Searching the Scriptures with Pastor LaPat

Healed To Pt3

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:12:00 +0000

Healed To Pt4

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:12:00 +0000

Healed To Pt 2

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:11:00 +0000

Healed To..

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:10:00 +0000

We Have Been Healed To...

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:21:00 +0000

I am preaching through the life of Christ, we had begun with HIS forerunner, John the Baptist, then to HIS birth and we will go all the way to HIS ascension.

In all of that, we have many events, parables and miracles to cover.

Jesus said in Matthew 11.29 to “learn of me”.

That is exactly what we are going to do, is to learn of Christ.

We are to learn of Christ, this is what the Christian faith is all about.

We are still in the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

The passage we are looking at this morning is a healing.

All though this event is also recorded in Mark 1 and Luke 4, we will be in Matthew 8.

We are going to parallel God’s reasons for the healing this women with God’s reasons for saving us.

We find three reasons for God healing this woman, so we will be looking three reasons as to why God saved us.

Matthew 8:14 (KJV)
¹⁴And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.

A regular part of Jesus’ ministry was healing the sick and here we have another opportunity.

The bible says Peter’s mother n law is “sick of a fever.”

Before we go another further, who knew?

Who knew that Peter was married, when we think of Peter we do not think of a family man.

This brings a lot questions to the mind of the bible student, how did this work?

How does a man wholly forsake all with a wife?

How many of the disciples were married, did they have children and why no mention in the bible about it, except for this event right here?

We are NOT here this morning to answer what we cannot know but, to speak of the things we can know.

We know Peter was married and that his mother n law is sick.

Matthew 8:15 (KJV)
¹⁵And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us touches this woman and the miracle of her healing takes place.

This lady is helpless lying on her sick bed when, in comes the “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”.

Jesus Christ reaches down to this woman to touch her hand and the bible says “the fever left her”.

This woman was gloriously healed.

What a great picture of salvation how we were helpless unable to do anything in and of ourselves to obtain salvation.

John 3:16 (KJV)
¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

We are born into this world damned and diseased by a sinful condition.

Jesus who was sent by HIS FATHER left the glories of Heaven to reach down to us, to meet us where we are and to touch us to heal us.

1 Peter 2:24 (KJV)
²⁴Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

That is the difference between BIBLE Christianity and all the religions of the world and that is our GOD came to us, to reach down to us and touch us.

Healed to Minister

Notice what happened when this lady was healed, the bible says “and she arose, and ministered unto them”.

Luke 4:39 says “and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.”

She gets healed and immediately she begins serving the Lord and His disciples.

One of the reasons Christ saved us is to minister.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (KJV)
⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast. ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Those who are saved by grace through faith are the workmanship of God, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works”.

When somebody gets saved their life changes.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
¹⁷Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

When somebody gets saved their life changes, this is what the bible says.

One of those changes is motivated by great gratitude for what Christ has done.

When somebody gives you something of great value, a natural response is to attempt to give something of like value in return.

What if somebody gives you something that saves your life and you could never repay them.

Wouldn’t your gratitude compel you to do whatever you could for them?

Jesus Christ gave HIS life for you.

HE was tortured, beaten and died a criminal’s death in your place for the things you have done.

HE SAVED YOU!!!

Peter’s mother n law was relieved of a fever and she got up and served the LORD.

You who are saved have been relieved from judgment and the penalty of sin, which is the torments of the eternal fires of hell.

What are you doing in response to the greatest gift ever given you?

The local church should never be in need of people to rise up to minister or serve HIM.

We have been “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

God does HIS work through HIS children, US.

Matthew 25:44-45 (KJV)
⁴⁴Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? ⁴⁵Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (KJV)
¹⁸And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Peter’s mother n law was healed and she immediately ministered to HIM.

We have been healed and we should be ministering to HIM.

How are you doing Christian, what is your ministry to Christ?

Healed as an Example for others

Matthew 8:16 (KJV)
¹⁶When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

Peter’s mother n law was healed but she is not the only one with a need.

Could you imagine with me, the excitement, here a lady is lying sick, a man walks in and touches her and she rises out of her bed as if she had not been sick.

I imagine immediately the folks that witnessed this began to think, “will HE do this for anybody?” “I know so and so that needs healed” “if I was able to bring so and so would HE touch them too”.

When you see something that somebody desperately needs you will let them know about it.

The bible says “When the even was come, they brought unto him many”.

The “they” were those who were witness to the lady’s healing, including the disciples.

They brought them unto Jesus, why did they bring them unto Jesus?

What had just happened to Peter’s mother n law could happen to all those the witnesses knew to be sick or demon possessed.

When I saw that God could save a wicked sinner like _______________ and change his life, giving him that peace that passeth all understanding it was an example for me.

When he and others came around me attempting to bring me to Christ, after awhile I became convinced that this thing of salvation was real, WHY???

Why, I was surrounded by examples.

What if Peter’s mother n law was healed by she stayed in her bed?

She would have been a POOR example of Christ’s healing power.

I am telling this morning that if God saved _______________ and he lived as if he never obtained grace, I may not be here today, saved and born again.

Now I am an example of what God can do in sinner’s life.

We who are saved have been made whole to bring glory to Jesus Christ being an example of HIS Love and His grace.

As we read earlier…

Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV)
⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast.

What if the people in your life only knew one example of somebody being saved and it was you?

What would those people think of Jesus Christ and salvation in HIM?

2 Corinthians 3:2-3 (KJV)
²Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: ³Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

An epistle is a letter; Paul is saying to the Corinthian believers, that they are the example of the Christian faith as they have been influenced by Paul.

What many people know about the Christian faith only comes from those they know in the Christian faith.

Peter’s mother n law was example of Christ’s healing power for all those who needed healed.

We were healed to be examples for those who are heading for the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, WE WERE MADE WHOLE TO BE EXAMPLES FOR OTHERS!!!

Healed to Fulfill God’s Will

Matthew 8:16-17 (KJV)
¹⁶When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: ¹⁷That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

Matthew records this event as a fulfillment of prophecy.

We know this to be God’s will because it fulfilled prophecy.

Many events in Jesus’ earthly ministry were the fulfillment of bible prophecy one right after another and this healing is included with those.

Matthew quotes Isaiah 53.4.

Isaiah 53:4 (KJV)
⁴Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Peter’s mother n law was healed to fulfill prophecy, fulfilling God’s will.

So it is with salvation, so it is with my own salvation.

God’s will was for me to be saved and it was prophesied in the bible.

Genesis 12:3 (KJV)
³And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

God is telling Abraham that in his seed will come ONE who would be a blessing to all nations.

Galatians 3:8 (KJV)
⁸And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

When God told Abraham that “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” Paul tells us God was talking about justifying the heathen.

I am the heathen God was talking about justifying, my salvation fulfilled OT scripture.

Just as Peter’s mother n law’s healing fulfilled Isaiah 53.4, my salvation fulfilled Genesis 12.3.

The salvation of sinners is the will of God.

Acts 17:30 (KJV)
³⁰And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

God’s command is what?

God’s command is that “all men every where to repent:”

This is talking about salvation, getting saved, becoming born again or becoming a Christian.

This God’s command, this is HIS will.

When I was healed/saved by believing upon Jesus Christ for my salvation is was the will of God.

2 Peter 3:9 (KJV)
⁹The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Peter is clear, it is NOT God’s will that any should perish.

Perish is talking about burning ALIVE in the eternal flames of Hell for ever and ever.

This is not HIS will!!!

Peter then tells us what HIS will is, “that all should come to repentance.”

This is talking about salvation, getting saved, getting born again or becoming a Christian.

This God’s will.

When I was healed/saved by believing upon Jesus Christ for salvation it was the will of God.

If you are NOT saved then it is HIS will for you to be saved.

Do not wait another minute.

2 Corinthians 6:2 (KJV)
²(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

By Pastor Jason LaPat

(614) 284-5151

jasonlapat@yahoo.com

The Law

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 01:29:00 +0000

This is a copy and paste of the first in a series of discipleship booklets that our church is distributing. This first series is designed to teach salvation in hopes of people getting SAVED!!! These booklets will be freely distributed to family, friends, neighbors and door to door. Pray for this ministry. If you are interested in using these booklets yourself contact me, I would love to be a HELP!!! jasonlapat@yahoo.com

The Law

Introduction

This is the first of seven lessons on the Bible’s teaching of salvation. This lesson will show why anyone would need to be saved. The bible is very clear as to why anyone would need to be saved and it has to do with the law. There is coming a day when we are going to stand before God. Before death, it would be wise for us to know how our standing with God is. What is your standing before God and how do you know that your standing is pleasing to God? We hope to help you with these ALL important questions.

I. Our Day Before God

Like it or not, the bible says every one of us is going to face God. In fact the bible says we will stand before God right after death. Many people live their lives without the reality of death. No man or woman will escape death, no matter how well they care for their bodies, how they lived, the things they did not do or the things that they did do, everyone is going to stand before God.

Romans 14:12 So then every _________of us shall give ___________ of himself to God.

When you stand before God, you will have to give an account of how you lived your life. With what will God judge us?

Romans 2:2 But we are sure that the _____________ of God is according to ________ against them which commit such things.

Now when we stand in the court of law, we know that not every case is judged by truth, sometimes the truth never comes out. Not so on our day before God. When we stand before God, every detail of our lives will be an open book before God, in fact the bible says…

Matthew 12:36 But I say unto you, That every ___________ ___________ that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the _________ of judgment.

Nothing will be missed. There will be NO hiding of the truth before God. A Holy and Righteous God knows you and will only judge you by the truth.

II. The Law

We ask the question: by what will God judge us? God has given us in the Old Testament what is called the law. There are 613 laws in all. The law is divided into 3 categories. First, there was the civil law that governed the society of the nation of Israel. The second were the ceremonial laws, regulating the sacrifices and offerings. Then there were the moral laws. These laws are the laws that are to govern how man should live. God’s law has never been repealed.

Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to ___________ the law, or the prophets: I am not come to ___________, but to ________.

The law is still in effect. The law is what God will use to judge your life and mine. God summarized those 613 laws into 10 specific ones.

Deuteronomy 4:13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ______ _______________; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

The 10 commandments were first given in Exodus 20. As we look through them, we are going to take a test to see how well we have kept God’s law. From that, we will see our individual standing before God? ARE YOU READY?

III. The 10 Commandments

Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other ________ before me.

Have you ever placed someone or something in the place of God? Have you ever placed anything before God? Has God always, all the time been first in your life? Placing something before God is making that very thing your god. Are you guilty? ________

Exodus 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any ____________ ____________, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Most people in our culture would say “not guilty” I have never bowed down to any statue or image. God is not just talking about man made images consider the following.

Romans 1:23 And _____________ the glory of the uncorruptible God into an ____________ made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

What have we imagined God to be? Have we always had a correct image of God? Most people have broken this commandment by imagining God to be something other than what HE really is. Have you ever created in your mind a false image of God? Are you guilty? ___________

Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the _______ of the ___________thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

What does it mean to take God’s name in vain? The word vain means empty, of no value and/or worthless. It means taking HIS name too lightly, speaking or singing HIS name without any consideration as to WHO HE is and what HE has done. How are you doing on this one? Are you guilty? ___________

Exodus 20:12 ___________ thy father and thy mother:

The word honour means to give respect, to lift up. Parents are God’s given authority; no one has had perfect parents. Some are better than others. The ones you do have, have you always honored them? Are you guilty? __________

Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not ___________.

For some reason our culture has made this the standard of good or bad. I have heard many times “well I have never killed anybody”. Did you know that this commandment goes much further?

1 John 3:15 Whosoever _________ his brother is a ___________

A brother is another human being. Have you ever hated anybody and I mean anybody? Are you guilty? ___________

Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not commit ______________.

This commandment also goes much further. Jesus said…

Matthew 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: ²⁸But I say unto you, That whosoever ____________ on a woman to _________ after her hath committed adultery with her already in his ____________.

The bible teaches lusting and/or any sexual contact with anyone outside of marriage is adultery. Are you guilty? _________

Exodus 20:15 Thou shalt not ____________ .

We are not asking if you have ever stolen a car, but have you ever taken anything and I mean anything that did not belong to you. Or, have you ever taken credit for somebody else’s work? Are you guilty? __________

Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear __________ witness against thy neighbour.

Bearing false witness means to lie, have you ever told a lie. Have you ever misled someone? Are you guilty? __________

Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not __________ thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not ___________ thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

To covet means to strongly desire. Have you ever strongly desired something that God has not provided you? Have you spent hours thinking about something that did not belong to you? Are you always looking over the fence to see what new toy the neighbor has? This is coveting; are you guilty? __________

Conclusion

That is the standard by which God will judge. How well will you do on that day? If we are honest with ourselves we are condemned liars, thieves, blasphemers, coveters, idolaters and adulterers. Jesus further summed up the whole law.

Matthew 22:36-40 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy_________ , and with all thy _________ , and with all thy _________ . This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the _________ and the prophets.

Some may claim that they are still good enough. Consider the following…

James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole ________, and yet offend in ________ point, he is ____________ of all.

If you are guilty in one point of the law then you are guilty of the whole thing. One day you are going to stand before God. God is going to judge you for how you lived your life. God is going to judge by the truth of the word of God. The truth of the word of God finds us ALL guilty. That is the bad news. Here comes the good news. There is ONE who lived HIS life here on earth without breaking one of these commandments. This ONE was Jesus Christ, the bible says …

John 3:16 For God so __________ the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever _____________ in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Jesus died as a substitute, taking the penalty and the judgment for our sins. The bible says you must repent and believe in Jesus to be saved. BELIEVE IN JESUS TODAY TO BE SAVED!!! To further understand this, PLEASE do the rest of these bible studies. God’s will and the will of Old Paths Baptist Church is that you would be saved. Contact us with any question or concern.

Questions

1. When will we stand before God? ____________________

2. Is the law still in effect? _____________

3. How many laws are there? ______________

4. How do most people break the commandment in Exodus 20:4? __________________________________________ _______________________________________________

5. Hating somebody is equal with what? ________________

6. Who said looking upon others in a sexual way is equal to adultery? ____________________

7. Jealousy of our neighbors stuff is what? ______________

8. If somebody just sinned one time are they OK with God? _________

Essay

If God was to judge you by the 10 commandments would you be innocent or guilty? Please explain. _______________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Disciple

Sign________________Date____

Discipler

Sign________________Date____

Bible Christianity and Salvation Series

1. The Law

2. The Bible

3. The Soul

4. Sin

5. The Gospel

6. Repentance

7. Faith

FOR THE NEXT STUDY CONTACT US!!!

Dirty Feet

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 02:45:00 +0000

Introduction

There are many passages in the bible when we read them casually we will miss some great spiritual truths.

Tonight we are going to look at one of these passages.

The title of my message is dirty feet and my text is John 13.

John 13:4-5
⁴He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. ⁵After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

Jesus Christ washing dirty feet?

John 13:1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

What Christ is about to do, HE is going to do because HE loved the discples and HE loved them unto the end.

Only Jesus understood the cross before HE went to the cross, the heaviness of the whole thing.

The false accusations, the beatings, the stripes, the disciples forsaking HIM, the torment of the crucifixtion, the crown of thorns and worse than all these things was MY sins were put upon HIM.

Just my sins alone was more than what HE physically endured on HIS way upto the cross.

Let alone your sins and the sins of the whole world, from the first one in the Garden of Eden to the last one at the end of times.

What Christ was facing did not move HIM from what HE was about to do, why?

Because HE loved them and HE loved them unto the end.

John 13:2-5 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; 3Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; 4He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. 5After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

In John 1 the bible says Jesus is God, In Colasions 1 the bible says Jesus is the Creator, In Revelation 17 the bible says Jesus is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Jesus Christ who is the Creator God, Lord of Lords and King of Kings bends down to wash filth from the feet of the disciples?

Moreover, this is recorded in the oracles of God for men of all generations to read for there own profit.

One thing we see right off is the humility of Christ.

The dusty and dirty conditions of the region necessitated the need for footwashing.

Footwashing was reserved for the lowliest of menial servants.

Peers did not wash one another’s feet, except very rarely and as a mark of great love.

Is there not a greater humilty than the humility of Christ?

We call ourselves Christians meaning followers of Christ, He is our example.

There is a great message in this alone but we are not looking at HIS humilty tonight?

Not my feet!!!

What would you do, what do you do when somebody you have a high respect for lowers themselves to do some menial task for you?

What does Peter do?

John 13:6-7 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 7Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

Peter asks this question in opposition to Jesus washing his feet.

Jesus’ response was, I am going to teach something with this.

Would you let me do this so I can teach you something?

John 13:8a Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet.

Peter just cannot allow Jesus to wash his feet.

Peter has a conviction here; Jesus Christ does not belong on the floor washing feet.

John 13:8b Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

Jesus lets Peter know there is something at stake here; it is not a loss of salvation but a loss of fellowship.

The fellowship between Peter and Christ will be broken unless Jesus washes his feet.

John 13:9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

What a great response, a response we should have when we jepordize our fellowship with God.

This frightened Peter as it should every Christian.

Jesus is not talking about Peter losing his salvation but breaking fellowship.

There are many Christian that are not in fellowship with God.

How many Christians in here tonight, that is not in fellowship with God.

There ought to be sense of urgancy to get things right with God if you are not rigt with God.

John 13:10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.

Jesus responds to Peter’s request to wash all of him, but this was not the need, Peter only had dirty feet.

This scripture has a lot to say as we will see.

Jesus is saying there is no need for Peter to wash again, the only thing that is dirty is Peter’s feet.

In this day people did not wash in there homes, they washed somewhere else.

A man after washing would put on his sandals to come home.

In his home was a basin of water for him to wash his feet because they had gotten dirty walking through the streets of the city?

So even though he had just come from a bath, he had to wash his feet when he entered the house.

Necessity of being washed and having clean feet

There is a great spiritual meaning to this foot washing, what is it?

vs 8 Tells us that dirty feet means no fellowship with God.

Now we know our fellowship is not broken with God when we take our shoes and socks off and run around in mud.

How does a Christian get dirty feet?

Here is the spiritual truth.

A born again Christian is not of this world.

John 17:14-19
¹⁴I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁵I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. ¹⁶They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁷Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. ¹⁸As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. ¹⁹And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

Jesus as HE prays to the father says they (his disciples) are not of the world, but that HE was going to leave them in the world.

How would HIS disciples be set apart or sanctified from the world, through the word of GOD.

Here is what happens, HE would leave HIS disciples (us included) in this world, living in this world, we acquire the filth of this world on our feet spiritually speaking.

When we live our day to day lives we will pick some of the things of this world.

We are tempted by the things of this world, we pick up behaviers of this world, attitudes of this world, styles of this world and we could go on and on.

1 John 2:15-16
¹⁵Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Jesus is teaching that the Christian is to have a continual practice of getting his or her feet washed.

When we pick up the things of this world and we will, this is clearly taught in this passage, not one of us will attain this so called Christian perfection, but we should be getting better and better as we are sanctified through thy truth, the truth of the word of God.

The dirty feet and the need for footwashing is symbolic of broken and restored fellowship with GOD.

What is the washing symbolic of?

John 13:10
¹⁰Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.

He that is washed, does not need washed again, what is this talking about?

Does this mean that the disciples no longer needed to wash their physical bodies, NO.

There is a spiritual meaning here, and it is salvation.

Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Col 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

1 Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

How many times does somebody need washed, ONCE.

That is how good the blood of Christ is.

John 13:10
¹⁰Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.

Once you have been washed you are washed, this is what Jesus is teaching.

This kind of sounds like “once you are saved you are always saved”.

Peter was saved but his feet needed washed, as do our feet.

You can be saved and not be in fellowship with God, and may I suggest get right with GOD.

Dirty feet = no fellowship with God. vs 8

How is a Christian to keep clean feet?

Confession keeps our feet clean.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Confession simply means to agree.

There should be an urgency to make things right with GOD, when you sin, when you pick up the things of this world.

Christian I got news for you, the world is not our home, and we should thank GOD for that.

The Word of God will keep our feet clean.

Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

John 17:17
¹⁷Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Eph 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

There is fruit in daily bible readings and disciplined schedules.

Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

What about those who have not been washed?

The washing is represnative of salvation.

Are you clean Christian, are you in fellowship with God?

Not all have washed

John 13:10-11 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. 11For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.

Christ is speaking to his 12 disciples only, all of which participated in soul winning, miracles, preaching, healing.

Jesus is saying not all are clean. (Saved)

Jesus brings this up several times, later in the passage we read…

John 13:22
²²Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.

The disciples did not know of whom he is speaking.

One of his disciples was not saved.

I have often wondered how many people are in Bible believing, preaching churches that are not saved.

I wonder if there are any in here tonight.

What changed when you got saved?

2 Corinthians 5:17
¹⁷Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The real change takes place on the inside knowing the Lord.

Do you know the Lord, do you love the Lord?

Is there spiritual fruit in your life?

Do you love God’s word?

Are you saved not according to what a preacher once said, not according to what you understand not according to a prayer you said?

Are you saved according to what Christ did for you on the cross?

1 Pet 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

Judas was not saved.

The eleven disciples did not know he was not saved.

Don’t ask your spouse if your are saved.

Don’t ask your parents if you are saved.

Don’t ask the preacher if you are saved.

Don’t ask the Sunday School teacher if you are saved.

They do not know if you are saved or not.

The eleven did not know that Judas was not saved.

We are saved according to what the Bible says.

Washing one another’s feet

John 13:12-15 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? 13Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 14If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

How do we wash each others feet?

Hebrews 10:24-25
²⁴And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: ²⁵Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Some Christians only come to church to sit and listen and we are to do this, but we should be doing more.

Every Christian should come to church to be a help to another brother or sister, the bible calls this fellowship.

One of our children have a problem with stinky feet, it is easy for me to notice the smell.

You would think that he would notice that he is stinking up my house but he doesn’t.

I have to inform him of his smell so he can get it right.

In other words many Christians are stinking up the church of God but, they do not know it.

Pray for them, be careful in approaching them, and make sure you are right with God first.

Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

Matthew 7:1-5
¹Judge not, that ye be not judged. ²For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. ³And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? ⁴Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? ⁵Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Before we can wash other persons feet, our feet need to be clean.

Psa 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Are you saved, have you truly been washed?

You may have every person in here fooled as Judas had all the disciples fooled.

Fool this church no longer and get saved.

Maybe you are a Christian with dirty feet.

Does anybody in here like smelling your dirty feet?

I do not!!!

1 John 1:9
⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Finishing The Course

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 02:06:00 +0000

In the Bible, the Christian life is likened to a race.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
²⁴Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. ²⁵And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. ²⁶I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: ²⁷But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

As we see in Corinthians, a good runner will have some qualities.

In verse 25, a good runner knows what they are striving for.

In this passage, the runner is striving for mastery; this means to be superior, to have victory.

In striving for mastery, the runner is temperate (cool and calm).

So if the runner stumbles or falls or is mistreated by one of the other runners.

A temperate runner will get up and finish the race.

Do you know what you are striving for in the Christian life?

Are you temperate?

Do you stay cool and calm striving for the goal or the prize?

In verse 27, a good runner has control over his or her own body.

The runner adheres to a very strict diet.

The runner also keeps the body conditioned and he will push his body to its limits.

An unconditioned and overweight body is a castaway (useless, no value) in a race.

We see the same thing in running the race of the Christian life.

The Christian is to have control over his or her own body.

The apostle said of his body that he “brings it into subjection”.

This means he tells his body what to do, that he exercises self-control.

A Christian is to read and pray when the body says no.

The Christian is to come to church when the body says no.

The Christian is to say no to sin when the body says yes.

The Christian who has no control over his or her own body is a castaway; is useless, rejected, of no value.

Hebrews 12:1-3
¹Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, ²Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Again we see the Christian life likened to a race.

The bible tells us in this passage that sin weighs the Christian down; we are to run with patience looking to Jesus Christ.

I want to preach to each and every one today.

I want to speak to you where you are at.

As the apostle Paul did we will liken the Christian life to a race.

2 Timothy 4:6-8
⁶For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. ⁷I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: ⁸Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

These words were written as Paul was looking to his death.

I want to encourage you and I want to see you finish the course and receive the crown of righteousness.

Where are you at in this race of the Christian life, you are one of six runners?

Nobody in here has finished the race because you all are still here.

1. You might be an unqualified runner.

We find the qualifications in John 3:3, 7, 16.

John 3:3
³Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

John 3:7
⁷Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

How do you do that?

John 3:16
¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

At the end of the service, we can show you from the Bible how you can be qualified to run this race of the Christian life.

There is no greater race to be run than this one!!!

Everyone who is qualified for this race receives eternal life.

There may be people here today who are not qualified but are still running the race.

There is no prize for them.

2. You may be at the beginning of the race.

In junior high school, I ran cross country.

I am somewhat familiar with a long distance race.

The cross country team competed with other schools, running a two mile course.

For a child in junior high, this was a long distance.

In a long distance race, the runner will begin at a good steady pace.

This is where the new Christian begins; at a good steady pace.

2 Corinthians 5:17
¹⁷Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Everything becomes new to them.

1 Peter 2:2
²As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

The Word of God is fresh and the new Christian responds.

They see a need for baptism, for church attendance, for learning the Bible, and they begin praying.

