Archive for the ‘Christian Living’ Category
Please Forgive Your Pastor!
Please Forgive Your Pastor!
(Written on behalf of your Pastor.)
By Martyn Ballestero Sr.
In the spirit of humility and with great carefulness, I am asking for your forgiveness. My heart is heavy.
Knowing that I have hurt you with words that I have said and things that I have done, I sincerely apologize and I ask that you Please Forgive Your Pastor!
It is a tool of Satan to bring division into the Body of Christ. He knows that will stop revival. I am grieved to know that I am included in his plan and have become part of the problem.
We are all aware that it is the plan of our soul’s enemy to destroy our church. Pledge with me before God not to let this happen. Please Forgive Your Pastor!
Knowing bitterness will destroy us, defile us and divide us. Please Forgive Your Pastor!
- I love you dearly.
- I care how you feel.
- I need you.
- This church needs you.
- God needs you.
- I forgive you.
Please Forgive Your Pastor!
I pray that all may see that my mistakes have been made from my head and not from my heart.
I know that some decisions I have made have not been popular and no doubt have brought pain.
I also know that you might feel that I must hate you by the way I preach or because of my sermon’s comments.
I could never apologize for preaching truth, but I can and should apologize for using a bad or wrong spirit in the process. Please Forgive Your Pastor!
The most important relationship in the Family of God is that of Pastor and Saint, Shepherd and the Sheep. I am striving to protect that and to bring the Peace of God into all of our hearts.
I do not wish to be a lord of God’s heritage, or to bring injury. My duty is to look well to know the state of the flock. I have, and feel God has directed me to come to you.
I take responsibility for my:
- Choices
- Decisions
- Comments
Whether some think less or more of me for publically apologizing, I ask forgiveness.
I do not want God to put a millstone around my neck for bringing offence to one of His children.
Please Forgive Your Pastor!
- This is not my church.
- This is not your church.
- This is God’s church.
Satan rejoices at our discomfort today.
Hell is pleased beyond words.
There is no problem worth us going to hell over. Please Forgive Your Pastor!
I ask forgiveness because I love you and I see I’ve hurt you.
I ask forgiveness because God put you in my care and I do not wish to anger God.
I ask forgiveness because:
- I need you
- I need your help.
- I need your support.
- I need your prayers.
- I need your friendship.
- I need your fellowship.
- I need your loyalty.
- I give you mine.
Please Forgive Your Pastor!
We desperately need revival in our church. Revival only seems to come when there is hunger and unity for the same thing. (It did on the day of Pentecost.)
But Unity does not happen unless there is forgiveness and the overlooking of personality differences for the sake of souls.
I am willing to humble myself to please God. I am asking you to join me.
I am willing to admit my mistakes and apologize. I am asking you to join me.
I am willing to admit my need for God’s guidance and correction. I am asking you to join me.
I am willing to do whatever it takes to:
- Keep the spirit of unity alive.
- Keep the spirit of worship alive.
- Keep the spirit of prayer alive.
- Keep the spirit of revival alive.
- Keep the spirit of brotherly love alive. I am asking you to join me.
Please Forgive Your Pastor!
Knowing that offences will come, I pray for strength.
Knowing that offences have come, I plead the blood.
Knowing that offences will destroy us, Please Forgive Your Pastor!
Join me in prayer.
Your leaving or my leaving does not solve the problem in eternity.
God’s only solution is forgiveness.
Unforgiveness endangers our eternal future.
- The fear of the Lord requires me to check my spirit.
- The fear of the Lord requires me to censor my words.
- The fear of the Lord requires me to watch my attitude.
That brotherly love may continue.
And, that brotherly love may continue, God also requires me to come to you if I know that you have ought in your heart against me. Only after I make things right with you will He hear my prayer.
I’m very sorry.
Please Forgive Your Pastor!
Join me now in putting yesterday behind us, experiencing God’s richest blessings today and in reaching for the things that are before us.
Please Forgive Your Pastor!
Thank You!
