"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again"(Jhn.3:2-7).

"The Acknowledging

"The Just Shall Live By Faith"

Salvation is the only thing that separates our Doctrine from the doctrine of the buddists,the muslims, and other (so called) religions. The doctrine of Christ so boldly and vividly explains the key to eternal life in the midst of Christ's absence. Paul speaking by the Spirit says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the jew first, and also the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith:as it is written, The just shall live by faith (Rom.1:16-17)." The just shall live by faith not hope and not obedience. I think many of our fellowlaborers in the doctrine of Christ have over looked the the need for adequate understanding of our place and position in Christ. What does it mean to live by faith exactly? and How can I apply that very declaration to my everyday understanding of who I am in Christ? Do I simply walk in a way that calls attention to believing everything I hear?
Walking by faith and living by faith may sound alike but they are quite different. The walk of faith is a walk where you put your faith on the line in the midst of a situation or any opposition and behave and carry yourself in a way that does not show the presence of doubt in opposition or distress. Walking by faith is simply put: The action my faith guides me to perform, ESPECIALLY in the midst of anything that opposes what I'm standing on by faith. Living by faith is a little different because it doesn't involve any action. Paul says, "The just shall live by faith," Living by faith is the revelation that God gives everyone who is made righteous. It is not a state of mind neither is it mind over matter. Living by faith is the revelation of righteousness given to every believer whether they are able to explain it or not. Paul says, "For therein;(Rom1:17)" where? in the Gospel of Christ where "the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith..." To live by faith involves having understanding of Christ's gospel. "Righteousness is revealed" from faith to faith. From faith to faith simply shows the by which righteousness transfers. In other words Righteousness moves from faith to faith not person to person. People are not righteous faith is righteous and by that faith makes you righteous. This is how the scripture shows Abraham's justification:"For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, [was] not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.(Rom.4:13)."
You see Abram's faith was righteous and God counted in to him for actual righteousness. God gives righteousness to anyone who has faith apart from the works of the law. So just an example so that you can understand what all this means: When YOU believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ a transaction took place. God took your faith in the redemptive work of Christ and said "here is your righteousness." The Holy Spirit was then sent into your heart crying "Abba Father" sealing the deal and giving new life in your human Spirit causing you to live by the faith that you started with when you first heard the Gospel. So from that faith you started with, Christ intended for you to share that same faith so that righteousness could be revealed to them that don't have life as well.So when they believe the faith that they hear come out of your mouth about the Gospel of Jesus Christ then righteousness is once again "revealed from your faith to their faith and the Holy Spirit is sent again into another believer crying "Abba Father" and causing new life for them to live by because we all have to be born twice to live a new life by the faith of the Gospel. So when you first believe that faith starts new life....and that is how you live by faith..................phew!!!!! So do you get it now????? :)

"The Print of Nails"

Evangelism is the single most important duty of every believer regardless of gender or race in the body of Christ. The revelation of God's love is seen in only one universal truth and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is what gives light and life to the world.( Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life(Jhn8:12). Peter calls Jesus "the Prince of Life whom God raised from the dead(Acts3:15)" and this Prince paid a price that none other could have paid in the flesh having remmitted every one of our sins but, those closest to Jesus had a difficult time understanding and believing His ressurrection from the dead. When told the good news of His ressurrection the scriptures say, "And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.(Matt.28:17)." I call your attention to one Thomas called Didymus one of the 11 disciples who witnessed Christ after His ressurrection and is marked by many of us as "doubting Thomas."
Thomas had this to say after first hearing that Christ had risen:".....Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.(Jhn.20:25)." The print of nails would be Thomas' only connection to the reality that Christ had surely ressurrected and that what the law and prophets had uttered concerning Him was true. Thomas' complete redemption and salvation through faith rested in his ability to put his finger in the print of nails and his hand into Jesus' side. John declared, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen [it], and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;(1Jhn1:1-2)." John understood that Thomas was handling life with his finger. What a privilege it must have been for Thomas to have handled "the Word of Life." but there is something that Jesus said in response to Thomas' obstinate and doubtful request: "Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust [it] into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed [are] they that have not seen, and [yet] have believed." Jesus says that those who have not seen and believe are blessed; understand that the test for the world in the days of Jesus in His flesh was to see God in Jesus Christ. In our generation the test is that the world would see Christ through His Gospel. The struggle then was recieving the visible Son of David the struggle in our day is recieving the invisible God in the face of Jesus Christ through the Gospel. Thomas needed nail prints to believe and the world needs you to preach the gospel just like Thomas needed the print of nails. Evangelism is the world only hope and how can they hear without your preaching?

