I preached a sermon recently out of Colossians 1, dealing with the subject of Christ's preeminence. Paul was writing to Colosse to refute doctrines that were creeping into the church that were attacking the Deity of Jesus Christ. The doctrines were putting Him on the same level as created spirit-beings such as angels. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Christ can never be compared to angels, creatures on earth, the universe, etc. He is far above everything that can be named upon the earth. It is impossible to name something that is of greater value, power, strength or abillity than Christ.
No matter what the world says about Him He is still the Rock of Ages, the Word, the Lord of lords, the Head of the Church, the Lamb of God, the King of Kings, the Good Shepherd, the Bread of Life, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Way, the Truth and the Life! He is above all and without Him nothing would exist and be sustained as it now is.
Why do you need to know this child of God? That's easy...because now you realize even more clearly that no matter what problem comes against you, Jesus is above it! Are you struggling with the guilt of your past sins? Jesus is above that! Are you feeling the flesh begin to rise? Jesus is above that too! Is Satan and/or his demons lying in your ear? Jesus is above them too! Do you feel that there is no light at the end of your trial tunnel? Jesus is above it! Are you fearful because of what's going on in the world today? Jesus is above it!
What about sickness, is it still fighting against your body? Jesus is above it! You say you've been battling depression? Jesus is above that too! You could try for 10 million years to come up with a scenario, a 'bad guy', a trial or a situation that could overpower Jesus...but there is none! He is the Supreme Ruler of everything and guess what...He lives in YOU! In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9) and He DWELLS IN YOU! PRAISE GOD!
You are not defeated, weak or disabled when you are in Him! Let Him live in you during your toughest trials and your greatest victories; after all,He is above them all!
Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
God Bless!
Showing posts with label holy ghost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holy ghost. Show all posts
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
A Plea for Repentance
Do you remember the prophet Amos? He is in the Old Testament and you will find his book directly following Joel. Amos had the difficult task, as many prophets did and do, of prophesying of God's upcoming judgment upon a nation. At this time, Israel was at its peek. They had the most land they had ever had, they were in political peace and their nation was prosperous, but spiritually and morally they were corrupt.
Amos began to prophesy to them God's plan of action. He let them know of His judgment that would soon be given, and His wrath that would be poured out. God's wrath would be poured out on the nations of Israel & Judah, and many others.
But looking into chapter 4, we see that God had already sent calamities and disasters to them. He had sent drought, famine and pestilence; all to try to bring them to the realization that they had forsaken the God of their fathers. You see, God loves His children so much that even when we travel down the wrong path He will send things our way to bring us back to the place we need to be. But the key is, we must be willing to respond to His convicting power and REPENT!
Israel was not! Time after time in this chapter we read the words that must have been painful for Amos to write and even more painful for our Lord to inspire, "yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." Oh what a horrible site. God's loving arms reaching out, His loving warnings, rebukes and chastisments going out, but they are all met with rejection! Remember Jesus when He said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" (Luke 13:34).
How does this apply to our life? Well, individually we need to always be striving for a closer walk with God. Every day the Lord will draw us closer to Him if we allow Him to do the work in us necessary. But as a nation, we need to understand that God doesn't have to send anymore prophets, He has already given us His Word! I live in the United States of America which at one time was a Christian nation. We are now a nation that is doing its best to remove the name of God out of any and everything. We are killing mass amounts of precious babies each and every day. We have almost totally abandoned God and everything He stands for.
Proverbs 9:17 says, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." We are there. God's judgment will come upon this nation. There is no other way to see it. God is just! He will not hold one nation to one standard and have a different standard completely for another. God help us realize that we need to repent!
I urge you, don't reject the call of God to repentance. Don't ignore the conviction of the Holy Ghost when He moves upon you. Pray for our nation, pray for yourselves and pray for God's mercy to be upon us. Just Pray!
Amos began to prophesy to them God's plan of action. He let them know of His judgment that would soon be given, and His wrath that would be poured out. God's wrath would be poured out on the nations of Israel & Judah, and many others.
But looking into chapter 4, we see that God had already sent calamities and disasters to them. He had sent drought, famine and pestilence; all to try to bring them to the realization that they had forsaken the God of their fathers. You see, God loves His children so much that even when we travel down the wrong path He will send things our way to bring us back to the place we need to be. But the key is, we must be willing to respond to His convicting power and REPENT!
Israel was not! Time after time in this chapter we read the words that must have been painful for Amos to write and even more painful for our Lord to inspire, "yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." Oh what a horrible site. God's loving arms reaching out, His loving warnings, rebukes and chastisments going out, but they are all met with rejection! Remember Jesus when He said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" (Luke 13:34).
How does this apply to our life? Well, individually we need to always be striving for a closer walk with God. Every day the Lord will draw us closer to Him if we allow Him to do the work in us necessary. But as a nation, we need to understand that God doesn't have to send anymore prophets, He has already given us His Word! I live in the United States of America which at one time was a Christian nation. We are now a nation that is doing its best to remove the name of God out of any and everything. We are killing mass amounts of precious babies each and every day. We have almost totally abandoned God and everything He stands for.
