To My Dear Brother Anonymous

In the halls of greatness, you have now joined yourself with the likes of great, courageous and brave authors who boldly and without reservation signed their name to their writings and positions simply as a brave "Anonymous".


Great and noble men like Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, John Hancock and George Washington among others, all of whom, after boldly declaring their position, courageously signed their name, "Anonymous"!


It has been said, "Throw a stone into a pack of dogs, and generally the one who yelps the loudest, has been hit the hardest."


Whoever you are my dear friend and brother or sister, "Anonymous", I would love to and be more than happy, willing and honored to discuss the merits of the railing accusations you have made and of which you so boldly write. If you desire to visit and discuss this properly, feel free to contact me via the method of your choosing and let me know. 


I have no doubt that you write from your heart with much sincerity and that you no doubt deeply love God as well as me. You simply write as one very mis-informed and sadly one who has judged a matter extremely un-Biblically.


God bless you my dear friend "Anonymous".


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Spiritual Pride

Gal 2:11-17 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;  yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!

Pride is one of the most damaging and destructive components in life. Pride in any form and in anybody is a dangerous thing. The well known Proverb reminds us, “Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Yet knowing this, so many, so easily fall prey to holding their heads high with this haughty spirit as thought they were especially created out of some form of preferable “dust of the earth”. One does not have to search far to find reasons to think more highly of himself “than he ought”. Whether it is being proud of riches, education, beauty or physical perfection, adornment, clothing or a name, pride in oneself for anything is more often than not, misappropriating the source whereby these things are rendered.

But this blog post is about something even more dangerous than just pride, I am speaking of the far reaching, extremely dangerous and highly contagious spirit and attitude of spiritual pride.

Spiritual pride is at first of course an extreme example of selfishness and self-righteousness, both of which are the opposite of the crucified life in Jesus Christ.

Spiritual pride has at its root the belief that one can make himself "holy" by his own "self-righteousness".

Spiritual pride manifests itself in many ways and in many attitudes.

Spiritual pride allows one to view himself as superior to this brother.

Spiritual pride allows one to view his OWN acts of righteousness as helping him obtain righteousness.

Spiritual pride says, “You don’t look like me, so therefore you’re not as good as me OR as spiritual as me”.

Spiritual pride looks down its nose at someone it perceives as being less “spiritual” than them and condemns and marks them for not “measuring up”.

Spiritual pride has been around for a LONG time.

Jesus dealt harshly with pride and its chief adherents, the Pharisees more than he did about any other subject. He was constantly rebuking his disciples for their constant seeking of hierarchy in the Kingdom and instead telling them to become a servant to be “great”.

Paul repetitively admonishes, exhorts and sometimes even resorts to outright rebuke to teach his converts to Christianity about the gross dangers of spiritual pride.

In some of his harshest writing, Paul rebukes the great Apostle Peter for allowing his Jewish heritage, and his Jewish brethren to draw him away and keep him from dining with Paul’s fledgling gentile congregants in Galatia.

Paul sternly reminds not only Peter, but the rest of his readers, that everything we have and everything we are comes only in our dying with Christ and our putting on of Christ. He reminds us that we CANNOT and yea are NEVER justified or “made holy” by ANYTHING we have done, but only through faith in the saving power of the blood of Jesus Christ.

To be continued…..

Thanks for reading today!

The Works of the Flesh are Made Manifest

In Galatians 5, Paul tells us that "the works of the flesh are manifest." In other words, the works of the flesh will become obvious over time. The works of the flesh are contrasted directly with the fruit of the Spirit. Just as the Spirit bears fruit, the flesh bears fruit—or, produces works. The apples of the apple tree are manifest. You know a tree is an apple tree because it bears apples. And amazingly, this sort of blatant manifestation is also true of orange trees. You know a tree by its fruit. Seems simple enough.

Just so, we can know what is of the flesh because it will produce the works of the flesh. And the works that the flesh will produce is a rather wicked collection of evil works. The flesh will produce adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, hatred, wrath, strife, sedition, heresies, and so on and so forth. That is quite a list. No doubt.

But here is where it gets interesting. When we think of the flesh and its works, we immediately think of unrighteousness of every type. And we do so because of the aforementioned list of distastefuls. But Paul tells us that these works are the result of seeking righteousness in the flesh, not unrighteousness. In other words, when Paul warns the Galatian believers about the risk of producing adultery and fornication, he is pointing to their desire to be righteous in the flesh. Think about it. Paul is in full battle array against the Judaizers, a bunch of first-century Jewish-Christians that demanded circumcision and law-keeping of Paul's fledgling Gentile congregations. The Judaizers have almost persuaded the Galatians that they cannot attain righteousness before God apart from circumcision and law-keeping. Paul sees this as seeking righteousness "in the flesh." And Paul insists that this sort of self-righteousness will produce exactly the opposite of what the Judaizers promise. They promise love, joy and peace, but they will produce adultery and fornication.

