I Ain't Workin' Here No More!!

Adam and Eve had a sweet thing going on in the garden.  Created in the very image of God and blessed by God with these words:  “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28b)

As my pastor says, Adam wasn’t a glorified gardener with a hoe and rake – he was blessed by God to have dominion over the earth and everything in it (paraphrased).  But we all know the story of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace.  No longer did the first couple walk in the perfect conditions of the garden, talking with their God – they were banished from the garden and began a life of toil and sweat.

“Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

            Cursed is the ground for your sake;

            In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

            Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,

            And you shall eat the herb of the field.

            In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground,

            For out of it you were taken;

            For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”  Genesis 3:17-19

That would be a very unhappy ending to the story of mankind – if it was indeed the ending.

But God had other plans.  In the fullness of time came a Savior – the One in whom all things are restored to the Father.  You and I were created, just as Adam and Eve were, to fellowship with God – to walk and talk with Him.  In Christ, this heavenly relationship is restored.  In Christ, the blessing of God is restored – to “be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

A great promise was given to Abraham along this road to restoration:  “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2-3)

It is a mistake to believe that in Christ, we must remain under the curse pronounced over Adam – that “cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life”.  We are no longer under the curse.  But the enemy has used tradition and, many times, religious teaching, to make us believe that although we are saved and on our way to heaven, we must toil under the curse of sin until the day that we leave this earth.

There is a difference between toil and work.  Toil means a “long strenuous fatiguing labor” (Merriam-Webster).  Work means “a specific task, duty, function, or assignment often being a part or phase of some larger activity”.

We are to take our place in the Kingdom of God and work towards the advancement of the Kingdom.  We are not to toil under the curse.  As believers, we are brothers and sisters to the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.  As believers, we are partakers of the blessing of Abraham.

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Galatians 3:13-14

So, come on and join me as I say – I ain’t workin’ here (under the curse) no more!  I am blessed to be a blessing – the favor of God is upon my life!  Amen!

Rhonda J. Roughton

One Way Jesus

There is a trend in our country to accept everything and not to offend any group of people.  Some want us to embrace the idea that “all paths” lead to heaven.  This is so those that do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God will not be insulted.  However, this is deceit from the devil.  We read in Matthew 24:10-11 that this will happen.
“And then many will be offended and repelled and will begin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred. And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error.”

Jesus is the only way to God and heaven.   Regardless of who it offends, Christians have a responsibility to explain that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. We must be bold in speaking the truth of the risen Christ. People are being deceived and the gospel is being watered down so to include all religions. We should all be ready to explain in simple terms the Roman Road to Salvation.

1.       God is the Creator life and we must acknowledge Him as Creator:  

“God has revealed Himself to us. We must acknowledge God as Creator and life giver.   “²⁰For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification], ²¹Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and ^[a]godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened.” Romans 1:20-21 AMP

2.      We all have sinned:

“Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory ^[a]which God bestows and receives.” Romans 3:32 AMP

3.      No one can “earn” right standing with God:

“As it is written, None is righteous, just and truthful and upright and conscientious, no, not one.” Romans 3:10 AMP

4.      The penalty of Sin is death but we have a gift of eternal life only through Jesus:

“For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23 AMP

5.      God’s plan for salvation is His son Jesus who paid the penalty for our sin by dying on the cross:

“But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.” Romans 5:8 AMP

6.      Our response to the gospel is to accept what Jesus could only do for us:

“Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Christ) and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God), and with the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks out freely his faith) and confirms [his] salvation.” Romans 10:9-10 AMP

^“For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord [invoking Him as Lord] will be saved.” Romans 10:13

My prayer is that all Christians gain courage to speak out against the deceit and lies being told by the devil and that all come to the saving knowledge of Christ.
It is very comforting to know I have been forgiven and I have an advocate with the Father. Your can have this same comfort and assurance. It is simple:

A.      Admit you’re a sinner and ask for forgiveness.

B.      Believe Jesus is the Son of God who died for your sins.

C.      Call upon Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.

Thank you Father God for revealing yourself to us, for sending your Son, Jesus, to pay the price for our sin, thank you Father for forgiveness of sin through the bloodshed of Jesus. In Jesus’ name Amen

