"Stop, Look, & Listen"

The other day I was contemplating on what lengths we cause God to go to sometimes just to get our attention. Many times we get so busy within our own little worlds with things that are "yes important" such as family, ministry, career, entertainment, etc. that we often forget to "Stop, Look, & Listen" for the MOST IMPORTANT. What's that you ask. GOD!

God yearns to have constant dialogue with His children. Not once a month, once a week, but on a daily basis. He often speaks to us but because our antenna is not synchronized to the Holy Ghost radio signal we don't even hear Him. Imagine if Abraham's spirit wouldn't of been in tune with God's Spirit when he had the knife raised in the air ready to come down upon his son Issac. He would of not heard God's voice "Lay not thy hand upon the lad". Needless to say the story in Genesis would of been a lot different.

If we desire to hear Gods voice, have a healthy relationship with Him, & not miss His will in our lives we (I'm including myself here) must "Stop, Look, & Listen" on a daily basis. Stop to speak to God (PRAY), Look at His word (STUDY), and Listen for His voice (THAT'S WHEN WE STOP TALKING).

Now I could already hear somebody saying "Whatcha talkin bout Willis"! "My relationship with God is good"! "I mean just look at how saturated my calendar is with ministry & activities for God"! My response to you is I've heard that one before. Where you may ask. Matthew 7: 22-23 "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works"? Let me stop here and say WOW! These dudes were heavy duty. In our day they'd be considered superstars. Just look at their resume. Prophesying (with accuracy), Casting out devils (like it aint no thang), & many wonderful works (talk about a miracle crusade). To their surprise the Lord's response wasn't "Man you guys were awesome", no it was more like "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity". God dropped the "I never knew you" BOMB on them. How is this possible? Surely we would expect these guys that apparently had it all together, to have it all together".

When I read this passage of scripture for the first time it scared me half to death. After the nightmares stopped about this passage I began to look at how this could be. The only thing I was able to discover (bare with me here) was when Jesus tells these apostolics "I never knew you" the Greek word he uses for knew is (ginosko) which is defined as "to become acquainted with, to know, & it's a Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman". In other words "INTIMACY". Kind of like in Genesis 4: 1 "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived...". Or like in Luke 1: 34 "Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man"? I realized that more important than being a superstar in ministry is to have an intimate relationship with God. My Pastor has always said "God is more interested in who we are in him, than what we could do for him".

So here's a word to the wise. Why not "Stop, Look, & Listen" before God makes us "Stop, Look, & Listen". Perhaps through a dilemma with no way out, or a hospital bed such as I found myself in a few weeks back. What about a jail cell. Extreme you say. Maybe, maybe not. Don't force God to get your attention. God loves you so much he'd rather we suffer a little now than an eternity later. 2 Peter 3: 9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance".

Dad Always said "When It Rains It Pours"

January's calendar started out not overly saturated. I was scheduled to teach a 4 part series to our adult bible class, on the calendar to preach once on Sunday & Tuesday January 12Th would be the start of our family cell group. Also on the calendar was our monthly ministerial training class & a leadership appreciation dinner. Definitely looking forward to that.

Week 1: Well I started a 4 part series on the book of Esther, it was awesome, it even amazed me. What a book! Maybe I'll go into detail at a later time. I'll give you this much "God has called you for such a time OF OPPORTUNITY as this".

Week 2: Driving to Sunday service I got a last minute call to fill in for Pastor to preach. I usually carry an emergency message with me & I of course I could always put in a re-run, but hey were talking about people coming to receive a fresh word from the Lord. Que No? Instead of taking the easy way out I preached a fresh word from the Lord. You must understand I didn't actually receive the message until I walked into the church building. I went "A Capella" (without notes). Talk about nerve racking! Well needless to say God did many miracles & 3 visitors were liberated from demon possession. PRAISE GOD, the devil is definitely defeated!Still in week 2 went ahead with our family cell group in my home as planned. We started off with a short word & a good time of prayer. Actually had a few neighbors stop by on our first night. Wow! It was a very refreshing time.It started to rain on me Wednesday (not in a positive way either). What happened you ask? ATTACK OF THE PINK EYE, RUUUNNN! Thank God I got it under control before Thursday night bible study where I was sharing part 2 of the Esther series. You must know I was determined to step behind the pulpit with one eye. May I say part 2 was powerful! We finished off week 2 with a leadership appreciation dinner @ the Radisson. Oh ya Italian food. Bless Pastor! Hey my last name is Russi & Italian food runs through my blood.

