1st.org

07/08/2022

"It is only the fear of God's judgment that can deliver us from the fear of man's judgment."

- George Whitefield

08/11/2020

04/06/2020

Everyone dies. Everyone does evil. Not everyone has forgiveness. Turn to Christ now, for the reaper is coming one day, someway and then it will be too late. Your opinion will not matter. Your money won't matter. Your political views won't matter. Your degrees won't matter. It will just be God, You and His divine judgment. "I tell you the truth, you will not be released until the last penny is paid" and you have nothing to pay with, apart from the love of Christ.

For those who would say "Another Christian playing the fear card." Agreed. I am playing it and I would play any card I could to get you to turn to Christ. If it is Fear, then so be it. Love, so be it. Money, so be it. Whatever it would take to save you, I would do it for the love of Christ compels me that you may know Him as I know Him. For I am the most unworthy and yet, His grace saved me and everyday I prove my unworthiness and yet, He stands beside me in perfect faithfulness.

The clock is ticking, whether you would acknowledge it or not.

04/03/2020

How to Respond When You Falter

"For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." (Romans 7:19)

Christians do not live only in defeat. But neither do we live only in perfect victory over sin. And in those times when we fail to triumph over sin, Romans 7:14–25 shows us the normal way a healthy Christian should respond.

We should say:

- I love the law of God (verse 22).

- I hate what I just did (verse 15).

- Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death (verse 24)?

- Thanks be to God! The victory will come through Jesus Christ my Lord (verse 25).

In other words, no Christian wants to live this way — in defeat. No Christian settles to live this way. But if we do live this way for a time, we shouldn't lie about it.

No hypocrisy. No posing. No boasted perfectionism. No churchy, pasted smiles or chipper superficiality.

God save us from blindness to our own failures and the consequent quickness to judge others.

God help us to feel worse about our own shortfalls than the failure of others.

God give us the honesty and candor and humility of the apostle Paul in this text!

11/27/2019

Truth Solid

David was Broken over his sin towards God in Psalm 51 Speaker: Voddie Baucham Full Sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVow8rSQwiA&t=2077s Music: 3 Hour ...

10/01/2019

Make War with Unbelief

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Even to your old age, I shall be the same, and even to your graying years I shall bear you! I have done it, and I shall carry you; and I shall bear you, and I shall deliver you” (Isaiah 46:4).

When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that “not one of us lives for himself and not one of us dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Romans 14:7-9).

When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God and turn out not to be a true Christian, I battle unbelief with the promises, “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:6); and, “He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

When I've fallen to temptation and turned from the commandments of the Lord and have received the rod of chastisement, then I recall "Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sin behind your back." (Isaiah 38:17); and "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

Let us make war, not with other people, but with our own unbelief. It is the root of anxiety, which, in turn, is the root of so many other sins.

So let us turn on our windshield wipers and use the washer fluid in order to clear out the dim view of unbelief, and keep our eyes fixed on the precious and very great promises of God.

Take up the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit for help, lay the promises up in your heart, and fight the good fight — to live by faith in future grace

03/23/2019

"If you ever want to really see the power of the name "Jesus Christ", it is really quite easy. You can talk to anyone about God and barely get a reaction from them or they want to tell you about their concept of God all day long, but as soon as mention the name Jesus Christ, then entire families, countries and continents break apart."

And Jesus said "you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved." Mark 13:13

02/21/2019

The God of Comfort

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort." 2 Corinthians 1:3

And who can comfort like Him? Go to some poor, downtrodden, distressed child of God; tell them the sweet promises, and whisper in their ear with choice words of comfort; and they will respond like a deaf adder that listens not to the voice of the charmer, no matter how wise the charmer may be.

This child of God is drinking gall and bitter wormwood, and comfort them as you may, you will only a earn a note or two of mournful resignation from them as a result of your efforts. You will not bring forth psalms of praise, no hallelujahs, no joyful exclamations, only low spirit and distressful pause.

But let God come to his child and speak a gentle word, and the mourner's eyes will light up and glisten with hope.

Can you you not hear them sing?

"It is paradise Lord; if you are here;

But if you depart, It is hell and fear!"

You could not have cheered them: but the Lord has done it; "He is the God of all comfort." There is no healing balm in Gilead, but there is balm in God. There is no physician among the creatures, but the Creator is the healer of all things.

It is marvelous how one sweet word from God will make up whole songs for Christians. One word of God is like a piece of the finest gold, and the Christian can find light in that gold, and can hold that promised word out for months and months.

So, then, poor Christian, you do not need to sit down in despair. Go to the Comforter, and ask him to give you His direct consolation. You are a poor dry well. You have heard it said, that when a pump is dry, you must pour water down it first and then you will get water flowing and so, Christian, go to Christ, the well of living water. Ask him to shed abroad his joy and peace in your heart, and then your joy shall be full.

Do not go to earthly acquaintances, for you will find them unable to stand to the task. Go first and foremost to your "God, that comforts those that are cast down," and you will soon say, "In the multitude of my thoughts that rage within me, your voice to me alone comforts me Lord."

12/30/2018

Christian Anger & Resentment

It seems odd to me the level of anger and resentment Christians seem to carry. The line is always "You have no idea what they did to me" or "I have forgiven them, but I will not forget" or "What am I supposed to do? Just sit around and take it? I am not Jesus!"....or my all time favorite modern counseling line, supposedly meant to be "Christian" "You have to forgive them because it is hurting you".

Let me explain something to you....in order to forgive something, that something must have been owed to you...you must have held an entitlement to the thing that they took, or harmed or did wrong to, whether your personal self, your belongings, your family, etc. Ever notice that no matter what amount of harm you do back to them, it does not settle the debt in your heart? Why? Because to strike vengeance at them from your heart comes from the same source of evil that they drew from to harm you. It solves nothing, only produces more harm.

The issue at hand for CHRISTIANS and CHRISTIANS ONLY (because Non-Christians or False Christians do not believe the Bible is the INERRANT word of God, so this does not apply to them), is that none of those things belong to you. Everything you are, everyone you know, everything you have belongs to God and God has granted those things into your life for HIS glory and purpose, not yours.

Read your Bible (Psalm 24:1, Psalm 50:12, Deuteronomy 10:14, 1 Corinthians 4:7, Job 41:11, 1 Corinthians 6:20)..etc. Your life (and all that is in it) is not yours, it is God's (Romans 12:19). So, it is God who will settle that score in the only righteous and just way it can be settled. He is the only one who knows all the facts and of course, it is a "Dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31).

I for one, would rather every person on the planet hate me then to have to face God's divine judgement. So, you forgive because it is not yours to hold judgement (Matthew 7:5, Romans 2:1, Romans 14:4), it is God and God alone (Genesis 18:25). The reason you can have no peace when you do not forgive is because you are attempting to climb onto the throne when you are neither capable or wise enough to sit there. You retain no such entitlement (Isaiah 14:13, Isaiah 43:10-13, Job 38:1-5)