Build Honest Wealth

Luke 16:10-13 NKJV

[10] He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. [11] Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? [12] And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?[13] “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

I recently got a request for a Switch 2 console. This is a little harder to find, as it just came out. But I started hunting one down and came across some by another seller I know, I’ve spent a couple hundred well buying stuff from him, so I figured maybe he’d cut me some slack or something. But I wasn’t gonna ask for special treatment, so I simply asked what kinda trade were you looking for in return for the Switch 2. His response shook me. He said that this kinda trade wouldn’t really be for me as he expects $700-$800 worth of consoles and games. Let me put it into perspective for you. The Switch 2 can be bought brand new from Nintendo themselves for $499.99 right now with a free game. This genuinely upset me. I’m all for making a profit but not like this.

This to me is Mammon. No longer caring about your fellow man and only about profit. He explained he liked to keep same and then sell the rest to get his money back. With $700-$800 worth of stuff, you’re more than getting your money back, you’re now taking advantage of people who don’t know any better. I decided in that moment I’d never buy from him or work with him again. This Isn’t the kinda seller I wanna be like or learn from. This is the kind of seller that gives other sellers a bad name. We all need to make money but not by taking advantage of others. We should never keep someone else down to push ourselves up. That’s how the wicked prospers and their end is destruction and death. Therefore, don’t be like them. You can’t take that money with you, so don’t let it take your eternity.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Build Honest Wealth.

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Stir To More

Romans 11:29 NKJV

29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “Use it, or lose it.” But when it comes to God’s gifts and calling, that saying does not apply. What God has given you cannot be lost or revoked. Paul encourages his young protégé, Timothy, to “stir up the gift of God which is in you.” (2 Timothy 1:6).

We need to do the same thing—we must stir up the gifts given to us. Just as natural talents and skills are sharpened through training, practice, and repetition, spiritual gifts are activated the same way—by putting our faith into action.

We will never see the sick healed if we never pray for the sick. We will never exercise authority over demons if we never act in faith in the Name of Jesus when those situations arise.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stir To More.

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Irrevocable Gifts of God

Every single one of us has been given at least one spiritual gift to build up the body of Christ. In other words, no one lacks a place in the body of Christ (in the Church). Every single willing soul has a place and a God-given purpose; we just need to discover it and activate it. What if we once had a gift, but stopped using it? Has it now vanished? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he reminds us that God’s promises never fail in his message, Irrevocable Gifts of God.

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Die To Self

14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:14-17

I just saw a short of a woman upset that another woman found Christ and stopped dressing in a sexual manner and no longer identified as queer. She went on to explain how she believes “Jesus Glow” is actually just losing yourself and your individuality. She intended this to be an insult, but she’s not wrong in saying this. That is the very definition of following Christ. To lose yourself and become more like Him. To be made into His Image. To literally die to self.

See, our flesh, our desires, they only lead us astray. They only lead to destruction. To death. They may feel good in the moment, but in the end, they leave you without Christ. Christ is peace; without Him, there is only torment. Christ is joy; without Him, there is only depression. Christ is life; without Him, there is only death. Without Christ, there is nothing. We can create our own identity and individuality, but it will never compare to the life the Creator of the Universe has in store for us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Die To Self.

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Do More Than Words

Revelation 3:1-3

[1]  “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of Him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. [2] Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. [3] Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.’”

Jesus gives seven different instructions to the seven different Churches. To the Church in Sardis, He tells them that He knows their works then hits them with “You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” See, Jesus saw through what they were declaring and presenting. Jesus doesn’t look at the outer, He looks at the heart. He sees what we do in public and what we do in secret.

In today’s world, we have so many people who don’t just claim Christianity, but are known and recognized as devout Christians, but you can’t watch any of the movies they’re in or music they make because of the language and religious exclamatories. If they make clean music, they go on tour with and make music with those who do those things, some even openly talking about consuming the blood of their partner for rituals, They are known for Christianity, but bear no front, They have the reputation of being alive, but they are dead. It’s not enough for the world to see you as a Christian. You have to bear fruit. You have to make a stand for righteousness.

