Inspirational Posts
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THINKING ABOUT "Old HARRY."
I have been thinking this week about what is going on politically, morally, and spiritually in our blessed Nation. It seems that Americans in general, and even many Christians, don't seem to care. There is no concern, no urgency, no preparation, and so little prayer.
I recently looked at some old clippings that I had kept regarding a tragedy that happened over forty years ago. I wonder if America can apply that event with how serious things are in our world and our incredible apathy. Next May will mark the 42nd anniversary of the historic and devastating eruption of Mount State Helens. Among the many tragedies of that event, one particular aspect and individual stand out from the rest.
Mount Saint Helens is a volcanic mountain located in Washington State. It stands in the southwestern part of the state between the cities of Vancouver and Olympia. In late March of 1980, Mt. Saint Helens began to spew out a thick column of black smoke and ash hundreds of feet into the blue Washington sky. The earth around the top of the volcano started to shake and quiver. Scientists, seismologists, and geologists checked and rechecked their seismographs and the data in their labs and on-site. Within days they all had come to the same conclusion. Mount Saint Helens was about to erupt and explode.
Every TV news program across the Nation carried the story in their daily programming. For the entire month of April, the local police, Washington State troopers, Park Rangers, and military helicopters relentlessly broadcast warnings. Police scoured the area around the danger zone. The Civil Defense and every TV and radio station in the state interrupted their programming with WARNINGS. Roadblocks flashed warning signs at every crossroads in the area. Every resort, hiking trail, tourist center, and business was closed and evacuated as thousands of people desperately fled.
Five miles north of the mountain was a secluded summer resort called "Spirit Lake." This popular but isolated retreat was the longtime home of the 84- year-old caretaker, a man named Harry Truman. Despite the strict warnings to do so, Harry refused to leave. His friends, neighbors, and police, even his sister, could not convince Harry to get out. Harry's stubbornness soon made him a national celebrity. On May 17, 1980, Harry's grinning face appeared on "Good Morning America" and other major TV programs. Harry boasted to America that, "No one knows more about this mountain than me, and it 'ain't' going to blow. In fact, it wouldn't dare blow up on old Harry."
On the morning of May 18, 1980, Harry cooked his breakfast of bacon and eggs and fed the scraps to the 16 cats he cared for at his cabin home. He finished and went outside and began planting petunias along the lawn's edge that he had just cut. At 8:32 on May 18, 1980, Mount Saint Helens exploded with a force 500 times greater than the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima. Vast amounts of volcanic ash, steam, water, and debris were catapulted skyward to 60,000 feet. All the while, gases, ash, and molten rock raced down the mountain at 200 miles per hour, leveling everything within 75 square miles. Sixty-one people died that day. Among them was Harry Truman. Harry's body was never recovered.
I wonder what Harry thought when millions of tons of rock vaporized before his eyes and spewed ten miles straight up into the atmosphere? In that millisecond before the concussion hit him, I wonder if he regretted his foolish pride and stubbornness. I wonder what went through his mind if somehow Harry miraculously survived the shock? Did he gasp in horror as a solid wall of ash and scalding mud, 50 feet high, entombed his cabin, his petunias, 16 cats, and Harry himself? I wonder if he struggled or spent those moments thinking about what a fool he had been?
But this story makes me also wonder about something else. I wonder if one coming day America will regret the tens of thousands of innocent babies that we allow to be murdered each year by abortion. I wonder if America will one day lament defying God and nature by distorting the very heart of God's marriage design by legalizing same-sex coupling. I also wonder if one day, if America will regret, we defied God, biology, and common sense by legitimizing gender dysphoria and endorsing trans-genderism.
I wonder as we plunge deeper into barbarism and moral nihilism if we will someday lament something. I wonder if we will regret that we have banned God from schools and other public places and crowned humanism and secularism's tyrants. Will we regret that we allowed our schools, entertainment industry, government, and hypocrisy to murder God in our children's minds? As thieves steal our God-given freedoms, we sit by and utter little more than a whimper. We despair as multiplied millions of people are enslaved and debased by alcohol, heroin, cocaine, and other addictions. And still, we rebel against God and His word. I wonder if the many who have not looked to Christ for salvation in eternity will forever regret that they were so arrogant and stubborn and refused God's grace and mercy. We seldom open our Bibles and neglect our Bible-preaching church in exchange for frivolous religious programs on TV and radio.
People all over this country, some of whom are my friends and family, are just as spiritually stubborn and arrogant as Harry Truman. It is not the scientists, geologists, and seismologists, but God Himself, Who repeatedly warns us of a looming tragedy that is mega times worse than the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens. Cf. 2 Pet. 3:3,4.
I honestly wonder what is in store as the storm clouds gather, and the shaking begins, and those who are still filled with pride and are stubbornly confident that all is well. I wonder if maybe many are thinking just like "Old Harry" did before May 18, 1980. WEN
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God’s Ways Are Mysterious To Us?
(Tribute to my brother Richard, July 20th, 1940 to October 1st, 2020)
I would never of thought that I would be writing a tribute to my older brother. Even though he was three years older than myself. For many, many years we only communicated maybe once or twice a year. He lived in North Carolina and I in New York. When I was thinking of a title for this tribute I was thinking how mysterious life is at times. Then came to mind of how my brother Rich and I had been communicating through a chat venue on my website. Now keep in mind that for fifty plus years we hardly communicated. We just lived our own lives.
I had mentioned to him many times, since we chatted “everyday” at 6 pm, that God could have had this website mainly for him and I to chat. Yep, to us God’s ways are mysterious. But for sure not to Him. Neither my brother nor I for sure thought our chatting was going to stop so abruptly as it did. In fact I was waiting for our daily chat when I got a call that he had passed. Now, do you think God was unaware of any of this that was going to happen? No, I think He knew exactly even though it was by an accident. See, in chatting with my brother I understood that when his time on this earth was up he would want to leave while working on his property in North Carolina and that is exactly how it happened. He told me many of times he felt so blessed and was thankful for each day he was given.
Today I was informed by his daughter that his ashes were spread by the tree he was working on when his life here on earth was ended, just as he did want. Praise God for my brother Rich’s life and being blessed to be his younger brother. Thank You, Lord, for bringing us back closer together through the past year’s daily 2 hour chats! Yep, we made up for a lot of lost time.
May God’s peace and comfort be with my brother’s wife and all family members at this time.
My love to you all!
Ed
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What is rest?
📖 My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest...Exodus 33:14
To step out of self-life into Christ-life; to lie still, and let God lift you out of it, to fold your hands close, and hide your face on the hem of His garment; to let Him lay His cooling, soothing, healing hands upon your soul, and draw all the hurry and fever from its veins; to realize that you are not a mighty messenger, an important worker of His, full of care and responsibility, but only a little child, with a Father’s gentle bidding to heed and fulfill; to lay your busy plans and ambitions confidently in His hands, as a child brings its broken toys at its mother’s call; to serve Him by waiting; to praise Him by saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy”; to cease to hurry, so you may not lose sight of His face; to learn to follow Him, and not to run ahead of orders! to cease to live in self and for self, and to live in Him and for Him; to love His honor more than your own; to be a clear medium for His life-tide to shine and glow through...This is Consecration, this is rest.
Thou sweet, beloved will of God,
My anchor ground, my fortress hill,
My spirit’s silent, fair abode,
In Thee I hide me and am still.
Thy beautiful sweet will, my God,
Holds fast in its sublime embrace
My captive will, a glandsome bird,
Prison’d in such a realm of grace.
Upon God’s will I lay me down,
As child upon its mother’s breast,
No silken couch, nor softest bed,
Could ever give me such deep rest...
Tersteegen
~Springs in the Valley.
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ALREADY JUDGED
📖 John 3:17-18 nkjv ...
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
As a society, Americans are fond of their rights. We're very protective of our liberties, even when they might bring harm rather than good. That can be true of spiritual matters as well. For example, exercising the "right" to reject God's plan of salvation leaves a person in a condemned condition.
I have heard the following phrase often in my years of ministry: "I don't believe God is going to condemn me to hell." I agree, but not with the comment's intended meaning...that a person is worthy of heaven on the basis of his own merit. You see, it is true that the Lord doesn't condemn people to hell. He allows them to opt for that eternal destination themselves. They have a right to choose.
God says that those who do not believe in Jesus Christ have been judged already (v. 18). In other words, by rejecting...or politely ignoring...their need for a Savior, unbelievers have chosen to remain unsaved and unforgiven. Scripture teaches that there will one day be a judgment, but God has already determined that those who trust in Christ will stand with Him while the rest will be sent away (Matt. 25:34-46). An unrepentant man or woman is not condemned by God but, rather, has chosen to remain in the company of all those condemned by their own free will.
God desires that everyone come to a saving knowledge of His Son Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:9). To that end, He has granted each person the right to decide whether or not to follow in obedience. However, those who reject the Savior are forewarned that they have settled for condemnation.
~Pastor Charles Stanley
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TO GET AND NOT TO GET
📖 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ~ Philippians 4:7
Everyone should have questions. Any humans, redeemed or not, who claim to have all the answers should be avoided because they suffer from advanced arrogance. As Christians, we may understand more than we ever dreamed we would, but when we stand before our God, after kneeling and confessing Him Lord, we will be hit with the overwhelming truth that we understood just enough to make us efficient servants and capable witnesses but that we never graduated kindergarten in the school of eternal knowledge.
When it comes to the unbeliever, God gives just enough evidence of His existence and of their necessary redemption. He calls His creation to the stand as witness to His existence as Creator (Romans 1:20-21). Next, He calls to the stand His born-again ones who proclaim the Gospel, the only way that created man can become recreated man fit to live in His Heaven with Him (2 Corinthians 5:17; Mark 16:15).
In our limited understanding, we may wonder why God is not more aggressive in all of this. And why doesn’t He answer more prayers dramatically as a witness to His power and care? And why doesn’t He make a personal, supernatural appearance to every human? However, while valid questions from mere humans, these inquiries are spinning wheels in deep sand. It all comes back to God-given faith (Ephesians 2:8-9): “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own Understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6). That is neither a cop-out nor an validation of ignorance; it is the only remedy after the cup of our own understanding overflows with what God is doing (Isaiah 55:9). Yes, we are commanded to “get understanding” (Proverbs 4:1, 5, 7), not to “get omniscience.”
~ Chuck Bassett
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TODAY'S JOURNEY ...
Natural human love expects something in return. But Paul is saying, “It doesn’t really matter to me whether you love me or not. I am willing to be completely destitute anyway; willing to be poverty-stricken, not just for your sakes, but also that I may be able to get you to God.” “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor…” (2 Corinthians 8:9). And Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s. He did not care how high the cost was to himself... he would gladly pay it. It was a joyful thing to Paul.
The institutional church’s idea of a servant of God is not at all like Jesus Christ’s idea. His idea is that we serve Him by being the servants of others. Jesus Christ actually “out-socialized” the socialists. He said that in His kingdom the greatest one would be the servant of all (Matthew 23:11). The real test of a saint is not one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples’ feet... that is, being willing to do those things that seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God. It was Paul’s delight to spend his life for God’s interests in other people, and he did not care what it cost. But before we will serve, we stop to ponder our personal and financial concerns... “What if God wants me to go over there? And what about my salary? What is the climate like there? Who will take care of me? A person must consider all these things.” All that is an indication that we have reservations about serving God. But the apostle Paul had no conditions or reservations. Paul focused his life on Jesus Christ’s idea of a New Testament saint... that is, not one who merely proclaims the gospel, but one who becomes broken bread and poured-out wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for the sake of others.
📖 2 Corinthians 12:15 ... And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.
~ Teresa Bianco
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The Empty Grave
Mary Magdalene was shocked when she found the grave of Jesus empty. (John 20,16) “She wept bitterly”. Why? Remember that this was the Mary out of whom Jesus had cast out 7 evil spirits. Mary reasoned like this: “If Jesus, my Savior is dead, it can only mean one thing – all the devils and more are going to come back to me.” But then Christ interrupted her thoughts by calling her by her name “MARY”. What her tearful eyes had missed, her ears picked up…it was the voice of her Jesus! She shot around and cried “RABBONI”. It meant as much as “Jesus, as long as you live, no devil can come back. As long as you live I remain a child of God. As long as you live goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” And the Lord hurries to reassure all His children, you and me included. He says n Revelation 1,18 “I am He that lives and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore…” Does that comfort you?
~ REINHARD BONNKE.
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LIVING a LIFE THAT COUNTS
If you think you are too ordinary to be used by God, listen carefully: God is not going to do his last-days work through big-name evangelists or pastors. They alone will not be able to handle the great moving of his Spirit. God is going to need every homemaker, teenager, elderly person and all who love him to carry out his mighty work.
This end-time army is going to be made up of Christians who
have been weaned from "bread alone." God said through Moses, "Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:3). Bread stands for all natural, material things necessary for this life: food, shelter, clothes, labor, wages. In other words, those earthly things we need that are not evil in themselves.
Multitudes of Christians live only for the things of this life. Their
lives are wrapped up in their job, their house, paying the bills.
All their prayers are focused only on their needs - they are
living on bread alone. God is raising up a people who are focused on his will for this midnight hour! They want to be ready and prepared in heart because God is poised to release his great, final outpouring!
John the Baptist went forth "to make ready a people prepared
for the Lord" (Luke 1:17). Paul spoke of being "prepared for
every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21). And Samuel told Israel that God would do a new thing for them if they would "prepare [their] hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only" (1 Samuel 7:3).
When God pours out his Holy Spirit on the world, people who
do not know him will be desperate to find someone to help them. When God sees you are ready, he will bring great opportunities your way and you will see his glory come alive in you in this final hour!
~David Wilkerson
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HOMESICK
📖But our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body. ~ Philippians 3:20-21
Squire Parsons penned these lyrics to his classic Christian song “Beulah Land”: “I'm kind of homesick for a country / To which I've never been before.” The worldly logician will complain, “How can you be homesick for a place you’ve never been?” Of course, when it comes to the things of God, we should expect many things to befuddle worldly thinking (1 Corinthians 2:14).
When born-again, one immediately changes citizenship, as our text says. The transformation is one that only God can engineer. When Paul says we are new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), he means just that. God began a new line of creation in Christ, one that is neither Jew or Gentile, neither male nor female (Galatians 3:28), regarding our Heavenly status here on earth. Our new passport has been stamped, with our home of origin changed from “earth” to “Heaven.” In this foreign land, this fallen world, we all have ambassador status (2 Corinthians 5:20), and as ambassadors do, we are careful with our words and actions, knowing that everything we say or do reflects our King, Jesus Christ, and His kingdom. We may not yet have been to our Heaven, but Heaven is in our souls via Holy Spirit.
Where do your affections lie, dear Christian? Are you so enmeshed with this transitory world, that you rarely meditate on what your eternal King would have you be, say, and do? He has issued you a Manifesto, the Bible, full of commands and promises. Have His word and Spirit become so much a part of your essence, that they have dramatically changed your deportment so that you are more like Christ? If you do not feel like an alien and stranger in this world (1 Peter 2:11, NASB), your affections are misplaced. Our Heaven-going should feel like a Homecoming.
~ Chuck Bassett
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This is my Daily Fellowship:
I start every day with these words:
"Jesus Christ is Lord, He is Lord of my Spirit, He is Lord of my Mind and He is Lord of my Body." This leaves no place for the devil.
Today, I will delight myself in the Lord and He shall give me the desires of my heart, according to (Psalm 37:4). For I know the Lord is my light and my salvation; on whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid, (Psalm 27:1).
I know that my steps are ordered by the Lord, for I have obeyed His Word. (Psalm 27:23). I will trust in the Lord with all my heart and I will lean not unto my own understanding. In all His ways I will acknowledge Him and He shall direct my paths (Proverbs 3: 5-6)
For God has not given unto me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind according to (II Timothy 1:7), therefore I can go forth in this world bold as a lion and harmless as a kitten. The fear of man brings a snare, but whoso puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe. (Proverbs 29: 25)
I will hold fast the profession of my faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that has promised) (Hebrews 10:23) I have cast all my care upon Him for He cares for me (I Peter 5:7). Forgetting those things that which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3: 13-14)
"Believe - Use ACT on His Word instead of Believe." - then it will show you that you are attesting to the fact it means what it say's. “
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What Are You Anchored To?
F. B. Meyer wrote about two Germans who wanted to climb the Matterhorn. They hired three guides and began their ascent at the steepest and most slippery part.
The men roped themselves together in this order: guide, traveler, guide, traveler, guide. They had gone only a little way up the side when the last man lost his footing. He was held up temporarily by the other four, because each had a toehold in the niches they had cut in the ice. But then the next man slipped, and he pulled down the two above him. The only one to stand firm was the first guide, who had driven a spike deep into the ice.
Because he held his ground, all the men beneath him regained their footing. F. B. Meyer concluded his story by drawing a spiritual application. He said, “I am like one of those men who slipped, but thank God, I am bound in a living partnership to Christ. And because He stands, I will never perish.”
"I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain." ~ Romans 15:1-2
What keeps you from feeling adrift today? Are you anchored to the truth? Let the Holy Spirit fill you with the peace that comes from walking with our immovable God!
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The Heart
The heart is what you are, in the secrecy of your thought and feeling, when nobody knows but God. I am urging you all to become "pure in heart" like Jesus said to do. Think about what it would mean to examine our hearts, what kind of changes will you make what kind of habits are you holding onto that God is saying to let go. To see God is to know the joy of living in close relationship with him. We can't clean our own heart. A heart is made pure as Christ washes and cleans it. I once heard someone pray, "Lord wash my heart." That's a good prayer. But becoming pure in heart doesn't end with prayer. It comes as we lean on grace. It comes as we acknowledge our inability to become pure men and women and our need for Christ to make us clean and to purify us through and through. Putting Christ first takes care of everything else. If we peek into our hearts, we all know that we are not pure, we have thoughts, attitudes, desires which are not pure. We may hide it from others, but we cannot hide it from ourselves or from God. The heart is crucial to Jesus. What we are in the deep, private recesses of our lives is what He cares about the most. Jesus did not come into the world simply because we have some bad habits that need to be broken. He came into the world because we have such hearts that need to be purified. The aim of the pure heart is to align itself with the truth of God and magnify the worth of God. If you want to be pure in heart, pursue God with all that you have night and day, fall on your knees seek the Creator, cry out your plea, Oh Lord create in me a clean heart!
Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Psalms 51:10 – “Create in me a pure heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
1 Timothy 1:5 – ” The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart, and a good conscience and a sincere faith
Psalms 51:10 – “Create in me a pure heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
~ Sheri Sharlow
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SUCH LOVE
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ~ Colossians 3:12
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In Scripture, clothing is often a symbol of character. Isaiah reminds us that our natural righteous acts, compared to pristine holiness, are is as filthy rags (64:6), while Revelation tells us that, at the return of the Lord, His saints will be wearing fine, bright, clean linen, which “stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people” (19:8). In the parable of the wedding feast, the attendees’ garb determined if they were admitted to the banquet (Matthew 22:1-14).
How do you deal with people? Do you treat them “with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience”? By the way, are you people? Then do you treat yourself “with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience”? After all, Jesus not only said “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12) but also said, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).
Yes, I know. It is traditional for Christians to think of themselves as nobodies, and we still have remnants of the radical Puritans, who would go into their closets and beat themselves with rods to purge their “self.” (It is true that Paul said “No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” [1 Corinthians 9:27, NIV], but this is a metaphor for bringing his body under discipline, as the NKJV more rightly translates.) Indeed, we are to humble ourselves and by grace subjugate our flesh, but that does not mean that we treat ourselves worse than we treat others.
Some have a penchant for severe self-deprecation. They think it makes them holier, but it doesn’t. Jesus said love your neighbor as you love yourself. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, that would be a horrid command if you hate yourself. Dear beloved one of God, humble yourself, keep your flesh under submission of grace, elevate Jesus to the highest of your priorities, follow Him fully…but also “as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” when dealing with others and with yourself. You can do that without undue pride-and-ego.
~ Chuck Bassett
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DOMINATING FAITH!!!
The secret of dominating faith lies in getting a true conception of what Jesus actually did for us, and what we are in Him as a result of it, and what the WORD promises we can do as a result of His FINISHED work in us.
Remember, knowledge that is not acted upon is of no value. So, we must believe firmly that the Cross is the highest order of faith. Simply to admire it, to say you believe it, but to refuse to act upon it, robs you of faith when faith is needed.
Be a victor not a hoper, be a actor not a line reader, be one of FAITH & not a wisher, be strong in the WORD & ACT upon it!!!
What does Ephesians 1:3 tell us "He has blessed me with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus." So, we must know how to assimilate that, how to enjoy it, how to enter into the RICHES of it, then, yes then~~~~ dominating Faith will come your way. Oh, for the great & wondrous joy of His RICHES!!!
Know the riches of His grace, and the riches of His finished work, and the riches of His own nature that HE has imparted to you.
Pastor Don D. Hargrave
Christians Down On Their Knees!
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No One Said it Would Be Easy
Exodus 5-7 - Moses’ attempt to do what God wants runs into stiff resistance on the part of Pharaoh. He has an arrogant attitude toward Moses but also toward God. There are people like that today. From this biblical story, we see that such people are in big trouble. How do frail human beings dare rebel against Almighty God. Yet they do. Let us be sure we are not one of them.
Things often get worse before they get better. So it is for the Israelites. Instead of being let go, their situation worsens. Who is ahead at the end of the first inning is not very important; it is who is ahead at the end of the ninth that counts. Never forget that.
God tells them He is the Lord, that is Jehovah, or Jahweh, the God who is the constant One, who has made a covenant of grace with His people and who will keep that covenant. Things may be difficult, but you can depend on God. You may not be able to depend on yourself or on other people, but you can depend on God, the faithful One who keeps His covenant promises to His people.
Pharaoh has hardened his heart. What is the punishment? God further hardens his heart. Often God does not hurl thunderbolts against sinners; He just lets them harden in sin which brings sure punishment. Father, no matter how difficult things may be for us today, give us faith to know that in the end all will be well as we trust You. In Jesus' name.
~Words of Hope
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Heaven and Hell are real, and we're going to one of them!
The other day I found myself talking to a bunch of sixteen year-old girls. The conversation started quiet; I asked them about their faith, what they believed in. That day I pushed myself to be a lot bolder than what I am comfortable with, so when a few of the girls mentioned they weren't really 'anything'
I pushed myself to ask the question, 'What will happen to you when you die?'
There was silence, and then the answer I hear all too often: 'I've never really thought about it.'
A painful reality
The topic of salvation makes a lot of people squirm in their boots. And I get it. If you are not confident about where you are going after you die, whether that be Heaven or Hell or a butterfly on earth, then there is an assumption that once you start to ask those questions, you might become quickly overwhelmed.
I get shivers when I read Scripture about eternity, and I've come to an understanding that this is okay for me: there is a holy fear in salvation, but this fear should be causing us to press in more to discover the truth about it; rather than passively ignoring its existence.
In a society where everyone's right and no one likes to accept the fact that there are 'corrects' and 'incorrects', I'm standing out on a limb and stating that Heaven and Hell are real.
I love the idea that perhaps Hell doesn't exist, or that everyone's religion could be right for them or if you're a good person in this life then you'll go to Heaven; but the more I read the Bible the more I know this just isn't true. In all of my idealistic hopes for eternity, I simply can't stray from the fact that Heaven is real, and Hell is too. And we're going to one of them.
Whilst there are pictures in our minds of what these two places may be like, we can see, clearly in the Bible, that the reality of those places is something of utter significance.
'When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world...
Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'' (Matthew 25:31-34, 41).
Eternity matters
I was really impacted by a dear friend of mine the other day in conversation when she mentioned how God had placed love for strangers so deep down in her heart that she simply couldn't love them without talking to them about their eternity.
In her words: 'If I love this person so much, then shouldn't I be SO concerned for them about whether they live eternity in hell or with Jesus?' This is heavy stuff. And actually, not something I hear talked about all that often. We as followers should have an understanding of what the bible teaches about eternity, believe it and live our lives as though it exists. Not as though it doesn’t.
I cannot say whether someone is going to heaven or hell. God is the only judge, and he is the one with the names in the book of life. But the bible promises that whoever believes in him has eternal life. 'Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.' (John6:47). This eternal life has to come from the belief in Jesus, 'No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up in the last day.' (John 6:44).
Keeping these things in mind
I would encourage Christians to believe and live out their lives on earth, firstly with the assurance of their salvation which comes from Christ (they day of Jesus returning can be the greatest day of your life! Rather than the absolute worst...but in that I'm not denying the fact that this most likely still going to be full on), and to secondly live passionately defending and fighting for our brothers and sisters' eternity also.
We cannot make the decision for them, to follow Christ, but we can love wholeheartedly and dare to be bold. This life and its troubles only last a second compared to the next.
'See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.' (Isaiah 65:17)
~ Christian Today
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THE QUEST
For He Himself is our peace…. ~ Ephesians 2:14
Everyone is searching for peace and contentment. We think, “There must be some secret. I will look here and there. Someday I will find that magical place…if it is not a myth.” Yes, even those who know Jesus as Savior have the same longings. “What am I not doing right? I’ve done this and that. I faithfully go to church. I still have these burdens wearying me.”
One of the first things we try, even before we are believers, is to try to please everyone around us. Some go decades doing this, draining them in frustration. “What will others think of me?” is one of the first thoughts that come to mind. Eventually, we realize that this effort is a fruitless. We may throw ourselves into Christian work, only to discover that making that our prime priority does not bring peace.
How can we escape the pain and enter the peace? Maybe we stumble across our text, but how do we get to the place of experiential resolution? Knowing is not living. Then we may come across Jesus’ great words in Matthew 11:28-30: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly” (The Message).
There is no formula; there is only yielding to Jesus, even after believing. Paul emphasizes it: “HE HIMSELF is our peace.” Yes, there is a place in faith where we can abide in the Person of Jesus as our peace, and prayer is an important transport. Wisdom from the old hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”: “O what peace we often forfeit, / O what needless pain we bear, / All because we do not carry / Everything to God in prayer!”
~ Chuck Bassett
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Your Walk with God
When you understand where history is heading and how it is going to culminate, you have a completely different worldview than the average person—-you cease to see things through strictly a natural perspective (i.e., it’s never just politics, it’s never just “happenstance” events)......
Likewise when it comes to your walk with God.....It’s never just your lone efforts as a singular believer in a vast universe, where your daily acts of faith and obedience seem to go virtually unnoticed by everyone but you and God.......Far from it! Your daily acts of faith and obedience—while seemingly unnoticed by others around you—are very well known to Angels, both holy and fallen—and both sides see your daily acts of faith and obedience as a shining beacon of your allegiance to the One True Living Triune God, the creator of the heavens and the earth........And your daily ongoing allegiance pits you squarely against what is coming…….
~ Mark Mitchel
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Worth everyone time to read!!!
His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans and flip flops. This was literally his wardrobe for his four years of high school. He is brilliant. Kinda odd in his worldview and perspective, but he is very, very bright. He became a Christian during his junior year of high school when a fellow student shared her faith with him.
Across the street from the high school campus is a modern, conservative and active church. They work hard to develop ministries to the students, but that process is constantly changing and a challenge. One Sunday Bill decides to go visit the church. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt and wild hair. The service has just started so Bill starts down an aisle looking for a seat. The church is pretty full, and Bill doesn't want to invade anyone's territory. As he makes his way up the aisle, people are looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer and closer to the front, and rather than bother anyone he just squats down on the carpet in front of the first row of chairs and makes himself comfortable.
Because this is so out of the norm, people who see Bill sitting up front on the floor become uncomfortable. About the time Bill gets settled in, the Pastor realizes that one of the Deacons who is sitting toward the back of the auditorium has gotten up from his seat and is making his way toward the front, and specifically toward Bill. He's a godly man, very dignified and respected, wearing a suit and tie as he walks with his cane, his silver hair neatly combed and his Bible under his arm. You can't blame him for what he is about to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some barefoot teenage kid with long hair, blue jeans and a T-shirt who has walked in and thinks it is somehow acceptable to just sit on the floor in front of everyone?
It takes what seems like a long time for the Deacon to reach the front where Bill is seated. The church is completely silent except for the whispers in the congregation. All eyes are focused on the front. Everyone is glad this one senior adult Deacon has taken matters into his own hands. Even the Pastor is frozen in the moment with mixed emotions and thoughts running through his mind and heart.
Then suddenly God showed up. When this elderly Deacon gets to where Bill is seated, he every slowly and carefully kneels down beside Bill, then lays his cane and his Bible on the floor and sits down - to worship beside Bill so he won't be sitting alone. Everyone chokes up with emotion. The Deacon doesn't say a word, he just gently reaches out his hand to shake Bill's. In that moment, although nothing is said, much is communicated.
When the Pastor is able to speak, he simply says, "What I am about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget."
Many times it takes a Bill to bring the focus back to reality. Thank God for Bill's who will break the barrier and a deacon who is filled with the Holy Spirit to respond in obedience. Oh that our churches would fall in Love with Jesus Fresh and Anew.
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KEEPING SHARP
Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. ~ 1 Timothy 4:8, The Message
Maybe I am not over the line in saying that it is a universal natural law. The muscle in long misuse atrophies. The unattended fire moves from flame to embers to cold ashes. The space object that offers no resistance succumbs to earth’s gravity and burns in the atmosphere. The relationship that is unnurtured eventually fades into mere acquaintance or sad estrangement. The athlete who stops practicing loses his edge in the game.
The Christian life is no different. God has made it so. If He zapped us with constant blessing and while we did not seek Him, do good works springing from our faith, and resist the world’s evil influences, then we would become unbearable snobs, spoiled children, and bad witnesses. No, He has incorporated into this thing called the Christian life a need for seeking Him, acting on our faith regardless of circumstances, and being willing thank Him, praise Him, and serve Him, even when we are in dire straits.
It is not the easiest way, but it is the best way. Our Lord is concerned about our character and wants Christ to be maturely formed in us (Galatians 4:19). He wants us to bear much fruit, so He prunes us with the knife of His Word and of challenging circumstances (John 15:2, 5, 8; Hebrews 4:12). We must submit to God and resist the devil, who will flee when we do those two things (James 4:7). Our reflecting the Lord with ever increasing glory means giving constant attention to the clarity and angle of our soul’s mirror (2 Corinthians 3:18).
~ Chuck Bassett
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THE TRAGEDY OF WILLFULLY RESISTING CHRIST
This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”
The Self-Esteem Movement of the 1960s was among the many horrid, subtle cultural dogmas sold to the American people. The message was “Everyone is good enough. We need to continually affirm that in all people.” The wise Proverbist penned, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (14:12; 16:25). The “Me Generation” added more layers of crust around their egos so that they could not see their sin and that they became more rigid against the Gospel. Then came the book “I’m OK; You’re OK.” See the petulant, child-like response in our text? “We will not….” Nothing is a tougher shell to crack than the stubborn wills of people.
God said of another generation of willful individuals, “For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, ‘See no more visions!’ and to the prophets, ‘Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!’” Then God had some sobering words of judgment for them, for they would not listen to truth delivered more gently. The same goes for people today. What will it take to crack through people’s multiple layers of self-resistance to Christ? It took a great tragedy in my life, though Jesus would have preferred my “willingness” to His gentler approach. Is it worth feeling good about yourself without Jesus and going into eternity separated from God and from all that is good?
~ Chuck Bassett
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WHAT BELIEVERS ARE!
If you are a true believer- you have serious responsibilities in the matter of SOUL-WINNING!!!! We have the high title of SERVANT- 1 Cor. 4:1, Acts 26:16 We find that Paul even goes as far to call himself a "Bond Slave." We are not our own & how gladly should we subscribe ourselves as BOND-SERVANTS of such a great Master.
We are also STEWARDS- Titus 1:7, 1 Peter 4:10 The steward is to REVEAL the great mystery of the most High God.
We are AMBASSADORS- 2 Cor. 5:20 We are His chosen representative, we represent Heaven's court & we must speak with AUTHORITY.
We are WITNESSES- Acts 1:8 We do so at the expense of our on life- maybe sooner than you think!!! We must pour out our lives in testimony of the master. Acts 5:32 A witness must witness by LIP and LIFE!!!
We are MISSIONARIES- John 17:18 The word sent is "Apostolos." Paul was an apostle, a sent one. WE ARE ALL COMMISSIONED for Missionary service. Every believer is a foreign Missionary. The world is a foreign field; Heaven is our home. The Son came gladly when sent of God. The Holy Spirit came gladly when sent of Christ. And WE should go gladly bearing the message of Salvation. Phil. 3:20
We are BUSINESS MEN- Like 19:13 The word occupy is business- do business until I come!!! God has set each one of us up in business. We have the most sacred service- the winning of men from the kingdom of darkness. If we display our goods according to His will- we will find customers.
We are FISHERS OF MEN- Matt. 4:19 We have the promise- "I will make you."
Remember, there are different kinds of fish & different ways to catch them. We must listen to the master & study the fish, study the water, and know the seasons. "FOLLOW ME"- this is the secret. We must follow Him, study Him, live like Him, and most of all OBEY HIM!!!!
"He that winneth souls is wise."
NOW, GO CATCH SOME SOULS!!!!!!!
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THE MAN CALLED JESUS
There was once a man who didn't believe in God, and he didn't hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays, like Christmas.
His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus, despite his disparaging comments.
One snowy Christmas Eve, his wife was taking their children to a Christmas Eve service in the farm community in which they lived. She asked him to come, but he refused. "That story is nonsense!" he said. "Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That's ridiculous!" So she and the children left, and he stayed home.
A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window. Then another thump. He looked out, but couldn't see more than a few feet.
When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and could not go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed.
The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It is warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm.
So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and did not seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them.
The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them and they moved further away. He went into the house and came back out with some bread, broke it up, and made a breadcrumbs trail leading to the barn. They still didn't catch on. Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe.
"Why don't they follow me?!" he exclaimed. "Can't they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?" He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn't follow a human. "If only I were a goose, then I could save them," he said out loud. Then he had an idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn -- and one by one the other geese followed it to safety.
He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: "If only I were a goose, then I could save them!"
Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. "Why would God want to be like us? That's ridiculous!" Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done.
We were like the geese -- blind, lost, perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us. That was the meaning of Christmas, he realized.
As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood what Christmas was all about, why Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished like the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer:
"Thank You Jesus for coming in human form to show me the way out of the storm!"
~Author unknown
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BEGOTTEN
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ~ John 3:16, KJV
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Here is the musical presentation of the Good News, the version that for 400 years has been the Gospel herald of English-speaking peoples. I am taken by the word “begotten.” As we are reminded each Christmas, the unique birth of Christ, sired by Holy Spirit and not by man, carried and delivered by a virgin, is the holy beginning of mankind’s only eternal hope. Jesus was God’s only “begotten” Son, in the wholistic sense. The writer of Hebrews reiterates this, seemingly eavesdropping on the Triune council of ages past: “For unto which of the angels said He at any time, ‘Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee?’ And again, ‘I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son’? (Hebrews 1:5, KJV).
However, everyone who is born again—and that is a “must” for salvation (John 3:3, 7)—is a faint echo of God’s “only begotten Son”; for the Spirit forms new life in the redeemed one, carrying sonship with it: “Yet to all who did receive Him [Jesus], to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12-13). Then, as we lead others to Christ and labor to disciple them, we are like Paul, who said to the Corinthians, “for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15, KJV). Holy Spirit desires to “birth” as many into the family of God as will allow Him. He is ever present, brooding over those being called to salvation, even as when He was at the creation of the world: “The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2, Amplified).
~ Chuck Bassett
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Let God be the reason of our existence
Anyone who knows Kyrzayda Rodriguez the famous fashion blogger who died right after announcing she had Stage 4 stomach #Cancer. These were her words on her last days on earth. May Her Soul Rest In Peace.
“I have a brand new car parked outside that can’t do anything for me, I have all kinds of designers clothes, shoes and bags that can’t do anything for me, I have money in my account that can’t do anything for me, I have a big well furnished house that can’t do anything for me.
Look, I’m lying here in a twin size hospital bed; I can take a plane any day of the week if I like but that can’t do anything for me...
So do not let anyone make u feel bad for the things you don’t have - but the things u have, be happy with those; if you have a roof over your head who cares what kind of furnitures is in it... the most important thing in life is LOVE.
Lastly, make sure you enjoy the ones you love”.
See in life anything you have, material things, possessions, riches, fame? Can’t do anything for you once you leave this earth.
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Crucified
John 17-19 - In the high priestly prayer, Jesus prays for his disciples then and today. It includes a definition of life eternal: “This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (17:3 ESV). That verse had a transforming effect upon my life. Previously I had thought of salvation as heaven. This verse caused me to realize that salvation and eternal life start now and last forever, and in essence is a personal relationship to Jesus. Do you have that relationship?
