The Real Gospel - Malcolm Smith

Great Joy...

I began my Sunday morning service by telling our people; if we are not experiencing GREAT JOY in our lives and in our churches, then maybe what were hearing is not the pure gospel. The preaching of CHRIST in the book of Acts resulted in a city revival that caused GREAT JOY in the city of Samaria.

Acts 8:5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, AND PREACHED CHRIST UNTO THEM

Vs-6 And the people with one accord gave heed unto THOSE THINGS WHICH PHILIP SPAKE, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

Vs-7 For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.

Vs-8 AND THERE WAS GREAT JOY IN THAT CITY.

I believe the preaching of Christ will result in the same manifestations of Gods love and power as seen here in the book of Acts. God has not changed; and yes, we are still living in the New Testament church! The gospel of Christ (THE GOOD NEWS) is still producing the same results.

During our Sunday morning service there were many testimonies of Gods miracle working power among us. I believe as the good news of Gods love spreads over the earth we will hear once again the resounding echo of GREAT JOY filling our churches and communities as we experience the power of the Gospel, the good news of Gods Amazing Grace!

Self Deliverance...

Thank God, God delivered me from me. When I become self conscious, self dependent, self serving, self righteous, self..self..self; then self absorbed is all I can be. As long as me is all I can see; it makes it impossible for me to have faith. The bible teaches that we are to LOOK UNTO JESUS THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH, Hebrews 12:2. True deliverance from self comes by looking unto Jesus. God prefers us to be Christ conscious; the devil wants us self conscious. As Christians are easily defeated when self is our main focus. Victory is always ours while we are focusing on Jesus! Permanent change in us is impossible as long as we look to ourselves for change. But the moment we take our eyes off ourselves and look at Jesus and the finished work of the cross we are effortlessly changed by the glory of the living God! It is impossible to remain the same when looking at Jesus!

Jesus...

I was just thinking about Jesus and why he is the best gift that anyone could ever receive. Total forgiveness is one reason and wow what a miracle forgiveness really is..... Any wonder that the bible declares that, "ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." Just think about the liberty in being forgiven. Have you received Jesus? Have you received total forgiveness, the kind of forgiveness that doesn't accuse you or want you to feel guilty about your sin? I used to think that God was following me around with a magnifying glass looking at all my faults and failures so he could point them all out to me. Now that I've gotten to know the God of the bible I've come to learn that He's not that way at all. Always remember this, the God of the bible is not a religion. All God wants is a family and as long as I look at God like a loving father it helps me to better understand his nature. In the new testament Jesus said if you've seen me you have seen the father. You will never find in the gospels were Jesus ever did anything but good. Every parent who loves their children only wants what is best for them and no parent wants their children feeling guilt and shame. The greatest gift in the world; no doubt about it for me, it is to be 100% totally forgiven all the time because of the sacrifice of God's son!

The Wisdom Of God (Humor)...

This picture reminds me of a funny joke I once heard. There were three missionaries at the bank of a flooded river they needed to cross. At the bank of the river the first missionary knelt down and prayed asking the Lord to give to him the necessary strength to cross the river, instantly his arms popped out with big muscles and he dove into the river. He swam and swam against the strong current almost drowning three times, but finally reached the other side.

The second missionary watching this thought, I need to do better than the first missionary seeing how he almost drowned three times before he reaching the other side. So he knelt down at the bank of the river and prayed. He said Lord, give me the strength and the tools I need to cross this river. Instantly his arms popped out with big muscles; and to his amazement a row boat with oars inside floated up to the bank of the river. The missionary climbed safely inside and rowed with all of

his might, when suddenly about half way across the river he almost capsized and drowned. Finally after much fatigue from the hard rowing he reached the other side.

The third missionary watching all of this, said to himself, I have got to do better than those two, they almost drowned. So the third missionary knelt down at the bank of the river and prayed; saying: Lord give me the wisdom I need to cross this river, instantly he was changed into a woman who then reached into her pocket and pulled out a map which showed a bridge fifty yards up stream. She then proceeded to follow the map to the bridge and safely crossed over to the other side......... If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him....James 1:5

Perfect Love Cast Out Fear...

Have you ever thought about all the insecurities and fears that most of us have? Most of our fears manifest as worry. You know, the kind of fear that worries about whether or not the bills are paid. Maybe it's the kind of fear that causes you to lay awake at night because a loved one is late getting home. We usually don't think of things like these as being fears and yet they are. There are a thousand and one things that can cause...

Advantage In Life...

Do you ever wish that you had some kind of advantage in life? You know... the kind of advantage that would cause you to benefit from the answer; as opposed to keeping your mind focused on the problem??? Well, God has given us this advantage. He knew there would be circumstances which would push.....