Tag: corrections

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.

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

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?