Tag Archives: Jesus

Lean On JESUS

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 By Pastor Mike

I wanna talk about how much I need JESUS. I need HIM every second of my life. I need HIS direction in all I do. I need HIS GRACE. HIS Mercy. HIS LOVE. HIS peace. HIS comfort.  HE is always there for us and will answer our prayers. JESUS needs to be first in everything we say and do and think. HE loves us more than we can understand. HE wants us to be with HIM forever.

People have said to me that I use JESUS as a crutch. I do lean and depend on JESUS for everything. I used to lean on the enemy and I always ended up doing the wrong thing. Now I lean on JESUS and great things have happened in my life. I’m excited about JESUS in me. I’m excited about going to heaven. I’m excited about learning more about HIM and what HIS Word is saying to us.

John 12:32

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

HE didn’t say: Lift up a church or a denomination or an organization or a religion or traditions. HE said Lift HIM up.
Talk about HIM, witness about HIM, preach and teach about HIM. Let HIM live in our testimony. Let HIM live in our singing. Remember that the church is a hospital for the hurting not a museum.

The more you grow in your relationship with JESUS, you’ll get a better understanding of all HE has for you. I wanna be super close with JESUS. If you don’t feel close to GOD right now, guess who moved? JESUS doesn’t move. Grab a strong hold of HIM and don’t let go. EVER!

We need to encourage people to build a strong relationship with HIM so they can get the Hope there is in HIM. The Love there is. I encourage everyone today to know JESUS. HE’S the best friend you’ll ever have. HE will be there with you at the mention of HIS Name. HE is always there.

It’s not religion or traditions that saves the lost, heals the sick, and sets the captives free. It’s the living Saviour, JESUS is our Saviour, HE is our healer, HE is our deliverer. HE is the lover of our souls. HE is our everything.

We must never lose sight of JESUS. Always tell people about HIM. Never substitute anything for JESUS, because there’s nothing that can take HIS place in our lives.

No matter how intense the battle, no matter how weary the warrior, no matter how overwhelming the odds – do not retreat. With the Word of GOD in your hands, with your brothers and sisters by your side, with the LORD fighting for you, it won’t be you who retreats, your enemy is going down.

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Simple

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   By Pastor Mike

The WORD of GOD is the greatest Book ever written. It is the greatest love story ever written. I wonder why our kids can’t read the Bible in school but they can read it in prison. They have a Bible people swear on in court to tell the whole truth but they can’t display the 10 commandments like they used to. The Bible isn’t a hard Book to follow.

You need to repent of your sins and turn away from them. Not just say sorry. We need to stop doing what we know is wrong. We need to stay on the narrow path to Heaven. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The road to Heaven is paved with obedience.

Then you need to get Baptized in the Name of JESUS.

Matthew 28:19

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

The word name here is singular which means the name to be Baptized in is the name of JESUS. The name of the Father is JESUS. The name of the Son is JESUS. The name of the Holy Ghost is JESUS. Everyone that was Baptized in the Book of Acts was Baptized in the name of our LORD JESUS. If you need to be Baptized, you need to be Baptized in the name of JESUS.

You shall receive the gift of the HOLY GHOST. It’s a free gift. It’s yours if you want it. As you receive the gift of the HOLY GHOST you will speak in tongues. Speaking out loud is the key here. JESUS wants to take control of your tongue because it is the most unruly thing we got. We need to speak to the LORD and HE will take over and you will speak in another language. It’s for today. Whatever happened in the Bible back then is for us today. All of it. You gotta believe all of it.

John 1:1,14

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

14 And 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 14:9

9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?

Philip asks to see the Father and JESUS tells him that we been together how long? You’ve seen all the miracles that I did. You’ve seen me forgive people from their sins. If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. JESUS means that I AM THE FATHER.

Luke 11:23

23 He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.

See, it’s very simple. Either you’re for JESUS or you’re against HIM. If you’re against JESUS that means you’re either for yourself or for the enemy. Either way you’re gonna lose. I chose to be with JESUS. I wanna gather with JESUS, meaning spending time with HIM. People who don’t hang with JESUS scatters all over the place meaning they will fall for anything the devil throws at them.  We need to understand that if we look to the devil we will be oppressed. If we look to ourselves we will be depressed. If we look to GOD we will be BLESSED.

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Eye Has not Seen…

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By Pastor Jeff,

This scripture gives us three well really four truths as you read verse 10, of how we normally approach our belief system!

