MY FRIENDS, GOD LOVES US THIS I KNOW!!

My friends The Christian experience is a unique journey, we start at imperfection and we go through transformation conviction to an everlasting relationship with God. Our journey has a definable starting point. For Paul it was on the Damascus road, Moses at the burning bush. But we all have our unique experiences as God becomes real in our lives, so it becomes personal because we all experience God differently.

“We are all unique and wonderfully made. He formed us in our mother’s  belly He knew [us]. And before we came forth out of the womb, He sanctified us, and He ordained [us] a prophet [or prophetess] unto [all the world.]” And now my friends, we have dismantled self, and allowed God’s Spirit to rebuild our character within Christ as we maintain that relationship through His word.

But life seemed not so complicated before we allowed Christ to enter our life. Those times when the flesh ran rampant with no limits, or boundaries. Fornication, adultery, lies, stealing, unhealthy eating habits, and the list goes on. How we lived life from day to day was never problematic when we were on that train bound for perdition. But now Satan has refocused his attention back on us.

And that is why it is important that God’s full armor is battle ready and we are never without it, because like Paul, God chose us because He knew we were capable of remaining a faithful servant that would endure no matter what situation or circumstances we might find ourselves in. So we must remember “whatever were gains [to us in this world we must] continue, and forever consider as loss for the sake of Christ”

My friends, God never required a job interview or a resume from us when we decided to give Him our all. He had already “searched our heart and knew when we sat down and when we rose up; and He discerned our thoughts from afar.” Ps. 139:1 (NKJV) And He will never terminate His relationship with us when we mess up, because He is our father and Shepherd not an overbearing boss.

And He never looks at our profit and loss, only our Gain as we give Him all the glory and honor each day for what He has done in our lives. “Like a grapevine branch, we are not always producing fruit in our life. That would be unnatural. For a significant portion of a grapevine’s life is nothing but a dry, twisted stick, fruitless with no benefit to anyone.

It is even useless for shade, worthless as timber, to all appearances it is only fit to be ripped from the ground, thrown in a heap and burned.” “Yet those barren times are as vital in the life of the vine, as the season itself” (Grantley Morris) “Because God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, we are made alive together with Christ.”

And through His mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is His faithfulness. Lam. 3:22-24 (NKJV) My friends, the forces of evil looks back over our life and accuses each of God’s chosen of all of our mistakes and tells us we have gone to far in sin, to be saved.

But not with Christ for He starts at Calvary, and takes us through the trials and tribulation of this life, and places us in His loving wings, all the way to his soon appearing when He will say to His Children “my grace was sufficient” because it was always personal so “Well done” my child.

March 11, 2016

MY FRIENDS, ARE WE WONDERING AIMLESSLY WITH NO DESTINATION IN SIGHT?

“Those who would not fall a prey to Satan’s devices, must guard well the avenues of the soul; they must avoid reading, seeing, or hearing that which will suggest impure thoughts. The mind must not be left to dwell at random upon every subject that the enemy of souls may suggest. The heart must be faithfully sentineled, or evils without will awaken evils within, and the soul will wander in darkness.

“Gird up the loins of your mind,” Peter wrote, “be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (E.G. White, Acts Of The Apostles pp 518-519) My friends that quote tells us, we must avoid the “very appearance of evil” because “evils without will awaken evils within.”

Remember, Satan from the beginning of our conception has studied our character, he knows what areas we will fall in. He also knows what is generational within our DNA and what character flaws is hereditary that has been handed down from generation to generation that is within us. My friends we must never forget Satan is a strategist who will “blind the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Cor. 4:4 (KJV)

So we must “be sober-minded; and watchful. For our adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 (ESV) And my friends, that someone is you and I. In addition, our over saturation of what we see and hear in the media has turned our world into a nation of the walking dead. Not realizing that we are being manipulated by government and corporate advertisers.

