Another Coffee Break

Another Coffee Break - By Regner Capener

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Preparing the Bride of Christ For His Return By Janet Van Hierdan

Preparing the Bride of Christ For His Return By Janet Van Hierdan

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Wednesday, August 12, 2015

ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: A REVELATION OF GOD'S GLORY, Part 1

10:48 PM | Posted by | | Edit Post

Another Coffee Break:
A Revelation of God's Glory, Part 1

August 14, 2015

A few months ago, Bruce Allen asked if I would pray about sharing in a prophetic conference to be held in Spokane.  When I asked him what the anticipated theme of the conference was going to be, he told me that what was in his spirit was to share on the Glory of the Lord -- more specifically, the Shekinah Glory.

Have to admit, that's not a subject I've ever shared despite some pretty extraordinary experiences throughout the past 70-plus years.  As the weeks went by, Holy Spirit began to download so many things in my spirit that I honestly felt a bit overwhelmed.  I realized that in spite of some personal experiences there were many layers of understanding and revelation that needed to be peeled back.

Even as I began sharing during the conference a few weeks ago, the downloads continued.  Bruce's sharing at the conference was revelatory all by itself, but the Lord was faithful to show up for those of us involved in the ministry as well as those who were in attendance.  While Reg Smith was leading the worship (Rich & DeAngela and Della & I provided some accompaniment) the presence of the Lord became so intense that it became difficult to stand.

Bruce was getting ready to share so we headed to our chairs on the front row.  Della and DeAngela were already tipsy from drinking of the Spirit.  I'd been sitting on my guitar stool up to this point and hadn't stood on my feet for awhile.  When I got to my chair, I realized that my legs were buckling under me and reached out to grab Della for some stability.  That didn't work too well.  Down Della went, with me across her.  It was humorous, but at the same time, Holy Spirit was continuing to pour His presence into us.

That said, in the next few weeks, I'd like to try and share some of the things the Lord has been saying, and perhaps give you a glimpse into where God is taking His people -- as well as what is required of us if we are going to be a part of the revealing of God's Glory in the earth.

Let’s begin by considering the vast scope of God's Glory, and just what the Lord means when He speaks of His Glory.  We can start by putting this picture in its context as Moses, who is chosen by the Lord to lead Israel, wants to get a grasp of who the Lord really is.

God has shown Himself in the Cloud and in the Pillar of Fire, and made known the fact that His Glory is being manifested as the Cloud settles over the Tabernacle, but Moses doesn’t really KNOW the Lord yet, and he wants a personal revelation.

Exodus 33:12-23:  And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.

Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.   And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.   For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight?  is it not in that thou goest with us?  So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.

And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.   And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.  And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.   And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:  And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:  And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

Let’s break down this conversation and consider first what Moses is saying to the Lord.
His response to the Lord is essentially, “Lord, you say that you know me, but I don’t really know you.”  Here is an amplified translation of what comes next as Moses pursues his question and need to understand what God is really asking of Him.

Now, if you would, [Lord], I beg of you, if I have found favor and acceptance in how you see me, reveal to me your innermost thoughts and heart’s desires; help me to see what you see, to know the path you’ve set for me and for this nation.  (My desire) is to become pleasing to you, to find complete acceptance with you.  Let’s not forget that Israel — this nation — is your chosen nation and people.  (Exodus 33:13, RAC Translation and Amplification)

And God responds by giving to Moses the first indications of what His Glory will mean to Moses — and to Israel.

And God said, The face of my visible presence will precede you and accompany you, and I will cause you to be at peace and breathe easily.  (Exodus 33:14, RAC Translation & Amplification)

Now, Moses takes advantage of God’s promise and makes it his personal criterion for accepting the commission and mandate to lead Israel through the wilderness to the land of promise.

