Tag: 2014

Happy Easter! 2014

God raised His Son Jesus Christ from the dead and gave us a spouse for the wedding of His Bride, “The Church!” If you are a Bride of the Church of Jesus Christ you have a spouse that will never leave you or forsake you from yesterday, today and forever! In Christ’s Love. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Church In The City 1 Corinthians 12:—-

The Lord is asking you this morning what do I need from you? God is asking you what is His biggest need? As we enter into the Easter season the answer is that you would be a faithful witness to His Resurrection!  Acts 1:– Go to Jerusalem and wait for me! Do not attempt to do it on your own. I will send my Holy Spirit to you! Be a faithful witness as I work in you! Spiritual Gifts! What is a spiritual gift? A Spiritual Gift is a gift to Glorify Jesus and encourage people. It is also to minimize man. The word Gift is the same Greek root word that is used for Grace which is the word Charisma. A Gift is a miraculous faculty or the Gift of Grace! How would you like a resume with a miracle on your faculty! The first Gift mentioned in Acts is Wisdom. Wisdom is the special ability to hear and speak wise council. This gift may be just for me. Wisdom is the practical application of knowledge. It is enlightened understanding.  Luke 2: 46-48— Joseph and Mary lost God? Three days later they found Jesus in the Temple. At 12 years old Jesus was sitting with the Jewish Scribes and asking questions. Jesus was hanging out with wise people! We must seek the Gift of Wisdom! We need to get addicted to Spiritual Gifts! Find favor with God and man. Favor is bringing idea’s to the table. With the mind of Christ favor will find you! You will have the right answers! The Jewish Scribes of the Law were amazed with Jesus answers! There is no junior Holy Spirit! He is the same to all. One body. Jesus grew in wisdom and stature. Do you also need to grow? The next gift mentioned is the Gift of Knowledge. This is the special ability to have critical insight into people and situations. A good example would be Jesus at the well. Jesus has much more than conventional knowledge.  John 4:16— Jesus said unto her go and call your husband. Remember again Spiritual Gifts are to Glorify Christ and encourage people. Jesus responded to her that you had 5 husbands and the man you are living with is not your husband! Jesus can read your mail using the Gift of Knowledge. This woman was so impressed that she went back to her village and told the whole town what had happened! The whole town came out to see Jesus. The Gift of Knowledge is used here to bring people to Christ! This is how to gather a harvest. The Gift of Knowledge can also be used to understand our spouse. Works better than a marriage councilor! Use wisdom and knowledge to understand each other and to speak to one another with encouragement and understanding. The Gift of Faith. This is the special ability to be full of faith in every situation. Faith is the reliance on Christ for Salvation. It is a ground of confidence and a moral conviction of religious truth. Faith towards God!  Hebrews 11:1— Faith is being sure and certain of the God you serve! Believe in a good outcome but do not place your Faith in the outcome! I have prayed for the sick and some have recovered and some have not. My Faith is only in a God who is Good and Faithful! My Faith is in a Loving God and not in an outcome. God is not an ATM machine in Heaven! Remember when we pray for someone or something God may have a better idea or a better plan! Jesus disciples did not believe or expect what would happen 3 days after the Cross! Many in our culture have no Faith. Some have a little Faith. Some have a great faith like the Centurion who said to Jesus, “Just say the Word and my servant will be healed!”  Acts 1:— The Deacons were full of Faith and the Holy Spirit! Stephen had a great Faith but got stoned! Let me explain this to people in Colorado that I do not mean drunk! Not a Rocky Mountain High! With this 6000 feet elevation in Colorado Springs you can get high on a Diet Coke! Stephen died from injuries by rocks pelting his body. It surely does not look like a good outcome for Stephen! Stephen did not know that standing near him was a man named Saul of Tarsus who was consenting to his death. He later became Paul and had a vision of Jesus Christ along the road to Damascus. Much like Stephen’s vision of Christ at his execution. Paul would later write two thirds of our New Testament including the Book of Corinthians we are studying this morning. Did Stephen know the impact he would have on Paul and others? He did know God was good, loving, faithful, wise, knowledgeable, powerful and trusted for his outcome. A young teenager from North Carolina was Faithful in small things and helped his father milk cows every morning at 4:00 A.M. His name was Billy Graham. A young teenage girl in the slums of Seoul Korea found a young man dying of tuberculosis and prayed for him in Jesus name. This young dying man was David Cho! Pastor Cho and his one million plus congregation have never been able to find this girl over the past 60 years! A young Faithful Sunday School teacher drug a young girl out from under her bed who was trying to avoid his class. D.L. Moody changed the world! All but one of Jesus disciples were martyred! Does that look like a good outcome? Do the chapters they wrote in your Bible have a good outcome on you? At the Cross all the disciples fled and ran! Are you running from Jesus? Run towards him! Without the Cross we have no hope, future, peace, joy and no purpose. No Heaven for us without the Cross!  You may be in jail right now for doing righteous acts like Martin Luther King suffered. You may be in jail right here in America for distributing Gospel tracts! God is never done with you and that tract you gave to that bum on skid row may be the shot heard around the world! Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever! Does not matter what generation you live in! At the end of the day God is Good and Faithful! Thirty times in the New Testament Faith is followed by Faith in Christ and Faith in God! Let us close in prayer and prepare for communion as we remember the words in Ephesians 1:17. Source; Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given Sunday morning April 6, 2014.

