How Are You Building

How are you building? April 05, 2023 Everywhere you look these days you are seeing a new construction of some type being built. Sometimes, there is a huge amount of dirt being dug out with cinder blocks being placed one upon the other to form a basement before the dwelling is erected above it. Others, you see a maze of pipes laid out among a rebar grid as the concrete foundation is poured. No matter if it's a business, a multi-story dwelling or a single family abode, the contactor is careful to ensure that the structure is built on a firm foundation. As I was studying tonight, this scripture was discussed. Many people have discussed it in Sunday school lessons, we sang songs about it as kids and we've heard numerous sermons preached on it, but how many of us are actually hearing the lesson? Matthew 7:24-27 The Wise and Foolish Builders 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Every day, we build one way or another. We can read the Word just to say we had our devotion time. We can say an obligatory prayer to say we communed with God. But if we are just doing these things to just check a mark off our daily to-do list, then what are we truly building? We build a habit but not a relationship. God desires more than our check on a to-do list. He wants to speak to us, to commune with us. He is the Master Builder, the One that designed our lives. The Bible is the blueprint for how we build our lives. Our prayer time is how the Builder communicates those plans as we listen to what He has to say to us. If we are only fulfilling our daily checks, then we are building on sinking sand. We have to go beyond the checks, study the blue print and listen to the Master Builder so that we can build on a solid foundation. When you do that, the storms of life can rage all around you and the house that is built will stand. It will stand because it's on a firm foundation. How are you building? Author Sister Shana Parker

Finding Blessing In Every Day Life

Good Wednesday, church family! Shalom.

This afternoon, I would like to present an idea to you that may not be a shock to most. This idea is a basic principle of the Christian faith, but it is easy to forget in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

This idea is not radical in nature, but it is a pillar of what drives people to live for God.

We live our lives receiving blessings every day unknowingly. Oftentimes in life we find ourselves at the crossroads between failure and success. During these times the only thing spanning the gap that could help us to find success is a blessing of God.

Think about it. The last time that you got a job offer, do you believe that God was there in it? When you applied for that loan for a car, or for money to get you through the month, or when you bought that house - was God in it? Could you have done it without Him? I posit to you the answer to that question is a resounding “NO”.

I believe that when we begin to live for God, Satan attacks more frequently and with more vigor than ever before. He attempts to destroy us, and take us lower than we have ever been - no holds barred. He will steal, destroy, sneak, whatever he has to do.

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:" - 1 Peter 5:8

Without God blessing our lives as Christians, I firmly believe that we would find nothing but chaos, stress, fear, anxiety, depression, and many other negative emotions that stem from a lack of God’s favor.

Tonight I want to remind us of God’s blessings in a modern day world. I find that it is both easier and harder to find blessings today for a few reasons.

1. Finding a way that you are blessed has been much easier in recent months. If you don’t have COVID, if you don’t have to wonder where the next meal is coming from, if your family is safe and has a roof over their head - these are easy blessings to find.

2. However, it is also easy to think that God has abandoned us and left us hanging out to dry with no hope for a realization of our blessings. The devil would have us to think that we are all alone in this crazy world that seemingly spins faster and faster today. The stress of life has been a bit crazy, and I myself have been down in my spirit.

3. I believe that in these moments, we MUST take a look inside that Blessed Holy Writ and find this scripture to be true -

"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." -Hebrews 13:5

I DON’T KNOW IF THAT RESONATES IN YOUR SPIRIT OR NOT, BUT IT SHOULD!!!

My God said he would never leave me nor forsake me. My God promised that he would never lie to me. My God said that he would calm my storms when there seemed to be no end to them.

Your God brought you this far, and He will certainly carry you further!

---

In the Word, we can look to the disciples (the closest to Christ anyone would ever come) as to how to look for blessings. Looking at their life, they don’t seem to be rich, they don’t seem to stay in a great attitude, they still had life coming at them fast. They were subject to ridicule like no man has ever seen before, they were jailed, beaten, robbed, spat upon, stoned, and hung upside down on a cross.

They had every reason to believe that the path that they were walking down was going to be filled with nothing but negativity.

But here is what I find to be amazing about the apostles. They had an attitude. An attitude that said, “I don’t care what I’m going through, I’m just blessed to be walking with you Jesus.” I can all but see inside of Paul and Silas’ minds as they were chained in the jail cell thinking, “Sure, this looks bad now, but do you remember what it was like when we were walking with Jesus? He got us through then, and He’ll get us through now.”

