Tag: believe

YOUR CHOICE

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YOUR CHOICE

By Rick Mathes

John 3:3 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

It is biblical to examine our selves and the first test question is to ask “Have you been born again?” Now the weight of that answer is dependent on your perception of what “born again” means. If I were to ask 100 Christians, “What is born again?” I would get 100 different answers. However, they would share one common thread: are you becoming lesser that He might become greater? Born again proof to me is when you are in the process of exchanging all you are for all He is.

In whom do you trust? Doubt an fear are the keys to hell and the opposite of faith and trust, the keys to heaven. You can’t partially trust anyone or any institution with your life when danger is eminent. When someone points a gun at you all you have is you and your trust in God’s sovereignty. But you still duck the bullet. God gave us inherent desires for self preservation.

Whose work are you doing; As James so aptly pointed out in his epistle, “Show me your faith by your works.” The word teaches that we will be judged by our works. What you do is in direct parallel with who you spend your time with.

What company do you keep? It is absolutely true that birds of a feather flock together. What you do and say is reflective of those you keep company with. Losers always hang out with losers. WE downgrade and disintegrate as we drift from the children of the promise to the hell houds of the flames.

It all boils down to, “What have you learned from your master?” You mirror either Jesus or Satan depending on who your Lord is. When you are born again you are reborn to your first nature to obey Satan fades and your submission to Jesus rises on the horizon.

YOUR CHURCH

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YOUR CHURCH 2

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.

Sad to say but His Church can and probably is a far different place than your church or the ones that Paul preached in. I can’t help but apply simple logic to my faith and understand form the Word that if my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, where I stand is Church. However, like metal drawn to a magnet, others of like blessing are drawn to each other to form the visible Body of Christ which is the fellowship we attend corporately. So there is the invisible Church within us and the visible Church where we can gather together.

Putting worldly merchandising and marketing strategies to building a successful church really depends on what we consider successful and the manner in which we seek to attain it.

Inevitably we end up with programs and no prayers. We feverishly do all we can to have classes on anything that will attract the masses to attend. Prayer, if there is any at all is manufactured, mechanical and without life. People go to church on Sunday morning because they love the fellowship. They go on Sunday night because they love the Pastor but they attend the Wednesday night prayer meeting because they love the Lord. If your church has abandoned the mid-week prayer meeting, run from it!

So the main effect of this worldly effort to stage church gives you religion (in the image of man) without regeneration. All it becomes is a lot of ritual that escapes the reality fo the pure Gospel that if perverted. Paul said you would be accursed. Can you see the deplorable condition of what we accept as church? It has become nothing more than as entertainment center in most cases. Anything to draw a crowd but too much like a bright blue bug light that is eventually the demise of the unsuspecting bugs that fly too close to the flame and get zapped!

The sermons offer no salvation to those in the congregation who are not looking for it. Preaching “turn of burn” is not politically correct. It is ancient and certainly old-fashioned to preach “Repent, the Kingdom of God is here!” as John the Baptist did followed by Jesus, Peter and Paul. Open your spiritual eyes and pray that the Holy Spirit will lead you to His holy ground.

DIVIDED WE FALL

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DIVIDED WE FALL

By Rick Mathes

John 7:43 So there arose a division in the multitude because of Him.

The Word teaches us that we are the Body of Christ that must be in one accord. The devil wants to squeeze in between us and Jesus any way he can because he knows that if we are divided we will fall.

What can be much worse than for us to divide because we have diverse opinions about our doctrine and church liturgy? Christians have never been in total agreement about either. We do, however, agree on the basic foundations of Christianity. If you confess Jesus as your Lord, which means living accordingly, then you are going to heaven just as you are. If your church or denomination excludes other Christians for disagreements over anything else, they are acting on behalf of Satan. We can agree to disagree and still have a wonderful opinion of Jesus together.

It’s all a matter of trust whether you are a Presbyterian, Baptist or Pentecostal, you still trust Christ as I do and love Him with your whole heart, mind and soul with all your strength. Truwst is what got Peter out of the boat and fear is what almost sunk him. You and Jesus must have a mutual agreement that you love each other and share an eternal destiny of glory.

Love is the super-glue that holds the Body together. Now understand that we don’t have to like each other but we must love each other. Yes, what I just stated makes sense when you think about it. WE don’t have to enjoy the same music, clothes or even culture to love each other.