"The Son of Man is Lord Even of the Sabbath Day"(Part 2)

Hebrews 4:9-10 says, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his." Rest is the greek word "sabbatismos" which means a cessation from all labour and work. It is a topic that God has given me to elaborate on. In part one we addressed the Sabbath Day and how it relates to the Son of Man, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. In this blog we're going to breakdown God's rest in it's two basic existences in scripture.
There are two basic rests that are identified in scripture:The first is the rest that the children of Israel were to enter into after departing Egypt. This is the rest that God had promised Israel when He made His covenant with Abraham saying, "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee(Gen.12:1)." It was this Land of Canaan that God had called His people to rest but Heb.3:19 says, "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." They fell dead in the wilderness of Egypt after wandering 40 years("But with whom was he grieved forty years? [was it] not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?"Heb.3:17 ). This is the first rest in which that generation of Israel died because they did not believe God and did not enter into His rest because of unbelief and the following generation under Joshua's administration were lead over the Jordan river into the land of God's rest, Canaan(Josh.3:1-4:18).
BUT God hinted to us in Joshua 22:4 that there was another day of rest that was not yet revealed. Hebrews 4:6-8 says, "Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. " So the rest of Joshua 22:4 was only to serve as a figure for the rest that God has called every believer to. Now many who think they already know what this rest is will say this rest is the Kingdom of Heaven or this rest is the rest that we find when we are born again but the scripture speaks very clearly about the nature of the kingdom; The Kingdom comes and finds you: (note:And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.Lk.10:9), and if the rest is the new birth then why does Heb.4:11 say, "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief?"The new birth does not involve man's works or his labor. This "rest that remaineth to the people of God" involves labor. So what is this rest? Does it have anything to do with the yoke of Christ? What didn't you read what He said? He said His "yoke was easy and His burden was light." Yokes and burdens?!! What does He mean I thought we were resting????? stay tuned for part 3.

"To Lay Hold Upon the Hope Set Before Us"

( "For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;"Heb.6:16-19) I can't help but notice the death our loved ones and their response to death. Forgive me if I seem a bit insensitive but, Whats going on with the permission of Satan being allowed to take away our hope from before us? People die and will continue to die until Jesus "subdues all things unto Himself"(Phil.3:21). The Holy Spirit said this concerning this enemy, Death: "For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool"(Acts2:34-35). The Last enemy to be defeated is Death so until that time we've been instructed to "sorrow not as those who have no hope"(1Thess.4:13). We have a hope laid up for us, holy and undefiled in the heavens where moth and dust cannot corrupt it. So brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus what's with all the sorrow and lost hope? What's with these feelings of hoplessness? I only desire to know one thing of you friends; Did you tell your deceased loved ones about Christ? Do you know if they were saved? This hope that we have set before us is only valid and effective when you are born again through faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.Were your loved ones born again?If your not sure than sorrow for them for their lot maybe with dead indeed but, understand we who are born of God do not die.We are passed from death unto life.We are translated from this world of darkness into the bosom of Jesus Christ; sleep until the time of reformation. Lay hold on the hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus which was freely given to us by our High Priest,Christ Jesus. Let it be your anchor."But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."(1THESS.4:13-18) Remember these words and save yourselves from this bitter mourning. Your born again loved ones that are asleep shall return but what of your living unsaved loved ones? Weep for them and preach to them the gospel of Christ for they are even dead as I speak.

"The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath Day"(Part 1)

Now today I have an interesting topic the Lord gave me weeks ago on "REST" but lets go deeper than rest & look at the Sabbath day. The word "sabbath" is actually the hebrew word "shabbath" that means "rest or cessation from labor."Matt.12:8 says, "For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day." Jesus is not more revealed in scripture anywhere else as He is signified out of His own mouth as "Lord even of the sabbath day." The sabbath day is not mentioned until Ex.16:23(And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. ) and no mention of it exists from the time Eden is planted on the earth until God gives the law to Moses on Mt.Sinai. The sabbath day is made a part of the law in Ex.20:8-11(Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates: But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates:) and in Ex.31:17( It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. ) it is recorded as a "sign." The sabbath day was observed by complete rest from work and toil. The sabbath which was commanded to be observed in the law came with the penalty of death shown by the man of Num.15:32-36 who who was put to death under the law for gathering sticks. Now Jesus talks with more authority when teaching on the sabbath days than the doctors of the law of His time, if you notice:"Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yolk upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light(Matt.11:28-30)." He speaks as though He is that very rest that the law commanded but, without the penalty of death. The Scribes and the pharisees taught the Law of Moses but also they taught and lived by what is known as "The Oral Law," the oral law is the pharisees' interpretation of the Law of Moses, in other words its what is to be read in between the lines. This "oral law" was meant by them to entangle the other jews and even Jesus as shown in many instances through Jesus' defiance on the sabbath day to refrain from healing the sick. The oral law was taught in this manner when they asked the paralytic man whom Jesus had healed who was it that healed him, "it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed(Jhn.5:10)." No where in Moses' law was it unlawful to show mercy or heal the sick. Jesus reaffirmed this fact by asking those old pharisees "And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? (Lk.14:5)" He said again "And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.(Mark3:4.)" The sabbath day was revealed as God's ordained rest for man. It typifies this "dispensation of the Grace of God(Eph.3:2)" which began around 30A.D following the ressurrection of Christ and stretches even until the rapture of the church. During this "rest" God is calling all both jew and gentile unto Him by His Holy Spirit who is described in Hebrews 10:29(see also.Zech.12:10), as the "Spirit of Grace." What is this Sabbath Day really about? The dispensation of Grace? You must wonder does this mystery mean? Well stay tuned for part 2 of this particular series as we examine the bookof Hebrews to open the "Day of the Lord's rest," His "Day of Grace," His Sabbath Day. Stay tuned........

"Are there many that be saved?"

It's hard to come across anyone these days who doesn't have a negative opinion about Jesus Christ as a matter of fact you have 6.7 billion people on the planet; of those people 2.1 billion are professed christians, 1.5 are muslims, and there are 14 million religious jews. Which leaves 3.7 believers in either the God of the bible or the false god of the Quran. The other 3.1 billion people in the the world are atheists who don't believe in any god. The occultist, satanists and all unders that fall under "dark practices" fall under the 3.1 apparently...So let me raise a question to my brothers and that comes from Luke 13:23:"are there many that be saved"?? This world only contains about 2.1 billion christians which leaves the other 4.5 billion without everlasting life which we have. Are you telling anyone about Jesus? Do you see the dead walking amonst us? They are on our jobs, at our schools, some in our houses, others pass by us while we are pumping gas or at Tinsel town, they work on our cars, they put perms in our hair, they cut our hair, they serve us food at restaraunts, we laugh with them at family reunions, they wait in line with us at the grocery stores, they stop at red lights with us , they even sit with us at our lunch breaks, they come to meetings with us, we car pool with them, we gossip with them, they visit our houses during holidays, we date them, we marry them, our children play with them on weekends, they ask us for rides, they wait at the bus stops, they sale newspapers, they even sit next to us at church......

