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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.)

 

I AM LIFE

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I AM LIFE

By Rick Mathes

John 14:6 Jesus •said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.

We only have one. I remember parts of a poem I read as a kid that goes something like this: “I expect to live this life once, if therefore my fellow human beings there be a kindness I can extend or a goodness I can do, let me do it now and not defer nor neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.” My three score and ten have gone by very quickly!

I have often asked others, “What are you going to do with the rest of your life?” I usually get a blank look and a shrug of shoulders. Most spend more time planning their weekend than the next year of their life. The life that we search for is a hazy and distant afterthought to the actions of the moment of the day.

Life on planet earth is only a basic training ground for the Kingdom to come. We are earning our stripes and rank in the hereafter. The life we will be rewarded with is yet to come: the one with streets of gold.

In the meantime, we can excel and enjoy life in Him until His return and we are made complete. The life we must strive for in faith is not of this world. It’s a world of faith. Faith is at the end of your rope, just beyond your grasp, only one small step out of the boat. You will have it when you cry out, “Lord, I can’t!” At that moment of decision you will hear Him softly say, “I can.” Faith begins where you leave off and He begins.

Faith is found in life and life is found on our knees in worship of our Lord and King. Adoration of our Savior is almost extinct in most churches. Holy Ghost bumps don’t come from worship of Him but of many counterfeits that Satan can market as Christianity. How can we really come before Him to lift up His name: in words, actions, or in service?

Every cause has an effect. When we exchange our life for His, He goes about the Father’s business through us. Faithful and sacrificial service is the hallmark of a fruitful tree. It is all the result of obedience which is the result of the first cause of new birth. If you believe you will obey. It is the only way to overcome this evil worldly life. Don’t rise to your level of incompetence rather rise to His level of excellence. You can have the good life in Him if only you will release the fullness of the Holy Spirit within you.

HUMAN NATURE

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HUMAN NATURE

By Rick Mathes

Romans 7:21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good.

Man without God would be born without a purpose: a biological accident of evolution. When someone says they believe in evolution I respond, “If you believe that your great, great, great, etc. grandfather was a monkey, I’m inclined to believe you. He was!” A craps-shoot is a random chance and a belief that you were born at random is the same thing. Your parents threw the dice and you were the result of chance. When there is no ordained purpose, no objective truth, all become relative, even your life. Muslims call this randomness “kismet” which means essentially “fate.” Your life has no purpose. It is only a chance happening, how sad.

An unbelieving humanist believes he is his own god. He feels that if there is more good in his life than bad, if there is a hereafter, he will do just fine. You need to read the “Humanism Manifesto” to learn what a religion this is. Then read “Christian Manifesto” by Francis Schaeffer to see the contrast. Humanism is a religion of selfish heresy and is in as much error any any word beginning with self can be. We are not basically good, we reek with evil to our bones with selfism. We did not evolve to man’s image and likeness, we were created to God’s image and likeness.

Our true human nature is that we were born in the flesh for God’s use and for His purposes for our life. I know the moment you will die! Your heart will stop the second you have accomplished His purpose for your life and you will rise to your reward in glory.

Get a grip on the fact that we are full of sin: it is our vey second nature to sin. Sanctification is the process of returning to our first nature when we could walk in the cool of the evening in fellowship with the Creator. It would have also been overwhelming to walk this earth with Him when He was in the flesh. Now we collectively are made the Body of Christ, the Church.

We were created in His image which translated means, when people get to know you, do they get to know Jesus? What a challenge it is to exemplify Him with skin on as the Word did when the Creator stood in the dust He created us from.

HOW TO REPENT

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HOW TO REPENT

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 3:2
“ Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

We need to start out with: Jesus wants you! Now you can wiggle and squiggle like worms on a hook but you need to face it; you are hooked. What Jesus wants, Jesus gets so it is futile to fight the inevitable. Jesus will have you and sooner is a whole lot better than later. He wants to bless you as a loving Father to his son if only you will let him.

So what are you to do when faced with a seemingly irresistible sin? Or in other words, how do you avoid committing this shameful act before the cross of Christ?

The very first thing is you must do is stop dead in your tracks. Just plain stop. Don’t go an inch further. Just shut down all your body parts and senses. Go on disconnect.

Then you need to turn around. Don’t get all hyper and upset and do something stupid or mare shameful. Don’t move. Let your mind catch up with your better judgment. Let the Holy Spirit get behind the wheel once more.

Now you need to turn around. Put you back to the devil and press on! It’s time to hurry back to Jesus. Do not hesitate and don’t look back. You may not have another chance so take this one dead serious and don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

There are three levels of confession and conversion.

The first is intellectual. You need to confess Jesus Lord in your head and really mean it. Don’t try to understand everything about God because you never will. He has informed us through the Word and works of Jesus to take the narrow road to glory and leave all the filth Satan has thrown at is behind.