It’s all in the development of obedience. There are not just growing pains but there is a learning curve involved also. This takes time so don’t allow a division because of things outward but rather has a unity of things upward. We’re back to the destiny of life with Christ here and now as a unified body.

Roman Catholics point out that we are divided because of our many denominations but they are not aware of our unity in the Spirit. Any true Christian knows that when we put aside our distinctions, our fundamental doctrine and beliefs are the identical. In my humble opinion we are all Calvinists but some haven’t matured enough to realized it yet, AMEN?

DEVOTED

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DEVOTED

By Rick Mathes

Acts 2:42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

How simple can it get?

  1. Teaching
  2. Fellowship
  3. Breaking of Bread

I ache to step back in time to the Primitive Church before 325AD when Constantine ruined it all until Martin Luther raised the true faith from the ashes and the Puritans brought it to our shores. It was a time when correct doctrine was not optional and the gospel still had the ring and memory of John the Revelator.

The fellowship was as much a struggle then as it is now but restoration was mandatory and love was unconditional. They had the problems as we do but their world view was fresh from the forty day seminar the Lord held with His disciples before He went home to the Father. We don’t have to like each other but we must love each other.

Our communion is unbreakable because our body is one: it is in unity with the Triune Godhead with our own trinity of mind, heart and soul. We can sense the spirits in our midst and the love that flows between us. We are only one heartbeat and one glimpse away from all of glory before us.

The communication that seals our security is prayer. It is a fragrance of praise to take to our Daddy (Abba) and tell Him how much we love Him. The fuel of faith is the prayer of a righteous saint and the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

The Baptist of believers makes us one in the Spirit and faith. Oh there are denominational distinctives yet to be agreed upon, but the basic fundamentals of Protestantism are unified and cannon. There is the rock solid agreement of Bible only, Jesus only, Grace only and Faith only. Any deviation from Calvinism is heresy. We believe that everyone else has a God given rightr to be wrong or too stupid to understand that TULIP is the only gospel. (I’m in trouble now!)

So let’s praise Him with joy in true worship. It can only be found at the feet of the Master. Just a look in His eyes will cause you to be devoted to Him to the end of eternity.

CORRUPTION

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CORRUPTION

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Corruptions on every front occur in the world and the church before our very eyes and we let them happen; everyone, whether in politics or in the pulpit is afraid to speak the truth because truth has been corrupted beyond recognition.

In either circle it begins by following humanist leaders. We call them liberals but the fact remains that they are conservatives with masks on. They are not just “Joe six-packs” in taverns or legislators in government; they are also graduates of seminaries.

They favor earthly, carnal, self-centered wisdom no matter how it’s packaged or marketed. I live in the real world but my heart is in the heavenlies. I see and you do too the nonsense that is offered as good-sense.

You can’t help but flounder in the flesh of relativism. It’s like throwing darts at a moving and changing target. There is no objective bull’s eye there is only bull s—t.

With an ever changing truth we give little or no thought for future judgment because what is there to judge? When there is no right there is no wrong and the lie becomes the truth. The Word of God warned us and the fulfillment is upon us. Why fear a judge of no laws or punishment. Muslims call it “kismet.”

The spiritual leaders flatter themselves by the attendance and wealth of their churches. All of hell has put its weight on their eyes to look outward instead of upward.

When you aren’t eye to eye with Jesus you are well on your way to sink to the depths of Satan’s evil abyss of fire. Faithfulness to Christ is measured by three words: repent, submit and obey If you will do these corruption wherever you feet are planted will flee.

Otherwise you are fragmenting the Body of Christ. You have corrupted to the point where you are not the solution, you are the problem. Guess what happens when you spit into the sky; it falls back on you.

CARNALITY

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CARNALITY

By Rick Mathes

Romans 6:23 (NASB77) 23  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A carnal Christian is one who claims allegiance to heaven but lives only for everything on earth. The temporal toys are worth more than the eternal blessings later. Carnal Christians are just demons with a mask on. The devil has learned that to beat the church to death you must o it from the inside with a pillow instead of outside with a sledge hammer

A church with no real spiritual leaders is defeated before it has ever begun You would shudder if I told you of the experiences I have had with demonic churches over the years. I was even paid to get a Bishop and two Priests a hooker for the week-end on time I now the darkside of Satan’s synagogue well because I worshipped there for 25 years. Then as a minister for over 25 years I saw from the inside that all I saw on the outside was just a prelude to an orchestration of demons behind protestant altars.

