Forest R. Steenfott, This is My Testimony and Witness: ©

Before I begin, there are two Scripture passages that I believe includes my standing before our Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Mat 22:37-40)

I do believe this for myself. I do without any reservations; love the Lord my God with all my being, and my neighbor as myself.

"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.' (Joh 4:23-24)

I believe that I worship the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in spirit and in truth.I will in the next few months send you events in my life where God used me for His glory. I will also send a few favorite stories about others whose stories made a great impression on my life. I am praying that my testimony will encourage you in your walk of faith with our Lord Jesus.

 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil.”(Proverbs 3: 5–7)

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”(Isaiah 40: 28–31)

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”(Hebrews 12: 1–2)

I have a very good friend that is a Bible teacher on a web site. I had known his grandfather and grandmother many years ago. They had been missionaries. Mr. Mike Meyer made a statement that concludes what I am trying to express in my testimony and witness. He brings it out so clearly.
Mike Meyer, July 20, 2006
“This morning I wanted to post a note of encouragement. I found myself a tad physically drained this morning. I have a task or two before the Lord right now, and found it hard to 'connect'. Well, my friends, sometimes, we need to just press on. I didn't feel like going forward, didn't feel like praying or getting into the Word. I called out to the Lord, and He answered me. I asked for the spark to be rekindled in my spirit this morning. We are One Body, and as such, I am honest with you all. We are all humans, and as such are subject to similar struggles both physically and spiritually. It is important to pray for one another, for the encouragement of the Body, and the protection of its members from attacks. I would encourage you, in your prayer times, to remember your pastors, the leaders in your churches. The Apostle Paul showed us quite a bit 'behind the curtain' so to speak about the hardships we face- even those who preach. The good news is that we do have the victory in Christ Jesus. As its been said, just cling to the Cross.”

What is a Christian’s Testimony of Our Lord God?

"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,  giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God." (Ephesians 5: 18-21)

"Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. 16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."Hebrews 13:15-16)

>Our testimony is giving thanks to God with the fruit of our lips. Amen/font>

Forest Testimony and Witness Titles

1. Forest’s Life up to Three:
2. Forest's Life at Six:
3. Forest Steenfott’s Salvation and Early Christian Walk:
4. My First Church as Pastor:
5. Adversity, Who Needs It?:
6. I have been healed in two instances by divine intervention:
7. A Life Threatening Incident Happened in 1949:
8. Another Life Threatening Incident Happened in the 1960s:
9. Forgiveness and Reconciliation, in Respect to our Heavenly Father:
10. These were Special Events In Forest Steenfott’s Life:
11. I have many good friends; I truly am blessed:
12. Forest Steenfott’s Accident and Disability:
13. Forest Honored by Valley Christian Schools:
14. The Changed Cross and Other Religious Poems: Favorites of My Mother:
15. My Father’s Passing, December 27, 1977:
16. Extra—Some Studies and More Happening in past Years:

• Salvation—Justification, Sanctification, Glorification:

• Remember September 11, 2001:
• Ephesians 5: 18—Be Filled with the Spirit:
• Forest’s Last Sermon:
• Closing Chapter—Ordination:
• What Are You Hanging Onto?
• Church Rejected Forest For Ministry:
• Forest Bible Study and Ministry:

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Forest’s Life up to Three

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        I was born in 1931, which was during the great depression. My mother gave birth to twins, my brother John and sister Dorothy in 1934. Many of these details I had knowledge of at three years of age, but it was not until years later I understood what they meant.
        My father was a farmer by trade. He could not find work in Petaluma, California. Father and mother decided to move to Idaho, and move in with her folks. They were farmers, too. We stayed in their Shortly after that, one night I was woke up with Dorothy crying. That next morning I sense there was a problem. I was totally unaware that Dorothy had died during the night.
        Some time later mother and I were taken to some far off city to a hospital. She had hemorrhage in her uterus. I had developed Pneumonia. Remember that in 1934 there was not the medicines or doctors with the knowledge as they have today. Mother and I came back to grandpas well and healthy.
        Many during those early years died with Pneumonia. Many still die with it in our day, too. I believe that God intervene and stared my life for ministry to Him today.

Forest’s Life at Six:

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        For, all appearances this very small instance of a teacher’s discipline would seem very minor, but not in the mind of a six-year old boy in the way the discipline was exercised. I was that boy. I didn’t have many child friends, if any, while growing up with mother and dad and a brother 3 years younger. My mother was 34 and father was 37. My folks had many adult friends without children.
        The most fearful time for this six-year old was the first day of school. There was no kindergarten in those years. Children started out in the first grade. The children had their pictures taken. My fear showed all over my face. I gradually made friends as the days and weeks went by. I could sense I was learning quickly. I began to really enjoy going to school, and learning new things.
        The teacher grouped us together. This was to be arithmetic time. The teacher used 4 x 6 cards. The numbers to be added or subtracted were on one side of the card with the answer on the back. I did very well on this, maybe to good for I was playing around. The teacher took the cards and flapped them up and down my face.
        For me that was the most embarrassing moment in my 6 years of life. I felt shame before my friends. I turned the switch off in my head to learning. I did not do that consciously, but failed the first year and started it over again. My friends moved ahead of me. My teachers just kept me moving on. I was basically illiterate at the age of 16. During the years of Junior and Senior High School my friends and I were called dumb kids. We were in the same classes together.
        There was a change that happened to me when I was 16. The Lord Jesus became my Lord and Savior. I gave my life to Him. I tried to turn the switch in my head back on again. It was hard, but there were improvements. The biggest change was in reading. I could not read a book. I became interested in the Old King James Version of the Bible. I began reading it night and day. I became engrossed in it. I can read and study books today, because of God’s Word.

Forest Steenfott’s Salvation and Early Christian Walk:

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        I was born on April Fool’s Day, 1931 in Petaluma, California. I was raised in Sunday school and church. There was nothing about the gospel in this church. I knew well the stories of the Old Testament and the three Gospels (excluding John) of the New Testament. I never heard of Paul. I left this church around the age of 15. Most of the children were of an upper social class. My friends at school were mostly the dumb kids. We were all very good children but just were not very smart. Our clothing was not always the best either. Though I had hard working and loving parents.
        My parents went to their church one Sunday evening. I stayed home and went to bed. I felt a little guilty that I wasn’t going to church any more. I listened to a radio broadcast of the Old Fashion Revival Hour. Charles Fuller was the minister. I don’t remember what he preached, but at the end of his sermons, he asked his congregation to raise their hands to accept Jesus Christ. After a response he would then say “Lord Bless you.”
        He changed his format this one evening. He said, “I sense a young lad out there in radio land this evening at home and in bed. He needs the Lord. I’m going to ask him to raise his hand.” I pulled the blankets over my head and raised my hand. He then said, “Lord bless you.”
        The next Sunday evening I asked my mother if I could drive her to the nearby city of Santa Rosa, California, to go to a Baptist church. I knew of this church because it broadcast on the radio. I just had my driver’s license, and wanted to drive dad’s car. I ask mother to go with me. We went to this church, and for the first time in my life, I saw people being immersed into water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Goose bumps ran up and down my back. I began to wonder if there was something I did not know about Christianity, or I did not have it.
        I went by myself to a Baptist church in Petaluma where I lived. I sat in the middle of the congregation. I did this several Sundays. I heard something absolutely new to me. Jesus Christ died for me, and I had to accept Him as my personal savior. I thought the pastor was looking straight at me while saying this. This blew my mind. I asked my mother about it. She had no idea what this Pastor was talking about. She told me that to go to heaven I must never go to jail.
        One of the ladies that had seen me in the church knew my mother. She asked my mother if it would be all right with them if I could go to the Friday evening young peoples’ social. Mother said, “Yes.” The next Friday evening I went with my folk’s car. The pastor and his wife always went along on these Friday evening outings. The group took cars to go to an indoor swimming pool. They let me take one person so I could use my car. That was wisdom on their part. I knew the boy from school. I had a wonderful time that evening.
        Many Friday evenings went by. This was the first time ever that my peers accepted me as I was. Then I saw that they had something I did not have. I did not know at the time that it was the Lord in their lives.
        I noticed that every Sunday or so, someone would come forward after the sermon, as the pastor gave an invitation to accept Jesus as Savior. So I decided I wanted to accept Jesus as my Savior. There was a Bible College young man in our church. I respected him very highly. I asked him to go forward with me this Sunday. This young man used wisdom by not trying to lead me to the Lord right then and there. He went forward with me. The funny thing about it was that I thought I had to wait until the pastor preached his sermon. The pastor said that Christ died for my sin, and that I must accept him as my personal savior. This I did in my prayer, July, 1947. Lightning did not hit me, but I knew that now I belonged to the Savior.
I immediately went to work on my mother and father. I explained to them what I had done. I asked my folks if the pastor could come out to talk to them. An appointment was made and it was kept. The pastor talked to my folks and they accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. This was not as simple with them as it was with me. They were members in good standing with many friends in the church in which I was raised. They decided to make a change in churches. I know that this was hard for mother as I think of it today. Mother’s friends said that she was out of her mind, especially going to the crazy people in a Baptist Church.
        Over the years, I saw such a big change in their lives. My father couldn’t do enough for the pastor or the church. Mother taught a Bible class during the week for ladies in the church. She once asked me to give her some details on the Epistle to the Romans. She was teaching Romans to these ladies! That was a big feat.
        Yes, I accepted Jesus as my savior, but not Lord of my life. I had many things to learn. I put off being baptized. I do not know why. About six months later the pastor asked me about following the Lord in baptism. I said, “Yes.” I guess I had to be asked.
        Summer camp came along. I thought at first that this was to be a fun thing. I went without a Bible. I had not been reading the Bible yet. We had classes in the morning hours. I said to myself, “classes?” The teacher wanted us to turn in our Bibles to certain places, “Bible?” Our pastor was daily driving back and forth from the camp to our town for supplies. I asked the pastor if he would go to my parent’s house and pick up my Bible for me. He brought my Bible to me and that started my love affair with the Word of God.
        There was another Bible camp program that fall. This one was only for members of our young people’s group. There were many counselors along. I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ as my Lord around a campfire in that place. We went out into small groups around the camp to pray. My first audible prayer in a group was the Lord’s prayer.
&n        During the next summer camp, I decided to attend a Bible College when I got out of High School. I wanted to go into Christian service. While I was attending the Bible College, I was asked to preach in a small community church. A deacon in my church went with me. I will never forget this as long as I live. The deacon and I went off into a small room to pray before the service. We got on our knees. I prayed for myself Romans 12. 1, “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” I then and there presented my body on the altar. I don’t remember my sermon or any details regarding it.
I did attended Western Baptist Bible College, Oakland, California in 1950.r />         This country boy fit in very well between students and teachers. Most of the teachers were Pastors. These were men, who had a love for their people and students. Pastor’s calling and careers were as pastors. Even Doctor H. O. Van Gilder, president of the college, was a people person. We became very good friends, and kept in touch over the years. He counseled me many times in his office. He had high hopes for this country boy.
        I remember well one of the first classes that all students had to take. It was called “Personal Christianity,” taught by Pastor Graves. The text was “Life on the Highest Plan,” by Miss Ruth Paxson. The Lordship of Jesus Christ was stressed for each of us. Most of our classes were based on how to study the Word of God. These two principals have stayed with me over my 56 years. I am deeply thankful for these lessons I learned by attending Western Baptist Bible College.

My First Church as Pastor:

The first church I was pastor it was truly a joyful experience. Everything went just the way I was taught in my home church and Bible College. I had a genuine love and concern for the people, and I sensed they felt the same way toward my wife Grace and me. I visited in their homes. I was not a stranger to any of them very long.
I will have to give you some background of the church’s history and where it is located. The church building was not incorporated in any legal sense. The land was held under a few trustees. One of the trustees was a very elderly lady that was a Christian Scientist. She lived with one of the church’s members.
The land was also a cemetery. The cemetery and church building were years after the Indians used the grounds. Some of the members of this church told me that Indians would heat large rocks on fires, dump them in the moisture-filled dirt, and take hot mud baths.
This small community named Oak Run, California was located in the mountains about 14 miles East Of Redding, California. The main employer for livelihood of the community was the Shasta County road crews. The corporation yard was there. The post office and the general store were in the same building with gas pumps in front. This was the only store in town. Many in this town raised fruit and vegetables for family use. Some raised cattle. One man raised pheasants for marketing. There was a public school. The school was up to and included the sixth grade. The teacher was one of our church members. The school building afforded the community dances Saturday evenings. There were no phones in the community. Fishing and deer hunting were very predominate, too. Many of the younger fellows took me fishing. Some of the older men took me deer hunting. I did not get a deer. Others shared with us. There was a problem in my church during deer hunting season. I lost all my men. It was just the ladies and children on Sunday mornings. I got some of the men back for Sunday evenings. That is right. We had Sunday evening services and Wednesday evening prayer meetings.
The church was under the American Sunday School Union ministries. This ministry worked like a mission society in out of the way places in America. They would start with Sunday school classes, and then work into a church program. It was through a missionary representative with the American School Union that made connection with Grace and me while I was in my last year at the Bible College. I preached there one Sunday. They voted on me after the service. They would take an offering the first Sunday of the month to be our pay. We accepted.
Our move from San Jose to Oak Run was quite an experience. The move came about while Grace was pregnant. She was having problems with it. The doctor ordered complete bed rest. She did nothing in respect to the move. We first moved with a house trailer to Redding. There was no place to live in Oak Run. I brought Grace to live with me in Redding.
Grace had a miscarriage of the baby. I rushed her to the hospital emergency. We lost the child. The church in Oak Run felt bad for us, so gave us a puppy dog.
We finally moved the trailer to Oak Run. We set it up in the churchyard. There was plumbing on the property, but the church had no bathroom facilities. There was an outhouse in the backyard. Some of the men and I built a small building by the trailer for toilet, shower, and laundry. It was a wonderful gesture on their part.
A lady and her three boys attended the church. The oldest boy attended a college in Redding. The second boy was out of school, but worked on their property. Her third boy was still in High School. Their father and the mother’s husband lived in a nursing home. He was along in years.
These boys took me fishing, which I enjoyed. One evening we had our catch for dinner, then stayed overnight. I slept with the boys in the loft of their barn. The young folks in the church and I made a close relationship together.
The mother asked me to speak to her younger son about continuing his education and to graduate from High School. I got him alone to talk to him about finishing High School. This he did.
I had another experience with this family, which I want to share. The father had died. I was to have the funeral for the family. I did this beyond the call of duty. I had to dig the hole for the casket. Some of the family members helped, but we had to dig it in solid rock, which we found out early. Now some of our men worked for the county. They came to our rescue, and brought a jack hammer along with dynamite. They would place four or five holes in the rock, place sticks of dynamite in the holes, cover the top of the site, go in the front of the church and set it off. This was still going slow. We were told that we only needed to go down five feet. This was going to be the last run at this. They put the holes down as deep as the jack hammer would go, put as many sticks of dynamite in the holes as possible, covered the larger hole with as much as we could. We went around to the front of the church. Even got my wife out of the trailer, and let it go. Lot of the covering went up into the trees. This got our hole down to five feet.
The next day was the funeral, which I preached. The brother of this deceased man gave me five dollars, and the deceased man’s wife gave me his shoes. After the family left another gentleman and I pushed all of the dirt and rock back into the hole.
There was another very young family that were not in the church at the time, but came into our church through our contact. He was driving a large logging truck coming out of our area loaded with logs. He had an accident with the truck. He was in the hospital in Redding. We had just arrived in Oak Run ourselves. The folks asked me to go see him. This I did. They came to the church after he got home from the hospital. He and his family lived near us. They had two small boys. I visited their home and was shocked. It was in filthy and dirty. There were flies all over the place, with dirty dishes in the sink. My wife and I visited them several times. They asked us to come and have Thanksgiving dinner with them. We accepted the generous offer.
We had one more contact with this couple after we had left this ministry in Oak Run. I had returned to Bible College to get further education. I received a phone call from the gentleman in a San Francisco Hospital, He wished I would come to see his wife. She had developed cancer in the womb after the birth of their third child. The cancer was spreading quickly through her body. She wasn’t going to live much longer. We went to see her right away. I gave her the Psalm 23 and prayed for her. A few days later she passed away. She was in her early 20s.
The man in our church that was raising pheasants did a wonderful thing for us in our first Christmas there. He came over to our place with a couple of guns for us to go hunting for our Christmas dinner. That was for quail. He wanted me to get the quail. To be honest, I’m not much of a hunter. He left me to go back to his home. Just a little time later, I heard a gun shot over by his house. He arrived back at my door with a pheasant in hand for our dinner. There are rules on bagging a pheasant. You cannot do to a pheasant what you would a chicken. He had to let go of it to shot it.
This year’s experience was one of the most wonderful times I have ever had. I went back to my College for my fifth year and earned a couple degrees, which were Bachelor of Arts in Bible and Bachelor of Theology degrees. Then, I candidated for a Church to be their Pastor. I was called to Colonial Baptist Church, Sacramento, California.

