Tag: cell

10 FAVORITE MESSAGES

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BROADCASTS iTunes

  1. 100 Shirts
  2. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-did-it-to-me/id394124782?i=1199451132&mt=2
  3. A Father’s Discipline
  4. http://traffic.libsyn.com/missiongate/Mission-Gate-Podcast-36.mp3
  5. Agree to Disagree
  6. http://traffic.libsyn..com/missiongate/Mission-Gate-Podcast-18.mp3
  7. At the Well
  8. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/at-the-well/id39424782?i=121885793&mt=2
  9. Backslider Anonymous
  10. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/backslider-anonymous/id394124782?i=158531924&mt=2
  11. Back to Basics Part 1
  12. http://traffic.libsyn.com/missiongate/Mission-Gate-Podcast-14.mp3
  1. Back to Basics Part 2
  2. http://traffic.libsyn.com/missiongate/Mission-Gate-Podcast-15.mp3
  3. Bad Dates
  4. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bad-dates/id394124782?i=120756349&mt=2
  5. Bless the Lord
  6. http://traffic.libsyn.com/missiongate/Mission-Gate-Podcast-29.mp3
  7. Brother O
  8. http://traffic.libsyn.com/misisongate/Mission-Gate-Podcast-6.mp3

BEARING FRUIT

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BEARING FRUIT

By Rick Mathes

Colossians 1:10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

No one can say for certain if another person is saved or not because even God’s elect will slip and sin from time to time. As a shepherd, I look for the fruit of the Spirit to craft a sermon or Bible study for my sheep. There are definite sign posts along the narrow road to heaven or the wide highway to hell.

One very telling characteristic of a fellow believer is we put away childish things. There was a time when we did some really crazy things and we marvel that we escaped unscathed. So thee was a time when it was fun to say it was fun, then it because fun to say it was crazy but then came the time when it was crazy to say this was fun. That’s when we had to put them away.

Another effort a born again believer will make is to cultivate a good solid understanding of God’s Word. Unless someone has their head in the bible, I really doubt they know Jesus for who He is. If you are His, you read His love letters to you (The Bible).

Striving after Christ’s ideal model of a follower of His is found in Mathew chapter 5 and is called the Beatitudes. These guidelines are in a progression so you need to do the first before you tackle the second and then the third and so on to of all things, persecution. If you do the opposite of each step you have the stairway to hell.

The best signpost of your being on the narrow road is your partaking of deeper things. The Word is shallow enough for an infant to splash in and yet can be deep enough to drown an elephant.

It mainly boils down to overcoming temptation. My surest test of your salvation is when you consider the temptation a testing of the Lord to find out how deep your love for Him is. The most valid assurance of your love for Him is your hate of sin. You hate the sin that killed God’s Son. That despising of evil things means you are bearing good fruit of good things. Sounds like you are saved! AMEN.

BE TOUGH

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BE TOUGH

By Rick Mathes

Acts 26:19 Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision,

I encourage you to take the blows which came to shape us and to fulfil His vision for us.

There it stood, a deformed, cracked and huge block of useless marble in the quarry. It was discarded to the rubble heap and past over by all the leading artists of the day except one, Michelangelo. He requested that block of discolored and ugly marble and sculpted it into the finest statue of King David in the whole world. He was once asked, “How did you make such a world-class masterpiece out of this useless stone?” He responded, “I just chipped away all that wasn’t David.” And so it is in our lives as the Lord shapes us back into His image and likeness.

Disobedience in an invitation for the hammer blows to begin and boy they sure do!

The first blow you may suffer is the loss of usefulness. When you begin to be disobedient to His will, nothing you touch will be blessed. Those what are walking in the Spirit will see right through you; you can’t be part saved nor obedient, any compromise with either disqualifies your attempt of good works to the trash bin in flames.

Your inner-strength will shrivel and collapse within you. The Word dries up and the Spirit steps back and let’s Satan have a go at you in this weakened condition. You need Father God to take a belt to your butt and He will. God does not approve of you getting yourself into this weakened condition.

There is no substantive reward when you are shaking the bars of your self-imposed jail cell. All you have worked so hard for will slip away and you will wind up with a handful of sawdust and a shadow of what might have been.

Your health begins to fail as your family abandons you one after another until your very life is at risk. You wealth and reputation become history.

The battering will fall on you like a sledge hammer until you obey your Creator as a creature of His hand is commanded to do so. Understand that God so loved the world that He didn’t send a committee. He sent Jesus and all He wants to hear from you when He speaks to you is, “Yes sir!”

Thank you Jesus that I have been an anvil that has been the cause of many broken hammers: all in your strength for your glory and honor.

BE READY

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BE READY

By Rick Mathes

When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him,

“Zaccheus hurry and come down for today I must stay at your house.”

Luke 19:5

There’s something special about friends having a dinner with friends. It just feels good to enjoy a good meal with good people. In most cultures, it is a special time that can go for hours. It isn’t fast-food firies, it is a golden moment that remains in your album of memories.

How startling can it be to have Jesus invite Himself to your home for quality time of fun, food and fellowship? Would you be ready to have Him as your house-guest? Something to think about isn’t it? So let’s think about it together.

There might be a spouse or child would object to this. It isn’t too difficult to d a quick inventory of the magazines, CDs, DVDs, favorite TV shows and internet history. These few areas might run a cold chill down your spine thinking Jesus would notice and comment to you His displeasure for the sin you are tolerating in your home under your nose.

So right now, do an inventory of the objectionable items in your household. It is good to do your dirty laundry and to begin a godly home because the Lord would like to be the centerpiece. The Holy Spirit will not live in an immoral garbage can.

What if your objectionable friends should drop by to visit when Jesus is your guest? What would He think about how they dress, what they smoke or drink and the language they use? Think about it.

We must be willing instruments of His. He is the one that orchestrates everything in our lives if we have exchanged all we are for all He is. The question remains; Are you ready for Jesus to move in with you and your family? Is there any reason you might have that this would not be a good idea? If you have a home prepared for your Savior, then invitge Him in right now\

Write this on the tablet of your heart:

I can permit Him in my household,

I will ask Him to live with us,

I must!

BE GODLY

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BE GODLY

By Rick Mathes

1 Timothy 4:7 But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;

Once you are born again and have graduated from “Jesus IS Lord” to “Jesus AS Lord” your all consuming passion begins to be to guard the true Gospel from perversion of the truth. Jesus said that He was the Truth so to protect the Word you are protecting the person of Jesus from further heartache. This means that there is no speculation or new revelation. Truth is Truth: objective truth. I accept the Word for it’s obvious message and avoid allegories like the black plague. I have never even read Pilgrim’s Progress and never will. The Gospel as the Holy Spirit authorized it is my life’s challenge to drain the last drop of living Water. I’m convinced that if I had many lifetimes of study I would still be just scratching the surface of the 66 books.

No speculation allowed but I would suggest that you embrace a pure heart and a good conscience. No money or king’s ransom will do that. Only a genuine faith in Jesus, His words and works, sill start in your mind, seep into your heart to point your soul to Jesus with a calling that cannot be resisted;

Our acceptance saves us from the punishment of sin, the power of sin and in the Lord’s Day the presence of sin. When we fight the good fight, the victory is assured. This is much cause to pray and give thanks to our Savior for His sacrifice of that death stake. The only route to a peaceful life is to follow the bloody foot prints of Jesus.

When you choose to be godly, Jesus owns you. You will suffer for teaching truth so the use of your gifts for maximum performances is of paramount importance. The mantra should be justice for all and to keep pure.

The content of your character should mirror the souls of God and the content of His Words. No lust’s allowed when the fruit of the Spirit ripens. When you are wholly His you become holy and blameless in God’s sight. Nothing short of being God is being godly and this can only be done by exchanging all you are for all He is.

BE FILLED

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BE FILLED

By Rick Mathes

Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

An unbeliever cannot know what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Only we who have experienced being bowed again before Him can ever know, we know. When the Holy Spirit comes over you there is an illumination. It’s like going from black and white to color. You go from being a worm to being a butterfly. Astounding!

