The Shaking Hour

Tonight I want to speak of a subject that for many may be a powerful subject. With all the Nation tore apart with storms and destruction, it is in this hour that me must look around us an become humble. Realizing that this nation of man made items, simple treasures laid up and collected, that in the face of storms are but dust, frail items that as the Bible teaches are but things not to lay our heart upon. However the kind of shaking our nation has endure of late, has done what? Made people think? Made them join together, finding some sense of it all in prayer? Understanding that no matter how brilliant man may think he or she may be, our creations are limited, temporary, here today and gone tomorrow. This sort of shaking is not what I am refering to. Though it does have precident in it's context. In the Book of Hebrews Chapter 12:25-29 which say,

"For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on the earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, who voice shook the earth; but now He has promised , saying, Yet Once more I shake not only the earth , but also heaven. Now this , yet once more indicates the removal of things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are recieving a Kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have Grace, which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear."

Wow! Need we say more? I go back to a song, King David sung when he was king, burdened by the troubles he had caused himself. His enemies were around him, the other nations and leaders of his court plotted against him, forgetting God, forgetting the covenent and the promises Jehovah God had given them.
He sings in Psalms Chapter 3;
"Oh Lord how they have increased who trouble me,
Many are they that rise up against me saying;
There is no hope for him in God

But you Oh Lord are my strength
my glory and the one who holds up my head

I cried to the Lord with my voice
and he heard me from his holy hill;

I lie down
I awake for the Lord sustained me"

Oh if we but would sing songs like this today in our boastful modern world. How far in debt would our nation be? How ravaged would our economy be? How enpoverished would our people be?

You see the Lord the Bible says, just sets up there and laughs, for he knows the hour and the day of our passing. He knows our limited timespan, and the very hairs on our head. There is a shaking going on throughout our nation. But I fear the shaking needs to be also in our churches, in our homes, in our schools, our public buildings, even our very businesses. It bring to mind an story from Isreal. You see when the people of Isreal harvest their olives, they have to go to the trees, and when the olives turn a dark black color, they shake the trees violently allowing the ripest olives to fall to the ground. Then they can gather them and take them to the oilve presses to form the richest of oils. Now the American people are like those olives, ripe for harvest, containing the oil of blessing, but just remain the unshaken, unstired, lifeless, useless. It takes a violent shaking to release us from our stagnant state so God can use us and press us for the annointing of his oil. Too many of us are content to remain on the tree, just hanging there waiting for others to fall of and be used for God's plan. We sat on the pews, afraid of being called out to perform, afraid we will offend someone, afraid that we will be seen as politically incorrect, or offensive. I tell you tonight that unless we get up and stand for the Lord in this nation, God is going to render a shaking upon this nation that will seperate the good olives from the spoiled. Going back to chapter in Hebrews, what God is telling us is that when Christ spoke on earth over 2000 years ago people turned away from him, for this the Israelites shunned this great responsibilty and were judged for not believing in God's promises. We too will be judged for disbelief and I feel today we are seeing but a foreshadow of God's shaking us up trying to wake up the nation. The Earth shook at Mount Sinia when Moses was given the law, it shook on the day Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice, and it will shake again in the latter days the book of Hebrews tells us. However the great news for believers is that the kingdom of God will not be shaken, for it will endure throughout all eternity.

Being a Christian these days is tough, it means mockery, it means being different, being apart from the world and its many temptations. Jesus never said believing in him would stop the shaking, he said his kingdom would endure the shaking. When I lived outside of his love, I never found peace, or joy, or inner rejoicing. Since I gave my life to him, there's been some tough trials, and days when I felt like quitting altogether. So did Paul, so did Moses, so did all the apostles. However if we can do as David did, and allow ourselves to be shaken off of the tree and used for God's service, our lives will be rich in the oil of annointing. Not of riches or material things, but rich with the blessing of God's promises. We can lie down, with torments and temptations all around us, and sleep, we can wake knowing the Lord sustained us. Unless this nation returns to its foundation and place the Lord as the chief cornerstone, we will become as the nation of Israel did in AD 70, when the Roman Empire destroyed it. God uses his own methods of shaking to give the people many chances to turn to him. People have said to me, if God is so good and holy how can he punish or destroy. I tell them that it is now he who turned his back on us, but the other way around. Like a parent who has tried everything to make a child obey them, he will enact discipline on his people. Or worse, he will lift his hand of protection from them. To be isolated from the Lord is true emptiness. True persecution without hope. Let us lift up our voices and shake the trees so that the olives flow into the olive presses and onto the annointing that God intended for us all. Together we are a strong voice, a voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the pathway for the Kingdom of God is at hand!

