Sunday, September 25, 2011

Distance Difference

DISTANCE DIFFERENCE

If you were to measure 1 mile verses 5,200 ft there would not be that much of a difference. On the other hand if you were to put 12 inches against the measurement of 100 meters there would be a substantial difference. Anyone can recognize at face value the difference in power when comparing a boy to a man or a horse to a puppy. How about the sun from the earth or a tree from a piece of well-done steak from Outback Steakhouse? There is a big difference between the examples mentioned and anyone human walking planet earth would unanimously agree. However, when it comes to following Jesus some would beg to differ not only what the difference is but also how much the difference makes.

“What is there to differ preacher” you might ask? The end result of a life terminated, dead, obliterated and transformed from walking in, practicing, being patterned after, or consumed and contaminated by sin. I repeat, walking in sin or living in sin produces drastically different results than a heart and mind committed to, devoted to, in the following and learning of Jesus Christ. In other words, the distance difference mentioned in comparing 12 inches to 100 meters should be the same for the before Jesus lifestyle and after Jesus lifestyle.

Here is the problem. Those who label themselves Christian, believer, saved, or spiritual have never agreed on what this difference is and how much of a distance Jesus commands one to go for Him above everything else. Jesus is a separatist or exclusive faith. Jesus is not an all-inclusive or seeker friendly faith. Jesus is not for everyone, in that anyone can do and say anything and be accepted by Him. Please understand that this does not mean that Jesus did not die for the sins of the world, or rather every human being that has, does, or ever will exist. HE DID! This does mean however, that sin will ALWAYS separate the human from God. In other words, the distance between Jesus and a follower/learner of Him should be like the skin on your muscles: SKIN TIGHT. And the distance between a lifestyle before following Jesus should be light years from the lifestyle after deciding to follow/learn Jesus Christ the Lord.

The distance difference is state in Luke 14:25-34. Jesus is literally saying that to follow Him is like hating everything and everyone else. Following Jesus is to go completely in the opposite direction of everything you have ever desired, loved, or cherished in life. Does Jesus really mean this? YES HE DOES! “How so preacher” might you ask? Because He came down from heaven, wrapped Himself in flesh, living a sinless and perfect life, died and innocent horrific, painful, and dreadful death, rose victoriously from the dead, and ascended majestically into heaven and is how seated at the right hand of God the Father. In other words, Jesus did everything that could be done in order for Him to be worthy of such devotion. Yes He is God. But even if who He is does not convince you, He took it another step further and did what only God could do to prove Himself worthy of such devotion. Such devotion to Him, to be an exclusive and separated follower/learner of Him, is because of who He is and what He did, does, and can do for anybody.

Read the words of Jesus Christ yourself. Again, this is not Te`Luvv’s interpretation or Todd’s opinion, black opinion, American opinion or anything less than the literal words of the only true and living God: JESUS CHRIST. Luke 14:26 says (AMP):

“26If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [[g]in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sisters--[yes] and even his own life also--he cannot be My disciple.

25-27One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, "Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one's own self!—can't be my disciple. Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple. (MSG)

So folks, reconsider your confession of faith. Revisit yourself in the mirror before God and know that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Reconsider the only wise God of all creation who created opinion, interest, your mind, your will, your emotions. Yes, He is the very inventor of thought process and every function of your brain was fabricated by His hand only. In other words, God not only knows what thinking is and how to think. He knows what you think, even right now. He will never guess at separating sheep from goats or wheat from tares. He is not guess “Hmmm. Who is going to spend eternity with Me?” God knows where every heart is real time. God knows the very intents of your heart right now.

In other words, if your distance difference is not long enough or big enough or wide enough biblically, then the distance you have does not make a difference and where you stand with Jesus is not different than before Jesus Christ. In other words, if you died who would you really shock?

Sunday, August 28, 2011

THE TRIAL AND ERROR OF GOD

THE TRIAL AND ERROR OF GOD

Trial and error is very costly and time consuming in many other facets of life, whether fixing on something or launching and shutting down business plans or even trying different things on a menu at a diner. But what about God? Is God so wise that He needs to use trial and error to figure out things? 2 Timothy 3:12 tells us that “all who shall live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 1 Peter 4:12 says “think it not strange…the fiery trials…” The trials of God are to make us more like Him. As much as it hurts and causes discomfort, anxieties, stress, and downright frustration it is still at the end of the day the hand of the Lord working for us and for our good and for our profit as well. So the trial of the Lord is a necessary developmental component for all who claim to follow Him. It’s just like a coach who makes you run 2 miles every practice after practice in the rain at night on a dirt track in cleats. You may see the running as dumb, painful, and pointless. But that coach knows how much faster you will run and how much better you will be able to see catching passes for him as a wide receiver. Coach knows best. Bo knows best :O) God knows best.

The error of God is not so much error as it is His perfect will. The “error” of God or what appears to be error is simply the supernatural divine order of God. In other words, why does every human start out as sperm and egg mixed together? Because God designed it accordingly. Or why do cakes consist of egg whites, salt, butter, and flour whipped over and over again? What may seem like errors is God’s perfect will at work in our lives. We think they are errors, but God knows as the potter of all clay exactly what’s going on at any given moment in time with every person in every place. He is God! This isn’t another human being with the same capacity to sin like you and me. This is the God of all creation who created create.