And he (Moses) responds saying, If the face of your visible presence does not precede and accompany us, then do NOT lead or take us [to that land.]  Because how else is it going to be  known [among the nations] that I (as the leader) and this nation as Your People have found favor and acceptance with you?  Won’t it be because you precede us and accompany us?  By this means we will be regarded as distinguished and set apart — I and this nation as Your People from every other tribe, nation and people spread across the face of the earth.  (Exodus 33:15-16, RAC Translation and Amplification)

Now we come to God’s answer to Moses, and we set the stage for a revelation of His Glory.

And the Lord answered and declared to Moses, I will perform this word exactly as you have requested and required, for you have indeed found favor and acceptance with me, and I know of a surety your character, your makeup, your honor and trustworthiness and your integrity [with me].  (Exodus 33:17, RAC Translation & Amplification)

So now, Moses is going to take advantage of God’s approval of him.

Then, Lord, if you will, reveal to me and allow me to experience your Glory.  (Exodus 33:18, RAC Translation & Amplification)

Are you ready?  Ready to see just what makes up the Glory of the Lord?  Then buckle your seatbelt!

And He answered, I will cause the entirety of Myself, My Kingdom, My fairness, beauty, joy, prosperity and goodness, and My discernment, to transition in phases by and upon you; I will address and pronounce the nature, the character, the makeup the personality of Yod Hey Vav Hey (Jehovah) to you personally; I will [demonstrate to you that I] bestow favor, acceptance and mercy on whom I choose to show my love, favor, acceptance and mercy.

And He continued: you cannot see my face (or see into my eyes) because it is not possible for any person of the Adamic seed to see and experience my face (or see into me) and live, or continue in life.

And the Lord, continuing in His promise, said, Watch!  Pay attention, now!  There is a space here next to me where I will station you, and have you stand on a cliff.
At the same time, while My Glory moves and transitions past you, I will place you in a crevice in the rock and screen you in, covering and overshadowing you with the hollow of my hand while I pass by.

As soon as I pass, I will remove my hand which has been covering you, and you will get to see all that I have done — all of time past [from the beginning of Creation] up to the present — but you’ll not get to see and experience my face (or see into my eyes) and know me that way.  (Exodus 33:19-23, RAC Translation and Amplification)

The scope of God’s Glory   literally surpasses anything and everything the natural eye or mind can possibly conceive.  But let’s remember something — and the apostle Paul put it like this:

But as it is written, natural eye has not seen, nor has the ear of flesh heard, neither has it begun to be conceived by the unredeemed, natural mind, those things that God has made ready to reveal to those that love Him, [those who are in Christ, and in whom He dwells].

But God has unveiled and revealed them to us by His Spirit; for the Spirit pursues, digs out and prepares to reveal to us the profound depths of the nature, the character and purposes of God which have been hidden away from us [for an appointed time in the development of our character in Him].  (I Corinthians 2:9-10, RAC Translation and Amplification)

Are you beginning to see the picture, here?  What was hidden from Moses (as a part of the Adamic seed) now becomes available to those who are in Christ Jesus “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

The Glory of the Lord is NOT available nor accessible for those who live their lives after the desires of the flesh.  It is NOT available for folks who have a religious agenda and/or attempt to fit their lives into a doctrinal box.  The Glory of the Lord ONLY comes to and for those who have cut away all pre-conceived notions on how they should respond to the Lord, and/or what He requires of them.  We will get into this more in the next session, but let’s take a look at something that Isaiah prophesied.

Isaiah 42:8:  I AM the Lord: that is my name: and my Glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

But take a look at the way it actually appears in the Hebrew text:

I AM Yod Hey Vav Hey: that is my shem (onoma) nature and character, my makeup and personality: the weight of my glory and honor, my splendor and light will NEVER be given to strangers — to  anyone not of my family — neither will I allow My Praise, My renown and fame (with the songs thereof) to be given to idols or graven images (other objects of focus, prime attention or worship).  (Isaiah 42:8, RAC Translation and Amplification)

The Lord refers to His nature, character, makeup and personality as synonymous with His Glory.  There are literally dozens of names given to the Lord throughout Scripture to describe His various attributes, and I won’t take the time in this series to try to cover all those names; but let’s take a look at just those four letters that make up what we generally refer to as “the tetragrammaton” — four Hebrew letters that are words all by themselves with distinct meaning and character.

