 
Dedicated To

My Family & In Memory Of My Granny

Esteller Releford & My Daughter JaNay Shantel Roberts

Giving All Thanks To My Lord & Savior Jesus Chris

Thinking of You

I'm thinking of you day and night, I wish that you were

by my side. I am glad that you are safe, but I am sad you

go taken away. It hurts me that you are gone, I wish

that you were here for long. You will always be in my

heart, I will never let you go, I will always love you and

I'll always be thinking of you.

R.I.P Granny & JaNay Shantell Roberts

By Devaney Roberts

Table of Contents

About The Author.........................................................4

Introduction...................................................................5

Call on Jesus and Storms Will Calm.............................6-7

We Can Be Victorious In Spiritual Warfare................8-12

Praise God In Spite Of...................................................12-14

We Must Be Ready.........................................................15-16

Access to God..................................................................16-21

Encouraging Scriptures..................................................21-22

He'll Never Leave (Poem)................................................22

Trust God No Matter What..............................................22-25

Trials into Triumph/Defeat into Victory........................25-27

Acknowledge God as Your Power Source.......................27-30

Truly Forgive.....................................................................30-33

Forgetting What Lies Behind............................................33-43

Encouraging Scriptures......................................................43-44

Lord, You Are (Poem).........................................................44-45

Hold On Til He Bless You.....................................................45-47

The Benefits Are Great........................................................47-49

God Can Change Us.............................................................49-51

Choose Ye This Day.........................................................51-53

God's Guidance Will See You Through...........................53-54

The Father's Opened Gift................................................54-62

Strength in Weakness......................................................62-68

Encouraging Scripture.....................................................68-69

God Inside My Heart (Poem)...........................................69-70

Jesus Christ The Son Makes The Difference...................70-71

Invitation To Royalty........................................................72-74

We Must Be Patient In Affliction.....................................74-75

A Woman Named Somebody...........................................75-76

Dead to Sin........................................................................76-81

Encouraging Scriptures....................................................81-82

Dreaming of Heaven (Poem)............................................82-83

We are the Light of the World..........................................83-84

Authorized Break-In.........................................................84-85

How to Make A Fresh Start...............................................85-96

Spiritual Comfort............................................................96-100

My Everything (Poem)...................................................100-101

Encouraging Scriptures..................................................102-103

Hindrance to Salvation...................................................103-117

About The Author

Tamanika (Tammy) Roberts was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas where she lived until she moved to Springfield, Ohio in 2002. She has three daughters that she homeschool. She was ordained into the ministry April 2, 2001. She is pursuing her degree in Business Management. In her spare time she enjoys sports and spending time with family.

God is Talking to You! Yea You

Tamanika Roberts

Copyright 2014 By Tamanika Roberts

Published By Tamanika Roberts at Smashworlds

**Smashwords Edition, License Notes**

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Introduction

Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. We all have storms which we call trials and tribulations. If we have Jesus Christ in our lives He will calm our storms. In 1998 I had baby that was still born, it was the hardest thing that I have ever dealt with. I prayed and asked God for peace. He blessed me with that peace and even though I had just lost a child, I felt at ease. God wrapped His arms around me and calmed the storm. When we are at our weakest point, when we think life can't get any worse, when you believe everybody has turned against you, and when you feel lonely, call on God and He will give you peace, He will calm your storm, He will never leave you nor forsake you, and He will be your friend. So when your spouse is acting up, call on the Lord and He will give you peace, when your children is acting up, call on the Lord and He will give you peace, when your co-workers are acting up, call on the Lord and He will give you peace, when your friends stop being so friendly, call on the Lord and He will give you peace, when you are sick, call on the Lord and He will give you peace. God loves you and He has blessed me with a word for you when peace is needed.

Call On Jesus and Storms Will Calm

A lot of times we go through our days with problems (storms) and it seems as if things can't get any worse, it may seem as if we are all alone and that nobody understands or even cares, but there is a solution to this, call on Jesus and your storms will calm.

In the book of Luke 8: 24 the disciples went with Jesus on a boat, there was a storm and the disciples were afraid so they went to wake Jesus up, He rebuked the wind and the raging water and the storm was calm. We have to understand that the relationship problems, illnesses, and financial problems are the storms that we can't weather without calling on the name of Jesus.

It is always so much easier for us to tell somebody else to stand fast and that the storm doesn't last always. We tell them to have faith and to trust in God, but when the storm hits our home we seem to forget that we just told someone else to stand fast, have faith, and to trust in God.

When we look at the disciples, it is like looking in the mirror, because they walked around telling people about the goodness of the Lord, but when the storm hit they were afraid and panicked. Sometimes we feel like the storms are going to over throw us as the disciples did on the boat, but when they called on Jesus, they were in a better state of mind, they were calm, and they were at peace.

I sometimes find myself trying to hide from the madness around me, the Lord showed me that all I have to do is call His name and trust in Him and my storms would calm. See, we sometimes make our storms bigger than what they really are, because instead of calling on Jesus when we get into trouble, we try to fix it ourselves. We can't calm the storm, we can't fix our problems alone, all we do is cause ourselves a lot more worrying and stress. We make a weenie dog look like a pit bull.

Weary brothers, broken sisters, tired parents, when we allow Satan to trick us into believing we don't have the strength to carry on just remember Jesus, remember how he saved you and have kept you from harm, remember when you were broke and had trouble paying bills but nothing ever got shut off, remember when you went to the doctor and he told you the cancer, diabetes, heart or kidney disease was caught just in time, remember all the trials and tribulations you went through and came out victorious, if you remember those things and call on Jesus he will calm your storm, he will give you peace.

We have all been through the storms, we have all had a little heartache and pain, but when we go back through our remembrance, we will see that God carried us through it all.

Jesus is our mighty conqueror and all we have to do is trust and believe that He will fight our battles for us. He will rebuke the wind and the raging water.

God has the power to show us who's God. We have the victory so let us not make our weenie dogs, pit bulls. Let us call on the name of Jesus and let him fight our battles for us. Let us allow Him to calm our storm

We Can Be Victorious In Spiritual Warfare

Fear, discouragement, loneliness, anger, and temptation are struggles that are common to every human, yet not all circumstances or negative emotions originate within, they could be the results of a willful coordinated assault of Satan. Spiritual warfare is a reality of Christian life, but remember, we already know the ending, our side wins. Since the devil has already lost, he has nothing to lose in trying to take as many people with him in defeat.

Ephesians 6:12 tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. This lets us know that we should not lash out against human opponents as though they are the real enemies and that we should not assume that our battles can be fought using only human resources.

We often overlook the reality of spiritual warfare, the tactics used by Satan to taunt, confuse, delay your promise, hinder your destiny, destroy your relationships, and lead us into sin. We have to understand that as Christians we have a powerful enemy and his name is Satan, He is the supreme personification of evil. John 10:10 tells us that Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy.

We are in a spiritual battle whether we like it or not. The battle is between good and evil and we are the prize. God desires to have a relationship with you, He wants to bless you, and Satan desires to keep you from all that God wants for us. He is the enemy of all people. Followers of Jesus or not, Satan is your enemy. Satan will attempt to drag us down into bondage so that we will lose our joy for living, some may call this oppression, depression, or addition. If we allow Satan to pull us into bondage, we will have no peace and we will lose our zest for life.

Satan will do his utmost to completely destroy anything that is essential for abundant life. He works against us to keep us from being positive witnesses for Christ. He will try to destroy our reputations so that the things we say about the Lord are suspect. The obvious external assault of the enemy on our lives is that he deals us a blow in our bodies, finances, and relationships, but the ultimate assault is aimed at the soul-mind, emotions, and will.

We may ask ourselves how to deal with the devil. How can we combat our true enemy and resist his spiritual attacks? The first rule of any battle is to know your enemy. If we don't know our enemy, how can we fight him? How can we stand and be victorious against an enemy we can't or haven't identified. Satan is real and will never give up his pursuit of us. He is invisible and doesn't look like a terrible monster or dark cloud, in fact he does what he can to disguise his self to make his self invisible so he will not be fought as the enemy. He will manipulate circumstances and situations against us as well as use others against us. He is a crafty schemer.

The devil desires first and utmost our spirit, but if he cannot have our spirit, he will go after our soul, and often he will inflict pain and hardship on our physical body or on our finances, possessions and relationships in order to strike at our soul. We will never fully eliminate Satan's temptations from our lives, no matter how mature we are spiritually. He still has access to us.

Though Satan is a powerful being, he is limited. He will attack our peace and joy, he has the power to send agitation into the calm waters of our lives.

God encourages us to resist the devil. As Christians we are always in a battle, but we can't become consumed with fighting Satan, we have to allow God to fight our battles for us. He is our source, our strength, and protector.

When we trust in God, He will prepare us for the battle. In order for us to win, we have to be completely dressed for the battle.

Dressing for spiritual warfare may sound silly, but in reality it is what we have to do to survive the temptations and the bumps in the road. Satan is launching wave after wave of attacks in various forms, so every morning when we get up, we need to get spiritually dressed in this outfit:

The belt of truth-The truth that God provides will defeat Satan's lies every time. This is our foundation, everything a Christian does is to be based on truth, which is the word applied in our lives. The enemy cannot move us in any way if we walk in truth. We must have the word (bible) in us to be ready to be used in any given situation.

Breastplate of righteousness-One of Satan's favorite attacks is on our hearts, which in turn attacks everything else. When we follow Christ, He gives us righteousness. He will teach us every day if we open our eyes and ears to see and hear him.

Gospel of peace-Without God in our lives there is no true peace. As you strap on your shoes each day, give your cares and concerns to Him and ask Him to carry them. God's peace will be left in their place.

Shield of faith-Is our protection from fiery darts of the enemy. We use this piece of armor to guard against the constant assaults by the enemy. Each morning as you pick up your shield, thank God for your faith. If we have faith in God, we know he will never leave us nor forsake us.

Helmet of salvation-This is used to protect our minds with knowing we are in Him and in the faith. If we are unsure in the mind, it will affect our walk and battle. This defensive piece protects our minds from doubting God's saving grace for us.

Sword of the spirit-This is our only offensive weapon in the armor of God mentioned. Our sword is His word, the bible. With it we can slay the evil in the world as it presents itself to us.

We should pray to the Lord every day so that we do not rely on our on strength. Matthew 26:14 tells us to watch and pray that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Without prayer, God's armor is inadequate to achieve victory, prayer is indispensable.

We should dress in our full armor of God daily because it will keep us prepared to enter the world. Without it we are prey. No one learns to fight a battle in one day, so there should be consistent resistance against the enemy, otherwise we fold during the main battle.

In Christ, we can overcome spiritual warfare. He provides us divine protection and the weapons to fight with. 2 Corinthians 10: 4-5 tells us that the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world, but the weapons of God. They have divine power to demolish strongholds.

Praise God In Spite Of......

It is easy for us to be grateful when everything is going our way, but it becomes difficult to maintain that attitude when the road gets rough. When a loved one dies, when we become ill, or when financial problem occur, we need to be able to praise God. We need to have a thankful spirit in times of trial, confident that God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us.

In Acts 16:25-26 Paul and Silas were in prison singing praises to God. An earthquake suddenly came and shook the foundation of the prison, when that occurred all the doors opened and every ones chains were loosed.

Prison in bible times were miserable places, void of even the most basic comforts. Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into prison, we know they didn't want to be in that situation, but instead of them letting it get them down they praised God. They praised their way through. Acts 16:25 says that they prayed and sang praises unto God and as they were praising, things started to happen. A great earthquake came and shook the foundation of the prison and the doors opened, and chains fell from the prisoners. They praised God in spite of their circumstances.

That same thing can happen for us. If we want to shake things up, see doors open and chain break, begin to praise God in spite of your circumstances.

When the doctor gives us bad news, praise God, when all the bills are due and we don't know how we will get them paid, praise God, when our family is acting up, praise God, when it looks like everything in our life has crumbled, praise God.

Praise always brings us closer to God. If we start praising, even when we don't feel like it, something will happen.

Praise is not a matter of emotion, it is an expression of faith. Praise is not something you engage in simply when we feel like it. The psalmist said, "I bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Therefore we must understand that praise is not reserved for church. We have to make it a lifestyle. Praise Him at work, school, and home. We have to praise Him in spite of...

When things aren't going right for us, when we are down and depressed, there is no incentive for our natural minds to praise God. Our minds will actually encourage us to wallow in our misery and to feel sorry for ourselves. That is the complete opposite of what we should do, we should praise God in spite of... Whether you are in the wilderness or the promise land, when we rejoice and sing praises, things start to happen. As your praises go up, God's blessings come down. Nehemiah 8:10 says the joy of the Lord is your strength. Praise will help to heal our emotions and lift the weight of negativity we may be living under. Praise God in spite of...

When we praise God it not only helps us to think of the good, but it reminds us of all that is possible through Him. It reminds us that we're not limited by the physical realm, but we have access to the spiritual realm.

Before David was a soldier or a king, he killed Goliath with a slingshot and a stone. We don't need an army to defeat our giants, just a well-aimed scripture backed up with a shout of praise. We have to praise God in spite of...

Anybody can praise God when everything is going good, but we have to learn to praise Him when we're in the trenches and He'll defeat whatever's waging war against us. Praise God in spite of...

A praise filled environment will stops Satan dead in his tracks, because he knows God lives in that kind of atmosphere.

Look at the word magnify, it is another word for praise. If we were to look at the words in your bible through a magnifying glass, it would not change their size, shape, or meaning in any way, all that would change would be our perception, and the words would appear larger and clearer. It is the same when we praise or magnify God, He has not changed, but our perception of Him has, so praise God in spite of.

We Must Be Ready

There are so many people that just don't believe Jesus is coming. Some don't even believe He is real. These doubts and unbelief's are going to cause those people to not be ready when He comes.

Matthew 25:1-13 talks about ten virgins, five were wise and five were foolish. In this parable the ten virgins represent two different life styles, the five wise represents Christians and the five foolish are not. Scripture say all ten took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. The lamps represent lives and the oil is salvation. The foolish took their lamps, but did not take oil with them. The wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

We will be surprised how many people don't care about winter time until it comes. If we don't care about something, we won't prepare for it.

Scripture says they all slept while waiting to meet the bridegroom. At this moment, we are living our lives according to what we believe. We are preparing ourselves for eternity.

Now at midnight when the cry was made, the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. At this point they all knew it was about that time, so they all tried to get themselves together. Because the foolish was not prepared they actually wanted the wise to give them their oil, but the wise told them to get their own.

We have to make sure we are the wise and be ready. No matter how long it takes, we must let the world know we will not give up our salvation for nothing or no one.

2nd Peter 3:10 tells us He will come as A thief in the night, the virgins had no idea when the bridegroom was coming for them.

Look at it like this, If we are taking a flight somewhere, we may have all sorts of delays, but if they call for our flight and we are not ready, we will get Left Behind. Trying to wait until we have time or until we are finish satisfying our desires will get us in trouble.

Luke 13:25 tells us that once He comes, we may knock to get in but He is going to let us know that He know us not, so we have to prepare ourselves before the time comes, otherwise it is going to be too late. We may not know when our time is coming and if we haven't prepared ourselves the right way, the door is going to close on us. It will be a sad day when Jesus comes and we are not ready. It will be a sad day to hear the Lord tell us that He doesn't know us after we cry LORD LORD!

Only they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage, and the door was shut, so we have to check our lamps and ask ourselves, do we have our oil?

Access To God

"Who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart, he that back bites not with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor."

I want to talk about access; ACCESS having the ability to approach, enter or communicate with or making use of. He entered the house because he was given a key. That's access.

In this age of computers we use a browser to access a website; if I am going to pay my water bill, taxes are car insurance online I must put in my password to gain access.

