Category: Uncategorized (Page 1 of 9)

Emmanuel Lewis

Because of a website issue, Saturday’s teaching didn’t upload, but here it is, family! I thank you for your patience…MaryEllen.

There is a kind of faith we celebrate because it is easy to recognize. It is the faith that shouts. The faith that dances when the door opens. The faith that testifies when the prayer has been answered. The faith that says, “Look what the Lord has done!” And we should celebrate that faith.

But there is another kind of faith that rarely gets celebrated.

It is quieter. It doesn’t always have a testimony yet. Sometimes it is sitting in a hospital room. Sometimes it is driving home after receiving news you didn’t expect. Sometimes it is staring at an unanswered prayer and wondering how many more times you are supposed to say, “I trust You.” Sometimes faith is simply getting on your knees with tears in your eyes and no eloquent prayer left. It is the faith that exists somewhere between what God said and what you can see.

That is the tension.

And perhaps some of the deepest faith God ever develops in us is formed there. Not when everything makes sense. But when it doesn’t. We love God’s promises, but we struggle with the space between the promise and its fulfillment. God told Abraham he would become the father of many nations, but Abraham still had to wait. Joseph dreamed of greatness, but before he reached the palace, he found himself in a pit. David was anointed king, but the anointing did not immediately put a crown on his head. Israel was promised a land flowing with milk and honey, but a wilderness lay between Egypt and Canaan.

Scripture doesn’t hide this tension. It puts it on display.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

What we do not see. That is where faith becomes necessary. If you could see everything, predict everything, and explain everything, you wouldn’t need faith. Faith begins where your ability to control the outcome ends. And that’s uncomfortable.

We would rather have a five-year plan from God than a daily dependence on God. We want the entire staircase illuminated before we take the first step. But God often gives enough light for the next step. Maybe because God isn’t merely trying to get us somewhere. Maybe He is teaching us how to walk with Him.

Few things test faith like unanswered questions. Why did this happen? Why didn’t God heal them? Why did the relationship end? Why did the opportunity disappear? Why did the door close? Why am I still waiting? The Bible is filled with people who asked questions. David questioned. Jeremiah wrestled. Habakkuk questioned why evil seemed to prosper. Job demanded an explanation for suffering he could not understand.

And yet God did not discard them for wrestling thoughts.

God is not intimidated by your questions. You don’t have to protect God from your honesty. Bring Him the anger. The disappointment. The confusion. The fear. The doubt. The grief. He already knows what is happening inside of you. Job eventually said, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” — Job 42:5 NIV.

Job received something greater than an explanation. He encountered God. Sometimes we ask God, “Why?” And God answers by revealing “Who.” Not always the reason. But Himself. One of the most dangerous assumptions we make in difficult seasons is that if God isn’t speaking, God must not be present.

But silence and absence are not the same thing.

There will be seasons when Scripture feels quiet, prayer feels difficult, worship feels like a routine, and you keep asking while nothing seems to change. You may wonder if heaven has your address. But faith learns something in those seasons: God’s presence cannot be measured by your feelings. You may feel abandoned while being held. You may feel forgotten while being remembered. You may feel lost while God is leading you.

Your feelings are real, but they are not reliable interpreters of reality.

This is why our faith cannot ultimately rest on how we feel about God. It must rest on who God is. Hebrews 13:8 reminds us: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Your emotions change. Your circumstances change. Your relationships change. Your plans change. Your season changes. God doesn’t.

So when everything around you is moving, anchor yourself to what remains.

There is also a dangerous version of Christianity that makes certainty sound like maturity. It teaches us that strong Christians never question, struggle, doubt, or feel afraid. But Scripture tells a different story. A father once brought his suffering son to Jesus. He wanted to believe, but he knew unbelief lived inside him. His prayer was painfully honest: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” — Mark 9:24 NIV.

What a prayer.

He didn’t pretend. He didn’t clean up his emotions before approaching Jesus. He simply said, “Lord, there is faith in me, but there is also fear. Help me.” And Jesus met him there. Maybe that’s something we need to recover. Faith isn’t pretending you have no questions.

Faith is refusing to let your questions become greater than God.

