Monthly Archives: May 2016

Run and Finish Strong

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

Do you ever wonder what is the difference between a teacher and a preacher of the word of God? In the simplest form, both try to give a clear explanation of God’s Word, and the preacher puts the life application behind it; no one is higher than the other, and you cannot be a preacher without being a teacher; you cannot expound on what you do not understand. But, there is also simplicity found in the complexity of these definitions; you must have a heart for God to the point you cannot contain what you have been given by him. You must not seek to live Christianity alone, you must expound the scriptures as you have been given the scriptures; you must become a mouthpiece for the Lord to use to encourage others around you. Paul wrote of these hearts of evangelists, of the preachers that sought to share with all whom they encounter. Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” There are some men that are truly called by God to dedicate their lives to him, to study God’s Word and expound on it deeply from the conviction and blessing of that call of God, but as a child of God you are also called to preach God’s Word to your circle of influence. The Holy Spirit can and will open your heart to understanding as he chooses, and without the heartfelt pursuit of him through prayer and the study of his Word, you are disobeying the call of God on your life, the call Paul has wrote of in the passage above. God wants you to live your life for him, to dedicate your life, to die to your old life just as Jesus died for you, to live your life with eternity in view, to sacrifice yourself for the One who did the same for you; to live as Jesus did.

In recent weeks I have been asked these exact type questions of how do I live on my faith. I have been told of a understanding of the principles, but not the daily application of my faith. God opened big doors for me to walk through in faith, to share of the application of how my life works, revolving around my faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7 For we live by faith, not by sight. It is really simple once you give yourself over to it honestly. Once God opens your heart to the small understanding of his sovereign control over everything, you realize everything is going to be ok, no matter the highs or lows of this life, you have eternity with him in the heavenly mansions, in a heavenly body, with the One who created it all. I shared of my testimony, of my life before Christ, of a life full of sin and the pursuit of happiness by worldly standards. I also shared of how my life changed, how my views changed, when I began to pray and read my Bible every day. Without those two things, nothing will change, and eternity hangs in the balance. God will reveal himself to you, change your priorities, and align yourself to his will for your life, for the remainder of your life here. It all begins with the Gospel, with your understanding of your need for Jesus, and the next step is living your life for him, pursuing him to the finish of this temporal life, heading into the reward of the eternal life.

The Heavenly Fulcrum

Matthew 6:33-34 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

We stood in his parking lot, right beside the road, and I prayed for him to move forward in his life as a Christian. I had seen God prepare his heart, open his heart, and watch his heart’s reaction to God using me to encourage him. While I may have played some minuscule part in God’s plan, I was blessing by God immeasurably by it. I am no different from him, or you, or anybody else out there that desires to live the life as a disciple of Jesus Christ; now please do realize I did not say Christian, for their is a big difference, one that may have eternal consequence. Many Christians question their heavenly security, and live their lives in worry of if they are heaven bound. They question their salvation, all the while proclaiming Christ, yet not living for Christ, and that is where the question begins and grows, but hopefully a change of heart and dedication to Jesus before the question becomes eternal. Many Christians will not go to heaven. Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. The sermon of Matthew seven is rarely spoke of in today’s pulpits, the message is not popular in seeker churches today; a message of hope that packs pews, but never preaches on sin, and Hell, and the call of Jesus to lay down our lives for him just as he did us. Nowhere in the Bible is the Sinner’s Prayer, but a call to become a disciple and evangelize.

I was sharing my faith, sharing how I had prayed about something as simple as buying his truck, and God had given me a clear answer. I saw it in his eyes, as he asked how I truly lived on such faith. God had prepared his heart, and I was just now a mouthpiece for God. We talked for some time, he had the faith, but just wanted to know how to apply it to his life and business. God had prepared my both my personal and business testimony for him to hear. I told him my life changed when I truly began to seek God daily in prayer and his Word; the exact same thing will happen to everyone that does it; you cannot remain the same person you were the day before when you spend time with God the first thing each day. It does come with a cost however, a cost that carries weight by worldly standards, but carries heavenly rewards. Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. When your focus becomes eternal, you loose many friends and family that do not share your disciples heart. You become an outsider to many, for you make most uncomfortable with living your life differently. You have made an enemy in Satan, who God will allow to test you, but through all of it, He strengthens you for this temporal war you are engaged in. God uses every trial of life to show you his sovereignty, and you as his disciple can testify of his control through it, You become the light in dark situations, because even those in darkness know their need for him; they just have not dedicated their life fully to him.

