Holy Spirit Baptism

It Is Written, Acts 2:38, then Peter said to them, repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

There seems to be some confusion, or lack of knowledge about the Holy Spirit as far as baptism is concerned. Many do not understand, or were not taught the difference between receiving the Holy Spirit at salvation, and baptism in the Holy Spirit.

When we are saved, we automatically received the fruits of the Holy Spirit as written in Galatians 5:22-23. These are evidences of the renewed inner  man, and a sign to others that Jesus is in our lives.

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a separate thing. This baptism is by choice.. You must want to be baptized. The baptism may be performed by a pastor, or any spirit filled Christian for that matter, by a simple prayer, such as, I baptize you in the Holy Spirit in Jesus name.1 Corinthians 12:7-11 explains the gifts of the Holy Spirit, when you are baptized in Him.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are what I call power gifts. The Holy Spirit was the power that enabled Jesus to do the same thing. In other words as Jesus Himself said, and John 14:12, most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my father.

Faith built and maintained by reading and meditating on the Word of God, unlocks the power of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life. Do yourself a big favor, and read 1 Corinthians 12:7-11. God bless you and your family. Praise the Lord!

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer of Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away all my sins, by your stripes I was healed, your death and resurrection brought me salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior. 

Thank You Lord

Amen

Kind Act = Praise God

It Is Written, Luke 10:27, so he answered and said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your strength, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

When you ask someone how to praise God, you may get a blank stare. Most people believe it is too big and too difficult for anyone to be able to do.

Let's take a realistic look at it. In the first place, if you have not accepted salvation, praising God would never into your mind. Since that is the case, how difficult is it to praise God? Impossible.

Read Galatians 5:22-23, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such there is no law. If you follow these verses as guidelines, you will see that this set of guidelines, is the way Christians should live.  When you live by these ideas as much as possible, you are following the Word of God and you are indeed praising God.

Let's take a step further. As you go through your day, you can thank God for all of the blessings. Be sure to include things like, your sight, your hearing, your breathing, and countless other things most people do not even think of as blessings.

By our very existence, living according to God's Word, and being thankful, we are praising Him. One more thing. Prayer is better when we just talk to God from our hearts, rather than reading someone else's words.

That wasn't so complicated, was it?  God bless you and your family.      Praise the Lord!

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer of Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away all my sins, by your stripes I was healed, your death and resurrection brought me salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior. 

Thank You Lord

Amen

Waiting

2 Peter 3:8- 9, But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any shall perish, but that all should reach repentance.

From my own experience, and from talking to others, waiting on God is near the top of the list, of very difficult things a Christian must do.

Each of us has something we are waiting for. The higher it is on our priority list, the harder it is to wait. Waiting can be a real test of faith. Remember our prayers  will never come back empty. God hears the heart, and does what is best for us. God’s timing is faultless.

 A couple of things to think about. How often does God wait for us? Our verse today is just one  example about God waiting for us to get serious about our faith. There is exercising the fruits of the Spirit, that we received at salvation, and have still not used. How about reading the Bible. Do we take everything to God, or just talk to Him when we are desperate. The more we prepare as Christians, the faster we will see the power of sincere prayer. Get the idea?

Psalm 27:14, Wait for the Lord; be strong, and Let Your Heart Take courage; wait for the Lord!

There are some things we forget because we are anxious for an answer. It could be that God is giving us a chance to think it over. It takes a little time for God to arrange the probable dozens of people and hundreds of pieces to make things happen. The part that none of us likes, the answer could be no. It is always for our good, but it sometimes takes a long time before we realize it.

One more thing to keep in mind. It occurred to me a long time ago, and I still believe it to be true to this day. God asks you to do something, maybe you hesitate or you don't do it. By that action you may be interfering with someone else’s  prayer being answered. God calls each of us to do something, and if we don't do it, He has to find someone who will. Depending on circumstances, there may be dozens of people that are involved and slow up the process. I believe that if everyone listened to God and did what He asked them to do, many prayers would be answered much sooner for many people. God bless you and your family. Praise the Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

 Prayer of Salvation.

 Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve only you. 

Praise the Lord! 

