Archives for August 2016

Aug. 17, 2016

MY FRIENDS, THE STRUGGLE IS REAL, BUT!!!

Struggle by definition is “to contend with an adversary or opposing force” And my friends that opposing force is not flesh and blood, but principalities, and powers, and rulers of the darkness of this [world] Eph. 6:12 (NKJV) And now it’s personal because our struggles are personal and it now becomes our choice in which we can affirm or deny.

Yes we do affirm the struggle is real But because we are a Child of God we will deny that struggle has any power over us because we “are of God, His children who have overcome [Satan by the blood of the Lamb] “because greater is He that is in you [and I,] than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4 (KJV) But we must believe in that greater power and what that power is willing to do to save us.

And once we understand this war from within is not with flesh and blood it will require fasting from one’s self-indulgence or our own desires, and passions, of what we see with our eyes and where we go with our feet and what we say with our mouth that is not in accordance to God’s plan for us as we take the “shield of faith with which we will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” 

In addition, we must be absorbed in communion with God through our daily prayers. The three Hebrew Boys tells Nebuchadnezzar, “[THE STRUGGLE IS REAL, BUT] our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we [will] not serve your gods” Daniel 3:17-18 (NKJV)

My friends, our faith statement on this journey must be the same, yes THE STRUGGLE IS REAL, BUT our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the “principalities, and powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world” But if by some reason God decides to test our faith to see if we are “safe to save” by allowing Satan to stretch our faith to the breaking point through our jobs, children, spouses, health issues, finances and just life itself.

We will still serve the Lord our God with all our heart and soul. My friends we are too close to Christ second coming to become complacent about our Salvation, Christ tells us in John 14:30 (NKJV) [THE STRUGGLE IS REAL,] “for the ruler of this world is coming, [but] he has nothing in Me.” And he had nothing in Christ because Christ stayed focus on His goal which was His Fathers will and our salvation.

My friends, THE STRUGGLE IS REAL and the path is unique, designed for our character by God. It is also a narrow path and very few will continue on it because it means they must “walk by faith, and not by sight.” But Satan lays the world at our feet and the same offer he made to Christ he makes to us, “all these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Matt.4:9 (NKJV)

After forty days of fasting and prayer, Satan “had nothing in Christ.” Can we say the same? Remember, God knows the powers we battle each day, but with [any] temptation [He] will also make the way of escape, that we may be able to bear it” and then “when He is revealed [in the clouds above], we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” 1 Cor. 19:13 (NKJV) 1 John 3:2 (KJV)

MY FRIENDS, CAN WE DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE BLACK, WHITE AND GREY AREAS OF OUR LIVES?

The journey is long. In addition, along the way there are many land-mines. In regards to our Salvation land-mines would be our “socially acceptable sins” which are those hidden sins beneath the surface of our lives that we feel are acceptable in the sight of God because they do not spell out, thus says the Lord. Case in point, God never said it was illegal to stream pirated movies from Netflix, Hula or other Prime video establishments. A free app is even “available for our Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari browser’s.

This app will allow users to play and stream just about any video format “smoothly and with stunning quality.” Now my friends, how could that be a sin, the one who created the free app for our convenience should be held accountable to God in that day of His judgement, not you or I. Remember It’s free, with only a simple download. In addition, I want try and explain what makes that simple download a sin because God has given us all the power of discernment.

But what I will try and explain is why it is important to “recognize that Christ [second coming] is near, right at the door.” Matt. 24:33 (ESV) and there will be no grey areas when it comes to sin because all sin is an abomination to God even our “socially acceptable sins.” Christ Himself says “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” Matt. 5:29 (NKJV)

My friends, that text warns us if we have to steal in-order to watch something with our eyes then we may need to pluck our eyes out rather than “our whole body to be cast into hell.” But the question we must ask ourselves. Would it not be better than going through the process of gouging one’s eyes out to just have a personal relationship with Christ? Because without that personal relationship with Him it really doesn’t matter whether we gouge our eyes out.

