It Is Finished

John 17:4 "I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do".

"Verily Verily I say unto you ,except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,it abideth alone;but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit".

Here is Jesus at the end of His earthly ministry,on his way to the grave and he said his soul is troubled. But for this hour he was sent, for He was the only way to redeem lost man back to a Holy God. For this purpose he came into the world. On His way to the grave He went through somethings for our behalf. He was met with conflicts and confrontations, he was alienated, persecuted, and rejected, yet he endured to the grave for our salvation. Look what Jesus did on His way to the grave.

On His way to the grave he glorified the Father, his work now complete, He had given sight to blind eyes, so now man could see that he was lost and in need of a savior. He had put hearing in deaf ears, so man could hear what thus saieth the Lord. He put speaking in the mouth of the dumb, so man could share the good news of the gospel. He put walking in the legs of the lame, so man could stand firm on God's word and walk up right is His righteousness, and He had called the dead back to life, so now man could live in a newness of life as he was no longer dead in sin. On His way to the grave Jesus paved the way for lost man to be found, to be saved and to live in eternal glory. Jesus willing to lay down His life that we might know his love, receive his mercy and live in His grace. Jesus was obedient unto death that we might be obedient unto Life everlasting, all on His way to the grave. Jesus accepted for us the wage paid by sin.Yes Jesus died that we might have life and life more abundantly.

On His way to the grave and Jesus saw you, and loved you, and he died for you. If you were the only person in the world, he still would of died for you.What will you do for Him?

Satan Among The Saints

Job1:6 "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord,and Satan came also among them".

Every time we come together to present ourselves before the Lord, Satan has a tendency to be among us. But clearly this cannot be acceptable worship,for nothing that Satan does can be accepted.We must come to God by faith,or our worship is dead and unprofitable.We must learn to walk in the spirit putting to death the flesh and the lust thereof so that when we come to present ourselves to the Lord Satan is not among us.He come but to still the word, kill the spirit and destroy the soul of all he comes in contact with.He brings mischief to the sons of God by accusing them before the Lord night and day; by causing them to take their thoughts off the heavenly and they begin to worry about earthly concerns Jesus has already overcome.He causes division in the body by sowing dissensions and the people criticize one another, instead of hearing the gospel message.He causes preachers,teachers, choir singers and even a good praying deacon to become filled with pride and seek glory that belongs to God alone.He tries to quince the spirit , silence the prayer and even chill the praise of the worship service.

He distracts the unsaved from hearing the message that might lead them to Christ,by raising doubts, putting the man before the master.He may cause them to delay giving there life to Christ,showing them all that is wrong so the enjoyment felt is now hindered, as he takes away the word sown to the heart like a bird eating up newly planted seed.You cannot destroy a hornets nest without being attacked in return. Since we know Satan will enter our assemblies,we must make sure we are not the one he is riding with, and we don't give him a place to sit when he enters the congregation.

We must continue to present ourselves to the Lord, even though we know many who confess a false profession will be in attendance.But let us do a great soul searching and ask ourselves daily "Lord is it I",so that we are not the ones with the false profession. We must be more watchful as we pray, for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,that we give not into the temptations of the flesh.Our preachers and teachers must be more faithful to the gospel truth,that the devil will not find comfort in the congregation, but will be annoyed by the truth which he hates.We must allow the truth of God's word to convict  the heart,then it will convert the soul and bring about true confessions from the mouth.(You cannot confess to something you are not guilty of.).Let us strive for the perfect assembly above where there be no mixture, but a sinless congregation.

It's In The Blood

Hebrews 9:22 " And almost all things are by the law purged with blood: and without shedding of blood is no remission.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God; there is none righteous, no not one,there is none who wants to obey the Lord, none who wants to do His will. There is not one who is able to walk in the Holy manner in which we have been called to walk in, we all had to be born again. If we could have done better, Jesus would not have had to die.

The love God has for mankind is beyond the understanding of the carnal mind. How can one who is holy love something so unholy? How can one who is love, love someone so unloving, un-giving, unkind, uncaring and unforgiving. God is so perfect and without flaw while we are so flawed without perfection, and yet God commended His love toward us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.Why? What is man that thou art so mindful of Him? When Adam sinned the soul of man was condemned to death,"for the soul that sinneth must surely die". So God took His precious word and wrapped it up in the sin of man and sent Jesus, the word of God made flesh to be sacrificed on the behalf of mankind. All who by faith accepts the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus shall be saved. His Shed blood for our salvation.

Blood had to be shed to accept for man the wage paid by sin. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for such a imperfect people. The precious lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. His blood for my sins, will you accept His blood for your sins?

