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Pastor's Corner |
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1/3/99
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If you had a choice
between drinking a bottle of poison or a bottle of water, which would you
choose? If you had to choose between a house lit with electricity or a house
glowing by candle light, which would you choose? And if you were given the
choice between heaven and hell (between life or death), which would you choose?
I believe that no rational, thinking person would make the wrong choice in any
of these choices!
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But now let me ask
you this: "If you have a decision to make that involves doing what you want
to do (‘your will’) and doing what God wants you to do (God’s will), would
you make the right choice?"
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I dare say that most
of us have said in our heart, at one time or other, the phrases "I
feel...", "but I want to...", and "I just think..."
when confronted with the clear choice of doing what God wants us to do. We do
not stop to realize that the same simple logic that would drive us to answer the
above questions correctly, should also cause us to sacrifice our own will for
the will of the One who created us. Does He not have our best interest at heart?
Then our choice should be easy! Why then is it so hard to obey? The answer given
in the parable of wheat and tares (Matt. 13:27-28) is the same answer needed
here. Jesus said, "an enemy hath done this." You choose wrong because
your enemy influences your decisions; decisions that would come easily to you
otherwise! You real choice is to resist the devil, even if he should disguise
himself as YOU; and in so doing you will find yourself making the right choices
more and more. You KNOW God’s voice, for you are His sheep. Just stop getting
distracted by the wolf cloaked in your sheep's clothing! Choose Life! Choose
God! Choose right! And you will feel like you are living again.
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© Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 1/3/1999
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1/10/99 |
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Have you ever stopped to consider
what you life would be like today if you had never doubted God? Whom might you
have become? What might you have done? How much of God would be manifest in your
life? |
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Jesus Christ lived over thirty
years and never once doubted His heavenly Father. The Bible says that Jesus did
what the Father wanted done, and spoke what the Father wanted spoken.[1]
It also says that He upbraided anyone who did not believe Him; claiming that the
reason they did not believe was because they did not know God.[2]
This is a rather strong indictment; especially to religious people. Why was
Jesus so severe on this point? |
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To doubt is to say: "I am
not sure that I can trust you (what you say, what you believe, what you claim to
know, what your intentions are)." It is to say: "You are
misinformed" and "I know better / more than you know."
Essentially, one cannot doubt unless one is NOT WILLING TO BELIEVE the person’s
credibility. |
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To doubt God, therefore, is to
say that we do not believe Him; as if He was not perfect. It also shows that we
do not accept the testimonies of Jesus, the apostles, the prophets, and all the
holy writers of the Holy Bible; for they claimed to only write what God said
about Himself. They said that God knows all, sees all, and cannot lie.[3]
They understood that to 'doubt God' was paramount to calling God a liar, a fool,
or unknowing. They called all such unbelief: SIN! And the wages of all sin is
death.[4] You kill yourself, your future, and your relationship with
God when you sin the sin of doubt. To doubt God is to reject God. |
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Your next years of life can be
BETTER; if you choose to stop this sin, and become a BELIEVER. Sow faith and you
will reap life! Believe God, for He IS always right! He said so. |
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[1] Jn.8:26-27;
Jn.5:36 [2] Jn.5:38,42 [3] Heb.6:18; Tit.1:2 [4]
Rom.6:23 |
© Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 1/10/1999
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1/17/99 |
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When was the last time YOU
repented? I don’t mean that ‘Oops, I’m sorry" kind of repentance that
one does somewhere between grabbing the keys to the car and pulling out of the
driveway on the way to work, but rather that last time you actually STOPPED to
consciously consider your ways. When was the last time you reviewed your life
with microscopic honesty and then turned to God to repent fully, openly,
honestly, and filled with godly sorrow? The Bible says that repentance is
crucial to our spiritual health, is a requirement for our continued state of
salvation and gains us access to the Father’s blessings. Is it possible we
have forgotten to repent because we have forgotten what it really is? Here is a
quick reminder of three key ingredients of true repentance. |
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Firstly, true repentance is based
on face to face confrontation with holy truth; a generous application of God’s
Scriptures to the heart of our thoughts or actions. The Word of God is the basis
for all right thinking and right action; and since repentance is ultimately a
return to the right way from the wrong way, true repentance must be a reaction
to absolute truth. Admission of THE TRUTH makes the repentance binding. Without
God’s truth affecting us, repentance is at best personal idealism. It is a ‘I
hope that I am doing better’ choice. Repentance is permanent when we
acknowledge God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. |
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Secondly, true repentance must
come with honest admission that it was not a ‘deed’ that was incorrectly
done, but rather a PERSON who was incorrectly wronged. When we sin, it is an
action against ourselves, against our fellow man, or against the Creator who
made us. It is personal. Repentance, therefore, is not merely admission of ‘doing’
wrong but an admission of ‘being’ wrong. Once we admit to BEING wrong, then
we have need of a Savior, a God, and a Redeemer who can enter our lives and MAKE
US right. |
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Lastly, true repentance is from
the heart; from the very seat of our will, emotions, and desires. We WANT to do
right, and feel right, but mostly we want to do what LOVE demands. Actions based
on God’s standard of love will never be sin. We sinned because we didn’t
feel enough love. Therefore, we must repent because we need to repair the wounds
inflicted by our loveless acts and thoughts. Repenting frees the soul from the
shackles of sin. Repenting makes us whole. Won’t you consider repenting today? |
© Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M.