Amen

Plead The Blood

1 John 1: 7, But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

In case you are not familiar with the words of the title, it was commonly used by pastors and their congregations several Generations ago. In order for it to make sense, let us look at a few verses that they looked at and based it on..

Matthew 26: 27 - 28, And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying,” drink of it all of you, for this is my blood of the Covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Romans 5 : 9 - 10, since, therefore, we have now been justified by His Blood,  much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by His life.

Hebrews 9: 12, He entered once for all into the holy place, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9 : 22 indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Blood was the main reason for all sacrifices for the cleansing of sin. Without blood, no cleansing. They had to do this every year. Then along came Jesus, the Lamb of God. His sacrifice of Himself cleansed man for all time. The perfect blood sacrifice.

So let's put it all together. Jesus' sacrifice made us righteous, because we received His righteousness. Because of this righteousness, we are in Jesus, and He is in us, and now we can approach God and call Him our Father.

Our Father acknowledges the fact that we have been washed in the blood of Jesus, and have His righteousness. Because of the relationship with God the Father, and the presence of Jesus and His righteousness in us, we are legally authorized to plead the blood in our prayers.

The term plead the blood'' reminds all of the spirits of darkness, including satan, that they are powerless against us and our prayers. To give an example, it was common to plead the blood over a loved one to protect them from evil.

It is impossible for an in-depth discussion about the subject because of limited time and space. I hope this poor description will make you want to investigate further on your own. As my wife likes to say, when  you plead the blood of Jesus in prayer, satan trembles,  the Angels snap to attention, and God our Father leans forward toward us. God bless you and your family. Praise the Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please  forgive all of my sins,  and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve only you. 

Praise the Lord!

Amen

The Great Injustice Part 2

Psalm 95: 6

O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

Isaiah 25 : 1

Oh Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

Well my friends, you can see how important praise is. Praise is a simple thing that can be done all day long.

Here are some examples of Praise that many people don't even realize. If you are a parent, treat your spouse and children the way Jesus would. When you do, you are showing Him your gratitude for giving them to you

Since everything we are or have comes from God, enjoying what He gives us, is praise to Him. First thing every morning, thank Him for the day. Thank Him for how He will work during the day for your good.

Another thing you can do is tell Him how great He is by acknowledging everything He gave you, by naming things such as health, the fact that you can see, even the ability to take another breath.

It is inevitable of course that there are people who think words like this are stupid, or plain ridiculous. They don't get it. I pray that someday soon, they come to Jesus, because they see how important He is to each of us.

One last thing. If you help someone beyond reason, would you appreciate their gratitude? When we confess our sins, we are acknowledging that Jesus died for us, to forgive those sins.So you see, it really is pretty easy to praise God. Being thankful is a good start. God bless you and your family. Praise the Lord

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my life as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise the Lord!

Amen

My Time With Jesus Tuesday

Let Go Already

It Is Written, Isaiah 41:10, fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Does that verse sound familiar? Do you believe it? Here are a few things to think about, before you reject the idea.

We have all heard about how we should forgive others. Besides being commanded by God, it is just common sense. If someone does you  some harm or insult, getting angry and not forgiving that person, means nothing to them. If you don't forgive and forget, it could eat you up, your whole life.

Now we come to decisions and problems. God wants us to put all of our cares on Him. His word says so. The sooner we give our cares to God, the sooner we can be free of them. He wants us to, and there is no limits to His offer.

Life is a journey, just like any trip. When you choose to take a lot of baggage, it creates many unforeseen problems. Traveling light is much easier, and far faster.

Unforgiveness, and cares or worries, is one heck of a lot of baggage. When you do it God's way, the trip is much more enjoyable.

How do you want to travel the journey called life? God bless you and your family. Praise the Lord!

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away all my sins, by your stripes I was healed, your death and resurrection brought me salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior. 

Thank You Lord

Amen

The Great Injustice Part 1

Psalm 109: 30 - 31

With my mouth I will give thanks to the Lord; I will praise Him in the midst of the throng. For He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.

The definition of praise is, approval and/ or admiration. We live with an example of it most of the time without even realizing it. There are many examples, here are just a few.

Have you ever told a family member or friend, how impressed you were with something they did? How about the way you thanked your boss for your last raise, or when someone did something nice for you.

