Dec. 4, 2013

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7).

TRUST: reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing;

FAITH: confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another’s ability.

A television program preceding the 1988 Winter Olympics featured blind skiers being trained for slalom skiing, impossible as that sounds. Paired with sighted skiers, the blind skiers were taught on the flats how to make right and left turns. When that was mastered, they were taken to the slalom slope, where their sighted partners skied beside them shouting, “Left!” and “Right!” As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate the course and cross the finish line, depending solely on the sighted skiers’ word. It was either complete trust or catastrophe.

TRUST and FAITH are identical twins, both demanding a attitude of total confidence, and mental fortitude in what an unseen being that we as Christians call God can do and will do for us in all situations and circumstances. BUT IF, two words spoken by the three Hebrews who were facing annihilation in a fiery furnace. BUT IF, he doesn’t grant my request that is all right also because whatever He does, my trust in Him, and what he did for me on Calvary tells me it is all for His glory and honor, and my Salvation.

I can recall the popular song we all probably sung when we were kids growing up “TRUST and OBEY. But we never can prove the delights of His love, UNTIL ALL ON THE ALTAR WE LAY; for the favor He shows, And the joy He bestows Are for them who will TRUST and OBEY.

What a beautiful concept UNTIL ALL ON THE ALTAR WE LAY in other words there can be no uncertainty or uneasiness about what God can do for us, so we LAY it all before Him, totally depending on the GOOD SHEPARD’S guidance. Like Abraham when asked by God to sacrifice His Son. for Christ tells us in John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.”

But my friends you will never know Christ if you don’t spend time with Him, if you don’t seek His presence as you allow His presence to become a passion you seek daily, until you can personally see the scares in his hands that will forever be a reminder to the redeemed of what he did for our salvation.

But Like the blind skiers, if we don’t become familiar with the voice of  the Good Shepherd who leads us along this Journey we are on today, then it will be a complete CATASTROPHE. I was reading an article about a man who was praying, and what he said struck at the heart of where we need to be at today in our walk with Christ his words were.

“OH LORD I  CAN TRUST THE MAN WHO DIED FOR ME” My friends I can never stop impressing the importance of study, prayer, focus, faith, trust, love, and endurance in my devotionals for we can never please God no mater how hard we try if we don’t  “LAY IT ALL ON THE ALTAR TO THE  MAN WHO DIED FOR US.” For “Those who trust in the Lord Are like Mount Zion, Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.” (Psalm 125:1)

That is why we must place our trust only on the solid rock, and foundation of Jesus Christ simply because He does not Change. Soon my friends everyone in this world would have heard the good news of the gospel, all of prophecy would have been fulfilled. And only if we have spent time with Christ, And know and trust His voice, will we here him say. “Babylon is falling” “Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her.”

My friends Christ still extends His grace to you today. Like Peter who saw the Master walking on water, said “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You, and Christ did. But when Peter saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  Trust my friends, there can never be any doubt, So today “LAY IT ALL ON THE ALTAR IN FRONT OF THE MAN WHO DIED FOR YOU”. 

So my friends today. Stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY

Dec. 3, 2013

“WE HAVE ONLY COME THIS FAR BY FAITH”

Psalm 29:10-11 At the Flood the Lord showed his control of all creation. Now he continues to unveil his power. He will give his people strength. He will bless them with peace.

Today let’s become children again, as we experience the 10 Plagues of Egypt, the miraculous parting of the red sea, the Pillars of fire guiding our every footsteps, bread from heaven falling from the sky, bitter water made sweet, and water coming from the rocks of a mountain as Moses struck it with his miracle rod.

But this only begins our journey, because we are denied entrance into the promise land because our parents did not have FAITH in the God who had guided their footsteps “THIS FAR”

“As I live,’ says The Lord…. your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and of all your number, numbered from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb and Joshua. But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised” Numbers 14:28-34

So now it takes Forty years to make an eleven day trip from Egypt to the Promised Land. But once we got “THIS FAR” for the second time around, the journey was worth it as we entered the land of milk and honey. A land we all had lone for since the promise was made to Abraham years before .