Adversity, Who Needs It?:

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Adversity or as mother would say we are in the school of hard knocks. We all do have a degree behind our names, which is “LLD,” Learning Lessons Daily.

We all remember well what happened at the Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, on April 20, 1999. She was 17 years old. He stood glaring at her, his weapon before her face. He asked the question, “Do you believe in God?”
It was a life-or-death question. “Yes, I believe in God.” He shouted back, Why?” He never gave her a chance to answer. The teenage girl lay dead at his feet. Can you just imagine the adversity this brought to her family and friends. Maybe you can. You had a child or mother who died. We all face great trials and tribulations.
What are some adversities that we may go through? These may be misfortunes or calamities such as ill health, mental illness, loss of a job and finances and bankruptcies, etc.

ThThere are adversities and trials that our Lord spoke about while He was here on earth in His Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake……………….Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” (Matthew 5:10-12).

Remember, the Lord God is our Shepherd, (Psalm 23:1) He is the all-wise Shepherd, which loves and cares for His own. Emmanuel, “God with us” through these hard times. God is building character in our lives through adversity. The Lord Jesus gives the reasons for our adversity, (1) “You are the salt of the earth,” (2) “You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14-16).

I had the mistaken idea that my wife’s illness that took her life after five years of suffering, was not suffering for Christ’s sake. The two reasons given by Christ in the Bible passage above declare that my suffering was for a witness to others. Many spoke to me about my devotion and dedication to my wife, during her debilitating illness.r />
MyMy Christian walk has not been one of survival, although it appears that way. Instead my life with the Lord Jesus has been as these Scripture passages point out. Romans 8: 37, Romans 8: 39, Philippians 1: 6, 2 Timothy 1:12, Romans 8:37 made me more than a conqueror through Him that loved me. Romans 8:39

I know nothing shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus my Lord. Philippians 1:6r />
I am confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in me will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 1:12 For, which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

PsPsalm 139 speaks to the very issue of God’s presence in our lives, verses 1 through 3. I have changed these verses to personal pronouns. They do affect me personally. “O LORD, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar. Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, And art intimately acquainted with all my ways.”-NASB. How close can God get when He scrutinizes my path and my lying down, and is intimately acquainted with all my ways?

I don’t want to leave with you the impression that there never has been any time in my life that there was not joy, happiness, appreciation of family and friends, and thankfulness to my loving God. I am rich beyond words. The Psalm 139 also speaks of this; Verses 17 – 18 “How precious also are Thy thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.”

You may be enduring adversities in your life and are possibly very discouraged, depressed, turning to drugs or alcohol even unto taking your own life. Take comfort in the fact that our Lord and Savior God is walking with you and sometimes even carrying you in His loving arms. I assure you.r />
I had disappointments, lost dreams and failures. The last few years of my life were the most devastating to me, in taking care of my loving wife of 48 years. I came out of these years in having the greatest of victories for God, with peace and joy for myself.

My wife’s disease gave her hallucinations, confusion, a loss of many bodily functions, current memory lost within minutes, etc. It was a degenerative disease ending in death. For Grace it ended December 13, 2001.

GoGod in His faithfulness and love began working on me. I will not go into detail, but God took me over and over Psalm 103. This is one of the greatest Psalms for those with discouragement and depression. God will not let His children go. Two other passages were 1 Corinthians 15: 3-4 and Hebrews 12: 1-2. The second verse says, “Looking unto Jesus” is the answer to victory in our walk with God. Keep your inner eyes on Jesus not your circumstances.

My conclusion for victory over adversity is you need to read, listen and obey the Word of God! Nothing I can say is going to be sufficient to bring you to victory. “You Need to Allow God to Work out His Plans in Your Life!” A man that had more problems and trials was Moses. He wrote Psalm 90. The twelfth verse says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” God’s desire for each one of us is to have His wisdom. The hurts and the pains are in God’s plan and purpose for us to be more like our Lord Jesus.

My Dear Christian friend, you have to start with faith in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. You have to believe that Jesus died for yours sins and rose again to give you a new life, which is eternal. He didn’t promise to take away the results of our sins in this life. It becomes a matter “that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6).

This is the most beautiful of them all. Yes, the good memories of joys we have had and the sorrows and pains, “ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD—TO CONFORM US TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON.” (Romans 8: 28-29).

Footprints in the Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
    Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
    Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.
    This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from anguish,
    sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.
    So I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
    that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
    But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.
    Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?”
The Lord replied,
    “The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
isis when I carried you.”

Mary Stevenson © 1984

I have been healed in two instances by divine intervention.

There may have been more, but I am aware of these two times. Death for me was imminently certain.

A Life Threatening Incident Happened in 1949:

It was Sunday. My good friend, Ronald White came to me after church service that morning. We were both seniors in High School. Ron asked if I would like to go to Oakland for a Christian radio broadcast that evening? I said, “Sure, count me in.”
It was on the San Francisco side of the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. All automobile traffic was on the top span of the bridge. There were six lanes of traffic, three lanes going in each direction. My friend and I had just left San Francisco. We were on the large curve of the bridge, heading in the direction of Oakland. We were in the inside lane. There was a car coming from the opposite direction. It came over into our lane and hit our car head-on.
I do not remember the accident. I started to regain consciousness around 3:00 or 4:00 the next morning. I remember a very bright light over me. Somebody was working on my face. Then I woke up to find that we had been in an accident on the Bay Bridge. My friend that was driving was alive but suffered a crushed right leg bone. I had been sitting on the far right side from the driver. I had received a head injury. We both had many cuts and bruises. The owner of the car was sitting between us. He was killed immediately.
The driver of the other car was a young Navy man who had just been released from the service. He was drunk along with the others in his car. They had open containers too. An occupant in his car was killed. They were also being chased by a police officer for speeding and reckless driving. The officer was not going to stop them on the bridge because of heavy traffic.
Three things happened that proved to be unusual. The police made a statement that there were Bibles all over the bridge from our car. The smell of alcohol was thick coming from the car that hit us. Secondly, ambulances came from all over San Francisco to pick up the injured. They then returned to the city seeking any hospital emergence room that would take the injured. The occupants in our car all landed at the same hospital. While the occupants in the other car landed in different hospitals. It was easy for our people from Petaluma to find us. Thirdly, our pastor was in the emergency receiving room where we were. There were many of the injured that evening from around San Francisco with injuries from other accidents. The air was blue with cursing and swearing, but not from us.
An ambulance took Ron and me back to Petaluma to the General Hospital the following day. We were both put into a ward in the Petaluma hospital. Ron had the bones in his right leg set. I had a head injury. Until the end of the week, I didn’t appear at first to be having a problem.
I began developing headaches that became more severe as time went on. I remember being taken to x-ray. Then I was taken to a single room. I was given a spinal tap, and they found blood in the spinal fluid. I slowly became unconscious. I remained in this state for three days.
My doctors, were general practitioners, who were two brothers and a nephew. They conferred with my parents during this time. My outlook for survival was very bleak. Brain surgery was very seldom performed. They were going to have to operate if I became worse. There was a special nurse assigned to me around the clock. The problem was that they were not sure where my brain was bleeding. It would have to be exploratory type of surgery, which is very dangerous to perform. I gradually came out of the coma on the third day.
I woke up and spent three more weeks in the hospital for observation. I drank a lot of milk and put on some weight, and made myself a pest around the hospital. I was feeling great. Praise to God, I came out of this experience with no lasting effects.
There was a court trial in this case, because of the two deaths involved. We met the young man that caused the accident. He had tears in his eyes. He asked for forgiveness. We gave him hugs. It was a special time. He was found guilty of manslaughter. We heard later that he had developed physical problems. He had received a punctured bladder that was not healing. He also developed bone cancer. He was not expected to live.
I had been given no medications. As far as the doctors were concerned, nothing could be for me. I was next to death. This was divine healing. I would not have a Steenfott family of my own if I had died. I have four children, eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Another Life Threatening Incident Happened in the 1960s:

The second instance by divine healing is one I do not much talk about. My
wife and I, after receiving our Bible education, went to an “American Sunday School Union” church. It was in the middle of nowhere in Northern California. It was a hard year but a joy working alongside these folks. Grace miscarried our first child. The Lord and the church folks provided for us.
The school that we attended got its charter to grant degrees. I returned the next year and received Bachelor of Arts in Bible and a Bachelor of Theology degrees. This was in 1956. I then preached in several Baptist churches and received a call to a Baptist church in Sacramento, California.
We had a very prosperous year. Many were being saved, baptized, and joining the church. There was a happy joyous spirit in the church. I then sought ordination. An examining counsel was called, and I passed unanimously. The church ordained me. Then all hell broke loose. I was forced to resign.
We then went into a home mission work of starting new churches. We were given a gold mine of folks that were having a home Bible study. I discovered that maybe half of them were not saved. The Christians were very weak in their faith too. The missionary that we were working under wanted a fully operational organized Baptist church, now! This could not be. Some of the people were not saved and none of the others were leaders. The Home Missionary fired me. How does a 28 year old deal with being forced to resign and then fired from a ministry.
We found a different Baptist association, joined and became very active in the church. I found a managerial position in a company. I was holding in my heart a very deep grudge against this missionary that fired me from the ministry. I felt guilty about my attitude, but I was going to do nothing about it. This went on for several years.
One afternoon at my job, I became very feverish. I went home early. We called the doctor. He told us what to do. Nothing seemed to help during the night. I had a fever of 104 through the night. The next morning was Saturday. Our doctor was in his office. He asked if some one could bring me in. My father-in-law took me to the doctor.
The doctor examined me. I spoke of my legs and back hurting. He turned as pale as a ghost. He got on the phone right away to Valley Medical Center, and asked to have me admitted right away into the isolation ward. He told me I may have spinal-meningitis. He had lost four meningitis cases before me. I knew I could die from this.
I was waiting on a gurney to be taken into the isolation ward. I had time to think and pray. I wasn’t afraid of dying. I was concerned about my family. I did not want to come before my Lord and God with this hatred in my heart. I asked God to forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness in this situation with the missionary. I believe that God healed me at that instant, for when I got a spinal tap there seemed to be no evidence of meningitis. I was told they would keep me in the hospital over night.
I was out of the hospital in 23 hours, from being healed by God. I received no medication of any kind. My heart was free. I had the peace God. Praise the Lord, Amen.
I believe that God does heal in special cases for the work of His ministry to go on, and for His glory.

Forgiveness and Reconciliation, in Respect to our Heavenly Father:font>

The Lord Jesus the Christ said in His Sermon on the Mount, “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6: 9 – 15).
Do you spend any time in prayer, and are you carrying a grudge toward any person? This confrontation may have happened years ago, but you are still bitter over it. Our God never forgets. The matter of forgiveness here in this model prayer for Christians appears to be extremely important to God
I was born in 1931 and by faith received Christ as my personal savior in 1947. I had over the years during my Christian life had many conflicts. God would put His finger on me some times after the conflict for it to be resolved. There were reconciliations from these conflicts. They are now forgiven and I have the peace of God. When I talk to others about the bitterness, which I was carrying, they usually open up and reveal to me about their conflicts, which are not resolved.
Forgiveness and reconciliation have to do with our relationship with others, which in turn greatly affects our relationship with God. We are human, so conflicts do arise no matter how spiritual we may think we are. God gives us solutions for maintaining good and harmonious relationships. These are taken from His Word.
A book came out many years ago by the name “In His Steps.” What would Jesus do if faced with our circumstances, today? Almost a day doesn’t go by without facing some conflict in our relationships with others. This idea of forgiveness came up with Peter, “Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18: 21-22). It is interesting to see Peter’s attitude in respect to offenses. This demonstrates how self-centered is man. He is speaking from the position of his being offended, not him offending others.
Matthew 5 23 – 24 “Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” This speaks more of those who know that a brother has anger toward them. This is a very sobering thought. We are to “worship God in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). It is impossible to worship God with bitterness and hate in our hearts toward another, or someone feeling the same way toward us. This attitude can affect our prayer life.
The Lord gave these sayings on forgiveness Himself. I believe that we must take them seriously, and obey His word. We then will experience the joy of the Lord. He also, gave a solution to solving these conflicts, “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” (Matthew 5: 15 – 17).
God gave us commandments from His word that we must obey. Here are a few that uses the phrase “love one another.” John 15: 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 1 Thessalonians 4: 9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 1 Peter 1: 22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 1 John 4: 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Let us take this matter to our God, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). God the Holy Spirit, who indwells each of us will give us the ability and strength to say, “I forgive you, or “Will you forgive me.”
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As Examples—Two Conflicts Forest Has Had Were Resolved:

     A Conflict Over Me Being a Volunteer

Some years later, I volunteered to operate the tape recorder at a men’s retreat. I had done this many years before. At that time the practice of recording the messages was not done. My son and I started the recording and selling the tapes. We used our own equipment. The equipment I was to use at this present men’s retreat was up graded equipment. I was unfamiliar with this equipment. I asked for help. The program got started. I started the recorder when the speaker began. It came to the end of the tape while the speaker was continuing to speak. I was lost. The manager to the grounds came and kept the tape running. At the end of the service the manager fired me. Fired a volunteer? I was in a state of shock, and very upset. I would have left the grounds and gone home, but I came with another person. I did not continue attending the meetings. This place was in the mountains, so I wandered through nature, and prayed.
I was working as manger of custodial and maintenance at a Christian K through 12th grade school. I was always using volunteers. Some of them were not good, but I never fired a volunteer. I would not use them again. It is very hard to find and keep volunteers. If a person volunteers without pay, it means they have a good heart. I did every possible thing to encourage them. Sometimes I had to help them.
I was mad at this retreat manager, but felt guilty as far as the Bible was concerned. I tried always to justify myself. A couple years later, I wrote a letter to mail to this person. I was hoping to meet him half way. I read it to my oldest son. He said, “No dad that is not the way to do it.” I did not mail the letter.
As time went on, I felt guilty. I then thought that I would go and apologize
for my bad attitude. I stepped into his office and confessed my sin. He put his arms around me and forgave me. I was so relived by his actions. He made a statement that I wanted to hear. He said, “I guess I could have done it differently.” I spent the rest of the time in the services. I talked to him many times during my stay there. Praise the Lord!

A Conflict Arising Over My Missionary Work in Alaska

My wife became seriously ill which would end in death. I was a caregiver to her for about eight months. It became a twenty-four hour job. When I could get some sleep, she would get into trouble, which was very dangerous for her. For her own safety, I had to put her in a nursing home.
I changed churches. I met Audrey Orlando, who was involved in a ministry in Alaska building a radio station to send the Gospel of Christ into Russia. She was working up volunteers to work in Alaska on this project. I went along to work on electrical. I met the couple, who were founders and in charge of the work. We had good times together.
I had been there several times along with Audrey Orlando. This time, I was not with Audrey. There was a different attitude by this couple toward me. The lady became very critical of everything I was doing. It became very unbearable to me. Others had heard her criticisms to me, and felt bad for me. I asked a friend that knew of my problems with this lady to take me out of there early the next morning. I had to make three changes in airports to get home. This was also the fourth of July weekend.
I want to share my inner feelings at this time. I felt real down in respect to my God. He was silent and seemed far away. The Bible and Christian books were closed to me.
When I got to the airport, I had a seat all the way home on three flights. On the second airport there was no change on the part of God. When I arrived in the Seattle airport, the atmosphere changed. God became very real and close to me. The Christian book I had been reading the words flew off the page at me. The airport building became a Cathedral to me. I was praising God. When I got off the plane in San Jose, I felt like dancing.
I received a stinging letter from the lady that was critical of me. She gave me the different points of my bad behavior, and actions. I told her that I did not do the things she claimed I did. I could not take her anger with me. She didn’t feel God had anything to do what I said happened in Seattle. She expressed that I was a very bad person. She did not want to hear from me again.
Time went on. I expressed to God in prayer that I was the offended person. God gave me a great love for this wife and husband. This will be hard to believe. God asked me to apologize to them. This I did. They appeared justified in their actions, and hugged me. I felt at peace, too.
I was not the first or even the last person they offended. They are in God’s hands. Praise the Lord!
There is no way in this life with the heart and tongue we have not to offend someone or they offend us. Just alone to forgive someone’s actions toward us is not enough. God’s love demands we must have reconciliation.

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." (1Co 13:4-8)

These were Special Events In Forest Steenfott’s Life:

To stand behind that sacred desk and preach!
    To stand on the Word of God and proclaim it’s truth to all generations!
To boys and girls, and teens: Bring them to Christ in personal relationship to Him.
    To the youth in their 20’s and 30’s: Teach them to observe all things that God has commanded in love relationship with each other.
    To middle age: How to be faithful and true to others and themselves. Be a model of Jesus Christ to the young folks.
    To the elderly: Cheer and encouragement, to keep their eyes on Jesus the Lord, not circumstances.