The Prophet That Twisted The Scripture
The Prophet That Twisted The Scripture
The well known ‘prophet’ was instructing the audience before he entered the healing and prophesying part of his service.
“You don’t have to respond the FIRST time God speaks to you. The Scripture says, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established.
“So now, the SECOND time, or at least by the THIRD time that God speaks, that’s when you need to respond.”
That’s what he said. I couldn’t believe my ears. Here in front of me is this so-called prophet who evidently never took the time to “study to show himself approved unto God.”
He didn’t want to be known as a Word preacher, because he was used in the gifts! Regardless, he misquoted and misapplied Scripture.
I stared at him in disbelief. Many hundreds of people sat in the audience. They’d come to be prayed for and this guy was telling them they didn’t have to respond when God spoke the FIRST time.
Most of my children and family sat with me in that service on the second row. Right in front of him, I pulled a notebook out of my pocket and began to write.
“When God created the heavens and the earth, He spoke it into existence. He only said it once and all the elements of the world responded immediately.
“God only told Noah to build the Ark, one time.
“God expects us to respond the FIRST time He speaks. The requirement for having two or three witnesses is not for doctrine, but for receiving an accusation against a man of God or in bringing criminal charges.”
- 1Tim. 5:19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.
- Deut. 19:15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
- Heb. 10:28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
I passed the note to my children and had them read it while he was preaching. I saw the preachers eyes follow the note and could tell he knew I disagreed with him. He moved away from in front of me because he could tell I was an unbeliever of that doctrine.
I didn’t care. The Bible disagreed with him too.
What alarms me deeply is that of late I have encountered Pentecostal preachers in several states that preach this very doctrine.
It is suicidal to believe and practice this. It is false doctrine. Do not be deceived. Some nationally known preachers that we would call ‘good men’ believe this and are wresting the Scriptures.
Remember!! When God Speaks… (the FIRST time) … Respond Immediately!
- He created worlds with one command.
- He calmed the raging sea with one command.
- He raised the dead with one command.
- He healed the sick with one command.
- He forgave sins with one command.
- He cleansed the lepers with one command.
- He opened blinded eyes with one command.
It makes no difference if it’s in regards to Salvation, Healing, Holiness, Righteousness or to Brotherly Love. God shouldn’t have to speak the second time to anyone.
Your own mother would say… “Don’t make me tell you again.”
The Worst Family In The World
The Worst Family In The World
I don’t want to be accused of gossip, or sued for writing about a family that I know, so I’ll not use any names.
It’s the most unbelievable family I’ve ever met. There’s not another couple like them anywhere. Once you’ve met their family, you might even want to run away from them too. You will however, at least shake your head in disbelief as I have.
The Father is a big guy. He’s likeable enough sometimes, but he has such a bad temper. He’s always ready to fight at ‘the drop of a hat.’ The family and neighbors could entertain us for a long time telling about all the fights that he has been in. He has been ordered to take anger management classes, but he refuses to go.
On the other hand, Mom is quite good looking for her age. She constantly tries the latest beauty treatments and is determined to keep up with the Jones’s. She feels deeply, and becomes easily entrenched in the snare of wanting what she can’t have. I can’t count how many of her friendships she has ruined because of her displays of jealousy.
That’s Mom and Dad. I want you to meet the kids. The house is full of children. It’s no doubt the largest family I have ever met.
Everyone will tell you that they are the worst kids in the world. They are totally undisciplined. If you met them, the words, “little heathens,” would come to your mind.
- For example, one has committed murdered and gotten away with the crime.
- Another is a known thief.
- They all lie.
- One of them is a drunk.
- Some had been in jail.
- They all love to stay up all hours of the night and prowl through the neighborhood. They wrecked havoc almost every night.
- The brag about their exploits.
- They all reject the authority of the school, the police and the pastor.
- They want to party all the time.
- They are incorrigible.
- They are all juvenile delinquents.
- No visitor feels safe in their home.
- No one in their right mind invites any one the children into their home.
- They changed their neighborhood for the worse.
Their neighborhood was the nicest one in town. It was peaceful. People moved there because it was quiet and it seemed safe. No one even locked their doors. The neighbors really seemed to like each other too.
Neighbors began to put up FOR SALE signs on their homes not long after the family with all the kids moved in. No one wanted to live near them. Not only did the kids take over the neighborhood. The neighborhood association was not even able to buck up against this unbelievable family.
There was one church in the vicinity. The First Pentecostal Church, and many of the neighbors attended.
The family claimed to be members of The First Pentecostal Church also. The parents attended faithfully and attempted to bring as many of their kids as they could. The children disrupted many services.
- They ruined Weddings.
- They sabotaged Birthday Parties.
- The destroyed the Church Dinners and other functions.
Visitors often decided to never come back because of what they saw and heard. Even some of the long time members left and told the pastor that they loved him but they couldn’t tolerate ‘that’ family.
The parents got offended with the pastor and began to talk about him. They finally got enough influence in the church and then they helped split the church. They went across town and started their own.
They posted pictures of their new church on Facebook and bragged about their new church and new pastor. They also told lies about the former pastor and church people.
Mom and Dad even became an active part of their Pentecostal Association. They seemed pleased to attain a degree of respectability.
- I want you to at least meet them.
- I want you to know their names.
- I want you to be alert if they ever visit.
Remember their names. Her name is “Envy” and his name is “Strife.”
They are the mother and the father of the confusion in your neighborhood and in your church. They are also the parents of every evil work.
James 3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
BEWARE!
Preachers, Facebook and Begging For Money
Preachers, Facebook and Begging For Money
Beware! An old problem has invented a new avenue to intrude uninvited into your world!
Over the years, ethical pastors, missionaries and evangelists have strived to work in harmony to further the Gospel.
When an emergency presented itself and additional finances were needed, the brethren all understood there were limitations and restrictions attached to acquiring the additional funds.
Our old pastors taught the younger ministry that ‘If you have a gift, it will make room for you. Don’t make room for your gift.” The advice is still relevant and appropriate today. I have tried to live by that.
They also taught us that if you claimed to have a ‘Faith Ministry” and went around asking for money, it wasn’t ‘Faith’ at all. You didn’t have a ‘Faith Ministry’, you were just a beggar.
Today through the conduit of Radio and TV, many are scammed. They are hoodwinked into investing and ‘sowing seed’ into bogus ministries.
(The great news is that all of us can have salvation and healing without investing a dime in some false prophet’s coffers.)
We now have the Internet. Along with that came Twitter, Everyone’s Apostolic, Facebook and other social networks.
It seems like lately that most of us have been swamped with notes in our Inboxes from assorted preachers.
- Missionaries, that some of us have never even heard of, want you to send them money.
- Evangelists are posting on your pages desperately wanting you to give to them.
- Preachers starting a church or pastoring a small one somewhere need you to contribute and they don’t mind asking.
Don’t give to them.
- You heard me right.
- They are not ethical.
- If they where ethical, they wouldn’t ask you!
Here is how the whole system works. Let’s start with the Missionary first.
Missionaries.
There are two basic and acceptable avenues for them.
If the Missionary is with an organization, they back him. He travels and gets acquainted with new congregations and revisits his faithful supporters. The pastors of those churches make pledges and mail their monthly checks to his Missions Department. The Missions Department then sends him a regular check. If an emergency arises, he contact his Missions Department and they respond. Sometimes a local pastor friend may hear of the need and respond privately.
If the Missionary is independent, he has no headquarters to help him out. He is at the mercy of the Lord and his friends. If he has an emergency, he may call or write a close pastor friend or two. This friend, may not have enough money himself to meet the crises. He them become a spokesman for the missionary and on his behalf will call some of his pastor friends. These men then will go to their churches, if need be, and raise the offering that way.
How ever it’s done, it’s never done privately between a saint in a church and the missionary.
Missionaries who get on Facebook and plead with saints for money are without scruples or ethics. Don’t give to them. Let your pastor guide your giving.
