Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.
If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!
Philippians 2:15
That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
What a powerful and illuminating verse of scripture which reveals to us that we are CALLED TO BE certain things, and that means for others to be able to see Christ in and through us as the Children of God. Here we are told TO BE blameless and harmless, which takes place as we trust in Christ and His work at Calvary. It is always what we believe FIRST, then what we are to BE. This is the only avenue by the power of the Holy Spirit through which we can resist murmurings and disputings when tempted.
The devil has whispered for two thousand years into the ears of the blood bought church words such as, “No one is perfect”, and those words ARE factual, but we do not live by facts, but rather Truth to be able to resist being paralyzed through his lie. We can lay hold on this Eternal Life that we already have In Christ. Through faith in His work at the cross alone comes the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:2) to live and to express Christ in a crooked and perverse world, and shine as the Lights which Christ says we are in the world today (Matthew 5:14).
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
SHARE the gospel of Jesus Christ on Social media!
Youtube: curtishutchinson316
3/29/2020
“and Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few (I Sam. 14:6).
It is instructive to contrast Jonathan with his father, Saul. Jonathan acted in the energy of faith; Saul, in the energy of the flesh.
And we must ever understand:
That which seeks its strength in the wisdom and energy of man can never go beyond from which it springs. Hence the moral and inward movements of faith are wholly unknown to it.
But that which energized the heart of Jonathan was the Divine Gift of Faith; because Divine, it was victorious over the world, despite the universal ruin which met Jonathan’s eye on every side. For that which is born of God overcomes the world (I Jn. 5:4).
Thus Jonathan here stands as an animating figure for the servants of God today. Saul represents Christendom as officially the visible Kingdom of God upon Earth, but corrupted and enslaved. Yet, within this broken Kingdom it is still possible for faith to win her victories, as Jonathan won his.
But whenever faith acts, the world opposes; hence the Philistines are found quickly encamped at Michmash. Satan, who knows and dreads the power of faith, brought up his agents as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. All that Israel could do was to hide themselves in holes, pits, thickets, and rocks.
However, in the midst of this terrible position in which the people of God now find themselves, faith on the part of Jonathan begins to shine. And wherever faith is found, God displays His Strength.
Faith never lessens nor creates difficulties. Her path is open, very narrow, and made difficult by sharp rocks on either hand. But these are not difficulties for God! Jonathan did not think of himself; and his words to his armorbearer do not express doubt as to God’s ability to overcome them, but assurance. Faith’s fair flower looks never so fair as when blooming in such a rocky and savage defile beset with enemies, such as is pictured here.
Jonathan’s faith was based upon God and His covenanted relationship to His People Israel. He did not say, “Jehovah has delivered them into my hand,” but, “into the hand of Israel.” He was to be nothing — the God of Israel was to be everything.
It is quite true that Israel at this time was a moral ruin; but faith forgets, or nullifies, circumstances and builds upon Divine Promises. This characterizes faith. Though broken and sinful, yet was God with, and for, His People; not with, and for, the circumcised Philistines.
Faith’s great passion ever is that God should manifest Himself; as well, Faith always realizes that numbers, whether little or large, have no relationship to God. As Jonathan said, “For there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.” So the Lord that very day, through the Faith of Jonathan, brought about a great victory for Israel. Despite the present condition of the modern Church, a condition which is not good, still the Lord is looking for modern Jonathans who will exercise faith, daring to believe Him for great things, and who will not touch the glory, but will give it all to God!”
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
In today's postmodern world the theme of life seems to be independence. We long to be free from the rule of our parents and the seemingly strident demands of our employer. We strive to be independent of others. Oftentimes this attitude, while healthy in some respects, can be extremely demeaning and destructive to the faith of a believer. Jesus exampled a total reliance, dependence, and obedience to the desires and will of His Father. He was everything but independent. He always and only performed the desires of His Father. He spoke only that which the Father gave to Him and He performed no work outside of that which the Holy Spirit gave Him to do. When we feel that we know better than the Lord, we produce schemes to try to obtain the goals of our self-focused heart. In so doing we will oftentimes find ourselves at odds with the will of our heavenly Father. Without intending to or even realizing it we find ourselves walking away from the will of God. In order to have a prosperous relationship with God, it is required of servants to willingly surrender personal desires and designs and to always embrace a ready acceptance of His!