Slipping Into Darkness

Judges 16:6 " And Delilah said to Samson,Tell me,I pray thee,wherein thy great strength lieth,and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee."

The enemy comes not but to steal, kill and destroy.We must realize that there is nothing good in the enemy.He is a liar and the father of them.Yet many of us get caught daily in the web that he has woven, to capture and destroy that which God has created.The enemy is not going to be in a red suit with horns on his head,often times he will look just like that we are seeking in through the lust of the flesh,the lust of our eyes and the pride of life.

In our story today the enemy came in the image of a beautiful woman.There is a reason God tells us be not unequally yoked.See Delilah was a deceiver. She pretended to be one thing in order to destroy that which God had created.See much like Eve in the garden,Delilah was pleasant to look at in Samson eye, and it was the lust of his eye, that lead to the lust of his flesh, which caused him to tell Delilah the secret of his heart.It is the deception of the enemy which causes us to surrender to him our hearts and hinder our relationship with God.Samson kept toying with her when he should have left her presence.Many of us are playing footsie with the enemy when we should leave him alone.

Satan is real,and as we see in our story after Delilah deceived Samson, she went on to destroy his life. He had to repent and return to God.Satan has deceived many and went on to destroy their lives.the only way back is to repent and turn back to God to be saved.

Lift Him UP

John 3:14 "and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up:"

Here is the glorious invitation to all mankind, to come to the Lord and be saved. Here is God calling His people to assemble themselves together from among the ways of this world and lift up Jesus that those in darkness might be drawn to Him and be saved. His desire is that all turn from sin and return unto Him. He is both a just God and a willing Savior to all who will come. Here we have the way for all to come, If we lift up Jesus, that will draw all men unto Him. He and He alone is God's perfect plan of salvation .There is only one who can save. And as Moses lifted up the serpent to save all who looked upon it when bitten by the fiery serpents in the wilderness, Jesus saves all who have been bitten by sin and look up to Him for salvation.

Look at the glory on the cross; Christ and Him crucified. He accepted for us the wage paid by sin. The world was crucified, as he took on the sins of the world, like a felon executed upon the cross, its character condemned, its judgments condemned, its teachings despised, its treasures, pleasures, joys and toys all rejected by the Savior as is the glory of the cross. The believer crucified, as we by faith accept the death of the Savior and walk in a newness of life." Knowing this, that our old man of sin is crucified with him, and the body of sin is destroyed, that from now on we should not serve sin". Let us glory in the light seen at the cross, and tell the world that Jesus died that we might have everlasting life.

Let us look to Jesus in all that we do, He and He alone is the answer to the prayers of mankind. He and He alone is our help from the Lord. He is all and in all. Don't look to the blessing from the Lord for your strength, look to the blessor, Look to Jesus and be saved. Through His death we have life.

Cut To The Heart

 Acts 2:37 "Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart,and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles,Men and brethren what shall we do"?

Peter's sermon was not a fine display of eloquence.Neither was it a very pathetic plea.It wasn't even a loud but empty cry of believe,believe,it was a simple, plain statement and a soberly earnest argument.Its power laid in the truthfulness of the speaker,his appeal to the scripture,the concurrence of his witnessing brothers,and his own evident faith in God's word.Above all the power was in the Holy Spirit who accompanied the truth in the word of God.To be cut to the heart is deadly,but to be pricked in the heart is saving.the truth of the gospel has often,by the power of the Holy spirit,produced life saving wounds to the hearts of all who hears it.

Conversion is the work of argument,for the judgment is gained by the truth.It is the work of conviction, for the awakened are pricked in their hearts.It is a work of inquiry, for they ask "what must we do to be saved".And lastly it is the work of comfort,for its subjects have received remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost.Peter preaching was the strongest word in the first oration delievered in the defense of Christianity.The truth of God's word pricked the hearts of those that listened.It wasn't Peter,nor his hoop, not even his style, but the truth of God's word which pricked their hearts.Heart work must be God's work.Only the great heart-maker can be the great heart breaker.The Holy Spirit,the comforter came to convience the world of the truth of God's word.Does it seem strange that in convicting you of your sins,instead of comforting you, he covers you with shame,and confusion causing you to sink into un-utterable anquish and dismay?But in convicting us of sin, he does in fact prove to be a comforter.As we are comforted in the fact that Jesus died to save us from sin, and we can, through faith receive everlasting life.

Through the truth of God's word and the power of the Holy Spirit the message of a few, has lead to the salvation to many.Let us to once again put our trust in the truth of God's word, and the power of His Holy Spirit, and share with a lost world the good news of Jesus Christ the power of God to convict and convert.