Evil associations and personal material gain are rampant to those that gather under the cross to achieve worldly success. Why even the prostitutes in South America gather to pray to the Virgin Mary for a profitable evening!

The shallowness of this tragedy is the lack of a solid gospel message. The carnal church is built around doing instead of done All these empty lives are reinforcing each other with trivial distractions, plays, music, videos and laser shows to attract those with no spiritual insight to return next Sunday for some more entertainment, with an offering of course.

Endless hours are spent on the business plan and the sermon soon becomes a brief after thought. There is no love of God but there is an all-encompassing love of the world to build bigger and better buildings: for denominations to outdo each other in worldly attractions instead of the exercise of spiritual gifts. If you call yourself a Christian and you love this world more than the next, the love of the Father is not in you. You are a carnal, demonic moron.

DEED OF DAWN

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DEEDS OF DAWN

By Rick Mathes

Romans 13:12 (NASB77) 12   The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light

The darkness of days is rapidly being overcome by the dawning of our Lord’s glory and His coming kingdom. The long wait is almost over and the wait is certainly worth it. Our King is returning and the deeds of darkness will soon be exposed in the light of His searching righteousness.

All of our deeds are like weeds that can

Grow into flowers or grow into weeds.

The works of darkness can always be seen in the night because that’s where evil lives and grows. Mutant beings that have morphed into the gargoyle image and likeness of Lucifer and his fallen angels. Nothing pleases the former “morning star” more than for you to go about his damaging works and calling him your lord: certain hell!

All you’re present and former lusts rise up for battle and then comes the dawn and their flight to our Lord’s glory. His will is Divine in His elect and the gates of hell cannot prevail. The devil will drag your memory back to the sewer of every sordid affair you ever had and remind you of all the ugly details and sickening consequences.

Lying and anger are the right and left hand punches the devil uses to drive away godly saints that want to turn your hands from fist to hands up in worship. If only you will surrender to truth the peace of God will follow you all the days of your life. The deeds of evil fade away as the dawn and it’s light breaks over the horizon of salvation.

As the sun rises, the light of the Son blots it out! Such is the Glory of the risen King. All filthiness flees and the darkness cannot overcome the Shekinah Glory of His resurrection. The remnant of  the night yielding to the day is the grey of malice

You might not want to admit it but from time to time you secretly approve bad things happening to people you are not fond of. All this means is that you are not seeing them with our Lord’s eyes. If you were, you would grieve their fallen condition and not applaud their misfortune. Stay fast and continue from night to day and the bring morning star of Jesus will shine on in your life.

DECEIT

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DECEIT

By Rick Mathes

Acts 13:10 and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?

The devil keeps his prey in sight and on friendly terms until the time is right to strike and make him a child of Satan. Jesus said, “I AM the way, the truth and the life.” Satan is the wrong way, a father of lies and an executioner of your soul. When you sin you are declaring, “Satan is my Lord.” Let that sink in a minute.

The sewer of truth is deceit and we all have a place for it in our hearts that we are not willing to give up. It’s this resistance to repentance that hinders knowledge. Didn’t the Word warn, “My people perish for lack of knowledge?” The lies you choose to nurture keeps you from God. Oh how He wants to hold you in His arms and love you but the slime of deceit, dripping from your soul makes God gag.

It’s buying the lies Satan throws at us that leads to pride. We have success with a little lie; get more things so we escalate our lies and deceit to get a bigger slice of the world’s toys and trinkets. We become like a decorated Christmas tree blinking and beautiful. But when the decorations are put away we notice that the tree is dead. It was all a false façade with no living substance to sustain it.

Everything contrary to truth is a fraud. When Pilate asked, “What is truth?” Jesus didn’t waste is breath explaining it to him because all Pilate was doing was concealing that hate that throbbed through his heart. Most inquirers are only conceiving evil plans and distracting truth by semi-truth twisting or circular reasoning. It’s all relative they claim because they don’t want the light to shine on their darkness.

Lies and deceit can only encourage sin. They have no other motive but to slash that whip on the Lord’s back one more time. The dirty-duo grinds that crown of thorns into His head again and again. They thrust the sword of death into His heart again and again all because you have polluted your souls with unconfessed sin.