I hope tonight's message shook you up a little. The people in the time Hebrews was written were at a crossroad, many of the believers of the jewish faith had found themselves isolated, persecuted for their new belief in Christianity and this Jesus Christ. Rome had placed its boot heel on them, false teachers and prophets were feeling their ears with doubts and fears. Many began to question whether their faith in Christ was enough to gain eternal life, returning to their old Jewish customs and practices, foresaking the teachings of Paul and Peter. It was for this reason the Book of Hebrews was written, to confirm once and for all that returning to the bondage of the law was foolish and fatal. Faith in Christ was the new covenant which had replaced the old Hebraic Abraham Covenent and all they had to do was believe on his name and salvation to everlasting life would be theirs. Today we see alot of the same fears, the same doubts, even the same threats and plagues. We hear all the time of employers threatening an employee for reading their Bible, or a person ridiculed in public for speaking opening of their Love for the Lord Jesus Christ. I hear on television how being a Christian is foolish, or based on myth, a waste of time, or based not on "scientific reasoning". I grow tired of hearing people losing faith in the Lord, because they lost their jobs, or failed an interview, or didn't get the promotion they asked the Lord to grant them. Folks, this same false teaching and ridicule is not a new idea, it's existed before the time of Christ. Jesus warned his followers in the book of Matthew that you shall be hated above all men, but those who endure till the end shall be saved. We are going to be in a time of shaking folks, those who follow Christ will soon face trials unseen,people will hate you, ridicule you, mock you, even your own family will turn against you. However God's shaking will make us strong, he will lift us up above all this, and plant our feet on firm soil which he has chosen. I don't know about you, but I want to be an olive that produces so much oil of anointing that it fill five gallon buckets to their overflow. Solift up your voices as David did, let the Lord know that he is your glory, that he is your light of the world, that he is the one who lifts up your head and sustains you. I promise you that he will never leave you nor forake you. No matter your enemies, no matter your river, he will be there if you surrender your life over to him. Amen, and God Bless

The 3 steps in walking with the Lord

Hello Everyone and God Bless you this day,
Today the Lord has laid something on my heart to spread to each of you. It comes from the Psalms Chapter 37. It speaks to me of waiting on the Lord, resting in the land, and being still. It speaks of worrying not about the evildoers who may have more than we, and to avoid false teachings, becoming frustrated with our present condition and avoiding wrathful temptations. I want to speak about 3 things tonight that I feel we have to do if we are to live full Christian lives for our savior.
#1. Trust in the Lord.
We must learn to disregard our own selfish will and give our troubles over to the Lord. This means to trust someone we must first regard their authority as true and right. If you can't give your life over to the Lord, how can you expect him to ever work in yours? It is like going on a deep sea fishing trip and then taking along our own GPS system, telling the Captain of the boat where you feel the best fishing spots would be based on your own cordinates. Might luch up and catch a few fish who happened to be swiminning in that area at the time, but I wouldnt bet my whole day on catching a boat load. Of course not, we listen to the captains experienced recomendations for rods, line and bait, along with location and best fishing patterns.
Christians, especially those who have just discovered a relationship with the Lord, must trust in him. He has given us the Holy Spirit as a guide, just like he helped Paul in the book of Acts avoid danger and reach others for Christ. Trust cannot be half way, the Bible says in Psalms Chapter 2 Blessed are all who "Trust" in Him.

#2 Acknowledge Him
What does this meen? Proverbs Chapter 3 says to "TRUST in the Lord with all our heart, sould and mind and lean not upon our own understanding, but in all things, Acknowledge him and he will show us the way."

