God’s Spoken Ways

Willing Vessel

• Willing Vessel – is a teaching about what it means to become a willing vessel of Christ Jesus. We all come out of the world, which has shaped us into an unwilling vessel, unusable by God. We chased our own ways, plans, and beliefs. The Lord through his power, strength, and authority calls us and then he breaks and mold us into a new creation, like clay, into a useful vessel for God. Through Christ Jesus you and I can be made into a willing and holy vessel of God, established in the Lord.  If we remain an unwilling vessel, though the Lord has called us, we will be unchangeable, disobedient, and prideful and we teach others to be the same. But if we allow the Lord to examine us, to see reveal what makes us so unwilling to obey, unwilling to be led by the Lord, unwilling to give our lives to God. Then through the loving, kind, and sturdy hand of God, we are transformed from an unwilling vessel to a willing vessel. This process will take time, patience, and endurance on our part to receive all the Lord wants to change about us. It takes time to prepare and reshape us, time to remove the old, the bad, and replace it with the good God intended. We need to be made over, shaped and molded into a useful vessel for God, useful for his purpose and will.

Without God

• Without God – is a teaching to help us establish our faith in the Lord so we are not living our lives without God. I know this may sound strange, but though we have gone to the altar, that does not mean we have established our faith in a way where we are not living without God. Christ Jesus teaches us about what it means when we become a lukewarm Christian, a person who goes to church, listen to preaching, but they don’t put into practice what they hear. When a lukewarm person calls out to God, it does not cause God to move because they are living without God in their life. There is no devotion to God’s Word and Ways, they go to church, but they live separate from God every day. You and I did not come to the cross just to become a lukewarm, religious person who only goes to church. We came to God to be a child of God, one who is fully devoted to the Lord each and every day. A faithful and devoted follower of Christ Jesus is always able to get the attention of God, because God the Father honors all who devoted themselves to living in Christ Jesus. God honors our faith and walk; he shows us favor because we have devoted ourselves to him and not to the world.

Believe and Trust

 

• Believe and Trust – Since the beginning of time we have been taught to believe and trust in many things, including ourselves. Many of us have spent hours in church listening to what we should believe and trust in to save our soul. Our faith in God the Father and our Lord Christ Jesus is based on what others have taught us to believe and trust in. But for us to ensure our faith and our beliefs are in-line with God’s Word, His Son, and His Spirit, we have to allow the Holy Spirit to examine what we believe and trust in. We may have some wrong understanding about the things of God, and what we should believe and trust in, we need to know if it’s all from God. This will take a humble person, not many of us are willing to allow such an examination to take place, because we assume what someone taught us, is what God has spoken. The question is, will what we believe and trust in pass the test of God, or will it fail? Its important that we bounce what we believe and trust in against the Word of God to ensure our belief and trust is founded on the things of God. If what we believe and trust in is not founded on God’s Word it will be impossible for us to grow in faith, and we won’t be able to reach the level of maturity the Lord has called, because we believe in things that have been added to God’s Word and we trust in things of the world, more than we trust in God.

Obedience

• Obedience – is a teaching about us learning how to walk in obedience to God. Yes, we are a Christian and we have faith, but for us to grow our faith and reach the maturity level God is calling us, we must be willing to connect our faith to our obedience to God. We cannot obey sin and obey God, for Christ Jesus has set us free from sin so we can serve God by faith and in truth. We must obey God and our Lord Christ Jesus every hour of the day so we are worthy. Obedience is one of those things we must continually examine, because it does not take much for us to be disobedient to God. We could have trouble in our life, in our family, in our career, with our marriage, with our finances, and with our health. Any of these things could cause us to turn and be disobedient to God. Obedience must be connected to our faith so we will not turn away from the Lord. Staying obedient to God is not easy; it requires that we always seek the Lord, that we allow the Will of God to rule over our will. Being obedient to God may require for us to undergo suffering as we walk upright before God, and not walk in obedience to our sinful nature. Obedience is required by God if we want to be blessed by the Lord. Obedience to God is achieved through us faithfully following Christ Jesus and obeying the commandments of God.

Lip Service

• Lip Service – is a teaching about us coming to God in truth and walking in the vows we make to God. Not giving God lip service but putting into practices what we receive from God.  It teaches us about being more devoted to the Lord, so we serve God in faith, truth, and love. Sometimes we do not realize that what we are giving back to God and what we share with others is just lip service. While it may sound good, it may be from God’s Word, but what we are speaking is not in us, nor is it what we do. This was an important part of Christ Jesus teaching to his disciples; we must be a person who not only speak of God’s Word; we must put into practice what we have received, it must be in us. We know someone is giving us lip service when what they share has not changed them, nor are they the kind of person they teach others to be. If we don’t want to give lip service to God and others, we have to allow God’s Word to be who we are, it must come out of us, it must be who we are. Not just words, but backed up through our actions, our deeds, our faith, our love, and holding to God’s Truth.

