Author: Administrator

2 Corinthians 3:1-2

Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men.

 

We all have those in our lives we would love to see in church but for whatever reason they just won’t go. It can be discouraging at times, it can be stressful when that burden on your shoulders becomes too heavy to bare.

 

I want to encourage you today, living for God in front of them is just as important as living for God in our personal lives. We are living epistles, we are a living testimony. The way we carry ourselves in front of loved ones outside the church, speaks volumes of your walk with God. You might just be the only bible they will ever read, meaning when they see us they should be able to “read”

Forgiveness as the scripture says

Grace as the scripture says

Love as the scripture says

A living sacrifice

An ambassador of hope

Some who doesn’t fall in with the rest of the crowd along with temptation

 

Its one thing to read the scripture, its another to LIVE it. Dont just be hearers of the word, lets be doers as well, because let me tell you from personal experience: they are watching you, you’re different, you’re on a pedestal and they are looking to see if you fall. Give them something to look at, let them see the grace of God at work in your life. He created us in His image, I don’t know about you but I want to represent God in a way thats pleasing to Him.

 

One day they are going to walk through the doors of the church, and you’re going to ask them what changed your mind? And they are going to say, you.  I want whatever you have that is making you so happy all the time. Theres a “glow” you possess that I cannot ignore any longer.

 

It will be one of the greatest feelings in the world.

We have all heard it said before, “They need to keep a better eye on their kids.”

“That child needs discipline, I bet he minds then.”

“Did they really just spank their child? Thats whats wrong with him.”

And if we are honest with ourselves most likely we have thought the same ourselves from time to time!

We have always had a decent size Sunday school attendance, but yesterday it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I looked out after we dismissed Sunday school, I watched as kids ran to their teachers and followed them to class, excited looks on their faces. After everything settled down again I looked up and what was once a full congregation was now just about half gone! It seems like our Sunday school makes half our attendance on Sunday mornings!

God then quickened my Spirit, and He said, “This is a sign of a healthy church.”

I didn’t quite understand at first I mean, nearly half the church was gone!

But then I saw smiles on new parents faces as they watched their happy children excited to learn about God, and I can’t say for sure, but ill bet it was taking their minds back to when they were kids going to Sunday school, how much fun they used to have, the love their teachers showed them.

Thats when God spoke to me again, these kids are one of the keys to a growing church, they are going to be the catalyst that catapult the church into revival mode. Their parents will be more and rooted for the sake of the kids as God deals with them on a more personal level.

look, Jesus himself said suffer not the little children, He placed emphases on how we must come as little children, oh what would happen if we got as excited about coming to church on a Sunday as much as kids do?

We all know the familiar scripture, “Train a child in a way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

I believe that this does apply to parents, but what if we apply it to the church as well?

Allow me to put it like this, you want to find a way to make a new set of parents in the church mad, offend one of their children or upset one of them and that family will never come back. Now thats a hard pill to swallow.

My point is this as I close:

Love these kids, love their parents, get to know them, lead them by example in prayer and worship. Because if you think about it, that kid behind you might just be your pastor one day. That child on the other side of the church my just be a future music director. That little girl in the front crying, could be a Sunday school teacher one day.

BUT it won’t happen unless we love them and cherish them, for they are the future generation 😉

Intercessory Prayer

Intercessory prayers are very important in the body of Christ, many times the only chance our lost loved ones have to be saved is by us standing in the gap and interceding on their behalf.

So then begs the question, what effects do my prayers have for someone else who’s living in the world?Do my prayers really matter?

Lets look no further than the story of Abraham talking with God about sparing the city of Sodom and Gomorrah if He were to find righteousness within the city. Now this is just me but I don’t believe Abraham was sitting on an old rock and having a conversation over the campfire. Abraham was interceding on behalf of his nephew Lot and his family, as well as anyone that might have any hope of coming to God. I believe this was and still is an example of intercessory prayer!

I also believe that had Abraham not step into the gap between God and the sister cities, we would have had a very different outcome that day. Why? Because God listens to our burdens, He hears our cries,
and he sees our hearts, and our sacrifice.

Likewise our prayers can make a difference in the lives of our lost families and loved ones, its a key to soul-winning. when we are in our prayer closet and our brother or sister are at the bar, or perhaps simply living a lifestyle that not pleasing to God, our prayers can cause God to move and speak to
that person right where their at, and speak to their hearts and knowing somebody is praying on their behalf. How powerful to know that God isn’t confined to our church buildings or our prayer closets, that our prayers can reach different zip codes, counties, states, and even around the world!