Yes, to stand behind that desk and have the fullness of God’s Holy Spirit and preach Jesus Christ the Lord, crucified, risen and coming King. Hallelujah!
Written May 19, 1989

I was a Pastor for Linda J. Schultz (Gary Pomeroy’s sister), through E-mail. Gary is my very best friend. I was with him during his liver transplant. I will share about him, later.

Forest URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!!!
One of my dearest and oldest friends committed suicide yesterday.
She knew the Lord and she is surely in His arms. She was a wonderful
daughter, sister, friend, mother and grandmother. She has had emotional problems since her divorce several years ago. Please pray for her family. She has a grown daughter, son and four grandchildren. Her name is Doris. Her parents are elderly and frail. So this will be a horrible shock. Thank you so much for being 'family'....and helping to 'bare the burdens' of those in need. God bless you all.
Linda
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Dear Linda
Please, I’m not trying to fault you. You have a wonderful loving heart for people, especially for those near you as your family and friends. BUT THE URGENT PRAYER REQUEST should have been back when “She had emotional problems since her divorce several years ago.” Forest
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Forest,
Believe me....there was a ton of people who tried to minister to Dori.
She received Christ, she had a women's Bible study I attended with her.
But the divorce caused deep brokeness in her and her ex was really awful
to her....so disrespectful of her as the mother of his daughter for 30 years
or so. Everyone tried to reach Dori.....but she kept making the wrong choices.
She broke.....satan won......but now her pain is over. She is with her Savior.
Thanks for your prayers.....Linda J. Schultz _____________________________________________________________

Dear Linda
I hate to keep bothering you about this, so please forgive me. These issues are so deeply embedded in my mind and soul. I praise the Lord for what your friends were doing in trying to help Dori. You did the right things.
I have been deeply involved in the Scriptures for over 50 years. I don’t know Hebrew or Greek, and not a doctor. We do have the Holy Spirit of God in us to be our guide and teacher. Jesus Christ promised that very thing. The Lord established certain rules and guidelines for the Body of Christ—the church is you and me—to follow. Please read Ephesians 4: 1 – 16. Take special note of verse 8 and 11, 12.
I have one more item to speak to, which is your statement, “She broke, Satan won, but now her pain is over.” Linda, please Satan does not win, Our God is sovereign! The Lord Jesus said that we are in the hands of God. This whole issue of Dori’s is between her and her God. I don’t know the answer. Our God is in control. “Her pain is over,” true it is, but I have during this year been deeply involved in the sufferings and martyrs of believers around world. There are thousands that are being tortured and dying for Christ. I have been given names of folks to pray for. Is Satan the winner in those cases? NO WAY! Here is just one web site, assistnews.net to look into. I’m a subscriber to the Voice of the Martyrs. We may be facing this persecution in our country in a few years. I have a book telling us how to prepare for it.
I love you Linda, and your brother Gary, too. The Lord bless you, Forest
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Dear Linda
Gary told me of all you have gone through with your son. I then was ashamed of what I had told you. I believe that I spoke the truth, but the way I said it could have offended you. So, please forgive me. You’re the last person in the world that I would want to hurt. I recognize in you that God has made a special person of you. I see Jesus in you. The Lord bless you, Linda. Your friend, Forest
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Forest
I did not take any offense at what you said. You are my brother in Christ and your words of exhortation are always welcome..........that is what family is for...........I see Jesus in you too my dear friend
God bless, Linda
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Forest, I have been asked to read some Scriptures at the memorial
of my friend who committed suicide. Fortunately she did accept Christ
years ago....can you give me some suggestions on specific Scriptures to
read to encourage her family and friends....that though her life on earth
was difficult and painful.....that she is indeed with her Savior. It is a great
opportunity to speak to listening ears.....this is Saturday and I have little
or no time to prepare. What do you think? Linda J. Schultz
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Dear Linda
I want to speak to you first. God called you to speak for Him under these circumstances, which I know is going to be difficult for you, because she was your friend then to face the family. There was a man in the Old Testament that was facing the same thing as you. His name is Joshua. His beloved friend and companion Moses for so many years is gone. Now to lead over a million people.
Joshua 1: “1After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: 2“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. ________________
5“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. 6“Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7“Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you.” Linda, listen, you have this same God in you, “I will not leave you nor forsake you. 6“Be strong and of good courage.”

Now, this is what I believe you should do. This lady friend of yours was a Christian. There is no better Scripture for this time than the Hope we have in our resurrected Lord, I Corinthians 15: “50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ 56The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” Your friend is alive right now with the Lord Jesus. What a joy! What a hope! We have in Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life. This is dynamic, which may bring some of her family to the Lord.
You can do it in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Lord bless you, Linda. Your friend Forest

The Holy Spirit Used Me Today:

Something exciting happened to me today. (November 6, 1999) I went with some folks from Hilltop Manor along with folks from First Baptist Church of San Jose, California to Monterey, California. This was an all day outing to Cannery Row. We all went in different directions after arriving there.
I walked around Cannery Row for a short time. Then I headed up the beach to “Lovers Point.” There was a trail along the beach. There were places along the way where you could stop and rest for a while. I stop quite often as you can imagine.
I got to “Lovers point” about noon. I then walked up town to an eating-place I knew of. This was in Pacific Grove. I walked back to the beach about 1 o’clock stopping again many times to look at the ocean.
Just a little after 2 as I was walking along when I saw a young black lady. She was reading a book on top of a post of the fence facing the ocean. I noticed that it was a Bible. I just walked by, but a voice inside of me started saying to me, “Go back and talk to this young person.” I turned around and looked at her, but continued to walk away. This happened four or five times. I could not get over this impression inside of me telling me to go back to her. Almost one hundred yards away, I turned and walked back to her.
She was just about ready to leave. I spoke to her and asked if she was reading the Bible. She said, “Yes.” I said, “Alleluia, Praise the Lord.” We spoke for a while about our salvation. I know the Lord was leading me in what to say. I spoke of the tragedy that I was facing with my wife’s illness. Then I went into how God was keeping me while going through this with my wife. I used Psalm 103 as what God had used with me. We opened her Bible and read the Psalm. I pointed to verses that meant a lot to me. Then I told her about 1 Corinthians 15: 3-4. God used this to confirm my faith. Then to Hebrews 12: 2 about “looking unto Jesus.” She wrote these verses down. I told her that it was the Lord that brought us together. The Lord wanted me to encourage her.
She belongs to a church and lives in Fremont, California. She wanted to spend this weekend before the Lord. She is 24, single and searching for the will of God for her life. I told her that women need to be more assertive in the church. She needed to commit her life to the Lord and go into ministry. I told her that I would pray for her. All this time she was wiping the tears from her eyes. We took hands and I prayed for her.
Now I had to leave and she gave me a hug. I turned and walked off and did not look back. My eyes were wet with tears as I walked away. I was rejoicing and praising the Lord. I now know why I came on this trip. Praise God! Forest Steenfott

My Good Friend Gary Pomeroy:

I came to Know Mr. Gary Pomeroy many years ago when he came to work for Valley Christian Schools as the bus and transportation director. The school began to eliminate the bus program because of the expense of it. Gary began to put in more time in custodial and maintenance. I was in charge of this program for the Junior and senior High School. We shared many Christian experiences together. We became very good friends. Gary came very close to me when my wife became seriously ill. I count Mr. Gary Pomeroy as my very best friend. —Forest R. Steenfott

Gary Pomeroy’s Testimony

My name is Gary Pomeroy and I would like to share with you a story about love, forgiveness, and the life-changing power of Jesus Christ. It is my story, my journey, but it may not be much different than yours.
I was born in 1951 in San Francisco and raised by loving parents. My mother was Catholic and my father was a Protestant. Like a lot of people, I was baptized Catholic and thought I had been born into that religion. I went to catechism as a boy, but do not remember learning much about the Bible or the person of Christ.
In the sixties, I was influenced by music of groups like the Beatles and I had many idols. All of it led to drugs. By my early twenties, what I thought was freedom and love turned into bondage and insecurity.
In 1975, after living together two years, my high-school sweetheart and I married. A year later, we divorced. So, I found another girlfriend and we lived together and had a baby boy. But because of our obsessions, we too broke up within three years.
Throughout those years, I called out to God, but I did not know him personally. I only called out to him when I needed something, not for his will in my life. I called myself a garden-variety pagan, trying everything to fill the hole in my heart. I even considered suicide.
But in 1982, after many years of worshipping people and things, mocking God’s name, dishonoring my parents, encouraging my son’s mother to get an abortion, committing adultery, stealing, lying, and coveting what was not mine. I came to a point where I needed love and forgiveness. And for the first time in my life, I heard those words coming from the Bible, read by a man like me in a little church.
That day, I chose to follow Christ, but scared and embarrassed, I left the church quickly. God knew, though, and within a few weeks, He sent a young man to lead me in a prayer to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, asking forgiveness for my sins. That day changed my life.
Within a year, the Lord delivered me from my drug abuse and began teaching me His way of looking at myself and others. I had never read the Bible before. I was amazed to see many people just like me in those pages.
The faith I now trust in, I cannot see with my eyes, but I believe in my heart (Hebrews 11:1). I have the power to overcome all my temptations and trials, and I can call upon that power in all that I do (1 John 4:4). My life is now complete in the Lord.

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

I have been serving the Lord since 1984, in and out of the church, in a world that is dying to know Him. John 3:16 and 17 says: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

I (Forest) want to interject right here that Gary has for some time been involved the Pro-life—Antiabortion movement. He has turned away from aborting their baby. It has been a hard work because of abuse they receive.
__________________________________________________________________
Hi Linda (Gary’s sister) E-mail December 24, 1999
I have a big favor to ask of you. I have been praying for your brother. I had a brain-storm. You gave me many problems that Gary is having. My memory is not that good in retaining all of them. Would you write them out in detail for me and send them to me by E-mail? Now that is about his physical and mental conditions. Include with this his problem with his son. I consider this very privilege personal information. He will not know that you gave this to me. I love Gary and it would be the last thing in this world that I would hurt him. That is the same thing with you. I do praise the Lord that He has put both of you into my life. This type of thing is really what the Church of Christ is all about. We are to build each other up in our faith and walk. It is really about loving one another. That phrase “love one another” is mentioned 13 times in 12 verses. It is a command. I have also written about this and will share it with you some time in the future.
Your brother and friend, Forest
______________________________________________________________

Forest,
Ok...as far as Gary goes, he has Hepatitis C and damage to the liver...his liver is shutting down so....
1. He's very bloated in his abdomen as the liver is hard and does not digest the food from his stomach bile is backed up into his throat and he gets ulcers that have to be tied off every couple of months.
2. He is TIRED a lot!
3. He has memory problems as a symptom of the diseases above.
4. Layne (gary’s son) is "doing his thing" ...sex, drugs rock and roll.....need I say more....he seems to be checking in with Gary more often lately but he is a real con and it is Christmas time. You have a wonderful Christmas. I read your writings on Grace and they were wonderful...God bless you!
Linda
__________________________________________________________________
Dear Friends and family, (From Linda)
Yesterday Gary and I went to UC-Davis for his interview/consultation with the transplant surgeon. The appt. went really well, the doctor was very helpful, 10+ years experience, very down to earth, is even going to modify the surgery to ensure Gary's left hand is not effected after the transplant. We are now officially on "stand by" for a transplant. We will be notified, to go to Davis asap and if the liver they have is a "good one" he will be transplanted immediately. There are times when the liver is not acceptable and they may send us home, a "false start" so to speak. The
nurse tells me that the odds are we will be called in the middle of the night.... and once I know Gary is going into the surgery for sure my son will call everyone for immediate prayer! If you'd prefer to be called after the surgery is over, please let me know asap. We can go anytime, although "B" type blood is very rare 5-10% of the population, so it may take a while (up to a year). The guy I met that was transplanted at Davis had B blood and was in surgery in two weeks!! So anything can happen. Thanks for all you love an support. You are the best! Linda

One evening about 10 P.M. I (Forest) received a phone call from Gary that he had an emergency. He was running some fever and had to get to a Hospital in San Francisco. I got to his house and we were off to San Francisco. The hospital knew of his coming and was prepared for him. I stayed with him for a couple of hours, when we decided that I should find a place to stay over night. I had a taxi take me to a hotel. The next morning I was with Gary again. The hospital wanted to have him stay over for a few days. I headed home that afternoon.
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Hello friends, (From Linda)
I am asking for prayer for Gary. He has been hospitalized 10 weeks
tomorrow. His Spirit is strong, his body and emotions are very strained. He has not been outside for a breath of fresh air in weeks. His friend in the ward was put into ICU today and the doctor gave him 30 days to live. Can you believe that? His name is Ernie, he is a Christian. I told Gary that I rebuke that in Jesus' name! No man knows what only Our Father knows! And doctors playing God and taking away hope makes me angry. This has grieved Gary as Ernie has the same blood type Gary does and Gary wants to let Ernie go ahead of him. This is my dear brother. Always thinking about everyone else before himself. Only the doctors can make that decision. There have been 4 patients who have died "pre" transplant in these 10 weeks. Gary has prayed with them all. Now Gary is the "old man" on the ward and next to go. The strain is hard to bear. Please lift him up whenever you think of him. He really, really needs extra prayer now. Thank you all for loving Gary. It should be soon now. I don't think anyone's waited longer than 12 weeks.
God bless you all.
Linda
P.S. For those of you who speak with my parents, please don't share this
information with them.
They are strained enough. I don't tell them everything.

Gary was eventually referred to California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. After many months of waiting, uncertainty, and poor health, he was finally admitted to CPMC on June 4th of 2001, and was placed on their waiting list for a liver transplant.

One afternoon, I (Forest) received a phone call from Linda that the San Francisco Hospital received a liver to transplant. They are checking to see if Gary can take it. She would call me back if it was a GO. I immediately without waiting for the answer got into my car and headed for San Francisco. It was funny that on my way to the city I got a phone call from Linda. The operation is on, we can go to Gary. I told her that I was half way there.

Being with Gary this evening was one of the most precious times in my life. I will never forget it. Some of his family members were there. The doctors gave notice that all was ready for the surgery. We gathered around Gary and took hands. I was asked to pray. I have never prayed this way before. I heard the words coming out of my mouth, but they were not mine. It was a most unbelievable experience.

We stayed at a sister’s house for the night. Came back the next morning. The doctors advised us to do this. The surgery came off without a hitch. Gary was just coming around. He was not that alert. I spoke and prayed with thanks giving with Gary. I then came back home.

After a 102-day waiting period, Gary finally received his liver transplant on September 13th. The operation was successful, and he has been getting progressively stronger and healthier ever since.
Home Church A non-denominational Bible teaching church
1799 S. Winchester Blvd., Suite 100 * Campbell, CA 95008 * (408) 370-1500

April 2, 2003

To Whom It May Concern:

I would like to recommend to you Gary Pomeroy.

Gary is a dear friend and brother in the Lord who has attended Home Church for over 15 years. He has been a well loved, highly respected and active member of our congregation. He has a particular heart and ministry toward children, and has been a faithful and committed participant in our Children’s Ministry and pro-life ministry over these many years.

In 1993, at the age of 42, Gary was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, a delayed complication from his difficult lifestyle prior to conversion. Over the years, his condition worsened and his health diminished as his liver was progressively dying from cirrhosis.

Gary was eventually referred to California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. After many months of waiting, uncertainty, and poor health, he was finally admitted to CPMC on June 4th of 2001, and was placed on their waiting list for a liver transplant. After a 102-day waiting period, Gary finally received his liver transplant on September 13th. The operation was successful, and he has been getting progressively stronger and healthier ever since.

This transplant episode has had a profound impact on Gary’s life. Certainly he is eternally grateful for the mercy and grace of God that has allowed him to live a longer and healthier life. He is grateful and humbled by the sacrifice and forethought made by the one whose organ now sustains him. But he is also grieved, knowing that the five dear people whom he met in his 102-day stay CPMC, those who were also waiting in hope, have since died because there were no donors available in their critical need.

Gary has a desire and passion to share with other believers, helping them to become aware of a great need and a tremendous witnessing opportunity. Christian organ donors have the opportunity to not only extend the life of an individual on this earth, but also to draw a donor, and his family and friends, to the Lord through their sacrificial gift and written legacy.

Gary would like the opportunity to briefly share this need and blessing with your congregation. Perhaps he could share for a short time during a Sunday morning or evening service, in an adult Sunday School class, or to a midweek Bible study or home group. I’m sure that Gary would be grateful for any opportunity that you might offer him. Thank you in advance for your consideration, and any courtesies extended to Gary.

