In Order To live, You Must Die! (Updated)

 

Mark 8:34-37

"When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"

This is the way of God. Death to self. If you try to hold on to any part of your life in this world you can ultimately lose your soul in the end. 

And isn't it the American dream to have the big house, the attractive spouse, a fancy car, respect and admiration from your peers?

But the words of Jesus that lead to eternal life are the exact opposite of everything the world holds dear. 

John 12:24-25

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

In order to truly live, you must die! And I mean complete death of all that you are in this world, and what does Jesus promise if you give up your life for Him and the gospel? Eternal Life!!!

The blessed assurance and hope of living forever with God in complete love, peace, and joy for all eternity!! What could be better than that? 

So the question is, have you died yet? Or are you still holding on to that bank account? To the American dream? 

And if you are a Christian, is there something still in you that you haven't completely surrendered to God?

You must be willing to sacrifice your life in this world for Jesus first, and even for your own salvation! 

A sacrifice is required from every soul just to be used by God to help yourself, your family and other people in this world! 

Peter said he was ready to die for Jesus, but we know how that turned out! 

It's not easy to lay down your life for Jesus and others, especially when you are hated and persecuted for being a disciple of Jesus. But that's what God requires in order for us to enter His Kingdom and to have our souls saved! 

Paul understood the ways of God and applied the teachings of Jesus to his life, will you do the same?

Galatians 6:14

"But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

The Choice Is Yours!

In Jesus,

Tyrone

Husbands And Wives

 

Ephesians 5:22-33

"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

Alot to break down in these eleven passages of scripture! Is it possible for a man and woman today to have a marriage like this? If the Spirit of God is within you it is! But if you try to do these commandments by your flesh, you will fail in one or all of the above!

Is there any woman who desires to submit herself to her husband as to the Lord? Who recognizes him as her head and then defers to him for final decisions? A woman who always respects and supports her husband?

Is there any man who truly loves his wife, just as Christ also loved the church? Does he give his time and make efforts to be with her? Does he listen to her and respect her opinion, and advice? Does he ask her for help in daily decisions and very important ones?

So let us break this down even further!

What “submit herself” means in biblical terms

Biblically, it does NOT mean: Being inferior or lesser in value, being controlled, silenced, or dominated, blind obedience or loss of personal will. Enduring abuse, sin, or injustice.

The actual biblical meaning

“Submit herself” means a voluntary, willing alignment under loving leadership.

Key points: Voluntary, not forced, the Greek word used (hypotassō) means to willingly place oneself in order. It is never about coercion. A wife chooses this posture; it is not demanded or enforced.

Rooted in mutual submission: Ephesians 5:21 sets the foundation: “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” The wife’s submission exists within a marriage of mutual humility and respect, not hierarchy for control.

Modeled after Christ’s relationship to the Church: Just as the Church follows Christ because He is loving, sacrificial, and faithful, a wife responds to her husband’s Christlike leadership — not tyranny.

Paired with a heavier command to the husband: The husband is commanded to: “Love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” Christ died for the Church. That means biblical leadership is self-sacrificial, not self-serving.

Respect, not silence: Submission does not remove a wife’s voice, wisdom, or free-will. Proverbs 31 describes a woman who: Speaks with wisdom, manages business and finances, influences her household and community, yet she does so while honoring her husband.

Never submission to sin: Biblical submission never requires agreeing with sin or enduring harm. 

Scripture is clear: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29) 

To “submit herself” biblically means:

A wife freely chooses to support and respect her husband’s God-given role, trusting his Christlike love, leadership and sacrifice, while remaining fully valued, heard, protected, and honored.

In this world where the roles of men and women and have been flipped and redefined, with biblical marriage being undermined by Supreme Court rulings. 

Let the people in God's Kingdom strive to live out the biblical commandments of Jesus and His 1st century apostles!

In Jesus Name,
Tyrone

Keep Moving Forward!

 

Galatians 6:9

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith."

The road to salvation is long and narrow! The road to blessings and the promises of God is just as narrow and thorny and difficult!! BUT, we will receive all that God has for us IF WE DO NOT GIVE UP!!!

