Living in Christ

Let's talk about missions. Missions is God finding those whose hearts are right with Him and placing them where they can make a difference for His kingdom. Some of the greatest missionaries in history did not live long lives, but their lives dramatically affected eternity. I love the story of Philip in Acts chapter 8. What a great missionary example. "Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot." Acts 8:29. God had access to Philip and this exciting account shows how God used Philip's life to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Philip was preaching powerfully in the city of Samaria. God used him so mightily that the entire city was rejoicing at the miracles God was doing. I think that this would be an evangelist's fondest desire, to see an entire city responding to the gospel through his preaching. But, we need to understand something about Philip then and us today: Philip was not activity-centered in his Christian life. He was Go...

One of the things I admire about John the apostle is that he never ceased to marvel at the life-changing relationship he enjoyed with the Lord. It overwhelmed him to know that, at a particular time in history, the God of the universe chose to have fellowship with him, a simple fisherman. John was so overjoyed that he earnestly wanted to share his joy with others so they, too, might experience the same joy. A special fellowship or "bonding" developed between those who had personally encountered Christ as they rejoiced together at God's goodness to them. "That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full." 1 John 1:3-4. Those around us desperately need to be encouraged by our latest encounter with Jesus! Some have lost hope that they can experience the reality of God's presen...

Hey everyone! Sorry for not posting lately. I had a problem with my internet service provider and changed providers. I will start posting again soon. \ May God Richly Bless You Today!! H Trent!

Have you ever experienced the "silence" of God? I have, and have been going through a period of God's silence. I have learned that one of the ways God communicates to us is through silence. You know, the Israelites blatantly ignored and rejected God's word to then, and God responded by sending a famine. This famine was far more severe than a shortage of food and water. Instead, they were deprived of His words of life. "Behold, the days are coming, " says the Lord God, "That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord." Amos 8:11. God's silence may be hardly noticeable at first. We may still remember times when God spoke to us, but we gradually realize that we have not heard His voice for quite some time. If we realize that we are in a "drought," we must immediately seek God and ask Him what adjustments our life requires so we can once again enjoy fell...

Since tomorrow is Father's Day, I thought it proper to write something about father's, especially our Heavenly Father. The word father conjures up different images for all of us. To some of us it brings the picture of love, laughter, respect, and acceptance. Unfortunately, to others of us, we associate the term father with fear, rejection, disappointment, and anger. this is why we need to learn that it is so important not to take our understanding of our Heavenly Father from our experience! We need to take it from the Scriptures! "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Galatians 4:6. We all undoubtedly had an imperfect earthly father, perhaps even one who brought harm to some of us. But, as in all of our Christian life, the key is not to understand the Bible based on our experience, but to understand our experience in light of the Bible. God is our model of a father in the true...

Sometimes as we follow Jesus, we will face moments of great distress. At times it will seem that events conspire to cause us to stumble in our relationship with Him. We do not initiate them, but they arise from opposition or the intensity of our circumstances. Nevertheless, failure is the end result. The disciples faced such fierce opposition to their Lord that they all failed Him on the night Jesus was betrayed. "Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written...". Mark 14:27. Peter boasted that he was incapable of forsaking Jesus. Yet Jesus assured the disciples even before their failure that it was inevitable. The Scriptures had prophesied it. God always knew the disciples would fail His Son; God wasn't caught by surprise. He had made provision for their shortcomings, knowing He would eventually develop them them into apostles who would fearlessly preach the Gospel, perform miracles, and teach others....

I believe that it is a dangerous thing to live our lives without a spiritual standard by which we determine right from wrong. God's Word is that standard. Spiritual laws, like physical laws, are meant to protect us, not restrict us. We may exercise our freedom to challenge the laws of electricity, but to do so can bring us death. Likewise, we will not break God's laws, they will break us! "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness." 1 John 3:4. We should understand that God established absolute moral and spiritual laws that we are free to ignore, but we do so at our own peril. And, friends, these laws are timeless! Our cultures do not nor ever will supersede them. Circumstances do not abrogate them. God's laws are eternal, and they will save us from death if we follow them! We might sometimes feel that God's laws restrict and bind us. On the contrary, God's Word protects us from death. For example, when God said that we are not t...

Our most persistent enemy is not Satan as some believe, it is sin! Satan cannot make us do anything although we try to give him the credit for the bad things we do. Our most persistent, determined, and pernicious enemy is sin. Sin seeks to rob us of every good thing God has designed for us. Paul tells us in Romans that sin brings death. Yet it is very subtle. Sin creeps into our lives when and where we least expect it. And no one is immune from sin! It packages itself so attractively that we are lulled into thinking that it cannot really harm us. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1. Sin stealthily and relentlessly entangles all our lives. We will never be able to run the race marked out for us as long as we are entrapped in sin. We free ourselves from sin's bondage only i...

