Author: admin

We are justified before God by faith in Jesus Christ— “Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5: 1

God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through His love and faithfulness toward us. Romans 5: 8

“And having made peace with God through the blood of His cross”—even though we were enemies of God, now He has reconciled us, He has cleared our account with Him, in the body of His flesh through death. Colossians 1: 20-22

We are “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…having forgiven you all trespasses…nailing it to his cross.” Colossians 2: 12-14

We were not actually there two thousand years ago to be nailed to the cross with Jesus. We were not actually there to be laid in the grave with Jesus, then be raised from the dead. But by hearing the Word and believing the report, we are with Him by faith.

Baptism is a demonstration of our faith in and identification with what Jesus did for us over two thousand years ago.

Our faith connects us to the person and work of Jesus. By faith, when He died, we died; when He was buried, we were buried; when He was resurrected, we were resurrected. Our baptism shows and publicly seals our commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Repentance, turning from our sin and our life, and turning to the Lord, calling upon Him in faith, gains remission and forgiveness of sin. We are baptized to demonstrate our trust in and our commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 2: 38; Acts 22: 16; Romans 10: 8-13

Baptism gives us a clear conscience of obedience unto God in our identification with the death and resurrection of Jesus. Our faith is demonstrated. 1 Peter 3: 18-22; James 2: 17

We are saved by the blood of Jesus. We identify with Jesus by baptism. Our identification is in and with the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and in and with the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 28: 19; Acts 2: 38; Acts 10: 48

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As stores are putting Christmas stuff out for sale, so those who do extensive, detailed Christmas decorating must begin well ahead of display time. Barb, my wife, who loves to decorate for this season of seasons, starts her behind-the-scene preparations long before the actual time. She keeps an eye open year-round for bargains on Christmas-related stuff, but come October, she starts getting strings of lights out of storage to test them. The items having lights that have been in storage need to be tested before they are taken out to be displayed. A rat, mouse or a broken wire can render the item without shine. A pretty, clear-spired, sputnik-like star, that hangs from the ceiling, would not shine. A star that does not shine is just not a star when it comes to Christmas time. She was disappointed that the pretty ornament would not shine. She changed the batteries. It still did not shine. She cleaned some corrosion off the connections. It still did not shine. She was determined to make that star shine. She checked the connections again and “vigorously” cleaned corrosion off. Vwalah! It shone brightly. It now hangs in its corner as she continues to decorate inside the house. Later, after the inside is done, the whole decorating process will move outside. Sometimes our light fails to shine. This can be due to some corrosion on our connection. When we are solidly connected to the Lord Jesus Christ, our light will shine. Sometimes our connection is corroded with our own self-righteous, religious goodness. There is only one way to be right with God, and that is by faith in the pure righteousness and finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Our goodness is not the savior. Jesus is the Savior. When we scrub our goodness off the connection and just trust that what Jesus did for us is enough with God, then our light can shine in peace. When we scrub off our legal religious good works and see that the work of Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection is what makes us right with God, then we can shine in His righteousness. When we turn from and clean the sin off our connection, then we can shine with no condemnation. When we clean the corrosion off the connection of dead, religious head knowledge and doctrine, and anoint it with the oil of the Spirit, then the connection is sealed by the power of God to help us keep it clean. With the star plugged in to the power source, it can shine with the life, liberty, and power of God for all to see. We are no longer a star in dark form only—having a form of godliness with no power. With a clean connection to the life and power source, we can shine to the glory of God. By faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can do the works of God. Clean the connections and shine brothers and sisters! Shine!

