ONE OF MY HERO'S

Dr. Lester Sumrall is one of my heros.

I have sat under his teaching for many years and even though he passed away in 1996; whenever I hear his voice or see him on tv, it is as though he were still alive.

My favorite teachings of Bro. Sumrall are the series on David, Nehemiah, Samson Rides Alone, plus many others. I like them all really. Lester Sumrall is truly a champion for Christ.

You will find links on this blog to Lesea Broadcasting and Feed The Hungry. Please check out this great ministry. From time to time, I may be adding to my list of godly hero's.

The world needs godly role models today as never before.  I very highly recommend that you read " The Life Story Of Lester Sumrall"  It is an inspiring book about a very inspirational man of God. 

All of Dr. Sumrall's material is available from Lesea Publishing. It would be a real honor for you to obtain anything put out by Lester Sumrall.

So, today we honor you Dr. Sumrall.  Thank you for all you have meant to our lives and ministries.

GOD ON BOTH SIDES WITH US IN THE MIDDLE. Part Two

Romans 6:2 asks the believer this question: "How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ?"

The born again child of God has been, in the mind of God, crucified with Christ, buried, and risen with Christ to newness of life. [ Romans 6: 3-4]

When we are born again, there is a spiritual transformation that takes place within us. 

[ Romans 6:5]

Romans 6:6 tells us " Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Praise God, we are free from the dominion of the sin nature and we no longer have to serve the sin nature as slaves to it, all because of what Jesus did at the Cross and our faith in that.

Look at Romans 6:7  " For he that is dead is freed from sin."  If we are in Christ, we are dead to the sin nature as well as free from the sin nature and also, acts of sin in our daily lives.

Our old sinful nature, while remaining in the believer, should have no power over us.  We are dead to it. Hallelujah !!!

The way that the Christian can cause the sin nature to come roaring back to life in them is when they  commit an act of sin and then try to get victory over it by their own efforts. You will be defeated every time you do that. Keep your faith in the finished work of Christ upon the Cross and realize that, in the mind of God, you were crucified with Him. You were buried with Him, and you were raised to newness of life in Christ. 

The Expositors Study Bible notes for Romans 6: 3-4 says this "When Christ died on the Cross, in the mind of God, we died with Him; in other words, He became our Substitute, and our identification with Him in His death gives us all the benefits for which He died; the idea is that He did it all for us ........ Not only did we die with Him, but we were buried with Him as well, which means that all the sin and transgression of the past were buried; when they put Him in the tomb, they put all of our sins into that tomb as well. ......... we died with Him, we were buried with Him, and His Resurrection was our Resurrection to a " Newness of Life".

All of this is made a reality in our lives when we place our faith in what Jesus did at the Cross and that alone!

Galatians 3:13 tells us that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. The law can never change our hearts, therefore, while it can and most certainly does, define sin; the law is powerless to give us victory over sin or make us stop sinning. It took the substitutionary death of Christ on the Cross to both pay the penalty for sin and to break the power that sin had over man. When we identify with Him in this; we can walk in a life of perpetual victory over the sin nature as well as acts of sin.

Jesus said, as recorded in the Gospel of John; " And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." [ Jn 8:32]    That is why we preach the message of the Cross. 

God wants us free today.

GOD ON BOTH SIDES WITH US IN THE MIDDLE. Part One

Romans 6:1- " What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

6:2- God Forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

The finished work of Jesus Christ upon the Cross is our victory over sin, just as it is God's method of salvation.  Salvation and victory over sin can only be brought about as one puts their faith one hundred percent in what Jesus did at Calvary. It was on the Cross where Jesus paid the penalty for sin and broke the power of sin.

Jesus victory there at Calvary becomes our victory when we place our faith in His finished work.

A simple outline would be as follows:  1- Jesus paid it all at the Cross; When we place 2- Our faith in what He did at the Cross, the 3- Holy Spirit will the help us and do His work within our lives.  So there we have it!  1- The Cross  2- Our faith  and 3- The Holy Spirit.

  This is God on both sides and us in the middle..  How could we possibly lose if we are surrounded by God ?  Glory to God!!!

The Christian life is a work of the Holy Spirit within us. [ Galatians 2:20]

We can never live this Christian life as we should without the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit only has the legal right to help us if our faith is in what Jesus did for us at the Cross.

If a believer places his/her faith in good works of any nature, the Holy Spirit can never honor that. That is flesh. The Holy Spirit will not anoint the flesh.  

The problem that each of us face in our lives is sin.  Sin comes in many complexities and forms.

Even though we , as believers have been freed from the old sinful nature, God has allowed it to remain dormant within us for some very specific reasons that we will not discuss  here.

One thing I will say about that though, is the Lord want us to continually look to Him for our daily walk of victory and, in fact, all that we need.  We need to learn to trust the Lord always. 

The Christian must always depend upon the Lord for everything. We must never place faith in self. 

Sin is serious and so severe that we cannot confess it away by positive confession. We cannot even pray it away. Jesus dealt with the sin problem at Calvary. We must exhibit faith in Him.

The devil will continue to tempt us but our victory is in the finished work of Christ upon the Cross.  We must always place our confidence in what Jesus has done and not in what we are doing. This is not to say that we don't do proper works. As the Holy Spirit does His work within us; proper works on our behalf will be the result. [ Eph. 2:10 & Philippians 2:13]

Proper faith will always produce proper works in the child of God. But it will only happen if our faith is one hundred percent in the Cross of Christ. We must never trust in anything else. 

When we properly place our faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross, the Holy Spirit will give birth to many good works within us--- But our faith must never be in what we do, rather in what Jesus has done. 

There were those in the church at Rome who believed that sin didn't matter anymore because they were under grace, but our text refutes that thinking.  Lets also look at Romans 6:14

" For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." See, grace is what gives us the power to stop sinning. Grace is not a license to keep sinning; it is the power to stop.  The grace of God doesn't mean freedom to sin; it is freedom from sin. Hallelujah !!!

 " Christ in you, the hope of glory:" [ Colossians 1:27]  produces Christlikeness and holiness in the true believer, but this will only happen if our faith is in what Jesus did at the Cross. Salvation, sanctification, holiness and whatever else is needed by the believer from the Lord, can only come to us by and through the Cross.  There is no other way. This is the message of the Gospel.

The way that the child of God is to obtain victory over sin and also, to walk free from sin, is the same way that they got saved.  Colossians 2:6 states,  " As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him."   Simple faith in what Jesus did at Calvary is all that is required. Then, the Holy Spirit comes and works His work within us.  Praise God!

In our next article, we will continue this great Bible subject.     

ANOTHER NEW CD RELEASE IN APRIL

The Lord gave me this message " The Humble Will Hear The Song Of Your Life."  as a word of encouragement to those whom the devil has tried to put under condemnation and bondage. 

In these last days, it is very important for us to walk in the reality of who we are in Christ Jesus. Do not let satan lie to you and bring up your past against you. If you are washed in the Blood of Jesus then you are made the righteousness of God, in Christ.

Please, whatever you do, you owe it to yourself to obtain a copy of this message for yourself, and you should seriously consider purchasing several copies for family and friends. This is truly a life changing message; not because I preached it, but because God gave me this word to see many people set free by the power of the Cross.

The audio on track 2 is lower that it is on track 1 so you will have to turn up your player on track 2.

You may obtain this message as follows: 1-5 copies= $3 each; 6 copies or more=$2 each.

At those prices, why not obtain several today.

  In His Service,

      Rev. Len Paxton     

PRAYER: INTERCESSION

In Galatians 4:19 the great Apostle Paul tells us "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you."

Paul here stresses the importance of travailing prayer both to bring people to Christ and again, to see them into maturity in Christ.

