Ray Bentley

With the last days approaching, it could be any time. The sense of anticipation is swelling. There is a sense within the church, the real and the true church, the believing church, that something big is coming and and the Lord is near and God is giving the world many, many, many opportunities to turn to him and to come to him.

It's fundamental. It's basic, it's the anchor that will hold your life together. Jesus is Lord. Don't let a church become your Lord. Don't let a man become your Lord. Don't let a pastor or a priest be your Lord. Don't let some denomination. Don't let some other additional book or teachings outside of the Bible.

What is the essence of the good news? You could describe this world as very, very messy, painful, struggling agony. And Jesus comes into the mess. He comes into the pain. He comes into the agony. He comes in the midst of the struggle. He enters into the darkness of this world and he brings light spread.

If at first you don't succeed, give up. Right? No. Try. Try again. You're not going to be perfect on this earth. There will come a day when we'll be like Jesus in heaven. But in the meantime, the point of being a Christian is that you readily acknowledge that you are broken and that you're not perfect and you don't have to be.

Paul suffered for Christ and surprisingly he said that was cause for rejoicing. Why did Paul rejoice in suffering? When you suffer in Jesus. The glory of God rests upon you. Through suffering, there is a place that I enter into my experience and intimacy and knowledge of the love of Jesus. I can't get anywhere else.

When bad things happen to good people or those who follow the Lord and you begin to wonder God, do you see? You see what I'm going through? Do you know how hard it is down here? Do you care? And that's why always we go to the cross.

When the world rebels and turns its back on God, it pays the price. Even then, God cares. God says to us, in our broken world and condition, I still love you. I still want a relationship with you. God said, I'm gonna show you my love. You will see my love. And in fact, when I get done, I will prove my love.

We know of God's presence because we can see his effect in this world for people to say, well, how can you believe in God? You can't see him when you're made out of invisible things. Everything that can be seen is made of these tiny invisible atoms. And the in him, the Messiah, all things hold together.

Apostle Paul's desire for the Colossians is the same as the Lord's desire for us today. God wants you to experience supernatural strength. Why? So you can do amazing miracles now, Paul says. Basically, you and I need supernatural resurrection power or strength to be patient. Oh, how we need to pray for patience, especially in these times of spreading disease.

Someone who said love is a verb, and we know from English class that a verb is an action word. Pastor Ray Bentley says we need to be more verbal. Love is action. It's not just what you say. I believe this doctrine, and I believe this creed, and I ascribe to, you know, this is who I am. But you say that.But it's more true that what you do is what you really believe spread. You see all of these people coming down before the King