We should be sensitive to when God speaks to us throughout the day, when a name pops in our head or someones face, more times than not God is trying to tell us, stop and pray. I can tell you many stories of people in the church, who were almost in an accident or was dealing with a situation, only for God
to come through at the last minute and deliver for them, then come to find out through the “grape vine” someone received the burden to pray at that exact moment.

Theres also times when we need to intercede for those in the church as well.

The following is an excerpt from a book titled: The Intercessors

“We should pray for our pastor and his wife, for they labor to provide us with spiritual food. The pastor studies, prays, visits, encourages, preaches,and performs many other services in which he pours out his life for his congregation. His wife sacrifices her own feelings and desires to unselfishly allow him to fulfill his burden. By investing our intercessory prayers in them, we bless ourselves as well as them.

We should pray for our brothers and sisters in the church. We are our brothers keeper. In some forests, trees seldom topple over because they are so intertwined that they support on another in their branches and roots. By investing intercession in our brothers and sisters, we also help solidify, and
strengthen our own walk with God.

Investments sometimes demand sacrifice in order to bring benefits later. People will save a portion of their income to invest when they would really like to spend it now for something. But they wisely know
that it will pay dividends down the road.

Intercession may be sacrificial at times, It may be physically and emotionally demanding. At times a prayer burden will take a tremendous toll on a person. But taking time to pray when other things
press us for attention is investing now for a heavenly payday later.

Intercession is being kingdom minded. Intercession is seeking first the kingdom of God. Intercession is denying oneself, taking up the cross, and following Jesus. If we lay up treasures in Heaven, we will never be sorry.

One song asked, “What good has my life been? Someday ill surely know. How many souls did I win? Eternity will show.” These words place our priorities in proper focus. By being used of God in proper
intercession, our lives can touch many others for eternity.”

I recently made a fire outside in my fire pit, its relaxing and I tend to get a lot of my thoughts from my hammock reading or sitting by the fire. The evening slowly wore down and nightfall began to set so I stayed outside until I knew for sure the fire was pretty much out for the night. I woke up and as I expected all that was left was half a log and a few coals burning bright orange. I went about my day with business as usual, glanced over at the pit to see the log and coals, but this time the coals were a bit dimmer, and there wasn’t as much smoke coming out of it. I let it go another night, ran some errands,
visited a church couple in the hospital, then came home to pretty much a free afternoon.

I guess out of habit this point I looked over at the pit and decided the itch hit me enough so I’m going to get that fire going again. So I’m gathering some wood and grab my book, I’ve got my lighter clicker and looked down, the coals were now snow white, yet as I lowered my hand to put some starter twigs I felt a warmth coming off of the white coal, actually still rather hot. I could have ignored it and lit some paper and gone from there, I knew by blowing air on the coals while still orange and
glowing, I could have easily gotten the fire going again but these coals looked hopeless and without a chance. Yet something, not sure what but something said to try it anyways.

I took a small branch and moved the coals around, the more I worked them the more smoke would come off of them. Took a closer look, and seen a very faint orange glow beneath the white on the outside. Then I placed some small twigs on top and began blowing air on it. To my amazement the color on the coals began to change and the orange got brighter and brighter, then a couple sparks. Before I knew it the leaves caught along with the twigs, and with much patience I fed little by little more wood into it before long I had a nice healthy fire, perfect for relaxing.

But rather than digging into my book I stared in deep thought and God began to deal with me. We have so many saints in our congregations that are just like those coals before the fire. Wether its elders who have become discouraged over time, ministers who feel beaten down, or saints who are simply worn out by life itself.

Whatever the case may be its easy to look at your walk with God and say, “the fire has gone out”. “Whats the point? I don’t feel the heat anymore, I haven’t truly felt the presence of God in my life in some time.”
A lot of times we go with the easy solution: “Grab some lighter fluid and some matches and lets light this thing”. In the beginning you will certainly have a good flame for a minute or two, but eventually that flame will die down if you go that route, and eventually go out without proper care.

Its the same way spiritually. We think, “Ill go to church tonight, hopefully they play my favorite song and the preacher will preach a fiery message that will send a chill down my back, that will fix everything!” The problem with this thought, is that it may stir us up for that moment, but it doesn’t change us. Only a true move of god power in your life, a move of the holyghost, will bring the change you need to rekindle that fire you once had. You see with the convicting power of the holyghost, we can begin to eliminate those things in our life thats hindering our walk with God!

