Dream Team

Happy Sunday!

Dr, Veronica Winston preached, "You've Been Selected for the Dream Team".  In the USA, we are in the heat of the World Series, and there are football, basketball, and hockey games to enjoy as well!  Fantasy Football coaches are reeling from injuries, and are now considering sidelining other players.  Did you know that you are also a part of a special hand-picked Dream Team?  1 Peter 2:9-10 says, "But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted."(Message).  God has chosen us for his team.  He only chooses the best and the brightest!

Being on God's team is not always easy!  The world hates God's team.  Jesus said, "Everyone will hate you because you follow me. But the one who remains faithful to the end will be saved."(Easy-to-Read Version). Now, there's no reason to fear!  We overcome!  But as the Apostle Paul wrote, "It never seems  easy while you are going through it".   He also encouraged us with these words, "These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won’t last very long. Yet this short time of distress will result in God’s richest blessing upon us forever and ever!"(2 Corinthians 4:17, Living Bible).  Did you see that?  God's Blessing is on us forever.

What things should we avoid in order to stay fit and in shape for the team? Great question!  Stay away from fleshly desires!  1 Peter 2:11 says, "Dear friends, you are like visitors and strangers in this world. So I beg you to keep your lives free from the evil things you want to do, those desires that fight against your true selves."(Easy-to-Read Version).  It seems so simple, but it tends to trip us up.  Stay away from fleshly or carnal desires.  The Apostle John described it like this, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."(1 John 2:16, KJV).   Another translation describes it like this, "Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity."(Message).

Stay away from false prophets!  2 Peter 2:1-2 says, "But there were false prophets, too, in those days, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly tell their lies about God, turning against even their Master who bought them; but theirs will be a swift and terrible end.  Many will follow their evil teaching that there is nothing wrong with sexual sin. And because of them Christ and his way will be scoffed at."(Living Bible).  The best way to know that you are hearing the truth is to study your own bible!  Know the Word when you hear it and know when it is being taken out of context.  Case in point:  People say money is evil.  That's often the way the scripture was interpreted.  But money is amoral, it's neither good or evil.  It is the person using it that determines whether it will be used for good or for evil.  The scripture actually says, "For the LOVE of money is the root of all evil:"(1 Timothy 6:10(a), KJV).  Did you get that?  Now it makes more sense that God would inspire the King to write, "Laughter and bread go together, and wine gives sparkle to life—But it’s money that makes the world go around."(Ecclesiastes 10:19, Message).  Get the Word on any subject, then get understanding!

Stay Focused!  Stay focused on the things of God.  Don't be so distracted by the world that you get lost in their doctrine.  Jude described these types of people like this, "These men are constant gripers, never satisfied, doing whatever evil they feel like; they are loudmouthed “show-offs,” and when they show respect for others, it is only to get something from them in return.  Dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ told you,  that in the last times there would come these scoffers whose whole purpose in life is to enjoy themselves in every evil way imaginable."(Jude 1;16-18, Living Bible).  Make time for Bible reading, meditation, and prayer just as you would make time for baseball, softball, or tennis practice!  In his book the Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell said it takes approximately ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in any field.  Do you want to win in this life?  Do you want to overcome?  Do you want to "prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers"?  Do you want your prayers answered?  You have to put in the work!  Reverend Kenneth E. Hagin used to say, "Blessings are not just going to fall off the trees like ripe cherries!"  You've got to do your part!

Love and prayers, Cynthia

A Heart to Serve

Happy Sunday!

Pastor David Winston preached today since Dr. Bill Winston and the ministry team are in India.  His message was entitled, "A Heart to Serve".

The Presidential Election in the United States of America has caused many to create memes about Jesus returning.  They say among other things, "Come Lord Jesus",  But the Word of God tells us specifically what will usher in the return of our Lord.  Matthew 24:14 says, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."(KJV).  Did you get that?  It's the Gospel of the Kingdom being preached in all the world that will signal the return of Jesus!  Even Matthew 6:33 encourages us, "But seek ye first the KINGDOM of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."(KJV).   Another translation of this scripture says, "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."(Amplified).  So the Gospel of the Kingdom involves God's way of doing right and being right!

