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The Greatest Deliverance

Colossians 1:13-14 (NKJV)
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Have you ever ordered something online? Often when you do you will get offered the option to receive shipment notifications. I like these when I’m waiting for something very important. I will check and look forward to the “out for delivery” or better yet, “delivered” status. You know though, I never get the “delivered” message and expect to come home not to find my package. In fact, when it says delivered you would be quite put out to return and not find it there. That is because delivered means delivered already.

In the Bible, context truly is everything. We need to understand that God doesn’t loosely use words but rather is very purposeful in everything He both says and does. It’s often hard for us to comprehend such things when we are so accustomed to everything being subject to interpretation. This however is not Godly but worldly. His Word tells us we WILL know the Truth (John 8:32). Truth in God’s world is not variable; it is direct. The context as referring to which individuals are being dealt with in Scripture is incredibly important.
In the scriptures above Paul was writing to the Christians in Colossae. He clearly tells them an important truth. Implying that if you are Christian (he is writing to believers), then Jesus has already delivered you from any and all power of the enemy. The only and greatest deliverance you need is in one package that is obtained through the receiving of Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. He said He is the door and what He meant by that is the door to complete access to God. All the promises of God are yes and answered already in Him (2 Corinthians 1:20). It goes on to say, “in Whom we have redemption…” That word redemption is important. It means ransom in full, riddance, or deliverance. If you are in Christ then you ARE in deliverance. If you have put on Christ you HAVE put on deliverance. There are all kinds of “deliverance ministries” out there but there is only one that is needed, the blood of Jesus Christ. The problem we as Christians sometimes find is in the activation of it.

As with all things concerning God, we, (not He) activate His power in our lives. He gave us the right to it, but if we don’t or won’t use it, it becomes worthless. You may have all the tools and supply to build a house but unless you utilize those resources, no house will be built. God gave us salvation as the ultimate instruction in how to receive from Him. Believe, confess, receive. God isn’t confusing. He has given us the instruction.

Do you need delivered? Activate your faith in it by the Word. God’s Word delivers because it says it does. Believe, confess, and receive the Word and nothing else. Stop asking God to do what He has already done. Believe it is so and walk out your victory in faith. Need help with that? Find a place that will teach you how to see deliverance through the Word of God. The Word of God works on time, every time, and so will your faith when it’s built on the truth found within its pages.

2 Corinthians 1:10 (NKJV), “who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us?”

Be Blessed,
Pastor Jeff

More Than You Know

Acts 16:31 (NKJV)
So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

It matters what we believe. It matters how we live. Though it’s common to encourage people to do what’s best for them, the very nature of that kind of thinking conceals the ramifications of living that way. Whether we realize it or not, whether we want it or not, those around us are constantly watching what we do and say. Not only are they watching, but they are taking it in and processing it. Popular opinion is formed as people live their lives and consider what others do. Thus, we have culture.
In a society, what is common eventually becomes acceptable. The scripture in Acts is not implying that one person’s decisions automatically get people into God’s graces. We each still must choose. We know this because we understand what the whole of New Testament scripture teaches. What it is implying is that when we live on fire for God (which by the way is the only true sign of salvation), others will be encouraged in that direction.
This happened with the Apostle Paul. We see this truth in Galatians 1:22-24, “And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God in me. It was such a shock to people that this dramatic, unbelievable, well-witnessed change caused great growth in the early Church.
To say that how we live causes great growth in the church perhaps leaves some important understanding out. Church growth is not about having big buildings and large congregations as though it’s purpose is some kind of competition. True Church growth equates to salvations and people reached. It means that with every member added there is one less person going to spend eternity in hell. Actually, and this is the real point of this Faith Fix, one is never one. When one person’s life, direction and purpose is changed, many, many others end up coming along. In reality, each true salvation really means dozens or possibly hundreds of them because love begets more love.

