Have you ever thought about how we use certain words or phrases to express how we feel about something?

I told awhile back that the word groovy (which I hated) changed to cool

dig it!! changed to “thats hip & then changed to dude!

Give me some grease = oil for your cooking or car, changed to shaking hands

here comes the fuzz was something we took out of our belly buttons, that changed to here comes the police

Remember when gay = happy, jovial, or bright

what comes to your mind when someone says Gay today?

Something, degrading, sinful, immoral & filthy

however, many of those words that were once used has all gave way on the most part to one word that covers it all & that is;

Awesome

today the meaning of awesome is; great, terrific or just wow

hear people who are eating something as this is awesome

double dark chocolate is double awesome

but the fact is, Americans have ruined another word 1.

the real meaning of awesome is producing awe, promoting fear or terror, dread or fright, now thats a far cry from what it means today

- fact is, there is only one thing that is awesome in and above this world and that is our God

Heb. 10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God

As I told you last week, God is extremely patient with us, but he will only put up with so much for so long & then he acts

But on the flip side of that, as a believer when we fall in love with our Lord & walk with him in obedience

we will begin to understand the greatness of our God

When we realize that God created us for his pleasure,

he wanted to create a human being in order to have a relationship with him for eternity

that knowledge will change your life

Is. 1:4

Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters, they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward

Isaiah learned about Gods awesomeness & he proclaimed it without apology to an apathetic & wicked generation

We have some very popular & publicly recognizable religious leaders who have had the ears of our politicians as well as the American people

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And I have not once heard these big time preachers ever call our nation wicked and needs to repent

We do in our small local churches but we don’t have a big platform like they do

I would love it, if we had a president that claimed he was a Christian, would stand up for the Lord & say America needs to return to the Lord

We’ve had some who said they had accepted Christ & yet they have been very quiet about their relationship with Christ

We have a president now that says he’s a Christian, & yet I don’t recognize his brand of Christianity

Everything he has stated what his beliefs are, doesn’t line up with scripture

We have enough phony believers, what we need is more men like Isaiah, Paul, Peter, Barnabus & Stephen

Leaders who claim they are believers & their beliefs line up with scripture

God had given these men a clear vision of his glory, he cleared away every obstacle in their lives so that they could hear the words of God

Everyone here has obstacles that prevents us from hearing God

the Lord doesn’t want anything in our lives that hinders us from receiving truth from Gods Word

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Is. 40:11

He shall feed his flock like a Shepard, he shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young

Many people might say they don’t know whats hindering them from seeing Gods greatness

maybe its because their not letting God feed them

We have to open up Gods Word and be willing to accept the truth from God

Some people have a hard time accepting truth

this wk I talked with a guy who immigrated from Russia in 1983

We were talking about the elections & it became apparent that he has accepted the liberal ideology

You can always tell when they start screaming & blaming Bush

I asked him why he came to America? He said to be free,

I asked, why would you leave socialism & come here & accept people who want to enslave us to our government?

Seems like a contradiction of interest

He got very angry with me and said I need to find another country to live in

Needless to say, he really doesn’t understand what he believes 5

Whats the obstacle that hinders you in your life of accepting Gods Word?

Perhaps you had a bad childhood? the way you were treated, you have a hard time accepting the love of a heavenly Father

Perhaps you have financial problems & you have a hard time believing that God cares about everything in your life

Perhaps Perhaps you battle addictions & you have a hard time believing God can clean you up

Perhaps you struggle with hate & you have a hard time that God loves you

whatever it is, when you have a difficult time seeing the greatness of God, theres something in your heart that keeps you from seeing it

& you need to find out what it is, deal with it truthfully, get it cleared out of the way so that you can see Gods greatness

Have you ever thought about how our God can hold the entire universe in the palm of his hand?

