First Friday Fellowship

Being Christian is not about being popular. It's not about how many people think you're a good person.

And, we’re in a culture war. Satan is always on the prowl, looking for those that he will devour. He preys on our weakness. He attacks at our flanks, and where we're most vulnerable.

So, what does it mean to be a man or woman of Christ? What does it look like when we believe that the King of all creation, sent us a fighter for our souls, a personal Savior to save us, a personal warrior for our eternal lives?

As believers, it's our job TO ENGAGE.

Love is NOT PASSIVE… It's active.

It's our job to deeply assess our own character, and work on that plank that's in our own eyes FIRST, and then also in love and humility, be a blessing to the people that God loves, which is all of us.

The Bible says, “Claim me before man, and I will claim you before my father. Deny me before man, and I will deny you before my father.”

It is time to stand up. It is time to be counted.

We have to claim Him. THAT’s how we show strength. THAT’s how we engage.

When Moses was called, DIRECTLY by God, to lead His people out of Egypt, he resisted.

The Lord was then going to kill the one HE JUST CHOSE to lead His people; We just went from a divine calling, to a divine condemnation, in a couple of chapters. 

Moses was required to follow the law, and to his wife Zipporah's credit, it was identified and fixed. 

TAKE GOD’S WORD SERIOUSLY, or someday all of us could find ourselves on the wrong side of being sick.

The world is hard right now for MANY people. Their health struggles, and money struggles, and what appears to be a changing of all the stuff that we used to call “Normal.” 

So, given that environment, what's a believer to do… Where should we focus?

Well, we know we need to pray. We need to be in The Word. We need to teach whoever will listen.

Also… Act justly, love mercy, forgive others and walk humbly with our God. 

We already know how this book ends and we need to JUST KEEP DOING GOOD, knowing that the harvest is coming… JUST KEEP DOING GOOD! 

God has an infinite well of resources. He can draw power in your lap when you LITERALLY have nothing left. 

Allow him to fulfill the plan that has been in place, since before the foundations of the world. 

Trust the Lord.

Amen.

How do we pray? 

Ministers across the world are asked this question quite often.

We should humble ourselves, and repent. We have to CLAIM JESUS as our SAVIOR. And then you have to make sure when you're praying, the words coming out of your mouth ARE THE TRUTH!

God is perfectly good. We should always make sure that our hearts line up  with HIS purpose; When we have surrendered to the saving grace that ONLY His Son provides, and when the words coming out of our mouth are ANCHORED by that truth.

Let God speak to you, and give you the wisdom that only he can provide.

It's time to repent. It's time to reflect on our personal holiness, and it's time to pray with the type of urgency, that we might find ourselves in if we were facing an imminent threat. 

Because you know what? 

We are.

I'm not so sure it's easy to wrap our minds around the fact that Jesus was fully God, AND fully human. Clearly, from the Bible, he experienced true human emotion.

When Satan attempted to temp Jesus, Jesus chose God's Word, to tell Satan, “NO!”, and rebuffed Satan’s temptations.

Do we see ourselves selling-out to meet an immediate, physical, severe, pressing need like, not eating for 40 days?

Would we sell out for the promise of riches, and power, and authority? Will we fold when our manhood, or womanhood, or sense of self is attacked directly?

Do we have the wisdom and patience, to seek FIRST God's Word and His promises contained in the Bible, and developed in a relationship with HIM?

Jesus didn't need to call down his angels to chase Satan away, or display his godhood. He only needed God's word to completely derail Satan's plan.

Can we do the same?

God's Word is ALL-POWERFUL! God's Word is THE SWORD. God's Word is what will, not only protect us, but will protect people we love. It will defend us in the most trying of times, and it provides the contract, the promise for what we will inherit.

God's Word is how we fight Satan's temptations, just like Jesus did.

God can see through our motivations, and He will ultimately judge each and every action.

Our job as brothers and sisters in Christ, is to speak the truth in love. We seem to be good at speaking the truth (as long as it is negative or critical), we might need a little help remembering the love part.

We need to take a moment and pray, and ask God if we are on the right side of Him. Because as we draw closer to Him, we begin to experience a purity and how we see things, our interpretation of events and how we see other people. Not that we see other people as perfect, but we start seeing them MORE as God sees them, and LESS as how Satan wants us to see them. 

But, we should make no mistake, God is FIRST interested in fixing us, BEFORE we can really be a blessing to the world around us. 

See things as they truly are… A beautiful creation, from a loving, and perfect Creator.

The Bible tells us that we don't battle against flesh and blood, but the principalities of the spirit world. 

But how should we handle the world we live in day to day, when the battlefield isn't isn't so obvious? 

And for those that follow Jesus and claim him as their personal Savior, your future is completely secured. But it's still our job to work as scouts on this earthly battlefield. 

It is our job to provide forward position intel to those trusting in us, and those they're looking to us, to help them discern.

Therefore, we should wake up every morning, and put on the whole armor of God. Because, from the moment we get out of bed, to the moment we lay down again to rest, there is a VERY REAL ENEMY that is watching, plotting, and attempting to implement our utter, and complete destruction. 

Forward scouts in God's army must recognize the role we have been given, and engage the enemy, fully protected by His hand, and fully trusting in His salvation. 

And ONLY by God's grace through Jesus Christ, will we succeed.

700 years before the birth of Christ, the Book of Isaiah was written. 

The Book of Isaiah is very popular among religious scholars, because it contains many of what we call “Messianic Prophecies” - Many, many promises of what the Messiah will look like, what He'll be like, and what to look for.

Jewish scholars call these particular scriptures, “The Scriptures of the Suffering Servant.” 

The words have not changed in almost 3000 years. 

They're well known, they're well traveled, and religious scholars, as I said, historians and kings have poured over these words since they were first pressed to a scroll, long before Mary carried Jesus in her in her womb. 

Let's revisit some of these words now, as we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus the Savior, Jesus the Christ, and our personal Messiah.

During this Easter Season, I'm praying that each of us that hears and reads this, will surrender our hearts to the ONLY ONE WHO SAVES, the ONLY ONE WHO RESTORES US, the ONLY ONE WHO REDEEMS, and OUR TRUE KING, in the name of The Father, The Soon, and The HOLY SPIRIT, be His, and be saved.

We don't have the right to define God. We don't have the right to build a god in an image that we're comfortable with. And His ways are higher than our ways, and we can't possibly understand them all.

But, would it be possible for God to blind me in such a way, that I could no longer see the truth of Him, or come to His salvation?