Speaking of the holyghost this brings me to my next point;

Many scriptures list the wind, or breath as relation to the spirit of God, to name a few:

John 3:8
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof , but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

John 20:22
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.

Genesis 2:7
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Acts 2:2-4
2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all of the house where they were sitting.
3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4. An they were all filled with the holy ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Friend, you may feel as if the fire has burned out in your walk with God, you may feel as if theres no hope or no chance of rekindling that flame you once had. But hear me, don’t thrown in the towel until you have given the holyghost another opportunity to do a work in your life, roll the coals around, let the holyghost wind spark something on the inside, be patient and feed that fire with prayer, fasting, study, pray some more, then fast, its a process but before you know it you won’t just
have fire raging in the depths of your soul, you will have a revival fire that reaches and consumes everything and everyone around you!

Final thought:
You’re never so far gone that God can’t still reach you, theres no sin or problem too small or too big for our God too handle,all we have to to is put it under the blood, and let God be God!

Taking the Name with you

An excerpt from the book Living In The Overflow by T.W. Barnes

Why take the Name with you? It is an Eternal Name. His Name was a great secret. even the angels didn’t know His Name.
He had 2,000 titles. Lucifer didn’t know His Name until Jesus came to this Earth to die on Calvary. He knew Him as Lord,
as God. I don’t know what the angels called Him around the throne; no one knew this great Name. The angels watched Him
create the Earth, the sun, the moon, and stars, but didn’t know his Name. Adam walked with Him in the cool of the day, but
didn’t know his Name. Moses talked to Him in the burning bush, but didn’t know his Name. He asked, but God said, “Just
tell them I Am sent you.” He reserved the revelation of His Name to shake the entire world, to shake churches and
denominations. He released the revelation of His Name 2,000 years ago and it shook the world. It has been shaking ever
since. It will shake some more because we know His Name!

Galatians 4:4
But When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a women, made under the law.

When the fulness of time came, He came, and His Name is Jesus.

To whom did he first reveal His eternal Name? To the people that would help Him build His church. He said I came to
build my church on a Rock and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I tell you the name of His church, you can call
it 10,000 names if you want to, but the name of His church is Jesus. The church of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World,
the Prince of Peace. He revealed it first of all to the people that would be in the church of the future. On the day of
Pentecost He came as a mighty rushing wind and filled all the house where they were sitting. When the man with the keys
stepped to the pulpit, He preached Jesus. The crowd gathered because of the sound that came from heaven. The
Holy Ghost can make a sound if it wants to. A lot of people don’t want the sound of the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues
as the Spirit of God gives the utterance glorifying the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There stood the crowd. “What must
we do? We realize we failed; we have murdered the Son of God, now, what must we do?”

Peter preached His Name in the first Pentecostal sermon ever peached. Its not a Pentecostal sermon if somewhere the
Name does not get in it. He is the beginning; He is the middle, and He is the end. He is the first and the last. The
Aposte Peter said,
Acts 2:38
Repent, and be baptized…in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost.

In the book of Acts we notice how the apostles used that Name. The first miracle performed Peter said, “Silver and gold
have we none, but we do have something.” What is it, Peter? Your knowledge? Your education? No I don’t have any
of that. I don’t have any silver or gold or any land. I don’t have much education, but I tell you what I have, the revelation
of His Name. So he shouted, “In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, arise and walk.” And the man arose and went leaping
into the temple praising God, Never to beg again, he found Jesus!

They were called on the red carpet, “We have crucified Jesus, He is not here. What is going on here? Here is a man
crippled, healed.” They asked, “How did you do it?”

Had Peter said it happened while you were coming out of the temple, nothing else would have been said. But he
answered, “We did it through faith in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” So the court told them not to preach it anymore;
this can’t spread, it must stop.” The devil knew if they could stop them from preaching the name, then the revival
would stop.

When you stop taking the Name with you; everything stops. Your blessings stop; your healing stops; the revival stops;
everything in the world good will stop.

I asked the Lord, “Why is the Name so powerful?” Because it is eternal, irresistible. He raised Himself from the dead.
He said, I have power to lay this life down, and I have power to take it up again. We are talking about Jesus. The one
who died when He wanted to and walked out of the grave when He wanted to. He can’t be tied up. They tried but
they failed. Why don’t we loose Him and let Him go.

