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Was he right or wrong?

Was he right or wrong?

2nd Peter 2:1-3 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. (ESV)

Peter was writing this epistle from Rome, likely from prison, and likely awaiting execution for his faith in Jesus Christ. This is his last letter of warning to the church against false teachers. False teaching with just enough truth to sound like the truth, has tickled the ears of the hearers and led thousands to condemnation as a result. Peter writes here in this second chapter how those false teachers are going to pay eternally for leading people astray 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment. When you begin to teach the Word of God, you are held to a higher standard by God; no teacher worth his weight in salt takes this knowledge lightly. My study Bible puts it, “Teaching and learning involves truth and error; it becomes ingrained in the soul. And if the truth or error involves our eternal destiny, the stakes only go up. This is why Peter wrote his second epistle.”

There is more of the world coming into the church that the church going out into the world. The church is seeking to please and entertain everyone; the church is seeking to become politically correct and not offend anyone; the church is bending the absolute truths of God to please everyone; those in authority will pay the price that Peter describes in his second epistle. Do you see it all around you, especially here in the USA? These false teachers are entertaining their congregations while building themselves mansions and earthly kingdoms and asking for private planes. They are seeking to exploit and milk their followers into believing they are doing good, all the while they are headed to hell and taking many with them. They preach sensuality and the pleasure that the world measures by. Why would a preacher torn by how lost the world is in sin waste thousands or millions of dollars on anything for themselves? How far could those millions of dollars for a house, plane, or fleet of cars or toys have gone to help the poor and needy by spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ?

You may ask, how will I know if I am sitting under a false teacher? It is simple, and yet divine. If you will pray and study God’s Word diligently yourself, the Holy Spirit will open your heart to the truth. Listen to what God told the prophet Jeremiah that applies to all that will diligently seek Him. 3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ God was talking about all the sins of Jerusalem, but this book of Jeremiah applies to all of us as his eternal people. Jeremiah continues to write; 6 Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. If you will seek Him, just as he was telling Jerusalem, he will bring health and healing. The more time you spend seeking God in prayer and his Word, the greater the Holy Spirit grants you discernment for the world. The greater your discernment for the false pleasure of the world, the greater your discernment for the eternal things also. You are to test scripture with scripture; you are to test those preacher and teachers by studying your Bible. How will you have any possibility of knowing you might be led astray? The answer lies in the Holy Spirit and the diligent daily study of God’s Word. It is there, and only there, that He shows you the difference in truth and error.

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Posted by oneminuteministry on March 25, 2015 in Daily Devotions

Tags: false prophets, false teacher, false teachers, Jesus Christ

Trust & Obey – There is no other way

23 Mar

Trust & Obey – There is no other way

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” 

As a parent what would be your greatest desire for your children to understand about your role as their parent? Let me put it this way; it could simply be grouped into two large headings of what to do, and what not to do. The foundation of parenting is obedience from the earliest age, and even most other sects can be brought under these two headings. Early in life we are simply trying to keep them from killing themselves by countless scenarios. As life goes on many times that is a continual lesson, but it changes into allowing them to grow, but also trusting our advice. So many times our parenting skills come from our own personal lessons, and not wanting our children to make the same mistakes in life. Parenting at it’s core is one of trust; it is bred from the infancy of food and care, to the childhood years of “you will get hurt if you do that,” to the young adult years of self-will allowance with a blend of advice, prayer, and trust. Our Christian growth follows the same pattern; God is providing for us as his children along the same stages of growth into his disciples.

Chapter six in the book of Isaiah is his incredible call into ministry; an incredible call for a tough ministry to preach a confrontational ministry that made him quite unpopular. But Isaiah was faithful and obedient to God’s call on his life; he loved and trusted God so much he knew he must be obedient to what God had laid on his heart. I pray their is a point in your Christian growth that God reveals the weight of sin to you; there will be such a move by just a glimpse of understanding his grace and mercy, your heart will be transformed into obedience from realizing how much he loves you. 5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.” Isaiah experienced a transformation with a live coal from a seraphim in a glimpse of heaven; Jesus can do that same work in your heart with a glimpse of the understanding of Salvation. 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.”

