Sermons by Archbishop Foley Beach

What does the Resurrection of Jesus Have to Do with Us? What are the implications for humanity?

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

The Resurrection: Part 1

What does the Resurrection of Jesus Have to Do with Us? What are the implications for humanity?

While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. It is through Jesus’ death and Resurrection that we are able realize God’s Grace of Salvation from our sins and to gain our Eternal Life. Holy Week is all about God’s Grace; Jesus’ death on the cross; Jesus Resurrection; and our Salvation. All sinners need what Jesus did on the cross for us.

Jesus was dead. He was crucified on the cross because He claimed to be the Messiah – the Christ, and the Jewish leaders wanted Him dead. The Roman leaders wanted Jesus dead because he claimed to be a king. After Jesus was crucified, He was buried and sealed in a tomb under watch by Roman guard unit.

On the Sunday of Holy Week, some of the women go to Jesus’ tomb; but they find the seal broken; the stone rolled away; and the tomb empty. An Angel in the tomb tells the women that Jesus is no longer dead; He has risen. The women tell Peter and John, and Peter and John run to the tomb to find it empty. After Peter and John leave, the women return to the tomb and find two Angels in the tomb; and then Jesus appears to Mary who, initially, does not recognize Jesus. Jesus tells Mary to go tell the other Apostles that He is alive.  Jesus appears to two people traveling the road on Sunday; and then Jesus appears again, after the Resurrection, to the Apostles in a closed room. The Apostle Thomas is not present, but Jesus reappears to the Apostles with Thomas present; Thomas proclaims to Jesus after doubting Jesus’ Resurrection: “my Lord and my God!”.

Over next forty days, Jesus appears to hundreds of people.  Lastly, Jesus appears to the Apostles, on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus gave them the “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus appearances to people, after His death and Resurrection, proved to these people that He was who He said He was – the Son of God and the Messiah. With Jesus’ Resurrection, He arises from death as the Passover Lamb, “the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world!”.

Sometime later and after His Ascension into Heaven, Jesus appears to Saul on the Road to Damascus where Saul was going to continue his retribution against followers of Jesus. Saul is converted to a follower of Jesus and Saul the persecutor becomes the great Apostle Paul, and Paul had several encounters with Jesus over the years. Jesus is alive!

While people did not expect Jesus’ Resurrection, whenever He spoke of His impending death, Jesus always mentioned His Resurrection (Matthew 16:21). Even after Jesus’ three predictions of His death and Resurrection, the Apostles did not understand or accept Jesus predictions – the Resurrection was unexpected. The Resurrection did occur because Jesus was alive and died on the cross, and His life after His Resurrection is well documented. However, if there were no Resurrection of Jesus, there would be no Christianity, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.". What is the point in following Jesus without His Resurrection? However, there was a Resurrection of Jesus, and His Resurrection is the point!

Fast forwarding two thousand years to today, what does the Resurrection of Jesus mean to us? The primary implications of the Resurrection on us and humanity today is the forgiveness of our sins – we can be forgiven only because of God’s Grace and the Resurrection, which made Jesus’ death matter and provide us a path to a continuing personal relationship with God.

Jesus is alive on this Easter and since His Resurrection. Jesus has been alive for us through God’s gift of the Holy Spirit who permits our personal and eternal relationship with God, the Creator of the Universe.  However, these incredible gifts necessitate our sin confessions and our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Jesus was Resurrected from death as the Passover Lamb, “the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world!”, as the Apostle John tells us in John 1:29-30: “The next day he {John the Baptizer} saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’".

He is Risen, and He is alive!

 

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 28:18-20; Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:22; Matthew 20:18; Acts 4:2; Romans 4:25; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 Corinthians 15:14-19.

WEBSITE LINK:  www.AWordFromTheLord.org/

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Do the Issues and Fears of Today Cause You to Ask: “Am I Going To Heaven”?”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Surprise – Jesus is Not Dead; but We Don’t Realize Jesus Is Alive Until We Come to Him in Our Faith

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

Jesus is Not Dead; Jesus Is Alive to All Who Accept Him in Faith

Surprise effects people in different ways. When Mary Magdalene entered Jesus’ tomb looking for Jesus after His crucifixion and death, she was surprised in John 20:15-16: “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned and said to him in Aramaic, [2] ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher).".

