Dearly Beloved
images/slide2.jpg

Divine Proof
Dearly beloved of God, when we confessed Jesus as lord and believed that God raised him from the dead we were saved, we were born again of the spirit from God, and we received the spirit of sonship making us children of God.
Speaking in tongues is the proof that you are born again of God’s spirit, you are heaven bound, and all hell cannot stop you from going.
When we speak in tongues “the spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, so that if we do suffer together, we shall also be glorified together.” Romans 8:16-18
Once we are born again of the spirit from God, we can pray with the spirit, which the scripture calls speaking in tongues.
“In fact, he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, because no one understands what he hears himself speaking. By the spirit, he is speaking divine mysteries.” I Corinthians 14:2 WT
Details

A New Administration
Dearly beloved of God, the Lord Jesus Christ said that to see and enter the kingdom of God you must be born again. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
God told the prophet John the Baptist, “He that sent me to baptize with water, the same unto me, ‘Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He Which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost [the holy spirit].”
John saw the holy spirit descend on Jesus, and it abode upon him.
After God raised Jesus out from among the dead he said, “And behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you, but tarry in Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”
Before his ascension into heaven he told them to wait for the promise of the Father. John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost [pneuma hagion: holy spirit not many days hence.”
Acts 2:1-4 records that receiving, and in response to the people’s question, “What meaneth this?” Peter concluded by saying, “This Jesus God raised up [resurrected], whereof we all are witnesses.
Details

The True Reality
Dearly beloved of God, there are two narratives being painted before our very eyes. Each narrative speaks of a particular reality.
Reality is defined as the sum of all that is real, as opposed to that which is only imaginary.
The One True and Living God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ only speaks the truth. His Word is truth, and He means what He says, and He says what He means. Nothing can prevent Him from fulfilling His Word. When God speaks it becomes reality.
The so-called god of this age, the devil, pushes a false narrative through information gleaned through the five senses. He is a liar, and the deceiver that deceives the whole world. His propaganda of lies paint a false reality, an illusion meant to deceive us.
Which one we listen to and believe will determine our reality.
Details

What's the News?
Dearly beloved of God, are our times any darker than the times that Jesus Christ lived? No. He lived when the Judeans were under the foreign occupation of the Roman Empire. Their king, Herod the Great was evil and corrupt, as was their governing body, the Sanhedrin.
The religious establishment was engrossed in ceremonialism under the pretense of keeping the law. They were corrupt hypocrites and charlatans. Their leader was born of the seed of the serpent, as were others of them. They replaced the Word of God with their own traditions and man-made doctrines leading the people away from God and the truth of His Word. There had not been a prophet of God since the days of Malachi some 400 years earlier. Jesus Christ’s time was very dark indeed.
Details

God Has Not Changed
Dearly beloved of God, “Cast your bread on the waters for you will find it after many days,” is an expression that was common to the people in the lands and times that the Word of God was written. This orientalism teaches a wonderful truth.
Rice is of the same importance to the people in the east as bread is to us in the west.
The brown top of the rice is called a Pattie, and the rice is the seed in the Pattie. When it is planting time, the farmer will first till the ground. Then they fill the land with water about an inch above the plowed ground. The fields look like a lake, not a field of rice.
The farmer then takes the rice Patties and puts them in a basket that hangs around his neck, and he walks out in the mud and throws the seed from the right to the left. It looks like he is casting it on the water, not in a field, but after many days the Patties take root and grow up.
To a person that does not trust God it may look stupid to give, but the one that trusts what God teaches us about giving knows that like the rice seed cast upon the waters it will yield an abundant crop.
Details

That God
Dearly beloved of God, there are two ways in which we can live. We can live the way of the world, or we can live by believing what God says.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5 and 6
We can learn from the world, or we can study God’s Word and learn from the Creator of the heavens and the earth; the Creator of all living.
We could trust “that God” and acknowledge the understanding He gives us, trust Him with all our heart, and allow Him to direct our paths.
How could one say that he trusts God if he does not acknowledge what He says? Are we acknowledging Him if we do not trust Him? The answer is obvious; no.
Details