To Acknowledge means

1. To admit the existence, reality, or truth of.
2. To recognize as being valid or having force or power.

1. To express recognition of: acknowledge a friend's smile.
2. To express thanks or gratitude for.

In Hebrew it reads:
עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮הכיר ב-, הודה ב-, הודה על, אישר קבלת-, נופף לשלום‬


Read more:

We must realize that everything we have and we are is because of God. All that we do, and all we acomplish came from creative ideas, strengths,and wills given to us by the Lord. When we place ourselves above Jehovah God, and believe it is our own wills that makes us a success, the Blessing will not follow. I know alot of people who give all credit when something is accomplished, to their team, their coach, their boss, their teachers, never once acknowledging the Lord had any hand in it at all. Folks, America once was a proud, sovereign nation under God, but slowly it has pushed all acknowledgment of his handiwork out of our schools, out of our public offices, out of our houses of law, and soon from the very Congress we supposedly elect to serve us. In the Bible when a leader failed to acknowledge God for a victory or an accomplishment, hailing their own prideful hands, what happened? Think back to Saul, Soloman, even Moses. God removed his hand from them, and their blessing was changed to a curse. Do you think America will stand as a pagan nation? Do you think it a coincidence that at the very moment when the word of God is seen as a mockery, that the economy fails, and it's people suffer. We must realize that we are servants, not kings, we are humble, not prideful people. We have converted 180 degrees from where began, and until we realize it, which unfortunately, it will take bringing everyone down on their knees on the brink of starvation and ruin before most Americans see it. I hear those once wealthy, landowners, with their pride torn from them, praying before a camp stove setting outside their tents where large mansions once stood. I hear people reading the Bible where once business journals were opened, resting on their family tables where not one single family member sat, far too busy to take the time. Now they have time, been off work from their 100k jobs for six months, with ten dollars in their pocket between starvation and their next meal. The Lord must come first in your life and in your relationships. We must learn to develop a living relationship with him, and realize that our time here is short, life is but a rain drop on a rooftop. Just like the Garden of Eden, we have a choice, our will, which leads to death, or his will which leads to life. Let us forsake our pride and in all we do ACKNOWLEDGE him.

#3 Serve him

Even the Lord himself said in the Book of Matthew, those who wish to be first let them first become servants to our fellow man. He said himself, "The son of man did not come to be serve but to serve and give his blood as a ramson for man." We are not accustomed to hearing the word servant in our culture, it is a nasty ugly word, taken from the days of African Slavery which led to a Civil war. However we must realize that to be a servant, the Lord is talking about a Bond Servant, someone who serves willingly and openly and does so with honor. The Apostle Paul tells us in the book of Romans, that we are currently a servant of sin, outside of a relationship with the Lord. Sin dominates and orders us about, leading us further into destruction. To develop a relationship with the Lord and giving out lives to him, takes us from a servant of sin to a slave of righteousness Paul tells us. This however is not a negative transformation but one of personal deliverence and everlasting life. Serving the Lord means to change our way of thinking and acting, it means to serves others and to place their needs above our own. To humble ourselves and listen to what God has in store for us. To me, I have become a vessell, in which the Lord would shape and form as his directives requests. Serving him is something I no longer think about, it's a part of  me and something I just do without question. Service means blessing from the Lord in ways I never knew existed before. Each day, I just ask him to use me as a tool for his service. I have become a Bond Servant, willing and able to place his needs and wants ahead of my own. By doing so, he provides for me and my family, and gives us the things we need, perhaps not the things we always want, but we feel it's a service that leads to a life after this one is long over. So humble yourselves, and devote your lives in the service of our Lord and Savior. He was willing to do the same for you once, and does so every day. Your lives will change as ours has, no longer clinging to my impoerfect will, but his perfect rightousness.

