TonyScott.org

Easter 2011

Easter is a powerful example of what happens when truth meets accusation.  The “Truth” – Jesus – obliterated the false accusations of His enemies and introduced death to its Master.  Hope was given a new and glorious image as death and the grave were proven powerless to prevent a resurrection.  New life, a new start, a new beginning all made possible by an experience called Easter.

It is never enough to say “Christ is risen.”  Each of us must also say, “I am risen.”  Have you risen above your circumstance, your doubt, your fear, your anger, your failure?

At theChurch we together rose to a new level of ministry this Easter as more than 8,000 people joined our Easter celebration and hundreds gave their life to Christ.  Thank you for being a part of this great miracle.  The Noel Project has risen to a new level with our Home for Hope Giveaway and we are anxiously awaiting to see who God has chosen to receive the house.  Christ is risen and we have risen!

The Gospel According To… You!

Each moment we live a gospel we write,

a chapter today, a verse tonight.

Your gospel is written by the deeds you do,

the words you speak, the actions you take, the truth about you.

Those around you see by the life you live,

your very capacity to give and forgive.

When your race is run

and your living is through,

you leave a book called,

“The Gospel According To You!”

Living Free, Living Full

Rousseau said,

“Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.”

Genesis paints a picture of the absolute right of every human being to live in freedom everyday.

Until each of us experience the liberation which only comes in an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus, we have not lived free and lived full.

2 Corinthians 3:18 MSG - And so we are transfigured much like [Jesus], our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like Him.

Liberty is produced within us by the power of His Spirit.

Liberty in mind - Freedom from fear, ignorance, error, prejudice and jealously.

Liberty from sin - He helps us to conquer everything that is alien to His will.

Liberty in prayer - Unrestrained, prevailing intercession is ours to enjoy.

Liberty of worship - He frees us from all formality, superficiality, and restraint as we endeavor to approach God.

Liberty in service - Instead of forcing ourselves to labor for Him, we delight to do His will with the gifts He deposits into us.

Liberty in giving - First we surrender up our hearts and then He owns us - all of us.

Are you living in His glorious liberty?

Live Original!

Many people live their lives emulating others.  Some never realize they are created as an “original.”  Born original, we should not live as a ‘copy’ or die as one. 

The beauty of any person’s life is seen as that person embraces fully their ‘originality’.  Your only hope of making a meaningful contribution to life is to live who you really are.

The fact that you were born means God had need of ‘you,’ (the ‘you’ He designed), in the earth.  There will always be some to whom you are sent.  Spend your life with those who celebrate, value, and honor you.  Never allow into your life those who de-value you, disrespect you, or dishonor you.

Someone once said,

Always be where you are.
Where you are determines who you meet. 
Who you meet determines how you think. 
How you think determines what you do. 
What you do determines your destiny.

God’s plan for you is best lived in consecration.  Consecration means “to devote, separate, set-apart.”  The word originally meant “to fill the hand.”

My yielded life fills the hand of God for His Kingdom purposes.  God fills my hand with tools, gifts, talents, abilities and favor necessary to accomplish His will for the ‘original me’.

Live Original!

Walking Faith…FULLY

SPELLED OUT AS AN ACROSTIC, FAITH MEANS “FORSAKING ALL I TRUST HIM.” 

FAITH MUST BE OUR LIFE IF WE ARE TO KNOW THE LIFE OF FAITH.  NOT ONLY ARE WE SAVED BY FAITH, BUT THE CHRISTIAN LIFE PRE-EMINENTLY IS A LIFE OF FAITH FROM BEGINNING TO END. 

IN II COR. 1:24 WE ARE TOLD TO STAND BY FAITH. 

II COR. 5:7 TELLS US TO WALK BY FAITH.

GAL. 3:11 TELLS US TO LIVE BY FAITH.

HEBREWS 11:6 TELLS US WITHOUT FAITH, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD.

THE BIBLE ALSO SPEAKS OF GREAT FAITH:

LUKE 7:9 - JESUS SAID, I HAVE NOT FOUND SO GREAT FAITH, NO NOT IN ISRAEL.

THE BIBLE SPEAKS OF FULLNESS OF FAITH:

ACTS 11:24 - BARNABAS WAS FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST AND OF FAITH.

THE BIBLE SPEAKS OF STEADFAST FAITH:

COL. 2:5 - THE STEADFASTNESS OF YOUR FAITH IN CHRIST.

FAITH IS A PRODUCT OF GOD. FAITH IS A DIVINE ENERGY, AS REAL TO THE SPIRIT WORLD AS ELECTRICITY IS TO THE NATURAL WORLD.  FAITH IS A POWER, A PRODUCING FORCE.  IT IS LITERAL.  IT’S NOT AN ATTITUDE, A CONCEPT OR MERELY A DOCTRINE, IT IS A FORCE.

WHEN FAITH IS FUNCTIONING, THINGS HAPPEN.

FAITH’S SOURCE IS JESUS CHRIST.  JESUS IS THE OBJECT OF OUR FAITH.  HE CHANGES OUR FEAR TO FAITH.

FAITH IS UNQUESTIONABLY THE MOST ESSENTIAL IMPARTATION FROM GOD TO MAN, BECAUSE FAITH IS THE SOURCE OF OUR CHANNEL FOR OUR ACCESS TO GRACE, HEALING, THE INDWELLING OF CHRIST, JUSTIFICATION, LIFE, THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT, PROTECTION, RIGHTEOUSNESS, SALVATION, SANCTIFICATION, STANDING, STRENGTH, STEADFASTNESS, UNDERSTANDING AND WALK.

THE LIFE OF FAITH IS NOT OPTIONAL.  IT IS OBLIGATORY. 

WALK FAITHFULLY AND YOU WILL SEE THAT GOD NEVER FAILS US. 

Choosing the Narrow Way

Matthew 7:13-14

¹³Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it. ¹⁴But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it.

When the history of our nation in this and the preceding century is read in the centuries to come, it may well say it was one in which –

·        There was great creativity;

·        There was great individualism;

·        There was great freedom;

·        There was great license;

·        It was a time of no limits;

·        It was a time of little discipline;

·        It was a time of great immorality;

·        It was a time of little restraint;

·        It was a time of comfort and ease;

·        It was a time of spend now and let others pay later;

·        It was a time of greed and lust;

·        It was a time of squandered opportunity.

Before us today is an open door to bring a message of hope, healing, and deliverance to a world afflicted by oppression, disease, and addiction.

Today we must have a moral compass to guide us back to the government of God.

That moral compass is red – The Red Letter teachings of Jesus in the New Testament.

·        Be Reconciled;

·        Love Your Enemies;

·        Go The Extra Mile;

·        Be Perfect (Mature);

·        Do Unto Others;

·        Judge Not;

·        Keep Your Word;

·        Deny Yourself;

·        Let Your Light Shine;

·        Feed My Sheep;

·        Ask, Seek, Knock;

·        Be A Servant;

·        Lay Up Treasures.

These commands are the central truths which make up God’s kingdom.

In that kingdom, called the kingdom of Heaven, there is a new way to live in relationship with God.

The “easy way” is broad, spacious, and roomy.  There is plenty of room for diversity of opinions and laxity of morals.

The “broad way” is the way of the unthoughtful, undisciplined, ungodly, carnal, self-indulgent, way of least resistance.  Whatever feels good, do it.

While the broad way and easy way are shallow ways to live, this narrow, straight way is life-changing at the core or essence of your being.

It is not the life that is narrow, but the way that leads to it.

Jesus walked this “way,” but He gained for us “an abundant life.”

The broad, easy way eventually narrows until we are hard-pressed on every side as sin exacts its payment.

The narrow, hard way broadens as we live in the marvelous liberty of the son of God.

What Kind of House are You Building?

From your Bibles, read Luke 6:46-49.

You and I are witnessing perhaps the greatest building boom in the history of the world.

Houses, stadiums, sports complexes, shopping malls, skyscrapers, cities and roads are all being built to accommodate an ever-increasing populace.

Man has always been a builder.  History, as well as the Bible, records the attempts by man to build something that lasts forever such as the tower of Babel, the hanging gardens of Babylon and the palaces of King Herod.

The Bible speaks of Jesus preparing a city called the New Jerusalem – 1500 miles high, 1500 miles wide, & 1500 miles deep.

Scripture tells us in building we should count the costs, build on a solid foundation, use proper materials, build with living stones and build carefully and consistently.

The Bible uses the word “house” as a metaphor for a life or a soul.

In Jude 20, we are told to build up yourselves (founded) on your most holy faith (make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher) praying in the Holy Spirit.

Building our lives is an hourly, daily process. It proceeds with every thought we admit into our mind, with every feeling we cherish in our heart, and with every purpose we form in our soul.

That which we are today is the whole result of all that we have been doing, of all our invisible thoughts, words and deeds up to this present moment.

We are all builders; we are all planning, preparing, laying our foundation, erecting our walls and finishing the cosmetics.

According to this story, you are either a wise master builder or a foolish builder.  You are either building on a sure foundation or building on the earth (sand).

Both men built a house, and perhaps both super structures were sound and beautiful.  The difference is in the foundation.

As in building a building so also in building a life, it is the foundation that matters most.

What is the foundation upon which you are building your life today?  …Your home, your marriage, your career or your business?

In Matthew 7 and Luke 6, we find this story.  Each man records it with a slight difference in words.

Matthew says the wise man built upon a rock.
Luke adds the intensifying line, “he dug deep.”

Architects and builders are guided by a simple rule – in order to build high, you must dig deep.

To build a life without Christ, His Word, His power is to build on sand, earth.

When we are obedient to His precepts, submitted to His authority, devoted to His commands, we are building on a rock.

All of us are building our lives right now for eternity and all of us will live the life we build.

Some are merely building a shop, a business, giving their whole lives to it and their entire strength to make it strong.

Some are building a prison in which, by the power of their own evil deeds – alcoholism, drugs, immorality, perversion – they will suffer eternal imprisonment.

We are called to build and to be a temple of God, a life in which God can dwell and fill with His presence and power.  A temple can only be built upon the Rock which is Jesus Christ – His Word, His blood, His life.  So, what kind of house are you building?  

Enlarging Your Life

Psalm 18:20-24

²⁰GOD made my life complete
when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together,
he gave me a fresh start.
²¹Now I’m alert to GOD’s ways;
I don’t take God for granted.
²²Every day I review the ways he works;
I try not to miss a trick.
²³I feel put back together,
and I’m watching my step.
²⁴GOD rewrote the text of my life
when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

One of the greatest life principles I have ever learned is:

Nothing can enter my life without first coming through His hands.

God’s hand is always on the control center of our lives provided we are fully surrendered to Him.

No individual in the Bible who ever fully followed Jesus was ever decreased, but was enlarged.

Where is your lack today, your area of barrenness?

As you sing forth God’s praises and worship Him, increase and enlargement will come to you.

As we move into the enlarged life God strips off the chains, bondage and restraints; He equips us, arms us, makes us ready and strengthens our hand.  He makes us loose, pliable, maneuverable and ready.

Love The Lord!

Matthew 22:37

And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect).

Jesus gives us the greatest of all His commands – an ideal for life.

An ideal is a model we hold in our minds, a standard we reach for.  Ideals determine our priorities.

Ideals are powerful because what we love, desire and focus our beings on is what we become.

The greatest revelation in the history of the world is that God is love and God loves us.

The sweetest of all human emotions is love.
The greatest of all possible human experiences is love.

God has unimagined blessings for those who fully love Him.

1 Corinthians 2:9
…Eye has not seen and ear has not heard and neither has it entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him.

Our love for Him must be proven by the involvement of our entire being.  It is the highest kind of love for it motivates you to do what is right and noble regardless of what you may be feeling.

This love Jesus commands is the noblest, purest and highest form of self-sacrificing love.

We are never totally right with God until our heart, soul, mind, and strength manifest our love for God.

Love for God must be more than a confession.  Our entire being must manifest that love.  Love like this is manifested through obedience to His commands.

Love is always the first step.  God keeps covenant with those who love Him and keep His commandments.

When we are troubled, when we don’t have an answer, when we don’t know what to do, when our resources are not sufficient to meet our need, when we are frustrated, confused – just start with God and love Him with your entire being.

When we start with our circumstances, our challenges, our lack, and our doubt we are so limited.

Our problems are solved by responding to His love.  Start with God and then go to your need, your lack, your challenge, and your circumstance.

The whole purpose of life is to lead us to the final and ultimate truth that God is the one who loves us and can fully satisfy us.

When we start with God and loving Him with our entire being – presenting our bodies (all of us) as a living sacrifice – then we love our families, we love our neighbors, we even love our enemies, and we lead them to Christ.

We must renounce every competing affection, and be willing to lay down our lives for the advancement of His kingdom.

Forgiveness Unlimited 9.27.11

Romans 8:1-2
^1-2With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

Unlimited—vast — without measure – boundless—  are just a few of the words which describe the universe which God created.

Light travels at the speed of 186,000 miles per second which is mere than 11 million miles per minute or approximately 700 million miles per hour, or 17 billion miles in one day, or 64 trillion miles in one year which equals a light year.

Likewise God’s forgiveness of and removal of our sins are just as mind boggling as these numbers.

Everyone everywhere has placed themselves under a legal penalty by the fact that they have voluntarily broken God’s law.

Jesus came and took upon Himself men’s spiritual liabilities and paid the otherwise impossible price of redemption.

The purpose of forgiveness is to restore man’s relationship with God to the state it was in before sin entered. 

God alone cannot restore man to fellowship, man must desire that fellowship.

Repentance is a positive, glorious gift of God that enables us to avert divine judgment for our sins.

The change which repentance brings about is so deep and radical as to affect the whole spiritual nature and to involve the entire personality.  Psychology shows repentance to be profound, personal, and all-pervasive.

When God’s principles are followed, God’s promises are performed.

We must change our attitudes before God will change His judgments.

God forgives us even though He knows us better than we know ourselves.

Guilt is such a destructive force in our lives that Satan does everything in his power to see to it that the guilt is not remitted toward self.

We must never uncover what the Blood has covered.