Vessels of His Love Podcast

Mark 10:25 says, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (NKJV) If God calls you out of your job and your comfortable life to do His work, who among us would immediately leave our lives behind? For some of us, that is exactly what we will need to do.

How much do you trust in God? Is your faith in God or in money? Is it in the world's system or is it in Kingdom principles? Let's be like the disciples and put our lives on the line by trusting in God.

It is nearly Christmas and your shopping days are running out. If there is just that one more gift you are looking for, look no further. This gift is not in department or discount stores. It is not priced retail or on sale and it will not go away after the holiday celebration. This gifts is available all year long--it is God's Precious Gift.

The gift is Jesus Christ who came to live and do for your sins. What are you waiting for? Whatever you have is nothing compared to what God has for you. Time is running out. And with this gift, if you accept Him, instead of dying in your sins, you can now die TO your sins.

Find out more when you listen to this message, "God's Precious Gift."

Who can fathom the depths of God's love? We can begin to understand it when we compare our Heavenly Father's love to an earthly father's love. But it is obvious that God's love goes much further. It is unconditional. It is eternal. And it is equal, whether we are natural or adopted children.

In fact, God cut off His natural children in order for His adopted children to have life. But even those He cut off, He promises to bring back. God gives us every opportunity to be loved by Him. Will you accept His love today?

"Where would I be, if not for your grace..." (the beginning lyrics of one of my favorite Israel Houghton songs). The same can be said for every person in the Bible, save Jesus. The apostle Paul persecuted Christians. David committed adultery and the killed the husband to cover it up. Solomon had at least 999 adulterous relationships. Peter denied Jesus 3 times as He was going to His death.

Thank God for His grace. It is by His mercies that we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every day.

How would you describe your God? Loving? Awesome? Righteous? Holy? Omnipotent? Full of mercy and grace? Well, how about dreadful? Terrible? Jealous? We focus so much on the God of Love that we sometimes forget that He is also a God of War. Though He is a loving, caring God, we must still have a fear of God.

In Genesis 22, Abraham was told to sacrifice his son of promise, Isaac. Abraham knew God. Abraham loved God. But he went to sacrifice his son because he feared God.

Growing up, were you afraid of your natural father? If so, did you still know that he loved you? It should be no different than with our heavenly father. We should try to walk in holiness because we love God, but we should be successful because we fear God.

In 1 Kings 18-21, God sent Elijah to come against King Ahab and his house, mainly because of the deception of Jezebel. In Revelation 2:18-20, the church at Thyatira was rebuked by God because they "tolerate" the spirit of Jezebel that seduces people to sin.

In America today, we tolerate so much in the name of peace and progress. If the Church of God would only stand up and say "enough is enough" to blatant sin and disregard of the Word of God, there would not be such a disparity in righteousness in the world. We are told to tolerate others as a sign of respect and fairness, but we should never tolerate anything that is against Christ and His Kingdom. Tolerance is below God's standard, and if we have to be outcasts because we stand for righteousness, so be it.

In the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22, the King invites everyone his servants could find to His Son's wedding after the original invitees rejected His invitation. At the end of the parable, we find a man who was invited off the street without a wedding garment. This man was bound and cast into outer darkness.

Why would the King do such a thing to a person who He invited? It was because the man was not willing to accept the wedding garment. Jesus paid the price for our sins so that we don't have to do anything but receive, yet so many of us still reject His free gift. Wedding garments would have been handed out at the door, but the man refused. God's free gift is being handed out to you, are you willing to receive it?

In the Parable of the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10, Jesus explains what it takes to be a Kingdom son. Although the ruler had bought into the commandments and Kingdom living, he had not yet sold out to them. Jesus instructed that he should sell what he has, take up his cross, and follow Christ, but that price was just a bit to high for his liking.

As Christians, we have all bought in to Christ and His Kingdom. What the Lord needs, however, is not just a buy-in, but a selling-out to His Will. Listen to this message and decide for yourself if you will be simply bought in, or completely sold out to God.

In Luke Chapter 5, Jesus got into Peter's boat and asked him to go out on the Sea of Galilee where He would preach to the crowd. After preaching, Jesus told Peter to cast out his net to catch some fish. Peter, a fisherman, had been out all night trying to catch fish and there were none, but the Master asked him to do so, so he begrudgingly obeyed.

