Rodney Howard Browne GNTV

God's Plan For The Resurrection

2009-02-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

The foundation of Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul tells the Corinthian church that without belief in this primary tenet of our faith, then our faith is in vain.

Since we believe in Jesus' bodily resurrection from the grave after His crucifixion, then we also believe in the promise of our bodily resurrection into eternity. The alternative is to believe in nothing that is real, nothing that is hopeful or redeeming.

We cannot separate these truths. Jesus is the first fruits of those raised from the dead. When Paul says this in verse 20, he uses a verb tense in the Greek that means Jesus not only was raised but is still alive. He lives forevermore.

George Sweeting writes: "In Glendale, California, at Forest Lawn Cemetery, hundreds of people each year stand before two huge paintings. One pictures the crucifixion of Christ. The other depicts His resurrection. In the second painting the artist has pictured an empty tomb with an angel near the entrance. In the foreground stands the figure for the risen Christ. But the striking feature of that huge canvas is a vast throng of people, back in the misty background, stretching into the distance and out of sight, suggesting the multitude who will be raised from the dead because Jesus first died and rose for them."

Rodney Howard Browne and the Revival Ministries International is a ministry that crosses denominational boundaries and geographical borders to fulfill what the Lord has called it to do, to stir up the Church, telling her to get ready for the coming revival.

Read more about Rodney Howard Browne on his other websites and blogs:

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Eternity?

2009-02-11T07:48:00.000-08:00

In sharp contrast to its descriptions of the glories of heaven, the Bible talks very clearly about another eternal abode called hell. This is the location of those assigned to eternal separation from God. There is no way the human mind can begin to conceive of being eternally doomed to the darkness and loneliness of perpetual exile from God. Here there is no hope, no mercy, no help, and no relief. Many people say there's no way they could believe a loving God would ever do that to anybody. These people forget that God does not consign people to hell against their wishes. He only confirms their choice to be there.

Everyday we are making decisions to include God or reject Him. When people choose not to give God a place in their lives, He will at some point give them what they have requested. When you chose to live separate from God here on earth, you are choosing to be separated from Him for eternity. In the long run, we all get what we insist on.

How could God be more fair? What more could He do to save you than He has already done? He gave you a Bible to read, and people have knocked on your door, shared tracts, and preached on television. You've heard the Gospel again and again. My dear friend, listen carefully: When you stand in the Great White Throne judgment after telling God all your life to leave you alone, you will have your wish. His final words will be, "Depart from Me."

Rodney Howard Browne and his ministry team, under the banner of Revival Ministries International, travel about 46 weeks of the year, holding weekly meetings in cities across North America and around the world. They also pastor a church in Tampa, Florida, The River at Tampa Bay, which he founded and which now has 3000 members.

The Blood that overcame Sin

2009-02-03T02:44:00.000-08:00

For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but one Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning. Hebrews 4:15 AMP

Jesus, in His earthly walk, was tempted with everything that any one of us has ever been tempted with. The difference between Him and us is that He did not yield to temptation and He did not sin. Because He was born a man and because He was subject to the same temptations as us, He had a right to take our place at the cross representing Man. Because He was God in the flesh, He had a right to take His place at the cross representing God.

Because Jesus never succumbed to temptation and because He never sinned, God had a right to raise Him up on the third day, with us in Him. An everlasting covenant was cut on that cross, between God and man, which can never be rescinded. Sin has no more dominion over you and me!

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But then what benefit (return) did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? [None] for the end of those things is death. But now since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God, you have your present reward in holiness and its end is eternal life. For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:20-23 AMP

God has provided you and me with an opportunity and a means to deal with sin in our lives and to get rid of it. Before Jesus died and rose from the dead, we had no way to overcome sin at all, but now we do. Sin is deceptive and destructive. Sin hardens your heart and moves you further and further away from the presence of God. Ultimately, sin will destroy you completely. God’s desire for you is that you experience His eternal life rather than the death of sin and He has given you the ability to overcome sin by the blood of Jesus and with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself [reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds. You have not yet struggled and fought agonizingly against sin, nor have you yet resisted and withstood to the point of pouring out your [own] blood. Hebrews 12:3-4

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus struggled and fought agonizingly against sin. Before He submitted Himself to the vicious punishment that He endured on our behalf and the cruel death of the cross, He withstood sin and temptation to the point that He sweated blood. Most people don’t even think of trying to resist sin. They just let it have its way in them.

However, as blood-washed Christians, we have an obligation to God and ourselves to resist sin. We have an obligation to God because Jesus went to and through such extremes to bring us to this place, to give us the privilege and the opportunity to be able to say NO to sin. We have an obligation to ourselves to stop doing the things that bring death and destruction to our lives and to start to do those things that result in both life and peace.

Rodney Howard Browne and his ministry team, under the banner of Revival Ministries International, travel about 46 weeks of the year, holding weekly meetings in cities across North America and around the world. They also pastor a church in Tampa, Florida, The River at Tampa Bay, which he founded and which now has 3000 members.