HIS WILL MINISTRY
PASTORS INSIGHTS: a journal of the pastor's studies
This is a "BLOG' of the pastor's studies in the WORD OF GOD and what the LORD reveals.
There are many days during my intimate times with the Lord that He will open the scriptures to my heart. Many of these insights are in my journals but never are in the radio programs or sermons. He has lead me to share them here as a permanent record for all that wish to read and gain a deeper understanding into the Word of God.
May the Lord touch you as He has me. Pastor A. J.
May the Lord touch you as He has me. Pastor A. J.
HOW TO LIVE AS A KINGS KID IN THE DEVILS PLAYGROUND
The Holy Bible, King James Version
Ezekiel 3:17-21 (KJV) 17Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. 18When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 19Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 20Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 21Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
Ezekiel 3:17-21 (KJV) 17Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. 18When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 19Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 20Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 21Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
PAST
THOUGHTS
THOUGHTS
PAST
THOUGHTS
THOUGHTS
OUR LIVING HOPE!
1 Peter 1:3-9 (NKJV)3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
I have found in these last days it is so easy to forget we are just a blink in the grand scheme of things. No I do not mean that we are unimportant to the Lord. What I mean is that we live an average of 76 years, a little longer for some a lot shorter for others. But, if you look at the average you have approximately 76 years to live on this old earth. We get side tracked and forget the reality of the above verse. 4to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you…" This applies to both Christian and non Christian. No! I do not mean that this is for the sinner but, you can change it just a little to fit the sinners eternity. " to an inheritance totally corrupted and defiled that does not fade away reserved in hell for you!" Ok, some of you do not believe in a literal hell. But, all I ask is that you explain how one group gets this eternal spirit that lives on forever and ever and the other never got an eternal spirit they just got a human spirit. I can find nowhere in the word of God, He created two different styles of humans. You know the eternal Spirit lives forever model and the defective model that just wears out in 70 or 80 years and ceases to exist. If you can find it please let me know. As a pastor friend I know says " I don't care if you believe in hell or not! God does and you're going if you don't accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Ok that's another teaching. But, just in the King James Version there are 54 references of Hell directly. Ok, Ok, as an old pastor preaching the word for over 30 years just one more question. How do you get someone to a true repentance, true conversion and an acceptance of Jesus with the living of a holy life without a fear of eternal punishment? If there is no hell "party on dude for tomorrow we cease to exist." Plus, I truly believe the real reason many chose to not believe in a literal eternal hell is that this "theology" removes any responsibility for that individual to follow Jesus' words found in Mark 16:15-16 (NLT) 15And then he told them, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. 16Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. If they are only going to cease to exist I guess I don't have to worry about telling my neighbor about Jesus! Right? Again I let the words of Christ speak. Matthew 5:29-30 (NLT) 29So if your eye-even if it is your good eye-causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your hand-even if it is your stronger hand-causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. I have to wonder why Jesus was so concerned with keeping people out of hell that He told people to literally gouge your eye out or cut off your hand if it would keep you out, if He knew they would just cease to exist. If Jesus was so concerned for mankind shouldn't we be? Please help me here, why should I care to tell my neighbor about Jesus, if I have no worry that something beyond their ceasing to exist will happen to them? What need is there to preach the gospel to your neighbor when the worst that might happen to them is to fry for a few seconds or just cease to exist for eternity? I leave you with this thought: "Each person we meet on a daily basis who does not know Christ is hell-bound. That may make some folks bristle-but it's a fact. When we refuse to warn people that their actions and lifestyles have eternal consequences, we're not doing them any favors. If everybody feels good about his or her sin, why would anyone repent?" FRANKLIN GRAHAM That was all an extra now back to the teaching.
