Palms of Victory

The Breath of God

2006-09-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

The Bride prayed in the Song of Solomon 4:16 for the Lord to blow upon her garden, "The Place of Service" that the spices thereof may flow out. I believe the Lord is telling us that the blessings we receive from him are never to be kept inside but are to "flow out" beyond the realm of the church and touch those without. We go to church and receive blessings; we pray to be filled with the Spirit; we pray for God to answer prayer; but do we take any of these blessings home with us before our family, before our friends, or before our foes, those that oppose us? Or could it be that we cap the bottle of our life after we have enjoyed the taste of His goodness and selfishly keep these blessings to our selves? Could it be that the blessings do not continue, because the Lord realizes we are not going to share those blessings? Everything the Lord does in us and through us is to be to his glory. If we will not let him get the glory, why should he continue to bless us?
Bro. Ken

Poverty in exchange for Spiritual Strength?

2006-09-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

This is not speaking of Financial Poverty or some oath one has made to try to gain a deeper life with the Lord, but is speaking of our recognizing, as the Psalmist did in Psalm 34:1-6, our feebleness in this flesh to handle our troubles. The Psalmist cried unto the Lord and was delivered out of ALL his troubles. I have watched Christians for years struggling with trials, testings and tribulations because they were trying to handle everything in their own strength.

When will be learn that, in the Kingdom of God, we have no physical ability to handle spiritual problems? In that we are in Spiritual Warfare, we must realize that the only ability we have to fight this war is to use the armour that our Lord has given us in Eph. 6:12-19.

Therefore, when we realize our inability (poverty) to deal with problems in this Spiritual Realm, we will realize the Spiritual Power of God that we so desperately need. II Cor. 12:9

Bro. Ken

True Forgiveness

2006-08-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

In the Song of Solomon 5:12, the bride describes Christ as having eyes like a dove. You can take a dove and hit it, even beat it, strip it of it's feathers and it will exhibit no anger but will look on you with soft delicate eyes of compassion. The soldiers took Jesus and stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and nailed him to the cross and he looked on them with the eyes of a dove and said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

In examining this scripture it raises the question to our type of forgiveness. We forgive THIS time, but Christ 490 times in one day. We are to forgive one another like Christ forgives us. We will not forget, but Christ says, " he will remember our iniquities not more." We say people may not deserve our forgiveness, but God for Christ sake forgives all of our sins. Oh, but we are human and can't forget. The key to God's forgiveness is he said, "I WILL remember your iniquities no more. He choses upon our confession to forget. If we want to forget, with God's help we can forgive and forget to the point that even if we see someone who has offended us, it will not bother us. Remember the words of Jesus, that as we pray, "Father forgive us our debts AS we for give our debtors." I believe we have alot to learn about forgiveness!

The Dangers of Chewing Tobacco

2006-08-16T06:33:00.000-07:00

The story goes like this: A 99 yr old man was sitting on his porch in his rocker chewing tobacco. He would rock and spit, as chewers do. He would rock back and forth and on the forward motion he would spit. I am not sure how to express spit as politically correct!

However, on one of his forward motions he rocked to far, the chair fell over on him and he died. I believe there could be a hidden message in this. Some would say it was the tobacco's fault. Then some would say it was his age that caused him to lose his balance. Some might even blame the poor old rocking chair. Whatever the reason, if you lean to far to spit your tobacco, it could cause your demise. This is a true story as the 99 yr. old gentleman is part of the family. I didn't say whether it was mine or my wife's did I?

What do you think was the cause of his death?

It wouldn't hurt to note I Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19

The Motivation for Serving the Lord

2006-07-20T06:05:00.000-07:00

In the Song of Solomon 7:12, the church, after invoking and inviting the Lord's presence, told him that in the vineyard was were she would give him her loves. The vineyard speaks of our place of service and it is there that she shows her love. Her movtivation for service is not DUTY but DEVOTION!! When we serve out of duty, we become weary of the work, we will then become critical and complain. But, when we serve out of love we don't notice the hardships but only think of our heart throb, that is the Savior.
Paul stated in II Cor. 5:14 that the love of Christ CONSTRAINETH him. This means to compel, to coerce, to even restrict the motions of. I challenge you today to look at your reason for serving the Lord. Could it be that you have become weary because the duty has become greater than the devotion?
The church spoke of her loves: her love for the Savior, his service, his scriptures, his saints, his sanctification, and His soon coming.
Oh, that we would love Him above all others and above all else that we have.

True Joy!

2006-07-06T12:52:00.001-07:00

Well, I am back after several weeks of silence due to the heavy schedule we have been having. We have celebrated the 4th of July with Gordon and his family. In June, after going to the SBC, we had a couple of days with Cameron and his family up in Virginia. I even got to preach for him. Its a good thing he ask me to preach, I might not have driven the extra 175 miles if he hadn't. Ha! We really had a wonderful time, picking blue berries, eating, playing basketball and sleeping. I preached for Gordon in May for the dedication of their new church building. We had a Great time. These sure were happy times!
My wife, Brenda, soon to be 40 yrs of marriage, shared a thought with me. "Happiness is controlled by circumstances, but Joy controls the circumstances!" Now the Bible teaches that Joy is of the Lord, and is the second fruit of the Spirit in Galations 5. David cried in Ps. 51 for the Lord to restore unto him the Joy of the Lord's salvation. True Joy can only be found through knowing the Lord Jesus Christ! It is not circumstances that steal our joy, but rather our response to the circumstances. If we allow anger, bitterness, criticism, and a complaining spirit to take over, then we lose that Joy. The Psalmist expressed great Joy in the darkest moments of his life because he was remembering the goodness of God rather than drinking in the sorrows of the moment. Ask yourself the question, Do I let circumstances steal my Joy because I respond to them wrongly?
Bro. Ken

True Joy!

2006-07-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I am back after several weeks of silence due to the heavy schedule we have been having. We have celebrated the 4th of July with Gordon and his family. In June, after going to the SBC, we had a couple of days with Cameron and his family up in Virginia. I even got to preach for him. Its a good thing he ask be to preach, I might not have driven the extra 175 miles if he hadn't. Ha!
We really had a wonderful time, picking blue berries, eating, playing basketball and sleeping.
I preached for Gordon in May for the dedication of their new church building. We had a Great time. These sure were happy times!
My wife, Brenda, soon to be 40 yrs of marriage, shared a thought with me. "Happiness is controlled by circumstances, but Joy controls the circumstances!" Now the Bible teaches that Joy is of the Lord, and is the second fruit of the Spirit in Galations 5. David cried in Ps. 51 for the Lord to restore unto him the Joy of the Lord's salvation. True Joy can only be found through knowing the Lord Jesus Christ! It is not circumstances that steal our joy, but rather our response to the circumstances. If we allow anger, bitterness, criticism, and a complaining spirit to take over, then we lose that Joy. The Psalmist expressed great Joy in the darkest moments of his life because he was remembering the goodness of God rather than drinking in the sorrows of the moment. Ask yourself the question, Do I let circumstances steal my Joy because I respond to them wrongly?
Bro. Ken

THE EXALTATION OF TRUTH!

2006-05-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

In Psalms 138:2 we find that the Lord has "magnified his word above all his name." Many think that we sometimes make to much of God's Word. However, according to this scripture, God has placed and enlarged his word above the name "Jehovah, Jah, Elohym, Jesus Christ, Lord, and all of his names. Why? If God's Word is no good, then his name is no good. Your name is only as good as the accuracy and the keeping of your word. If you break your word, then your name is no longer respected. Thus, the Lord is assuring us of the authority, accuracy, authenticy, and the absolutes of his Words. He promised his pure words, Psalms 12:6., are preserved for all generations. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the WORD OF GOD!
This is the foundation of all that we believe about the Lord. I believe in God, not by dreams, experiences, revelations, or visions, but by his wonderful Words! GOD SAID IT AND THAT SETTLES IT WHETHER YOU WANT TO BELIEVE IT OR NOT!

Why "Palms of Victory"?

2006-04-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

In the Song of Solomon 7:7, Solomon refers to the stature of the church as being like unto a Palm Tree!
The Palm tree is seen as a symbol of victory in the Christian's life. This palm tree would have to be a Royal Palm because of the reference in 7:5 to the hair of the church as being PURPLE! Purple in the Bible is the color of royalty. Webster said that the greatest royalty is royalty by birth. We have been birthed into the family of the King of Kings!
The Royal Palm stands straight and tall in it's regal presentation in contrast to the other palms that maybe twisted or bent. When the storms blow the Royal Palm will bend to the wind but will rise back up when the sun shines upon it after the storm has passed by. We as Christians need to learn to bend to the storms and let them blow over us and then we can rise back up in the power of the Son! To fight the storms can cause us to break under the pressure. At the top of the Palm tree, above the green velvet like collar of the Royal Palm, are the branches extending forth like unto a Crown. This would be symbolic of the Crowns we can receive for faithfully serving our sweet Lord!
Solomon spoke in verse 8 of the encouragement of the church as he said, "I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof." What a joy to know that there is encouragement in the church, the body of Christ! This is the reason the writer in Hebrews 10:25 said, "not forsaking the the assembling of ours together, as the manner of some is." We are strengthened by the presence of each believer in the Church. Eph. 4:16
It is noteworthy that when Jesus rode into Jerusalem that the people waved Palm branches.
The song writer penned the wonderful words, "Palms of Victory, Crowns of Glory." There is victory in Jesus!

He has Risen & He Lives! The TRUTH!

2006-04-15T07:03:00.000-07:00

sEaster has finally arrived. The Christian Community will pour out in new adornings, celebrating a new beginning through the resurrection of Christ. Biblically, we celebrate this event every Sunday morning, and don't have to wait until Easter to recognize that Christ lives.
Does this mean I am against the celebration of this great event in the spring of the year? NO!

However, we must celebrate it in Spirit and Truth and not according to traditions. It is not about pagan traditions, but about the overcoming of death, the devil, demons, depravity and all that comes with the curse on man as a result of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. (Rom 5:12)

The Celebration is the result of Christ being Crucified; being made a Curse for us; (Gal. 3:13) and being the Conquering Lord after spending Three Days and Three Nights in the Tomb! God didn't open the tomb to let Jesus out, but to let man look in and see that He was gone. (Matt.28:6)

The Hope of humanity and this creation is not in Religion, Mother Nature, Humanism, or Materialism, but in the Risen Savior, which is Christ the Lord!

Millions have walked by the tomb of great Religous leaders and the tomb of Lenin, the father of Communism, and seen their remains; but millions have walked by the tomb of Jesus and no one has seen his remains for HE LIVES! HALLELUAH! PRAISE HIS WONDERFUL NAME! HIS NAME IS: JESUS CHRIST THE LORD!!!

Beautiful Feet!

2006-04-04T13:13:00.000-07:00

In all my life I have never seen BEAUTIFUL FEET. Yet, in the Song of Solomon, the church is described as having beautiful feet with SHOES! Now my wife, Brenda, likes this scripture as she believes if you find a pair of shoes that you like, that you should buy them in every color.

Our Lord also describes the feet as beautiful for those that spread the Gospel. The shoes are described in Eph. 6 as the shoes of Peace. Certainly the spreading of the Gospel will bring peace.

When you walk barefooted, as I did in my childhood, your feet are prone to get dirty and to be bruised or cut. This shows us that a Christian that leaves of his/her witness loses protection in their Christian walk and can become dirty like the world, and can be hurt by the things in the world.

Let me challenge you to put on your gospel shoes , spread the good news, and hear your master say, "How beautiful are those feet!"