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The Key to Transformation

The Key to Transformation

March 26, 2023 by NCC-Admin-1 in

“Thus saithe the Lord of hosts, turn to me and I will turn unto you, saithe the Lord of hosts.”  (Zechariah 1:3 KJV). 

Israel had experienced great devastation and distress because they had abandoned God.  Because they had turned away from the Lord, He had given them into the hand of their enemies (Deut. 28: 63-65).  Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians and the nation had gone into captivity and exile some 70 years before.  Now, the Lord appealed to them to turn (or return) to Him once again and He would bless them.   

The key to their blessing and well being was rooted in their turning unto the Lord.  The same is true for us as well.  The Lord wants to bless His people.  The Lord wants to demonstrate His love and favor upon His people.  But He will bless His people only when they turn to Him in sincerity, humility, and repentance (Jer. 29:13-14).  The Lord promises that whenever His people turn unto Him, that He will also turn unto His people.  Once again,  He will become their shield and their defender (Psalm 33: 18-21). He will be their provider (Gen. 22:14).  He will bless their work and their efforts in every possible way. (Deut. 28:1-14).  There will be sufficiency and abundance in all things. 

The problems in our families and in our culture at large can be traced back to the fact that as a whole, we have  abandoned God.  We have become wise in our own eyes (Rom. 1:22-25) and rejected the truth that can only be found in God!   The truth is found in His Person (John 14:6) and His Truth is found in His Word (Psalm 119:30 & 105). 

They key to transformation personally, corporately and culturally is simply turning to the Lord.   The Lord has promised that He will reveal Himself to those who truly want to know Him (Mat. 6:33).   But it is important to note that if it is half hearted and not genuine, the Lord will will neither hear nor respond (Isaiah 1:14-15, Jer. 15:6).  He  knows the intent of our heart.  We cannot fake it with God! 

James W. Black

Does God Answer The Prayers of the Unredeemed?

Does God Answer The Prayers of the Unredeemed?

March 19, 2023 by NCC-Admin-1 in

“The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.” (Pro. 15:29 NKJV)

Over the years, I have heard lost people say that they pray and that the Lord hears their prayers.  While I do not doubt that sometimes the lost  do find themselves in difficult  situations and will on those occasions offer up a desperate cry  to the Lord, it by no means implies that God has a relationship with them or that they have a relationship with God.  They don’t!  The only reason God will answer their prayer (and there are times when He does) is for the purpose of revealing Himself to them and to help draw  them to Himself.   He answers their prayer only  out of mercy; not because of relationship. To think otherwise is to be deceived.  It simply is not true (Isaiah 1:15, & 1 John 1:6). 

The unredeemed  do not have ready access to the Lord.  They have no basis of such access.  It is only the Blood of Jesus, applied to heart of the redeemed,  that gives anyone  access to the Throne of God (John 14:6)!  For the wicked, the lost, the unredeemed, those  who have no regard or interest in the Lord, the scripture is clear;  the Lord is far from them.  He does not hear their prayer. 

But the inheritance and privilege of  a Child of God and  being a part of His Kingdom, is the reality of knowing that we always have access to Throne of God!   Christ alone has made that possible for us (Eph. 2:13-16).  Christ alone has brought us into a right  relationship with God.  Christ alone  has made us righteous by His own blood (2 Cor. 5:21 & Rev. 5:9).   And the scripture is clear that the Lord always hears the prayers of His redeemed!  (Psalm 37:4, John 14: 13-14). 

One of the differences between the lost and the saved is this.  The unredeemed cannot pray with confidence.  They have no basis by which they can.  But the redeemed do!  It is our relationship that gives us confidence (Heb. 4:16).  Therefore let us be joyful in the relationship that Jesus has made possible for us.  And let us pray often (1 Thess.  5:17) Our Heavenly Father always hears us!

James W. Black

Don’t Expect The World to Love You

Don’t Expect The World to Love You

March 12, 2023 by NCC-Admin-1 in

“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because  they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. …They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (John 17: 14; 16 NKJV). 

One of the things that happens to those who have fully received Christ as their Savior is the discovery  that those who have not, often  do not like us or accept us anymore.  In fact there will be those who  not only dislike us, but there will be those  who will despise us and hate us!  That can be somewhat shocking at first.  The shock is the realization that they have rejected us when we have not rejected them.  And some of the first ones who reject us is  lost family members.  That can be especially painful and difficult.  Of course the reason for that  is because Jesus, has  translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into His Kingdom of Light! (Col. 1: 12-13). 

And while this is difficult to understand at first it helps us to know that such rejection affirms the reality  of Christ that they see in us!  In essence, it is not just  us they are rejecting, it is Christ Who is in us (Col. 1:27) that they are rejecting.  And Jesus reminds us that if the world  rejected Him, then the world  will also reject us!  (Math. 10: 24-25).

When Jesus came into this world He brought the Light of God into this world (John 8:12) for He was God clothed in human flesh (John 1:14).  And although He  was in this world, He was not of this world.   His light exposed the darkness of our sin, not for the purpose of condemning us, (John 3:17) but for the purpose of redeeming us and delivering us from its bondage!  (Rom. 6: 11-14).     

And that is exactly why the world will hate us.  Because the Light of Christ in us exposes the darkness of sin. Those in the world  are not only  uncomfortable with that but they become angry about that.  They  hate that  (John 3:20).   They were perfectly content until the Light of Christ exposed the darkness of their heart.  When that happens they will either flee from us  or will attack us to try to extinguish  the Light.  But the one thing they will not do is love us. 

But it is not our responsibility to get them to love us.  It is our responsibly to love them. And through that love,  that Christ Himself gives, bring them to the same Light that transformed us!  (Math. 5:44).

James W. Black 

The Reason That We Sing

The Reason That We Sing

March 5, 2023 by NCC-Admin-1 in

“O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of  our salvation.”  (Psalm 95:1 KJV). 

The Word of God speaks a lot about singing.  That is because God created us to sing.  Singing is a part of the human experience.  It is part of human expression.  All people from all nationalities sing.  The unredeemed sing.  But there is no singing that can compare to the  song of the redeemed! 

There are a multitude of ways to express gratitude toward the Lord and one of those ways is singing.  The Book of Psalms is a compilation of ancient songs (and prayers) sung to the Lord both in  public and private worship.   Music flows from the heart and stirs the soul. The Lord gifts people with the talent and ability to write music and words that enables those who sing to express their thoughts and feelings to the Lord.  When we sing the words that others have written, those  words  literally become our own!   That is why music and singing is such an important part of worship. 

Someone once said that music and singing tills the soil of the heart and prepares it to receive the seed of God’s Word.  Praise and adoration to the Lord expressed through singing invites His Presence to be manifested. (Psalm 22:3). 

The beauty of singing corporately together is that when we blend our voices, our voice  does not have to sound  perfect.  Our voice blended with  others  becomes a part of the whole.  For what the Lord is listening to is the expression of our heart, not how perfectly we sing.  There is something powerful and precious when a congregation lifts their voices as one unto the Lord to give Him honor and praise! The Lord delights in hearing the songs and praises of His people! 

Therefore whenever we sing, let us focus our hearts upon the One who has redeemed us and express unto Him our gratitude and joy in the salvation He has provided for us! 
Let us blend our voices together and lift up His Name together in song!  The scripture says that our singing does not have to be perfect.  It simply asks us to “make a joyful noise” unto the Lord. When our singing is truly from the heart,  It is a sound that brings Him great pleasure! 

James W. Black