In Gethsemane, Jesus is captured and condemned in an illegal trial. In the meantime, Peter denies him. May we not deny him, either in word or deed. Because the Jews did not have the power to impose the death penalty, they brought him to the Roman governor who, to save his own career, unjustly condemns Jesus to the horrible death of crucifixion. May we not sacrifice our convictions to forward our personal plans.
As he died, Jesus said, “It is finished” (19:30). All that needed to be done in order to redeem us from our lost condition in sin had now been done. The perfect sacrifice had been made, sufficient for our complete salvation. But our task is unfinished. Our task is now to tell the world of this Jesus so that people everywhere may come to him to receive eternal life.
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An Appointment
The Bible speaks a lot about life and death and we are given two choices by God as it says, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” (Deut 30:19), so we must be “loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them” (Deut 30:20). We can either repent and trust in Christ or face God’s judgment after we die or at Christ’s return. Either way, those who reject Christ die with the wrath of God on them (John 3:36). The author of Hebrews wrote, “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb 9:27), so we know that a judgment comes after a person dies, but if we have trusted in Christ, our sins were judged at the cross and our sins have been taken away because it was “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2nd Cor 5:21). Every one of us has an appointment with death and none of us know when that day will come, so today is the day of salvation if you have not yet placed your faith in Christ (2nd Cor 6:2).
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THE NARROW-WAY DISCIPLE
Jesus: “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.” ~ Matthew 16:24
Those who push a product, a philosophy, even a religion, normally speak in the highest terms of idealism to make attractive what they are promoting. Possibly, by listing the high demands, a “help wanted” ad in the Classifieds will give details to weed out some of the applicants. When it came to Christ, His declaration of what it would take to become His disciple was blunter than even the “help wanted” ads.
Many who witness for Jesus omit these demands of discipleship. I suppose they figure that their job is “get the person saved” and let others tell the newly redeemed ones what is ahead. The most famous book written about this topic may be Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “The Cost of Discipleship” (1937), in which he wrote things like “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die,” “When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh,” “To believe the promise of Jesus that His followers shall possess the earth, and at the same time to face our enemies unarmed and defenceless, preferring to incur injustice rather than to do wrong ourselves, is indeed a narrow way,” etc. No hypocrite, rather than escape Germany, Bonhoeffer stood staunchly against the Nazis, who hanged him on April 8, 1945, one month before Germany surrendered in World War 2
Yes, from our standpoint, it is easy to be saved; however, it is hard to be what Bonhoeffer called a “narrow way” disciple. It is a lowering of the shoulder into the stiff wind of the world, with spiritual weaponry to fight against the world’s weaponry. Though we are guaranteed victory if we do not turn back (Romans 8:37), it will not be easy. Jesus never portrayed it less than the ultimate struggle of your life, but God did promise to “meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
~ Chuck Bassett
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HUMBLE TRUST IN PRAYER
Jesus: “Suppose your son asks for bread. Which of you will give him a stone? Or suppose he asks for a fish. Which of you will give him a snake? Even though you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father Who is in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!” ~ Matthew 7:9-11
Those who say they have prayer down to a formulaic method are fooling both themselves and their followers. Prayer and God’s answer to it are subject to His perfect knowledge and inerrant decisions. Our Lord is neither a slot machine which matches three fruit on chance nor a rubric’s cube that can be solved. If our God is indeed omniscient and omnipotent, then we should expect some prayers to be granted in detail, to be granted in a modified form, or to be denied entirely.
The problem is that we who pray are limited in knowledge. As Jesus says in our text, we may think we are asking for bread and fish, when God knows that, regarding the ultimate outcome, we are ignorantly asking for stone and snake. Therefore, in His perfect love, He may deny our requests. Thank God for not always answering all our prayers, exactly as we ask them! C. S. Lewis observed, “The essence of request, as distinct from compulsion, is that it may or may not be granted. And if an infinitely wise Being listens to the requests of finite and foolish creatures, of course He will sometimes grant and sometimes refuse them. Invariable ‘success’ in prayer would not prove the Christian doctrine at all. It would prove something much more like magic—a power in certain human beings to control, or compel, the course of nature” (from “The World’s Last Night”).
~ Chuck Bassett
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REVELATION WITH A PURPOSE
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him Who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. ~ 1 Peter 2:9
Too often, we learn selfishly from the Lord, therefore weakening the purpose of the lesson. What I mean by “selfishly” is that God may give a new insight into truth, and I can’t wait to tell others what God has shown ME. God never gives me truth in isolation: it is meant to be understood only in my relation to others. I am not a monk who isolates himself from the world. When Jesus saved me and you, instead of taking us immediately to Haven, He left us in a fallen world to interact with others in our new-creature state. I am practically worthless to God if I lock myself in my little ivory tower, screaming occasionally out of the window, “Look what God showed me!”
Whenever God reveals something new and deeper about the Christian life, we should immediately think, “How can God use this in my relationship with others?” We are ministers who are full of His Spirit and His Word, not computers which are merely full of revelation. Oswald Chambers caught a glimpse of it: “If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others.” Thank God for all good things, as well as those things not immediately recognized as good. Watch, listen, learn, minister; and He will continue to mold you in to His useful, fruitful servant.
~ Chuck Bassett
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BEWARE THE DEMAND FOR THE DRAMATIC
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to You on the water.” “Come,” He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ~ Matthew 14:25-32
Beware the demand for the dramatic. Here, Jesus “went out to them, walking on the lake.” If you sense Jesus coming to you through His manifest presence, call on Him, be still, and let Him come. Notice that Christ was concerned about their fear and, through His words, sought to dispel their fear. However, His beloved disciple, Simon Peter, immediately wanted to be in the “drama.” He could have asked that all of them be able to walk on water to Him, but he only mentions himself. You could say that He wanted Jesus to prove Himself, but be careful of that mindset, too.
There were no human souls to be won for Christ on the waves. There was no lame man whom Peter wanted to bring to Jesus for healing. Jesus wasn’t yet being arrested, beaten, and crucified, wanting companionship in His darkest hour. This was impulsive Simon, whom Jesus loved dearly and whom the Lord needed to teach a lesson. Peter wasn’t yet capable of the focus or faith to keep his gaze fixed on Jesus: that would only come later, after he was born again. What Peter envisioned as a glorious victory of walking on the waves turned into a humbling spectacle of his nearly drowning. Here, Simon sought to walk on water to Jesus as a proof, a “sign.” Later, on dry land, he “followed Him at a distance” when He was arrested and taken to fake court. Yes, beware banking your faith on the dramatic. Seek the steady, Spirit-empowered, faith-based, daily discipleship of continually focusing on and lovingly obeying Jesus continually.
~ Chuck Bassett
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Keeping You From Jesus
There is absolutely NOTHING in this life that is worth taking you away and/or Keeping you from Jesus, Hell is a Very REAL Place, the Bible is very clear on who will NOT make it to Heaven ( 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21, ) you may have not been living right up to this point but Today Is a NEW Day, A Fresh start to Turn from your sin, REPENT, and turn back to Jesus! HE LOVES YOU!
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What Christians Are Up Against
This is what we as Christians are up against. We are wrestling with all of this. You better be in a church where the Word of God is stinging and burning into your soul. You better pray the Pastor is preaching to where your toes are stepped on. Hell is an awful place and many are going there who think they are on their way to Heaven - my Bible says Heaven is only for the Pure and Holy and no evil will enter there. SO folks, we only get one chance - Let's get it right.
Ephesians 6:12-13 - "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."
~ Betty Robinson Lester
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WHEN TO BE SILENT . . .
And the Bible says.
1. Be silent In the heat of, anger
(Prov 14:17)
2. Be silent When you don't have all the facts
(Prov 18:13)
3. Be silent When you haven't verified the story
(Deut 17:6)
4. Be silent If your words will offend a weaker person
(1 Cor 8:11)
5. Be silent when it is time to listen
(Prov 13:1)
6. Be silent When you are tempted to make light of holy things
(Eccl 5:2)
7. Be silent When you are tempted to joke about sin
(Prov 14:9)
8. Be silent If you would be ashamed of your words later
(Prov 8:8)
9. Be silent If your words would convey the wrong impression
(Prov 17:27)
10. Be silent If the issue is none of your business
(Prov 14:10)
11. Be silent When you are tempted to tell an outright lie
(Prov 4:24)
12. Be silent If your words will damage someone else's reputation
(Prov 16:27)
13. Be silent If your words will damage a friendship
(Prov 16:28)
14. Be silent When you are feeling critical
(James 3:9)
15. Be silent If you can’t say it without screaming it
(Prov 25:28)
16. Be silent If your words will be a poor reflection of the Lord or your friends and family
(1 Pt 2:21-23)
17. Be silent If you may have to eat your words later
(Prov 18:21)
18. Be silent If you have already said it more than one time
(Prov 19:13)
19. Be silent When you are tempted to flatter a wicked person
(Prov 24:24)
20. Be silent When you are supposed to be working instead
(Prov 14:23)
21. Be silent When you know you would be misquoted. Silence is never ever misquoted.
"WHOEVER GUARDS HIS MOUTH AND TONGUE KEEPS HIS SOUL FROM TROUBLES"
(Prov 21:23).
"BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD" (Ps 46:10)
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THE GOODNESS OF GOD'S JUDGMENTS
Turn away the disgrace I dread; indeed, Your judgments are good. ~ Psalm 119:39
**
We Christians are fond of rightly saying, “God is good all of the time.” Therefore, that must include His judgments, as the psalmist declares in our text. Since Eden’s first sin, God has been busy setting things “right,” one person at a time. Here we are thousands of years later, and He has not gotten stressed or distraught over that “big job”; He relentlessly pursues the lost, mainly through the witness of the found.
A righteous God cannot abide with unrighteousness. That is why we have this: “He made the One Who did not know sin [Jesus Christ] to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21, Holman). This is good and loving toward us, though it was horribly “unfair” to Jesus, Who nonetheless eagerly and lovingly shed His blood unto death for us. Should God allow one person to live with Him eternally without that person’s being declared perfectly holy (Revelation 21:27), then He would cease to be a holy and good God. Since man could never pay the holy price demanded of his sin, God paid it for him in Christ.
God’s sending the plagues on Pharaoh and his Egypt was good. It was not only the way to deliver His people, the Israelites, but God wanted to press Pharaoh to complete repentance, which he never resolved. The horrible nature of sin is that its natural effects (ultimately, death: Romans 6:23) extend like ripples from a stone dropped into water, affecting even the innocent sometimes. (If that weren’t true, we would see sin as less horrid.) Therefore, it is good that God reveals sin’s horrid nature, hopefully to lead us to repentance.
God’s “good” is not man’s measure of “good,” which is usually emotion-based and selfishness-based. God’s ways to His good is the highest good (Isaiah 59:9). Had sin never entered the picture, it would have been Eden forever. As it is, the highest good man can receive is His free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ…if man is willing.
~ Chuck Bassett
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THE DYNAMIC OF BLENDED WILLS
Now may the God of peace, Who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. ~ Hebrews 13:20-21
In this powerful, doctrine-filled doxology is a gem of a phrase: “for doing His will.” It is one thing to know God’s will, even His “good, pleasing, and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2), but the end game is “doing His will.” If we know God’s will and find it seemingly too hard or too distasteful to do and, therefore, not “do” it, then we have failed miserably. When we come to the place where “doing God’s will” is all that matters, then we have placed ourselves in the best position to bring God glory and to please Him.
God never obliterates our will, and it is impossible for us to obliterate it. When we say, as Jesus prayed, “not my will but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42), what we should be saying is “I confess that my will is (or may be) in conflict with Yours, Lord. I choose to mesh my will with Your perfect will, dear God.” Then you act on-and-in His will. Here, the Great Cooperation begins, and the ripple effects of that decision move outwardly from our blended-with-His-will lives more than we can ever ask for or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21).
~ Chuck Bassett
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SHARING GOD'S VISION OF OUR REDEMPTION
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ~ Hebrews 11:1, NKJV
Thank God for the “new vision” He gives when we come to faith in Jesus. When we are “born again” (John 3:3, 7), our vision extends beyond time and space. It makes perfect sense: we have within us the very Spirit of God, Who imparts to us characteristics of God, including our vision of life. We can believe (even far beyond our feelings and circumstances) the far-reaching, seemingly outlandish promises that God declares about us.
You may not feel holy, but you know that in Christ you have been made holy (Hebrews 2:11). You may not feel righteous, but you, in Christ, have become the very righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). You may not feel like a king or priest, but you know that God has declared you so (Revelation 1:6; 5:10). You may not feel as if you have been raised and seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, but you know that you have been placed there (Ephesians 2:6). You may not feel like more than a conqueror, but you know that God sees you that way in Christ (Romans 8:37). Yes, you live by the same grace through faith by which you were saved (Ephesians 2:8-9).
~ Chuck Bassett
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Unity Among Believers
John 17: 20 - Neither pray I for these alone (Jesus is speaking not only of His present Disciples, but the multitudes of in all ages who should believe their Testimony), but for them also which should believe on Me through their Word (has reference to the fact that all must take the Word to others);
V. 21 - That they all may be One (again He prays for unity among Believers, which can only be brought about by Love); as You, Father, are in Me (unity and "Communion"), and I in You (unity and "Purpose"), that they also may be One in Us (the pronoun "Us" proclaims the Trinity) that the world may believe that You have sent Me (proclaims the Father sending the Son into the world to save the world and the Son sending His Disciples into the world for the same purpose).
V. 22 - And the glory which You gave Me I have given them (unity and "Glory"); that they may be one, even as We are One (one in "Communion," "Purpose," and "Glory");
V.23 - I in them, and You in Me (spoken distinctly by Christ; Jesus is the meditating link of relation between the Father and Believers), that they may be made perfect in one (all of this can be done only through the Cross); and that the world many know that You have sent Me (proclaim what this unity brings about), and have loved them as You have Loved Me (that God loves His people will draw more people to Christ than anything else).
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Word of God Speak
"Struggling with social media. So sad about the attacks from the left and the right. So sad about the heartless posts from either side. I wish we could go back to... "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it." Social media would be very quiet.
"from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way… " James 3:10
"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Ephesians 4:32
"Let all that you do be done in love." 1 Corinthians 16:14
"I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven" Matthew 5:44-45
If there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Philippians 2:1-4"
~ Lisa Buffaloe
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Prepare to Meet Your God
Amos 1-4 - Amos is a prophet from Judah who is called to preach to Israel. He knows how to get attention. He begins by condemning the sins of the neighboring nations. Then he moves on to the sins of Judah. The Israelites are listening with approval. But then Amos shifts to preaching about their sins. Their foremost sin was oppressing the poor (2:7a). Amos preaches social righteousness. He makes it clear that God condemns those who take advantage of the powerless. It is wrong to live in luxury and not try to change the system to help the poor.
The second sin was that of sexual misconduct (2:7b). Today one wing of the church calls for social righteousness while another calls for personal godliness. God calls for both. The third sin was misuse of alcohol (2:8). Amos calls the women who live in luxury while their husbands oppress the poor, asking their husbands for a drink, “cows” (4:1). That must have gained their attention.
Because of sin, God sends national disasters, one after the other, but the refrain after each is “‘yet you did not return to me,’ says the LORD” (4:6, 8-11). Because of all this the prophet says, “Prepare to meet your God” (v. 12). Through Christ we are prepared, but that doesn’t relieve us of responsibility for godliness.
~ Words of Hope
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Disobedient Prophet
Jonah - The Lord says to Jonah, “Go to Nineveh.” How often in the Bible we hear God saying to someone, “Go.” We are inclined to sit back comfortably in the status quo, but the Lord says to us, “Go, I have something for you to do; be up and doing it.” Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, a cruel nation that was a great threat to Jonah’s nation. Jonah was patriotic. He knew if the Assyrians continued in their sins they would fall, but if he preached to them and they repented, God would spare them and they would remain a threat to Jonah’s country. So he disobeyed.
Some people have a problem with Jonah being swallowed by a sea creature (a whale or a fish or a specially created monster) and then being spit out again. But for the sovereign God, who with one word of his power created the whole universe out of nothing, this was a little miracle. The purpose of the book is not to tell us that God could do this; we should know that. The purpose is to show us that God wants us to change some of our narrow ideas. Too often, we are only interested in our own little circle, like the man who prayed, “Lord, bless me, my wife, my two sons, us four and no more.” But God is interested in the lost people of Nineveh, and of the whole world. He does not want us to be like Jonah; he wants us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Lord, Father, stretch our circle of concern to be as wide as yours and to do something about it.
~ Words of Hope
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LETTING HIM WORK DEEPLY
For in Him we live and move and have our being. ~ Acts 17:28
**
Just as Jesus must get down into the molecules to physically heal us, He also infiltrates via Holy Spirit our very consciousness to nudge us along. Our text seems to be that kind of insight that God gave to Paul. This little “revelation” is part of our peace.
We often hear that “self-awareness” is a good thing, but it can also be a detriment. To say to yourself “I am maturing at this very moment” or “I must analyze this joy I am experiencing” is to interrupt the purity and wonder of the experience. Don’t sully the “happening” of the thing.
Again, this is part of our peace. Indeed, we can leave it in God’s hands. This is especially true, regarding our letting God transform us via Holy Spirit. It is a long process to be transformed into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).
When we accept Jesus and simply seek to follow Him, He will see to it that in that progress “we live and move and have our being,” therefore transforming into His image. F. B. Meyer said, “The deepest and best work of Holy Spirit does not announce itself to the newspaper; it steals upon a life like spring steals upon a forest.”
~ Chuck Bassett
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BE READY TO ACT!
We have had several post scriptures and videos concerning the end times, predictions for the future, noted men & women of Bible Prophecy, and in particular quotes from the book of Revelations, etc. First of all, I do not have an issue with this at all, but I want us all to stay focused on two very important things.
1. Jesus is the way & we need to fellowship with Him daily.
2. We must stay ready and prepared for His soon return.
As for the book of Revelations, it is the revelation of JESUS CHRIST. God gave this only to Jesus & it was by the WILL of the Heavenly Father that Jesus chose to share it with us and whoever he desires.There is a Holy Digression in the very first verse. God to Jesus to his angel & then to John.
THE BOOK REVEALS JESUS TO US!!!!!
We see in John's writings that he involves the past, present, and the future. Verse 19 is Jesus' "DIRECT COMMANDMENT" for John to write of past, present, and future events. THIS IS THE ONE MAIN KEY TO STUDYING THE BOOK OF REVELATION!
