Category: Emery

Word of Faith: Go Tell It, Pt. I

6/7/2012

Excerpt from Words of Faith, by Emery & Stephanie Barber

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord! The theme for today’s Word of Faith is “Go Tell It!”

Spirit of the Living God is one of my favorite hymns. “Fall afresh on me.” What a blessed privilege to serve the true living God! I wonder if anybody still believes that it’s good news that Jesus the Christ is alive and well. Yes Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, but he rose on the third day with all power in his hands, and with that power he declared us “not guilty” before the divine court. And that gives us the blessed privilege of everlasting life with Christ if we accept God’s free gift! That’s not just good news, that’s great news! It’s such great news, we just have to go and tell it!

But I can’t help, but wonder if those who say that they have heard the good news, and say they believe it is true - really do. The price of gas goes down a few cents and your friends are knocking down your door to tell you about it. Your favorite department store has a sale and you can’t wait to show off what a great buy you acquired.

In the fourth chapter of John, Jesus has an encounter with a stranger. This stranger – the woman of Samaria, later finds out she is with the Son of God! The Messiah has come and is standing before her, impacting her life and look at her response. Rather than stand there and bask in the glow of his presence, currently all her own, she has to run and go, and tell it.

People hear good news, and they go and tell it, whether they believe it’s true or not. We have experienced the miraculous move of God in our lives and we keep it to ourselves, like hidden treasure. My brothers and sisters, God wants us to go and tell it! Tell the good news!

After Jesus had risen from the grave, before his ascension, Jesus Christ proclaimed in the 28th chapter and the 19th verse of the book of Matthew, “All power and authority has been given me in Heaven and Earth, go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations.” He goes further to say baptize, and teach them to obey all I have commanded.

Beloved, we’ve been given a tall order by the Savior of our souls. But the joy of it all is that we are not called to do it alone. Jesus ends the great commission with, “Be sure, I am with you always, even to the end.”

If there was a plague in the land, and you knew where to find the antidote, would you keep it to yourself or would you share it? Christ calls us to share the antidote to the plague of sin with our families, friends and yes - even strangers. Jesus is the answer! May we be so inspired – so compelled to move in love for our God and mankind that we would obey the call and go and tell it!

In His Service,
Pastor Barber
FaithWorks Christian Fellowship
Proving God at God's Word

Emery B. Barber is a founding Pastor of FaithWorks Christian Fellowship of Jamaica, NY, and co-author of the web devotional and devotional book, Words of Faith for FaithWorks Christian Center, International. As a Creative Media Consultant he provides training and services in various areas of digital marketing collateral with a special calling to Creative Worship Media.

FaithWorks Christian Fellowship | Engaging Worship, Declaring Praise, and Proving God at God's Word | Join Us

© 2012 Faith Works Christian Center. All rights reserved.

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Word of Faith: Wake Up

7/7/2011

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“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps [1] and went to meet the bridegroom. [2] 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. Matt. 25:1-7

At the dawn of 2011, the Spirit of the Lord declared to us that this is the Season of Awakening - A time for us to hear the mandate of the Lord to awaken from sleep and dream state and to be aware of the times, for Christ is indeed soon to come. Our recent bible studies have taken us through Matt. 24 and 25, where Jesus articulates the signs of the times to his disciples, as well as the imperative not to be troubled, but ready at the end of the age.

In the parable of the ten virgins we see a striking parallel as both the foolish and the wise virgins (Those who were prepared and those who were not) had fallen to sleep as they awaited the Bridegroom, representing Jesus the Christ. But when it was midnight, there came a clarion call to wake-up to prepare for the coming of the Bridegroom. Those who were ready had their oil, and those who were not had to try to buy oil from "oil dealers." Those who were wise and ready were well received. Those who were foolish, were rejected. Please note that the Bridegroom doesn't tell them, "You're too late!" But instead he says, "Truly, I don't know you!" We are "known" by God as a New Creation, when we accept Christ as savior; when he places the seal of the Holy Spirit on us. It becomes a marker of our redemption, and thus access into the presence of the Lord.
(Read: Eph. 1:13-14, Matt. 3:17, John 6:27)

