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Hey, everyone. Sorry there hasn't been a sermon lately. I think all us mods have been busy with things.

Todays Sermon: Resident Evil

(Warning: Some of the videos shown in this sermon have scenes of violence and gore [I am trying to limit them as much as possible]. Viewer discression is advised))

Ok, so, I'm still a bit of a nerd of a series called Resident Evil. I'm trying to give it up more and more, because I have been feeling (hopefully, being led by the Lord) to give up violent video games. Anyway, this weekend I decided to pick up this game again from the ol' game shelf and play it. It's odd, really. I played it, but I had almost no intention of shooting anything while playing it. Instead, I'd run away from the enemies and try and beat it that way. That's really quite stupid, because part of this game is blasting zombies. I beat the game just last night (today's the 13th, I started this sermon yesterday).

However, I was reminded of something while and before I played it: life has a series of scary moments and crappy situations.

If you don't know the back story to Resident Evil, in the first game you're part of a special force group called S.T.A.R.S (Special Tactics and Rescue Squad) branched off from the police force in the made up city of Raccoon City. Recently, near by the city in a forest boarding it's limits, poeple are found murdered in certain areas, mostly eaten to death. Because of these bizarre murders, the S.T.A.R.S, a group split up into two teams, Alpha and Bravo team, about 14 members in all, is sent by orders of the police chief and mayor of Raccoon city to investgate the area. Bravo team is sent in first, only to lose contact with Alpha team (who were still in Raccoon City) after they crashed their helicopter due to unknown causes. A day later, Alpha team is sent in to find thier lost comrades. Blah blah blah, long story short you arrive in Raccoon forest at the Bravo team's crash site, get attacked by zombie dogs, and run away to a near by mansion. This mansion is also inhabited by zombies and other beasts. Blah blah blah you find out that a company called Umbrella Corperation has been conducting illegal bio-weapons research to create a virus called the "Tyrant(T)"-virus, a mutagen that creates monsters and turns people into zombies. The whole point of the game is to survive through the mansion, search for your lost comrades who are now mostly dead, and investigate the cause of this whole mess (underneath the mansion is a secret lab, the mansion only being a front).

Why on earth would I bring up Resident Evil, do you think? Am I just being a nerd, or is there a spiritual point to this? The point is this: we all go through trials, some which we sometimes fail and other which God leads us through victoriously.

How does Resident Evil play into this?

Ok, pick one of the following characters to be in this case. These are the main Resident Evil characters.

Jill Valentine:

Chris Redfield:



Here's the setting: The Spencer Estate (Mansion)



The mansion represents whatever trial it is that you are facing. Whatever it is. You choose.

Inside the mansion, you encounter these enemies (demonic spirits)

The enemies are:

spirits of doubt (a.k.a zombie)


spirits of impatience (a.k.a Crimson head)


spirits of pride (a.k.a Tyrant)


and spirits of fear (a.k.a hunter)


Of course there are many more spirits, but I'll just use these as examples.

These are the weapons you find as you go.

pistol (a.k.a shield of faith)

self defense daggar (a.k.a patience of the Spirit)

shot gun (a.k.a the love of God/praising God for being so cool)

And Yeshua the messiah, the king of all KINGS! AMEN!


There are more weapons of course, but it'll take forever to use them all as examples.


So, you enter the mansion (your trial). I have my trial (I chose Jill Valentine btw....She's cute redface ). God our Father has allowed you to enter this trial for whatever reason. Not to harm you nor get you to quit (like so many times I have wanted to!!), but rather, to in the end strengthen you and gain glory.

You enter the mansion. Its creepy atmosphere and eerie silence give you the heeby geebies. The inside of the mansion (of course, the mansion is HUGE) looks something like this (go to the link)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WLtfGZWDBcI

You're scared, but you know you have no other choice but to pull through.

As you move into the interior of the estate, you begin to feel apprehensive after you hear deathly moan of something near by. You gulp and proceed forward, unsure what it is you're moving toward. Btw this is a bad time to tell you that you've got no gun, no nothing. As you proceed forward, into a long hallway, dismal and bleak, ahead of you you see a silhoette. The moan you heard earlier was from none other than a zombie (doubting spirit). Even though they're really slow, for some reason it catches up to you quickly, wanting to eat your flesh and spread its virus (doubt) on you. What do you do? You try to use your fists to beat it away from you, but to no avail. It's upon you and you're dead! Doubt overcame you, and because of that you died.

