No Corners Cut, No Pacifying, No Round-About Way

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

What I’m going to say today is going to tick some of you off. The more churched you are, probably the bigger problem you’re going to have with this message. Many of you will probably ask when you are done reading it, if you decide to finish it; just who does she think she is? The answer to your question: “Tell them that I AM sent you, and then tell them why!”… …There are many who teach and many who believe that if you have said, “The Sinner’s Prayer” that you’re, “Goin’ Up Yonder to be with your Lord.”… That you’re going to Heaven… That your ticket has been purchased…  Well, in {Matt. 7:21-23} Jesus makes one of the most startling statements in the entire Bible. ..He says that not everyone who claims Him as Lord will be saved… He is telling us that there will be some people who will think they are saved, but who, in fact, are still lost and headed to Hell. Many religious people, including some believers in Jesus, will learn that they too will be lost. Jesus makes it clear that not all who profess Him possess Him. A mere profession of Jesus as Savior is not enough to save! A person may believe in the doctrines of the faith. They may be sincere and good. However, merely saying you know Jesus is not enough to save your soul. Belonging to the church, being a good person, doing religious things, etc., are all good, but none of them can save the soul. That’s tough, but we need to be honest. “Everybody Talkin’ Bout Heaven Ain’t Going There!” {Matthew: 7:13-14}.

You know as Jesus drew near to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, He takes the time to remind men of the seriousness of their salvation. He wanted all who heard Him to be sure that they were genuinely converted. I want you to know that is only my desire for each of us. Sadly, however, many will suffer in eternal condemnation because they refuse to believe the Lord’s teaching about who will be saved and go to heaven. Jesus tells us that entering heaven will not be easy. This is a surprise to most people, because they have been taught that the way to heaven is easy. They’ve been taught, “All you have to do to be saved is believe in Jesus.” I tell you, there is a great difference between what men teach today and what Jesus taught then. Jesus tells us that there are not many people going in through this strait gate and narrow way. He says, “Few there be that find it.” This too, is a surprise to many folks, because they believe that most people will be saved because most people believe in God. While it may not agree with what most have been taught and believe… it is clear and easy to understand.  Jesus says we must DO the Will of God. We must not just believe in God, but we must also believe God! We must believe God enough to Do His Will. Here, Jesus clears up the matter of what brings salvation to a life. He says that people are saved by “Doing the will of His Father.” That is the problem with the teaching of many who are false prophets and teachers today. They are telling people that all one must do is believe in Jesus in order to be saved. They say we are saved by “faith only.” This is a false teaching. God has never said it, but men teach it. In fact, we have seen that Jesus has said just the opposite.  I tell you we can tiptoe and dance all around the truth until our feet are sore and calloused, but it will not change the truth, it will not open the doors to heaven one millimeter , and no one more person will enter in… Heaven is prepared for those… who are prepared.

Here is the dividing line: Those who DO the Father’s Will! {James 1:22-25}. Only those who come on God’s terms will enter Heaven… What is God’s terms…. God’s terms for entering Heaven are confession, repentance, and a genuine trust and commitment in Jesus alone.  Many people want to go to heaven but are unwilling to do these things…They want to do either one or the other.  Many people think they are going to heaven, but they have not admitted they are sinners, they have not turned from an ungodly life, and they have not genuinely trusted in Jesus alone for salvation and really put Him first in their lives.  There are millions of people who claim to believe in Jesus, who use His name, who call Him “Lord,” expecting heaven but will only receive hell. The fact is clearly stated by Jesus who said many will say, “Lord, Lord,” who will not enter the kingdom.  It’s a strange thing but it is something that has to be emphasized. If there is the slightest doubt in your heart that you aren’t genuinely converted, you need to repent of your repentance. I tell you “Everybody Talking’ Bout Heaven Ain’t Goin’ There!” …Who report are you going to believe? Man or Jesus?

