Tag: salvation

CRUCIFIED

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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!

YOUR CHURCH

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YOUR CHURCH 3

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.

Cool marble floors, silent statues, golden altar utensils, and stain glass windows can give you spiritual chills but have absolutely nothing to do with winning souls or reaching God. All the bells and whistles in the world can’t get someone to say, “Save me Lord!” but the Word of God quickened in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. Like metal seeking the magnet, those elect are drawn to Jesus, drop to their knees and confess Him as Lord.

Beautiful organ music, huge choirs, over-head visuals and even indoor-fireworks and earthquakes ae all pushed to the limit and new gimmicks are yet to be invented to draw the gullible into these Christ-less rip off buildings with a cross on the roof. The Lord’s Church is barely visible in the “add hot water” “you blink you miss it” instant fast food religion that has infiltrated and captured most denominations.

Plenty of theology is invented to have you thirst for more: anything but repent, submit and obey. Father Lucifer does care if you want to give you heart to Jesus, repent of your sins and become born again, just don’t do it today. Apathy and lukewarm emotion is reflected in the new generation of young adults that live in a “whatever” world. The tail is wagging the dog and the dumbing down the children has come back to haunt the elite.

So here you have a beautiful church with only one problem: it is empty of believers!

When you open your doors to unbelievers without discipline you are guilty of he sin of permission. By not rebuking and correcting the sinners, you take on that sin as your own. Can you get a full understanding of this?

As ministers of the Word, to have His Church there has to be limits of which we will not go beyond. A true Apostolic Church of His is Bible only Jesus only, Grace only, Faith only. You can tell they are true to the Word if they ascribe to predestination of the elect and teach: Total depravity, unmerited salvation, limited atonement, irresistible grace and perseverance of the saints. Step into the real church and hear the heavens echo “Welcome to the Body of Christ”, the called ones, the true Church.

CRUCIFIED

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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!

CHURCH CORRUPTIONS

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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.

COMFORTER II

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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.

BY YOUR DEEDS

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BY YOUR DEEDS

By Rick Mathes

Acts 26:20 but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.

Pray this: “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 does God want me to do?”

For openers, it is an answer to prayer when the Holy Spirit convicts you of the sin you have been hiding in that dark closet in your soul. Our deepest desire should be to be wholly holy. Any compromise is spiritual prostitution. A little lie with the truth or a little truth in the lie is deceitful beyond compare: neither integrity nor character. In either case the simple law of non-contradiction occurs: A cannot be non A. Sin is spiritual cancer and it must be removed or you will die and eternal death while still on your feet.

The Lord sees us in ways our natural eyes are unable to. If you could see my heart as the Lord sees it, you would run from me and I would be terrified to see yours. We really are sin-machines and our deeds show it. It is only in His shed blood that we receive a full pardon. When Father God looks upon us all He sees is His Son interceding for us. We truly are forgiven and our sins forgotten.

This is how it works; 1) You approach the Cross and as Jesus for forgiveness, 2) He will extend His blessing, 3) You receive the forgiveness (no guilt) and 4) You become a forgiver. The tough one is to walk away from guilt and become a virgin all over again. Flush your toilet and move on.

The vital life is exhibited by the works we produce. I know it’s by grace we are saved not by works but as James taught, if there aren’t any works there is good cause to question the health of this barren tree with no fruit. As the verse clearly teaches, we must repent, turn to God and prove that transaction by deeds. I wouldn’t trust it any other way.

God inhabits His praises like the fragrance of a rose. He also activates good works like a kaleidoscope of good deeds. I would rather see the sermon over hearing it, wouldn’t you? If you aren’t walking your talk, your talking is moot. It’s a waste of oxygen. The Comforter will bring you comfort in the highest degree.

The proof of repentance is a gift of the Holy Spirit. He is to infuse Christ and His efforts into you. You cannot do it without the Holy Spirit and it won’t get done without you. Your hands pick up the baton of continued blessing. Don’t drop it: press on!

BY GRACE ALONE

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BY GRACE?

By Rick Mathes

Ephesians 2:5 (NASB77)               5  even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved),

I went through all of grade school and high school in the Roman Catholic education system. I can remember like yesterday asking the Marist Brother, “What is grace?” many times and I couldn’t understand what he said. Also, I never understood that I deserved anything. I was on my own from age 13. My life was like endlessly swimming against the current of black ink: dark and ugly.

Then at the age of 38 a Presbyterian minister told me that it was by grace that I was saved. “What is grace?” He responded, “Unmerited favor.” All of a sudden “Tetelestai” became crystal clear, “Paid in full!” I dropped to my knees and sobbed, “Thank you Jesus” and I have never turned back since. His saving grace was all I needed and for His reasons alone He chose me to be His. Talk about a lucky draw? I had 5 aces!

