Tag: alcohol

IMPOSSIBLE

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 19:25 And when the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?”

Jesus, our creator-redeemer, is all knowing. He knows what choices you make between Him and Rev. Lucifer. Father God is holy and just when He judges and apart from faith in His Son as Lord, you are going to be on an eternal barbeque! This is akin to a vacation to Detroit Michigan.

He can’t save those who are owned by the evil one and have no desire to be saved. Unbelief is unforgiveable in this life or the next. When you refuse the calling, you are refused. What do you expect? If you are going to keep your sins you will remain an unsaved sinner. It cannot be otherwise. You are resisting His Cross so don’t be surprised when He resists you!

It all returns to the hard, cold fact that you have no desire to be convicted of sin much less repent. When you refuse the calling you have forfeited your opportunity to be chosen. This bold and foolish hard-headed approach to Christ’s pleading has the devil’s fingerprints all over it. He has convinced you to hold on to your sinning and don’t let go today at least. Maybe when you get old you can get religion.

There was a time when it was fun to say it was fun. Then is was fun to say it was crazy. But there came a time when it was crazy to say, “This is fun.” When you hurt those you love, you have crossed the line and this party is over. You need to put a bullet in your head or drop to your knees and beg the Lord for mercy.

Too many though hold on to some particle of their sin. You can’t be part pregnant anymore than you can be part Christian. All you are doing is playing, “Let’s make a deal” with the Lord. What part of “Thou shalt not” don’t you understand? God so loved the world that He didn’t send a committee: He sent His only Son! When Jesus says, “Stop it” all He wants to here from you is “Yes Sir!” There are those that continue in the Roman Catholic mentality: do more good than bad and everything will be just fine: nonsense!

Don’t be captive to your selfish motives and false religion of good works. The impossible is very possible if you will just stop being so neglectful of your soul’s condition. You are a very unforgiving sinner because you have never tasted the sweetness of Christ’s atonement. The nails didn’t hold Him to that Cross, His love for you did

It is possible if hyou say I can, I will and I must surrender my life to Him. Believe me, when you get to the end of your rope you will find Jesus. When you finally say “I can’t” you will hear Him say, “I can.” AMEN?

I’M SORRY

By Rick Mathes

2 Corinthians 7:10 (NASB77) ¹⁰  For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

The tear of a repentant son washes away many sins. When love is mutual, forgiveness is most available to a father-son relationship. God so loved us He sent His Son to pay the price for our forgiveness. No sorrow on our part will ever trump the sin against God that caused it. We just don’t have the mind of holiness much less a sinful life that allows us into God’s throne room of blessings. Satan attacks us body and mind to separate our God breathed soul from the love of God. Rejection is unavoidable because no darkness can possibly exclude us from God’s grae because it is the fruit of unbelief, the unforgiveable sin.

Forgiveness from Jesus must be preceded by sorrow and repentance if you aren’t sincerely sorry and committed. mind, heart and soul  to never do that sin again. You are just in tears because you got caught. If you haven’t been caught yet, you still walk around in the shame of being found out. Listen to me! Put the sin on the table, take a good look at it and kill it. I promise that if you slay Goliath the Philistines will run for the hills.

Satan will start by planting bad thoughts about God into your mind. His favorite distractions from truth are doubt and fear. Those are the opposite of the keys to heaven, faith and trust. These thoughts manifest themselves into facts that are contrary to God’s Word and inevitably harden the heart to love, truth and forgiveness. Sin, death and hell rise to the surface all because of thelack of sorrow for offending God. This is unbelief in its highest degree Hell becomes a certainty.

It is much better to be born twice and die once that to be born once and die twice: to the flesh and to the spirit because of lack of repentance. Rejecting the atonement of Christ’s death on the cross is a death of the worst kind. It is irreversible the moment after your last breath. Jesus said from the cross, “It is finished!” That is, the way of salvation is complete in Him only. He won’t say “It is done.” Until after the white throne judgment so you still have time to say,”I’m sorry.”

I SEE HIM

By Rick Mathes

John 12:21 (NASB77) ²¹  these therefore came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

I have glaucoma which is a disease of the eyes which is certain to cause blindness in time. There is no cure but with prescriptions eye-drops will be able to postpone until I have returned to Jesus and I receive new eyes in glory. It has caused me to be grateful that I have vision and will certainly in His day see Him as He is!

