I am back!! It has been a while since I have updated the blogsite. There has been a lot going on in the last 2 months. We have had the best summer we have had in our ministry. Since April there have been 35 souls saved!! Praise the Lord for He is truly worthy. We baptized 10 of those saved as of last Sunday night. After our revival in May we had a great July with our Kid's Krusade. Our theme was Baseball, Hit a home run for Jesus. There were 9 saved during the 3 days and the kids had a wonderful time. The closing night we had an old fashion ballgame with the kids. Our family got to attend the Sword conference in Walkertown this year. We took 2 of our teenagers with us and they had a great time.
We always start our month off with a men's prayer breakfast on the 1st Saturday, in August I shared with our men this devotional message:
How to defeat the Devil
Rev. 12:9-11
There is coming a day when the devil will be brought down. He now deceives, desires to devour, destroys and damns the souls of men, but one day he will be cast down. Praise God I have read the end of the story, hey Christian, we come out on top! Why? because Jesus saved us, keeps us, and He is the Captain of our Salvation. Amen!
Look at vs 10, he is called ... " the accuser of our brethren..." Remember Job? in Job 1:6-10 Satan accused Job before God. But remember this, he can't touch you without God's permission. So, when Satan comes to attack us, how can we defeat him? Vs 11, " And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. "
I. By the Blood of the Lamb.
We have no hope but in the merit of the Saviour's blood. Because of the Blood of Christ we have victory over sin, death, hell and Satan. There is power in the blood! Wonder-working power, power to save, to cleanse-to heal our sin-soul. ( I John 1:7 ) Men ridicule the blood, but Heaven makes much ado of it. The Bible says the preaching of the cross is foolishness but to us who are saved, it is the power of God!!
The Blood makes atonement for sin. Hebrews 9:22, tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is remission of sin. It also says the life is in the blood.
Christ gave His blood for the redemption of lost men. As payment for our sin. We can plead the blood when we need forgiveness, when we need cleansing, thank God its still the blood, Nothing but the blood can make me whole again. When we need revival, the blood is there to make the difference in our relationship with our Lord. The devil likes to accuse us when we sin. But thank God, we defeat him, because of the shed blood. Jesus is our advocate, ( I John 1:1-2 ) He pleads our case at the judgment bar of God. Praise God for the Blood. The devil hates preaching on the Blood, we need it. We defeat the devil by the blood of the Lamb.
II. By the Word of our Testimony.
There is nothing like a good testimony. You can lose what took you years to build in just a few minutes. Your testimony is a precious possession. We should tell what Jesus has done for us. The Word of God made a change ( Romans 3:23, 5:8, 10:13 ) The Word of God says in John 14:6, that Jesus is the way , the truth, and the life, because Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, we are saved forever. I'm on my way to Heaven, and I am to rejoice and Praise God for this. Paul gave his testimony everywhere he went. Satan will cause you to doubt your own salvation, so we should rehearse what happened over and over to remind us of God's working in our lives. When he come to me, I just remind him that on December 2, 1974, I got saved. I was there when it happened. II Cor. 5:17 I am a new creature in Christ. My name is in the Book of life. The devil hates it when a Christian knows he is saved. We defeat the devil by the word of our testimony.
III. Because we loved not our lives unto death.
There are many who have died for Christ, I mean they gave it all, you read Foxes book of Martyrs and you see from the time of the apostles to the present, God's people from all walks of life, have been tortured, persecuted, slain and killed sometimes in the name of religion. But they gave there lives because they did not love themselves, they loved the Lord. They willingly sacrificed all, even there lives for the Gospel. Do we love the work of God and the Lord more than our own lives? I am reminded that God isn't necessarily looking for someone to die for Him, He is looking for someone to live for Him! Let's live for Him, yield your life to God. Satan is defeated by the Blood of the Lamb, by the word of testimony and by our lives that are surrendered to Christ and our affection for Him, we love Him more than life itself!!
God bless you as you serve the King of Kings!
Pastor Taylor
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