You can say, “I don’t understand,” and still say, “I trust You.” Those statements are not enemies. Sometimes they are the very place where mature faith begins. Consider Jesus in Gethsemane. He knew what was coming. He prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” — Matthew 26:39 NIV.

Jesus asked for another way. He already knew there wasn’t one. From Friday’s perspective, it looked like everything had gone wrong. The Messiah was beaten, mocked, rejected, and crucified. The disciples scattered. Hope appeared to have died.

But the disciples were judging Friday without knowing Sunday was coming.

And we do the same thing. We judge a chapter before God has finished the story. We look at the closed door and call it rejection. We look at the delay and call it denial. We look at the wilderness and call it abandonment. We look at the grave and assume the story is over. But Christianity was born from a grave that wasn’t the end. The cross looked like defeat. It became redemption. The grave looked like an ending. It became a doorway.

So be careful about judging God on Friday when Sunday is still coming.

Faith is not trusting God because you know He will give you what you want. True faith eventually reaches the place where it can say: “God, I trust You even when the path is unclear.” Even if the door stays closed. Even if the answer is no. Even if the healing doesn’t come in the form I expected. Even if the dream changes. Even if the timeline is longer than I wanted. Even if I never understand why.

That kind of faith doesn’t merely trust God’s hand. It trusts God’s heart.

Trusting God’s hand says, “I trust what You will do.” Trusting God’s heart says, “I trust who You are, regardless of what You do.” That is surrender. So keep walking. Keep praying. Keep seeking. Keep believing. Not because you know exactly what tomorrow holds. But because you know who holds tomorrow.

Some days, faith feels like fire. Some days, faith feels like a whisper. And there will be days when faith feels like nothing more than getting out of bed and saying: “Lord, I’m still here.” Don’t underestimate that prayer. Sometimes staying is an act of worship. Sometimes getting back on your knees is victory. Sometimes faith doesn’t look like conquering the mountain. Sometimes faith looks like refusing to stop walking toward God while you’re still in the valley. There is a place between promise and proof, where heaven feels distant, and questions have roots. Where prayers seem unanswered, and nights seem too long,  where the heart grows weary from trying to be strong.

But faith keeps breathing, though answers delay. It walks through the darkness, still choosing the Way. For maybe the miracle isn’t the storm disappearing, but discovering God was there while you were fearing. And maybe the deepest faith isn’t knowing what comes next.

Maybe it is knowing who holds what comes next.

So when you cannot see His hand, trust His heart. When you cannot understand His plan, trust His character. When you cannot hear His voice, remember His Word. And when you don’t know what to do next, take the next faithful step because faith was never about having all the answers. Faith is about knowing the One who does. You can live without knowing how the story will end because you know the Author has not stopped writing.

That is faith in the tension.

Have you put whatever faith you have in Jesus? Have you chosen to make Him your Lord and Savior? If not, won’t you take that life-saving step today…

Emmanuel Lewis

We at Sonsofthesea are privileged to introduce Emmanuel Lewis to our online family; God has called him to join our team. Emmanuel is a humble, gifted fisher of men—a man of integrity and courage, filled with wisdom. Emmanuel shares openly what God is placing on his heart with love, clarity, compassion, and a bold, fresh relatability.

Please click on our “Meet The Team” tab to read Emmanuel’s biography.

As Overseer of this ministry, I can say with full confidence that God will use Emmanuel to bless you, encourage you, and realign you through the teachings he’s given. Above all, Emmanuel will always, always, lead you to Jesus. To His love. His mercy and goodness. His desire that you know Him, even as you are known by Him…

I pray and trust you are blessed by every teaching posted here, SOS family.

Emmanuel’s first teaching will go live tomorrow, September 19^th, at our usual time, 3 pm.

I encourage you to enter your email address and hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss a single weekly teaching from any of our gifted team members.

From all of us at Sonsofthesea, Emmanuel, our heartfelt welcome!