Or cut our hands or legs off. Or cut our sexual organs off, because none of these extreme measures will matter if there is no personal relationship with Christ, which is the only thing that will last. We have come to a very serious time in prophecy right here before the second coming of Christ. “And events in our world today call upon every follower of Christ to be totally in earnest in our relationship with God. [And] to strengthen this relationship and satisfy our emotional and spiritual needs, we must learn the power of prayer.” (E.G. White, Prayer, p 1)

And along with that power we must study God’s word with “intensity of spirit and enthusiasm,” while allowing God’s Spirit to guide us in all truth and understanding as it relates to our best friend our Savior and our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. Advocate meaning one who pleads for or in behalf of you and I. while at the same time guiding us on this journey, a journey that will take us from this world and beyond.

Beyond being throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity where “sin shall not rise up the second time.” Consistent with this, our friend, Jesus Christ also needs us to tell the world; “To all who will receive [him as a friend, and who will] believed in his name, [He will] give the right to become children of God [and heirs to His kingdom and joint heirs with Him] John 1:12-13 (ESV) Oh what a friend we have in Jesus!!!!

Aug. 11, 2016

MY FRIENDS, ARE WE READY FOR THAT AND THEN MOMENT?

The curtain is partially open and we see that the god of this world has blinded the minds of many. Even those who claim to know God have become complacent about the seriousness of where we are in prophecy. As I study God’s Word and as that curtain is partially open it reveals we are just about at that time in prophecy when the “gospel of the kingdom has been preached to all the world for a witness unto all nations; AND THEN, [time will cease as we know it]” Matt 24:14 (KJV)

Those two words my friends says it all “AND THEN.” In this fast pace high tech age we live in, what moment in the next few days will we not be aware of when the good news of the gospel would have reached everyone, “AND THEN.”  “It took radio broadcasters 38 years to reach an audience of 50 million, television 13 years, and the Internet just four. Information and communications technology (ICT) have changed the face of the world.

Cell phones , Computers, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the many other methods of communication allows everyone on this planet to communicate the good news of the gospel with just a press of a button to family, friends colleagues and even strangers around the globe instantaneously. “The Internet is the fastest growing instrument of communication in the history of civilization, and it may be the most rapidly disseminating tool of any kind ever.

The convergence of information technology and the Internet may well become as trans-formative as the industrial revolution.” So my friends we have to make this personal because it is my salvation and your salvation that we have to look at and ask at what moment in the next few days will we not be aware of God’s word reaching the entire world, “AND THEN.”

While many continue to look for some catastrophic event to happen like Hollywood portrays the end time events, God says, “remember, therefore, what you have received and heard: hold it fast and repent. but if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you” Rev. 3:3 (KJV) “AND THEN” “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God.

“AND THEN,” the dead in Christ will rise first. “AND 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 THEN,” we shall always be with the Lord.” 1 Thess. 4:16-17 (KJV) Oh the loving grace of God who has given us today, for tomorrow is not promised to allow the Holy Spirit to transform our lives as we allow self to die in Christ.

But as self-dies daily our life can no longer be what self wants but what Gods plan is for our life. And what God plans are for us today is to be a-part of “the good news of His gospel being preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations,” AND THEN, He who is coming, will come and will not tarry.” Heb. 10:37 (NKJV)

But if we have more pressing plans then to serve God, remember, “the stones have begun to cry out,” and those stones even have a name and they are called (ICT) Information and communications technology, and any day now the entire world would have heard the good news that Jesus saves, “AND THEN,” only those who have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb will be saved.”

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Aug. 9, 2016

MY FRIENDS, ARE WE SETTLING FOR A FLEETING MOMENT IN TIME?

Our narrative begins with Jacob cooking when Esau comes back from the field tired and very hungry. “And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary…….But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright today.” And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me……So he swore to Jacob, and then sold his birthright……And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright” Gen. 25:29-34 (NKJV)

Esau despised or regarded with contempt, distaste, disgust, or disdain his Birthright which was “his right or privilege he was entitled too by birth” but to Esau it was a “yoke of bondage” to what he wanted most, which were the things of this world, a “momentary satisfaction” or a fleeting moment in time. My friends, our focus today is not on Esau’s lost opportunities but on how many of us are selling our birthright because it has become a “yoke of bondage” for what we desire of this worlds pleasures?

