Does anyone remember what it means when someone says, “No pain, and no gain”? If we always have it easy and everything is handed to us on a silver platter doesn’t make life better. When a blacksmith works on a piece of metal he heats it at very high temperatures and hammers on it until it is shaped right. To build strong character and integrity we must be shaped the same way. We have the perfect example of how this is accomplished by the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 5:8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. Yes, Jesus was the Son of God and He suffered many things to strengthen His mettle. (Word History: By the 1500s, English metal had also come to mean “the stuff one is made of, one’s character,” but there was no difference in spelling between the literal and figurative senses until about 1700, when the spelling mettle, originally just a variant of metal, was fixed for the sense “strength of character.”) Jesus Christ suffered so He understands how to help us shape our character to have divine mettle!
1 Peter 5:10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
Let Christ shape and perfect you into a fine work of spiritual character, strength, and integrity!
Did you know that you live in a conundrum of darkness and light! Some people live in darkness and do not realize it and yet they see all things in the world with their eyes imagining they are seeing things in the light. How can this be? In the bible, Jesus says; “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12)Jesus is the light of life but Satan the Devil is the king of darkness and death. Jesus says in the bible that; the lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. (Luke 11:34)
Jesus loves you and wants you to have His light dwelling in you.
Too many people are being led by the power of Satan and consequently their lives are often in a shambles. Accept Jesus into your life and let His light shine in you. Because He wants; “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” (Acts 26:18)
Don’t keep stumbling around in the darkness of Satan’s world! Act now! Jesus is the only way! Be free from the shackles and bondage of Satan’s dark world. Pray that the peace and light of Jesus Christ will come into your life today!
My prayer is that the pure, saving and holy light of Jesus Christ will enter into the lives of those who read this message today and deliver them from Satan’s darkness. In Jesus name, amen!
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
God will deliver us from those who are our political enemies if we believe in Him.
2 Kings 17:39 But the LORD your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”
Wake up!
God will provide the right person to lead this nation. Now is a time to believe God can do what He says He can do.
In Galatians 5:22 the first fruit of the Spirit is love.
The world’s idea of love is sensual and lustful but that is a counterfeit love perpetrated by the devil to lead all mankind into an abyss of destructive sin. Jesus taught a different kind of love; love that is neither selfish nor demanding of demonstrations of the flesh. In the counterfeit love people are always trying to satisfy their own desires. They are only serving themselves. The love that Jesus teaches us is totally the opposite. Jesus says that through love we should serve one another. We should be out-going and giving in every sense of the word.
Jesus also teaches us that the second greatest law is that we should love our neighbors as we would love ourselves.
Getting out of one’s comfort zone and giving of their time and service to someone in need or just to be encouraging brings great rewards and satisfaction you will get no other way. That is genuine love by God’s definition. James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble. That is an act of love that God greatly blesses.
You should begin to understand now that the love that is the first fruit of the Spirit is not the same love that the world lavishes on itself. But Gods love is a love that the world needs to know about and taught about. God’s love is something that lives in you and is manifested through the heart unselfishly.
Those with the greatest love are servants to all.
Godly love comes from the Spirit in you if you first let Jesus into your life and follow Him.
John 14: 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Jesus is standing at your door right now as you read open the door and let Him in!
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
We just celebrated the 4th of July as a memorial to the beginning of this great nation. It is truly awe inspiring to realize what it really means. Sadly, many of our newer generation of children do not know what the 4th of July is about. It is a subject that is not emphasized as much in our children’s education as it was when I attended school over a half century ago. Certain things begin to get vague over time and their importance is watered down, becoming passive in our minds.
The Christian Church has existed before this nation was formed and still stands today.
My question is this. Is the Christian faith, understanding, belief, and especially spirituality becoming vague, passive and weak. Is it as important today as it was in the days of the Apostles?
I watched the Spurs and Heat play for the world championship and the fans were extremely fanatical about their teams. Why are we not more so about Jesus Christ? It is certainly more important for people’s salvation.
Are we fulfilling our calling now, today? Are we worthy?
Jesus has something to say about that in 2 Thessalonians 1:11 Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power,
We have a purpose, we are spiritual and we are citizens of heaven filled with power. That power lives in us and that power is Christ. 1 Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
I pray that we will stop trying to use Christ and let Him use us!
There are many things happening in this world that indicate that Jesus Christ may come soon. We are to watch for these signs. Matthew 24: 32-33 “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near — at the doors!
Watch and pray!
Luke 21:36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.
When what we are doing is not working we need to stop what we are doing and go in a different direction. We need to let Jesus light our path for us and then and only then will we be going the right way.
Let’s be as excited as our brothers in Christ were in the days of the Apostles. Be as zealous as the fans were at the Spurs and Heat games. Do it for our Lord and Savior. 1 Corinthians 14:12 Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel.
Revelation 3: Therefore be zealous and repent.
God help us to change and not become lukewarm. Amen!
Once we were non believers and didn’t know much, if anything, about Christianity. But somehow we were introduced to Jesus Christ by His grace and our lives changed. We now had something that we didn’t have before. FAITH! By faith we began to recognize that there was so much more to learn and do. We began to grow spiritually. But for something to grow, it has to have something to grow from. A tree grows from a seed planted in the soil and begins to grow roots and then a trunk that that becomes its foundation. A seed, the Holy Spirit, is planted in us and we began to develop spiritual roots in the Church and Jesus is our trunk (foundation).