This World

• This World – is a teaching to about how God created a perfect world, created us without sin. We have done everything to turn what was perfect into a sinful and ungodly place. God has not given up on us though; through his Son we still have a chance to experience eternal life with God. God looked beyond our faults and provides a way for those who receive his Son to be set apart so we can make it through. We must accept the fact that God has declared this world ungodly, there is nothing we can do to save it; we need to save ourselves. We must accept the fact this world is not our home, we are just traveling through, we must long for our eternal home that is to come. In this world, we see much pain and suffering, in this world we see those who get ahead, while holding others back. In this world, we see the terrible things we do to each other. We see those who take advantage of others, we see the greed of others, we see misjustice, we see prejudice, we see favoritism, and we see racism. We see those who are not able, not living up to their full potential. We must look forward to a new earth and a new heaven for the righteous people of God. Though we must live in the world, we are not of the world. We are of God; we are of Christ Jesus.

Comforter

• Comforter – is a teaching to help us come to understand that during periods in our life we will have a need to be comforted. Right now, we may be flying high, where everything is going as planned, but sooner or later trouble will show up. We all hit a low point in life, where things are not going as planned. Trouble can come from anywhere, through anyone, including ourselves. We could easily be the reason for the issue, or it could come from others. The point is, there will be times, I pray not too many times where we have to learn how to seek the Lord as our comforter. He is our provider, he is our God, he is Lord of Lord, but sometimes we need someone to comforter us. We try to comforter ourselves; we try to lean on others for comforter, but none of that seems to last or work. There in lays the lesson, to come to understand the only one who truly understands, the only one who truly gets us and knows what we need, knows how to comfort us, is the Lord.

Whose To Blame

• Whose To Blame – is a teaching to help us change our way of thinking when it comes to always placing blame on others, always finding fault in others. Life is full of trouble; there is always something going wrong. We work hard at what we do, working to be a good person, to be a good Christian. When things do go wrong, we tend to point fingers at others. We should always remember what the Lord has done for us; he reached down and snatched us out of darkness, out of the fire of sin. He showed us mercy, and gave us grace so we could have another chance to do what is right. We have to do the same to others, when things go wrong. We can’t be quick to judge, but with patience we take our issues and troubles to the Lord. We forgive those who are to blame, who have done wrong. We have to forgive, so God will forgive us when we do wrong. Whose is without sin, who is without blame? We must grow in the Lord so our conscience remains clear, and we hold no charges against others, so God will hold no charges against us. In Christ Jesus there is freedom, be free of blame. Find no fault in others, so God will not find in fault in us.

Effects Of Sin

• Effects of Sin – is a teaching to help us have a desire to overcome and put to death sin in us. We don’t really know just how bad sin is, until we take a look at the effects sin have on our lives, on the lives of our family, and on those we love. There are very bad effects that comes from us carrying out sin. Sin creates a disobedient spirit in us, though we know to do right, we will not do it. Sin creates confusion, when we where a sinner everyone knew it, and they accepted all the bad that came with us. Once we gave ourselves to the Lord and sin continues, it creates confusion because though we may be speaking differently, our behavior and actions are the same, we confuse everyone around us, and sometimes we confuse ourselves. The effects of sin gives desire for pleasure and greed, we continue in sin because we like the benefits of sin, and what we get from it. But sin is bad, its bad for our salvation, it works against the Spirit of God in us. Sin is bad, the effects of sin is bad because it makes us unfaithful and separates us from God. Sin is bad, there is no other way to put it. No matter if we try to redefine sin, sin is what God calls sin, and its effects on our lives and those around us can never be changed, just because we call sin good.

Commanded By God

Commanded By God - Is a teaching about how we need to establish our faith in the commandments of God, and not in things we hear about God, that which has not been spoken by God, or revealed by Christ Jesus. This is a very important part of our faith; our faith must be established only on the Word of God. We must come to love every commandment of God, even if it causes us to have to make changes in our lives. We have to place God’s Word into our heart so it can point us in the ways of God, into the truth of God. In the beginning doing as God has spoken and commanded will not be easy. Because it will speak against everything that has been placed in us from the world. All our bad habits, all our bad thoughts, all our bad plans. But, if we accept God at his Word and follow his Son Christ Jesus, every time God’s commandments us in his ways, it will become a delight to our heart. We will get joy from every Word of God, thought it continues to change us day by day. For it is by God, through Christ Jesus that every Word of God comes alive, and manifests every promise of God in our lives.

