Corporate Confession And Repentance by Richard Owen Roberts

The Nature Of Revival by Richard Owen Roberts

Revival.mpg

Will You not revive us again,
That Your people may rejoice in You? Psalm 85:6

"It's Time to Come Out and Cross Over in 2011"- A Message of Hope by Pastor Steve

This is a prophetic word of  hope and deliverance for a portion of the Body of Christ worldwide who have been hidden away in the wilderness, pit and prison for years and even decades. God hasn't forgotten you and He has need of you now. Through all the years of everything going wrong and seemly backwards according to His word for your life it is all about to change as we cross over into the new year of 2011.


Also see this prophetic word which is in line with the above teaching.
"OLD WELLS, FALLEN MANTLES, NEW FOUNTAINS"
( A VISION OF THE FINAL GREAT AWAKENING)
by Michael Edds
http://greatawakening.blogspot.com/2010/12/final-great-awakeningthe-end-time.html

Many who are hearing this word will relate to this teaching, "The Dark Night of the Soul" by Mario Murillo. http://www.revivalschool.com/darknight.htm It might help you to understand a little more of what you've possibly  been going through.
A former Wilderness Dweller and now Promised Land Possesser,
Pastor Steve
Pt2 "How to Possess the Promised Land"
http://ewpministry.blogspot.com/2011/01/its-time-to-come-out-and-cross-over-in.html
Pt3 "How to Possess the Promises of God"
http://ewpministry.blogspot.com/2011/01/its-time-to-come-out-and-cross-over-in.html

Seek My Face by Richard Owen Roberts

Revival Theology by Richard Owen Roberts

Humble Yourselves by Richard Owen Roberts

SIGN OF THE BEAST?

I'm not trying to be an alarmist but to me this is a little freaky and needs to be looked at.  How close are we to the coming of Christ? This must surly be signs of the beginning of the end with the technology in place now for what could possibly be used as the sign of the Beast. To me this can only be speculation right now but I think we need to wake as the Church and start looking around at all that is happening in the US and world.
Pastor Steve

Revelation 13:16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or[a] the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.

Watch and Read

http://youtu.be/1YJsxMcAJoA

http://youtu.be/MLE85V63lWk

http://youtu.be/4Ots4zUQZg8

http://youtu.be/WFoKNtw0r6M

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/3193-national-healthcare-will-require-national-rfid-chips

The Crisis Of Contemporary Christianity by Andrew Strom

HOW SAD! – HOW TRUE! – Coach Dave

“HOW GREAT is THAT DARKNESS”

-extracts by Coach Dave Daubenmire.



Okay Lord, I’ll write it. But I really don’t understand why you give me these dirty jobs. Why haven’t you anointed me to write about the evil Democrats, or say, those God-haters who want to take Manger Scenes off of the courthouse steps? Why can’t I be like Ann Coulter and just expose liberals? Why do I always have to write things about folks who are supposed to be on my side? The liberals hate me enough – why do I have to keep poking “conservatives” in the eye?



It won’t be long before I won’t be welcome anywhere in Christian

circles. But I promised you years ago that I would be faithful to

write and speak what you put in my spirit. As President John

Adams famously said, “Duty is ours. The results belong to God.”



So, I’ll lay it out there and trust you have a reason for putting the

words in my heart.



Most Christians are not. Not really disciples of Jesus that is. As I

go about my work, I have become more and more convinced of

that truth. The American Experience is in trouble because those

who claim to be followers of Jesus really don’t follow Him.



Oh, don’t get me wrong, they “go to church,” and most “believe in

God,” but they are not followers of Jesus. They don’t even know

what that means…to follow Jesus…even though they are

“Christians.” In fact, I doubt whether the Apostle Paul, or any of

the first-century believers, would even recognize the “religion” that

we call “Christianity” today. Just wondering….was Jesus a “Christian?”



Jesus hated religion. It was the “religious” folks that He tried to

free us from. “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,

hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for

ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are

entering to go in.”



Read Mathew 23 to understand better what He had to say to

“religious” leaders. He stated it better than I can.



Look. Christianity is not a religion, it is not “going to church”, it is

not a set of rules and regulations after which you pattern your life,

it is not a crutch for the weak, it is not an answer on the US

Census, and it is not a home business designed to increase one’s

earthly possessions.



Christianity is the life of Jesus living through you. It is an exchange

of your life for His, a living out of His nature instead of yours, a

“putting on” of the life of Jesus, not a process where you “accept”

Him, or “receive” Him, or “come” to Him. It is a death process…a

dying of you and your old nature…a transformation really…out of

an old life to a new one. “Christ IN you, the hope of Glory.”



Most folks who identify as Christians claim to know Jesus as

Savior. Very few know Him as Lord.



That’s why Christianity is so shallow in America. We love the

“Savior” part of Jesus, but aren’t quite ready to bow to that “Lord”

thingee. Most are interested in having “their Savior” bless their

endeavors, but few are willing to “lay down their lives” for Him.



Everyone wants to “follow Jesus” until they find out where He is

going…He is heading to a Cross…and He asks you to take up

yours and follow Him. This flies in the face of popular Christianity

and its “felt needs”…



The hearts of Americans are hard to pierce. Stephen called folks

like us “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye

do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.”



How did the religious folks receive Stephen and his honest rebuke?

“Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and

ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and

stoned him…”



Here is what I am getting at. Most “Christians” are not open to the

true Gospel because they already think they have it. They have

learned to compartmentalize it, to compromise it, to hang it on the

coat rack. But they have heard a different Gospel. They have been

taught to follow Christianity, not Jesus.



Do yourself a favor. Take the time to read the book of Acts. It is a

record of the “Gospel” being lived out by those who were most

familiar with the Savior. You will look long and hard, far and wide,

to find anything even remotely resembling the modern-day

Humanistic, self-serving, Jesus-wants-me-to-be-happy-and-rich-

Gospel belching out of the pulpits today. Would they invite Paul,

the greatest evangelist the world has ever known, to appear on

TBN? Would Rick Warren and Joel Osteen allow him to stand in

their pulpits? Can you picture him “dancing with the stars?”



Americans are following a “different” Gospel, which is “no Gospel at all.”



“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and

have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and

miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”



Read Mathew 13. It is here that we read of the wheat and the tares

which GROW UP TOGETHER. That’s right. When you go to

“church” on Sunday it would behoove you to look around. Many of

those sitting beside you are destined for the bon-fire. They look

like Christians, the sing like Christians, and they speak the

Christian “language”, but they are not children of the Lord.



“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not

prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils?

and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I

profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work

iniquity.” -Mathew 7



America is the most “Gospelized” nation in the world, but my

dealings with Americanized “Christians” have convinced me that

the greatest mission field in the world is inside the four walls of

most American churches.



The darkness thinks it is light…



READ MORE-

http://www.newswithviews.com/Daubenmire/dave217.htm

Posted  by Andrew Strom on December 10th, 2010 http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/

HOW TO HAVE A “PERSONAL” REVIVAL by Andrew Strom

“Practical steps that will revolutionize your Christian walk”


For many years now I have studied the accounts of past Revivals and Revivalists. This is what I am known for – writing and speaking on the subject of ‘Revival’. But when you study this topic, one of the things you see very quickly is that we in the church today are living well below the level of Christianity that should be considered ‘normal’. (-Even a lot of “Spirit-filled” believers today). When you see what kind of Gospel was preached and what kind of Christian life was lived in the Revival days of old, you start to hunger for that kind of Christianity again. And you start to see that there is a kind-of “Revived” life that is very attainable for us all today – but so few are walking in it – or are even told that it exists.



In many ways, what I am talking about is the ‘Normal’ Christian life. It is nothing else but the “new creation” life found in Romans chapters 6 – 8. There is nothing “amazing” about it at all. Yet it is so far above the kind of Christianity that we have been led to expect, that many think it “unattainable”. How very sad – because it is the free gift of God to us all.



Is it possible to walk before God in a constant state of being ‘clean’ before Him – and knowing it? Is it possible to walk with a totally pure heart and clean conscience as our “normal” state – every day?



Is it possible to live in true victory over sin – at a practical level? Is it possible to have the strongholds of sin and pride in our fallen nature so dealt-with that they hardly bother us at all?