The new Christian begins to see sins and errors in his or her own life.

Confessing them and repenting.

Ephesians 2:10
¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

A new Christian wants to tell the world “I am saved”.

Picking up their pace, they begin to serve in church.

This person is saved, born again, running this race, striving for mastery.

If you are a new Christian this should sound familiar and I hope it does.

3. You maybe slowing down.

After running sometime, the runner begins to feel discomfort.

The breathing gets heavy, their side cramps up, their legs and arms weaken.

I remember this in running on the junior high team.

We will liken this to a Christian who is serving, attending the services, still doing everything that is right but, his/her service was in love and has now becoming duty.

This Christian is easily discouraged, but the bible says to that Christian…

Galatians 6:9
⁹And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

2 Thessalonians 3:13
¹³But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.

Has the work of the Lord become weary to you?

How does this happen?

I believe the Christian begins to lose sight of the gospel.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15
¹⁴For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: ¹⁵And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

Constrain means to exhort force, to drive, to compel.

It is for the love of God we do His will.

If you have slowed down or stopped during this time, get back into the race.

This cycle all too often repeats itself but it does not have to.

4. You may have quit the race.

During this time of weakened legs, heavy breathing, side cramping, the runner becomes vulnerable to injury.

Leg injury, collapsing, knee giving way, sprain in the ankle, causing the runner to quit the race.

There are many reasons why we see people drop out of the race of the Christian life.

I believe the most common is a lack of qualification.

In other words they did not even belong in the race.

They were not saved.

1 John 2:19
¹⁹They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

But I also believe saved people quit due to some sin in their life or some sin in the church.

Broken relationships in a church drive good people out of church.

False doctrine drives people away from church.

You may have quit the race but you are still going to church.

Let me invite you back to the race.

Listen to all the discouraging things that happened to Paul.

2 Corinthians 11:23-28
²³Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. ²⁴Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. ²⁵Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; ²⁶In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; ²⁷In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. ²⁸Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

What is your excuse to quit?

Do you have a good one?

5. You might be regaining your speed.

Once the runner gets refreshed, rested, and focused again, the runner regains the earlier pace.

In Junior high I would always have to walk a little before running again.

Once I started up again I was back in the race.

This here is the revived Christian.

Psalm 51:12
¹²Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

The revived Christian is like the new Christian, having joy in church, in singing, in serving, in praying, and in witnessing.

God seems exciting again.

This Christian is restored to a believing faith.

God begins to use this Christian again.

Praise the Lord!

Are you a revived Christian?

If this is you continue!!!

6. You maybe approaching the finish line.

This runner sees the finish line.

With the finish line in view, the runner gives everything he or she has.

The runner is in tremendous pain; having seen the finish line he pushes and pushes him or herself to the finish line.

In a long distance race the runners will always pour it on when the finish line is in view.

This is the Christian nearing death.

This Christian has come to the reality that death is close by.

We as Christians should live like today is our last day.

For healthy folks and young folks, that concept is foreign.

There might be someone here today who sees the finish line as the apostle Paul did.

Give it all you have! Do not give up now.

There is a great reward awaiting you.

Remember what we read in Hebrews 12: “we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”

7. Finishing the race

The apostle speaks of his death.

This runner finishes the race, the runner does not always need to be first to receive a prize.

Sometimes finishing the race was worthy of a reward.

In junior high, I was the slowest on my team, but often faster than the slowest on the other team, which would give our team points.

The Christian who finishes is rewarded, which is the Christian who fought the good fight and hath kept the faith, and to those who love him at his appearing.

Receive the crown of righteousness.

Who in here is going to finish the course?

Are you qualified for the race?

If not, get saved today.

Are you a new Christian?

Keep running.

Have you slowed down or stopped?

Get back in the race.

Are you revived?

Praise the Lord, you know what to do.

Do you see the finish line?

Give it all that you have.

The Devil: The Enemy of God

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 01:23:00 +0000

We learned last week that the definition for devil is accuser.

We also learned what the definition for Satan was.

What was the definition for Satan? Enemy

This is certainly true of the devil, he works against God.

If anything be of God, we should be aware the devil is working against it.

Today we are going to look at the devil’s work against the things of God.

Did you know that if it is from God, if it is of God it is being attacked by the enemy of God?

We as a people and we as a church would be much better off to know this.

Not knowing who the enemy is and how he works, we ourselves will be led away by his devices.

2 Corinthians 2:11 (KJV)
¹¹Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

We are to know he is the enemy of God and the things of God, lest Satan should get advantage of us.

1. An Enemy of God’s Words

Having talked to many outside of Christianity I have been asked the following questions many times.

How do you your bible is right?

Why are there are so many different kinds of bibles?

How do you know that the bible has not been changed?

What makes your bible better than all other religious writings?

I like these kinds of questions, because I have asked these kinds of questions myself.

So why do we have all of this confusion surrounding the bible, because there is a great enemy of the words of God?

1 Corinthians 14:33 (KJV)
³³For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace,

The devil’s first communication with man was the manipulation of the words of God.

In Genesis 2.16-17 this is what God said to Adam.

Genesis 2:16-17 (KJV)
¹⁶And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: ¹⁷But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Ø In Genesis 3 we will see what that old serpent does to God’s words.

Genesis 3:1-5 (KJV)
¹Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? ²And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: ³But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. ⁴And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: ⁵For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Notice the character of the devil, subtil.

That is how he works, subtly.

He begins by questioning God’s very words.

Any portion of Scripture that is doubted had begun with a question.

The devil asks, “Yea, hath God said”, did God really say that, is that what God really means?

After placing doubt in the mind of Eve the devil then proceeds to add to, take away and twist the words of God.

The devil strings Eve along, deceiving her and leading her to sin.

The devil attacks the word of God by subtil additions, subtil subtractions, or by subtly twisting its content.

This is taking place today and it is not new.

Why all the confusion over the words of God?

Why all the different English translations and why such differences between them.

I am convinced that one translation stands alone and it is the KJV.

I am further convinced that it is not only a translation but the KJV is the INSPIRED WORDS OF GOD for the English speaking people.

Why such differences between the translations, because the devil is still asking the question today “Yea, hath God said”.

This confusion is of the devil!!!

Here are some comforting words.

Psalm 12:6-7 (KJV)
⁶The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. ⁷Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

Psalm 33:11 (KJV)
¹¹The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

Psalm 100:5 (KJV)
⁵For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Psalm 119:160 (KJV)
¹⁶⁰Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

Isaiah 40:8 (KJV)
⁸The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Matthew 5:18 (KJV)
¹⁸For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Matthew 24:35 (KJV)
³⁵Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

God said he would preserve His Word and He has.

The devil has done a great work to destroy God’s Word.

The work of the devil is exactly why we have all the confusion concerning the words of God.

2. An Enemy of God’s People

The devil hates the nation of Israel.

The devil has worked against Israel from the very beginning.

After Eve ate of the fruit she gave to her husband and he also ate of the fruit.

This is exactly what God had told Adam not to do.

God responded to this by judging all those involved Adam, Eve and the serpent.

A part of God’s judgment on the serpent was this…

Genesis 3:15 (KJV)
¹⁵And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

By studying this scripture out you will find that this is talking about an enmity between the devil and the woman (which is Israel).

Enmity means:

The quality of being an enemy; oppositeof freindship; ill will; haterd; unfriendly dispositions.

Through the OT, there has been an attempt to completely destroy the Jewish people.

Satan has repeatedly moved men’s hearts against the nation of Israel.

All the devils attempts have failed.

We no longer live among the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Gergisites, the Ammorites, and the Moabites.

But the Israelites, God has preserved them even until this day.

Why would the devil want to destroy this nation?

Genesis 12.3 gives us one reason why the devil is an enemy to these people.

Genesis 12:3 (KJV)
³And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

In thee is speaking of the nation of Israel, what would come from Israel that would bless all peoples from all nations?

The answer is Jesus Christ and the salvation that is in Him.

The devil hates all people and he especially hates this nation, from which Jesus Christ would come.

Another reason why the devil hates God’s chosen people Israel is that they are promised an eternal kingdom.

2 Samuel 7:13 (KJV)
¹³He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

1 Kings 9:5 (KJV)
⁵Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.

1 Chronicles 22:10 (KJV)
¹⁰He shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.

The devil will be an enemy to this nation until he is cast into the lake of fire.

The devil is continually working against the plans of God.

This will even take place during the seven year tribulation period.

Revelation 12:13 (KJV)
¹³And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

The woman is Israel and the man child is Jesus Christ.

3. An Enemy of God’s Son

As we read earlier we know why the devil is against Christ, because in Christ all families of the earth shall be blessed.

Genesis 3:15 (KJV)
¹⁵And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

We talked about the enmity between the devil and Israel but the bible also says that there will be enmity between the seed of the devil and the seed of Israel.

Who is the seed of the devil? We are!!!

Who is the seed of the woman? Jesus Christ.

We are all born into this world sinners, anti-Christ, and without Christ we are of our father the devil.

John 8:44 (KJV)
⁴⁴Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.

There is no neutrality with God; you are either with Him or against Him.

This is a hard truth, yes the devil worked through lost people to destroy Christ.

Just as it is today the devil works through lost people to destroy the word of God, God’s chosen people and the church of God.

Let us look at some of the failed attempts of the devil to destroy the Son of God Jesus Christ.

An angel of the Lord is sent to a virgin girl.

Luke 1:31-33 (KJV)
³¹And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. ³²He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: ³³And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

God’s plan was still intact and there is going to be born to this virgin, the God man Christ Jesus.

Matthew 2:1-2 (KJV)
¹Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, ²Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

This is how Herod founds out about this baby.

Herod is the Roman King and these wise men are not coming to worship him but this child that was born who is the King of the Jews.

Matthew 2:3 (KJV)
³When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

What troubled this King?

The idea that there was another King!!!

Who do you suppose worked in the heart of this King, in that this King was threatened at the thought of this child? The devil!!!

The King tells the wise men to report back with the location of the child.

The wise men never came back to the King.

Matthew 2:16 (KJV)
¹⁶Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

Who moved in the heart of this King to destroy every child aged two years and younger? The devil!!!

This is how stupid the devil is, he thinks he can out maneuver God.

The devil is stupid, the attempt on the Lord’s life failed.

The devil tries again.

Matthew 4:3 (KJV)
³And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

Matthew 4:5-6 (KJV)
⁵Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, ⁶And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Matthew 4:8-9 (KJV)
⁸Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; ⁹And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

If only the seed of the woman of Jesus Christ would sin, the salvation of those who would believe would not be.

Again, the devil was a failure.

Next, we see the devil even had one of his own followers numbered with the Lord’s disciples.

Luke 22:3-6 (KJV)
³Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. ⁴And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. ⁵And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. ⁶And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.

Most all of us know about this Judas, but what motivated Judas to work against Christ? The devil!!!

The devil apparently had no idea how the plan of God was to work.

The devil was used of God to put Jesus Christ on the cross.

Oh, what a fool that devil was.

In his pride and arrogance he thinks he has something on God, yet over and over again the devil is used by God to fulfill God’s plan.

I am sure of it the devil was there when Jesus was falsely accused, beaten, whipped, spat upon.

The devil was there when the disciples all forsook Jesus, when Jesus was mocked with thorns being platted down on His head, when the criminals mocked him, when a spear was plunged into His side and when Jesus was offered vinegar to drink.

John 19:30 (KJV)
³⁰When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

It is finished, what was finished?

The payment for the sins of the world was paid, that is what was finished.

That stupid devil was used by God, to put my Savior on the cross to die for me.

What happened to Judas after the devil was done with him?

Matthew 27:3-5 (KJV)
³Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, ⁴Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. ⁵And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

The devil is a loser and all those who follow him will lose too.

We are not just talking about devil worshippers we talking all those who have never been saved.

Matthew 12:30 (KJV)
³⁰He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

You are either with Christ or you are against Christ.

John 8:44 (KJV)
⁴⁴Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.

You are either a child of God or you are a child of the devil.

Where do you stand today?

Ephesians 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.

Does the devil have place in your life?

If you’re not saved, you are following him.

If you have no interest in God’s Word, the devil has place in your life.

Do you work against others getting saved?

Then the devil has place in your life.

Do you work against the church of God?

Then the devil has place in your life.

Our Lord Jesus Christ had, has, and will have victory over the devil and his works.

Whose side are you on?

The Devil Quiz: Answers

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:33:00 +0000

What do you know about the devil?
T for True F for False

I. The devil is Jesus’ brother___F______
This is a teaching held in the Mormon Church and is nowhere found in the bible.

II. The devil has always been____F______
Ezekial 28:13,15 speaks of the day of the devil’s creation.

III. The devil talks with God___T_____
Job 1, tells us that the devil goes before God to accuse us before God. “Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?”

IV. The devil is red with horns___F_____
This is fairy tale devil, no such description is found in the bible.

V. The devil lives in hell____F_____
Not yet, he is here on earth. John 14.30, 2 Corinthians 4.4, Ephesians 2.2. “Prince of this world”, “god of this world” & “prince and power of the air”

VI. The devil walks among us____T____
He does walk among us. John 14.30, 2 Corinthians 4.4, Ephesians 2.2. “Prince of this world”, “god of this world” & “prince and power of the air”

VII. The devil possesses people____T_____
Man in the synagogue Mark 1:23–26, Blind and mute man Matt. 12:22, 23, Two men of the Gergesenes Matt. 8:28–34, Mute man Matt. 9:32, 33, Canaanite woman’s daughter Matt. 15:22–28, Epileptic child Matt. 17:14–21, Mary Magdalene Mark 16:9

VIII. The devil has authority_____T____
John 14.30, 2 Corinthians 4.4, Ephesians 2.2, “Prince of this world”, “god of this world” & “prince and power of the air”

IX. The devil’s authority is unlimited____F____
Job 1, 1 Corithians 10.13, “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able”

X. The devil is musical___T____
Ezekial 28.13, “the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.” He was created with musical ability.

XI. The devil makes people sin____F____
He can only tempt somebody to sin, we choose to sin. James 1.14, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust”

XII. The devil will be tortured forever in the lake of fire____T____
Revelation 20.10, “the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire… and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

XIII. The devil sends people to hell___F____
Romans 6.23, John 3.18, A person’s sins (without a savior) will send them to hell.

XIV. The devil can appear as an angel of light___T____
2 Corinthians 11.14, “for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”

XV. The devil leads those who do not follow Christ___T___
John 8.44, “Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do” this would include everybody. Genesis 3.15 “And the LORD God said unto the serpent…And I will put enmity…between thy seed and her seed…” The thy seed is us. Jesus said in Matthew 12.30 “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”

The Devil Quiz

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:25:00 +0000

What do you know about the devil?
T for True F for False

I. The devil is Jesus’ brother_________
II. The devil has always been__________
III. The devil talks with God________
IV. The devil is red with horns________
V. The devil lives in hell_________
VI. The devil walks among us________
VII. The devil possesses people_________
VIII. The devil has authority_________
IX. The devil’s authority is unlimited________
X. The devil is musical_______
XI. The devil makes people sin________
XII. The devil will be tortured forever in the lake of fire__
XIII. The devil sends people to hell_______
XIV. The devil can appear as an angel of light_______
XV. The devil leads those who do not follow Christ______

"Walking With God in a Godless World" 3

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:35:00 +0000

"Walking With God in a Godless World" 2

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:34:00 +0000

"Walking With God in a Godless World" 1

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:33:00 +0000

Creator or Liar

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 02:16:00 +0000

Born Again

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 23:12:00 +0000

Born Again from Jason LaPat on Vimeo.

Born Again

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 02:51:00 +0000

What is this stuff about being born again?

This is a term I was not familiar with until after I was saved.

Then after I was saved it took me a little while to understand it.

Born again is a bible term and only appears in two passages, John 3 and here…

1 Peter 1:23 (KJV)
²³Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

All though it only appears in 2 passages, it is referred to as being born of God in John 1 and in the book of 1 John.

Many people believe born again refers to a baptism, many people believe that a person can be saved without being born again, both of which are misunderstandings of the scriptures.

Today, we are going look at what the bible says about being born again.

THE DIALOGUE of THE 2^ND BIRTH

John 3:1-3 (KJV)
¹There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: ²The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. ³Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Here we have a dialogue between a man named Nicodemus and Jesus.

We know from earlier messages that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and God in the flesh.

Jesus is from Heaven and HE knows all.

The bible tells us that Nicodemus is a Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews.

What is a Pharisee, the bible plainly tells us, in this scripture it is a ruler of the Jews.

The word Pharisee means separate ones, they separated themselves by holding to a very strict religious life.

The bible calls them rulers of the Jews in that they held a standard of God’s law as well as many man made laws.

Not just anybody could be a Pharisee: it took a very disciplined person to be a Pharisee.

In fact the bible says you cannot be saved UNLESS your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees.

Matthew 5:20 (KJV)
²⁰For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

You think that your good works can get you to heaven; your good works would have to exceed that of this Nicodemus.

What is Jesus saying; the closest that anybody can come to keeping the law would be the scribes and Pharisees.

But even the scribes and Pharisees could NOT completely keep the law; the scribes and Pharisees fell short of keeping God’s law of righteousness.

Why else would Nicodemus be seeking Jesus, the bible says he came to Jesus by night.

Why night?

A Pharisee is not supposed to need anything else, why would this Pharisee be seeking Jesus and why at night?

Because something in the heart of Nicodemus was missing, something was not right in his life and he was likely ashamed to be seeking Jesus, so he went to Jesus at night.

He opens with a statement of respect, calling Jesus Rabbi.

Signify he is coming to learn from Jesus, he has some truth he is in need of.

Jesus answers his question before he even asks it.

Jesus knew why he was coming and what he wanted to know.

Nicodemus, all though has the title of Pharisee, had no security of heaven.

He wanted to know the entrance of Heaven; Nicodemus knew he fell short of God’s standard all though in all appearances he kept the law.

James 2:10 (KJV)
¹⁰For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Jesus told him he needed to be born again, why; Nicodemus could not enter Heaven even if he just sinned ONE time, Nicodemus needed to be born again.

The bible tells us…

Romans 6:23 (KJV)
²³For the wages of sin is death;

Nicodemus a Pharisee had earned death for his sins, God cannot let any sin go unpunished, and God in His righteous character has to judge sin.

Jesus is saying NO HEAVEN, NO SALVATION without being born again.

THE DESCRIPTION of THE 2^ND BIRTH

John 3:4-7 (KJV)
⁴Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? ⁵Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

The bible describes the 2^nd birth as a spiritual birth; this passage is only talking about two births.

The first birth is that of our flesh which comes with water, the second birth is a spiritual birth which comes by the Holy Spirit of God.

The bible then describes how this takes place.

John 3:8 (KJV)
⁸The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

When somebody gets saved the Spirit of God moves upon them like the wind.

The wind, we cannot see where it is going, we cannot even see its existence, but we know it to be there because we see its effects.

We know when the wind blows, when we see the tress moving, when somebody gets saved we do not see the work of the Spirit of God coming upon them, but we will soon see its effects.

When somebody gets saved their life changes.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
¹⁷Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

An evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit of God is a changed life, something that sticks, a love for the word of God, a love for the people of God, a desire to see others saved and a continual developing relationship with God Himself.

John 3:9 (KJV)
⁹Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

Nicodemus clearly understood that he was not born again; he wanted to know how he could be born again.

John 3:10-12 (KJV)
¹⁰Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? ¹¹Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. ¹²If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

Jesus begins to show that the Pharisees lacked spiritual understanding.

Again the Pharisees thought they had it all figured, they may have done the works of the law (not flawlessly), but they had no relationship with the Lawgiver.

They gave themselves to the law but never to the LAWGIVER.

Salvation is not by the works of the law, how many times do we have to preach this?

May I suggest over and over again.

John 3:13 (KJV)
¹³And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

The Son of Man is the only one qualified to speak these things, why, because HE has come from Heaven.

Jesus is talking about Himself, at the same time HE was here on earth HE was also in Heaven.

Who better to speak of these things than Jesus Christ?

THE DEMANDS of THE 2^ND BIRTH

1. You must look upon Jesus.

John 3:14 (KJV)
¹⁴And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

In the book of Numbers the people of Israel spoke evil of God and of God’s servant Moses, so God judge their sin of blaspheme by having serpents to come among the people to bite them and they would die.

Numbers 21:4-9 (KJV)
⁴And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. ⁵And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. ⁶And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. ⁷Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. ⁸And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. ⁹And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

The people became sorry for their sin and they repented of their sin, but that was not enough.

They asked God to take away the judgment.

God responded by telling Moses to make a brass serpent and to put it upon a poll and everyone that was bitten could look at the serpent to be healed.

Nicodemus was a sinner, Nicodemus needed healed by the curse of sin, the Son of Man would be lifted up and if Nicodemus would look upon HIM for salvation he would be saved.

Jesus Christ was prophesying HIS death, there was coming a day that HE would be lifted and this is what happened, Jesus was lifted between to thieves and died on the cross of Calvary.

Every sinner that would look upon HIM would be healed from the curse of sin.

You see Jesus would stand in the place and take the penalty for the sins of Nicodemus or anybody else in this world.

You must look upon Jesus, there is NOWHERE else to look, you must look upon Jesus.

2. You must believe in Jesus.

John 3:15-19 (KJV)
¹⁵That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ¹⁷For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. ¹⁸He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The words believeth and believed appears in this passage 5 times.

Let’s not complicate this, YOU MUST BELIEVE IN JESUS.

What do we believe in HIM for?

God so loved us, He gave HIS Son as a SAVIOR.

God does not want anybody to perish, to go to the eternal fires of Hell, to burn forever and ever.

We believe in HIM for our salvation, we believe in HIM for dying in our place for our sins.

This is why HE came.

John 3:17 (KJV)
¹⁷For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Nicodemus or anybody else cannot get saved WITHOUT believing upon Jesus as a Savior for their personal sins against God.

3. You must repent of your sins.

Where do you see that in the scriptures, does this passage teach repentance of sins as a part of salvation?

We must read the rest of this passage; Jesus is still speaking to Nicodemus.

John 3:19-21 (KJV)
¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. ²¹But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Jesus finishes HIS conversation with Nicodemus by telling him why people do not get born again.

Why don’t people get born again, because they want to continue sin?

You cannot get saved wanting to continue in sin.

Could Nicodemus get saved loving darkness?

Could Nicodemus get saved hating the light?

Could Nicodemus get saved not wanting his evil deeds to be reproved?

NO, NO and NO!!!

There has to be a turning in the heart away from self and sin toward Jesus Christ.

When somebody is truly born again they are going to want their deeds reproved.

This is one the evidences of the Spiritual Birth.

This is the person that does truth and comes to the light and wants HIS sins manifested.

John 3.21 could not be clearer, salvation requires repentance of sins.

Have you truly looked upon Jesus, believed upon Jesus as Savior and repented of your sins?

Jesus tells us what happens to those who are not born again.

John 3:15 (KJV)
¹⁵That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:18 (KJV)
¹⁸He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

They are condemned and they will perish without Christ.

Perish is talking about the eternal fires of Hell, do not go there, be born again, repent of your sins and believe upon Jesus.

Preached by Jason LaPat

06/26/2011

jasonlapat@yahoo.com

Great lectures on the history of Christian Fundamentalism

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 18:31:00 +0000

http://www.bcmedu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=67&Itemid=199

Hands on Fatherhood

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 01:02:00 +0000

What happens when a person gets saved?

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
¹⁷Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

A new creature which means this person is different now.

He is a new creature.

We could preach many messages on what this looks like, all the different changes that will take place.

Today I am speaking about fathers and I am speaking to fathers.

We meet a man in the book of Luke who encounters an angel of the Lord.

Luke 1:13-17 (KJV)
¹³But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. ¹⁴And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. ¹⁷And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

This man named Zacharias is going to have a son.

His son John is going to have a ministry and the fruit of his ministry will be :

1. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

2. to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and

3. the disobedient to the wisdom of the just;

4. to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Did you catch what the second one was to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children?

What was John the Baptist’s ministry?

The apostle Paul tells us.

Acts 19:4 (KJV)
⁴Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

John preached Christ and at the preaching of Christ men were saved.

When a man gets saved there is a natural response to the supernatural gift of salvation, that this man’s heart is turned toward his children.

There is a great attack on fatherhood these days.

I have met many men who have a great concern for their children and for that I praise God.

Today I want to speak of these attacks on fatherhood and it is my prayer that there would be a response to these things.

A concern for your children is good but, not good enough.

Missing Fathers

The first evil is missing fathers.

The God of heaven has a great concern for children who are growing up without a father.

How do I know this?

The word fatherless is in the bible 43 times.

So, the fatherless is nothing new?

But, what is happening that so many children are being raised without a father?

An estimated 24.7 million children (36.3%) live absent of their biological father.

Our prison population is filled with men and women who had drunkard, abusive, uninvolved, or in many cases, no father at all.

The Bible tells us what can happen when a child is without an involved father.

Proverbs 29:15-17 (KJV) ¹⁵ The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. ¹⁶ When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth: but the righteous shall see their fall. ¹⁷ Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

Children left to themselves will not only bring shame to their mother, but also to their community.

The world has continually pulled men away from their God-given role as a father.

How is this happening?

Irresponsible Men

Men and women are bearing children before marriage.

Hebrews 13:4 (KJV)
⁴ Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

God judges sexual relationships outside of marriage.

The world says go ahead, everyone is doing it, no one gets hurt, do not let some religious creed prevent you from having fun.

Meanwhile, women are giving birth to unwanted children and the men are deserting them.

God will judge.

Children: Burden or Blessing

The world we live in today says children are a burden.

One of the most popular questions that I get concerning my family is “How can you afford it?”

Our lives are about choices.

I have chosen to afford children.

I choose to go home to family every day after work.

Psalm 127:3-5 (KJV) ³ Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. ⁴ As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. ⁵ Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

No Need For a Dad

Men are being told by the world that a father’s presence in the rearing of a child is not needed.

Women are choosing to have children without a father.

Our government is allowing homosexual partners to adopt children.

Two women or two men raising children is not God’s design and is not best for the child.

The Bible tells us that the man is to guide, protect, and provide for the home.

1 Timothy 5:8 (KJV) ⁸ But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

When the father is not doing what he is supposed to be doing, then the family has a great need and God knows it.

James 1:27 (KJV) ²⁷ Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

The fatherless child; the Bible calls this child afflicted.

In their affliction, what affliction, being fatherless.

Every child needs a father; I do not care what the feminist says, or the homosexuals.

Every child has a need for a father.

Men Chasing After Something Else

Men are drawn away from fatherhood by chasing after worldly things.

I believe there are jobs and professions that a Christian should not have.

I also believe that there are even more jobs and professions that fathers should not have.

Many men have lusted after position, wealth, and even fame in their line of work- leaving children at home, only seeing their children once and a while.

Remember what Paul had said about Demas.

2 Timothy 4:10 (KJV)
¹⁰For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.

How many times could we have said that so and so had forsaken his role as a father having loved this present world.

What about the father who has been pulled down the road of a sinful addiction alcohol, pornography, adultery, drug abuse, or some other carnal or immoral activity.

James 1:13-16 (KJV) ¹³ Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: ¹⁴ But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. ¹⁵ Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. ¹⁶ Do not err, my beloved brethren.

James 1:15 tells something is going to die if it has not already.

Men, if you are a drunkard, addicted to porn, adulterers, or a drug abuser repent now before something dies.

Men have also been drawn away from fatherhood for some hobby.

Men spend more time on the golf course, in front of the sports channel, movie channel, or news channel, race track and hanging out with buddies than they do with their kids.

This is a sin.

I also believe it is sin to be too involved in ministry, that your children never see you.

I believe we as fathers have to maintain a balance to all that we do.

We are to involve our children in all that we do.

The bible has an answer for all these things and I call it hands on fatherhood

Hands on Father

The Bibles teaches the father to have hands on training.

Genesis 18:17-19 (KJV) ¹⁷ And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; ¹⁸ Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? ¹⁹ For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

Abraham’s seed will have blessing, why?

The Bible says of Abraham that he will command his household in the ways of God.

Deuteronomy 6:1-2 (KJV)
¹ Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: ² That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

God is holding the men of Israel responsible to the keeping and teaching of God’s ways, “thou, thou sons, thou son’s sons”.

Then God tells the men on how to do that.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (KJV) ⁶ And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: ⁷ And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ⁸ And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. ⁹ And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Ephesians 6:4 (KJV) ⁴ And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Father’s we are to be involved in our children’s lives.

Father’s we are to guide our homes.

Fathers, we are to command our children in the ways of God.

God has called men to be leaders in his church to be examples.

The bishop/pastor/elder and the deacons are to be examples in.

1 Timothy 3:4-5 (KJV)
⁴ One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; ⁵ (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

God has called all men to rule well their own homes.

This will bring generations of blessings.

Fathers, grandfathers, what kind of time do you spend with your children and is it quality time.

What kind of influence have you been to generations to come?

Fathers, like it or not, you are leading.

Are you leading your children to God or away from God?

Did you know men, that we have a perfect example of a father?

A Heavenly Father

HE is the God of Heaven and Earth and HE is also my Heavenly Father.

My Heavenly Father desires to have fellowship with me, His child.

My Heavenly Father knows everything about me.

My Heavenly Father supplies all my needs.

My Heavenly Father leads me into all truth.

My Heavenly Father disciplines me when I do not obey.

My Heavenly Father always does what is best for me.

My Heavenly Father provided a way of salvation for me.

You might have grown up without a father.

You might have had a bad father.

You might have had a good father.

How do you line up with the My Heavenly father?

Do you desire fellowship with your children?

How well do you know your children?

Do you supply your children’s’ needs?

Do you lead your children in truth?

Do you discipline your children?

Do you do what is best for your children?

Does your child know what salvation is?

Whether you are intentional or not, you are leading your children.

What a beautiful example I have in my Heavenly Father.

What a beautiful relationship I have with my Heavenly Father.

My fear this evening is that there might be some of you who does not know the God of Heaven and earth as your father.

John 1:12 (KJV)
¹²But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

My heavenly father can be your heavenly father by believing on Jesus.

Maybe HE is your heavenly Father and you continually fall short as a father.

Seek God continually for HIS wisdom and strength for the high calling of fatherhood.

Seek God continually for the souls of your children.

Pastor Jason LaPat
jasonlapat@yahoo.com
06/19/2011

Unbelieving Believers???

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:02:00 +0000

You may have noticed the peculiar title, unbelieving believers.

What does this mean, we will soon find out.

I am preaching through the life of Christ, we had begun with HIS forerunner, John the Baptist, then to HIS birth and we will go all the way to HIS ascension.

In all of that, we have many events, parables and miracles to cover.

Jesus said in Matthew 11.29 to “learn of me”.

That is exactly what we are going to do, is to learn of Christ.

We are to learn of Christ, this is what the Christian faith is all about.

Our text this morning is John 2:23-25.

John 2:23-25 (KJV)Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. ²⁴But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, ²⁵And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

Believers

Preceding this passage Jesus called unto Him Andrew, Peter, Nathanael and Philip, then He attended a wedding where He turned water into Wine, then He went turned the tables of those selling animals and exchanging money.

After He turned the tables He must have done some more miracles.

These miracles are not recorded in the bible but we do know that they were enough to win those who witnessed them to belief.

This was not uncommon in the life of Christ, to have those looking for a miracle, those asking for a miracle or even those won by His miracles.

This is exactly what happened here after the passover, the bible says in verse 23 “many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.”

You might be thinking this today, if only we could have miracles today people would believe or there might be somebody in here who is thinking if only I could see a miracle then I would believe.

There are some problems with that kind of thinking according to the word of God.

We have people running around looking for miracles today, there are people who claim that they will believe if only they could see some sign.

What does Christ say of those looking for a sign?

Matthew 16:4 (KJV)A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.

We also read of a man who cries out from HELL to send somebody to tell his family of the place called HELL.

Listen to the response back from Heaven.

Luke 16:31 (KJV) And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

This book is enough, believe its words and watch it become the most powerful thing in your life.

Unbelieving Believers

There seems to be a problem with these believers in the very next verse.

John 2:24 (KJV)But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,

What does this mean?

Jesus will only commit Himself to a true conversion; it is obvious that these believers were not true believers.

Or that they did not believe in Jesus for the right thing.

Did you know that many people believe in Jesus for the wrong things?

This happens many times in the scriptures.

John 6:60 (KJV) Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?

John 6:64-66 (KJV) But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. ⁶⁵And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. ⁶⁶From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

They were disciples (plural), who were following Him, but they followed Him no longer, but why?

It was a wrong kind of belief.

In Luke 8, Jesus is explaining a parable of what happens when the word of God is preached; Jesus gives four responses to the preached word of God.

Luke 8:11-18 (KJV) Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ¹²Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. ¹³They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. ¹⁴And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. ¹⁵But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. ¹⁶No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. ¹⁷For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. ¹⁸Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

I am very fearful today that many people who thinks themselves to be saved are not really saved.

Let us look at some more.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 (KJV) Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; ²By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

Yes, there is such a thing as a vain belief, which is an empty belief, a belief that amounts to nothing.

Those Christ spoke of in John 2, John 6, those that fell on the rocky ground and those that fell among thorns are those who had a vain belief.

Remember what we read in Luke 8, that those who do not have a true belief will be made manifest.

1 John 2:19 (KJV) They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

Let me ask this morning, who is us in this scripture?

Us, are those in fellowship with other Christians, something the bible calls church, us, are those involved in the work of God, us, are those in love with the word of God, us, are those who love to speak the things of God.

The bible tells us why they did not continue with us, because they were never like us, that is they were never truly saved.

What am I talking about this morning, unbelieving believers.

God knows

John 2:24-25 (KJV)But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,²⁵And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

Ø The Lord Jesus Christ knew these believers were not genuine believers, because HE knew them.

1 Samuel 16:7 (KJV) …for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

And, Jesus Christ surly does not need somebody else to testify.

God knows the hearts of man, HE does not need to hear our personal testimony of salvation, nor does Christ need somebody else to testify on our behalf.

Christ knows all men!!!

I could see some people thinking that they could convince Jesus, like it is going to be something like TV courtroom.

You either KNOW or you DON’T!!!

Unbelieving Belief

It is obvious that these believers believed the wrong thing.

Many times over in the bible we are told to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation.

Acts 16:30-31 (KJV)And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? ³¹And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

There is something you must believe in Jesus Christ for.

You could believe that Jesus Christ is God, than that is not enough.

You could believe that Jesus can give the peace that surpasses all understanding, than that is not enough.

You could believe that Jesus can be your friend that sticketh closer than a brother, than that is not enough.

You could believe that Jesus did all those miracles that the bible talks about, than that would not be enough.

You could believe that Jesus could fix all of your problems, than that would not be enough.

You could believe that Jesus has a wonderful plan for your life than that would not be enough.

You could believe that Jesus loves you like no other, than that would not be enough.

You could believe that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world and that would not be enough.

We have to put the “believe in Jesus Christ for salvation” in context with the rest of the word of God.

Do you realize a person cannot get saved without knowing that they have done something worthy of the eternal fires of hell?

Luke 16:19-23 (KJV) There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: ²⁰And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, ²¹And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. ²²And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; ²³And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

This man was and is suffering in the torments of hell, but why?

It does not say that he murder 6 million Jews, it does not say that he was a pedophile or a rapist, it does not say that he stole from the poor, what does it say?

What was this man guilty of that he would be in the torments of hell?

Luke 16:27-31Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: ²⁸For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. ²⁹Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. ³⁰And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. ³¹And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

So, why was this man in the torments of HELL?

Did you see it?

He neglected to hear Moses and the prophets.

God gave Moses the law, and in that law we are condemned.

We are condemned liars, thieves, adulterers, blasphemers, and idolaters.

Who in here could stand before a Holy and Righteous God and be measured to the law that God had given to Moses, NOT A ONE OF US!!!

We all deserve the torments of Hell for our sins.

The rich also failed to hear the prophets.

The prophets gave the good news, they tell of one who would come and die in the place of the one who has broken God’s law.

That one came and HIS name is Jesus Christ.

Also notice the rich man knew how to be saved, at the end of verse 30, his hopes were that his brothers would repent.

What does that mean, repent?

Repent means a change in the heart that results in a change in direction.

2 Corinthians 7:9-11 (KJV)
⁹Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. ¹⁰For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. ¹¹For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

For a person to get saved they need the knowledge that they have personally offended God’s law and are deserving of the eternal fires of hell.

Then they need to be sorry for their personal sins against God and repent of them.

Then they must believe in Jesus Christ for standing in their place, taking the penalty and judgment for their personal sins against God.

Notice what they believed 1 Corinthians 15.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (KJV)Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; ²By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. ³For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; ⁴And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Let me ask you this morning, has there been a change in your life, one that communicates forgiveness of sins?

How can you ask for forgiveness of sins and not be sorry for your personal sins against God, how can you ask for forgiveness of sins and want to continue in them?

I believe many of these Unbelieving Believers believed in the wrong thing.

They looked to Christ for SOME OTHER REASON, than for the forgiveness of sins.

What have you looked to Christ for?

Preached Sunday June 12, 2011

By Jason LaPat

jasonlapat@yahoo.com

Water to Wine

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Mon, 30 May 2011 15:49:00 +0000

I am preaching through the life of Christ, we had begun with HIS forerunner, John the Baptist, then to HIS birth and we will go all the way to HIS ascension.

In all of that, we have many events, parables and miracles to cover.

Jesus said in Matthew 11.29 to “learn of me”.

That is exactly what we are going to do, is to learn of Christ.

We are to learn of Christ, this is the Christian faith.

Sunday school has really inspired me to look further into these events.

Today we are going to look at Christ’s first miracle.

