Good morning everyone from Hawaii to all points of the world, I am very glad that the Lord has permitted me to speak another week, I am just going to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit, today, most of us should normally do that anyway, we should let the Spirit of the living God direct our paths, with in all our prayers and sermons.
Dear Almighty God, We come before you today to worship you in all essence of heart with openness and love, we just want to express our feelings and to ask you for our forgiveness of our sins, our doubts, our fears, our anger, our rebellion and our selfishness. Please sustain us in trouble, please heal our pain and sorrows, cast all temptations from us, strengthen us with true faith and trust in you, please don’t let us follow the world, please let our spirits come alive, please put joy in our faces, please help us to forget the past, and look forward to the future, we thank you for a the shower of blessings you have given us in the past, and the future blessings of your love. Please don’t let us concentrate on any worry. We know you love us and we know you care so much for us. We want to give back in some way, to worship you, in spirit and in truth. We want to please you Father, we want to bring joy to You, You are our God, and we sometimes make mistakes, we thank you for sending your Son Jesus to make us clean and to open the door to the throne of grace to be able to come to you with all our needs. In Jesus Name, Amen
Jesus traveled all around doing good, He traveled everywhere He could. He wanted to reach out to as many people as he could. Although many people did come to Him, He did carry the good news to the cities, towns, and places. He taught us the Word of God. He taught us the good news and the Kingdom of Heaven, the Gospel is for everyone and for everyplace, and for every human being. So he also taught us to spread the news as far as He could. So within my travels, I wasn’t a great preacher, I nested into the companies of all people, trying to share the good news, but always waiting for the opening and closing door, if the door was open to the gospel you could very easily share it, if you got into a car and saw a cross hanging from the review mirror, that was a open door so to speak. Or if you entered into house and saw a picture of Jesus that would give you a clue for an open door for sharing. Maybe I wasn’t very assertive at times but I was able to share the Love of God when I could and the ways of life but my actions and kindness, respect, and curiosity. Fitting in was the key, you had to more or less become the people that you were with to some familiar to there thoughts and ways, I mean you could not stand up and argue in someone’s household, you have to be very agreeable to a certain extent. Then once they get to know that you are polite and care and have an element of compassion, then you can open the door yourself to witness the word and truth and the Love of Christ, sometimes you can tell if people are interested or not, if they are you would continue, but if not, you would not pursue it further. Sometimes they would begin to listen and want to learn the way of Christ and the bible, and the gifts of God, and sometimes it would form a bond that could not be broken. That is the beauty of it all, but like I said it all depends on the open and closed door. Basically Jesus wanted His Church to keep preaching the gospel to all the places of this world till there wasn’t any place left which the gospel has not been preached.
He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. Mark 16:15-20 NIV
Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him--but some of them still doubted!
Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matt. 28:16-20 NLT
This is the great value of the internet. The Church Ministries can reach out to every part of the planet, some people just give you that look, an internet church, like within there mind they picture a building with a tall steeple and a mass of people with a large congregation, but to me we are following more of the Great commission of what Jesus wanted us to do in the first place, a local church can only touch a certain area, and with the same people coming and going so are they reaching out, many churches do have a lot of missionary work which expands throughout the world. One church I was in had a large map of the world that covered the whole wall, with each and every photograph of the people or families in each region, with all the lines and tacks and markers, which was a beautiful sight. They truly were reaching out to the world, and during the announcements they would give updates of all the vast amounts of people in all the different countries, what they needed, praise reports, ups and downs and they would read the letters of some of the impact they were doing for the Glory of God and how the word was spreading.
