Nov. 2 2016

MY FRIENDS, WILL WE EVER SWEAT DROPS OF BLOOD?

The only defense against evil is the indwelling of Christ in the heart through faith in His righteousness. Unless we become vitally connected with God, we can never resist the unhallowed effects of self-love, self-indulgence, and temptation to sin. We may leave off many bad habits, for the time we may part company with Satan; but without a vital connection with God, through the surrender of ourselves to Him moment by moment, we shall be overcome.

Without a personal acquaintance with Christ, and a continual communion, we are at the mercy of the enemy, and shall do his bidding in the end. (E.G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 324) My friends, the sense of urgency permeates everything we do. because we are living in the most solemn period of this world’s history. We are living “at that time Michael, the great prince who protects our people, will [soon]arise.

And a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people, everyone whose name is found written in the book–will be delivered.” Danial 12:1 (NIV) So as a church and as individuals How are we preparing? How did Christ prepare for Calvary the one who gave it all for our salvation? That was his time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until He rose on Sunday morning?

So how did He prepare to go through such a time, was it business as usual? “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” Luke 22:44 (NKJV) My friends, how hard does one have to pray before their sweat is like drops of blood? And in reality how hard does one have to pray before they even begin to sweat period?

“Hematohidrosis is a very rare condition in which an individual sweats blood. Fear and intense mental contemplation are the most frequent causes of sweating blood.“ Clearly, our Savior was in “intense spiritual agony.” The Son of God, the weight of your sins the weight of my sins and of course the weight of the world on one human’s shoulders.

He knew He would be spat upon, slapped, scourge, dragged through the streets like a common criminal carrying a cross that we should have been carrying. Remember this is humanity that would feel everything as excruciating and painful as we would feel under the same conditions. The cross my friends that’s what His drops of blood was all about “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself.

[set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross daily [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake, he is the one who will save it [from the consequences of sin and separation from God]. Luke 9:23-24 (AMP)

And my friends, “if you have ever tasted and seen the sweetest of love Where our heart becomes free And our shame is undone,” then daily we cry out Lord, fill the atmosphere in my life with your Spirit and glory, because the alternative is separation from your presence.

MY FRIENDS, WHERE DO WE FIND THE PERFECT MIND OF GOD?

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.” Matt. 5:6 (NKJV) In addition, “as the deer [longs for with breathless and intense eagerness,] for the water brooks, So should our soul long for…..[the presence and mind of] God” Ps. 42:1 (NKJV) Our Savior longed to feel the presence of His father as He hung upon the cross. “About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Matt 27:46 (KJV)

My friends, while on the cross the scripture remained a part of who Christ was as He quoted Ps. 22:1 (KJV) My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? These were the psalmist exact words; in (v, 2) David went on to say “Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? Just the thought Christ had of losing sight of the mind of who He was and who he had become for you and I.

Humanity for only a moment felt it had lost sight of that “Mind,” that source, His Father, His connection to all He had given up for our salvation. That is why Paul tell us. “let this mind be in you which is in also in Christ Jesus” [who is also God] Phil 2:5 (KJV) My friends, each day as we move closer to Christ second coming, we must seek that Mind, and that Spirit as we allow His presence to penetrate through our very being.

We must thirst with a passion after that perfect “mind” because in that mind is “the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding; its histories and prophecies are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.

It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s character. Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.” (source unknown) My friends, That “Mind” is what we must thirst after. And even after we think we have discovered who God is and what His will is for our life, one only finds out we have just touched the surface.

And maybe by chance witnessed a glimpse “of that glorious vista” “that surrounds thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand [of angels that] encircled the throne where that very mind abides as they sing “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Revelation 5:11-12 (NIV)

The human mind can only say, “If all the heavens were a parchment, If all the trees of the forest were pens, If all the waters of the sea were ink, and if every creature was a scribe, they would not suffice To expound the greatness of The Creator, And the reflection of His Majesty in Heaven and on Earth.”