Pastors
Pastors that likewise plead for money from someone else’s saints, are without ethics or principles. Do not respond to them.
You don’t go next door to your neighbors and ask their working teenager to give you money to pay your bills.
Evangelists
Evangelists are out of line to EVER ask a dime from ANYONE. I have pastored 30 years and I have been preaching out for 50 years. During all those years, I have preached 919 revivals and never called and asked for one. I’ve also preached 335 conferences and 62 camps besides.
If you are a God-called preacher, don’t you think that the same God that called you will provide for you? He does!
No evangelist should ever ask for money on Facebook. Don’t be foolish and give to him, no matter if you like him or not.
His asking is without principle.
No evangelist should ever receive money from saints in the church where he is preaching a revival.
If money somehow makes it to his hand or pocket, he must give that to the local pastor.
If the pastor decides to keep the money or give it back, that is the pastor’s prerogative.
Every preacher must understand that God has a way of balancing every thing out. The same God that fed Elijah with a raven knows where each of us is laboring in the vineyard. Our day will come, where all the wine tours will be for us.
If these preachers are having to call and write around begging for money, maybe they should have stayed in their local church and helped their pastor. Maybe,(God forbid anyone should say it.) they’re not really called.
In spite of our talking till we are blue in the face, grievous wolves run loose among the flock. They will fleece you of your money if you let them. Don’t. Give the Bible way. Bring it into the local storehouse. (Church)
Do you want a blessing! Do you want to help the work of God? Then give bountifully to your local church. Give God your tithe. (You want a real blessing? Tithe on your Gross!) Give extra to your Building Fund, Missions and Sunday School. And while you are in a giving mood, slip some money in your pastor’s hand and bless him.
Don’t Waste Your Season
It’s A Season!
Each Season Has It’s Purpose, Don’t Waste It!
Somehow the word ‘Season’ sometimes seems to us that it is a world without end!
But, it doesn’t snow all year long in my town. Neither does it rain all year long in your town.
- Farmers don’t plow all year long.
- Farmers don’t plant all year long.
- Farmers don’t irrigate all year long.
- Farmers don’t harvest all year long.
- Farmers understand that ‘different’ things happen in ‘different’ Seasons.
We commonly hear and use phrases like: Spring Time, Summer Time, The Fall, and Winter Time.
(Then there’s even the Rainy Season and the Dry Season just to complicate things.)
Every nation in the world understands the concept of those Seasons.
We live by them. We dress accordingly. We adapt to them. We understand that this Season will soon change. It’s just a Season. We may wish that Summer would last longer, or that Spring time would never end. But all Seasons come to an end.
Seasons come and Seasons go.
Seasons are even shown in animals. Horses, dogs, and cows, to name a few, grow a ‘Winter Coat.” They adapt for the Season. Isn’t it strange how we humans struggle with adaptation?
Caterpillars look lowly and without beauty or distinction, but don’t let that fool you. It’s just a Season. Soon that Season of their life will pass and they will become a Beautiful Butterfly that turns every child’s head and causes them to marvel.
We understand that the Seasons of our Natural Environment that are controlled by the moon.
- Psa. 104:19 He appointed the moon for seasons:
We must have an understanding too, that the Seasons in our Spiritual Life are controlled by the Son.
May it bring comfort to those in pain to understand that it’s a Season. Is it a Painful Season? Yes, most assuredly, but a Season nevertheless.
Weeping endures for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. The Weeping Season concluded with a Season of Joy. May your Weeping Season end the same!
- Psa. 30:11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
Thou hast turned for me!! God controls your Seasons! He knows where you are at and what you are going through. Have confidence in His great ability!
There Are Seasons Of Sickness. There Are Seasons Of Healing.
- Luke 5:17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
There Are Seasons Of Opportunity
- John 5:4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
May this be your Season to be Healed!
May this be your Season to be Blessed!
May this be your Season to be Delivered!
May this be your Season for Revival!
May this be your Season of Financial Blessings!
May this be your Season of Spiritual Growth!
May this be your Season of Victory!
There Are Seasons of Loneliness
When Paul was on trial, no one came to support him.
- 2Tim. 4:16 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
But God came through and brought him a Season of Comfort during his trial.
- 2Tim. 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
- 2Tim. 4:18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Don’t Fail To Make The Most Of Your Season!
- 2Kings 13:18 And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.
- 2Kings 13:19 And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.
The King of Israel only made a half-hearted attempt. He never took full advantage of his Season. He learned that God does not force blessing or victory on you. You must recognize your Season!
Noah’s Day had their Season!
Ninevah had a Season!
America has had it’s Season!
Israel will be trodden down until the ‘Season’ of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
- Luke 21:24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
This is YOUR Hour!
This is YOUR Season!
Don’t Waste YOUR Season!
Are You A Carrot, An Egg, Or A Coffee Bean?
Are You A Carrot, An Egg, Or A Coffee Bean?
(Taken from an email about Sunday School illustrations…)
Author Unknown
___________________________________________
A carrot , an egg, and a coffee bean…
A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying A word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.
Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what you see.” “Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma the daughter then asked, “What does it mean, mother?”
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its insides became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
“Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.
The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can’t go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.
When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.
Live your life so at the end, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.
May we all be COFFEE!!!!!! !!
We Sold Our Name And Our Recipe
We Sold Our Name And Our Recipe
My beautiful wife, Marcia and I sat in a famous 100-year-old restaurant tonight. This local icon in Marshall, Michigan is where I officially proposed to my beloved 45 years ago. Once again we looked around the room hoping to walk down ‘sentimental lane’. Everything pretty much looked the same. That brought a sigh of relief to our memories. We smiled as we gazed at the table where we had sat that night in 1965.
I might add that the Win Schuler’s Restaurant we were at received the Gold Plate Award in 1971 from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association, the greatest distinction the industry has to offer.
In 1960 the old English inn’s owner was inducted into the American Restaurant Hall of Fame.
Their cheese and hard crackers are served at every table before the drink order is taken. Marcia and I munched and made small talk while we glanced at the menu.
The table beside us held two retired couples. They were complaining among themselves that the cheese spread didn’t taste the same as it did when they had come there years ago.
“That’s true,” the teenage waiter said. “It’s a different recipe.”
“A different recipe?” the old man repeated in disbelief. “Why in the world would you change? Your recipe was wonderful. We came just because of that.”
“We had to change,” the waiter continued. “Sold our recipe to Craft Foods. We also sold our name too. We no longer can use the name ‘Win’ Schuler. If you see that name in the store, it belongs to Craft Foods. We made up a new recipe using different ingredients, and now we only use the name Schuler.
“Personally,” he said, “I’ve never tasted the old cheese spread. I’ve only tasted this one and I happen to like it.”
“Well, I’ve tasted the old, and it was better than this the old guy said as he shook his white hair. Hmm, sold your recipe and your name! Why would you sell a recipe that’s worked for a hundred years? God have mercy!”
That happened today.
Let me tell you what else is happening today.
Some preachers, some churches and some fellowships have sold their name and their recipe hoping to get a crowd. All of this is done in the name of ‘Revival.’
They sold their recipe for worship, for holiness, and for doctrine. They’ve also sold their name, Apostolic Pentecostal. The greatest loss was when they sold the Name of Jesus in Baptism.
A generation is living today that never tasted the old time Apostolic recipe. They have only tasted this new one that is not like the original. Old timers can tell you, that it does not taste the same. It’s not.
History repeats itself.
In the book of Ezra, it was the same problem. Solomon’s Temple had been destroyed and a new one was built in its place. The young people had never seen the 1st Temple. They rejoiced.
The Elders had seen the 1st and the 2nd. They wept because it wasn’t the same anymore.
Ezra 3:11 And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.
Ezra 3:12 But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:
Ezra 3:13 So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.
Whatever road you may walk down, Gentle Reader, purpose in your heart to never sell your Name or your Recipe.