The Business of the Kingdom is SERVICE.  Throughout His earthly ministry Jesus consistently taught about service.  During that time the nation of Israel was under Roman rule.  Romans were known for their great political and social structure, their military accomplishments, and their brutality.  They could see a person along the road, and command that person to stop what they were doing, and carry their bags.  The law stated the person only had to carry the bags for one mile.  Jesus gave a Kingdom guideline in response to this situation.  Matthew 5:41 says, "If the military demand that you carry their gear for a mile, carry it two."(Living Bible).  OUCH!  Two miles, Jesus?  I don't even want to go around the copy machine for this person!  Service is not convenient!  Look at Jesus as our example.  When his cousin, John the Baptist was beheaded, Jesus said, "“Let’s get away from the crowds for a while and rest.”(Mark 6:31, Living Bible).  But the multitude followed them.  Jesus didn't turn around to the people and say, "Don't you know my cousin was just killed!  I'm grieving!  Can't I just get a moment to myself?"   NO, NO, NO!  Jesus looked at them and saw them with compassion.  He loved them and he chose to serve them and not be Self-Serving.  Read it for yourself, it's in Mark 6:34.

What are the benefits of serving others?  Great question!  So glad you asked!  Pastor David Winston taught us that serving; Purifies our motives, Keeps us submitted to God, and Expands the Kingdom of God.  When we decide to serve, God's Love and Power flow through us to the world around us!  Jesus encouraged us to make disciples, not collect church members!  Don't get me wrong, we need the local church and the Word commands us to come together!  Hebrews 10:25 says, "We must not quit meeting together, as some are doing. No, we need to keep on encouraging each other. This becomes more and more important as you see the Day getting closer."(Easy-to-Read Version).  But Jesus wanted us to make disciples by, "Teaching them to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."(Matthew 28:20, KJV).  Are you familiar with McDonald's?  Their signs say that they have served billions of hamburgers to their customers.  The way we serve others tells a story about us!  How many have you served?   The Apostle Paul said, "Work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the LORD and not merely for your masters,"(Living Bible).  Do you realize that no paycheck can ever equal your true value?  They really can't afford to pay you what you are worth!  But God can!  He will repay you for your service to others!  He even says in Proverbs 19:17, "When you help the poor you are lending to the Lord—and he pays wonderful interest on your loan!"(Living Bible).  

How can you serve others this week?  Glad you asked!  You always ask the best questions!  We can serve others by doing "Random Acts of Kindness", by doing something good for God, by doing something nice for  someone in your household or immediate family,  and by praying about how you can serve your local church.  Psalm 27:14 says, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."(KJV).  We love this verse, we probably learned it in Sunday School.  But did you know the word "wait" doesn't mean sitting on your gluteus maximus doing nothing!  It means waiting on God as a good server would do in a fine restaurant.  It means being prepared for the next request.  It means listening for God's instructions for you.  It may be simple.  He may say, "Treat that obnoxious co-worker to coffee today."  He may say, "Wash the dishes."   He may say, "Get to work on time."  The sky may not open up like the red sea, and you may not see a burning bush but serving opportunities are all around us!

Living a life of Service, looking for more opportunities to serve.  Love and prayers, Cynthia

God is waiting on you...

Happy Sunday!

Trust in God totally or God takes his hands off! - Dr.  Bill Winston

When Dr. Winston said this I thought about a person trying to save a person that is drowning.  Perhaps, you have already been warned about trying to rescue a drowning person.  In panic, the drowning person will instinctively grab onto, and push up on anything they can.  Sadly, many times, the one trying to rescue another ends up drowning!  God is trying to save us from poverty, sickness, and death!  But if we insist on doing it your way, God will allow us to drown in our mess.   Oh, I know what you are thinking..."God is merciful, He's sovereign, He's in control."  Yes, you are correct!  But most importantly, God is true to His Word!  He will never contradict His Word.  He gave man dominion in this earth, after losing that dominion to Satan, Jesus came and restored our Dominion and Authority.  Now we are responsible to receive what has already been provided.  God isn't waiting to do anything.  He's waiting on us to do what we have been commanded, and receive the Blessing.  But many of us would rather blame God, the government, or our families for where we are, and what we have.  This thinking is nothing new, Isaiah 45:9-10 says, "Woe to the man who fights with his Creator. Does the pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with him who forms it, saying, “Stop, you’re doing it wrong!” or the pot exclaim, “How clumsy can you be!”? Woe to the baby just being born who squalls to his father and mother, “Why have you produced me? Can’t you do anything right at all?” (Living Bible).  Sounds foolish, doesn't it?