Sincerely, George Kistler,
Gary S. Pomeroy
Pastor of Children’s Ministries
(408) 297-3212
Xpagan4christ@juno.com

Gary received no calls from this letter. His spirits are still up, and he gives his testimony everywhere he goes. He is a very humble servant of Jesus Christ, November 10, 2004. I am so grateful to my Lord for making him a true friend of mine.—Forest

Living The Surrendered Life—Oswald Chambers
Some Thoughts by Forest Steenfott

After Oswald’s death, Mrs. Kathleen M. Chambers took her husbands writings, speeches, studies and letters into book form. This is only a small part of the book.—Forest
“The Cross of Christ took on a new dimension to Oswald. No longer was it just a point of salvation; it became the place of self abandonment and surrender to the call of God. It was more than a place of forgiveness; it was a place of hallowed ground where he and we stand and willingly identify with Jesus Christ. It is where we "give up our right to ourselves" and die to self.
Out of this death comes life and the opportunity to live a Spirit-filled existence. (John 12:24) As we respond in obedience to God, He promises to lead and guide us through life with a sense of victory and hope. The times of trial, distress, and isolation are times God accomplishes His greatest work, when He molds us into the likeness of Christ.
"The one great need for the missionary (Chambers uses this term for those who have given their lives completely to Christ) is to be ready for Jesus Christ, and we cannot be ready unless we have seen Him." The way we come to see Jesus is through surrender. The blessing of living life abandoned to Him is to witness His daily power and grace alive and flowing through our lives into the lives of others.
In abandonment and surrender we find the unbridled soul—one not tempted by the treasures of the world, but bound to the grace and glory of the Savior. Oswald Chambers' message is one that still calls to us today. It is a call to leave behind everything outside of Jesus Christ:
"The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world. . . . Every now and again, not often, but sometimes, God brings us to a point of climax. That is the Great Divide in the life; from that point we either go towards a more and more dilatory and useless type of Christian life, or we become more and more ablaze for the glory of God - [Our] Utmost for His Highest."
I have read Oswald Chambers life story. There was one place in it that brought tears to my eyes. Oswald was very discouraged. God was not accepting Oswald’s artistry for ministry. He went off alone one night to pray. About two in the morning, he heard the voice of the Holy Spirit say, “I could use you, but I do not need you.” That will take the wind out of your sails. God did use Oswald Chambers mightily for God’s glory.

I Surrender All

All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give;
    I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.
All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow;
    Worldly pleasures all forsaken, Take me Jesus, take me now.
All to Jesus I surrender, Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
    Let me feel the Holy Spirit—Truly know that Thou art mine.
All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee;
    Fill me with Thy love and power, Let Thy blessing fall on me.

I surrender all, I surrender all
All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all


Spirit of the Living God fall afresh on me.
    Spirit of the Living God fall afresh on me;
Melt me, Mould me, Fill me, Use me
    Spirit of the Living God fall afresh on me.

Audrey Orlando. Came Into My Life, and is Now Mrs. Audrey Steenfott:

One of the most singular events that happened in my life was when my wife Grace became tragically ill with an incurable fatal disease in 1996. I learned many lessons from it. One of the most significant was to lean more deeply on the faithfulness and love of our God. Also, coming to an intimacy with God. Then these years brought with it understanding and wisdom. Lastly, to come to the knowledge of the will of God. There are two verses that speak to these years I had great trials, Romans 8: 28 – 29 “And we know that all things (good or bad) work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” For the Christian, “all things work together for good—to be conformed to the image of his Son.” God’s desire for each of us is improving our character to be like Jesus. There is one more lesson from all of this, has to do with our gratitude. First Thessalonians 5: 16 – 18 “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
I had put my wife Grace into a nursing home on June 1997, because I could not provide 24-hour care as she was needing. I started looking for another church for fellowship. I came to my son’s church in Los Gatos. There was a lady that was promoting a mission ministry in the church. This ministry Aurora Communications International was building a radio station in Alaska to send the Gospel of Christ into all of Russia and China. She was asking for volunteers to go to Alaska to work on the project. I volunteered. We became friends through this experience. I made several trips with her to Alaska. I shared with her about the things that were happening with my wife’s illness.
Audrey had been married about seventeen years before our meeting, and a widow for twenty years. She had been a caregiver for her husband for many years before he died. She had raised three daughters and one son. I had three sons and one daughter.
Audrey had a gentleman doing her yard work and some house maintenance, but he had quit. She asked me if I would step in and do the same work. She would pay me for the work. I accepted the job. The job gave me other things to think about. I took Audrey to see my wife many times. The job and Audrey accompanying me to see Grace was a relief to me. Grace was almost like a vegetable. Even though without Audrey, I would go and sit with my wife just about every other day. Grace died December 13, 2001. Audrey and I became best friends because we both love the Lord and wanted to work in a church ministry.
I had two friends that stood with me during the long days and nights. They were Audrey Orlando and Gary Pomeroy. I also had a couple in Redding, California that adopted me. I would go to visit them from time to time.
Audrey and I got married January 4, 2003.

Audrey Orlando Steenfott is an Enrolled Agent for the IRS:

Audrey J. Orlando, PLS, CLA, EA, has prepared income tax returns for 20-plus years and passed the enrollment exam in 1983. She has been a member of Mission Chapter of Enrolled Agents since then. She owns National Tax Academy, a practice primarily involving individuals, small businesses, estates, and trusts.
She is also a professional legal secretary and Certified Legal Assistant.
Audrey has represented several hundred tax payers successfully throughout the United States in audits and appeals. She attended West Valley College, Canada College, San Jose State University and has taught legal secretaries, legal assistants, and Enrolled Agents through her associations with the Legal Secretaries Association of Santa Clara County, National Associations with Legal Assistants, and Metropolitan Adult Education.
Enrolled Agents are individuals licensed by the federal government to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service. Unlike lawyers or CPAs, Enrolled Agents specialize in taxation. Throughout the year they advise, represent and prepare returns for individuals, partnerships, corporations, estates, trusts and any entities with tax-reporting requirements. In California, for example, the more than 4,000 members of the California Society of Enrolled Agents prepare almost 2,000,000 tax returns each year. Enrolled Agents' expertise in the constantly changing field of tax law enables them to be effective representatives when taxpayers are audited by the IRS. Audrey had started her business in 1979 and passed the U. S. Tax Court exam to be able to represent taxpayers in Tax Court.
I wish to conclude that Audrey is very knowledgeable of the Bible. She had taught the Bible to a men’s and women’s Sunday school class in her church for eight years and had done pro boni accounting and legal work for Aurora, the Christian ministry for over twelve years.

One Opportunity to Help People:

I may not have a building, but the Lord Jesus through the Hole Spirit has provided an avenue of ministry for Forest R. Steenfott. I give glory and honor to the Father for this.

I Am Thankful to God—these have been the most memorable events in my life in recent years. Praise God! I am truly thankful to my God.
Doxology

Praise God, from whom all blessing flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD! I AM A PASTOR!

The Opportunity to Pray with this Man was Just One Time.

I was living alone while my wife was in the nursing home. There were many evenings I would go out to a restaurant and order a dish of ice cream, banana split, or an apple-pie alamode. This one evening, I had the apple-pie a la mode on my mind. For some reason I had hesitated going out. At the time I was not sure why. I walked around the grounds of the apartment, which looks over the city of San Jose. It is quite a sight to see the lights of the city and airplanes coming into the San Jose airport.

All of the sudden I heard a word inside me saying “Go ahead and get your apple-pie alamode.” So, I went to the car to go to the restaurant. I walked into the restaurant and sitting before me was a black teacher of music at the school where I worked as a custodian. We both knew each other. I sat with him as he waited for a few other teachers to join him. He talked to me about his wife wanting to leave him, and wished that I pray for this problem. I told him I would. I told him that I would like to have him join in Bible study. There was no commitment made on his part.

The teachers did arrive, and I joined them at a table. When we had finished I walked out with my friend. While we were standing beside our car, I took him by his the arms and prayed for him. That was our last contact. I was no longer working at the school, because I was a caregiver to my wife. It appears that was all God wanted me to do.

The Opportunity to minister to a Young Writer was presented to me.

This was a married lady that was a pastor’s wife, who had several books to her credit. She was team teaching with another skilled lady writer at a Publishers and Writers Conference. Audrey and I were attending this conference. I went to this particular class, because it was on spirituality in writing.
I enjoyed what these two ladies were teaching. I had a problem that evening though. I started to cry over this young lady. I had no idea why. The Spirit of God gave me a concern for her. She sounded very spiritual to me.
I introduced myself to her, by telling her of my wife’s illness. Another young lady in the class overheard my conversation. Her husband had been injured in an accident, which may place her into longterm caregiving. Both of these ladies desired to correspond with me by e-mail.

The lady with the lady with the injured husband broke off with me when her husband was healing quickly. The writer teacher corresponded for some time. I did mention that both she and her husband were in two different ministries, going in two different directions. They had children, and being she is the wife, which scripturally gave her a responsibility to husband and family. Ephesian five and six take this issue. She gave me good answers to her calling from God.

One evening after dinner, I dropped into a Christian bookstore. I found a book on bringing life-styles of youth into adulthood. In some cases not good. I explained some of this out of this book. She wrote back thanking me for this information. She had never given thought to this before. Her parents drilled perfection into her young life. There was no room for mistakes. She understands that she was trying to live the same way, today. She was asking for God’s forgiveness. She thanked me for my help. That was the last I heard from her. That was to be the one time experience; God wanted me to share with her.

The Opportunity to Minister to a Young lady was presented to Become a Preacher.

I had the opportunity to attend a different church one Sunday. I had known some of these folks and the pastor from different occasions. There was a young woman that gave announcements. She also gave some spiritual words to the congregation. She had a dynamic voice. I spoke to her later that she should become a preacher. She did have some Bible Seminary education. I could tell that she had some Bible training.

Her husband sang a solo during the service. I learned later that he composed and sang many of his own songs. He had a good voice.

I asked her if I could right to her by e-mail on her husband and her going into ministry together. We correspond about two months. She was very taken by my words to her. I even gave her works by Ruth Paxson. She was a woman preacher back in the early 1900s. She had the reputation of being a pastor’s pastor.

I went out to dinner with her and her husband. I was looking into starting a house church. I invited them to come with me in this work. They turned me down. They wanted to be in a group situation for ministry. That was the end of our relationship.

I had spoken to other men and women to come with me in a house church ministry. All of them turned me down. I believe it was not to be.

I have many good friends; I truly am blessed:

Mr. John Marler has his own business in Computers. I met him through my working for Valley Christian Schools.

I had given John Marler some of my Bible teaching for his examination. I had mention that church minister’s refuses to even consider me as a worker. Forest R. Steenfott


Forest

I am sorry that I failed to take the time to study your document. I can sense the frustration you must be feeling due to the "organization" keeping you at arm's length and not allowing a venue of your gifts as instilled in you by the Holy Spirit. I, too, experienced this.

There is a growing neutering of the "organization" in America and the western world. Since President Johnson signed into law the denial of any non-profit to be able to express political views, the church has turned into an "ear tickler" and now the major thrust of any "organization" is (1) pay the bills and (2) maintain our tax-exempt status. as I read the Bible, the purpose of the preaching is to be a savor of life to those who know Jesus and the stench of death to those who oppose Jesus. The pastor is to equip the saints for the purposes of the ministry, yet no pastor that I have spoken to in recent history has visited his congregation in the work place to determine what he needs to do to equip them. The preaching does not lead us to evaluate our life before the throne of God; we are shown dramatic plays of how God works and illustrations now exceed the use of Scripture.

I have been led to have a Bible study that uses the Bible Only. We are going to show the CULTEXPLOSION of 3/4/03 to help our members understand that there IS another Jesus, another Gospel being preached. Other than that we expositorily open the "lamp" and only the lamp for guidance of our feet. God presumed that our feet needed it - that we would be moving and doing his will and following His commandment to carry the Gospel to everyone.

Somehow the word layman came into existence and allowed churches to divide the thinking into laity and ministry, indicating that ministry is done in the "organization" and denying the existence of the "ORGANISM" of the Body of Christ. No command or instruction by Jesus (or the Apostles) was ever delivered to ANYONE other than a businessman or woman. It was not the desire of God to have a paid staff that could assume the role of being closer to God that the lay person.

Your exposition was excellent, Forrest. The only problem is that it quotes the Bible in context, and most churches do not (1) think a layman and instruct a "minister" on the Bible or (2) doesn't care if the Bible backs up your statements and no layman can understand as well as the paid staff does. The Nicolatian heresy is the platform that most churches live by, not reject as Jesus does.

I can only encourage you and your Bible Study. Keep in mind that Jesus changed the world with 12 men, maybe, through the exercise of your gifts, you will equip the saints as we are commanded and they will be better because of it and they will be the Christian vessel Jesus is in such dire need of.

John

I wrote a letter to a good friend, Bob Hellam.

I was very depressed at the time. My letter to him is too personal to share. Just recently, I helped to pastor Bob in a very important decision he had to make. He may possibly become a pastor of a church. Praise the Lord.—Forest



Dear Forest, September 27, 2003

I am so proud to be your friend. God put us together because He knew that we needed each other's friendship. I am so glad to hear that your "postal ministry" is bearing fruit. You know, I have rarely met anyone who is as dedicated to the Lord's service as you are, and one of the signs of that is your very alive and active conscience.

But I very much doubt that the Lord will ever say that you are an unfaithful servant. Far from it! It is easy to become discouraged. I thought I was going to be a senior pastor someday, but now I see that the Lord has given me a wonderful ministry to the middle-school students, and I am fulfilled in that. I think it is the same with you. You may not have the ministry that you expected, but you have one, just the same.

You have ministered to me over the years we have known each other. I have also seen you touch the hearts of those young classmates of ours at Western Seminary, the members of my small group, people in my church, etc. You have the heart and the instincts of a pastor, and God uses you in ways that you are probably not even aware of.

Thank you for trusting me with your thoughts, and rest assured that I will respect your confidentiality.

Our emotions are real, but I always see that joy that Paul talks about in Philippians as a kind of pilot light that is always on, regardless of the temperature around it.

God bless you, my friend! Bob

My good friend Bob put in poetic form the worship parts of Revelation 4 and 5 for me.—Forest

Listening at Heaven’s Door

(Based on Revelation 4 and 5)

For Forest and Audrey

Thrice-holy God, all-powerful, our Lord,

    You always were, are now, will ever be.

Let glory, honor, strength, be Your reward.

    You made all things. You made them joyfully,

Worthy God, worthy Spirit, worthy Son.

    O Lamb, unseal the book and let us see.

Your blood has saved us all—each chosen one,

    Of every tribe and tongue—from slavery.

O worthy Lamb, You made us priests and kings

    Right next to God, to reign upon the earth.

Receive all strength, all glory—yes, all things—

    O Lamb Whose death has given us new birth.

We praise You, Father, on Your lofty throne

    Forever with Your Lamb Who is our own.


            —Bob Hellam, July 7, 2003

Forest Steenfott’s Accident and Disability:

My life came to an abrupt change at five P.M. on May 5, 1989.
I was hurriedly installing an alarm system at Valley Christian High School. The alarm sensors had been installed that afternoon in the music and band rooms.
Four thirty that afternoon, I rushed over to the bank along with my wife to deposit our paychecks. I sent her home to wait for me to take her to Denny's for an evening dinner. I rushed to Radio Shack to pick up the horn to finish the alarm system.
Arriving back at the school, I got a helper, Steve. We went up on the roof together. I fixed my eyes on the louvers over the windows of the music room. The horn was to be installed behind the louvers on the corner of the building. I walked in a fast step. The roof on which I was walking covered the walkways between buildings. I walked to the corner and off into mid-air. Steve was behind me and shouted at me. Because I was walking so fast, I heard him after I was in mid-air. I had thoughts on the way down the ten feet. It is amazing how many things will go through your mind in just seconds.
One thought was the expensive horn of $39.95, which I was holding. I sure didn't want to break it. I tried to throw it away from me, so I wouldn't fall on it.
Then I thought about myself. I have had many falls over the years. I always sensed through all of my falls, that I've had an angel carrying me down. I've not had any serious injuries from falls. I couldn't grab for anything. I knew there were lilies planted below me. That meant there was dirt, so, I thought I would just let go and hoped for the best.
I hit on the heel of the right foot. It was a terrible painful shock to my system. Then I fell unto the sidewalk. I thought I would try to stand up and go back on the roof to finish the job, but I could not get off the pavement. The pain in my ankle was becoming more and more severe as the minutes went by. Steve rushed to my side. I told him to get to my supervisor. They called my wife and 911. The fire truck with paramedics and an ambulance came on the scene. When they arrived I was lying on the cement walkway. They were thinking I fell on my head. The paramedics kept moving my head and asking where my pain was. I would point to my foot and say, "Down there at my foot."
I was taken to the emergency of the Santa Teresa Hospital upon my request. The nurses in the ambulance kept asking me what happened. "I walked off a roof," was my answer. I said, "I don't know how I'm going to tell my family and friends that I walked off a roof. Needless to say my wife and I didn't go out to dinner that evening.
There were x-rays taken. The ankle was all right, but the heel bone was totally crushed and broken in pieces. I was admitted to the hospital for surgery on May 10th. The surgery took place on the afternoon of May 15th. It took three surgeons four hours to put my heel back together again.
By 1989 I was 58 years old. I had been through some very bad times in my life before then. I had some inner anger about losing a managerial position with the company by it closing down their printing plant, and giving us our walking papers. My age was against me, I couldn't even get an interview. Then most management positions required much higher education. Companies are not interest in a person with Bible degrees. I went from $2,000 a month to seven dollars an hour as a custodian. There were other things that worked against me such as losing my
home. My wife cried when signing papers in selling the house so it wouldn't be foreclosed. So down deep inside I was moaning and greatly distressed.
I was put into a hospital room with another younger gentleman. He didn't talk much as I remember. He had, had spinal meningitis and was to have been back to good health again by this time. Instead he was put into a nursing home, but became worse. Now he was back in the hospital again. Over the next few days and nights I sensed that he was shutting down his body systems. The problem I had was I could not talk to him. His wife came in several times. The day they were going to take him to intensive care, I talked to his doctor about what I saw. I thought that it was a mental problem, He had lost all hope. You cannot fix that with drugs. The doctor thanked me, but it was not any of my concern.
One of the nights while I was in the hospital, I woke up hearing this man snoring. Then it came on me from God, "What am I crying about when I have stood by you under all of your circumstances and have provided for your needs?" I understand now, forgive me my God.
This was not the end to my problems with my heel. About a year later, it began to give me a lot of pain. I was having trouble walking. A friend advised me that I needed to get an attorney to go after workers comp. Arrangements were made to have physical exams. Three doctors, the insurance company, my attorney’s and my doctor agreed that surgery had to be done to fuse the bonds together. This surgery was done in 1993. The State of California ruled that I am permanently disabled 61%.