I don’t trust feelings because feelings because Satan can counterfeit them but when the Word of God and only the Word of God touches my heart, I know it and so will you. We can’t explain it to a non-believer but the Holy Words come alive and now we begin to walk the talk and confess Jesus AS Lord. We have moved from easy-believism to Lordship Salvation when we believe and obey.                                                   

HOW TO PRAY

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HOW TO PRAY

By Rick Mathes

And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”

There really isn’t a guideline on how to pray except what is commonly called “The Lord’s Prayer” which is really, “The Disciple’s Prayer.” But that’s another issue. What I want to do here si skim the tree-tops so to speak of the essential components of your mindset when you pray. He is our loving God that hears, forgives and heals. All we need to do is be humble, pray, seek His face and turn from out evil ways: simple but not easy. Praying in faith effectively is a life-long exercise in spiritual weight-lifting that will continue to our very last amen.

The only place to put your heart in prayer is in His will. You will learn this when you read the Word and get to know Him. The more personal He becomes to you the more your mind is in sync with His, much like my wife and I for over 30 years. We think each other’s thoughts, do you understand what I mean?

A pure heart produces a pure confession. There is nothing greater than a clean conscience and a comfort zone of living which repels sin and sinners much like a shield on the front line of battle. Transparency is the only way to live. Let it all hang-out and beg the Holy Spirit to convict you of sin so that you can pursue holiness without brakes or back allies to hide out in.

It all boils down to repentance the sins that murdered our dear Lord. I still get hammered for being “judgmental” when I am speaking “Biblically.” What I should do is just quote Jesus and makes my critics blood run cold. Learn from this my child.

With repentance must follow forgiveness. How can we not forgive others for offending us when we recall how severely we have offended our loving God? The answer of any question of prayer is entirely in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Jesus sent the Third Person so that we may pray in truth. The Comforter only comforts those with clean hearts who need comforting. Isn’t this the experience we require when we pray and the Holy Spirit comes upon us? Try it you will like it!

HOW FOOLISH

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HOW FOOLISH

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 1:27 (NASB77) 27  but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

Man’s great desires or drives are power and immortality. We men seek power is a variety of ways, politics being what I consider the heroin of ego. Anyone running for office has got to have an enormous desire to be noticed, admired and lifted up. Another is being wealthy and yet another is being physically intimidating or criminal.

Immortality is mostly expressed in procreation. Having children to carry on your nae or gene-pool is very gratifying as any grandfather well knows. Other methods would be writing a book or having a statue erecting in your honor.

Reality in the Kingdom is a whole different focus. For example, if you want to get up you need to step down. I learned early in this ministry that to have it prosper I needed to replace myself. The closer my knees are to the ground the nearer my heart, love and submission is to Him. As we exchange all we are for all He is we become lesser and He becomes larger. It gets better.

If you want to be seen, get out of sight. Remember that your born again experience has changed you to Christ with skin on. So the question is that when people get to know you do they get to know Jesus? The greatest blessing is to go about the Father’s business and not know it. This humility of storing up your secret treasure in heaven is the opposite of what we are taught as humans: He who dis with the most toys wins.

And lastly, here’s the best for the last. If you want to be great, forget yourself. I once asked John MacArthur Jr. what his earthly legacy for Jesus would be; his church, his sermons, his books, etc. He replied, “What happens when you put your hand on the surface of water?” I said, “You create a hand-print.” Then he said, “What happens when you remove your hand?” I responded, “The hand print disappears.” “Exactly!” he shot back. Wow!

How foolish for me to think I can add anything to His glory.

HOW DEEP

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HOW DEEP

By Rick Mathes

John 13:34  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

The mega churches and others are caving into the “Love will earn you heaven.” So they preach from this verse that Jesus agreed. This is a doctrine whose validity is certified from effect to cause when the true Word of God teaches from cause to effect. Allow me to illustrate with my own personal experience.

When I finally realized I loved the Lord more than my dear wife I felt that I had committed a “mortal sin” until it dawned on me agape love flows from Jesus only. In other words if I was the source of love to her, no matter how I would try, it would not satisfy her because somewhere in there it was self-gratifying to me.

However, His love to her would be unselfish and pure. She deserved the best and His love through me was complete to here, she became my crown at that point. There is much difference between my love and His.

His love is unchangeable and He loves everyone equally with all the love He has. God is love and you get all there is when you are His. He is supreme and alone in His magnificence. Lucifer, the angel of light, tried to depose God and fell with his followers to roam the world as wild rabid wolves.

When you submit to His Lordship, the question remains, “How deep is your love?”

Are you His servant? Are you going about His business as a pilgrim on foreign soil? We become missionaries to earth or more specifically ambassadors of God. My prayer is that when you hear me you hear Him.

He loves you more than you are capable of loving. So it is an easy matter to put your life and actions into His hand completely. At first it is like stepping off the edge of a cliff but after you take the first step, He takes the rest of them with you. You can be certain that when you see and walk in His footsteps before you that everything is going to be ok. You will experience a contentment that will satisfy you far in excess of any counterfeit happiness you have ever drank, smoked or slept with.

He’ll be back with open arms and it my payer that yours will be also.