If you are content with your life as a Christian, I pray for God to make you uncomfortable. If you are sailing through life, partying it away, still in church on Sunday, I pray he will show you how religion kills, but Jesus saves. If you know something is missing in your faith, I pray that he opens your heart and mind to seek him in prayer and his Word. The measure of your life is found in the time you spend in both. If you believe your life is measured on the scales of how you live, either good or bad, change the scale to time with God verses everything else. The fulcrum of the scale is your heart, not time, for God does not recognize time. Your scale of measurement is off in any degree, for God is the fulcrum of your hearts desire.

Rock Crusher

Psalm 25:4-5 Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. 5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.

This Psalm of David is a heartfelt plea about his realization of sin, and his realization of who the Lord is to him; the Lord is everything to David. In all his failures, he comes to realize how deep God’s love is for him; he comes to grasp a small understanding of God’s grace and mercy. The simplest explanation of God’s mercy is the withholding of the punishment we deserve, and God’s grace is the giving of the reward of what we do not. You must at some point begin to understand the differences in those two words. When the Holy Spirit begins likely to reveal the mercy of God first, it comes with an incredible weight of the realization of sin. But, where Satan stops there with the weight, God lifts it right off you in the realization of how much he loves you in his grace. That is the difference; Satan puts the rock upon you to crush you, God allows the rock, but then lifts it to reveal his love for you. The conviction of sin with the combination of the forgiveness of sin is the life transformation process of salvation through Jesus Christ, the gospel.

Repentance is healthy, and as David writes in this Psalm, a life-long process. It is cleansing for the soul to release the weight of daily sins to the Lord, for we sin daily. As Satan brings to memory the sins of the past, we can go to God to lift that burden from us. When times in life get tough, many times it is simply God getting our attention back on Himself, using those trials such as David endured, to point out the proofs of His grace and mercy. I truly believe you are the closest to God in the valleys, but on the mountaintops you are simply worshipping the experiences of his deliverances to them.

Is God the center of your life? If you claim he is, he will continually ask you to step out in the proof of your faith to him. He will never leave you where you are comfortable; comfortable is the contentment that displeases God; many times you are neither hot nor cold for him in your faith, and you begin to look like the church at Laodicea. Revelation 3:15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’–and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked– 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. The life of a disciple of Jesus Christ is one of total reliance on him; seeking him in all things, remaining humble in all things, and understanding all your life is filtered through his hands. He is not going to let you be comfortable; he will let the rocks come, and then pick them up off you one at a time.

The Desert Journey

Hebrews 4:1-2 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

How many of us say we believe, yet wonder in our desert all of our lives?
How many of us say we believe, yet our lives are full of idols such as Israel’s golden calves?
How many of us proclaim Christ, yet live with no evidence of him the remaining six days of the week?
How many of us say we believe, yet deny we do when opportunity comes to share our faith, by simply remaining silent?
How many of us say we believe, yet are afraid to defend our faith because of what others will think of us?
How many of us say we believe, yet unethically handle the finances God has blessed us with?
How many of us say we believe, yet openly mock God in our lifestyles against what he designed in creation?
How many of us say we believe, yet secretly hide deep sins in the depths of the night or the secret corners of our minds?
How many of us say that we believe, yet judge others sins while the planks in our eyes has us blind to our own?
How many of us say that we believe, yet feel secure in our participation of a false religion of ritualistic Sunday services?
How many of us say that we believe, yet feel as though we play some part in heaven’s acceptance because of our good works?
How many of us say that we believe, yet have never pursued God in his Word, never utilizing the gift of God to us?
How many of us say that we believe, yet their is no evidence of our lives of that faith?
How many of us that say that we believe, will be rejected from the promised land of heaven?
How many of us who say that we believe, will hear Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
How many of us who say that we believe, will ask ourselves these tough questions, and pray for guidance in realigning ourselves to Jesus?

Ouch…..I am good.

