Joh 8:31-32

31  Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.

32  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

 Php 4:11-13

11  … I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:

12  I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

13  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

What does it mean that the truth will make you free?

Do you feel free?

In Phillipians 4:11 Paul said that he has learned to be content in whatever state he finds himself. He goes on to list some of the things he has been through such as starvation, being full, unmet needs, and fulfilled needs. We know from scripture that Paul went through many terrible ordeals, (imprisonment, torture, shipwrecked, etc.) because of his faith, but remarkably he is still able to make that statement of contentment.

How is Paul able to be content even in the midst of all those terrible things that happened to him? I’ll tell you how. Paul knew the truth and it set him free. But how does it set him free, you ask. Well, if you had several million dollars saved in the bank, would you be worried about where your next meal was going to come from or if you will have a place to sleep? No. That money makes you feel secure in the knowledge that all those needs are taken care of. For Paul having Jesus is not only equivalent to having money in the bank but much, much more. This is not merely an intellectual fact for Paul but it is something that lives in his heart and permeates through his whole being.

Paul knows that he is not burdened by the law. He does not have to worry about making a mistake because he knows that no matter what he does, he will not lose his salvation because it’s not based on the goodness or badness of his life but on the perfect life of Christ whose righteousness has been imputed to him. In other words because he has accepted Jesus, Jesus’ perfect life now pays for Paul’s imperfect life just as it pays for the lives of all those who accept Jesus.

Paul tries not to sin because he loves Jesus and does not want to do anything that will hurt Him but he is not worried about making a mistake and sinning because if he does, he knows it will not condemn him, (Rom. 8:1-2). He is not worried about guilt for just as the blood of Jesus covers all his sins so too it removes guilt. You see, Paul knows that no matter how dire the circumstances are, God will be with him. He knows that even through the most terrible physical pain, God will be with him and give him peace as he goes through it. He knows from experience that no matter what the world throws at him, he is able to endure all with peace and joy because God will be right there with him. These are not merely religious concepts to Paul. These are things he knows because he has experienced them many times over. No wonder he can say “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Phil. 1:21. What he means is: If he lives great, He will be living with Christ who runs his life and if he dies even better as he will get to leave all the pain and suffering behind and go have the most awesome eternity with Jesus.

Wow!!! Can you imagine living a life like that? No worries, no stress, just being able to kick back and say “yeah, I know I am going to have all kinds of problems but it’s no sweat off my back, cause me and Jesus, we got them all licked.” Is that freedom or what? Is that not abundant life? When you can live your life to the utmost; that is really living life in abundance.

Christians, you can live this life of freedom and abundance. It is yours for the taking. All you have to do is believe it. Jesus said it. It’s true. Now believe it and live it. That is the life Jesus intended you to live and He has given you everything you need to live it. Just exercise the faith that He has also given you.

If you are reading this and you are not a Christian, you can have this life also. Just pray and ask the Lord to forgive you of all your sins and let Him know that you are sorry and are repenting. Then tell Him that you believe that He came and died for your sins and that he paid for all your sins with His perfect life and you accept this gift of His life in order for you to come home to the Father in heaven.

In His Service

Frank Vernon

The Sneaky Sin That Packs a Wallop

Webster’s dictionary defines pride as: 1 :  the quality or state of being proud: as a :  inordinate self-esteem :  conceit b :  a reasonable or justifiable self-respect c :  delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship (parental pride).

Wikipedia defines it as: A feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.

Now here is what scripture has to say about pride. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  James 4:6

Or look at Proverbs 16:18-19 – Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to  be of a humble spirit with the lowly, Than to divide the spoil with the proud.

And again the Psalmist says in Psalms 138:6 – Though the Lord is on high, yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar.

Many people including Christians will be shocked at the following statement.

“There is no such thing as good pride.”

I’ll repeat that. “There is no such thing as good pride.“

I have heard all the arguments such as: There is nothing wrong in having pride in your job or there is nothing wrong in having pride in the accomplishments of your children and the list goes on and on. In my bible studies, the bible always speaks about pride as something bad. I have found no reference that speaks about any pride as something good.

You see, pride is about self as the definitions above illustrate. That very fact should raise a red flag for us as Christians since being a child of God is about dying to self each day so that Christ can rule in our lives. When we feel proud about what we have accomplished in our jobs, we are really patting ourselves on the back. That glory belongs to God who has accomplished those things through us via the working of the Holy Spirit. Even if we are not following the path laid out for us by the Holy Spirit God is still the one that gave us the knowledge and abilities to accomplish the things we do. In other words you are robbing God of His praise and glory by applying it to yourself.

As we achieve various successes or our children achieve great accomplishments we need to fall on our knees in humility as we give thanks to God for such great blessings. God is the one responsible for it all. When we humble ourselves, we draw closer to Him and experience a closeness that is deep, intimate and loving. We find true joy in the accomplishments of our children and realize that we do not need pride when we have Jesus. He is sufficient.

Some people believe that humility means you are timid and lack no backbone. It does not mean that at all. Humility is the realization that nothing that happens in this world is a result of anything that we have done. God did it and does it all. As we come face to face with this realization, it leaves us with nothing to feel proud about. When we come to this place of humility, we are empty vessels ready for the Holy Spirit to begin His work in and through us. We become strong because we cease to depend on ourselves and start depending on the Lord. The Lord told Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor 12:9. True freedom also begins here and with it, the abundant life.

As Christians we need to be on the constant look out for pride. It robs us of our freedom and abundant life. It creeps up on us when we least expect it. It hides itself in seemingly innocent things. It’s one of, if not the most powerful weapons the devil has in his arsenal. He (the devil) tells us “be proud of who you are”, what’s wrong with that? “Take pride in yourself man.” These things sound good and do not seem like much but once we start harboring these thoughts they begin to grow. Little by little we begin taking God’s glory for ourselves. We begin to believe that some of the successes we achieve are because of things we have done.

Before you know it, we are looking at a fallen brother and thinking to ourselves: “How can he do that and call himself a Christian? I would never do something like that” We begin to look for specs in the eyes of others and not see the logs in our own. We get self righteous. We begin to approach others with a legalistic attitude instead of with love and grace. We begin to lose our witness. We are now what the bible calls salt that has lost its flavor and fit only to be trodden under by the feet of men. God resists us. What a sad state?

Unfortunately this is the state that much of the church here in the United States finds itself in today. The public is withdrawing from us, the church. They don’t see us as loving people who are filled with grace. They don’t see unity. They don’t see anything different in us that separate us from any other group of people. They sure don’t see Jesus in us. They see people who condemn them but live hypocritical lives themselves. The pity is they are crying out for real spiritual relationships with God but are not finding it in the church. The church is losing it’s flavor.

Christians, let us get down on our knees. Let us ask the Lord to remove all pride. Let us be on constant guard against this sneaky sin. Let us realize that everything that we are is because of Him and Him alone. Let us bury ourselves in God’s Word. Let us hide His word in our hearts that we might not sin against him. Let us discover His love. Let us learn to love Him all over again. Let us seek Him daily. Let us start our days off in His presence. Let us obey Him. Let us allow Him to excite us. Let us seek ways to reach those who don’t know His love. Let us give Him the glory. Let us give Him praise. Let us see His supernatural works. Let us allow Him to show the world He is alive and lives in us.

Time is short and there are many to reach. The harvest is ripe and we need you to step up.

In His service,

Frank Vernon

You see miracles don’t happen on the sidelines, they happen in the heat of the battle. You must be spiritually engaged if you want to live a supernatural and abundant life. God does not ask you to do easy things, He asks you to do the impossible. Impossible in your own strength that is.

If speaking out about Jesus makes you uncomfortable, do it anyway that’s how we grow. Study the scriptures daily and start a prayer life. In my own experience I have found that a good way to start a prayer life is to first choose a daily bible reading plan, (there are many online) and start following it.

After you have read your selection for the day, think about it. Ask God about what you just read. Ask Him what he wants you to get from it and to guide your thoughts. Now start asking yourself questions about it, who, what, when, where and why. Spend some moments in deep thought over it. Then close by asking God to continue speaking to you about it as you go about your daily activities. Ask Him to provide opportunities for you to apply any truths you have learned.

This is how I started praying to experience growth and transformation. You will find that the more you get into God’s Word the more you will understand God’s love and the more you understand God’s love the more your life changes without you even realizing it and the more at peace you will become. His peace and joy begins to spread throughout your innermost being. Also as you keep studying, learning and changing you realize how little you know and it keeps you humble. You begin to find out what abundant living is all about.

As your faith and walk with the Lord grows it will become easier to speak with others about it and you begin to develop the boldness that the verses at the beginning spoke about.

As you invest in the lives of others you will begin to experience true happiness. You begin to meet people where they are at, way down in the trenches and the spiritual battle gets intense and there is not much that you can do so you begin to rely on the Holy Spirit more and more, then, the miracles will happen as the Holy Spirit is allowed to do His job. That’s when you are really living. This is a journey that’s never complete and will never be until Jesus comes but our job is to keep pressing forward as Paul says in Phil 3:14
“I keep pursuing the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.”

Isn’t it awesome?

In His Service

Frank Vernon

I am sure you have heard fellow Christians as they complain bitterly about circumstances that are happening in their lives. They have problems with their children, spouses, work, homes, health issues and the list goes on and on. A favorite refrain is “Why did this happen to me?” or “Why did the Lord allow this to happen to me? I am a good person and I do His will.”

