By pastorbillwalden
The world is full of negativity and sadness. That is a huge understatement. Even the Church has plenty of sad challenges within its four walls; God’s people are not immune to tragedy and setbacks. I have pastored since 1989…I have seen much within the church that can break one’s heart. Many times, my heart has been broken over the effects of sin within the church. 
It seems that in the minds of some church leaders, the solution to sadness and negativity is to never talk about it. I think that the motivation to encourage people is a good intention. People need to be encouraged, and church is a great place for that to happen.
All that being so, I am concerned about what I believe is an unhealthy trend in many churches. There is a deliberate avoidance in talking about sin or judgment. The Body of Christ isn’t warned against straying from God, but instead is taught about how Jesus can improve your life. The unbeliever isn’t warned about fleeing the wrath to come, but is told that Jesus will fill the emptiness of their heart.
I DO believe that Jesus improves the life of His followers, and that he DOES fill a believer’s heart, but that is NOT the full preaching of the Gospel, nor is it the full counsel of the Word of God.
I think that some pastors are failing.
I don’t say that because I feel superior to anyone. I say that because some pastors are not teaching their congregations all of God’s Word, but only selected portions. In doing so, they are not making mature disciples, but only meeting the felt needs of the people. They are teaching from the Bible, but they are not teaching the Bible. There is a huge difference between those two practices.
Chicken Legged Disciples and the search for deeper teaching…
Read more »
By pastorbillwalden
I used to never want to post articles that covered the material that follows. I was fearful that people would think that I was complaining or wanted sympathy. 
The Apostle Paul spoke candidly about his challenges, sufferings, and difficulties. He did so to further the Gospel. It is in that spirit that I post this link.
I complain to God, my wife, and a few friends. I don’t want sympathy…I love being a pastor. But for the sake of whoever this might help…please read. Blessings.
Click HERE.
By pastorbillwalden
In the Spring of 2012, I decided to try a gluten free diet. I stumbled upon the idea while in a doctor’s appointment for my mom. She is diabetic, and her sugar levels had been a little high. The doctor reminded her about what her diet ought to look like, and then mentioned being careful about eating too much bread.
When you eat bread, it converts to sugar in your body. The doctor also mentioned that it adds belly fat. THAT caught my attention. :-/ I got home and started researching gluten free diets and weight loss, and then discovered another stream of thought regarding gluten and migraine headaches. 
My internet research revealed that many people were testifying that gluten free diets had significantly reduced their migraine headaches. I am currently 57 years old (2013), and started getting migraines when I was about 23. Over the years, I have taken a lot of medication to control the pain, but I have always been worried about the long term side effects. One of my doctors told me that a long term side effect of one of my meds was that I would be pre-disposed to a stroke. :-(
In those 34 years, I have missed thousands of hours of life, missed family gatherings, work, and recreation time. I have cried, thrown up, moaned, and been sequestered in my bedroom with ice bags on my head and the room pitch black. Even after a migraine has subsided, there is what I call a “migraine hangover”, but what is more popularly called “brain fog”.
Even when I wasn’t suffering with migraine, I had brain fog most days. It is what it sounds like; an impaired ability to think clearly and process information. Brain fog makes it difficult to find the right words for conversation or form clear sentences. If you have known me for a while, and have sometimes wondered “what my problem was”, there is part of the explanation.
Adopting a gluten free diet has been absolutely life changing. My migraines have been reduce by 90%. That is unbelievable. The brain fog has almost totally disappeared. Another benefit of a gluten free diet has been a huge reduction in muscle aches. Bread turns to sugar, and too much sugar in your body creates stiffness in your muscles. I was constantly stiff and achey before going gluten free. The muscle pain has greatly decreased since going gluten free.
People ask me if it has been difficult to maintain a gluten free diet. The answer is a resounding and exclamatory NO! Considering the pain that I have suffered over the years, I am highly motivated to maintain a gluten free life. My life has radically changed for good since cutting gluten out of my life. Pain and loss of living is a strong motivator to not eat gluten.
There are many good resources online regarding gluten free living. If you suffer with migraine, muscle aches, or IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), or if you have constant stomach pain…consider going gluten free for a few weeks and see how you feel. I noticed an improvement in three days.