The answer to these questions is ‘Yes’. And one of the key things that I want this website to be about, is how to come into this kind of Christianity – how to literally have a “personal Revival”.



THE STARTING PLACE – “REPENTANCE”



As all Scripture and Revival history shows – a true Revival begins with “Deep Repentance”. And in our personal lives, it so often begins with making a “list” – literally – of ANY sin or compromise or “cloud” that is in our life – and confessing those sins to God with real sorrow and repentance. Any person who cannot make a ‘LIST’ like that – and spend time confessing their sins before God (-And forsaking them!) – is not really serious about becoming ‘Revived’. This is the first place to start.



In fact, please stop reading this right now. Please find a piece of paper and write down a List of every sin or ‘doubtful’ thing in your life. Ask God to “shine His light” into your heart and show you everything that you need to repent of. Then simply get alone with Him and go through that List – repenting of each thing one by one – deeply confessing and forsaking them before the Lord.



I believe a lot of people will have a “Personal Revival” just through doing that! -In fact, I know of many people who have literally been ‘revived’ through this simple process. So please – DO IT NOW! This first step is so important that I do not believe there is any point reading further until you have gone through it.



THEN – “WALKING” IN IT



Now, after you have been through this Repentance process, what you are left with is a CLEAN CONSCIENCE. [-This is assuming that you have already been through the other basic steps found in Romans 6 - 8. ie. WATER-BAPTISM (-a "death" to the old life) and also RECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT (-without which we do not have the 'POWER' to walk in a truly 'Revived' state). Please see my other articles for more on these two steps if you need to].



Assuming that you have these basic things in place, and that you have now REPENTED DEEPLY by confessing your sins to God one by one, you should now sense a RENEWED COMMUNION with God through having a totally CLEAN CONSCIENCE before Him. Is that what you are sensing?



The Bible speaks many times of having a conscience that is “sprinkled clean” by God. -And what a precious thing that is! In fact, it is fair to say that the Christian life consists of- (1) Getting a clean conscience, and (2) Keeping it clean! -It is pretty much as simple as that!



So how do you “walk” in a ‘Revived’ state before God? -Simply by walking in a way that KEEPS YOUR CONSCIENCE CLEAN. That is what Romans 8 is all about! -That is what 1 John 3 is all about! -Keeping your heart PURE before God. -Getting a clean conscience and WALKING IN IT – by the power of the Holy Spirit.



Below I have compiled a number of testimonies from readers – telling about their experience of this continual “clean” state before God – and how it happened. Remember – this is a “GIFT” from God – and to experience it we MUST have His Spirit. The testimonies are below:



JASON WRITES:

As a word of encouragement, I have been screaming the message of deliverance from sin, freedom from bondage, and slavery to righteousness from Romans 5-8 for about the last five years.



The most common response is a list of reasons (actually, justifications) of why these verses simply CANNOT mean what they seem to mean. Another response is that simple “mystified” look – as when one cannot quite process what they have just been told. Still another sad response is that of sheer anger.



Nevertheless, “He is able to save to the uttermost.” The Book of Revelation declares that He has “freed us from our sins by His blood.” In yet another place we are told that we “died to sins that we might live for righteousness.”



MARY BELLE WRITES:

I just read your word, “My Experience of a CLEAN HEART”, and it is a word that the Body of Christ must hear. If we only lived out from Romans 6, our lives would be revolutionized. We are not living the “normal Christian life” because we don’t believe that it is obtainable except through struggle and trying to do our best.



Most of the believers in Christ have never walked or lived according to what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross for us… We have lived the “sub-normal life” and believed it to be the truth. The lie of satan must be exposed and the Church of the Living God come into the complete fullness of who she really is.



TERRY WRITES:

I think your article is exactly right! In fact this has been a normal life for me. Whenever conviction arises I do something about it and return to that place of rest and freedom from sin. I don’t think there is any other kind of Christianity, unless a person is willing to live under conviction of sin and not do anything about it.



LINDA WRITES:

Many of these truths aren’t taught in a lot of churches… Not death to self, not the crucified life, and as you know – that’s where it all starts. Many don’t know who they are in Christ Jesus, have no idea we are Clean, Justified, released from our old nature to take on His nature.



JEFF WRITES:

The fact that so few experience this does not mean we should change the Gospel, so willfully sinning people can feel better about their relationship with God – so they can feel better than God wants them to. But I think we also need to give them the tools so they can live in Romans 8.



I attended an evangelical seminary for a year, hearing over and over about imputed righteousness, and almost nothing about actual, overcoming righteousness, and seeing hardly any.



In “Are You Walking in Romans 8?” you preached that we must have a pure white robe to be normal Christians and to enter heaven. Isn’t this what Jesus said in Revelation 3? But how many U.S. ‘Christians’ have heard this preached? No wonder the knee-jerk reaction that some will have when the Biblical standard for going to heaven is finally taught.



Jesus’ heart is grieved, and He wants us to speak out the truth, even if this offends some people and makes them uncomfortable. Smith Wigglesworth said, ~”I want to make people either mad or glad.” We must teach what Jesus requires, as well as how people can live in Romans 8; otherwise, millions who think they are Christians will be doomed.



I think the most radical difference between overcoming-you and the undercoming majority is your statement: “God gave me a true ‘fear of the Lord’ from the start, and a deep repentance where I literally went right through my life and repented of everything I could find that was not godly.”



This happened to me, also, over 30 years ago…. I had a healthy fear of the Lord. If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, how can the church make right decisions about many things if they don¹t even have the beginning of wisdom. Satan has taken the fear of the Lord from the American church, and the ‘church’ is mostly not really Jesus’ going-to-heaven church.



We will see the prophesied revival which will just be a group of people who are living as true going-to-heaven Christians. Then the world will know.



That’s my opinion. I would love to share more, regarding what will help the church truly overcome, including how God told me I was in danger of going to hell when I was willfully lusting, and how He told me to live in the kingdom with my whole heart, not just my head, which I¹ve found is a huge key to overcoming sin.



The heart is much more than a pump. It¹s the deepest center of our emotions. Andrew, you talk a lot about having a pure heart. I believe that Jesus means this literally. He says we are not to look at a woman with lust in our heart, and that we need to do whatever we need to in order to not do this and be able to go to heaven. He says we are to forgive everyone from our hearts, otherwise the tormentors have a right to mess with us. Jesus says we are to love God with our whole heart, not just our heads, or even with part of our heart. Why do lovers say, “I love you from the bottom of my heart?” Why does the Bible speak of the heart about 1,000 times?



I think one of the biggest keys you¹ve learned is to keep your heart pure, not just your head. But most Americans don¹t understand this concept. Most pastors don’t understand this, yet it’s the first part of the greatest commandment.



The ‘church’ must repent, and we need to speak what the Holy Spirit is putting on our hearts to speak. Then we will be one, not just a few of us, but many. It will be so awesome!!! We will see it if we don¹t give up.



JAEL WRITES:

I, and many others walk in what I call ‘righteousness conciousness’ daily. As for my walk, I keep in communion with my Heavenly Father at all times, making corrections and receiving forgiveness as necessary, but staying in His presence always. He shows me where to correct, where to re-examine myself, when I need to repent in order to stay in this blessed state. This should not come as a major upset to anyone. Isn’t this how Christianity is supposed to be? As far as I can see, this is the only way to live… the only way I’d ever WANT to live. We are new creations… as it says in another translation…”we are a new species of being, that never existed before.” Humans with God inside. Hallelujah!! I say we should live in the light, as children of the light.



TENNEY WRITES:

I loved your essay on walking in cleanness. I too experience a daily walk with the Lord wherein I do not find myself having to repent all the time. Some things are SETTLED! I was delighted to hear your story, because I agree, there should be more of this easy wonderful walk with God.



KATRINA WRITES:

At one time in my life I was an alcoholic, drug-addicted prostitute. I was arrested and in jail when I made a complete and total surrender to the Lord. He put me in Romans, Chapters 5-8 for about 3 months continuous study and prayer. When I left that jail at the end of six months I was a set free captive! Today, six years later, I walk as a new creation that Jesus Christ has made me! I serve as housemother/counselor in a women’s ministry for ladies coming out of addiction and sin and turning to the Lord for that victory. I agree with everything that you have “preached”! After all, “whom the Son sets free, is free indeed!”



BRAD WRITES:

Years ago after a wonderful meeting with the Lord in prayer one night my faith was ignited and my wife would say I went from a 1 to a 10 overnight in my relationship with God. I often shared my faith with other believers who were constantly contending with my new faith. One day I was reading thru Romans because of some contention about the Holy Spirit. I knelt down to talk to God and He spoke to me and asked me “What do you see?” and I said I see that I don’t have to sin any more, and He said to me “That’s what I wanted you to see”. Our Baptism into His death and raised into His new life should not be contaminated with unbelief or arguments of “I can’t stop sinning, it’s too hard”. These are lies that are contrary to the truth. I never knew before that moment that I was freed from sin through Baptism (Romans ch 6). That lack of truth in my life was a source of great struggles and self condemnation for years.



JUDY WRITES:

Andrew, Perhaps as well you can post chapter by chapter the Watchman Nee book, The Normal Christian Life on here… I am finding that I must read more than once this book and I also believe that this sinless life as explained in this book and also in the book of Romans is something that must be by revelation, not just teaching. It must be “got” as it is so very deep. Add to that your sermons, and other perhaps teachings by those whom you have also mentioned as preachers of this sinless life and hopefully the readers will be able to appropriate the truths by revelation.



CANDITA WRITES:

I finally found someone who believes as I do! I sat at my computer and cried. I’m not a weirdo after all! I don’t believe any Christian should live a yoyo life (up and down). Another thing that I’m not hearing in the preaching of the Gospel, is Maintenance – How to Maintain the Salvation that you receive…. nobody tells you HOW to maintain what Jesus has given you.



GEORGE WRITES:

Dear Andrew, [You wrote:] “Normal” Christianity is this: Walking before God with a totally clean conscience and a pure heart – as our ‘normal’ state before Him. -Utterly clean. No STRIVING or “TRYING to be good”. This is clearly what the New Testament describes as normal. – Literally walking before God with “no consciousness of present sin”.



Yes, absolutely. That is what we are doing. And if something “pops up”, we take a good look at it (being “transparent” is our goal) and deal with it. If there is indeed something there, then repentance and taking authority over it are the order of the day… and we keep on walking! Is this preached today? Sadly not.



ANDREW AGAIN:

I hope through these testimonies you can get a sense of how simple – yet how vital – this “clean conscience” state is for Christians. It really is the ‘Normal Christian Life’! It is simply Romans Chapters 5 – 8, and I do not believe that any lesser state is acceptable at all. -In fact, it is totally unacceptable for any believer.



I am truly hoping that this article will give you some practical insights about how to come into this state in your own life. That is what it is all about. -First ‘GETTING’ a clean conscience – then ‘WALKING’ in it! Quite a simple concept – and utterly scriptural. But remember – we must have the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT in our lives before we can walk in this. -It is only by HIS strength and leading that it is possible.



I am currently writing a book on how to have a “Personal Revival” – and it should be finished soon. But in the meantime, we have placed a number of audio sermons on the right-hand side of our website relating to this ( – REVIVALSCHOOL.com ). Some actually experience a “Personal Revival” through listening to these – which I truly thank God for. -The most helpful ones to download are probably “How to Experience Personal Revival” and also “Are you Walking in Romans 8?” But others such as “Repentance in Kansas City” or even “Outspoken!” can be helpful also. Most of the audio up there is designed to take you deeper into revival.



Below is one of the most recent testimonies about this:



CHRISTOPH WRITES:

I’m from Germany (18 y.o) and it’s just a few months ago I visited your page for the first time. I think one of the first sermons I listened to was about Romans 8 … In the beginning I could not imagine that this kind of Christianity you preached exists at all. But I thought about it again and again and now I’m so thankful… I now live in a state where there is no sin in my life that rules over me. I am so full of life now, because I realized what this life Jesus promised is all about.



I am so happy that there is nothing that controls me except my Lord and God Jesus and I started fighting for this truth in my youth group. Yesterday I preached a sermon about hell and Romans 8 in front of about 50 people. Some were really touched by the Spirit, others just said I am crazy and that this kind of Christian life without all this fleshly stuff is not possible. I said one part of the gospel is to get free from this bondage of sin. Some got mad and said the gospel is just love and has nothing really to do with our sins. So I hope I will be able to start this in our country because we are so weak that I often prayed: “God, send revival or take me home.”



And believe me, the first time I made a decision for Christ was about 2 years ago, but somehow I am not sure that I got saved at that time. There was so much sin and worldly stuff in my life that I’m convinced I was just some kind of “almost Christian”.



My church is a pentecostal church with everything except prayer meetings. So I just want to thank you that I am now living in a state that I think is what you call a revival state. I know God did this and I did nothing for it…



ANDREW AGAIN:

As I said, it may be best to start with the two sermons – “HOW TO EXPERIENCE PERSONAL REVIVAL” and “ARE YOU WALKING IN ROMANS 8?” You can download these (free) from the right-hand side of- http://www.revivalschool.com



I pray that we all truly and deeply experience “Personal Revival”, my friends.



God bless you all,



Andrew Strom.

Sid Roth - It's Supernatural Messianic Vision: Retha McPherson 2010

Sid Roth - It's Supernatural Messianic Vision: Retha McPherson 2010

No Understanding At All - Pt 1

No Understanding At All - Pt 2

Baby Raised From the Dead

Why Is Serving the Poor So Important? By Bob Sanders – Baja Christian Ministries

Cornelius, the Roman Centurion, is introduced to us in Acts 10. Who was he and why was he so significant? Cornelius was the first Non-Jew to be chosen by Jesus to be saved and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit! So...why is that so important? Because... He was Jesus’ first pick! Can we for a moment picture Jesus in Heaven saying, “I can’t wait to bless this guy, I love him, I’m pleased with him, he’s my first choice for salvation beyond the chosen children of Israel? Acts 10 has this to say of Cornelius: “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering to God.” (Acts 10:4-NIV) Then again, “…Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor (Acts 10:31-NIV) Is God making a statement here? I believe He is! Along with fervent faith-filled prayer, I believe that serving the poor is very important to God! To further make my point… In the book of Galatians the key apostles Peter, John and James are in a church boarding meeting together with Barnabas and Paul…and the ministry agenda of great importance is then revealed: “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, which Paul said, “was the very thing that I was eager to do (Gal 2:10—NIV).” Notice they didn’t say, remember to teach in an expository manner or remember to fully immerse when you baptize! Indirectly this important verse reveals an important question: Is serving the poor very important to God, to the poor, to our own lives, to our families, to our churches and to our countries? I believe it is! Enclosed is a treatise I arranged from Scripture entitled “Why Serving the Poor is So Important!” Please take time to read through it and make your own determination. It’s a topical scripture verse upon scritpture verse study on this important subject. But before you read it... please let me share a few more prefacing remarks:


I believe that some of the most powerful promises of blessing, protection, and refreshment in all of the Scriptures are anchored in the faith-filled act of service and giving to the poor. The Fathers good pleasure of giving us His Kingdom (Luke 12:33-34-NIV), which is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit... (Rom 14:17--NIV) is largely grounded in these vital steps of obedience. Promises that our spirit and soul shall be greatly refreshed like a well watered garden whose springs never fail (Isaiah 58:11) are rooted in properly connecting to serving the poor. Yet, with all the amazing and incredible Scriptural blessings promised to those who respond, there is also a downside for those who don’t respond, in which we should also take heed and learn from! In Ezekiel 16:49-50 it states that God judged Sodom because she neglected the poor. Zecheriah 7:9-14 states that God judged Israel and scattered her throughout the earth because she didn’t bring justice to the poor. King Nebuchadnezzar was forced to eat grass for 7 years in judgment because he refused to remember the poor when Daniel declared to him, “…Break off your sins by being righteous and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity” (Daniel 4:27) ... which indirectly suggests another vital condition of blessing! In the western world we've grown to love our prosperity. With that in mind, it's important to remember that biblical history shows us that prosperity not coupled with charity gradually heaps up God’s reluctant judgment in severity. In many ways, it seems our country is in troubled times. Our land needs healing! Is it possible that embracing God's command to serve the poor might be a key to healing our land? Is it possible that the prosperity of this country could be lengthened as Daniel inferred, if serving and blessing the poor were to become a priority? What about protection against terrorism? Psalm 41:1-3 states, “Blessed is he that considers the poor. The Lord… will deliver him from the will of his enemies.” Certainly terrorists are not friends. Does this promise fit here? Could God's protection and deliverance from the will of unknown enemies in our future result from serving the poor? The noble Bereans searched the Scriptures (Acts 17:10-12)... let us also search the Scriptures regarding this important matter of serving the poor. Hopefully this treatise assist some to further jumpstart this process and offer some insights as to why the serving the poor is so important from God's Word? My prayer is that we as the modern day Church would make serving the poor a priority as did the early church and say as the Apostle Paul did, “that this very thing I was eager to do” (Gal 2:10)!



