If You Have no Faith in The

If you have no faith in the future, then you have no power in the present. And you do not believe in Jesus or that He will guide you through it. Joseph a son of Jehovah

Has Been Planted in Their

“The spiritual struggle which the believers must conduct is between the flesh and the spirit, between the old and the new man, between the sin which continues to dwell in the believers and the spiritual principle of life which has been planted in their hearts.” Herman Bavink

The Attitude of God toward the Saved

Was the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ when He died on the cross all-sufficient for God to save the sinner? Was His sacrifice sufficient for God to justly keep the sinner saved? Is God lacking in wisdom and power to fulfill His eternal purpose for the saved sinner?

Ultimately the question of eternal security is reduced to a question of the all-sufficiency of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ when He died on the cross.

If the person who has received eternal life by believing on Christ is ultimately lost then we must conclude that God is impotent and the sacrifice of Christ is not sufficient to save the depraved sinner. One would have to conclude that the Sovereign LORD God would have to submit to a power greater than Himself that He has created.

The eternal purpose of God for the sinner is that we be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 15:49; Phil. 3:20-21; Col. 3:10; 1 Jn. 3:2). Could our great God and Savior be so careless as to what becomes of the person He has so loved and sent His Son to die for on the cross?

The apostle Paul argues the attitude and power of God will be “much more” for the person He has saved than His attitude of love for His enemies before He saved them. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:8-10).

God has demonstrated His love toward His enemies by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross (vv. 6, 8). Christ died on behalf of, or instead of the sinner. Paul argues from the greater problem to the less saying the greater thing is the justification “by His blood.” Since that was an awesome mystery of profound cost, keeping the sinner saved is less of a mystery. God gave His Son as a propitiation for our sins (Rom. 3:25; Col. 1:10; 1 John 2:20; 4:10). We have become reconciled to God by means of the death of His Son. Paul argues, “Much more then” we shall be saved “by His life.” Christ is alive, seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, “since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).

Since God has gone to such great costs to save us, He will do “much more” if that is needed to keep us saved (Rom. 5:9-10). It is inconceivable that our Good Shepherd and Savior who has sacrificed so much to save us in giving His Son on the cross, would be careless to insure or secure such an investment.

How “much more” is His attitude of love to those whom He has cleansed in His blood, transformed by His power and saved. If God has gone to such lengths to save us then He will surely save us from His fiery wrath by that same blood of propitiation. He died in the place of the powerless, ungodly sinners who were His enemies. Certainly, his Savior will not forsake that “now-declared-righteous” person. Since the blood of Jesus has resolved the greater dilemma, certainly the justified sinner will be saved from God’s wrath. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). The saved sinner will never be condemned to hell (Jn. 5:24).

The atoning sacrifice is totally the work of God, accomplished by the blood of Jesus. God has removed the enmity that stands between people and God. Since reconciliation was done “through the death of His Son,” while we were enemies, then His present resurrection life in heaven will insure the complete and final salvation of believers.

Paul’s argument is, “Before we were saved, God proved His love by sending Christ to die for us. Now that we are His children, without doubt He will love us more.” If God saved us while we were sinners, He will keep on saving us now that we are His children. The child of God will not experience the wrath of God. Since Christ accomplished our reconciliation in His death how “much more” will He do for us in His life of intercession for us in heaven. We are eternally saved because He lives (Heb. 7:23-25; Rom. 8:34). He is interceding for us even now.

Since God the Son died for us when we were sinners who hated Him, how much more will He save from the wrath of God those who are now in a righteous standing as is the Son is with the Father.

“Much more” having been now justified by His blood we shall be saved through Him from the wrath of God. “Much more” having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life.

Selah! Pause – reflect- just think of that!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006 Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

Dangerous Way of Making Decisions

“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.” Thomas Sowell

Anointed Preaching

Preaching is preaching only when the messenger is anointed with the Holy Spirit.

The apostle Paul tells how he arrived in the city of Corinth not dependent upon self-assurance, self-assertiveness, or a powerful personality, “but in demonstration of the Spirit and power” (1 Corinthians 2:4). In fact, Paul stresses the contrasting difference, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (vv. 2-5).

