Grace Fellowship Baptist Church

As fathers love to hear and answer the pleas and heart-cries of their children, so our heavenly Father loves to hear and answer the pleas, prayers, and heart-cries of their believing children! The effectual fervent prayers of a righteous man avails much! Our prayers to our God ought to be such as to move God on our behalf! How much more than when many of us prayer fervently to God! Even though Jehoshaphat's army was formidable, he would not depend upon his army, but rather upon God!

Job was a good father. He was a great man, a devoted man with a good and godly reputation, he was no dishonest, but well respected, and that is because he was a man who was continually turning from sin and wickedness. Furthermore, he was a rich man, and he was also a man who was the father of 10 children, for whom he continually prayed. And then, Job followed God in both the good and difficult times.

Christ saves to the uttermost - Christians are the possession of the Lord Jesus Christ! You, child of God are bought with a prices. What a glorious thing to be the inheritance of Christ! Those at Babel sought to break the bands of God from them, to seek by their own self-will to reach heaven, but God scattered them to become all nations. But, in Christ, all nations are gathered together. Revelation 7:9-10: After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."

The wonderful doctrine of the intercession of Christ should be a constant comfort to our souls! Jesus ever lives to make intercession "FOR US" His beloved saints. And since His intercession is continual, since the Risen and Ascended living Christ is always appearing before the face of God for us, we should always be full of comfort and rejoicing that we are saved to the uttermost!

Jehu obeyed God's command when he carried out God's command to wipe out the house of Ahab and Jezebel. But not only did he eliminate sin in Israel, sadly, he perpetuated it. He obeyed God, but then he did not obey God or walk in his ways. Jehu was concerned about getting the glory for himself rather than for God. Ref. "Come and see my zeal for the LORD." He was too busy blowing his own trumpet, rather than glorifying God.

If the people of Old Testament Israel knew anything, they knew that blood must be shed if their sins would be forgiven. Hebrews 9:22, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins." And then in Hebrews 9:23, the writer teaches us that the types and shadows of heavenly things (the tabernacle, the ark, and the vessels of ministry) were purified (sanctified) with the blood of animals. They must be if God would descend upon the tabernacle and ark. And then he writes, that heavenly things themselves (the heavenly sanctuary) was purified or sanctified with better sacrifices than those animal sacrifices. Let me just say that heaven is not impure or defiled in any way. Ref. Revelation 22:17. But when Christ entered into heaven by His own blood, heaven was then made ready to receive us. Heaven could not receive us until it first received the Risen Christ! If heaven would be prepared for us and us for heaven, Christ must first enter therein with His blood and prepare it for us! John 14:1-6.

Jesus' Words on marriage and divorce were controversial in the 1st century, and they are still controversial today. What He taught them was that marriage is not a contract, it is a covenant between and man and woman before God. The Pharisees came to Jesus tempting Him, asking Jesus if it was lawful for a man to put away his wife. And that Moses allowed it. So the were trying to trap Jesus, and pit Him against the law of Moses. Jesus answer their question with a question, pointing them back to the law of Moses, and told them, Moses allowed this because of the hardness of your hearts.

Hosea, the prophet of God, who's name means savior or deliverer was sent to Israel, (to the northern kingdom, the 10 tribes) to call them to repentance for their sins of idolatry. It was a time of prosperity and faithlessness in Israel. God would shock the people of Israel in Hosea's marriage to a woman who was a harlot. His marriage to Gomer was to show the people of Israel what they were doing to Him! But in all of Hosea's prophecy, we see God's unwavering love for His covenant people! He would not leave nor forsake them.

First: God is victoriously seat in the heavens having conquered His enemies. Second: God, who is sitting in the heavens laughs at His enemies, and Thirdly, God will have His enemies in derision or He shall mock at those that would fight against Him.

Christ, by His own blood entered once into the holy place (in heaven) having obtained eternal redemption for us, this by His blood. Christ accomplished what no Levitical Priest could do, nor could eternal redemption be obtained with the blood of bulls and goats. All of the sacrifices and ordinances of the Old Covenant could only make the comers ceremonially and outwardly clean, but only by Christ are we made inwardly cleansed in our hearts! Now in Christ, we have eternal redemption, through Him who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God. All those who have been redeemed by Christ, have an eternal inheritance in heaven.

Jesus gives us a warning. We must not trifle with our sins, but we must be ruthless with our sins, casting them from our lives. If we do not kill our sins, our sins will take us down.

