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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Grace Flows Down

Wanted to share a video with everyone. His grace is so wondeful and amazing but it cost Him so much. Thank You Jesus for the cross!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzat9dx6v8k&sns=em#watch-main-area

Monday, March 15, 2010

Fear Not, Neither Be Dismayed

I was reading a sermon from Carter Conlon this week and it encouraged me and the title of it was fear not and neither be dismayed. I won't go through it point by point but will use the first of it in this post. To read the entire message you can go to the web site tscny.org and look under Sermon Newletters.

Deu 31: 6-8 - Be strong and of a good courage, fear not nor be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes before you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and of a good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. And the Lord He is the One who goes before you. He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed".

Mr. Conlon wrote, "Fear and dismay! The devil will always come against the children of God with these two weapons. But if we recognize them for what they are and understand that God has given us a remedy to defeat them they will never take us down". He goes on to define fear and dismay and I will include these definitions here. "Fear is the anticipation that we may suffer harm or that things might go wrong. Dismay is discouragement. Fear comes when we are opposed by something of strength superior to our own. Dismay comes when we consider our own resources. We look inside ourselves and come to the conclusion that we are not strong enough to fight the battle that is before us." This is so true and is something the child of God is fighting on a daily and sometimes hourly basis.

The children of Israel given an inheritance, the promised land. As Christians we also are given the promise of an inheritance and that inheritance is Jesus. He is our promised land. Our lives are being plunged deeper into Christ, His word and His Spirit. Everything in his word that He has promised is ours. Every fruit of the Spirit belongs to to the child of God. He has given us His Holy Spirit as a downpayment to that inheritance and through the power of the Spirit brings us into our inheritance. 2 Pet 1: 3-4 " As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue by which have been given us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may become partakers of His divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust". Man what a promise. Our promise form God is that through the His divine power (the Holy Spirit) we become partakers of His Divine Nature which is the means by which we escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. The deeper we go into our promised land (deeper into knowing and loving Christ) the more we become like Him. But on the other hand the deeper we go the more we see ourselves and our fallen nature. We see a besetting sin that we didn't see before. It could be a sickness or circumstance that has caused fear to rise up and that fear has turned to dismay. I've heard this statement so many times when people describe their failures - well that just who I am and I cannot change. This is a similar statement the ten spies gave to the children of Israel just before they were to go into the promised land. Num 13:31 "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger then we." The people were the giants in the land of their inheritance. They saw their inability to conquer these giants and it caused them to fear which turned to dismay (they cried all night and refused to cross over). Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. We cannot gain our inheritance in our own strength. The only way we can inter into this promise is to go deeper into Christ. As we go deeper with and into Christ the more He drives out the giants and the things that are impossible for us to fight and win. The Lord goes before you to drive them out. We will fight but it will not be in our own strength or with our own weapons. Jesus has and will conquer and disarm every foe in our inheritance as we, by faith lay, hold of his promises and His word. God has not given you a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. Fear and dismay is not a part of our inheritance in Christ. We must press through our fear by faith and lay hold of that which Christ has laid hold of for us. We must know the bigger the giant, the bigger our God is. We must not accept any ting other than the display of the divine nature in our lives. "Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world".