Jesus was dead, but He did not remain dead. Through Jesus resurrection, He arose from the dead as was seen after the resurrection by Mary Magdalene, the Apostles, and many others over the forty-day period until His Ascension – all were surprised when they saw Jesus alive after His death on the cross.

Today, two thousand years later, many people are surprised to learn that Jesus is not dead. It is not until we come to Jesus in personal faith that we realize that Jesus is alive – our realization of Jesus immortality is not from an intellectual awareness, but our realization of a living Jesus comes through a personal, experiential faith-based relationship with Jesus in our lives.  Evil and sin are all around us sinners; and as Paul tells us in Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.". Therefore, without a living Jesus, our eternal death is the only outcome. Also, societies attempting to function without a living Jesus are on a pathway to “pure evil”.

Easter changed all this for us who come to Christ and follow Him. Jesus is alive for us. For those of us who believe in Jesus, things happen to us personally in our lives: 1) our sins are forgiven – part of Jesus’ resurrection is the power we are given over our sins and sinful nature, as Jesus tells us in Matthew 26:28: “for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”, some of us are surprised that our sins are forgiven with our faith but without our performance of some “works”; 2) eternal life is made available to us – having a personal relationship with God for eternity is eternal life; and 3) Jesus is with us in the surprises that life throws our way – we have to come to Jesus in repentance and faith, however, too many of us live our lives as if we believe that Jesus is dead.

Christ is risen! Is Jesus resurrection a surprise to you? If so, ask Jesus, through your faith, to come into your life right now; let a living Jesus and not the twists and turns of your life surprise you.

 

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 20:11-18; Romans 6:20-23; John 20:1-10; Luke 24; Acts 10:39; 1 John 2:1-2; 1 Corinthians 15:16-19; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Psalms 103:12; John 17:3; John 3:36; 1 John 5:11; Hebrews 13:8; Hebrews 13:5.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S EASTER VIDEO – “In All the Death Around Us Today, Jesus Resurrection Gives Us a Culture of Life!”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch.

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

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Palm Sunday and Holy Week Lead Us Toward Jesus’ Death On the Cross for Our Sins and His Resurrection; Therefore, We Are Forgiven!

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

The Upper Room Part 2: The Promise of Forgiveness (Christ Cathedral; Kampala, Uganda)

The promise of Palm Sunday and Holy Week leads us to look ahead to Jesus’ death on the cross, for our sins, and His Resurrection. Through Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead and God’s Grace, sinners like us can have Eternal Life if we confess our sins and have faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior -- we are forgiven!

After Jesus Resurrection, Jesus appeared to many people, including a group of more than five hundred, over a period of forty days. The primary messages of the Bible’s New Testament Epistles are Jesus’ death, Resurrection, and the power of Jesus’ Resurrection. From John 20:19-25, we learn that Jesus appeared to the Disciples in a locked upper room. The Disciples were afraid; but when they saw Jesus, their fear changed to joy. Jesus began His conversation with the powerful greeting of: “Peace be with you.”. In addition to His Peace, Jesus gave the Disciples the Apostolic commission of Go, make disciples, and to teach while communicating the Gospel; and Jesus told the Disciples and us how to “Go”. Additionally, Jesus gave His Disciples and us the power, through the Holy Spirit, to do the mission of His Commission: “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18-20).

The Gospel is a message of both forgiveness and of judgement. With God’s Grace and our faith comes our forgiveness and our Eternal Life. In John 5:24, Jesus tells us that we not only have Eternal Life after our earthly death; but we have Eternal Life from the moment we accept the Gospel and Jesus as our Lord and Savior: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.".

In Romans 8:38-39,we are given the message to communicate as we “Go”: “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.".

