Category: Marriage

My 2019 Poem of Love.

We have all felt the hurt, the pain the betrayals. However I always find a way to make them out as mere fables.

Seek professional help and trust a stranger, share your darkest secrets with a psychological “re-arranger”.

But I prefer to trust a person’s spirit, not a certain look or credential, because who can be worthy of my trust? Who can measure up to my potential?

Maybe I am crazy, a freak that is mental, maybe it is okay to feel like a rental?

So I became numb, a devil without a cause, an emotional wreck full of junk parts in my garage.

Years of collecting and no where near curating, a Smithsonian of feelings in no particular order. A psychological disarray, a spiritual hoarder.

A self-diagnosis is what I have found, from a foundation of love which was on holy ground.

The antidote was love in any shape and or form and to gravitate there to allow me to mourn.

We all possess love, even though we feel rejected, because love is still love even though it’s misdirected.

So if I can offer you hope in this very moment, to always trust love as a sacrifice for our atonement.

The scriptures are true that we have loved darkness over light, but it’s still love that has drawn us not power or might.

So allow me to save you from paying for your cure, it’s a heart of love that we desire that must be willing to mature.

So if love guides our way or leads us astray, God is always love and He would not have it any other way.

Like children, a life lived without not even one label, a life lived blind to the knowledge of good or evil.

A life like a song which is beyond right or wrong, a life that is full of faith, hope and love is where we all belong.

The good and the evil, both can draw people to Christ, but why is it often the darkness that brings people to light?

Sadly the answers we search lie already in our heart, it’s just our inability to be still and reverend is what keeps us apart.

Received a quote from a friend, like how a dog waits for crumbs. . .

“We only dwell on the bad memories in life, because we lack the faith to create better ones.”

So what I give here remains without cost or fair price, because all debts have been paid through our Lord Jesus Christ.

– Ray Evangelista

A MUST READ for 2019: What We Should Expect From God’s Love this Year.

INTRODUCTION:

I wish I can say I was a “best-selling” Christian book author, however, that title somehow does not accurately represent what being a “Christian” is all about.

I truly don’t believe that God would endorse anything that we “SOLD” that was given to us freely. Jesus wasn’t angered much, but there was an account of Jesus really making a scene at the Temple, specifically because they were “buying and selling”. What was suppose to be a house of prayer in uniting God with the believer, man had turned it into a market-place where it pushed the believer further away from God. Simply, we found a way to take what was free, and turned it into solely a money making entity.

Now, I am not against making money, but simply on what Christian churches emphasize the most. Put it this way, when Christians know Malachi 3:10 more than they know what Acts 2:38 is, then we have our priorities out of order and this is where we failed as elders of the Church. Give the people what they came for freely, and that is the free gift of the Holy Spirit.

What is a greater promise?

The promises of Malachi 3:10 or the Promises of Calvary via receiving the Holy Spirit?

Isaiah 55 CEV

“1 If you are thirsty, come and drink water! If you don’t have any money, come, eat what you want! Drink wine and milk without paying a cent. 2 Why waste your money on what really isn’t food? Why work hard for something that doesn’t satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and you will enjoy the very best foods. 3 Pay close attention! Come to me and live. I will promise you the eternal love and loyalty that I promised David.”

This is why the Apostle Paul, who was the specific messenger to us Gentiles, didn’t allow people to rob him of this boast to preach the gospel freely and to solely rely on the people’s love to give cheerfully vs. traditional means of “buying and selling” or with a heart of exchange.

1 Corinthians 9 NIV

“13Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

15But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast. 16For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.”

Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand the psychological and legalistic reasons why we must “buy and sell” things, or why we all should have “skin in the game,” or why people need to place fifty cents in a shopping cart to return it, but let us call it what it is, and may we simply desire to end or quit playing these immature psychological games of deception in the church, to push maturity, and to live by what is pure and true.

The simple truth is that God paid all sacrifices IN FULL by offering his only Son on Calvary for us. And ALL DEBTS were paid in full, all healing, marriage issues, addiction, illness, diseases, cancers are PAST TENSE.

“By His stripes we WERE healed”.

Romans 13:8 NIV

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.”

If we do anything outside of love, then the Cross be emptied of its power.

There is nothing that me or you can give as a sacrifice to God or to anyone in our lives that was not already made complete in Christ Jesus our Lord via Calvary.

Hosea 6:6 NLT

“I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.”