My friends now I need you to look at your own journey in life and how long you have been waiting on your promise land experience, while at the same time being tested and tried each day in your own WILDERNESS, AND HIGH MOUNTAINS

But what I need you to focus on today my friends is the two words “THIS FAR.” Yes faith is the bond that holds us, but there also must be a  passion from within that only comes from dying daily in Christ as we  continue “THIS FAR which represents where we came from and where our God has brought us too.

It also tells us that “THIS FAR” is only a yardstick of how far and hard we have come and worked to get to the place we are today, And the many times we have gone around the same mountain, because we have messed up over and over again.

But in spite of our many flaws, our faith has got us “THIS FAR” But my friends their is still work to be done even though “THIS FAR” tells me I have prayed a lot, I have studied the word of God daily, I have fasted, I have visited the sick, and fed the homeless, and I have taken the good news of the gospel to everyone I know and to a world marred in sin.

But because of my passion and love for the one who brought me along this journey “THIS FAR” all the way to the thresholds of the promise land. I will continue to make the rest of this wilderness journey a joy and a pleasure as I praise God’s name with joy and holiness every day of my life, Because I know right after “THIS FAR” “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 4:16-17 which is my eternal destination.

And I must also recognize that I can only be a vital part of this WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE for Christ  if I “walk by faith, and not by sight.” Because to walk by this unseen phenomenon is to have a passion from within that tells me my God will never leave me nor forsake me in this wilderness on my way to the promise land, and the ceaseless ages of eternity.

But my friends we have only come “THIS FAR” by faith, But we still have a few more days in the wilderness So “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because their are still more unseen wildernesses, and High Mountains that lies ahead, But the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” BECAUSE HE HAS GUIDED YOU “THIS FAR”

So my friends today. Stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY

/crt““`Dec. 2, 2013

ARE YOU ABLE TO DRINK THE CUP THAT I DRINK!!!

“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. Rev. 12:10-11

“EVEN WHEN FACED WITH DEATH” My friends how do we, like John, who wrote Revelations maintain this type of faith which without it, we miss out on our eternal destination, and God’s pure, and  holy kingdom.

First let’s go to Mark 10:35-38 we have James and John coming before the Lord with a special request…. “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” And Christ response to them was “…..Are you able to DRINK THE CUP THAT I DRINK, or to be BAPTIZED WITH THE BAPTISM with which I am baptized?”

A few chapters before in Mark 8:34-35 He tells them “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

He also knew without a daily walk with God that Satan would sift them like wheat, but he also knew because of there daily walk with Him, where there journey would take them. Just like He knows if we stay focused through our Faith where our journey will take us.

So He tells them in Mark 10:39 That you will indeed drink the CUP THAT I DRINK , and with the BAPTISM I AM BAPTIZED with you will be BAPTIZED, because he knew their Faith and where He was leading them.

For in Acts 12:1-2 it tells us “about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. YES HE DID DRINK FROM THAT CUP. And my friends because of His faith, and his daily walk with Chris, was he able to be a Marty for Christ.

And our savior also new what faith it would take for John, who became the disciple of love to DRINK OF THAT SAME CUP as he was sent into exile on the island of Patmos, where he was revealed through God’s Spirit the book of revelation, and our end day prophecy.

Christ knew there faith would grow stronger as they continued to die to self daily while allowing the transforming power of the Spirit to take control of there lives, our Savior also knew what was in front of Him and the faith he would have to exemplify, and the strength and knowledge, in knowing his father would not leave, or forsake him, and what drastic measures Satan would take with all the forces of evil in trying, but failing to defeat our Savior in the great controversy.

Today we must prepare our lives through our faith and God’s Spirit FOR THAT SAME CUP. My friends many times our faith has been tested and we passed. But are we consistent. My friends there is an elimination process going on now, what does Christ see as He comes across our names.

Can He find us searching the scriptures and praying diligently for the outpouring of His Spirit, or does He find us wasting His time in front of the TV or spending His money on everything except what will bring glory and honor to His name in telling a world of the good news of Christ return.

