Podcast - Ray Bentley Ministries

Pastor Ray Bentley takes us to First John for an important message in the last hours of the last days. We are living in an hour of crisis, and what John is writing this letter about is that believers must be on guard against the attacks of the enemy. And the last hour actually began in John's day. After the last hour started 2000 years ago.

Some choose not to follow Jesus. Today, pastor Ray Bentley answers their objections. There are many people who say the world, all that spiritual stuff, it's so hard. Yeah, it is, but it's not complicated. It's simple. It's just hard to do. But it's worth it and eternally worth it all. The world will never change. It will always be here.

Sin. A short word with long consequences today on Maranatha Radio. Pastor Ray Bentley helps us recognize its danger. Here's some words that describe what sin does to us. It destroys lives. It's misery. It's poison. The other thing to notice is that sins have separated you from God. And when we are cut off from him, something dies and shrivels within us.

Worldliness is not a matter of how much money you make or how many things you have. It's a matter of what your heart is actually in love with and what you are attached to. Pastor Ray Bentley points out, A heavenly perspective takes us to the bounty of God's blessings. The future is even better than what you've had up until now, and everything that God has blessed you with up until now has been merely preparation for the great blessings he has in store for you tomorrow.

Today, pastor Ray Bentley says First John is a book that encourages us but also holds us accountable. We need to know and understand that the Book of First John is a book of proofs. It isn't so much what I say, it's what I do. I can say one thing and do another. So what I say only carries so much weight.

Coming up today, pastor Ray Bentley reminds us of the primary job description of believers to display the love of God. What is love? To put it simply, love is to put others before ourselves. That's what love is. The world's idea of love is the world and universe revolves around me. And that's not love. That is selfishness. Love is when I put others needs first spread.

One an example of how to live the Christian life. Pastor Ray Bentley says, Look to Jesus. We can live the life that Jesus lived. He is a model for us. Think of the way Jesus lived. That's our example. That's our model of human life. You say, well, yeah, but he's a messiah and he's God. And. No, no, no.

Jesus paid the price for our sins. Pastor Ray Bentley explains the deeper meaning. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. In a sense, do you know what I think that is saying to us is that when we go and stand before God, there's really only one sin that would separate you from God. The only sin that would separate you from God is if you rejected him, refuse his offer of love to cover you with his grace and his mercy, and wrap him with his own spirit.

Pastor Ray Bentley says, we all have a choice about our personal walk of faith. When you walk in the light and have fellowship with God, you have more joy and peace and love and all the fruits of the spirit. You turn your back on God. You dive into the darkness. You're going to be the opposite of love and the opposite of peace.

Pastor Ray Bentley urges us to follow the example of the Apostle John and how we relate to Christ. John came, as did all the other disciples, to the awareness of who Jesus really was. Do you have a personal experience of the reality of the shining glory of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in your heart and in your life?

Pastor Ray Bentley says our words reveal who we are. I start talking, you hear the language in kind of a Southern California lingo. And and then I start telling you about where I was born and I grew up. And the more I talk, the more you get a revelation of who I am. Words reveal who we are to one another.

Today, pastor Ray Bentley warns about the great upheaval of the last days to come. He says it'll catch many off guard. The day of the Lord will hit unbelievers like a thief in the night, but believers are warned in advance. God tells us in advance what will happen. So we don't know the day or the hour, but we do know the general signs.

Watch on the horizon for the future. Pastor Ray Bentley says it's big. The world has already been through cataclysmic events, and the we don't know the day or the hour. We see signs, many signs in the world in our generation right now. What I see forecast in the outline God's given to us is there are some cataclysmic events that are going to come, and the world will never be the same spread.

Pastor Ray Bentley says no matter what. Stand on the promises of God. It doesn't matter what we feel or what it looks like, or what circumstance says. Stand on the Word of God. It is going to happen because God spoke it, and he'll flatten circumstances and rearrange situations and it will come to pass. Isn't that a great piece to know?

Pastor Ray Bentley says God's judgment is decisive, but sometimes is held back because he knows the hearts of his children. God is patient with those who he knows will eventually repent. Turn around and they'll say, Lord, I'm so sorry. I was an insane man, I was crazy. What was I doing? Oh, forgive me Lord. Thank you for your grace and mercy.

Today, pastor Ray Bentley reminds us of the Bible's warnings against false teachers. It just grieves me, though, that there are still people that are susceptible to weird false teachings, false prophets, cults, and then there's money involved, and you kind of pay your way into the upper echelons of deeper secrets and knowledge and all the rest of it. So be watching and be, you know, wary and be warned.

Pastor Ray Bentley says revelation speaks to believers and unbelievers. God says, I love you. I made you. I want you to be adopted and born into my family. I've made a place for you. I want you if you want me. We're together for all of eternity. God loves you. That's the message to the unbeliever, to those who are believers. His message, basically from the book of Revelation, is this. Don't quit. Don't give up.