I soon learned that His grace didn’t end there. Time after time temptations would have overtaken me had it not been for His sustaining grace. I can’t walk on water without His empowerment. When we surrender and step out of the boat, saving grace is the ability to stand on the surface of the deep. Sanctifying grace is walking on the water. Our need for grace continues to the grave.

We can’t walk through that dirty world without getting some dirt on us. It’s like walking through a coal mine in a white suit. It is inevitable that we will soil ourselves from time to time. That’s why “Repent” was the first sermon of John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, me and many other evangelists. We must repent, submit and obey!

“I don’t get no satisfaction” from any counterfeit the Devil may invent. My only peace and contentment is in His satisfying grace of love and eternal security in Him. It’s by grace we are saved and I thank God He chose me so that I might respond by choosing Him! But if you choose sin of the Savior, Satan doesn’t have any grace. You will drop like a rock into the eternal abyss of flames?

BY THE CROSS

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BY THE CROSS

By Rick Mathes

Colossians 1:15 (NASB77) 15  And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.

When I was a teenager run away I was always getting into fights and quite frankly losing most of them. Anyone who wanted to beat me up did. That’s why now I so thoroughly enjoy knocking Satan and/or his demons right on their butts. When I am hit with a big temptation I remember I love the Lord more than I love the sin and I whip it When I do I feel like King Kong. I put down the bottle and picked up the Bible. I put down the drugs and lifted up my cross. I threw donw my evil ways and lifted my holy hands to the King. I am redeemed!

The Cross put the fear of God into evil influences. The demons know that Jesus is Lord and they tremble and cringe in terror. The cross fends off the flaming arrows from the abyss and quenched the exploding darts that wee meant for me. Satan cannot make yuou sin and all you have to do is look to His Cross!

All the evil power of hell is nothing but an annoying itch on God’s butt. Satan is a fish-faced, thumb-sucking, bed-wetting gay punk in the Name of Jesus. I know that if you kill Goliath (your main sin) the Philistines (smaller sins) will scatter. God is still God and David’s faith can be yours because the real spirutal power belongs to God. The devil, his fallen angels and the lake of fire are all creations of Jesus and isn’t the Creator much greater than the created? Get some spirutal “T” will you?

The severest afflictions will have no power over you if you know that the Lord is testing your faith. Know that “it came to pass.” Just hold on , take the tsunami of grief and pain and the peace that follows will be worth it; like having a baby in your arms after the pain of delivery.

Lastly as you look around you can’t help but notice that worldly allurements are in sight in every direction. We are almost swallowed ina sea of sinful allurements of sex, drugs, rock-n-roll violence and every other perversion ever invented in the lowest levels of hell. All the satanic power in the world like a laser on you cannot make you sin. Think about this. Only you an walk to the Cross, give Jesus the finger and sin. Only you alone can do this or not. Make your choice.

COMFORTER

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COMFORTER

By Rick Mathes

Who or what is the Holy Spirit? If I ask 100 Christians I will get 100 answers that share a shred of similar gold: comfort. Isaiah 40:1 pleased God to comfort His people unaware that the God he was praying to was comfort personified in the third person of the Holy Trinity. He is the Comforter and the comforted.

All His attributes intersect at comfort. What are the components?

Let’s begin with the relief that comes with knowing we have the heaven’s best attorney, our Paraclete before the highest court of law. This ultimate Judge only has two sentences; eternal life or eternal death. So it is very comforting to have the Holy Spirit stand in our defense of deserving the death penalty.

Once we have been exonerated of all culpability of crimes worthy of the flames. We now have our best Friend monitor our activities, kind of like a house arrest. We are under constant surveillance and every infraction of God’s favor is dutifully brought before our attention by a genuine guilt that causes a sincere repentance before the bench of justice.

Now we are teachable and willing to hear, listen, learn, apply and then evaluate all the Holy Spirit lecture us on. We become His most apt and attentive student. Oh, what will our report card say!

This last stage is a real “follow the leader” stage. Whoever the Holy Spirit leads we must follow without question. Faith means just that. Our Lord is going to do with us what He wants to, when He wants to and if He feels like it. His Holy Spirit is our advocate for all the good we do to please Him and all the bad we do that angers Him is forgiven.

It is refreshing to know that there is a God that loves the weary and those perplexed with life’s complexities. It is so comforting to know who or where we are to turn when life seems unbearable. Jesus said he would not leave us without the Holy Spirit to walk with us as He would until His return. How comforting to know that He is with us when we need Him the most. We are never alone and always have Him to turn to when our world is upside down. He really is our Comforter and for that reason we need to thank Him!

AND THEN

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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.