And how many of us are willing to give this right along with life eternal for a fleeting moment of satisfactions of Satan’s offer to give us “all the things [our heart desires] if we will only fall down and worship him?” Matt 4:9 (NKJV) But then, how many of us with a passion, have a desire to “receive Christ” “the only name under heaven given among men or women by which we can become children of God?” Acts 4:12 (NKJV), John 1:12 (ESV) My friends, salvation is our right by birth because we are “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,” Rom 8:17 (NKJV)

And “if [we] have been raised with Christ [to a new life, sharing in His resurrection from the dead, then we must], keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [We must also] set our mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on [momentary] things that are on this earth [which have only temporal value]. [So we must die to this world], and our [new, real] life is [then] hidden with Christ, in God Col 3:1-3 (AMP)

My friends, we live in a face pace got to have it now generation where everything is focused on “momentary satisfactions” and not on a lasting and personal relationship with Christ. So we must overcome the desires of the heart that are not Christ centered because “everyone who has been born of God [can] overcome the world. And this is the victory that [we can] overcome [through] our faith.” 1 John 5:4 (ESV)

But we must also understand along with our birthright is our responsibility of discipleship and the cross that we must carry with a passion while at the same time telling the world that Jesus saves and they also are children of God with the same rights and privileges that we have to life eternal. We are at the end of God’s timeline that goes from Genesis to Revelation and then to that place prepared for the redeemed.

But we must choose this day whom our allegiance is to because the right given to us by God tells us to accept our birthright and salvation. But it is our choice to “Enter by that narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matt 7:13-14 (NKJV)

Aug. 7, 2016

MY FRIENDS, DO WE HAVE THE FAITH AND ENDURANCE TO REMAIN ON THE SHIP?

“And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the Centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” Acts 17:30-31 (ESV) Today my friends we are going to make the saving grace and mercies of God and His Spirit the ship that we all must stay on to receive our just reward that will be “rendered to every man [and woman] according to what they have done.” Rev. 22:12 (KJV)

Today it becomes personal, because you and l have some decisions to make as we move deeper and deeper out into the open waters of life, and the end of time as we know it as the love of many continues to grow colder and the rain and storms seems to never cease. My friends, Satan knows his “stature of limitation” has just about run out, so he entices God’s chosen with great intensity like never before to leave the safety of the ship into the “primal chaos” of this world.

But we must realize we are only Safe when we stay in the ship and keep our eyes focused on the one who Paid it all for our salvation. Because it is “His desire to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable nature of His purpose, intervened and guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God to lie.

And we who have fled [to Him] for refuge would have strong encouragement and indwelling strength to hold tightly to the hope set before us. This hope [this confident assurance] we have as an anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whatever pressure bears upon it]—a safe and steadfast hope that enters within the veil…….in which the very presence of God dwells],” Heb. 6:18-19 (AMP)

My friends, with a sincere and contrite heart, focus on the veil. Because it is that veil that divides Christ and what was accomplished on Calvary through His death and resurrection from the forces of evil, the “seen from the unseen, the earthly from the heavenly,” the darkness from light and the bitter from the sweet.”

In addition, when the ship is tossed in the raging storms of life, and the tempest is raging and all seems lost, “God’s promises and oath tells us that He is our hope, and he is also a strong and trustworthy anchor which keeps the ship from drifting because there are “times when the anchors slip. But not so with the anchor of hope” which is the very presence of God.”(SDA Bible Commentary)

Friends “the curtain has been pulled back by God’s holy angels” “And we see that lawlessness continues to abound. And we see nation continue to rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. and famines and pestilences, and earthquakes continue in various places. But, Christ tells us that these are only the beginning of sorry for all who decide to leave the safe and secure arms of our Savior who is our only anchor and “hope in times of trouble.”

And for each of us who stays in the ship one day soon that hope will anchor in a safe place, not in this world, but a place prepared for the redeemed that “Eye have not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. [and stay on the ship] 1 Cor. 2:9 (NKJV)