The Unreasonable Demands Of Sin
The Unreasonable Demands Of Sin
Mark 10:17-27- The Rich Young Ruler felt Christ’s demands were unreasonable!
- So, You think the Church makes unreasonable demands on you?
- Before you get the mindset that God’s is unreasonable, let me tell you about the Unreasonable Demands Of Sin.
There are Unreasonable Demands of Life
Keep up w/Jones’s, Car Model changes,
School Busing,
No Prayer in Schools
The Unreasonable Demands Of Life Are A Given. Let’s Talk About The Unreasonable Demands Of Sin.
Sin Wanted:
- Eve to Question and Disobey God. = (The Loss of God’s Fellowship)
- Noah’s Gen. to Ignore Only Saving message = (The loss of your life.)
- Naboth to sell his vineyard = (Lose your heritage)
- Daniel to stop praying = (Lose your consecration
- 3 Hebrew Children to bow down = (Lose your worship)
- That was a long time ago.
- Let’s Talk About The Unreasonable Demands of Sin Today.
Sin Demands:
- Your Innocence
- The Early Loss of Your Virginity to be accepted by the world, the in-crowd.
- Sin wishes to devalue you in your own eyes and the eyes of others.
Style Demands:
- You dress a certain way ——- even if you look stupid.
- Wear expensive clothes ——- even if you can’t afford to.
- That Holiness be ignored.
- That you wear things that God calls an abomination. (Everyone’s doing it)
- That clothes be designed without the church in mind.
Drugs Demand:
- You support an expensive habit, even if you don’t want to.
- You do whatever you have to do to get the money
- Sell your body for more drugs.
- Steal
- Get a criminal record
- Become HIV positive (dirty needles)
- Live a lie
- Change into a crazed animal at times
- Be abusive to others
- Birth children with serious birth defects
- Risk losing the ones that love you
- Warp your personality
- Damage your ability to think clearly
- Fry your brains for life.
Alcohol Demands:
- You destroy your family
- Your marriage go on the rocks
- You choose the Bottle over your family
- You miss work,
- Lose your Job
- Lose your career
- Consider homelessness an option
- Damage your vital organs
- Destroy your liver
- You Lose your Driver’s license and possibly your freedom
Smoking Demands:
- You knowingly kill yourself
- You jeopardize your health and those around you
- You breath stink
- Your teeth to turn yellow
- Your fingers to stain
- Your Hair, clothes, car, house, smell like an ash tray
- You turn your lungs into cancer containers.
- That kissing you is like licking an ashtray.
Your Temper Demands:
- You always have to get your way to be happy.
- That you become physical in your anger.
- That your family fear you and your violent nature.
- That your friends fear you too.
- You get offended easily and say things that you’ll regret.
- That submission becomes a constant issue.
Your Lust Demands:
- Gratification, regardless of the cost.
- You risk your health
- You risk your reputation
- You risk your soul
- You disregard risk of embarrassment or injury to your friends, church, family
Your Perversion Demands:
- That you become without natural affection
- That you live in a closet of deception all your life.
- That you continually risk your health
- That you continually risk HIV infection
- That you continually risk the violent reactions of others
- That you live in fear of being outed
- That you live a lifestyle that God hates
- That you live in fear of rejection by your family and others.
- That not only are your desires perverted, your mind is too.
- That you get in conflict with the laws of Man and the laws of God.
Your Rebellion Demands
- That Pride becomes your motivation
- That you ignore God’s Word and God’s Man.
- That your spirit be used of the Devil to hinder Revival in the Church
- That you feel more comfortable with Self Will than God’s Will
- That you bring the Judgment of God on yourself
- That Godly people discern your spirit and distance themselves from you.
- That you fall into the category of “a worker of iniquity”
- That you tempt the Lord every time you open your mouth
Hollywood Demands:
- You accept it’s morality
- Your senses become hardened by:
- Murder
- Violence
- Vulgarity
- Nudity
- Pre-marital Sex
- Infidelity
- Perversion
- Humanistic values
- It Demands Christians be portrayed as:
- Nerds
- Wicked and Hypocritical people
- Churches be put in a bad light
- Preachers are always bad people
Sin Demands that you:
- Doubt God, but trust your sinner friends.
