Delivering The Knockout Punch- The Boxing/Faith Analogy

Psalms 34:19

Luke 4:1-13
Deuteronomy 28 1-13

The Christian walk and boxing have a lot in common. In boxing one has to exercise a combination of faith and works along with determination and endurance in order to be successful. There are three things to remember when faced with difficulty: 1) Boxing, like faith, requires patience to endure, 2)Be touched by Jesus , and 3) that Faith is the "knockout punch".

Victory, in both cases, comes step by step. In boxing the training is three times as long as the fight itself. It can take months, even years before a boxer even sees a match. An example of this is David in the Bible. He unknowingly prepared for his fight with Goliath by fighting lions while he was still a shepherd boy. We will all come across afflictions in our lives but these afflictions produce glory in the end. The way we train before our blessing determines how easy it will be to obtain the blessing. Psalms 34:19 says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” – Once we realize this, the enemy will stop getting to us in those weak areas.

Being "touched" by Jesus means that once we come to Christ we are no longer a product of our environment. A touch from Him causes you to do, in faith, what you normally could not do and equips us to handle attacks from the enemy with his help. This touch allows us to a)have a walk of obedience, and b) throw steady consistent punches. These "punches" are simply confessing His promises to us (Deuteronomy 28 1-13).

Christ gives us a perfect model of what a fight with the enemy should look like in Luke 4:1-13. When faced with temptation and challenge by the enemy he deliver jab after jab in the form of the word of God. Take his example and wear your enemy down: Keep jabbing. This may not knock him out but you set him up for the knockout punch. Good consistent jabs do more damage that one strong punch.

Be well,

Pastors Hines

Pride Promotes Strife

James 4: 1-10
Where ever you are right now is where God has you and wants you to be. He wants to make you and give you victory in difficult times. Often we want to blame a situation or somebody else for where we are but God is in control. How we go through a situation determines how victorious we come out on the other side. When we are in opposition with someone, pride is the thing that causes us to strive with them. We feel we have to prove our point or make them agree with us. That going back and forth or arguing stems from pride. Pride is defined as: vanity, conceit can mean inordinate self-esteem. Pride may imply an exalted opinion of oneself often bolstered by a lower opinion of others. The opposite of pride is humility. Humility is agreeing with God and what His word says. Humility strengthens you. 1 Peter 5: 5-6 says, "In like manner, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder, Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time... Humility causes us to totally depend on God in every area. The next time strife enters your life, allow humility to take a high seat and watch the grace of God abound in your situation. Continue to walk in peace and enjoy all that God has for you.

Be well,
Pastor Hines

It's Not How You Start That Counts, But How You Finish

In 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27, Paul compares the Christian walk to a race. In some races one may have to walk or crawl in order to finish. The most important thing is to finish. It is interesting that in most track and field competitions, the short sprints have the most participants. Like anything you commit to you must have endurance. Sprint races do not require the amount of endurance that distance races do. In the chapter and verse mentioned above, there was an athletic competition that the Corinthians participated in that was equivalent to the Olympics. The highlight of the games was a great endurance race. Contestants had to endure 10 months of hard mandatory training in order to compete. Anyone who failed to complete the training was barred from the competition. The race we prepare for is the "calling of God." How we treat the call of God determines the crown or prize for service. We can't assume that we will automatically endure to the end of the race. We must continue to discipline ourselves to fight and follow the calling of God. There are 5 characteristics that must be a part of our life if we are going to endure to the end successfully and win the prize:
1. Have dedication to succeed no matter what
2. We must have a passion for the game
3. We must have a willingness to train
4. We must have relentless determination
5. We must have a burning desire for the prize

Our level of commitment determines our level of success. Be encouraged and we love you.

Pastor Hines

Come Out From Among Them

According to II Corinthians 5:17 we have been freed from the old way of life. In II Corinthians 6:14 Paul was not encouraging isolation from unbelievers. Rather he was discouraging compromise with their sinful practices and values. As believers we must maintain integrity as we live in this world. This is what Jesus Christ did when He was here on Earth. We must be sober (self disciplined) and vigilant (alert to the spiritual pitfalls) in order to successfully navigate this life. The enemy's biggest weapon is to keep us functioning in carnality; relying solely on our senses. Your history develops your character in order to catapult you into your future. You can't determine your future by your history. Your history does not have to follow you into your future unless you know that it leads to kingdom success. What does not benefit the kingdom, let it remain in your history.

Be well,

Pastor Hines

A Successful Family

A successful family is not determined by the number of years together or the social economic status achieved. Rather a successful family is determined by the quality of life and experiences that foster joy and cohesiveness that produces healthy relationships. Eccl. 2:24-26 and 3:12 lets us know that we should enjoy everything God gives us because it is a gift. "People who play together, stay together." Lack of play and enjoyment in family produces conflict. Conflict is when expectation meets reality and produces anything other than the joy God intended. It is interesting to watch nature and see animals play together. What happens to adults that we stop playing and enjoying the fullness of life? It is all vain. Playing and having fun in family reduces conflict, builds relationships, and reveals commonalities that causes us to focus on likes versus dislikes. In Psalms 100 God gives us the blue print for happiness. Money is not the answer, rather we must become as little children trusting that God is our friend and His word is yeah and amen.

Be well

Choices

Life is filled with daily choices. From the beginning, God has always given us the opportunity to make choices. Some refer to this as a free will. The challenging thing about choices is that they affect others as well as ourselves. The beautiful thing about God is that often in the midst of our bad choices, God still gives us a second chance. One example of making good choices is the story of J

oseph in Potifar's house (Genesis 39). There are challenges that hinder us from making good choices.

1. Following your flesh

2. Who you associate with

3. Trying to relieve the past

In order to make good choices, one cannot follow their heart. One must lead their heart by following the Word of God. The Holy Spirit is our GPS system. Sometimes when making the right choice, it may appear initially that everything seems all wrong. When Joseph made the choice to run from Potifar's wife, it landed him in prison. But even in prison, God was in the midst and gave him favor in that situation. Make the choice today to allow Jesus to make your pathway straight and trust in Him with all of your heart.

Be well,

Giving Your Time and Talent to the Kingdom

Friends of God! What a wonderful privilege to have this kind of relationship with God. No relationship can grow without investment of time. The same is true with our friendship with God. It's not just a matter of praying and reading but also giving time into his kingdom. When you give your time to anything, you are serving that thing. Serving will always be distressing, require reassessing, and be a blessing. The unfortunate thing is after we give time to something or somebody, we think we are entitled to preferential treatment. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a leader, the higher we grow in the pyramid of leadership, the fewer rights we have. Also the higher we grow, the more responsibilities we have. One cannot be a leader if they are not willing to serve people. This is what Jesus did when he was on earth. Your time given to God or others is the denial of yourself.

In the area of giving your talent to the Kingdom, the key is relinquishing the abilities that you have and the talents given into the kingdom for God's use. Most of us spent a great deal of our time serving the enemy. Today we will decide for the days we have left that we declare that our talent belongs to God. We typically look at talents in the area of performing. We don't look at our abilities as talents for Kingdom use. We have purpose for our use of talents even in the work place. David gave his talents to God that later was multiplied by God. He practiced playing the harp, walking in excellence, having courage, and being a warrior; even before he met Goliath or Saul. In John 6:5-13 the little boy came with a lunch and prepared to eat. Your preparation for life is in the development of your talents. Your talents and abilities are what you eat from. The smartest thing anyone will ever do is prepare for the future. God asked the little boy for his most valuable possession; his lunch. Your most valuable possessions is not your money or real estate. Your abilities are the most valuable thing you own. We have no idea how hard it was to release what he had, but we can assume, 1.) he would have preferred to keep it, 2.) he trusted Andrew not to take advantage of him, 3.) he believed they would feed him too. Whatever you Give God changes and multiplies. Our talents can produce much more if we can release them into the Kingdom. God always returns to us what we give to Him. Be blessed and encouraged.

Pastor Hines