Episodes
Sunday Nov 29, 2020
Sunday Nov 29, 2020
In Advent, Pray for “amendment of life” in which God Gives Us Time in Our Lives and America’s Life to Return to Him Before He Comes Again in Judgment
MESSAGE SUMMARY:
Advent Sermons from Isaiah – Part 1: The Coming Judge and the Mountain of the Lord
Advent is not just the period in which we celebrate Jesus’ first Earthly arrival at Christmas, it is the period in which we wait, anticipate, prepare for Jesus’ second Earthly arrival which is yet to come.
Jesus, in Matthew 24:38-44 tells us: “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”. This Sermon begins the series: “Advent Sermons from Isaiah”.
Jesus is coming again, on a date unknown to us, to judge us. Therefore, let us pray for an “amendment of life”, for ourselves and our country, so God gives us the time, in our remaining Earthly Lives and our country’s life to, as Isaiah says in Isaiah2:5 -- “walk in the light of the Lord”. Also, in this period of Advent, let us pray that God gives us time return to return to Him so that He can return to us before it is our time to face the “five judgments”!
Most of what we know about Jesus in the New Testament is from prophecies in the Old Testament; and these prophecies were fulfilled by the Advent of Jesus in the New Testament. However, some of these Old Testament prophecies are yet to be fulfilled. So, from Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, when are “the last days”? In one sense, since we are in the age of the Messiah, we are now in the “last days”; but in another sense, we are waiting for the return of Jesus, and we don’t know when He will return to begin the “last days”. In Isaiah 2:1-5, Isaiah records his second prophecy regarding “the last days”. Isaiah posits the “mountain of the house of the Lord”, which is the place in Jerusalem where the Jewish temples have been. On this “mountain” now is the Muslim’s “Dome of the Rock”. From this passage, we learn that the Messiah would not only teach the law of God when He returns; but, also, He would come to judge. This scripture from Isaiah is the theme for the season of Advent – the Messiah will come back again to judge “the living and the dead”.
The Bible speaks about five judgments: 1) judgment of the believers’ sins; 2) the judgment of the believers’ self-life; 3) the judgment of the believers’ deeds; 4) the judgment of the nations; and 5) the judgment of the wicked (i.e. unbelievers). In Isaiah 2, Isaiah is speaking about “the judgment of the nations”. Isaiah 2:5 provides an exhortation that is appropriate for our Christmas: “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.”.
Remember, Advent is the period in which we wait, anticipate, and prepare for Jesus’ return.
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21).
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):Matthew 24:38-44; Isaiah 2:1-5; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “We All Need “Hope” in Today’s World of Fear, Doubt in Our Faith, and Feelings of “Hopelessness”; and God Is this “Hope””: www.AWFTL.org/watch
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.
DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB
Sunday Nov 22, 2020
Sunday Nov 22, 2020
We Need to Create a Culture of Grace and Kindness in Our Country Today Which Gives Others the Benefit of the Doubt and Visibly Values Other People
MESSAGE SUMMARY:
We need to create a Culture of Grace and Kindness in our families, our churches, our work, and in our country. What is a Culture of Grace and Kindness? This Culture of Grace and Kindness involves: 1) an atmosphere or environment in which there is no griping or complaining – no putting people down; 2) giving others the benefit of the doubt; 3) visibly valuing other people; and 4) being filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
A Culture of Grace and Kindness flows from: 1) keeping Jesus Lord – as Jesus instructed us in Mark 12:29-30: “Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’”; 2) loving your neighbor as yourself – as Jesus instructed us in Mark 12:31: “’The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’”. 3) practicing the “Golden Rule” – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”; and 4) “having the attitude of the Canaanite Woman” – in Matthew 15:25-28, she exhibited humility without pride: “But she came and knelt before him, saying, ’Lord, help me.’ And he answered, ‘It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed instantly."
Too often in our families, work, and church, we forget, in the way we treat others, that we to are sinners and not perfect. Therefore, we exhibit a culture without grace and kindness. Without a Culture of Grace and Kindness, we miss many blessings from God. In Matthew 15:25-28, the “Canaanite Woman” received the blessing, in her faith and humility, from Jesus when “her daughter was healed instantly”.