Week 3: The rain started to pour. It started of great with Pastor preaching an awesome message on Sunday & our monthly ministerial training class on Tuesday where Brother Anthony shared an excellent lesson on finding our gifts & place in God. I left that class dreaming BIG!Before part 3 of the Esther series on Thursday (here comes the bad news) I received a phone call that my Grandpa had a serious stroke. Oh no! No way to get out of town due to the Arizona winter storm that stopped all flights & closed interstate 8 to San Diego (that's where my Grandpa was in the hospital) & with much on my mind I decided to teach the Thursday night bible study & head out of town Friday morning. Thank God the storm ceased. We headed out to L.A. to pick up my Mom. My wife & I got drenched the night before after bible study our van was soaked & Friday morning the van stunk to high heaven. We got to L.A. in record time, coincidence? the book of Esther taught us better (may of had something to do with the damp stinkiness of the van), whatever it was we arrived in West Covina (love that city, some day will plant an end time apostolic church there). Picked up Mom, Carlos & Noah & headed out to San Diego.Grandpa was doing bad! I was able to lay my hands on him & pray the prayer of faith. My Grandpa is getting up there, 80 something but why not 100. Well anyways I had the privilege of baptizing my Grandpa in Jesus name a few years ago in L.A. while I preached for Pastor Joel Ledezma in South Gate, CA. Before I finish up week 3 let me add we stopped for some tacos in San Diego "Tacos El Gordo" in Belmont Park it had to be a fake one because it was literally the worst carne asada taco I had ever tasted. I took one bite & WA-CA-TE-LA! To the trash. I should of know better when the guy in the taco stand was Arabian or something. Nothing against Arabians but come on selling tacos!

Week 4: Caught the Sunday service via online http://www.phoenixapostolic.com/ thank God for online service. Well had to get back to Phoenix for work. E.O.M. week, very demanding. Made it back on Wednesday spent some extra time with Mom. I know I was definitely feeling much pain due to my Grandpas stroke. You know me in Phoenix, he's in San Diego, & Mom, Sis & family in L.A. Talk about heart ache. With all that I had part 4 of the Esther series coming up. I didn't have much time to prepare for this one but I was ready to go.Thursday morning woke up a little nauseous, but miss another day of work no way. Headed to work via I-10 east. It wasn't 1 hour into the shift & off to the restroom & I blew chunks all over the place ( I had to clean it up). On break headed to Walgreen's picked up some pepto, crackers, 7up, & water. Soon as I got back from break off to the restroom again. You may of thought I was off to Santa Anita (inside joke, never mind). Blew chunks again, time to go home. "Boss I know its E.O.M. but what can I do". When I got home strait to the restroom you could imagine. Thank God for my wife, she took care of me. I was hoping to feel better & teach but I knew this time something was not right. Pastor filled in for me & I finally took my wife's advice & headed to the emergency room (it wasn't till midnight I actually heeded to my wife's advise). To make a long story short even though that emergency room wait was nothing but short. It turned out to be appendicitis. I went under the knife early Friday morning. Missed a 10 days of work, depleted my sick time. No pay! That's when I heard the words of my Dad the late Thomas Leroy Russi "Son, When it rains, it pours"!

Maybe this blog sounds like a bunch of complaining. Believe me I'm not. I'll close with these encouraging words from the Apostle Paul in Romans 8: 28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose".