Deep Waters

Send us Fan MailSo I asked Google AI, the leading supporting question to the message which is, did Jesus have a good understanding of what His purpose was from beginning to end, for His life? The first portion is a representative sample with some simple explanation along with some scriptural support. First, we will see if Jesus coming and the purpose thereof was spoken about in the Old Testament so as to see if we were given a head start into why Jesus, when He came upon earth, in what manner He would die. Now keep in mind that Jesus is the Word of God and so if it is written down in the bible it would not catch Jesus off guard. In some of the explanations about the scripture, or basic summaries, I will include the actual scripture because often times it provides a more clearer picture:The primary passages in the Bible that explicitly identify Jesus as the "Word" or the "Word of God" are found in the writings of the apostle John. Key Scriptures·        John 1:1 – "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." ·        John 1:14 – "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (This verse connects the "Word" directly to Jesus Christ). ·        Revelation 19:13 – "He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God." ·        1 John 1:1 – "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—" Is it any wonder considering how close John was, in that, traditionally speaking, he was called the apostle of love, was so close to Jesus knowing that he knew who Jesus was beyond just flesh and blood?https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailOK This is funny in that a full message that goes for about one hour. There's about 22 pages. This message was already at 15 pages before I worked on the messaging portion. All it contained was the opening and closing prayer along with the scriptures that I will be referencing. It will be a miracle if I can keep this one under an hour-pray for me lolI will be using Matthew chapter 24:3 thru chapter 25:46 to talk about the questions that the disciples asked Jesus nearly 2000 yrs ago. One of the questions is “tell us when these things will be and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age.” We will be listening to Mark, Luke, and John’s end time Q&A as well. These are not the only guys that chitty chatted about the end times but this message can only include a small sample which will be suitable to make the point.It is not my intention to provide explanations regarding every point or bit of revelation, I have covered many of those topics in other messages. My goal is to provide a library type setting and sitting where you can listen to the scriptures and make up your own mind in the end. Not like hey make up your mind at the end but after you have heard this message. Ha… I say this because that is what we do anyway whether what we hear is truth or not right?An example is this. We have all heard to save up for a rainy day and yet so few of us make up our minds to do so. I have said this before but excuses come from a child and should not remain apart of our life’s narrative as we grow up. We were created to solve problems and to seek help from a perfect God in order to do so. When we get results outside of these parameters, well, we either make excuses for our failure to listen to God, or we learn from them, allowing them to humble us and to remind us that God is our ever present help in our time of need (Ps 46:1).We begin with Matthew’s end time story. I will interject on just some of what I think stands out or is pertinent to the understanding of end times:          Matt 24:3–25:46 - The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailNow this is just but a thought and I am speaking on it because maybe the point isn’t so much about a flying mountain as it is about staying open to the many, many, many options that God has for explaining what He means in His word. And so but I will present the case and point scripture without telling you what I saw or thought in my reading of it until later. I am including it because it is the trigger scripture for the entire message:So speaking of His word let’s get it:Matthew 17:14-21 - 14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”My thought specifically in this verse is that a mountain can represent a powerful demon. If not why would Jesus depart from talking about a demon and then talking about a mountain and then talking about prayer and fasting. Matthew 12:45 - 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”Seven More Spirits: The spirit then goes out and brings seven other spirits that are more wicked than itself to live inside the person.The following are instructions for us to engage the demonic·  Mark 16:17: "And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons..." – Jesus states that driving out evil spirits is a sign following believers. ·  Matthew 10:1: Jesus gave His twelve disciples "authority over impure spirits to drive them out" and heal every disease. ·  Luke 10:17: The seventy-two followers returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" ·  Mark 9:29: Jesus said, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer." ·  Acts 16:18: Paul commanded a spirit to leave a person, saying, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" And it left.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailThis is a scripture heavy message. We end time saints are front line Christians living in a time that no other generation has experienced. What I mean is that we are experiencing end time chaos like no other time in history. This also is not a shame message but one to help us all to be on point in these very days. Imagine what wonderful opportunities we will have in our Christian lives in days such as ours.  Jesus had access to the battlefield as he did the following in the totality of His ministry:John 5:19 - 19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.John 12:49-50 - 49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”So, if we also make this practice a part of our relationship with God then the following will be possible:John 14:12 - 12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.Eph 4:11-16 - 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.Matt 10:8 - 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.Matthew 28:18-20 - 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Mark 16:15-20 - 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailThis is a testimony of Gods faithfulness in spite of my spiritual denseness. I will explain what that means within this message but I actually think that you will see it without me have to shed any light on those moments.When I was working for government, roundabout 3 years before I retired, I wrote on a little sticky note 175. Oh yes, it had to do with my weight, but I wasn’t going to let anyone know that. After all I had a traffic flow in and out of my office most days. I was a prayer to God asking for Him to help me to get to a healthy weight. Now maybe it’s too early in the message to bring this up, but up it comes anyway. What I have learned in my dealings with God is that when I ask Him for freedom from stuff like losing weight or for more money so that I can get out of debt, I usually expect that the One who spoke all things into being in 6-short days can of course just instantaneously speak the weight off of me in an instant or drop cash from one strangers bank account into mine. Nope, what I have found that He does is He looks to the source of the problem and begins His work right there. This is usually where the pain, trials, and testing begin; not for God of course, but it might be for us to really see if it is the weight or debt that is our actual problem or is it something more sinister like our out of control eating habits, drinking habits, or Amazon spending habits which is where the root of the whole mess might lie.I think and hope that this short testimony will help to bear some of that out.Now at that time I prayed from deliverance from the 240 lbs., I did not speculate on any of the habits I had that led me to this weight. And I didn’t pray more than a few times throughout the decade that I was hoping that this thing would be brought under new management. Nonetheless and regardless, I thought that I had the faith for it, and that one day it just might happen. Hey passing time has a way of testing if you are really faithful and if you really believe that you can do all things in Christ.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailIt is imperative that we read the bible as much as possible especially in these days, praying always for the understanding. Not a scripture a day on your Telly, but spending a couple of hours a day really believing that reading it, is earth-shattering life changing. We are in the formula of the great deception and/or falling away and it is being founded and grounded on a foundation of lies with the intention to deceive, if possible, even the A+ Christians known as the elect. We will have to do our due diligence when we hear anything that confront our current understanding of the scriptures. Deception is coming and the falling away narrative is currently being released in small palatable bites and most everybody is eating. Now what I am not saying is that if a teaching is presented and you haven’t even been taught the subject matter that you simply discard it as false. Nope, the Pharisees did this and made their beds in hell.Proverbs 25:2 - It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.We should be diligent searches of the truth and lies, but knowing the truth so that when the lies are discovered we do not fall for them. The scripture I want to talk about is a point of question by some because of what the traditions of men state. Jesus, because He knows what is in man, already included a warning about what might be said about what He just said about John in the following verse and yet it is still happening. We will present it shortly:John 21:21-25 - 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?”22 Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”23 Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?”24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailOk so if I am just being honest, and I usually try to be, I wasn’t too concerned about these Old Testament celebrations. But in my continued pursuit of growth, I discovered in more than one book that they are an important sign to be paying attention too.Let’s look at each one in order and see how these feasts actually give us a pretty accurate picture of Jesus and seven specific things that He did to fulfill those feasty requirements required in the old testament, while He was walking the earth in the New Testament:The seven feasts of God (or appointed times outlined in Leviticus 23) are Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. Jesus fulfilled the first four during His first coming and points to future prophetic events for the final three during His second coming. I am going to present their OT meaning and their NT meaning:The Spring Feasts (Completed by Jesus)·        Passover (Pesach):o   Meaning: Commemorates the blood of the lamb saving Israel from death in Egypt.§  The Old Testament scripture that most directly supports this statement is Exodus 12:13, which introduces the institution of the Passover feast in Egypt.Key Scriptural Details§  The Sign of Blood: Exodus 12:13 states that the blood on the houses serves as a sign that spares the Israelites from the destructive plague.§  The Memorial Feast: Exodus 12:14 commands that this exact night be commemorated as a feast to the Lord forever.