Saturday Morning Worship

When I was younger I loved waking up on Saturday morning to the smell of bacon, eggs, Grands biscuits, and grits. Well, I'm not raally a fan of grits, but the other smells were awesome.

Another thing I loved was waking up to the sound of gospel music. My mom loves Shirley Caeser, the Clark Sisters, and the Williams Brothers. We would pray together and read the Bible as well.

Saturday morning worship was something I always looked forward to. What do you remember about your Saturday morning worship?

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Follow Friday

I decided to steal an idea from Twitter and do a pseudo #FF on my blog. My Follow Friday will be all about Jesus though (I mean really...who else should you follow?).

On Fridays I will post articles, scriptures, and other tidbits that will make any non-believer want to take up his/her cross and follow Jesus! Today I will post a scripture.

Jeremiah 29:11-14

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Now doesn't that want to make you jump up and shout! Doesn't that make you want to drop everything you're doing and surrender to God? Doesn't that make you want to be a follower? Look at what the Lord will do if you hearken (listen with intent to do) unto him. I'm excited. I hope you are too.

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The Godhead made simple

Someone out there must need to know this information because I can't get it off my mind! I hope you enjoy reading about the Godhead and have a revelation about who God is. I know when I read this I am set on FIRE! Thanks to the UPCI website for allowing me to snag this:)

God

There is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4). He is the creator of heaven and earth, and of all living beings. He has revealed Himself to humanity as the Father (Creator), in the son (Savior), and as the Holy Ghost (indwelling Spirit).

Father

God is a Spirit (John 4:24). He is the Eternal One, the Creator of all things, and the Father of all humanity by creation.

He is the First and the Last, and beside Him there is no God (Isaiah 44:6). There was no God formed before Him; neither shall there be any after Him (Isaiah 43:10).

Son

Jesus is the Son of God according to the flesh (Romans 1:3) and the very God Himself according to the Spirit (Matthew 1:23). Jesus is the Christ (Matthew 16:16); the creator of all things (Colossians 1:16-17); God with us (Matthew 1:23); God made flesh (John 1:1-14); God manifested in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16); He which was, which is, and which is to come, the Almighty (Revelation 1:8); the mighty God, everlasting Father, and Prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6).

Jesus Himself testified of His identity as God when He said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:7-11) and "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). It took shedding of blood for the remission of the sins of the world (Hebrews 9:22), but God the Father was a Spirit and had no blood to shed. Thus He prepared a body of flesh and blood (Hebrews 10:5) and came to earth as a man in order to save us, for in Isaiah 43:11 He said, "Beside me there is no Saviour." When He came in flesh the angels sang, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11).

Holy Ghost

The Holy Ghost is not a third person in the Godhead, but rather the Spirit of God (the Creator), the Spirit of the resurrected Christ. The Holy Ghost comes to dwell in the hearts and lives of everyone who believes and obeys the gospel, as the comforter, Sustainer, and keeper (John 14:16-26; Romans 8:9-11).

Well now, that was just awesome, wasn't it?

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The Oneness of God

It has been on my mind for the past few days to write about the oneness of God. It seems to be such a mystery, but when you pay close attention to the scripture it actually isn't. Rather than come up with my own summary I decided to post information from some awesome tracts. What you read will either be brand new to you, confirmation for you, or shake your theological foundation. Either way I hope you will leave comments and share this information with others. So, here we go!

God is absolutely and indivisibly one (Deuteronomy 6:4; Galatians 3:20). In Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). He is the self-revelation of the one God, the incarnation of the full, undivided Godhead (John 20:28; I Timothy 3:16).

God has revealed Himself as Father (in parental relationship to humanity), in the Son (in human flesh), and as the Holy Spirit (in spiritual action).  (See Deuteronomy 32:6 and Isaiah 63:16; Luke 1:35 and Galatians 4:4; Genesis 1:2 and Acts 1:8.) The one God existed as Father, Word, and Spirit before His incarnation as Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and while Jesus walked on earth as God Himself incarnate, the Spirit of God continued to be omnipresent. However, the Bible does not teach that there are three distinct centers of consciousness in the Godhead or that Jesus is one of three divine persons.

Jesus is true God and true man as one divine-human person. We can distinguish these two aspects of Christ’s identity, but we cannot separate them. The Incarnation joined the fullness of deity to complete humanity.

