Good Morning everyone from Hawaii, to the world. I am starting to be able to sit up for longer periods of time and I thank the Lord for all the blessings. But in the middle of all of this to put this all quite honest, I am still at war with evil. As you know I have many internet friends and they all have blessed me with more then just words, they have saved my life. You all know me and my heart by now but if you’re a first time visitor, I can’t explain myself in a few sentences, but I have this unknown disease in my mouth that know one or may I say doctors, or I should say have not been able to diagnose me, and it started out to be a simple pain and fever and my head and face was swollen, and 14 months of all the blood tests, c-scans MRI’s, nuclear bone scans and almost everything known to man, but nothing has been concluded. Not being able to eat properly has made most of body and mind very week, and that started affecting me 14 months ago, I am always tired and weak and now this whole thing has effected me spiritually and the war with evil is like nothing you have ever seen or even heard about, during the course of all this time, except for the internet people, regular people have just not been continuing to help, except my doctor and friend and her secretary. I only see her once a month in which we pray often, and every time I do pray with people or just talk with people I feel so much better, but you all know when you are in isolation and you are alone to have know one to fellowship with, all kinds of things run through your mind, and that makes me very vulnerable to attack. It is hard to deal with the past 14 months being a victim in any situation, of course we have the Lord and I do get messages from God, a few whispers here and there, but the main thing I have is email communication, I have been blessed with some choice friends and if it wasn’t for them I would almost have given up along time ago, I am a winner and I don’t think I would ever give up on anything especially if it was for God and His children.
I have figured during the worst pain of this recent double hernia surgery, when I needed my closest friend which was a pastor of another church, doesn’t call and he sends me a letter telling me he is to busy, and for me to go to his church if I need to talk to him, and I can not even get there.
I tell you I haven’t been so hurt and on top so helpless, I can walk with a cane now, but I needed people to bring me to the store and things because the church office is about 4 miles from town, I have a little convenience store about two blocks away and I cannot make it that far yet. Yet as we all know the Lord provided, and through many hours of prayer the Lord brought me another friend into my life and he did come to visit twice, another pastor from another church, and this man has saved my whole drive on life and he gave me the strength to fight back the evil attacks, and I praise the Lord for answering my deepest prayer. I made it to his church last week and the essence of God is there, and he does have many plans for me working with him and the church. Even a simple phone call from a friend in Buffalo N.Y. made my whole life full, and inspired me with strengthened faith. Still I am alone, and for so long and it just opens the door to being attacked and no matter what you do, people need people, and I prayed for my new friend to come over or call, I did talk to him earlier this week and after a small conversation the pain in my body went away, and anything that was bothering me was gone, I had some peace, that is how I know how hard the attack is.
Well my brothers and sisters this is the real life of your pastor, 14 months ago we were a happy and progressing to be the mission / church, and we still are but I am doing everything myself every word on this whole website has been done by myself and of course our Lord Jesus and the Father and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Most of the congregation is scattered all over the world and we keep in touch, so like I said the communication with the emails is mostly all I have. You know I don’t even feel like writing a sermon, but that is what the devil wants so I will still write one anyway. Everyday is just lonely, and I know my faith cannot be broken, and I know God loves me, and I do so much love everyone and everything, I do not carry any hate, or dislike or I don’t want to judge or complain or ask the Lord why, I have to be strong, and maintain my faith and keep the hope I have. My email friends, ministries, prayer networks and the congregation have saved me, they have done so many things for me, and they have written wonderful letters with blessed inspiring words for me and I thank God for the communication alone that I can have just this, there is a lot more people out there with worse problems than I, I do know many that are getting bombarded like myself, I read many prayer requests from so many prayer ministries, and I used to be very active with the writings and sending out so many words of hope, and that effects me because I am so weak and want so much to help others. When I was healthy and even in the beginning of this trial, I was helping so many people, and I was doing so much good, but remember it is not our works: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:8-10) So enough about me, let us have some worship and share the word and pray and love each other, and give thanks and praise to the whole trinity.
Please open your bibles to the book of Acts.
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:1-4
Now there were staying in Jerusalem Godfearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism Cretans and Arabs–we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Acts 2: 5-12
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “ In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ Acts 2:14-21 NIV
“Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him: “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.’ Acts 2: 22-28 NIV
“Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.” Acts 2:29-35 NIV
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off–for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Acts 2:36-41 NIV
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47 NIV
As we begin with the book of Acts the major theme of the book of Acts is the resurrection of Christ. The greatest power of the Christian church as a whole is the resurrection power of Christ. All of Christianity has either forgotten the main focus of Jesus upon His resurrection. that is why I sent out Christmas cards with the base of the resurrection not on the birth but the resurrection power of Christ, which is the most important power we can receive. As we enter the book of Acts the Holy spirit came upon all of the 120 who were in the upper room in one accord in all different types of prayer, praise and worship. Then peter made a stand to take over being the spokesman in his great dynamic speech, after they all were indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and he began to speak to all the men of Judea, everyone above the people was showing the effects of the power of the Holy Spirit, if any of you have ever experienced the awesome power, you will know the feeling of the power of God running through your veins and body, a purity know only to itself. I wish all of you could experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it is like no other feeling, and here He gave Peter boldness and the words to stand tall as he explained what was going on. So in turn he was experiencing the resurrection power of Christ, and at the same time his words were amplified to perfection through the indwelling of Holy Spirit.
