Breaking The Chains Of Bondage (Part 1)

So many Christians have fallen into Satan's trap.  The trap and scheme that convinces them they don't have the victory that God's Word has promised. How many Christians come to church, get all excited and clap their hands and praise God only to totally lose their confidence and victory before they are out of the parking lot of the church?

It doesn't have to be like that. It is time that we learn who we are in Christ, what Christ has done for us and what our rights and privileges are in Him. It's time we take back the victory and the authority Satan has either stolen from us or that we have relinquished to him willingly.  The question is, how do we do it?  I want to share with you three facts you need to know in order to be victorious.


1.  Your Real Enemy Is Satan

We attack people and blame everything in the world on them.  But what we need to realize is Satan is our real enemy.  Our enemy and battle is not flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12) but it is against the devil and his demonic spirits.  How do we know Satan is the real enemy?  It's easy, Jesus himself identified the "thief" (Satan) as the one who came to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10).  It's time to stop fighting against flesh and blood and realize who the true enemy is.  You need to stand up and say, "I serve notice on you devil, you cannot have me, my wife, my children or anything that belongs to me."  You have the authority, use it in the "name of Jesus."

2.  Satan And His Demons Are Already Defeated
We don't have to fight the devil anymore, he has already been defeated. Satan and his demons have already been dethroned, disarmed, and defeated.  All that is left is for you to stand in the victory Jesus has given you.   Don't believe this?  Read Colossians 2:15 "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."  or Hebrews 2:14 "...by his (Jesus) death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil."  or 1 John 3:8 "...the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work."  This is knowledge you need to know both intellectually and spiritually in your heart, which is the next point.

3.  Understand And Use The Biblical Knowledge Of Your Authority
You have the authority to drive Satan and his demons out of the arena of battle.  If it's going to be done, then you must do it.  Don't wait for someone else, it is your responsibility.  The Bible promises that if you will resist the devil he will flee from you!  It's time we sent the devil packing!

It's time we stop falling into the devil's traps and take authority over his attempts to steal, kill, and destroy.  Jesus has destroyed the devil's authority and as a believer, so have you!

What are you doing to take back what Satan has stolen?  

Pastor Temple

The Discipline of Giving (Guest Post)

This weeks blog is a guest post from Keith Fife.  Keith is the Associate Pastor at Bethel Church, Choctaw.  Leave him some feedback.

Chapters eight and nine of 2 Corinthians contain the most important passage in the New Testament on the responsibilities and joys of giving to support the Lord's work.  As you read this post, I challenge you to think about your own personal giving.  Consider the following questions as you read: How do you "feel" when you give? Why do you give? What do you give?  When do you give?  All these are important for you to consider as you develop a healthy attitude and discipline toward giving.

Paul was excited and yet a little concerned about the "collection" the Corinthians were receiving to give to the Christian Jews in Jerusalem.  He was so excited that he was "boasting" about it to the Macedonians and in turn they became so exited that they too wanted to give also.  But Paul was also a little concerned that the Corinthians may not do what they promised so he sent some "brothers" ahead to make sure they followed through on what they said they would do (2 Corinthians 9:3-5).  From theses first few verses in chapter nine we can learn some valuable principles about our "giving."

1.  Enthusiasm Stirs Others To Action:  In 2 Corinthians 9:2 Paul said "...and your (the Corinthians) enthusiasm has stirred most of them (the Macedonians) to action."  Your influence is important!  It can be positive or negative.  Ask yourself; How am I using my influence?  Am I using it to help people, or to bring them down?  If you are connected in any way with other people, you are influencing them.  Make sure it is for the good and that it motivates them to action.

2.  Don't Allow Covetousness To Influence Your Giving:  Giving shouldn't be an afterthought.  We should come prepared to give.  That's one of the reasons Paul sent the "brothers" ahead of him to Corinth because he wanted them to already have the "gift" arranged before hand.  In 2 Corinthians 9:5 it says: "So I thought it necessary to urge the brethern that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised bountiful gift, so that the same would be ready as a bountiful gift and not affected by covetousness."  Don't allow covetousness to "change your mind on giving."

