Archives for November 2015

Nov. 6, 2015

MY FRIENDS, PART OF THE GOSPEL HAS TO BE OUR STORY!!

“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” Is. 40:31 (NKJV) My friends, the eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher.

It rises on the winds that bring the storm. The same with a child of God, our faith rest on the promises of God that says, “He will never leave us, nor forsake us.” Our faith eliminates all doubt because we have risen above the storm.

We look back, we know this is just a part of our story that Christ has built around this journey He has placed us on, that is why Christ has chosen us, we have become a part of His good news.

The gospel is now within us because we have lived it, it becomes our story. We can tell the world we did not escape the storm, we just rose above it. Satan had a plan, he made us an offer that at times we could not refuse.

He told us “I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” Is. 14:14 (NIV) But our Savior told Satan; there is only one Most High, and He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

In addition, “I have prayed for my children, and their faith will not fail; and when they have returned to Me, they will strengthen their brethren.” Luke 2:31-32 (NKJV Paraphrased) and my friends that becomes our story, that becomes our gospel, that becomes our praise.

And when we are on the front lines of the battle field we will “strengthen our brethren” with the good news that “Jesus saves.” Christ has told us, “and it shall come to pass in the last days, I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.

And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.” Acts 2:7-8 (NKJV) My friends, no one is left out in God’s plan, if we have decided to be “heirs to God’s kingdom and joint heirs with His Son Jesus Christ,” that becomes our gospel, that becomes our story, and that becomes our praise.

In addition, our God is not finished with us, He “will complete what He has started,” Phil 1:6 (KJV) tells us, “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

So my friends Today, we just have to accept God’s plan, there can be no last minute adjustments, He needs our undivided attention, the chaos cannot effect our judgement, we must daily rest in his presence above the storm, as we seek His Spirit with a passion.

Remember, the story of our life is still being played out, but now it is all about God’s needs. Soon we will hear the midnight cry, “soon Gabriel will sound the call. Look around you friends, prophecies are being fulfilled and the signs of the times they are appearing everywhere.

We can almost hear the Father as He says, Son go get My children” who have come out of Babylon and have “come out of great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Rev. 7:14 (ESV) And now they are “safe to save”

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

MY FRIENDS, THE PRAYERS OF THE RIGHTEOUS AVAILETH MUCH, IF WE BELIEVE!!

“……The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. James 5:16-18 (NKJV)

My friends, oh the Power of prayer I can only imagine when we lay prostrate and our prayers are fervent and heartfelt it reaches the throne room by way of our Comforter, where our Savior is already interceding on our behalf.

He here’s the cries of His child like a mother who is alerted to the cries of there precious child in an unfamiliar world who is seeking the familiar warmth of a mothers touch that for nine months established a bond of love that only a mother could feel for a child and a child for a mother.

Let’s imagine Christ folds his priestly robe neatly in place as he did before he left His tomb after redeeming man at the cross. But at this moment His focus is on the cries of His child who seeks His help through prayer.  My friends it’s personal, we must feel the presence of God as one of His Children.

Elijah a man like you and I who knew the power of prayer and understood our heavenly father’s love for him in all of His petitions, let’s try and relate our prayer life to his and see why at times we can’t get the same results.

Let’s start at the foundation of what James is trying to tell us. The first part of the verse says “The effective (producing the intended or expected result), fervent (showing great warmth or intensity of spirit) prayer of a righteous man (virtuous or godly man or woman) avails (effective use in the achievement of a goal) much”

Once these attributes are put into place then the power that can and will only come from God and His Spirit begins to work on our behalf because now what we have prayed for is all about given God all the glory and honor, self is dead, we now live through Christ.

“God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” We must have a deep, earnest sense of our needs. We must feel our weakness and our dependence upon God, and come to Him with contrition of soul and brokenness of heart.

Faith takes God at His word, with or without feeling. It “is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. When we have offered our petition once, we must not then abandon it, but say, as did Jacob when he wrestled all night with the angel, “I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me,” and like him we shall prevail.” (E.G. White The Bible Echo, September 24, 1894.)

My friends through our partitions to God, every situation and circumstances even the unseen that only God sees are put into harmony with the life of Christ as we move out onto the front lines of the battle field. But we are safe now we have now exchanged our problems with Christ as we take up our cross and serve.

