Tag: God

CRUCIFIED

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

CRUCIFIED

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 1:23 (NASB77) 23  but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,

The Jew as well as Roman Catholic and a host of other faiths are what are called ceremonialists. They have a variety of rituals, sacrifices, processions, holy celebrations and so forth that they participate in as they attempt to petition God and explain the unexplainable.

The Greeks were not much for feelings or experiences. They were thinkers and needed to be reached through logical persuasion or intellectual assent. One and one had to equal two so that the supernatural was not a consideration. God dying on a cross then a dead body rising to life was written off as nonsense.

Paul kept it simple for those simple and preached only Christ crucified. He saved the deeper waters for those experienced swimmers. This took not only to be called but also to be chosen. As any minister will confess, we are door mats for the general public to wipe their feel on. As an evangelist, I prefer to view myself as an anvil that has been the cause of many broken hammers.

When you put your face in the mud, blood and tears at the foot of the cross, you become born again: the minute Jesus is your Lord. This transaction unleashes God’s Holy Spirit’s power in you. You don’t need to be baptized again in the Holy Spirit according to both Paul and Jesus. You have the full power but you have a dimmer switch to turn it up or turn it down. The sin you have that reduces the power is one you want more than Jesus or you would repent of it.

As you stand in front of Christ on the cross you realized how rejected he really was.

As you stand in front of the empty cross you sense the triumph he has had over your sin.

As you stand before the empty tomb you realize how admired you are by the angels and all who have passed into glory for being believers.

And lastly, how proud Jesus is of you His trophy of grace!

CORRUPTION

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

CORRUPTION

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Corruptions on every front occur in the world and the church before our very eyes and we let them happen; everyone, whether in politics or in the pulpit is afraid to speak the truth because truth has been corrupted beyond recognition.

In either circle it begins by following humanist leaders. We call them liberals but the fact remains that they are conservatives with masks on. They are not just “Joe six-packs” in taverns or legislators in government; they are also graduates of seminaries.

They favor earthly, carnal, self-centered wisdom no matter how it’s packaged or marketed. I live in the real world but my heart is in the heavenlies. I see and you do too the nonsense that is offered as good-sense.

You can’t help but flounder in the flesh of relativism. It’s like throwing darts at a moving and changing target. There is no objective bull’s eye there is only bull s—t.

With an ever changing truth we give little or no thought for future judgment because what is there to judge? When there is no right there is no wrong and the lie becomes the truth. The Word of God warned us and the fulfillment is upon us. Why fear a judge of no laws or punishment. Muslims call it “kismet.”

The spiritual leaders flatter themselves by the attendance and wealth of their churches. All of hell has put its weight on their eyes to look outward instead of upward.

When you aren’t eye to eye with Jesus you are well on your way to sink to the depths of Satan’s evil abyss of fire. Faithfulness to Christ is measured by three words: repent, submit and obey If you will do these corruption wherever you feet are planted will flee.

Otherwise you are fragmenting the Body of Christ. You have corrupted to the point where you are not the solution, you are the problem. Guess what happens when you spit into the sky; it falls back on you.

DIVIDED WE FALL

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

DIVIDED WE FALL

By Rick Mathes

John 7:43 So there arose a division in the multitude because of Him.

The Word teaches us that we are the Body of Christ that must be in one accord. The devil wants to squeeze in between us and Jesus any way he can because he knows that if we are divided we will fall.

What can be much worse than for us to divide because we have diverse opinions about our doctrine and church liturgy? Christians have never been in total agreement about either. We do, however, agree on the basic foundations of Christianity. If you confess Jesus as your Lord, which means living accordingly, then you are going to heaven just as you are. If your church or denomination excludes other Christians for disagreements over anything else, they are acting on behalf of Satan. We can agree to disagree and still have a wonderful opinion of Jesus together.

It’s all a matter of trust whether you are a Presbyterian, Baptist or Pentecostal, you still trust Christ as I do and love Him with your whole heart, mind and soul with all your strength. Truwst is what got Peter out of the boat and fear is what almost sunk him. You and Jesus must have a mutual agreement that you love each other and share an eternal destiny of glory.

Love is the super-glue that holds the Body together. Now understand that we don’t have to like each other but we must love each other. Yes, what I just stated makes sense when you think about it. WE don’t have to enjoy the same music, clothes or even culture to love each other.

It’s all in the development of obedience. There are not just growing pains but there is a learning curve involved also. This takes time so don’t allow a division because of things outward but rather has a unity of things upward. We’re back to the destiny of life with Christ here and now as a unified body.

