Sep 21, 2013

MY FRIENDS, WHAT IF YOU HAD A DAMASCUS ROAD EXPERIENCE?

A public phenomenon, a light from heaven and the actual voice of God. Is that what is needed for us to make a complete change in our life. Like Paul on the Damascus road once God came into his life, his words were “Lord, what do You want me to do?” “And from that point forward, he never went back, to the way it used to be Before God’s presence came and changed” His life which was headed towards perdition. But through his faith and endurance he took up his cross and lived the rest of his life through Christ.

I would imagine, somewhere in the deep confines of his subconscious the Spirit of God had penetrated through a barrier that most of us never know exist until a life changing experience happens. When Suddenly, like Paul a light appears and then “The wind blows…… You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” But if you are a child of God who seeks His presence daily this is the experience of “everyone born of the Spirit.” John 3:8 (NIV)

And we should all be able to say “I wasn’t there, when the earth was created, so I have no proof that He hung every star, but I know what my life was without Him and the joy that was mine when He rescued my heart No wonder they call Him Savior,
Jesus, the Lamb of God.” (Larnelle Harris) My friends, that Damascus road experience we must seek and be willing to accept the responsibilities that comes along with it because it is a process.

One where we will encounter daily struggles of trials and tribulation because the principalities, and powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world have made other plans for our life. And no matter how hard we try to change, Satan‘s plans for us is to reroute our intentions, and our desires and our passion to give it all to the Master, as he leads us to perdition.

My friends, if the light of God’s presence is shining on us today through His word and Spirit and that still small voice is saying, my chosen vessel, and heir and joint-heirs with My Son, “why do you persecute me” daily by not allowing my Spirit to transform you into the image of my Son who gave it all so that you may receive life eternal, “and have it more abundantly.” It is at that point our journey continues.

I say continue because we started this journey years ago, but we lost focus on our ending destination when we will here, “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Matthew 25:23 (KJV) But in-order to finish the course we must not give up but endure, and like Paul, The Lord said to Ananias, “Go!

This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to all. We must also be Christ chosen instrument. And as we read Paul’s letters, we also realize God knew, that Paul could be all things to all people. My friends what about you and I will we take up our cross and be all things to all people and be able to say like Paul “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” Phil. 3:7-8 (KJV)

Sep. 20, 2016

MY FRIENDS, WILL YOU GIVE IT ALL TO GOD TODAY?

“I give myself away Lord so you can use me. Here I am here I stand Lord, my life is in your hands. Lord, I’m longing to see Your desires revealed in me Lord, So Take my heart Take my life as a living sacrifice all my dreams all my plans Lord I place them in your hands. My life is not my own, to you I belong “ (William Mcdowell, Give Myself Away) My heart, my dreams, my plans, my life. My friends, it all must be given to God today “In Judges 16 we know the narrative of Samson’s downfall.

Delilah convinces Samson to give her the secret of His strength. “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me,…and I shall become like any other man.” She then lulled him to sleep and had someone to shave off the seven locks of his hair and when he awoke “he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.”

The narrative continues, Samson is captured, put in jail and his eyes put out. What a sad scenario to the strongest man who has ever lived. Now it becomes personal because many times in our life we are lulled to sleep by the things of this world which then causes us not to recognize the voice of God Calling us back to him. Many times before, Samson had violated his vows as a Nazirite, but why now has God’s departed from Samson?

My friends, God is all knowing, and if He knows how much we can bear, He also knows when we have crossed that line. It never was about the hair but about God’s blessings and grace. But God did not allow the story to end there because Samson was “brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” and our God’s promises says, when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 (KJV)

and sometimes we fall and we don’t know how to get up until we are in the “valley of the shadow of death” and that is when we cry out “Lord Here I am, my life is in your hands.” My friends, I can only imagine at some point while Samson was in prison He found God again. And that is where it becomes personal again, because it is our life that the god of this world consumes our undivided attention that should be spent praising and serving God.

