Uncategorized – Grace of The King

God of Calamity

Isaiah 45:7 I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.

I recently heard a sermon and in this sermon the preacher claimed this verse yet contradicted it by saying that God is not a God of calamity. I must beg to differ on this subject. So if you would amuse me because the loving merciful God that grabbed each one of us out of the pit, is also the God that cleansed the earth with flood. In that flood He killed everything except for one family. Yes, we serve a God of calamity a God that forms light and creates darkness. When you create darkness calamity is soon to follow.

We can see in our lives that very moment when God touched the deepest parts of our soul and the calamity it caused in our lives. You see when you have a true holiness that touches true wickedness and rebellion what do you think happens? The chaos in our souls that ensued as the holiness of God overtook our hearts. It was a daily fight and still is at times.

Let us look at Job and his life and we see the very thing that we are speaking of. Was God the very one to attack Job and destroy everything he had? No that was the devil but God allowed it to happen. We see this also in the prophecy of Ezekiel with the Gog and Magod war. The Father says And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords.
Ezekiel 38:4 ESV

So yes we see and know that God causes the calamity around us but why? I go back to Job to answer part if this question. One thing we must point out is that calamity deals with physical objects around us. With Job he lost all of his kids all of his wealth. God allow the devil to get to Job with the physical, but he never gave the devil permission to get into his head. Jobs friends did that for him, the devil never had to nor did he ask. 2. God restores and is the ultimate redeemer. Job got back twofold what he lost. God restored the world after the flood. God will use the Gog and Magog war to help grow Israel and fuel the country.

We see so much chaos and calamity in our world. I ask you this after something horrible happens what does the community or people around it do? Yes, there are a few bad, but people still are there to help and show the love of Christ. Through calamity the love and mercy of God is always on display. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 ESV

So let us do what we are called to do and rejoice in all moments of life. The chaotic, the cataclysmic, and the calamity. It is through those hard moments that God is training us for the hard times ahead. We cannot ask God to take us out of the fight because we don’t agree with him. We must start praying for God to give us the faith to overcome the battle He has us in. And know that no matter how chaotic things seem God has everything right where he wants it.

Blessing to you all

Grace of the King

Brokenness

Apart from brokenness, how do we know what living life truly is? I have been digging into the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts. This is what Christ said of the Apostle Paul.

Acts 9:16 “For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

To me, that is a scary scary thing. We, as Christians here in the West, live in a bubble compared to the rest of the Christian world. Pastors are arrested and tortured just for preaching the Gospel. We must get past the trails we face and realize that the brokenness we go through is to break open the pride so we can grasp the magnitude of God’s mercy and grace.

I use this analogy a lot when explaining the bad in the world. If you ate a medium rare, steak baked potato and bowl of beans every day. Now, the steak and sides are cooked perfectly and the exact same every time. How would you know that you had a bad steak? You would never know until you had a bad steak.

How do we know that God is loving and merciful? Because we see the fallen world around us. For us to truly grasp who God is, we must be broken from our pride. I say that because we want to see God from our standpoint and based on what we think our needs our. So, when my father passed away, I had every right to be mad at God for taking my father. If my father were here, I could reach out to him. I could ask him what to do and how to move forward. I could call him when I am frustrated. I could hear once again that voice that I so long to hear. That need of his presence in my life to tell me that I am screwing up. I have every right to be mad at God.

So then, if my father was still here, how would I grow into the leader of our family? How would God mold me into what He wants me to be if there is no room to grow? From pain, there is always growth. So, God breaks us to see growth. When a new limb grows from a tree, that limb must break through the bark of the tree.

True brokenness that pain that is in that moment is ugly and violent. But, the beauty that comes from it is wrapped in glory for the heavens. When we start seeing the one who created us and the one who is changing us instead of seeing our hurt and our pain, that is when we see growth.