Simply stated, if you are not an obedient Christian, you are living a lie. God does not give you the salvation you desire, and allow you to live your life as you desire. He will continually call you to sacrifice yourself for kingdom work. This life is not about you, it is about preparation for the eternal one to come. What did God lay on your heart recently? Was it a sin that needed repentance; was it to serve, or publicly pray, or witness to someone; was it a call to obey that took you out of your comfort zone? The list is countless but only between you and God. You both know what he laid on your heart and if you were obedient. Every step of obedience is another step closer to heaven. Every step of obedience is drawing you closer to Jesus Christ. Every step of obedience shows your God, your Savior, and all those that witness your life here, the level of faith and trust you have in him. Do you trust and obey?

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Posted by oneminuteministry on March 23, 2015 in Daily Devotions

Tags: Christian growth, parenting skills

Read Matthew 25

20 Mar

Read Matthew 25

Matthew 25:10-13 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

This is the summary of the parable of the ten virgins from Matthew 25:1-13. It tells the story of those who were prepared, and those that were not. Those who look farther than just the present, and prepared for the unexpected. Those five virgins that just worried about the day, thinking they were ready, thinking they knew the time, paid a painful price for their error. They left, and were left out of the wedding feast. How much truth does that speak into how we each live our daily lives? How much preparation are we doing for eternity? We must look at our daily lives and ask how each day reflects, or reflected, the possibility that it was out last, and therefore our first, as we entered into eternity…..somewhere.

I am no different from you. I have the same struggles, the same sins, the same tugs of this world to pursue this world. I am currently struggling with reviving a business, and trying to not let it command my thoughts. I am healing from a surgery that has drained me physically and mentally; finally returning to my early mornings with God. That is where I find my strength for the day to do battle with the ruler of the world. All you must do is to watch the news and see the world turning it’s back on God. Does the Bible not tell of God’s judgement on all that turn their backs on him? What if you find yourself ignoring all those worldly signs because you are wrapped up in your career? All you must do is listen to those who seek to sell you on the American Dream. Then you are not be preparing for eternity, thinking of the present even as broad as your mortal life, and miss the immortal reward to those who prepare. If you are out purchasing your next pleasure, and the King returns, will he give you the same reply for the heart that was ill-prepared?

Your world is giving you signs everywhere of the coming King. Matthew 25 gives three examples of people that are not preparing and not investing in kingdom principles and work. Matthew spends the last third of this chapter with stern warnings for those who focus on themselves. Each division in this chapter closes with a warning. 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. These are Jesus’ words; he is returning and you had better be prepared! We all will be asked what we did with the good news of Jesus Christ? How will we answer? What will be the evidence in our lives? Will it prove us humble disciples or hypocritical Christians? God knows our heart, knows why we do what we do every day no matter that facade. Are we gonna leave for oil; are we going to bury our treasure; are we going to be a sheep or a goat? These are questions you must ask yourself and let the Holy Spirit provide the answer as you read Matthew 25.

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Posted by oneminuteministry on March 20, 2015 in Daily Devotions

Tags: Matthew 25, parable of the ten virgins, Read Matthew

Let There Be No Doubt

18 Mar

Let There Be No Doubt

James 1:5 -8 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

This passage falls on the heels of James writing about how we handle the trials, or the troubles of life. How God uses them to mold us, shape us, and to draw us closer to him. Somewhere in the midst of them we have likely cried out to God, “why?” It is a natural response from the power that sin has over us; it takes a life of endurance and 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Sanctification is a lifelong process and many times the purification process involves fiery trials of life. James is pointing us to God for the wisdom that only he provides to somewhat understand, or better put to rest in the assurance of his sovereign control. This peace and understanding comes with the maturing process of sanctification, and the patience that comes with that endurance.

