1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
For those that think the world is getting better and better...
For those who think the basic nature of man is good...
For those who visit Starbucks...
Watch out!
According to 'The Week' magazine, New Yorkers are very good at inventing ways to steal women's purses, especially at local Starbucks restaurants. The article declares, "larceny has become so common in the city's 298 Starbucks outlets that police have set up stings [in the restaurants] to catch thieves. Law-enforcement officers suggest the coffee shop has become so comfortable and familiar a place that it seems like a haven from the city's dangers, when it has actually become a lucrative hunting ground for thieves."
While we really want so much to let our guards down, it's simply not wise. It's not wise in a coffee shop. It's not wise spiritually.
Reading about purse-snatchers sparks that thought of carefulness in our minds. Peter reminded us to continually be on the alert spiritually, remembering that we have an adversary the devil who roams about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Don't let your guard down, friend. Stay alert. It's good for your spiritual soul.
Blessings,
Pastor Ed
The Truth in Living Color
Wow! Once again, GOD's message is from your mouth to my ear and more importantly, my heart. I've felt quite stirred over the past few weeks and really feel that there is something more I should be doing -- and I am looking forward to paying attention and finding out what and where it is. Thank you so much, Pastor Ed...and thank you, Calvary -- my church family makes a difference. Daily.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Under Attack
2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NKJV) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is under attack today like never before. It's one thing for those in the world to throw rocks at the gospel, but it's not just Jesus haters that are undermining the truth of God's Word. There are many within the "church" that are attempting to re-define, re-write, and re-do the gospel. It's confusing, for sure, and downright destructive. Seriously, what do they think they're doing!?
One popular re-defining movement within the church is known as the "Emerging Church." Reject them. Reject their divisive writings. Reject their undermining of clear biblical teachings, even of Jesus Himself! While those within that group appear to be progressive and hip and cool, so smooth; in reality, they are incredibly regressive and not hip at all. I believe Pastor John MacArthur does a great job of describing their destructive ways:
"If you haven't heard of the Emerging Church, you will. The Emerging Church movement is wildly popular with people who are dissatisfied with orthodox doctrine, dogmatic preaching, and traditional worship. People who are drawn to the Emerging Church generally place high value on ambiguity and mystery. They reject the notion that God's Word is clear, and that anyone can really understand its meaning. That means every doctrine you and I find precious is subject to new interpretation, doubt, and even wholesale rejection. Everything is being questioned and deconstructed. Unlike the noble Bereans who used Scripture to test what they were taught and refine their understanding of the truth, people associated with the Emerging Church regard God's Word as too full of mystery to warrant handling any truth in a definitive way. The result is a movement that thrives on disorganization, lends itself to mysticism, distrusts authority and dislikes preaching, feeds intellectual pride, and recognizes few (if any) doctrinal or moral boundaries."
Don't buy into their nonsense. Run away as fast as you can from their books, churches, and teachings! Stay close to the Word and cling to Jesus. Please! Your spiritual health depends upon it.
In Love,
Pastor Ed
The Truth in Living Color
Pastor Ed,
Good morning, we are hoping that you are okay. We've missed your e-mail messages. We always look forward to read them on Monday and Fridays. Always know that Carmen and I are praying for you, your family and the body of believers that God has given you shepherd for His Glory.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is under attack today like never before. It's one thing for those in the world to throw rocks at the gospel, but it's not just Jesus haters that are undermining the truth of God's Word. There are many within the "church" that are attempting to re-define, re-write, and re-do the gospel. It's confusing, for sure, and downright destructive. Seriously, what do they think they're doing!?
One popular re-defining movement within the church is known as the "Emerging Church." Reject them. Reject their divisive writings. Reject their undermining of clear biblical teachings, even of Jesus Himself! While those within that group appear to be progressive and hip and cool, so smooth; in reality, they are incredibly regressive and not hip at all. I believe Pastor John MacArthur does a great job of describing their destructive ways:
"If you haven't heard of the Emerging Church, you will. The Emerging Church movement is wildly popular with people who are dissatisfied with orthodox doctrine, dogmatic preaching, and traditional worship. People who are drawn to the Emerging Church generally place high value on ambiguity and mystery. They reject the notion that God's Word is clear, and that anyone can really understand its meaning. That means every doctrine you and I find precious is subject to new interpretation, doubt, and even wholesale rejection. Everything is being questioned and deconstructed. Unlike the noble Bereans who used Scripture to test what they were taught and refine their understanding of the truth, people associated with the Emerging Church regard God's Word as too full of mystery to warrant handling any truth in a definitive way. The result is a movement that thrives on disorganization, lends itself to mysticism, distrusts authority and dislikes preaching, feeds intellectual pride, and recognizes few (if any) doctrinal or moral boundaries."
Don't buy into their nonsense. Run away as fast as you can from their books, churches, and teachings! Stay close to the Word and cling to Jesus. Please! Your spiritual health depends upon it.
In Love,
Pastor Ed
The Truth in Living Color
Pastor Ed,
Good morning, we are hoping that you are okay. We've missed your e-mail messages. We always look forward to read them on Monday and Fridays. Always know that Carmen and I are praying for you, your family and the body of believers that God has given you shepherd for His Glory.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Pray for Your Pastors
2 Timothy 4:2 (NKJV) Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
Here's something to pray for, and into your pastors and teachers, on how they (we) can better handle the word of God and teach it with spiritual authority:
Here's something to pray for, and into your pastors and teachers, on how they (we) can better handle the word of God and teach it with spiritual authority:
- Think yourself empty. Survey a passage of Scripture in the proper spirit of unlearnedness. Avoid the proud assumption that you initially know what everything means.
- Read yourself full. Read widely and regularly.
- Write yourself clear. Aside from the essential empowering of the Spirit, freedom of delivery in the pulpit depends on careful organization in the study.
- Pray yourself hot. Without personal prayer and communion with God during the preparation stages, the pulpit will be cold.
- Be yourself, but don't preach yourself. There is nothing quite so ridiculous as the affected tone and adopted posture of the preacher who wishes he were someone else. Also, a good teacher clears the way, declares the way, and then gets out of the way.
Thank you Alistair Begg for sharing these with us.
Blessings,
Pastor Ed
The Truth in Living Color
Pastor Ed, Wow! This eNote encouraged me and was an answer to a very specific prayer. This morning I was really seeking God about showing me what 'power' really was. Was it something physical, or something like a metaphor? I know it was something I needed to understand, so I prayed with faith, knowing that a prayer like that would be answered. A prayer for wisdom concerning the power of the blood, how to appropriate it, and how to appreciate it. Then God answered my prayer...right to my inbox! Hallelujah! The power in the blood is the power to raise a life from the dead, the power to change a heart, the power to bring a lost person to Jesus! I KNOW that I KNOW, this answer is from God. Thank you for posting.
Something Real
1 Timothy 6:19 (NLT) By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of REAL LIFE.
Are you looking for something powerful, authentic, and real? Yes? So are a lot of people. That's what I was looking for in life before Jesus. I was as lost as lost could be, hopelessly reaching out to anyone and anything to bring me help and hope. I'd buy that book hoping finally that was it. Nope. I'd watch this show. Nope. I'd go with that group. Nope. Eventually, I just settled for being under the influence of some substance, slowing wasting my life one day at a time. The end was always the same. Emptiness and sadness filled my days.
Jesus alone is the answer to an empty life, friends. He is the real deal. There is nothing about Jesus that is fake, phony, or hypocritical. With great emphasis, Jesus declares to be the way, the truth, and the life; the only way to eternal life in the Father.
As you're praying for your friends that don't have a relationship with Jesus in the coming days, remember that only Jesus can solve their life's issues. Only Jesus can save them. He wants to!
In His Grace,
Pastor Ed
The Truth in Living Color
Let me just say ... that given my recent "drastic" life changes, I LOVE THIS ARTICLE! It's true! When God wanted to take me to newer, deeper levels of intimacy with Him, while at the same time, return to my first love ... HE does whatever it takes to get my attention! I am so encouraged by the last line: Don't worry about the fields, God will take care of them ... AMEN!
Are you looking for something powerful, authentic, and real? Yes? So are a lot of people. That's what I was looking for in life before Jesus. I was as lost as lost could be, hopelessly reaching out to anyone and anything to bring me help and hope. I'd buy that book hoping finally that was it. Nope. I'd watch this show. Nope. I'd go with that group. Nope. Eventually, I just settled for being under the influence of some substance, slowing wasting my life one day at a time. The end was always the same. Emptiness and sadness filled my days.
Jesus alone is the answer to an empty life, friends. He is the real deal. There is nothing about Jesus that is fake, phony, or hypocritical. With great emphasis, Jesus declares to be the way, the truth, and the life; the only way to eternal life in the Father.
As you're praying for your friends that don't have a relationship with Jesus in the coming days, remember that only Jesus can solve their life's issues. Only Jesus can save them. He wants to!
In His Grace,
Pastor Ed
The Truth in Living Color
Let me just say ... that given my recent "drastic" life changes, I LOVE THIS ARTICLE! It's true! When God wanted to take me to newer, deeper levels of intimacy with Him, while at the same time, return to my first love ... HE does whatever it takes to get my attention! I am so encouraged by the last line: Don't worry about the fields, God will take care of them ... AMEN!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Lost People Like Being Lost
John 3:19-21 (NKJV) And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
It's a hard truth to swallow. Lost people like to be lost. They know they are lost and don't care. They love their sin. They love their perceived independence. They love their idolatry. They love to persecute and make fun of Christians. The Bible describes them as knowing the truth but willingly suppressing it, 'people who push the truth away from themselves' Romans 1:19b (NLT).
Consider Christopher Hitchens, dying at a rapid pace from stage 4 esophageal cancer. A recent articles describes Hitchens as a proud atheist who doesn't believe in the afterlife; which he says makes the thought of death even more difficult to accept. In the same breath, he strongly concludes that heaven holds no attraction to him in the least. He believes heaven is a much worse choice than his present condition. "You get tapped on the shoulder, but guess what? The party's going on forever; you have to stay. Not only that, but you have to have a good time - the boss says so." He shudders at the thought.
