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Pastor's Corner |
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8/1/99
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Do you judge God’s love based on how well He performs? Do you believe
that God is judging your love based on how well you perform? If you do, then
you probably are choosing to not love yourself because you are looking at
how well you perform!
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The Bible says that God loved the world BEFORE it ever returned to Him!
The Bible says that Christ is the Savior of all men; which means even
those who do not yet love Him or obey him are already in His heart and
part of His plan. The Bible says that God IS love; which means HE FIRST
LOVES and then interacts in other ways.
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We have been raised by people; people who are filled with suspicion,
unlove, broken hearts, damaged souls, and wounded spirits. We have been
nurtured by the insecure and shown appreciation by the spiritually immature;
for the most part. Because of that fact, we have imbibed a set of mixed
signals about our selves.
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Rejection is seen everywhere a thousands times a day, and in a thousand
different ways from a thousand different sources. And it always has the same
sting to it – I reject you because I don’t love what you are, who you
are, or you. And with that comes the corollary concept of: "and if you
will just do what I say, what I like, and what I want you to do, then I will
love you again."
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And we have a hard time conceiving that there can actually be someone who
loves us first, and requires things of us second. We find it hard to accept
the fact that God can love us IN SPITE OF our foolish, fleshly, faltering
failures. He loves those who obey Him; but he loves the sinner too. He
proved his love for THE LOST by having His Son die. Will He surely not
accept A SAINT who has a little trouble with obedience? Don’t judge
yourself! Don’t judge others. Let God’s love become an active part of
your "self-esteem"; ONLY THEN WILL YOU KNOW HOW TO PERFORM!
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© Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 8/1/1999
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8/8/99
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The joy of the Lord is more than hope and more than gratitude. It is not
happiness even though there is a sense of being happy. It is peace in the
midst of pain. It is goodness in the midst of evil. It is life in the midst
of death; and light in the midst of darkness.
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So many times we believe that the only way to get to the joy of the Lord
is to erase all the opposition to that joy. We believe that if somehow we
can just remove the obstacles to our joy, then we will be able to live in
permanent joy. We even go so far as to believe that if we could just avoid
war, strife, difficulty, flesh, and the demons of hell, THEN we could be
HAPPY FOREVER. But God has a better plan in mind. A better plan? Are you
saying that war is good? That strife, difficulty, and the opposition of
demons is GOOD for us? Are you crazy? The answer to those question is OF
COURSE NOT!
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God did NOT institute war as a way to make us better; Satan brought it on
us as a way to make us worse. Flesh exists not to be an object lesson to
overcome, nor as a spiritual bar-bell set to cause us to become spiritually
stronger. And demons are NOT here on earth doing God’s bidding! The thief
is here to kill, steal, and destroy. But God’s better way for us is not
ARBITRARY victory. It is the victory of a CONQUEROR.
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To that end, God has given us the most important key to our victory. God
offers us JOY so that we will have STRENGTH so that we can DRIVE OUT THE
OPPRESSOR. But if we try to withhold that wellspring of joy that He has
planted deeply into our spirit, then we will spend our days fighting without
success. The devil is not scared of the mighty or the strong; for he knows
that he has mastered them before. The demons do not tremble in front of the
brilliant; for they have outsmarted the most brilliant of earthly minds.
They have conquered ADAM for thousands of years, and stolen away the
DOMINION BIRTHRIGHT. There is truly only one thing they fear; GOD’S NATURE
MANIFEST IN YOU. Joy is one aspect of HIS nature.
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© Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 8/8/1999
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8/15/99
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A flower in the desert, a breeze on a hot day, a rainbow in the midst of
a rain and a moonbeam in the dark of the night. What do they all have in
common? What do they all do for us? The answer is really quite simple. They
offer us a heightened pleasure in the midst of a contrary influence. When we
would be tempted to dread the dry, curse the hot, cower from the shower or
fear to go out at night, these singular blessings stand out to give us hope.