One of the most common objects of Praises, athletes, and entertainers. Most people admire them to an extreme. Every time you buy a ticket, a jersey, or anything related to a person or team, you are in effect praising them. Most people admire those who don't even know them, didn't do anything for them, or probably wouldn't even talk to them.

There is someone all of us owe our very existence to. Someone who cares about us, helps us, provides for us, watches over us  continuously. The great Injustice is, most of us don't even acknowledge His existence. Some people hate Him and all He stands for.

Just in case you haven't figured it out yet, that man is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Whole books can be written about how He is not appreciated, is ignored, abused, taken advantage of, slandered, And so It goes.

I finished this message with a few verses from the Bible, regarding praise for our God  Read each one, think about each one, check the Bible.

Psalm 106

Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!

 Psalm 146: 1 - 2

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord, as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

 Psalm 150 : 6

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

We will continue in the next message. God bless you and your family. Praise the Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise the Lord!

Amen

The Authority Of The Believer

Matthew 28 18 - 20

And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold I am with you always to the end of the age.

Many people are not aware of the fact  true believers have authority over anything they can believe in, in  Jesus' name. When Jesus gave the apostles and disciples the Great Commission it was passed down to each generation of believers. Many churches teach that the authority died with the apostles, and that it doesn't exist today.  We must decide for ourselves based on the Word of God, and our sincere prayers.

Ask yourself this question. If it ended with the apostles, why didn't Christianity die at the same time? Why do we worship Jesus? How do we even know about  what Jesus said? 2000 years of Believers prove Jesus' words live to and through us.

Many of us believe in Divine Healing. Many are taught that  healing does not exist. Nonsense. Millions of people have witnessed the Impossible. Even when people are healed by doctors, it is our Lord that gave them that ability. Half of the doctors you talk to admit that they pray for their patients, especially before surgery. I have had three healings of life and death illnesses that were absolutely miraculous. I am in my late seventies, and all of this happened in the last few years.When you believe in God and His love for you, nothing is beyond His reach. Yes, I believe for sure.

We have authority from Jesus to teach the gospel to all people. God's children need someone to teach them, so they can be saved. Our job is to know what the Bible says, and pass it on to as many as possible. Helping even one person get saved, is greater than worldly acclaim. I'm sure our Lord Jesus and all of Heaven rejoice when a person is saved.

So you see, we have to stop putting limits on God, and take His Word that what He says is true, because the Bible says so. When Jesus said whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give it to you, It seems to me it is certainly a form of authority a believer has. God bless you and your family. Praise the Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus please forgive all of my sins and come into my heart as my personal savior.. I want to serve only you.

Praise the Lord 

Amen

My Time With Jesus Tuesday

An Answer To Life 

Joshua 1: 9

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous, Do not be  frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

It is no secret that we are living in tough times. When people think about their future, jobs, health, and politics and how it all affects their lives, they have a tendency to despair. Is there an answer? Let's take a look.

The first thing to consider. satan is the reason for everything bad in this world.  All of this is because of sin, and satan is the king of sin. If you focus on the negative things in this world, you'll get depressed, and get worse over time. As you focus more and more on what is, and what you expect, molehills become mountains. You can start to think and do negative things that feed your fears. It is a no-win situation. Denying satan exists doesn't make him go away, it is still him putting those thoughts in your head causing you to despair.

Matthew 6: 25

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing!

If you focus on God, you rise above what most people see and worry about. You start to see things the way God sees them. when you read  His Word and believe. Yes, God does exist, and He knows you exist.

When Egypt was going through all of the plagues during the time of Moses, the children of Israel were untouched. God protected them in the midst of all that was going on. God does allow what goes on, for our good in some way, at some point in time.

Romans 8 : 28

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

The Bible shows us who God is and how much He loves us. satan tries to deceive us about God, by saying that even the Old Testament shows how mean, cruel, and unjust He is. A lot of baloney.

If you study the Old Testament, you will find that everything God did, was aimed at protecting the people from satan, and unbelievers who worship false gods.

Here is an idea. Try very hard to believe that God knows your situation, and He will help you if you let Him. Don't do it for 10 minutes, 10 hours, 10 days, and give up. Everything happens in God's time. He never turns down sincere prayer so don't get discouraged. He does not operate on people time He operates on His time. Remember this. He did not create us so He could hurt us. Let this verse sink in, and focus on Jesus and His love for you

John 3:16 - 17

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

God bless you and your family.