Many anticipate the return of the Christ, but how many of us are ready? How many of us know Jesus the Christ as Lord? Have you been washed by the blood of the Lamb? Have you been anointed with the sweet fragrant "oil" of the Holy Spirit? It is time to wake up my brothers and sisters. We can only shine the light of the Lord (Matt. 5:16) when we're filled with the oil of the Lord. We continue this reflection in the video below

...The hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light 13 Let us walk decently, as people who live in the light of day. Not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, live like the Lord Jesus Christ did , and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:11-14

In His Service,

Pastor Barber
FaithWorks Christian Fellowship
Proving God at God's Word

Emery B. Barber is a founding Pastor of FaithWorks Christian Fellowship of Jamaica, NY, and co-author of the web devotional and devotional book, Words of Faith for FaithWorks Christian Center, International. As a Creative Media Consultant he provides training and services in various areas of digital marketing collateral with a special calling to Creative Worship Media.

FaithWorks Christian Fellowship | Engaging Worship, Declaring Praise, and Proving God at God's Word | Join Us

© 2012 Faith Works Christian Center. All rights reserved.

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The Word of Faith: The Word Watcher

5/15/2011

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Grace and peace brothers and sisters in Christ. Has anyone ever made a promise to you and you're still waiting for them to keep it? Maybe it was a loan someone needed in a crunch and they promised to pay it back the next Friday, but "next Friday" never came! Well I'm so glad we serve a God who is indeed a "promise-keeper."

In the twelfth verse of the first chapter of Jeremiah, God informs Jeremiah, and us also by application, that "God watches over God's Word to perform it." And in the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah God says that "God's Word shall not return to God void, but it shall accomplish that which God purposes, and shall prosper in the thing for which God sent it." The God we serve is a Word-Watcher! That means that there is nothing that God has said or will say that will not come to pass. It must happen, because the Creator of the Universe has said so, and God's Word is sure!

We see this principle of God in practice from the beginning. In the book of Genesis, God said, "Let there be..." and the Word set out to accomplish it. We know this by the way, because God inspired John to write in the third verse of the first chapter of his book that, "all things were made through the Word and there was not anything, that was made, that wasn't made by the Word! But not only was the Word set to accomplish the will of the Father, but the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters, watching over the action of God's Word. Jesus, the Word made flesh, watches over God's Word when he says to John in the 4th chapter to allow his baptism to take place that "righteousness might be fulfilled." God is a Word - Watcher!

The question today is what did God speak over your life? What did God say about you? To you? Many of you are in a state of limbo right now, because like Jeremiah, you can't believe what God has said about you, or told you to do. Some of you are looking at your circumstances. Mad about the situations you're finding yourself in, instead of looking at where God has told you to go or listening to what God has told you to do. Get over your-self, and be about your Father's business. You can do what God said you can do! You can go where God said you can go, because our God is Word-Watcher!

Now please your Heavenly Father right now as you truly allow God's Word to be a lamp unto your feet and light unto your path, and fulfill the purposes of the Great Word-Watcher! Walk by Faith. Peace.

In His Service,
Pastor Barber
FaithWorks Christian Fellowship
Proving God at God's Word

Emery B. Barber is a founding Pastor of FaithWorks Christian Fellowship of Jamaica, NY, and co-author of the web devotional and devotional book, Words of Faith for FaithWorks Christian Center, International. As a Creative Media Consultant he provides training and services in various areas of digital marketing collateral with a special calling to Creative Worship Media.

FaithWorks Christian Fellowship | Engaging Worship, Declaring Praise, and Proving God at God's Word | Join Us

© 2012 Faith Works Christian Center. All rights reserved.

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Word of Faith: Go Tell It, Pt. I

Word of Faith: Wake Up

The Word of Faith: The Word Watcher

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