God loves the lost, so much so, that He has sent His Son into their lives, dying for them (which remember -- that used to be us) in our worst condition. Pray for Christopher Hitchens who is as spiritually blind as they come, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. The good news is God can intervene in a split second. I pray his split second comes soon!
Blessings,
Pastor Ed
The Truth in Living Color
Thank you so much for this, especially the response. I'm going to do the same thing, find a brick, write it down, watch it sink and forget it. God had forgiven me so who is man (including myself) to constantly remind me of past deeds forgiven, then ask me to prove I'm not that person anymore. God's never said prove this or that to me; He just loves me, casts my sins in the sea of forgetfulness and never remembers it.
It's a hard truth to swallow. Lost people like to be lost. They know they are lost and don't care. They love their sin. They love their perceived independence. They love their idolatry. They love to persecute and make fun of Christians. The Bible describes them as knowing the truth but willingly suppressing it, 'people who push the truth away from themselves' Romans 1:19b (NLT).
Consider Christopher Hitchens, dying at a rapid pace from stage 4 esophageal cancer. A recent articles describes Hitchens as a proud atheist who doesn't believe in the afterlife; which he says makes the thought of death even more difficult to accept. In the same breath, he strongly concludes that heaven holds no attraction to him in the least. He believes heaven is a much worse choice than his present condition. "You get tapped on the shoulder, but guess what? The party's going on forever; you have to stay. Not only that, but you have to have a good time - the boss says so." He shudders at the thought.
God loves the lost, so much so, that He has sent His Son into their lives, dying for them (which remember -- that used to be us) in our worst condition. Pray for Christopher Hitchens who is as spiritually blind as they come, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. The good news is God can intervene in a split second. I pray his split second comes soon!
Blessings,
Pastor Ed
The Truth in Living Color
Thank you so much for this, especially the response. I'm going to do the same thing, find a brick, write it down, watch it sink and forget it. God had forgiven me so who is man (including myself) to constantly remind me of past deeds forgiven, then ask me to prove I'm not that person anymore. God's never said prove this or that to me; He just loves me, casts my sins in the sea of forgetfulness and never remembers it.
Monday, May 2, 2011
God's Grace is Amazing
Ephesians 1:2-3 NKJV Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
It's an understatement to say that God's grace is amazing. Our human ability to capture and express that truth seems so limited at times. Whole volumes have been written extolling the grace of God. Songs have been sung, movies made, and sermons preached all conveying the wonderful truth of God's amazing grace.
Yet, even though our human capacities are limited, it's important to be a man or woman extolling and living out the grace of God. Let your life's motto be the grace of God. Let your words be flavored by the grace of God. Let your decisions flow from the grace of God. Jesus has done so much for us. He's given so much. He's loved so much. We don't' deserve it, but we can receive it!
God's Riches At Christ's Expense. It's all Jesus. We are merely responding to His goodness and graciousness.
Steady on in the grace of God, friends. Don't let anyone rip you off from God's grace by trying to minimize it or bring you under some bondage of the Law. No way! (Galatians 1:6)
In His Grace,
Pastor Ed
The Truth in Living Color
I'm also putting into practice the "F's" of dealing with my past...forgetting, forgiving, forsaking. Thank you for those tools. I had one particular event from my past that I had really been dwelling on, and while camping a couple of weeks ago, I took a permanent marker and wrote on a concrete block that I was forgetting, forgiving, and forsaking this event. Then I dropped it to the bottom of the reservoir we were at. When I'm tempted to start to go back to that event and think about it, I remember that concrete block sinking away from me. It is gone! At the bottom of the reservoir of forgetfulness." (No sea was close by.)
It's an understatement to say that God's grace is amazing. Our human ability to capture and express that truth seems so limited at times. Whole volumes have been written extolling the grace of God. Songs have been sung, movies made, and sermons preached all conveying the wonderful truth of God's amazing grace.
Yet, even though our human capacities are limited, it's important to be a man or woman extolling and living out the grace of God. Let your life's motto be the grace of God. Let your words be flavored by the grace of God. Let your decisions flow from the grace of God. Jesus has done so much for us. He's given so much. He's loved so much. We don't' deserve it, but we can receive it!
God's Riches At Christ's Expense. It's all Jesus. We are merely responding to His goodness and graciousness.
Steady on in the grace of God, friends. Don't let anyone rip you off from God's grace by trying to minimize it or bring you under some bondage of the Law. No way! (Galatians 1:6)
In His Grace,
Pastor Ed
The Truth in Living Color
I'm also putting into practice the "F's" of dealing with my past...forgetting, forgiving, forsaking. Thank you for those tools. I had one particular event from my past that I had really been dwelling on, and while camping a couple of weeks ago, I took a permanent marker and wrote on a concrete block that I was forgetting, forgiving, and forsaking this event. Then I dropped it to the bottom of the reservoir we were at. When I'm tempted to start to go back to that event and think about it, I remember that concrete block sinking away from me. It is gone! At the bottom of the reservoir of forgetfulness." (No sea was close by.)
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