Jesus possessed all elements of authentic humanity as originally created by God, without sin. Thus we can speak of Jesus as human in body, soul, spirit, mind, and will. (See Matthew 26:38; Luke 2:40; 22:42; 23:46; Philippians 2:5.) According to the flesh, Jesus was the biological descendant of Adam and Eve, Abraham, David, and Mary. (See Genesis 3:15; Romans 1:3; Galatians 3:16; Hebrews 2:14-17; 5:7-8.) We should not speak of two spirits in Jesus, however, but of one Spirit in which deity and humanity are joined.

Christ’s humanity means that everything we humans can say of ourselves, we can say of Jesus in His earthly life, except for sin. In every way that we relate to God, Jesus related to God, except that He did not need to repent or be born again. Thus, when Jesus prayed, submitted His will to the Father, and spoke about God, He simply acted in accordance with His genuine humanity.

As Jehovah manifested in the flesh, Jesus is the only Savior (Isaiah 45:21-23; Matthew 1:21-23). Thus, Jesus is the only name given for our salvation (Acts 4:12). The Father was revealed to the world in the name of Jesus, the Son was given the name of Jesus at birth, and the Holy Spirit comes to believers in the name of Jesus. (See Matthew 1:21; John 5:43; 14:26; 17:6.) Thus, the apostles correctly fulfilled Christ’s command in Matthew 28:19 to baptize “in the name [singular] of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” by baptizing all converts with the invocation of the name of Jesus.

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The Pearl of Wisdom

Years ago I purchased a book from the second hand store called Pearls from Proverbs by Valerie Wilson. Why am I just now opening this book? No idea. It must be my season. 

Today's pearl was the pearl of wisdom. Proverbs 16:16 reads, "How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!"

How many people do you know who will disagree with this scripture? How can wisdom be better than silver and gold?

In this chapter we learn a bit about the book of Proverbs which is mainly written by Solomon. Solomon was born to David and Bath-sheba. Solomon's name means peace, but he also had another special name: Jedidiah (meaning beloved of the Lord). 

Before David died he charged Solomon to be strong, show himself a man, and walk in the Lord's statutes and commandments so that he would do wisely and prosper in all he does (I Kings 2:2-3). After David died God appeared to Solomon in a dream and told Solomon to ask for whatever he wanted (I Kings 3:5-9). Woa! What if God asked you to tell Him whatever you wanted? What would you ask for?

Solomon could have asked for riches, glory, honor, long life...anything! Instead he asked for an understanding mind and a hearing heart to judge God's people and that he may discern between good and bad. Now that's the way to go! God was so pleased that he not only gave him his request, but he also gave him riches, honor, and he promised to lengthen his days if he walked in God's statutes (I Kings 3:10-14). Awesome!

Have you asked God for wisdom? Let's take a step back. What is wisdom? Is it the same as knowledge?

Knowledge: The fact or condition of being aware of something.

Wisdom: The ability to discern inner qualities and relationships.

In my opinion the difference between knowledge and wisdom is that wisdom goes far beyond knowledge. You can have knowledge about something such as what's going on in our government, but wisdom allows you to discern the truth, what's right and wrong about the knowledge you have. Also, "smart" people can have wisdom, but wise people aren't always necessarily smart/educated.

Where does our wisdom come from? Proverbs 2:6 tells us that our wisdom comes from the Lord. Proverbs 9:10 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The Amplified bible goes a bit further stating, "The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning (the chief and choice part) of wisdom." We can obtain wisdom by simply asking for it, worshiping God, and praying in the Holy Ghost.

Having wisdom is truly valuable. Proverbs 3:13-18 tells us that the values of wisdom are long life, riches, honor, paths of peace, pleasant ways, and happiness. Chapter 16 verse 16 even tells us that wisdom is more valuable than silver and gold! Why? If we have God's wisdom everything else will fall into place. I mean God owns the world, right? Look at what he did for Solomon. Solomon asked for wisdom and ended up getting way more than he asked for including riches and honor.

Wise people are also happy (Proverbs 3:13), they receive reproof (Proverbs 12:15), they love you because of instruction (Proverbs 9:8-9, 17:10), they fear and depart from evil (Proverbs 14:16), they're prudent (Proverbs 16:21), and they inherit glory (Proverbs 3:35).