Psalms 51 is the greatest Psalm King David wrote. He wrote Psalm 51 one year after he slepted with Bathsheba. And in verse 8 he says to God let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones you have broken rejoice. LET THE BONES YOU HAVE BROKEN GOD REJOICE. Not the bones the world broke or our family broke, but that God has broken.

The world we live in is fallen, and bad things happen. But good always comes from it. I relapsed on my wife’s birthday years ago. Because of that relapse, she is a biblical counselor and is helping men and women every day. God is using the brokenness from the hurt I caused her to help others. People have had their lives changed because of my wife. We can choose to live in the brokenness or grow from it.

No matter what, it will never be forgotten. We have scars from our past because sin scares us. Now hear me when I say this because all scars are not our own sin, but some are from others’ sins toward us. I was raped and molested for months when I was a child in 3rd grade to be truthful. That traumatic event has left scars that I am still trying to heal today. That wasn’t my sin; that was someone else’s. I was the target of that sin, not the sinner.

Our sin scars us as well. Yes, God throws are sin as far as the East is from the West. God forgets our sin through Christ Jesus only. But we don’t. When we sin, especially sexual sin, it is forever burned into our soul. We lie we repent we forget it the next day. If we forgot all our sin, how would we know where we came from? How would we know what God has brought us through? It is in the brokenness that true worship of God our creator the Most High is the purest form.

Without brokenness, we are not able to see God in His Holy Glory. We tend to be blinded by pride and selfishness before we can truly be broken. Brokenness in the potters hand is a masterpiece in the making.

https://youtu.be/M_Q6ZSzV8iQ

A flickering light

1 John 1:6,7 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:6‭-‬7 ESV

My amazing pastor spoke this scripture during our candle light service Sunday. We lit our candles, and the Holy Spirit started showing me some moments in my life. The light of the candle danced in the wind as I walked back to my seat.

Just over a year and a half ago, I relapsed after a long stint of sobriety. During that stint, I was a soldier for the Kingdom of God. I fought. I prayed I had a hunger for God’s word. Even God’s hardest most embattled soldiers flicker at times. We allow the darkness in this world to overshadow our love for God.

As our pastor lit his candle, then his wife’s and daughters, I walked over to have him light mine. This young preacher has lit my wood on fire so many times. He has kicked me in the but a few times as well. He is not only my pastor but my friend. He always has an ear for me, so the symbolism of him lighting my candle is all too accurate.

What I was not prepared for was the 4 steps back to my family. I turned and took that first step as the candle was big and bright. It was hot because I could see a hint of blue at the base. So true for all of us when we first get saved. We come out of that baptism on fire with our hearts being held by the very hand of the Holy Spirit. Nothing can quench us; nothing can knock us from the grace and will of God.

Then, I took the 2nd step, and then it began to flicker. The ac vent blew right at me like the devil himself blowing out my candle. After I relapsed, I had a friend tell me that if I was a true follower of Christ, I would never have done that. Another one told me he had a dream that I had died a spiritual death. The second one has haunted me for the past year, and a half. So, in our walk, we will fall into darkness at some point. Not everyone’s fall will be for all to see. Most will hide it. No one sees my candle about to burn out, not even my soul mate. In the brief moment in our lives, we begin to believe the lies of the devil rather than the promises of God. So, we fall out of the will of God, so our light fades. As in my case, it almost blows out.

3rd step is the hard part. In any walk of a Christian blocking the lies is the toughest battle we have. I took my had and covered the flame, blocking the wind from touching it. At that moment, I about turned around to relight the candle, but the fire grew, and the candle light was strong again. As we should protect the light inside of us. We have to place barriers and blockades in some cases to stop hearing the lies coming from the devil and his dominions. He will have people believe that what they are saying is helpful but will only drag us down. It is up to us to trust the hand of God in our lives is the one blocking the devil and removing things in our lives to help.

The final step is how often we get to see the last step play out. Being the spiritual leader of my house, have the ability to extinguish or infuse the lights burning in my house. I lit my wife’s first because she is my first responseiblity. She is the first gift from God I had received just at the time I had not realized it. Then, I lit my moms candle. Since my father passed, she is my responsibility, and I have been lacking in that realm. Then, I lit my future son-in-laws who lit my oldest daughter’s. I then lit both my my middle daughters.

The symbolism might not mean much to most. It shows everything that God has blessed me with and the future that my daughters hold. Before I relapsed, my focus was on outward ministry. Video podcast weekly that was growing rapidly. I was a coordinator to help men get back on their feet after recovery from addiction. My biggest focus was as a campus pastor for an adolescent rehab center.

Yes, those ministries I miss and would go back to them in a heartbeat. But, what God is showing me is that he wants me to focus on my family. Preparing them for the world that is coming. More importantly, though, is what is the legacy and the light that I will leave my grandkids and my great grandkids?

Our lights will flicker and seem as they will burn out. What I have realized is that no matter how dem our candles might be when we place it in complete darkness, it’s still lit. To make our lights grow brighter, we must place them next to others to light theirs. Combined, it’s a miracle flame that all can see. By ourselves, we are a flickering candle. When we surround ourselves with other candles, we are a city on a hill. That generation after generation will know and see.

Your Walk?

Foot steps

Let’s speak about our walk, what we are called for and check our egos and pride at the door. How we stay in tuned with the Holy Spirit, and how we can keep the peace and unity with the Spirit of God.

Ephesians 4: 1 thru 3

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received. With all humility, gentleness, and patience bearing in one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of Peace.

Now there is more but I want to focus on these three versus. So, let’s start with verse one. Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received. So, to start off right there if you are saying God has not given you a calling then you are wrong. God has called us all to do something, the question is did you hear it? But if you did hear it then are you walking according to what he called you to do? Now here I want to take Church out because we act righteous while we are at church and church functions. When you walk into your job are you still walking according to the calling that God has laid on your life? Look I understand it is hard to stretch ourselves in the real world. But if Christ can stretch out his arms on a Cross for you don’t you think you could ask the person next to you at work if they believe in Christ? We must stretch out of our comfort zone. When we look at Ephs. 4:11 the apostle Paul lays out some of the things that God has called us to and one that God has called everyone to do. He says “And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers, equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. Everyone is called for the work of the ministry. I mean Jesus himself said in the Great Commission Matthew 28 : 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the son, and Holy Ghost. Look we are all called to spread God’s salvation for man, but are we really doing it? Let’s remember the amazing love that Jesus poured out on that Cross at Calvary. Could be as simple as when someone asks what are you doing this weekend and your answer is going to Church. But let’s make sure that every aspect of our walk is showing who Christ is.

You see verse two says how we should be walking “With all humility, gentleness, and patience bearing in one another in love. What? Shoot I believe I could stop right, there right? Does that not convict every single one of us? Are we all truly walking in humility? I mean shoot I want this message to go viral. I want thousand upon thousand to see this blog. How truly humble is that? And gentleness… wow I am going to preach to myself here a second. Gentleness what man in today’s society is gentle? And if he is, then is he labelled a man at all? Now so that everyone knows I am one man in a house with 4 of the most beautiful women in the world. But oh my gosh the crying that goes on in the house has become nails on chalkboard to me. Now you get 4 women in one spot and the estrogen levels get extremely high. The other day literally one of them was crying because her ice cream was melting. This is an everyday event in my life. But because I have become cynical to the crying I am not showing any gentleness when there really needs to be gentleness. When one starts crying because she doesn’t get what she wants. I get onto her that instead of looking that she is heart broke because she can’t stay with Grandma. So how often have we become cynical to the world and instead of putting out a dollar to the beggar we roll up our windows because we “think” he is going to go buy drugs. Maybe he is doing it so his homeless girlfriend doesn’t have to be on the corner. Again, are we truly showing gentleness which leads to the love. John 14:15 “if you love me you will obey my commands”. Do we truly love Jesus Christ? Need I say more? Your automatic response was yes, I love Jesus. Shoot I am in church every time the door is open. I volunteer! I take blankets to the homeless! Man, what are you saying I would give the shirt off my back to someone if they needed it. But I am asking you, do you really really deeply LOVE JESUS CHRIST? But this time pause 10 seconds and then answer. And I will wait.

I know I can look at areas in my life that show where I don’t love Jesus. I was talking with a girl at work the other day when she was telling me about how she quit going to church because of all the gossip. And then proceeded to say how it was a dying church, and she hasn’t been back since she was a senior in high school but she is 30 now. I told her she needed to get back in church. Find one close to her that she likes. That was so wrong. I wanted to tell her that Christ loves her no matter but she put her faith in the people around her and not in Christ. So, I know with me when it comes to professing the gospel and the love of Christ I show areas of weakness. In my home showing gentleness is an area of weakness.

You see because all this we must do to put forth every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bonds of Peace. Wow which way do I go Lord? This verse speaks so strongly I have tears trying to write this. It is up to us to keep unity of the spirit in us. Now I am going to try not to get all theological here. But God was one and split himself into 3. God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and God the spirt the Holy Ghost. So, let’s picture that unity and immolate it in our lives. Your body works as one, one mind, one flesh, one heart right now that is true unity. All separate things working simultaneously as one unit. That is what is asked of us with the Spirit. He is in us and all we need is peace to keep that unity. But look at the verse again, because it says through the BONDS of peace. The Greek word here is syndesmo which means an immovable joint in which two bones are joined. So, we have peace in us and instead of allowing it to be, we fight against it. We don’t allow it to take over our lives. You see that bond is Jesus Christ. The day he died on the cross for our sins mine and yours he became that bond. As verse 6 later tells us that there is one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all and in all. The disobedience of the word of God is like a knife cutting at our ligaments that attach us to God. But Jesus Christ is the doctor to heal all those cuts. I know what the cuts of sin can do to us. I should be dead in a ditch. But the love of Christ showed up and saved me. Because of him I am no longer an addict but a Child of God. There is healing available for you, and His name is Jesus Christ. If you don’t know him I can help introduce you. And if you do know him then my suggestion is to get on your knees and get right with him. And start living life according to your calling.

GOD BLESS!

GRACEOFTHEKING

Get out of Hell free Card?

Get out of hell free2

Romans 10 9-10 If you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God Raised him from the dead you will be saved.” One believes with the heart resulting in righteousness, and one confess’s with the mouth resulting in Salvation.

Someone told you this verse or maybe another, then proceeded to tell you that if you accept Jesus Christ as your savior you will have internal life with him and you will not aspen eternity in hell. So you said the prayer and went on with your life. You even go to church, except when your football team plays at noon. Or if you didn’t tie one on too hard the night before.

Well I have news for you. Who ever told you that you were not going to hell lied to you. Because there is no such thing as a get out of hell free card. You said that magical prayer but turned around the next weekend and went right back to what you were doing before you got saved. If nothing has changed in your heart, mind, or life you were not saved to begin with. i am speaking this to you to plead to you to please repent. Because without repentance you have no salvation.

Isiah tells us in Isiah 55 6-7 Seek the Lord while he may be found, Call to him while he is near. Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord. So he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will freely Forgive.

We must repent which means to turn away or abandon what you are doing. I know this because i lived that for 7 years. Get out of church rush home crack open the beer, and plop down in my recliner to watch my boys play. Oh yes I thought I was a Christian, at least I claimed I was. Shoot I even read my bible while drank a beer, but hey at least I was reading my bible right?