God Makes Good on His Word
Dearly beloved of God, everything that God says is possible is possible because He stands behind His promises.
He said, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?”
Nothing is too hard for Him. He is able to deliver and He says that He is willing to do it if we will believe what He says. He is not a respecter of persons but of believing.
God created the heavens and the earth. He raised Jesus Christ from the dead. He made eternal life available through Jesus Christ. There is nothing too hard for Him. When we believe what He says, we can be confident that He is able and willing to perform it.
God does not lie as men do. God does not make promises He is not willing to perform.
When God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary with the message that she would bring forth His only begotten Son by Divine conception, he said, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
Details

Reality Check
Dearly beloved of God, God’s Word is always a greater reality than the circumstantial reality we see by our five senses.
For example, God promised Abraham a son when he was about a hundred years old. His wife Sarah was barren, and she was about ninety.
“By believing [God’s promise to him], even though he was past age – and Sarah herself was barren – was enabled to become a father because he considered Him faithful who had made the promise.” Hebrews 11:11 NIV
“He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith [the right way of believing; believing what God said] giving glory to God; and BEING FULLY PERSUADED that what He [God] had promised, He [God] was able also to perform.” Romans 4:20 and 21
God our Father freely gives us all things with His Son. He is for us, and He will never leave us, or forsake us. His throne of grace is open to us and He encourages us to come boldly to Him with confidence.
Details

Two Natures in the Child of God
Dearly beloved of God, we are born as human beings with a fleshly body and soul life nature. The moment we confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead we are born again of the spirit from God which is a new spirit nature.
After we are born again we still have a fleshly body, and soul life, but in the new birth we received the gift of holy spirit, which is a new spirit nature. Now we have a body, soul, and spirit.
The child of God now has two natures in the one person: the old nature of the flesh, and the new nature of the spirit.
In the new birth God freely gives us all things with His Son. He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. He completely filled us with all in all of us.
Details

What is True Christianity?
Dearly beloved of God, God works in the heart of man while religion only works on the flesh. The work of God is by the spirit, while religion is only conformity to rules and regulations pertaining to the flesh.
When a person confesses Jesus as Lord and believes that God raised him from the dead, he is saved. At that moment he is born of the spirit from God, and becomes a child of God, and gains an entrance into the kingdom of God, and is assured of an inheritance of eternal life. This is true Christianity.
True Christianity is the work of God in Christ. It is not by our works, but by God’s work in Christ. We are saved by grace through believing in Jesus Christ as Lord, and that salvation is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus on the basis of his good works so that we can walk in his accomplishments.
Details

We Are Sufficient
Dearly beloved of God, Jesus Christ said on numerous occasions that he could do nothing of himself, but only as the Father directed him to do the good pleasure of His Will.
We have such trust through Christ to God-ward, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything is of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God. Without Him we can do nothing. With Him we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
God our Father has made us able ministers of the new covenant of the spirit; not of the letter of the old covenant of the law for the law kills, but the spirit gives life. Now it is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. He is the spirit of the new covenant.
We with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from the glory of the new birth to the glory of the inheritance even as by the spirit of the Lord. Rejoice and give God thanks!
Details

True Worship
Dearly beloved of God, God is Spirit and can only truly be worshipped by spirit according to the Lord Jesus Christ. What does this mean?
According to the Scriptures God instructs us that we are to study to show ourselves approved unto Him by rightly dividing His Word. If we are to know the Will of God we must hear His Word because faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
Early in his ministry Jesus Christ taught his disciples that to see and enter the kingdom of God one must be born again.
He said that which is born of the flesh is flesh [this is the natural birth], and that which is born of the spirit is spirit [this is a birth of spirit]. To be born of the spirit is to be begotten from above.
He then said, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
Details

