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Witness

What Are We Offering Up?

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THE WORD

Jeremiah 33:11 – The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the Lord.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

When I am working on the job I realize there is a Godly life that I must live so that the colleagues that I come in contact with will bear witness of it. When I am in church and am participating in fellowship with other members and visitors, it is a responsibility that I have to offer myself welcoming and receptive. When I sing praise and worship to God, I have to offer the song not just because I have to but rather present a sincere offering from the heart. Take an inventory of all the things that you may or may not be offering to God and consider that there may be more to be done. It is not painful to accomplish; you simply have to do it! And when you do it, please do not offer up something in resentment or a bad attitude. The bible talks in detail about having the tongues of men and angels yet without love it will be of no profit to anyone. To put it simply: this can only be realized in its greatest capacity of course when we finally get out of the way! When the moment finally comes that we are sincerely trying to present to God something genuine then this humble obedience becomes an offering acceptable and pleasing to God and in turn blesses others!

PUT INTO PRACTICE

Try to do this one of the next times that you will be attending a church: be sincere in everything you do. From a handshake to your hands raised, let others feel sincerity from your heart, humble before God, and willing to lead anyone to Christ. This may cost you time and energy at first but is worth the investment to see the growth in others around you!

What Do We Partake Of

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Romans 14:14-21

[14] I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
[15] But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
[16] Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
[17] For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
[18] For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
[19] Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
[20] For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
[21] It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

It is so easy to get caught up in the wrong conversation, or caught up starting one. It’s easy to get caught up taking the wrong actions, or being around others doing this also. Whether we realize it or not, we become appointed responsible witnesses when we are saved and transformed through and through. And I don’t know how it is for others, but as for me, there are moments in my life when I am shown by God personally and am guided in areas of my personal life when things need to change. I am always reminded each day of what not to do, when to not say, etc. God is wonderful like that, presenting a voice of accountability. To make a long story short, we cannot be caught up in flesh, partaking in meat of the world, or those things that will make our brothers and sisters stumble and fall. The kingdom of God is not flesh, but all things manifested in the Holy Ghost! We cannot have it both ways and think that life can be stable. We cannot serve two masters (have two lifestyles or life choices) and think we’ll ever find happiness. And as it ties to the scriptures above, we cannot eat of both meats and ever expect to find peace and joy in our lives!

Proverbs 16:16

[16] How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!

How much better to gain knowledge of God than to have the wealth and favor of man! So sweet is God’s wisdom! God’s wisdom to you is power! Coming through the trials of life will reward you so much more than wisdom of people most of the time. For then you will know rather than just assume that you do. You are made as an overcomer by the Blood of the Lamb AND the words of your testimony. Testimonies bear more of an impact than you think!

Proverbs 16:24

[24] Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

I read a phrase once that a person could live for months off of one good compliment. And those words could not be more true when it comes to encouraging and edifying the church. I’m not telling everyone to go and give worldly compliments to everyone. I’m not talking about flattery. I’m talking about being encouraged in a tough time in my life, when I am feeling hopeless and I don’t feel like I have anyone. You can almost guarantee that about 25 percent of the church always feels like that at any given time. A little encouragement goes a long way!

Proverbs 17:14

[14] The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.

Why does this all matter? Have you ever seen something with a leak? What about the feeling of disappointment that you get when everything that was in it runs out? So true it is when we sit idly by and let the spirit of God not be stirred and eventually leak out of the church. And yet we begin to wonder why it just disappeared one day! God never leaves, and is always there and ready. However, WE have to stir up the gifts within. WE have to come together!

Proverbs 18:19

[19] A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.

People need to always remember before they go to do anything that they have to follow what God is leading them to do in something, and that they do not need to ever try and cross someone that tries to come against them. Every person that you try and witness to isn’t going to receive it; in fact, they might reject you and try to hurt you in the process. The point I am trying to make is that we cannot push people to the point of lowering our standards to worldly standards, and trying to reason with reason. Spirit works conviction, and that work will take place following your obedience. You won’t have to fight for it, and if it seems like one, walk away and pray for another day. God will open the doors.

Romans 15:17

[17] I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God.

Why do all this for them? To lift up the weak!

I feel like in my personal life that God spared me and kept me here to deliver his word and to witness my testimony that others like myself might find hope and believe that they have a way out and can find a new life. And if we do not begin to start having more compassion and bear the infirmities of others, all of our suffering neighbors will continue to die out without hope.