If we are going to have the favor and the grace of God, we access it through Christ; it is by the Holy Spirit. It is gained through prayer, faith and is a privilege for the Christian. Paul stated in the book of Romans 5:2, "By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

Jesus went to the cross and gave His life a ransom, paying a debt He did owe, for a debt we could not pay, thus securing for us access to God. This he accomplished by his death, reconciling us to God by the doctrines which he taught, acquainting us with God; and being our intercessor in heaven, where are prayer are heard.

Ephesians 2:18 "For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." Both Jews and Gentile are permitted to approach God through Jesus Christ.

In John's gospel we find these words, "Then said Jesus unto them again, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheepfold."

We live in a very P. C. society, politically correct where you must not offend anyone with your words or with what you believe. But Jesus said, "I am not come to bring peace, but a sword." I remember reading where He called some peoples vipers. He would not fit this P. C. world that we live in.

Jesus is the only way to the Father, He is our access.

Having knowledge of this truth we are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.

Knowing that our access is through the shed blood of Jesus, we can come boldly unto the throne of grace where we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

So with boldness, confidence and faith in the finished work of Calvary we have access to the eternal purpose which He purposed through His shed blood, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having a high priest over the house of God.

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for He is faithful that promised."

Because we have been born again, we have ability to access classified material hidden in the word of God by the working of the Holy Spirit, how can that be? "The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

To have access is a blessing in the natural and the spiritual. Because of the Sunday Evening service here at Flint Heights, the management has given me a key to the front door so I am able to access the building without waiting for someone to let me in.

In our text David ask the question, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? And then he gave the key to access, stating, he that will walks uprightly, he that works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart, and he that back bites not with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor will have access to God.

So you hold the key to the Kingdom of God; use them now friend, and when you begin. Start with the key that will unlock your heart; open up and let Jesus come in. The master key's next, my dear neighbor. It's one you should use every day. Prayer is the key to the great Pearly Gates and you're unlocking them when you pray.

The first key is to walk uprightly, we are to walk circumspectly, that is looking to the left to the right and keeping our steps in line with the word of the Lord. The scripture teaches us that the steps of a righteous man are order of the Lord.

Then we are to work righteousness, now our righteousness is a fifthly rags in the sight of the Lord. But we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all needful things will be added.

Another key is to speak the truth in our heart. There is a proverb that states, "buy the truth, and sell it not." Being a truth teller is one of the keys of access, and knowing the truth will set you free.

Keeping our tongue is perhaps one of the hardest things for us to do. It's such a small member yet it can be so damaging. We are told that back biting is a sin and we must control our tongue.

Someone said, "I don't gossip I only say it once." Backbiting, gossiping are deadly twins and you can destroy a person's reputation with just a few words.

If you plan to have access you must learn to keep your tongue from speaking evil. You must be kind to your neighbor not taking up a reproach against him. You must be a truth teller walking before the Lord uprightly.

Psalms 27:3/6

"Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD."

Because I have access, I can sing, "I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my hearts, I will enter His courts with praise. I will say this is the day that the Lord hath made, I will rejoice for He has made me glad."

Encouraging Scriptures

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Phil. 4:13

Call on me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.

Jeremiah 33:3

And we know that all things work together for the good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28

If God be for us who can be against us?

Romans 8:31

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

Phil 4:11

He'll Never Leave

As I walk through the storms,

As I go through different changes in

my life,

I know that God loves me and He'll never

leave me

When I feel like I'm falling, He catches me and

never let's go, He's always there for me,

He'll never leave ...He'll never leave.

By Devaney Roberts

Trust God No Matter What

When we talk about trusting someone whether it is with a secret or our lives, we are saying that we have faith in that person to protect what we have shared with them.

A lot of us through different situations have trust issues, but as we have given our lives to God we have to know that to trust Him is not like trusting anyone else. Trust is not inherited, but learned, and we learn to trust God by going through some stuff. When we see God's faithfulness over and over, we should let go of trusting ourselves and place our trust in him.

Sometimes it seems like the storms of life never pass us by, it seems like when things are going good, something always happen to make it go bad. It seems as if our parades are always getting rained on, but don't unravel, trust God in the midst of those storms.

Proverbs 3:5 tells us to trust in the Lord with all thine heart and to lean not unto our own understanding.

We have all had difficulty trusting God at one point or another in our walk with Him. There are so many reasons why trusting God is difficult. God's ways just don't make sense to us sometimes, but we have to trust Him no matter what.

God told Noah to build an ark. It may have never rained at that point and the nearest body of water was probably miles away. It couldn't have made much sense to Noah at all, but he did what God told him to do, so he and his family survived the flood. He trusted God no matter what.

Our problem is we want life to make sense all the time, we want to set our own terms and timetables, but we have to learn to believe for things in God's perfect timing, "not in the right now" because he works on a different timetable than our minds can comprehend. We have to trust Him no matter what.

God promised Abraham a son with Sarah. It took so long that they had a difficult time trusting God and tried their own method. Most of the time, we want what we want when we want it.

It seems so hard to trust in a plan that requires us to surrender all of us, but we have to totally surrender our will ideas, desire, and future into God's hands. We all claim to trust in God, but at the first sign of difficulty or trial we break not realizing that the trial is exactly what God is using to test the level of trust we have in Him.

In spite of all the trials, we always have God's promise that the circumstances we go through are for our good. We have to trust God no matter what. It is through that trust that our relationship with God strengthens and our love for Him grows.

While God's timing is often much slower than our time, the rewards for being patient and waiting on Him, instead of relying on the world to satisfy us are incomparable. We have to trust God no matter what.

We always tell each other to "Trust God", because trusting God is vital to our spiritual lives. The more we trust in Him the more He will reveal to us.

If you don't believe that God will do much for you, then guess what? He pretty much won't. Your life will never change unless you trust in God. We have to trust Him regardless of what's going on around us, even when things seem hopeless.

Jesus wants us to have faith as a little child, but as adults our past disappointments have corrupted us.

We need to have that unquestioning faith and believe as a child. We must learn to relinquish our minds control over all situations, and take our hands off, we have to let go of our unbelief. Let's stop trying to figure things out and trust God no matter what.

We can trust in many things, none however offer the protection plan, the long term security, or the benefits that trusting in God offers. All the other things we can place our trust in can fail. Trust God no matter what.

We always find ourselves trusting ourselves instead of God, but when we get overwhelmed by circumstances, it's because we are trying to do it ourselves and not turning it over to God.

Trust has means that we may have to accept that some questions will remain unanswered. We have to trust God no matter what.

Trials into Triumph-Defeat into Victory

We have all heard the saying "when life hands you a lemon, make lemonade"! It is easier to smile at that statement than to practice it, but the basic philosophy is sound in fact biblical. Throughout the bible, there are people who turned defeat into victory and trial into triumph. Instead of being victims, they become victors.

James 1:2-8 tells us that we should count it joy when we have temptations and that the trying of our faith will help to make us patient. Whether we are dealing with trials on the outside or temptations on the inside-through faith in God we can experience victory. In John 16:33 Jesus tells us that we will have tribulation, but to be of good cheer.

We all have trials, but the nature of these trials will be different. Some trials come simply because we are human (sickness, accidents, death, etc.), other trials come because we are Christians. 2 Timothy 3:12 tells us that all that lives godly in Jesus Christ shall suffer persecution. Satan fights us and the world opposes us, so we can expect trials, but when they come God will turn them into triumph.

Sometimes, we may wonder how to respond to these different trials, but James tells us to count it all joy, and this was the attitude of Paul in the book of Romans 5:3 and to be the attitude of Christians in 1 Peter 4:12-14.

The first step to turning trials into triumph is to thank God and adopt a joyful attitude. We may ask ourselves how do I rejoice in the midst of trials. Trials test our faith, and sometimes when our faith is being tested it can bring out the best in us, just as training makes the athlete strong. 2 Corinthians 4:17 says that our light afflictions, which is for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. We can have joy in our trials because we know it works for us, not against us.

Romans 5:3-4 says that we glory in our tribulation also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience experience, and experience hope. Faith tested produces patience. Patience is not a passive acceptance for circumstances, but it gives us the ability to face these trials head on. Patience is a courageous perseverance in the face of suffering. It is continuing on even when it is rough. Such a quality of steadfastness can come only through experiencing trials. Having this understanding about what trials can accomplish enables us to have a joyful attitude toward trials.

To truly turn our trials into triumph, we must allow patience to do its work. There is no doubt that we want to get our trials over with quickly, but there are times when the best course is to wait patiently on the Lord. Let's learn to patiently endure our trials. Let's turn our trials into triumph.

Letting patience have its perfect work is not easy, it requires wisdom which enables us to see the value of our trials.

Trials can be a source of joy for the Christian. We have now learned how to make lemonade out of lemons. Let's turn our trials into triumph and our defeat into victories.

Acknowledge God as Your Power Source

How often have we allowed our cars or our kids toys to sit up for long periods of time, and when we finally get ready to use them they don't work, they don't work because their power source has ran out.

Samson was a hero of Israel, he was known for his great physical strength as well as his moral weakness. His life became a lesson in the tragedy of self will.

God had blessed Samson with the special power to be able to do many things, he was able to move mountains and take on armies. As Christians, we have that same power, but we have to recognize God as our power source.

The Philistines wanted to kill Samson so they got Deliah to entice him so she could find his strength, where his power was. As Christians today, we should want people to know that our power source from God.

Samson lied two or three times, but finally told Deliah that if he be shaven, his strength would go away from him and that he would be like any other man. At that point he was separating himself from the power source.

In the book of Acts 3:12, Peter asked the people why they looked so earnestly on them as though the man was made to walk by their own power.

Samson had gotten himself caught up in a situation. When asked about his strength, he said it was in his hair. We have to acknowledge God as our power source.

When Samson's hair was cut, he realized his strength, his power was gone and the philistines were ready to kill him, but at this point Samson came to his senses and finally realized that God was his power source. The great thing about God is even at times when we do foolish things, we can go to Him and ask Him to fix us.

A lot of times, when we have success at something, we fail to give God credit, but like Samson, if we acknowledge God as our power source, we can do things that seems impossible. We have to acknowledge God as our power source.

Even though God is our ultimate power he allows us to experience his power through different things. A person can be a genius and take it for granted that they became a genius on their own.

Phil. 4:13 tells us that as believers through Christ, we have the power to do all things.

We have the power to do all things, but there is a part we have to play. Before we go saved, there may have been things we wanted to stop doing , but couldn't, yet when we got saved we received a new power source and was then able to accomplish those things we couldn't accomplish before. Acknowledge God as our power source.

Sometimes, our power may be diminished, but that is because we don't use it. The energizer bunny can go on and on, but if you put it away and don't use it for awhile, the batteries will die, therefore it has no power source.

God gives us the power to do all things, but we sit and do nothing and later our power is gone.

With our cars, when the power is dead we can get a jump start or get our batteries charged. We have to be revamped, we have to acknowledge that as believers in Christ, He is our power source.

The bible says that all who are led by the spirit are children of God. As children of God we have the power to do great and mighty things, not in our own strength, but through the power of the Holy Spirit that is within us.

Truly Forgive

Forgiveness does not come easy for most of us. Our natural instinct is to do whatever necessary to protect ourselves and feelings when we have been hurt. We do not naturally overflow with mercy, grace, and forgiveness when we have been wronged.

Matthew 6: 14-15 tells us that if we forgive men their trespasses, our heavenly Father will forgive us, but if we forgive not, our heavenly Father will not forgive our trespasses.

Ezekiel 18:22 says that all his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.

Throughout our lives we are put into situations where forgiveness is called for. We all deal with or have dealt with many kinds of betrayals. In all these situations we need to learn to use our spiritual knowledge. The choices we make concerning this will affect the quality of lives and the pain we experience.

To forgive is to wipe the slate clean, to set free or to release. When we say we forgive, we have to release the desire to get even. We have to resist the temptation to keep those who have hurt us in an emotional penalty box, making them serve endless hard time for their offense.

If we choose to hold on to the anger and bitterness, we remain a victim of our circumstance. If we choose to truly forgive, God will set our hearts free from the anger, bitterness, and resentment.

When we say "I forgive you" and we truly mean it, we are saying that the issue is dead and buried, we are saying that "I will not review it nor renew it". When it comes to our minds, we have to take it to the Lord, not the person that has wronged us.

Sometimes we can say we forgive someone and really mean it. I have been in situations where I said that, but struggled with my feelings. I had to remind myself that I have to hold on to that commitment. I would find myself dwelling in it and when we do that we are fighting an inward battle. I had to continually take it to the Lord and rely on His help to keep me from bringing it up.

When we say we forgive, we are not engaging in an act of willful amnesia, we are making a commitment to not treat the person on that basis of what they have done. Time may dull the pain, but it is unlikely ever to be erased completely from your memory.

Our minds do not function like computers with a convenient delete function. We may ask God to take it away from us and we may even go for a period of time where we haven't thought about it, but when you see the person that has wronged you, what they did may come right back to your remembrance. So we have to ask God for the strength to move on.

When we choose not to forgive we may consciously or an unconsciously be trying to punish the person or even get revenge on the person that has wronged us. We really end up hurting ourselves, both mentally and physically. Mentally we find ourselves wondering how many other times we have been wronged by the same person or even in the same manner. When we don't forgive we are giving Satan a weapon to use against us. Physically we can cause ourselves to have all sort of health problems.

When we do not forgive, we allow it to simmer below the surface and little by little, it weighs us down. We become quick to anger.

Think of it like this, when we don't forgive, it brings on anger. It starts out like a drop of water, an irritant, nothing big just an aggravation. The water drips, drips, drips, and drips. Enough drops of anger before long will be buckets full of rage. We trust no one and bare our teeth at anyone who gets near. We become a walking time bomb that given the right tension we could explode, we become total opposites of what God wants us to be.

In Matthew 5:44, Jesus tells us to love our enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate us and pray for them that despitefully use and persecute us. God will honor our commitment to obey Him and our desire to please Him when we choose to forgive.

Colossians 3:13 tells us that if we have anything against someone, we should forgive them the way Christ has forgiven you. We forgive by faith out of obedience. Forgiveness goes against our nature so it has to come by faith. This means that whether we feel like it or not, we have to trust God to do the work in us.

Jesus knows that forgiving is not easy for us, but it is not a onetime choice. In Matthew 18:21-22, Jesus tells us know that we have to forgive over and over and over.

Nothing good comes from not forgiving someone. We will be wronged in many ways, but we have to let Jesus be our example and continue to forgive as He continues to forgive us.

When we say we have forgiven someone, let us not continue fretting and hurting ourselves, but let's allow God to soften our hearts and really forgive. Remember that God gave his only Son so that we could be forgiven.

Forgetting What Lies Behind

I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone . . . I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ. - Apostle Paul

Have you ever been led to step out in faith to tackle a mission that God's placed on your heart? Maybe the Lord asked you to witness to a friend or coworker. Perhaps He asked you to tell a relative about the love of Jesus, or maybe He asked you to surrender to the call to preach or become a missionary.

There are unlimited tasks that God could choose to place on your heart. Some believers will hear Him speak and tell them to go, and they'll refuse to respond to His call. Some, however, will actually have the faith to believe that God can accomplish His will through them, and they'll step out and say, "Here I am, Lord, send me."

The first step in being used by God is to be willing, but many believers never make it to this point because Satan whispers in their ear telling them they can't do it; that they're unable, that they're not good enough, or that they don't have enough experience to be utilized by the Lord.

When this happens, a believer will begin looking to himself instead of God. The individual will focus on his own inability and forget that the Lord is able to do what a person can't do alone. Those who make it past discouragement and eventually rely on God to accomplish what they can't do by themselves, will follow the Lord where He leads them. However, Satan doesn't give up harassing a person once he surrenders and obeys God. I wish to provide an example from my own life. The Lord called me into ministry during my freshman year in college, but I didn't know exactly to what area of ministry He had called. Time and again, though, I was confronted with the question, "Are you going to be a preacher?" and I would reply that there was no way I would become a preacher, or a pastor. I knew that I didn't have the ability to preach and shepherd a congregation.

One day during my freshman year in graduate school, I finally took that first step and relied on God to do within me what I couldn't do on my own; and I surrendered to the call to preach. Remember not to tell the Lord that you'll never go to a certain place or perform a specific task, because that could be the very thing He'll ask you to do!

I made it beyond that initial step of faith, but then Satan began hitting me with something very painful, which was my past. First, I was attacked within my mind by being reminded of past failures. I recalled jobs that I had quit, and I felt like I was destined to be a quitter and never accomplish anything for the Lord. I also recalled how I was a shy individual in high school and college, and how very few people respected me.

I was not only attacked within my mind, but I experienced criticism from without. A few friends and relatives brought up past shortcomings and held them over me. It hurts when you realize your own failures; but when other people, such as family and friends, point them out it can be debilitating. And that's exactly what the devil wants to do to God's people; he wants to cripple them so they can no longer be effective for the Lord.

In our message this morning we'll look at how Satan tries to hinder God's people from serving the Lord by holding their past over them. We will also see how the apostle Paul was able to overcome whenever people held the past over him, and when they accused him of not following the Lord.

It is my hope that this message will help you find the strength and courage to press onward into victory and freedom in God's grace through Jesus Christ.

The Past Can Hinder Your Usefulness (Matthew 13:54-58)

When I was in junior high I toted my books to class in a brief case. This was considered an un-cool thing to do, and I received ridicule and was labeled a nerd. Nearly two decades later, after college and graduate school, I returned home on a trip to visit my parents. I stopped at a gas station to fill up, and while standing at the pump a truck drove by and someone rolled down the window and yelled out, "Hey brief case!" In one's hometown it's nearly impossible to reverse a label, and Jesus experienced this firsthand:

When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, "Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?"

So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house." Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief (Matthew 13:54-58).

This passage portrays a classic example of how Satan tries to hold the past against you in order to hinder your usefulness to God. Jesus had performed many miracles prior to returning to His own country, but we read here, "He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Mt 13:58).

The people talked amongst themselves and said, "Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers . . . and His sisters, are they not all with us?" (Mt 13:55-56). Jesus' fellow countrymen were holding His past over Him.

They spoke amongst themselves; however, if they had spoken directly to Jesus they probably would have said something like this: "You were just a simple carpenter and an ordinary person the last time we saw you, and that's all you'll ever be! God can't do anything through a carpenter!" If it had been an ordinary person who had received such criticism, he would have likely taken these words to heart and become very discouraged, but Jesus was no ordinary person.

We read that it was because of the people's unbelief that Jesus couldn't do many great works (Mt 13:58). The Lord works in people's lives according to the proportion of their faith (Rom 12:6), and since the people had little faith, then God didn't do much among them. If you try to minister among people who know your past and you're not being visibly used by the Lord, then part of the problem lies within the hearts of those particular people.

However, since most people - you included – don't overcome criticism as easily as Jesus, part of the problem can lie within yourself. When friends and loved ones hold your past against you, then you can value their opinion so much that you might actually believe them. You can easily take what they say to heart, and then "you" become the very reason that God doesn't work through you in a certain situation.

Satan oftentimes takes your past and holds it over you. He uses it to hinder God's work in your life. So, the question is this: "How can you be an overcomer when people keep bringing up your past?"

You Must Keep Pressing On (Philippians 3:4-6, 12-14)

Bob Dylan once sang, "Well I'm pressing on to the higher calling of my Lord. Shake the dust off your feet, don't look back. Nothing now can hold you down, nothing that you lack." What an unexpected source for some biblical insight; and Dylan actually echoed the teachings of both Jesus (Mt 10:14) and the apostle Paul.

Right now, I'm going to share what the apostle Paul had to say. Whenever he felt as though the past was holding him down and hindering him from following the Lord, he would determine to press ahead in faith. Paul stated:

Though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless . . .

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:4-6, 12-14).

Paul said that he was once very proud of his accomplishments before he became a believer. He was born a pure-blooded Jew; and he was a Pharisee, which was a person who was a great teacher and lawyer. Christ-followers were at that time considered lawbreakers, and since Paul upheld the Jewish law so strictly he imprisoned and killed many of them. He said that he was never accused of any fault by his Jewish peers whenever he persecuted believers, because the Jews were convinced that it was the right thing to do (Phil 3:4-6).

However, when Paul accepted Jesus into his heart and received his commission to preach the gospel, his Jewish companions condemned him for it, and mocked him. Some believers refused to believe that he had turned his life around, and they condemned him for his past in which he killed and persecuted many of them. They reasoned that a man who was that bad could never change. So for a while, Paul received criticism and judgment from both Jews and followers of Christ.

People held his past over him, but Paul didn't let it bother him because he knew that even though people condemned him, God still loved him and His Son, Jesus, refused to hold his past against him. So, what did Paul do that helped him overcome the condemnation that people were dishing out?

He basically said, "I know I'm not perfect, but I know and God knows that I'm doing the very best I can for Him. People may hold the past over me, but God erased my past when I accepted Jesus into my heart, and so I'm not going to dwell on my past because it will just get me down. I'm going to forget the past and look forward to my life in God's future" (Phil 3:12-14, my paraphrase).

Paul developed an overcoming attitude by reminding himself that God loved him; that Jesus died for his past, present and future mistakes; and that Jesus would never condemn him. You and I need to remind ourselves of this fact too, perhaps even on a daily basis.

People have the habit of holding past crimes or wrongs against us. That is just human nature. A man once chatted with his friend about how he and his wife got into arguments, and he told his friend, "Every time my wife and I argue she gets historical." His friend asked, "Don't you mean hysterical?" The man replied, "No, I mean historical, because she keeps bringing up things from the past."

God doesn't condemn you, so why should you allow other people to hold your past over you and make you feel rotten? In a scene from the Disney movie The Princess Diaries, Princess Mia's friend condemned her for changing her appearance, and Mia became teary-eyed. The limousine driver Joe told her, "Remember princess, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

Joe's statement could be changed to read that no one can make you feel inferior without God's consent; and the wonderful news is that the Lord will never give someone the permission to hold your past against you!

You Must Shake It Off (Acts 28:3-5)

When you're seeking to press ahead to where God's calling, then you must first break off the chains of the past before you can ever move on. The way in which to break free is simply by shaking it off. The phrase "shake off" actually has a definition, believe it or not, and it's defined as, "to free oneself of" and "to get rid of." The freedom to run is found in shaking off the shackles of the past!

Paul unexpectedly encountered a fatal wound, which the devil had hoped to use against him to stop his ministry dead in its tracks. However, Paul overcame by shaking it off, setting an example for every believer. The Bible says:

But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live." But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm (Acts 28:3-5).

We read that when an extremely poisonous snake bit Paul on the hand that the people said Paul must have been a murderer (Acts 28:4). They judged him as not being a man of God. No doubt the serpent was none other than the accuser Satan who, in an attempt to take Paul's life, had hoped to foil God's plans and discredit Paul's name and reputation as a man of God before those around him. What did Paul do with the accusation placed on him? We read that he just shook it off (28:5)!

There's the story of an old mule that fell into a farmer's well. After assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule but decided that neither the mule nor the well were worth the trouble of saving. Instead he planned to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

When the farmer began shoveling, initially the old mule was hysterical. But as the farmer continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back he should shake it off and step up. This he did blow after blow. "Shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up!" he repeated to encourage himself.

No matter how painful the blows or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept shaking it off and stepping up! It wasn't long before the mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well.

If you'll take the judgment and criticism that's heaped on you and shake it off and place it under your feet then, like the old mule, instead of being buried and put to death you'll eventually rise above it until you step over the edge. Joyce Meyer says, "Whatever may be troubling you from the past, shake it off! God has a great future planned for you. The dreams of the future have no room for the snake bites of the past."

Time of Reflection

You are free from condemnation if you know Jesus Christ and He lives in your heart. He came into this world to set you free from the consequences of your past. The past is probably full of many bad things you have done and that you deeply regret. You may have lied, cheated, or stolen; and there are likely many other bad things that only you and the Lord know about.

These bad things are called sin, and the Bible says that if God holds your past against you, and convicts you of your crimes, then your soul will be put to eternal death, and you'll never see heaven (Rom 6:23). However, if you ask Jesus to come into your heart, God won't hold your past against you.

By God's grace, through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph 2:8-9), you'll be able to live the rest of your life free from guilt, free from the accusations of other people, and free from condemnation. With Jesus in your heart you can press onward into victory both here in this life and in the life to come. By Damian Phillips

Encouraging Scriptures

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should no perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: Matthew 7:7

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. _Psalm 46:1-3 & 7_

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. **Isaiah 41:10**

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. _2 Tim 1:7_

_Lord, You Are_

_Lord, you are the name in which I speak of,_

_the one I pray to from above_

_Lord, you are the one I sing about,_

_the one that I love without an amount_

_Lord, you are the one I want to be with when I die,_

_I know you'll always be by my side_

_By Devaney Roberts_

_Hold On Til He Bless You_

_God is on one end of the rope and you are on the other. You are on the end of the rope that is hanging off the cliff and the only way for you to get up the cliff is to hold on and wait on God to pull you up._

_Genesis 32:24-26 says that Jacob wrestled with a man until the breaking of day. Jacob's thigh was out of joint. Jacob told the man, "I will not let thee go until you bless me"._

_When I say hold on, I am saying have some endurance. Spiritual endurance is an outstanding mark of a victorious Christian. It is the presence of inner strength and hope, the staying power of a faithful believer, and is well displayed during life squeezing moments._

_In our Christian walk, we will have many mountains to climb, many valleys to go through, lions and bears to slay, rivers to cross, but as children of God, we have to be able to endure. We have to hold on til He bless us._

_James 5:11 tells that A man of endurance is a happy man, because he knows that the best of his life is yet to be enjoyed. God sees our afflictions and even our inner thoughts._

_We know what He did for Job's life, how he was afflicted and because he held on, God blessed him._

_Whatever intensity of trials and afflictions we are experiencing, we should not faint neither be discouraged, but continue to rejoice in hope because we know God will greatly bless our future life._

_When things are tough in our lives we have to the persistence Jacob had. On our bad days, we have to say Lord, I am going to hold on til you bless me, when the doctor gives us bad news, we have to say Lord, I am going to hold on til you bless me, when bills are coming and we can't pay, we have to say Lord, I am going to hold on til you bless me, when the family is acting up, we have to say Lord, I am going to hold on til you bless me, through all the hurt and pain, when it seems there is no hope left, we have to say, Lord I am going to hold on til you bless me._

_We have to remember that Jesus is on the other end of the rope and no matter how hard it is for you to hold your end, He will hold His. We can struggle up that mountain and it can seem to get rougher and rougher, but if you keep coming up, you will see His blood coming down. Hebrew 13:5 lets us know God will not leave us nor forsake us. Hold on til He bless you._

_2 Corinthians 12: 7-10 is a great inspiring testimony for us to ponder in times of weakness. We all have issues and we all have to make decisions to hold on or to give up. Jacob was a great example, he wrestled with his situation, he wrestled with that thing so tough that his thigh was knocked out of joint. No matter how tough his situation was, He let God know, I am going to hold on til you bless me._

_Matthew 24:13 says that he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Hebrew 6:15 says that after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. We have to keep enduring these fiery tests of life and wait patiently for the coming of the Lord. We have to maintain our hope and get a grip. John 14:1 says let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God believe also in me. Hold on til He bless you._

_The Benefits are Great_

_We look for benefits in almost all we do. When looking for a job, we focus on not only the pay, but for the benefits. You may hear people say of their job: The pay is ok, but the benefits are great._

_Psalms 103:2 tells us to bless the Lord and to forget not all His benefits. Psalms 68:19 says blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits. When we become believers, we have benefits that unbelievers don't have. We have a connection with God and with that connection comes the benefits of hope, peace, joy, comfort, our sins are forgiven, our diseases are healed, and we are protected. The benefits are great._

_We get the benefit of having hope. When we talk about hope, we are talking about the expectations that something good will happen. Romans 15:4 tells us whatsoever things were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. THE BENEFITS ARE GREAT!_

_As believers we have the benefit of having joy. When we talk about joy, we are talking about gladness of heart. In John 15:11 Jesus tells us that these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. THE BENEFITS ARE GREAT!_

_As believers, we have the benefit of having comfort. When we talk about comfort, we are talking about being relieved of distress. John 11:19 tells us that the Jews comforted Martha and Mary concerning their brother. THE BENEFITS ARE GREAT!_

_As Christians, we have these benefits and that should give us the incentive to keep our connection with God._

_God is willing to forgive our sins. With the forgiveness of sin comes salvation and with salvation we have the benefit of spending eternity with our Lord and Savior._

_One benefit we all need is health insurance. With our connection with God this benefit is free. God is willing to heal our diseases. THE BENEFITS ARE GREAT!_

_As believers, we have the benefit of having some peace. When we talk about peace, we are talking about simply being okay with something that may have been tragic._

_Let's remember that when Jesus died, it benefited us greatly. His dying has given us the opportunity to escape hell._

_With the connection we have with God, we have mercy and we know that God Loves us. Matthew 7:11 says that if we being evil can give good gifts, how much more shall our Father in heaven give good things to them that ask him?_

_When we sin and ask God to forgive us, He does not stay angry with us. When God forgives, He forgets as well, it's the devil who continually tries to remind us of our past sins. God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. This is grace at its best. When we deserve judgment and punishment we have the benefits of our slate being wiped clean._

_God Can Change Us_

_At some point in our lives, we all come to realize there needs to be changes made in our lives. Not only does things need to change about us, but we need to change, we need to change our hearts and mind. To try changing but continue being the same person is failure. In order to be changed we have to be born again._

_God shows us through the life of Saul/Paul that not only can He change us, but He will change us no matter the situation._

_We all know about Saul's journey to Damascus. He went to the high priest to get orders to persecute more Christians. Scripture let us know that Jesus dropped Saul to his knees and asked him how come he was persecuting him. Saul asked who he was and Jesus told him who He was and let Saul know he couldn't kick against the pricks. Jesus was letting Paul know that he was chosen and that he was rebelling, God let Saul know that he could not continue what he was doing._

_Jesus had let Ananias know that He wanted him to go where Saul was because Saul was a chosen vessel. Ananias went and put his hands on Saul, he let Saul know that the Lord sent him to get his sight back and to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Saul was immediately changed._

_Acts 9:1-2 shows how persistent and determined Saul was. It shows how cruel and heartless he was before God changed him to Paul._

_In many ways, we can relate to Saul because when we were in the world doing worldly things, we were faithful to those things, but a lot of us fail to keep that same faithfulness to God. Paul continued to be faithful._

_On the road to Damacus when Saul asked the Lord what he wanted him to do, it was like Saul really wanted to change. Sometimes we have a reputation that we don't want to give up and it takes God dropping us to our knees._

_Those of us who have been in the streets, into the drugs or whatever your thing was, know that there are so many times we were really tired and not only needed a change, but wanted a change. We now know the only way we could get the change was God change us._

_A lot of times we struggle through life wanting to right our wrongs and wondering why we really couldn't. We don't have the strength without God help. Only God can change us._

_1 Samuel 16:7 lets us know that no matter what we look like, no matter what we act like, God know our hearts and if we want our hearts fixed God can change us._

_We are not controlled by situations because God is the master of all, so no matter what the situation or what people say about us we don't have to fret because not only can God change us, He will change us._

_Choose Ye This Day_

_When we die we will end up in one of two places: paradise or hell._

_In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus talks to us about the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man had it all but Lazarus was a man that would sit in front of the rich man's gate full of sores, hoping to get feed. They both died, but Lazarus went into Abraham's bosom and scripture say that the rich man was in hell when he seen Lazarus with Abraham. The rich man was in so much torment he asked Abraham to allow Lazarus to just dip the tip of his finger in water and put in on his tongue to cool it. Abraham told him to remember his lifetime and that there is a gulf between them so that could not be passed. The rich man wanted Abraham to at least allow Lazarus to testify to his brothers so that they would not be in torment. Abraham told the rich man they have Moses and the prophets and if they can't hear them, they would not be persuaded._