In the last analysis your heart hardens I was shocked to learn I had four hardened arteries. Within two days I was on the operating table and my physical life was extended. But a hardened heart has no cure but to repent, submit and obey Him. Otherwise you are going to burn baby burn!

CHURCH CORRUPTIONS

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CHURCH CORRUPTIONS

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 1:2 (NASB77) 2  to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

Every denomination has a “Church of Corinth” that has drifted in its leadership and lost its first love and focus. There are a few basic corruptions that know no religious distinctive. When Satan gets his nose into your church fellowship, his body is soon to follow.

Following humn leaders, that are humanists, only provides you with a veneer of a carnal communityof self-gratification. The devil knows that to disrupt the church he needs access to the pulpit he is often relegated to a leadership position because of our shamefuil apathy.

When earthly wisdom is favored, spiritual absolutes are compromised and wateed down to relative absurdities. A twelve inch ruler is 12 inches long and not 11 or 13 inches long depending on your personal law or rule of measurement. The same applies to salvation. Jesus is the ony way and you can’t be part saved by believing otherwise.

Like a fish out of water, the Word of God. You are signing hour own death warrant or rather certificate of dying in flames continuing action. Without the “Rock that don’t role,” your faith will only have the substance and constancy of cotton candy. It will tase good but there is nothing thee.

There’s no sense o flattering yourself with self-gratifying deeds, prayers or rituals. When you are your own god, you will have to deal with your own hell all by yourself! Pride of self dropped Lucifer from the highest plateaus in glory down the rungs to the dungeon of glow-torch flames from hell.

The culprit is lack of discipline. You are sovereign over you. The sin you have you want becaue if you didn’t want it more than you do want it, you wouldn’t have it! It’s that simple. Love the Lord more than the sin.

All the above shaken up and spread out is a fragmenting of the Body of Christ. When the head is sick the whole boy suffers. When lall yur body parrs are bruised, battered and broken, they can no longer work together in harmony. The corruption of your church has polited you too. Don’t be a Corinthian Church that even 50 years after Paul wrote the third letter to them, things got worse because of the younger members disrespecting the elders.

BY YOUR DEEDS

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BY YOUR DEEDS

By Rick Mathes

Acts 26:20 but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.

Pray this: “Father God, by your grace I have been saved; Brother Jesus, by your stripes I have been healed: Holy Spirit, you know the mind of the Father and the heart of the Son, What does God want me to do?”

For openers, it is an answer to prayer when the Holy Spirit convicts you of the sin you have been hiding in that dark closet in your soul. Our deepest desire should be to be wholly holy. Any compromise is spiritual prostitution. A little lie with the truth or a little truth in the lie is deceitful beyond compare: neither integrity nor character. In either case the simple law of non-contradiction occurs: A cannot be non A. Sin is spiritual cancer and it must be removed or you will die and eternal death while still on your feet.

The Lord sees us in ways our natural eyes are unable to. If you could see my heart as the Lord sees it, you would run from me and I would be terrified to see yours. We really are sin-machines and our deeds show it. It is only in His shed blood that we receive a full pardon. When Father God looks upon us all He sees is His Son interceding for us. We truly are forgiven and our sins forgotten.

This is how it works; 1) You approach the Cross and as Jesus for forgiveness, 2) He will extend His blessing, 3) You receive the forgiveness (no guilt) and 4) You become a forgiver. The tough one is to walk away from guilt and become a virgin all over again. Flush your toilet and move on.

The vital life is exhibited by the works we produce. I know it’s by grace we are saved not by works but as James taught, if there aren’t any works there is good cause to question the health of this barren tree with no fruit. As the verse clearly teaches, we must repent, turn to God and prove that transaction by deeds. I wouldn’t trust it any other way.

God inhabits His praises like the fragrance of a rose. He also activates good works like a kaleidoscope of good deeds. I would rather see the sermon over hearing it, wouldn’t you? If you aren’t walking your talk, your talking is moot. It’s a waste of oxygen. The Comforter will bring you comfort in the highest degree.

The proof of repentance is a gift of the Holy Spirit. He is to infuse Christ and His efforts into you. You cannot do it without the Holy Spirit and it won’t get done without you. Your hands pick up the baton of continued blessing. Don’t drop it: press on!