Tag Archives: christian

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How Much of what You Do is for You, Not Jesus

Do we ever think how much of our day is spent concerning us than the things of Christ? As we ponder here in the house of God today, what has been your most involved thought this morning? Even before you started your day this morning, or even now. Do we ever realize how much of our day we spend thinking about what is most important to us personally and not of Christ or of benefiting of others? Sometime we, exclusive of Christ, can be the most
selfish people there are, because our hearts are so much involved with our desires, that evil thoughts
can invade our hearts. We tend to think that we need this or that, when Jesus said in Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Jesus also said that we should take more care for the things of others than ourselves. In a nut shell, how well do we know ourselves and what are our motives in Christ Jesus? Why do you do the things you do? Is it because you love Him, fear Him, or because you have nothing else to do?

Luke 6:44-48
For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

Many people in Church today are showing up. To do what? Absolutely nothing. It becomes a routine or pattern. “I come to Church because I’ve been told to come to Church,” or because “The scripture says fail not to assemble yourselves together.” Its better that there be two honest people in the Church, than a whole Church full of folks that have the Devil in them. Anybody can see a body, anybody can have a body. But nobody knows about the body that is coming in. We all pretend we are of One Body, but the body doesn’t know about its own body. “We are of the Body of Christ.” Are we in the Body of Christ? If so, what body is that? The Word of God say that if you’re apart of My body the things I do you’ll do…the things I say you’ll say. The first part of Luke 6:44-48 says for every tree is known by its own fruit. Isn’t that something? You know an apple tree because you see apples on them; a lemon tree because you see lemons on them; a peach tree because it has peaches; a plumb tree because it has plumbs; and a pear tree because it has pears. You know everything by the fruit it bears. You plant seeds for potatoes and you get cucumbers how will you feel? So we want what we want, and everything that looks like what it looks like is suppose to be what it is. So when we see the Children of God walking down the street do we know if they are apart of the body? Everyone has a “talking game,” but you’re known by your fruit.

What is you’re foundation? How did you set your foundation? Was it built upon the words of other people, and not on the Word of God? When you build upon the words of other people and not the Word of God, its easily manipulated and washed out of you and replaced with what you heard. When you go to an all you can eat, buffet style restaurant, grabbing your plate, you don’t put everything on the buffet on it. You pick and choose exactly what you want. Are the people of God today, picking and choosing what Word they want in their foundation? If you don’t choose the right things in your foundation, you have no glue that will bring everything together. All of the Word of God is good for the edification of the Body, so we shouldn’t pick and choose. We take the time to pick and choose what we want to believe from God, but not what God wants to believe in us. Its not what you want, its what you need. You need this because God needs to perfect in you a thing. What is our purpose here in the world? To be a light for the world. But our lights are dim. What is your foundation today? How much of what we do is for us and not Christ?

Ephesians 4:20-27
But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your
wrath: Neither give place to the devil.

If you’re foundation in Christ is true and sure, why is your conversation sounding like when you were in the world? Was your foundation structured and sure? You’ve already been taught of Him. What part of the teaching did you hear and not hear? If you’ve been taught Christ, then your foundation should be sure. The only thing you should be concerned about is how to walk in Christ. You will get flustrated. Flustration leads to disappointment, and disappointment leads to being disappointed in yourself. You’re foundation may be sure, but things come by that may shake your foundation. Then you have to look back and see what caused the shaking. Were you being the “old you?” Its comfortable to be the “old you,” but the “new you,” isn’t so much. The “new you,” pushes you outside your comfort zone. Don’t give place to the devil. Don’t give him the keys to your house. Whatever was in our foundation that shook it, its a door way for Satan.

Isaiah 43:6-7
I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

So as you can see we were made for God’s glory, not for our own. Nobody can do what each of us can do, because He has assigned it us. So why procrastinate? Why are we only motivated to do something when it fit our needs? How would you feel if someone didn’t appreciate the gift you’ve given them? Would you give them a gift again? A poem by C. T. Studd from “’Twill Soon Be Past” reads “Only one life ’twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” Even though this is not in the Bible, I can see why this phrase has stood the test of time because when you look at your life it will tell others the truth about how you are or were your life is in Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Colossians 3:16-17
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Psalms 37:7-10
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

You must be patient. You cannot put God on a time schedule. What happens when you’re patient? In your patience, you shall inherit the Earth.

