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Showing posts from January, 2013

Unending Blessings..don't run out.

See the 10 min sermon here:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlc3uJRxiIM If the Bible says that we are already blessed with every blessing, is it wrong to ask God to bless us again...and again? Will God answer such "selfish" prayers? Join Joseph Prince in this myth-busting message as he shows you the truth that God's heart is to bless you—over and over again! See from the prayer of Jabez and the lives of other Bible characters why it is even honorable to ask God to bless you and how He is willing to keep blessing you. Dare to ask again and watch your blessings come to pass as you see your Father's big heart!

The Teacher Of All Things Is In You

John 14:26 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things… If you are asking whom or where you can go to to get the help you need, ask no more. Just turn to God who has already promised you the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom He has sent in Jesus’ name to dwell in you. The Holy Spirit will teach you all things. Yes, teach you all things! Do you really believe that? Or are you like some who believe that you seek God’s counsel only for spiritual things, but consult “professional” help for all other things in your life?  God does not want you to run to and rely on worldly wisdom. Now, there is nothing wrong with going to a doctor or engaging a financial consultant, but God wants you to come to Him first for counsel and direction. That is why He has sent the Holy Spirit, the Counselor (John 16:7, NIV), to teach you all things. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and He will guide you into all truth. (John 16:13) Th...

join the community of Faith

Acts 2:42-47 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.  On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit of God blew into the hearts and lives of common, ordinary followers of Jesus and the church was born. On that first day, Peter stood up and preached a very basic message pointing people to Jesus. He called them to repent and be baptized. On that day, about three thousand people came to faith! So what do you do with three thousand new...

God Is Pleased With Faith

HEBREWS 11:6 NKJ 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  Faith is often preached from the human perspective: believe God and get your needs met. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's a one-sided perspective. So let's also try to look at faith from God's perspective. Would you get any pleasure out of people who doubted you? Surely God gets no pleasure out of people doubting His Word, either.  Does God deserve respect? YES!!! To doubt what someone says shows disrespect. While humans can be wrong, God only speaks absolute truth. Many people only think of acting on God's Word from their perspective, without considering God's feelings. Their motivation is completely self-centered, thinking only of what it will profit them. Let's decide not to act this way! Do you desire to please God? If you don't desire to please God, you...

See The Favor Of God Multiplied In Your Life

2 Peter 1:2  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord..  If you would like to walk in a greater measure of God’s favor, 2 Peter 1:2 says that grace, which is the undeserved favor of God, and peace, can be multiplied to you. Peace is the word “shalom” in Hebrew. Its definition includes wholeness, health, safety and provision. So when you walk in divine favor and peace, you will walk in blessings in every area of your life!  But how do the undeserved favor and shalom of God increase in your life? It is not by your laboring or toiling to earn it. The Bible says that it comes as your knowledge of Jesus and His finished work increases. It comes as you learn more about and believe that through Jesus’ one sacrifice at the cross, God removed all your sins, gave you His righteousness as a gift and put you in Christ to enjoy everything Jesus has. God’s favor is multiplied in your life when you simply believe that the favor of God...

By Jesus’ Stripes You Are Healed

Isaiah 53:5 5… The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.  You know, one of the biggest outcries against Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion Of The Christ, was that it was too violent, especially the part where Jesus was scourged. Let me tell you this: It was not violent enough! The Bible says that at the cross, Jesus’ visage was marred beyond that of any man. (Isaiah 52:14) In the movie, even after all the beatings, the actor James Caviezel, who played Jesus, still looked quite handsome. But the reality is that when Jesus hung on the cross, He had “no form or comeliness… there is no beauty that we should desire Him”. (Isaiah 53:2) He was beaten to a pulp until His face looked like jelly hanging out! In the movie, when they scourged Him, only a small portion of His bones was exposed, so it was still quite tidy. But the messianic psalms say, “The plowers plowed on my back; they made their furrows long” (Psalm 129:3), and “I can count all...

