These are single messages on a variety of topics that are among the most requested. We hope you are encouraged and challenged by them and will share them with your friends.
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The Trap Of Offense (Everyone should hear this message)
"If your right eye serves as a trap to ensnare you or is an occasion for you to stumble and sin, pluck it out and throw it away. It is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be cast into hell." Matt. 5:29 -AMP
The thought here is that Satan can trap you by grabbing hold of the part of you that’s reaching for the bait. If it’s an eye or hand, Jesus said cut it off before it drags you to Hell. But what if it’s an attitude or thought? In fact, the offended attitude is the most paralyzing and lethal of all traps, because it enslaves the part of us through which faith and love must flow. When it’s your attitude that becomes stuck in a trap of offense, like the eye or hand, cut it off rather than let it drag you to Hell. Hear in this message GOD's urgent plea to drop the issue of offense before it claims you.
Pathfinders & Settlers (The Appetite For Spiritual Progress)
"I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me and made me His own." —Phil. 3:12
Membership in the Body and moving with the Flock does not fulfill my call to personally follow Jesus. Relationship with church doesn’t replace relationship with GOD. I can’t use the acceptance & approval of the Church as a substitute for my individual calling & responsibility to Jesus. I have a race to run, that I can’t complete just by being active in Church.
There’s an occupational hazard to church membership that I call: Group Faith. And some have substituted their individual pursuit & obedience to Jesus for it. Many Christians are parked in church, and not moving with GOD in their personal lives. Without an individual moving vision, and measurable spiritual objectives, their personal life with GOD is stalled out. The Body of Christ is not a Religious AutoTrain hauling parked souls through life. We are called to be Pathfinders & Trailblazers, not Settlers & Occupants. We are a cooperation of GOD-connected, internally-motivated, individual Jesus-followers, moving forward in the same purpose & direction.
The Holy Spirit gave birth to an aggressive church. The armor of God (Eph 6:11) has no rear component. Everything about Christianity is designed to move forward towards victory. Hear this inspiring message about how to turn a retreat into an attack. From the example of one of America's most tough and aggressive Generals, Matthew Ridgway, who turned around the longest retreat in U.S. Military history and led a defeated and demoralized army in a 180º reversal, to drive the Chinese invaders back across the border.
It is the ability to REBOUND from stumbles & sins that is the great secret to ultimate victory, for those who are a New Creation in Christ. God has engineered the New Creation to be resilient, constantly rising through the ups and downs of life. GOD’s strategy in your life doesn’t depend on you never falling down, but on you never staying down. Ours is the grace to press victoriously though failures in life.
Proof of Jesus’ work of Redemption in you isn’t manifest in you never stumbling or failing at life’s tests. But He is glorified as Redeemer when He leads you triumphantly back to your feet. GOD is Keeping you, not so you’ll avoid trials, but so you’ll recover from them.
"O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good: for his mercy endures for ever. Let the redeemed of the LORD SAY SO, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy..." —Psa. 107:1-2
WHAT is a SAY SO? The right to say something about your situation, that will make a difference. God has given you a SAY SO and it’s what He has decreed in His Word concerning you. Therefore you must SAY what He says is SO…
"He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can boldly say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” —Heb 13.5-6
"Preach the word; be ready in season, out of season..." —2Tim. 4:2
Christians love to talk about Seasons. Seasons of Blessing, Seasons of Refreshing, Healing Seasons, Dry Seasons, etc. They become expectant during seasons of opportunity. And when the season passes, they put away their expectation, faith shuts down and goes into low-energy mode. But God says faith isn't limited to the seasons. Even if your season has passed, or it’s inconvenient. Even if opportunities are unfavorable or you’re not welcomed (no open doors). As a child of God, your right-to-believe isn’t based on the coming and going of seasons, but by the unchanging God and His Word.
Life is a puzzle box of 1000 pieces. You must find all your edge pieces and build your border before you start building the inside and seeing the Big Picture. That border is a proper definition of happiness that will define your life. So what is happiness? Researchers in Positive Psychology define Happiness as, The experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile. Their research breaks down the things that influence happiness into 3 categories:
- Genetics (50%)
- Actions & Thoughts (40%)
- External Circumstances (10%)
That's a fair definition, but it basically leaves happiness as Emotions resulting from Conditions. We there's a better definition that embodies a recipe for happiness...
