Author: walter bright

The Stand

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“Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” This is not only the key to understanding the armor, but it is also exactly what we are called to stand in. The armor has everything to do with you standing in it than it has to do with you putting it on! Today in this introductory message on the armor of God I want to remind you that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. I want to remind you that you have been born of God. He has He hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son By virtue of your faith in Him – you have been made victorious.It is from this vintage point – in this victory that Paul calls you to take a stand. I hear people say that we need to put the armor on every day.But my question is – if we are to be ready in season …

His Perfect Patience

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“But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭1:16‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Perfect PatienceNobody I know in this life has perfect patience. But I know beyond the shadow of doubt that God displays perfect patience. We can see it on full display in Paul’s life. In this short passage Paul describes himself as “foremost.” What did he mean?Let’s look back at a few verses: 1 Timothy‬ ‭1:12-15‬ ‭ESV‬‬ “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of …

The Black Dot!

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Day 5 “One day our headmaster walked into the classroom and put up a broad white sheet of paper with a small black dot in the corner. ‘Boys,’ he asked, ‘what do you see?’ All of us shouted in unison, ‘A black dot!’ Then he said, ‘So not a single one of you saw the broad white sheet of paper? Don’t go through life with that attitude.” -Kofi Annan A Black Dot!Sometimes as Christians all we do is focus on what we disagree on and not sufficiently on all the other things we agree on. Let us not go through life with that attitude. Talk more about the thinks you agree on. Sometimes in relationships, all a husband or wife thinks about is that character flaw or that thing that your partner does that so irritates you. Don’t go through life with that attitude. Think about and celebrate the good things about your spouse. You will not be here today had it not been for someone holding the door open for you , paving the …

Celebrate small Things

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Day 4 The great Michelangelo once sculpted a figure out of marble as his friend stood by and watched. Well, this friend of his left for a business trip and after a while he returned and didn’t really see any significant progress in the work that Michelangelo was doing. Upon hearing the criticism of his friend, Michelangelo told him that he had indeed done some work on the marble figure by softening certain parts, straightening the lips, defining the muscles and polishing here and there on the marble figure. To his surprise, his friend said that his efforts were trifle. But Michelangelo replied,Trifles they may be, but trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle. Are you in the habit of celebrating the small things in your life? Do you stop and acknowledge how blessed you are? Marriages and relationships fail because spouses pay little or no attention to the little things. Believers live in fear and ingratitude because they fail to stop for a moment and count their blessings. New converts grow discouraged and …

GRATITUDE IS NOT A FEELING

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GRATITUDE IS NOT A FEELING Gratitude is not a feeling – it is a response to the goodness of God in every season of life. In trouble times our trust and our attitude are sometimes bend out of shape. Our perspective get blurred with doubt and fear. Gratitude is a perspective adjuster. When we bring to memory the blessings of time past, focus on the little blessings all around us, and above all see who God truly is even in the midst of chaos – our gratitude begins to shape our perspective. The scriptures says to “give thanks in everything for it is the will of God concerning you.” Our gratitude allows us to see the hand of God in everything we go through. We begin to see how God a making all things to work together for our God. We begin to see the big picture. At this time, because of a clear and heavenly perspective that God is in control – we can now turn our worries into praise – our mourning into …

5 Way to help grow the membership of your church

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INTRO: One of the most difficult places to minister and build a church is in Rural America. There are varied and complex factors that contribute to this difficulty. UNIQUE & DIFFICULT FACTORS Take for example the lack of stable and competent volunteers. The economic difficulties of a small town. The frequent need for members to relocate for a new job. In a small town there is no telling what your congregation is going to look like from Sunday to Sunday. Families come, families move, hopefully for them, to a better job, housing or school. The membership in most churches in Rural America is aging. These are the folks who despite their age do most of the heavy lifting. If there is community outreach – bake sale, fireworks fundraiser, or movie in the park – these older folks are there. But ‘most’ of them are not necessarily active in sharing their faith or inviting friends to church. The only friends they know are already Christians. Than there is the chronic problem of church hopping, church skipping …

Too painful for words

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Isn’t it extraordinary that pain does not rank with “love, battle, and jealousy” among the most important themes in literature? Every schoolgirl who falls in love “has Shakespeare, Donne, Keats to speak her mind for her; but let a sufferer try to describe a pain in his head to a doctor and language at once runs dry.” Virginia Woolf I seek today, to bring not just a word of encouragement, but a message that would bring healing to the sufferer. My goal is that by some miraculous means, the words I write will become the very words of God speaking personally and directly to you today. First of all, let it be known that I do not presume to understand anyone’s pain. I do not pretend to understand the extent and nature of that pain. All I know is that there is a lot of pain in our world and I can only speak as a fellow struggler. From the loss of loved ones, loss of employment, the dissolution of a covenant relationship, to excruciating and …

10 blessings of Repentance

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Word sometimes cannot adequately convey or describe the love of God. Scripture calls it everlasting, the greatest of all, perfect love,  greater love, abounding love, enduring love, covenant love, etc. The song writer says,  “O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure the saints’ and angels’ song.” The prophet Hosea managed to unveil it even in the midst of a sinful time in the nation of Israel. Come to think about it – that’s exactly where His love shines the brightest. The Description of sin: The prophet Hosea describes the unfaithfulness of Israel in a very creative and telling way. Israel is like: A promiscuous wife An indifferent mother An illegitimate child An ungrateful son A stubborn heifer A silly dove A luxuriant vine And grapes in the wilderness Amidst this horrible ordeal of Israel’s sin – Hosea makes it clear that no sinful act in the world can exhaust the redeeming love of God. His love simply goes beyond reason. We deserved judgment – yet He …