§  The Festival Context: Leviticus 23:5 formally lists the Passover as the first of the spring feasts.o   Fulfillment: Jesus died on the cross as the ultimate, sinless Lamb of GodThe New Testament scriptures that most directly support this statement are 1 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Peter 1:18-19, and John 1:29. https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailYou get to make up your own mind about what you believe regarding God, but only to the degree that you read and develop your relationship with the Bible through the Holy Spirit. At some point in your growth process, assuming you have a growth process in place, as you do this, you will be able to filter everything that you've ever been taught or read in other books through the word of God; and it is when these habits are in place that you get to and should make up your own mind about what you believe about the bible and what it states about God and everything else it discusses. Why do a shorty-sporty message about this podcast preacher. Well because in these end days division and deception will be the factors that will without a doubt be in play. Eventually, that is in the very near future, many who once believed in God will abandon the faith, and then try and convince other Christians to abandon their faith because as the saying goes misery loves company. Pro 6:19 – in part it states, “A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.”Why does God hate division? Because it works. people can be led astray by several methods but I assure you it is always by people one way or the other who are not following the precepts of God:2 Chron 21:11 - Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit harlotry, and led Judah astray.Pro 20:1 - Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.Jer 50:6 - “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds (that is some pastors of the day) have led them astray; They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; They have forgotten their resting place.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailIn my previous message titled, “Flee From The Wrath of God”, posted on July 16, 2026, I discussed what hot and cold means in the context of the following scripture. I believe in these end of the end of days that we will need to scholar up on the bible and the things of God. You do not want to be one of those who drop into the tribulation of God because you didn’t listen nor take to heart what I have been teaching in these podcast messages. Revelation 3:14–16 - 14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.Again the definition of hot or cold is important to understand least you think as I did for most of my Christian walk that Jesus would prefer you be hot, that is alive for Him in every way, or cold, which I thought meant being unsaved and by your own choosing going to hell in a hand basket. I was wrong as Jesus wasn’t saying this. Again we look at the definition of hot and cold so that we have a deeper revelation as to what Jesus was teaching:          The Context and MeaningHistorical Connection: Laodicea lacked its own water supply. It piped in hot water from nearby Hierapolis springs (which turned lukewarm and foul-tasting by arrival) and cold water from Colossae. Spiritual Meaning: "Hot" water heals and "cold" water refreshes. "Lukewarm" water is useless and causes sickness. Christ uses this to describe a church that is spiritually indifferent, self-satisfied, and physically wealthy but spiritually bankrupt.Can and should we be both hot and cold? I believe so even though Jesus gives a choice between them. I believe He was talking to the part of the church, this means you, not a building, that had began to slip away from their initial salvation and that their love was growing cold indeed:Matthew 24:12 - 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailOk so quite the opening title, but they usually are. Let’s see if the bible addresses both people pleasing and the fear of man. Maybe they are one in the same:There is no exact, single number of scriptures that talk about people-pleasing because the Bible addresses the concept using several different terms, though resource databases like OpenBible.info catalog upwards of 50 to 100 verses that directly confront the heart of this struggle. While the modern phrase "people-pleaser" appears explicitly in a few verses, the Bible broadens its focus by addressing the root behaviors: "men-pleasing," "the fear of man," and "seeking the approval of others." Key Biblical Themes Regarding People-PleasingExplicit "Man-Pleasing" (Colossians 3:22, Eph. 6:6, Gal. 1:10): The Bible warns against "eye-service"—doing good work only so that you can be watched so that when watched you are trying to gain human approval, rather than serving Christ sincerely. Jesus puts this work thingy in perspective when He states the following:Luke 17:7-10 - 7 And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? 8 But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. 10 So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ”And but the following scriptures explain Colossians 3:22 – 22 Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God.Eph. 6:5-6 – 5 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 6 not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,Gal. 1:10 - 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailOh boy that is hitting the non-tribbers right upside the head. Flee from the wrath which is unleashed during the 7-yr tribulation. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 - 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,Romans 5:9 - 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.1 Thessalonians 1:10 - 10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.Saved from wrath doesn’t mean we have to go through wrath in order to get saved form wrath, and this is what would happen if there were no rapture. Jesus went through the wrath of God and became our sin that we didn’t have to:  Romans 3:25: States that God put Jesus forward as a propitiation (or sacrifice of atonement) by His blood, demonstrating His righteousness.   2 Corinthians 5:21: Explains that God made Jesus, who had no sin, to be "sin for us" so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.   Galatians 3:13: States that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Wow this is not what I intended to be a part of this message but there it is. So, what does the following scripture imply to us or for us:Matt 3:7 - 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?Let’s find out why John the baptizer asked this question, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”:Originally spoken by John the Baptist in Matthew 3:7 (and similarly by Jesus in Matthew 12:34 and Matthew 23:33), this harsh phrase in the original Greek (γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, gennēmata echidnōn) translates literally to "offspring of vipers." It was a stinging metaphor for hypocritical religious leaders, warning that their poisonous, malicious teachings would result in divine judgment. https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailEmbracing demons especially in these end times happens automatically when you reject Jesus Christ as God or God the Father, which by the way are one and the same thing. Do I have a scripture to support such a claim?John 14:7 - 7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”John 14:9 - 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?John 10:30 - 30 I and My Father are one.”Mark 9:40 - 0 For he who is not against us is on our side.Luke 11:23 - 23 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.Oh now you might be asking me why present such elementary information to my awesomely mature listeners? And I would say that the proof that we are not all paying attention is listed in the bible as well as it stating that it will get worse meaning that we will begin to lose the marginalizers. What? Yes, we have actually already begun loosing those who are playing religion and solely depending on their church to represent all that they believe about the bible, that they themselves cannot possibly be reading, otherwise this falling away would not and could not be happening. Now this could be a book of a message but what I will do is limit the message to the very current events that are right now being set up to poison the minds of the unaware or those who are not looking. My last message discusses in depth why we should be actively studying the subject of eschatology, that is the study of the end times of which we are right now in. The title of that message is “If We Don’t Know When He Is Returning Reasonably Speaking Why Watch” posted July 8th 2026.Before I infinitely break down the 2 Thess 2:1-11 scripture later in this message, allow me to be redundant and explain just a bit about what people group will be deceived. I say this because after we go through the scripturally list (we have been through it before in other messages) you will think that you are in the clear as you do not fit the definition of any of those people or religious groups at all what so ever. So besides this initial list there are others who like us think that we are in the clear regarding these end time deceptions. That group we will address later in the message.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailSo, I was reading a book titled, “Summoning The Demon – AI, Aliens, & The Antichrist written by Alan Didio and came across this obscure section which talked about how we are to watch for the return of Jesus. I thought perhaps having already done messages on this subject, specifically addressing the scripture, that I should touch on it again:Matthew 24:36 - 36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.I didn’t buy the book for this reason as I already agree with the position of watching. And but I also believe that this statement is a Jewish idiom which is defined as:A Jewish idiom is a figurative phrase rooted in Jewish culture, religion, or language. They often originate from ancient Biblical Hebrew, the Aramaic of the Talmud, or Yiddish. These expressions rely on cultural context and rarely make sense if translated literally into English.I thought to look up just how many idioms there are in the bible so that we understand that it is very common to use them:There is no official or single number for how many Jewish and Hebraic idioms are in the Bible. Biblical scholars estimate there are thousands of idioms and Hebraisms woven throughout both the Old and New Testaments. Because idioms rely on cultural and linguistic nuances, literal translations often miss their true meanings. Understanding these idioms requires looking at the Hebraic background of the texts. Some of the most common and widely recognized biblical idioms and phrases include:"By the skin of one's teeth" (Job 19:20): Means surviving or escaping a disaster with nothing to spare."Apple of one's eye" (Psalm 17:8): Refers to something incredibly cherished or protected."Gird up your loins" (2 Kings 4:29): Means preparing for action or getting ready for a difficult journey."A drop in the bucket" (Isaiah 40:15): Represents a very small, insignificant amount.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailWe could call this message the great apostasy or falling away, the great deception, or how to avoid departing from your Christianity, or as the song lyric goes, "I'm losing my religion" by R.E.M. yes, once you listen to that song you will never forget it. It is sort of deep and haunting at the same time.How ever it happens it is a very real possibility that we too can lose our religion and it is right in these days that Satan is making his play that this would happen. Removing your religion brings him great satisfaction and he will move heaven and earth to do it. So how can we avoid the inevitable. Ah we should define inevitable so you understand what I am saying otherwise you can stiffen up and shout not me no way no how, maybe it will be the other guy but not me definitely not! Look up the following scriptures and see if you stand a better chance than Peter did who walked with God as an eyewitness (Matthew 26:33-35, 69-75 Mark 14:29-31, 66-72, Luke 22:33-34, 54-62, John 13:37-38, 18:15-27, and Luke 22:31-32).Luke 22:31-32 is included because Jesus knew Peter better than Peter knew himself and so Jesus released satan on his life to deal with Peters pride and we know it worked.Ok so that scripture definitely places all of us in a category whereby we can possibly be deceived and then deny Christ. Oh I know right. I am right now at 1145pm typing up this message as I had already gone to bed hours earlier, but this message disturbed me wide awake and I could do nothing else but get it out of my head.So how do we distinguish a Counterfeit dollar from the real deal? Study the real so much that when the false shows up you are able to right away distinguish it as the Counterfeit that it is.How can you tell if you are in the market to buy a classic car or supercar for my car guys and gals, if the product that you are looking at is authentic or a Counterfeit? You must know every detail of the original to be able to distinguish it from a fake. Oh and there are many fakes out there so it's truly like a real thing.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailThis is a message that started out as a dream and as I began to walk through it in my mind I knew that I had to get up and document the key elements of it before I lost it in slumberland.It kind of started as I was focusing on some of the health issues that I have been going through and that it would be nice that God would have healed me as He had done so many other times before. But then, I believe He started to show me where the real value of my relationship is with Him through this mountain parable that He gave us in the bible and the one He gave me in this dream.  