Be A Giver

• Be A Giver – is a teaching to help us establish our faith by becoming a giver. I know when you first read the title of this message, it turned you off immediately. But the Lord wants to share with us more than being a person who pays titles and offerings. God has been giving to us from the beginning, it is who God is, and who we need to become. Being a giver is not a religious thing with God, its not about following practices that makes a person feel guilty because they did not give at church. Being a giver as defined by God, has to do with our heart, and how we need to have an open heart and hand towards those who are in need, because in the time of our need, the Lord either came to our rescue, or he sent someone to help us. God is always giving to those who seek him through his Son Christ Jesus. God teaches us how to be givers through his Word, Son, and Spirit, but we have to receive God’s Ways into our heart for it to be effective not only in our lives, but in the lives the Lord leads us to touch through our giving. This was a hard lesson for me, because I thought I was a cheerful giver, but the Lord showed my that I did not give out of my heart, but based on my conscience, based on rules I made up regarding when and who I would give to. He had to change my heart to receive this message.

LIstening To God

• Listening To God – is a teaching about learning to listen to God. Some believe God is not speaking to us anymore. If we want to hear from God, then we need to be a student of God’s Word so what we believe and stand on is not based on manmade theories. If God says his voice can be heard from on high, then we need to believe and work, so we are in position to hear, in position to listen to what the Lord has to say. God knows many are hard of hearing, he knows many hearts are harden. The Lord knows we chase after the cares of this world, but he continues to send out preachers and teachers so those who cannot hear, are able to hear and listen to God’s message and come to believe in God the Father and his Son Christ Jesus. We must develop an ear for the Lord, so we can hear and listen to his voice about his love, compassion, forgiveness, salvation, discipline, wrath, Word, Son, and Spirit. We need to able to listen so we understand how the Power of God can be at work in our lives, so we understand how prayers can change things, and how eternal life with God is real. We can’t be forever hearing and never perceive; we cannot be forever seeing but never understanding.  We need to be able to hear, listen, and obey the voice of God.   

Spiritual Cleansing

• Spiritual Cleansing – is a teaching about allowing the work of the Lord to reach full completion in us. We heard the call of God, so we step forward and came down to receive. We felt him enter into our heart as we gave ourselves away. Then we got up and went back and continued the pattern of our lives, some of us felt the need to serve, to show others we have been called by God. But we may not have allowed the work to begin on the inside. Christ spoke about how many came but they only allowed for work to be done on the outside and left the inside untouched. He called these types of people hypocrites because their only consider how others see them in the Lord, they were not concerned about how God viewed them from within. To establish our faith correctly in Jesus, we have allow a spiritual cleansing to occur, we have to allow the Holy Spirit to have its way, not just changing our external behaviors, but to change and touch our heart, mind, body and soul so we are completely changed. Lord we need you to cleanse us from the inside out. We need everything to be as white as snow, so are found worthy to see you, worthy to serve in the House of God

Addictive Nature

• Addictive Nature – is a teaching about understanding our addictive nature. We have this pattern where we repeat the same thing over and over again. It makes sense at first, that we have an addictive nature so as we learn about God and teach our children about the Lord, serve God, do good to others, and repeat this pattern of righteous living over and over again. However, we chose sin over the goodness of God, so our addictive nature attached itself to bad things, to sinful things, which we repeat over and over again as we feel trouble, struggles, and anguish in our lives. It’s true when we come to Christ Jesus, he wipes away all condemnations, we are totally forgiven. If we receive all that the Lord offered us, then our nature would have also changed. But we did not allow our heart and nature to be fully changed, we held onto some bad behaviors, some our sinful desires, and we repeat them over and over again while under grace. Thus, there is a requirement in Christ that we must repent, so we receive forgiveness. God wants us free, for us to stay free in Christ Jesus. Therefore, we have to uncover our nature, all its addictive bad habits and sinful behaviors so we can live free in Christ Jesus, so we can start doing good as instructed by the Lord. We need to be addicted to God, not to this world, not to ourselves, not to sin, not anything in this world. Be addicted to God and our Lord Christ Jesus. We need to ask the Lord to remove all the bad in our nature and replace it with all the good God intended to be in us from the beginning.

 

 

Is It Pleasing To God

• Is It Pleasing To God – is a teaching about understanding if what we do and how we think pleases God. The reason we need to understand if what we do is pleasing to God, is so when we pray and make requests to the Lord, we are not doing it in vain, as the Word of God says. God is a just God; he does look at how we walk before him to determine if he will move in our lives. It’s important if we want to experience God’s Power in our lives to make sure what we believe, how we talk, how we think, and what we do, is pleasing to God. So in the time of God’s favor, you and I will experience the goodness of God in our lives. It’s not easy to do what pleases God every day, people and life have a way of making us act out our old self. We must remember we have put off our old self, and put on our new self in Christ Jesus. We must examine ourselves, examine our heart, guard over ourselves, and be watchful so how we think and behavior, how we act and react, pleases God. We must look at how Christ Jesus walked to please God the Father, so we walk in the same manner, so God’s Spirit, blessings, and favor is poured upon our lives and our children lives.

