Monday, February 27, 2012

The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

A sick looking lamb alone on a hillside.
photo courtesy flikr B1ubb
This is how healthy sheep look.









Psa 23:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Psa 23:2  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Psa 23:3  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Psa 23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Psa 23:5  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Psa 23:6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Perhaps that lone lamb has wandered off away from the protection of the shepherd and the flock. Maybe something curious caught his eye and he went to see it. For whatever reason many sheep are wandering alone in the wilderness.  But this we know, that the Good Shepherd is seeking them to bring them back.


Mat 18:12  How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
Mat 18:13  And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
Mat 18:14  Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.



Thursday, February 23, 2012

Our blessed Hope





From Wally White


Our precious resurrected Lord , in his glorified body , showed himself ALIVE after his passionate
and agonizing death on the cross .
For forty days he proved himself ALIVE and well , speaking of the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God . He told those assembled with him to go to Jerusalem and wait for the promise
of the father which you have heard from me. For John ( the baptist ) truly baptized
with water , but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now . After that the
Lord told them they would be witness's for him unto the uttermost part of the earth.He was taken
up and a cloud received him out of their sight . The scriptures state that as they stood looking
steadily toward heaven , two men in white apparel ( angels ) stood at their side asking them why
they were gazing into heaven ? They stated that this SAME JESUS whom is taken up from you
into heaven , shall so return in the same manner as you have seen him go into heaven . That
SAME JESUS !! Oh such encouraging words in a day that other jesus's and other gospels are so
preached and promoted in these latter apostate days in which we live ! As Christ followers
watched him ascend from the mount of olives , we can expect his literal return in like manner
any day ! The LORD HIMSELF will descend from heaven and we that are alive will
meet him in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air and will forever be with him . I thess 4:14-18 .
Paul tells us in I cor. 15:51-55 that in the twinkling of an eye we will be changed to an
incorruptible and immortal body to spend eternity with our blessed Lord who is OUR
BLESSED HOPE ! Titus 2:13-45

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Why we should give thanks over meals

The "world' in which we live and serve is set against God and any expression of Godliness. We as Christians face daily challenges and opportunities to express that faith. One opportunity is the giving of thanks over our meals, privately, with our families and in public. The reasons we should give expression of our thanks are many.

 1. Jesus did it. Matt. 15:36 Matt. 26:27 Mark 8:6 Mark 14:23 Luke 22:17-19 John 6:11,23

 2. Paul did it. Acts 27:35

 3. Giving of thanks gives Glory to God. 1 Cor.10:30

 4. We eat what God has provided and for his purpose. Rom. 14:6

 5. It is sanctified by prayer. 1 Tim.4:3-5

 The family is under attack as never before and that attack is evident in the forsaking of family meals around a common table. What better time for a family to bond than around Mom's home cooked meal? What better time for a family to share their day's blessings and trials than around the table? In a restaurant setting it is appropriate to pray over the food as it is an opportunity to express our belief that our sustenance or "daily bread" comes from God. We can and should take a few moments to acknowledge that this food did not come from MacDonalds or from our labors alone. Who gives us power to work to earn our bread? I think we should want to have our meals sanctified by God. Who knows what is in our store bought food these days? We should exercise this freedom while we may as the days may be approaching when it will be made illegal. Who would have thought that it would become illegal for any Jew or Gentile to pray on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem? There even the moving of one's lips in that which may appear to be prayer will get a person arrested. Let's humbly hold on to this freedom.

Friday, February 17, 2012

The Gospel of the Kingdom

Gospel of the Kingdom vs the Gospel of the Grace of God

From Brother Wally White;

 I recently attended a mens bible study and matthew 6 was the topic for our discussion . after we read the chapter we discussed the aspect of giving per the Lords teaching. One of the brothers brought up the fact that Jesus was at this point in time teaching the gospel of the kingdom , Not the gospel of grace as per pauls epistles . It was pointed out that at this time Jesus said he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of israel ( Mt 15:24 ) The church was not even mentioned until Mt. 16:18 and it was a future event . We now know the church was not officially established until the day of pentecost in acts 2;1-5 . It was brought to the attention that apostle paul was the first to teach the gospel of grace ( which he called "my gospel " ) and that that the epistles are the only place that NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH doctines are taught. In our meeting about one half of the men in attendance were offended by this ! I would like to submit this to the blog for discussion . Can we teach new testament church doctrine from kingdom of heaven doctine ? Would love to hear others opinion on this !

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Being a soldier for Jesus Christ


2Ti_2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 
2Ti_2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 


 Being a warrior in the spiritual battles that have engulfed the world takes an understanding of our relationship with our Captain as well as a working knowledge of the real issues, our weapons and of our enemy's devices. We, as Christians do not resort to carnal weapons but to spiritual ones.

 2Co_10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 

Our sword is the Word of God. To call non violent Christians "passivists" is wrong. No, we are not passive or at least we should not be. We should be active in the battles through prayer, witnessing, worship, and boldly standing for Christ in our daily life. The following excerpt was sent to me by sister Stacy Huerta

"I will be soldierly at all times. The chief requirement of the soldier is the surrender of his will. Other things are irrelevant. The disposition of his time, his duties, and his responsibilities is entirely in the hands of his commander, and they are not his business. If Christ has my will, He will also have my body, my mind, my strength, my ambitions, my inclinations, my attitudes, in short, my all. The will is the key. When I am tempted it is in the will that the victory will be won or lost. Temptation gives me alternatives; I can submit and lose or resist and win. There is ample power for either. Christ gives me power to resist; my old nature gives me power to submit. But the key is the will. If I will to resist, Christ will empower me as He has promised; if I will to submit, I only need to let the old nature take over. Whoever has my will is my master. I therefore must decide daily, hourly: shall Christ have my will, or shall it be some other master: The decision is instantaneous; the results are eternal."