Going back to the beginning of the zombie attack, say instead of dying, you ran away from the spirit of doubt, traveling through many rooms. After running for quite awhile, you stop to catch your breath. Panting on the ground, you take a few moments to rest. Bad idea. Behind you, without even knowing it, a crimson head was laying on the ground asleep. Having smelled your flesh, the beast awakes and quickly rises. You hear this and turn around. Its too late. It's on you, and your dead.

Go back again. Say you got past both the zombie and the crimson head. Well, you run again, far away, deeper into the mansion of horror. Upon opening a door, a hunter, who had been waiting to pounce on whatever came through the door in front of it, leaps into the air with a horrorifing screech. Once again you die.

One more time, you get past all the creatures miraculously. Phew! You're quite the runner! However, you're nothing compared to what comes next. TYRANT! This is the last boss of all the game, so you're facing one tough customer. Falling to the ground before it, you realize you stand no chance. It raises its enourmous claws and you are dead.

This is what happens to the person who goes through trials without the love, guidence, and help of Yeshua our savior.

The Bible declares that on earth we go through trials of many kinds.

John 16:33

33"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

No one is immune to this. Jesus even says that we also go through this trial, for if that wasn't true, well, we'd have it easy. But take courage! Jesus has overcome the world!!!! Praise Yeshua!

Luckily for us, Jesus has given us the means to over come these trials, all of which are declared in the book of Galatians

5:22-23

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Those are some awesome qualities, all of which require the Holy Spirit and your cooperation to have!

Let's go back to the beginning. This time, you're a Christian. The fact that you entered the mansion (trial) means that you are not immune to the trials of life. This time, though, you are armed. Armed to the teeth, to be exact! You got the pistol, the daggar, and the shotgun. You have all these qualities, even though by yourself you certainly don't, and only through cooperation can you use them. More than that. You're not alone! Not at all! At your side is the King of all Kings, Yeshua the Messiah! However, unknown to you, Yeshua has plans of leaving...leaving in body, but not in the Spirit.

Yeshua turns to you and says with a gentle grin, "Take courage, I have defeated the world." Then before your eyes he disappears. You sceam out, "Yeshua! Where are you?!", unsure where He is. Immediately you begin to search around for Him, but only for a few moments, for you hear gently in your eye, "Surely I AM with you always, to the end of the age". You relax, knowing that Yeshua is always with you.

Feeling the prompting of the Spirit, you head forward into the darkness of the mansion, armed fully with your weapons of the Spirit (fruit of the Spirit).

The mansion is cold and without adequate lighting. However, unknowing to you, Yeshua, who stands beside you, is shining brightly, providing both light and warmth for you while you proceed. As you walk forward, you are confronted by a moan from a creature near by. A feeling of dread washes over you. However, Yeshua, Who is still standing next to you, says gently in your ear again, "Have courage! I have defeated the World!" You relax, take a deep breath, and continue onward.

While proceeding into a hallway, you find in front of you a zombie, creeping toward you with hungry gasps. You frea out! Ready to turn around, you want nothing more than to run back to the entrance of the mansion where you knew it was safe and secure from monsters. However, Yeshua stands firm beside you, reminding you that going back to the entrance of the mansion would only mean being stranded. You know what you must do.

Armed with your pistol, you raise your arms and take aim.




The zombie falls dead.

In this scenario, a spirit of doubt had attacked you, trying to make you see only your problems to make you run away. I KNOW this feeling very well, for I myself face it often. I struggle with this a lot. However, armed with a shield of faith which the Spirit of God provides, you stand your group. Faith is SO important to have. We all faulter in this sometimes. However, Jesus promises that He WILL help you. The Spirit of truth is here to help you!