Here is a link that can get you started on gluten free living. Blessings…
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gluten-free-diet/my01140
By pastorbillwalden
There is so much I want to tell you, and hear from you, but… 
It’s difficult.
I don’t know if I will drive you away, make you mad, make you sad, or be misunderstood. There are those who would tell me that my feelings don’t matter, and that the truth must be told, whatever the cost. Yeah, I understand that…tell that to my heart.
I am telling the truth right now. I worry about you…I wonder about you…I pray for you…I ache for you. Yeah, I do.
There are a thousand million “truths” out there in the world, and I very humbly but very firmly believe I have found “the” truth. I believe in Jesus.
I know that you say you do too, but I wonder if you really do. Who am I to judge, you ask. You can consider me a busy body, a self righteous snob, or a loving friend…that’s up to you. No, I don’t know your heart, but Jesus said that “from the treasures of the heart, the mouth speaks”, and I hear you saying and see you doing things that cause me concern. (Matthew 12:34)
OK…here I go…
Read more »
By pastorbillwalden
I am a follower of Jesus.
Like you, I am faced with choices, desires, options, and possibilities. Some options are obviously contrary to the heart of God, and so I know not to consider them as viable. But what about those other options? What about my desires, dreams, and hopes? Everyone has them, or had them at one time.
As a follower of Jesus, there are many paths that are considered acceptable by my church culture. If I want to pursue something, and it has a “Jesus element” to it, then I usually get approval by most people that I know. There are other activities that are considered good and acceptable by my popular culture, and are not obviously “wrong”, and so once again I receive a nod of approval.
Following Jesus is completely contrary to the two scenarios that I have just described. Neither public approval nor my church culture approval is enough to validate a trajectory for my life. My own desires, predispositions, and tendencies are not to be the compass for my existence. Someone has said that, “the enemy of the best is the good”. It is incredibly easy to be a few degrees off regarding what one ought to be doing with their life. A few degrees off doesn’t seem like much when a pilot first takes off, but obviously, the further he flies, the more off course he gets. Such can be the outcome of a person’s life. We can be well intentioned, but way off course. We can “land” in a place that is distant from where we should have landed.
To some I may sound idealistic. To others, legalistic and confined. I have considered those possibilities as well. I have wondered if I ought not allow myself to be more free, to follow the impulses and passions of my heart.
As I understand it, following Jesus is neither a matter of pragmatism, or logic. Pragmatism dictates that we ought to do the things that “works”. Logic is the thing that seems obvious.
A Christian man might be a very talented athlete, with a great possibility of a professional career. Pragmatism and logic would dictate that that is the course he ought to pursue, but it may not necessarily be the path that God has chosen for him. Just because a man can follow a path and be successful at it doesn’t mean that he should. Two examples of this come to mind: Jim Elliot, and Eric Liddell. Both men were incredibly gifted athletes, but both set aside their athletic pursuits to pursue a greater prize.
People undoubtedly called Elliot and Liddell foolish for choosing Christian service over athletic careers, but both men stayed their courses as they felt led by God, and their lives and deaths have become models of faith for the Christian Church. Pragmatism and logic would have dictated different paths for Elliot and Liddell. Their personal passion for sports, coupled with their athletic talents would have seemed to be evidence of an athletic career, but the Spirit of God had a greater plan.
Let me conclude with some scripture that points to what I am suggesting.
Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
John 8:29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.
Both Paul and Jesus could have been incredibly successful in the eyes of the world if they had chosen different paths. Paul would have been a shaper of culture, a great author, and a philosopher. Jesus could have changed the temporary course of history for Israel by driving out the Romans, and He would have been an amazing king.
Aren’t we glad that neither of them chose the good instead of the best? Aren’t we glad that they did not allow pragmatism and logic to dictate their actions?
Dear reader, if you are a Christ follower, don’t miss the best because you choose the good. Don’t allow pragmatism or logic to dictate you life path. Just because you can do something well, and because you have a passion for it doesn’t mean that those pursuits should be the focus of your life. God may allow you to pursue some things as part time hobbies, but keep the main thing the main thing.