Once again, outside of the church, those tactics are expected, however among the elders of the church, we should be able to see the need to mature past these “guilt trips” that organized religion resort to to achieve an outcome.

Now if you are a child, then maybe it’s age appropriate measures, but when do we grow up?

When do we push maturity?

18?
21?
33?

Because I am 46 years old now and I’m long over due to move past the mythological stories of Santa Claus and the Easter bunny.

It’s the same parallel of how the Greek God’s were to Christianity, it’s time for us to see clearly how faith in those mythical characters were just a stepping stone to pave the way for our faith in Jesus Christ who is the author and maturer of our faith.

The very core values of Greek wisdom via Aristotle Socrates, and Plato predated Jesus Christ by about 1500 years?

And via Apostle Paul and the gospel of Jesus Christ, this core Greek belief system is now called Greek MYTHOLOGY?

Why is that?

1 Corinthians 13:9-10 NIV
“9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.”

In fact, Hinduism is the oldest of all beliefs, which predates even Greek beliefs, but if you studied Hinduism, there are a striking resemblance of Greek and Hindu beliefs.

The 9 Similarities Between Greek and Hindu Beliefs.

Now in defense of the Gospel, God sent the Apostle Paul to Greece and the disciple Thomas to India. Not that Thomas was any less of a believer, but a matter of order and at that time, Greece was and became the very fabric of infrastructure contributing the design of what a democracy is, to the power of unity via the Olympics.

So it was likewise that God send someone who possessed the very qualifications or credentials that this Greek audience had faith in.

The Apostle Paul was a very learned man and gravitated to a lot of very wealthy, intellectual, and well educated people. Apollos and the physician Luke to name a few.

This is why I believe the Apostle Paul was so important to further the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is a God of order and the priority to be led by truth is always aimed at our leaders.

The leaders of our homes, communities and churches. Now a change can start from the ground level, but let us learn from Jesus Christ.

Let us learn that a healthy change starts from the top-down vs from the bottom-up which is often mistaken as mutiny, anarchy or a rebellion.

Once again, neither way is right or wrong, but there is an order.

And I believe that through the Apostle Paul, God had an obligation to minister to the leaders of this world more intimately than ever before.

Isn’t God awesome? He done found a way to preach to the wise and learned so that no one is without excuse.

So The Apostle Paul literally took the HIGH road and The Disciple Thomas took the LOW road. Once again, not a competition, nor it is about right or wrong but of order. You send soldiers to all regions to defend the gospel.

Here is the rest of the 1 Corinthians 13, it was too good for me to leave it out.

“8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

So now, hopefully I have your attention, so let us move forward to what God placed in my heart today.

So you may have heard me say before that “love” has no expectations, however allow me to clarify this, because what we do out of love does come with a healthy expectation.

Now this healthy expectation however does come with an order and biblically it’s often referred to as a “reward” from God.

And this “reward” or expectation for our good works should always be placed on God before any expectations on people or creation.

This is how placing God or the Kingdom of God first in our lives looks like. For when we seek Him first, then the “rest” will follow.

We are “selling” ourselves short of the full measure of God’s blessings if we simply look first to superficial validation alone either from God, family, friends and people.

May we have learned from Esau, and desire NOT to give away our birthright for a mere bowl of bean soup!

Because God’s reward is far greater than the euphoria that ten thousand “likes” or “followers” can ever provide or the temporary hunger satisfaction of one hot meal.

It’s so far more greater than all the luxuries in this world can offer that Jesus even turned it all down when Satan offered it to Him.

God’s reward is simply the peace and confidence it provides in our hearts to live with ourselves and with others despite our failures and constant struggles interpreting the knowledge of good and evil.

It’s aka “forgiveness” for ourselves and then for others. It’s being able to look back and to finally say, “it is well with my soul my Lord.”

You see, what defines a “blessing” is anything that reminds us of God’s unfailing love and that draws us closer to God vs. pushes us away or further from Him.

We often say that our jobs, marriages and children are blessings from God, but I don’t know about you, but all these things were keeping me away from God and his Church than drawing me closer!

So how can we have the confidence to say that these are all blessings when it is keeping us distant from He that blesses us? How can we receive the healings and deny the healer? Receive the gifts, but never know the giver of these gifts, and lastly be well versed on His scriptures, but never know the author?

Ironically, true blessings are often disguised as “good” and “evil”. This is why it was NOT God’s will for us to even try to interpret or “eat’ of this tree in Eden.