Only the anointing of the Holy Spirit can make great preaching. Paul was concerned that nothing distract from the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We live in a day that puts much of the emphasis on the attractiveness of the clever mind and entertainment.

Lloyd-Jones was a prophet when he wrote in Preaching and Preachers, that we take “so much time in producing atmosphere that there is no time for preaching in the atmosphere!” The church has turned to entertainment “as she has turned her back upon preaching.” The first century preachers “refused to pander to the tastes of their listeners.” They did just the opposite by admonishing, warning, rebuking, and reproving their listeners.

Over and over again in the book of Acts we are told of the preachers “being filled with the Holy Spirit.” They proclaimed their message as the Holy Spirit enabled them. Their message and deliverance were under the control of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit had baptized them when they first believed, and they had been filled on many occasions since then. One baptism, many fillings is still a Biblical truth for every preacher.

Biblical preaching is still the greatest instrument the church possesses. Every preacher should ask himself, “Do I have the anointing?” And “if not, why not?” Unless we have the sweet anointing of God’s Spirit we cannot bring the message of the Gospel with authority and power. “Am I anointed by the Holy Spirit?”

When we come with the holy anointing we will be as John the Baptist saying, “I must decrease; He just increase.” “I am a voice,” and nothing else.

How do we know when we have the anointing? The apostle Paul said, “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance” (1 Thessalonians 1:5). Who gives the assurance and the power? Only the Holy Spirit can do that.

But it is not just the preacher who needs to be under the control of the Holy Spirit. His desire is to fill ordinary people with extraordinary power. Every anointed preacher longs to have anointed listeners!

We need the continuous infilling of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Men will listen to what we speak, souls will be saved, and saints edified when we are “filled by the Holy Spirit.”

“It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21), and it still does.

The anointed preaching God uses is preaching that is centered in the Bible. It let’s the Bible tell its own eternal message. On the road to Emmaus the resurrected Jesus explained to two disciples that He was found in “all the Scriptures.” Thus Biblical preaching is Christ-centered. Since the sermon is biblical, and the Bible is Christ-centered, then a biblical sermon is filled with Jesus Christ. Because Christianity is Christ, all anointed preaching is centered on the person and atoning work of Jesus Christ (John 15:26; 16:14). The Spirit of God is at work whenever and wherever men are being pointed to Jesus Christ. Anointed preaching declares that God sent Jesus to die for our sins and calls men and women to turn and put their faith in Him for salvation (1 Cor. 15:3-6). We need bold, biblical, Christ-centered preaching in our day. That is anointed preaching.Selah!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006

Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

All Things in Christ

Do you want your life to count to the greatest degree imaginable for the glory of God?

Years ago I decided that I wanted to live to the hilt of every situation that I believe to be the will of God. I want to experience the full measure of the blessings of Christ in my life and ministry.

Every spiritual blessing we enjoy comes in and through Jesus Christ. Every believer is an “heir of God and co-heir with Christ” (Romans 8:17).

The apostle Paul wrote Timothy, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).  Jesus said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

John Calvin expresses this provision in Christ beautifully: “If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is ‘of him’ (1 Cor. 1:30). If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in His anointing. If we seek strength, it lies in His dominion; if purity, in His conception; if gentleness, it appears in His birth. For by His birth He was made like us in all respects (Heb. 2:17) that He might learn to feel our pain (cf. Heb. 5:2). If we seek redemption, it lies in His passion; if acquittal, in His condemnation; if remission of the curse, in His cross (Gal. 3:13); if satisfaction, in His sacrifice; if purification, in His blood; if reconciliation, in His descent into hell; if mortification of the flesh, in His tomb; if newness of life, in His resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in His entrance into heaven; if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in His Kingdom; if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to Him to judge. In short, since rich store of every kind of good abound in Him, let us drink our fill from this fountain and from no other” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 527-28).

Are you available to God to do what He wants to do in and through you to be a blessing to a lost world? God will not bless you abundantly if you are self-centered, and much of our desire for God to bless us as Christians is purely selfish. Do I sincerely want God to bless me so that I may be a spiritual well-being to other people? To some people it might be revolutionary, but may I suggest that you think of your life as a means by which God can impart spiritual blessings to other Christians, and the lost world. God wants to bless us so that we might be a blessing to others.