When we relate to God we always deal with abundance. God does nothing in half measures! This is also true regarding His grace. The Lord is not miserly when it comes to providing grace to His servants. When we seek to perform a good work that God has asked us to do, we will always find an ample supply of God's grace to sustain us, provided what we are doing is not of ourselves or for ourselves or our own glory and recognition. "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8. Friends, if we begin to loose heart in the work we are doing, God's grace will uphold us, and His grace will give us the love for God and His people we require in order to continue our work. When we face criticism and are misunderstood, God's grace enables us to forgive our accusers and to sense God's pleasure even when others do not understand what we are doin...

Let me ask you a question: Did you know that we bring God glory by calling upon Him when we are in distress? You see, God has promised that He would deliver us if we turned to Him. We deny the Lord honor that is rightfully His every time we find ourselves in difficulty and we fail to call upon Him for help! "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me." Psalm 50:15 Friends, there may be times when God allows us to reach a point of need so that we will call upon Him, and thus let Him demonstrate to a watching and waiting world the difference He makes in the lives of His children. I fully believe that if God never allowed us to experience need, people around us might never have the opportunity to witness God's provision in the life of a Christian. If we have never faced a shortfall, we might be tempted to feel self-sufficient and without any need of God in our daily life. Pride will tempt us to think that we do not need to seek ...

There is a verse in the Bible that I believe is on of the most practical we will ever encounter. Every single one of us faces needs. Sometimes those needs are beyond our own means. But, those are not the times to become anxious or to panic. And we should not give up in defeat as I am sure some of us do. It is at these times that God wants to draw from His unlimited storehouse to meet our needs as only He can. Our job is to trust in Him to meet our needs! "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19 Do we believe God can meet the needs of our finances? Our health? Our children? Our parents? Our church? Scripture says we will never face a need for which God's provision is not more than adequate. And this promise appears over and over again in the Bible. We only need to read and lean upon God's Word, God's promises! If we are not experiencing God's bountiful provision, what is the problem? Is the diffi...

Living as a Christian! By: Pastor Harold Trent Psalms 119:105-112 1. God’s Word is a Light to Your Life (vs. 105-106). A. Revealing to us how we should live. 1. Luke 6:47 “I will show you what he is like who hears My Words and puts them into practice.” B. To Understand Him. 1. Proverbs 2:1-6 “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” C. To understand where He is taking you and why. 1. James 1:22 “Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive Yourselves. Do what it says.” 2. Suffering as a Christian (vs. 107-109). A. A committed Christian will sometimes experience: 1. Loss of friends A. Jesus’ ...

One mark of revival I believe, during which God come to his people in power, is that God's people are compelled to offer their lives for His service. Many of our churches today lack people who are willing to get involved in carrying out God's redemptive work. The mission fields are crying out for Christians to go and share the Gospel with those who've never heard it. There is a statistic today that says that here in America, 80% of the people are looking for God. I believe that what we need is not more pleas for volunteers, but an outpouring of the power of God! When God comes among His people in power, there is never a shortage of volunteers or resources for His work! "Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power." Psalm 110:3 When Christians today are asked what aspects of the Christian life are most important to them, missions is not usually ranked as a priority. I believe that this is because we have lost track of why God called any of us in the fi...

There comes a point in a minister's life when the call of God is so strong that it just can't be ignored. That is the position that I find myself in as I write this tonight. God has asked me to step out of my comfort zone and into the unknown to boldly proclaim His Word throughout our land in hopes of opening the eyes of His people once again. We are facing severe problems in this nation of ours not only as Americans, but as Christians. As I listen to the radio, read the newspaper, watch t.v., I am not only appalled, but saddened. Where is the voice of God in our land? Where are all the Christians? I know that some of you might be saying, "Well, there are Christians here, can't you see them?" My answer is yes I see them, but I don't see all of them, and I don't see all of us as God wants us to be. God will not condone apostasy and idolatry for very long! There is a point where God's mercy will turn to judgment! "If My people, who are ca...

Want to hear a secret? There are none! One of Satan's subtle deceptions is that we can do things in secret that will never be revealed. This is not the truth. God's Word stresses that EVERYTHING done in darkness will one day be brought to light. So before we commit ourselves to do anything questionable, we ought to seriously ask ourselves, "Am I willing for those around me to know what I am about to do? Am I willing for God to watch me participate in this activity?" "For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light." Luke 8:17 The knowledge that God sees what we do, the certainty that we are accountable for every word or action, these ought to dissuade us from sin! However, we can become so alienated from the Father that even this knowledge does not deter us. We need to be reminded: God does promise that He will publicly expose our sin so that we must give account to others for our action...