And maybe God will have to bring us to our knees before we realize we were raised in “the nurture and admonition of the Lord” and he has always been our “rock and [our] fortress and [our] deliverer,” in every situation and circumstances of our life. My friends God did not leave Samson. He just removed His protection and blessings. Remember Job, just don’t kill him. Now we must ask, at this point in our life have we crossed that line?

Have we completely ignored God’s pleas to return to Him? Samson while in prison was given the opportunity to focus on all of his lost blessings throughout his life. But his final act was the sacrifice of his life to God as he killed more Philistines than he had killed in his entire life.” My friends God calls us today. If our desire is to follow Him we must take up our cross. But with that Cross comes responsibilities, but it also brings life eternal. Samson is in the Faith, hall of fame in Heb. 11:32 (KJV) and if we give God our all we will see him one day in the earth made new.

MY FRIENDS, CAN WE RECOGNIZE GODS VOICE WHEN HE CALLS?

As God’s children we must be willing to keep listening in the midst of the noise for Christ gentle whisper, please “follow me.” My friends, many like the rich young ruler that ask Christ, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Christ then tells him to keep all the commandments. His response was “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” Mark 10:17-21 (ESV) It seems the noise of his surroundings did not allow Him to focus on the one thing he lacked in his life to acquire eternal life because it was not conducive to what his own plans were. Christ saw something special in this young man. He saw a great asset to His ministry and the people he would touch through the light of His Spirit.

This young man was in the very presence of God and could not here his voice or respond to it because of the noise of his surroundings. Christ also knew His salvation would only come from following Him, where he would constantly here the Shepherds voice and recognize it at all times. Not all who came to Christ did He extend an invitation to personally follow Him.

The man who had been possessed with demons that Jesus cast out begged [Jesus] that he might be with him. And he did not permit him, but said, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you,” Mark 5:17-19 (ESV) Like the Rich young ruler Christ sees something special in all who will respond to His voice in these final days of earth’s history. That is why his voice in the midst of the noise of our daily life is pleading with us to respond and follow Him.

Samuel from his bed, heard the voice of God call out to him “Samuel! Samuel! And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.” 1 Sam. 3:10 (NKJV) The Lord spoke to Moses as one speaks to a friend, from the midst of the burning bush, God said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Ex. 3:4 (NKJV) Paul heard a voice on the Damascus Road call out, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”……..And Saul said “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Acts 9:3-6 (NKJV)

My friends, are we just not listening because God’s voice interferes with our plans right now. But God says in Jer. 29:11 (KJV) “I know the plans I have for you,……to give you a future and a hope,” But learning to clearly distinguish God’s voice as the prophets of old is not possible only because we have decided with that voice comes responsibilities we are just not willing to respond to right now.

But friends, only God’s children who walk in the footsteps of God, and die to self-daily and not when it is only convenient in our time, and now we live our life only through the voice of Christ as we cry out daily “not my will but thy will be done, will enter God’s kingdom.” But while God speaks to us as He chooses, His primarily source of communication is through His Word, and Spirit, and if we have a sincere, and a  heartfelt prayer life, while applying through our faith and endurance what we read daily in God’s word, we will never get it wrong when we here the good Shepard say follow me, because we will respond.

MY FRIENDS, LIFE ETERNAL IS THE CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT OF THIS JOURNEY

“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,……He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of [our souls.]” 1 Peter 2:21(NASB) Yes our Creator is the Guardian of our souls.

Guardian being a “person who guards, protects and preserves.” And in the context of our salvation and this text that would be Christ who gave it all for our salvation and Now He continues to be guarding over us and He is “the one who goes with you [and I and His promise is,] He will not fail [us] or forsake [us].” Deut. 31:6 (NKJV) Which now gives us a sense of destiny and a shared vision.

And with passion that shared vision should motivate us to endure on this journey Christ has placed us on that will lead us to life eternal, our crowning achievement which is that 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) “The Second Coming of Jesus is mention more than three hundred times in the New Testament. And it is the capstone of our teachings.

