Saturday, November 19, 2011

Why Preach Sin?

     I am sure that it would be called malpractice if you went to the doctor and the doctor did not mention to you that you had an illness that would eventually kill you that could be eradicated or completely destroyed. I think that doctor would be guilty of killing you. Would it not be a tragedy? Would that doctor, who was licensed, have your death on his hands? Would that doctor be guilty of malpractice?

     Friends, I know that we want to think everything is perfect in our spiritual life, but I can tell you that it is not perfect even in my own life. You see, just because I have eradicated the five major sins from my own life, it does not mean that God does not want to fix some of the smaller to mankind, yet just as big to God sins. I think it would be even a greater tragedy than malpractice for a preacher not to tell you the truth about ALL SIN:

Now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:22-23

Let us break down this scripture to really understand it. One might think that one could take the gift and still live as he or she desired and I could see where the Word of God could be wrongly divided to think that way. Just to see other's who are in a much worse sin condition than ourselves does not excuse us of our need to ask for forgiveness, eliminate sin from our lives, or REPENT. We could honestly say that we would not need a bible, just knowledge of Jesus and a quick prayer confessing Jesus to get us into heaven. Our Holy Bible's could be one page if that were the case. We would have no need for anyone but a community organizer to get everyone to say a little prayer in this world and we could move on with waiting for Jesus' return for his "glorious" church that said a little prayer. Oops, I misquoted that scripture: The NASB says it this way: Ephesians 5:27 NASB - that Jesus might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
Back to our original scripture!

    Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

    Therefore, we are free from Sin and enslaved to God (that means to do God's will and not our own) and our benefit is sanctification or separation and eternal life. (in other words, we are his holy treasure, set apart to do His will and not our own) If we are not doing His will, and His will is for us to first of all be HOLY:

      As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." (holy, without sin) 1 Peter 1:14-16

Our original scripture says "that the wages of sin is death". Of course, the is eternal death or eternity without Christ Jesus in the lake of fire, where you will not burn up, but you sure will feel the pain of burning.
You might say, I do not like a preacher that tells me I have sin. I would say to you to find you a quack doctor that tells you everything is fine and go ahead and die. What you really want is a malpractice preacher or quack preacher. Why do you think that our Lord Jesus said:

The world hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. John 7:7

     I know that I am not currently doing the MAJOR FIVE or six sins that we think is going to send us to hell. However, the more I read God's Word, the more I realize that I could be doing thing that are against God's will and that is a sin. Folks, read the word. Do not stay with a malpractice quack preacher just because you are comfortable in a church. Your comfort today might just be your pain of hell tomorrow.



NOTE: I am not a "pastor" nor am I called to be a pastor. Therefore, I am not trying to get anyone to come to my church. However, I am called to reconcile people to the real church; the one that is IN Christ Jesus.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Who can Contain our God?

Who can even imagine how big God is? We try to put a human mask on our God, giving Him a human face with human power and thoughts. Yet, He is much more than some limited finite man. He is infinite, being from the beginning to the end. We live in a finite (limited supply) world and we make our God into our knowledge of worldly limitations. He lives in the infinite (unlimited). We cannot imagine the infinite; living without regard to limits on time and resources. That is the realm that our God lives in, more than we humans can imagine. His word is pure; it is perfect. Not one word is unnecessary or untrue.

We limit our God and make His word to no effect. Yes, we can control our God, for He will not move unless asked to do so by faith. When we need Him to act on our behalf, we summon Him like a soothsayer looking into a worthless crystal ball. That prayer is not of faith, it is begging. We then want to get mad at God because He did not work on our behalf when we decided that we needed Him. We put ourselves in our position by not living by His word and by His Spirit.

Let us take up His word and eat it. Let us consume Him, for He is the bread of life. There is nothing like His manna, and allowing Him to live through us gives us His authority in dark times. It is at that point, where we die to self and live in His word that we can ask what we will and He will give us the desires of our heart. However, it is also at that point where our heart and His likeness become one. It is a place where we do not ask based on human wants and desires, but on kingdom wants and desires. He is the great “I AM.”