John 15:16-20
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

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It’s Only a Test to See Where You’re At

In other arenas some call it a wake up call. Has there ever been a time in your life were it
seems like nothing was going right for you? It appears that ever time you take two steps
forward, sometimes it fills like you got kicked a yard backward. Even when you just got freed from a
thing, here comes a person, place or thing popping back up in your life again, trying to remind you
of what you did in the past. Then all of a sudden your mind starts to reminisce of what had
transpired in your past, weather good or bad, and the more you reflect on the past, you begin to
live in that past again, drawing from all the emotions, either good or bad. Then once
again you’re bound, forever looking behind you, never in front of you. As you know no one can ever
grow in their life looking behind themselves. Even as the Bible say that a person can’t plow
their field looking back (Luke 9:62).

Luke 9:59-62
And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

“It’s just a test too see where you’re at!”

When you look at the word “It’s”: This denotes an advent in your life that has caused you to slow
down or even halts your process in your Psyche (soul or mind) but heighten your sense.

Now when we look at the word TEST: which is the procedure intended to establish the quality
performance, or reliability of something before wide spread use.

Now in the case of a Christian it is becoming self-awareness in your Spiritual walk and growth before the Lord can use you. You must remember Jesus is making you into someone He can use for the kingdom but
breaking and disconnecting from your attachment to this world. So if your going through any situation and it seems like there is no end and no answer, just remember that the Lord Jesus will not put no more on you then you can bear without giving you a way of escape.

1 Corinthians 10:13
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

We must remember that Jesus is making a new creature in you for Him; a vessel that holy and acceptable for His use and His will. What greater faith and love the Lord Jesus has in us to make us just like Him?!

Example:
The old samurai sword maker spent months and sometime even years to make the ultimate
sword that any emperor or king would use and pass down through out generations.The blade
would be almost perfect. But the process to achieve that end takes a lot of heating, folding,
beating, cooling over and over again; thousands of time over months and years. Don’t refuse the heat and don’t refuse the beating. In other words don’t complain because of your tests or your trials of temptation, health, finance, and any affairs of the heart.

James 1:1-4
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

He will not put nothing on you that will cause you to sin or to turn from Him. We just have to see it through to the end no matter what. He already saw the best in you when you on saw the worst in you. You saw failure and He saw victory in you. Remember your are that samurai sword that’s being made into perfection, ready to be used by the king of glory!

Reference scriptures:
1. Ephesians 6:1-14 putting on the whole Armor of God
2. Phil 11:29 believe and suffer for him.
3. Gal. 5:1 be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage
4. Rev. 3:20 he’s knocking at the door.

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Weigh it Before You Say it Part 2

1 John 4:1-5

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

Everyone who calls themselves a Christian is not always a Christian. Just because they wear the implements of the house doesn’t make them a part of the house. Just because someone comes into your house and sits in your chair doesn’t make them a part of your house. Just because someone comes into the Church, doesn’t make them a Christian. Just because a person says they love Jesus, but doesn’t show it, doesn’t mean they are a Christian. People always say I love the “Lord,” or “I Love God,” or “The Spirit of God.” They never mention the name Jesus. He is the One that died for you, not God, not His spirit.

No one can say that they love the Holy Ghost or Jesus when they don’t have a personal relationship. What is a personal relationship? You walk together, you eat together, you cry together, you pray together, when you wake up in the morning you say Jesus, when you get in the car and go somewhere you say “Lord watch over me.” You have to have a relationship with that individual before you can claim to be of that individual. It’s the same thing with Christ. You have to have a relationship with Him before you can call Him your Christ, Lord, friend, confidant, comforter…if you don’t have a relationship, you don’t have the right to call Him your Saviour. So when people go around saying I love Jesus, and their fruit is not good…then you know one thing, they don’t have a personal relationship with Him. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, what is it? A duck. If a person says they’re a Child of God and does everything like the world, then are they a Christian? If you don’t have a relationship with Him, you shouldn’t call…you remember Peter? The Lord looked at Peter and said before the cock crowed twice, you’ll deny Me thrice. Peter walked with Him, prayed with Him, ate with Him, confided in Him, Peter had a relationship with Him and still denied Him. So if Peter had a relationship, and you don’t, who are you? If you forget everything else I say, remember this: you must have a relationship. No relationship, no Jesus. If you are a Child of the King, its how you handle yourself. People know you by your Father’s scent…His clothing…His heart. By your heart being the same as His, people will want to be around you, because they want His heart, but they sometimes go the back way to get His heart. They stand behind Jesus and say “I love You,” rather than face Him head on. This is how they claim they’re a Child of God. They are no different from others that want to be a part of something, but not connected to it. So what did Peter say when the girl kept saying she saw Him with Jesus? He denied Him. It’s important that we realize one thing, that we need to know to build a relationship. You can accept Him, but once you do, you must build a relationship so you can hear His voice. His sheep hear His voice, and a stranger they won’t follow. He wants us to realize that He only hears the voice of His children. If you hear a baby crying, do you go and find out about the child? No, you hope that the child’s parents do.