God will not do anything that he has told you to do!  Stop praying and telling God to go to the hospital!  He told you to, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure the lepers, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!"(Matthew 10:8, KJV).   Stop telling God to go to the prisons, and help the homeless!  Jesus said a certain group of people would be recognized one day.  They will be the people that did the following things, "For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me water; I was a stranger and you invited me into your homes;  naked and you clothed me; sick and in prison, and you visited me."(Matthew 25:35-36, Living Bible).  God is a spirit.  He determined that to do business legally in the earth you must have a physical body!  That's why Jesus had to come in the flesh!  You have a physical body, and you have work to do!  He has given us the tools to change our lives and our world.  I know, i know...it's daunting...but God did not give us a spirit of fear!  Fear short-circuits your Faith!  Faith is the only thing that will defeat the enemy.

Dr. Bill Winston continued the series, "Receiving Your Inheritance" with the subtitle, "Living on Top of the World'.  To live on top of the world, we must not be ignorant or carnal.  Romans 8:5-8 says, "Those who let themselves be controlled by their lower natures live only to please themselves, but those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God.  Following after the Holy Spirit leads to LIFE and PEACE, but following after the old nature leads to death because the old sinful nature within us is against God. It never did obey God’s laws and it never will.  That’s why those who are still under the control of their old sinful selves, bent on following their old evil desires, can never please God."(Living Bible).  The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, "My brothers and sisters, I cannot address you as people who walk by the Spirit; I have to speak to you as people who tend to think in merely human terms, as spiritual infants in the Anointed One.  I nursed you with milk, as a mother would feed her baby, because you were not, and still are not, developed enough to digest complex spiritual food.  And here’s why: you are still living in the flesh, not in the Spirit. How do I know? Are you fighting with one another? Are you comparing yourselves to others and becoming consumed with jealousy? Then it sounds like you are living in the flesh, no different from the rest who live by the standards of this rebellious and broken world."(1 Corinthians 3:1-3, Voice).  

You are capable of a life far greater than what you are currently experiencing!  You are in the God Class!  You have excellence in your DNA!  When you were Born-Again your spirit reconnected to Almighty God!  You can live life on a higher level, by Faith!

Living on Top of the World!  Love and prayers, Cynthia

From a Distance?

Happy Sunday!

Religion puts you in a place of non-resistance, and always paints a picture of God way off in space somewhere. - Dr. Bill Winston

Immediately when Dr. Winston made this statement, I thought of Bette Midler.  I know right, so super spiritual!  LOL!  No, I thought of the song she sang, "From A Distance".   The song paints a picture of a peaceful, hopeful place, viewed from a distance.  Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy the song.  But so many times, the songs we love support and increase unbelief!  That's  just what the devil wants!  He wants us to think that God is off just watching us from a distance, when in all actuality...God is within us!  That peaceful, hopeful world can be created when we "destroy the works of the devil!"(1 John 3:8).  

We are the legal agents in this earth.  Our birth certificates and physical bodies give us dominion, and authority in the world.  As Charles Capps used to say, "This earth suit is required, when you lose this earth suit...you must leave the earth!".  While we live in this earth we are encouraged to have influence, and use that influence to make the world better.  What will you be remembered for?  Who will remember you?  Will any one miss you when you are gone from this earth?  Matthew 5:16 says, "In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven."(Easy-to-Read Version).  

