Tag: Rick Mathes

IT IS FINISHED

By Rick Mathes

John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, ” It is finished!” And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit.

Tetelestai! This was the one word that dropped me to my knees. I had always prayed, “Dear Lord, bless my wife and children. I deserve the punishment for my sins so bring it on! I understand I have it coming.” I had been a token Roman Catholic and had that “balance sheet” mentality that if I do more good than bad, I’ll be ok. So the revelation that His right to punish my sins was laid on His Son, was too much for me to resist.

In that one word, Scripture was fulfilled and Satan was defeated right where he stood. The veil of the Holy of Holies was torn open from top to bottom and God’s answer to sin’s assault was open to all. Everyone with a breath that moment on had direct and immediate access to Jesus and salvation from sin and God’s judgment.

Death stung Jesus and died.

The rein of death came to an end when He stepped from that tomb three days later as He said He would. I would have loved to have seen the Satan’s face when He learned that he did not kill God’s Son. The devil is a created being. Neither he his demons nor even the angels in glory know any more that what we do in the written Word and life of Christ. We all know that the power of sin is broken and the punishment of sin will be inflicted on unbelievers only.

Our sin infested imperfect lives have been exchanged for His perfect life that certainly includes the salvation from our sins. The Dove has landed on your shoulder and peace has come to mankind. There is no price that can put on the freedom except the price God’s Son paid on that Cross: paid-in-full!

The death penalty we deserve was paid by Him and His sacrifice. The freeing of man through Christ demonstrates the incredible wisdom and justice of God the Father. Therein is the healing for every nation whose knee bows to the name of Jesus. This then releases the fullness of God the Holy Spirit as has never happened since nor will happen again. The old government is about to collapse and the new is on the horizon. I can hear the hoof-beats, the Lord is near; nearer that you think because, It is finished!

 

HE IS

By Rick Mathes

Ephesians 2:22 (NASB77) ²²  in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

The Father’s Name is Jehovah and the Son is Jesus but what is the name of the Holy Spirit? We can describe Him and how He is in fellowship with us and helps us. How humble can you get when your only job is to lift up the name of Jesus and not have one yourself. I know that God is love so it only makes sense that the Holy Spirit is loving.

We may not agree with how events in our life are going but we know that the Lord’s hand loving and is upon them. I often pray, “Lord, I am not having a good time but not my will but yours be done.” One moment in glory we will look back and be astonished at how much He loved us!

How can we not have faith when He is so faithful? The Holy Spirit will not ever let you down and you will never be alone in Him. When we are born gain we never turn back. We may stumble and fumble but we keep the faith, fight the good fight and finish the race.

His wisdom surpasses that of Solomon because it was He that guided Solomon’s pen to add His Words of wisdom to His Word from God. What writing can surpass the guidance of the Book of Proverbs? They are just a glimpse into the mind of God.

It’s a safe bet to put all of your confidence in Him because He is active is all that is good and pleasing to Jesus. There isn’t anything you do for the Lord’s pleasure ha don’t have His hand in it. He is humbly committed to lift up all that is done in the name of Jesus, and yet He is, He is, He is humble and without a name. Our nameless God, amazing!

Nothing He puts His hand to will fail. He is successful in helping you live out your life for Christ. This is His only commitment and pledge and that is to make your purpose in this life succeed. You can’t fail in Him. Everything you touch for Jesus will prosper. Boy do I know this! For over 30 years of personal experience, I know my Redeemer lives!

And lastly, once you are baptized in the fullness of the Holy Spirit you cannot escape His presence. He is fully determined to do everything you will allow Him to assure you are eventually in the open arms of our Savior Jesus Christ. So please let go and let God and know who He is.

 

HE IS WEARIED

By Rick Mathes

John 4:6 and Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

Why would Jesus do all this creating, including man, and go through all this grief? If I was God I would create everyone to just worship me and be happy on this blue pearl we call mother earth. Well, I’m not God and aren’t you glad? Seriously, much has occurred these last 6,000 years that has really wearied the Lord. Now I rarely do scriptural references in my devotions. For this one, I will and you need to check the verse and keep me honest like a good Berean.

Isaiah 43:24 “You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, Neither have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices; Rather you have burdened Me with your sins, You have wearied Me with your iniquities.

He is wearied with our sins. He said, “It is finished” from the Cross before He gave up His spirit and went to His reward. Every time you sin you are giving Him the finger and saying, “You might be finished but I’m not!” That is a very serious rejection and it is very painful for Him.

Isaiah 1:14 “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me. I am weary of bearing them.

He is wearied with our formal worship. The world and its marketing schemes have packed out mega-churches with those that are truly in need of a Savior: I will give them that much. The Logos without the Rhema has the power of a bottle of catsup! Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than parking hour horse in a garage makes it a car. Christianity is not what you do in church, it’s who you are in Him. Ritual is not the real deal.

Psalm 95:10 “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways.

He is wearied with our unbelief. If you really give the gospel the Word and His miracles the study they deserve, you need more belief it isn’t true than belief it is true. It begins with creation vs. natural selection.

Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore, He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.

He is wearied with our resistance. I’m not different than most. Every chromosome on the helix on my DNA screams out for sin. I’ve learned that all I have to do is love the Lord 51% and I will be well on my way to sanctification. In fact, with Budweiser Beer being my drug of choice, when tempted I just say, “This one’s for you, Lord!” and walk away.

The rebellion of Adam still wages its war in our gut. Believe me, if you kill the Goliath the Philistines will run. Repent of th sin that separates you from the Savior. Move the stone and the power will flow. In the near future He will be wearied no more and He will say, “It is done.” Neither Jesus nor you will be wearied ever again.

HE IS LOVE

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 13:34 All these things Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable,

Love is one of those invisible, intangible concepts that is as real as the nose on your face. How, I ask, can a person be a concept? God is love: go figure. It certainly gives strength to the Lord’s statement, ‘Blessed are those who haven’t seen and yet believe.” I haven’t seen love other that what our Lord has illuminated in my heart and that which I witness with my eyes. Love is visible and sense through the presence of His Holy Spirit only. Everything else seen, felt or imagined is a counterfeit from the flames of Hell.

True love, that which is God’s essence, the cause of all true love is unchangeable. You either have it all or not at all! Divine love is God and all He is always. There isn’t any more love to acquire but to be fully exchanged in Him: bon again. The word “self” leaves your vocabulary as the Holy Spirit pours Him into your empty repentant soul. God bless you to be filled to the brim!

This new self-sacrificing you joins Him at the heart, so to speak, and you both become inseparable. Look at it this way: you are hand-cuffed to your Lord. You unselfish submission to Him is without reservation: it is 100% integrity and godly character. You are walking and talking a lie and you are the reason the name of Christ is being dragged through the mud of time. There’s nothing compelling in a love that staggers and falls at the slightest touch of the devil.

Your commitment to His love must be sacrificial. It will cost you all that you have and all that you are or forget it! I will not lie nor string you along with ear tickling nonsense. You must turn or burn!

I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would hesitate to accept His love, surrender, repent and follow Him as Lord. What is your valid “plan B” compared to His sacrifice on the Cross, His resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven?

He loved us to death, His death so that we might live. Death stung Jesus and died!

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?

HE’S BACK!

By Rick Mathes

Luke 24:36 ³⁶ While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and *said to them, “Peace be to you.”

What a jaw-dropper that must have been when He appeared alive and well to His loved ones. I can’t blame Thomas for wanting hard evidence. It was just too hard to believe; too good to be true. His appearance banished any doubt that He returned from the dead. Now add to that a 40 day Bible seminar with God and the 500 witnesses to His ascension.

Why did He go through all of this? I think it can be summed up with His love of His creation and the fellowship of His elect. I almost think He was lonesome without us about this astounding miracle certainly revealed His love for us because it obscured our hope of eternal life in heaven.

Seeing Him refreshed their memories of those precious three and a half years of walking and living life with Him. John said the whole world wasn’t large enough to hold all the books that could be written about His short life; the Creator dwelt with His creation; off the chart.

The resurrection was the hinge that opened the door for our understanding. Apart from Him rising from the dead, He could only be a great teacher and nothing more as so many claims. This option is really not open to non-believers. He is either a liar, a lunatic or Lord. These are the only options opened to us.

When He stepped from the tomb, Lucifer knew His days were numbered. The devil and all his demons went into an insane eternity of dark evil intent only to grasp all the souls they can on their way into the flaming lake. Jesus showed heaven, earth and all below that the final Lamb of God does most certainly take away the sins of this world. We stand before a just God in the righteousness of Jesus. This fills us with an unspeakable joy. Our pilgrimage on planet earth, our duties to our Commander, and all we were created to be is rapidly coming to a close. I can hardly wait until you and I walk those streets of gold together. Won’t you join me?

HE DIDN’T DIE

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 15:12 (NASB77) ¹²  Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

The whole fabric of Christianity depends on the literal resurrection of His body to everlasting life. If He didn’t our faith is a scam of no value. Most of the world, all the non-believing world would have another answer to the question, “Where is His Body?”

One that was very prominent at that time was that He really didn’t die; He just went into a swoon. This an best be explained by Eastern mystics that can so control their bodies that their heartbeat becomes indiscernible. If He did can you even imagine that He would fool His closest friends, have the strength to move the stone and then slip by the soldiers who were outside to prevent His escape or body theft?

A fascinating theory was that someone who looked like Him emerged from the tomb and fooled everyone. I think it would be impossible to fool His closest friends especially when 500 watched His feet leave the ground after 40 days of close-up and personal Bible studies. It’s a real stretch to consider that anyone other than Jesus had all that visibility and wasn’t recognized as a fraud. Believe me, if it was, someone would have made this fraud known.

How about vision theory? I really don’t believe all these witnesses could hae had the same bogus vision. I don’t care how high quality their drugs were!

