A Wonderful Church

http://www.tscnyc.org/

I love this ministry!

Waiting Too Late

The Lord is longsuffering with us, and oh how I'm grateful. Yet there comes a time when all of His warnings will be past and His judgment will come. As you look all throughout the Word of God at the promises of the soon coming of our Savior, and the examples of those who will be caught unprepared to meet Him, it made me think of all the times in His Word we see people that simply waited too late.
Remember Israel after the twelve spies were sent into Canaan? Ten came back with a terrible report of insurmountable odds. They pretty much said, "Yes the land looks great but the enemy is too big so don't even think about it." But when judgment was pronounced upon them they changed their 'tune.' They were ready then to fight, only it was too late, they had made their choice and God was no longer going to fight on their side.
What about later in Israel's history when we find Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah and so many others foretell of their imminent doom? Time and again they would not heed the warning of the Lord and faced the prophesied judgment to come. Only then to realize they should have listened sooner.
There are so many we could list. What about the Roman Centurion at Jesus' crucifixion? He was there through the mocking, the scourging, the buffeting and the gambling of His clothes with all of the humiliation, yet it was after our Savior's death that he declared, "Truly, this was the Son of God."
Is it possible for us to break the trend and actually learn applicable truths from history instead of allowing it to simply repeat itself? Can we look at these examples and say, "Not me!" This needs to be a declaration on our part. We need to realize that the Lord is not slack concerning His promise (2 Peter 3:9).
Let us not be at ease in Zion or declare peace and safety when sudden destruction is looming around the corner (Amos 6:1 & 1 Thes 5:3). Let us declare that we are thankful for the ability to hear what the Spirit is saying unto the churches (Rev. 2-3). Because we can hear His voice we will heed His warnings and cling to the victory He secured on Calvary and through the Resurrection!
We declare today that we will not be lulled to sleep by an enemy bent on stealing our soul. We declare as Joshua, "Jos 24:15- And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
God bless you and keep you as you go forward with Him!

Understanding our Purpose

Is it just me or has the church seemingly lost her zeal for the "Cause of Christ?" It seems that we have so many pieces of a 'religious pie' yet many of us are missing the very key ingredient. I'm referring to the fact that the church was left on earth by Jesus to manifest the life of Christ in everything we do.

His love, His compassion, His holiness, His honesty, His power, etc. should be radiating from our being as a beacon of pure light shining into the night telling all the tattered, worn and broken ships where to find safety, peace and joy. We should be fulfilling the Great Commission (found in Matt. 28:18-20 & Mark 16:15 and elsewhere in Scripture), we should let His Light shine (Matt. 5:16), yet it seems that we are focussed on everything else but this.

You have many churches which obviously have a 'private' mission statement that must read "Tell the world why other churches aren't right but we are." Now I'm all for calling out false prophets and teachers' doctrine, and I'm all for "contending for the faith" (Jude 3), yet I'm not in support of that becoming our mission. I believe our zeal for one item can cloud our vision and cause us to lose focus on the 'cause' of Christ.

There are many other churches which run sort of on the other side of that line by doing anything (and sometimes everything) to bring people together in a building on Sundays. They will eliminate 'offensive doctrines' and will not preach against sin, so that people will come to church on Sundays. But without the wonderful truth of repentance (which is a change of mind and thereby a change of lifestyle) people are not drawn by the Spirit of God to the Way, the Truth and the Life, they only become complacent, pacified members of a 'glorified social club.' Again, in this the church has lost its vision of the 'Cause.'

During this time of year, let us come back to the reason in which we are here. There is a world that is dying and going to hell and the Lord has commissioned us, His bride, to go forth and win them to Him.

Lord, fill me with Your Spirit and power, so that I would become an effective witness for You. Let me be led by Your Spirit at all times. Open doors for witnessing. Keep me focused on You and You alone. Amen!

Am I Back?

I've said this I don't know how many times, "I'm going to start writing again" only to find out within a week or two I'm just as busy as I was when I stopped writing. So this time I'm asking instead of saying, "Am I back?"
I hope to be back to writing on here and other sites I was writing on, but it's all in the Lord's hands. Hopefully tomorrow there will be a new post and then we will try to do a few a week. Not sure if the few following are still following, but wanted to post this anyways.

God bless!