Listen, our obedience to Christ is a very serious decision and must not be taken lightly. It must be on the Lord’s terms as laid out in the Scriptures and not on our terms. We have already seen in {Matthew 7:13-14, 21}, only a few will be saved, and many will be lost, and only those who DO the will of the Father will go to heaven. There is no other way. No single condition, that God imposes, can be ignored. God has no non-essential commands. The only source of information on what God has truly said can only come from the Bible. We must seek God’s answer on the matter in “what saith the Lord.” It’s not shocking for Jesus first words to His disciples in the book of Matthew to be, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” In the days that followed, he taught them that He “came to seek and to save what was lost,” and He told them that just as the Father had sent Him into the world, He would send them into the world. Subsequently, we are not surprised when the last words of Jesus to His disciples are, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” This is God’s will in the world: to create, call, save and bless His people for the spread of His grace and glory among all peoples. This will is not intended to be found; it is intended to be followed. We don’t have to wonder about God’s will when we’ve been created to walk in it. We have no need to ask God to reveal His will for our lives; instead, we need to ask God to align our lives with the will He has already revealed.  God’s will for us as disciples of Jesus is to make disciples of Jesus in all nations…The problem of confusion on this matter is because men, preachers, and denominations have appealed to human logic and reasoning instead of simply consulting God on the matter. Prove it to yourself.  Read what Jesus says…. {Matt.7:13-15; 22:14; 13:24-30; 13:36-43; 22:14}… {Mark 3:34-35} … {1Tim 2:1-4}…  {1Thes 5:16-19}… {John 7:17 – 8:30-32}… {Roman 8:27; 12:2}… {2Corin 8:16 -13:5}… {1Pet 2:13-16 – 3:17 – 4:19}… {2Peter 1:10}… {Rom 6:17-18}… {James 1:22-25}… {1John 2:16-17}… {Ephesians 2:8-9}…. because “Everybody Talking’ Bout Heaven Ain’t Goin’ There… Uh-Oh!”

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Whatcha Crying For…. Don’t you know that one reason why God allows us at times to be disappointed with our fellow human beings is so that we might learn to stop leaning on man. He desires to free us from such idolatry. So when God orders your circumstances in such a way that you are disappointed on every side, don’t be discourage, just know that God is weaning you away from the arm of flesh so that you might learn to live by Faith in Him. Many times when we experience discouragement the real problem is that we don’t understand God. Romans 11:33 tells us: “How impossible it is for us to understand God’s decisions and His methods! For who can know what the Lord is thinking?” God’s purposes are far beyond our comprehension. Listen, God did not save you so you could rest yourself in other people and in things. God saved you to walk in absolute and utter dependence upon Him. And when He sees you leaning on everyone and everything but Him; you can count on His teaching you the lessons you need so that you might learn to lean on Him alone. “Stop Your Crying!” The same God, who opens doors, is the same God that closes doors. A big part of Faith is trusting God when you don’t understand it. If you’ll have this perspective, and not only thank God for your open doors but thank Him just as much for your closed doors, you’ll pass the test. You’ll see the exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond future that God has in store for you.

So thank God for the supporters, props, crutches, or whatever you want to call them that God has placed in your life to help you make it, but don’t get it twisted, make no mistake about it,  it is Jehovah- Jireh, who provides, not them.  As David learned, when you become so dependent on them rather than God, God is going to start shaking up everything around you. There’s going to be some uprooting, tear-downing and destroying going on. Every person upon whom David leaned in his life was taken away. Every dream, every lofty goal, every hope had been dashed to bits at David’s feet. He had nothing and no one on whom he can lean. He was alone, afraid and alienated. God had brought David from the very top to the very bottom of life. Why? Why did God do this to David? God did this to David so that David would learn to lean on the Lord and not on all the other props he had constructed in his life! And believe me, He will do the same to you too if your support system develops to the place where it can take the place of God in your life. God will start dismantling everything around you. Oh, how we need to hear this truth! All the way through life we lean on one thing and one person after another. We trust and look to our parents, teachers, friends, jobs, and money…forgetting a very important truth, that Jesus is our everything! “Stop Your Crying!”

It’s not easy to take, but the truth is when the Lord finds us leaning on everything else in our lives instead of Him; He will begin the painful process of dismantling our support system one prop at a time. He does not do this to harm us; but to help us learn to lean on Him alone! In the end, David learned that the promises of men did not amount to much. But for those who had learned to lean on the hand of the Lord, they saw every promise of God fulfilled in their lives. (Psalm 119:38). I tell you this leaning business hits pretty close to home for me. There are plenty of times I find myself leaning on things and/or people instead of the Lord. But I have also found that when I lean on other things and/or people in my life; God will systematically and painfully remove every crutch I have. He will bring me to the place where I am leaning on Him and on Him alone. That is where He plans to bring each of us. We should not fear what the Lord is doing in our lives. He is merely growing us and teaching us that He is all we need. He is all-sufficient; more than enough; He is God Almighty, and He will never fail us, leave us or let us down. He wants us to learn this truth: When we have Him, we have all the support system that we will every need! (Psalms 46) Sometimes it’s not what we’re going through that’s intolerable. The thing that is intolerable is the lack of meaning. We’re not sure why we’re suffering like we’re suffering. If we only understood God, it wouldn’t be as painful.  I don’t know what you’re going through in your life. But I can guarantee you that God is big enough to handle your disappointment. God is big enough to handle your questions. We need to be reminded throughout our lives that if God is all I have at this moment, then He is all I really need! “Stop Your Crying,” and learn how to lean and depend on Jesus. He’s your friend and He’s your guide. Trust Him and find out that He will provide. Oh, what a fellowship; what a joy divine; what blessedness; what a peace of mind; leaning on His arms.  {Lee Williams}  Praise the Lord!

