Standing Firm

August 12, 2019

“Be Strong and Immovable”

58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. — 1 Cor. 15:58 NLT

1 Cor 15:54-58 NLT

In today’s society, we are confronted almost daily with alternate belief systems. There are religions with all kinds of tenets and creeds. But none of them claim to serve a risen Savior. Christianity is the only one that makes that claim. Our God is a living, loving God. He sent Jesus to overcome death, hell, and the grave. For that reason, we must stand strong and immovable. For us, there can be no alternative to Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. His death and resurrection guarantees us eternal life. So, our work that we must do enthusiastically for Him is to “win” others to Christ. “Win” is the correct word because we are in a spiritual war every day and we must be over–comers. We overcome satan by the blood of Jesus, our testimony and because we love Jesus more than life itself. Religious work is useless, but the work that we do for Christ is eternal.

Rev. 12:10-11 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 08-12-2019

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July 1, 2018

Raised To A New Life by a Mighty Power!

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12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. – Col. 2:12 NLT
Col. 2:11-14 NLT
The life, death and resurrection of Jesus fulfilled the law given in the Old Testament. God is no longer concerned with whether or not, we are circumcised physically, His concern is with what is going on in our hearts. Our water baptism is an outward symbol of us going through the death and resurrection with Jesus, therefore our flesh is buried with Jesus and we are symbolically raised from the dead with Jesus. We are raised as new creations in Christ Jesus. All of our sin debt has been paid in full. There are no outstanding charges against us now. We need to hang onto that promise because satan is going to come around trying to convince us that we are not set free.   Don’t listen to him, he is a murderer, a thief and a liar. If he can convince us that we are still guilty, he will destroy our testimony and make us useless in the kingdom here on earth. We must ask Jesus to be Lord over our lives and submit totally to His will. If we do this, when satan comes around. he will flee from us. So, when we have done everything God has asked us to do in a situation, then just stand firm and resist. How do we resist the devil? We do the same thing Jesus did, we use the Word to resist him. This means we must spend time in the word learning what God says about our rights and our position in Him.

 

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. — James 4:7, 8

Once we have rebuked satan with the word, we just need to stand firm.  God will do the rest, the power of His word will send satan scampering away. But we must stay on the alert, he will sneak back around and try the same and/or other tactics to try to weaken our resolve. 

 

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous
Post 07-01-2018
May 3, 2017

Hold Tightly – Stand Firmly

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23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. — Hebrews 10:23 NLT
Hebrews 10:19-23 NLT

There is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. Since Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, it is no longer necessary to offer sacrifices of blood for forgiveness of sin. Jesus fulfilled the old covenant law completely and established a new covenant for us. In the Old Testament, no one could go into the Holy of Holies except the chief priest and he could only go once a year. Now, because of the new Covenant, we can enter into God”s throne room at anytime. Our bodies have been washed and we are cleansed by His blood.

7 But if we live in the light in the same way that God is in the light, we have a relationship with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from every sin.–1 John 1:7 (GW)


​The blood of Jesus cleansed sin yesterday, it cleanses sin today, and it will cleanse sin tomorrow. We can hold on to our declaration because the One Who paid the price and established the New Covenant is faithful. Even in times of persecution, we can know that He will never let us go.


12 For this reason 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 what I have committed to Him until that Day–1 Timothy 1:1​2 (NKJV)


“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 05-03-2017

June 2, 2016

Shout and Sing!

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21 After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang:

“Give thanks to the Lord;
his faithful love endures forever!”  — 2 Chronicles 20:21 NLT

2 Chronicles :20:17-24 NLT

When we look around us and we see that we are facing troubles and trials above and beyond that which we are capable of handling because of our human weaknesses and frailties, that is the time that we must muster all of our faith and courage and trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and minds. God has a reason for every trouble that He allows satan to bring into our lives.  Sometimes it is to bring us closer to Him, to increase our faith in Him and to teach us that we can never live independently from Him.  Sometimes, it is discipline for bad decsions we have made either in our speech and/or in our actions.  Either way, our repsonse should be the same as the people of Judah here in this passage.  When the circumstances and situations say there is no hope,  we must turn to our Hope.  The times that we don’t “feel” like praying, praising and singing are the very times that we need to pray, praise and sing the loudest.   This lets us, satan and the world know that we have placed our faith in the one and only true Living God and that we know He will deliver us.  Our part in the battle is to be obedient and praise the Lord, He will win the battles for us.  Fighting with satan is a battle that we can’t win, but we serve a Lord who can’t lose.  So, when satan comes against us, we need to stand, sing, shout and watch as Jesus wins the complete victory.
Post 06-02-2016
October 13, 2015

Be Resolute in Resisting

even-smaller-bug-light111 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. — Col. 2:11-14 NIV

​The life, death and resurrection of Jesus fulfilled the law given in the Old Testament. God is no longer ​concerned with whether or not, we are circumcised physically, His concern is with what is going on in our hearts. Our water baptism is an outward symbol of us going through the death and resurrection with Jesus, therefore our flesh is buried with Jesus and we are symbolically raised from the dead with Jesus. We are raised as new creations in Christ Jesus. All of our sin debt has been paid in full. There are no outstanding charges against us now. We need to hang onto that promise because satan is going to come around trying to convince us that we are not set free.   Don’t listen to him, he is a murderer, a thief and a liar. If he can convince us that we are still guilty, he will destroy our testimony and make us useless in the kingdom here on earth. We must ask Jesus to be Lord over our lives and submit totally to His will. If we do this, when satan comes around. he will flee from us. So, when we have done everything God has asked us to do in a situation, then just stand firm and resist. How do we resist the devil? We do the same thing Jesus did, we use the Word to resist him. This mean we must spend time in the word learning what God says about our rights and our position in Him.

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. — James 4:7, 8
Once we have rebuked satan with the word, we just need to stand firm.  God will do the rest, the power of His word will send satan scampering away. But we must stay on the alert, he will sneak back around and try the same and/or other tactics to try to weaken our resolve. 

Post 10-13-2015
July 17, 2015

Mourn Together – Rejoice Together

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22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. — 1 Cor. 12:22-26 NIV

​Some of us feel​ that others are better qualified to do the work that God has gifted us to do.  There may be others who are better educated and better speakers than we are in the body and they might be able to do a “better” job from a human viewpoint. But there is no one who can be as effective as the person that God has called to do the job. Our churches, the body of Christ, are decreasing because we, the “called” are unwilling to tithe our time as well as our finances. The only way that we can show God and those around us that we truly love the Lord is to step up and do our part. Our part might be to mourn and pray because the body is suffering.  If that is your calling, then do it with fervency and passion. Be an Epaphras.

12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. — Col. 4:12 NIV

Then when victory comes, and it will. we can all rejoice together as one body!

Post 07-17-2015