Author: pastordarryl68

Oh God, have mercy on the leaders and the people of this nation. I pray against the godless and destructive ideologies and agenda pushed on our innocent and impressionable minds. Lord save us from ourselves.

God I pray for parents and community leaders to walk in righteousness, humility and the fear of the Lord, to seek the Ways of their Creator and instill them in their children.

I pray for honor, dignity and respect to be restored in our lives for all people because we are each Your creation, created in Your image, from the womb to the tomb. I pray that we each understand the awesome responsibility and accountability that comes with bearing YOUR image.

I pray for The Church, Your bride. Oh God, she needs cleansing. She needs purified. She needs health. She needs YOU!

God I beg these things of You and I ask that You begin this work in me.

I am not a fan of President Joe Biden and certainly not of Vice President Kamala Harris. Unfortunately neither of them care to represent my convictions, values or beliefs in one nation UNDER GOD or in government in general. I cannot agree at all with most of their personal or platform policies and issues for which they campaigned. However, my heart is joyful for the symbolism and the perceived step forward for women and children of immigrants. Twelve years ago, I choked up and tears streamed down my cheeks over President Barack Obama’s victory speech and inauguration for the same reason. But as of January 20, is Joseph R. Biden President of the country of my earthly citizenship, one that I love and thank God for? Yes, absolutely. Why? Because I am an American. I refuse to act like a child.

Do I think President Biden will be a good president for our country and our future? Sadly, no. But do I wish for his failure? NO. Why? Because I am an American and I don’t want to see America fail.

Do I wish DEATH upon President Biden just because I don’t like him? Oh my goodness, NO! Whobwoild do such a thing? I grieve for the hearts of those who prayed for Trump’s demise and death over the last 4 years, just because they didn’t like him.

Do I think the election was manipulated and abused? Do I think that extremists used President Biden for their agenda? Oh, most definitely. But that won’t stop me from voting again because every vote should count, but I will be watching closely as should all Americans.

Do I trust our government? Unfortunately, NOT A CHANCE. I’m concerned for the next 4 years. I’m concerned for personal liberty. I’m concerned for religious liberty. I’m concerned for our economy. I’m concerned for small business owners. I’m concerned for our healthcare. I’m concerned for what’s to come after these next 4 years. I’m concerned about the country in which my children will raise my grandchildren. I fear for the fate of this country.

BUT MOST OF ALL… I trust in Jesus, my Lord and my Savior. He is King of kings. I KNOW that no matter who is President… HE REIGNS! My faith will NEVER be in a man but in My God, Alpha and Omega. The Beginning and End…for HIS glory and the good of HIS people. God bless the USA!

I saw the above in various versions on a few posts this week. For my own uses, I did copy, edit, add and delete before posting. I have no clue who the author is. I just kept seeing “copied and pasted from a friend”. There were things in the “originals” I saw and tone carried that I felt needed edited or deleted for myself as they didn’t not convey my own thoughts or concerns.

Here is another great article on the subject posted by my good friend, Dr. Kevin Carson. And here is an Inauguration Prayer for our President, also written by Dr. Kevin Carson.

Many tender-minded Christians fear to sin against love by daring to inquire into anything that comes wearing the cloak of Christianity and breathing the name of Jesus. They dare not examine the credentials of the latest prophet to hit their town lest they be guilty of rejecting something which may be of God. They timidly remember how the Pharisees refused to accept Christ when He came, and they do not want to be caught in the same snare, so they either reserve judgment or shut their eyes and accept everything without question. This is supposed to indicate a high degree of spirituality.

But in sober fact it indicates no such thing. It may indeed be evidence of the absence of the Holy Spirit. Gullibility is not synonymous with spirituality. Faith is not a mental habit leading its possessor to open his mouth and swallow everything that has about it the color of the supernatural. Faith keeps its heart open to whatever is of God, and rejects everything that is not of God, however wonderful it may be. Try the spirits is a command of the Holy Spirit to the Church. We may sin as certainly by approving the spurious as by rejecting the genuine. And the current habit of refusing to take sides is not the way to avoid the question. To appraise things with a heart of love and then to act on the results is an obligation resting upon every Christian in the world. And the more as we see the day approaching.

A. W. Tozer Sermon: Testing the Spirits

Images and video tell the story that the photographer/videographer wants to tell from the angle they want to tell it…even before Photoshop. We tell the story that we want heard.

