K.O. Combatives

10/31/2024

10/28/2024

The Collegedale Police Department said Friday night, "It is with deep sadness that Chief Sapp and the Collegedale Police Department announce the passing of Corporal Enoch Hurd, who died this evening after sustaining serious injuries in a motorcycle accident on Sunday, Oct. 13.

10/22/2024

TRUST AND OBEY - via Roland Colson

Proverbs 3:5 (HCSB) - “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.”

I speak with people all the time who want God to do something in their lives but haven’t been obedient to His Word. They haven’t shown any faith.

Faith requires obedience even if it doesn’t make any sense. God requires us to forgive those who hurt us. It is a test of your faith. When a person hurts you, it can be difficult to forgive that person. But forgiveness is the right choice, even if you don’t understand it.

When you were a child, did your parents ever tell you to do something that didn’t make sense to you at the time? As an adult, you look back with 20/20 vision and can understand why they asked you to take that course of action.

That’s how things work with God. Faith is doing what’s right even if it doesn’t make sense. You don’t know what lies in the future, God does.

In Judges 7, Gideon took 300 Israelites into battle against 135,000 enemy soldiers. God told the soldiers to take torches, trumpets, and clay pots; a command that didn’t make any military sense.

God told Gideon to put the clay pots over the torches so the light of the torches wouldn’t be seen in the night and to surround the enemy’s camp.

God’s instructions may have been something like this: “When I tell you to, blow the trumpets, break the pots, and let torchlight suddenly shine out in the darkness. It will look like a huge army is surrounding the camp. It will cause mass confusion, and the enemy soldiers will end up fighting each other.”

Gideon and the Israelites blew their trumpets, broke the pots, and revealed the light from the torches. The enemy soldiers woke up in complete confusion and began to fight each other instead of the Israelites. All because Gideon was obedient.

Sometimes God tells us to do things that doesn’t make sense. But if we’re faithful, if we’re obedient; God will uphold us with His righteous right Hand.

Read The Word of God daily. Be obedient to His commands.

Proverbs 19:16 (EASY) – “If you obey God's commands, you will keep your life safe. If you do not respect his teaching, you will die.”

09/29/2024

BRINGING ABOUT REAL AND LASTING CHANGE - via Roland Colson

Matthew 23:27–28 (NLT) - “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

The Pharisees were moralists to the most extreme of levels. They were meticulous to keep what were, in their perception, even the smallest points of the law. They believed that by adhering to every minute point of The Law of Moses, they would gain God’s approval.

They were so spiritually blind that when God in human form, Jesus, actually walked among them, they couldn’t recognize Him as the Messiah and had Him put to death.

What do you think the primary purpose of the church is today? Is it to try and stop the spread of evil and corruption in today’s society? Is it to lobby for the political candidates who reflect our moral and spiritual values?

The last directive from the mouth of Jesus Himself, was this: “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you” (Matthew 28:19–20).

If we allow anything else to distract us from this one last calling, we’re being just as moralistic as the Pharisees.

In and of itself, morality can lead to self-righteousness. It can become a condemnatory thing. That’s because people are better off being immoral and recognizing their need for God than being moralistic and believing that they have no further need for God.

Sometimes, we become a little too preoccupied with that which is temporary, losing sight of the big picture. Morality won’t change our hearts. But if our hearts are truly changed by Christ, there will be a significant change in the way we live our lives.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NOG) – “Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence.”

09/29/2024

09/22/2024

Please keep TLETOA East Tennessee Vice-President Bobby Anderson and his family in your prayers. He is currently recovering from heart surgery and could use your prayers for his healing and recovery.

08/23/2024

HOPE - via Roland Colson

1 Peter 5:10 (ESV) – “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

One morning, you get out of bed, take a shower, get dressed, have breakfast, and a cup of coffee. You turn on the television to check out the morning news, weather and sports.

Then you go into work only to find that you have been laid off. Or your spouse of many years turns to you and says, “I don’t love you anymore, I want a divorce”. Maybe you get out of bed and experience a deep pain in the chest you’ve never felt before. Or you get a call from the doctor’s office saying there’s evidence of cancer in the tests you took last week.

A life crisis can knock you flat on your back. It makes no exceptions for the young or for the elderly and it can change the course of your life.

Catastrophe comes knocking at your front door, enters your quiet little world without permission, and refuses to leave. It’s a misfortune you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy, yet it’s happening to you. The Bible recounts many stories of this happening to men, women and even Jesus Himself.

Joseph’s brothers seized him and sold him to a party of Ishmaelites, or Midianites, who carried him to Egypt changing the entire course of his life.

Job’s world came crashing down on him in a single day. He was never given an answer to the problems he endured, nor was his question of why everything happened to him ever answered by God.

Judas, betrayed Jesus, which lead to His crucifixion.

Maybe you’re struggling against some unexpected, overpowering storm right now. Maybe your life is being turned upside down and you’re feeling hopeless. Maybe you need a little hope to anchor on to.

The Bible describes hope as an anchor that steadies our souls. We need a source of hope because when you’re going through some adversity in life, pious platitudes won’t help. The only thing that will help is The Word of God.

Hebrews 6:19-20 (VOICE) – “That hope is real and true, an anchor to steady our restless souls, a hope that leads us back behind the curtain to where God is (as the high priests did in the days when reconciliation flowed from sacrifices in the temple) and back into the place where Jesus, who went ahead on our behalf, has entered since He has become a High Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

08/22/2024

PEACE - via Roland Colson

Romans 15:13 (NOG) – “May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in him. Then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus said, “Live in me, and I will live in you” (John 15:4).

Personal salvation isn’t just an occasional rendezvous with some Deity; it’s a close personal relationship with the Son of The Living God.

David, thrilled with the knowledge that his life was in God, said in Psalm 91:1—” He who takes refuge in the shelter of the Most High will be safe in the shadow of the Almighty.”

Matthew 11:28 is a favorite verse of mine from the New Testament. It says something very different from what most think The Son of God would say to them. Most think He will say, “Come to Me, and I will give you a set of rules, regulations, restrictions, religion and rituals to live your life by.”

Instead, Jesus says, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

One of the biggest reasons you’re always tired, fatigued and stressed out is that try to live life under your own authority. That isn’t the way God intended it to be.

God knows every second of every moment of your life. Jeremiah 1:5 tells us, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

Ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart and be granted a peace that is beyond all human understanding.

He longs to hear from you today.

Philippians 4:6-7(VOICE) – “Don’t be anxious about things; instead, pray. Pray about everything. He longs to hear your requests, so talk to God about your needs and be thankful for what has come. And know that the peace of God (a peace that is beyond any and all of our human understanding) will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus, the Anointed One.”

08/20/2024

ASK - via Roland Colson

James 4:3 (EASY) – “Even when you do ask God, you do not receive anything. That is because you ask for the wrong reason. You just want to use these things to make yourselves happy.”

What if God came to you and said, "Ask for anything you want, and I will give it to you."

That’s what happened to Solomon, son of King David. Solomon had his priorities in order and immediately responded unto to God.

He said, "Eternal One, my God, You have allowed me to serve as my father David served, but I am still young and inexperienced. I don’t know much about anything, yet I am supposed to lead Your chosen people who are innumerable and even uncountable. Please give Your servant a listening heart for judging Your people and for knowing the difference between what is good and what is evil. Who is capable of judging Your chosen ones, a great people?" (1 Kings 3:7–9)

Solomon's answer was pleasing to God, and because it was pleasing to Him, He gave Solomon even more than what he asked for.

Would God do that for me? Yes, but let's not misunderstand the condition. Jesus said, "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.” (John 15:7)

If you are in close fellowship with God, and His Word is at home in your heart, you pray for things that bring God the glory. If you are praying for self-indulgent things, it is doubtful that you’re maintaining a living communion with Jesus Christ and that His Word is alive in you.

Prayer that is not self-indulgent will help you to align yourself in the will of God.

Philippians 4:6 (VOICE) – “Don’t be anxious about things; instead, pray. Pray about everything. He longs to hear your requests, so talk to God about your needs and be thankful for what has come.”

08/19/2024

FEAR - via Roland Colson

Isaiah 35:4 (EHV) – “Tell those who have a fearful heart: Be strong. Do not be afraid. Look! Your God will come with vengeance. With God’s own retribution, he will come and save you.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his 1933 inauguration speech, “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself.”

Isaiah 41:10 says, “Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

Scripture, however, doesn’t tell us that as God’s children we are immune to hardships and difficulties in this life. Many Christians will face difficult times. Many of God’s children will be victims of crimes. God’s Word doesn’t give us the promise of never having to face difficulty in life. It gives us the promise that He will be with us through every step of every mountain we must climb.

Matthew 4:5-6 says, “The devil took him (Jesus) to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, “He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.”’”

Satan had quoted verses 11 and 12 from Psalm 91, but he took them completely out of context. He was trying to use this Scripture to say that Jesus could test The Lord without consequence.

But then Jesus, replied, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God’” (Matthew 4:7).

There is purpose to what God is doing in our lives right now. And until that work is complete, nothing can happen to us. God will keep us here on this Earth until we’ve completed His purpose through the lives we are living.

A lot of things that can strike fear in our hearts. But as we face the hardships and difficulties of this world, we are told to have courage, not because of who we are, but because The Lord is with us.

Psalm 27:1 (GNT) - The Lord is my light and my salvation; I will fear no one. The Lord protects me from all danger; I will never be afraid.”

08/17/2024

I AM - via Roland Colson

Revelation 1:8 (NLV) – “The Lord God says, “I am the First and the Last, the beginning and the end of all things. I am the All-powerful One Who was and Who is and Who is to come.””

Jesus Christ is the most controversial figure to ever walk the face of the earth. He is loved, worshiped, and followed by some. He is hated, despised, and rejected by others. He is disregarded and ignored by most.

Over two thousand years ago, Jesus Himself asked this question: “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is He?” (Matthew 22:42).

People are still confused about who He is. There has never been a point in time when so many people have professed their faith in Jesus Christ and yet don’t understand who He truly is.

Many speak respectfully of Jesus. They say things like, “I believe that Jesus was a great prophet” or “I believe that Jesus was a messenger sent from God” or “I believe that Jesus was a very kind and loving man.”

The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, not a man who might one day become God. He is God that came to us in the form of a man. The Bible says that Jesus is the second member of the Trinity. The Bible also says that He was immaculately conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary.

The Scriptures teach us that Jesus was crucified, died and rose from the dead. Jesus was not one god among many, He is the only God, equal with the Father and above all others. That is why the death of Jesus, and the death of Jesus alone, meets the righteous requirements of God.

Jesus never became God, He always was God, He is God and He will always be God.

Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:13-16 (TLV) – “When Yeshua came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They answered, “Some say John the Immerser, others say Elijah, and still others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” He said, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

08/13/2024

FORETOLD IN ADVANCE - via Roland Colson

Amos 3:7 (ESV) - “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.”

According to J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, there are 1,239 prophecies in the Old Testament and 578 prophecies in the New Testament, totaling 1,817 prophecies encompassing 8,352 verses.

Biblical prophecy is the mind of God being revealed to humanity. It is also one way God’s thoughts and ways are being communicated to us even today.

Daniel first developed a reputation as an interpreter of other men’s visions (Daniel 2–5); then of his own. He also prophesied about the Messianic Kingdom (Daniel 7–12). The Book of Daniel is powerful Biblical Scripture that provides us details of the development of humanity and of coming human history.

Today, it is easy to see that Daniel was 100% accurate in his prophecies. The Bible is the one book that dares to predict the future, not once, not twice, but 1,817 times with absolute accuracy.

More than one half of all biblical prophecies have been fulfilled precisely as declared by God through His prophets. Because of God’s faithfulness in fulfilling these prophecies, we can be assured that He will fulfill the rest of the prophecies in Scripture without fault.

God’s Word reminds us that He alone is in control of what is happening in the world today. God is sovereign over the affairs of nations and of leaders of nations.

One thing clearly portrayed in The Book of Daniel is this simple truth: Jesus Christ will return to establish His kingdom on Earth.

If then, we are to believe in Christ’s return, what are we supposed to do?

Romans 13:13-14 gives us the answer to this question, “Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.”

Jesus Christ will return, are you ready for that day?

John 14:2-3 (GW) – “My Father’s house has many rooms. If that were not true, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again. Then I will bring you into my presence so that you will be where I am.”