John 16:13-15

13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

Moving on. Having dispatched the zombie, you wait for Yeshua's lead. Yeshua tells you to move on. To make this shorter, you end up wandering through the mansion. Yeshua is still with you, as you know, so your fears are a bit more relaxed. Coming across another long hall, you are confronted by the raging growl of a crimson head. You stop again. Surely this time you're gonna run! But NOOOOO. The Spirit of God says, "keep going." Crap. Ok. You proceed.

As you walk forward, a door beside you bursts open, and the crimson head grabs your shoulders! What are you gonna do?? The crimson head reaches for your neck with it's teeth, and you panic. Crap crap CRAP!

Yeshua reminds you of your dagger. Safe!

You reach for your daggar, which is strapped to your belt, and,




The crimson head, like the zombie, falls dead.

Patience is THE HARDEST quality to maintain in my book. I am a REALLY impatient person. All my life this has been true. Just recently, God has been leading me through different books and movies toward the same message: PATIENCE. I am NOT patient. The reason I chose the crimson head to represent the spirit of impatience is because the crimson head in the Resident Evil Remake is a fast, vicious, tries really hard to chase you down, and when it does (if you you don't blast it, that is) it will tear into you with it's claws. Does that sound like an impatient person to you? You just want to sink you claws into something, not caring about why you need to be patient, or why you need to wait, you just go for it. That's what a crimson head does. Watch the video to see!

(Warning: Contains violence and gore)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0-Krv8cazDo

Let's look at the book of Matthew for example.

Matthew 18:21-35

21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[f]

23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents[g] was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

28"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.[h] He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.

29"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

Here, Jesus is talking about an unmerciful servant. What marks the unmerciful servant's actions? His greed, yes, but also, his impatience. You know, God expects us to be patient. If He didn't, then He wouldn't have mentioned it as one of the fruits of the spirit. Think about it, say you have....me with you. Here I am constantly whining about stuff, like, "Get me water!!' Or, "ME ME ME ME ME!"....Yeah. Well, you wouldn't like it. God may be God, and He is patient with us, but He DOES expect us to grow in Him. That's why God is telling me, amongst my struggles, "Patience!" I need it, I suck at it! But praise Yeshua, I am learning, by God's guidence and not mine.


Sometimes during trials, you just need to be patient. It's hard, I know. I suck at this big time, but patience is KEY. It's humble (which is why it's so hard) but Yeshua will help you by loving you. Yes, by loving you. From my experiences with pride, what ALWAYS humbled me was the gentle love of Jesus. Praise God.

Moving on into the mansion of madness! WOAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHH!!!!


With the crimson head dispatched, you, after feeling Yeshua beckoning you forward with a gentle nudge, continue.

You head down the hallway and open a door on the far right. No time to think, you enter the room. The room you entered was a small hallway, which leads to a stair case that winds up to the second floor. Yeshua tells you to wait a second. You comply.

As you do this, a monster, big, green, and really, really pointy steps into view. With a piercing shriek, it raises its claws to strike at you. You can't think you're so scared!

That's ok, Jesus has got this. In your terror, Jesus hums a gentle love song to you. His gentleness relaxes your nerves, and you begin to praise him.

However, the monster, the hunter, is about to swipe your face off. It's time to act!

In your arms, (this won't make too much sense) is your shotgun. Lifting it up, you point it at the hunter and,



The hunter hits the ground.

The hunter represents the spirit of fear we all get at times. The hunter in this RE game is a very loud (VERY loud) shrieking creature that, if you're not expecting it, will freak you the crap out of you! Seriously, I remember a few times when I was playing this game where I entered a room, and out of no where, a hunter shrieks out and pounces on me. Watch this video and see how it acts. Warning, at the end there's gore. This is the best I could do (the video is only 25 seconds long)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nN5McbSAqrU

Anyway, we all face spirits of fear. As for me, it comes against me in different ways. One way it comes against me is that when I face spiritual warfare of very evil things, I get afraid. I do! I become afraid of what I will do. But the problem with that is that what I should be doing it trusting God that He will a.) defeat this, b.) not allow me to do what is wrong unless I distrust Him and c.) I should be praising God. I don't always have a heart that wants to praise God. To be honest, right now, as in RIGHT now, I haven't had a desire to praise God from my heart for a few weeks. However, praise God Who has NEVER failed me before, step by step He has helped me to at least work on this (hence the praise God a moment ago).

Let me tell you a true story about what happened to me one night. I was sleeping and started having a nightmare. It was a nightmare about the movie The Excorcist, which still kinda gives me the heeby jeebies. Well, I had a nightmare involving that, and I woke up just in a panic. I was REALLY paranoid of my room that night, just feeling a demoic presence in there. I started praying, but I didn't feel much better. So, I got out my MP3 player and turned on the song Kutless song called, "We Fall Down". I hit the loop button and tried to relax. Sure enough, after a while, I fell back asleep, feeling calmer because of the praise of Jesus.

Listen to the Song if you want to!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9hT4jKDiGdY

My point is this. When we're afraid, and believe me I'm not the best at this, it's best to praise God. I can recall times when I was really afraid of something, and I just started singing God's praise. God is faithful. He will help you.

Let me share with you something Gini shared with me recently.



Moving on in the mansion of terror!!

So, some time goes by. FAST FORWARD!!! (Tons of stuff happens) You make it to the secret underground lab beneath the mansion. There, Yeshua is hinting toward the fact that you are almost out of this trial. You let out a relieved sigh, and proceed forward. FAST FORWARD. You're in a very high-tech lab. Armed with all your weapons, you proceed, feeling Jesus lead you once again. After searching around for a while, unsure what it is that Yeshua wants exactly, but you know you're supposed to confront something here. Sure enough, in only a moment's time, you find out what it is.

Tyrant


This is the biggest enemy you've faced yet. BY FAR. Its hulking mass easily doubles, if not triples your size. YIKES. This thing could kill you in one swipe. You stand in awe of it, unable to move yet every single inch of you is screaming to leave. It's just so beautiful!

You almost don't want to fight this spirit.

However, it roars its hungry cry, moving toward you, its claws clenching and unclenching in lust for the kill. You take aim with your biggest weapon, the shotgun, and open fire. The pellets from the rounds only scratch the surface of the tyrant's skin. Gulp. Uh-oh.

You scream out, "YESHUA!! I NEED YOU!", and you fall to your knees in fear.

The gentle voice of your Savior and Lord fills your mind, "Let me take care of this one."

Tears running down your face, you sit back.



Yeshua is on the scene. He is the Lion of Judah, and tyrant stands NO chance.

Jesus quickly dispatches his prey, devouring him like a candy bar.

You remain on the floor, trembling, amazed at the awesome sight of Jesus the King of all Kings.

His form has changed. He walks up to you.



Yeshua says to you, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" With that said, He pats you on the head, picks you up, and carries you in His loving arms.

What does tyrant represent again? He represents a spirit of pride. PRIDE. Pride is something God hates SO MUCH that He just can't stand it even one bit.

Leviticus 26:19

19 I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.

Dude, I think if you went through all the verses in the Bible that talk about God hating pride, you'd have a small novel by itself. God hates our pride! Why is that, do you think? Well, my thoughts on that is that a.) you're worshipping something besides God, Who deserves ALL our worship, and b.) being prideful doesn't only affect God, it harms us and people. The most prideful people in the world are vicious human beings. In ancient times, the prideful and evil kings had people killed because of their pride. Look at Herod the Great!

Matthew 2

The Visit of the Magi
1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ[c] was to be born. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'[d]"

7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east[e] went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt
13When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." 14So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."[f]
16When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18"A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."[g]

The Return to Nazareth
19After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."
21So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

Pride isn't good because it makes us do evil things!

It's a sin against God, against our brothers and sisters, etc.

God warns us very clearly that those who are prideful will one day fall. The prideful, like us, are only people.

Tyrant represents the spirit of pride because it embodies the might and pride of Umbrella Corp (the company that made the T-virus) at the time. It stands a hulking 9 feet tall, can withstand any small arms' fire, and it very tough and fast. Watch this video. You'll see what I mean (it'll be spelled out to you)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_83ulEYoPHw

(warning: Some violence)

Notice how Albert Wesker calls the tyrant, "magnificant" and "the perfect being (well, he says that in the original playstation game...)"

All the tyrant is is a killing machine! Yet, it's worshipped by this man!

