Neutral Grounds Coffee House

Neutral Grounds Coffee House Giving a community of believers in Christ Jesus from differing churches or none at all, Neutral Grou Part of the volunteer work will be here at Neutral Grounds.

Neutral Grounds Coffee House is a nonprofit entity that seeks to serve the community and the body of Christ in three crucial, scriptural areas. The first is giving our community of believers from various churches as well as the unchurched, a place to fellowship with one another over coffee, tea, & eats in a pleasant, nonpartisan environment which will feature various nondenominational/ interdenomi

national events such as live worship nights, guest speakers, and broadcast live events and worship. The Word tells us “not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, more so, as ye see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25) In doing so, we learn how to be better servants and in turn, reach out to the community to better serve their needs. Our second goal is to partner with missionaries and pastors in Central America to get our coffee beans directly from the growers. Not only will this supply us with the freshest, most well balanced coffee beans that Americans love, but it will help stimulate the local Central American economies, and benefit Christian growers that we personally know, trust, and love; who in turn are working to advance the Kingdom of Heaven.
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25:40)

Last but not least, as a nonprofit, our third goal is to raise funds through donations to partner with a faith based rehabilitation center in our own community. This center will provide a place of hope and freedom for people dealing with life-controlling issues or desperate situations; with concentration on spiritual discipleship and life disciplines reinforced by prayer, Bible study, volunteerism and work programs. Men and women are held accountable and encouraged to reach their full potential in a faith-filled, family-style atmosphere. “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast." (1 Peter 5:10)

To see these goals reached, we have assembled a committee of believers from different area churches who seek to build God's Kingdom and who follow the will of the Father. This committee will help oversee, lead, guide and influence the coffee house so that it is truly Neutral Grounds, a place where all believers can come to gather in unity, in a place that lifts Christ's name so high that all will see! The model of our operation is to offer all items to the public on a donation basis. Everyone who donates can feel good about their donation building the body of Christ, empowering addicted people to be set free and offering them the safe environment and means to do so, and providing aid and mission work to an impoverished part of the world. All this by simply enjoying a cup of coffee. We truly believe that this is the beginning of the Appalachian Outpouring and it is starting in our city as finally "His people who are called according to His purposes," make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." (Phil. 2:2)

It's time EKKLESIA. Let us forge together and do this in LOVE on Neutral Grounds.

11/06/2024

The lies are over.
Corruption ends.
Healing begins.
Life is sweet.

Isaiah was one of the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. In chapter 9 he is speaking of Christ as the great light. ...
09/02/2024

Isaiah was one of the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. In chapter 9 he is speaking of Christ as the great light. He continues writing more verses, leaving no doubt in the reader’s mind as to whom he is referring: 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 9:7 Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over His kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.

Reading today’s first verse as a stand alone verse, one might not understand that it is in reference to the Christ, but the companion verses leave no doubt as to Jesus being that light. Peter, James and John saw a glimpse of that supernatural light in the transfiguration. Mark continues relating the story: His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus (Mark 9:3-4) There is significant reason both that the prophet referred to Christ as a light and the disciples saw Him as light. Where light is absent, there is darkness.

Darkness is what there was in the beginning of all of creation. God revealed to Moses that when creation began, God said “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), and there was light. Many automatically assume that Moses is speaking of the sun, which gives us light… but that didn’t happen until the fourth day of creation, as we can read in Genesis 1:16-19. No, this initial release of energy was light itself. This light that was released was always with God. The light was in God, and the light was God.

God also revealed the beginning of creation to the Apostle John. He begins his gospel with this: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:1-5). Now a picture starts to emerge. In the beginning, the Word was the creative force behind all of creation. The Word (whose life was the light of all mankind) said “Let there be light.” God’s spoken Word and the light that was in Him became the man we know as Jesus (from John 1:14).

When some of us were younger and in school, protons, neutrons and electrons were thought to be the elemental building blocks of atoms, of which all matter is comprised. Then, the deep inelastic scattering experiments at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in 1968 proved the existence of quarks. It’s now theorized that six different quarks are the actual elemental building blocks of protons and neutrons. Also existing however, are bosons, such as the Higgs Boson confirmed in 2012. These are tiny particles of energy bundles. A photon is a boson. They are not actually particles in the traditional sense, as they are comprised of light quanta, which have both particle and wave properties.

That was just some basic quantum information to get to the final point that photons are comprised of light. God said “Let there be light” and created the energy particles that preceded the creation of everything else. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him (John 1:9-10). Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

The creator of light and everything that was to follow is light itself. He gave of what He is to create the physical, metaphysical and spiritual light of humankind, and become the only path out of the darkness. John then removes all doubt of who this light and Word that he is writing about actually is. Verse 14 of John’s Gospel makes it irrefutable: The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Thank you God, for your Light. Thank you God, for your Word. Thank you God, for your Son. Thank you God, for the Christ Jesus.

We have three verses for our final day of this month that flow together as if they were written that way. Read all toget...
08/31/2024

We have three verses for our final day of this month that flow together as if they were written that way. Read all together they become: Jesus began to teach His disciples that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law, and that He must be killed and after three days rise again. To those who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are truly my disciples” If God is for us, who can be against us? (Mark, John and Romans 8:31)

In context, the first verse finds Jesus predicting His death for the first time to His disciples. Even after years of ministry together, they didn’t understand the plan of God. Truthfully, even after the crucifixion, they were terrified that it was all over for them. They were shaken to their core at seeing the brutal ex*****on of the one whom they had believed would be the salvation of their people. So it is little surprise that in the following verse 32, Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked Him.

Can you even imagine that scenario of telling Jesus that He was surely wrong? And it happened directly after Peter’s revelation, when Jesus asked the disciples who the people believed He was. They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” He asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah” (Mark 8:28-29). From a God given revelation, directly to a carnal minded rebuke. Peter realized who Jesus was, and had he known the Scripture well enough, he would have understood the fate of the Messiah.

So it is with us. We can know who Jesus is, be in close relationship with Him, know His plan for our life and be walking it out; and still at times slip into carnal thinking and doubt. This is when satan slips in and tries to defeat us and kill, steal and destroy the Truth. That’s when we need to do exactly as Jesus did and speak Truth into the situation: Jesus turned and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter. “Get thee behind me, satan!” He said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns” (Mark 8:33).

Jesus sets the example here as to how we should handle the situation when satan tries to slip in and bring doubt into our mind, or to a loved one. First, He spoke directly into the spirit world and directly at satan himself (not to Peter) and ordered him gone. At times such as this, we need to remember that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12). They must listen, obey, bow and leave at the name of Jesus! Then Christ spoke Truth into Peter himself: “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns” (Mark 8:33b).

In our second daily verse, to those who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31). The greatest teaching of Christ is to love. Jesus said in John 13:35 “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” But love encompasses many things. Some falsely believe that love is passive, but true love is active. If we are truly loving like Jesus, we must live like Jesus and follow His teaching. To know His teachings, we must read the words in red. Without study, we won’t know His teachings. Without knowing the teachings, we can’t hold to them. If we don’t hold to His teachings, are we truly a disciple?

Our third verse for today is a simple stand alone statement, yet a very profound promise and conclusion to the powerful statement of our identity that Paul has been speaking of. He has been confirming that God is on our side. He actually starts the verse by asking “What, then, shall we say in response to these things?” Meaning all of the promises that can be read in yesterday's Word for the Day. He answers the question with another question: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Of course the answer is Nobody. Nobody can stand against God and prevail over Him.

The rest of chapter eight concludes in a powerful way by stating the results of God being for us. It is of such importance to our identity and living a fulfilled life in Christ that I have included it below so that you may finish Paul's thought.

He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all; how will He not also, along with Christ, graciously give us all things? Who is able to bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies us. Who is left to condemn us? No one. Christ Jesus who died... and more importantly, who was raised back to life, is now at the right hand of God interceding for us. Who is able to separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or starvation or nakedness or danger or even the possibility of death?

As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered” (Paul is quoting Psalm 44:22). No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers that exist, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation, would be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:32-39).

“Predestined” is perhaps not the best choice of words in this verse, due to perceived or actual connotations of the word...
08/30/2024

“Predestined” is perhaps not the best choice of words in this verse, due to perceived or actual connotations of the word. God calls those who give their heart to Him and justifies them through their faith in Christ (Romans 5:1), and by grace that comes freely to all through His sacrifice (Romans 3:24). Without the restraints of time, we are already glorified in our new Heavenly bodies and are at this moment seated with Christ in the Heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6).

This verse is from a very important passage in Romans. Here is the entire passage far as it appears in the scripture, so that you may read it in context: The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. When we do not know what we ought to pray for, the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. The One who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.

We know that God works all things for the good of those who love Him… the ones who have been called according to His purpose. Those whom God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Those whom God predestined, He also called. Those whom He called, He also justified. Those whom He justified, He also glorified (Romans 8:26-30).

Today’s verse begins with: ‘Those whom God predestined’. ‘Predestined’ can be a misleading word in the wrong hands. God does not randomly choose some and reject others as Calvin’s theology of predestination states, rather He chooses the ones who have chosen Him. There is another thought to predestination, which states that God preordained every choice and outcome that each of us would make. This is equally false in that it would reduce us to mere puppets in God’s grand stage production.

God has created us with free will, and given us the choice to choose Him or not. We are not predestined robots who have no say in the matter. This truth is found throughout Scripture in such places as Joshua: But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors or the gods of the people in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). And Solomon: The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord (Proverbs 16:1).

So the predestination is God choosing before hand, those who will eventually choose Him. Then our verse of the day continues with: Those whom God predestined, He also called. Remember that linear time does not exist for God. It is a creation of man. Therefore, God can see that we choose Him in our future, predestine us to be glorified, and give us a calling even before we are born. Does that sound too far out from reality? Well, God Himself made this statement to His prophet: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

Now we know that those called by God are the ones who will choose to follow Him, and as our verse continues: Those whom He called, He also justified. Now it makes more sense to read: Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). We have faith in God. Salvation is not by our works or anything that we have done, but only by our faith. God knew that we would have that faith, so He, by His grace, predestined us to be justified by the blood of Christ and thereby saved. This is the meaning of Paul’s verse: It is only by grace that you have been saved through faith, and from nothing you did yourselves. It is an unmerited gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).

Finally, today’s verse tells us: Those whom He justified, He also glorified. We will come into glory one day on our timeline. But in a land where there is no time, we are already glorified. We are already there. Being creatures of time and space, it truly is a difficult thing to understand a verse such as one in Ephesians, which reads: And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the Heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6).

It is impossible for most people to understand that God resides outside of the known universe as well as within it. God created all that exists from a position outside of the relative nature that theoretical physicist Albert Einstein described as the four dimensions of the space-time continuum. The very nature of space, time and matter requires that they all had to come into existence at the same moment by a force that existed outside of them. The Bible calls that force the Word: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:1-3).

It is an impossible concept for the carnal mind to comprehend existence outside of what we understand to be time, space and matter, and reach into the metaphysical. It is difficult for the carnal mind to even define the word metaphysics. It requires the spirit man, the renewed mind and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When those things come together however, somewhere deep inside we can understand that those whom God predestined, He also called. Those whom He called, he also justified. Those whom He justified, He also glorified (Romans 8:30

Today's scripture is part of this week's passage in Romans, and a powerful message of our relationship with God, but as ...
08/29/2024

Today's scripture is part of this week's passage in Romans, and a powerful message of our relationship with God, but as with all scripture, it must be read and understood through the guidance and revelation of the Holy Spirit. If scripture is rationalized only through the human mind and logic, it can become misunderstood. This verse is a confusing verse for many reasons, and it was completely misunderstood by a powerful and influential 16th century French theologian by the name of John Calvin.

Calvin was a Renaissance humanist lawyer who broke from the Catholic church and became one of the early protestant reformers. The doctrines that he established are known today as Calvinism. Though Calvin was in line with the heartbeat of God on most of his teachings, he allowed his scholastic training and academic thought process to lead him astray on this and a few other verses, and it has created much confusion and false doctrine to this day. His incorrect understanding was that God chooses some people to be saved and some to be dammed even before they are born. The false doctrine is known as predestination, and flies in the face of the entire Word of God. If one verse seems to go against the rest of the scriptures… then we have an incorrect understanding of that verse… not of the entire remainder of scripture!

Time is a concept created by man. God is eternal and therefore doesn't operate within the confines of our understanding of time. What we see as a thousand years could be only a day to Him (Psalm 90:4). In our understanding of time, Christ was crucified two thousand years ago. To God, it could have been two days ago (2 Peter 3:8) or it could have been before the creation of the world (1 Peter 1:20). This is because God cannot be confined within the limits of man's concepts of time and space. As God sees it, it is now. Now is now, but a billion years ago is now, and a billion years from now is now. Our finite minds simply cannot contain this concept.

John Calvin made a huge error when he tried to confine God to time and space. In so doing, his erroneous explanation of this verse was that God picked some of us to go to Heaven and some to go to hell. This is a false teaching that goes against the rest of the Bible; but some still believe it today.

Once we understand that our concept of time is meaningless to God, we can speak of the past as being current, or the future as having already happened. With God, there is only NOW. This understanding helps to explain this confusing verse. In retrospect, “predestined” was not a perfect transliteration of the Greek, but sometimes English is limited in finding a perfect word to represent the intent of the original language.

As we understand time, there is a past. God knew in that past who would accept salvation through Christ in what we knew then as the future, because everything to Him is NOW. I have a very limited and flawed example of a better understanding of the word translated as ‘predestined’. I know that when I flip a switch my light will come on. My knowledge doesn't MAKE the light come on, just as God's knowledge doesn't MAKE us accept or reject Him.

There is more happening than most could imagine when I flip a switch than simply the light coming on. There first needs to be some type of physical power that exists such as the power behind a waterfall, the power of sunlight, of escaping steam or of the force of the wind. Then there needs to be a mediator between the physical power source and the electrical power source. There needs to be something to turn physical power into electrical power. We call that thing a ‘generator’ because it generates electricity.

Next there needs to be a physical connection between the generator and the end users. This is accomplished through transmission lines and transformers that are ubiquitously strung along the utility poles of most every street in the USA as well as most modern nations. On these poles must be mounted an end-line transformer to drop the power to a usable voltage for our home, and a direct connection to our home through a properly prepared drop line, meter and distribution panel. Finally, the wiring has to be complete to the switch and bulb, and the bulb itself must be new. It cannot be broken or burnt out or missing the internal filament. Then of course, there needs to be the action of flipping the switch.

Have you ever thought before how something so simple as turning on a light is actually so massively complex that only experts (such as myself, a master, union construction electrician) could properly explain it? While you were reading the process of bringing light to the room, were you thinking of how it relates to our salvation? Read it again and think of God as the ultimate power source, Christ as the mediator, and His death and resurrection as the transmission lines that reach out to everyone.

The end-line transformer is the individual connection that He offers to each and every human being, and the power drop line is His calling or invitation to us. Just as the drop line goes directly to the home, His invitation goes directly to each individual. Next we need a properly prepared meter and distribution panel, which represents our mind and heart. The wiring represents our connection to Christ, and the flipping of the switch our repentance and decision to follow Christ. The light of Christ will then shine through us to all, as long as it remains new and unbroken. While salvation is so simple that any child can know it (just as any child can turn a light on), truly understanding the process and the Word behind it should lie in the hands of the experts (such as myself, a true disciple of Christ called as an apostle and prophetic teacher).

When those who are not called by God into their position, or who are called but rely on academia, logic and theology rather than the rhema and written Word of God to interpret the Bible; we could end up with devastatingly inaccurate theology such as that of predestination. Jesus was the first born of God to walk perfect before Him. We are conformed to that image of His Son so that we might walk blameless as well. God understood all of this outside of our concept of time, so He knew us and knew that we would flip the switch, or repent and accept His free gift of salvation. As such, we became His chosen, not by a random decision of God, but by our conscious decision to accept Him.

We should all seek out experts and spiritual moms and dads to sit under and learn by. Through their brightly burning light, continual learning and relationship with Christ and understanding of the true Word of God, we can begin to see truths such as salvation and relationship compared to mere church attendance and Bible knowledge. With their guidance, we can more clearly understand how human time is irrelevant to God. With that understanding, we can conceptualize how God chose us because we chose Him, and how without the restraints of time and space, we are already glorified in our new Heavenly bodies and are at this moment seated with Christ in the Heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6).

The first Scripture today is a Biblical promise. Firstly, let's take it just as it stands alone. Some have misunderstood...
08/21/2024

The first Scripture today is a Biblical promise. Firstly, let's take it just as it stands alone. Some have misunderstood the Lord's desire for us Christians as to be solemn and without joy. This comes from misapplying a verse or two. The Word is true as a whole, regardless of misunderstandings of a verse. No matter what sadness we find in our lives, the Lord has a desire for us to laugh, and enjoy the life He has given us. So I commend people to enjoy their life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun (Ecclesiastes 8:15).

As this is God's heart, He will indeed restore us, in His time, even from the depths of depression. Even though this is a true word, when we examine this verse within the context of how it is spoken, we learn a second valuable lesson. Job had been plagued with torment, not through any fault of his own, but simply because the enemy had gained an unjust foothold against him.

The entirety of Job chapter 8 is spoken by a friend of Job's named Bilbad, who has misunderstood Job's spiritual condition. Bilbad wrongly assumes that Job's suffering is due to his or his families' sinful state. He speaks truth over Job (such as in our daily verse) yet he admonishes Job to repent and return to God's good graces. We learn from this chapter that it is our duty to call out gold in people and speak truth over their lives and situations, without having a secret thought as to why they have fallen into the particular malady or circumstance in which they find themselves.

As with Bilbad, we can speak truth over someone, but if we do so with a heart that believes the person to be somehow deserving of their condition, we speak truth in error. The truth we speak will still be honored, but we need to repent to the Lord of our own judgmental heart. Scripture tells us The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9) 21 in Scripture can relate to evil. Another 8/21 verse of the day is: The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in His heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done” (Genesis 8:21).

This is yet another scripture that speaks of the evil (21) hearts of humans. In context of the verse, the water of the flood had rescinded. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings on it. God smelled the sweet aroma of a pure and thankful heart, and it was pleasing to Him after all of the vile hatred He had witnessed from humanity. So the Lord gave this promise “Never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done”. This is yet another promise from the Word of God.

Finally we have the greatest promise of the day in our second verse. “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice” (Luke 8:21). Christ is giving a promise of our identity. Even in context, it’s nearly a stand alone verse. The Scripture reads: Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see Him, but they were not able to get near Him because of the crowd. Someone told Him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” Jesus replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice” (Luke 8:19-21).

Jesus was in no way dissing His family, to the contrary, He was calling out His family as being every person that was in a deep enough relationship with Him to listen to, hear, understand and put into practice the Word of God. We sometimes lose sight of our identity. Christ Himself said that we were His immediate family. There can be no greater promise than this that we will be called the sons and daughters of the most High. Amen! Thank You Jesus!

08/20/2024

Romans 14:17
The kingdom of God is not a matter of [getting the] food and drink [one likes], but instead it is righteousness (that state which makes a person acceptable to God) and [heart] peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. AMPC

So, whatcha sayin' is that there are 3 parts of the Kingdom, righteousness, peace and joy. Most Christians walk around with righteousness and negate the peace and joy.
We have 2/3 of our inheritance that we don't tap into fully.

Why don't we fully dip into it? It's ours! Go for it!!!! Peace and joy is yours for the taking!!!!!!

Thank you Igniting Hope Ministries for reminding me of this! Love you all!

08/20/2024

Kamala is left of Bernie Sanders.
Tim Walz is left
of Kamala

08/19/2024

It's easy to obey rules. I can follow "thou shalt not kill" all day long. That's why the religious love rules. They falsely believe that they can be justified before God by following them. But God said to Love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Love is not easy, because it requires sacrifice. It's impossible to love without relationship, and relationship requires time.

Obeying the rules costs you nothing, but you will never know God by doing so. You will only know the heart of the Father and see Him when you have relationship with Him. In so doing, you will fall in love with Him and all His creation (even your enemies). Once you walk in love, you will automatically fulfill the law and obey the commandments without trying. Following the law costs you nothing, and rewards you nothing. Relationship and walking in love costs you everything, and rewards you everything. ~ Pastor Pinky

08/15/2024

!!!!! CAUTION !!!!!
There is a dangerously political “fake Christianity”that might be invading your church

Two things to look out for:
1) “Abortion is a complecated topic that needs to be at least open to discussion”

2) “we MUST come together and vote against the systemic racism in America”

These are the newest tricks of the communists, to weaponize Christianity. They have a made-up term to refer to the true disciples of Christ: “Christian Nationalism” and they use it as a slam, the same way they use “MAGA”. Get away from these Christ-hating people or churches.

One third of the population of the Earth claim to be Christian. That's one out of 3. In the USA, over 70% make that clai...
08/14/2024

One third of the population of the Earth claim to be Christian. That's one out of 3. In the USA, over 70% make that claim. That means that 7 out of 10 people should be treating you the way that Jesus would. Is that the case? If not, then the term “Christian” is meaningless. So then how are we to know who the true disciples of God are? Jesus said “Everyone will know that you are my disciples by the love you have for each other” (John 13:35). If we don't walk in complete love toward one another, we are not disciples. Jesus said that. If we don't have the Holy Spirit living in us and guiding us daily, then we are not God's children. The Apostle Paul implied that in today’s verse of the day.

In scripture, the numeral 8 is representative of a new beginning, and the number 14 represents a double portion of spiritual perfection. We must have the indwelling of the Spirit of God in order to effect the new beginning of our walk with Christ. Only by being led by the Spirit can we truly live out the Christian life in the fullness of the love in which we are intended to live. If we are truly God’s children, we will be led by the Spirit. If we are led by the Spirit, we will walk in the fullness of love. This supernatural love of Jesus can be easily seen by Christian and non-Christian alike.

There are many people in the world today that claim to be Christian for political reasons, position, or other favor. There are even new buzz phrases such as ‘spiritual’ or ‘people of faith’ or ‘person of faith’. That means absolutely nothing. They could have faith in the stock market for all we know. When asked about their faith, I heard one very prominent politician say “I go to church as much as I can.” Again that is nothing more than political double talk. Of course they never actually said how much that church going time actually was. Three or four times a year? Once per month?

Here’s the thing, even if they could have answered “I go every Sunday”, it is still meaningless. As many others have said before, sitting in a church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car. And the question wasn’t “how often do you go to church?” So how do we know who the real Children of God are? Jesus knew that this would be vital information for us to know. That’s why He gave us the only fool-proof means by knowing: by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:35). If you want to know the truth, I have never heard anything loving coming from that particular politician.

Today’s verse tells us that the children of God are those who are led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14). If you don’t have a deep, personal relationship with the Father, He is not going to give you His Spirit. Without the Spirit, we can’t be led by the Spirit. Even having God’s Spirit, if we don’t allow the Spirit to lead in our life, then we are not the children of God. Scripture teaches us that the Lord doesn’t wish that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Peter 3:9b), and Paul said “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16a).

It’s quite obvious then that God wants us to witness at every opportunity and that we should not be ashamed of the Gospel. So then, someone who has a national platform has a huge opportunity to witness to many. When asked, their witness would never have been “I go to church as much as I can.”, were they being led by the Spirit of God, or were they not ashamed. As they are obviously not walking in love and not being led by the Spirit, they are not a child of God no matter what they say. God doesn’t equip us with this knowledge to ridicule them, but for us to pray for them and be wary of them.

Just as there are people around the world watching our members of congress, we have people watching us in our lives. It usually isn’t millions, but even if it is only one or two, those one or two souls are vitally important to the Father. He sees our Christian walk as being just as important in the Kingdom as any other. We must always strive to be led by the Spirit in all that we do or say so that all who see our life will know that we are a child of God, because the children of God are those who are led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14). It is vital for them to see that kindness in us, for it’s God's goodness and kindness that will lead them to repentance (from Romans 2:4b).

Address

1537 Wi******er Avenue
Ashland, KY
41101

Telephone

+16064204429

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Neutral Grounds Coffee House posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Neutral Grounds Coffee House:

Shortcuts

Share

Category