Then one day God slapped me upside the head with a 2×4 and woke me up. I realized that I was the furthest thing from the Child of God that I claimed to be. Try saying that you are a Child of God. The word Christian is so used in today’s day and age its almost watered down. So you claim you are a Christian along with 85% of America today but do you claim to be a Child of God or do you at least act like you are a Child of God?

You see when we ask Christ to be in our lives and accept him as our LORD and SAVIOR it does come with a cost. Now you will not hear that from Joel Osteen, or Benny Hinn, or any of those prosperity preachers. But Jesus himself turned people away from him. Now picture Joel Osteen saying to his congregation what Jesus did in Luke 14 25-27. So he turned to the great crowds and said. ” If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brother and sisters, and yes even yourself and yes even himself.. He can not be my disciple. Whoever does not bare his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

So God keeps laying on my heart that this is the year for repentance. And I am asking you to truly repent and turn to Christ as your Lord and Savior. Let him be Lord and ruler over your life. But he wants all of you. He wants the good better, and the bad into greatness. But make sure you count the cost, and are willing to allow him to change you. If you are will to change, and want to change, you want the peace, the love, and the ability to spend eternity in heaven. I promise the Blood of Jesus Christ will transform you just as it did me. But are willing to give it all to him? I hope so because time is running out.

Grace of the King

Armies of a Revival

images

I read somewhere that a revival starts in the grass roots of the people. But for a revival to sustain it must reach the high up decision makers. A revival can just happen amongst “the people” but a true revival to sustain and be able to turn a nation must hit the top. You see the decision makers influence the people below. You can look at decisions like Roe Vs Wade or even how the Separation of Church and State has been twisted into what it is today.

So, is there a revival happening? Well if you are paying attention I truly believe the revival has been in motion for a while now. Let’s look at my little town for a brief moment with a nonprofit that started a year ago. Our last “blitz” we had 17 different churches involved, and no not 17 different Baptist churches. I am talking Baptist, catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, nondenominational. Yes, this is the grass roots so let’s move to the top with our Mayor giving a prayer service, to him repenting and wanting to help the movement of God in our town.

Okay okay so that is my town I know but what about our nation? Churches are having revival in small towns across this country because I hear of it daily. And when was the last time you heard of a weekly bible study in our nation’s capital. Our President is quoting scripture, yes he swears with the same mouth I know, but I am sure you have a time our two as well. Let’s not hold our President to a higher standard than we hold ourselves because we will all answer to the same God so we are all on the same playing field. Plus, didn’t Paul himself say to the church in Philippians 1:18 “What then? Not with standing every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yah, and will rejoice.”

What are we called to do? What are we that call ourselves Christians called to do? We are to put on the full armor of God and preach the Gospel. I told a group of new believers that we need not whisper, we are not to read our bibles in our closet, but that we are to go boldly into the world and boldly scream the name of JESUS CHRIST! We are in the best country in the world where we have the freedom to preach what we want. If we want a true revival then God’s Armies need to stand up. What did Isaiah say in 49:2 “and he has made MY MOUTH like a sharp sword: In the shadow of HIS hand he has hidden me, and made ME a polished shaft, in his quiver he has hidden me.” Do we believe that we will sit as arrows in his quiver the whole time? I mean what are we doing? Why do we study the word of God? So, we can speak it to the bathroom wall? Arrows are meant to be shot and used, but a dull arrow is worthless. A true revival starts in ourselves with repentance then the Gospel.

Without repentance there is no revival, and without pointing out the sin in our lives how can we have true repentance. When we accepted Christ into our lives as Lord and Savior it was not a get out of hell free card. His blood on the Cross is our protection as we pick our cross up and walk among the wolves. You see Luke 14:25 Christ says “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. There is a cost when we ask Christ to be our Savior and LORD. He wants all of us the good and the bad. We must give him everything.

A true revival starts in the grass roots of our own hearts..

Are you ready for a revival?

If you need Christ in your life, and are ready to give it all to him let me know I can help.