COMMITTED to train men and women
to have minds for the Lord Jesus,
hearts for the truth, and
hands that are skilled to the task.

"Peace" Tagged Sermons

ARE YOU COMING TO THE REUNION?

It is very clear that when a believer dies he goes immediately into the presence of God, and when an unbeliever dies, he goes immediately into the realm of conscious suffering. That is what Paul means when he speaks of THOSE WHO DIE WITHOUT HOPE. Their end is terrifying hopeless because they are in a place of suffering from which there is no escape.
Not so with those who belong to Jesus Christ. They experience the most blessed hope of all; glorious rewards and an eternity of unending joy in the presence of the Lord.

REDISCOVER OUR FOUNDATION

The Apostle Paul established this church about A.D. 50-51, when he spent 18 months there on his second missionary journey. We can find these details in Acts 18:1-17. During his 3rd missionary journey, about 5 years later, he stayed in Ephesus for about 3 years, and during this time he received disturbing reports concerning problems among believers in Corinth. He wrote a letter which we know as the lost first letter to this church at Corinth.
Shortly afterward, a delegation sent by a member of the church at Corinth (Chloe) reported to Paul that there were divisive factions in the church. Paul did not immediately respond. Then another delegation from Corinth arrived with a letter asking Paul certain questions (1 Corinthians 7:1 and 16:17). The first thing Paul did was sending Timothy to Corinth to help correct the problems there. (1 Corinthians 4:17). He then also wrote the letter that we know as 1 Corinthians, expecting it to reach Corinth before Timothy would arrive. (16:10)
If we would analyze this letter carefully, we find that Paul responds to 10 separate problems;
• A sectarian spirit
• Incest
• Lawsuits
• Fornication
• Marriage and divorce
• Eating food offered to idols
• Wearing the veil (head covering)
• The Lord’s supper
• Spiritual gifts
• The resurrection of the body
How does the Apostle Paul address all these problems at once?
He reminds the church that they have to rediscover the true foundation, which is Jesus Christ, as a counter to all human boasting.
WE learn that no matter what local church we attend, believing that there is one without problems between individual members would be at best naïve, at worst, deceptive.The question is not if a Bible preaching, Holy Spirit led church can have problems, but rather, HOW CAN SUCH PROBLEMS BE SOLVED AND THE INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE AND THE LOCAL BODY AS A WHOLE LEARN FROM IT AND BECOME BETTER, NOT BITTER.
The purpose of our church is summarized in a single sentence based upon two key Scriptures:
1. A Great Commitment to the GREAT COMMANDMENT
2. A Great Commitment to the GREAT COMMISSION
What does it mean to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind? When we deviate just 5% from this commandment and love anything more than God, we are on dangerous grounds. The temptation is always present to love and protect our ministry or people we feel God has given us. Or to love my reputation and my position more than I love God. Or I love a certain program more than I love God.
There is a fundamental flaw in such thinking. WHY?
Because no human being, no program, no ministry, no reputation, no calling, can DO WHAT ONLY GOD CAN DO.
When a program starts making disciples after themselves, it needs to shut down, period. Changing leadership is not the answer, because the culture in a certain ministry has its root in the spiritual place. People begin to think what they have heard or observed, even if it is contrary to Scripture.
This is very important to know, because when our commitment to the program is greater than the commitment to the Lord Himself and his established authority, everything breaks down. Now all we want to be involved in is our program.
The Apostle Paul had to deal with that in in Corinth, and I had to deal with that in our church. While such corrections are painful and easily can be misunderstood or misinterpreted, they are absolutely necessary.
In this church, we always want to be committed to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. As a family, some of us need to rediscover our foundation and ask the Lord to bring those Biblical truths to our remembrance daily.

God Recovers It All

Glory to God in the highest, AND ON EARTH PEACE, good will toward men! Is there peace on earth today?
Has there ever been peace on earth since that announcement was made?
Satan is stealing SPIRITUAL TREASURES – THINGS THAT HAVE VALUE WITH GOD AND ARE OF ETERNAL SIGNIFICANCE. It is these spiritual treasures GOD CAME TO RECOVER. That’s the reason why Jesus came to this earth. Because God created them to worship and enjoy Him forever.
And it is this truth that has been stolen from the people’s consciousness AND JESUS CAME TO RECOVER IT ALL.
What did Satan STEAL FROM YOU? • What about YOUR FIRST LOVE?
There is no limit and no end to the power he wants to exhibit in our lives. Listen, God can and will keep his people on fire for him. Just don’t believe the lie that we have to mellow down.
• What about YOUR FAITH?
There is a silent theft going on in our spiritual walk: Satan steals our faith.
We once totally depended on God for everything. Circumstances could not bring us down, we simply trusted God to bring us through it all. What happened to your faith? Satan knows that NOTHING IS AS IMPORTANT AS GENUINE FAITH IN A BELIEVERS LIFE. He knows that once he is able to rob us of our faith, we immediately will develop a mindset of self-effort.
God wants YOU TO RECOVER IT ALL. David learned the powerful truth that GOD RECOERS IT ALL. He has a way of getting back what has been ripped off. What the enemy steals, God alone is able to recover. That’s why Jesus came to this earth. You can recover the faith, the childlike trust in the risen, supernatural Jesus Christ – the kind of faith that changes the way you live, talk, and feel.

