We Can Afford It, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Psalm 16

16:1 Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
16:2 I say to the Lord, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from You."
16:3 As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight.
16:4 Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips.
16:5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; You hold my lot.
16:6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.
16:7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.
16:8 I keep the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
16:9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.
16:10 For You do not give me up to Sheol, or let Your faithful one see the Pit.
16:11 You show me the path of life. In Your presence there is fullness of joy; in Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Perhaps some of you remember an old hymn that says, "This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up, away beyond the blue."

That's us. That's you and I; all of those whose name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We have placed ourselves in the hands of Almighty God, and our future is assured. In troubles we take refuge in Him, we have nothing of value outside of Him. Today's scripture reminds us that it is God who gives us counsel, a good heritage, and as long as we keep Him always before us, we shall not be moved, our heart is glad, and our soul rejoices.

With such a future assured, what have those who love Him have to worry about, to be concerned about, to be angry or upset about? In fact, the Son of God instructs us to approach everything with love, even those who would be our enemies.

Right now, all across our nation, believers and non-believers alike are being divided into opposing groups as anger, betrayal, suspicion and a raft of other emotions sweep aside good sense, all unity, all common demand for ethics, morals and character in the conduct of our societal relationships and our governing bodies. The dividing is being done by those with something to gain from turning Americans against one another, turning Christian believer against Christian believer.

Some people become self-righteously angry when the nation of Americans is spoken of as one of exceptional ability and blessing. But history has shown the United States of America to be populated by individuals of, indeed, exceptional ability, creativity, foresight and leadership. Originally created upon the belief that all men are created equal before God, and endowed with certainly inalienable rights, America has been a Godsend to downtrodden peoples around the world, as this nation has shared its wealth, it natural desire for freedom, its food with the hungry, its healing with the sick, its riches and resources with those in need.

America has also seen the seamier side of life take root on its shores, as well, as the greedy, the criminal, the lascivious, and those who would gorge themselves on the misery of others, have wormed their way into positions of power and influence and obligation. For believers, the written word of God has warned us to avoid even the appearance of evil, in order to keep clear of exactly what has fallen upon us. In James 4:7, we read, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

But we've not resisted. We've been drawn into the muck and mire of evil by our desires for more and better and sweeter, turning our back on the needs of others, and compromising what we knew to be just and right in order to satisfy our desires. And in doing so we have poisoned the well of future generations, we have set aside the promised joys and protections of Almighty God, we have cut our own Achilles heel, we have stabbed ourselves in the back.

America is awash in misery and debt even now, entire families out of work and losing their homes, going hungry, creating the long lines at church food pantries and employment agencies, and outlets for the public dole, and the missions for the homeless.

Satan has not done this to us. Evil has not set a snare and trapped us. With our unbridled desires for self-satisfaction, for pornography, for the agreeable killing of infants still in the womb, for the abuse and misuse of innocent children, for the mindlessness of illicit drugs and the relief from our sense of responsibility through legal potions that numb the mind for a time, and kill us before our time.

In a war that began in heaven, a conflict spoken of in Ephesians between monumental good and evil, like the cowardly soldier we have shot ourselves in the foot to get out of the battle before us. But we cannot get out of the battle. We are the battle. Ephesians 6:12 tells us, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

This is a battle every living human being is in. No one is immune, no one opts out, no one gets away.

So I put to you, if we are all in this war between good and evil, and we cannot get out of it, if in not choosing sides we are actually choosing a side, then why would we not choose God's side? Why would we not put ourselves in His all-powerful hands, and follow His leadership? If we are of a sane, logical mind, it simply makes good sense to accept the gift God has given us in Jesus Christ, and follow God's instructions to us, to guide us through this war against evil.

The next step is to find out what those instructions are, and to follow them.

However, while I absolutely encourage you to give yourself over to God, and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I will not embark upon a full lesson here regarding what His instructions to us are. What I will address here are those instructions relevant to the times which are upon us, the disaster about us and before us.

For I am of the considerable opinion that so very much of what Jesus taught and said and stood for is wrapped up in the words we read in John's gospel, chapter 13, verses 34-35: "“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

Who is it that we must love? One another. Jesus said this at a feast of love, while He still walked this earth as a human being. And so we are to love one another with a human love, but not "just" with human love. For Jesus went on to say, "as I have loved you." Later on in John 17:21-23a, Jesus prayed, " that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and You in Me — so that they may be brought to complete unity."