Isaiah 45:7 KJV

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.”

We didn’t have the maturity that God possessed to look upon these “good and evil” things and for it not to sway us into anxiety, depression, and anger.

We were suppose to live like children, child like faith.

Children run around with no shame or guilt, they don’t worry about their next meal or the logistics of things, they just live and live life abundantly. A mature parent teaches their children this order of living by our faith in God first before dipping into the knowledge of good and evil.

Knowledge will always complement FAITH, but FAITH will never complement knowledge.

This is why we need the Holy Spirit in us. This is why I lead an Acts 2:38 ministry. An Acts 2:38 Ministry is simply making sure the believer understands what God requires of us to be one with Him.

It is not enough to have God merely above us or with us, or simply around us. Don’t be content with an external relationship with God. This is why the disciples all failed, this is why Jesus died on the cross. So that WE may have what He had. He was the first born of many brothers and sisters, He was the prototype to desire the most INTIMATE relationship of the TRINITY and that is the symbol of a marriage between a husband and his wife as Christ loved the Church.

Its more intimate than a Father’s love, more intimate than that love of a friend in Jesus as He was called Emmanuel meaning “God with us”. It is about “God being in us”, a marriage between our body, soul and Spirit is what constitutes a rebirth. Not just simply an Altar call, although that is where it begins, it surely does not end there.

God’s Spirit in us makes us ONE with God and it gives us the mind and heart of Christ to have the maturity to now look optimistically on the knowledge of good and evil and to finally be at rest or peace with life. A rebirth cannot be defined any other way.

1 Corinthians 2 NIV

“14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.“

God’s WILL was this order, to live by FAITH in God first and then the “knowledge of good and evil” complemented our Faith in God.

No special theological training needed, or works, or dues that needed to be paid, it’s a simple diagnosis and a simple treatment plan. So simple that uneducated shepherds and fisherman understood it. So simple that Jesus not being a sinner was obedient to a sinner’s baptism conducted by John the baptist which specifically was a baptism of repentance.

Once again, no special trained or educated or certified professionals or counselors, NOT by might nor by power but by God’s Spirit alone!

He is “THE” COUNSELOR and He alone is the GREATEST PHYSICIAN. He will diagnose and heal your body, soul and spirits.

Romans 8 28 NLT
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

So do we love God?

And if your answer is “yes” like me,

Then what are we worried about then?

Now can you find healing through those professionals?

Sure, that is the only downfall of grace, that many will find there healing but will never find there healer. Once again, never a matter of right or wrong, but of order. You may want to save your soul before you desire to save your life.

Mark 8:36 NLT

“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

And if you ever get the blessing to learn this early in life, you will notice that ALL these professionals and experts in “healing” literally preach the gospel. Satan just found a way to re-badge and re-label God’s precepts and teachings, and has found a way to SELL YOU what God has already given to us freely.

If Satan found a way to sell us bottled water, he can find a way to sell you anything that was already free.

We should desire in life a measure of maturity for every measure of blessing and with every adversity that God had entrusted unto us. Yes, you heard me correct, God had trusted us with all the adversity that we experienced.

Now sadly, I have failed the majority of these tests, but this is what love is. It is about facing your fears and not avoiding them.

Its about walking through the valley of the shadow of death, and not going around it. It is about God consistently giving you the same questions that you missed earlier on the test, but rewording it, throwing it back at you again, and to see if you answer it the same or differently. To see if you are genuinely founded on His Word or if you are just simply guessing.

It’s the measure of wisdom and peace that He gives us for past, present and future circumstances.

To fully grasp the order or God’s will on what creation can offer and what it cannot.

To appreciate the gifts but to also desire greater gifts.

To simply quit looking at superficial validation on things solely and to aim higher.

God’s reward is best described as what Peter said about baptism.

1 Peter 3:21 NIV

“and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also–not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”

It cleans the cup from the inside. It provides an atmosphere around others that is unmatched by any man-made philosophy, Creed or belief.

It’s the drawing power of the Cross.

It’s the product of God’s love. And once we feel this love in us, then now we possess the maturity to truly appreciate creation and it’s superficial validations whether it is from one or one hundred thousand.

And those that truly love us with God’s same love, will encourage us, because they too recognize the order and power of validation from God and through His people.

We are in debt, this country is in debt, this world is in debt because we are trying to give what we DO NOT HAVE.

Because of Calvary, there is NO MORE DEBTS remain outstanding other than the DEBT to love one another and we cannot love others in the capacity that God wants us to love them if we are NOT in UNION with His Spirit.

This year, may we be reminded continually that He is our Shepherd, and that He is what we fix our eyes on and that WE LACK NOTHING. Because through Him I see His blessed assurance everywhere.

Desire to repent and to be baptized everyone of you specifically in name of Jesus Christ and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I cannot emphasize this formula any stronger.

Prior to the Passover, Moses gave his people specific instructions on what preparations they must observe so that the Spirit of death would pass over their home. It was simple instructions with simple ingredients commonly found in everyones lives. Make the connection people, we cannot offer God anything more or less. Jesus gave the keys of the Kingdom of God to Peter alone and said He would bind on heaven what Peter bound on earth. Peter made it clear that the way, truth and the life was via baptism in the name of Jesus Christ as our only way to remit our sins and to unite the believer with God’s Holy Spirit.

“The Word of God has to first be a love letter to us before it can be a book of rules and regulations. Obedience without love becomes religion.” – MMA

Your brother in our war against sin.

Ray Evangelista

A Foundation of Forgiveness.

Why we need forgiveness in mankind:

Just as we believe that it was one sin that was the root cause of all sins, we also understand that there is not enough good deeds mankind can do to reverse this one sin.

Which now brings us to Calvary. It took love, it took someone who lives beyond the labels of good and evil, success and failure to break our curse and to usher in an era of grace.

So let us be reminded of this love, because this also applies to us and our relationship with others.

As forgiveness is the foundation of our spiritual marriage with Christ and the church, may it also be the foundation of our physical marriages as well. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

When we are offended, there is not enough good deeds that someone can do to reverse it.

Our soul treats these offenses as if someone stole, killed or destroyed what we value the most. So unless we can forgive, unless we can love, then the law remains in our hearts.

For the glory of Jesus Christ alone.

Your brother in our war against sin,

Amen.

Ray Evangelista.

My Mother’s Day Reminder 2018.

A Rightful reminder that this Mother’s day is on this blessed 13th day because biblically, 13 is synonymous with God’s love.

My Mother’s day reminder is simple and that we honor them as God asked us to do so. And the way we honor them maybe different to each, however biblically we honor them like we honor spiritual elders and that we do our best to NOT make the same mistakes they made.

Do not allow their burdens and sorrows be in vain. Whether it be spiritual or health issues, relationship, financial burdens, etc. Just take to heart what demons they struggled with.

Give them the blessing and peace that you have learned from their labors.

John 9:2
“His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

We all know the story, but Jesus answers gracefully and says “neither”, because there is power in God’s love because God’s love is about forgiveness and forgiveness keeps no records of wrong nor does it place blame on no one. God’s love takes accountability and stands firm on the Word.

So gifts are awesome and it has it’s place in a relationship, however living by faith is not a matter of right or wrong but of order. May we always be reminded to place God first and to embrace what is freely given and unseen of greater value than what is seen, bought or sold.

So for all the mom’s and dad’s and to all the future moms and dads, I freely confess to you one of my many sins in obedience to God’s word that I may be healed.

Over a period of 30 years, my intimacy with my wife diminished. From the strong intimacy of a very loving girlfriend when I was 16, whom I can talk for hours to about almost everything, to defaulting to treating her like my mother or like my daughter than being my wife of one flesh.

Because of this, she then defaulted to treat me like a son or like a father, where there is still lots of love, however a parental love is not only conditional, but lacks the initimacy that a marriage requires.

“Your wife needs a husband not a father, if she wanted a father, she would have stayed home.” – Holy Spirit.

If I was only reminded early in my life to treat my wife more like a true wife, as Christ loved the Church as His Bride, as “one body”, as one whom reveals all his secrets to, to share my weaknesses as much as my strengths, more faithful, hopeful and most of all an UN-conditional love, I would have drew her closer to me rather than pushing her away.

James 5:16 NLT
“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”

In honor of the name of Jesus Christ and my mother and father. May it reach many hearts and draw husbands, wives and families closer in Spirit and His love.

Amen.

Ray Evangelista.

The Numeric Value of Marriage.  

Hebrews 13:4 NLT

“Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.”

Notice the numerology behind 13:4

13: Is love.

4: Is about being whole or complete as one.  As in the 4 seasons and is in the 4 directions on a compass.

Eve is only mentioned 4 times in the bible and the 4th Commandment is about keeping the Sabbath Holy. 

Now if you add up 1+3+4, you get 8 which is a symbol of marriage and the eternal union between Christ and His bride.  

We cannot understand the physical marriage without a spiritual experience of what we possess.

2 Corinthians 11:2 NIV

“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.”

Now that scripture may sound harsh but it is a very compassionate scripture.

There are 2 parts to this scripture.

1) Addresses our hearts on what we can do. 

“Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage.”

2) Addresses our hearts on what we should SURRENDER.

“God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.

It is God that will SURELY JUDGE the people and NOT US!

This is why ACTS 2:38 is so important!

Once a believer lets God into their life, then now God can speak life into them and now an intimate relation begins. It is where we decrease and God increases.

Otherwise, it is just one big Oscar performance. You can gain the whole world yet lose your soul.

May we clean more than just our tombs and may we love people more than things.

In the name of our Husband, Jesus Christ. 

Amen. 

Ray Evangelista

How “Love” unlocks the TRUE meaning of the Scriptures. 

If you ever hungered about the meaning of the many stories in the Bible, or if you were routinely perplexed about Jesus’ parables, or if you ever thirsted for the mysteries behind the book of Revelations, look no further, because it is as simple as having a heart of “love” that unlocks these mysteries.

So unless we can be reminded of the power of love, we CANNOT even begin to draw nearer to the Author of love which is God revealed and expressed via The Scriptures.  Which is by far the world’s greatest literary work.

“Until we can fall in love with God, the scriptures will always remain a mystery to us.” – MMA

John 3:19 NIV (3+1+9=13) & 13 is love.  

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”

As we can see in the scripture above, we got the “love” part correct, however we “loved” darkness over the light.  Our love was simply misdirected.  We were deceived.

Now we all loved “sin”, and unless we can begin to love God like how we loved “sin”, then we cannot begin to draw nearer to God via the scriptures.   In the “church” you may have heard the Pastor say that the Bible is simply a love letter to His Bride.

This “love letter” is composed of two testaments of God’s love, one old and one new.  And each of these testaments have a collection of personal and intimate testimonies of how God’s love was displayed in their life via Jesus and in others.

Sadly, many pastors avoid teaching books like Revelations and the book of Daniel because of the extreme “symbolic” content.

However, once again, this symbolism should be a reminder to us that we cannot understand these love letters with a LEFT brained intellectual mindset, we have to start with our RIGHT brain where faith, hope and love reside.  REMEMBER, it is never a matter of right and wrong but a matter of order and what we seek first.

“The Word of God must first be a love letter before it can be an instruction manual.” – MMA

If we dig out one of our high school love letters and gave it to a stranger, they would most likely get discouraged on the symbolism and find little to no logical sense in it if they tried to read it like an instruction manual first. Lol. 😂

But if we can help prepare each others hearts and remind others when they were madly in love, then the “letter” now comes alive.

It takes a RIGHT brain led by faith, hope and love to reveal the meaning of these books.

The book of REVELATION is literally the Revelation of Jesus Christ as evidence of the 1st verse of the 1st Chapter of Revelations.

Revelation 1:1 GWT

“This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. God gave it to him to show his servants the things that must happen soon. He sent this revelation through his angel to his servant John.”

So a good exercise that we should all practice before reading the scriptures is to do our best to be reminded of when we fell madly in love with anyone or anything.

If we can remember that feeling of what falling in love produces, then we can be reminded on how it renewed our heart, soul and mind about everything.

There was nothing too great or too small that kept reminding us of this love, until sadly, “it” or “they” failed us. 😩

But we only knew the half of what love is. 😘 and when we place our love on God first, He will never fail us.  

“The only thing that failed us in this life are the things we placed before God.” – MMA

“Where there is a possibility to fail, there also should be a possibility to forgive.” – MMA

1 Corinthians 13 NIV

“4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Matthew 22:37 NIV

“Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

In closing, we cannot begin to understand God no more than we can understand love and forgiveness.  However, once you experience love and forgiveness, then you can begin to understand God in an intimate and symbolic loving way, because God is love and WE are His Bride.

Brotherly love,

Ray Evangelista

Faith: Living beyond the labels of good and evil. 

For us to truly live by faith is to do our best to live a life beyond the labels of the knowledge of good and evil, success and failure, right and wrong, male or female, jew or gentile, black and white. 

To live by faith is to live a life led and guided by the Holy Spirit. And the HS will always show us which path to take. It is a Spirit of God’s will and order.

