Praise the Lord in all things � He is worthy of all our praise, worthy of all our love, worthy to be called Lord! He has allowed us to begin a new year. Many of you probably made vows to being 2002, and set goals. What vows did you make to God? What goals have you set for Him? What is your vision for God? Will you live in peace and bring forth fruit acceptable unto God? If so you must die daily in 2002. That is the prayer for myself and the one I have prayed for months. I�ve found it to be a painful process � this old flesh doesn�t like to give up little pet things that have been attached to it for a lifetime. You see, I prayed to be more loving, peaceful, gentle, patient, meek and humble. I want people to see Christ living in me like they have never witnessed before. It�s a long painful process, as the enemy knows every little ounce of pride and selfishness we have in us. The enemy will throw everything he has at you to make you give up and hold on to all those things. Let me tell you something today friend, brother and sister � those fruits of the flesh aren�t going to enter into Heaven. No work of the flesh will enter into God�s Kingdom. They are sin and NO sin can enter in. Once a believer becomes aware of it, sin brings forth death, spiritual death. If you want to live spiritually you must mortify (kill) the flesh. Jesus came that you might have LIFE more abundantly. The devil came to steal, kill and destroy. The Word says in Romans 8:13, �For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.� It�s all up to you. This year you will choose life or death. The title of this month�s message is, �You Will Die in 2002.�
This message very much ties in with last month�s message, �The Peace of God�. If you truly mortify the flesh you can live in Peace. I�ve experienced a heavy battle concerning this, through all last year, and it became more intense in November of December. My daughter is in an environment where she is being turned against me and everything she was taught in a Christian home. She came to a point where because of demonic influence, she didn�t even want me to be her father anymore. Many hurtful things were said, and a lot of things from the past came knocking on my door, trying to come in and get me to act. When I was in sin I met problems head on with my own sense of justice. It landed me in prison. Let me warn each of you that evil spirits are lined up just waiting for you to crack open a door through which they can enter. They desire to enter you, destroy others, destroy you and make a mockery out of everything God has accomplished in you thus far. They can�t come in unless you let them in. That�s why it�s so important to crucify the flesh by seeking God and renewing your mind daily with His Word. The more time you spend with God in prayer and study, the more pride, anger and malice you push out. I had misquoted a scripture for so long that I often used it as an excuse to growl back at those who lashed out against me. For so long I quoted Romans 12:18 like this: if it be possible, live peacably with all men. That sounds good when that old flesh wants to justify defending itself out of pride! What it really says is, �If it be possible AS MUCH AS LIETH IN YOU, live peaceably with all men.� OUCH! It lieth in ME! It lieth in YOU! It�s all in us to live peaceably in every situation. If the Holy Spirit is alive in you then peace lieth in you. You keep that Holy Spirit ALIVE and growing by eating the meat of God, the Word! By fellowship in the assembly! By spending time talking to God! Every day that we wake up in 2002 we must make a choice: to mortify this flesh and deny it all worldly lusts, let it starve to death. At the same time we must feed the Holy Spirit. If you make the wrong choice you will die spiritually and be separated from God. You see, each of us will have to die in one way or the other. We will let the carnal man die and the spiritual live abundantly. Or, we will feed the flesh and starve the spirit to death in our lives. Don�t think you can live both ways � the Word says a double-minded man is unstable in ALL his ways. Look in the mirror and ask God to show you the man or woman you are, and who He wants you to be. Ask God to show you where you need to die out. �You will die in 2002�, which way will it be?
As I prayed and searched the Word while going through these battles concerning my daughter, I realized that God was showing me some things that were hidden deep inside of me. Things that were not traits of any man or woman of God. Things that had to go. I read I Peter 2:1, �Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings�� I had to think about that. Malice? I always thought it meant premeditated hate, but it also means a desire to harm! Now, before you get all self-righteous on me, listen to the message. I didn�t desire to do bodily harm to those coming against me. I certainly didn�t hate them, BUT I did bring up hurtful past things with my tongue. I had let pride get the best of me by opening my mouth and digging up old trash from the past. I encourage you all to read James, the whole book, but especially chapter 3. �LAY ASIDE ALL� � you see, I still had some dying to do. God was bringing all the little bitty rotten things that hid own deep, waiting to fester at an unsuspecting time, and bring reproach to Jesus, the pulpit, the ministry, and be a stumbling block to others. I pray this message is speaking to you. There is so much hanging in the balance here. So many souls that each of us touch DAILY. Our lives may be the only Bible some people ever read � the only message they hear! Paul said in I Corinthians 9:27, �But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.� Paul knew he had to die daily so the Holy Spirit could do a work, not just in him but everyone he came in contact with, EVEN HIS ENEMIES! In II Corinthians 13:5 Paul said, �Examine yourselves�� I urge you to read that whole verse, but let �EXAMINE YOURSELVES� be ever present in your mind. We must die in order to live the life God has for us. I challenge each of you to turn to Galatians 5:15-26 and EXAMINE YOURSELVES. Do you walk in the flesh or in the Spirit? Be truthful and be careful in reading verse 21 if you are in the flesh! I know a lot of folk preach eternal salvation and yes I believe in it, but it�s a daily thing. You make the choice every day to walk in the Spirit living for God, or to walk in the flesh separating yourself from God. God�s grace is sufficient to cover all sin, but if you make a choice to walk outside that grace and live daily feeding the flesh, then YOU WILL NOT enter the Kingdom of Heaven! Remember friend, �you will die in 2002�, which death do you chose?
As I close I want you to know that God loves you. He desires that you call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. He desires that you come repenting, aware of the sin in your life, being truly sorrowful of it and turning away from it. When you turn away from it you leave it alone! Cast it aside! As some of you read this message, God revealed things in your life that have to go. Christian, if God revealed anything in your life that must go, then get rid of it now. Don�t hold onto it, because NOW it is sin to keep it. You will not grow, not prosper, God will turn His ear from you IF you hold on to that sin. Sin has a penalty � it is death. Live for God today. Yesterday�s blessing, yesterday�s anointing won�t take you through. In 2001 we saw many things, but that was 2001. Be ready for 2002, don�t be slack, don�t be found without oil in your lamp. Jesus is coming back � it could be TODAY that He calls His people out. Are you ready? God loves you and so do I.
In Christ�s Love, Bro. Don George
We deeply mourn the passing of a dear friend and saint of God � Brother H. Richard Hall � he will be greatly missed�
