May 14, 2015

MY FRIENDS, WHY DO WE HAVE TO BE THE ONE’S WITH THE NAILS AND HAMMER?

My friends let’s make it very personal today let’s bring Calvary to our homes for “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5 (NIV) Christ knew the journey for him would not end, until His death, resurrection and ascension.

So today the journey continues within us, His chosen, who our Savior is depending on to finish His mandate in the 21^st century two thousands years after He walk thru the Jordan trail “down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.

But today, the Messiah, Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is going to walk down every Road, Street, Avenue, Blvd, and Lane. But I also need you to understand His final destination is each of our addresses. Consistent with this, He starts at the betrayal by one of His own Disciples for a mere 30 pieces of silver.

The scrutiny before Annas who was the head of the officiating priestly family, and then through the Court of Caiaphas the High Priest as the charges of blasphemy or claiming to be God are brought before him, as He is slap and spat upon and “brought as a lamb to the slaughter.”

He is then led through the roman halls of justice as the Jewish rabble rang out crucify Him Crucify him as He is scourged in the sight of the multitude, clothed in purple, and  a crown of thorns, placed on His Head as the rabble taunt and salute Him, Hail, King of the Jews.

And now, He arrives at our lovely home and like Judas we have had the privilege of being in the presence of Christ and also like Judas our daily plans just don’t coincide with what he is expecting out of us. John 1:11 (KJV) tells us “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

My friends we are his own, we are His chosen generation, the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 (NKJV) Christ is in our home today He has made the pilgrimage all the way to our hearts, and the response from His chosen is, we have decided to pick up the nails and hammer and crucify our savior anew.

With each nail representing doubt, a lack of faith, wasted time in front of our TV’s. In addition; the nails of gossip, covertness and dishonesty but the final nail is the many god’s we choose over the one who gave it all for our salvation, but then we pick up the hammer and each time that God’s Spirit attempts to make a full transformation in our lives we veto God’s plans until another day when our own plans are worked out.

Satan than encourages us to take the hammer and use it to seal our destiny, my friends ask yourself today why do we have to be the one with the nails and hammer why want we give our all to the one who gave it all for us and Choose today to “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.

For 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 my friends, because of God’s love, grace and mercy, He has chosen you and I to be a part of that few. If we believe and endure.

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

MY FRIENDS, CAN WE ARTICULATE THE ACT OR POWER OF ANTICIPATING THAT WHICH WILL COME TO BE?

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power” 1 Tim 1:9 (NKJV)

“But All these are the beginning of sorrows, for lawlessness will continue to abound, and the love of many will continue to grow cold.” Now the question we must ask our self,  can god’s children even articulate a vision in the 21^st century “for such a time as this” and what is that vision and where do we start. Let’s focus first on the definition.

Webster defines a vision as “the act or power of anticipating that which will…come to be.” So as we look at the world we live in, it seems to be on a fast track to the moment when God will say it is finished. “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.” Rev. 22:11 (NKJV)

Well as I look at our options today, if we serve a risen Savior, it  must become personal, our vision or “act or power of anticipating that which will come to be” must become, all about God’s will being executed in our life and not what we perceived to be too difficult, or the challenge to high of a cost in regards to our time.

Paul tells us “The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane.” 1 Tim. 1:9 (NKJV) The passion of Christ must become who we are and how far we have grown in our own relationship with Christ as we articulate God’s vision thru us to others.

Yes we must have a passion and a vision that drives us to tell others, as John when he  “saw a new heaven, my friends we must envision that same new heaven and new earth, as we picture the first heaven and the first earth passing away. In addition, before us, we also see the holy city, The New Jerusalem, that comes down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And then we hear a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And then we must picture God wiping away every tear from our eyes; as we realize there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Rev. 21:1-5 (NKJV) My friends that vision must become real to us, before we can articulate it to others, and we must be willing to do whatever it takes, as we accept Christ commission to harvest His vineyard.

The things of this world that takes away God’s time that Satan present before us each day must be eliminated from our lives “as we run with patience the race that is set before us” by Christ.