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I have been seeing little white balls of something like cotton scattered around in the yard. It was just an unconscious observation for some days, then one day I noticed a larger portion. I went over and picked it up and determined that it was a polyester-like material. I thought, “Where is this coming from?” I looked around the yard in wonderment. My eyes fell on our cushioned lawn furniture. From a distance it looked normal and okay, but I thought, “Could it be?” So, I walked over to it. “Whup! Looky there!” There was a hole in the top of one of the cushions. Then one day, from a distance I observed a squirrel with something white in his mouth heading to the woods. Two and two together, and there you have it. The squirrels have discovered an exclusive material with which they can line their nests and raise their young ‘uns. What can you do? In town, you can’t shoot the squirrels. If you take the cushions up, you have defeated your purpose of having them, besides, this set of cushions have already been “holed.” Pepper spray or some other repellent on the cushions might be a solution, but for the moment, it is what it is. There are some little squirrels being raised “first class.” Those cushions have been out there for at least a year or two or three. They have been there all the time. It was just that one day, they were “discovered.” One day the squirrel, scratching around and diligently investigating things, received the “revelation” of abundance of fine provision for his home. Now, he is drawing from that provision. Here, we have a picture of grace. The Lord Jesus Christ became sin that we might be free of sin. He took a tortuous beating in His body that we might be healed. He became poor that we might be rich. He was anointed by the Spirit of God that we might receive and live by that same supernatural power of God. All the provisions for having a fine life in our “home,” in our present life, are all in place in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything we need is already provided for in abundance in Christ Jesus as our Lord. By our submission to His Lordship, by our identification with Him as a person in the flesh, and by our receiving His impartation of the Spirit, we can live in abundance of “first class” provision. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ makes available to us prosperity in every way—spirit, soul, body, family, finances, socially and eternally. It is there already. By hearing and believing the Word of truth unto repentance, we are submitting our life wholly to the Lord. This positions us to draw on His grace in our daily life. We are justified by faith unto peace with God, and we have access by this same faith into all His provisions. Romans 5: 1-2

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With a small power washing project before me, I rolled out the old power washer to give it a crank and get the job done. A quick glance into the gas tank to fill it up with fresh gas revealed debris present in the bottom of the tank. My friend Jeffrey, who is very mechanically minded, proceeded to remove the gas tank to get it thoroughly cleaned out. In the process, we discovered since it had been sitting for a season, the water pump was frozen up. We got that loosened, then with the gas tank clean and re-installed, we attempted to start it. We finally got it to fire and run for about ten seconds, then it would die. After all that we did to it, we concluded there must be trash in the fuel line or carburetor. The next step is to get some carburetor cleaner and spray some of that in there and see if that will inspire it to start and continue running. If that doesn’t do it, there will be a judgement and decision if I am going to spend anymore time and money on it. It is an old Craftsman machine that has well served its time, virtually an antique. If we can’t get it running this time, it might well be headed to the scrap pile. A lot of people have been sitting around in the church house and are “frozen up.” First of all, it needs to be stated that just because you sit in a hen house for twenty years does not make you a chicken. The reason some people are not living the life of Christ is because they don’t have it to live. Being good and religious is not the same as having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, there are some genuine believers who are not running well—they keep dying after about ten seconds with the debris of unbelief in their gas tank, not seeing results as they expected. Or, they got their eyes on a person or a church instead of looking to the Lord and His Word alone. Focus on God who is faithful. Sin, unbelief and catering to the flesh in our life, brings spiritual death. We need to get our spiritual tank cleaned out and blow the fuel lines out and clean the carburetor. This is repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. If we are “frozen up,” and not sharing Jesus freely with the passion of the fire of God, we need to let God get a hold of us and break us free from religious corrosion and bondage. Once we are broken free by the working of the Word and Spirit of God, then we need to get filled up from Him with the fuel of the Spirit, get cranked and running. Sitting idle will render you ready for the scrap pile. A total commitment to the Lord Himself will get you up and running smoothly.

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Jesus took love, truth and the healing, delivering power of God into every level of society. He took it into the street, into the established educational and religious institutions, and into the political arena. He chose twelve people He could train to follow Him. Today, He is calling to His church for “the twelve” to follow Him.