It also caused me to think of other ways I can see Him if I do go blind before my last heartbeat. I received Him as my Savior and made Him Lord of my life. I can clearly see Him with my eyes of faith both in His word and in His church. He is visible in you and all believers because you reflect His image and likeness.

His love is so special that when it is generated from Him I immediately recognize Him in nature as well as in His image and likeness in His children of promise. There is just something special about a believer. And quite frankly, I would rather see Christ in you than hear about Him from you.

God is love and when I see His love in action, I see Him. Nothing draws you closer to the real deal but a holy consecration of all you are for all He is. The vision of His heavenly being comes into focus the closer you are to His holiness. There is a reality to what you see.

What we see of Him in the natural is just an illustration, like a mask but with the eyes of the Holy Spirit what we see of Him in the supernatural is that golden moment when the veil of His glory is pulled back, just for an instant so that we might glimpse Him as He is. It explains our hope of heaven we confirm in our being that the best is yet to come.

My enthusiasm for His Word has given me many spiritual visions of Him and His as I travel through His adventures in the Word of God and in this passing earth experience that has amazed the angels.

I KNOW I KNOW

By Rick Mathes

John 16:15 (NASB77) ¹⁵  ” All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.

You can categorize people you meet four ways:

Those that:

1. Don’t know they don’t know;
2. Know they don’t know;
3. Don’t know they know;
4. Know they know!

The Holy Spirit reveals the fullness of Jesus to you so that you will know you know that you have had a new birth. Others close to you will remark, “Something has happened. I don’t even know you anymore.” Or “You’re not the person you were. There’s something different about you!”

As you grow to reflect the Son to the Father you develop a radiant life that will illuminate the Gospl to those who observe you. Your form, how you look to others, changes from black and white to color. I wish you could join me and see the faces of the Christian inmates light up when I walk into the chapel to preach a sermon!

Your insides, your essence that which human eyes cannot ee is your character; this is all we need to adpt from Jesus is His integrity and character. Look at the love chapter 13 in first Christians and replace the word love with your name: ouch!

The more of our being we exchange for His the more we of like being is drawn together. We meet in our House of Worship like metal drawn to metal. There is nothing more comforting and encouraging than the fellowship of believers. We need each other because we ae the Body of Christ and He needs all His body parts as we physically need ours.

Our knowledge of Jesus grows in our service to the Church. The more we become a positive influence on those around us the more we experience and grow in Him. The Holy Spirit makes all this possible to those who will permit Him.

I know, it’ a real sacrifice but we must fade away as the Word growns in us until all that’s left in Him and our willingness to know him in His fullness as He is. Then we can boast that we know we know!

I KNOW I KNOW

By Rick Mathes

John 16:15 (NASB77) ¹⁵  ” All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.

You can categorize people you meet four ways:

Those that:

1. Don’t know they don’t know;
2. Know they don’t know;
3. Don’t know they know;
4. Know they know!

The Holy Spirit reveals the fullness of Jesus to you so that you will know you know that you have had a new birth. Others close to you will remark, “Something has happened. I don’t even know you anymore.” Or “You’re not the person you were. There’s something different about you!”

As you grow to reflect the Son to the Father you develop a radiant life that will illuminate the Gospl to those who observe you. Your form, how you look to others, changes from black and white to color. I wish you could join me and see the faces of the Christian inmates light up when I walk into the chapel to preach a sermon!

Your insides, your essence that which human eyes cannot see is your character; this is all we need to adapt from Jesus is His integrity and character. Look at the love chapter 13 in first Christians and replace the word love with your name: ouch!

The more of our being we exchange for His the more we of like being is drawn together. We meet in our House of Worship like metal drawn to metal. There is nothing more comforting and encouraging than the fellowship of believers. We need each other because we ae the Body of Christ and He needs all His body parts as we physically need ours.

Our knowledge of Jesus grows in our service to the Church. The more we become a positive influence on those around us the more we experience and grow in Him. The Holy Spirit makes all this possible to those who will permit Him.

I know, it’ a real sacrifice but we must fade away as the Word grows in us until all that’s left in Him and our willingness to know him in His fullness as He is. Then we can boast that we know we know!