Truth cannot be perceived through the eye (senses) despite being only just over two centimetres in diameter, human eyes have over 2 million moving parts. They can distinguish over 500 shades of grey, and over 2.7 million colours.
Our eyes don’t lie: they’re windows to the soul. The best way to get to know someone is to look them in the eyes and observe what they reveal about their emotional state.
But what you think you see can sometimes be deceiving too; Your Eyes Can Make You Hear Different Words, Your Eyes Change the Way Food Tastes,  Have you ever watched a magician or heard of and Optical Illusion?

Truth is not reached by hearing (tradition) now the bible tells us in Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” So, we understand that hearing is very important in establishing salvation. So, why is that we have one Bible but we have so many Christian faiths out there?
So, was it Yanny or Laurel?
For many of us it is tradition that makes it most difficult for us to accept a different truth in our faith!

Truth is not discoverable by the heart! “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:” What we feel cannot always be trusted as well and this is probably what causes most of the problems among Christians.
How many times when you find yourself talking to others does the term, “I feel this is what it says, or I think it says this or that” we should take those words, “feel” and “think” out of our vocabulary when discussing Bible truths. We should use the vocabulary that many of the prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and others used when communicating. “Thus sayeth the Lord!”

So how do we obtain truth if we cannot trust our senses, traditions, and feelings? Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

1 Corinthians 2:10-12, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”
How did you gain understanding of who Jesus the Christ is? Was it through what you had seen? Was it your traditional view? Was it how you felt about it?

Matthew 16:13-17, “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”

I like this event found in 2Kings 6 that really shows how we approach things in the natural, here we had the king of Syria warring against Israel and heard of this prophet Elisha in verses, 13-17, “And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”

Are you this morning looking around and seeing a vast army that is against us?
Are you being held back by traditions that you are having difficulty riding your mind of?
Are what you feel or think making it impossible to move into dimensions that you have not or believe you cannot reach?

Let’s be led by the Spirit of God;
Acts 8:29, “Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.””
Acts 10:19-20, “While Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. “But get up, go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them Myself.”
Acts 13:4, “So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus”
Acts 13:2, “While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

So, did you see any reference to using what they thought, felt, past experiences, in following what God desired of them?

Romans 8:14, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

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The Word is Quick and Sharp!

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Sword Of The Spirit

By Pastor Jeff,

Hebrews 4:11-12, “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
The word of God, I will never apologize about speaking of how important it is for us believers to fall in love with the bible and to continue to devour it. Again, I stand before you and tell you that we have to abandon the old way that many of us have been brought up of taking one verse in the bible, memorize it sometimes, then make a doctrine of it.

In this chapter the writer is talking to us  about rest, for in this world rest is something that is very difficult to obtain we are so busy going to and fro that we miss opportunities to receive the rest that comes from Jesus Christ.

The word of God is quick and powerful, literally the bible is life and active, John 10:7-11, “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”

Its sharper than any two-edged sword, “any” not some, not most, “any, all” Ephesians 6:17, “…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” I ask you does this sword no matter how sharp it is serve any purpose if it is just sitting on a mantel as a decoration?

Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow. Wow, that is deep! Can any of us see the soul? The spirit? How about the joints and marrow? Its so quick, so powerful, so sharp that it penetrates deep within the heart and soul of man, you may not see the effects of it but,
Isaiah 55:8-11, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Mouth in the Hebrew is two-edged interesting isn’t it?

Don’t ever stop sharing the word of God, we have so much technology today that is being used to share negativity, and please don’t take this wrong, recipes, pictures of our pets are not bad things, but Let’s flood it with the word of God, you don’t know where and who the mighty two-edged sword will strike!

And is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Psalms 119:9-11, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Hid, to hoard or reserve; to protect, esteem, lay up, (keep) secret (-ly, place).
2 Timothy 3,  Tells us about a day that will become so evil that it be will difficult to see any good in the world, the Apostle Paul then tells us, in verses 14-17, “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

The word of God needs to be precious to us believers and never be taken for granted! We must do everything we can to get the word of God out to this lost and dying world!

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According to His Purpose!

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hispurpose

By Pastor Jeff,

 

Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
My understanding and how others have used this scripture was that no matter how bad of situation, event in your life, or catastrophe that God would always make it to be a good thing! Right?

Well as was hearing this verse and that explanation from others I started to ask God if that was what He really meant by what Paul wrote here. That no matter how bad things are happening in my life of in others of those around me it was going to be good!

I mean I do love God and I do believe that I am what is called according to His purpose, so why all the bad stuff?

So first I started to look at the verses around it and I found in chapter 8 that it is talking about the Spirit of God in our lives, verse 1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Verse 9, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” verse 14,” For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Verse 26, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered”

It also talks of suffering, verses 17-18, “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

After reading all this I decided to look at verse 28 more closely to see if I could gain a better understanding, in the Amplified Bible it is written like this, “We are assured and know that [ God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good!”
Philippians 1:6-7, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.”

