Home  ::  Beliefs  :: Salvation ::  Teachings  ::  Events ::  The Book Shelf  ::  Teaching CD's ::  Online Audio Teachings

Dear Saints:

Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ!

As we move into this new year of 2008 may we continue to keep our expectations up, looking for the return of our lord and savior. May we also enlarge our hearts and keep them fixed on the Word of God. And may we continue to be committed to serve as sons of God (and doulos) in the family business.

No greater expectation can a person have than the hope of Christ coming to gather the saints to be ever with the Lord. Perhaps our greatest disappointment for 2007 is that Christ did not come back! We can still be excited that this could be the year! Let’s remember that the hope of Christ’s return is the anchor of our soul.

Hebrews 6:18b & 19:
… to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

Sometime soon it is going to happen. The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed. (I Corinthians 15:52).

While we wait for the trumpet sound, we want to continue tracking on God’s Word.

Psalms 119:32 - 34:
I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.
Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

It was the Word of God that opened to us the door to salvation. It was His Word that taught us the renewed mind. And as we enlarge our hearts to a steady diet of the Scriptures, we will become fixed trusting in our Father.

Psalms 57:7:
My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.

Psalms 112:7:
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.

Another wonderful privilege we have until that “gathering together” time is to be about our Father’s business. As natural men, before we became born again, little did we know it, but we were servants of sin. We did little if anything to contribute to the true God. When we confessed with our mouths the lord Jesus and believed in our hearts that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9), we became sons of God. We also became a dynamic part of the Father’s business of seeing that all people have the opportunity to “be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:4). 

I John 3:2:
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Another vital reality that goes along with being sons of God and in the family business is that we are also servants (doulos) of righteousness.

Romans 6:18-22:
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 
I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 
For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

The above verses reveal not only the privilege of working for God, but also the responsibility of putting forth our time and effort to function in the Body of Christ. You cannot beat the benefits of the job: fruit unto holiness and everlasting life! The word for servant is doulos, which means a bond slave. It is someone who freely decides to be a committed servant to the master. As a result of the grace and mercy of God we can give our lives to serve our loving, Heavenly Father, Who gave His son to die for all mankind, so that all people could become born again of God’s spirit and know the truth.

This year could be that year Christ comes back for us. Why not be ready to go by enlarging our hearts and having them fixed on God’s Word. Let’s also recognize that we are what the Word says we are as servants (doulos) of righteousness and then go about His business as functioning members of the Body of Christ.

Agapē,

Contact Information