Month: July 2017

GET TOGETHER- GOD WILL TAKE YOU WHERE FEAR SAYS YOU CAN’T GOIsa 43:1 ¶ But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.

God is in the business of allowing His children to partner with Him in advancing His Kingdom upon the earth. He didn’t have to do it that way, but He chose to out of His great love for us. Fear is a tactic that the enemy will try to use to hinder the child of God from accepting the assignments that God has for us.

 

Often the voice of the enemy will come and try to paint a picture that if you step out in faith this is going to happen, or that is going to happen. He will try to get us into so much fear that we become spiritually paralyzed and will not heed what God is calling us to do.

 

The Hebrew term for fear in this passage is yare’, yaw-ray’. It can have a good meaning like showing reverence toward God. But in the context of this passage it means to be frightened, or terribly afraid.

 

When the enemy tries to attack our minds with the spirit of fear we have to prayerfully walking by faith stand on the promises of God. God redeemed Israel from Egypt. He also brought them out of the Babylonian captivity. He is in the restoring and delivering business.

 

You and I need to stand on what God is saying to us in these two verses. First, He created us. He created us for Him and to advance his Kingdom upon the earth. He tells us not to fear. He would not tell us that if He weren’t going to give us reason not to fear. As born-again believers in Jesus Christ we can stand on His words in Lu 12:32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (NKJV)

 

He promises to be with us when we pass through the waters. Sometimes the waters may be swift. Sometimes water can be very unpredictable. Sometimes waters can be murky and we don’t know what is lurking in those waters. Sometimes water can be very powerful and sweep everything away in its path. But He promises us His children that they will not overflow us.

 Sometimes the fires of life can be very hot. We make be facing challenges at our job, profession, or whatever our calling is. The heat can get real hot and the enemy will try to convince us that those fires of life are about to destroy us. But listen to what God says: “When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.”

We have to make a decision. Are we going to believe the lies of the devil, or are we going to believe what God has promises us in His Holy Word?

Today if the enemy is throwing fear at you to inhibit you from fulfilling what God is calling you to do whether it be as a parent, executive, political leader, Pastor, Teacher, or any other assignment that is from God. Stand on His promises. You are created! The waters will not overflow you and you will not be burned! May these words from the Apostle Paul become so alive in our lives “2Ti 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” that when the spirit of fear comes the Holy Spirit will release the power to withstand that assault and we with a sound mind will walk in the love of God in a great and mighty way!(NKJV). When we believe this God will take us to the places that fear didn’t want us to go to.

 

Let Us Pray

Lord Jesus we thank You that You have made us people of destiny and purpose. We thank You that You defeated the spirit of fear at Calvary’s cross. Today Holy Spirit help us to stand upon every promise of God that is yes and amen in Christ Jesus . Yes, Lord we will go where you send us.

In Jesus Name

Amen

 

 

 

 

 

Would you ask Holy Spirit to give you some names off this list and pray over those names the next few weeks. And if you don’t mind pray for me when the Holy Spirit brings me by you.

 

Your Friend/Kinfolk

Preston

 

 

 

 

 

 

GET TOGETHER – Others Are ImportantMt 7:12 ¶ “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
I must admit that some of my weakness and shortcomings that the Lord is healing me from are people pleasing, performance, and the opinion of man. And yes, I have been delivered from those demonic spirits, but we also must learn how to walk in a way where we are not only free of those, but realize that we are still called to love and value people.
Sometimes on the other hand we can often go to the other extreme where we don’t value people and we can become self-centered and forget that Jesus has commanded us to love others and to care for them. When Jesus was pressed by the Pharisees about what was the greatest commandment here is how He answered Mt 22:37-39 Jesus said to him,” ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. “And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The Greek term for like in verse 39 is hom’-oy-os. It means being like something else in some respect. As some of the billboards on the highway used to say Jesus is serious about that loving your neighbor thing. It is a commandment from Him. 
Here are a few questions that I need to ask myself. When I am tempted to fault find another Christian would I want them to fault find me? When I am in the company of a non-Christian can I win them better by treating them as I would want to be treated, or by being a jerk to them? Wasn’t that what Jesus was trying to teach us when He taught the Parable about the Good Samaritan ( Read Luke 10:30-37) ?
One of my favorite passages is Php 2:3” Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” With that said I pray that for all of us in the Body of Christ we will know that just because we are not supposed to be man pleasers, or perform so that we can get the approval of others we are called to love, serve, and value others without any other motive, but loving God, and loving our neighbor. When we do we are obeying what Jesus said to do and we will be about the business of advancing the Kingdom of God upon the earth.

