A Mighty Conclusion REVDN

A Mighty Conclusion
Hitherto (thus far) hath the LORD helped us.(1 Samuel 7:12)

My what a conclusion Samuel has reached. It was not just for the present or particular time Israel was facing.
This assuring thought takes in three areas.
The Past - Our Present - the Path ahead.
One writer put it, it is like looking down a road and seeing things that you know helped you get to where you are.
How long has its been sense you took the time to think about how and why you are where you are today?
Three quick thoughts:

1. The Course: thus far or hitherto as our King James has it.
The paths, the problems, the people or anything else to add. The ups and downs, our failures and successes.
It was the Lord that helped us, (not us, but him)
David was aware of this truth, in Psalms 124:1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;
Psa 124:2 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side ...or "While on this course, if it had not been for the Lord"
Putting it in language we can understand,
IF IT HADNT BEEN FOR JESUS, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BAD!

2. The Force: help
Webster gives us some help regarding this little word here.
It means to aid, relieve, assist, to lend strength to succor, to remedy to change for the better.
Isn't that just like Jesus?
Which brings me to my third thought, and that is the,

3. The Source: The Lord
What makes him such a precious commodity is
1. He's Universal in his presence: No place that you will find yourself, in which his presence will be unavailable.
2. He's Unlimited in his power:
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Nahum 1:3 said ... He was great in power
3. He's Unfailing in his Promises:
What he says he can do and will do, and HE DOES!

God Bless as we close out this year !!

REVDN

 

Sit with Him REVDN

Matthew 26:36 Jesus instructed his disciples. Sit here while I go over there and pray.

Several things seem to stand out to me here in this sacred passage. 

1. This Place: It was a garden. Mans fall commenced in a garden and now the commencing of mans redemption it too is in a garden.

 

2. This Prayer: Christ in his heaviness cries out to the Father, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. 
This prayer is a prayer where the Son is submitting to the Father's will and plan of Redemption.
If we have walked with him, we too have prayed these prayers.
Where we have submitted to the Father, knowing the Father knows what's best.

 

3. The Placements:
Jesus and 11 of his disciples enter the garden. Judas the 12th will be there soon as he has ventured out on his own, fulfilling his own destiny.
Christ instructs the majority to tarry while he goes a little farther to pray.
James, John and Peter walk with him to watch and pray. The others seemed to be left behind. 

You ever feel like you have been left behind?

That your ministry or life is not as important as others that started out the same time you started out.
May we have this understanding.

The garden has places to Step (walk)

The garden has places to Stand

The garden has places to Sit

Neither of these are any less than the other. When Christ entered the garden he took with him his disciples. Some walked with him, others stood with Him, and then there were those that seem to be left out, who found themselves just sitting and waiting. 

An old wise preacher said to me once many years ago, "before you will ever stand with and for HIM, you will have to first sit with him.

If you are in the garden with HIM, just be grateful you are in the Garden!

REVDN

 

He is our joy and strength REVAG

He is our joy and strength

Habakkuk 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labour of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no meat; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls: 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 The LORD God is my strength, And he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, And he will make me to walk upon mine high places.

 

I challenge everyone to learn how to personalize a text, make it yours, make it apply to you. I will demonstrate how I meditate and pray in this manner using the above text. I challenge you to consider how to do this so that you take the Scripture and its actual application and apply it to your life. This would be how I would pray this prayer in my life now.

Although everything in my life falls apart, I will rejoice in the Lord. Even if what is happening causes me great embarrassment I will joy in the God of my salvation. If life turns away from all I have ever dreamed of, I will still trust our God. I will not whine about my situation. I will think of how good God has been to me. I will find great joy in Him and His salvation. I will lift His name high in my heart. He is everything to me in the good times and in the bad times.

I know that God is my strength. I know that He will still work in my.life. I know that He will give me victory. He will make me walk in the high places again. I will be strengthened by Him. I will not give up. I will not be beaten because He will give me what I need to win. In Him I have victory. I will rejoice in my God and Savior Jesus Christ.

When all is said and done, I am just in love with God. I know that all that really matters is Him. I will trust him.

 

Rev AG

 

God’s hand on me REVAG

God’s hand on me

Nehemiah 2:18 Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

Nehemiah and the people that followed him knew that the reason things were going well was God’s blessings. They knew that God had His hand on the man, Nehemiah. Both Ezra and Nehemiah continually recognize that it is God that is blessing. They know that it is not them but the hand of God. They give credit and glory to God for the good. They do not believe that it is their hard work, their planning, or even their praying that is doing the job.

There are so many indirect ways that we like to steal God’s glory. We would say that we prayed so hard that He did something. We would say that we worked so hard, or we had been to such and such a conference, but it can really only be summed up like Nehemiah summed it up. It was the hand of God on his life.

Are you serving Him? Are you seeking His power and blessing?

Does God have His hand on your life?

Rev AG

 

The Ministry of Loneliness REVDN

The Ministry of Loneliness

John 16:32 -I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

Loneliness can and will play an important part in the Child of Gods Life. The Christian must guard against treating loneliness as a curse or struck of bad luck. At times, Loneliness is as much of a divine experience as his presence.

1.Loneliness can be a Negative:
I feel it what we make out of these times can be a deciding factor. When it comes to loneliness there's nothing positive about it regarding our lives.
In fact, multitudes struggle to keep from being lonely.
Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.
(Mother Teresa )

2.Loneliness can be Noticed:
The Scriptures are filled with examples of people whose lives were marked by loneliness.
No greater example than our Lord and Savior who prayed alone, trodded the winepress alone ...
Then there is,
Moses alone in the desert
Paul alone in desert
Jacob alone. As he wrestled....
Daniel alone in den of lions ...
John alone on the Isle of Patmos

3.. Loneliness can be a Necessity:
It is in the experience of isolation, that the Lord develops an independence of life and of faith so that the soul no longer depends on the continual help, prayers, faith, and care of others.
His greatest work in the lives of many was in a place of loneliness.

