The Flesh in Conflict with The Spirit

The Flesh in Conflict with The Spirit                   11-9-14         Kelly Durant

Romans 8:5-10 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

2. There are some new high tech toy devices out that can monitor your heartbeat, body activity and temperature all day long. That would be a cool Christmas gift, right?  They seem good for those that need to monitor their health, especially for those that have issues. I was thinking about this, brainwaves have already been read and images printed of thoughts so how amazing it would be in the future if there was a monitor that could take a record of when a person was thinking thoughts of the flesh, or thoughts of the spirit. What would your monitor read throughout the day? What do you think, do, and say all day long that you may not be aware of? Are you more “in the flesh” or “in the spirit”?

We must dig deeper as to what it means to live carnally minded or spiritually minded. To be spiritually minded means to have peace and be full of love with no appetites to sin just because God’s spirit is with you! (Romans 8:10). It means you will not be living with conflict in your head over your personal desires or issues with other people, but rather you live in the spirit praying over everything having the assurance God is in control handling everything! You feel good, you love everyone, and God’s love flows through you like a fountain. But people that are not fountains are drains! People in the flesh are like a dark energy sucking the joy, spirit, and life out of you just by their actions, words, and intentions.

The people that live only for the flesh, or in the flesh, live restless and without peace.  They are as the living dead even though they are still in their body and they are tortured with pride, appearances, lust, envy, addictions, frustrations and anger. Let’s examine further what is in the mind of a carnal person and then contrast that to the life of a spiritual person.

3. Sometimes we forget how mentally tortured others can be! Can you feel or read people’s thoughts, and pick up on subliminal body language which reveals attitudes? Does this awareness of people seem evident to you? What I will mention here doesn’t happen so often in our Corps, as not so many new unconverted people come in to visit, but typically there is a reaction from a carnal person when visiting a church that I, and any observer, can observe.

When the carnally minded man steps into the church he automatically gets uncomfortable and on the defensive because he notices that he is not glowing with happiness from the Holy Spirit as the other people.  His carnal mind is in the dark to notice that it is a wonderful day and that it is a great to be with others who praise the Lord; that it is a special time to give and receive love exchanging words of encouragement with others, thanking God to be alive worshiping Him in appreciation. Instead in his mind is full of frustrations, self-centered emotions and animosities due to his carnal-ness, which is programmed to function only around his pride, jealousy, anger, and envy. He/she is basically like an animal or beast that only seeks to gain something. He/she is unaware how oblivious his/her emotions and intentions are to discerning Spirit filled Christians around him/her.

His suspicious eyes scan over the Christian people and when he sees a brother whom he perceives by appearances imagines that he has a good situation, a better house, or car than his, he already just doesn’t like that brother or sister and may even say that he just doesn’t like them. He may look at the women and get frustrated thinking none of them are the kind he likes since he likes to party but they all appear too spiritual and holy for him.  He isn’t touched by the music or preaching either because that is just taking up his time interfering with him being able to mingle and talk to others about the business deals he would like to do with the people.  Do you get the picture of what is in the head of those with carnal mindsets? I know I and most of us often forget that not everyone has good intentions. Christians can often be naïve forgetting how others in the flesh are.

4. It really is a case study to observe the unsaved carnally minded person surrounded by holy loving Christians! You subliminally perceive the confusion on their face as they try to rationally comprehend how a Christian could come week after week to church just for God and not for a personal gain; not for something monetary for himself. What is his conclusion? That the church people are really crazy, ignorant, and manipulated fools! The carnal mind finds no explanation for those who find pleasure in just simple worship of God, Bible study, and fellowship with one another!

For the spiritual person, fellowship, prayer, Bible study, worship, and a Biblical message recharges their spirit battery and energizes their faith! They get empowered and full of the spirit! But for the carnal person visiting these spiritual things just burns their fuses in their carnal minds and perplexes their spirit! They are in shock at what they observe, and they fear getting asked to participate in something since they don’t understand how it works or how to control it. Only those living in God’s spirit get energized by the things of God and only by becoming loving in living in His spirit will one ever have peace and please Him!

As mentioned in verse 6; the unconverted unspiritual carnally minded people are living in death and to them feeling dead is normal! The outlandish unsaved carnally minded crowd have always been very public making a ruckus to try to awaken a feeling of some kind in their bodies with the hope they could get rid of that empty and dead feeling with stimulations. Many articles have labeled the music industry and Hollywood as “cultures of death” since drugs, alcohol, suicide, and early deaths seem to be the norm.  How sad it is to note that people are preprogramed for self-destruction and death without God in their lives! Without God we are dead spiritually and this invokes a premature physical death!

5. Every generation seems to have a portion of rebellious youth that have always craved excitement, and had an appetite for death and destruction! This excessiveness may even be from being possessed by a demon or from the influence of demons and from bad friends, or the media.  It reminds me of these verses where a youth had a demon and his parents felt helpless. Mark 9:21-23 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. 22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. 23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Jesus freed him from the demons! Today suicide tendencies are on the rise and this is from people wanting their dead feeling to stop and they wish to feel something, even if it is pain! Only Jesus can stop self-destruction!

We know zombies have been popular in the media. They are meaningless ugly fictional carnivores, mass invasions of the dead, and what a waste of time! Well even from the trash of Hollywood a few good things can be found, this actually portrays an excellent analogy to the condition of people in the world today, insatiable, destructive, carnal, and worthy of being terminated! But despite how horrific people are, God still gives them a chance to have a new spirit! So if Jesus had the patience to be crucified in order to save ‘whosoever’, how much more we all need patience with those who have not come to live in God’s spirit!

There is a mass crowd of humanity that all they want to do is consume and feed their passions and lusts, never getting satisfied, and never feeling remorse for all the people they harm never caring about their destructiveness. They are dead in the spirit and the fruit of all of what they do is destructive. They live at war with those that are living in the spirit. Those of us who know God and are spiritual try to warn them, stop them, and save them at all cost, but they must choose it.

6. After having to face the reality that we live in a society surrounded by a vast majority that are carnally minded, how should we respond? Change begins with you, you can choose to include Jesus in every thought, in every action, and in everything living in the Spirit! Verse 10 makes it clear, “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness”.

So how do you know if you have God’s spirit in you? After receiving Jesus I know most of you pray and have asked the Holy Spirit to be in you but you must repeat that prayer often, maybe daily! We need renewing! Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (washing and renewing means repeating the process) You and I have to get renewed minute by minute and we have to practice seeing through the eyes of holiness. If we could just learn to practice 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing”, we would have Jesus spirit guiding us in all matters to respond correctly to all situations.

7. At any moment the enemy can temp anyone of us with some random divisive accusatory thought.  For example, you may see your brother or sister in church and the enemy may lie to you, ‘Oh, they act like a saint in church, but I bet they are a devil in their home’! So remember the verse in James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. This formula really does work, just resist the temptation to dwell on things you perceive to be negative taking you to a dead end since the things of death are depressing.

If the devil can’t get you to get dirty fighting with the world’s carnal people because you are too busy loving and helping them, then he tempts you to fight with the saints! The flesh and the Spirit are at war all day long!