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve only you. 

Praise the Lord!

Amen

The Clock Is Running

It Is Written, Romans 6:23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This may seem like a strange title for a message, but it has great meaning.

People as a whole, are faced with pretty much the same situations in life. Some handle things one way, and some another. One of the toughest situation is when you face a serious problem, or even a crisis. You don't know where to turn, and you don't want to hear about God at that time. That puts you in a very large group. At one time I was a member.

The sad thing is, that is when God is the only answer. There are also people who are unhappy with their lives, maybe even suffering from depression. Their lives are falling apart, in one way or another.

Both groups don't know Jesus, and the joy that relationship provides. Even if someone doesn't get angry when Jesus is mentioned, they still hesitate to give their lives to Jesus and let Him handle everything. The common response is, maybe sometime.

Life is full of wake up calls. In your troubles, that are caused by satan, and poor choices, Jesus is still reaching out to you. No one knows when He is coming back, but He is coming. He could be coming to take his people back with Him, before your next breath. The clock really is running. Seek and you shall find. God bless you and your family. 

Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away all my sins, by your stripes I was healed, your death and resurrection brought me salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior. 

Thank You Lord

Amen

Expected Behavior

Romans 12: 17 - 21Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “vengeance is mine, I will repay”, says the Lord. On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him to drink, for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

When you look through a human eyes at the condition of the world we live in, it would seem impossible to live according to that verse. After all evil and corruption beyond description are around us everyday, everywhere we go. We do not have to be overcome by this. The Lord our God expects us to overcome through faith in Him.

The first thing we must do is accept the fact that God's Word is true and unchanging. Don't ever think that just because everyone is doing something, or something is legal but against God's Word, that it doesn't matter. Once we accept the truth that God's Word is true and unchanging, He will do the rest. Here are a couple of examples.

Hebrews 13: 5 - 8 says, let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper; I will not fear, what can man do to me? Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the Word of God to you, whose faith, follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

1  Corinthians 10: 13 no temptation has overtaken you except as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

We have God's Word for all of these verses. He gave us the Holy Spirit as a helper. In case you forgot, the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, so I think we can safely assume that He has the power to do anything, including helping us to act according to God's will no matter what goes on in this world. Nothing is impossible with God.

Luke 1:37 says, for with God nothing will be impossible.

Matthew 19: 26 says, but Jesus looked at them and said to them,” with man this is impossible” but with God all things are possible.

God bless you and your family. Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve only you. 

Praise the Lord! 

Amen 

My Time With Jesus Tuesday

Attitudes About Prayer

2 Chronicles 7 : 14

If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Here it is, another week of coffee and conversation. In looking back at the week, the best choice of subjects to write about was, attitudes toward prayer.

Prayer is the greatest source of power in the universe. Political power, money, numbers, mean nothing when measured against prayer. How many times have you heard someone say, “ all we can do is pray”  in a desperate kind of way? People say that, and think that way, because they don't know any better. Let's look at it.

There are some problems people seemingly take care of. They do this through politics, money, or brute force. However most of the problems people try to correct are problems they have made in the first place.

There are many things in this world man cannot even begin to conquer. Some examples are real love for someone or from someone. Then, there are the issues of diseases, weather, actions by others, and the list goes on.

God created the universe and everything in it. He allows everything that happens, so man can see for himself how inadequate they are, and the futility of life in general, without God. 

God gave man a way to conquer the problems of life, but the vast majority of people do not hear His voice, or do not accept the answer. The absolute power to overcome anything, is sincere prayer from a person who believes. God made it all, so it stands to reason, He can fix it all.

So my friends, don't say all we can do is pray, but rather say, we must pray, and mean it. There is nothing that cannot be changed by prayer.

 Philippians 4: 6, says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

John 15: 7, says, if you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Jeremiah 29:12 says, then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you.

So you see my friends, prayer is so important. Don't cheat yourself out  of God's blessings anymore. Open your Bible and spend a little time getting to know the real God. God bless you and your family.    Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise the Lord! 

Amen