Denominational Differences : – The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

As I searched for Christ in the late 70’s, I prayed to find a God of Power and Might, I didn’t care for more hot air.  ..Growing up in the Catholic Church I knew the Bible stories, thought I was a Christian because I was Catholic.

I knew God was real, didn’t understand anything about a personal relationship.

Then I  met the Lord.   I was led to Him by a wonderful,  loving young woman and her mother, as I  was hitch hiking a ride to this place called Christian Retreat, in Bradenton Fla.

I fell in love with Jesus, Continue reading

Expired Faith: The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

What is Expired Faith?

Expired Faith is a Faith that doesn’t really believe that the signs and wonders, miracles, gifts of the Spirit are possible today.

After all I believe, I pray for miracles,  I believe in healing, forgiveness, victory in Jesus.   I don’t experience these things in my life, so God must not be operating that way since the Apostles died away.

It’s not me, or my Denominational teachings that are holding God back.  It is just a time of silence like between the Old and New Testament.

BIRD FEATHERS!!!

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Can you find Him? – The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

Proverbs 8:17
King James Version (KJV)
I love them that love me; and those that seek me early will find me.”

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Jeremiah 29:12-14a
King James Version (KJV)
Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.  And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: “

Will you seek Him early?   Will you seek Him with all your heart?

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He said He will be found.   I hope you seek Him.

Thanks for visiting, come back soon.
bill theunfetteredpreacher cote
know you are loved

what condition my condition is in: The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

I just dropped in, to see what condition my condition is in.

1 Corinthians 13:11-12
King James Version (KJV)
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

There was a time,
    Then it was gone.

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Mom was disappointed : The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

I received at least 2 phone calls from my Mother, (may she RIP),  over the years, where you could hear hurt, disappointment and sadness in her voice.

I wish I had received neither.

One of them was in October, she called to ask if we had forgotten her birthday.  (In June).

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Do we give up hope? – The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

There are so many people outside the doors of our churches and homes, who do not know Jesus, do not want to hear about Jesus, will not accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

WARNING:  LONG POST, DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU CARE FOR A CLOSER WALK WITH JESUS.

I stand here flummoxed. …why do they not understand the peace, joy and grace that could be theirs?  Why can’t I convince even those in my own family to realize the gift of Forgiveness?

This is very frustrating.   There is something even more frustrating though.

That is the number of people who believe in and accept Jesus but who do not accept the fulness of His Holy Spirit.  I believe the Holy Spirit (and His Gifts ) are the Talents the Master left us and expects us to invest and increase until His return.

So many accept the impossibility  of Jesus  dying on the cross to save us from sin and death but the Power of the Holy Spirit. ….not for me, not for today, I don’t  need it,  God doesn’t  want us confused.

On the day of Pentecost the first Gift of the Holy Spirit given to all, was the Gift of Tongues. The crowd received the Gift of Interpretation.

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I say unto all, Watch: The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

I say unto all, Watch.

Mark 13:
“Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:

Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.”

Is the church watching? Continue reading

As for me, I shall be satisfied: The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

What will cause you to be satisfied?  A raise?  A new job?  Admiration or respect of your peers?

A bigger house,  a new car, a different significant other?

Not one or all of these things will satisfy.  None of these things will change who or what we are inside.

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do any understand, and seek God? – The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

Do any understand?

As a born again, Bible believing child of God, my heart is heavy.  They do not understand.

We have been given a great commission,  go into the world and introduce Jesus to  the lost.  Most of the time, I haven’t a clue how to do this effectively.

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There is no fear of God : – The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans: 3. 18.

Why is sin acceptable today?  What happened to moral judgment,  common sense,  manners,  right and wrong?  We have taken the wrong road, we are in a downward spiral.

Why? “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”   

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lay me down in peace: – The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.”   (Verses from Psalm 4)

David would encourage himself in the Lord in times of trouble. 

One way for us to do that is to have  scripture implanted in our hearts and minds.  This only comes from  memorization,  meditation and action.  To know the Lord we must know His Word and walk in it.

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Then you can lay down in peace and sleep, knowing the Lord is keeping you safe.

“But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him.”

Are you set apart, godly?  Does the Lord hear your call?  Do your prayers reach the highest heavens?  Do you listen and wait for His answer?   Do you accept the judgements,  answers to your calls?

“Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.”

Is the joy of the Lord a growing fruit in your life?