With an internet church you can reach remote places with a satellite disk and one computer, this way a village or a small far away town in the middle of nowhere can here the word of God. This is the good part of human technology. A small village can take this sermon with the love and direction of God, then can print it out, and take it deeper in to maybe a jungle that no car or 4-wheeler could not even get to, and that preacher or pastor can take this message and bring it to this remote area and read the word, and preach this message to people just sitting on trees stumps or rocks in a particular area. That is one of the reasons I print out a lot of scriptures, one because in some of these areas, bibles are forbidden and they would be thrown in jail just for having a bible, the church is hooked up with various different ministries in different countries, and they have videos that people get beaten with there own bible, imprisoned and even killed for possessing a bible. And two a lot of these places do not have any bibles, so if you add scripture with what you are talking about, these other brothers and sisters can read and memorize and get familiar with the scriptures until they get there own bible. Some of these towns and villages have maybe only one bible to share with the whole village. There is a ministry in India that we have been writing back and forth to, and they need used bibles desperately, and I have many used paperback bibles, but the shipping is incredible, and I pray that I am able to send these used paperback bibles to them, they were mostly given to me, by all the organizations that are listed on the friends pages on this website. This is when I was healthy and able to get around, and in the process of building the church mission. But not being able to work a regular job and making zero donations, I still hope and pray that I will be healed, find the right doctor, and continue on the path that God has set before me. I also have received so many letters from countries all over the world, that want me to come to their country and help them with there church or bible studies, or just to go there to speak, and to give the bread of life. But 8 months of being sick can take a toll on anyone’s life, and I deeply want to get well to complete my work for the Lord, and then again the work that I am capable of doing now, is maybe what he wants me to do at this particular time.
I wanted deeply to build a church –type mission that was my plan, and I didn’t have one bit of fear when I came to this new culture of people here in Hawaii. But being sick and not being myself, and the different types of treatment and personalities of each of these 14 doctors has taken a direct effect on my heart, which is shattered now, but I pray that the Lord restores me to heath with my body, soul, and spirit. Hawaii is like a different country, you are still part of the United States but the culture here is quite different than any other place in the U.S. continental mainland. I have to make a judgment call here but if it is with from the heart and delivered righteously, we do have to admit there is much prejudice here against the typical white man, it is hard to explain but let me try, when you visit any other state you are welcomed as a traveler and people do accept you much right in the beginning, unless I am walking the streets of Harlem in New York City and I have many a time but people do stare at you, as if to say what on earth are you doing here, I once had a can thrown at me but that was the extent of it. I am not comparing in any way, but I am trying to set the stage, for a better understanding, Now here people wave and do have a smile, but there is an essence of not a welcome, you are an outsider, you are in the bracket of the people who originally came over here and tried to take away the great islands of Hawaii, it seems to be imbedded in the native Hawaiian, you are called a howlie, you are already classified as an outsider and you represent the people that came over here many years ago to overcome there beautiful world, to change things, like making large hotels for tourism and for the most part destroying the natural beauty of there world. So for the first impression you are classified as the ones who want to change things and lives of this historical nation. But the beauty of it all is, once they get to know you, they are the warmest loving people in the country. They would do anything for you, like my neighbors, when I first moved in people were out there ready to help you with what ever you had on the back of your truck. There is an invisible wall that needs to be broken, remember God looks at the heart not the color of their skin. So I figured maybe the Lord sent me here to learn a new way to open the door, and make the invisible wall disappear so the gospel and the love of Jesus can be heard and accepted without the past prejudice that may have started many years ago. We also have to be respected and understood before people will listen. It is almost like when Jesus went back to His hometown he was not respected as the Lord, the Son of God, He was only know as the son of a carpenter.
Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Mark 6:1-6 NIV
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.
Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'
"I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian."
All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. Luke 4:16-30 NIV
Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?" they asked. "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor." And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. Matt.13:54-58
Jesus was sent to this world to show us a realism of true life. That is why my studies are paced upon all the certain aspects of His ministry. It is like He had so much to do in such a limited amount of time. He had to do as much as he could in a small amount of time which only He new he had. The disciples had no idea until He finally told them. He had to visit as many places as he could before the time limit was up, and He had to face the cross. The fact remains that He didn’t want to miss one place or one soul with his teaching, healing, and sharing His love.
