Category: Faith Fix

Why Have You Forsaken Me? (ATP)

Why did Jesus say “my god why have you forsaken me?” Can you explain this and what it means?

What a wonderful question this is. At first read, one might assume the Father wasn’t being very loving here, allowing His son to go through such trial. But when we look closer, we’ll see this from another light.

First let’s talk a bit about sin. Romans 3:23-26 tells us, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Who paid the price for the sins being committed by humanity? Jesus!

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So we know from this scripture first that Jesus was our way to eternal life. We also know that the pay out or the compensation for sin is death. The sins of the world had to be paid for or God’s word would have been a lie here.

Look at Isaiah 59:1-2, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” There’s some important principles in this scripture. First, yes, God is powerful and able to save. He’s able to help. He’s able. BUT, iniquity, or sin, separates from God! In the very beginning of the Bible we see that God separated the light, which He called good, from darkness. In 2 Corinthians 6:14, these important questions are asked, “…For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” The short answer is no fellowship at all. Light and dark can’t coexist.

Now let’s look at the scripture passage you asked about. Mark 15:34, “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” That word forsaken here means to abandon or to leave behind. No doubt Jesus felt abandoned. No doubt Jesus wanted to be in the presence of His Father. But according to scripture, sin separates from God. He can’t dwell with sin even if it’s with His own son.

Of course, Jesus knew and willingly chose to follow the plan of God, fulfilling His purpose of redeeming humanity. He knew and was troubled in His flesh and mind if you recall His experience back in the Garden of Gethsame, but He chose to go through the trial anyways, knowing all that was at stake. For many Christians, a simple trial will cause them to question God’s love and plan for them, crying out “why God?!” every time life takes a turn they don’t like in their flesh and their mind. Imagine Jesus when all He had ever known, for eternity before He walked this earth, and for the roughly 30 years He lived as a man, constantly seeking God and saturating Himself in His presence, was suddenly taken from

Him on the cross. Jesus was experiencing the only separation from His Father He has ever known. We know according to 1 Peter 1:19, that, “…the precious blood of Christ, (was) as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” On the cross, the sins of all mankind were placed on Jesus and the Father could have no part with that sin. This was the very moment Jesus cried out knowing He was separated from God.

Christians, we need to understand that God has not chosen to forsaken any one of us. He wants to live in us and guide us and take us through this life blessed with abundance in all these good, but we can choose to give that up if we live in sin. James 1:23-25, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” Let’s learn from Jesus! Let’s live a life pure before God and remain in fellowship with Him. After all, Jesus paid the ultimate price so we could.

Be Blessed,

Pastor Renée

Does Satan Go To Church? (ATP)

This week’s question is: You both say that the Holy Spirit is among us at church. Is satan there too, trying to distract people from hearing the Word or does he wait until we are out of service? We know 1 Peter 5:8 says he prowls around like a lion, but I guess I’m curious if he will actually enter a place of Worship for God? 

We know according to the Bible that the enemy will try to take the word from us in order to destroy our lives. John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” The scripture referred to in the question also reiterates this truth.  1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

Notice the imagery in this scripture, the enemy is likened to a lion. A lion is lurking, watching, waiting for the right time to strike and devour. If you knew you were in a place where a lion was watching you, ready to eat, would you ever put your guard down? I’d say not! This is important and the Word describes Satan this way for a reason. We’re also not to put our guards down when it comes to the enemy.

Let me ask this, does the Word tell us the time and place to be sober and vigilant against the tactics of the devil? No, it says to be sober. This is a constant state that we are to be in. We must live in a place or sobriety and vigilance when it comes to deception from the enemy. Does the scripture say when the devil will try to steal the Word? No! The Word says the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy, at the same time that Jesus comes to give life more abundantly! Where is Jesus’s more abundant life found? It’s found in the pages of His Word.