In the strong exhorting words of Heb 10:24-25—Let us consider how to stir up one another into love and good deeds as we see the Day of our Lord approaching (Heb 10:24-25). Thank you for reading through my introduction and the treatise that follows. May God bless you! Bob Sanders



Why Is Serving The Poor So Important?



Because...whoever is kind to the needy honors God (Pro 14:31—NIV) He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done. (Pro 19:17—NIV) A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. (Pro 11:25--NIV) …then you shall take delight in the Lord…and ride upon the heights of the earth... (Isa 58:6-14—NRSV) ...And you will be blessed, because they can not repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous (Luke-14:13-14--NRSV)



Because...He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever (2Cor 9:9-NIV) …not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also over flowing in many expressions of thanks to God. (2Cor 9:12—NIV)



Because...Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. (Acts 10:4—NIV) …Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me. (Matt 25:40) He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? Says the Lord. (Jer 22:16)



Because...you should not leave undone the more important things. (Luke 11:42-NLT) He that gives unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hides his eyes shall have many a curse. (Proverbs 28:27) …give to the needy…and you will be clean all over. (Luke 11:41-NLT)



Because...Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I (Isaiah 58:9—NIV) …God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. (Acts 10:31-NIV) Blessed is he that considers the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and You will not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of sickness: You will restore him in his sickness. (Ps 41:1-3)



Because...the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I (the Lord) command you, saying, You shall open your hand wide unto your brother, to your poor, and to your needy, in your land. (Deut 15:11) …remembering the words of the Lord Jesus who said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. (Acts 20:35) …give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver. (2Cor 9:7)



Because...by this service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for your obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. (2Cor 9:13-14—NIV)



Because...The righteous considers the cause of the poor: but the wicked regard not to know it. (Pro 29:7) …among my people are found wicked men…they have become great, and grown rich…they shine: … they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not…the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy they do not judge. …shall not My Soul be avenged on such a nation as this? (Jer. 5:28-29)



Because...the Lord Almighty says: Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor… but they refused to pay attention…and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was angry. When I called, they didn’t listen; so when they called, I would not listen, says the Lord Almighty. I scattered them with a whirlwind among the nations where they were strangers. (Zech. 7:9-14--NIV)



Because...this was the sin of … Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. (Eze. 16:49-50—NIV)



Because...If my people, which are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2Chron 7:14) …break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity (Dan 4:27—NKJV).



Because...the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. (Ps 9:17-18) Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. (Pro 31:9)



Because...Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…(James 1:27—NIV) Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised to those who love Him (James 2:5—NIV) …remember the poor…(Gal 2:10)



Because...What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he has faith, and have not works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what does it profit? Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone. (Ja 2:14-17)



Because...In Christ Jesus…the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Gal 5:6--NIV) This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? …let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His Presence. (1Jo 3:16-19—NIV)



Because...the Kingdom of God is... righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit... (Rom 14:17--NIV) Your Father's good pleasure is to give you the Kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the poor; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail…For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:33-34--RSV) ...By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so they may take hold of real life (1Tim 6:17-19--NLT)



Because...If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire with good things, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. (Isa 58:10-11—RSV) …you shall be called Repairer of the Breach…(Isa. 58:12—RSV) …and…ride upon the heights of the earth…(Isa 58:14—RSV)



Because...the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble plans he stands. (Isa 32:8—NIV) And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work. As it is written, "He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever." He…will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness. (2Cor 9:7-10--RSV) only… remember the poor, which very thing I was eager to do. (Gal 2:10—RSV)



Scripture verses compiled by Bob Sanders 4/8/04 www.bajachristian.org



All verses not from the King James Version are noted as: NIV—New International Version, RSV—Revised Standard Version, NASV-New American Standard Version, NKJV—New King James Version, NRSV—New Revised Standard Version or NLT—New Living Translation. In italics I changed some of the archaic words in the King James to more appropriate modern words and the thou’s to you’s for better readability. Also I shortened some verses to make the emphasis. I believe the context of each principle or point is correct, but I highly recommend that you open you study them in your Bible to test each context. Thanks! Bob Sanders

Baja Christian Ministries 4195 Chino Hills Pkwy # 390 Chino Hills, CA 91709 (909) 627-4339

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The Hebridean Revival - Duncan Campbell

What is the Judgment Seat of Christ / Bema Seat of Christ?

What is the Judgment Seat of Christ / Bema Seat of Christ?

The Judgment Seat of Christ - Leonard Ravenhill (FULL)

THIS MESSAGE PUT THE FEAR OF THE LORD IN MY HEART. IT WAS CAUSING ME TO TREMBLE ON THE INSIDE IN GREAT AND HORRIBLE FEAR AS I WAS OVER SHADOWED BY THE SPIRIT OF FEAR OF THE LORD. IT CAUSED ME TO LOOK DEEP INTO MY LIFE AND CONFESS AND REPENT OF ALL I COULD SEE THAT JESUS WAS REVEALING. MY PRAYER FOR YOU IS THAT JESUS DOES THE SAME FOR YOU. Pastor Setve

REVIVAL - Leonard Ravenhill - David Wilkerson - A W Tozer

WALK IN THE SPIRIT by A. Gene Veal

Because of the days we are living in I believe the greatest need for the true Body of Christ is for us all to walk in the Spirit. Flesh, flesh, flesh is everywhere in every church. It's a bad witness to the world around us, giving place to the devil , causing a lot of problems for leadership, people are suffering consequences from their own flesh and the actions  of others around them. The worst thing is, it's keeping God from moving among us as He desires and taking Him out into the world.

1 Corinthians 3:¹ And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. ² I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; ³ for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

Ephesians 4


Walk in Unity

1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Spiritual Gifts

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says:
“ When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” 9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first[c] descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

The New Man

17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of[d] the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Do Not Grieve the Spirit

25 Therefore, putting away lying, “ Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. 26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 5

Walk in Love

1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
 
James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.


James 4


Pride Promotes Strife

1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? 6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “ God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

Humility Cures Worldliness

7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

These words of wisdom fro the the above Scriptures are very powerful and should be followed by all of us.
Two of the greatest things I pray for now are God's wisdom and discernment and would strongly reccommend it for all other leaders and Christians. All this I just said and the very good article on "Walking in the Spirit" came from that prayer and God answering today.
Be blessed as you read the below article.
Pastor Steve
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WALK IN THE SPIRIT

by A. Gene Veal
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Many Christians are so burdened with the heavy load of law. They are bent low with such a sorrowful sense of failing. They always talk about what a “wretch” they are, or they simply try to ignore how far short they fall from the standard they believe the Bible teaches them to live. I would rather talk about the victory I have in Jesus than the failure I am certain to experience in the flesh. Law makes you focus on yourself. Grace allows you to focus on Jesus.
For those who think they have at least ten things to live up to, I have great news. There is only ONE thing you must do to be successful in your Christian walk. WALK IN THE SPIRIT. If you do this one thing consistently your whole life will change. It is “easy.” It is “light.” Or else Jesus lied to us. You will handle ONE thing a lot better than you will succeed in ten things.
“WALK” is a very simple word. The term lines up with the comment, or exhortation of Paul towards the end of the letter to the Galatians in 5:25, where he says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
How do we do that? It is obviously stressed in the Scriptures that we walk in the Spirit. I think we should find on examination that either every letter, or almost every letter, in the New Testament that discusses living in the Spirit, has moved on to discussing walking in the Spirit.
So it’s quite plain that the Spirit of God expects us not only to live but to walk—not only to claim to live but to walk it out. Just to give an instance or two, we can turn to Romans 8 where for the first time the word “walk” comes in, “who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.”
We pass through Galatians and we come right up against “walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16. Then there is this verse, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25.
We move into Ephesians and we are taken up into the ascended life, and then we are brought down, “I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech ye that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” Ephesians 4:1. “Walk in love, walk as children of light, walk circumspectly.” Ephesians 5:2, 8, 15. So the note is struck again and again in Ephesians.
Colossians takes us up to the headship of Christ and then it says in Col. 2:6, “As therefore ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.”
I Thes. 4:1, after He has given those delightful heart outpourings to that young church in its early days, He says, “as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God.”
And then you get on into John’s epistles, which are full of the walk in the strongest possible terms. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” And, in his second and third letters, he constantly says he delights that his converts, his children, walk in truth. That comes two or three times over, or words to that effect.
So we have sufficient proof that the Holy Spirit has a great deal to say to us and to impress upon us concerning the walk. So it is good that we spend some time meditating on it.

THIS IS A PRESENT TENSE ACTIVITY

Remember, Jesus said it is “easy” and it is “light.” (Mat. 11:28) Even a child can understand it. (Mat. 18:3) Our “labor” or our “struggle” is to enter into that rest. The flesh refuses to rest. (Heb. 4:9-11)
The first very simple lesson that simplifies things for me is the fact that the whole meaning of the walk is that it is a present-tense activity. The whole meaning of it is that it is a present tense, a down to earth, immediate, present activity. I am now walking—that’s the idea. You are walking NOW, not in the future, not in the past, but in the present. You are walking now—walking in fellowship with Jesus now.
So it brings us down to the present tense and I find it helpful to remember that there is only one tense that really makes sense in the Christian life. There is only one tense and it is the present. The only tense we are really responsible for is the present. We are to live in the present. A great many of our diversions come because we are pulled back to the past, or forward to the future.
We’re often pulled back to the past by the condemnations of the Satan, the Accuser, who works through our flesh. He smears the simplicity of our present walk by reminding us, “Oh, you’re no good; why, you sinned yesterday; you’re selfish, you’re proud, you’re this and that. You can’t walk consistently.” Satan dulls our presence with Jesus by his false accusations through our flesh.
Now, I’m not to take a single word for one minute from the past, because “there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” The whole past is forever blotted out in the Precious Blood for “as far as the East is from the West, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12. They are cast into the depths of the sea. I’m not to take Satan’s condemnation! The only sense in which I am to take the past is if I am conscious that I have just sinned, specifically sinned on a specific point; not a general point that I am generally proud, or generally selfish, or those lies Satan gives my fleshly mind. I’m not. I’m in Christ. I’m not going to take that lie. I’m in Christ and crucified with Him. I’m not going to take that smear from the past, but if there is something I may just have committed this morning and I know it is sin, well then, certainly I must face up and put that right. But I can do it in one second. That’s a thing I can do at the present. I can immediately put that right and immediately have cleansing—and walk!
So I’m to learn, not to add to my other sins the sin of unbelief by denying the efficacy of the Precious Blood because the Precious Blood (Christ’s death) is effective right up to this present moment. As I stand here, all that matters to me at this present moment is that I am consciously in the presence of Jesus as I write this email now. That’s all. That’s walking. I’m walking now, as you are walking as you sit there reading this email. Now am I, just at this moment as far as I know, with nothing between me and my Lord? Has the Blood blotted out every sin there was? As far as I know it has. Very well then, I walk. As for the Past, as for the Future, leave them alone!
As for the future, leave it with the One to whom it belongs—God. We’re specifically told, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Matt. 6:34) I don’t know if that’s one of The Lord’s ironical sayings, because when you walk with Him evil becomes His good because you get it from His hands. So the evil becomes His good when you walk in the present, not in the past or the future.
Most of our troubles, of course, are fears of the future, not what things are in the present. It’s a very simple lesson, but very blessed when you get it. It frees us; we become simple as a child. We’re just happily walking now with Jesus. I won’t take anything from the past. I won’t take anything from the future. The past is under the Blood, the future is in God’s hand, and the present is in mine with Him. And all I can do is to be present to Him; that’s all. And if I’ve nothing in between, then, all right, I’m not responsible. I’m just happy. That’s all. Just walk.
There is too much heavy talk about being responsible. Responsibility is a heavy word. I prefer RESPONSE-TO-HIS-ABILITY-IN-ME. That, to me, is far more Scriptural. I am “as a child” holding His hand as we walk together right NOW.

CONTINUAL ABIDING—Way of Walking with Jesus

How do we walk? What does walking mean? Let’s go to that verse which I have quoted from Colossians, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.” Of course, walking is the walking in the fellowship—in Him, with Him.
The way Jesus spoke about walking was by another illustration—that of abiding. (John15) Now we all know in John 15 that His emphasis is not on how we get into the abiding relationship. He’s taken that for granted. In John 15, He says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” He doesn’t discuss that. I presume He couldn’t discuss it because it was before the atonement and they didn’t have the inner light of the Spirit. Therefore it was not good for Him to go too far in discussions of that inner, mystical union that the Apostle Paul later reveals. It must come after Calvary, after the Resurrection, after Pentecost.. So He passes that by. He just says, “This is fact. I am the vine, ye are the branches.” We’re one organism, we’re one blessed life. He Himself within us, that’s the union.
Now He says, “What I am saying to you is, ‘Abide in the union.’” So all John 15 is saying is summed up in verse 4, “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in Me.” Verse 5. “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for apart from Me ye can do nothing.” “If a man abide not in Me, certain consequences follow.” Verse 7. “If ye abide in Me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.”
So we see quite clearly what His emphasis is. “Now continue in Me.” The word “abide” is the same as continue, the same as remain. Continue now in me. Now that’s how you put the walk; that’s the same as walking. “Continue now in Me.” “Abide in Me.” I suppose the simplest explanation we can give of what He means is that abiding in Him is seeing Him. Now He is in us and we in Him.
Now abiding in Him is the consciousness of His Presence, isn’t it? Seeing Him. If we’re really abiding in Him we have that consciousness. Now if we are to know how to abide in Him, all we have to know is how to maintain ourselves free from anything which interferes with that abiding. That abiding is automatic and continuous unless something interferes with it. Why? Because it is the ministry of the blessed Spirit. Why has the Spirit come into our hearts? To magnify the blessed Lord. He has only that one purpose, constantly, unceasingly to reveal to our hearts that glorious Presence, which produces all peace and power and everything else a person can know. That is what He is here for. Therefore, that’s the automatic consequence of our life—an invariable consequence because the Holy Spirit is an invariable Person, unless He is interfered with. Therefore, nothing can stop that abiding unless it is something that positively interferes with the Spirit.
Now that’s, perhaps, the most important lesson I have learned, to recognize that if there is the slightest cloud of any kind (whatever I might name it; whether I call it something physical or some oppression or any other of many names), if there is the slightest shade of a cloud between me and Him and the bright revelation of His Presence in my heart, it means I am interfering with the ministry of the Spirit. It is not that something automatic has come in. Things can’t come automatically into that relationship, as it’s a sacred citadel; things can’t enter automatically there; it’s a private place of its own; it’s a Holy of Holies. If there is a single thing that is clouding in the slightest way that brightness, there is something interfering with the Spirit; and I am responsible, because it can’t get there unless I have let it in.
Now that’s the point that has been so helpful to me—a new quickness and sharpness of recognition. “Hello, Hello, there is something wrong here. I’m not consciously abiding here.” Now that’s not the Spirit’s fault. He’s there. He’s permanent. He’s a well that always springs up into everlasting life. No, if there is something clouding there I have let something in because the flesh or Satan can’t get there unless I let him in. Oh no, that’s private property in there, praise God. He can’t get in there unless I let him in. “Now what’s up?”
And so it comes back to this very simple fact: the simple walk with Jesus is a happy, easy, free, daily, natural walk with Jesus only, coupled with it a sensitivity to sin and recognition that if there is a cloud, it is sin. That’s the point. The reason that we aren’t sensitive to sin is because we don’t call it sin, because we have other names for it, and we name the cloud something else and so it remains. The whole point is that God has given His remedy for sin, but He hasn’t given His remedy for excuses. And if we call a thing this or that, and the other, it remains this, that, and the other; and we remain in this, that, and the other too. If we’ve let something in which is interfering with that gracious work, that gracious ministry, we are grieving Him; but if we call it what it is, and “confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” And we’re free.
So the life becomes very simple, simply walking with Jesus but having the immediate readiness, quickness—not introspectiveness, not that—but if something does come in, just a readiness to say, “Hello, now there is something there. Let me smell that out, and then put it out via the Blood.” Yes that’s a good Scripture, “quick of scent.” We need to be quick of scent in this job as well as quick of sight.

A Single Eye—Full of Light

Matthew 6 talks about the body being full of light. It illustrates what I am talking about. Matt. 6:22-23 says, “The light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” Well, when your eye is single you see Jesus, of course. That’s the only point of having an eye, a spiritual eye, isn’t it—to see Jesus? And if my eye is single, it means I have a clear simple sight of Him and therefore I am full of light. Because He is there, therefore His Presence, His Peace, His Power, His Fullness, His Adequacy and everything is there.
All right, that’s obvious. That’s abiding. That’s walking now, that’s walking with Jesus. A single eye, a body full of light, abiding in Him is all there.

An Evil Eye—Needs Cleansing

Now what struck me with surprise is the next verse. “But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” Now what struck me was this: the opposite of single is double. And therefore there is a sudden change by inspiration here, for it doesn’t say what we would think it would say, “If thine eye is double it’s full of darkness,” but it says, “If thine eye is evil.” Because if it said “double” we should find a good excuse: “Oh, I’ve a good reason for it being double! I’m not feeling well this morning, or my neighbor is a bit off, or something.” And I could find these rotten excuses for which there is no deliverance.
The evil is a different point. In other words, the Scripture says, “Whenever I don’t see Jesus I’m in evil.” Now I’ve got it. I’ve got it! Whatever sort of thing it is, if I’ve not a crystal clear sight of Jesus in my heart, through the ministry of the Spirit, it is evil. It’s not just double—somebody else’s fault, or my body, or this or that, or the other; it is evil. In other words, we shall begin to get a blessed deliverance when we begin to call a few more million things “sin” than what we usually call sin. And thank God it isn’t a burden to call a thing sin because He reveals sin to cleanse it, not to condemn us. And the law of sin is that it always veils Christ, and it always binds the sinner because Jesus said so. Jesus said, “Whosoever is committing a sin is thereby the servant of that sin, a slave.” Therefore, if I’m committing a sin, I’m a slave to that sin. I may call it anything I like on earth, but it still binds me. If I dislike you, I’m bound by my dislike. Although I may say you deserve it, I’m still bound by it. If I’m resentful, I’m bound by my resentment although I may say it is entirely somebody else’s fault. Whatever sin I commit, in spite of what I might blame for it, it binds me and it cuts off the Saviour. Therefore it is a blessed thing to see sin when it is revealed to us by that Person who shows it to us in order to cleanse it away, because He said, “I’ll show you the sin. And here’s the cleansing.” The immediate moment I’m ready to acknowledge it I’m free and walk on again.
So that’s the simplicity of the life. But it does mean sin-sensitiveness; that’s a tremendous verse isn’t it? “If my eye is single it is full of light; if it’s anything else but a single sight of Jesus, it is evil.” Let me call it what it is. A verse that lines up in my mind with that and is much the same is in Romans 14:23, the last phrase of the last verse. It says it in another connection but we can pick it out I think quite fairly and make it a general statement: “For whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Well faith is seeing Jesus, of course. We have the faith of Jesus for we see Jesus. Of course we do. Faith is believing Jesus, seeing Him in our hearts, and knowing Him. That’s believing Jesus. So faith is seeing Jesus. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” is the same idea. The moment I am not seeing Jesus in a situation, the moment I am not seeing Christ in my neighbor, the moment I am not seeing Christ in a crisis, or Christ in a difficulty, I am sinning because it’s not of faith. I’m not seeing Jesus; I’m seeing something else. That’s evil. Not to see Jesus is evil. That’s big!
I’ve got to see Jesus in every circumstance, not a single circumstance but that it’s Jesus coming to me. That, I take it, is what Paul meant when he made that terrific statement around which I circle in my mind again and again and wonder at: “To me, to live is Christ.” That doesn’t leave much else, does it? “To me, to live is Christ.” That’s a single eye. That is SingleVISION living. Every circumstance, every person is just Christ to him. That’s this life. Anything less than that is sin, because it veils Him.
AVOID SELF IMPROVEMENT - REPLACE YOURSELF
Our great error is in thinking that our human selves can be improved. And we think this because we have a false concept of being responsible for self-development. This is contrary to the truth, but it comes from the spirit of error in our world system. Self-help books and How-to books line the shelves of even our Christian bookstores. But we already have perfection in our union with Christ. This is an eternal union with Him. This is our true identity.
We are called the body of Christ. The body is the expression of the head. The body is the instrument for the head to act. But the head and body are a unity. So Paul called the body Christ in 1 Corinthians 12:12, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”
We are the branches in the Vine. The branch is the means by which the Vine can bear its fruit. But it is a unity and when we see a vine we really only see its straggling branches and we call that the vine. The branches are the vine in their branch forms and we are Christ expressed in our human forms.
We are called the temples of the living God, the buildings in which God may be seen; and we are the earthen vessels whose treasure is the Christ within. We are containers and the containers are not called on to improve or change. How would changing the outside container improve the treasure within? It is our “earthen ness” as vessels that magnifies the glory of His work through us.
As human selves, our only true place in creation is in our unity with God, as the means by which He manifests Himself through us. Apart from our destined place in the unity, we can only be self-loving selves. Therefore it is useless and a waste of time for us to ask God to make us loving, or patient or pure, or free us from human reactions of hate or fear or worry or depression. It is asking an absurdity and impossibility. The human self can never change. The vessel can never be the living water it contains. The branch cannot be the vine.
When that recognition is a reality to us, then we can start by accepting ourselves in our weakness and all normal human reactions. In this distorted world we are besieged all day long by fear and doubt and hate and worry, etc. To feel them is normal, not wrong. We shall always be responding to them. We hate or dislike this person. We are jealous of that one. We are afraid of what we are called on to do. We are worried by daily problems. We have fits of deep depression. Our minds are assaulted by all kinds of wrong thinking. If we struggle against them, how does that help? If we condemn ourselves for such reactions, we remain still bound and full of guilt. If we call on God to help or change us, we don’t get changed, or maybe just a momentary relief.
Then on what grounds can we accept ourselves? Now we are no longer just ourselves. As Christians, we are Christ-in-us. Christ is the real “we”. Listen to Paul. He starts by saying Christ died for us, then speaks of the Lord with us, and goes on to his special revelation of Christ in us; but he ends up, when he gives his personal witness, by saying Christ is the real “I”. “I live,” he says in Galatians 2:20. “No,” he corrects himself. “It is not I, but Christ living in me.” Christ, not with, not in, but replacing Paul, Christ in Paul’s form or Christ in your form or my form. Put your name there. You are Christ in John’s form, Christ in Mary’s form, I am Christ in Gene’s form, and so on.
Now, in light of this revelation, when we in our humanity are moved in this direction or that by our negative reactions (like hate, worry or fear) we don’t struggle, we don’t condemn, we above all don’t try to change ourselves (trying to be good is the worst sin); no, we REPLACE. We transfer our inner believing from what has its hold on us because we are believing in it (fear, lust, hate, etc.) and attach our believing to who we really are, not our human selves, but Christ in ourselves. And as we affirm and recognize Him, He Who is the peace, love, courage, purity, manifests Himself in and by us.
“When I am afraid,” David said, “I will trust in God.” Unlike David in the Old Covenant, God is within me as Christ-in-me. I won’t look away to some other place. That is separation. This is union. When I feel fear, I will replace that “I” with the true “I” (which is Christ-in-me) and I will express Him Who is courage. When I feel hate, I will replace that by expressing Him Who is in me, Him Who is love. I choose to believe what the Word says about who I really am. I will be who I really am, not fear or hate, but Christ-in-me as me. That is the truth of the Word of God and I will practice the “obedience of faith” (Romans 16:26) by believing it and acting as if it is so, because it is.
There is the secret of our WALK IN THE SPIRIT, discovering who we really are. We have come back home at last as the branch in the Vine and the Vine in the branch. Remember, “Abiding” in John 15 is, in the Greek, just ‘remaining.’ We remain by simple faith-recognition. Our sanctification or walk in the Spirit is realized the same as our salvation is realized, BY FAITH, by believing. Only when we are consciously weak, as Paul said, then His strength is perfectly manifested. When we fear, He is the courage. When we dislike, He is the love. And Paul goes as far as to say he personally takes pleasure in negative situations of weakness, hurts, needs, problems, for when he is weak, then he is strong.
Today we are just so bogged down in taking ourselves for granted as normal functioning people and we are so used to preserving an image that it is a second spiritual breakthrough for us to grasp the fact of helplessness. In our salvation we had come to acknowledge that we had not kept God’s law and were guilty sinners. But it is another thing, after becoming a Christian, to discover and admit in our sanctification that we are also helpless saints. We can’t do it and not only can’t but are not meant to.
That is the whole meaning of Paul saying we can have dominion over sin because we are not under the law. This is why there is that important chapter of Romans 7, which has been such a ground of puzzlement and controversy. Chapter 6 he says in Christ’s death we are cut off from the former control of the spirit of self-centeredness, “dead to sin.” In Romans 8 we see His Spirit replacing that former spirit in us and joins us to Christ in resurrection life. In between chapter 6 and chapter 8, chapter 7 says we are not only dead to sin, but also dead to the law. Why? Because if we are to function as living sons, we must know once and for all in what sense our human selves can be manifestations of Christ.
So, in Romans 7 we see the human self that now has God’s Spirit and delights in His law in the inward man and wills to do it and serves the law of God with the renewed mind. But what a seemingly sad discovery is made. He can’t do it. He just can’t do it. His discovery is he can’t do it because of “sin” in him. Sin in him is the spirit of self-sufficiency.
The moment we humans, not recognizing Christ in us as the only keeper of His own law, want ourselves to keep it and slip into this old habit of thinking we can do it, then down we fall. We can’t do what we would and find ourselves doing what we should not. Oh wretched man! And the law of God stands there to demand of us that we keep it, if we think we can! Then at last it dawns on us. Our human self is now a container of ANOTHER SELF, Christ, the Spirit of Christ.
We never were meant as humans to keep God’s laws of self-giving love. Left to our human selves we can only be ourselves and love ourselves. That is who we are without the exchanged life - we are a self-loving self. But this is just why Christ has come into us – to REPLACE the spirit of self-centeredness by which we have lived, “the flesh.” By ourselves we would still remain self-loving selves, but we are not our old selves any more. We are a “new creation” in Christ. By inner union, Christ is our real self.
So what do we do now? We tell the law it is no good its shouting at us, because we can’t fulfill it, were never meant to; but we contain the One Who can and does. So the law has not a thing more to say to us or demand of us. We are “dead to the law” in Christ. And now we are free by simple recognition that Christ in us, Christ as us, keeps His own law in us, so that “the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us” who are now walking by inner recognition of the Spirit and not recognition of that old self-effort.

It is your choice. Choose to WALK IN THE SPIRIT.

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But We Can Improve ...



I do believe that a Christian can improve, not in merit, but in knowledge, i.e. intimate, experiential relationship knowledge of the indwelling Christ. As we study the Word of God and see what the Word tells us about Him and about who we are in Him, by grace through faith we come progressively to maturity in Him, not in personal worthiness, but in a knowing relationship with Him.
The primary thing is as Paul says, “to know Him.” This knowledge becomes our experience by faith. Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe (have faith) that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (not merit).” 1John 3:22 “and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name (or have faith in Who He is) of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He commanded us.” Relationship growth is not only possible but is predestined. Romans 8 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son- “To know Him is eternal life” or a quality of life that I could have in no other way but by “knowing” Him.
Of course, we keep His commandments because He said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” This is accomplished through “being strong in the Lord and the power of His might.” Whatever we do or accomplish is His accomplishment in us. 1Corinthians 15:10 – “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”
John even says, “The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” That is the “how” of keeping His commandments, faith. 1John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. In Romans, Paul refers to our obedience as the “obedience of faith.” As Paul told the Corinthians “because it is by faith you stand firm.” And “We live by faith, not by sight.”
Whatever we “need” in our Christian walk, He is that in us. If I “need more” love, He is going to be that love in me by the Holy Spirit. There really is no deficiency of love, just deficiency of “knowing.” The better I know Him, the more I will in relationship with Him express that love that He is in me by faith in what I have come to know is true. Peter commends us to grow, not in merit, but in knowledge (relationship knowledge). 1Peter 3:18 “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” If I “grow in grace” (unmerited favor), I am growing in my realization of my unworthiness. If I grow in knowledge of Him, I learn He in me has all the love I need. Romans 5:5 “because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” If I try to have a natural love, the best I can do is love a worthy object. Romans 5: 7 “Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and lovable and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die.” That is as much as natural love can achieve. Natural love must have a worthy object. God's love is the next verse - "But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. " So Paul says, in Galatians 5:6 The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. And “everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
The wilderness wandering of the children of God is depicted in Hebrews 3 and 4. They did not enter into the “rest” that they were offered because of their “unbelief” or lack of faith. He says there remains a rest for the people of God and that we are to “labor” (struggle), not to get better at doing, but to “rest” from our sweaty efforts in the strength of the flesh and rely on the power of His might.
For 25 years I tried to serve by merit. If you had asked me, I would have denied it, but experiencing a terrible “fall”, I discovered that I was actually a Pharisee for all those years. I didn’t know I was until by my fall I thought I didn’t deserve to live, as if I ever had deserved to live. Then I knew.
I had read all the Puritan books and “Alarm to the Unconverted.” I read and preached the sermons of condemnation and the call to “try harder.” I hurt a lot of people by setting them up to fail, as any one has to fail who is “trying to DO better” in the flesh. I thought the more I could know intellectually the better Christian I would be, but I think Father was showing me the truth “so that our faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.” As Paul said, Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand.” The doing comes on the heels of believing.
The next 25 years became for me an opportunity to learn, experience and teach the faith-rest of the “easy yoke” and the “burden that is light.” In the wake of the first 25 years there were “bodies” lying all around. In the wake of the next 25 years I see people serving God in a freeness and a joy that is indescribable. Addictive personalities are no longer addicted. Abusive people stopped being abusive. Immoral Christians stopped being immoral. Alcoholics are now missionaries on the foreign field. Church dropouts are now active leaders in their churches. People who knew nothing but failure are now living a life of joy, peace, and successful witness for Christ.
I tell you, I am hooked. This is the most blessed ministry I have ever known and I will by the grace of God never stop as long as He gives me breath. Can I say it better? I have no doubt that someone else could say it better than I (perhaps my clients, the very ones that I have been referring to in this writing.) I do apologize for my poor ability, but I will not apologize for what I believe to be the truth of CHRIST IN US. As I tell my clients, I will keep working by His grace and His power so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Ephesians 4:13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

The Parable of the Net - Tim Conway

Miracles in Nigeria 13 - Raising the Dead

I believe this is a real resurrection from the dead. I've been in Africa and have looked into the eyes of a dead body and they are lifeless like his were. I've been a part of God raising a dead baby in the womb from the dead in Uganda. Jesus is still raising the dead today where His people have faith. Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Pastor Steve

You Can Come Back To His Love by David Wilkerson

Time To Wake Up (compilation) The most powerfull 10 minutes of preaching I have ever heard, Pastor Steve

Regeneration v. The Idolatry of Decisional "Evangelism" (Paul Washer @ t...

