Singleness Of Heart, Pastor Phil Sessa

Psalm 86:11, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.”

When a lion tamer goes into a cage with a lion, he brings his trusty stool with him. Most think of the whip in hand and forget about the importance of the stool. Why a stool, good question. When the stool is extended toward the lion with the legs facing the lion, the lion tries to look intently at all four legs of the stool at once and it causes the lion to become dizzy and therefore tames it. Perhaps it would be more fitting to call the stool the lion tamer than the man holding the stool.

Don’t Choke On The Blessing, Part 2of4, Pastor Phil Sessa

Numbers 11:3–34. “33 But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. 34 Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food”

One might not imagine something as seemingly minute as a lack of contentment to have a great impact. However when Israel was in the desert having come out of Egypt, it wasn’t too long before Israel would choke on the blessing that God gave to them through their discontentment.

Willing Spirit Needs God’s Strength, Evans Olang

Psalm 73:25&26, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon the earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever“

There are times when you know what you should do but you are not doing them. You have the skills, you have the ability but the strength to make it happen is what is lacking. We know of the phrase from the bible, Mark 14:38 “…The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak“. The Spirit desires to win but for the winning to really take place, the Spirit has to get the flesh on the same page otherwise both will war against each other.

Hands Of War, Pastor Phil Sessa

Psalm 18:34, “He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms”.

My dad was one you would call a handy man. If it was broken then my dad would fix it. As a matter of fact he had been known to create very unique ways of fixing things or building things. I recall that he always tried to build things strong and solid to keep things lasting long. However when he was a young boy he didn’t know how to use his hands in this regards, he had to learn it. One moves from not knowing to knowing through learning, and he learned to use his hands from his dad.

Be Ye Steadfast, Judy Olang

Isaiah 26:3-6, “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord for ever, for the Lord, the Lord is the Rock eternal. He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust. Feet trample it down—the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.”

What does the word steadfast mean? It means unchanging, loyal, fixed, or constant etc. Have you ever been in situations or gone through life where you felt like you were between a rock and a hard place? You felt like the ground was sinking beneath your feet? You felt like the walls of this world were closing in on you and you are panicking and feeling like running out of air? Have you ever felt like you are the only one in this world going through difficulties and challenges that you feel like no one else has any idea what it’s like? Have you ever felt like the devil was sitting right on top of you and you were suffocating and everything you do and touch is messed up, nothing is working right? I will join you in saying YES! Even us as saved Christians go through all the above but what we do after we encounter hardships and challenges of this world is what matters most. I have seen so many professed Christians cuss God and leave their faith because life did not go their way and so they feel entitled to take matters into their own hands instead of looking up to God for help and strength and understanding. And Isaiah tells us very perfectly that when we fix our eyes on God, he will keep us in his perfect peace, that no matter what is going on around us we will be intact because we trust in him.

Balancing Grace And Truth, Part 2of2, Evans Olang

John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”

Living a lie as mentioned last time is very easy and we see this many times. When Solomon was faced with his first judgment, he encountered with two prostitutes who had both given birth. Two women, two babies the only difference at the time of this meeting with the king, one baby had died as the mother laid on him and she could not live with the reality that her baby was dead. So she took all her love, passion, desire and planted it on this other woman’s baby. She claimed that this other baby was hers. This is what deception is, trying to be what you are not. Trying to live a life God never designed for you. Deceiving yourself that everything is alright when in actuality it’s wrong.

Balancing Grace And Truth, Part 1of2, Evans Olang

John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”

In the world , there is a constant search for “truth”. Somebody said, there is nothing as powerful as “truth“, I agree. If it’s that powerful and has such a great weight, why has it been soiled? In courts we hear, “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth,” but many of the testimonies are a pack of lies as they discover later. Don’t we all hate dealing with liars? what they say, it’s hard to extract some truth. Their lies may appear to be truth. Liars can never be trusted and we all know that. Standing for the truth may often times call for you to stand alone.

Always Be Ready, Part 1of2, Evans Olang

Daniel 3:17&18, “If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up”.

There is an ongoing war between Relative and Absolute statements. We get caught up in the middle many times. Let’s tackle a few questions.

First question, “What do you believe?” This question is broad until you add more words to it to identify what the question is specifically targeting. Can we say that facts can negate beliefs? of course we can. If I was to say that trucks don’t kill, I would have to be 100% sure as a fact, that would be considered an absolute statement, in this case this statement is not true. We all know that trucks can kill so my belief that it cannot will not affect or change facts.

Be In The Word, Evans Olang

Joshua 1:8, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success”

Growing in the Lord only comes from seeking Him daily, and feeding on his word. Saying you want to grow and be blessed is easy, but if you do not do what it takes to generate this growth, then do not be surprised if the enemy defeats you. Hibernating animals feed, while gathering and storing food for winter months because they will be incapable of leaving their dens during the season. Prior to the winter, these animals gather and store enough food to take them through the cold season. As believers, we also ought to do the same—eat the word, while gathering and storing enough for the challenging and harsh seasons. When those seasons come, and they will, we will be able to pull verses we learnt and stored in good times, and apply them in difficult situations.