We are to love one another that we all might come to unity in Christ; all in Him. All in one. In Him we have nothing to fear. In Him, even with differing opinions about what to have for breakfast, for what newspaper to read, or even in whom we should place our earthly leadership, through love for one another we are still one, one with Christ, one with the Father. It is all about unity, then. Love places us in unity.

Through love, then, we can afford to be generous with our understanding of those who differ with our opinions, we can afford to love even those who would be our enemies, we can afford to stand alone, with Christ, and still be in the majority. Romans 8:38-39 reminds us, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Nothing, then, can separate us from His love, so we can afford to be kind, understanding, and accepting of even those who would be our enemies

I pray we may come together, in love if it be at all possible, but certainly in unity in Christ to stand against the enemies of Almighty God, against those who would create mischief and disunity in this nation and this world created by the hand of God, for even in the end of all things, nothing can separate us from the love of God, so that as believers we of all people can afford to be generous with our love, as He loved us. Amen.

Do We Live, or Die, for Christ?, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Colossians 3:1-4

3:1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,
3:3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
3:4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

This being Easter, I wish I could preach on four different texts, but I don't think anyone would sit still for a sermon that long. But in addition to today's text in Colossians, I would recommend to you Acts 10:34-43, where Peter speaks to living in the name of Jesus Christ, being commanded " to preach to the people and to testify that He is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name." And also both John 20:1-18 and Matthew 28:1-10, for these are both beautiful accounts of the disciples', and Mary's, discovery that Jesus, who before their very eyes died the death all human beings will know, is now alive again, risen to new life, and at this point time, only the angels of God understand it and are not either dismayed or frightened by what they see.

Gloria N. Harris, in her book, "Angel Chasers," writes "In particular, angels are curious about our salvation. The Apostle Paul, speaking on salvation said in 1st Peter 1:12, 'Even angels long to look into these things.'"

Seems odd, though, doesn't it? For the one witness even as Jesus was rising from the dead, throwing off the wrappings and folding and laying aside the napkin, was an angel. It was an angel who rolled aside the stone and sat on it, nearly scaring the life out of the Roman soldiers guarding that tomb. And it was an angel who sat in the empty tomb, waiting to give the news to Mary that the Lord of Glory was not there, He was risen. So what would angels be curious about?

Their curiosity stems from the fact that the angels of God have never sinned. Christ did not die for them. They "know" about salvation through Jesus Christ, but they don't know what it feels like to have your sins forgiven, to receive the new birth.

Explains Gloria N. Harris, "They are curious about such things and want to study, examine and analyze to understand how we can endure such things and continue in the hope and peace only God can give."

What I've always found interesting is that the Greek word translated "look into" actually describes someone stooping over to look, so that you get a picture of the angels peeking over the clouds to see how we deal with this salvation business, about which they are so curious. And in the history of mankind, it is a monumental event. It is in Acts 10:42 and 43 that Peter put the imprimatur of God's planning and the wisdom of the prophets of old on what has just taken place.

And all the while you and I, for whom God's great plan of salvation was designed and intended, we often take it for granted, while many of those in mankind throw it aside completely.

For those of us who fear God and believe in His Son as Savior, there is a paradox here in that Jesus Christ, the infinite, died that the finite, might live. And believing in Him as Savior then, with our sins forgiven, we are called to die to all sin that we might live in Him.

So the question arises, then, are we to die for Christ, as He died for us? Or are we to live for Him.?

After all, following His death, resurrection and His return to Heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father, a very real persecution ensured involving Jesus' disciples, and continues to this day.

Among the disciples, only John, the beloved disciples, escaped being martyred. In the years following the death of Jesus, holding to faith in Him became a torturous experience for the disciples and for many Christians. Stephen was stoned to death in Jerusalem, 35 AD. Philip was crucified in Phrygia, 54 AD. Barnabas, burnt to death in Cyprus, 64 AD. Peter, crucified in Rome, 69 AD. Paul, beheaded in Rome, 66 AD. Matthew beheaded in Ethiopia, 60 AD. Mark dragged to death, Alexandria, 64 AD. James, clubbed to death in Jerusalem, 66 AD. Thomas, speared to death in Calamina, 70 AD. Andrew, crucified in Achaia, 70 AD. Only John, brother of James, son of Zebedee, died a peaceful death in Ephesus during 100 AD, after having been exiled to the island of Patmos by Roman Emperor Domitian, then released, living until the reign of Emperor Trajan.