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. - (James 4:3 NIV)



Thursday, April 21, 2011

From the Throne

I believe the Lord says, “My children do not look through My eyes; they read my Word in the darkness. They walk down a path in which they cannot see the steep cliffs below. They cannot see the snares laid out for them by the evil one; they perish because of lack of illuminated knowledge of my word. It is in the light that My children can see My Word and it will illuminate their path. My Spirit will go before them and shine upon satan's snares, and they will see me move in their midst to uphold my children.”

Judgment

It is very easy to judge someone, especially when you hear only one side of a story. A person makes a villain out of another person to build oneself up in the eyes of others to destroy the “villain.” When a person is judged based on what others say, especially without asking the “villain,” is that person being judged rightly? Jesus had a comparable experience because He was doing the work of the Father.

Matthew 9 tells about Jesus healing the sick. But the Pharisees were saying, ‘He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons." (Matthew 9:34) The “religious leaders of the day” were trying to destroy what God was doing through His Son, Jesus. The religious leaders plotted against Jesus verbally in front of Jesus and behind closed doors, and even in the darkness of the night.

Let me ask you a question. Do those who carry the Spirit of God, that is, the true nature of God inside them feel they will be exempt from such attacks as Jesus endured? I do not think so, because the true nature of God will rub those of the synagogue of Satan the wrong way. The attacks will come from both inside and outside the church.

The next time someone infers that someone is either a “villain” or a bad person, do not pass judgment on that person; leave that to God. You have no idea the background of the situation, the truth in the situation, or what that person is going through that could compel him or her to act that way. However, God knows!

Therefore, you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things (Romans 2:1-2 NASB).

Get Intoxicated with Christ

Most people believe that they can walk in the presence of God and neglect the things of God. Even if a person believes they are a good person that does not develop a relationship with our Creator.

Some Christians read books about God, but not His version. I am a Christian Author, but I would rather a person read the bible than my own book. While my book is packed with God’s word, an estimated 1000 scriptures, there is nothing like the real thing. Cliff Notes on God will not develop you as His word will.

Another part of the drink is a real prayer life. This does not come easy! However, it is mandatory that we Christians spend time with God and make a large portion of the day for communication with Him. Until I had this time with God, there was no freedom in Christ. However, once you MAKE yourself pray, you will become addicted to the time you spend with Him. It is through prayer that I can leave all my problems and troubles to God and enjoy life.

Another major component to a relationship with Christ is the Holy Spirit. It is the “God in us” that helps us understand His word, and helps us make daily decisions. God cared so much for us that He put a portion of Himself in us. We either choose to yield to the Holy Spirit, or the things of this world. Personally, nothing in my former life brought lasting joy, until I decided to live in Christ.

Praise and worship is mandatory. We must realize that when we praise Him, we are putting God in His proper place, above us. It is a demonstration of complete surrender when we praise Him in “spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)

I hope that you get intoxicated with God! Let Him dwell in you.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Eviction Notice

It seems as if every time I turn on the news, I notice that there is turmoil in this world. Whether it is war, natural disasters, or the coming together of nations as each nation seems to be falling apart. One world government and one currency seem to be taking shape in the world today. Our government has turned its back on Israel in search of appeasement to nations who did not previously dare threaten us because of our strength.

A few months ago, Pastor mentioned William Booth (1829-1912), the founder of the Salvation Army. William Booth wanted to take his ministry to the streets, yet his Methodist denomination would not allow him. He finally left the denomination and eventually started the Salvation Army, which was a mission field in dirt and grime that found diamonds in every bar and on every street corner. William Booth said this quote:

“I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.”

I have a somewhat negative outlook for the church because I have been to so many churches and I see what William Booth was talking about. I see the lawlessness of what was once godly nations, including America, and I feel like we are in the days of Noah or Sodom and Gomorrah. I look at the churches on television and see what has happened in many churches, and I think we are not too far from when Jesus first came onto the scene.


Suppose we examine some of the scriptures in 2 Timothy 3:1–5 and Matthew 24:5–13 and relate it to our world today.

