Don't Give Up What God Has Given To You.

Matthew 13:44-46
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all he had, and bought it".

The kingdom of heaven is most precious. We, the Church are the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven comes in without observance. It comes in unaware, for the kingdom of heaven is within you! (Luke17:20-21).  We are God's Kingdom, we have received his Spirit. The Holy Ghost, we are the temple of God.

We have found the hidden treasure, we have received the Pearl of Great Price.

Jesus purchased this Pearl for us with his own blood, he purchased our very lives. By giving up his earthly, natural body he has freely given us this great treasure, this wonderful gift. The Gift of the Holy Ghost. The Gift of Eternal Life.

  Jesus has given his church 9 gifts of the Spirit.

      1. The gift of Wisdom

      2. The gift of Knowledge

      3. The gift of Faith 

      4. The gift of Miracles

      5. The gift of Healing

      6. The gift of Discerning Spirits 

      7. The gift of Prophecy

      8. The gift of Tongues

      9. The gift of Interpretation of Tongues

"Don't Give Up What God Has Given You"

The Word Of God Warns Us!
"What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul"?  Mark 8:36-37

Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of God, and he will give us what we need in this life. (Matthew 6:33)

Be not deceived by the world, by fame and worldly popularity. Don't be envious when the people of the world have new houses, new cars, or expensive clothes. Don't envy the rich man's riches, for they shall pass away. They can not buy what Jesus has given to us, not with all the money in the world!

In Luke chapter 10, Jesus was visiting with his friends; Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. As Jesus began to teach, Mary sat at his feet and listened to his words.

But Martha, though she also loved Jesus, made herself busy by preparing a meal for Jesus and their other friends, and when Martha saw Mary at the feet of Jesus, she went and asked Jesus to tell Mary to help her with the meal.

Jesus spoke to Martha and said: Martha, Martha you are troubled about many things ( the cares of the world) but Mary has chosen what is better, and it shall not be taken away from her. Hallelujah!!!

Mary chose Jesus. She chose the treasure that is hid from the world. She wanted the pearl of great price. Mary chose the Kingdom of God.

Mary chose the good part!

Friends, choose the Good Part! Choose Jesus!!


Created by: Sis. Brittany Jenkins
Last Days Ministries Apostolic Church

The White Throne Judgement

The Great White Throne Judgment is a trial, set in the future, for all people who have rejected God's call to salvation. Every person who has lived upon earth and has refused to accept God's way to redemption from sin, will kneel before their Creator at this time, and acknowledge that He is God--that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Who will not inherit the Kingdom of God?

1 Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Who will not enter into the Kingdom of God?

Revelation 21:27 Nothing unclean, no one who does anything detestable, and no liars will ever enter it. Only those whose names are written in the lamb’s Book of Life will enter it.

The Book of Life is a record written by God before the creation of the world, listing people who will live forever in the kingdom of heaven. It contains the names of God's elect. They will experience no condemnation or judgment. They are not among the dead, for they are alive.

Our physical actions may appear to be good works to those around us, but our thoughts in our minds and the feelings in our hearts are seen by God. 

Proverbs 12:22 Lips that lie are disgusting to the Lord, but honest people are his delight.

Mark 7: 21 Evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, cheating, shameless lust, envy, cursing, arrogance, and foolishness come from within a person. 23 All these evils come from within and make a person unclean.”

Matthew 5:28 But I can guarantee that whoever looks with lust at a woman has already committed adultery in his heart.

1 John 3:15 Everyone who hates another believer is a murderer, and you know that a murderer doesn’t have eternal life.

What will appear at the White Throne judgement?

Revelation 20:11-15 I saw a large, white throne and the one who was sitting on it. The earth and the sky fled from his presence, but no place was found for them. 12 I saw the dead, both important and unimportant people, standing in front of the throne. Books were opened, including the Book of Life. The dead were judged on the basis of what they had done, as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up its dead. Death and hell gave up their dead. People were judged based on what they had done.14 Death and hell were thrown into the fiery lake. (The fiery lake is the second death.) 15 Those whose names were not found in the Book of Life were thrown into the fiery lake.