Now, I am willing to confess. I get very prideful. Even now, God and I are working on areas of pride in my life. Meaning, sometimes I get the idea that I'm hot-crap, and I can do things on my own. But that simply isn't so!

Look at what our dear Lord Jesus says in John.

John 15:1-8

1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Sometimes I hate looking at this verse. Sometimes it brings me such dread! But it's true. We can do NOTHING without Christ. I am NADDA without Him. Even if I was the most famous man alive (Jesus TOTALLY is), I'd still be nothing. I'd die and be forgotten too.

My pride doesn't want to accept that. But may God our Father break my pride, just like He could snap tyrant in two with his pinky. AMEN.

Watch what happens to tyrant in this video.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GvvWgJCSmUc&feature=related

The pride and joy of Umbrella is wasted by ONE rocket round. How much more is our pride, my pride, your pride, which is only human stupidness, easily destroyed by God our Father?

Pride is not good. However, the reason I wrote about Jesus defeating the tyrant instead of yourself is because that's really the only way to defeat pride. You yourself cannot defeat any amount of pride yourself. Only by the love of God, HIS grace, HIS work and guidance, can this be done.

Praise God the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit! Amen!!!
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Now to finish the story.

Yeshua carries you softly out of the scary lab, out of the scary mansion, and the mansion blows up!

BOOM!

From their, the Shepard guides you to green pasture, giving you rest and love from your scary trial.



CONCLUSION:

Trials SUCK BEANS. But even so, we go through them for a reason. The reason? Well, it's because it refines us into people who love God and love people. We become less selfish and more selfless. We forsake things like pride, lust, murder, hate, etc through them. We grow closer God, grow closer to each other, and grow in Christ. We start to love others better, being unwilling to harm other whether physically, spiritually, sexual, mentally, etc. Trials aren't fun to go through! WE ALL know this. However, once the trial is done, we begin to see thing much more clearly. Things like this:



and this,



and this,



and this,



James 1:2-7

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

James 1:12-18

12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

13When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

16Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

These scriptures gave me TONS of comfort one day in December when I was weeping to my sister over the phone because of a particular trial I was facing. She pulled out these scriptures and I was greatly comforted.

Be rest assured that if your trial relates to evil things, like being tempted with sin, attacked by evil thoughts like murder, racism (just giving you examples from my life) and the rest, IT DOES NOT COME FROM GOD. It is NOT coming against you so you'd give into it, but rather, so that you'd RESIST it, and most likely, IT'S NOT FROM YOU EITHER, becoming more and more like Jesus, who was tempted vigorously by satan in the desert. He WAS NOT tempted so that He'd give in! If you're going through a similar trial like I am and have been for a while now, take courage, it'll pass AFTER you resist the devil, like Jesus did!

Sometimes during your trials, you'll look like this,



I know I have.

But THAT WILL turn into this,

(Asha's freaking awesome!)

Should you fail in your trial, don't freak out for long! God CAN pick you up! Not CAN, He WILL pick you up so you can try again. He'll see you through! The same resurrecting power that raised Jesus will raise you too!

Don't hang out in the mansion's main hall! (mansion video, first room). Let the Shepard lead you through!


PRAISE OUR FATHER GOD FOREVER AND EVER!!

As the Scriptures say, "To the One seated on the Throne, and to the Lamb, be honor, praise, glory, wisdom, riches and power forever and ever!"

and all the elder said, "AMEN!"

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Haha... I'd surely say that you capture the Joy of the Lord! The picture gets the point across! heart Beautiful Sis!


James, one day I really pray that I get to hear you preach. Live. In spirit and truth. I am captivated by how invested you are in the word of God, your testimonies and relating things of the flesh to things of the spirit.

Blessings on you, bro. Wonderful sermon *I didn't DARE watch any of the clips* xd . Seriously want to hear you preach someday. hopefully sooner than we both think.

...and Asha. I'd love to see you, dear in a wedding dress, and watch you in your element. Your ministry.

Blessing on you BOTH! heart

I just completely squealed at the wedding dress part. You'll see why in my PM to you. rofl

Start saving up for a plan ticket to Jamaica. blaugh

amazinggggggg.........still I'm so glad there's a sermon.!