Additionally, some are unhappy in their current “Christian walk”. Those who are unhappy in their Christian walk have forgotten that what Jesus wants from them is for them to “love Him”. The Lord, in Revelation 2:4, was telling the Church in Ephesus the three things that will enable us to get back to our love of Jesus: 1) remember – remember how we loved God when we first started walking with the Lord; 2) repent and return to the Lord – ask God to fill you with a sense of longing for Him; and 3) repeat the things we performed when our faith was on fire for God. Do not get away from doing those things that provided a direct link for you to have a personal relationship with God and made you, in your eyes and the eyes of others, a Follower of Jesus.
Is your life “ communicating”, through your works, actions, words, and deeds, the Culture of Grace and Kindness expected of a Follower of Jesus? If not, why not?
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:13).
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Galatians 5:22; Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31; Matthew 15:21-28; Ephesians 4:29-32; Colossians 3:12-17; Revelation 2: 1-7.
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “We All Need “Hope” in Today’s World of Fear, Doubt in Our Faith, and Feelings of “Hopelessness”; and God Is this “Hope””: www.AWFTL.org/watch
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.
DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEABFacing Difficult Circumstances
Sunday Nov 15, 2020
Sunday Nov 15, 2020
Today, With All the “Clutter” in Our lives from Information Noise and the Uncertainties Surrounding Us, Listening for God’s Voice is Critical
MESSAGE SUMMARY:
Introduction (from a prior Sermon): The Gospel is based on both the Old and the New Testaments. The Gospel must go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit – the Gospel is a Spiritual message.
Today’s Message: In John 10, Jesus is speaking about the “shepherd”; the shepherd: 1) enters through the gate; 2) has the gate opened by a watchman; 3) sheep listen to his voice; 4) calls each sheep by name; 5) leads his sheep by going ahead of the sheep; and 6) has a voice by which he is known to his sheep and they follow him. In the first century, shepherding was an intimate profession; and the shepherd was always with his sheep. The shepherd talked to his sheep, and the sheep knew the shepherd’s voice. Also, in John 10, Jesus talked about the “false shepherd” who is a “thief and a robber”. The sheep do not follow the “false shepherd”. Jesus says that the “thief {false shepherd} comes only to steal, kill and destroy”.
In John 10:7-10, Jesus says that He is the “gate”, and He is the way (gate) by which we are saved from our sins and eternal death; and we are provisioned a full life and Eternal Life as His followers. Like the sheep that follow the good shepherd, if we follow Jesus, we will all hear His voice.
How do we know the voice of Jesus? Consider that: 1) we must enter only through the gate – Jesus; 2) we must be a sheep of the Good Shepherd and follow Jesus through an intimate relationship with Him; 3) we must learn to listen (for example, today we listen through the inward witness of the Holy Spirit – the Holy Spirit is charged with communicating the will of God to mankind and to sync our mind with the mind of God); 4) we obey as we listen – in the New Testament, the words “hear” and “obey” are the same words – God will speak directions for our lives; and 5) we don’t harden our hearts to the voice of the Lord – listen to His voice and obey.
As the Lord says: “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalms 46:10).
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FORGIVEN. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9).
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): John 10:1-18; Ezekiel 34:22-34; John 5:25-29: Ezekiel 43:2;1 King’s 19:12; Isaiah 30:21; John 10:27-30; Hebrews 3:7-15.
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “We All Need “Hope” in Today’s World of Fear, Doubt in Our Faith, and Feelings of “Hopelessness”; and God Is this “Hope””: www.AWFTL.org/watch
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.
DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB
Sunday Nov 08, 2020
Sunday Nov 08, 2020
Today, Many Christians are Asking: “Where Is God In All of ‘This’?”; Well, God Tells Us: “Return to me, and I will return to you”
MESSAGE SUMMARY:
It is better to lose all material possessions and stay in the will of God than to have riches galore and to be out of God’s will and His fellowship.
We change, but God remains faithful as we are told in Malachi 3:6: “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”. God’s people, all throughout history, have found way after way to turn away from God. Throughout history God is constantly saying to His people, despite their disobedience that He will return to us if we return to Him because, in history and today, may, but especially “God’s people, have turned away from Him. In Malachi 3:7, God says: “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?”. God’s consistent commitment over time, to “return to you”, culminates in His sending Jesus into the human race so that all who believe in God through Jesus can have Salvation, Eternal Life, and a personal relationship with Him.
The people in Malachi’s time were speaking harsh words about God, and they were wondering what good was provided by being obedient to God when evildoers were prospering. Today, we are like the people of Malachi’s time when we ask: “Where was God when the bottom dropped out of my life?”. Even in these tough times, God is always with us. God challenges us that if we give to Him, then He will return to us so much more than we gave to Him; but all that we have is God’s anyway.