I really want to dig into the translation and explanation of Yod Hey Vav Hey  because this isn't just some funny translation from the Hebrew: this "tetragrammaton" is revelatory in every sense of the word.  We miss the significance of this because we Anglicize it into Jehovah or Yahweh or some other approximation so we can pronounce something that is representative of the character, the nature, the very essence of who God really is.

When God answered Moses, following his request to see God's Glory, the Lord told him that he would "proclaim the name of the Lord" before him.  He was literally saying to Moses that He was going to reveal the very character and personality embodied in Yod Hey Vav Hey  -- something He had never done prior to this time in history.  There's a huge panorama here, and we will try to at least illustrate this as best we can.

Each of the four letters that make up this "name" are pictures in themselves.  Rather than try to get started in today's Coffee Break and then have to stop mid-way, let's pause at this point and pick it up here next week.

I remind those of you in need of ministry that our Healing Prayer Call takes place on Mondays at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific).  Once again, the number to call for healing is (805) 399-1000.  Then enter the access code: 124763#.  We also want to alert you to the fact that come September 14th, our prayer call number is going to change.  Our current conference line has experienced drop-outs and periodic audio quality issues, so this is needed!  We will keep you apprised of the new number in the days ahead.

At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific.  That conference number is (605) 562-3140, and the access code is 308640#.  We hope to make these gatherings available by Skype or Talk Fusion before long.  If you miss the live call, you can dial (605) 562-3149, enter the same access code and listen in later.

Blessings on you!

Regner

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org

All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted –provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are available at http://www.RegnersMorningCoffee.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.

If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.To remove yourself from the mailing list, please send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.

CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit: http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: AN APPOINTMENT WITH GOD

5:35 PM | Posted by | | Edit Post

Another Coffee Break:
An Appointment With God

August 7, 2015

Let's shift gears again today and talk about something that many of you have had, and many of you are about to have -- in ways you can't even imagine -- an appointment with God!

We all know about making appointments, and we all know about the appointment man has with death -- minus appropriating the fact that Jesus kept our appointment -- but have you ever thought about making an appointment to die – or even making other kinds of appointments with the Lord?

Let me share with you a few -- some of which I've shared in time past.  I was thinking back to the first time I ever heard of someone making an appointment with God.

Dory and Jenny Pieters were two sisters who married two brothers, both of whom were medical doctors.  Between them, they had five daughters, Laura, Alida, Twila, Terry and Patty.  You never met such a bunch of beauties in your whole life.

They have been one of the closest-knit families you’ve ever seen.  That said, the day came when Dory and Jenny were exposed to the Gospel and made a decision to accept Jesus Christ into their lives.  The five girls followed suit.  Laura was hardly bigger than a minute when she accepted Jesus Christ, and Terry and Patty were in their early teens.  Twila was just behind Terry, and Alida was behind Twila by a couple of years or so.

It wasn’t very long after the ladies and daughters accepted Jesus Christ that both brothers/husbands decided they didn’t want any part of their families’ relationship with the Lord; and both brothers divorced both sisters at the same time.  It was a traumatic experience for the two sisters, and their daughters, and because all of them had wonderful singing voices and had been singing together as a family, their music became an outlet for them to deal with the emotional upheaval.

Dory, Jenny & girls all traveled as The Singing Stairsteps.  Not too long after the divorces, songwriter, musician and choral leader, Audrey Mieir, introduced me to them, and in the months that followed (I was Minister of Youth at Bethel Union Church in Duarte, California at the time) I bought a home right across the street from Dory and Jenny.  We had a really musical neighborhood in those days.

One of my friends was the Gospel singer, musician, and recording artist, Andrae Crouch.  He would come over to our house and bang away on our old grand piano.  It didn’t take long for the music to waft its way across the street.  Between Andrae’s piano playing and singing, my guitar picking and singing, and the Singing Stairsteps, we had ourselves one noisy neighborhood – musically, that is.  It was wonderful!