“Knowing that I have the ability to control myself in every situation, and can ask the LORD for help, and He will answer.”
GOD cares about you; and your happiness is important to Him. Too important to be risked on things that will leave you open to disappointment, defeat, and despair. Learn how you can live a happy life without losing yourself in an unhappy world.
"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." —1Th. 5:16-18
Thanksgiving is the perfect spiritual practice. One thing you can never have too much of is Thanksgiving. God never says, “OK, Enough. Don’t over do it.” You can Pray wrong in your circumstances, but Thanksgiving is never wrong. No matter what is happening, GOD’s will begins with Thanking Him! Thanksgiving is how you introduce GOD’s Goodness into a bad situation…
"It is a GOOD THING to give thanks unto the LORD." —Psa. 92:1
Giving Thanks is how you introduce Good Things into bad circumstances. The Thanksgiver is a Good-doer. When circumstances depreciate show GOD appreciation
- Because the condition of the Appreciator will Appreciate...
- So when your Thanksgiving goes up to GOD you will follow...
- That’s why you never find Thanksgivers where you last saw them...
- And your life will follow your Thanksgiving!
"Jesus therefore again groaning in himself came to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, TAKE AWAY THE STONE....Did I not say to you, that, if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank You that You have heard me... And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go." —John 11:38-44
O Heavenly Father, You are GOD of Life, who in your great grace, condescended from your home in Glory, to stand as Jesus Christ, at the Gates of Hell, and call us out. Just as sure as You called Lazarus from the tomb, so You are calling us from the graves of our sin. And we who hear your voice are coming forth into Life & Freedom in Christ. And now, through the Holy Spirit, working in us, send us to stand before the tombs of lost sinners, to also call them forth unto You.
This is the Christian Calling: To Raise The Dead. There are 5 Steps Jesus took to Raise Lazarus. This message is about the 5 Steps we must take to call those who are dead in their sins, out of their tombs and into Life & Freedom in Christ.
"And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” —Rev. 22:10-13
The River of Christianity began to flow in the earth, on the Day of Pentecost, directly from the Holy Spirit, with Holy Power and Perfect Purity. As that river has moved across the world, and down through the years, impure streams have fed into it from the world. Yet the Stream of GOD’s Presence & Word also continues to feed into the River of Christianity. And one day that River will return to GOD, to become the River of Rev. 22. But before that happens GOD is going to purge out every impurity. A time of Separation is beginning. And a mass, like an island, is rising in the middle of the River of Christianity today. This emerging obstruction is made up of all the lusts, deceptions, and lies of the world that capture and divert people’s lives away from the Truth of GOD’s Word. It is arising to become the great Rock Of Division, that will split the River into 2 STREAMS (as prophesied in 2Thess 2:1-12). And today we are seeing the prophetic proclamation or Rev. 22:10-13 manifesting in the rising apostate stream of evil doers who are choosing to remain filthy, and celebrating it.
"My aim is TO KNOW HIM, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained this—that is, I have not already been perfected—but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me." —Phil. 3:10-12
The Bible leaves no doubt that Maturing in Christ should be the primary aim of every Christian. That I may KNOW… be like… Attain… Strive… These words reveal an absolute, deliberate, commitment to grow, develop, and transform into Christ-likeness. We are born-again as babes in Christ. Then as we grow in our relationship with GOD, the goal is to GROW UP, and not just Grow Older. Beyond winning people to Christ, the entire purpose of the church is maturing believers in Christ.
"...we are to GROW UP in every way into him who is the head, into Christ," —Eph. 4:11-15
The great Love Chapter of 1Co.13 is all about Growing Up. The entire energy of the chapter focuses on putting away childish behaviors in favor of maturing in GOD's Love.
"But you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous, who have been made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled Blood that speaks of Something Better than Abel’s blood does." —Heb. 12:22-24
Jesus’ Real Triumphal Entry wasn’t when He entered Jerusalem—where He was cheered by crowds who offered Him up as the Lamb of GOD just days later. But when He entered Heaven—where the Gates of Glory & and Doors of Grace lifted their heads to receive Him on your behalf!
"Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory!" —Psa. 24:9-10
Jesus' Blood Evicted the Accuser! When He brought the Blood of your Salvation through the Gates of Glory the days of tolerating the Accuser ended. Satan the Accuser is EVICTED from Heaven where Jesus now reigns as your Advocate-Intercessor. Your Salvation is on file in GOD’s office.