As always the download was huge and I couldn't sleep anymore but I knew in my spirit which doesn’t sleep, that it was Him teaching me something that is enormously valuable to my understanding of just how wonderful our relationship could be with God if we just focused on the initial sacrifice He made for us so that we could enter into a deep relationship with the Father in spite of being sick, having a disease, struggling through finances or whatever it is that represents our difficulties in life.My musing ended with a mountain top experience which gave me a new perspective on casting mountains into the sea. I now understand that some mountains we come across in life are meant to be climbed while others are meant to be cast into the sea. I saw that the journey of climbing them and that the value that is wrapped up in the climb and not so much as reaching the summit. Perhaps this is why they are wider at the base which can represent the start of the climb and much narrower at the top which could represent the finishing of whatever we are processing through. More on that in a minute.So, the analogy that God showed me was like when we were kids and we looked forward to Holidays like Christmas, Easter, and our birthday events. Ah, when we were kids those events seem to have excited us to know end. Oh the joy of receiving a birthday gift that we've always wanted, or Christmas gifts that were on our list, or an Easter basket full of delectable sweets. We would be excited for weeks and even months depending on the gift or treat.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailSo, what does viscosity mean? And all of my cars guys shoot up their hands but for the rest of us and even for the car guys we are not just talking about the chemical make-up of car oil but relating how the different blends apply to different seasons and types of cars, or more specifically to types of engines. If you have a high revving engine built for performance then the oil thickness and make-up will be different than for a car, like a Pinto or Honda, and even different based on climate or season. Oil for cars in Alaska in the wintertime will basically be a viscosity quite different than if you live in Death Valley. Using the same oil for both places will get you and your car in trouble.And to add to the mix we also have synthetic oils which is basically man-made oil in which all cars do not do well with this type of oil which I learned the hard way.Ok so let’s break down five of the oil viscosities so that I can then move from this analogy to what this message is about.Oil viscosity measures a lubricant's resistance to flow. In multigrade motor oils, the first number (ending in "W" for Winter) indicates the cold-temperature flow, and the second number represents the high-temperature thickness. Five common motor oil viscosities and their typical uses include:0W-20: An ultra-thin, low-viscosity oil primarily used in modern, fuel-efficient, and hybrid engines to reduce friction and improve gas mileage. 0W-30: A low-viscosity formula optimized for colder climates, allowing for quick engine flow during winter starts while providing excellent protection at higher temperatures. 5W-20: A common, slightly thicker oil widely used in many smaller, modern passenger cars to balance fuel efficiency with engine component protection.5W-30: One of the most versatile and commonly used oils, frequently recommended for a wide range of standard passenger vehicles across various climate conditions. 10W-40: A thicker, higher-viscosity oil historically favored for warmer climates, older vehicles, and higher-load conditions, providing a stronger lubricating film at high operating temperatures.So we can see that your engine or car has a specific type of oil recommended based on the year, make and model along with if the engine has been modified or not. And well if you have modified your engine then you would automatically know what type of oil to run to give it the maximum protection.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailOk so as I have stated in the past, Christians should be able to talk about anything with other Christians who have open ears, heart, and eyes, without getting offended at all. Yes, it is a perfection of Christian behavior not seen so much but it is the mark that the bible sets for us spiritually related kinfolk.Let’s get on with the bite:Pro 1:7 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.Ok I hear you, you want to know what despise really means:To despise is to feel a strong sense of contempt, disgust, or disdain toward someone or something, viewing them as beneath respect or completely worthless. It is an intense emotion that often goes beyond simple hatred, typically involving strong moral disapproval.For example: "She despised the way he treated others."Key CharacteristicsMoral Condemnation: It usually involves judging someone as morally deficient or vile.Intense Dislike: It combines disgust with a very low opinion of a person or object's worth.Rejection: It frequently leads to feelings of loathing or the urge to completely dismiss and avoid the subject. Common SynonymsLoathe: To feel intense disgust or abhorrence.Scorn: To look down upon as unworthy or beneath notice.Detest: To dislike intensely.Disdain: To refuse or reject due to a feeling of superiority.So when you despise wisdom and instruction, that is a doctrine or teaching from one called to teach, then you meet the definition of that scripture which states, “fools despise wisdom and instruction.”So if tongues can be supported as being necessary and a gift from God and you reject it you are foolish. End of the story.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailIn this message we were going to cover the final two of the five topics we should pretty much be in agreement with based on the ever-straight bible narrative. The first three were:1.     The Holy Spirit Necessary Presence In Your Life2.     The Rapture – 3.     The End Times –  This message was to cover the church purpose and tongues. Now since the original church purpose message was over 115 pages, I thought it would be a significant enough of a challenge for me to cut it down to just 20 pages which equates to about one podcast message. If I also included the tongues message then I would have had to cut it down to just 10 pages and that would be near impossible considering how I like to yack on about these subjects. So, this message will cover The Purpose Of The Church, and the Speaking In A Heavenly Language, the tongues message, will be a separate stand-alone message.  The Purpose Of The Church – A message originally posted in 28 separate podcast messages beginning on July 20, 2022 and ending July 27, 2022. It will also be one of the first books this ministry releases later in 2026/27. Why you ask? Because we can do better as a church and but I feel this is only possible if we follow the bible model when it comes to doing the church thing the bible way so that we can get bible results.  In this message we will establish that the Church is not for the make-believers, fake-believers, non-believers, those stuck in the valley of indecision, false christs, false apostles, false prophets, wolves in sheeps clothing, or false teachers. It is only for those being saved and those who by a curious nature stopped by and got or are getting saved in the process. The primary purpose of the church is to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to make disciples, that is life learners, and to send them out in Ministry. Rinse and repeat turning the whole world upside down with the most effective kingdom results we ever could can. Yes we should worship God, collect tithes and offerings, and even do communion as a body of believers, but in addition to these type of things it should be our absolute primary objective to equip the saints for the work of ministry and to make life learners of all who commit to joining us for the ride.  Now if you’re tired of I can’t get my appetite satisfied through my church experience, including watching others do ministry, but yet, you do not even know what you’re going to be when you grow up, then enter through the narrow gate...and keep this in mind, I think Jesus stated the gate was narrow and even made narrow originally because of the condition of our minds and the difficulty we find as humans to change or to be challenged on a point we were sure would never be challenged:Luke 13:23-25 - 23 Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’Matthew 7:13-14 - 13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailSo, I thought just maybe we could clean up on some things or topics that should in these days be non-issues within the body of christ. Are they salvation issues? I am not sure as I think the lack of some of these things could lead a person to fall away at a minimum which could then make it a salvation issue. And but is that really the position we want to take when it comes to learning and understanding the bible and the Lord of the bible. For me personally no. I want to know everything I can about God and learn how to receive everything He intended me to receive so that I can be the most effective Christian He intended me to be.  It’s simple math really. If you are a Christian who adamantly seeks to do the works of Jesus and greater works in faith then this message will encourage you and help you in any area that you might need more understanding in. But if you are a Christian who clutches your salvation ticket in your hands hoping that Jesus simply returns before you die having no intention of doing anything for Him then you are a risk. For what? For these end time deceptions which are being prepared right before our eyes. But even worse what crown will you be casting at the feet of Jesus (Rev 4:10-11)? What works will you have that will endure His judgement?  1 Cor 3:12-15 - 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. You see where this is going? You were doing things before your salvation and but after your salvation as you grow and mature you do the kingdom things that make an eternal difference. You no longer waste your time in fetching any and all of the worlds goods anymore: 1 John 2:15-17 - 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. James 4:4 - 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Additionally, Matthew 6:24: Teaches that "No one can serve two masters". You cannot fully devote yourself to God while simultaneously loving material wealth (money/possessions). And 2 Timothy 3:4: Warns of the "last days" when people will become "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God". https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailOk so we are going to get strange and funky but stick with me and it will all come around.I asked Google AI the following question:“How many people have been convicted of murder with only one witness?”There is no exact national database tracking the total number of murder convictions that rely on a single witness, but the number is estimated to be in the thousands. In the United States, a jury can legally convict someone of murder beyond a reasonable doubt using only the testimony of a single witness, even if there is no physical or forensic evidence. The reality of these convictions highlights significant flaws in the justice system:The Scale of Misidentification: According to the Innocence Project, approximately 69% of DNA exoneration cases and hundreds of non-DNA exonerations involved eyewitness misidentification. Leading Cause of Wrongful Convictions: Faulty witness testimony is the leading contributing factor to wrongful convictions in the U.S.The "One Witness" Standard: Statistically, tens of thousands of felony suspects are targeted yearly in cases where the only critical evidence is a single eyewitnessThen because a one witness world can be unreliable, I went to see what the bible stated about witnesses.The Bible requires two or three witnesses to establish any charge, accusation, or unrepentant sin. This principle serves to protect individuals from false accusations, ensure fairness, and provide a clear, step-by-step process to restore relationships and address wrongdoing. The Scriptures outline this standard across both the Old and New Testaments:The Old Testament Standard: The Law of Moses strictly forbade convicting someone of a crime or sin on the testimony of a single witness. Matters had to be confirmed by the mouth of two or three witnesses (e.g., Deuteronomy 19:15). Deut 19:15 - 15 “One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.The New Testament Application: Jesus and the apostles repeatedly reinforced this rule (e.g., 2 Corinthians 13:1). 