Sermons By A Word From The Lord with Archbishop Foley Beach
Episodes
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
Jesus Followers Pray that God Keeps Us from Becoming Judgmental, Self-righteous, Self-centered Christians - Lacking Compassion
MESSAGE SUMMARY: Luke 7:36-50 describes the compassion of God revealed to those who come to Him in humility and faith. In unpacking Luke’s Gospel reference, Luke is relating a dinner party taking place in the home of a Pharisee. The Pharisees’ thought that their attempts at righteousness would earn them more favor with God, but their focus was outward not inward and in their hearts. The Pharisees were always in Jesus’ face attacking Jesus and trying to dismiss His teachings.
In the Scripture references from Luke and Matthew below, Jesus gave strong words of description and condemnation regarding the Pharisees’ hearts and behaviors. However, there were many Pharisees that were Godly and spiritual men. We need to be careful that we do not become twenty-first century Pharisees identified by Jesus in Luke 7. Like the Pharisees, many of us know the Word of God; but we need to be careful that we do not become judgmental and self-surviving, thereby missing the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit and forgetting to apply the love and Justice of God in our lives and relationships.
Jesus is at this dinner party, in Luke 7, given by a Pharisee, and we are told that a sinful woman comes into the party. The woman comes up behind Jesus and weeps with such intensity that her tears fall on Jesus’ feet. The woman, after her earlier conversion, is probably overcome with the conviction of her sinful life and remorse, thereby becoming a servant to her Lord. In these actions of conviction and love toward Jesus, Jesus explains, to Simon the Pharisee in Luke 7:47, that: “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”.
Simon the Pharisee represents many modern day “church people”. We can get caught up in our personal righteousness. We get used to the presence of God and His peace in our lives, but then we encounter a new Jesus Follower. They, before their conversion, were living in the ways of the world without God’s peace. Now, these new believers are so excited with their new life; and their outward manifestation of their conversion may not “fit” with our personal Christian behavioral norms. Sadly, too many modern Christians judge and condemn these new believers rather than loving, encouraging, and embracing these new believers. After all, none of us deserve the forgiveness of God: “I am who I am by the Grace of God through Jesus.”.
God wants to have a heart-to-heart talk with us. Therefore, if there is anything in our lives blocking this talk with God, we must remove it – we need to open ourselves to what God will do for us if we will just let go of our life impediments. We must pray for God’s guidance that He keeps us from becoming judgmental, self-righteous, self-centered Christians like the Pharisees in Luke 7.
TODAY’S PRAYER: Lord, help me to grab hold of you today. I need you. Set me free to begin reorienting my life around you, and you alone. Help me to pay attention to and honor how you have uniquely made me. Thank you for the gift of rest. In Jesus’ name, amen. Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 122). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, 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): Luke 7:36-50; Matthew 5:20; Luke 11:37-44; Luke 15:1-7: Matthew 23:13-19; Matthew 23:23-36.
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “Jesus Followers’ Righteousness Will Flow, with the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit, from Their Heart Through Their Personal Relationship with Jesus”: https://awordfromthelord.org/devotional/
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Sunday Jul 04, 2021
Sunday Jul 04, 2021
God Says: “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I . . . will forgive their sin and heal their land."
MESSAGE SUMMARY: As we prepare to celebrate our nations independence today, Archbishop Beach confesses that: “I come this day with a heavy heart for our nation; for our people; for our children; for our grandchildren; and people of faith.”. Over the past months, we have seen an unprecedented removal of ethical, moral, and spiritual foundations. These foundations have allowed this country, in the past, to be blessed by God; to be civil; to be protected; and to be successful. John Adams, signor of the Declarations of Independence and second President of the US said: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It {the US Constitution} is wholly inadequate to the government of any other {people}.”.
St. Paul referenced this “moral and religious” point of John Adams, succinctly, in 1 Corinthians 9:21: “to those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.”. St. Paul referred, again, to the “Law of Christ” in Galatians 6:2,9-10a: “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ . . . And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone.”. Clearly, St. Paul’s “Law of Christ” was referencing Jesus’ admonition to us in John 15:12: “This is my commandment is that you love one another as I have loved you.”. “Doing good”, “love one another”, “Law of Christ” were the “moral and religious” concepts that John Adams, when he referred to the Constitution being made “only for moral and religious people”, believed that, in their absence, the Constitution would fail. Is America there yet?
In the times of Jeremiah, the nations of Israel and Judah were having their problems. The people were neglecting God; abandoning God’s commandments; and doing things God considered abominable – in summary, Jeremiah’s people had no fear of God. Given this situation, God says, in Jeremiah 5:29, “’Shall I not punish them for these things?’ declares the LORD, ‘and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?’”. Given these situations in Scripture as a comparative context, we are now, like in the times of Jeremiah, pushing God’s patience. Therefore, we cannot expect for things to continue to go well. God’s laws are meant for blessing and protecting us, and our actions now are mocking God. Again, we can refer to St. Paul and Galatians 6 when St. Paul instructs us, in Galatians 6:7, that God cannot be mocked: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”.
Great Britain declared that February 21, 1781 would be a day of prayer and fasting. On this day, the Anglican pastor John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace, preached a sermon on Jeremiah 5:29. Several comments from Newton’s sermon enlighten us on God and the affairs of nations.
Since we have had a public covenant with God through Jesus’ Great Commandment, do you thank that God will not take notice of our public divorce from Him through our actions and the turning of our backs on Him?
God tells us, in 2 Chronicles 7:14, that “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.". Following God’s command for prayer when a nation has gone away from his blessings, Paul’s instructions to Timothy, in 1 Timothy 2:1-6, are valid for everybody today as we now live in what some, who are not Jesus Followers, are referring to these times in our country as a “post-Christian culture”: 1) we should remain diligent in our prayers, and our prayers should concern and consider everyone, including all those in authority (e.g., presidents, cabinet members, legislators, governors, mayors, judges); 2) our hearts should be concerned for everyone’s Salvation; and 3) our message (i.e. there is one mediator between God and mankind – Jesus the Christ) should concern everyone.
Nations come and go; civilizations come and go; and institutions come and go; but God and His Word abide forever. Therefore, we all should throw ourselves on the mercy of God because it is only by God’s mercy that His hand will be stayed. Remember, God’s justice is getting what we deserve, but God’s mercy is not getting what we deserve.
Are we praying? Are our churches houses of prayer, are we repenting for ourselves and our nation; and are we praying for a spiritual awakening in our nation and in the world, which will turn this nation and world back to God, before there is no more mercy?
As in Isaiah 6:8, “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me.’” – YOU CAN do something in the name of Jesus the Christ as He calls and leads you; and if not you then who?
TODAY’S PRAYER: Lord, everything in me resists following you into the garden of Gethsemane to fall on my face to the ground before you. Grant me the courage to follow you all the way to the cross, whatever that might mean for my life. And then, by your grace, lead me to resurrection life and power. In Jesus’ name, amen. Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 100). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
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): Jeremiah 5:11-31; Galatians 6:1-18; Matthew 11:21-24; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Timothy 2:1-6; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Isaiah 6:8; 1 Corinthians 9:21.
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “Jesus Followers Have a Personal Relationship with the Creator of the Universe So Pray, Listen, and Be Patient for God’s Call”: https://awordfromthelord.org/devotional/
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Sunday Jun 27, 2021
Sunday Jun 27, 2021
Today’s World Is Fertile Ground for a Spiritual Awakening that Calls Jesus Followers to Obey and be “Strong and Courageous” – God Is with Us and In Us
MESSAGE SUMMARY: We have been equipped, as God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29:11-12, for God’s purposes in our lives: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.". In Joshua 1:9, God commands us to be strong and courageous because He is with us. Also, God gave Joshua truths that would confirm God’s support in His command of Joshua: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”.
Often the Lord has called or commanded us to do something in His service, but tough decisions for us arise for us when we are not fully committed to obey God; and we fall into disobedience. When we obey God’s commands, He steps into lives with support for us to achieve His command. Also, God instructed Joshua, in Joshua 1:6, to be “strong and courageous”: “Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.". We must be “strong and courageous” to do the will of God when we are called. Additionally, God commanded Joshua to be committed to the Word of God.
Courage is acting and speaking even though you are afraid. If you follow God’s call and seek His will to live and act in His Word, there is no reason to be overcome by fear because “your God is with you wherever you go”. After God’s grace through Jesus, God is in us through His gift to us of the Holy Spirit. You get strong by exercising the “muscles” of your faith and commitment to God’s will and His word – often pushing your “commitment to God” beyond levels you thought possible. Spiritual strength comes from having God with you and in you.