The "dead, small and great" refers to those who have lived throughout history and, regardless of their stature or position, died without acknowledging and accepting The Lord Jesus' payment for their sins. All remains of these deceased will be raised and united with their souls so that they can stand in a resurrected form before the Great White Throne. After death, the soul continues to exist. Before the resurrection, the soul of the believer is in the presence of God awaiting eternal reward. The soul of the unbeliever is in hades awaiting final judgment.

During our time on earth we have a choice! You can either be a child of the God or a child of the devil! 

1 John 3:8 The person who lives a sinful life belongs to the devil, because the devil has been committing sin since the beginning. The reason that the Son of God appeared was to destroy what the devil does. 9 Those who have been born from God don’t live sinful lives. What God has said lives in them, and they can’t live sinful lives. They have been born from God. 10 This is the way God’s children are distinguished from the devil’s children. Everyone who doesn’t do what is right or love other believers isn’t God’s child.

We were all sinners! There is a choice that can be made while their is breath in our bodies! 

1 Corinthians 6:9 Don’t you know that wicked people won’t inherit the kingdom of God? Stop deceiving yourselves! People who continue to commit sexual sins, who worship false gods, those who commit adultery, homosexuals, 10 or thieves, those who are greedy or drunk, who use abusive language, or who rob people will not inherit the kingdom of God. 11 That’s what some of you were! But you have been washed and made holy, and you have received God’s approval in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

There is no neutral area. There is right and wrong, there is life and death and there are blessings and curses. While God has created us in His own image and loves us all the same, He also gave us all a free will. With that free will, we each have to decide whether to choose God and eternal life with Him, or we turn our back to Him and choose eternity in The Lake of Fire. As parents, we love our children unconditionally, yet as they grow into adulthood, we cannot choose their path in life (even as much as we might sometimes like to). And that is the same way we all are as God’s children. He yearns and aches for us to choose Him, but He will not force us to.

On judgement day will you be innocent or guilty? Will your name be in the Book of Life or will you be cast into The Lake of Fire?

Created by:
Sis. Jocelyn Jones
Last Days Ministries Apostolic Church

The Wandering Witness

As one reads through the Scriptures, we find that Abraham is a very prominent figure throughout, whether we read about his life directly in Genesis or he is being referred to by the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Roman congregations, his life is impacting. We often pull lessons from the obvious things of his life, such as his call to serve the One True God, or the sacrificing of his promised son, but what about the background events, such as his consistent wanderings throughout the land of Canaan? Is there any significance in it? The answer is yes, there’s significance in the whole of Scripture.

            After the call of Abraham by God, then named Abram, he was called to leave his familiar and stable living, to a life of wandering throughout a land he didn’t know and wasn’t familiar with (Gen 12). Some of the various places he pitched his tent while in the land were Shechem, Beth-el, Egypt, and Hebron, and one only needs to look at a map of the land to see that these can be quite a distance on foot. But what’s so significant about this? Although the Scriptures themselves don’t give much background information or details of the in between, the Jewish Oral Law (Torah, body of traditions passed down from one generation to the next) does. It is said that it was in these places that Abraham did his witnessing for the Lord. It was in the places of rest that he taught about the One True God to the people of the land who worshipped idol gods, and from this witnessing he made many disciples. In other words Abraham was God’s witness to the people of that land, and it was in their hands to either accept or reject the message. Now let’s look at the days of Jesus

            As we read about His early ministry, we find that He also did a lot of traveling, mainly around those towns in which He was close to and grew up around, as well as down to the southern parts of the country (Mark 4-6). During His travels, He too was a witness of the Father (The Spirit) and of His ways. Where ever He found Himself, He sought the opportunity to witness and teach about the Good News (Gospel) of what was at hand, the coming kingdom, such as the woman by the well (Jn 4) or the curious Pharisee Nicodemus (Jn 3) or the famous Sermon of the Mount (Mt 5-7). Jesus too, like Abraham and so many in between, found unbelief and opposition to the message or indifference, with people being comfortable where they were and not seeing the need to change (Jn 6-7). So what am I getting at? Well I’m glad you asked.

            Many times we feel very unstable in our day-to-day journey’s, in such unstable times, we may feel like we can’t keep a job, or stay in one place as long as we’d like to, but take comfort that you are walking in the same foot steps of our forefather’s and our Savior. The Scriptures testify of Abraham “It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God” (Heb 11:8-10 NLT). So even in his wanderings, Abraham had faith that God had a place prepared for him, even if he didn’t know where that might be. In his wandering’s, Abraham, probably unknowingly, fulfilled New Testament teaching when we were instructed to “ Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today”(Matt 6:33-34 NLT).

            In this life, in these times, things may feel very unstable for the faithful, we may feel like we’re always in transition, or like our Lord who said “But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head” (Matt 8:20 NLT), but we can take comfort that He’ll provide for us. Yet in our wanderings in this life let us be a witness to all that we meet in our journey, teaching them about the One True God and His Salvation, and fulfill the Words of our God and Savior. In doing so we can directly identify with both our forefather Abraham in being a witness to the culture around us in our wanderings and our Savior who stood on the message He was given to be a witness to even in a culture that felt that they knew and lived for God the way He wanted them too. It's okay to be a wandering witness.

            “Behave wisely toward outsiders, making full use of every opportunity- let your conversation always be gracious and interesting, so that you will know how to respond to any particular individual” (Col 4:5-6 CJB)

Authored by:
MIT. Christopher Bateman
Last Days Ministries Apostolic Church

Come and See

Come 
            And 
                       See..




John 1:35-39

35  Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;
36  And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God.
37  And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
38  Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?
39  He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.


Jesus asked, "What seek ye?" They answered, "Master where dwellest thou?" 
Jesus answered, "Come and see." 


John 1:45-46

45  Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of  Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 
46  And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. 

Here Philip told Nathanael, they had found the Messiah. Nathanael asked, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip answered, "Come and see." 


Today, Jesus is calling out, saying "Come and see. Come dwell with me; I in you and you in me! Come see that the Lord is good. Come and see that my burden is light. Come and see my yoke is easy. Come and see; that I will give you rest for your soul."


John 1:51

51  And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of  God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.

Jesus answered, "Ye shall see."  We the Church are calling out to the lost. Come and see the glorious salvation of the Lord.


In John chapter 4, There came a woman of Samaria to Jacobs well. Jesus came to the city of Samaria, he was tired so he stopped to rest at the well, while his disciples went into the city to get food. Around noon the woman came to the well to draw water, and Jesus spoke to her.

"Give me to drink." And she said; "How is it you being a Jew ask of me to give you drink?" For the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans.

Jesus answered her and said; If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

The woman saith unto him, "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?"  Jesus said, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

The woman said, "Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
Jesus said, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
The woman answered, " I have no husband."
Jesus said, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
The woman said, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet."

The woman departed into the city and called all the men of the town and said. "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done. Is this not the Christ?"


Today, Jesus is still saying "Come and see. Come taste of the Lord, see that He is good!"

David spoke in Psalm 27:13

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.

1 John 3:2 

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Come and  see.




