Talk is Cheap

James 2:14: What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man
say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?

 

Talk is Cheap. How can we say that we have faith in God, but
do not couple the proclamation with action? True faith is the essence of
obedience. We cannot be transformed by God and still be the same way we were.
True faith in God will change our ways and our thoughts. It is no coincidence
that when I ask God to increase my faith, he places me in opportunities to
challenge my faith.  This is something
that we can all relate to as some point in our individual walks. In vv 2-8
James challenges believers by being partial to those who look put together and
forsaking the poor. We 21^st century Christians are quick to look
down on the less fortunate because of their outward appearance. Most of these
people are looking or wanting for better.
If God has blessed us why not turn and do the same for others. God will
instruct you to give that person your last bit of cash. This is one example of
many of putting your faith to work.  We
must not waver in our faith. We serve a God who can do exceedingly and
abundantly above all we could ever ask or think. Put your faith to work and
watch what God will do for you.

 

God Bless You!

Minister Kenneth Scott, Jr.

Saints of God, WAKE UP !!!!

Romans 11:7-8: “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he
seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. ⁸(According
as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they
should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

Why is it that prostitutes, drug addicts, murderers, or any other heathen
can accept the message of Christ, but believers who have been walking with
Christ for years cannot accept or understand the things of Christ. This is
because their hearts have been hardened to repentance. What do I mean by this?
Believers are consciously choosing to remain in a state of bondage and oppression.
Christians across this nation are in sleep mode just like the children of
Israel. Romans 10:21 Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah and says “all day long I
have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people” (Emphasis
added). Understand that children of Israel were the chosen ones to be first
partakers of the fullness of Christ. As a result of their disobedience and
rebellion God abandoned them for a season to stretch his hands out to the
Gentiles. Paul metaphorically describes this process as in vv 16-24. The
Israelites were the branches of the tree of Abraham and were broken off by God
because of their rebelliousness. God attached the Gentiles into the tree of
Abraham because their hearts were open to Christ. Thus the Gentiles were able
to receive the blessings God had promised Abraham and all his children.

What implications does this have for us today? God will cut you off and let
your rebellion be your own demise. He will allow you to experience turmoil and
bless those around you so that you can come back to his Love. Don’t believe me?
In verse 14-15, Paul says “If by any
means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some
of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what
shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?”

Saints of God it’s time to WAKE UP!
We have been sleep to long. One of the worse feelings is separation from God.
We cannot make it without God’s grace. Stop relying on intellect and humanistic
thinking as your guide through life. Stop hitting the snooze button and get up.
Turn back to God. Repent and submit your life back to Christ before it’s too
late. There exists a remnant of faithful followers who have embraced the
message of Christ. Are you in this group?

http://youtu.be/Lg8Oq_Sd3Bw

May God continue to bless you!

Minister Kenneth Scott, Jr.

Faith and Obedience Lead to a New You

Hebrews 11:39-40 “And these all, having obtained a good report through
faith, received not the promise: ⁴⁰God having provided some better
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Hebrews 12

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews alludes to many of God’s people in the Old
Testament who applied the principles of faith to their lives received God’s
blessing. I wanted to pick this up at verse 39 and 40 to encourage you today.
These people (I encourage you to read the entire chapter) did not receive all
that God had promised because they died before Christ came. The plan of Christ
was that we would we Christians today would be rewarded with those who endured
in the early days.  How do we receive the
reward of Christ? We need to, as Chapter 12 commands, put the things that are
hindering us aside. We need to endure God’s correction without growing weak or
complaining. God’s correction might not feel good, but have faith that it will
produce a better person in the end. Grow sensitive to the voice of God and
strive for a lifestyle of righteousness. In this process, like the people in
the eleventh chapter, we will be subject to persecution. These are a few
practical things that will create a more perfect creation in Christ. These
applications will provide a high standard of living for us to measure up to.
This is the only way that we can share the blessing of those before us. God
places much emphasis on “Living by Faith”. God has reserved blessings upon
blessings for us; however, if we are not obedient to his voice and correction
we subject ourselves to a world of problems. Let us model after those Old
Testament heroes of faith and obedience. Faith and Obedience will impact our
lives in a way like never before. Be encouraged!

