Greetings From The Temple …

“Sunday Morning”

It’s Sunday morning, what does your day look like? What will you be doing today? Remember, Sunday starts your week, and it is also the Sabbath (the Lord’s Day). Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word, shabbath, which means to rest, and the 10^th commandment prohibits doing any work on the Sabbath and to instead dedicate this day to worship.

Now, did I have to remind you that today is the Lord’s Day, or were you already planning your day accordingly? Believers do not get caught up in the worldly planning of the Lord’s Day. Yes, Sunday tends to be a day where all the sports or sporting events take place. It’s a day, according to your local media, to go fishing, camping, bike riding, attend planned events and festivals etc. Basically, they are saying, it’s a day to have fun and enjoy the special events happening in your town or city.

Do not let the world plan your Sunday morning! Yes, they will do it – but don’t buy into it!

“Follow my decrees, pay attention to my regulations, and keep my Sabbath days holy, for they are a sign to remind you that I am the Lord your God.” – Ezekiel 20:19-20 (NLT).

If you haven’t done so, develop the habit of waking up every morning praising God. Go into prayer, tell Him, thank You for all He has done – tell Him, thank You for keeping you during the week – tell Him, thank You for waking you up to another beautiful day that He has made. When this is your habit, your Sunday morning will only differ with you getting ready to attend worship service.

Did I say seek Him first? No, but this is what you just did.

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” – Proverbs 8:17 (NIV).

I know it is so easy for us to get off track. There are several things that will derail your Sunday morning routine of seeking God first. The worldly activities will have you getting up on Sunday morning preparing to either watch or go to a football game, basketball game, or even your child’s soccer game, etc. Again, don’t buy into this.

Remain steadfast in putting God first. Sunday morning: Wake up – get up – pray – get ready for worship service. Preferably, in-house worship service. However, if you can’t make it to the House, social media is an alternative. However, leave social media to the sick, the disabled, the no way to get to the House. If you are able, come to the House of the Lord.  We are waiting on you!

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Solomon Temple Ministries International – Blogger – Othella Hill-Jordan

GREETINGS FROM THE TEMPLE …

“Pray for Me!”

Pray for me. We have heard these words quite often this past year. There is so much going on in our personal lives, as well as the world, that makes prayer a necessity. Why? Because we need our Lord and Savior to bring us through whatever we are going through; our sicknesses, losses, hurts, (trials and troubles).  No matter how hard we try to handle our situations on our own, the outcome is never the same. We need God in our lives!! We need prayer! We need love! Yes, God is Love, and we need Him!

Solomon Temple Ministries International (STMI) is a praying church. I say that because it is true, both individually and collectively. We have prayer warriors who pray seven days a week, 6:00am to 6:15 am (888) 633-1082. Just call prior to 6:00am to make your request. We also have a line dedicated for prayer request, (925)255-5771, text your request twenty-four seven and someone will pray for you. We also have prayer warriors who will pray throughout the day (around the clock) for our church and our community.

This brings me to why I am writing this Blog. We have children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, friends with young children and young adults who will be able to reap the benefits of praying for themselves. Especially when they are away from home. Yes, we teach our children the Lord’s Prayer, but I feel there is a next step. They must learn to pray over the issues in their life. i.e., If they’re being harassed by someone, they must pray over that issue and pray for the person who is causing the hurt or pain.

Sis. Kitty submitted a prayer to be shared with our families and friends.

“Dear Lord,

Prepare me for the coming week.

Take away my worries and my regrets

Recharge my soul and renew my hope.

Please go before me, clear the way, and protect me.

Bring the right people into my life,

Move the wrong people out the way.

Guide me with your love and give me joy.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name, I Pray

Amen.”

Open your heart to God and pray this prayer, share this prayer. The words are few, but the meaning is prolific. God will hear you – God will answer you – God will bless you.