Don’t you want to see everyone in the world saved by Jesus, blessed and happy? Only you can make the connection with God and have a new glorious fulfilled lifestyle living in the Spirit. You and I can reach this holiness purity by living in the Spirit of God, in wholesomeness and love, working at it daily, dying daily to our sinful nature, filling our hearts and minds with God’s word!

8. Ever since I have tried this life in the spirit, I can personally testify it is the best way to live! I would not trade this life of being blessed with love and peace, life and hope, of being dead to the rule of sin for nothing! Sure, the devil tries to trick me as he does you at times to imagine that sin is delicious, but since I (and you) already have had a taste of that before we know it is not true, and we reject it!

Jesus transforming spirit transformed our lives, we already have learned that sin and carnality is a mental torture and a life of death! A life of death means you feel guilty and ashamed, even suicidal, always fearing the future judgment and condemnation of deserved reattribution for your wrong! So let the light in and the darkness will flee! We please God by cultivating our spirit with His and escape death. Life and death cannot occupy the same time and space! Seek the Spirit of God and unexplained emotions will confirm in your spirit that with Jesus all things will conduct you into His life of love and righteousness! Rom 8: 10 ‘And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.’ This is life!

Be Sad, Mad, then Glad!

How to Worship Our Emotional God!

Be Sad, Mad, then Glad! Worship God!  Kelly Durant 

We just got to visit out daughter and one thing very funny about her I that remember is that when she was little she was very emotional! Maybe something happened and she would cry big tears but then if I did few faces or something I could get her to laugh and she would go from crying to an instant laugh and it was so funny!

How many of you often get sad? If we are made in the image of God then all the emotions we feel, He feels, right! But what makes you sad?

Do you get sad about it when you discover there is abuse happening and you see others suffering? On our trip we saw a documentary on the abuse done o monkeys for experiments and it affected Regina, I think any type of abuse, to animals or people affects us in a bad way!

Maybe in the day, during the week you get sad about things that you suffer in your home with misunderstandings between you and your mate or family. Or we get sad by injustices at our jobs too, right?  In Atlanta before we would be sad when we would know of someone getting deported and their family was split up and their children would be without a father.

Deportation is the law for non-documented, I am not refuting what the law does, we obey the laws but the consequences in real life do provoke women and children to suffer! Our founder William Booth said, that while women and children weep as they do, he will fight!

There are so many things that will make us sad in this world because we live in a fallen world full of injustices and sin! But God wants these moments to be times in which we seek him. God wants us to share our sadness with Him.

He wants to be our comforter!

There is a type of sadness that can clean us inside too, a sadness that we discover exists because we are offending God and others by our ways.

James 4:6-11

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

God is telling us in James that he wants to see us humble, he wants to see us sad and weep, or at least give a place for it.  He does not want us to be always happy, there is time to be sad, and later there is a time to be glad.

Remember, the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” Why did he weep? He was sad because the people did not love nor seek God! He was sad because he knew of the judgment that would come over Jerusalem because of their lack of worship and recognition of God!

How do we worship an emotional God? We share in his sadness. This is the first step in getting close to God, the first requirement to worship Him is to have a humble, contrite (or sad) or broken heart.

Let’s turn to the sermon on the Mount and see what Jesus says.

Matt 5:4

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

God is there to comfort us when we weep, wither over the problems of others, or over our own problems.

Sometimes God wants us to cry not over what sadness we feel but over the sadness He feels for us because we are often so proud and not clean in His presence, we have hearts that need cleaning because we are not in love with Him wanting to be with Him in prayer and  word  everyday!

Today we are studying how our emotional God wants us to worship Him, or Be in His presence. We can discover that the first step God requires sadness, a weeping but then He will give us comfort and joy!

He needs us to have the right attitude of soberness to see our own sin and feel sadness that we are hurting Him by having that sin. So the first step is we must mourn over our sin.

Neh 8:9

9 And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.

In this verse the people of Israel had lived in sin and they, like you or most of the people around you, had not heard the law or Word of the Lord for all their lives and when they heard it they started to weep. That was a good result, because their weeping showed they were sorry for their sins, that they were convicted they needed to be closer to God.

 Let’s look up    Isa 61:1-3

61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

These are the very first words Jesus taught in the temple when we began His ministry.  Isaiah 61. The concept is that every person is just like Israel that sinned. We mourn and we are broken over our sins but the Lord will give us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; so He will be glorified.

The Lord is Good and He does not want us to always be sad, but it is a something He requires in order to get out spirits right.         Eccl 3:4

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance

After we are sad we should become mad, angry at our selves and angry against the sin in the world so there is conviction to change. The Holy Spirit in our lives brings this change and that comes by a humbling and asking.

We should be angry enough to change our lives, that is the 2^nd step in worshipping God.

It is like a man that goes out every weekend to spend his money gambling and drinking, and finally when he wakes up and sees that he works all week sweating and working hard just to spend his hard earned money in just a few hours, he gets mad at himself enough times that he finally stops being a fool.

 Ps 7:11

11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

If you are like God you will be angry too and angry at the sin you have in your life.

But do not confuse the anger of God, the anger that means we take the conviction to hate the evil enough to change. Recall..

James 1:19-20

19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

And 3^rd and finally, we should be joyous in the presence of God! When Jesus left theis earth into heaven, he left everyone great joy!

 Luke 24:51-53

51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:

53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen

The final result is that God wants us to have great joy in our lives!

John 16:20

20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

John 15:11

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

 In Acts, despite their problems and persecutions they were filled with joy! Acts 13:52

52 And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.

Do you want joy in your life? It doesn’t come from parties and money. It only comes from the Lord! The fruits of the Holy Spirit in us are love, joy, peace and others, but the people that are joyous are the pones that are full of our Lord!

I want you to have joy today! Maybe you do not have joy because you have not been through the process. The process is to repent, and to be sad over the sin in the world and in your life, then to be mad or convicted so that your will lines up with God’s will, and when that happens from your obedience you will have joy like you have never felt ever before!

Come feel the joy the Lord has for you today. In the faces of many people I can tell you have lived without the joy of the Lord for a long time.  In Neh 8:10 we find;

for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength. Come and have strength and joy!

You Are Being Fed ‘Strong Delusion’

You Are Being Fed ‘Strong Delusion’                              Kelly Durant 10-26-14

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

¹⁰ And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:¹² That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

2. Most of us know how gullible and easily deceived we can be as people! If Christians get deceived by all kinds of false doctrines and how much more the people of the world will believe anything! A perfect example of deception could be compared to that of an anti-Christ leader such as Adolf Hitler. Years before the war ended he was worshipped as the savior and answer to a desperate world with the worst inflation in history. Remember, Hitler was blessed by the Catholic Church and followed by millions of Christians! It should horrify you to think how many so called Christians out there can so easily be deceived by a leader!