It is also essential to our identity as a [body of believers in our Christian faith]. The doctrine is engraved in our name, [Christian believers], and it is a crucial part of the gospel that we are called to proclaim [God’s promises]. And without our faith and those promises we proclaim. Satan will keeps us [“wandering down some pointless road to nowhere] (Carlos A. Steger, SS Lesson 2014)

So my friends, we can never “let our heart’s wander aimlessly from where God is leading us. But our focus must remain on that shared vision of Christ  soon return so that we may be received as “Heirs and joint heirs with Himself” to our Father’s kingdom. And as God’s children, the truth must be embedded within us while at the same time we must have this driving passion that motivates us to be a disciple of Christ and take up our cross and follow Him. And as leaders we must lead by example, which would be our willingness to do whatever it takes to serve Christ.

Now is “not the time to break Under the weight of this world and Satan. For one day this earth will pass away along with all that is an abomination to God. So we must keep listening and seeking our Savior’s quiet voice in all the noise, and “breaking news” of this world because today, Christ needs us to have our own “breaking news” and tell the world Christ conquered death on Calvary for all of our sins.

Which tells them, no one will be shut out of the process of transformation and reformation in preparation for Christ second coming as we all on one accord “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, [until our character is un-changeable and un-movable but always abounding in the Lord.” Phil 3:14 (KJV)

So as God’s vessel our goal is to allow the Spirit of God to transform our lives and renew our Character in Christ and then “as the deer pants for the water brooks, so [our] soul [will then] pant after God to create within us a pure heart, a heart [“safe to save”] and ready to see God.” Ps. 42:1 (ESV) Ps. 51:10 (NIV)

Sep. 16, 2016

MY FRIEND, ARE WE WILLING TO ELIMINATE SATAN AND WALK THAT NARROW ROAD?

“For this [we] were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that [His Children] should follow His steps:….. and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds [we] were healed. For [we] were continually straying like sheep, but now [we] have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls.1 Peter 2:21(NKJV) Or are we allowing the god of this world to keep us from being “safe to Save,” because we take our marching orders from him?

Yes our Creator is the Guardian of our souls which gives us a sense of destiny that should  motivate us to endure on this journey Christ has placed us on but we first must eliminate Satan entirely from our agenda. “The Second Coming of Jesus is mentioned more than three hundred times in the New Testament. And it is the capstone of our teachings. It is also essential to our identity as a [body of believers in our Christian faith].

The doctrine is engraved in our name, [Christian believers], and it is a crucial part of the gospel that we are called to proclaim [God’s promises]. And without our faith and those promise we proclaim. Satan then keeps us [“wandering down some pointless road to nowhere with us trying to save ourselves and he knows how that would go]” (Carlos A. Steger) So we can never “let our heart’s wander aimlessly from where God is leading us.

But our focus must remain on a shared vision that Christ has gone to prepare a place for us, and He will [surely return soon] to receive you and I as Heirs and joint heirs with Christ His Son to  God’s kingdom. As God’s children the truth must be embedded within us while at the same time we must have this driving passion that motivates us to be a disciple of Christ and take up our cross and follow Him.

And as leaders we must lead by example, willing to do whatever it takes to serve Christ. Now is “not the time to break Under the weight of this world and Satan for one day this earth will pass away along with all that is an abomination to God. So we must keep listening and seeking our Savior’s quiet voice in all the noise, and “breaking news” of this world. Christ needs us to tell the world He  conquered death on Calvary for all of our sins.

Which tells us, no one will be shut out of the process of transformation and reformation in preparation for Christ second coming. But it is our choice not to accept God’s invitation and “enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. [But] the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Matt. 7:13-14 (ESV)

But salvation and life eternal can only be obtained on that narrow road as we “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,[until our character is un-changeable and un-movable but always abounding in the Lord.” Phil 3:14 (KJV) So as God’s vessel our goal is to allow the Spirit of God to transform our lives and renew our Character in Christ and then “as the deer pants for the water brooks, so [our] soul [will then] pant after God to create within us a pure heart, one that is ready to see God” Ps. 42:1 (ESV) Ps. 51:10 (NIV)

MY FRIENDS, GOD WILL NOT OVERRIDE THE DESIRES OF OUR HEART!!

