Praising The Lord God Openly!

"I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee." Psalms 138:1

How is your public prayer life, and your public praise life, is it worthy to God or man? The Psalmist David boldly said "...before the gods will I sing praise unto thee." This is the kings of the earth or people of great power in the earth. The question I have is this; in your heart do you make this promise to God? I see much and much more as the days pass "professed ministers of the gospel" who pray but fail to pray in the name of Jesus, and who forget to praise and recognize God properly. I believe this is because they are weak in faith and weak in respect of God. I believe that the world's demonization of Christ Jesus and Jehovah God has affected their faith. I remember Rick Warren did this at the inaugural prayer of President Obama when he failed to pray in the name of Christ Jesus. I heard a professed minister of the gospel just this week who did not pray in the name of Jesus Christ. There are many of these "professed ministers of the gospel" who have announced that you do not have to pray in the name of Jesus just to prevent doing it. I remember several years back hearing John MacArthur on the radio make the bold statement that it is not necessary to pray in Jesus name, but I must boldly ask who says, and why not? The scriptures are bold on this point and give no margin for error. In John 14:13 - 14 it says "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do...If ye shall ask any thing in my name..." and both scriptures conclude "...I will do it." if asked in the name of Jesus Christ. But I hear men cry "in his name", "in your name", but is that the same? I believe that unless the name of Jesus Christ has been mentioned just prior to that quote, it is invalid and God will not hear the prayer. I believe anyone who believes or refuses to pray in the name of Jesus Christ is afraid to recognize Jesus Christ to his or her hearers. I must ask, is the name of Jesus Christ an embarrassment? Let us not forget He is the Saviour of mankind and He is the God of all gods. Man cannot stand before God without going through Jesus Christ. 1Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" the word "mediator" means - a go between - meaning " "in his name" or "in your name" falls way short of the man Christ Jesus. Do not be afraid of speaking the name Jesus Christ because God said you should whole heartily praise Him even before the worlds gods. Psalms 86:12 - 13 "I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. (13.) For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell."

Strengthened In Christ!

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Philippians 4:13

What can you do through Christ? "all things" Doing things through Christ means you do not do it on your own. Salvation is a good example; it is through Christ and not through any merit of our own. Paul made a profound statement in Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" the gift of God through Christ. Prayer is another example; "If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." John 14:14. People are always attempting to go around Christ but it is imposable. Christ is our all and in all; we see Paul also write in 1 Corinthians 8:6 "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." We do not just have strength in Christ Jesus but we have all things in Christ and without Him we have nothing. Therefore, we must conclude that salvation is not salvation except it being totally in Christ. Prayer is not prayer if not prayed in the name of Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is concluded that outside of Christ and His strength we are powerless. We see so many today attempting to by-pass Christ in all of these areas, but that is a big mistake, because outside of Christ there is nothing but weakness and simply glorious words spoken in prayer and without Christ there cannot be salvation because it is only in His blood that sins as cleansed. "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Ephesians 2:13 works are not part of salvation because if salvation is by works then God is a liar. "Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:9 and in 2 Timothy 1:9 "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began," and not of baptism because Jesus Himself called baptism a work. "And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him." Matthew 3:15 Baptism is an act of righteousness and we are not saved by ACTS of righteousness. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us..." Titus 3:5 With all of this said we must conclude that without Christ, we can do absolutely nothing, but through Christ, we can do all things. We can be saved, we can speak directly to God in prayer, and we can even have the strength about us to give our own life for God, the doctrine of the bible, and even for the Lords churches. Yes, folk in Christ we can have all things as long as it is Gods blessed will for us. Never say, you can't do it; just do it in Christ and it will surprise you what Christ will give you the strength and ability to do. Paul said in his conclusion to the church at Ephesus, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Ephesians 6:10 When people try to do by themselves they fail, when people work for their salvation they will find themselves without, when people try to preach on their own and without Christ's glory, they will loose. Stand in Christ, lean on him and you will win, because there are no powers outside of His. Only if we totally go through Christ can Christ receive all glory due His blessed name.

May I Only Preach The Word Of God!

"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 1 Corinthians 2:4

I pray often that what I preach is Gods words and not my own. I have heard preachers who use a very limited amount of scriptures in their sermons and I have never enjoyed one. I love to hear scriptures and not man babbling on to show how smart they are. However when you are not teaching truth I guess adding a lot of scriptures is not essential. Paul said "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom..." as brilliant (humanly speaking) as Paul was He did not want to entice people with his own words of wisdom, he did not desire to show people how smart and great he was, unlike so many today. The word of God is powerful, it can move a lifeless heart from the dead to living, it can move mountains, and it can save sinners if coupled with the power of the Holy Spirit. "... but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:" A great example of this is the church signs in front of church buildings, look and see how many use scriptures and how many use mans wisdom. What are they saying; man's wisdom is more powerful than the scriptures? People drive by those signs sometimes everyday only to see some very ignorant quote that some unintelligent person thought up (man's wisdom). It is like their thinking is "the scriptures can't explain the thought like I can" Those signs are the only thing some lost person might ever see as far as the church goes, they may never go to church, and all they see is some very ignorant quote that (most of the time) doesn't even make sense. The word of God is powerful because it is what God uses to change people like Saul of Tarsus. Paul also said in 1Corinthians 2:2 "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Was this because Paul was ignorant? Maybe he could not think fast enough on his feet. No, it was because Paul had determined that Gods word is more powerful than his intelligence, that it can accomplish salvation, real salvation. This is why God said the wise men must be made ignorant before He teaches them. The wisdom of the world is useless to God and the salvation of souls. Paul told us to preach the gospel instead of our own wisdom. "For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." Galatians 1:10 If man preaches with their own wisdom the only thing they will change is the gospel. God said "Preach the word..." 2 Timothy 4:2 Folks the word of God is more powerful than any wisdom that man may have about them, they need to convince themselves that Gods word is truth and man's words are lies. They have churches full of lost people because they have changed the truth into a lie and changed the gospel from a God saving tool to a decision or choice man makes. They preach that God cannot change man's will when the truth is mankind will never change his own will. Romans 3:11 "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." If one preached the word and not their own intelligence the churches may be smaller, the salvations may be less but it will be in truth and not a lie, and God will save sinners rather than people making false commitments. I know what I preach is truth because I know that I preach by the authority of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 61:1 "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek..."