"How Do I Know if I'm Saved?" (Paul Washer)

"The Anatomy of a Salvation Message" Part 4 by Pastor Steve

The conclusion

PREACHER!!!, what type of message would you preach if you were preaching to future martyrs or persecuted Christians. Would it be soft and nice with lots of fuzzy promises of a wonderful life here on earth with all they could ever ask for, never telling them the truth of all Jesus asks of them to be His true disciple, never confronting their sin, hypocrisy or lukewarmness? Are you preaching with any type of fire so as to burn into the heart of the people the real truth about God to make sure if they would die today they would have a heart prepared to meet God? Preacher will you be able to say what Paul said when you stand before God at the Judgement Seat of Christ?


Acts 20: 25 “And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

Galatians 1:7 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
James 3:1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

Hard stuff? Yes! It has to be said this hard truth because the time will come when we might be or those we are preaching to might be in their shoes and what will we all stand on then? The TRUTH or sinking sand?

Listen to what Oswald J Smith said in his book ""The Revival We Need" written in the 1920's but is still representative of what is mostly preached today in the 21st Century Church.

In the modern campaign the evangelist calls upon people to accept Christ, and rightly so. But oh, that we could hear sinners calling upon Christ to accept them! People take salvation today in such a cold, formal, matter-of-fact, business-like sort of way, that it appears as though they are doing God an honor in condescending to receive His offer of Redemption. Their eyes are dry, their sense of sin absent; nor is there any sign of penitence and contrition. They look upon it as a manly thing to do. But oh, if there were conviction! if they came with hearts bowed down, yea! broken and contrite, came with the cry of the guilt-laden soul: "God be merciful to me a sinner!"--came trembling with the burning life and death question of the Philippian jailor: "What must I do to be saved ?"--what converts they would be! But in our Twentieth Century Evangelism such is not the case. Men are urged to be saved before they know they are lost, to believe without being convicted of their need. The fruit is picked before it is ripe, and of course the work is bound to come undone. If we are to get Holy Spirit Fruit, God must prepare the ground, the Holy Spirit must convict of sin before men can truly believe. It is right to tell people to believe when God has done His work in their hearts, but first they must feel their need. Let us wait until the Spirit of God has done His part before we say: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Let us first see the signs of conviction as in the case of the Philippian jailor. And when their anguish is so deep that they are forced to cry aloud: "What must I do to be saved ?" then we will know that they are ready to be exhorted to trust and exercise faith in Christ, but not until then. "There is another Gospel, too popular in the present day, which seems to exclude conviction of sin and repentance from the scheme of Salvation; which demands from the sinner a mere intellectual assent to the fact of his guilt and sinfulness, and a like intellectual assent to the fact and sufficiency of Christ's atonement; and such assent yielded, tells him to go in peace, and to he happy in the assurance that the Lord Jesus has made all right between his soul and God; thus crying peace, peace, when there is no peace. "Flimsy and false conversions of this sort may be one reason why so many who assume the Christian profession dishonor God and bring reproach on the church by their inconsistent lives, and by their ultimate relapse into worldliness and sin. The whole counsel of God must be declared. 'By the law is the knowledge of sin.' Sin must be felt before it can be mourned. Sinners must sorrow before they can be comforted. True conversions are the great want of the times. Conversions such as were common once, and shall be again, when the church shakes off her lethargy, takes hold upon God's strength, and brings down the ancient power. Then, as of old, sinners will quail before the terror of the Lord."--J. H. Lord.


I suggest every preacher read this book as well as "Passion For Souls" if you can find a copy. "The Revival We Need" www.gospeltruth.net/OJSmith/revival_we_needch5.htm

We must preach the fullness of the truth of whole counsel of God or stand before God and be judged for all those that weren't saved or fell away because of our weak message and half truths. Are you innocent of the blood of all those you have preached to because you have told them the real truth about what a real disciple looks like and all Jesus will ask of them? My brother and sister if we or those we disciple aren't taking up our cross daily and denying themselves abstaining from sin and the lusts of this world and walking in holiness by the grace of God now, we nor our disciples surly won't stand up to torture or death. We need to prepare a generation to meet Jesus. Some might meet Him in the air while coming up and out of the grave alive and some might meet Him through spilling their blood as a martyr. Are they ready to love not their lives unto death? (Revelation 12:11)

Revelation 6:9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.

We must all now preach a salvation message, a Gospel and a Jesus that people will give their life for so if they might possibly be slain for the word of God they will have a testimony that will hold up against Satan himself.

Do You Want to Be Saved?

1 John 1:8 AMP If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we
are sinners], we delude and lead ourselves astray, and the Truth
[which the Gospel presents] is not in us [does not dwell in our
hearts]. 9 If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess
our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and
promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and
[continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything
not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].

Romans 10:8 But what does it say? The Word (God's message in Christ) is near you, on your lips and in your heart; that is, the Word (the message, the basis and object) of faith which we preach,
9 Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Christ) and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God), and with the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks out freely his faith) and confirms [his] salvation.11 The Scripture says, No man who believes in Him [who adheres to, relies on, and trusts in Him] will [ever] be put to shame or be disappointed.

If your now willing to totally turn from our old life to follow Jesus with all your heart, a decision made in your mind with corresponding actions (See: Matthew 3:8), admit and confess you're a sinner and have sinned against God, believe that Jesus is the only way to receive salvation from the penalty of that sin, your willing for Him to be Lord by allowing your whole life to belong to Him as your Owner and Master (See: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 & 2 Corinthians 5:14-15) in full control with the power to make all decisions for your life and He'll be the possesser and disposer of everything in your life and you will spend the rest of your life adhering to, trusting in, and relying on this truth, the Word of God and Jesus, then your ready to be saved.

Now just talk to God. He’s a real Person and ready and willing to listen to you speak to Him. He might even speak back. Be real and as honest as possible telling Him all that is on your heart confessing your sinfulness to Him and of your need for Him and freely give Him your life and freely receive His life in exchange.

This is only the beginning and there is some much more to learn and a relationship to develop with a living God who gave His life for you.

The main reason He saved you is not just to keep you from His wrath and Hell even those are really great. He saved you for the purpose of establishing and personal and real relationship with you as a son and a daughter and possibly as a close and trusted friend in the years to come.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

If you have been saved then you are a whole new person on the inside that never existed before and will even be changing on the outside in speech and action as you grow and mature in your walk and relationship with God. Through Jesus Christ you've been brought back to God and you're an ambassador for Him now. So get to know Him so you can love Him for who He rally is and truly represent Him as He really is in His fullness to others.

Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

No man but only the Holy Spirit can convince you that you are saved

Some Closing Wisdom For the New Disciples

I want to give you this wisdom from over 20 years of personal experience of by the grace of God, attempting to walk with Jesus as a very weak and feeble man and in life and ministry experiencing almost every crazy thing imaginable that can could happen to a Christian and minister in the Western World but cannot be compared to my brothers and sisters who suffer for their faith every day in many other nations. I'm not even fit to tie their shoes.

No matter how hard and difficult life gets, if it seems like the world, life and the Devil are kicking your brains in and it seems as if nothing God said in happening especially if you don't understand what God is doing through it all then welcome to earth and real Christianity. I can tell you from years of personal experience that there is only one way to stand and have joy in the most difficult of times. It has taken me over 20 long years to learn all of these and stand on them in the most difficult of times.

God will never leave you nor forsake you. God will not let you be tempted beyond what yo can stand. God cannot lie and His word will never ever fail.

YOU CAN HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. HE WILL TURN ALL THINGS AROUND FOR GOOD IF YOU LOVE HIM AND ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE. YOU HAVE AUTHORITY OVER ALL THE POWER OF THE DEVIL THROUGH JESUS CHRIST AND THE POWER TO OVERCOME ALL SIN AND THE WORLD.

Get a good Bible of which I recommend the NKJV Spirit Filled Life Bible or at least a NKJV Bible.

And lastly find a good Spirit filled Christian fellowship to attend every week to be discipled in God.

Please never forget, "IT"S ALL ABOUT JESUS AND HIS LOVE FOR US"

Watch video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14tZRDdwggU
 
Be Blessed!
Pastor Steve

Part 3 http://ewpministry.blogspot.com/2010/12/anatomy-of-salvation-message-part-3-by.html
Part 2 http://ewpministry.blogspot.com/2010/11/anatomy-of-salvation-message-part-2-by.html
Part 1 http://ewpministry.blogspot.com/2010/11/anatomy-of-salvation-message-by-pastor.html