Today we are studying deception from 2 Tess. 2, which is set in the context of the end-time, when the charismatic anti-Christ will appear: 2 Thess 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

How do we as weak human beings accept strong delusion? Our logical yet illogical minds want hope in a supernatural salvation; God performs that in us in that respective position if we let Him. But a person disconnected or shallow with God and His sanity and peace will worship any deranged being, especially when they have a show of messiah-ship or supernatural power. As people we are always in search of answers, and in the absence of them, we invent them in our minds or flow with the winds of the world getting herded as sheep to the slaughter to whatever evil is trending and popular. The masses get swayed by the media. Never has the media lied to the public feeding us lies as it is doing today!

Also, deceptions and beliefs are passed down for generations until finally someone with God’s truth in their lives questions and challenges them. How many misconceptions of life have you lived with until now? How many cultures have started strange beliefs and practices lasting for centuries and even millennium? Adam & Eve taught their children to respect God, and many of their descendants knew God and the truth, but they all did not remain faithful. Those alienated from the truth or the deceived children had opportunity to know the truth later through the chosen Israelites, but history revels most of them rejected it. Today, God’s people who are Christian, who are in word and deed loving God and others and living holy lives, are the authentic ones in truth totally living free from delusions. However, all others live life delusional and diametrically opposite to a life of love as Jesus taught. Strong delusion creates hypocritical people.  

3. I pray for everyone around me to live happy and blessed, growing in truth and wisdom, advancing in prosperity and knowledge. But this implies that you and I must war against the lies and liars deluding people. But exposing their evil agendas is not enough. People are only enlightened and protected from lies by the study and obedience to the Word of God! How does His word lead us in truth? Jesus said John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

The word of God transforms you and me by the Holy Spirit to indwell in the truth! Millions of people with testimonies bear witness to how they were once deceived by the lust, greed, and pride in the world but then they became free. John 8:32 ‘And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’. Religion itself cannot change evil hearts. We see religions today who murder in the name of their god. A Christian however, if authentic, has a relationship with Christ, and he or she becomes God fearing and loving and compassionate with a new nature like the nature of Jesus himself. A new conviction takes place causing he or she to abandon the deceptions of lust, greed, pride, anger, bitterness and ‘deny their selves’ in order to adapt totally the loving beautiful character of Jesus Christ.

Here is the delusion problem, in other religions those deceived follow some charismatic man’s teaching and/or they imitate the founder or leader. By doing this, they are doomed to repeat the same errors of the deluded leader. Most erroneous prophet leaders have led people to war for gain, or into prideful selfish illusions believing they are enlightened. The world’s so called holy sites or self-proclaimed written down revelations from god are supposed to authenticate their false claims to divinity. To outsiders it is obvious they lived under a crazy distorted reality of illusion, but to those who get hooked, the lie is the truth to them.     

4. Let’s discover some of the past delusions of the so called great cultures and keep in mind the present to discover current cultural delusions. A delusion, as you know according to the dictionary is, ‘A belief held with strong conviction despite superior evidence to the contrary.’   The Egyptians, for example have this symbol of the dung beetle as the sacred God that rolls the sun across the sky each day.

How did they conclude that there must be a cosmic beetle in the sky in charge of the function of rolling the sun from morning to night each day? Weren’t these people amazingly intelligent and master builders with an unmatched perfection of aligning pyramids with stars? Talent, intellect, and power does not stop delusion!

I personally believe it is demonic spirits that fed these ancient ones misinformation. The obsession of Satan and his fallen angels is to subvert man away from the worship of God to the worship of his creation. The Egyptians were very idolatrous and had a half human half animal gods for everything! (Read more in Romans chapter 1). Exodus 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee. The obvious is that their medicines and practices were making them sick physically and spiritually sick as well! Compare this to Santeria and other false remedies practiced today in Miami and worldwide.

They were a culture that despite amazing feats of constructions with intelligence, were totally deluded and deceived in their worship and thinking. Today people admire their structures, but recall they were one of the first to record curses, to use witchcraft, and create crazy stories of gods and the afterlife.  They invented nature worship, superstitions, ritualistic customs, and deceived many other cultures that followed them in this example throughout the ages. All anti-Christ leaders deceive with demonic presuppositions. Hitler stated that “By fighting off the Jews, I am doing God’s work”.Delusional people always feel justified their evil! 

5.  Jesus told us in Matt 24: And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. God is never unjust to withhold the truth from anyone, nor does God lack compassion for those who have grown up deceived by evil and deluded by the world’s various beliefs and cultures of today. God’s plans are for the gospel to reach every person everywhere through his witnesses. God’s word is spreading through the internet.

As a kid I would wondered how will it happen that everyone will know but today we know that not just television but the internet reaches much of the world’s population. The internet users of today are about 2.5 billion (about 1/3^rd of the world) and in 20 years I have read it is projected to reach close to 100%! It’s crazy but Bill Gates and many others are giving away computers to the poor so everyone will have one. The equation is this; the truth of God is reaching many people through the internet but sadly many prefer lies and deception to the truth.

Almost everything in life has 2 uses, either for good or for evil. A knife can be used for food prep to sustain life, or it can be used to kill and take life! The same is with the internet transmitting concepts, religion, ideologies, and beliefs. Depending on what is practiced, it will serve for good or for destruction. Despite the existence of dozens of millions of legitimate Christians out there communicating, all of us know that there are many millions more seeking to deceive, rob, and enslave.

6. We find in Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

This is exactly what is happening today in almost every area of life! Deceivers, in order to persuade you to their dark side, attack the good you esteem and call it evil when the fact is it is that they are truly evil! They call the evil good, and boast its legal by man’s laws, but all they are doing is accommodating their sins. The world offers everyone all the self-destructive sins they could ever dream of but Christians recognize these deceptions as Satanic and are appalled. So what about the anti-Christ wolves in sheep clothing subverting the gospel with false gospels?

Currently, deceitful churches seem to be multiplying. I recall in Atlanta meeting pastors in meetings and some even boasted that they had gained their members by robbing sheep. How does that work? They gain others to their church not from the lost community, but from people who were already happy going to their own church. These evil pastors would tell them that their church is wrong and false and that they will go to hell if they didn’t switch to their church and doctrine!?

Take note: people who deceive quite often accuse others of what they themselves are guilty of practicing! They accuse other churches of false doctrine and yet they practice false doctrines! If you, however, live a life of holiness then lies will be revealed to you by the Holy Spirit!   John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. Do you see how delusion works on those without the Holy Spirit?

7. The ‘falling away’ of today is revealed in many churches and the frightening part is they may even accept and promote the anti-Christ when he comes on the scene! Didn’t churches do something similar with Hitler just 70 years ago? May God help us to expose churches that have become delusional accepting erroneous trends promoted by the anti-Christ ‘prince of the air’ which includes media. In Revelation chapters 2 to 4, 6 of the 7 churches were rebuked as not being worthy in the purity and holiness of Jesus Christ! We are seeing the same pattern of their sins deceiving again today as people in many churches are being cold and unloving, are accepting evil people as leaders, are accepting false prophecy, and they are lusting for money, or engaging in diverse forms of sexual promiscuity.

Every day we hear of racial discrimination, but what about how we are suffering from ‘truth’ discrimination! The problem today is the Word of God (the truth) has been disenfranchised in our satanically influenced society. The truths of God have been discriminated against and disallowed in government buildings, schools, colleges, companies, media, and even in people’s homes to the point that people today cannot make correct judgment calls on anything anymore because they are lacking in the most important information of all, the Word of God, the truth!

The last part of this verse of today in 2 Thess 2: 12 says it all, that the people were condemned because they “had pleasure in unrighteousness”. The main reason a person does not want the truth near them is because that it contradicts and convicts them of their sinful actions.  John 3: 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

8. So we are living in the time of strong delusion where truth rejecters and haters of Christians receive praises and front page media attention! The problem is we never hear about the demise of those who place a lie for the truth, and replace evil for good, so how do they end up? In the last verse we read, “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth”. This implies eternal separation from God where all the evil spirits of all time share the same burning jail cell!

If you investigate criminals in jail and what heinous acts got them there you will discover their confessions come from delusions of the devil. Many had fun seeing others in fear as their victims! Did you know there are many people who are so deluded that they actually believe they have super powers as a real sorcerer, vampire, or as Satan himself? All of these crazy people who have committed horrible acts and murders were usually influenced by a strong delusion that they wanted to make a statement of their greatness against humanity. But how horrible and unjust it is that they harmed innocent ones and did not get an appropriate punishment! Jail time does not resurrect a dead loved one! The delusion of having great power is Satan’s favorite tool! It is pride! Hitler killed innocent Jews believing he was doing God’s will!

So God is justified by allowing evil doers to “be dammed” because those under any type of willful delusion and not under the truth choose it by their own freewill and they, being highly destructive, deserve to reap what they deserve. Jesus says in Matthew 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.  People are either behaving loving like how Jesus is, or acting like Satan, and the consequences are either heaven or hell for eternity!

9. Propagators of delusion, who are obviously anti-Christ individuals, being religious, political, or criminally narcissistic mental cases, will all be judged severely for rejecting the truth of God! Basically no man can ever answer to God that he or she has never heard any truth at all. The obvious is there exists a universal sixth sense in every human of what right and wrong is, and the truth of God’s principles are universal, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient.  

Practically every culture has held the conviction that to kill an innocent being is a crime that should be punished. Almost every religion promotes morality and being good. Political powers as well demand Godlike attributes such as loyalty, dedication, and devotion. Truth is purity, righteousness, justice, wisdom, light, goodness, holiness and more; truth is consistent and not relativistic having its source from God himself. Delusion, which is the lie replacing the truth, is insulting, destructive, and invoking condemnation and shame!

A final truth from God’s son: John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Being connected to Jesus protects you and me from being deceived.

10. We must recognize deceptions! We must vehemently reject all lies from the lying news media, the lies from our culture, the lies from leaders, and reject the delusions of pride our minds default to. Only the acceptance of the truth, wired deep in our brains will permit a continuing salvation from the deceitful world! We must have our hard drives erased and rebooted with God’s program or we are destined to crash and burn from our own viruses!

Everyone wants to live forever and, if honest, everyone wants love and happiness in life, and God offers this but it only comes through His truth. Due to deceivers and evil doers around us, we will never be able to live out the heavenly bliss God while here surrounded by evil people. A final judgment will be the retribution on all liars. Those that love lies and live deluded and keep wanting it that way may continue on sick lonely but with their spirit will be detained in the same hell jail as those who believed the lies of Satan like them.

But those of us who have the truth are free forever! Once someone is freed, there is no longer a binding to the cage and chain of lies and deceptions that once darkened the spirit. Pray for Jesus to come into your life and to free you with the Holy Spirit from all lies and lying influences of people and cultures so you will experience the truths of God that will leave you in awe and wonder!

Are you a part of the vine?

Are you a part of the vine?                           Kelly Durant   10-19-14

 John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. (John 15)

2. How many of you have ever had a problem with a computer or TV only to find out that the problem was that it was not plugged in? That was my problem before when I was young, I was not plugged into Jesus and nothing brought me any satisfaction, pleasure, or a reason to live. This chapter of John 15 changed my life! In John today we are progressing through Jesus words to us before He went to the Garden of Gethsemane. With simple illustrations Jesus taught profound truths!

In verse 1 Jesus says He is the true vine and His Father is the caretaker, in other words, there is no other vine that is connected to God. You have heard the expression that ‘all roads go to Rome’ and the sad part is many people apply this concept to God, that it doesn’t matter your religion, all of them will lead you to God. Wrong! I discovered that the hard way. Jesus made it clear that we must go through Him, the only true vine, to get connected to God.

(Vs 2) Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. This verse is establishing that Jesus is the main part of the vine providing the sap, and each of us are like the branches and He expects each branch to bear fruit, and if a branch doesn’t he will cut it off and get rid of all those things that are getting in the way of serving God with fruits. Sometimes God takes away friends, spouses, or possessions out of our lives so we will be free to bear fruit. Bearing fruit is in Gal. 5:22 but it also refers to bringing new life to the body of Jesus. In other words, your purpose as a Christian is to bring others to the Lord, to get them to follow and serve Jesus.

3. (Vs 3) You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. You know there are a lot of people in this world that have a big problem with all the dirty stuff they have in their minds and hearts? Many millions of people have sin and addictions and they take medications to stop their heart aches and depressions. But if you are not working right chemically, medications might be alright for you, but I am refereeing to all the people who are not clean inside and have dirty secrets to hide. These kill inside! There is no medication, and no religion that can clean anyone’s spirit on the inside. You will only become clean inside by hearing and obeying Jesus Word!

(Vs 4) 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. Jesus makes it clear that if we are not looking for Him constantly every moment, if you are not close to Him, praying and living as He taught us, then we will not be able to bear fruit. If this leaf or branch here is not connected then it will dry up and die! But if it is connected over time it will grow and grow big enough to produce grapes.

(Vs 5,Vs 6) 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. The problem with not being connected is that we get dry and we become useless and God will at the end of the world put all the dry fruitless souls into the oven of the prison of hell. To be illustrative I was going to burn this branch but I decided I had better not! Fire is just too dangerous to play with and certainly we do not want to play with our souls which could be burned in a fire that never burns out, as stated in other scriptures.

4. (Vs7) If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will[b] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. This verse is quite clear that not everyone gets what they want from God in prayer, there is a condition, that we must be abiding close to Jesus! Those that are obeying God are the ones who are getting their prayers answered! (Vs8) By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. God wants to be glorified and the way we glorify God is not just with a song or a prayer, or being in church, we glorify God by bearing fruit for Him! If we are in love with God and Jesus we will have a beautiful light that is contagious and when we shine, the world will come out to see us shine! In order to show God that you are a disciple, one who follows Him not just in words but in deeds, you must bear fruit, bringing more souls to Jesus.

(Vs 9) “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. Just think how powerful and sacrificial Jesus love was, that He was willing to die a cruel death on the cross, and it is with this kind of love, this Love from His Father that we must apply to each other! (Vs.10) If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. Jesus makes it clear here that we must know His Word and do what it says. Here He is not saying we must obey the Old Testament laws, He is saying we must know what he taught, to love God and others, to preach the gospel to every creature’ and to obey Him in everything.