My friends, the things of this world can no longer be an alternative to how we spend our time if we are serious about allowing God’s Spirit to transform our lives into the image of Christ. So today, capture the vision from above and “articulate the act or power of anticipating that which will come to be”

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

May 12, 2015

MY FRIENDS, WE CAN TRUST THE MAN WHO DIED FOR US!!

“But we never can prove the delights of His love Until all on the altar we lay; For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows, Are for them who will trust and obey.” The concept seems so easy to follow “Until we are asked to lay it all at the altar” God told Abraham “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.” Gen. 22:2-4 (NKJV) My friends, 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.

In addition, we will never have the type of faith that Abraham exemplified in his willingness to Sacrifice “his Son, his only son Isaac, whom He loved with all of his heart and soul, if we don’t have a passion to seek God’s presence daily, until we can personally see the scares in his hands and feet that will forever be a reminder to the redeemed of what he did for our salvation.

“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 an 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 of our life.

But if, two words spoken by the three Hebrews who were facing annihilation in a fiery furnace. But if, he doesn’t grant our request that is all right also because whatever He does or whatever amount of time it takes for Him to do it, we must forever “trust and obey, for there is no other way, because our trust in Him, and what he did for us on Calvary tells His chosen it is all for His glory and honor, and for our Salvation.

But Like the blind skiers, if we don’t become familiar with the voice of God 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 as we lay it all at the altar and “trust the man who gave up everything to come to this earth and die so that we may receive life eternal. Remember, “Those who trust in the Lord Are like Mount Zion, Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.” (Psalm 125:1)

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

MY FRIENDS, BE THANKFUL GOD GIVES HIS FAITHFUL THEIR SEASONS!!

We must learn from our seasons that the trials that are a part of our life has to do with our growth in God and where we are on this journey He has placed us on. We must also take our seasons, and learn from every heartaches and pain of our life, like the seasons, it is only temporary.

In addition, we must also have faith, as we take whatever season we are in and understand our God will never leave nor forsake us. The seasons are defined by the four divisions of the year (spring, summer, autumn, and winter) marked by particular weather patterns and daylight hours, resulting from the earth’s changing position with regard to the sun.

And what does that have to do with our relationship with God? Well today I can only refer to my own life and how it changes like the seasons especially as I begin to grow closer and closer to Christ. Job tells us “When He imparted weight to the wind And meted out the waters by measure, When He set a limit for the rain And a course for the thunderbolt, Then He saw it and declared it; He established it and also searched it out. Job 28:25-27 (NASB)

And so it is with our life, if our desire is for life eternal in God’s kingdom we must allow God to set limits and established his will in our lives. Yes it is true, we would prefer the perfect season throughout our life, but that would not prepare us for what will take place as we move closer to Christ second coming,  Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 4:2 (ESV) to “be ready in season and out of season;”

God’s prophecy in His word has predicted history from in the beginning Gen 1:1 too May 11, 2015 and beyond too “He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Rev. 22: 20 (NKJV) My friends our lives fit in between that time frame somewhere and our life is also marked by particular weather patterns or trials, resulting from our changing position, not God’s.

Remember friends, God never changes, His “years go on through all generations. In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.” Psalm 102:24-27 (KJV)

So whatever season of our life we are in, remember if we have given God complete control, this is where He wants us to be, if we cry out daily, Lord not my will but thy will be done, this is the season he wants us to be in, if God’s Spirit is being poured into us consistently, but it seems like there is no relief in sight from our trials and tribulation, this is still the particular weather patterns and season God wants us to be in because He is now in control and it is getting to close to His second coming for us to make any drastic changes to the direction he is leading.

So just. “hold on” my friends, serve God in whatever direction He leads, Stay focused on our Goal, because our Savior is coming soon! [and His] reward is with [Him], and [He] will give to each person according to what they have done.” Rev. 22:12 (NIV)

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

May 10, 2015

MY FRIENDS, WE CAN ALL SAY WITH NO RESERVATION “BUT YOU EXCEL THEM ALL.”