TODAY’S PRAYER: Lord, grant me wisdom and prudence to see the larger picture, to wait, and to discern the seasons in my life with you. Forgive me for fighting the “deaths” you send into my life in order to plant something new. In Jesus’ name, amen. Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 107). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
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): Jeremiah 29:11-12; Joshua 1:9; Joshua 1:6; Joshua 1:7; James 1:22; Hebrews 10:23; Joshua 1:8: 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Matthew 28:16-20. Ephesians 6:10-12.
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “To Be a Jesus Follower, You Must First Enter the Only Door to God’s Kingdom and that Door is Jesus – the Door to Eternal Life”: https://awordfromthelord.org/devotional/
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Sunday Jun 20, 2021
Sunday Jun 20, 2021
The Ultimate Call of a Father -- Where Are the Faithful Fathers?
MESSAGE SUMMARY:
Special Message: The Five Needs of Fathers: On Father's Day, we need to understand God's expectations of Fathers. Dads are to bring up their children in "the way they should go" (their calling). The Five Needs of Dads: 1) Companionship; 2) Respect; 3) Know How to Face Temptation; 4) Not to Be Foolish; and 5) and Remember that God Expects You to Be a dad. Discipline, wisely administered by fathers, is an important attribute and need for fathers, as the author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 12:9-11: “. . . we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”.
Sermon for Today: Where are the faithful fathers? More and more couples are coming into marriage having not been raised by a father. God is an incredible example for us to look to for guidance in being a father. One of God's characteristics, as a father, is His faithfulness. Faithfulness, as dads, includes faithfulness in our relationships with: 1) God – daily communion in our personal relationship with God and our corporate worship; 2) our wives -- no relationship for a man, other than his relationship with God, is as important as his relationship with his wife; 3) our children – be present physically and engage with our children emotionally and spiritually; and 4) our finances – when finances are sound and in order, God’s peace surrounds the family.
We can begin practicing our faithfulness in our lives through our focus on: 1) the little things in our lives – like our words and acts of kindness; 2) watching out for the secret things – who we are when no one is watching is who we are; and 3) asking God to help and fill you with the Holy Spirit.
There is a void of faithful men and fathers today; therefore, Dads, ask God to help you to be faithful as a father. Fathers should hope that, when we are judged by God, He tells us: “Well done good and faithful servant!”.
TODAY’S PRAYER: Lord, may your will, not my will, be done in my life. You know how easy it is to call myself a Christian but then become busy, forgetting about your will and desires. Forgive me for this sin. Help me listen to you, and grant me the courage to faithfully surrender to you. In Jesus’ name, amen. Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 25). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, 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): Hebrews 12:9-11; Ephesians 6:4; Lamentations 3:22; 1 John 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24.
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, 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).
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “God Sees Jesus Followers as “In Christ”: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’”: https://awordfromthelord.org/devotional/
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Sunday Jun 13, 2021
Sunday Jun 13, 2021
Are You Being Led by the Holy Spirit, or Are YOU DOING WHAT YOU THINK IS BEST? Be filled with the Holy Spirit
MESSAGE SUMMARY: On Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, the Holy Spirit, the third entity of the Trinity, was poured out; therefore, everyone is entitled to have a personal relationship with God through prayer and the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Luke, in Acts 2:38, tells us of God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to Christians: “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’". Pentecost changed the previous limited and temporary inclusion of the Holy Spirit into human life relationships with God to a gift from God, as a part of His Grace of Salvation through Jesus, to the Holy Spirit’s availability to all that believe and are Jesus Followers.
In 1900, the world-wide awakening with the Holy Spirit began when a humble Roman Catholic Nun obeyed the voice of the Lord and wrote to Pope Leo encouraging him to pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Based on his concerns with all that was going on in the world, Pope Leo responded to the letter by calling an assembly of the College of Cardinals to a prayer vigil at the Vatican on New Year’s Eve. This beginning spread the same night to Topeka Kansas; and the Holy Spirit descended over the world during the next six years with one revival in California lasting twenty-four hours a day for three years; and the world received a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Today, we and the world need to be refreshed by the Holy Spirit -- this is what Pentecost is all about. The Holy Spirit is the presence of Jesus among us. Our being filled with the Holy Spirit is normal Christianity. It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to commune with God and to have a personal relationship with Him -- the Holy Spirit is the presence of Jesus among us. You cannot live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit. Pentecost reminds us that we are given Spiritual Gifts so that we might be a witness to the Lord.