Two Different Mentalities

There are two different mentalities. Lukewarm is not acceptable. So, we all have a choice to make. Which mindset will we adopt?

The Church Conservative does just that—it conserves. It holds on to what it’s got; it keeps refined truth inside the four walls of its institutional grace.

The Church Militant marches out to war. It takes raw truth and power to the druggies on the street, to the town meeting, to the day-care centers, to the schools, to the universities, to the seminaries, and to the highest political arena—to every level of society.

One mindset is to hold on to what you have—a defensive mindset.

The other mindset is to push forward to take more territory—an offensive mindset.

One mindset offers freedom and liberty to a select few who we encounter in the sphere of our convenience.

The other mindset sacrificially and aggressively goes to the ends of the earth to offer freedom and liberty to all, through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

One stays in the realm of caution and conformity, for measured responses.

The other steps into confrontation and chaos with the truth and power of God to make it happen—and then continue to take the truth and power of God into whatever does happen.

The Call is Going Out

God’s call to His church is going out to us all. Many are called, but few are chosen. Those who are chosen are those who make themselves fit and ready in the love, truth, grace and supernatural power of God. Not just a revival—a revolution of love, truth, grace and supernatural power, all issuing from and revolving around the Lord Jesus Christ.

We all have a choice to make. What is your choice?

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God is a forgiving God. If He were not, no person could ever be saved.

Jesus forgave those who killed Him. Luke 23: 34

Stephen forgave those who killed him. Acts 7: 60

Erika Kirk, standing before the whole world, forgave the person who killed Charlie.

The apostle Paul dealt with a sin issue in the Corinthian church. In the conclusion of the matter, he said the person was to be forgiven “in the person of Christ; lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” 1 Corinthians 5: 4-5; 2 Corinthians 2: 6-11

Forgiveness is of God. It opens the door to allow God to work in a situation. Unforgiveness is of Satan. It opens the door to allow Satan’s devices to operate.

Forgiveness releases you from the sin that person or organization has cast upon you. Unforgiveness keeps you tied and bound to that iniquity. David said the wicked “cast iniquity upon me” (Psalms 55:3). Forgiveness casts it off of you. That does not mean the offenders won’t have justice served on them. Vengeance is not yours. Vengeance is the Lord’s. He is the just Judge.

Forgiveness allows you to have closure so the wound can heal. Unforgiveness keeps the wound open with negative words and memories. There is no healing. The wound is open for the infection of bitterness, and like gangrene, bitterness can cause death if it goes unchecked—death to the anointing, death to relationships, and physical death.

Forgiveness is a spiritual transaction bringing God on the scene in love, grace, righteousness, redemption and restoration. Unforgiveness is a spiritual transaction that brings bitterness, hatred, malice, vengeance, gossiping and every evil work. It colors one’s whole outlook on life dark shades of negative, skeptical, hurt, and speaking evil.

Jesus taught us to carry the message of mercy and forgiveness to the world. He paid the price for every person to be forgiven, and for every person to forgive. Through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ all people can be set free. Sin’s power is broken. The power of death is broken. Forgiveness releases this power of God in the earth. “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” God is the just Judge. Romans 12: 17-21

We reap what we sow. Do we want to reap from forgiveness or from unforgiveness?

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I want to ask every born-again believer who is a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ (“Christ” meaning “Holy Spirit anointed Messiah”); I want to ask every preacher, everyone in leadership position, every person—do you speak in tongues? Why not? Please, ask yourself this question. Take some time and examine yourself. Be perfectly honest with yourself. Why have you not received the power of the Holy Spirit and spoken in tongues?  