When you are struggling with either big things or daily little things, what do you do, where do you go to? I wrote about those secret sins and addictions recently; there is also a plethora of self-help programs, pills, doctors, religions, mystics, astrologies, even the sects of seemingly Christianity that direct you to pray a specific prayer, to a specific person, for a specific problem. Where is your faith in Jesus Christ in any or all of them? Do you say you believe but look to other means for seemingly better ideas? Are you relying on your “fire insurance” but playing with fire? Read the passage above and ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart to the condition of your heart. Are you relying on the sovereignty of God to sustain and provide for your entire life? If not…..you are a double minded man. You are doubting God. My study Bible calls this doubting a divided allegiance, and this double-minded a divided soul; strong words for a Christian to not trust God.

Look at the promise for those who whole-heartedly believe found in verse seven; He gives liberally and without reproach. God doesn’t hold back when you seek him with prayer and his Word for how to deal with life. You pray and seek wisdom understanding he has your feet exactly where he has designed or allowed them to be for that very moment in time. If Satan has been given permission to test you with fire for evil, God means it for good when you seek his wisdom through faith for the endurance to persevere. Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Satan is defeated, his plans backfired and you are closer to God than you were before the trial. Only, only, only if you have the faith to understand that God is in control. Without it, you waiver; with it your sail is strong and your rudder deep to keep a steady course when those waves tossed by Satan’s wind come rolling in.

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Posted by oneminuteministry on March 18, 2015 in Daily Devotions

Tags: endurance

What is it now?

17 Mar

What is it now?

James 1:2-5 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Many of us have heard this passage; we remember when the going gets rough that we are to count it all as joy. I heard the laugh, I heard the “yea right.” Our flesh screams out at likely any trial of any magnitude for we want life to be a walk in the park on an afternoon like we had yesterday. Sadly there are preachers out there today delivering the falsehood that if our life is not that walk in the park, our faith is not great enough, and likely they tie somehow that we have not given enough to there church; do not believe their heresy. What if we look at this passage not in the lows of the great trials of life, but in the every day problems of life; the little things that chip away at, or build walls between your Christian faith.

The NKJV version uses the word “patience” here; the ESV version “steadfastness”; the NAS version “endurance.” What common characteristic do these words have? Longevity is a common denominator in all of them. These little things that the world brings to every day life are a tool of Satan to wear us down, to take our eyes off eternal reward, to make us question our faith, or after an extended time our God. He places pressures, anxieties, mis-guided focuses, distractions, countless things that take our mind off an eternal focus. Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. Satan comes at me with anxieties; worry about endless things; worry about everything. The demon of anxiety comes many times quickly; tightness in the chest and shortness of breath. That demon must be fought swiftly, for it’s legions are powerful and can become paralyzing, even to the point of depression. With depression always comes isolation, and isolation has no part in Christianity. You are never taught anywhere in the Bible that you are to do life alone.

What gets you through those every day struggles? Is it a bad habit that you have not realized has moved into addiction? Is it a secret sin that only you and God know about? Is it an outlet of anger that greatly affects family and those around you? How do you cope with the problems of every day life? I never struggled with anxiety until I quit smoking pot every day to cope with life. I am feeling the effects of almost half of my life “coping” using drugs. Thankfully I was rescued and forgiven by Jesus and now I start my day with the One who grants me life for the day. I pray for the wisdom that he gives in the trials. It is there each day that He grants me the patience to meet the day; to face whatever trial I will face with the wisdom and strength found through time spend in prayer and his Word.

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Posted by oneminuteministry on March 17, 2015 in Daily Devotions

Tags: patience

Broken business model

16 Mar

Broken business model

James 4:4-6 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? 6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

When I stepped down from pastoral ministry back into the business world, God truly laid on my heart a vision of how to operate the marketplace ministry he had given me. When he first grabbed hold of my heart years ago, there was a transformation of the business into a ministry model as a result of me needing an outlet for my growing faith and heart to share. That same bend has now grown to a vision and a place that the world will not understand, likely go against, and make little common sense to many. Am I friends with the world, the business model of the world, or do I trust the One who created and sustains all that is in the world? God is my CEO, I simply manage the work that He provides.