Forest Was Honored by Valley Christian Schools:

I had the belief while I was working for Simple Time Recorder Company, that my true employer was God, not man. Many times, I went beyond what the company required of me. I carried this same belief over into my work for Valley. I did not do this for my glory. I believe that it is required of every Christian. Our service is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Over the years that I worked for Valley, they honored me.
These papers had long been stored away. I found them. I wish to share them with you.

VALLEY CHRISTIAN JUNIOR HIGH—1987

 

DEDICATION

The 1986-87 yearbook staff would like to dedicate this yearbook to a man who has literally made our school functional. He’s here early in the morning, late after school and even on weekends. He’s cleaning classrooms, the locker hall and even the bathrooms. He’s known by everyone. His happy smile, many hats, and willingness to help us show who he is. The following are some quotes from those who benefit from his help:

Mrs. Axberg: “He helps me out by helping with lockers, serving hot lunch and keeping the office clean. He’s willing to move things around.”

Mrs. Lorenz: His willing and happy spirit when he helps students with lockers show that he loves servicing the Lord here.”

Mr. Graham: He’s very flexible. He has different jobs everyday. He helped me out a lot with the carnival. He really enjoys working on weird projects, and with electrical projects.”

Tim Jayne’s: “He is a nice guy. He’s the most helpful and thoughtful person I have ever known.”

Sean George: “He’s overworked and underpaid.”

“We don’t deserve such a good and outgoing man to be our custodian,” says Shannon Clark.

Mr. Steenfott, what would do without you? We would have tardies beyond imagination because we couldn’t get our lockers open.

VALLEY CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL—1990

 

ALL IN A DAYS WORK

“There is a man on campus that has kept Valley Christian School running smoothly for 5 years. Within his responsibilities he maintained the care of the portables at Campbell. Above that he did anything and everything that needed to be done. He did landscaping, set up sound and light equipment for chapel and drama. He made custom cabinetry for the classrooms and he was an electrical genius when it came to solving “unsolvable” electrical problems. No matter what the job description, or what he was in the middle of doing, this man was always prepared to help someone at a moments notice, it seems nothing slowed this man down, not even a seriously injured foot, in fact, everyone had a hard time keeping up with him. With a willing heart and plenty of ambition to work for the Lord he continues to be appreciated by many. One of the things he is admired for is the way he handles each problem thoroughly, disregarding the hectic pressure of a demanding situation. Mr. Steenfott, it’s HAT’S off to you for being such a valuable asset to Valley, and we pray for your soon return.”—Kristen McKee, Student

    “Mr. Steenfott is a Godly man who really enjoys electrical work and taking on a task that requires a challenge. I have seen him work things out when there wasn’t a tool or material designed to meet the need.” Mr. Graham

    “Mr. Steenfott loves being a part of God’s work. Many times he has expressed to me his joy in being a part of Valley Christian Schools. He has given extra hours, money and heart to VCHS. As he told me, ‘This work is like my church, so I will give my time and resources to it,’”—Mr. Graham

    “Forest is the ‘most valuable player’ in the Theatre Arts Department; he has unfailingly and without exception given of his time and talents to make every show we stage possible. Forest demonstrates a servant’s heart, and his love for Christ is manifested in all he does. He is loved by everyone who has ever worked on a show; his skill and talents are responsible in a very large way for each production we stage.

    And he never complains! He smiles and shrugs, and his face breaks out in a glowing grin of innocence; a laugh escapes, and the worse thing he’ll ever say is, ‘O, well . . . it’s all for the Lord.’ He always turns every thing I’ve ever seen him back to God.

    Forest is a remarkable man, unlike anyone else I’ve ever met. He goes beyond inspirational, and approaches Christ-likeness.”—Mr. Hill

“He’s really unselfish and he sometimes goes unnoticed.”—Mary Ellen Neal

“He has an overwhelming desire to be used by the Lord, Whatever needs doing he does.”—Mrs. Beekman

“We really appreciate all he does for us (drama) and what he goes through for us even when it’s not convenient.”—Dave Dunning

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The Changed Cross and Other Religious Poems—My Mother’s

    I find it very difficult to express in my own words the deep feelings and emotions of my great God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I came across an old book of poems my mother had. These poems speak so eloquently to these feelings and emotions within my heart. I wish to share them with you. Forest R. Steenfott

My Mother According to Proverbs 31:

Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.

She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.

She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.

 

This wonderful mother of mine became a Bible teacher of a ladies group, and taught the Epistle to the Romans.
 

                Light in Darkness

Breezes of spring, all earth to life awaking,

    Birds swiftly soaring through the sunny sky,

The butterfly its lonely prison breaking,

    The seed up-springing which had seemed to die.



Types such as these a word of hope have spoken,

    Have shed a gleam of light around the tomb;

But weary hearts longed for a surer token,

    A clearer ray, to dissipate its gloom.



And this was granted! See the Lord ascending,

    On crimson clouds of evening calmly borne,

With hands out-stretched, and looks of love still bending

    On His bereaved ones, who no longer mourn.



“I am the resurrection!” hear Him saying,

    “I am the life; he who believes in Me

Shall never die; the souls may call obeying

    Soon where I am for evermore shall be.”



Sing hallelujah! Light from heaven appearing,

    The mystery of life and death is plain;

Now to the grave we can descend unfearing,

    In sure and certain hope to rise again!

--Anson D. F. Randolph--

 

Communion with God

 

Lord, I am come along with Thee!

    Thy voice to hear, Thy face to see

And feel Thy presence near;

    It is not fancy’s lovely dream,

Though wondrous e’en to faith it seen,

    That Thou dost wait me here.

A moment from this outward life,

    Its service, self-denial, strife,

I joyfully retreat;

    My soul, through intercourse with Thee,

Strengthened, refreshed, and calmed shall be,

    Its scenes again to meet.



How can it be that one so mean,

    A sinner, selfish, dark, unclean,

Thus in the Holiest stand?

    And in that light divinely pure,

Which may no stain of sin endure,

    Lifts up rejoicing hands!



    Jesus! the answer Thow hast given!

Thy death, Thy life have opened heaven

    And all its joys to me;

Washed in Thy blood—oh! wondrous grace,

    I’m holy as the Holy Place

In which I worship Thee.



How sweet, how solemn thus to lie,

    And feel Jehovah’s searching eye

On me well pleased can rest!

    Because with His Beloved Son,

The Father’s grace has made one,

    I must be always blest.



The secret pangs I could not tell

    To dearest friend—Thou knowest well;

They claim Thy gracious heart:

    Thou dost remove with tender care,

Or sweetly give me strength to bear

    The sanctifying smart.



Thy presence has a wondrous power!

    The sharpest thorn becomes a flower,

And breathes a sweet perfume;

    Whate’er looked dark and sad before,

With happy light shines silvered o’er,

    There is no such thing as gloom!



Thou know’st I have a cross to bear;

The needful stroke Thou dost not spare,

To keep near Thy side;

But when I see the chastening rod

In Thy pierced hand, my Lord, my God!

I feel so satisfied!



Now, while I tell Thee how, within,

I oft indulge my bosom sin,

How faithless oft I prove,

No cold repulse, no frown I meet,

But tender, soul-subduing, sweet

Is the rebuke of love.

--Anson D. F. Randolph--


Mary’s Choice


Jesus, engrave it on my heart,

That Thou the one thing needful art;

I could from all things parted be,

But never, never, Lord, from Thee.



Needful is Thy precious blood,

Needful is Thy correcting rod;

Needful is Thy indulgent care,

Needful Thy all-prevailing prayer.



Needful Thy presence, dearest Lord,

True peace and comfort to afford;

Needful Thy promise to impart

Fresh life and vigor to my heart.



Needful art Thou to be my stay

Through all life’s dark and thorny way;

Not less in death Thou ‘It needful be

To bring my spirit home to Thee.



Then needful still, my God, my King,

Thy name eternally I’ll sing;

Glory and praise be ever His—

The “one thing needful” Jesus is.

--Anson D. F. Randolph--


One By One


One by one the sands are flowing,

One by one the mountains fall;

Some are coming, some are going—

Do not strive to grasp them all.



One by one thy duties wait thee,

Let thy whole strength go to each;

Let no future dreams elate thee;

Learn thou first what those can teach.



One by one (bright gifts from heaven)

Joys are sent thee here below;

Take them readily, when given—

Ready, too, to let them go.



One by one thy grief’s shall meet thee,

Do not fear an armed band;

One will fade, while others greet thee,

Shadows passing through the land.



Do not look at life’s long sorrow,

See how small each moment’s pain;

God will help for tomorrow—

Every day begins again.



Every hour that fleets so slowly,

Has its task to do or bear;

Luminous the crown, and holy,

If thou set each gem with care.



Do not linger with regretting,

Or for passion’s hour despond,

Nor, the daily toil forgetting,

Look too eagerly beyond.



Hours are golden links, God’s token,

Reaching heaven, but one by one

Take them, lest the chain be broken

Ere the pilgrimage be done.

--Anson D. F. Randolph--


Nearer Home


One sweetly solemn thought

Comes to me o’er and o’er;

I am nearer home to-day

Than I ever have been before:



Nearer my Father’s house,

Where the many mansions be;

Nearer the great white throne,

Nearer the crystal sea:



Nearer the bound of life,

Where we lay our burdens down;

Nearer leaving the cross,

Nearer gaining the crown.



But lying darkly between,

Winding down through the night

Is the silent, unknown stream,

That leads at last to the light.



Closer and closer my steps

Come to the dark abysm;

Closer death to my lips

Presses the awful chrysm.



Oh, if my mortal feet

Have almost gained the brink;

If it be nearer home,

Even to-day than I think;



Father, perfect my trust,

Let my spirit feel in death,

That her feet are firmly set

On the rock of a living faith!
--Author Unknown--

I Had Great Admiration for My Father:

I had the opportunity to visit my father and have lunch with him where he lived. My children were in their teens. If you have ever raised teenagers, or in the midst of it; you know what I am talking about. Grace and I were having problems raising our children. I was asking my father for advice. All dad said was, “Do you remember when mother and I were raising you?” That was not the answer I want to hear, I remembered.

Dad was living by himself in Napa, California. My brother John and I found out that dad was having mental problems. It was very evident that we were going to have to bring dad in to live with us in San Jose, California. We found out that dad had a dream about me. Dreams were real happenings in his mind. He was very mad at me. He no longer wanted to see me. My brother and I worked together to bring dad to San Jose. I stayed in the background. John got dad to take his money out of the bank to give him. Dad was not paying his bills. John also got Dad to move to San Jose to live with him. We then rented a truck, and brought dad’s things to San Jose.

Dad lived for several weeks with John, until John’s wife got fed up with dad. She wanted him out of the house. I told them to convince dad there was nothing wrong with me. I was a very good person and loved dad very much. It worked. Dad moved in with Grace, me, and the four children.

We soon discovered dad’s hallucinations. I will not describe them. I could tell that dad was becoming very sick. We took him several times to emergency at the county hospital. They would return him to us, and say, “There is nothing wrong with him, take him home.” One time after these trips to the hospital, one of my children found dad lying on the ground in the back yard. I called an ambulance. He was taken once again to the county hospital. Once again the hospital told me to take the old man home, nothing is wrong with him. I was very upset with this treatment. I knew there was something very wrong with dad.

In the next twelve hours. I tried to get dad to bed. It was almost impossible to do. I had to undress him. He wanted go to the toilet, but I could not get him there. He wanted to do it on the floor. I got him into bed. The next morning, I found dad had a BM. I knew that dad had changed my diapers when I was a baby.

So, I considered it a great privilege for me. I had to clean dad and the bed. I called for an ambulance. I told these fellows to stay with me. If the county hospital turned me down, we would go to another emergency service. They did not really want to do that, so I let them go after we got dad to the hospital.

About an hour later, doctor told me he had found blood in his rectum. They would keep him in the hospital. A couple days passed. John and I came in to see dad at the hospital one evening. He was gone. We checked with the nurses. He was just taken to Palo Alto Veterans Hospital. They would not tell us the reason.

We went to the Veterans Hospital. As soon as we stepped in the door, the doctor was waiting for us. Dad had a large pocket of blood on his brain. John signed a permission slip so they could drain off the blood. We stayed around for a while. It was getting late, so we left. The next evening we brought our families to see dad. He seemed in good spirits. The next evening we also brought the families in with us. Dad was not acting to good.

We were going to leave when Dad asked for John’s and my hands. He wanted to pray. We leaned over his bed to hear him pray. I could not hear it, but he was speaking his prayer. The chief doctor came to John and me to talk about our father. We went to his office. He told us that dad was still bleeding. He felt it would be best to make dad as comfortable as possible and let him pass away. We gave our permission to do this. John and I came back the following evening. We found dad unconscious. The following evening, I got a call from the hospital that dad had died. They asked me if I wanted to view dad as he was. I said, “No.” I told them that I would call the funeral home the next morning. They would come to pick up his body.

My Father’s Passing, December 27, 1977

I wanted to get over the funeral before New Years. Grace and I met with funeral people in Petaluma, California the next day. We made arrangements for the funeral and graveside service. The next evening was special for me. Grace sat off to one side. I stood in front of the casket looking over the body of my father. I stood there for some time. I felt that right above me was my heavenly Father. There was such a peace inside me. We stayed in a motel that night. Our children were driving up the next morning. My brother and family were coming, too.

It began raining that morning. By the time the funeral was over, rain was coming down very hard. We got into our cars to go to the graveside service. I planned to do the service. The head of the funeral home came to me and said, “We should not do the service. There was too much rain.” I said, “No, we are going to have the service.” He shrugged his shoulders and proceeded with what I wanted.

Just as we got to the grounds, and stepped out of the cars, the rain stopped. The blue sky broke through with white fluffy clouds with the sun shining. It was beautiful. I spoke and finished with prayer. We got back into the cars, and the rain broke out again. It was a miracle. Praise the Lord.

There are issues and subjects that we do not like to think about much less talk about. That is our death. From childhood into middle life even into retirement age, we feel like we are going to live forever. In childhood and middle life, we felt dad and mother were always going to be there for us. Then one day, they are gone. Maybe you let a tear flow.

16. Extra—Some Studies and More Happening in past Years:

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

1 Corinthians 15: “1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”
God’s Plan of Salvation
Ephesians 2: 8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

JUSTIFICATION:

Romans 5: 1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;
4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

I believe that your testimony and witness is much like mine. There is some very important factures that must be in your life to be like mine. These will allow God to work His will in your life. The first of these is salvation in Jesus Christ. Jesus died and rose again just for you. It is a gift for you to receive. Let me give you Bible Scriptures, step by step, in receiving this gift:

You must acknowledge something about yourself—Romans 3:22-23
“For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

There are wages to pay, and that is death—Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This is the hard part, judgment after death—Hebrews 9:27
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”

The word “BUT” declares there is hope for you—Romans 5:8
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

“GOD’S GRACE” will bring you into His salvation for you—Ephesians 2:8-9
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

You must receive the gift as God has provided for your salvation—John 1:12
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:”

How do I receive this gift of Salvation?—Romans 10: 12-13
“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘Who ever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’”

You were saved for God’s purpose and glory—Ephesians 2:10
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Please Memorize these Scripture passages.—Forest
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REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 11, 2001?