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Solomon Temple Ministries International – Blogger – Othella Hill-Jordan

GREETINGS FROM THE TEMPLE …

“Love Is …”

Eros – Storge – Philia – Agape. Sound familiar? These words describe a particular type of love. Pastor Brice has been taking us through a teaching series on love.  Love can take on many different meanings according to how the word is used, when its used, and according to who uses the word. Eros is sensual or romantic love. Storge is familial love. Philia is brotherly love. Agape is God’s love for humankind. Love is a universal word and is found in every language.

Today our concentration will be on agape love. However, before we do this, lets look at how many times the word love is mentioned in the Bible. The King James Bible mentions love 310 times. The New King James Bible mentions love 361 times. The English Standard Bible mentions love 551 times. The New Living Translation Bible mentions love 645 times. As you can see, the numbers will fluctuate depending on the Bible and statistical method used.

I encourage you to go to your Bibles and search the love, Scriptures. Not for the number of times love is mentioned but for a deeper meaning of Scripture. This is key to your spiritual growth. Love is repeated throughout Scripture for a reason. Why? Because we have an assignment.

“Our assignment is to love like Jesus loves.” – Pastor Victor S. Brice

Love started with God. God is Love. God sent His Son, Jesus, to walk among His people on earth as an example of love for us to follow. Love was with Jesus as He hung on the cross. Love was with Jesus as they placed Him in the tomb. Love was with Jesus when Jesus rose with all Power in His Hands!

“While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8 (NIV).

Let’s all love one another as God so commands us to do. Stop all the criticizing, back-stabbing, fighting, prejudices, hatred (yes, hatred) towards one another. We must answer yes to the question that one man, who was severely beaten by the police, once said: “Can’t we all just get along?”  Yes, we can! Pastor Brice, being led by the Holy Spirit, has given us our assignment. As with any assignment of the heart, it won’t be completed overnight. But you’ll be able to see gradual results as you work on this assignment.  Soon we’ll all be singing the Barney song: “I love you…you love me…” Well, maybe not quite, but you get my drift.

“Do everything in love.” – 1 Corinthians 16:14 (NIV).

By doing everything in love, you will find that love binds, and you’ll be on the right track to following God’s command to: “Love one another!”

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Solomon Temple Ministries International ~ Blogger ~ Othella Hill-Jordan

GREETINGS FROM THE TEMPLE …

“Meet Me at The House!”

I’m calling all my STMI family and friends to meet me at the House, Solomon Temple Ministries International. I’m even giving the address: 655 California Av – Pittsburg, CA 94565, because it looks like some of you have forgotten where the House is. Ok, so maybe giving the address is a bit over the top but, I’m sure you get my intent. I’m just saying, because we’re in the House and we’re waiting on you. We miss you!

Question: Do you know Who you belong to? “I am a son / daughter of God.”   Yes!

“He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” – Psalm 91:2 (NIV).

Being a son/daughter of God comes with responsibilities. Being in the House when the doors of the church are open is one of them. No excuses – no exceptions! We have social media. Praise God for social media. However, social media is for those who absolutely cannot worship in person. Sick – disabled (no caretaker to assist them) – housed in a nursing home or care facility – a video tool used when unable to meet in person. Social media got us through the worst of the pandemic. Though it is not completely over, it is time. Return to the House.

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV).

 Let go of your doubts – your anxiety. Pray on them and follow God’s instructions. Let go and let God lead you back to the House. God has kept you through the hand sanitizing – face mask wearing – social distancing. Let God put a hedge of protection around you while in His House.

Return to the House. Feel the ushering in of the Holy Spirit. Experience a feeling that words cannot describe. Experience a feeling that only God can provide. It is by His Grace and Mercy that you are here today. God our Provider – Comforter – Healer – Deliverer – our All-In-All.

Meet me at the House!  God wants to see you in His House on Sunday.

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Solomon Temple Ministries International – Blogger – Othella Hill-Jordan

GREETINGS FROM THE TEMPLE ….

