Blinded By The Darkness

2 Corinthians 4:4"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should shine unto them".

We were all at one time we all were none believers, trapped in darkness blinded by the god of this world. The bible represents Satan as the master manipulator of human nature. He uses our weakness combined with his influence  leads to sin. Because of Satan's deceptions and the sinful tendencies of human nature," all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". We must understand, however, that the devil cannot force us to sin, he simply influences us through our fleshly weaknesses. But several major areas of our fleshly nature are easily manipulated by Satan.

First, our selfish, fleshly desires often get us into trouble. The lust of the flesh, the desires of the flesh which calls us out side the will of God. Second, our natural deviousness, including self- deception, is a major weakness of the fleshly mind. We naturally look for ways to  justify our lust, our sinful desires, and the behaviors that arise from them. We deceive ourselves into believing that, since our desires are natural, they are not so bad after all. But God's word reminds us that" there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death". Third, we have a natural tendency to resent having our fleshly desires limited by rules, even God's rules. Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, set their minds on the things of the spirit.

The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God and blinded to the light of his truth, and love by the deception of the god of this world. One locked in darkness find it hard to see. Those that are in the flesh cannot please God. These and other fleshly weaknesses are what we call human nature. Satan takes advantage of our weak and greedy nature by persuading us to rely even more on our emotions, needs and wants than we normally would. But we play our part. Without the positive influence of God's Spirit, we are simply not naturally inclined to live according to God's instructions. If you live according to the flesh you will die in darkness, but if you live by the spirit of God you will live in the light, in a life everlasting...........

My 911

Psalm 120:1 " In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me".

Who can you call when the world comes crashing down on your head? The world of God tells us "To call upon the name of the Lord in your day of trouble, and I will hear you and deliver you". Yet there are many who have refused to call upon Him. Many believe they can make it with the bank accounts, positions, or on their own, but the truth is Jesus Christ is the only way.

When the cares of this world makes you a prisoner of distress, as you are held captive to lying lips, and a deceitful tongue, know that there is one who awaits your call. When your personal desires, and need for self elevation leads you away as sheep without a shepherd, no that He is the good shepherd who will never leave you nor forsake you. He tells us to cast all our cares upon Him, for He cares for us. God wants us free from worry that we can go out share the good news of salvation to a dying world. He is our 911 emergency call.

Let us not look to the hills for our help, let us look to the Lord, He is our help. Cry out to Him, He will hear you and he will save you. Jesus saves................

Jesus Is The Word

John 1:1 In the beginning was the word , and the word was with God and the word was God.

The word of God is a name for Christ. It is the essential word that in the beginning was with God and was God.But it is also the scriptures, the written word of God, but the Lord Jesus is never separated from them.He indeed is the substance of the written word. Scripture is what it is because Jesus himself embodies himself in them. He comes in the vol. of the book.So we have the word of God,which is the power of God and the sword of God.It is the sword of peace and rest, and also a sword of salvation and judgment. It is the instrument by which we are set free from the bondage of sin and death, but by this same instrument the world will be judged and condemned. It is the truth which makes us free, yet because of unbelief all are not free, many wonder aimlessly in a vast wilderness, a prisoner of our own doubt not trusting or believing God's word.Many right now are wondering, lost in the wilderness of worry, because of unbelief, some are lost in a wilderness of  depression, trapped by the cares of this world all because of unbelief. 

Jesus said come unto me all that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Let us cast all of the care of this world upon Him and walk in His truth, rest in His faithfulness and live in His abundant life. remember Jesus never fails

Faithful Leaders

1 Timothy 3:2"Bishop then must be blameless,the husband of one wife, vigilant,sober,of good behavior, given to hospitality,apt to teach";

Paul wrote straightforward requirements for church leaders,as this part of the ministry was extremely important.It was important that those in leadership positions were able to communicate God's word clearly.Needed to be blameless,faithful in marriage,sober minded, watchful against Satan,and good to the flock.The leadership was to serve the people not be served by the people.

In our desire to do things the right way,we can sometimes apply Scripture in a cold, loveless way.Or in our desire to make people feel good about themselves,we may skirt the difficult parts and compromise when it comes to honoring God's Word.We might be tempted to "fudge" on some of the biblical leadership qualifications, for example. Neither approach to applying the commands, instructions, and principles of scripture is good.Truth must be accompanied by love.Love cannot go forward without truth.So when selecting good leadership, it matters that we are true to scriptural instructions and yet loving as we apply them.To those who do not yet qualify for leadership but wish to serve in leadership capacity,we should encourage them to develop in their conduct and character,that they meet God's requirements. For those who do qualify, we must continue to hold them to the standard,yet in humility and love that recognizes our own failings.We can pray for them,encourage them, talk with them(rather than gossip about them) about concerns we might have. If truth and love are our rules,we cannot fail to do well in this area of church life.

Good leadership matters, and the people of God have seen the harm to the reputation of Christ and his church that comes when leaders are selected and upheld for wrong or insufficient reasons,such as a personal charisma, good business skills, exciting vision casting, or celebrity status.These cannot be the reason for choosing leadership for God's people.As you think about your own church leaders, how do they compare with the qualifications listed by Paul?How does your own life and leadership qualities measure up? A good leader cannot be one thing at home and something different at church,if one cannot take care of his own home ,how can he/she be qualified to take care of God's house.

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?