But take note, the Bible is not a manual for how to die a good death for Jesus Christ, or how to be a good martyr for Almighty God. However, the God-inspired Word handed down to us through antiquity is, almost line by line, a manual for how to live for God, how to live this life so as to be filled with the Holy Spirit and walk in the steps of Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:1-4 tell us that since we "have been raised with Christ," we are to "seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." We are told "set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth," because in Christ, we have already died, "and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

It should be no wonder to us that we read in 1st Peter 2:9, " But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light," nor that we are admonished in 2nd Corinthians 6:17, " "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."

Christ came among us teaching, healing, encouraging, loving, and died on a cruel cross that we might live the life He lives before the Father. And living, that we might die to sin and be alive in Him, wearing His righteousness before the Father, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession...."

The nine words of Song of Solomon 6:3 make it clear for all the world to know that I am His, and He is mine. An eternal union, and all because of Easter morning, an empty tomb, and a risen Son of Almighty God. Thank You, Father. Amen.

The Agenda of the King, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11

21:1 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
21:2 saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.
21:3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, 'The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately."
21:4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
21:5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
21:6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them;
21:7 they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.
21:8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
21:9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"
21:10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?"
21:11 The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."

Recently I had a conversation with an atheist, an interesting conversation, if you discount that he is like a man standing in a field of dynamite sticks. It takes only one to go off, and he is dead. But for an atheist being dead is simply being all dressed up and nowhere to go.

If you understand about dynamite, then you understand my likening it to the frailty of life. Dynamite doesn't need a blasting cap of mercury fulminate to set it off. If the weather is right it sweats explosive liquids that can set it off at any time. So the unstable condition of dynamite is much like the unstableness of life. Our last breath is always in our nostrils.

For the atheist, that's it. We simply cease to exist, to think, to be. We become one with the dust and the dirt, and the mind stops all functioning and returns to the nothingness the atheist believes it was before the miracle of human birth and quickening of mind. For the those who do not know God, do not believe in a higher power, the end of life is very bleak. That famous philosopher "Anonymous" is reputed to have observed that “Atheists don't solve exponential equations because they don't believe in higher powers.”

But seriously, the man who has made a fortune playing upon religious confusion, Richard Dawkins, has said, "We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further." To which I reply, he is almost there. Go one god further than those of our imagination, to the God who has given us reason to believe He is what He says He is, the great "I Am." In Him is life, love, forgiveness and a future.
Sigmund Freud, the Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis, has said, "Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from its readiness to fit in with our instinctual wishful impulses." A very astute observation, in many cases where people have reached for God but stopped short of believing in and committing to what they have found. But the main thing wrong with Freud's observation is that....we all die. We run out of time in our life-long investigation of life and death. Illusions and wishful impulses will not help us when death comes. They will not carry us safely across the mythical River Styx to new life. And we want to know, what happens when this life ends? For Freud's statement to have the ring of truth, we must ignore the testimony, the multiple testimonies that stand in agreement, that we have been told what happens after. For we have been.

In the last verse of the very well-known 23rd Psalm, we read: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever."

More directly, Jesus Himself tells us, in John 14, verses 1-3: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

This kind of talk is very upsetting to some. The whole idea that someone might have an actual relationship with a spiritual being they don't agree exists causes arguments, family splits, and to this day leads to murder and mayhem.

But you have to ask yourself, as it was expressed by the Christian comedian, Brad Stine, "Who is more irrational? A man who believes in a God he doesn't see, or a man who is offended by a God he doesn't believe in?"

What is very upsetting to some, both those who don't believe there is a God, and those who give their allegiance and worship to more palliative man-made gods, is the idea that we who worship the great "I Am" declare His agenda; we know God has a plan. And regardless of how we see events in this earthly sphere, God is working that plan. God is never surprised. He planned it all before time existed, and we are continually amazed as we see written prophecy from thousands of years ago coming to pass.

Men judge people and events as if they were gods, approaching people and events as if God were subject to such earthly emotions as anger, jealousy, greed and self-interest. That is only natural, because those are the emotions that drive us. But they do not drive God. Our God has told us plainly, in Isaiah 55:8-9, “'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" It should come as a surprise to no one that the finite cannot fully understand the infinite, that the created does not understand the reasoning of the Creator.

Jesus did nothing during His short lifetime on earth that was without reason. Whether it was the shriveling of a barren fig tree, the healing of a blind man on the Sabbath, or riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.