We have the eternal life-changing message that Jesus’ death, for our sins, and His Resurrection lead to our forgiveness. However, are we living this message in our lives, and are we delivering this message to others starting with our family and our neighbors – if not us, then who? 

Today is the first day of Holy Week with events, in the life and death of Jesus, that are leading to our Salvation!

 

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 20:19-25; Luke 24:46; John 5:24; John 1:12.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO: (“Palm Sunday and Holy Week Lead Us Toward Jesus’ Death On the Cross for Our Sins and His Resurrection; Therefore, We Are Forgiven!” – Do You Believe? “): www.AWFTL.org/watch,.

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

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Jesus said to Thomas: “Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen and Yet Have Believed” – Do You Believe?

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

The Upper Room Part 3: The Promise of Belief (St. Thomas Anglican Church, Athens GA)

A primary component of Jesus teaching methodology was to ask questions. Most questions asked regarding Christianity are directly answerable. However, it is not “doubt” that constrains people from believing and following Jesus; but it is their “resistance to giving up their sins” that constrains their belief and acceptance.

Important questions were asked by Jesus in His several appearances after His Resurrection from His Crucifixion and death. In the first reference in John 20 to Jesus’ appearance to His Apostilles, the Apostille Thomas was not present. Therefore, when Thomas was told of Jesus’ appearance, Thomas said that he would not believe in Jesus’ Resurrection until he could see and feel Jesus’ wounds from the Crucifixion. Jesus, knowing Thomas’ disbelief without physical evidence of His Resurrection, asked Thomas to feel His wounds. Afterwards, Jesus asked Thomas the implied question regarding Thomas’ “belief”, and Thomas answered with an answer that has resonated throughout the centuries: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:24-29): “Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.’ Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”.

Jesus went on to affirm Thomas’ belief in the face of compelling physical evidence, but Jesus acknowledged the power of the belief and faith by those of us who follow Him without physical evidence through our faith. So, for us who do not have the physical evidence of Jesus’ death and Resurrection, Paul tells us, in Romans 10:17, that: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”.

Do you believe?

 

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): John 10:19-30; John 11:15-16; John 14:5-7; Romans 10:17.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO (“Jesus said to Thomas: “Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen and Yet Have Believed” – Do You Believe?“): www.AWFTL.org/watch,

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

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Your Conscience as a Part of Interior Life

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

The Interior Life – Part 5: The Conscience (Holy Trinity; Madison, MS)

INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERIOR LIFE -- The Psalmist, in Psalms 1:3-4, describes a person with a fruitful Interior Life: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.". Our Interior Life, typically, does not call out for our attention until, usually, it is too late. Our Interior Life does not call for our attention or scream for help. However, if our Interior Life is not maintained or nurtured, our spiritual life can come crashing down.

Our Interior Life can be viewed like a savings account in a bank. Like a savings account when we make deposits, our Interior Life grows, draws interest, and becomes strong, thereby, giving us a balance that can see us through life’s tough times. However, if we are not making Interior Life deposits and our life circumstances need to draw on our “savings”, we may find that life has put us in an untenable situation; and we go spiritually bankrupt. Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, describes the characteristics of the Inner Person and the maintenance of the Inner Person: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.". Paul describes us as being comprised of body, soul, and spirit.

Our Inner Person, or Our Inner Self, is all that relates to our soul and spirit. The Interior Life is critical for an abundant life – the part of us that is private not public; the part of us that no one sees or knows but us and God. Too often, we focus our personal care on our bodies and not our soul or Inner Person. Paul, in Ephesians 3:16-17, addresses or “inner being”: “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,".

EXERCISING YOUR CONSCIENCE AS A PART OF YOUR INTERIOR LIFE -- We need to focus, today, on a portion of our Inner Self’s soul that includes “our conscience” – “the power of our mind”.  Our conscience is that part of our soul that brings our hearts and minds into knowledge of God’s requirements and expectations for living a Godly life. In 1 Timothy 1:5, the conscience is related to love: “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”. Do you have a clear conscience before the Lord?