The world around us gets us so involved that we forget to keep our eyes on heavenly things. We get hung up on the moment. A fine example is that I am writing this on my spare laptop. Yesterday I was working on the updates for our web site and I got the dreaded "blue" screen on the laptop. From that point on it would only give me the "unmountalbe boot Volume" and was dead for over two weeks. In the old days I would have spent the whole day, weekend and on until I got it repaired. To put it simply this old pastor would have obsessed over it until it was fixed or I drove my lovely Mary nuts. But, as I have grown older I realize that in the grand scheme of God's reality it just is not that important. Come on gang who of you will be thinking 10,000 years from now in heaven "I remember when my laptop crashed and I got the dreaded windows blue screen!" We will be like it says in Isaiah 65:17 (ASV) 17For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. So many times we stop at verse 5 in 1 Peter. But let's look at what Peter continues to say. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9receiving the end of your faith-the salvation of your souls. My Friends we need to get back to the basics of God's Word! As I have said time and time again the pure Holy Word of God has all the answers you will ever need to get through this life. Yep, even in these times of our addiction to technology days you can still find all the answers you will ever need in the Word of God. Today I read a article that excited me. Why? It was titled " The death of the American Christian church!" It talked about how 80% yes 80% of all youth will leave the church by the time they are teenagers. But, what got me excited was the fact that they used my favorite saying to explain how to fix this problem. The article said "we have to get back to the basics of God's Word to fix this problem!"
Now this is the place where the rubber meets the road, be honest, totally honest with yourself. Ask yourself what really controls your moods, your directions in life, your wants, desires and hopes in life? Bottom line what controls you! Does your laptop crashing ruin your day? Does your husband not treating you with "respect" ruin your day? Does your wife not making you your favorite dinner ruin your day? Does working in a "dead end" job ruin your day. Have I gotten my point across yet? Peter said it best 1 Peter 2:9-10 (NKJV) 9But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Ok, have you gotten my point yet? We are told that we have a hope that is incorruptible, undefiled, does not fade away and is in heaven and you are not walking around with a grin from ear to ear? You're not just going crazy trying to find someone to share this hope with? What is wrong?
I have to ask, have you ever had anyone, even one single person ask you why you have a different way of handling life? Have you ever had anyone, even one single person come up to you out of the blue (total stranger) ask you why you are always so happy. Have you ever had anyone come up to you and ask what it is you have because they want it? If you cannot answer yes to these questions you are missing something in your life. My, friends Jesus did not do like the "great" evangelists of today. Jesus did not have a public relations team that went before Him to sell tickets and do advance advertising. Jesus did not cancel His travels because there were not enough tickets sold. No! wherever Jesus went there were crowds just wanting His touch. If you look at the great evangelists of old, you will see that most were asked to come and preach. Billy Sunday would not go and preach anywhere unless he could get all the local churches to work together in prayer for souls and planning for the souls when they came to accept Christ. Smith Wigglesworth sat and cried as the mail arrived during the last weeks of his life. He did not cry because he had hundreds of invitations to preach around the world he could not fill. No! he cried because all these people wanted "Wigglesworth" to come and preach and all he wanted was for them to see Jesus not Smith Wigglesworth.
1 Peter 1:3-9 (NKJV)3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Do you believe it or not. If you answer yes then why don't you have a grin from cheek to cheek that nothing, I repeat nothing on this earth can ever remove. Has it sank in? We're going to heaven my friends. We will spent eternity not the rest of our 79 years on this old decaying planet with Jesus but eternity. Do you see it we will be in heaven for time unending. No pain, no sorrow, no death, no pollution, no 8 to 5 job, no darkness, no hunger pains, no old age and achy joints. Praise the Lord I wont have to put up with is achy old knee I blew out as a youth. Do you get it yet? If so, then why have you not stopped reading and fallen on your knees and praised the God of the universe for loving you so much?