God Has Already Given

Most people are asking God to give them things that God says already belong to them. Many are still hoping God will forgive them. But Scripture tells us God has already forgiven us, and He is no longer holding our sins against us.  2 CORINTHIANS 5:19 NLT 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. Instead of begging God to forgive us, we should be thanking Him for already forgiving us! And we should tell others they are also forgiven! Just as God has already forgiven us, He has also already blessed us. He has given us every blessing.  EPHESIANS 1:3 GWN 3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Through Christ, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that heaven has to offer. God HAS blessed us with everything Heaven has to offer. Spiritual blessings are the reality behind all physical blessings. They are what cause the physical ...

Let Jesus Be Boss

 ACTS 2:36 NIV 36 "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." "Boss" is a modern meaning of the word "Lord." Somebody has to be the boss. Somebody has to make the final decisions. It's not a hard thing to let Jesus be your boss -- it's a wonderful privilege.  Jesus knows more than you do. And Jesus loves you more than you love yourself. So He desires the very best for you and knows how to make it happen. Therefore letting Jesus call the shots in your life is the smartest thing you could do. Of course, if you choose, you can go your own way and do your own thing. You can try to do the best you can on your own -- and see how it works out. If you owned a large important company, who would you rather run the company for you, a brilliant executive with a perfect track record of running many other companies successfully, or someone who has never run a company before? You...

"What's in it for me?"

Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.  The gravitational pull....the tidal drift of our world is always toward self. We all have our moments where we step out and do heroic things for God and others. But make no doubt about it....if we are honest with ourselves.....the default is always toward: "What's in it for me?" In fact, it's quite embarrassing to be a Christian and admit that we are basically selfish. That's why most people think this scripture is written for someone else! Who have you heard lately just flat out admit that they think life is all about them and getting what they want?  One of the ways that we shut down selfishness in our lives and grow to become more like Christ is through focusing on the interests of others and not just ourselves. When you walk away from everyda...

Jesus Took Your Place So That You Can Take His

Matthew 27:46 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  Do you know that it was at the cross that Jesus addressed His Father as “God” for the first time? He had always addressed His Father as “Father”. But at Calvary’s tree, He addressed His Father as “God”. Jesus lost that Father-Son relationship when He was representing you and carrying your sins at the cross so that today, you can call God “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15) and have a loving father-son relationship with God forever. Jesus was forsaken by God and His world became very dark on that lonely hill so that in your darkest hour, God will always say to you, “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” (Hebrews 13:5) At the time when Jesus needed God most, God turned His back on Him. God had to turn His back on His Son because His eyes are too holy to behold all the sin that was in His Son’s body. And because ...

Obey and Rest!

MARK 6:31 KJV 31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.  One preacher paraphrased this verse by saying "come apart before you come apart." God is our Source, so resting should be a turning to God, not a turning away from Him. It would be unwise to take a "vacation" and ignore God.  Our bodies need rest, but our minds also need rest from the constant barrage of bad news and entertainment the media tries to sell us. Many fill their days with noise. The news or some other broadcast plays constantly in their background. But we need times of quietness. We need time when we allow God to guide our thinking, instead of the media. We need to make room for the thoughts God desires to share with us. We need times when we shut out all the other voices trying to speak to us and focus on God.  Everyone wants your attention. Advertisers want t...

What if I am lacking in faith?”

Don’t Look To Your Faith, Look To Jesus Hebrews 12:2 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith... If you are sick, you must know that you are already healed because of the finished work of Christ. Don’t ask, “Do I have enough faith to be healed? Do I have the right kind of faith to be healed? What if I am lacking in faith?” You are focusing on yourself and your faith, instead of Christ and His finished work.  You should be asking, “Did Jesus take away this sickness? If He did, then He must have done a perfect work.” In other words, fix your eyes on Jesus and His perfect work. AB Simpson, who lived in the 19th century, wrote an article entitled Himself. In it, he mentioned his exhausted nervous system, and broken-down heart which could have proved fatal any time. So he sought the Lord for healing. God showed him Matthew 8:17, which says that Jesus “Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses”.  AB Simpson said that though he believed th...