Michelle Odom
Michelle is an Ordained Minister through United Christian Fellowship and co-founder with her husband, John, of MJ Ministries, a “Practical Evangelism” ministry expressing the Gospel through action. MJ Ministries is dedicated to revealing God’s love through the practice of hospitality using our God given gifts, talents and resources. We are challenged to Engage others in the pursuit of Jesus, Encourage others to realize their potential in Jesus, and Empower others to have influence for Jesus. “Mission Possible” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” Mark 10:27

Love In Spite

“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” Romans 5:7-9

Over the course of the last couple of days I have felt a special dispensation of grace and gratitude. If asked I couldn’t really tell you when or where it started. All I know is that I’ve enjoyed it and have tried to bask in it for as long as possible. Yesterday, while on my way to work, the Holy Spirit reminded me of Romans 5:8. I was reminded how I had done nothing worthy of God’s pardon but yet He sent Jesus to die for my sins. Once again I had a wave of gratitude flood my spirit. I was then inspired to make a Facebook post that read something to this extent, “He loved us in spite of our short comings so let’s return the favor to others today.”

I believe we could learn a lot by following and mimicking Jesus’ actions. When I consider Romans 5:7-9, I see more grace, mercy, and love extended our way via Jesus that we should then duplicate towards others. I see us not holding those guilty of doing wrong accountable for every single thing thus causing us to withhold our love from them. I can now understand why Jesus, only minutes away from death, asked the Father to forgive the soldiers that day. He was demonstrating love in spite of their short comings. He saw past their actions and decided to extend grace.

Today I’d like to encourage you to look past the short comings of others and be an extension of God’s grace, love, and mercy in their lives. I know it might be easier said than done but it’s possible. If you need help just remember the latter part of Romans 5:8, “while we (you) were still (a) sinners, Christ died for us (you).” God bless and go forth doing well today!

Adraine Scott
Adraine is the president of Edvance Services LLC. His entire professional career has been spent helping others find their unique ways of learning and being. He has been able to accomplish this by serving as a youth minister, speaker, counselor, college and career minister, secondary education teacher, and business owner.

The Kindness of Strangers…

“…I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”  Blanche DuBois in “A Streetcar Named Desire”.

When I saw this movie years ago, this particular quote stuck in my mind.  It’s such a sad declaration of passivity and resignation to a hapless fate.  As people of God, we are not to be passive or forlorn in our outlook on our future.  We serve the Living God, who blesses us and equips us to be more than overcomers.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.”  Jeremiah 29:11-14

No matter what is going on all around us, we are children of promise.  God has told us that His intent towards us is to give us a “future and a hope”.  We can depend on His Word.  However, if He is a stranger to us, we are wrong to depend upon Him.  God is gracious and kind and will meet us at our point of need.  But as believers, we are to grow in our knowledge of Him.  The time to grow in faith and knowledge of His love is in the here and now, not only during times of crisis. 

If you wait until a time of crisis to seek God, you are depending upon the kindness of a stranger.  Even as believers in Christ, He can remain a stranger to us.  This happens when we do not seek Him.  God Himself says through the prophet Jeremiah in these verses that we will find Him when we search for Him with all our heart.  Christianity is not for the half-hearted or the faint-hearted.  The Word of God calls us to total abandonment to His Word and His Will.  That is the doorway to His blessing upon our lives – to living a life of purpose and joy and strength. 

Yesterday I read a news columnist’s opinion that we live in a time when many are giving up on the hope of tomorrow.  In our culture, the American dream seems to be turning to ash as people lose their homes, or walk away from their homes.  Much of the news we hear every day is dire and calamitous. But as children of God, we understand through His word that we are not subject to the world system.  We are subjects of the King – God Himself, who created all things.  He is our source for everything we need; He is the one who will even give us the desires of our hearts.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not relegated to the past.  However, the shaking in our economy and in government shows us that we cannot depend upon world systems for these things.  The source of our life and liberty and happiness is God and His Kingdom.  The kingdoms of this world rise and fall - history has proven that out – but the Kingdom of God is eternal and cannot fall.