As an example of “conscience in the Inner Life”, King David was a righteous man that gave God credit for all His successes; but David, like us, was a sinner. He lusted after the beautiful wife of one of his generals. After David got the general’s wife pregnant, David’s sins, like most of ours, cascaded into the murder of his general to protect his secret affair with the general’s wife. Subsequently, David’s conscience rose to the top of his Inner Self in Psalms 51. While David confessed and repented of his sins to God, David was forgiven by God; but the consequence of David’s sins was enormous – David’s family and kingdom were disrupted; and his son, who was born of the adulterous affair, died.

There are three aspects of our conscience: 1) the part of our person that knows right and wrong within ourselves – our moral compass; 2) as Christians, our conscience becomes God’s moral compass within us; and 3) a reminder that we have sinned against God or our neighbor. The Holy Spirit deals with conscience first and not our intellect or emotion.

What happens when we ignore our conscience: 1) we begin to dumb down the power of our conscience to speak into our lives; 2) even though our conscience speaks to us all the time, we begin not to hear it; and 3) our conscience becomes polluted by the world – a defiled conscience. Ignoring our conscience leads us towards self-deception and depravity.

How do we keep a clear conscience: 1) confess our sin to God as instructed in Hebrews 10:22-23: "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.", and in 1 John 1:9-10: "We confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."; 2) make a confession of our sin to a Christian friend; 3) sometimes, confess our sin to a minister; and 4) sometimes, we need to make restitution to those to whom we have sinned, when appropriate.

Our conscience is a mighty gift to us from God if we listen to it and keep a clear conscience. However, we will never have a clear conscience in our Interior Life unless we, like King David, confess and repent of our sins to God and lead a new life in Jesus.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM A 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): Psalms 51:1-19; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Ephesians 2:1-8; 1 Timothy 1:5-6; Job 27:6; Acts 24:16; 2 Corinthians 1:12; Matthew 6:22-23; 1 Corinthians 8:7; 1 Timothy 4:1-2; Titus 1:15-16; Psalms 36:1-4; Hebrews 10:22; 1 John 1:9; Romans 8:1-2; James 5:16; Proverbs 27:17; 2 Samuel 12:13; Luke 19:8; 2 Timothy 1:3.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO (“Your Conscience as a Part of Interior Life“): https://awordfromthelord.org/video-archives/.

  WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

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Emotional Maturity: Exercising the Mind

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

The Interior Life – Emotional Maturity: Exercising the Mind – Part 4 (Christ Church; Atlanta, GA)

Introduction to the Interior Life --  -- The Psalmist, in Psalms 1:3-4, describes a person with a fruitful Interior Life: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.". Our Interior Life, typically, does not call out for our attention until, usually, it is too late. Our Interior Life does not call for our attention or scream for help. However, if our Interior Life is not maintained and nurtured, our spiritual life can come crashing down.

Our Interior Life can be viewed like a savings account in a bank. Like a savings account when we make deposits, our Interior Life grows, draws interest, and becomes strong, thereby, giving us a balance that can see us through life’s tough times. However, if we are not making Interior Life deposits when our life circumstances need to draw on our “savings”, we may find that life has put us in an untenable situation, leading us to spiritual bankrupt. Does the life description, provided by Jesus in John 7:37b-38, describe your life: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”?

Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, describes the characteristics of the Inner Person and the maintenance of the Inner Person: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.". Paul describes us as being comprised of body, soul, and spirit.

Our Inner Person, or Our Inner Self, is all that relates to our soul and spirit. The Interior Life is critical for our abundant life – the part of us that is private not public; the part of us that no one sees or knows but us and God. Too often, we focus our personal care on our bodies and not our soul or Inner Person. Paul, in Ephesians 3:16-17, addresses or “inner being”: “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,".

Exercising Your Mind as a Part of Your Interior Life -- We need to focus, today, on a portion of our Inner Self’s soul that includes “our mind” – “the power of our mind”.  What gives us the power to steer our lives in the direction that we want to go and, in a manner, that God expects of us? The mind gives our Inner Self power. Too many of us are wasting our minds – most of us are not exercising the power of our minds.