Jesus Will Not Forsake You

DEUTERONOMY 31:8 NASB 8 "And the LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear, or be dismayed."  Here is my favorite translation of Hebrews 13:5, done by a professor of Greek, who indicated that to understand what the verse says in the Greek, it would have to be translated like this: HEBREWS 13:5 WUEST 5 Let your manner of life be without love of money, being satisfied with your present circumstances. For He himself has said, and the statement is on record, I will not, I will not cease to sustain and uphold you. I will not, I will not, I will not let you down.  God's promise is He will never leave us or forsake us. Yet we may sometimes feel hopeless and helpless -- like we are facing life all alone. What is the truth? Regardless of the circumstances, or how you feel, remember that God cannot lie. He is there to help you -- and He always will be. Feelings are fickle. Just because you feel a certain w...

The Battle Is The Lord’s

 2 Chronicles 20:15 15… Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.  When faced with a problem or challenge, we tend to ask ourselves, “What am I going to do?” And well-meaning family members and friends will come along and ask, “What are you going to do?” Jehoshaphat faced a multitude of enemies. But instead of focusing on what he would do, he prayed, “O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” (2 Chronicles 20:12)  When we turn our eyes to God, we will hear Him say, “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s... You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord…” (2 Chronicles 20:15, 17) But standing still is the last thing we want to do when the enemy is coming ag...

Confront...Don't Gossip

Matthew 18:15 "If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.  This is probably one of the most disregarded teachings of Jesus among believers. When someone has sinned, our first inclination is to go public. We talk about them instead of to them. What good does gossiping about the sins of another person really do? As we have all experienced....talking about a person's sin instead of talking to them usually brings only hurt and alienation. We rationalize not going to the person for many reasons: we don't go and address a sin issue with the person because we say they won't listen anyway or we stop short of addressing a sin issue because we don't feel as if we have the right since we have made our own share of mistakes. Sometimes we don't go because the sin they have committed is against us and we would rather sulk about it and complain to everyone else.  Som...

What Is Your Name?

GENESIS 32:27-28 NKJ 27 So He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob." 28 And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel...."  God asked Jacob to focus on who he was, on how he saw himself. Then God told him that was going to change. What is your identity? How do you identify yourself? Who do you consider yourself to be? Do you identify yourself by your past experiences, or do you identify yourself by what God -- your Creator -- says about you?  God created you. He knows what you can do. He knows what you can be. He has a great plan for you, starting now, but extending through all eternity. God wants you to begin seeing yourself according to His plan for you, in accordance with what He made you -- regardless of how bad your past may have been. If you are in the Jones family, you see yourself as a Jones. If someone asks who you are, you will tell them your name which includes Jones. You need to begin to see yourse...

Your part...Let Your Heart Be Established By Grace

 Hebrews 13:9 9… it is good that the heart be established by grace…  God does not want your heart full of worries and fears, tossed and turned by every challenge that comes your way. He wants your heart at rest and established by His grace toward you. But when you think that the breakthroughs to your challenges depend on your ability to obey God, then your heart will not be at rest. It will be full of worries and anxieties.  Why? Because you can never obey God perfectly. But when you depend on God’s grace, that is, His undeserved, unmerited favor, the opposite happens — your heart becomes established. When you know that the only thing that qualifies you to receive God’s blessings is faith in the finished work of Christ, your heart becomes established. Then, you will walk without the fear of your troubles swallowing you up. You will walk with full assurance that His blessings will be manifested in your life.  My friend, God wants your heart established, k...

Be An Encourager

1 THESSALONIANS 5:11,14 ESV  11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. People accomplish more if someone believes in them and encourages them. All of us can grow fainthearted without encouragement.  HEBREWS 3:13 NIV 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.  HEBREWS 10:24-25 NLT 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.  PROVERBS 12:25 NLT 25 Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up. Just one encouraging word can make a big difference in someone's life. So encourage someone today!  PROVERBS 21...