When you speak something out of your mouth, make sure there is some commitment behind it. Don’t say I’m going to do this, so help me God. You just swore and lied all at once. Before something comes out of your mouth weigh it. Make sure you can fulfill the agreement. Your tongue signs contracts all day long, but never fulfills them. We make a contract with Christ all the time saying “Yes, I will do what You want.” And when He tells us, we say “That will be kind of hard.” He says go and apologize to the person you hurt, and we say “that will be hard.” Why is it so hard? Because we’ve said everything under the sun about that individual, everything but their name. We do these things because we’re guilty. That is why before you say something out of your mouth, make sure you weigh it. A kind word turns away wrath. As Christians, our moto should be weigh it before you say it.

Colossians 4:5-6

Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Weigh it before you say it as pertains to making an agreement or contract or vow to the Lord.

Ecclesiastes 5: 1-7

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words. 

This is an awesome saying. Keep your mouth when you get into the house of God, If you don’t have anything good to say don’t say anything at all. You talk nice to people, and entreat them with love.

Ecclesiastes 5:4

When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. 

You have to realize one thing, people don’t pay their bills, that is why we have bill collectors. There is no overstretched pay with the Lord, He gives a heavenly discount. If you make a vow to the Lord, you’d better pay it. I’m going to wait to hear from you before I do this. You’d better wait to hear from Him. Most people make vows to the Lord and don’t fulfill them. Then pay up time comes up, and we try to get out of it.

Ecclesiastics 5:6-7

Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.

Don’t let your mouth make a contract that your behind can’t pay. If you can’t do something, don’t agree to it. Don’t say something you can’t fulfill. Be very cautious with whatever comes out your mouth.

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What Does Jesus Need to do to Breakthrough to You?

In the Word of God, we say we understand, but we still do what we do. When people look at you, what do they see? Do they see the real you or a mirror image of what’s in you or on you? A lot of times spirits see spirits. If people look at you and see a spirit on you, they aren’t looking at you but the spirit that is controlling you. When you look in the mirror what do you see? Not what you’re wearing. What do you see when you look at you? Think about Michael Jackson’s song, Man in the Mirror. “I’m looking at the man in mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways.” He took a good clear look at himself. Have you ever taken a good clear look at yourself? What we usually see is what we’ve done in the past or what we’re going through. Maybe what people say about us. We tend to take that upon ourselves that they say “I’m this or that,” and you look in the mirror and say “is that who I really am?” After that we begin to do a self evaluation of our worth, tearing down the real us and say that couldn’t be me.

Snow white. The wicked queen sent her troops out to find the mirror. Mirror, mirror on the wall who’s the most beautiful woman of them all? You aren’t the most. There is one more beautiful. Snow White. The wicked queen sent someone out to kill her niece, but Snow White survived. The wicked queen in actuality was the ugliest one of all.

When we look in the mirror it will show us who we are. It can’t show your inside but will only reflect the outside. We stand before a mirror so we can be presentable before others because we’re concerned about what others think about how we look. During the 1970s and 1980s there was an opening of hearts and minds of people, dressing how they want, looking how they want. When I was growing up you had to look neat and dress properly. They didn’t believe in sagging, we only knew that was something that came from prison, because you only sagged to let another man know you were a woman. Why are young men sagging now? Its a style now to let other people see your underwear. Men need the companionship and intimacy of a woman, and when you lock and cage them up, they begin to revert to being dogs, mating with anything they can mate with. He tends to change the weakest man in there and converts him to be a woman in his eyes. He expects that man to be a woman to him, not to anyone else, just to him. If you can’t defend yourself against a bunch of men, they will try to kill you to convert you. Once you have become docile as a man, if you know anything about male dogs/wolves, they will turn their hind section to a dominate male, letting them know that they’re submissive. This happens in prison. You are no longer who you are. If young men out here are sagging, if you walk like a duck, talk like a duck, what are you? A duck. If you do what the world does, if your lifestyle is like the world then how are the people in the world going to perceive you?

But pastor I only do a little bit of it. What is that saying? Pastor I drink a little alcohol, but that doesn’t make me an alcoholic. I only go to the bar because they have good pretzels and chips. If you go into the bar drink a little beer and another saint comes by and sees you coming out the bar, what will they say? Nothing to you. The Bible says don’t let your good be evil spoken of. If you are not a crackhead, why do you have a spoon in your hand with a lighter?

What does Jesus need to do to break through to you, because its you who is doing what you are doing. If you look like the world, act like the world, talk like the world…the what are you? Of the world. We have to be excited about mimicking after Jesus not this world. Does this world have a heaven for you, or a place you can go not to worry about pain and anguish? The Bible says, mark yourself after the perfect One. Mark yourself after your Lord and Savior. A lot of the modern day people have people they like in sports, but when they begin to become idols then there is a problem.

All of a sudden you start living you life according to the broken bits and pieces of how others and you feel. Sometimes you’ll do things without ever really noticing, living your life according to what someone said about you or talked about you. When you live your life according to the world’s word, and not according to the Word of God, then you take on the responsibilities of the world. The Word becomes 2nd place in your life. The Bible tells us that by their fruits they will know them. What does a Christian really look like? Are you a Christian? Are you living the life of a Child of the most High God? The Bible says there is no name under heaven given where by men must, no probably, must be saved, except the name of Jesus Christ because He’s the One who died for our sins. How long halt you between 2 opinions? Either you’ll be a Child of God or child of the world.

What does God need to do to breakthrough to you? What does He need to do? What does He need to do to get you to do what you’re suppose to do and live for Him? Does He have to beat you up in every trial and every test, every time you turn around your going through? How many remember the song I Surrender All? “I surrender all, all to thee my blessed saviour.” When we say surrender all we don’t really understand what that means. A lot of times we surrender all or bits or pieces. We’re suppose to say all but we do some of the time. All means everything. All. That means your problems, your finances, your emotional situation, it means all. Because He can fix it all.

Ecclesiastes 7:10-25

Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun. For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him. All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness. Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself ? Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all. Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city. For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee: For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others. All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out? I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:

1 Samuel 16:1 And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.”How long will you mourn Saul?” Is someone caught in the past?

1 Samuel 16:2-3 And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee.

Israel needs a replacement king. Most were thinking it would fall underneath the lineage, staying all in the family of Saul. But the Lord said it would come out of one of Jesse’s sons. When you’re going through something and God is trying to promote you, He will take you from among everyone else. It could be family friends…He will take you out of them because you’re not like…them. So He pulls you out. I’m not saying that they are not believing in God, but He pulls you out because you’re not like them.

1 Samuel 16:4-7 And Samuel did that which the Lord spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord‘s anointed is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

When God gets ready to promote you to something, He’ll push them all away from around you. Because its you that He wants, because you are going to take care of the mission. He saw something in you that He didn’t see in them. God will wait for your time to be who you are in Him, and He will push everybody else aside. No matter how much you may fight it. When there is a great call on your life, God is going to direct you.

1 Samuel 16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.

Romans 8:30-39

Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 

Shall your headache, health, problems, circumstances? What shall separate you from His love?

36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What does Jesus need to do to get through to you? Nothing. He doesn’t have to do anything to break through to you. Who can open the door to a building if you have the key? You need to unlock the door to your heart and let God come in freely. If you can’t unlock the door, He will never get in. So you need to take you out of the equation. Amen.

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Do You Need the Validation of Others?

Matthew 6:1-6

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

 

Do you need the famous work “ok,” do you need to hear that word often to make you fit in your surrounds? Do you need a pat on the back after you’ve finished that job or task you were assigned to do? Do you surround yourself with people who always give you compliments? Are you constantly in need of encouragement? Do you really care about what people say about you? If you were able to answer yes to any of these questions, then its time for you be self built up in your most holy faith, without the need or the “ok” or the validation of anyone in your life to make you feel secure about you in you Christian walk, without you having the need to lift you up or give you praise.