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

Matthew 24:5-13 NASB - "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many. (Christ =Kristos = anointed, that is, the Messiah, a quality of Jesus: - Christ) You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved”.

Matthew 24:24 NASB - "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect”.

Matthew 24:37-39 NASB - "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be”.

Matthew 24:46 NASB "Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes”.

There are so many more scriptures about the last days!

NO ANXIETY

God’s government will be perfect. Who really cares what happens to me today as long as I can be with the Lord tomorrow. If you feel like the world is spinning out of control, first I want you to understand that we are not of this world. If we are of the Spirit of God, this is not our natural habitat. It is a place we are renting and our lease is almost up.

God is full of scriptures that talk about the last days. The wonderful Word of God is an eviction notice, that is telling us today, now is the time to move. If we are renting from the things of this world, we will be found sleeping on the day of the court ordered judgment. The church seems to be asleep, snoozing with vision of the things of this world dancing in their heads. Their door has a “DO NOT DISTURB” sign hanging on it. Occasionally we hear the faint sound of don’t wake us for we are in our lukewarm beds.

We have forgotten that every soul is precious to our Lord and Savior. We have neglected the Great Commission. We are afraid of being turned down, and we have turned and ran from the world and enclosed ourselves within the local churches. We have imprisoned our God within the walls of the church. It is time to take God out of the church and into the world. Let us start something this day and allow God out. Let us live and exist in Him that we may empower Him to move through us.

God sent John the Baptist, who was full of the Spirit to tell the people, “prepare ye the way of the Lord.” How much more, we being filled with the Spirit of God should be saying “prepare the way of the Lord, for He is coming soon!” Today is the day to proclaim upon the housetop (Matthew 10:27) what our Lord and Savior is whispering in our ear. He is telling us our eviction is coming. Whatever we do for the kingdom, we should be doing with all of our heart. If He has called, we should not be sitting in complacency, but in position honoring the One who has called us and not ourselves. Now is the time to move.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Best Life Now-Not

It is amazing to me how we have contorted Christianity. We think being a Christian will give us a long-lived future of perfect peace. I too believe that a life with Christ will bring inner peace, for I know not what tomorrow brings, but if I have Christ Jesus, even death has no sting. (1 Corinthians 15:55)

However, the church has made Christianity to be something totally different than what was the fate of almost every disciple. The disciples did not have “Your Best Life Now.” They were persecuted martyrs. This doctrine of false religion keeps people and Christianity inside the protected walls of the church. It is a belief that if you are “His” you will have favor everywhere you go.

I am pretty sure that we are supposed to be like Jesus. (ref 1 John 2:6) I mean, that is our quest isn't it? Jesus himself said that the world would hate us because it hated Him first. (John 15:18-19)

Paul, who wrote the majority of the New Testament, must not have understood the “Best Life Now, perfect favor message.”

"As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.
And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: 'In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'"
When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem.
Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." (Acts 21:10-13 NASB)

We know that Paul spent the rest of his life in prison and it is believed that he was beheaded during Nero's reign. If Paul would have just understood how to have “The Best Life Now.”

Do we really believe as Paul did? If you really believe in eternal life, this present life would be easily spent for Christ Jesus.

Monday, April 11, 2011

A Membership Guide to the Body of Christ is in Africa!

Evangelist Njoni lives in Eldoret, Kenya. He shares the gospel with area villages. Eldoret is the location where 40 people were burned to death in a church on January 1, 2008. Please keep him and all ministers in your prayers as the word of God goes forth.

Him and Him Only Attitude (Time to Grow Up Series, 1)

For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. - (Galatians 1:10 NAS)

To truly serve God, one cannot serve man's wishes and desires a majority of the time. In other words, a person cannot seek the approval of man and disregard God's desires. If God says to do something, you must complete what He desires and it will normally not line up with what anyone else thinks you should do. Anyone whose friendship is lost because you are doing God's will was never a true friend anyway, the friendship was conditional to you complying to what they want you to do.