Jesus' Timing... Never Fails

1 CORINTHIANS 10:13 NLT  13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.  There have been times in my life when it looked like Jesus had failed me, and I certainly felt like He failed me. But I was wrong! Jesus has never failed me. I have failed Him many times. I deeply regret that. (Yet I rejoice that He has forgiven me.) I also regret the times I doubted the Lord and thought He was failing me. Jesus does not deserve to be treated that way.  A lot of it happened when I was very immature spiritually. I guess I expected the Lord to make my life a bed of roses with never any challenges or difficulties. I thought I could do whatever I wanted and God would always bless it. Well, I had to grow up and realize that going my own way and doing my own thing was not working very well....

Jesus Understands Your Struggles

Hebrews 4:15 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Imagine meeting the new politician who is to represent your district or neighborhood only to discover that he is not familiar with your neighborhood’s needs and problems. You will wonder, “Can this guy really represent us? Does he know anything about our living conditions? Is he familiar with the various challenges that families here are facing? Can he help me get my child into one of the schools here?”  I am sure that you would prefer someone who truly understands your challenges to represent you! In the same way, I am so glad that right now at the Father’s right hand, we have someone who came as a Man to redeem us, and who fully understands what man goes through. When Jesus walked on earth, He went through every human emotion so that He could identify with us in all points. Jesus is God, but He is in the Father’s pr...

God Is Not On A Sin Hunt

1 Thessalonians 5:9  9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  When you think of Sodom and Gomorrah, what comes to your mind? God’s wrath and fiery judgment? The truth is that God was not all out to judge the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He was not on a sin hunt. He was, in fact, on a righteousness hunt! This is evident because if God was on a sin hunt, He would not have allowed anyone to stop Him. But we know that He let Abraham in on what He was about to do and even allowed Abraham to entreat Him. Abraham asked God if He would destroy Sodom if He could find 50 righteous people there. God’s reply was, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” (Genesis 18:26) Abraham then asked God if He would destroy the city if there were only 45… 40… 30… or 10 righteous. And each time, God’s reply was that He would spare the place for the sake of the righteous. Abraham ...

Be Christ-Conscious

Ephesians 1:7 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.    Have you ever woken up in the morning and said, “Today, I will not sin.” And as you leave your house, you say, “I must be careful not to fall into sin today. I don’t want to sin. I will not sin!” My friend, when you do this, you are no longer Christ-conscious but sin-conscious, even though you have not sinned yet.  Men, have you ever caught yourself thinking, “I don’t want to look at any woman in case I lust”? You are being sin-conscious when you think like that. And sooner or later, you will lust in your heart. You may not sin outwardly, but you will sin inwardly.  Have you also tried confessing every sin? I have! As a teenager, when a bad thought came, I would quickly say, “I’m sorry, Lord. Forgive me for this thought in Jesus’ name.” Then, another thought would come and I would quickly say, “Forgive me, Lord, for that thought i...

Let The Joy Flow

NEHEMIAH 8:10b GWN 10 Don't be sad because the joy you have in the LORD is your strength." As children of God we have joy in our spirit. But we must choose to let it flow out into our minds, bodies, and circumstances. Joy is part of the provision God has given us so we can walk in strength and victory. Not allowing joy to flow out of our innermost being allows a weakness that can provide an opening for the devil.  JOHN 17:13 GWN 13 "But now, Father, I'm coming back to you. I say these things while I'm still in the world so that they will have the same joy that I have. Joy is part of the "fruit" produced by the Holy Spirit through our human spirits. GALATIANS 5:22 GWN 22 But the spiritual nature produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, But we must choose to let the joy out. We must open our mouth and release words of joy, thanking and praising God. We must choose to let the joy flow! But don't expect this to...