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Remember Aarons rod that budded? Do you remember the almond branch in the
prophecy of the minor prophet who saw the bud in the midst of winter? Do you
remember Jesus in the midst of a dark world? It is all the same thing! It is
the love of God shining forth TO YOU. It is true that Jesus is the light but
so is the rainbow. They are both SENT FROM GOD. And so it is in all
creation. For every bleakness there is hidden within a blessedness. That is
the way of God. He gives a fragrance that will draw you toward Him. He
points a light to show the way. And He sends a soft wind to cause you to
turn toward Him.
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In the spirit we find that God is doing exactly the same thing. When it
seems that the forces of darkness are in a prevailing way, that they are the
bigger part of the picture of our day, God puts a thought into the midst of
their thinking which invades our mind. God simply says: The bible. He pulls
us toward the light of His Word. And when it seems that we have lost our way
and ended up in the desert of our soul, He sends for a fragrance in the form
of a saint who is full of Himself. In the time of heat, when the
circumstances seem to be hot against us, He will blow a short breath of
peace to cause us to consider what is important in life. When the
distractions are falling all around us, He gives us a glimpse of His immense
beauty. And we rest in the midst of the storm.
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God is never very far from us, but we must choose to look for the small
blessing hidden in the vastness set before us. We have been given eagles
eyes which can focus quickly on the smallest thing. The choice is ours to
decide what we will chose let into heart.
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© Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 8/15/1999
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8/29/99
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We, Christians, sing songs about doing spiritual warfare, but do we
ACTIVELY WAGE WAR? Or are we just SINGING songs ABOUT victory? It would be
no different than singing ABOUT Christ, but never truly CONNECTING to THE
CHRIST. When we say the words, "Lord, I put on the armor of God! I put
on the shield of faith. I put on the helmet of salvation! etc...", ARE
WE ACTUALLY PUTTING ON THE ARMOR? It is one thing to say 'I REBUKE YOU
SATAN' and quite another thing to say 'SATAN GET THEE BEHIND ME!!'. It is
one thing to say 'I BELIEVE IN CHRIST' and quite another say 'IN THE NAME OF
JESUS BE GONE!!'
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Worshipping ABOUT Christ, War, Victory and biblical truths FEELS GOOD;
but actively interacting between The Spirit and the spirits requires EFFORT
-- and effort does NOT feel good. Effort feels tiring, boring, repetitive,
toilsome, and often troublesome. IT IS THE FRUIT OF OUR LABOR tastes good!
The Bible says to LABOR to enter the rest (which is the peace that follows
victory). It also says to WORK OUT your salvation.
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I wonder if we are not building whited sepulchers of adoration while
simultaneously sealing up the REAL FAITH (which gives us victory) inside!
Have we murdered our faith; just like the religious leaders did the prophets
in times past? If God speaks IN YOU during the week do you chose to ignore
that and then on the weekend go and 'praise Him'? If the answer to that is
YES then you are no different than those of the Old Testament that God said,
'they praise me with their lips but their heart is far from me'. Praise is
nice, but confession in faith is THE POWER OF SALVATION. The Bible says,
"This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith."
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Paul told us to not war as those who beat the air; shadow boxing doesn't
count. On the other hand, attacking the PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR (and
all his minions) is of ETERNAL worth. In the book of Revelation Jesus is
seen as a being with a SWORD coming out of His mouth. What is really coming
out of your mouth? Is it a rubber sword that goes limp in the heat of
battle? Or is it the SWORD OF THE SPIRIT whereby you can hack your spiritual
Agags to pieces?! You must overcome your adversary by THE BLOOD of the Lord,
and the WORD of your TESTIMONY
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© Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 8/29/1999
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Original Quote by Pastor Anthony |
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First, Faith -- oh ye of little faith; Second, Patience -- oh ye busy about many things; Third, Silence -- until He speaks.
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This site was last modified on 10/10/2007
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