2 Cor 13:1 - 13 This will be the third time I am coming to you. “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.”The Process of Addressing SinWhen a fellow believer falls into sin, the Bible lays out a specific progression of how witnesses and church members should be involved (Matthew 18:15-17):https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailWell so what happened to the Podcast Preacher, I mean we haven’t had such a gap in messages for quite a long while. I was in the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) at Enloe Hospital in Chico for eight days. Hey Mr. Podcast Preacher don’t you preach on divine healing and didn’t you get healed of a pile of illnesses a couple of years back? So, what are you doing back at the hospital?  I intend on answering those questions using this season of my life to further discuss divine healing and but also mixing it with wisdom, not fear or a lack of faith but wisdom (Heb 11:6). And but also I feel that in some of my previous healing or miracles, signs, and wonder messages, I may have come off too one sided, which is to say or imply that if you didn’t get healed then it is all on you. That way of preaching is too God-in-a-box and can come off as judgmental and even be wrapped up in this idea that I am more spiritual than you because I got or get healed and you may not have. No, I still believe in a God who has already healed us and does indeed still perform miracles, signs, and wonders, but for the journey that each of us takes to receive and to give out I believe it is here that God works distinctly and uniquely with each of us (Acts 2:22, Heb2:4, Mark 11:22-24, James 5:14-15, Mark 16:17, 1 Cor chapter 12). I would not want anyone to ever go away from one of my messages feeling like they don’t measure up to any sort of religious qualification for God to move in their life. Please forgive me if I have been the source of any spiritual frustration or discouragement to you. Be very encouraged That God meets you where you are at, and as long as you stay away from comparisons with others, you will be on the straight and narrow path (Matt 7:13-14). Maybe in this season God is just showing me that He is not a formula to understand in order for us to get what He Himself has promised whenever we want it. He is ever so deeply committed to us that we would simply become as children who could enter His kingdom as I am sure that otherwise in any other condition we cannot enter (Matt 18:3, Mark 10:15). Testimonies are not challenges directed at us. It is not a measuring bar insofar as to gauge our spiritual maturity. Every Christian is uniquely called and equipped to do what God has called them to do (1 Cor chapter 12). So, stay away from spiritual works competitiveness and trying to one-up someone on testimonies, they are destructive and very relational harmful thus turning God into nothing more than a spiritual miracle, signs, and wonders slot machine. And well besides it has been my experience that we have way too many of us sharing testimonies that elevate or glorify us and not God. God testimonies should reveal the workings of the supernatural, not efforts that you made to bring about something. Again, this happens when we have fallen into a spiritual competitiveness instead of really being grounded in our relational personal walk with the all-ever-living God of everything (Acts 8:18-20, 1 Tim 3:1-10, Titus 1:5-9).https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailWell, so well, well, this is not going to be a feel-good message, but one that is necessary for continued growth. I was reading the final book in a four-book series titled the Ethiopian Bible and I was noticing how authentically born Christians really rub against the religious mindsetted peeps. Meaning those who think that God approves of their lifestyle regardless of what they do, because after all they have been in church their whole life. Oftentimes these types are simply minded in that they believe if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord you will be saved, no additional action items necessary.Rom 10:9 - that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.You see it says it so it must be true. Well let’s look at some other samples and see if we can see a pattern or way of thinking that is expressed in the bible:God said:Gen 2:16-17 - 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”Gen 3:1-5 - 3 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”Watch the twixy-conundrum. God said, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. But satan repeated it back in a weird sort of way right: “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” Look if you had to listen to that again, that is the catch or hook that satan intended to use.  Verse 2 - let’s see if we can see the author of confusion’s plan at work (1 Cor 14:33):2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Ok so like satan she did not quote God accurately and that is what created the crack so to speak. “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. In Gen 2:16-17 God didn’t say, “nor shall you touch it.” And but now before you say awe that is just being semantical, listen again to the words and how each time God is quoted they move away from what He originally stated. Hey look, she ate it and we are, all of humanity, born into sin, so I cannot be too far off of this point right?  https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailOk so wow, I didn’t see that coming you might say when all of a sudden you are challenged by a brother or sister in your church, ministry, family or friends so abruptly that the communication sits the Holy Spirit right down and you seem to be the only one that is aware that it has happened. Allow me to try and unpack this end-time ever increasing behavior as it is complex involving a wide range of emotions, spirits sometimes, and even revealing cracks in our spiritual foundation.James tells us in an entire chapter the primary communication problem that we have. Let’s see if we can pick it up along with some other communication issues.James 3 - My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. 3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.Ok so right away we see that we are cautioned not to let, or you could say, “allow” many of us to be teachers? Why? Because a teacher needs to be accurate, publicly observable, able to teach, emotionally mature, confident in their calling and craft, humble, able to teach from the anointing and the Holy Spirits leading, able to teach on the whole bible especially on difficult subject matter. And but then we have two issues in todays Christian world or maybe three. We have people trying to teach from a lack of knowledge of the bible, we have others who are unable or unwilling to teach because they do not read their bible, and we have an open willingness for the spiritually proud to try and teach over one called and assigned to teach. In a strange way it is like some sort of knowledge competition and it usually comes from insecurity. Now to help out a minute there are two levels of teaching, the first is that we are all supposed to be able to teach others even if it is at a milk level with baby Christians. The other is the office of a teacher which is usually someone who is at a higher level spiritually speaking. When I say level I mean that they simply exhibit an insatiable appetite to read, study, do research, and to read their bibles usually with lots of cover-to-cover reading journeys. Now within these two groups there are also differing levels or expertise’s so to speak. I could not teach a college course that is pre-scripted as that is not my preferred teaching style. I really rely on the holy Spirit to bring scripture into remembrance so that I can go and flow. Others are the opposite and that is just fine. https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailWell so after that title reading we should define fear and awe as it relates to God to kick things off:Fear - In the Bible, fearing God generally means having profound reverence, awe, and respect for His holiness and power, rather than being terrified of Him. It is described as a 360-degree awareness of His presence that motivates believers to obey His commands, hate evil, and live in a way that pleases Him.Key Aspects of Fearing God:Reverence and Awe: It is a recognition of God's supreme authority, glory, and majesty, acknowledging Him as God while recognizing our place as His creatures.Ah, but now I must include a definition within a definition – let’s look at the word awe:The Bible calls for an awe of God primarily through the concept of "fearing the Lord," which implies deep reverence, admiration, and wonder, rather than mere terror. Key verses include Psalm 33:8, which instructs all inhabitants to stand in awe of Him, and Hebrews 12:28-29, which commands worship with reverence and awe.Ps 33:8 – 8 Let the whole world fear the Lord, and let everyone stand in awe of him.Heb 12:28-29 - 28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 29 For our God is a devouring fire.Key Scriptures Stating or Encouraging Awe of God:[Psalm 22:23 (ESV): "You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him..."[Psalm 119:161 (ESV): "Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of Your words."[Psalm 4:4 (ESV): "Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah" (this is often interpreted as "Stand in awe/tremble and sin not") Context of Awe in Scripture:Reverence vs. Terror: The biblical "awe" (or fear) of God is an attitude of total admiration and respect for His power and holiness, not a paralyzing terror.Awe of His Works/Word: Examples include being awestruck by His creation such as described in Psalm 8 or His profound truth as described in Psalm 119:161.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailWhat a song? Yes, and but my sister Debra Avey, who is also a board member of Applied Strengths Ministry wrote a song called “Podcast Preacher.” The link is included in this intro, click on it and thump it up for Jesus!https://hyperfollow.com/DebraAvey So why a song for a ministry, I mean churches don’t have songs about themselves. Ha, could you imagine listening to a song about this or that denomination. No, but so I did because it popped into my head one day that this whole ministry is about getting people to read and apply their bibles. I am not looking to build large groups of followers, well unless they were all doing what the bible says, then well maybe, but no. Reading your bible is the most important thing you can do even above going to church, although one should be done without the exclusion of the other. The message is a shorty sporty but hits a major milestone in this ministry. What's the milestone podcast Preacher? It was coming up with a song that represented the ministry not in totality but yes definitely in part. In totality the assignment of my life is to equip the saints for the work of ministry and to make disciples eventually releasing them through others into operating and miracle signs and wonders while serving in love in meeting all of the elements discussed or that represent the fruit of the spirit.Listen, there are times when truth doesn’t just come through teaching; it comes through sound.  