Just sharing a little bit in regards to this season of my life right now. Please keep me in prayer. I’ve got my MADE UP MIND amour of the Lord gear on and I’m fighting God’s way. He is the coach and I’m listening intently and walking carefully.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Time 1:1

1/24/2011 Time 1:1

Bible scripture? No. Formula for something very important to every human being on planet earth today? Yes. Prosperity gospel formula? No! Never that! Time 1:1 is simply the ratio of 2 things that are equally important, significantly crucial, and absolutely essential for every born again believer to understand. Lost, ignorant, and those who are out of the way are automatically in on this too. In fact, this applies to those living in remote parts of the world to those living the high life on the high rise of uptown cities and downtown slums and the gutters of third world countries.

Time. Why is it important? Each #1 represents the greatest “times” in every life of humans. These two distinct events, moments, transformations can never be repeated. In fact your life literally depends solely on these two events. You should live your life after the first #1 with the second #1 on the forefront of your every decision in life. The first number 1 in the Time 1:1 formula or ratio represents birth!

Ever been hot on a bright and sunny day? Especially if you’re in Memphis. 125 degrees is outrageous. When black folks run from the sun, that’s when you know it’s hot! :O) A little cultural humor for you. But even in Memphis, the ice cream man is busy. Freeze pops are a favorite for kids and parents alike. As soon as you get a freeze pop out of the freezer, the temperature is drastically increased and what happens to the freeze pop? The minute it is outside of the freezer it instantly begins to melt! It’s the same thing with birth. The minute a human come out into the world, it begins to age, get old, mature, or…DIE!!! Which leads to the second part of the Time 1:1: Death!

Time 1:1 stands for “ONE TIME TO LIVE AND ONE TIME TO DIE.” Each #1 is equally important and equally powerful because opportunity, chance, potential, destiny follows afterward. True, birth is viewed more favorably by most humans. It is agreed that everything from college, marriage, career and family life, retirement and the likes are looked forward to upon birth. What about death? Many people, even those who call themselves Christians fear death. Death is just like birth, in that there are things to look forward to. Heaven, the saints, the angels of heaven, God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the glory of God, eternal worship of God, eternal praise of God, eternal magnification of Jesus, the elders, the prophets, the apostles and so much more!

When a baby is born excitement is in the air. Even at the news of pregnancy, the typical response is excitement and joy. Another human is scheduled to arrive on planet earth. Another fresh life, that has a chance to do anything from ride a bike, speak a second language, travel the world, discover a new insect species, build a bridge, write a book, and the list goes on and on and on. Well, what is the typical response upon death? Sorrow fills the air, frowns with droopy lip faces, slobber and snot occupy kleenex, and lips are chapped from mouths being opened for extended periods of time crying, screaming, and being in a frantic state of mind.

Reader, if you are born again…you are filled with the Spirit of God according to the word of God (Ephesians 2:19-21). Reader, if you are born again…the Spirit of God literally living on the inside of you enables you to live a life that is pleasing to captain of your salvation (Hebrews 2:10, John 15:8, 2 Timothy 2:4). Reader, if you are born again…you will spend eternity with Jesus Christ and look forward to streets of gold, rejoicing with those who lived for the same reason as you between birth and death! You have so much to look forward to and guess what else? What is after death is so much greater than what comes after birth.

The greatest thing to look forward to after birth is to be born again, meeting Jesus personally, and serving Him in a personal relationship for the rest of life on earth. Money comes and goes. Friends come and go. Cars tune up and break down. Economies rise and fall. Politics are a joke. Careers are abundant and layoffs or downsizing occurs. Athletes and sports teams rise and fall. Get my drift? In other words reader…WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO LIVE FOR? Can I ask you a question? Why do you get up every single day? What are you living for? What is the point of your existence? What opportunities are you seeking to look into or what potential are you seeking to live up to? Why do you do what you do everyday? What is the meaning of your life? Why are you motivated to keep on living?

These are hard questions, real questions, and ultimately the truths that sum up each human being. Sure there are nice clothes, great cars, nice houses, great times of leisure and relaxing and so forth. But in each moment of each day that goes by a heart beats within every human. A mind thinks in every human the same. A spirit longs in every human for fulfillment to exist. A body beckons recklessly and wars with each human for control of the inner man. What are you going to do about it?

What are you going to do with your Time 1:1 “ONE TIME TO LIVE AND ONE TIME TO DIE” truth of your life? You may even be living in some of the “successes” highly esteemed by men and according to the world right now. But where will you live after death? What will you live for after you die? What will happen to you when you die? Where will you go when you die? What do you have forward to look to when you die? If you say, “well there is no hell or a devil or a burning lake of fire or none of that so I’m not going.” Who rose from the dead to tell you what happens when you die? If you cannot answer that question that is because no one rose from the dead to tell you anything. There is only One who rose from the dead, and He rose with GOOD NEWS for every human (1 John 2:2)! CHRIST JESUS THE ONLY TRUE AND LIVNG GOD!!!