You Are Worth It
Dearly beloved of God, if you want to see your true worth, you will have to see it through God’s eyes. Only He can show you how important you are to Him, and He reveals it to us in His Word.
You are worth the price He paid for your redemption and salvation; you are worth the life of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our Father sees us as a lost piece of silver that was found; as a lamb that was lost but now is found. The angels of heaven rejoiced over our salvation.
Our value comes from God our Father and what Jesus Christ accomplished for us. We are God’s masterpieces created in Christ Jesus on the basis of his accomplishments.
Details

Great and Little
Dearly beloved of God, Matthew 8 gives us a record of what the Lord Jesus called great faith [believing] and little faith [believing]. It may surprise you to learn who demonstrated the great and who had “little.”
A centurion, a commander in the Roman legion, came to Jesus beseeching him to heal his servant who lay at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”
The centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed, for I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
Details

Paid In Full
Dearly beloved of God, we have received in full the benefits of everything that Jesus Christ accomplished for us.
We were dead in trespasses and sin, but Jesus paid for them in full. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was laid on him. With his stripes we were healed.
Jesus Christ bore our sin, our bondage, our sickness, and our pain. He blotted out the handwritten document that was against us, which was hostile to us; he even took it out of the way nailing it to his cross.
What was this document that was against us? In the lands and times when the Bible was written it was customary that a person’s name and his debts were posted on the gate leading into the city.
Details

Just Listen
Dearly beloved of God, people are willing to do amazing things because they think it will enable them to hear from God.
Some people take pilgrimages to what they deem as holy lands thinking that they will be able to hear from God better in a certain location.
Others “fast” thinking that it will help them hear Gods voice, while others beat themselves thinking it will make them more spiritual so that God will speak to them.
People try things such as fire walking, seances, meditation, abstaining from meats, celibacy, and on and on, thinking that these things will help them hear God’s voice.
Dearly beloved, what do we have to do for God to speak to us? Listen.
“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord . . ..”
Details

Eternity, Riches, and His Kindness
Dearly beloved, God sent Jesus Christ to give his life in order to save and redeem us, and He will send him a second time on the day of redemption to claim those for whom he died.
"So the Christ, having also been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without being offered to bear sin, to those who are awaiting him for salvation [deliverance]." Hebrews 9:28 Working Translation
As God raised Christ out from among the dead, He will raise us to life also when he sends the Lord Christ Jesus to gather us unto him. The certainty of Christ’s return for the Church is as certain as you are breathing as you read these words. He is coming!
“That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:7
There are three things in this verse that grab our attention: the exceeding riches of His grace, the extent of time that it will take Him to demonstrate them (the ages to come) to us, and the Father’s disposition of kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Details

Follow Thou Me
Dearly beloved, the day after his resurrection out from among the dead, Jesus appeared to eleven of his apostles and disciples behind closed doors.
Eight days later, he appeared to all twelve apostles and the disciples with them. Thomas was absent the first time he appeared to them. This time he was present and believed. Some of those present even doubted the second time Jesus appeared to them.
Then, later on, Jesus appeared a third time to seven disciples, five of which were apostles.
John 21 records this event. Peter and six others went fishing. They took the boat out about 100 yards from shore, but even though they fished all night, they did not catch a single fish. That’s a tough night for men who made their living fishing.
That morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not recognize that it was him.
Details

New Things Have Come
Dearly beloved of God, we were united with Jesus Christ in the likeness of his death, and we will also be in the likeness of his resurrection.
Jesus Christ justified us by giving his life for ours; the just died for the unjust. By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us. There is therefore now no more condemnation, no more judicial judgment to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Jesus Christ is the mediator of the new covenant; the covenant of the spirit. His blood is the blood given to make the new covenant.
The old covenant of the law stood only in meats and drinks and various baptisms. These were standards of justice pertaining to the flesh, which were imposed on them until the time of the reformation of the covenants.
Details