Dory and Jenny closed off their garage and turned it into a recreation room where the neighborhood kids could gather every morning before going to school.  I led these kids in morning devotions before they left for school.  Of course, for them to have the devotions, they had to miss the school bus, so we used three different station wagons or vans to ferry the kids off to their respective schools after reading and praying with each of them.  Our music was a big attraction, and it didn’t take long before we had as many as thirty kids gathering in that converted garage each morning for devotions.

Not long after the divorces, Dory and Jenny began to realize that there had to be a whole lot more in their lives in the way of spiritual growth that needed to take place.  There was a hunger for the presence of the Lord that knew no bounds.  In the midst of their travels, they were asked to come to San Diego and sing in a Pentecostal church.  It was the first time they had ever been exposed to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  What they saw and heard the night they sang in that church magnified the spiritual hunger beyond all bounds.

Afterwards, they talked about the Holy Spirit among themselves as a family and decided this “baptism” was something they should have.  Dory got on the phone as soon as they got home that night and called the pastor of that San Diego church.  “Brother, we would like to make an appointment with you to receive the Holy Spirit.”  The pastor was both stunned and amused.  “You what?  You want to make an appointment…to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit?”  Dory assured him that she was serious and knew what she was talking about.  She told him they had another singing engagement in San Diego later that same week.

“If it’s all right with you,” she said, “we’d like to meet together in your office next Tuesday afternoon at 2:30.  You can lay hands on each one of us, and we will receive the Holy Spirit.”

Wow!  This is novel!  Never heard of anything like this.  Making an appointment with God.  This ought to be different.  “OK.  Sure.  I’ll expect you next Tuesday afternoon.  2:30.”

Dory, Jenny, and girls all showed up on schedule.  The pastor laid his hands on each one of them, and each of them in succession received the baptism of Holy Spirit with the accompanying evidence of speaking in tongues.  That initial experience with Holy Spirit unleashed a flow of new music and a new dimension in their walk with the Lord in the weeks and months that followed.  Their experience with Holy Spirit inspired Dory and Jenny to write a new song (lots of them, actually), and they called me up one afternoon and asked me to come over and listen to it.

They began singing, “That magic touch….that changed my life one day….That magic touch ….that kept my feet from going astray…”   And on and on the song went.  Problem was, it was too slow.  So I said to them, “Hang on, girls.  Let me get my guitar.  Let’s see if we can put a little life in this song.”  I ran across the street and picked up my guitar and came back over.  They started singing it again, and this time I put a Latin beat to the song.  The new, up-tempoed song became a staple in their repertoire, and I recorded a guitar track that they could take with them in their travels.

Jump ahead a few years to our CBN years in Fairbanks.

Besides serving as Senior Pastor of the House of Praise and President of CBN-Alaska, Inc., I also served as an advisor to the area board for Women’s Aglow International.   The Women’s Aglow board decided to have a ladies’ retreat at Chena Hot Springs.  As a pastor and an advisor, they wanted my participation in the retreat, and I was able to help out in the music of the retreat as well.

As the weekend retreat neared, two ladies approached me and asked if they could make an appointment with me to be baptized in water at Chena Hot Springs.  Not a bad idea in Fairbanks, Alaska, if you know what I mean.   I contacted the resort management and made arrangements to have the use of their largest pool (80-degree water) for the Saturday afternoon.  3:00 PM was the appointed time for the water baptism, and the two ladies in question showed up for their appointment.  So did about 20 others including two of the ladies’ husbands.

I’d never done water baptisms by appointment before, but I wasn’t disappointed.  Those folks came up out of the water drenched in the presence of the Lord.  The shine on their faces was a whole lot more than water-shine!  Some of them came up out of the water speaking in tongues.  They got baptized in the Holy Spirit while they were being baptized in water.

Let me talk about a different kind of appointment, now.