MaryEllen Montville

“If you are insulted and reviled for [bearing] the name of Christ, you are blessed [happy, with life-joy and comfort in God’s salvation regardless of your circumstances], because the Spirit of glory and of God is resting on you [and indwelling you—He whom they curse, you glorify].” –1 Peter 4:14

I felt led to revise and repost this teaching. I believe the Holy Spirit led me to do so because the hour we’re in demands its reminders. I pray He blesses and encourages you as you read…

Despite the fractalness, and ever-increasing unruliness happening in today’s world, though you’re bombarded daily by visual reminders of man’s bottom-of-the-barrel depravity, of the monstrous, pure evil that, once seen, can never be unseen, images of mothers killing their own children showing up on your television screens, or shamelessly spread out across your news feeds, hate speech and all sorts of threats and false accusations concerning you, your loved one, because of your faith in Jesus; the sheer ferity causing you, on your lowest of days, to feel, perhaps, as though Jesus has forgotten His Bride; I’m here to remind you He has not!

Christians are being cursed and reviled for their unswerving faith by the forces of pure evil, doing their level best to rid this world of Jesus and anyone or anything associated with Him. It will never happen, beloved of the Lord—Jesus is still on His Throne, and so I pray your eyes stay fixed on Jesus, and not the chaos, the visceral hatred, and ever-increasing darkness swirling around you.

The Lord has sent me to His battle-weary Bride to remind us that, contrary to how things may appear to some, Jesus is not far off; He is near. “[And the Lord answered] Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet I will not forget you.” –Isaiah 49:15

I’ve been sent to remind you that Jesus will never forget His promises to you: “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” –Deuteronomy 31:8.

You serve, or can choose to serve, the One True God who is near to His people: Emmanuel, God with us...

Jesus, having stepped out of time, left the glory of heaven, wrapped Himself in human flesh to be born of a virgin, that He might not only offer Himself as a willing sacrifice, taking your place on His Cross; the sinless dying that the sinful might live. Jesus also wanted to know your pain, needs, joys, and sorrows, intimately, experientially, as a man ginóskō, knows, his wife. “For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are, yet without [committing any] sin.” –Hebrews 4:15.

 In Greek, Ginóskō is defined as the bond between close friends, God and his followers, or the sexual union between a husband and wife.

And though the promise was given to Moses by God to encourage and strengthen His people, Israel, having been ingrafted into this vine, this same promise is yours—today. God’s promises remain as fresh, sure, and steadfast today as they did the moment they left His mouth—every one of them.

Like this one: “The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.” –Deuteronomy 31:8

How can you know that what I’m telling you is true?

Simple. I didn’t say it. Jesus did. “Sky and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” –Matthew 24:35.

The promise given to Moses to speak over God’s people, Israel, roughly 3.5 thousand years ago, carries the same weight today; God’s constant Presence and unfailing love remain unchanging. How? “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken and will He not make it good and fulfill it?” –Numbers 23:19.

The same Jesus who knows the very number of hairs on your head is the same Jesus who has caught every tear you’ve shed in a bottle. “But [even] the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be struck with fear or seized with alarm…” –Luke 12:7.

He’s the same Jesus who still knows when a sparrow falls to the ground. “Are not two little sparrows sold for a copper coin? And yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.” –Matthew 10:29. Don’t miss the power of those faith-testing, I trust You “even if” Words, beloved. “And yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.” This Truth underpins not only your sure, faithful footing today, but also the Rock-solid foundation of hope and faith you’ll need to navigate everything that will happen around you in the days to come.

 You must, must, white-knuckle cling to the knowledge that God is Sovereign, contrary to what you may see happening, think, or feel. Period. Having full confidence in this: nothing will ever happen in God’s world without His knowledge, or outside of His “But God” way of bringing good from our pain or the evilest intentions of the enemy of our soul.

Yes, beloved, Jesus will bring good from even the death and destruction that shakes you to your core. Atrocities that cause even the most stalwart of believers to pause and pray for the strength to keep pressing forward despite what they’ve just witnessed or read about. Choosing not to pretend these events aren’t happening, but choosing instead, to fix their eyes on heaven and screaming out if they must, “Jesus, I don’t understand any of this, but I trust you!”

God has not forgotten you, beloved.

Jesus sees everything happening to you and around you. And though you can’t see it right now, He is making ALL things work together for your good.