Why did God use Paul though he persecuted Him? It is because He knew that his conversion would cause great awe, speaking of His power. It still speaks today, even thousands of years after it happened. That’s simply remarkable! It’s so much so that it is currently one of the many proofs to outsiders that our faith is built on truth.

God wants to use you, your life and your testimony to reach countless others who need Him right now. You don’t have to be perfect, 1 Peter 4:8 tells us that love covers a multitude of sins. You just have to decide that you are going to do your best to live on fire for God and to love what He loves, which is people. If you are willing He will help you through your own stumbles and weaknesses and He will use you to change peoples lives. You never know, the ones you help to ensure salvation for might be someones parents, children, siblings, or best friends. On the other hand, they be your own.

Be Blessed,
Pastor Jeff

All Things Are Possible

Mark 9:23 (NKJV) Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

What a wonderful statement from such a wonderful God! All things are possible to him who believes. Jesus made such radical statements. The Bible is full of such radical claims. No other system of beliefs has such promises, such hope. In no other faith did God become man to die for his beloved. What an amazing God we serve! Yet, there are those that don’t believe.

I’m not talking about those on the outside but rather those that call themselves believers. Imagine that, believers that don’t believe! It sounds absurd, doesn’t it? It sounds absurd but, it’s the truth. As a Christian that believes that every word of the Truth is truth, and that Jesus meant what He said and said what He meant, I have been opposed so many times by those of the same faith.
So why the disparage? It is because there is a devil who deceives even those who are called followers of Christ. When people don’t take heed according to the Word of God and put more stock in tradition rather than the commandments of God, they easily get misled into all kinds of paths. It causes division within the Body which is precisely what the devil is trying to do because it is precisely what the Lord hates. By causing divisions it makes the Christian faith look weak and ineffective. Let’s face it, when believers can’t agree on what they believe, the world sees no point to our faith because truth to them becomes subjective. This is where the popular theology that says, “we are all right,” becomes prevalent. It’s sad because Jesus paid such a great price so we could know God’s will and His thoughts.

We are shown in Romans 1:28 what happens then: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” When people refuse to believe the Word, they refuse to believe the Lord and so God gives them over to their wrong way of thinking. If someone rejects truth they will be full of lies! It’s not God’s will but theirs, and people live this lie constantly. Calling yourself a Christian grants you no special privileges; only believing the Word will. That’s why a Christian that believes that God makes them sick will never experience His healing. A Christian that believes God wants them poor will never know His promised supply. A Christian that believes God wants them broken will never know His victory.

Contrary to popular belief, God is not some kind of puppet master controlling all the events of the earth. God isn’t in Heaven deciding who to take out today. God isn’t sending hurricanes or other natural disasters to wipe people out for judgement. If He is, He keeps missing the ones truly in need of judgement. God is waiting for people to believe and then act according to their belief in prayer, forming and shaping their world into what it needs to be. Try Mark 11:23-24 on for size!

God’s Word is clear: what you believe is what you will get because belief is the first step of faith. Faith, only, is what pleases God and the just, if they are to be just, will live by that faith. Don’t give up the Truth for a lie. Read your Word and believe it because it is His Word. You cannot separate God from His Word, He wouldn’t have said it if He didn’t mean it.

Be Blessed,
Pastor Jeff

Church Isn’t For God

Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Church, the assembling together of the Body of Christ, is not for God. He commanded this for His people to help humanity. People who lack revelation of this think they are doing God some kind of favor when they show up to church or give to the church. God gave us the church and He gave us pastors (found in church) to equip us.

The most important thing to God is people. Most specifically that they first find salvation but, equally as important, that they live in that salvation. What do I mean, you might ask? Salvation is not just for when you die. The Bible tells us we are redeemed from the curse. This redemption is only found in salvation. We are told that we are given exceedingly great and precious promises and it is up to us to find and live in them.
These things are gifts of God: salvation, the church, the ministry offices, Jesus. Yet so many take them so lightly. Imagine you worked and planned very expensive and thoughtful gifts for someone you love. Imagine spending years working on them, pouring everything that was in you in them. Now imagine that the day came to give those gifts and the one you did this for reacted like, “Eh, I could take it or leave it! I know it meant so much to you but really I’d just rather have my own things!” I know that sounds crazy but people do this with God everyday.