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman 

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…” Prosecutor Opening Statement…. Your Honor and ladies and gentlemen of the jury; the defendant has been charged with disobedience, backsliding, unbelief, unfaithfulness, breaking of vows, rebellion, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, pride, foolishness, blasphemy, malice, slander, arrogance, idolatry, jealousy, hostility, selfish ambition, division, envy, drunkenness and folly. The evidence I present will prove to you that the defendant is “Guilty as Charged!”…. The event took place in an open air arena beside the Jabbok River as it were with Jacob. In one corner stood the defendant {insert your name} and in the other corner of all people was God Himself… You versus God… You versus Jehovah…  Who would want to take on God, one on one, in a wrestling match…? How could one every hope to win… “How foolish,” you say? Well the truth is that all of us at some point in our journey have taken on God. We have all stepped into the ring with God and wrestled with Him about life. Matter of fact some of you are wrestling with God right now about some situation, some problem, some difficulty or some injustice in your life. It would behoove you though to sit down in your ringside seat and learn the lessons from Jacob’s wrestling match with God. You see God preserved the historical event in Jacob life to teach us lessons concerning our own struggles. Because just like Jacob we all have the tendency to wrestle with life, to take things in our own hands, to set our own agenda, and work things out in our own strength… Your Honor, I would like for this to be marked as People’s Exhibit #1… I will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty as charged and should be convicted. All because you, the defendant wanted to do things your way and not God’s way. The Lord has set this hearing. God is letting you know just what happens to us if we refuse to do things His way. He knows how to get our attention. He knows how to deal with us that we might know we’re not doing it the way He wants us to do it. ”Guilty as Charged!”

Listen, God wants to be quick to bless and slow to wrath. He doesn’t want to go to war with you! Solomon said in Proverbs 21:30, “There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord.” In other words, anybody who goes against God is a Fool! What we need to understand is that nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, can stand against God. From the beginning God had standards.  Eve decided to fight it and Adam decided to join the fight and because of that, all of us are cursed. God had a standard for sacrifice. Abel obeyed it and Cain fought it and was cursed. God had a standard for morality. Noah kept it. The rest of the world fought it and drowned. God had a standard for spiritual priority. Jacob bought it; Esau fought it and lost the blessing. Saul went about ravaging the church, seeking to destroy this new sect who followed Jesus Christ. Until of course, Jesus Himself appeared to him, blinded him, pinned him to the ground and said, “Saul, it is hard for you to kick against the goads.” In the end God won and Saul lost. There is no way to fight God and win! True, it mays seem like someone is opposing God and getting away with it temporarily, but when ultimately it spells eternal disaster. The story of Herod exalting himself and how God judges him. Herod and God are prominent in both stories. But in both stories, God comes out the winner, and Herod the loser. You can’t fight God. It does not work! If you go to war with God, you will surely lose. Do you see that it is madness? You lose! God wins every time! Instead of opposing God, His Word, His Law, start surrendering. Because the only way to true happiness, joy, fulfillment and satisfaction is in surrendering completely to God, and allowing His Spirit to live through you. In the end, Jacob did what we all must do. He confronted his failures, his weaknesses, his sins, an all the things that were hurting him, and faced God. Jacob wrestled with God all night. It was an exhausting struggle that left him crippled. But it was only after he came to grips with God and ceased his struggling, realizing that he could not go on without God, that he received God’s blessing (Genesis 32:29).

What we can learn from this remarkable incident in the life of Jacob is that our lives are never meant to be easy. This is especially true when we take it upon ourselves to wrestle with God and His Will for our lives. God wants to put a stop to our old way of living so that we might experience His restoration and know His love just like in Paul’s life, as he was busted, arraigned, convicted, sentenced and finally restored. Jesus wants to arrest you by His love. He wants to get a hold of your life and make something wonderful out of it. Can I tell you that when it was all said and done, Paul saw himself as being under the direct sovereign of God Himself and he understood the truth that God was the Master of all the paths of life? Who’s your Warden today… Will the jury foreperson please stand…Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict… Yes, Your Honor….The jury finds the defendant…. You fill in the blank {guilty/not `guilty} … Court is adjourned!

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.” Tony Robbins said, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got!”  It is insane to do the same thing over and over again knowing it has never worked out well before, but thinking maybe this time will be different…  Like I said, “Nothing for Nothing Leaves… Nothing!” Jesus said, “If new wine is put into old wineskins, then the new wine will burst the wineskin, and both will be lost.” Follow me I’m going somewhere with this.  The reason the old bag could not contain the new wine was that it had already held wine, and had already been stretched as far as it was going to be stretched. It had become dry and cracked and inflexible. It simply could not withstand going through that expansion and fermentation all over again! Jesus said that instead, anyone making wine would see to it that it was poured into a new, fresh wineskin… In other words, “…forget the former things… God is always doing something NEW! His works of grace are always NEW and FRESH!