- Disobey God
- Not Fear God
- Not Love God with all your heart
- Accept what God rejects.
- Ignore God
- Make light of God’s Word
- Ignore God’s Call
- You reject God
Sin Demands you:
- That you miss church
- That you get a job that helps you miss church
- That you justify worldly friends
- That you feel like God doesn’t love you
- That you feel like The Church doesn’t love you
- That you feel like the Pastor doesn’t love you
- That you believe sinful living is really freedom.
Sin Demands Your:
- Involvement
- Your participation, physically/emotionally
- That you recruit others
- That you not go to hell alone
- That when you did go to church to had no desire to recruit others.
- Time
- Finances – That you throw money to the devil, but have a problem with tithes
- Acceptance – Become addicted
- Life
- Future
Sin Demands that You Live In:
- Bondage
- Condemnation
- Shame
- Guilt
- Regret
- Reproach
- In Fear of Dying
Sin Demands You:
- Reject God’s Love
- It’s wages
- Go to Hell
- Feel Uncomfortable in Church
- Feel Uncomfortable in the presence of God
- Become hardened in your heart
- Believe a lie and be damned
- You backslide
- Get rebellious
- Lose your testimony
- If your Boss was Unreasonable, you’d quit
- If your Neighbors were Unreasonable, you’d move
- If the Gas Station’s prices were Unreasonable, you’d go elsewhere
- If the Restaurant’s prices were Unreasonable, you’d go elsewhere
- Sin is Unreasonable, You NEED to go Elsewhere
Sin Demands You consider Heaven’s Demands Unreasonable!
The Reasonableness of Serving God
- Yoke is easy
- Burden light
- Heaven is better than Hell
- God blesses you daily
- Great is your reward in Heaven
- Here is as bad as it gets
- God fights your battles
- God supplies your needs
- God directs your steps
- God gives you peace
- Guilt is gone
- Your sins are forgiven
Rom. 12:1-2 Holiness is reasonable
- Obeying God is reasonable
- Faith is reasonable
- Worship is reasonable
- Tithing is reasonable
- The New Birth Message is reasonable
- Witnessing is reasonable
- Fearing God is reasonable ……(the beginning of wisdom)
Sin’s demands at best, can only bring temporary pleasure
What’s Unreasonable about:
- God’s Love
- God’s Mercy
- God’s Protection
- Forgiveness
- Having your sins washed away in Jesus Name
- Being filled with the Spirit
- Heaven
- Letting God Guide you
- Letting God comfort you
- Say Good-bye to the Sinning Business
- Say Hello to the Reasonableness of living for God
What’s Reasonable About:
- Resisting God?
- Neglecting your Soul?
- Refusing Divine Help?
- Running from God?
- Ignoring God’s Love?
- Living in fear of the Judgment
- Living in fear of the Rapture
- Living without peace in your soul
- Being lost in eternity
- Saying goodbye to Salvation
Get Your eyes open to the fact that God loves you,
That the Devil doesn’t love you, he desires you.
- It’s Reasonable to respond to the love of God.
- It’s Reasonable to Give Him your heart.
- It’s Reasonable to Surrender your will to Him
- It’s Reasonable to Obey His Word.
- It’s Reasonable to Live for God.
- It’s Reasonable to Live Holy
- It’s Reasonable to Dress Holy
- It’s Reasonable to show the World, by how we act and dress, that we belong to God.
- When we were in Sin, we showed God who we belonged to, by how we acted and dressed.)
God hasn’t asked you to do some hard thing.
Here is what he’s asked you to do, it’s found in ACTS 2:38
- Repent
- Get Baptized
- Receive The Gift of the Holy Ghost…Speaking with other tongues
Let Him fill you today.
Live For Him! It’s Not Hard!
“The Kite, or the Fall of Pride”
(Last night I heard Pastor Tony Spell quote this very rare old poem. I wanted to share it with my readers. It is written by the same man who wrote ‘Amazing Grace.’)