If we have Jesus Christ in our life we ultimately have wisdom because Jesus Christ is the power and wisdom of God (I Corinthians 1:24). He is our wisdom from God (vs. 30). Would you rather have the wisdom of God or the wisdom of this world? Hint: I Corinthians 3:19-20, James 3:15-17

At the end of the chapter we are asked the following questions. I hope you will leave the answers to the questions in the comments section.

1. Can you explain the wisdom described in Proverbs in your own words?
2. How can a person who is uneducated as far as this world is concerned be wise in God's sight?
3. Why do you think the wisest man who ever lived (apart from Jesus Christ) lived foolishly at the end of his life (I Kings 11:1-6)?
4. Have you believed the "foolish" message of the preaching of the cross (I Corinthians 1:18-21)? Has Jesus Christ been made wisdom to you? How?
5. For what life situations do you need wisdom this week? Claim the promise of James 1:5 for those situations.

I hope you enjoyed this devotion as much as I have. Seek wisdom my friend!

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Back to the Basics

Mid-week service this evening was phenomenal. My pastor's wife gave the message, which always makes me smile because she's a great orator. She started off by asking the question: What happens when the grand finale is over? Think about the fireworks. You see great sparkles and shimmers, and then comes the grand finale. But after the show is over your emotions settle and you have to go back to the "real world". 

What about your personal life? Have you ever had a climax in your life? Have you ever had a series of events or circumstances, good or bad, that caused you to reach a climax? What happened after everything died down and went back to normal?

After everything dies down God is still faithful, but are we really faithful to him?

When the cares of this world weigh us down we lose sight of what is important: being faithful to God. We have school. We have work. We have children. We don't have time for devotion. We don't have time for devotion?

If there is ever a time to be faithful now is the time. 

Sometimes we get so tired and just don't want to do it anymore! I don't want to write this research paper. I don't want to sit on this conference call. I don't want to do my laundry, and I surely don't want to wash these dishes! This "I don't want to do it anymore" mentality happens in our walk with God, doesn't it? But what happens to our soul?

When we get tired we need to go back to the basics:

1. Reading God's Word
1. John 6:35 ~ "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." The word of God is fuel for our soul. The word of God is also an every day experience we should partake of because it gives us strength (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
2. Praying in the Holy Ghost
1. Praying in the Holy Ghost gives us strength. Romans 8:26 says: Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. We even receive power after the Holy Ghost comes upon us (Acts 1:8). When we don't feel like praying that is the PERFECT time to pray!

Sometimes we don't feel like doing what we need to do, but we have to remember that we are in a role on this earth. We are Kings children adopted into His royal family. 

When you don't think you need it pick up the word of God anyway. You may not need it right then but you may need it the next day, or even the next month. 

Take away: When you're tired or struggling get back to the basics. Get your daily dose of prayer and the word of God. 

Thank you Sis. Griffin for this awesome word. I hope everyone who reads this will share it with others and leave comments.

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Why so many denominations?

Why are there so many denominations? 

Christianity has become a huge umbrella "religion" with tons of denominations. Do you ever wonder how God feels about that? What is the difference between Baptist and Full Gospel Baptist? What is the difference between Apostolic Pentecostal and Apostolic Lutheran? What about "non-denominational" churches? In my opinion, "non-denominational" has become it's own denomination! Do you ever just want to go back to the days when Jesus walked the earth before there was all this confusion? Well, now that I think about it there was confusion back then too!

I really don't like to identify with a denomination because there are so many opinions and stereotypes that come with that, but if you were to ask me I would tell you I am Apostolic. I see you now...shaking your head. Don't judge me! LOL

Do you know what Apostolic means? It just means that I follow the word of God as he instructed His Apostles to teach before he ascended up to heaven. Apostolics follow the Apostles' Doctrine. That's it! 

If you study the history of the Christian church (here, here, and here) you will see that over time Christianity has evolved not because of God, but because of man. Certain men didn't like a particular portion of the bible, so they broke off from the church and formed their own denomination.

I am not here to persuade you to believe what I believe. I just want you to know what you believe and why you believe it. If you don't know why you are a part of your denomination, or you don't know what doctrine your denomination teaches, I suggest you find out.

Side note: There is a huge difference between "religion" and "relationship". Do you practice a religion, or do you have a relationship with God?

[I found another scripture on Friday, August 5, 2011 that may help you understand the term "Apostolic: “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42)]

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