You will be filled with the Holy Spirit every day that you surrender your life to the Holy Spirit. You cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit if you are consumed by sin and the desires of your flesh.
Are You being led by the Holy Spirit, or are you just doing what you think is best? Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, 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): Acts 2:38; Genesis 1:2; 1 Corinthians 2:1-11; Acts 2:1-13; Ephesians 5:18; 2 Peter 1:20; Galatians 5:16-20; Philippians 4:13-20; Acts 1:8.
TODAY’S PRAYER: Father, teach me to trust you even when I feel like I am alone and that you are asleep in the boat with storms raging all around me. Awaken me to the treasures that can only be found in darkness. Grant me the grace to follow you into the next place you have for me in this journey called life. In Jesus’ name, amen. Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 82). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “Your Sin Is Never Too Great so that You Are Lost to God’s Salvation – ‘Return to Me {God}, and I Will Return to You’”: https://awordfromthelord.org/devotional/
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Sunday Jun 06, 2021
Sunday Jun 06, 2021
Jesus Followers’ Personal Pentecost Characterizes Life Positively Through the Holy Spirit and a Personal Relationship with God
MESSAGE SUMMARY: On Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, the Holy Spirit, the third entity of the Trinity, was poured out; therefore, Jesus Followers entitled to have a personal relationship with God through prayer and the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Luke, in Acts 2:38, tells us of God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to Christians: “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’". Pentecost changed the previous limited and temporary inclusion of the Holy Spirit into human life relationships with God to a gift from God, as a part of His Grace of Salvation through Jesus, to the Holy Spirit’s availability to all that believe and follow Jesus.
How would you characterize your life in terms of peace vs. anxiety and God’s presence vs. emptiness? If you cannot characterize your life in a positive context vis-à-vis your personal relationship with God through the Holy Spirit, then you need a Personal Pentecost in your life.
Characteristics of the Holy Spirit include: 1) is the divine indweller – we can participate in the divine nature of God through the Holy Spirit; and 2) produces the divine character – manifests in us the graces of Jesus, and we need to learn to live in the power of a Personal Pentecost,
What is entailed in our living in the “Power of Pentecost”? A Personal Pentecost includes: 1) receiving Jesus, on a personal basis, into your life and by asking: “Does the Holy Spirit have me?”; and 2) regular and daily confession of your sin with regular repentance – allowing the will of God to be manifest in your life.
By following Jesus, the Holy Spirit is indwelling in you like the pilot light in a furnace which burns but without real heat being produced unless the Pilot Light is permitted to light the furnace. Therefore, you need to ignite the furnace to use the power of the pilot light (i.e. Holy Spirit) to produce the power available from the Holy Spirit in your life and in the lives of those people that God is asking you to touch. This ignition of the furnace in your life is your Personal Pentecost.
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): Acts 2:38; Genesis 1:2; John 7:38; 2 Peter 1:3-4; John 14:16; Galatians 5:22; Romans 14:17; Romans 15:13; Romans 5:5; Romans 4:29-30; 1 Thessalonians 5:16.
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “As a Jesus Follower, the Greatest Witness for the Gospel that You Can Give Is for Others to See Jesus IN You”: www.AWFTL.org/watch
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Sunday May 30, 2021
Sunday May 30, 2021
Jesus Followers Cannot Live their Lives Without Living in the Indwelled Power of the Holy Spirit, but Consequences May Arise
MESSAGE SUMMARY: God desires us to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit; however, there may consequences when we are in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus provided us with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and He provides us with a model for walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. there are consequences to us when we live and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are given the Holy Spirit because we are Jesus Followers; and Jesus, through Holy Spirit, empowers, baptizes, and indwells us with His Spirit and His fruits of His Spirit. As Jesus Followers, we will be known by our fruit; therefore, we should have the fruit of Jesus in our lives. In Galatians 5:22-24, Paul describes the “Fruits of the Spirit”: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control . . . And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.".