The Name is so powerful, because Gods eternal word is in it.
The Name is so powerful because the blood is in it.
All the authority in heaven is in and behind His Name. When we say Jesus every angel stands at attention.
The Holy Ghost is in this Name.

The Lord said to me, My Faith is in my Name. Where do you think I would put most of my faith? Not holding up some
galaxy; not holding up Jupiter. I would put the focus of my faith holding everything in place in my Name.

These 5 things go into action when you pray in faith in His Name:
The Word, The Blood, Heavens authority, the Holy Spirit, and Gods Faith.

He Loves action. Ever notice how the sun, moon, and stars dance around? He could have made this world and placed
it on a block somewhere to sit still, but He loves action. It turns every 24 hours that will keep everyone moving a little bit.
Somebody said stop the world, I want to get off. I don’t want to get off; I want to ride it. That Name that holds up all the
planets and galaxies, surely can hold us up.

Take the Name of Jesus With you

Train a child

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in a way that he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Its important to understand that this scripture does not mean that every child raised in a christian home and environment
is guaranteed that they are never going to leave the church. It is inevitable that that child will grow up and develop their own opinion,
personality, viewpoints etc,… and will eventually have to make their own decisions on whether or not they are going to live for God. I can list prayer warriors and pastors and ministers that practiced what they preached at home as well as in the public eye today, however their kids for whatever reason are not living for god the way they taught them.

What this scripture does mean, is that the things you teach them are going to be instilled in them forever. Wether they leave it it or not theres going to come a time that a situation that comes against them and rather than throw their hands up and wonder how they are going to handle it they are going to think back to what mom and dad taught them.
“Should I retaliate or pray about it and forgive them?” Should I compromise my beliefs to make my peers happy, or should I stand firm on the word of God and the doctrine I was taught growing up?” “How would my parents handle this situation?” “What would my pastor think if he saw me right now.” “Would God approve of what I’m doing?”

The story of the prodigal son is fitting for this topic.
A man born into a wealthy reputable family with a bright future, decided one day to make the decision to see what this world had to offer. He told his father he was leaving and asked for part of his inheritance and estate, and rather than rebuking his son the father grants him his wish. We understand from the text that the son ultimately failed and lost everything, he left everything he held dear to sell out to the world and was left empty handed and a heart of despair until one day he found himself living amongst the swine, and adhering to their lifestyle until one day he decided that enough was enough. It was then he reached his breaking point and decided to make the trip back to his fathers house.

At this point the father had every right to reject his son, he could have slammed the door in his face and called him ungrateful and selfish.
He could have pretended that he never even new who the boy was , but that wasn’t the case here. We find in scripture, a father waiting for his sons return, watching for a cloud of dust at the end of the road indicating his son return home. If I’m not mistaken the bible doesn’t give a time table for how long the son was away from home and I feel theres a reason for this. He was willing to wait as long as necessary for his son to come home. He refused to give up, and he never lost hope, he trusted that the values he instilled in his son were still there and that one day he was going to remember where he came from and there was coming day when he would come back and reclaim his rightful place in his fathers house.

So one day the fathers son was answered, and that cloud of dust wasn’t another visitor coming to pay a visit, it wasn’t his oldest son returning home from work but rather it was the son that left his home, finally returning to his fathers house. So rather than rebuking his son he rushed out to greet him with open arms, and that evening had a huge celebration honoring his sons return.

Now I understand that we teach this as the Father representing God and the son as the saint leaving the church, with God welcoming the sinner back with open arms, but humor me for just a moment as I offer a different viewpoint or perception.

We all have children, God forbid one day they leave the church, leave behind the truth, try to forget everything they learn. Allow me to offer a few words of wisdom, or tips that we can learn from this story.

1. Let them go. It does them no good to shelter them forever, they will come to resent you and push harder by forcing them them to stay as they get older, even though they have other plans.

2. Let them fail. They need to endure trials of life and situations if they are going to grow strong in the lord ands learn to stand firm on the word of God. A group of scientists created a human made bio-dome where the created this huge dome complete on the inside with trees, plants and grass along with other forms of vegetation. However overtime they noticed the trees were growing parallel with the ground because there was no wind blowing against it causing it to remain straight. Likewise we need those winds and storm to learn to stand upright and strong.

