Floyd Kelley

October 18, 2013June 18, 2014

Grace is Enough

Are you struggling with drugs or alcohol? Grace is enough.

Are you struggling with porn? Grace is enough.

Are you struggling with overeating? Grace is enough.

Are you struggling with un-forgiveness? Grace is enough.

Are you struggling with pride or greed? Grace is enough.

Are you struggling with gossip? Grace is enough.

Are you struggling with fear? Grace is enough.

Are you struggling with rejection? Grace is enough.

Are you struggling with disease or lack? Grace is enough.

Are you struggling with brokenness? Grace is enough.

We are broken people, living in a broken world. Our brokenness manifests itself everyday, in a thousand different ways, and this troubles us because we know that there is only one way that leads to eternal life.

Grace is enough.

The Apostle Paul prayed three times, and asked Yeshua to remove a “thorn” that was in his flesh. Yeshua answered Paul, and told him that grace was enough. Yeshua did not remove the thorn from Paul’s flesh because it served as a constant reminder to him that he was a broken man, living in a broken world. This thorn caused this great man just enough pain to make him constantly aware of his lowly position before the Exalted Creator of the Universe. In other words, the thorn kept Paul humble and positioned to receive the grace that would develop his character.

Think about that for a moment. Yahweh’s Spirit inspired Paul to write most of the New Testament, but He allowed a painful thorn to remain in his flesh to develop his character. Yahweh did not put the thorn in Paul’s flesh, but He used that thorn to develop Paul’s character in order to equip him to fulfill his purpose in the Kingdom.

Paul wanted Yahweh to remove the thorn, but grace was enough.

I have thorns in my flesh. Over the years, I have asked Yeshua to remove these thorns. As I have matured spiritually, Yeshua has removed some of the thorns. However, some of the thorns are still embedded deep in my flesh, and they continue to cause me a lot of pain. I do not like the struggle, pain, and brokenness that these thorns cause, but grace is enough.

How about you? Do you have a thorn in your flesh that is causing you a lot of pain? Does this thorn constantly remind you that you are a broken human being, who is living in a broken world? Does this thorn keep you dependent on Yahweh’s grace? Is Yahweh allowing this thorn to remain in your flesh so that He can mature you and change your character in order to equip you to fulfill your purpose in the Kingdom?

Grace is enough.

Yeshua is our Great High Priest. Our Great High Priest entered into the Temple in Heaven, and placed His blood on the altar in order to pay for all our sins. Yeshua sat down at the right hand of the Father where He now intercedes for each of us.

Yeshua sent His Spirit to live in the bodies of those who put their faith in Him. When we believe in our heart that Yeshua died for our sins on the execution stake, and, three days later, rose from the dead, and we confess Him as Lord, He saves us.

At that moment, Yeshua’s Spirit enters our body and becomes one with our spirit. Everything Yeshua is, we are. Everything Yeshua has, we have. It is finished! Yeshua makes us whole and complete. In Christ, we are righteous and holy.

In Him, we, (our spirits) are perfect, righteous, holy, whole and complete, but we (our spirits) live in broken bodies in a broken world with broken people. We strive to walk in the Spirit and manifest perfection, but, all too often, we end up walking in the flesh and manifesting our brokenness and adding to the brokenness of the world. This is painful because we know who we really are…we are sons and daughters of Yahweh, who sometimes act like Satan’s children.

Grace is enough.

Grace is the forgiveness and mercy that we do not deserve. Grace channels Yahweh’s goodness and blessings to broken humans, who live in a broken world. Grace inspires us to strive to manifest perfection, but covers us when we end up manifesting our brokenness and adding to the brokenness of the world. Grace matures us and develops our character as we struggle with the thorns in our flesh.

Are you struggling today? Is there a painful thorn in your flesh that you have asked the Lord to remove many times, and He hasn’t? Welcome to the club. When you were born from above, you were born into the Character Development Club. Character is not imparted by the laying on of hands, character is developed, as we wrestle with Yeshua, and plead with Him to bless us by removing the painful thorns from our flesh, while applying the salve of His grace to ease the pain.

Grace is enough.

Yahweh wants you to mature spiritually so that you can fulfill your role in His eternal Kingdom. Consequently, Yahweh is more concerned with your character, than He is your comfort. Comfort (the lack of worldly struggle and pain) is temporary, but the character that is forged, as your perfect spirit rightly interacts with the struggle and pain, which is caused by him living in a broken body, on a broken planet, with broken people, is eternal.

Make no mistake. Character development is a painful, time-consuming business. It is painful to be a perfect creature, who lives in a broken body, in a broken world with broken people. It is painful to grow up spiritually.

Grace is enough.

August 18, 2013June 18, 2014

Where there is smoke…….there is fire

Lately, I have seen a lot of smoke. This smoke tells me that there is a fire. And, from experience, I know that when a fire gets out of control, it consumes everything and everyone in its path. This tells me that we are in danger, and we need to prepare.

The fire I am talking about, is the fire of Christian persecution.

The fire of Christian persecution rages in Muslim nations, where Christians are, at best, second class citizens, and, at worse, beheaded in public. The fire of Christian persecution rages in China and North Korea, where Christians risk imprisonment in a labor camp for worshiping in underground churches, because they refuse to go to a state sanctioned “church” that only teaches state-approved doctrines. The fire of Christian persecution rages in Europe and Canada, where Christians are labeled as ignorant and intolerant bigots, and arrested for hate speech for preaching the Word.

Christians in these countries know full-well that the very same message that made them friends of Yahweh, made them enemies of the world system. This is why the worldly prosperity gospel is not preached in these countries. When these people bow their knee to Yeshua, they become enemies of the state or second class citizens. These people expect persecution and loss, and accept the possibility that they and their families could be killed for their faith. These people do not accept the Gospel with the expectation of obtaining wealth in this world, they accept the Gospel with a willingness to lose everything in this world, including their own life.

This reminds me of this Scripture: “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:24-26

Historically, the situation has been very different in the United States. Christians founded the United States. Christians wrote the documents that have guided our development as a nation. Christians drove public policy and accumulated wealth. These Christians built universities and hospitals for the betterment of our nation, and sent missionaries to the ends of the earth in order to expand Yahweh’s Kingdom.

The Untied States once looked to Yahweh and trusted Him, but now that He has blessed us, we have become “too big to fail” and we trust in our dollar and our military might. Our Leader announced to the world that we were not a Christian nation. Our elementary schools have banned Yahweh and His commands, and our universities teach that He does not exist. Many of our preachers preach a worldly, self-centered prosperity message and claim that they are establishing Yeshua’s Kingdom on the earth, so that they can line their own pockets. Many of our churches care more about expanding their membership (and their revenue base), than they do in expanding the membership of Heaven. As a nation, we have abandoned Yah.

This reminds me of this Scripture. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wast cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” Revelation 3:15-19

In the United States, it was once normal for people to believe the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, but today smoke from a smoldering fire is distorting this normalcy. If you look, you can see clouds of smoke that indicate that the fire of Christian persecution could erupt at any moment and sweep through our land.

Where is the smoke?

Well, here is a puff. On 4/9/13, The Blaze reported that a Colorado Sheriff reported that the Colorado State Police were training officers to view people who believed the Bible literally and took it too seriously with suspicion…. the same way that they would view dangerous motorcycle gangs with suspicion!

Here is a puff. On 4/5/13, WND reported that Soldiers in the U.S. military have been told in a training briefing that evangelical Christians are the No. 1 extremist threat to America – ahead of groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, KKK, Nation of Islam, AL-Qaida, Hamas and others!

Here is a puff. On 3/23/13, Captain Terry M. Hestilow, United States Army, Retired, wrote a letter to his Senator. In this letter, the Captain demanded that his Senator see that Homeland Security surrender the billion rounds of ammo and light armored tanks that they recently acquired because they could only be used on American soil, against Americans, who the government classified as domestic terrorists. (This would include fundamentalists, who took the Bible literally, and clung to the right to bear arms!).

Here is a puff. On 4/13/13, Conservative Byte.com, posted an article that discussed the possibility of the government placing fundamentalist Christians on a watch list so that they could not buy firearms. This sounds crazy, but it is possible.

Our leaders are pushing for stricter gun laws and they know that their demands must seem reasonable in order for the people to accept them. In the new background checks, anyone who has been declared mentally unstable will not be able to buy firearms. This seems reasonable, because no one wants a crazy person to own a gun. But what happens when the psychologists classify religious extremism as a mental disorder, and say that anyone who believes the Bible literally is mentally unstable?
There are other puffs too. Racial tensions are becoming greater. Class warfare is becoming greater. The U.S. is spending itself into collapse. A few weeks ago, a European country took its citizen’s bank accounts to pay down their national debt.

The Beast kingdom (Yes, I take the Bible literally!) is taking control of the whole earth by modulating the money supply. Here in the U.S., we have unknowingly elected representatives of the Beast kingdom and given them the power that they need to destroy our Constitution and force us into submission.

Once the modulation of the money supply brings every nation under the power of the Beast kingdom, the Beast government will come out into the open. After that, a smooth talking man will come to power and demand to be worshiped by the whole world. He will control the money supply so that no one may buy or sell unless they bow their knee to him and worship him. He will behead those who rebel against him.

The smoke is all around us!

Yahweh grafted us into the commonwealth of Israel. Soon, the fire of Christian persecution will erupt and engulf the United States. For it is written, “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13

Since the U.S. has turned her back on Yahweh and put her trust in money, He will allow money to bring her into bondage and destroy her as a nation. Since much of the Church in the U.S. has put their trust in worldly prosperity and fed their own lusts, Yeshua will allow the fire of persecution to purify Her. It has happened all throughout history, and it’s happening today in almost every other nation on the earth. We think that it cannot happen in the U.S., but it can, and it will.