The next part is “to them that love God” agape love! It is really a matter of trust, trusting that the one we love, the one who loves us is not the source of evil in this world and in our lives, that He desires us to be saved and for us to tell of His love and they will become saved.

The last part is “to them who are the called according to his purpose.” What is God’s purpose? Once you gain an understanding of what the lord is telling us here it will help you to understand the true meaning of this verse. For the word “called” means “invited, that is, appointed, or (specifically) a saint” “Purpose” means, “a setting forth, that is, proposal; specifically the show bread (in the Temple) as exposed before God:—purpose, shew [-bread].”
2Timothy 1:9, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,”

Romans 8:28 is really not about looking for good in everything that happens in our lives. It’s really a salvation message, His purpose for us is to be saved and this verse is one of those precious pearls that should not be cast at the feet of unbelievers. The unsaved cannot possibly understand its significance, and are likely to gain from it a perverted view of God, or an image of the Christian faith being a naive game of “let’s pretend everything is rosy, even when the roof caves in.”
The essential point about Romans 8:28 the focus is not on isolated events in the believer’s life, but on the sum total of all events. Do you see the difference between saying “each thing by itself is good” and “all things work together for good”? The verse does not tell me I should say “it is good” if I get an a car accident, or if my child dies. But it does say that God will use these events, and weave them together with every other facet of my life in order to produce what He knows to be the very best for me!
Have you ever baked a cake, would you try each ingredient by itself, taste the baking powder? How about baking soda? The great thing is that when you mix it all together in the right amounts, place it in the oven, an amazing metamorphosis took place. The cake becomes delicious. While the individual ingredients tasted terrible, the final product tasted terrific! If we would have judged the whole cake on the basis of the individual ingredients, we would never have believed it could be good.
The individual trials and apparent tragedies that come into our lives are neither “delicious” nor desirable. In fact, at first taste they are often not very good or even bitter. But God is capable of carefully measuring out and mixing up these ingredients in order to produce a final product that is truly good which is to spend eternity with Him.

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The Heart of God

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God-Heart-2

By Pastor Jeff,

We hear people say that they want the mind of Christ in helping them to make decisions in their lives and yes, we should seek that.
But today I want to talk about the “Heart of God”

The heart is the key organ in the circulatory system. As a hollow, muscular pump, its main function is to propel blood throughout the body. It usually beats from 60 to 100 times per minute, but can go much faster when necessary. It beats about 100,000 times a day, more than 30 million times per year, and about 2.5 billion times in a 70-year lifetime. With each heartbeat, blood is sent throughout our bodies, carrying oxygen and nutrients to every cell. Every day, the approximately 10 pints (5 liters) of blood in your body travel many times through about 60,000 miles (96,560 kilometers) of blood vessels that branch and cross, linking the cells of our organs and body parts.

But the heart can mean other things other than this organ that beats within our chest today, it can mean our center, character, courage, emotion empathy, essence, feeling, kindness, love, mood, etc.
In the bible the word “heart”, occurs over one thousand times, making it the most common anthropological (study of humankind) term in the Scripture. It mostly refers to the heart figuratively. Some examples:
Psalms 4:7 says. “Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.”
Psalms 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” The bible tells us what comes out of it Mark 7:21-23, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”

Despite of trying to portray as some kind of tough guy, I always been kind of a feeler, even though I try to hide it, I often find this 230 lbs of solid muscle crying at not only movies, but commercials, or touchy quotes.                                                                                   I think that was the type of man that God wants in all of us but it really is bared out in when Israel decided it wanted a King to rule them and not just God, after Samuel anointed the first King Saul it didn’t take long for Saul to mess things up and when Saul disobeyed God at Gilgal, this is what Samuel had to tell him.
1 Samuel 13:13-14, “And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.” That was the type of man that God wanted Samuel to anoint to be the next King, 1 Samuel 16:7, “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

Who was that man? Acts 13:21-23, “And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:”

A man after the heart of God, what a great title to have! So, what is the Heart of God? John 3:16 makes it clear what God’s heart is, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

There are many more scriptures than I could share on how we need to seek the heart of God, but I will give you just a few,
Psalms 38:8-10, “I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee. My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.”
Psalms 111:1, “Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.”
Psalms 51:15-17, “O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite (to collapse) heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” I saved the best for last for there are many benefits from seeking and having the heart of God, Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

I Long for knowing Jesus Christ in every possible way I can, I want the Heart of God, how about you?