“Tell Somebody – Part Two”

Yes, I’m writing a part two. Why? When my Pastor is enthusiastic about a subject it moves me to action – it motivates me. Prayer – Pray – Praise has been his teaching subject for the past few weeks. He has stressed the fact that prayer is critical to our lives as believers.

“The secret to failure is the failure to pray.” – Pastor Victor S. Brice

Why are you not praying more? Why are you not connecting to STMI’s prayer line? (These questions are not meant to be accusations and are not relevant for everyone. These questions, if they apply to you, are meant to be thought provoking.)

 If you are not a regular prayer warrior, you will get so caught up in living that you will get the attitude and mistaken perception that you are handling all your needs on your own. When things go wrong in your life you try to fix them (sometimes you even succeed). This creates a false sense of accomplishment. You start to think you can do all things on your own.

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” –  Philippians 4:13 (KJV).

 Yes, time to reroute your thinking because it is Christ that gives you the strength and the know-how to handle your situations. What you thought was you, was not you. It was God. God is always at work in our lives, even when we don’t acknowledge Him. Because of His love for us, He diligently works on our behalf. Now shouldn’t this make you want to take the time to thank Him for His Goodness – His Favor – His Mercy? Talk to Him – pray – praise Him!

“Praise makes prayer go further.” – Pastor Victor S. Brice

Just in case you haven’t figured it out yet, God will send trials and trouble your way so that your only option is to pray. Although our All-Mighty God will block your path with trials and trouble, He will not leave you there. He will keep His promise to never leave nor forsake you. God will bring you through every trial and trouble you encounter. The only thing He wants you to do is give Him all the praise and tell somebody. Well, there is something else. God wants you to conform to the likeness of His Son. (To be like His Son is something to pray about.)

Remember, it does not cost anything to pray, but it may cost you everything not to pray. Take time out of your busy day to pray. Time is money! No, time is prayer and prayers are valuable. You cannot put a price tag on prayer. Prayer is one of the most valuable assets you own. Don’t let your prayers become idle. God wants you to use them. Pray – tell God – then tell somebody!

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Solomon Temple Ministries International – Blogger – Othella Hill-Jordan

Greetings From The Temple…..

“Tell Somebody!” 

To all my fellow believers, if you were paid for every soul you introduced to Christ, what would your bank account look like? Well, let me narrow the time frame down a bit. Within this past year how many souls have you saved? Let’s all think on this and be truthful. I, for one, would have a zero balance in my bank account. Yes, zero! This is shameful. If my daily living depended on my discipleship (winning souls to Christ) I would be hungry and broke. I would have died a long time ago from starvation. Hopefully, you would have fared better than I.

“When your worship is for real, you tell somebody about Jesus.” – Pastor Victor S. Brice

The best way to bring souls to Christ is to tell somebody about Him. Share your testimony. We should tell everybody about Him. And there is a lot to tell. His Goodness – Mercy – Favor – Healing – Providing (this is just the tip of the iceberg). Most of us are stuck on the premise that “we did that”.  Yes, we look at our jobs, money in the bank, our homes, our cars, and say to ourselves; “Look at me!” “I did that!” No, you did not! God did that!

Remember, you have been saved, you are a believer, therefore, you are a disciple of Christ. Yes! Now, what did Jesus command His disciples to do?

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations.” – Matthew 28:19 (NIV). 

This translates to: “Tell everybody about Me!” Yes, we have one job, we must go (move) share what we have learned about our Lord and Savior. Go out and share the gospel with everyone! Our Pastor has told us to be like the Samaritan woman at the well. After Jesus had told her about the Living Water, she ran about town telling everyone about the Man at the well. This is what we need to do – we need to get our joy back – we need to get our excitement back. We need to run and tell!

“Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  –  John 4:14 (NIV).

 Share your testimony. Tell of His Goodness and Grace that you have personally experienced. Our parents taught us at an early age how to share (food, candy, toys). Now, it is time to share Jesus. You can’t keep Him to yourself. You must share Him with others. Make disciples. Tell somebody!