My friends we know how this controversy started and we know how it will end. And some where on this journey we will play a VITAL PART in this conflict, But today God is trying to prepare us to be able to CARRY HIS CROSS and DRINK FROM HIS CUP.

But the question we must ask ourselves, are the things of this world going to allow our mind to be weaken to the point where Satan causes us to loose our faith that we have built on right here at the threshold of our saviors soon return Hosea 4:6 tells us My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee….” My friends Pray that “YOUR CUP RUNNETH OVER”, “for without faith it will be impossible to please God OR TO DRINK FROM OUR SAVIORS CUP.

So my friends today. Stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY

Dec. 1, 2013

TO FLY LIKE AN EAGLE, ABOVE IT ALL!!!

As Christians who are seeking to be in God’s pure and holy kingdom. We can learn a lot from the eagle. An eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks. The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm.

While defining A storm, as a violent disturbance of the atmosphere with strong winds and usually rain, thunder, lightning, or snow. As the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. 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.

And like the eagle when the storms of life comes to us, we too can rise above it, by setting our faith and mind toward our heavenly Father. because only our faith will enable us to ride out the winds that bring about sickness, tragedy, and the disappointments of life in A world where Satan’s only goal is to stretched our faith to A limit.

A limit, where we give up, and no longer recognize the grace and mercy of A God who gave it all for us on Calvary. But it is at this time in our life when we have to weather the storm, while understanding that true peace, and hope, does not come when the raging storm becomes calm, and the temperous waves subsides enough for us to say.

“If it was not for the Lord on my side where would I be.” But real peace, and hope, comes when in the middle of the storm, and when the raging waves seems to be taking control, you can find rest in the loving arms of Jesus, as you face the storm head on, and rise above it, knowing that your God is always there.

The Bible says, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.” Isaiah 40:31 Also in Joshua 1:9 it also tells us “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

But we must be willing to say, God, I can’t figure out what is happening in my life, in fact I will not even try to, I’m just going to trust You to give me a vision that will allow me to rest in your arms as I ride out this storm, and no matter what happens in my life, if I remained focused on the saving grace of A loving Savior.

If I remain focused on knowing that God is allowing this storm in my life, only to prepare me for another storm, that I am not quite ready for. Then victory and Eternal life is mine. So today my friends, MY FAITH AND GOD’S WORD TELLS ME TO HOLD ON. As I rest in the loving arms of Jesus and each day, as my faith is strengthened.

My God will complete what he has started in each of us. For in Phil 1:6 Paul 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, just accept God’s plan for your life as you rest in his presence.

While allowing the storms of life to prepare your Character for eternity. And then and only then can we experience total peace and happiness as the storm rages on.

So my friends today. Stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY

Nov. 30, 2013

ON THE AUCTION BLOCK, BUT REDEEMED BY LOVE!!!

Romans 7:17-20 “As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

YOUR AUCTION, YOUR STORY:

1. THE LOCATION;  Anywhere we as Children of God can go back to, when Satan had total control over our life,  At a time when we were out of control, a SLAVE TO SIN.

2. THE AUCTIONEER; Starts the bid by asking for the lowest price he can get, because at this point in our life we are valuable to no one. sin has taken its toll on the mind and body. The auctioneer would even barter for some goods if he could get someone to take the bait. A fallen Man or Woman he shouts out, a perfect SLAVE TO SIN, capable of doing exactly what you ask of him as long as SIN can control their MIND, AND BODY. We now stand without hope, with no joy, about to be sold to the highest bidder. We then look back over our life when we first became a SLAVE TO SIN, we had the world in the palm of our hands, or so we thought, but now look at us a sad excuse even for a SLAVE on the auction block, as you bow your head in shame Someone steps forward as the  auctioneer say’s what is your bid sir for this almost perfect SLAVE TO SIN. That’s strange THE BIDDER doesn’t say a word, He only holds up His hands, now He is pointing to a scare on his brow as He pushes back his robe and shows a deep imprint in his side, no words are exchange, but  the chains that are on my hands, and feet mysteriously falls to the ground.

3. THE BUYER then tells me I am a free man or woman, I have never seen this Person before but I do recognize the voice, and then tears begin to flow down my cheeks as I realize I HAVE BEEN REDEEMED BY LOVE. “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.”

