Freedom Life Church, Kissimmee, Florida

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is found in Philippians chapter 3.  In verse 10, the Apostle Paul says, “[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, percieving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continally transformed [in spirit in to His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope].  He then goes on to say in verse 12-14, “Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.  I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.”

These scriptures are powerful and contain vital wisdom for every believer.  We must understand that Paul the Apostle was not a whimp, nor was he a quitter!  He faced temptations, accusations, and afflictions every day, yet never became a prisoner to them because he made up his mind to finish the race with a win!  What’s so powerful about the scriptures above is the fact that they reveal the reason for Paul’s success.  He was determined to know God intmately.  He wasn’t satisfied to just know “about Him”, but waned to “know Him”.  Notice the order of the scriptures.  Before the power, before the transformation, before the pressing, before the forgetting and letting go of the past, and before the win, intimacy (an attitude determined to know God) was required!  Let me ask you today, are you determined to win?  If so, then get determined in your heart to KNOW GOD and allow no excuses.  How awesome it must feel once the finish line is crossed!

The word “essence” represents something that is critical or a substance that one needs in order to survive.  Let me ask you something.  Have you ever woken up in the morning and said, “I think I’ll decide not to breath air today.”  Of course you didn’t or you wouldn’t be reading this blog right now!  Air is substance, would you agree?  Actually, it’s substance that is critical to our staying alive naturally.  You and I wouldn’t go a day with out breathing or even eating or drinking something, right?!  Why?  Because we would either get ill or die.  Those things are critical to our staying alive.  So, now that we got that laid out, let’s flip it to the spiritual realm.  The Old Testament talks about the Israelites going out each morning to collect manna that was dropped from Heaven.  I picture these guys going crazy over the food, because they knew it was all they’d have until the next day.  I don’t think any of them were like, “I’m sleeping in.  Forget getting up early to collect food, I’ll just eat tomorrow.”  Yet, many times that is what Christians do.  The Bible declares that Jesus is “the bread of life.”  He is our “essence” in other words!  Many believers today are either ill, dying, or dead, because they’ve neglected the “essence” of their life which is God!  Reading the Word, praying, and worshipping, are critical to our spiritual health.  Did you know that your everything equals purpose, purpose fuels passion, and passion ignites your life!  We simply exist because God chose us for such a time as this.  Let me ask you, is Jesus one of many things in your life or the ”essence” of your everything?  Because, if He isn’t everything to you, then He likely means little to you.  Our life will define how and what we worship!  So it’s crucial to give God first place each day and allow nothing to take His place in our lives.  Remember this, your life is unlimited by Who God is, not by who you are.  Paul said in Philippians 3:10, “It’s my DETERMINED PURPOSE that I may know Him…”  Let’s embrace that same tenasity and run full of God to the finish line!

For just a moment, I want you to think long and hard about the words mentioned in the following scriptures…

Psalm 139:16 says, “You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” 

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s own handiwork, recreated in Christ Jesus, that we may do those good works which God predestined, planned beforehand for us, taking paths which He prepared ahead of time, that we should walk in them living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live.”

Before we every had the chance to say HELLO to this world, God was thinking about us and planning our life out to be AMAZING!  All His thoughts about us and for us were ridiculously good.  In fact, He thought about us so much that not only did he create us, He wrote a unique story about each of our lives.  Listening to the words written in the scriptures above, God already recorded (prearranged) our lives, setting up paths for us to walk down that lead to the good life.  That sikes me out!  However, a sad truth is many don’t live or ever experience the good life that God wrote about because they’re re-writing their story.  You see, each time we lead ourselves, rather than allow the Word of God or the Holy Spirit to be our guide, we take paths that God never ended for us to take.  These paths normally give our flesh excitement for a brief moment, only to lead us towards destruction.  Think about this for a moment; when you read a story, it unfolds from the beginning to the end, revealing details as you turn the pages, which fill you full of various feelings, often leaving you in anticipation as to how it ends.  Why?  Because every good story has a great ending!  You and I have complete control over our story and we ultimately decide how it ends.  With every moment, through every choice, our story is being lived out.  So, what is yours going to be about and will it have a great ending?

