Archives for September 2015

Sep. 7, 2015

MY FRIENDS DON’T GIVE UP, BUT PRESS TOWARD THE MARK FOR THE PRIZE!!!

Daily, we must “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” Phil. 3:14 (KJV). The weekend is over, our high filled church experience has ended.

The Holy Spirit was sure entertaining at church and since we were only entertained we feel comfortable enough to remove some of our armor, which will then leave us completely vulnerable to Satan.

Or, to use Jesus analogy from Luke 11, we cleaned our house for the weekend, but have not taken the time to fill it with the character of God no farther than our weekend’s spiritual praise team and worship experience.

That tells me life as a part time Christian is complicated because during the week “we, never seem too let our light so shine before men, [and women] that they may see our good works, as we glorify our Father which is in heaven” Matt 5:1`6 (KJV).

The question we must now ask our self, do we represent Christ in every situation and circumstances of our life? Are our lives centered on Christ daily? In addition, is there limits in what we will do for Christ?

If we have answered no too the first two questions and yes to the last one, than this journey Christ has placed us on has becomes problematic, because “if any man or woman be in Christ, he or she must be a new creature in every situation and circumstances of our life for the old things are passed away.”

As a Christian the battle rages daily so self must die daily. Remember every time we try to do good, Satan will always present an alternative plan as to what we watch with our eyes or hear with our ears, or what we allow to come out of our mouth or where we allow our feet to take us.

Endurance, is the ability through our faith to stay strong as we continue to “press toward the mark for the prize” “despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions.” My friends, Christ is coming soon, and He will bring His reward with Him to repay each of us according to our deeds, that we have accumulated on our journey to the promise land.

Our commission is to go out on the front lines of the Battle field and serve in our communities as we take the good news to those who have lost hope. But the reward my friends, being paid according to our deeds that is what we seek, that is what the plan of Salvation was all about.

Christ is a living example that lived among us and demonstrated that it can be done and Satan can be defeated for “there is no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” 1 Cor. 10:13 (NIV). And one day soon my friends, “if we believe that Jesus died and rose again” we will receive our reward for “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.

And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” 1 Thess. 4:14-17 (NKJV)

My Friends, where there is no vision, the people perish…..Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

Sep 5, 2014

MY FRIENDS, CAN YOU HEAR THAR STILL SMALL VOICE OF GOD?

I’ve seen broken Turn into beauty I’ve seen redemption come in and save the day, so I don’t have to be afraid, when You’re telling me to go when You’re telling me to stay when You’re telling me to hold on to You for another day.

When I got nothing left when I’m hanging by a thread I give You all of my weakness, You give me Your strength, I’m here again, Here at my end Where You begin, Jesus, You make all things new So I will trust in You. ( Mandisa, Where You Begin)

Yes my friend where He first begin, in the chaos of this world we live in. But to get back to where God needs us to be, we have to just still away into the quiet of the night when everyone is asleep and just fall on our knees in total awe of the One whose presence we are now in, as we listen for that still small voice telling us, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand……For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you” Is. 41:10-13 (ESV).

And of course Satan would love for us to stay focus on the chaos of this world, so that still small voice of God we will never here. But my friends, God also seeks our presence, He longs to be a part of our very complicated lives each day because God knows the only way we are going to finish this journey and make it into the promise land is through the redeeming powers of His love, grace and mercy.

Yes my friends, we know what God can and will do for us, “we’ve seen broken turn into beauty, we’ve seen redemption Come in and save the day” But the chaos and the storms of our life will never cease until that still small voice begins to “shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.

And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” 1 Thess. 4:16-17 (NKJV).

But our faith and endurance in Christ is what we need to get us through the storm and too that special day of Christ appearing. All of God’s promises are in His word we just have to recognize they are there by studying each day as we ask God’s Spirit to Guide us into all understanding.

But my friends, it begins with that still small voice, because we have to know what God’s plans are for our life because nothing else should matter except what God wants and how we can bring glory and honor to His name.

So we must continue to ask “are you telling me go or are you’re telling me to stay or are you’re telling me to hold on to You for another day” and once you have asked those set of question, I am sure you will hear that still small voice saying, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” Acts 1:8 (NASB).

My Friends, where there is no vision, the people perish…..Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

Sep. 4, 2015

MY FRIENDS, WHY DO WE WORRY, WHEN GOD DOES NOT?

As we travel along this journey Christ has placed us on, the terrain is very rugged and treacherous, at times it seems we will not make it, victory is no where in sight, Satan has booby trapped the entire war zone with land mines all along the way.

My friends how do we finish this course in victory? Simple question, deserves a simple answer, “trust and obey, there is no other way.” “We can only know the power that he holds, when we truly see how deep our weakness goes.

His strength, it must begin when ours comes to an end, He hears our humble cry and proves again His strength is perfect when our strength is gone He’ll carry us when we can’t carry on. Raised in his power the weak becomes strong” (CeCe Winans).

In every situation and circumstances of our life, there is no need to worry, if we will only trust God, because He does not worry. My friends, “You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you.

Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you” (2 Chronicles 20:17, NKJV). The wonderful promises of God, “do not fear or be dismayed” Then next comes the part of the text that shows the amazing love and grace of our God when He tells us to “Go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

Which tells us don’t worry, our Savior does not panick, and He sure is not, pacing back and forth in the throne room wondering, how He is going to solve our Problems? Why are you worried, God is not?

“Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7 NKJV).