1/17/1999
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1/24/99 |
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Have you ever wanted to
‘really belong’? Have you ever felt like you were all alone in this world? I’m
not talking about the absence of a mate, or the absence of a family member which
produces aloneness; but rather, the feeling of having no place to call ‘home’.
Have you ever longed to just feel like you are a vital ‘part’ of something?
That feeling is what happens when UNITY is lacking in your life. That’s right.
UNITY is the thing that is being craved. |
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God, who created us, did
so with the thought in mind that we would need to belong! He devised His plan in
such a way as to provide us with someone to belong to (Jesus Christ), somewhere
to long for (our eternal home), and something to be a part of (the Body of
Christ.). |
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Jesus prayed that we would
have that sense of belonging when he said, "That they all may be one...in
us" and "that they may be one even as we are one".[1] Paul
explicitly told us that we are so important to each other that we cannot even
say that one member of the Body of Christ is unneeded .[2] And in
Ephesians it says that we all are to have unity in spirit, and in faith.[3]
The feeling of ONENESS is one of the strongest feelings a human can experience;
next to the exhilaration of overwhelming love. Love brings closeness; but unity
brings oneness! Unity satisfies that yearning to ‘fit’. Love gives us
heartfelt pleasure, but unity gives us heavenly placement and purpose. |
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The Christian’s purpose
is clear - save those who are lost, set the captives free. Yet, isn’t that
just another way of saying, "reach those souls who have never tasted what
true love and true unity is all about"? They may have sampled some meager
feelings of unity (even love) from off the dinner plates of life’s
experiences, but they have never banqueted off of the feast which only God can
provide. They need to become one with God and His People - people like YOU! |
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Do you feel like YOU
belong? If not, perhaps you should consider a FULL surrender of your own inner
reservations and become a participating member of His church. God has offered us
something to become one with; not something that will become changed to be one
with us. As WE humble ourselves (and rest willingly in the palm and plan of God)
God promises that all our needs will be filled. That includes our need for
unity. Working WITH God’s Spirit, God’s Son, and God’s saints is the most
satisfying sense of unity that you will ever experience. Chose - to become ONE!
Chose - to belong instead of to long. And chose to help others to get their
longings fulfilled as well. Unity and love are God’s offerings to us all. |
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[1] John
17:21-22 [2] 1 Cor. 12:21,23-24 [3] Eph. 4:3,13 |
© Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M.
1/24/1999
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1/31/99 |
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Have you ever been betrayed? Have
you ever been deserted, forsaken, or ignored? How about being loved one minute
and then hated the next? If you have ever experienced the pain of the firebrand
of emotional devastation, then you are a candidate for the healing hand of the
Lord upon your soul. What you may not realize, however, is that YOU must do
something first in order for the Spirit of God to reach your heart. You must
FIRST forgive the betrayer, the deserter, the hater, or the one who devastated
you. |
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Forgiveness is the act of erasure
that returns our heart back to the day before the infliction of the wound. We do
not understand exactly what the Lord does in our ‘heart’ (the core of our
memories, emotions, and will) but we do know that He has the power to turn back
the effects time. He accepts our humble cry for help, in the form of our
contrition and forgiveness, and multiplies that back to us in the form of
deepening peace and inner change. Now for a question. Do you know the difference
between saying, "I’m sorry", "I apologize", and
"please forgive me"? |
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To say, "I’m sorry"
usually is to say: "I feel bad about what I have done". To say,
"I apologize" is to communicate: "I am asking you to not hold
this against me". But to actually say, "please forgive" is to
say, "I am at fault (partially or fully) and I request that we just erase
it all as if it never happened." Requesting forgiveness defeats any attempt
of the devil to inflict guilt, sorrow and shame. Giving forgiveness purifies the
stream of consciousness so that the Light of God can sparkle upon it’s
surface. We need to forgive those who have wronged us even as we request
forgiveness for those whom we have deserted, betrayed, ignored, or forsaken.
[1] |
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Once forgiveness is given,
whether it is done internally or externally, to the one who did the wrong, one
last thing must still requested of the Lord. Request must be made for the
healing of the heart for the specific violation. Just recently the Lord prompted
me to do just that kind of prayer. I had to say, "Lord, I know that I have
forgiven the ones who have hurt me, and I hold no malice, but I need you to heal
me of betrayals, of desertions, and of the losses". I needed healing from
the actions (and in-actions) of those whom I have loved but who have knowingly
(or unknowingly) deeply wounded me." The prayer brought tears, but it also
brought some cleansing. |
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I find that forgiveness washes
out the dirt in the vase, but I think it still takes God’s loving touch to
take away the scoring of our nature. Sin scratched us but God restores US. When
we forgive it opens us up to God’s touch. When He touches us, we get a sense
of how much we are forgiven as well. The person who is forgiven much, loveth
much [2] and receives healing for the broken heart as well. [3] |
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[1]
Matt. 6:12 [2] Luke 7:47 [3] Luke 4:18 |
© Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M.
1/31/1999
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Original Quote by Pastor Anthony |
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Many of your friends know what you are going to say before you say it, they listen anyway; did you expect less of God?
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This site was last modified on 10/10/2007
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