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Let’s Stand

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Ephesians-6-13-Put-On-The-Full-Armour-Of-God-beige-copy

By Pastor Jeff,

Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Verse 13, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
(withstand; anthistēmi, anth-is’-tay-mee; to stand against, that is, oppose:—resist, withstand.) antihistamine; any of various compounds that counteract histamine in the body and that are used for treating allergic reactions (such as hay fever) and cold symptoms .I don’t know about you, but the dealing with satan is one allergy I would like to get rid of quickly! Verse 14, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;”

Three times Paul tells us here that it is important for us to “stand”! I don’t know about you but it seems very apparent that we are living in is not evil? So, what does the word of God say we are supposed to do about that?

I want you to notice something here, Paul does not tell us once we have the armor of God on, to go out and look for the enemy, he simply tells us to stand!
I’ve been serving our Lord Jesus Christ as best as I can for going on 35 years now, and I can tell you without a doubt that what Jesus says in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Tribulation, (pressure (literally or figuratively):—afflicted, (-tion), anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble.) it will find you, if you are breathing, you can’t ignore it, you can’t hide from it, you can’t give it away, and you can’t pray it away. It’s part of the curse that we are all subjected to until we go home to be with Jesus. Don’t ever worry about looking for a fight with the enemy of our soul, because it will find you! The bible just tells us to be ready by putting on the whole armor of God and stand!

We also need to be aware of some key points here, Verse 10, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”
Who’s strength? Who’s power?
As I get older, I unfortunately can relate to our friend Job a little more as we see the consequences of sin on this fallen world, Job 42:2, “I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.”
I think most people have misread the Book of Job, in that most commentaries I have read say it shows that Satan is limited in what he can do to anyone. I don’t believe that’s entirely true, Job 1:10, “Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” It was this divine protection that was place upon Job and his family that protected him. Otherwise why would Jesus tell us that, “In the world ye shall have tribulation:” If we all when we come to Christ have this same protection! why do we need this armor that Paul tells us to put on?

James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” His strength, His power! 1Corinthians 16:13, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit (act manly) you like men, be strong.”
Exodus 14:13, “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”

Listen, the devil has much power and is one not to be trifled with, mankind surrendered this world to him at the fall, it took the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to snatch the keys of death and hell away from him. Paul told the church at Ephesus to put on the armor, to stand, if you are struggling to get up, grab unto my arm and stand, if you don’t feel that you able to keep standing, stand anyways!

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The Least of These!

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the foolish

By Pastor Jeff

1Corinthians 15:9, “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

The kingdom of God as many of us are aware of smacks right in the face of what this world searches for. This book is filled with paradoxes, for examples it tells us we must die to live, the last will be first, if we want to be the greatest we must become the least, faith of a mustard seed and the so on.

But nothing captures my imagination more than how God will take what the world would consider of none value and turn it around and make something awesome from it.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.”

To me, I find great confidence in that, in our generation we have seen many that the world would want us to look up to fall flat on their face, many of us remember such people as Chad Johnson (football), MC Hammer, Gary Coleman, Mike Tyson to name a few. Some you may be surprised of hearing of are the likes of Buffalo Bill, Rembrandt, and of course we are seeing many celebrities in Hollywood that are in trouble and to our surprise we see politicians falling form grace!

We should not take any satisfaction in that but Gods word is true in what it tells us in James 4:6, “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” The writer of James doesn’t end there, 7-10, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

I like this saying I saw posted recently, “God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called!” God will use who and whatever He chooses, but it’s clear that those who will surrender to His will not out own, James 4:10, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

So, do you know of anyone in the bible that you would not have considered as someone that God would use in an awesome way? Moses, Rahab, David, Jeremiah, and pretty much everyone that God used for His glory mentioned in the Bible.
What about Samson, there is a new movie coming out next year and of course the actor playing Samson is 6ft 2’’ inches tall and very muscular. I wonder if that’s what the real Samson that God chose was, could it of been a ordinary looking person like you or me?

Look at the disciples that Jesus hand-picked, what a bunch of losers according to the spiritual leaders of the day and even would have been thought of likewise in our churches today. What you had stinky fishermen, tax collectors, a thief, hmmm, what every church should be full of!
But because of Jesus Christ all these men except Judas Iscariot were transformed into men of God who stood up against hatred, discrimination, torture, and eventual death to bring the gospel to the whole world!