Tonight we touched briefly on 3 factors that every Christian must perform in the services of our Lord Jesus. To recieve his blessing, his peace, the light of life promised in the scriptures. We must turn our "Self Do" dials off and turn the God Can Do dials on. Trusting in his will to guide and direct our daily lives. We must give credit where credit is due, Acknowledge that this world is much larger than man, and man's wisdom thought sometimes great, doesn't amount to a hill of beans in the afterlife where God will test our true measure and worth. I can only do so much, and I am far from Brilliant, but I know that all I have, is his, all my wisdom and all my strength to accomplish each task came from him, not me. Without his love I would be just a shell, so to must each of you if you are to truly walk with him, and have a wonderful relationship with our Lord, is to turn over our deeds to him. And lastly must certainly not least, we must offer ourselves as Paul said in Romans, as a living sacrifice, daily serving him and devoting our time to discovering his will. Anything less isn't good enough. If we place God down the ladder of importance in our lives, so will he place us in his. Daily study of his word, daily prayer with your family or in secret, daily worship and meditation on his word, sharing his love with others, all these things are but a few ways to serve him. I find delight in learning how better to serve him each day. It never grows old.
Well Folks that about wraps it up with our disccusion tonight. I do see that no one ever writes a comment beneath these articles. Perhaps tonight you will share one.

Truth Versus Propaganda

Good Morning Friends,
Today's Message is about truth versus propaganda. What I mean is, what is the truth we are actually hearing and seeing when we turn on the news, watch television, read a book, pic up a magazine, or experience something out in the environment? Well as I often do, let's go back to the scriptures and see what God tells us the truth is.
John 4:13-14
"If a man drinks of this water, he will thirst again, but if he drinks the water I give he will never thirst. The water i give him will become in him a fountain of water springing forth into everlasting life."
What he means is that man's ideas will always leave him wanting more, never sastisfied with what he created. But what God offers us will always leave us satisfied and complete. At peace if you will.

I think about Apple as a company. They said their employees are the highest paid Techs in the world. However they are never allowed to rest on their present idea. Now think about that. They create something today, and it is an instant sensation around the world. Something to be proud of. But then they realize that...well someone else thought of it too, so off they go creating something else to make it faster, better, more accessable. Then once they create this, something else, and something else...Wow. make my heart race just thinking of the amount of stress this much place on those techs...makes those dollar bills seem kinda well...not worth it to me. Folks the world has become an apple so to speak. Never satisfied with just creating something, always afraid of someone else taking what we have. Afraid of being less that the #1 head honcho. Afraid a dollar will fall out of our pockets and some one else might take it. God never intended on his world being a bunch of apples. Hmmm I have to chuckle because was it not a fruit similar to an apple that started the whole sin factor back in the Garden.....???? Never satisfied with being in the garden and having all we can use or want, we have to have all the knowledge and all the power too.