Where Will You Speed Eternity?

If you had died September 11, 2001 in one of the World Trade Center towers, where would you spend eternity? The Bible says that, “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
That Tuesday morning started out being like any other Tuesday for all of us. The alarm went off, took a fast shower, ate breakfast, kissed the spouse good-by, to the job, then in the middle of doing the job, your life comes to an abrupt end. You say, “That is it, I am no more!”
Let me ask a question. Why do we fear death so much? We don’t talk about it, we don’t even want to think about it. We live day after day as if we are going to live forever. One of the hardest products to sell people is life insurance, or making a will.
God did not create man the same as animals. Man was created in the image or likeness of God. We have many of the temperaments of God, such as love, and hate, along with a moral nature. We have the ability of understanding right and wrong. There is one other aspect that we have, that is that our soul is eternal as God is eternal. That is true. We are a living being as a person that cannot die. The brutal fact is that all of our bodies are dying. These verses from Ecclesiastes 12 bring out a hard reality.
Ecclesiastes 12: 7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was (speaking of the body), and the spirit will return to God who gave it……………….13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:14 “For God shall bring every work into judgment” is the same as Hebrews 9:27 “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”
Let us see from the Bible what our standing is before God. First is Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and second is Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God provided a remedy for man’s problem with sin, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We can have a new life in Jesus Christ.
The fact that God has worked out man’s dilemma is made clear in Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God loved us so much that He gave His Son as payment for the penalty of our sin. He offers it as a gift to us for our taking. A gift must be received as stated in John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
You ask, “How may I receive Jesus as my Saviour?” Turn your heart to Jesus. His hands are outstretched to you. Come to Him just as you are. Ask Him to forgive you and come into your heart and life. He is waiting for you to respond to Him. This is very simple to do as brought out in Romans 10:13 “For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved”
Here is a prayer that you may say from your heart. “Jesus, I know that You love me and died for me. Forgive my sins. I give my life to you.” If you truly believe in Jesus, you now have a new life in you. It is Jesus in you, and His life in you is permanent. You are now a child of God the Father and you will spend eternity with Him.

SANCTIFICATION:

Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad—You are the salt of the earth—You are the light of the world:

Matthew 5: 1 – 16 And seeing the multitudes, He (Jesus) went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Think carefully on what our Lord Jesus said. Our lives together should affect our society and culture.
There are more steps to take in the growth of our Christian lives. I had pointed these out in my Christina walk and life. I needed to take the first step of baptism. This declares to others my death with Christ and my resurrection with Christ. Next was my reading the Bible. You do not read the Bible as a newspaper. Concentrate on what you are reading. Secondly, around a campfire, I dedicated my life to Christ. From this, I learned to pray. After, I started to attend a Bible College, I had the opportunity to preach. Before the service I was in prayer on my knees, I gave my body to the Lord. These steps came over a period of time.
You must follow these steps, Bible reading, dedicate your life to the Lord Jesus, learn to pray, and lastly give your body to the Lord for His use. You will glorify the Lord, and be blessed by Him.

Scripture passages in respect to these steps in following and growing in our faith.

Romans 5:21 – 6: 4 “So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

“Present yourselves to God” We must yield ourselves and obey God.

Romans 6:11-13 “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

We follow these steps in Romans six by yielding ourselves to God and obey His Word, but we may fail in the process, why? Read Romans seven.

Romans seven tells us that in our nature we will fail in our Christian life, but in Romans eight gives us the victory!

Romans 7: 19 – 23
For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Romans 7: 24 – 25 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

We must realize that our flesh is weak. We cannot live and walk the Christian life in and of ourselves. God has provided victory for us. Read Romans eight.

Romans 8: 1 – 4
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8: 26 – 39
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.—Halleluiah, Praise the Lord!

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”—Halleluiah, Praise the Lord!

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

There is one more step you must take. God showed merry to you, give your body to Him—Romans 11:33-12:2
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor, Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him? For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.—I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

We yield our life and body once, but commitment to obey is hour by hour, day by day. Here it is in a Scripture verse, Galatians 2: 20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Amen.

There are two avenues of ministry, which are the same for each of us.

1 Peter 2: 4 – 12 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, (1) a Holy Priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
“Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,
“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone,”
and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.”
They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
But you are a chosen generation, (2) a Royal Priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war
against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

To some of you, this will be a review. I wish for you to go over these issues again. To others of you, this may be a beginning. Our God is sovereign and we must obey Him in the work He has assigned to us. We are all His Priest in this world.—Forest

The Priesthood of the Believer

This may come as a surprise to you, but being in Christ Jesus, you are a priest. You may say that, “I am not a pastor, missionary, deacon or elder, Sunday school teacher. I don’t have a ministry.” My beloved Believer, you are wrong. Remember, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2: 10). That goes for you and me, brother. We are His workmanship, and have a major task that God has appointed us to. For the particular ministries you were talking about have Scriptural requirements to do such ministries. The only requirement to be a priest is to be a born again believer in Jesus Christ. Even your pastor is a priest with the same assignment as you have. Christian ministries must have these qualifications. Acts 6: 1-6; 1 Timothy 3: 1-10; Titus 1: 5-9
The believer priest is a holy position. This speaks to character and conduct of life. This is brought out by Peter in his first epistle, “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but (redeemed) with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1: 15 – 19).
The believer is saved by God’s grace not by our works, but after we are saved we maintain good works for witness of Jesus Christ. “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He
saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men” (Titus 3: 1 – 8).
The Holy Priesthood speaks of spiritual sacrifices.

These are not to be thought of as being redemptive sacrifices. Only Jesus Christ could sacrifice Himself for our sins. There is absolutely nothing we can do to gain our own salvation.
What then are these “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ?” The very first and foremost after becoming a believer is to be baptized. The great commission given by Christ Jesus was to make disciples and to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul baptized his new converts right away, according to the Acts of the Apostles.
The second is vitally important, too, the sacrifice of ourselves. “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. (In light of who God is and what He has done to save mankind,) I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” (Romans 11:33 – 12:1)
Notice a few things about this sacrifice. It is not a dying sacrifice in the physical sense. It is acceptable to God and for spiritual service. It is a total matter of giving ourselves to God. Apostle Paul speaks of himself in this respect, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2: 20).
Take some time to talk to the Lord about these issues, which I brought up. I praise the Lord for you. Forest

To the Work of the Ministry of the Holy Priesthood:

To begin with in respect to being a priest of God we must have a right attitude of mind. This comes first in performing the office of priesthood. It revolves around the attitude of pride in ourselves. Take stock in these Scripture passages.
Psalm 51: 17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
Philippians 2: 5 – 9 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.”
1 Corinthians 1: 26 – 31 “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God; and righteousness and sanctification and redemption;
31 that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.’”
I spoke about “spiritual sacrifices,” which are “good works.” The epistle of Hebrews tells what these works are all about. They really come about through the second great commandment, which we covered earlier, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” We are not only commanded to love, but it is also part of our priestly ministry.
Hebrews 13: 13 Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
14 For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.
15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
We may have to bear Christ Jesus reproach while trying to help others. The first of our good works is speaking forth the praise of God. Let others know of your praise for God’s goodness under your trials and tribulations. We all walk through trouble times such as, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over” (Psalm 23: 4 – 5). Your hurts and trials are to be a witness of God’s care and faithfulness to you. You are not in that valley alone, God is at your side. He is preparing a table before you that others may see your faith. Now praise God for using you as His witness. We are different than the world. We are in the world to glorify God, but we are not of the world.
The next works are from the 16th verse. I believe that, “to do good and to share” are two different matters.
“To do good,” means honesty, truthfulness and accountability in you acts with others. In other words no lying on your taxes, or cheating on your spouse. You should have a reputation that you follow through on projects that you take on. Your character is one of reliability and truthfulness
“To share,” is one that we generally have a hard time with. This has to do with our money or time. Apostle John mentions this very thing in his first epistle.

1 John 3: 16 “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

James 2: 14 “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

The Royal Priesthood of the Believer:

“Royal” speaks to a government or national position. We entered a new kingdom when we took Jesus Christ as personal Savior. The believer priest is a governmental position, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1: 13 – 14).
The Believer Is an Ambassador for Christ

“Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” (Romans 6:6). Once again, we must have knowledge of our standing or position in Christ Jesus. This verse, Romans 6:6, goes hand in hand with 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” This verse, along with the next four verses, gives each believer a work to be done.
I have deliberately been dwelling on good works when it comes to matters of faith and practice. These are the DO’s from the outcome of the Gospel, not the DON’T’s. We are of a Holy and Royal Priesthood. The works from being a priest are: “Through Him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:15-16). Then the other works we are to do: “Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20).
I want to speak to the fact that we are ambassadors for Christ.

Let me make a statement that I made earlier about the priesthood of believers; the ambassadorship is not mentioned anywhere else in the New Testament regarding church administrators. There is nothing in the spiritual gifts about it. Every one of us, brethren, is an ambassador for Christ. You and I in our lives must represent Christ Jesus. What, then, are we to do? Going back to our passage in 2 Corinthians five, verse 19: “namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” That is our business. We are in a new and heavenly kingdom. All of us are priests and ambassadors for Christ.

There is a hymn that is sung often in our churches. The name of the hymn is “Take My Life, and Let It Be Consecrated, Lord to Thee.” The third verse of the hymn goes, Take my lips and let them be filled with messages for Thee; Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold, not a mite would I withhold.”

WHAT REALLY COUNTS?

Author unknown.

Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. It was a cowboy's life, a life for someone who wanted no boss. What I didn't realize was that it was also a ministry. Because I drove the night shift, my cab became a moving confessional. Passengers climbed in, sat behind me in total anonymity, and told me about their lives. I encountered people whose lives amazed me, ennobled me, made me laugh and weep. But none touched me more than a woman I picked up late one August night.
I was responding to a call from a small brick fourplex in a quiet part of town. I assumed I was being sent to pick up some party gores, or someone who had just had a fight with a lover, or a worker heading to an early shift at some factory for the industrial part of town.
When I arrived at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, then drive away.
But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked. "Just a minute", answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened.
A small woman in her 80s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.
"Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing", I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated". "Oh, you're such a good boy", she said.
When we got in the cab, she gave me the address, then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?" "It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly.
"Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice". I looked in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were glistening. "I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long." I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. "What route would you like me to take?" I asked.
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now."
We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.
I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair. "How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse. "Nothing," I said. "You have to make a living," she answered. "There are other passengers," I responded. Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. "You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said. "Thank you."
I squeezed her hand, then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life.
I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly, lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?
On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life. We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware—beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID...BUT THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.
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GLORIFICATION:

Romans 8: 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;
21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. (Rerf. 1 Corinthians 15: 51 – 58)

PRAISE THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY! AMEN!
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Ephesians 5:18—be Filled with the Spirit

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.”

I was compelled by the Holy Spirit of God to study Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians giving the account of the Holy Spirit’s work in the Church. I taught a Sunday school class of adults on this study. As a guide I used, “Ephesians and Colossians—In the Greek New Testament” by Kenneth S. Wuest, LL.D. He was a teacher of New Testament Greek at The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1955. The word “FILL” is the same word “CONTROL.” It implies our obedience to the Holy Spirit of God.

I am leaving just the Scripture and the out line from Ephesians 5: 18 through 6: 9.

filled with the Spirit

The Fullness of the Holy Spirit in our worship together: Ephesians 5:19 – 21

“speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.”

The Fullness of the Holy Spirit in our husband, wife and children relationships: Ephesians 5:22 – 6:4

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’ And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

The Fullness of the Holy Spirit in your work on the job: Ephesians 6:5-9

“Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.”

The Last Time God Allowed Me to Preach.

This was a very unusual event. I was saved in a Baptist Church, attended a Baptist College and pastured a Baptist Church. I have been a Baptist all of my Christian life. In 1980 all my ministry in the Baptist came to an end. This was not of my choosing.
My oldest son Daniel married a wonderful Christian Jewish girl. She was in an Assembly of God Church. Dan followed with her into the Assembly of God. This was in Monterey, California. My wife and I visited with them many times, and went to church with them. Dan’s wife Sue’s folks belong to the same church.
Dan and Sue moved McCloud, California. This was near Mount Shasta in Northern California. There was an Assemble of God Church in McCloud, which they joined. They had a young pastor that made some off statements about Baptist when we attended. This did not offend me. There was a change in pastors. The church wanted to buy land and build their own church building. This they did. Their pastor was a very fine man.
I wrote an article about the person of Jesus Christ, called “Who is this Jesus of Nazareth?” I wrote this from what I saw of a TV evangelist. He was putting on airs of great pride. He was a healer, and also a pastor. He would prance around the stage blowing people down as slain in spirit. This next scene made me mad. People in front of the stage were waving their hands at him, which appeared to me as worship of this evangelist, and he was accepting it. Is this what we learned of Jesus Christ? I mailed this article to Daniel, and he gave it to his pastor to read. I had not known that Dan would pass this on to his pastor.
I received an invitation from the pastor to come to his church and preach “Who is this Jesus of Nazareth?” This was a shocker to me. A Baptist was invited too preach in an Assembly of God Church? I attended a men’s prayer meeting the evening before. We had a good time of prayer. Then came Sunday morning. I preached in Dan’s church sometime from June 1992 to March 1993.
I spoke with the piano player before I spoke to the church. I wanted to end the sermon with a special song, “Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus,” for the congregation to sing. I preached my message. I had the congregation stand, take hands, and we sang. Many had tears in their eyes. It was a blessed time.
This was the last time I preached before a congregation. I also had a good friend of a Nazarene pastor. I lead a prayer meeting in his church. I have preached one to one many times, even through E-mail. The pulpit I have now is a computer and the postal service. I tried to get my church and pastor to let me teach the same studies in my church. I was denied this opportunity. So, may it be! God’s will be done!—Forest Steenfott, September 19, 2006

Who is this Jesus of Nazareth?

By Forest R. Steenfott—Last Sermon Preached

Who is Jesus? What are His person, character, function, and attitude—and how does it relate to us in our present day life? Understanding our Lord’s roles and His example for us can make us stronger in our walk with Him and in our witness to the world.
First of all, even though Jesus is our friend, He is also called our Master, and we are His servants. The servant is not greater than his master. Several Scripture verses point this out. In Romans 1:1, Paul calls himself a servant (bondslave) of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 10:24-25, Jesus pointed out that a servant is not above his master.
Our relationship to Jesus, however, is more than the typical servant—master relationship, as Romans 8:14 shows us: “those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”
Let us take a close look at the Master, the One we should be modeling. We Christians are to be taking on the image or likeness of Jesus Christ, day by day. Take that great missionary and apostle Paul. He says, “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death” (Philippians 3:10). Who did this great man want to know? It was Jesus.
Who is Jesus? A few more Scripture verses gives us vital information about our Master. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothings was made that has been made” (John 1:1-3).
“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Jesus is God Almighty. He is high and lifted up. He is above and before all. Being God, Jesus is unchangeable. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). It is important to realize the Jesus of the four Gospels is the same in His character today as He was then. In the Gospels are some very important verses about Jesus’ attitude and behavior.
First of all, Jesus was humble. In Matthew 11:29, Jesus says, “I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Philippians 2:5-8 beautifully illustrates the extent of Jesus’ humility: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.”
These verses speak for the humility of Jesus—however, He was not a “doormat” to be walked upon; He was a picture of strength in standing against sin and injustice.
In following Jesus, how, do we demonstrate His humility? We read in Proverbs 8:13, “To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I [Wisdom] hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”
Pride and arrogance have no place in the economy of God. To have pride in one’s being means to have self-reliance. For the believer, pride means that self, not Christ, is in control and in the center.
In the New Testament, we have many vivid examples of the humility Jesus desires of us. The apostle John was a close friend of Jesus, and when speaking of himself used the phrase, “whom Jesus loved.”
John 13: 23 Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.
John 20: 2 Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
John 21: 7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea.
John 21: 20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?"
Read carefully the first chapter of “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” There has been a distinct change in John’s attitude toward Jesus his Lord; “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.’” (Revelation 1: 17-18).
Some church leaders, because of their position in the church, have an inflated opinion of their importance before others. But look at John’s three epistles. We see no impression in John that was better than the people he wrote to. We see an elder statesman that is gracious and loving. No pride in his position at all. We need more church leaders today like this man John.
Let us look for a moment at a man called Peter, another of Jesus’ disciples. Here was a hard working fisherman. Generally, this class of workers must be independent, strong-willed, and highly motivated in order to survive at this lowly job that requires so much endurance.
Yet after his experiences with Christ, Peter was able to write in one of his epistles (1 Peter 5:5-7), “All of you, cloth yourselves with humility toward one another, because ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
Humility is an important characteristic of Christ that we should imitate. But there are others. One is love. In many ways, true Christians love parallels humility, for it is the antithesis of pride.
Paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 13:1-7 by replacing “love” with “Jesus,” we see that Jesus is patient; Jesus is kind; He does not envy. Jesus does not boast; He is not proud. Jesus is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered. Jesus keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Jesus always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. Jesus never fails
1 John 4:8-10 tells us that the one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. Since Jesus is the Son of God, who is God Himself, Jesus is love. He demonstrated genuine love over and over again during His earthly ministry. Although He could be hard as nails in righteous anger at sin, Jesus was warm and compassionate when dealing with individuals. In the story of Lazarus and his sisters, when Lazarus was sick, his sisters, sent for Jesus. Jesus loved Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. When Lazarus died, the sisters were devastated because Jesus wasn’t there. He then came into this family’s heartbreaking situation and brought life and joy.
One more Scriptural statement about the person of Jesus cannot be overlooked, because it is one of the most powerful statements about the humility of Jesus and its demand on those who are His followers. In John 13:3-7, we read that Jesus the Christ, Creator of the universe, almighty God, stooped down as a lowly servant and washed His disciples’ feet. What about His followers or the so-called leaders in His church today? Are we still heeding His command and His example of service? “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:15-17).