Remember what was written in the Bible was for our learning! Also remember that we through patience (our part) and comfort of the scriptures (what we’re given) might have hope (your choice). And finally beginning to be likeminded one toward another (one mind and one mouth) and glorifying God will breathe new life into the church!

As I have personally learned, life was never promised as an easy burden, but as we near the end of each trial, the promise begins to come to a truth in our heart. God intends for our lives and our witness to be fruitful. That is, what people see of us as ripe and good and what they taste and partake and get to know as even better.

A Brand New Year!

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How can I even begin to sum up how our ministry has grown leaps and bounds? Well, I can’t. It would be impossible to try and put into words for you how much has taken place.

The only phrase that I can say that would be able to put it into perspective would be that our progress is based on the progress “of the people”.

I feel like that we have reached out and done a great work over the past year, and I just want to thank everyone in Heart of Grace, as well as all of you who are our support along the way. We could not do a thing without you all. Most of all, I could not say any of this without giving glory to God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for making a way for us to have a ministry to be a bright witness in these dark days.

I cannot promise you that the days ahead are going to be easy, but I can tell you that you can get all of the strength for your weakness through the power of God. Always remember that.

Patience, Patience, Patience

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One of the toughest pieces that we have to learn about our character and our witness to this world as a Christian is our patience. It is the most single tested value within your core, and without it, we won’t last long before we want to give up and throw in the towel on everything we stand for.

A thought that came in my mind when I was praying to God about working a greater patience in me was that proven faith shows demonstrated patience, which brings wisdom from the experience, and hope from knowing you made it through all of it.

To try and bring this point of view out little by little, I have various scriptures that I want to tie all together. I hope these bring out a point of view that helps you like it did me. Please, by all means, comment and give input! It is all welcome!

For starters, patience is defined as the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.

With that said, wow. I have found myself more often then not being weak when I should be strong in many situations in my life.

  • The God of Patience

Romans 15:5

“Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus”

So in other words, show it towards one another! That did not have any clauses to leave it out from anyone! It is neither selective to who we prefer, nor who we do not. We must open our hearts and have a greater understanding to everyone and everything. That shows a stronger witness inside and out. Publicly and privately.

  • Christ’s Demonstrated Patience And Mercy

Isaiah 53:7

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

Matthew 27:14

“And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governer marvelled greatly.”

Hold the phone for a sec. Let’s take away the wonderful from this for a second and be real. Just the fact that Jesus Christ faced all of the persecution that he did and saying nothing is enough to show the demonstrated patience. We can’t even hear a mean word from someone without rising up inside and wanting to speak our peace, or feel like that we need to feel like justification has been delivered to them. Now, let’s put back in the best part. He opened not his mouth and endured the suffering so that we could have a place in Heaven eternal. That makes my heart soar!

  • More Mentions

2 Peter 1:6

“And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;”

James 1:3-4

“Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing”

Romans 5:3-4

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience, and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Isn’t that just amazing, when we begin to dig in and read all of the pieces for yourself and put them all together? I love the word of God! I just hope as we all continue to be molded each and every day, that we can learn from our tried patience and experiences to raise ourselves up with encouragement from hope, and not be ashamed of what God has brought us from!

Be A Friend And Lay It Down

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Let’s start with scripture:

John 15: 13-17

[13] Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
[14] Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
[15] Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
[16] Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
[17] These things I command you, that ye love one another.

This series of verses have probably been preached in many ways, and I personally have sat and heard this taught in many ways, but God showed this to me in a whole new view. Sure it might be old news to you, so let it be a refreshing thought to your mind.

Jesus Christ came and died for us that we would have grace through him, and that we would have salvation, therein, giving these verses meaning in the significance in the physical sense of laying down one’s life.

But how does it apply to me now in the life I live today? What does it mean to be a friend now? It’s not meaning for you to go and lay down your physical life for someone else. Christ made that sacrifice that our sins be forgiven and that we find the path to Heaven through salvation. Praise God for that.

The meaning goes a little deep then that. This is what God was showing me. See, there are many people that come into our churches, which come into our midst no matter where we are, that need us to get past ourselves, to lay down ourselves, our flesh, so that we can be about God’s business, and help them find the path to Christ.

God has ordained us to bear fruit, to speak the great things about him, to be that witness, therefore, to share our testimony, and not to be stuck up or too proud to share what God has done for us; in other words, to not be too busy for someone in need. We need to be more Christ-like then ever in these days that we are living in, for we are the only light that people will ever see. And if we are not shining the light, how will they ever find the way through the darkness they walk through every single day?