How do you do it one more time when you don’t feel like it? How can you motivate yourself to be obedient to the Word when you’re not seeing the results? If what you seek is important enough, you will continue faithfully again and again until it comes to pass. If you don't get it the first time, you may have to listen one mo' 'gain to this message, "Just One Mo' 'Gain."

We need a spiritual revolution. We need to stop waiting on something to happen to get us into prayer and spiritual warfare, and start taking the offensive: reminding Satan that he no longer has the upper hand on us.

In this 3rd installment of the sermon series based on "The Matrix" trilogy, Pastor Devin focuses on driving home the points made in the 1st two sermons based on the 1st two movies, because the 3rd movie was that bad. Sermon 1 was on spiritual blindness and strongholds, and sermon 2 was about faith and choice.

What happens in life occurs because of the summation of the choices we make, but God's plan will come to pass regardless of our individual choices. So we can choose to give up, or choose to endure. We can choose to pray and go into spiritual battle, or choose to ignore it. What's your choice? Listen to today's message and choose to serve the Lord.

Do you ever feel like instead of blessings, more and more attacks keep coming your way? It is not by accident. The enemy targets those who are a threat to him--those who recognize the ramifications of spiritual warfare. The enemy 's first goal is to attack the Savior, but he failed. Next he attacks those belonging to the Savior (true Christians), and in the end, he will go after everyone.

In this message, "The Matrix Reloaded," Pastor Devin explains how the 2nd installment of this trilogy follows this exact pattern, as the enemy reloads to attack the followers of the savior when he fails to kill him (or keep him killed). It also deals with two main theological issues: faith and election. Control vs. choice, predestination vs. free will, and man's action on the faith regarding these issues are a main theme throughout the trilogy, especially in this movie. Not that we get our theological foundation from a Hollywood film, but it gives a good basis on how to talk about these fundamental issues.

If you haven't already, listen to the previous message, "The Matrix," and watch out for the following message, "The Matrix Revolutions."

Are you having trouble seeing? Are you looking through blinders, blinded by the veil of deception? In this message, titled after the hit movie, "The Matrix," Pastor Devin states that the movie indirectly deals with two main spiritual issues: intercession for the lost, and bringing down strongholds.

A stronghold is a highly fortified defensive structure from whence a particular person or group rules or dominates. The world's system is one of the biggest strongholds we face, in the movie and in real life. The people in "The Matrix" were blinded by the deception that their reality was true, but in actuality it was a deception to keep them from overcoming "in the spirit." Those who removed their blinders began to intercede, or become advocates for the lost.

Just like the movie, you'll have to listen to the entire sermon to follow the story. Learn more as you listen to this message, "The Matrix."

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13, NKJV) Immediately after this statement, Jesus called us His friends. We were no longer called servants.

When Jesus ascended to heaven, He left us the responsibility of the Great Commission. Even though He sent the Holy Spirit in His place, the Spirit is only a helper to us in this mission. We are the heirs of the promise. The greatest love of all is the Master of the universe allowing you and me to stand in His place, fully representing Him to all the world.

Can you imagine that God would so love us, that He would not only send His Son to die for us, but allow us to stand in His place? Find out more about God's love for you as you listen to this message, "The Greatest Love of All."

Once you decide to follow God's plan for your life, you must give something up. For me, it was my job. Luckily for me, I hated my job, and it was an easy thing for me to give up. It wasn't, however, easy for my wife, as she was pregnant with our first child at the time.

What happens when God asks you to give up something much more important than your job? Abraham was asked to deliver his child of promise on the altar. Could we do what Abraham intended to do for God? We can if we understand one thing: that what God has for us is better than what we have for ourselves.

Trust God, and do what the bible says in Proverbs 3:5-6. If you ask Him, He'll tell you, "Mine is better than yours."

In his book, "Maximized Manhood," author and Men's Ministry curriculum producer Edwin Louis Cole proclaims, "Love centers in the will. That is why love can be commanded and why God can command love." It is not what you say with your mouth, nor what you feel in your heart, but what you decide to do out of your will that determines the love you show for others.

In this message, Pastor Devin looks at God's command to us to love God and man, and reiterates that true love is determined by our will. It is not only expressed in action, but in attitude. We must determine in our heart--in our will--that we will obey the command of God and express Godly love whether we want to or not. If we are determined to obey His command, God is faithful to help us with our attitude and turn it around for good.

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