Tag: confession

MINISTERS ONLY

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MINISTERS ONLY

By Rick Mathes

Author of “Allah or Jesus”

Ephesians 4:11 (NASB77) 11  And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

There is not better feeling than the confidence of saying, “I know, I know!” That assurance of assurance is indescribable. Does that make sense to you? Well, you can rest assured that you are a minister of the Gospel according to Jesus. You might have to drive a bus, wait tables, be a professional to support your ministry but don’t lose sight of the fact that your job is to minister the good news to every “Divine appointment” the Lord makes for you. This is how He perfects His saints. While you are ministering you are reinforcing His Word and Truth in your inner-most bowels.

The sun comes up and the sun goes down and another day is history and you are 24 hours nearer to your funeral. Dismal isn’t it? Solomon missed the mark when he penned “vanities, vanities, nothing but vanity.” Clearly, the Spirit of the Lord wasn’t up on the actions of his life because if he was called and chosen of God all the work he put his hands to would be to God’s glory and profoundly worthwhile.

It boils down to this: what pleases Jesus? And by extension: what edifies the Body of Christ (the Church)? What are we called to do or rather what has God commanded you to do on Christ’s behalf? Each of us has a vital part to play in our lifetimes so that collectively we walk in His footsteps. St. Francis of Assisi said that all he wanted to do was to go about the Father’s business and not know it. That is total commitment and humility that can’t be touched by any mortal.

All these efforts culminate in one result only and that’s to persuade men of faith to point their swords at the enemy and not at each other. There is only one Body. A house divided against itself will fall. We must stand together and a great place to start is to ban denominations that divide instead of unify evangelical Christians men.

The only perfect Church is “the called out ones” (elect) in Christ!

It’s been over 2,000 years since our King said, “It is finished!” Don’t you agree that it’s time for us ministers to mature? It only takes one candle of hope to light up a universe. Let worldwide revival begin with me!

Won’t you join me? Together we can spark His return in glory.

MINDBENDING

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MINDBENDING

By Rick Mathes

Author of “Allah or Jesus”

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

I know Jesus because He first knew me and made both He and I known in His Word. As a believer, I looked into the mirror of the Gospel and saw my sinful self in the flesh and as I repented my image faded and His came into view. When Father God looks on me He sees His Son Jesus! The wisdom of the Godhead is communicated to me in the essence of the Word made manifest in the form of Christians that exemplify Him to me. It’s a new spiritual awakening, one which gives me the insight and vision to see with His eyes and think thoughts through with His mind. This knowledge and subsequent application of His words and works is the sum total of all that is. Someday we will see Him as He is and this adventure of discovering Him will rise to a new level.

All His three years of actions clearly pointed to our redemption on His cross. He knew the minute He left the family wood-shop He was headed to a wood-cross. There was no turning back because of His deep love for those the Father left Him. He was in a no-choice situation because He was the only one the Father would accept crucified for our sins. There wasn’t any “Plan B.” He had to go through with this terrifying ordeal and could not turn back or we would all be condemned and the Godhead would have been dissolved into the fiction non-believers think it to be.

The covenants were made with all the main characters of the Bible and the new covenant must be kept and fulfilled or God would be found out to be a liar. Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jacob and all the rest have watched Jesus’ life closely and are in agreement that Scripture has been completely fulfilled in Him. Jesus said it when He gasped loudly, “It is finished!”

Now is our time to watch His providence play itself out in these end times. The Lord is near and the writer of the last chapter is organizing the outline of this book right now. The old book will be closed and the new book of life will be opened in that day and we will rejoice in our reward.

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

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Message in a Bottle

By Rick Mathes

Acts 3:19 (NIV) 

19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Every so often you read in the news that a bottle from a long ago and distant land washes up on the shore with a long awaited message to a loved one that came ages too late. Such is the case in many American pulpits.

No message that eliminates repentance can properly be called the Gospel for sinners cannot come to Jesus Christ apart from a radical change of heart as a consequence of submission to His lordship. It erases the moral significance of repenting then believing when the sermon comes from the dark side.

Repent + Believe = Obey

There are those who pretend to be obedient but are actually rebels and others begin as rebels and then repent. If only we could put on our “magic glasses” in church and tell them apart. It would make preaching so much easier.

Unfortunately we don’t have the spiritual insight nor knowledge to judge whether someone is saved or not. This is the employment of the Holy Spirit and His gift of all knowledge, power and presence. We are just called to be obedient, vomit sin and pursue holiness with all that is within us.

Those hands which were fixed to the Cross by cruel nails could have hurled thunderbolts of lightening at those wallowing in unbelief. Those with unfaithful and wandering spirits live next door to the sinning spirits. Knees buckle, faith falls, trust evaporates and the painful crucifixion begins anew as sin slashes its whip on the Lord’s back one bite at a time. The crown’s thorns dig deeply into His scalp and twist throbbing pain once again, and the sword pierces His heart again and again and again when you sin against His pure countenance, integrity and character.