 

Minister Kenneth Scott, Jr.

God’s Rest is here for you if you Believe

Hebrews 4:1-2 : “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of
entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. ²For
unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

 

Many times we sit under the word and here sound doctrine. We study the word
and have accumulated a wealth of knowledge, but cannot seem to enter into the
place of peace, tranquility and freedom. This is because we have not added
faith to our knowledge in Christ. We do not believe in the power of the word
and its relevance to our present day situation. In the book of Proverbs, God
commands us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not to our own
understanding. When we deny the power of the word, we are relying on humanistic
thinking to change our situations. There is much error in relying on humanistic
thinking. Our minds are finite and cannot understand all that goes on. When we
apply biased thinking to our everyday problems, the resulting factor is
turmoil. We can be walking with Christ for decades; unless we have faith in the
Word of God, your walk means nothing. Throughout the bible you’ll find multiple
passages where God is commanding that the Just shall live by Faith. Our knowledge
in Christ means nothing unless we apply faith to it. We can possess a world of
knowledge and still fall short of God’s rest.
The Bible does say that the word will never return void, however, this statement
becomes yet another cliché statement unless we fully accept its implications.
Nothing compares to God’s rest. When we are free from anxiety and worldly issues,
we are, as the

Word alludes to, able to soar like an eagle. Stand on your faith and endeavor to
get to his resting place. Give all your anxieties to God and TRUST HIM.

May God continue to bless you and keep you in his perfect peace,

Minister Kenneth Scott, Jr.

Let Christ be your Motivation

2 Timothy 4:2-4: “²Preach the word; be instant in season, out of
season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. ³For
the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their
own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;⁴And
they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto
fables.

Our churches in the 21^st century are living in these times that verse
3-4 speaks of. These times consist of shorter and shorter attention spans. The
minds of pew warmers begin to wonder off while the preacher is laboring behind
the sacred desk. Why is this happening? It’s because we live in a day and time
where everything must be convenient for us. We attend church when it fits into
our schedules. This consist of Sundays and the perhaps the occasional appearance
in midweek bible study. Why is church attendance down in some of our local
churches? In part, this is because preachers aren’t teaching what people desire
to hear. Many are looking for inspiration or motivation instead of truth. Inspiration
and motivation have a narcotic effect. Many of us desire preaching that makes us
feel good. Look at all the self-help books that are in book stores these days.
Many have put the bible aside because they feel it’s irrelevant to their needs.
Hotels and convention centers are packed
out for motivational speakers and our bible teaching churches remain empty.  From Genesis to Revelation there is someone
that will be able to relate to the problem or issue that you’re dealing with.
It’s time for believers to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and hunger for
life-changing truth.  Christ is your
motivation. The bible is your inspiration. The church is your place of refuge.
There is nothing in this world that will measure up or compare to what Christ
can give us.

 

God Bless You,

Min. Kenneth Scott, Jr.

Victorious Faith Christian Center

Your Labour is not in Vain

2 Timothy 2:24-26: “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be
gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, ²⁵In meekness
instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; ²⁶And that they may
recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him
at his will.

Paul is instructing believers to be patient with everyone who opposes truth.
In verse 23 Paul tells us to “avoid foolish and unlearned questions that gender
strife.” How can Paul say this to us in the 21^st century? We are
confrontational and argumentative by nature. How is this possible? It’s only
possible through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works patience in us with
people who oppose truth or too stubborn to accept truth. We are to remain
steadfast in our interactions with other Christians and no-believers. The Holy
Spirit allows us to reflect the nature of Christ. Christ presented truth to
people and left it at that. Sometimes we will present truth to a person and if
they do not immediately receive it we get flustered. Verse 25 says in meekness
instruct those who oppose themselves. The key word in this scripture is “peradventure”.
Peradventure means maybe. This means that as we are instructing those with
patience maybe they receive it and maybe they won’t. We don’t have control over
their will. God doesn’t control our will. He is gentleman enough to let us come
to him freely from our own heart. Our objective is to plant the seed, water it
with prayer, and to have faith of a great harvest. Don’t get frustrated our
discouraged if your word of correction does not bring about immediate change in
the person. God is honoring the fact that you are making his name and nature
known to all. Stay on the path, and don’t be weary in well doing. God sees your
works but is more impressed with your faith.

