An Advent Message of Hope

HOPE

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

     Christ through the Spirit brings us hope when we accept him. That hope must be nurtured and cared for, especially in the face of persecution.

     In this season some of us may be experiencing road blocks, dead end jobs, and funny money. However, remember the Hymn, "Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Blood and Righteousness. On Christ, the solid rock I Stand."

     During the Advent season our focus is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. We must have a spirit of expectation and anticipation. Therefore we celebrate the coming of the Christ in our hearts with hope of eternal life.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I ask that you would fill our hearts with hope and faith, that we would expect and anticipate great things. Your word says "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord "Plans to prosper you not to harm you, plans to give you Hope and a Future." Jeremiah 29:11 In Jesus name Amen.

Submitted by : Minister Shaman Shine-Lee

Character Matters

Genesis 39:20-23, 40:1-8 Ministering to Others: I know it has been a minute since you have had a message from the Mount, but be not dismayed we are back and please believe this, the Lord has been speaking! This was a trying summer for me and as I was going through, the Lord spoke familiar words to me and those words were about development of character. The Lord has designs on us and he intends to use us for his purposes. Before anything can be used it must be tried or proven and in the spiritual realm this is called development. Yes beloved here we are again talking about the development of character, because being gifted without the correction of development is disaster! So the Lord has been working on me; how about you? As I was going through my season, the Spirit directed me to my old friend Joseph, yes Joseph, gifted but in need of guidance and development. The text before us shares some interesting insights regarding how to handle caring for others when you need care for yourself! Joseph has been thrown into jail because of a lie and while he is in jail the scriptures reveal that God is with him. Key thought: Knowing God and having God on your side does not mean you escape difficulty. Key thought: The blessing of our trials is that God said I will never leave you neither will I forsake you. The text reveals that God was with him and prospered him in jail. Key thought: God can make you prosperous in a poisonous situation. Joseph sees two men who are sad and he asks them "why are you so sad?" What a question! He is in prison with them. He has been lied on and imprisoned because of it, and yet he has to minister.   Key thought: Trouble in your life does not mean you get a time out from ministry. The real test of our ministry is not what we do when the skies are fair and the wind is calm, but it is how we handle the dark days and restless nights. Our ministry and character is perfected when the conditions are far from perfect. I will share more from this in the upcoming weeks but please read through the scripture and let the Lord minister to you. Determined to Live by Faith, Dr. Stan

Online Bible Study Lesson 12

Character Development 

Blessing others before we bless ourselves!

Genesis 39:1-28

Key thoughts:

Many times your gift becomes evident to others before you even realize it yourself!

Before Joseph even knew it the Bible declares his master saw it.  We are growing when we are able to use our gifts to bless someone else even when we can’t bless ourselves.

God does not always remove us from hardship to bless us.  As a matter of fact it is often times the hardship that makes way for the favor!

Working against bitterness

“We must guard against bitterness because what you thought would happen has not happened yet.”

Remember in your developmental process as people of God delay is not always denial.  Sometimes God is just working out the details!

Online Bible Study Lesson 11

Character development

PITFALLS!

Genesis: 37:19-36

Point to ponder:

Perhaps this is part of the great challenge of the Christian life, we have been saved by a God who has plans for us that he will not divulge but he let us know it by the development process.  “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 28:11

In out text today Joseph is sent out to spy on his brothers and bring back a report.  His brothers see him from a distance and decide to kill him.  

What do you think about the statement they made when they saw him?

Verse 20:  Here comes the dreamer, let’s kill him and throw him into a pit and see what comes of his dreams.

What do they do to him?  Remember everything in the verse is important!

Verse 23:  

What do they strip him?  What does that have to do with development?  The scripture say that the pit was empty, what if anything does that mean?

Purpose of Pits

What is the purpose of a pit?

What is the significance of the pit being empty?

Runners on the Track

Scripture:—Hebrews 12: 1-2

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  

We as Christians, we as Believers are runners on a race track. We have prepared for the race; we’re strong, agile, fast, and talented. All these skills and attributes would be enough if we were running a normal race that’s straight down the track to the finish line; instead, we are in the more difficult track event: Long Distance Hurdles.  When hurdles are in the race, you just can’t expect to sprint down the track because you’ll never make it without falling. In this race, there are hurdles that we have to jump over. The first hurdle or challenge is Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” If we keep God our number one priority, the other hurdles in our lives will be easier to leap over. Our minds should be stayed on Him all the time, but we let the enemy creep in and our minds become overpowered by the stress of our daily obligations, the ambiguity of our own selfish ambitions, the fleshy desires of the world, and everything else that takes our minds of Christ. Let’s be real, this is not an easy command to obey, which is why it’s identified as a hurdle. God wants us to work on our relationship with Him, if we make this relationship a priority on our lives, all other relationships will fall into place, or, if God sees fit, some relationships will fall out of place. Nevertheless, this is just the first hurdle on the track, there will be one soon to follow, and another after that, and will continue one right after another. But be encouraged because the first hurdle prepares us to make it over the next hurdles. There will be times that we run with overconfidence, thinking that we’ve got it, so we try to run faster and wind up crashing into the hurdle that we thought we had sized up just right and could out jump.  What happened? What happened is that we lost focus on God and shifted the focus on ourselves and our own strategies toward reaching the finish line. This crash can be embarrassing and humiliating, but the good news is that we can get back up, make some adjustments, and try again. When you get back up from the fall, it allows you to be a witness to the crowd that watched you fall.  Sometimes God will even pull us all the way back to the beginning. In this instance, a step backward is a step forward in the right direction. 

