Tag: church

WHAT IS LOVE?

By Rick Mathes

Luke 13:34 (NASB77) ³⁴  ” O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!

First of all, love is not an emotion. Satan can counterfeit feelings such as loving drugs, porno and so forth. The emotion may follow the real deal but for our sakes, love is a decision. I have decided to love you because He first loved me. I also learned that for me to expect you to love me, I need first to be loving, loveable.

Some have emotional problems and they vacillate back and forth, up then down and even sideways. True love, that which comes from the Lord is unchangeable. It remains constant. This kind of love is most certainly Divine and of God. It involves being self-sacrificing. The more we exchange all we are for all He is, the more we experience true love because God is love and all other love is temporal and bogus. It smells like the burnt sulfur from the Hades it came from.

When we love unconditionally with His love, we are inseparable from Him: joined at the hip so to speak. We are one with Him. He is living in our skin, housed in our body; we are living temples with sacrifices of praise. The dead are raised and the darkness flees from the light. We think, see, hear, feel, speak and act as He would; pleasing Father God in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We are attracted to His elect like metal is attracted to a magnet. There is an irresistible force of the Holy Spirit that draws us together to form the Body of Christ. It’s our first nature to be immersed in His love and it is second nature for us to follow darkness of sin.

There is an abounding of Joy and adventure and glory. The fervency is a frenzy of life and a meaning to our purpose of God’s thought and efforts. We are the reason that the Trinity that created us can bask in their glory as we display their image and likeness in love.

WHAT IS A CHIRSTIAN?

By Rick Mathes

Acts 26:28 (NASB77) ²⁸  And Agrippa replied to Paul, ” In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.”

The most considered, being a Christian is a blind leap of faith. They really believe that all we have to do is do an altar call, or say a certain prayer or tell a priest our sins or some such nonsense and everything will be just fine with God. In essence, religion then is just an emotional crutch. It was all made up to explain the unexplainable.

Ted Turner married Jane Fonda, founded the liberal CNN news network and stated unequivocally that religion is for losers. Apparently he can’t do anything right! Anyone who is close to him knows that he I a very lonely man, frequently in depression over Jane’s divorce from him, being fired by CNN and living a religion without a god that he has invented. Why do fools go to fools to ask foolish questions to get foolish answers to pass on to other fools? Ask Ted Turner, he knows!

Christianity is not a superstition or a list of do’s and don’ts.

Christianity is totally a person: Jesus Christ.

Christianity is not the what but the who.

It is not smothered in an endless need for rituals and sacraments. All the statures and candles you see are meant by Satan to take your vision outward instead of lifting your eyes upward.

It’s said that Christianity is a bunch of fanatical people and by my definition I sure wish this was so. Example: What is a fanatic? Answer: Someone who loves the Lord more than you! God is love so I ask you, how much love for God is too much love? Sure there are demons posing as fanatical Christians but the wages of sin is death and they eventually burn out and die.

Lif on the other hand is birthed by biblical moral teaching you won’t find in a carnal church and you know the difference. So many faiths invented by Father Lucifer are out there to confuse the confused. Let me tell you the Gospel Truth.

There is only one way not many ways to salvation. Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father but through Me!” No one; that mean you.

 

WHAT HAPPENED?

By Rick Mathes

Galatians 5:7 (NASB77) ⁷  You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?

You started so well when you answered the altar call and gave your heart to Jesus. Your heart was bursting with emotion at just the thought of your sins being forgiven. All you wanted was to skip through the tulips and to get a Holy Ghost bear hug from all your new brothers and sisters. Then the cold truth of reality hit, not much had changed and the world was still the hell you expected to escape. What happened? Who cut in on you and made you veer from that narrow road to the enter happiness and ecstatic bliss you were promised.

You are holding back. Why? What have you to lose if you unleash the Holy Spirit within you? For some reason you have been avoiding strong believers, missing services and giving up on daily bible studies. You have been drawn to sinful distractions and peope who are not very loving nor excited about the faith that got you safely this far.

With internet information and knowledge circling the globe at lightning speed it becomes so much easier to quit the old faith for new ideas. I can’t keep up with it all no matter how hard I try so I have put on the blinders to everything except those matters that our sovereign Lord is in the midst of. Without doing so you will lose your first joy, the joy of your salvation and all the blessings that go to the heart of peace with your new family of believers.

Satan knows how to surround you with the toys and worldly pleasures that distract your eyes from the household of the Lord to the flaming, blow-torching fiends of the darker places. Remaining worldly and self-centered will reward you with a degree of self-destruction and self-emulation. When the flames are curing up your legs you will wonder, “Who cut in on me? What happened?”

The truth will soon come quickly into focus; you had no part of the day for Jesus. You were keeping the self-faith, fighting the wrong fight when all of a sudden you fell flat on your face at the feet of Father Lucifer. What happened next?

WHAT DID HE DO?

By Rick Mathes

Ephesians 2:18 (NASB77) ¹⁸  for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

What has Jesus done for you?

First of all, He died for our sins. This was necessary for Him to appease the Father’s justice for our sins or we wouldn’t have a chance to go to heaven. This judgment must met out the punishment and His death sufficed for our redemption.

The cross, death stake, became the sine of the cross they are most certainly Roman Catholic Evangelicals know that the cross is empty and are usually known by their sign of the fish.

He died that we might and be one with Him as the Body of Christ should be. He was the one that broke down the walls of separation which would include race, culture, sex, politics, etc. We are one in Him as He became everything to us.

The law went out the window the moment He said, “It is finished!” We are fulfilling the law in the new covenant by falling a His feet and begging, “Have mercy upon me a sinner!” The war of sin vs. virtue is battling within us and continues to this moment without any let up. We can never drop the sword; the Word of God.

It’s His Word and walk that has caused us to make peace. There is no war in our Lord’s Temple. Light does not combat light and darkness is not welcome and cannot get in. Shalom Salaam and Peace be with you  are the battle cries of those who want peace. Why don’t we listen?

When we are reconciled to Jesus we believers are members of an exclusive club hat no one ever may join. Sin dies a slow death as more and more of us ae exchanged for more and more of Him.

He preached peace and 2,000 years later there is no peace except that which lives in believers We have a peace in the midst of chaos that exceeds logic and understanding. We just know that we have access to God through Jesus who loved us. Because of this we just know it’s all going to turn out just fine. His name is Jesus and He did a lot!

WEAPONS OF WAR

By Rick Mathes

Ephesians 6:17 (NASB77) ¹⁷ And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

I wish I had magical eye-glasses for us to hear and see for ourselves the hounds of hell that are circling us for the kill. If only we really understood the battle that is raging and the dirty tactics the devil is using, we would not hesitate but would rush to put on the armor of God and point the sword of the Lord at Satan and dare him to advance against us.

That sword isn’t some Pentecostal extraordinary gift, it is simply the Word of God How did Jesus defeat Satan in the wilderness. Did he speak in tongues; have a second baptism of Holy Spirit power, or use signs and wonders? No, He said, “It is written.” “It is written.” “It is written!”

The Word upholds and builds us up to stand against the devil’s most evil efforts. Our steps are ordered simply to produce the fruit of victory not defeat. WE are not despondent but advance against the Evil One because we are assured the victory and that produces unspeakable joy within us.

Only God’s words give us the strength to fight the good fight, keep the faith and finish the course before us. This gives us a hope that nothing hell can throw at us will quench it because it convicts us of sin, converts our soul and cleans our conscience.

The darkness has no authority over the light because we walk in it we are consecrated for His use. Our every thought is the pursuit of holiness enabled by the Holy Spirit.

In time as the Spirit leads we hear, listen, apply and then evaluate God’s will in our life. The Gospel according to Jesus corrects the wrongs in our life, it confirms what is right in His eyes and because of this our hearts are comforted.

What should we do with God’s Word?

• Heed it
• Seed it
• Desire it
• Preach it
• Live it
• Use it
• Suffer for it

WE WIN

By Rick Mathes

Romans 8:37 (NASB77) ³⁷  But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

C.H. Spurgeon: “If God should please, the Holy Spirit could as this moment make every one of you fall on your knees, confess your sins and turn to God. He is an Almighty Spirit, able to do wonders.”

When Jesus lifted up to glory, the Holy Spirit descended and a Holy war began. Believe me, Satan is throwing everything he has at us to destroy the joy of our salvation. Our protection is to put on the armor of God, dig in our cleats and let the Holy Spirit have a go at him with Michael and Gabriel in full battle gear. How good can it be to know we win!

Our Lord gave us His life in the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are the Temple of God and Satan’s demons cannot penetrate without our permission. We are more than conquerors in Him. He isn’t a power, He’s a person as real as the Father and the Son: He completes the three cord Gordian Knot that cannot be broken.

It was he Holy Spirit that came upon Jesus and gave Him life once again in that tomb. And it was He that exploded in your soul and gave you your original life in His image and likeness. WE look just like our Daddy!

This renewed life became itself a shield that fends off the fiery darts of temptation the demons are unloading on upon wave, upon wave, upon wave: never ending, no relief. Satan’s assault on us is a violence that put the barbarous Arabs to shame.

It’s only by His guidance that we are led to quiet waters because we don’t know the way. Our every effort, like a magnet, has turned our eyes and flesh to all the attractions of hell. But as full heirs of glory, He adopts us ad gives us the hope of an eternal resurrection.

Of all the privileges heave could bestow on us, prayer is the ultimate. Think about it! The Holy Spirit comes upon us and we lift our hands in prayer and worship that makes the ages marvel. We, mankind only, understand the joy of our salvation an the awesome ability to walk right into God’s throne room and chat with Him, the Sovereign of the Universe.

WATER OF LIFE

By Rick Mathes

John 4:15 (NASB77) ¹⁵ The woman •said to Him, ” Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw.”