Tempted But Winning! 1 Cothinthians 10:

Just a reminder to pray and invite someone to Good Friday and Easter Services. This is a period of time when people are sensitive and open to the Gospel. We are together going to walk through the First Book of Corinthians. Paul discipled a small group of Christians in the city of Corinth. Paul lived and preached among heathen, prostitutes, rich, poor, athletes and every cultural mix you could imagine. Paul said you may be tempted but you can win over it! Do you believe you can overcome? How are we tempted? When the following things happen a red flag should go up in your mind! The two things are secrets and short cuts! Examples of short cuts are; let us live together why get married?, let us get rich fast and play the lottery, let us get high on drugs and drown our problems, ect. The good things of God require a process! Temptation also involves secrets. Stop and pause when secrets are part of your life. God works in the light. Satan works in the dark. One hundred percent of the time this is true. The people of Corinth were full of pride and impressed with themselves. They went from a wild west town to a gold rush metropolis! The Roman Empire put them on the map. The city was on a major east-west trade route. Retired Roman military offers lived there so it was secure. Famous athletes lived there due to the Olympic style games there. They had the latest in medical and technology advances. However as always human behavior is not advanced! Do not be impressed about yourself. History is a warning to us. History repeats itself and man has never learned from history. My little daughter complained to me about having to study history in school! She asked me why I should study things that have already happened? Paul reminds us of Moses and the rebellious Jews who wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Jesus fasted 40 days or one day for every year of their rebellion. 1 Corinthians 10:6-10. All temptation is common to man. Temptation has been around for thousands of years! The enemy uses the same plays over and over again on us. From the Garden of Eden until now Satan uses the same play book! Just like a good NFL football team they just practice the same plays over and over again and win using the same plays. The major league tactics Satan uses are money, power and sex! This is Satan’s Trinity! Pride is at the foundation of these. The same plays work for every generation to bring men to ruin! 1 Timothy 6:9. A rush to get rich leads to a trap. Money is not evil but the love of money is evil. Love God! It is a matter of right priorities and worship. Do not worship mammon. Do not make money your God! Work for Christ only! You can have money but do not worship it. Money should not have you. Reject the idols of money. Keep your heart sincere and pure! The most important question you can ask God is; “Lord, why am I doing this?” This may be a dangerous question to some but needs to be asked. Why do I do what I do? Our motives can be clouded so wait for God to answer you. Verse 13. God is Faithful! We will not be tempted beyond what we can bear. God is aware of our humanity and that we are dust. Follow God as hard as you used to follow the world. The problem is we are too hard on ourselves. I would have made a good Pharisee were it not for the Grace of God! Psalm 103: 13-14. Just call me Dusty. God is kind and compassionate on us and remembers we are dust. Sometimes we place too high a standard on us and our family. We Lord over our children and do not allow them to fail. Please let your children how the freedom and room to fail at home. My parents told me you need to make all your mistakes at home and I did! Pride drives parents to hold their children to unachievable goals. Children under these conditions will rebel outside the home with serious consequences! All kids fail one way or another. Go easy on yourself. Remember you started as a pile of red dirt and you end as a pile of dirt with cotton candy in between! Let your kids learn to walk. Relax. Cool out. Enjoy the journey! Keep high standards but love yourself so we can love you! When we are tempted there is a way out. Look at the journey of Jesus. He gets baptized and the voice of God from Heaven says this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Then Jesus went to the desert for temptation. Jesus applied God’s Word to Satan to defeat temptation. It is written! Luke 4:13-14. After temptation Satan departed Jesus for a season. Temptation is not constant. The enemy knows our flesh. There are four critical times when we are prone to temptation. They are when we are tired, hungry, lonely and traumatized. When we are tired we are rushed and emotional and more likely to make mistakes. This is the prime motivator for many fatal accidents. Internet marketing studies have determined that your most vulnerable time for you to buy something you do not need is between 9-10 PM. Jesus withdrew himself to a remote place to pray. They say never go to a grocery store to shop with hunger. You will buy junk food and quick snacks. After 40 days of fasting Satan asked Jesus to turn stones into bread. Lonely people try to kill their pain and make mistakes. We are safer with people around us. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto! Satan does not play fair! You could get traumatized by one of your kids calling you late at night from jail, a bad medical report or your stock broker calling you and telling you that you lost 10 million dollars today! Remember you are most vulnerable when traumatized under these or other conditions. James 4:7. Submit yourselves to God! Resist the Devil and he will flee from you! Exploring God is good. Submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We are not perfect but God is! Me and my house will serve the Lord! Key point—Put up any kind of resistance! Do not resist God but Satan. If you resist God you surrender to Satan and he does not take any prisoners! Christus Victos! As we enter into the Easter celebration remember Jesus victory on the Cross over death, the grave, the tomb and a victory for you! The weak made strong! Do you have emotional, physical or financial trauma in your life? Stop! Declare Christus Victos! Settle right now today who you will follow. Put Christ over you and He will put Satan under your feet! Whether on the mountain or in the valley who will you follow? The world, yourself, others or Christ? You have victory in Christ but defeat in anything or anyone else! Hebrews 4:15-16. Let us close in prayer as we prepare to take communion. Source; Sermon notes taken from message given by Pastor Brady Boyd at New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given Sunday March 23, 2014.

2014 Prediction! Hebrews 13:8

The world changes! People change. Health changes. Finances change. Attitudes change. Economy changes. President’s change, Families change ( Divorce-remarriage). Weather changes. Pastor’s change. Church member’s change, Friends change. Laws change, Time changes. War changes. Taxes change, Technology changes, Nations change, ect. The News that never changes is the Good News as Paul says in Hebrews 13:8; “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!” Christ is the only one who can give you stability and peace in this unpredictable world you live in! The God of 2013 is the same God of 2014 and on forever! Do not hang your hat on anything else but Him! He will never leave you or forsake you! Others will! Happiness depends on circumstances! Joy is a Gift given to us by God through His Son Jesus Christ! Have a Joyful New Year! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com