I myself do not know why everyone doesn’t follow the great commission, traveling and spreading the Love of God and the good news, or just sharing your heart and love with just a base of true Christianity. A lot of people are trapped, once they buy a house and have that job, then the car payments, the credit cards; the kids are in school and so on. But you have to consider there is only a few that are called, but I think this world would be a better place if there was more and more people out there spreading the gospel, instead of living in the same place from generation after generation, it is like that in the northeast of the U.S. People live in a selective area, and then there kids live there and raise family’s and continues year after year, and decade after decade.
I was a little different, I didn’t want to settle down I always wanted to find that perfect spot, here is probably where I will stay, but we never know where God will call us next. And the way my heath is going I have no idea what is going to happen. Although in many parts of my travels when I found a place I liked, I did stay for a time, and there were times I did myself get caught up in the world and God came and pulled me out of it. I wish I had the biblical knowledge that I have now, back then during the 70’s. We know some of the Apostles left there family’s and homes to follow Jesus. God has called me to a different lifestyle, and the many stories I could tell of the Glory of God like how he pulled me out of a rainy cold high desert in Wyoming and ended up on top of a mountain in a beautiful campsite in Yellowstone. And freezing to death in the central part of the mountains in Oregon, and then getting an 800 mile ride and then a free warm motel room in Nevada. God was so gracious to me.
I say this now that with my health, I hope God grants me some more time to spread His word and the Love of Jesus Christ. We are all waiting for the end of this life, and going to the next, but it is our duty to spread as much love and tenderness, the bread of Life, and the promises and truth of our God.
As we walk through the gates of life we come upon many different values and circumstances , you come upon different lives and destinies and you share different principles and different personalities, as I have written so many times before as you walk and travel many roads and share the lives of thousands and thousands of people you do pick up there habits and ethnic principles, you become one with another, it is like if you have a friend and you spend a long time with them you become, like each other, that is why when you do get married you become one flesh. So as you travel down the road and get into a few thousand cars, and in all different locations in the United States, you begin to learn the nature of people within there heart, you know there personality, character, likes and dislikes, and there traits etc. It was a wonderful life I had while the Lord was teaching me the values of the human life, and there thoughts, feelings, opinions, judgments, beliefs, feelings and there different viewpoints. You learn this by just being around them, may it be sharing a campfire, or just playing some music way on top of a mountain. You feel a great freedom, which is very hard to describe. To be out there on the open road and to feel the wind upon your face, and to just see the scenery, was something you can’t even describe. I loved the mountains especially as you would approach then from coming from the flatland, you would see the snow caps on top and you would see the basic tree lines, corresponding with the elevation the temperature, it is 3.6 degrees every thousand feet, so as the higher you would go of course the colder it would get, and there would be a point that the trees and all vegetation would end. And all the tops of the mountains would be is this rocky desolate soil. Some would have jagged edges, of rock, snow and dirt. Normally tree lines would end about 9-10,000 feet high depending in the area of the country and the Latitude in relationship to the world. I love the majestic and pure beauty that God had made to this planet.
I went into a church one day and the pastor said to me well it will take a good six months to get to know you, well brothers and sisters if it is going to take 6 months to get to know some one that pastor, should find a new line of work, I don’t mean to judge but in this life and position, we have to state some facts. If a new family walked into the congregation, what are you not going to help them, if they need your personal help? Lets say they were suffering or homeless or needed money, I mean you would have to generalize there local makeup to express the right words to say, and what to say them, and how to lead and Shepard the flock. Lets put it another way you walk into a persons home, for instance you can tell how they live and how there whole structure is buy just a quick look, you can tell if they are messy, or clean, or even supper clean, you go to put a glass down on a table and they are running over to put a coaster underneath before you have sat back into the chair. Simple observations can tell a persons personality, way of life and so on. I have realized that a lot of people mostly my doctors stereotype me because I have a pony tail. The judgment can go either way, you are a doctor you have signed an oath, you want to care for people is it going to take 6 months to get to know your patient, and who there are. I had a doctor for a year at one time, and he had no idea I was a pastor, and never asked what I did for a living or my likes and dislikes. He screamed and yelled and was on this power trip, never cared about me, never asked any personal questions,and it is almost like he just did not care. I was just another number. And it slowly did make a change in my life, now I cannot speak up in front of doctors, I cannot voice my opinion. With Christ in our hearts we should be able to speak with the word of God, and we have the Spirit of God within us. Some of them just don’t realize the damage they can do to a persons well being. I mean this is part of their profession, to know your patients inside and out. To obtain and establish a relationship, a caring loving friendship that would make it a pleasure to see each other. That is the way I would be, I would want to do everything I possibly could, to make the person feel comfortable. Anything I could do for my patient to feel at ease. I would like to know how they feel, and how they are doing at all times.