And it is through what we watch and hear and the places we go where Satan causes us to stumble while at the same time we lose sight of Christ saving grace, forgetting that life is too short to squander it away on things that have nothing to do with our soul salvation. So to constantly program our minds on the things of this world will only shift our brain activity from Christ centered, to a state of “susceptibility, suggestibility and an unfocused state of mind.”

And it is at that point we have no desire of knowing, perceiving, or remembering the things God deems beneficial, and precious for our salvation. Remember, Moses had seen an entire generation wander aimlessly in the desert for forty years because they refused to believe God’s word. Instead, choose to believe the ten spies who said the land God had promised them was too difficult to conquer.

Therefore forty years, the Israelites roamed the wilderness, with no specific destination in sight. An entire generation was sentenced to an inactive and slothful wandering in the wilderness before they all died with only Moses, Joshua and Caleb remaining to represent the generation that left Egypt. Many of us experience this same dilemma, wandering in the wilderness of sin with no destination in sight as the year’s fly by.

My friends, time is precious, and how we use it for God’s glory and honor, is of vital importance to our spending eternity with Christ. Each precious moment we have left on this earth should be spent in searching to capture the mind and character of Christ through His word and Spirit because the things of this world will soon pass away and so will the unbelievers who did not give their all to Christ, but, “set their mind on earthly things, and not on things above.” Col. 3:2 (NIV)

Every excuse we may give as the reason we cannot serve Christ, was challenged and answered at Calvary.

March 9, 2016

MY FRIENDS, CAN WE TAKE A CHANCE AND DELAY?

“Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”  My friends only forty days to repent and be saved, or everyone will be destroyed. In addition, God did not categorize their offensives, or determine their destruction by social class, or race, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Jonah 3:5 (KJV) tells us “The Ninevites believed God and a fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.” Key word, all of the Ninevites believed. The murderers, the fornicators, the thief’s, the liars. The adulterers, those who coveted, those who worshiped other Gods, those who used the lords name in vain, those who did not keep the Sabbath day holy, even the gossipers.

Yes my friends, all believed and repented. Because once you allow God’s Spirit to take full control then you begin to develop that personal relationship with Christ. But sometimes this world looks far more appealing and we choose to linger far to long in sin instead of making a full transformation. In the spring at Niagara Falls, there is large blocks of ice flowing toward the falls.

Embedded in the ice you can see carcasses of dead fish. Gulls by the score will ride down the river feeding on the fish. As they come to the brink of the falls, their wings go out, and they escape annihilation at the powerful falls. But every once in a while a gull will delay, seemingly engrossed in the dead carcasses of all the fish, and when it finally comes to the brink of the falls, and it extends its powerful wings, the bird will flap but to no avail.

Even by chance it does lift the ice out of the water, it has delayed too long and its claws are now frozen into the ice and the weight becomes too great, causing the gull to plunge into the abyss. Oh, the danger of delay! I’m sure those who linger have seen others fall into the abyss, but, somehow they figured, they can succeed where others have failed. The Ninevites gave it all to the Master in forty days.

The thief on the cross, in an instant. My friends, Christ is knocking, any delay can be detrimental to one’s salvation because tomorrow is not promised. So today my friends, where do you start the process of transformation. Maybe you start with gossiping. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:29 (KJV) Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

Maybe you start at wasting God’s time. Paul also says, “Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Eph. 5:16-17 (KJV) I could continue, pointing out ones transgressions that can be found in God’s word. But the question is not about the sin itself, but when does it become personal between you and God?

Or do we linger as the seagull because somewhere in our finite mind we figure we can succeed in sin where other’s before us have failed and escape before we are completely annihilated by Satan? My friends, if you reach that final sunset and you look into Christ eyes, will the tears you shed be tears of joy or would they be your last goodbye.”

It will be a tragedy to get to that day, and realize, all the delays, and all you had accumulated and accomplished on this earth “could not compare to eternal life that you now have lost.

Every excuse we may give as the reason we cannot serve Christ, was challenged and answered at Calvary.

March 6, 2016

MY FRIENDS, “IF ONLY WE TOUCH THE HEM OF HIS GARMENT, WILL WE BE MADE WHOLE.”