A wave of newness sweeps through you with purity, power, passion and prayer; The old dies and the new stgeps from the grave in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the same power tht spoke creation into existence and lifted our Lord’s corpse to life.

The first change that others will notice is that you move from pride to humility. When you know your heart as the Lord does, there is nothing to be prideful about. Oh how Satan and his fallen angels knows this well. Father Lucifer, the bright and morning star of heaven fell from grace because of pride to a smoldering living torch of flames in an endless hell of regret.

The selfishness that permeates with I, me and mine is exchanged for the He, Him and His of perfect love. Simon the Cyrene walked in the bloody footprints of our Savior, looking into His eyes and fell in love so much so, his two sons became the first two bishops of color in Libya! Self will die as Christ lives in you.

Peter was a very vivid example of a coward that became courageous when the Holy Spirit enjoined him in his life and service to the Lord. He made a giant step from earth into the heavenly places and he never looked back.

We live in an advertising blitzkrieg of sin that permeates any media or surface is going to put a camera on a satellite and project ads on the moon for a world audience to see and be moved to buy. Sound farfetched? Stay tuned and you will see!

The temporal or rather temporary toys of this world will join the worms that devour your cadaver in the pit. There is nothing made by man that is anywhere as valuable as man in His image and likness. You and I are His eternal trophies. Nothing else created will survive the holocaust. But don’t despair, we will rise at His call and eternal life will include a new earth and heavens.

BE COMPLETE

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BE COMPLETE

By Rick Mathes

John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

I can’t help but think of the donkey that carried Jesus into Jerusalem. What was the donkey thinking? If it was me I would be astonished beyond belief that out of all the donkeys in Israel, God chose me! Seriously, I know from whence I come and I know the wretch I am. If you saw my heart as He see it, you would stop reading and trash this devotional. I might add, if I saw your heart I would run away from you as fast as I could. Let’s get this straight: He chose us. WE had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with it. You and I have been personally closer because of Him.

A pregnant young lady walked into one of my ministry meetings saying that she was going to have an abortion. This was her fourth pregnancy from a variety of men she met at parties. My wife and I persuaded her to keep the baby. In time she was arrested for shoplifting and sent to prison. We helped her out and when she delivered the child in prison, we took it and came home with a two day old baby. When she turned three years old we adopted her as our own. When I go home to Jesus, my children will have to prove in court they are mine while my adopted daughter will already have that record available to the judge. In other words, my adopted child has preference over everyone else. Praise the Lord He adopted us and our family has been made full.

We abide in Him. Apart from Him we wither and dry up without value except to tinder a fire. This means the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives in making us complete. Here we are shattered and scattered in sin but thank you Jesus for my conscience convicting me of sin. We are an empty earthen vessel that is filled to the brim with all our Lord has to offer. That sure is a miracle in our lives that only His unconditional love could provide.

Now you and I need to be sensible enough to reach out to all the Lord has to offer. We can’t be a partial Christian. We can’t be partially saved. It is not an option. We must be complete in Him, period.

Once we surrender all we are for all He is we become compete in Him. This is impossible unless we tap the fullness of faith to be possessed by Him. It is worded that we are His servant to sooth some sensibilities but the word is truly not servant it is slave. It is the opposite of what your flesh craves but with the help of the Helper we can be complete and experience a relationship that can only be understood by someone who has experience in it. Press ON!

ATTENTION SINNERS

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ATTENTION SINNERS

By Rick Mathes

1 Timothy 1:15 (NASB77) 15   It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

Civilizations in every age back to Adam have demonstrated in every nation of people without change to ratchet up the decrees of their actions continue without change to where sin is normal and bad has been accepted as good. You need to search long and carefully to find a penitent when you are the chief and worst of sinners.

Some truths are never learned and yes, history repeats itself. For example, many professing Christians confess Jesus is Lord but don’t always confess Jesus as Lord. They have intellectual ascent but have not surrendered to lordship salvation. Justification without sanctification is a fraud or akin to talk without walk. You can’t be part pregnant. You can’t get part of you into heaven.