Prayer:

Lord, help me to keep my eyes stayed on You, help me to fully devote myself to our relationship, and help me to always be in preparation for the next hurdle…until I finish the race. Amen.

Mariah Dixon

Occupy Until I Come/ Use What You Have!: Scripture: Luke 19:11-27

Greetings my brothers and sisters, I pray that you and your family are basking in the goodness of the Lord. Occupying until he comes can be challenging, particularly when time is an element that we do not control. Time frustrates us because we would like to manipulate it for our good. Although time can be burdensome it can also be a blessing.  Waiting helps us learn to manage time, gifts and even problems. We learn that we can take more than we thought we could, simply by surviving the storm. So while you are waiting, use what you have. What am I talking about? Glad you asked. In the text, before we are told that Nobleman was on his way to a far country to be crowned king and called for his servants; He gave them some money and told them to go and put it to work until I come back. The first thing to note is this; we have all been given something to work with. God never makes a promise and leaves us empty handed.  He gives us patience, love, strength, the ability to sing, compute numbers, dance, counsel, and speak or some other gift. The Lord expects us to use these gifts until he comes back. So beloved stop crying about what you do not have and use what you have to bless God and yourself.

The next thing the Bible reminds us of is this; the master will return and ask for an account of what we did with our gifts. Occupy means that we use and even enhance what we have been given. First, use what you have to get more. Remember if you are not using what you have effectively why would He give you more. The next item is just as important; enhance what you already have. Yes you are saved but that does not prohibit you from reading and studying. Find out more about your faith, go to the bookstore and enhance your knowledge of our Lord and savior. Finally, the text reveals that the rewards based on faithful activity not ignorant slothfulness. We cannot come to the Lord with some church saying that has no basis in scripture, but we must be faithful over what we have been given. Crying over spilled milk may get you sympathy from friends but it does not move God in your favor. It appears that the Lord wants to know what you did after the break down, after the lay-off, after the divorce! We can answer like the foolish servant and say I just went and hid in my hurt so that no one could ever do that to me again, or we can say Master I learned some things about healing and love and patience and I present to you a better man a better woman. Use what you have!  

Determined to live by Faith,

Dr. Stan

Occupy Until I Come/ What To Do In The Meantime!: Scripture: Luke 19:11-27

Peace and Blessings beloved I greet you this day with the Joy of Jesus. I needed to pen this note of encouragement and instruction so that you will not grow weary in well doing.  Maybe on this day and in this season of your life and you are wondering when will the Lord do for you what he has promised? There are things that the Lord speaks into our spirits; things about our families, health, finances, relationships and even your future.  Yes, the Lord spoke it and you believe it, but the challenge is this, when will these things come into fruition? When will the Lord show up and make my enemies behave?  When will the Lord fix my fractured family? Why are ungodly people moving ahead of me? I know you can cure the disease but when Lord, when are you going to show yourself strong in my life? Lord what should I do until you come?

The question is answered in our text today; Jesus says in a parable to occupy until I come back. I will share the interpretation of the parable in another note but today the word is occupy! Notice in the parable Jesus gives the servants resources and instructions so that they will remain active. While you are waiting remember that Jesus has given you talents, gifts, abilities skills so that you can keep yourself active. One of the most destructive forces in the terrestrial realm is inactivity. Inactivity is brought on by frustration, frustration comes from waiting. Remember what Paul said to the Galatian Church, “Do not grow weary in well doing for you shall reap if you do not give up.” Gal. 6:9. Jesus says to us through the portals of time, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, if you believe in God believe also in me.” John 14:1

While you are waiting believe that God has given you the “stuff” to hold on and hold out.  Final words, while you are waiting, don’t let yourself go. Hold on to your mind; “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus” Philippians 2:5. “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3. Hold on to your body. Don’t eat to try and satisfy a longing that Christ promises to fulfill. “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1^st Cor. 9:27. Finally, don’t let go of your hope! The song writer said my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness!  The Lord will do exactly what he promised in his own time, all he asks of us is to occupy until he comes back. 

Determined to live by faith,

Dr. Stan

What He Comes To Do!

10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (KJV)  JOHN 10:10

The last time we shared I tried to explain the difference between Zoe and Bios life.  Zoe is life in the Spirit and it pertains to things in the Spirit. Bio on the other hand is just that, your biological life and all the things associated with physical life. 

It is my contention that if we have Zoe life, all other things fall into place. It is a matter of priority: When we seek those things that are above, He then gives us the desires of our heart. So then beloved:

Jesus says, I have come, I did not send a substitute but I came myself to give you something, something no one else could give you. Jesus gives us Zoe, life in the Spirit, a fulfilled life, a satisfying life, a life not absent from drama but peace in the midst of it.

That is why he came, but what did he come to do? He says in this Word from John’s Gospel, I come that you might have life AND (key) have it more abundantly. 

Taking a look into the words "more abundantly" we find that the words in the Greek are Perissos; meaning exceedingly abundant, more abundant, beyond measure, superfluous. Jesus said I want your life in the Spirit to pour out into every other aspect of your life. I want your Zoe to outshine your Bios. He comes to fill up the empty spaces in our lives with abundant Zoe!

I don’t know where you are today or what you may face but the Good News is this:

1. He comes.
2. He brings life.
3. He comes to give it to us abundantly or to the fullest!

Pray: 

Lord thank you that you have given us a reservoir of life that will never run dry!

Determined to Live by Faith,

Dr. Stan