Make no mistake, the fire is coming, because where there is smoke…..there is fire.

July 18, 2013June 18, 2014

When we Sin

What is sin? Sin is missing the mark. What mark? Yahweh’s instructions.

Yahweh tells us what is good, and He also tells us what is evil. Yahweh wants us to trust Him, and to prove that we trust Him by doing what He says is good, and not doing what He says is evil. When we fail to do what Yahweh tells us to do, we sin. When we do what Yahweh tells us not to do, we also sin.

When we sin, Yahweh records it in a book. On Judgment Day, Yahweh will open His book and judge us according to our works. Yahweh will find us guilty, and sentence us to the Lake of Fire for our rebellion. Yahweh’s angels will take us to the fiery lake and leave us there with the Devil and his crew to be tormented forever.

How could Yahweh do such a thing?

Yah did not do anything, but honor our free will. If we end up in the Lake of Fire with the Devil, it will be because we chose to. See, we were born into the Devil’s kingdom, and, over the course of our life on the earth, Yahweh gave us many opportunities to escape from the Devil’s kingdom and enter His Heavenly Kingdom, but we refused. So since we chose to remain in the Devil’s kingdom, we will remain in it throughout eternity!

Will it be bad in the Lake of Fire? Yes, it will be very bad. There will be nothing good in it. There will be no mercy, grace, love, peace, joy or presence of Yahweh in it. Pure evil will rule in the Lake of Fire.

On earth, sin is pleasurable for a season, but eventually, that season gives way to torment. For example, when we take drugs, we experience pleasure, but eventually, the drugs enslave us (take away our free will) and torment us. The depth of this torment is a place called “Rock Bottom.” In the fiery lake there will be no pleasure with sin, only torment that never ends, that is, a rock bottom that never ends!

How can we avoid the Lake of Fire?

As we hear the Gospel of the Kingdom of Yahweh, (the good news of the Kingdom of God), we can choose to believe it and receive it. What is the Gospel of the Kingdom?

Here is the Gospel of the Kingdom: If we believe that Yeshua was crucified for our sin, and that He rose from the dead on the 3rd day, and confess Him as Lord, we will leave the Devil’s kingdom, and enter Yahweh’s Kingdom to live with Him forever!

As we bow our knee to King Yeshua, we submit to His authority. Since we submit to Yeshua’s authority, we enter His Kingdom. Consequently, the Devil no longer has authority over our life. Then, as we continue to submit to Yeshua’s authority, He delivers us from our old sin patterns so that we can live the abundant life on earth.

The hallmark of someone, who has been released from the Devil’s kingdom, and given citizenship in Yahweh’s Kingdom, is the putting off of his or her past sins. A person, who has truly been born from above (born-again), will struggle against sin.

The struggle with some sin patterns will be light and brief. The struggle with other sin patterns may be heavy and protracted. The struggle against the Devil, the world and the flesh will go on until the citizen of the Heavenly Kingdom goes Home.

The goal of a citizen of the Heavenly Kingdom, who is passing through the Devil’s earthly kingdom, is to mature, that is, to break free of every old sin pattern and live a life that is not continually controlled by the Devil, the world or the flesh.

Notice the words, continually controlled. As long as we live on the earth, inside a body of flesh, and use a partially renewed mind, we will not mature to the point that we are completely immune to the influence of the Devil, the world and the flesh. At times, the Devil, the world and the flesh will get the better of us, and we will sin.

When we sin, we must know that Colossians 2:14 says that Yeshua took our sin record and nailed it to the execution stake to do away with all our trespasses. How did Yeshua accomplish this? Well, the Scriptures say that Yeshua became our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) and Yahweh judged our sin and punished it “in Him”. (1 Thes 5:9)

When we sin, we must know that Yeshua destroyed our sin record, and that consequently, Yahweh can no longer count our sins against us. (Romans 4:8) Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are “In Christ”. (Romans 8:1)

Yahweh is not counting our sins against us!

What then, shall we continue in sin? No! When we sin, we submit to the Devil and invite him to put us in bondage, and destroy our lives. (Romans 6:16)

Moreover, when we go Home, we will stand before the Bema Seat, where Yeshua will judge our works. If our works were good, Yeshua will reward them by giving us an important assignment in His Eternal Kingdom. However, if our works were evil, Yeshua will burn them up and give us a lesser assignment in His Eternal Kingdom.

In sum: When we sin, Yahweh is not counting it against us, but we are diminishing our eternal reward and allowing the Devil to enslave us and destroy our lives.

If you have truly left the Devil’s kingdom, then you will struggle against sin. If you have truly left the Devil’s kingdom, then you will not end up in the Lake of Fire. So, examine yourself to be sure you are in the faith, and work out your salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that your lifestyle either proves or disproves your faith.