Arise Holy Spirit! Be counted among the defenders of forgiveness through the atoning blood of the innocent Lamb of God. Let the full force of His love demolish the strongholds of the evil one and restore to us the sound mind of Christ in these times of chaos and insanity.

Examine yourself:

  • Will you believe that Jesus died for you?
  • Do you hate sin?
  • Do you feel that you are lost and ruined?
  • Are you really seeking after Jesus?

Then open the message in the bottle. It’s been following you through the rivers of time and has finally caught up with you and made itself obvious. Open it and live!

*******

I will never forget the time our children came home from vacation Bible School with a poster they made that had a ring of thorns pasted on it. The poster stated with cut out words, “Crown Him Lord of All!”    Their eyes filled with tears thinking that Jesus shed his blood for their sin and the sins of the world if we can answer “yes” to the above questions.  The message in the bottle may be coming to you now and you will experience that time of refreshing no matter what is going on in your life. 

MESSAGE

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MESSAGE

By Rick Mathes

Romans 10:16 However, they did not all heed the glad tidings; for Isaiah says, ” LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?”

How can any rational person refuse our Lord’s offer of salvation? What in heaven’s name is any better? And yet the world ignored the message and attacks the messenger. While we keep our eyes on the Cross of Christ, let’s just aim our ears together on what we hear His words speak to us.

All that has ever been said in the Word of God hinges on faith; we have faith that a light switch will work and a cell phone will make audible calls. We never question highway road markings or the fluid we put into our tanks. There is a litany of tasks we do all day that have earned our unquestioned faith. Faith in our doctor’s advice, the preacher’s sermon and our wife’s “I love you” when we need it. How much more must we have faith in our Lord’s word that has never failed us or anyone who preceded us back in the Garden of Eden? Faith in Jesus is certain!

To get to that unbending faith we must clear the deck of any sin that might hinder our voyage through this earth adventure. The Holy Spirit convinces us of our need to do our spiritual dirty laundry so that our robes will be spotless as we lift our holy hands to our King.

Jesus was forsaken on the Cross so that He could assure us that no one could take us from His hand. He promised that He would never leave us nor forsake and even the gates of hell could not prevail against us.

All He asks that we get out of His message is that we become disciples that hunger and thirst for His righteousness. A disciple in Christ is a believer that has been baptized in the fullness of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Is God divided? No, there is only one message, one God, one faith and ONE BAPTISM: thus saith the Lord. Don’t buy a lie for more of the Holy Spirit; you are insulting the Triune Godhead that cannot be divided into smaller pieces.

The evidence of our digesting the message is that the Word burns in our veins like a fire and we cannot shut up. Our blessings overflow to anyone within earshot. WE loudly proclaim the message and lift up the messenger as the only way, only truth and only life.

The message and messenger are one. (Repeat this again.)

 

IS IT TRUE?

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IS IT TRUE?

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 11:2 (NASB) Now when John, while imprisoned,

heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples

Now is where you are at this moment in time, considering this verse from the Holy Scriptures. Now is all we ever have. Yesterday is fading away, tomorrow is coming into view. Put your feet into the Israeli sand just outside this deplorable dungeon cell and look around as see the cage that God’s most favored Prophet is enclosed. John, the prime choice of the Ancient of Days among men, breathtaking!

I have never been convicted of a felony so I don’t know the cold, hard reality of incarceration in a jail cell much less the hole John was relegated to; locked down in a steel paneled closet, desolate and depressed. Oh, how I know the place he was in! (A dark, lonely and empty oblivion of endless, black, nothingness, a living hell) I lived in a wallpapered and paneled cell hand-cuffed to a bottle of booze, drugs and deep money problems until I broke those satanic chains of addiction and set my soul free in Him.

John was in a deep, black mood lonely and abandoned by all the hopes and dreams that had sustained him all those long years in the wilderness. The hope of the Messiah! He was abandoned by but a very few of his disciples and looked forward to a long, and agonizing life in prison or maybe the relief of a quick and painless beheading!

He was confused that his cousin hadn’t roused an army to wage war on the Roman infidels. The kingdom that he announced wasn’t in sight. Was his life and cause a lost one? Had he spent his life and years of austerity and hope in vain? Was he a loser?

Neither does Islam nor the Roman Popery understand their destiny of trampled earthly kingdoms. They crave worldly power through arms and money in the here and now with an addictiveness that will inevitably consume itself. No more Roman or Muslim heresy will exist for the eternity of time when our Lord returns! Both have replaced creed with greed as has the carnal world of counterfeit Christianity. How sad!

