This is a human being that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ died for. I realize that there are elements of society that we try to stay away from because we are conditioned to do so. Dear ladies and gentlemen I believe that the Lord is stretching us and helping us to go out into all the world and compel individuals to Christ.

Matthew Chapter 25 v 31 – 46

31: When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34: Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37: Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38: When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39: Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40: And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41: Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44: Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45: Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46: And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Please, let the Word’s of Jesus soak into your spirit. We need to take heed to what He is telling us. I don’t know about you but I want to hear Jesus say to me “well done thou good and faithful servant.”

God Bless you

2008 had many up’s and down’s.  Why does life have to be so complicated.  Why can’t our problems go away if we do our part to fix them.  This may seem really basic but there are things that are out of our control.  This includes life and the unplanned circumstances that come our way.  There are storms that come that we had nothing to do with.

Here is an excellent prayer that contains in it a lot of wisdom.  ”God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t change and the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference .”  We need the mercy and grace of God to lead us to where He wants us to end up.  The burdens of our life can get us down and sometimes we carry them with us from place to place, moment to moment and even memory to memory.  It is my personal belief that we need to make a decision to give our burdens to the Lord today!  

Let us not carry the burdens of 2008 into 2009.  The Lord Jesus is our burden bearer.  He is our life sustainer and our purpose for living.

1 Peter Chapter 5 verses 6 – 11

5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 5:11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

If you could imagine with me for a minute what it must have been like when Jesus entered a room.

Try to picture the woman who had the alabaster box.  This was something that was precious to her.  This box was the most valuable thing that she had and she gave it all away.  The passage of scripture that I am referring to is in Luke Chapter 7 verses 36 – 50. 

[36] And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.
[37] And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
[38] And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
[39] Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
[40] And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.
[41] There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
[42] And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
[43] Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
[44] And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
[45] Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
[46] My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
[47] Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
[48] And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
[49] And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?
[50] And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
 As you are reading this entry I am using my own words to describe this awesome event.  She had the right idea.

We can learn so much from her and what she was doing and why she was doing it.  She recognized who Jesus was to her, and that there were no limits on what she was willing to give to Jesus.  Why am I referencing this passage of scripture as it relates to repentance?  The reason is; she knew that Jesus was the Savior; she also recognized that she had a past that needed to be forgiven by the Lamb of God.  This woman was considered a heathen by the religious, but she didn’t care.  She gave what she had; she offered herself to the Lord as an act of worship. 

The Lord gave honor to this woman, and spoke freedom into her life when he said, “thy sins are forgiven”. He also told her, “thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”  She came in bound with a past that needed to be forgiven and healed.  She left free, and no longer bound to the past that she was held captive to.  The Lord forgave her because of her willingness to give herself completely to the Lord.

My prayer is that who ever reads this, saint or sinner, would be encouraged to go deeper and higher, to become more intimate with Jesus.  Wouldn’t it be great to wake up one day and no longer carry the burden of life, and walk around frustrated with yourself and others around you?  The Lord offers deliverance to each of us. He is waiting for us to call upon Him.

May the Lord bless you, keep you, and draw you closer to the love of Jesus.

Bro. Jeff Breza

Check out this post I came across by super-blogger, Dave Ferguson.  He gives some valuable tips for those pastors out there that blog or are interested in blogging.

Repentance is the beginning of a New life 

The topic of Repentance is an incredible subject. To some it may come across as negative or scary. I would like to look at the consequences as a result of true repentance. We all know that everything we do has consequences. 

For example when we eat too many donuts, for too many days, there will be the consequence of added weight. As a result of that, is the negative consequence of having too much sugar in our body and the consequence of having too much sugar are medical complications such as diabetes, blood pressure, water retention, etc… The most obvious consequence of eating too many donuts is weight gain. In addition to the aforementioned consequences, there is the potential consequence of an image problem, like your clothes not fitting and some extra flab that used to not be there. One day you step on your scale and before you know it, you have gained 50 pounds. Now your eyes are open to the problem of being overweight and you have determined something has to be done. The key word is you have identified that there is a problem and that you are determined to do something about it. The question is: what do you do? Many people become aware that they have a weight problem because there Doctor says something like, “you know, I would like to see you lose 10% of your total body weight by the next time I see you.” He further states that if you keep up at this weight and do nothing about it, you will inevitably get Type I or Type II diabetes and if you don’t start to exercise, there is a high likelihood of heart disease or stroke in your future.”After talking with the Doctor you are really determined to take action because, you don’t want the negative consequences he mentioned. I have been talking about being determined to change after we have identified that there is a problem.

Let’s look at the following scripture reference for further clarification. 

Luke Chapter 15 verses 1 – 7

[1] Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
[2] And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
[3] And he spake this parable unto them, saying,
[4] What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
[5] And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
[6] And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
[7] I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. 

You will notice in verse 7 that the scripture says there is joy in heaven when one sinner repents. That is absolutely awesome. Joy in heaven, what does that look like? I like to think about that. It excites me greatly when I know that heaven is rejoicing over the individual. You see the Lord always looks at us as individuals. He knows us by name. Repentance is an extremely personal matter. You are exposing yourself to the Lord even though he already knows what is in your heart. The Lord and apparently all of heaven love our open and honest sincere confession. 

Wait a minute you may be wondering what is the definition of repentance. What does it mean when we are told in the Bible to repent? The following is a thorough explanation of what repentance is: 

There are three Greek words used in the New Testament to denote repentance.

The verb metamelomai is used of a change of mind, such as to produce regret or even remorse on account of sin, but not necessarily a change of heart. This word is used with reference to the repentance of Judas (Matthew 27:3).

Metanoeo, meaning to change one’s mind and purpose, as the result of after knowledge. This verb, with the cognate noun metanoia, is used of true repentance, a change of mind and purpose and life, to which remission of sin is promised. Evangelical repentance consists of a true sense of one’s own guilt and sinfulness; an apprehension of God’s mercy in Christ; an actual hatred of sin (Psalm 119:128; Job 42:5, 6; 2 Corinthians 7:10) and turning from it to God; and a persistent endeavour after a holy life in a walking with God in the way of his commandments.

The true penitent is conscious of guilt (Psalm 51:4), of pollution (51:5, 7, 10), and of helplessness (51:11; 109:21, 22). Thus he apprehends himself to be just what God has always seen him to be and declares him to be. But repentance comprehends not only such a sense of sin, but also an apprehension of mercy, without which there can be no true repentance (Psalm 51:1; 130:4).

Here is a simple way to look at repentance. We need to have a change of mind and turn away from sin. When we do all of Heaven rejoices. This is a way for us to begin our new life in Christ.

January 7, 2008