Posted by Pastor Bruce on April 21, 2010
Is it real faith or just mental assent?
…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. – Romans 10:9-10 NKJV
Mental assent looks like real faith in that people that mentally assent to the truth of God’s Word agree that the Word of God is true. But the difference in real faith and mental assent is that someone that has real Bible faith believes that the Word of God is true and that what the Word promises is “personally for them”.
God’s Word is true whether you believe it or not, but do you believe that everything that He has promised in His Word is for you personally? This is the most important question.
God wants to bless you but is limited in a sense by your faith (or lack of it). Faith is merely trusting that God is who He says that He is, that He has what He says He has and that He can do what He says that He says that He can do. Find out about God from His Word, begin to know Him at a deeper level and you will begin to trust Him at a deeper level as well!
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Posted by Pastor Bruce on January 20, 2010
When you speak you give yourself away.
…How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)? For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things. But I tell you, on the day of judgment men will have to give account for every idle (inoperative, nonworking) word they speak. – Matthew 12:34-36 AMP
These were Jesus words to the religious leaders of the day. This was in response to their accusation that He was casting out demons because He had a demon. Their words gave voice to what was in their heart.
All you must do in order to locate people is let them talk for about 5 minutes. If their words are filled with hate, fear, doubt, criticism and pride then it is evident what is in their heart.
(But to hear what someone has to say you must let them talk. This “exercise” also helps us develop the all important skill of listening.) The more that you begin to listen to people the more aware you are of the words that you are speaking, then naturally you begin to judge your heart and words to make sure that they line up to God’s Word.
Your heart and mouth are connected. It is useless to use the excuse, “Yeah, I said that but I really didn’t mean it…” Change what is in our heart and the words that are coming out of our mouths will change.
Posted by Pastor Bruce on January 8, 2010
Don’t wait until spring to clean.
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. – Matthew 21:12-13 KJV
Jesus completely fulfilled the will of God in all things. When He drove out the money changers He was not doing it out of anger. (and certainly not to make a spectacle of them.) The purpose was to show them and us that the temple was not created for anything but communing and fellow-shipping with our Heavenly Father. In yesterday’s blog entry we saw that the temple was to be a house of prayer. We can relate to and see the importance of this in two ways; our house (physical dwelling place where we live) and His house (our body…if we are born again and in the family of God).
Our bodies were not made to harbor bitterness, covetousness, greed, anger and unforgiveness. Our “temples” (our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit) were made for a relationship with God. Our first responsibility is to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. First things first. As we pray each day and spend time with our Heavenly Father everything that is foreign and not of God begins to leave our “temple”. Romans 12 says that we are responsible to present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God. When we pray consistently we are presenting our bodies to the Lord. We are making time with Him our prime time and His peace and presence will fill our spirit, flow out into our soul and affect our bodies! How powerful!
Cleanse your temple by making your life a “house of prayer”. Fulfill the scripture, “Pray without ceasing” by being constantly in an attitude of prayer. Have an ongoing conversation with the Lord as you walk through your day. Don’t wait until spring.
Posted by Pastor Bruce on August 11, 2009
Move from “I don’t know” to “I KNOW” by believing 1 John 2:20 But you have been anointed by [you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from] the Holy One, and you all know [the Truth] or you know all things. [AMP]
We have been graced by God with His Holy Spirit that clues us in to all things. In James the Bible says that if any of us lacks wisdom, let them (us) ask God for it. (believing and not doubting) We will receive it and move from a “know not” to a “know so”.
In this hour we must depend on the God that created the Heavens and Earth to give us insight so that we can live in victory. You can know if you ask and depend on the Spirit of God living on the inside of you. Say, “I know!” instead of “I don’t”
Posted by Pastor Bruce on January 7, 2009
Pro 3:5 (AMP) Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.
Get out of your mind and begin to trust in the Lord….because you can’t do both at the same time.
Either you are trusting God or attempting to scheme and figure out a way in your mind.
Trusting God begins in the heart. It is a heart issue.
The heart of the matter is always a matter of the heart.
Deep down inside yourself you must settle the question of “who is in control of my life?”…are you or is God?
Give yourself (and all that that includes) to God. All of the stress and worry, pain and grief, disappointment and discouragement…give it to Him. now.
Quit thinking so hard and trust God.
Posted by Pastor Bruce on December 17, 2008
“God so loved that He gave.” John 3:16 is most probably the most well known verse of scripture in the world and of all time.
God gave His Son, Jesus.
This is Christmas…the gift of His Son.
When we give we are only A giver…He remains THE Giver. Our giving is just a reflection of His ultimate Gift.
Love must be the motivation of giving for it to qualify as true giving.
We love Him because He first loved us and we are only able to give because He gave first.
Be an imitator of God and give from the heart, nothing attached, and experience the love of God.
We are an extention of Him when we give like Him.
Posted by Pastor Bruce on October 16, 2008
“Change isn’t change until it is change.”
The change that matters most in all of eternity is the change of heart that takes place when we decide to believe that Jesus is who He says that He is.
2 Cor 5:17 – Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
From that moment we are changed, made new spiritually. And from that moment we are in a constant mode of change from the inside out.
Change begins on the inside and affects the outside.
Wishing and hoping for change…and even talking about change is no substitute for the action of change.
Decisive action is what gets the job done. Decide what you want to change,…today.