Now let’s look at Mark 4:14-15. “The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.” When does Satan come? Immediately! You what another meaning of that word immediately is? At once. According to these scriptures, as soon as the Word of God is preached, the devil comes immediately to try to steal it! If we were to continue reading this passage of scriptures we’d see that many Christians actually fall for his tactics and give up the truth for his deception. In other words, that we believe Satan hook, line, and sinker.

Ask yourself, have I ever been at church and all I can think about is the argument I just got in with my spouse or my kids or my parents? Have I ever heard the Word preached and become instantly offended by it? Have I ever been hearing the sermon but instead it feels like everything is being muffled in my mind and I can’t focus? These are things we all go through and they are meant to distract us from the truth and from hearing and holding on to the Word. These are the types of sneaky mind games the enemy likes to play on us. We consider them so normal we don’t even know it’s deception.

Now let’s look at 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!” Where will there be a different gospel preached? Well, it’s often times in the place people come to hear the truth, that they will be fed deception instead. Deception is always ultimately of the devil and we know that in the case of Eve in the Garden of Eden and Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, the devil tried to twist the Words of God in order to deceive them. We must especially be sober when hearing the Word of God.

This is why it is so important to build your faith in the Word. This is why we encourage you to not only bring your Bible to church and follow along, but to get back into the scriptures when you’re at home, reminding yourselves of the truth you learned. If the devil knows more scripture than you do, that’s a problem. The devil could deceive Adam and Eve really easily because they weren’t spiritually mature. But the devil couldn’t deceive Jesus, not because He was the son of God but because Jesus had built His faith in the Word by spending time learning the truth, developing spiritual maturity.

We must preserve the truth in our lives. We must live soberly in order to do so. We don’t put our guard down at church, or anywhere else, when it comes to deception. We hold fast to the Word of God!

Be Blessed,

Pastor Renée

Is There a Right Way To Spend Time With God? (ATP)

This week’s question is, “Is there a “right” way to spend time with God?” Instantly, I’m drawn to John 4:23-24, “…the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The right way to spend time with God is to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, but what does that mean?

Look at Philippians 3:3, “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Christians have been circumcised meaning, cut to the heart and made pure, separated from the unclean multitudes and consecrated to God. Notice here there’s a contrast between worshiping in the spirit and having confidence in the flesh. We are told to rejoice in Christ! This means that our rejoicing, our joy, and our contentment, comes from Christ. This is the truth. The Word and all it promises is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Help us God! Our rejoicing isn’t in the flesh so we don’t need to experience the truth in manifestation in our flesh and in this natural realm to believe it. We must believe that there is a greater realm of the spirit where God ensures, “…that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

How does this answer your question? Look next at Colossians 3:10, “…have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.” Where do we put on the new man? That’s our spirit being. When we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, we are born anew in spirit, not in flesh. We must spend time with God by continually renewing our spirit being by the truth of the Word of God. Skip down to Colossians 3:16, and you’ll see that it is your job to, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” If you look at the original language of the term “one another” you’ll see it actually means oneself. How do we spend time with God? We get into His Word in order for it to dwell in us richly. We let the word correct us, direct us, change us, and encourage us. This is where diligence comes into play.

Look at Hebrews 11:6 AMP, “…For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].” We see some very important truths here. First, if you want to come near to God and spend time with Him, of course you must believe He exists, but much more importantly than that, you must believe that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.

Have you ever been diligent with anything in your life? Maybe you were an athlete and you wanted to be the best you could be at that particular sport. What did you do? You practiced regularly, you showed up for the games on time and ready to compete, and I’d be willing to bet you even thought about your next move ahead of time, pondering how to be better and how to be victorious. This same sort of diligence should be shown for the things of God. We should be pondering our victory, we should be constantly going to Him, practicing the things He’s spoken in the Word, we should show up to the meet, on time and ready to compete so to speak. Set aside a time to spend with God daily. God is our coach through this life and if we’re willing to be diligent, He’s willing to help us walk in our victory.