5. What we could conclude is that we will not be capable of knowing or having the joy of love unless we are keeping the commandments of Jesus! (Vs11) “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. The beautiful thing is that when we experience God’s love, we experience great joy! It works both ways, we cannot know joy unless we are close to Jesus.

I remember when I dedicated my life to Jesus when I was 21. I was so happy. Before serving God it was like traveling through the dessert until I finally found water! I actually remember my face hurting from smiling so much! I know I never had experienced a joy like that ever in my life! The joy we get from obeying Jesus is supernatural and real!

(Vs 12) This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Let’s understand what He means by this. How did Jesus love us? He gave up his life for us and sacrificed His life on the cross so we could have eternal life! He commands us to lay down our lives in love for each other. What bothers me is the lack of love of many Christians have toward one another! I remember in Bolivia I went to many prayer meetings with the ‘Ladies of society’ and they always had the servant ladies serving us tea. Never did it occur to them that they should be trying to win those servants for the Lord, they were often rude to them, and never would they invite those who were beneath their class. This exemplifies how we must change!

6. Real love loves everyone, no matter their economic class, race, or country of origin! And some people have a little click in the churches. They will get together with their group but they will not mix with others and that makes me very upset! I decided at age 14 I did not want any part of church anymore because I saw how the rich kids had their little group and if you were not a part of it, then you were just out of the picture.

I think it is a miracle that the Hispanics and other cultures stay Christian who go to some of these American churches. There are dozens of Hispanics in Americans churches today where they do not get equal treatment, nor do they even mix with them and become their friends. I have seen that and it breaks my heart to see there are a lot of people out there who really do not understand how the love of Jesus should be!

The good Samaritan example shows us clearly we are to love those we normally avoid, hate, and don’t like! Sadly there are many people who think they are Christians but they are not practicing this verse and I am asking you to check your heart to see if you have the same kind of love as Jesus! We continue… (Vs 13-14-15) 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. Just think, Christians are the only ones amongst all the religions that have a loving master that calls his followers his friends!

7. Most all religions demand total subjection and servitude to the leader or teachings or else you will be severely punished! I want you to read history and about religions to see what I mean! In India when the great Hindu guru dies his wives and servants had to be burned alive along with him in the burial! Horrible, right? But Jesus is our friend who gave His life for us!

He is patient and lets us sin and do our own thing until we repent, but He will purge us and give us tribulation in order to straighten us out and if we will eventually give fruit unto God, we will be blessed, but if not, we will dry up and be useless and be burned.

8. And finally (Vs16,17) 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another. This is your calling. He calls us all! How much fruit have you brought to God? Now is the time to for you to promise to Jesus your life so you will win others to Him. Some of you do not have any fruit to show God because all this time you have been doing things your way and not God’s way. God’s way is to love others out of hell!

Do others at your work or in your family see you as a loving person as beautiful as Jesus?  Or are ready for God to cut things out of your life? With Jesus it is all or nothing, He gave all and He expects all! Come…. Connect totally to Him and experience love, joy, and usefulness!                  

The Pastor Gives His Life for the Sheep

The Pastor Gives His Life for the Sheep                  Kelly Durant   10-12-14
John 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

2. We chose this Sunday in October as pastor appreciation Sunday. Why did someone make a special day for this? I don’t know when or how it started but I will thank God for it! Some people want honor but do not labor at deserving it. Like one time a friend of mine was with me talking with the street people about Jesus, and one man said, “Hey you, do know who I am here? I am the King around here!” My friend said, “Oh, but what matters really is not who is the king on this block, but rather knowing who is the King of Kings!” He was left dumbfounded! Church members and Soldiers can often forget about all the responsibilities, feelings, and trials pastors go through. A pastor’s life may look wonderful to an outsider, but many aspects of a pastor’s life is not very easy. I and all pastors suffer when their people suffer!
Here is a fact: Pastors live blessed busy lives but many times they have to fight being overstressed!  Some amazing classic pastors like Charles Spurgeon, considered the Prince of Preachers in this modern age, even lived with depression. Many great people of God have had many secret trials and yet they hide it from others as they do not want anyone of their sheep to feel disquieted by their own pain! True pastors only want others to feel love and intimately know the love of Jesus! A true pastor remains solid in the good times and in the bad times being faithful to God’s sheep. But sometimes the bad times can break you and bring you to tears down a dark tunnel. Dealing with people’s souls can sometimes be disillusioning and difficult as some slip away but we do not focus on the negative, we thank God for the positive, for the good getting done, and the rewards for it on earth and in heaven.
A true pastor will remain faithful to his sheep as in the verse today, ”the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep”.  Pastors get all the blame when things are going wrong, and when things are good, they often are not recognized as the ones behind the scenes making it all happen.

3. It is hard to preach on pastor appreciation because after all, I am not seeking anyone’s recognition and praises; that would make me be some sort of co-dependent, egocentric, arrogant doer of works. Instead all I want is to share with you and others the love that Jesus taught us to give! I want to give and receive love, which is what God created us all to do! Every Christian, you and me, are all in the process of learning how to love God and others more! Agreed?
All any of us can do in life is to do our job as best as we can and then say what is here in this next verse in Luke 17:10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
Glory, honor, and respect are at times qualities that happen on earth amongst fellow servants but in reality most of it is reserved for heaven. Just as when Jesus died on the cross, not many were there to honor him, but God honored Him with signs, that according to scripture, scared everyone to death by an eclipse of darkness and an earthquake. Jesus is the good shepherd who gave his life for us who deserves all the honor of all creation forever and ever!   

4. Who do musicians admire? Other talented musicians! Pastors admire other men of God who bring respect, inspiration, and intelligence to the exogenesis or unpacking of God’s word. It is important to read about the great lives of Christians past! I hope you are choosing wisely what pastors you listen to on TV or the radio because some feed you with solid food and others feed you with junk food which will make you sick.
Every denomination has been blessed with their great pastors, and in our case it is William and Catherine Booth, Charles Brengle, and the Generals. Who has read anything about them? Many Officers today are very talented, sacrificial, and outstanding and they deserve outstanding appreciation. Many Christians today admire pastors who have deep teachings and good fruit, and have not been involved in scandals or doctrine perversions. Those modern day pastors may include Billy Graham, R.C. Sproul, D. James Kennedy, Charles Stanley, Adrian Rogers, Michael Youssef, and others. The Holy Scriptures come alive for those who practice them!
Today, I want to share with you the life of an old pastor from the 1^st century, one which when I read his story impacted me and made my eyes wet! It has only been a few Sundays ago that I asked you while in a sermon to name the name of a saint, any past man of God, and only a few could name one or two. Do you recall? I did a footnote in my head to share what I have here for you today. It may be up for debate who is a saint in the eyes of God and who is recognized by men by some huge denomination, but certain stories, being undisputedly true, greatly inspire our faith. A mature Christian will read about and focus on the lives of great Christians! Those who reject all church history are willingly making their selves ignorant and they are not in agreement with our Salvation Army creeds which follows the Wesleyan Quadrilateral which is the practice of applying 1) scripture 2) tradition 3) reason 4) experience. 