Jesus ends His letter with a call to repentance. A warning that if they don’t wake up, He will come against them like a thief in the night. In other words, the LORD has given them a chance to repent. An opportunity to return to Him before He comes against them. When we claim to be alive, but are dead, we lie. We make ourselves an enemy of God, an enemy of Christ. Therefore, don’t waste your opportunity. Today is the day of salvation, tomorrow is promised to no one.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do More Than Words. 

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Look For The Connections

By awesome deeds You answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; the one who by His strength established the mountains, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy. ~ Psalms 65:5-8

A lot of people read the Bible and find it extremely boring. They find it to be a difficult read, but I find it extremely interesting. Why? Because there are so many different connections and subtle quotes, references, etc., that each and every time you read it, you see something new that you never saw before. For instance, I was reading the book of Psalms for the hundredth time, and when I read this verse, I immediately went “Wait a second!”

See, this is a song of David declaring who the LORD is. The God of our Salvation. Our Savior. When the LORD Jesus was on this earth, He didn’t come declaring, “I am God.” No. Instead, He let His works testify for Him.

23 And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but He was asleep. 25 And they went and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And He said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?”

Matthew 8:23-27

See, this wasn’t just Jesus doing any ol’ sign. This was Jesus making a point of who He is. He’s not just another prophet. He’s not just another teacher. Not just another Rabbi. Not just another good man. He is the LORD of the Universe. The God of our Salvation.

See, talk is cheap. Talk isn’t what Jesus came for. He came to establish and build His Kingdom. And His Kingdom is not one of talk, but of power (1 Corinthians 4:19-20). Therefore, He led by example. He, the forerunner of faith (Hebrews 6:19-20), led the way by showing who He is. He didn’t say, “I am God,” and then act otherwise. No, He let His actions speak for themselves.

Today, the Church is quite the opposite. We go around saying we are Christians, but rarely do we act like it. A lot of the time, we look more like the world than the world does. We spew hatred instead of correcting in love. We mock those who disagree with us and speak all manner of evil against anyone who just annoys us. We no longer follow the way of the LORD. Instead, we’ve paved our own path that seems right but leads to death. It’s time we allow our actions to speak for us once again.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look For The Connections.

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Prepare To Shed

Revelation 2:1-7

[1]  To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. [2]  I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. [3] I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. [4] But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. [5] Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. [6] Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. [7] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

There’s a fisherman I often watch videos of who explained that lobsters are biologically immortal. Once they get a certain size, they don’t have anymore predators. The only thing that can kill them is shedding. Once they reach a certain age, they no longer have any energy to shed. So, they’ll get stuck in their shell and they’ll end up starving to death. It made me think of Christians.

When we’ve been in church our entire lives, we often take it for granted. We don’t necessarily give into sin. We do our best to keep the commands of God, but we end up spiritually dying anyway. Why? We lose the love we had at first. Our love runs cold. Our love for God.

The passion we once had to search the Scriptures, learn new things, and grow in the Spirit slowly dies as time goes on. We become so complacent in our faith that we die to Christ, instead of living to Him. We’ve become that lobster. We’ve run out of energy to just keep going because we’ve stopped feeding our spirit. We stopped feeding our relationship with Christ.

Fasting, praying, worshipping, praising, reading and studying our bibles just come to a stop. And often times, it’s gradually, so we don’t even realize it’s happening. We become numb to it. Then we just lie down and starve to death. Our relationship with Christ just dwindles and He let’s us go.

It’s something that happens often in the Church, and the only way to avoid this fate, is to build up your spiritman. That is your source of life. Your relationship with Christ. The Father. The Spirit. It all depends on you reading and studying your Bible, praying, worshipping, fasting, and praising. It’s all about your quiet time. How you spend time with God matters.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prepare To Shed.

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Fight For Your Victory

12 For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. ~ Exodus 7:12 (NKJV)

Imagine the feeling of despair when Aaron and Moses saw Pharaoh’s magicians throw down their rods, and they were turned to serpents as well. I’m sure they felt fear, disappointment, and discouragement. But it didn’t stop there. That wasn’t the end of the story. Why? Because what looked like defeat. What looked like equality. Was quickly swallowed up! So, in the same way… Just like what happened there… Our God will swallow up every demonic counterfeit… And every demonic competition the enemy brings against us will get swallowed up.