Now let’s consider this a bit more. The first time you played that sport you didn’t know everything there was to know about it, but instead you probably had more questions than answers, perhaps more mishaps than victories. As we develop our personal relationship with God and His Word, we must be ok with not knowing everything right away. We may not have the Bible memorized, we may still cry a little when bad things happen to us, we may not hang the moon everyday with time in prayer, and we may even get a little snarky with our kids and spouse, especially during quarantine.  We must keep coming back to God daily. We must keep showing up to our local church to hear what He’s delivering through our pastors. We must endeavor to know who He really is and diligently seek Him because we love Him. This is the right way to spend time with God. We talk to Him as a Father, we love Him as the same.

Be Blessed,

Pastor Renée

Question: I know God will use trials for learning purposes and to help us grow, but does he create them? (As I write that, I feel that goes against who He is, but I’m asking anyway.)

We know there are certain scriptures that give us this principle. Genesis 50:20 says, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” This is what Joseph said to his brothers, of course, after they sold him into slavery in Egypt and were reunited many years later. We know how God turned that situation around, saving the people of God in the time of famine. People, really people inspired by the devil, brought this trial upon Joseph.  Though God used this situation in a mighty, mighty way, He didn’t cause Joseph to be beaten and sold into slavery. He didn’t cause Joseph to be falsely accused, imprisoned, and suffer years of anguish. That was the devil’s plan. But see God knows the beginning from the end! He had a plan to turn that around all along.  We see this principle again in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Does this say some things? No! It says all things. That means even trials and tribulations work together for good, for the people of God. This is what happened for Joseph. Through the trial, through the opposition of man, through the imprisonment, God raised Joseph up to a position of power, protection, and authority. Praise the Lord!

The world is undergoing a test larger than many have seen in their lifetime with this corona virus. The best and the worst of people has been coming to the forefront. Just as we have taught many times, people are like sponges and when they are squeezed whatever is on the inside is what will come out. There has been attack on the body of Christ and opposition to the gospel more than ever I’ve seen. Our church was attacked, accused, and even threatened. Slanderers tried to put us on trial for preaching the Word of God. But they couldn’t win! God turned it around. He took the hate and He turned it into free publicity! Thousands of people (we have proof of this with reports from our online church pages) now know that we are a church that preaches the Word of God boldly, that we are a church that chooses to walk by faith! Hallelujah! Thousands of people are watching our sermons and reading about our church. Many are reaching out expressing interest in knowing more about us. God will always make it good as we trust in Him!

James 1:12-13 are important scriptures, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” It would go against God’s nature if He were to bring trial unto His people. A couple scriptures later we see this truth, James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” Is a disease a good and perfect gift? No! So  diseases can’t be from God. Is a hurricane a perfect gift? Would you give it to your child? No! Storms of destruction are not from God. The list goes on and on.

John 16:33 reminds us that in Him, “…you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” The source of tribulation is never God. Tribulation is of the world. The god (lowercase) of this world is the devil. Sadly, mankind gave authority over to the devil in the Garden of Eden and he has reigned in that authority since that time. This is why Jesus came to make a way for us to gain back that authority! Christians don’t have to operate and shutter under the power of the devil, the name of Jesus makes the devil have to shutter and take cover from Christians!

But, just as the devil tried to tempt Jesus, he will try to tempt mankind, so Christians need to know who they are and where they stand in Christ and when it comes to the devil. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” No matter what the weapon is, we win! The temptation will never take us out if we stay standing!

Ephesians 6:10-13

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Be Blessed,

Pastor Renée

Time To Refocus

Hebrews 10:38

Now the just shall live by faith;

But if anyone draws back,

My soul has no pleasure in him.

Faith is an amazing thing. What the world doesn’t understand about Christians, actually what some Christians don’t understand about what it means to be Christian, is faith. Faith is a joy. Faith is the reason we know we can carry on.