5. Polycarp (AD 69– 155) was a great man of God! He contributed much to the early church and gave his life for his sheep all the way! Can you imagine how it must have been for the church members in Smyrna watching their own beloved and aged pastor burn at the stake in a Roman coliseum? Polycarp was a disciple of Jesus’ disciple, the Apostle John. Everyone loved him because he possessed the same love, tenderness, and compassion as his mentor John. Several historical writings convey his story because his story influenced countless ones throughout the centuries.
Polycarp was the Bishop (a term for an overseer, a guardian, or a pastor in the New Testament) of the church at Smyrna (a city in present day Turkey). Persecution broke out in Smyrna and many Christians were fed to the wild beasts in the arena. The godless and bloodthirsty crowd called for the carcass of the Christian leader – Polycarp. The authorities sent a search party to find him. He had been put away into hiding by some fellow Christians but the Romans tortured two young believers until they finally disclosed his location.
When the authorities were arriving, Polycarp still could have hid away somewhere else, but instead he refused to leave saying, “God’s will be done.” In Christian grace he always showed Christ likeness. Polycarp welcomed his captors as if they were friends. He talked with them and insisted they eat a meal. He made only one request before being taken away; he asked to allow him to pray for one hour.

6. The Roman soldiers listened to his prayer. Their hearts melted and they gave him 2 hours to pray. They had second thoughts as well and were overheard asking each other why they were sent to arrest him? Other authorities also experienced a warmed heart when Polycarp arrived. The Proconsul tried to find a way to release him too. He want to stop his execution. “Curse God and I will let you go!” he pleaded. Polycarp’s reply was: “For eighty-six years I have served him. He has never done me wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who was has saved me?”
The Proconsul again looked for a way out and said; “Old man, just swear by the spirit of the emperor and that will be sufficient.’ Polycarp’s reply was: “If you imagine for a moment that I would do that, then I think you pretend that you don’t know who I am. Hear it plainly. I am a Christian.” More entreaties by the Proconsul Polycarp stood firm. The proconsul threatened with the wild beasts. Polycarp’s reply was: “Bring them forth. I would change my mind if it meant going from worst to best, but not to change from right to wrong.”
The Proconsul threatened, “I will burn you alive!” Polycarp’s reply was: “You threaten with fire that burns for an hour and is over but the judgment on the ungodly is forever.” They took him to the coliseum. The fires quickly engulfed him. All the witnesses noticed his faith and joy even while dying. He was finished off with a dagger. He was buried for the cause of Christ on February 22, 155 A.D. Little did he know that it became as much a day of victory as it was a day of tragedy.

7. His death brought distaste to the Roman leadership and people because right after his death the appetite for the killing of kind loving Christians slowed to a stop for quite some time. Polycarp in all of his preaching years had even visited Rome, and with his testimony he converted many disciples of the Roman Empire.
It is recorded that he prepared leaders such as Marcion and Valentinus, who were of a great influence in the forming of the early church with Christian writings and doctrines. He corresponded with Ignatius and Irenaeus (important early church founders) Polycarp is recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, and the Lutheran Church which includes all Protestant denominations such as ours. In other words, everyone in all Christian denominations honor him as an outstanding testimony!
Sadly in our modern age many Christians have we stopped telling the stories of the great men of God. Polycarp was outstanding in his wisdom and witness, and in laying down his life for the sheep, of serving His Lord Jesus until the very end. Imagine, at 86 years old facing death by fire and still remaining firm in the faith! You would think he would have said just let me alone to die in peace.

8. Some of you may think, wow, what a great testimony, but is it relevant to me? Will face I ever this situation?  I am not sure I could be that strong!  Actually you can be that strong if you just remain faithful to be like Jesus every day! Just like with Polycarp, 86 years may go by (or 20 or 40 or 60) and then you are called to the test to give you last breath for Christ! If all your life you have practiced true faithfulness, holiness, and love, your love for Jesus will not fail you when that time comes! Many testimonies report that a dying grace takes over! It did with Stephen in the book of Acts7:58-60
I have felt horrible because in these past months many Christian pastors, leaders, and sheep throughout all the world, in particular in the Eastern hemisphere, have had to die for their faith! The most recent report is that there are 11 martyrs per minute happening in the world now! None of us know if we will be called by God to be a martyr or not but God’s peace frees us from worry about it. Jesus will reign forever and ever and His followers will win in the end. No matter if we die or if live, we are the Lord’s!
I have always been convicted by these verses, Mark 8:35-37  ‘For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. 36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? There is a popular song by Toby Mac, “ I don’t wanna gain the world and lose my soul” that encourages me! As long as I (and you) serve Him day to day we are saved and safe forever!

9. We are all bound by love. John 15:12-14  “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
Everyone should have leaders in their life that they honor and respect. Some people may honor a pastor close to them and that is God’s design, but we all know in the end you do not answer to me and my wife or to any person for your deeds; instead you and I answer to the pastor of pastors, the Captain of Captains, the King of Kings, Jesus Christ!

Now is a good day to take a look at your own convictions. As a pastor I cannot make you do anything for Jesus; that has to be born from your own heart, for your love for Him, by conviction of the Holy Spirit. My role is to serve you, to build up the Corps, and connect with the community; to serve, teach, and pray. And my desire is to bring you conviction in your faith walk, inspiring you to lay down your life for Jesus, for your family, Corps, and suffering community. Let’s pray for all the world’s millions of Christian pastors today! You never know what crisis they may be facing, even dying for Jesus! Jesus, Polycarp, and millions gave up everything for Jesus and were faithful until death, may God help us all to do the same! Everyone is leading someone, right?

JESUS CHRIST , Liar or the Truth?

                              JESUS CHRIST , Liar or the Truth?

  The scholars of history face us with one of these conclusions about Jesus: He was a liar, an impostor, or He really was the Son of God! And if He is the Son of God then he really does brings forgiveness and Salvation! Let’s take a look today at what proves he was who he was. Think about this: all of today’s existing religions and philosophies cannot do us any good unless they can instruct us how to overcome death! Today scientists would like to have you believe that they will soon be able to conquer death by re-implanting into our human cells the part that wears out. They claimed that in an article in Time magazine a  few months ago. In reality they are proud dreamers that wish to get praise and worship from man and be recognized as the Gods and saviors of the world. They have made themselves the enemies of Christians because they wish to do research using the cells from aborted babies. Christians oppose that and we are labeled the stupid narrow-minded ones in the way of progress! When we defend the truth, we go against the world against what is wrong, We are either for the world or for Jesus. It’s black or white. I John 4: 5-6 dice Ellos son del mundo. Por ese hablan del mundo y el mundo los oye. Nosotros somos de Dios, el que conoce a Dios nos oye, y el que no conoce a Dios, no nos oye, En esto concemos el espiritu de verdad, y el espiritu de error.