His disciples would have had Him ride into Jerusalem's gates on a white horse, as was the custom of returning heroes and conquerors. But Jesus, the exalted Son of Almighty God, was still incognito. His disciples knew just enough to put it together after His predicted death, a death they would not believe was about to happen. Still, Jesus gave them just enough to understand who He truly was, without tipping His hand to others.

In a scene that must have caused apoplexy among the Pharisees and the Sadducees, Jesus came riding into adoring crowds in Jerusalem as a conquering king, as the citizenry gloried in His approach, laying the traditional palm branches and their cloaks in the path before Him, and laying the groundwork for His enemies who would crucify Him.

Verse 21:9 of our scripture today tells us the crowds went ahead of Him and were behind Him shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" His fame as a teacher and a healer preceded Him, and the crowds, in their enthusiasm for this great prophet, gave voice to who He truly was, "Son of David," coming "in the name of the Lord."

And yet even in those moments of wonderful rejoicing and acclamation, Jesus must have had on His mind what was waiting ahead of Him ... the cross of crucifixion, the acceptance of all that sin upon Himself, in agreement with the Father.

All of it part of a defining moment in the history of mankind. No misty myths from the mind of man, no pastiche of this legend and that legend, this guess at what happened, that extrapolation of a possible happening. No, a moment in recorded history.

Many people have set out on announced investigations to prove the Christ non-existent, God a hopeful figment of man's imagination, only, like Paul, to meet the Christ along the way, and become His loving disciple.

Thomas a' Kempis, writing his "The Imitation of Christ" in the original Latin, suggested to us that "man proposes but God disposes." When we look at God from the outside, try to make sense of what He is doing, what He wants from us, without bothering to know Him, to study His words to us, we naturally come up with a very human, often emotional, and always off-track summation of what this God we know only second or third hand is up to. We can follow our own instincts and ideas, fit what we know of God to our view of events, and propose what will happen or should happen.

But God has not asked our advice. He has His own agenda. His ways are not our ways, and our finite proposals have no bearing on His infinite manner of disposing with events, people, and nations. He is not on our team. He invites us to be on His. That's what His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and the approaching Easter are all about. But make no mistake about it, God is not joining anyone's team. We're joining His. Or not. In which case I pray for your immortal soul. Another moment has passed. Don't wait. Amen.

Releasing the Power of Almighty God, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Romans 8:6-11

8:6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

8:7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law-- indeed it cannot,

8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

8:9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.

8:10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

8:11 If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you.

Voice of the Martyrs reports that as Pastor Brian Michael Williams was returning to India to preach the Gospel in the state of Andrha Pradesh last February, in partnership with El-Shaddai Ministries, he wrote, "This will be my 7th time crossing the ocean, the 4th time preaching the gospel in Asia, and my 2nd time in India. Last year, I was blessed by the Lord to see a tremendously fruitful time of ministry. Spirit gifts were imparted, the church was strengthened and encouraged, many people were healed of Aids, Cancer, Diabetes, barren wombs were opened, but most of all Jesus was glorified among the people of India. Only heaven knows the true count of who was truly born-again, but according to the testimony, that number is in the thousands."

In Islamic Iran, where Shi-ite Muslims who leave Islam for another religion face death, Iranian Christians are prevailing in prayer before God; and in answer to their prayers the Holy Spirit is working mightily across Iran. Muslims report having supernatural dreams and visions of Jesus. Powerful healings and miracles are taking place. Through these supernatural experiences in the last twenty years, more Iranians have come to Christ than in the last 14 centuries. More Iranians have become Christians in the last 25 years than at any time since the dawn of Islam.

As the Holy Spirit moves in Iran, the underground church movement has seen literally hundreds of house churches springing up. Some Christian leaders in Iran claim there are over a million secret Spirit-filled Christians. In the spirit of Isaiah 43, the Lord is building and readying His church around the world for the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb: “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up,’ and to the South, 'Do not hold back.’ Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth. Everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made.” -- Isaiah 43:5-7

What does all this mean? It means exactly what it has meant since the dawn of time; Almighty God is moving in the lives of men. He is completing His plan as He has always said He would do, all in His own good time.

We can either walk in the steps of His Son, Jesus Christ, and pray that all we do and say will be to the glory of God, or we can choose our own steps, go our own way, and walk away from the very God who loves us so very much. We always have that choice, by the will of God. He is a perfect gentleman, and will not force Himself upon us, because He loves us, even though our choices would separate us from Him. Forever.

As today's scripture indicates, too many of us have our mind on the flesh. We love what is carnal, what will one day disappear because it has no value in a heaven without sin. Our hungers, our desires, our egos, we need to turn all that over to God and allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with the Spirit of the Christ. We here in America easily take our Christian worship for granted, because it costs us nothing.

Even as 22% of the world's population lives in China, figures for Christians in China range from 6 to 90 million. Henan Province, one of 23 China regions, has an estimated three million Christians out of 100 million people, served by 168 ordained clergy, 480 elders, and 7,000 churches and other meeting places. If those numbers seem small, understand that to be an ordained minister of Christ in China is to be a volunteer organ donor. It's costs something to live for Christ in China, and yet, the Holy Spirit continues to move among these people, drawing His own to Him.

As I noted before, we here in America easily take the freedom of our Christian worship for granted, because it costs us nothing. We decorate and manipulate our worship into times that entertain and do not bore us. The Christian church in America has become of such concern outside America, that for several years the churches in Africa have been sending missionaries to America, out of love and concern for our Christian experience.

Recently the dean of my alma mater, Trevecca Nazarene University, expressed his own concern, from an academic point of view, about the churches in America. Dr. Dan L. Boone, dealing with students of every Christian denomination, opines that the American church today falls into one of three categories: the safe church, the final word church, and the maturing church, depending on how they approach life's hard questions and the consequences for their followers.

The Safe Church, says Dr. Boone, "stays in the middle of the road -- no challenge of one's thoughts; no discomfort because the pastor's safe sermons do not complicate one's lifestyle; no infusion of new ideas from science, politics, immigrants, minorities, or education; and no discussion of anything controversial. The bland religion found at Safe Church is designed to make you smile and play nice."

His description brings to mind the suggestion that the purpose of the gospel is not to make comfortable the afflicted, but to afflict the comfortable.

Of the Final Word Church, Dr. Boone suggests, "Everything has been figured out -- all doctrinal, ethical, social, and political issues. Your signature on everything -- every candidate, every ethical issue, every controversial topic. With a kind of biblical authority that places opinions above scripture, Final Word congregants tend to be judgmental, arrogant, and mostly angry at the world."

The Maturing Church, he says, "Invites parishioners to grapple with tough issues, to face questions about faith in every realm of life, to understand that good people can read the Bible and reach different conclusions. This vibrant faith community is not afraid to discuss unresolved issues which have no simple answers -- criminal justice, poverty, political systems, use of force -- but it does so with love in a spirit of unity. And the people of Maturing Church grow in likeness to Jesus, without avoiding the hard questions (as they do at Safe Church) or becoming arrogant in knowing (as they do at Final Word Church).

Verse 10 of today's scripture reminds us that "...if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness." The power is in the Spirit's ability to bring "life because of righteousness."

The Spirit is moving in the world today. Even under threat of death, people in foreign countries are coming to Christ as He calls His own home. In a spirit of prayer and repentance, revival begins to work its way through nations.

Through the past, there are generally considered to be six great awakenings or revivals; 1727, 1792, 1830, 1857, 1882 and 1904. Then there is the great Welsh Revival of 1930, led by the prayers, pleadings and preaching of Evan Roberts, which swept across that small nation converting hundreds of thousands of people to follow Jesus Christ. And it all came about through the power of prayer and repentance. For its there the Spirit moves men and women to come to Christ.

             Evan Roberts, with tears rolling down his face through the agony of prayer, would preach "First, is there any sin in your past with which you have not honestly

dealt -- not confessed to God? On your knees at once. Your past must be put away and cleansed. Second, is there anything in your life that is doubtful -- anything you cannot decide whether it is good or evil? Away with it. There must not be a trace of a cloud between you and God. Have you forgiven everybody - EVERYBODY? If not, don't expect forgiveness for your sins..."

If you would know the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, find yourself a group of worshippers modeled after the Maturing Church, and set yourself to prayer and repentance.

For as the last verse of today's scripture assures us, "If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you."

The indwelling power of the Spirit, through prayer and repentance, is the power that changes lives. First, yours, and then another, and then another, and you have released the power of Almighty God. Such is the gift of love we have through Christ Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.