The world is an unstable place, is it any wonder why God decided to build His church here? God doesn’t create chaos. He brings order to it. Think of His first acts in Genesis. His Spirit, hovered over the face of chaos, and then said, “Let’s put things in order!” Over the next number of thousands of years, humanity against the Spirit tried to destroy and disorder what God had ordered through selfishness and human will. But then, and here’s where it gets real good, God acted again. Look at Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Once again, God brought order to His creation but this time He included us. He made us the redeemed, He made us righteous, He made us able, and He put that very same order causing Spirit right smack dab in the middle of each one of us! Glory to God! He said I’m going to lead you and guide you and teach you and if you listen to Me , I’ll make you bear so much fruit! He said the whole earth will be blessed through what I do through you and they will glorify Me! Take that you disorder causing devil!

Yes friends, the world is an unstable place. Yet, God saw fit to seat us here, to keep us here. And He gave us the answer so long ago. In Matthew 5:13-14 Jesus told us, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” God thought it best to show the world His power and stability through His church! In case you didn’t know, that’s you and I. We are in the right place and in the right time!

In recent times God has had me focused on a wonderful scripture in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 29:7 says, “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.” He placed us where we are to affect change. That means, in case you weren’t sure, that you are well able to fulfill His plan for you right where you are, but you must seek its peace. Pray to God for the peace of where you are! That word peace means security, well being, prosperity, and health.

As we are forced in the current state of the world to slow down, why don’t we use this time to re-evaluate our lives? Let’s take time, which we all have more of these days, and focus on what God wants us to do right where we’re at. Why don’t we spend some time trusting our Heavenly Father in this place? God didn’t cause this pandemic, that’s for sure, but if there’s anything I know is that He will bring us through it! If we are faithful to trust His faithfulness we will be a light to all those who are lost. We will be the salt through which the world tastes God, and sees that He is good! Stand in faith, do not be moved by what you see! Believe God. He has never let us down yet!

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jeff

Bind, Loose, Focus! (ATP)

Matthew 18:18 says “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” I’ve heard this so many times and in context too but I don’t think I fully grasp it. How does it relate to or compare with Matthew 6:20 “…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”? Can you give examples of what these verses mean? 

In Matthew 18:18, we see the principle of binding and loosing. A great way to help understand this is continuing on to verse 19 which says, “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” This part is also known as the prayer of agreement. These scriptures are referring to the authority that God has given us, and there are several angles to look at it from. First, I’ll focus on negative speech.

God told his people in Numbers 14:28, “Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you…” Our words, as far as God is concerned carry much weight. God made us in His likeness and when God wants something He speaks it. Speech is an expression of our faith or what we believe. God does not operate based on need, but based on our faith. People talk about believing God, and then go and speak about how bad things are. They have bound the ability for faith to work in their life and they have loosed the victory of circumstance. Because of this, Heaven will not change it. Yes, Heaven can be bound by what you have bound in your speaking and this is why many “believers” simply go without.

Another aspect of this is positive. When circumstance is adverse, we can bind it by our words and loose new circumstance based on our words. In this, Heaven will also comply. In fact, a person of faith who knows their authority, can change anything that is coming against them just by speaking it. You can move things into your life by the words you speak, Mark 11:23.

Now, Matthew 6:20 is referring to our hearts being always pointed toward Heaven. In other words, don’t spend time worrying about stuff that is here, don’t make it a thing. The present things are only temporary. Despite this knowledge, many people fall apart at every circumstance, as if it is the end of the world. If you keep reading, these are some of my favorite passages of scripture where Jesus tells us how God wants to take care of us completely. That we can be so assured of this, that our focus can be on nothing but Heaven.

How these scriptures relate is simple. Our focus is not to be on things of the earth. When faced with need, we simply bind them, loose the plan of God, and then continue without skipping a beat. People will actually do the opposite of what they pray for by worrying. You can bind the plan of God for your life by worrying about how you’re going to make it.

What Jesus is teaching us is the importance of living in faith and how the opposite of this can have a negative impact on us as well as what He desires to do through us. When people understand that whether or not they walk in God’s blessing is up to them, they will be able to avoid ruin in their lives. Then they will live just as God intended them to, like Jesus, more than conquerors!

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jeff