Meeting The King !!!

There are two important things to do when meeting with The King. (there are a couple more but I am going to concentrate on these two) The first is, always be there on time. The second is, always bring an offering or gift. Let's talk about the first one. In this world, in every monarchy, anytime the king sets up a time for an announcement, a ruling, or anytime you were given to see the king, you were to be there on time. If you were not there on time than you lost your opportunity to see the king, and no one knew when you would have another chance to see the king. When we go to church we are going to see The King of kings and Lord of lords. So than why do we leave late and get there late. We should be leaving early, and getting there early so we can see The King, not get there and interupting His ministers as they are giving the message sent to them by The King. "Oh God understands because of this and that." Yes God is an understanding God. He understands that we have jobs and so on and so forth but the fact of the matter is, is that we have control over when we work. If you know that you have service at a specific time, than why are you working before service. Many people I have met do that and they miss out on a blessing everytime. Yes there are many who have no control over the time in which I can understand but you still have control on it. Or if you know that you have a service at a specific time and you live far away from the church building why are you leaving 10minutes before the service starts and getting there at the very end of the service. You know that traffic is hectic. Leave early and get there on time if not early. It is very disrespectful to God when you disrupt the service because you made the conscious choice of leaving late. There are no excuses. God wants to give you a full blessing not half a blessing and when you do not get there on time you disrespect Him and lose out on a blessing. I am tired of the so called "Puerto Rican" or "Black People" time. If the service starts at 3pm than it starts at 3pm not 3:30pm, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, so on and so forth. You disrespect our King when you do this. Let's break this stereotype and be there when we are suppose to be there. In addition when you have a time to see the king it doesn't matter if it rained, snowed, or whatever you went to see the king when you were told. So than why do many of us decide that just because it is raining that we do not have to make the sacrifice to see our King. He made the biggest sacrifice for us by sending Christ to die for our sins. Why can't we make a small sacrifice and go see Him whether it is raining, snowing etc. . . . . . . . . . . . Second, when people always went to see the king they brought an offering. Whether it was a chicken for his pot, flowers for his garden, etc. When we see our King why do many of us not bring an offering. Now yes the bible covers everything on tithing and offering, and yes God understands that many of us financially aren't able to bring an offering. While tithing is biblical and in the scripture, God understands that many of us financially aren't able to bring an offering. But there are many ways we can bring an offering to God. Many of us who arent blessed financially are blessed with food. Bring canned goods, and foods to fill up the stores. With that offering many who do not have can be blessed with a meal. They can even be your brothers and sisters that are in the church congregation. Many are blessed with clothing that they do not wear anymore. Bring it in because there could be a brother or sister that is in need of clothing and they can be blessed. The bible says that God will feed the hungry and clothe the naked. We are a big part of that. Many are blessed with plenty of time during the week. They can bring God an offering of their time to help spread the gospel by doing the works of God. We all have our place as the body of Christ. I think it is about time we all started doing our part. There shouldn't be any PEW-Warmers. We should all be doing our part.

Humble Beginnings the Process

Tonight we had a successful bible study/class. My method for it is not only teach but also have an open discussion. I want to hear everyone's views on what God reveals to everyone. It is awesome to see the process as it happens. While to some the process of starting a church is long and they are impatient when it doesnt grow to megachurch status fast. To me it is awesome to see the process happen. The process is important for the church. Without it the church falls. Now I don't see Time 2 Praise getting to megachurch status and at the same time I wouldnt want it to, God's will be done. I want to build ministers for the church, family, and community so they to can expand and start a ministry to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Love and patience is key. Love God with all your heart and keep Him first. Love your neighbor as you love yourself, and be patient as they grow spiritually with God. There will be problems but through God all things will be resolved.

Humble Beginnings

Today was a great service. One thing about ministry is that it always has humble beginnings. When you trust in God and put in the hard work and plant the seeds. The seeds will flourish with the living water of Jesus Christ and the food that we feed our spirits by reading the bible and dedicating time to God. I pray for each and everyone of you and your family. God Bless

25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Heb 10:25 (KJV)

God is still and will always be good.

As we get closer to opening day at Time 2 Praise I look at the path that God has put me on. I now more than ever realize that God puts everyone and everything into a specific places for His glory His ministry and His purpose. It's like whenever He set me off into a new venture, He made it possible for me to have what I need. He provides for everything. Whether it was for my physical needs or spiritual needs, He's always there. Continue to have faith in God above.