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Faiths Endurance

Hope you everybody is well this morning. To continue some of my thoughts on Faith I would like to introduce the aspect of endurance. Faith can be described as enduring. Mt 24:13 - He that endures to the end will be saved. This statement is mentioned throughout the New Testament. Endure - to remain under. To persevere, sustain, bear up under, suffer. It refers to ones response toward circumstances, denoting perseverance in the face of difficulties. As Christians we will face circumstances that are very difficult to bear. In my study of this word I found that endurance was mentioned mostly in the context of suffering or hardships. Mt 24 speaks of some very difficult times that will come upon the earth and for the people of God. Jesus disciples wanted to know when the end would come and Jesus begins to explain what would happen before the end would come. Nations would rise up against nation, kingdom against kingdom. Famines, earthquakes and pestilences would come. They will deliver you up to tribulation, and kill you, you will be hated by all nations for My names sake. Many will be offended will betray one another and will hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound the love of many will grow cold. I will not bring in all the scriptures on enduring and hardship because as I was typing these verse the Holy Spirit spoke to me about the last few verses. Many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. And in verse 12 because lawlessness will abound the love of many will grow cold. He who endures to the end will be saved. Enduring through what? Offenses, betrayal, and hatred. Another place in scripture mentions brother delivering over brother to death and a father his child (Mt 10:21). Wow its one thing when the world betrays or offends you but it's entirely another thing when those who are the closest to you do it. Husbands betraying wives and vise versa. How many have quit the faith because of adultery, molestation, physical abuse, etc. Maybe someone you gave an opportunity too or poured your life into has betrayed you. Just thinking of the mess our world is in and you wonder how the end must be near. This is the lawlessness that is abounding. So many who have found themselves betrayed and offended have ran to the nearest church building to find answers and remedies for their problem and wind up more betrayed and offended than when they came in. What a mess!!! Hw who endures to the end shall be saved. Wow are you enduring today. Is your faith growing or have you lost it. Has your love grown cold. Maybe you are on the verge of loosing your faith today. Jesus is calling you to Him. Endurance means to remain under and some of us have gone under. Where are we to remain or stay during these hard circumstances in life. Where are we to look to get back the faith that we have lost because of betrayal and offense. Jesus is our answer. Remain in Jesus. Jesus is the shelter from from the storm. He came to heal the broken hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives. So many are captive or prisoners to their betrayal and offense. He came to set at liberty those who are oppressed. Four your faith to endure and to not quit it has to be pointed to or focused on Jesus. Jesus is a Friend that sticks closer than a brother. He said He would never leave your or forsake you. His seed will endure. (Ps 89:29,36) Being found in Christ will cause us to keep going, to keep living and to keep loving. Heb 12:1-2 Therefore we also since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Look to Jesus for your endurance. Our race is not a 40 yard dash it's a marathon. We need endurance that we can only get from Jesus. He endured the cross and the shame that came with it. Some many have let the shame of whats has happened to them cause their eyes to get of of Jesus. Get your eyes off the cause of the shame and get them onto Jesus. He will restore you and give you the stamina to go through and finish the race. May we today be found in Christ to get the endurance we need to finish this race.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Faiths Persistence

Hey everybody, I know its been awhile, but I've been writing in my notebook instead of this blog. I wanted to share some of the things the Lords been showing me about Faith. James 2:18b "I will show you my faith by my works". The fact that someone is living by faith can be seen through their works. Mt 15:21-28 is the story of Canaanite woman who came to Jesus looking for help for a demon possessed daughter but Jesus answered her not a word (verse 23). Notice the object of this woman's faith was Jesus as it should be for all who follow Christ. How often do we come to Jesus in prayer in our time of need it seems that Jesus dosn't answer or even hear us. Also notice the reaction of His disciples to the woman's request, Jesus send her away for she cries out after us. This woman had a choice at this point. Walk away shamed and unfulfilled or persist until her request was granted. She chose the later. When Jesus finally answers her He tells her that He was not sent to her (a gentile) but to the house of Israel (Jews). How many people never get a hold of Jesus due to their race or their past. They may have thoughts like this - "Jesus is not answering me because I'm black or poor. Or maybe I've gone to far in my life, I've sinned to much etc. etc.. Throughout the gospels we see people, Jews and gentiles alike, who pressed pass these type issues in their life and layed hold of Jesus and received their miracle. Prostitutes, adulterers, the blind, etc. were the ones who showed greater faith than the religious of the day. Persistence can be defined as perseverance or continuation despite the shame that this would bring. In other words getting a hold of something despite shame. She came and worshipped Him after Jesus spoke these words to her. She didn't quit or go back to her problem. She pressed in to Jesus. She pressed through the shame of being a Gentile, of Jesus not answering her a word, and of the rejection of her request by Jesus and His disciples. On a side note, how many people have quit living by faith because of what Jesus disciples have done to them. You were once on fire but someone hurt you in church. In verse 27 this woman answers Jesus by saying "Yes Lord but even the little dogs get the crumbs from the masters table". Jesus had told her that he couldn't give His bread to the dogs. How insulting this must have been for this woman. Her response to this insulting words was not to get mad or quit but she agreed with Jesus and identified herself as a dog. This speaks to me of humility. To press through the obstacles of shame and insults we must humble ourself. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and He will lift you up. How many of us would have stayed humble through this whole process. Jesus finally answers her with these words (28) "Oh woman great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire." And her daughter was healed in that very hour. Wow!! Today I hope you would judge your faith today. Or you being persistence in your seeking of Jesus or have you quit and just going through the religious motions. Without Faith it's impossible to please God. How pleasing must this woman's faith been to God. She didn't let anything else become her object of faith but kept her faith in Jesus until her request was granted.