And it carries the same call we talk about here—which is that we go deeper, beyond the surface and into the place where truth is found. https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailOk so this message might initially come across as weird, and I say so what if it does as I have biblical examples of highly weirdnesses. When Lazareth climbed out of the grave, that, just a few days earlier, he was placed in, with the expectation that he would, well stay there, it was weird (John 11:1-44). And well when a big fish swam nearily close to the shore and burped up Jonah after he had died in his belly, well that too was weird; and well you might even say a bit stinky weird (Jonah chap 1-2). Ok one more and then we must go on. What about the walls of Jericho coming down with a shout and the blowing of some shofars (Joshua 6:1-21). Weird? Ah, but no wait, it gets weirder; what of a girl named Rahab:The story of Rahab surviving the fall of Jericho is primarily found in Joshua chap 2 and chap 6 of the Old Testament. She survives because she hid two Israelite spies, and in return, she and her family are spared when the city walls fall, marked by a scarlet cord in her window, as promised by the spies. Key Details of Rahab’s StoryLocation: Rahab, a Canaanite woman in Jericho, lived in a house built into the city wall. (could this have been a city built by giants? Ah, maybe later on that one)The Agreement: She hid the spies on her roof under flax and later allowed them to escape via a window, asking for safety in return. (in this she underestimated the plan of God for her life)The Sign: She hung a scarlet cord from her window, which the Israelites used to identify her home for protection during the destruction.Survival: While the city fell, her home remained standing. She was later integrated into Israel and is listed in the genealogy of Jesus.Rahab is also highlighted as an example of faith in the New Testament (Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25). We will get to those scriptures in a minute.How did she survive the great crumble? It’s a miracle big city time. She must have been hidden under the hand of the Almighty. And why? Why would God protect a harlet, after all, she was not living a clean life. Because well we will see it in the next bit in the message and well it just ads to the already weirdnesses:https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailHa, but ok, so no it’s not the backwards meaning but it is the intended meaning. Let me say it another way, “suffering is necessary for positive spiritual growth which is intended to increase our maturity, both in the natural and spiritually speaking, and life effectiveness.” Is that more clearerness? Ha…I will try and show our intense need to go through suffering, trials, testing, and God correction in order to meet that objective. I tell you that without these elements happening, that is suffering, trials, testing, and God correction in our lives, we would run to worshipping false gods in a heartbeat. Do you have support for that position Mister, Mister? Yes. Every time the Israelites got comfortable in the things of God, they soon drifted into sin and began to take on the same characteristics of those whom didn’t give a hoot about God. Yes, every time without exception. I recommend reading the book of Ezra and see how and what the Israelites departure from God looks like. Their departure from worshipping the one true living God is expressed 100’s of times in the Old Testament. And but if you pinch yourself and reply ouch, and but if you didn’t get that reply give it a stronger go and when you get to the ouch part, let it be a simple and funny reminder that we are no different from them. We, for perhaps due to our American culture don’t really like suffering and at times we can attribute it to a non-believers destiny because they are attached to the world and to the will of the god of this earth (2 Cor 4:4). But suffering, trials, testing, and God correction is to strengthen us and to keep us on the right God path in order that we don’t stray into false-god harlotville and make the same mistake they did. It seems that God placed the Old Testament first so that we could look into the mirror of history and avoid doing what His own people did. It is like the Jews went first for our benefit so that we could learn from them, and but are we learning from them? I say that we can but according to Rev chapter 3 some of us won’t learn.Perhaps this message can change that.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailA farmer always knows what type of seed they are planting. Would they randomly cast seeds into their field? Nope, every farmer knows what seed to plant so that they are not surprised that if they wanted Pumpkins that they actual got Watermelons. Seeds are symbolic of a couple of things in the bible. They are genuine seeds that, if planted using the farming rules for seeds, they can produce the intended crop. Seeds also are represented as the words that we speak. If we speak good words we reap good seed feedback, but if we sow or speak bad words, we will reap bad seed feedback. The word of God is also considered seed which is why we are to read and apply it consistently within our lives so that we can reap a good harvest of intended things. I will explain intended things as we move through this message.Offerings are our financial seed. They are handled a couple of ways in the Bible. Apostles or disciples in training would be sent to those in other churches in order to provide input, correction, exhortation, teaching or even church admin advise. It was expected that they would receive resources or offerings from the saints that they visited. Paul shares with us what this looked like back in his days:Phil 4:15-16 - 15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. 16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.And we saw offerings giving in response to the Apostles ministry:Acts 4:34-37 - 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.36 And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, 37 having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. And we saw how God views our offerings and already knows the size of our wallets so in no way is impressed with the amount given but the sacrifice and faith that accompanies our offering:Mark 12:41-44 - 41 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. 42 Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. 43 So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailSo, if you are a consistent listener of this Podcast then you know that I said in my last message that I would be doing this one. I didn’t mention it by title because I didn’t have one. And but also, the reason that I am doing this very message is that there is a message within the message. The back story is that I was to by providing some revelation on Proverbs chapter 8, at our prayer meeting. It is the scripture that God gave our church this last new years eve, and but in the middle of the prayer meeting God shifted gears and dropped a seasonal seed message right in place of what He was bringing us into regarding a revival season. It is titled, “What Time Is It Right Now Seasonally Speaking” and was posted April 19, 2026.So, what does wisdom have to do with anybody right? Nothing, if you don’t think it is the most valuable thing to operate in. Every human has completely ignored Gods wisdom in many parts of their lives without doubt. The non-believing community gets wisdom confused with fear and intelligence. But I would say that they have misdiagnosed their insight. Before we move too far down the road we need to distinguish the three types or sources of wisdom that exist today.The three sources of wisdom are as follows:1)    God: Proverbs chapter 2 and 8We will take a look at these scriptures in a bit:2)    Lucifer/Satan: Ezekiel 28:12-17 and James 3:13-15Lucifer is satan’s pre-fallen name or position and satan is one of his fallen names. Oh you say well Podcast Preacher how many names and/or positions does the devil have:The Bible uses dozens of names, titles, and descriptors for the devil, reflecting his multifaceted role as an adversary and tempter. While Satan (meaning "adversary") and Devil ("slanderer") are the most common, he is described by more than 20 distinct names or positions, including the tempter, the evil one, the dragon, the serpent, Lucifer, https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailSo, I was going to be speaking on the wisdom of God at our Friday night prayer and revival meeting at the church in which God has been meeting us, each any every time, to bless us beyond what we even expected. And but we expect a lot as He is our Father and we His kids.And but as I was setting down to review the scripture Pro chap 8, something started to happen which I believe it had to do with what topic each person was praying. Now when we have corporate prayer we often see and hear God move in between us in unity and confirming the one accord pattern. What I mean is that it is like He gives each of us a piece of what He is saying, and intends to do in and through us, like a puzzle piece, and but what is exciting is that each of the pieces fit a sort of single image. It isn’t like each of us has our own thing from God and that none of the parts has no correlation to one another. It is awesome and of course I always look forward to Friday nights at Arise Paradise because we may not know what to expect, but expect we do.And so but as I was reviewing Pro chap 8 a scripture God gave to our church on the eave of January 1st, 2026. He shifted me to another message. And but no worries because my next message, after this one will cover the Proverbs chap 8 message that He also gave me, because it too is a must hear bit of revelation for the end time church.  I was sitting in the chair when God changed the frequency and blam, I was meditating on the events that took place throughout the day that are a catalyst to this message and I didn’t even know it until the cart was tumbling down the hill.So earlier in the day I drove to Sacramento to deliver my Kaabo scooter to a potential buyer. I had been advertising this thing for about six months with many false starts and broken promises. Now a small bit of back story is that I had a conversation with God about 9-months or more ago telling Him that I wanted to get some seed in the ground - seed meaning offering money. Tithe is not seed money but offering money is seed money. Anyway, I sold one thing of which I was able to sow but then the games and gimmicks of trying to sell the rest of my items came to a halt. https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailSo, it’s time we fix the idea that God comes in power-measures that differ, from one person to another. Ah, it’s been taught that this is the case in the following scripture which we will get to momentarily. Now some history is that I was reading this scripture and the topic illuminated which to me and this ministry is a sign that God wants me to prepare a message on what the Holy Spirit is pointing at. But as is the case every now and again, I shifted my thoughts for a brief moment and zink I lost the revelation. Fast forward a few weeks into the future present, in my morning reading time, I tripped upon the scripture again, and bing, I had recaptured what God had initially pointed out several weeks back. So this time I was lead to investigate what the real meaning is regarding the request Elisha had made to Elijah, which was “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.” Let’s look at that scripture:2 Kings 2:6-15 - 6 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan.”But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So the two of them went on. 7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan. 8 Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water; and it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.9 And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?”Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”10 So he said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.” 11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. 13 He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. 14 Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over.15 Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailOk so as I was moving through this message, I could see that there wasn’t enough paper in a small forest to document all of the things that I wanted to share about us Christians manifesting the traits of soldiers, athletes, and farmers. Oh, I know I could do one message per discipline batch, but I think it would lose something in the splitting up of these disciplines. So, what that means is that I will be referencing a lot of scriptures by their verse but not placing the actual scripture within this message. No problem though because you can and actually should be jotting them down as you move through the message so that you really get into the deep water. Yes, it is a shameless plug for the podcast, but also a truth. You can see how this works in Ezekiel (Ezek 47:3-5). All right here we go:Matt 9:35-37 - 35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.Look at what Jesus, that is our King and Priest was doing while His disciples were with Him. They were probably helping but I imagine the spiritual and ministerial workload was phenomenal considering the newness of Jesus ministry and the absence of anything in the way of schools or churches that could assist in equipping the new harvest and making disciples. And I say that, assuming that, if those institutions miraculously appeared that they would actually be assisting in making disciples which is not so much the common case in today’s world. I also say that considering how little we focus on equipping and making disciples today. Disciples, so that you have a more current or accurate understanding of the word, is to develop life-learners. A thing that is most rare in these days even though we have the educational institutions that we have. It would seem that they reproduce parrots more than they do life-learners, but this is not that so I get back to the other.