Hi friends. Kathy and I are about to begin a new show where we discuss items of interest to the body of Christ. WE have named it THE SPOTT REPORT. SPOTT captures the goal and purpose of the effort – Strategic, Prophetic, Overcomers, Training and Tactics. Stay tuned for the launch announcement.
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I remember hearing a story not long ago about a young, up-and-coming stockbroker who dreamed of making it big one day. He adjusted everything in his life to enhance his career and realize his dreams.
One day this young stockbroker had a chance encounter with a friend from school and during their conversation about their lives since graduation, the young stockbroker decided to impress his schoolmate with the potential success he was hoping to achieve.
He took his friend on a drive to the local marina and began to point out the huge yachts at the dock. He pointed to one and said, “That one belongs to the senior partner at Merrill Lynch. That one over there is owned by the CEO of Goldman Sachs. And look at that yacht over there; that is the pride and joy of the top seller at Prudential-Bache.”
The young stockbroker glanced at his friend expecting to see a look of wonder and awe but instead, he saw a pained look accompanied by silence. The young stockbroker was taken aback and asked his friend what was wrong. The friend responded, “I was just wondering, are there any customer’s yachts you can show me?”
The Time Is Now[1]
However political parties may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.
George Washington
Independence Day 2022 is here. It is a time of reflection and deep thought concerning what Independence Day 2023 will look like. America is in distress. Wickedness and evil people have gained control of our governments at every level. The disaster that Americans are experiencing right now will not change unless we decide to take appropriate action to change it.
One thing among many that the last two years has cemented in the consciousness of a growing number of Americans is that elected representatives at the local, state and federal level routinely disrespect those they claim to represent. This disrespect has been building for decades but is now unmasked for even casual observers. The last two years pulled back the curtain and snapped the last threads of illusion. Politicians are wholly owned by corporations and foreign governments, as brokered by their lawyers and bag-men, also known as lobbyists.
Deuteronomy 6, the words of Moses: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
And a warning from Jesus in Matthew 18, “Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
Courage and boldness come by and through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Our passage for consideration today is one example.
The context of the early chapters in the book of Acts is the giving of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised the Father would send (John 14:26). When the Holy Spirit arrived and filled the disciples in the upper room where they were gathered, the Jews from all over Jerusalem were drawn to them because of the manifestation of miracles most especially that of speaking in languages which those that gathered to observe what was happening could understand.
Peter took control of the situation (Acts 2:14) and announced to all those gathered that what they were witnessing was the fulfillment of prophecy and he referred to a passage in the book of the prophet Joel.
Peter’s boldness hit a high point in Acts 2:36 when he testified that the very man the religious leaders insisted the Romans crucify was none other than God’s promised Messiah, Jesus the Christ! Let this example be one that we remember when given the opportunity to speak the truth that salvation is found only in Jesus Christ.
Pastor Mike