Override: by definition in regards to our salvation is God disregarding, setting aside, or nullifying the desires of our heart. Therefore my friends, “the plans of the heart belong to man; But the answer of the tongue is from Jehovah. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; But Jehovah weigheth the spirits. [So my friends] Commit thy works unto Jehovah, and thy purposes shall be establish” Prov. 16:1-3 (ASV) Numbers 22-25 begins the narrative of Balaam/presumed man of God/Sorcerer.

At one time Balaam was a prophet of God. But the god of this world turned his desires and focus to the things on this earth which are temporary and the things above which are eternal became obsolete. So he apostatized which tells us He took a total departure from his belief in God and begin to seek the pleasures of this world. “All this I will give you, [Balaam] if you will bow down and worship me.

So friends if we serve God we must forsake all others for no man [or woman] can serve two masters, “God and mammon.” Balaam was summoned by King Balek, the king of the Moabites to come and curse the Israelite’s as Moses was leading them towards the Promise land and he would be rewarded very handsomely if he succeeded.

Several times Balaam tried to curse Israel but instead of curses he predicted the complete destruction of Moab and Edom which then left King Balek with no hope and Balaam’s desires of wealth and fame null and void. So he returned home but the sin of greed continued to abound within his heart, how could he have success in the eyes of the King and gain the fortune that was promised him.

At this point Balaam still had not crossed that line, God’s Spirit was still seeking a contrite heart. But Satan took control, “and the controlling power of God left him.” He than returned to the king with a plan. Balaam knew the prosperity of  Israel depended on their obedience to God, and as long as they remained true to their God He would be their Shield.” So Balaam suggested let’s separate them from their God by enticing them into committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab.

And from whoredom to idolatry with their gods Baal and Ashtaroth. Balaam witness the success of His scheme and the “curse of God that was visited upon Israel as thousands fell under the judgement of God.” Balaam received his wealth. But in the end “Israel warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses; and the Midianites along with Balaam were slain.

Their fate sealed forever. Numbers 31:7-18 (KJV) My friends God did not nullify the desires of Balaam’s heart. He allows us to choose our own destiny. God even had a donkey to talk to Balaam with no success. Numbers 22: 21-34 (KJV) Oh the depths God will go to in trying to save us. But “it is a perilous thing to allow an unchristian trait to live in the heart [like Balaam did.] One cherished sin will, little by little, debase the character, bringing all its nobler powers into subjection to the evil desire.

The removal of one safeguard from the conscience, the indulgence of one evil habit, one neglect of the high claims of duty, breaks down the defenses of the soul and opens the way for Satan to come in and lead us astray. The only safe course is to let our prayers go forth daily from a sincere heart, as did David, “Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.” Psalm 17:5. (KJV) (E.G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets p 452)

Sep 12, 2016

MY FRIENDS, CAN WE DRINK FROM THE SAME CUP CHRIST DRUNK FROM?

The mother of James and John “asked Christ to grant that her two sons may sit, one on the left and the other on the right next to Him in His kingdom. Jesus answers “you know not what you ask, are they ready to drink of the same cup I shall drink of.” The cup Christ spoke of was a “figurative expression of His suffering” as He traveled down the, Via Dolarosa or “the sorrowful way” to Calvary. Then He said to the brothers “you will suffer as I suffer.” Matt. 20:21:23 (KJV)

And friends, are we prepared to drink from that same cup, because one day ”every heart [that seek God’s kingdom] will be tested, [and] every character developed as we “plead for patience to endure and grace to overcome” as our heavenly Father measures and weighs every trial before He permits it to come upon the believer………But “If the soul is overborne, the person overpowered, this can never be charged to God, as failing to give strength in grace.