Luke 22:42 - Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
Philippians 2:16
Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
Holding FORTH the Word of Life expresses someone who believes and allows the Word of God to be expressed in their life in obedience to Him. This is one of the things that will bring a great rejoicing when Christ comes, to see those who continued to hold this great confidence of hope until the end. The laboring in vain here mentioned would be those who began believing but later turned back (Matthew 25, 2 Peter 2:21). May we be found HOLDING FORTH, the Word of Life as we continue to trust in Christ and His finished work upon the cross.
Rejoicing IN THE DAY OF CHRIST will be for far more than just being there, but all that we then see God did in and through us and the great fruit of HIS WORK. Not only IN us, but THROUGH our faith in the only work He is found working in and through (Psalm 33:4, Romans 8:2), which is the cross of Jesus Christ. Let us live our lives as that which becomes the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27) everyday (Luke 1:74-75) so that our rejoicing one day soon will be GREAT!
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
SHARE the gospel of Jesus Christ on Social media!
Youtube: curtishutchinson316
3/30/2020
As we approach each and every day as believers, we realize that the signs of the time are evidence that Jesus is soon to come. With so much trouble on every hand, one can not help but to think about the hope that still remains for those that are in Christ. Although we live in a world with so much heartache, pain, and trouble, there are still brighter days ahead. As sickness and disease may run rampant upon the earth right now, there are still brighter days ahead. Even as death may come and take those that are dear and near to our hearts, there are still brighter days ahead! Even the earth itself which is filled with so much chaos, has brighter days ahead! As the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 8; For the Ernest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God.
It is hard for people in the world to understand how believers continue to trust the Lord in the mist of all the chaos, in the mist of all the difficult times, all the setbacks, and all the troubles; how is it that we continue to believe? How do we continue to rise from the ashes of ruin all around us? How do we continue to rise with sickness in our bodies? How do we continue to rise when we lose all that we have? How do we get back up after being knocked down time and time again? How do we continue to preach a hope, a gospel of good news when so many reject it? How do we endure the persecution for His name sake? As the Apostle Paul would say, for I reckon that the suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.
There are very few things in life that are guaranteed, Victory by the Blood of Christ is the greatest of all! Shake yourself and keep fighting child of God! Continue to be about our fathers business as the time draws near! The trump of God is about to sound! And as the old saints would sing, “ I’m going up yonder to be with my Lord”
1Co 15:51. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
“but Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly (I Sam. 15:9).
The Amalekites, as proclaimed in this Fifteenth Chapter of I Samuel, represent the flesh. Some 500 years before, when Israel was in the wilderness, having just come out of Egypt, the Amalekites attacked the People of God. At that time, the Lord said that He would “have war with Amalek from generation to generation” (Ex. 17:8, 16). As stated, Amalek represents the flesh.
Saul was given instructions to totally destroy Amalek. He said, “Utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass” (I Sam. 15:3).
Such instructions may seem to be harsh to most. Yet we must remember that God had given Amalek some 500 years respite for repentance — but in vain. That nation, like the southern nations of Canaan, resisted every Divine impulse; they finally became so corrupt that, in the interest of humanity, love decreed its absolute extinction. In other words, God was forced to perform major surgery on the human race, and for the good of the human race as a whole.
Saul, however, did not obey the Lord, but rather spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites, plus the best of the sheep and oxen, etc. This is symbolic of modern Believers who desire to eradicate the bad things of the flesh, i.e., those things which destroy, such as immorality, liquor, drugs, etc., in other words “that which is vile and refuse”; however, that which seems to be good, they seek to spare, just as Saul spared Agag, etc.