If we are not sowing seeds in all aspects of our lives, we will not reap the harvest of God’s promised blessings. Do not give up on God; He does not change, and He is faithful.
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM A CHILD OF GOD.
Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. (John 1:12f).
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Malachi 3:6-18; Zephaniah 3:1; James 4:8; Genesis 14:18; Exodus 25:2; 2 Corinthians 9: 6-13; Matthew 5:17-20.
WEBSITE LINK: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “We All Need “Hope” in Today’s World of Fear, Doubt in Our Faith, and Feelings of “Hopelessness”; and God Is this “Hope””: www.AWFTL.org/watch
DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
God Wants Us to Live In His “Hope” and His Word, through Bible Scripture, which Gives us so Much “Hope”
MESSAGE SUMMARY:
Special Feature -- God Answers Our Prayers If We Ask:
God stands ready to answer our prayers, but He only answers after we ask, as we are Told in James 4:2: “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.". God’s answers our prayers with “Yes”; “No” or “Wait”. God’s answer to our prayer, irrespective of His answer, very well may not be at the speed which our technology-driven culture of impatience has as a driving attribute. However, God is Sovereign in everything, including His answers to our prayers. God answers prayer in His time.
Today’s Message – God Gives Us “Hope” In His Unchanging Promises In His Word:
In Psalms 42:5-6a, 43:5, we are told that, in all circumstances, God is our “Hope”: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God .". Today, followers of Jesus live in a time of both turmoil and uncertainty with issues like Covid-19, cultural dissonance, and civil discourse providing an overarching context that can lead us to fear, doubt in our faith, and feelings of “hopelessness”.
These issues of today, that drive our uncertainties and fears, have impacted America profoundly, including Followers of Jesus. However, as Followers of Jesus, we know that none of these issues are taking God by surprise. Yet so many of us are discouraged, downcast, depressed, and fearful. Too many of us have lost “Hope”. Proverbs 13:12 tells us: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,". Without “Hope”, we are like ships sailing without a harbor. God wants us to have “Hope” in our everchanging world! “Hope” is the anticipation of a good future; “Hope” is having faith and believing that God is working out His purposes in the World and in my life. Here are some of the things we can say about “God’s Hope” for us through His: 1) promise of Eternal Life; 2) abiding presence with us; 3) answering of our prayers; and 4) His unchanging promises in His Word.
God has given us His Word, which contains hundreds of God’s promises, and His promises are filled with “Hope”. We can be assured that the Bible, with God’s promises, is God’s Word based on 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”. Bible Scripture, God’s Word, is powerful when we put it into action in our lives, as we are told in Romans 8:24-25: “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.". Therefore, the Bible’s Scriptures give us “Hope” because they provide us with God’s promises like God’s promise of Eternal Life. We are told, in Romans 8:38-39, that nothing can separate us from God’s Word and, therefore, can separate us from God’s promises of “Hope”: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
The Bible provides many promises from God for our “Hope”; but, ultimately, God promises, in Philippians 4:13, give us the strength for all that is necessary to achieve our “Hope” in Him: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.". In 1 Peter 1:3-5, the Apostle Peter tells us that God has given us “Hope” through being reborn in a new life as a Follower of Jesus: “. . . he{God} has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”.
In the times in which we live today, God wants the Followers of Jesus to Have all the “Hope” that He provides. Also, God provides His Peace and Love that solidify our “Hope” in Him: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me”? Hope in God”!
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21).
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Matthew 6:8; James 4:2; Psalms 42:5; Proverbs 13:12; Psalm 43:5; Proverbs 10:28; Proverbs 23:18; John 3:16-17; Hebrews 13:5; Matthew 7:7; Proverbs 3:5-6; Joshua 1:8-9; 2 Timothy 3:16; Romans 6:23; Romans 8:24-25; Romans 8:26; Romans 8:28; Romans 8:35; Romans 8:38-39; John 1:9; Luke 11:5; James 1:5; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4; Philippians 4:13; Philippians 4:19; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Jerimiah 29:11; Lamentations 3:31; Psalms 33:18; Psalms 62:5; Psalms 71:5,14; Psalms 119;47;
WEBSITE LINK: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “We All Need “Hope” in Today’s World of Fear, Doubt in Our Faith, and Feelings of “Hopelessness”; and God Is this “Hope””: www.AWFTL.org/watch
DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB