We should have a desire to live in a way that will bring glory to God. We should be determined to live Holy Spirit filled lives and in the fear of the Lord all the days that God gives us on earth. I fear that many who are saved have become callous, cold and complacent in their walk with the Lord. If that describes you, why is that? What has happened that has led you to such a place? This morning, be honest with yourself and more importantly, with Almighty God, because He knows all about you, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Proverbs 15:3). Will you come down to your knees this morning and pour out your heart to God? This world does not need a callous, cold and complacent child of God. This world needs a sold out, knee bent, Holy Ghost filled believer to finish out the race with praise in their heart and power in their steps. This world needs you to share the Gospel and sow the seed of the precious word of God. This world needs you to be a burning lamp that brings light to this dark world. This world needs to know the love of God, but not at the expense of the word of God. My friend if you are saved the world needs you to do that which God has called you to do, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10.)
0 Comments
No matter how great the storm, how long the night or how painful the situation might be we must not, we cannot neglect or turn away from prayer. When we turn away from prayer, we are turning away from God. Prayer is the spark that lights the fuse that puts into motion the power of Almighty God. Within the prayer closet one finds comfort, confidence and closeness with the heavenly Father. The heaviness of urgency should weigh upon each of our hearts when it comes to prayer. The best time to pray is now! If we were to wait until we felt like praying we would sparingly if ever pray. Prayer is hope on its knees and power on display. The prayer less Christian is the cold just going through the motion Christian. This neither pleases the Lord nor adds anything of any value to our walk with the Lord. If we want a fire in our bones and a spiritual skip in our step we will be about the business of prayer. Find a place, set aside the time and become a prayer warrior in the army of the Most High God.
Will you pray for America in your Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study? Will you come to the altar and pour out your heart to Almighty God on the behalf of America? Revival will never occur in our dear nation if we continue to sit lazily and nonchalantly in the pew. It is time to get up and come down and lift up this nation!
“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Romans 6:13 I want us to pull something out of our verse and allow God the freedom to do a work in our lives. Set your eyes upon these glorious words, “Yield yourselves unto God.” Don’t give your body over as an instrument of sin, but yield your body as an instrument of righteousness unto God! If you are saved, you are as one who is alive from the dead. You have been born again! Paul writes, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Romans 6:11-12). We can have victory over sin because when Christ died, we also died and we no longer have to be slaves to that which we have been bought out of. I have three things I want to lay on your heart and I pray that you will consider them for the victory that awaits you in Christ Jesus. I. Sacrifice your bodies- “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). We, in America, live increasingly more and more in a culture that can be labeled, “One Nation under sensuality.” Christian, don’t give in to the ways of this world, but present your bodies as a “living sacrifice” to God. II. Surrender your will- “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21). Seek to do God’s will by allowing His Word to be your path and the Holy Spirit to be your power for the totality of your life. Life is not life until Jesus Christ is the Lord of every facet of your life. That is true living at its best. III. Separate your self- “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? ...WHEREFORE COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM, AND BE YE SEPARATE, Saith the Lord, AND TOUCH NOT THE UNCLEAN THING; AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU” (2 Corinthians 6:14,17). Separation is not that we sequester ourselves from the world, but that we do not participate in the ways of the world. When we are salt and light in the world separation will be visible for all to see. Luke 15:2 says, "And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." Don't miss this- It says, He received them, not that He ran with them! Let’s yield ourselves completely to the Lord and allow Him to do through us that which only He can do. That will be the best life one could ever live. This is our first installment of our blog series that will feature and introduce God's servants from around the world. I pray that God will be glorified. I hope that many will add these precious servants to their prayer list. I want the redeemed to be encouraged and inspired by what it is God is doing in and through the lives of those who will be featured. When God's desires are our desires we should dream big and allow God to shape us for the work he has called us to do. That is life at its best. It may not always be easy. There will be hard work involved and testing will surly come, but it will be a life lived and not just time endured. I heard Pastor Todd Bell preach the chapel service at this years shar-a-thon for WGCR at Anchor Baptist Church. I spoke to him for just a few minutes after he preached. I am drawn to people who have a love For the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not speaking of a lazy ember, but a heavenly flame that burns like a flame thrower! I like that! It blesses me! It wakes up a room! It is excitement not based upon pure emotion, but excitement that has it's foundations in the God of the Word and the Word of God. Let's pray for Pastor Bell and his family. I hope you are blessed and inspired by all that God is doing through them. In reference to what God has called him to do, Pastor Bell recently told me, "My life! Been doing this for over 25 years. Love it!" Two words, as obvious as they may seem, stand out- life and love. Pastor Todd Bell was born on October 20, 1969, in Lakeland, Florida. He and his wife, Amy, have four children, Elisabeth, Benjamin, Cherith and Abigail. Todd was saved at the age six under the preaching of J.B. Buffington in Lakeland, Florida. He received a Bachelor of Theology degree from Trinity Baptist Bible Institute in Asheville, North Carolina in May 1994. In 1994, God called Todd and Amy Bell to the state of Maine to plant Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches. After eighteen months of deputation, in January 1996 they moved to East Millinocket, Maine where they started and established the Tri Town Baptist Church. In August 2000, under Pastor Bell’s leadership, the Tri Town Baptist Church started the Church Hill Baptist Church in Augusta, Maine. Since that time the Church Hill Baptist Church has continued planting churches and also is sending preachers out to take struggling churches and bring them back to God honoring churches. A total of four churches have been helped or started under Church Hill Baptist. In 1998, God burdened Todd’s heart for “Reaching the Next Towns”. This burden and vision birthed the Wings with the Word, Inc. aviation ministry. With the use of airplanes, Todd has been able to start and establish more than one church at time. He also uses the aviation ministry to encourage and edify other Men of God all over the New England area. In August 2003, the Bell family moved to Sanford, Maine where they started and are currently establishing the Calvary Baptist Church. Under the leadership of Pastor Bell, the Calvary Baptist Church has started the Island Baptist Church on the island of Islesboro, Maine and the First Baptist Church of Jackman in Jackman, Maine. In 2010 God burdened Todd to start the Sanford Christian Academy. Numerous children have been educated in a Godly atmosphere. Pastor Bell also leads his congregations to support missions through faith-promise giving, and to love reaching the world with the Gospel. His church is active in soul-winning, discipleship, and training servants of the Lord. Pastor Bell has faithfully served the Lord since 1989 when God called him to preach. Todd and his family have joyfully served the Lord in Maine for almost 18 years. I was blessed to preach, and teach a Sunday school class this past weekend. There is a dear lady from the congregation whose life is drawing to a close. The Lord gave me the right message for what those folks needed. A family member testified that the dear lady was witnessing to lost loved ones powerfully from her bed. With the few breaths that she has left she shared the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ to her lost loved ones. I have been meditating on how precious our time is. The importance of squeezing everything possible out of each day has been heavy on my heart as of late. A few weeks ago I had this thought pierce me to the bone as I sat in a pew at Anchor Baptist Church at Brevard, North Carolina, "Preach every message as if it was your last." I have noticed a certain desperation and intensity during my prayer time like never before. Listen- I wasted thirty-six years of my life- I want to say it again, I wasted thirty-six years of my life. I lived for me and for the world while dead in my trespasses and sin. But now, I have an opportunity to give myself each day for the cause of Christ. Each day I must make a decision to either walk in the Spirit or fulfill the lust of the flesh. I want to live everyday under the shadow of the Bema Seat. I will one day have to give an account to the Lord Jesus Christ (II Corinthians 5:10) for my life- All the opportunities- All the words- The talents I have been given- All the days that God has given me. That is a sobering truth. Dear believer, what have you been investing yourself in? The things of God or the things of the world? Our time is short yet our opportunities are many. I want to challenge myself everyday to redeem the time that I have been blessed with. Our time is short, what choice will you make? That which we abide in cannot stay hidden, because what we have rooted ourselves