The “good” consists of our dependence on our good works, our religious associations, in fact, anything in which we place our faith, other than Christ and the Cross. We are loathe to separate ourselves from these “good things.” But the Holy Spirit through the Prophet includes such direction to be “rebellion.” Concerning that, he said, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (I Sam. 15:23).
When Samuel approached Saul, the king was very religious and said, “Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the Commandment of the LORD.”
Then Samuel answered, “What means then this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
The modern Church also claims to have “performed the Commandment of the LORD”; however, the Lord says otherwise.
Let us say it again:
Anything which we make as the object of our faith, other than the Cross, is constituted as “flesh,” which the Lord cannot abide. He is still saying, “Utterly destroy all!” Not only must the “bad” flesh be destroyed, but the “good,” as well!”
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
Bread Crumbs “The Sin of Self-Sufficiency” March 31
The religious schemes of men always demand that the believer performs well. The rules are laid out, the routines are established, and the pathway is fixed. If we detour to the left or the right from the chosen path of religious demands, we are considered failures or lacking in zeal to carry out the established program. Too many believers are zealous for the accomplishment of self-imposed religious demands. The truth is that the believer is trying to resolve a spiritual problem or achieve to a height of spirituality by following a course that God never designed for us to follow. We have become self sufficient in our pursuit of God. When our schemes override and ignore the revealed will of God relative to redemption and our subsequent growth, we are committing the sin of faith in self. Abraham attempted to bring forth God's promise by a work of the flesh. He and Sarah contrived together to produce the promised seed through Hagar. In the end, God forced Abraham to eliminate both the method and the product of his efforts of flesh. God is saying the same thing to the church today. Isn't it time we cast out the efforts of fleshly purpose and cling solely and singularly to Christ and His Cross?
Galatians 4:30 - Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Philippians 2:17
Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
If it were to cost Paul his life just to be able to minister to God’s people, then he would joy and rejoice for the opportunity, for there would be no greater service to our Lord than to serve the gospel of Christ, even if put to death for it. Those Paul rejoiced with were those who continued in the faith, which were those who actively HELD FORTH the Word of Life. The only place the Child of God can rejoice is IN THE FAITH, therefore when we find ourselves swallowed up with gossip, griping and complaining, we need to examine ourselves to see if we are still in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). THE faith is faith in the cross, not in our word, but from the heart (Romans 10:10), for this is where faith is found, honored and rewarded by the Lord!
To continue in the faith when feelings are hurt, or we did not get what we thought we deserved, is to serve God. To quit is the manifestation of serving self, but if one’s faith remains in Christ and His work at Calvary, the same humility and obedience will be seen in that life as the fruit of what they claim to believe. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has not only the power to initially save a soul, but by that same Grace to keep that soul on the path of Righteousness until the day of Christ. Don’t turn back now, for it will have been better that we never knew (Been partaker of) than having known and turned away (2 Peter 2:21).
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
SHARE the gospel of Jesus Christ on Social media!
Youtube: curtishutchinson316
3/31/2020
“and the LORD said unto Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go, I will send you to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for I have provided Me a king among his sons (I Sam. 16:1).
At the very time that Samuel the Prophet was “mourning” for Saul, i.e., he saw no positive future for Israel, the Lord was planning great things for His People.
Let me say that again:
Whatever the circumstances might be, however the situation may present itself, the Lord is planning great things for us, that is, if we will only believe Him. Look at it again!
At this very moment, and no matter how it may seem to be otherwise, the Lord is planning great things for you. To receive those great things, obedience is demanded, but obedience which we can easily carry out, that is, if we will truly follow the Lord. This means that there is no reason that any Believer should “mourn.”
Concerning Saul, the Lord told the Prophet, “I have rejected him from reigning over Israel.”
There are untold numbers of Godly people who are spending their time and attention on something that God has already rejected. Some of you holding this small book in your hands are still trying to hold on to a Church, or even an entire Denomination, which the Lord has already rejected. Such a Church, even as Saul, may continue right on; however, if the Believer is to truly follow the Lord, he will have to look elsewhere, even as Samuel is here told to look elsewhere.
The Lord told the Prophet to quit his pity-party, and “Fill your horn with oil, and go.”
“Oil” is a Type of the Holy Spirit. We readily see here that the Holy Spirit had departed from Saul. If the Holy Spirit is no longer present, we should find out where the Holy Spirit is moving, and there situate ourselves. Nothing else matters!
The Lord had already chosen another king. He would be in the family of “Jesse the Beth-lehemite.” It was the Lord Who chose a certain member of this family, David; man had no choice in the matter.
The trouble with the modern Church is men appointing men; consequently, they wind up with Saul, whom God has rejected, rather than David, whom God has chosen.
Last of all, the Lord told Samuel, “For I have provided Me a king among his sons.” Whatever we think, God has provided! We, unfortunately, all too often look in the wrong place.
The Lord didn’t tell Samuel which one of the sons He had chosen from the family of Jesse the Bethlehemite.
The reason?
The Lord was looking for faith on the part of Samuel; to be sure, such faith was ultimately found!”
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
Like everything else around us these days, Christianity seems to be in an identity crisis. What does it mean to be a Christian? For some a Biblical lifestyle means that they are wealthy. For others that lay claim to Christianity, their idea of presenting Christ to the World is to declare that they are ever happy and always victorious. They celebrate being the champions of self-induced gladness by proclaiming this idea, ever denying it when their life is in shambles. Then there are others that tell us that once you claim Christ as Saviour, you never need to worry about how you live or what you do. They say there is no need to ask for forgiveness for current failures. We simply ignore our sin. They teach that to do anything else is to insult God's grace. Christians in identity crisis need only study the meaning of their name. A "Christian" is someone who is “Christ-like!" I may not be the richest, the one with the widest grin, or someone who ignores their sin. But I desire to be the one who is being changed daily into the image of the one who loved me and gave Himself for me. That's what identifying with Christ should do for all those who believe.
2 Corinthians 3:18 - But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Philippians 2:18
For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.
Laboring to magnify Christ and the encouragement of the Body of Christ is what Paul is speaking of here. He and the Church of Philippi both have great joy and are rejoicing together for the faith manifest in each other. This is what it means to be striving together FOR THE FAITH OF THE GOSPEL. If we would only begin to look more intently at what God did in Christ at the cross, we would surely have a better and better picture as to why He did it. Oh how He loves you and me!
The focus for every ministry is to be the gospel. The focus of every message preached is to be the gospel, and the goal to reach in every conversation are the benefits of the gospel, for there through our faith in Christ is our faithful God magnified, and the Church edified. There is a great lack of joy and rejoicing in the church today, and most of what is called joy and rejoicing is when we are having a good day, but it is IN THE FAITH this joy and rejoicing takes place, and THAT FAITH is THE FAITH that put Jesus on the cross (Galatians 2:20), and we were given THE measure/portion of THAT FAITH (Romans 12:3). If we are living by THAT FAITH, we will see a true joy and rejoicing in our hearts manifest through ministering to others the very One who gave us THIS FAITH.
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
SHARE the gospel of Jesus Christ on Social media!
Youtube: curtishutchinson316
4/1/2020
“then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with the sword, and with the spear, and with the shield: but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, Whom you have defied (I Sam. 17:45).
When David, who was just a young stripling, probably sixteen or seventeen years old, went to the battlefront where his brothers were, he went there to bless them and do them good; however, like Joseph’s brothers, when he was sent to bless them, he was met with envy and hatred. Thus it was with God’s Beloved Son. His brothers, Mary’s Sons, did not believe on Him (Jn. 7:5), and, with her, sought to lay hold upon Him as being beside Himself (Mk. 3:32); His spiritual brethren, Israel, nailed Him to the tree.