They Call Christ a Liar, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Ephesians 5:8-14

5:8 For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light -
5:9 for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.
5:10 Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord.
5:11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
5:12 For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly;
5:13 but everything exposed by the light becomes visible,
5:14 for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, "Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

There is a darkness, a heresy, reappearing and spreading once more, as it has down through the ages since Jesus Christ walked the earth. It just keeps popping up like the Whack-a-Mole game at the county fair, only under a different name each time. As soon as the truth of the gospel smacks it down under one name, it reappears somewhere else under a new name, in a new cause or a new book, with a new author using it to make his or her name, using it to make more money. And those who would keep up with the "latest thing", they lap it up and spread it around like some new dessert.
It is currently known as universalism, and what it claims is that we are all going to heaven. There is no hell, so no one is going there. No need for belief, for faith, for repentance, for redemption. Christ died for all, so all get in, regardless of their character or how heinous might be their sins against mankind, against God.
The argument is that God is love, and He would not condemn anyone to a hell such as described in the Bible. He is a God of love, and he is also a God of justice and holiness. But of course, those who have sincerely studied the Bible, and who have an actual relationship with Jesus Christ already know that God does not condemn them, they condemn themselves by their disobedience. For God opened the gate for them 2,000 years ago and, having given mankind free will, their eternal destiny is of their choosing, not God's. We have that privilege, but we do not have the privilege of disobedience.
Matthew 14:2,3 shows that man was created for heaven. He was not created to spend an eternity away from the God who created him. But we can choose that.
Both Matthew 25:41 and Revelations 20:10 point out that God created hell not for mankind, but for Satan and his rebellious angels. Mankind has no business there, unless we defy God, which then puts us in league with Satan.
If you claim to believe and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, then it would make sense to believe and preach what that gospel says. And in that gospel Jesus speaks of hell as a reality. He also says He was there, following His death, burial and resurrection. So, anyone who says there is no hell has just called the Son of God, our Savior, a liar. But if He is a liar, and hell does not exist, how can He be the Son of God and our Savior, and of what worth is the gospel?
Once again we hear the echo of the serpent from the Garden of Eden. "Did God really say that? Surely God didn't really mean that." Why are we still listening to the serpent, knowing he is the father of lies?
1st Peter 3:19-20 says that Jesus was there, preaching to the "spirits in prison." Scholars have twisted that verse every which way to say that Jesus didn't really descend into hell, but that's what the inspired word of God says. And there is that whispering voice again, "Did God really say that? Surely God didn't really mean that."
We find that down through the ages, even to today, the idea of "universalism," is mainly an intellectual idea, a belief relying on feelings, emotions and opinions. In other words, God is going to take us all to heaven, so why worry about it?
If those who hold to the idea of universalism turned it into functional universalism, we would all be confronting those who do not believe in Christ and spend the rest of our lives drawing them to the love of Jesus Christ.
However, intellectual universalism is so much easier to live with, and requires nothing on our part. We need not trust Him that He was telling the truth about hell or repentance, so I'm not sure how we could trust Him for anything else. We don't need to be His disciple or follow in His footsteps, or take on His character as the Son of God, so we'll just get on with our lives and we'll see Him in heaven.
But the Gospel does not rely on our opinions, our reasoning, our imagination, or our feelings. The Gospel is based upon the inspired Word of God Almighty. And He says there is a hell, that there is sin, and there is a need for redemption.
In the mid-1900's, that great Christian A. W. Tozer wrote, "I have a feeling that a notable heresy has come into being throughout evangelical circles -- the widely-accepted concept that we humans can choose to accept Christ only because we need him as Savior and that we have the right to postpone our obedience to him as Lord as long as we want to!"
It wasn't for nothing that Paul urged Timothy in his second letter, 2nd Timothy 2:15, that he should study to show himself approved before God, a workman who need not be ashamed, "rightly dividing the word of truth."
If you know what the word of God says, and are guided by a relationship with Jesus Christ, you will recognize false doctrines and false Gospels as soon as they appear. Stick to what is "good and right and true."
But this is nothing new, friends. Paul, in writing to the Galatian church, in Galatians 1:8, warned them, "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!" So even as they call our precious Christ a liar, they have dangerously condemned themselves for all eternity, those who believe and preach this lie.
Listen closely and you will hear it, that echo from Eden, "Did God really say that? Surely God didn't really mean that."
Yes, God did say that, and yes, He really means it. Don't be led astray by those who would set themselves above Christ to preach what is not in the inspired Word of God. There's no future in it.
Amen.