Preached a sermon at church today. I went ahead and recorded it and put it in mp3 form. It is .rar’d so you’ll need winrar to open it. It is about 75megs so you need to have a decent internet connection to get it.
It is about winning people to the Lord and inviting them to church. Take a listen if you want. It is my first sermon so don’t be too critical 
.
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same. Matthew 26:34-35
Today’s post has to deal with what you say and what you do. Sometimes there is a big difference in what you say and what you do. You may confess one thing but do the exact opposite. This is just proof that we will never be perfect. All the disciples thought that they would stick up for Jesus when they came to arrest him. When the guards did come and Judas betrayed Jesus they tried to stop it but Jesus did not want blood to be spilled. The thing is, they still could have followed Jesus still, supported him while he was on trial, but instead the disciples deserted him and fled(matthew 26:56). Peter was the only one that followed. We have to give him some credit here that he was the only one that followed, albeit sneakily.
Why do you think that the disciples ran away? I believe that they were scared that they were going to be put on trial for the same things that Jesus was put on trial for. Fear is something that will make some of the strongest saints doubt, run, or sin. Peter becomes the foundation on which the Christian church is built later on, yet he denies to even know who Jesus is when he follows Jesus to the trial area. He is scared to be associated with Jesus. Sometimes we can be scared to be associated with Jesus too. What will our friends think if they know we are Christians? What will people think of me if I profess to be a Christian before they get to know me? What does our unsaved relatives think about us being Christians? These type of uncertainties make us afraid to go all in with Jesus. Maybe it’s not that you are scared to let people know you are a Christian but scared to let people know how seriously you take your salvation. There might even be a possibility that you will not take that next level with your faith because you are scared of what people will think of you if you are “on fire for Jesus,” or you talk about your faith more often.
These fears are real and Peter had the same fear. Imagine if you had a friend and that friend totally denied being your friend to save face. You would be upset, right? I know I would be upset and disappointed in that friend. However, Jesus still chooses Peter to be the one to build the church upon. Peter still preaches the message on the day of Pentecost where thousands get saved. The Holy Spirit does change Peter tremendously on the day of Pentecost but that is a different post completely.
Peter said he would not deny Christ but did. Sometimes fears and other things make us break our promises and word. When we realize that those promises are broken we need to ask people for forgiveness. The people we hurt are not as forgiving as Jesus is. So we must pay attention to what we say and what we actually do. If what we say contradicts what we do then we need to work on keeping our word. This is very rocky territory because friendships, relationships, and families have all been destroyed because we say one thing but do something opposite. As soon as we realize that we have done wrong we should ask forgiveness because the longer a person waits the worse off it’ll be. Peter realized what he did right away when the roster cried and asked for forgiveness immediately. May we learn from Peter to have the courage to follow Jesus but also the courage to realize when we do wrong and ask for forgiveness.
“So I say, live by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.” Galatians 5:16-23
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. I feel like we take the fruit of the spirit for granted. I know this because Christians are being labeled as hypocrites all the time, non-Christians cannot see the difference between them and Christians, and there is less talk about character now in the churches. We need to take the fruit of the spirit seriously because that is what other people see as our witness.
On average our daily acquaintances don’t know a lot about us. The people you sit next to at work, the neighbors down the street, or the waitress at our favorite restaurant. True they could be really good friends and know a lot but more often than not they are just acquaintances. They don’t know how much you sacrifice to be a Christian. That co-worker doesn’t know how much time you spend at church. The waitress doesn’t know that you are going through something that would destroy a normal person but because you have the Lord you can go on. What they see is your joy, kindness, patience, goodness, love, ect. Sometimes as Christians we focus on making sure that we finish our list of things to do for the Lord that we forget about our every day actions with those around us. There is a reason why Jesus said to love thy neighbor after loving him.
It is great to focus on our love for God and getting closer to him but we must also do his second command and to love others. Most of the time if we are trying to get closer to Jesus we will automatically have more love for people. I know that in my life if I start to think negative thoughts about people, display jealously or envy, or have no patience that I need to get closer to God. After I get closer to him then I start to focus on my character. Our character, which is the fruit of the spirit, is our main witness. If you show disdain, impatience, or prejudice then no matter what comes out of your mouth, even if you speak the gospel, most people will ignore you and label you a hypocrite. This is why we must focus day in and day out on showing the fruits of the spirit.
The saying is that actions speak louder than words and that is exactly representative of the fruits of the Spirit. You can go to church 4 times a week, read your bible for an hour a day, pray for an hour a day, and still be ineffectual as a witness for Christ. Your character is what people see first and foremost. If you claim to be a Christian then people are watching you. You might not think you are important but for those non-Christians you might be the only witness for Christ that they know. If you decide to go off on a co-worker or a friend, and show a ton of anger then it’ll take that much longer to build that witness up.