Christ is the Light of the World

In John 8: 12 Jesus says "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." In reading that scripture I often wondered about that message in itself. Even though Jesus is clear to His believers. He reveals Himself and justifies His teaching. I know that we have said the sinners prayer aswell as asked for forgiveness for our sins on a daily basis but can anyone truly say that Jesus The Christ is their light? in the path that God has put me on He has revealed many things to me. In my witness to Him and in His Word, especially in his Word. In Matthew 24:5, Mark 13:6, and Luke 21:8 Jesus tells us that many will come in His name and deceive many. That was true then and it is very true now. A great example is the radio preacher predicting the world in May and now in October. He refuses to answer and man up on his lies and deception. There are many pastors some I have met and known and many I haven't who preach false doctrine and deceive many into a bad way of thinking and believing. I don't and never want to be that way so I knew what God did not want  me to do. Even though I knew what God wanted me to do and not do, I knew that there was something messing me up. I started to look deep inside myself and I realized that even though I was saved, I did not allow Jesus to fully light me up inside. I started to meditate and truly look inside myself any many times I was scared to keep looking to see all of the horrors that was inside. I would see scary things and I knew they needed light but I prevented myself from truly explore. One day I decided enough was enough. I sat down and started the process all over again and no matter what I saw I would continue on my mission. I held tight unto something and keep going into my deepest place. I past all of the scaryness until I can see only darkness. It was a never ending abyss of darkness. It was the black hole to my soul where no light could get out and the light that did get in would eventually die. When I got deep enough inside I started praying. I said to God "I know I have prayed the sinners prayer and I know that I have asked for forgiveness. But Father there is a darkness inside of me and I know that only Jesus can light and  keep it lit. I ask that Jesus becomes my eternal light inside and out." As soon as I said that it started to get bright. It was so bright that any evil inside literally just spewed out of my mouth as I proceeded to vomit. Now I am not saying that I will never sin because I am human and we all sin but I am saying is that the love and light of Christ flows within me. I challenge you to do the same. Truly explore yourselves, meditate and see whats inside. Go past the scaryness and see the darkness and ask Jesus to be your light inside and out. While He was always my light on the outside guiding my steps He is also now the light inside me that makes me a beacon for those to see. Through this beacon many will come to Christ and be saved. God Bless.


Rev. Josue Mercado

Visions

Hello

So for all of the Christians who know about this God gives visions and dreams to us. Last night I was taking a walk outside of my house, and I was looking at something outside the house. In that moment God gave me a wonderful vision of the church and a glimpse of what was to come. While at this point I cannot reveal the vision I can tell you that the way it was revealed was so beautiful. It's like I was transported into the church and instead of seeing my house I was inside the sanctuary. Light was shining all around me and I mean lets just say that it's something that you see in movies. I am reminded of scripture that says how God gives visions and dreams. I am reminded of Joseph how God revealed things to him in his dreams and how his brothers sold him into slavery. Many times out of jealousy people in my life have put me down for the visions that God has given me. Instead of celebrating the good they keep on putting me down. God has told me that true friends, brothers, and sisters will celebrate with me as I celebrate them and their success. The bible says that we must celebrate with each other as well as mourn. I celebrate with all of my brothers and sisters in the good and mourn in the bad. The Lord is so good that even in the bad I celebrate Jesus. In the visions that God gives me He has shown me so much and I can't wait to see it happen in the physical. For it has already happened in the spiritual now all I have to do is be patient and wait for it to happen in the physical world. Always remember to wait on God for all things and everything will be the best.

Welcome

Welcome everyone to Time 2 Praise Ministries and our church Time 2 Praise Worship Center. This is the first of many blogs that I will be writing for our website and facebook page. It seems to me that everyone has a blog or some form of communicating other than facebook, myspace etc. Everyone wants to be heard or in this case read. I go by the saying that a fool speaks because he wants to be heard a wise man speaks because he has something to say. I am sure that there are a lot of you that would agree with me in saying that there are a lot more fools than wise people in this world. I have read blogs that truly inspire but there are more blogs that are just rediculous. People who know me and are my facebook or myspace friends know that I rarely ever post anything. I dont live my life posting what I am doing every second of the day. There is really no point to it because honestly who really cares if a person is at Target buying the latest bikini or at the store buying a gallon of milk. Than we have bloggers or people who post who are just offensive and can't keep their mouths shut because of whatever reason. These are the people who I call wannabe journalist. I will not be naming any names but I am just saying. The first ammendmant guarantees us the right to say what we want, when we want, and how we want. But we are pretty much guatanteed the right to ignore the message and change the channel or page. So to be honest with you I really don't read any blogs or post unless I truly feel that it is of importance, and the rest well I just click the X and close the page. Just like in radio and television. If there is something that is not of importance to me my tv and radio has a channel up and channel down and I will just switch the channel or station. I don't bother myself by staying on the bloggers page, or radio and tv programming and make a big fuss over it later just because I happened to disagree with the message. I support everyones right as an american to say what they got to say whether I agree with it or not and if I don't agree with it then I just won't continue reading, listening, or watching. I expect the same when it comes to me. If you don't agree with what I am saying I respect the fact that you don't agree with me and just close the page, or if you continue reading than instead of making a big deal and throwing a tantrum feel free to contact me and I will gladly discuss with you on why I said what I said. There are too many ignorant people in this world and not enough intelligent people willing to have an open discussion or atleast an open discussion that will not lead to a big fight or argument. As a pastor I have my beliefs and respect the gift of free will that is God given. I am not going to force myself or beliefs on people like I have seen all over. I will present my beliefs and if you want to know more than I will gladly speak with you. If not than I will respect your decision and will continue to pray for you and for God to bless you. The bible teaches me that I am to set the example and not to force anyone into anything. Just like God doesn't force Himself on us we have to do the same. God is a true gentlemen, If you let Him in he will come in, if you tell Him to get lost He will step back, and so on and so forth. As a man of God that is how I must be. I get offended when people who call themselves Christians try to force their will on others. If God doesn't force His will on us who are we to force our will on others? I am sure that those of you who are reading can agree with me on that point. The bible teaches me that we are to love not condemn. We are to lead by example and bring souls to Christ. We are to love each other and let God almighty make the changes. Since at this point of the blog I have nothing else to say I will just end it with this. Jesus told Peter and other disciples that they were going to be fishers of men. If you have ever gone fishing you know that you present something to the fish. If they like what they see they will go to it and bite. We must do the same we must present ourselves as the lure or bait and to those that bite thats who we catch. If we as Christians are ignorant and treat people badly and not truly represent God in the way that He wants us to represent Him than we will never be able to catch any fish. God Bless You All