Romans 8:28 NIV“And we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

One may say, “Wouldn’t living a life beyond the labels of good and evil just make us like a bunch of idle zombies?”

I prefer the term like “sheep” vs. zombies. Lol

The goal is to be reverend and still like sheep to be led by love versus what we are use to in being led by fear, anger, vengeance or hate.   The ability not to prove who is right or wrong, but rather to be a light of God’s promises. 

It is simply about maturity. Maturity may NOT always change the circumstances in your life, however it does change our hearts and how we process the circumstances and how we respond to them.

Living a life of “labels” will eventually produce compassion when it will eventually fail.

The difference in our life of living beyond these labels simply places our compassion first vs. last.

Galatians 3 NIV

“23Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

26So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

2 Corinthians 3:17 NIV

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Acts 2:38 NIV

“Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

We can rationalize and argue this verse about baptism all we want, but sooner ot later our “faith” has to line up with the “Word”. 

Only one was given the honor to hold the keys of Heaven, and it was Peter. If there was someone I would listen to, it would be the one Jesus gave the keys of heaven to.

And there is NO Pastor or church organIzation that has the right to change it.

It is the “name above all names”, let us honor it in baptism where it is literally our testimony of our marriage between Christ and the sinner. 

Brotherly love, 
Ray Evangelista

Don’t Doubt, Wait on God. 

Genesis 3:17 “To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.”

Genesis 5:29 

“He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.”

Calvary was supposed to had freed us from a “curse”. Remind us my Lord what this “curse” was. 

Let me feel the LOVE only to the things that draw me nearer to you my Lord and may the things of SIN be the only time I feel the sacrifice and the sweat of my brow.

John 3 NIV

“17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

Romans 14:23 NLT

“But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.”

Wait on love. If you doubt anything, wait on God. Don’t just try to achieve a simple result and sell your birth right for bean stew or for a honeycomb.

For there is not enough sacrifices we or mankind can give that will even touch our our debt of sin. 

Only Christ can pay that debt in your heart and give us that joy and peace that we repeatedly try to find in sin.

Just receive it and receive it daily brethren. 

What separates LOVE and SACRIFICE is INTIMACY with God. 

It is what separates a Father’s love or a friend’s love from that of a love of a bride. 

To those who remain in the old, they only know sacrifice and will preach sacrifice.

But to those of us born of the Spirit, the old is gone and the journey of our rebirth has begun towards our intimacy and maturity with God and His love.

Apostle Paul knew love but his “Thorn” was that the “good” that he was suppose to do was still “sacrifice” to him. He was a “swordsman” and he still struggled with his nature, like we do.

His life by no means was it perfect my man’s standards, but “perfect” by God’s standards. And this maturity had set and example for the “Church” that to be mature is to know where you are immature. That our lives be symbolic of a life that represents a shield vs. a sword.

Because “perfection” is about maturity and to me, the Apostle Paul had more maturity than ALL the of old testament prophets combined. 

In the name that has fulfilled the prophecy of old and gives closure to all things, our Lord Jesus Christ.  

Amen. 

Brotherly love, 

Ray

 

Great Message Today @ LC

The sermon today reminds me of a wife of a brother that had great expectations of the mens group at one time.  

She noticed great changes at first and likewise had great expectations for him and us. 

Until a season passed and her expectations of where her husband’s faith was did not line up with God’s. 

She said to me, “He is better and more patient and compassionate, however he still has a long way to go, I feel he has reached a plateau in your group.” 

At the time I knew what was happening but did not know how to relay it “gently”.

And I replied, “maybe now it is not your husband’s compassion that He is working on, maybe now, God is trying to work with you?”. 
We must be equally yoked in that manner.  God grows both, husband and wife together and both has to have the patience to allow the other to grow. 

The rest is history, the brother to this day says that although he can never live up to the expectations of his wife, he still loves her and told me that he will never give up trying. 

I can honestly say that I have learned more from him and his faith than He will ever learn from me.  I learned the power of forgiveness and love to overlook the evil and to look ahead to the good that still awaits us. 

At that time I was given a quote, God spoke to my heart and said, “The only reason why you cannot let go of the bad memories is because you do not have the faith to CREATE better ones.”

So that is my prayer for us all.  

“4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails,” I Corinthians 13 NIV

Brotherly love and In the name of Jesus Christ in whom all things are made new, 

Amen, 

Ray Evangelista