Roman Catholics point out that we are divided because of our many denominations but they are not aware of our unity in the Spirit. Any true Christian knows that when we put aside our distinctions, our fundamental doctrine and beliefs are the identical. In my humble opinion we are all Calvinists but some haven’t matured enough to realized it yet, AMEN?

CHURCH CORRUPTIONS

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

CHURCH CORRUPTIONS

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 1:2 (NASB77) 2  to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

Every denomination has a “Church of Corinth” that has drifted in its leadership and lost its first love and focus. There are a few basic corruptions that know no religious distinctive. When Satan gets his nose into your church fellowship, his body is soon to follow.

Following humn leaders, that are humanists, only provides you with a veneer of a carnal communityof self-gratification. The devil knows that to disrupt the church he needs access to the pulpit he is often relegated to a leadership position because of our shamefuil apathy.

When earthly wisdom is favored, spiritual absolutes are compromised and wateed down to relative absurdities. A twelve inch ruler is 12 inches long and not 11 or 13 inches long depending on your personal law or rule of measurement. The same applies to salvation. Jesus is the ony way and you can’t be part saved by believing otherwise.

Like a fish out of water, the Word of God. You are signing hour own death warrant or rather certificate of dying in flames continuing action. Without the “Rock that don’t role,” your faith will only have the substance and constancy of cotton candy. It will tase good but there is nothing thee.

There’s no sense o flattering yourself with self-gratifying deeds, prayers or rituals. When you are your own god, you will have to deal with your own hell all by yourself! Pride of self dropped Lucifer from the highest plateaus in glory down the  rungs to the dungeon of glow-torch flames from hell.

The culprit is lack of discipline. You are sovereign over you. The sin you have you want becaue if you didn’t want it more than you do want it, you wouldn’t have it! It’s that simple. Love the Lord more than the sin.

All the above shaken up and spread out is a fragmenting of the Body of Christ. When the head is sick the whole boy suffers. When lall yur body parrs are bruised, battered and broken, they can no longer work together in harmony. The corruption of your church has polited you too. Don’t be a Corinthian Church that even 50 years after Paul wrote the third letter to them, things got worse because of the younger members disrespecting the elders.

CONFESS REPENT

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

CONFESS REPENT

By Rick Mathes

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

Many will confess but very few truly repent and it is very important that you do so. Every time you wantonly sin Satan writes that sin on the caulk-board in heaven and every time you repent, the Holy Spirit erases the sin out of sight. Sanctification’s objective is to keep the blackboard clean but just confession won’t do it.

  • Confession sin is worrying about the punishment that is the consequence of sin.
  • Repentance is worrying about the sin whose consequence is punishment.
  • Conversion is a change of action after you have had a true change of mind.
  1. The first sermon John the Baptist preached was “Repent!”
  2. The first sermon Jesus preached was “Repent!”
  3. The first sermon Peter preached was “Repent!”
  4. The first sermon Paul preached was “Repent!”

Are you getting the message?

Repentance is simply a turning toward Jesus. I never quit drinking. It quit me. When you are looking upon Him, the devil has no entry level. I love Jesus more than the sin and you should too.

When you turn to God you have put your back to Father Lucifer. The devil does not like your disrespect of the “Angel of light.” You have declared war on hell and I can guarantee all of his fallen angels are going to break loose on you like a swarm of angry hornets. You can expect violence and deceit unimagined from the most unlikely people!

Reverend Lucifer is too slick to make him obvious. He would rather turn your heart back to him from the pulpit of your favorite churches. If your minister doesn’t preach repent, submit and obey you have been sitting under the evil one. You have become a Satanist because you won’t turn from the sin the Holy Spirit has been convicting you of.

You refuse to turn from sin to the Savior and cause the very angels of heaven weep for you as the Good Shepherd laments one lost lamb.

The fruit of true salvation is good works. You were created in the image and likeness of Jesus and all he did while he was on planet earth and served those who were His. Repent and do likewise so that all will know that you have had a conversion experience and are now walking you talk!

COMFORTER III

Tagged , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

COMFORTER 3

By Rick Mathes

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

Our Holy Spirit is a person equal in all respects to the Father or Son. I am still inspired by His humbleness. He doesn’t have a name. There are titles and appellations but no proper name and nothing like Jehovah God or Jesus the Son. The main misconception is that He is a power, force or level of faith. He’s a real person with intellect, reason, logic, feelings and all the fullness of the Trinity. Isn’t He something!