As Christians we want to be separate from the world. I think a lot of people think about that verse as not doing the things that non-Christians do. That is a part of it but we must act differently too. This is something that God is really working in me. I felt this way since I was a little boy though, that this is what is truly important. There is not enough character teachings going on in the church. There are way too many people leaving the churches because of feelings getting hurt. The church is bleeding because Christians are not trying their hardest to show love at all times.
I am not perfect myself. I get jealous, envious, have fits of rage, and sometimes I’m not as kind as I should be. As soon as I realize that these emotions are in me though I try to change and ask the Lord and anyone else that I may have hurt for forgiveness. The people that are considered the elders of the church are considered important because they display the fruits of the Spirit at all times. It took them a long time to get to that point though and did not happen over night. I hope that someday I will have the fruits of the Spirit in my life so strongly that people will look at me and consider myself to be a model Christian.
“He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.” Exodus 15:26
Going to be talking about miracles, more specifically healings. I was on a forum that I use quite a bit and a girl said that her aunt has been diagnosed with cancer and that if people believed in prayer that if they could pray for her that would be great. After she said that most people on the forum thought that she was trying to get people to believe it and then say “got you, haha” or something. This is what on the internet is considered trolling. Some people even responded, “praying? lol” and like things. Now I don’t know if she was serious or not, that isn’t the point. The point is that people were mocking the power of prayer.
Prayer does work. A double blind, clinical test was given in which a group of cardiac patients at a hospital were split into two groups. With the first group they had believers praying for them non-stop without the cardiac patients knowing. The second group had no one praying for them. The first group had ”less congestive heart failure, required less diuretic and antibiotic therapy, had fewer episodes of pneumonia, had fewer cardiac arrests, and were less frequently intubated and ventilated.” If you want to read more about this study check out this link.
In my own personal life I have experienced healings with the help of doctors. I had a rare skin condition as a child that made a rash over my body. I was told I would have it for more than 2 years and it might not never go away. It disappeared within 6 months. I had a pulmonary embolism in my lung that was there for about a month or longer and I was sustained until I went to the hospital to get it treated. I have not yet been instantaneously healed but I’m looking forward to the time I am.
I asked my mother to write down all the healings and miracles in her life that has happened. She came up with the following:
1. My Uncle Jack prayed for a man in Mexico with just a stump for a foot and a foot grew where the stump was.
2. My Uncle Jack prayed for a woman on crutches because she hurt her foot and she was healed instantly.
3. My Uncle Jack prayed for a man that couldn’t hear well and afterwards he could hear perfectly.
4. Mightly used of God my Uncle Jack had a heart attack and instead of going to the hospital he just quoted scriptures and prayed. His heart was perfectly fine. Before this he had serious heart trouble, his first heart attack was when he was a teenager, the above was the second one. He died at a young age though from cancer but when he did die the doctor said that his heart was perfectly fine and there was no evidence of a heart attack.
5. The doctor took tests of my mother and found a tumor in her uterus. She believed that it would be healed and when she went back for a test it was gone.
6. My mother developed diabetes when she was 23 years old but God healed her of it.
7. My mother had a massive hemorrhage after she had me and would have died if she was but 2 minutes later.
8. My mother had a blot clot with diabetic sores(same time as #6) and the doctor told her that before the night was over she would die or have her leg amputated. She believed that God was going to heal her and she was.
9. My father had a sever sprain when he was in college. He was on crutches and could not put pressure on it. God knew that he had to work to support himself through minister’s school. He went to church that night and was instantly healed and did not need the crutches.
10. My Uncle was suppose to have died in 5 years time but through God’s mercy it has been 15 years.
11. At a funeral we only had food for 40 people available. 80-85 people showed up, double the amount they thought. They prayed that God would multiply the food and they were able to feed everyone and have a ton of food left over.
12. My parents prayed for an elderly lady that had diabetes for years and was cured of it. Doctor took her off insulin all together.
13. God has always supplied financially for my parents, myself, and the churches they have been at.
These are all the healing and miracles that were just directly related to my own family. I know of two individuals that had cancer and that cancer disappeared completely without any treatment. God answers prayer and does heal.
I do not know why God answers some healings and not others. There were great men and women of God that were used in healing ministries but they themselves suffered from their own condition. Most of the time healings lift up the name of Jesus. I urge everyone that has been healed or knows people that have been healed to share it with others. Most people accept prayer even if they are not Christians. Do not stop praying because prayer does work. Sometimes it might work exactly how you want it to work but it does work.
I felt a very strong need to post this for some reason and I thank my mother for giving me information on her family today. If anything this is a good reference for me to look back on for the healings that have happened in my family.