_The rich man was not condemned because he was rich, but because he served the wrong master. Matthew 6:24 says that we can't serve two masters because he will hate one and love the other._

_For every choice we make, there are blessings or consequences. The choices we make today will determine our destiny. Choose ye this day! Let's keep in mind that whatever state we are in at the time of our death or Jesus returning, we are going to be judged by Him accordingly._

_Joshua 24:15 says and if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. There is a lot of danger in the word "someday" when you are saying, "I will serve the Lord "someday", but "not today". We have all heard people say, "I will go to church someday", I will be born again "someday", "I will start doing this or stop doing that", never realizing that by making that decision, if the Lord comes in that instant they are destined for hell. Choose ye this day._

_Those of us that are confessing that we are Christians have stuff thrown at us every day and we have to make a decision on how we will handle them. Instead of us using our guide, instead of us calling on Jesus, we allow ourselves to make decisions that may seem okay but can get us sent straight to hell. Proverbs 14:12 tells us that there is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end there of are the ways of death._

_When we do not live or continue living according to the bible, we are making a choice to serve the wrong master. For some of us there is no opportunity to turn back. When we choose to step outside of God's plan, we are making a decision that could determine if we end up in heaven or hell. Romans 1:28 tells us that if we do not retain God in our knowledge He will give us over to a reprobate mind, to do the things which are not convenient. Choose ye this day._

_We allow ourselves to get caught up in everyday stuff, not staying focused on what we are suppose to do, but on what we want at that moment. If we use our gift of choice the wrong way, it can cost us in this life and in eternity. Choose ye this day._

_God's Guidance Will See You Through_

_When we seek God's guidance, we have to understand that it is available to us, because when we get saved, we get Gods spirit and with His spirit comes His guidance, we just have to trust it._

_Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding._

_Without God's wisdom, we cannot see things with understanding. We should expect some confusing turns that will test our highest knowledge and our deepest commitment. There will be hills to climb and bumpy roads to cross._

_When we go through trials and tribulations, we should ask ourselves, what assurance do we have that we can make it through. Remember Proverbs 3:5-6 because it tells us we can make it if we trust God's guidance._

_In John 10: 14 &26-27 Jesus tells us that He is the good shepherd and that He knows His people. He said we believe not because we are not His sheep. Jesus tells us that His sheep hear His voice and they follow Him. In order for us to be able to trust God's guidance we have to know He is talking to us. He speak to us through his word and others. In order for us to know when and that it is God we must have a relationship with him. He tells us in John 10:26 that if we don't believe in Him, we are not one of His. He also tells us in John 10: 14 & 27 that if we are one of His we will know Him and His voice._

_God will guide us in our everyday living if we it allow to. In every decision, every action of our lives God will direct our paths. When we have a personal relationship with God He is personally involved in our journey._

_Psalms 32:8 says that He will instruct us and teach us in the ways which we shall go. All we have to do is hear His voice. We have to acknowledge God as our guide. We have experienced times when we are talking to someone and they don't hear us because they are doing other things. If this happens when we are talking to others, most likely it has happened when God is talking to us. We allow ourselves to be preoccupied and then we miss God's guidance. In all things we do, we must acknowledge Him._

_When we ask for God's guidance we have to trust it. It does us no good to ask Him to guide us if we don't like the way He tells us to go. He has no reason to send us in the wrong direction._

_When we try to depend on ourselves, that is when we get into trouble. We can't make the right moves without God, and some people have paid high prices to learn that self-management leads to endless defeat._

_God wants us to use His guidance. He wants us to reject our own ability to guide ourselves, because He can and will guide us, we just have to trust Him._

_The Father's Opened Gift_

_We have been looking at some of the gifts of the Almighty God in sending Jesus, the Messiah, the one-and-only-one-of-a-kind "Son of God", anointed to come to earth in the Flesh to demonstrate the lavish Love of God in Christ's Incarnation, being conceived by the Holy Spirit, and living, dying, and rising from the dead to bring you back to life._

_God works in us, planting His Holy Spirit-seed in US to give us NEW LIFE so that we are given a new nature that desires to follow the Savior and to Love God more than anything else. The theological term is "Regeneration", being born again. Last week we witnessed God's visit to earth in Christ and to the Cross of Christ as the Horn of Salvation. We know that Jesus killed satan's work and power at the cross because Jesus rose from the dead and ascended again to His Heavenly throne. In doing so, He became our most prized gift, OUR Savior, our mighty Horn of Salvation._

_This is not the end, but only the beginning! Does it "taste like MORE"? That's what my Grandmother us to say to us when we had a special treat, like a root beer float: "It tastes like MORE, doesn't it? Let's have MORE!" Psalm 34:8 says: "Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." We are going "taste more" on a walk through 2 Corinthians 5:11-17:_

_2 Corinthians 5:11 "Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. (This fear is reverent worship, living humbly and obediently before God because of His Love to us. We know that there is NO HIDING from God. Our hearts are an open book before God.)_

_12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. (Is your reputation as one who fears and loves the Lord and loves the Body of Christ "showing"? Sometimes YOUR WITNESS and behavior are the only things that others will read concerning God's Love in Christ in YOU. Are you showing the LOVE OF God IN CHRIST in your words and actions?)_

_13 If we are out of our mind, (or beside ourselves) it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. (If people say that we are crazy, it is because we are out-of-our-minds in love with God because of His Love for us! If we are IN HIM we have the mind and loving attitude of Christ. If we appear to you that we ARE always LOVING, it's because we are demonstrating this UNREAL LOVE FOR God through the Spirit of God who lives in us. We are IN-control of our actions and our RE-actions because we have the Spirit of God living in us and through us!)_

_14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, (HIS LOVE CONTROLS US and we profess that Christ's substitutionary death is the ONLY WAY to receive forgiveness!) and therefore all died. (Everyone who DIED IN CHRIST receives the benefits of His substitutionary death AND HIS RESURRECTION! We are overwhelmed with gratitude that He made us a part of the "ALL" of His Body!)_

_15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again. (Our old SELF-CENTERED lives are finished. That's what kept us FROM God. We've been released from that and our lives are now DEAD to SIN and ALIVE to God in Christ: The Power of Christ and the Gospel! "I only live for the Lord, I only live for righteousness' sake, not for myself." Anything less than that is unacceptable.)_

_16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. (We don't regard people according to worldly external standard.,) Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. (We do not merely regard Jesus from a fleshly perspective, but according to WHO HE REALLY IS: The Love of God to become Savior, the Word becoming flesh, the only way to God, the only way of forgiveness, the only access to the Kingdom of God! Our Redeemer, our LORD, the King whom we serve.)_

_17 "Therefore, (A VERY BIG "THEREFORE" –on account of these things of God) if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (or CREATURE); the old has gone, the new has come!"_

_New IDENTITY_

_A NEW CREATION or New Creature! The rabbis in the Old Testament era, as well as in modern times used the term "new creature" or "creation" to describe someone whose sins were forgiven. If you are in Christ, your sins have been forgiven, and Jesus says, "Welcome to MY world. You are a new Creation." God welcomes you into His everlasting Kingdom because God's Gift is LIFE-changing._

_The "first" Adam fell into sin at Creation and caused destruction to the human race and to the world in which he was born. The "last" Adam, the LORD-over-all-creation Jesus Christ recreates a new and eternal humanity. If you have opened the gift of God's Love, you have a New identity in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have accepted His Gift, there has been a profound change, a new birth. You know that you have been given a new life in Christ because you finally HAVE LIFE! Babies don't immediately even KNOW they are alive, but YOU know that you have a new_

_spiritual life in Christ because you were spiritually dead before._

_1 John 2:29 "If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him." That's my desire, to practice righteousness._

_" The expression "in Christ" sums up the significance of man's redemption. It speaks of our security in Him who has Himself borne in His own body the judgment of God against our sin. It speaks of acceptance in Him in whom alone God is well pleased. It speaks of assurance for the future in Him who is the resurrection and the life and the guarantee of our inheritance. It speaks of the inheritance of glory in Him who is the only begotten Son, is the sole heir and therefore we inherit only in Him. It speaks of participation in the divine nature in Him who is the everlasting Word... And when you're in Christ, you're a new "kainos", (creature) new in quality, not just new in sequence, new in quality, new in creation, at a new level of excellence." (John MacArthur, "A Ministry of Integrity")_

_Eph. 2 :1-5: "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)._

_Tullian Tchividjian explains being "in Christ" this way: "Moralism beats this drum: If I improve, then I'll be accepted by God, by others, even by myself. But the gospel says something radically different. The gospel announces that everyone "IN CHRIST" is already accepted by God because of Jesus' work for them. Therefore, no improvement, good behavior, or performance is necessary in order to experience the deep acceptance we long for and in fact strive for on a daily basis. This may seem like an impractical distinction, but it makes all the difference in the world." ("Jesus+Nothing=Everything", p. 62) You were in the darkness before, but now you see the Light of Life. You had NO LIFE in Christ before, but now you have NEW LIFE in Christ because it has been GIVEN to you._

_PRESENT Reality_

_Being IN CHRIST, you now possess a New present reality- It is a reality, it is NOW, and at the same time it's ALSO a process. It means that you have new loves, new appetites, new desires, you place different price tags and values on everything that you once thought were important: Things that had very high value before, now appear paltry and puny in price and value. It doesn't means we are totally without sin, but our desire is to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. The old ideas, values, plans, and passions are gone. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." There is a new quality of excellence in your life because the Spirit of the Living God has come to live in your heart and life!_

_Isaiah 43:18-19 says: "Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. "Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it?" This "newness" is a process we call "sanctification." It's an ever increasing understanding of this new identity and expression of what CHRIST means to us. A whole new world exists for us because God lives in us. God's perfect standard of holiness and righteousness is before us and we long to see and experience more of it. We_

_don't meet it perfectly, but we seek it imperfectly with the help of His Spirit in us, His Word being poured into us, and the encouragement of the Body of Christ. This process goes on until our glorification, when we see Christ, and we will have the FULLNESS of that newness._

_In the meantime, we grow together within the Body of Christ because we have received NEW LIFE. There is a present new creation growing and being transformed into the image of the Lord Jesus, not just individually, but locally and corporately. We should be GLORYING IN THE GOSPEL OF GRACE shown to us in Christ!_

_1 Peter 1:3-5 says: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, (that's still coming, but it is guaranteed) 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." That is what we long for! Just beyond our reach..._

_FUTURE Reality_

_As a believer in the Christ of Christmas, you and I possess that New future reality in Him: "The old has passed away, (Parerchomai) the new has come." Jesus said in Matt. 24: 35 (Mark and Luke): "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away." Has your old life passed away? Has it been replaced with His new identity, with a present reality of His Love, AND with a secure future reality?_

_The Greek tense of the verb for "has come" indicates that this newness is a continuing condition. The old passed away, the new is CONTINUALLY coming. A believer who has received a spiritual rebirth has a new perception of everything in terms of eternity. It is a constant reality, not a fleeting feeling. Feelings will ALWAYS change, but this reality is not temporary nor is it temporal._

_Isaiah 65:17-18 prophesied in the Old Testament: "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. 18 "But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness."_

_Paul said in Rom. 6:4: "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." The old passed away, the new is CONTINUALLY coming._

_Ephesians 2:10 says: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."_

_Paul is saying this: "The same thing that happened to me will happen to ANY PERSON who comes to CHRIST. It does not matter where you have been, who you are, no matter how wicked, how prideful, how self-righteous you might be; If any person is IN CHRIST, that person will also be a new creature in CHRIST. It happened to me and it can happen to you."_

_If you are a new creation in Christ, that should leave you with a taste FOR MORE! When you put your faith in Jesus Christ you are in Christ, His substitutionary death is your death and His resurrection life is your life, and now you begin to live a new life, which leaves you with a taste for much more of Christ._

_Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth ; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea...5 And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." 6 Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. 7 "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son."_

_" Lord, we desire a passion for you from within, a reverence for you, concern for the church, devotion to the truth, gratitude to the Savior for the love that sent Him to the cross to die in our place, an unwavering desire for righteousness and such a burden for the lost that we want to maintain faithful integrity to the gospel at all costs. I pray, Lord, that You'll save all Your faithful people not only from sin but from false accusation so that their lives and witness would not be discredited so that You would receive the glory you so deserve! By Ron Tuitt_

_Strength in Weakness_

_2 Corinthians 12:7-12:10_

_Wouldn't it be great if everyone in Hollywood started preaching the gospel? Just imagine how much easier and exciting it would be! Or what if someone donated a billion dollars to the church? Just imagine all the good we could do: we could build a family life center, have a brand new building with all the latest technology, hire a full-time staff for every age group, get our own jet for missions, put in a Starbucks at all the entrances, and be the most attractive church in the state! Or wouldn't it be wonderful if God gave us super-human powers so that we never get tired or cranky or sick? That way we could minister and preach for hours on end without ever stopping! Or we could learn and read and keep learning until we know so much that we never have to struggle with truth anymore. Wouldn't that be great?_

_I'm stretching it, but these wishes aren't too far off base from what's often wished by well-meaning Christians. The trouble is that none of these desires cause us to depend on God or give Him alone glory. "God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise" (I Cor. 1:27). As far as the world is concerned self-reliance and control over your own life is the pinnacle of achievement. To be free to do what you want and to be in charge of your own comforts is the main goal. This is why there's such a hunger for money, power, and fame. But faith is the opposite of these things. Our money comes from Him and it's spent to His glory. In fact, we value Him far more than the "rubbish" our money buys. Our power is the power He gives us to live and to accomplish His will. Our fame is only what we find in Him: we decrease and He increases. But how do we keep this in mind?_

_Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 9Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain (Proverbs 30:7-9)._

_Agur knows that too much contentment will cause him to forget about God. Too little necessity could cause him to abandon the Lord. So he asks to be kept between the two points—don't give me too much that I forget, and don't give me too little that I give up. This fits right in with what Jesus commands: Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the_

_body than raiment? 26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself (Matthew 6:25-34)._

_The idea is that (1) we don't strive for the things that we know God will provide, and (2) we accept the limitations and weaknesses God imposes on us knowing that they cause us to keep seeking Him and that He receives glory for it. Our strength and assurance isn't in our flesh but in our God. I want to give you two specific examples from the Scripture. One comes from the life of Paul and the other comes from the Israelites in the Old Testament. Let's look first at Paul's weakness:_

_I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, [who was] caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter (II Cor. 12:2, 4)._

_He gives his account of being caught up into heaven and taught by Christ! Now, what pride he could have taken in his experience; Christ Himself has taught Paul and even brought him into heaven to do it. Apparently Paul's done something special, right? Apparently he's a super-saint:_

_7And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong (II Cor. 12:7-10)._

_Paul wanted to be free from this thorn in his flesh, so he asked God to remove it. There's a lot of discussion as to what exactly the thorn was, but the main point is that it forced him to keep praying to God! Christ finally answers by telling him that problem is going to stay with him because it keeps Paul aware of his weakness; and when Paul doesn't rely on his own flesh then he's forced to rely on Christ. Paul takes pleasure in suffering for his faith and for being weak and helpless because he knows it glorifies God Who has "chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise." The things that seem to hinder us or make us less valuable are actually things that cause us to cry out to the Lord. They're things that remind us that we're never so good that we no longer need grace and the strength of our Lord._

_We should thank God for our infirmities. The very fact that our bodies are falling apart is a reminder of our need for grace! We should thank Him when some people reproach (criticize) and persecute us. He was hated, and we take joy knowing we're like Him! We ought to be pleased at "necessities" (calamity) and distresses. He is the Shepherd who leads us through the Valley of Death! When Paul suffered he asked for relief, but when God refused, Paul took pleasure in his hardships because it made him look to Christ for strength!_

