His Handiwork.

Ephesians 2:6-10

Not by anything you have done but what he has done in and through you... Don't know what else to say.. The church struggles with all this because it's to difficult to view the difficulties of others through the eyes and heart of God. It's easy to take a section of scripture like this one and create a whole new doctrine and religion for that matter, because that's what it would be and is, an idol. We must understand scripture in context to the whole of scripture.. 

Pastor Patrick

More Then I Love Myself

Ephesians 2:1-5

I just love that despite how horrible and unholy we were before we met Jesus, God in his foreknowledge made the way possible for you and I to have fellowship with Him. Father thank you for loving me more then I can love myself. 

Pastor Patrick,

The Peripheral World

Ephesians 1:15-23

"He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence." Msg.

We, just as Paul was, should be thankful for the church body. Its members are an important part of what makes the world go around. As a member of that body you should see the church the way God does. The church, which JESUS is the head, is not on the sidelines in the world. The world is on the sidelines of the church. The body of Christ holds everything together with Jesus as the leader. So, the world takes a backseat to the church body..

Pastor Patrick

My Big God

Ephesians 1:1-14

To many times some read into this passage of scripture and twist it to accomidate their gospel. This word is the Gospel of Jesus and we are to conform to it not the other way around, that would be called idol worship. There is a sweet truth of balance to Gods word. He saves and judges, he blesses and curses. Here we are seeing his omnipotence displayed for us. This shows us how big our God is, beyond our understanding and comprehension. Yet, there is no question that in Jesus we are secure.

Pastor Patrick

Walking In Truth and Love

2 John

Our instruction is simple here folks. We are to love one another in the context of the truth revealed through the gospel. Okay, for those Bako boys I will dumb it down. Jesus is love and is the physical presence of God showing us His love through sacrifice. So, we are to sacrifice our self for everybody else. Get it?

Pastor Patrick

I Believe Right

1 John 5:6-21

We come upon one of the references to the Trinity in verse 7. What I get from this is that God testifies of Himself. If you really meditate on vs 6-12 it is so powerful. 

Today there are many people who profess to know God and have fellowship with Him but do not demonstrate such faith at all. To be sure that we know God, we must keep His commandment. If we lack love for others, it indicates we do not know the love of God in our hearts. Foundationally we must believe rightly about Jesus Christ. He is the Christ, the Son of God, who has come in the flesh. This important triad calls the contemporary church to a strong, balanced faith. We must grow stronger and stronger in all areas of our Christian life. (HCBC)

Pastor Patrick

Faith, Love and Obedience

1 John 5:1-5

So many times when we read through the word it's easy to pick out the key words and parts that tickle our ears and make being a disciple of Christ a cake walk. We have been really looking at love and what it means to be loved and love others the way God does. I found that it was easy to read through this and begin meditating on the love and acceptance part of the scripture. The key to love is OBEDIENCE.  Read it people, if you say you love God your actions will prove it. That's all!

Pastor Patrick

Perfected Love

1 John 4:17-21

The confidence of a true believer stems from the fact that their lives reflect Gods nature. Gods nature at its core is love of course. This love is a giving (agape) love and removes any and all fear of judgement. Think about this when you think about Gods nature. Jesus came and his whole focus was other people, not himself. Our culture breeds selfishness. As a Christian you give up those rights to be self focused. If you and I call Jesus LORD we gave up the right to decide our actions and will. Free will no longer applies in the sense that we have surrendered to God and welcomed his Holy Spirit to be our conscience and guide through the rest of this life. 

Pastor Patrick

Have No Fear! JESUS IS HERE!

1 John 4:13-17

We have no need to fear an eternal judgement when we have trusted in Jesus. We can have this confidence because His Spirit has been given to us and abides in us. Our obedience is the sign to the world that His Spirit abides in us. I love how John here says the he has seen and witnessed Jesus first hand. This dude walked with the King. Amazing!

Pastor Patrick

Showing love

1 John 4:8-12

God asks you and I to show love to one another. Love must be something that is tangible. It can be seen, touched and felt, it must be sacrificial in nature. The same as he has demonstrated for us as the example. God sacrificed his Son, Jesus as the replacement for our sin offering. We have been forgiven for so much. Therefore, our life is to reflect that grace and mercy we were shown in how we interact with others. Show some love today!

Pastor Patrick

Demonstration of Love

1 John 4:7-8

We are blessed to have God care enough about us to even acknowledge us in the first place. God is love! This scripture let's us know that we are to demonstrate that love. This love we are to demonstrate is impossible for us to demonstrate without God. Love is one of the attributes of Gods divine nature and unless we have experienced it, there is no apprehension. I challenge you to search your heart and ask yourself if you really are demonstrating the kind of love that God does. If I was to ask your co workers or your spouse or child, what would they say. If your love is not sacrificial it is worthless because that is the kind of love that God demonstrated for us. 

Pastor Patrick

Testing Time

1 John 4:1-6

Testing the spirits! Hmm, I never really liked tests when I was in school. The kind of testing the Apostle is talking about here is the kind of heresy that has been a plague to the Christian church since the Lord ascended and for them at that time it was Gnosticism. Christian Science is the modern day version of this ancient heresy and in today's world it's theories and thoughts permeate the society we live in. Some of its lies have even penetrated the true Church of God through the cultural mindset of the world. We are cautioned to be on guard and test the spirits. We are without excuse when we are drawn away by lying spirits today. We have something they didn't back then, the New Testament. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for the Apostles to combat such a heresy. 

We deal with minute amounts of that in today's church body.. Look at some of the teachers and preachers that come across the airwaves. #KennethCopeland, #CrefloDollar, #JoelOsteen, #JosephPrince just to name a few. I do not say these men are not saved, I say they do not give us the full gospel as commanded to every teacher of Gods word. Each one customizes and twists the word of God to meet the need of their message. This is criminal and leads true believers down a path of heresy mixed with truth. There will come a day when each will answer for his or her life and how they stewarded what God gave them. In the mean time use the word to recognize false teaching and heresy. It can save your life

Pastor Patrick