I see fellow Christians and even pastors struggle with this question when asked by other Christians who are experiencing difficult trials in their life. Especially when the difficulty is the loss of a young loved one who is a Christian and is well loved and respected. Although there is no way of telling which specific reason applies in any particular case, scripture does give us several reasons. But before I go on let me say this. When that question is asked about a Christian that’s died it surely ruffles my feathers.

The questions “Why would God allow this to someone so young?” And “Why was he cut short in the prime of his life?” implies that the person dying was being punished or that his/her dying is a terrible thing. Terrible for who? We are speaking of a Christian person here and he/she has moved on to a life that is so wonderful and full of joy and happiness that we can’t even imagine it. If they could come back, they wouldn’t want to. They are experiencing a relationship with God that is so satisfying and fulfilling that it is beyond anything we can even comprehend. So how is that terrible? The only thing a Christian should feel is a sense of sorrow for the brief time that person will be out of our lives until we meet him/her again in Glory.

Now let’s get back on track. Many times the things which are happening to us that we consider bad are referred to in the scriptures as trials, tribulations and even discipline. Consider the following passage in Hebrews 12:5-11:

5  You have forgotten the encouragement that is addressed to you as sons: “My son, do not think lightly of the Lord’s discipline or give up when you are corrected by him.  6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he punishes every son he accepts.”  7 What you endure is for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as sons. Is there a son whom his father does not discipline?  8 Now if you are without any discipline, in which all sons share, then you are illegitimate and not his sons.  … 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, for those who have been trained by it, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.

A large part  of the difficulties we go through as Christians are allowed by God to come into our lives to correct, teach and train us, (discipline us) so that we may be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. Here are a few more verses that will add to the above and give further details:

Jas 1:2-4

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Rom 5:3-4

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Below is a list taken from the passages above that give us some of the things to be thankful for during difficult times.

1. Heb12: 6 – The Lord only disciplines those He loves. So it shows that He loves us. Along those same lines, if we are not being disciplined then we are not His children and are not saved. See verse 8 “if you are without discipline, in which all sons share, then you are illegitimate and not His sons.” So we give thanks because our discipline confirms to us that we are His sons.
2. Heb12:11 – Even though we may not understand it or see it at the time, the difficulty we are going through will produce righteousness and peace in us if we allow it to.
3. Jas 1:2-4 – It produces patience which moves you towards perfection and completeness
4. Rom 5:3-4 – It produces perseverance, character and Hope.

What I am saying here is that everything you go through in life has been filtered and allowed by God. Some experiences will give you joy and happiness in the moment and some will build and grow you into better Christians. As Christians we grow during adversity and without it we would be stagnant. How can you learn to depend on God and grow in faith if you never go through experiences where you have to lean on Him?

I can tell you from personal experience that as you go through each experience you would be wise to get on your knees and ask God to reveal to you the truths that He wants you to learn because when you don’t learn it, that lesson will come again and the more you resist the harder the experiences will get until you learn.

Sometimes you may go through an experience that’s not designed for your growth but is designed to increase the faith of others looking on, to see how you deal with it or to bring non-believers to Christ as they see God glorified in your handling of the situation and in the results. Sometimes the results are obviously impossible to have been accomplished by you and so it becomes obvious that God is at work as was the case when Jesus rose Lazarus  from the dead: Joh. 11:4  When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”  Or In John 9:1-7 where Jesus told his disciples that the blind man that he was about to heal was not blind because of his or his parents sin but was blind so that Jesus could heal Him and thereby show God’s glorious power and works.

This demonstrates yet another reason to give thanks as we see that through it all, God’s power, works, compassion and love will come shining through and be obvious to all Christians and non-believers and will result in the furtherance of His Kingdom.

Another reason for giving thanks is that God sees the big picture and we don’t. The very thing that we are crying about today may be what we will be thankful for in the future. A good example of this in scriptures is seen in the life of Joseph. As a boy he was sold into slavery by his own brothers who were so jealous of him. Today, as well as back then we would be horrified that such a thing happened and would be questioning God as to why He would allow such a thing to happen. God was however beginning Joseph’s training, a process that would later make him the second most powerful man in Egypt. This gave him the authority that he would need to save His brothers’ lives, (the same ones who sold him into slavery) and bring his family to Egypt which fulfilled prophecy as a result and became the place where Israel and his family grew into a nation.

I tell you, when you learn to give thanks in everything, even under the most difficult of circumstances, you will find joy, peace, and contentment. You will discover that you can have joy and the peace that passes all understanding and will realize one of the Mysteries of God that allows you to have abundant life even in the most miserable of circumstances.

In His Service,

Frank Vernon