All posts by AOCM

My name is Pastor Tony Catron I graduate from K.S.U. with a degree in electronic/electrical engineering. While doing that I became a Junior Deacon and also a musician in my dad's ministry in Cleveland, Ohio. Years later, my career took me to Michigan where I worked as a Electrical/Electronic Engineer. While in Michigan I became a Minister, then later went to Seminary training at Birmingham Bible Institute and became an Elder at a large Pentecostal church in Michigan called LLCC. I was called to the ministry by God. So I headed up an outreach ministry based on the End Times, dealing with restoration in people lives. Then my dad called me back to Ohio to help him Pastor his church. During that time, God changed my outreach ministry, turning it into a full-time restoration ministry. He gave me the name Ark of Covenant Ministries and the rest is history.

We are Who we Serve

Happy Sabbath to all! A day of rest, that is surely needed among the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives. Praise and worship this morning was nice and set the tone for us to hear what God has in store for us.

“We are Who we Serve: But I invite you to abundant life” is our topic today out of Isaiah chapters 53, 54, and 55. Are you tired and there seems to be no peace in your spirit? Things just feel out of balance? No fulfillment in your life, in your being? Looking for love that makes your life complete, alive and at peace? That will quiet those quiet moments? A peace not as men call it, but a peace that will hug you when your down and out, or when you feel like your not even worth being alive? A peace when your mind has so many conflicts. Too many decisions so many questions. There is a peace, a peace that passes all understanding.

Isaiah 53:1-12, 55:1-13
Isaiah 53:5- “but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” The word chastisement means to punish bodily. In the greek its spelled PAIDEUO meaning to train children. The word stripes means strokes or blows with a hammer, the mark or print of blows in the skin. Iniquities means wickedness or wicked acts.

All this was done to him for us. He suffered all the pain, crying and headaches that we would have had to experience, and experienced for Himself on our behalf. Because He suffered for us, we should not have to struggle. All we have to do is live for Him. We lack faith, when we don’t see an opportunity for faith, we should sill have faith. Its hard these days to really hold on to something that we can’t see, because we want to do it our way. Thats why the word says lean not to your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path. We have to stop questioning His motives.

Isaiah 54:4-17
“Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood anymore. For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called” 4-5.

The name Christianity has become synonymous with fanatical, uncaring, unloving, vengeful people. The name Christian really turns people off today. So how will we be able to invite  people to Christ; how are we going to overcome that stigmatism of Christianity that the world sees? In some ways we try to defend being a Christian. The term really means Christ like. When the world sees Christians (or people posing as being Christ like) acting a certain way, they say if this is the way God is, I don’t want to be a part of that God. Majority of times its a male who is seeing and saying these things. Even in the church, there are mostly all women in the church. If you see men, you’ll see them as musicians, a few deacons, a few ministers, security, or janitor. But in the actual service, you’ll see few, the church is full of women, which is not bad its a blessing. But God wants to bring men to cause that oneness to be there. So it leads you to the point; what are we doing to recover the whole family, the men to the house of God? We teach our women and children. Even in Isaiah 54:13 “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” We need to walk boldly in the words of God as a true Child of God, I don’t’ use the term Christian, but Child of God. We need to let men know that God needs them, young and old alike. So you need to welcome them to a life in God, showing them that they are needed and loved by God. In Isaiah 54:17 “no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.” There is power in this verse for both men and women.

God is not so much concerned about your money or clothing or food to eat or money you may have to give. Isaiah 55:3, 6,7 “incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” This is not being told to men. When a church has a strong men foundation it makes for a strong ministry.

In conclusion, we need to begin to not talk like the church, but walk like the chruch. No matter what comes against us remember this “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, for whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth” Psalm 121.

If you have questions concerning what we’ve talked about today, comment below or email us ataocministries@yahoo.com.

Too Many Incompletes in Our Lives

James 1:1-20, 2 Corinthians 8:10-20, John 19:30

How many things have we started and left unfinished? “I’ll get to it later, I’ll do it tomorrow,” yet later and tomorrow for those things never comes. Time can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

Complete means to bring to an end, fully carry out, to make full. The greek word for complete is epiteleo or exartizo; to fit out or make exact. When Jesus looked up and said it is finished, He didn’t wait for the next day to say it; he didn’t hesitate. He came and completed what He was tasked to do by God.