Of course, the Judaizers were not trying to produce adultery and fornication. They were trying to produce holiness. Problem was, they were teaching the Galatians that they could not really be holy unless they were circumcised and kept the law. Both Paul and the Judaizers were working toward the same goal: both wanted the Gentiles to be holy. But Paul insists that true holiness cannot come from the flesh. It must come from the Spirit. He asks, "Having begun in the Spirit are you now made perfect in the flesh?" He understands by revelation what the Judaizers have missed: to seek righteousness in the flesh is to guarantee unrighteousness. When we set out to be holy in the flesh, we invariably end up with the very behavior we are trying to avoid. Seeking righteousness in the flesh will always produce the works of the flesh. That is a profound irony.

This goes all the way back to our original sin in the Garden. Satan did not tempt Adam and Eve to commit adultery (though that may have been difficult right at first, anyway). He tempted them to discern good from evil, to become like God, to seek God-likeness—or, godliness. Did we get that? The devil tempted Eve to godliness. However, their attempt at godliness produced ungodliness. Why? Because they sought godliness apart from God.

When Paul speaks of "the flesh" in Romans and elsewhere, he is speaking of the righteousness of the flesh, the attempt of the flesh to do right apart from faith in God. When we read references to "the flesh" in Paul's writings we automatically think of adultery, fornication and other forms of human mischief. But when Paul speaks of "the flesh," he is thinking of prayer, giving, worship, church attendance, and other forms of human mischief—at least, it becomes mischief when these good things are done in the flesh apart from the life of the Spirit. In other words, Paul understands that the attempt to serve the Lord in the power of human effort rather than by the power of the Holy Spirit is serving God "in the flesh," and it will always lead to the very ungodliness we are trying to avoid. 

The works of the flesh are manifest.

A very timely piece that was written sometime back, but I thought it needful to be posted here for further consideration, discussion and reflection. God help us to be filled and led by His Spirit!

Copied from Rev. Steve Pixler's blog that can be accessed from this site.

Happy Birthday to my DEAR and PRECIOUS WIFE!!

A VERY Happy Birthday to my dear wife Christie Cheek. She get's "Sweeter as the Days go By!"


She turns ___ ___ today! (You didn't really think I was going to post that did you!?)


I love and appreciate her more than words can say and am so glad she is a part of my world, she is the best "Helpmeet" a man could have!

Happy Birthday Baby!! I love you!!

A Wonderful Time!

Last week, my wife and I were privileged to be a part of the Oklahoma District United Pentecostal Church District Ministers Conference in Oklahoma City, OK. It was a high honor for us to be able to meet the wonderful men of the Oklahoma District Board and for them to unanimously extend to us a General License as a member of the United Pentecostal Church International.


Having been born and raised in the United Pentecostal Church here in Oklahoma, I have very fond and strong memories of my experiences throughout the years with the Oklahoma District.


On both sides of my family, roots run very deep in the United Pentecostal Church. When I was adopted by my parents, Harvey and Zalia Cheek in 1976, we attended Rev. E.G. Bass' church in Tulsa, Oklahoma until my father's passing in 1981. My mother would then remarry and we would begin to attend Rev. Carl Ecker's church on North Lewis Avenue in Tulsa. It was in that church that I would later receive the Holy Ghost and be baptized in the glorious, saving name of Jesus in September of 1987.


I can recall with great detail the wonderful youth camps of the early nineteen nineties, when as a young man, I began to first feel the call of God on my life, and the deep desire to do a work for him. Since those days, God has opened many doors for us to walk through, and all of them have been a blessing as they have led us to where we are today.


It is with great excitement that we look forward to the future and our further involvement with Oklahoma District United Pentecostal Church. We believe that God has great things in store for us as a family, as a church and as an Apostolic movement here in Oklahoma, nationally and abroad.


It is a high honor to be a part of God's great church and to work for the Kingdom of God and the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!


Thanks for reading the thoughts of one who is very blessed and thankful today!

There is NO other name but the name of Jesus! The baptism of Jeremy Sweet!

Acts 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

We were SO excited to baptize this fine young man in the precious, saving name of Jesus! The hand of God on this young man is obvious to everyone who knows him and meets him. Jeremy, God is just getting started! Keep walking with Him!

Getting ready to be buried in the name of Jesus!

What a great touch of God!

Nothing like a renewing of the Holy Ghost!

Brother Jeremy Sweet

11 Wonderful Years!!

11 years ago today, I married the love of my life! She still is, and more so each day!! 11 years ago, Ms. Bottoms became Mrs. Cheek, or as our wedding announcement proclaimed, "Bottoms and Cheek Become One!"

God is good!!