in or given ourselves over to will eventually bud out and sooner or later the fruit will be known. Jesus said, "He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit" John 15:5b (read John 15.) We as individuals should never abide in or borrow from those things that are rooted in the world and its system, in hopes of adding something to our lives so that our walk with the Lord would be closer. John led of the Holy Spirit wrote, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world...And the world passeth away" (I suggest you read I John 2:15-17.) This world is fleeting and the fruit of this world is deceiving in that it looks good on the outside but the inside is rotten. Sin is often wrapped in the cloak of deception. What you see is certainly not what you will get. Many have fallen as they have walked in the flesh and been duped by the deceiver. Our churches will only be as strong as each individual member. The children of Israel learned this at Ai when they experienced a great defeat because of Achan's sin (read Joshua 7:1-26.) As the pastor prays, visits, preaches and teaches, the people will be exposed to the word of God and the possibility for growth will be off the charts. But each church member has a choice and a decision to make; die to self and be filled with Holy Spirit and allow God to do a work in them as they follow the Lord and His commandments, or walk in the flesh and allow the world to be as weeds to hinder their growth while having a defiant affect on the church. The individual church member will either add revival fire to the church or they will act as water on the fire. A question that we should all ask ourselves. I recently read these words from Andrew Murray and they ring true today, "The freer the church is of the spirit and principles of the world, the more influence she will exert in it. The believer sees that the only way to answer his calling is by being crucified to the world. The only way to withdraw himself from its power is to live in Christ and to rely on Him to go into it and bless it. He lives in heaven and walks on earth." I have a burden for my pastor friends and the folks who attend their churches. Revival fire will only burn as bright as the fire that is found in each individual believer. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 Thank God for the obedience of the Lord Jesus, the Bible says," Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:5-11.) Praise God! That has Glory written all over it!! Let's not neglect to show our gratitude for the price that the Lord Jesus Christ paid for our salvation and forgiveness of our sins. You might be asking yourself, “Is Brother Tracy writing again about our gratitude for the Cross of Christ”? Yes, and again yes! I believe with all my heart that the seed of revival can and will be planted in the soil of gratitude. You would’ve had to known me before I was saved to completely understand the gratitude that flows in and through me now. I am truly a trophy of God’s miraculous, amazing and indescribable grace and mercy. Take time to reflect on the price that was paid. I believe that our gratitude will be an ember that will lead to a fervent flame of gratefulness that will revive and thaw out our cold and damp hearts. "O God thou art my God; early will I seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is" Psalm 63:1 My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times. Psalm 119:20 I have four things I want you to meditate on and as you are meditating on these four things ask yourself, Why am I not doing these four things? and if you have done these in the past, ask yourself, Why have I stopped? I. Early will I seek thee. II. My soul thirsteth for thee. III. My flesh longeth for thee. IV. Read Psalm 119:20. I pray that God meets with you in a powerful way! I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. Psalm 34:1-3 When we put into practice praising the LORD individually, we will be more likely to praise Him corporately and unashamedly with one or two brothers or sisters in Christ. The progression of David’s words is like an old fashion steam engine taking out from a depot. Momentum is given. Praise will continually be in our mouths when our souls boast in the Lord. A picture of true depth is painted by David’s choice of words. O that our souls would make its boast in the Lord. We, often time, live in the shallow end when spiritually speaking we should be spending our lives in the deep end. It takes a “want to,” when it comes to magnifying the Lord. I will never forget a blazing hot day a few years back. I had been hired to trim a yard full of shrubs and bushes. I felt like I had limped to the finish line of that long, hot job. A blessing was awaiting me. Myself and the man who had hired me gathered ourselves together under that hot sun filled sky and took time to praise the LORD. My clothes might have been soaked, but my heart was filled with joy. Let’s make it a priority and a practice to take the time to praise the LORD. I pray our words will match David’s, “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.” |
Translate this page into another language using Google Translator.
Archives
May 2023
Categories |