God Bless You,

 

Minister Kenneth Scott, Jr.

Never Place a Ceiling on your Spiritual Development

1 Timothy 6:3-5: ³If any
man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; ⁴He
is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words,
whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, ⁵Perverse
disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

 

Within Christendom, there are those who have devoted themselves to studying
of the word, and as result possess a wealth of knowledge. This is a great
thing. The problem falls in what people do with this knowledge. Some believers,
who possess this wealth of knowledge, use it as Lordship over other believers
who are either less knowledgeable or spiritual babes. The people believe they
have arrived at a certain level and their knowledge is the “be all, end all.”
They aren’t submissive to sound teaching of others. Paul is warning us to stay
away from these people. These people become argumentative over theology. The
purpose of theology is to bring unity to the body of Christ, to edify one
another in love, not to use your knowledge as a soap box to look down on
others. Me and a friend of mine were talking about this yesterday. Sometime
everything in us wants to stand toe- to- toe with these types of believers and
biblically spar it out. What does this profit? All this will is drive division
between God’s people. True knowledge and godly wisdom is a lifelong process. We
can spend our entire lives studying the word and still not possess the full
breadth of the Kingdom of god.  We must
be careful to place a ceiling on our spiritual development. Satan is waiting to
use these types of people to unleash havoc on the church. Give no place to him.
Whether you’re more biblically astute then someone else or not, always be in
the mode to receive something from each other. This is heart of God. Just a little
food for thought!

 

God Bless You

 

Minister Kenneth Scott, Jr.

Why Do I Need a Pastor over my life?

Ephesians 4:11-14: “And he gave some,
apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and
teachers; ¹²For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: ¹³Till we all come
in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: ¹⁴That
we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby
they lie in wait to deceive;”

With all the amassed confusion in the pulpit, in these last few years, many
have grown desensitized and devalue Pastors. The media portrays them as pimps,
who are money hungry and rob the church and its people. There is a small level
of validity to the way in which Pastors are characterized. Sadly, it has
stemmed from the way in which some carry themselves; however there still exists
a majority of Pastors who have responded to the call of Jesus and are living
upright carrying out the assignment of Christ. What is the importance of having
a Pastor over my life? Many people have asked this question at some point. The
answer lies right in the above passage. Verse 12 tells us that Pastors are
important to equip God’s people to do his work and build the church.

Spiritual development is another purpose of a Pastor in your life; although
I will say spiritual development is not the sole responsibility of the pastor-
it is a dual responsibility. When we first come to Christ, as 1 Peter 2:2 says,
we are like new born babies desiring the ‘sincere milk’ of the word. We need a
Pastor in our lives to nurture and provide direction to our lives. Verse 13 says
that he assigned Pastors in our lives to help us mature in the Lord and measure
up to the full standard of him.

Pastors protect us from those looking to deceive us. He or she is likened to
a shepherd protecting their sheep from the ravening wolves. 1 Thessalonians
5:13 tells us to esteem our Spiritual leaders highly in love for their work. They
are in constant communion with God for our lives. Pastors hold the lives of
their flock above their own. There is no need to submit to the status quo of
the characterizations of Pastors or spiritual leaders.

The will of God is that you have a spiritual leader over your life. Not sure
on where to go? Ask God for direction and be open to wherever he leads you. Don’t
limit yourself to geographical area codes. Honor the will of God and he will
honor you.

God Bless You

Minister Kenneth Scott, Jr.

