The Apostles Doctrine

The book of Acts is exciting and full of new adventure.  It is the story of the first century church told in the first person by those who actually lived it.  It also lays out the pattern for Christianity.

In Acts 2:42 we read:
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers.  
43: then fear came upon every soul and many signs and wonders were done through the apostles.

We need to stop right here and ask the question "what is the apostles doctrine?" In the verses preceding we are provided with that answer in Peters sermon.

Jesus is Lord, raised from the dead by God for our redemption
Repent of sin and be baptized as a symbol of new life
Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit

It all begins with an act of God (GOD, in the beginning created the Heavens and the earth)  which has direct consequences upon us, His creation.  We respond to this action, because God created us specifically for His pleasure and to respond to His actions (God said Let Us make man in Our image according to Our likeness, let THEM have dominion over...).  Dependent on our response there is then the receiving of Gods blessings (for by grace you've been saved, not of works lest any man should boast).

As you read through the bible you will find this pattern established and we are encouraged to follow it, for by doing so we reap the many blessings and benefits God intends for His creation, stolen by that serpent the devil, satan our enemy who because of PRIDE fell and pulled and continues to pull many down with him.

Awe and wonder of the Lord God opens the eyes of our hearts, allowing us to see the miracles of God.  It isn't that OUR faith brings about miracles - this has been an error taught too long in our churches.  As if healing or miracles would occur IF we believe enough, or have faith enough.  This makes God dependent upon us - not so!  The truth is that God is always moving, always blessing and caring for and tending to His sheep, but our eyes are darkened, unable to see those miracles and blessings and joys.

Receiving His gift of Eternal Life through Christ Jesus our Lord, by confessing the truth that Jesus is the Lord, responding to that truth by believing in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead after He gave Himself as the substitute sacrifice for OUR sins and by the GRACE of God being filled with the Holy Spirit gives us the sight to see those miracles, see those blessings and live in the JOY that God the Creator and Master of all the Heavens, Earth and Creatures He created intended us to live in.  Praise God from Whom ALL blessings flow!

I encourage you to pick up the Bible, open to the Book of Acts and begin to read.  I pray God will give you new insight and then the courage to LIVE as He intended you to live - VICTORIOUS through Christ Jesus our Lord!  Sure, you are weak and your flesh is selfish and sinful.  Certainly you don't have all the right thoughts and feelings all the time toward everyone.  None of us does.  BUT, as we submit to the Holy Spirit, somehow God grants the grace we need to overcome, to speak in ways that bless, to act in ways that honor Him and many wonders and signs will be done through His born again Sons and Daughters!

In the midst of EVERY storm, peace

Luke 24: 36-39  Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and said to them “Peace to you.”  But they were terrified and frightened and supposed they had seen a spirit.  And He said to them “Why are you troubled?  And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself.  Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have Flesh and bones as you see I have.”

Peace our Lord and Savior assures us, is ours, and yet we run through our lives frantic and terrorized by every circumstance as far from peace as it is possible to be.  Christians, my brothers and sisters, PEACE, not as the world gives but according the creator of peace, the source of peace belongs to us.  It has been freely given to us and quite frankly the only way to lose it is to be defeated by deceit – lied to and tricked into believing that chaos reigns and has control.  Jesus Himself stands as our advocate and declares to us PEACE.  Will we believe Him or allow the terror of our own hearts to steal His truth from us.

Why are we troubled when we see the mayhem in this world?  Why do doubts arise in our hearts?  Why are we so frightened when He has promised us that we will have such troubles in this world?  We will be persecuted, we will be hated, nation will rise against nation and kingdom will rise against kingdom.  False prophets will rise up and they will deceive many.  Lies will be held up as truth and truth will be denied as a lie.

Behold, has He not told us in advance that these things will come to pass?  Has He not made Himself known?  Hasn’t He shown Himself trustworthy?  Don’t be frightened and don’t let terror keep you from enjoying His peace, his Joy and the freedom He paid so dear a price to give to you.  Just as He did for the disciples, He has done for us.  He assures us that no matter what is going on around us, no matter the wicked state of the world, no matter what our eyes see or our hearts tell us, His truth remains and can be trusted and believed.

Peace to you.  The Son of redemption has declared it and it is so.  Blessings to you my brothers and sisters.  Do not doubt.  Do not fear.  Hold fast to faith for He is faithful who has promised.  Keep in mind always that our lives in Him are Eternal and they are sure.  Recognize the Lord Jesus your Savior and know you are not alone.  Lift up your eyes and hearts to the His truth, that you may know His peace and receive by grace His deliverance.  Keeping in mind always that this world is not our home, just a place we pass through on our way to Our Father.

BLESSED RESURRECTION ~ HAPPY EASTER!

We present for your enjoyment and enlightenment this 

Turn the Tide Ministry original Musical Drama:

MALCHUS; an Easter Miracle!

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four


IT WOULD BE A BLESSING FOR YOU TO SHARE THIS LITTLE PRODUCTION WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND MAY GOD BE GLORIFIED!

Knocking on Doors

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we were going door to door and offering to pray for people.  Only one said no and shut the door on us.  Most were very pleasantly surprised and responded positively to the offer, made with no strings attached.  We knocked on the next door and a man answered.  He seemed rather distracted, but invited us in and asked us to sit down.  We made the offer to pray and he accepted, but had some questions he wanted to asked first.

At the end of our impromptu interview, he allowed us to pray for him and his family.  He asked where we gathered on Sunday and we told him along with a welcome to join us anytime he chose.

His children began attending regularly and became part of the church family.  Several times when they were not working he and his wife joined us as well.

