Monday, April 30, 2012

The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth - Part 2 of 3

Part 2

In the content of human knowledge, many things are true. Yet there is one truth that will make us free from sin, destruction, and Satan's dominion – and that is Jesus himself and his revelation of truth in scripture.

Truth is revealed only from God by the Holy Spirit, and it does not originate from any person or humanistic wisdom. (1 Corinthians 2:10) “
But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”

For years, we have been told by the religious system that:
1. we have to get ready to die to be with Jesus
2. he's soon to come
3. we have no power
4. we can't heal anybody
5. you're not God

Well I believed what I was told until I searched the scriptures to see if these things were so. When you compare the Word of God to what I was told, I found that a lot of it was a lie – not all, but most of it. The truth is we are everything God says we are. But how will we know unless we make time to study the word of God to see if these things are so?

When we have lived and believed certain things all of our lives, then we believed that it was right until someone came along with truth showing you a better way. At first, you find it hard to accept, and the first thing we will say is “I don't believe that!” or “Well, I got to ask my pastor.” Go ahead; it's alright as long as he or she is directing and advising you from the Word of God and not from their opinions.

Talking about the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.

I had made mention in the beginning about the Jews and how they were hardest to reach with new thought because they symbolize our established religious thoughts and systems of worship. That's why some people don't want to hear the truth or accept revelation - because of their religious convictions. Yes, there are those who are spiritual and would quickly grasp the real import of Christianity, but they are bound by the restraints of religious habits of thought and worship and the established customs of church. You see why we have to tell them the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

We have built up a Sunday religion and put up a wall of sacredness. And in it we have our rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices according to a standard fixed by some sect whose teachings about God we have accepted as true.

But then God sends his Word – the revelation of his word - and as we begin to hear it, it begins to break down the wall of separation between our religious and worldly thoughts. Then the war begins in the mind as to whether this which I am hearing is true. The warring in the mind and flesh is trying to hinder the Word from doing its work. (2 Corinthians 10:2-5). How many of you know that we have to work the Word to work the Works?

And the Living Word of Truth cannot be killed. God's Word will prevail. Isaiah 55:11: “So shall my Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void (emptily, ineffectually, without cause; in vain), but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void” – meaning it will not return unto me emptily; ineffectually, undeservedly; without cause; in vain. “But it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

St. John 10:17 talks about the truth – the word cannot be killed. “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” You see that the truth will forever stand.

The truth is we have to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom. St. Matthew 4:23 states “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” The Gospel of the Kingdom is good news!

- Evangelist Mary Perry

Monday, April 23, 2012

The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth - Part 1 of 3

Part 1

St. John 8:31-32

St. John was written by John, the beloved disciple, and this book shows Jesus Christ as God and as Jehovah's Messiah and Son. John is the 43rd book of the Bible with 21 chapters, 879 verses, 19,099 words, and 167 questions.

The purpose is to convince the Unbelievers to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. It was also written to strengthen the foundation of faith so that believers might go on believing in spite of false teachings and so enter fully into fellowship with the Father and Son.

Here in verses 31 & 32, Jesus is talking to newly converted Jews:

V 31: “
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
V 32: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

We know that Jesus, who is truth, was always finding resistance from the Jews. They were opposed to all that Jesus stood for because they went strictly by the law and were set. And I do mean “set” in their religion! They followed the letter of the law instead of the Law Giver.

How many have heard the saying that the Jews are “God's Chosen People”? If they are “God's Chosen People”, then what does that make us? ORPHANS! How many of you know that they have to come the same way we do, and that's through and by Jesus the Christ.

So here were those Jews who heard the words of Jesus and believed and were converted. He's saying that for them to believe on Jesus, they have to continue in Him - to grow, to be strong, to come to maturity. They'll have to continue in HIS WORD!

How will we continue to grow and mature? By his Word! Verse 32 says “he shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”. What is truth?

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, truth is conformity to fact or actuality; a statement proven to be accepted as true; sincerity; integrity. According to the Word of God, truth is primarily God's revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ. St. John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Truth separates the wicked from the righteous. Truth makes us free. The lie brings us into the slavery of deception. The Truth is redemptive; the lie is destructive. The truth is that we are called to love Jesus and his word and thereby know the truth and truth shall make us free.

Jesus specifically told those new converts to continue in His Word. As we continue in His Word, the truth will unveil or expose the tactics, the plans and the workings of the devil.

An essential part of Jesus's ministry was to testify to the truth and point people to it. Should not that be our mission to testify to the truth and point people to it? Why not? 1 John 4:17 states “as he is, so are we in this world”. Jesus said in St. John 18:37: “Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.”

- Evangelist Mary Perry

Monday, April 16, 2012

Our Heritage

HERITAGE is inherited property handed down from ancestors.

Romans 8:17: "And if children (sons - male & female), then heirs; heirs of God (our creator, the Supreme Divinity) and joint-heirs with Christ”! So God is our Father, and Jesus our Big Brother, “the firstborn of many brethren” (Romans 8:29)! Therefore, what belongs to God belongs to Jesus, and what belongs to Jesus has been given to us! Hallelujah!