Did not Jesus say, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues”? Jesus said these signs, for all the unbelieving world to see, shall follow them that believe. Mark 16: 17 (italics mine)

Did not the apostle Paul agree with Jesus when he wrote to the Corinthians that tongues were a sign to the unbeliever, showing a supernatural God at work bringing light, life, liberty and power to the lives of people for the glory of the name of Jesus. Paul quoted a prophecy from Isaiah 28: 11-12 showing that this grace and sign was of God. 1 Corinthians 14: 20-22

Did not Peter stand up on the day of Pentecost and explain to the unbelievers that what they were hearing was the fulfillment of a prophecy from Joel 2: 28-32. He said, “These are not drunk, as you suppose…this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.” The speakers were the people who believed the Word. The onlookers were the unbelievers. Acts 2: 15-21 NKJV

Acts is the recorded history of the early church in the Bible. Did not believers show this sign throughout the book of Acts? Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 9, Acts 10, Acts 19—in every instance, covering a span of about the first twenty years of the church, the sign was given. Simon saw something in Acts 8. In Acts 9, it is not specifically stated that Paul spoke in tongues, but he told the Corinthians that he did speak in tongues, “more than you all. 1 Corinthians 14:18 NKJV

Let’s just reason together for a moment. If God has a supernatural means of power and communication that He wants to impart to all His children, do you really think He would then do away with it, withhold it, or offer it to just a few? Jesus clearly stated: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Luke 11:13 NKJV

The Holy Spirit is not mute! He has His own language! He speaks through a vessel. We see this throughout the book of Acts. He groans in every believer to express the word and voice of God out into the world (Romans 8: 26, 27). Any vessel who believes, and opens their mouth wide, God will fill it (Psalms 81:10). He will express Himself in His own way and language.  Do I have any believers? Will you yield and receive God’s power? Why not?

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I dreamed I got a heavy-duty draw string plastic garbage bag. At night I went to a hornet’s nest, put that garbage bag over it, drew it tight, and extracted it from its mooring. I don’t know what I did with it after I got it. And I don’t know if a hornet will bore through a plastic bag or not. If he can, that could be a problem. I have never done this, but I have taken a wide-mouthed clear jar, put about a table spoon of lacquer thinner in the bottom of it, and at night, when all the wasps are at home, ease that jar over the nest. I just hold it there for about forty-five seconds. You will see them drop off the nest into the jar, stone dead from the fumes. Or, if the nest is on a flat surface, you can drag that jar side-ways, and it will dislodge it and the nest and all will fall into the jar. If the nest is in an area that is not a flat surface, I have taken a little lacquer thinner in an open container and doused the nest with it. By the time the wasps hit the ground, they never move a muscle—dead! One more trick, while we are wasp hunting. In cold seasons, in older houses on days that it warms up, the wasps that are in the walls will make their way into the warm house. One time I was working in an older house, and on one of those warmer days, scores of wasps came inside (it wasn’t a tightly built old house). Well, I needed to work, and there were other occupants in the house. I took my little hand-held shop vac and went around and sucked ‘em all up! You just ease it up on one, and he doesn’t know what’s happening. He’s tryin’ to hold on. Then as you slowly get closer, poof! He’s gone! Then you gotta figure out what to do with them once you get them in your vacuum cleaner. If I remember right, I sucked up a little lacquer thinner and just let them sit there for a while. But you have to be careful with lacquer thinner. It can eat up certain plastics. Here’s the deal. We live in a physical world with spiritual forces working behind the scene. The Bible says we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with unseen spiritual principalities and powers. Many times, what appears to be a person acting up, is nothing but a stinging demon influence being expressed through that person. A believer who is submitted to God is to be loving and truthful to the person, but in prayer, in the “night” of the prayer closet, we are to take authority over those spirits and bind them up and cast them out. We keep our focus on presenting Jesus to the world, but sometimes in the night, we need to deal with the wasps.

