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God’s Love

  • Posted on October 30, 2011 at 2:07 am

John 3:16 – The Story of Love

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

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It is hard to fathom how much God loves us but He most certainly does. He loves us more than our human mind can comprehend. “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3

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Romans 5:8 …But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 4:10 …Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation/sacrifice for our sins.

Ephesians 2:4 …But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us.

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What is Faith?

  • Posted on October 30, 2011 at 1:38 am

Hebrews 11:6 … But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

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What is faith? It is confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead. Men of God in the days of old were famous for their faith.

Do you remember how you felt when your wre younger and your birthday approached? You were excited and anxious. You knew you would certainly receive gifts and other special treats. But some things would be a surprise. Birthdays combined assurance and anticipation, and so does faith in Jesus Christ!!! Faith is the Conviction based on past experiences that God’s new and fresh surprises will surely be ours.

Two words describe our faith: confidence and certainty. These two qualities need a secure beginning and ending point. The beginning point of faith is believing in God’s character – He IS who He says He is!! The end point is believing in God’s promises – He WILL do what He says. We believe that God will fulfill His promises even though we don’t see those promises materializing NOW – this is true faith (John 20:24-31).

John 20:24-31 KJV But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

We have to know that when we read these verses in John chapter 20 concerning faith, we wish we could actually see Jesus, touch him, and hear his words. Are there times you want to sit down with him and get his advice? Thomas wanted Jesus’ physical presence. But God’s plan is wiser. He has not kept himself contained in one physical body, he wants to be present with all of us at all times. Even now He is with us in the form of the Holy Spirit. You can talk to him, and you can find his words to you in the pages of the Bible. He can be as real to you as he was to Thomas :)

Jesus wasn’t hard on Thomas for his doubts. Despite his skepticism, Thomas was still loyal to the believers and to Jesus himself. Some need doubt before they believe. Jesus’ resurrected body was a unique kind of physical body. It was not the same kind of flesh and blood Lazarus had when he came back to life. Jesus’ body was no longer subject to the same laws of nature as before his death – he could appear in a locked room. Yet he was not a ghost or apparition; he could be touched and could eat. Jesus’ resurrection was literal and physical – he was not a disembodied spirit. Some people think they would believe in Jesus if they could see a definite sign or miracle.

But Jesus says we are blessed if we can believe without seeing. We have all the proof we need in the words of the Bible and the testimony of believers :)
By: Andrea Escobedo

More on Faith:    http://blog.cyberbreezes.com/2011/07/06/daddy-had-faith/

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A Burden

  • Posted on October 15, 2011 at 1:04 am

“A BURDEN” – Michael Carl

Have you ever wondered how we can have million dollar church buildings and pack-in huge crowds on Sunday, but have no power in our witness? Do you wonder how about half of the people in this country claim to have had a born again experience and how the churches are having so little of an impact? Have you been amazed at the fact that American society is becoming increasingly antagonistic to the church?

How can this be?

The answer seems to be that it’s because the pastors in the pulpits have sold out to the ‘Seeker Sensitive’ movement. We’ve opted for programs, lights, smoke machines, stage props, and the prosperity Gospel.

Pastors preach the Gospel of Self-Fulfillment and talk about how we’re destined to reign. Our pulpits echo with: ‘God wants you to be happy’ and ‘You can have your best life now’. We have major tele-preachers holding ‘camp meetings’ where the ‘preacher’ shouts, ‘Let’s celebrate you!’

I heard a preacher say once that if you have trials in your life, then you don’t have enough faith. What a ludicrous statement and how utterly un-Biblical!

Paul had more faith than most of us and he never stopped going through trials. We talk faith and prosperity while the church around the world grows in not merely number, but in depth and maturity. They see miracles and God’s power; they sense His presence.

How? They’ve learned to persevere through trials. A Charismatic Episcopal Church Bishop in Pakistan had a Muslim slit his throat, throw him off of a bus and leave him for dead just because the Bishop was a Christian. But the Bishop’s ministry grows and he sees the fruit.

Christians in other parts of the world weep for revival in the American church. What does that say about us?

It means that we are weak and self-absorbed.

I heard another television preacher turn the tables and suggest that a preacher who focused on subjects like F. F. Bruce’s The Hard Sayings of Jesus was not preaching the Gospel and ignoring the truth of the Word! ‘They didn’t want to hear that’ he claimed!

What utter disregard for the truth! Jesus said, ‘”The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head,”‘ and told His followers of His coming arrest, trial, torture and crucifixion.

This means we’re deceived and taken with greed.

There are no tears for revival and the only One weeping is Jesus. He bled and died for us and we proclaim that the Gospel is a means to prosperity, power and influence. Church services look more like pop concerts and the preaching is only a babbling collection of self-absorbed slogans and how God wants us to be happy!

No, God wants us to be holy!