I KNOW HIM

By Rick Mathes

Acts 20:31 (NASB) ³¹  “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

Napoleon Bonaparte: “I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I myself have founded empires, but upon what do these creations of one’s genius depend on? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His Empire upon love and to this very day millions would die for Him.”

My over 30 year’s journey in Christianity has had only one goal, one target, one focus: to know Him. I’ve made Christology my major and may I suggest that you do the same.

I got fed up with denominational differences and supposed brothers in Christ pointing their swords at each other so I focused on Him and He crucified for my miserable hide. Let’s survey who Christ really is and what He has done for those the Father gave Him.

Never tire of the Cross. His death for our sins on that Cross was a greater event that creation itself! He went through that hell for you and I. It was a rea death. His eyes rolled back, his tongue swelled, His skin turned grey, rigormortis set in and He passed His bowels: stone cold dead.

I wish I could have seen Satan’s face when Jesus stepped from that tomb and said, “I’m back!” Well, He really didn’t say that but I would have. He’s alive is what’s important. Shout is from the rooftops. The witnesses agree. More people saw His death and resurrection than those that saw the birth and death of George Washington and we have no trouble believing in George.

I know He’s alive because He is alive in me. He redeemed us from the eternal furnace of flames. How can we ever hold back our praises much less our witness to what great things that have been done in heaven, on earth and below because of His resolve to love us and obey the Father.

Just talking or even reading about it as you and I are brings us closer to God. It reinforces all we know to be pure, unadulterated truth. In this we are strengthened to press on! I know Him and He knows me.

Mark Twain once confessed, “It’s not what I don’t know about in the Bible that worries me, It’s what I do know.” Amen.

I CANNOT

By Rick Mathes

Romans 8:8 (NASB77) ⁸  and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Remember when you were god and you sand throughout your house, “I did it my way!” Oh how much that mindset changes when you let God be God. It is against our human nature to say, “I can’t.” It is at that precise moment God responds, “I can.” Turning our lives from self-gratification to self-sacrifice can only be an accomplished in the will, power and permission of God the Holy Spirit. You are not able to let go but through the Comforter and what a comfort it is to know He is in control and not you. Take your hands off the wheel for an experience you won’t soon forget. But what can’t you do?

You cannot reverse what God does. Whether you approach if from predestination or forethought, God does only what God desires.

You will not find God by yourself and on your own. He chose you before creation and like a worm on a hook, you can wiggle but you cannot escape. He has you!

No matter it be material or spiritual, no effort on your part will satisfy either. You will always have an insatiable desire for more things and something to fill that God vacuum in you. Only Jesus can satisfy your needs.

You are not going to get past St. Peter at the pearly gates of heaven if you are not 100% the Lord’s. You can’t be part pregnant any more than you can be part Christian. You are either all His or you belong to Lucifer. Take your choice now while you are still alive and have a choice.

Jesus promised, “The gates of hell cannot prevail against you, He will never give you more than you can bear, He will always give you a way out, He will never leave nor forsake you, no one can take you out of His hand, and where He is you will be.

You and I cannot jump the south rim of the Grand Canyon to the north any more than we can span the gulf that separates heaven from hell. Only the Cross of Christ can reach from flames to Glory.

And last but not least, we cannot please God without being free from sin. This will never happen until Christ returns. So knowing that “I cannot” now motivates me to what “I can.” I can be humble, pray, seek His face, turn from my sins then He will hear, forgive and heal. AMEN!

 

I CAN DO IT!

By Rick Mathes

Satan’s first thought each day is to throw obstacles to soul-winning in your way. While you sleep at night the devil is doing push-ups and conditioning himself to wreck your day and keep you away from birthing souls into the Kingdom.

His biggest and most successful obstacle is indifference. You might think that God will save souls without you and if they are elect, what’s the rush? Eventually someone will get to them. What you don’t consider is that you are a vital part of that predestined process. That’s why this procrastination is nagging at you. The Holy Spirit is guiding you to join the process and be proactive.

Sad to say but many professing Christians don’t have a burden for lost souls is because they are lost themselves. You’re the one whose major obstacle is our own unbelief. You will burn in hell if you are agnostic.

The devil don’t care how committed you are to soul-winning just don’t start today. You have work to tire you out, family obligations at home and a great football game to watch tonight. Win souls! Go for it! But not now.