Today, as we open our eyes, we find ourselves standing in the midst of a war.  All around us there are many wounded, many lost, and many waiting so desperately to be rescued.  For this isn’t a war known to the common man, but only to an elite group of soldiers that are standing on the front lines of the battlefield.  It’s the most important war man will ever know, for it’s not physical, but spiritual.  It’s one in which there’s everything to gain, and everything to lose.  What war is this?  The battle for people’s eternity! 

You and I are soldiers in the army of God, the most elite army ever!  However, many comrades in the faith have retreated, voluntarily giving up precious ground to the enemy.  This has wounded the army of God severely.  The bible declares in Matthew 11:12, “…the Kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”  The assignment is always ADVANCEMENT, never retreat. 

What has caused some to retreat?  There are many factors, however, I’m convinced the biggest reason is that some have enlisted into the army of God, but they never gave up the civilian lifestyle!  Let me explain.  When you enlist into the army, you’re no longer your own.  You’ve given yourself over in full submission to someone else’s authority.  You’re considered “government property”.  Likewise, in the body of Christ, you’ve been “bought with a price” according to I Corinthians 7:23.  This means we’re no longer owners of ourselves, but that our focus should be to submit to our Commander and embrace our mission by fulfilling our assignment. 

Jesus said, “If anyone would come after Me, he MUST DENY HIMSELF and take up his cross, and follow Me.”  Wow, do you see this?  This means when we actually do our assignment, we’re doing our duty!  Even though many think that they’re doing God or their Pastor a favor, they’re actually doing their duty.  Why?  Because we’re soldiers in the army of God!!  We’ve enlisted into the greatest army every known and volunteered to fight for other people’s eternities and the only way we gain victory is by ADVANCING!  So, let me encourage you today, remember your place.  Stay in position, don’t retreat, but keep advancing!  There are many who believe in you and are counting on you to keep your ground and not give it up, because they know you will soon be there to rescue them! 

Let me leave you with one final scripture.  I Timothy 6:12 says, “Fight the good fight of faith.  Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

David and Goliath, what a wonderful story!  I mean, come on, who isn’t encouraged by a red headed shepherd boy stepping up to a 10 foot giant?  If that’s not bravory, I don’t know what is.  Can you picture the scene?  This giant burley man dressed in armor, a helmet, a sword, and not to mention he was probably diesel and this little boy David running up to meet him in battle face to face with just a sling shot and some stones.  You know everyone in the army was thinking, this little dude is insane!  I mean, afterall, the entire Israelite army of grown men trained in war ran away from the giant scared silly for their lives.  But David wasn’t afraid.  The size of Goliath didn’t scare him one single bit.  So what was it that made him different than an entire army of trained soldiers?

The answer is found in 1 Samuel 17:45-47.  David said to Goliath, “this day the Lord  will give you into my hand.” He goes on to also say, “the battle belongs to the Lord.”  The difference was David depended completely on God!  He knew that God was with him because he knew that he was IN GOD!  He stayed in constant fellowship with God on a daily basis and lived his life from the place of God’s presence.  This allowed him to be FEARLESS in every situation he faced in life. 

Today, are you running from or to the battle?  Are you allowing the “giants” of life to scare you silly or are you fearless that nothing can defeat you or overtake you because you are standing in God?  The devil is after your potential and will always put traps before you and obstacles that seem to big to conquer.  But my friend, “GREATER is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”  As long as you stay in God, you can be confident He is with you and that there’s nothing to big that you cannot defeat!

Have you prayed for our nation today? This day is a national holiday that our current president does not recognize and many want abolished in this nation. However, today it is still a national holiday and it is our responsibility as believers and citizens of this great nation to obey the Bible and pray for our leaders and our nation.
God said that if His people would humble themselves, pray, repent, and seek His face about their nation that He would hear their prayers, forgive their sin, and heal their land. Lets obey the Bible. Let’s major on the majors and minor on the minors. It is a major command of scripture to pray for nations and leaders of nations.
So as we lift our voice to God today, God will hear us. He will respond. Lets not become weary in well-doing. We will reap if we faint not! Kee praying for the USA!