“Many [mothers] have done virtuously, nobly, and well [with the strength of character that is steadfast in goodness], but you excel them all.” Prov. 31:26 (AMP) My friends, it might not have always been your birth mother; maybe it was a Grandmother, or an Aunt, Maybe a big sister, or maybe it was a father who had to be a mother and a father, but whatever the situation or circumstances, we can all say, with no reservation to our mothers “But you excel them all”

For those who can go back to 1966 and remember the show “Mission Impossible” it always started off with a tape speaking to Peter Graves the head of this team of special agents, saying; “Your mission Jim, should you decide to accept it, is… As usual” and once who ever is speaking on that tape, explained the seemingly impossible mission, it ends by saying “Good Luck”

I can say those words to Jim can give us somewhat of a feeling about what God says to the mothers we hold so dear to our heart “your mission (“the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.”) Should you decide to take it, is to take this wretched sinner, your child, and “train him [or her] in the way [they] should go, and when he [or she] are old [they] will not depart from it.” Prov. 22:6 (NKJV)

Our Pastor Yesterday, Pastor Fordham,  titled his sermon “The impossible assignment of a Christian mother” where He spoke of Jochebed Moses mother, I went and look up the meaning of Her name and it implies, “glory of Jehovah” or, “Jehovah (is her or our) glory.” My friends, what He was trying to get across to the congregation yesterday was the challengers that a mother faces in raising a child, before the world begins to raise them.

Oh the Love of a mother that takes on such an assignment, especially in a world that has lost its spiritual compass, and where sin continues to abound at astronomical levels. Today my friends we can make it personal because our God is a personal God and our mothers were personal to him, because they were always in the presence of God speaking on their families behalf.

In addition, God was all she had between this world and her, and what she instilled into her children. In other words, She was God to each of us who knew no God. And Since today it’s personal, we can say our mothers were all powerful because there was nothing most mothers cannot and will not do for their child and one of the greatest attributes of a mother’s love, like God’s love is it’s unchangeable when it comes to her family.

No matter what situation, or circumstances a child goes through in life a mother’s love for that child never changes. She is also all powerful in her relationship with God as she presents her Children before Christ each day as she cries out in supplication Lord let your will be done but please save my Child.

She is Omnipresence when it comes to her family, because she is always there in our life even if she is now sleeping waiting for the trumpet to sound and Christ still small voice to say wake up my child, because God still hears the many prayers she prayed for her children and those prayers are what keeps our faith and endurance focused, as we travel on this journey to the promise land.

Yes it is an impossible mission without faith and endurance. And the words, all of our special mothers will hear when Christ comes to take His faithful mothers back home, will be, “Well done, you upright (honorable, admirable) and faithful [mother]! You have been faithful and trustworthy over [my children that I gave you]; I will [now] put you in charge of much. Enter into and share the joy (the delight, the blessedness) which your master enjoys.” “Because you excel them all”

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

May 9, 2015

MY FRIENDS, DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE WHEN IT WAS ALL DARKNESS?

And God stepped out on space, And he looked around and said: I’m lonely I’ll make me a world. And far as the eye of God could see Darkness covered everything, Blacker than a hundred midnight’s Down in a cypress swamp. Then God smiled, And the light broke, And the darkness rolled up on one side, And the light stood shining on the other, And God said: That’s good!

Then God reached out and took the light in his hands, And God rolled the light around in his hands  Until he made the sun; And he set that sun a-blazing in the heavens. And the light that was left from making the sun God gathered it up in a shining ball And flung it against the darkness, Spangling the night with the moon and stars.

Then down between The darkness and the light He hurled the world; And God said: That’s good! That rendition of creation was James Weldon Johnson interpretation. Personally,I wasn’t there, when the earth was created so I have no proof that he hung every star, only my faith that tells me; “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

But what I am a witness too and that is, what my life was like, and I believe I can speak for most of you, before Christ entered and rescued each of us from that deep hole of darkness we had entered that we were unable to climb out of. Oh the passion of the cross, and the words, “what my life was like before Christ entered and rescued me from the guilt and penalty of sin.” 

As we look back over our lives we can’t help but ponder over every situation and circumstances of our life before we allowed the arm of the good shepherd to reach, some farther than others, but for me, I can say with no reservations that His arm is infinite in length, because I had strayed personally, to an infinite distance, out of reach from any human rescue efforts.