All born in the world will die in the world. That’s it. That’s what “life” is about. You’re born. You go to school to get a job. You work to obtain a life that gives you memories to talk about when you’re old. Then you die. The truth is, that every human is born without Jesus, apart from Jesus, separate from Jesus (Romans 5:8). Time 1:1 is simply a one-way ticket headed straight towards death (which starts the second that baby is born) in 1 of 2 ways:

You can die being born again (John 3:3, Matthew 3:11), which means you will die physically and live eternally (John 3:16).

Or you can die without being born again, which means you will die physically and die eternally (Revelation 20:12-15, Romans 6:23, John 3:36).

After being presented with the truth I have one final question to ask you. DO YOU WANT TO BE FREE? Free from what you might ask? Free from living a pointless life. Free from living a life in van. Free from living a life as a toaster trying to be a bicycle. Free from the fear of death with heaven to look forward to. Those potentials and opportunities people look forward to after birth can never satisfy the longing that lives within you. It does not take an old man to figure that out. Just an honest man willing to admit that those things truly do not satisfy or fulfill the purpose of their existence. Time 1:1 is simply another chance for you to examine yourself as to whether you are bond by those opportunities and potentials the world indoctrinates you to believe is the purpose of life (Colossians 2:6-8, Psalms 78:1-8, Mark 7:6-23). And ultimately how you will continue from this very moment to respond to your self examination.

Reader, you are dying right now. Your body is wasting away. Time 1:1 is in effect for you and me both right now. You are going to skip this message, ignore this message, blow this message off and blink 2 times and be dead. No human knows when they are going to die or how they are going to die. What humans do know is that they are going to die. But the truth is you are dying right now. With that being said, I testify to you today that Jesus is real. I have no strings attached to your decision to try Jesus, surrender your heart to Jesus, devote your life to Jesus. In other words, I’m not seeking you to be a member of my church, give your money to me, buy my CDs, pat me on the back, tell me I’m a great writer or preacher. Nothing. The only reason I’m still serving Jesus today is because on November 29, 1998 I met the Jesus Christ of the Bible for the first time in my life. He changed my life. More importantly I pursued Him aggressively because I wanted to find out whether He was real or not so that I would not waste my time. With every piece of life in my body, I charge you reader, the more I sought Him, the more I found Him. The I found Him, the more I loved Him and still do to this day more passionately and fiery than ever.

Ephesians 2:1-3 and Ephesians 2:12 is how you are born (every human) and where you are right now. John 10:10 and John 16:22-24 is what you want deep within your heart here on earth. Revelation 21:22-27 and Revelation 22:1-6 is what you can look forward to after death. 1 Corinthians 7:9-10 is what you need in order to get to John 3:14-21, which will motivate you to Romans 10:9-13, that will cause you to live by John 15:1-11.

Your Time 1:1 is unique to you, your birth and your death, your ONE TIME TO LIVE AND ONE TIME TO DIE. If you take the rest of your aging, maturing, one-way ticket headed straight to death seriously, stop living like a basketball trying to be a pencil sharpener. If you, the created human, live according to the God, the Creator, you will be human according to how He created you. No one else can say how you should live or what you should live for because no one else and nothing else created you. God (the Creator) says to you (the created) this one thing concerning Time 1:1 for His creation (Psalm 24:1):

John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Time 1:1 is ticking rapidly for you right now. You can never get time back. Yesterday is gone. Today will be yesterday. Tomorrow will be today and today will be yesterday. And one day will be your last day. With all these truths being said, what will you do with the time you have right this very moment? Do not waste your Time 1:1 (Revelation 22:10, James 4:13-14, Hebrews 9:27). Make your Time 1:1 count right now. Make your time count for what you were designed. Make your time count for what the bottom line truth is to every human. Is life according to the grandness of mountains, the splendor of waterfalls, the radiance of the sun, the light of the moon, the shine of stars or the vastness of deserts? Should I live after the council of insects, birds, fish, or various animals? Shall I the adult live according to children? Shall I go to a statue that I created or a wooden image that I created for how I should live? Nothing else and no one else can answer correctly. Nothing else and no one else can answer satisfactorily. Only God (the Creator) can and His answer for humans (the created) is CHRIST JESUS (Hebrews 1:1-5).

Take some of your Time 1:1 and talk to God, the only true and living God who created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). Tell Him how you do not want to waste your time, but that you want to solve your Time 1:1 formula. Tell Him how you do not want to live anymore like a broom trying to be a frying pan. Ask Jesus to give you a new life. Ask Jesus for you to be born again. Talk to God from your heart right now in your Time 1:1. Pray to Jesus Christ, the only TRUE AND LIVING GOD, the only means of salvation and forgiveness of sins…like your life depends on it. Time 1:1 is true and in existence because you have been created. The second The rest of your Time 1:1 depends on what you do with what you have heard with this message during this time right now. Jesus Christ is standing by, waiting to solve your Time 1:1.