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Why won’t we talk about it
Why are we afraid to speak
Does preaching only gains
Not truly show us as weak?

We preach the love of Christ
We teach of all we gain
But in this world it is war
We must fight to sustain.

The Bible is full of truths
It tells of the trials we will face
No true Christian has not suffered
This world is not our place.

We declare war on Satan
We say Jesus died to save me
Satan can give no prize or pain
We have been eternally set free.

Paul writes of being a good soldier
Paul writes of fighting the good fight
Satan sends his accusers for us
We claim victory in Jesus’ might.

The American gospel has become weak
We teach of prosperity and entertain
We worry of opinions and empty pews
Of persecution we will surely refrain.

Have you ever been bold
Has your faith ever come with a price
Have you been shunned or mocked
Have you witness one of Satan’s device?

When you declare war by declaring Jesus
You must understand life gets tough
You must understand those Christians before you
Have wondered when it is enough?

Think of what Jesus suffered for you
Think of the pain of the world he took
The Creator of this world died for it
From the paradise of heaven he forsook.

God became man
God took sin
Jesus paid the price
Jesus took the win.

Satan’s persecution is temporary
Eternal reward for temporal pain
Jesus said the kingdom is yours
And eternally with Him you will remain.

Is hiding out in your future?

Psalm 63:1 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

I have returned many times to this Psalm of David; in the NKJV of the Bible, it reads, “I shall seek you early,” to which I identify so much with my early mornings before daybreak with the Lord in his Word and prayer. My testimony, my life changed, when I truly began to seek God with all my heart as David testifies of in this Psalm. David writes when he is fleeing for his life, hiding in the desert, running from Saul or Absalom. In the midst of his heartfelt plea, is a confident expectation to return to the sanctuary of worshipping God in church, together with other believers, not alone in the desert. David is being persecuted for his faith, and the solitude deepens his desires for both intimacy with God, and fellowship with other believers. The church is special to David; he feels the presence of God in other believers, and the ability to feed off the increased level of the presence of God nurtures his soul. David misses the church.

You must surely feel, and if so, testify to the coming persecution of the American church. The evidence of the coming persecution is playing out before you every day. You may be even playing a part yourself, in the weakening of the truths of the Bible, because we are being told from pulpits that we have outgrown the Bible; that it is time to evolve, to change, with keeping just enough truth mixed in their messages, to not boldly be labeled heretics. Our government is playing their parts perfectly, condemning the division the Bible teaches with truth, and under the guise of equality, arguing laws of acceptance to those that openly mock God. If you don’t believe this, how do you argue with what Paul wrote, the word of God, in the Bible.?

Romans 1:24-32 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

In the middle of that passage is the scary truth of where we may be in America; is God giving us over to our sins? Is God withholding the blessings, those we have felt for so long? There are only a few Biblical churches out there preaching the whole truth of the Bible. There are not many churches out there who are not struggling today that are standing for truth. We may find ourselves as David in the coming days; seeking the solitude of our homes and missing the corporate worship every Sunday together. We as Christians must walk a fine line of professing truth, while exemplifying the love of Christ. We are called to stand for truth, love everyone, and through our lives proclaim the gospel to all that will hear.

What moves you?

Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

God knows your heart
Why you do what you do
The appearance on the outside
Are not necessarily the real you.

We have our motivation
We have our drive for each day
What is the fulfillment
Are we pursuing the Way?

Are the prizes of success
What drive us in life’s race
The book of Ecclesiastes
Shows how they will all be erased.

Money fame and fortune
Will all be left for who
Will there be any value
When they had nothing to do?

Little easily gained in life
Has any real meaning you see
Easy come easy go
What will the next prize be?

The only value eternal
The only thing that will remain
Is the investment in people
Is showing them heaven’s gain.

To show this life is temporal
To show the next is not
To show them God’s gift in Jesus
Is all the eternal hope they have got.

Spend your time in this race
Seeking to live your life for Him
If you seek earthly pleasures only
Your hope for heaven is truly slim.

Humbling Times

Deuteronomy 8:2-5 And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.

