NOW Ministries

01/31/2017

04/29/2016

Come and join for an amazing night of worship that starts at 7 pm. It will be at the Coffee Shop, I hope to see you there.

04/11/2016

Who You Really Are

One thing that really hit me hard earlier today was what John said in Matthew 3:2. I feel that there are so many people that misinterpret this verse and take it out of context. In Matthew 3:2 John said: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” When I really started to meditate on this verse, God was saying that this isn't a verse of asking God for forgiveness, this is a verse of finding your identity. Repent literally means to change your lifestyle or your way of thinking. My friends; what John is implying in this verse is to change your way of thinking because the kingdom of heaven is alive inside you. We just need to conform our minds to knowing that Gods kingdom lies within your hands. Paul said in Ephesians 2:10 that we are Gods workmanship, another word for workmanship is poems. For we are Gods poems. This is one thing I ask for you to do today. I want you to really think about what John was saying and pray saying this prayer that I prayed earlier. God, I know I am your poem now, how can you be my poem. Wow!!! This really changes your aspect on who you really are. Finding out who you really are is to manifest the spiritual effortless rest God freely gives you. Also, to know that your true identity is Gods sweet poems. Change your mindset because you are no longer dead to sin but you are alive in Christ!

Thought of the day: Don't just rest but manifest the rest of who you are in Christ. You are his Poem, now how can you allow God to be your poem?

04/07/2016

God Is The Pursuer, Your Being Pursued.

In today's society we get this idea that Christianity is all about your pursuit for God but in all actuality it is God's pursuit for you. He has this desire to be with you even when your an unbeliever. Let's face God is the initiator all we must learn to do is respond. God is like a never ending romance movie and he will stop at nothing to be with you. Do you know that the day you even received salvation, it wasn't you leading yourself, it was God leading you and giving you this desire to receive him. He likes to be spontaneous about things and create lasting impressions. He always comes when you least expect him to do so. The question you must ask yourself is are you ready to repent and receive? I know I said the word repent. This word may be scary to a lot due to growing up in a legalistic church. Repenting in the Greek means to change your mindset though, to conform your mind to a different outlook or opinion. A good example of Gods pursuit even on non believers is found in genesis 15:1 in which it says; “After this, Abram had a vision and heard the Lord say to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I will shield you from danger and give you a great reward.”” Abram heard God and as you know the story Abram was a bit hesitant because he didn't know what to expect. However, God was pursuing him and showed him by showing him his creation and Abram put his trust in God. One thing I find fascinating is that Gods pursuit for man started way before man even was created. This is why the story of the Garden of Eden is such a divine romance story. The truth was before Adam was even created, God was already in a relationship with someone. So you are being pursued, when you think your unloved, you are loved. We just need to learn to change our mindset (repent).

Thought of the day: You are not the pursuer, you are the one being pursued.

04/04/2016

Jesus Took Your Place So That You Can Take His

Matthew 27:46
46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli ,lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Do you know that it was at the cross that Jesus addressed His Father as “God” for the first time? He had always addressed His Father as “Father”. But at Calvary’s tree, He addressed His Father as “God”.

Jesus lost that Father-Son relationship when He was representing you and carrying your sins at the cross so that today, you can call God “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15) and have a loving father-son relationship with God forever. Jesus was forsaken by God and His world became very dark on that lonely hill so that in your darkest hour, God will always say to you, “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” (Hebrews 13:5)

At the time when Jesus needed God most, God turned His back on Him. God had to turn His back on His Son because His eyes are too holy to behold all the sin that was in His Son’s body. And because God turned His back on Jesus, He will never turn His back on you. Instead, you will see God’s face of favor shining on you all the time!

Jesus also took your place of no protection at the cross. For the first time, He gave up divine protection so that you can have it every day of your life! And because He became sin, He took your curse at the cross so that today, as you take His gift of righteousness, you receive only blessings from God.

Jesus received the full brunt of God’s wrath in His body once and for all when He carried your sins. All of God’s anger and condemnation fell on Him, consuming all your sins until God’s wrath was exhausted.

Today, God is not angry with you. The body of Jesus absorbed everything — your sins, curses, and God’s anger and condemnation. So live life expecting to see not the judgment, but the goodness and blessings of God!