_Now, there's another example taken from the Israelites in the Old Testament:_

_And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. 2And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men. 3And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. 4So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. 5And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. 6And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD was come into the camp. 7And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. 8Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. 9Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight. 10And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. 11And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain (I Samuel 4:3-11)._

_The Israelites trusted in the ark to give them victory over their enemies and they find out just how helpless and pitiful it is. The ark is only wood; it has no power. Now, fast forward a couple chapters (and many years), and we find the Philistines once again fighting the Israelites:_

_And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. 9And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him. 10And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel. 11And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Bethcar. 12Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us (I Samuel 7:7-12)._

_Now they seek God rather than the ark, and look at the difference! What the ark could not do, God did! They learned the hard way about their weakness. When they thought they were strong, they discovered they were weak. When they realized they were weak and turned to the Lord, they were very strong indeed!_

_It reminds me of Christ's admonition to the Laodicean church: Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see (Revelation 3:17-18)._

_This verse is true of churches even today that have everything wanted and very little of what is needed. They're blinded to our weakness because of wealth. "Who is the Lord?" We should instead rejoice in our fiery trials and accept with gladness the sufferings and persecutions granted to us. We should instead "cease not to cry unto the Lord." By John Shearhart_

_Encouraging Scriptures_

_For whatever was written was given to us for our learning, that through patience and comfort of the scriptures we might have hope. — Romans 15:4_

_All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly equipped to perform every good work. — 2 Timothy 3:16-7_

_And this is our confidence, that if we pray according to His will, He will hear us, and give us what we ask for, because our desires are in agreement with His thoughts for us. — 1 John 5:14-15_

_God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. — Psalm 46:1_

_Without faith, it is impossible to please God. For he who comes to God must believe He exists, and rewards those who diligently seek Him. — Hebrews 11:6_

_Come to Me, all you who are weary and weighed down with heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in spirit. Indeed, you will surely find rest in Me! My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. — Matthew 11:28-30_

_God Inside My Heart_

_God is in my_

_heart and he'll never_

_leave, I know that is true and that_

_is what I_

_believe_

_I love Him so_

_much and that'll never_

_change, I'll do anything for him any_

_day_

_I'll always cherish_

_Him and what He gave_

_me, but I will_

_never perish everything_

_that He did_

_for me_

_By Devaney Roberts_

_Jesus Christ the Son Makes the Difference_

_A man showed up on the door step of a father who's son was killed while fighting in the war. He gave the father a picture he had painted of the son, the father treasured the drawing, but at some point the father decided to auction off the painting off for charity._

_The day of the auction has comes and the painting of the son is up first, the auctioneer asked who would give $10.00 for this painting called the son? Nobody answered, but before the 3_ _rd_ _call the butler said I will take it, so the auctioneer said going once, going twice, sold. The father stood up and told them that his son was the only thing that ever mattered to him, he said the butler bought the picture of his son, so the butler gets everything. By everything he meant all that the rich father had. When the butler bought the picture of the son it made a difference._

_It was only one way to obtain the riches and power of the father, and that was whoever would take the son gets everything. John 1:10-12 says that He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name._

_John 3: 35-36 says that if we believe in the Son, we would have everlasting life, and he that don't believe in the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him._

_Without the Son we are subject to the devil and missing eternal life. Without the Son, we have no hope, without the Son we are separated from God the Father, without the Son we will inherit torment forever._

_Us being in union with God the Father today, was accomplished for us through the blood of Jesus Christ. John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. JESUS CHRIST THE SON MAKES THE DIFFERENCE!_

_In Jesus Christ the Son, we have peace, we are somebody, even when others treat us like nobody. We have a solid foundation to build our lives on if we make Jesus Christ the Son our corner stone._

_Invitation to Royalty_

_We have all invited or been invited to something. When we send an invitation to an event it is to the people we have a good feeling about and we count on them to act proper._

_When Jesus died and rose on the third day, He was giving up His life for it to be possible to invite us to life abundantly. To meet God's invitation to royalty we must first be able to deny ourselves. (Refusing to live out our own desires.)_

_From heaven Jesus offers this invitation, but do we truly understand and appreciate to whom Jesus extends this invite, what He offers to those who will accept it, what He expects from those who desire to respond, the true ease of accepting this invitation, and what happen when the invite is not accepted._

_Jesus extends this invitation to royalty to those who are burdened by sins. Scripture tells us in Matthew 22:14 that many are called, but few are chosen. Hebrew 10:39 lets us know this invitation is open to all that believe to the saving of the soul. This invitation then is for everyone._

_In this invitation to royalty, Jesus is offering us rest, He let's us know we will find rest for our souls. Jesus offers rest which includes a removal of the guilt of sin. Romans 8:1 tells us that Jesus frees us from the condemnation of sins._

_With this invitation to royalty Jesus provides what our soul need to remove anxiety._

_He offers us a peace to calm the troubled heart. John 16:33 lets us know that it is a peace stronger than any tribulation the world might bring. Phil. 4:7 tells us that Jesus offers a peace that guards our hearts and minds, and surpassing all understanding._

_In this invitation to royalty, Jesus offers the removal of depressions and gives of joy to lift our spirits. This invitation removes doubt and offers hope for facing the future, by promising eternal rest to those who die in the Lord._

_Physical burdens are made lighter by us going to Jesus, because the soul is made stronger for us to bare them._

_If we wish to respond to this invitation Jesus tells us He is gentle and lowly in heart. Matthew 18:2 & 4 tells us He is so gentle that the children felt comfortable in His presence. Mark 12:37 lets us know He is so lowly in heart that the common people heard Him gladly._

_Jesus is therefore expecting those who desire the rest He offers in this invitation to royalty to accept His teachings and whatever obligations He would lay upon us. Luke 6:46-47 lets us know we must be willing to listen to Him and do whatever He says._

_The invitation to royalty is a call to discipleship, it is not difficult to accept, all we have to do is abide in His doctrine._

_When we accept the invitation to royalty Jesus gives us the strength so that our burdens are easier to handle._

_If we chose not to accept the invitation to royalty we are choosing death. Our souls will end up in hell because when we don't accept the invitation we are dismissing the doctrine and teachings of Jesus Christ._

_Let's ask ourselves if we really desire rest for our souls that is offered with the invitation to royalty, if so we must commit to being His disciple and learning from Him all that He commanded._

_Remember many are called but few are chosen. Consider yourself special and show-up._

_We Must Be Patient in Affliction_

_Our faith and patience are always under attack. When panic and fear come upon us, we must stand firm. In times of sickness, money problems, relationship problems, and many other problems, we must be able to endure. James 5:11 says, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy._

_As Christians we are not to take matters in our own hands, we are suppose to know that no matter how big or small something is God will take care of us. He is the master of all situations._

_Let's take a look at Job, he went through some rough times as we all do, but he wouldn't turn from God._

_In James 1:2-3 He lets us know that we should count it Joy when we are tried, he tells us that the trying of our faith produces patience._

_No matter how bad a situation seems, we must deal with our trials and tribulations the way God wants us to deal with them; by continuing to believe in Him and what He says._

_All we have to do is wait on God. No matter what we are going through or how bad things are God will turn your affliction into a blessing._

_In Phil. 4:11-12 Paul said that "he has learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to be abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need."_

_We went through a time in my life where I had nothing. We had $1.00 with no electricity. We used the $1.00 to buy a hotdog to split. It was rough for me and at that time I didn't understand how God would let that happen, I had just gotten slaved and got rid of all activities that was against God. It ended up being an experience that I now thank God for because it is my greatest testimony. Like Paul, it taught me how to deal with having plenty and how to handle being without._

_We must have a trusting relationship with Christ, we have to be able to not only believe He can, but we have to know that He will bring us out. No matter what we are going through, if we seek the kingdom of God first He will provide all we need._

_A Woman Named Somebody_

_Sometimes situations get so heavy we are forced to call on Jesus. In Mark 5:25-34 there was a woman that had an issue of blood for twelve years. In those days they had a law that if you had a sickness, such as abnormal blood, you are considered unclean not only while you have the sickness, but seven days after, therefore you are excluded from public worship. This is a woman that was known by her problems, she is known by her situation._

_How many times have we been in situation where we thought that everybody else could solve our problems, but when our resources ran out they didn't want anything to do with us. In those moments we have to be like the woman with the issue of blood and touch the helm of His Garment._

_Mark 5:27 tells us that when she heard of Jesus she pressed through to touch His garment. She knew that if she could just touch His clothes she would be okay. Scripture tells us that she was immediately healed. When Jesus felt the virtue gone out of Him, He asked, who touched my clothes? The woman fell down before him and He told her that her faith hath made her whole._

_What should you do when you have a problem that nobody else seems to be able to solve? What should you do when the people that ought to be on your side turns against you? What should you do when you can't afford the doctor and they want see you anymore? What should you do when family and friends don't want you around and forsake you? My answer is simple, you go to the source that have power. Jesus is your answer. When Jesus heal, he heals completely and will make a nobody, somebody._

_Dead to Sin Alive in Christ_

_I heard a story about a man caught rolling through a stop sign. He complained to the officer who stopped him that he had at least slowed down. When he heard this, the officer commanded the man out of his vehicle and began beating him with his asp. After a couple whacks, the man fell to the ground and curled up. The officer paused and asked, "Now, do you want me to stop, or do you want me to slow down?"_

_Our text deals with the believer's relationship with sin and his union with Christ. We haven't been saved so that we'll be better than the godless pagans or the self-righteous Jews—we've died to sin and we have nothing to do with it, and we've been joined with Christ so that we're now one._

_Last week we saw that we're born into sin because of the sin of Adam and that we suffered under the reign of death. "Even so" we've been justified by grace which abounds even more than our sin._

_We'll see that being justified means that we'll also now be sanctified. The basis of Paul's argument is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Since we're united with Him, we're free from the grasp of sin and death, and we're alive in Christ._

_Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ_

_1. We have been joined with Christ so that we are now dead to sin (:1-11)_

_What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?_

_" If our sin causes God's grace to abound, then shouldn't we sin even more?"_

_That's a ridiculous thought, and Paul rejects it. I've never heard anyone make this argument verbally, but we've all seen it practically. How often is sin committed knowing that grace covers it? We give in to our temptations knowing we've got grace._

_Certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude :4)_

_There's an expectation that believers will stop living in sin. Paul argues, "How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" When we continue on, claiming grace, we're not much different than those who deny Christ as our Master._

_3Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death,_

_The basis for his argument is our union with Christ through baptism. I want you to watch for words and phrases that deal with being "with Christ" in some manner. We've been joined with Him, so as He has died, so we died; as He was buried, so we were buried; as He was raised, so we are raised. This one point is the entire argument for our new position and attitude towards sin._

_As a result, baptism is much more than just a water ritual; it symbolizes our union with Christ. We're buried with Him!_

_The old man born of Adam is sent to the grave, so that we now no longer have to submit to sin—"how can we who died to sin live in it any longer?"_

_4Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life._

_Our new life comes from the fact that we were buried with Him. Since He was raised through the glory of God, we, being with Him, are also raised in new life._

_For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 16Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (II Cor. 5:14-17)._

_Everything changes with the new life in Christ!_

_5For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,_

_The Greek word for "united" means "of joint origin."_

_Again, this is the emphasis of the text. This is how Paul is so certain of the fact of resurrection. When we joined Christ in burial, we were permanently joined, so that we also rose with Him._

_Now that we've certainly been raised through the glory of the Father, we're to live for His glory; we're dead to sin!_

_6knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7for he who has died is freed from sin. 8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,_

_Our old body of sin is "done away with" by crucifixion. Sin has no mastery over us at all because we now live with Christ._

_9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus._

_Those who are raised with Christ are all paid up with God. The price of sin has been paid, and we are now free to live for God._

_2. Our union with Christ means obedience to God in righteousness (:12-14)_

_12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace._

_Notice that though we're dead to sin we still have the ability to submit to it. The command here is to know the truth that we're in Christ Jesus, and therefore, live righteously through Him._

_Notice also that we're not just supposed to stop offering ourselves to sin; we're to actively offer ourselves to righteousness._

_We're no longer judged by the Law; God's justice has been satisfied by the cross, and we are with Christ in that death, in that burial, and in that resurrection._

_Conclusion_

_#1- We have to see ourselves with and in Christ if we're to walk in righteousness._

_#2- Our relationship to sin is described in terms of death and burial. There's no going back with sin, and it has no mastery over us._

_#3- Those who live as though enslaved by sin should examine themselves to see whether they are slaves of Christ or still slaves of sin. Jesus is clear that no one can serve two masters (Mt. 6:24)._

_#4- Those who are reborn can be certain of their position before God._

_#5- Those who are reborn can rejoice in death knowing it means a full realization of the end of sin._

_By John Shearhart_

_Encouraging Scripture_

_And this is our confidence, that if we pray according to His will, He will hear us, and give us what we ask for, because our desires are in agreement with His thoughts for us. — 1 John 5:14-15_

_If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. — 1John 1:9_

_Come to Me, all you who are weary and weighed down with heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in spirit. Indeed, you will surely find rest in Me! My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. — Matthew 11:28-30_

_Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; look, new things have come! — 2 Corinthians 5:17_

_Those who sow in tears will reap a harvest of joy; for though they may weep while going forth to plant their seed, if they persevere, they will undoubtedly return rejoicing—bringing their sheaves with them. — Psalm 126:5-6_

_I have told you these things so that you would find comfort in Me. In this world, you will suffer; but be courageous, for I have overcome the world! — John 16:33_

_Dreaming of Heaven_

_You dream that you are in_

_this place, not on the ground_

_but in the sky._

_You dream that you are in this_

_place full of warmth, without_

_any harm._

_You dream that you are in this place,_

_where there's light and no darkness_

_You dream that you are in this place_

_where people never hate and always_

_love._

_So that night you wake up and wonder_

_what you were dreaming about,_

_and you finally figured it out,_

_You were dreaming of Heaven!_

_By Devaney Roberts_

_We are the Light of the World_

_Being Christians, we are on a great mission. Our light should clearly shine into the darkness of human depravity. Our light shall not be hid, but put in position to shine throughout the world._

_In Jesus's sermon on the mount, He let those ordinary people know that they were very important. Telling them what He tells us today. "We are the light of the world"._

_John 9:5 lets us know that He is the light of the world,, expecting us to shine as He so shine._

_Through being an example of all that I preach, I came to realize that ministers give the greatest sermons by the lives we live, rather than by the words we deliver._

_The light of the world have three categories in our Christian walk._

_1. Illustration- A light is to be seen through everything, it is to guide, and to warn. If we warn in love instead of condemnation we will be effective._

_2. Application- Here, Jesus shifts our attention from our character to our conduct. We are to shine naturally before others. We must be willing to sacrifice a bit of ourselves each day we live. We are to shine openly, and are to never be ashamed of our relationship with Jesus Christ. We are to shine everywhere, or we will not shine at all._

_Let us remember that we are in the world, but not of this world. 2 Corn. 6:14-17 tells us we should separate ourselves and always reflect Godliness. Letting Our Light Shine._

_Our shining is not meant to draw attention to ourselves, but to draw people to God. I want everyone to realize, wherever we are, it's not by accident, but by divine appointment. WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, SO LET YOUR LIGHT SO SHINE,_

_Authorized Break In_

_When we call on Jesus, we must have faith in order to receive our answer. We have to continue seeking it with patience, not giving up. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him._

_In the book if Mark 2:3-5 the man and his friends gave evidence of faith. While Jesus was in Capernaum people gathered in and around the house He was in, there were three men that had a friend that was sick was the palsy. They could not get into the house to see Jesus because there was no room, so they uncovered the roof and let down the bed that their friend was laying on into the house. When Jesus saw their faith, He told the man that was sick with the palsy that his sins was forgiven and to get up and take his bed. Matt.21:22 tells us that all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive it. The man believed in his heart that his sins was the reason for his illness so Jesus met the man's deepest need, which was forgiveness._

_The men broke into the house that Jesus was in, but it was not a break in that causes a person to go to jail, but a break in that Jesus was proud of them for. Matt. 9:29 tells us that according to your faith, be it unto you._