It is hard to pull passages from this fourth chapter of James and isolate into short ministries. This fourth chapter is all about your heart for the world, or your heart for God. This chapter speaks dearly to me for my testimony is rooted in pride, and James the half-brother of Jesus clearly understands that all sin is rooted in pride. James did not even believe his brother was the Christ until after he rose from the dead. God stirred James heart to the point James wrote the first book of the New Testament. James too simply could not contain his faith and needed an outlet; the Holy Spirit took that heart and helped him pen the words that this epistle speaks so clearly to us today. If you claim the Bible is an outdated book irrelevant to us today, read this epistle and tell me how your heart can be that hard and your mind that blind. Repent & believe!

The scripture after this speaks to that heart of worldliness versus the humble heart that sees their need for God; the heart that sees their sin and need for a Savior from it. A humble heart recognizes the power Satan has been granted in the world; the humble heart sees the sin of the world and their heart for it too. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. If you are a driven, prideful person that has their eyes on some lofty goal of success that is measured by worldly standards, how will you take it with you? We are told in the Bible all measured by the worldly standards will perish; everything is tested by fire, and an eternal fire awaits all here that measured their life by success and not by humility. The Bible tells us that the first will become last, and the last first. If you are desiring to be at the top here, are you prepared to look up from the bottom for eternity to those in heaven? All that matters for your short time here on earth is your eternal investment; your investments in people, prayer, ministries, and helping to spread the gospel to all that have not heard, or those who have refused to listen.

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Posted by oneminuteministry on March 16, 2015 in Daily Devotions

Tags: business model, humble heart

Gut Feelings

15 Mar

Gut Feelings

Colossians 1:9-10 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
I still remember early in my Christian walk telling my pastor how I try to trust my gut feelings. He laughed back at me and told me “that is the Holy Spirit pal,” almost like he was saying, “I hope you listen.” Do you? You know right from wrong as God’s creation, but sin has such a grip on you that you seemingly deny it. You can be so lost in the pleasures of temporal sin, that your heart seems cold to the truth that lies within you. These are perilous roads to travel, for only the grace of God can rescue you if your heart becomes softened through the Gospel. That rescue will likely involve pain and a life altering event; a reality that God puts before you of your mortality and your sin. Second chances are no guarantee’s, and sadly many of us think they are, or in my case I thought I would “get right with God” on my own timetable. God even gave me the breath of life that day to even have the ability to think that thought. You don’t get right with God when you are ready, you respond when he reveals himself to you so clearly you know it is God, and you feel this is your only chance. That is the power of God to soften even the hardest heart, to rescue them eternally, and to build powerful testimonies of his grace and mercy for them to share with others still trapped in sin.

After you have responded to the gospel, the work of sanctification begins in your life. God, for every day that he grants you life here, wants to conform you into the image of his Son. He wants you to reflect Jesus to all that you meet; he wants to use you to share the gospel with those still trapped by sin. You were commanded by Christ’s last words to live your life as a disciple, sharing the gospel to all that would hear. Both of these works of God and Jesus are combined with the work of the Holy Spirit living inside of you. God is living inside of you whispering those truths to your gut. He reveals truths to you when you study God’s Word; he warns your heart prior, or convicts your heart after that sin in your life. He shows you right from wrong every day and you either listen and grow closer to God, or you deny you hear him and grieve the Holy Spirit. Once you grasp that it is truly God living inside of you, your life is never the same. We all will continually fail, but thankfully the conviction is deeper and the understanding of mercy and grace grows. Once we understand how great our need for a Savior is, how great sin has a grip on humanity, the Spirit uses that revelation to draw us closer to God.

In study you will find this passage in Colossians speaks to James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. There is an entire message in that verse, but the closer you draw to God through diligently seeking him daily in his Word and prayer, the more you will reflect those attributes and Christ. The less you diligently seek him, the more the reflect him, and the more you listen to your gut. Listening to your gut produces Christ-likeness in you, and that is God’s desire for your life, until he calls you to your eternal home.

