Bringing Scripture to Life

The Bible tells us that after Elijah had done great things for God at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18), that the evil queen Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-2). This caused Elijah to go from one of the most incredible mountain top experiences that anyone has ever had with God, into a complete downward spiral of fear, hopelessness, and depression. He was so depressed that he ran far away from everyone and hid in a dark and lonely cave. Too depressed to face life, too discouraged to even get up out of bed, the Bible tells us that the Lord came to Elijah and instructed him to get up and get going.  Maybe you can relate to Elijah today? Maybe you can understand the loneliness, and fear, and great depression that he must have felt. The type of depression that keeps you in bed all day, shut out from the world. If you are in this place today, it is my prayer that the following video will give you encouragement to take some simple steps to get back on track with God, and His p...

If today was the last day in world history, and we placed every religious leader from every religion who ever stepped foot on this planet side-by-side next to each other, and each of them represented a door into eternity. In fact if we placed people like Buddha, Mohammed, and Jesus before us on the last day of world history, with each of them representing a door into eternity, which door would you choose? Forget about religious agendas for a moment, and think clearly. Wouldn't you want to put your trust in the One who overcame death, and has been resurrected? Wouldn't you want to go through the door that overcame death? I don't blame you. Do you realize that Jesus Christ is the only one that has risen from the dead? Jesus is the only one who provided a way for us to go to heaven. That is why Jesus said, "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved" (John 10:8). I hope this Resurrection Weekend, you will take seriously the Door that is before you, a...

Richard Bandler is an author on “Modern Psychological Techniques”, which is an area of study intended to understand and change human behavior patterns. He tells one story about visiting a mental institution and dealing with a man who insisted he was Jesus Christ - not metaphorically, not in spirit, but in the flesh. One day Bandler walked in to meet this man. "Are you Jesus?" he said. "Yes, my son," the man replied. Bandler said, "I’ll be back in a minute." This left the man a little bit confused. Within three or four minutes, Bandler came back, holding a measuring tape. Asking the man to hold out his arms, Bandler measured the length of his arms and his height from head to toe. After that, Bandler left. The man claiming to be Christ became a little concerned. A little while later, Bandler came back with a hammer, some large spiked nails, and a long set of boards. He began to pound them into the form of a cross. The man asked, "What are you doi...

1 John 4:4-6 Testing the spirit of ANTICHRIST Pastor Jason Stewart I.       Introduction:    We live in a day and age where the Christian faith is being attacked on almost every street corner of every city on every continent in the world. We have seen over the past couple of weeks that we have been given an incredible responsibility from God in the midst of all of this opposition, to be men and women who preserve the truth of His Word throughout the ages. In essence, we are the custodians of truth.    And though you may be in agreement with this statement, saying “yes and amen”, I can’t stress to you enough how I want to encourage you to be men and women, who join forces with the Spirit of God and become devoted to Protecting the truth, as God has called each of us to do. This week we will be turning our attentions to the final area of “Testing the spirits”, which is the real reason for the test. II.    ...

1 st John 4:2-3 GUIDE for Testing the spirits Pastor Jason Stewart I.       Introduction: This morning as we continue on in our look from 1 st John 4, we are going to see the importance that the Holy Spirit plays in guiding us into the truth of God’s Word, and how He will always point us toward Jesus Christ. II.      Revelation/Application: Testing the Spirit Last week we looked at (v.1) and how God has given us the “Command” to test the spirits, and this week we are going to see that God has given us a Supernatural Guide to help us when testing the spirits, Himself.   The first key area we will be looking at is our “Guide” for Testing the Spirits. This is Point One of this mornings’ message: We test the spirits with the Holy Spirit. 1. In order to test the spirits, we have to have the right Guide to lead us in the testing. We find this truth being presented to us in (vv.2-3). The Bible says in 1 John 4:2, “By ...

As I am preparing my heart to hear from God this Easter season, I began thinking about a poem that I wrote a couple of years ago. I was inspired to write this poem back in 2009. It travels from His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, to His Suffering on the Cross at Calvary, to His Victory at the Empty Tomb. The Passion On the darkest of nights where one life dwells I found in a Garden him fighting with Hell There was sweat filled with blood and prayers full of grief Agony, suffering pleading for relief But no one would listen not Father, nor friends When the traitor came it was surely the end He was exposed by a kiss which was part of the plan Horrific suffering and wrath as death drew near to this Man His friends forsook Him His family fled Abandoned by all He would soon be dead He was spit upon, and mocked beaten and flogged He was given a cross and commanded to walk In pain and weakness He climbed that great h...

1 John 4:1 COMMAND to Test the spirits Pastor Jason Stewart I.       Introduction: Please read Wreckers  for an illustration to help drive home the importance of this message. II.       Revelation/Application: Testing the Spirit a.     The Command for Testing (4:1) 1. Not every spirit is of God. Just as God has His representatives so too does Satan have people under his influence also. Ever since Satan successfully tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, he has been distorting God’s Word in order to deceive people and separate them from God. 2. In fact Scripture tells us that he is the master mind behind all false teachers and errant doctrine (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). That is why John says, “Do not believe every spirit” (4:1a). In essence, John is telling us not to believe everything we hear! As Christians we are called to be like the Berean’s in order to determine what is true and what is error (Ac...