I can’t even picture that in my puny mind just how awesome God is that he can hold the universe in one hand

Doesn’t that make you feel very small & inadequate to the power & might of a great and holy God? 6

Is. 40:23

God brings the princes to nothing & judges of the earth as useless

This past week, history was made, there has never been a turnover of over 60 seats in the house from one party to the other

I believe God sent us a message, he can stop or slow down princes (presidents) whenever he wants

he can remove ungodly judges, the three judges on the supreme court of Iowa that brought us the legalization of homosexual marriage were thrown out of office

after this week, I have to believe that God isn’t finished with America just yet

But remember what I said in last weeks message about Samson, there came a time Samsons sinfulness & rebellion against God

brought judgment against him

& I believe God is saying to America, I’ve had it with your sinfulness & rebellion

I’ll give you two more yrs, choose this day whom you will serve

we need to come back to the awesomeness of our great God

Recently theres been allot of discussion of what a Christian is,  Obama says he’s a Christian, Pelosi, says her favorite word is “The Word”   Harry Reid says he’s a Christian, but when you look at what they believe, promote and pass as laws, how does those things line up with Gods Word?

What is a Christian?

Core Beliefs

1.   He believes, that Jesus is the Son of God

2.  He believes he existed from eternity pass with God the Father

3.  That Jesus left heaven and came to earth in human form and walked on his creation for 33 years

4.  Jesus voluntarily went to the cross and laid down his life as a sacrifice for sin

5.  Three days later he rose again from the dead

6. Anyone (absolutely anyone) who believes he is the Son of God and repents of their sin and accepts Christ as the only Savior, will be saved,  and then no longer continues sinning but begins to live for Christ.

7.    All who are saved (born again) no matter your race, sex or location are adopted into the family of God and we are brothers and sisters in Christ

8. Those who refuse to admit their a sinner,  (sin is passed on from generation to generation since creation and the fall of Adam and Eve)  repent of that sin (ask forgiveness)  will go to hell.

9. Christians believe that the taking of innocent life through murder, (abortion)  killing elderly is sin and those who perform such things cannot enter heaven.

10. Christians believe that homosexuality is sin, and no homosexual will enter heaven,  but those who get saved and leaves the practice of homosexuality will go to heaven

11. Christians believe there is no way to heaven except through belief and acceptance of Christ. No religion can get you there,  good works cannot help you, baptism won’t help. Only through a relationship with Christ.

11. Believes the Bible is Gods Word,  everything he wanted us to know, he wrote down through a certain group of men.

12. Believe that the church age is about finished and 7 years of trouble is about to happen.

13, Believe the church (believers will be taken to heaven before the 7 years of trouble)  and we will be with Christ forever.

Unless you believe these main things, you cannot be a Christian,  you cannot be saved, and you cannot be on your way to heaven.

So when you hear about all these people claiming to be Christians but support and live in sin, you realize its impossible.

True Christians believe what the bible says, every word.  Once your saved, you cannot lose your salvation, it was a gift from God and all we have to do is accept his free gift, and have the peace of God in your heart.

This Past Sunday I filled our pulpit at our church once again,   and I preached in the book of Acts on how God gave us a great church almost 2000 years ago.

And in this great church, he gave us great power. This power was used to preach the gospel and it was not only given to the Apostles, but to every christian since that time if we choose to use it.

Many people have misused this power by saying it was given to do miracles and healings.   But the only ones who could do miracles  and healings (outside of Christ)  was the Apostles. But even Paul at the end of his life couldn,t perform miraclesor heal anyone anymore as those gifts were being done away with as the bible was being completed.

Today miracles and healing does take place but only through prayer and Christ himself who chooses those whom he will heal. There has never been a person with these gifts since the time of the Apostles, theres been alot of fakers, but thats all they’ve been.

Others say that power was given to be able to speak in tongues, but again, tongues was given for only one reason, and that was to preach the gospel to another person in their native language by someone who couldn’t speak their language.

But again, as the scripture was completed and people learned how to interpret languages, the gift of tongues also died out. Todays use of tongues is an abuse of scripture and  leading people into a false belief.  It also appeals to the flesh and does not glorify God.

