A Daily Lifestyle!

 

Luke 9:23

"Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."

I've said this a few times before in posts over the years, but it has to be said again, THE CHURCH BUILDING IS NOT THE CHURCH!

How many times have we heard pastors say that, but then go and say this building is the house of God? Isn't that contradictory? Of course it is!

So just because you attend a service at a church building every Sunday or even mid-week service usually on a Wednesday, that attendance does not make you a Christian!  

That truth was made even more evident during the lockdown of the whole country and nobody could go anywhere except to the grocery store for the necessities of life. Everybody got sat down for months, and even crime decreased, I bet the police enjoyed the rest!

I believe that was a precursor to the coming days when Christianity will be outlawed, bibles will be confiscated, the internet scrubbed of all Christian content and there will only be house churches and Christians praying and worshipping God in their own homes because church buildings will be shut down or owned by the states and the government.

That is why the coming revival will prepare Christians for the inevitable appearance of the man of sin, who will implement laws that will cause Christians to go underground, like they're doing in China right now. This is also why now is the time to get the word of God in your heart, and the Spirit of God in your soul! 

Being a Christian is a daily lifestyle, a daily denial of the lusts of the flesh, lust of the eye, and ungodly habits that quench the Spirit and hinder the spiritual growth of those who are in Christ. 

The 1st century Christians met every day in the temple courts and ate together from house to house daily! How often does this happen today? A few believers may get together to watch a football game after church service, or go out to eat at a restaurant, but how about meeting together every single day? 

How many of us would get tired of another believer coming to our house everyday? It takes true genuine Love of God, the fruit of the Spirit and great grace to meet everyday and go to another believers house to eat, drink and fellowship daily. 

But that's exactly what many other organizations and religions do, they're always together, eating, talking, and enjoying life, while many Christians just say hello and goodbye, see you next week, to each other!

Acts 2:44-47

"Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."

We WILL see these days again! It won't just be quoting scriptures but LIVING the REALITY of unity in the body of Christ, united in the faith by the Spirit of God!

In Jesus,

Tyrone

Are You Following Man, Or Jesus?

 

Matthew 4:18-20

"And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him."

This is one of my favorite scriptures in the whole bible! It's the call of life, the call of change, transformation, and salvation. The Lord comes today just like He did two thousand years ago to men who had no clue what was about to happen to them. Jesus appeared suddenly out of nowhere and asked these ordinary and unlearned fishermen to follow Him, and He would make them fishers of men! 

So glorious is the call of God, so life-changing, eye-opening and enlightening for those who answer, it is absolutely priceless! Understand this clearly, there is no other way to become a pastor, an apostle or evangelist, unless you are MADE one by Jesus Himself, by His Spirit that enters your soul when you are converted to Christ.

Jesus said to these men, come follow ME and I WILL MAKE you fishers of men! Can seminary school make you a fisher of men? How about bible college? A master's degree in theology maybe? A doctorate in theology? What about coming up through the ranks of the clergy and being ordained by someone else? 

The answer to all of the above questions is a resounding NO! 

There is so much more involved in the making of a man or woman of God than intellectual knowledge of the bible. You have to first be made a disciple of Jesus, converted to Christ by being baptized in water and then baptized in the Holy Spirit by Jesus Himself. He does use men to make disciples, but even those He uses have to be made into vessels He can work through first before He can use them!

God has a pattern, a process, a way He does things, and He does not change! It's men and women who don't like doing things God's way that's the problem! So many don't like to wait on the Lord and go through the right door (Jesus), so they devise other ways to ordain themselves and teach themselves instead of going to the school of the Holy Spirit! And every time man tries to do what only God can do, it always falls short! 

If you want holiness, deliverance, power, wisdom and understanding, you have to go to the school of the Spirit, you have to go through the oil press of God, the furnace of affliction, the chastening and correction of the Lord. You need to go down to the Master Potters house and be re-made into a new creation on His potter's wheel. If you really want life, blessings, love, genuine joy and the salvation of your soul, you must do it God's way!