Yes my friends once I realized the price Christ paid for me just to be able to come before you today and say I have been REDEEMED, brings a “PASSION WITHIN MY HEART that I have never known before.” And once He came into my life, I NOW FREELY SURRENDER it all to the MASTER, and as I die daily, I truly know through my faith and His grace what it means to be FREE.

So why wouldn’t I praise Him day and night. For I am a personnel witness to how far he came to the auction block I was on, just to set me free so now “(I), count myself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore (I) do not let sin reign in (my) mortal body so that (I) will continue (to) obey its evil desires. (And  I) Do not offer any part of (myself) to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather (I) offer (myself) to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and (I) offer every part of (myself) to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be (my) master….” Romans 6:11-14

My friends “God paid a very high price for your SALVATION, so don’t be ENSLAVED by the Sins of this world.” 1 Cor 7:23 Today the world is at its worst “but GOD’S GRACE still pleads at the AUCTION BLOCK FOR ALL SINNERS THAT ARE BOUND BY SIN TO PERDITION. So please remember “Jesus loves you this I know for the Bible tells me so”  more than we could ever imagine, and only when we actually see with our own eyes what Christ gave up for our salvation will we be able to know the price that was paid for US ON THE AUCTION BLOCK.

So my friends today. Stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY

Nov. 29, 2013

FROM 32,000, TO 300 FAITHFUL, WHICH NUMBER ARE YOU IN!!!

“when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

The world population is estimated  7.127 billion and out of that 7 billion you have 2.18 billion Christians or 32%  or roughly 1/3 of the population. But I have no doubt if that many people had allowed the Spirit of God to transform their character like our Savior we would have been in the kingdom years ago.

Matthew 7:21 tells us “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, His mandate was to go to war against the Midianites “And I will be with you God tells Him”

“Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the men of Israel to arms, 32,000 headed the call. But God told him it was to many, they would only claim victory for themselves instead of recognizing that it was God.

Then Gideon ask if anyone “trembles with fear” or were concern about home and family can leave. 22,000 returned Home leaving only 10,000 Luke 14:26 tells us “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

God then told Gideon “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go. ”For the Lord, Knows our true Character “He examines each of us…He knows our thoughts before we think them” Ps 139:1-2

So that shook out another 9,700 leaving only 300 hundred faithful soldiers. My friends the prince of darkness goal is not to sift the chaff for they already belong to him, because he knows there foundation is not centered on the word of God and His Spirit, because they are forever willing to compromise God’s precepts with the forces of evil’s “SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE SINS.”

But His goal is to sift the wheat who is God’s true followers, His elect, like the chosen 300. The one’s who searches there soul, while dying to self daily. And like God’s chosen 300, He takes pride in his faithful and because of that, Satan will use whatever means necessary to try and destroy their Character.

But God’s faithful knows they “can do all things through Christ, because he gives each of us strength.” Phil. 4:13. But my friends the faithful do get tired, and the stress levels do get high, but God’s faithful endures as they continue to stay focused, and hold onto the promises of God, and His Spirit, as there faith prepares them for the promise land.

In Isaiah 40:29 it tells us “He gives strength to those who are tired and more power to those who are weak.” Also in Heb. 13:5 it says “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” Heb. 13:5 I love the NEVER LEAVE THE, because that takes us all the way to our eternal destination which is the kingdom of God.

If you read Judges 6 you will see Gideon, and his three hundred faithful never had to lift a finger to fight the battle for the battle was God’s from the beginning to win. But Gideon, and his men’s real commission was to only carry torches in their left hand, while holding in their right hand trumpets, as they blew and shouted “A sword for the Lord.”