Love you all!!!
Pastor

Malachi 3 gives a powerful revelation of God’s plan and purpose of the tithe for every individual. God clearly states that He is the Lord and He does not change. However, many in today’s churches think that the tithe is just an OT law that is not mandatory under the New Covenant. This “false” doctrine is not new but one that has resurfaced over the many years of Christianity.

This idea that it is not mandatory under the NT is a tragedy to the believer and the local church, to say the least. The enemy of our souls, Satan, knows that if he can convince the believer not to tithe, he can get them to bring a curse on themselves. That is why he feeds that age-old lie to modern day Christians about the tithe just being an OT law.

Jesus, in His earthly ministry, never changed that command but told the Pharisees that they should not neglect tithing. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus still receives the tithes in heaven. Malachi said by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the tithe would bring the blessing of the Lord upon your house! Wow! We all need that!

The tithe really is a two-fold blessing. It brings a financial supply to the local church (storehouse) and a spiritual supply to the believer. When we follow God’s plan, we will always get God’s blessing. So, don’t neglect the tithe. Keep the door shut to the devil. Keep the curse off of your life. Get the windows of heaven open over your life and home as you bring God the first tenth of your increase. As you do, God will take care of you.

Be Blessed!!!

Pastor Greg

This morning as I was driving in the car, I began to think about my dad.  For those who don’t know, my dad went to be with Jesus in November of 1992.  Memories began to run through my mind and then I had the thought, I wonder what he’s doing right now in heaven.  As I thought about it, a scripture came up in me, one that I’ve read many times before.  Hebrews 12:1,2 and it reads, “Do you see what this means – all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on!  It means we’d better get on with it.  Strip down, start running, and never quit!  No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins.  Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished the race we’re in.”  This is an amazing scripture!  We’re encouraged that as we run our FAITH race today, we have an audience full of pioneers that are cheering us on.  As we stand to fight on the battlefield, we have the support of those who have gone on before us and in my case, Ive got my dad, my grandpa, my grandma, and others that are in the audience cheering me on to win in my fight of faith and so do you!  As I think of my dad, one thing I know he’s doing is standing in the audience, jumping up and down, shouting, “Go for it!  You can do it!”  The same goes for you.  All of your loved ones that have gone to be with Jesus are cheering you on as well as you  run the race of faith.  So today, be encouraged to not give up or lose heart, but run as if your life depended on it, because it does!  Finish the race that God has set before you to run; grab hold of faith and face the impossible and accomplish the unthinkable.  Keep you eyes fixed on JESUS and  you’ll win the race.

Police in Los Angeles had placed a group of criminals into a police line-up trying to help a witness recognize a masked robber.  When the detectives asked each man in the line to yell out the words, “Give me all your money or I’ll shoot,” one suspect couldn’t help himself and yelled out, “That’s not what I said!”

Proverbs 10:8-11 says, “A wise man is glad to be instructed (to accept and obey commands), but a self-sufficient fool falls flat on his face.  A good honest man has firm footing, but a crook will slip and fall.  Winking at sin leads to trouble (sorrow), but openess leads to peace.  The mouth of a good person is a well of life, but the mouth of the wicked person is filled with curses (violence).”

Can you identify with the robber?  Have you ever blurted something out and told on yourself?  Do you think the robber really wanted to be honest or just had a “duh moment”?  The book of Proverbs is filled with clear statements about what a wise person looks, thinks, talks, and acts like versus what a fool looks, thinks, talks, and acts like.  The more you and I read the Word of God, the wiser we become.  The more you and I behave as God’s Word instructs us to, the more we look and act like Jesus. We must remember an important truth: “what’s on the inside will eventually come out.”  I don’t think any person makes it a goal to fall flat on their face, but it happens when one chooses to not walk with wisdom.  So today, be encouraged to love instruction and choose to obey so that it’s said of you that your wise!