Along this narrow road is temptations, tests, trials, hardship, heartbreak, obstacles, setbacks, God's correction, and daily choices. How we respond to each of those things will determine how long it takes for us to reach the promise land!!!

For those of us who have received some promises of God, like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David, who all had to go through many trials and tests before they received their promises, it can seem like the promises will never come, because it can take decades of waiting on God to fulfill His Promises!!

But the word tells us, God is not slow in fulfilling His promises! Oh Lord have mercy on us, and give us strength to keep waiting!!

Habakkuk 2:3

“For the revelation awaits an appointed time… Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”

Numbers 23:19

"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

2nd Corinthians 1:19-20

"For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us"

Joshua 21:44-45

"The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass."

So keep moving forward people of God! The Light is at the end of that narrow road, and The Lord Himself will give us Rest, Restoration, Revival, and the  Fulfillment of His promises at the appointed time!!

In Christ,

Tyrone

What God Allows!

 

Surely God knew beforehand that Lucifer the archangel would rebel and sin against Him, take one third of the angels with him and then in turn deceive His creation and cause them millenia of suffering because of their fallen state?

He could have stopped it all couldn't He? But He allowed it!!

Genesis 3:8-13

"And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

God allows many things to happen in this world that He certainly could stop, but then I have to remember the scripture that says, "My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts"

Isaiah 55:8

The phrase "my ways are not your ways" is found in Isaiah 55:8, which states, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. This verse emphasizes the difference between divine and human understanding, highlighting that God's ways and thoughts are beyond human comprehension. (Bible Hub)

God allowed Abraham to lay with Hagar the maid of his wife!

Genesis 16:1-4

"Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes."

God could have spoke to Abraham directly as He had done many times and told him don't listen to your wife, your promise child is coming! But God allowed it!

God allowed Joseph to be sold into slavery and be sent to a prison for a crime he did not commit, and stayed there for years before he was finally released to become the right hand man of Pharaoh.

Genesis 37:23-28

"So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened. Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt."

God allowed David to sin against Him with Bathsheba! 

2nd Samuel 12:7-12

"Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ”

At any time before David's sin, He could have spoken directly to Him and told him to wake up, don't do this evil you are thinking in your heart! He could have sent Nathan the prophet to stop him from sending Uriah to the battle to be killed, but He didn't, God allowed it!!!

God gives us a comand from His mouth and we have a choice to obey or not, we have the scriptures in the bible that were supernaturally preserved by God Himself so we can have His written word to read, study, and apply to our daily lives. But we have the choice to be wise and put His word into practice, or be foolish and hear the message, but not do anything about it!

Yes, His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts! But when a promise is made or a commandment is given by God, we have a choice to listen, obey, and wait on Him no matter what we go through inbetween the promise and the fulfillment.

Our choices will determine our blessings or curses!

In Christ,

Tyrone

The Choice Is Yours! (Part 2)

 

God created angels and human beings with free will!! And if the angels of Heaven can sin and rebel against God, how much more can we!! Because we are made a little lower then them!!

Everyday we are alive on this earth you have a choice to do what's right or do what's wrong, to obey the commandments and teachings of Jesus or not. If we do what is right we will be blessed, but if we do what is wrong and sinful, the consequences of that wrong and sin can take our lives on this earth and cause us to enter Hell, where our souls will be in conscious torment until the Great White Throne Judgement of Jesus!

This is why Jesus Himself said, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut if off! It's better to enter Heaven with one hand, then enter Hell with two!

Mark 9:43-48

"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched—where ‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’

And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched—where ‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’

And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire—where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’

Jesus is giving us a choice!!! If you sin, deal with it before you die in your sins, repent, confess, be forgiven, be baptized in water and the Holy Spirit, so you will have the power to STOP Sinning! 

If you continue in sin and die like that, you WILL enter Hell, which is a spiritual prison for immortal souls that are wicked and disobedient. God will not send you there, you will send yourself there IF you continue to live in a lifestyle of sin and rebellion. The choice is yours!!

Jesus will judge every soul that has ever lived or will live when He sit's on the throne to do it. And He will open books and people's lives and what they did will be exposed, and they will be judged for everything that was done while in their fleshly body on this earth, good or evil!