Long before you were born, twelve men, much like yourself, laid down their lives because they chose to cling, white-knuckled, to this one Truth. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.” –1 John 1:1- 4.

Their relationship with Jesus was so solid, so unshakable, that, even when they faced horrific, torturous forms of death, they refused to deny Jesus. And according to His Word, at the very hour of their earthly death, Jesus was somehow with them, steadying them, preparing them in some way, to close their eyes to this world only to open them again to the world He’d promised them would come. “For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death.” –Psalm 48:14.

If He does not leave us even at the hour of our death, how can you doubt then that He is not with you now?

Yes, it’s dark and getting darker by the day, beloved, but remember, Jesus told you this would happen. So don’t panic, and don’t let the headlines send you running to anyone or anything other than Him.

Jesus is with you.

He is with you—and He’ll never leave you.

In closing, the Apostle Peter knew, much like himself, that you would have moments of doubt and questioning when fiery trials tested your faith.

So, to encourage you to keep the faith and keep pressing on, Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, left these Words to remind and bolster those who believe—and those yet to believe—how present Jesus is—still. “Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name! For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? And also, “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?” So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.” –1 Peter 4:12-19. Emphasis mine.

Jesus will never fail you. Yes, you, my storm-tossed, questioning, doubt-filled friend. If there is breath in your lungs, use it to say yes to Jesus!

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”

Greetings, Sonsofthesea family!

We have exciting news to share with you, as well as sad news. Our much-loved brother in Christ, Wesley Mendes, married his beloved Crystal on August 8^th. All of us here at Sonsofthesea extend every blessing to Wesley and Crystal as they walk together as one into their new “covenant adventure” as husband and wife, to which God has called them. “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” –Genesis 2:24

Sadly, shortly after this most joyous occasion, Wesley’s beloved mom, Gail, went on to glory this past Wednesday. You’ll find a GoFundMe link on our Facebook homepage should you feel led to bless our brother and his family with covering funeral and burial costs. Please, Sonsofthesea family, keep our beloved brother and his family in your prayers as the Lord walks them through this valley and into all He has for them on the other side…

May God bless you and keep you always,

Maryellen.

MaryEllen Montville

“The Lord told him, ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” –Acts 9:11-14.

Warning! Today’s message will not be warm and fuzzy—hopeful, yes, always, but challenging. Yet so long as there is breath in the lungs, there is hope, to change, to grow in obedience, to repent…

I felt led today to speak to the “Ananias” in you and me, beloved of God. Spiritually speaking, of course. To the visceral repulsion, that inner alarm which sounds when fear arises in us the moment, we encounter man’s hatred toward man. Sadly, we’re reading about such hatred on a near-daily basis these days, witnessing its byproduct: bruised and bloody fist-to-cuffs, on our television screens. We hear about man’s hatred toward man on radio broadcasts or podcasts. Then, there’s the visceral hatred and persecution God’s people are experiencing personally, around the globe, simply because of who they are, and the fear associated with them—that, sadly, will never change until Jesus comes. I speak of the Jewish communities and of us, Christians.

Still, not all of what we see and hear about is evil.

Some of what we interpret as evil or hatred in men is them being “Sauls unawares.” People who, unknowingly, are waiting on the Lord’s timing to become who He, not our enemy, has destined them to be: “a Paul.” “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name. “But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.” –Acts 9:15 –Acts 9:13-15.

You want me to love him, Lord? Her? That one? He’s covered in tattoos! She’s confessed to having been a prostitute! Have you seen how they act? Heard how filthy their mouths are. They hate me—us, Your own children, and you want me to pray for them? Love them as a brother?

I felt led to speak to the “Ananias” living inside every Blood-bought believer—starting with me. To remind us, those who love Jesus, serve and obey Him, that apart from the love we know began when He first loved us—loving those who appear to be our enemy, who look different, dress, talk, live differently than we do—can feel impossible. Ananias teaches us that. Only by loving others as Jesus loves us does this become possible. “We love because he first loved us.” –1 John 4:19.

The very instant we forget that just a moment ago we, too, looked, dressed, talked, and lived differently, the door to our experiencing fear and hatred opens.