_How to Make A Fresh Start_

_How many of you would like to have a fresh start in your Christian life? Many of us here have made many mistakes in our lives as Christians. We have experienced many setbacks and failures throughout our lives. Sometimes we allow these mistakes, these setbacks and failures to enslave us to the point that we never enjoy the full Christian life that God has given us to enjoy._

_In John 10:10 Jesus said, "I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly." Then he goes on to tell us that there is an adversary, called the Devil,that seeks to still, kill and destroy that life. The Devil will remind us of our past in order to keep us from enjoying the life that God gave us to live. The Devil does not want us to have a fresh start in life._

_The good news is, God says, I want you to have a fresh start in life, I want you to have a new beginning, I want to do something new in your life. " Aren't you glad that God wants to do something new in your life? Doesn't it make you excited to know that God desire to give you a fresh start, a new beginning in life. What all of us here need is a Fresh Start, a New Beginning with God. Last year some of you said, "I am going to grow in my relationship with God. I am going to pray more, read my bible more and get more involved in my church. I'm going to spend more quality time with my family. " The list could go on. The fact all of us here made some mistakes or we made some bad decision that hindered us from doing those things that wanted to do._

_Well the good news is according to Isaiah 43:18 "The Lord says, `Forget about what has happened before. Do not think about the past. Instead, look at the new things I'm going to do. " Listen to what God is saying in this verse. Forget about what's happened before. He says don't think about the past. It's over. The book's closed on it._

_We need to understand that God is far more interested in our future than He is in our past. Some people think that God is stuck on their past. That all He wants to do is remind them of the things that they have done wrong. God is more interested in our future than He is with our past. That's where you're going to spend the rest of your life. He says, "Forget about your past. Forget about the former things. Don't think about it. Look at the new thing I'm going to do."_

_Israel was being punished for their sins and rebellion against God. God wanted to give hope and encouragement to His people. He wanted them to know that even though they were being punished they were not being forsaken. God wanted His people to understand that the punishment that they were experiencing would not be the end of them. The fact is that God want to give us a fresh start in life, a new Beginning in life._

_Israel no doubt was discouraged because they thought this was the end of them. They had gone too far, they had sinned and rebelled against God to the point that He would no longer be their God. Maybe they thought God would not deliver us again, it's over. That is when they begin to remember the former things or past deliverances. Israel could remember past deliverances and past victories. They could remember when they were trapped by the Red Sea and had nowhere to go, how God made away for them. They could remember that when the enemy was about to overtake them how He provided protection for them. They could remember the former things, but they couldn't see their future. That is why God said; "I am going to do something new._

_Maybe that is where you are! You feel that you have made so many mistakes, you have failed God so many times and you have sinned it all away. Now God doesn't want anything to do with you. You feel and believe that you have no future with God. The good news is, God is saying, "It's not over, I have plans for your life. I am about to do something new for you. "_

_I want to share with you a formula for starting over. S.T.A.R.T. I hope you'll remember this and pass it along to friends when they have failures. Regardless of what kind of failure you had in the past. You may have had a financial failure, or maybe a relational failure, a failure in your marriage. You may have had a moral failure. You may have really blown it and you may have made some decisions you're so ashamed of and hope nobody ever finds out about. Regardless of the failure you've had in your life, here's how you start over._

_S – Stop making excuses._

_If I want a fresh start in life, I have to stop making excuses for my failures. I've got to stop blaming other people. I've got to stop seeing myself as the victim of my circumstances. Other people can hurt us, other people can harm us, and other people can scar us. But the only person that can ruin your life is you. Nobody can ruin your life without your permission. You have a choice and that is you can choose how you're going to respond to those hurts. The Bible says that the starting point is to just be honest and accept responsibility for my part in the problem._

_Proverbs 28:13 "A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confess and forsakes them he gets another chance." He gets a fresh start. He says the starting point to starting over is to be honest and face up to the problems, that most of the problems in my life, most of the failures, are my fault. It is hard to get people to admit when they are wrong. People do not like to admit, "I made a mistake, and I blew it" God says, "That if we admit the mistake, if we admit our failures, and if we admit our sin, then we get another chance in life._

_The number one reason we fail in life is we don't prepare ourselves for the problems that we will face in life. The Bible say's (Proverbs 20:7) "A sensible man watches for problems and prepares to meet them but the fool never looks ahead and suffers the consequences." Was it raining when Noah started building the ark? No. He had to prepare for the coming flood. In fact the rain didn't come for 120 years. But that's how long it took him to get the thing built._

_Because we don't listen to others. We don't listen to good advise when it's offered. The Bible says in Proverbs 15 "Plans fail without good advise." You need to get all the advice you can. Get good advise from people you know you can trust._

_Why want people listen to the advice of other people? Because they think they don't need it. It's called pride. Ego. Ego stands for "Edging God Out." When a person thinks they know more than God, they push Him out of their life, they're on an ego trip and that trip leads to a dead end._

_The Bible says, "Pride always leads to destruction." An arrogant attitude leads to a fall. When I think I know it all and I can figure it all out myself, I'm setting myself up for failure, if I don't listen to the advise of others, if I don't listen to the advise of my wife/boss/husband/other people around me, if I think I'll just do it my way. I'll never get anywhere if I have already arrived. The person that gets too big for their britches, will eventually be exposed in the end. That's the problem with pride._

_We fail to prepare and we fail to listen to other people and we fail as a result._

_We give up too soon. These are the three greatest causes for failure. We give up too soon. Proverbs 24:10 "If you give up when troubles come, it just shows that you are weak." Failure is the path of least resistance. The problem is that often during trying times we stop trying. We give up. If at first you don't succeed, welcome to the human race. If at first you don't succeed, you're normal. Very few people make it on the first try. Oftentimes, we give up just when success is around the corner. You're never a failure until you give up. Sometimes we give up too soon. It's always too soon to quit. The Bible says we need to stop making excuses, admit when it's our fault and get on with life. I've discovered that people who are very good at making excuses are rarely good at anything else. They spend all their energy thinking up reasons why they can't do what they're supposed to do._

_So "S" in START stands for Stop making excuses._

_T - Take An Inventory Of My Life_

_I need to take an inventory of my life. That means I need to evaluate all my experiences. I need to look at what I have left after the failure. I need to take an inventory of my life's experiences and learn from them. Galatians 3:4 "You have experienced many things. Were all those experiences wasted? I hope not." The Living Bible says, "You have suffered so much for the gospel. Now are you going to throw it all over board." I can hardly believe it. Learn from your mistakes. Failure can be your friend or your foe. You determine if failure will be your friend or foe by the way you react to it. You can choose to learn from it or choose to repeat it. If you learn from it then it can be your friend. However, if you don't learn from it is your foe._

_There are four kinds of experiences that God uses to shape our lives._

_He uses personal experiences. The family that you grew up in, the people you relate to. God can use your personal experience with your husband or your wife. He uses personal experiences to shape you._

_He uses vocational and educational experiences to shape you._

_He uses spiritual experiences to shape you, like coming to church, going on a retreat or reading your Bible, having a quiet time._

_He uses painful experiences to shape you._

_As you take inventory of your life in starting over, you need to ask yourself three questions._

_What have I learned? I know people 40, 50 years old but they don't have 40 or 50 years of experience. They've had the same year of experience over and over. They've never learned anything. What have you learned from past experiences? If you don't set down and think it through, you'll end up repeating the same mistake over and over again because you didn't learn from it the first time._

_What are my assets? What have I got going for me? Have I got my health? Have I got my freedom? Am I still mentally sound? Have I got some friends? Have I got the Lord? Have I got a church family? What do I have that I can get a fresh start with?_

_Who can help me? When we need a fresh start, we need somebody by our side – a friend, an accountability partner, a support person, or a support group. Find someone that can help you. You need other people because you don't start over by yourself after a major setback or crisis. You need somebody else to walk along with you. There is one that we can count on to be there to help us to get a fresh start in life. The Lord Jesus will be there, He will help us to pull your lives back together and make sure that we get started on the right foot._

_A - Act in faith_

_This is the third step in getting a fresh start. Act in faith. You have to launch out into new territory. The Bible says that the key to changing anything is faith. If you want to change your circumstance, it takes faith. If you want to change your personality, it takes faith. If you want to change anything in your life, you have to have some faith. Jesus says this in Matthew 9. "According to your faith it will be done to you. " That is a very simple statement but it's very powerful. "According to your faith it will be done to you." That means we tend to get out of life what we expect. "According to your faith it will be done to you." What are you expecting in life? Are things going to be better or worse? Are they going to be the same? If you act in faith then you will do something positive to ensure that you don't repeat the same mistakes over. The faith that I am talking about is not a dead hope so faith. It is an affirmative faith that takes positive action coupled with the help of God to change your life._

_Acts 3:1-5 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them._

_This man asked for something and expected to get it, but in reality he got more than he expected. The point that I want to make is this lame man acted in faith and was greatly rewarded. Many times we ask for something and expect to get nothing and we get exactly what we expected, nothing. In order to start acting in faith that means you've got to stop having a pity party. You've got to stop feeling sorry for yourself. "Poor me! I'm such a victim. Life is unfair." Of course life is unfair! Whoever said it was fair? God never said that. This is a world filled with sin and because of that, life is unfair. But you have to go on with life anyway. You stop having a pity party and stop rehearsing the past, regretting the past, and you get on with the present and the future. The more time we spend regretting our past, the more of our future is wasted. The more time you spend thinking, "I wish that hadn't happened! I wish I could change that. If only I could go back, reverse the clock and redo history," and you're rehearsing and regretting, you'll not only make yourself miserable right now, you're setting yourself up for more of the same thing in the future. The way you set yourself up for more failure is by focusing on past failures. Whatever you focus on you tend to reproduce in your life. "According to your faith it will be done unto you."_

_What you need to do is learn from those failures. Let me give you the real secret of success. Every successful entrepreneur knows this. Real success is built on failure. Failure is the way you become a success. You figure out what doesn't work. When Edison figured out on the 200th or so time, what would make a light bulb stay lit, he did that because he knew 199 ways that didn't work. You never call it a failure in your life. Call it an education. You learn from past failures and mistakes and act in faith for the future. Some people will never act in faith because they have been paralyzed by the fear of past failures and mistakes. What we need to do is learn from the past, act in faith for the future and look to God for guidance. How do you get rid of fear of failure? Faith. That's why the third step in starting over is Act in faith. Faith is not so much the absence of fear, as it is moving ahead in spite of your fear. Sometimes faith is doing the thing you fear the most._

_Stop worrying about what others say or think. Proverbs 29:25 "Being afraid of people can get you into trouble. The Living Bible says, "Fear of man is a dangerous trap, but to trust in God means safety._

_R – Refocus_

_I need to refocus my thoughts if I want to change my life. If I want to get going again, if I want a fresh start, I need to rethink the way that I think. I need to change my mind about a number of issues. Proverbs 4:23 "Be careful how you think. Your life is shaped by your thoughts." The way you think, determines the way you feel. And the way you feel determines the way you act. If you want to change your actions, just change the way you think and it will inevitably change the way you act. If you are depressed, discouraged and distressed it may be because you're thinking depressed, discouraged and distressing thoughts. That's your choice. You don't have to think those thoughts. If you're acting in fearful, worried ways it's because you're thinking fearful, worried thoughts._

_Romans 12:2 "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. " If I have to refocus my thoughts to start over to get a fresh start, that means I have to stop thinking some old patterns. Which memories are you still rehearsing that keep you from having a fresh start in life? The Bible says let go. Let go of those things. The more you hold on to that memory, the more you rehearse it, it continues to hurt you today. It cannot hurt you without your permission. You have to change your mind and let go and get rid of those painful, hurtful memories of shame and guilt and other things._

_How do you do that? First, confession. You say, "I've confessed to God but I still feel guilty. How do I get rid of a painful memory?" Not by resisting it but by replacing it. Not saying, "I'm not going to think about it! I'm not going to think about it!" What are you doing the whole time? Thinking about it. Stop focusing on what you don't want and start focusing on what you do want. Get your attention onto something else. Refocus. Replace those memories by, every time they come up, start thinking about something else. Focus on something else. What's the best thing to focus on? God's word._

_Psalm 1 "Happy are those who are always meditating on God's word. They're like trees along a river that do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do. " Those are the two things that everybody wants in life. We all want to be happy and we all want to succeed. The antidote, the answer, the way we get those is the phrase right in the middle meditating on God's word. " That's the answer to the other two. The more you meditate on God's word, the happier and more successful you'll be in Your Christian life. It's a promise from God. Meditating on God's word simply means rehearsing God's word in our minds._

_It's interesting that the Bible does not say, "If you read this book, you'll be happy and successful." It does not say, "If you listen to this book, like through a sermon, you'll be happy and successful." It says, "If you meditate on it you'll be happy and successful." In meditating it means I think on it over and over and what it means in my life. I consider it and consider its implications for my life. As we fill our mind with God's word, it begins to change our mind. We stop seeing ourselves as other people see us or as we have seen ourselves and we begin to see ourselves as God does. That's where the change takes place. That's the power to start over._

_T – Trust_

_Trust God to help us succeed. Depend on Him. We don't need depend on ourselves. We've already proven that we can't do it on our own. That's why we've failed. Some people just don't get it. They stumble and fall and then they get up and say, "I'll just try harder!" It's like you go up to a wall and bang your head against it and the wall doesn't fall down. You try it again and Bang! Again. You keep doing it thinking, "Maybe it will fall over this time." That's the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting different results. If we keep doing the same thing then we will keep getting the same result. We can't change who we are, only God can do that. I am not speaking about the outward man but the inner man. The real person is the hidden person of the heart. Success in the Christian life is not trying harder, but living smarter. Giving God control of my life._

_Zechariah 4:6 "You will not succeed by your own strength or power but by My Spirit, says the Lord." "When someone becomes a Christian, They become a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!" God specializes in new beginnings. Jesus Christ has the power to do that. It's called being born again, the chance to start over. We can have fresh start with a new life as we begin this New Year. God says, "I don't want you to turn over a new leaf. I'm going to give you a whole new life."_

_Will you have a fresh start in life? Will you have a new beginning? It's your choice. How can I have a fresh start? I can have a fresh start by: Stop making excuses, take inventory of my life, act in faith, refocus my thoughts, and trust God. By Jim Mooney_

_Spiritual Comfort_

_In a world created with vast resources and splendor to provide for all our needs, physical comfort becomes attainable and sustainable by the things of the world, but after our death here on earth. How do we attain unto comfort when we leave the flesh and evolve to the spirit. This is the principal question behind this sermon. Spiritual comfort becomes the ultimate desire of everyone who aims to be a part of the kingdom of God. Spiritual comfort begins while we are on earth and lasts forever, it starts the moment we begin to live in Christ. Spiritual comfort helps a child of God to live happily in the joy of the Lord. When you are comfortable spiritually, it implies that you are able to do the will of God and sin does not in any way have rule over you. Any man that is in the valley of sin cannot boast of any form of spiritual convenience. Anyone who truly desires the kingdom of God but finds himself in the valley of sin can tell of the distress and sorrow of upholding the pleasures of sin within the knowledge of righteousness. Having a perfect understanding of the fact that anyone who wilfully sin is doomed for eternal destruction, but being over-shadowed by the power of sin, such a fellow still finds himself committing sin against God wilfully. This is a woe, a misery and the highest state of distress, the highest level of agony. Therefore, spiritual comfort becomes imperative for every child of God in order to live a happy life, filled with the joy of God and devoid of the agony of holding to sin in the midst of having knowledge of the difference between righteousness and unrighteousness, lust and love. For it is better for a man never to have known Christ than for him to know Christ and in the end, fail to do the will of God. Backsliding is at the door steps of everyone, I mean everyone, nobody is spared. And if it is allowed to take effect, it destroys both the body and soul. And in a desperate bid to ensure that the world doesn't know of your secret sinful acts before the people that takes like a perfect man, you begin to tell lies, adding more sins. For every problem, there are solutions, as such, God has himself made solutions to backsliding. Whether you have backslidden or it is still knocking on your heart, there is a way out of it._