So, as in the natural, is in the spiritual. When you wait until the last minute, you rush, and when you rush, your work is not done properly. 2 Corinthians 8:10-20, is an example of Paul trying to tell a group who had started a task a year prior to continue on in what they started to “perform the doing of it.” When you fail to complete a project in your life, it affects the outcome of other things in your life. Tomorrow may be too late, we know not the day or hour the Son of Man comes. How would you like Jesus to come in the middle of your incompleteness?

If your tasked to go 100 miles to pick up a very important supply shipment for people who are in need and you say I’ll do it tomorrow, instead of right then and there, what do you think the outcome will be? When you start out, you find you only make it 50 miles because the road that you normally travel on, is under construction. Now, those people in need, aren’t helped and harm befalls them, simply due to your incompleteness. You’ve not completed your task. If the Lord has given you a gift to restore and bring health back to people, and you put off using it, you yourself may fall ill and end up not utilizing your gift. So it behooves us not to procrastinate, but COMPLETE it, with the utmost urgency. The same in the natural, is the same in the spiritual.

Who is Christ?

Its February 21, 2015, and another week has come to a close. Its the sabbath and our day for rest, and devotion to our God in fellowship with Him and in fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

This week, we are looking into Isaiah chapters 52-53. These chapters are a depiction of Jesus. Isaiah seems to describe in detail about Jesus as if he were actually at the cross. Although the scripture doesn’t indicate who Isaiah saw, it was revealed to him that someone would take away sins.

53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

This “servant” was not that of a beautiful individual. He was a common man. We’ve been lulled to sleep by the books and media that Christ was a handsome, tall stature of a man, with long blond hair and blue eyes. This just isn’t biblical.

One of the questions that was asked about these chapters is based on the description of “the servant,” in the eyes of Isaiah, could attributes of the servant be comparable to attributes of God Himself? Although, we can’t speak for Isaiah, based on the knowledge that he had about God’s attributes from the law and other old testament writings during his time, it is very likely that this servant could be compared to God.

This was a very interesting study and worth taking a good look at as it is one of the passages in scripture that describe our Messiah in detail concerning what He accomplished for us at cavalry.

Happy Sabbath Friends

If ever there was a time for rest it is now! This week has been long, and its refreshing to take some time and slow down. We honor the Father this Sabbath in resting and we honor Him in our service today, giving Him the praise and glory through His son and our Savior Jesus.

The scripture reading today is Daniel chapter 12 and Isaiah 57.

Isaiah 57 is referring to the healing of the backslider. To correlate to everyday life, we have to be very careful about what we are putting our attention into on a daily bases. Anything that removes your mind from loving God is dangerous. That “anything” can become your God. You need to forsake and move away from those things. We try to justify our sins, and make God out to be a “loving” God who forgives no matter what. However, our hearts need to change.

Moving onto Daniel 12, we as believers are suppose to support and encourage one another in the last days. In the sales word there is a selling tactic know as the “Law of Average.” You talk to 75 people. Out of the 75 you may get 25 that consider; out of the 25 You may get 10 who seriously consider; out of the 10 you may get 5 who Are serious to commit. This is the same sort of tactic we as believers need to utilize to win souls. Daniel 12:2 says that some will awake to everlasting contempt and shame. How would you like to awake to shame because you didn’t do anything for Christ; if you let something else distract you from your walk in Him?

Lets get back to fellowship with Him; lets get back to doing what He has give us as individuals do in in Him. Lets get back to Christ.

Shabbat Shalom

This past Shabbat was intimate and cozy, and a much needed day of rest for us all!

The scripture reading was in 2 Kings 22-23. A very interesting story about a one of the kings who’d come to rein at the age of 8, who was reported to do all that was right in the eyes of the Lord. During his rein the book of the Law was found, and this king did everything in his power to take the children of Israel back to following God by doing his law. He took down everything abominable and rededicate the nation back to its God.