To exercise our minds, we must: 1) discipline our mind to mind – mental discipline; 2) take charge of what we let our mind dwell upon – what we think, we are; and 3) learn to think from Christ’s perspective – as a Christian, we must intentionally learn to think from God’s point of view; for example love neighbor rather than diminishing or fearing your neighbor.

To intentionally exercise your mind, you can: 1) read; 2) study; 3) memorize; and 4) meditate – reflect upon an issue. 

Jesus was asked, in Luke 20:25b-28 to reveal the key to eternal life; and Jesus responded: “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How do you read it?’ And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’ And he said to him, You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.’”. To position your Inner Self to think from God’s point of view, your mind must be exercised through the love of God and others.

The mind, as a Christian, is a terrible thing to be wasted by your Inner Self; therefore, you must endeavor to stop wasting your mind.

You need to develop the power for gaining control over your will and directing your mind toward a spirit-filled life in Jesus. Your life is to be driven by the Holly Spirit through your Inner Person to yield your life to God’s will. The Holy Spirit enables you to do God’s will in your life – your Interior Life’s deposit for the future.

 

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): Psalms 1:3-4; John 7:37-38; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:1-8; Ephesians 3:16-20; 1 Peter 3:3; Mark 7:21; Proverbs 23:7; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Philippians 2:5; 1 Corinthians 2:16; Romans 12:2; Philippians 4:8; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:16-17.

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S RECENT VIDEOS:  https://awftlvser.podbean.com/.

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

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In Terms of Exercising Your Mind, Where Is Your Interior Life Leading You?

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

Where Is Your Interior Life Leading You? {The Interior Life – Exercising the Mind – Part 2 (Camp House; Chattanooga, TN)

INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERIOR LIFE -- The Psalmist, in Psalms 1:3-4, describes a person with a fruitful Interior Life: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.". Our Interior Life, typically, does not call out for our attention until, usually, it is too late. Our Interior Life does not call for our attention or scream for help. However, if our Interior Life is not maintained or nurtured, our spiritual life can come crashing down.

Our Interior Life can be viewed like a savings account in a bank. Like a savings account when we make deposits, our Interior Life grows, draws interest, and becomes strong, thereby, giving us a balance that can see us through life’s tough times. However, if we are not making Interior Life deposits and our life circumstances need to draw on our “savings”, we may find that life has put us in an untenable situation; and we go spiritually bankrupt. Does the life description, provided by Jesus in John 7:37b-38, describe your life: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”?

Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, describes the characteristics of the Inner Person and the maintenance of the Inner Person: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.". Paul describes us as being comprised of body, soul, and spirit.

Our Inner Person, or Our Inner Self, is all that relates to our soul and spirit. The Interior Life is critical for our abundant life – the part of us that is private not public; the part of us that no one sees or knows but us and God. Too often, we focus our personal care on our bodies and not our soul or Inner Person. Paul, in Ephesians 3:16-17, addresses or “inner being”: “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,".

OUR MIND AS A PART OF THE INTERIOR LIFE -- We need to focus, today, on a portion of our Inner Self’s soul that includes “our mind” – “the power of our mind”.  What gives us the power to steer our lives in the direction that we want to go and, in a manner, that God expects of us? The mind gives our Inner Self power. Too many of us are wasting our minds – most of us are not exercising the power of our minds.

To exercise our minds, we must: 1) discipline our mind to mind – mental discipline; 2) take charge of what we let our mind dwell upon – what we think, we are; and 3) learn to think from Christ’s perspective – as a Christian, we must intentionally learn to think from God’s point of view.

To intentionally exercise our mind, we can: 1) read; 2) study; 3) memorize; and 4) meditate – reflect upon an issue. 

Jesus was asked, in Luke 20:25b-28, to reveal the key to eternal life; and Jesus responded: “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How do you read it?’ And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’ And he said to him, You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.’”. To position our Inner Self to think from God’s point of view, our mind must be exercised through the love of God and others.

The mind, as a Christian, is a terrible thing to be wasted by our Inner Self; therefore, we must endeavor to stop wasting our minds.