Salvation wasn’t just a gift, it was everything God had to give, given for people that could care less. His gift was pure love and people to this day reject it and toss it aside like garbage. God gave us salvation first to save us, then to provide for us, and ensure that we could always be with Him. Salvation is a box full of wonderful gifts and yet people will rifle through that box like it’s second hand cast offs in a rummage sale. They will pick and choose what they want or need in the moment, and just push aside the others they don’t think suit them. These people deceive themselves thinking that they can get away with going part way with Him. God does not give things that aren’t useful. His gifts are wonderful and pure and most importantly, needed.

We need to be of the mindset that if God gave it we are unwilling to go without it. If Jesus died for it, it needs to be prized. Romans 12:31 tells us to, “earnestly desire the best gifts”. God gave us Jesus, the Church, the Holy Spirit, and our pastors because we needed them and because He loved us. He gave them because they were what would keep us in His plan and blessing.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If what you treasure is all in the world then the things of God will not be your heart. I see this too often in the church, people so consumed with the world that God stuff isn’t even a thought. I see parents who allow their kids in so many activities that they don’t have time for church. I hear them make excuses of being busy as if God understands. These are people who have zero revelation of the importance of the Body of Christ (believers and the church) and of the importance of Jesus dying on the cross. To them church is only for when it’s convenient for them and they could care less about their part in it. People go without because people don’t treasure what’s important to God. What’s more, the next generation is increasingly moving away from God because the parents of the previous one never made Him important. Parents will lead their kids to hell, being deceived by what they won’t do.

Don’t be deceived by the distractions that so readily snare us. Don’t lose sight of what means so very much to God. Love Him and love His people by turning your focus to what truly matters. Don’t cast aside what God gave through love. Embrace, desire, and pursue with all your heart that which God gave everything for. Your life, that of your families, and of your brothers and sisters in Christ depends on it.

Be Blessed,
Pastor Jeff

In Purpose, On Purpose

Ephesians 5:17
Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Something that I love about our faith is the fact that it reveals purpose. Purpose is something that every human considers. It’s the spark that inspires science and exploration. It’s something our creator purposely placed deep on the inside of every man.

God is a God of purpose. He tries nothing. Every move He has made, every Word that He has spoken, is pointed and direct and most importantly, on purpose. The reason for this is because God is the embodiment of faith and faith itself is full of purpose. People often loosely say everything happens for a reason. What they really mean is, everything happens for some divine reason. People choose to believe this because in their minds it’s easier to believe that every bad thing that happens was divinely orchestrated, rather than to believe that there are things not in His control, but in ours. This is the battle God has had with humanity since the beginning of time.

The scripture I started with instructs us to know. Many people come to God for many reasons but I’ve seen these few years as a pastor that often that reason isn’t because everything is fine. Usually people live their lives for themselves and when they get tired of being bit by it, they seek out God. What a loving Father that He will accept you even when your motives at first aren’t for Him. A mistake that is often made however is that people, now saved, will often return to the same mess they always had (or aspects of it), all the while forgetting that God’s salvation is worth more than just showing up to church occasionally. The Word instructs us that we are to die to our old nature and be born into His. This is the very essence of what baptism is.

Yes we love to hear things like 2 Corinthians 5:17 which says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” We forget though that some of what has to die is the way we used to live. You cannot be saved from your past, die to what held you before, receive a new life in Him and still do what you always did! I spent the first few years of serving God just getting things worked out of me instead of actually going anywhere. This is why it takes time to walk in the full blessing of God. The will of God is simple and those who are wise know it and practice it. It is to live for Christ in every aspect of your life! This where His purpose and His blessing are found.