Whatever You Allow

MATTHEW 18:18 18 I promise you that God in heaven will allow whatever you allow on earth, but he will not allow anything you don't allow.  Many think whatever happens is God's will. But the Bible reveals God's will and lets us know we have a part to play in cooperating with God to see His will come to pass in our lives. According to Jesus, God's will is that things be on earth as they are in Heaven (Matthew 6:10). God gave us a free will. We must choose God's will, for God does not force it on us. Sickness is not of God. There is no sickness in Heaven. Acts 10:38 reveals that sickness is an oppression of the devil. So we should resist sickness. Poverty is not of God. There is no lack in Heaven. Selfishness, strife, unforgiveness, and hatred are not of God. None of those are in Heaven. These are all things we should not allow in our lives.  The devil cannot do anything in your life unless you allow it. Scripture says that if you will resist the devil...

You Are Already Blessed!

Joshua 24:13 13I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’  God is more willing to bless you than you are willing to be blessed! In fact, He is so keen for you to enjoy His abundance that in His mind, giving you over and above what you need is a settled matter. God has already promised: “I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.”  He did not say, “I may give,” which means that it may or may not happen, but He said, “I have given,” which means that it has already happened. It is only a matter of time before your revelation of what you have through the work of Christ brings forth the abundance that He has already blessed you with.  A brother in the United States wrote in to share how he needed to...

Selfish Love

What many think of as love is really just a form of selfishness -- not pure love.  It can be identified by thinking like this:  I love you because of the way you make me feel.  I love you because of what you do for me.  I love you because of how you make me look.  I love you because of what I can get from you.  True love is instead marked by thinking like this: I love you because you are valuable and precious. I love you because I want the best for you. I am not saying that "selfish love" is evil, only that it is not pure love. It is not the highest form of love. It is immature, like a baby would love his mother. We are supposed to grow past this kind of love to experience true, pure love -- which is completely unselfish. It seeks the best for the other person, not because of what they can do for you, but because of what you can do for them, because they are valuable and precious to God.  JOHN 15:13 GWN 13 The greatest love you can show is ...

God Gives You Undeserved Preferential Treatment

First Class in His eyes! Romans 1:7 7… Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  When you fly first class in an airplane, the cabin crew gives you first-class treatment. They ask you, “Is everything okay with you, sir?” They ask you what magazines you want to read. They give you a blanket if you are cold. They give you the best kinds of food. They give you preferential treatment compared to those traveling in economy class. The grace of God is defined as “undeserved, unearned and unmerited favor”. And one of the definitions for favor is “preferential treatment”! Today, God wants you to know that you have His favor on you. He wants you to know that He gives you preferential treatment which you do not deserve. And He wants you to depend on and take full advantage of it in your life. God also wants you to know that His favor in your life can be increased. You can experience more of His favor from day to day. How? The Bible tells us in 2 Pet...

Despite Me...God is Good

 2 TIMOTHY 2:13 NLT 13 If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.  I have walked with God for over 40 years ...even when i denied HIM. I can tell you, from experience, that God is faithful! I have failed Him many times, but He has never failed me! God has always taken care of me. He has stuck with me through all kinds of things, always helping me. Even when I was not trying to follow Him, I can see that He was protecting me and helping me.  I have not been a perfect person. I have made many mistakes. I have wasted a lot of time and money. I have done a lot of wrong things. But God has never failed to be perfect! Even now as I write this my eyes are filled with tears, because of the astounding faithfulness of God! To think that the perfect Almighty God would love me and care for me so faithfully -- one so unworthy -- is beyond comprehension. (I must add that the precious blood of Jesus has made me -- and you -- worthy in God's sight...

Jesus Has Borne Your Diseases

Isaiah 53:4 4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…  Imagine the dreadful disease leprosy eating a man alive. The poor leper in Matthew 8:2 could stand his suffering no longer, so he came out into the open to look for Jesus. He needed to know if Jesus was willing to heal him. When he saw Jesus, he fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” (Matthew 8:2) The Son of God looked at the outcast with love in His eyes, reached out His hand, touched him and said, “I am willing; be cleansed.” (Matthew 8:3)  Perhaps you are suffering from some disease and wondering if God is willing to heal you? You are not sure if He is willing because just as you have seen people get healed, you have also seen people not get healed. My friend, don’t look to people’s experiences. Look to the cross! As surely as Jesus bore away your sins, He also bore away your diseases! I want to give you a solid foundation today for believing this truth. I...

