Articles

May the LORD use His People in this Season

Paula White Exposed [video]

THAT’s My King! Pastor Lockridge [video]

Powerful Prayers from Children-This Will Shake You [video]

The Fear of the LORD is to Hate Evil: Pride, and Arrogancy #shorts [video]

THIS WEEK: Beloved sister Teri Guadalupe led two lost souls to Jesus in one day this week. She was in tears at what Jesus was doing. Two phone calls came in from Florida today to greet these new saints.

Do we spend more time protesting paganism than we do obeying Jesus by going into all the world and preaching the Gospel?

“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15

Aren’t we nothing more than hypocrites if were are merely on a rampage to protest paganism and yet are not obeying Jesus by preaching the Word to the saints and sinners?

Did Jesus save and send us just to antagonize lost souls, or to win them to Him?

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30

Notice that “the righteous” have good root and fruit in Christ and “winneth souls.” There is the divine life of God springing forth from the lives of His children – including in soul winning.

Perhaps in evangelising, it’s important not to over plan or strategize. Prepare? Yes (2 Timothy 2:21; 1 Peter 3:15). Yet simply to take it all to our LORD in prayer and ask Him to do His work in us and therefore through us. John 17 – oneness with Him and John 15, fruit born by Him in and through us for His eternal glory. In other words we should just die and not so much try.

Do we have any examples of Jesus, His apostles, or the early church spending their time protesting paganism? Paganism is the fruit of a fallen world that only Jesus can rescue the captives from.

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” 1 Timothy 1:15

Sin, paganism is a given. Look up and see the appearances of the words “preach” and “preached” in the King James Bible and check out the action of the earliest followers of our LORD. “Protest”

How did God use sister Teri? Was it because she was out there protesting the pagan origins of Christmas or because she was communicating the Gospel of Jesus? Take a guess…..

Why shouldn’t God’s people insert His truth into everything, at all times? – EVERY day of the year, including December 25! Isn’t that what Jesus meant when He said we are His light and salt in the earth? Read Matthew 5:13-16. God is good and God is able! Maybe we should bow afresh here and now and ask Him to use us and to give us His wisdom to steadily do His will and not be drawn away into unfruitful endeavors, wasteful, unconstructive pursuits. Let it be dear LORD, in Jesus’ name (Psalms 25:4-5).

A common objection from some Christians is “Christmas is pagan!” True, yet is the birth of the eternal WORD pagan?

Should we cease cursing the darkness and instead begin to obey Jesus by shining His glorious light right in the middle of that darkness? After all, darkness abounds upon the whole earth, every day for 6,000 years. Think about that. Cursing the darkness benefits no one except Satan. Perhaps we should prayerfully consider letting the light of Christ in us to begin to shine brighter and brighter into the darkened hearts of fallen men.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

YOU GOING TO WALK AROUND ALL MAD ABOUT CHRISTMAS OR ARE YOU GOING TO PREACH THE GOSPEL DURING THIS SEASON AND SHOW THOSE AROUND YOU THE LOVE OF JESUS?

The angels and wise men celebrated the coming of Christ. Since when would it be inappropriate to celebrate Heaven’s KING? How could Jesus have died for us if He weren’t first born, made flesh and dwelt among us? See John 1:14.

Is anyone going to Hell because they celebrated Christmas (pagan)? No. Yet those who go to Hell will go due to not repenting and receiving King Jesus. Are we giving that Gospel message? “How shall they hear without a preacher?” See Romans 10:14.

The whole fallen world we live in is pagan, 24/7/365. Such has been the case for 6,000 years since the fall of man in the Garden. Aren’t we glad Jesus didn’t stand back and curse the darkness while still in Heaven, and say “Heck no, let them all perish”?

May God bless us to beware of self-righteousness. Jesus says the harlots will go to Heaven before the religious self-righteous (Matthew 21:31).

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your only begotten to die for the sins of the world, to die for my sins. I love You dear LORD and am eternally grateful for Your perfect sacrifice which alone atoned for my sin. Please forgive my sin, my lack of walking in Your wisdom and please use me and all of Your people this day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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“I Must be about My Father’s Business”

Striving Together for the Faith of the Gospel [podcast]

Should Christians Celebrate Christmas? [radio]

Articles

The Only Way Up is Down [podcast]

Chapter 8 from the book Raised Up (narration)

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18

The Down and Up Principle of God’s Kingdom

“And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root DOWNWARD, and bear fruit UPWARD.” Isaiah 37:31

The Scriptures follow a pattern of death and resurrection, a downward death and upward life. See if you can observe such a truth in the following verses:

“The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth UP all those that be bowed DOWN.” Psalms 145:14

Do you possess the blessed desire to be raised up by the Almighty? According to His divine wisdom given us in His precious Precepts, in order to be “raised up” we must first be “bowed down.” The LORD will not raise up any person who is still alive in his own power – He only raises up “those that be bowed down” in sincere humility before His majesty (Ps. 145:14; Jn. 12:23-25; Rom. 8:11).

