Over the years I don’t think that I ever heard any preacher talk about Ananias and Sapphira. It is interesting because it comes down to what a church really is. Everything in life revolves around people. The church is no different from the world, which is unfortunate. The church is to be an example to the world of how God works in man’s life. If you read the history of most denominations, they started with a bang. People prayed and asked to start something special. When God answer their prayers, it started a movement. Churches sprang up everywhere. The gospel was being preached and people were being saved and healed. God was moving like He wanted to. Then man had to control this movement so it didn’t get out of hand. The more man controlled the less God moves. Until God wasn’t there anymore and man controlled the church. This is how we have so many dead churches. I was in 2 revivals in my life time. The first one lasted 5 years. And how it ended when the pastor and assistant pastor fought over the church. They split the church and God left. The second one lasted 6 months. It started with a bang and the people were amazed at what happened. Then they got bored with God’s wonders. They stopped coming and God left. Ananias and Sapphira were members of the church in Jerusalem. People were giving large amounts of money to the church. Ananias and Sapphira wanted to get in on this glory. Ananias and Sapphira agreed to sell a piece of property and give part of the proceeds to the church. They lied to Peter about how much money they sold the property for. They gave only part to the church. Peter asked Ananias again if this was the whole amount. He said yes and died on the spot. Sapphira come in later and did the same thing. She died in front of Peter. They lied to the Holy Spirit. God knows what is in your heart before you even speak it. The bible says great fear came upon the church. And many separated themselves from the church.

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I am watching my cat clean herself. She is taking her time to clean herself as well as she can. She takes one area at a time. With her paw she scrubs each area of her body. And she won’t stop until she is clean. It is called being fastidious. God made that cat to be that way. Don’t laugh, can you say that you are doing what God has given to you to do? And doing it fastidiously. That cat knows what it is supposed to do and is doing it. How many people can say the same thing? Do you know what you are supposed to do?  It took me quite a few years to figure out what my calling was from God. I had no inkling of what God wanted. But until I started studying to find out what it was, I was at a loss. As I have said before, we learn a little bit at a time, here a little there a little. So what have I learned? I not as dumb as I thought I was. God loves me unconditionally. He raised Jesus from the dead to make Him Lord of Lords and King of Kings. God gave me the kingdom of God here and now. All I have to do is ask and He will give to me His will. What is His will? His will is healing, deliverance, health, and salvation. I have learned a lot in these few short years. I am glad about that. God says call unto Me and I will show you great and mighty things which you don’t know.

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For over 400 years, people have come to the new world in search of their dreams. These dreams range from freedom to riches and sometimes it was a mixture of everything. They heard of an opportunity to improve their lives and that of their families. For the most part, the people that came were middle class to poor. The wealthy had their place in life. My family came about 400 years ago. They wanted freedom of religion and an opportunity to live the way they wanted. They were French protestants. Many of the people didn’t survive the voyage over from their native land. But that didn’t stop them from coming. Many people called this land the promised land, as in the bible. To them it was a land flowing with milk and honey. You know it is still called the promised land. It still holds the promise of a better future to anyone who is willing to work hard and make a life for themselves. It is funny, that Americans seemed to have lost their way in their own country. The American dream was and is if you work hard, you can make a good life for yourself and your family. It is also funny, that America has sent missionaries to every country in the world. And now the missionaries are now coming to America. It is because they see that America has lost it’s way. There is no future without God in your life. It is time to repent and to return to our Father. I don’t know how long we have left. Time is running out for this world to search for America.

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Many people have tried to prove that there is no God. I have to laugh at their ignorance. It is sad to try to prove that man is really god. During the French Revolution, one of their leaders was named Robespierre. He was as racial a human being that there ever was. The Reign of Terror came about because of him. He had over 40,000 people killed in a year and half. He hated God and wanted to prove that there was no God. He had a new born son and to prove there was no God, he separated his son from everyone. He alone would teach him. When the child was old enough to understand, he began worshipping the sun. God wrote His laws in our heart, so that if we never did hear about Him, we still would know Him. The French people finally had had enough of Robespierre and executed him. When is the last time you could bring someone back from the dead? When is the last time you could make a tree grow or heal someone? God is who He is. We don’t have the power to do anything that God does. Jesus did say we were gods because of what happened in the Garden of Eden. Our free will made us gods, little g. Without the power of God we can do nothing. Jesus said to Paul on the road to Damascus, it is hard to kick against the pricks.

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There are many kinds of prayer. God wrote about it from Genesis to Revelations. It depends on the circumstance as to what kind of prayer to use to speak to God. As Paul worked his way through Asia Minor, He left Timothy to be the first pastor of Ephesus. Paul wrote back to Timothy to encourage and teach him. Paul said “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;” So there are supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks to God. This is talking to God. Paul was trying to get Timothy to pray this way and teach the church to do the same. There are different types for different situations. I ask God about scriptures all the time. One day I was helping a friend move and I stopped to talk to God. I was sitting at the dining room table by myself. Their girls came in and asked what I was doing. I told them I had asked God a question and was waiting for the answer. The next question was, you talk to God? I said yes and He answers. They looked at me like I came from Pluto. I told them that they hear from God also. I explained to them how and they began talking to God. Their lives turned around. God help them to accomplish what He had for them in life. Talking to God does make a big difference in anyone’s life. Begin to talk to God about anything. And watch what happens to you. Let me know what happens.