It is not popular to claim Jesus is the truth and the Son of God. The American school system today has become an institution that teaches more politically correct agendas than it does reading, writing, and math. Most Hispanics that transfer here from other countries are about one to two grade levels above the Americans because they are learning more the basics and less about how one should think. One of the things kids are taught in school is that you cannot proclaim your faith publicly there. The truth is there are many children from Christian homes in schools but if they write a homework paper on Jesus, or witness about him in class, they are ignored and silenced. I think many Hispanics get confused here. This is the land of freedom and opportunity, but when it comes to your faith, society wants to put you into a box and not let you have your faith anywhere but in church. But those of us who have Jesus and eternal life have a debt to those around us; we must share Jesus with everyone, despite persecution and how it is unpopular!

Hispanics have a high esteem for Jesus. You see pictures of him in stores and on the buses. But Let’s take a look at what happens many times when a Hispanic immigrates into the American society. For one, they know they are a quest here. I know exactly how that feels, to be a quest in another country; I was one in 5 different countries for 14 years! You feel intimidated; you don’t want to call attention to yourself by being critical of their society and by being different. You see the good and the bad and compare it continuously with what you grew up with but you don’t know how to help others see a better way. In the US, Hispanics are often shocked by the absence of faith in the society. Personally, I believe God wants to use Hispanics greatly to get this culture back to what it needs to be spiritually. Hispanics must always stand up for Jesus! Jesus said that if “we deny Him, He will deny us”! In the schools Hispanics can be bold and witness their faith and get away with it! At work too! People here expect them to have their own customs and like Jesus said that no prophet is accepted in his own country amongst his own people. Americans will listen more to another person from another land share his faith than he will listen to another American whom he expects to be conformed to this secular humanist culture. I am counting on the fire of the Latinos to not only edify themselves but also with their faith, edify the Americans too.

Well, let’s examine if Jesus was a liar or not. Jesus identified Satan to be the father of lies but Satan would have the world believe that Jesus is the liar. The question is who is the real liar? If a person does not accept Jesus and obey and honor Him, then in effect that person makes Jesus a liar by not reverencing Him as to who He is, the Son of God. Many Jewish people today claim Jesus lied in being the Son of God, and they deny the fact that Jesus rose from the grave. The proof of Jesus not being a liar is in the many prophecies he stated that came true. The main supernatural prophecy he made was that he claimed he would rise out of the grave and He did! There are many strange groups secret societies I have come to know about that make Jesus out to be only a teacher, or guru, or something else. Those of that persuasion promote a lie and deny His uniqueness.  But Jesus could not have made it clearer when He said: I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me. In Him is the only truth, and anything that is not in Him and his truth, is a lie!

Let’s examine and see if Jesus was an impostor. I will never forget on time years ago when I made friends with a young Brazilian guy. When I spoke to him about Jesus, he started telling me that I was wrong and confused, that he grew up knowing that Jesus was an imposter. I thought, an imposter? He explained that Jesus wanted to be worshiped saying He was the Son of God and that He said and did things to fool people, but that Satan is the true Created son of God who controls everything!? Jesus, he explained, came to imitate Satan and so Jesus therefore is an imitator! I was speechless for a moment. I could not reason with that guy. His mind was made up and He did not want anything else. Like the phrase that says, most people’s minds are like cement, all mixed up and permanently set. But at least I did my part and offered him the truth that day. There actually are people out there that believe Jesus was an impostor. Some try to deny that He ever existed but there is plenty of secular evidence that proves otherwise. For example the great Roman historian Josephus: He describes Jesus well, and he describes the destruction of Jerusalem & Herod's temple, the one Jesus said would be torn down stone by stone which occurred in 70 AD. His historical accounts will turn your stomach over al the violence that occurred.

Jesus said, I and my Father are One. The difference between Jesus and Satan is that Jesus obeyed God and wanted to bring worship to God while in turn Satan wanted to be like God, he wanted to be worshiped!

Jesus was real. And He did rise from the dead. The proof is that every one of his 11 surviving followers gave up their lives to be martyrs, dying a cruel death. Would they do that for an impostor, con man, or liar?  The world empire of Rome converted because of him.  Throughout the past 2000 years Jesus has received attention like no other man in History, with hundreds of millions of followers with millions of  church buildings around the world. His followers have received harsh persecution and remained faithful. From this evidence we must conclude the following:

Jesus was the Son of God. He is the truth. He liberates us from liars and oppressors. He is the Truth and the Life!  Let’s take a moment to pray and reflect, if you have not known Jesus yet in a personal way. Ask Him in your life today!

Hear the Call, Die and Live!

Hear the Call, Die and Live!                                     By Kelly Durant  9-21-14

Colossians 3:24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

2. Evil men with evil religions or ideologies always want you to die for their cause! But is it worth it? Here is a shocking story in Napoleon’s Army. Everyone admires extreme devotion, and loyalty to country has its place but always ask yourself, who am I serving and for what reason, is it for good pleasing Jesus or is it for an evil cause? There was a little bridge that the wooden posts were falling down on and some men had to get in the icy water and hold the posts up so the men and horses could cross. When then last person crossed the men were called to come up from the river but they did not come out of the water. They were permanently frozen to the posts, as one piece they were an ice mass frozen under the icy bridge! This extreme devotion made Napoleon shed tears! Today we know that these men died for a egomaniac dictator that lost all in the end! How sad we never learn from history! Today many young men continue to kill and die for evil regimes. How sad it is so many are deceived to believe they must kill and accept being killed for someone’s sadistic agenda!

There are so many war stories about people who killed others and then also died for their country. Those on the right side destroying evil are true heroes. However, what about all the martyrs of God who did not kill others but rather laid down their lives for Jesus? What about all those who died for Christ? We don’t praise them enough! Name 2 martyrs, can you?  Millions have died for Jesus but few of us remember and praise them! All of those that died in the faith inspire us, convict us, and in a certain way make us ashamed that we are not as heroic and brave as them! God called them to that!

Like it or not, dying is a part of our reality, a part of our human condition, a part of our fallen world and we all will die sooner or later of natural causes or for a cause. In this life, some get to age and live long, while others die young. The death of someone always makes us feel pain and the best thing that can take away that pain is to know that they lived in love and holiness and had eternal life in Jesus!

3. Paul, who was martyred wrote, 1 Corinthians 15:55 “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” How do we explain this, Christians usually die praising Jesus! They know their reward is in heaven!  But their suffering and the suffering of Jesus on the cross is a testimony to how evil Satan and his people are in this cruel world! Hell is not hot enough for some horrible ones to get paid back for their evil!  

Many people, like as were in Hitler’s army, loved to kill and love to see others suffer from torture! They will pay for their deeds. But here is our consolation; we will not share heaven with those who are murderers! 1 John 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

Those that die having Jesus have eternal life and we will reign with Jesus forever and ever! But those that kill for whatever reason and even in the name of God, do not know God and their God would be Satan.  John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

4. Right now you may be asking yourself, I thought the sermon today was going to be about the calling of God, a Candidates Sunday to answer if God is calling you to the ministry. Well, the connection is, getting called to the ministry is an invitation to come and die and live for Jesus! The first step to answering the call of God, whether for salvation, or for full time service is to recognize that your person inside, your ego, your being, must die and then be reborn in Christ.