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailSo, I had originally named this message, “The Strait of Hormuz Prophetic Fulfillment”, but then after some consideration I thought that it would be more like God to focus on the human element of a demonically carried out agenda. Satan uses anyone who gives him permission to do so. Who might they be you ask, well it would first and foremost be the make-believers, fake-believers, non-believers, and those stuck in the valley of indecision. And in every attempt to be non-offensive I will say that this very large people group gives satan permission to lead them around by their spiritual nose. Yes, in my message titled, “Serve and Worship God Or You Will By Default Serve And Worship Demon Empowered False gods”, you have learned that in life you only have two choices as to whom to will be a slave to. Oh, I know another controversial term, but let’s look at how God uses these to describe two people groups: Rom 6:16-18 – 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? {notice the only two choices people have}17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, {we are all born into sin} yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, {this happens through the born again experience discusses in John 3:3-7} you became slaves of righteousness.See again in Romans:Rom 6:22 - 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.So quickly and in a nut shell, you are either serving satan through your sinning, or you are serving, that is voluntarily submitting yourself a slave to God so that you no longer serve satan through sin, and thus reproduce righteousness, which by the way is impossible to achieve outside of being a slave to God and His kingdom rule.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailOriginally this thought word turn out to be a prophetic word for our church and because I believe it also applies to the global state of the church, I decided to share it in the hopes that it will help some of us soldiers, farmers, and athletes of God. Yes, I just cheap-plugged my own future message about soldiers, farmers, and athletes of which will be titled something like the three vocational attributes and behaviors of authentically born-again Christians. Boopsie-bow-wow, God just gave me that as the title so it will be the title. Look for it soon as it is imperative we understand those three attributes within our very selves. So shortly before I was to share this message God confirmed that I was on the right track. You know it is reassuring to know that you are on the right track with God when He asks you to do something. Right soon as I closed my eyes to begin entering into our weekly prayer meeting, I saw the following statement, “We can often grow more weary waiting for the will of God than we can in going in the wrong direction. I didn’t try to give an interpretation as I thought as I read it that it could mean several different things depending on who hears it, and so I left it alone confident that I was on the right track with this message.I was going to change the prophetic message for this podcast and just now decided against it. So, you will be getting the same message that God gave our church. To shift into the teaching mode for just a second, this is the prophetic gift as outlined in 1 Cor 12:8-10 and not the office of a prophet as described in Eph chapter 4. Listen for these three attributes of the prophetic gift, edification (building up), exhortation (encouragement), and comfort.  Let’s pray that we keep at the forefront of our minds and spirits our determination, our press, our sticktuativeness, our endurance to keep pressing forward and to fight for the things, that is the ministry, relationships, jobs, creative ideas, finances, and/or health that God is trying to manifest through you, even though for a time or season you do not see the horizon of victory.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailSo, as I was waking up, the topic or thought of “serving other gods” kept popping into my head. Now, I knew that even though my body was yet still sleeping, as I wasn’t wide-eyed yet, and but my spirit was awake and that it was receiving this “serving other gods” drift. I had already done some messages on this topic, but could see fairly easily, that God wanted me to do another message regarding this subject.Listen, what happened in the garden, and for the reason that it happened, which was to separate mankind from God Himself and to immediately turn us to serving and worshipping other gods, as this is our innate default when we reject the One true God, and satan knew this, and so but this will be happening in these last days, and in fact is already happening right now. The more people that turn away from God, by a preprogrammed “we must worship something” default, they will invite the power of darkness over this land and begin in larger scale that we have ever encountered, to worship all things false gods empowered in many cases by demonic power.So I thought I would stretch the current AI capabilities and ask it a question that I didn’t actually think it could come up with. But it did. The question was, “How many professing Christians know about demonic warfare?” The following is the response to that question:While a majority of Christians believe in the devil (roughly 58% to 92% depending on the study), the active understanding or knowledge of demonic spiritual warfare varies greatly. Many believers are considered unaware of this battle, often leading to “it”, (this is my comments: that is spiritual warfare, or to put it in an even more stricter sense, the work of satan and his demons, being overlooked, feared, or misunderstood as mere psychological issues, despite scriptural references to it. https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailI cannot express just how much I love learning about God. If you stick to it you will never run out of fresh material, that is you will never run out of fresh revelation to be more specific. So, my lovely audience of listeners, how many rapture and tribulation messages have I done? Not enough fo-sure, but like the others this one takes a different angle and provides a timeline of the events left to happen before poof. Not setting dates or anything like that, it’s just more of a chronological series of events that will eventually lead up to the rapture and then to the seven years of tribulation.My sources for this message Steve Cioccolanti's book titled, “The four horsemen of the Apocalypse - the greatest warning of the next 10 years” as well as Google AI. I recommend Stevens’ books as they are timely, accuracy, prophetic, and teach us well of the things that “were”, “are”, and “will be”. Let’s go big or rather high first:Well in an ignorantly-adopting-lies sort of way, this message might please some of those who really feel like they want to go through the tribulation of God, that is His judgement against all unrighteousness, to preach the those who have no intention of listening to any preachers including angels (Rev 14:6-7), 144,000 radical Jewish evangelists (Rev 7:1-8), or the two end time profits who are supernaturally empowered to perform miracle signs and wonders (Rev 11:3-12), and therefore, because of their self-imposed pious potion they do not believe in a God who tells the truth always. Ok so restated for simplicity, they do not believe that God would remove all of the authentically born-again Christians from the planet leaving the rest of the fake-believers, make-believers, non-believers, and those who are stuck in the valley of indecision to the devil and his Wiley-ways. Ah sounds pious right? And but of course they would be partially correct in that God wouldn’t do that as His word states He desires that all men be saved (1 Tim 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9, Is 45:22, & 49:6), and that His soul takes no pleasure in the death of one who dies (Ezek 18:23, & 33:11). So what assurance do we have that God will not have left the fake-believers, make-believers, non-believers, and those who are stuck in the valley of indecision to the devil? I just left that easter egg on the front porch. The 144,000 Jewish gospel fire-brands and the two end time prophets. And let us not forget that some of the fake-believers, make-believers, non-believers, and those who are stuck in the valley of indecision will have woken up once they found out that they missed the big signs and left their containers of oil home (Matt 25:1-13). https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailDo flies and lies rhyme for a reason, ha, but no I won’t be weird throughout the whole message. So, in working on this message, meaning as I got nearer to the end I came back to the beginning and thought I would share some incites so that you can be looking for the purpose and intention of this manage for these end times. I saw that it was taking an interesting turn. My focus was going to be strictly on the topic of lies and I think I covered or uncovered them for what there intended purposes are and will be, but I noticed a parallel message in this process, which is that there seems to be also an emphasis on waking out of your self-imposed stupor. And well if you are not stooped that doesn’t mean God will neglect what you need from this message. I believe God is pleading for your very soul, and for the very souls of those in whom you know who are heading for a dreadfully awful place of which there are no second chances for escape. We cannot save anybody after they go to hell. Preaching the gospel in power, and sometimes prefaced with advanced prayer is the only thing that will wake up the sleeping Christians and the fake-believers, make-believers, non-believers, and those stuck in the valley of indecision. 1 Cor 2:4-5 - 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.If you don’t know the God of power then you are preaching with no power if you are indeed preaching at all.We as authentically born-again believers will be held in account for the ministry God has given to each of His disciples. So, I thought I would wrap around topside and include this paragraph at the beginning of the message so that you understand it has a parallel message and does not let no one off the hook. That little symbolism will come to light as we move on. One last thing before we get started is that I expect, in love, that you will look up any referenced scriptures; not necessarily the ones I include in their entirety, but those just referenced so that you understand the message more comprehensively. And to support this position I leave you with some scriptures to look up that will help (Matt 13:19, Luke 8:12, Pro 2:1-6, Ps 119:130, 2 Tim 2:15, Deut 4:1-10, and Matt 4:4). Keep in mind that some of the scriptures provided are preventative and others are supportive of the theme of what was just stated.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailWe open with a question: Generally speaking what is needed Before any action takes place?1.     Knowledge2.     Understanding3.     Wisdom4.     Instruction5.     