1 Peter 1:3-4 says, "Blessed be the God (Eloheem, our Creator) and Father (our protector and provider), of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you"!

QUESTION: What Heritage has been handed down to us?

ANSWER: THE "KINGDOM!" That which Adam (male & female) had in the beginning but lost! It (the Kingdom) has now been restored back to us through Jesus, The Christ, who is that Kingdom!!

What is Kingdom? Kingdom is power (dunamis - force, strength, mighty works, miracles); that which made it possible for Jesus to do what he did, and also that which makes possible for us to do what we do for God's glory!

"For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power"! (1 Corinthians 4:20)

"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost”! (Romans 14:17).

The RIGHTEOUSNESS is us being upright in God; having right standing with and in God! The PEACE is us being at rest and oneness with our Father! The JOY is us being happy, delightful, and rejoicing in the Holy Ghost, knowing that we don't just have the victory in Jesus, but that we are the victory because of him!

In the Kingdom is every thing we need! In Christ is every thing we need! The Kingdom is Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Kingdom!!

In Him we have redemption through his blood! We have forgiveness of sins! We've been adopted or put in position as sons! We are “holy and without blame before him in love”! (Ephesians 1:4-7). Verse eleven (11) tells us we “have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated” according to God's own will!! Verse three (3) lets us know that God the Father “hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”!! Are you IN him? Or is it only that he is in you? We need him IN us and we need to be IN HIM!

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

This is our HERITAGE! We have it ALL available to us NOW!! We can have divine health! (Isaiah 53:5) “With his stripes we are healed”! (1 Peter 2:24) With whose stripes we WERE healed!

We HAVE eternal life! (St. John 3:16)!

"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality! So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory”!! (1 Corinthians 15:53-54)

Paul asks, "who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24) JESUS has done it!!!!! He conquered "sin and death" in that flesh body, and his body didn't see corruption so that we could overcome and not see corruption!

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of SIN and DEATH! For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh! (Romans 8:2-3). GLORY TO GOD!! There is so much I could say about this, but it's too much to put into this one lesson! But this is our HERITAGE, people of God!

Paul wrote, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge (recognition; full discernment; acknowledgment) of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; (vision of the mind made plain or clear): that ye may know what is the hope (confidence; expectation) of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints”!! (Ephesians 1:17-18).

People of God, ALL of this is contained in Christ. He is in us so our HERITAGE is in us! “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4). Who is it that's in you? Jesus is In you, so the KINGDOM is in you, because he is the KINGDOM! Take a look at St. Mark 11:9-10: “And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest!!" Jesus is the KINGDOM, and the KINGDOM is IN you!! "The kingdom of God is within you!" (Luke 17:21)! JESUS THE CHRIST IS OUR HERITAGE!!

QUESTION: What good is your heritage (inheritance) going to do you "up yonder beyond the blue in the heaven that religious order has told you about?"
ANSWER: Right here is where we need the heritage (the KINGDOM - power, authority, dominion, might, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, joy, peace, righteousness and more)! All this has been made available to us now so we can rule over the works of the devil here and now! That's kingdom - when we overcome and rule and reign over the enemy here and now!! Hallelujah!!

In order for one to INHERIT another's possession, the heir must be alive!! Our testator has died and is resurrected, and NOW ALL the blessings the Father put in place for us are ours RIGHT NOW!!

We do not have to die and sail off up yonder to "heaven" to have it. It's ours NOW, IN CHRIST! In the last part of 1 Peter 1:4, he states our inheritance is "reserved in heaven for you!" Heaven is the abode of God. An abode is a dwelling place! “God was IN CHRIST reconciling the world unto himself”! (2 Corinthians 5:19)! Keep in mind Ephesians 1:3 which states that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, “hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”! So if we are IN Christ, and we are, then we are IN HEAVEN (higher places of spiritual elevation; happiness; eternity; the Gospel of Jesus Christ - not religion)! For he “hath raised us up together, and made us sit (established) together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”!! (Ephesians 2:6) Glory Hallelujah!!

- Apostle Gracie Perry

Monday, April 9, 2012

The Way to Spiritual Excellence


We have entered into another year. Thank God for his love that he hath bestowed upon us, “that we should be called the sons of God; therefore the world (system) knoweth us not, because it knew him not”. 1 John 3:1


Another year and “the Kingdom of heaven (still) suffers violence, and the violent takes it by force”. Matthew 11:12. There is no time to slack up or become weary; we are still in a spiritual war so be mindful of who you are, where you are, and whom you are in Christ Jesus.

Intensify your time of study and prayer that we, the Sons of God, will receive the divine instructions of the Holy Spirit for our lives and others. Remember the promise. Psalm 32:8 states “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” John 14:13

The devil takes no breaks; he is still your enemy, the deceiver, the accuser of the brethren. You are still who God says you are: “the light of the world” (John 9:5); the light that hath the message to illuminate the minds of God's people.