So, remember, that the main theme of the Book of Revelations is not the Great Tribulation, nor the Rapture of the Church, nor the battles, or the judgement~~~~~IT IS JESUS!
For a better understanding of the book of Revelations enroll in the University of the Holy Ghost. I can honestly say, the sweet Holy Spirit has helped me more in understanding Bible Prophecy than other men & all the classes I have taken on a doctorate. Spend time in the WORD- not the theories of others!
Remember that Phil. 2:9-10 tells us that His name is above every name & at His name every knee shall bow, beings in Heaven, beings on earth, and being under the earth, and EVERY tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the Glory of God my Father! And, ALL authority hath been given unto me in Heaven and on earth!!!!
MY ADVICE~~~~~~stop worrying about when the Lord is coming back, quit spending hours on end reading what others are saying, have said & will continue to say about prophecy AND~~~
GO OUT AND MAKE DISCIPLES!!!!!!! Time to act now- souls are dying~~
LEAD THEM TO THE CROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pastor Don D. Hargrave
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MOVEABLE TEMPLE
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Yes, this passage is in the context of forbidding Christians’ committing sexual immorality. However, as is true in much of Scripture, there is a broader application, if we are willing to ponder it. True, just as you would be appalled at a church temple turned into a brothel and since our bodies are temples of Holy Spirit, we should be appalled at any promiscuous sexuality in a Christian, beginning with a prerequisite determination by our very selves. However, if our bodies are temples (other versions: “sanctuaries,” “houses of God,” etc.), then we are movable temples, akin to the Wilderness Tabernacle, which was moved from place to place, at God’s leading.
One could say that missionaries are prime examples of this. They offer their bodies as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1), willing to move their “temples” to wherever God directs. However, are we not all missionaries? Unless we are completely disabled, we do not sit still and expect to minster exclusively from our couch; we go into the community to witness and serve, thus offering our body, as well as our spirit and soul, to go—Spirit-filled—to wherever our Lord leads. The Old Testament Jews were fixated on the notion that God’s glory resided exclusively in the Jerusalem temple, so when they were taken into exile, they wept and longed to return to God’s temple (Psalm 137:1). However, read Ezekiel 1. God’s glory came to them in their exile. We should likewise be instruments of transport for God’s glory to let Him, through us, “seek” and “save” those who are lost (Luke 19:10).
~ Chuck Bassett
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NEEDS ASSESSMENT
When He [Jesus] saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ~ Matthew 9:36
**
We secretly or boastfully pride ourselves in our self-sufficiency. If we have an ounce of insight, we realize that the world owes us nothing and that we must take initiative to help not only ourselves but also our families. However, all of us run up against situations when the solution is completely beyond us. We look around for that good Samaritan who can get us out of the ditch and get us to a safe place of provision. Solomon observed, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).
Creator God has worked into the mix of humanity the need for other-reliance. Sooner or later, we will need the help of a family member or friend or co-worker or church member or government agency or benevolent organization. If we are sensitive enough, this leads us to recognize the need for our Creator God, Who is also our Redeemer God. Yes, He is Jehovah-Jireh, “the God Who provides,” but what we most importantly need is a Savior in our helpless state of sin. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).
Our text reveals the heart of our Redeemer God, Jesus Christ. God does not just love; He is love (1 John 4:8). He cannot not love because love is as essential to Him as our souls are essential to our essence. He had compassion on the crowd because He, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11), loved His seemingly helpless sheep. Therefore, He did not just teach them and feed them: He died for them. “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
~ Chuck Bassett
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THE WITNESS OF CHRIST'S GRACE IN US
Jesus: “Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” ~ Matthew 5:41
Here is another revolutionary statement dropped amidst the jaw-dropping commands of the Sermon on the Mount. As I understand it, the history behind this command is this: Roman soldiers, walking along the road, could command a non-Roman citizen to carry his gear for a mile. It was a law, and refusal to comply could result in arrest. Obviously, it was one of many distasteful Romans laws, but the Jews complied because they were essentially slaves, though they would never admit it (John 8:33). Here, Christ says, “Not only should you comply with the law, but you should go beyond the law.” Some in the mountainside crowd surely sneered at this command by Christ.
This is Jesus’ teaching on the life of grace before saving grace was given. They would remember this great sermon later, after they were born again, and realize that He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). Our text is kin to turning the other cheek and giving also your shirt to him who takes your coat (Luke 6:29). Jesus commands us to do what we and others would say is “distasteful,” even “impossible,” to show them and us that His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9). Living life by such grace should draw attention to us, who then point to Jesus, even as John the Baptist did.
~ Chuck Bassett
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The Day of the Lord
Joel 1-3 - The minor prophets used this term, “The day of the LORD,” frequently. Joel uses it five times in this brief book. He begins by speaking of a terrible plague of locusts which has either just happened or is soon to occur. The prophets were so sure that God’s predictions would come true that they sometimes spoke of the future as if it already happened. The day of the Lord is a great day of judgment, either within history or at the end of history. This plague is a day of the Lord, a reminder that God comes suddenly in judgment, a foretaste of that ultimate judgment day which stands at the end of history.
The proclamation of the day of judgment is always a call to repentance. God will spare from the impending disaster those who come to him in the right spirit. It is not too late now, but unless action is taken at once, suddenly it will be too late. “‘Yet even now,’ says the LORD, ‘return to me with all your heart . . . and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful” (2:12-13). Have you done so? The fact that there is a day of the Lord demands a clear-cut decision on our part now, and then to live a life which proves it.
Father, draw many people to Christ before it is forever too late. Use us as instruments of salvation through our words and deeds.
~ Words of Hope
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Important Scriptures and things to Watch:
Do not be deceived! The time is approaching for our Lord to Claim His Bride. Be Ye Ready.
Daniel 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
2Thess 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
There is still very little repentance from the church and there is very little time left. There is so much pure evil in the earth, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah - what makes us think we are any better than they with all that is taking place in the world today.
2Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
Ezekiel 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
We will pray for Israel, America, and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in America and believers.
Joel 1:14,15 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
God's People must Pray as Never Before! We must get back to the old paths - holiness has gone out of the window. Pray people pray!
~ Betty Rbinson Lester
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You Will Not Have Time to Pray
I will Love You Lord , more with each passing day. Teach me Lord, for I have much to learn. I have read the book and this much I know: Your Promises are Yea and Amen! This tells me that every Promise in the Book is Mine, Every Verse. Every Line. I can believe in His Promises. I believe in the Promise that He is Coming Back just Like He Said He Would. Repent, O Sinner - Know you not that He will Come as a Thief in the Night,
You will not Have Time to Pray.
~ Betty Robinson Lester
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Keep on the Firing Line for Jesus!
During my 84 short years on this earth, I have seen the Holiness Movement go from "everything is wrong" to "anything goes". The way I see it now is that the greatest need of the modern church is a return to power in the pulpit. Please note how a dear friend and mentor, B. H. Clendennen, relates it: "As the preacher goes, so goes the church; as the church goes so goes the nation; as the nation goes so goes the world." So, when you look at the condition our schools and our country is in, don't blame our Politician's, but place the blame where it belongs. When our pulpits became soft on sin and compromised with the world, what else are we to expect? Men of God must preach the unadulterated Word of God regardless of the consequences. My friends, we must keep on the firing line for Jesus as His return draws nigh!
~ Jack H. Kirkland
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Who Gets the Credit
Read: Deuteronomy 8:1-2, 11-20
Remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart. (v. 2)
The 40-year desert ordeal was nearing an end. Moses admonished the people to pause: “Look back & recall how God has led you. Look upon the ways He has humbled you, admonished you & disciplined you. Remember the God who has blessed you.
Just look at the blessings you have had.
• He brought you out.
• He led you through the terrifying wilderness.
• He protected you from fiery serpents and scorpions.
• He quenched burning thirst with water from a barren rock.
• He fed you with the celestial bread of angels.
“All to humble you.
Beware that you do not attribute these blessings to your own abilities & efforts. You did nothing to earn God's blessings, it was only through His grace. He desired that you recognize that it was Your loving Father who was responsible for every gift, every provision. Don’t hesitate to recognize that. Give Him the credit & offer Him the thanks.”
In like manner, as we journey forward in our lives, God is looking for humble, obedient, submissive, grateful & worshipping hearts. These are the ones He has covenanted to bless.
~ Betty robinson Lester
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Our Love Can’t Blot Out Sin
1Peter 4:8
Peter tells us that "Love covers a multitude of sins"
He echoes the proverb, "Hatred stirs up strife but love covers all sins" (Proverbs 10:12).
Some think that one person's love can blot out another person's sin. The only love that can cover sin in that sense, is the love of Jesus Christ. His love led him to the cross, where he shed his blood that sins repented of might be blotted out (Matthew 26:28, John 3:16, Acts 3:18-19, Revelation 7:14).
Your love and my love has no power to blot out sin, or to modify the conditions under which any person's sin may be forgiven. Only the blood of Jesus can blot out sin.
However, love is not a carpet under which to sweep people’s sin. Love isn't like a pretty green creeper that grows over, and hides, the rubbish people have thrown down. Rather it is a light which can reveal sin and lead a sinner to God’s love, mercy, and grace. But your love cannot do the thing which only the Saviour's love can do.
Your love and my love can help sinners to face their sins and repent. Only in that way can the multitude of sins be covered, not by turning a blind eye. This is exactly what James tells us, and here is a good example of how we should interpret one passage with another passage, letting the Bible be its own interpreter. James says, "He who turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins" (James 5:20).
~ Ron Graham!
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Stop Waiting
We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough, and we'll be more content when they are.
After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our partner gets his or her act together when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice holiday, when we retire.
The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when?
Your life will always be filled with challenges.
It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.
A quote comes from Alfred D. Souza. He said,
"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."
This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.
So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time...and remember that time waits for no one.
So, stop waiting until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until winter, until your song comes on, until you've had a drink.... there is no better time than right now to be happy.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching.
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MIRACLE OF THE LEVELING
Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. ~ Isaiah 40:4
Our conversion may have been so dramatic that we expect the entire Christian life to be filled with exhilarating experiences. However, we soon realize that our conversion is meant, among other things, to give us a new perspective on the humdrum. When we read our Bible, we will not always get exciting revelations, but our soul is being fed a steady diet of what it needs. When we pray for people to be healed, we will not always see miraculous healings, though our praying for them and ministering to them give us a deeper understanding of our roles as intercessors and lovers of souls. When we are baptized or when we take communion or when we rededicate ourselves to the Lord, we will not always reach the ecstasy of the Mount of Transfiguration, but we are reminded of the depth both of our Lord’s commitment to us and of our commitment to Him.
Our text speaks of a miracle. God can level our lives so that we do not depend upon mountaintop experiences or despair in our valleys of trials. This is one of the many benefits of the Lord which we should not forget (Psalm 103:1-6). Our lives will be unnecessarily disappointing if we demand unceasing chains of ecstasy. Jesus will teach us joys amidst the mundane, as well as peace in the commonplace. In writing to a friend on occasion of her confirmation, C. S. Lewis penned, “don’t count on any remarkable sensations, either at this or your first (or fifty first) Communion. God gives these or not as He pleases. Their presence does not prove that things are especially well, nor their absence that things are wrong. The intention, the obedience, is what matters.”
~ Chuck Bassett
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Judaism 101
In Crown Heights, there was a Jew, Yankel, who owned a bakery. He survived the camps. He once said, “You know why it is that I’m alive today? I was a kid, just a teenager at the time. We were on the train, in a boxcar, being taken to Auschwitz. Night came and it was freezing, deathly cold, in that boxcar. The Germans would leave the cars on the side of the tracks overnight, sometimes for days on end without any food, and of course, no blankets to keep us warm,” he said. “Sitting next to me was an older Jew – this beloved elderly Jew - from my hometown I recognized, but I had never seen him like this. He was shivering from head to toe, and looked terrible. So I wrapped my arms around him and began rubbing him, to warm him up. I rubbed his arms, his legs, his face, his neck. I begged him to hang on. All night long; I kept the man warm this way. I was tired, I was freezing cold myself, my fingers were numb, but I didn’t stop rubbing the heat on to this man’s body. Hours and hours went by this way. Finally, night passed, morning came, and the sun began to shine. There was some warmth in the cabin, and then I looked around the car to see some of the other Jews in the car. To my horror, all I could see were frozen bodies, and all I could hear was a deathly silence.
Nobody else in that cabin made it through the night – they died from the frost. Only two people survived: the old man and me… The old man survived because somebody kept him
warm; I survived because I was warming somebody else…”
Let me tell you the secret of Judaism. When you warm other people’s hearts, you remain warm yourself. When you seek to support, encourage and inspire others; then you discover support, encouragement and inspiration in your own life as well. That, my friends, is “Judaism 101”.
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THE IMMUTABLE TRUTH
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance. ~ Psalm 33:12
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Modernism has its pitfalls. Many say that the Bible could not foresee technology, the world banking system, new philosophy, etc. They say we are too “sophisticated” for simplistic, outdated Biblical principles. However, let’s be reminded of the origin of the word “sophisticated”—"1350-1400; Middle English (adj. and v.) < Medieval Latin sophisticātus (past participle of sophisticāre to tamper with, disguise, trick with words), equivalent to Latin sophistic(us) (see sophistic) + -ātus -ate. Do you see that—"to tamper with, disguise, trick with words” (dictionary. com).
No, it is more than mere etymology or semantics. Sophistication is not the only siren call away from Biblical living. No doubt, the modern world is in an international mess, increasingly so as the decades pass. We are headed, full-throttle toward the horrid years of the Tribulation. (See Revelation 4—19.) Bloodshed will rule the day, unless the peoples awaken to the call of Jesus to delay those days for a while. If not, here is the result: ‘“The Lord will roar from on high; He will thunder from His holy dwelling and roar mightily against His land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth. The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the Lord will bring charges against the nations; He will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword,’ declares the Lord.”
At the very least, each one of us must go back to the Scriptures, the Book of books, the very Word of God. If nations mock our repentance and devotion to Christ, then God will show mercy to us individually. However, our text is still true: The nation who makes Christ its God is blessed; but if the nation, in the main, rejects Him and suffers judgment, the individuals who make Christ their God and Lord will be blessed immensely and will be shown great mercy.
~ Chuck Bassett
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Pharisees and Followers
Matthew 15-18 - The Pharisees appear frequently in the Gospels. Their original purpose had been good. In the period between the Old and New Testaments, the great threat to true religion was the infiltration of pagan Greek culture in the life of God’s people.
The Pharisees emerged as first-century theological conservatives and sought to maintain the true faith. But they used the wrong method, that of emphasizing obedience to the letter of all of their traditions, so that by the time Jesus arrived on the scene they were legalistic and hypocritical. They are severely criticized by Jesus, and we are not to be like them in their faults. Rather, we are to be like the Gentile woman of humble faith (15:28). Significantly, the Sadducees, who were theological liberals in their day and the enemies of the Pharisees, yet team up with them in their opposition to Jesus.
Unlike them, the disciples are led to confess, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (16:16). Jesus reveals to his followers that a true disciple must “deny himself and take us his cross and follow me” (16:24). Here is a paradox: only those willing to lose even their lives for Christ will experience what true life really is. Among his followers are those to whom he reveals himself in a special way, in the transfiguration (17:2), so that they will be able to deal with difficulties.
Being a disciple involves experiencing Christ’s glory but also the willingness to forgive (18:22).
~ Betty Robinson Lester
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Facing the Judgment Day
Zephaniah - Zephaniah also speaks about the day of the Lord, which anticipates the day of judgment that falls upon a nation within history and the final judgment day. Zephaniah emphasizes the nearness of that day. “The day of the LORD is at hand” (1:7) and “The great day of the LORD is near” (v. 14). We do not know when the final judgment will come. But there is a judgment at death which will come to each of us within the relatively few years of our lives.
How can we be ready? Zephaniah tells us how not to be ready. “At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are thickening upon their lees, those who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill’” (1:12). What is “thickening upon their lees”? In wine making, the lees was the solid matter at the bottom of the container. If the wine stayed in contact with it too long, it would have a bad taste. The Israelites tasted bad to God because they were complacent. They said that since God does not judge, it doesn’t matter how you live.
Zephaniah also tells us how to prepare. “Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his commands; seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the wrath of the LORD” (2:3). How thankful we can be that the “perhaps” is turned to certainty through Christ. Trusting in him we can be sure we will be accepted by God.
~ Betty Robinson Lester
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NEW EYES, NEW EARS
Jesus: “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” ~ Matthew 13:15
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When one is in darkness—that is, on the unbelieving side of salvation—voices heralding Jesus Christ seem faint and distant. When one is in light—that is, on the believing side of salvation—voices heralding doubt in Jesus Christ seem faint and distant. This is not to say that slivers of hope never pierce the darkness and increase the decibel of the Gospel occasionally or that shades of doubt never fall upon the light of our faith and slip some momentary dulling doubt into the certainty of faith in some circumstances.
The Big Picture is that salvation is secured by Jesus. Once in your life, He is responsible for the eternity of your salvation. No one can be unborn, and the uncreated life in you—Holy Spirit—can never die, since He is eternal. The Lord changes your Operating System, if you will. In being a “new creation” or a “new creature” in Christ, you are born into a brand-new line of creation. Therefore, Paul can say, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). This (at least, partially) explains why you receive new vision (John 3:3; Hebrews 11:1; 2 Corinthians 4:6) and new hearing (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 28; 3:13, 22) when you are born again.
~ Chuck Bassett
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Good News
"For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless."(Psalm 84:11)
What do you need from the Lord today ? You may be thinking, “I’m not perfect. How can I have a blameless walk?” The Good News is, when you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you automatically have a new, blameless walk. The past is erased in God’s eyes. Sure, you may make mistakes from time to time, but 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Understand today that God wants to pour His favor and honor on you. If you feel like there is anything in your life that you need to be cleansed from, go to the Father today and confess it to Him. Let Him make you new so that you can receive the good things He has in store for you!
-Have faith in The Lord Jesus Christ.
God bless you in Jesus' name. Amen.
~ Betty Robinson Lester
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GOD IS WAITING!!!
He is waiting for you to ask for his power and grace!
He is waiting for you to ACT on His Word!
He is waiting for you to include Him in your daily schedule!
He is waiting for you to realize that prayer is the one power on earth that brings to you the power from Heaven!