Seek God and find Him.  You will find He is more than enough.

Rhonda J. Roughton
Rhonda is founder of INK Ministries. INK Ministries' mission is to build up the body of Christ through writing, preaching and teaching with an emphasis on the New Covenant and who we are in Christ. "Write down the vision and make it plain on tablets so that whoever reads it may run with it." Habakkuk 2:2-3. This is a "hands-on" ministry as well as a writing ministry - moving in the gifts and power of the Holy Spiit to bring hope, healing and deliverance to all those who hunger for more of Him.

Are We Asking the Wrong Questions? (Part 2)

We discussed last week the problem we as Christians often have with asking the wrong questions (and I include myself in that statement).  Let me remind you that Paul’s admonition to us to “not conform” is accompanied by the key to success in that endeavor, the “renewing of your mind.”  We have to think differently than the world around us if we are going to fulfill Jesus’ mandate in Matthew 5:13-16 to be salt and light.  In that passage Jesus also warns against salt that has lost its effectiveness and light that has been hidden.  This happens when we begin to absorb the culture around us rather than transforming it through a life lived by the radically different guidelines established in God’s Word. 

So let’s take a look at a few more of the “right questions” we should be asking ourselves (and I will continue to borrow from Mr. Kennedy’s format in asking them):

My fellow Christians, ask not “Does my conscience bother me when it comes to (insert an action here)?” – ask “Does (insert same action here) violate any commands or principles of God’s Word?”

How often do we make the mistake of assuming that if our conscience is not bothered by an act we commit then it must mean that act is acceptable to God.  Truth is, our consciences can be very faulty.  This is because our conscience (that voice inside our head directing our moral decisions) is largely the byproduct of the environment in which we’ve been raised.  The Bible makes clear the unreliable nature of our conscience.  Hebrews 9:14 speaks of the need to have our consciences cleansed.  In 1 Corinthians 4:4 Paul makes an astounding statement – “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent….”  He goes on to state that “it is the Lord who judges me.”  We have already discussed the fact that the criteria for making decisions in our life is not “Will this keep me out of heaven?”  Now we find another criteria often utilized by believers being challenged by scripture.  The basis for our moral choices must not be “Do I feel guilty about this?”  While “let your conscience be your guide” is the best those without Christ can do, we as believers have a much more reliable source.  We have the benefit of the Holy Spirit sitting in the director’s chair of our life and guiding our every choice.  It is this voice we need to be listening for and to, and this voice speaks to us primarily through the scriptures (not as a little man with wings sitting on our shoulder!).  This, of course, requires us as believers to be in the Word on a regular basis in order that the Spirit within us might reveal the mind of God within it. It is dangerous to make decisions based on “Well, I think….” or “I feel that…” – truth is, what you or I think or feel doesn’t really matter.  What matters is “Well, God’s Word says….”  Only this will insure our thinking is right and our choices are a reflection of the Jesus we love!

May I venture to pose one last incorrect question to ponder (I hope you said yes because I’m going to go ahead with it!):

My fellow Christians, ask not “Will (insert action here) hurt my relationship with Christ?” – ask “Will (insert same action here) do anything to hinder those around me in their relationship with Christ?”

Some of you may remember the song from the 1960’s in which Simon and Garfunkel declare “I am a rock, I am an island.”  Unfortunately this isolationist mentality is often encouraged in our culture today.  We praise “rugged individualism” and foster a “me against the world” approach to life.  This causes our moral choices to be all about what’s right “for me”, what makes “me” happy, what’s in it “for me”.  As believers we can’t live that way.  We’ve been called to put the best interests of others ahead of our own.

If a choice I make offends a brother or sister in Christ or causes them to stumble in their walk with Him, it is my problem not just theirs!  If my decision to compromise in some area of my life causes someone else’s view of Christ to become more dim, it is my problem.  And don’t be fooled, every moral choice we make either serves to bring Jesus into greater clarity for those around us or further clouds their view of Him. 