In this miracle we will see the pattern of all the other miracles.

Does anybody believe in miracles anymore?

A miracle is “In theology, an event or effect contrary to the established constitution and course of things, or a deviation from the known laws of nature; a supernatural event.”

A supernatural event, an event that is not explainable by the laws of nature.

We are talking about the intervention of an All Mighty God in the affairs of man.

I stand before you this morning convinced GOD IS NOT DEAD!!!

I am convinced God is still working in the affairs of man.

Why don’t we see God doing more things?

Because our view of God is too small.

The bible says…

Matthew 17:14-21 (KJV)
¹⁴And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, ¹⁵Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. ¹⁶And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. ¹⁷Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. ¹⁸And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. ¹⁹Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? ²⁰And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. ²¹Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

We are this faithless and perverse generation.

We cannot believe God for anything.

Can we really believe God for a spiritual awakening in this community, can we really believe God to save our loved ones, can we really believe God to give us spiritual victories in our lives.

How does the miracle working power of God work?

Miracle Needed

Do you need God to do anything in your life today?

Is there a need for a miracle in your life?

Here we read of a need for a miracle.

John 2:1-4 (KJV)
¹And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: ²And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. ³And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. ⁴Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.

This is an interesting passage; a wedding feast runs out of wine.

Is this really a big deal, is this really a need.

There are a lot of suggestions offered as to the importance of this passage such as, Christ’s endorsement of marriage, Christ ‘s endorsement of our participation in regular affairs of life, a picture of the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus wants to do miracles in the smaller things in our lives or a teaching on the relationship between Mary and Jesus.

However we look at this passage we will learn of Christ.

Like how HE does miracles.

It would appear that Mary carried some of the responsibility of the feast.

The burden of the lack of wine fell upon Mary.

Culturally this would be a disaster for the bridegroom.

The lack of wine could have been an oversight, it could have been the cause of too many guests or it could have been the result of poverty.

Regardless there was a lack of wine.

Mary calls upon Jesus to do something about it.

The exchange between Mary and Jesus seems to be out of place, unless we look at it in the perspective of Jesus being God and Mary looking to Him as God.

Jesus addresses several women in the bible as “woman”, here HE is looking at Mary not as the “mother of God” but as a woman created for HIS purpose and good pleasure.

Mary approaches Jesus as if HE could do something.

Mary’s approach to Jesus is to be our approach to Jesus.

Mary approached Jesus as if HE could do something about it.

Hebrews 11:6 (KJV)
⁶But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Man’s Cooperation

We see the need of a miracle, now we are going to see the cooperation of man in the supernatural work of God.

God does a lot of HIS work through man.

I got saved because a group of young men sought the saving of my soul.

I grew in the knowledge of God by the use of men who taught and preached this book.

God used man to establish the institution of church, God used man to preserve HIS words.

Here in this passage we read the same thing, God using man in the performing of this supernatural act.

John 2:5 (KJV)
⁵His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

This is great advice, I heard a sermon on this passage one time, and it was called the gospel of Mary.

What is the gospel of Mary, we just read it, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”

Mary rightly points the servants of the feast to Jesus.

Again we too, are to point those working with Christ to the orders Christ gives.

John 2:6-8 (KJV)
⁶And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. ⁷Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.

Jesus gives very specific instructions.

This is not a onetime thing; Jesus gave very specific instructions on many things.

In fact, HE wants HIS disciples to follow HIS very specific instructions.

The test of your love for Christ is your obedience to HIS instructions.

John 14:15 (KJV)
¹⁵If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:21 (KJV)
²¹He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Have you ever felt Jesus does not love you, have you ever felt that HE had forsaken you?

The bible tells us HIS love is manifested to us when we obey.

The LORD will produce fruit in us according to our obedience to HIM.

John 15:7-8 (KJV)
⁷If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. ⁸Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

John 15:10 (KJV)
¹⁰If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

John 15:14 (KJV)
¹⁴Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

How can we expect God to do anything, when we are not willing to be used by HIM?

We pray OH LORD send a spiritual awakening, but our heart says OH LORD send a spiritual awakening by using somebody else to knock on doors, by using somebody else to spend hours in prayer, by using somebody else who gives themselves wholly over to you.

What would have happened if the servants said no?

The whole thing would not have worked, there would have been no wine for the guests, the hosts would have been shamed, and there would have been a great loss.

Folks this book is to be obeyed, the gospel is to be obeyed.

What happens to the sinner who does not obey?

2 Thessalonians 1:8 (KJV)
⁸In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Miracle Performed

What happens, the servants do exactly as they were told.

John 2:9-10 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, ¹⁰And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

The water was turned into wine, not only wine but good wine.

Now let’s use some common sense here.

There are two kinds of wine in the bible, one kind has bacteria in it and the other does not.

In our day wine is simply an alcoholic beverage, but wine in the bible is not always alcoholic.

Proverbs 23:29-34 (KJV)
²⁹Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? ³⁰They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. ³¹Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. ³²At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. ³³Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. ³⁴Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

The bible says that there is wine we can look upon and there is wine we are not look upon.

When the wine changes, when it has bacteria growth in it, when it goes through fermentation, or as the bible says “when it moveth itself aright” is when we are NOT look upon it or drink it.

That gives us a definition of bacteria infested wine.

Now let us look at the bible definition of the other kind of wine.

Luke 22:17-20 (KJV)
¹⁷And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: ¹⁸For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. ¹⁹And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. ²⁰Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

The bible calls it the fruit of the vine, we call it fresh juice.

Not only is it called the fruit of the vine but it pictures Christ blood.

Some churches use fermented wine and some use un fermented wine, when they serve the Lord’s Supper.

To use fermented wine is to picture Christ’s blood as impure, tainted or bacteria infested.

You can picture Jesus’ blood as impure, tainted and bacteria infested or you can picture HIS blood pure.

In other words you can have a Christ that sinned, who can do nothing for you or you can have a Christ without sin who was able to die in your place for your sins.

We might also add that bacteria infested wine has a bitter taste to it, so when the governor said “thou hast kept the good wine until now” wouldn’t he have been speaking about the taste?

He was talking about something that had tasted good and something that was pure.

It is a crying shame that somebody would use this great miracle of our LORD to rationalize their alcoholic drinking.

I do not know how many times I have heard “well Jesus turned the water into wine” as an acceptable excuse to drink whatever.

Something else I want us to notice what Christ used for this miracle, HE used the things that were readily available, such as the waterpots, water and the servants.

God uses the simplest things to accomplish the greatest of things.

This goes back to the earlier point that we are a “faithless and perverse generation” to think God cannot use the little bit of money we collect, this store front, this group of people, and this literature that we pass out.

We sing the song “little is much when God is in it” do you believe that this morning?

1 Corinthians 1:25-28 (KJV)
²⁵Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. ²⁶For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: ²⁷But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; ²⁸And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

Let us look at the results of this miracle.

Manifests His Glory

John 2:11 (KJV)
¹¹This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

Two great results came from this miracle and I believe this to be the importance of this passage.

This miracle manifested HIS glory, what glory?

John 1:14 (KJV)
¹⁴And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

This miracle showed Jesus to be the Son of God.

This miracle also brought the disciples to a place where they believed on HIM.

If only people will believe on Jesus today.

One of the things that really compelled me to consider salvation before I got saved was the miracle of a changed life, THE MIRACLE OF A CHANGED LIFE.

TOO many Christians show no evidence of the miracle of a changed life, this is why these same Christians never see God doing anything to day, and this is why these same Christian do not believe God can do anything today.

Where are you at Christian, are you believing God today to work the works of God and are you cooperating with HIM to work the works of God.

Maybe you are reading and the miracle of salvation is something you do not understand.

Please read the following by clicking on the link.

http://pastorlapat.blogspot.com/2011/02/who-goes-to-heaven.html

By Jason LaPat

5.30.2011

Tempted of the Devil

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Wed, 18 May 2011 00:29:00 +0000

Today we are at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

This passage is where Jesus Christ will be tempted of the devil.

This passage teaches some things about Jesus Christ and it gives the Christian some things to learn about sin and temptation.

We will begin by learning what this passage teaches us about Christ.

Matthew 4:1-11 (KJV)
¹Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. ²And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. ³And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. ⁴But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. ⁵Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, ⁶And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. ⁷Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. ⁸Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; ⁹And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. ¹⁰Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. ¹¹Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Jesus Christ

Did you see it?

What does this passage tell us about Christ?

It tells us that Jesus is God.

The first thing the passage says is that “Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”

This event is of God through and through, Jesus in the center of God’s will was led into the wilderness to be tempted.

Some folks have the understanding that if somebody is tempted it is because they are a sinner, which does not work in this case.

Notice Jesus’ response in verse 7, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

Tempting Jesus was tempting God and the bible says that God shall not be tempted.

On the human side we view temptation as a stirring up and a drawing to a sinful thing.

The bible tells us several times that Jesus Christ is without sin, so when the devil tempted Jesus, Jesus was not tempted to sin.

How stupid is the devil?

The devil plays right into the hands of God; this whole thing was of God to prove that Jesus was in fact the Christ.

We also see the devil’s arrogance, he says in verses 3 & 6, “, If thou be the Son of God.”

The devil knew who Jesus is, yet his arrogance got in the way of reality.

The reality is Jesus is not going to sin because of who HE is.

We must understand what Jesus is going through here; Jesus had fasted for 40 days and nights.

Jesus here has gone 40 days without food, HIS flesh is beyond the point of weakness.

Notice the devil tempted Christ when Christ was at HIS weakest physically.

To no avail, this passage proves that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and God in the flesh.

The Christian

Now let’s talk about the Christian, I am talking about the person who is born again, the person who is saved.

We call ourselves Christians, to mean we follow Christ.

Here in this passage we have some things to follow.

How Jesus responded to the temptation of the devil is how the Christian is to respond to the devil.

1. Know your enemy

Jesus knew who the devil was.

We too, ought to know who the devil is.

1 Peter 5:8 (KJV)
⁸Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

In fact I think we can know more about him then he knows about us.

The devil thought he knew Job.

The devil said of Job to God…

Job 1:11 (KJV)
¹¹But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

God removed HIS hand of protection from some of the things in Job’s life.

Did Job curse God to HIS face, NO!!!

We are to know that we have an enemy and we are to know his tricks or wiles.

Ephesians 6:11 (KJV)
¹¹Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

We should be able to stand against his tricks or wiles.

The devil tempts us in three ways.

It is the same three temptations that the devil used with Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3:6 (KJV)
⁶And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

1 John 2:16 (KJV)
¹⁶For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

The woman saw:

o That the tree was good for food; lust of the flesh

o That is was pleasant to the eyes; lust of the eyes

o A tree to be desired to make one wise; the pride of life

In the same manner Christ was tempted, in the wilderness, but without sin.

The lust of the flesh…

Matthew 4:3 (KJV)
³And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

The lust of the eyes….

The pride of life….

Matthew 4:6 (KJV)
⁶And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

This is how the devil works; he is always putting something appealing to our flesh, eyes and pride.

There is nothing new with the devil.

2. Know how to respond

So how are we to respond to the temptations of the devil?

Here we have an example, we respond as Jesus responded.

Jesus said no, HE said no all three times, we too can say no.

Is there any excuse for giving into temptation?

We are not God, Jesus is God, does that mean we have an excuse for sin, NO!!!

The devil does know our weakness, through learning what our weaknesses are.

The devil tempts us with something already in us.

James 1:13-15 (KJV)
¹³Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: ¹⁴But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. ¹⁵Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

If you are tempted to sin it is because you have the wrong desires.

The devil is playing on what is already in you.

That is why we ready in the bible…

Galatians 5:16-17 (KJV)
¹⁶This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Galatians 5:24 (KJV)
²⁴And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Ø Those affections and lusts for sin are to be crucified.

Romans 8:10-13 (KJV)
¹⁰And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. ¹²Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. ¹³For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Not only do we have the ability to put to death the deeds of the flesh by walking in the Spirit of God, but we also have this promise.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV)
¹³There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

What is your excuse for your sin?

Not only do we have the Spirit of God and the promise of God of the way of escape but also the word of God.

How did Jesus respond to the devil every time the devil tempted HIM?

In verses 4,7 & 10 we see Jesus saying “it is written.”

This book is a living breathing book.

Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)
¹²For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword

This book is a profitable book.

2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV)
¹⁶All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

The devil hates the word of God, he does not want you to know it or use it.

Psalm 119:9-16 (KJV)
⁹BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. ¹⁰With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. ¹¹Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. ¹²Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes. ¹³With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. ¹⁴I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. ¹⁵I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. ¹⁶I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

Christian, what is your excuse for sin.

By Jason LaPat

jasonlapat@yahoo.com

5/15/11

Old Fashioned Motherhood

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:25:00 +0000

If you have been around our church any length of time, you may have noticed we like the old fashioned ways.