You know it is so easy as a Christian to get into a rut; to always sing the same songs, always read the same Bible verses, always associate with the same people, and always do the same things – never being challenged by Christ to venture out into the unknown to experience the untold blessings God has reserved for us. We hear about the riches in glory in Christ Jesus but we never really experience them because we are afraid to take a step in a direction we’ve never been before. But to change the results you have to change the path. Different results require different action. If you are going to receive the answer God has for you, you are going to have to do what he says, when he says it and where he says to do it.  You see, in your relationship with God success follows obedience, even when what God is asking you do to seem ridiculous to you. Let me remind you that you are not smarter than God. You can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results. You can’t rebel against God, go against what he is telling you, and expect success. You can’t do all the wrong things and expect good things to happen. It doesn’t happen that way. Success comes as you are willing to listen to Jesus and do what he says. This involves humility. The disciples were professional fishermen. They knew all about fishing, so they had to be humble enough to do what Jesus said rather than trusting what they had personally learned about fishing. If you are going to fish, you have to put down your net where the fish are. I told you I was going somewhere with this.

If we seek first God’s Kingdom, his rule and his values, then our current crises fall into perspective. Whenever you want to see a different result, a positive change, you have to do something different from whatever you are currently doing. God’s indwelling grace is active. It leads you and influences you. It brings change to you and within you. When I experience difficulties in my life and in the world around me and the questions I ask leave me empty handed, I find there is always one question that jolts me back to reality similar to the one Jesus ask Peter in Matthew 16:13-20: Who do you say that I am? And Peter responds: You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.” Bottom line: Jesus is God. God is at work. God has not abandoned his people. God has done what God had promised. God is with us! What we have to remember is that God has the blueprint for our whole life already… All we have to do is just fit in with His plans for our lives. There are only two choices in life. Having God to order our steps in His will, or ordering our own steps by our own will.  And we all know what Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 tells us, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death….. “Nothing for Nothing Leaves… Nothing!”

Now the Bible talks about divine direction in the Scriptures. And the declaration of Scripture is that God cares about each of us and wants to direct our lives. Our responsibility by God’s own direction is to entrust our way to Him for His direction and leading. Only the eternal God who is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, has the infinite wisdom and power, love and mercy needed to direct the affairs of man’s life. We need to understand that God’s leading is always right. And when you allow the Lord to lead you and guide you there will be peace. There will be power. There will be victory. There will be joy. When you allow the Lord to order your steps, lead you and guide you, you will have something to shout about, because when the Lord order your steps, you will be blessed going in and blessed coming out. You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. When you allow the Lord to order yours steps, you will be the head and not the tail, you will be above and not beneath. Why would we want it any other way? I tell you, “Nothing from Nothing Leaves… Nothing!”

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Ding… Ding….The battle is raging and there are no deferments, there is no going AWOL if you are a Christian. No, you are in the battle, automatically, and it is a fight to the finish, a life-or-death conflict. Heed the cry, “Prepare for Battle!” Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” For that’s the only way you will be able to stand in the day of battle, and at the end of the day stand victorious… Get Ready to R-u-m-b-l-e… This is the most crucial, most intense battle you will ever face in your life; it is a battle that will last your whole life long.  No matter how young or old you are, no matter how long you have been a Christian, man or woman, boy or girl, pastor or layperson—you are in a battle. It is a spiritual battle. Paul describes it like this: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly place.”  The fight is raging on the line between faith and unbelief, between reliance on God and pride in self, between hope for the future and despair of God’s mercy. Your enemy Satan will try to defeat you, destroy you, and get you to fall away from the faith. He will try to distract you or render you ineffective in the service of the Lord. He will tempt you; allure you, seducing you into great shame and vice. And if that doesn’t work, he may try to lull you into spiritual sleepiness and security, getting you to let down your guard.  Your adversary will attack your mind, attack your emotions, attack your body, attack your relationship, and attack your soul. In all of these attacks, his purpose is to get your eyes off of Jesus.

Needless to say, this is a battle not to stay alive but to stay strong against your spiritual enemies who are a trinity of evil; the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is about who shall have the supremacy, Christ or Satan. It is a struggle for the souls of men. It is a battle to keep people out of Hell. It is a struggle to get people saved. It is warfare, a conflict until the final finish. And every one of us is engaged in it. We are in warfare. That ought to keep us from folding our hands and taking it easy. That ought to make us sit up and take notice. “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion” (Amos 6:1). Your enemy supreme desire is to destroy your joy, your witness, your effectiveness for Christ, and your relationship with your Father. This is not WrestleMania either, this one is for real!  Your fight is not just to exist as a Christian, but to have a winning walk in all areas of your life. The victory assures you that you will live a life of spiritual depth and meaning. Jesus said, “I am come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10).

