Victorious Faith Ministries

by Bill Pevlor

For the most part, the Christian world had been duped into thinking the highest calling of Christianity is being “blessed.” Some Christian circles have become nothing more than “bless me” clubs. Blessing is a definite part of the Christian life, it is a promised result of Godly living and I’m all for seeking the blessing of God. To simply strive for blessing, however, is the lowest level of Christianity. As Christians, our highest calling is to be a blessing.

Many Christians, on a personal quest to find the blessing of God, often miss the opportunities God places before them to be a blessing to others. The Kingdom of God operates on a different set of standards than the world. Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35) To be first in the Kingdom of God would be a major blessing. So, if you want to be first in God’s Kingdom, look for ways to serve and be a blessing to others.

The good news is that anyone can be a blessing. You may feel your life is insignificant and unimportant, but let me assure you – you can be a blessing! As a Christian, your destiny is one of blessing others. You don’t have to be a gifted singer, speaker or foreign missionary to be a blessing. You need only to be willing. Let me give you an example.

Saul was a man who, after an encounter with Jesus, became known as the Apostle Paul. He was a great man of God who wrote nearly half of the New Testament and spread the gospel to the far corners of the known world; including the household of Caesar. We’ve all heard of the Apostle Paul. But have you heard of Ananias?

In the 9th chapter of the book of Acts there was a man named Ananias. The Bible tells us that the Lord spoke to Ananias in a vision and told him to go to Saul and restore his sight. The Lord told Ananias that Saul (remember Saul will later have his name changed to Paul) was God’s chosen instrument to carry the Lord’s name before all men. Saul’s eyes had been blinded by his previous encounter with the Lord. Saul was staying in Damascus; praying and, no doubt, confused with no clue of his future.

Ananias was faithful to the prompting of the Lord and found Saul. He placed his hands on Saul and Saul’s sight was restored and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Ananias, no doubt, shared with Saul (soon to become Paul) what the Lord had told him about Saul’s future ministry, and, as they say, “the rest is history.” Of course, we all know of Paul’s success, but after this event, Ananias is never mentioned again in scripture.

Ananias wasn’t a big-shot. And, thank God, He wasn’t a member of the “bless me” club, merely interested in his own blessing. He was ready and willing to be a blessing. In fact, the only notable thing Ananias did was to offer himself as a servant willing to bless another. As insignificant as his life might have seemed, Ananias was a vital link in the chain of events that produced one of God’s greatest men; the Apostle Paul.

We often forget the Anne Sullivans who play such important roles in the lives of Helen Kellers. In our day of distorted values, we often think our lives are of little importance. Being blinded by the dazzle and the desire of another blessing, we often lose sight of the potential in our own, seemingly small, efforts to bless others.

When you offer yourself as a servant intent on blessing others you rise to the highest calling of Christianity. Every blessing you extend to others, no matter how seemingly small, is significant in the Kingdom of God.

Let me say to members of the “bless me” club, this thing we call the Christian life is not just about you. It’s really about others. I saw a bumper sticker encouraging “Random Acts of Kindness.” I thought it was a good idea. Still, a better idea would be “Deliberate, Premeditated Acts of Blessing.” Don’t pass up opportunities today to bless someone else. You could be ministering to the next Apostle Paul.

by Bill Pevlor

Close to 2000 years ago Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, left heaven and came to earth. Think for a moment. If you were in heaven, what would it take to get you to leave the ultimate paradise and come to earth to face a terrible death? If you asked any number of people “Why did Jesus come to earth?” you will get a variety of answers.

Some people will tell you that Jesus came to teach us the way we should live. It is true, Jesus did teach us how to live. He taught us to live by the golden rule (Mat. 7:12), to turn the other cheek (Mat. 5:39) and to go the extra mile (Mat. 5:41). Though Jesus was the greatest of teachers, God had other teachers who could have taught those same messages. Jesus came for a much greater purpose.

Some will tell you that Jesus came to start a religion. This is simply not true. God did not devise a plan to send His only Son to die a horrible death so that we could formulate doctrine, teach catechism, perform dreary ceremonies and stare at stained glass windows. I suppose you could say Jesus was the originator of Christianity, but Jesus didn’t come here for the purpose of starting it and, by the way, Christianity is not a religion.

Some will tell you that Jesus came to die on the cross. Certainly Jesus did die on a cross, however, the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ was the necessary action taken to finish His mission on earth, but not the reason He came.

The Bible tells us the reason Jesus left heaven and came to earth in 1 John 3:8 when it says “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” All that Jesus did – His sinless life, His powerful teaching, His death and resurrection – were all part of his definitive purpose; destroying the work of the devil.