His faithfulness to His commission to amplify Jesus in your life is about as laid-back and as selfless at it gets. He is wholly existent to fulfill the purposes of cause and effect, purpose and accomplishment of God’s fashioning of your life. He exudes love, the perfect affection, unadulterated by the stain of sin.

God is love and apart from this instilled understanding from the Holy Spirit, we would continue in lust and worshipping false gods of materialism and sensual lusts. By knowing the real deal through Him we have a spiritual discernment and can spot the devil with a Christian mask on.

I know it’s the love of God because I am always comforted by Him. He never tires of meeting me where I am in the condition He finds me in. The closer I draw to Him the more unworthy I see myself. I see in His light the sine that lingers within me as a stain resists the cleanser. How can we measure His relentless enthusiasm and His present concern for our pursuit holiness in Christ?

It is a wise decision on your part not to languish over what you don’t understand. You need to act on what you do know because it is a matter of life or death. The Holy Spirit enlightens what you need to know and act on exactly as you need to. This is different for each soul as we differ from each other so don’t measure yourself by someone else’s progress or failure. Look up not out.

Believe me it is safe to be in active pursuit of the Holy Ghost’s blessing and proper to pray accordingly. He is ever present and always successful in all He attempts to do on your behalf. All you need to do is crave and desire Him more than the sin you are plagued with. It’s a blessing to be in bondage to the Holy Spirit and a slave of Christ’s. Give it all up for Him. He did for you!

COMFORTER II

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

COMFORTER 2

By Rick Mathes

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to walk in His shoes until He returns in glory. That is quite a responsibility to be our instructor, helper. In fact that’s a major issue for us Protestants. We don’t agree that just the Pope has the only correct interpretation of God’s Word not to mention the Pope’s new revelation that Paul condemns. We are to be instructed by God the Holy Spirit in all truth, the full Gospel without exemption. The Bible is the total and exclusive words from the very mouth of God, the Logos. The Rhema is the Holy Spirit teaching the essence of the Word to only believers. It is virtually impossible for an unbeliever to understand the God’s Word apart from the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

He is also the Advocate. I’ve studied two years of law and have founded a prison ministry so I have a good understanding of the criminal justice system and the department of corrections. I know the lawyer; advocate can be the key player in the judgment of your guilt or innocence.

Our Intercessor knows our case very well. Every word, action and even every thought we have ever had in our entire lifetime has been recorded, videotaped in surround sound for all to see, hear and witness in real time! No escaping the total reality of our relationship or lack of it with the King. Now we can stand before a Holy God without even a speck of sin to His knowledge.

In real life the Comforter is very busy communicating our repentance, submission and obedience to the Father much to the joy of the Son. When we become born-again, the Holy Spirit erases every sin we have ever committed from the backboard. And then every time we sin the devil writes our sin back on the blackboard and when we repent, the Holy Spirit erases it, back and forth. So the battle for our freedom in Christ goes on and on. Having an active compelling Comforter, Instructor, and Advocate in my life is a solid evidence to me of my salvation.

How much would you pay for contentment? Then why don’t you release the Holy Spirit within your heart and experience it? Satan has a litany of reasons why you shouldn’t do it right now and you are buying into them. Am I wrong? Then get on your knees right now and pray, “Father God, by your grace I have been saved, Brother Jesus, by your stripes I have been healed, Holy Spirit, you know the mind of the Father and the heart of the Son; What would God have me do?”

I guarantee He will answer you.

HE IS GOD

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

HE IS GOD

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Jesus is God and we will soon seen Him return in glory and power to rule our earth as a loving shepherd would his precious sheep. He rose bodily into glory and whether he’s in the third heaven or not, when He returns we will see Him as He really is and we will be transformed into new beings. Now is the time to prepare for this spectacular event of His return. So what can we do to be more pleasing to Him?

Is there an example to follow? There isn’t any human example to follow because we all fall short because we are totally depraved. Being Christian is Christ-like only. All of hell has it’s weight on our eyes to look outward instead of upward. When we strive to have our God in the image and likeness of man, we fall way short of how he fashioned us to be like Him.

Is there any command to obey? God so loved the world that He didn’t send a committee. He sent His only Son Jesus. When our Lord commands, all He wants to hear from us is, “Yes Sir!” There’s no arm-wrestling over issues. He is the only Commander in Chief of this world.

Is there any error to avoid? I challenge you to pray as follows: Father God, by your grace I have been saved. Brother Jesus, by your stripes I have been saved. Holy Spirit, you know the mind of the Father and the heart of the Son, ‘What would you have me do?’ I guarantee you, He will answer you and you probably won’t like the answer you hear from Him.