But my friends, we also have a part to play in the mystery of our Salvation on this journey we are on. Christ tells us to “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:7-8 (NASB).

“Submit,” that word is telling us to give over or yield to the power or authority of another, in this case it is to the one who gave His only Begotten Son so that salvation would be assured if we have faith and endure and the Son who said I will go and die for mankind.

Oh what love “For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 4:7-8 (NKJV).

My friends, our God is Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our banner, For our sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. “Yet”, my friends that three letter word is our full assurance that victory is ours through Christ “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” [if we believe and endure] (Romans 8:36-39 NKJV).

My Friends, where there is no vision, the people perish…..Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

Aug. 2, 2015

MY FRIENDS, HE LOOKED BEYOND OUR FAULTS AND SAW WHAT WE COULD BE

As we look back at our Faults and abominations against our Savior throughout our life, and realize where He has brought us from, we must thank God that He is not through with us yet and we can “be confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in [us] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Phil 1:6 (NKJV)

Oh the miracle our God has performed in each of our lives as He looked beyond our faults and saw what we could be if completely transformed by His Spirit and so He waits patiently for “the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness;” but He has a plan for each of our lives and He has set us on a course that will lead to our Salvation.

Yes He takes wretched sinners like you and I and transforms our life from being what we are, to the one who recognizes and believes through the faith of our God and his word what Calvary meant for our salvation and through this faith we can say without a doubt that we are going to serve Christ with a passion.

And my friends, we will do this because our Savior looked beyond our transgressions and saw what we could be if we allowed Him to guide our footsteps. Peter, James, and John, were the best of the best disciples.

Even though Peter was “quick to speak, impulsive and impetuous……James and John were called “Sons of Thunder,” a nickname given to both, because they had such stormy personalities, easily angered and quick to judge,” in other words they were always ready to fight if someone did not agree with them.

You can say the same about Peter who cut a soldiers ear off when they came to take Jesus away to be tried. But a few hours later in the heat of the storm, when He should have had our Saviors back, Peter denied Christ three times as He fled the scene.

My friends, what would we have done under these same trying circumstances, would we have denied Christ and ran. But I need you to focus my friends, whenever we allow the god of this world to influences us into placing our attention on the things of this world, as we use our time, talents, and money to the glory and honor of what he deems appropriate.

Also, when the god of this world influences us, as to where we go or what we look at or what we hear, we are saying, who are you, we don’t know you. You would think being with the Master for 3-1/2 years the disciple’s character would have been completely transformed.

But, that did not occur while He walk among them but on “the day of Pentecost when all of the disciples were on one accord in their commitment to serve God. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting.

And there appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were separated and distributed and which settled on each one of them and they were all filled with power from the Holy Spirit [which awaits you and I also if we believe and endure] Acts 2:2-4 (AMP)

And my friends, this would never have happen to them or us if Christ had not looked beyond our faults and saw what we all can accomplish through him if we would give it all to the Master.

My Friends, where there is no vision, the people perish…..Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

Sep.1, 2015

MY FRIENDS, WE ARE AT THE THRESHOLD OF THE PROMISE LAND, WILL WE CROSS OVER?

God gives us a warning “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” But Studying God’s word and seeking His presence cannot compete with the entertainment and excitement Satan provides on our TV’s, Video games, internet and at our theaters.

Changing a culture in the 21st century keeps one on their knees for answers. But my friends, we must remember, 40 years, the Israelite’s roamed the wilderness, with no specific destination in sight simply because they never felt a real passion to understand the God who parted the red sea so they could cross over without ever having to look back at where they had come from.

But 400 years in Egypt, the vision of the promise land was not handed down from generation to generation and because of a lack of knowledge they became content being slaves, therefore the promise land was not a priority.

My friends have we become content at being a slave to the god of this world and the entertainment he provides to God’s children who have lost their focus on things above? As wickedness increases and the love of most draws cold, as members of God’s body of believers, have we allowed our focus to be on materialism, consumerism, and I’ve got to have the latest simply because it is the latest, instead of our focus being on Jesus Christ and His word?

Has our passion to cross over into the promise land and live throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity in the presence of God cease being a priority in our lives? And have we become content at being slaves for Satan and all he has to offer on the road to perdition?

My friends, we must realize as Christians our stay on this earth is temporary. Time is precious and how we spend and use it for God’s glory and honor is of vital importance to our spending eternity with Christ.

God in His wise foresight teaches us how we should be discerning and perceptive about the proper use of our time. Paul tells us in 2 Tim 2:15 (KJV) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

So my friends, our focus must be on spending each precious moment we have left on this earth searching the scriptures to capture the mind and character of Christ that is in His word as we allow His Spirit total access to our life in order to change our Character into the likeness of our Savior.

In addition, if we don’t allow that to happen, Satan will always find ways to draw our attention to the things of this world that are detrimental to our salvation, therefore self will never completely die so that Christ can take full control and we never fully conquer ungodly ambitions and our love for what the world has to offer.

Consistent with this, we are never willing to carry our cross and serve Christ and become one of His disciple. Therefore we are only willing to get to the threshold of the promise land, but never willing to do what it takes to cross over.

As Heirs to Gods kingdom a passion must burn from within for our salvation. And when we realize the price that was paid for it, as heirs to the kingdom of God, we must never keep it hidden but spread the good news and tell everyone of the soon coming of Christ and what is prepared for all who believe and endure.

My Friends, where there is no vision, the people perish…..Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)