Surviving the Spiritual Storms – A Weekend of Charges and Conviction in the Remnant Fellowship

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock…”

Matthew 7:24

Today, read Jesus’ story of the Wise and Foolish Builders in Matthew 7:24-29…It uncovers so much about the heart! We must examine the foundation of our heart – check down in the basement and see what your house is built on! Check your time, money, thoughts, actions, desires — what percent of your mind, time, money, gifts, and love are given back to God by using them according to His will? The answer needs to be 100%. If you are holding back on your obedience to God, you are greedy and idolatrous and will have no inheritance (Eph. 5:5). Everything you have built and everything you have worked for will be washed away – gone – and you will have wasted your time for nothing. A wasted life. The only foundation is the ROCK that Jesus laid – all your heart, soul, mind, and strength for God (Luke 10:27). THIS focus and foundation will leave you standing after the storm! Read this today and examine your foundation…

– by Gwen Shamblin – “The Wise And Foolish Builders” – Excerpt from a Post on the www.weighdownchronicles.com website

AMEN to those powerful words!  And on that note, storms swept through middle Tennessee last week, and GOD’S Spirit moved through Gwen Shamblin to organize a Sabbath Assembly that warned, convicted, and encouraged us.  Following a blessed Feast of Harvest 2012 weekend, the Spirit prompted her to let everyone know that any bit of deliberate sin left in the heart would leave us vulnerable as the SPIRITUAL storms and tests sweep through.  We were asked… Are GOD and His Church EVERYTHING to you?  Are you doing everything you can to be pure (personally) and to make sure your family is connected to GOD?
Or are you on the outskirts…half-hearted and only partially involved in what GOD is doing?  Gwen’s charge on the Sabbath Day, along with supportive testimonies from three of our Leaders – Kent Smith, Chris Ancona, and Tedd Anger – stirred the hearts of this Church, and as GOD has shown time and time again, His words spoken through Gwen did not fall to the ground.  We walked away from our Sabbath morning time together RESOLVED and READY…to CHANGE!  Praise GOD for conviction, perfect timing, and for the TRUTH!
After a beautiful morning of reflection upon the Feast of Harvest and a charge to keep changing, the evening provided lots more FELLOWSHIP and LEARNING opportunities.  A large group of our young MEN (college-aged, young married, and single) went camping, and the time spent outdoors in GOD’S beautiful creation, along with valuable devotional and prayer time, proved to be priceless to all who attended.  In fact, Brandon Hannah and Jonathan Walters (two of the men who helped to oversee the trip) shared from their hearts about how grateful they were and how much everyone enjoyed building further their relationships with each other as brothers in Christ…and how this time strengthened their relationships with GOD.

“Praise God for a blessed and purposeful camping trip.  Gwen’s Sabbath charge to have no passions/loves before God totally set the stage for the weekend.  Her description of a true baptism through confession and repentance convicted all of our hearts and it was evident through the conversations and actions of all there.  We are truly grateful for this conviction and for God continuing to pour out Truth through Gwen that leads to real change!  As a result of that, we had a truly blessed trip: great activities like paintball and caving, but the highlight was certainly getting to call in to hear Gwen address the youth and parents, a devotional time with confessions, repentance, testimonies, and prayer, and an awesome time of fellowship.  God blessed this to be more than just a camping trip…but truly a purposeful time to get stronger and sharpen one another…which ultimately made the trip a blast!  We were so encouraged by the responses from these Remnant young men to confess, take Gwen’s charge seriously, and want to get it totally right!  What an incredible opportunity we have to find a relationship with God!  We, like this group, are more in love with Him after this weekend and are more charged to put Him first in everything!” – Brandon Hannah, Jonathan Walters

And to wrap up what was a powerful day, Gwen did indeed gather with the high school and college-aged Youth…along with their parents…and she issued not just a charge to total purity, but also an incredibly practical list of tips regarding respect, authority, parenting, evangelism, how to use your time, and ultimately…how ALL of this reflects your relationship with GOD.  Getting to soak up the wisdom that was shared felt like getting a Ph.D. in relationships between parents and their teenage/20-something children!

Suffice it to say, just the Sabbath Day ALONE was FULL of life-changing Truth, worship, and fellowship.  Who are we…in this beautiful Church…to get such wisdom from the Heavens given to us on an ongoing basis?  May we never take it for granted!  To close, the GOD we worship is the GOD of Heaven and Earth…He is truly the “Maker of the Skies.”  Keep this song, written by Michael Shamblin, and the music video close to your heart.  Watch it again and again…as you reflect upon, love, and obey the Almighty GOD.