Even in psychiatry you sit down with a person and they tell you there problems and the doctor would listen, and that is most of what they have to do, and at the end of there hour they will give you a hand with a few sentences, and then you make an appointment maybe a few weeks later etc. The fact remains they are trained to get to know people, they have gone through so much schooling but the fact remains it still is not true life. The bible is infallible and it is the only truth that exists today, so if you are getting your teaching from a book written by man, it is not perfect.
Using the word of God to get that Holy Spirit's help and the inspiration from the Lord Thy God is always a plus. I came to this island for a purpose, and I wanted to build a church with a mission, feeding people, clothing them, etc. To be able to sit down with them and pray, and to give then counsel, hope, healing, and to guide them to our Lord Jesus, that is when things started changing, I felt the strings being pulled then, just before the affliction came down. I wanted to start hanging flyers on the poles, and windows, and to get to know people, and get things to work. I was going to sit in the park with all my leather bound study bibles and teach for free, but the affliction came on me like a knife. And everything changed, the spiritual warfare that was established, kept going and going, the reason, in my configuration Satan wants me dead, and he used everyone he could to blind them and to enter the minds just like Judas or Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5. When you live in so many cultures and cities, towns, deserts, mountains, and swamplands, you learn the difference between all the people and there makeup, their personalities and with the Holy Spirit's guidance you begin to learn how a person feels just by there look, speech patterns, facial expressions, body movements, or the feeling of the basic realism of the heart , it is very simple to understand. Let’s say I was put in a room with ten men, and someone told me that one of these men just did something real bad, tell me which one did it, it would probably take me about maybe a few minutes to pick the right one out of the ten. It is a feeling, that you get, a feeling like a wave of discernment, but more complex, you have for your whole life been around so many people, and cared for them, and all you ever wanted to do was love them, understand them, and not to judge, an not to be arrogant, but to be as helping as you can, you gain a sixth sence, or in other words a gift, from our Lord.
For instance you are out on the road a family picks you up, they offer to take you home and give you dinner, and a place to sleep for the night, so after the dinner the proper an loving thing to do is to help with the dishes and clearing the table, and as always in return you would maybe want to be interested in playing the guitar and sing a few songs for the blessing, the dinner, and the hospitality, and you begin to share stories of other towns and cities and show some pictures of some national parks, and show them a map of your travels, and you begin to have a wonderful time expressing each others life and times, which brings joy to each others hearts, then you wait to be proper, you wait for the people in the house looking for the clue for them to end the evening, you wait for them to lets say be putting the kids down to sleep and the yawning of one of the household , it is quite simple. You know when it is time to end the evening and take your place to where you should sleep, There was many a times that I traveled with a dog, and if they said well you have to keep the dog outside it would only be proper to respect there wishes and so you pick up your sleeping bag and then go outside, yourself, because you have a dog and you don’t want your dog to be alone, so you just sleep outside, and the household would be shocked that you would rather sleep outside on the ground, next to your dog. And on top of it all you would be in bear country, and I remember a few times, one of the household coming out and said bring you and your dog in the house, but there was a lot of times it really didn’t matter, I was thankful for just there front yard, and I would sleep outside. It is called proper etiquette, it is proper etiquette to wake up in the morning and straighten things up roll up your sleeping bag, and maybe pick some flowers of rake the yard, or chop some wood, start a fire etc, So after you do this about 400 times you kind of get used to it. And the point I am trying to make you get to know people, inside and out, it could be in the mountains of Oregon or Montana, our on a city street in Amarillo, TX. Traveling makes a knowledge that can not be taught in a book or a classroom. If I didn’t go through the things that our Lord lead me to, I would not be the man that I am today. You learn to be polite and caring and to be able to do anything you can for them, they have given you a ride, and a place to sleep and friendship and comfort, and maybe you can plant the seed of our Living God, So many times people would offer to give you a ride to the hi-way or a better place to get a ride the next day. That is love, Love is something from the heart, and cannot be duplicated with anything. A few weeks ago I talked about staying on the reservations, with the American Indians, but like today I wanted to express my true feelings of the how and why you can learn about people, from a different angle, and the importance of this teaching.