Proverbs 9:17 says, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." We are there. God's judgment will come upon this nation. There is no other way to see it. God is just! He will not hold one nation to one standard and have a different standard completely for another. God help us realize that we need to repent!
I urge you, don't reject the call of God to repentance. Don't ignore the conviction of the Holy Ghost when He moves upon you. Pray for our nation, pray for yourselves and pray for God's mercy to be upon us. Just Pray!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Godly Sorrow or Worldly Sorrow?
There is one thing for certain, without the Spirit of God convicting us of sin, and without us being sorry for that sin there is no way to be truly saved. Without truly being sorry for sin, there is absolutely no way to repent. Many people intend to make things right with the Lord sometime later in life, but they are not considering the fact that except they are drawn, they can not come. Even still, there are those that believe they can recite a prayer and everything is taken care of. Oh how terrible this is, to be so deceived into believing that you are headed to a place of eternal joy and happiness, only to find that you were wrong at the end. But I would like to focus on a different subject in this post however.I want to look at the difference between two different sorrows: worldy and godly.
There is another deception going on in the church and that is the deception that says sorrow equals repentance. We forget about God, we go weeks without talking to Him, we make it to church when we have the time and then when we do make it we're only there out of routine, ritual or a feeling of obligation. But then some kind of trial comes. Maybe our bank account zeros out or maybe we lose a loved one, and then all of a sudden we try and run to God to fix it all. We cry, we grieve, we mourn; we even say we're sorry for not being the "Christian" we needed to be, but there is no real repentance. There is just a feeling of worldly sorrow. We are sorrowful because of the trouble we are in. We are heavy in heart, due to the suffering we are going through. I am not saying that God hasn't used situations to open our spiritual eyes to our condition. There have been many people that have hit rock bottom just to realize that they can't do it on their own. To realize that they are in need of a Savior.
But the difference between worldy sorrow and godly sorrow is that godly sorrow acknowledges the fact that you have sinned against a holy God. It brings you to the realization that you are in fact guilty of breaking God's law. In 2 Corinthians 7:9-11, Paul is dealing with the sorrow that the Corinthians felt after receiving his letter. He said, "I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance:". This is the key, sorrow to repentance. The next verse says, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." Could we maybe realize that just crying to God when we are in trouble, when we have forgotten to even mention His name for so long, is not the kind of sorrow that is needed to receive full salvation?
Let me say here, that God's people can always cry out to God in times of trouble (Psalm 50:15). We can cry out to God in times of trials because we have a relationship with Him. The promise is given, that his eyes are upon the righteous and His ears are open to their cry, but this promise is only to His children.
The next time you find yourself crying out to God, ask yourself why and when? Why are you crying out? Is it just for God to fix your problems without even worrying whether or not God gets glory? And when? When is the last time you spoke with Him? When is the last hour that you have spent in His presence? These questions must be asked, and then approach the Lord in the manner that He would have you do. God bless!
There is another deception going on in the church and that is the deception that says sorrow equals repentance. We forget about God, we go weeks without talking to Him, we make it to church when we have the time and then when we do make it we're only there out of routine, ritual or a feeling of obligation. But then some kind of trial comes. Maybe our bank account zeros out or maybe we lose a loved one, and then all of a sudden we try and run to God to fix it all. We cry, we grieve, we mourn; we even say we're sorry for not being the "Christian" we needed to be, but there is no real repentance. There is just a feeling of worldly sorrow. We are sorrowful because of the trouble we are in. We are heavy in heart, due to the suffering we are going through. I am not saying that God hasn't used situations to open our spiritual eyes to our condition. There have been many people that have hit rock bottom just to realize that they can't do it on their own. To realize that they are in need of a Savior.
But the difference between worldy sorrow and godly sorrow is that godly sorrow acknowledges the fact that you have sinned against a holy God. It brings you to the realization that you are in fact guilty of breaking God's law. In 2 Corinthians 7:9-11, Paul is dealing with the sorrow that the Corinthians felt after receiving his letter. He said, "I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance:". This is the key, sorrow to repentance. The next verse says, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." Could we maybe realize that just crying to God when we are in trouble, when we have forgotten to even mention His name for so long, is not the kind of sorrow that is needed to receive full salvation?
Let me say here, that God's people can always cry out to God in times of trouble (Psalm 50:15). We can cry out to God in times of trials because we have a relationship with Him. The promise is given, that his eyes are upon the righteous and His ears are open to their cry, but this promise is only to His children.
The next time you find yourself crying out to God, ask yourself why and when? Why are you crying out? Is it just for God to fix your problems without even worrying whether or not God gets glory? And when? When is the last time you spoke with Him? When is the last hour that you have spent in His presence? These questions must be asked, and then approach the Lord in the manner that He would have you do. God bless!
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