The gospel is the single most power ENTITY that this world has ever come in contact with. Have you been telling anyone about this life everlasting? Oh of course! I forgot.."thats not your calling" right? Isn't that what we say because we are either to unknowledgeable in God's word or to afraid to approach people with the gospel? but didn't you hear it about this Jesus who forgives sin and rose from the dead in some of those places that I mentioned? Some of you have been saved at gas stations or at school and yes even at church but who told you about the gospel? Here's what the Apostle John had to say after his experience with walking with Jesus; "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; For the life was manifested, and we have seen [it], and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship [is] with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.(1Jn.1:1-4)." Is that too deep for you? well how about Luke?Have you read what drove his purpose for writing an entire gospel? Here is what he writes, "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed. (Luke1:1-4)" So Luke just really wanted his brother Theophilus to "know the certainty" of what he believed and it was all on what basis? did he get some vision from God or an Angel dressed in light like Jacob? No.....It just "seemed good to him." So why is it so difficult for us to tell others the gospel? Are we too busy? Do we think that we are too young or too old?
Why is our ministry limited to the four walls of our churches? Is it that we don't regularly study God's word to be able to relay to others with understanding what we are taught at our churches out of the gospel, is that why your ministry is walled in? Haven't you read what Paul told Timothy? "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.(1Tim.5:17)" One statistic says 50,000 teens die everyday that doesn't account for adults and children, of that 50,000 about 45,000 of them die without Christ. Lets see thats 45,000 teens a day thats 24 hours multiplied by 365 thats 16,425,000 teens that die every year without knowing Jesus. We are all called to the gospel whether we are prepared, regardless if you are in the dance ministry, choir, usher, finance, whether you are a deacon, or even if you still drink and smoke. We are all called to the mission. When Jesus went into these countries preaching and teaching and healing everywhere his entire body was involved with His outreach to the world and in His absence we are His body. So its our job to be His light in this world of darkness. Lets not forget no one ever followed Christ that didn't give up something and no one followed Him that didn't lay hands on the sick and preach His doctrine everywhere they went. Lets study Gods word(2Tim2:15) people of God and go out 2 by 2 and preach this gospel to my generation and yours ...afterall He sent someone to you didn't He?

"The Believer's Hope(Part 2)."

Last time I posted we discussed hope and its VITAL role when getting an understanding on faith and how it works with hope. Now we will go into more detail in this second part of
"The Believer's Hope."
Now faith is only the substance or tangibility of what we hope for and what we cannot see. Rom. 8:24-25 reads, "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Now let's look closely at this verse of scripture and you will see that there is no such thing as "visible hope" because "hope that is seen is not hope." Now as you see, faith and hope virtually share the same attributes:(they are both invisible, take action to bring into reality, and must come by hearing so they can be present.) It is important that another aspect hope and faith be explored.
Matthew 17:19-20 gives a very subtle truth and if your not careful you will miss it. It reads, "Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. " Now this is Jesus after He came down off the mount of transfiguration and found His (70) disciples unable to cast out a demon from a boy and later they ask Jesus why and He tells them "because of your unbelief." He then says to them "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, YE SHALL SAY..." most people get caught up thinking that Jesus is making reference here to the size of the seed and miss the fact that faith was not compared to the size of the mustard seed but rather it was identified with the nature of the mustard seed. I will explain.....
(Now don't forget our topic "The Believer's Hope.") Romans 12:3 reads, "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." God has "dealt to every man the measure of faith" not "A" measure of faith. So faith is not in degrees, levels, or of a particular amount. There is one measure and its already been "dealt to every man." So many have taken Matt.17:20 and said that Jesus was saying that it only takes a little faith to do big things, on the contrary people. Jesus is saying that faith must be treated like a seed. Look at what He says, "If ye have faith AS a grain of mustard seed ye shall say unto this mountain.." Faith is as a grain of mustard seed not "the size" of a grain of mustard seed. Now when you plant a seed into soil it produces after its own kind, Gen.1:11 reads, "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so." Seed brings forth more of its own kind this is why faith is to be treated the same way and if you have a mustard seed you will water it, right? Well "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed ye shall say..and nothing shall be impossible unto you."
The mystery of the parable of the seed and sower gives more light to "faith as a grain of mustard seed." The word is seed and faith cometh by the hearing of the Word of God. "The sower soweth the word(Mk.4:14.). So have faith and hope to the end.