In fact, the bible tells us that the old ways are the blessed ways, when those ways are found in the scriptures.

Jeremiah 6:16 (KJV)
¹⁶Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

One of the old fashioned ways is the old fashioned way of being a mom.

There is a great tragedy taking place in our land today; this tragedy is nothing new it has been taking place for the last 50 or 60 years.

The tragedy is the modern day woman forsaking her role as a mother.

Motherhood has become distasteful, despised, inconvenience or something that gets in the way of career, ambition and self-interests.

This morning we are going to see from the bible the old fashioned way of motherhood.

I am talking about when a woman centers her life on the raising of her children, instead of giving her children over to someone else to raise.

Every Christian mother should know the following passage and desire fulfill it.

Proverbs 31:10-31 (KJV)
¹⁰Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. ¹¹The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. ¹²She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. ¹³She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. ¹⁴She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. ¹⁵She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. ¹⁶She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. ¹⁷She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. ¹⁸She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. ¹⁹She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. ²⁰She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. ²¹She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. ²²She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. ²³Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. ²⁴She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. ²⁵Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. ²⁶She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. ²⁷She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. ²⁸Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. ²⁹Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. ³⁰Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. ³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

From this passage we are going to see the worth, works, wisdom, witness and worship of this virtuous woman.

Her Worth

Proverbs 31:10 (KJV)
¹⁰Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

This virtuous woman is not a normal, everyday type of woman; the bible says “who can find one?”

This word virtuous speaks strength and/or moral courage.

This woman has the strength to do what is right even when things work against her.

We saw the meaning of this throughout the text.

The bible says who can find this woman?

Let us observe our culture, what does prime time Television offer, what about popular music and what about the movies?

Who can find a virtuous woman?

What kind of books, tv shows, movies and music can put before the eyes of our daughters that exemplify a virtuous woman.

Who can find one?

I know a book, it is called the bible and it is THE WORD OF GOD.

I also know some women; women found in the bible, women like Sarah.

1 Peter 3:1-6 (KJV)
¹Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; ²While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. ³Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; ⁴But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. ⁵For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: ⁶Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.

Women like Eunice and Lois

2 Timothy 1:5 (KJV)
⁵When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.

2 Timothy 3:14-15 (KJV)
¹⁴But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; ¹⁵And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

I thank of Elisabeth.

Luke 1:5-6 (KJV)
⁵There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. ⁶And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

This book is full of examples, but also every now and then we will meet one of these ladies, a wife and a mother who stands above the status quo, a woman found in church, whether she is with or without a husband serving the LORD, sacrificing her wants and wishes for the bettering of her household.

What am I talking about; I am talking about Old fashioned motherhood.

The bible also tells us the value of a woman like this, the value is far above rubies.

No quantity of precious stones can be equal to her worth, her value is far above any material worth.

Her works

Good works should naturally flow from any born again Christian.

What about this virtuous woman?

What kind of works should flow from the Christian mom?

Works Concerning the family

Proverbs 31:15 (KJV)
¹⁵She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

This means she gets up early in the morning.

This means her priority and her drive is for the provisions of her family.

I imagine there is a lot of planning and order that goes into the day to day routine of this woman.

What happened to the Old Fashioned Mom who raises before her husband and children?

Are there moms doing this anymore?

I have seen and heard many times of the older generation of mothers who cannot relate to a mother of today who sleeps there entire morning away.

There are all kinds of circumstances that arise in the day to day routine of a mother that keeps her from her call and purpose.

What about the virtuous woman?

Surely circumstances prevent the virtuous woman from her call and duty every now and then.

Proverbs 31:21 (KJV)
²¹She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

Snow does not hinder her, snow is not a time off, and snow is not a time hibernation.

The bible says she fears it not for the sake of the household.

Her household is clothed with scarlet, which speaks of the type of clothing worn in the winter.

Her family does not lack because it is winter.

Proverbs 31:27 (KJV)
²⁷She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.

Her interest is in the welfare of her household, so much so she is never found idle.

Now we live in a different day and age then when this was written.

There are sooo many things that can keep us idle, we have tv, we have the phone, we have fb, we have frontierville, we have texting and we could go on and on.

Here in the New Testament it tells us WHAT we are to teach the younger woman in the church.

It also tells us why, God does not want younger women idle.

How foreign this is in our culture today.

1 Timothy 5:11-15 (KJV)
¹¹But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry; ¹²Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith. ¹³And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. ¹⁴I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. ¹⁵For some are already turned aside after Satan.

Image what would happen if we got back to the bible on this one.

God’s design for the traditional family was good 6,000 years ago and it is good today.

We reaping the horrible benefits of young people putting off marriage, young people recycling partners, young people having NO desire for God’s design for family, young people having children outside of wedlock and young people giving their children over to daycare.

What am I talking about; I am talking about Old fashioned motherhood.

Works Concerning finances

Again her price is far above rubies.

Proverbs 31:11 (KJV)
¹¹The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.

How many husbands can safely trust their wives with the finances of the household?

Financial problems are greatest cause of divorce.

To what extent does he trust her?

The bible further says…

Proverbs 31:13-14 (KJV)
¹³She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. ¹⁴She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar.

She works with her hands and travels afar for the better of the family.

Proverbs 31:16 (KJV)
¹⁶She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

Proverbs 31:24 (KJV)
²⁴She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.

Her wisdom

We are also talking about a woman of wisdom.

Proverbs 31:26 (KJV)
²⁶She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.

Where does wisdom come from?

Proverbs 1:7 (KJV)
⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 2:6 (KJV)
⁶For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Wisdom comes from the words of God and there is a great reward that comes from knowing the wisdom that comes from God.

Proverbs 2:7-12 (KJV)
⁷He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. ⁸He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. ⁹Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. ¹⁰When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; ¹¹Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: ¹²To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

Attaining this wisdom does not come from just casually reading the word of God.

Proverbs 2:3-5 (KJV)
³Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; ⁴If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; ⁵Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

The virtuous woman is in the word of God, seeking after the knowledge of God and she is ready to offer the wisdom of God to her family.

Her witness

There is a witness to the virtuous woman.

The witness is found in her husband and her children.

Her witness in her Husband

They say behind every good man is a good woman.

In other words we could look at most any great historical figure be it spiritual or national and find a lesser known woman.

Proverbs 31:23 (KJV)
²³Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.

This passage is not about her husband, but the bible says he is known in the gates, what does this mean?

The bible does not say she is known in the gates but, that her husband is known in the gates.

She was truly a help meet or a help that completes the man.

Genesis 2:18 (KJV)
¹⁸And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

The first woman was created to complete Adam, what about now?

1 Corinthians 11:8-9 (KJV)
⁸For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. ⁹Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

The woman was created for the man, to complete the man.

A man married to woman who goes her own way, who is rebellious, or who has no interest in completing her husband, cannot be all he can be for his children, for his employer, for his profession or more importantly for the LORD.

1 Corinthians 11:11-12 (KJV)
¹¹Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. ¹²For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

The bible says in the LORD the husband and the wife are in separable.

The fact that this man was known in the gates was a witness to him having a virtuous wife.

The negative effects are tragic on the children, when a wife rebels against her husband, when the husband and wife live separate lives from each other or worse yet, when parents’ divorce.

Her witness in her children

Proverbs 31:28 (KJV)
²⁸Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

Her children are thankful; her children reward her sacrifice with praise.

Moms have a great task in their call and duty of motherhood.

Most often children are not grateful when mom makes them do things that they do not like such as eating healthy, taking medicine, keeping a clean room, brushing teeth, doing school, discipline bad behavior and on and on we could go.

When children grow up like this, they will be thankful and they will bless their mom.

There are two extremes in the bible of motherhood, the first one we just read and here is the other…

Proverbs 29:15 (KJV)
¹⁵The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

Your grown children will shame you or they will praise you or something in between.

Her worship

At the center of the virtuous woman’s life is the LORD, it is not found in chasing after the favor of the world and it is not found in beauty.

Proverbs 31:30 (KJV)
³⁰Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.

Our favour on women is superficial when, we favor woman for how they sing, books they write, records they set and things they accomplish.

The favor of women is deceitful.

We need some women who will not chase after the favor of the world, women who have more interest in pleasing the Lord instead of the world.

The bible also speaks of beauty.

Beauty is vain, a lot of woman attain wealth and fame for their beauty.

Women are deceived into believing this lie that happiness is found in a certain weight, certain make up or a certain dress appeal, these things are vain.

In contrast, a woman that fears God is to be praised.

We are talking about a woman who has forgiveness of sins, a woman who knows the LORD, a woman who walks with the LORD, a woman who prays to the LORD, a woman who reads the LORD’s words and a woman in love with LORD’S people by belonging to a church.

Our culture praises the wrong kind of woman.

Proverbs 31:31 (KJV)
³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

BLESS your mother today for the works of her hands and let the work she put into you praise her in the gates, by your actions.

Woman you could also BLESS a mother with children in her home, by encouraging her, praying for her and imparting to her wisdom from the word of GOD.

At the center of the breakdown of our culture is the breakdown of the family, it is a shame that this kind passage, this kind of preaching is old fashioned.

Sermon by Jason LaPat jasonlapat@yahoo.com
May 8 2011
Outline was borrowed from...
WILLMINGTON’S COMPLETE GUIDE TO BIBLE KNOWLEDGE OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY
by Harold L. Willmington
TYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHERS, INC.
Wheaton, Illinois

The Angels Testify

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:11:00 +0000

We are continuing through the bible and heading toward God’s ultimate plan.

Ephesians 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

This most assuredly speaks of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

We know from the previous messages that all things are leading up to this event.

Jesus Christ was promised, pictured and preached from the very beginning of time.

Not only HIS millennial reign but also HIS birth, life, death and resurrection.

The bible is all about HIM.

Today we are at the beginning of HIS earthly life, last week we talked about HIS name, the name of Jesus Christ.

The bible tells us it is a name that is above all names and it is the only name by which anybody can be saved.

Today we are going to see what the angels said about Jesus Christ.

These passages of scripture we recognize every year during Christmas time, but that will not forbid us from looking at them today.

In these messages on Christ I want us to, better our knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ.

How do you look at Jesus Christ and does it line up with the Jesus Christ of the bible?

Let us look at what the angels said about Jesus Christ.

Angel to Mary

Luke 1:26-38 (KJV)
²⁶And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, ²⁷To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. ²⁹And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. ³⁰And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

This angel begins with the fact that this thing is of God and is from God.

The angel is speaking for God; we see this when the angel says “the Lord is with thee” and “for thou hast found favour with God.”

³¹And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. ³²He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

Last week we talked about HIS name, which means Saviour.

The next thing the angel says about HIM, is that “He shall be great”.

Here in the bible it says that “He shall be great”, do you think possible that this could be a little different from how we use this word great?

Jesus Christ shall be great in that HE is “chief; of vast power and excellence; supreme;”

Too many of us Christians have a lower view of the Jesus Christ than what is in the bible.

Too many of us Christians approach Jesus Christ as something less than supreme and excellent.

Too many of us Christians live our lives as if Christ is not Chief.

The bible says “he shall be great”.

The bible further says HE “shall be called the Son of the Highest”.

We are not going to go real deep into that this, this morning, but do notice that the title leaves no room for any other gods.

Jesus Christ is the Son of the Highest, is there any other that is higher.

Also notice it is a title and it begins with “the”, which means Christ is the One and Only Son of the One and Only God.

HE is the ONE!!!

³²He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: ³³And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

What is this talking about, the throne of David, reigning over Jacob and a Kingdom with no end?

These are all references to Christ’s millennial kingdom, this has not happened… yet.

One day yet future, Christ is going to catch away all born again believers, they are all going to be caught up to Heaven, then God is going to judge the entire earth during a period of 7 years, then Christ is going to come back and destroy the armies of the world and then “the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: ³³And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”

I have said it once; I have said it a 100 times we born again believers are on the winning side of these future events.

Many prophecies of Christ in the OT have been fulfilled literally, but not all of them have been fulfilled because they are yet future.

If most of them have been fulfilled literally, then we can trust that the rest of them will be fulfilled literally, which would include His 2^nd coming and HIS millennial reign.

Jesus Christ is coming back, folks.

³⁴Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? ³⁵And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

The conception of this child was unlike any other, notice the bible says “that holy thing “holy means set apart, this child is the set apart child of all children that has ever been born.

Your view of Jesus, does it line up with what the angel said to Mary?

Angel to Joseph

Matthew 1:18-24 (KJV)
¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. ¹⁹Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.²⁰But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. ²¹And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Here again we see the name of Jesus, in this scripture it tells us what the name means, “thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. “ it means savior.