_The very first thing you need to realize is that the power to do the will of God and understand his ways, is a benefit of having the holy spirit. If you do not have the Holy Spirit in you, you are a living ghost, and someday, sin will destroy you and send you into a state of oblivion forever. But when you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, you change from being a living dead and you begin living in the love of God. Your craving and desire for the righteousness becomes high and you lose interest in the things of the world. You separate from all lusts and hatred. The Holy Spirit paves the way for righteousness but you begin to wonder, why some who have received the Holy Spirit sometimes fall off the grace of God, it doesn't just happen to some, you are also on the verge of being a victim of this except you do something. Remember, the Holy Spirit paves the way for righteousness and without him can no man live a holy life. But, the flesh still remains present in you, that corrupted flesh whose works are that of unrighteousness and if not subdued, can lead to eternal destruction. So, assuming you have the Holy Spirit in you. The spirit of holiness is in you tending to spiritual comfort and the flesh is also present in you, tending to spiritual doom and physical pleasure. Here are two forces contending to rule over you, when the Holy Spirit rules you, you become holy but when the flesh rules over you, you become an sinner. Galatians chapter 5 is a sum total of this._

_Gal 5: 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another._

_Having understood this, the solution to attaining unto holiness lies in our ability to subdue the flesh. Beware, at that moment when your mind is at rest, when you believe that you have killed sin in you. Sin never dies, it only becomes silent, it works may die, but would always attempt to make a comeback. It would bring up things that you might consider to be mild sins and with every fall on your part, it brings up a more grievous one until you are fully in the valley of sin, far apart from the way of God. Therefore, the mortification of sin becomes important in the lives of every Christian. It simply means killing sin, it is not something you do once, you must kill sin everyday. The greatest mistake many Christians make is that, they only kill sin once and then relax until sin comes back finding less resistance. John Owen(1616-1683) said "The vigour, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh." He went further to put it in a simpler and more explicit way with these words," Be killing sin or it will be killing you." Killing sin becomes a daily affair, a daily battle and a single moment of relaxing can destroy your soul. You must have been wondering how you can kill sin. The best way to kill sin is through commitment to doing the things of the spirit, preaching the word of God everyday kills sin, reading the bible everyday kills in, the bible will either separate you from sin or sin will separate you from the bible. Here are facts you need to know. Your mind must always be fully concentrated, every single day, no matter how busy you are, you must ensure you engage in things that can edify your soul. Constant edification is a key to killing sin. Many do not realize this fact, think of it, how often do you get so busy with activities tending to physical comfort in so much that you have absolutely no time to attend unto the things that bring spiritual comfort, at such moments, sin is just about to have an upper hand in your life. It is time for you to begin dedicating more time to the things that are good, the things that are spiritual and the things that are edifying, only then can you truly utterly destroy the influence of sin on you. Sin is a barricade between you and your glory. If you have been in sin before, this is the time to make a change in your life, pray to God for the Holy Spirit, and dedicate much of your time to the things that edify the spirit. Give sin no chance in your life. You do not need to think about your bad past, remember, "Your vision is never clear enough to see your future glory until you clean off the tears of the past."_

_The sum of all the acts of mortifying sin is summed up in the three fundamental principles of love._

_1. Think no evil and think good._

_2. Speak no evil and speak good._

_3. Do no evil and do good._

_(Derived from Romans 13:10 and expounded in "The Concept of Love " by John Ishola Olafenwa)_

_When you wake up in the morning to read the bible as the first thing, spend much of your time reading edifying Christian books, write a sermon everyday, preach to your colleagues at work anytime you are opportune and sleep thinking about the things you read and wrote about the ways of God, in such, with the grace of God, sin cannot have dominion over you. Think all that is too much for you to combine with your daily studies or work? Hmmmm. Ask yourself this question, is it too much to spend half of your day on the things that edify or spend eternity wailing, gnashing your teeth and crying forever and ever more in the lake of fire? God placed before you, two choices, good and evil, choose wisely. By Olafenwa John Ishola_

_My Everything_

_He is my everything_

_no matter_

_happens, He always_

_makes me happy_

_when I'm down_

_He is my savior,_

_I know I_

_need to have the_

_right behavior_

_to be with_

_him_

_I'll always love_

_Him, there_

_Is no doubt and_

_If you don't_

_know who I am_

_talking about_

_It's my Lord_

_and Savior Jesus_

_Christ._

_By Devaney Roberts_

_Encouraging Scriptures_

_1 Peter 1:3 - Eternal Life through Christ Jesus_

_Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,_

_Revelation 21:3-4 - God will wipe away every tear_

_And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."_

_Galatians 6:9 - Perseverance_

_And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary._

_Deuteronomy 31:6 - Strength and Courage_

_"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you."_

_Jeremiah 29:11 - God has a plan for your life!_

_'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope._

_Isaiah 41:10 - Find Comfort in God's Promises_

_'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'_

_I pray that these Bible Scriptures were uplifting and encouraging to you today. The word of God is powerful and can change our attitudes and our hearts. Reread some of these Scriptures or write down a few of them to study and memorize and watch God use these Scriptures to encourage and inspire you._

_Hindrance to Salvation_

_I WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO SAY THAT EVERYONE HERE TODAY IS SAVED AND ON THEIR WAY TO HEAVEN. HOWEVER ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES, IT IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY THAT EVERYONE HERE IS SAVED. NOW IT IS NOT BECAUSE GOD DOESN'T WANT YOU TO BE SAVED – HE DOES! THE REASON SO MANY PEOPLE ARE NOT SAVED TODAY IS BECAUSE THERE IS SOMETHING IN THEIR LIFE THAT "HINDERS" THEM FROM BEING SAVED._

_THROUGH THE AVERAGE INDIVIDUALS LIFE, THEY ARE OFFERED GOD'S FREE GIFT OF SALVATION AT LEAST ONCE – FOR SOME IT IS MORE THAN ONCE BUT FOR ONE REASON OR THE OTHER THEY REJECT GOD'S GIFT AND GO ON ABOUT THEIR WAY HEADED FOR HELL._

_WELL, HERE IN THE BOOK OF ACTS, SEVERAL TIMES PAUL STANDS IN JUDGMENT FOR WHAT HE BELIEVES AND FOR THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST._

_NOW WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH THIS MESSAGE TODAY IS SIMPLY POINT OUT SOME 3 DIFFERENT TYPES IN 3 DIFFERENT SITUATIONS AND SHOW YOU WHAT IT WAS THAT KEPT THEM FROM EVER BEING SAVED – AND THEN MAKE IT APPLICABLE TO US TODAY._

_I BEGIN MY MESSAGE WITH A MAN BY THE NAME OF_

_I. FELIX_

_HERE IN CHAPTER 24, PAUL HAS ALREADY TESTIFIED BEFORE FELIX OF THE FALSE ACCUSATIONS THAT WERE AGAINST HIM. HE WAS ACCUSED BY THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE ELDERS FOR STIRRING UP TROUBLE IN THE SYNAGOGUES AND AMONG THE PEOPLE. WELL SEVERAL DAYS HAS PASSED BY AND FELIX ALONG WITH HIS WIFE DRUSILLA HAD SENT FOR THE APOSTLE PAUL TO HEAR HIM CONCERNING THE FAITH. IN OTHER WORDS, THEY CALLED PAUL AND PAUL PREACHED TO THIS MAN A MESSAGE THAT BROUGHT DEEP CONVICTION IN HIS HEART._

_IN V.25 AS PAUL PREACHED OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, TEMPERANCE AND JUDGMENT, THE BIBLE SAYS THAT FELIX TREMBLED. AS FELIX HEARD PAUL PREACH THE WORD OF GOD –_

_· HIS HEART BEGAN TO MELT_

_· DEEP CONVICTION SET INTO HIS SOUL_

_· THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD WAS REALLY WORKING HIM OVER_

_· FELIX KNEW THAT EVERYTHING THAT PAUL WAS SAYING WAS TRUE._

_HERE WAS A MAN –_

_· WHO WAS MARRIED TO ANOTHER MAN'S WIFE_

_· HIS VERY NAME MEANS "PLEASURE"_

_· WHO WAS LICENTIOUS, HIS PASSION WENT UNRESTRAINED!_

_· HE LIVED HIS LIFE WITH THE ATTITUDE – GET ALL YOU CAN WHILE YOU CAN! EAT, SLEEP, DRINK AND BE MERRY_

_HERE WAS A POOR DEPRAVED LOST SINNER WHO HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO SIT AND LISTEN TO A GREAT MAN OF GOD – YET WHEN ALL WAS SAID AND DONE, FELIX ALLOWED HIS LOVE FOR SIN TO KEEP HIM FROM GETTING SAVED!_

_Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee._

_HOW STUPID! HOW DUMB!_

_LET ME BE CLEAR BY SAYING THIS:_

_· YOU CAN'T GET SAVED IN A TIME OF YOUR CONVENIENCE_

_· YOU CAN'T GET SAVED WHEN YOU THINK YOUR READY_

_I'VE HAD MANY PEOPLE SAY TO ME –_

_· I'LL GET SAVED GOD WHEN I GET READY_

_· I'LL GET SAVED WHEN I GET MY LIFE STRAIGHTENED OUT_

_LISTEN FOLKS, IF YOUR GONNA GET SAVED – DO IT NOW!_

_2 CORINTHIANS 6:2_

_For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation_

_ISAIAH 55:6_

_Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near_

_BUT NOW SITTING BESIDE THIS MAN WAS HIS WIFE DRUSILLA. IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT SEEN FIT THAT IT WAS MENTIONED THAT SHE WAS A JEWESS. EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS BY HER FIRST MARRIAGE A MEMBER OF THE HERODIAN FAMILY – SHE WAS STILL A JEW, BUT HAD FORSAKEN HER JEWISH BELIEFS! SHE KNEW HER LIFESTYLE WAS WRONG, SHE KNEW ACCORDING TO THE OLD TESTAMENT LAW THAT SHE WAS LIVING IN SIN! NOW HERE'S WHAT I WANT YOU TO SEE. WHEN PAUL PREACHED, THE BIBLE SAYS THAT FELIX TREMBLED, BUT IT SAYS NOTHING ABOUT HIS JEWISH WIFE! I SINCERELY BELIEVE AS I STUDIED THIS PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE THAT THIS DEAR WOMAN HAD HARDENED HER HEART AGAINST THE TRUTH FOR SO LONG THAT PAUL'S PREACHING HAD LITTLE OR NO EFFECT ON HER AT ALL!_

_OH WHAT A TRAGIC SITUATION SHE WAS IN! MY FRIEND IF YOU EVER COME TO THE POINT THAT YOUR HEART IS NO LONGER CONVICTED WHEN THE WORD OF GOD IS BEING PREACHED – YOU ARE IN TROUBLE! ILL. DR. GEORGE W. TRUITT MANY YEARS AGO HAD A FRIEND WHO WAS A LAWYER IN DALLAS TEXAS. HE CAME TO DR. TRUITT ONE DAY AND SAID, "GEORGE, YOU AND I CAME HERE TO DALLAS AT THE SAME TIME. YOU WERE A YOUNG PREACHER AND I WAS A YOUNG LAWYER. I MUST CONFESS THAT WHEN I FIRST HEARD YOU, I WAS MOVED A GREAT DEAL BY YOUR SERMONS. VERY FRANDLY, THERE WERE NIGHTS WHERE I COULDN'T SLEEP. BUT AS THE YEARS WORE ON, I COULD LISTEN TO YOU AND IT DIDN'T DISTURB ME ANY MORE." HE CHUCKLED AND SAID, "AND YOU ARE A LOT BETTER PREACHER NOW THAN YOU WERE THEN."_

_HOW TRAGIC THAT IS! YOU SEE FOLKS, THE MORE YOU KNOWINGLY LIVE IN SIN – THE LESS AND LESS THE TRUTH WILL BE ABLE TO CONVICT YOUR HEART._

_EPHESIANS 4:19_

_Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasci-viousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness._

_II. FESTUS – IT WAS HIS FEAR OF MAN_

_IN VERSES 19-20 WE CAN SEE THAT DURING THE TIME HE HAD SPENT WITH FESTUS HE HAD SURELY WITNESSED TO HIM. IN VERSE 19 THE BIBLE SAYS PAUL HAD AFFIRMED JESUS WHO FESTUS KNEW WAS DEAD TO BE ALIVE. PAUL HAD TOLD FESTUS THAT JESUS WAS THE CHRIST WHO ROSE FROM THE DEAD. IN VERSE 20 WE SEE THE REPLY OF FESTUS TO THE GOSPEL. FELIX USED PROCRASTINATION AS HIS TICKET TO HELL AND NOW FESTUS USES UNBELIEF. THE BIBLE SAYS IN VERSE 20 THAT HE DOUBTED OF SUCH MANNER OF QUESTIONS._

_I AM GOING TO GO WAY OUT ON A LIMB HERE HUMM, AND SAY THAT THIS MAN DOUBTED HIS WAY TO HELL WITH ALL THE REST OF THOSE WHO HAVE DIED IN UNBELIEF OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. JESUS INDEED ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND THIS SHOWS HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE AS LORD. I LIKE THE SONG THAT SAYS THEY BURIED HIM BUT I TALKED TO HIM TODAY. THEY PUT HIM IN A TOMB ALMOST 2000 YEARS AGO THINKING HIM TO BE DEAD FOREVER BUT I WANT YOU TO KNOW I TALKED TO HIM TODAY. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT WHOSOEVER WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED. WHETHER YOU BELIEVE IT OR NOT HE IS THE RISEN LORD AND YOU WILL SUBMIT TO HIM NOW OR YOU WILL SUBMIT TO HIM WHEN HE JUDGES YOUR SIN AND CAST YOU INTO HELL. ACTS 4:12 SAYS "NEITHER IS THERE SALVATION IN ANY OTHER: FOR THERE IS NONE OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN GIVEN AMONG MEN WHEREBY WE MUST BE SAVED." PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11 SAYS "THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, OF THINGS IN HEAVEN, AND THINGS IN EARTH, AND THINGS UNDER THE EARTH; AND THAT EVERY TONGUE SHOULD CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER._

_III. AGRIPPA – IT WAS HIS ATTITUDE TOWARD TIME_

_3. AGRIPPA- FINALLY WE SEE A THIRD REJECTION OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST BY A ROMAN POLITICIAN. IN ACTS 26: 1-26 YOU CAN SEE THAT AGRIPPA HAD A DECENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE SCRIPTURES AND THE RELIGION OF THE JEWS. PAUL TELLS HIM THAT HE WILL GLADLY TELL THIS HIGH PLATFORM POLITICIAN HIS TESTIMONY. PAUL PROCEEDS TO TELL AGRIPPA HOW HE PERSONALLY MET THE LORD ON THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS. HE THEN TELLS AGRIPPA THAT CHRIST WAS SUPPOSED TO SUFFER AND DIE AND THAT HE WOULD BE THE FIRST THAT SHOULD RISE FROM THE DEAD. AGAIN, PAUL PRESENTS A RISEN LORD AND SAVIOR FOR ALL MANKIND, INCLUDING THE GENTILES. PAUL THEN ASKS AGRIPPA THE MAGIC QUESTION AND SAYS, KING AGRIPPA, BELIEVEST THOU THE PROPHETS? AGRIPPA GIVES A SAD RESPONSE THAT IS SHARED BY MANY PEOPLE OF ALL KINDS TODAY. HE SAYS, PAUL, ALMOST THOU PERSUADEST ME TO BE A CHRISTIAN. WE ALL KNOW THAT ALMOST ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH BUT IN HORSESHOES AND HANDGRANADES. ALMOST SAVED IS ALL THE WAY LOST. ALMOST SAVED IS DEFINITELY GOING TO HELL. AGRIPPA NO DOUBT WAS ALSO UNDER CONVICTION OF THE HOLY GHOST JUST AS FELIX WAS AND INSTEAD OF PROCRASTINATION HE JUST FLATLY REJECTS THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WITH AN ALMOST YOU PERSUADED ME._