04/03/2016

Conceal like camouflage and absorb like a sponge. Many Christians, especially those active in ministry, perceive the love of God as a ministry tool not to spend on themselves, but only to give away to others. But the truth is we need to first receive the revelation of God's love in our own hearts, before we will ever be able to give it away to others. God wants us to bask in His love, marinate in His love, soak in His loving presence, so that His love can touch the deepest need in our hearts. When we become like sponges drenched in the love of God, then when we bump into people, they will get soaked with what we have been soaking in.
God is not watching us from a distance, but is closer to us than we could possibly imagine. His first priority is not that we save the world, but that we receive His love and simply love Him back. How do we do this? Do you know God has a love language? You see we get so caught up by saying the words I love you Lord and we tend to forget to put these words to action. God is pleased that you love him but if you do, show him. It shows us in john 14:15 if you love me, obey my commands. What are these commands? It shows us in Matthew 22:38 ““Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” This may seem like 2 commands but you see what he is saying here is that when you love people, you love God and if you love God, you will love people. We may never come to the full understanding of Gods love because it is way more than a human mind can take in. But when you begin to understand his love for you and who he is to you, you begin to love him more. I stated before that the key to understanding love is first knowing you are loved because love defines love. When we become like sponges, our hearts begin to drink in the extravagant love of God personally and intimately, before long it will begin to seep out of every pore in our bodies and truly impact the world around us. It says in 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” This is why I said we need to conceal like camouflage and absorb like a sponge. We are all Gods sponges. Folks I'm going to end this by saying; we need to Learn to conceal like camouflage and stay ready for the right moment. Staying ready for the right moment means to stand firm and be strong with your faith and do everything in love. The truth of the matter is that You can only stay concealed for so long and the sponge can only absorb so much until it just starts naturally seeping. Just always know that you are loved and that no matter what you do in life, nothing you do can take Gods love away.

Thought of the day: learn to be Gods sponge and absorb everything he is to you! God Bless...

04/02/2016

Do you guys know that God has a desire for you to be passionately in love with him? God has a passion for you. Just this past week we celebrated one of the greatest passions in which was the passion of Christ. Today, I want to get into the Death and resurrection from an angle you have never seen before. But to get the full perspective we need to start from where it all started.

Everyone knows that Jesus was born in a stable but did you guys know that God had a purpose for this? You see all the livestock in the stable; the lamb, the cattle etc...was all used as sacrifices. God's purpose for Jesus being born in a stable was to show the world that this man was one day going to be the ultimate sacrifice.

God's ultimate plan from the very beginning of time was to adopt us into his family and be united with him and he made it possible by sending Himself in human form as the second or last Adam.

You see Adam was born into a perfect nature but fell into a sinful nature. We were born into a sinful nature and made new through what Christ has done. Even from the beginning of time God knew Adam was not able to fulfill what Gods ultimate plan was for the world.

God wanted us to live a full abundant life with him and He knew from the very beginning of time that we would need someone greater than Adam to fulfill his plan.
Jesus was considered the last Adam or the second Adam. Because he was born in a perfect sinless nature just like the first Adam and unlike the first Adam, Jesus couldn't fall into a sinful nature.

Guys God made The impossible happened. Jesus was born from a virgins womb, because if he wasn't he would be born into the imperfect world just like us.

Did you know all throughout Jesus's time on earth he started off his prayers as Father but it was on the cross when Jesus first reverted to his father as My God. Jesus was representing us on the cross and he wasn't himself.

Jesus came to fulfill all scripture and it says in Matthew 5:17 ““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

The coming of the messiah was even predicted all through the Old Testament. Do you remember what Jesus said on the cross? It says in Matthew 27:46; “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ).”
Jesus was quoting David and even from the cross he was teaching and fulfilling the scriptures. If you turn with me to Psalm 22. Now as I read this; I just want you to picture everything in this verse related to the Crucifixion.
Psalm 22 says: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!

Wow! Jesus was teaching us Psalm 22 from the cross. Anyone that knew the scriptures that was standing there looking at Jesus on the cross would have known that he was quoting David.

Now the purpose of him dying was not only to fulfill all scripture but to also give us life, conquer the last fear in which was death and to give us another gift. In John 16:7 it says “But I am telling you the truth: it is better for you that I go away, because if I do not go, the Helper will not come to you. But if I do go away, then I will send him to you.” Who is this helper he was talking about. It is the gift of the spirit in which is packed with the same power of Christ and the good news is this is a free gift for all who is ready to receive it.

Guys Jesus had so much life and power on the cross that it shook the very essence of the earth when Jesus said: it is finished. Matthew stated when Jesus arose from the dead, righteous men arose and walked out of there tomb. Jesus was filled with so much life and power that it caused a ripple effect. This same power and life is alive in you today. All of this is given freely for those willing to receive it. Take a look at John 3:16.

For God so loved you, that he gave his only son for you that if you believe in him, you will not perish but have eternal life.

Guys, God loves you for who you are and he doesn't look at you based on your wrong doings. He just wants to be in a relationship with you. He sent his son to accomplish the one thing that was standing in between God and us. We can now go to him directly for anything we are needing.

03/30/2016

03/30/2016

Come and join us this Friday for another incredible evening of Worship. Rev. Luke is extremely excited about this weeks message and can't wait to share.