We need to develop the power for gaining control over our will and directing our minds toward a spirit-filled life in Jesus. Each of our lives is to be driven by the Holly Spirit through our Inner Person to yield our lives to God’s will. The Holy Spirit enables us to do God’s will in our lives – our Interior Life’s deposit for the future.

 

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): 1 Peter 3:3; Mark 7:21; Romans 12:2; Philippians 4:8.

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God’s Will vs. Our Will Power

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

The Interior Life Part 1: The Power of the Will (Red Bank; Chattanooga, TN)

INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERIOR LIFE -- We are body, soul, and spirit. Our Interior Life is all that relates to our Soul and Spirit – our Interior Life is private and not public. Our Interior Life is the “real me”. Much of our life’s focus is on maintaining our body but not our Interior Life.

The Psalmist, in Psalms 1:3-4, describes a person with a fruitful Interior Life: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.". Our Interior Life, typically, does not call out for our attention until, usually, it is too late. Our Interior Life does not call for our attention or scream for help. However, if your Interior Life is not maintained and nurtured, your personal, spiritual and ministry lives can come crashing down.

Our Interior Life can be viewed like a savings account in a bank. Like a savings account when we make deposits, our Interior Life grows, draws interest, and becomes strong. Therefore, “Interior Life Deposits” give us a balance that can see us through life’s tough times. However, if we are not making Interior Life Deposits and our life circumstances need to draw on our “savings”, we may find that life has put us in an untenable situation; and we go spiritually bankrupt. Does the life description, provided by Jesus in John 7:37b-38, describe your life: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”?

Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, describes the characteristics of the Inner Person and the maintenance of the Inner Person: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.". Paul describes us as being comprised of body, soul, and spirit.

Our Inner Person, or our Inner Self, is all that relates to our soul and spirit. The Interior Life is critical for our abundant life – the part of us that is private not public; the part of us that no one sees or knows but us and God. Too often, we focus our personal care on our bodies and not our soul or Inner Person. Paul, in Ephesians 3:16-17, addresses or “inner being”: “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,".

THE WILL AS PART OF THE INTERIOR LIFE -- The Will is part of your Interior Life, and your Will is your God-Given ability to choose. Often, we run into problems in our lives because we don’t control our Will; therefore, our Will has lost its power in our lives – we yield to our flesh, and we are rendered powerless to our choices. Our choices are stealing our lives away!

Will Power brings power and strength to our Will – taking charge of our life’s choices. The three steps to develop your Will Power, for a given situation or opportunity, include: 1) choosing a task; 2) creating a plan; and 3) following your plan. Make intentional choices.

The Holy Spirit wants to have power over our inner being. If we do not have power over our will and inner being, then how can we yield our lives to God’s Will? We need to develop power in our inner person. “Sin” is defined in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer as “the seeking our own will over the will of God” – thus distorting our relationship with God, creation, and others. Our “sin” requires Repentance, and Repentance calls for our choice. This level of subordinating God’s will to our will, “sin”, calls for our death or our crucifixion. As Paul tells us in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.". Therefore, if you have no Will Power, then how can you choose to do the things that God, through the Holy Spirit, requires of you?

Is it the desire of your heart to do God’s Will?

 

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): Psalms 1:3-4; Ephesians 3:16; 1 Peter 3:3; John 7:37-38; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Ephesians 3:16-17; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:16.

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Do You “Pray Rightly”?

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

Am I Ready to Pray? (Bude, Cornwall, UK)

INTRODUCTIOIN -- In both our worship and our prayers: “Are we expecting to encounter God?”. Prayer is: 1) spending time with God – acknowledging God’s presence in all our lives’ activities; and 2) conversation with God – listening to and talking with God. Prayer reflects on our relationship with God. Therefore, why don’t we pray? The Apostle James, in James 4:2-3, provides a perspective regarding Prayer Life: “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. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."