Feeding into what I call “the game” will bring power and immorality in procreation, power or wealth here while Jesus offers only His glory there in His eternity.

Now is the now we battle on our knees in prayer and lift up the sword of the Spirit. In His time we will rest in an eternal peace and the fatal attraction of this earth will fade away in the Light of His Glory.

Hang in there John!

 

IN THE MORNING

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IN THE MORNING

By Rick Mathes

Psalm 5:3 (NASB77) 3 In the morning, O Lord, Thou wilt hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to Thee and eagerly watch.

Prayer is the wind in your sail and he deadly weapon in your arsenal. It kills sin on the spot without any hesitancy or remorse. It is relentless in its pursuit of anything that harms our Lord even gives Him any displeasure. You are without excuse when you harbor your favorite sin. Remember that the sin you have is the sin you want because if you didn’t want it more than you do want it you wouldn’t have it. I can’t make it any plainer than that.

Prayer will bring you victory over the legions of devils in hell if only you will unleash the Holy Spirit within you. Darkness cannot dwell in the light any more than sin can remain in the presence of the Christ within you. Do not fear or doubt but maintain unreserved faith and trust in your Lord. The gates of hell cannot prevail against you, He will never give you more than you can bear, He will always provide 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. What more could you possibly ask for?

While in he essence of prayer you will experience glimpses of holiness that will overpower any obstacle that Satan places in your way. The devil loses it completely when he finds you repenting of your sins, submitting to His Lordship, and obeying His commands. The pulpits of too many churches are filled with demons that preach ear-tickling stories, epigrams and illustrations but have drained the Blood of Christ out of any prayers they may lead you in. A Prayerless church is a Spiritless church; run from it!

Most importantly and very feared by the evil one is that prayer revels Christ in a way that exposes the Angel of Light, Lucifer for the counterfeit that he is. The curtain has been ripped from top to bottom. The way into the very presence of God Himself is prepared by His Son and your Savior Jesus Christ, for you to walk in.

All you have to do is humble yourself, pray, seek His face and turn from your evil ways, then He will hear your prayer, forgive your sins and heal your sin battered soul. AMEN!

IN THE LORD

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IN THE LORD

By Rick Mathes

Acts 16:31 (NASB) 31 they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

C.H. Spurgeon: Does the father’s faith save the family? Yes! No! Yes is does in some way, namely, that the father’s faith makes him pray for his family and God hears his prayer and the family is saved. No, the father’s faith cannot be a substitute for the faith of the children. They must believe too.

Let’ survey various households and investigate them.

Sinners:

For a believing father, a household of outlaws is a real tragedy. When your children are rotten and vile, it’s almost impossible to turn them around. Think. You planted seeds, failed to water and harvested them akin to their planting: sinners.

Worldliness:

It’s hard to find that fine line of providing or spoiling. The children can be caught up in all the latest technical gadgets and then turn carnal where God, sin, death and repentance are a real joke.

Moral:

The prayer of a righteous father avails much. The gospel according to Jesus taught at an early age will mean a world of difference in your children’s upbringing. They will have  wholesome and fresh future before them that even the Gates of Hell will not prevail against.

Procrastination:

The NIV says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and confess with your mouth God raised Him from the dead, you are saved.” This is a professor that has built faith on intellectual ascent. This is not enough. The NASB states, “If you confess Jesus AS Lord…. “ The heartfelt “believe and obey” is necessary for salvation. The cause is the “IS” and the effect the “AS.” You must walk your talk as well as talk it. (or shut up!)

Well this I just a short outline of the fiber of some families. Maybe, just maybe you will look at your family with new eyes.

IN THE HOLE WITH JESUS

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IN THE HOLE WITH JESUS

By Rick Mathes

The last 30 years I have actively spent preaching in jails and prisons has given me a diary of memories that few men have ever experienced. I have been before tens of thousands of mankind’s scum of humanity, diamond hunting for those that truly repented of their crimes and have become born again.as I did at age 38. It was then I put down the bottle and picked up the Bible. I threw away the drugs and grasped the Cross of Christ. I laid down my evil ways and lifted my holy hands to the King and determined to share that good news and devote the rest of my life turning lives from crime to Christ.

The most memorable times for me were walking the prison tiers and sounding the trumpet for the Lord’s return. But the highlight of even those times was preaching monthly to a chapel of death-row inmates or even more memorable was to go into the “hole” of solitary confinement with the worst of those about to be executed! The cells were dark, damp, humid and stifling.

With this in mind I can’t help but imagine Jesus and the three condemned prisoners together waiting for the brief moment before Pilate to have their fate determined. I remember standing before a booking-sergeant as a juvenile delinquent and giving him my ring, watch, belt and shoe laces. I can still feel the fear, cold sweat and downright terror of the unknown. My policeman step-father would always show up and bail me out so I literally could do any crime and I did!