Where is the message of repentance? Where is the ‘”If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me”‘?

Folks, the message of the cross is foolishness and offensive to the world. Paul told us that 191/2 centuries ago.

Paul also told us that if he wanted to please the world, he would not be a follower of Christ.

Can you imagine Elijah having a chat with the wicked King Ahab about how we can ‘Coexist’? Or, do you think John the Baptist should have opened a dialogue with Herod about tolerance?

No, those mighty men of God were sent to confront the leaders of their time about the sin in the society! Why is it that our evangelicals spend their time trying to cozy up and make nice with our politicians while there are souls perishing hourly and going into a Christ-less eternity?

This is the message that will transform this culture and turn this
country around.

http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/2011/10/11/a-burden-michael-carl/

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Stop Living Like a Pauper

  • Posted on September 11, 2011 at 10:10 pm

Stop Living Like a Pauper

by: David Wilkerson

Are you tired of living like a pauper when everything you need has been provided? Perhaps your focus is wrong. Do you tend to dwell on your weaknesses, temptations and past failures? When you look inside your own heart does what you see discourage you? Have you allowed guilt to seep in?

Beloved, you are to be looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith! When Satan comes and points at some weakness in your heart, you have every right to answer, “My God already knows it all and he still loves me! He has given me everything I need to attain victory and keep it.”

“For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things” (1 John 3:20). He knows all about you—and he still loves you enough to say, “Come on in and get all you need. The storehouse is open!”

The doors to his storehouse are wide open, and his riches are full to overflowing. God is urging you: “Come boldly to the throne of grace, that [you] may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

How many years have you been on the outside? You have a Father who has been laying up a great treasure of provision for you and yet you have left it unclaimed.

The parable of the Prodigal Son shows us that by going in and enjoying his father’s treasure, the Prodigal had it both ways. He could live his earthly life with the abundant forgiveness, joy, peace and rest that were his and when death brought him into his eternal inheritance, he would fully enjoy what he had already known on earth.

Indeed, the greater sin was committed by the older brother—the one who stayed home, walked obediently and never failed his father. Yes, it is a sin to waste our Father’s substance on sensual living and a runaway spirit, but it is an even greater sin to rebuff God’s great love—to leave unclaimed the bountiful resources he gave to us at such a great price.

The Prodigal was not chastised, rebuked and reminded of his sin, because God would not allow sin to be the focus of restoration! There had been true repentance and godly sorrow and it was time to move on to the banquet table—to the feast. The father said to the older son, “He was lost, but now he is in the house again. He is forgiven and it is time to rejoice and be happy!”

Source:  http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/14535

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Christians

  • Posted on September 11, 2011 at 2:27 pm

“A Christian is someone who shares the sufferings of God in the world.” And…

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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Gonna Be Worth It

  • Posted on September 11, 2011 at 1:23 pm

It’s gonna be worth it in the end…

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Saved by Faith

  • Posted on September 11, 2011 at 12:52 pm

Christianity teaches we are saved by faith alone! All other religions teach a salvation by works.   Sadly, some Christians teach a salvation by faith AND works.

Question: What’s the truth?

We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ (Galations 2:16)

By grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not the result of works so that no one may boast.  (Ephesians 2:8,9)

For all that rely on the word of the law are under a curse, as it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law.”  (Galations 3:10)

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Love Your Enemies

  • Posted on July 28, 2011 at 12:41 pm

Joshua took over the Promised Land, and David killed Goliath, but Jesus Christ never told his disciples to go out and commit violence in his name.

Jesus said:

“But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise,” (Luke 6:27-31).

That’s what Jesus taught.

Jesus told his followers he would send them the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth (John 14:17, 15:26, 16:13), and the Holy Spirit truly sets those who love Jesus apart from the members of all of the world’s religions. The Spirit of God does not promote evil and destruction.  As Paul the apostle told the Galatians, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law,” (Galatians 5:22-23).

The problem we Christians have is not that we are too filled with the Holy Spirit or too in love with God. If we were, we would obey God. We would be filled with the fruit of the Spirit, full of the wisdom and love of Christ. We Christians cause problems not when we stick to the fundamentals, but when we are not fundamentalist enough.

Source:  http://www.khouse.org/enews_article/2011/1807

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The Desert Experience

  • Posted on July 27, 2011 at 11:34 pm

The DESERT EXPERIENCE – An Introduction

-by Ken Brown.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

- It is imperative that every child of God should understand His ways. – We think in straight lines and fixed points, and move in a consecutive manner, that is, from point to point (we start and finish a book; we look forward to something, and look back on something; we measure progress by time spent or goods produced; when we travel, we leave a departure point and arrive at a destination point, etc.)

- God doesn’t think in straight lines, He thinks in circles. He’s doing many things simultaneously, He’s at the beginning and the middle and the end of many things – all at the same time. Therefore, He doesn’t think of things in the context of time, He exists outside of time. Time is irrelevant to Him. He is not affected by time.