The right questions….can you imagine if believers across our nation began not only asking them but answering them honestly?  What would happen?  I don’t profess to be a prophet, but I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say that local churches would be radically transformed (many would shrink in numbers!).  A greater purity would bring greater power and genuine revival would result (and God would cause the church to grow rather than man!).  But remember, “believers across our nation” starts with you, starts with me.  One believer at a time daring to ask the right questions, answer them honestly and act accordingly can start a fire of revival that the “gates of Hades will not overcome”!  Will you, will I, be the spark to ignite that flame?

Clark Hausman

Pastor of Moyock Assembly of God

Is it Thanks-Giving Time Yet?

If you were to wake up today with only what you gave thanks to God for yesterday, what would you have?

I was asked this question recently and it has stuck with me. I often catch myself thinking about it and what the answer would be for that day. I’ve examined my matter of “thankfulness” and have come up with a couple of reasons why giving thanks isn’t always where it should be in my heart and mind.

1.       I get caught up in the day-to-day life and simply forget.

2.       I take things for granted.

3.       My frustrations with some things, overshadows my thankfulness.

4.       Just plain laziness.

I discussed this question with my family and a few friends and luckily I found out I wasn’t alone. My daughter who teaches a pre-k class that is full of energy on Wednesday nights discovered that they were all she would have. She loves them dearly, but decided she needs to start being thankful for much more!

Scripture is full of commands and directives telling us to give thanks to God.

-          “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” 1 Chronicles 16:34

-          “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” Psalm 100:4

-          “Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind.” Psalm 107:8

-          “I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.” Psalm 118:21

-          “At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws.” Psalm 119:62

-          “He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he (Jesus) had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so.” Mark 8:6

-          “Saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.” Revelation 11:17

We tend to focus on being thankful around Thanksgiving, but we clearly learn from scripture it needs to be a daily thing. As you move through your Sunday and the remainder of the week, think about all your blessings and “Give thanks to the Lord.” What if you were to wake up today with only what you gave thanks to God for yesterday, what would you have?

Crystal Owens
Crystal has a passion for reaching youth and a heart for missions.  She is currently the the youth leader at Moyock Assembly of God, teaches a weekly adult Bible study and a monthly Bible study for Women.

Confession is Good for the Soul

Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

I know that confession is good for the soul, so here goes. I don’t think about heaven very much. I know what you’re thinking….But it’s true. I am a devout Christian and have been for many years, but I don’t think about heaven that often. I am excited about the idea when I do, but going to heaven is never at the forefront of my mind.  I realized the other day when my daughter and I had a conversation about heaven that this is an area that I do not ponder very much….now, something I did to consider more.

The reason I don’t give it very much thought is this…..I get so caught up in being grateful for my salvation experience that I don’t think about the afterlife. Not only did God keep me throughout my childhood, but he set a specific time for me to experience salvation. The God of the Universe sent his very son to die for me (John 3:16) Not only was I saved, but God continues to meet my needs and a few of my wants, takes care of my family, gives me ministry opportunities, comforts, guides, protects, and the list goes on. If he stopped at forgiving me and setting me on the right path during my teenage years, that would have been enough. Yet, he continually takes care of all of this other things daily. So, sometimes heaven is an afterthought when I think about the goodness of God….And willingly admit that even if heaven was not a part of the packaged deal, it would still all be worth it.

But…when I do think about the fact that there will be so much more to come, It’s like the icing on the cake, the peanut butter with the chocolate, the cupcake from my favorite bakery…you get the idea. I know it will be all of things that we have ever hoped and dreamed of. It will satisfy our every longing and desire.

Until then, learn from my unintentional mistake…get excited about the fact that there is more when this life is over. God keeps giving us more and more. And….when we finally reach the goal and win the prize…we will truly say it has been worth it all.

Kasey Scott
Kasey is currently a high school English teacher, whose students are young ladies who are substance dependent and incarcerated. Kasey has a passion to reach into the lives of girls in desperate situations and show them the Hope that is available in Jesus Christ. She also is the VP and Director of Curriculum Design for Edvance Services, an educational services company she co-founded with her husband.