As we are a traveling ministry, the time came for us to move on.  Joyfully we bid farewell to our new friends and followed the Lords leading once more to parts unknown.  Several months later we received a phone call from the pastor of that church we'd worked with while in that area.  He asked if we remembered the gentleman on who's door we had knocked who subsequently visited the church.  We said we did.  Then he shared a story that reminded us and encouraged us in the work God has called us to.

Pastor began "Jim (not his real name) called me out of the blue the other day.  He wanted to share a story for me to pass on to you.  He said that day we came to his door and offered to pray for him, he had at that very moment been sitting in his office.  His marriage was falling apart and his business was a mess.  He cried out to God and asked for help.  Right then is when we knocked on his door!"

Since then, with open hearts to the Lord this family has received much healing and deliverance.  If Jim hadn't called Pastor to share with him, we never would have known the impact our little insignificant act of obedience had harvested for the Glory of God Almighty!  We don't always see the result, but God always knows the end He is moving us toward.  Always, it is for not only our good but the good of others as well.

What a mighty, awesome, loving, kind and infinitely creative God we serve!  This story and so many others like it are the reason we have forsaken all to travel where the Holy Spirit leads and share the glorious Gospel of Salvation through Christ Jesus with any and all that we come in contact with.  We don't count souls harvested, we just obey our God and trust in Him with all our hearts, leaving things in His ultra capable hands!

What a joy, what a privilege to serve the Lord and fulfill His purposes in our lives.  Whatever the Lord has called you to in YOUR life, be encouraged that He is there working all things together for good even when you don't see or know the result of it.  Every insignificant act of obedience He turns to SIGNIFICANT GLORY TO HIS WONDERFUL NAME.

Sustainable Faith

(Enjoy this weeks sermon in video format if you prefer)

People are in a constant state of  SHOW  ME,  MAKE  ME  FEEL  IT,  PROVE  IT  TO  ME !

When the Lord prepared to deliver Israel at Israels request (Exodus 2: 23-24) He showed the people great signs and wonders through Moses, whom He had chosen to be their deliverer. (Exodus 7-13).  The Passover feast was established for Israel at this time and they were delivered from the oppression of the Egyptians.  They came to the Red Sea and fear caused them to tremble and cry out against God and He parted the waters and brought them across in safety (Exodus 14: 12-).  After seeing and experiencing such great deliverance at the hand of God they swore to obey and serve Him. (Exodus 14:30 - 15:22)
Almost immediately after praising the Lord for His deliverance they begin berating Moses with complaints.  They're hungry, they're thirsty.  We would like to think that thankfulness has a long lasting deep effect but the truth is the moment to moment need and desire of our flesh is what has the greatest influence over what drives us!  It's hard in the routine of daily life.
When there is deep sadness, discouragement and sorrow in our lives, remaining steadfast and faithful in matters concerning the Lord God are particularly difficult.  The truth is that even when everything in our lives is going GREAT it can be hard to sustain faith.  Our fleshly sin nature is constantly waiting to erupt and we have an adversary who is only too gleeful to assist those eruptions or indeed, be the catalyst for them occurring in the first place.

Why is faith so difficult even after we witness great miracles?  Did the Apostles have some secret to sustaining their faith even in the face of torture and death?  Is there a method to sustaining faith?
Yes, there is, but it isn't long term, one time, one size fits all.

Let's take a quick look at one of the Apostles, Peter, who denied that he knew Jesus at all, and how Jesus restored him after that awful situation.  John 21:15-19  Jesus gently, firmly reminds Peter that it ISN'T  ABOUT  PETER  IT  IS  ABOUT  JESUS!  Do you LOVE  Jesus?  Then serve Him.  Don't waste time dwelling on yourself, spending time berating yourself, beating yourself up or fashioning for yourself methods and agendas and unkeepable promises - JUST  LOVE  JESUS.  He'll provide the grace you need to move forward!  (Unkeepable may not be in the dictionary, but we all know those kinds of promises, made and just as quickly broken, don't we?)

The Apostle Paul confessed his weakness and need to "die daily" in ICorinthians 15:31.  In Philippians 3:12 he makes known his need to LET GO of things in order to obtain the better things of God.  It is the same for all of us.  We desperately need the constant, daily and ongoing reminder, the continual "cheerleading from God that He is on our side" in order to bolster our HOPE  and sustain our  FAITH.
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God is glad to provide it for the simple reason that He loves us.  The relationship between the Israel people and the Lord is a physical picture of the spiritual relationship we now have the opportunity to experience since Christs sacrificial death on the cross paid the penalty for our sin, now and  FOR  ALL  TIME !  Just as with Peter on the shore that morning Jesus offers us restoration based on His grace which is immediate, not on any works of our flesh!  Even if our own hearts condemn us, the Apostle John reveals in IJohn 3:20 For if our heart condemns us God is greater than our heart and knows all things.  

We are no surprise to the Lord.  Our actions, just as Peters actions after Jesus' arrest, are no surprise to God.  He loves us  NOT  because we get things right, for while we were still SINNERS  He loves us.  He loves us because HE  CHOOSES  TO.

Faith is not a method, not a program, not a series of steps you take to attain some goal.  Faith is sustained by the grace of God which works in us according to HIS,  GODS  PLEASURE.  It really is all about HIM and not about us.  And it pleases Him to show us His love over and over every day in every way  JUST  BECAUSE  HE CHOOSES  TO.

Need more proof?  Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  


Oh there's so much more to fellowship with the Lord!  We start right where we are, but He does not leave us there!  Subscribe to our updates and continue to grow and learn about this "walk" with a Lord God who loves you!  Questions?  Comments?  Please leave them below and we will respond.  Prayer requests?  Send them to us, we will pray for you!  Need to talk?  Email a number, we'll call you!  Changing lives one at a time.....TURN THE TIDE MINISTRIES