Yet when all is said an done, you will find, in those lonely moments you really wasn't alone!
Jesus said, I am not alone , for my Father is with me.

 

Rev DN

 

A quote from Spurgeon

A quote from Spurgeon

just saying

He came to us REVDB

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger. Luke 2:7

John tells us Jesus was the Word of God made flesh. The creative spirit of God who spoke the universe into existence. He is eternal, holy and all powerful. How could we know such a God? How could we hope to approach Him?

There is no way we could ascend into His presence, but He willing came into ours. Not as a king, but as a baby born in a stable and wrapped in the most humble cloths and laid in a manger. 

A Savior who invites us into His presence.

Rev. DB

The ministry of Thorns REVDN

Romans 8:35 Who separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Romans 8:37 IN ALL THESE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROGH HIM THAT LOVED US.

It has been said that, The ministry of thorns has often been a greater ministry to humankind than the ministry of thrones.

Paul was give a thorn (figuratively a bodily annoyance or disability): 
While there is a lot I do not know about the processes of God and particularlay suffering and its many faces. I do believe this, it is for our good and His Glory.

I. The Things: my what all this takes in.
Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
The question is asked,who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
He list a series of catastrophic events.
Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine or nakedness, peril or sword.
If they could they would.
Thank God this brings us to this precious truth,

II. The Truth: more than conquerors.
The idea being presented here, we have not just won the battle, but have carried off the field the spoils of war.
It's the heads of the Goliath's that are in our battles. The trophies that hang in our tents pointing and proving our victories.

III. The Triumph: through HIM that loved us
Christ reminded us, without me ye can do nothing.
O how different it would be, if you should take HIM out of this equation.

 

Rev DN

 

When you are at the End REVDN

When you are at the End

Psalms 61:1 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Psalms 61 has to be one of my favorites. It being a psalm of David and it being a Psalm of David revealed three things. 

His psalms revealed:
1. His Heart - it's as if we can look into his heart as he penned these words down
2. His Horrors - Crises he finds himself in.
Some horrors are due to bad choices on his part, others are due to enemies and adversities.
3. His Hope - Of course that being none other than, the good shepherd of his soul. Psalms 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 

Psalms 61 is just one of the many that we find where he's crying out to the one that is greater than his crisis. 

Note if you will some basic truths I find here.
1. David Reaching: 1-2 Hear my cry and attend unto my prayer... From the end.... will I cry when my heart is overwhelmed
Where he's at, this is the only thing he can do. That is just cry out.
Strongs was interesting in regards to this word attend. He said - to prick up the ears, that is, hearken: - attend, (cause to) hear (-ken), give heed, incline, mark (well), regard

2. David's Reason - 3
It was simply due to the fact of what God over and over had done for David in his past. 

3. David's Resolve - 4
I will abide in thy house, and I will trust in the covert of thy wing..
Abiding and trusting.. My what a combination. 

The song Trust and Obey resonates in my heart this morning..
John H Sammis in the 1800's penned this truth down when he said,
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Rev DN

SINGING A PSALM ABOUT THE MESSIAH REVJA

SINGING A PSALM ABOUT THE MESSIAH

Ps-22-We See The Sacrifice and His Cross.
Ps-23 -We See The Shepherd and His Care.
Ps-24-We See The Sovereign and His Conquest.

Ps-22-JUSTIFIED.
Ps-23-SANCTIFIED.
Ps 24-GLORIFIED.

Rev JA

A personal testimony REVAS

I would like to share something else that is heavy on my heart this morning. I hope all of my friends will read and head the warning. It is a bit long, but oh so important!

You cannot get to Heaven without being born again. The Scriptures are very clear on this.

John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." You cannot get to Heaven through your church membership, baptism, good works, or any other way. It must and can only be through Jesus Christ.

If He is not your Savior, then you are condemned to eternity in Hell already...John 3:18, "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." Without being born again, you will die and go to Hell.

The Philippian Jailer asked Paul and Silas, (Acts 16:30) "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" and their answer was, (Acts 16:31) "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."

You may be thinking, I do believe in Jesus, but there is a vast difference in knowing ABOUT Him and KNOWING Him personally. Now you may be asking, "How can I get to know Him personally?"

1) Know that God loves you...(John 3:16) "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

2) Know that you, just like each person born into this world, are a sinner...(Romans 3:23) "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God"

3) Know that their is a price to be paid for your sin (Romans 6:23) "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

4) Know that Jesus Christ paid your sin debt by His death on the Cross of Calvary (Romans 5:8) "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

5) Know that you must repent (turn from) your sin and ask Jesus Christ to forgive you (Romans 10:9-10) "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Confess that you are a sinner and believe in YOUR HEART (not just your head, which is the difference between knowing ABOUT Him and actually KNOWING Him).

I am saved and have the assurance that when I die I will be in Heaven with Jesus Christ, not because I go to church or that I am a Pastor. I will go because of that Saturday night in 1985, at Kmart in Conyers, Ga., the Holy Spirit told me that I was lost and on my way to Hell. It was then that I confessed to Jesus Christ that I was a sinner and bound for Hell, but asked Him to come into my heart and save me which is exactly what Rom. 10:9-10 says to do. I am trusting HIM for my salvation! I am not trusting anything that I have done, but I am trusting His Word to get me through. (II Timothy 1:12) "For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

Please do not trust in your religion (church membership, baptism, etc.) to save you. Ask Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin and save you today! There is nothing like knowing Him personally as your Savior!

Jesus Christ loves you and so do I!

 

Rev, AS