I want you to know that the Christian life is not a playground but a battleground. I want you to know that just because you are a church member and you attend church does not mean that you are going to win in life’s fight. I want you to know that you are not going to win just because your church happens to be a Word-preaching, tongue-talking, devil-stomping, deliverance church either. You have got to pay attention and apply yourself to spiritual truths. When you grasp the fact that you win in life’s fights ONLY when you fight the fight of faith, you will be on your way to enjoying victory that God meant for you to have.

The good news is that God has equipped you for the battle. He has given you a complete set of armor, especially suited for this conflict. Paul even lists the pieces of armor you’ve been issued: He says, “… stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for God’s people.” {Ephesians 6:10-18} God is guaranteeing that if you use His weapons, you will win. They are “mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.” Use them, and things will fall before you, is what He is saying. Therefore, arm yourself with the Word of God and face your enemy with full assurance of God’s protection and love. No doubt this will be the most unusual wrestling match in your life.  Prepare for Battle! Put on the whole armor of God, and you will not only live to fight another day; but at the end of the day and on the Last Day, you will stand victorious…. Get Ready to R-U-M-B-L-E!”

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

My friend, I want you to know that God hasn’t changed! He is still a God who keeps His Word! Everything God has promised, He will do! There are some verses in the Bible that confirms this – {Romans 4:21; Heb. 6:18; Num. 23:19; Titus 1:2.} But I’m not telling you anything that you don’t already know. God has proven Himself time and again to us. He is still coming through for His people. Look back over the years and remember the times the Lord has displayed His great power in your life. Hasn’t He parted the waters for you? Hasn’t He opened the heavens and dropped the manna of His glory on your life over and over? Hasn’t He moved in response to your cries of faith? He has proven Himself to you and me repeatedly! All I am saying is that we can TRUST the Lord for EVERYTHING in our lives. We have a God who has demonstrated His power, His grace, His love and His character many times over. Think of the times He has delivered you; when He saved you, and the times He moved mountains in your life. Remember His power and all that He has done. Let His past works remind you that He is able, no matter what you face in life. GOD IS ABLE and He will come through for you, EVERY TIME! Let the past be your reminder and learn to TRUST HIM no matter what! “I’m just a Nobody, trying to tell Everybody  about Somebody who can save Anybody!”

Unfortunately though, there are many of us who call ourselves “Christians,” fail to trust the Lord and fail to remember that GOD CAN! As a result, we live our lives defeated and discouraged. It doesn’t have to be that way! I challenge you to GIVE IT ALL to the Lord today and find out for yourself that GOD CAN! Psalms 34:8 says, “O taste and see.” The psalmist invites us to come and “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  We are invited to experience God’s presence. The psalmist is a poor man seeking to taste what he believes about God. He is calling upon God. He is experiencing deliverance from all his fears. He is experiencing God’s salvation in troublesome times. His shame is covered despite his failures. He is experiencing refuge in God and feeling the presence of the angels encamping around him. Will you give your doubts, your fears and your questions to Jesus? For the omniscient power of God has not, nor shall it ever change! I tell you, the closer we engage with God the more we can know His goodness. In Psalm 34:8 the Lord urges you to “Taste! Sample and see. Find out for yourself that He is good.” God’s goodness is what He wants us to experience. He offers Himself to us. Psalms 100:5 says, “For the Lord is good, His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness is to all generations.” Every generation learns the truth – God goodness is something He wants us to experience. It flows to us as steadfast love and faithfulness and is present in everything He does. If you are a child of God, you will figure this out by the end of your life… God is good! Now there’s no telling what He will take you through to bring you that place. But eventually your value system will be set up in such a way that you say, “The Lord is good!” Everything he allowed; everything He withheld, every difficult season, and every stretching circumstance. God meant for your good. His disposition is kindness. His default action is for your benefit.  Oh magnify the Lord with me! “I’m Just a Nobody, Trying to Tell Everybody about Somebody Who Can Save Anybody!”  Somebody who can bring you from guilty, to not guilty. From death to life. From darkness to light. From hatred to love. From weakness to power. From bondage to freedom. From tribulations to triumph. From grief to joy. From gloom to glory. From defeat to victory. From failure to success. From fear to faith, from I can’t too I can.  Knowing all of this, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril. As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that love us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, no height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Let us all be a little like Zacchaeus {Luke 19:1-10} who was curious about Jesus and wanted to see with his physical eyes what all the commotion was about. When Zacchaeus heard about Jesus travel through town, a thought came to him, a thought from the depth of his soul, he just HAD to see who this Jesus guy was.  Is He who He says He is? Zacchaeus, a man on a journey to find something to believe in. He embarks on a quest to see who this Jesus was and comes away converted to the way of Jesus and forgiven of all his sins. Oh, give God some praise!