God's awesome and unlimited power is hard to comprehend. And yet, He is all-powerful. God is in this passage called, my Rock, my Fortress, my Deliverer, The God of my rick, in Him will I trust. All of us should be able to say what David says here.

The writer continues after teaching the better promises of the New Covenant, and now by showing the excellence of the New Covenant, by showing the weakness and insufficiency of the Old Covenant and its ordinance. And then there's this extraordinary truth, in the Old Covenant sacrifices, there was a remembrance of sins every year. And then there was this, under the old covenant there was a remembrance of your sins every year, but not under the New Covenant. God promised, your sins and your iniquities, will I remember no more.

In this passage, the Apostles were arguing among themselves about who among them would be the greatest. Jesus taught them that greatness in the Kingdom of heaven is not like the proud greatness in the world. Trying to be first in the world is not the greatness in Christ's Kingdom. There's always a desire to be number one, but Christ taught His disciples, the last would be first, and the first would be last.

James having taught us about an untamed tongue now teaches us about two wisdoms. One from above and the other from beneath. You will know what is the prominent wisdom of your life by how you behave and conduct yourself in this world.

This is a Messianic Psalm which speaks prophetically of how God's enemies raged against Jesus, the Anointed King.

Mary, a young and faithful virgin, who lived in Nazareth of Galilee was greatly honored to be chosen by God to carry the Christ into the world, and to be mother to the Son of God. One cannot overstate what she must have felt within her heart, we read her song of praise when she visited her cousin Elisabeth, who was herself partaking of a miraculous birth in John the Baptist. But again, it cannot be overstated that Mary would conceive and carry the Savior of the world into the world. The salvation of Israel that she had long waited for would come into the world through her own body. The Word was made flesh within her very flesh.

This took place as Jesus and Peter, James, and John, came down from the Mount of Transfiguration. After this great spiritual experience, they come back down into the gloom, sin, and unbelief in the world. The other disciples could not cast out the unclean spirit from the young man. The young man's father was crying out for help! And, the scribes and Pharisees were there causing trouble.

Two questions were asked, one by the disciples, and one by Jesus. The disciples question was, Why say the scribes that Elijah must come first? Jesus question was, How is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

We know that the Gentiles are included in the New Covenant promises prophesied by Jeremiah in (C31:31-34). The easy answer is found in 1 Corinthians 11, where Paul taught this Gentile church about the Lord's Supper. Paul taught them about the New Testament which most assuredly was to them as children of God! But throughout the Old Testament scriptures, (all the way back to Abraham), there are promises that God would save a people from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. In fact, in Hosea 1:10-2:1, God spoke of those whom He previously called "not my people" that they would be His people, and He would be their God. Hosea spoke of Israel, (the 10) tribes, and Paul used this passage (this promise) to show the inclusion of the Gentiles into what we might call spiritual Israel. Romans 9:22-26

The Lord Jesus, who is the Faithful and True Witness, and the Beginning of the Creation of God, spoke to the church at Laodicea about their selfishness and love for the world. Jesus told them they should be refreshingly cold, like a cold drink of water or hot, like a hot cup of tea. No one wants to drink anything lukewarm.

These last two promises of the New Covenant are rich and profound in that God is merciful to our unrighteousness, and He no longer remembers our sins!

The longer and more that we know God, the more we should love God.

In the New Covenant, God has accomplished all that was required of that covenant for the sake of His people and for our salvation. Today, I will put my law into your mind and write it upon your heart. I will be your God, and you will be my people, and finally, you will know Me saith the Lord, you will have knowledge of Me. All of this is the work of the Spirit of God.

This passage in 1 Corinthians 15 is Paul's master defense of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and the resurrection of the saints. If the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead didn't happen, than we are not saved. But, as Paul points out in this passage, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was testified to be true by many eye witnesses!

The only One that has the power to establish us in our Christian life is God. When God saved you, you were saved by the power of God, and now you are kept by the power of God. But the essential component that you must have if you would experience God's power in the establishing of your faith in Christ, you must be rooted in the Word of God. Paul taught the saints at Rome, if they would be established in their faith by God's power, it would be according (and through) to the gospel of Jesus Christ!

This is one of the most important chapters in all of the Bible, and that is because it speaks of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this passage Paul was confronting a dangerous and deadly heresy. For if Jesus did not rise from the dead, we are not saved. This was a gospel refresher, Paul was reminding the saints at Corinth about what the gospel is!