- God’s timelessness presents a very real problem for us. God may speak into our life today and we will assume that it’s going to happen today, or very soon. We will probably place it on a time line of some sort. But, God may be speaking to us from a point that is still far into our future. The reason is because He is not concerned with time, and this is why: God does not measure time; He measures growth! When God deals with us, His purpose is growth, maturity, and preparation. And, it always involves death to self! God will draw us into a desert experience with Him to give us the opportunity to grow (to die to self), to learn to trust Him or to gain more insight into His ways.

- And, because of the way we think, our first question is always “How long is this going to take?” We’re not having fun. Dying to self is never fun. But God won’t tell us how long it’s going to take, because He understands that if we know how long, we’ll just try to hold our breath until it’s over. He doesn’t want us to hold our breath. He wants us to die!…

- For us the practical result of all this is that God has spoken words into our lives (even though we must be careful and know, what was spoken by God, and what wasn’t). And because of this, we know He has wonderful plans for us, and that excites us. We have aspirations for God. We want to do all those great things He’s spoken into us. But, many times what we really experience is great frustration, because those things He’s spoken aren’t happening yet! When you’re frustrated, know that God loves frustrated people. He knows you’re frustrated because you care. Also know that the reason they may not be happening yet is that God is still measuring growth, not time.

- In our relationship with God, His purpose is to conform us to the image of His Son. And, He’s content to take as much time as necessary. We, on the other hand, want everything to happen now, without suffering, pain, or sacrifice on our part. And God’s only response to that is – too bad. Adjust your thinking. I’m doing this my way.

- When God is dealing with us, we must learn the value of doing nothing. This seems to be a contradiction; but most everything we do with God (if we do it right) is a contradiction to us… We have to learn the value of doing nothing before God. That’s why quiet time with God is so great – you don’t have to do anything. Just hang out with God.

You don’t have to fast for three days to get His attention, or recite long prayers to impress Him. Just rest quietly before His presence and wait for Him. If He doesn’t speak immediately, He will eventually. But, you do have to learn to wait. It’s a matter of respect and submission on your part. God does not act according to your time, He acts according to His will. Anytime a believer decides to press in to God and really get to know Him, one of the first things God will teach him is His Sovereignty! God moves in His time and acts according to His ways. Religion teaches that man is the creator and God is what they created. They expect Him to do what they say, when they say it. Of course, He doesn’t. But they’re too stupid and bound up in their own deception to notice. – Also, God operates on a different noise level than we do. When we cry out to Him, He whispers back to us. God wants us to learn to be quiet, even when everything around us is in turmoil. Psalm 46 starts out with an earthquake and a tidal wave and ends with God telling us to “be quiet and rest assured that I am God (and everything is under control, regardless of what you see or hear)”.

But know this, when you learn how to rest in God, you’ll be accused of not caring about what’s going on around you. In this world, anxiety and hand wringing is the universal sign that you really care (that, and whether or not you’re wearing the appropriate color ribbon or symbol on your lapel). However, in the Kingdom of God, anxiety is only proof that you’re dumb. After all, you’re supposed to be having a relationship with the Prince of Peace.

- God delights in drawing us into times of intimacy with Him. Later in this paper we will see just how He does that. In each cycle of intimacy there are two specific points we must be able to recognize. The first is submission and the second is obedience. In order for us to benefit from being in God’s presence, we must first acknowledge Who He is in submission, and then be ready to obey.

Please comment on this topic at the website below-

http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/

Source-

http://lovestthoume-outofthefire.blogspot.com/2011/06/ways-of-god-desert-

experience-ken-brown.html

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Different From the World

  • Posted on July 27, 2011 at 11:30 pm

THE CHURCH – DIFFERENT FROM the WORLD

-by A.W. Tozer.

Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate,” says the Lord. “Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” – 2 Corinthians 6:17

The church’s mightiest influence is felt when she is different from the world in which she lives. Her power lies in her being different, rises with the degree in which she differs and sinks as the difference diminishes.

This is so fully and clearly taught in the Scriptures and so well illustrated in Church history that it is hard to see how we can miss it. But miss it we do, for we hear constantly that the Church must try to be as much like the world as possible, excepting, of course, where the world is too, too sinful….

Let us plant ourselves on the hill of Zion and invite the world to come over to us, but never under any circumstances will we go over to them. The cross is the symbol of Christianity, and the cross speaks of death and separation, never of compromise. No one ever compromised with a cross. The cross separated between the dead and the living. The timid and the fearful will cry “Extreme!” and they will be right. The cross is the essence of all that is extreme and final. The message of Christ is a call across a gulf from death to life, from sin to righteousness and from Satan to God. (-The Set of the Sail, 35, 36).

-From the book, ‘Tozer on Christian Leadership’, published by WingSpread Publishers.

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