The spirit theory claims that the Holy Spirit didn’t come upon Jesus until He was baptized and the Holy Spirit left the moment before He died so that He died fully and only as a man. The problem with this is the Scriptures don’t agree. All though the whole Bible including the Old Testament, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united in the fullest as one.

And lastly was the heart theory whereby He was resuscitated and returned to life and came to America as the Mormons claim. There is absolutely no archeological or any speck of American native evidence that this occurred.

All the witnesses to His life, death and resurrection and ascension died with these truths on their lips. Men don’t die for a lie. He rose, ascended and is now in glory. The witnesses agree.

HE DID IT!

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 1:23 (NASB77) ²³ ” BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, ” GOD WITH US.”

Father God called a Board meeting with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He called the meeting to order and broke down in tears. “I created them in my image and likeness” He sobbed, “and they show their appreciation by constant pride and sin against Me.” He composed Himself and in a solemn note said, “I have no choice but to sentence them to eternal dying with Lucifer and his fallen angels” and He fell apart again. “What else can I do?”

Jesus stepped up and said, “I have a solution Daddy.” “What is it Son?” the His Father asked. “I will become a sinless man, die for their sins and be the last Lamb sacrificed.” “You would do that for Me?” Jesus responded, “I love them as dearly as you do. What do you think Holy Spirit?” “We have the power bro, let’s do it!” “It is done!” exclaimed the delighted Father God.

You know the rest of the story. He was born, lived, died, rose and ascended and is coming back again for us. Even to this moment, though, He is with us in the Holy Spirit. We are never without the lover, the loved and the love between them: Trinity.

God is with us:

• In our poverty
• In our obscurity
• In our work
• In our joys
• In our sorrows
• In our fellowship
• In our prisons
• In our loneliness
• In our weeping
• In our singing

Ins God with you in your life? If you have a doubt, He isn’t. When you receive Him as your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and all the angels in heaven are shouting, “He did it!”

 

HE CAME TO SAVE

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 1:21 “And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.”

Now who but an all powerful God can save anyone from their sins? It is still breathtaking to me after over 30 years as a minister of the Word that God was incarnate in Jesus: mind blowing!  Oh how blessed were the Apostles and disciples that walked out those three short years with Him as friends. This power was truly harnessed with a power that only God could have. Imagine, He stepped down from His throne in glory, crawled up on the cross, suffered and died just for you. What self-restraint it must have been for Michael and his army of battle-ready angels to withhold their swords and spare the lives of those who killed God’s Son. Imagine that!

If wasn’t the nails that kept Jesus fastened to the death-stake, it was His love for you, yes you alone that held Him there. And He would go through the whole torturous process again, jut for you if it was necessary. Thank God once was enough forever!

Or is it over? He willingly takes the pain again and again. Each time you sin you are lashing that whip on His bloodied back. You are grinding the crown of thorns in His hear once again and you are running that spear into His aching heart. Yes, you make Him suffer the renewed torture of His compassion. He is willing if you will draw closer to the cross and repent of your sins.

A Holy Savior is the only salvation that can ever save us from the hell our sins deserve. His holiness is laid on us when we confess Him AS our Lord. We can only stand before a Holy God in the shadow of a Holy Savior. So that when Father God looks on us, He sees the nail prints of His only Son pleading on our behalf. How can God refuse His Son?

Understand now that Jesus is not just “out there somewhere.” He lives in you. You are the temple now and His glory shines wherever your feet touch ground. You can’t get more personal than that.

His Name is Jesus and He came to save us from the punishment we deserve, the temptation we are bombarded with and the presence of sin that will be obliterated when He comes once again.

HAVE IT ALL

By Rick Mathes

James 1:4 (NASB77) and let endurance have its perfect result that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

There’s no such thing as a self-made man. Success, true success can only be achieved with God’s blessing and the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit. Any and all natural success without our Lord is steeped in unforgiveness and the wages are death as you know.

Oh, you can mask the devil’s work and your efforts in good works or charity (for the tax write-off) and participation in your church (for honor and self-esteem). Rev. Lucifer walks in signs and wonders than are counterfeits and lies from front to back. You can have it all on earth but there won’t be a U-Hall hitched to the back bumper of your hearse.

When you as a child of the King have been blessed in abundance. You lack nothing. All your needs and wants are met and you have found a blessed comfort zone reserved only for the elect. This is when you give back to Him what you don’t need. The works of the Lord need your financial support. Christian ministries stand on the shoulders of all those who support them. They cn only reach as high as your effort and generosity will lift them.

The rock of Christianity is very simple, God is Love! When I love you as I love myself, I am headed in the right direction and I have reversed the turn on this planet most everyone lives on. But this monumental feat is not enough alone to overcome the world. We must love each other as our Lord loves us or rather we must love with His love to return to the fullness of joy Adam and Eve enjoyed before the fall. When I realized and articulated I loved Jesus more than my wonderful wife, I felt I had committed a mortal sin. If I love her with my love alone, no matter how hard I try, my love is conditional and His isn’t.

Your good works that emanate from prosperity are really the consequence of your good stewardship of His assets and the meeting of His needs in others. When you believe, you believe and obey. You have it all right now!