t have time for prayer, the word, and, forget church. We can have groceries and meals delivered to our door, No need to go to the mall to shop. Everything we need we can have in a few hours or days. Just open the door and there it is. And all it took was a few minutes of ordering from our favorite electronic gadget. We have lots of time available to us. Are we using it wisely? The apostle Paul I think was taken by the Spirit and shown our days. He saw the perilous times of the last days, and of the coming of our Lord. And he saw the need to alert us to the perils of unhealthy time consumption. Redeeming the time he says. While we seemingly have more of it now we fill it with activities or inactivity that do not enhance our relationship with the Lord. Therein is the need for caution.

Let us consider the admonition, redeeming the time.

Redeem: to  buy up, to buy up. for one's self, for one's use.

Within the context of our discussion it is to make wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good, so that zeal and well doing are as it were the purchase money by which we make the time our own.

To buy up, i.e. ransom; figuratively, to rescue from loss (improve opportunity), buying up the opportunity.

Time is kairos, "a season," a time in which something is seasonable, i.e., making the most of every opportunity, turning each to the best advantage since none can be recalled if missed. Source: Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.

In other words, don’t waste time!

The days are evil indeed. It’s worse now than then. So in light of that let’s get it together, ascertain the will of the Lord for our lives and execute it in a timely fashion. Hallelujah!

The next verse begins with And, indicating the following is connected to the previous. While the topic of verse 18 can stand alone,  Paul seems to want it to be a sequitur to the exhortation on time. The consumption of alcohol is not considered a redemption of time.

Excessive drinking always leads to excessive behavior.

The best rule is to not drink and avoid the risk. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.

There is a parallel spiritual experience to which we are encouraged instead: But be filled with the Spirit.

No danger there. Against which there is no law.

Galatians 5:22,23 states it:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

You can have as much of that as you want.

So be filled with the Spirit in Pentecostal fashion, and allow his work in your life. You will definitely be a new and improved you! And given to wiser time management. Amen.

Now, another consequence of Spirit filled living is your language will be affected. With the initial physical evidence of being filled with the Spirit there is an immediate impact on your speaking faculties.

Acts 2:4 describes it.  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Again in Acts 4:31 their speech was affected differently. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. Spirit filled folks are not just about speaking in tongues. They are also powerful preachers and witnesses.

And then, in our aforementioned scriptures, being filled with the Spirit will enable us to be speakers of the word and singers of it.

Ephesians 5:19: Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

And the Holy Spirit will change your platitudes to gratitude.

Ephesians 5:20 says: Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

James 3:8 tells us: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

No man can, but the Holy Spirit will. Amen. -By PJ Flores-

And now a word from Pastor Shirley… 

Try the Spirits

1 John 4:1-3

1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

The passage in 1 John must be at the forefront of our minds as believers. With the advancement of technology, it is easier than ever to interact with all that is being said and done. A number of prophecies and “Biblical” teachings are readily available on “YouTube”, “Meta”, “X”, “Instagram”, and other online platforms; no wonder people get overwhelmed and are confused.

John tells us to “try the spirits whether they are of God.” Try is the Greek word dokimazō (G1381), which means to test, examine, prove, scrutinize (to see whether a thing is genuine of not). We cannot dismiss prophecy and teachings altogether; nor can we deem particular subjects to be completely true or completely false. Everything must be tried. The more you do it, the better you will be at recognizing what is true and what is false.

How can we tell if the spirit is true or not? Verse two states, “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” Verse three states the contrary, “and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.” Jesus said in John 16:13-14, “13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”

Any prophecy that comes against Jesus Christ in any way is not of God. Any prophecy that diminishes Jesus Christ is not of the spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is at work inside every believer.  He is not in conflict with who Jesus is or what He has done. As believers, we should not be in conflict with this either. -By Shirley Flores-

Reference

G1381 - dokimazō - Strong's Greek Lexicon (kjv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1381/kjv/tr/0-1/

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Apostle PJ greeting the children and widows

at our last meeting with our ministry partners

in Tenali, India.

Apostle PJ and some of the Indian pastors

singing praises to the Lord.

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Saint Patrick’s Day - March 17

Saint Patrick was a fifth century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigid of Kildare and Columba. Patrick was never formally canonized by the Catholic Church, having lived before the current laws it established for such matters. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, the Church of Ireland (part of the Anglican Communion), and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, where he is regarded as equal-to-the-apostles and Enlightener of Ireland.

The dates of Patrick's life cannot be fixed with certainty, but there is general agreement that he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the fifth century. According to tradition dating from the early Middle Ages, Patrick was the first bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, and is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland, converting a pagan society in the process. He has been generally so regarded ever since, despite evidence of some earlier Christian presence.

According to Patrick's autobiographical Confessio, when he was about sixteen, he was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Britain, taken as a slave to Ireland, and that he lived there for six years as an animal herder before escaping and returning to his family. After becoming a cleric, he returned to spread Christianity in northern and western Ireland. In later life, he served as a bishop, but little is known about where he worked. By the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland. Legend credits Patrick with teaching the Irish about the doctrine of the Holy Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a three-leafed plant, using it to illustrate the Christian teaching of three persons in one God.

Saint Patrick's Day, considered his feast day, is observed on March 17, the supposed date of his death. It is celebrated in Ireland and among the Irish diaspora as a religious and cultural holiday. In the Catholic Church in Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation. -Wikipedia- -PJF-

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