This is one of those passages in the Word of God that teaches us that we are the church militant! There is a "military" nature to your Christian life. You are to be a "good soldier of Jesus Christ." Why? Because you are engaged in spiritual warfare, thus, you must always be ready to stand your ground in Christ. In this passage, we are warned to "mark" or " keep an eye on those that would introduce "contrary doctrines" or false teachings into the church, and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own selves.

The conclusion of the Lord's prayer teaches us that God deserves all the honor and glory for all things. For it is His Kingdom that grants all of our petitions. And whatsoever is granted to us is for the advancement and glory of His Name and Kingdom. It is the kindness of God and the mercy of God that He grants us those things which will honor Him and His Kingdom in our lives.

Don't ever think that God was not gracious to Israel in the Old Testament, He was nothing by gracious and kind, and longsuffering toward them. And it was in the midst of their rebellion against Him that He gave them the promise of the New Covenant, in which He perfect all of the promises of it Himself, for their sakes. He didn't say that He had HAD with them, but instead, I will be gracious to you. "For I will be merciful to your unrighteousness." That's grace!

In the transfiguration of Jesus, He gave His apostles a sneak peak into His glory. In fact, in John 1:14, the Apostle John wrote, "and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

There were many who contributed to the gospel ministry of the Apostle Paul, who supported him in many different ways, and whom God used to take care of things that might have slowed or hindered Paul's ministry. Some risked their lives for Paul and the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. These dear saints, although for many of them, all we know are their names, nonetheless, God honored their memory for their service to Paul, and ultimately to the Lord Jesu Christ.

This multitude of people who followed Jesus had eyes but they could not see, and ears but they could not hear. Instead of 'seeing' Jesus as their Promised Messiah, and with eyes of faith for Who He was, all they saw was the barley loaves and bread that filled their bellies. Jesus then proceeded to teach them about necessary and essential bread for their souls! They murmured when He spoke of Himself as the bread of God, but when He said to them, "The bread I will give is my flesh," many were offended!

What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus Christ? Many there are who make false statements about the Christian life such as this: If you are faithful to Christ and to His church, you are going to be successful, the Lord will bless your finances, and you're going to have good health. No adversity, no troubles! But Jesus never promised that type of life to those who follow Him. But what He did command those who would follow Him is, "Whoever will be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." The cross was a symbol of suffering and death.

That blessed Man is Jesus Christ. The only way that we can ever be blessed, and to truly be the man in this Psalm is if we trust in that "Blessed Man."

The old covenant was no more. Now the writer of Hebrews shows 1st century Hebrew Christians that not only is Jesus a better high priest than Aaron, but He is a better Mediator than Moses, and of a better covenant.

The term Son of Man (many believe) was borrowed from the book of Daniel 7:13-14, which term Jesus used of Himself. This means to be exalted as being human, but it also means that He was God in the flesh.

Lead me not into temptation because I do not trust myself in life on my own. I need Christ!

Whom do you say that Jesus is? He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Paul was called to be the Apostle to the Gentiles, to many peoples of many nations. Is your gospel influence in your little part of the world increasing and growing? Do you care for souls like the Apostle Paul care for and loved souls?

This has been a very dark book, God declaring his judgments upon Israel for their sins. But in these last verses of Amos, there is a dramatic change in Amos' tone to the house of Israel. God tells Amos to speak of Israel's golden age.

Is God's grace abounding in you? Grace and peace be multiplied! How does grace continue to flow to you from God? Through the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord! And then there's this, since you have been saved by God's grace, shouldn't you now sin less? Shouldn't you be better than you were than you were lost? I am not preaching sinless perfection, but rather a growing and maturing in our faith in such a way in which we sin less!

This Psalm is connected to Psalm 42. We all go through periods of spiritual depression. The Psalmist is calling out to God to help him; he had been treated in an unjust manner.

Are you running the Christian race to receive the prize that you already have in Christ?

This first part of Amos' vision is bad news for the people of the northern Kingdom of Israel. This was in Bethel.

After God gave Israel a great victory, the people began to complain against Moses and God, and so God sent fiery serpents among them.

Hebrews Christians in the first century were being compelled to go back to Old Testament patterns, types, and shadows of what had already come to pass in Christ. Thus, the writer compelled them to look past the pattern to the heavenly reality and substance.