Oh what love and grace that reached down in the “Darkness that covered everything, blacker than a hundred midnight’s, down in the cypress swamp of our lives, as He smiled and rescued us from the clutches of Satan and perdition. “Oh God Let [our] cry come before thee, O Lord: give [your children] understanding according to your word. Let [our] supplication come before you: deliver [us] according to your word.

[Our] lips shall utter praise, for you teach [your faithful] your statutes. [Our] tongue shall speak of your word: for all thy commandments are righteousness. Let thine hand become [our] help; for [we] have chosen your precepts. [We] long for your salvation, O Lord; and your law is [our] delight.

Let [our] soul live, and it shall praise you; and let your judgments help [your children].[For we went] astray as lost sheep; seek thy servants; for we do not forget your commandments.” Ps. 119:169-176 (NKJV)

My friends it was the will of the Father that his Son the Good Shepherd rescue His children that was “sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore, Very deeply stained within, Sinking to rise no more. Oh what love, in spite of our sins, He has made His Chosen, “heirs to the throne and co heirs with Christ his only begotten son,” if we believe.

So my friends, God has rescued us, so now, He is asking each of His children to show our love and allow “The Spirit of the Lord [to come] upon us, because he hath anointed [His faithful] to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent [us] to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are oppressed and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19 (NKJV)

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

May 8, 2015

MY FRIENDS, IT WILL BE AN EPIC ENDING TOO THIS LONG JOURNEY WE ARE ON!

The perfect scenario to a great movie always has an epic ending with a hero that defeats the bad guys and rides off into the sunset. My friends, today the script is now being written for our non fiction epic ending biography. But what is so amazing about our story, God is the director and writer, as the main character, He has allowed us to be a hero, who if we believe and endure will get to ride off into the sunset also.

Our story is longer than most, for we have been battling the bad guys since birth, for Behold, [we were] shapen in iniquity; and in sin did [our] mother conceive [us].” Ps. 51:5 (NKJV) Also, because of His love and grace, the director allows us to choose our own ending, which at times seem right to us, it seems like the perfect ending for a great epic “But its ending is sad, for it ends in eternal death.”

Consistent with this, the epic ending our Savior has written for His chosen, are all different scripts, different journeys, different situations and circumstances, but they are all perfect and happy endings, because His ending always allows His faithful to be a hero and ride into the sunset.

And when we get to our final destination we will not be road weary or tired, as we look up and “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And [our friends, family and love ones who had allowed their script to be written also by our Savior but had not been able to witness the ending like us, will rise first.

“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the one who wrote our final ending, in the air, and as we “enter the clouds together, and seven days ascend to the sea of glass, then Jesus brings the crowns, and with His own right hand placed them on our heads.

He [then gives] us harps of gold and palms of victory. Here on the sea of glass His faithful Children stand in a perfect square… And we were all clothed with a glorious white mantle …. Angels are all about us as we marched over the sea of glass to the gate of the city. Jesus raised His mighty, glorious arm, lays hold of the pearly gate, swings it back on its glittering hinges and says to us, “you have washed your robes in my blood, stood stiffly for My truth, enter in.”

We all march in and fill that we have a perfect right in the city…….We try to call up our greatest trials, but they looked so small compared with the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory that surrounds us that we can not speak them out, and we all cry out, “Alleluia, heaven is cheap enough!”

We then touched our glorious harps and make heaven’s arches ring…. There we saw most glorious houses, most glorious to behold….”we see A field full of all kinds of flowers, and as we pluck them, we cried out, “They will never fade.” Next we see a field of tall grass, most glorious to behold; it was living green and had a reflection of silver and gold, as it waved proudly to the glory of King Jesus….

Soon we heard Christ lovely voice, saying, “Come, my people, you have come out of great tribulation, and done My will; suffered for Me; come in to supper, for I will gird Myself, and serve you.” We shout, “Alleluia! glory!” (From the writings of E.G. White) My friends, let’s make it personal and ask our-self today, who will I get to write my epic ending, the god of this world or the one who knows about being a hero Himself, because he lives.

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