The truth is, we are not to focus on man's truth, but rather God's truth. To be a Christian, means just that, focus on the word of the living Christ. What I think is going on today in this modern age of "man" is that human ego has replaced moral reasoning. When we turn on the television what we see and hear is what someone else wants us to. We are sold, manipulated, urged, shamed, excited, reasoned with, talked down to, and pretty much inspirationally influenced by what someone else created. Think for a moment if you will, what choices you make daily. The clothes you buy, the friends you make, the things you do or say. Are they choices God made OR man made? Do you really believe we are fighting a war in Afganistan for terrorism? Do you really believe a Lexus is better for you than a Kia? Do you truly understand the difference between one fashion designer and another? How about which church you attend. Do you go to meet people, to be seen, or to be a part of a click, or do you attend for the minister or because they have nice songs? Or do you go to hear the truth, the message that every bible across the globe teaches? I know today's message may offend some people, but as the title implies I want you to realize your own inner truths. I mean folks if you think I'm harsh, realize the on the day of judgement the Lord will place you before him and like some large screen drive in movie you will see your whole life's work and choices placed before you. Think God doesn't know the truth? Think he doesn't already know what your needs and desires are long before you make them? He is the beginning and end, the one who designed all. It would be like a pot thinking the potter didn't notice the handle hanging off to one side, or a piece of blown glass thinking the artist didn't notice the flawed section that was bulging out to one side. America has become a nation of fear and doubt. Too many people are afraid of stepping out into the light, content to remain in the darkness where political correctness and acceptable gradual removal of our hopes, dreams and family values has become the status quo. We live in a bubble, thinking as long as it happens to someone else or to another section of the country all will be fine in the morning. As long as the sun rises after the rain storm, nothing has been touched. Folks wake up. Look around you. The world of our great grandfathers is over. The time when saying a prayer in the public places was looked upon as honerable has now become something to mock and be ashamed of. When the only time Americans stand together and say the Lord's prayers is when millions die out of some foreign threat. Why does it take such drastic tragedies for the American People to stand up and speak to the Lord with a clear and truthful heart? Why does it take some emotional speaker for a crowd to cheer the Lord of hosts? We have become a marketed generation, no less of a solid united people as a group of cattle slowly herded toward the slaughter pen, given a bit of hope with nightly grain and supplimentation in the hopes that thinking because we get fat and a day to rest, the end is any less painful. No we are jst moving to another pen that is ever closer to the end of our religious freedoms and rights as servents to a God we know and trust. Today we must all make choices, if you research enough about our wonderful government system, you will know like Ancient Rome's great republic, it has become fattened and bloated with the corruption and bribery of politicical capitalism. Like Ancient Rome who allowed its citizens to suffer and starve while the elite held the highest offices and enjoyed the luxeries of the State. We experience as much truth in our daily lives as a lion at a zoo experiences. Thinking they are in their own habitat, free to roam, free to feel the power and joy of the plains. Only to realize that they were only pretending. Only given just enough space to seem wild, but in truth they are forced to live just as the zoo keeper feels they should. Oh yes there is research into how much to feed them, how to make their habitat as similar to Africa as possible, they are given all the same nutrients and meat someone feels would be sufficient in the wild. But let's look at the truth....are they wild? Is it Africa? Of course not. Just like we are made to think we are successful, given the frugal choices we now make, we are told we should be proud of where we live, happy to just have a job, content that we are at least given representation in Washington. But again I pose the question, are we content? Are we represented? Does someone we don't even know, who comes from a totally differenct financial situation as myself, who is rich to begin with, have the ability to move hundreds of miles away from my state, surrounded by rich lobbyists and encircled by other politics that must maintain a majority to pass a certain idea, truly represent me? You? What my rambling point of all this above info is that we are living a lie. When the first Congressmen went to what was then a new and growing Capital in the days of the first founding fathers, they were men from the same financial background and townships as their constituents. They had similar ideals, morals, and faiths as those around them, and their pay was only as a part time employee of their state. Congrssmen and women were never meant to be full time career politicians, the founding fathers knew the danger of such corruption, just like big government they knew had to be balanced and kept under control. The Bible itself has clear teachings about government. Why do you think the Lord refers to it as the "Kingdom"  of heaven, and not the Republic of Heaven? Republics will inevitably fail. Take out your History books and research past republics and see their end result. That's why truth is the last step of a republic taken from their people. Manipulation, cirruption, greed and ultimatly economic collapse.  This is why I urge all of my readers to trust in the one thing that will always be true, the living word of the Lord. If you daily meditate on a scripture, a verse, a chapter, learn from it, understand God's meaning behind writing it. You'll come to understand that if you put your trust in man's truth, man's understanding, man's knowledge and man's goals, then success has already eluded you. I could write a book on man's propaganda over man, the manipulation of the human thought, but that would be foolish and ultimatly playing write into Satan's viewpoint. The Lord says to trust in him, and blessed are they that do so. Psalms 3, How vain he says are they who plot against his ultimate truth, and how one day all will see what he had in mind. I think man is so impatient that he just can't wait for God, he feels that he has to strike out on his own and find truth in his own creation. How sad a thought. Let us all strive to find peace within ourselves by instead trusting in the Lord that he indeed knows better than we. God Bless all of you and remember trust in the Lord with all your heath and in all things acknowledge him.

The Time To Rethink Work!!!