John 15: 1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
Now we have a foundation to build on as long as we are in these bodies. As we bear fruit our building is being built and Jesus is the chief cornerstone on which we build.
1 Corinthians 3: 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ” Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily.
Now that your foundation is layed and your temple is being built, your are host to the Holy Spirit. What an awesome responsibility! Now you are totally of God and belong to God.
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
1 Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Sometimes it is good to remember just who and what we are. The world does not know this nor can it understand without the Holy Spirit. However, we do know on what we are building and what we stand.
Proverbs 10:25 But the righteous has an everlasting foundation
The scripture in John 3:16 describes God as loving the whole world. God doesn’t look upon the outside skin of a person or how well they speak to define if that person is worthy of His love. It doesn’t matter if it is the famous Joseph Merrick, a severely deformed man in 19th century London or Marilyn Monroe.
1 Samuel 16: But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
God looks deep inside to see the real character and who the person really is.
He knows our every sin, but when we truly repent of those sins, He will not remember them any more.
Jeremiah 31: 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
God loves us so much that He is willing to forgive our sins no matter how bad they are. And He will forget they ever happened. Not only that, but God sent His only Son to this world to shed His blood and die in our place to guarantee that we would be free of our sins and receive the free gift of eternal life.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God loves all people! We are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. But God has a master plan for us, God is love and He has made it possible for anyone to share His love and glory forever in His kingdom. God will share His throne with us in His kingdom! That is a lot of love!
Father, give your children the strength and the faith to help bring more people into Your kingdom. In Jesus name, amen.
Wouldn’t it be neat if God had the Bible written the same way people write blogs or forums? Most every web page that you find on the internet has a facts section. The most asked questions have a ready made answer. God does answer many questions in the Bible but we have to read and study the scripture to find the answers. Doesn’t the Bible give us instruction concerning this? 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
God has a purpose for everything!
I have been concerned lately about a certain trend among younger generation churches and their rethinking church philosophy. After having read these rethinking churches on their websites, it appears that they have become the world’s church critics. They talk about what is wrong with all other churches etc. Now I have to say this that there are some Christians that need to really believe what the Bible teaches. 1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
It really disturbs me to see so much criticism and church division!
Here are some interesting observations I read about the difference between Old Testament and New Testament baptisms.
The Bible makes reference to the nation of Israel being baptized as she came out of Egypt, a symbol of sin, and passing through the Red Sea. Just after having passed through the Red Sea, they received the Law of Moses. They did not have the Holy Spirit.
THE LAW GIVEN UNDER THE OLD COVENANT BY BAPTISM
1 Corinthians 10: 1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Malachi 4:4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
Deuteronomy 4:10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.
You can read over and over in the Old Testament how Israel and Judah disobeyed God. In the book of Judges God sent His people into captivity as punishment time and time again. Take note that no where in the Bible will you ever find where Israel observed the 50th year of Jubilee. They couldn’t obey God that long. So you see that their baptism into the Law was never in tended for salvation and eternal life.
THE SPIRIT GIVEN UNDER THE NEW CONENANT
Mark 1:8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus promised that He would send us the Holy Spirit when He ascended into heaven. John 14:16, 26 and John 16:7
On the Day of Pentecost Jesus kept His promise and sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in man
Acts 1: 15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)
Acts 2: 1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Christians today make up the body of Christ, (1 Corinthians 12:27) are temples of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:19)
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Under the New Covenant the Bible clearly states that when we are saved we receive the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
It is a simple thing to pray a prayer to God and ask Him to forgive all your sins but it is very hard to do. It requires a person to ask God to change their life from the ways of this world to His ways and that is a decision some hate to make. But when one makes the right decision then they will receive treasures they didn’t even know existed. That is another story!
Mathew 26: 50-53 But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him. And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?
There are a whole lot of people in this world who don’t know who Jesus Christ is or anything about Him. On CNN news, concerning Easter, an article appeared that said, quote: “Jesus Christ is the most famous man who ever lived and there is little that is known about Him.” What a perfect example of people who have never taken the time to learn about the most famous person in the world. God created the heavens and the earth. This includes the universe and the beautiful planet earth that we dwell upon. That covers a lot right there! He created the heaven in which He resides also. All this He created for one great purpose. He created it all for man. ( John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God.3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of 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.) Jesus was the Creator of all things in the beginning. He also created man in His own image. (Genesis 1:27) Man was the center piece of His creation. Man was the reason for it all. Jesus wanted man to eventually receive Him into his life and live eternally with Him in glory and Jesus will share His throne with man.(Revelation 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.) How unselfish and great is that? Why would anyone not want that? Could it be that they just don’t know about Jesus Christ as CNN news reported. There are Christian Churches all over the world. They have services every Sunday. All people are welcome to attend at any time. You can learn all about Jesus. There is no reason not to. Be prepared to live in a world where there are no wars, crime, drug use, hunger, or diseases. There will be no limit to what you can see, smell, feel, and hear. There will be no night. There will be no need for gravity. There will only be joy, peace, and happiness. This is a very short description of Jesus Christ. But if you really want the whole picture, find a private place and get on your knees say to Jesus, “Show me! I want to know more about the most famous man who ever lived.”
"He brought me to his banquet hall and raised the banner of love over me. Restore my strength with raisins and refresh me with apples! I am weak from passion... His left hand is under my head and his right hand caresses me" - Song of Solomon 2:4-6
WORLDWIDE INTERNET EVANGELISM 