Nickolas Hiemstra's Blog (780)

“I’m born again and possess a renewed life!” Yippee! Yahoo! I love to repeat that whenever I can because it is such great and exciting news! Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me . . .!” (Galatians 2:20).

Paul told the church in Corinth, “Therefore if any person is ingrafted in Christ he is a new creation—a new creature altogether; the old has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!” (II…

Yehoveh gave our forefather Abraham, the land of Canaan “for an everlasting possession” (Genesis 17:8), yet our politicians are continually trying to divide it up and give it to the enemy of Yehoveh (and Yehoveh’s chosen people).

In case you are confused, “everlasting” means never-ending. You might be thinking, “Abraham had to rejoice when YHWH promised his descendants a permanent homeland, 'as far as they could see,' and it would last into…

Paul wrote the Philippian Christians and introduced the truth, “Let the mind of Christ be in you.” Amazingly, when he wrote that, he was imprisoned in Rome.

I know I have mentioned this before, but it still amazes me that Paul was in a jail cell when he enthusiastically declared he had the ”mind,” or attitude of Christ, casting aside his reputation to become a servant of Jesus and his church. Now he wrote, “I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you…

I'm pretty sure we have all heard the story about the prodigal son. If not, well let me know and I can direct you to the story. Anyway, I love the story, some hate it, and it has been taught and considered from every possible angle . . . but I still get insights once in awhile. Recently, I was thinking about the condition of that “prodigal.” He was slopping the pigs with their food thinking, “Wow! I’ve really blown it.”

What he needed—and finally discovered— is what…

Have you accepted Messiah Yeshua, Jesus, as your Lord and Savior? Have you confessed and acknowledged with your very own lips that Jesus is Lord and in your very own heart believed—I mean really, truly relied on the truth that God raised Him from the dead? If you can answer, “Yes!” to these questions, you are born again and a new creation—a new creature altogether—as one translation says, “a new species of being that never existed before; the old moral and spiritual condition you…

This morning, I want you to imagine believing that you are safe and secure, and in perfect harmony with God, but it turns out that you’re not. Does that freak you out? Well, if it does, I am sorry. but let's talk about it. As many of you know, I have been going through the Bible verse-by-verse, and when I was going through the book of I Kings, as early as the third chapter, we get a real description of the Hebrew decline. Take a look at this:

Solomon formed an…

In his exhortation to the Philippian church, Paul told them, “Let the mind that is in Christ—the very thoughts and way of thinking of Jesus—be your's also. His mindset is the one we all are to seek” (Philippians 2:5).

Okay, so what does it mean to have the mind of Christ? Well, it means to think and act as Jesus did. That sounds simple enough. It also means making decisions, like Jesus would that determine how we are to live. It means bringing every faculty of our…

Yesterday I began to talk about Hudson Taylor and his mission work in China, and I began to discuss the struggles he had there, but, as often happens, I was sidetracked with a different message—which, by the way, I hope you understood. But I was beginning to explain that Taylor felt the Lord's call to be a medical missionary to China, but he also felt a commitment to prayer. He wanted to know for himself if Jesus' promises were true—if he could ask anything in His name and He would…

Years ago I read the story of Hudson Taylor who was a missionary to China, and I recently found myself lead to take another look at his struggles. When he first left for China he was full of confidence and faith.

When he was 17, he had a radical conversion and determined that "Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all." It’s a little tough on our flesh to have that kind of determination, and it can make us rather difficult to live with, but that’s the…

I’m sure you know this, but before the cross, the general public had no access to God; only the high priest of the Hebrew clan could enter the Holy of Holies (in other words there was a room called the "Holy." That was a pretty important place--but there was another room that was even more "Holy." That one was "super" Holy--or the "Holy of Holies").

Now, Jesus’ cross made a path for each of us into this Holiest of all Holy places—into the Father’s presence—but it is…

I know, after talking about what we call the 10 Commandments, yesterday, I probably shouldn’t be too rough on you . . . but I will anyway. I was reading in I Corinthians recently and once again saw in the 10^th chapter, verse 9: “Do not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites.” (I Corinthians 10:9).

What in the world did Paul mean here when he talked about “putting Christ to the test”? Well, let me give you an…

Most of America knows that the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that the "Ten Commandments" cannot be displayed in any government courthouse. I agree that it doesn’t make sense, but what does the ruling mean?

Well, a courthouse is where laws are enforced, right? The "Ten Commandments" represent YHWH’s moral law, which never shifts and never changes. It is as fixed as the law of gravity. If you defy that law, it is like stepping off a high…

There is an old gospel song by Charles B. Widmeyer, called “Come and Dine.” It’s an oldie and most of you have probably never heard it, but it has always had profound meaning for me. Here are the lyrics:

Jesus has a table spread

Where the saints of God are fed,

He invites His chosen people, “Come and dine”;

With His manna He doth feed

And supplies our every need:

O ’tis sweet to sup with Jesus all the time!…

Lately I have been very concerned with the future in our nation . . . specifically our Lord's Churches. Churches are being infiltrated with dangerous doctrines and many are being drawn from the "True Faith," into heretical and dangerous doctrines. It is frustrating and saddening to see happen.

The apostle Paul said there would be two things that would strike the church just before Jesus' return. In fact, the Lord will not come back until these two things…

I was thinking about what I said in my last message, you know, about how even though you may not pack your bags and join the mission field, you can still participate. I was thinking about how Jesus was traveling around all of the towns, teaching in their synagogues, teaching and telling stories about the kingdom of his Father. He healed folks who were sick or hurting . . . but when he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. They were so confused and aimless, like sheep without a…

Wow! Lately the whole idea of “Missions” has been on my heart. For years I “thought” about it, and even sent occasional support to missions—not just international missions, but missions within the States, as well.

What I have learned is that I can go “in the Spirit” to any nation on earth. I can touch an unreached people while on my knees. In fact, that secret closet I have mentioned before, will become the headquarters for a movement of my Lord’s…

I want to step back a moment from all of my "motivational-encouraging-inspirational" messages, and do a little teaching again. Currently in our Bibles we have I and II Samuel, I and II Kings. But originally the comprised one single work. Eventually it was divided into two books in Alexandria, Egypt (Samuel and Kings), around two hundred years before the birth of Christ. Later still, they were divided in half again, and formed what we see today.

The fact that they…

I’m sure you have notice that the media and the Government are extremely condescending to Christians, but have you ever stopped to wonder why? Why has the church lost all meaning and purpose in the world’s eyes? Why have young people written off Christianity as totally irrelevant to their lives?

Now I am not an expert in things like this. I haven’t run any scientific studies, or sociological surveys, but my guess it’s because the Church of Jesus Christ lacks spiritual…

“Time and again they turned back and tempted God, provoking and incensing the Holy One of Israel—they limited the Holy One of Israel” (Psalm 78:41). The word for limited here comes from two root words, meaning, “grieving God by scratching out an imprint.” In other words, limiting God means drawing a line, or making a circle, and saying, “God is in here, and he goes no further!” This is the way many believers think. We have marked in our minds a very small concept of…

I love reading the letter to the Hebrew church and in the 4^th chapter you find this little gem: “So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the [true] people of God; for he who has once entered God's rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His own” (Hebrews 4:9-10).

Now, when you read that you may “kinda” know what the writer means, but what…