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I remember the days when you could pull up to a “filling station” and get full-service. You would get your windshield washed, tires checked, oil checked, transmission checked, your tank filled with gas, and all this with a friendly smile. Whatever needed to be done, you would have it done. Most of the time, the attendant would know your name. We had all this for what, about thirty or forty cents a gallon for the gas? Back then, it was known and expected that when you pulled into a “service station,” you were going to be served in this manner. You were going to be thoroughly checked over and equipped to safely roll on down the road for the long haul, to arrive at your destination. Nowadays it is quite different. If you want your windshield cleaned, you do it yourself—if there is water in the box. It’s called “self-serve.” Whatever you need, you gotta figure it out and go buy it and put it in. When the church first got started, it was a full-service church. When you pulled into this church, you would get your life checked over by the spirit of holiness. If something needed tending to, you can better believe, it would be tended to. At this church you would get your sins exposed and washed away by repentance and faith in the blood of Jesus. You would get totally immersed by water baptism, showing a total commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, to do the will of God from that day forward. You would get an infilling with the Holy Spirit with a supernatural prayer language imparted to you by which you could drive on down the road in the supernatural power of God. By that same anointing oil of the Spirit, you could live smoothly, operating in the anointing of God even in the face of adversities. If one of your spiritual tires was low, or flat, slowing progress, there were spiritual-minded brethren who could help take care of it without spreading rumors all over town. When you pulled into the early church, you knew you were going to be served by the Lord Himself. You knew you would drive away fully supplied and fully equipped with the supernatural power of God. You knew He would take you down the road with His strength and ability. By Him, you would fulfill your purpose in life and safely arrive at your destination. The early church was not a boring program of dead religious rituals. It was God serving the people with life, power, protection, and preparation for what lay ahead. It was not a self-serve pick and choose what I like or what I don’t like. It was God manifested for the good of the people. If you wanted God, you went to church and submitted your life to Him, knowing, He will take care of you. Good News! Today, God is still available “full-service” to those who seek Him with all their heart.

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My recent “fender-bender” received an evaluation of “total loss” by my insurance company. Functionally, nothing is impaired. By the nature of the damage, and by the fact it is a 2008 vehicle, it was deemed “totaled.” I elected to keep the vehicle for the compensation offered, instead of surrendering it for the larger amount of money. One reason I did this, was because after a couple of estimates of repair with new parts and all that, I began to visualize what could be done to work with what I had. After the collision I picked up the pieces lying in the roadway and brought them home. So, when I got home, I got those pieces together and started holding them up in place and seeing how and where they fit. I thought, “Hmm! I think I can decently stitch this thing back together.” On a Sunday afternoon after church with my wife’s mechanically-minded nephew, Jeffrey, we put Humpty-Dumpty back together again. We drilled holes and “stitched” those parts back together with zip-ties. Even injuries on our bodies fixed up by professional doctors carry stitch marks. So, there is no shame in stitch marks. They just show we survived the battle. So, my “Jehu’s Chariot II” survived the battle with some stitch marks on a certain area of its body.  I have yet to paint it, but when it is painted, it will blend beautifully and carry its marks with dignity. Did you know that God uses imperfect vessels? If He did not, He could do nothing on earth because nobody is perfect except Jesus, and He is in heaven. We all have areas in our lives where we got banged up either by our own or by other people’s choices. God doesn’t bang people up. People’s poor choices, inattention, hasty actions and selfish ways cause life’s collisions. God is right there on the scene to starting fixing it up and transform and make the most with what we’ve got. We need never limit God by our own understanding. We can cooperate with Him and roll with Him in what we have. In due time, if it works out, a whole new bumper and hatch door can be purchased and installed. But right now, we can take what we have and roll on with God’s plan and purpose. Are we satisfied to remain in any sin and weakness in any way? Absolutely Not! But if we will submit who we are and what we have to the Master Mechanic, He can work in our life to keep things smoothly rolling down the road of His purpose. So, get up and trust Him to transform you the way only He knows how you need it. Don’t stop your journey with Him just because you got damaged. All God ever uses is damaged goods who have allowed Him to be their life and their strength. There is a harvest to be reaped. Entrust all your life to God, get up and get moving!

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