3.  Give What You Have Decided In Your Heart To Give:  Don't subtract the cable or cell phone bill out of your giving.  Don't subtract Saturday night's "entertainment" out of your giving.  Don't give reluctantly nor out of necessity or compulsion.  But do give "cheerfully!"  Laugh and smile when you give!  God will "love" you for it (2 Corinthians 9:7).

4. And God Is Able:  What more do you need to know when it comes to giving and supplying your needs other than "God is able."  God's grace will provide all that you need, in every situation and every time you need it.  This grace will cause you to "abound" in every good work!  Giving will motivate you to work in the Kingdom!

5.  Your Giving Results In Praise And Recognition To God, Not The Giver:  Your giving is never about you.  It is about God and others.  As Paul states in 2 Corinthians 9:12-14 your giving will cause men (and women) to praise God.  It is also a demonstration of your obedience.  It validates your confession of the Gospel of Christ and your generous spirit.  When you give, it motivates others to pray for you and their hearts will go out to you.

The Men of Purpose at Bethel have a ministry call "The New Commandment Men's Ministry" and it is designed to be long term commitments to assist widows and single parents who need help with basic repairs on their home, cars, etc.  The following is from a card this ministry received from one of the widows they help:

Precious Heavenly Father, In the Name of Jesus, Father, I love you so much.

I want to thank you for all the blessings you have given me. I give thanks for my church and to the Men of Purpose.   Father God, you know I have had many needs concerning my home and you have touched the hearts of these men to help me and others that need help so desperately. Father, through the obedience of these men, I am able to stay a longer time in my house.

Father, I ask in the name of Jesus to bless the Men of Purpose ministry and enlarge them by growth in number, finances, and health.

In the Name of Jesus,

Amen

This is my heart & prayer for all of you! God bless you!

-Wilma B.

I challenge you to read 2 Corinthians 9:12-15 again.  When you do you will see the parallel with this prayer from this widow.  This is the result of a giving spirit!

What about your giving?  Does it stir others to action?  Are you giving cheerfully and generously?  God will pour out "bountiful" blessings when we give.  And remember, God owns it all anyways! So start giving today.

---Keith Fife

Abounding Love (Part 4)

This is my final post on "Abounding Love."  In it, I want to emphasize the importance of "faith" and "love" working together.  The key to our faith working effectively is for us to walk in the divine love of God.

If  you have a faith that works by love, it will measure up to all the standards set forth in the Word of God.  We know that we receive things by faith, but it is a faith that works by love.  I want to share with you five ways that faith and love work together.


1.  Love Builds A Yielding Ability
In John 15:13, Jesus tells his disciples: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend."  This ability to yield to others, as Jesus demonstrated, is built through divine love.  When you do this, it will help in your relationships with your spouse, children, boss, God, and others.

2.  Love Is The Way To Christian Maturity

Although there are many, many disciplines that help in our spiritual growth and Christian maturity, if we walk in love, we will see healthy and effective growth and maturation in our walk with God.

3.  It Helps Restore Others
"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself lest thou also be tempted."  (Galatians 6:1)  Many Christians want to tell everything on somebody who has been overtaken in a fault rather than cover that fault with love and silence and help restore them.  Abounding love and our faith will give us the ability to restore others who have fallen rather than tear them down.

4.  Love Will Cover All Sin
Two verses speak to the heart of this point.  The first is Proverbs 10:12 - "Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins."  The second is 1 Peter 4:8 - "And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins."

These verses don't mean you "ignore" it when someone does something wrong.  What they are saying is when you have abounding love you will not be offended when you are harmed by others regardless of their motives.

5.  Love Prefers One Another
Love doesn't seek to put "self" first, rather it seeks and prefers others over self!  This preferring is a way of honoring others.  Showing them deference  or humble submission and respect.  Love says, "If you are offended by what I am doing, then I won't do it!"  Romans 12:10 - "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another."  Love puts others first.


Share The Love
The love of God must be the controlling factor in your life.  Find a place to start showing love.  Help a neighbor, a friend, or co-worker and start giving away some of the love God has spread abroad in your heart.
 

-- Pastor Temple

Abounding Love (Part 3)

Just want to share with you four quick points on "what love does."