The only way for Jesus to set me free was to die in my place on that bloody death-stake. With this in mind, I wish I had been a “fly on the wall” what the four of them were talking about. Three at least knew their fate was to be a barbarous death.. I have to ask, “What did they say to Jesus?”  and “What did He say to them?” What would you expect Him to say to you given the same circumstances? Interesting.

Knowing what I know now I would be begging His forgiveness for the sins I had committed that condemned Him. Oh how horrid I would feel!

But these three condemned killers didn’t have a clue and neither do countless millions on this little blue pearl called planet earth. We Christians know now that we are just passing through and will never again be in solitary confinement awaiting eternal death. We have stepped out in freedom with our special “death row partner.” He has provided for us eternal life in heaven and not death in the flames of hell. Only one in three made this choice. How about you or the loved one next to you? Choose today which gate you will walk through: the Lord’s Mission Gate or Satan’s gate to hell.

IN MY NAME

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IN MY NAME

By Rick Mathes

John 16:23 (NASB77) 23  “And in that day you will ask Me no question. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you shall ask the Father for anything, He will give it to you in My name.

Think about it. If I prayed to God and asked Him to answer my prayer according to the name of Lucifer, what would be His response? We pray to the greater authority if we want our prayer to be answered and God is omnipotent. It’s a no brainer! There is no other object of prayer if you expect to be answered by the “I AM.” So with that major premise we can rely on an  prayer if it is one Jesus would petition His Father for, given our set of circumstances.

Our whole earth experience is a journey to the restoration of our first nature which is to fulfill the will of our God. This is our certainty the prayer will be answered. I ask, what would I ask God for that isn’t in His will, nothing. All that I am wants to fulfill all that He is through me so I face this pilgrimage with obedience and a determination in mind, my reward in glory.

The fulcrum or balance point of all energies and effort expended is simply in faith. The witnesses of His life, death, and resurrection deserve our respect and agreement that His Story is God-breathed truth.

Satan, however, has a battering-ram of hindrances. Let me just focus on a few of their most glaring encroachments of our faith.

Insincerity: Prayer for some is a learned experience and the mirror of that style of prayer those they admire they display. This often includes the language of the King James era or tongues, unknown languages just to name a few.

Willfulness: It has been said and widely believed by much of the world that man invented religion and God to explain the unexplainable. Some with this mindset feel like they are praying into thin air to a god which is not listening.

Selfishness: These prayer warriors have a severe “I” disease. The remedy is to replace the words I, me and mine with He, Him and His will cure.

Impatience: God answers all prayers with yes, no or not yet. WE live in a modern generation of largely instant gratification so God’s response to prayer with a “not yet” is rejected. Often He is protecting us from an adverse reaction to our prayer being answered in righteousness.

 

IN ME

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IN ME

By Rick Mathes

John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

The parable of the vine illustrates our attachment to the Lord. Let me illustrate my experience. My birth-father was killed in WWII, my mother soon remarried and with a name change and step-brothers and sisters from my step-fathers 3 previous wives I began a new life. The one thing that couldn’t be exchanged to this new family was my real-father’s blood that ran through my veins; no one could take that away from me not even me. So it is when you are born again. The Holy Spirit runs through your arteries to your new heart and it cannot be removed or exchange for another spirit. You have a new “Abba” now!

Here is a brief word study on what you can find in Him:

  • Joy: happiness, gladness, bliss, gusto, zest, exuberance, and euphoria.
  • Love: fondness, tenderness, attachment, devotion, loyalty and respect.
  • Knowledge: cognition, gnosis, perception, grasp, mastery and foresight.
  • Persecution: chastisement, discipline, shame, degrading, and downgrading.
  • Rights: birthright, prerogative, privilege, authority, and entitlement.
  • Works: deeds, action, achievement, effort, measure, and performance.
  • Glory: praise, honor, extolment, commendation, adulation, and tribute.

Here is a brief word study on what you will find that is not in a believer:

  • Jealousy: resentment, ill will, bitterness, hostility, greed and rivalry.
  • Ambition: reason, motive, impetus, ideal, aspiration, and driving force.
  • Selfishness: self-interest, egotism, self-centeredness, and ego trip.
  • Pride: conceit, vanity, egoism, vainglory, boastfulness and anything self.
  • Self-seeking: self-interest, self-pity, envy, stinginess and littleness.
  • Self-assertion: audacity, nerve, impudence, insolence and presumption.
  • Self-love: ego, conceit, vanity, self-devotion, envious and avaricious.
  • Weakness: feebleness, impotence, enfeeblement and fatigue.
  • Fruitless: uselessness, worthlessness, pointlessness, and impossibility.

So here we have material for you to clearly see the contrasts of those who love Him and those who turned their backs. Which one are you?