Health, Wealth and Happiness

Here we are in a small, but beautiful office space for the Innaugural meeting of the San Diego International Christian Church.  It is cramped, hot and we wouldn’t have it any other way.  The room is full with the spillover into the hallway.  We have outgrown the space in the first week!

 I am so blessed to be here to hear God’s Word preached.  Waiting in  the wings is Kyle Bartholomew, who will soon be heading up to share the first message.  This is the San Diego house church and some of the remnant from San Diego are participating.  Visitors from Tijuana, Hawaii, (me), Calgary, Canada, and of course, LA have raised the enthusiasm to one that can be felt by all.

Kyle is the soon to be lead evangelist in Hawaii.  He started with Rev. 1:9  John speaking…sending the scroll to the seven churches.  Kyle relates the actual history of John from the Isle of Patmos.  After the evil emperor Domitian tried to kill John, he finally gave up and John wrote Revelations.  Continuing from verse 12.  His face like the sun…..

Continuing from verse 17….

There are about 50 of us, psyched for the message that our fired up brother is sharing.  For an ‘unschooled ordinary man’ Kyle has perfected his ‘relatablity’ with the averae person.

Pt. 1  Suffering Paves the Way:  Rev 2:1  and following              You have forsaken your first love (something no one wants to hear about ‘their’ church,   from the mouth of Jesus).  At first commended for their work and faith, they were now enduring hardships.  The story that Kyle related was amusing, and convicting.  Suffering and hardships await us on our walk with Christ.

1 Peter 4:12  Dear friends, do not be surprised,     rejoice…….   rest on you.  We are following a crucified messiah.  Many of us lose faith when the recession hits and it takes a shot at our pocketbook.  Kyle had gotten bitter at God, and Joan told hm to pray,      and then pray again.  Life is not an easy stroll down the garden path as a disciple.

Do we understnd God’s plan of suffering?  We are wiser when we come out of sin.

Deut. 8:2                               Israelites (God’s People)   Remember….

Kyle knows now that he has not trusted God totally financially recently.  God tests us to find out what is in our heart.  When He sees it we see it too.  Do we obey his commandments?  Suffering paves the way.

Rev 2:4       (false prophets)  the church chased them off, which they were commended for.     Jesus looked at that church with blazing eyes……”Yet if hold this against you….first”

They feel in love with something (else) that replaced God.  What is it?  Pornography, Pleasure, Careers.  Whatever, it takes us away from our God.  Kyle sinned and fell out of his first love. 

“Remember the heighth from which you have fallen.”  Kyle had one sin, but did not repent and cure his heart.  He then got into internet gambling.  When asked to do a study in the midst of all that, he was totally convicted.  He and his brother had to face the fact that they needed to give their lives back to God.  Funny how the Discipleship Study can convict the one leading it.  (And the one taking notes.)(And the one blogging.)

How are our spiritual decisions working for us?

“Repent and do the things you used to do.”  Kyle reminds us of a person with a severe injury relearning his motor skills, as he redid the things he had done at first from QTs to sharing faith to tithing.

“I thought you were committed to Jesus.”  That hurt.

No more excuses, back to where he had started,  What about us?

We can make the same decision.

Acts 3:19.  Repentence (is a good thing)  Our sins are wiped out and times of refreshing come.  God says he erases them!  He forgives, forgets and we are free.  Repentence renews us day by day.

Pt 3 __________________”If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand…..A church in a state of unrepentance will have its lampstand removed.  Verse 7…..

“Lukewarm”  Kyle’s 28 of 40 followers left from the Hilo Church. It is on the person…..

A man can overcome or he IS overcome.

2 Peter 2:20  “If they have escaped……..than to have known it and..dog returns to its vomit……..

Make a decision and turn and run from sin, or we’ll get entangled in it again.

Genesis  Adam and Eve:  Two trees.  Their days were numbered when they ate from the wrong tree.

We will die.  That day we will be judged, and it will lead to our final destination.

Rdev 22:1  “The angel showed me……down the middle………healing of the nations.  No longer will there be…and they will reign for ever and ever.”  What an image.  Now we can approach God.  Once that privalege was taken from us.  WE can again, but we have to overcome.

If we have to have trials and give up what we do on Earth, and      Many have not chosen the path of righteosness, but have taken the wider road to hell.  Many will trade their 80 years of live for an eternity with God.

Earth is like the shower cold water, short time, as the hot water comes through like the joy of Heaven.  Choose God or Satan, Heaven or Hell.  See you next week, San Diego.