PerceptionIf we move ahead without these ideal elements in place we are headed for a sure disaster. Yes, for those who are trained up well on the Word these elements tend to be transparent and happening in the background every time a task comes up that requires action. So, it would only be a little tedious for those who haven't yet taken these steps when they make decisions, but the reward is immense. Applying them can assure you that you can avoid making unnecessary mistakes in life which can cost you plenty in resources such as time, money, materials, lost businesses, and the absence of these can even damage relationships:Rom 12:2 - 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.So now We want to dissect one of the hinge words in that scripture I define it as a swing word, in which the rest of the scripture hinges on. Let's take a look at the meaning of that word conformed using Google AI:https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailSomething has been standing out as I read the Bible cover to cover which is the phase and/or thought of serving other gods. Now I say cover to cover but what it is, is that I am reading the Ethiopian bible as it contains the whole bible canon as well as other books of which I would call solid historical records of various events. My study is on the events that will circle around meaning the connection between the book of Revelation back to Genesis. The scripture that is leading my study and research direction for 2026 is:Luke 17:26-30 - 26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.I will give you “rapture” types an easter egg which is that both of these events, besides speaking of things of which I will momentarily discuss, also speak of a type of rapture. This is important for us to pay attention to because God is many things, but one thing for sure is that He is consistent. Notice how Noah, his family, and Lot and some of his family were removed from the scene of Gods wrath and judgement before Gods wrath and judgement fell upon those people who were unrepentant and willingly living in sin? Rapture all day long, the difference is that they didn’t get caught up, but they did get removed before Gods wrath fell upon those people so we call this a rapture type event similar to Paul’s, John’s, and Philip’s. You can give ear to my latest rapture type message titled, “Veloci-rapture” posted February 04, 2026 for my latest list of 10-biblically proven rapture and rapture-type events. Adding these two stories now makes it 12 rapture and rapture-type events, and but no worries because there is way more than that but how much evidence do we need to prove the consistency of God anyway?Ok so what about the days of Noah and Lot? What is hidden in plain site and dodged by more pastors as the strange belief that certain messages in the bible are too controversial, so we don’t talk about them. In my vey last message titled, “Fractured from Birth End Time Clarification Beginning In Genesis and ending In Revelation”, I addressed how too many pastors and teachers pick and chose what they will speak on or teach on so as to maintain a spirit of inclusiveness. Let’s see if we can find a biblical definition of what this looks like:2 Tim 4:1-5 - 4 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailSo as I have been going through the eschatology, that is the study of the end times of which we are in right now, I came across a book titled, “Psalms 82 - The divine council of the gods, the judgment of the watchers and the inheritance of the nations” written by Brian Godawa, I saw something that triggered this message. He had something to say on it but I wanted to give it a go from my own angle. He has written some very interesting end-times books. So we have, if you have been a consistent listener, I say this so that you don’t think I used the word “we” in a position of assumption. We all have different rates of growth especially in these days of mountains of distractions, excuses, and deceptive lines of teaching, i.e. false Teachers, false prophets, false apostles, wolves in sheep's clothing, which can include The regular attendees at church known as the Saints of God, or the pastors. You might be saying well why bring up all of these falsies as it relates to the rate of growth a Christian can make. And I bring them up because what happens is that we get overly hyper sensitive or cautious to moving off of what we already know to be true or what we think to be true. And So what happens is that we slow the rate of growth at which we can grow. We are slow to adopt new teaching, new revelation, or old revelation in modern language. I think this is most expressed when I hear the statements I can hear from God and know that I do. Now in humility there's nothing wrong with this statement, but far too often what it really reveals is a difficulty one has in hearing or seeing what God is doing in these current days.In my studying in the last couple of years there seems to be a lot of contradictory information out there regarding what people think the Bible says and as a teacher this is frustrating because I see the purpose of it which is that people would make the excuse that the Bible is too difficult to understand and nobody can seem to agree on what it says. Now if you were the Antichrist isn't this the perfect strategy that you would want to play so that when you come back you can affirm that what they think is right? Of course, but we seem to be a little short sighted in the strategies of the devil in these days https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailNow boy oh boy have I seen some interesting reactions to this topic as it unfolded. But I simply leave it to you to decide for yourself. I am in no way attempting to get people to see the bible my way. I am not interested in that. And as discussed in my message titled, “Do You Know Your Doctrine”, posted March 04, 2026 I stated that our doctrine and the gospel are non-negotiables. But all of the other stuff we can have varying understandings without conflict. No two Christians are in the exact same place regarding God. Now we have some basic guidelines to ensure the people we listen to do not lead us astray. Follow those and you can now be free to learn and to also learn and get new revelations about the things of God. And I only say new because it is as we grow that we finally see what has always been in the bible. And any and all revelation should line up with the word of God adding nothing to or taking anything away from the existing revelations, the law or the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now don’t you feel better? No doubt I bet you are wondering what we will be learning today. Oh and before I forget, this small picture in time actually goes back to Gen chapter 6 when the sons of God had sex with women and brought with them heavenly knowledge to earth that was intended to stay in heaven. The book of Enoch shares some of that history. No it is not cannon, which is that it is not deemed scripture but it is deemed a reliable historical document. I will include a snippet so that we have the larger picture as we process what Ham may have done and why it is so significant and where the root of that sin may have come from. The article is from readingacts.com and its author is Philip Long. You can also get the story from the Ethiopian bible that considers this a part of their bible:The Book of the Watchers describes the fallen angels (1 Enoch 6-8).  In the biblical story of the Nephilim, the sons of God saw the daughters of men were beautiful so they married them and had children (Gen 6:1-4). These children were called the Nephilim, the “mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.” In Genesis, the story shows how far the wickedness of humans had become: humans interacted sexually with spiritual beings. No details are given on how this might be possible, but the next verse in Genesis says “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” This brief story is tantalizing: who are these “sons of God” and what were the Nephilim? 1 Enoch offers an expansion of this biblical story in chapters 6-11. Are the Nephilim fallen angels?In 1 Enoch, the sons of God are the “sons of heaven,” angelic beings led by Shemihazah. The name Shemihazah (שׁמיחזה, šemîḥăzāh) means “My name has seen” and is sometimes vocalized as Semyaz of Semyaza (Nickelsburg, 179). “Name” refers to God, so the name refers to constantly watching God. This is ironic since God will see this rebellion and render judgment on the Shemihazah. Some readers want to find some reference to Satan as the leader of fallen angels in the Book of Enoch. As the story progresses, however, Azazel emerges as the ringleader (but later Enoch will intercede on behalf of Azazel). This is an example of how foolish (and impossible) it is to project modern Christian angelology on 1 Enoch. Azazel is not the modern version of Satan at all!https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailNow that’s an interesting title and long as well for such a short revelation. I will be simply contrasting a couple of bible characters and then ask some questions. Now when I ask those questions if you maintain a stiff upper lip and decide to never tune in again, then for sure this podcast is not for you. I am only interested in those who are teachable and who maintain a humble spirit. Am I greater than Jesus that I would be able to convince a stiff-necked, hard-hearted student that effective learning is proven effective by how much you are willing to change. And but if you are not willing to change then again who am I? If Jesus didn’t violate someone’s free will, even if it meant hell down the road, then how can I? I would be in great error to try. The receipt of truth is determined by a Holy Spirit working in the open minds and hearts of those who can receive His truth. A teacher’s job must remain grounded in truth and in love but separate from the emotional whims of this or that person. The truth need not be adjusted, or as is happening in these very days, being compromised so that it comes off inclusive and acceptance of everyone. This is not how it works says God in and all over His bible:2 Tim 2:15 -  Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.Have you ever wondered why the office of teacher does not exist in many churches? I wonder what Paul, Jesus or the Holy Spirit would have to say about that (John 14:26).My thought is that it is a rare bird who gets taught so well and applies their greatest efforts in learning that by practicing what it being taught that they might be like their teacher:Luke 6:40 - 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.I like to think that perfectly trained could also be stated “completely and thoroughly trained.” So, why so few ever make this mark? Because the devil has found a way to puff up the people of God causing them to balk at new revelation (1 Cor 8:1). I think it also involves a spirit of fear, and reflects a gap in our faith that God can keep us from falling into error (2 Tim 1:7). https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailIn between the giants and end time studies we interrupt our regularly broadcasted messages for a message on wisdom which is needed in these very end time days. Person-identification; personification. I did make that up but with the intent that you understand that there are spirits that are personified, or that are likened to human traits. Oh now we have to be careful that we do not attribute them to the human race as they are first of all spirits. Ok let me show you before we get to her and her story of our need for her, that is wisdom.Gen 4:7 - 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”So we see how sin is alive and how it has a desire, a human or person trait. No it is not human but a spirit that reflects human traits. And but it is one hundred percent evil. A good test could be to imagine this scripture applying to a tree. Can a tree desire to rule over you? Nope.Let’s look at another few examples in Romans to see sins personification:Rom 6:11-14 - 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.For sin to have dominion over you it should but also have the power to do so. Can a tree have dominion over you? Nope. Sin; It’s alive, its alive…ha, next:Rom 7:9 - 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailWhat, click, click, click…I would, if I didn’t believe God was in this message, might hear the clicking off of this message, just because of that one word, “doctrine.”I sounds so formally religious and high-level professionally academic.Let’s define from dictionary.com:a particular principle, position, or policy taught or advocated, as of a religion or government.Catholic/Protestant doctrines;the Monroe Doctrine.Synonyms:belief, precept, theory, dogma, tenetsomething that is taught; teachings collectively.religious doctrine.a body or system of teachings relating to a particular subject.the doctrine of the Catholic or Protestant Church.I still hear yuckiness, but to give it a fair shake, I think we should move into some sample creeds, which are supposed to be a conglomeration of bible based doctrines,  and see if this process makes it more sensible, as to the reason we should know the non-negotiables within our Christian belief. Why? Because it makes it less possible for someone to come along in an antichrist spirit, or a fake-believer, make-believer, non-believer, or anybody stuck in the valley of indecision to get you to compromise, and that is an end time strategy that you must know will be; no it is at play right now, and many churches have already took the bait. To make it simple, any church that performs marriage ceremonies between woman, to woman or man to man, and eventually person to animal is outside of bible