A Refreshing Alliance

After worship on Sunday--it was truly a remarkable time that we enjoyed with Gina Mueller and the youth she brought with her from North Heights--after worship on Sunday we were talking together with some who had received prayer and the Lord brought to our remembrance the long history of what God has done in our community over the years through the Holy Spirit.*  For example, back in the 1970s and 1980s, many Lutheran people in the Cokato area were impacted by a fresh move of God.  Go to this link to learn more: holytrinitynewrochelle.org/lutherancharismatichistory.

Pastor Russel Peterson,** who passed away recently after a long term illness, opened the doors of the Lutheran church in Cokato to allow evangelists such as Herbert Mjorud and Morris Vaagenes to come with preaching and prayer ministry.  It's a living memory.  Many who were touched during that time are still in this world.  As far as I know, however, that story is not yet recorded in writing.  Perhaps the Lord will move someone to do that good work.

In any case, over the past few years God has continued to nurture that Holy Spirit led work, and now, at Crossroads, there He has made a new place for that work to flourish.  Interestingly, God has provided a reconnection with North Heights Lutheran Church, the church that Pastor Vaagenes led for many years, and a church that likewise welcomed the ministry of Pastor Mjorud.

Please pray that the Lord himself would guide this alliance with North Heights.  Pray that we would always follow the Spirit of Truth.

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*The Holy Spirit is always present when anyone comes to faith in Jesus, but we often grieve the Holy Spirit and when harden our hearts against what God desires to do in our lives.  Often that happens with religious traditions.  We can see that clearly in the New Testament when Jesus confronted the Pharisees.  In Mark 7, for example, the Lord says:

“Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

‘These people honor me with their lips,
   but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
   their teachings are merely human rules.’

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

This scripture applies not only to the religious leaders of Jesus day, but also to the religious leaders of every time and every place.  There's a danger always that traditions take over.  Even "Spirit-led" Christians can fall into patterns where God's action of the past is revered more than God himself, who is doing fresh work at this time, work that is always done in concert with the written Word of God.

**Pastor Russell Peterson's funeral is at Zion Lutheran Church in Chisago City MN on Saturday of this week. Go to this link http://www.hjblogs.com/ed/funeral-notice-rev-russell-a-peterson-87-chisago-city/ for more details about the funeral, and to this link for more about Pastor Peterson http://www.herald-journal.com/obits/2012/peterson0120.html.

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