Man has an innate desire to have respect of others. However, this type of respect comes at a cost when it does not line up with God's plan. When a man (or woman) of God pursues God rather than man, issues arise from those who wish to control people. Allow me to give an example that I have seen hurt many Christians.

God tells a Christian to leave his or her current church. Weeks, months or even years later a person runs into someone from that church and instead of embracing each other as friends, the person that continues to go to the old church shuns the person that left. The person that does the shunning is the weakest form of Christian there is, because their friendship is based on a building and not on being united through Christ Jesus. A true friend will stick with you until the end and His name is Christ Jesus. (Jesus said this after giving us the great commission: "...I am with you always, even to the end of the age." - (Matthew 28:20 NAS)

To the religious structure of Jesus' time, Jesus was a rogue man who did not do as they believed He should. The people of the religious order wanted to control Jesus and make Him just like them, totally powerless and not of God. In fact, that is the same thing Satan did when he tempted Jesus, which is try to get Jesus to do his will and not God's. (Matthew 4)

I am speaking to even myself when I say this. Can we true Christians get past trying to control others and allow God to use the “others”? Perhaps if we would stop trying to control others, we would stop being like the aforementioned religious structure that eventually put Jesus to death.

To those who God has told to do something, do it no matter what the cost. God will honor you as He did Jesus who lost all in this earth, yet Jesus gained everything in the kingdom to come. So shall you reap your reward.

Where is the Man of God?

We admire a man who was firm in the faith, say four hundred years ago...but such a man today is a nuisance, and must be put down. Call him a narrow-minded bigot, or give him a worse name if you can think of one. Yet imagine that in those ages past, Luther, Zwingle, Calvin, and their peers had said, "The world is out of order; but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great confrontation, and get ourselves into disgrace. Let us go to our bedroom, and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake up things will have grown better." Such conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error. Age after age would have gone down into the infernal deeps, and the evil heaps of error would have swallowed all. These men loved the faith and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on...

It is today as it was in the Reformer's days. Decision is needed. Here is the day for the man, where is the man for the day? We who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not tinker with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitor, who pretend to love it, but inwardly abhor every line of it...Look you, sirs, there are ages yet to come. If the Lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation, and another, and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to His truth today. We have come to a turning-point in the road. If we turn to the right, perhaps our children and our children's children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to His Word. 1888 Charles Haddon Spurgeon (some words modernized)

It seems to me that man of God had it right. Many of this nation's churches have become parlors of disgrace to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. There is nothing like the word of God. However, any man who manipulates an entire body to error is not of God. Man can miss God at times by accident, but to manipulate others for ones own gain is completely wrong. I will no longer allow my Lord and Savior to be defamed by such men. I will no longer allow my God to be trampled on by such men. I must speak out, or I am not much better than those who pierced His side.

Many will Come in My Name (Jesus)

“For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. “Behold, I have told you in advance. Matthew 24:24-25

I am amazed at the “new year prophecies” that come out around this time every year. I searched the entire whole bible and cannot seem to find a “Rosh Hashanah”, or Jewish New Year prophecy. It is almost as if the people expect a man of God to give them something new for the new year. Yet, many “men of god” will pull something like that out of their hat to give the people what they want.

Some of these prophecies read like a horoscope; this one I recall, “there will be opened doors and closed doors…” This was by a famous TV preacher a few years ago. You certainly cannot pin this man down as being a false prophet, but you can bet that he is no prophet. God’s prophets never prophesied in a way that had several “doors.”

I truly believe that God does give prophecies, but we are not to follow after a “new word.” In other words, the prophecy should always line up with the bible and should always come true. The Old Testament tells the people of Israel to stone a false prophet. I guess we need to throw the stone that the builders rejected, Jesus, at the false prophets of today, because they are not of God. If that seems harsh for a Christian, look at how Jesus talked to the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes in His days on earth.

I have a prophecy for you, Jesus is coming back soon and many false Christs are already in the world, which is exactly what Matthew 24 is about, His soon return. If that is not quite what you wanted, it is God’s word and we need to thirst after God’s word rather than some charismatic man that knows some things of God, but not actual know the true God in an intimate way. Or perhaps he knew God at one time, but turned his back on God pandering to the people and not God.