supported doctrine. So, if it happened to them, it could happen to us. Therefore, we must know our non-negotiables, so we don’t negotiate or compromise.This is a bit of a shorty but a must see and understand in these end times. https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailOk so it’s a modification of a slogan for vegetables beginning in 1928 eventually this giant became a mascot and rep for the company. And nearly all, of the kids in my generation, we knew exactly what it meant; vegetables.But this message is about the real original giants that inhabited and maybe still do inhabit this planet. One of my source documents is from a book written by Rick Renner titled, “Fallen Angels, Giants, Monsters And The World Before The Flood - How The Events of Noah's Ark & The Flood Are Relevant To The End Of The Age. I recommend Ricks books on the end times as they are nothing short of eye opening and sensationally written and supported by scripture.So we can rarely take the credit for creating anything new right? Solomon stated there is nothing new under the sun:Eccl 1:9 - That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.Notice that it states, “…That which has been is what will be…)?And well if we look hard at the Genesis account we also find something that is also telling:          Gen 6:4 - 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward,And why not follow this as if it, the giant thing were to ever happen again, again, that is if they are not already here. God forbid we find a giant in the melting Arctic circle ice whereby we experimenting war types can extract some of its DNA and move to cloning such beasts. And no it doesn’t matter that we know that they were bent on the complete and thorough destruction of mankind, those who are of possessed and ambitious minds satan can and will use. More on this later.Matt 24:37-39 - 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailOk so I was reading a book this morning titled, How To Keep Your Head On Straight In A World Gone Crazy written by Rick Renner and yes I recommend that you look into his books for a right-now revelation of what is secretly unfolding right before our eyes. Now it’s not a secret because the bible states that what is happening right now would happen, but because it has already crept into mainstream Christianity and the world culture, many will not be looking for these signs. And but there is a great concern that if you do not take your Christianity seriously, and mine out the revelation that God is so willing to reveal to us end-timer saints, then you will compromise your faith and slip out of heaven right into the place that was originally created for the demons, and it will have happened right under your noise:Matt 25:41 - 41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: God is really doing everything He can to get our attention, everything. It is our part of the responsibility within our relationship with Him to listen to His Holy Spirit and pay heed and special attention to what’s happening right now. If you ever prayed or thought that you wanted to be a part of the end time church you will no doubt find that your pray has been answered. Let’s get into this message. I was reading about some end time conditions and behaviors that, unfortunately long ago and even in these end-of-days, crept into the church. This message a part of another message that has been revised for this presentation. It actually has very valuable homework which will be discussed at the end of the message. I and those who attend our church, Arise Paradise in Paradise Ca, began the weeklong assignment which is tailored to locate where we are at as Christians. So often we exaggerate the things we do for God, by claiming we spend inordinate amounts of time in our religion. This assignment will prove you right or help you to make some adjustments. We are the end time Delta Force of the church. Many have gone before us and gave their lives for the church, we should have but the same commitment in our relationship with the One true living God and savior Jesus Christ as they did.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailWow I usually get titles before the message, but I really struggled with what to title this one as I believe the title should reveal the content of what is being said. My initial thought was to call it, “Why The Flood Again.” But I would have to explain the word again and this would have taken the message in another direction. This is really a message about what is happening right under our Laodicean Church noises and I am sure this wont work out well for the church or for those who depend on the church to fulfill its calling. Of course you know by now that I am into the end times stuff because many who are paying attention are also talking about it. Not the sensationalist who work for the like strike button, but for those who authentically care about these last of last days. No one could have imagined what these days would look like for the end time church, and now that it is upon us, no one seems to care but those ever so few. And Didn’t Jesus, Peter and Paul warn us that this would happen? Alright let’s get it.Ok so it’s been a great season of researching and focusing on the book of Revelation this year so far. Giants, Dragons, Watchers, two floods not one, what did satan look like in the garden and why it wasn’t a snake that was speaking to Eve, where did the giants come from after they were destroyed in the flood, and so much more. But in this deluge of information something stood out that I thought I would hit the pause button on my reading and share in a message. Humm so I think the best way to begin is to open with a question. Did God destroy the earth simply because of sin? Oh, I know you might add hey Podcast Preacher it was the giants as well, to which I wouldn’t disagree, but would add another question which is what were they doing that was causing God earth-destroying grief? Eve and Adam sinned and their sin didn’t move God to destroy the earth with a giant bubble bath. I mean if sin was enough to tip the scales of Gods grace and mercy, we today wouldn’t be here right this very moment. Surely, we are over our necks in committing abominable sins and have over-flowed the sin cup many millions of times since the last flood. So, there had to be something else going on that triggered God if indeed He could be triggered, and I am not talking about an emotional trigger but one of righteousness. I will be doing future messages on some of those topics mentioned above including the giants and the mysterious crossover from the flood event to the rest of the Old Testament times. https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailWell, my thought is if I cannot get up my driveway due to snow and ice which precludes me from attending my Churches prayer meeting then I will prepare a message about another testimony that has happened just February 19, 2027. Yes, I included the date so as to codify it. Ha, no but since living here in Paradise I have had 8 of these types of things happen and I want to share so that you can be encouraged that you too can walk in such things as long as you do not doubt. Allow me to build this message a bit so as to encourage you to take some faith risks in these very near to end of days times. So, lets ground this message with a scripture:Mark 11:22-24 - 22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have (the) faith of God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.Isn’t this scripture interesting in that it is talking about nature or about the things in the natural and not specifically talking about casting out demons or healing people? Yes, of course it is interesting. Why? Because we have been given authority over everything but God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and anything that God doesn’t desire to happen, or a better way of saying that is anything against His will. Outside of this we are free to move about the planet. Should we ignore demons, and those who need healing just so we can uproot mountains and shift the landscape of the planet? Of course not, but in the same token we should not holster our weapon during things like weather events, natural disasters, finances, resources, uprooting and replanting, etc. Look again:https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailI love discovering new and yet but already existing things about God. Yes, we teachers teach on the revelation or light that we have at the time that we are teaching something specific, but if we continue to seek God and His treasures, we will increase in more light and revelation which means that at times what we taught was wrong, or as in most cases with me just incomplete. Does this happen with every message I teach? No of course not. Many things in the bible are unchangeable such as who is God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and what it is that they have tasked us to do and how each of them, which represents one God, helps us to accomplish His will in our lives. Pretty much unchangeable although His will is tailored to each of us and is somehow magically joined to the will and purposes of others within the church.I remember recently I discovered that the Joel 2:21-29 which was quoted by Peter in the book of Acts 2:16-18 specifically when Peter replied to the accusers who stated that they were drunk, no, no, no this is what was spoken by the Prophet Joel. The key word is this. For many people they talk of a future date that, that prophesy will come to pass but beginning on the day of Pentecost, it happened. And but now I did state in my previous message I am not sure how it is that God has poured out His Spirit since that time. You see I had no more light to go past that thought. But in my continual pursuit, I learned that the words, “in the last days” verse 17 includes the church age. The church age represents the near end of the last 2000 years. So now in understanding that, events like the Azusa Street Revival and the Jesus Movement to name just a couple of events make sense. He, that is God is pouring out His Spirit in and through those types of events. No, it is not limited to Revivals, Awakenings, and Renewals, but it is just most commonly witnessed in those larger outpourings. Now and just so I don’t leave you with the thought that is still being taught which is that God is pouring out His Spirit on “all” flesh, that you think everybody who is alive will receive the Holy Spirit. There is no president in the bible for God giving non-believers, fake-believers, make-believers, or those in the valley of indecision, and to be more blunt, those practicing unrighteousness, his Holy Spirit. He wouldn’t do that. The Holy Spirit is for believers or for those being saved. And if you get stuck in literalism then we can expect by that specific interpretation that God would be giving Apes, Gorilla’s, Giraffes, Fishes of the sea, and flying birdies His Spirit as it does say all flesh and not humans. Ha, wow we gotta have fun these trying days…https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Send us Fan MailSo this is a little story in which I compare my VW driving days in which I did much of the tune up and engine work on the car myself. If I wanted to go professionally fast I paid the professionals to build those motors. Now even back when we mostly worked on our own cars in the 80’s and 90’s, we usually didn’t  check the oil in our car to see, first, if it has any metal flakes, is too dirty, or if it smells like gasoline, which is indicative of a problem with the engine or fuel system. I did say that we don’t do these things first. What we do is to limit our scope and only check on whether we need any additional oil. It is a habit of many to avoid going beyond that step. Funny how we are risk takers by our very natures. We see that the oil is at the dipstick line and we insert the oil stick back in its place and roar on down the road fully believing that all is well. Do we also carry over this habit in our spiritual walk with God? Oh, we all want more oil; well those who understand what that even means want more oil. But so lets look at the similarities of how we treat our car oil and our walk with God.Setting short-term and long-term goals to improve and increase in your walk with God is insuring you have oil in your car. It is the first step, but without further inquiry and possible discovery, we leave the cars continued performance to chance. Setting goals and checking the oil level is the first step.If nothing is done beyond this point, it is pointless.https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/