My friends the war Christ won on Calvary for us. He is only asking us to go out into all the world starting with our families, friends, and love ones, then our neighbors, and co-workers and then a world who has trampled on God’s precepts, and spread the good news of the saving power of Christ as you seek others to join the army of the redeemed. So my friends like Gideon, take your torches which is the Spirit of God, and your sword which is the word of God and blow your trumpets which is the sounding cry for all to come out of Babylon “as you preach the gospel to everyone” Mark 16:15

So my friends today. Stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY

Nov. 28, 2013

THANK GOD FOR GRACE, A THANKSGIVING DAY PROCLAMATION, 1779, 2013

Synopsis of George Washington Proclamation for Thanksgiving  1779

1.   it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of ALMIGHTY GOD,

2.   to recommend to the people of the United States A DAY OF PUBLIC THANKSGIVEN AND PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of ALMIGHTY GOD,

3.  to be devoted by the people of the states to the service of THAT GREAT AND GLORIOUS BEING WHO IS THE BENEFICENT AUTHOR OF ALL THE GOOD THAT WAS, THAT IS, OR THAT WILL BE,

4.   that we may then ALL UNITE IN RENDERING UNTO HIM, our sincere and humble thanks FOR HIS KIND CARE AND PROTECTION of the people of this country (164 words)

Synopsis of President Obama’s Proclamation for Thanksgiving 2013

1.   we honor the spirit of President Abraham Lincoln, who called on his fellow citizens to “fervently implore the interposition of the ALMIGHTY HAND TO HEAL,

2.   IN THE YEAR OF THE LORD two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-eighth. (424 WORDS)

My friends this is where we are today after 225 years two very distinct thanksgiving Day proclamation’s, 1779, and 2013. But  there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind as you focus on the distinction that God has decayed considerable in our world, and also in the minds of most individuals.

For “the love of many has grown cold” as we enter the threshold of our Saviors return. As a Child of God we must recognize the decline of the knowledge of God all around us and tell yourself that God is not leaving this world, but the world is leaving God.

But you must also tell yourself that the God we serve also tells us “all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” THANK GOD FOR GRACE.  Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, LOVERS OF PLEASURE RATHER THAN LOVERS OF GOD, HAVING THE APPEARANCE OF GODLINESS, BUT DENYING ITS POWER…”

But once again “all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” THANK GOD FOR GRACE. My friends we are on the borders of the promise land, and knowing God is not a criteria in today’s society therefore there is a lack of the knowledge of God, and the transforming power of His Word and Spirit.

The knowledge of God is almost extinct, so to proclaim the name of God is taboo, especially when you see the Presidents of the greatest country in the world we live not even mention God once in His Thanksgiving Day Proclamation. 

But again “all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” THANK GOD FOR GRACE. The world has demoted God’s precepts to the point where sin is not sin, if it is a “SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE SIN”  fornication ACCEPTABLE, cheating on your income tax ACCEPTABLE, knowingly buying stolen goods ACCEPTABLE, homosexuality ACCEPTABLE, TV, TV, and more TV ACCEPTABLE.

My friends you get the picture but “the wages of sin is still death, but only God can give the free gift of eternal life” So THANK GOD FOR GRACE. Now let’s take a few minutes and focus on the meaning of Thanksgiving, and once you have done that I pray you will never let another day go by without FALLING ON YOUR KNEES IN DEEP REPENTANCE AND HUMILIATION  as say THANK YOU GOD, telling Him  if it were not FOR YOUR GRACE  “I can tell you where Id be, Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere With my salvation up to me.”

So As Children of God it is our responsibility to MAKE OUR OWN PROCLAMATION as you allow God’s Spirit to lead you into spreading  the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a world, that is gradually RUNNING OUT OF GOD’S GRACE, Please tell everyone about the free gift of Salvation and that their is still hope, and that God’s blood was shed for all, and that God’s Word is adequate enough through His Spirit to guide all who has the desire, safely to a place “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 HAPPY THANKSGIVING MY FRIENDS. AND THANK GOD FOR GRACE. 

So my friends today. Stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY

Nov. 27, 2013

A VISIONARY GOAL, SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW!!!

My friends the cross has so many elements for our Salvation, GRACE, MERCY, HOPE, RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH, JUSTIFICATION, and SANCTIFICATION which takes us through all of these elements because as I see it SANCTIFICATION is a process that starts when we first hear the name Jesus Christ, all the way to Calvary, the resurrection, and then His ascension to start His priestly duties on our behalf because Sanctification is not a process that happens over night, but a lifetime of moving towards the kingdom as we die daily to self while allowing the transforming power of God’s spirit to lead us on A journey that takes us on a visionary goal SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW!!! All the way To the PROMISE LAND.

A mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice, and justice demanded death. “But I don’t ask for justice,” the mother explained. “I plead for mercy.” “But your son does not deserve mercy,” Napoleon replied. “Sir,” the woman cried, “it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for.” “Well, then,” the emperor said, “I will have mercy.” And he spared the woman’s son.

Throughout our sinful lives we will continually “fall short of the glory of God”, but that is where MERCY, plays such a vital part in our Salvation and visionary goal SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW!!! But frist, no one can be granted this MERCY AND HOPE without the part we each play in this whole scenario which is REPENTANCE OF OUR SINS, where we then receive righteousness by our Faith in the belief that Jesus Christ and the blood He shed for us will have MERCY, on a sinner like you and I and grant us a  pardon.

“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 Because the blood of Calvary JUSTIFIES or gives Our Father the right to say JUSTICE has been served.

So today My Friends MERCY pleads as our HIGH PRIEST, ADVOCATE, INTERCESSOR, MEDIATOR and GREAT HIGH PRIEST stands before the Father, and holds his hands up, saying this is the evidence. Your Son has paid the ultimate price.

And what’s so great about this whole process for our SALVATION is the Father and the Son are on record as being united on all issues relating to our Salvation. So today I need you to Ignore Satan, and focus totally on Christ and just compare your life to the pure and holy life of Christ, and then tell yourself OH MY GOD WHERE DO I START.

You defeated Satan for 33 years, but I plead that you only give me your strength and grace to accomplish that feat one day at a time.  “My grace is sufficient for you, He says, for my power is made perfect in weakness….” 2 Cor. 12:9

Oh what a promise, through His POWER I am made Perfect. My friends what that tells me is, our ADVOCATE gives us the power of the cross through His mercy and grace. He is the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end 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. Heb 12:2

And now Philippians 1:6 takes us a little further OVER THAT RAINBOW which says “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” My friends studying the Bible is such a joy when you add up all the pieces and it gives us such a visionary goal SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW!!! TO THE PROMISE LAND.

Through the cross His redeemed becomes CONQUERORS and one day very soon our visionary goal SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW!!! Will become a reality and our God will stand and say to His Son it’s time let’s go get our faithful Children. And with “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands…. every eye will behold the Prince of life. No crown of thorns now mars that sacred head; but a diadem of glory rests on His holy brow. His countenance outshines the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun.” (White ) “And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.” Revelation 19:16. My Friends A VISIONARY GOAL SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW!!! TO THE PROMISE LAND.

So my friends today. Stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY

Nov. 26, 2013

THE WOMAN WITH, MULTIPLE SIN DISORDERS OR (MSD)

”.…Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned….” John 8:2-11

“Who was this women caught in Adultery, The bible only refers to her as “a woman” most New Testament scholars believe this woman was the same as Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany. First  some history on Ms. Magdalene. She traveled with Jesus as one of His followers.

The Gospel describes her as courageous, and brave enough to stand by Jesus in his hours of suffering, death and resurrection. Jesus also cleansed her of “seven demons”, Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.” Mark 16:9

Next we have Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus who Christ raised from the dead “Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. John 11:1-2

So Today my friends I am going to use my creative license and say The ladies are one in the same and I will let you do your own research. But what I need each of you to focus on today is your life as you go back and take a detailed inventory on how many times you refused to die daily through Christ, but allowed the forces of evil to dictate to you what His world deems as right or wrong.

To most of us we only have to go back as far as the dinner table after church where the gossip out of our mouths was flying from one end of the table to the next, or maybe just yesterday when you bought that bootleg DVD from the man in front of the store where you go to waste God’s money buying lottery tickets, or maybe it was last night when you got home from work, and spent a relaxing evening in front of the TV wasting God’s time watching any and everything but never opening your bible once.

My friends I can go forever naming minor offences that we don’t really consider sin, but my friends they are sin, and they are deplorable in the sight of God. “and the wages of sin is still death.”