“Those that be bowed down” will “take root downward” and be raised up in blessed fruitfulness (Isa. 37:31).

In order to “bear fruit upward,” one must first be planted in the house (kingdom) of the LORD and “take root downward” in the rich soil of His truth. The resurrection life of Jesus and ample fruitfulness will be the result.

Going deeper in God necessitates going down deeper into death and burial with Christ! Read Romans 6. There are no shortcuts (Galatians 5:24). Christ’s kingdom is a cross economy – one of utter humility and death to self that He might reign (John 12:23-25; 2 Corinthians 4:10-12; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3, etc.).

“And whosoever shall exalt himself (upward) shall be abased (humbled); and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” Matthew 23:12

“He must INCREASE, but I must DECREASE.” John 3:30

“And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat FALL INTO THE GROUND (downward) and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit (upward). He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life (downward) in this world shall keep it unto life eternal (upward).” John 12:23-25

“Humble yourselves (downward heart posture) in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:10

The life of Christ will raise a man upward and this is after that man bows down his life or humbles himself under the mighty hand of God – first at initial salvation then in the consecrated life that brings God glory. Blessed resurrection life is the upward result of the life planted downward and this is the place from which ministry springs. Look at what the apostle Paul wrote in this regard:

“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:10-12

Jesus declared to us that He came to make captives free from sin and Satan – “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Lk. 4:18; Jn. 8:31-32, 36).There is chain-shattering, freeing power (liberty) in the redeeming blood of Christ and by the power of the Holy Ghost (Lk. 4:18; Jn. 8:36; Acts 26:18; Col. 1:12-14; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Rev. 12:11). The divine promise is that when one bows down before the LORD, every yoke shall be broken by Him who is above all (Isa. 58). No stronghold or bond of Satan has power when Christ’s blood is applied in sincere repentance and by the power of the Holy Ghost! The saint who is raised up after being bowed down, will glorify God in rich fruitfulness being “changed into the same image (Christ’s) from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:17-18

It is the divine Person of the Holy Ghost who raised up the LORD who was bowed down before His Father in death in order to purchase His Church with His own sinless blood (Acts 20:28). In like manner, it is the Holy Spirit with His resurrection power who raises up those who be bowed down before His throne of grace.

“And he (Jesus) was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God… And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.” Luke 13:10-13, 16-17

There can be no resurrection until there is first a death. A seed is dead or dormant then is planted and then germinates and brings forth bud, then a stalk and ultimately fruit – but first it must be buried downward in order to bear life-giving fruit upward. The life buried with Christ will be lifted up by divine power and bear much fruit to God’s glory (Jn. 15:8).

“But if the Spirit of him that raised UP Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised UP Christ from the dead shall also quicken (make alive upward) your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Romans 8:11

Our LORD had to first die and be buried “downward” in order to be raised “upward” by the Father in resurrection life to raise up and justify all those who would call upon Him in repentance (Rom. 1:4; 8:11; 10:13). In order for fruit to be borne “upward,” the disciple must first be planted “downward” in “the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Isa. 37:31; Phil. 3:10).

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” Romans 6:3-5

“Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.” Colossians 2:12

He created man with a choice (Josh. 24:15). In the end there will be “the resurrection of life” and also “the resurrection of damnation” (Jn. 5:28-29). Each of us will be in one of these resurrections – either everlasting life or eternal death (conscience separation from God in hell). The entrance into Heaven or termination into hell will hinge upon whom we served – God or self (Rom. 6:16).

Real promotion comes only from the Giver and Sustainer of all life – from the north (Heaven).

“For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.” Psalms 75:6-7

That person who freely chooses to believe God, taking Christ at His Word, bowing under His infinite Majestic glory, will be raised up both now and forever and eternally glorified with the Alpha and Omega (Phil. 2:5-11; 2 Thess. 2:13-14).

“The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing.” Psalms 92:12-14

PRAYER: Please draw me deeper into You LORD Jesus. Father in Heaven, You sent Your only begotten Son to die for me in order that I might be raised up in new life in this brief life and eternally. I love You Jesus and ask You to lead me to that crucified life that you lived when here on earth and as You gave Your life blood on the cross to save Your people. Please quicken me by Your Holy Spirit and fill me afresh O LORD, that this life You gave might be fully one with You and fruitful and pleasing to Thee. Lord, I am watching and praying in light of Your soon return. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

If you truly desire to know more about how to really know the LORD, go here okay: Born Again: What is It?

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PEACE with GOD

Feedback:

“Awesome message. Thank you for sharing it. I would like to encourage everyone to read this and to look at the scriptures in their own Bibles! Wonderful message.” Linda C.