_ALL THREE OF THESE MEN ARE CRYING OUT IN THE MIDST OF WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH IN THE PLACE WE KNOW AS HELL. THEY ARE SUFFERING ETERNALLY FOR PROCRASTINATING SALVATION, NOT BELIEVING SALVATION, AND FLATLY REJECTING SALVATION. IF YOU COULD TALK TO THESE MEN RIGHT NOW AS THEY FRY LIKE A PIECE OF BACON I'M SURE THAT YOU WOULD SAY TO THEM, WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST GET SAVED. THERE YOU ARE BURNING AND TOTALLY DEPRAVED OF HOPE AND NEVER WILL YOU KNOW ANYTHING OF GOD, ETERNALLY SEPARATED FROM HIS AID. WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST GET SAVED._

_I ASK THE SAME QUESTION OF MANY OF YOU TODAY. WHY DON'T YOU JUST GET SAVED. WHAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK. WHAT ARE YOU HOLDING TO THAT WOULD BE WORTH AN ETERNITY IN HELL. I WANT TO GIVE YOU 5 THINGS I BELIEVE PEOPLE ARE HOLDING ON TOO THAT HAS KEPT THEM FROM ACCEPTING GOD'S FREE GIFT OF SALVATION. THIS SHOULD NOT TAKE LONG, SO PLEASE BARE WITH ME AND READ THEM. MANY, MANY LOCAL CHURCH MEMBERS AS WELL AS THOSE THAT ARE IN THE WORLD WILL GO TO HELL BECAUSE THEY REJECT THE GIFT OF GOD FOR ONE OR MORE OF THESE 5 THINGS._

_1. PRIDE: I BELIEVE THAT PRIDE IS THE BIGGEST SIN THAT PEOPLE HAVE THAT KEEPS THEM FROM BEING SAVED. THEY ARE SIMPLY TO PROUD TO BOW. TO PROUD TO SUBMIT TO THE AUTHORITY AND LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST._

_A. PRIDE IS A CHARACTERISTIC OF SATAN. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT SATAN FELL BECAUSE OF PRIDE (ISAIAH 14: 12-23). THE BIBLE TEACHES THAT THOSE WHO ARE NOT SAVED OR BORN AGAIN ARE THE CHILDREN OF SATAN. CHILDREN OFTEN SHARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THEIR FATHER SO THIS IS NO SURPRISE. YOU AND THE DEVIL HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON AND THAT IS YOUR STINKING PRIDE. YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT YOUR REPUTATION OR WHAT PEOPLE WILL THINK AND YOU WILL END UP IN HELL BECAUSE OF IT._

_B. THE BIBLE CALLS YOU WICKED. LISTEN, IF GOD SAYS YOU ARE WICKED BECAUSE OF PRIDE THEN YOU ARE WICKED. PSALMS 73:3 TALKS ABOUT THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED AND THEN IN VERSE 6 WE SEE THERE MAIN CHARACTERISTIC. IT IS THE SAME AS YOURS AND THE SAME AS SATAN'S. "THEREFORE PRIDE COMPASSETH THEM ABOUT AS A CHAIN; ........" THE BIBLE SAYS THAT YOUR PRIDE HAS YOU BOUND UP LIKE A CHAIN AND JESUS SAID THAT IF YOU WILL GET IN HIM THAT HE WILL SET YOU FREE._

_C. PRIDE WILL KEEP YOU FROM GETTING SAVED. THE BIBLE SAYS IN PSALMS 10:4 "THE WICKED , THROUGH THE PRIDE OF HIS COUNTENANCE, WILL NOT SEEK AFTER GOD: GOD IS NOT IN ALL HIS THOUGHTS." EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE NOT SEEKING GOD BECAUSE YOU ARE TO PROUD TO GET SAVED I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT HE IS SEEKING AFTER YOU. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT JESUS CAME TO SEEK AND TO SAVE THAT WHICH WAS LOST. YOU ARE LOST AND IF YOU WILL DROP THAT CHAIN OF PRIDE AND TURN TO HIM HE WILL SAVE YOU. JUST GET SAVED. DON'T HOLD ON TO YOUR PRIDE, IT'S NOT WORTH IT. IT'S NOT WORTH AN ETERNITY IN HELL AND THEN THE LAKE OF FIRE._

_2. PLEASURE: A LOT OF PEOPLE LOVE PLEASURES OF THIS WORLD SO MUCH AND WHAT THIS WORLD HAS TO OFFER THAT THEY ARE NOT WILLING TO LIVE FOR GOD AND GET SAVED. PEOPLE HAVE SAID MANY TIMES THAT THEY DO NOT WANT TO GIVE UP ALL THE FUN THEY ARE HAVING TO BECOME SOME KIND OF JESUS FREAK. WELL, THE BIBLE SAYS YOUR PLEASURE WILL NOT LAST BECAUSE THERE IS COMING A PAY DAY WHEN YOU WILL SUFFER AN ETERNITY IN HELL FOR REJECTING THE SON OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AS YOUR TICKET TO HEAVEN. IT'S NOT WORTH IT._

_A. PLEASURE WILL NOT SATISFY YOU. HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED HOW EVEN YOUR BEST OF TIMES ENJOYING THE PLEASURES OF THIS WORLD HAVE TO BE REPEATED. THE PLEASURE YOU GOT FROM DOING SOMETHING WILL NOT LAST AND IS FORGOTTEN BEFORE YOU KNOW IT. ECCLESIASTES 2:1 SAYS "I SAID IN MINE HEART, GO TO NOW, I WILL PROVE THEE WITH MIRTH, THEREFORE ENJOY : AND BEHOLD THIS ALSO IS VANITY." THE WISEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED (SOLOMON) SAYS THAT PLEASURES OF THIS WORLD ARE VANITY. LET ME SAY THAT I CAN PROCLAIM WITH NO ILL TO MY CONSCIENCE THAT SINCE I GOT SAVED, BORN AGAIN, I AM SATISFIED WITH JESUS. PLEASURE WILL NOT SATISFY BUT JESUS WILL._

_B. PLEASURE IS SHORT-LIVED. AS WE SAID BEFORE, PLEASURES OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE OR HAVE DONE IN THIS WORLD WILL NOT LAST. THEY ARE SOON FORGOTTEN. HEBREWS 11: 24-26 "BY FAITH MOSES, WHEN HE WAS COME TO YEARS, REFUSED TO BE CALLED THE SON OF PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER; CHOOSING RATHER TO SUFFER AFFLICTION WITH THE PEOPLE OF GOD, THAN TO ENJOY THE PLEASURES OF SIN FOR A SEASON. ESTEEMING THE REPROACH OF CHRIST GREATER RICHES THAN THE TREASURES IN EGYPT, FOR HE HAD RESPECT UNTO THE RECOMPENSE OF THE REWARD."_

_C. PLEASURE WILL SEAL YOUR FATE. 2ND THESSALONIANS 2:12 SAYS "THAT THEY ALL MIGHT BE DAMNED WHO BELIEVED NOT THE TRUTH BUT HAD PLEASURE IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS." THE BIBLE SAYS THAT THE PLEASURES OF SIN AND OF THIS WORLD WILL ONLY LAST FOR A SHORT SEASON AND THEN COMES JUDGEMENT DAY. YOU MAY BE HAVING PLEASURE IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS NOW BUT IN ETERNITY, WHILE YOU ARE SUFFERING THE TORMENTS OF HELL, YOU WILL WISH YOU COULD COME BACK AND RECEIVE THE FREE GIFT GOD IS OFFERING THROUGH HIS SON. THIS GIFT IS ETERNAL LIFE. JUST GET SAVED._

_3. PEOPLE: THE BIBLE SAYS IN PSALMS 118:8 THAT "IT IS BETTER TO TRUST IN THE LORD, THAN TO PUT CONFIDENCE IN MAN." A LOT OF YOU WHO ARE READING THIS MESSAGE ARE GOING TO END UP IN HELL BECAUSE OF THE INFLUENCE PEOPLE HAVE ON YOUR LIVES. YOU MAY HAVE CONFIDENCE IN A MINISTER WHO IS TELLING YOU THAT YOUR WORKS ARE GOING TO GET YOU INTO HEAVEN OR ARE THE REASON YOUR SAVED. YOU MAY HAVE CONFIDENCE IN A CHURCH AND WHAT IT TEACHES. YOU MAY HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOURSELF . PEOPLE ARE A BIG REASON THAT OTHERS WILL NOT RECEIVE THE FREE GIFT OF SALVATION._

_A. FRIENDS- SOME OF YOU ARE AFRAID THAT YOU WILL LOSE YOUR FRIENDS. YOUR RIGHT. YOU WILL LOSE A LOT OF FRIENDS WHEN YOU GET BORN AGAIN, BUT YOU WILL FIND THAT THEY WERE NOT REALLY FRIENDS ANYWAY. JAMES 4:4 SAYS "YE ADULTERERS AND ADULTERESSES; KNOW YE NOT THAT THE FRIENDSHIP OF THE WORLD IS ENMITY WITH GOD? WHOSOEVER THEREFORE WILL BE A FRIEND OF THE WORLD IS THE ENEMY OF GOD." I'D RATHER HAVE GOD ON MY SIDE THAN ALL THE FRIENDS THIS WORLD COULD OFFER. JUST GET SAVED AND YOU WILL GET SOME NEW FRIENDS. SOME REAL ONES. YOU WILL HAVE JESUS AND THE BIBLE SAYS THAT HE IS A FRIEND THAT STICKETH CLOSER THAN A BROTHER. YOU WILL HAVE SOME CHURCH FOLKS THAT WILL BECOME YOUR FRIENDS AND EDIFY AND ENCOURAGE YOU IN YOUR WALK WITH THE LORD._

_B. FAMILY- I HAVE WITNESSES TO MANY PEOPLE WHO SHRUG OFF THE GOSPEL BY CHANGING THE SUBJECT TO SOME FAMILY MEMBER OR GROUP IN THEIR FAMILY WHO GOES TO THIS CHURCH OR FOLLOWS THIS BELIEF. THE PEOPLE THEY ARE CLOSEST TOO ARE THERE EXCUSE FOR NOT GETTING SAVED. THEY SAY WELL MY GRANDFATHER WAS A PREACHER OR MY UNCLE PREACHES DOWN AT THE METHODIST CHURCH. THERE ARE OTHERS WHO HAVE TIGHT NIT FAMILIES AND THEY KNOW IF THEY GET SAVED THAT THEY WILL BE AN OUTCAST TO THE FAMILY. THEY HAVE FAMILY REUNIONS AND PARTIES THAT ANY SAVED PERSON WOULD NOT FIT IN. I SAY DROP EM PRAISE GOD AND JUST GET SAVED. NOBODY IS WORTH GOING TO HELL OVER. THE BIBLE SAYS IN MATTHEW 10:37 "HE THAT LOVETH FATHER OR MOTHER MORE THAN ME IS NOT WORTHY OF ME; AND HE THAT LOVETH SON OR DAUGHTER MORE THAN ME IS NOT WORTHY OF ME." JUST GET SAVED AND WIN YOUR FAMILY TO GOD MAN. THEN YOU CAN ALL ENJOY THAT SWEET REUNION WITH THE LORD IN THE BY AND BY._

_C. FOES- A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK THAT IF THEY GET SAVED THAT IT WILL LEND THEIR ADVERSARIES MORE AMMUNITION AGAINST THEM. THEY WANT TO HOLD UP THEIR REPUTATION TO THERE ENEMIES. THE BIBLE TEACHES THAT OUR REAL ENEMY IS SATAN AND THAT WE FIGHT NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD BUT AGAINST HIS POWERS. HEBREWS 6:12 "FOR WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES, AGAINST POWERS, AGAINST THE RULERS OF THE DARKNESS OF THIS WORLD, AGAINST SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS IN HIGH PLACES." YOUR REAL ENEMY IS SATAN WHO ROAMS ABOUT SEEKING WHO HE MAY DESTROY. HE WANTS YOU TO CONTINUE LIVING FOR HIM AND FULFILLING HIS LUST AND BY DOING SO YOU WILL END UP IN THE PLACE THAT WAS ORIGINALLY PREPARED FOR HIM (HELL)._

_4. PAST: A LOT OF PEOPLE IN OUR DAY SEEM TO THINK THAT THE SINS THEY HAVE COMMITTED IN THE PAST AND ARE COMMITTING NOW ARE TO SEVERE FOR THEM TO BE SAVED. THEY THINK THAT THEY ARE BEYOND SAVING._

_A. PAST SINS- THE BIBLE SAYS THAT JESUS'S BLOOD PAID FOR ALL OUR SINS; PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. EPHESIANS 1:7 SAYS "IN WHOM WE HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE." JESUS BLOOD DID NOT JUST PAY FOR SMALL SINS BUT ALL SINS_

_B. PAST FAILURES- A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK THAT BECAUSE THERE TRACK RECORD IS FILLED WITH FAILURES THAT GOD CANNOT USE THEM AND THAT THERE IS NO REASON TO GET SAVED AND LIVE FOR HIM. I SAY JUST GET SAVED AND GOD WILL MAKE A WINNER OUT OF YOU. THE BIBLE SAYS IN 2ND CORINTHIANS 5:17 "THEREFORE IF ANY MAN BE IN CHRIST, HE IS A NEW CREATURE: OLD THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD, ALL THINGS BECOME NEW." THAT'S RIGHT FRIEND. IF YOU WILL GIVE YOUR LIFE TO THE LORD AND GET SAVED HE WILL MAKE YOU A TOTALLY NEW CREATION AND ALL YOUR PAST FAILURES WILL BE GONE THAT HE CAN MAKE YOU NEW._

_C. PAST COMMITMENTS- THERE ARE OTHERS WHO HAVE EVEN MADE PACTS AND VOWS WITH SATAN AND BECAUSE OF THIS THEY THINK THEY ARE BEYOND SAVING. I WILL SAY THAT THERE IS NO DOUBT THEY ARE IN DANGER OF REPROBATION BUT IT MAY NOT BE TO LATE. ANY PACT WITH THE DEVIL OR ANYONE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER THAT WOULD CAUSE SOMEONE TO PASS UP ON THE GIFT OF SALVATION IS OVERRULED BY THE WORD OF GOD. THE BIBLE SAYS IN 2ND PETER 3:9 "THE LORD IS NOT SLACK CONCERNING HIS PROMISE, AS SOME MEN COUNT SLACKNESS; BUT IS LONG-SUFFERING TO US-WARD, NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE."_

_5. THE PRICE: FIRST OF ALL, LET ME SAY THAT JESUS PAID IT ALL. WHEN CHRIST BLED AND DIED ON THE CROSS HE PAID THE SIN PENALTY FOR ALL WHO WILL COME TO HIM. HE WAS THE PROPITIATION FOR THE WHOLE WORLD IS WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. JOHN 3:16 SAYS "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE."_

_SECONDLY, THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT WILLING TO REPENT AND GET SAVED. THE BIBLE SAYS IN LUKE 13:3 AND AGAIN IN LUKE 13:5 "I TELL YOU NAY, BUT EXCEPT YE REPENT, YOU SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH." YES, JESUS PAID THE PRICE TO GET TO HEAVEN BUT YOU MUST BE WILLING TO LET IT ALL GO AND TURN TO HIM. SURRENDER YOUR LIFE TO HIM AND HE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU. IT'S A PROMISE. JUST GET SAVED. YOU'LL NOT REGRET IT. IT'S THE GREATEST THING BY FAR THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO THIS OLD COUNTRY BOY AND IT WILL BE THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENS TO YOU NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE._

_By Niles Llyod_

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