Just going to share a little something that was in my lesson today.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
All Christians are called to be a witness for Christ. The thing about being a witness is that you have to have personal knowledge of Christ, show evidence of what we know about him, and we must tell others about Jesus in a purposeful way to further His cause. I bet you are thinking, “Paul I am a Christian but I’m afraid to share my faith with people.” This is totally natural for a younger Christian. We need to practice speaking about our faith in the confines of other Christians so that it’ll be more natural to do it with other people.
About 75%-90% of Christians come to know Christ through friends and relatives. The percentage of people that just walk in the door of a church and get saved is very small, only 2 or 3%. This is why it is so important to be witnesses for Jesus.
The most important witnessing tool you can use is your every day conduct. This is where it is EXTREMELY important that you are living a life that is pleasing to God. People need to see something different in you than what they see in other people. They need to see a hospitality, kindness, and patience that other people just don’t give them. This is where people’s attitudes and will against your faith start to collapse. It is extremely hard to be belligerent against a person that shows the love of God in their lives. I am not saying that your relationships should be only focused on witnessing and winning souls but it should come as a byproduct.
I pray that I will be a good witness for Christ. There are some actions and attitudes that I need to work on more to be a better witness. I still get angry too quickly and at times I get annoyed easily but God is doing a work in my life to change this things to the better. I just hope that I will have the opportunity in the future to make my witness be successful for the Lord by just showing Jesus’ love through me.
“Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’” Mathhew 15:16-20
Here we see Jesus getting a little frustrated. The Pharisees are getting on his case about his disciples not washing their hands before eating. This was a law that was created in the Old Testament. It was considered unclean to do this. The Pharisees are just trying to catch Jesus in something wrong but Jesus speaks about their disobedience to their father and mothers. Jesus is seeing that Isaiah was right when he said “these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teaching are but rules taught by men.”(Isaiah 29:13)
Then Jesus talks about how what comes out of a man’s mouth is unclean. Peter then decides to ask Jesus to explain the parable to him more and then we have the above scripture verse. Jesus wasn’t frustrated in anger but he was just disappointed that Peter isn’t understanding his parables. This is after Jesus had to explain every parable since then.
The thing I find interesting about this portion of scripture is that the unclean things that come out of your mouth are linked to your heart. If your heart is unclean then you could have or do evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. That means that if unclean things are coming from your mouth than you have the chance to do all those other sins from your unclean heart.
Make sure we watch what we say. Swearing, inappropriate jokes, lies, inappropriate comments, and hateful words can all lead to more sins. The worse your mouth gets the more inclined you are to do grave sins and ruin your life. So when your friends start to swear more often or talk inappropriately you need to watch yourself that you do not fall into the same trap that they are. Many strong Christians have been taken down just by starting to swear here and there. It will eventually make your heart unclean and lead to things you will regret.
There is good news though, Jesus can make that unclean heart clean again. All you have to do is ask for forgiveness and believe that he is the Son of God.
“Come to me, all 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.” Matthew 11:28-30
Basically what a yoke is, according to my extremely accurate google search source, is the bar that holds the two oxen together when plowing a field. The two oxen can now be told where to go together and as a unit. The two cows are totally dependent on each other. Jesus is saying here that if you take up his yoke, his partnership, than you will learn from him, and you will find rest in your soul. We don’t have to carry around a huge plowing device because his partnership is easy and the burdens are light. Jesus will not push you too hard and make you weary. He knows what your limitations are.
Lately I’ve been carrying a lot of burdens around. It is weighing down my soul and it is making me weary. I worry if I am making the right decisions. I worry if things will end up fine. I worry if God will provide for me. Sometimes I feel that being a Christian increases the burdens and weariness. We all go through times when we are weary and tired. I have been going through such a time in my life.
I need to apply this scripture to my life when I spot these seasons happening. I need to submit to Jesus’ will and leadership in my life for I can rest knowing that he is in control. I am weary and burdened and I will turn to him so that he can give me rest. All of my cares and worries do not need to be there when Jesus is in control. If I continue to live my life by casting my cares upon him then I will find life much more easier and satisfying. The disappointments, heartache, and impatience will be much easier to endure with his love.
As amazing as this lesson is, I still struggle to apply it in my life every day. I can only keep trying though. I would rather try and having to learn the same lesson over again, than never try, and deal with all my problems alone.
Took a little bit of a break from the blog the last week. I didn’t intend to do that but I got busy with other things and a couple days I wasn’t feeling well. I did miss writing it though.
“The Lord watches over you – the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, not the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” Psalms 121:5-8
As Christians we need to know that the Lord is always with us and watching over us. At times we can be distant to God but he is not distant to us. God is as close to us as our shadow. Most people are hardly aware of their shadow at all times. The same can be said about God for most people. They are not award of how close he is to us and wants to be a part of our lives.