Listen; if your life lacks meaning, if there is no hope, if everything you have tried has left you defeated, discouraged, disillusioned and looking for more, then Jesus is your answer. You don’t have to climb a tree to meet Him, all you have to do is to respond to His call and come to Him . If you will do that and if you will receive Him, He will save your soul! “I’m Just a Nobody, Trying to tell Everybody about Somebody who can save Everybody!”

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

THE DEVIL IS A LIAR AND DECEIVER! “He is the greatest concealer, the mightiest pervert of truth, the ultimately misleader, the most convincing fraud, the master of disguise and the master of surprise!” He’s a malicious liar whose only purpose is to steal, kill and destroy your life. His game is Deception (Matt 7:13-15) and his trick is no treat. Scriptures and experience proves that every time the Devil promises happiness, he lies. Every time the Devil promises things will turn out well, he lies and deceives. Proving that everybody who ever depended on the Devil’s lie, the Devil’s way, the Devil pleasure, the Devil’s whim, the Devil’s plan for happiness and peace, found they had been bamboozled, hoodwink, duped, fooled and deceived… Satan the Trickster…  He will lie, cheat, connive and steal to hurt you if he can. Hear me and hear me good…. I don’t care who you are, how holy and pure you are, how long you’ve walked with God, or how old or young you are, Satan couldn’t care less about you or me, but he knows God loves us, so if he can hurt us and make sure we can’t spend eternity with God, that will hurt God. This is war! It is a battle for your soul. And for those of you have chosen to go all the way with God, with a determination to obey and pursue holiness, you can be 100% sure Satan has a hellish setup planned for you.  Watch out! “Be sober; be vigilant; because your enemy the Devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” {1 Peter 4:8}. His lies are so devious and his traps and setups so camouflaged with charm and beauty that we can only depend on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to expose them.

You see, in order to seize the throne of God and to attract willing followers, Satan has snidely and viciously set out to deceive us – to convince us that he has the truth and that God is a liar. But it is he, Satan, who is a liar! Scripture says he has been a liar from the beginning. His purpose is to turn the whole world against God and to rebel against all of His laws and standards.  Understand that Satan is the arch enemy of God and the church. His intent is to destroy the work of God in your life by any means possible. He wants to detour you from the presence of God and he’s willing to do any and everything to do that. He wants to get you to a point where you throw in the towel and step back from God. But I come with a word of encouragement; Stand Strong! Stand strong in the Lord and know that God will give you strength to endure in every situation. The Lord tells us that He won’t put more on us than we can bare and the enemy knows this. And because the enemy knows God’s burdens are light, the enemy will take the littlest things and place it under a microscope to make your circumstances and burdens APPEAR to be bigger that what it actually is. Remember that… And when you hear the roar of the lion, when the flood crashes in, and you’re overwhelmed, simply run to the Holy of Holies. By faith, enter into the very presence of God on His throne, because the Lamb has made a way for you, through His blood. Call on Him, and stand on the power of Christ’s blood… Jesus is our example here. He resisted the Devil with God’s Word… the TRUTH exposes Satan, putting him to shame… Hebrews says, “That all who have trusted in God’s Word “through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.” (Hebrews 11:33). I tell you we must muzzle the powers of Hell by standing on God’s Word. Fall on your face before the father. And immerse yourself in His Word. Because the devil knows this war is his last chance, he knows that he has only a short time remaining before Christ returns for his bride. And because of that, Satan’s war against the church is the most intense of all. He wants to gain back the ground he lost to Christ – so he’ll stop at nothing to destroy the faith of his bride. That means he’s going to use all of his weapons against us – all subtleties, deceits and devices. It is therefore important to know what you believe about God and what is substantiated in the Bible because we are living in a time when earth’s greatest deception is about to take place right before our eyes and so closely will the counterfeit resemble the truth that it will be impossible to distinguish between the two except by the Holy Scriptures.

You know, as I walk with Christ and continue to do His will, one thing I realize is that the enemy is persistent – persistent to stop me and anyone else who seeks to do the will of God. Please don’t be oblivious to the schemes of the devil as he comes to kill, steal, and destroy. To be wise, we must know who to listen to {God} – and who NOT to listen to {Satan}.  The purpose of this article is NOT to glorify Satan, but to show you his strategy so that you don’t become a casualty. We live in a war zone. Like it or not, we are in the middle of the age old conflict between good and evil, the kingdom of light and kingdom of darkness, God and Satan. Do not be deceived by Satan…..“Extra, Extra … Read All About It!”