 

Matthew 5:13-16

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

 

You are the salt of the earth. Salt is to make something better, taste better more palatable. When you look at that understanding, God has made you the salt of the earth. If you are the salt of the earth, what does He expect from you? It only takes a little salt to change something from what it used to taste like to make it better. It is a savory taste used to enhance, change or preserve something after being changed. Once it has been placed in the food or seasoning, that salt will preserve what was changed from one taste to the other. When you see that, understand this when the Lord said you are the salt of the earth. We were sent here to changed the direction things were going and preserve it. Once Christ gave us walking in the good news of what HE came to bring, He has placed that inside of you. You don’t need to be validated by any man, child, woman, or thing. He has made you the head and not the tail of somebody. If you’re not made the tail of somebody and you are the head, then why does the head need to talk to someone else other than Christ who is the head? You don’t need to go to any other individual to get God’s will of what He promised He said He’d do for you. Can you not count on other people? He will send you pastors after His own heart for you, leading and guiding to individuals in your own life, there to support you and keep your mind focused on the purpose that God has given you for your walk in Christ, mission in Christ and more than that for you to stay strong in His will.

God has not given us the spirit of fear. Some of us go around allow fear to dominate what God has placed into our lives to help us go forth in ministry so that we can do our part, touch the hearts minds and lives of individuals to bring them into the understanding of who Christ is. So when you allow salt to be the structure that you form yourself after, and do what it does, it will change the taste of, or change the heart of, it will make every change and preserve the change that is made earlier because of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that keeps us and gives us purpose.

If you don’t know your purpose in Christ, taking advice from men, without consulting God first, then you will be lead down a false road of security until you run into that first bump in the road. If you don’t believe in something, you will fall for anything. That is why its so important that you fail not to assemble yourself together, because someone may be going through the same thing you are. God has not given us the spirit of fear but of a sound mind. You can’t have a sound mind if you are listening to every individual who you think may have a word from God. If you’re not aware of how you are affecting your surroundings by your stability in who you are, and what purpose Christ has for you if you’re not aware of that, and you have no focus, how will you be an effective child of God?

The Bible says an unstable person is unstable in all his ways. If you don’t have focus and balance in your life, everything around you will not have focus and balance. What purpose do you have and serve, what good are you for? You are not up to par on being a Child of God. How can you be the salt of the earth? If you are allowing individuals to esteem you, validate and extol you, praise you and pat you on the back, that becoming your lifestyle looking forward to those things, then how effective of a Christian would you be? You’re waiting for validation from things around you. No, no, no. Christ can not use you because you need something other than Christ, other than the Holy Ghost, that strengthens you and guides you. If you have no stability what kind of example are you setting in your own house? If you are not sure what God’s perfect will or purpose for your life is, how can you be an example for those in your own home? Do you want everybody in your house to look up to you, and you go looking for someone else to check your validation of what you are doing and saying is correct? That has been the problem with a lot of people in this day, they look so much of what people are saying about them, looking at them, and they are allowing that to control what they say, do, and how they act.

As a Christian, you can not allow individuals to guide you or lead you for their own purpose. You have to make sure that it is coming from the Holy Ghost. The Word said it will lead you and guide you into all truth (John 16:13). Its time out for waiting to hear from a prophet, from an apostle, from a pastor, from a Bishop, from a friend, from a boss, from a loved one, its time to listen and read your word because God said He will lead and guide you. No don’t get it wrong, I’m not trying to say don’t get away from the leaders, if they are men of God, they are going to enhance and encourage and push you forward in what God has ordained for your life. If you have a mentor, whether Bishop, Pastor, friend or loved one, always check what they tell you with the Word of God, and the Holy Ghost that is in you will lead you to the right understanding. The Word of God says lean not to your own understanding, acknowledge Him and he shall direct your path (Proverbs 3:5-6). Don’t look for anyone else, to your own understanding, but lean to the Word of God, through prayer and supplication, God will give you the answer, and to every answer, He gives there will be a witness to that answer.

Don’t show yourself off to the world to validate that you are a Christian. You need not be on national tv with a banner in your hand or any such thing alike declaring that you are against this and you are a Christian, so others will see you and say “oh that is a Christian.” The world doesn’t know what a Christian is, all they know is what a Christian does. So when you have an issue with a particular thing, take it to God and pray about it, or get together corporately with a group of baptized believers where you are all standing in agreement. Where there are two or three touching and agreeing on a thing, He is in the midst (Matthew 18:19).

 

Romans 6:12

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

 

By us operating and doing things using our hands, ears, nose, arms, legs, for the purpose of Christ, he said remember you should act as though you’ve just risen from the dead. Before when you were in the world, you were dying. Now you are alive in Christ, and if so, don’t exemplify the deeds of someone who was dead, but exemplify yourself and one being alive from the dead of the world, alive in Christ. Behold you are a new creature old things have passed away.