A Canadian pastor and prophetic teacher who had a great influence on me during the Charismatic Renewal of the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s was a fellow by the name of Ern Baxter.  At one time Pastor of Canada’s largest church in Surrey, British Columbia, Ern had a gift for putting the Gospel into terms common folks could identify with -- a gift honed during his years of traveling and ministering with William Branham.

He attributed much of his growth in the Lord, and his success as a pastor to his mother whom he sometimes called “a tough old bird” – a woman who absolutely knew her place in the Kingdom of God.  When Mrs. Baxter reached her eighties (and I forget the actual year this happened), she called Ern and the rest of her family together and announced that she had made an appointment to meet the Lord.  The family was puzzled by her phraseology because they knew that she already knew the Lord.

“No,” she explained, “I’ve made an appointment to die.  I’ve told the Lord I’m ready, and He is taking me home to be with Him.”  Mrs. Baxter was such an integral part of the family’s life that Ern objected.  She pooh-poohed his objections and gave him instructions on what to do with certain family items and the disposition of her estate.  She told Ern that he and his wife, Ruth, were to meet her on a certain day at a certain time.  (Sorry, but I’ve forgotten the day and time.)

Sure enough, Ern and Ruth showed up at Mrs. Baxter’s house on the appointed day.  She had a huge smile on her face.  She was sitting in her old rocking chair, rocking back and forth.  There was nothing weak or sickly about her or her countenance that day.  But she’d made her appointment, and she intended to keep it.  After some last-minute instructions to Ern concerning his preaching, she pulled her feet up off the floor onto the rocker extensions, laid her head back in the chair, and was gone.  Just like that!  She had made her appointment with the Lord, and both of them kept it.  She chose the moment to exit this world and surrender her spirit to the Lord.

My dad’s sister and our beloved aunt, Avis Daniel, was just about like that.  The only difference was that she was not in good health, having been suffering with congestive heart failure.

Della was on the road traveling in Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina doing jewelry shows, and had been keeping in contact with Auntie A.  (That was what we called her.)  Nearing the end of her run just prior to the Christmas season in mid-November 2003, she called Auntie A and told her that she was going to fly to Santa Clara (California) and pick her up, and bring her to south Texas to be with us.  Auntie A fussed about leaving her two dogs and cat, and Della told her that we would just bring the pets with her.  So she went out and purchased another portable kennel, and picked up some supplies she thought she’d need in Texas.

In those days, I was on the phone nearly every day with Auntie A, checking up on her, making sure everything was OK, and that her needs were being tended to.  First week of December, she went through some pretty painful bouts and had difficulty breathing. 
During that week, I was pretty busy campaigning (in my run for Congress), and missed a few days of talking on the phone.  On Sunday, she called me.

“Reg, I’ve decided that it’s time to go home.  There really isn’t any reason for me to come to Texas.  There’s nothing that I need to do down there, and I’ve finished everything the Lord has instructed me to do.  I’m done.  I want to go home this week.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  “NOOOO, Auntie A!  Noooo!  We’re not ready to let you go, yet.  There’s plenty for you to do.”  Her voice, though weakened by the physical problems, was firm.  “No, Honey,” she said.  “It’s time for me to go.  I’m going to get a few things in order this week, and I don’t want you praying against me.  Don’t you go praying for the Lord to keep me here.  I’m done, and I’m going home.”

She meant it, too.  Come Friday night, she gathered herself together, combed her hair, fixed herself up, set out some papers of importance and things she thought we ought to know about, went to bed, pulled the covers neatly up to her chin, folded them back, crossed her arms and went to sleep with a smile on her face.  She’d made her appointment with the Lord, and kept it.  That’s how the neighbor found her the next morning when she came over to check on her.

I’ve got lots of these kinds of stories – folks who’ve made appointments to get saved, folks who’ve made appointments to be baptized in water, folks who’ve made appointments to be healed, folks who’ve made appointments to receive the Holy Spirit, and – of course – folks who’ve made appointments to go home to be with the Lord.

It’s a funny thing about these kinds of appointments.  Something happens in a person.  Call it faith.  It becomes a certainty between them and the Lord Jesus Christ.  No matter what the appointment is for, there is both faith and a determination that both ends are keeping that appointment.

One last story for today involves a woman (I’ll call her Elsa, for the sake of this story) in Anchorage who was dying of cancer.  The doctors had given her up, and – sadly – so had her husband.  He was just waiting for her to die.  Funny thing, though.  She hadn’t given up on the Lord.  Neither had her two young sons, whose faith was bursting at the seams.  Elsa called me up one day and asked if Della and I would come over and lay hands on her.  “I want to make an appointment with the Lord for my healing,” she said.  “I know God isn’t finished with me….not yet, anyway!” 

The appointment was made for the following evening at 7:00PM.

Della and I went over as promised and met with her, her husband and her two sons at 7:00 PM.  You know how it is with folks who are dying with cancer.  Their faces are sunken in, the color of their skin is almost white, and they look like death warmed over.  That was the way Elsa looked when we arrived.

I like appointments!  Especially when those appointments are made with the Lord!  There is a release of faith that’s almost indescribable.  To borrow a phrase I used to hear Oral Roberts use 30 or 40 years ago, when you touch someone who’s made an appointment with Jesus Christ, that touch becomes “a point of contact” between them and the Lord.  When the Lord touches you, look out!  Things are going to happen!

They did, too, for Elsa!  When we left her later that evening, her sunken cheeks were filling out, the color had returned to her face, and it was obvious that the Lord had kept Elsa’s appointment with Him.  Della and I moved from Anchorage not too long thereafter, but we stayed in contact with Elsa for at least a couple of years.  For a woman who was supposed to have been dead from cancer, she was very much alive.

If you've never made an appointment with God to receive your healing, or your deliverance, or the baptism in and of Holy Spirit, now's the time to do it!  An adventure awaits you, the likes of which you can't even begin to imagine!  See you next week.

I remind those of you in need of ministry that our Healing Prayer Call takes place on Mondays at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific). Again, the number to call for healing is (805) 399-1000.  Then enter the access code: 124763#.  We also want to alert you to the fact that come September 14th, our prayer call number is going to change.  Our current conference line has experienced drop-outs and periodic audio quality issues, so this is needed!  We will keep you apprised of the new number in the days ahead.

At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific.  That conference number is (559) 726-1300, and the access code is 308640#.  We hope to make these gatherings available by Skype or Talk Fusion before long.  If you miss the live call, you can dial (559) 726-1399, enter the same access code and listen in later.

Blessings on you!

Regner

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org

All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted –provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are available at http://www.RegnersMorningCoffee.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.

If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.To remove yourself from the mailing list, please send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.

CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit: http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.

Saturday, August 1, 2015

ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: WHAT IT MEANS TO BE RIGHT OR LEFT

11:39 AM | Posted by | | Edit Post

Another Coffee Break:
What it Means to be Right or Left

July 31, 2015

Greetings and Salutations!

How be you today?  Supercalifragilistic?  Yeah, OK, Expialidocious, too! 

See!  I know how to spell those words.  I can even pronounce them.  ‘Course, after you watch Mary Poppins about forty bazillion times with your kids and grandkids, you better be able to pronounce them!  One of our granddaughters, Jessica, when she was three years old, was one of those precocious kids who picked EVERYTHING up!  If you got her started on some of the things she heard, and she was a real kick!

If you'll pardon me, I'm going to somewhat deviate from our normal discussions today and deal with something that is both political AND spiritual!

How do you like today’s Coffee Break title, Being Left or Right?  Catch your attention, did it?

I’m indebted to my old friend and longtime brother in the Lord, Lyn Barnes, for this topic.  Lyn used to be my supervisor at the Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach when I was an area director for the 700 Club in Alaska.  Wow!  That was a couple of days ago, wasn’t it, Lyn?

Anyway, Lyn has commented from time to time on my pieces dealing with government, politics, and the Christian’s responsibility to be involved.  He noticed a scripture one day that caught his attention, made note of it and sent it on to me.

There isn’t anyone in this country – and perhaps in most of the countries of the world – who haven’t taken a position on an issue, and have subsequently been referred to as being “on the right,” or “on the left.”  Bet you didn’t know where the “right” and “left” references came from, nor how long they’ve been with us.

If a person is a “conservative,” they are generally referred to as being “on the right.”  If they are a liberal, or a socialist, most folks call them “leftists.”

There is great spiritual significance to these terms, whether you realize it or not.

We have some other adjectives by which refer to folks today.  “Moderate” is generally meant to refer to someone who holds neither “extremist” right or left views.  I was somewhat amused listening to Rush Limbaugh one day when I heard him making his views known on “moderates.”  He called “moderates” cowards who are afraid to let their true views be known: “compromisers,” he called them.  I’ll add my two cents worth in a minute.

One other term that has become more or less used in the last couple of years is “progressive.”  Talk about a euphemism!  This is an adjective that folks use who don’t want to be known as “liberal,” or “leftist.”  They hide their “leftist” views under the label of being “progressive,” with the proposition that a “progressive” learns, whereas a right-wing “extremist” stands fast, and is unwilling to “moderate” their views.

Hilarious, isn’t it?

A person is referred to as a “right-wing extremist” if he holds his conservative views uncompromisingly; and vice-versa, a person is referred to as a “left-wing extremist” if they are uncompromising in their views.

I’ve often been labeled throughout the years as an “extremist,” whether the “right-wing” label was applied or not.  Hey!  If the shoe fits........?

When I’ve investigated the “extremist” label folks have applied to me, I’ve discovered that they mean I’m extreme because I believe that Jesus Christ absolutely is THE Son of God; that there is NO OTHER WAY to Heaven than through a genuine one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ, with Him as Lord and Savior and Redeemer of your life.

Guilty!  If that’s what folks mean when they label me as an “extremist,” then I’ll gladly wear the label.

Some folks call me an extremist because I hold conservative Republican views.  Fact is, I’m more conservative and less Republican.  Well, maybe I am just as much Republican, but not the current brand of Republicanism which has been watered down and cheapened by a “broad tent” philosophy.  Guess most folks would refer to me as a “Constitutionalist.”

Brother, now there’s another euphemism if I ever saw one!  “Broad Tent”?  It strikes me as a royal case of compromise.  I know there are places folks can compromise without compromising their integrity, but when folks begin to compromise their stands on social issues in favor of economic issues, or compromise their stands on economic issues in favor of social issues, they’ve ceased to be true Republicans.  Republicanism used to stand for conservatism on social issues, moral issues and economic issues.  It’s kind of hard to tell anymore!

Anyway, let’s get back to this “right-left” thing.

Did you know that people were considered on the right or left as far back as the days of our founding fathers?  Did you know that people were considered “right” or “left” as far back as Roman times?  Did you know that the Scripture is filled with references to being “on the right” or “on the left”?

Let’s take a look at one of the first references in which wisdom or understanding is designated either way, “A wise man’s heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man’s heart directs him toward the left.  Even when the fool walks along the road, his sense is lacking and he demonstrates to everyone that he is a fool.”  (Ecclesiastes 10:2 NASB)

Pretty telling isn’t it? 

The very next verse is directed at the would-be compromiser, “If the ruler’s temper rises against you, do not abandon your position, because composure allays great offenses.”

Thus, a person “on the right” has a wise heart, whereas a person “on the left” is directed by foolishness.  Ouch!  The compromiser is obviously one who is afraid of the temper of those in places of authority, and abandons his or her position in order to placate that temper.  THAT is a picture of someone ruled by fear, and directed in foolishness.

Jesus has something to say about the right and the left when He talks about the Day of Judgment: “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”

In Hebrew thought and metaphors, sheep are regarded as willing and obedient followers of God, whereas goats are the depiction of those who are rebellious and self-willed.  (All of these Scripture quotations, incidentally, are taken from the NASB.)