I had a rough one this week, between all the changes of the doctors, it has been extremely difficult to adapt to all these changes, I still have not been diagnosed , but through prayer, an email came to me from a Program director/ Health Care Advocacy, see how God works. You keep searching for answers and you finally do get an answer it seems I might have this very rare disorder it is called Trigeminal Neuralgia, also known as TM, or tic douloureux, it is a disorder of the fifth cranial nerve that causes episodes of intense, stabbing, electric like shock- like pain in the areas of the face where the branches of the nerve are distributed, and it could be in all the areas of the face, with me it is in my gums and mouth and jaw, not many is really sure about this disorder, but it does take surgery to relieve the pain, many have suffered so much agony they call it the suicide disease, because of the pain is so intense, it comes upon you with a serious of attacks, like brushing your teeth or the wind, or any other relationship to the area of the pain. I was even given a coordinator here in Hawaii, who had the affliction for years; she had root canal work done on most all her teeth. If you are in an area that is not knowledgeable to the disorder it could be years of suffering and no one knows what to do next for the patient, they get tossed from dentist to doctor, and no one can ever figure what is going on. And I am located in such an area, yes the Big Island of Hawaii is beautiful but the medical treatments here are not that superior. And that is why I have gone so long, with out being diagnosed. No one still doesn’t know what the problem is or what I have. Some of these doctors think the most ungodly things, and some don’t believe you, some think you are playing a game or lying about the pain, and that hurts me more then ever. I have been in need of an MRI next, which all the paperwork was lost in the shuffle and should have been already done, and of course nothing again has been done, for my diagnosis, and the stress alone, is beginning to get to me. And I am a true child of God and no one wants to listen, everyone wants to do what they think, they don’t listen to the patient here. The doctors do just as they please. And it is tearing me up inside, both physically losing all this weight, mentally not knowing what is going on, not being able to eat, and not even to be able to chew on any type of food, and with all the stress on top of it, spiritually I am not the same person anymore. Of course I am under so much spiritual warfare it is so incredible, that I am even alive today. I do praise the Lord for another day of life. The mornings are the biggest factor; I don’t sleep so I can never get healed normally. I have a constant fever, and I wake up from a combination of night mares and my clothes are soaking wet after about 3 hours of sleep. And it takes a toll on my body. I would just like to know what I have and to pinpoint this problem. The Lord is in control of all things; in the beginning I thought is was all about pride for myself, to look good, the old bodybuilding routine. I trained very hard for about 23 years, and being 50, I did not look fifty, but then again all of this could be a great testimony when it is over. Trust in the Lord is the whole key, maybe it is a test of my faith, I figured that God is testing me to get stronger, and rely more on His strength then a doctor. That is what the early church did, but then again Luke was a doctor. I have gone to several prayer healing ministries and churches with no improvement. There was one time that I did go to a church and did get prayed on and I did feel different. But the next day I was in more pain then ever. I cannot explain any of this, we know we can’t get angry at any of these doctors mistakes we can only pray for them and ask for there forgiveness. To even have anger in our hearts would bring us right to hell. I also help out my best friend and pastor of the local church, and I don’t have the strength to even stand there with my bass, I do it anyway no matter how much my back hurts from holding the bass. I am just not used to it anymore, and I always was a singer knowing harmony and I play several instruments. But singing and the vibration going past my gums is still then again very painful. But I do it anyway. I do get some joy out of playing music for the Lord, but I am the type of person that just doesn’t say anything. I am still keeping up with as many prayer responses, and I thought this affliction gave me more time to pray for others. It does take a lot of time when you are hooked up with several prayer ministries, plus answering the church prayers, that people write from all over the world on the prayer page. I can’t do much else then sit in front of the computer, this way I could spend a lot more time with each individual prayer request. Maybe we will never know what all the reason behind all of this is all about. We opened this church in August, 03, and have not received a donation yet, so now we have the stress of the bills all being stacked up. And I am so surprised that not one dime has come into this church, the hands of God though are at work, we are listed on all the search engines, and we are very visible, but still then again it costs money to keep things going with the computer, the internet, the domain etc.
"Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress. Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor? Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness. The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me. Job 30:24-27 NIV
These outcasts oppose me to my face. They send me sprawling; they lay traps in my path. They block my road and do everything they can to hasten my calamity, knowing full well that I have no one to help me. They come at me from all directions. They rush upon me when I am down. I live in terror now. They hold me in contempt, and my prosperity has vanished as a cloud before a strong wind. "And now my heart is broken. Depression haunts my days. My weary nights are filled with pain as though something were relentlessly gnawing at my bones. Job 30:12-17 NLT
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matt 11:28-30 NIV
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matt. 6:33-34 NIV
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matt. 6:3-4 NIV
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matt. 6:14-15 NIV
"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matt. 5:10-12 NASB
" If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you "Remember the word that I said to you, ' A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. John 15:18-20 NASB
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 NIV
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one." John 10:27-30 NIV
All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Heb. 12:11-13 NASB
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Rom.10:17 NKJV
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil.1:6 NASB
And I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. Phil 1:12 NLT
I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith. As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead! Phil 3:7-11NLT
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. 1John 2:15-17 NASB
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. 1John 2:9-11 NIV
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 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, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. 1John 1:5-10 NIV
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 1Pet.4:1-2
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 1Pet. 4:12-14 NIV
However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 1Pet.4:16-17 NIV
Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don't be afraid and don't worry. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But you must do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak evil against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong! 1Pet. 3:13-17 NLT
For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 1Pet. 2:19-21 NIV
And God, in his mighty power, will protect you until you receive this salvation, because you are trusting him. It will be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 1Pet. 1:5-7 NLT
O God of infinite grace and love, You have called us all to the body of Christ, we wish to thank you for another week of your love and comfort. Help us to live as one with you and Your Son. We need you through this week; we are all facing some sort of pain or troubles within ourselves, or our friends and family. Please guide us with the Holy Spirit as we try to walk in righteousness, and in truth. We can’t do anything without you. Some of us are facing great anxieties and despair, please have mercy on us Father. Help us to fight the evil one this week as we end this service. Stay with us O’Lord, strengthen us for the trials that we face this week. Please Father let all people know that we represent You, through the glow of the Spirit. Please let the non-believers see something within us so we can have to doors open so we can tell of the mighty works you have done for us all. Please heal us each and every one us, no matter what the affliction, please God be with us, come close to us all, we need You Lord, and hold us in your loving hands. Forgive us of all temptations, and give us the knowledge of your peace as we walk upon this earth, and please help us all to be like Jesus, help us to love no matter how bad people hurt us, please give us your holy control not to carry any anger, and to have complete forgiveness for the entire human race. In Jesus Name, Amen and Amen.
