Tag: Light

In His Hands

July 9, 2018

In His Hands

Betty and I have had a very busy week. We are honored to serve our family and friends, along with our community. Always acknowledging this awesome group of people and your faithfulness to God.

I am not a good time manager. However my thoughts are almost always on God’s work. Listening, reading, praying for revelation and understanding.

I often think of the past while praying. Mostly my past and the awesome love and grace of God. At times it brings me great sorrow. The pain you feel when you realize you could have done better. Then that feeling turns into tears of joy when I begin to worship and praise the God who has forgotten my past, and moves me forward in His amazing purpose.

Micah 7:19 Message, “And compassion is on its way to us. You’ll stamp out our wrongdoing. You’ll sink our sins to the bottom of the ocean.”

In Prayer, when I began to write notes and research scriptures for this message a phrase came to mind. I stopped in my tracks, lifted my eyes towards the heavens and said, “Jesus, Were It Not For You”

“Can you think on that for a moment?”

Psalms 31:14-15

14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord, I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.

Verse 15 says my times. It literally means, my days, hours, weeks, years. MY TIMES

The Message says, “Hour by hour I place my days in your hand, safe from the hands out to get me.”

“In His Hands”

Jesus said.

John 10:27-30

27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

30 I and the Father are one.”

“Do we really understand what this says?”

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them”= speaks of mutual recognition.

“They follow me, and I give them eternal life” = speaks of reciprocal activity.

“They shall not perish forever, and no one shall pluck them out of my hand” = this is an authoritative assurance, and its promise and justification.

“This stuff is awesome. What promises God has provided for us.”

“He knows us, He has given eternal life to us, and nobody can take us away from Him.”

Job said this in describing his cataclysmic loss of family and wealth.

Job 12:9-10

9 “Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this,
10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?

“Do we really understand the presence and power of God that keeps us, and empowers us.”

Isaiah 49:14-16

14 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, And the Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
16 “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.

David shared this from Psalms 139.

Psalms 139:9-10

9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

Psalms 138:7

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me.

“The safety and power of the promises we have inherited as we live our lives, in His hands.”

Revealing Jesus Everywhere

February 14, 2017

“Revealing Jesus Everywhere”

I believe with all my heart that we have only just begun to influence this community and our worlds with the amazing Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I love the global church and I love Amazing Life Church.

The plan of God has never been that complicated. Most often He tells us what He wants before we even start. His Word reveals a clear destiny for God’s people and the Church. It’s simple. We are the light of the world. The salt of the earth.

(We Reveal Jesus)

What complicates this is the way we deviate from the Gospel and taint it with our own opinions. Our religious traditions and rules will dim the light. Those who are yet to follow Christ find us hard to understand.

As I say this I am giving God all the glory. When I look into our communities I see churches beginning to talk of awakening. Sharing a more inclusive message of Christ and His love for everyone.

I said prophetically years ago that we, at ALC, were plowing a path. Tearing down walls that have imprisoned people. People who needed Jesus, but were rejected because of the way they looked or the lives they lived.

The tears came at this point as I thought on our sacrifices and our faithfulness to His Gospel and His plan for ALC.

We have only begun to see the Glory of God in this church, this community, and the surrounding areas. God is big in His promise. He has much more in store for us as we follow Him.

The Lost Sheep Are Coming Home!!!

Psalms 139:7-12 NASB

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,”

12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.

If we really understood the value He places on us. The relevance to His amazing plans for the world. The enormous wealth of power and dominion He has transferred to us. All the while, with us as we follow Him, and even as we run from Him. There is nothing that we could not accomplish in the name of Jesus.

Let me unfold a few of these passages and endeavor to make them relevant to everyone.

Psalms 139:7 NLT

I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!

Jeremiah 23:24 NASB

“Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the LORD . “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD .

I suspect there are times that many of us wish we could hide ourselves from the Lord. Maybe, maybe not, but there were those in the Bible that did.

The most notable that came to my mind was Jonah.

Jonah 1:3 NASB

But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD . So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD .

Jonah 1:3 Amplified

But Jonah ran away to Tarshish to escape from the presence of the LORD [and his duty as His prophet]. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish [the most remote of the Phoenician trading cities]. So he paid the fare and went down into the ship to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the LORD .

Psalms 139:11-12 NLT

11 I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—

12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.

The word light has a different meaning in each verse. In verse 11 it is translated from a Hebrew word which means literally, light of day, but figuratively, the light of instruction. In verse 12 the Hebrew word has no literal meaning. Figuratively it means, the light of joy and happiness.

There are two very important statements made by Jesus regarding light.