Is there any sin I should repent of? Everyone has one sin that rises above the rest that the Holy Spirit hs convicted you of. It’s the big one you don’t want to repent of. I call that sin, Goliath. Well, when you kill Goliath the Philistines run. The smaller sins are easier to let go of when you have been victorious over the “big one.”

Is there any of His work for me to do? You, with your won best effort will at best only rise to your level of incompetence. When you finally confess, “I can’t” He can be heard saying, “I can!” Reach beyond your grasp. That is where you end and He begins.

Who is He? I would rather ask, “Who is He to you?” God is the same today as He was when He spoke the universe into existence and when He became incarnate man. Pledge allegiance to the King and diligently prepare for His return.

I can hear the hoof-beats. The trumpet is about to sound. Are you ready to go home?

BLOODY THRONE

Tagged , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

BLOODY THRONE

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,

Sin had killed God’s Son and Pope Satan was having high mass to celebrate with all the candles, glistening gold, gowns, pomp and ritual he could invent. The fallen angels and counterfeit Christians were ecstatic that there would be no more conviction of sin and no moral authority. As it is today, we are enjoying the undying curse of anything goes, right is wrong and no one should ever be judgmental. It’s all relative.

Oh how wrong the false professors of Rome were when they declared Jesus dead. As a mother in child-birth, after the pain came the glory. His death was the gate that opened life. Does this make sense? Let me elaborate the depth of king Lucifer’s stupidity.

When Jesus said, It is finished!” my translation would have been, “Satan, you a toast!” The blood of Jesus satisfied Father God’s propitiation of sin. Man was reconciled at last with God the moment of our Lord’s last heartbeat. Our journey, as believers, tour first nature had begun. Holiness was now within reach for those who would reach beyond their grasp. It is at that point of thin air where faith begins.

His sacrifice cleanses our record of all offense. “Not guilty, your Honor.” Becomes a true statement in the courts of justice. We are justified and now are able not to sin. (Able not to sin.) We are virgins all over again. The Lord gave us another chance and I believe that our last chance is upon us. All the sin of the world is peaking in it’s intensity and the perfect storm is forming rapidly. Jesus is near and soon to return in wrath for those who reject Him.

Our redemption is upon us in the Cross of Christ. There’s nothing more He can do for our salvation, ever. We will soon hear Him say, “It is done.” And fro hat poin on the great devide will be unrepairable.

We can live as though His will be coming tonight but plan that His return is hundreds of years off. Only the Father knows that day when we will return to the New Jerusalem. I bet my life and soul on this truth and hope because of His death for my sins and resurrection as the first born for me to follow.

AND THEN

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

AND THEN

By Rick Mathes

2 Timothy 2:13 (NASB77) 13  If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself.

What does a hopeless unbeliever expect will happen the moment after their last heartbeat? It musts be scary. How about expecting to fry in the flames of Purgatory for thousands of years like the Roman Catholics believe or soul-sleep nothingness of the Jehovah’s Witnesses? At least the Mormon men believe that they will become a god on their own planet! You can’t make this up. Thank you Jesus the God-breathed words of God assure us otherwise.

The blessed hope evangelists live for is drawing near when we will step into the presence of the Kind of this universe and our personal friend Jesus the Christ. It’s a sure bet because it’s the Word of God and He keeps His word. It would be contrary the very fiber of His being to be mistaken or unknowing or eternal things.

The Word of God washes and purifies the soul. Holiness is a rush if only for a moment so you can imagine how it will e in glory when we are wholly His!

What price would you put on comfort or contentment? I had the wife of a famous millionaire call me and ask what I need and she would write out a check for it. It ws the first time I realized that I didn’t need anything. Imagine that! Having a clear conscience and clean record is priceless; no amount of money can buy it. Our Lord promised our needs would be met and they are.

A hope of eternal life in heaven sustains a taste of heaven here on earth. Consider tht it all was created for our pleasure and we were created for His. He’s coming back and in fact very near at this moment. We are about to embark on an adventure beyond compare so fasten your seat belt and hold on!

How satisfied can one get, to know that now and forever He will never leave us nor forsake us? We will soon see Him as He really is and receive our reward: now that’s what I call total satisfaction no matter what I had to go through to get there. We surely will be blessed: that is, we will be happy beyond words or any joy we have ever experienced. It’s all about Him and His return that anchors us in the Faith.