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Solomon Temple Ministries International – Blogger – Othella Hill-Jordan

“How Are You Leaning?”

How are you leaning? To answer this question, you must know the subject matter. Therefore;  “How am I leaning in regard to what?”  In a recent series sermon: “Prevailing Through the Pain”, Pastor Brice used sub-topic, “Learning How to Lean on the Lord”.

We tend to take it upon ourselves to take control of whatever is going on in our lives. In other words, when we are under attack from Satan, we come to our own defense, instead of letting God take the reins. Why do we do this? Because we were taught by our parents to be independent. Every parent wants their child to grow up and take care of themselves. This is ingrained in a child at a very young age. Therefore, when Satan attacks, we stand our ground and try to fight our own battles.

“God will put us on display for Satan.” – Pastor Victor S. Brice

Read: Job chapter 1 &2. God let Satan have His servant, Job. If God let Satan have His faithful servant, Job, wouldn’t He also let Satan come for you and I? Of course, He would! Therefore, it behooves us to lean on the Lord. Let go and let God fight your battles. Yes, we hear this all the time, but we still haven’t learned to just lean on Him. Leaning on the Lord is the only way to win against the wiles of Satan.

“Satan will knock you down, but God won’t let Satan knock you out.” – Pastor Victor S. Brice

“The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, then, he is in your hands, but you must spare his life.’”    –  Job 2:6 (NIV). 

God Is!  This is a simple but powerful statement. “God is the joy and strength of my life. He removes all pain, misery, and strife. He promised to keep me – never to leave me. He’s never, ever come short of His Word.”  These are words of truth from a gospel praise song. I firmly believe that God gives us Word and Word Lyrics to share about Him. Since God Is – we can!

Yes, we can lean on Him and become one with Him in praise, Word, worship, witnessing, and winning souls. Therefore, when someone asks: “How are you leaning?”  They are in fact asking, “How are you serving the Lord?”  We can serve God by leaning on Him.

Lean on His, Love – Joy – Peace – Strength – Faithfulness – Protection – Control.

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Solomon Temple Ministries International – Blogger – Othella Hill-Jordan

GREETINGS FROM THE TEMPLE …

“Me – Myself – and – I”

The title of this written piece says it all. It is all about me. Most of you (readers of this blog) do not want to hear everything about me. Would you rather we hear everything about you? Ok, where am I going with this? Our Pastor has been leading us through a teaching series on “Pride”.  Pride is self-centered – self-worshiping – self-exalting. Pride will have you thinking you’re all that and more. Everything will be centered around self in the prideful person.

“Self, is the gateway to sin.” – Pastor Victor S. Brice

This statement stopped me in my tracks. Why? Because I am guilty! Being a mother and grandmother, I’ve always put everyone else first. But, somewhere, somehow, I started putting myself first. I was finally having some “me first time” and it was very therapeutic. However, after hearing that self is the gateway to sin, I’ve done some praying and soul searching. It was never my intent to sin (this is how we get caught up). “I didn’t mean to do it!” Yet, you did!

“Everyone has and will participate in some form of pride.” – Pastor Victor S. Brice

We must be very careful not to let ourselves be a target for Satan. Once we put ourselves out there (It’s all about me! – Look at what I did! – You can’t do it without me!)  Satan will hitch a ride on your pride, and you’ll be headed for destruction. Yes, pride destroys!

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” – Proverbs 16:18 (NIV).