In order to make an impact in the earth, we must understand who we really are!  Where can you find out who you really are?  Great question!  So glad you asked!  The Bible is the best place to find yourself!  Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."(KJV).    Psalm 139;14 says, "I will offer You my grateful heart, for I am Your unique creation, filled with wonder and awe.  You have approached even the smallest details with excellence; Your works are wonderful; I carry this knowledge deep within my soul."(Voice).  Genesis 1:26 says, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."(KJV).   From these three passages, we have learned that we are the workmanship of God, we are each a unique creation of God, and we were made an exact duplicate of God!  The word image in the original means, "exact duplicate".  WOW!  This means you are not "no good", even though your grandmother said so!  You are valuable, even though that really good looking person rejected you!  You are loved and cared for even though you were an orphan!

That's Good News!  That's the good news that will stop us from hurting, killing, and mistreating others!  That's the Blessing at work!  Dr. Myles Munroe preached about "Loving the Other Image".  The sermons are available on YouTube.  Fall in love with yourself, and you will be able to love others.  There is only one condition...you must love God first in order to love yourself.  1 John 4:20 says, "If anyone says “I love God,” but keeps on hating his brother, he is a liar; for if he doesn’t love his brother who is right there in front of him, how can he love God whom he has never seen?"(Living Bible).  Jesus said, "This is the first and greatest commandment. The second most important is similar: ‘Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself."(Living Bible).  When we understand our personal value, and love ourselves...we will never SETTLE for less!  God created you to be Blessed to be a Blessing!

Love and prayers, Cynthia

SEE and SAY...

Happy Sunday!

Nothing on Earth can stop you from having what you are Seeing and what you are Saying! - Dr. Bill Winston

Genesis 1:26 says, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."(KJV).   We were created in the image and likeness of God!  We could see by Faith.  Faith was like a 6th sense.  After the fall, Adam and Eve's eyes were opened.  They had been walking by Faith seeing with their spiritual eyes.  Now their physical eyes were open and it says, "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."(Genesis 3:7, KJV).  We see a similar occurrence in 2 Kings 6:15-23.  The servant to the prophet went out and realized they were surrounded by the enemy army.  In verse 17, it says, "And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."(KJV).  The servant's physical eyes were certainly open!  What eyes needed to be open for him to see the Angel Armies?  His spiritual eyes, the eyes of Faith, the eyes of his heart had to be open to see that the spiritual world is more real than the physical world.

When we are saved and reconciled to God we return to his original design.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says it like this, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."(KJV).  Another translation of this scripture says, "When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person INSIDE. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!"(Living Bible).  That's why it is so important to study the Word of God.  It's our User Guide.  It helps us get the outside lined up with the inside.  This is vitally important when it comes to what we say!  Because we are created in the image and likeness of God, our words, like His Words have power!  If we are honest, what we see in our lives is the end result of what we have been Seeing and Saying.  Seeing in the sense of what you can envision.  If you can see yourself healed, and you say the Truth...that is the Word of God...you are healed.  Dr. Winston said, "The Word of God has the power to fulfill itself!"  The Word says in Isaiah 55:11, "So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."(Amplified).

When in doubt, speak the Word!  When in debt, speak the Word!  Dr. Winston said, "Lack of money is not your problem!  Lack of knowledge of the Anointing is the problem."  Don't Apply logic to Faith!  Faith involves God's Ability.  Do you remember the Publisher's Clearing House?  Perhaps, you are too young to remember, but they sold magazine subscriptions and once every so often, they would arrive at the home of the lucky winner with a super-sized check!  The representative was informing the person of their eligibility and their right to thousands of dollars.  There were tears of joy, and happy family members gathered at the door.  It reminds me of the commercials they used to run after the Super Bowl.  They would ask the winning quarterback, "Now that you've won the Super Bowl, what do you plan to do?"  If I remember correctly, they were Disney commercials and the player would smile and say, "I'm going to Disney World!"  Let me ask you something.  Now that you know that everything God promised to Abraham is promised to you, what are you going to do?  Galatians 3:29 says, "And now that we are Christ’s we are the true descendants of Abraham, and all of God’s promises to him belong to us."(Living Bible).  Do you want to know what I'm going to do?  I'm going to get in the Word and find every promise that belongs to me!  I'm going to watch the words that are coming out of my mouth!  I'm going to renew my mind with the Word!  And as the great prophetess once said, "Free your mind, and the rest will follow!"  LOL!

Love and prayers, Cynthia