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Man I must have been told that a thousand times growing up.  Talking about somebody grateful for those twins; Grace and Mercy… Boy, am I glad! God gave me another opportunity to be obedient. He said to me; “I will not tolerate this stubborn, hardhead stiff-necked spirit any longer. Repent and do right… Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Can I tell you, I got me some get right real quick! See the Bible says it is of God’s mercy that we are not consumed. It is by His goodness that we are led to repentance. It is by His intercession that we are delivered. It is by His grace that we are sustained. It is of His love that we have been drawn to Him. It is because of His everlasting arms being under us that we are kept. It is by His faith that we are saved. It is by His blood that we are cleansed. It is by His righteousness that we are clothed and it is by His indwelling Spirit that we are filled and by His power that we are kept. I tell you PRIDE is a sin to be hated, a sin to be confessed, a sin to mourn over, a sin to flee, and a sin to fight against. It defiles God. It defiles man. It divides society. It dishonors life and it destroys souls. Pride ultimately destroys all that it controls. It is such a deceitful sin. It is the road to ruin and it will escort you straight to Hell. Pride, its pervasiveness cannot be overstated. Haughtiness, arrogance, conceit, inordinate self-esteem, and vainglory are as common as the air we breathe. DO NOT, fool around with Pride… Because the Bible repeatedly warns of pride precipitating a fall. “A man’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor” (Proverbs 29:23) Yes, everything might go your way for weeks, months and even years. But make no mistake about it, the day will come when God’s hand will be upon you and you won’t be able to do as you please anymore. In that day you can cry and fight all you want, but there will be nothing you can do, because God’s Mighty Hand would have taken a hold of you.

Listen, pride was the first sin to destroy the calm of eternity. It was pride that cast Lucifer from Heaven and it was pride that cost our first parents their place in Paradise. No sin is more offensive to God than the sin of Pride. It militates against His authority, His law, and His rule… I tell you God and pride are like oil and water— they don’t mix! Pride is dogmatic in its antagonism to God and God is absolute in His opposition to pride. God never has and never will compromise with pride…. Don’t Get It Twisted!

The saddest thing about pride though is that many people who are infected and infested with pride have no idea that they are. As a matter of fact, the proud person is often very proud of his humility…  and that is why I implore you to look again at the man in the mirror.  If we hear God’s Word when it tells us that we are sinners and do nothing about it, then we are exactly like the man who looks in the mirror. And you know what they say about the man in the mirror…. “He gets up in the morning looks into the mirror and sees that his hair is messy. He promptly walks away without combing his hair and the rest of the day he thinks he looks great. This man is either denying what he saw in the mirror, or he does not believe it.” When we look at God’s Word without letting it impact our lives then we are either pretending that we don’t know what it says, or denying that it is true. As is true with the man in the mirror, any failure to respond cannot be blamed on a lack of understanding. This man made a foolish mistake with his natural face, how much greater a mistake would it be for us to make this mistake with our souls? God’s Word, is a mirror in which we can see who we truly are in light of who God is. We must not look at this mirror and walk away. (James 1).  Check yourself before you wreck yourself because pride is foolish and it will only set you up for a fall.

Don’t let pride creep in.  Clothe yourself with humility; Do not think more of yourself than what you ought to; if you are clothed with humility God will give you grace; even the grace to overcome sin in your life.  But if you don’t, make no mistake about it, God will humble you if you don’t humble yourself. Don’t take my word for it, read it for yourself in Leviticus 26:18-21. “A Hard Head Makes a Soft Behind!”

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James 4:10

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Folks will hug and kiss you on Sunday morning and come Sunday night they are on the phone talking behind your back. “Tell Me It Is Not So!” People are hypocritical. You think that they are with you, but you find out that they are tearing you down.  Jealousy, gossip, lying, backbiting, cheating, criticizing, slandering is not only in the world but it is happening in the Church. So many Church people; Christians have become notorious for this. We speak ill of our brothers and sisters. We critique our leaders, but not to their faces. We whisper in the corners to one another trying to get our homeboys, home girls to sympathize with us. “You Got to be Kidding… Tell Me It’s Not So!” Have we forgotten Proverbs Chapter 6 that says, “These things does the Lord hate, these six things, yea seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaks lies and he that sows discord among brothers.”  Not to mention, Ephesians 4:29 which says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Don’t you know that God hates false witness and spreading lies and He hates stirring up conflict? Even if something is true it can still stir conflict and create disunity amongst us. And just because something maybe true, doesn’t make it okay to spread around. Our words should build up, encourage, instruct, maybe provide godly and gracious correction if necessary. Public shaming and spreading information about someone never helped anyone. We are called to protect the dignity of our neighbors.  We should take a cue from Jesus. He gently told sinners leave that path. He didn’t publicly shame people for making mistakes or being in sin. He never said “Hey Matthew, did you hear what Mark did last week?” But for whatever reason Christians somehow get sucked into it and we destroy each other. We drive people away from the church, and we cause divides, and we leave people feeling discouraged, hurt, angry, and humiliated. We talk about others like they’re somehow vile offenders. Like they’re somehow worse than us. “I can’t believe so and so would do that. That’s terrible!”  We are just as guilty of this sort of thing as everyone else or even more so. No wonder the Church has little influence upon the world compared to what it might have. The Church has become worldlier than the world itself.