During intercessory prayer for people we must be led by the Holy Spirit. He will often speak to us in our hearts and guide us as to how we are to pray for someone.

During intercessory prayer, we intercept satan's assignments and works from being carried out. Then we pray for people at their point of need. We must never give up until the answer comes.

Sometimes as we pray for the lost and hurting of this world, God allows us to momentarily feel their lostness and their pain. This can bring about a groaning and travail in spirit. 

Also, at times we may feel an unction to pray for someone at a certain time. We may or may not know who or what we are praying for or about. Millions of lives have been saved in this fashion by allowing God to use us in this type of intercession for others.

God also says in Ezekiel 22:30  "And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none."

As Christians, we are to stand in the gap and interceed for our nation as well. How many of you pray for your country everyday? That is what we are supposed to do. We are to pray for leadership on all levels. Read 1 Timothy 2:1-3

Our nation of America is in real trouble and we need to cry out to God. Lets look at the 29th verse of Ezekiel 22 for one of the reasons America is in trouble and in dire need of prayer and repentance today.  "The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy; yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully."

When the people of God forget the poor and needy; God takes it personal. This is a very serious matter. I personally believe that one reason [among many] why the selective judgement of God is coming to America is because of the false prosperity gospel we have given to the world.

Instead of telling the world of their need for salvation through the Blood of Christ; we have been preaching a message of greed. We now have a nation of pillow prophets speaking soft words that appeal to the greed of the sinful nature of fallen man.

All of us who truly love God and our nation had better begin to fall on our faces and cry out in repentance to a Holy God. Amen.  

 

Lets look at Ezekiel 22:31 and see the results if we fail to do so. " Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God."

American Christian-- It is time to pray.

PRAYER: COMMUNICATION WITH GOD

Prayer is communication with God as we turn our hearts, minds, spirits,and thoughts toward Him.  Prayer is a form of worship. We bow before our awesome God with a humble and contrite heart. We bring God our adoration in prayer and praise to Him. We also seek and find, ask and receive, knock and have opened to us.[Matt. 7:7-8]

There is no greater calling for the believer than  the place of prayer. Psalm 27:8 tells us that it is the Holy Spirit of God that takes the initiative in our prayer lives. The Holy Spirit births within us desire to seek the things of God and to know Him.  God can use us despite how we may have messed up our life. The Lord will lift us up out of our problems because He wants to use us in His kingdom. He does this for His names sake.[Ezekiel 36:22,23]

Following are some different, scriptural kinds of prayer:

   1- Prayer of authority; binding and loosing:  Matt. 12:29   Matt.16:19

   2- Prayer of agreement: Matt. 18:19,20  Acts 4:31 

   3- The prayer of faith petition:  Mark 11:22-24   John 15:7

   4- Prayer of thanksgiving, Praise and worship:  2 Chronicles 20:20-22   Psalm 100:4,5

   5- Prayer of commitment, consecration and dedication:  Rom. 12:1,2   Matt. 26:39

   6- The prayer of intercession:  Ezekiel 22:30  Rom. 8: 26,27

   Another example of the prayer of intercession is in 1 Timothy 2: 1-3 and Rom. 8:34

   7- Prayer in the Holy Spirit: 1 Cor. 14:2-4, 14, 15

Let me encourage you to take the time to communicate with God in prayer Today.

 

NEW CD RELEASE BY BROTHER PAXTON

In just a few days, our newest CD will be available and I want all our friends to secure their copy. This informative CD will give a detailed account of how good works are the product of the sanctification process in the life of every believer. This message is an absolute must for your library.

Also, you can visit the article on good works at the Prayer Chapel Fellowship site, linked to this blog.

Please take full advantage of all the material that we make available to you and, as always we pray that it will be a blessing to you.

Our only goal and desire is to lift up the name of Jesus and to proclaim the message of  " Jesus Christ and Him Crucified". When you obtain our material, you help us fulfill our part in the great commission.  Thank you so very much.

                   In His Service,

                      Rev. Len Paxton