Archive for October 2015
The Promises Of The Lord Are Unfailing
The Promises Of The Lord Are Unfailing. A Mini Sermon.
At least seven times Jesus used future perfect tense. Future perfect is more powerful than simple future tense. Future perfect tense means you can take it to the bank, it is going to happen. When Jesus used the word will, He always spoke it in future perfect tense.
- “I Will” Save You.
John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out
- (To Jesus, there is no such thing as a throwaway soul.
- Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.)
- “I Will” Heal You.
Luke 5:12 And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Luke 5:13 And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.
- (James 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
- James 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him
- Part of His Calvary experience was the receiving of stripes He suffered them for us. He purposely endured the pain for our healing.)
- “I Will” Claim You.
Matt 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
- (Gal 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
- Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
- Gal 4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.)
- “I Will” Enable You.
Matt 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
- (If you follow Him, He will make you a soul winner.)
- “I Will” Comfort You.
John 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
- (Heb. 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.)
- “I Will” Raise You Up.
John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
- (1Thess 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
- 1Thess 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
- 1Thess 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.)
- “I Will” Be With You For Ever
John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
- (John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
- John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.)
The Lord’s Promises Are Unfailing!
Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Why God Hates Wheelbarrows!
Why God Hates Wheelbarrows!
There are some good things that could be said about them. But that still doesn’t change God’s mind. He still hates wheelbarrows. He hates them for a number of reasons, some of which I will tell you.
First of all, He hates wheelbarrows because they all have to be pushed. They won’t do one thing by themselves. They never budge unless made to. They never go forward unless someone wears their self out pushing them. Then, just as soon as the pusher stops, the wheelbarrow stops too.
Second, He hates wheelbarrows because they are prone to become “lopsided” very easily which demands an additional effort to correct.
Some of us are like spiritual wheelbarrows. We’ll carry the load, but we have to be pushed. We only respond to pressure. And even then, we’re likely to get lopsided. God wants us to love Him, serve Him from our heart, without the use of force or coercion.
But Most Of Us Have To Be Pushed
- We have to be pushed to worship.
- We have to be pushed to find the prayer room.
- We have to be pushed to live right.
- We have to be pushed to dress right.
- We have to be pushed to win the lost.
- We have to be pushed to testify.
- We have to be pushed to trust God.
- We have to be pushed to do His Will.
- We have to be pushed to give Him His tenth.
- We have to be pushed to give to Missions.
- We have to be pushed to forgive.
- We have to be pushed to be faithful to church.
- We have to be pushed to give.
- We have to be pushed to read the Bible.
- We have to be pushed to make progress at all.
- We have to be pushed in just about everything.
God Hates Wheelbarrow Christianity.
- He hates what we’ve done to ourselves.
- He hates what we’re doing to His church.
- He hates what we’re doing to the ministry.
- He hates the fact that our spirit is contagious.
- He hates the fact that we can’t seem to ‘have church’ without the preacher pushing us.
- He hates the fact we don’t love Him enough to progress on our own.
Do You Know What We Need? We Simply Need A Good Old-Fashioned Case Of “I Want To!”
- I want to live for God!
- I want to be an over-comer!
- I want to have to victory!
- I want to worship!
- I want to pray!
- I want to live holy!
- I want to have revival!
- I want to be a blessing!
- I want to be faithful!
- I want to give!
- I want to say Amen!
- I want to obey the Word of God!
God Hates Wheelbarrows.
- I hope you hate them too.
- I hope you hate them enough that you refuse to be one.
- I hope you hate them enough that you will refuse to wait until you are pushed before making progress in God.
Matt. 15:8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
Deut. 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Deut. 11:1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.
God Thinks It’s A Heart Issue.
- Those Who Must Be Pushed Must Not Have A Real Desire For God In Their Heart.
Do You Have To Be Pushed?
If So, What Does God Think About You?
Puzzle Prayer Time
Puzzle Prayer Time
The beautiful white-haired grandma sat silently beside me as our car rolled down the Interstate. Marcia Starr Ballestero, my devoted wife of fifty years, was letting her thoughts and heart focus on the needs of a family member.
Small talk between us had died out when she picked up her iPad. From the corner of my eye I could see that she was doing it again. She does it at home too, almost every day.
She was going through her camera roll and albums looking for a specific photo. That’s her pattern. Today she chose one of our children and their spouse. Some times she chooses a picture of just one person, other times it may be a couple or even their whole family. Once in a while she chooses a picture of us.
The selected photo is then imported into her jigsaw puzzle app. Her gentle fingers begin to move over the hundreds of pieces. She moves them here and there trying to make them fit where she thinks they should go.
Her puzzles may last an hour or two, sometimes longer. The attraction she has for puzzles isn’t so much her love for games, but it actually is part of her family prayer time.
As she moves each piece of the puzzle into place, she is praying silently. She is praying for every aspect of their life. She prays for their soul, their marriage, their health, their finances and their home.
I do my best not to interrupt her puzzle prayer time. She methodically attempts to make pieces fit in place. Often she gets it right the first time. Other times not. When it becomes a trial and error project, it is like real-life to her. Her prayer focus is on the missing pieces in that person’s picture. Loving fingers slide over the face, sometimes the heart and then lingers a moment.
- I wonder, is she praying for their heart?
- Is she praying for them to make right decisions?
- Is she praying for God to keep them safe?
- I never ask.
When she is finished, she will hold the photo up for me to see. When I compliment her on the beautiful picture, she smiles. I know that there was a lot of love and prayer put into that puzzle. How much? Only God and her know.
No one else in our family knows about this. Our children and grandchildren do not even know. But heaven knows that there is a loving Mother and Grandmother who is trying to make the pictures of her family turn out right by asking for God’s help to find the missing pieces and put them in the right place.
Apostolic Expository Series
Christy Ballestero (My Beautiful DIL)
http://marciaballestero.com/
Pastor Anthony & Kim Ballestero, New Destiny Worship Center, Clearwater, FL (My Son)
Pastor Bryan & Christy Ballestero, Temple Of Pentecost, Raleigh, NC (My Son)
James Groce Blog – "Toward The Mark"
Kenneth Bow Blog
Kingdom Speak Podcast
Philip Harrelson – "The Barnabas Blog"
Verbal Bean Ministries
Holy Ghost Radio
The Ballestero Blog 