This world (system) hath blinded the minds of God's people, which believe not unless you, the Sons of God, take the message of salvation, healing, hope and deliverance to them. If we don't do this, the truth will be “hid to them that are lost”. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

Remember the devil takes no breaks. He is the god of this world system so his main objective is to influence ignorance. God's will is not for us to be ignorant but to know what his will is for our lives.

It's the truth that makes one free (John 8:32). The TRUTH must be known. WE, as children of God, continue to speak to the world (people) those things which we have learned, heard, and received by the Spirit of God (John 8:26).

You have many to reach and much to say that will liberate the minds of His people by the power of God's word. Hebrews 4:12 declares how powerful the word is and the power is in you.

You were chosen, ordained, sanctified, and sent as God sent Jesus (John 17:8). Jesus hath sent us unto his people to make known the truth of his love. So be not satisfied with hearing the laws of God only. Being a hearer of the law is not justified before God, but the doer of his word is held guiltless and justified (Romans 2:13).

God hath not changed his mind concerning the work he called you to do. He is with you in the work. Get the word and work the works, and see him confirm what he hath spoken unto you, not just to your own life but others as well (Mark 16:39).

Remember we have this treasure in our earthen vessels, which is the Excellency of the power of the gospel to liberate and make whole the love of Gods' heart (his people) 2 Corinthians 4:7.

- Minister Linda Lawrence

Monday, April 2, 2012

YES, GOD - Part 2 of 2

Part 2

And as you endure for God, you must have DETERMINATION, which means the act of deciding definitely and firmly or fixed intention to achieve a desired end which is necessary for endurance. Determination is an important characteristic in life. It is what keeps us going when we'd rather give up. Determination keeps us from quitting a demanding job or giving up on a fragile marriage. Determination helps us endure life's storms to battle enticing temptation and persevere through terrible trials. None of us can get through life without having determination! This is certainly true when it comes to the believers or the Sons of God. Living your life for the Lord requires determination.

What is amazing is that many people have resigned from serving God. They have thrown in the towel. They are no longer in the race, or some would call it the “RAT RACE”, which looks like the rats are winning. They have turned their backs and effectively said “NO MORE”.

But it takes that determination to serve the Lord. Rather than people resigning, we need people who are willing to RE-SIGN and be Ambassadors for God – to stand before his people proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom. The work we are doing is too important to leave undone. The eternal souls of men, women, boys and girls hang in the balance. So let us do what Galatians 6:9 states: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

And having that determination brings about PATIENCE which is an attitude or mind characterized by poise, inner calmness, and quiet endurance especially in the face of trying conditions. Patience has its foundation in faith, and it is perfected only in those who have unwavering faith in God. James 1:3 states “because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance”.

Patience keeps us from acting too quickly. We take time to prepare. We work steadily, determined to serve our Master. God is in no hurry because He is strong and wise. Proverbs 20:18 says “Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance.” And let me add Proverbs 23:5 which says “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.”

So when we persevere and learn patience, we become mature and complete which will cause us to better serve God. How can you serve God if you can't yield yourself over to him and stop trying to do it your way? How can you serve God if you have no endurance? You've got to be able to take some blows just like a boxer. If you go down on the first punch and can't get back up, you're not fit for the fight. It's the same way with God. You have to accomplish God's goals based on the truth of his word, regardless of the resistance that you may encounter. And with all that, it's going to take some patience. No patience, no victory. Patience is your waiting period when you are trusting God, which is essential in serving him.

Consider the fruit on a tree. A certain amount of sunlight is needed to bring out the real flavor of fruits. When the fruit has absorbed that amount of sunlight, it is ripe and delicious. So is it in man. A certain amount of trouble is needed to create the grace we need so that we can ripen, mature, and be made complete.

In other words, God wants us to be made whole so we can serve him in the fullness of our capabilities and to be made whole means that, as James 1:4 wrote, “you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”. If you are whole, you do not need to be healed because you have health, and YOU will be able to go out and lay hands on the sick and they shall recover through Christ Jesus. If you are whole, you are an overcomer meaning you have dominating power over any habit or situation. To be whole means we have victory in our lives now and authority over our adversary the devil. To be whole means that you have achieved rest in God and are walking in and enjoying the promises that He has given us. And it also means to be absolutely perfect in the eyes of God!!! And all these elements are essential to serving our God!!! So people of God, let us not just be servers, but let us rise and take our rightful place as the Sons of God so we can:

1) walk with God as Enoch
2) be a friend of God as Abraham
3) become a prayer as Joseph
4) become a man or woman of God as Moses
5) have the heart of God as David
6) have the love of God as John
7) know God as Paul

These 7 steps are ones that all believers must take if they are to progress in their walk with and have the knowledge of God that He desires all of us to have. The Lord will illuminate you on your journey to know him, to serve Him, and to be made whole. For this is His desire for all of us.

- Shawnda Townsend