Jesus made a clear distinction between His work and the work of the devil. In John 10:10 Jesus said “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” The devil’s work is to bring havoc and untold devastation to your life. Jesus came to destroy the devil’s work so that you could have life.  And not just an “average” life, but a “full” life.   The King James version of the Bible translates it “that they might have it more abundantly.”

The devil’s plan for your life is a bare, minimum existence filled with heartache, distress, pain, suffering, and sorrow. Jesus, on the other hand, has a plan for your life that is pleasing, satisfying and full; a life of quality and quantity. The Amplified Bible translates what Jesus said as “I came that they may have, and enjoy, life and have it in abundance, to the full, till it overflows.”

Jesus was not referring to the time when we die and go to heaven. He was talking about life here on the earth. Thinking that the only reason Jesus came to earth was to hand out tickets to heaven is one of the fallacies of religion. It is clear, from His earthly ministry, that Jesus was exceedingly concerned about the quality and quantity of our lives here on the earth. Everywhere He went He healed the sick, delivered those who were oppressed by the devil and even raised the dead. If Jesus’ mission was only to provide a wonderful life in heaven after we die, when He encountered sick and suffering people, He would have simply patted them on the head and said “Just hang in there, I promise it will be better when you get to heaven.”

The glorious reward of accepting the saving work of Christ is not limited to the “sweet by and by” if you can just hang in there till the end. Jesus came to destroy the work of the devil so you could have an assurance of heaven and also live a full, abundant life here on the earth. If you are not living the joy-filled, abundant, overflowing life Jesus promised, recognize the work of the devil (to steal, kill and destroy) and turn to Jesus. As the memorable song says “Jesus is the answer.”

by Bill Pevlor

I love to study the Bible in search of the wonderful treasures God has enfolded within the pages of scripture. This article is entitled The Gospel Is Good News, because, by and large, that’s what I find in the Bible – good news. In fact, for those who have given their hearts and lives to the Lord, it’s all good news.

The New Testament authors understood this and emphasized the good news in their writings. They adopted a unique word to relay the concept of good news. As the New Testament was translated from Greek to English, this unique Greek word was translated as the word “Gospel.” The literal meaning of the word translated as “Gospel” in English is “good news.”

In my studies, I’ve learned an interesting fact about the word “Gospel”. The Greek word the Gospel writers used was, for their time, a rather obscure word. If you researched volumes of Greek literature from that time period, the occurrence of this word is quite rare outside of the Bible. It was a word that existed but had simply fallen out of popular use. That is, until the apostles began to use it. It’s found over 100 times in the Bible.

The early church and its writers began to use the word when referring to the message of Jesus Christ. It was a message that was so remarkably different than the other religious messages of that day it required a unique word to identify and distinguish it. This unique word would came to mean more than just basic good news. To the New Testament believers this Gospel was wonderful news; good-beyond-words news; almost-too-good-to-be-true news!

As time has passed, the word Gospel, I fear for most, has become rather ordinary. It has become a word that has lost its true, unique meaning for most people. Many have come to view the Gospel as “boring news” or even “bad news”. The religious world has, all too often, mixed-up, watered-down and compromised the message of God’s “good news” and, by association, given the word “Gospel” a bad name.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day preached a harsh message of God’s unending wrath for anyone who didn’t live up to their oppressive, unobtainable religious standard. That wasn’t good news. That was bad news. Today, in much the same way, many so called Gospel preachers are preaching the bad news, not the good news of sins forgiven, grace extended, lives renewed and an assurance of heaven.

Jesus was a good news preacher. He declared “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19). Now that’s good news!

The apostle Paul was a good news preacher, too. He said “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes… For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” (Romans 1:16-17). According to Paul, the Gospel is not a message of the wrath of God coming against unrighteous man. The true Gospel is wonderful, almost-too-good-to-be-true news of a righteousness that comes from God. Not from our efforts, but by faith. It was this “good news” that caused Paul and other godly men and women to fully commit their lives to spreading the Gospel.

The apostle Paul even dealt with bad news preachers in his day. There have always been those who wanted to make the path to blessing and salvation hard and oppressive. That was not the Gospel Paul preached. Paul preached the good news of Jesus Christ and had a zero tolerance policy toward any other Gospel. He wrote “…if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:8). Don’t miss the seriousness of Paul’s statement. When he says “let him be eternally condemned” he is literally saying “let him go to hell”. If Paul were alive today, you can bet he’d be ostracized as a mean-spirited, intolerant, conservative, right-wing, religious bigot.

Always remember, the Gospel is good news. If the news you’ve been hearing about God has not seemed like good news, you’ve not been hearing the Gospel truth. Make it a point to read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (and the rest of the Bible, too). God’s Word is overflowing with good news for you.