²²Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, ²³Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. ²⁴Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

I like this, this tells us that Joseph was a bible believer, how do I know this.

Why else would the angel say “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying.”

The angel says this is the child that the bible said would come.

Here this child is, in the womb of your soon to be wife.

What did Joseph do after the angel showed him the scriptures, he obeyed.

What a great example for us today, if it is in the scriptures than that should be good enough for us.

Jesus was prophesied, promised, pictured and preached throughout the Old Testament.

Acts 3:18 (KJV)
¹⁸But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

Jesus Christ is the one that all of the prophets spoke of that would come, HE is the messiah, the Christ and the Son of God.

The angel is saying to Joseph HE is that one that should come.

Why do people look for another, HE has already come, believe on HIM.

The prophet, the angel is speaking of is Isaiah and comes from Isaiah 7.14.

What does this prophecy say of Christ, “they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us”.

Jesus is God!!!

Angels to the Shepherds

Unlike the other two angelic encounters, this one happens right after Jesus is born.

Luke 2:8-14 (KJV)
⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. ¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. We are looking at how the angels testify of Christ.

The first thing we see that the announcement of HIS birth is” good tidings of great joy”, why?

Because they were awaiting HIS birth, they were awaiting there Savior, their Christ and their Messiah.

Not only was it to be good tidings of great joy to the Jews, but to all people.

There are a lot of people who think that they are excluded from the message of Jesus Christ.

They will say I am Muslim, I am Jewish, I am Buddhist, I am atheist, I am a murderer, I own a bar, I am a drunkard or I am happy without religion.

We could go on and on, all the different excuses we get for people not wanting to hear the message, but the angel proclaimed this Jesus Christ “shall be to all people”.

Remember when God spoke to Abraham and God said “in thy seed shall all nations of the world be blessed”

I do not care where you come from, who you are, but the message of Jesus Christ is for you.

¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace.

What is this peace?

Did the birth of Christ bring an end to all conflict?

No, but the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ promises to end the conflict that exists between God and man, for those who believe.

This conflict is sin; we are born into this world with corrupted and deceitful hearts.

We are all born sinners, born with a sinful nature and we sin.

God has a standard of righteousness, a standard of what is right; we all have personally offended God’s righteousness, His standard.

God tells us not to murder, not to hate, not to steal, God tells us to always honor our fathers and mothers and not to lie.

We could go on and on, this is just some of HIS standard of righteousness.

When we offend God’s standard, the bible calls this sin and the bible tells us the wage for our sin.

Romans 6:23 (KJV)
²³For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Many of men have tried to end this conflict with the making of idols, with the laying down of laws, with the setting up of religious systems.

None of these things have worked and they cannot work because they are not God’s way.

Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone brings this peace.

The angel said that this is God’s good will toward men.

John 3:16 (KJV)
¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

We also call this grace.

The grace of God is good; do you know of this grace that I am talking?

Do you know this peace I am talking about?

If you do not, then get saved and get saved today!!!

Invitation

And If you had the wrong view of Jesus Christ, REPENT!!!

HE is more than the founder of Christianity, HE is more than a good man, a wise man, and HE is more than a prophet.

HE is Christ the Lord, He is God, and He is the Saviour of the World.

We Christians like to call HIM our Lord and Saviour.

Let me ask you Christian…

Can HE really be your Lord if you don’t read HIS words?

Is He really your Lord if you are not serving in one of His churches?

Is He really your Lord if you never talk to Him?

Is He really your Lord if you never tell others about Him?

Is He really your Saviour, if you are entangled in habitual sin?

Who is Jesus Christ to you!!!

His Given Name

noreply@blogger.com (Pastor LaPat) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 02:05:00 +0000

Today we are going to talk about HIS name, the name of JESUS CHRIST.

The bible has a lot to say about HIS name, as we will see.

There is NOT a more important name in all of the history of mankind than the name of Jesus Christ.

A Name with Meaning

There are a few known names given by God in the bible.

God changed Jacob’s name which means “deceiver” to Israel which means a “prince with God”.

God changed Abrams name which means “exalted father” to Abraham “father of a multitude”.

When God names someone HE names them for a specific purpose.

When Jesus was named, it was from God and it has a meaning, that means something.

What does the name Jesus mean?

Matthew 1:21 (KJV)
²¹And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

The bible tells us that an angel met with Joseph (the adopted father of the Christ child) and the angel told Joseph to name the child Jesus.

Why Jesus, the bible tells us “for he shall save his people from their sins".

His name’s meaning was fulfilled in what HE did, dyeing on the cross for my sins and your sins.

A Name of Power

As we will see this name is a name of great power.

Acts 3:1-7 (KJV)
¹Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. ²And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; ³Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. ⁴And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. ⁵And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. ⁶Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. ⁷And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

The bible teaches that the apostles were given signs and that the Jews required a sign.

Here the Lord gives this great amount of Jews a sign, done by the apostles.

2 Corinthians 12:12 (KJV)
¹²Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

Peter was an apostle, the bible is very clear we do not have apostles today.

There was a power in the name of Jesus to bring this man to his feet, but as we will see there is a power in the name of Jesus to bring people to salvation.

A Name to Be Preached

This event took place amid a very large crowd.

Acts 3:9-10 (KJV)
⁹And all the people saw him walking and praising God: ¹⁰And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

This man was known for being lame, the people were amazed, this did not happen every day, God was giving a Peter a great opportunity here, and the people wanted an answer for this.

What does Peter do with this opportunity?

Peter is now going to answer for this miracle.

Acts 3:11-16 (KJV)
¹¹And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering. ¹²And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? ¹³The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. ¹⁴But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; ¹⁵And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. ¹⁶And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

What an amazing message, he is looking at the very crowd that crucified Jesus, the same crowd that cried for his blood, the same crowd that let a murderer go instead of the innocent Christ.

It is that same man, The Son of God Jesus Christ, it was in HIS name that this man stands before the crowd whole and complete.

Peter took the attention away from him and turned the people’s attention to Christ.

It is Jesus Christ that is to be preached, not myself, and not this church.

This is what we try do when we knock on doors, we introduce ourselves, and then we try turning the attention to Jesus Christ.

We as Christians are responsible to preach Christ; once we have preached Christ then the hearers have a responsibility.

Acts 3:18-19 (KJV)
¹⁸But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. ¹⁹Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Peter gives 2 great evidences of Jesus Christ, 2 great evidences to believe on Jesus Christ.

The first one is the man standing before them whole, and the other one was the Jewish scriptures, the Jewish bible, that spoke of a coming Christ, one that would suffer death for the sins of the people.

Peter preached Christ, now the responsibility is on the hearers to repent, to turn to Jesus Christ for salvation.

Today all of those under the sound of my voice are responsible, my responsibility ends when I preached Christ.

You are now responsible to repent, to turn to Jesus Christ for salvation.

What happens to those who do not repent?

Acts 3:22-23 (KJV)
²²For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. ²³And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

That prophet Moses was talking about is Jesus Christ, those who reject Jesus Christ will be destroyed, this is talking about the eternal fires of HELL!!!

You must believe in Jesus Christ!!!

What was the result of the preaching of Jesus Christ?

Acts 4:4 (KJV)
⁴Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

Jesus Christ is a name to believe in.

A Name to Believe In

Peter and John are going to be detained and tried for this horrible thing of healing this man and preaching Jesus Christ.

What is there defense to such a horrible thing?

Acts 4:12 (KJV)
¹²Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

According to the bible, what other name can somebody be saved?

What about OPBC, can a person be saved by joining OPBC?

What about Jason LaPat, can Jason LaPat lay his hands on you and pray for you that you would be saved?

What about being a Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist or a Baptist.

Can any of those names save you?

Only the name of Jesus Christ.

John 20:31 (KJV)
³¹But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

A Name that Offends

Is there a more offensive name, than the name of Jesus Christ?

Thank about it, Christmas time, is there anything more offensive in our politically correct culture, than to say “Merry Christmas”.

What name above all others gets cursed more than any other?

When somebody stubs there toe do they say Adolf Hitler, Michigan Wolverines, Judas Iscariot and/or Lucifer.

No, they say the name of the one took the judgment of every sin that has ever been committed.

The name of the one who took the judgment for your sins.

The name of Jesus Christ is a hated name.

What does the name of Jesus Christ say that is soo offensive?

The name of Jesus Christ says you are a sinner and you need saved.

That is why it is sooo offensive.

The offense of Jesus’ name is nothing new.

Acts 4:1-2 (KJV)
¹And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, ²Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

Why were they grieved, why were the “priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees grieved?

They were grieved because they had this religious system set up and the apostles were turning people away from this religious system.

We have a lot of religious systems in our day too; systems made by man to give people an idea that they are right with God.

The leaders of these religious systems hate the preaching of Christ, because it turns people away from religious works to a Jesus Christ, who suffered and died in their place for their sins.

We do not preach a religious system; we preach Christ and him crucified.

We just read in verse 4, that these religious leaders lost 5,000 adherers to their religious system, because of Peter and John preaching Christ.

Who are Peter and John, in verse 13, it calls them “unlearned and ignorant men.”

Not only are they losing followers but they are also being told that there religious system does NOT work for them either.

Do you realize the personal sacrifice involved in becoming a religious leader in this religious system.

How do you think these religious leaders are going to respond?

Acts 4:3 (KJV)
³And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.

The next day they question the Peter and John, and Peter preaches again, Christ.

As we read earlier.

Acts 4:12-13 (KJV)
¹²Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. ¹³Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

I like that; they saw the boldness of Peter and John, what was bold about the message?

The boldness of Peter and John is the preaching that Jesus is the only way.

That is the most offensive thing to say in our politically correct culture today.

Peter and John who were “unlearned and ignorant men” were telling these highly regarded, highly trained religious leaders that there religion is not going to work.

To be bold is to offend.

Let us look at how this counsel concludes.

Acts 4:18-20 (KJV)
¹⁸And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. ²⁰For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Notice that they did not tell them to stop the miracles but to stop speaking in the name of Jesus Christ.

Did they stop, NO.

In fact, we read that this same thing happens all over again.

Acts 5:28-29 (KJV)
²⁸Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. ²⁹Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Acts 5:40 (KJV)
⁴⁰And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

HIS name is an offensive name, a name that means Savior, a name that condemns us sinners, the only name by which anybody can be saved, the name of Jesus Christ.

A Name We Will Be Judged By

We have a choice, a choice as to what to do with the name of Jesus Christ.

I have already chosen, have you?

Every soul in existence upon the face of this earth will bow a knee before Jesus Christ.

I do not care how big somebody thinks themselves to be, they will bow a knee before Jesus Christ.

This is what the bible teaches; the question is, when will you bow a knee to the Lord Jesus Christ?

Philippians 2:9-11 (KJV)
⁹Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: ¹⁰That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; ¹¹And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Every knee means every knee, you can bow a knee now in recognition of your sinful condition and your need of salvation, or you could wait til you get to the other side of eternity and it will be to late, and then be cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.

Get saved today.

Christian you have a responsibility to take that name to the lost, would you tell somebody about Jesus?

Pastor Jason LaPat

jasonlapat@yahoo.com

4/8/2011

Searching the Scriptures with Pastor LaPat

Healed To Pt3

Healed To Pt4

Healed To Pt 2

Healed To..

We Have Been Healed To...

Healed to Minister

Healed as an Example for others

Healed to Fulfill God’s Will

The Law

Introduction

I. Our Day Before God

II. The Law

III. The 10 Commandments

Conclusion

Questions

Essay

Dirty Feet

Finishing The Course

The Devil: The Enemy of God

The Devil Quiz: Answers

The Devil Quiz

"Walking With God in a Godless World" 3

"Walking With God in a Godless World" 2

"Walking With God in a Godless World" 1

Creator or Liar

Born Again

Born Again

THE DIALOGUE of THE 2ND BIRTH

THE DESCRIPTION of THE 2ND BIRTH

THE DEMANDS of THE 2ND BIRTH

Great lectures on the history of Christian Fundamentalism

Hands on Fatherhood

Unbelieving Believers???

Believers

Unbelieving Believers

God knows

Unbelieving Belief

Water to Wine

Miracle Needed

Man’s Cooperation

Miracle Performed

Manifests His Glory

Tempted of the Devil

Jesus Christ

The Christian

Old Fashioned Motherhood

Her Worth

Her works

Her witness

The Angels Testify

Angel to Mary

Angel to Joseph

Angels to the Shepherds

Invitation

His Given Name

A Name with Meaning

A Name of Power

A Name to Be Preached

A Name to Believe In

A Name that Offends

A Name We Will Be Judged By

THE DIALOGUE of THE 2^ND BIRTH

THE DESCRIPTION of THE 2^ND BIRTH

THE DEMANDS of THE 2^ND BIRTH