Skip to main content

Posts

Are You Prepared for Eternity?

          The media is filled with advertisements encouraging people to plan for the inevitable. Funeral homes encourage individuals to pre-plan and to pre-pay for their funeral services.    Financial planners will encourage families to have a will.    Life insurance companies spend heavily advertising the fact that we need to provide for our loved ones in the event of our death.           Many in our society have pre-paid their funeral expenses, purchased life insurance to take care of their loved ones, and have drawn up a will. They have made the necessary physical preparations, but they haven’t made spiritual preparations for eternity.    The Bible teaches in Hebrews 9:27, “And it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”     The words, “after this,” are very important.    They reveal that there is something beyond the grave that we must be pre...
Recent posts

Seek First the Kingdom of God

  Matthew 6:33 – “ Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”             The key to spiritual growth and maturity is to make your relationship with God a priority.  Jesus encourages you to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.  To prioritize your relationship with God is to put God first in your life. First things in the Bible are very important.  Proverbs 3:9-10 teaches, “Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.”  At the beginning of each month the Jewish people practice “first fruits.”  This is a time of celebration and worship to celebrate the new month.  The Jewish people would bring an offering to recognize that God was their source and to sanctify and cele...

The Root

  “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many” (Hebrews 12:15, NLT). A healthy tree has a healthy root system.  Roots anchor the tree and provide a storage and distribution system for nutrients. When tree roots are injured, the tree becomes stressed and is subject to fall.  Psalms 1:3, Isaiah 55:12, and Hebrews 12:15 compare a person to a tree. Hebrews 12:15 gives a specific warning about the root of bitterness.  A bitter root develops from a hurt that has not been forgiven and healed.  Bitterness is compared to a root because it is often hidden under an ill nature of ungratefulness, grudges, jealousy, and criticism, stemming from a judgmental mindset to blame others in order to justify the bitterness. Bitterness results in anger, slander, and malice.  To avoid a bitter root, we must be willing to acknowledge that people are hu...

A New Wineskin for A New Day

  We are living in exciting times.  The Apostle Paul described our days in 2  Timothy 3:1, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come.”  The word “perilous” means dangerous.  We are living in very dangerous times.               To quote Charles Dickens, “There are the best of times and the worst of times.”  Our society is increasingly becoming more perverse and violent.  We are inundated with news of shootings, violence, and drug related crimes.  Many times this violence is directed toward the most innocent of our society.               How do the people of God respond to a society that continues to spiral out of control?  We must be diligent to fulfill the Great Commission.  The times we live in demand a response from God’s people.  This is a “s...

A New Assignment

  Isaiah 43:19 – “Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness a nd rivers in the desert.”              We have been in a time of shaking. Hebrews 12:26-27 says, “whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.” We learn two things from this passage. First, the shaking is from the Lord, and second, we are part of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. What is God doing? Why is He shaking the earth? He is moving things in place for His last day plans.  We are entering a new season of ministry. We must be flexible and allow the Lord to bring forth our new wineskin so we can receive the new wine of...

The Power of Transformation

  Romans 12:1-2 – “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” The power of transformation is the Holy Spirit working in and through His covenant people. Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” He is positioning you for divine impact. If we are going to experience God’s best and realize our destiny in Christ, we must experience transformation. To make an impact we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 says, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” Divine impact only comes through a partners...

The Purpose of Transformation

  Colossians 3:9-10 –  “ “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.”             The word transformation appears approximately 17 times in the Bible across different translations. It is not just being a better person morally, but it is Spirit Empowered renewal. What happens when we experience transformation? ·        Romans 12:2  – Our minds are renewed. ·        2 Corinthians 3:18  – We are being transformed into Christ’s image by the Holy Spirit. ·        Colossians 3:10  – We are renewed in knowledge after the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. ·        Romans 6:4  – We are walking in the newness of life through the pow...