Revelation 20:11-15

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

So you see that you can gain the whole world now, but lose your soul when you die and enter Hell, then after that you can be thrown into the Lake of Fire after you are judged on Judgement Day!!!

The Choice Is Yours!!

In Christ,

Tyrone

Right Here, But You Don't See It!

 

“Right Here, But You Don’t See It” 

 

They looking for heaven in the clouds,

But it’s standing in the crowd.

They praying for a move of God,

While He’s walking in their town.

 

They scroll past prophets, swipe left on grace,

Too busy chasing clout to see His face.

They say, “If God is real, then let Him show!”

But He did… and they still said no.

 

The Kingdom ain’t castles, it’s hearts that change.

It’s peace in pain, love in the flames.

It’s that whisper sayin’ “forgive ‘em anyway,”

While the world’s screaming “get revenge today!”

 

They want the light, but not the lamp,

They want the crown, but skip the camp.

They want the blessings, not the test —

And wonder why they feel unrest.

 

God moves in moments, not just in church,

In strangers, truth, in daily work.

But we scroll right past, eyes on the screen,

Missing the holy in the in-between.

 

You can resist what you can’t control,

You can mock the message and harden your soul,

But every “nah” to heaven’s call

Is another brick in your own wall.

 

So listen —

The Kingdom’s not coming, it’s here.

Closer than your breath, louder than your fear.

Right in your midst, in the love you ignore,

In that open hand, that knock at your door.

 

One day you’ll sigh, “I wish I could see,”

But the King and His anointed

was standing in your reality.

No thunder, no crown, no summertime song —

Just mercy and truth here all along. 

In Christ,

Tyrone

Pride And Prejudice!

 

Romans 12:3-4

"For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."

Pride means: Arrogance or excessive self-importance

• This is the kind of pride often warned against in spiritual or moral teachings.

• Example: His pride kept him from admitting he was wrong.

• In the Bible, pride is often called the root of all sin because it puts self above God.

👉 Key idea: Pride says, “I don’t need God. I can do this my way.”

Pride is:  The sin of placing self above God — trusting in your own strength, wisdom, or goodness rather than in Him.

Pride is what caused Lucifer to fall from Heaven.

Isaiah 14:12-15

“How you are fallen from heaven,O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit."

Luke 10:18-20

"And He said to them, “I saw satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

The sin of pride will keep you from the saving grace of Jesus!! 

Romans 12:16

"Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion."

Pride will also be on full display when the man of sin, (an agent of satan) will stand in the holy place, (third temple of Jerusalem?) and say that he is God!

2nd Thessalonians 2:3-4

"Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."

I myself was delivered from an evil spirit of pride after I was baptized with the Holy Spirit way back in 2007!!

Prejudice means:  Having an unfair or unreasonable opinion about someone before you really know them.

It often comes from stereotypes, fear, or ignorance, not truth or personal experience. The word itself comes from “pre” (before) + “judge” — meaning to judge before knowing.

There are many kinds of prejudice, here's the most common ones:

Human prejudice – Judging someone based on their skin color or ethnicity.

Example: Assuming someone is dangerous or lazy just because of their skin tone.

Religious prejudice – Disliking or mistreating someone because of their faith.

Example: Refusing to work with someone because they’re Muslim or Christian.

Gender prejudice – Believing one gender is better or smarter than another.

Example: Thinking women can’t be good leaders, or men can’t be caring parents.

Social or economic prejudice – Looking down on people who are poor, or treating rich people as more valuable.

Example: Ignoring someone just because they wear cheap clothes.

Age prejudice – Discriminating against someone for being too young or too old.

Example: Not hiring someone just because they’re over 50 or under 25.

As people of God we should strive to be set free from ALL forms of pride and prejudice!!!

Cry out to God and ask Him to expose any of these sins that plague the human soul, especially in countries with a history of human oppression, segregation, and dictatorship!

By the power, grace and Spirit of God we can be free from these sins that keep us from a saving relationship with Jesus Christ!

In Christ,

Tyrone