3/9/2025 0 Comments Pastor’s PenBeloved, I remember years ago, early in my walk with the Lord that a fellow member of the Bible Study that I attended Friday nights told me that he had committed blasphemy against the holy Spirit. Hence, because of this he believed that he had no chance of ever going to heaven. He was doomed.
Well, fortunately for him, his theology was wrong. As one Bible Scholar once said, “If you think you have committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, you haven’t.” Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has to do with accusing Jesus Christ of being demon-possessed instead of Spirit-filled. This particular type of blasphemy cannot be duplicated today in the same manner as in Jesus’ day. The unpardonable sin today is the state of continued unbelief. The Spirit currently convicts the unsaved world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). To resist that conviction and willfully remain unrepentant is to “blaspheme” the Spirit. Let us pray for those with a hard heart that the Lord will soften their hearts and bring them to Himself! In Him, Pastor Joe
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3/2/2025 0 Comments Pastor's PenBeloved, it was CS Lewis who popularized the argument that Jesus was either a liar or a lunatic or the Lord. But, as Kyle Barton has shown, he didn’t invent it.
In the mid-nineteenth century the Scottish Christian preacher “Rabbi” John Duncan (1796-1870) formulated what he called a “trilemma.” In Colloquia Peripatetica (p. 109) we see Duncan’s argument from 1859-1860: Christ either [1] deceived mankind by conscious fraud, or [2] He was Himself deluded and self-deceived, or [3] He was Divine. There is no getting out of this trilemma. It is inexorable. Also, in 1936, Watchman Nee made a similar argument in his book, Normal Christian Faith. A person who claims to be God must belong to one of three categories: First, if he claims to be God and yet in fact is not, he has to be a madman or a lunatic. Second, if he is neither God nor a lunatic, he has to be a liar, deceiving others by his lie. Third, if he is neither of these, he must be God. You can only choose one of the three possibilities. Beloved, was Jesus “out of His mind?” Let’s look at today’s study and find out! In Him, Pastor Joe 2/23/2025 0 Comments Pastor's PenBeloved, once again we see the Pharisees out against Jesus. Here, they accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath
by healing a man on the Sabbath. Apparently, according to them, it was unlawful to heal on the Sabbath. Was it? Jesus responded by asking them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” They remained silent. Note that with His question is it lawful, Jesus is directing these legalists back to the Mosaic Law, the Word of God! Jesus asks them a question not because they did not know, but because they did know the answer. They knew His question had to be answered “to do good and to save life.” The phrasing of the question implies that failure to do good was to do harm! They knew that on a Sabbath one who is able to do good or to save a life and yet refuses to do so is guilty of evil. His logic is that healing this man would be doing good and not to heal him would be evil. In His Strong Name- Pastor Joe 2/9/2025 0 Comments Pastor's PenBeloved, it was Pastor Chuck Smith who when describing the new work of Calvary Chapel used Mark 2:22 saying, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” Pastor Chuck said that Calvary Chapel was a new work of the Spirit led by the Lord.
In like manner the Lord wants to do a new work in our hearts. There may be areas of our heart or lives that have gone from rote to rut to rot. The Lord wants to dig out those areas and help us to start afresh in His power and Spirit. May we allow Him to take us further down the road spiritually always looking to grow in grace! Blessings- Pastor Joe 2/2/2025 0 Comments Pastor’s PenBeloved, it was Pastor Chuck Smith who when describing the new work of Calvary Chapel used Mark 2:22 saying, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” Pastor Chuck said that Calvary Chapel was a new work of the Spirit led by the Lord.
In like manner the Lord wants to do a new work in our hearts. There may be areas of our heart or lives that have gone from rote to rut to rot. The Lord wants to dig out those areas and help us to start afresh in His power and Spirit. May we allow Him to take us further down the road spiritually always looking to grow in grace! Blessings- Pastor Joe 1/26/2025 0 Comments Pastor's PenPastor Joe and Sheila are out this Sunday, visiting family. As you may know his beloved sister went to be with the Lord, please keep him and the family in prayer.
It is also their marriage anniversary! So we truly do as Romans 12:15 instructs: Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. In his stead Yuri and Wendy Kvachenko will be sharing on the work that the Lord has been doing and is continuing in their Missionary Field, as well as future plans and ministry opportunities to come. We pray you will be blessed and encouraged in your walk, life and ministry through their testimony. In His Service, Jimmy Rosas 1/19/2025 0 Comments Pastor’s PenBeloved, good friends are a treasure from the Lord. Combine good friends with a loving and powerful Savior and you have an incredible combination. This is what happened when friends of the paralytic brought him to Jesus. Jesus not only healed the man but when He saw their faith, He more importantly forgave the man his sins.
Beloved, Jesus has the power and the authority to heal, restore and forgive us of our sins. Not only does He have the authority to do this, but He also has the will to do this. Jesus wants to forgive us, cleanse us and restore us. Maybe you have an impossible situation in your life. Take it to Jesus. Let us witness His power at work in you and through you! In His Strong Name- Pastor Joe 1/12/2025 0 Comments Pastor’s PenBeloved, we know that nothing is impossible to God. Luke 1:36–37 says, “And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Yes, God can do anything He wishes to do, but God will not do things that would be against His holy will or contradictory to His purposes. He can commit no sinful act, for example, for He is completely holy, and sinning is not in His character. This is why the leper came to Jesus asking Him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” The leper knew that Jesus could do the impossible, but would He? The leper found out that Jesus was willing and that his healing here on earth was part of God’s will for his life. Beloved, you may be facing an impossible situation. Only God can perform the miracle that you need. Ask Him. Say, “If you will…” Then leave the answer up to the Lord. Whatever the answer, He always wants what is best for us. Blessings- Pastor Joe 1/5/2025 0 Comments Pastor’s PenBeloved, as we begin the year 2025, we look back at what the Lord has done, and we also look forward to what the Lord is going to do. Looking forward, our theme verse for 2025 is Titus 2:11-14.
Now, Titus 2:11-14 is a single sentence in Greek and surely is one of the great theological statements in the Bible. It focuses on the grace of God and what that grace has accomplished in our lives and how we are to respond to God’s grace. My prayer is that we will live out God’s grace in our lives. I pray that we will live God’s grace individually and corporately. May we truly embody what it means to be a part of God’s grace in our lives and our congregation. BELOVED, may you and your loved ones be filled with the grace of God, “to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” IN HIS GRACE- Pastor Joe 12/29/2024 0 Comments Pastor’s PenI hope everyone had a very merry Christmas.
Beloved, this morning we are having our Youth Led Service, encouraging them in their service unto the Lord. We will be learning what the Lord Jesus teaches on the “cost of discipleship” and how those lessons can be applied in our relational commitments. In our walk with the Lord may we be “All In” every day and every step of the way. In His Service, Jimmy Rosas |
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