Created by: Brittany Jenkins
Last Days Ministries Apostolic Church

The Coming King of the Universe

The Holy Scriptures, commonly known as the Bible has always foretold of a coming Conqueror. From the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:15), to the highly descriptive lines of the book of Revelation (Rev19:11-21), this Conquerer is none other than the One True God of the Jewish people and believing Gentiles. In 1Samuel12:12, the Lord is called the King of Israel, and we later find that He also called the King of all the earth (Ps 47:1-2). In Jewish understanding, the Bible being written entirely by Jews, from the Old Testament to the New, the term earth can not only denote the planet on which we live, but also the whole of the universe (Socino Press Pentateuch, Dr. J H Hertz), hence the God assumed existing within the pages of the Scriptures is the King of the whole earth, or the whole universe. As time passes God reveals more of His plan for mankind to us as well as His personal character. We find in the Scriptures various passages about God coming to the earth as well as a Messiah (anointed one) who comes to reign on the throne of David to rule the earth (2Sam7:12-16, Zech14:3-4). This Messiah is said to be of ancient or everlasting origins, making Him as endless as God Himself, but also being identified as God Himself (Mic 5:2, Is 9:6). As we move to New Testament times, we find that this King of Israel, the King of all the earth is none other than the Messiah Himself, Jesus (Jn 1:49). Jesus, as well as the prophets told of the signs and seasons of which the Lord Jesus would return in His Second coming, His first coming being to save mankind from the sin which Adam had placed us in. As we look around us and read the news, the signs of His coming are all around us, from the increase in knowledge over the passed century (Dan 12:4), the abundance of wickedness (Matt 24:12), the many people deceived into false teachings (Matt 244-5,11), the constant state of war (Matt 24:6-7), Israel being reestablished as it's own nation (Matt 24:32), to the love of self that this generation has (1Tim3:1-9). But for the Saint (set apart one) of  the Lord Jesus, these are all signs to rejoice, because that means our sojourn here is almost over. The Lord Jesus was definitely about having love and compassion, but He also stood for the righteousness of God against sin, and it's in Jesus that God Almighty will be the Judge of all the earth (Rom 2:16). So if we have not prepared ourselves for His coming, let us get ready. For those of us who have been born again as the Lord Jesus instructed (Jn3:1-8)  as well as living a set apart (holy) life from the ways of this world, let us stay prepared, for He is near, even at the doors (Matt 24:33).

Authored by:

Min. Christopher Bateman
Last Days Ministries Apostolic Church

The Oneness of God

"Hear O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord" Deuteronomy 6:4

The key to having a proper relationship with God is to know his identity. Moses expressed to the children of Israel that the God whom they serve is one God in number. Meaning he is a singular God. 

This revelation of the identity of God is the very foundation of the Jewish faith, and is called the "Shema" which is recited even until this day. It is traditionally known that Moses is the author of the first five books of the bible, the Torah. Moses as well as all of his Jewish counterparts who have labored in writing the books that make up the Old Testament were highly monotheistic believers. This is a key concept in understanding who God is; we must understand that he is one Lord. 

          The prophet Isaiah declared...

 "Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God". Isaiah 44:6

The book of Isaiah holds some of the strongest declarations that the God of the Bible is one God. The Lord used the prophet Isaiah to emphatically proclaim his absolute oneness to such an extent, that he could not make this concept any simpler. The cries of Isaiah serve as a memorial for us today that beside God there is no other, he formed the earth all by himself.  

"Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God: I know not any". Isaiah 44:8

There is one thing that God does not know, and that is another God.

“And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment”. Mark 12:29-30
Jesus made it plain, quoting Deuteronomy 6:4 he lets us know that loving the one true God of the bible is the greatest commandment. Jesus Christ was completing his earthly ministry in telling the scribes this because he was in fact pointing the world unto himself, for the very God who gave Moses this commandment was resident in his body. 

“To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself...” 2 Cor 5:19

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory”. 1 Tim 3:16

Lets us understand, with all wisdom what the word of God declares concerning the identity of God. For the mighty God of the Old Testament prophets was manifest in the flesh and bruised for our iniquities to redeem us unto himself, and not another.

 

Authored by:

Min. John W. Jenkins

Last Days Ministries Apostolic Church