Jesus’ rules as our God, and as our Master gives us many examples to imitate as we walk with Him. But among the most striking and important for us is His quality of humility, expressed during His earthly life in loving service toward people. We would do well to live our lives in the same way, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 2: 5-10 Alleluia! Praise the Lord!

Closing the Chapter of Forest Steenfott’s Ordination

My Dear Family February 15, 1999

On Saturday of February 5th I was some what down. I went for a ride up to Mount Hermon. I stood by the back end of the auditorium and cried, because I had courted your mother in that place. We even had our honeymoon there. Then I walked one of the trails into the woods. It was so beautiful. There was a small stream and towering sequoias overhead. There was a small place on this trail with a bench. I sat down and prayed for a while. Then a thought came to my mind. You know I would like to bury the memories of the pass and move into the future. You know, start life over again. I prayed this way for some time. I continued on the trail thinking and praying about this. I know mother has to go, first. I accept that and will continue to watch over her until she does go. I still love her so very much. I then came back to San Jose.

I woke up that Sunday morning with a thought in my mind. At first I said an emphatic “NO” to this thought. I don’t want any change. I tried to put the thought out of my mind. I went to Sunday school and the church service. I could not shack off this thought. Finally that Sunday afternoon, I said, “Yes Lord.” I typed a letter and put it in an envelope.

I told the Lord that I will not mail it until after this weekend of February the 13th – 15th. I was to attend a Christian Bible conference at Mount Hermon. This I did. The Lord gave me so very much help. Made many new friends. I came home rejoicing. I am going to mail this letter that I was holding. When I mail this letter it then will be in the Lord’s hands and the church that I’m mailing it to. I trust the Lord that He will do what is for His glory. My life is in His hands. Here is the letter for you to read. I know that this is the will of God. It is going to close a chapter in my life.

I love you all, your father.
-------------------------------------------------
Colonial Baptist Church February 7, 1999
4831 – 63rd Street 790 Ironwood Dr. #108B
Sacramento, CA 95820 San Jose, CA 95125

I, Forest R. Steenfott, was called to be your pastor on October 24, 1956. I gladly accepted the call. Our ministry with you flourish readily for that first year with you. I requested the church to call an ordination council, “to consider the propriety of setting apart to the work of the gospel ministry, our pastor Forest Steenfott.” Colonial Baptist Church ordained me on December 5, 1957.

The examination was on three issues in respect to myself, (1) Candidate’s conversion (2) Call to the ministry (3) Doctrinal views.

I left the pastorate of Colonial Baptist Church in 1958. I have continued to be in lay ministry over the years. God has not allowed me to inter the pastorate since I left Colonial Baptist Church. Other ministries such as preaching, teaching or any administration for me has been almost nonexistent since 1980. I had always held out hope that someday I would return to the pastorate or nothing else but to teach the blessed Word of God. It appears very evident to me that after 42 years, I do not have a calling or even gifts of the Holy Spirit. I’m going to hang up the mantel.

I request that Colonial Baptist Church would nullify and void my ordination. I do want to make it very clear at this juncture that I have not apostate or changed in any way my doctrinal position from my ordination examination. I am still very much a Baptist.

Forest R. Steenfott
-----------------------------------------------
Colonial Baptist Church
Sacramento, California
April 29, 1999

Dear Mr. Steenfott

On April 25, 1999, at our First Quarterly Church Meeting, we granted your request per your letter sent on February 7, 1999. A motion was made and unanimously ratified to withdraw our sanction of your ordination which was consummated December 5, 1957. This action was neither due to apostasy nor for any moral or disciplinary issue. It was solely at your request.

May God’s rich grace be your experience as you continue to faithfully serve our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sincerely,

Penny Callison, Church Clerk

WHAT ARE YOU HANGING ON TO?

The cheerful girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them: a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box. "Oh please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?"

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face. “Dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma."

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere-Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night when he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?" "Oh yes, Daddy. You know that I love you." "Then give me your pearls." "Oh, Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess the white horse from my collection. The one with the pink tail. Remember, Daddy? The one you gave me. She's my favorite." "That's okay, Honey. Daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?" "Daddy, you know I love you." "Then give me your pearls." "Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is so beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper." "That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you." And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian-style. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek. "What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?" Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said,
"Here, Daddy. It's for you."

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's kind daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime-store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny. He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her a genuine treasure.

Jenny's father is like our heavenly Father. He also is waiting for us to give up our dime store stuff and seek Him first... so He can fling open the windows of Heaven and pour us out such a blessing that we will not have room enough to hold it.

What are you hanging on to? Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.

I received the Colonial Baptist Church letter and the E-mail note “What are You Hanging on to?” on the same day, April 30, 1999.

I had felt a relief and a peace of heart and mind when I received confirmation to my request.

Forest R. Steenfott – July 17, 1999

The Church Rejected Forest’s Ministry.

This began to appear in the late 70s into the 80s to the present time:

This letter evolved from attending the Home Church of Campbell, California. The incident where I came about writing this letter was written during a two-month missionary seminar held at the Home Church. I never mailed it, or ever will for conscientious sake.

Mr. _______________ I had spoken to you about my interest of coming into Home Church for Christian ministry. You made a statement that has become so true for me over the years. You said, “You must be willing to clean floors.” I know what you mean. I have been faced with that for years. This is what you really are saying, “You join us with a show of humility, do the lowly jobs so we may prove you over a few years to your character, spirituality and abilities. Then we may allow you to do Christian ministry in our church.

I want to give you some idea of my custodial work. I was the head of custodial and maintenance for Valley Christian Schools, San Jose, California for over 15 years. I did the normal cleaning of classrooms, offices and rest rooms. There were times that I had to clean up human feces in restrooms, urine in hallways and vomit in classrooms. You may say that I was paid to do that. Let me give you an instant that I had about three years ago. An elderly gentleman was staying in a lady friend’s house. This was for room and board. He had just taken a shower and had a stroke. He had a BM that was all over the bathroom. The paramedics were called. I got a call from my lady friend. When I arrived, she and another lady were just about to clean the bathroom. They both looked like they were going to get sick. I rushed them out of there, and took over the job myself. I had it all cleaned up in two hours, thanks to Clorox and Simple Green. That job was voluntary on my part. I had a sincere interest in the gentleman and the two ladies. So do you expect me to clean up feces, urine and vomit around the church just to prove that I am humble enough to go into ministry? Then how many years do you want me to do that? I believe that this act of cleaning up a sick man’s feces not only showed that I have humility, but I have character, too.

Education and Experience in doing Christian Ministry:

Here are some of my qualifications for doing ministry. I was saved in 1947, dedicated my life to Christ as Lord of my live, attended 5 years in a Bible College and received a Bachelor Art in Bible and a Bachelor Theology, degrees. I was ordained in a Baptist Church. I have been involved in other churches as deacon and chairman one time. I served some time on the missions committee, Senior High counselor, and Sunday school superintendent of the Junior High. I was on the board of directors for the Santa Clara County Jail Chaplain ministry. I had preached in regular church services, and held Wednesday prayer services. Recovered a failing church. The church is alive and well in East San Jose today. I also had preached many times at a local Rescue Mission.

Two Administrative Activities, Which the Church Asked Me to be Responsible For:

The church I was in was “The Baptist General Conference.” This was the old Swedish Baptist denomination. The National organization was going to have their national conference in San Jose, California. I was asked to put together this conference. I brought people around me that had different abilities and expertise in their area of interest for putting together the convention. I had to arrange for the main auditorium, conference rooms, and booths for displays, Piano and organ, nursery for young children, etc. I worked with the City of San Jose, Hotels, and food services. It all came together and ran very smoothly.
The second area was in my own church, which was in The Baptist General Conference. I was the deacon chairman at the time. The pastor wanted to have a week of evangelistic meetings. He had the evangelist and the music man. I develop and brought together the working committees. One of these committees was a prayer committee. We had house prayer meetings. The meetings for the week went well with many saved.

Writings of Bible Studies, and Christian Issues By Forest Steenfott:

I learned how to study the Word of God in my Bible College days. I have gone deeply into my own Bible studies over the last few years. I have read and studied many Bible scholars. I have written on many Bible subjects and issues.
I have taught two home Bible studies. I have prepared my own material and taught First, Second, Third John, Jude, Second Peter and the letters to the Seven Churches of Revelation chapters two and three. I have sense a gradual growth in their Christian lives. One of these is Gary Pomeroy, member of Home Church.

Ministry of Forest Steenfott’s Own Family Relationships:

Shall we consider my own family, first my wife, Grace of 48 years? Yes, I pledged my vows that I would love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, for better for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer; and forsaking all others, keep thee unto her, so long as ye both shall live. Grace and I did everything together. Yes, I laundered clothes, helped with the dishes, vacuumed floors, went shopping for groceries together, and we even shopped for clothes together including her bras and dresses.
Then my beloved wife became very ill. Then for eight months, I bathed, clothed, and fed her. I had to take her to the toilet and clean her. She was awake most of the night. She couldn’t get in or out of bed. All of this became a twenty-four hour job. I carefully and faithfully watched over her in a nursing home for four years. Do you believe that is being a faithful husband? Grace went to be with the Lord Jesus on December 13, 2001.
Grace and I had four children, three boys and one girl. All of the children received Christ as Savior in their early years. Grace and I prayed earnestly for the boys, and God answered by bringing them back to Himself. Diane was always clean. All of our children have children of their own. The grandchildren are coming to Christ as their savior.

Administrator. in the Corporate World of Business until the Plant closing 1980:

I became employed in 1959 with Simplex Time Recorder Company. This was in their printing plant in San Jose, California. The factory made time equipment, fire alarms, security systems, and printed time cards on the East Coast. Their San Jose Printing plant only printed time cards for the Western part of the United States. I was made Plant manager in 1952. I had about ten people working for me. My leadership was team management. My immediate supervisor was at the factory on the East Coast. I had very little employee turn over. We produced a sizable profit over the twenty plus years I worked in the company. I was able to do all the jobs in the plant. I invented a gauge that could setting the blades of the paper cutter to exact sizes, and do it in much less time than before. I was able to hire a one arm man for shipping by changing the controls of our forklift. I even rebuilt one of our printing presses by taking it to a machine shop.
The Plant was closed down by some poor advice given to top management in 1980. This was at the time that the computer was coming to age. The company figured that the time card business was going to die because of the computer age. The funny part about this notion was that the company is printing more time cards today than in 1980 at the closing of the San Jose Printing Plant. The Simplex Company had more respect and confidence in the leadership of Forest Steenfott than what the church has ever had in Forest Steenfott.
I have the mental capacity of taking a project, laying out the rules to perform the project to completion. I had to make several trips back to the main office to coordinate to closing of the printing plant. I met in a room of folks with different interest in the company. They looked at me and ask, “What do we do?” I said, “No problem, give me thirty minuets, and I will have the whole program for you.” A funny thing happened after another trip I made to the headquarters. I wanted to say goodbye to elderly Superintendent of the factory. He had been fired by the new young owner of the company. He had some very choice unspeakable words for me. He could not understand that the company put a knife in my back, and was helping them close down the San Jose Plant. I work for God not the new young owner of the company.

Administrator in Custodial and Maintenances for Valley Christian Schools.

I started with the school in the Junior High as a custodian in 1984. I found that I had to do some maintenance, too. I was doing such good work and enjoying it that I was put in charge of the High School. The Junior High was put with the High School. There was a separation between the two schools. I bring this up for what I did for the printing company is the same thing I did for the school. The school was leasing the properties they were on. The schools had to move from time to time. The administrators had to have a meeting on what to do. I got into these meetings without being invited. They did not know of my talents. I would lay out the whole moving arrangement. The move was always successful. The Valley Christian Schools had more respect and confidence in the leadership of Forest Steenfott than what the church has ever had in Forest Steenfott.

A Firm Believer in the Calling and the Enabling Work of the Holy Spirit:

I am a firm believer in the work and gifts of the Holy Spirit in the church. What really bothers me is from the rejection the church has toward me. Consider Acts 13: 1 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, (to the church in Antioch) "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, (Church) and laid hands on them, they sent them away. 4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.” I honestly believe that I have the gifts of teaching, encouragement and service. I have a deep abiding love in my heart to help people in their needs. This is a hard pill to take, but it may not be the blindness of the church toward me. The Holy Spirit may not want to use me for the glory of Christ, in the church. I love and worship dearly the blessed Lord Jesus.  

Example of the Church’s Lethargy Concerning Forest Steenfott’s Work in the Ministry:

I had given my studies on First, Second, Third John, Jude, and Second Peter to my church. I wanted to teach them in the church, rather in a home Bible Study setting. I was denied the opportunity to teach.
I have a very dear friend on the ministerial staff at First Baptist Church, San Jose, California. I gave him my studies on First, Second, Third John, Jude, and Second Peter. He later returned them to me and said, “The studies are great, but I would have to join the church and over the years for the church to see evidence of my spirituality. Then they may or may not allow me to teach.” I have done this with a few other friends of mine in their churches with the same rejection.

Conclusion:

I was born in April, 1931, saved in July 1947. I am now 76 years old, and been saved 60 years. I have not backslid or became apostate from faith in the Lord Jesus, and from the truth of the Word of God.
Psalm 90: 10 The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
I believe that from this verse, Psalm 90: 10 that I may not have the privilege to be examined over some time without taking in account my past record. I also believe in the imminent return of Christ for His church (John 14:2-3; 1 Corinthians 15: 51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
I have a fear that I’m going to hear these words form the Judgment Seat of Christ, “Depart from me you have been an unprofitable servant.” The church believes that I am “an unprofitable servant.”

Forest R. Steenfott, born April 1, an April Fool, and that I am.
(This was a letter intended for a leader in this church.)
Dear Sir, (A second letter in responsive to the first letter, not sent.)
Now that you have read my statement, I expect nothing from you in return. If you did anything for me in respect to this statement, and I accepted it, this would be sin on my part. I’m blasting you for your answer to my inquiry for ministry; “I had spoken to you about my interest of coming into Home Church for Christian ministry. You made a statement that has become so true for me over the years. You said, “You must be willing to clean floors.” I know what you mean. This resume of mine is factual, and my inquiry to you was sincere. Your off the cuff judgment remark was like a red-hot iron on me. Basically it was an out right rejection of me. You did not know me from Adam. Your judgment of me was groundless. It had no substance to me as in character or abilities. Sense 1980 all I hear from churches and ministries is rejection after rejection.
My desire is to minister within the framework of Christ’s church. We are the Body of Christ, His church that He told Peter He was going to build. You answer my question, “Why will not the Church allow me to work?” “You said, ‘You must be willing to clean floors.’” As I said before that I’m 73 years old as of April 1, 2004. I believe I may not have much time left. Younger folks are all dying around me.
I’ve given many in the church the opportunity to take me in for Christ’s sake, but you all keep throwing me away.

The Lord is using me, Praise God! He appears to have faith in me even though the church and their leaders don’t.