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Posted by oneminuteministry on March 15, 2015 in Daily Devotions

Tags: gut feelings, holy spirit

Do you trust Me?

13 Mar

As I started to read this today, I remembered how much God has spoken to me through it as I have read this devotional for getting close to 10 years. This devotional speaks to all of us who claim Christianity; all of us have been and will be continually called to trust God on levels we are not comfortable with. The level of trust is directly related to our level of faith; as our faith grows so will we be called to trust him with greater things; trust him where it stretches and grows our faith. Each of you have experienced these tests of our faith, and when obedient in them, he has built your testimony to him, for you to encourage others how he provided for you. Your life as a disciple is a loving act of continual obedience.

This also describes the glimpse of understanding of God’s sovereignty. The peace that Jesus described in John 14:27 was the gift of the Holy Spirit that God will give to believers. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. That gift is God living inside of you; that gift is an understanding that he is guiding you through life and no matter where free-will lets you stray, he is still ultimately in control. Our limited minds cannot comprehend the complexities of free-will intertwined with God’s sovereignty. Let the peace that the world does not understand compel you into a life of obedience continually stretched in order to obtain a deeper relationship with the One who created and sustains your very life and everything in it.
EXPERIENCING GOD DAILY DEVOTIONAL by Henry Blackaby
Christ Must Reorient You
Daily Devotional for Friday, March 13th, 2015
When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him. Mark 1:19-20

We have a natural tendency to find our “comfort zone” and then position ourselves firmly in place. If you are in a situation or lifestyle where you are perfectly capable of handling everything, you have stopped growing in your understanding of God. God’s desire is to take you from where you are to where He wants you to be. You will always be one step of obedience away from the next truth God wants you to learn about Him. You may experience a restlessness whereby you sense that there is far more you should be learning and experiencing about the Father. At times, this will mean that you should move to a new location or take a new job. It could indicate that you need a deeper dimension added to your prayer life. Perhaps you need to trust God to a degree you never have before.
The fishermen could not remain in their fishing boats and become apostles of Jesus Christ. Abraham was seventy-five years old when God gave him his major life assignment. These men had to disrupt their comfortable routine in order to reach new heights in their relationship with their Lord. Likewise, in order to experience God to the degree He wants you to, there will be adjustments He will ask of you. Are you prepared for Christ to reveal Himself to you in dimensions that will change your life? Are you willing to abandon that which makes you comfortable?

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Posted by oneminuteministry on March 13, 2015 in Daily Devotions

Tags: Jesus Christ, obedience, understanding

Fleeing My Cave

12 Mar

Fleeing My Cave

Psalms 63:1 O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.

My life has changed so much this year. I stepped down from preaching and found myself headed into my third shoulder surgery at a very tough time financially. I sold my most prized possession in hopes of my company surviving financially. The shoulder rehab has been painfully slow, and the greatest burden has been that sleep has become a valuable commodity that is hard to come by. I have found myself living with erratic sleep patterns that have affected me in so many mental and physical ways. The strain mentally has been the greatest of all. Satan has sent his legions to assault my mind that has not been diligent in daily time in God’s Word due to the physical strains of insomnia from pain. I have felt the distance from God and the pains of sin. Satan knows we are our most vulnerable when we are down; he will never play fair, and just like a lion attack the weakest of the herd. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (I Peter 5:8 NKJV)

Psalm 63 is an intensely personal look into king David’s heart. He has went from a king’s palaces to hiding in a cave while fleeing for his life. I have felt that strain of life change and felt myself distant from what I once knew. I lean to this Psalm of David and the understanding that God never changes, never forsakes, and his sovereignty is even in David’s cave experience and my current strains. He has given me just enough quality time in with Him in the middle of the night to strengthen me. He has assured me I am forgiven even when I failed due to being human, and sins grip on humanity. My prayer has been such as David, the reassurance of the One I worship and the desire to abide in him. My prayer is one of fleeing my sleepless cave, and awaking early each day to start my day with Him in prayer and his Word.

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Posted by oneminuteministry on March 12, 2015 in Daily Devotions

Tags: king David