1.  Love Destroys Fear (1 John 4:18) -- Fear is of the devil and it brings torment.  When you let fear in, it will destroy  your faith and your love. On the other hand when God's love is shed abroad in our hearts, it will destroy all fear.  Allow God's love to reign in your life!

2.  Divine Love Has Boundaries (1 John 2:15) -- Not to love God first is akin to "spiritual adultery."  The love of God must be the controlling factor of your life.  Don't allow the things of the world to cause you to step outside the boundaries that God's love has established.

3.  Love Will Never Contradict Itself (1 John 4:20) -- The scripture is very clear.  If you say you love God, yet hate your neighbor, you are a "liar."  Those aren't my words, they are God's words.  Divine love, loves regardless.  Learn to see people as God sees them and then love them as God loves them.

4.  Love Constrains Us (2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 Corinthians 16:14) -- God's love should constrain us to talk right, act right and live right.  Let everything you do, be done with love!  When you do that, you will never go wrong!  What Will You Do With God's Love?

God has demonstrated great love to you.  What are you doing with it?  Are you sharing it with others only as they share with you?  Or are you sharing this abounding love no matter what may come your way?  Divine love doesn't differentiate between people who love you or don't love you.  Start sharing God's real love today with everyone.

Pastor Temple

Abounding Love (Part 2)

God wants to use you to help and reach other people!  That's a fact.  It is also a fact that He can only do it if you possess an "abounding love" for people.  It is through love that we are able to see people as God sees them. It is through love that we can lead the lost to God.  And it is only through love that we can heal the sick, mend the broken-hearted, and see the supernatural accomplished.

There are two forces in the world; love and fear.  And these two are obviously counter to each other.  Love brings life, health, and peace.  Fear just the opposite; sorrow, oppression, and troubles.  Just as there are two forces, there are also two voices; God and satan.  The voice of God is the voice of love and the voice of satan is the voice of fear, doubt, and anxiety. It's important we know the difference and we listen to the voice of love if we want to be used by God.


1.  Allow compassion to move you as it moved Jesus.  Matthew 14:14 tells us Jesus was "moved with compassion."  Everywhere Jesus went He saw people the way God saw them.  If we want to be used by God, we have to operate in love and be moved with compassion. The flow of God's love in your life will move you towards the people God wants to reach!

2. Recognize that love has a "drawing" power.  Everybody desires love. And when we realize that, we will begin to see the power of the love of God. God's love is in every believer and God wants His love to work in you and flow out of you to a world that needs love.  Don't wait for someone to love you first.  Just begin by showing your love to everyone and then sit back and witness the drawing power of God's love.

3.  Follow God's love wherever it flows.  God's love may take you to places and to people, where under normal circumstances, you would never go or see.  But to be used of God, we must allow God's love to direct us.  In the Amplified Bible, the epistle of 2 John verse 6 describes it this way: "And what this love consists in is this: that we live and walk in accordance with and guided by His commandments (His orders, ordinances, precepts, teaching). This is the commandment, as you have heard from the beginning, that you continue to walk in love [guided by it and following it].

4.  Know that God wants to use you!  Greater than your desire to be used by God, is His desire to use you!  Because God has shed His love abroad in your heart (Romans 5:5) you have the potential for that love to flow out of you.  How can you ensure that God's love flows out from you? It's simple, you live your life with a clean heart, a humble spirit, and a desire to live at peace with others.

When we recognize this four things, God will bless our lives and use us for His glory!  What can you do to begin to allow God's love to flow out of you to help someone else?

What do you think?  Leave some feedback.

Abounding Love (Part 1)

Jesus summed up all of the Law and the prophets with one word...Love.  It is this one word, this one decision and act on our part that makes all the difference in how we relate to God and to others.  Without sincere love, we will view God as distant and disinterested.  And we will view people as expendable and bothersome.  As Jesus was explaining to His disciples the depth of His love for them and for us, He made one very clear statement: "This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you." (John 15:12).  Jesus wants us to love everyone just like He loved us!  Now to do this, we must know something of the love of God.  You see, God's love and Jesus' love for you is an "agape" love.  This is a love that is ardent, supreme, perfect, without question and pretense.  It is a love of self-denial.  A love that puts others first.