As Peter began his great sermon, we must understand only the living and powerful savior Jesus Christ could give him this power and all His other servants power and the ability to perform miracles.
Peter began his speech by quoting Joel 2:28-32 in the chapter we selected which is the beginning of Chapter 2. In this promise God said all that believe in Jesus and followed Him would receive His spirit and power, now this power was not just for the prophets, kings, priests and the disciples but this same power is for everyone including you or me. Back then when this was all announced, God said He would speak to all of those who would come to Him, in many different ways including visions, dreams, or prophecy.
Here was the timeline or the actual beginning of the whole realm of the church and of the future of based Christianity. In other words this was the beginning of the last days. Here we have Gods beginning and final act of salvation, which all began with the pouring out of His spirit. But the people don’t realize this, this is the beginning and finale act of deliverance, and will continue till the end of the age. So in other words this day was the beginning of our power, all of us, to explain and prove with power that Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and gave us all a power to prove to the world that Christianity is not just another religion. To make this all more understandable just before Jesus ascended to heaven and the Father His word was;
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." Acts 1:8 NASB
So my point is we must all believe and understand that the resurrection’s life and power in Christ are yes available to us today!! So my brothers and sisters all we need is faith in Jesus and His promise then we all can experience His resurrection power! What a gift! The Lord has given us the order to spread the word and the gospel but we can have the power to perform miracles to let others see the power of God working and living in each and every Christian’s hearts.
Peter sensed Gods guidance as he made this speech and he had strong faith, in which the same as us, once we today trust and believe the same power is in us, and all we have to do is recognize it and use it! It is good to have faith in God even at the point of death, we should never give up, we all have supernatural power in us, given to us, and there is always hope in our God. We should never lose hope when we have the power of the full trinity in us!
You see God gave the apostles the resurrection power through the Holy Spirit to authenticate the message of the Christ, the gospel and whatever they preached.
We must remember it is not Peter or us that hold the power for miracles again we are only portals, of Jesus Christ, if and when a healing or a miracle is performed it is done b our beloved Savior Jesus Christ. There is so much power in His name, so when Peter did his miracles it was as if Christ was right there with Him. We all know we don’t have any power on our own; it is the total work of God. If we start believing that the power comes from ourselves, the power to heal or raise the dead or to witness with strength, the power will not work, the power comes from Jesus, that is why many of us pray and thank Jesus before hand, and we use His powerful name. We are nothing we are all dead in Christ, we are only servants of our Lord.
Again I tell you that no human being has any such healing power. We all have to admit there are many people out there letting the power that God has granted (through them like a tube) have gone to many people heads, and then they become prideful over it. That is why we must remain so humble and giving God the full Glory! Once we come to a full understanding, and continue to give praise and thanks to God, then He can continue to work and send power through us.
We also must conclude anyone who is not saved or do not have any understanding of Christ or a relationship through Him to God then they are spiritually dead. That is why we all are sent out to save people from this spiritual death. Our job is to bring fellowship and understanding of our Lord Jesus as our personal savior to others.
Here is a very simple analogy, let us take Adam in the Garden of Eden. God told Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But then Adam did not listen and ate of the tree. So Adam died spiritually right away, and as soon as that took place Adam was out of fellowship and trust in God. So now everything changed Adam could not have God’s eternal life. Then many years later he died physically. Let us all remember we are all descendants of Adam and we too will die physically. So the plan of that thin line of redemption began with God’s plan of spiritual and eternal salvation through Jesus Christ.
The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it. But the LORD God gave him this warning: "You may freely eat any fruit in the garden except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die." Gen. 2:15-17 NIV
Now as broaden the aspects of all the facts of salvation and break things down. We must understand if a person does not have the saving grace through Jesus Christ, they will be spiritually dead, and like with Adam this breaks down the ability to communicate with God and forms a separation with God. Plus that person remains in their sins and the original sin being we all are descendents of Adam and his sin. Plus they will not carry the power of the resurrection life of Jesus, they will be unaware of their actions and will not be guided by the Holy Spirit, and fall into a life of sin and death.
But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight--not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.
For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus. Rom. 3:21-26 NIV
In those days, when you were slaves of sin, you weren't concerned with doing what was right. And what was the result? It was not good, since now you are ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 6:20-23 NIV
So through the grace of our Lord through faith, of the resurrection power of the life of Jesus we can all be over comers of the world of sin and live that life of a Christian which God and His foreknowledge of His Son’s death on the cross long before the event even took place. As I mentioned before this thin red line of redemption running through the whole bible from beginning to end was not any afterthought, it was God’s eternal plan so we could have love, devotion, friendship and fellowship to obtain that holy living way of life with God’s eternal plan.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1John 5:4-5 NASB
It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. Eph. 2:1-6 MES
So my brothers and sisters whether we know or understand God has given us the ability and the authority to heal and raise people from their spiritual death. We as Gods children want to share this knowledge and power to all of the world, to teach of the Love of Jesus Christ, and to believe in Him, so they will have their sins forgiven and then hold the key factor of God the gift of eternal life!
