Holiness versus Legalism

There is a huge difference between true Holiness and Legalism. Holiness is a beautiful and Glorious thing to behold! Holiness is the Holy Spirit working in conjunction with our spirit to help us to live and act and behave in ways that both please and honor God. We often times place so much emphasis on our sins and shortcomings that we fail to realize the beauty of Holiness that should operate in the life of the believer! All true Christians have an intense desire to serve and Glorify God. It is possible to live on a platue that is far “above” the pettiness of sin. The sin cycle does not in any way glorify God. “Should we live in sin now that we are saved? God Forbid!”. There is a better more excellent way… The law of love! If we truly want to please God and be free from bondages and binding sin, then I have good news! Jesus death burial and ressurection happened so that not only are our sins forgiven, but He made it possible for us to be set free from sin so that we don’t have to live in the cycle of sin repent, sin repent, sin repent! There is a better way, and that way is to not rely upon the flesh (legalism) but to rely upon the power of God ( ressurection power and Holy Spirit power) to transform us and empower us to live apart from sin, and in Holiness and victory and newness of life!!!!!!
psalms 29:2 “Give unto the LORD the glory
due unto his name; worship the
LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

Growth and Progress

Resistance is what we encounter when making progress. Once we encounter Resistance we will need to have the fruits of the Spirit in operation in our lives. The fruits of the Spirit include attributes such as patience. Things like patience will manifest in to other gifts such as perseverance. When we hold on and not give into temptation and trials, then we learn trust. Trust in God builds Faith. Faith is the ability to discover Gods will and to believe Him for bigger and better things according to His will and good pleasure. Trials also cause us to lean upon His wisdom and not our own understanding, trusting Him for the outcome. Trials and temptations also build Character in us if we exercise patience during them. Character is the manifestation of Gods attributes in our lives. If we follow Gods plans, then we will discover His heart and we will manifest His character and nature!

Religion and the veil

Religion is the veil that must be torn off of peoples eyes. While apostate Christianity goes through its form and litergy and ritual, the gulf becomes even wider between those who are seeking God and those who supposedly represent Him. The pope recently made the statement that will lead atheist to the conclusion that they are already saved and on the way to heaven. Religion builds walls and not bridges. Bridges are built when a loving God reaches out to those that are lost. He uses people that Love Him to reach those that need Him! When Christ was raised from the dead, He ripped the veil that stood between Him and the world. That veil represented dead religion and the vain attempts of man to establish a connection with God on mans own terms. Men such as the pope who supposedly represent and speak for God are really in opposition to God when they speak things that are contrary to The word of God. Do not tell people what they want to hear, but rather what they need to hear! False doctrine can never be attributed to God, because it is contrary to Him. The heart of God, is to reconcile sinners unto Himself via the bridge that was built when He gave His only begotten son. There are no shortcuts to heaven. The bridge to Heaven is paved in the shape of a cross, and those that want to go must walk across it and Go through Jesus, for there is no other way! Do not place your hope of salvation in men, our any other person except the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone that Promises you heaven and points you to themselves or others outside of Christ are thieves and robbers. They will use their smooth words to steal your salvation and cost you your soul! Love y’all, Pastor Dexter

Boldness

Boldness needs wisdom to work properly. With out wisdom, boldness is nothing more than rashness (acting with out praying or thinking) and rashness is nothing more than ignorance. The will of God is put in operation by our faith, and our faith has to be in obedience to God and His will and timing. Genuine faith moves when He says “move”. To understand true Faith, we need to understand when and how to move. This is why learning how to walk and apply understanding and wisdom to a situation is so important. Faith will only work if it has the backing of Gods heart. Foolishness is based off of our whims and desires and not off of Gods heart. Use wisdom and mix it with boldness, and then add that to the Heart and will of God. Move only on His timing and direction, and that is real Faith in action, represented by legitimate boldness!

Encouragement during the clean up process (sanctification)

Once we give our lives to the Lord, the process of getting cleaned up begins. For some, the process is messier than for others. As soon as we say “I do”, the process begins. The Holy Spirit shines His flashlight into our hearts and lives. He test our motives, and He purifies and cleans our hearts. He challenges us on issues. He takes His instruments and prods down deep into our emotions. He examines us, as well as causes us to examine our selves. The Holy Spirit will cause us to look at our life and see it the way that He sees it. He will even ask us to look at our hands, and at what we want to hold on to. Many people will grow afraid and weary in this process. Those who are like me will attempt to try harder in the flesh, and take their legitimate desire to please the Lord and fail time after time. The cleansing process will cause those who are prone to being religious to focus and clean everything up on the outside, and in turn make themselves more and more miserable. The religious person will try and justify themselves, and act as though they are more holy, all the while condemning those around them that have discovered the key to real Holiness. Real Holiness resides in our Love for God, and our genuine desire to please Him. Real Holiness learns how to administer grace to ourselves as well as to others. Whenever we slip or fall during the cleansing process, we will know that that is just an opportunity to learn (grace is our teacher). The sooner that we realize and understand that the system is designed for us to fail in the flesh, so that we can place all of our trust in God so that He alone can help us to stand, the better off we will be. Sometimes the very act of “getting saved” (a moment in time that we say the sinners prayer) is just the very beginning of the engagement process. Many people will give up and get discouraged during the process of being cleaned up, decide that it is not for them, and go back to what they know and are comfortable with (sin). Many people made a great confession of faith and followed Christ at one time, but when the times got hard, or they experienced failure, they turned around and quit. Jesus likened our walk with Him to “putting our hands to the plow.” He said that we can not look back. He also said “Consider Lot’s wife”. She looked back. The sanctification process is the cross. In many ways, it is the engagement period. If we allow the Father to have His perfect work in us during the process, then He can do great things in us and through us. When I first met the Lord, I encountered much resistance from the flesh. I had no idea how bound up I actually way. It was like a full on train wreck. I fought the Lord, appeased the flesh, ran away, and then ran back to Him numerous times. For some people it was an easy process, but not for me. For me, the process of being made clean and whole was a large scale battle. I fought the Lord on many things, even while I was attempting to submit to Him. We fight against the “world. the flesh and the devil” on a grand scale. The Lord has the ability to cleanse us in an instant, but we are in a cosmic battle between good and evil, and we are caught right in the middle of it! The cleansing process is really the proving grounds in this battle, as the devil that once had the key to our hearts, must be dispersed, and the key must be taken by force!( by the Lord!) I want to encourage you to let God have His perfect work in your life, let the process take place and continue, and be quick to show yourself grace, and be willing to see yourself through Gods eyes! (Loved beyond measure!)

Patience

Patience is the willingness to trust God’s timing. If we say that we have Faith, then it must not be faith in our plans, but rather Faith in the fact that God is Faithful, and He is not a man that He should lie, and that He is an on time God. Patience is also the willingness to wait with Joy and not complaining. Many blessings are delayed and cancelled because of a lack of Patience. Often times the delayed blessing is a test in itself. Sometimes our willingness to wait is the greatest indicator to as to whether or not we are ready to be blessed. The person that rushes into any and everything, and tries to make their own way in life, and force open their own doors, will eventually run out of options. Their lack of faith and patience will eventually catch them in their own trap. An impatient person is the devils easiest victim, because in their haste, and unwillingness to wait, they rush right into mistake after mistake, and will become ensnared by their own plans. God is in the waiting. And learning to wait is part of being a Christian. Regardless of what some say, we can pray for patience, it is a fruit of the Spirit. We have to have it, and there is no other way around it. Some are afraid to pray for patience because they may go through trials as they develop it. I say that you are going to go through trials regardless of whether or not you pray for patience, so you might as well go ahead and ask for it! The trial is made worse and prolonged by a lack of patience anyway! Read the first chapter of the book of James, and it is Wisdom for trials. “Let patience have her perfect work”. Patience will lead us and guide us and direct us. It will also help us to draw near to God in our struggles. Patience is not a struggle, but rather it is a joy! Patience is the Joy of waiting! And impatience is misery and struggle magnified! Bless y’all! Pastor Dexter

The Lust For Money and The Willingness To Give

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1 There are many traps that are laid for the people of God. This is why it is so important to never rush into anything without first praying. At one time, I was very gullible. I always want to believe the best in people. Now, with a little more wisdom and experience, I have learned that the Lord wants us to know those that labor among us. We cannot be too quick to place our trust into a person before we truly get to know them. People must first prove themselves faithful before we allow them great responsibility. Now that I have matured some (and been burned some by a few people, “experience”), I have learned that not everyone has pure motives. You may find this hard to believe (lol) but there are some that are in the ministry because of their love for money. I never really equated ministry with money, even though it takes funds to do ministry. I preached the gospel for 17 years before I ever received a dime for preaching. The Lord had to move me from the other extreme end of the spectrum. (thinking that ministry had to always be a struggle). The Lord desires to give and bless us with more than enough to do His work well. The problem oftentimes is with our desires and motivations. If our need is so great that we get our eyes off of God, and place them on man to meet our needs, then we had better get used to doing without But, if we allow our legitimate ministry needs to draw us closer to God, so that we can see Him move and bless us, then we will need to get used to having plenty. “My God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches and Glory in Christ Jesus.” It is the Father’s good pleasure to bless us and to meet our every need. The problem comes in whenever we allow a legitimate need to be driven by our lust. There are those who have a great love of money. Getting money occupies all of their thoughts. They are driven to accumulate more and more wealth. These people do not understand the way that God moves. They think that by accumulating and hoarding what the Lord has given them, they will in turn end up with something to show for their efforts, when in reality, God will only give to those that have placed their trust in Him. The Lord will never allow His people to raise funds by using manipulation and control. Arm twisting is not allowed in the Kingdom. God has His own ways of blessing us, and all that we have to do is to learn to hear Him and be obedient to Him. So far, my wife and I have had two people sow into our ministry. (word of prayer) One is a family member, and one is a complete stranger. Every ministry has needs, and ours is no exception. It is my earnest prayer that the Lord blesses us, and every other ministry that loves Him to overflow. I know that our blessings are on the way! The Lord continues to give us promise after promise, and I love to watch these promises come to pass! God is Awesome! Even though we have little in comparison to some other ministries (never compare your ministry with other ministries, because you will put limitations on God!) the Lord sometimes has us sow and plant funds into other ministries that do not need it as bad as we do! I find this both funny, and exciting, because the Lord wants us to let go of what we have, so that He can the blessings flowing. Give God the firstfruits of your increase. Do not be greedy for money and gain or fame. If we hold on to what He has given us, it will clog up the system, and keep the future blessings from flowing. But if we do like Jesus said and “freely you have been given, now freely give”, then we will release untold blessings upon ourselves and others. Don’t hold back and hoard people of God. Give to credible ministries so that they can be blessed, and so can you. Do not just give to sources that you have not prayed about, but if you trust in God, then He will lead you and guide you to the people that He wants you to give to, and you will not be taken advantage of! Do not use the excuse that these are hard and uncertain times. Now is the time to let go and give and trust God to provide for your needs like never before! “give and it shall be given to you, good measure, pressed down shaken together and running over!!! Bless y’all, Pastor Dexter

No Condemnation

The derailing effects of condemnation. We must learn that there is a difference in the way that we relate to God, and the way that we relate to ourselves. Some people are naturally harsh on themselves. We must be willing to show ourselves the same grace and love that Jesus shows us. If we are not careful, we will alienate ourselves from the God who loves us because we do not understand His heart. God desires to bring us into a place of maturity. Maturity is a place where we have a clear view of who God is, as well as what He wants and desires from us. Its the realization that Grace is for us too, and not just for everyone else. True Grace will set us free from failure and the sin cycle. “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” Faith and grace are things that we must fully experience to comprehend! To understand real grace, you must understand what it means to be a real failure. Grace is our teacher. Grace teaches us in our failures, how to rely on God. “to whom much is forgiven, much is loved.” We learn to love God more once we have experienced His patience toward us as we were learning how to serve Him. Once we have learned His heart and desires toward us, then we can learn how to apply that same grace toward ourselves that we may be free from self condemnation! Tune in soon for part 2 of this teaching

Lukewarmness and the gradual decline in fervor

The church should be a place that all of us want to attend, and are not forced to attend. It is easy for a church (a group of believers) to suck the joy out of people. Like anything, if we are not careful, then our Christian lives will become nothing more than ritual. The Christian life should be full of vitality and purpose, if it ever becomes just ritualistic, then it dies a slow death. Sometimes the death is so slow that no one even notices. Just like a hot cup of coffee. How much temperature does the coffee lose by just sitting there? We must all be reheated and stirred with passion. Re energized with passion purpose and focus. All too often the church, and the believers in that church building allow themselves to grow lukewarm over time. “Stir up the gifts that are within you!” It is a series of small gradual steps to regress from lukewarm to cold and dead. We desperately need the Holy Spirit to blow through the cold dead lifeless churches and give life to those that are withering on the vine. It is an awful way to go to hell, by sitting on the pew. Whatever happened to vision and purpose??!! “Without a vision, the people perish. Whatever is hindering a church service from flowing freely, needs to be escorted out. Passion that is allowed to slowly die will turn into the worst form of outward religion. Fruit left on the vine and not allowed to be harvested becomes rotten and useless. There is nothing more hideous in the eyes of the Lord than those that pretend to have life but on the inside they are dead and cold and unmovable. Once a church gets into the routine of formalism and outward religion, it is a slow progression until everyone in the church gives way to the spirit of religion. The Holy Spirit will only allow Himself to be quenched for so long before He will give the place that was once full of His glory, over to the Spirit of religion. But there is hope. If you attend one of the places of His former Glory, ask the Lord to speak life into those dry bones. Pray and fast. If the dead bones refuse to come back to life, and allow the Lord to return life unto them, then get out of there and go find a church that is full of vision, uplifts Jesus, and Glorifies the Father. A church that lets God be God because they believe in and receive miracles!
Revelation 3:15′ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16’So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17’Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked

Its a Faith walk, not a Faith Talk!

Too much emphasis is placed on our talk by groups like the word faith movement, and not enough emphasis is placed on our walk with God. Enoch walked with God, Abraham walked with God. Elijah walked with God. They walked upon the straight and narrow road that Jesus spoke of. There are no crowns given because we talk a good Fight, but rather because we fight the good fight. The highway is and always has been a highway of holiness. The Holiness road is paved by the blood of Jesus, and it is well worn by those who have walked upon it in Holiness. Those that tread upon it must walk by the way of the cross and follow the old landmarks. Take hold of the Fathers hand and let Him lead you in righteousness.The pure in Heart, they shall see God!