Episodes
Sunday Jan 26, 2020
FINDING JOY IN THE VINE (John 15:5-11)
Sunday Jan 26, 2020
Sunday Jan 26, 2020
True joy is something that every Christian needs in their lives. It is the lubricant of your life. The joy of the Lord is indispensable in serving the Lord. The Bible says, "The joy of the Lord is what?" Your strength! The Bible says, “Serve the Lord with gladness..." The joy of the Lord will take the weariness, and the burden, and the labor, out of serving the Lord. But there are many Christians who do not have this joy. They want it, but they do not have it. Why is that? Why can’t they find this joy?
Have you ever lost something, and you looked, and looked, for it but you couldn’t find it? You looked in almost every place that it could be, but you didn’t find it, and then you found it. Now, why didn’t you find it when you looked in all of those other places? Because it wasn’t there. You were looking in the wrong places for it. Why can’t some people find this true joy that is so important to their lives? Because they are looking for it in the wrong places. They're trying to find it. They are looking, and looking, and looking, but they will not find it because it is not in the places that they are looking. They will never find it until they look into the place where true joy is. You have to look in the right place.
Click on the link below to hear a message on the true source of joy. It is a supernatural source. It is Jesus Christ. If you want to have true joy in your life, stop looking in all the wrong places and come to the source. Come to Jesus.
Amen.
Sunday Jan 19, 2020
I AM THE VINE (John 14:29 to 15:5)
Sunday Jan 19, 2020
Sunday Jan 19, 2020
John 15:1
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
KJV
The Christian life is similar to the vine that grows in a vineyard. Its branches run everywhere. Its leaves are beautiful, its fruit colorful and abundant. Even the tiniest branch is vitally connected with the parent stem. One branch does not try to dominate or direct another branch. Each branch runs back to the source. The branches are independent, yet dependent. Each adds its contribution to the splendor of the whole. Each is busy producing its own foliage, flowers, and fruit.
Such is the Christian life, whether expressed individually in the life of each believer, or corporately as local churches, branches, reaching out with the life of Christ to the lost of the world. Without Jesus, we can do nothing. There is no such thing as a freelance Christian. To be a Christian in the biblical sense of the word involves an organic, spiritual, relationship with Christ. In the Bible there is no such thing as a denominational church being ruled from some headquarters, or an independent church ignoring all other gatherings of believers.
All are united to Christ and through him to one another. Christ is the head of the church. Christ is the vine. Severed from him there is no life at all, individual or corporate. Denominational-ism, tradition, programs, or money might keep a dead church going through the motions for a time. But all it produces is worldliness, carnality, legalism, death.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how the abiding life is to become the abounding life, a life that brings glory to the Father by being a reflection of the life of Christ. Jesus is the true vine and we abide in Him, and He abides in us.
Amen.
Sunday Jan 05, 2020
DON'T MISTREAT YOUR BEST FRIEND (John 14:15-18)
Sunday Jan 05, 2020
Sunday Jan 05, 2020
The Holy Spirit bears the name of Jesus. That is, Jesus says, "He comes in My name." He has all the power of Jesus that is released through us, and He makes Jesus real to us. But the problem is that we fail to think of him as a dear friend. If that is true of you, then that is something that needs to change in order for you to live a victorious Christian life. It is vitally important to your relationship with God that you understand that the Holy Spirit is the One, the Person, who makes Jesus Christ real and alive in your heart. You need to know the Holy Spirit of God, personally, and you must not mistreat Him.
Today’s message is about three ways that you dare not mistreat your best friend, the Holy Spirit of God. Each of these are things that I just pray to God that you will not do. Each of them comes from the Word of God.
The first one, is not to let Him in your life at all. First and foremost, you must not resist the Holy Spirit when He tells you that you need to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit of God wants to speak to you. How does He speak? He speaks through song, He speaks through Scripture, He speaks through sermons, He speaks through servants, He speaks through situations, He speaks through sorrows, He speaks, and He speaks, and He speaks.
The second way we mistreat our best friend is to grieve His indwelling. If you have invited the Holy Spirit of God in, and if He has come to live in your heart, then don’t mistreat Him by grieving Him. How do you grieve the Holy Spirit, by your unholy character, your unholy conduct, and your unholy conversation.
The third thing is that you will not quench His outgoing. The Holy Spirit is in me. He lives in me. Why does He live in me? He lives in me to minister through me. He wants to bless you through me. He wants to start a fire burning in me that'll reach out and bless you. He wants there to be a stream of living water flowing out of me that will slake your thirst. And, He wants you to be a blessing to me. And, He wants us to be a blessing to one another and to this lost world.
Click on the link below to hear a message on the reason that many of us are floundering around, saying, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do." The reason is that you are grieving the Holy Spirit and quenching the Holy Spirit. When you stop grieving Him, and stop quenching Him, then you are going to be amazed how much power and guidance there is in your life. When you stop grieving Him, and stop quenching Him, He will speak to you, if you will listen.
Don’t mistreat your best friend, the Holy Spirit.
Amen.