Problem accomplished through our faith. Our Savior now unfolds His priestly robe and puts it back on as He continues to intercede on our behalf. My friends “whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you (will) receive them, and you will have them. Mark 11:24 (NKJV)

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

Nov. 4, 2015

MY FRIENDS, WE MUST FIRST BE TRIED, ARE WE WILLING?

We are ambassadors that represent God’s kingdom. But we must also realize, Satan has chosen us to represent him here on earth. James tells us “But each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” James 1:14-15 (KJV) But we must remove every “weight of sin that so easily ensnares us“ Paul tells us, “whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” Col 3:23 (KJV).

The stakes are high my friends, but if we give it all to the Master our reward is eternal life in God’s kingdom and never again will anything “impure enter Gods kingdom, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Rev. 21:26-27 (NIV)

But there must be a refining process like gold that makes our character’s “safe to save” as we carry our Cross which purifies us for God’s Pure and holy kingdom. In addition, “the trials of this life that Christ allows on this Journey to the promise land, test our faith and produces a pure product.

And such faith is worth more than gold. Gold can be proved to be pure by fire, but gold will ruin. When our faith is proven to be pure, the result will be praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ comes. We have not seen Christ, but still we love him.

We can’t see him now, but we believe in him. We are filled with a wonderful and heavenly joy that cannot be explained. Our faith has a destination, and we must have a passion from within at reaching that destination. Which is salvation and life eternal.” 1 Peter 1:7-9 (Paraphrased)

Is.1:25 (KJV) tells us, Christ will “thoroughly purge away our dross, and take away all of our alloy or impurities.” But our life must be centered around Christ needs, and we must be willing to give our all for His glory and honor. My friends, a road-map is before us which is God’s word.

Consistent with this, the more we Study and ask God’s Spirit to guide us in all “truth and understanding,” the more we begin to realize there is no short cuts to the kingdom “for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 (KJV)

Each of us have been placed where we are today because we are “heirs to God’s kingdom and joint heirs with His Son, Jesus Christ. And we are also willing to be tried in the fire, and once tried, “The Spirit of the Lord will be upon us and He will anoint us to take the good news of the gospel out on the front lines of the battle field!!

And He will anoint us to make extraordinary things happen in the name of Jesus Christ!! He will anoint us to take a shared vision that tells the world, “oh what a friend you have in Jesus,” if you will only accept Him as your personal Savior!!

In addition, “He will send each of His chosen to heal the brokenhearted and to proclaim liberty to the captives and to the oppressed that Satan has bound up for perdition!! My friends we have been anointed to “proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,” if we will accept. And each day God’s Word and Spirit must be our benchmark, with heaven our destination.

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

Nov. 1, 2015

MY FRIENDS, THE INVITATION HAS GONE OUT WILL YOU RESPONSE?

What is God’s overall plan for the redeemed? John tells us in Rev. 21:1 (NIV) Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”

My friends, the invitation has gone out. Restoration, paradise incarnate, and a new creation beyond our finite imagination all restored for the redeemed. 2 Peter 3:13 (KJV) tells us, “we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.”

Remember the invitation was originally given on Calvary when Christ said “it is finished.” That let us know, God’s faithful were no longer bound by our sins, or this world that will one day pass away. And if we have Faith and believe in God’s promises, all that was lost in the original Eden will be restored to God’s faithful, one day soon.

But where I need you to focus today is not only the restoration of a “new heaven and a new earth,” for that is a given, but the restoration of our hearts before we can enjoy the fruits of it all.

My friends, we can no longer look at this world as an alternative to what our God has planned for us. We must stand still and recognize the voice of God. He knows what the future holds if we no longer seek with a passion to distinguish the Good Shepherd’s voice from the god of this world.

John 1:12-13 (KJV) tells us, “as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten…of God.” Christ main objective when He walked among us was not to bring physical restoration to the lost.

But a restorations that restores man and woman back before sin when Adam and Eve walked through the Garden of Eden with God. Imagine in the very presence of God daily. Remember, as children, we always knew our parents were not far from our presence.

They were an extension of who we were, and we were an extension of who they were, our lives existed around one another and one day we will have that same relationship with “our Father which art in heaven.”

“And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.” Rev. 22:5 (KJV) My friends, the “they who reigns” in that text are the redeemed whose “robes have been washed by the blood of the Lamb, our Savior.”

They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.” Is. 56:23-25

Remember, the invitation is still open, but we must RSVP at this very moment, not when it’s convenient. And if we have Faith, endure and believe in the promises of God, all that was lost will be restored one day soon. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope”

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