Where Are We In Christ Jesus

• Where Are We In Christ Jesus – is a teaching to help us understand where we are in the Lord, and are we standing upright before God. The Apostle Paul said that by now many of us should be teachers. But many are not where they should be in Christ Jesus. We allow the cares of this world, the cares for riches keep us from growing in Christ Jesus. We think we are standing on solid ground, but we do not realize we are standing on a slipper slop. We should be teachers, leaders, faithful believers, needing no one to teach us, instead many need to be taught the elementary truths about Christ Jesus all over again. What we have built our faith on is not found in Christ or God’s Word; we are not where we should be. Are we living our lives in Christ Jesus, is there evidence we are where the Lord has called us? The only way we know we are where the Lord wants us to be is if we have been changed by the Power of God. We know we are where we should be in the Lord, because our focus and energy is to work and serve the Lord, to bring God glory, and not to bring glory to ourselves. If we want the Lord to listen to us, if we want the Lord to move in our lives, then we need to be in right standing with God.

Prayer And Fasting

• Prayer And Fasting – is about helping us establishing our faith in way where it includes a life of prayer and fasting. This massage speaks of how God defines and requires us to pray and fast before him. Why do we need to pray and fast? Is it a religious practice? God’s Word teaches us that God desires to communion with his people, so he opens a window for us through Christ Jesus so our prayers can reach the throne of God. We need to be in constant communication with God so we can learn and overcome sin in our lives, so the Lord blesses and delivers us. Who do you know is willing to give when they do not know the other person? Yes, you give a little to help, but you will not give your all. If we want God to pay attention to us, if we want the protection of the Lord, then we need to be in constant communication with the one who can help us. Through prayer and fasting, we can learn of God, and the Lord will hear us. Through prayer and fasting, we can draw nearer to God, and the Lord will draw nearer to us. Blessings comes, because we are willing to lay before God, in good days and in bad. Deliverance comes, because we keep our eyes toward heaven; we keep our heart towards God, praying and fasting before God, and not praying and fasting to impress others.

Mastering Sin

• Mastering Sin – this teaching is about how God the Father through Christ Jesus has made a way for us to be free from sin, to master sin, and live a holy life. I know this teaching is hard for many to believe and accept, the Lord had to do a lot of work on me before I believed his Word regarding being free from sin. Sin had a hold on me, even though I was severing the Lord. We must work out our salvation through Christ Jesus, so we can get completely free from sin. Christ Jesus came and destroyed the power of sin and death, so we have a way to come to God freely. We have to do our part by submitting and surrendering ourselves to the power of God. We can be set free, if we allow the Spirit of the Lord to teach us how to put to death all the sinful footholds the devil is holding on us. I know, you are thinking this is impossible, but I am sharing with you it’s not impossible, we must believe. One by one, each of our sins must die. Sin has no hold on us, if we learn how to live our lives every day in Christ Jesus, sin will not be our master anymore. The Lord will change our nature, so don’t desire the pleasure of sin, we will be convicted in our heart, so we don’t feel good about carrying out sin. Its not easy, but all things, the Lord says all things, are possible for those who believe and trust their lives to God.

All We Need

• All We Need - is a about understanding the difference between needs, and our desires and wants. There are many who are in need, they are suffering from a lack of food, a lack of finances, a lack of opportunity, a lack of education, and are being oppressed by others. Those who are in need can come to the Lord, and he will give them relief from their suffering. Many of us are not in need, we have strong desires and wants that we treat as if we are in need. We go to the Lord, asking for help with our desires and wants, speaking to God as if we are in need. God sees and knows all things, and he knows whether we are in need or want. God says; if we follow his commandments, follow his Son Christ Jesus, and walk in his ways, then he will satisfy our desires because our desires are in-line with his will. If we do not understand the difference between needs and wants, we will always approach God in need, never giving God glory, never giving thanks for the Lord meeting us at the point of our need. He brought us out and placed our feet on solid ground, but we are not content, we are not satisfied, we still desire and want more.

Humbleness

• Humbleness – is about learning humility and walking humbly before God and our Lord Christ Jesus. This world has taught us how to be prideful, arrogant, stubborn, and selfish. When God calls us to follow his Son Christ Jesus, we struggle because we are missing humility. Everything flows through his power and the work of the Holy Spirit, nothing comes from us, so there is really nothing for us to be prideful and arrogant about. We must humbly accept the person we have become in the world, and allow our heart, soul, body, and spirit to change so our faith gets established correctly, and we grow in the Lord. Only through humbleness will God hear our prayers, only through humbleness will God answer our needs; only with a humble heart can we faithfully serve God. We must give ourselves over to work of God, and humble ourselves so God blesses us, and lift us up.