My lovely wife Mary, has a saying I love. When ever something gets to me or I let the old devil get under my skin she reminds me to "keep an eternal perspective!" Where is your perspective gang? When you wake up in the morning what are your first thoughts? To praise God and thank Him for all you have and the fact you woke up or to start thinking of all your day ahead. The project you had a deadline on, the work your boss threw on you yesterday, the pressure to conform? My downfall is that the job I work in the world requires me to get my reports in by 6 to 7AM. So I must be very careful and get up very early to be able to give Jesus the time He deserves first! Do you? Remember what He did for you! 1 Peter 1:3-9 (NKJV)3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. But, remember what it took to get you there. Matthew 27:33-37 (NLT) 33Then they went out to a place called Golgotha (which means Skull Hill). 34The soldiers gave him wine mixed with bitter gall, but when he had tasted it, he refused to drink it. 35After they had nailed him to the cross, the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. 36Then they sat around and kept guard as he hung there. 37A signboard was fastened to the cross above Jesus' head, announcing the charge against him. It read: "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." My Friend, I love you but I can tell you I will not hang on a cross for you! But, Jesus did and gave you a living eternal hope that never fades away. Why are you so afraid to tell others or even have that joy unspeakable that speaks for you? I venture if each of you had a million dollars you would not keep it hidden and never use it or tell anyone about it. Yet, each of us who have chosen to follow Jesus have a far greater gift, eternal salvation! Why do we hide it? Think of the statics, if every Christian only brought 4 people in their life to Christ and out of those 4 people 2 fell away and 2 told 4 each (8) and out of those eight 4 fell away and 4 told 4 (16) others and out of those 16 8 fell away and the 8 told 4 others and out of those 24, 12 fell away and the 12 told 4 and out of the 48, 24 fell away and the 24 told 4 and out of the 96, 48 fell away and the 48 told 4 and out of the 192 96 fell away and those 96 told 4 etc. Even with a 50% fall away rate within 100 years or so the whole world would hear about Jesus. We have a living eternal hope in Christ Jesus why is it so hard to share it? It is estimated that there are 2 billion professing Christians worldwide. If each only bought 4 to Jesus in their lifetime that would be 8 billion Christians in a very short span. As of year 2000 there were 6,779,897,585 people on the face of the earth. Think if we only witness\evangelized 3.4 people each in our lives the whole world would have heard about Jesus and the great commission would be fulfilled in our lifetimes!
Matthew 9:37-38 (NLT) 37He said to his disciples, "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. 38So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields."
I will leave you with Isaiah's words Isaiah 40:28-31 (NKJV) 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Even Isaiah who did not know the fullness of Gods salvation through Jesus Christ was excited and on fire to tell the world.
God Bless
The world around us gets us so involved that we forget to keep our eyes on heavenly things. We get hung up on the moment. A fine example is that I am writing this on my spare laptop. Yesterday I was working on the updates for our web site and I got the dreaded "blue" screen on the laptop. From that point on it would only give me the "unmountalbe boot Volume" and was dead for over two weeks. In the old days I would have spent the whole day, weekend and on until I got it repaired. To put it simply this old pastor would have obsessed over it until it was fixed or I drove my lovely Mary nuts. But, as I have grown older I realize that in the grand scheme of God's reality it just is not that important. Come on gang who of you will be thinking 10,000 years from now in heaven "I remember when my laptop crashed and I got the dreaded windows blue screen!" We will be like it says in Isaiah 65:17 (ASV) 17For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. So many times we stop at verse 5 in 1 Peter. But let's look at what Peter continues to say. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9receiving the end of your faith-the salvation of your souls. My Friends we need to get back to the basics of God's Word! As I have said time and time again the pure Holy Word of God has all the answers you will ever need to get through this life. Yep, even in these times of our addiction to technology days you can still find all the answers you will ever need in the Word of God. Today I read a article that excited me. Why? It was titled " The death of the American Christian church!" It talked about how 80% yes 80% of all youth will leave the church by the time they are teenagers. But, what got me excited was the fact that they used my favorite saying to explain how to fix this problem. The article said "we have to get back to the basics of God's Word to fix this problem!"
Now this is the place where the rubber meets the road, be honest, totally honest with yourself. Ask yourself what really controls your moods, your directions in life, your wants, desires and hopes in life? Bottom line what controls you! Does your laptop crashing ruin your day? Does your husband not treating you with "respect" ruin your day? Does your wife not making you your favorite dinner ruin your day? Does working in a "dead end" job ruin your day. Have I gotten my point across yet? Peter said it best 1 Peter 2:9-10 (NKJV) 9But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Ok, have you gotten my point yet? We are told that we have a hope that is incorruptible, undefiled, does not fade away and is in heaven and you are not walking around with a grin from ear to ear? You're not just going crazy trying to find someone to share this hope with? What is wrong?
I have to ask, have you ever had anyone, even one single person ask you why you have a different way of handling life? Have you ever had anyone, even one single person come up to you out of the blue (total stranger) ask you why you are always so happy. Have you ever had anyone come up to you and ask what it is you have because they want it? If you cannot answer yes to these questions you are missing something in your life. My, friends Jesus did not do like the "great" evangelists of today. Jesus did not have a public relations team that went before Him to sell tickets and do advance advertising. Jesus did not cancel His travels because there were not enough tickets sold. No! wherever Jesus went there were crowds just wanting His touch. If you look at the great evangelists of old, you will see that most were asked to come and preach. Billy Sunday would not go and preach anywhere unless he could get all the local churches to work together in prayer for souls and planning for the souls when they came to accept Christ. Smith Wigglesworth sat and cried as the mail arrived during the last weeks of his life. He did not cry because he had hundreds of invitations to preach around the world he could not fill. No! he cried because all these people wanted "Wigglesworth" to come and preach and all he wanted was for them to see Jesus not Smith Wigglesworth.
1 Peter 1:3-9 (NKJV)3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Do you believe it or not. If you answer yes then why don't you have a grin from cheek to cheek that nothing, I repeat nothing on this earth can ever remove. Has it sank in? We're going to heaven my friends. We will spent eternity not the rest of our 79 years on this old decaying planet with Jesus but eternity. Do you see it we will be in heaven for time unending. No pain, no sorrow, no death, no pollution, no 8 to 5 job, no darkness, no hunger pains, no old age and achy joints. Praise the Lord I wont have to put up with is achy old knee I blew out as a youth. Do you get it yet? If so, then why have you not stopped reading and fallen on your knees and praised the God of the universe for loving you so much?
My lovely wife Mary, has a saying I love. When ever something gets to me or I let the old devil get under my skin she reminds me to "keep an eternal perspective!" Where is your perspective gang? When you wake up in the morning what are your first thoughts? To praise God and thank Him for all you have and the fact you woke up or to start thinking of all your day ahead. The project you had a deadline on, the work your boss threw on you yesterday, the pressure to conform? My downfall is that the job I work in the world requires me to get my reports in by 6 to 7AM. So I must be very careful and get up very early to be able to give Jesus the time He deserves first! Do you? Remember what He did for you! 1 Peter 1:3-9 (NKJV)3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. But, remember what it took to get you there. Matthew 27:33-37 (NLT) 33Then they went out to a place called Golgotha (which means Skull Hill). 34The soldiers gave him wine mixed with bitter gall, but when he had tasted it, he refused to drink it. 35After they had nailed him to the cross, the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. 36Then they sat around and kept guard as he hung there. 37A signboard was fastened to the cross above Jesus' head, announcing the charge against him. It read: "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." My Friend, I love you but I can tell you I will not hang on a cross for you! But, Jesus did and gave you a living eternal hope that never fades away. Why are you so afraid to tell others or even have that joy unspeakable that speaks for you? I venture if each of you had a million dollars you would not keep it hidden and never use it or tell anyone about it. Yet, each of us who have chosen to follow Jesus have a far greater gift, eternal salvation! Why do we hide it? Think of the statics, if every Christian only brought 4 people in their life to Christ and out of those 4 people 2 fell away and 2 told 4 each (8) and out of those eight 4 fell away and 4 told 4 (16) others and out of those 16 8 fell away and the 8 told 4 others and out of those 24, 12 fell away and the 12 told 4 and out of the 48, 24 fell away and the 24 told 4 and out of the 96, 48 fell away and the 48 told 4 and out of the 192 96 fell away and those 96 told 4 etc. Even with a 50% fall away rate within 100 years or so the whole world would hear about Jesus. We have a living eternal hope in Christ Jesus why is it so hard to share it? It is estimated that there are 2 billion professing Christians worldwide. If each only bought 4 to Jesus in their lifetime that would be 8 billion Christians in a very short span. As of year 2000 there were 6,779,897,585 people on the face of the earth. Think if we only witness\evangelized 3.4 people each in our lives the whole world would have heard about Jesus and the great commission would be fulfilled in our lifetimes!
Matthew 9:37-38 (NLT) 37He said to his disciples, "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. 38So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields."
I will leave you with Isaiah's words Isaiah 40:28-31 (NKJV) 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Even Isaiah who did not know the fullness of Gods salvation through Jesus Christ was excited and on fire to tell the world.
God Bless