“The Kite, or the Fall of Pride”
John Newton
Aug. 4, 1770
My waking dreams are best concealed,
Much folly, little good they yield.
But now and then I gain when sleeping
A friendly hint that’s worth the keeping.
…
Lately I dreamt of one who cried
“Beware of self, beware of pride;
When you are prone to build a Babel
Recall to mind this little fable.”
Once upon a time a paper kite
Was mounted to a wondrous height,
Where, giddy with its elevation,
It thus expressed self-admiration:
…
”See how yon crowds of gazing people
Admire my flight above the steeple;
How they would wonder if they knew
All that a kite like me can do?
…
Were I but free, I’d take a flight,
And pierce the clouds beyond their sight.
“But, ah! like a poor pris’ner bound,
My string confines me near the ground:
…
I’d brave the eagle’s tow’ring wing,
Might I but fly without a string.”
It tugged and pulled, while thus it spoke
To break the string; at last it broke.
…
Deprived at once of all its stay,
In vain it tried to soar away;
Unable its own weight to bear,
It fluttered downward through the air;
…
Unable its own course to guide,
The winds soon plunged it in the tide.
Ah! foolish kite; thou hadst no wing;
How couldt thou fly without a string?
…
My heart replied, “O Lord, I see
How much this kite resembles me!
Forgetful that by thee I stand,
Impatient of thy ruling hand;
…
“How oft I’ve wished to break the lines
Thy wisdom for my lot assigns?
How oft indulged a vain desire
For something more or something higher.
…
And but for grace or love divine,
A fall thus dreadful had been mine.”
Unrealistic Expectations?
Unrealistic Expectations?
In the early 50’s my father, Carl Ballestero preached a revival for his dear friend Paul Jordan in Indianapolis, Indiana. Christian Tabernacle, located then at 38th and Sherman Drive, was a revival church. Visitors came almost every service and many of them received the Holy Ghost.
One night a new lady received the Holy Ghost. Not only did she speak in tongues, she spoke in several different languages. Then she began to sing. She sang 17 songs in 17 different languages. It lasted for what seemed like an hour or so.
The saints were mesmerized. Everyone was amazed. No one ever remembered seeing or hearing of anything like this before. The new convert was ecstatic! Her experience stirred the congregation to jubilation.
At the altar call the next night, a bald headed man about 50 came down and prayed. He prayed until he was the last one in the altar. The saints finally gave up and left the pastor, the evangelist and his family. They alone remained to pray with the seeker.
After two hours of praying, the bald headed seeker finally began to speak in tongues. He spoke in tongues for an hour or more. By now it was way past midnight. My little sisters were asleep near the altar.
Baldy stopped praying. He kept his eyes closed and shook his head.
“It’s no use!” He said.
“What’s no use?” My father asked him.
“The Holy Ghost… I can’t get it!”
“You can’t get it?”
“No sir.”
“Man, what have you been speaking in for the last hour?” My father asked him.
“I don’t know, but I know it wasn’t the Holy Ghost!”
“How can you say it wasn’t the Holy Ghost?” Dad pushed the point.
“Because I didn’t sing those 17 different songs in 17 different languages!” Was his reply.
Although we may smile at what we consider to be unrealistic expectations, Baldy is not alone.
The Disciples thought the Kingdom of God was to be earthly.
James and John’s mother wanted her sons to get to sit on either side on Jesus.
Naaman thought he would be prayed for in a specific manner like Oral Roberts, Benny Hinn, or R.W. Shambach.
2Kings 5:11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
Because of Naaman’s preconceived notions, he had to humble himself before he received his miracle.
So do we. Let God do His business His way.
We may speak in Tongues for an hour or for a minute, when we receive it, but it’s still the Holy Ghost!
God’s will for you today, may be in the ‘still small voice’ or in the’ rustle in the mulberry bushes.’
1Kings 19:11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:
1Kings 19:12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
It doesn’t have to be thunder and lightening to be God demonstrating Himself in your life.
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 