 Pastor Brice also reminded us that the letter “i” is in the middle of the word pride and in the middle of the word sin. Pride and sin are a couple and will sever your relationship with God. Therefore, this is one couple that you do not want to associate yourself with.

humble: having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance

 Me – myself – and I, must be humble. We must walk in humility – we must walk in the Way of the Lord! You will see that while your life is filled with serving Him, you will not have the time nor room to let sin and pride enter your life. Therefore, stay humble … serve Him … and …

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Solomon Temple Ministries International – Blogger – Othella Hill-Jordan

GREETINGS FROM THE TEMPLE …

“Your Gifts”

When we talk about gifts, we’re usually referring to something given to us that is pleasing, special, and nice. We receive gifts from others, rather we merit them or not. Holidays, birthdays, weddings, graduations, etc. As Believers, we refer to our special abilities as gifts from God; singing, teaching, preaching, writing, etc.   I, for one, have never associated my pain and sufferings with the word, gift. During our Sunday morning worship service, “Burdened, Yet Believing”, our Pastor informed us that our burdens (pain and sufferings) are a gift from God – they are an assignment from God.

“Christians have suffering to do and a cup to bear.” – Pastor Victor S. Brice

God, out of love, sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the cross to suffer for our Salvation. Jesus shed His Precious Blood for us, and He endured more pain and suffering than we could ever endure. Yet, He was resurrected and sits at the right hand of God. Although we could never measure up to Jesus, we can suffer out of love as well. We know that when God leads us to something, He will also carry us though it. Our sufferings will lead us to a stronger faith in God.

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” – Psalm 55:22 (NIV).

Pastor Brice also brought out the point that grief is also associated with our gift of burdens. Again, we will only grieve for a little while because God will see us through our grief when we cast our cares on Him. Pray. We cast through our prayers. This is reason to pray without ceasing.

I Thessalonian 5:17 (NIV) “Pray continually.”

“We need to release our burdens. Release – realize (revitalize) – rest.” – Pastor Victor S. Brice

“Come to me, all who are burdened, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:18 (NIV).

Connect with God through Word – Worship – Witnessing – Prayer. No matter what your gifts are, give God control of your gifts; grief – pain – suffering – burdens. Let Him handle them and enjoy the Peace of God. There is no peace like the peace the Lord will give you.

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Solomon Temple Ministries International – Blogger – Othella Hill-Jordan

“A Little Knowledge” 

Often, we hear the statement that it is better to know a little about something than to not know anything. You also may have heard; “Ignorance is bliss!” Truth, ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance puts you at risk, and a little knowledge is dangerous. To not know something or about someone puts you in a vulnerable position and your vulnerability can be detrimental.

Believers, and this includes me, lets stop getting by. Stop thinking that by attending church every Sunday and listening to the preached Word, we are good. This is a good beginning, but we must do more. We’re putting ourselves at risk of falling away from Christ by not diligently, actively, seeking to know more about Him – know more of His Word – and sharing His Word with others. We must:  Seek – Search – Serve – Share! 

Seek God and His Wisdom – Search Scripture for revelation – Serve Him and others by living His Word – Share what your Pastor has given you. This is what our Pastor means by saying he wants us to move from being members of STMI to being disciples of STMI. Be a disciple and make disciples.

Pastor Brice has begun a teaching series on “P-R-I-D-E”. “Pride is a silent killer!” So, what does he mean by this statement? Pride will kill your relationship and your discipleship. Pride will alienate you from God and other believers. Pride will have you walking away from God.

Pride will also cause you to feel superior in your own eyes. You’ll start thinking you have all the answers, that you’re always right. You’ll be giving yourself an applause: “I did that! I have a good job because I went to college. I have a nice house because I make good money”, etc.  Before you realize it, your own self-righteousness will lead you to putting yourself before God. Time for a reality check! Remember, self-righteousness got Lucifer kicked out of Heaven.

“We must learn to walk more towards humility and less towards pride.” – Pastor Victor S. Brice

Yes, time to humble yourself. Let pride go and get back in fellowship with God. Pride in excess will lead you to sin. When we sin, we break our fellowship with God. Let go of pride!

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” – Proverbs 16:18 (NIV).

 Strive for more knowledge regarding: Word – Worship – Witnessing. A little knowledge will get you in trouble. Complete knowledge will get you the win!

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Solomon Temple Ministries International – Blogger – Othella Hill-Jordan