How can we use our mouths to praise God on Sunday then cut down our neighbor on Monday? How can we be people who praise God while using that same mouth to attack someone made in God’s image. (James 3:9-12).  We should be treating all people with the same level of respect and dignity. After all Jesus said, “Let the one without sin, be the first to throw the stone.”[John 8:7} If we claim to be the beloved children of God and the body of Christ but spend our time and energy ripping each other apart, well, that sends a very clear message doesn’t it? If our claims of being a place of love coexist with hostility and backbiting, basically we’re just a bunch of lying hypocrites. Yes, the truth hurts. It’s like medicine. It does not always taste good, but we need it!  I tell you, we have to do better. Too many people give up their faith because of the mean gestures of Christians. We must not forget why the Church is in the world. Our words should spur one another towards Jesus not away from Him.

I’m not trying to be critical nor harsh. I’m calling for us to become more like Christ. I’m calling for us to have a renewed commitment to speak with grace. To use our words to build up. To Stop and Think when we speak.  Consider what will happen if people actually listen to you. I don’t have that problem. I know most of what I say isn’t listened to. But let us be imitators of God, who love like Jesus did, and use our words to glorify God like Jesus did. Let us refuse to participate in gossip, criticism, slander, and defamation. Let us be known as a people who speak well demonstrating grace. Let us use our mouth for God’s glory and the church edification. Never forgetting that we will be held accountable before God Himself for the things we do and say. It’s a terrible thing to see gossip, jealousy, pride, failure to love the brethren, etc. Let us love one another as Christ loves us!

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Yeah, I said it! It’s Not about You Boo Boo… It’s About God! And one day you may really find that from God’s point-of-view, It Really Isn’t about You at All; It Is All About Loving Him. If you and I decide to put these puny little lives of our ahead of God then some day we may hear God declare, none of these shall taste of My supper. Radical? Perhaps. Scriptural? It is! And so, with that knowledge and understanding, remember this about your life. It’s not about you!  Yes, you are God’s beloved person, but in Ezekiel 36:22, God says, “I am not doing this for you, Israel; I am doing it for my own Name’s sake.” And, there are scriptures like that throughout the Bible to give us a hint that even though God delivers us, even though God gives us great things, He gives us grace, and He offers us salvation, He wants to give us glory in His kingdom, ultimately and predominately salvation is about God and His Glory. Don’t Get It Twisted!

Sometimes in life we get so caught up in doing things in order to achieve certain things that WE FORGET that God is in control. We need to recognize and accept that our purpose here on earth is to glorify God and that is not really done through our own achievements but rather through what God is able to achieve through us.  We must understand that as we come to the understanding of our place in the kingdom of God that we must be willing to decrease so that Jesus can increase, because it is so easy to get trapped in promoting self rather than God. Why do we not yet see all things submitted to Him? When Paul said, “No, I but Christ,” he was saying “He must increase, but I must decrease.”  Just as all things are working together towards God’s purpose of increasing Christ, so all things are working together towards decreasing us. It does not matter if we understand it or comprehend it. It does not matter if you believe in it or agree with it. You are being decreased just the same, and Christ is being increased. It MUST be so, therefore it IS so.

I tell you it is better to relinquish everything now, on a voluntary basis, and lose your life in order to gain your real Life. It is more glorious to enter the Kingdom out of a desire to give Christ the preeminence than to enter kicking and screaming and crying because you love yourself too much. Make no mistake, if it is the Kingdom you seek, the Kingdom you will find, but you must be changed in order to enter therein. If you seek power from God you will have to accept weakness in yourself. If you want to rule with Him you must suffer with Him; If you want His life you must give up your life. You can have either one you want, but you cannot have both. There is no increase without decrease, and there is no decrease without increase.  Don’t Get It Twisted!

It was with considerable grace and humility that John said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). What can we learn from this statement? Like John we will always be inferiority to God.  John reminds us that the gospel is more important than any one person.  When you realize that people are talking more about you, than the God you serve, then you have increased and  God is decreasing, and that’s a big problem, and God is definitely not pleased with that. Don’t allow the wrath of God to come down on you, because of disobedience (Ephesians 5:6); it will get worse before it gets better.

Listen, we are in the last days, where scoffers are walking after their own lusts(2 Peter 3:2)  “See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil, wherefore be not unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is(Ephesians 5:15-17). Besides, when you refuse to decrease so God can increase it shows that you are of the world and an enemy of God.

I don’t know who this message is for, but to God be the glory, praise, honor, and thanks for using me to write it. It is not bashing, it is truth. Don’t Get It Twisted!

May the Son be increased through these words.