Jesus himself associated his calling, and His salvation, with death; death to yourself, death to your dreams in life, death to your idea of what you want in life, death to your pride and intelligence, death to everything! You have to let it all go! The fact is we are called to kill our pride, rebelliousness, and forsake all that we have for the greater cause of our own salvation and the Kingdom of God! If we are later called to die as a martyr, as Paul, and millions have been, then we lose nothing here because we have already lost it just by living submitted, and we gain eternal life with rewards in heaven.

Consider these verses: John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Luke 9:23, 24 23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

5. God is always calling out to everyone to be saved and to serve Him! In the Salvation Army the argument of one answering to the call of God is like this, ‘I have not heard the call, I have not heard God call me to the ministry!’ The reply to this is, “You have not heard the call? Then what is wrong with your hearing?” The call is always there for everyone! The problem with too many people is that they do not want to hear it because they know it implies a total life change, a death to self! People live unhappy, but still want to hang onto their old miserable self, how insane!

Here is a deep reality, no one can escape the calling of God and live well if they reject it! John 15:16 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. Jesus choses everyone, but as in a volunteer army, only the willing ones answer the call.

How many of us have known someone with the calling of God on their lives, and they tried to deny it and run from it? Then later we observe that in life no matter what they do with their time, be it to study, make money, or have a family, this marked person finds that nothing ever satisfies them! That’s the way life is! I had an experience similar to this as I thought I would finish 4 years of college, but I could not even sleep at nights thinking about how souls were lost and I needed to tell them about Jesus immediately! I felt guilt that I was saved, and others were not! It was God’s design and Holy Spirit in me for me to just go to the mission field. What did it matter it was my first year in college! I am not suggesting what you should do, each person has a different calling, but when everything seems empty and worthless as it did with me, maybe God is allowing it to make you uncomfortable in your comfortableness so you answer His call.  

6. When you are dissatisfied with your life, it is time for a change! I chose to serve God with a small Independent church that offered me no benefits, just a mission home to land at in Brazil to work with the poor and part of the mission included evangelizing on the streets with tracts.  Back in the 70s it seems everyone gave out tracts and many people accepted Jesus by this evangelism method. I prayed with many while out in the streets. It was a method that worked for its time period. I had a lot of fun actually meeting all kinds of friendly people daily, but of course every other day I would meet a devil too that would curse at me and tear up the tract! It’s amazing how just reminding some people of Jesus causes them to get red in the face and murderously angry! Serving Jesus means getting mocked as He was! I bit my tongue and died to my pride!

So how did I de-stress from Satan’s attacks while living right obeying God? I memorized scripture like the beatitudes…(Matt. 5) ”Blessed are you when you are persecuted…for great is your reward in heaven”…and I also sang and repeated verses from hymns like Martin Luther’s famous hymn of a “A mighty fortress is our God”. I love this hymn. Listen to this…

Vs 3 And though this world with devils filled, should threaten to undo us.

We will not fear for God has willed, His truth to triumph through us.

 Vs 4 Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also.

The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still, His Kingdom is forever!

From my own experience, after reading the Bible for myself in college, after many Bible studies and getting offered the mission to die to myself, to leave my country, to serve Jesus, and after “hearing” the call, I knew I had to leave and obey God or I was going to die thousands of deaths daily for not doing what I knew God wanted me to do! I treasure all those first days of serving God when I was younger, and now that is almost 40 years away in my past. But still I am the changed person I became then, I am still in love with life, in love with Jesus, in love with the work of God and in love with all my Christian brothers and sisters! Yes, with you and you!

7. Who watches the “America’s Got Talent” show? When someone sings half-hearted, what happens? They do nothing for no one, they do not move the audience or the judges, but when someone gives it all their heart, what happens? Everyone gets touched and inspired! It is the same with our walk with God! We are not called to just give out a piece of bread to the hungry, we are called to put butter on it, and let people know they are loved, and by that example, they will get the message that God loves them too! But giving your all means dying to your pride and to yourself! It means doing embarrassing things; it means serving without being told a thank you, it means just doing it for God nothing more!

God calls all kinds of people but He needs extreme followers to change the world, He needs leaders, but He wants people willing to die to their selves so they can be alive with the Spirit of God in them! God needs people who will go the extra mile and love until it hurts! He wants you and me to die to ourselves and follow and obey Him in the mission He has for me and you!

Always God needs you and me now, today! John 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. His work is always there, but not enough people are doing it!

8. Many Christians will always think, I am not called, and I have no talents or ability.  They may explain why they are not called to the mission field; their assessment may be true, not everyone has the calling to learn a new language and culture. Others often argue, I am not called to the full time ministry, to be an Officer or pastor, and this may also be true, but only you and God know if it is as you say it is. But there is a universal truth: everyone is called to obey Jesus and serve Him in some way! If Jesus of a truth is in you, you will have a calling of some kind! No matter what you agree to do for God, remember it will cost you, you will need to die to yourself in some way.

A good analogy of God’s callings is in our church example, we are like an Army! Some are called to the front lines and they are praised as the heroes, but they could not do their job without the cooks, the drivers, and the supporters behind them. Everyone is needed!

Everyone is needed in the church because the church is an organized battalion making war on evil with the mission to save souls! We cannot afford to have people who say they will do something and then at the last minute fail the church being busy with something else! This causes us to lose battles and get stuck instead of marching forward! Everyone is called to be an extreme Christian but each person has to “hear” God speak to them to know their place of service.  Like it or not, no one can claim to be a Christian while not obeying the command to love God and their neighbor and preach the gospel to every creature; and this requires a dying sacrifice meaning you and I must ‘Do something!’

9. The real issue and important question we must ask ourselves today is: Am I hearing and obeying the calling God has for me? You will never have peace with God until you answer the call He has for you! Another good question would be, am I being fair and just with my brothers and sister in the church, carrying my fair share of the ministry work load?

Everyone gives or hears excuses all the time, but excuses are only one’s vocal justifications; they do not mean they make it right. A lot needs to get done! A real calling means dying for Jesus! Matthew 4:19-20 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

The challenging reality is that Jesus calls everyone to live for Him and to die to ourselves serving Him. What a waste that in the world many youth will die young from a reckless lifestyle of serving their selfish selves with drugs and pleasures. What a waste many youth will dedicate their selves to a dictator that demands that they kill others, and then later they are killed for submitting to a lost cause.

10. We all must recall the end of it all; in the end each one of us will die. Wouldn’t you like to have the consolation to know that you served Jesus as He expected you to so that you gain rewards in heaven? Colossians 3:24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.  Remember our rewards are in heaven! Matthew 16:27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

It is not hard to die to yourself for Jesus if you have a real faith to know He will help you and be there for you for the whole journey! It is like trading an old ugly car for a nice expense new one. Matthew 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Matthew 13:46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

I traded my empty life and dreams to do Jesus work and I have never regretted it! What is God calling you to do? Maybe He is convicting you to do more for our Corps, or more for Him, speaking up for Him! Be willing to die for Him, He already died for you! If you feel you want to be a candidate for full time service, today is the day to say yes!