We Christians better start reading the bible for ourselves, instead of letting some “man of god” tell us what we should believe or not believe. I don’t care if man’s church is made of one person, including the man, or one trillion individuals. Just because many follow a man, does not mean that he is a man of the true God. If you notice, a true prophet of God in the scripture usually was under constant threat of life and had a very small following.

Faith- Is God Powerless in your Life? (Part 3)

Real faith reaches down and grabs a lame man expecting to see God work (see Acts 3:1-9). No one in the hall of faith, located in Hebrews 11, accomplished God movement without first over-extending themselves to what is beyond the natural man's reasoning. Even Jesus spat in the dirt and made some spiritual eye salve (John 9:1-7), put spit in the eyes of a blind man (Mark 8:22-25), and gave a man a wet willy (7:32-35) all in the pursuit of God's will. Real faith drowns out the fear of what people think is over-reaction and accomplishes God's will.

There is a way that seems religious to others that does not accomplish God's will. True faith moves beyond the desire to look spiritual to the desire to speak God's will into existence. To me, faith is like throwing a baseball. I know when I rear back with God's word, when I hurl it out of my mouth, it is going to make an impact. That word is going to hurt something; it is going to pop satan in the mouth. God's word trumps satan every time, not me.

I used to look at faith like jumping off a cliff into the water. You wait until you get enough nerve and then leap. I would wait until I felt my faith was the strongest and then pray. At times I walk in great faith and in others, I have little faith. True faith comes from living in the word and the word living in you. "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7 NASB) If someone abides some place it dwells there. Many people know the word of God, but they are not at the point of it living inside them. The person is just a dwelling; the word of God is what actually lives. This is what Paul was saying when he said, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20).

Prayer- Is God Powerless in your Life? (Part 2)

Many people never seem to get prayers answered. Prayer is very simple. It is faith that God is going to perform His word, coupled with lining your will with God's.

I used to ask for things that would make me more powerful; make me more highly esteemed. Jesus asked for those things that would build God's Kingdom, not mans. That is the difference between a righteous man and a carnal man.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. James 4:3 NASB

Let's look at it through a message that Jesus gave.

"I (Jesus) am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch (us Christians) in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8"My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. John 15:1-8 NASB
Does the branch get to make a choice what fruit it will bear? It is only when the branch lines itself up with the will of the vine that it produces fruit. This is the act of abiding in verse 4-7. When your will becomes God's will, you can ask for “whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” At that point you are not asking for your own glory, but for His.
Notice that verse 2 tells us that our branches take must be pruned. That means that those things that are not for the production of fruit are removed (your dead wood). What is it that is not producing fruit in your life? It is either His will or your will.
Part three will be about the faith component.

Is God Powerless in your Life? (Part 1)

God's word is His contract with true Christians. It is perfect, pure and flawless! However, we can contaminate God's word by our worldly thoughts and ambitions to the point that the Word has no affect on our lives, and His promises never reach His potential. By contaminate, I mean that we bring our beliefs and our desires that do not line up with God's word.

The cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. Mark 4:19

When we desire anything more than God, we are guilty of removing the power from His word. We can even desire the promises of God more than God and this infects His Word with our desires. God's first and foremost desire from us is that we “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matthew 22:37 ) What would you rather do than spend time doing the things of God?

Furthermore, we see in Mark 4:19, that the care of this world can over-ride God's Word. The children of Israel were guilty of this and they did not get to enter into the promised land. (Numbers 13-14) God told the children of Israel to go and possess the land and they believed their natural eyes more than they believed God's Word or His promise to them. We do this by looking at the circumstances rather than what God said. When God says it and we are in line with His word, it is finished.


My Travels- Meeting Zeal for the Lord


I would like to introduce you to a man that I met in my travels. George is in his eighties and I knew immediately that he was a man of God. He lives in a nursing home, however attends church every week. George loves to quote scripture and will pray publicly at a moments notice. He is truly an inspiration to me.