The Lord is the one seeking us out. We just have to make that small amount of effort to reach him. Sometimes that small amount of effort is difficult for some reason. It should be as natural as lifting your hand up but sometimes it is very difficult. If you don’t use a part of your body for a long time you then have to exercise that part of the body to get it back to the proper working shape. That can be applied to our spiritual walk as well. We might have distanced ourselves so far from God or put up barriers in front of ourselves that reaching him takes time and work.
The funny thing is that God has never moved, he has always been there. We are the ones that move from God. If you feel that God is distanced from you, start to exercise your spirit. Start praying more often and reading your Bible. After a little while you will realize he is as close to you as your own shadow. With more exercise in the spirit you will be as strong as Sampson was in the bible, only spiritually.
If you obey the Lord he will watch over your life. I don’t know about you but I want Jesus on my side, right next to me.
“They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood.” Psalms 106:37-38
Yep, I’m going to talk about abortion. In doing so I’m probably going to lose some pro-choice readers and maybe even some pro-life readers. Hopefully I can explain myself well enough that people will understand how my point of view and this scripture go hand in hand.
It was about, oh 8 years ago, when I wrestled with the topic of abortion, and how I was going to decide my stance on it. On one hand I felt that it was morally wrong and if I was in the situation of an unwanted pregnancy I would want the girl to go through with the pregnancy. If we could not handle the responsibility of the child at that point in life, then we should give it up for adoption. On the other hand, I felt that the government should not interfere, and that I should not tell other women what to do with their bodies. So in other words, I was morally pro-life, and politically pro-choice. I really don’t mind that type of stance but I did know many Christians that gave me quizzical looks because of it. I’ll never forget a lunch I had with this girl once in college and somehow the topic of abortion came up. I described what I said above and got a pretty good lecture. She wasn’t too interested in being my friend after that. lol.
My stance on abortion today is morally pro-life, politically pro-life, socially forgiving. I would vote to end most abortions in a heartbeat. Special cases involving illegal abuse and doctor recommendations when it comes to endangered mothers would be exceptions for me. Where my issue is at is where people terminate pregnancies based off of inconvenience. This is where the above verse comes into play. Innocent blood is being shed in the name of idols. These idols are jobs, lust, bad timing, image being ruined, physical appearance ruined, and selfishness. Whatever reason that the abortion is being done for is being exalted above the life of the child. Years ago I heard a message at church on abortion and this scripture was used. Since then I changed my political viewpoint on abortion.
The important thing to note here is that I am socially and religiously forgiving. If a woman has an abortion, I feel that shouldn’t be something that stops her from coming to know Christ. A woman that had an abortion should not be something that stops myself from becoming their friend. Pro-choice people are like everyone else and to be prejudice against them is not the message that Jesus brought to us. This is a very personal and heart breaking topic for many women that has gone through this process. If the church discriminates at all against these women it will ostracize a large population. They need Jesus’ comfort just as much as everyone else. Perhaps they can deal with the past and hurts with the Lord’s help.
Later in this chapter God was merciful to these people.
“But he took note of their distress when he heard their cry; for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented.” Psalms 106:44-45
They cried out to the Lord and his love for them came through. We need to be more like God. We need to show our love towards women that deal with this subject. I’m pretty sure everyone has someone in the their life that had an abortion or knows of someone that did. We need to stop judging them and go to them in love. Our friendship should not be situational.
I’m not sure why I talked about this today but hopefully it was for someone. I had no clue I was going to talk about it and I am a little uncomfortable, but not everything is going to be comfortable to talk about. In closing, I am a true believer in abstinence until marriage, but if you fail to resist, please use protection. If you are not ready to bring a child into this world then please be responsible before you have sex. Ugh, ok, uncomfortableness out. Check out this link about an awesome doctor that is 100 years old and has delivered like 18,000 babies.
“Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonder he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.” Psalms 105 1-5
This passage of scripture gives us a good guideline on how to praise the Lord. The first thing it tells us to do is to give thanks to the Lord and to call out for him. This is to identify that we are thankful for what God has done for us and to symbolically call for his attention.
The next thing we can do to praise the Lord is to tell others what he has done. Sometimes this gets skipped or forgotten but there is no better witness than to tell others what God has done for you.
The next thing it tells us to do is to sing praises to him and once again thank him for his actions. We must be grateful for whatever God has done for us at every minute of the day because it is only his mercy and grace that we are saved.
The next part is worshiping the Lord by saying how great he is and to open our hearts together to rejoice the Lord. This is where we come together as one in church and glorify his wonderful name.
Next is a prayer for us to always get strength for the Lord and to always seek his face. This is important because it talks about the actions we must take in the future to be successful. Without his strength we are nothing and without always seeking his face we can become indifferent.
Lastly we must again remember what he has done for us, the miracles that have taken place, but to remember the judgments that he hands out. This will give us confidence in him for the future and make us properly fear him. Without knowing the judgments that await those that live in sin we are more likely to participate in the sin. We need to be warned that there are consequences for our actions.