Let Us Pray

Lord today we thank You that you have called us to be a people that love You with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. You have also commanded us to love our neighbor sa ourselves and to do good to them. We need Your help. We also know that some will need Your help in loving us. Help us to love, serve, and treat others the way that you have commanded us to do.
In Jesus Name  

Amen
Please pray for our outreach Mission Hamilton 316 as we go to Chestnut Circle Apartments Friday Night and Key Branch Apartments Saturday morning.
Your Friend/Kinfolk

Preston

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GET TOGETHER- LET GOD DO THE PROMOTING
Lu 14:7 -11¶ So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; “and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.
“But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Our culture often puts a big emphasis on promoting ourselves. We see athletes often do this when they make a big play. At other times, we see people running for office having to sell themselves to the voters. Businesses must promote their products. So not all of those things are wrong. But as Kingdom people serving in the Kingdom Jesus has a valuable lesson for us in how we can advance in our walk with Him and we can be used to advance His Kingdom upon the earth.
This past week as a Pastor I took great joy in seeing one of God’s servants advance in a good way. This person serves the Lord in our congregation in several ways. Her name is Cheryl Ortiz. She prints our bulletins, runs the sound booth and serves in several other ways.
The Lord put it on her heart for us to have an evangelism training day. She organized all of the lessons. She taught the classes and prepared the food that we ate. As her Pastor that day I saw her grow as a Christian. As she taught the class she shared how at one time in her life she was terrified to get up in front of her class in Middle School and High School. She would often throw up and not do well on the assignment because of this fear. She got set free of that fear this past Saturday. I believe in the future the Lord will use her to teach other occasions.
I thought about what a good example this was of what Jesus was talking about. She took the lower seat. God gave her an opportunity to move forward this past Saturday and to me it was a good example that if someone humbles themselves they will be exalted. By the way the training session was awesome and the Lord used that time to give us a heart for souls and to also draw us closer to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ!
Yesterday as I was talking to her about how God used her and about leadership she shared with me how that Jesus was a servant leader. He never stopped serving while He was on the earth. He gave us the perfect example. The Bible tells us how he humbled Himself. Php 2:5-7 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
You might say I thought Jesus said that He no longer called us servants, but now He calls us friends. That is true and what a blessing it is to serve a Friend who loves closer than a brother, to serve a Friend who would die for die hard sinners like I was and like you were at one time, or may still be. That is the uniqueness about having a relationship with the King of Kings! What a blessing to serve a Friend who heals, sets captives free, and is coming back again to get us one day. Humble yourself take the lower seat and serve the Lord with gladness and watch what God does in your life.
Let Us Pray
Lord Jesus we thank You that when we take the lower seat that we are not forgotten about. We thank you that we can be at the wedding feast because of your sacrificial death on the cross. Help us to take the lower seat and to serve you knowing that one day we will hear your voice saying , “Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
In Jesus Name
Amen
Blessings to all of you!
Your Friend/Kinfolk
Preston

GET TOGETHER- BE COUNTER CULTURAL PUT OTHERS FIRST
Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
 We live in a culture that is often me, myself, and I. Athletes often leave a school that they have committed to if they don’t become the stars they were projected to be immediately. People get very impatient in drive through lines at fast food restaurants. Others cut people off in traffic, or ride peoples bumpers until you almost feel like they have become attached to your vehicle.  
Well you have heard the negative so how about a little positive here. I can think of at least three occasions in the past week that someone volunteered to let us go ahead of them in the checkout line at the grocery store. One time the lady even had a much smaller amount of good than we had. 
Sometimes in the church we may not consider others before we do ourselves. Some people like it real cool. Others don’t seem to have a problem with it being a little warmer. I could make a long list of things that challenge relationships between Christians in a congregation, but I won’t hang out there. Instead let us look at what advice Paul gave the church at Philippi
Some feel like Philippi could have been Paul’s favorite congregation. He didn’t have to do some of the major correcting like he did with the church at Corinth. He is able to do a lot of exhorting to the church at Philippi. It appears that they were in one accord and he wants to help them to remain in one accord. 
He reminds them let nothing be done out of selfish ambition. The Greek term here for selfish ambition is eritheia.. It means a feeling of resentfulness based upon jealousy, and implying. rivalry. Remember other Christians that God may be blessing with greater attendance are not our rivals. Remember that we are all part of the Body of Christ. Remember that when we have small group ministry, youth ministry, or music ministry it is for the Glory of God and not to establish factions.  
The Greek term for selfish ambition here is kenodoxia. It means a state of pride without a basis for justification, cheap pride, vain pride, empty pride. So on the other hand when God is really moving in our services and doing awesome things among us we can take no pride in that, because it is God doing it and it is for God’s glory. This doesn’t mean that we don’t encourage one another, but we encourage one another so that the Holy Spirit will continually use us for the glory of God.  
The Greek term for lowliness of mind is tapeinophrosune. 

 I’m glad that I am writing this one and not trying to pronounce it. It means humility without arrogance. A lot of Christians confuse boldness with arrogance. Boldness is walking in humility, speaking the truth in love. 
When we esteem others, we are modeling what Christ commands us to do. We are also showing others that we value them. We are showing them that God values them. Sometimes I have to preach this message to myself. My prayer for all of us today is that we will do this. When we do we will show the world that there is a better way than the me, myself, and I culture that is so prevalent today.
Let us Pray
Lord Jesus we thank You that You have given us the perfect model on how to do this when You came to earth in the form of a man. You have also given us the perfect Helper in the Holy Spirit to help us to do this. We believe that You will do this work in our lives for the glory of God and the advancement of Your Kingdom here on earth!

In Jesus Name

Amen
Still playing catchup, but we will get there. We love you all with the love of Jesus Christ!

Your Friend/Kinfolk

Preston