Because these are the times when our God will show up and show out, and let the powers of darkness see and understand their inferiority—there’s no God like our God. We hear it all around us… The sound of the enemy encamping in our territory… coming in like sand upon the seashore because it’s harvest time… but nonetheless… God will grant us victory and our enemy defeat.

Because… when they come at us from one direction, they will flee from us in seven directions (Deuteronomy 28:7). A thousand may fall at our side, ten thousand at our right hand, but no plague, no mortal spiritual danger, will come near us! (Psalms 91:7, 11). We must let our mustard seed of faith, which should already be blooming and bearing fruit… burst out upon the enemy in glorious victory. Listen! The serpent of our God will eat up any and all serpents of the enemy. Whatever he does… whatever he mimics… will get eaten up!

You just have to have enough faith to keep going. To stand firm. To not accept defeat. The LORD will do the rest. He will fight for you. Through you. In you. You just have to show up in faith and refuse to stop. Refuse to quit.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fight For Your Victory.

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Achieve Serpent-Level Wisdom

16  Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. ~ Matthew 10:16

I recently read a Sumerian Proverb that said, “He is altogether good, but he is clothed with darkness.” There was no other context or information, just this one line, but it caught my attention and got me thinking. Honestly, this could be taken in too different ways but ultimately meaning the same thing, looks can be deceiving.

On the surface we see what each person wants us to see, what they allow us to see. We see the good they do, their smiles, joy, etc., but they hide the darkness that clothes their soul. Now, whether that darkness represents evil or depression of some kind doesn’t change the message, looks can be deceiving. Jesus gives us a sort of call to action, be as wise as serpents.

Throughout Scripture, serpents aren’t just venomous, sly, evil creatures. They are wise, prudent, fulfill the commands of God, and are even allowed in His presence circling His throne room. In many ancient religions, serpents are wise, knowing even the future. This is a concept throughout the world, but why is it important? Because we are to be a wise as serpents. Not easily deceived. Seeing past what is on the surface and looking deeper. Seeing through the mask to the person behind it. We are to be wise and filled with discernment.

Therefore, seek those things. They’re not just empty words Jesus said to sound good. They’re commands for us for a reason. What reason? To overcome the world through Him, just as He overcame. We see through the disguises and we expose the darkness. Whether evil or depression or any other form of oppression we expose it. We rebuke it. We shine the Light of Christ until the darkness has no other choice but to flee.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Achieve Serpent-Level Wisdom.

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Don’t Be Cow Or Chicken

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ~ Matthew 6:33

I started watching Cow and Chicken the other day, because when I was a kid, my Daddy said we couldn’t watch it because it was too stupid. While I do definitely see that, it is an extremely stupid show, the more I watch, the more I realize humanity is just as stupid as these characters. See, they have a devil character in the show that constantly tricks Cow and Chicken into a mess for his own benefit and profit. At one point, he turns Cow into a slave for her milk and forces her to be a singer. In another, he tricks chicken into playing a virtual reality video game that’s damage in the game causes real damage to him in real life. The crazy part is he really isn’t even disguising himself. He’s just changing his name, yet the two (Cow and Chicken) never catch on that it’s the same guy. We as humans are exactly the same.

We don’t pay attention to who’s speaking to us. Who’s inviting us to do something. We simply focus on the “Do I want to do that thing?” “Is it something that interests me?” part. That’s why we’re constantly falling into the enemy’s trap, just like Cow and Chicken. We don’t pay attention to who’s trying to hurt us; we’re just focused on whether or not our flesh is satisfied. That’s the danger of the human nature. It’s selfish and self-serving. Its desire is what drives us to action.

This is why we are called to crucify the flesh. This is why we are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. This is why we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, so that we won’t be deceived. So that we won’t be distracted. So that we will be able to see past the flesh and into the spirit.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Be Cow Or Chicken.

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