Good News for Heavy Hearts

Pro 12:25 Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that we are living in a society that is filled with people with heavy hearts. The economic climate, the moral climate and natural disasters are just a few of the ‘weights’ that seemingly bring about this heaviness. Anxiety, worry, doubt, discouragement and heaviness are prevalent.
As for us, the children of God, we are viewing the happenings around us with soberness that Peter calls for in 1 Peter 4:7. We see these things taking place and we are encouraged to continue in prayer. We also realize that these things must come to pass and that God is still in control and our prayer is coupled with thanksgiving. We are reminded that He has our best interest at our heart no matter what! What good news that is to us.
With that good news, or that good word making our hearts glad, the question then must be raised...are we desiring to carry this same good word to all of the hurting people of this world? There are countless thousands in other nations who have never heard the name of Jesus; their hearts are no doubt heavy, do we care enough to carry them a good word? A burden for other nations is necessary but what about our own nation?
Did you know that the number is steadily rising in our own nation of people who have never heard the gospel? According to studies, we are the world's 3rd largest unchurched nation! A statement I read recently stated that children are no longer rebelling against the truth to live their own way, they have never heard the truth so therefore have nothing to rebel against.
There is a world filled with hurting people all around you. Your family, your co-workers, your friends. Their hearts are heavy; they are searching for peace; they are searching for happiness. Will you tell them? Will you tell them that there is peace, there is joy, there is hope for their heavy heart? Share the good news with someone today. Let the world know that Jesus Saves! That's the best news of all.

I'm a Winner!

Hello again blogging world....it's been quite a while since I've been on here. Maybe this time I can keep at it..I guess only time will tell.

I'm going to start back with a quick devotional thought, if you feel as if you cannot win, that the circumstances are too great, that the enemy is just too strong and there is no light at the end of the tunnel then Psalm 27 is where you need to be today. "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" My what precious and powerful words which are spoken to the soul.

Do not become discouraged and comtemplate throwing in the towel...just trust in Jesus who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the One who will keep you from falling! If He is on your side, who do you have to be afraid of? You are a winner in Christ today...never forget and never let the enemy tell you otherwise.

God bless!

What Will you do WIth the Box?

Try to imagine yourself hiking through a thick, lucious forest. In the middle of the forest, you stumble upon a cabin, where you can tell someone is living. Slowly you push the creaking door open to find an older gentleman with tattered clothing and a matted beard hunched over a desk scribbling in a notebook. There are test tubes lining the walls; computer screens flashing all around you. The gentleman’s hygiene is not up to par to say the least, but you can tell that it is because he has devoted himself to his work, whatever that is. Out of curiosity and maybe a little bit of concern, you interrupt him from his work. You introduce yourself and surprisingly begin conversing. This meeting led to others and you soon become extremely close friends; the only secret between the two of you is what exactly this man's work is. After many years of close companionship the man in the cabin finds himself at death’s doorstep. While on his death bed, the old man pulls you to his side, grabs a box from under his bed and carefully hands it to you. He then begins to tell you that this is the results of his life work; that the contents of this box, contains the secrets to all of the world’s major problems. He said that if what is in this box is acted upon, the problems of world hunger, world peace, economic, moral, social and justice problems will all be solved. He explains further that it will be hard work, and it will mean sacrificing your whole life just as he has done to put it into action, but he assures you that if you do it, all of the major world issues will be resolved.
You are shocked, you’re speechless, and your mind races as you try to process what all just happened. As soon as you can, you take the box to a group of scientists who then test the old man’s results and find that what the man said was actually true. As you sit on your bed that night, you begin to realize the awesome responsibility that has just been handed to you. Here is the question though, “what will you do with it?” In your hands you hold the answer to all of the world’s problems, but what will you do? Will you shove it to the side in hopes that someone else will pick it up and put it into action? Will you stick it on a shelf or in a drawer with all the best intentions to one day pick it up and begin to work, but after you have lived your life a little? Will you begin working on this project only to get weary and burn out on it in a matter of weeks? I hope and pray that all of us would at that time pick the box up, realize that life is not just about us, stop being selfish and we would cause the sufferings of many people on our planet to cease.
Spiritually, what will you do with the box? In the spiritual side of things, we hold the answers to the church’s problems, and if truth be told the world’s problems now but many times we push them to the side only to forget about them and move on. God has given us his word, and he has promised us many blessings throughout the pages of the precious Bible if we would just listen, trust and obey. But many times we just take his word, put it in a drawer or on a shelf and leave it there until Sunday rolls around. Many professing Christians only open their bibles on Sunday morning when they turn to follow the preacher, and this is sickening to God. He has shown us in his word that we could have power, that we could pull down strongholds, that we could be strong in the Lord and that we could be more than conquerors! He has given us the key, if we would only put it into action. I urge you to ask yourself: What will you do with the box?