My friends, soon the reward for all who “came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” [will live throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity in the presence of that very mind we seek today] Rev. 7:14 (KJV)

Oct. 26, 2016

MY FRIENDS, THROUGH CHRIST WE HAVE THE POWER TO TRAMPLE ON SERPENTS!!

Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:17-20 (NKJV)

Christ saw Satan a military enemy as a fallen foe first as “lightning then suddenly extinguished” and in a few days His mission would be complete, Satan would be defeated as Christ would take His final journey down the Via Delorosa to Calvary. My friends through the Spirit of God the power has been given to us also “to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt us.

But first Christ is looking for faithful warriors who understands when Christ saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven and He said it is finished and in three days, early Sunday morning rose from the grave, Satan’s reign as god of this world in the eyes of Christ would just be for a moment, long enough for Him to prepare a place for the redeemed.

A place “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.” 1 Cor. 2:9 (NKJV) My friends, I have no proof that Such a place has been completed but If God can create the heavens and the earth in six days surely he can complete a place Eye have not seen, nor ear heard in two thousand years or seven hundred and thirty thousand days.

My friends, soon sin and sinners will no longer exist and if we would like to join forces with our Savior and trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy He is looking for faithful warriors, and as we move out on the front lines of the battlefield, we can’t give up. And like Christ we must cry out “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42 (NIV)

And friends as God’s children “this Cup” which are those rough terrains and those valleys of our life that are common to human experiences. We have the power to go through it all but we must believe that through Christ there is [no temptation unusual or beyond human resistance]; but God is faithful [to His word—He is compassionate and trustworthy], and He will not let [us] be tempted beyond our ability [to resist].

but along with the temptation He [has in the past and is now and] will [always] provide the way out as well, so that we will be able to endure it [without yielding, and will overcome temptation with joy].” 1 Cor. 10:13 (AMP) And what makes Christ promise so wonderful is those words in Luke 10:20 (NKJV) when He says, “do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to [us], but rather rejoice because our names are written in heaven.”

And my friends those names are of all who “have come out of the great tribulation; [and] have washed [our] robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Rev 7:14 (NIV)

Oct. 25, 2016

MY FRIENDS, IS IT FICTION IN OUR SIGHT?

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:34-36 (NIV) A prominent preacher once asked a famous English actor to explain how it is he appears before crowd’s night after night with fiction, and the crowds follow him wherever he goes.

But I preach the essential and unchangeable truth of salvation and life eternal, and I am not getting any crowds at all. The Actor responded: “This is quite simple, the difference is, I present my fiction to thousands and it seems as though it were truth, you present your truth and it seems as though it were fiction. As Gods Children we seem at times to look at Christ second coming as fiction.

We have become the scoffers Peter speaks of who continue to walk according to our own lusts while saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 2 Peter 3:4 (NKJV) My friends, we have to begin to look at God’s word as “living and powerful…..and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of [God] to whom we must give account Heb. 4:12-13 (NKJV) If our desire is to live one day eternally in a “new heaven and a new earth” we must “be always on the watch, and pray that we may be able to escape all that is about to happen and that we may be able to stand before God one day and “give an account.”

Fiction is defined as “something invented, or imagined; a made-up story,” but, Christ second coming must become real, we must believe at any moment 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 cloud.”1 Thess. 4:16-17 (NKJV)

But first His death and resurrection must become relevant to our life and salvation and relevant to how we define not my will but thy will be done. My friends, we have to look at the confusion and the daily barrage of “breaking news” and ask ourselves are we prepared to stand before “the Son of Man and give an account of the life we lived during this probationary period that has been given to us right in the midst of nations rising against nations, and kingdom against kingdom.

And famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in various places and the lawlessness that continues to abound, as the love of many grows colder and colder. My friends, soon we will all be held accountable for that personal relationship we had or did not have with Christ. And were we apart of spreading the good news of the gospel “into all the world as a witness to all the nations,” and at that point, the end has come and will we still say: it was all just fiction.