Some people want to focus on some spiritual experience they've had. Pastor Ray Bentley says, focus on God's Word. The Word of God is even better than an experience because the Word of God abides forever. God says, I've exalted my word above my name. Therefore you do well to take heed to the written word of God. Heed the word as a light that shines in a dark place.

Pastor Ray Bentley says, Jesus wants us to come to him by faith. I want you to know that first we put our faith in Jesus and confess him, and then he gives us the wonderful confirmation of experience. Now, quite honestly, if God wanted to, he could just have sent Jesus burning and dazzling seven times like the sun and everybody go, well, obviously he's the Messiah.

If we're really believers, pastor Ray Bentley says it'll show one of the signs that you're actually born again is that you're growing because you're saved. And you're, like, running from that life of the past that brought you to brokenness and repentance in the first place. So if you're not really wanting to grow, then where is your assurance or confidence that you really know the Lord?

Salvation is a free gift. Christian growth requires some work. Pastor Wright says the effort is worthwhile. It is worth pressing for the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Amen. It is worth the effort. God rewards those he said that diligently seek him. You seek me with all your heart. You will find me.

Pastor Ray Bentley says, God never lets go of us, but neither does he let us off the hook. I think that our father in Heaven sometimes allows us in situations where we stomp and we pout and we cry and we kick and we scream and we throw ourselves around and he goes, you're not quitting. You're not quitting on life, and you're not quitting on me.

Salvation doesn't come by the good works we do. But pastor Ray Bentley says, once we're followers, we'll do good works. Salvation is a gift that you don't earn it. But once you are saved, then you work that salvation out. Why? Because it is God who is at work in you, and he is the one giving you the will, both the will and the power to do his good pleasure spreading.

Pastor Ray Bentley says, we need to remember we're on the winning side in spiritual warfare. There are times when you get intimidated by overemphasis izing the enemy. Rather than emphasizing the greatness of our God, the greatness of our Savior, the greatness of the power of the Holy Spirit. We don't stand against Ray Bentley, against the devil. You laugh.

Pastor Ray Bentley has important information for all of us last days believers. The enemy is pulling out all the stops. He wants to keep people from looking for, naming or calling upon the name of Jesus. But here's the good news. First, John chapter two says we have an advocate before the father. That word advocate means we have a lawyer.

We are like sheep. Jesus is the shepherd. Pastor Ray Bentley explains why every single one of us was like a string lost sheep. And yet Jesus left the beauty and the perfection and the glories of Paradise and of heaven came into the wilderness. And he found us, and the idea with the shepherd would grab you and pick you up and lift you upon his shoulders, and literally carry you back to the fold.

Thoughts on the fellowship of suffering from pastor Ray Bentley. There is no such thing as private pain. All pain is communal. We are to share it with one another, and we're to bear it with one another and have compassion for one another. Someone has said that suffering is like love. It can only be shared. And if we truly share our suffering with one another, then we can also share our joys spread.

Pastor Ray Bentley has insight on inner and outer beauty. Any one of my sisters who will now spend time and attention and focus upon adorning that inner beauty of the gentle and quiet spirit will be beautiful, regardless of what your frame may seem to appear, it will compliment. It will draw people in. You'll all be beauties. Spread. You see all of these people coming down before the King.

Pastor Ray Bentley comments on Peter's admonition about the believer's outward appearance. Peter is not saying that any outward adornment is bad, but it is okay for a man to look and address. Well, it is good and all right for a woman to dress and want to be attractive and take care of her hair and you know where there is a line where the only object is only totally to focus on the outward spread?

Pastor Ray Bentley talks about proper Christian conduct in the workplace. We live in a culture that basically, you know, man, if they do something wrong or whatever, what you do is you go get the biggest, baddest lawyer you can and you sue their pants off. But what if I am a Christian? What am I supposed to do as a Christian employee?

The Lord changes us for an example. Pastor Ray Bentley says, look to the Apostle Peter. I love Peter because here's this big, rough Galilean fisherman who was now because of his time spent with Jesus Christ, loving, affectionate. Two little letters that Peter wrote to the believers 2000 years ago. Eight times in those two letters he says, dearly beloved.

God loves you so much. He chose you. Pastor Ray Bentley explains. What does it mean to be chosen? Very simply, it comes by the grace of God. You are chosen by God's amazing grace. And this is one of the amazing mysteries. We are chosen. And when did he choose us? The scriptures reveal that before the foundations of the earth were even laid.

Some treat prayer as a shopping list. Give me this, Lord. Give me that, God. Like we're pulling up to a drive thru window today, pastor Ray Bentley cautions us. We must be very careful and humble and let God bring His Word to pass, and let him live it out in our lives and answer our prayers according to his will.

Life can be hard. But pastor Ray Bentley says the Son of God wants to help us. Jesus desires to bear our burdens. You know why? Because it is what he said. His own words. It's easy for me, he said. Your burdens are easy for me, and my yoke is easy. My burden is light. If we will only let him and come to him.