The power that was given in the book of acts was for one specific reason, and that was to preach the gospel to sinners to win them to salvation.

Second of all, God gave the church great grace. This grace was the ability to minister to each other as Christians. The word grace itself brings a calming effect on you when its said and thats exactly what grace does in your life it brings a calming effect because your being ministered to.

The early church cared for their own, and todays church needs to care for our own also, and care for the unsaved by bringing them to Christ and then minister to them and meet their needs.

You cannot minister to the unsaved until they are in the family of God.

And then there was Great Fear

The early church had a healthy fear of God, they understood he held the keys to life and death, heaven and hell and they understood their position in Christ. They were his children, God was their father and wanted to be obedient and serve their father who loved them.

They also understood that he would correct wayward children and his correction isn’t pleasant. But today there is little if any fear of God.

This is evidence by how immoral, sinful and hateful this world has become toward God.

Just listen to what people say or write about God and those who are his children, their hate has increased a hundred fold, and very boldly.

But scripture says that very soon, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Every person who hates the name of Jesus will stand in judgment before him, they will fall before him and confess that he is God, before he passes judgment on them and cast them to hell.

And then, there will be great persecution on the church. Those who hate the name of Jesus live everyday in guilt. The Bible says everyday Gods spirit convicts the world of their sin and the need of a Savior.

So everyday they wrench up their hatred trying to block out Gods calling them to repentance, since its God who they hate, their hatred is taken out on Christians.

So they remove prayer, bibles, ten commandments, nativity scenes, and now crosses, anything that might remind them of who it is they hate.

They infiltrate the church in order to change its message so they can try to stop their guilt. But even if every single Christian and symbol was to be removed, they would still not be able to stop the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.

And lastly, the Great Church was given great Joy!

Even in the mist of great persecution, there was great Joy.

No matter how much hatred the unsaved throws at us believers, no matter if they shut down our churches and remove every sign of Christianity, they can’t remove our joy.

That Joy is knowing that at our death, we will be in heaven for eternity enjoying Gods greatness for ever!

That is something this world will never be able to touch. And its something that they too could enjoy, if only they would stop blocking Gods call and accept him as their savior.

Don’t fear about tomorrow, hold onto Jesus, who has a place for you in heaven.

Some

Many people are always looking for happiness, but is happiness what we really need? or is there a bigger question? Many things will bring you happiness, but the problem is, it doesn’t last. Its fleetiing, short lived and then you have to find something else to make you happy again. The real desire that we humans really desire is joyfulness not happiness. Joyfulness is that deep down attitude of contentment no matter what is going on in your lives, good or bad.
If you look at most people today, they put a smile on their face, but inside they feel empty. but they like the feeling of happiness and so they will try all kinds of things that will get that feeling back. they will try drugs, sex, money, booze and a host of every immoral thing one can think of to get happy. But after its over, that empty feeling comes back and so they try more and more things to get happy.
So happiness doesn’t last, but some people seem to be happy no matter what is going on in their lives, be it good or bad. The fact is some people have something more than happiness, they have joy, but what is joy how does one get joy?
Joy doesn’t come from anything in this world, happiness comes from this world, because its temporary, everything in this world is tempory. But joy is not from this world, its from above, its from God. And the only way one can get joy is to be born again through Jesus Christ.
Joy is deep contentment with life, its knowing that you are Gods child and no matter what life is throwing at you, your safe in Jesus Christ, so your able to bear all things.
This world is tough, and its getting tougher, economically, socially, the hatred towards Christians, conservatives and Jews is increasing. We have a government that is quickly encouraging hatred toward anyone who isn’t liberal.
You never know when your life will change, this week I was driving through Illinois, and a UPS semi drove through the median and hit a car head on. All of their lifes changed. so in order to be prepared to face life, when it changes, and it will change, you can have joy by being in Jesus Christ