Oct. 21, 2016

MY FRIENDS, AS LEADERS, DO WE OR CAN WE SHARE A VISION?

God calls humble leaders, leaders willing to respond in spite of our situation or what we are doing when He calls. And no one who has been saved by the blood of the Lamb has not been called, many are just not responding to carry out His will on the front lines of the battle-field where the real war is being fought and lives are being lost. Friends, we can never claim victory inside of our churches and on our couches at home. Our message must be a shared vision, one that enables a change to take effect that will transform lives in our communities for “such a time as this.”

And as leaders for the “unity of Christ,” we must transcend beyond tomorrow a vision to others that takes them to places they never thought possible through Christ who is “the way, the truth, and the life.” Gods Promises must become real, our passion as leaders must transcend a vision that walks with those we lead into one of “the twelve gates with twelve pearls, and each gate made of a single pearl.

And then down the great street of the city of gold, [and] as pure as transparent glass. And on each side of the river stands the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.” Rev 21:21 (NIV) Rev. 22:2 (NIV) My friends, we must become ambassadors for Christ as we pave the way for others, through Christ, in vision inside the promise land in the final days of this life’s history.

And then the good news of the “gospel of the kingdom of God will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to every nation, [kindred and tongue] and then the end will come.”Matt. 24:14 (ESV) But first we must transcend God’s shared vision beyond tomorrow to where God is trying to take all who believe. And Even though we may walk through the darkest valley of our communities we must “fear no evil, for God is with us” and “will never forsake us”

But, we must be willing to serve with a passion of love as Christ loved; selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional. Remember it is not about us anymore, self must die as we inspire others to give their all for the family of Christ so that “no one is left behind” and “everyone who believes in the vision may receive life eternal and receive it more abundantly from the time they give it all to Christ.

The Passion of Christ must be the key that drives us to tell the world that Jesus saves. And as we seek His Presence daily, while inspiring others to share in the vision, we must first have our feet solidly on solid ground in order to move ahead with Christ, if not we will fall and take others with us. There are always times when we will need to crawl, slow down, take breaks, but what is most-essential in serving Christ is to stay focused.

And to keep moving knowing God is with us for He “will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” Is. 42:16 (NIV) Remember we all determine who are as leaders by how we allow God to lead us.

Oct 19, 2016

MY FRIENDS, ARE WE STUCK IN NEUTRAL?

Neutral is defined as not taking part of, or giving assistance in a dispute or war between others, along with not aligning with or supporting any side or position in a controversy. So my friends, in regards to our salvation there can be no neutral position between good and evil. When Paul tells us to “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” He is telling us to seek a total understanding of who Christ is throughout His word and then by “whatever means necessary,”allow His Spirit, to transform our Character into the character of God.

Elijah pleads, “how long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21 (NKJV) Joshua tells us “if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15 (KJV)

My friends, it must become personal, Christ understands that His children are not wrestling “against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Eph. 6:12 (NKJV) So today, Christ is personally telling us as He told Judas after Satan took control of him, “What you do, do quickly.”

My friend, it is of the essence that we do not linger because it is our unalienable connection through the blood of Christ telling us, our salvation cannot be taken away or denied by outside forces. God in His love grace and mercy have given us the free moral choice to make our own decisions “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” Deu. 30:19 (KJV)

And there is no neutral ground, only one path on this journey we are on and that is total submission to the will of God. “And See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

We have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Heb. 3:12-15 (NIV) So the Author and finisher of our faith tell’s us not to be fooled by Satan and his tactics, as we continued to believe and spread a shared vision of the good news of the gospel to all who have lost their hope.

And as we maintain a steadfast unmovable always abounding relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we must also remember my friends, an entire generation wandered aimlessly in the wilderness for forty years and still not permitted to enter the promise land. If we are still stuck in neutral then we are also wondering aimlessly in the wilderness of this world  and  in lest we surrender our all to Christ we will also never see the promise land either.