SUNDAY MESSAGE – In James 4:3, we are told: “You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”. As followers of Jesus, we are given the awesome privilege of being able to come before God, the Creator of the Universe, in our prayers. We are given a multitude of alternatives for our prayers that include prayers of "petition" (praying for one's own needs) and prayers of "intercession" (praying for the needs of others). God wants prayers of "petition" from us -- all our needs and concerns should be brought to Him in prayer because He loves and cares for us. However, God want us to, also, focus on others and their needs (intercession) -- physical and spiritual. "Intercessory prayer” is fundamental to deepening our prayer life and our personal relationship with God.

However, we often enter into our prayers unprepared – there is sin in our lives, or our prayers are all about “us”; and we seek “our will” and not “God’s will”. Therefore, we need to learn to “pray rightly”.  

To “pray rightly”, we need to consider: “1) Am I “clean” before the Lord – have I confessed the known sins in my life that I have not repented? 2) Am I in “communion with others” – are there people with whom I am not at peace? 3) Am I “confident in God’s Word” – do I believe God’s promises are true? 4) Am I “committed to God’s will” – am I committed to act on and obey God’s answer to my prayers even though His answer is not my desire? 5) Am I “centered in the Holy Spirit” – am I focused and tuned in on the Lord, filtering out the “noise of the world”? and 6) Am I “concerned for God’s Glory” – the ultimate purpose of our prayers is uplifting and glorifying God’s name?”.  c

Remember, Jesus taught us that: 1) God is more ready to answer prayer than we are ready to pray; and 2) we must be persistent in our prayers until we have an answer.

Pray specific prayers, in the Holy Spirit and in Scripture, for ourselves and for others -- be persistent.

 

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): James 4:3; Isaiah 59:1-2; 1 John 1:8; Matthew 5:23-24 Matthew 6:14; 1 Peter 3:7; Luke 11:9-13; Jeremiah 33:3; Philippians 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:7; Hebrews 11:6; 1 Peter 5:7; 1 John 5:14; Psalms 37:4; John 14:23; James 1:5;  Romans 8:26-27; John 14:26.

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How God Says He Loves Us: Part 1 -- The Covenant with Noah

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

We have a God that loves us so much, and God’s love for us is expressed to us through His “covenants”. Also, God’s “covenants” reveal to us His grace and faithfulness. In today’s message, we will discuss God’s Covenant with Noah. A “covenant” can be defined as an “oath or promise of God”. In a Biblical covenant: 1) God establishes the Covenant; 2) God always implies that “I am your God, and you are my people” – God desires a personal relationship with us; and 3) God sets the covenant’s terms and rulers.

In Genesis 6:5-22, the corruption of humanity, through mankind’s sin after the Fall, became too much for God, and He became sorry that He made mankind. From Genesis, we know that God “grieved in His heart” because of human evil, corruption, and violence. However, Noah found favor in the eyes of God. Noah was righteous and blameless, and Noah “walked with God”.

After destroying all humans and all other inhabitants of the earth, except for Noah, his family, those animals that Noah collected for His arch, God “blessed Noah in Genesis 9:1-29; and God established His covenant with Noah in Genesis 9:9-1:10,11-13: “’Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you . . . that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.’". Therefore, this covenant is not only with Noah and all other living things on the earth; but God’s covenant with Noah is with us too! The “rainbow” is a sign of this covenant between Noah and all humanity; and this “rainbow” is, also, a sign of God’s love, grace, and mercy.

In 1 Peter 3:18-21, the Apostle Peter relates Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, which is a redemptive covenant for our salvation, to God’s earlier covenant with Noah: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ . . .". In this text from 1 Peter, we learn that our “baptism” represents our Salvation through Jesus. Like Noah and his family, we have been saved “through the water” not “by the water”. Therefore, “baptism” is another covenant between God and all humanity, through God’s Grace, to save mankind from itself if we accept God’s Grace. God does not see us, now, in our sin like humanity’s evil of Noah’s time; rather, God sees us through the eternal (like the “rainbow”) “Justifying” covenant blood of Jesus.

 

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): Genesis 6:5-22; Genesis 9:1-29; 1 Peter 3:18-21; Psalms 28: 1-9.

 

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