10 April 2007

excerpts from a note from pastor dino to the hpc staff last week



i wanted (and got permission) to share this staff email pastor dino rizzo sent out last week before easter.

Dear Staff,

I wanted to sit and write something to each of you that I didn’t think could wait until our staff meeting. I felt the Lord download on me the last eighteen hours. Here’s the backdrop first. Over the last two months I’ve talked to some pastors in the body of Christ who have been fighting some unusual battles. These brothers are from different parts of the world. Some are discouraged, and some are dealing with disunity and rogue church members stirring up strife –even physical battles. Just in the last three days I’ve had one-half dozen conversations with buddies who are on various trials. I prayed last night - “God what’s happening?”, and He reminded me, “Son, you’re in a war”. I don’t know why He has to keep reminding me of this, but He does. It is a real war with real casualties and fatalities. We know it’s spiritual because the ground we take for the Kingdom and eternity are in the balance.

Here are three things to remember in this Holy war.

We’ve got to keep the objective crystal clear.
If you sway on the why we do what we do, our cause -the souls of men- can get so confusing.

Watch for friendly fire.
Remember who the enemy is and don’t shoot each other. This is the saddest tragedy of war. The other person reading this email at the same time as you – they are your body. If they are hit, they bleed. If they bleed, we all bleed. Make sure to bandage one another with Holy Ghost speech.

Guard your heart.
This shield is maintained through flow in the Holy Ghost and fervent prayer. If we lack there, we lack everywhere.

....Lastly, keep yourself healthy and pray for one another. This stuff is and will always be in the enemy’s crossfire. I’m never surprised by the stuff that happens against this team. God is our shield. Run to Him asap.

Much love,

Pastor Dino

2 comments:

richbutler@crccsc.org said...

Dan,

Thanks for linking me. I have really enjoyed checking your blog out recently. it's one of my daily reads. My wife and I lived in New Orleans and often came to HPC to see Jason Upton. Thanks again.

Rich Butler

Ken Witcher said...

Thanks for sharing the wisdom you get from Pastor Dino. This was a timely message for me to remain clear in my objective and calling and remember that only audience that really matters is the audience of one.