Everything in the Christian life begins, continues and ends in Christ Jesus. C. S. Lewis once said the greatest heresies in the church are not the denials of Christian truth, but additions to it. It is what Lewis called “Christ and …” Christ and Islam, Christ and Buddha, Christ and works, Christ and humanism, etc. No, Christianity is Christ, alone. All true spiritual blessings come through Christ alone for God’s glory alone.

God is not looking for men and women who will trust in their abilities, but on His power and wisdom alone. “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let Him who boasts boast in the Lord’” (1 Cor. 1:27-31).

God is glorified when we make ourselves available to Him to bless us so we can be His blessing to others. Are you available to Him to do whatever He wants to do with you? That is what is required of you and me. There is no limit to the imagination what God can do through you if you are entirely surrendered to Him.Selah!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006

Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

Jesus Christ Gives Abundant Life

Abundant Life!

Abundant life as Jesus described it is the life of God Himself.

God places the new spiritual life within the individual the moment he responds to God’s grace and believes on Christ as his personal Savior.

That is the beginning of a new life for one who was spiritually dead in trespasses and sins.

Jesus said, “I am come that you may have life, and keep on having it in abundance” (John 10:10b). The abundant life is a growing thing. It is the increasingly abundant present life of the believer that is emphasized.

God plants His life in the person who hears the Word of God and believes. The born again believer increasingly enters into the experience of the new spiritual life by believing and yielding to Christ. It is like a spring of water that perpetually springs up in an abundant flow from resources deep within. The Christian is to live in an abundant way of life now.

Are you living in God’s abundance? You can be a Christian and miss the abundant life. God invites you to enter into it increasingly as you trust in Jesus to change your life daily.

This overflowing life is Christ living His life out in you as you make yourself available to Him and trust Him to new areas of spiritual growth.

As the believer yields to the Holy Spirit he realizes that God’s grace and power is sufficient for every genuine need in our lives. The life of abundance comes from this awareness that nothing can suppress God’s grace.

Salvation in Jesus Christ is not a fire insurance policy. It is life—God’s kind of life—given to everyone who believes on Christ. It begins in the moment of spiritual birth, or regeneration. We have the privilege of participating in the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). What began in the spiritual birth will go on forever. It is eternal and indestructible because God is. Instead of a static life, our new relationship with God is continually entering into that life that possesses all the qualities of God. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned, he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).

If “eternal life” could be lost, renounced or taken away from us it would not be eternal. It would be as temporal as our physical life. It would not be the eternal life that God gives.

God is sovereign and He is eternal. Therefore, His gifts cannot be withdrawn. Since He has given us eternal life, that life is eternal life. We have confidence that we shall be glorified with our Lord.

Have you entered into that great love and provision of God? When you do your face will shine and your heart will be full of joy because of the indwelling of Christ.

If we will allow Him to lead us to the fullness of the Christian life we will find our table in His presence prepared, our heads anointed with His pure oil, and our cups overflowing with His wine of joy.

We will know God’s love and abundance not only for today, but for eternity.

The abundant life assures us that we can experience God’s blessings in this life and heaven, too. We can enter into the fullness of our great salvation today, and we will experience God’s goodness forever.

Philippians 4:19 says, “My God shall supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” The person who enters into this new, abundant life in Christ shall not lack any good thing.

Have you entered into the perfect peace of knowing that God is equal to every emergency and crisis you face? Have you experienced the fullness of His presence in you everyday life experiences? Do you allow Him to break in upon your awareness anytime He so chooses throughout the day?

The life He gives is overflowing in rising waves of a spiritual tide. It is like a river overflowing its banks in which nothing can suppress it. God’s favor toward us is unending because He gives a genuine unending supply.Selah!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006

We Must Start by Taking

If we are going to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, we must start by taking the Bible seriously. A. W. Tozer

But in the History Books

David was considered one who was close with Jehovah but in the history books he was known as the warrior king. So much for a godly man being a door mat for the wicked. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah

That Pleases God

The kind of worship that pleases God will be Christ-centered and Spirit-led. To try to worship without faith in Christ is folly; to try to worship without the power of the Holy Spirit is hollow. Allen P. Ross