What does it mean to live a faith filled life? Very simply, faith is believing; believing is accepting, accepting is receiving and receiving is what we will do when we have Faith in God. Faith, simply put is acting upon our belief in God. Accepting God's word (literally… taking God at His word), which enables us to receive God's promises. Many have religion, but no faith, they have a creed, but no belief; sadly, they do not really and actively trust God. Why? Because it doesn't make sense to believe (believe means to 'act upon') some-thing you don't understand. The thing we must understand is 'Faith makes things possible; it does not make them easy'. Faith, the hardest thing to comprehend, but the only thing that God accepts. God's promises are not made to those of strong faith, but to those of true faith. Walking by faith means being prepared to trust where we are not permitted to see.

We live in a dark, fallen and flawed world where bad things happen. The human condition is fundamentally unhappy and prone to long bouts of sadness. The sad reality is life happens, and there are countless things that conspire to steal our joy every day. The Psalmist recorded these words in Psalm 51:10-13… Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit… the good news is we can reclaim our joy because it is God's will for us to rejoice in Him. Join us this week as we continue our series on 'Being Renewed in Christ' and learn to 'Get Our Joy Back.'

In a very unsocial world, friendship has become more of a commodity based on the number of 'friends' you have on a site like Facebook. But the reality in friendship is found is a simple statement; 'being a friend, is key to having a friend' and, 'being a friend' is one of the most difficult aspects of any friendship. Friendship includes volatility! Which is why the hardest work a person will ever do in a friendship, is to keep that friendship in repair and continually build new friendships. Some would, why is keeping a friendship such a difficulty? In a simple sense, because life happens! As a Christian what exacerbates the situation is our enemy the devil is always working against us! Join us this Sunday as we speak on the subject of making a friend, having and friend and keeping a friend.

In just 335 days, what was once new will be old. What was, will no longer be and what can be soon will be. Though once new, this year, in all of its newness will soon be last year. Our lives are much like this year, and every year. When we see our lives fresh and new, they’ll always remain as such. It is the same with our faith. When we stop practicing our faith anew, our faith loses its freshness and fragrance. The light dims and the flavor dilutes. We begin to look backward, quit looking forward. This happens when all we do is talk about what was, or what used to be with more excitement than what is coming. God is a God of the New… and He always wants us to look toward Jesus and look forward to His return. That, indeed, is the final word of scripture! This is the one constant that will always keep our faith from becoming old, looking forward to Christ! Revelation 21:5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” God is forever. He is eternal. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and End. He was and is and is to come. God is timeless and always new.

Change is something everyone wants, but most are not willing to make happen. We all want things to just change. Yet the question remains, what are we willing to do to bring about change. I know this will sound a little different, but follow it to its logical conclusion: 'the one thing I do know about change is this; if you don’t help the change, you will help the change. If you don’t change, you will change; if something doesn’t change, something will change'. Change happens whether we want it too or not, we just have to choose whether we will initiate or simply officiate the change, but be part of it we will. John F. Kennedy in his inaugural speech, January 20, 1961, said the words... All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, not even, perhaps, in our lifetime on this planet but, let us begin. Jesus is coming back to receive mankind to himself and in the world that we live, inundated with change, the church must change. You must change; I must change. Not our absolutes of morals, the Gospel, holiness, righteousness, or truth; but our attitudes and levels of commitment to the things of God. This is what it will take to spread the Gospel effectively to all mankind? Reality is this, the World is Dying for Change... let it begin with them? I think not! Rather, let it begin with me and let us begin!

As a pastor, equipping the saints to be able to live a victorious, productive Christian life is my great desire. Over the next few weeks, we will look at one of the most needed, but least understood passages of the Bible, the passage that outlines, and defines the ‘Armor of God’. Many have used and quoted this passage of scripture, but very few have taken the time to study whereas to understand how to apply ‘The Armor of God’ to the life of a Christian. The ‘Armor’ doesn’t just ‘show up’ or by ‘osmosis’ just begin to work. We will strive to learn to grow ‘stronger in the Lord and the power of His might’ by studying the truths found in God’s word surrounding the ‘Armor’ He has given to all who ask. Join us at Victorious Life Christian Center, every Wednesday @ 6:30pm as learn how to ‘Dress for Battle.’