The Dream Merchant/Prayer For Haiti

 

Apostle Holcomb encouraged our hearts this week to remember our brothers and sisters in the nation of Haiti. Even as we pause to salute the dream that God gave to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we must acknowledge the call of God to care and pray for our fellowman. Let us honor the legacy of Dr. King by serving God's people even as he did. I admonish you to pray that God will continue to send ministering Spirits to the Haitian people. Also pray that God will prepare the way that they will receive necessary food, water and health care. We pray that God will open the windows of Heaven and pour upon them the blessings of God by miraculous and supernatural means. May the angels of the Lord descend and ascend upon Haiti according to the will of God. In the face of tragedy and destruction, we still know that God is a good God. He is our loving, caring and sharing Heavenly Father. Let us thank Him for directing people and rescue workers to those individuals who are yet alive and whom He has sustained. God specializes in chaos and in times of trouble. He causes sweetness to come out of hardness. He alone can draw honey from the rock and water from dry places. So let us praise, worship, magnify and glorify God for the restoration, deliverance and the healing of the Haitian people, His people, and our people; our brothers and sisters. One of Reverend King's messages states that there comes a time when we as moral men come to realize that we must answer to a higher law, which is God's law. I submit to you that God's law is a law of love, compassion, caring, and sharing.

Remember to remain in the place of grace. Remain in the place by Him, in the place by Jesus!

The Essence of Christian Living: Investing in Your Progress

 

In the series, The Essence of Christian Living, the message this week is "Investing in Your Progress." We must realize that money is the lowest form of prosperity in the Kingdom of God according to Luke 16. The highest is souls. Apostle Holcomb taught us The trilogy of giving which includes tithes, offerings and gifts of love. The tithe is simply giving back to God what belongs to Him, which is the 1^st tenth of our increase. It is the floor where we begin, not the ceiling where we end. Giving the tithe is a matter of the heart; it's an attitude of gratitude that causes God to rebuke the devourer for our sakes. The offering is actually where we begin our giving because it comes from what we purpose in our hearts to give realizing that we have only because God has blessed us with His supply. In essence, God is our source and everything else is a resource. When we give, we put God's power which His ability on our money. We prove God and he proves us. The Bible tells us that God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap. God gives seed to the sower and bread for food. If we sow sparingly, we will reap sparingly. Moreover if we sow bountifully, we will also reap bountifully. In essence, God guarantees the harvest, but we determine what the harvest will be. We reap what we sow! The priority of our giving is based upon loving God and loving what God loves. He loves 1. His Son 2. The saints 3. Sinners 4. Sowing. Remember that the Father gave His very when He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Be a cheerful giver and live under an open Heaven!

The Esssence of Christian Living

The message for this week is “The Essence of Christian Living: Jesus, Grace, Giving.”These three things are the ingredients for salvation. For by grace are we saved through faith and not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. Jesus Christ is our Savior showing that the very nature of God is a giving nature. We learned how to live the Zoë life of Jesus Christ, which is the God kind of life, eternal and abundant life. Grace giving is the essence of Christian living. Grace giving is not to be eliminated by poverty. It is not to be enforced by pressure, intimidation, exhortation, exploitation or manipulation. It is also not to be excused by performance. However, grace giving is to be encouraged by the preaching of the Word. It is also to be enjoyed by partnership and participation in it. We learned how to give willingly, purposefully, and with cheerful hearts because God loves a cheerful heart. The Law of Reciprocity teaches us that we reap what we sow. Therefore what we make happen for others, God will make happen for us. The message was a message of God’s supply, his support, and his surplus. It was a prophetic message from Apostle Holcomb letting the people of God know that according to 2 Chronicles 20:20, if we believe in the Lord our God, we will be established and if we believe His prophets, we will prosper. The Word of the Lord to us was that our broke days are over!

Remember to remain in the place of grace. Remain in the place by Him, in the place by Jesus!

2010, I’m In!

 

As we embark upon the beginning of 2010, we are worshipping and praising God like never before. We are grateful to the Father for bringing sweetness out of our hardness this year, and for blessing us with honey from the rock and water from dry places. We have learned to consider Jesus, enduring hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ….realizing that He is our introduction, our conclusion and He is everything in between. Also we have come to trust God when we are mystified and we don't know why. We now know how to see matters when things look bad. We don't dwell on our problems and our pains, instead we confess the promises of God because we are fully persuaded that what God has promised, He is also able to perform in and through our lives. God's favor is always in place for us when we need it because grace is God's helping hand. The mantra for 2010 is I'm in! Bishop Holcomb taught us that we need to be into what we are into with no half stepping, totally committed, dedicated and identified with Christ. For it is in Him that we live and move and have our being.

 

Remaining in the place of grace, in the place by Jesus!

 

The Gift of His Presence

 

Apostle Holcomb preached a message entitled, "The Gift of His Presence." As children of the Most High God, the presence of God is more important and more valuable to us than presents under the tree. What God wants for Christmas from us is worship. He seeks for those who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth. When we worship God, we ascribe worth to Him that always ends in a high praise. The Bible tells us that God inhabits the praises of His people and in His presence there is fullness of joy. When the Lord is in our midst, His power is present to save, to heal, to deliver and to set free. He daily loads His people with benefits. God wants us saved, baptized in the Holy Ghost, and He wants us to worship Him. He also wants us to be a people who can go through our passages of pain, because we are not pursuing His prosperity, but we seek His presence.

The Perfect Gift: The Purpose of Christmas

 

This week Apostle Holcomb preached a message entitled, "The Perfect Gift: The Purpose of Christmas." The scripture reference was John 4:4-10. It is prevalent during this time of the year that we overspend for the reason that we desire to be a blessing to others by giving. It is also during this holiday season that people become depressed and oppressed for one reason or the other. It is written in the scriptures that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil which frees us from all forms of bondage. Sharing the message of the love of Christ is the best, most valuable and most needed gift for all mankind. It's not about what's under the tree. It's all about who was on the tree. It's all about Jesus! It's all about Him!

Remain in the place of grace. Remain in the place by Jesus.

Sweetness out of Hardness

 

2009 has been declared favor time for our church and for the Body of Christ. Apostle Holcomb told us that we would experience honey from the rock, sweetness out of hardness and water from dry places. Most of us have experienced some extraordinarily hard times this year. We've overcome some trials and tribulations. The blessing of the Lord is that only through Jesus Christ can we say as the Psalmist David said in Psalm 119:71, "It was good that I was afflicted that I might learn Thy statutes." We realize that as verse 67 says, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept Thy Word." This year we learned that grace is God's helping hand and that His grace is in place for us when we need it. According to Pastor Valerie, we must come to the resolve that regardless of circumstances and hard times, with Jesus, it's still a wonderful life. Remember to remain in the place of grace. Remain in the place by Jesus.