Eight Days Later
Dearly beloved, Jesus was raised from the dead late on the seventeenth of Nisan, the weekly Sabbath, our Saturday, towards dusk. We must remember that the Judean day began at sunset and ran to the following sunset. Their days were numbered, not named like ours are.
Nicodemus gave Jesus a traditional Judean burial using about one hundred pounds of strips of linen cloth wound around his body. The bandages were coated with a shellac like substance using a mixture of myrrh and aloes that formed a hardened shell in the shape of the dead body after drying. This is referred to as grave clothes in the scriptures. The Greek word, “othonion,” is used for grave clothes.
A great stone was placed to cover the entrance to the tomb, and it had the seal of the Roman government on it that said it was not to be disturbed. Guards were stationed so that no one could enter the grave for three days.
Details

The Importance of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection
Dearly beloved of God, how important is the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord?
His resurrection is the foundation for the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ our Lord and what he accomplished.
Without Jesus Christ’s resurrection out from among all the dead people we would not be saved. See Romans 1:1-4; 10:9; I Peter 1:3-9
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the reason that the dead in Christ who are members of his body, the Church, will also be raised out from among the dead people as he was. See Romans 6:5-11;
I Corinthians 15: 1-23 and 35-49 and 50-58; I Thessalonians 4:15-18
Without Jesus Christ’s resurrection out from among the dead people there would be no Christianity; we would yet be dead in sin, without God, and without hope.
Details

The Lord Jesus Appears to His Disciples
Dearly beloved of God, when the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus realized that the stranger eating with them was the Lord Jesus he vanished right before their eyes.
Luke 24:33 and 34
And they [Cleopas and the other disciple] rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
When the two disciples returned to Jerusalem they found the eleven gathered together (Thomas was absent), along with other disciples, hearing reports that the Lord was risen. Reports had been coming in throughout the day, but they did not believe them.
This is the only mention in the gospels that the Lord appeared to Peter; he appeared to him sometime after his second visit to the sepulchre. I Corinthians 15:5 verifies that the Lord was seen of Peter.
Details

On the Road to Emmaus
Dearly beloved of God, Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved had seen the empty grave clothes in the sepulcher. Mary had seen and talked with the Lord after his resurrection. Three different angels told the women that went to the sepulchre to embalm Jesus that he was not there; he had risen from the dead.
"After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country." Mark 16:12
The Lord appeared to them in another form, meaning a different one. His resurrected body could function in new dimensions that his natural body of flesh and blood could not. The gospel of Luke expands on this event.
"And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him." Luke 24: 13-16
“Their eyes were holden”, meaning they were prevented from recognizing him.
Details

Eyewitness Accounts
Dearly beloved of God, the Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection appearances provide us with divine assurance that God did indeed raise His Son out from among the dead. The scriptures supply us with firsthand accounts of chosen eyewitnesses to the most momentous event in history.
The first record occurred, “The first day of the week…when it was yet dark….” Mary saw that the stone was removed from the entrance of the sepulchre.
John 20 records the first witnesses to view the open sepulchre containing the empty mummy lying there in the shape of Jesus’ body.
Mary ran and came to Peter and to the disciple whom Jesus loved. The two men ran to the sepulchre and saw the undeniable proof along with Mary. Three times we are told what they saw.
The grave clothes [othonion] were still intact; they were undisturbed, but there was no longer a body in them.
After the men left, two angels inside the sepulchre told Mary that Jesus was not there; then she turned around and Jesus spoke to Mary in the garden.
Details

The Victor Over Death
Dearly beloved of God, Jesus’ first resurrection appearance occurred the first day of the week, our Sunday.
The Judeans numbered their days, first, second, third, etc., and the seventh was our Saturday, which was their Sabbath. Since Jesus was buried before sunset, the fourteenth, our Wednesday, he arose before sunset on the eighteenth, the weekly Sabbath, our Saturday.
John 20 tells us about his first appearance after his resurrection from the dead. Mary Magdalene came the first of the week, early, when it was yet dark, and saw that the stone taken away from the sepulcher. It was the eighteenth, so the moon was almost full. Each new month started with the full moon.
Details