Communications Gap

It's amazing how well our spiritual ancestors communicated. Written letters and personal visits were how they found out what was going on down the road and across the country. Letters and visits created unity and without them, what would we have in the way of impartation of what the original disciples learned from Jesus and each other? Today we have letters, internet, TV, ad infinitum! And we still don't know what's going on. Now maybe it's just me, but I'd love to know what "the church" is up to. And when I say "church" I don't mean the building you go to on Sunday/Wednesday or any of the other buildings folks go to once or twice a week. When I say "church" I mean the Body of Christ.

But the Body of Christ has become crippled because its members are disjointed and therefore lame and impotent. How did we get that way? The answer's evident...we got that way because each "church" has its own agenda and that agenda often has no place for Jesus. It seems to me that everyone is doing their own thing instead of doing His thing! Churches seldom work together in unity to take a region for the Kingdom of God. Why?

'Cause if I help you, you might steal some of MY church members. Pathetic. We should be helping each other, we should be working together, we should be praying together to determine what it is the Holy Spirit needs for us to DO in our region...and then we should be joining forces to get the job done.

Do you know why people ridicule us? Because they see us for who we really are. They don't see signs, they don't see wonders. They often only see a bunch of self-serving, well-dressed, Bible-ignoring, sin-as-much-as-the-next-guy preachers telling them they're going to Hell but not giving them one reason at all to go to Heaven.

Here's a novel idea: why don't we get together as a region - whatever region it is you live in - and pray and see what God wants us to do!?! How about we give it a shot in Brevard County, Florida?

Let's see what happens...

God's Mercy, God's Grace, God's Power

Without His mercy, I'd still be dead in my sins, not even knowing I was filthy and going to hell. Who knew? Nothing in my Catholic upbringing ever said anything about being born again!  Nobody ever told me that Jesus was no longer nailed to the cross but had risen. Nobody ever told me that the reason He was nailed to the cross in the first place was because of my sins...not the sins of mankind...MY sins. But it was His mercy that saved me, that let me hear His voice calling me even when I was deaf and blind in my sin.

And it was through His grace I was saved. Believe me, it was nothing I ever did on my own, I sure as heck wasn't good enough, smart enough, nice enough or rich enough to have figured out that I needed saving, and I sure couldn't have made it happen on my own! Yup, it's by grace I was saved. I give Him all the credit! I wasn't even listening for Him when He let me hear His voice call me! How cool is that? That's grace...nothing but grace. Grace that got me through the struggles of my life, grace that got me down on my knees, and grace positioned me to receive His resurrection power into my life.

But how do we get God's power? First, you have to believe that He died for YOUR sins and receive His forgiveness. Then make Him the Lord of your life which simply means obeying Him. But how can you obey Him? Power! When He dwells within you, you receive the resurrection power that enables you to overcome temptation, to overcome sin, and to overcome the stuff that the enemy uses to try to kill you, steal from you, and destroy you.

Beloved, don't fall for the lie that says "God loves you so much that He allows evil, horrible, despicable, heartbreaking things to happen in your life." It's a LIE. don't, don't, don't fall for it!!! The biggest lie the enemy tells those who are willing to hear is that he doesn't exist and that it is God, not the devil, who brings tragedy and sickness into your life. God says very plainly that Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly; that by His stripes you are healed; that when we confess our sins, we're forgiven; that we should cast out demons; we should lay hands on the sick and they'll recover; and that we should tell people about the good news.

Seriously, does rape and murder and childhood death sound like good news? Does financial ruin sound like good news? Nope. Doesn't sound like good news to me either. Beloved, don't get tricked into believing the very prevalent lie that is being taught in many of our churches. Believe what you read for yourself in the Bible...believe in the finished work of Jesus...believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him,.

Allow God's mercy to cleanse you from all unrighteousness; let His grace lead you into a life of service and obedience to Him; and let His power be evident in your life by living the Word, not just hearing it, but actually getting out there are doing what He has commanded us to do. Arise, beloved, to your high calling in Christ Jesus!