That brings us to Paul, someone who because of the powerful message of Jesus Christ became so transformed that they even had to call him by a different name…

God today is still taking less than ordinary men and women and using them to accomplish great things for His kingdom, like Nick Vujicic, we also have those that have used tragedy and God turned it for good, Joni Erikson Tada, even after death someone’s life can affect others, Rachel Scott (Columbine-wanted to be a missionary)

“For I am the least”, I hold to that, I need to know that, I can agree with Paul when he says, for truly God has taken the weak and made them strong, the poor He has made rich…

picture care of: images.knowing-jesus.com

Forgiveness

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power-of-forgiveness_t

By Pastor Jeff,

Forgiveness! It’s one of the most significant expressions of love that I can think of, Jesus over and over tells us the importance of it. In the Lords prayer He tells us in Matthew 6:12, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Then to further emphasis it he follows up in verses 14-15, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” As we see here, it can be positive if you are willing to forgive, and negative if you chose not to forgive.

Joseph (Genesis 37-45) is a great example of someone who chose to forgive his brothers who should distain to him and even came to the point of almost killing him but sold him to slavery. Eventually Joseph had the opportunity to exact revenge on his brothers but instead showed grace. The story if Ahitophel  is the opposite, a one time friend and council to David, he became an enemy as result of David’s sin with Bathsheba whom was his granddaughter. We find him at the end of the story hung from tree after his betrayal was not heeded by Absalom (2Samuel 17:23).

Recently I had the opportunity to see the story of one Eva Moses Kor who had a twin sister named Miriam. These two sisters as well as the rest of their family were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944 where the entire family except for the twins were killed immediately. A doctor Josef Mengele “the angel of death” began experiments on Eva, Miriam and many other twins which had lasting affects on they bodies and may of contributed to Miriam’s’ death in 1993. Eva later was put into contact with another “Nazi” doctor who was at the camp, a Dr. Munch. She was soon confronted with the idea to write a letter of forgiveness to this doctor but was challenged to also to forgive Dr. Mengele. Eva decided that she would and then realized that she and she alone had any power to forgive, not the others who were at the camp, not any church, or any other organization. It was hers alone as we also have the same power to or not to forgive, it’s our power!

Ephesians 4:30-32, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

Forgiveness is not always easy, but it is necessary, even if the person who is the recipient does not or cannot accept it we still need to forgive not once, not twice, but as Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:22, “seventy times seven”, really what Jesus was saying is there is no limit on our ability to forgive others except the limit we put on it.

Our greatest example is found in Jesus Christ, even after the beatings, mocking, and bing nailed to a wooden cross he declared in Luke 23:35, “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do…” If we want to be Christ-like we need to be able to do the same!

picture care of: hellemanworld.blogspot.com

 

Who is your Strength?

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strength

By Pastor Jeff,

If I asked you, who is your strength? no doubt those who know Jesus Christ will shout out His name. Lately I have been hearing the quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher,  “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” This quote has been part of many songs and I recently heard a Christian artist use it.

I’ve been always fascinated with strength, I remember the old Superman (the black and white one) and imagined myself as having the same powers he had, I watched the Olympics and became fascinated by the weightlifters who could lift massive amounts of weight! Then I thought of the animal kingdom and the tremendous amount of strength you could see by horses, elephants, and other large animals. Interestingly the strongest pound for pound creation on our earth is relatively small, no! not the ant which can lift  times it’s weight, but the Gung beetle, which can carry, 1140 times its own weight which would be equal for us carrying 80 tons!

We can look at a 747 which requires 735,000lbs of thrust to lift its 67,400lbs in the air and the F-1 rocket engine that was used to send an Apollo spacecraft into orbit produces 7.5 million pounds of thrust, that folks is power!

Then we look at nature and all of us have the recently observed the power and damage sustained by hurricanes Harvey and Irma (which had 185mph winds), the strongest wind recorded for a tornado was 302 mph in 1999. Our Sun holds 99.8% of the our Solar system’s mass, about 1 million earths could fit in the Sun, the temperature on it’s surface is 10,000 degrees but the inner core is estimated at 27 million degrees, that is one hot powerful Star, isn’t it!

But all these pale to a God who with His very word spoke our world and universe into existence in a mere six days. The book of Psalms is filled with references to a God who is our strength, in all we find 271 times God is mentioned as our strength, lets look a just a few.

Psalms 27:1, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Psalms 28:7, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.”

Psalms 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Psalms 118:14, “The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.”

John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” 

The enemy of our souls hates us and only desires harm for us, but our Lord Jesus Christ is our strength! Let’s face it, most of us have no desire to endure hardships to become stronger and when we face trials by ourselves it can destroy us physically, emotionally and spiritually. But if we rely on the strength that comes from God we can be overcomers of everything that comes our way. The only limit to what God can do is the limit we place upon Him, He and He alone is my strength!

So a question, what is the greatest force in the world? (hint, its a four letter word)

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