I believe that we can look at these examples and find a singular reason to feel blessed in this world today. IF FOR NOTHING ELSE, we should feel blessed to simply walk with Him.

Job did. Job lost everything, had no reason to feel blessed. Yet he said these words that stick with me every day.

"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him…" - Job 13:15a

He went on to say these next few words, which oft times get cast to the side due to the magnitude of the first stanza -

“...but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” - Job 13:15b

Job had to have felt in his flesh that there was nothing worth living for. He must have felt like there were hooks in him attached to the horses dragging him through the dirt. But he didn’t change. He maintained his praise. He maintained his holy stature. He maintained his own ways before the Lord.

Life hurts, especially now. But I urge you to find a way to look at the good things of God. You are alive. You’re breathing. I wish everyone that is reading this would just take a big breath in and out right now and know that you are okay. God loves you. He’s never left you and he never will.

To find blessing in everyday life, we must maintain our stature of holiness and praise.

God bless you, family. Shalom.

God is Real

How do we know there is a God? There must be a Creator of it all. How can we prove this?

Popular theories are Creationism, which includes the belief in a Creator, and The Big Bang Theory. We will look at The Big Bang theory first.

Scientists hypothesize (an educated guess) that at a point in the universe there was matter that came together and exploded; creating, by chance, a perfect solar system we call the Milky Way. Thus, we have “The Big Bang”. I have a question regarding this hypothesis which has no proof. Where did the matter that was there come from? How did it happen to be perfectly balanced in the exact correct spots to create an acceptable format for us, animals and birds to live in. How, without the guidance of an almighty Creator, did this happen? The scientists of the world say that there must have been a Big Bang to prove them correct, but in a different way. Science is flawed in the fact of when a person is looking for an answer, they already have a result that they are looking for. That result is that there is no Creator and that everything just happened by chance. By chance, really? Chance that this universe just so happened to land perfectly where it needs to be after millions of years. No, I do not believe so. I believe this is a hypothesis by an educated bunch of people that want to try to explain something that they have no true idea of how to explain. That is why it is still called The Big Bang Theory -- a guess with no real evidence. So, the theory, which itself is not a proven fact because there is no evidence, is not true.

The only explanation of the Creation is that a divine creator exists. God Himself is alive and real to those who listen and accept that He is who He says He is. He is the one that spoke our universe into existence. There was a Big Bang, but it was when God spoke this universe into existence. When something is created there is energy spent. We know this, it can be proven every day. There is sound that is created when this energy is spent.

He chose to create the first man and woman. He listens to us when we call out His name. How do I know this? The answer is quite simple. I have seen; therefore, I know. I have heard; therefore, I know. I have felt; therefore, I know.

The argument brought against the existence of God is that there is no evidence of His existence. Here I will prove that wrong -- through personal and factual evidence.

First, we have Creation in itself. It is too perfect to be put to chance that it just so happened to be. It had to be orchestrated by an Almighty Creator that had the perfect plan in mind in order to exist at all. Think of the Earth; there is a perfect mixture of gasses and oxygen for the creatures of this world to live and survive. Do you really think that this happened over millions of years purely by chance? I do not think so. It had to be put into existence by One who knew the outcome and plan of His actions. This world, and every living creature on it, is the evidence that others can’t seem to realize is there. Everything in its perfect place in this world.

Now to personal proof. How can I have seen, heard, or felt God? God is not of this world. A physical being is not present. That is one reason why He robed himself in flesh as Jesus and came to Earth. But that is for another time. I have seen the works of God through His people, I have heard His Word through His ministers, I have felt His presence as it filled wherever I was at the time. God is an omnipresent God; He is everywhere at the same time.

How do I know that these things were from God?

The works of God are miraculous to behold. I have seen cancer healed, the blind to see and the lame to walk normally. How have I heard His Word from ministers? When the Word of God is spoken, it is for your benefit. It may cut, but it will heal. When things are spoken and revealed that no one else knows, it is the truth of God. How have I felt Him? There is absolutely nothing like feeling the presence of God. It is the strongest sensation you will ever feel, no matter what you have ever been, done, or felt. The presence of God is the best overwhelming feeling ever. When God leaves, you will know you have been in His presence. And you will crave it more than anything just to feel Him again.

So, what is the evidence that God is real?

When you have FELT Him, SEEN His works, HEARD His words then YOU will know that there is a God. I know God is real -- I believe !