Wherever the Holy Spirit indwells us, there is God’s energy, action, and power. In Luke 4:18, Jesus tells those worshiping with Him on the Sabbath in the Synagogue that: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he [God] has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.". On the other hand, when we have been anointed, like Jesus, with the power of the Holy Spirit, we, like when Jesus was teaching in His synagogue in Nazareth, receive negative pushback and condescension from our friends, family, and/or the world. Often, the Holy Spirit goes right to the very heart of our sins to get to the controlling issue or problem, thereby disrupting our lives or the lives of others.
Our lives are effected from the Holy Spirit’s indwelling by: 1) the Holy Spirit often leading us to the dry and barren places in our lives so that we learn to trust Him; 2) being tempted even though we have the power of the Holy Spirit; 3) like Jesus, conducting our ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit; 4) having the Holy Spirit helps us to interpret Scripture; and 5) realizing that, often, when we speak in the power of the Holy Spirit, His Word will not be well received, and the listeners’ responses will not be pleasant to us.
Jesus is Lord, and He is still sovereign and on His Kingdom’s throne; therefore, no matter what comes our way when we live in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus has our backs. However, we cannot live our lives as Jesus Followers without living in the indwelled power of the Holy Spirit. Remember, when we live in the power of the Holy Spirit, God always has the victory!
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, 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): Luke 4:14-30; Mark 6:1-6; 1 John 2:1-3; 2 Peter 1:21.
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “On this Memorial Day, We Remember Jesus’ Definition of LOVE: ‘Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends’”: www.AWFTL.org/watch
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Sunday May 23, 2021
Sunday May 23, 2021
Some Jesus Followers Have a Disconnect Between Their Faith and Actual Lifestyles Because the Holy Spirit Is Not Active in Their Lives
MESSAGE SUMMARY: As Jesus Followers, we will be known by our fruit; therefore, we should have the fruit of Jesus in our lives. In Galatians 5:22-24, Paul describes the “Fruits of the Spirit”: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control . . . And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.". With many followers of Jesus, there is a disconnect between what our faith is and our actual lifestyles. Why do we have this disconnect? If we are believers in Jesus, God has given us an incredible gift – the gift of the Holy Spirit. However, the disconnect is that the Holy Spirit is not active in our lives. The Holy Spirit is key to a Jesus Follower’s life, and one cannot be a Jesus Follower without the Holy Spirit.
In Luke 3:15, John the Baptist explains the relationship between Jesus and the gift, from God, of the Holy Spirit: “John answered them all, saying, ‘I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.’". In Luke 3:22 when Jesus is Baptized, He receives the anointing of the Holy Spirit for His earthly ministry.
Jesus needed the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and we need the Baptism of the Holy Spirit too. While Jesus’ Apostles were with Him for three years and observed, directly, Jesus’ ministry, death, and Resurrection, the Apostles needed the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as described, by Jesus, in Acts 1:4-5: “And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, ‘you heard from me; or John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’".
As Jesus Followers, we have the Holy Spirit; therefore, the big question becomes: “Does the Holy Spirit have us?”. We receive the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit in our lives” by: 1) seeking God’s will and way in our lives; 2) repenting of our sins; and 3) surrendering and yielding our lives to the Holy Spirit. However, we run into two obstacles to living our lives in the Holy Spirit: 1) sin, because sin is death and sin “grieves the Holy Spirit”; and 2) our quenching the Holy Spirit by being ungrateful and “murmuring against God’s will”.
Have you been Baptized with the Holy Spirit, and does the Holy Spirit have you?
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, 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 5:22-24; Luke 1:15; Luke 3:15-22; Luke 2:25; Acts 1:4-5; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:1-4; Ephesians 4:30; Romans 3:23; 1 Corinthians 6:1-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:16.
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.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
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Sunday May 16, 2021
Sunday May 16, 2021
Jesus Followers Are Key to Stopping Marriage’s Perversion by Following God’s Plan in Their Families and Marriages
MESSAGE SUMMARY: Introduction from Prior Sermon: It is one thing to know Jesus in our lives, but it is another thing to love and obey Jesus in our lives. In other words, are you willing to let go of controlling your life and turn your life’s control over to the Holy Spirit – God’s will not your will be done? God does not force His will on you. You must seek Jesus to follow Him, and you must follow Jesus “in truth and in {Holy}Spirit”. Therefore, the question becomes not “do you have the Holy Spirit”, but “does the Holy Spirit have you”?