He is waiting for the meditation of your heart to be pleasing in His sight!
He is waiting for you to release your selfish desires!
He is waiting for you to earnestly seek Him!
He is waiting for He craves your fellowship!
He is waiting for you to be "Alone with Him."
He is waiting for your COMPLETE surrender!
He is waiting for you to realize that prayer changes your circumstances!
He is waiting for you to PRAISE Him!
He is waiting for you to pray EXPECTING!!!!!!
He is waiting for you to stand on His promises!
He is waiting to FILL YOU UP!!!!
He is waiting for you to hear His heart beat!
He is waiting for you to embrace Holiness!
He is waiting to heal your land!
He is waiting for you to approach the throne in bold confidence!
He is waiting for your total OBEDIENCE!!
HE IS WAITING!
HE IS WAITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~ Betty Robinson Lester
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JESUS SAID "FOLLOW ME
A lady went to the Pastor of her church and said... I won't be attending Church anymore..
He said, may I ask why??
She said, I see people on their cell phones texting and typing during the service, some are gossiping, some just ain't living right, some are sleeping, some are staring at me, they are all just hypocrites...
The Pastor got silent, and then he said, OK... But can I ask you to do something for me before you make your final decision?
She said, sure, what's that?
He said, take a glass of water and walk around the Church 2 times and don't let any water fall out the glass.
She said, yes I can do that! And went and got the glass of water.
She came back and said it's done. Proudly.
He asked her these questions:
1. Did you see anybody on their phone?
2. Did you see anybody gossiping?
3. Was anybody living wrong?
4. Did you see anyone sleeping?
She said, I didn't see anything because I was so focused on this glass, so the water wouldn't fall.
He told her, when you come to Church , you should be just that focused on God , so that YOU don't fall.
THAT'S WHY JESUS SAID "FOLLOW ME,"!!!
He did not say follow Christians.
Don't let your relationship with God be determined by how others relate with God.
Let it be determined by how focused you are on God.
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Why Can’t I Stop Doing Wrong?
Sin always involves self-deception. At the moment you’re sinning, you’re deceiving yourself because you think that what you’re doing will actually produce better results than what God has already told you to do.
To stop defeating yourself, you must stop deceiving yourself. You’ve got to take an honest look at your life, face the truth, and deal with the issues. What is it in your life you’re pretending isn’t a problem? What is it in your life you’re pretending you’re not addicted to? What is it in your life you’re saying “It’s no big deal” about?
It really doesn’t matter whether you’re shooting heroin or running up your MasterCard, whether you’re reading pornography or a trashy novel. You’re using it all to try to escape from your pain and your sin. But you’re not going to get healing until you first acknowledge the root of your problem.
You don’t have to hit rock bottom before you really change. There are wake-up calls going on all around you right now, and you’re not listening to them. Instead, you’re headed on the path toward destruction.
But you don’t have to go that way. You can acknowledge the root of the issue and deal with it.
I’ve asked the professional counselors in our church, “What’s the biggest problem you encounter?” They say over and over, “People wait too long before they ask for help. Then it’s almost impossible to turn around.” There will be warning signs all over the place in a marriage, and then all of a sudden the husband or wife walks out. The one that’s left behind asks, “What can I do now?” Not a whole lot. You should have been working on it sooner. Most people are in denial and wait until it’s too late, and they go through unnecessary pain.
The Bible says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8 NIV).
What are the hard questions you need to be asking about the sin in your life? What are the warning signs you’ve been ignoring?
If you want healing, you’ve got to acknowledge the root of your problem. You’ve got to face the truth about you.
~ James Lester
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DAILY TRAINING
…rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. ~ 1 Timothy 4:7-9
One of the great mistakes we can make in the Christian life is to ignore what God intends for daily training and to wait for the “big things” when we recognize them. It is a sobering revelation when we fail because we realize that we cannot turn God’s power and grace on-and-off like a light switch. No, we must nurture our relationship with Him daily so that, when the crisis or challenge comes, we simply continue in our mature grace, with no desperation.
Look around you. Be aware. “Watch and pray.” Our Lord is training us in the little things, in the seemingly mundane tasks, in the inglorious, innocuous, daily challenges. He is building a faith and a testimony in us. He is preparing us for the future if we will heed. Can God trust me with a big challenge so that His grace is on display? Will I stumble or crumble in the crisis because I did not train daily? Just as an athlete’s daily training prepares him for competition, seeking the Lord daily and being sensitive and responsive to daily challenges prepare us to be “more than conquerors through Him Who loved us” (Romans 8:37).
~ Chuck Bassett
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ITS ORIGIN AND DESTINATION
Now on the final and most important day of the Feast, Jesus stood, and He cried in a loud voice, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water.’” ~ John 7:37-38, Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
Taken at face value, this passage in isolation begs two mysteries: both the origin and the destination of the living water. The succeeding verse clears up the former mystery, for the living water is the Spirit that was unleashed on the day of Pentecost and that has been flowing ever since. The latter mystery is solved by Jesus’ final marching orders to His followers: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Flowing water from a limitless source is powerful and effective. It can change the landscape and can nourish the soil around it. How much more powerful and effective should living water be? Unless believers are damming up the flow, God’s Spirit should be making and leaving its mark in a fallen world. A loose-living woman trudged to a well, only to find living water from its Source, Jesus Himself (John 4:4-26). I heard a preacher once say, “If you are allowing living water to flow from you, people around you ought to be getting wet.”
~ Chuck Bassett
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The Rapture
1Thess 4:16-17: For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Rapture is Biblical.
NO, Rapture is not a word used in the Bible...
The Bible was first written in Latin and the Latin word used for rapture is ‘rapturo’. The Bible was then translated to Greek and the word used is ‘harpazo’ meaning ‘to seize upon by force’ or ‘to snatch up’. Finally the Bible was translated into English and the word used for rapture is ‘caught up’.
Almost all words in our English Bible are translations from Hebrew, Latin and Greek expressions, and are, therefore, not in the Bible in the form we know them. ‘God’ is a proper and meaningful translation of certain words in the original languages, and ‘Jesus’ is a good translation for us of His name (Yeshua, ‘Joshua’, ‘The Lord Saves’ in Hebrew). In the same way, the English word ‘rapture’ which means ‘to be caught up’ is an excellent translation for the Latin ‘rapturo’, Greek ‘harpazo’.
Just because The Holy Bible does not use the word rapture, it does not mean that rapture is untrue.
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What Will It Take
What will it take for conviction to fall upon sinners and lukewarm Christians alike? Do we have to wait until we are stricken with Cancer? Maybe we are waiting until our Finances fail? Maybe we are waiting until we can break a Habit, if we are waiting, we will never do this within ourselves!! We can be delivered by the Holy Spirit of the Living God, He will set you free, when you desire it with all your heart. Yes, you can lay those cigarettes down! Yes, you can lay those drugs down! But we must be willing to walk in faith and to be totally and completely delivered by the Power of God. Are you afraid of what God might call you to do if you yield to Him? Well, anything heaven has to offer is better than going to a devil's hell!
~Betty Robinson Lester
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JESUS NEVER HAD TO PROVE HIMSELF TO ANYONE!
Matt. 7:6
NEITHER DO YOU!!!
Stay focused and seek the face of the Lord! Usually the haters and complainers cannot deal with their own failures. If they constantly bombard
you with unnecessary issues, it time to move on. They are usually disheartened people who constantly fail & blame it on the Lord. They are hurting inside and certainly need your prayers, but not your focus. Your focus should always be on Jesus and His love for you.
Proverbs 14:7 "Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou percievest not in him the lips of knowledge."
Your strength and maturity in Christ will help you to know when it is time to move away. Do not fall into the trap of endless arguments- there are usually no winners. You win when you seek the Lord, obey His will, and pray without ceasing.
~ Pastor Don D. Hargrave
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Don't Brag About It
“We have done what was our duty.”
Luke 17:10 (NKJV)
If you have a tendency to remind people of all the good things you do and the sacrifices you make, read what Jesus said: “When you have done all those things which you are commanded, say…‘We have done what was our duty to do.’” We all deserve recognition for the good we do, and we thrive on appreciation. But lots of times we don’t get it, so we’re left with three choices: (1) We can succumb to self-pity and go around complaining about how the world doesn’t treat us right or give us a fair shake. (2) We can give way to resentment, walk around with a chip on our shoulder, and end up wondering why people don’t want to be around us. (3) We can adopt the attitude Jesus taught and say, “I’m only doing what God expects of me. And knowing He is pleased with me is reward enough.” If you try to run on the fuel of other people’s encouragement and praise, when it doesn’t come you’ll have no joy. And that’s bad because “the joy of the Lord [the joy that comes from knowing you walk under the smile of His approval] is your strength” (Ne 8:10). Living this way will make you a self-starter and a successful finisher. And when that happens, you’ll find favor at home and on the job, and end up with more friends than you know what to do with. Plus your real reward, the one that matters most, is guaranteed when you stand before the Master one day and hear the words: “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Mt 25:23).
~ Shawnette Brown
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Fellowship with God Forever!
Praise God, we are not permanent citizens of this world, I am reminded today that we are aliens passing through a world full of sorrow and grief. God made a beautiful paradise for Adam and Eve, but in the garden they failed and because of that mankind was doomed to one day die.
We have been given however a free moral choice of what we want to do, we can remain a Sinner or we can be Born Again by the Blood of the Lamb and live forever with the Lord. We are Born into Sin but we do not have to Remain that way. Jesus paid the Price for our Redemption, He chose to die on Calvary's Cross so that We could go Free, that we could Inherit Eternal Life with Our Lord, instead of going to a devil's Hell. We were not meant for Hell, we were meant to Fellowship with God forever!
~ Betty robinson Lester
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This Day
There is a "true chart" that insurance companies use to tell how many people out of a hundred will live to age 60, 70, or even 20 or 30 years of age.
The chart tells how many will live to a certain age, but it CAN'T tell you WHO will live or die.
Math-How many people die every second ?
Answer:
1.8 People die each second! Now lets work this out! 1.8 x 60 Seconds = 108 People per minute : So 108 x 60 Minutes = 6,461 People per hour 6461 x 24 Hours = 155,060 People per day.
Time is running out for someone every second of every hour, every day.
Set the record right...... get right and get on the Heavenly record-The Lamb's Book of Life.
You don't have to be old to die, you don't have to be sick to die.
Tomorrow is no guarantee. Plan your future with God.
I shall be His " in that day ", You shall be His "in that day "; If...If...If...He is thine in "this day ".
We can't expect Him to acknowledge us "in that day " if we deny Him "in this day ".
Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords. Glory to His name!
~ John and Dawn Jones
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Unbelief
The greatest weakness in the world is unbelief. The greater power is the faith that worketh by love. Love, mercy and grace bind faith. The world is filled with fear, torment, remorse, and brokenness, but faith and love are sure to overcome. "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" (I John 5:5).
Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory...even our faith" (I John 5:4) He who believeth -- to believe is to overcome. He is the root! In Him is life. When we receive Christ, we receive God and the promises (Galatians 3:29), that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. I am heir to all the promises because I believe. A great heirship! I overcome because I believe the truth. The truth makes me free.
~ BettyRobinsonLester
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GROWING IN FAITH THROUGH TRIALS OF LIFE
Let us not grow weary in well doing when the trials of life come our way. One thing is for certain, our faith in God will be tested by satan thousands of times during our lifetime. Satan will fight us, the world will oppose us, and this means a life of constant battles as a person of God. Satan wants you in hell with him! We as followers of God must develop a strong faith by reading the Word of God. God gave us His Word to strengthen us through the trials of life. We must feed on the Word to nourish us and give us power.
The foundation of our faith should be built on love, love for our God and love for those around us. Jesus loves should flow through you to the world around you. The trials we face are not punishments – it is to help you grow and produce fruit. Without the trials of life, how would we grow strong and develop the skills to cope with the hardships that come. God knows what trials, experiences, and blessings you need to grow spiritually in life. We must live out God’s will no matter what trials come our way. The Word of God stands ready to help you grow strong in faith and endurance.
Remember, a person is a slave to whatever controls them! Learn to obey what God’s Word instructs you to do.
Jesus said in John 14: 15, “If you love me, show it by doing what I have told you.” It is not the hearers of the Word who are righteous before God, but the doers of the Word who will reap God’s blessings. Trials are going to come our way and God and His Word stands ready to help you through those trials. Choose God and His instructions.
~ Betty Robinson Lester
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A LAYMAN'S TEN COMMANDMENTS
Must read and try to understand the deep meaning of it.
They are like the ten commandments to follow in life all the time.
1] Prayer is not a "spare wheel" that you pull out when in trouble, but it is a "steering wheel" that directs the right path.
2] Why is a Car's WINDSHIELD so large & the Rear view Mirror so small? Because our PAST is not as important as our FUTURE. So, Look Ahead and Move on.
3] Friendship is like a BOOK. It takes few seconds to burn but it takes years to write.
4] All things in life are temporary.. If going well, enjoy them, they will not last forever. If going wrong, don't worry, they don't last forever. Joy comes in the Morning.
5] Old Friends are Gold! New Friends are Diamonds! If you get a Diamond, don't forget the Gold! Because to hold a Diamond, you always need a Base of Gold!
6] Often when we lose hope and think this is the end, GOD smiles from above and says, "Relax, it's just a bend, not the end!
7] When GOD solves your problems, you have faith in HIS abilities; when GOD doesn't solve your problems, HE has faith in your abilities.
8] A blind person asked St. Anthony: "Can there be anything worse than losing eye sight?" He replied: "Yes, losing your vision!"
9] When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them and when you are safe and happy, remember someone has prayed for you.
10] WORRYING does not take away tomorrow's TROUBLES, it takes away today's PEACE.
~ Betty Robinson Lester
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Lord of the Nations
Jeremiah 46–48 - The prophets are very sure that God is not only the Lord of the individual but also of the nations. Here Jeremiah receives messages from God concerning the nations which surround Judah. The first message is about Egypt, the nation in whom Judah often put her trust, rather than trusting God. Egypt will be defeated by the Babylonians who will later invade their land. This event is seen as “the day of the Lord” (46:10), a phrase used especially by the minor prophets to describe God’s judgments both within and at the end of history.
Through the prophets, the Lord would often give descriptive names to people. Here Pharaoh is called “Noisy one who lets the hour go by” (46:17). Let us be sure that our use of our time will be such that this will not describe us. Having spoken of the downfall of Egypt, Judah is assured that while other nations will come to an end, she will not, a promise which is fulfilled in the church being the new Israel.
The Philistines are also told that they will fall to the Babylonians, described as “waters . . . rising out of the north” (47:2). Moab will also fall “because you trusted in your strongholds and your treasures” (48:7) and “because he magnified himself against the LORD” (v. 26). Historical events are seen to be the results of attitudes toward God. Father, help us to see that you are Lord both of the individual and of the nations.
~ Words of Hope.
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Child of the Most High God
"Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 'Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.'"(1 Kings 17:2-4)
As a child of the Most High God, your steps are ordered by Him. He has a specific place of blessing prepared for you. When you live a life of obedience to the Word of God, He promises to supply every one of your needs. Just as God directed Elijah to his place of blessing, God is directing you, too. He’s aligning the right opportunities for you and causing the right people to come along your path to help you get ahead. He’s constantly working behind the scenes on your behalf. But you have to do your part to keep your heart open by following His Word and keeping an attitude of faith and expectancy. Today, choose peace, choose obedience and choose the place of blessing.
~Betty Robinson Lester
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Favored by God
I am Highly Favored of God. He has woke me up this morning with Heaven on my mind. He is my redeemer and I know He lives. I know in whom I have believed and I know He will keep me until the blessed day I go home to be with Him forever more. Thank you Lord for every good thing you do for me each and every day, thank you for paying for my salvation and healing as you took the cruel beating and hang on an old rugged tree so that I could be redeemed from the curse and could walk one day in God's sweet Heaven forever more. You are indeed my everything and you are my all. You are the Lily of my Valley, you are my Bright and Morning Star, you are the Fairest of Ten Thousand and you are everything to me. I love you Jesus.
~Betty Robinson Lester
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God Knows You
Christ takes away your sin, and in doing so, he takes away your commonness. You no longer need to say, “No one knows me” because God knows you! “LORD, you…know all about me,” David discovered. “You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them. You know where I go and where I lie down. You know everything I do…You are all around me…and have put your hand on me” (Psalm 139:1-3, 5).
God knows you and he is near you! See how these four words look taped to your bathroom mirror: “God is for me!” (Psalm 56:9). And his kingdom needs you to discover and deploy your unique skill. The poor need you; the lonely need you; the church needs you, the cause of God needs you. Get the word out. God is with us. We are not alone!
~ Max Lucado
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Phoniness
Christians have perfected phoniness ,to the point that they believe just confessing the right thing has the same power as Confessing with the Belief that it is truth to you, The power to make a thing manifest comes from true belief in what you are confessing, The next time you quote 1st Peter 2-24, ask your self, do I really believe that Healing is for me and it is manifesting in my life, If there is any doubt that you are really expecting your health to change then you can rest assured that it will not, You must believe what you are saying to make it a reality, Mark 11-24: The Word of God tells us that if we believe that we receive what we ask when we pray we shall have it, (If we believe)We are truly expecting a change!! We know that without a doubt that God will do what He has promised!!!!!) Then and only then will we see the manifestation!!!
~Mary Lancaster
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HOW WE TREAT EACH OTHER
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. ~ Matthew 7:12
Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over—will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” ~ Luke 6:38
Here are Beatitudes of Jesus from different Gospels. We may question how God “treats” us (e.g., unanswered prayers; allowing many trials; early deaths of family or friends; sickness; et.), but do we consider that God closely inspects how we “treat” others? All people are God’s creations, and those who have accepted Christ are His born-again children (John 1:12-13). We are, indeed, our brother’s keeper, and as Abel’s blood cried out from the ground to God for justice (Genesis 4:9-10), the harm we have done in treating others, in effect, cries out to God for justice.
Consider our latter text-verse, in view of the former. (Jesus was not just talking about money. Indeed, the verse previous, Luke 6:37, says, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”) If we treat others well, we can expect blessings to return to us abundantly. If we treat others badly, we should likewise expect to receive, in like kind, a good measure of unwanted recompense. An unbelieving world has recognized this phenomenon and fashioned the term “karma”; but it is a universal principle fashioned by Jesus, Who oversees the process. This should be a motivation for us to treat others well; it should be a restraint from our treating others badly.
~ Chuck Bassett
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Watching the Christians
Folks, this is our witness to people we know and people we see every day of our life. Don't you think for one minute that they are not watching the Christian, both unsaved and even those who say they are saved. They are watching your walk and your talk. They see when you make mistakes and then they can say UhOh! told you so!
When you get FULL of the HOLY GHOST - your TALK will match your WALK and you will not have to worry that you will do or say the wrong thing. Some (Christians) do not hesitate to use Slang Words that to me sound like another WORD for a CURSE Word or a GUTTER term, taking the place of what is in their heart and on their mind. If you are being Led of the Spirit of God, you will let your TALK and WALK identify with that of our LORD when He walked on the face of the earth.
Let's get it right Christian - let your life show forth HOLINESS and RIGHTEOUSNESS. This is what it will take to make it to HEAVEN.
~ Betty Robinson Lester
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God’s Grace
“Grace in the Eyes of God is a Blessing that is an Act of Divine Favor or Compassion because of His Great Love toward All People; Paul also called it Mercy. You are Captured and Held Prisoner of God's Love, Rather Than to be Cast into The Eternal Flame of Hell. Obtaining This Grace is to Agree and Accept God on HIS TERMS. Hebrews 2:3, 'How shall we Escape, if we Neglect so Great Salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by The Lord, and was Confirmed unto us by them that heard Him'. Grace is Truth! Truth in Living, Truth in Speech, Truth in Actions and Truth will be Confirmed by The Holy Spirit Living In You. Commanded Blessing all around You Everywhere You Go, Given Freely by The GOD that LIVES ETERNAL in the HEAVENS. Because of The Grace of God, there IS a way! MERCY can give you the Strength to Get Up and Walk Out of Any Situation."
~ Glenn Pierce
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Morally now!
This may be my most unpopular post I've ever written.
Before every great moral decline of a nation sin is first tolerated. This allows a new reformation of thinking to flood in which calls evil good and good evil until the masses redefine sin completely as good. Once sin has been redefined as being good, people feel they can participate in that sin with a clean conscious because they no longer face the burden of mass public rejection. Over time not only is sin tolerated, but because so many people are doing it, it becomes popular.
Once sin has become tolerated, and popular, it then moves on to being celebrated, because what's popular is always celebrated. Before every great moral decline of a nation sin is first tolerated. This allows a new reformation of thinking to flood in which calls evil good and good evil until the masses redefine sin completely as good. Once sin has been redefined as being good, people feel they can participate in that sin with a clean conscious because they no longer face the burden of mass public rejection. Over time not only is sin tolerated, but because so many people are doing it, it becomes popular.
~ Jordan Hardgrave
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God’s In Charge!
God orchestrates the steps and lives of all his children and he
does not allow anything to happen in us merely by happenstance
or fate. And, believe it or not, he has allowed your crisis. What
is he trying to tell you through it?
Like it or not, we are all in the process of changing in one way
or another. In the spiritual realm, there is no such thing as mere
existence; we are continually being changed, either for good or
for bad. We are either becoming more like our Lord or more like
the world, either growing in Christ or backsliding.
Are you becoming more sweet-spirited, more like Jesus? Are
you looking soberly in the mirror each day and praying, "Lord,
I want to conform to your image in every area of my life"? Or
has bitterness taken root, turning into rebellion and hardness of heart?
Let me plainly say that if you shield yourself from the convicting
Word of God and the voice of his Spirit, your life will become
more chaotic and your situation will worsen. I urge you to cry
out to the Lord honestly in prayer: "Change me, O God. Dig
deep within me and show me where I have failed and gone astray."
If you sincerely desire to be changed, God´s Word is full of
guidance and wisdom. If you will rely solely on the Holy Spirit,
he will unveil your eyes and you will begin to change in that very moment.
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LORD, HELP ME to LAY IT ALL DOWN
"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory
of the Lord, are being transformed [changed] into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Believers spend far too much time praying, "God, change my
circumstances; change my coworkers; change my family situation;change the conditions in my life." Yet we seldom pray the most important prayer: "Change me, Lord. I am the one who stands in need of prayer."
~ David Wilkerson
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Limits to Grace
Jeremiah 14-16 - God is gracious and longsuffering. For centuries he had been merciful to Israel in spite of constant backslidings and stubbornness. But now the time of judgment had come. Many people would like to believe that there are no limits to God’s grace, but both the Old and New Testaments tell us there are. In spite of how terribly they had treated him, Jeremiah prays fervently for the people in the midst of a devastating drought. But God tells Jeremiah to stop praying for them. He says that even if spiritual giants like Moses and Samuel were alive to pray for them, it would do no good (15:1). God said, “I am weary of relenting” (v. 6). Over and over, God had warned that destruction was coming because of sin. Again and again, he had relented and given them one more chance. But this is it! Now destruction is coming to Judah.
The people said, “Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us?” (16:10). God’s answer is, “Because your fathers have forsaken me . . . and because you have done worse than your fathers” (vv. 11-12). We rejoice in the love and mercy of God. But there is a danger that we take grace for granted, that in our eyes it becomes “cheap grace” as one theologian has said. Some say, “God will forgive, that’s his business.” But God only forgives if there is repentance; if not, punishment will come. Father, keep us from the complacent attitude that you take sin lightly.
~ Words of Hope.
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Just Be You
The apostle Paul said, “Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life” (Galatians 6:4-5).
Before Thomas Merton followed Christ, he followed money, fame and society. He shocked many of his colleagues when he exchanged it all for the life of a Trappist monk. Many years later a friend visited the monastery and could see no important difference in him. “Tom, he said, “you haven’t changed at all.” “Why should I? “Here,” he said, “our duty is to be more like ourselves, not less.”
God never called you to be anyone other than you. But he does call you to be the best you that you can be. The big question is, at your best, who are you?
~ Max Lucado
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“What if we were not in a body?
No one can achieve any of the attributes of God. What God gives us when He comes in us, is a free gift we must embrace, and be grateful for. A gift we walk in, as we explore it with our newborn spirit, as we learn who God truly is, and who He had made us be in Himself.
Every good gift is from above, from the Father of Lights. Every good gift is given to us to make us fruitful in all that we do. The greatest Gift again I said is the gift the Father gave us and that is His Son, the Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ.
Seek no more for great gifts. Know, as a child of God, that you have everything that you will ever need in Christ, who is in the Father.
~ Antoaneta Kolarova
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The Best Is Yet to Come
The theme changes from individual nations to the whole world. This seems to refer to the end of history. “The LORD will lay waste the earth” (24:1). Peter tells us in the New Testament that this old earth along with the heavens will be burned up (2 Peter 3). “On that day the LORD will punish” (Isa. 24:21). The New Testament tells us that at the end of the world will come the final judgment. “The LORD of hosts will reign” (v. 23). The New Testament tells us that at the end, the Lord will usher in his kingdom in all its fullness.
“He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces” (25:8 ESV). The book of Revelation reflects these words as it describes the heavenly life which shall be experienced by all who have been redeemed by Christ. In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: ‘We have a strong city’” (26:1). The book of Revelation speaks of the New Jerusalem where God’s people will dwell forever. “Your dead shall live, their bodies shall rise” (Isa. 26:19 ESV).
The New Testament tells us that at the end of the world there will be the resurrection of the dead. Yes, the best is yet to come. What is predicted in Isaiah is predicted in greater detail in the New Testament. You who are suffering, who are dealing with difficult problems, hold fast to your faith; the best is yet come.
~ Words of Hope.
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WHAT DO YOU NEED GOD TO DO FOR YOU TODAY?
2 Corinthians 1:20 - For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
Today, we can stand upon the Word of God. When all around is sinking sand, upon the solid rock I stand. He will never leave or forsake His children, but with every trial and temptation He will make a way of escape. The Word of God will not return unto Him void but will accomplish that which He pleases, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto He hath sent it. This is true according to Isaiah 55: 10,11.
Folks, the Word is dependable. Your friends might fail you, your crops might fail you, your boss might fail you. Your government might fail you, but God's Word is true and you can take it to the Bank. What do you NEED from HIM today?
The answer might be slow in coming as it was with Daniel. It took 21 days for the Angel to get the message to him, but it happened. DO not despair! God is faithful. Have Faith In Him Who Cannot Fail!!! If you prayed in faith and believed then the Answer is already on the way.
~ Betty Lester Robinson
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I HAVE A JESUS LIKE THAT
Who can speak the word, and the thing is done; I have a Jesus indwelling me and vitalizing me with a faith that believes it is true; I have a Jesus within me who has never let me go faint-hearted or weary. Let us press on in faith along the line of God's will, and the outpouring which we have longed to see will come. Cheer up, hold on, never let go the vision; be sure it is for you just as much as for anybody else, and God will surely make it come to pass. Never look down, because then you will only see the ground and miss the vision. All blessings come from above; therefore keep your eyes upon Jesus. Never weary. If you do not fall out by the way, He will strengthen you in the way. Hallelujah!
~ Smith Wigglesworth
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When You Have a Vision
Acts 26:19 (KJV)
Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
When God gives you a vision for your life, you need to know how to: (1) Hold it. Your vision is governed by a time frame: “The vision is…for an appointed time…though it tarry, wait for it” (Hab 2:3). Some of us can conceive a vision, but we can’t carry it to full term because we’re not willing to endure the stretching and discomfort involved. We rush ahead of God and our vision is stillborn, or too weak to survive. Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Jn 3:6). When your vision is born of the Spirit, it’ll be sustained by the Spirit. But when it’s born of the flesh, you’re on your own! (2) Hide it. It’s a mistake to share your vision with those who can’t appreciate it. Joseph did that, and he landed in a pit. Not everybody will celebrate your success, especially if your light shines brighter than theirs. So ask God for discernment. Judas may seem like your friend right now, but inevitably he’ll betray you. (3) Water it. Read these two Scriptures carefully and prayerfully: “David encouraged himself in the Lord” (1Sa 30:6); “Building up yourselves on your most holy faith” (Jude 20). You must know how to encourage and build yourself up spiritually and how to water your vision. God told Habakkuk, “Write the vision, and make it plain” (Hab 2:2). Write your vision on a three-by-five card and carry it with you. And start acting like the person you expect to be when it becomes reality—and it will!
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A Hearing Heart
I can't believe God ever intended for preaching to be replaced by performance. When people get addicted to style instead of the seed of Gods word, chances are they go to church to be impressed and awed by a great feel good speech. It is necessary in the life of Christians to hear from God and that requires a hearing heart. A hearing heart will develop your spirit to become more Christ like, and... that will empower you in faith to accomplish what He has called you do do.
Spending time with God in prayer and His word will produce an expectation to hear Him. The reason this is so important, when you hear Him you can take that word and speak it into your life. The word of God possesses the power to produce what it says. God said "Let there be light and there was light". Scriptures contains the capacity within them to bring to pass God's promises in every area of need.
Jesus showed us how to use the word when He was tempted of the devil. He said, "It is written". We will always struggle in doubt and fear as long as we speak defeat over our lives. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of the Lord". Just one word from God can change you whole circumstances of life.
~ Kenneth B Morgan
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Speaking of Words!
This is how strong Words can be. Our Lord Spoke this Universe into Existence by His Word! How much stronger can a Word be than that. God Said in Genesis 10 times and each time He spoke - Something Happened. You might say well, but that was God! He has denied us nothing! Everything that was available to Jesus is available to us today....He has given us power over all the powers of the Enemy!
Friends, you do not have to walk in defeat, you can walk in the Pow...er of Almighty God by using His Spoken Word....When we say GO....by the Authority given us by Jesus Christ - satan has to go & at the Name of Jesus - he has to bow....when will we ever learn "satan is not a mind reader, he only knows the thoughts we put in our minds & that is what he uses to defeat us with" Quit telling him what to do to you Saint....you are a Saint of the Most High God and you don't have to give to satan one inch....
Jesus defeated him when he went into the belly of the earth & fought him for 3 days & came up with the keys to death, hell and the grave....in other words - Jesus stripped him completely, left him completely helpless, you say well, he has power., WELL, he took it from you and me....every time we speak a negative word, we add fuel to the fire. So, be careful little tongue what you speak, Be careful little ears what you hear.....you do not have to fear a devil who trembles at the very Name of Jesus Christ. ~ Amen - Remember this the next time he backs you in a corner & tells you he is going to kill you .... ask him for time, place & hour .....you are MORE than an Overcomer thru the Blood of Jesus Christ
~ Betty Robinson Lester
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Don't Throw in the Towel
In REVIVAL VISION globally...we must never quit and keep pressing into the mission the Lord has called us to do. There are too many revivalists and forerunners who have thrown in the towel far too soon. Many have lost their burning fire and passion for Jesus. So many people have a lot left to give and also receive from God. We must never quit, never give up, but keep pressing into the things the Lord has for us. You must guard your private time with God. It is the No. 1 priority of your life. You have to stay focused. Remember what you are called to and walk in that calling today.
God has called and is calling many to be revivalists in these days and age to stand up, stand out and be counted on! This is an exciting time to be a part of the Church. I know and feel that the greatest move of God’s power and spirit in the history is right before us. This is an urgent call to all Revivalists! Keep contending and stop blending in the current Churches. We are called to be forerunners of this movement of God’s Power and Spirit. Don’t get tired, get up and contend for a move of God!
I love the story of Elijah’s epic battle against the false prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel. Elijah called down fire from heaven and one prophet of God defeated hundreds of false prophets. What a great victory for God. He sent the wicked king Ahab on the run. Amazing victory, and you think that would be the start of a great Revival outbreak, but that’s far from the truth. You could actually say that was the start of the end to his ministry, but remember, the Lord will always have a man. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the Lord move about on all the earth to strengthen the heart that is completely toward Him.”
Elisha was working in his father’s field plowing with a yoke of oxen. The Lord’s eyes found a man willing to work for the kingdom of God. When God sent Elijah to Elisha he threw his mantle on him and he received this calling and later obtained the double portion. Elisha slaughtered his oxen then burnt his plow, which means he destroyed his past and had nothing to go back to. It was his I’m all in moment with God! In Matthew 3 John the Baptist was called to prepare the way of the Lord, to make the path straight. John didn’t go preach in the temples and tabernacles, he went into the wilderness. The wilderness is always a place of preparation by God. The Lord was preparing John and the people. He spoke different, he acted different, because he was different. John was a forerunner and the leading Revivalist of his day.
The same should be said about us. We are here to prepare the way of the Lord. There are too many revivalists and forerunners who have thrown in the towel far too soon. Many have lost their burning fire and passion for Jesus. So many people have a lot left to give and also receive from God. We must never quit, never give up, but keep pressing into the things the Lord has for us. You must guard your private time with God. It is the No. 1 priority of your life. You have to stay focused! Remember what you are called to and walk in that calling today.
~ Betty Robinson Lester
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Nevertheless, at Thy WORD Jesus !-(Verse 5 Below)
The fishermen TOILED all night and caught NOTHING
At His Word, at Jesus' Word.....The Same boat, The Same season, the Same lake, the Same nets, the Same time, the Same fishermen CAUGHT an overflowing, net breaking, boat sinking, abundance of fish....at the... Word of Jesus !
You worked, prayed, sang, paid tithes, went to church and caught NOTHING> prayers not answered, sickness persist, poverty is present, children still rebelling, stress is in your life, loneliness is your friend.........BUT, AT YOUR WORD JESUS,
We will let down the net === WE will Believe, We will Wait, We will Tarry,
We will Trust, We will Fast and Pray, We will Praise !
4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.
7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.
Luke 5:4-7 KJV
~ John and Dawn Jones
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REVIVAL DELAYS BECAUSE PRAYER DECAYS!!!!
"A baptism of Holiness, a demonstration of Godly living is the crying need of our day." Duncan Campbell
This quote was said a long time ago. It is still true today, but the devil is keeping many Christians busy- busy doing many things that do not enrich their walk with the Lord. Satan delights in the souls of men- they are his treasures!!! Souls, in various degrees of spirituality are his special targets.
Put up your shield of Faith & stop those fiery darts. The shield is your defence. Prayer is not for defence, but it is our secret weapon. Satan fears our prayers, in fact, he would have us increase in Bible knowledge as long as we keep from praying.
So, if you still gossip about people in the church, if you still hold grudges & cannot forgive, or if you still are playing the spiritual hitchhiker game~~~~~~PRAYER can change all that~~~~Yes it can & will change you. It changed me, the chiefest of all sinners. I was a spiritual hitchhiker for a long time, but PRAYER CHANGED ME!!! It can do the same for you & you & you!!! All of you!!
We need a REVIVAL in the land! Who will pray with me for God to heal our land???????
~ Pastor Don D. Hargrave
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How do we get full of God?
What will it take for us to get that way? First of all, we must recognize WHO we are in Christ Jesus! I am a Daughter of the King and Jesus is my Elder Brother. He has given unto Power over all the Powers of the enemy so this tells me I can be FILLED to the Brim with THIS over powering Power. I am as a Little Jesus walking on this earth because He has said "Greater things we will do because He was going back to the Father." He was one and we are many.!
Why can we not continue with the Ministry He had while here on earth, ALL power has been given to US, mankind has been given instructions to take the gospel - to all the World, this means Global Revival.! What will it take for us to have TRUE Bible Revival? We must go back to Calvary's Cross -we must find ourselves seeking God with all our hearts in PRAYER!! Then we must Study the Word, that we might Preach to Sinners the Truth of the Word and not just tickle the ears. Preach what they need to hear not just what they want to hear - Folks we must get back to THE CROSS! Come on Preachers - let's PREACH the TRUTH!
~Betty Robinson Lester
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Pain and Praise
In Psalm 29, God is praised as the writer considers the power of God expressed in thunder. Here we note one of the techniques of the psalms: repetition. The divine name “LORD” (Yahweh) is mentioned 18 times in 11 verses. The result is to focus our attention where it ought to be focused, on the Lord. The heading of Psalm 30 speaks of the temple, since the Hebrew word is bayith, which means “house.” But the occasion for the psalm must have been the dedication of David’s palace. This beautiful home is a symbol of his present prosperity compared to his years of being persecuted. Indeed, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” - We may endure long years of difficulty, but we shall have joy for eternity.
“Into thine hand I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth” from Psalm 31:5 is quoted by Jesus among his last words on the cross. The line from verse 13, “Terror on every side” is quoted by Jeremiah five times.
Psalm 32 is another penitential psalm. For the psalmist, communion with God is the source of his greatest joy. He describes how terrible it is to have that communion destroyed by his sin and how wonderful when, as a result of heartfelt confession, sin is forgiven and fellowship is restored. Psalm 33 is a beautiful example of a song of praise to God. Give us the joy of fellowship with you, O Lord.
~Words of Hope.
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Cut it Off!
Mark 9:42-50 - And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched - Verse 45
“If your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.” Better to hobble to heaven than to dance in hell. The verse is not meant to be taken literally. But we had better take it seriously.
With powerful and startling language Jesus says that the kingdom is such a great prize, so immeasurable a gain, that anything which might prevent us from claiming it should be chopped out of our lives. If something gets in the way between you and the kingdom, Jesus says, “Cut it off.” Get rid of it.
We can all agree that bad habits and bad deeds should be cut out of our lives. But Jesus talks about cutting off good and necessary things: a hand, a foot, an eye. Jesus is talking about sacrificing a lesser good for a larger good.
Patriotism is a good thing. But if love of country eclipses love of the kingdom, Jesus says, “Cut it off.” Prosperity is a good thing, but when accumulating wealth becomes an end in itself instead of a means of glorifying God, Jesus says, “Cut it off.”
The good is the enemy of the best. Things not necessarily bad in themselves can become bad when they get between you and the kingdom.
Dear God, rid my life of anything that would impede my devotion to you. Amen.
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The Word of God
Read: Psalms 19–22 - This section contains outstanding psalms. Psalm 19 is divided into two parts. The first extols God’s revelation in nature. The second gives even higher praise to the greater revelation in the written Word. It describes the greatness of God’s Word and the wonderful effect it has on those who read it and apply it to their lives.
The twentieth psalm talks about the day of trouble and expresses the desire that God may answer prayer in such a day. “May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your plans!”. The important thing is that we desire the right things and that our plans are of such a nature that they are worthy of being fulfilled. What is the greatest desire of your heart?
The 21st psalm tells of those prayers being answered, It is wonderful to want thThe Word of God
Read: Psalms 19–22 - This section contains outstanding psalms. Psalm 19 is divided into two parts. The first extols God’s revelation in nature. The second gives even higher praise to the greater revelation in the written Word. It describes the greatness of God’s Word and the wonderful effect it has on those who read it and apply it to their lives.
The twentieth psalm talks about the day of trouble and expresses the desire that God may answer prayer in such a day. “May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your plans!”. The important thing is that we desire the right things and that our plans are of such a nature that they are worthy of being fulfilled. What is the greatest desire of your heart?
The 21st psalm tells of those prayers being answered, It is wonderful to want the right things and to receive them. Then “We will sing and praise your power.”
In amazing detail, Psalm 22 describes the crucifixion of Christ. He himself drew our attention to it when, being crucified, he cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
~Words of Hope
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WHAT BELIEVERS ARE!
If you are a true believer- you have serious responsibilities in the matter of SOUL-WINNING!!!! We have the high title of SERVANT- 1 Cor. 4:1, Acts 26:16 We find that Paul even goes as far to call himself a "Bond Slave." We are not our own & how gladly should we subscribe ourselves as BOND-SERVANTS of such a great Master.
We are also STEWARDS- Titus 1:7, 1 Peter 4:10 The steward is to REVEAL the great mystery of the most High God.
We are AMBASSADORS- 2 Cor. 5:20 We are His chosen representative, we represent Heaven's court & we must speak with AUTHORITY.
We are WITNESSES- Acts 1:8 We do so at the expense of our on life- maybe sooner than you think!!! We must pour out our lives in testimony of the master. Acts 5:32 A witness must witness by LIP and LIFE!!!
We are MISSIONARIES- John 17:18 The word sent is "Apostolos." Paul was an apostle, a sent one. WE ARE ALL COMMISSIONED for Missionary service. Every believer is a foreign Missionary. The world is a foreign field; Heaven is our home. The Son came gladly when sent of God. The Holy Spirit came gladly when sent of Christ. And WE should go gladly bearing the message of Salvation. Phil. 3:20
We are BUSINESS MEN- Like 19:13 The word occupy is business- do business until I come!!! God has set each one of us up in business. We have the most sacred service- the winning of men from the kingdom of darkness. If we display our goods according to His will- we will find customers.
We are FISHERS OF MEN- Matt. 4:19 We have the promise- "I will make you."
Remember, there are different kinds of fish & different ways to catch them. We must listen to the master & study the fish, study the water, and know the seasons. "FOLLOW ME"- this is the secret. We must follow Him, study Him, live like Him, and most of all OBEY HIM!!!!
"He that winneth souls is wise."
NOW, GO CATCH SOME SOULS!!!!!!!
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HE HOLY BECKONING
Jesus: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me.” ~ Matthew 11:28, The Message
If your favorite, nationally known entertainer were to perform in your area, you would go, despite the venue. It is about your beloved entertainer, not about the place you go to experience him or her. When the announcement is made, the first words should be about the famous star, not about the venue, which is a mere gathering point to experience the star. When you excitedly arrive, you focus on the star, not on the crowd, each of whom presumably came to see the star, also.
In our text, Jesus says, “Come to Me,” not “Go to synagogue” or, today, “Go to church.” He is clear and concise: “Come to Me.” The venue and the crowd are secondary. It is about Jesus, the Star, even the Bright Morning Star (Revelation 22:16), Who rises at daybreak in your heart (2 Peter 1:19).
Jesus took Peter, James and John to a mountaintop, where Christ’s glory burst forth in His transfiguration; and Moses and Elijah appeared to conference with Jesus. Overwhelmed, Peter wanted to plant churches, but God set hm straight: “Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!’ When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, ‘Get up, and do not be afraid.’ And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone” (Matthew 17:4-8).
Quieten your soul, wherever you are. Listen to Him. He is still saying to you, “Come to Me.”
~ Chuck Bassett
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Does Your Faith Sometimes Waiver?
The mustard plant grows profusely throughout Israel. In Spring, bright yellow flowers cluster upon each stem, making a vivid carpet of color across the great plain. The plants grow very tall, often obscuring a horse and rider from view. Birds are attracted to the flowers; finches and linnets dart among the plants. Jesus compared the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven to a grain of mustard seed...
"Which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in it's branches." - Matthew 13:31-32
How often have I heard this quote of Matthew ..."If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there" and it will move.
"Everything is possible for him who believes."
Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief." Mark 9:23-24.
In our scripture here, we find a father who even in the presence of Jesus still had doubts - but he acknowledges them, and asked for Jesus' help. Are we any different than this father, do we sometimes have feelings of unbelief? We read on that Jesus did heal the man's child. Even though we have moments of unbelief if we acknowledge them to Jesus, we can still know God will still will answer our prayer.
Our faith is not always upon the mountain & sometimes we are in the valley. This is when we learn the greatest experience of communion with God comes, praying with a trusting heart.
~ Betty Robinson Lester -
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MY OWN LACK of MERCY
Jesus told a parable about a servant who was forgiven a great debt.This man found grace and mercy with his master, but he took it all for granted. Immediately after he was forgiven, he went out and began to choke a man who owed him a small, insignificant amount,demanding, "Pay me what you owe me - now!" When the debtor asked the man for mercy, he refused and had the debtor jailed.
Why was this man so judgmental? Why did he lack mercy? It was because he did not consider his own unworthiness. He did not understand how hopeless he was, how exceedingly sinful his own sin was. He did not appreciate the danger he had been in - how close to death he had been - before he had been shown mercy. When his master found out what the ungrateful man had done to the other debtor, he had him thrown into jail for life. While I was studying this parable, the Lord stopped me and convicted me of my own lack of mercy. "Me, Lord? I´m one of the most merciful preachers in America." But he began to remind me of insensitive remarks I had made, things I had blurted out in haste. I wept before the Lord and asked him how that could have happened.
"David, you have forgotten the incredible mercy I showed to you. How many times did I dig you out of something that could have destroyed you? You would not be here without my mercy!” I wept before the Lord, and after asking his forgiveness I went back to the Word to seek his help in being more merciful. A wonderful verse I found is Psalm 119:76: "Let, I pray, Your merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to Your word to Your servant.” The meaning here is, "Lord, your Word tells me I am to be comforted by the knowledge that you are merciful and full of compassion to me. Let me extend this same mercy to those around me.”
~ David Wilkerson
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WHERE are THE ELIJAH’S OF GOD?
To the question, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" we answer, "Where He has always been-on the throne!" But where are the Elijah’s of God? We know Elijah was "a man of like passions as we are," but alas! we are not men of like prayer as he was. One praying man stands as a majority with God! Today God is bypassing men - not because they are too ignorant, but because they are too self-sufficient. Brethren, our abilities are our handicaps, and our talents our stumbling blocks!
Out of obscurity, Elijah came on to the Old Testament stage,a full-grown man. Queen Jezebel, that daughter of hell, had routed the priests of God and replaced them with groves to false deities. Darkness covered the land and gross darkness the people, and they were drinking iniquity like water. Everyday the land, fouled with heathen temples and idolatrous rites, saw smoke curling from a thousand cruel altars.
Elijah lived with God. He thought about the nation's sin like God; he grieved over sin like God; he spoke against sin like God. He was all passion in his prayers and passionate in his denunciation of evil in the land. He had no smooth preaching.Passion fired his preaching, and his words were on the hearts of men as molten metal on their flesh.
Brethren, if we will do God's work in God's way, at God's time,with God's power, we shall have God's blessing and the devil's curses. When God opens the windows of heaven to bless us,the devil will open the doors of hell to blast us. God's smile means the devil's frown! Mere preachers may help anybody and hurt nobody; but prophets will stir everybody and madden somebody. The preacher may go with the crowd; the prophet goes against it. A man freed, fired, and filled with God will be branded unpatriotic because he speaks against his nation’s sins; unkind because his tongue is a two-edged sword; unbalanced because the weight of preaching opinion is against him. Preachers make pulpits famous; prophets make prisons famous. The preacher will be heralded; the prophet hounded.
Ah! brother preachers, we love the old saints, missionaries, martyrs, reformers: our Luther’s, Bunyan’s, Wesley’s, Asbury’s, etc. We will write their biographies, reverence their memories, frame their epitaphs, and build their monuments. We will do anything except imitate them. We cherish the last drop of their blood, but watch carefully the first drop of our own!
~ Leonard Ravenhill
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WHAT IS SIN
John asked his mother, "What is sin?" Her reply:
"Whatever weakens your reasoning, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes away your delight in spiritual things - in short, if anything exceeds the power of the flesh over the spirit -- that to you becomes sin, however good it may be in itself."
That mom was Susanna Wesley, answering her son, John, later to become the great Evangelist and founder of the Methodist faith. Another son, Charles wrote over 1,000 hymns, and they were siblings to 17 others, some who died. ALL of whom were taught at home.
You never know who your son or daughter will become for God! NEVER under-estimate your job as a Mom (Or Dad)!
~~Betty Robinson Lester~~
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WHAT GOOD DOES IT DO
The story is told of an old man who lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading from his old worn-out Bible. His grandson who wanted to be just like him tried to imitate him in any way he could.
One day the grandson asked, "Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do?"
The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, "Take this coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water."
The boy did as he was told, even though all the water leaked out before he could get back to the house.
The grandfather laughed and said, "You will have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.
This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead.
The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You can do this. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.
At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got far at all. The boy scooped the water and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, "See Papa, it's useless!"
"So you think it is useless?" The old man said, "Look at the basket." The boy looked at the basket and for the first time he realized that the basket looked different. Instead of a dirty old coal basket, it was clean.
"Son, that's what happens when you read the Bible. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, it will change you from the inside out.
That is the work of God in our lives. To change us from the inside out and to slowly transform us into the image of His son. Take time to read a portion of God's word each day.
You can not get into God's Word without His Word getting into You.
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RIGHT AND WRONG TURNS
Jesus to the contentious, unbelieving Jews: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” ~ John 8:44
How did they ever become so hard-hearted to the truth, especially the Truth to the Way to Eternal Life (John 14:6), Who was standing before them, talking to them? Some hints: it has been nearly 500 years since the Jews had received a fresh word from God. It had been a long, dark night of many generations since this promise has been uttered: “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves” (Malachi 4:2). With no fresh, spirit-infilled power, Isaiah predicted their condition: “So then, the word of the Lord to them will become: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there—so that as they go they will fall backward; they will be injured and snared and captured” (28:13). The Pharisees and Teachers of the Law became administrators of a hard-law enhanced religious system of which Satan happily oversaw.
However, the truth was always around them, had they sought it. Creation itself was truth of a gracious creation (Psalm 1:19; Romans 1:21-23). When men teach error, God sees to it that His truth can be found when sought. Even today, we must continue to be spirit-filled as we search Scripture and test in teal life. This latter point was taken up by C. S. Lewis in “Surprised by Joy”: “What I like about experiences is that it is such an honest thing. You may take any number of wrong turnings; but keep your eyes open and you will not be allowed to go very far before the warning signs appear. You may have deceived yourself, but experience is not trying to deceive you. The universe rings true wherever you fairly test it.”
~ Chuck Bassett
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TROUBLE'S REMEDY
“Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave Me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for My Father is with Me. “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” ~ John `5:31-33
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This is their Lord merely stating that the near future will be full of drama and trouble. However, He assures them, ahead of time, that He will overcome through them, for what He would do on the Cross enabled His little lambs to become conquering warriors of faith. He says the same thing to us today. In our silences and avoidances, we may desert Him in His purposes, from time to time. Because of various circumstances, we may be scattered from our comfortable church family. Praise God that we cannot escape HI presence (Psalm 139:7-12), and praise God that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). If we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), then we will find His constant presence, and we can experience full peace in Him.
“
"Are we prepared to let God do what He wants with us? Are we prepared to be separated from the outward, evident blessings of God? Until Jesus Christ is truly our Lord, we each have goals of our own which we serve. Our faith is real, but it is not yet permanent. And God is never in a hurry. If we are willing to wait, we will see God pointing out that we have been interested only in His blessings, instead of in God Himself. The sense of God’s blessings is fundamental. ‘…be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.’ Unyielding spiritual fortitude is what we need” (Oswald Chambers).
~Chuck Bassett
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IF ONLY…
As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” ~ Luke 19:41-42
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See Jesus weeping when no one else was? As they approached Jerusalem, it was a beautiful sight to the natural eye: a magnificent tribute to contemporary urbanism. The Jews—especially the religious leaders—would have shed tears of pride, not tears of sadness because of coming judgment. His words that follow our text say, “The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
Christ had tried to warn them, both gently and bluntly, but they would not listen and, therefore, blinded themselves to the Prince of Peace. Jesus always sees the macro and the micro. He knows what is in the hearts of men (John 2:25). (Read Matthew 13:13-36 to read His seven, stunning pronouncements of “woes” on the religious leaders.) The same Jerusalem over which He pronounced judgment was beloved by Him, proved by the words He uttered after the seven woes: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” He also longs to gather you and me and every other soul under His wings (Psalm 91:4), if only we are willing (2 Peter 3:9).
~ Chuck Bassett
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'SO THAT YOU MAY KNOW HIM BETTER’
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” ~ Revelation 1:17-18
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When we get a deeper, biblical view of Jesus, the old vision dies, and the new vision prevails. When Christ walked the earth, John had known Him as well as anyone; but here he is overwhelmed and will never be the same. If we seek Jesus wholeheartedly, we will know Him better for Who He is. We then can rise, live for Him better, and witness for Him better, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2). The ever-expanding vision of Jesus is biblically available to anyone. Paul, who received “new sight” when He encountered Jesus (Acts 9:17-19), later wrote, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better” (Ephesians 1:17).
It all comes down to what we desire. If become “satisfied” with the degree that we know Him, we stop growing spiritually. Oswald Chambers may help us, regarding this goal: “We must learn to maintain a strong degree of character in our lives, even to the level that has been revealed in our vision of Jesus Christ. The lasting characteristic of a spiritual man is the ability to understand correctly the meaning of the Lord Jesus Christ in his life, and the ability to explain the purposes of God to others. The overruling passion of his life is Jesus Christ. Whenever you see this quality in a person, you get the feeling that he is truly a man after God’s own heart (see Acts 13:22).”
~Chuck Bassett
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WHEN POSSIBLE, INTERCESSION BEFORE ACTION
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people ~ 1 Timothy 2:1
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Paul was a man of priorities. He says that “first of all” prayer and petitions, even intercession should be made for all people. Is this our priority? To “intercede” is “to act or interpose in behalf of someone in difficulty or trouble, as by pleading or petition” (dicitionary.com). When we intercede in prayer for others, we are being like Christ, Who “always lives to intercede for them” whom He has saved (Hebrews 7:25). Paul does not say “I suggest” or “I recommend”; he says “I urge” because he has discovered that “prayer before action,” whenever possible, is the wisest choice.
In our eagerness to help others, do we act first and pray later? Unless it takes emergency action, we should intercede first. Maybe we think that “doing” God’s will is “first action, then prayer.” However, Oswald Chambers, in his characteristic blunt manner, said: “Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, becoming so burdened with people and problems that we don’t worship God, and we fail to intercede…. We give them a quick verse of Scripture, like jabbing them with a spear, or leave them with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord.” Our Lord was never in a hurry; let us emulate Him.
~ Chuck Bassett
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THE RIGHT KISS
While He was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss Him, but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” ~ Luke 22:47-49
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What treachery Judas perpetrated, crowned by a deceitful kiss! Jesus knew what was in men’s hearts and, therefore, did not need, at this time, their testimony to validate His purpose (John 2:25). Judas was one of the 12 called-ones, but he never gave his heart to Jesus (Matthew 22:14, KJV). His being put in charge of the group’s money was yet another test that he failed, as he sold out Christ for a little more than he had pilfered from the treasury (John 12:6; Matthew 26:15). Dear fellow believer, not all who “kiss” you love you. Those who praise you and slap you on the back may be one of those Proverbial traitors to you, too. Deep in their hearts, they may be among those who secretly “walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers” (Psalm 1:1).
The repentant soul that runs to Jesus has wisely chosen to do this: “Kiss [the Lord’s] son, or He will be angry, and your way will lead to your destruction, for His wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him” (Psalm 2:12). Jesus Christ is not a glorified Flower Child, tossing petals and speaking nothing but peace and love. He is the glorified Son of God, Who can majestically overwhelm even His most heartfelt follower: “When I saw Him [the glorified Christ], I fell at His feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades’” (Revelation 1:17-18). If our hearts are cleansed by Him and full of Him, then through our sanctified lives, we will rightly kiss our Lord.