Any one who truly claims Christianity, who truly seeks the Lord with their hearts, not just lip-service, will attest to the roller-coaster ride of God’s will in their lives. Highs of life, are followed by lows of life. Seemingly endless valleys are replaced by mountaintop experiences. When our faith seems weak, there are life experiences that we question God, and Satan loves the doubts he is allowed to place there during those times. The prideful Christians, have great falls. The facade Christians, are exposed. The seemingly endless blessed Christians, are many times not Christians at all. There is no biblical evidence in the Bible of the removal of suffering from anyone who is truly seeking God with all their hearts; all of them experienced the highs and lows of life as God humbled them throughout life.

Much of Deuteronomy is Moses speaking of the evidences of, and the promises of God, to his chosen people of Israel. They have been rescued by God, humbled by God, and are about to be blessed by God as they enter into the promised land of milk and honey that he told them about. Can you imagine at any age, spending your life as that generation of Israel did? Slavery in Egypt, wandering in the desert with God for forty years, and now Moses is telling them of how they will conquer nations much greater than them, completely wiping them off the map, and take all their land? All throughout his speech his reminds them of God’s promises to them. Deuteronomy 7:9 Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. You must see the promise of God to those who love him, but you must also see the warning of living by biblical principles also; “and who keep his commandments.” If you are living in sin, going through the motions on Sunday, and returning to sin, are you obeying the commandments, or is God going to repay you to your face when you bow before Jesus one day? We must look at ourselves, we must ask God to reveal our hearts to us and look to draw closer to him when he does.

God is going to humble you, likely all through your life as you begin to peak in many ways. God will remind you of his control, point out sins, and bring about pain to remind you of your need for him. As one who’s testimony is rooted in pride, and God is still daily humbling me, I can attest he will use it to draw you closer to him. God wants you to be weak in yourself, but heavenly strong in him. 2 Corinthians 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. If you are in a season of God’s humbling, quit trying to fight it your way, and prayerfully seek him his way. With a heart that seeks him and prayer and his word, comes the blessings of the security of a glimpse of the understanding of the sovereignty of God.

Can you see the move of God?

Exodus 13:21-22 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. 22 He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

God is on the move. Are you following him or not? How and why do I say that God is on the move you may ask? Surely God has, is, and will always be working throughout time, and his sovereign plan for it will be completed, but, listen to the hearts and testimonies of people who are truly seeking God with all their heart, and you will see the evidence of a move of God, along with the elevated spiritual warfare evident in their lives. God is stirring the hearts of many, and Satan is doing all he can to thwart the plans of God, to no avail in the hearts of His disciples. Those who have truly given their hearts and lives at any level of ministry and discipleship, will testify that they feel this move of God. His living Word is pointing us to the chaos of this world, and the Holy Spirit is bringing wisdom and discernment of it in these days where Satan is peaking before his final defeat. You should truly be fearful of eternity if you are not seeking God in prayer and his word in these evil days that are upon us; his return may be at any time.

God had rescued his people from slavery in Godly fashion, and into the unknown they went into the desert. Moses was a scared leader, but the evidence of God at work in their rescue, and his presence in the desert was before them, for them it was reassurance, but for the rest of the world, it brought the fear of God, and the understanding that he was with them. Take a minute to grasp the greatness of God if you witnessed a likely bold, stormy cloud, in the dryness of the desert, leading an incredibly large group of people. And, what if the curiosity of it allowed you to see the transformation of it into a form of fire at night? That alone would testify of the power and evidence of God to your heart. By faith alone, many may have been saved by that witness over 2000 years ago; God was on the move.

The Bible clearly states in Jesus’ words, that you are called to be his disciple, and that as his disciple you are called to lay down your life for him, (just as he did for you), and go witness of him wherever he has placed you for the day. Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. You have a greater blessing than the Israelites did, you have a greater gift that the evidence of God in front of you, you have Jesus living inside of you. With the gift of the Holy Spirit, this brings the wisdom of God to open your mind to the scriptures, and the scriptures give you discernment for the day in a heavenly perspective; you can see the move of God around you, because he has allowed you to. None of this is possible without the Spirit and your hearts pursuit of Him through daily prayer and reading your Bible. Without it you will be numb to the move of God, angry and this messed up world we live in, and worried for what tomorrow will bring. What does the Bible say about your heart, and tomorrow’s worry? Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. We are in the midst of a great move of God, but if you are not pursuing him daily, you will be blind to it all.