“If only I may touch the hem of his garment I shall be made whole”  [of placing other gods before the true God, of making gods out of things, of taking the lords name in vain, of not keeping the Sabbath day holy, of not honoring our mothers and fathers, of killing, of committing adultery, of stealing, of lying, of covertness.] Matt. 9:21 (NKJV) Our record wiped clean with only a touch of His garment, or will it be.

1 John 3:19-20 (AMP) tells us “By this we will know [without any doubt] that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart and quiet our conscience before Him whenever our heart convicts us [in guilt]; for God is greater than our heart and He knows all things [nothing is hidden from Him because we are in His hands].”

My friends that text tells us God sees the deep abyss of our heart for “nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Heb. 4:13 (NIV) “Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.

The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him.

And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die!

And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.” Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! 2 Sam. 12:1-7 (NKJV) Covertness, lying, stealing another man’s wife, killing the husband in an attempt to cover up his adultery with the mans wife and her pregnancy. My friends all of this intrigue and suspense from “a man after Gods on heart”

Do you think it would have made a difference If  David had only touched the hem of Christ garment, then he would have been made whole and his sins eradicated. My friends, our accountability to God must go beyond a touch of Christ garment. It’s personal and as a child of God and heirs to His kingdom and joint heirs with His Son we must look beyond a simple touch.

We must focus on our Saviors soon return and our accountability as to why, or why we did not allow God’s Spirit to make a complete transformation of our character while we lived on this earth. Paul tells us “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. [Even the woman with the issue of blood that touched the hem of Christ garment and was healed must] receive what is due her for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10 (NKJV)

My friends grace still abounds as we stand on the mountain-top and look over into the promise land. We must now ask ourselves through our faith and endurance, will we be able to say one day, our robes have been washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.

Every excuse we may give as the reason we cannot serve Christ, was challenged and answered at Calvary.

March 5, 2016

MY FRIENDS, ARE WE PREPARED TO PRESS TOWARDS THE GOAL FOR THE PRIZE?

“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.” Phil 3:14-15 (NKJV) My friends, we must realize our Journey is a personal experience. Paul states, “I, press toward the goal.”

And nothing of this world must hinder that driving force or passion from within as we keep our eyes fixed on the prize and if we have matured as a Christian we must not get weary we must understand the steadfast love [and grace] of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; [our victories through our faith and endurance] are new every morning; Lam 3:22-23 (ESV)

So we must continually advance forward with our eyes on the prize. In 2 Kings 18,19 Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, was twenty-five years old when he became king. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord as he “pressed toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God,” he begin to removed all the foreign gods that were set up throughout Judah.

So Hezekiah “held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments,” But as Children of God we must remember as we press toward our prize, Satan looks at God’s faithful as a prize also which he marks for perdition. So he attempts to separate us from the love and grace of God and at times we become weak and forget “our power is made perfect in weakness.”

So God at times must bring our attention back to who God is and where He is leading. The Assyrian army begins to conquer Judah’s territory, Hezekiah feels he can stop their advancements with money and material things. But friends, Satan goal is our total destruction, and the deeper in sin we get the more of God’s character is removed until we are completely destroyed. The Assyrian representatives then speak directly to the people.

“Hear the word of the great king, of Assyria!……‘Do not listen to Hezekiah or allow him to deceive you, by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? “Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, He understood like we should, that Satan’s battles against God’s children are battles against God Himself.

“O Lord God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, “ Hezekiah then reveals his petition to God, his request becomes all about bringing glory and honor to God’s name, “O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone.”

And then “on a certain night the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand;” My friends, not our battles but God’s and “when we press onward in this Christian race” God will reveal to us His will if we will only endure and have faith for God’s Spirit will guide us into all truth;….and He will tell [God’s faithful] things to come.” John 16:13 (NKJV) As we understand, we can never look back at past failures, but continue to move forward as we “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus as He prepares us for life eternal.

Every excuse we may give as the reason we cannot serve Christ, was challenged and answered at Calvary.