Now, look at the judgment of the Lord that comes to those on the right, and then those on the left.  Those on the right are regarded as righteous, whereas those on the left are regarded as wicked, perverse, and accursed.  (see Matthew 25:33-46)

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me;  I was in prison, and you came to Me.’

“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?  And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?  When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’  The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’

“Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’

“Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

In case you are getting upset with me, I didn’t make this up.  This isn’t my contrivance.  These left-right designations have stood for thousands of years.

When our founding fathers came together to establish the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights, they had a firm view fixed in their understanding.  That view plainly was in accord with the Scriptural definitions and designations for right and wrong, good and evil.  “Right” and “Left” were, to those founders, scriptural designations and they intended to establish a nation that honored the Lord Jesus Christ at its core without establishing some kind of denominational attribution as England had with the Anglican Church.

Conservative views prevailed in those days.  Conservatism held that it was the responsibility of the churches and individual believers to provide for the care of the indigent; and to that end, our Constitution was written so as to leave the Federal Government out of the welfare business.

The brand of so-called “Liberalism” that prevailed in those days did not argue against that position, and political conservatives and liberals pretty much agreed on limiting the overall scope of government.  “Liberalism,” in the days of our founding fathers, was applied almost exclusively to differing views of the responsibilities of Christians and their relationship with the Lord.

Not until the intrusion of Lenin and Marx with their brand of “Communism” and its introduction into society as a whole did liberalism begin to take on a whole new character at which our founding fathers would have paled.  The terms “Left” and “Liberal” came to be applied to socialism, big and bigger government, and the mentality we’ve come to refer to in recent times as the “Robin Hood Mentality” in which government took from the more prosperous by force so as to give to the “less fortunate.”

This kind of governmental intrusion into the lives of people is totally at odds with Jesus’ commands to His believers.  It provided a whole new definition and life to what Jesus referred to as “the goats.”  As earlier noted, goats represented a self-willed, rebellious people who decided they were going to run their lives – and the lives of others – in opposition to the grace, love and righteousness of those who were obedient to the Lord, His will and His commands.

Solomon’s statement that wisdom was designated as “the right,” and foolishness, or the fool being on “the left,” could not better describe the state of affairs in our nation (and others as well) in this day and age.

The picture that follows in the next verses in Ecclesiastes 10 presents a graphic portrayal of “right” and “left.”  I won’t take time to address them today because it would take too much time, but we will take a look at them perhaps tomorrow.

For those “on the left” in Jesus’ judgment, the end of their way is “…eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”

That leaves no wiggle room whatever.  One either chooses what Jesus treats as “the right” and enjoys the rewards thereof, or they choose “the left,” and suffer the ultimate consequences.

I have a strong conviction about this whole picture.  It may not win me any friends or influence people, but I really don’t care!  One only has to take a look at what we have come to call the “extreme left” in our society today, and you have a picture of the unrighteous, a picture of wickedness, a picture of immorality, a picture of sin and compromise with sin that is rapidly becoming boundless, and without any spiritual or moral anchor whatever.

“Left” and “Right” are discussions that have a widening gap in our society; and it doesn’t matter whether you apply those definitions in politics, in society, or in spiritual affairs.  I want to deal at length with what Solomon had to say as he talked about a people who obviously were as much a part of his day and age as they are of ours.

I’ve quoted Dwain McKenzie’s famous comment at the close of my Coffee Breaks from time to time, but the discussion of “left” and “right” couldn’t possibly be better applied: Things are not what they seem to be, they’re what God says they are!

I remind those of you in need of ministry that our Healing Prayer Call takes place on Mondays at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific).  Once again, the number to call for healing is (805) 399-1000.  Then enter the access code: 124763#.

At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific.  That conference number is (559) 726-1300, and the access code is 308640#.  We hope to make these gatherings available by Skype or Talk Fusion before long.

Blessings on you!

Regner

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org

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