But the one tempted was not vigilant and prayerful and did not appropriate by faith the provisions God had abundantly in store for him. [Remember my friends] Christ never failed a believer in his [or her] hour of combat. [So] The believer must claim the promise and meet the foe in the name of the Lord, and [they] will not know anything like failure.” (E.G. White, Trials)

My friends it’s now personal because though our faith and endurance we as God’s children must get “to that place in our walk with God when we can “plead for patience to endure and grace to overcome” because there is a war being fought daily even as we sleep over what we should or shouldn’t believe in and how committed we are to that belief.

Remember “Christ would never fail a believer in our hour of combat for the Lord’s promise is…. [I] who go with you, will not leave, nor forsake you.” Deut. 31:6 (NKJV) Millions of martyrs or witnesses for Christ died for a cause that started with what Christ meant to them personally. So our “patience to endure and our grace to overcome” must become a feeling from within a feeling that takes us to the very presence of God.

And personally, what being in the very presence of God means as we carry our cross down the Via Dolorosa, or our own personal path of sorrow where we can say as Christ, “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. [But you and I personally can demonstrate [our] love toward the one who gave it all for [our] salvation,] and died for us.” Rom 5:7-8 (KJV)

Even, “through the valley of the shadow of death, [we] will fear no evil if that is where Christ leads.” And my friends we can say that with no reservation because we are ready to “drink from that cup” because our Father which art in heaven “measured and weigh” every trial in every situation and circumstances of our life and He knew how much we could bear. So through our faith we must “be vigilant and prayerful at all times.”

Which then gives us the “patience to endure and grace to overcome” until the Lord Himself descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ rises first. Then [all 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 [throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity] be with the Lord.” 1 Thess. 4:16-17 (NKJV)

Sep. 10. 2016

MY FRIENDS. CAN THE BEST OF THE BEST BE DEFEATED?

A child of God’s only defense is the love of God along with the power of the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” And that must become who we are and what we live by, to the point that the divine and human become bonded as one and nothing shall be able to separate us from what we have developed through Christ. And that is because “the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor. 10:4-5 (AMP) In 2 Samuel 23, you have three of the thirty chief men in David’s army the best of the best beginning with Josheb-Basshebeth the Tachmonite, chief among the captains…..He killed eight hundred men “singlehandedly.”

Then you have Eleazar, the son of Dodo, the Ahohite…….He and David “had been abandoned, in a field, by the entire Israeli army, right in the middle on an intense battle.” But with a remarkable show of courage and strength” in the defense of His king and all of Israel “he attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. the Lord brought about a great victory that day.”

Last but not least, you have Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory. Today my friends I need you and I to exchange places with the three of the thirty, the best of the best.

And our king is not David but the King of King and the Lord of Lord’s. And our enemy is not the Philistines but the “principalities, and powers and rulers of the darkness of this age, and the battle field is the front lines of our communities. And my friends “demons shudder” because they know the lord will bring about a great victory through the best of the best.

But, do we have doubts? “Is there a cause? Is the god of this world really vincible to you and I through Christ? And the God we serve, the one who created the heavens and the earth really able to bring about a victory in all we do in His name? The answer is Yes my friends to all of our concerns because the dragon and his angels was defeated in heaven and cast out……”to the earth” Rev. 12:7-9 (NKJV)

And this same dragon and his angels were defeated once again at Calvary and then it was finalized when Christ rose from the tomb and now He lives again within our hearts if we believe? My friends in Christ name we are the best of the best and we cannot be defeated as long as we are fighting for the glory and honor of our Lord and Savior.

And one day soon, salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of God, will be ours because we “overcame and conquered [Satan] through the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of [our] testimony, for [we] did not love [our] life and renounce [our] faith even when faced with death……[And that my friends is why we will be  conquerors and among the best of the best. And Satan knows this, and he also knows he only has a short time remaining.]” Rev 12:11-12 (AMP)