Living for Christ is not a lesser life. It’s not boring or controlling, but in fact it is the only way to live truly free. If you saw someone in the winter time pushing a lawn mower while trying to clear their drive way of snow you’d think they were foolish. The intended purpose of a lawn mower is not snow removal! Yet Christians live like this continually, all the while confused as to why God’s Word “doesn’t work” for them. People come to God for help from the things that weren’t working, recognize His goodness and even at times His power, yet turn and still try to do things the same old way! It’s like a child standing next to the deep end of a swimming pool. They’ll stick a toe in but, maybe dangle their feet, but to jump right in, there ain’t no way! Meanwhile, our Heavenly Father is out there saying the whole time, “This is where it gets good!”

We all say, “God is good” but I’m telling you He really is. Don’t be afraid of the deep end. The truth is, you were drowning in the shallow end before. Jump all in to the deep place of our Lord with understanding. We don’t just have a God that will help you tread or float; we serve a God Who makes you walk on water!

Be Blessed,
Pastor Jeff

Repentance & Revival

Acts 3:19 (NKJV)

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

Being wrong isn’t a bad thing, especially if you can recognize it. Notice I said being wrong and not living wrong. Being wrong is a typical trait of being human. As humans we will make mistakes and have opinions based in less than truths, however what we do with them is really what matters. Continually living in the same mistakes or wrong ideals is where people go wrong.
Living as a Christian, and I know you’ll be shocked by this, has not made me perfect. Living as a Christian brings me towards perfection. This is because truly living as a Christian brings me, continually, to repentance. Often as Christians we focus on the fact that Christ has already died and obtained our salvation. This is very true, however we must walk this salvation out everyday as we live for Him. We are to grow and live, constantly making adjustments as we grow closer to Him.
Philippians 2:12-13 says, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” These are a few very powerful and instructive scriptures. We are to work or as we often say walk out our salvation. This means to live in such a way that you are mindful of the fact that Jesus saved you and desires you to live in a way pleasing to Him. In doing so, we must always keep a mindset and willingness to be changed according to scripture, if we discover we have been off in some area. God does not expect your perfection, this is why He sent Jesus. He desired that we would seek after Him and gave us this ability despite sinful flesh. He gave us the ability to overcome this flesh through an amazing tool called repentance.
Being Christian isn’t just that you have accepted Christ but even more that you live for Him. Repentance is key to living this way. Repentance means that no matter who you are, what race, what age, what gender, what anything, that you could be wrong and when you discover you are, you decide to change. I know changing the way you think and act isn’t popular in today’s culture but is the way of the Lord. Often people think repentance is to say I’m sorry but we all know sorry with out change is worthless. God knows this too.

Let’s relook at our opening scripture but in the Amplified version: Acts 3:19, “So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air) may come from the presence of the Lord.” God doesn’t weigh us down, sin does. Sin doesn’t have to be something so bad as murder, but it can be as simple as not doing something you know is right for you to do. In fact, the heaviness we usually feel when we are off is not God punishing us at all, but it is the natural and spiritual effect sin has on our body.

Back to my own perfection, I recently found myself bogged down where even just living seemed hard. Well I know that God’s plan for our lives is light and easy, so I knew it wasn’t on His end. I know what you’re thinking, “Pastor Jeff, there’s no way you were missing it in some area.” Well, I was. I had been seeking the Lord in this area and over what seemed like quite a little time. Finally some areas started coming to light as I talked to another minister. The Bible says iron sharpens iron and I tell you this is truth! He wasn’t blaming me for anything but through a spiritual conversation I realized, I was plumb wrong about some things! I had let my emotions in a few areas overrule what I knew in the Word!
Eureka! So I repented before the Lord and guess what…He forgave me. Instantly the weight lifted and I noticed that light and easy flowed like a refreshing river of life right back into me. Be correctable because most people won’t and you will find great grace and refreshing in your life. Constantly look to the Word of God for your direction and you will keep the best course of life. Be merciful to all because He is and watch the power and love of the Almighty work so wonderfully in all areas of your life!

Be Blessed,
Pastor Jeff