Satan’s Temporary Victories

We all know that God could speak the word and His victory be immediately accomplished; however mankind must be considered or else the cross of Jesus Christ would be in vain.
During this battle between Satan and his army and God and his army, Satan will experience temporary victories. This is the case because Satan as the master deceiver will succeed in his craft to deceive the whole world.
During the tribulation period, which will last according to Daniel, precisely 7 years, divided into two 3 ½ years period, Satan will also experience temporary victories because he will once again succeed in deceiving the WHOLE WORLD.
If Satan wants to counterfeit that relationship between Father and Son, he will have to live in a man, known as the antichrist, and empower this individual with his own power. So what the antichrist will do, in reality, IS SATAN’S DOING. When the world sees the antichrist, they actually see SATAN. No wonder they all worship the beast. They all worship Satan. He knows that he has just 3 ½ years on this earth, his 4th dwelling place, and then it’s over. He will experience his final victory, setting up his kingdom on this earth, delivering first PEACE, LIBERTY, AND PROSPERITY, like the people on this earth never experienced before. But it will be a false peace, a false liberty, and a false prosperity. His victory will be short lived.
Because of Satan’s confinement, man, under the ruler ship of Jesus the Messiah, finally will achieve his goal, which was to exercise authority over the earth. Finally, man will fulfill his calling given him when God created him and put him in the Garden of Eden.

Here Comes The Red Horse

It is good to read about the appearance of all 4 horses, because they will ride out in sequence and will produce the devastating result of killing ¼ of the entire world population, that about 1.7 billion people in today’s numbers.
Jesus clearly states that he never came to BRING PEACE ON EARTH. He penetrated the kingdom of darkness when he came to this earth. PEACE BELONGS ONLY TO THOSE WHO CONFESS HIM BEFORE MEN, because those are the ones where the PRINCE OF PEACE RULES.
The GREEK word translated commotion means: DISORDER, CONFUSION, TUMULT, all three of them are acts and effects of TERRORISM.
Peace cannot be found because of who man is; a rebel against His Creator, God Almighty. The age of conflict has started with Adam and Eve disobeying God and the final culmination of this age is not until Jesus Christ comes back to this Earth. Until he returns, the conflicts will become worse and worse. Men has chosen to rebel against God and as such, they experience the sword instead of peace just as Jesus predicted in Matthew 10.

Who Is Riding This White Horse?

If we want to understand what God is about to do on this earth, then we must be willing to read and study what He says, not what people say.
• There are seven seals, the 7th seal contains 7 trumpet judgments.
• There are seven trumpets, the 7th trumpet contains 7 bowl judgment.
The rider has a bow, but no arrow. In other words, his conquering will involve bloodless victories. He will not conquer by military force, but instead he will conquer the people with a peace agreement. His conquest will be a cold war victory. The key word here is through deception.
The Spirit of Antichrist is working in those who once professed to be followers of Jesus Christ, professing Christians, but they have never been saved. The antichrist, the man who will deceive the whole world, will come out of the professing Christian world. He will be a Gentile, and he will be of Roman Origin.

A Feast of Grace

Instead of presenting Benjamin to the Egyptian ruler and with that releasing Simeon from Prison and the charges of being spies being dropped, THEY RECEIVED AN INVITATION TO A BANQUET.
William Shakespeare, in King Henry VI, WROTE: “Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.” Listen, guilt will always do that to all of us. Guilt has the power to cause us to say strange things at strange times. An Egyptian explaining to God’s chosen people what their God is doing. They could not see it, because they feared the worst.

He Died In Faith

For Abraham to loose his wife was a very painful experience. Abraham was a man of faith and certainly his tears did not indicate any unbelief.
Abraham knew that Sarah was now in the Lord’s care. He had to say goodbye, but he did not loose Sarah.
“When you know where something is, you haven’t lost it.”
Too many people when they reach old age cannot experience what Abraham did. They live without faith and eventually cannot die IN FAITH.
“When they look back, it is with regret; When they look ahead, it is with fear; When they look around, it is with complaint!”
For us who trusted Christ, old age should be a time of rich experience in the Lord and a wonderful opportunity to share Jesus with the next generation.

Keep Going – Keep Growing

There can be no growth without challenge, and there can be no challenge without change. That’s the way God designed our ‘SCHOOL OF FAITH CURRICULUM’. If nothing ever changes, you don’t need to learn to LIVE BY GOD’S PROMISES. If life is predictable, there are no challenges to overcome. And if there are no challenges to overcome, you will not be able to LIVE BY FAITH. Abram lived by Faith in the promises of God and through such actions Abram glorified God. Lot became a friend of the world, and Lot conformed to the world. • God was about to discipline Lot by making him a prisoner of war. God loved Lot, but he did not like what Lot was doing. So, like a loving and caring Father, God had to bring correction into Lot’s life. “Abram lived by the blessing of the Lord, not the bribery of the world. “