In today’s society the line between Good and evil has been so blurred to the point where most Christians don’t recognized MULTIPLE SIN DISORDERS OR (MSD) because everyone does it, so it must be right Isaiah tells us in Is. 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

THE WOMAN WITH, MULTIPLE SIN DISORDERS OR (MSD) Christ gave her mercy when he told her to “sin no more.” And still seven times she had allowed Satan to pull her back to where God had saved her from. But she never stop dying daily to self, she never stop searching for the master as she allowed the transforming power of God’s spirit to eventually take full control.

Mary Magdalene stayed behind after going to the tomb and finding Jesus was not there, even when Peter and John left the tomb because She wanted to find out what had happened to Jesus. So she waited, only a touch she lone for, and because of her faithfulness she was the first to see Jesus alive, because she never stop searching, never given up, never getting tired, so she endured till the end, as she focused on her goal which was to find Jesus and she did.

Jesus rewards all who seek with sincerity of heart through His Spirit especially those WITH, MULTIPLE SIN DISORDERS OR (MSD) Jesus could have appeared to any one He choose but he choose a social outcast a demon possessed prostitute who was “saved by grace” to be the first to see his face after his resurrection. Oh what a honor. My friends our Savior came to seek and save the lost, and if He can save “a woman”/ Mary Magdalene /Mary of Bethany” of MULTIPLE SIN DISORDERS OR (MSD) He can also save you and I.

So my friends today. Stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY

Nov. 25, 2013

“I WILL NOT LET THEE GO, EXCEPT THOU BLESS ME.”

“And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” Gen. 32:26

“All who desire the blessing of God, as did Jacob, and will lay hold of the promises, as he did, and be as earnest and persevering as he was, will succeed as he succeeded. There is so little exercise of true faith and so little of the weight of truth resting upon many professed believers because they are sluggish in spiritual things. They are unwilling to make exertions, to deny self, to agonize before God, to pray long and earnestly for the blessing, and therefore they do not obtain it. That faith which will live through the time of trouble must be daily in exercise now. Those who do not make strong efforts now to exercise persevering faith, will be wholly unprepared to exercise that faith which will enable them to stand in the day of trouble.” (E.G. White Story of redemption)

“For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” The wrestling match of the century. But why would God the King of the universe, want to portray himself as weak. You  mean a created being took on the Great I AM and won? Not hardly, But I am sure God places this event in the pages of the historical events of His Word, wanting us to focus on the struggles each of us would encounter through our short probationary period on this earth from birth to death.

Each day our problems moves up in a designated weight class and as we get older the main event always gets more and more dramatic, the trials more precise, Problems, situations, the injustice of life, a disobedient child, a drunkard husband, and the list goes on.

So now that I have placed each of us in the ring with God as our opponent. How can we win like Jacob. Well first of all Jacob was prepared, remember he is going up against the great I Am, so there must be daily preparation. My friends we cannot come to the fight, lacking in faith and prayer, intemperate in our eating habits, or maybe just “having a form of godliness but denying its power”

Like Goliath who went into the ring with the Lord’s Anointed with only a sword, a spear and a javelin. My friends we must be prepared to endure through faith and God’s Spirit until God gives us the victory. “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matt 7:11

And also we must never focus our attention on the timing of why we haven’t succeeded against God because a lack of patience is only a lack of faith remember Jacob fought all night 2 Peter 3:9 tells us “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

My friends we must always remember God is preparing us for greater fights against the enemy, fights we are unprepared to handle right now. For there will come a time in each of our lives, such has not been since the beginning of the world until this time….” Matt 24:21-22

So what I’m trying to get you to focus on today is, it may come a time when the presence of God is veiled from our face, and it will only be our faith, and the promises of God that we have constantly studied in His word that will give us the strength to continue.

“And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him…”Gen32:30-31 What hope for each of us, “and the sun rose upon him.” Like God’s Son who rose on the cross for our sins. One day soon we will be able to say we saw God face to face and it was our daily encounter with God that will allow us to look up and see the Son of God above us “and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thess 4:16-17

So my friends today. Stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY