All posts by AOCM

My name is Pastor Tony Catron I graduate from K.S.U. with a degree in electronic/electrical engineering. While doing that I became a Junior Deacon and also a musician in my dad's ministry in Cleveland, Ohio. Years later, my career took me to Michigan where I worked as a Electrical/Electronic Engineer. While in Michigan I became a Minister, then later went to Seminary training at Birmingham Bible Institute and became an Elder at a large Pentecostal church in Michigan called LLCC. I was called to the ministry by God. So I headed up an outreach ministry based on the End Times, dealing with restoration in people lives. Then my dad called me back to Ohio to help him Pastor his church. During that time, God changed my outreach ministry, turning it into a full-time restoration ministry. He gave me the name Ark of Covenant Ministries and the rest is history.
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Matthew 26

The Oil of Devotion

The woman pouring the costly ointment over Jesus is a beautiful display of her love for Him and relationship with Him. Deeds done with love as the basis are not without value. Yet her act was diminished by the disciples as impractical. Its a matter of the heart vs practicality, though the oil could have been sold to the poor, Jesus viewed her act as better because it was birthed from her heart. Mary’s alabaster jar was very expensive and so was the oil, which the Mark 14:3 mentions was spikenard. The disciples were so blinded that they didn’t take seriously the fact that Jesus’ death was imminent. They didn’t realize that truly she was preparing Him for burial. They overlooked the fact that they would not have Him for long and cared more about other things than the care of the Master. Their values were not in the same heartbeat as Jesus’ even after having been with Him for 3 years. Mary’s act of devotion He said would be remembered wherever the Gospel was preached. He never said that about any of the disciples.

The Passover Table

To break bread with someone was a sign of covenant friendship in the Middle East in those days. Though Judas had evil in his heart, Jesus still showed him friendship, even to the end. When you drink from the same cup as someone else, there is a sense of bond-ship, familiarity, love. When you eat directly from someone else hand, there is a release of both parties in the bond of unity, acceptance and desire. There was a covenant, a testament, an agreement of unity that Jesus was making with His disciples and all who would believe in Him through their lives, lived for the Gospel. This was no ordinary bread or ordinary wine. It was His body and His blood.

Jesus spoke more of His death and even His resurrection and that He’d meet them in Galilee, but the disciples weren’t in awe of any of that. Peter was concerned about being more loyal to Him than the other disciples; competition and pride were evident. However so, Jesus cautioned Peter about his self-righteous pride, though He prophesied Peter would deny Him three times. Yet not only Peter, but all the disciples chimed in and declared their pride of never denying Jesus. Yet we find when he was betrayed by Judas and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, they all fled, leaving Him completely abandoned.

His Grief in Gethsemane

Peter, Jacob & John were the 3 disciples who had gone with Jesus to the mount of transfiguration. He also took these 3 to the Garden of Gethsemane. It seems they were privileged to share with Jesus in moments of glory on the mount and moments of pain in Gethsemane’s garden.

Jesus going away to pray to the Father to ask in humility to allow the cup of suffering to pass shows that truly, He as God in flesh, walking as a Man, relinquished all of His power and became lower than the angels and lived completely dependent on Abba Father. Jesus, in every aspect of His life on Earth endured everything that we have or will go through as humanity and showed us how to be led by the Spirit and depend on God in every way.

As Jesus prayed and the 3 disciples who were with Him slept, Judas was coming with a mob to betray Him. Judas told those who would arrest Jesus that he’d be distinguished by a his kiss of greeting. Paul, in many of his epistles to the Churches encouraged those in the fellowships to greet one another with a holy kiss. Judas uses this act of endearment and friendship under the guise of betrayal. Yet amid the evil that manifested in Judas’s actions, Jesus returned the greeting with humility and care in still calling him a “Friend.” I have a friend who had a vision of being in God’s arms, yet God wasn’t looking at him and he wondered why. He saw that God’s attention was on something else. When he looked in the direction God was looking, the Earth came into view and a person whom he knew came into view. This person had previously betrayed him, yet God looked at that person with longing and love. Though this person had done wrong to the person who was in Gods arms, God’s heart was longing for that person to know His love. What a perfect picture of God’s heart toward humanity especially those of us tied up in sin.

Jesus was arrested and Peter, in His defense resorted to violence. Jesus said those who live by violence will die by violence and what was happening was prophetically designed. Jesus was merciful to the end, and a teacher to the end.

Summary

  1. Don’t allow life to tare you away today
  2. Surrender your will to God’s
  3. Extend mercy despite the offense
  4. Live by anger and you’ll die by it
  5. Be steadfast in prayer
  6. Don’t fail to be on watch
  7. Jesus doesn’t need defending
  8. Don’t let tragedy lead to tragic measures
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How Do You Walk Before Men and Women in Society?

Sometimes the people of God miss or lose the concept of how to exist among the people of this world. Our life in this world’s society has been very diminished, thereby effecting our Christian walk in our cities towns, communities, and also our neighborhoods. Our life and or Christian walk is being dictated by our environment, which is exclusive an inclusive of these major factors I’ve observed, listed below:

  1. Control by lust
  2. Lack of humility
  3. Crave for this worldly life
  4. Overloaded with jealousy
  5. No real love for others

2 Timothy 3:1-7 says: 1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Sometimes we need to ask ourselves, “Where do I draw the line in my walk in Jesus Christ?” You look great just pick up the pace.

Romans 12:1-6 says, 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;

Titus 2:11-15 says: 11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

I could go on, but in my conclusion I’ll just say read the book of Mark 8:35-37: 35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. 36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Last but never least read 1 Timothy 6:7-12: 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

I Thank you for your ear, in Jesus name amen.

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Who’s Keeps Setting You up for Defeat?

People always seem to wonder why they keep falling into the same trap or situation when they keep ending up in the same life. Some say that, “My past is holding me back from my future.” Why do we always blame our past for what we are doing in the present? We never look at our past and why we did what we did and who we did it for. In order to really get a grasp on why we act or think the way we do, we need to take the time out of our busy lives and make up in our heart and mind and listen closely to the words Michael Jordan said: Just Do It.

Romans 12:2-3 says “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

We tend to blame others for our failure in this life when it all boils down to it. Sure people can contribute to the failures in your life, but everything you go through or every failure you have in this life ultimately comes down to you. Proverbs 23:7 says, ” For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.”

Sometimes people try so hard to love this world and what it has to offer, that they tend to forget that this life is only temporal. Their standing is contempt with God. Look at someone and say, “Are you setting me up?” Due to this life, they are trying to please oneself and this world has taken a heavy toll on the human psyche and soul to which, most people in this world are unstable in their life and in the way they think. Through the instabilities in their life, men and women, even children fail in the littlest demands on them and have become very unstable plus unpredictable. This has lead to crimes and an unrest in their neighborhoods, communities, towns, states and even their countries. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 says this, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 1 John 2:15-17 says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

The only enemy you really have to FaceTime with is yourself, as Michael Jackson said with the lyric, “I’m looking at the man in the mirror, and I’m asking him to change his ways.” Now if you are really ready to start a new life, that change begins the moment you give into Jesus’ call.

If you are ready to make that decision now, you can but ask and once you have made that decision, don’t be like the individual in Luke 9:57-62, “And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

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Matthew 25

Jesus gives many parables here about the end of the Age and His return.

The Parable of the 10 Virgins

People aren’t prepared. The wise used their wisdom and decided not to share. We sometimes stop to help people and they endanger our walk and delay us, as we only have enough for ourselves. The foolish, when the Bridegroom came weren’t even present to Him for they were preoccupied with everything but Him. We need to make sure that we aren’t lackadaisical about our pursuit of Him. Our lamps need to be filled with oil and we need to have extra oil to spare.

The oil represents our relationship with Him through the indwelling Spirit of God. We don’t care enough about our union with Him to preserve and treasure the relationship. Oil is often used to anoint for the purpose of revitalizing, for consecrating someone to God and is a representation of Holy Ghost. The oil is constantly being replenished by our daily union with the Bridegroom. If we’ve run out of oil, our hearts aren’t solely for Him anymore. We’ve become foolish, letting everything, sin, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, pull us away from our life support: Jesus. The wise were in constant fellowship with Jesus and knew His heart and passion. He was their only pleasure. The flasks the virgins carried holds such significance in our walk with Christ:

  1. No oil means there is no Holy Ghost in our lives
  2. The flame cane be blown or snuffed out
  3. Pulling out the wick means the soul is disconnected to Holy Ghost
  4. The wrong fuel is anything you take in that doesn’t edify your soul
  5. No ignition is the lack of the Word of God, prayer and the people of God in ones life

Parable about Financial Stewardship

In all that the Lord has given to you, He wants you to be a good steward over it, whether it be in your gifts or your abilities. It doesn’t matter how many gifts or abilities you have, but how you are using His grace to use those gifts and abilities. But those of us who are lazy throw away His grace and waste their time on things that bear no fruit. The Lord is looking for a return on the investment He’s placed in you. He wants to use you to bear more fruit for not only Him to enjoy and glory in, but for you to enjoy with Him and glory in. If you refuse to be fruitful, you refuse Him and all His riches and all that you have will be taken away because of your selfish disobedience. If you’ve really been filled with Jesus, there will manifest within you a desire to perform His works because you’ve joined not only yourself to Him in name, but you’ve joined your whole heart and being to Him to do for Him what brings Him pleasure. If you’ve not been filled with Jesus then your heart will not be changed and you won’t have a desire to do anything but what you want.

Parable of Sheep and Goats and Judgement

Sheep and Goats are different in that one is humble and the other is aggressive. The sheep exhibit the characteristics of the King, rooted in love showing compassion, tenderness and care to others. Goats are self-preserving, selfish, domineering and ruthless and show no concern for those who are in need. Jesus gives all nations, whether they are sheep or goats, the opportunity to learn how to have compassion because the poor and broken will be with you always. They are often presented to us so that we can learn to love. However, those who have chosen not to learn lessons on how to love have inadvertently cut themselves off from being joined to the King of Eternal Love and Life.

Summary

  1. Be prepared
  2. Don’t let fear control you
  3. Don’t sit on what God gave you
  4. Check your walk all the time
  5. Are you the right bride
  6. Abide in obedience
  7. Are you a sheep or a goat
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Who do you follow, Jesus Christ word or the Traditions of Men?

How is that some of us continually fall into the same old traps of our family, over and over again? This past Holiday, I over heard so many people say to each other things like, “So what are you going to do,” which seemed to be the most important topic at this time. The response was usually the same in every case as people would say things like, “Well I’ll be going over my folks house.” Another would say “I’m doing what I did last year,” and another said, “I’m going to keep up our tradition.”

If you didn’t know, most people base their whole lives on following traditional concepts. If you at this time just think about what you did last time at this time last year, is it the same? Men and woman have a habitual mind of a sort. Some to an extreme like a person with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) that is usually associated with tics, which are habitual spasmodic contractions of the muscles most often in the face, a lot like Tourettes an anxiety disorder that can increase the risk of suicide. The tradition that we chose to abide by in a lot of ways can lead to a habitual form that is hard to get out of.

Not all tradition is bad, but a tradition that you can’t be free of without feeling the pain of headache becomes a form of OCD to that individual who can’t put the breaks on in their life, and reevaluate what’s happening in the moment. Then they stand the chance of falling victim in that moment to tradition, and in some instances, loose connection with common sense. In these days, people are becoming more controlling, looking out for their own selves.

When you take the time and look at the word tradition, we find that it means the following: the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation. You must understand, that when you have a tradition of men or your family or others families, there are certain conditions that are attached to a tradition, and they are as follows:

  1. Faithfulness
  2. Love
  3. Commit
  4. Sentiment
  5. Retribution

Now through these attachments, all decisions concerning adherence to tradition are weighted and swayed, whether or not to follow through. So lets see what the Word of God has to say about this. I

1 John 2:15-17 says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

The tradition of people and even some churches and ministries of this Earth, will lead people to separate themselves from Jesus Christ and His love, and right into the arms of Satan every time. We’ve all experienced someone, or relatives who’ve either tried to convince us to attend some function or other, to the point that they begin to insist that we do, and if we don’t, then out of their mouth comes the retribution statement. We all know what that’s like.

This is an example of what people would do to get you to follow after a tradition. Colossians 2:8-10 says, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.”

The traditions of men are there to please men or woman and they can lead you down the road of unbelief toward Christ. Mark 8:36-38 says, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

I want everyone to know what you already know but the word of God puts it like this in Ephesians 4:14-15, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.”

Thank you for listing to this Word of Jesus.