A Cheerful Giver

2 CORINTHIANS 9:7 NLT 7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. "For God loves a person who gives cheerfully."  We all tend to like those similar to us. God is a giver, so it is only natural for Him to especially appreciate people who are givers.  JOHN 3:16 NLT 16 "For God loved the world so much that he gave . . . . 1 TIMOTHY 6:17b NLT 17 Their trust should be in God, who richly gives . . . . Cheerful givers are not the only people God loves -- God loves the whole world. So the verse probably means God loves for people to give cheerfully. Let's think about what kind of a person is a cheerful giver. It takes both faith and love to be a cheerful giver.  If you don't care for others, at best, you might occasionally give reluctantly when it benefits you in some way. So cheerful and continued giving is a sign of love and evidence you care for others. Faith is also necessary to be a ...

Sin Will Kill You...

ROMANS 6:23 NLT 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.  Sin will kill you. If you practice sin, it will pay you by destroying you.  1 TIMOTHY 1:15 NLT 15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners".... Jesus came to save, or deliver, those caught in the trap of sin. He freely offers to all -- regardless of their sins -- the gift of forgiveness and life. Not just living, or even living forever. But the life of the Eternal One, life as God has it and enjoys it. Real life. Life that changes you inwardly. Life that will last. Life as God intended it to be.  ROMANS 6:23 WEYMOUTH 23 For the wages paid by Sin are death; but God's free gift is the Life of the Ages bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is not just because God hates sin, that sinners need to be saved. It is because sin is a killer. Sin destroys. Sin hurts people. G...

You Are Not A Loser

LOSER!  1 JOHN 5:4 ETR  4 because everyone who is a child of God has the power to win against the world. If you have received Jesus Christ then you are a child of God (John 1:12).  The Bible says you are an overcomer -- a winner! A big problem is that many Christians have a mistaken identity. They don't understand who they really are because they have not been told the full truth. When you received Jesus Christ, more happened than just getting your sins forgiven. You became a new person, a child of God (1 John 3:2). And not one of God's children are losers!  2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 NLT 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! If you are a Christian, then you are what God says you are. You may not be acting like it yet, but whatever God says you are -- you are. For whatever God speaks comes to pass. If God were to say you are a monkey -- you would become a monkey. God has said many th...

When You See God’s Grace, He Sees Your Faith

Ephesians 2:8 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  Many a time, people ask me, “Pastor Prince, I know that God’s promises are true, but how can I be sure that His promises will come true in my life?” My friend, if you want God’s promises to be sure in your life, you cannot depend on yourself. If you depend on yourself — your obedience, goodness, service and even faith — you will not be able to receive God’s promises. But when you depend on God’s grace — His unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor toward you — that is when His promises become sure in your life. This was true of the woman with the issue of blood. (Matthew 9:20–22) She didn’t go around saying, “I must have faith… I hope that I have enough faith… I will have faith… I will not lose faith.” No, she was only conscious of the grace of Jesus — how He always healed the sick, how powerful He was in raising the dead and how willing He was to use that...

Believing Is Receiving

Mark 5:28–29  28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” 29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.  You have heard people of the world say, “I will believe it only when I see it.” Generally, that is the way the world thinks. But God’s ways are not like the ways of the world. The world says, “If I can’t feel it or see it, I cannot believe the miracle is here.” God says, “If you believe it before you feel it or see it, you will see your miracle.” Believing first before seeing the evidence of what we are believing for is called faith. Faith is like a spark and Jesus is the dynamite powder. In the story of the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, there were many people who touched Jesus (Mark 5:31), but nothing happened to them. They didn’t touch Him in faith. But when the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years came to Him and touched Him in faith, He fe...