3. Love them no matter what. Friends will leave them, even siblings will rebuke them, but they need mom and dad to love them despite their failures and short comings. Its your job to pick up the broken pieces. Be sure to pick those pieces back together before this world does.

4. Probably the most important one. Never stop praying for them. Never stop interceding for them, because if you don’t then who will? I can tell you story after story of parents praying for their children, for years. Some took 5 years, some 10, 30, or even 50 years, praying for their children to come home. They raise their hand during prayer request time at the church for their petition for their children until one day the doors open and that son or daughter sits next to them in the pew, prayers answered! Welcome them back with open arms, celebrate, rejoice that God heard your prayers!

Another good article from The Pentecostal Herald: slightly revised

The Sins listed in this post are not specifically mentioned as the “seven deadly sins” in the bible. However, this list of sins: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride- Has existed since the fall of man.

When we mention these sins as “deadly”  it does not imply that there aren’t other deadly sins. All sins are potentially deadly. Also, the fact that these and other sins are deadly, does not mean forgiveness is unavailable to those who repent. And its important to remember to repent means to have a change of mind and behavior. Human nature is fallen and we are all capable of committing any of these seven deadly sins among other sins as well.

John said, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cline us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar. and his word is not in us.” (I John 1:8-9). Proverbs 28:13 states, “He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth  and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

The following are quotes taken from reputable pastors and ministers in the UPCI concerning these sins.

The Sin of the World

“To distrust God’s goodness is to live in a system of suspicion and fear exiled from God. Such a system, the sin of the world, can only produce death and decay. It is this death-dealing system of suspicion and fear that the Lamb of God came to abolish and thereby end the exile of humanity. The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world by invalidating the premise upon which sin operates- that god is less than trustworthy.” (Roy Fisher)

Lust

“Lust is choosing to think about something in our mind that we would like to do with our body that if acted upon would be sin. Because we deliberately choose to think about it, God calls even the thought sin.” (Into the word)

Greed

“I AM GREEDY. I want a nicer house that is at least 2,500 square feet in an affluent city like Scottsdale, Arizona. I want a luxury SUV that had at least separate climate controls for driver and passenger to maintain a happy marriage. I want a 6 figure 401k so I can retire at age 62, I would even settle for 65.” (Patrick Dotson)

Sloth

“In our culture, the word sloth connotes laziness.  The man who refuses to earn his living is our picture of sloth. Early greek speaking christians, however used the term acedia, which was a term that wasn’t limited to suggesting physical laziness. Rather it is referred to dejection, emotional neutrality, discouragement, depression, the waning of hope and love- in sum the habitual failure to care. I will use the two terms interchangeably, with the proviso that they both have this broader meaning.” (Jeremy Painter)

Gluttony

“Thomas Aquinas wrote that there are five ways to commit gluttony: (1)Eating food that is to luxurious, exotic or costly, (2)Eating food that is excessive in quantity, (3)Eating food that is too daintily, or elaborately prepared, (4)Eating too soon, or at an inappropriate time, (5)Eating too eagerly.”(P. Daniel Buford)

Anger

“Anger may very well be one of the most destructive of the vices referred to as the “seven deadly sins”. How many unsuspecting lives have been impacted by deep-seated rage taking its toll on the hearts and lives of individuals with long held resentment  and hatred resulting from real or perceived grievances? Far too many have had precious relationships destroyed, even as they take up a lifetime of strife, all due to uncontrollable rage. Perhaps this is why Scripture is filled with so many principles for understanding and dealing with this vice. When the word of God is applied to our hearts, it can be used by the Spirit to help remove fear and anger and make our lives whole again.” (Telmadge L. French)

Envy

“This side of Heaven most of us are guilty of envy and most of the time we envy without even knowing it. To envy is the natural feeling in most of us. It is not uncommon for us to want what someone else has. Envy is rooted in pride, the one envying justifying himself by feeling he is more worthy to possess the desired thing, position, honor happiness than the one possessing it.” (Arthur Hodges Jr.)

Pride

“Decide to be happy without being famous. You may never have your own billboard or name on a church sign, but greatness is what God does in you, not around you. Rather than seek things humans will applaud, seek what will matter to God. Enter a ministry of intercession, do alter work, and learn to comfort those who grieve. Why seek great things for yourself when you can do great things for others? Give a word of encouragement to a neighbor and pray with a co-worker. Want to do something great? Take time each day for devotions and prayer with your children and grandchildren.”(Daniel J. Koren)