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Isn’t it funny, unusual, would be a better word, how man becomes wilder if God doesn’t zap him right away. So many people think that just because God doesn’t punish them right away, that they have a pass from God. Just the contrary is the truth. God will give a person enough rope to hang themselves. Then the punishment will follow. Unfortunately sometimes it is utter destruction. God isn’t a toy or game or a weak person that can be tricked by man. God knows before you even say it. So many people have chosen or more appropriately not chosen God and His way to their own shame. Going to church and putting money in the offering doesn’t make you a Christian. There are going to be so many people in the church that are going to be reject because they never knew Jesus. To become a son you have to trust and believe in God. The bible says that the heart of man is the most deceitful thing on earth. Not deceive yourself, God isn’t mock, nor is He a man to believe a lie. Choose God and choose life. See what He will do for you if you ask.

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What is the church? Most people think it is the people that go to a particular building every Sunday. It may be called a congregation, however it isn’t the church. The church is a peculiar group of people that have the distinction and honor of being the sons and daughters of God. It doesn’t matter what denomination you belong to. Because God didn’t start denominations. Man did. In the first century, there was a local church. People could belong to it if they were recommended by people in the church or a pastor of other church. If you didn’t have this certification you could not belong to that church. In the first century, the government was trying to kill off the church. So they would send people to try to infiltrate their meetings. There were no denominations. Everybody belong to God’s church or they didn’t belong. If you were a Christian and couldn’t verify it, you would probably be killed. The church wasn’t only where you could learn of God, it was a sanctuary for the government of the day. And I am afraid it is coming back to that again. If you really want to see who you are and what is really going on. Don’t look at yourself as a member of this or that denomination. Your teacher isn’t the man in the pulpit. Your teacher is the Holy Spirit. You belong to God and God is ultimately responsible for you. God says you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

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In Old Testament times, everybody lived by the golden rule, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and a life for a life. It was God’s law. Even Moses as a prince of Egypt, fled for his life after killing a man. No one was immune to the law. Every civilization had this law. So the people were surprised when Jesus preached forgiveness and turning the other cheek. Because of the hardness of the hearts of men, God had to put a law in place to keep the peace.  It’s not like that today, people just can’t go around killing other people for nothing. Oh, wait it is just like today. The bible always said that God knew who man was and what he would do. So He sent Jesus to preach a different gospel so people could live together. He said to love God with your whole heart, soul and mind. And to love you neighbor as yourself. But you know that God never did away with the law. If man sins, he falls under the penalty of the law. What is the penalty of the law you ask? It is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and a life for a life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Choose God while you can and let Him bring you out from under the law.

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The story of Mary Magdalene isn’t an usual one. She was by all rights a prostitute in the city of Jerusalem. She sold her body for money. It was a hard life. Jesus came to visit a man named Simon. He was a Pharisee and fairly wealthy. Jesus was seated at Simon’s table and they were having good food and conversation. God had shone His light on Mary’s life. She knew that everything she was, was wrong. And that she was separated from God. She had heard that Jesus was in town and sought Him out. She took with her an alabaster jar of ointment. Apparently the people at Simon’s house knew her and she got in. Jesus was already seated at the table eating. She headed straight for Him. Mary began to wash His feet with her tears and anoint them with the ointment. Simon being a good host didn’t say out loud what he was thinking. Though he thought Jesus should know better than to let this women touch Him. Jesus rebuked Simon for not being a good host and providing water to wash his feet or ointment to anoint His head. He turned to Mary and said her faith had saved her life and that her sins were forgiven. God doesn’t tell a story but for no good reason. They always relate to us. This was an important story that anyone can go to God and ask for forgiveness. And God will forgive us our sins.  I can see myself in that story, can you?

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Violence is the destructive nature of man. It comes in all forms. Bullying is a form of violence. But I am old school about the solution. A bully is a coward and a swift blow to the nose would resolve a lot of things. I don’t advocate violence as a solution. I advocate that you stand up and facing it head on with courage. There are more insidious form of violence. It is how this blog got started. I was watching a commercial about abused animals. It said how people should be involved to stop it. Then I thought how people should be involved in stopping the killing of innocent children. I was talking to a person who worked in the US Justice Department about violence in this country. I said that after the US Supreme Court decision about abortion, that the murder and violence rate has climbed exponentially in the country. He kept saying no, but the statistics bear it out. If life isn’t protect, it is open season on man. I know that it is a touchy subject. Man wants what he wants. And everything is right in his own eyes. What will happen in the end? What will man do? Will man destroy everything that is good? Hitler tried to conquer the world. He marched his army in every country he could. He was successful in killing 50 million people. God didn’t leave one brick on top of the other in Germany. Over 80 million Germans were killed in WWII. Their country was destroyed. God says if you live by the sword, you will die by the sword. God also says you have a free will and need to choose what you will do about your life.

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