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Being an ignorant fellow is not a crime until it comes to the knowledge of God. I was ignorant of God for the first thirty years of my life because I was taught by ignorant men.  Men who are deceived teach their deception and enlightened men teach the truth.  I had a major problem, I didn’t know where to go to find truth, my church had no faith in the Bible.  My mother bought a large gold paged Bible and put it on the coffee table.  Before any of us could touch it or hold it we had to put on clean clothes and wash our hands.  I tried to read from it one time but I think it was written in Latin.  The last time I saw it, it was in a stack of Outdoor Life magazines, and my little sister used color crayons to mark it up.
 
Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.
 
In my ignorance I prayed to statues and dead people, but Jesus forgave me.  Jesus is far more interested in establishing a relationship with us than chiding us for our ignorance.  I had no idea how stupid I thought until I was saved from myself.  We are surrounded by ignorant people but we can’t judge them because we were one of them.  The folks who know better but continue the wrong path are the ones who are headed for trouble.  Men who are offered the truth but reject it will also answer to God and no excuse they dream up will pardon them.
 
1 Timothy 1:13 The Apostle Paul said, I was a blasphemer, a persecutor and a murderer: but I obtained mercy because I did ignorantly.

 
Seems like to me that God is willing to forgive any sin we make in order to have us in His presence.  He forgave the men who crucified His Son onto the cross.  He forgave them while they were driving the nails into His Son’s hands and feet.  Some folks don’t think they ever need forgiveness because they don’t ever do anything wrong.  They may be the nicest people in the world, well, they may be the nicest people in hell.  No one in hell is ignorant but that’s a hell of a place to acknowledge the truth.
 
If you don’t meet Jesus in this life, you will never meet Him.

 
God wants just one thing from us, He wants us to acknowledge the truth and repent.  Some folks spend their entire life fabricating excuses and in one minute they could repent and not need any of their excuses.  Some folks won’t repent because they can’t figure out why God would want them.  Well you really won’t know until you make the connection, then you will discover that He loves you!  How can God love a sinner?  Because He is willing to forgive all of our sins.  Just let God be God, some folks want to argue with His way of doing things, as if they have a better way.
 
Isaiah 43:25 I am He that blots out your sins for mine own sake, and will not remember your sins.
 
So, not only does the Lord forgive us but He forgets our past.  The devil likes to remind us but there’s nothing to remember, so don’t.  God wants us to forget our past and focus on Him, just let the Lord love you.  Ignorance is a choice, don’t choose it, choose to know the One who loves you.  


Know Your enemy

3/26/2017

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Many Christians are easily fooled when it comes to dealing with their designated troublemaker.
 
Ephesians 6:12 We do not wrestle against mankind but against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in the heavenly realm.
 
The devil is a master at instigating unwarranted problems between people and then stepping aside to let them fight it out.  When people come to their senses and look back over the feud they were in, it was over nothing that made any difference.  What they need to recognize is that they were pawns in a game the devil plays every day of the world.  Until man recognizes the true enemy, he will be played as a fool over and over again.
 
A wise man learns from his mistakes and the mistakes of others; a fool never learns.
 
I have spent numerous hours teaching the church about the devil’s snare of “offense”.  I no sooner get done teaching and someone falls for the “bait of satan”.  I have watched people get offended over the most trivial things you can imagine.  One man in particular got offended at me because I never talked to him.  Never mind the fact he always came in late and left early, he said that was not a good reason!
 
Psalm 119:165 Great peace have they which love Your Word: and nothing shall offend them.
 
People who are readily offended have not assigned the importance to the Word of God as they should.  In essence, they ignorantly choose to be more important than God’s Word.  Despite all the warning from Jesus, people are allowing themselves to be manipulated by the devil unawares.  The Lord warned me long ago.  He said “if you think too highly of yourself, you will be susceptible to offense”.  So where does all of this begin?  How does the devil entice us into a war we cannot win?  The battlefield is the mind, that is where it all begins.
 
2Corinthians 10:5 Cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
 
Picture yourself standing on the battlefield having never been defeated and equipped with supernatural weapons issued to you by God Himself.  And the devil comes up to you a fraction of your size and totally disarmed.  All he has to intimidate you with is vain threats.  Now if you don’t acknowledge him, he can’t move you in any direction.  If we would learn to dispel all these lying thoughts that come to our mind we will not be manipulated by the defeated foe.
 
The word “offense” comes from the Greek word scandalon which means trap stick.  Men in that part of the world would use a scandalon to capture monkeys.  They would hollow out a rock and then put a trap stick in the rock.  The monkey would put his paw in the hole to grab the stick but he couldn’t get the stick out and he would not let go of it so he was easily taken into captivity.  The bait of satan is nothing more than a stick.  Are you willing to be taken captive at satan’s will over a stick?  No, you are too wise for him.  Amen. 
 
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    OFFERING DECLARATION
    November 24, 2019


    My trust is in the Lord,
    therefore I live in hope.

    I no longer walk by sight,
    I live by the faith of Jesus.

    My life is in His hands,
    I will fear no evil.


    I am blessed of the Lord,
    so I put all my hope in Him.
    PRAYER FOCUS
    HOLIDAY SEASON
    Nehemiah 8:10
    Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the  sweet drink, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
     
    RELATIONSHIPS
    1. Separation from Family and Friends. (Examples: Military, Prison, 
          Hospital)
    2.   Praying against loneliness and isolation. (Yourself/Others)
    3. Communication   Romans 12:10 Act in love; prefer one another in honor.
    4.   Peace of God will reign in our homes.
          
    FINANCES
    1.   Pray about unrealistic expectations of buying and receiving gifts.
    2.   Ask God for strategies and ideas that fit your budget and talents.
    3. Pray for wisdom about what organizations you can help and be  realistic about how much money you can spend toward their need.
    4. Pray for increase in finances. God will supply all our needs through 
          Christ Jesus.
     
    COUNTRY/CITY
    1.   Peace of God throughout this Season
    2.   Protection for all from enemies seen and unseen
    3.   Praying for God assignments
    4.   Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with us!

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