When David offered to fight the giant, not for money, nor for the hand of the king’s daughter — every man he spoke to had no higher thought than that — but David knew that the matter was more noble and more serious than this. He was to bring the Philistine giant and the Living God face-to-face. What had a woman and her money to do with that?
Saul tried to get David to use his armor, but David knew that God could not give victories to “the flesh,” nor can faith use it. In the Name of the Lord, David had privately vanquished the “lion” and the “bear.” This is one of the fundamental principles governing the Christian life. Public victories can come only after private victories are won.
Going toward the giant, David chose five smooth stones out of the brook. If the brook, with its living running water, pictures the Holy Spirit, then the five smooth stones picture Grace; to be sure, Grace won the day! The Stone, picturing Christ, smote the giant in the forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.
The Scripture then says, “David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith” (I Sam. 17:51). This is the posture for the Child of God. We are to stand as “more than a conqueror” on the head of any giant that may come against us, which we can do in Christ.
The Believer must understand that the terrible forces of darkness facing him are beyond his power and capabilities. As Goliath, Satan can only be defeated by and through Christ and what Christ has done for us at the Cross. To face the giants that come against us in any other fashion is to guarantee defeat. To place one’s Faith in Christ and the Cross guarantees victory, and a total and complete victory, at that (Rom. 6:3-14).”
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
The Other Side Of The Storm
———————————————-
In this Christian journey we all will encounter storms, i.e. difficulties that we will have to trust the Lord through! However, it is during these storms that we learn to properly trust the Lord and we also learn patience. We must remember, that despite the difficult times, that there is always sunlight at the end of these storms, and in the case of the Demoniac In Mark ch. 5, there was a miracle on the other side of the storm.
Jesus said to his disciples, “let us pass over to the other side”! While he didn’t tell them that a storm awaited them, his word had already been given, so no matter what was ahead, they would make it to the other side. The scripture tells us that there arose a great storm, which is indicative of the Christian experience in so many ways. The Lord tells us to do something or to go in a certain direction and when we set out on the course to that place we are met with storms, and even great storms. What will we do, how will we react? The disciples panicked, they lost faith, they lost sight of what he had previously told them, hence, they focused on the storm and not the one who was in the ship with them. They cried, “master, carest thou not that we perish”?! What happened next would blow their minds, Jesus awakened, rebuked the storm, and then rebuked them as well for their lack of faith. The scripture proceeds to tell us that The storm calmed, and as Jesus said, they made it to the other side, through the storm. On the other side of this storm, they reached a placed where a man was possessed with many demon spirits, and lived in constant torment night and day. Jesus rebuked these spirits, instantly delivering this man and setting him free.
This is why we cannot abandon the Lord while we are in the storms, we cannot quit even during the most difficult times, but we must trust the Lord to take us through the storms of life. Across the way, on the other side of the storm, there’s someone bound, someone hurting, someone in complete despair, but since you made it through this storm, God will use you to impact them, and others as well! Hold on child of God and don’t quit in the middle of the storm!
Mark 5:1
And they came over to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
Living a life of self-denial does not mean living without things that please or things that are pleasant. If I love to go fishing on a Saturday morning and I make myself stay home, thinking that will promote spirituality, I am not living the life of self-denial. If I like sweet iced-tea and I drink it without sugar, that is not an example of denying self. One who truly denies himself is a person who refuses to trust in their own abilities, talents, education, natural acumen, position in life, or the platform from which they operate. You can force yourself to live without certain pleasures and you can eliminate certain activities but that of itself is not living a life-style of self denial. Are you still consistently trusting in self? If who you are and what you can do is the source of your confidence in any situation then you are failing to order your life according to the biblical standard. When we learn to stop relying on ourselves and we learn to rely upon the Lord, then and only then are we truly denying ourselves. Believe me, trusting in Christ is far better and it is the only process by which spiritual success can be attained.
Mark 8:34 - And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