Be willing to lay yourself down, just as Christ did, in the spiritual sense, so that someone else might have a chance to have a breakthrough and have that great experience as you once did, to find that compassion that someone once showed you. What a powerful word God has shown me, if we can only apply this quickly and do it at a more even quicker rate! Help me get this out to the masses! I know you can!

God’s On Facebook. What’s Your Status?

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Today I had a riveting revelation. I was praying and began to be deep in thought, and wanted God to show me how to improve my life in a greater way, and to tell me in a way that I could understand. I was essentially saying, “Show me the things about me that need to change, that I can be a better Christian, not just a better person to everyone”. And boy, did I ever get what I asked for!

God always has a funny way of showing me things, and today he took my mind to Facebook. It’s something that pretty much everyone that I know uses all the time and very frequently, a tool used to keep up with each other and communicate in ways that was never possible before. So here’s something to wrap your mind around.

What if every so often, rather than uploading pictures to your profile of all the ones that you liked, that God took ones of the good and bad moments of your life, and let everyone see them?

What if the same principle applied to uploading videos? Can you imagine what kind of videos we would see of ourselves in the bad moments?

What if rather than posting your status for what you were doing, that you wanted people to know about, that God posted your status for some of the things that you didn’t want people to know about?

What if every single time we had a bad thought about someone, that God posted this thought about them and wrote it to their wall for them to see?

What if rather than being able to state all the information about yourself that you want people to know, that God posted all the information about you that you maybe were trying to keep a secret from everyone?

Can you even imagine if this was how it really was? If this were the case, I’ll go ahead and tell you, no one would have a facebook, or a MySpace, or anything for that matter. People would be too afraid of things coming out, because we all have our problems every day that we all go through. It’s easy to make an online profile and paint the pretty picture of the perfect life online, but God sees us exactly as we are in our real lives:

Matthew 9:4

[4] And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

Isaiah 40:12-14

[12] Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

[13] Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?

[14] With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

We often forget that God is essentially keeping a status of our life, taking snapshots of our every day, keeping record of all that we do, and we are going to have to answer for it one day, and it’s not going to be something that we can just delete, like we can on Facebook. It’s not something that we can update later. We will be held accountable; we will have to answer for what we are called to do. And to me, that’s a scary thought, and something we need to adjust to now.

God has shown me through this that I need to be able to be caught at any point in my day and be able to be seen having a Christian profile: being able to be a light 24/7, ready to lead people to Christ at any time, and not just fronting when it’s convenient, or when I feel like logging into it. It’s a call, not a voluntary thing you sign up for. Praise God for giving us guidance in this walk of life. Where would we be without it?

Make The Effort

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I would like today’s message to be simple, and to just be the exact statements that God has put on my heart. I tried to figure out a way to say it that it would be not offensive or provocative, but there is no real way to get around the truth other than to just say it. I come to you today with a very heavy heart. I have been broken inside from the things that I have sat around and pondered on.

You see, the reality of everything that I know is that my life would have never had the wonderful transformation without the intervention of God and its people. In other words, I would still be addicted to drugs and alcohol, would still be bound in that old depression and confusion, and more than likely would not be alive today. I will never be able to get around this, and will always remember where I have come from. I say all of that because every single day, I see and think about people that I know could have that same change done in their lives, but it doesn’t seem to happen like it did for me.

So in that, I am seeking and looking for myself as to which why I might be the holdup with that. And when I began to seek, the scriptures I am about to read came to mind.

1 Peter 5:1-11

1 – The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

2 – Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy Lucre, but of a ready mind;

3 – Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

4 – And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

5 – Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

6 – Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

7 – Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

8 – Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

9 – Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

10 – But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

11 – To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

There are so many present sufferings all around us, to which most of them seem to not have a solution. Rather than trying to be of help in most cases, we join in with the popular opinion, simply because it is easier on you and I to not get involved and help anyone. I know that this sounds so harsh even now, but I am one to not hide the truth. The truth is that people need our help every single day, without wavering. So many people are on the brink of suicide that we cannot even see, and yet, with our obedience could save them. There are others that just need a good friend, and yet, with our disobedience could lead them to a deeper depressed state.

If there is anyone around you that you know NEEDS your help, I urge you to get out of your comfort zone and reach out to them. It is never too late to lend a helping hand. It is never too late to lead someone to Christ. Don’t let the enemy devour up any more of our people. Don’t let the enemy let people be persuaded in these horrible mental states, which put themselves in a pit, ready to be taken from us and this world. Make the effort to win hearts to Christ, just as someone did for you. Show the same love and kindness. Never give up on the fight to see them saved. I encourage you this day.