We live in a world that has seen many life-changing, life-saving advancements. Sadly, however, men’s hearts have remained much the same. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil” –Jeremiah 13:23.

How I’d love to tell you, assure myself of the fact, that Jeremiah wrote such ineludible words to convict an unbelieving world, but he didn’t; Jeremiah was addressing God’s chosen people—us, Christians included, having been grafted into His people, Israel; we’re the bullseye Jeremiah was aiming such pointed words toward, our hearts the target such conviction was intended to pierce. Since time immemorial, man has been incapable of changing his own heart with any true and lasting effect; Ananias couldn’t, neither can you and me.

It is said, “The very best of men are just men at best.”

Said Scripturally: “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.” –Jeremiah 17:9

Just as we have no idea the depths of darkness and deceit in our own hearts, conversely, because of Who lives inside of us, neither can we fathom the unplumbed levels of love, compassion, or obedience, even, which exist within us; only God knows. It’s His, all of it; of Him, entrusted to us for a time.

And, thanks be to God that it is because Jesus causes what’s been entrusted to us to be poured out on others to bring about their salvation, realignment, correction, calling, or redirection, all for the sake of His Kingdom plans and purpose. “However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.” –2 Corinthians 4:7

Jesus did this with Ananias, using what He had placed in him to bring about Paul’s salvation long before Ananias was filled with apprehension, confusion, and perhaps fear of Paul, when Jesus tasked him with finding and praying for the very man who was hunting Jesus’ followers like prey. “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.” –Acts 9:1-2

But here, beloved, is where hope, the sugar in the salt of today’s message, is found—in Jesus—in Whom every man’s hope is found. Hope conceived in the womb of faith and birthed when Jesus’ strength and our remembering of His faithfulness in times past, partner. Jesus imparts His will into us, using our hands and feet to ensure His will is done. Never our own. Never in our own strength or ability, remember, friends, it won’t last! Even those things we claim as ours: faith, obedience, perseverance, endurance, etc., are all gifts from God used to accomplish His plans and Kingdom purpose. But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.” –Acts 9:15

Hear me, friends: this is not a message intended to condemn anyone, God forbid!

No, the Holy Spirit placed this on my heart as a mirror of sorts, held up to me first, then to all who call themselves followers of Jesus, or who will be, soon. Why? As a reminder not to react in our flesh, instead, to respond in the Spirit when, not if, we encounter man’s hatred of man on display, as Ananias did.

We cannot, must not, respond in kind with fear or hatred.

Was Ananias frightened? doubtless.

Was he apprehensive about approaching Saul? Scripture makes it pretty clear he was.

Did any of that stop him from obeying God, finding Saul, and praying for him? Absolutely not!

The very same man whom Ananias once feared, he ended up calling brother. “Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” –Acts 9:17

That, beloved, is the power of this Treasure we carry in these earthen vessels on irrefutable display!

I pray when you and I encounter our “Saul,” and we will, we’ll follow Ananias’s example of unwavering faith in the face of our fear and we’ll pray for those who hate, persecute and deceitfully use us by remembering these two things, one: “our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places.” –Ephesians 6:10

And two: Jesus commands those He calls His own to: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” –Matthew 22:37-40

Do you know Jesus, friend? His power to overcome fear and hatred? If not, you can today. Invite Jesus into your life, offer Him your weakness in exchange for His strength. Ask Him to forgive your sins, He will, if you’re sincere. Paul did! And look at how the Lord used him! “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” –Romans 10:9-10

Wesley Mendes

Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

How very gracious our God has been to Sonsofthesea in this season of new beginnings! In addition to the tree’s budding with promise, the Father, as only He can, has blessed His ministry with a fresh, new voice—unique to this season.

Please help us welcome our newest contributing teacher, Wesley Mendes, God’s fisher of men and a beloved brother in Christ.

We trust the Lord has purposed our brother Wesley’s voice, as He has each voice in this ministry, to reach the nations. We are humbled and grateful to “get to” be used by Jesus to help fulfill the Great Commission. “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. / He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, / so that no one may boast in His presence.” –1 Corinthians 1:27-29.

Click on the ‘Meet The Team” tab to read Wesley’s bio.