If we are going to walk in the "God kind of love" then we must be willing to follow four basic principles.

1.  Put On Love (Colossians 3:12-14)

As Christians, we are to literally "wear" love!  Just as we might be identified by our clothing we put on in the morning, we should be identified by the love of God we "put on" each day.  Putting on this love, is a decision on your part and it is an act on your part.  Too many people view love as an "emotion."  But the emotion we experience when we are involved in a "love" relationship is simply a by-product of our love for an individual or for God.  True love is a decision.  We make a conscious decision each day to love God and love others.  Then we "act" out that love through our deeds.  Love is demonstrated by definite acts on our part.

2.  Be Rooted And Grounded In Love (Ephesians 3:17)

When Paul speaks of being rooted and grounded in love, what he is talking about is "stability."  Love gives us a stability where we can be founded and established.  Love is the soil in which we must grow and the foundation on which we must build.  This kind of "divine" love isn't optional, it is a commandment we must live by.

3.  Walk In Love (Ephesians 5:2)

Some might ask, how do you walk in divine love?  After all, we aren't God.  Walking in divine love or "agape" love is done through "definite acts."  Just as in the story of the Good Samaritan, where he availed himself to "show" his love for the injured person by taking care of him and paying for his extended care with the inn keeper.  Divine love is shown through definite acts and it is also done in "truth."  Divine love is genuine in doctrine, profession, and in deeds.  Divine love doesn't do things for others just to be seen or for what one can get out of it.  The walk of divine love is not based on word or tongue, but a definite act on your part. (1 John 3:18).

4. Let God Teach You Love By Example (1 Thessalonians 4:9)

Paul told the Thessalonians that he didn't need to teach them about brotherly love, because they had been taught of God to love one another.  How did God teach us?  By his own example of giving His Son Jesus to die for all of humanity.  God taught us love by example while we were yet rebels and sinners (Romans 5:8).  If God loved His enemies enough to send His own son to die for our sins, surely we can love one another.

Find a place to start showing love today.  Help a friend, neighbor, or whoever, and start giving your love away.  Freely you have received, freely give!  What will you do today, to show the love of God to others?

Living In The Realm Of The Supernatural

God wants you to live in the realm of the "supernatural."  Jesus himself said, "if thou canst believe, ALL things are possible to him that believeth."  (Mark 9:23).  Unfortunately the church, to a large degree, has discounted the supernatural as though it doesn't exist any longer.  For many, they have become so self-sufficient that they don't need to believe God for much anymore, or at least that is what they think.

Yet, when Jesus established the church it was to be a church of prevailing power that operated in the "supernatural."  And because of that, God desires His people to live and operate in this realm.  The early church certainly did and God expects us to also.

Where Do You Begin?


Get Acquainted With The Word Of God -- If you really desire to live in the realm of the supernatural, you have to be very close to the Word of God.  Many areas of the supernatural are addressed in God's Word.  You need to know what they are, memorize them, and quote them until they become revelation to your heart.  When you do this, you will see supernatural results.

Renew Your Mind With The Word Of God -- The supernatural begins with getting our mind renewed with the Word of God.  You do this by "not listening" to the voices of doubt and unbelief!  Don't go by sight or by feelings or by circumstances.  But do believe what God's Word says.  Do renew your mind by seeing things as God sees them.  This renewing of the mind comes with knowing that the "unseen" is more real than the seen! That's how God sees it.

Dare To Believe And Trust God In Every Situation -- If you want to live in the realm of the supernatural, you have to begin to trust God in every situation you encounter.  It doesn't matter if it's finances, sickness, difficulties, temptations, etc.  living in the supernatural will begin when you stand on the Word and believe what it says no matter if things look impossible.

Know And Use Your Authority In The Word -- As a believer, you have authority and can do the supernatural through Jesus.  Through God's Word you can defeat Satan and live in the supernatural power of God.

So get acquainted with the Word of God and stop listening to doubt and unbelief and get your mind renewed.  Dare to believe and trust God in every situation of your life and use the authority God has given to you.  God wants you to live in the supernatural so why not start today?