~ Chuck Bassett
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ULTIMATELY UNDISAPPOINTING LOVE
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ~ Ephesians 3:18-19
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We may become jaded because of unrealized idyllic love in the past. After all, music and movies often portray never-ending human love with few-to-no problems. When we begin with such hopes, we inevitably are disappointed, to varying degrees. If we are not careful, we can become cynical of the very notion of love. However, human love is not God’s love, which in the Bible has a special Greek word to describe it: agápé. It is the purest love unhindered by human inconsistencies.
Our text speaks of agápé love. In the highest language Paul could conjure, he speaks of a love that is three-dimensional, surrounding us completely: “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” He says we may grasp it, though it may seem immeasurable in objective means. Then, he says that, if we cannot succinctly measure it, we can know it in our hearts, though our minds cannot contain it: “to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” God’s love will not disappoint you, for it is pure, plenteous, and filling, so “that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Today, more than ever, open your heart to Jesus’ love, which prevails throughout all circumstances.
~ Chuck Bassett
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HEARTFELT FAITH REWARDED
He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes, it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. ~ Matthew 15:26-28
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We may think faith is always a grand gesture, but let this episode remind us what Jesus said in another place: “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). This poor Gentile mother’s heart would not be denied. Her pride meant nothing. That her daughter’s life was at stake drove her to humble herself to the point of humiliation. What dire circumstances will it take for us to breed such humble faith?
Jesus’ reply underscored the truth that He had come for the Jewish nation (“the children’s bread”). Only later, after His resurrection and during the church’s early days, would they realize that, indeed, He had come to save the Gentiles, also (Acts 28:28). To be called a dog or a pig was demeaning (Matthew 7:7). She did not argue with Jesus but took it further and continued her request. Her mustard-seed faith realized that Jesus’ grace provided abundance from any table where He is Lord, and she believed that mere crumbs from His table were enough to save her child. May we emulate this woman’s beautiful faith.
~ Chuck Bassett
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HEARTS PURIFIED TO SEE HIM
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ~ Matthew 5:8
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Here is a golden nugget, right out of the gate, in the Beatitudes of Jesus’ magnificent Sermon on the Mount. Could it have been a nod to David, who had prayed and penned in his great psalm of repentance, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me”? (51:10). It is almost impossible to see through muddy, murky water, but when the water is clear, so is our sight. Such is it with our spiritual vision. Speaking of God’s saving both Gentiles and Jews, Peter said, “He [Jesus] did not discriminate between us and them, for He purified their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9). Indeed, Jesus alone can purify the heart.
Before we came to Christ, our minds as well as our hearts were best defined as blind: “among them the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving to prevent them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4, AMP). We need our hearts cleansed and cleared; therefore, “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22). Then, we can say with the healed once-blind man who was grilled by the Pharisees, “One thing I do know. I was blind, but now I see!” (John 9:25).
~ Chuck Bassett
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LOSING, TO FIND
Jesus: “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it.” ~ Matthew 10:39
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This statement, taken superficially, is cryptic. It is one of the many Jesus-uttered statements designed to urge us to meditate on a truth revealed only as it relates to the whole of Scripture. A wrong understanding of the statement has led many to undue decisions. Firstly, Jesus “lost” His life for the Father’s will and found perfect purpose in going to the Cross: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me” (John 8:28). Now, this leads to a Pauline statement: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
The previous verse to our text has Jesus saying, “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me,” thus relating the statements. In a letter (May 25, 1944), C. S. Lewis noted that verse 29 is “totally true, true on every level. Everything we crucify will rise again: nothing we try to hold onto will be left us.” Shall we be like Paul and consider ourselves co-crucified with Christ in His purpose, thus resurrecting our lives to a step-by-step walking in loving dedication to God, thus fulfilling the qualifications stated in the latter part of Romans 8:28? If so, we will “find” that crucified-and-resurrected life, a life that Jesus bought for us, a “life to the full” (John 10:10).
~ Chuck Bassett
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OPENING TO ALL HIS KNOCKING
Jesus: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with Me.” ~ Revelation 3:20
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We often use this verse in speaking of Christ’s knocking at the door of the unbeliever’s heart to enter, and it is fine to use it in that way However, in context, this is a dramatic picture of Jesus standing outside the door of the worldly Loadicean church, knocking at the door to re-enter His Blood-bought fellowship. Jesus is the ultimate Gentleman and will not force His way in. We must invite Him. The individual human heart is not a one-room cavern; it is a multi-room abode. We can ask Jesus into our heart for salvation but keep some rooms’ doors closed. He then will go to each door, patiently knocking on each, until we have yielded all areas of our lives to Him. This is merely a pictorial representation of consecration and sanctification.
Dear fellow believer, has Jesus been knocking on the other doors of your heart, seeking entry to be Lord? Yielding to Him is sweet surrender, though the enemy of your soul will strike fear in you, whispering, “You have the ‘right’ to this aspect of your life. You have to live, after all.” Oswald Chambers spoke of this struggle with our soul’s “ownership.” If Christ is to be Lord of all your life, you must open all doors to His knocking. In “Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories,” we read this from C. S. Lewis: “But how shall I describe the other knocking? It was, in some curious way, soft; ‘soft as wool and sharp as death,’ soft but unendurably heavy, as if at each blow some enormous hand fell on the outside of the Shoddy Sky and covered it completely. And with that knocking came a voice at whose sound my bones turned to water: ‘Child, child, child, let me in before the night comes.’”
~ Chuck Bassett
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SATISFIED HUNGER...AND MORE
“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.” At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.” When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. ~ Ruth 2:13-14
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Ruth found favor with Boaz, who became her “kinsman redeemer” (Ruth 2:1). Sharing meals has always been a symbol of intimacy, even with the Last Supper in the past and with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in the future. Ruth’s beautiful humility is a characteristic of all who come to Jesus: we feel we do not have the standing of even a servant, but we are indeed His children, and we should hunger to fellowship with our Savior. For what does your soul hunger and thirst? David said his soul thirsted for fellowship with his God (Psalm 42:1). Jesus, our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30), said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
Jesus told us that, if we come to Him with our God-inspired hunger and thirst, He Himself would satisfy us: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). There will come a day when Jesus’ declaration will be ultimately and eternally completed, with no interruption of fullness: “they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He Who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst” (Revelation 7:15-16). Have we come to Jesus for freedom from sin so that we are like Jehoiachin, who “put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table” (2 Kings 25:29)?
~ Chuck Bassett
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GRACE APLENTY
Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to His disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. ~ Mark 6:39-44
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Once upon a now-forgotten time in a nameless land, a young, sturdy boy was hiking on a beautiful day. He grew tired and turned aside from the dusty road to a sprawling tree beckoning with is gently swaying limbs. The tree’s bark was soft, so welcoming that, before he knew it, he had fallen into a deep, restful sleep. Upon awakening, he noticed beside him a tan bag. Looking around, he saw no one and so took it with him on his way home. He became hungry, and the bag felt heavier. He peeked inside and found delicious food. He ate and continued his walk, only to find the bag heavy again. Inside was more food than before. At home, he and his mother ate that food, and yet more food than before appeared in the bag. Soon, the boy was feeding the hungry in his community. There was always just enough to feed the needy, with plenteous leftovers for him and his mother. The boy never questioned his experience; he thankfully utilized the bag to help him, his family, and others.
Such is God’s grace. Regardless of the greatness of our need, the bag always has enough for our requirement. It is given to us not just for our sake but also for others’ sakes. The more we utilize God’s grace, the more He gives. Paul discovered it: “But [Jesus] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). John commented on this persistently replenishing grace: “Out of His fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given” (John 1:16). The book of Romans speaks of “the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” and “the “abundant provision of grace” (5:15, 17). Like the increase of food according to the hunger in our story, “where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20), “in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7). If our story seems from the timeless, nameless past, remember that this “grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Timothy 1:9). As Spurgeon said, “Christ has grace without measure in Himself, but He hath not retained it for Himself. As the reservoir empties itself into the pipes, so hath Christ emptied out His grace for His people.”
~ Chuck Basett
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HOPE-FUELED FAITH
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. ~ Romans 4:18-21
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ABRAHAM IN HOPE BELIEVED… How could he hope against all hope? How could he still believe? He had learned the New Testament before it had been written: “For we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). All he had was God’s promise, but that was enough to feed his faith, regardless of circumstances.
WITHOUT WEAKENING IN HIS FAITH… Faith is mutable. It can stay steady or weaken, but ideally it is growing. However, sometimes, as in war, giving no ground is victory, is as good as an army can do under attack. Abraham was 100 years old, and Sarah was well past child-bearing capabilities. However, those facts do not consider God, with Whom nothing is impossible (Matthew 19:26).
HE DID NOT WAVER THOUGH UNBELIEF, BUT WAS STRENGTHENED IN HIS FAITH… This is the power of God’s promises. Via his God-inspired faith, Abraham was transported from the merely human to the nature of God, all through a promise: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4).
BEING FULLY PERSUADED… He arrived at this level because, by faith, he trusted that God had the power to do what He promised. “Yes, but I am not Abraham,” you may say. However never forget “that God does not show favoritism” or “that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34, NIV and KJV, respectively). The best for which Abraham could hope was “God with him” (“Immanuel,” Matthew 1:23); as a believer, you have “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
~ Chuck Bassett
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LIVING BY THE SPIRIT
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ~ Romans 8:1-4, NKJV
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The Pharisees, the Scribes, and the Teachers of the Law were sure that holiness meant following of the Law to the dotted “i” and crossed “t.” They made both a show and an effort of it. Jesus blew their notion out of the water, graphically showing them that the untransformed heart meant that they were merely mummifying themselves, stitching one filthy rag to another (Isaiah 64:6). The “Spirit of truth” would empower them to lovingly keep His commands (John 14:15-21) after He—the only one who could—became the holy sacrifice for our imperfect lives (2 Corinthians 5:21). Had they continually followed Christ, instead of occasionally confronting Him, they would have concluded that Holy Spirit’s transforming a man’s heart and his actions outworking from Holy Spirit in his heart is what makes a man holy. See His name: HOLY Spirit?
This is what Paul meant when he said, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God Who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose” (Philippians 2:12-13). The Lord changes not only your “what to do” but also your “want to.” That’s right: we cannot even take credit for our wanting to do things to please God. “For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Our part is to yield to His Spirit, Who will (always in conjunction with His Word, the “sword of the Spirit,” Ephesians 6:17) prompt us to come in line with God’s character (Galatians 5:16). It is the deepest, purest, Spirit-led answering of the once-popular question, WWJD, “What would Jesus do?”
Oswald Chambers observed, “Christ never spoke of His right to Himself, but always maintained an inner vigilance to submit His spirit continually to His Father. I also have the responsibility to keep my spirit in agreement with His Spirit. And when I do, Jesus gradually lifts me up to the level where He lived— a level of perfect submission to His Father’s will— where I pay no attention to anything else. Am I perfecting this kind of holiness in the fear of God?”
~Chuck Bassett
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OUR 'WAYS' WALKING IN THE ‘WAY'
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” ~ Isaiah 30:21
Though a wonderful experience, our text is not the end in itself: it is only the beginning. Knowing the way in which to walk is the journey’s start, but you must not only take care of “your way” but also take care of “your ways.” Many crevices and pitfalls may be in the pathway which you are shown, and you must be able to declare, “I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes” (Psalm 119:59). Here is the best way to recognize God-directed ways in “the way”: “My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways” (Proverbs 23:26). (Solomon can say this, only in the vein in which Paul said it: “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ, 1 Corinthians 11:1.) Solomon knew it was about loving God’s ways. Such a love is the wisest way to have His ways branded into your heart.
Joshua understood this, saying the Israelites “to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep His commands, to hold fast to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (22:5). Is our love so fixed on Jesus that, after He shows us the way we should take, we also take grace-filled care of each step to walk in that way? Have we offered God our hearts on which to write (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10; 10:16) so that this becomes our guidance system for each step: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105)? If you do, then you will not only start in the way of the Lord but also be able to say with David, “For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I am not guilty of turning from my God” (2 Samuel 22:22).
~ Chuck Bassett
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NOT HOLDING BACK
Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” ~ Mark 10:28-31
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We may wish He had not included “along with persecutions,” but Jesus, the Great Alchemist, can transform even those into gold. In the simplest terms, Peter spoke of the disciples’ complete abandonment of the old life to follow Jesus in a new life and later spoke of his personal abandonment, though he would initially fail at it (John 13:37). Had Jesus been, in any way, proud, He could have said, “Hey, just wait, and you’ll see that I have so abandoned Myself for you that I will die to saved you,” even though He had already hinted at it: “The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again” (Luke 24:7).
Jesus enabled our complete emptying of ourselves to follow Him, if we are willing. The enabling came from His first accomplishing it: “…Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8). This abandonment to God’s purposes manifested in His life in this manner, even as it can, by grace, in ours: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19). You may avoid such abandonment to God, saying, “That was Jesus. No mere man can live like that.” Don’t tell that “mere man” Paul: Philippians 1:21; 3:7-8, 10-14; etc.
~ Chuck Bassett
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LOVING OBEDIENCE, WHATEVER THE CIRCUMSTANCE
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights. ~ Habakkuk 3:17-19
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Obeying God is always the proper thing to do. The most powerful obedience is love-driven, not slavish, ego-driven, or begrudging. However, continual, loving obedience to God demonstrates a commitment that surpasses sentiment, tradition, and feelings. To obey in the sunshine of favorable circumstances is correct but not remarkable. To obey during the storm of trials and persecution, when seemingly you have no human favor but have God’s favor is, indeed, remarkable. The stars shine more brightly in the blackest backdrop of the sky (Philippians 2:15-16). Trusting obedience fights when the odds are overwhelming, when all natural strength is spent, when no resource is left but God Himself.
See our text? Habakkuk experienced all of this. He looked around, only to find no evidence of God’s favor, no help from his fellows. Beyond his sight, beyond his worldly resources, beyond his natural strength, he chose to rejoice and proclaim His loving obedience to God, knowing that His Lord would strengthen him. He took God at His word, even like the royal officer in Cana whose son lay sick in Capernaum (John 4:46-53). C. S. Lewis, in “The Screwtape Letters,” commented on the Christian life through the eyes of Satan, who sees God as the enemy and who said to his chief underling Wormwood this: “Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”
~ Chuck Bassett
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ALIENS AND STRANGERS
…at that time, you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ~ Ephesians 2:12-13
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Spiritually speaking, everyone is an alien and a stranger, either to the Heavenly world or to the earthly world. Our text speaks of how, before the Corinthians and we were saved, we were aliens and strangers to the family of God and from certain promises of God. Thus, we were probably uncomfortable around witnessing Christians and felt out of place in church. We did not feel in our niche. It is a matter of the spiritually “dead” (Colossians 2:13) being among the spiritually born-again. On the other hand, even in the Old Testament, those who had faith in Jehovah God through His promises “acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth” (Hebrews 11:13, NAB). How much more should those who are born again feel themselves as “strangers and aliens on earth,” which is fallen in sin, dark in sin, decaying through the effects of sin?
Therefore, since we who know Christ belong to a Heavenly world during our sojourn on earth, Paul calls us “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20). While in an “alien” land, ambassadors represent the authority of their “home” countries and speak what best represents their countries. They do not “fit in” to the culture where they minister. Neither do Christians in this fallen world. In “Present Concerns,” C. S. Lewis said of Christians, “We must simply accept it that we are spirits, free and rational beings, at present inhabiting an irrational universe, and must draw the conclusion that we are not derived from it. We are strangers here. We come from somewhere else. Nature is not the only thing that exists. There is ‘another world,’ and that is where we come from. And that explains why we do not feel at home here.”
~ Chuck Bassett
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LIVING OUT WHAT HE HAS WORKED IN
Jesus: “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of Heaven.” ~ Matthew 5:20
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During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He often spoke as if He had already accomplished His death-burial-resurrection, as if grace had already been given, as if He expected saving-and-living faith to have already taken root in His listeners. (After all, He is the God Who “calls those things which do not exist as though they did,” Romans 4:17, NKJV.) The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest example of this. Our text is from that majestic sermon, and the hearers must have thought, “How can He believe that we can live like this?” However, after they were saved, they would understand that their righteousness was God’s righteousness, which is infinitely greater than that of the self-righteous Pharisees (Romans 1:17; 3:21; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
After we are saved, we must be careful not to make excuses for not living out this Godly righteousness (Philippians 2:12-13). We can excuse this or that by saying, “I am merely human. I am not perfect.” However, what we should do is “fess up” and say what Paul said: “For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:22-25). As Oswald Chambers put it, “My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly—“Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it.”
~ Chuck Bassett
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SEEKING the WRONG REVIVAL
We appear to conceive of revival as a kind of benign miracle, a feverish renaissance of religious activity which will come upon us, leaving us morally just as we are now, except that we will be a lot happier and there will be a great many more of us. It´s a good talking point and it has an aura of superior godliness about it; but the trouble is that it is just not true.
Our mistake is that we want God to send revival on our terms. We want to get the power of God into our hands, to call it to us that it may work for us in promoting and furthering our kind of Christianity. We want still to be in charge, guiding the chariot through the religious sky in the direction we want it to go, shouting "Glory to God," it is true, but modestly accepting a share of the glory for ourselves in a nice inoffensive sort of way. We are calling on God to send fire on our altars, completely ignoring the fact that they are our altars and not God´s. And like the prophets of Baal we are working ourselves into a frenzy as if we could by violence command the arm of the Almighty.
Of this we may be certain: We cannot continue to ignore God´s will as expressed in the Scriptures and expect to secure the aid of God´s Spirit... Today we have the strange phenomenon of a company of Christians solemnly protesting to heaven and earth the purity of their Bible creed, and at the same time following the unregenerate world in their methods and managing only with difficulty to keep their moral standards from sinking out of sight.
Coldness, worldliness, pride, boasting, lying, misrepresenting, love of money, exhibitionism - all these things are practiced by professedly orthodox Christians, not in secret but in plain sight and often as a necessary part of the whole religious show. It will take more than talk and prayer to bring revival. There must be a return to the Lord in practice before our prayers will be heard in heaven. We dare not continue to trouble God´s way if we want Him to bless ours. Joshua sent his army up to conquer Ai, only to see them hurled back with bloody losses. He threw himself to the ground on his face before the Ark and complained to the Lord.
The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant. That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction." (Joshua 7:10-12)
If we are foolish enough to do it, we may spend our future vainly begging God to send revival, while we blindly overlook His requirements…
~ A.W. Tozer