Pastor's Blog

An area of everyday living in which we need to apply the principle of faith is that of financial and material provision. The whole Bible abounds with both assurances and examples of God’s ability to provide for His people’s needs, even in situations where there is no human or natural source of supply. Nowhere is this more emphatically stated than in 2 Corinthians 9:8: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed”

However, it must be emphasized that abundance does not necessarily depend on money or material possessions. Abundance means simply that God supplies all that we need—with something to spare for others.

The perfect example of this form of abundance is provided by Jesus Himself. He had no permanent dwelling, no material possessions, no large sums of money—although His disciple Judas did carry a money box in which contributions were placed. (See John 12:4–6; 13:29.) Yet, Jesus never lacked anything for Himself or for those who were with Him. When Peter needed money at short notice to pay taxes, Jesus did not tell him to go and ask Judas for money out of the box. Instead, He sent him to the Sea of Galilee to collect it from a fish’s mouth. (See Matthew 17:24–27.)

On another occasion, Jesus found Himself surrounded by a crowd of perhaps twelve thousand hungry people. (See Matthew 14:21.) Accepting five loaves and two fishes from a boy, Jesus gave thanks for them to His Father. As a result, He was able to feed the whole crowd, with twelve large baskets leftover. (See John 6:5–13.) That is abundance! It is also a startling demonstration of the supernatural effects of thanking God in faith for our food.

The key to abundance is not money or material possessions. It is faith!

“When God is silent, it’s never to punish us. It’s often because he’s already given us the word, or at least the seed, for what we actually need in the present season.”

Pastor Bill Johnson

“I ponder and pray in the stillness, I dream as a dreamer of dreams. A steepled church stands before me — a church with open doors. Within it I see the preacher stand; hear his voice in earnest call. But ’tis the throng that flows through the street outside that holds my anxious gaze.”

Aimee Semple McPherson

Pray for Pastor Katelyn and Terrance Jackson today! So thankful for them on our team!

Making the Right Decisions

by Wade E Taylor

Our spiritual life (the level of spiritual maturity to which we have attained), is far more than the sum of the spiritual information that we have gathered, or any compilation of our spiritual experiences. Rather, the core and substance of our being “spiritual” relates to the level of inner peace and harmony that results from our making right choices and decisions along the pathway of our spiritual journey.

Because the Lord is seeking those who are willing to go beyond that which they have freely received through redemption, our making these right choices and decisions will never be easy.

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14

No matter who or where we are, we must make decisions as to what we will see, hear, do, or, where we will go or not go. The ever present temptation is to compromise and go along with the questionable or difficult situations that we often find in our path, or circumstances.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

Notice that our response to, and cooperation with these “good works” is conditional (we should walk in them). These good works are preordained testing points that will determine how far we will follow the Lord.

“Speak out loud the Word of God and expose the lies built in your belief system, renouncing the lie and re-writing the truth of God’s Word to change the code of your brain in that area.”

Christelle Baldovinos

FROM DEREK PRINCE

We're trying to gain insight into God's moral categories. The First Epistle of John shows clear opposites, such as faith or unbelief. Another opposite is hate or love. And then, a little further on in the same second chapter, John focuses on what we love, and he says this in chapter 2, verses 15 and 16:

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world‑ the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life‑ is not of the Father but is of the world." (NKJ)

So notice two mutually exclusive objects of love. If we love the Father, we will not love this present world order. If we love this present world order, we cannot say we love the Father. They are mutually exclusive. Every one of those pairs of opposites that we have looked at is mutually exclusive. That's characteristic of God's moral categories.

In chapter 3, verses 8 and 9, John says this:

"He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God." (NKJ)

Notice there, the two alternative sources of influence and authority and direction in our life ‑ of the devil, or of God. No third option is left. That's not the way people think today. But those are God's categories ‑ we cannot agree with God unless we bring our categories into line with His.

Psalm 97:10

"Ye that love the Lord, hate evil;"

When you love the Lord you hate (despise, put in lower value) evil! Evil in the form of entertainment, evil speech (gossip) and other enticements of the flesh are not on your radar!

Proverbs 23:26

"My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways."

God wants us to hate evil and love Him!

"Show me the people with whom you keep regular company, and that will tell me a lot about your character."

Bishop John Gimenez

Fellowship with other believers is very important. We must also guard against close fellowship with those of poor character and loose tongues - this can have a very negative affect upon us. We should have some boundaries up regarding our fellowship and be cautious with whom we associate.

Jesus was a friend of sinners and talked to everyone, I can hear someone saying! Jesus also only shared his personal life with 12 and was closer to 3 then the others.

"The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness."

Proverbs 15:14

What are you feeding on? Nonsense talk? Do you feed on on wisdom and are seeking understanding in your life?

God has called us to pursue the knowledge of Him. We can all use a check up once in a while as to what we are pursing and what we are listening to.... hard to pursue knowledge if we are...

1. Listening to News TV 14 hours a day.
2. Listening to gossips and foolish people.
3. Listening to brash and sarcastic people.
4. Listening to negative people.
5. Listening to music that brings our emotions from God.

What are we listening to?