We cannot exist physically without water and spiritually without the living water only Jesus has o offer. Water is a word used to denote the word of God and here in this verse is the woman asking for it and she’s not sure what it is. She just knows that Jesus has it and she wants it. He even said we needed to be baptized in the water with fire. The Holy Spirit we know is the fire but for now let’s focus on what we can expect from receiving the Word of God.

It is thirst removing. Nothing can satisfy nor quench that burning thirst in our soul but what God’s breathed and inspired Word has to say in our Holy Bible. We hunger and thirst for this living water and Jesus puts in right in our hands.

It is life preserving. We try to get our life together on our own and the more we try the more it falls apart. Only by what proceeds from the mouth of God will keep us in Him until the Day of the Lord.

It is filth purging. You can’t remain stained in sin when you are washed in the flood of Christ. His words cleanse us from all unrighteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is softening. Even the biggest men with the hardest hearts will fall to their knees and cry out, “Lord save me!”

It is fire quenching. Amen! The Word give us fire insurance and even the gates of hell cannot prevail against us.

It is spring creating. You will be filled to the brim and your cup will runneth over. Your veins will just pump; with the gospel until you shout out loud, “Jesus is my Lord!”

It is fruit producing. You will know them by their fruit. If He is truly Lord of their lives, their walk will speak more loudly than their talk.

It is heaven ascending. Like the fragrance of a bouquet of flowers. Your reading, your speaking, singing and thinking the Word is very pleasant to the Father whose hand wrote his love letter to you, whose soul lived the Word and whose Holy Spirit quickens the Lord’s essence in you.

 

WANTED DEAD

By Rick Mathes

Acts 5:11 (NASB77) ¹¹  And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things.

What is sin? The simple answer is, “It is everything that offends God.” And that is very true but I would like to make this weed blossom and how you a few of its deadly pedals.

Sin remains an outlaw, a breaker of the law if you prefer; outside of the law. It is continuing to plot to intercede at any entry level you will allow him to pollute your joy and remain your enemy until sin has vanquished forever in the lake of fire. This tyrant has been beaten down so may times only to regroup and raise his ugly head again and again.

Its field of battle is the body, that is, the Body of Christ. It will enter in any form of spiritual disease that suits its purposes and is most deadly to all that keep the faith alive and active. The war is waged by Satan and his fallen angels against all that is good and holy lead by Michael the Archangel. We will win in Christ every time w choose to and don’t you think Satan has any authority over you.

The Evil One will attack you with hunger, thirst and pain. He who controls the food, water and army has the control. Remember though that the devil only has the power the Holy Ghost permits him to have. The A.A. acronym HALT makes a lot of sense. It means that if you are hungry, angry, and lonely or tired you are tenderized raw meat for the roving lion to devour with sin.

The other side of deprivation is over indulgence. Satan can arrange for everything you touch to turn to gold. He will give you are too much of what you want the most and it will suck all the oxygen out of you and you will go over the edge and die maybe a living death of sickness or prison.

It’s his extreme pleasure to kill your soul, to destroy you and to separate you from the love of the Lord. He will drag you down so low you will have to jump up to touch bottom. I know I have been there one time to many. Every demon knows that you are wanted dead and they all want to be hell’s hero and be the one that murders the Christ within you!

 

 

WALKING DEAD

By Rick Mathes

2 Timothy 2:9 (NASB77) ⁹   for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.

Church after church has sacrificed creed for greed. Their success is measured by church attendance and revenue. The Body of Christ has been replaced by carnal Christianity, leaners instead of wringers. Close but no cigar. It is no longer an organism but rather it is an organization that lives under the belief that you can do anything to get them into the church. They reason that then you can slowly and carefully break the good news to them but don’t touch sin, death, and hell, repent, believe or obey or you will drive them off. Just today, Pope Francis declared ex-cathedra (without error) that you don’t need to believe in God to get into heaven. What next; Mary Queen of heaven? Homosexual priests getting married?

All this heretical shredding of the gospel is going to produce is dead ministers preaching to a dead church. America is not a Christian nation and God has all but left the church to bury it’s dead. All Satan nees to do to destroy the churches is leave them alone!

Feeble, weakened workers with no spiritual “T” have turned it all over to women and children. Isaiah prophesied this would happen and believers have lost their backbone.

Satan has changed the Christian vocabulary so much that true believers can’t even talk to each other much less understand the basic pillars that our faith was founded on: TULIP. The seminaries have been a primary target for hells missiles to strike and destroy. A frighteningly large and growing number of professors don’t believe the Bible is the absolute Word of God, nor in the virgin birth or in any miracles. They call them fables such as the Trinity, election and that there is even a thinking God.

These dead professors of faith are cold dead and are beyond hypocrisy because they are not even wearing the mask of biblical faith and conformity any more. The apostate fallen angels are bold-faced in their contempt of Bible only, Jesus only, Faith only and Grace only. Calling them heretics is too kind.

Let’s call these pulpit monsters what they are, hell-hounds of the flaming abyss that are taking nation after nation into the eternal depths of liquid flames and endless blistering torture!