By pastorbillwalden
As I look back upon that night, I see myself again
I am there among the twelve, pledging my love
You had said that we would turn away, every single man
You had said that we’d would forsake the one we love
And then it was night
And then there was darkness
And then I was sleeping
As you poured out your soul
Oh how could it be, and how was it then?
How could you love this master of sin?
I turned away, just as you said
But still you loved me
You knew I would fail, you knew I would lie
You knew you would look deep into my eyes
You knew I would weep, hating my sin
But still you loved me, still you loved me
That dark day passed and then the next, we hid for fear of death
That the ones who hated you would come for us
And the third day came, but the shame remained, my life just seemed to end
For the faith I thought so strong had turned to dust
But then there were voices
Then came the story
They said that you lived again
Calling my name
Oh how could it be, and how was it then?
How could you love this master of sin?
I turned away, just as you said
But still you loved me
You knew I would fail, you knew I would lie
You knew you would look deep into my eyes
You knew I would weep, hating my sin
But still you loved me, still you loved me
By pastorbillwalden
On Sept. 11, the U.S. embassy in Libya was attacked by terrorists. Our government said that Muslims were outraged by a video which mocked the Prophet Mohammed. (I saw the video. It was very disrespectful and wrong to make). In the view of our government (at least in their words) they claimed that the religious mocking of a highly esteemed person of Islam actually provoked the murder of innocent civilians. 
What might our government say about this very similar mocking of Jesus Christ by Jamie Foxx? Jamie Foxx’s words were very clearly the language of the Bible regarding Jesus. The Christian faith considers Jesus Christ as God, not just a prophet.
I would bet my lunch money that though Christians will object to this verbally, no embassies will be burned, and no one will be murdered. Something to think about.
I will be looking online to see if Jamie has an explanation for his statement.
Juxtaposition: an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.
Here is Jamie’s statement regarding Obama.
By pastorbillwalden
If you don’t know the story of Chicken Little, here is a brief synopsis. 
The main line of the story has to do with a chicken who has an acorn fall on her head, and then proclaims “the sky is falling”. The point that I get from the story is that the chicken over-reacts to an event, and makes more of it than what it actually is.
Among the Body of Christ, there may be some that have the Chicken Little mentality regarding the re-election of Barack Hussein Obama. They might be believing that all is lost, that the nation is crumbling, and that the end is near.
In some ways I agree, but I am not wringing my hands this morning after America has re-elected Obama. I did not vote for him, and I don’t like his philosophy of how to run a country. I do believe that our nation is deteriorating on a moral level. I would not be surprised to see a total financial collapse in my lifetime. I would not be surprised if eventually the Church has to go under ground.
I worry about my children and grandchildren’s future. In many ways, life may be harder for them than it has been for me.
But…none of this should surprise or undermine the faith of the Bible believing Christian. We have been told ahead of time how things will come to a close.
1 Timothy 3:1-5a 1But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having a form of godliness but denying its power.
If you are a Bible believing Christian, you have been taught that such things will increasingly come to pass as time goes on. Election 2012 should not shake you, if you view the results as lining up with this passage.
Dear brethren: The church of Jesus Christ shall not fail. Jesus said so. Matthew 16:18 tells us, “on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it“.
Finally, I direct your hearts to this incredible passage in Ephesians. Take time today to think on this passage. Take it in deeply. It is an amazing truth.
Ephesians 1:15-23 15Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,21far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.22And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
May I invite you to read my sermon notes on this passage? They can be found here. God’s great power is working in us, His people, His church.
If, like Chicken Little, we focus on the fact that “the sky is falling”, remember that we are saved by the God who owns the heavens.
Psalm 89:11 11 The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all its fullness, You have founded them.
My hope for every Follower of Jesus is that we would not be like Chicken Little, who had nothing but a sense of doom and gloom, but that we be Believers who understand the increasing severity of the world’s situation would have more hope than anyone on the planet.
Maranatha…come Lord Jesus.
By pastorbillwalden
I am blessed to be a contributing author for calvarychapel.com
Here is a recent article I wrote for them.
http://calvarychapel.com/blog/a-special-kind-of-joy