In Jesus,

Tyrone

The Real Matrix!

 

Isaiah 60:1-2

"Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you."

Morpheus said this to Neo in the first Matrix movie, "The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us, even now in this very room, you can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television, you can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes, it is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth" 

Neo asked Morpheus, "What truth?"

Morpheus replied, "That you are a slave Neo, like everyone else you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell, or taste, or touch, a PRISON FOR YOUR MIND. Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."

I'm here to tell you today that the Real Matrix is Darkness! Or Evil! Just substitute the word darkness for Matrix and you will have the real truth, that goes beyond the movie and reveals a spiritual truth that only those who have been enlightened by the Spirit of God can understand. I'm so amazed at how close the Wachowski's were to the true spiritual reality that exists in our world, although they likely were implying something else. But even though the truth can be hidden in plain sight, spiritual blindness can cause you not to see it! 

What is going to separate the people of God from those who will take the mark and ultimately lose their soul is the light and the glory of God that will be seen upon us. Remember Jesus said let the wheat grow with the tares, until the time of harvest, and you cannot tell a wheat from a tare, until both are fully mature! Then it will be obvious!

Jesus said those who believe in Me will NEVER walk in darkness but will have the light of life! That light is within true Christians and cannot be put out, it will shine forth in the darkness because the Kingdom of God is within us! This is why the first century Christians were martyred, because they would not deny their Lord, and the presence and glory of God emanated from their souls and filled the atmosphere with God's presence, and darkness will always hate the light!

So when you gather a group of Spirit filled Christians together what do you think will happen? More of God's presence fills the atmosphere and His glory cloud covers us! The exact opposite happens when you gather thousands of unbelievers full of darkness and evil, what do you get? A big cloud of darkness covering all the people!

The only way your eyes can be truly opened is to enter the Kingdom of God by being born from above, by being baptized in water and the Spirit of God. Jesus told Nicodemus, "You CANNOT SEE OR ENTER the Kingdom of God unless you are born from Above."  (John 3:1-7)

And one thing I know is that the devil and evil men cannot control God and what He wants to do, like pouring out His Spirit to wake up and help His people. God is in complete control of everything! And He knows everything!

Wake up people! While there is still time!

In Jesus,

Tyrone

They Didn't Know!

 

1st Corinthians 2:6-8

However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

This scripture is an indictment of the depravity of the human mind without God. Human beings are capable of such barbaric cruelty, torture and crimes against each other that I'm amazed we haven't seen world war three yet! 

This is why Jesus said that if the days of the great tribulation were not shortened NO FLESH WOULD BE SAVED! That means the human race would annihilate itself, human beings would be extinct along with the dinosaurs!

Matthew 24:21-22

"For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened."

I'm also amazed at how God's own creation rejected Him when He came to this earth in bodily form through Jesus Christ. He came to His own, but His own received Him not! Amazing! How can this be?

Because of spiritual blindness, hard hearts and darkened minds, God's creation killed the Lord of Glory. I know it had to happen this way though, because if it didn't, we would have no way to be forgiven of our sins, have our souls saved, and reconciled back to God.

Jesus Himself said it on the cross, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." This is why true ministers of the gospel like Paul and the other apostles in the 1st century had to go through so much opposition and persecution when they preached the gospel. The people didn't understand that God was sending His servants to be ambassadors of Christ to help them become His children! But many didn't want it!

This is also why those who minister the gospel have to be filled with God's great love and the fruits of the Spirit in order to be able to minister and serve in these last days because of the level of evil that they face every single day!

We have to fight hard every day to remain connected to the vine and humble ourselves, not considering ourselves more highly than we ought, because it's very easy to miss Jesus when He comes to visit us, it's very easy to reject Him and the Spirit when we feel pricked in our hearts by His word, or a minister tells us we're wrong. 

Remember the word tells us that we could entertain angels and not know it! Humble yourself today so that you won't say on Judgement Day, I didn't know!

In Jesus,

Tyrone

Fruit Bearing Is The Goal!

 

John 15:16-17

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another."

I say to you again THIS TRUTH: The ultimate goal of every true Christian is to bear fruit! It is to become LIKE our Master, JESUS THE CHRIST! He is the Captain of our salvation, and it's God's desire to bring many sons to glory, through the shed blood of His only Begotten Son.

The religious leaders of today do not help believers to come into a saving knowledge of their soul, nor are they made disciples of Jesus, or converted to Christ. They just say come as you are, but the multitudes STAY AS THEY ARE! They are not changed where it matters the most, INSIDE THE HEART AND MIND!

And why not you ask? Because they are taught to just confess the name of Jesus, and Just believe or accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and then you are saved! Can anyone please show me where it says that in scripture! Many quote Romans 10:9, but Paul was talking to Christians who were already converted! Those scriptures ARE NOT the roadmap to salvation!

Sure, it's great to hear the word, believe what you heard, and then confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, but you still need to OBEY the words of Jesus and His apostles by being baptized in water by full immersion and then baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire, by the Lord Jesus Himself! And this baptism is evidenced by speaking in other tongues!

My point being that without full and complete conversion to Christ by being born from above by water and Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God, therefore it's not possible to Bear The Fruit Of The Spirit! If The Spirit Of God IS NOT IN YOU!

This is exactly why millions of professing Christians around the world have no power to overcome their flesh, the world, or the devil! You can always fake the fruits of the Spirit by doing good works, smiling all the time, giving to the homeless, sharing your possessions with others, you can show these outward displays of fruit but is it really the fruit of the Spirit birthed in your soul that cannot be hidden? Or how about when calamity strikes your home, your health, your finances, your family, your children etc... that is when what is really in our hearts comes out!

This is also why Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another, because then the whole world would know that they are His disciples, if they loved one another! The testimonies we read about in the book of Acts are clear examples of what love should look like in the body of Christ. Meeting together daily, eating together often, sharing the word of God with each other, giving up possessions and finances to help each other! That is love! And that is a fruit of the Spirit!

John 15:5-8

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."

In Jesus,

Tyrone

Endued With Power!

 

Luke 24:49

"Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

Oh to be endued with power from on high! To be given physical and spiritual strength by God Himself through His Spirit is absolutely priceless! There isn't enough money in the world that could by this gift of God. Simon the sorcerer wanted to buy it and possess the power that had been given to the apostles for the work of the ministry, but Peter rebuked him!

Acts 8:18-20

"And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!

There is no way possible to live as an overcomer in this world without being given power from above! There will be no display of the Spirit and the power of God by any man, woman, or child without first being filled with the Spirit of God! Jesus told His disciples to wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are given power from on high. 

Why don't people wait on the Lord for power from above before they go out into the world as missionaries? And why don't they wait for power before they decide they want to be a pastor? And why don't they wait for the power before they get up in front of hundreds and thousands of people and start preaching, and proclaiming things that don't happen?

It shouldn't be too hard for people to discern what's going on when a man or woman gets up and says you are going to be healed tonight, but by the end of the service you are still sick, or in a wheelchair, or still walking on one leg!

What happened after the apostles were endued with power from on high? The word of God tells us that they went out and preached with signs and wonders following, confirming the message preached, so that men's faith would not rest on men's wisdom but on the power of God!

So many voices speaking, and yelling, many pastors jumping around, and putting together magnificent and mind-blowing sermons, but at the end of the day it all remains just words that were spoken and not one confirmation of the message preached by the Lord or the Spirit of God! Why not?

The scriptures tell us clearly why not! It's so important to wait on the Lord! To wait for your ministry from God Himself, to wait to be sent out into this ungodly world! To wait for instructions from Heaven, to wait for open doors to minister and preach God's word, wait for the Lord to approve and commend you, wait on the promises of God to be fulfilled in your life. In the scriptures every single time a man or woman did not wait on the Lord, it led to some serious consequences.

Seek the face of the Lord, and wait on Him, so that you too can be endued with power from on high!

In Jesus,

Tyrone

Those Who Know Their God Will Be Strong!

Daniel 11:32

"but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits."

We are human beings, we have limits, we have weaknesses and frailties. We are born disconnected from God with a carnal nature, easily influenced by the devil and the desires of our flesh. 

Only by the supernatural power of the Living God through His Spirit, can we be born from above and reconnected to God. Only by His strength and grace can we overcome this world and spiritual wickedness in high places. We must be remade in the image of Christ, we must be transformed (literally) by the renewing of our minds, there is no other way for a Christian to live in this world but by the power of God!

We must understand that in order to be strong in the Lord we have to become weak! We have to surrender our souls to Jesus, we have to surrender our time, our schedules, our talents, our finances, everything that makes us who we are in this world has to be laid at the foot of the cross! Jesus said, "Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed, but if it DIES, it produces many seeds!" When we are weak then God will be strong in our lives!

It's the exact opposite of how the world and those who love the world operate. The world's motto is, 'only the strong survive', 'whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger,' 'we're proud Americans, Europeans etc...... it doesn't matter what natural disaster hits, we will rebuild!', 'Hey, it's every man for himself', the list goes on.

The word of God says, 'when I am weak, THEN I am strong', 'submit yourselves one to another, out of reverence for Christ', 'If you are persecuted for Christ's sake, then blessed are you', 'Humbe yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up', 'Love one another, by this all men will know you are my disciples if you have love for one another.' We cannot trust in the arm of the flesh, but in the power of God to save, sanctify, protect, provide, and help us in our everyday lives on this earth!

There will always be Goliaths until Jesus returns and sets up His kingdom on this earth, and as Christians we will have to face Goliath, but not in our own strength, because apart from Jesus we can do nothing! We have to face Goliath in the name of Jesus! With the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

We will have to face Goliath with the fruit of the Spirit birthed in our hearts, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faith, and self-control. That's really the whole purpose of being a Christian, it's to bear the fruit of the Spirit in our hearts! Not go out and make disciples! Jesus called the apostles, and evangelists to go out and preach the gospel to all nations, not every single disciple that enters into God's kingdom is called to go out and make disciples! That's why Paul said, 'are all apostles?', 'are all prophets?', no they're not! Fruit bearing should be the first priority of every soul converted to Christ! 

As the world grows harder and harder, and farther from God, those who know their Lord and Savior draw closer and closer to Him, the One who is able to save our souls to the uttermost! We draw closer to Him who holds the keys of death and hell, Jesus the Christ! Many will face even death as martyrs for Christ in these last days, but we will not leave this earth in weakness and fear, but in victory and faith!

I know the Lord will pour out His Spirit again because He told me so, it's just a matter of time and preparation. He will send His apostles and prophets once more to walk this earth again, to prepare the way for His coming. This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in ALL the world as a witness, that means boots on the ground! In every nation on this earth the gospel will be proclaimed, and no one will have any excuse on judgment day, they won't be able to say I didn't hear it.

And in order to stand and face Goliath we will have to be STRONG IN THE LORD! Able to stand against the hatred of the enemy and those who hate God and the name of Jesus. We will have to be strong in the face of opposition and those who right now consider the gospel hate speech. But we will not face Goliath divided, oh no! All God's people will be unified by the Spirit of the Lord, we will be separated from this world, and we will love one another, and by this ALL will know that we are disciples of Jesus!

True signs and wonders will be done by God through the hands of the apostles and prophets in the midst of the people, like it was in the first century, and the Azusa Street revival. Yes, we will face Goliath, but not with guns, violence, and protests, but with the belt of truth around our waist, with the breastplate of righteousness on our chest, and the helmet of salvation on our heads, and the shield of faith in our hands.

Ephesians 6:10-17

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

In Jesus,

Tyrone