It's been said the Bible is God's love letter to man. Pastor Ray Bentley comments on the scriptures. Love for God's Word is a mark of those who are truly saved. If you have been saved, if the Holy Spirit is inside of you, the Holy Spirit will draw you to the Word of God. You will have this insatiable appetite to let his living word become now a living word in us and through us spread.

Today on Maranatha Radio. Pastor Ray Bentley has a strong forewarning. There is coming a day for anybody and everybody, whether they believe in God, they don't believe in God, they love God. They don't love God. There is coming a day where all of creation will stand before our creator, and we will be either judged or rewarded based on what we do with the choices we make and how we live.

Times are tough. How does God want us to live? Pastor Ray Bentley has the answer. He knows your worries. He knows your anxieties. And he is calling us now, in this time, to holiness. We have to be to the best of our ability. With every ounce of strength that we have. Focused on hearing the call of the Lord to walk in holiness.

Faith and fear are mutually exclusive. And pastor Ray Bentley says we can choose which prevails. Fear tells you there is no hope. I have lost everything. I've lost my job. I've lost my career. I've lost my retirement. And what the devil pounds on your head is? You've lost your reason to live. Because the devil hates us. God loves you, has a wonderful plan for your life.

Many have wondered when Jesus will return. Entire books have been written on the subject. Pastor Ray Bentley brings clarity. I am saying this directly and emphatically. We are living in the last days. But let me also tell you this. Do you know when the last days actually began? When Jesus rose from the dead 2000 years ago. But would you agree with me that we're a lot closer to the end of the last days than they were 2000 years ago?

Having a hard time trusting God completely. Well, today, pastor Ray Bentley says read God's word frequently. The more you know of the Bible, the more you learn about God. You can believe more and you can believe more about him. Get to know him better. Trust him in a bigger way. And as your faith grows, your belief grows. Your ability and capacity to receive the glory of God also spread.

Pastor Ray Bentley on fear versus faith. Sin brought fear into our lives. All of us. Battle. Fear. Fear is the enemy of faith. And God's will for your life is to remove more and more and more fear to be replaced by more and more and more faith. Until ultimately, there is no fear at all in your life. Spread disease.

There's so much uncertainty in our world. But pastor Ray Bentley reminds us of something that is certain now and for the future. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are the chosen of God. It has nothing to do with you, per se. It's all the glory goes to him. You are the chosen of God. He loves you.

Pastor Ray Bentley talks today about the right kind of hope. There's a difference between biblical hope and worldly hope. Worldly hope. It may happen. It may not. But we hope. Some biblical hope. There's no way it cannot happen. Why? Because our hope is actually predicated on something that happened in the past. Jesus resurrection from the dead. This is history.

Sometimes we think God can't handle our honesty. Today, pastor Ray Bentley says he can. There come times in your life where you can't fold your hands and say nice little spiritual prayers. And in fact, if you're really going to get honest with God, you don't want people to hear. God loves that kind of prayer. God gives you literal, tangible evidence that I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Talking to God is a privilege. Pastor Ray Bentley says Scripture puts it high on our priority list. The Bible says pray without ceasing. I say, well, yeah, okay, that's got to be a metaphor, right? Well maybe not. We almost incessantly spend time worrying and being anxious if there's something that bothers you. It's important. While Almighty God, if it affects you, he wants to hear about spreading you.

Pastor Ray Bentley says, we all eventually learned the benefits of being in God's will. Experience will teach you that the best place on planet Earth you can be. No matter what the circumstances are. Is in the middle of the will of God. I would rather be in the wilderness, in the center of God's will, than in the midst of luxury and lavishness, out of the will of God.

Pastor Ray Bentley says the first step in getting the help we need is realizing we need help. Maybe the very first time we were really honest in our lives that we will never forget is when we heard the gospel and we finally admitted that I am lost and I need to be found, that I am a sinner and that I am broken, and that I need to be forgiven and heal.

Life comes with suffering. It's often not optional. But pastor Ray Bentley helps us see suffering through spiritual eyes. The very fact that your life has been full of trials and tribulations and trouble is a sign that you are suffering because you've hung in there and hung on to the Lord and your faith to this very day and hour.

Pastor Ray Bentley on patience. We're not a very patient culture. Would you agree with that? I have so many times come to my 11th hour where, Lord, you've got now we've run out of time. Lord, you got to deliver now. It's got to happen now. If it doesn't happen now, it's all over. And guess what I've learned from personal experience.

We've been bought with a price. We know that from Scripture. But pastor Ray Bentley says it's not only that we belong to the Lord. It's all we have. And all we are. Everything that we have is from the Lord. It's given from the Lord. Sometimes we forget. We thought it was ours. But in fact, it's the Lord's. Whatever we have been given is a gift.

Life is filled with many, many decisions. Any piece of life lived outside the will of our father in heaven. All of a sudden, life becomes a confusing mystery. And that's why we need to learn to trust in his will. Pastor Ray Bentley urges us to keep our eyes on God and His desire for our lives. Let us choose to follow and obey the law.