With the help of the computer I wrote on many Bible issues. Here is a list of just a few, Adversity, Marriage, The Will of God, Reconciliation, Revival Again, etc. Audrey wanted me to send to her sister my work on marriage, which I did. It was about 20 pages. I did it in a Bible study format. I learned that she gave it to her son that has had many marriage problems. It flew over his head. He got nothing out of it.
I met these folks person to person. The son and the girlfriend were shocked to hear that I had been married to the same lady forty-eight years. This started the ministry. I did not want to use E-mail, for it is too impersonal. I use US Postal service and send two or three pages at a time. Maybe three to four weeks later I send another two or three pages. It is working! There were others that came to me with very adverse life problems. I gave them my studies on adversities, such as my wife’s illness. God gave me victory and peace out of this adversity. I followed the same procedure of two or three pages at a time. The response has been good to this study.
Over a year ago, I received an impression from the Lord to stop the material I was using, and start everyone with my study of the Will of God, which is the same for all of us. Good things seem to be coming out of this ministry. Praise the Lord! Forest R. Steenfott

I had given a good friend John Marler some of my Bible teaching for his examination. I had mention that church ministers refuses to even consider me as a worker, or teacher. John did computer work and installations for Valley ChristianSchools. He also made my PC. He is a very fine, truthful and upright Christian. Forest R. Steenfott

John R. Marler President MarFam Computer Solutions
410 Ariel Drive San Jose CA 95123-4205 USA 408-363-1651 408-363-1652 408-819-7511 jmarler@marfam.com http://www.marfam.com

: jmarler@marfam.com (John R. Marler)

Forest

I am sorry that I failed to take the time to study your document. I can sense the frustration you must be feeling due to the "organization" keeping you at arm's length and not allowing a venue of your gifts as instilled in you by the Holy Spirit. I, too, experienced this.
There is a growing neutering of the "organization" in America and the western world. Since President Johnson signed into law the denial of any non-profit to be able to express political views, the church has turned into an "ear tickler" and now the major thrust of any "organization" is (1) pay the bills and (2) maintain our tax-exempt status. as I read the Bible, the purpose of the preaching is to be a savor of life to those who know Jesus and the stench of death to those who oppose Jesus. The pastor is to equip the saints for the purposes of the ministry, yet no pastor that I have spoken to in recent history has visited his congregation in the work place to determine what he needs to do to equip them. The preaching does not lead us to evaluate our life before the throne of God, we are shown dramatic plays of how God works and illustrations now exceed the use of Scripture.
I have been led to have a Bible study that uses the Bible Only. We are going to show the CULTEXPLOSION of 3/4/03 to help our members understand that there IS another Jesus, another Gospel being preached. Other than that we expositorily open the "lamp" and only the lamp for guidance of our feet. God presumed that our feet needed it - that we would be moving and doing his will and following His commandment to carry the Gospel to everyone.
Somehow the word layman came into existence and allowed churches to divide the thinking into laity and ministry, indicating that ministry is done in the "organization" and denying the existence of the "ORGANISM" of the Body of Christ. No command or instruction by Jesus (or the Apostles) was ever delivered to ANYONE other than a businessman or woman. It was not the desire of God to have a paid staff that could assume the role of being closer to God that the layperson.
Your exposition was excellent, Forrest. The only problem is that it quotes the Bible in context, and most churches do not (1) think a layman and instruct a "minister" on the Bible or (2) doesn't care if the Bible backs up your statements and no layman can understand as well as the paid staff does. The Nicolatian heresy is the platform that most churches live by, not reject as Jesus does.
I can only encourage you and your Bible Study. Keep in mind that Jesus changed the world with 12 men, maybe, through the exercise of your gifts, you will equip the saints as we are commanded and they will be better because of it and they will be the Christian vessel Jesus is in such dire need of.
John R. Marler
I learned how to study the Word of God in my Bible College days. I have gone deeply into my own Bible studies over the last few years. I have read and studied many Bible scholars. I have written on many Bible subjects and issues.

Praise God—Forest Bible Study and Ministry—Praise God

I praise the living God for putting me into ministry and service to others. To build them up in their faith and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.
I have been receiving some good responses to my Bible Studies, and my Testimony and Witness from my students. The same for those who are pastors and missionaries. Some of my folks have told me that they really appreciated my testimony. It is an encouragement to them.
Giving our testimonies is the Scriptural thing to do. This is found in Ephesians 5: 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
I would be inspired to hear your testimony. Such as coming to Jesus Christ for your salvation and your commitment to serve the Lord. “Forest Testimony and Witness,” is not really a Bible Study. I really enjoy hearing other folk’s testimony, too. This is truly, “giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I give God all the glory for allowing me to be in His ministry. I hate to do this for it may appear I am boasting of my accomplishments. I give God all the glory, if He works out His will in my life to affect others in their Christian life, that is great. I want to be hidden behind the cross of Jesus.
I Place Myself and Calling By God in 1 Corinthians 1: 16 through 31:

Starting with, “26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption”— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”
A Short History of Forest Steenfott:

I was brought to Christ in a little country town Baptist Church in 1947 at 16 years of age. I then surrendered my life to Christ as Lord over my life. I sense the leading of the Lord to attend a Baptist Bible College. I learned through five years of college how to study the Word of God. I was given a couple degrees, which were Bachelor of Arts in Bible and Bachelor of Theology degrees. Then, I candidated for a Church to be their Pastor. I was called to Colonial Baptist Church, Sacramento, California. I was then ordained to the Gospel ministry in 1957.

Forest Steenfott—Ministry for the Lord Jesus:

I also did Home Bible Studies with some of my friends:
I had prepared my own studies with the help of many other Bible scholars. These were the Scriptures I used to study and teach.

               BIBLE STUDIES:

• The Epistle of First John
• The Epistle of Second John
• The Epistle of Third John
• The Epistle of Jude
• The Epistle of Second Peter
• Revelation One, Two, Three—Matthew 13
• The Rapture and Second Coming of Christ; Revelation 4, 5 and 19.
• The Epistle of Ephesians (Taught Ephesians in a Sunday school class.)

One of my favorite Bible scholars, which I have followed closely has been J. Vernon McGee, 1997, c1981. Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.). Thomas Nelson: Nashville.

Forest Bible Studies and Writings:

I learned how to study the Word of God in my Bible College days. I have gone deeply into my own Bible studies over the last few years. I have read and studied many Bible scholars. I have written on many Bible subjects and issues. 

                    FAMILY:

• Adam and Eve and Family
• Courtship and Marriage

                    WITNESSING:

• God so Loved – John 3:16
• Memorize the Plan of Salvation
• What Must I do to be Saved?
• Where will You Spend Eternity?

                    GOD:

• Fruit of the Spirit – Love
• Gifts of the Holy Spirit
• Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God
• Holy Spirit and the Church
• The Whole Duty of Man
• The Lordship of Jesus Christ
• The Second Coming – Joy to the World
• Vengeance is Mine – Says the Lord
• Who is this Jesus of Nazareth?
• Worship of God
• The Sovereignty of God

                    ADVERSITY:

• Personal Survival
• Gift of Wisdom
• Light at the End of the Tunnel
• My Problem with Anger

                    RECONCILIATION:

• Cases of Offenses with Forest R. Steenfott

                    PRAYER:

• Jabez’s Prayer
• Lovers Talk to Each Other
• Intercessory Prayer

                    BIBLE STUDIES:

• The Epistle of First John
• The Epistle of Second John
• The Epistle of Third John
• The Epistle of Jude
• The Epistle of Second Peter
• Revelation, One, Two, Three
• The Rapture and Second Coming

                    CHRISTIAN WORKS OF FAITH:

• Christians are fighting the Wrong War
• Paths of Righteousness-For His Name Sake
• Precious Memories
• The Christian Community of Believers
• The Greatest Commandment of the Bible
• The Will of God
• The Sovereignty of God
• Paths of Righteousness – For His Name Sake
• Precious Memories
• The Christian Community of Believers
• The Greatest Commandment of the Bible
• The Will of God
• The Sovereignty of God

 

                    MAJOR WORKS:

• Where Have All the Pastors Gone Stories of Forest’s Family and Friends
• Forest Rejections for Ministry
• Alzheimer’s How Can a Caregiver Cope?

                    THE CHURCH:

• Statement of Faith – Forest R. Steenfott
• Education and Wealth in the Church
• Heaven and the Rapture of the Church
• Pastor My Sheep
• Revival Again
• The Carnal Christian
• The Pastor is a Counselor
• The Work of the Ministry
• The Church and Pastor
• Idolatry in the Church
• You Must be Willing to Clean Floors

Under my major works above, I have included some shorten articles.
I have also written many other articles during this last year, but have not categorized them into groups of the same subjects’  

• Be Still, I Am God Psalm 46
• Christian Warfare
• Feeling Good
• For Those Tears I Died
• Forest Dreams
• Gary Ninety-Nine
• How to beat Stress
• I have Chosen Bazalel
• I Saw Him Standing
• In the Service of the King
• Marthy Mary Lazarus
• One Thing Better Than Serving
• Prayer Meeting
• The Christian Community
• The Christian Thought life reflects the Christian Prayer Life
• The Futility Of this Life
• The Gospel According to Forest
• The Surrendered Life
• Vengeance is Mine

I have studied and written 87 articles

These are just a few text books I had in Bible College, which I continue to use:

General Biblical Introduction—From God to Us, by H. S. Miller, M. A.
This book is about the inspiration of the Scriptures, and also, the translation work of the Scriptures.

I have two theology books by the same author. The books name will tell you why. The first one is, “Elemental Theology—Doctrinal and Conservative,” By E. H. Bancroft, D. D. The second book is “Christian Theology—Systematic and Biblical,” By E. H. Bancroft, D. D..

“Biblical Backgrounds,” By J. McKee Adams, Ph. D. This covers the Old Testament and the New Testament times. It has illustrations and Pictures. It is a very good informative book.

Men, I Admired and follow closely to their teachings:

These are men of God that I have read their scholarly writings and admire them for their Christian humility and service to Jesus Christ their Lord.—Forest Steenfott, Complied November 19, 2006

A.W. Tozer; Charles Spurgeon; Cyrus Ingerson Schofield; Francis
Schaeffer; Henry A. Ironside; James Edwin Orr; John F. Walvoord;
Oswald Chambers; M. R. DeHaan; Randa Alcorn

Forest Steenfott—Conclusion to My Bible Teaching:

I pretty well know my way around in God’s Word. I love God’s Word. I have memorize much of the Bible. I believe I have the gift from the Holy Spirit to study and teach the Bible.
I had previously taught, “The Will of God—The Same for Each Believer,” “The Sovereignty of God—The Lordship of Jesus Christ,” and “Intercessory Prayer.” These studies were before I started with “Forest Testimony and Witness.”

(1) If I was a false teacher, the ministers in my Bible study group would take me apart:

(2) If I was a bad teacher my family and friends would speak to me about it:

(3) I have been teaching on a regular basis for about 10 years:

Here are a few responses to my Bible Studies and my Testimony and Witness:

        Here is a testimony of my grandson and wife. They left the church after they got married. They went back to church after studying my Bible studies.
One of my pastors and wife are Pentecostal. When Audrey was in the hospital in 2005, I was going to quit my Bible studies.             This pastor’s wife went into shock. She begged me to continue. Both of these responses seem to prove that my teaching is right and good. There was another evidence given by God to continue my Bible studies back in 2005, too. The Lord used my grandson to force me to write articles. He started to ask me questions. I do not answer in four or six words, it has to be a few pages long, with the use of Scripture.
        Forest Steenfott’s Salvation and Early Christian Walk: “In Forest Testimony and Witness” That’s a good testimony, Forest. By the way, I remember being the “dumb kid” in first grade. I was the one who couldn’t learn to read. Providentially, my mother taught me at home; otherwise, I would have been “passed along” from grade to grade, persisting in illiteracy. As it was, once the light came on I was so excited about reading that I have never gotten over it, up to the present day. Bob Hellam
Adversity, Who Needs It?: “In Forest Testimony and Witness”

Hi Forest, Thank you for that testimony. It is exactly what I need to hear today!
God bless, Lynette

        Forest, you impressed me when we studied theology together at Western Seminary, Portland Oregon. (This satellite seminary, which Bob was attending, and was in a Local church. I took just one theology class for enrichment for one semester, it cost me $250.00,) and I have learned from you in our small group and from your e-mails. Bob Hellam
Thanks for sending your testimony, Dad. I enjoyed reading it. Donald

I believe that I am full (Control By) and obeying the Holy Spirit of God. I must obey and follow the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, NOT MEN! That means the men I admire, too.

God, the Holy Spirit has given me a few good friends that believe what I am doing is good, and support me. There are many others, but here are two.

I had given John Marler some of my Bible teaching for his examination. I had mention that church ministers refuses to even consider me as a worker.
Forest R. Steenfott

John R. Marler President MarFam Computer Solutions:

Forest

        I am sorry that I failed to take the time to study your document. I can sense the frustration you must be feeling due to the "organization" keeping you at arm's length and not allowing a venue of your gifts as instilled in you by the Holy Spirit. I, too, experienced this.
        There is a growing neutering of the "organization" in America and the western world. Since President Johnson signed into law the denial of any non-profit to be able to express political views, the church has turned into an "ear tickler" and now the major thrust of any "organization" is (1) pay the bills and (2) maintain our tax-exempt status. as I read the Bible, the purpose of the preaching is to be a savor of life to those who know Jesus and the stench of death to those who oppose Jesus. The pastor is to equip the saints for the purposes of the ministry, yet no pastor that I have spoken to in recent history has visited his congregation in the work place to determine what he needs to do to equip them. The preaching does not lead us to evaluate our life before the throne of God, we are shown dramatic plays of how God works and illustrations now exceed the use of Scripture.
        I have been led to have a Bible study that uses the Bible Only. We are going to show the CULTEXPLOSION of 3/4/03 to help our members understand that there IS another Jesus, another Gospel being preached. Other than that we expositorily open the "lamp" and only the lamp for guidance of our feet. God presumed that our feet needed it - that we would be moving and doing his will and following His commandment to carry the Gospel to everyone.
        Somehow the word layman came into existence and allowed churches to divide the thinking into laity and ministry, indicating that ministry is done in the "organization" and denying the existence of the "ORGANISM" of the Body of Christ. No command or instruction by Jesus (or the Apostles) was ever delivered to ANYONE other than a businessman or woman. It was not the desire of God to have a paid staff that could assume the role of being closer to God that the layperson.
        Your exposition was excellent, Forrest. The only problem is that it quotes the Bible in context, and most churches do not (1) think a layman and instruct a "minister" on the Bible or (2) doesn't care if the Bible backs up your statements and no layman can understand as well as the paid staff does. The Nicolatian heresy is the platform that most churches live by, not reject as Jesus does.
        I can only encourage you and your Bible Study. Keep in mind that Jesus changed the world with 12 men, maybe, through the exercise of your gifts, you will equip the saints as we are commanded and they will be better because of it and they will be the Christian vessel Jesus is in such dire need of.
John

I wrote a letter to a good friend, Bob Hellam, His Answer:

        I was very depressed at the time. My letter to him is too personal to share. Just recently, I helped pastor Bob in a very important decision he had to make. He may possibly become a pastor of a church. Praise the Lord.—Forest

Dear Forest,                                                                                                                         September 27, 2003
        I am so proud to be your friend. God put us together because He knew that we needed each other's friendship. I am so glad to hear that your "postal ministry" is bearing fruit. You know, I have rarely met anyone who is as dedicated to the Lord's service as you are, and one of the signs of that is your very alive and active conscience.
        But I very much doubt that the Lord will ever say that you are an unfaithful servant. Far from it! It is easy to become discouraged. I thought I was going to be a senior pastor someday, but now I see that the Lord has given me a wonderful ministry to the middle-school students, and I am fulfilled in that. I think it is the same with you. You may not have the ministry that you expected, but you have one, just the same.
        You have ministered to me over the years we have known each other. I have also seen you touch the hearts of those young classmates of ours at Western Seminary, the members of my small group, people in my church, etc. You have the heart and the instincts of a pastor, and God uses you in ways that you are probably not even aware of.
        Thank you for trusting me with your thoughts, and rest assured that I will respect your confidentiality.
Our emotions are real, but I always see that joy that Paul talks about in Philippians as a kind of pilot light that is always on, regardless of the temperature around it.
God bless you, my friend! Bob

My good friend Bob put in poetic form the worship parts of Revelation 4 and 5 for me.—Forest

                Listening at Heaven’s Door—Bob Hellam, July 7, 2003
                                (Based on Revelation 4 and 5)
                                        For Forest and Audrey

Thrice-holy God, all-powerful, our Lord,
        You always were, are now, will ever be.
Let glory, honor, strength, be Your reward.
        You made all things. You made them joyfully,

Worthy God, worthy Spirit, worthy Son.
        O Lamb, unseal the book and let us see.
Your blood has saved us all—each chosen one,
        Of every tribe and tongue—from slavery.

O worthy Lamb, You made us priests and kings
        Right next to God, to reign upon the earth.
Receive all strength, all glory—yes, all things—
        O Lamb Whose death has given us new birth.
We praise You, Father, on Your lofty throne
        Forever with Your Lamb Who is our own.

Copyright © 2007-2007 by Forest Steenfott