Too often our heart is closest to the Lord during hard times when our knees are closest to the foot of the cross. We just plain get spoiled rotten when the Lord blesses us with material wealth and we forget from whence it came. This is the carnal security where things become a god to us. Everyone in hell believes in Jesus and his punishment for carnal Christians a whole lot more than we do.

The real obstacle to winning souls is that we love sin and the fellow sinners who don’t condemn our evil ways. Let me ask you, “Are you friends with the devil’s friends?” Now you know why you are so reticent about sharing your faith. That you love sin confirms you love your lord Lucifer. I use strong language for a reason. This is serious unless you hate your sin you will never love the Lord because it was sin that killed Him. But if you will turn around to Him, you will be shot to the highest point in heaven. “I can do it!” is the word that will become like a fire in your veins. You will start loving those who love Him and really lives as He intended you to.

I AM the I AM

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 16:15 He •said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

How can anyone be mistaken to who Jesus is? From Genesis to Revelation is the autobiography of God, our triune God and God incarnate Jesus Christ. However, we do have sensual limitations. My dog can hear better that I can and an eagle can see as I wish I could. Our human senses are a puddle of ignorance compared to the limitless ocean of who He really is as He is. So, bless his heart, John did the best he could to quote Jesus’ Words that bring the real deal into focus. He said:

• I am the Bread of Life: I know from personal experience that I leak the Holy Spirit and weaken more for each day I am not in the Word feeding on the truth.
• I am the Light of the World: I have read all the books in the Great Books Library and they collectively do not enlighten my understanding anywhere near the Holy Bible.
• I am the Gate: The gates of hell cannot prevail against me, the narrow road leads to glory and that gate has a turn-style. We can only go through it one at a time.
• I am the Good Shepherd: Boy do I know the bad shepherds! They can only lead you to death, insanity or prison. Now I follow Him to peace, love and contentment.
• I am the Way, Truth and Life: I just can’t get my mind around how the person of Christ can be a concept. So I consider that he has the way, the truth and the life.
• I am the True Vine: Where you stand is where you will fall. Where you are planted is where you will grow. We are attached to the life-blood of Israel.

The study discipline that will clearly take you through the 66 books is called Chrsitology. I strongly recommend these three books:

1. “The words and works of Jesus Christ” By Dwight Pentecost
2. “Evidence Demands a Verdict” By Josh McDowell
3. “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ” By John MacArthur Jr

Just like any sport to know Jesus you will need all the energies and attention of the rest of your life just to dip your toe into the infinite ocean of Living Waters.

Now is the time to get with it because while you are fast asleep at night, the devil is doing push-ups and is conditioning himself to take you down. You have been warned!

 

GUARDIAN

By Rick Mathes

2 Timothy 1:12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

Trust is a precious commodity that is very carefully parted out to only your closest and most tried friends and family. Even with their best effort, they will eventually let you down and betray your trust even inadvertently. We are human and are painfully fallible. Only Christ can hold our hand and be the guardian of our soul without reserve.

Putting your trust in your family doctor is a major step of faith. With the medical profession being the big business it has become, you have to have a prayerful pause that your life is in the hands of this M.D. Only a Christian can have the peace of mind that the Great Physician is with you and your health is of the highest priority to Him.

We all must follow someone. There is always a shepherd in authority we must follow if we are to remain a civilization. Our error is in following the wrong leader. As a Christian we know by instinct the Shepherd to follow. He leads us with His chosen clay vessels so all you need to do is follow the pastor that follows the Master. Let me ask you, if you can’t trust you minister with your checkbook, how in heaven’s name can you trust him with your soul?

Which way will your life go if you are continually sinning and slipping down the slippery slope? Satan has every temptation he has ever invented to tempt you with and being imperfect as you are you will be guilty from time to time on your way to see the judge. It is then you need a celestial attorney to plead you case because you are facing life without parole in the lake of liquid fire. Jesus is the only one that can intercede for you and arrange a full pardon just for the asking. No one else will do.

So when you need protection from the schemes of the devil, only our Lord will suffice as your protector. He is the armor and sword that makes Satan and his fallen angels tremble in terror. There is no better guardian that the King of the universe.

Trust Jesus with your checkbook, possessions and soul, you won’t we disappointed in the guardian of the New Jerusalem.