On and on, one after another are convinced by the devil an the Roman church (or do I repeat myself) that you can be saved from hell by your good works; that you can be self-righteous and stand in the presence of God. Hogwash! You cannot make yourself savable than you can breathe under water unaided by a respirator. You need your Savior, walk your talk, believe-obey and make Him your Lord: your Master. When you do, the Word will flow through your veins like fire and you will openly confess Christ to others.

I strongly suggest that you join a Bible believing church that confesses Bible only, Jesus only, Faith only, and Grace only. They will guide you in reading and studying God’s Word correctly. All other churches that the true church will have something to add to add like Pope, tongues, sacraments, confessionals, rosary, second baptism, Apocrypha, etc. These churches have a demon in the pulpit!

The true test of your commitment will be your desire to spend time with Jesus in prayer. He loves to hear your voice and learn about all those things that are a part of your life. He loves you dearly and if you put your hand in His, you will walk in His footsteps, on His path to be again in His will as it is on earth and in heaven. So listen up and pay attention, bone head!

AT THE CROSS

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AT THE CROSS

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 1:18 (NASB77) 18  For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Evangelical Christians accept the basis for the truth is:

  • Bible Only
  • Jesus Only
  • Grace Only, and
  • Faith Only

They also believe the Gospel According to Jesus is:

  • Total Depravity
  • Unmerited Salvation
  • Limited Atonement
  • Irresistible Grace
  • Perseverance of the Saints

There follows as an effect of these causes:

  • Reconciliation
  • Justification
  • Redemption, and
  • Propitiation

Now I know I have not made this lesson easier for you. In fact, I have stirred up more questions than answers. That is exactly my intention. Jesus has called us to make disciples that are learners and the best way to do that is to stimulate your intellect, feelings and experiences with an inquisitive mind. Socrates was a master of questioning you in such a way as to have you arrive at the answer he wanted you to and believe the revelation was your own.

The Jews rejected the cross because they knew that those nailed to it were cursed. And the Greeks thought it amusing that God died. It was a challenging of thought that turned both to learners. Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 foretold the Suffering Servant of the cross and an exchange of the innocent death for the forgiveness of the sin reached both the Jew and the Greek.

They learned at the Cross that the Lord they once cursed was their Messiah, their only God!

ASHAMED

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ASHAMED

By Rick Mathes

Romans 1:16 for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

The day has finally arrived for you to climb the golden stairway to the summit of the Hill of Zion and approach the throne of God. You were faithful and He was true to His Word. Now is the time to take that first step, trembling in excitement as you slowly pass walking the opposite way into the abyss of endless flames, you son. “Daddy, why didn’t you tell me about Jesus?” he sobs. There goes your daughter, wife, best friend hysterically calling back to you, “How could you have done this to us. You never shared the Gospel with us and now it is too late!” What would you respond to them.

I didn’t want to offend you. I didn’t want to look like a religious fanatic. You would probably ignore me. Religion is a private matter. Right now, get out a piece of paper and write out in a sentence why you aren’t telling souls destined to hell the way to salvation!. Now shot it to the Lord. Ouch? You bet Ouch!

To convince others you need to be convinced. “Evidence Deserves a Verdict” by Josh McDowell will reach your mind intellectually. “The Gospel According to Jesus” by John MacArthur Jr. will have you confessing Jesus as Lord like you never have had before. Once the realization that God became man, died for our sins and rose from the dad for our eternal redemption, you will never look back but you will press on, keep the faith, fight the good fight and finish the course laid before you.

To convict others of sin you must be convicted of sin yourself. Everything I communicate to others as a minister I first minister to myself. I figure that if it worked for me it might work for you. Then I pray that if I misspeak the truth that the Holy Spirit will change it to your hearing.

Lastly, to convert someone you must first be converted. All of these benchmarks convince, convict and convert mean absolutely nothing if the cross is nothing more than a sing or jewelry. How can you possibly be ashamed of Jesus? Then how can Then how can you hold back the good news from those you love when they have the spiritual cancer and you have the cure? What is your excuse and what is the Lord’s response to it?