Gladness isn’t about a smile on your face or a bounce in your step.  It is a place of   Faith,  (to do His will).  Wisdom,  (to understand His will).  Knowledge,  (to know how to do His will).

Gladness, (is ours in His service).

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There is no help for him in God. – The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

That is where I was.  A drunkerd,  pot head, a man  actively seeking comfort from married women.  A mouth unfit for civil society.   (All things that seem to be accepted today).

When I was young and stupid, I was young and stupid.

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A love story –

True love, John and Judy Conner, celebrating 61 years of marriage. 

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Unfortunately,  John recently went home to the Lord, to hear the words:  “Well done my good and faithful servant. ”

John and Judy were the grand old couple.  John often said he started coming to Franklin Memorial United Methodist Church because of a pretty young girl who wouldn’t leave the church and who loved the Lord.

He found the Lord and became a lay leader and speaker, teaching Sunday School, and giving the childrens message during  Sunday Service.

While Judy was the choir leader and involved with everything the church was doing.

True love for sure and true servants of the Lord.  Do’ers  the word.

Our little church will miss this man and I thank the Lord for allowing me to know this couple.

Thanks for visiting.
bill theunfetteredpreacher cote
Know you are loved.

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace: The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

Isaiah 26:3
King James Version (KJV)
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

Do you really trust the Lord?   Are you concerned, worried, wondering who, what, when, where, how?

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Pleasures for evermore: The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

Psalm 16:11
King James Version (KJV)
“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

I believe this and feel, I live this.  I am not always smiling or happy but the joy of Salvation is in my heart.  I have no fear of this life,  I try not to have concerns about money or health issues.   “The Lord is my  Shepherd and I shall not want. ”

I have experienced the Lords supply many  times in my walk with Him.   He doesn’t always meet my time table but He always comes through.

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Measure of Faith vrs Full of the Spirit : – The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

Romans 12:3. Tells us God gives everyone a Measure of Faith.   We choose to activate it when we repent, confess and accept Jesus as both Lord and Savior.

Then it is up to us to increase, to build up the Faith we have received.   We do this by reading the Word, by stepping out in that Faith, sharing the Love and Grace, (Gods unmerited Forgiveness and Favor, Salvation).

James 2:26 
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

For Faith is not passive but demands action.

Jude 1:20
King James Version (KJV)
“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,  Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

Praying in the Holy Ghost or Spirit,  that my friend is Praying in Tongues. ..This is where being Filled with the Spirit comes in.

The Lord doesn’t  appear to give a measure of the Holy Spirit :   He certainly filled Jesus.

John 3:34
King James Version (KJV)
“For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.”

When  we receive the Lord we receive the Spirit in Full,  someone came up with what we have called  the Baptism of the Holy Spirit,  with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

I  have thought of it this way for over 30 years, the Baptism of the Spirit as a second blessing.  An immersion into and of Gods Spirit.

 Always hearing those who don’t speak in tongues arguing,  if I  didn’t have the Holy Spirit,  I couldn’t have been saved.

Peter and Paul both asked:  “Have you received the Holy Spirit  since you’ve believed? “

They then prayed :

Acts 2:4
King James Version (KJV)
“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Some point out speaking in tongues is not always mentioned,  true;  but it is not ruled out either.

Paul encouraged us to be filled with the Spirit :

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What have we done? – The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

What have we done?

Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy:

These words from Isaiah 9, apply to our Churches today.  So many Churches, reverential, solemn, ritualistic, formal.  Hymns, music so wordy no one knows what it means.

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What Measure Faith? – The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

Romans 12:3
King James Version (KJV)
” For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

Have you ever noticed, That God gives us all a measure of faith But fills us with the Holy Spirit.
What’s that all about?

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Is your church a hospital? – The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station

Do you think of your church as a hospital, where the sick and hurting come to heal?  That’s how alot of people think. 

It explains why so many continue hurting, they never seem to heal, they are continually  recovering.   Never getting better.

If you check my archives, you will see  I have written of this before.  That is why you see “The Fix-it Shop-Filling Station”.

I found some new wrinkles. Continue reading

Can’t find God ? – PRAISE – The Fix-it Shop-Filling

I’ve been feeling forgotten, the Lord has been distant, uncaring, I ‘ve prayed for nought.  No answer, silence, is the Lord taking a walk?

Maybe He is napping?  Mayhaps He has taken His hand off the tiller of my life?

I have been floundering, sinking, lost in the storm.

Continue reading