John 8:12 NASB

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

The Greek word for light in this passage has all the literal meanings you would expect. Light from a lamp, heavenly lights, light from a fire. In this passage it is used metaphorically and the meaning is this.

(God is light because light has the extremely delicate, subtle, pure, brilliant quality of truth and its knowledge, together with the spiritual purity associated with it that which is exposed to the view of all, openly, publicly reason, mind the power of understanding especially moral and spiritual truth.)

The second statement from Jesus is this.

Matthew 5:14 NASB

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden

The same Greek word with the same meaning. If God is with us. If He is everywhere, knowing everything, how can there be darkness when a Christian

is there.

Go back to the first statement from Jesus.

(he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.)

That word follow from the Greek means this, “to follow one who precedes, join him as his attendant, accompany him to join one as a disciple, become or be his disciple”

You can narrow our Christian responsibility down to two principles. First. Believe, believe that God is with us and that we are His children. Born not of man but by the Spirit.

Second. Reveal. Reveal Jesus Christ to our family friends and in our world. Everywhere we go being the light of Christ.

Hebrews 2:3-4

(how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.)

Tel the story of Jesus. Be the light to someone in your world. It will change your life and theirs.

Praying always for God to reveal Himself in your life.

Be blessed as you walk with Him.

“I Wonder If”

February 8, 2017

“I Wonder If”

Sometimes I just can’t hold it in.

The news cycles for the last few weeks have been different, to say the least. In my lifetime I have never seen such irresponsibility and anger from both sides of the political world.

I am not going on a political rant so don’t worry. I am one Pastor who believes that politics in the pulpit is divisive. I really don’t care if you differ. Do it like you want to.

My mission is to tell the story of Jesus. Equip the saints. Disciple the followers of Christ, and whatever else I can do in the name of the Lord.

I wonder if some of the responsibility for the confusion and fear can be laid at the doorstep of the American church.

For decades the message has changed, according to the messenger. Yet for thousands of years the message has remained the same, Biblically.

Before I go further understand this. I love the church. Local and global it is the only real hope for the world. The only source of redemption is the Christ we share. The only source of restoration to the Father, and the Kingdom Authority that has been passed to His church, is Christ.

If I could share one thing that everyone in the church would hear it would be, tell the story of Jesus. His birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension is the Gospel.

The church needs to share the Gospel, not the Gospel plus!!

I have never been a fan of the Reformation. This year is the 500 year anniversary. What Luther did had to be done. It is the aftermath that bred division.

In 1517 there were 2 recognized churches. The Catholic and the Orthodox church. Today there are more than 41,000 Christian denominations and religious institutions. This according to Christianity statistics.

Do you see my point. It is very difficult to preach unity in the house of God with so many different opinions of our faith.

Much of the division is structure, order, symbolism, that can be merged with a common message. It is my prayer that the ministry begins to seek this common ground.

I am not suggesting merging churches. Each church that was ordained by God has a purpose in their local area.

Back to our awesome country. We are the light of the world. The salt of the earth. The sin, fear, destruction, wasted lives. The anger, disappointment, unbelief, can be placed at the doorstep of the local church. At least to some degree.

Light cancels darkness. Salt preserves. The message is a life changing message. Somehow it is not reaching some of our age groups in a powerful way.

The message of the Gospel that was proved with signs and wonders changed the world in the years after Christ ascension.

The foundation of the church was built on the message of Christ, and the blood of the Martyrs. The greatest testimony of the time were those who faced death, praising God and singing Psalms.

In 2016 over 96,000 Christians were killed, just for being a Christian.

God has protected the American church from physical death by persecution for many years. “I wonder if” We have failed to die to ourselves?

Our society has moved, in some degree, away from any accountability. What I want, when I want it, and how I want it is the theme for many.

The church has not escaped this movement.

Praise be to God. Strong and powerful leaders of prayer have risen in the American church. These and countless numbers of local Pastors are crying out to God for our country.

Our prayers are being joined in synergy with all the prayers of the present and the past. Prayers that have cried for revival. A great awakening.

Prayers for the healing of the land. The healing of the broken and the hopeless.

Amazing Life Church is small in comparison to many churches. Yet we are huge in prayer. Believing for our community and putting boots to the ground. Making a difference in the lives of our school children, and the lives of people trying to find their way.

I pray that you made it this far. The love I have for the church and its place in the world consumes me.

“I wonder if” We would pray longer, give more, love with all our heart. “I wonder if” We would tell His story more. Reach beyond the limits in our minds, and step outside our religious box. “I wonder if” Our world would change. Our light would shine, and our faith would grow.

Do this and you will not wonder anymore. You will see the glory of God.

Thanks for looking. Praying blessings and favor for you.

#lovewins