Victorious Faith Christian Center

Joy in Every Circumstance

Philippians 4:4-6 says “Rejoice in the Lord always:
and again I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all mean. The Lord
is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (KJV).

 

Paul wrote the book of Philippians while in prison.
How could anyone in prison tell someone to rejoice? It is this attitude that
many of us should have. Believers should be full of joy. You may be saying that
I am happy; however, there is a major difference between joy and happiness.
Happiness is based on condition; our mood, status, state of mind. In other
words, happiness is momentary. On the contrary, joy is everlasting. Joy is the
attitude or feeling of permanent peace because we know everything will work out
for our good. We can be full of joy amidst the many struggles we are enduring.
It is extremely difficult to be happy at all times.  Paul knew, while in prison, he would be fine.
His greater reward was in heaven. Here is a man that all throughout the course
of his ministry has been persecuted, second guessed, and now imprisoned. Anyone
would have given up under these circumstances. Paul chose to lock into his
assignment and spread the gospel as Christ saw fit. Joy is an expression of faith
and an indication that Christ dwells
in us.

The key to this passage is in verse 6.  Do not to worry about any circumstance (the
national debt crisis, unemployment, money to pay bills, etc.), but let your
requests be made unto God.  Paul tells us
to pray and petition God with thanksgiving. God has delivered us out of so many
other pressing issues. So we are to publicly acknowledge or express gratitude
for the things he has already done in our lives. We shouldn’t relegate God to a
genie in a lamp. We must continue to have high regard for Him. Someone said to
me once, “if you’re going to pray, don’t worry; if you’re going to worry, don’t
pray.” This statement reflects the lifestyle full of joy that we should live.
There’s no need to worry, God’s got it. He’s done it for us time after time, so
why would he fail now?  Whatever it is,
give it to God and believe that he will bring you out.

 

Grace and Peace,

 

Minister Kenneth Scott, Jr.

Victorious Faith Christian Center

Is humility in the church dead?

Philippians 2:5-8 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: ⁷But
made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of men: ⁸And being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross”
(KJV).

 

By far the best example of humility and submission is Christ. What do I
mean? Jesus was already one with God, took on the form of man, and stripped
himself of all privileges and rightful dignity, to take on that of a servant.
Added to his he carried out God’s assignment unto the extreme of death. His
death was by crucifixion, the death of a criminal, which of course he was far
from; he did this all for you and I to have complete liberty to make his name
known throughout all the earth and to be his representation.

Is humility dead?  Why is it  believers have a hard time with submission and
humility? We wear the name of one who humbled himself to die for us, but we
refuse to honor his submission and serve one another in love. We are not happy
with our role in church. We are upset because our gifts are not fully being utilized.
As a result, we are not faithful to the man or woman of God that have been
planted in our lives. This Pharisaic mindset is plaguing the body of Christ.
What do I mean? We want to serve in the areas where we can be seen. The real work of the church is relegated to the few and faithful to be done. Everyone
wants to sing on a Choir but can’t come to intercessory prayer or be active on
the evangelism team. This is no coincidence. Ephesians 6:12 says that “we wrestle
not against flesh and blood.” This isn’t a person issue. This is a spirit at
work- specifically the spirit of
haughtiness. This stronghold has crept its way into the body of Christ and
taken root in our believers.

It’s time for the prayer warriors to a stand against this epidemic amongst many
others. According to Matthew 18:18 we must bind this spirit of haughtiness and
loose a humble and contrite spirit over the body of Christ (Proverbs 16:19). It’s
time for the church to get out of its own way and rid itself of the weights
that try to hold us down. The only way for God’s kingdom to grow is by
believers living a life of humility and obedience.  The bible is packed with scriptures on the
blessing of the humble (Isaiah 29:19, Matthew 5:5, Psalm 10:17, 22:26,
37:11,149:4, Matthew 20:26 to name a few).
There is great reward in humility. Embrace it!

Grace and Peace,

Minister Kenneth Scott, Jr.