We’ve each seen far too many “selfies”, Instagrams and Tik Tok’s of distressed, insecure, jealous, depressed and miserable people living a “seemingly” full, exciting, airbrushed life on social media to NOT know this to be true.

John 12:43 ESV for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

1 Samuel 16:7 ESV …For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

Self-righteousness is terrible among God’s people. If we feel that we are what we ought to be, then we will remain what we are. We will not look for any change or improvement in our lives. This will quite naturally lead us to judge everyone by what we are. This is the judgment of which we must be careful. To judge others by ourselves is to create havoc in the local assembly. Self-righteousness also leads to complacency. Complacency is a great sin and covers just about everything I have said about the rote and the rut. Some have the attitude, “Lord, I’m satisfied with my spiritual condition. I hope one of these days You will come, I will be taken up to meet You in the air and I will rule over five cities.” These people cannot rule over their own houses and families, but they expect to rule over five cities. They pray spottily and sparsely, rarely attending prayer meeting, but they read their Bibles and expect to go zooming off into the blue yonder and join the Lord in the triumph of the victorious saints.

A. W. Tozer Sermon: Spiritual Smugness

What a great verse to be reminded of today as I think back over all that God has done in my life and in our ministry over the last many months and even into the new year. The enemy has tried to isolate and depress us, to divide and conquer us, to lie to us and scare us into hibernating through the darkest days this generation of the world has ever seen – rather than walking in the Light, as He is in the light so that others may see His Light and give glory to our Father in heaven.Not today, enemy of the cross.

Not today! You’ve gotten nothing from me that God did not first allow. And what He allowed to be removed from me or placed on me, it was for His glory and the good of His people. Amen, and only AMEN!

Genesis 50:20 ESV As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Matthew 5:14-16 ESV “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. [15] Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. [16] In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

1 John 1:5-7 ESV This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. [6] If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If the actions of another “christian” would cause you to lose faith or step away from your faith, your faith was in the wrong thing…the wrong person.

There has been much in the last year that has rocked people’s faith in humanity as well as their faith in God Almighty. Though I’ve totally seen and experienced the acts of humanity that have caused this, my faith has not wavered in God…but increased.

I have been encouraged by the power of His Holy Spirit in those humans who choose to mortify the flesh and surrender to His Spirit.

There is a separating of the wheat from the tares. So be it, Lord. Show is Your Power!!

I Tozer. I don’t have a date for when he preached this sermon, but Tozer died nearly 60 years ago so the sermon could be 60 to 90 years old. It’s context would fit perfectly today.

“We have developed in recent times a peace-loving, soft-spoken, tame and harmless brand of Christian of whom the world has no fear and for whom it has little respect. We are careful, for instance, never to speak in public against any of the false cults lest we be thought intolerant. We fear to talk against the destructive sins of modern civilization for fear someone will brand us as bigoted and narrow. Little by little we have been forced off the hard earth into a religious cloud-land where we are permitted to wing our harmless way around, like swallows at sundown, saying nothing that might stir the ire of the sons of this world. That Neo-Christianity, which seems for the time to be the most popular (and is certainly the most aggressive), is very careful not to oppose sin. It wins its crowds by amusing them and its converts by hiding from them the full implications of the Christian message. It carries on its projects after the ballyhoo methods of American business. Well might we paraphrase Wordsworth and cry, “Elijah, thou shouldst be living at this hour; America has need of thee.” We stand in desperate need of a few men like Elijah who will dare to face up to the brazen sinners who dictate our every way of life. Sin in the full proportions of a revolution or a plague has all but destroyed our civilization while church people have played like children in the marketplace. What has happened to the spirit of the American Christian? Has our gold become dim? Have we lost the spirit of discernment till we can no longer recognize our captors? How much longer will we hide in caves while Ahab and Jezebel continue to pollute the temple and ravage the land? Surely we should give this some serious thought and prayer before it is too late–if indeed it is not too late already.”

A. W. Tozer Sermon: Standing for Truth

I have observed many a man (and woman) self destruct in their own arrogance and self righteousness. It is excruciating and heartbreaking to watch. You cannot defend God’s Way by transgressing His Word.

God have mercy upon me, a sinner. Have mercy upon us all. Expose our arrogance. Give Light to Your Way.

2 Corinthians 10:12 ESV Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding

Proverbs 26:12 ESV Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Proverbs 3:7 ESV Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

Luke 14:11 ESV For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Philippians 2:3-5 ESV Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. [4] tLet each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. [5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,