Do you want to be truly alive and not spiritually dead? Don’t you want to be a friend of the awesome and most powerful God? Don’t you want the Holy Spirit to guide you in every step, every thought, and point you in the right holy direction? It is all so simple believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. I don’t think there are many people out there deep down inside in there hearts want to do wrong or sin and feel good about it. That is why we Christians are out there trying to spread the good news, this is a life and death situation here, don’t you think all of Christianity wants to do good for others and save souls and please God, don’t forget you are going to meet all of these people again in heaven. Wouldn’t you like to see to see these people you had influence on in heaven, that you saved there life from hell. If you see a person dieing and facing the rest of their lives in eternal damnation, wouldn’t you want to call someone for help? That is natural instinct, go and get help, well my brothers and sisters that is why we call upon the Lord.
For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, "Anyone who believes in him will not be disappointed." Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They all have the same Lord, who generously gives his riches to all who ask for them. For "Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Rom. 10:9-13 NIV
Dear brothers and sisters I am here today to tell you there is an open door of a new life a life directed by God Himself. I am just here to give you the knowledge to live by the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. We are to forget to live in a manner of the natural realm. We must forget to do things on our own, with our own power. There is a whole universe of power that believers are able to tap into. Forget about natural living, we have so much of holy power to tap into, don’t let your lives follow the world. We all are to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit and our Lord Jesus, and of course the ultimate master builder and planner God. We have so many faults and so many sins living in this natural realm of life, we need to shake it off; we are dead to the world and the natural realm.
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. Rom. 8:1-4 NIV
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. Rom. 12:1-2 NIV
Look for the new life we have, and the power and gentleness of the resurrection life of our Jesus, strive my brothers and sisters run that race for the prize. We are dead to this world of lust and pride open up your hearts to your new life remember:
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Gal. 2:20 NASB
We nee to die to all the aspects of the world, Let go and Let God! Do what He wants you to do. We need to die of the worldly nature, our possessions, our accomplishments, our judgments towards others, love all people no matter what they seem to be, don’t stereotype anyone, and don’t worry about what people think of you, remember you are dead to this world of sin and death. God loves you just the way you are. He made you like Himself, and He made a blueprint for us to follow. Let God do His work, don’t worry if some bad thing happens or some tragedy, or some hardship comes knocking at your door, if you are secure in Christ, God has a plan for everything to turn out for good. The bad things you experience will be turned around for good and it is written:
We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose. Rom. 8:28 AMP
God doesn’t lie, hold your heads up high and be thankful that God chose you to go through every piece of life for a reason, and He will explain it all to you, if it doesn’t fall into place in this life, He will explain it all to you in the next, we have eternity together to be with our creator full of pure love. So praise Him and thank Him for everything that goes through your life. God has given us His Son to us so we could have life and life more abundantly. Believe in His Son, trust Him, love Him and thank Him for giving you the gift of the power of the resurrection life.
Feb. 3, 2005
Dear Friends,
Today I got an e-mail from our friend, Rev. Paul Bonanno in Hilo, Hawaii. In the middle of a sentence, he said one of the most profound theological statements I have ever heard in my life,..and he never even REALIZED it.
He said,...."Scripture holds pieces of God in each word,...."
WOW! PASS IT ON!!!!
In a single sentence he has encapsulated more than five thousand years of Judeo-Christian history, the purpose and meaning of the Bible, why it provides answers, how we can rely on it, why we should read and study it, how it can speak to us in a still, small voice, how it provides guidance for the affairs of men and nations, now and forever.
This is worth passing on to all your friends, your enemies, your e-mail lists, your pastors, your rabbis, church leaders, your enemies, your associates, newspapers, etc.
This is a quote that can cause people to look at holy scriptures in a completely new light regardless of their denominations, and can be used to bring people together.
What a BLESSING!
Also, please keep Rev. Paul in your prayers for complete healing of a neurological problem.
He is a fine individual who has no idea of the profound, positive impact he has on others.
The Healing Scriptures he sent us for Eileen played the most significant part in her healing!
Dear Lord, As we come to a close of our service today, we want to thank each and everyone of you for attending and sharing our service, we don’t need a building, we need the fellowship of our people, and we need to express our love to all mankind and to show the way to salvation to all that do not know Christ, and to have a personnel relationship with Jesus. We are the farmers that do the planting, and the watering, and our mighty Father does the rest, all we can do is love and forgive all people, and give a hope of joy to them until Jesus returns, it may be tomorrow or the next day but if we keep our hearts pure without envy and jealousy, and wanting money and power, God will take care of His children, I am a proven fact. Just to be here this day and be able to say this prayer is a gift from God. See you all next week, grace and peace be with you always, In Jesus Name Amen