Tonight my friends I want to spend a moment speaking of life in general, your life, my life. One friend of mine asked me the other day about life. How much time do we spend away from our families, out children, our homes, our pets, our friends and our God most of all. How many hours do we spend at work, chasing dreams man made, selfish, and altogether unrealistic? How often I think of this idea, when I pass someone on the street in such a mad rush to meet a deadline, too busy to even acknowledge I was even there. Not an excuse me or a pardon me, not even a get out of my way! Wow! How quickly the words of the Apostle Paul come back to me, in 1 Correnthians he speaks of people chasing after knowledge and power. But God will "Bring to nothing the wisdom of the wise and the understanding of the prudent." I ran across an article that coincides to tonights topic it's written by an online author. I thought it was interesting. 10 reasons to quit you job.....
"Reason #1: Safety
We used to think you get a corporate job, you rise up, you get promoted, maybe you move horizontally to another division or a similar company, you get promoted again, and eventually you retire with enough savings in your IRA.
That's all gone.
That myth disappeared in 2008. It really never existed but now we know it's a myth. Corporate CEOs kept their billion dollar salaries and laid off about 20 million people and sent the jobs to China. Fine, don't complain or blame other people. But your job is not safe.
Reason #2: Home
Everyone thinks they need a safe job so they can save up to buy a home and also qualify for a mortgage. Mortgage lenders at the banks like people who are like them — other people locked in cubicle prison
Well now you don't need to worry about that. Here's why you should never own a home in the first place. Save yourself the stress.
Reason #3: College
Everyone thinks they need to save up to send their kids to college. Depending on how many kids you have and where you want them to go to college it could cost millions.
Well now we know you don't need to send your kid to college. So you don't need to stress about that money anymore.
Reason #4: Their boss
Most people don't like their boss. It's like any relationship. Most of the time you get into a relationship for the wrong reasons. Eventually you're unhappy. And if you don't get out, you become miserable and scarred for life.
Reason #5: Their coworkers
See above.
Reason #6: Fear
We have such a high unemployment rate, people are afraid if they leave the job they are miserable at, they won't be able to get a job. This is true if you just walk into your boss's office and pee on his desk and get fired. But its not true if you prepare well. More on that in a bit.
Reason #7: The Work
Most people don't like the work they do. They spend 4 years going to college, another few years in graduate school, and then they think they have to use that law degree, business degree, architecture degree and then guess what? They hate it. But they don't want to admit it. They feel guilty. They are in debt. No problem. Read on.
Reason #8: Bad things happen
All the stuff I mention in the post "10 Reasons You Need to Quit Your Job" start to happen. And it gets worse and worse. You don't want to look back at your life and say, "man, those were the worst 45 years of my life." That wouldn't feel good.
Reason #9: The economy is about to boom.
I don't care if you believe this or not. Stop reading the newspaper so much. The newspapers are trying to scare you. Bernanke just printed up a trillion dollars and airlifted it onto the US economy. Who is going to scoop that up. You in your cubicle? Think again.
Reason #10: Your job has clamped your creativity
You do the same thing every day. You want to be jolted, refreshed and rejuvenated.
Note: Some people love their jobs. This is not for them but the 90% who don't.
Henry and Aaron asked a good question: you still need to support yourself, you still need to support your family, you can't just walk into your boss's office and quit.
Good point. You need to prepare. It's like training for the Olympics if you feel now is the time to move on from your job. You need to be physically ready, emotionally (don't quit your job and get divorced on the same day for instance), mentally (get your idea muscle in shape) and spiritual all ready."
Tell us what you think!

I
I want to add another reason. Work is something we all must do, I'm not saying go out and quit and take your family into poverty. What I mean by quiting is the spritual side of it. We all place work before and above all other things sometimes. Right? We spend more time there than with the ones who truly over and appreciate us. However we have to stop worshiping the dollar and begin to worship the true prize, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Unlike the popular TV shows you may watch and adore, I am not saying that by placing the Lord first, you will be come rich in monetary things, but I will say your life will have a far more refreshing and fun filled meaning. Food for thought. Take a piece of paper, write down the number of hours each day you spend working, then multiply it by the number of months in a year 12. Now take that times 68 the median age for a person to live. Now factor in where your family and the Lord fit in. Startling isn't it? It's not too late to do something about it. As the Lord said, these things you work for will rot and decay, your only give one life. Seek first the kingdom of Heaven and all its Glory and all else shall be added unto you.