Today’s Message -- Marriage, A Current Assessment: Marriage and the family, in current decades, have been under attack to the degree that marriage is now losing its value in our culture. In Mark 10:6-9, Jesus speaks to God’s plan for marriage: “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’”
In our culture’s attacks on marriage and the family, we see ten ways in which marriage and the family have been and are being perverted: 1) US Supreme Court’s decision on same sex marriage – as Jesus Followers, we don’t believe the courts have the right to define/redefine marriage as established by God; 2) sex before marriage is becoming the norm; 3) sex outside of marriage has become acceptable; 4) the prevalence of divorce; 5) acceptance of cohabitation; 6) birth of children out of wedlock; 7) multi-spouse marriage; 8) escalation and the acceptance of pornography; 9) the acceptance and practice of abortion on demand; and 10) the acceptable “choosing” one’s own gender by some people. These perversions of marriage and the family are chipping away at the value and importance of marriage and the family in the US – even among Christians. Too many of our Christian young people do not know why they should get married -- this diminution of marriage’s value is a failure, mostly, of the Christian Church.
Many Christians, today, are being deceived and led away from God’s Word by the Evil One (e.g., John 10:10). Therefore, we need to read and understand God’s Word, especially as it relates to His plan for marriage that Jesus posits in His quote from Genesis in Mark 10:6. Throughout history humans have corrupted God’s beautiful plan for His Creation. In Mark 10:7, we see God’s pattern for marriage. In Mark 10:8, we are provided with God’s purpose for marriage; and the product of this “one flesh” is children. By becoming “one flesh” in marriage, the man and women become a “new trinity” – husband, wife, and the Lord. In this “marriage trinitarian relationship”, each child is brought into this family relationship in the same way that we, as Jesus Followers, are brought into our personal relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit through the Gospel. In Mark 10:9 we see God’s expressed permeance of marriage.
God’s design and plan for marriage, as presented by Jesus in Mark 10:6,9, is ideal for us as humans, our nation, and our culture: “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, what therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’". However, God’s plan is being increasingly perverted. Therefore, what should we do, as Jesus Followers, about these “attacks on marriage”? We can: 1) stand up, speak up and speak God’s truth – Christians need to stop being trampled upon by this divergent culture; 2) model good and Godly marriage and family life to the culture; 3) you teach your children, you not the church/school/government, about God and His plan for marriage and the family; and 4) pray and ask God to intervene in these attacks and to support our seeking to achieve His plan for our own marriage and the family – prayer does change things, and it brings the power of God.
We are blessed to live in an incredible time in history, but the plan and fabric that God designed to keep us together and thriving – marriage and the family – is being perverted. However, we, as Jesus Followers, hold the key to stopping this perversion of marriage though getting our own family and marriage in line with God’s plan and then witnessing and voting to stop this perversion – the time is now.
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): Mark 10:6-9; John 10:10; Genesis 2:21-25.
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Marriage – A Current Assessment (Christ the King Anglican Church; Birmingham, AL)”: www.AWFTL.org/watch
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.
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Sunday May 09, 2021
Sunday May 09, 2021
The Five Needs of Mothers
MESSAGE SUMMARY: Introduction – Resurrection (Part 5): Jesus said, in John 14:6: "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.", Our challenge is to lovingly share Jesus' position with others in ways that they can hear and understand -- Jesus wants us to share Him. Followers of Jesus must communicate the Gospel, unspoken, through a life that is lived with joy and Godliness. God will do whatever we ask in His name.
Today’s Message -- Needs of Mothers: On Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, the Holy Spirit was poured out; therefore, everyone is entitled to have a personal relationship with God.
Today is Mother’s Day, and the Five Needs of Mothers include: 1) to know the Lord – to have a personal relationship with God through the Holy Spirit; 2) to be loved by her husband, as Jesus loved His Church; 3) help – assistance in all aspects of their life; 4) encouragement – provide praise and recognition; and 5) appreciation – in no way should mothers develop a sense that they are taken for granted.
A friendship between husband and wife is a context in which a mother’s needs flourish. Key is for mothers and fathers to ask the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, into their lives.
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): John 17:3; Philippians 3:7; John 17:3-5; Ephesians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.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 A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.
DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB